Post-maester - Post_Maester - Tumblr Blog

After starting Fem HRT I am much more aware of smell and it has an effect on me. Before, all I knew was "bed bath and beyond is a headache zone, avoid at all costs", but now I have a candle that smells like "English Pear" and I smell it OFTEN in order to calm down. AND MY HUSBANDS ARMPITS SMELL SO GOOD WHEN HES SWEATY IT MAKES ME MELT. He smells so sweet. He thinks it's icky. Silly man 🤦‍♀️

I bought a pretty circlet today. My husband says it makes me look like an elf :)) I love it!

I also bought a Jester's cap. It is Black&White and has annoying bells and I will be wearing it to Dungeons & Dragons sessions!

Been reading a book over the last few days called 'How To Think Like A Woman' by Regan Penaluna. I've never been so inspired and also angered by someone else's writing before. I feel so inspired by Penaluna's writing and memoir, as well as the stories of the women she's recounted so far as I've read. What upsets me is how blind I've been to 2000+ years of nearly every major philosopher you've ever heard of being a massively misogynistic prick, and how that's affected civilization as a whole. No matter how much good they may have done for philosophy, politics, etc, what's been hidden from history classes are their vitriol-saturated opinions of women. Despite being hidden from modern eyes in order to keep the good moral image of these philosophers in proper condition, they still had massive impacts on the culture of their day and decades or centuries into their future. For my whole life I had this kind of blasé attitude to Philosphy like it was just a bunch of dudes theorizing about the nature of life, and while it is that (simplified), it is also very dangerous because these philosophers (VERY OFTEN MALE) would hold wide influence over many and their ideas became the basis for communities and civilization moving forward. Their grand plans for humanity and their ideals that humanity should strive for were really only meant to prop up the egos of men, and to keep women subservient.

One of the things that stuck with me and bothered me most was this notion that seemed to be a commonality between many of these "great thinkers", which was - "It is virtuous for a woman to be silent, but not for a man, a man should always speak his mind."

That one kinda killed me a bit. To shared that near carbon-copied sentiment over the course of centuries, misogynist philosopher begeting misogynist philosopher for 2 millenia and some change. It kills me a bit inside. It makes me angry.

What does it mean to become radicalized?

The Rust Disciples.

worn axes left to rust and rot in the forest sometimes become these strange creatures when fungi colonizes their handles. if you meet them in the woods, mind your business. if you are cruel they'll hunt you until you either leave their territory or are caught and chopped to bits. if you linger near them too long you might feel compelled to follow them deeper into the woods. you'll hike deeper and deeper with a growing group of the creatures until you get to a small pile of ancient burnt wood and crumbled stone in a clearing so off the beaten path that whatever was there before has almost completely returned to the earth. you will kneel down on soft mossy ground beside the beasts and mourn and laugh and cry and sing until you grow too tired to move. you will then wake up alone, feeling disoriented but content.

you will never find out what god you were grieving.

over on patreon Sean Dehoff wanted conjoined disciples, Kyle Weiss wanted forgotten gods, and Trip Space-Parasite wanted mushroom cyborgs (I'm counting a mushroom with an ax melted into it that's probably full of ghosts as a cyborg. fight me.).

i bought paws at a con recently and i have been having fun rubbing my bf's cheeks with them. Like doing biscuits on his face. They're so soft!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*show u my pawws* do u think they're cuute

*show u my paws* do u wnna touch them

*show u my paws* do u think they're soft paws

*show u my paws* do you love and care my soft paws

I am a trans girl. I have been for a long time. I wish I started my transition earlier when I first realized, but better late than never. I'm on HRT for 10 weeks exactly. Almost time for my 3-month follow-up with the doctor.

I'm coming out on Tumblr now because it hurts me so much to hold it in irl. Perfect opportunities pass for me to come out to my family and friends and it hurts, but I'm not ready for social change. My body doesn't match my brain yet and I need it to at least be closer than it is now to matching in order to come out. I need to be able to look at myself in the mirror and not cringe at the sight of myself. I need to be confident because nobody else will be for me. I need to be as happy outside in public as I am in the shower playing with my hair and discovering my new body for the first time.

I think it would help if I had more trans friends, people who could guide me and help me. People who could come over and do my makeup and help me try on nice outfits that I can be proud of. People I can be comfortable being myself around. I'm never myself unless I'm alone. Even with my boyfriend I'm a little reserved though I should try not to be, he's so sweet and supportive and as a trans man knows very well what I'm going through.

I hope very much that someday soon I can wear my favourite skirts outside my home, or feel pretty when I look in the mirror, or feel like I deserve the happiness I feel when my new breasts ache.

Maybe I'll be a little more talkative on the subject now that I've made my very own first post that isn't a reblog.

This kind of slaps.

The release of Werewolf: the Apocalypse 5th Edition has evoked a sense of urgent inspiration in me. I found the news inspiring because it marks the launch of a new product that rings so close to the original game in which its new premises instantly evoke a lost-world setting perfect for new players to uncover through revelation. And with it, a sense of urgency that a large chunk of the game’s horror pathos and cultural representation will be lost in lieu of chronicles centered around direct action, high entertainment, and transactional resolution.

First and foremost, I applaud the efforts of anyone wanting to excise Werewolf: the Apocalypse, and it’s fandom, of it’s toxic player base that has festered far too long. Anyone taking that on isn’t blind to something that is both wonderful and incredibly problematic, and it requires a collaborative effort to address meaningfully. It means being willing to internalize hard and profoundly uncomfortable truths. 

When I look at the prior editions, I consider its inherent value and feel that the things that made the original editions of Werewolf so special to me don’t entirely align with a large portion of it’s old player base. This is not for those players. In some ways my aim with this is small, with the understanding my target audience is also small, and this space exists for them. 

Werewolf: the Essentials is a project culminating my 25 years of entertaining and horrifying players. This is a carefully curated gaming experience tailored to Queer tabletop audiences primarily, although I am confident it will resonate with many others as well. This started as something I was working on alone but quickly has grown to include a pack of other avid Players and Storytellers who have felt left behind by the current direction of the gameline. I am laying out every little trick, twist, and ounce of Storytelling experience I have acquired over the years. In many ways, this is the quintessence of my inclusive World of Darkness, and a passion project that I hope those who read this may too come to appreciate.

In the first and second editions of the various splats published across the World of Darkness, the Storytellers Handbook gave Storytellers the raw narrative tools to convey the world to their troupe of players. As time has progressed, the sourcebooks to follow have greatly expanded to include Garou society, their relationship to Gaia, and to each other. As the editions expanded what they made available to Storytellers and Players, some of the original content of earlier editions was left out. By the time the 20th Anniversary Edition was being written, many of the edits were made to cut back a bit on the roughage and “get to the meat and potatoes” of mechanics crunch. In that way, the edits were a complete success, but something important was lost.

The earlier ST guides laid out explicitly that the World of Darkness is first and foremost a horror game. Essays within their pages provide advice on using textural descriptions and different modes of storytelling to lure in players and make the hairs on the backs of their necks stand on end. These remarkable essays are now lost to those who don’t possess the older editions. They serve as a toolset that could be applied across any RPG, and not just Werewolf alone.

W20 fell short of delivering a fully serviceable RPG to it’s Storytellers, however well-intentioned. It had all of the main bones of the setting and stats but no guidance on how to turn it into a game for one’s players. Taking it a step further, some of the writing in this new edition only managed to alienate modern audiences. 

The use of in-character narration to express setting information in prior editions seems an attempt to convey the horror and pathos of the world that would be difficult to get across in stats alone. The information contained in that first-person text is among the most important parts of the setting, but it often fails to convey the true horror of the world of Garou. In many ways the World of Darkness was intended by those who created it to be a place of genuine terror and horror, and not merely “savagery” for its own sake. Horror is a very complex basal guttural emotion that sits in the ganglia, ready to tug the emergency brakes on your body in the presence of what it believes to be a tangible threat. There are many complex higher emotions, but when it comes to the lizard brain, it takes considerable effort to trick it into getting spooked. Invoking a sense of horror in a horror chronicle is a complex enough endeavor that, by and large, these efforts fell short of delivering that experience. 

Werewolf: the Essentials is to serve as a masterclass in using those old tools to introduce new players not just to Werewolf and the World of Darkness on the whole. It gives these important storytelling tools to new and future storytellers in any game, that they might continue genuinely terrifying their players for many more years to come. The passages found in this series can add narrative value to not just Werewolf, or even Vampire and other World of Darkness tables, but also horror writing on the whole. Furthermore, this project aims to streamline the availability of that information and provide guidelines for Storytellers wishing to conduct research using the labyrinthian older editions.

Every sourcebook in this series will grow with your tables, providing increasingly more powerful stats, guidelines for making more powerful NPCs and PCs, and serve as a continuation of the legacy games’ metaplot. Some elements you’ll be reading will, for older players, be surprising at times. Some historical events are shifted further in the past, and others eliminated entirely. This project aims to make the presentation of the game a little more timeless, so it’ll hold relevance to tables now, as much as it will 20 or 40 years from now.  The World of Darkness is now something far too large for any one person to fully comprehend while providing enough tools for one to explore deep lore that holds the most relevance to their tables.

Werewolf: the Apocalypse has a long history of problematic and exclusionary elements, both in it’s fandom and, sadly, often in it’s published work. Despite this, I see more value in this game than the literature would have you believe at face value. This project is an attempt to increase the inclusivity in this game I love while also helping introduce new players and Storytellers to this world. This is a glimpse of something absolutely beautiful, horrifying, and unique, contributed to by a group of equally passionate artists and writers. Even if the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, the next best time is today. If you can listen critically, and take the lessons between these pages, then maybe you too can come to find the Glory, Honor, and Wisdom within the depths of our darkest fears.

Book 1: Cliath launches October 31st, 2024 on Storyteller's Vault

Lorn's Lure is a sci-fi free-climbing adventure scale a massive megastructure in search of a glitchy ghost owl!

Lorn's Lure is out now on Steam

Gameplay Video:

Funeralopolis is a dread-filled apocalyptic body horror game where you discover a strange crack in your kitchen wall!

Read More & Play The Full Game, Free (Windows)

Gameplay Video:

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you're welcome

MTG Tutorials #34: The Legend Rule and the Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule

by the way i fell in love with the little map marker drawings when I saw them at their biggest size because look at them they're adorable, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone share them before so here they all are in their original size. The first two images are from the base game, the last one from SotE.

𝑲𝑯𝑶𝑹𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑬 𝑭𝑨𝑼𝑵𝑨 - 𝑾𝑨𝑹𝑯𝑨𝑴𝑴𝑬𝑹 𝑭𝑨𝑵𝑻𝑨𝑺𝒀

Khorne lacks the whimsy of his siblings and so does not find it prudent to actively design life forms for his Kingdom, especially not when the mutating energy of the Warp does this anyway. Thusly, almost all fauna and flora in Khorne's kingdom are not the Blood God's doing. That being said, Khornate daemons interact with these creatures in ways important to their culture and traditions and so the Blood God makes no move to exterminate most of them. This list is not exhaustive.

Blood Worms - An invasive species originating from the lands of Nurgle, Blood Worms were Bloodletter parasites that have grown fat on the death and gore of Khorne's realm. They are massive beasts able to swallow a Bloodthirster whole.

Flesh Hounds - The Sole Creatures created by Khorne's hand, Flesh Hounds are fiercely territorial daemon-dogs whose packs can number in the hundreds. The hunt overground when hungry and sleep underground in nests of bones when inactive. Like mortal dogs, Flesh Hounds come in a wide variety of breeds and even species.

Brass Ticks - Another Nurgle-devised parasite unique to Khornates.

Blood-Flies - Tiny crimson insects that feed on the blood-nectar of black-petaled Death-Flowers near the Tree of Souls. They lay their eggs in the bodies of the fallen, which give rise to Blood-Fly Maggots. Though called flies, they serve a purpose more similar to bees and are aggressive as wasps.

Brazen Bulls - Brass-furred daemon-beasts and one of the few obligate herbivores in the Aethyr. They consume the twisted, gnarled vegetation of Khorne's realm. Brazen bulls are ritually hunted and killed by daemons and, when they fin their way into the mortal realm, by men. Their prized brass skulls are offered to Khorne and their blood and bones are used in rituals and rites. They resemble bulls of various species. Their horns are often turned into war-horns or drinking devices.

Drownscale - Living in the myriad Blood Lakes and rivers snaking through the Realm of Khorne are the Drownscale. These reptilian horrors snatch the unsuspecting from the banks of their territory in the manner of giant, bloodthirsty daemon-crocodilians.

Drowndrake - Similar to the Drownscale, Drowndrakes are massive creatures that make their homes in the abyssal blood-oceans of Khorne's realm. They are more draconic than the Drownscale and can breath blood-fire onto enemies, but prefer snatching daemons from the sky and dragging them to a watery doom beneath a sea of boiling blood. Drowndrake skulls, when acquired, may be worked into Daemon Lairs.

Furnace Beasts - Furnace beasts are creatures of twisted metal; the remains of slain Juggers and battle debris pulled together and reanimated by the hatred and bloodshed abound throughout the Realm of Khorne. They affect no one shape, but tend to have a discernable mouth, body, and be-weaponed limbs. Some are covered in a layer of stolen flesh and sinew, while others are purely daemonic-alloy.

Gorger - Another massive creature, Gorgers are heavy-jawed knuckle-walking daemon-animals important to Khornate culture. A beast of sinew, multiple mouths, and endless hunger, they are common targets for enterprising Bloodthirsters. When Slain, the skull of a Gorger is made into or worked into the lair of a Deathbringer and it's host. The larger the Gorger, the more prestige the Deathbringer has.

Bonestealer - One of the more unwelcome daemon-beasts in Khorne's realm, Bonestealers are bipedal, therapsid looking creatures with spinal crests. One of their hands ends in a long scything bone and the other in obsidian claws. As their name implies, they steal and horde skulls and bones from battlefields-- Blood Hosts often busy themselves with finding, slaying, and retrieving these stashes so that they may be added to Khorne's throne.

Skull-Lairds - Skull-Laird are a variant of the Bonestealer, the result of several lairing together and one gaining primacy over the other. This larger beast is called a Skull-Laird and is a fair challenge to a Daemon Prince. These creatures never stop growing, commanding a nest of Bonestealers, and every so often grow to massive proportions. Such beasts are Greater Skull-Lairds and the most infamous of them is Vah'lruhk, the Skulls Thief, who has many Daemon Prince, Herald, and even Greater Daemon skulls in its horde.

Butcherboar - The Butcher Boar is a disturbing creature which broadly resembles a wild hog, but there is a vaguely humanoid quality about the animal as well. They are hooved nightmares with a bladed mess of tusks and overlong claws on their front limbs. Like the Gorger, they walk on their knuckles. Butcherboars are often hunted by Flesh Hounds and vice versa.

Kharndrill - The Kharndrills live in the dense jungle-wood near the Tree of Damned Shades, in the Forest of Damned Shades. They are dog-ape creatures with long fangs and dominant among them have large horns and brightly colored faces of red and orange. Kharndrills eat bloodfruit, but will snatch up and eat daemons who venture through their forest. They can overpower a Bloodletter and will snatch Chaos Furies from the sky if they catch them. When the forest is barren of fruit, they raid the gardens of Daemons who tend Khorne's meadows.

Bloodsteed - Bloodsteeds are equine-like creatures kept by daemons and used for work and war. On occasion, they are granted to mortals as godly gifts. Bloodsteeds have black or deep-crimson fur, fiery eyes, and flaming hooves. Their temperament is more fit for work, but they are warbeasts just as any creature of Khorne. Wild herds of them run above Khorne's lands, eating the coarse vegetation or flesh when they cannot find it.

Brand Ant - Brand Ants are so named for their superheated mandibles, which leave last marks in flesh when they bite a victim. They are hyperaggressive eusocial insects that create large mounds from the red earth of the realm. Brand Ants war amongst themselves, attacking rival mounds. They are fearless and will not even hesitate to swarm a Bloodthirster should it step on their home. Though typically not dangerous in small numbers, Brand Ant venom has an agonizing sting-- this species has found purchase in some Slaaneshi and Nurglite circles for that reason.

Wrothsire - A Wrothsire is among the largest of beasts found in Khorne's realm. They thick, leathery skin that can turn aside blade and spear and a 'Y' shaped horn on the end of a beaked nose. The slumber beneath the earth, and may awaken during a particular vehement rage by Khorne. Wrothsires bring fell storms and burning rain when they rip their way from the ground, able to toss about bloodhost as a child might several small toys. The biggest Wrothsires require a coordinated effort from several daemonic armies to fell and by the time the beast is killed, the death-toll is high. The Daemon who struck the killing blow is accorded the skull of the creature and the most sought after Skull-Fortresses are made from the heads of these beasts.

NEED HELP WRITING? (a masterlist)

I have likely not added many that I've reblogged to this list. Please feel free to roam my blog and/or ask/message me to add something you'd like to see on this list!

Synonym Lists

Look by @writers-potion

Descriptors

Voices by @saraswritingtipps

Show, Don't Tell by @lyralit

Tips & Tricks

5 Tips for Creating Intimidating Antagonists by @writingwithfolklore

How To (Realistically) Make a Habit of Writing by @byoldervine

Let's Talk About Misdirection by @deception-united

Tips to Improve Character Voice by @tanaor

Stephen King's Top 20 Rules for Writers posted by @toocoolformedschool

Fun Things to Add to a Fight Scene (Hand to Hand Edition) by @illarian-rambling

Questions I Ask My Beta Readers by @burntoutdaydreamer

Skip Google for Research by @s-n-arly

Breaking Writing Rules Right: Don't Write Direct Dialogue by @septemberercfawkes

Databases/Resources

International Clothing

Advice/Uplifting

Too Ashamed of Writing To Write by @writingquestionsanswered

"Said" is Beautiful by @blue-eyed-author

Writing Resources

My main thesaurus website which is up while I write:

My favorite Random Name Generator: There are so many ways to tweak the settings and generate names to choose from:

Behind the Name

Random Name Generator

This random name generator can suggest names for babies, characters, or anything else that needs naming.

If you have spare credits/moolah/kruge, these are awesome:

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression (2nd Edition) - WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Released on February 19, 2019. The bestselling Emotion Thesaurus, often hailed as “the gold standard for writers” and credited with transfor

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Emotional Wound Thesaurus - WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Below are samples of the entries in our popular emotional wound thesaurus. For the complete and enhanced collection, please visit One Stop F

Translations: Nothing beats having a native or fluent speaker's help, but DeepL tends to do better than Google Translate:

deepl.com

DeepL Translate: The world's most accurate translator

Translate texts & full document files instantly. Accurate translations for individuals and Teams. Millions translate with DeepL every day.

I don't heed even a third of its suggestions, but the Hemingway Editor is good for finding stupidly long run-on sentences that I otherwise skim over. It encourages me to rework some things, make them more succinct:

How To Write Good Dialogue (Part 1)

I'm gonna start this by saying I'm not trying to sound like a know-it-all. I am just tired of posts like these being absolutely fucking useless. I am aware this is basically me screaming into a void and I’m more than okay with that.

This guide is meant for intermediate screenwriters, but beginners are also absolutely welcome. :)

(about me)

-♠︎-♠︎-♠︎-♠︎-

I've noticed a rise in film students who want to make films that have no dialogue. Probably after your professor showed you Doodlebug, right? Fuck that.

I'll make another post about writing a short film, but all you need to know is: Don't waste the audience’s time. Most of these no-dialogue shorts have very little substance and take way too long to tell the shortest possible story. Not a good idea.

Useless Dialogue

Plain and simple, don't write useless dialogue. Useless dialogue is dialogue that just doesn't fucking matter. Dialogue matters by having ✨subtext.✨

What is subtext? Subtext is the meaning behind the action. That's it.

If I tell you that I love you and I got big doe eyes while I say it, it means I love you. If I tell you I love you through a clenched jaw without looking at you, I don't necessarily love you right now.

Simple, right? Great.

Now think about the subtext behind every line. Does your character mean what they're saying? Are they doing it to get what they want? What is going through their mind as they say it? As long as you know your character, you’ll have these answers ready to go. If you don’t, you’ll figure it out eventually. Just keep writing.

When you write your character walking into a Starbucks and saying, "One venti iced coffee," does that do something? Why do I need to see someone's boring Starbucks order? Do I need to know that your character's boring? Why are you writing a boring character? [Of course, in the rare situation where this is some revealing clue to the massive crime investigation, then it makes sense.]

Useless dialogue is any dialogue that has no meaning or purpose in your script. Delete and move on. You don't need to write entire conversations or scenes that bore us, just write what we care about.

I took a class once where my professor called a version of this "trimming the fat." Get us into your scene and out of your scene in as little time as it takes to have it achieve its full purpose in the script.

[P.S. You don’t “inject” subtext into your lines. Idk who started that vernacular in subtext teachings but I hate it.]

Show vs. Tell

I remember a glorious fight I got into with a Redditor last year about show vs. tell… TL;DR: Dialogue is “show” if you write it with intention and subtext. If someone says that dialogue is inherently “tell,” they’re wrong and can go fuck themselves.

Dialogue that is “tell” is expositional dialogue. But, hot take: Exposition isn't just in dialogue. It’s also those annoying clichés that make you roll your eyes in the theater (which we just call clichés and not exposition). I’m sure every professor I’ve had will disagree with this and then get me into a long conversation about it, but let’s ignore that for right now.

Have you ever seen a movie where a character rubs an old, worn-out photo of a young girl while looking depressed? That's exposition. That character has a dead daughter. No shit.

Clichés are incredibly annoying. We all know that. Assume that any cliché you see - in this context - is exposition and try your best not to write it. (Tropes are different and sometimes necessary, so I’m not talking about that.)

Point blank: When you have subtext in your lines, they are "show,” not “tell.”

Before moving on, I'll bring up that while technically the dead daughter photo is subtextual, it is as close to the character saying “My daughter is dead,” as you can get. Don't treat the audience like we're fucking stupid.

The First 15

If you don’t know what the Inciting Incident is, please look up “3 Act Structure” before reading this.

The first 15 pages of your script is the part that comes before the Inciting Incident. This is the part you want to get right because, although people probably won’t leave the theater, they will absolutely find something else on the streaming service they’re using. The people making said movie will also just toss your script in the trash before it’s even produced, so it's best to get it right.

Dialogue in the first 15 generally follows the same rules, but carries a heftier additional rule. All dialogue in the first 15 minutes must, must, must tell us something about your character.

Remember when I talked about that boring Starbucks order? Why is your character boring? Don’t write that. Don’t write nice characters. Or pleasant characters. Or friendly characters. No one cares.

You want empathy. This does not mean “relatable.” It means “empathetic.” There is a difference.

I personally relate to Vi in Arcane, but I empathize with Theo in Children of Men. Both are excellent, but one personally resonates a bit more with me. You cannot write a character that deeply resonates with every single person, it is impossible.

With each line of dialogue, you must be saying something about your character that generates the empathy. Instead of telling you how to do this, I’ll direct you to a movie that will do better than an explanation: Casablanca.

Watch how Rick interacts with the world. What kind of man is Rick? Watch what he does, what he says, and how he treats people and himself. Watch that empty glass on the table. Watch his contradictions. Everything. Those things matter and it’s what makes you want to watch Rick for the entire duration of Casablanca.

“Realism”

This is maybe more directorial, but make your characters human enough, not too human.

Too human is when you’ve tried your best to capture all those little life-like speech patterns. You know, the ones that no one fucking cares about.

If your character coughs, they’re sick. If they clear they’re throat, they’re uncomfortable. If a bruise isn’t going away, they’re going to die. Simple.

Every moment on screen matters. Everything the audience sees is meant to lead them to a conclusion. Not the conclusion, just a conclusion.

The realism you want is in the choices your character makes, not how many times they say “Uh,” in a sentence.

Conclusion

Dialogue matters and should not be treated lightly or without care. Once you have this all engrained in your mind, dialogue should become effortless.

If you want an excellent way to think about this, Robert McKee's Story has an excellent chapter that helped clarify this all for me. Here's an excerpt and the context.

Warning, spoilers for Chinatown.

"If I were Gittes at this moment, what would I do?"

Letting your imagination roam, the answer comes:

"Rehearse. I always rehearse in my head before taking on life's big confrontations."

Now work deeper into Gittes's emotions and psyche:

Hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel, thoughts racing: "She killed him, then used me. She lied to me, came on to me. Man, I fell for her. My guts are in a knot, but I'll be cool. I'll stroll to the door, step in and accuse her. She lies. I send for the cops. She plays innocent, a few tears. But I stay ice cold, show her Mulwray's glasses, then lay out how she did it, step by step, as if I was there. She con-fesses. I turn her over to Escobar; I'm off the hook."

EXT. BUNGALOW-SANTA MONICA

Gittes' car speeds into the driveway.

You continue working from inside Gittes' pov, thinking:

"I'll be cool, I'll be cool ..." Suddenly, with the sight of her house, an image of Evelyn flashes in your imagination. A rush of anger. A gap cracks open between your cool resolve and your fury.

The Buick SCREECHES to a halt. Gittes jumps out.

"To hell with her!"

Gittes SLAMS the car door and bolts up the steps.

Story by Robert McKee, pg 156

The context of this page is McKee's way of explaining how to write characters. I found it very helpful.

-♠︎-♠︎-♠︎-♠︎-

Thanks for reading! I probably forgot something, so I made this a “part 1.”

I hope this helps someone since I’m really tired of finding short films on YouTube that are all fucking silent. The few who have done it well have been copied to death, so please write some dialogue. I promise you it’s so much better if you do.

Asks are open! :)

How to Write on Final Draft (without it feeling so daunting)

It's incredibly difficult to open up a Final Draft document without feeling like you're literally writing your final draft, so here's a few features you can use your advantage!

1. Turn on dark mode

Dark mode makes it look like less of a script and more of an outline. Edit and rewrite in light mode, you will feel the difference.

2. Use speed view

Speed view gets rid of pages and page numbers and therefore you are only looking at the words you type.

3. Use focus mode

Focus mode removes the scenes, page numbers, and outlines you have at the top on the program while writing. Another way to forget about focusing on progress.

4. Make a messy beat board

Throw all your ideas onto the beat board, it should help make the document feel a bit more lived-in and less pristine.

Bonus:

5. Set a template with your formatting and use that to start every script you write

While a script format is very ridged, there are things you can do to personalize it. When you find those things, make them in a Final Draft doc (without actual writing) and save as your own template so you don't have to change all the elements every time.

how to write convincing dialogue

did you know that show, not tell applies to dialogue, too? while dialogue can be used to further your narrative, it can also be used to showcase your characters. here's how:

-what is your character hiding? most people don't say things at face value. they hide what they mean within their words and tone, but in writing, you can't verbally hear the character's tone. ways to convey non-verbal tone include: contradictions between words and actions, context behind the words (ie. the scenario, character's actions and feelings), syntax (ie. fragments, repetition, awkward phrasing). also consider who the character is hiding information from: is it the reader? the characters? both?

-favorite words or phrases. does your character use a certain phrase or word a lot? do they often put their prepositions at the beginning or the end of the sentence? these are questions to ask when you're arranging the syntax of the dialogue. everyone has a specific way of talking. make sure you give each character a distinguishable voice.

-personality. this is how you can create a distinguishable voice. is your character confident? are they shy or hesitant? do they repeat the phases of others because they have nothing to add to the conversation? are they confrontational or do they beat around the bush? ask questions like these. if your character is confident, they may make bold statements and appear sure of themselves unlike shy characters who use words such as "maybe" or "should" or "think." to boil it down, think active wordage versus passive.

-observe others. don't look solely at television or other books. sit at your local coffee shop and listen in on conversations, then try and break it down. are they hiding anything? do they frequently use any words or phrases? how would you describe their personality? the better you get at breaking down conversations, the better you can create convincing ones, whether shallow, deep, or as a narrative device, because even if you use your dialogue to move your narrative along, it should still be compulsively convincing.

one way to tell if you've ticked all these boxes is if you can tell who is speaking without any tags.

happy writing! if you have any questions about how to implement any of these tips, our ask box is always open.

Cultural Quirks for Fantasy Country 📜

Once a year the community gives the oldest person to the forests as tribute to preserve the community. They then hold a happy festival with the soon-to-be-deceased as the guest of honor

The community believes that the world beyond the towns borders does not exist. It is a dream realm that one can become lost in if you stray too far. Any creatures or people coming from the dreamlands are welcome to pass through but cannot stay.

They believe that all spells to revive the dead must have a dove present while the ritual takes place. The dove carries soul back into the mortal plane and withoutit the wrong soul could find its way into the body. 

Every single home must have a living firefly inside their vase It is said that it’s the only thing protecting the death force from stepping inside their home at night

Lies are punishable by death. As a result of this, down through the years the definition of “lie” has been clouded. Now everyone habitually speaks every through that comes to their mind. 

Hundred of years ago, ther was a plague in the region and the people used a certain type of flower as an amulet against it. Now these flowers are farmed here in spring, made into wreaths and given as gifts. 

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🪽😈Good Traits to bad

Our perfect imperfections make us imperfect perfections.

Nice <> passive/unassertive

Strong-willed <> stubborn

Sensitive <> easily upset

Honest/communicative/trustworthy <> insensitive/brutal

Loyal/devoted/faithful <> tolerates bad behaviour from others

Perfectionism <> Never beign satisifed

Generosity <> Being taken advantage of

Being dependable <> People always depending on them

Protectivenss <> Overprotective, obsessive

Cautiousness <> Never risking anything

Ambitiousness <> Coming off as ruthless

Tidiness <> Obsessive and compulsive

Assertiveness <> Coming off as bossy

Pride <> Not accepting help

Being realistic <> Being seen as pessimistic

Innocence <> Being seen as naive

Optimism <> Not realistic

Diligent <> not able to bend rules

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🖱️References

https://townsvillepsychologist.com.au/personality-traits-can-be-positive-and-negative/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/9359111719786856/

🧦☕🧸A Guide to Writing Cozy Fantasy

Check out my masterpost for more tips :)

What is "cozy fantasy"? 🧺🪵

Cozy fantasy is a subgenre that is characterized by a more everyday approach to fantasy.

While its definition is not as clear-cut (everyone will have a sightly different idea of what it needs to look like), there are some general approaches to writing in this subgenre.

Elements of Cozy Fantasy 🕯️ೀ

A comforting, healing ambience 🍪

Rather than bloody battle and cunning witches, we have our next door wizard baker chumming up his special pumpkin pie.

Every magical book at their deepest core evoke a healing quality, but for these cozy novels, this warm element takes control.

2. "Kindness” and ‘gentleness” tropes 🍂

Found family/community, a sense of togetherness

Kind hearted protangoists

Plots gull of joy, hope or happy endings. Give your readers reassurance that everything will work out. And they do.

Ambience woven in the worldbuilding that gets the reader intitamely close to the world

Slower pace, allow the reader to delve into the story world and build stake in these kind, loving characters.

Slice of life: provide personal insight into the character’s “mundane” lives. 

The plot must take this "happy" nad kind" element as the MAIN theme. Every book provides catharsis at the end, but if the process if filled with dark, dangerous adventures, that's not cozy at all!

3. Cozy doesn’t mean “no/low stake” 📖

No novel would be interesting without conflict and some kind of loss.

Think of “personal” stakes. Cozy fantasy can be grand adventures, quiet magical quests, fairytales or healing slice of life stories.

For example, the protagonist can develop new relationship around town and figure out her passion to express the theme of importance of enduring. 

4. Generally slower pace, focusing more on the inner development of the protagonist and the main side characters.

Cozy Fantasy Starter Recommendations 🎧🌙

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J.Klune

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travie Baldree

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

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Writing the "Mean Girl" Character

How do we write the "mean girl" without making her another shallow copy of the brainless, pink-clad, cheerleader we see in high teen dramas?

Of course, there's nothing wrong with such a character if you want them to be funny/light in the first place.

However, I can hear myself slowly losing my last two brain cells when I keep reading about such papercut characters for more than an hour - reading clearly requires more effort than watching a class B movie, so I always appreciate when authors put more effort to make the characters dynamic.

No "Mean for the Sake of Being Mean

The classic way to avoid this is to give them a sad backstory. They used to be overweight/ugly and were bullied, or their parents don't care about them enough, or they are too insecure. Obviously these plot points are quiet stale now, but the basic principle still stands - if your charcter is mean, she needs A REASON.

I love reading about a mean character's backstory then feeling, "actually, I would have felt like doing that, too."

Whatever their motivations may be, remember that bullies pick on the weak, not the successful/powerful. While the Mean Girl might feel jealous/inferior towards the protagonist, I hardly think that should be the sole reason why they picked their victim. There must be a flaw in your protagonist that happened to be something that the Mean Girl knows how to exploit, which makes them a target above others.

Give Them A Twist

There are two ways that I can think of: (1) A seemingly nice character is in fact a mean girlie, or (2) A mean character turns out to be kind and well-intended.

Personally, I love Mean Girls who are intelligent/ know what they are doing. They are purposely manipulative:"are you okay?" as if the victim has something wrong with them or providing "constructive" criticism. Or kindly inviting them to a party that she knows they wouldn't fit in.

The conflict deepens when everyone else likes the Mean Girl due to her manipulative nature, making the protagonist doubt themselves.

A Purpose beyond Providing Conflict

Think about what the mean girl aims to gain from bullying your protagonist.

Is she continuously trying to prove herself "superior" so that she can feel better inside? Is she an academic rival who just needs to be the first in everything, even is that means reverting to questionable behavior?

Overly ambitious/perfectionist characters can come off as mean when they feel like others fail to live up to their standards (which only they know about, and are usually up in the sky)

Give Them A Proper Redemption

If you plan on giving her a redemption arc, make sure that she has earned it! The worst thing you can do is make it sound like you approve of the horrible things she has done.

this transition doesn’t mean the character does a complete 180 and is suddenly all smiles and good favors. They can fall back on their old ways of thinking, but is trying to make an effort to step out of their old clothes.

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References:

https://writingquestionsanswered.tumblr.com/post/668302340882857984/how-would-you-write-a-mean-girl-character-without

https://www.writingforums.org/threads/how-to-write-the-mean-girl-character.160729/

My Favorite Fantasy Tropes

MONSTER TROPES!

A deadly monster with a terrifying appearance bonds with a small child with its life.

An injured hero comes upon a monster, or a hero comes upon an injured monster and they understand each other. Giant vicious-looking monsters that answer to names you would give to a pet dog.

A character rescues or spares the life of a wounded or infant monster; later th fully- healed/matured creature returns the favor.

The horrifying eldritch creature that's been stalking the heroes turns out to be benevolent and actually, trying to protect them from something deadlier.

HERO TROPES!

The hero is the secret heir to a throne. It may be that he was whisked away and hidden as a child, his parents sent them away or were killed, etc.

There's someone in power in your book who might be described as "pure evil." This can feed into the "Good vs Evil" trope listed further down this list.

The hero refuses to give into the dark magic and instead ascends to a new level of power. This may change their hair to their dream color.

The hero falls in love with a princess/prince who turns out to be working with the real Dark Lord and killed her whole family just to rule the kingdom.

SETTING TROPES!

Pseudo-medieval European setting especially in places like the British Isles, France and Germany.

A library full of secret, lost, important knowledge. The characters may have to travel to this library, or they may stumble across it for some kind of revelation.

Ancient Japan/Chinese royalty setting where clues about the mystery is given out in subtle, secretive ways. Plus, the hero can't travel outside the palace.

A fantastical world can hide in plain sight without being discovered. When the secret is unmasked by the hero, he is trust into the world. Now, there's no going back.

CHARACTER RELATIONSHIP TROPES!

The characters involved don't know they're soulmates for part of the book but feel drawn to each other.

Twisting the original dynamic between characters from legends, myths and folklore

Semi-humanoid/ multi-race characters bonding with monsters/people of other race like elves, dwarves, goblins, etc.

Enemies-to-lovers

Marriages of convenience based upon political/power dynamic leverage

The main character(s), with a ton of romantic tension, must, for some reason, share a bed.

DARK FANTASY TROPES!

Magic is eveil and often The Corruption. Blood magic, human sacrifice and forsaken children are commonplace.

Magical artifacts with bad omens/curses attached to them. They require a grievous price in order to wield.

The gods are all assholes who pass time eating prayer chips and drinking soul-booze while placing bets and trolling the helpless mortals.

Organized religion of the country is Corrupt Church or Religion of Evil. The leader is totalitarian and strange cults prevail.

The dead find staying buried a little boring and resist any and all attempts to keep them buried, short of cremation or dismemberment.

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The classic betrayer

This is where everyone subtly knows that this guy's going to turn the other way.

The betrayer puts on a show for our heroes - kind, compassionate and supporting at first.

it just so happens that the villainthinks the heros are the bad guys.

make them actually likable.emotionally ruin the hero upon betrayal.

The remorseful traitor

whether he had bad intentions from the start or was deceived by others, the betrayer regrets his choices.

when he realizes his mistakes, it's too late to stop the evil, which introduces guilt.

throw the guilt and shame on the character.

even the protagonist can be a traitor! will others forgive him?

The Double Agent

this type of traitor will keep the readers wondering whether this guy is truly on your side.

keep your readers guessing. is that an evil smirk or a genuine smile? does he really love drinking, or is he just trying to get the hero drugged?

Snape in Harry Potter is a great example.

The guy can be good or bad - just keep balancing the two

Unrealiable narrators

these characters are not entirely betrayers, but horribly misinformed. they can make others appear like traitors - when in truth, they just have it wrong.

pit your narrow-minded narrator against his allies.

these characters are great for misunderstanding plots.

have your narrator do irreversible damage to the hero. would they forgive him?

Tragic betrayers

these are characters, due to their past wounds and trauma, cannot help but betray the group.

they confess the hero's secrets under physical/mental torment and doesn't have the backbone to do otherwise.

these characters can either be pitiful or frustrating would the hero still fight for the betrayer?

Play around with pov

you can have the readers know about the upcomong betrayal by switching points of view, building up anticipation to the moment of realization.

on the flip side, you can change povs in a way that the reader doens't see what's happening at the hero's back.

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