If You're On A Path Of Self-growth And Self-improvement I Would Like To Advise You To Keep Private About

if you're on a path of self-growth and self-improvement I would like to advise you to keep private about it. I'm not saying to keep it a locked secret but don't go around talking about it. I learned it the hard way that speaking freely about our plans to improve ourselves results in bringing out the worst in so many people. people who you have no reason to distrust suddenly will actually wish you ill, because your progress will intimidate them, make them feel inferior, make them face their own insecurities and desires. and the kind of energy that these people produce is the kind of energy that can be a hindrance for you without you even noticing. suddenly you'll be exposing your dreams to an emotional vampire who will, even unconsciously, try and sabotage you. you don't need to share your plans and projects: just show up with the results and it will be enough said 🌸

Creating Fantasy Races: An Introduction

Hey everyone, Abby here with another post! Today we’re talking a bit about world-building, and specifically your world’s intelligent species. Let’s hop right in!

Let’s start with some definitions.

I’ve made a post in the past about creating new species in your world, and here’s what I want to start with. Within the context of this post, I’m defining race as any variation of an intelligent species for ease of language. That in mind, you will want to have your species developed.

Some Basic Questions to Start

There are some aspects that you just have to answer questions for in order to develop. Here are some basics for you to start with:

What is the origin species?

What defines a different race? Skin color, abilities, some physical marker? Something non-physical?

What is most known about this race as a fact?

What is most known about this race as a stereotype?

Are there any common variations within this race?

For Dungeons and Dragons players, think about the Dragonborn race. Different scale colors don’t mean a different race, but they do mark different abilities.

There may be common variations in appearance, like different eye colors or heights, that don’t have any other meaning. Just regular physical variation!

Are there any skills or other characteristics specific to this race?

What distinguishes this race from other races that may exist in your world?

How much interaction is there between different races?

Are there any areas of the world that each race tends to gravitate to?

Are there different expected life spans for each race? If they are different, why?

For example! In the RPG I’m working on, Journey to Valeria, there are two races in the Steerean species: shallow and Reclusive. They share a similar origin species, but different characteristics have created other aspects enough for them to be considered different races. As a result, I’ve developed them as two separate races with their own characteristics.

Go ahead and compare this to some aspects of DnD as well! The game does an awesome job of distinguishing between races and making each one unique, and I find that looking at things in context helps me a lot.

Write out what you think is important.

You, as the creator of this world, are also its master. What things outside of just answering questions do you think is important to know right off the bat? For one of my races, I wrote about camouflage in the environment and some elements of magic because I think those are things important to the development.

These could be topics like:

History

Associated cultures or religions

Temperaments, if applicable

Strengths and weaknesses specific to this race

And anything else that you think is important. As I’m developing the races on Steere, I’m thinking a lot about how different races interact with the world, how they use technology, their general lifestyles, etc.

Usually when you create a fantasy race, your goal is to make this race as well-rounded as possible. Creating an intelligent species, much less several different variations of one, can be very difficult! This is something that will take time and a lot of thought, but it’s vital to the process.

I talked about Journey to Valeria a bit more than I anticipated I would, but what can I say? I’ve been on a kick lately, and I like talking about the things that matter to me. If you’d like, you can follow the project’s blog @journeytovaleria to see more updates and development!

If my work helps you or your writing, please consider supporting me by joining my Patreon!

Join my writing community on Discord!

119 notes View Post

nausicaaaaaa

3 years ago

History is SO important, and not just in the real world. If you're writing a book that takes place in a fictional world, you'll need to do worldbuilding. And having a history for the world is a HUGE part of that!

1) think about what's presently taking place in your story. What in the past could have led to the current plot? What influenced it? What in the world has changed? Has an event of the past caused the modern conflict?

2) don't be afraid to take inspiration from past historical events! Or you can create something completely on your own. Either one is fine.

3) write EVERYTHING out. Even if you think it won't end up in the final idea, just write it down. Trust me bestie

4) you want a world's history to mean something to the story, not for it to just be thrown out there and then forgotten about. Even if it's something such as a myth, give it meaning! It's such an effective way of worldbuilding, and it helps the reader connect so much more to the setting

5) if you're stumped, watch things such as the history channel or read articles on historical events! Maybe you'll get that one little spark that ignites an entire history for your world. Trust me, it can work. And besides, history is interesting to learn about either way!

3 notes View Post

nausicaaaaaa

3 years ago

why do ships hit so much harder when they aren't explicitly canon. why do i choose homoerotic subtext over genuine representation every single time

687 notes View Post

nausicaaaaaa

8 months ago

She’s spot on

2K notes View Post

nausicaaaaaa

9 months ago

Me at all the wacked out lib fems on this hellsite.

2K notes View Post

nausicaaaaaa

3 years ago

me: i’m gonna write today!

me: *opens my wip*

me: *laughs at my own jokes*

me: *closes my wip*

786 notes View Post

nausicaaaaaa

3 years ago

Those little noises Viktor makes

reblog if you agree

121 notes View Post

nausicaaaaaa

3 years ago

Any harmful stereotypes I should know to avoid when writing a character of Indian decent?

anonymous 2 said: How would I go about describing an Indian male in a fantasy world is there any stereotypes I should avoid or anyways to not describe him?

Indian Character Stereotypes

Lots of ‘em.

The “smart” one. The Bollywood Nerd.

The “smelling like curry” one.

The “really spiritual” one. The Sim Sim Salabim.

The “only knows how to program and can’t talk to people” one.

The “heavy accent” one - which, of course, does not mean that your character cannot have an accent or that having a heavy accent is a bad thing. It just means that you need to be cognizant that it is a harmful trope that people use to otherize people of color, and that it can fall into tokenism.

The “7-11 cashier.”

The “really strict parents” one - we can definitely do with less of these. Going with that, having Indian characters that are ONLY engineers, or ONLY doctors is pretty harmful as well.

The “phone operator.” The Operator from India.

-Mod Satvika

I’d like to add that yes, there may be Indians and other PoC in the world who may fit some stereotypical roles, but people are not their stereotypes and shouldn’t be treated as caricatures due to their occupations or for any other reason, nor are these the only types of said people available.

So yes, create new images of PoC beyond stereotypes, but note that even as these people who fit stereotypes exist, they are more than just their labels and it says nothing about their worth when something does apply to them, as they are too complex human beings.

-Mod Colette

475 notes View Post

nausicaaaaaa

1 year ago

people are incapable of looking at kink through a critical lens. kinksters will spew apologia without taking a moment to consider:

*why* is ‘feminisation’ considered humiliating to men?

*why* is getting off on your partner *struggling and being in pain* acceptable? ‘fake’ or not?

*why* is it so predominantly femininity that is being degraded? why are women the ones who are typically victims in kink? (and yes, i am aware women perpetuate bdsm abuse too. but predominantly men are the ‘doms’ in cnc, bdsm, etc. ddlg is much more prominent than whatever the reverse is.)

*why* is raceplay considered acceptable? why is ‘pretending’ to hold racist ideals and getting off on them considered acceptable?

actually, why is fetishisation of ANY group acceptable if you get off to it? trans people. lesbians. POC. r@pe victims.

most importantly, *why are victims of abuse in BDSM spaces so frequently ostracised for criticising the source of their trauma/the scene’s inability to protect them?* (i have personal experience with this one, having been banned from CPTSD and sexual assault support subreddits for critiquing kink that i was forced to partake in)

i could go on for days. a community that is ‘safe, sane and consensual’ should be able to discuss these issues of abuse within the community, instead of ostracising and blaming victims.

363 notes View Post

nausicaaaaaa

3 years ago