This Is Unacceptable

Quick and easy way to establish rules in your fantasy/scifi universe!

This can apply both to magic and fictional science, because it’s essentially just a magic system in disguise!

There is a whole spectrum from hard systems (with a very particular set of rules that can’t be broken) to soft systems (characters don’t know everything about the rules and the workings or the rules are flexible). Where on this spectrum your system falls depends on you and your story.

A good way to start out is by asking three questions:

What is possible? What is impossible? What is the price?

Two stupid examples:

Fantasy: With this magic shoes you can fly ten feet above the ground. But you can only fly up, not forward. And your feet will hurt like hell for the next three days after you’ve used them.

Scifi: With this laser gun you can shoot people to stun them. But you can’t kill them with it. And to power it you need to buy a bunch of those little button batteries you never seem to get anywhere.

Try starting with those questions and work from there.

If you want to learn more about building a magic system and scifi/fantasy writing in general, check out these free lectures on youtube by author Brandon Sanderson, I learned a lot!

🎶CORAN CORAN THE GORGOUS MAN🎶

Did this dude ever get a name

a word of advice for my writer buddies that took me way too long to realize – your story doesn’t have grand to be great. Your dystopia doesn’t have to end with your protagonists changing the world, making it a great place. Your fantasy doesn’t have to end with your protagonist overthrowing the malevolent ruler. You don’t have to worry and fret over your plot not being too complicated, too large, too exciting. Sometimes less is more! If your character doesn’t end up saving the day for the rest of the world, that’s okay. They don’t need to. Succeeding in their own goal is just as good. You don’t need long, overarching plots that effect your entire universe in order to make a great story. You just need your passion and motivation- you just need to write

me, tears streaming down my face: hit that reblog for plance in season 8

yES ME

HEY REBLOG IF

YOU WANT PLANCE TO STAY ON THE FANDOM LIST

What sort of questions should I be asking my beta readers?

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR BETA READERS:

When I send out my chapter to be read over by my beta readers, I always include a set of questions typed out at the bottom, grouped into different categories such as: plot, pacing, character, setting, etc. 

You might want to tailor the questions depending on the genre or which chapter it is. For example, if it’s the first chapter you’ll want to ask them about how well your story managed to hook them, or if they managed to easily get an idea of the world you’ve introduced them to. If it’s the climax you might want to ask if the action scenes are fluid, and if the plot twist/s were predictable or surprising. 

Here’s some example questions that you could use:

Opening Chapter:

What is your first impression of the main character? Do you find them likable? Annoying? Boring?

After reading it for the first time, what is your first impression? Was it cohesive and compelling? Boring and confusing?

Did the first sentence/paragraph/page efficiently grab your attention and hook you in?

If you were to read this chapter in a bookstore/library would you be convinced to buy it? Or would you need to read further before deciding? Why or why not?

Did you get oriented fairly quickly at the beginning as to whose story it is, what’s going on, and where and when it’s taking place? If not, what were you confused about at the beginning?

Does the first chapter establish the main character efficiently? Do they feel believable?

Characters:

Could you clearly imagine what the characters looked like? If not, who?

Who was your favourite character and why? Has your favourite character changed? (if this hasn’t changed feel free to skip this question) 

Are there any characters that you do not like? Why do you not like them? (Boring, annoying, problematic, etc.) 

Was there ever a moment when you found yourself annoyed or frustrated by a character? 

Could you relate to the main character? Did you empathise with their motivation or find yourself indifferent? 

Were the characters goals/motivations clear and understandable? 

Did you get confused about who’s who? Are there too many characters to keep track of? Are any of the names or characters too similar?

Do the characters feel three-dimensional or like cardboard cutouts? 

How familiar have you become with the main characters? Without cheating could you name the four main characters? Can you remember their appearance? Can you remember their goal or motivation? 

Dialogue:

Did the dialogue seem natural to you?

Was there ever a moment where you didn’t know who was talking?

Setting/world-building:

Were you able to visualize where and when the story is taking place?

Is the setting realistic and believable? 

How well do you remember the setting? Without cheating, can you name four important settings?

Genre:

Did anything about the story seem cliche or tired to you? How so? 

Did anything you read (character, setting, etc.) remind you of any others works? (Books, movies, etc.) 

Plot/pacing/scenes:

Do you feel there were any unnecessary scenes/moments that deserved to be deleted or cut back?

Do the scenes flow naturally and comprehensively at an appropriate pace? Did you ever feel like they were jumping around the place? 

Was there ever a moment where you attention started to lag, or the chapter begun to drag? Particular paragraph numbers would be very helpful. 

Did you ever come across a sentence that took you out of the moment, or you had to reread to understand fully? 

Was the writing style fluid and easy to read? Stilted? Purple prose-y? Awkward?

Did you notice any discrepancies or inconsistencies in facts, places, character details, plot, etc.?

Additional questions:

What three things did you like? What three things did you not like? 

Can you try predicting any upcoming plot twists or outcomes? 

Was there ever a moment when your suspension of disbelief was tested? 

Is there anything you’d personally change about the story? 

Was the twist expected or surprising? Do you feel that the foreshadowing was almost nonexistent, or heavy handed? 

Feel free to tailor these to your needs or ignore some of them if you don’t think they’re useful. Basically, your questions are about finding out the information about how others perceive your own writing and how you can improve your story.

-Lana

some fucking resources for all ur writing fuckin needs

* body language masterlist

* a translator that doesn’t eat ass like google translate does

* a reverse dictionary for when ur brain freezes

* 550 words to say instead of fuckin said

* 638 character traits for when ur brain freezes again

* some more body language help

(hope this helps some ppl)

Small Tips For ClipStudio

I have some hours before work so I’ll use them to actually detail why I’ve found CSPaint to be so efficient for bastard-aligned painters who like to take shortcuts.

This will seem familiar to most of you guys, but this functions a little bit different from Photoshop. It turns everything you draw on the layer into editable curves, but retains the aliased smoothness of an ordinary raster layer. Practically a cheat to access the whole suite of amazing tools CS offers for lineart. Such as:

The vector eraser is The Best™. You can be as messy as possible and this tool erases the excess. One pen-flick and it’s done. Much faster than cleaning it up by hand. You can also tweak the settings of this brush to encapsulate more/less lines as you erase but that’s getting a little more involved. Anyway, last thing:

Maybe the only thing better than the vector eraser. There are multiple settings, but these three are the most handy. You can smooth wiggly edges, connect broken strokes, and tweak the width/weight to exactly how you want it. This also has a ton of settings you can play around with. It’s great!

There’s a lot more tools you can use, but you get the point! It’s a really good drawing program. I recommend it!

I’d say it was love at first sight but you literally tried to kill me during the first hour of knowing me.

Callum to Rayla during their wedding vows