Team Free Queue - Tumblr Posts
Myths, Creatures, and Folklore
Want to create a religion for your fictional world? Here are some references and resources!
General:
General Folklore
Various Folktales
Heroes
Weather Folklore
Trees in Mythology
Animals in Mythology
Birds in Mythology
Flowers in Mythology
Fruit in Mythology
Plants in Mythology
Folktales from Around the World
Africa:
Egyptian Mythology
African Mythology
More African Mythology
Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
The Gods of Africa
Even More African Mythology
West African Mythology
All About African Mythology
African Mythical Creatures
Gods and Goddesses
The Americas:
Aztec Mythology
Haitian Mythology
Inca Mythology
Maya Mythology
Native American Mythology
More Inca Mythology
More Native American Mythology
South American Mythical Creatures
North American Mythical Creatures
Aztec Gods and Goddesses
Asia:
Chinese Mythology
Hindu Mythology
Japanese Mythology
Korean Mythology
More Japanese Mythology
Chinese and Japanese Mythical Creatures
Indian Mythical Creatures
Chinese Gods and Goddesses
Hindu Gods and Goddesses
Korean Gods and Goddesses
Europe:
Basque Mythology
Celtic Mythology
Etruscan Mythology
Greek Mythology
Latvian Mythology
Norse Mythology
Roman Mythology
Arthurian Legends
Bestiary
Celtic Gods and Goddesses
Gods and Goddesses of the Celtic Lands
Finnish Mythology
Celtic Mythical Creatures
Gods and Goddesses
Middle East:
Islamic Mythology
Judaic Mythology
Mesopotamian Mythology
Persian Mythology
Middle Eastern Mythical Creatures
Oceania:
Aboriginal Mythology
Polynesian Mythology
More Polynesian Mythology
Mythology of the Polynesian Islands
Melanesian Mythology
Massive Polynesian Mythology Post
Maori Mythical Creatures
Hawaiian Gods and Goddesses
Hawaiian Goddesses
Gods and Goddesses
Creating a Fantasy Religion:
Creating Part 1
Creating Part 2
Creating Part 3
Creating Part 4
Fantasy Religion Design Guide
Using Religion in Fantasy
Religion in Fantasy
Creating Fantasy Worlds
Beliefs in Fantasy
Some superstitions:
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can we talk about how fucking beautiful sinqua fucking walls is
a massively extended version of ruthlesscalculus’ post
General Tips
Joss Whedon’s Top 10 Writing Tips
Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone
34 Writing Tips that will make you a Better Writer
50 Free resources that will improve your writing skills
5 ways to get out of the comfort zone and become a stronger writer
10 ways to avoid Writing Insecurity
The Writer’s Guide to Overcoming Insecurity
The Difference Between Good Writers and Bad Writers
You’re Not Hemingway - Developing Your Own Style
7 Ways to use Brain Science to Hook Readers and Reel them In
8 Short Story Tips from Kurt Vonnegut
How to Show, Not Tell
5 Essential Story Ingredients
How to Write Fiction that grabs your readers from page one
Why research is important in writing
Make Your Reader Root for Your Main Character
Writing Ergonomics (Staying Comfortable Whilst Writing)
The Importance of Body Language
Character Development
10 days of Character Building
Name Generators
Name Playground
Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test
Seven Common Character Types
Handling a Cast of Thousands Part 1 - Getting To Know Your Characters
Web Resources for Developing Characters
Building Fictional Characters
Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
Character Building Workshop
Tips for Characterization
Character Chart for Fiction Writers
Villains are people too but…
How to Write a Character Bible
Character Development Exercises
All Your Characters Talk the Same - And They’re Not A Hivemind!
Medieval Names Archive
Sympathy Without Saintliness
Family Echo (Family Tree Maker)
Behind The Name
100 Character Development Questions for Writers
Aether’s Character Development Worksheet
The 12 Common Archetypes
Six Types of Courageous Characters
Kazza’s List of Character Secrets - Part 1, Part 2
Creating Believable Characters With Personality
Body Language Cheat Sheet
Creating Fictional Characters Series
Three Ways to Avoid Lazy Character Description
7 Rules for Picking Names for Fictional Characters
Character Development Questionnaire
How to Create Fictional Characters
Character Name Resources
Character Development Template
Character Development Through Hobbies
Character Flaws List
10 Questions for Creating Believable Characters
Ari’s Archetype Series
How to Craft Compelling Characters
List of 200 Character Traits
Writing Characters of the Opposite Sex
Making Your Characters Likable
Do you really know your characters?
Character Development: Virtues
Character Development: Vices
Character Morality Alignment
List of Negative Personality Traits
List of Positive Personality Traits
List of Emotions - Positive
List of Emotions - Negative
Loon’s Character Development Series - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Phobia List A-L (Part 1), M-Z (Part 2)
30 Day In Depth Character Development Meme
Words for Emotions based on Severity
Eight Bad Characters
High Level Description of the Sixteen Personality Types
Female Characters
How Not to Write Female Characters
Writing Female Characters
How to write empowering female characters
Why I write strong female characters
Red Flags for Female Characters Written by Men
Writing strong female characters
The Female Character Flowchart
Eight Heroine Archetypes
Male Characters
Eight Hero Archetypes
Tips for Specific Characters
Writing A Vampire
Writing Pansexual Characters
Writing Characters on the Police Force
Writing Drunk Characters
Writing A Manipulative Character
Writing A Friends With Benefits Relationship
Writing A Natural Born Leader
Writing A Flirtatious Character
Writing A Nice Character
Fiction Writing Exercises for Creating Villains
Five Traits to Contribute to an Epic Villain
Writing Villains that Rock
Writing British Characters
How To Write A Character With A Baby
On Assassin Characters
Dialogue
It’s Not What They Say…
Top 8 Tips for Writing Dialogue
Speaking of Dialogue
The Great Said Debate
He Said, She Said, Who Said What?
How to Write Dialogue Unique to Your Characters
Writing Dialogue: Go for Realistic, Not Real-Life
Point of View
Establishing The Right Point of View
How to Start Writing in the Third Person
The I Problem
Plot, Conflict, Structure and Outline
Writing A Novel Using the Snowflake Method
Effectively Outlining Your Novel
Conflict and Character Within Story Structure
Outlining Your Plot
Ideas, Plots and Using the Premise Sheets
How To Write A Novel
Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense
Plunge Right In…Into Your Story, That Is
Tips for Creating a Compelling Plot
36 (plus one) Dramatic Situations
The Evil Overlord Devises A Plot: Excerpt from Stupid Plot Tricks
Conflict Test
What is Conflict?
Monomyth
The Hero’s Journey: Summary of Steps
Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes
Plotting Without Fears
Novel Outlining 101
Writing The Perfect Scene
One-Page Plotting
The Great Swampy Middle
How Can You Know What Belongs In Your Book?
Create A Plot Outline in 8 Easy Steps
How to Organize and Develop Ideas for Your Novel
Create Structure in your novel using index cards
Choosing the best outline method for you
Hatch’s Plot Bank
Setting & Worldbuilding
Magical Word Builder’s Guide
I Love The End Of The World
World Building 101
The Art of Description: Eight Tips to Help Bring Your Settings to Life
Creating the Perfect Setting - Part 1
Creating a Believable World
Setting
Character and Setting Interactions
Maps Workshop - Developing the Fictional World Through Mapping
World Builders Project
How To Create Fantasy Worlds
Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds
Creativity Boosters* denotes prompts
*Creative Writing Prompts
*Ink Provoking
*Story Starter
*Story Spinner
*Story Kitchen
*Language is a Virus
*The Dabbling Mum
Quick Story Idea Generator
Solve Your Problems By Simply Saying Them Out Loud
Busting Your Writing Rut
Creative Acceleration: 11 Tips To Engineer A Productive Flow
Writing Inspiration, Or Sex on a Bicycle
The Seven Major Beginner Mistakes
Complete Your First Book with these 9 Simple Writing Habits
Free Association, Active Imagination, Twilight Imaging
Random Book Title Generator
Finishing Your Novel
Story Starters & Idea Generators
Words to Use More Often
Revision & Grammar
How To Rewrite
Editing Recipe
Cliche Finder
Revising Your Novel: Read What You’ve Written
Writing 101: Revising A Novel
20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes
Synonyms for the Most Commonly Used Words of the English Language
Grammar Urban Legends
Tools & Software
Tip Of My Tongue - Find the word you’re looking for
Write or Die - Stay motivated
Stay Focused - Tool for Chrome, lock yourself out of distracting websites
My Writing Nook - Online Text Editor, Free
Bubbl.us - Online Mind Map Application, Free
Family Echo - Online Family Tree Maker, Free
Freemind - Mind Map Application; Free; Windows, Mac, Linux, Portable
Xmind - Mind Map Application; Free; Windows, Mac, Linux, Portable
Liquid Story Binder - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free trial, $45.95; Windows, Portable
Scrivener - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free trial, $39.95; Mac
SuperNotecard - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free trial, $29; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable
yWriter - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free; Windows, Linux, portable
JDarkRoom - Minimalist Text Editing Application; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable
AutoRealm - Map Creation Application; free; Windows, Linux with Wine
Specific Help
Fashion Terminology
All About Kissing
Genre Help: Romance
187 Mental Illnesses
Types of Mental Illness
Eye Color List
Spectral Groupings
AU ideas!
➸ gets into a cab only to find someone else already inside AU ➸ out walking their dog who starts chasing after the other person’s dog AU ➸ cat/dog runs away and other person finds it AU ➸ mistaken identity AU ➸ pen pals AU ➸ sit next to each other in orchestra AU ➸ partners in (literal) crime AU (theft? fraud? hacking? murder?) ➸ partners in dance class AU ➸ trapped on a deserted island together AU ➸ wizard AU where one accidentally apparates into the wrong house ➸ protester and police officer AU ➸ lab partners AU ➸ new neighbors AU ➸ one’s blind and falls in love with the other’s voice AU ➸ hair stylist/make up artist and actor/model AU ➸ bffs when they were little but one moved away and they run into each other again AU ➸ mailman(/woman) and person who receives a lot of mail AU ➸ private detective and client AU ➸ archaeologist AU ➸ paramedic AU ➸ runaway royalty and confused commoner AU ➸ android and human AU ➸ ghosts in love AU ➸ go to the same support group AU ➸ just keep running into each other everywhere AU ➸ orchestra player/pianist and concertgoer AU ➸ younger siblings are best friends AU ➸ photographer and model AU ➸ writer and editor AU ➸ immortal and non-immortal AU ➸ screenwriter and director AU ➸ greek god and roman counterpart AU ➸ ALL OF THE AUS
Here are some scientific facts about blood loss for all you psychopaths writers out there.
I judge people by whether or not they truly understand the definition of protagonist and antagonist.
AU ideas!
➸ gets into a cab only to find someone else already inside AU ➸ out walking their dog who starts chasing after the other person’s dog AU ➸ cat/dog runs away and other person finds it AU ➸ mistaken identity AU ➸ pen pals AU ➸ sit next to each other in orchestra AU ➸ partners in (literal) crime AU (theft? fraud? hacking? murder?) ➸ partners in dance class AU ➸ trapped on a deserted island together AU ➸ wizard AU where one accidentally apparates into the wrong house ➸ protester and police officer AU ➸ lab partners AU ➸ new neighbors AU ➸ one’s blind and falls in love with the other’s voice AU ➸ hair stylist/make up artist and actor/model AU ➸ bffs when they were little but one moved away and they run into each other again AU ➸ mailman(/woman) and person who receives a lot of mail AU ➸ private detective and client AU ➸ archaeologist AU ➸ paramedic AU ➸ runaway royalty and confused commoner AU ➸ android and human AU ➸ ghosts in love AU ➸ go to the same support group AU ➸ just keep running into each other everywhere AU ➸ orchestra player/pianist and concertgoer AU ➸ younger siblings are best friends AU ➸ photographer and model AU ➸ writer and editor AU ➸ immortal and non-immortal AU ➸ screenwriter and director AU ➸ greek god and roman counterpart AU ➸ ALL OF THE AUS
I think I broke Harry Potter
So it’s 3AM and It’s just occurred to me that the most telling scene in the entire Harry Potter franchise is the scene following the announcement of the participants of the Triwizard tournament.
When Harry’s name is pulled out of the cup, literally one of the first things he is asked is “did you ask an older boy to put your name in the cup for you?" or something to that effect, insinuating that, that was something nobody prepared for and that it was something that totally would have worked if anyone had been smart enough to figure it out.
However, in an earlier scene a student is turned into a hundred year old man when they try to artificially age themselves with a potion and put their name into the cup. Meaning someone trying to dangerously age themselves with potion they aren’t familiar with was something the teachers genuinely considered to be more likely than someone asking for fucking help from another student.
In other words, the wizards in Harry Potter’s world are so reliant on magic that it doesn’t occur to anyone save for people like Harry that asking for help is even an option in a given situation. This explains why wizards are so fucking ass-backwards at everything, they’re so confident that their magic is capable of doing everything for them that it has never occurred to fucking anyone that perhaps asking for help from the muggle world might be of some use.
Think about it, the wizarding world hasn’t changed in hundreds of years while in that same space of time the muggle world has figured out fucking space travel. I know it’s a cliché to say to say someone could have fucking shot Voldemort, but seriously, somebody totally fucking could have, he killed like 50 people, he was effectively a terrorist, if anyone in the wizarding world bothered to ask for help from the muggles instead of just telling them there was an invisible asshole flying around shooting death curses at everyone, they may have been able to help.
Pretty much the only reason Voldermort thinks he’s better than muggles is because he’s able to kill them with impunity using magic, something he’s only able to do so easily because muggles don’t understand what magic is. Voldemort is basically like a fucking disease, he’s an invisible, lurking entity preying on mankind from the shadows like a cowardly piece of shit. You know what else did that? Smallpox and we stomped that to death the second we understood it. That’s the difference between muggles and wizards, when muggles don’t understand something, they figure it out.
And here’s the kicker, the only reason muggles don’t understand magic at all is because the wizarding world deliberately withholds information about it. However, even if the wizarding world kept doing that, it’d only be a matter of time until a muggle figured out what magic was and how to stop or harness it because that’s what humanity does, it pushes past what we think is impossible to see what’s on the other side. We didn’t understand the sun as a species originally and now we use it to power satellites and smartphones.
The wizarding world isn’t a realm of infinite possibilities, it’s a universe of strict limitations where boundaries are never questioned. The muggle world is where the real magic happens. That’s why during the course of the Harry Potter books, which are set between 1991 and 1998, the muggle world (our world) discovered dark matter, cloned a sheep and invented fucking MP3s while the wizarding world were literally paying some dipshit to figure out what the purpose of a rubber duck was.
Wow, I really shouldn’t think about this stuff when it’s like 3AM, it gets kind of dark.
Describing Skin Colors
Having trouble finding synonyms for ‘white’, ‘black’, ‘tan’, etc? Have any clear idea what tone you’re going for? Here’s some web pages for skin tone description and references:
Words Used To Describe Skin Color
Handy Words for Skin Tone (Includes palettes and comparisons)
Describing Characters of Color
More Tone Synonyms w/ Pictures
7 Offensive Mistakes Writers Make (includes more than just skin color)
I wanted to double check that “The Cherry on Top” was a short novel or novella and I found this on uphillwriting.org. I think it’s very informative and hopefully you guys will find it useful!
What are some other world building or related blogs you would recommend?
Well…It will be a long list. Let’s see:
World Weaving - blog similar to mine. Answers questions and posts useful stuff.
Making Places - by Evan Dahm and several other people. Not active lately but has a ton of useful information.
Worldbuilding School - exactly what the title says, also they have nice articles on maps.
Fictionfactor: World Building -loads of useful articles, though site specializes in writing and related.
Worldbuilder - have some useful stuff and also some on DnD (Ghostwalk) session by owner of the blog
Other useful places:
Clever Girl Helps - writing, worldbuilding, research, random facts
Fuck Yeah Character Development
Fuck Yeah Critiques For Sue - on hiatus right now but has a lot of useful info, mainly a critique on original and fan characters.
Write World - has a lot of useful information about everything related to writing.
Fuck yeah forensics - useful information on forensics and other police stuff. Also they have a great list of recommended sources on forensics, anthropology and other dead people stuff.
Fix your writing habits - tons and tons of useful information
Fiction writing tips - exactly what title says.
The Writers Helpers - they also can help with finding beta reader - check their navi section.
Daily character development
Writing questions answered - a lot of information, very well organized
Fuck yeah Character development - that’s a different blog, but they also have loads of great stuff, including personality tests.
Writing Weasels
The writing realm
Clever help
TWH-Forensics - help on wiriting forensics stuff
Reference for writers + and their master list of online sites and references
The Writing Cafe
Total Rewrite - warning: good blog but they have a very dark theme so it can be hard to read.
Casual reminder that in one of Leonardo da Vinci’s many notebooks containing innumerable artistic and scientific sketches and notes of incomprehensible important, there is a sketch of two penises with legs and tails walking towards a crudely drawn anus.
The sketch was most likely done by Leonardo’s apprentice Salai, who was not only very likely one of Leonardo’s lovers, but who was also infamously mischievous. Better yet, the anus is literally labeled “Salai.”
So either Salai drew these while Leonardo wasn’t looking just to annoy his boyfriend, or Leonardo himself put actual time and energy into drawing these. Either way, the human race is truly blessed to have made such a discovery.
There are dick drawings like the ones you see on desks in school in Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks. Please cherish this information.
I see and write a lot of “DON’T DO THIS!!!” posts, so I thought I would make a “DO THIS!!!” post.
General Requests
More POC in leading roles
More important friendships
More queer characters in leading roles
More disabled characters in leading roles
More genderqueer and trans characters in leading roles
Realistic women in leading roles
Happier/more positive characters and messages
Specific
45 Things I Want to See More Of (Part 2)
Black Villains
Boys in YA
Characters
Cool Things (2) (3)
Fantasy (2)
Female Characters (2)
Female Character Traits
Happiness
Horror Genre Mashups
Magic Systems
Male Characters
Medieval Fantasy
Modern Fantasy
Plots
Relationships
Romance (2)
Soulmate AUs
Stories
Stories I Want to Read
Urban Fantasy
What thewritingcafe Wants
YA Novels (2) (3) (4)
My wish list tag is always updating and includes posts containing things I would like to see in fiction. characterandwritinghelp has a similar tag.
The plot bunnies tag is likewise updating and includes posts that I think would make for an interesting story.
More Things I Would Like to See
Steampunk with different ethnic influences alongside the gears
Utopias that try really hard to be good, even though they aren’t and never will be perfect
Science and magic coexisting
Creation stories - stories that focus on building and growth rather than destruction
People are good themes
Extroverted protagonists
Environments other than temperate deciduous
Stories centered on art
Stories without war
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