getwrit

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A Somewhat Useful Masterpost For Writers

A Somewhat Useful Masterpost for Writers

Websites for Critique:

Authonomy It’s been a while since I used this website in particular, but it’s useful for helpful critique and to get your original works out there. If your book get on the top five list at the end of the month Harper Collins will read it for possible publication.

Teen Ink

Figment

Fiction Press

ReviewFuse

and of course… Tumblr

Other Websites:

Write or Die is great if you want to give yourself a certain amount of time to write a set amount of words.

Tip of my Tongue for when you can’t remember the exact word

Character Traits Form

Online Thesaurus where you just type in a word and you get a cluster of different words

Characters

Top 10 Questions for Creating Believable Characters

How to Create a Fictional Character

Describing Clothing and Appearance

The Difference between Ethnicity and Nationality

Describing a Voice

Characters (part 2)

How to write Funeral Directors I’ve read quite a few fanfics where they just have funeral directors slapping clothes on a body and calling it a day. As a former funeral services major I can tell you that’s not the only thing they do.

How to write Drug Dealers

How to write Gamblers

Interview with a Hitman

Terms for royalty

Naming Characters

Behind the Name

Top Baby Names

Looking for a name that means a certain thing?

7 Rules of Picking Names

Most Common Surnames

Medical/Crime/Legal

Coma: Types, Causes, etc

Tips for writing blood loss

Gunshot Wound Care

Examples of Hospital Forms

Common Legal Questions

The Writer’s Forensics Blog

Brain Injury Legal Guide

Types of Surgical Operations

Types of Mental Health Problems

A Day in the Life of a Mental Hospital Patient

Global Black Market Information Because where else would you find out how much money it takes to get a 16 year old girl to kill someone in Mexico?

Crime Scene Science

Examining Mob Mentality

How Street Gangs Work

Other Helpful Stuff

Poisonous Herbs and Plants

The Psychology of Color

The Meaning behind Rose color

Compare Character Heights - I personally love this site so much.

Types of Swords

Color Symbolism

How a handgun works

Blueprints for Houses

The Six Types of Haunting Activities

The Difference Between lay and lie

10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling

5 Easy Tips to Improve Your Writing

How to Write a Eulogy

Types of Crying

Career Masterpost

Avoiding LGBTQ Stereotypes

Tips for Writing Ghost Stories

A Spell to See Spirits

Make Graphics out of Quotes

Superstitions and More

The 12 Common Archetypes

Language of Flowers

Military Sign Language

A Visual Dictionary of Tops

Describing Tiaras

What author do you most write like? (I’ve gotten Stephenie Meyer)

12 Realistic Woman Body Shapes

Japanese honorifics

Dress Up Games I personally like to find games that I can make my OCs with.

Azalea’s Dolls

Doll Divine x

Dress Up Games

Shidabeeda Games

Free Writing Software

Google Docs (automatically saves as you write. 100% recommend)

EverNote

OpenOffice (a free version of Microsoft Office)

Articles

25 Steps To Edit the Unmerciful Suck out of Your Story

10 Rules for Writing First Drafts

10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know About Writing

Create a Plot Outline in 8 Easy Steps

Publishing Agencies to Stay Away From

5 Ways to Make Your Novel Helplessly Addictive

Books:

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing

Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul

Writing Great Books for Young Adults

Inspirational Quotes: x x

And I couldn’t find the original post for these so (pictures under the cut)

More Posts from Getwrit

getwrit

10 years ago

World Building: Where to Start

For sci-fi or fantasy writers, creating your world could be the hardest part. Building something from nothing is incredibly difficult and, while you don’t want to be conceited, you are being a God. You are reaching into this nothingness and pulling a whole planet, whole civilization, towns and people and cities and governments out of nothing.

You have to always keep in mind that your world, once created, exists without you. Your world existed before you dropped your characters into it, and your world will exist long after your characters die (unless they somehow end the world).

Geography

I have always thought the best place to start would be geography. If you open up a history textbook, for any country, geography is often the first thing that you see. How large is this world? Is it a full planet or just a landmass that you are discussing? Where in space is it? Do you know? It is in this universe? What does the sky look like? Are their islands? Mountains? Rivers? Oceans? Lakes? You need to know the layout of the land.

Start off with a piece of paper, and explore where your want your characters to go. If you look at Harry Potter, there is an entire world built inside of our world, living amongst us. If you look at Lord of the Rings, there is an entire different world out there that we haven’t reached and doesn’t know about us. Pokemon has it’s own region, with little towns and usually some islands. Firefly has earth-like planets in a different universe, but they know of Earth (Earth-that-was). Is your world build on ours? Build away from ours? Built after ours? Can they interact? Have they ever interacted?

Let There Be Life

Once you have a basic layout for landmass, think about the first interaction with our world. So, for example, I created a world called Fallamore, which exists underneath Earth and was built by magical folk during the witch hunts in order to escape prosecution. This is the kind of information that will probably never make the story, but it is cool to know for yourself. How long has history existed for this world? Where do they believe life started? God? Science? Aliens?

Knowing Every Rock and Tree and Creature

You obviously don’t need to know every tree and rock that exists in the world - but you do need to know what species are around. Are trees like they are on Earth? Brown bark and green leaves? Do they change colors in the fall? Are there even seasons? While you don’t need to make note of every type of flower or tree, it’s good to have an idea of what things might look like.

Another good idea would be knowing what kind of species exist in your world. Humans? Witches? Vampires? Goblins? Elves? Fairies? Aliens? Something you invented? Do they all live together, or do they have their own communities? Do they get along, or are they racist of each other?

Vague and Yet Menacing World Government

You have a lot of options for governments in your world, and are also free to make your own. You can do a traditional monarchy: king, queen, princess, prince, etc. Is your monarchy going to be a patriarchy, a matriarchy, or equestrianism? (Will the eldest son take over? Eldest daughter? Oldest child? Most prepared / smartest child? The parent chooses? It’s a vote?) You can have a President, or Minister. You can have a dictator. You can have a council. You can have a religious leader double as a political leader. All political decisions can be asked to a magic conch shell. Also, you can mix and match these. For my upcoming NaNoWriMo novel, I have a world with many different regions. The entire world has one royal family in charge of everything ( a patriarchal monarchy ) that defends the realm and all things in it. However, the monarchy allows the different regions to govern themselves as long as they follow the monarchy’s policies. Several regions have established their own monarchy that bows a knee to the main one. A goblin region has a council that reports to the monarchy. An elf region has a matriarchy. A final region is led by a very wise educator, who has been appointed as leader for his knowledge.

You also need to decide how important government is - but it is necessary. If you are telling the story of a very young girl who finds a unicorn in a meadow, knowing that she lives under the rule of a beautiful princess in a far away castle is not relevant and doesn’t need to be shared. However, in The Hunger Games the government plays a huge role in the plot of the story.

Now, there is a lot of other things to think about when creating a world, but this is just a place to start. World Building is a lot of work and takes a lot of time and effort and dedication.

Best of luck, and happy writing! MRM

Tags :

how-to world building

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getwrit

10 years ago

You know what I love? Names. You know what I love more than just names? Geographically accurate names.

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(Current popular names all over the world)

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The following information was found here

Names From The Ancient World

Eastern

Egypt

Greece

Rome

Africa

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Medieval European Names Medieval English Names

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Anglo-Saxon/Old English Names

Dithematic Names (Name with two elements)

Monothematic Names (Single element names & bynames)

Religion (Gods; Goddesses; Calendar)

Rulers

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CELTIC

Ireland [Celtic-Male Origin | Celtic-Female Origin | More]

Scotland [Naming Patterns | Celtic Origin | Biblical Origin | More]

Wales [Naming Practices | Biblical Origin | Welsh Surnames | More]

Brittany [Male | Female | Surnames | More]

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Modern English First Names

The Central Stock of English First Names

Linknames (feminine forms of Biblical, Celtic, germanic, Greek, Latin and Modern male names)

Saints (calendar of saints, patron saints)

Modern Coinages Placenames | Blended | Combined | Borrowed Words | Unisex

Surname Adaptations (English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh and Foreign surnames used as first names)

Themed Names (twins, mulit-births, colors, creatures dates, etc)

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Western European Names

France | Naming Practices | Medieval | More

Italy | Latin | Medieval | More

Germany | Naming Practices | Medieval | More

Austria | First Names | Surnames | Rulers

Switzerland | First Names | Surnames

Netherlands | Naming Practices | Friesland | More

Belgium | Naming Practices | Walloon | More

Portugal | Biblical Origin | Latin Origin | More

Basque | Male | Female | Surnames

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Eastern European Names

Poland | Slavonic Origin | Various | More

Hungary | Pronunciation etc | Names | More

Czech-Slovak | Czech | Slovak | Czechoslovakia | More

Albania | Male | Female | Surnames

Bulgaria | First Names | Surnames | More

Romania | Male | Female | Surnames

Greece | Greek Origin | Latin Origin | Surnames | More

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Scandinavian Names

Old Norse | Male | Female | Name Elements | More

Norway | Norse Origin | Germanic Origin | Surnames | More

Sweden | Norse Origin | Germanic Origin | Surnames | More

Denmark | Norse Origin | Various Origin | Surnames | More

Iceland | Norse Origin | Various Origin | Surnames | More

Faroe Islands | Norse Origin | Foreign Origin | Surnames

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Former Soviet Union Names

Russia | Naming Practices | Slavic Origin | Surnames | More

Baltic States Estonia | Latvia | Lithuania | Finland

Asian Republics Kazakhstan | Tajikistan | Turkmenistan | Uzbekistan | Kirghizistan

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African Names

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Northern Native American Names

Native names used in modern America

Various Native American Nations

Algonquin [Cheyenne, Shawnee, Mohican/Mahican]

Apache [Mimbreno, Warm Springs, White Mountain, Bedonkohe, Chiricahua]

Iroquois [Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onundagas, Seneca, Tuscaroa]

Ojibwa [Ojibway, Potawatomi, Chippewa]

Inuit

Southern and Central Native American Names

Aztec [History, Male, Female, Religion, Calendars, Rulers]

Inca [Male, Female, Religion, Calendars]

Maya [History, Male, Female, Religion, Calendars]

Amazonian [Names from tribes living in the rain forests]

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India

Hindu Names Male Names [A | B | C - K | L- Z] | Female | More

Hindu Gods

Sikh

Others

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Middle and Near Eastern

Arab/Muslim Male | Female | More

Jewish Names Biblical | Yiddish | Modern | Various | Surnames

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China Info | Male | Female

Japan Info | Male | Female

Korea Info | Male | Female

Mongolia

Himalayan Nepal | Bhutan | Tibet

Indochina Burma | Thailand | Vietnam | Cambodia | Laos

South East Asia Indonesia | Malaysia | Brunei | The Philippines

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Pacific

Melanesia Soloman Islands | Papua New Guinea | Vanuatu | Tuvalu

Tags :

names

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getwrit

10 years ago

Cheat Sheets for Writing Body Language

We are always told to use body language in our writing. Sometimes, it’s easier said than written. I decided to create these cheat sheets to help you show a character’s state of mind. Obviously, a character may exhibit a number of these behaviours. For example, he may be shocked and angry, or shocked and happy. Use these combinations as needed.

by Amanda Patterson

Tags :

how-to emotion

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getwrit

10 years ago

Writer’s Block

A picture says a thousand words. Write them.

Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.

Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!

Tags :

prompts

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getwrit

10 years ago

therobotmonster:

moniquill:

siderealsandman:

friendlytroll:

prokopetz:

mikhailvladimirovich:

bogleech:

It’s funny how science fiction universes so often treat humans as a boring, default everyman species or even the weakest and dumbest.

I want to see a sci fi universe where we’re actually considered one of the more hideous and terrifying species.

How do we know our saliva and skin oils wouldn’t be ultra-corrosive to most other sapient races? What if we actually have the strongest vocal chords and can paralyze or kill the inhabitants of other worlds just by screaming at them? What if most sentient life in the universe turns out to be vegetable-like and lives in fear of us rare “animal” races who can move so quickly and chew shit up with our teeth?

Like that old story “they’re made of meat,” only we’re scarier.

HOLY SHIT THEY EAT CAPSAICIN FOR FUN

YOU GUYS I HEARD A HUMAN ONCE ATE AN AIRPLANE.

A HUMAN CAN KEEP FIGHTING FOR HOURS EVEN AFTER YOU SHOOT IT

humans are a proud warrior race with a pantheon of bloody gods: Ram-Bo, Schwarzenegger, etc.

REMOVING A LIMB WILL NOT FATALLY INCAPACITATE HUMANS: ALWAYS DESTROY THE HEAD.

WARNING: HUMANS CAN DETECT YOU EVEN AT NIGHT BY TRACKING VIBRATIONS THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE

WARNING: HUMANS CAN REPRODUCE AT A RATE OF 1 PER SPACEYEAR. DESTROY INFESTATIONS IMMEDIATELY

THE HUMAN MOUTH HAS OVER THIRTY OUTCROPS OF BONE AND POWERFUL JAW MUSCLES.

HUMAN BITES CAN BE FATALLY INFECTIOUS EVEN TO OTHER HUMANS

WARNING: HUMANS CAN AND WILL USE IMPROVISED WEAPONS. SEE CLASSIFIED DATA LABELED J. CHAN.

HUMANS CAN PROJECT BIOWEAPONS FROM ALMOST EVERY ORIFICE ON THEIR BODY. DO NOT INHALE

OH GOD THE HUMANS FIGURED OUT DOOR HANDLES OH GOD OH GOD

More seriously, humans do have a number of advantages even among Terrestrial life. Our endurance, shock resistance, and ability to recover from injury is absurdly high compared to almost any other animal. We often use the phrase “healthy as a horse” to connote heartiness - but compared to a human, a horse is as fragile as spun glass. There’s mounting evidence that our primitive ancestors would hunt large prey simply by following it at a walking pace, without sleep or rest, until it died of exhaustion; it’s called pursuit predation. Basically, we’re the Terminator.

(The only other animal that can sort of keep up with us? Dogs. That’s why we use them for hunting. And even then, it’s only “sort of”.)

Now extrapolate that to a galaxy in which most sapient life did not evolve from hyper-specialised pursuit predators:

Our strength and speed is nothing to write home about, but we don’t need to overpower or outrun you. We just need to outlast you - and by any other species’ standards, we just plain don’t get tired.

Where a simple broken leg will cause most species to go into shock and die, we can recover from virtually any injury that’s not immediately fatal. Even traumatic dismemberment isn’t necessarily a career-ending injury for a human.

We heal from injuries with extreme rapidity, recovering in weeks from wounds that would take others months or years to heal. The results aren’t pretty - humans have hyperactive scar tissue, among our other survival-oriented traits - but they’re highly functional.

Speaking of scarring, look at our medical science. We developed surgery centuries before developing even the most rudimentary anesthetics or life support. In extermis, humans have been known to perform surgery on themselves - and survive. Thanks to our extreme heartiness, we regard as routine medical procedures what most other species would regard as inventive forms of murder. We even perform radical surgery on ourselves for purely cosmetic reasons.

In essence, we’d be Space Orcs.

Our jaws have too many TEETH in them, so we developed a way to WELD METAL TO OUR TEETH and FORCE THE BONES IN OUR JAW to restructure over the course of years to fit them back into shape, and then we continue to wear metal in out mouths to keep them in place.

We formed cohabitative relationships with tiny mammals and insects we keep at bay from bothering us by death, often using little analouge traps.

And by god, we will eat anything.

We use borderline toxic peppers to season our food.

We expose ourselves to potentially lethal solar radiation in the pursuit of darkening our skin.

We risk hearing loss for the opportunity to see our favorite musicians live.

We have a game where two people get into an enclosed area and hit each other until time runs out/one of them pass out

We willingly jump out of planes with only a flimsy piece of cloth to prevent us from splattering against the ground.

Our response to natural disasters is to just rebuild our buildings in the exact same places.

We climb mountains and risk freezing to death for bragging rights

We invented dogs. We took our one time predators and completely domesticated them.

On a planet full of lions, tigers and bears, we managed to advance further and faster than any other species on the planet.

Klingons and Krogan and Orcs ain’t got shit on us

We drink ethanol (in concentrations high enough to be used as an effective as microbicide or a solvent!) for the express purpose of achieving blood toxicity and disrupting normal brain function… AS A RECREATIONAL ACTIVITY!

On the same subject, we also deliberately incinerate assorted substances and then inhale the particulate-heavy smoke and vapor resulting for the same effect. EVEN IN THE FACE OF SAID SUBSTANCES BEING CARCINOGENIC, BECAUSE WE JUST DON’T GIVE A FUCK.

Humans do not have biological castes. Kill their commander and another will take its place. Soldiers left alone on a planet will start farming and manufacturing to survive. Farmers and manufacturers will take up arms and kill you if pressed. Just because two humans look different doesn’t mean they cannot do each other’s jobs.

Breeding does not kill them. A single human can mate dozens or hundreds of times in a lifetime. They often do so as recreation. Xenobiology team six believes they do not have a mating season but this is too strange to be true.

Their appendages are not designed for hitting, so they developed special training to make them very good at hitting anyhow.

The proteins making up their bodies are toxic and cause prion disease. Do not touch anything humans have touched. Do not consume earth foods. Fire does not adequately remove this contamination.

Humans perceive sixteen times the colors we do. Do not hide in bushes or vines from humans. They can distinguish your pelt from the foliage with ease.

We tried venting waste gas into the tunnels to kill the humans when they attacked. Turns out they breathe it.

Everything on their planet came from a single biological strain. They developed comprehensive genetics BEFORE they developed space travel.

They lack radio receptors and cannot be brought into compliance with right-thought simply by broadcasting to them. Even after we learned how to translate it into sound-waves one of their hatchlings drove the Great Authority mad by responding to every demand with a single question: “Why?”

#an individual human being is actually a microbiome in its own right—you are dealing with a legion each time you approach them #they carry pathological agents inside their deep tissues and this is advantageous to their health #one of the most widespread and resilient viruses on their planet is treated as mildly hazardous—even though it causes #massive disruption to the body’s homeostasis #(their young offspring endure multiple rhinovirus infections EACH YEAR yet they seem unperturbed by this) #they have developed such long lifespans that now their primary threat is their own body’s degeneration #humanity has literally figured out how to survive so long that their body gives out under them #and they are not satisfied with that #stupid willful vengeful survivalists who treat mortality like a challenge #sarah’s ongoing love letter to humanity #(this is my favorite post of all time I swear) (via notbecauseofvictories)

Tags :

prompts long post

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