I Used To Hate This Tip, Too, But Then I Realised That Maybe We Should Not Take It That Literally. If

I used to hate this tip, too, but then I realised that maybe we should not take it that literally. If you are Britsh, you might not know much about the highschool-system in America, but you probably know some things about friendship. You know how a first love feels and you know how hard it can be to share a school with people who have bullied you for years. Or maybe you don’t know that, either. But you sure know what humiliation feels like. We have not attended executions, but we have seen scared people and we know suspense.

‘Write about what you know‘ does not have to be about facts. It can be about feelings, about insights and moments of understanding. You can make your readers believe the most fantastic things and experience the most amazing events, because you can base the sensation of casting a spell on the electricity you felt when you touched an escalator in the shopping mall. 

Maybe all this dogma means, is that you don’t have to make everything up. One of the truest thing I ever knew, is that I feel safe as long as I am the only one in danger. That does not mean I have to write about a college girl with insecurity issues. I can write about a Chosen One in the middle ages. But he will feel real, because I wrote him based on something I know

You know what it would be like if we all only wrote about what we know?

BORING AS SHIT.

You’re British and want to write a highschool AU set in America? Sorry, you can’t, even if you research you might get it wrong. You’re an artist and you want to write about geologists? Nope. Not for you. You’re writing a zombie apocalypse AU? Not if you haven’t lived through a zombie apocalypse. You’re writing a space AU? You better be an astronaut (even if you’re an engineer or technician you might get something wrong about spacewalking!!!). You’re writing meta about elf biology? You’d better be a fucking biologist or you might get something wrong.

So do some research online and write your AU. If someone who knows more about that thing offers to help you, great! If they don’t, you can do it anyway. You don’t need a Stamp Of Approval™ in order to write your stuff.

And if someone is rude about it because it doesn’t fit their standards? Oh well, too bad for them.

If you are still interested in ass-kicking warrior ladies, I two in the historical fantasy I'm writing! The first one is Tin. She feels strongly about justice, equality and respect and is always picking fights to protect these values (she has quite a temper). She can throw a punch, but she prefers dueling; her gun Charley is part of her arm at this point. She likes wearing male clothing, though because she is small and curvy, it seldom fits. Luckily she has a friend that helps her adjust it. 1/2

My other warrior lady is called Phosphore. Phosphore’s fighting is more subtle than Tin’s, but definitely as dangerous. She is very smart and prefers using logic and reason to win a fight. Yet, there is always a dagger in her pocket. She is a dancer and with her quickness and agility, she can have her blade to your throat in a matter of heartbeats. The elaborate dresses she wears don’t hinder her. Though she won’t harm without good reason, you are in trouble if you touch her friends. (2/2)

I am always interested in ass-kicking warrior ladies!  And yours sound awesome! Fighting for justice? Being badass? Using wit but also weapons? And being fashionable about it?  

I love them! 100/10! Don’t mess with them! But I do want to be their friend! Also Phosphore is an awesome name!

A small town + seven inhabitants 

You know what? Maybe the iceberg on top is how much words there are on the paper. But you wrote that entire chunk of rock. Because a word is not just a word. With every sentence you weave, you are conveying a multitude of meanings, you are juggling different characters with different agenda’s, you have pages of background info rolling around in your head.  After writing, the iceberg may just be two characters having dinner together and talking about their spaghetti for a full paragraph. Yet beneath the surface you have written two characters carefully scanning each other’s reactions for any sign their dinner-date is in love, too.  The iceberg might be a stiffening of character A’s stance, a look, the balling of fists. But you know the trauma that happened when A was sixteen and you have been digging and groping for the most subtle and yet most right way to convey that.  For every action you write, you have written thoughts, discussions, motivations in your head. For every scenery you have plannend a country. Even if you only write a hundred words per hour, you are writing half a life. And your readers might not see the entirety of your work. But as they admire the iceberg, part of their awe will come from sensing something vast and enourmous underneath the water.  

working on my Sheith fantasy au and it’s… going. slowly

Here’s to young, flaky Annie Moore, by @whatevertotesyourgoat. I hope it is worth the long wait!

Requests for OC aesthetics are open

A moodboard for the rogue Jheri Kepeshkmolik, by @definitelynotclayface. I hope you like this one!

Requests for OC aesthetics are open.