New Refs???

Sly Cooper Characters as Firefly Quotes

Sly: “I aim to misbehave.”

Bentley: “It’s a real burn, being right all the time.”

Murray: “Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.”

Carmelita: “Sir? I think you have a problem with your brain being missing.”

Neyla: “Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!”

Penelope: “I can kill you with my brain.”

Dimitri: “Your mouth is talking. You might wanna look to that.”

Riochi: “I’m a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.”

Tennessee: “If anyone gets nosy just...y’know, shoot em.” “Shoot em?” “Politely.”

Bob: “Shiny.”

Galleth: “Time for some thrilling heroics.”

Salim: “Is that him?” “That’s the buffet table.” “...Well how can we be sure, unless we question it?”

Feel free to add more characters/alternative quotes.

words to use instead of ________

"Mad"

aggravated, angry, annoyed, boiling, cross, enraged, exasperated, fuming, furious, heated, incensed, indignant, irate, irritable, livid, offended, outraged, riled, steamed, storming, upset

"Nice"

amiable, charming, cordial, courteous, delightful, favorable, friendly, genial, gentle, gracious, helpful, inviting, kind, lovely, obliging, peaceful, peachy, pleasant, polite, swell, sympathetic, tender, welcoming, well-mannered, winning

"Pretty"

alluring, appealing, attractive, beautiful, charming, cute, delightful, desirable, elegant, eye-catching, fair, fascinating, gorgeous, graceful, intriguing, lovely, pleasing, striking, stunning, sweet

"Said"

alleged, argued, asked, asserted, babbled, bellowed, bragged, commented, complained, cried, declined, demanded, denied, encouraged, expressed, giggled, growled, inquired, moaned, nagged, rebuked, rebutted, replied, rejected, retorted, roared, scolded, shrieked, shrugged, stated, taunted, vowed, warned, whined, whispered, yelled

"Went"

avoid, bolt, bound, depart, exit, escape, flee, fly, hike, hop, jaunt, jolt, journey, leap, leave, lurch, march, mosey, move, pace, parade, pass, progress, retreat, saunter, scoot, skip, split, step, stride, stroll, tour, travel, vanish

more words to use instead other words to use instead another list of words to use instead

Fun afternoon sketch of Penelope from Sly Cooper for @Lionalliance0!

The Matter of Penelope

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Character Strengths

adaptable / adventurous / ambitious / amiable / articulate / attentive / bold / brave / calm / candid / capable / compassionate / confident / considerate / courageous / creative / curious / decisive / dedicated / determined / diligent / diplomatic / empathetic / energetic / enthusiastic / fair / faithful / forgiving / friendly / generous / gentle / genuine / hardworking / honest / humble / imaginative / independent / insightful / intelligent / intuitive / inventive / joyful / kind / loyal / mature / modest / motivated / observant / optimistic / organized / patient / perceptive / persistent / practical / proactive / reliable / resilient / resourceful / respectful / responsible / self-aware / self-disciplined / sincere / supportive / tenacious / thoughtful / trustworthy / understanding / wise / witty

Thieves In Time Redux Super Duper Abridged

In which our heroine, Penelope, gets roped into a time travelling journey.

Paris Tutorial: How did I wind up in this mess?

Episode 1: I'm not feeling up to this...

Episode 2: What's truly important to me?

Episode 3: I've been on the wrong side this whole time!

Episode 4: Time to start being a hero again!

Episode 5: Now comes the part where I pull my weight...

Episode 6: And now the part where I redeem myself!

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Guess who made QR codes for Penelope’s suits? Me ^_^

Free to use, go nuts, be free my fellow New Leaf players. It took me a long time but I had a blast making them.

hi! I have a question, how do I write the movements of a ballerina? I'm writing a novel and now I'm at the part where my protagonist is dancing ballet for an audience in the theater. Could you help me with how to write her movements? I'm in doubt about how to write this

Some Ballet Vocabulary

Adagio: “Slow tempo.” In ballet, a tempo in which the dancer moves slowly and gracefully.

Allegro: “Brisk tempo.” In ballet, a tempo in which the dancer moves briskly and excitedly.

Allongé: “Elongated.” An adjective used to describe poses that are stretched and elongated, like an arabesque.

Arabesque: A pose in which the dancer stands on one leg—either straight or demi-plié, and either flat-footed or en pointe—while extending the other leg straight behind at a right angle. The shoulders are square with the arms held to create a long line from fingertips to toes.

Arriére: "Backwards." A move that indicates backwards movement or motion.

Ballón: “To bounce.” A light jump. Used to indicate the delicacy of the movement or jump.

Chaseé: To slide.

Elevé: A rise upward onto the toes.

En l’air: "In the air." Indicates a movement or leg position that is held in the air.

Fondu: To melt (a melting action).

Frappé: To strike (like lighting a match on the floor).

Glissade: To glide.

Jeté: To throw.

Pas de deux: A “dance for two,” or duet, in classical ballet.

Petit saut: A small jump.

Pirouette: A complete turn of the body on one foot, either turning inward or outward, with the body centered over the supporting leg, the arms propelling the turn but remaining stationary during the turn, and the eyes “spotting” a fixed point while the head quickly turns.

Promenade: A slow pivot of the body while standing on one leg.

Rèvèrence: “Bow”. Traditional port-de-bras and port-de-corps showing respect and gratitude to the ballet master or audience.

Tournant: “Turn.” A term paired with a movement to indicate a body turn.

Variation: A solo in classical ballet.

Although ballet actually began in Italy, it was formalized in France in the 17th century. Ballet terminology has remained largely in the French language. Ballet dancers across the world learn and can communicate with this universal ballet vocabulary.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Dance

Hope this helps with your writing! If I wasn't able to include the right words you need, you can go through the sources. Still, remember your readers when describing the scene — perhaps some of them might not be familiar with these terminologies.

Some Editorial Vocabulary

definitions of terms during the writing, editing and publishing process

Acknowledgements: Text in which the author thanks those who’ve supported them.

Action beat: Short description that comes before, between or just after dialogue.

Adjective: A word that describes a noun.

Adverb: A word that describes a verb.

Adverbial phrase: A group of words that describe a verb.

Afterword: A concluding section, often reflecting on the book’s creation or providing additional context.

Anaphora: The deliberate repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive clauses for artistic effect.

Antagonist: An adversary. The character who creates obstacles and challenges for the protagonist, or behaves in a hostile fashion towards the protagonist.

Anti-protagonist: A protagonist whose own actions create opposition and conflict, often within themselves or against their own goals.

Apostrophe: A punctuation mark used to indicate possession, omission and, occasionally, a plural.

Appendix: Space in a book for material that doesn’t fit comfortably in the main text.

Asyndeton: Literary device through which a sentence’s structure follows the following pattern: A, B, C.

B-C

Back matter: Also end matter. Elements reserved for the back of a book, including appendix, glossary, endnotes, bibliography and index.

Beta reader: Test-reader who provides feedback on book.

Bibliography: List of all works cited in book, and any other work of interest to the reader.

Chapter drop: The space above and below the chapter title.

Character arc: Narrative that shows how a character changes and develops.

Characterization: The process of revealing a character's personality, traits and motives through actions and dialogue.

Colon: Punctuation mark that introduces additional/qualifying information about the clause it follows.

Comma splice: Two independent clauses joined by a comma rather than a conjunction or an alternative punctuation mark.

Conjunction: A word that connects clauses or sentences (e.g. ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘if’, ‘then’)

Copyediting: A review of grammar, punctuation, and spelling, ensuring consistency and accuracy in the manuscript's language.

Critique: Also manuscript evaluation. Report analysing a book’s strengths and weaknesses.

D

Denouement: The final part of the book in which all the plot strands are brought together and resolved.

Deuteragonist: A sidekick or confidante character who has the most influence on the protagonist, often helping them solve problems and overcome obstacles. Can be critical to driving the plot.

Developmental editing: Also structural editing. The improvement of a manuscript's structure, content, and overall narrative, focusing on big-picture elements. Attends to plot, characterisation, narration and pacing.

Dialogue tag: Also speech tag. Words that indicate which character is speaking (e.g. John said).

Dialogue: The lines characters speak in a book.

Diversity reader: Also sensitivity reader. Test-reader who checks for misrepresentation in books.

Double-page spread: Also DPS. The view of a printed book or PDF when opened so that the left- and right-hand pages are both visible.

Drama: The conflicts, emotional intensity, and impactful events that drive the plot and engage readers emotionally. The focus is on character relationships, motivations, and the consequences of their actions.

Dropped capital: Decorative first letter of the first word on the first line in a chapter. Larger than the rest of the text and drops down two lines or more.

E-F

Ellipsis: Punctuation mark that indicates a trailing-off or a pause.

End matter: Also back matter. Elements reserved for the back of a book, including appendix, glossary, endnotes, bibliography and index.

Endnote: Additional useful information at the end of a chapter or book.

Filter word: Verb that tells rather than shows (e.g. ‘noticed’, ‘seemed’, ‘spotted’, ‘saw’).

Folio: Somewhat old-fashioned term for page number. Also used to refer to a page.

Footnote: Additional useful information at the bottom of a page.

Foreword: A recommendation of the work written by someone other than the author.

Fourth wall: In books, the conceptual space between the characters and the readers.

Free indirect speech: Also free indirect style and free indirect discourse. Third-person narrative that holds the essence of first person thought or dialogue.

Front matter: Also prelims. Includes part title and title pages, foreword, preface and acknowledgements.

Full point: Period or full stop.

Full stop: Period or full point.

G-L

Glossary: Alphabetical list of important terms with explanations or definitions.

Habitual past tense: Uses ‘would’ or ‘used to’ with a verb to indicate events that happened routinely in a time past.

Half-title page: The first page of a book with any text on it; in a printed book, always a right-hand page. Contains only the main title of the book.

Head-hopping: Jumping from one character’s thoughts and internal experiences to another’s. Indicates viewpoint has been dropped.

Imprint: Publisher’s name.

Independent clause: A group of words that contains a subject and a predicate.

Index: Alphabetical list of all topics, themes, key terms and cited author names covered in the book, and the corresponding page numbers.

Information dump: Also word dump. Information that’s necessary to the story but isn’t artfully delivered, or weaved creatively into the narrative and dialogue.

Line editing: Also stylistic editing. The refining of a manuscript's language, focusing on consistency, clarity, flow and style at sentence level.

M-O

Maid-and-butler dialogue: Dialogue in which one character tells another something they already know so the reader can access backstory.

Manuscript evaluation: Also critique. Report analysing a book’s strengths and weaknesses.

Narrative arc: Also story arc. The structure and shape of a story.

Narrative authenticity: The believability and truthfulness of a story so that the characters and events feel real within the framework of the novel’s world.

Narrative distance: Also psychic distance. How close the reader feels to a character’s thoughts, emotions and experiences within a story.

Narrative: Story. The part of the book that’s narrated, excluding the dialogue.

Narrative style: The author's unique manner of storytelling, encompassing language, tone, viewpoint and other structural choices.

Narrative voice: The style, tone, and personality through which a narrator or character tells a story to readers.

Numerals, Arabic: 1, 2, 3 etc.

Numerals, Roman: i, ii, iii etc.

Omniscient: All-knowing. Refers to a viewpoint style in fiction writing.

Overwriting: Using too many words on the page. Often characterized by repetition and redundancy.

P

Page proofs: A file that’s reached a stage in the publishing process where the text and images of a manuscript have been laid out in their final format.

Pantser: A writer who doesn’t outline or plan story structure, but flies by the seat of their pants.

Period: Full stop or full point.

Perspective character: Also viewpoint character. The character through whose eyes the story is primarily told. The narrative lens through which readers experience events, thoughts, and emotions within the story.

Plot: The sequence of events in a novel.

Point of view: Also viewpoint and POV. Describes whose head we’re in when we read a book, or whose perspective we experience the story from.

Polysyndeton: Literary device through which a sentence’s structure follows the following pattern: A and B and C.

Predicate: The part of a sentence that contains a verb and that tells us something about what the subject’s doing or what they are.

Preface: An explanation of the purpose, scope and content of a book, and written by the author.

Prelims: Also front matter. Includes part title and title pages, foreword, preface and acknowledgements.

Pronoun: A word that replaces a noun (e.g. I, you, he, she, we, me, it, this, that, them those, myself, who, whom). Pronouns can act and be acted upon like any noun.

Proofreading: The final pre-publication quality-control stage of editing where any final literal errors and layout problems are flagged up. Comes after developmental editing, stylistic line editing and copyediting.

Proper noun: A named person, place or organization. Always takes an initial capital letter.

Protagonist: The leading character in a novel, often facing central conflicts and driving action.

Psychic distance: Also narrative distance. How close the reader feels to a character’s thoughts, emotions and experiences within a story.

Purple prose: Overblown, poorly structured writing with strings of extraneous and often multisyllabic adjectives and adverbs.

Q-R

Quotation mark: Also speech mark. Punctuation that indicates the spoken word. Singles or doubles are acceptable.

Recto: The right-hand page of a book.

References: List of all the works cited in your book.

Roman typeface: Not italic.

Running head: Text that runs across the top of a page (e.g. title of the book, chapter title, author’s name).

S

Scene: a distinct segment or building block where specific actions and events unfold in a setting.

Scene technique: The use of dialogue, action, setting, and tension to craft compelling moments in the story.

Semi-colon: A punctuation mark that indicates a stronger pause than a comma between two main clauses.

Sensitivity reader: Also diversity reader. Test-reader who checks for misrepresentation in books.

Speech mark: Also quotation mark. Punctuation that indicates the spoken word. Singles or doubles are acceptable.

Speech tag: Also dialogue tag. Words that indicate which character is speaking (e.g. John said).

Story arc: Also narrative arc. The structure and shape of a story.

Structural editing: Also developmental editing. The improvement of a manuscript's structure, content, and overall narrative, focusing on big-picture elements. Attends to plot, characterisation, narration and pacing.

Style sheet: In which an author or editor records stylistic and language preferences, and tracks who’s who, what’s where, and when X, Y and Z happens.

Stylistic editing: Also line editing. The refining of a manuscript's language, focusing on consistency, clarity, flow and style at sentence level.

Subject: The thing in a sentence that’s doing or being something.

Subplot: A secondary storyline that supports and enhances the main plot of a narrative.

Suspense: The tension, uncertainty and anticipation created by withholding information, raising stakes or placing characters in imminent danger. Readers are kept guessing or forced to ask questions.

Syndeton: Literary device through which a sentence’s structure follows the following pattern: A, B and C (or A, B, and C).

T

Talking-heads syndrome: Dialogue that isn’t grounded in the environment or the characters’ responses to that environment.

Tense: The form a verb takes to indicate when an action happened in relation to the telling of it.

Tension: The emotional strain or suspense created by unresolved conflicts, stakes or uncertainties that keep readers engaged.

Tertiary character: A functional character who gives the story realism and depth, but doesn’t significantly impact on or influence the plot or the development of the other characters.

Theme: The novel’s central idea or message about life, society, or human nature.

Title page: Includes full title (and subtitle if there is one), author’s name, publisher’s name, logo, volume number, and edition.

Transgressor: A character who commits morally, socially, or legally questionable acts.

Tritagonist: Third most important character, who often provide regular emotional or physical support, but don’t determine how the story develops.

U-W

Unreliable dialogue: Dialogue that doesn’t match a character’s true voice, mood or intent.

Unreliable narrator: A character whose telling of the story cannot be taken at face value. They may be naïve, confused, or deliberately manipulative.

Verb, intransitive: A verb that doesn’t have a direct object (e.g. ‘I giggled’).

Verb, transitive: A verb that has a direct object (e.g. ‘wrote’ in ‘I wrote a book’).

Verb: A word that describes doing. Can refer to a physical action (e.g. to dig), a mental action (e.g. to wonder) or a state of being (e.g. to be).

Verso: The left-hand page of a book.

Viewpoint: Also point of view or POV. Describes whose head we’re in when we read a book.

Viewpoint character: Also perspective character. The character through whose eyes the story is primarily told, and the narrative lens through which readers experience events, thoughts, and emotions within the story.

Vocative: The form of address for a character directly referred to in dialogue.

Word dump: Also information dump. Information that’s necessary to the story but isn’t artfully delivered, or weaved creatively into the narrative and dialogue.

Source

Thieves In Time Redux: Why Toad Town?

Check this post out for context.

You may be wondering why there's so much music from Paper Mario: The Origami King associated with this project. This was actually a decision I made quite recently.

For now, I'm only talking about Origami King's Toad Town.

I started work on Thieves In Time Redux long before Origami King ever existed. It was just a massive stroke of luck to see OK's Toad Town of all pieces work so well together with the progression of my little story. Or more specifically, a certain mouse girl's evolution into the true hero I know she can become.

Take Toad Town Ghost Town, for instance. It's assigned to Episode 1, the beginning of our heroes' time traveling adventure. Not only is it perfect for Feudal Japan, it's also perfect for the beginning of Penelope's character arc.

Might as well talk about each step in the music's progression. Toad Town - Red Streamer Removal is assigned to Episode 2. Perfect for a wild west town, is it not? Here, Penelope is beginning to understand the consequences of her actions, mainly through what happened to Sly and Carmelita.

My favorite, though, is Toad Town - Blue Streamer Removal. Assigned to Episode 3, that's when Penelope undergoes her change of heart. It happens after she gets placed on bed rest and needs the boys to take care of her.

Then there's the more heroic shift in tone that comes with Toad Town - Yellow Streamer Removal. In which our heroine successfully strikes down her own creations without being discovered as their creator.

Episode 5 gives us Toad Town - Purple Streamer Removal. Penelope's nearing the end of her character arc, and the boys are proud of her. Too bad Le Paradox outs her as his mole at the end of the episode.

Toad Town - Green Streamer Removal gives us the end of her character arc with Episode 6. After her journey across time, Penelope has changed for the better, she's been found out, and she's willing to take responsibility for what she's done.

How in the heck did freaking Toad Town manage to retell my entire fanfic so perfectly? Even I have no clue... But I'm so glad it turned out that way.

Long story short, I love how the music progresses to its final form.

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