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typewriterish · 3 years

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nu characterization meme:

characterization drill! fun for dnd characters, fanfic bois, oc’s alike.

send me a character name and i’ll answer the bullets from the character’s pov

a story that you tell yourself

a story that you tell your friends

a story that you tell the stranger

a story that you tell your lover

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typewriterish · 3 years

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Dividers

Here you will find various dividers for fandoms, general ones like flowers and hearts etc.

Return to Masterlist

Alternate Universe

Is your story set in another world? a Coffee Shop!AU or are your characters part of the Medival!AU or the fantasy world of Mermaid!AUs? Check out the link above for all sorts of Alternate Universe related dividers!

Flora & Fauna

Birds

Bumble Bees

Bunny

Daisy Chain

Floral

Floral Leaves

Ice / Blue Roses

Lion

Rainbow Flowers

Roses

Sea Creatures & Shells

Space

Star (Rainbow)

Wolf

Events, Seasons & Weather

Autumn / Fall - 1 // 2

Christmas - 1 // 2

Halloween - 1 // 2 // 3 // Animated

Hanukkah

Winter

Fandom

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Avengers Logo (Rainbow)

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers - Original Six

Batman / Harley Quinn / Joker

Captain America: The First Avenger

Castiel

Chris Evans

Criminal Minds

Daryl Dixon

Harry Potter

Harry Potter - Marauders

Horizon Zero Dawn

Henry Cavill - Superman / Captain Syverson

Impala

Loki / Tom Hiddleston

Lucifer Morningstar

Negan

Nightmare Before Christmas

Rick Grimes

Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill)

SHIELD / HYDRA

Spencer Reid / Matthew GG

Supernatural

Stucky

Team Cap

The Last Kingdom

The Last Kingdom / Vikings

The Witcher

Thor Odinson

Tony Stark - Iron Man

Winchesters

Masterlist

Masterlist Dividers - 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6

Personalised - 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8

Character Dividers

Minimalist

Gradient Line (Various Colours)

Line (Various Colours)

Miscellaneous

Angel / Cherub

Animated

Diner

Dragon

Fairy

Film Strip

Heart (Rainbow)

Magic

Tribal

Office Supplies

Pink

Pink Marble

Random Selection - 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8

Unicorn

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typewriterish · 3 years

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Writing advice from my uni teachers:

If your dialog feels flat, rewrite the scene pretending the characters cannot at any cost say exactly what they mean. No one says “I’m mad” but they can say it in 100 other ways.

Wrote a chapter but you dislike it? Rewrite it again from memory. That way you’re only remembering the main parts and can fill in extra details. My teacher who was a playwright literally writes every single script twice because of this.

Don’t overuse metaphors, or they lose their potency. Limit yourself.

Before you write your novel, write a page of anything from your characters POV so you can get their voice right. Do this for every main character introduced.

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typewriterish · 3 years

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#Character insp #just messing around with some picrews #nothing to see here

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typewriterish · 3 years

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#Just messing around with some picrews #Nothing to see here #character insp

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typewriterish · 4 years

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hey, it’s ya girl.

back here to say a few things concerning sex in fanfiction, fiction in general, and honestly just life:

- bleeding during sex, first time or otherwise, is something to be taken seriously because that can mean a lot of different factors including rough sex, lack of lubrication, health problems, and more.

- even if there is bleeding during sex it’s not gonna be a whole pool or puddle of blood, and honestly if there is that’s a HUGE PROBLEM.

it was brought to my attention by a fabulous author friend of mine that she read a fic (she didn’t know the name, so when i say i have no idea who it was i’m not lying) where a few things happened that were concerning. like blow jobs given when the receiver is asleep (yeah, hi, consent is a thing and should be respected), and a character bleeding a whole lot because she had sex for the first time (see above), that her legs were covered in dried blood the next morning, and that there was a noticeable pool of blood on a blanket or surface the next morning, which was apparently a dead giveaway that said virginal character had had sex instead of like, you know, a dead giveaway that there was a murder or something.

a basic google search will tell you that bleeding a lot during or after sex is not normal and the idea that (in this case) a woman should bleed because a man penetrated her and “breached” something is not something that happens to every woman, and certainly not okay if she’s bleeding so much it looks like a murder scene.

so, let’s break this idea down and why it shows up in fiction of all types and has for a really long time.

this whole idea that a person with a vagina bleeds during penetrative sex is because there is something called the hymen which is a thin piece of skin that partially covers the entrance to the vagina. note the word partially, that’s important.

the hymen may not be intact when a person with a vagina has sex for the first time!!!! things like horseback riding (hello historical context) or wearing tampons (hello modern context) can break the hymen. also, when a hymen “breaks” (in quotations because that’s such a weird word to apply but it works) it may not hurt or bleed at all!!!

so what’s the deal with this? a study done in 1998 found that 63% of women did not experience bleeding after the first time they had vaginal intercourse - here’s the article that mentions that study. the article goes on to say that bleeding because of “popping your cherry”, which generally refers to the breaking of the hymen when having sex for the first time, would be like spotting while you’re on or in between periods. you might notice some blood when you wipe after going to the restroom, or there might be a little bit of blood on the penis/fingers/condom/whatever was down there.

also, some people are born without a hymen at all, and it can wear away as you get older and there are more things going on with hormones, sex, masturbation, etc.

honestly, all of this makes me think of those period (haha, punny) dramas where a woman is married off to whatever dude and they have sex the night of the wedding and someone is supposed to come in and verify that there’s blood on the sheets (enough that in those ~saucy~ dramas a small vial of lamb’s blood or whatever can be snuck in to cheat the system) to say that yes, the woman was a virgin and now she’s not, thus preserving her status and the fact that any kids she gives birth to 9 months after the wedding are actually her husband’s.

but what if she likes horseback riding? or uses that for travel? or what if she got a little curious a few nights a week during those horny teenage years and masturbated? she could still be a virgin but have no bleeding because her hymen might be non-existent or already “popped”.

or, heaven forbid, she actually likes the guy that she’s marrying and is turned on by him? having sex without enough lubrication might be cause for a small amount of bleeding, but if you’re with someone who gets your engine revved the right way, that shouldn’t be a problem right?

okay, well, technically it could be, but that’s another post and a biology lesson for another day. but for MOST of what we read in fanfiction, the girl is usually so lubricated already right? enough to mention that it’s “soaking her panties” or “dripping” somewhere or whatever else yeah?

so then why, i ask you, WHY are there still fanfictions where women are bleeding like stuck pigs the first time they have vaginal intercourse?

because we, as a society, as writers, have failed ourselves and each other at large by perpetuating the myth of “popping” the cherry, not recognizing that it may have once had an evolutionary value but is pretty much in the same category as wisdom teeth now - mostly useless, leftovers from a bygone era, and not actually important.

WE, as people who write things (historically, fictionally, or otherwise) have kept this myth going. people who create written or visual works for others to read are keeping this idea going that you’re SUPPOSED to bleed after sex, that it’s SUPPOSED to be painful the first time, that you have your “cherry popped” and you’re no longer a virgin (which, by the way, isn’t a real thing. it’s a social construct. read about it).

so, writers, stop letting each other down. stop creating and perpetuating these ideas that might accidentally normalize some other problems that are going on, or perpetuate false societal ideas that honestly shouldn’t even be a thing anymore.

if your character is bleeding after sex, first time or otherwise, there had better be a damn good, thoroughly researched, accurate reason behind it. and not one that involves her (or him) bleeding like they were stabbed just because they’re not a virgin anymore. we have a responsibility to those who read our words, and we need to realize that.

got more questions about what was talked about here? got another writing question, smut or otherwise? pop into the inbox, anon is always on, and ask!

#sex tw

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typewriterish · 4 years

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The "I Want" Song — How to Write your Novel like a Disney Movie

Ever wonder why we love Disney’s musicals so much?

Maybe it’s the music. The characters. The exciting plots and beautiful animation.

Heck, it’s probably that and more. But for me, the biggest thing Disney does to make their musicals so compelling is clearly convey their characters’ big “want” — whether it’s to find acceptance, express their true self, or satisfy their need to explore beyond the horizon.

As the audience, knowing what a character wants and seeing them fight to get it is what keeps us watching to the very end. And Disney is so good at giving us exactly that because of one simple technique.

They use “I want” songs.

And your novel can do the same — to capture our attention like a Disney movie.

What’s an “I want” song?

“I want” songs have been used for decades in musicals ranging from My Fair Lady and Hamilton, to… well, practically every Disney animated musical.

The “I want” song, simply put, is a song placed toward the beginning of the first act, where the main character tells us about their dissatisfaction with life and what it is they want. For example…

Ariel is suffocating under the watch of an overprotective father, and she wants nothing more than to break free and be a part of the world of humans.

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Quasimodo has lived a life confined to a bell tower due to his appearance, but wants to live even just one day in the world below.

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Moana has a lot of expectations on her shoulders as her island’s future chief, but she wants to set out and explore the oceans before her.

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Due to his unwieldy strength, Hercules has always felt like an outcast, and he wants to find the place where he belongs.

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Mulan feels stifled by expectations of who she should be (from family and society), and she wants to express her true self.

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You’ll also find “I want” songs in The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Frozen, and more — and the reason is because, by golly, they work, clearly and quickly communicating the emotional motivations of the story.

You can use the power of the “I want” song in your own writing, too.

The “I want” song formula

Real talk: You’re not going to be able to make your character sing off the page like an actual Disney musical. I think we all know and accept that.

But.

You can create the same effect of an “I want” song by conveying the same information and using it to drive the plot — just like a Disney filmmaker. All it takes is three steps:

Tell us your character’s context.

Tell us what your character wants (this is often a result of, or kept away by, their context).

Use your character’s “want” to drive an action, which kickstarts the plot.

Just to help you get that all ordered in your mind, think of it like a 3-part statement:

My character is struggling with [blank], but they want [blank], so they [do something].

Ariel is struggling with an over-protective father, but she wants to venture into the world of humans, so she makes a deal with a sea witch to get her land legs.

Hercules is struggling with being treated as an outcast, but he wants to find where he belongs, so he sets out to earn back his place among the gods.

Quasimodo is struggling with his forced isolation, but he wants to join the world below for just a day, so he disguises himself to attend the Festival of Fools.

As long as you communicate all this to your readers near the beginning of your novel and use your character’s “want” to kickstart the plot, you’ll have a tight, character-driven story that readers will care about.

It’s as simple as that.

Unless you don’t want it to be

What I outlined above is a straightforward, lab-tested and approved template for giving your characters the benefits of a Disney “I want” song, minus the music. It works and can be quite seamless, if done well. But I also want you to know you can play with the formula. Even Disney does.

For example, maybe your character has two desires, instead of one, and they conflict with each other. (Mulan and Moana are like this.)

Maybe what your character “wants” isn’t what they “need.” (Hercules thinks he wants to return home to the gods, but he realizes his real home is with mortals.)

Or maybe you go the (non-musical) Pixar route and completely mix up the formula, while still utilizing its key elements. (In Toy Story, Woody is actually content until Buzz Lightyear appears and threatens his status as Andy’s favorite toy, a conflict which drives Woody’s actions and the plot.)

And in terms of execution, you can be as subtle or direct as you want. For example, as long as it reads as emotionally genuine, you can just have your main character tell a friend what their “want” is and why they can’t have it because of their context. Or your character could think it to us. Or you could tell us in the exposition.

But if you want more subtlety, feel free to use the “show don’t tell” approach — demonstrating how your character’s context is at odds with their “want” and then using their actions to imply the “want” that drives them.

Your story. Your rules.

Either way, I’m sure it will turn out great. :)

Good luck, and good writing, everybody.

Bibbidy.

Bobbidy…

— — —

Learn about your character’s emotional motivations in this post, and learn how to use those motivations to surprise your readers in this one.

For writing tips on crafting theme, building character-driven plots, and growing as a writer, check out the rest of my blog.

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typewriterish · 4 years

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here have 10 pieces of writing advice that have stuck with me over the years

every character’s first line should be an introduction to who they are as a person

even if you only wrote one sentence on a really bad day, that’s still one sentence more than you had yesterday

exercise restraint when using swear words and extra punctuation in order for them to pack a punch when you do use them

if your characters have to kiss to show they’re in love, then they’re not in love

make every scene interesting (or make every scene your favorite scene), otherwise your readers will be just as bored as you

if you’re stuck on a scene, delete the last line you wrote and go in a different direction, or leave in brackets as placeholders

don’t compare your first draft to published books that could be anywhere from 3rd to 103rd drafts

i promise you the story you want to tell can fit into 100k words or less

sometimes the book isn’t working because it’s not ready to be written or you’re not ready to write it yet; let it marinate for a bit so the idea can develop as you become a better writer

a story written in chronological order takes a lot more discipline and is usually easier to understand than a story written with flashbacks

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typewriterish · 4 years

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#wip: half-baked #character: kieran

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typewriterish · 4 years

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