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rainwritesandreads · 4 years

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my spotify playlist masterlist for all your quarantine needs

for lazy hazy afternoons

for when it’s past midnight and you need to dance to something trashy and pop

for when you can’t remember why you are still here

for rainy nights where you think too deeply

for when you’re only fifty percent human and the other fifty percent is something more feral and monstrous

for anxiety attacks and breakdowns

for when you only want to listen to sad white men singing about sad things

for when you’re drinking soda and the bubbles make your nose tingle

for feeling weightless

for when you’re walking on an uneven pavement and the sun is beating down your neck

for simultaneous crying and bopping

for when one more sad song might make you scream

for your bruised and tender soul

for pretending you’re in an upbeat indie electropop band with your three best friends and you’re all gay

for unconventional alternative love songs

for when you need a reminder of what living feels like because everything feels grey

for pretending you can afford all the things you added to your cart on sephora

for when you’re breaking your own heart

for drifting off into another world at night

for when you’re feeling stuck but also hopeful but also tired but also excited

for when you need your heartbeat to slow back down

for believing in love again

for daydreaming on a hillside under a soft sunset

for when you realize she has the most beautiful smile and looking at it hurts

for when you need the warmest coziest hug

for feeling as small as dust and as infinite as the universe, all at once

for when your heart needs to feel soft and easy and happy

for seeing the person you’re in love with and realizing you need to let them go and start moving on

for when you feel like you’ve been set on fire

for putting on makeup in the morning even though it feels like there’s no point but also you just want to look really fucking cute for no reason

for when you need to be eased into pulling yourself together

for summer days laying outside on your front lawn daydreaming about lemonade

for pretending you’re a depressed mermaid who lives in the arctic ocean

for when you’re daydreaming about the future so that you can forget for a moment how unhappy you are

for being transported back to 2012 when you were trashy and emo and cringey as hell

for staring in the mirror in the dark and thinking about the experience of womanhood

for punching walls and smashing people’s heads in

for cutting fruit to make into a cobbler because fuck you want to eat something cozy and comforting then

for when things are �� not going quite how you thought they would

for when your life feels like an actual movie and you need to soundtrack it

for unwinding from a stressful day

for when you feel like a ghost running through a forest while it’s raining and foggy

for when you actually yell back for the first time and the adrenaline pumps through your blood

for when it’s raining outside and you’re staring out the window longing to run in the rain but instead you’re stuck inside

for feeling like you’re right inside of a black hole

for when you’re anxiety says something stupid to you and for once you know it’s wrong and you fight back

for when you need to feel bigger than what you are in that moment

for when you put your trust in someone and you’re terrified

for feeling inexplicably sad and upset and lonely

for knowing it’s okay to cry

for when it’s late at night and you can’t stop thinking about him

for haunting unholy songs that help you pretend that you’re a demon

for breathing properly, just when it feels like you’ll never be able to again

for feeling unformed and unfinished and unknown

for almost being at peace but something is nagging at you

for just really needing to hear james blake’s voice

for when you love someone so much but you can’t talk to them because the words don’t come out

for being a teenager at the fucking-things-up-and-breaking-rules stage of a coming-of-age film

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rainwritesandreads · 4 years

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My first love

My first love,

So sweet; So innocent.

You’ve held my heart; From the start.

Love at first sight; Though we had many a fight.

We tried to stay true; To work it all through.

I was so afraid to lose you; All I did was abuse you.

You’ve always been so good to me; Helped me with my every need.

I never out you first; That’s when we hit our worst.

You can’t be blamed; I’m so ashamed.

I tried my best; You did the rest.

We were young once; I almost threw a punch.

But we’re mature now; And we’ve learned how.

Sure we have our rough days; And sometimes take the tough ways.

And I can truly say; Without a doubt today.

That I love you; You’re in my heart true.

Me oh my, Do I love you.

My first love; My hardest heartbreak.

I stare in the mirror; And I no longer have anything to fear.

Because when I stare at you; I look back at me.

And finally I know I will always love, Me me me.

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rainwritesandreads · 4 years

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I Refuse To Be Loved In Half Measures

i didn’t spend years teaching myself that i am worthy of oceans for you to show up here, with a knee-deep love..

-s.r.w

#s.r.w #poem #short poem #empowering #self love #putting yourself first #love #empoweringquotes #power #embrace yourself #you matter #poetry #beautiful

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rainwritesandreads · 5 years

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I was afraid, then I was found

I used to hide when it stormed.

At the first sight of those dark dark clouds,

I ran; inside.

That was where I thought I was safe,

Alone- perhaps, but I told myself that I was cozy there.

Even when the lights flickered out, and the heat gave up, and I was all alone.

Because it was storming, and I had to be inside.

I didn’t want to be caught in the rain;

And then one day, I was outside, with you;

And the clouds rolled in, dark, and dreary as always.

But you didn’t go inside, didn’t duck away, didn’t run for cover;

And ever so hesitantly, I stayed outside too, with you.

And as it started to rain, I was offered a raincoat.

An unfamiliar thing, a gift, an open hand, an invitation.

And so I stayed, with you, out in the storm.

Soon I found that we were not alone in the rain, but that many people came out to be in the storm.

They enjoyed it, they laughed, they frolicked, in the rain.

So I realised, that I was not alone, that I was not cold, that I was not in the dark, but only in the rain.

That was because of you, you made me see, that a little rain never hurt.

The sunshine that is in your soul and now mine; and that light, oh that light, it keeps me warm and dry, and it makes me feel divine, like I sit way way up in the sky.

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rainwritesandreads · 5 years

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Flow:

A steady and continuous stream of movement or change.

#favorite word #writing things #flow #words #i love words #writer things #My words #verb #noun #definition #in my words #property of rainwritesandreads

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rainwritesandreads · 5 years

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3 2 1 tag game Sum up your WIP(s) in three themes, two nouns, one adjective, and an image.

I was tagged by @the-unwritten-writer

Themes- the social separation society causes, the power of a united force under common goal, and finding true self

Nouns- deities, wings

Adjective- prudent

It was nearly impossible to find an image I could settle with for The Darling Terrors, but it’ll do the job.

I’m going to tag @drowsy-quill and @writingwinterridge and encourage them to play along at their convenience.

#tagging game #123 tag #sum up your wip #it took me ages #wip #my wips #property of rainwritesandreads

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rainwritesandreads · 5 years

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These Words are Written in Blood

This is written in my blood, But you already know that.

Because you, Ignored my screams, Ignored my suffering, Ignored my pleas.

You ignored me, You ignored us.

Because of this, This is written in the blood of our people.

Who have screamed for you to stop, Who have suffered because you didn’t, Who pleaded you to end this.

Because you wrote, Your laws, Your acts, Your bills; In our blood.

In the blood of our siblings on the other side of the planet, In the blood of our siblings who cannot fight for themselves, In the blood of our siblings who do not have voices for themselves because of you, In the blood of all animals and plants, all living things of our planet.

Our screams, Our suffering, Our pleas;

Are ignored, By you.

And your rules and regulations and condemning statements are written in blood that is Taken, Stolen, Appropriated.

But know, That their blood, That our blood, That my blood,

Is the same ink that will be used to destroy your carefully written words.

Because just as well as yours, These words are written in blood.

Because we have the strength to take our own blood by choice, and use it with purpose for what we believe in.

Can you say the same?

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rainwritesandreads · 5 years

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Words to Describe Hair

This began as a guide to describing Afro/curly hair but of course, I got carried away. From look and texture of hair, colors and various styles, this guide serves as a thesaurus of sorts for hair, as well as pointers for use in your writing.

Culturally Significant Hair Coverings:

Know the meaning behind head wear and why it’s worn, when and by whom, such as a Native Nation’s headdress, before bestowing a character with it.

Head Coverings Resources:

More on various head coverings.

See here for more Islamic Veils.

See here for more on the Nigerian gele.

See here on African American Headwraps.

View our hijab and headscarves tags for discussion on these topics.

Afro - Curly - Straightened

There are many varieties of braids, twists & Afro hair styles; have some more!

African/Black Hair: Natural, Braids and Locks

African Hair: Braiding Styles 10 African Types

Describing Black (Afro) hair:

Appropriative Hairstyles: Keep in mind that Afro styles should be kept to those in the African Diaspora, such as dreadlocks, cornrows + certain and many braided styles.

Tread carefully describing Afro hair as “wild” “unkempt” “untamed” or any words implying it’s unclean or requires controlling.

“Nappy” and “wooly” are generally words to stay away from, the first having heavy negative connotations for many and the latter, though used in the Holy Bible, is generally not acceptable anymore and comes off as dehumanizing due to Animal connotations.

There are mixed feelings on calling Black hair “kinky.” I’m personally not opposed to the word in itself and usage depends on the person’s race (I’m more comfortable with a Black person using it vs. a Non-Black person) as well as their tone and context (if it’s used in a neutral or positive tone vs. negatively/with disdain). Get feedback on your usage, or simply forgo it.

See our tags “Black Hair” and “Natural Hair” for more discussion on describing Black hair.

Texture - Look - Styles

Hair Colors and Style

Writing Tips & Things to Keep in Mind:

Combination Words: Try combining words to illustrate look of hair. A character with springy coils that dance across her shoulders with every movement, the man with thick silvery hair slicked back into a ponytail…

Mind Perspective: Depending on POV, a character might not know exactly what cornrows or a coiffure style is, at least in name, and it might make more sense if they described the hairdo instead. More defining terms might come from a more knowing source or the wearer themselves. One book I read described a girl’s afro puff as “thick hair pulled up into a cute, curly, poufy thing on top of her head and tied with a yellow ribbon.”

POC & Hair Colors: People of Color’s hair comes in all shades and textures. There are Black people with naturally blond and loosely-textured to straight hair, East Asian people with red hair, and so on. Keep that in mind when coding characters if you tend to rely on hair color alone to denote a character is white vs. a Person of Color.

Related Tropes: There are tropes and discussion related to People of Color, colored hair, and light-colored hair and features.

Check out these posts on the topic: The East Asian Women + Colored Hair Trope - Black Characters & “Wild” Hair Colors - POC w/ Supernatural Colorful Features. - ‘Uncommon’ Features & POC Characters

~Mod Colette

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rainwritesandreads · 5 years

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The time will come when men will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.

Jane Goodall

#jane goodall #animal rights #our planet #green earth #save our earth #save our oceans #everything is going extinct #murder of our planet

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rainwritesandreads · 5 years

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From Springhole.net [x] [x]

Food-Colored Skin

Not only is purple prose obnoxious; sometimes it’s downright racist. For some reason, writers have a fondness for describing dark complexions as “chocolate” or somesuch.

But wait, people like chocolate! What’s so bad about likening a skintone to something almost everyone likes?

The problem is that food-colored skin is a phenomenon mostly limited to dark-colored complexions. And it’s more than just a little creepy when strangers keep likening your skintone to an inanimate edible object. Plus, in some places “chocolate bar” is a playground taunt used to goad black children.

Not a very tasteful choice in similitudes at all.

Skin Color Only Described When Not White

In many stories, the color of a character’s skin will only be described when the character doesn’t have a fair complexion. This typically happens because the writer is white and subconsciously thinks of xir own skin color as the default and everyone else’s as the outliers. Even JK Rowling, whose books frequently focus on tolerance and equality, is guilty of this.

The solution is simple - just describe everyone’s complexion, and all will be well.

Written Accents

Written accents are offensive because they essentially tell the group whose accent is being written that “your way of talking is weird; my way is normal.”

Not only are written accents offensive to the group being represented, but they’re offensive to read because you have to spend extra time trying to sort out what the writer was trying to say.

If you want to write a character who is supposed to have an accent, use grammar and slang associated with people who have that accent. You could also just mention that they have an accent. But don’t butcher the spellings of the words. “He’s got himself in a right pickle, he has” is fine, but “‘E’s got ‘imself in a right pickle, ‘e ‘as” is not.

Things Appropriated From Other Cultures

Many new writers are bound and determined to make sure their characters have meaningful and unique names. I see many people who have clearly scoured the bowels of online baby name sites to find the perfect Vedic/Japanese/Aztec name for their white character.

This sort of thing is a form of cultural appropriation, which is a pretty huge faux pas. For the uninformed, cultural appropriation is when a member of a dominant culture takes something from an oppressed/minority culture and uses it in a shallow, trendy, or superficial way - and there’s really nothing more shallow or superficial than trying to make your character stand out by giving xir an “exotic” name instead of giving xir a memorable personality and story.

Likewise, people give their characters katanas and throw youkai into their stories for no other reason than “it’s more interesting” than Western culture. Throwing things from another culture into your story for no other reason than you think it’s “more interesting” reduces that culture to a cheap gimmick, which is pretty rude and offensive.

“Harmless” Stereotypes

The Japanese plant-lover. The wise Native American. The sexy Latina. There’s nothing bad about loving plants or being wise or sexy, so why would anyone find these offensive?

For one thing, it can create unrealistic expectations and assumptions about these people. Many Asian-Americans find themselves having to explain to people that no, they don’t know squat about gardening, really. Many Latinas would rather people didn’t expect them to be hot and spicy lovers based on their race. And contrary to what some think, Native Americans aren’t really born with a magical connection to the Earth and tend to find assumptions that they are quite irritating.

The Supercrip

There are two varieties of supercrips: the first is a disabled person who is treated as a hero just for doing everyday things that most people take for granted. It’s quite frankly condescending, and many disabled people would thank you to knock it off.

The second type is the character who has amazing skills or abilities because or in spite of xir disability. While a writer might be trying to say “just because a person has a disability, doesn’t mean they can’t be amazing!”, what the audience hears is “disabled people often have amazing abilities to make up for their disability,” which unfortunately isn’t true.

The Mighty Whitey

The Mighty Whitey is a white person (if not physically, then culturally) who finds xirself faced with the task of saving a marginalized group (often as not from other white people). The character is usually male and ends up becoming the leader of the people he just liberated, and he usually ends up with a hot ethnic-looking gal to boink. (Think Jake Sulley fromAvatar, and you’ve got the Mighty Whitey in a nutshell.) The Mighty Whitey will learn the ways of an ethnic group, and xe will become even better at them than the people who have been studying them all their lives.

What makes this trope so horrendous is the attitude of white supremacy: it implies that non-white people cannot solve their problems without a white person to help or even lead them, and that white people will always be better at everything.

Also, becoming a leader of a people whose culture you have only known/studied for a few months - or even a few years - is one of the most ridiculously puerile fantasies in existence.

Getting Mental Illnesses & Different Neurologies Wrong

Want to create a chilling plot twist? Just the killer the hero’s evil alternate personality! That’s called schizophrenia… right?

Wrong. And this type of thing is incredibly insensitive and offensive.

Aside from the fact that schizophrenia does not create multiple personalities, most people with schizophrenia and multiple personalities are quite harmless. Yet thanks to their portrayal in fiction, many people expect them to be dangerous, which makes their already-difficult lives even more difficult.

Occasionally, some people go the other direction and portray these people as innocent or even mystical. That’s positive discrimination, and that’s also bad because it creates unrealistic expectations.

Whether it’s schizophrenia, multiple personlities, autism, Asperger’s, psychopathy, sociopathy, or anything else, you’re going to use a mental disorder or alternate neurology of any kind, make sure you research it. And whatever you do,NEVER give your character a mental illness just to make xir more “interesting,” because that’s ableism.

Trying to Create an Aesop About Discrimination Without Actually Understanding the Discrimination in Question

Most people think they have a pretty good bead on what racism is all about - it’s about segregation, ugly slurs, and pointy white hats. Same goes with sexism - women can get jobs and vote now, so it must be over, right? Ha, if only.

In real life, these people are very rarely overt - in fact, most racism is extremely subtle, so subtle that the offender doesn’t even realize that what they’ve said or done is offensive or hurtful and will vehemently deny the possiblity that what they said or did could have been offensive. (A common response from these people is “I can’t be an X-ist! I have X friends!” Yeah, if only.)

Some examples of subtle discrimination:

Telling rowdy children to “stop running around like a bunch of wild Indians!”

Describing a non-white character or person as “exotic.”

Dressing up in Halloween costumes depicting ethnic stereotypes.

Insisting that a woman who does not want children right now will “change her mind” in the future.

Asking a woman why she’s still single if she’s so attractive.

Asing a woman who is angry about something if she’s on her period.

Insulting males who don’t live up to expectations of perceived masculinity by accusing them of acting “girly” or calling them gay.

If you want to learn more about what real discrimination of all kinds look and feel like, I recommend readingMicroaggressions. (Language warning.) Also, check out this handy-dandy list of links to privilege checklists so you can check your own privilege before writing off into the sunset.

Trying to Satirize a Thing Without Understanding Why it’s a Thing

The film Death Becomes Her satirizes the perceived vanity of performers who spend mind-blowing amounts of money on beauty products and plastic surgeries to stay young. Funny film? Yes. But it’s rather sexist in that it treats this perceived vanity as something that just happens to some women for no real reason. It ignores the fact that we live in a society obsessed with youth and that our consumerist culture has commodified it and tries to make us feel inferior every day for not buying it from them. It ignores the fact that the men in control of the entertainment industry constantly pressure women into getting plastic surgery and enhancements, even flat-out refusing to hire women who don’t meet their exact standards of beauty, regardless of their talent.

Killing Off LGBT Characters to Make an Allegedly Non-Hateful Point

There’s this thing that some writers do - they introduce an LGBT character, try to build some some sympathy for xir, and before you know it they’ve killed off this character in a manner that’s reminiscent of that old and noxious “too good for this sinful Earth” trope that pervaded Puritan literature.

This sends an absolutely terrible message to LGBT people - that the only way they can escape the shame and the hate that so often comes with being LGBT is if they die. LGBT youth are at a higher risk of committing suicide already - clearly, this is not a message we want to be sending.

Forgetting Women of Color in Female-Oriented Entertainment

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Charmed. Pan Am. Sex in the City. All of these female-aimed shows exhibit distinctly monochrome casting choices. Sure, Charmed was sort of justified in that the three leads were supposed to be sisters. But Pan Am has no excuse - and there were plenty of non-white stewardesses in the 60’s.

Multi-Racial Groups Always With a White at the Helm

This wouldn’t be a problem if it didn’t keep happening all the time. But invariably, whenever there’s a multi-racial group or team of some kind, the leader will invariably be white. The implication is that while non-whites are good enough to have on a team, they still aren’t leadership material.

The Fairytale Gypsy

You know the character type - they live in wagons, wear colorful clothing, read fortunes, and play a mean fiddle.

The trouble is, what you see in fiction is a romanticized version of a very ugly reality: “Gypsy” is actually a racial slur for the Roma and Dom people. The reason they’re nomads is because racists have a habit of routing them out whenever they try to settle down, and their eclectic fashion comes from having to wear whatever they can get. Also, they’re no more magical than you or me.

Their portrayal in many fantasies perpetuates the myth that these people are fairytale creatures who vanished along with Long Ago And Far Away, rather than real people who suffer systemic oppression today.

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rainwritesandreads · 5 years

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To the one that I lost, Tonight I watched a meteor shower with a boy. He was a very nice boy- more than nice, he was charming and funny and kind, and we ran barefoot under the stars to dance to our favourite song at the party, and he lent me his blue velvet jacket and pulled me up onto the wall to sit with him. And we watched the shooting stars, and he held my hand and turned his head, and we kissed. And it was a very nice kiss. And that’s why I hated you right at that moment. Because I know, that every time I ever do something like that; watching silver bursts of light on the midnight blue, or kissing someone with the music playing behind my back, or dipping my legs in the freezing river with my party clothes still on, I will think of you. And I will think of running through the sand dunes and lying with you by the fire on the beach and your guitar and your smell and your brown hands and your hands in my hair and your lips on mine and our favourite songs together, and the ones we wrote together, and the nights we would lie under the same blanket I still use and you would just hold me tight and I would never have bad dreams. So because of you, the poor boy in the blue velvet smoking jacket can text me and ring me and meet me for coffee, but he will never be you. And I will not love him, and I will think of you every time I look into his eyes, every time I see his blonde hair and not your golden hair, and you will follow me to the ends of the earth. But as much as I hate you for that, I still love you. And I hate that as well. So I will not send this, but I will write the words to get them out of me, because otherwise I will never be rid of you. With all my love, Yours.

Love Letters at 1.41 AM (via coffeeandleatherboundbooks)

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rainwritesandreads · 5 years

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And into the forest I go; to lose my mind and find my soul.

John Muir

#quote #quotes #inspiration #inspiring quotes #motivational qotd #inspiring #john muir #nature #nature quotes #earth #forest #mind #soul #mind and soul #find yourself #love yourself

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rainwritesandreads · 5 years

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Scribbly Doodles

While I was finishing up paperwork at work today, I got quite distracted and started sketching several 1980s inspired figures. To my dismay, I had to close and turn in my work so I did not get to keep or photograph my product of distraction.

#art #drawing #doodle #scribbles #1980s #80s aesthetic #fashion #sketch #pen and paper #artist on tumblr #artist problems #I'll find them eventually

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rainwritesandreads · 5 years

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rainwritesandreads · 5 years

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Describing Fictional Accents

rjgames asked:

Hello, I see you already have a post on writing accents, my question though: Is there any other way to write accents without saying from where it comes from (i.e. french)? My story takes place in a fictional setting where Earth does not exist and I’m having a difficult time with this. Also, I would not like to rely on misspelling a lot, or is that the only way? Thank you!

When you can’t say where an accent comes from, your best bet is to give the reader a basic idea of how it sounds. Obviously, there is no way to write a description that everyone will interpret the same way, and that’s true even if you’re describing the sound of a real world accent. A really great formula for describing fictional accents is this: sound or flow descriptor + dialect descriptor + origin location + regional reference + pronunciation description Example: He spoke with the lyrical brogue of the Tonterosi highlands–trilled Rs, clipped consonants, and a lilt at the end of every sentence. - He spoke with the lyrical (sound or flow descriptor) brogue (dialect descriptor) of the Tonerosi (origin location) highlands (regional reference)–trilled Rs, clipped consonants, and a lilt at the end of every sentence (pronunciation description.) You don’t have to do it in that order, and you can do a little mixing and matching. Whatever sounds best. And, even though no two readers will interpret that the same way, you’re still giving them something to imagine when they imagine this character’s accent. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if they imagine your character with an accent that sounds English, or French, or Spanish, or none of the above. What matters is that they imagine an accent. Here are some words you can use in your descriptions: Sound Descriptors

Soulful Dulcet Golden Sweet Honeyed Flowery Silvery Syrupy Mellow Broad Flat Deep Sharp Thick Heavy Crisp Round Hard Jagged Throaty Nasal Guttural Husky Breathy Smoky Raspy Chirpy Rich Discordant Sonorous Flow Descriptors

Lyrical Melodic Songlike Musical Mellifluous Rhythmic Staccato Rolling Flowing Rhythmic Dialect Descriptors Burr Lilt Drawl Brogue Slur Twang Lisp Regional References Highlands Midlands Lowlands Country High Country Low Country Back Country North Country South Country East Country West Country Backwoods Coastal Northern Southern Eastern Western Midwestern Badlands Riverlands Grasslands Hinterlands Marshlands Wetlands Boglands Woodlands Moorlands Bushlands Shrublands Mountains Jungle Desert Plains Valley Basin Swamp Prairie Foothills Forest Savanna Tundra Plateau Steppe Inland Pronunciation Description

Clipped Stilted Cut Hissed Trilled Tapped Shortened Drawn out Drawled Elongated Dropped Tense Lax Rounded Raised Shifted Glottal stop Loose Tight

Other Sound Words

Cadence Rhythm Tempo Lilt Timbre Harmony Meter Beat Intonation Inflection ——————————————————————— Have a writing question? I’d love to hear from you! Please be sure to read my ask rules and master list first or your question may go unanswered. :)

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