I Want To Post About My Writing But Social Anxiety Yknow

Theme Week #3: Our Friends In the Dark 🕯

Welcome travelers! Inspiration took us to some interesting places this week as we’ve got the hint of a couple subthemes emerging. Initially “Our Friends in the Dark” was supposed to be about allies ( or supposed allies) for all of our travels through the shaded places of the world, whether that be underground or through the night on mischievous deeds. 

The D(r )ead Citadel: Follow a questing knight into a demon infested fortress, only to discover that the knight is a witless ghost caught in a death loop, and that the fortress itself is far more sinister than its demon occupants. This prompt also connected with a rewrite I did on The dead god Orcus, bringing him back to his mythological roots as a god of oaths and curses, and giving him a bit more thematic depth when it comes to writing campaigns. 

Rhoghor Slatebreaker and the Vault of Forgotten Verdicts: Team up with orcish Indiana Jones and go on an expedition to a long abandoned tomb in the depths of the underdark. Discover a multitude of treasures and weapons placed in the tomb as tribute to the warlord buried there, including a sentient adamantine hammer that causes earthquakes when it dreams. 

The Innumerable Crimes of Gladhand Galloway: Try to claim the bounty on the world’s greatest (luckiest) thief, or perhaps stumble your way into apprenticing under him. A rival or mentor for the ages, all underpinned by tragic love and the thrill of a well planned heist. 

Sister Gissella, the Angel of the Catacombs:  Beneath a temple made famous by her healing abilities, a vampiric scholar hides away in the shadows. Too good and faithful a person to fall to the curse of undeath, and sheltered by a cabal of secretive clerics, this palid priestess’s quiet existence may be at an end when outsiders discover her formula for an elixir of life. 

Port Lancercost, the Throne of Knaves: This immensely wealthy harbor is rife with crime and dissolution, providing an amazing backdrop for a party’s roguish enterprise. While you’re at it, why not explore the numerous burnt out districts, or befriend the charming rivefolk that work the canals and barges that supply it? 

I hope you’re all doing well as we close in on the darkest time of the year. I’ll be queuing up adventure prompts for the foreseeable future, so don’t expect any drought of inspiration over the holidays.  

 As always, I’m tremendously grateful for all my followers, but if you want to make a special contribution, I’d be overwhelmed if you’d be kind enough to support my creative efforts. If you liked one of my adventure ideas and would like to leave a one time tip: https://ko-fi.com/villainforhire. If you’d like to support Daily Adventure Prompts and future creative activity, consider becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/Villain4hire

Reactions to tragedy

In real life, pretty much everybody reacts to tragedy differently. So why is it that every author has their pet reaction to tragedy that all their characters use? Not only is it unrealistic, but it takes away the chance for the characters’ different reactions to reveal things about themselves.

Possible reactions to tragedy (not an exhaustive list):

Distracting oneself with mindless activities

Distracting oneself with others’ humor

Distracting oneself by making jokes

Distracting oneself by reading/watching/playing stories

Distracting oneself with hard mental work

Distracting oneself with hard physical work

Distracting oneself with creative endeavors

Distracting oneself by chatting with friends about normal things

Talking to friends about the tragedy

Talking to authority figures about the tragedy

Talking anonymously with strangers about the tragedy (if possible)

Getting wrapped up in others’ problems

Staying unusually silent

Screaming

Crying loudly

Crying silently

Doing everything possible not to cry

Pacing

Taking unhealthy risks

Going for revenge against whoever one can blame

Punching random objects

Throwing random objects

Lashing out against friends and family members

Trying to prevent a similar tragedy from happening

Eating more than usual

Not eating

Taking mind-altering substances

Getting in unhealthy relationships

Isolating oneself

Obsessing over routine

Numbness combined with apathy

Numbness combined with going through one’s normal motions

Trying to get things back the way they were

Denial

No reaction at first but a reaction hits later in greater force

No reaction at all. Emotions relating to the tragedy just fail to load. Note that this can happen to anybody and does not mark a character as a sociopath.

Characters can have more than one reaction at the same time, one reaction after another, or different reactions to different tragedies.

Every single odd number has an “e” in it.

i write, or, more accurately, try to write, and i’ve been trying to post more of my writing, but i lack the courage to, so yeah.

​reblog if you’re a writing blog, i want to follow and make friends with other writers!

ha?

every single person who reblogs this

every

single

person

will get “doot doot” in their ask box

Reblog if youd be totally fine with someone you dont know tagging you in a tag game

I had a sweet Nonny the other day asking how to get started, and honestly posts like this are a great way. I know games go kinda fallow during school and events like NaNo, but we can get this one circulating and building up a list of folks to tag when were ready to get back to it :)

Here’s the thing: I love the horror AESTHETIC, but I hate the horror MOOD. I find “fear” and “horror” to be unpleasant emotions, ones that I don’t want to experience in my enjoyment-media.

It makes finding stuff a bit challenging, let me tell you. So like, if you know anything that fits that bill, can you share it with me? (I’m already aware of @normal-horoscopes, and I’m familiar with Welcome To Night Vale.

I like stories with things that are weird, and unnatural, and dangerous in the same sense that a river or a fire is dangerous; it cares nothing for you and can destroy you, but it also has no malice and, once you know its nature, you can work with it more-or-less safely, so long as you never think yourself “safe”.

I like dark castles ruled by ominous and mysterious beings, and I especially love the various petty drama that happens between the monsters who work in said castles.

I like things that explore the realities and challenges of different forms of unlife, of being something changed and inhuman; but I don’t like things that delve too deep into “I’m having an existential crisis and all of my former friends now hate me”, that’s a completely DIFFERENT form of horror, one which I find deeply unappealing.

WEBSITES FOR WRITERS {masterpost}

E.A. Deverell - FREE worksheets (characters, world building, narrator, etc.) and paid courses;

Hiveword - Helps to research any topic to write about (has other resources, too);

BetaBooks - Share your draft with your beta reader (can be more than one), and see where they stopped reading, their comments, etc.;

Charlotte Dillon - Research links;

Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;

One Stop for Writers - You guys... this website has literally everything we need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;

One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It's FREE!

Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;

National Centre for Writing - FREE worksheets and writing courses. Has also paid courses;

Penguin Random House - Has some writing contests and great opportunities;

Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;

The Creative Academy for Writers - "Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication." It's FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;

Reedsy - "A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book" It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;

QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I've never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);

Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It's FREE but has a paid plan;

Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;

I hope this is helpful for you!

(Also, check my blog if you want to!)