Fighting Styles to Give your Characters!

For those looking to create characters that know how to fight, I'm making this simple guide to give you ideas on the different types of fighting styles that you can implement and assign to your characters. Whether it's your badass MC, a herculean villain or a side character that ends up becoming prominent with just their fighting skills, adding this layer of fighting can help you create a more thorough story with lots of holes to fill.

Based on Striking:

1. BOXING:

A martial art focused on using powerful punches.

2. KICKBOXING:

A martial that combines boxing and kicking arts for effective use of both hands and legs for offense.

3. MUAY THAI:

Originating from Thailand, this martial art uses hands, legs, elbows and knees, creating versatile combinations for a strong striking system.

4. TAEKWONDO:

This Korean martial art utilises powerful kicking techniques primarily. Use of other striking methods is rare in taekwondo.

5. WING CHUN:

A Chinese martial art that uses fast and powerful punches. This is used in close-ranged fighting.

6. CAPOEIRA:

From Brazil, this is an interesting martial art that uses kicks and acrobatics using music. The use of music also makes it look like a dance, though capoeira is a good martial art to know to create a dynamic fighting style.

7. Kino Mutai:

An eccentric Phillipines martial art that uses biting and eye-gouging to attack.

Karate and its All-round Use:

Originating from Japan, Karate is a broad martial art that uses kicks, punches, blocks and strikes for both attacks and defense. Karate training not only builds strength, but is also helpful to build physical and mental endurance, speed and body control.

Karate has the following types —

- Ashihara Karate (for street fighting)

- Shotokan: includes kata (pre-arranged forms), kumite (sparring) and kihon (basic techniques). Shotokan focuses on powerful strikes and dynamic movements.

- Shito-ryu (defensive karate)

- Wado-ryu (dodging or Taisabaki)

- Goju-ryu (counter strikes and soft, circular blocks)

- Kyokushin (full contact combat and mental discipline)

Kung Fu and it's All-round Use:

Also called quanfa, kung fu actually refers to a skill achieved through sheer discipline and hard work.

- Shaolin Kung Fu: uses methods and techniques from the Shaolin temple and builds endurance (physical and mental).

- Wing Chun: close-ranged combat for practical fighting.

- Hung Gar: explosive fighting style that uses movements inspired by animals and their behaviours—most commonly the tiger.

- Baguazhang: uses circular movements and focused on using the opponents force back on them.

- Xingyiquan: uses power and speed.

- Sanda (Chinese kickboxing)

- Choy Li Fut (a combination of Hang Gur and Shaolin kung fu)

Based on Wrestling/Grappling:

1. AIKIDO:

Japanese martial art that focuses on defense. It redirects the attack away, and focuses on joint locks and throwing.

2. BOKH:

Traditional Mongolian wrestling using immense strength.

3. BOJUKA:

A self-defense style that focuses on grappling and striking to the opponent's sensitive and vital areas.

4. COMBAT HAPKIDO:

Derived from Hapkido (a Korean martial art using punches, kicks and joint locks), combat hapkido focuses more on grappling and self-defense.

5. COREEDA:

An Australian aboriginal martial arts focused on wrestling.

6. BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU:

A Brazilian martial art that focuses on ground fighting and grappling.

7. JUDO:

Japanese martial art focused on grappling, joint locks and throws.

8. JUJUTSU:

A Japanese martial that uses holds, throws and joint locks to defeat the attacker.

9. LAAMB:

A Senegalese martial art that uses wrestling and punches.

This is all I have for today. I'll be bringing a part 2 soon!

- ashlee

Dialogue Prompts - III

• "I need fifty bucks."

• "I need that pen drive, by hook or by crook."

• "Coding is actually so simple!".

• "Skeletonification–" // "Enough."

• "I'd like to visit the Swiss Alps."

• "I need shoes."

• "It fucking hurts when I shit!" // "That's 'cause you have piles, dipshit!"

• "I think I'm pregnant." // "I'd say congratulations but I'm not very thrilled about this."

• "There's been a murder."

• "I can eat pages."

• (philosophically) "If I had a pen without ink, what would I be called?" // "A fucking moron."

• "Glory, glory, what a helluva way to die."

• "Eat shit!" // "Drink piss!"

• "Bring me a glass of wine."

- ashlee

Dialogue Prompts - II

-ashlee

Dialogue Prompts - I

• "Elves don't dictate."

• "I'm a blacksmith, not a magician."

• "I don't drink."

• "Why the fuck would you ask me that?"

• "Do you think silent letters in words are oppressed?"

• "What are you, a rich kid?" (used as an insult)

• "Something tells me he doesn't know how to use a kettle."

• "Oh jeez! What gave it away? The blood on my shirt? Or the gun in my hand?"

• "I was running short on money, I had no other choice."

- ashlee

Opposing Qualities - III

- ashlee

Ideas to Show Secret Pining - II

- ashlee

Tone V/S Mood

More often than not, writers find themselves confused between tone and mood. I was confused between both for a while too. After some research and more studying, I figured out how to differentiate between both. So let me help you out as much as I can!

To start with, let's first define both.

TONE

TONE: the author's point of view of a particular subject matter. It's not easy to understand, so let me explain it a little more. The tone of a story is specific to a particular scene, character, ambience, probability, dialogue, etc. Tones are particular to an instance taking place and are not constant throughout the book.

Example - Take a secluded house in the middle of the woods. A family of 3 stays in the house comprising a mother, a father and a child. Imagine the current scene being a birthday celebration for the kid. They have a cake, balloons and fun music. The tone in this case is enjoyable, lighthearted and joyful. Why? Because in that particular scene, the author is trying to convey the liveliness of the party.

Tones are conveyed using different sentence structures, punctuations, choice of words, and figurative language.

MOOD

MOOD: the atmosphere of the piece and the overall feeling that the reader feels. The mood of a story is almost always set in the first chapter of the book itself; if not, then the writer establishes it before the story picks up pace. Mood is constant throughout the book, even if tones fluctuate. In simpler words, you could say that the mood of a story depends heavily on the genre/plot of the book. If you pick up a crime novel, you would feel the suspense and mystery even though the current scene you're reading would be of a jostling, busy, upbeat crowd because you know what the story is about.

Example - Take the example above. Even though the tone of the scene is joyful, the mood of the story remains eerie. This is because of the setting. The house is secluded and within woods. This restricts movement within the area, sets the story as strange and uncanny. Despite of their being a celebration, the readers will feel a pit on their stomach, expecting something frightening to occur soon. Thanks to factors like setting, the mood of the story can be established as eerie and uncanny.

DIFFERENCE

The main difference between both is the subject matter. Tone is specific to a subject matter whereas mood is constant regardless of the subject matter.

With that, I end this post. If there's anything else regarding both that you'd like some help with, feel free to reach out!

-ashlee

Sarcastic Dialogues - I

- ashlee

Ideas to Show Secret Pining

-ashlee

Opposing Qualities - II

-ashlee

Easy Narrative Techniques That Spice Up your Works

Narrative Technique is, in simple words, the method a writer or author chooses to tell their story. It includes literary and fictional devices that assist greatly in writing literature or fiction.

In this post, I'm going to go into useful details about narrative techniques and how to play them out while writing your project. Here they are:

1. Setting:

2. Cliffhanger:

3. Multiperspectivity:

4. Sensory Detail:

5. Foreshadowing:

6. Analepsis & Prolepsis:

7. Chekhov's gun:

8. Title Drops:

9. Antithesis:

I hope this helps those reading this. If you're a beginner or even stuck with your work, try implementing some of these to help yourself!

- ashlee

One-liners to Use for Toxic Relationships

Some of these are inspired by song lyrics, the others are sentences I made myself. Go ahead and use them as you'd like.

Also note, these can be used to describe toxic relations between family as well alongside romantic relationships. You can also use them as dialogues.

Ways to Make a Character Apologise

- ashlee

7 Simple Literary Devices That Elevate your Writing

1. Mood:

The mood of your story is the ambience you're trying to create around your setting and characters in a book. For example, in a horror story, the mood of the book will dark and ominous. In a romantic comedy, the mood of the book will be light-hearted, funny and swoon-worthy.

The mood of your story needs to be maintained throughout your book as it is the direct emotional environment of the themes you're using. It does not change at any point of the story.

2. Metaphor:

Metaphor is a literary device where you compare two things without using the words "as" or "like". It is an indirect comparison that convinces you of the similarities between two things.

For example: "You knowledge is your weapon." This sentence is indirectly comparing knowledge to a weapon to imply that both can be used to protect/defend/fight.

3. Simile:

Simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two things and insists on their similarities. You use "as" and "like".

For example: "slept like a baby" or "as light as a cloud".

4. Colloquialism:

Colloquialism is the device used to fit a more informal environment. Imagine the way you talk to your friends or family. You are a lot more relaxed with them than you are in a professional setting, say work or university.

Colloquialism is especially important for dialogues as your characters are not going to be speaking formally with each other all the time.

For example: Words like "wanna", "gonna" are used in dialogue to show how a character talks. Moreover, a lot of time, people don't pronounce the 'g' in '—ing' words which is another easy way of showing how your characters talk; talkin', goin', etc.

5. Imagery:

Easy, effective, engaging — imagery is a common and useful tool that can help you with descriptions.

Imagery is a device used for descriptive writing as it triggers your reader's senses. We have five senses — touch, smell, hearing, seeing and taste. Using imagery will invoke these senses in your readers and they will be able to put themselves into the world you're creating for them.

For example: "The house reeked of alcohol, the windows deeply ingrained with dirt. The wooded floor creaked with every step he took. When he came across the plate of cake left unattended on the dining table, he almost retched at the thought of how it would've tasted."

6. Amplification:

Amplification is a literary device used to emphasise on the importance of something being conveyed. Amplification uses a detailed extension of an already understandable sentence/word/phrase to add more to it's value.

Amplification can be used in both descriptions and dialogue based on it's requirement. If you're writing a character that's dramatic, they may resort to using amplification to focus on their POV. If you're writing a serious scene, they you may use amplification to describe the essence of it.

For example: "You could be the richest man alive, have a closet full of designer brands, line up a hundred lambos, wear the most expensive shoes ever made, eat Michelin star meals, sleep in the finest of silks, date the most beautiful of women, but you still won't be happy unless you've actually worked on yourself."

Designer brands, expensive shoes, lavish cars are all self-given details that we'd understand once we read the phrase "richest man alive", but those details are still written to add importance to the point being made about working on oneself.

7. Tone:

Tone is a tool you use when writing about the subject in question. Tone involves a particular incident/scene/circumstance on your work where there is a shift in the general ambience only until the subject matter is resolved.

For example, if you're writing a romantic comedy and your two main leads have fought recently, then instead of your general liveliness, you will write a bit dully to show that your characters are going through some problems. This will go on until your characters make up.

**NOTE: Tone and Mood are not the same thing. I will make a post soon about the difference between tone and mood too.

Hope this helps!

-ashlee

Opposing Qualities for your Characters!

I always advocate the concept of Traits and their Inverses when making characters. If you're familiar with my blog, you'll know that in one of my posts, I've told you to use opposing qualities when you make a character to make them real. Here's a link to that post if you haven't come across it yet so you can understand this better: https://www.tumblr.com/coffeetank/747126821111447552/build-characters?source=share ~ List of more opposing qualities to give your characters: persuasive :: manipulative (your character has a way with words and sometimes uses this to get away with things)

humble :: underconfident (your character does not have an ego at all, but they are in actuality always underconfident - show how this can affect their surroundings especially in a situation where others depend on them)

independent :: alienated (your character can do everything on their own and quite literally does not need anyone around, show how this can crossover over with alienation - dig into the emotional background of this supposed crossover)

curious :: invasive (your character has an appetite for knowledge, but they forget boundaries - show how this can get them into trouble)

daring :: reckless (your character has a strong spirit and isn't scared of taking risks, but this can always incline to the bad side and cause them harm - use this to especially add event and conflict in the story)

neutral :: retracted (your character prefers to see both sides before coming to a conclusion and stays neutral 99% of the times, but then when one side needs them more than the other they refuse to acknowledge that need and pull themselves out of that situation - show how this this can affect their relationships with other people especially on a moral ground)

emotional :: irrational (it's always good for your character to have emotional capacity, but it can hinder with their practical side for sure - show how this plays out)

unique :: aberrant (your character has a very solid personality but then some their quirks are too odd to be normal - this is good for revealing an undercover villain/agent/supernatural being later in the story as a twist)

optimistic :: unserious (your character is a positive person, but they take life too lightly sometimes - play with it!)

appealing :: deceptive (your character is absolute delight to be around and wins hearts in an instant - show how they use this power of their to deceive people for their own benefit)

hopeful :: expectant (your character wishes for the bright side - show how this can transverse into having unfulfilled expectations thus making them act out wrongly due to disappointment)

clever :: cunning (as obvious as it sounds, your character uses their intelligence for the wrong - bonus if you mix this with another set of opposing qualities to add depth and layers to your characters)

short-tempered :: violent (easy, simple and impactful; your character loses temper quickly but they damage things around them with every small/big outburst)

Feel free to use these as you'd like! I'll bring you more soon.

-ashlee

More Dialogues to Kick-start your Chapter/Writer's Block

- ashlee