“If you love books so much - why is it I never see you reading?”

me:

If youse writin’, you a writer. If youse written and on a break, you still a writer. If you thinking, planning, and practicing your writing, YOU A WRITER.

Fanfiction, journal writing, role-playing, drabbles/ficlets/oneshots, all count as writing. Being a published author is a (a) goal, but not a requirement. Just do you.

If you’re sitting there following blogs and supporting writeblrs, but haven’t started writing or really plan to, you’re a reader and we absolutely need you. Like, obviously, you’re essential to the whole process.

me, in any place but where i can’t write: my brain is so full of ideas i cannot focus on anything happening right now. i have detached from the material realm. i will literally set myself on fire just so i can write.

me, in front of my empty document:

If you write a strong character, let them fail.

If you write a selfless hero, let them get mad at people.

If you write a cold-heated villain, let them cry.

If you write a brokenhearted victim, let them smile again.

If you write a bold leader, let them seek guidance.

If you write a confident genius, let them be wrong, or get stumped once in a while.

If you write a fighter or a warrior, let them lose a battle, but let them win the war.

If you write a character who loses everything, let them find something.

If you write a reluctant hero, give them a reason to join the fight.

If you write a gentle-hearted character who never stops smiling, let that smile fade and tears fall in shadows.

If you write a no one, make them a someone.

If you write a sibling, let them fight and bicker, but know that at the end of the day they’ll always have each other’s back.

If you write a character, make them more than just a character; give them depth, give them flaws and secrets, and give them life.

Writing horses in your WIP

We see them all the time - horses in fiction. And there is so much to learn about them that it can be a little overwhelming! But I work with horses a lot so I thought I’d be able to help some of you guys out by going through the basics you’ll need for writing. (by the way, I only ride English style. If somebody wants to do something similar for Western riding, by all means, fire away.)

Horses and ponies - whats the difference?

It’s the height. Horses and ponies are measured in hands - 1 hand = approx 4 inches. A pony is anything below 14.2hh,(hands), a horse is anything taller. Any pony smaller than 14hh would really only be suitable for children. A stockier 14.2hh could hold teens or small adults, but most teens and adults would probably ride horses. 16hh would be an average size.

Stallions, mares and geldings.

A Mare is a female horse. They can be quite moody sometimes - which they show by being uncooperative and putting their ears back. A Stallion is a male horse that has not been castrated. They can be very, very strong willed, and are typically not suitable for the novice rider. A gelding is a male horse that has been gelded/castrated, They often have a more relaxed, placid nature. A colt is a young male, and a filly is a young female. 

Breaking

Training a horse under saddle is called ‘Breaking.’ A horse is typically broken around ¾ years of age, once it has finished growing. Breaking correctly is a long and patient process - not something that your character can do in a few minutes.

Gaits

Horses have four gaits. Walk, trot, canter, and gallop - in that order of ascending speed. Nobody trots away from danger. if your characters are fleeing, they are in a flat out gallop.

The tack

For describing scenes - you’ll really only need to talk about the reins and the bit. Pressure on the reins (held by the rider) should slow the horse down. The horse feels this pressure acting through the bit. 

All you really need to worry about for the saddle are the stirrups, and the girth. The girth is holding the saddle on, and the feet go into the stirrups.

Learning to ride

Is difficult! Your character won’t be a pro withing a couple of days. Its hard on your legs, and learning to balance can be tricky too. Somebody who is very comfortable in the saddle is relaxed and secure, and able to deal with however the horse acts. The rising trot, when the rider goes ‘up and down’ in sync with the horses movement in the trot, can be particularly difficult.

Ability

The average gallop is around 45km/h. So, bear i mind that a horse cannot outrun a car or anything like that. Jumping ability varies - a heavier horse will struggle over a 90cm hedge, but a quality animal could easily pop 1.60m (but only with a good rider.)  If your character gallops the horse on hard ground, it could easily go lame - they aren’t invincible! 

Feeding

Horses don’t eat the same way as dogs or cats. They are grazers - meaning they need to eat little, and often. Your character giving them a Handel of oats once a day is really not going to keep them alive. They need forage - grass or hay - and a lot of it.

Portraying atmospheres

Showing how the horse is feeling can be a really great tool for expressing the ‘mood’ of a scene. 

Relaxed - A relaxed horse will have its ears back lazily, but not pinned against its head. It will likely doze off and close its eyes, maybe while resting a hind leg.

Alert - Horses are super smart animals, and many say that they have a sixth sense that lets them know when something is coming. An alert horse stands up straight, and has its ears pricked forward.

Upset - If something bad is happening, the horse won’t be in  good mood. It might pin its ears flat back against its skull, and bare its teeth. It will flick its tail irritably, and a horse will kick out or bite at something if its unhappy.

Horses as friends

Horses are deeply empathetic animals. They are herd animals too, and can form deep connections with their people. A horse who is fond of a person may whinny when they see them, and nuzzle their face and neck. A real trust can form between horse and rider. To show this as your story progresses, the horse will become pleased to be with the character, and the character’s nerves aboard the horse will begin to fade.

—–

If you have any more specific questions, feel free to message me. All of this is very basic, and I am more than happy to help some fellow writers. 

Happy writing, Aoife - @writingguardian

Nice! Super useful for Fantasy writers in particular :)

Writing Resources Masterlist

The full list of resources RFW has reblogged or shared.

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For more resources, check this tag and this list. Suggest some if you know of any. 

Fantasy Biology Masterlist

It was about time I made a simple list of all the Fantasy Biology posts I’ve done so far, collected in one place. Some of the oldest ones are a different format, before I started doing them regularly, but I’ve included them anyway.

The species for these posts have been chosen by my wonderful Patreon supporters, from as little as $1 a month.

As an unrelated topic, I love seeing the comments and tags on the Fantasy Biology posts. I think every one has been someone’s favourite, except perhaps the unfortunate manticore. These are some of my favourite comments you’ve made.

I’ll let you figure out which comments go where

Fantasy Biology: Dryad

The Dryad and similar creatures appear in legends originating all over the place, and have become popular species in various roleplaying games. While there are some local variations in behaviour, tree species and appearance, the common features seem to be these:

The whole ‘half animal half plant’ concept is fascinating, but also a challenge because I’m very much on the ‘animal’ side of the science side of tumblr, but why not? Creatures that exist part way along the animal-plant spectrum exist in nature, we can tweak the features we see in such hybrids to develop a biologically plausible dryad. I’m sure this isn’t the only way to do it, but it’s the direction I’d take.

But to do so, I need to borrow some ideas from the carnivorous plants, orchids, lichen and redwoods.

Now, to start with, the most consistent feature of Dryad mythology, and the most interesting, is their complete dependence up on their home tree. If the tree dies, the dryad dies. If the dryad strays too far from its tree, it also dies. This would suggest to me that it’s not the dryad walking around which is the primary organism, but the tree itself. After all, I haven’t come across any tales of the tree dying if the dryad is slain.

So if the dryad is the accessory organism, then what, really, are they?

Keep reading

Resources For Writing Period Pieces: 1800s

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Below are links to sections of a very long list of events that occurred in the century. If you are looking for major events for the specific period in which your story takes place, the links below will take you to a list that details every significant event that took place, for every single year within that decade.

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“Never trust anyone who hasn’t brought a book with them” -Lemony Snicket

When there is kindness, there is goodness. When there is goodness, there is magic. Cinderella (2015) dir. Kenneth Branagh

》Love going to bookshops when I travel《

— Emily Brontë, from The Collected Writings; “Wuthering Heights,” (via violentwavesofemotion)

When I first started writing I also had too much dialogue—it read like a half-finished script. The storytelling suffered, the characterization suffered, and it was annoying to read (some genres and writers can get away with large amounts of dialogue, but as per my previous post it’s best to know the rules before you break them).

There was no quick, easy fix for this, and unlike you smart people I did not research or ask how to fix it. I just started paying attention to the ways dialogue was framed in my favorite books, TV, and movies.

Things I Learned About Dialogue

Dialogue needs to be broken up by the other senses. People rarely sit still and expressionless while speaking. When we talk our other senses do not suddenly stop working, nor does our mind stop thinking.

Recall how you’ve kept yourself entertained in waiting rooms, lectures, and long conversations. You daydream, go over mental shopping lists, curse that noisy thing in the background, focus too much on strange blemishes on the other person’s face. We almost never give people our “undivided attention” even when we mean to.

Example: 

Dialogue is often unnecessary when describing characteristics or emotions. If your characters are actually talking to the reader instead of each other then that dialogue might need to be cut and that information related to the reader in some other way. 

Example (bad):

You save on dialogue and clutter by just using one line of inner monologue or various context clues to let the reader know who’s who and what’s what (i.e. showing instead of telling).

Likewise, instead of dialogue like, “Katy, the pretty secretary, is really unhappy today” use non-verbal cues to show Katy is pretty and unhappy.

Example:

Dialogue is not the only way to communicate. In real life, and in films/theater with good acting, much of the communication is through body language and vocables (e.g. grunts, scoffs, sighs, snorts). 

Visual and physical cues can also convey ideas whether intentionally or not. Sometimes just different forms of eye contact, like that knowing look from your friend across the room or that glare from your mom after you’ve said something in public, are all that’s needed to understand a scene.

Example:

Dialogue cannot be trusted to describe a setting or scene. Every character has their own perception of their surroundings. Witnesses to a crime are notorious for having conflicting accounts of the same event. Some see details others didn’t, some lace their stories with unintentional bias, and others simply have a unique point of view based on their life experiences.

Therefore, you have to use your own descriptions of what a place looks, sounds, and feels like in order to let the reader know that’s actually what it’s like. No two of your characters should agree on all aspects of their environment and circumstances even if they are experiencing it together. If one thinks the sky is blue and beautiful today, the other sees the storm clouds on the horizon.

Example:

Some scenes won’t need dialogue at all. Your speaking characters likely won’t inhabit every scene in your book. Even in first person POV, there needs to be another character to bounce dialogue off of, and if your character must talk to themselves it will likely be inner monologue.

The storytelling itself, the meat of the book, has to come from the author. Yours is the main voice in every scene that decides the outcome. By speaking only through your characters you limit yourself and your story. Shut them up once in a while so the reader can listen to you.

— — —

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I am a True Believer in outlining before you write. (At least, so long as an outline doesn’t debilitate your writing.)

But I think some people don’t understand what that means to me. 

To me, an outline means that I know: 

It also means that along the way I might…

So, when I say I’m a True Believer in outlining, I don’t mean that I’m a believer in never letting your story’s surprise you, or never making last minutes adjustments, or never throwing out huge parts of your outline for something better.

I mean that I’m a true believer in letting your story have a foundation before you write it, because any large or complex story built on a weak foundation, like a castle built in the sand, will need to be re-built later.

But the stronger a foundation you build for it, the easier it is to make changes without your entire structure falling apart.

#This is not saying that some writers don’t do better just rebuilding the castle later or that all stories are complex enough to warrant outlines. #Please do not take my post about what outlining means to me and attempt to writer’splain to me how some writers can’t use outlines. #I literally put that disclaimer right below the title. #Read and think before you reply.