HEY!

Words to use instead of “Very”!

👎🏼 Very simple             👍🏼 Basic 👎🏼 Very shy                  👍🏼 Timid 👎🏼 Very short                👍🏼 Brief  👎🏼 Very shiny                👍🏼 Gleaming  👎🏼 Very sharp               👍🏼 Keen 👎🏼 Very serious             👍🏼 Grave 👎🏼 Very scary                👍🏼 Chilling  👎🏼 Very scared              👍🏼 Petrified  👎🏼 Very sad                   👍🏼 Sorrowful 👎🏼 Very rich                   👍🏼 Wealthy  👎🏼 Very rainy                 👍🏼 Pouring  👎🏼 Very quiet                 👍🏼 Hushed 👎🏼 Very quick                👍🏼 Rapid 👎🏼 Very pretty                👍🏼 Beautiful  👎🏼 Very powerful           👍🏼 Compelling 👎🏼 Very poor                 👍🏼 Destitute  👎🏼 Very perfect             👍🏼 Flawless 👎🏼 Very pale                  👍🏼 Ashen  👎🏼 Very painful              👍🏼 Excruciating  👎🏼 Very open                 👍🏼 Transparent 👎🏼 Very old-fashioned   👍🏼 Archaic  👎🏼 Very old                    👍🏼 Ancient  👎🏼 Very often                 👍🏼 Frequently  👎🏼 Very noisy                👍🏼Deafening 

*Needs it. Must run to bookstore to obtain this awesomeness.*

I NEED TO FIND THIS BOOK!

OKAY HAVE YOU HEARD OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DRAGONS BY MARIE BRENNAN

NO! WHAT IS IT?! I MUST KNOW!!

P.S. sorry for public answer, forgot my settings were like that.

How to write: ethnicity & skin colour

requested by: anonymous request: How exactly can I describe a characters ethnicity/skin color casually, without it sounding like a specific scene that just exists to describe the skin color? I hope this makes sense lmao… I just want to write a scene where I casually mention someone’s ethnicity or skin color

description of appearance: No matter if skin colour or hairstyle or clothes, a text is more dynamic if you don't dedicate an entire scene/paragraph to it but rather sprinkle the necessary information in here and there. However, there can be instances where it's conducive to the plot to put that entire paragraph (e.g. introducing a new important character with backstory). Otherwise, I'd say try to keep it short and put it where it serves the plot.

ways to incorporate...

... a description of appearance:

when a character makes their first entrance (describe everyone's colouring - POCs' and white characters')

the impression their complexion makes together with their clothes: "the bright yellow of their shirt complemented their dark skin"

the way their colouring interacts with lighting: "the grey weather took away the rosy hue of their fair skin"

when appearances create a contrast: "I immediately noticed them because they were the only other black person"

... ethnicity:

let the characters mention it where it makes sense

regarding the narrator you've chosen for your story, it can also be blended into an inner monologue

include parts of their culture: traditions, terms, family, etc. (this also allows to bring up their ethnicity repeatedly over the story and not only at the beginning)

show their struggles: are they affected by social struggles? then show it!

words to use to describe skin colour:

... basic colour descriptions:

brown

black

beige

white

pink

... more specific colours (try sticking to familiar/common words that can be easily visualised):

amber

bronze

copper

gold

ochre

terracotta

sepia

sienna

porcelain

tan

... prefixes or modifiers (can be easily combined with basic colours):

dark

rich

warm

deep

fair

faint

light

cool

pale

... undertones (pre-dominant colours underneath the skin - often warm or cool, sometimes also neutral and olive):

yellow

orange

coral

golden

silver

rose

pink

red

blue

... avoid food analogies as it's often received as offending, fetishising, and/or objectifying.

That's all I can provide as of now but I'm sure you guys have aspects to contribute. I'm very interested to hear your thoughts, so please feel free to add to this post whatever you like to/can share <3

And for more information, maybe also check out @writingwithcolor for more specialised posts on the topic <3

dragontameroutofcharacter, saw this today and immediately thought of you. Though much cuter in person.

How to Detect Text Written by AI

Once my mutuals reminded me not to let fear take over and to get out of my own head, I did. And when I did, I realized something—those who are feeding authors’ fics into these notoriously unreliable AI detectors are actually helping these companies by giving them more data. And most of these companies? They also have their own AI content generation tools, which means they are using the samples of the writing of from those authors’ to improve their own AI generation tools.

So now, I’m not just scared—I’m scared and mad.

Instead of making unproductive call-out posts that don’t actually help the community recognize AI-generated text, let’s do something useful. Let’s talk about ways you can be empowered as a reader to spot AI-generated content.

There is no fool proof method to figure out for sure if a text is AI generated, unless you are literally physically sitting with the writer watching them write like they are a zoo animal.

AI detectors are unreliable and inconsistent. Plus, with how quickly AI-generated content is evolving, these tools are constantly lagging behind, making them outdated and even less effective over time.

Thus far, the best AI detection is YOU. It isn’t easy at first, but the research shows that you can learn how to do this.

One article from the MIT Technology Review (2019) states:

Another study found that untrained humans were able to correctly spot text generated by GPT-3 only at a level consistent with random chance. The good news is that people can be trained to be better at spotting AI-generated text, Ippolito says. She built a game to test how many sentences a computer can generate before a player catches on that it’s not human, and found that people got gradually better over time.  “If you look at lots of generative texts and you try to figure out what doesn’t make sense about it, you can get better at this task,” she says. One way is to pick up on implausible statements, like the AI saying it takes 60 minutes to make a cup of coffee.

Fun fact: This article has the journalist submitting her own work to various AI detectors, one of them being Originality.AI, which indicated her writing had a 50-50 split on being AI and human.

One of the problems with these large language models (LLMs), as this article from Capitol Technology University points out, is that it has made AI generated text more complex, making it harder to tell it apart from human writing. But, they share some signs you can look for, as described from their article below:

Inconsistencies and repetition: Occasionally, AI produces nonsensical or odd sentences which can be a clear indicator of AI-generated text. Abrupt shifts in tone, style, or topic can point to AI that is struggling to maintain coherent ideas. Whereas humans often vary structure to create a better flow, repeated phrases or sentence structures can point to AI relying more on memorized patterns. Occasionally, AI produces nonsensical or odd sentences which can be a clear indicator of AI-generated text.

Context and content: If the text seems to be unable to grasp the larger context of the writing, is missing the point entirely, or references specific details without appropriate context, it could be AI.

Does that mean all inconsistencies, excessive repetition, or overly descriptive writing automatically indicate AI-generated text? No, absolutely not. Writing styles vary, and many human writers naturally have quirks like these.

This article from Forbes (2024) identified 5 ways to help identify AI generated content, but I feel these 3 specific ones best apply to fiction and fanfics:

Language Patterns: AI generated text tends to lack emotional subtlety, be overly formal, or use complex words, leading to the sentences sounding stiff and not flowing well. Alternatively, the over use of cliches. Consistency Issues: AI generated text tends to struggle with narrative details, leading to abrupt changes in the story. For example an abrupt change in the description of a setting without explanation. Unusual Language Errors: Sometimes AI generated text uses odd and unusual phrases that feel out of place.

Again, does this automatically mean that writing lacking emotional subtlety or being overly formal is AI-generated? No, not at all. Writing styles vary, and some authors naturally have a more formal tone or a direct approach to storytelling.

If I find a story that I think is AI-generated, what should I do?

1. Pause and Assess – Don't Jump to Conclusions

AI-generated text can sometimes be hard to distinguish from human writing, and many of the so-called “signs” of AI can also be just someone’s writing style or someone being new to writing. Before assuming a fic is AI-generated, take a step back and look at it critically.

Does it actually feel off in a way that suggests AI (such as major consistency errors, repetitive phrases, or nonsensical sentences)?

Or does it just have a different writing style than you’re used to?

2. Don’t Rely on AI Detectors

As shown in multiple studies and real-world examples, AI detectors are not reliable. They are inconsistent, often outdated, and can flag even completely human-written work as AI. Using them as definitive proof, even with the above information does more harm than good.

Also, some of these AI detectors programs also have AI generation programs. You are literally providing more data to these programs to help improve generate AI text.

If an AI detection program does not appear to have a a sister program that generate AI content, ask yourself:

Could this company be mangaged by a parent company that DOES have an AI generated program?

Have you read the terms and conditions to agree to use this AI detection program? If not, have you considered where does the data you have it analyze go? Is it stored and sold to 3rd parties to be used to improve AI generated content programs?

3. Consider Reaching Out to the Author First

If you still have doubts, and you feel it’s appropriate, you could politely reach out to the author. Instead of accusing them, ask about their writing process or how they developed the story. Most human writers love to talk about their inspiration, research, and creative choices.

4. Avoid Public Call-Outs

Unless you have strong, irrefutable proof (which is very hard to get), publicly accusing someone of using AI can do serious harm—both to the writer and to the community as a whole. False accusations drive real writers away from sharing their work.

5. If You’re Concerned About AI in Creative Spaces, Advocate for Constructive Discussions

Instead of call-outs and AI detectors, push for conversations on how to navigate AI in fandoms and creative writing spaces in a way that doesn’t rely on fear or false accusations. Encourage transparency, but also respect that writers shouldn’t have to prove their humanity just to share their work.

Thank you and I will now go back to playing in my little section of the dragon age sandbox where I make Solas kiss Lavellan.

Writing Tips #10

Spend time world building. Even if you're writing fanfiction, you need to know the world in which your characters reside. I’ve beaten this to death, but that will require research of the source material or history books.

Is it a monarchy or is there a president? Who delivers justice? What are the rights of the people? How is education?

Keep notes and make sure nothing conflicts. It’s just as important to have a seamless world as a flawless plot. You can’t have a world full of contradictions (unless you’re writing Alice in Wonderland) and holes without hurting yourself in the long run.

Plot out your worlds like you would your characters.

Commission for @sihakadan! I had a lot of fun working on this 💖🐄thank you for commissioning me c: Close up under the cut

🥩🥩🥩

whoa i actually had an art idea and followed through on it

You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.

Anne Lamott

Never let anyone tell you that you can’t write. You are NEVER: too young, too old, too mature, too naive, too uneducated, too intelligent, too unoriginal, or too boring.

ANYONE can be a writer and EVERYONE is just as qualified as published authors.

You don’t have to have an english/literature/creative writing degree to magically make you worthy enough to try. Many published authors just picked it up after their day jobs, did it for a hobby. If they can do it, you can as well.

No one can stop you unless you let them, yours is the only opinion that should matter. So write your fanfiction, your novella, short story, screen play, or novel. Don’t give a damn about what the naysayers believe. Be fucking proud of every word you put down on the page (yes, even horrible rough drafts) because you’re amazing.

You ARE a writer. Be proud of that.