True.. True..

Loved this!

tbh the most unrealistic thing in harry potter is when mrs weasley in the first book asks “now what’s the platform number?”

like this woman has been going to that school for seven years and then dropped kids off on the same place for nearly ten like why on earth would she forget the platform number

Hey btw, if you're doing worldbuilding on something, and you're scared of writing ~unrealistic~ things into it out of fear that it'll sound lazy and ripped-out-of-your-ass, but you also don't want to do all the back-breaking research on coming up with depressingly boring, but practical and ~realistic~ solutions, have a rule:

Just give the thing two layers of explanation. One to explain the specific problem, and another one explaining the explanation. Have an example:

Plot hole 1: If the vampires can't stand daylight, why couldn't they just move around underground?

Solution 1: They can't go underground, the sewer system of the city is full of giant alligators who would eat them.

Well, that's a very quick and simple explanation, which sure opens up additional questions.

Plot hole 2: How and why the fuck are there alligators in the sewers? How do they survive, what do they eat down there when there's no vampires?

Solution 2: The nuns of the Underground Monastery feed and take care of them as a part of their sacred duties.

It takes exactly two layers to create an illusion that every question has an answer - that it's just turtles all the way down. And if you're lucky, you might even find that the second question's answer loops right back into the first one, filling up the plot hole entirely:

Plot hole 3: Who the fuck are the sewer nuns and what's their point and purpose?

Solution 3: The sewer nuns live underground in order to feed the alligators, in order to make sure that the vampires don't try to move around via the sewer system.

When you're just making things up, you don't need to have an answer for everything - just two layers is enough to create the illusion of infinite depth. Answer the question that looms behind the answer of the first question, and a normal reader won't bother to dig around for a 3rd question.

Awesome info for DMs and writers.

Fortresses, Strongholds and Temples for Players Part 1

Beautiful

Yinka Shonibare’s art installation, The American Library, in the downtown branch of the Cleveland Public Library. 

It’s designed as two back-to-back rows of book stacks, with 6,000 books bound colorful fabrics. On each book’s spine is the name of a 1st or 2nd generation US immigrant who has influenced their adopted country’s culture. 

Good advice for any writer or those aspiring to write.

How do you start a second draft? I just finished my first one and I'm having a hard time getting in there to start changing things because it just seems like a lot to sift through

Print out your book on paper.

Then find time when you won’t be disturbed, and read it. With a pen, or a pencil. And anything you don’t like as a reader, make a note in the margin, or change it on the page.

Look particularly for things that you were hoping would be better. Mark them in the margin too. 

And then work out what you need to do on the second draft. Basically, anything you didn’t like as a reader you get to fix as a writer.

This is beautiful

Sue Davis studios

Science fiction and fantasy isn’t just a white people thing! I’ve talked about some of these books before, but here’s a new slide show entirely for SFF authors of color. Also, I was only doing one book per author. Lots of these authors have multiple books. And like it says at the end, there’s even more SFF books by authors of color but fitting everything in one post would be an impossible task.

Also, could you please not rec white authors on this post? Even if they’ve written a book starring a person of color. I want this post to be focused around the work of authors of color. 

Links to more info about the books beneath the cut. 

Keep reading

A ruddy wizard with a tragic past, what's not to love. I hope that when they make the Mighty Nein animated series, the design for Caleb looks similar to this; I love his nose.

my sweet sweet boy caleb

Book envy

You are never fully moved in until you unpack the books. How I missed my library.

I love this new revelation.

You know how everyone’s perception of dinosaurs shifted when the public was introduced to the fact that they probably had feathers? I’m feeling that way again except this time about lips.

T-Rex without lips:

(the much more likely) T-Rex WITH lips: