Some resources for those writing medieval-type stories:
Body Language Cheat Sheet for Writers
As described by Selnick’s article:
Author and doctor of clinical psychology Carolyn Kaufman has released a one-page body language cheat sheet of psychological “tells” (PDF link) fiction writers can use to dress their characters.
Very useful for artists as well! :>
Reblogging for horn reference.
My boyfriend says they look like mustaches.
aw cmon this list doesn’t even get into the cool shit what about jacob sheep
So on Friday I told you how to make superhero boots. (By the way, 1800 notes? Thanks!) Today I’m going to show you how to make custom thigh-highs (or socks in general.) We’ll just call it the sock weekend.
Here I’m making Tomoe Mami’s thigh-highs. (I’ve intentionally made them in brown, as I didn’t like the purple.) Do you know how hard it is to find thigh-highs in the right color, with that pinstripe? Not to mention, not everyone fits into those “one size fits most” socks; my thighs never co-operate with the things and they end up around my knees constantly. As a result I’ve taken to making my own.
You will need:
- Standard sewing tools (measuring tape, scissors, pins, sewing machine.) I used a serger for much of it but it’s really not necessary at all.
- Sufficient amount of a stretch fabric; the stretch will have to run around your leg at the very least. I used about 30”x45” and had plenty of scrap, so you should be safe with a yard.
- Enough wide elastic to make bands that fit snugly around your thighs.
That’s really it.
Cut your fabric into rectangles, the widest enough to fit the widest point of your leg. I freehand this because you really don’t need that much of it. Put one rectangle aside and focus on the first sock. Sew up the length and across the bottom. You have essentially just made a large wine bag for your thigh.
Sexy.
Stick your foot in this Sexy Wine Bag. Start pinning it so that your wine bag clings to you more like a sock. Go down to your ankle; it’s way easier to do this in two parts. When you are pleased with the tightness, carefully take it off your leg without disturbing the pins. It’s usually necessary to make a few adjustments to the pins once you have it off, just so they’re laying flat/even.
Sew up that fit you just made. You should end up with a sock that ends up with a club foot. (See picture. Laugh.)
Now do your foot. You may want to round it out over the toe so you don’t get little elf points. Doing the seam along the bottom of your foot is the absolute easiest, imho, because you get a better fit with less finicking, but you will also end up having the seam along the underside of your foot, which I know bothers some people. If this is weird to you, then do the seam along the side… you just might not have as good of a fit as you want without a lot of finicking if your fabric doesn’t have a lot of stretch.
Carefully take it off, adjust the pins for neatness, and sew again.
Trace this finished sock against your other Sexy Wine Bag and sew that one, too. If you’re super into it, trace the sock off on paper, too, so that you have a pattern you can reuse next time without having to do any pinning/fitting.
YOU HAVE SOCKS NOW :)
But these socks don’t have finished top hems, are let’s be real, are liable to fall down if they’re left all on their own. You could just fold them over and hem ‘em, but I like elastic in there for support.
Put on your socks (inside out!), make your elastic bands, and slide the bands on overtop your socks. Fold the top edge of the sock down over the elastic band and pin it in place. Go all the way around your leg –– be careful doing this, as it can be tricky to pin against the underside of your thigh when you can’t really see what you’re doing, but it’s doable. When you’ve finished pinning, take it off –– it should look a little weird, as the fabric is no longer stretched. No big deal; sew it in place, making sure you stretch the fabric out as you sew it. I like to catch the needle along the edge of the elastic just so it doesn’t roll/do weird things inside the casing.
And then voila. You have finished socks.
Go kill Witches.
- Jenn
Wanna tussle? More on fight scenes.
Anonymous asked: How does one write a good fight scene?
Step one: Most of the time, it’ll be best to avoid starting it with the phrase “wanna tussle?”
From there, you might find these links useful:
- How to Write a Fight Scene
- A Summary of How People Die (And Don’t) In Swordfights
- Getting a Handle on Guns
For when things get ugly, check out On Killing Characters.
Thanks for your question! If you have any other writing concerns, please send us a message.- O
writing specific characters - advice
- a young character
- a character who lost someone important
- a flirtatious character
- a villain (2) (3) (4)
- a character based on yourself
- a hit man or mercenary
- an indifferent character
- a bitchy character
- a gay character
- a dancer
- a vampire
- a pansexual character
- a character on the police force
- a drunk character
- a manipulative character
- a friends with benefits relationship
- a natural born leader (2)
- a nice character
- a british character
- a character with a baby
- an assassin
- a character with night terrors
- a rich character
- a witty character
look how sophisticated that title is
i’m pretty sure most people know of all this, but there’s probably the odd thing that people don’t know about!
ruem:
Writers can use these 12 Archetypes to create characters
The 12 Common Archetypes by Carl Golden
The twelve archetypes are divided into ego types, self types, and soul types.
1) The Four Ego Types
1. The Innocent
Motto: Free to be you and me
Core desire: to get to paradise
Goal: to be happy
Greatest fear: to be punished for doing something bad or wrong
Strategy: to do things right
Weakness: boring for all their naive innocence
Talent: faith and optimism
The Innocent is also known as: Utopian, traditionalist, naive, mystic, saint, romantic, dreamer.
2. The Orphan/Regular Guy or Gal
Motto: All men and women are created equal
Core Desire: connecting with others
Goal: to belong
Greatest fear: to be left out or to stand out from the crowd
Strategy: develop ordinary solid virtues, be down to earth, the common touch
Weakness: losing one’s own self in an effort to blend in or for the sake of superficial relationships
Talent: realism, empathy, lack of pretence
The Regular Person is also known as: The good old boy, everyman, the person next door, the realist, the working stiff, the solid citizen, the good neighbour, the silent majority.
3. The Hero
Motto: Where there’s a will, there’s a way
Core desire: to prove one’s worth through courageous acts
Goal: expert mastery in a way that improves the world
Greatest fear: weakness, vulnerability, being a “chicken”
Strategy: to be as strong and competent as possible
Weakness: arrogance, always needing another battle to fight
Talent: competence and courage
The Hero is also known as: The warrior, crusader, rescuer, superhero, the soldier, dragon slayer, the winner and the team player.
4. The Caregiver
Motto: Love your neighbour as yourself
Core desire: to protect and care for others
Goal: to help others
Greatest fear: selfishness and ingratitude
Strategy: doing things for others
Weakness: martyrdom and being exploited
Talent: compassion, generosity
The Caregiver is also known as: The saint, altruist, parent, helper, supporter.
2) The Four Soul Types
5. The Explorer
Motto: Don’t fence me in
Core desire: the freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world
Goal: to experience a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life
Biggest fear: getting trapped, conformity, and inner emptiness
Strategy: journey, seeking out and experiencing new things, escape from boredom
Weakness: aimless wandering, becoming a misfit
Talent: autonomy, ambition, being true to one’s soul
The explorer is also known as: The seeker, iconoclast, wanderer, individualist, pilgrim.
6. The Rebel
Motto: Rules are made to be broken
Core desire: revenge or revolution
Goal: to overturn what isn’t working
Greatest fear: to be powerless or ineffectual
Strategy: disrupt, destroy, or shock
Weakness: crossing over to the dark side, crime
Talent: outrageousness, radical freedom
The Outlaw is also known as: The rebel, revolutionary, wild man, the misfit, or iconoclast.
7. The Lover
Motto: You’re the only one
Core desire: intimacy and experience
Goal: being in a relationship with the people, work and surroundings they love
Greatest fear: being alone, a wallflower, unwanted, unloved
Strategy: to become more and more physically and emotionally attractive
Weakness: outward-directed desire to please others at risk of losing own identity
Talent: passion, gratitude, appreciation, and commitment
The Lover is also known as: The partner, friend, intimate, enthusiast, sensualist, spouse, team-builder.
8. The Creator
Motto: If you can imagine it, it can be done
Core desire: to create things of enduring value
Goal: to realize a vision
Greatest fear: mediocre vision or execution
Strategy: develop artistic control and skill
Task: to create culture, express own vision
Weakness: perfectionism, bad solutions
Talent: creativity and imagination
The Creator is also known as: The artist, inventor, innovator, musician, writer or dreamer.
3) The Four Self Types
9. The Jester
Motto: You only live once
Core desire: to live in the moment with full enjoyment
Goal: to have a great time and lighten up the world
Greatest fear: being bored or boring others
Strategy: play, make jokes, be funny
Weakness: frivolity, wasting time
Talent: joy
The Jester is also known as: The fool, trickster, joker, practical joker or comedian.
10. The Sage
Motto: The truth will set you free
Core desire: to find the truth.
Goal: to use intelligence and analysis to understand the world.
Biggest fear: being duped, misled—or ignorance.
Strategy: seeking out information and knowledge; self-reflection and understanding thought processes.
Weakness: can study details forever and never act.
Talent: wisdom, intelligence.
The Sage is also known as: The expert, scholar, detective, advisor, thinker, philosopher, academic, researcher, thinker, planner, professional, mentor, teacher, contemplative.
11. The Magician
Motto: I make things happen.
Core desire: understanding the fundamental laws of the universe
Goal: to make dreams come true
Greatest fear: unintended negative consequences
Strategy: develop a vision and live by it
Weakness: becoming manipulative
Talent: finding win-win solutions
The Magician is also known as: The visionary, catalyst, inventor, charismatic leader, shaman, healer, medicine man.
12. The Ruler
Motto: Power isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.
Core desire: control
Goal: create a prosperous, successful family or community
Strategy: exercise power
Greatest fear: chaos, being overthrown
Weakness: being authoritarian, unable to delegate
Talent: responsibility, leadership
The Ruler is also known as: The boss, leader, aristocrat, king, queen, politician, role model, manager or administrator.Note: There are four cardinal orientations: freedom, social, ego, order. The types have a place on these orientations.
Article via soulcraft.co
This is very good stuff. And it’s especially interesting when your protagonist isn’t one of the typical “main character” types like HERO and OUTLAW. Always consider fleshing out another archetype that you’ve been interested in but didn’t think would make a good focus of the story. Chances are, you’d be surprised at what you come up with!
Checklist for character development.
Created by myself, compiled from questions gleaned from several sources, and some of my own additions.
It should be noted, that not every character will check every one of these things off. It is not REQUIRED to have all this information, but this checklist is, rather, a guideline for helping you think of your character as an entire, three dimentional being with thoughts, feelings, possessions, contradictions and background.
A character is 20% revealed to the reader, 80% writer/author/Mun knowledge. What the Reader sees is just the tip of the iceburg, but without the other 80% the character can’t help but come off feeling shallow. There’s nothing beneath the surface - KNOWING as much bout your character as possible, instrinsicly, in detail, intimately, can do nothing but help build believability and dimension to your character.
Use only the things on this list that you feel are important, but I would like to remind you that the reader learns a lot about a character NOT through exposition (that’s kind of a cheat, and always feels , to me, like a rather clunky way of conveying knowlege), but through their actions, quirks, thoughts, and even through the things they own and carry with them. What kind of food they eat and how they eat it. What they wear. What they carry in their wallets. I encourage you, as writers, to consider these things when creating a character, and encourage you MORE to leave the exposition out and tell us about your character through these other means!
If nothing else, this will give you a LOT to work with when writing with your character. Maybe it’ll spur you to write about the character’s parents. Or the relationship between them and their family. Maybe you’ll find yourself inspired to write something about how they lost everything in a fire - and the importance each remembered lost item held.
There is certainly no rule that says you HAVE to do it this way, but invariably, the most memorable characters are the ones that we as readers can relate with. It’s hard to relate with just words - but people - with beliefs and dreams and fears - that’s something we can get behind.
I certainly hope you find this useful, and since so many have been inclined to reblog and like this, I shall endeavor to add more character creation and writing tips, lists and excercises up on this blog!
I think this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
- Pen
wow good
