Details For Historical/Fantasy Writing: Insights From A Reenactor

Details for Historical/Fantasy Writing: Insights from a Reenactor

Writing is the main thing I do for fun, but I’m a multi-faceted lass with many hobbies, and I also do Roman reenactment. I find that by actually doing something, you learn things that aren’t possible through theoretical research alone, so here is a collection of small things I’ve noticed while reenacting that you could add to your writing for a bit of extra realism.

Loose long hair is ANNOYING. There’s a reason most depictions you’ll see of women in history show them with their hair up and/or covered, and that is pure practicality. Having hair in the way is a massive pain (this would be particularly true for working women with stuff to get done).

Repetitive tasks aren’t boring if you have someone to chat to. When we do events, I’m in the textiles tent, and as the most junior member of the team I’m the one who does the spinning. Most events are 10-4/5, and you’d think 6/7 hours of spinning (with a break for lunch) would be boring, but actually, once you’re practiced you can do it on autopilot while you natter! I’m sure this is how people managed samey tasks back in ye olde days.

Speaking of spinning, working with textiles leaves its mark. If you’ve been spinning, sewing, or weaving for a long time, you’ll feel it. It knots up your shoulders and, perhaps less obviously, the friction of fibre against your fingers can wear away just enough skin to make them tender. Thimbles help with sewing, but not spinning or weaving.

Wool is WONDERFUL. I love it. It has a reputation as being scratchy and itchy, but when it’s finely woven/spun it is fantastic to wear. It keeps you cool when it’s hot, and warm when it’s cold. It also has the fantastic property of keeping you insulated even when soaking wet, which is why wool cloaks are so brilliant.

Linen is also wonderful. Lovely against the skin and cool in the summer (but for the average person in history, it’s more expensive than wool).

Woodsmoke gets everywhere. It stings your eyes and makes your clothes and hair smell smokey. However, after a little while the smell becomes just a background thing (and you get pretty practiced at anticipating when the smoke is going to change direction so you can move out of the way). It also keeps insects away!

Cooking over a fire takes longer than you’d think. If we start an event at 10 am, that means we’ll usually be having lunch at 1-2pm. However, we do have pretty elaborate meals, and have to start the fire from scratch every day (a lot of the wait time is getting the fire to cooking embers). If your characters are cooking simple fare over a fire that you’ve started from being banked, it’ll be quicker.

You want different footwear for different purposes. Hobnails give you great footing on soft/muddy ground, but on pavement they offer no purchase at all and will KILL YOU (okay, this is slight hyperbole, but there is an account of a centurion running from grass to pavement, slipping over and getting killed by his enemies). City wear would likely be leather and clogs/pattens.

CLOAKS CLOAKS CLOAKS! They are so versatile. They keep you warm, they keep you dry, they can be a blanket or an impromptu bag. Essential equipment in my view.

Hello! This is your monthly positivity mail :)

I hope your June is filled with lots of joy! Enjoy the nice moments, big or small, and try to take the opportunities to have fun that are presented to you, even (or especially!) if it means going out of your comfort zone. Happy pride month!!!

Thanks for the positivity!!!!!

June was a bit chaotic for me but it overall was a great month too, since I did start giving my main projects some serious attention in June and did a lot of cool stuff! I also have been having a lot of fun playing DnD!

OC Origins Tag!

Thanks for tagging me, @kaylinalexanderbooks (here)!

Let's go with Valen Cassidy (from Scrapyard Boys) and Kye Thalax (from Supernova Initiative)!

Rules: talk about the origins of the names and personalities (and maybe even the design?) of a couple of your OCs!

VALEN CASSIDY

Valen is actually inspired by a couple of things! Firstly, I was thinking about making a Mutant Inquiries (one of my WIPs) spin-off for a while now, and I wanted the MC of this spinoff to feel different from the soft, gentle, easy-going, and introverted MC of Mutant Inquiries (Matthias Harke). So I kinda did a 180° and went with a more aggressive, brash, anger-prone, impulsive, extroverted character - kinda the antonym of Matthias. Valen was also, initially, inspired by some side characters from some of my favorite TV shows and movies, as I thought "Hm, it would be interesting to have a character like that as an MC rather than a side character", so here some aspects of Valen's initial design and personality were born and then developed into something unique. Valen's journey of learning to heal and grow as he learns to channel his energy onto more productive and healthy coping mechanisms rather than succumbing to his anger issues, and learning to be calmer, is also rather cathartic. I think that's one of the reasons why I love writing this character so much!

KYE THALAX

Kye originally wasn't in the first version of Supernova Initiative's first draft, like at all. However, as I started developing the final versions of an outline for this WIP, I started to realize this story needed a tad more internal tension in the main crew and that Artemis' character needed a foil since he is going to become more relevant later on in the story. So, I came up with the character backstory and personality for Kye. In some ways, his story mirrors Artemis' own, while also opposing it:

both were raised by their fathers and witnessed their brutal deaths as young kids, but while Artemis is somewhat at peace with his father's fate and doesn't actually want revenge, rather wants to keep his father's memory and legacy alive, Kye never got over it, and became a bitter and dangerous person whose mindset is almost completely zeroed in on revenge.

while Artemis' mother was actually caring and well-intentioned (she spent nearly a lifetime looking for him after she lost track of him as a teen and never intended to have left him, and eventually does reunite with him now as a grownup and spends most of her arc making it up for her absence), Kye's mother was actually a vain, cruel, warmongering woman who only cared about her political cause and destroying the Junction (she is also directly tied to the very much untimely death of Kye's father, and was a pretty toxic/abusive partner even before that).

Artemis's personality is withdrawn, angsty, sarcastic, brash, funny, overprotective, warm, and fiercely loyal. Kye's personality is dangerously seductive, emotionless to strangers, sharp but oftentimes too literal, awkward, unpredictable, cold/calculating plus his loyalty is weak and fickle. They are pretty much antonyms to each other in every way despite being similar in other ways.

Tagging (gently): @sleepy-night-child, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @smol-feralgremlin, @oh-no-another-idea, @littleladymab,

@winterandwords, @eccaiia, @sarahlizziewrites, @illarian-rambling

@agirlandherquill, @anoelleart, @ray-writes-n-shit

@the-golden-comet, @writernopal, @anyablackwood, @unstablewifiaccess, @forthesanityofstorytellers

@i-can-even-burn-salad, @cakeinthevoid

@lassiesandiego, @thepeculiarbird, @clairelsonao3, @memento-morri-writes, @starlit-hopes-and-dreams and OPEN TAG

New WIP Tag Game! OC Fun Facts!

Hey! So I'm bored and want to do something fun, so here it goes a new OC tag game!

(I originally posted this in the wrong place lol, because I was hella tired yesterday, but here it goes - a repost on my actual blog lmao)

Also, pls reblog to get the game going! 💕

Rules: Make a list of fun facts about your OCs. Like a headcanon list, if you will! Except it's actually canon lol.

I'll go with some of the cast from Scrapyard Boys!

Valen Cassidy

... has never dated anyone before and despite his usual brash, occasionally hawkish, and extroverted personality, actually feels really awkward/too shy to ask anyone out

... likes pop rock, pop punk, and heavy metal. his music taste varies between happy-go-lucky, upbeat, feel-good songs and the most aggressive "I hate the world"-type heavy metal

... hyper fixates on arcade games and hates losing. like, he'll throw a full-on pity party or start an argument if he loses In front of other people

... can only sleep properly if he has his dinosaur plushie with him but will never let anyone find out

...can mess someone up in a fight, especially if he hates that person or if that person threatened his friends. like he is freakishly strong and has a very short temper - his punches are devastating and his superpower isn't even super-strength

... is a night owl and hates waking up too early. is the most grumpy, angry kid in the face of the earth up until 10AM even if he drinks a truckload of coffee

... has some anger issues and feels super bad when he accidentally snaps at/says something rude to someone without a reason - he doesn't mean to be rude, and if he happens to be stressed and loses his temper, he is very harsh on himself afterward

... can actually bake pretty well and loves making cupcakes

... hates horror movies with a burning passion but will watch them if dared just to uphold his "tough guy" reputation, and then promptly won't sleep for two nights straight afterwards

... since his power is Electrical Conduction, he can actually charge things, like cellphones and laptops, etc, if he does so very carefully

Quince Warren

... likes 80s pop music and early 2000s alternative rock songs, especially grunge

... prefers to solve things diplomatically or by talking it out, because his powers are usually lethal to others and he's scared of using his powers to this day

... likes waking up early, usually before anybody else, and sleeps so soundly he could literally sleep through the apocalypse if it happened

... could not dance properly if his life depended on it

... drinks more coffee than is probably healthy, but likely doesn't realize it isn't ideal

... cries while watching romantic comedies and gets way too invested when watching soap operas

... has unnatural pain tolerance - can probably break an arm and legit not realize anything is wrong until someone points it out

... will eat pizza for breakfast if unsupervised

... is unhingedly good at hide-and-seek to the point that his friends will give up looking for him and he'll simply emerge, seemingly from out of nowhere, and they'll have no idea where he came from

... is very respectful to others and despises people who don't respect other's boundaries

Jordan Raith

... suffers from chronic insomnia and gets pissed off when he can't sleep even though he knows to expect it, takes sleeping medicine but his superhuman metabolism refuses to let it work

... likes all things macabre, gothic, and dark, ranging from 1800s gothic romance novels to early 2000s teen horror movies, will 100% enjoy the heck out of a Halloween party

... occasionally sleepwalks and talks in his sleep almost every night

... adores fast food, especially from diners, and his favorite food to order is strawberry milkshakes with a plate of tuna sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies

... loves listening to music and is almost always wearing his headphones, has a playlist for every occasion, and his favorite music genres range from moody, dark aesthetic songs to cheesy pop songs

... has a 'bad boy style' and genuinely digs it, as he is a fan of a gothic aesthetic, and despite being a troublemaker is also a cinnamon roll

... is the most dangerous, murderous, and downright ruthless member of the main cast, even some villains are afraid of him

... has an old motorcycle

... confessed his feelings for the girl he likes (Maggie) a week after meeting her, and their first date was eating ice cream on a graveyard. they've been soulmates ever since

... hates loud noises and people who are obnoxiously loud in proximity to him

... is unpredictable and genuinely terrifying to his enemies

... is bad at handling tech and social media - gets confused easily and might post a bunch of nonsense on accident + has no patience to handle it

Emily Warren

... loves puppies and cats with her whole heart, and has a chonky cat named Sir Theodore Smothie The Third, who has the personality of a chaotic little bastard of a gremlin

... has a crush on Valen because she finds his personality endearing and he is generally a great friend but is waiting to figure out if he feels the same about her

... loves survival videogames and is very competitive when it comes to beating a high score

... despite singing rather well, likes to playfully sing as awfully as she can to annoy her brother (Quince)

... can play the guitar decently and likes learning new tunes

... rarely gets into fights but has a couple of brass knuckles and a switchblade in her pockets just in case

... dyes a single strand of her hair a different color each month, or every time she can remember to

... wears glasses and has very poor eyesight without them

... her power is Combustion and she has pretty bad control over it so she can either cause block-levelling explosions or less than nothing, and it's very much a problem

... loves musicals and boy bands - and has a poster of her favorite boy band in her room

... adds stickers to anything and everything, especially if they're glittery stickers

Tagging (gently): @sleepy-night-child, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @smol-feralgremlin, @oh-no-another-idea, @littleladymab,

@winterandwords, @eccaiia, @sarahlizziewrites, @illarian-rambling

@agirlandherquill, @anoelleart, @ray-writes-n-shit

@the-golden-comet, @writernopal, @anyablackwood, @unstablewifiaccess, @forthesanityofstorytellers

@i-can-even-burn-salad, @cakeinthevoid

@lassiesandiego, @thepeculiarbird, @clairelsonao3, @memento-morri-writes, @starlit-hopes-and-dreams

@wyked-ao3 and OPEN TAG

Get To Know Me Tag!

Thanks for tagging me, @kaylinalexanderbooks!

Do you have any pets?

Three dogs, two cats

Comfort food?

Chocolate Ganache or Chicken Nuggets

How many languages do you speak?

I'm fluent in Brazilian Portuguese and English, and am working on learning more Spanish and French

Random fact about yourself

1. I have OCD, 2. I can play the piano but haven't in a while, 3. I love winter & hate the summer

Something you’re proud of?

That I've finally managed to start writing my first draft for Supernova Initiative!

Tagging: @the-golden-comet @sleepy-night-child @smol-feralgremlin, @oh-no-another-idea, @thepeculiarbird, @illarian-rambling and OPEN TAG

OC Picrew!

Thanks for tagging me @oh-no-another-idea (here)!

(picrew maker here)

Behold Jack Tithus (red-haired picrew) and Valen Cassidy (blond picrew), from Supernova Initiative and Scrapyard Boys respectively!

Tagging (gently): @sleepy-night-child, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @smol-feralgremlin, @oh-no-another-idea, @littleladymab,

@winterandwords, @eccaiia, @sarahlizziewrites, @illarian-rambling

@agirlandherquill, @anoelleart, @ray-writes-n-shit

@the-golden-comet, @writernopal, @anyablackwood, @unstablewifiaccess, @forthesanityofstorytellers

@i-can-even-burn-salad, @cakeinthevoid

@lassiesandiego, @thepeculiarbird, @clairelsonao3, @memento-morri-writes, @starlit-hopes-and-dreams and OPEN TAG