baygelbites - Tumblr blog

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

Worldbuilding: The Government & Politics

Each land has somebody in charge. Be it Monarchy, Senate or theocracy. Let’s have a look at what you should consider when building your government.

Styles of Government

Absolute Monarchy: The state is run by one person and one person only.

Constitutional Monarchy: This style means that the monarch only has a figure-head position of the government while the government rules the kingdom.

Senate: Elected officials sit and debate over matters of state.

Theocracy: The Church rules the land

In Service to the People

All governments are there to provide the people with different services and are there to service their interests. At least they are supposed to do that.

Governments are meant to ensure that people are provided with leadership, healthcare, protection and trade. It is up to you to assign politicians to oversee each of these issues.

Taxation

All of these services had to be paid somehow. So taxes must be levied. If you have some issues in thinking of taxes, feel free to borrow from history and even now. Some governments will place taxes on merchants who import foreign goods. This is put in place to protect national trade. Some governments tax nobility in order to keep them from getting too powerful.

Positions in the Government

As I have outlined above, some parties and politicians are granted the right to rule over different services the government provides.

But how are these positions filled? Whenever election seasons comes along, we have officials hammering at our doors, holding up children and splashing their faces everywhere. A modern practice? Nope. Roman politicians used to hold games, feed the people and make rousing speeches in order to get elected. Remember one thing: the politicians may wield the power but the people have the real power.

This is only if the post is elective. Some governments are focused on hereditary or appointment. In mediaeval times, the government would be made up with the monarch and a council of lords. These lords were chosen for their nobility and power over their merits. In England during the Tudor era, Henry VIII made a ruckus by appointing two councils one who was son of a butcher and the other who was son of a blacksmith. The nobility hated them despite their success in administration.

For most nobles and wealthy, a place in office is seen as one way to power. In Ancient Rome and Greece, politics was one of two career choices for noble men. The other being war.

Might and Right

How powerful is your kingdom? Is it relatively powers or weak? You should always make a study of the hierarchy of power in your world from most powerful to least. In real world history, we always favour the larger and richer country as being the most power. Of course throw in the army and we got a superpower. Look at America for a second. Strip away the military, the corporations and trade, and what is it? It needs all of these to be powerful and without it, it is just a land where crazy shit occurs.

Monarchies

If you gave your land a monarchy, there are some things you must consider. Look at any of the monarchy posts I made here. You will need to look at succession laws, regencies, protecting your monarch, their reach of power.

Politics

Politics makes the world go around. Nah, it doesn’t but it’s supposed to at any rate. Politics is always one issue that is difficult to address in worldbuilding. It’s a great beast that none of us really understand or think is important. Unfortunately it is so let’s have a look at worldbuilding politics.

Major political factions

Turn on the news and find the politics tab. They will talk about different parties which all seem similar but are slightly different. Not all politics is like sheep in a pen. You’ll have groups who believe one thing that contrasts the other.

In Ireland, we have Sinn Fein, Fine Gael, Fine Fail, Labour, independents and some others my teachers failed to mention.

In America, you have a simpler version with your Democrats and Republicans.

In Ancient Rome, they had a Senate where two political parties who sit: the people and the nobility.

In Tudor England, we had am interesting one. Spain and France were allies waiting to be had so some nobles supported relations with one or the other, which led to nobles arguing over the best option while Henry VIII fucked everyone and ate himself from an Abercrombie model to a middling whale. Then you had the entire RELIGIOUS crisis shit but let’s not go there.

When making different factions, give them each a number of the same number of time thinking. Give them goals, notable members, reasons that they are there, followers and goodies and baddies. Note which factions get on with one another and which ones hate one another, this can be used for plot later on.

Money, Threats and Bribery

Let’s take another look at the real world. What other groups sometimes influence politics? These groups don’t necessarily have to be evil. Some of these groups might lobby politicians to change laws that effect them or to make laws to suit their needs.

In Italy, mostly in the period of before and during the Renaissance, the Pope had some pull in each city state and each ruler of the city states had pull with the Vatican. A Pope might be involved in a plot to take down a pair of powerful brothers (I cannot watch you die, not again Bradley James) and a family might take over the Vatican, like the Borgias and Medici.

During the Wars of the Roses, London merchants tipped the scales of power by disallowing the Queen of England to enter the city and claim residence meaning she had to go somewhere else. When the new claimant arrived, they crowned him king. Why did they do this? Margaret of Anjou had an army of Scottish and the ability to keep the war going. Edward of York could stop the war, letting the merchants get back to making money.

Of course, Ireland has Catholicism sitting on the shoulder of the government and influencing every major decision.

Relations Abroad

All politics are both prevalent at home and abroad. All kingdoms and countries have relationships with other lands. And always remember: knowledge is power so have your spies at the ready. Some relations are good and some are terrible. When choosing how your kingdom sees their neighbors, look at your map. Are there any borders that might be in dispute? Any resources like mines and rivers? Or is there any reason when they ought to be friends? A greater threat that threatens your nations?

Going back to Tudor times, Spain, France and England had a funny sort of relationship. They would all take turns being friends and then the vilest of enemies. France would make a friendship with Spain to take down England. Then Spain would be friends with England to ensure that they could take down France. Then France would ally with Spain to end England. This tomfoolery kept the balance of power in Europe for years.

To make or keep a good relationship or any relationship with another country you must communicate with them. Sending ambassadors of gold standing is seen as an excellent try for peace. If you send a shitty ambassador who is of bad standing, this may effect relations and could lead to bad blood between the nations. Most courts included permanent ambassadors who dwelt either in or near the palace who acted as a mouthpiece between rulers ad governments.

Treaties are also things you must think about. These are documents that bind nations in agreements. These can cover peace, war and trade. Some treaties can also cause trouble. The only reason why England and Russia got involved in WWI, was because Russia had a treaty with Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian empire invaded them putting Russia at war. When this happened, England got involved and declared war on the empire. Make sure to mention a few of them that are in place or in talks.

Always ensure that you make note of which countries have traditional rivalries or alliances. France and England were always at each other’s throats. Well, England was at everyone’s throat because they couldn’t stop invading other countries for five fucking minutes. (*clears throat*) So I suggest making lists of which countries have rivalries and which have always been friends and why. Of course speaking of alliances, which monarchs are related by blood or marriage? Think of Europe at any stage in time. All the monarchs were related to some degree, no more prevalent after Victoria pumped out all her kids and married them off. Look at how these relationships effect the running of the country.

For @el-queen

#writing resource

2K notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

Hey here are some small tips and tidbits from a bartender so y'all can write some realistic bartender aus!

believe it or not we drink on the job, it's rude to decline a drink offered to you by a customer

yes. I've gotten drunk on the job. yes it was cause I was bought a number of jagerbombs. no I didn't go home or fuck up.

'kiss the bartender' is a popular dare at small bars and private functions. whether it's on the cheek or on the lips is totally up to you

I have been offered people's number in a variety of ways. sometimes I've been handed a note, other times I've just been handed someone's phone on the 'add a new contact' page. girls are more direct, guys try the subtler approach of flirting until declined

Your average bartender doesn't always know cocktails. Especially if they're not on the menu.

Y'all cocktails are potent. If your character is downing ten long Island iced teas they're going to hospital

we live for tips. You could be the biggest cunt in the world but if tip me a fiver I'll put on a fake af smile and pretend you're a sound guy

speaking of. Young people tend to buy you drinks, older people tend to tip you.

There's a number of bar calls we use. 86 means we're out of stock. 68 means we're back in stock. More relevant for fic writers however: 700 means a hot customer, usually aimed at women but can be used for guys too. eg. 'lady in red. 700'

If someone asks what 700 means when asked. We lie through our teeth. We usually say it means you need serving or you look drunk.

That's all I can think of right now. But if you have any questions send me an ask! I've been a bartender for a while now, so I like to think I know my stuff.

#writing resource

31K notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

How I never have to face an empty page when I write

First, I write down very roughly what needs to happen in this scene.

For example, take an early scene from my wip. The main character’s mentor has just died in the previous scene. And what’s worse, he’s killed by the magical Library she loves so much. What needs to happen in this next scene?

She brings the terrible news of the mentor’s death and the Library’s betrayal to the mentor’s widow (who gives her a key to the Library, minor detail).

She brings the news to the major, who is responsible of anything concerning the Library and who is indirectly the reason the mentor went into the Library in the first place.

At the end of this scene, the second main character is briefly introduced.

Then I start asking myself as many questions as I can.

What does the Main Girl Character (MGC) feel after her mentor’s death?

What does the MGC do with the key she gets from the widow?

How and when does the widow give her the key?

What is the first thing the MGC does when the mentor dies?

What does the widow do when she sees the MGC and the mentor?

How does the widow react? What does she feel? Did she expect it to happen someday? Does she stay icy calm or does she scream? (pieta)

What does the widow look like?

What is the widow like, as a person?

How does the MGC know she has to go to the major? Is there some kind of police, or is he the mentor’s boss or something?

Does the MGC trust the major?

Can she trust the major?

What is the major like, as a person? Nice? Belittling?

What does the MGC tell the major? What does he want to know?

What kind of new information does the MGC get out of this conversation?

What does the office of the major look like? Where is it?

What kind of a person is the Main Boy Character (MBC)?

What is the MBC wearing?

What does the MBC say to the MGC?

What was his reaction when he heard the news? How did he feel?

How does the major react? How does he feel?

How far is it from the major to the MGC’s home? How much time does the MGC have to inform the MBC and how much time does the MBC have to react and to comfort the MGC? I just realise the MBC already knows (probably from her parents?) because otherwise he wouldn’t be waiting for her at the major’s office.

How did the MGC’s parents tell the MBC? Why would they tell him? Maybe he called her house or he came by because he knew she went to see the Library but he doesn’t know yet that it killed the mentor?

See, I’m already filling my page so that it doesn’t look that intimidatingly empty.

Next, it’s answers time. I go through all the questions and make up a satisfying answer. Sometimes I get it right straight away, sometimes I have to brainstorm for four pages before hitting the suitable solution.

Since this is still preparation, I don’t have to worry about the quality of my writing style - I’m just thinking on paper. Often, this paradoxally means I write relaxed and I end up using whole bits of my preparation in my first draft.

After I have answered all the questions I want (often some become obsolete by answering other questions), I write out the scene again, in bullets or telegraph style, but with the detail and richness I have found in my answers. That usually takes me one page.

And only THEN I start writing my first draft. I see everything perfectly clear in my head and I even have bits of text I can use from my prep, so writing the first draft is way more chill than just writing it cold.

I do this before every scene, but you can also use this technique only when you get stuck or when you have to write a scene you’re dreading. You would think it’s inefficient and it takes too much time, but this technique keeps my thoughts focussed on my story (I’m a daydreamer) and it keeps the imposter syndrome at bay.

On average, my prep is 1,5 times the length of my written scene, but this process makes my writing so much richer. Not everything I make up in the Q&A phase ends up in my scene, especially questions like “what does the place look like”, “what is the character wearing” or “how long does it take them to walk from A to B”, but I find I can write the scene better if I know the answer, even if the reader doesn’t need to know.

Anyway, this is how I do it. Thanks for listening to my TED talk!

I’m gonna tag a few people who I admire, who I hope are interested. Feel free to ignore me if you aren’t.

Keep reading

#writing advice

6K notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

I know this has been said before, but with tumblr’s shitty culture of black and white and nothing in between, I think it warrants saying again:

It is very much okay to write straight relationships.

We need wlw and mlm, and we need non-binary characters and bisexuals and asexuals and queer platonic relationships and healthy polyamory. But we also need to have good mlw relationships and straight characters present in literature, because as much as we don’t have the diversity of sexualities, we also don’t have diversity within straight characters.

Diversity such as mlw ships in which…

One or both characters are poc, (but neither is fetishized or ‘ambiguously tan’.)

One or both characters are disabled.

One or both character are allowed to be non-gender conforming while still identifying as a binary gender.

One or both characters identify as either trans, or a binary-leaning gender, like a demi-boy/girl.

The characters are a part of a healthy polyamorous relationship.

The characters are in any healthy, loving relationship where both characters have equal power and agency within the relationship and the man is not worshiped as a feminist monument for accepting the woman as his equal (because men should not need to be given a prize for treating a woman like another human being, thank you very much.)

Now, if you think I’m saying you should go out and change your non-mlw relationships, then you are vastly misunderstanding me. There should always be characters with diverse sexualities in every book because there are people with diverse sexualities in every culture and every age, and because including these characters, (especially as non-pov characters), is so easy that any non-homophobic monkey could do it in their sleep.

What I am saying, is that we need to stop protesting writers who are writing amazing diversity and happen to have a straight protagonist or a mlw central ship.

There’s a difference between a writer who adds token diversity to a straight world for brownie points, and a writer who writes with diversity while still using their stories to show that the common mlw relationships in media aren’t the full picture, nor the way mlw relationships should be.

#writing advice

2K notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

Describing Black Hair in Fantasy (Locs, Braided Styles, etc)

Image: Describing Black Hair in Fantasy, Braided Styles

How do you describe afro hairstyles in a world where the words don’t exist?

My advice for describing afro hairstyles effectively in fantasy is to:

Describe the style

Use words from the term in the description

Have someone read it; do they know what you’re describing?

Describe the style.

What does this hairstyle look like, exactly? What is a braid? What are dreadlocks? How do you braid, or how do you form this particular type of braid?

Look up existing descriptions of the term, and use language from the definition. Combine, reword and trim as necessary. There’s no need to be wordy. A well-constructed sentence or two should serve its purpose.

Great sources are everything from hair glossaries (especially those found on Black hair websites) natural hair vlogs, and even the thesaurus.

Here are some word associations to play with:

General Textures & Looks

Tight

Loose

Thick

Thin

Dense

Light

Heavy

Springy

Silky

Sheen

Porous

Afro Texture and Curls

Afro / Fro

Cloudy

Coils

Corkscrews

Crimped

Curly

Natural

Poufy

Ringlets

Spirals

Texturized

Wavy

Braids

Crossed

Folded

Interlaced

Layered

Looped

Plaits/Plaited

Rolled

Woven

These words can help be more specific with the look of their hair/hairstyle. Tight, tiny braids. Cloudy puffs of hair in twin pigtails.

Use words from the term itself in the description.

Readers should get an “aha” moment when you do this. Twisted hair probably mean twists. Bantu knots resemble knots.

Cornrows:

Cornrows get their name from rows of corn with connections to African chattel slavery. Say you have a character with this style, but those historical connotations don’t exist in this world , or corn isn’t something your character would know about. There are still ways to make the connection.

Example: “She wore her hair in neat rows of braids along her scalp.”

The key word here is rows.

Assuming you can use a part of a word that does exist in your timeline, use it for the strongest connection to its real world counterpart. See the next example:

Dreadlocks / Locs

Another Black hairstyle with history to its name, it may not make sense to use the term in your setting (and also, due to that history, “locs” is preferred term) However, you likely could still slip the word “lock or locked” into your description to clarify for readers what you’re getting at.

Example: “His skin was the same medium brown as her own and that of her people, but his hair was thick and coarse and pulled into the rough locks that looked like braids but weren’t, like the people to the south whose skin was darker.”

-By Shira Glassman, A Harvest of Ripe Figs, Mangoverse Book 3

What’s particularly great about this description is:

The use of locks or locked hair to make the connection to dreadlocks.

Connecting the hairstyle to a certain people. It isn’t just a style anyone can wear, but it has regional roots and is worn by a particular group.

Adding other indications of race such as brown skin, and the nod to him coming from a place where the people have dark skin.

Have someone read it.

Have more than one person read your description. It would be great if at least one of those people is Black (and/or familiar with the style). Does the reader know what you’re trying to describe? Are you being concise, or over explaining it to the point of confusion? If your readers can name the style or picture it relatively quickly, then you’ve got a winner.

More reading:

Words to Describe Hair

Describing Bantu Knots (Fantasy Setting)

Fantasy World and Non-Western Clothes

~Mod Colette

#writing advice #writing resource

12K notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

i know we joke a lot about wanting to read very specifically niche content and when that doesn’t exist,, the never ending pain of having to do work and write it ourselves but,,,,,, that’s truly the beauty!!! of writing. if we don’t see that super specific niche content,, we can make it from scratch!!! we are creators. we can create these crazy and wild and perfectly imperfect worlds that we haven’t seen yet and tailor and fix what we have seen but want represented better. we can create the wild utopias and crazy dystopias of our dreams and give our characters the futures and happiness we ourselves seek. we can create our own happiness. and despite of—or in spite of all the hard work that entails—that happiness will always be worth it.

#writing advice

3K notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

How to Write Indigenous Characters Without Looking like a Jackass:

Boozhoo (hello) Fallout fandom! I'm a card-carrying Anishinaabe delivering this rough guide about writing Indigenous characters because wow, do I see a lot of shit.

Let's get something out of the way first: Fallout's portrayal of Indigenous people is racist. From a vague definition of "tribal" to the claims of them being "savage" and "uncivilized" mirror real-world stereotypes used to dehumanize us. Fallout New Vegas' narrated intro has Ron Perlman saying Mr. House "rehabilitated" tribals to create New Vegas' Three Families. You know. Rehabilitate. As if we are animals. Top it off with an erasure of Indigenous people in the American Southwest and no real tribe names, and you've got some pretty shitty representation. The absence of Native American as a race option in the GECK isn't too great, given that two Native characters are marked "Caucasian" despite being brown. Butch Deloria is a pretty well-known example of this effect. (Addendum: Indigenous people can have any mix of dominant and recessive traits, as well as present different phenotypes. What bothers me is it doesn't accommodate us or mixed people, which is another post entirely.)

As a precautionary warning: this post and the sources linked will discuss racism and genocide. There will also be discussion of multiple kinds of abuse.

Now, your best approach will be to pick a nation or tribe and research them. However, what follows will be general references.

Terms that may come up in your research include Aboriginal/Native Canadian, American Indian/Native American, Inuit, Métis, and Mestizo. The latter two refer to cultural groups created after the discovery of the so-called New World.

As a note, not every mixed person is Métis or Mestizo. If you are, say, Serbian and Anishinaabe, you would be mixed, but not Métis. Even the most liberal definition caps off at French and British ancestry alongside Indigenous (some say Scottish and English). Mestizo works the same, since it refers to descendants of Spanish conquistadors/settlers and Indigenous people.

Trouble figuring out whose land is where? No problem, check out this map.

Drawing

Don't draw us with red skin. It's offensive and stereotypical.

Tutorial for Native Skintones

Tutorial for Mixed Native Skintones

Why Many Natives Have Long Hair (this would technically fit better under another category, but give your Native men long hair!)

If You're Including Traditional Wear, Research! It's Out There

Languages

Remember, there are a variety of languages spoken by Indigenous people today. No two tribes will speak the same language, though there are some that are close and may have loan words from each other (Cree and Anishinaabemowin come to mind). Make sure your Diné (you may know them as Navajo) character doesn't start dropping Cree words.

Here's a Site With a Map and Voice Clips

Here's an Extensive List of Amerindian Languages

Keep in mind there are some sounds that have no direct English equivalents. But while we're at it, remember a lot of us speak English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese. The languages of the countries that colonized us.

Words in Amerindian languages tend to be longer than English ones and are in the format of prefix + verb + suffix to get concepts across. Gaawiin miskwaasinoon is a complete sentence in Anishinaabemowin, for example (it is not red).

Names

Surprisingly, we don't have names like Passing Dawn or Two-Bears-High-Fiving in real life. A lot of us have, for lack of better phrasing, white people names. We may have family traditions of passing a name down from generation to generation (I am the fourth person in my maternal line to have my middle name), but not everyone is going to do that. If you do opt for a name from a specific tribe, make sure you haven't chosen a last name from another tribe.

Baby name sites aren't reliable, because most of the names on there will be made up by people who aren't Indigenous. That site does list some notable exceptions and debunks misconceptions.

Here's a list of last names from the American census.

Cowboys

And something the Fallout New Vegas fans might be interested in, cowboys! Here's a link to a post with several books about Black and Indigenous cowboys in the Wild West.

Representation: Stereotypes and Critical Thought

Now, you'll need to think critically about why you want to write your Indigenous character a certain way. Here is a comprehensive post about stereotypes versus nuance.

Familiarize yourself with tropes. The Magical Indian is a pretty prominent one, with lots of shaman-type characters in movies and television shows. This post touches on its sister tropes (The Magical Asian and The Magical Negro), but is primarily about the latter.

Say you want to write an Indigenous woman. Awesome! Characters I love to see. Just make sure you're aware of the stereotypes surrounding her and other Women of Color.

Word to the wise: do not make your Indigenous character an alcoholic. "What, so they can't even drink?" You might be asking. That is not what I'm saying. There is a pervasive stereotype about Drunk Indians, painting a reaction to trauma as an inherent genetic failing, as stated in this piece about Indigenous social worker Jessica Elm's research. The same goes for drugs. Ellen Deloria is an example of this stereotype.

Familiarize yourself with and avoid the Noble Savage trope. This was used to dehumanize us and paint us as "childlike" for the sake of a plot device. It unfortunately persists today.

Casinos are one of the few ways for tribes to make money so they can build homes and maintain roads. However, some are planning on diversifying into other business ventures.

There's a stereotype where we all live off government handouts. Buddy, some of these long-term boil water advisories have been in place for over twenty years. The funding allocated to us as a percentage is 0.39%: less than half a percent to fight the coronavirus. They don't give us money.

"But what about people claiming to be descended from a Cherokee princess?" Cherokee don't and never had anything resembling princesses. White southerners made that up prior to the Civil War. As the article mentions, they fancied themselves "defending their lands as the Indians did".

Also, don't make your Indigenous character a cannibal. Cannibalism is a serious taboo in a lot of our cultures.

Our lands are not cursed. We don't have a litany of curses to cast on white people in found footage films. Seriously. We have better things to be doing. Why on earth would our ancestors be haunting you when they could be with their families? Very egotistical assumption.

Indigenous Ties and Blood Quantum

Blood quantum is a colonial system that was initially designed to "breed out the Indian" in people. To dilute our bloodlines until we assimilated properly into white society. NPR has an article on it here.

However, this isn't how a vast majority of us define our identities. What makes us Indigenous is our connections (or reconnection) to our families, tribes, bands, clans, and communities.

Blood quantum has also historically been used to exclude Black Natives from tribal enrollment, given that it was first based on appearance. So, if you looked Black and not the image of "Indian" the white census taker had in his brain, you were excluded and so were your descendants.

Here are two tumblrs that talk about Black Indigenous issues and their perspectives. They also talk about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia.

However, if you aren't Indigenous, don't bring up blood quantum. Don't. This is an issue you should not be speaking about.

Religion

Our religions are closed. We are not going to tell you how we worship. Mostly because every little bit we choose to share gets appropriated. Smudging is the most recent example. If you aren't Indigenous, that's smoke cleansing. Smudging is done in a specific way.

Now, a lot of us were forcibly converted. Every residential school was run by Christians. So plenty of us are Catholic, Baptist, Anglican, Lutheran, etc. Catholicism in Latin America also has influence from the Indigenous religions in that region.

Having your Indigenous character pray or carry rosaries wouldn't be a bad thing, if that religion was important to them. Even if they are atheist, if they lived outside of a reserve or other Indigenous communities, they might have Christian influences due to its domination of the Western world.

Settler Colonialism and the White Savior Trope

Now we've come to our most painful section yet. Fallout unintentionally has an excellent agent of settler-colonialism, in particular the Western Christian European variety, in Caesar's Legion and Joshua Graham.

(Addendum: Honest Hearts is extremely offensive in its portrayal of Indigenous people, and egregiously shows a white man needing to "civilize" tribals and having to teach them basic skills. These skills include cooking, finding safe water, and defending themselves from other tribes.)

Before we dive in, here is a post explaining the concept of cultural Christianity, if you are unfamiliar with it.

We also need to familiarize ourselves with The White Man's Burden. While the poem was written regarding the American-Philippine war, it still captures the attitudes toward Indigenous folks all over the world at the time.

As this article in Teen Vogue points out, white people like to believe they need to save People of Color. You don't need to. People of Color can save themselves.

Now, cultural Christianity isn't alone on this side of the pond. Writer Teju Cole authored a piece on the White Savior Industrial Complex to describe mission trips undertaken by white missionaries to Africa to feed their egos.

Colonialism has always been about the acquisition of wealth. To share a quote from this paper about the ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples: "Negatively, [settler colonialism] strives for the dissolution of native societies. Positively, it erects a new colonial society on the expropriated land base—as I put it, settler colonizers come to stay: invasion is a structure not an event. In its positive aspect, elimination is an organizing principal of settler-colonial society rather than a one-off (and superseded) occurrence. The positive outcomes of the logic of elimination can include officially encouraged miscegenation, the breaking-down of native title into alienable individual freeholds, native citizenship, child abduction, religious conversion, resocialization in total institutions such as missions or boarding schools, and a whole range of cognate biocultural assimilations. All these strategies, including frontier homicide, are characteristic of settler colonialism. Some of them are more controversial in genocide studies than others." (Positive, here, is referring to "benefits" for the colonizers. Indigenous people don't consider colonization beneficial.)

An example of a non-benefit, the Church Rock disaster had Diné children playing in radioactive water so the company involved could avoid bad publicity.

Moving on, don't sterilize your Indigenous people. Sterilization, particularly when it is done without consent, has long been used as a tool by the white system to prevent "undesirables" (read, People of Color and disabled people) from having children. Somehow, as of 2018, it wasn't officially considered a crime.

The goal of colonization was to eliminate us entirely. Millions died because of exposure to European diseases. Settlers used to and still do separate our children from us for reasons so small as having a dirty dish in the sink. You read that right, a single dirty dish in your kitchen sink was enough to get your children taken and adopted out to white families. This information was told to me by an Indigenous social work student whose name I will keep anonymous.

It wasn't until recently they made amendments to the Indian Act that wouldn't automatically render Indigenous women non-status if they married someone not Indigenous. It also took much too long for Indigenous families to take priority in child placement over white ones. Canada used to adopt Indigenous out to white American families. The source for that statement is further down, but adoption has been used as a tool to destroy cultures.

I am also begging you to cast aside whatever colonialist systems have told you about us. We are alive. People with a past, not people of the past, which was wonderfully said here by Frank Waln.

Topics to Avoid if You Aren't Indigenous

Child Separation. Just don't. We deserve to remain with our families and our communities. Let us stay together and be happy that way.

Assimilation schools. Do not bring up a tool for cultural genocide that has left lasting trauma in our communities.

Wendigos. I don't care that they're in Fallout 76. They shouldn't be. Besides, you never get them right anyway.

Skinwalkers. Absolutely do not. Diné stories are not your playthings either.

I've already talked about drugs and alcohol. Do your research with compassion and empathy in mind. Indigenous people have a lot of pain and generational trauma. You will need to be extremely careful having your Indigenous characters use drugs and alcohol. If your character can be reduced to their (possible) substance abuse issues, you need to step back and rework it. As mentioned in Jessica Elm's research, remember that it isn't inherent to us.

For our final note: remember that we're complex, autonomous human beings. Don't use our deaths to further the stories of your white characters. Don't reduce us to some childlike thing that needs to be raised and civilized by white characters. We interact with society a little differently than you do, but we interact nonetheless.

Meegwetch (thank you) for reading! Remember to do your research and portray us well, but also back off when you are told by an Indigenous person.

This may be updated in the future, it depends on what information I come across or, if other Indigenous people are so inclined, what is added to this post.

#writing advice

13K notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

Chapter 29: “S.O.S.”

Polaris and the Bisharp Clan descend upon the Ice Path as Matt, Amanda and the others pass through, leading to a confrontation long in the making.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13322214/chapters/72624507

FF.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8086860/30/Operation-GEAR-The-Angel-of-Reckoning

Serebii: https://forums.serebii.net/threads/operation-gear-the-angel-of-reckoning-r.571130/page-16#post-19161368

#writing rec

3 notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

fan fic authors be like yes i know this will flop however i simply have too much love for this character and my very niche headcanons for them. and i think that is so fuckin sexy of us

#writing meme

78K notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

[FE3H] One Two Punch

Title: One Two Punch Characters: Balthus, Claude, Nader Wordcount: ~4650 Summary: Balthus accompanies Claude to Almyra, and while there they make a pitstop to Nader’s place. He gets to know Nader better on a round of drinks and a friendly brawl match. Warnings: Alcohol, some light violence, Golden Deer/Verdant Wind route and DLC spoilers

Excerpt:

Balthus had never been to Almyra before, but heard a lot about that place. The few people that left Kupala would cross the border and then came back to tell stories of how great the food and parties in Almyra were. When he was in the academy, his best pal Holst would get letters from his father describing how strong but reckless Almyran soldiers were in battles. Hearing about Almyra made Balthus want to party and brawl with them.

After the war, he went to Almyra with Claude. Bahar, Claude’s white wyvern, was a fast flyer as they were able to pass Fodlan’s Throat and crossed the border within two days. So far there was desert that stretched for miles. The scorching winds blasted Balthus’s face and caused him to spit the dust out. He often would look down below to see the various villages and towns they passed by, many having clay buildings and lively markets from what Balthus could tell.

I wrote this for Solaris: A Balthus Zine over at Twitter. You can read it over at AO3 or FFnet!

#Fire Emblem Three Houses #fe3h fanfiction #my writing

4 notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

Let's Talk About: Minor Character Development

“Creating one interesting character is hard enough — but when it comes to writing a whole novel or series of books, you have to create dozens of them. How can you keep your supporting cast from seeming like cookie-cutter people? There’s no easy answer, but a few tricks might help you create minor characters who don’t feel too minor.” [x]

10 Secrets to Creating Unforgettable Supporting Characters

Give them at lease one defining characteristic. "…lots of people have one or two habits that you notice the first time you meet them, that stand out in your mind even after you learn more about them.“

Give them an origin story. ”…Your main character doesn’t necessarily need an origin story, because you’ve got the whole book to explain who he/she is and what he/she is about. But a supporting character? You get a paragraph or five, to explain the formative experience that made her become the person she is, and possibly how she got whatever skills or powers she possesses.“

Make sure they talk in a distinctive fashion. ”…you still have to make sure your characters don’t all talk the same. Some of them talk in nothing but short sentences, others in nothing but long, rolling statements full of subordinate clauses and random digressions. Or you might have a character who always follows one long sentence with three short ones.“ ”…One dirty shortcut is to hear the voice of a particular actor or famous person in your head, as one character talks.“

Avoid making them paragons of virtue, or authorial stand-ins. ”…People who have no flaws are automatically boring, and thus forgettable.“ ”…Any character who has foibles, or bad habits, or destructive urges, will always stand out more than one who is pure and wonderful in all ways. And nobody will believe that you’ve chosen to identify yourself, as the author, with someone who’s so messed up. (Because of course, you are a perfect human being, with no flaws of your own.)“

Anchor them to a particular place. ”…A huge part of making a supporting character “pop” is placing her somewhere. Give her a haunt — some place she hangs out a lot. A tavern, a bar, an engine room, a barracks, a dog track, wherever. It works both ways — by anchoring a character in a particular location, you make both the character and the location feel more real.“

Introduce them twice — the first time in the background, the second in the foreground. ”…You mention a character in passing: “And Crazy Harriet was there too, chewing on her catweed like always.” And you say more about them. And then later, the next time we see that character, you give more information or detail, like where she scores her catweed from. The reader will barely remember that you mentioned the character the first time — but it’s in the back of the reader’s mind, and there’s a little “ping” of identification.“

Focus on what they mean to your protagonists ”…What does this minor character mean to your hero? What role does he fulfill? What does your hero want or need from Randolph the Grifter? If you know what your hero finds memorable about Randolph, then you’re a long ways towards finding what your readers will remember, too.“

Give them an arc — or the illusion of one. ”… You can create the appearance of an arc by establishing that a character feels a particular way — and then, a couple hundred pages later, you mention that now the character feels a different way.“ ”…A minor character who changes in some way is automatically more interesting than one who remains constant…“

The more minor the character, the more caricature-like they may have to be. ”…This one is debatable — you may be a deft enough author that you can create a hundred characters, all of whom are fully fleshed out, well-rounded human beings with full inner lives.“ ”…some writing styles simply can’t support or abide cartoony minor characters. But for your third ensign, who appears for a grand total of two pages, on page 147 and page 398, you may have to go for cartoony if you want him to live in the reader’s mind as anything other than a piece of scenery.“

Decide which supporting characters you’ll allow to be forgettable after all. ”…And this is probably inevitable. You only have so much energy, and your readers only have so much mental space. Plus, if 100 supporting characters are all vivid and colorful and people your readers want to go bowling with, then your story runs the risk of seeming overwritten and garish.Sometimes you need to resign yourself to the notion that some characters are going to be extras, or that they’re literally going to fulfill a plot function without having any personality to speak of. It’s a major sacrifice they’re making, subsuming their personality for the sake of the major players’ glory.“

Continuar lendo

#writing advice

21K notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Photo

MOON+ROSE COVEN: a safe place to receive positive validation on your writing.

The purpose of this Discord group is to offer a safe and uplifting space for fiction writers to receive validation on their writing during the drafting and editing process in order to help them succeed with their writing goals.

The idea of MOON+ROSE COVEN sparked from how much the validation we received from Tumblr helped us draft and edit our WIPs, and from the unfortunate fact that Tumblr is not an easy place to receive that anymore, especially not if you’re burned out from social media.

So, we decided to create a space where you can easily share snippets and receive validation without worrying about creating an eye-catching graphic, getting enough views, or convincing people to reblog instead of like. If you share a snippet in this group, you will receive positive feedback on it, and hopefully, you will also find a group of supportive writers to cheer you along on your writing journey!

Wondering who we are? Here’s a little bit about us and our writing…

Sarah ( @bensolouwu ): I’m a 20-year-old with chronic pain who loves dark and Dramatic stories that get w e i r d and also have monsters that get kissed. I write YA and Adult dark fantasy novels filled with angst, enemies to lovers, cosmic and body horror, religious imagery, monsters, and villains who are also love interests.

Luna ( @moondust-bard ): I’m a 24-year-old autistic queer with chronic pain and eyes that don’t work— I know, I’m a party in human form. I adore fairytales, folklore, and mythology, which is pretty evident in my work. I write young adult speculative fiction about ambitious girls with magic and charismatic baddies who unapologetically simp for them. I’m a big fan of juxtaposing traditional beauty with darkness and grit, morally grey characters who make questionable choices for good reasons, and discussing real-world issues in fiction.

What will this group be?: It will be a place to receive positive feedback on your writing, and a place to offer positive feedback to other writers. It will also be a place to share your goals and accomplishments and be encouraged along your writing journey.

What will this group not be?: It will not be a place to receive/give in-depth critiques and/or constructive criticism. Those are both important aspects to writing, but this group is only focused on the way that positive feedback immensely motivates and encourages writers.

At this point, you might be wondering what counts as positive feedback! Well, anything that lies between some emojis and an in-depth critique. Basically, write a sentence to a few paragraphs of what you loved about the snippet, and you’ve got some solid positive feedback on your hands!

This will be a limited-size group curated to best fit each other’s skill levels and writing styles, so we cannot guarantee acceptance, but if all goes well and interest remains, we might create more groups further down the line and you’ll have first dibs if that happens!

Interested? Here’s the form to apply! We really appreciate your interest in the safe space we’re trying to create! If you would like to apply for the MOON+ROSE COVEN, fill out the form here.

If you’re interested, please reblog this post so others can find it too! And if someone you know might be interested, please tag them in the replies or let them know about this post!

#writing resource #saving this to check out later!

65 notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

How To Make A Scene More Heartfelt

I’ve written another post about love/romantic scenes sort of similar to this one, called Kiss Scenes 101: How To Write The Perfect Kiss. If that would be useful to you, I definitely recommend you check it out.

♡ Vocabulary ♡

Use appropriate vocabulary in context of the scene. Try not to use words that would hit your reader like a truck in the middle of what is supposed to be a sappy, heartfelt scene. It will bring your reader’s moment to a screeching halt, and ruin the whole vibe.

♡ Inner Monologue ♡

Don’t gloss over what your character(s) is thinking and what is rushing through their heads in the heartfelt moments of your story. If the voice in their head is flipping out and thinking of all of the ways they could ruin their first kiss but they don’t have time to complete a thought and all of a sudden everything is happening and their thought process is interrupted by the love interest’s lips meeting theirs, illustrate that for your reader. Most of the time, the unspoken reactions to what’s going on is the best part of the actual scene.

♡ Dialogue ♡

Please, please, please don’t forget that in a heartfelt scene, it’s not just staring at each other and thinking loud enough for the reader to hear. There is actual communication going on, even if only non-verbal, and it’s important to include dialogue. This also touches on the previously mentioned vocabulary point: please keep a bit of believability in the actions of the characters. Chances are, a high school boy wouldn’t part from a kiss and seriously say “you’re the wind beneath my wings, darling”. That will make your reader laugh, and in some cases that’s a good thing, but when you’re trying to tug the heart strings, leave the cheesy, face-palm worthy moments out of it.

♡ Connections ♡

A really good thing to include in heartfelt scenes is connections to other bits of the story, like the very beginning of the story when the main character was clumsy and had a silly little crush that has turned into something so big that the character is now reflecting on in a serious turning point of their relationship. Or maybe the main character is crying over a break up and is walking around their once shared home, the memories that the reader has already read and experienced are replaying at hyper speed, making the character break down before the reader’s eyes. Connections can make the scene bitter, sweet, or both at the same time.

♡ References ♡

Kind of like making connections, references to certain details of the story can make the reader feel faux nostalgia, and can make the scene even more amazing. Maybe the love interest quotes something the main character said when they first met, or something drifts through the main character’s head that brings the reader back to a previous heartfelt scene that was meant to stick with them.

♡ Reader’s Ability To Relate To The Situation ♡

Ok, so this is the big one. One of the biggest parts of reading scenes like this is being able to read the emotion, recognize it, and feel it personally. This kind of relates to that stereotype that girls read crappy romance novels after a breakup and cry about their lost relationship (been there, honestly). Well, there’s a catharsis that comes with this, and in order to make a scene really hit the reader, you need to take advantage of the opportunity to magnify the strong emotions. To do this, make the details relatively vague or relatable to the majority of people. Regular things that a person would think or do in that situation that a person can read and use to put their self in the role of the main character. It’s important to pay close attention to the little details when it comes to making a scene relatable, because it can make or break the scene altogether.

Request a prompt list/writing advice/playlist/study help post here

#writing advice

5K notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Photo

[ID: Photo of a red and orange nebula/cloud-like mass in space. Stars can be seen through this cloud, and a black trail of smoke runs from the bottom left-hand corner almost to the top. In the bottom right-hand corner are the words “ANIMA” in typewriter font with the words “a sci-fi wip” beneath it. A white, horizontal line separates the two lines of text. A vertical line bisects the horizontal one to the right of these words.]

ANIMA — an introduction

GENRE: Sci-fi (alien invasion), action, thriller

THEMES/VIBES: Family bonds, identity, morality, the nature of war, what measure is a non-human, purpose. Also, 70s/80s sci-fi movies.

POV: Third person limited

STATUS: Planning/outlining

CONTENT WARNINGS: Violence, body horror, possession, blood, character death, war

SUMMARY:

When a meteorite crash-lands on Earth and brings with it evidence of extraterrestrial life, astrobiologist(-to-be) Nico Silvestri follows his mentor to the impact crater to unlock the secrets of the universe. However, things go sideways, and instead of studying alien life, he becomes host to it. And then things get worse.

The animax, parasitic aliens from the edge of the galaxy, have come to bring an eons-long, galaxy-spanning war against a mysterious oncoming force to Earth, but before they can launch the offensive, they need to take control of its dominant species to serve as soldiers. Vee, an animax scout, has just taken possession of Nico, but it gets no further before its host, in a desperate attempt to avoid complete assimilation, proposes a deal. Vee can have Nico’s body … if his sister Grace is taken to safety first.

Now on a mission to lead the shellshocked teenager Grace across a city in chaos, Nico and Vee struggle to reach a balance between them, master their shared powers, and survive Earth in the earliest throes of an invasion … all while inadvertently discovering the truth behind the generations-old animax war itself.

Characters and taglist under the cut!

Keep reading

#writing rec #yesss looking forward to this!

67 notes · View notes

baygelbites · 3 years

Text

tips on writing arab characters

first let’s cover the main mistake people make: what is an arab?

an arab is generally any person whose lineage comes from an arabic-speaking country. some examples: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

now that you know what your character is (if you were aiming for east asian/south asian this is your cue to leave and educate yourself!) let’s talk about some important factors of an arab character.

decide what country they are from: this is ridiculously important! each arab country has a unique history and their cultures vary DRASTICALLY! it is extremely offensive to take bits and pieces of different cultures from various arab countries and stuff them all into one character. so first choose from where exactly your character hails. note: if you are writing in a fantasy world, this still applies! look into your specific country of choice and work around that.

not all arabs are muslims: while islam has greatly influenced arab culture, muslims and arabs are not synonymous. islam is a religion, arab is a lineage. if you choose to make your character muslim, be mindful of that religion, and if not, do not give the character islamic attributes (ie: hijabs, islamic names)

on naming your character:

first names: once again, be mindful of the character’s religion here. many names that have come to be associated with arabs are in fact islamic in origin (mohammed, abdullah, aabid…) look for arabic names and check the meaning and origin to be sure (here and here are some good websites that give definition and origin). arabic names generally do not have nicknames. yes even ‘mo’ for ‘mohammed’ or ‘al’ for ‘ali’ are all a foreigner’s look on arabic names. they don’t work. don’t use them.

middle names: arabs generally do not have middle names (which is to say, they aren’t assigned any at birth) instead, the child’s father’s name is their second name. so ahmed, son of salim would be ‘ahmed salim’ rather than be given an entirely new name.

last names: the last name of any arab is their father’s last name. generally, a married woman keeps her own last name rather than change it to her husband’s, and the children inherit their father’s name.

fashion: once again this differs entirely based on what country you’ve chosen but also please mind the year! if your novel is set in the equivalent of the 1800s traditional big turbans have been out of fashion for centuries!! more modern clothing can include checkered turbans that are worn by men and draped on the head, set in place by igal. but again, this depends on the country of choice. kuffiyehs are more symbolically worn in countries like palestine, syria and jordan. here and here are more in-depth descriptions.

the arabic language: arabic differs drastically from english in regards to grammar so using a translator site isn’t going to cut it. the main reason for this is that there each arabic country has its own dialect, and while some are similar, they all have obvious differences. a translator will give you the official arabic, which isn’t used in day-to-day speech. my advice is to have an arab speaker read through your lines before publishing.

stereotypes: for a bit of background, it was an arab (Al-Haitham) that became one of the first founders of modern optics by creating the first camera. an arab (Ibn Firnas) who first attempted flight. arabs invented the numbers currently used all around the world (yes 0-9 were created by an arab named al-Khwarizmi!) so let me tell you it is extremely disrespectful, hurtful, and downright wrong when arabs are presented as uncivilized, uneducated, and violent in books and media. keep this in mind while writing your character.

more than sand and camels: while many arabs hail from the desert and indeed a good many travels were taken via camel, that does not mean your arab character is required to know this. not all arabic countries are deserts. not all arabs own camels. if you must give them a form of travel, an often overlooked talent of arabs was horse-riding, and some of the best breeds of horse are arabian, so look into that instead!

misogynism and homophobia: this is a harmful arabic stereotype bred from the misunderstanding of islamic values. hijab/niqab (head and face covers) are the chosen form of dress for muslim women (though once again not all arabs are muslims!) along with many other values held by muslim men and women, there are cultural influences some arabs hold that are mistranslated by western countries. i might make a separate post about this alone, but just be mindful about this as you are writing your character. don’t make the girl oppressed and in need of saving. don’t make the guy sexist and arrogant.

war is not culture, it’s circumstance: the middle east has generally come to be associated with war and pain, a circumstance of which no one is happy about. this does not mean that your character should desire violence, wish to inflict pain, come from an abusive family, desire war, come from a background of war. these are all offensive and just another painful reminder of how the west sees arabs. if your character fits into any of those categories, now is the time to fix that.

if anything remains unclear, shoot me an ask!

#writing resource

1K notes · View notes