hoqwarts-library

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ϟ 019. James wears glasses.

Of course, they're reading glasses, but he wears them more often than he’s supposed to. He was always a little jealous of his brother looking more like his father– that he looked up to so much– and so when he was prescribed glasses, he wore them as often as he could to look more like Harry.

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queer hogwarts kids making buttons w/ preferred pronouns on them that are charmed to yell when ppl use the wrong ones

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Remus Lupin’s blue hair-having, rebellious, snogging in dark corners for longer than humanly possible punk child. 

Sirius and James are losing their shit in the afterlife. 

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Ravenclaws probably have, overall as a house, the worst grades in the school tbh. 

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Lucy Weasley Headcanons:

Her things are always in disarray much to the dismay of her sister, roommates and cousins (when staying in the Burrow)

Rose is insistent that if Lucy wants to listen to records still she should buy a new player, but Lucy loves the old gramophone that her grandmother Molly gave her

She and Molly are a bit in love with silly flavoured loose leaf teas like Birthday Cake or Pina Colada and the kitchen cupboard is littered with tins of various sizes and flavours

She uses the empty tins for storage, sometimes for bobby pins or quills and ball point pens and sometimes for potions ingredients and might be the closest things she has to being organized

She never labels these tins, much to the dismay of her muggle mother, Audrey, who sometimes opens a tin expecting Almond Cookie Tea and instead finds one full of lacewing flies

Is always the last to wake up in any given situation, except for maybe Teddy, but everyone in the family is very considerate of the fact that Lucy has a cup of breakfast tea (one milk, no sugar) and the Prophet’s daily newspaper

Watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s once and took it upon herself to try and learn the ukelele and found she had absolutely no patience for the idea. Fred teased her for her lack of commitment.

Can’t fly a broom to save her damn life. Teddy always takes it upon himself to try and teach her every summer, but she determinedly abandoned the idea after she flew Molly’s old Comet into a tree at Teddy’s direction and sprained her ankle.

Teddy stayed inside with her every day when she couldn’t go out and spend time with the family. 

Takes an hour for her to drink a small coffee on outings which makes Molly and Roxanne restless and always on the brink of abandoning her and Fred

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Write a piece about an illegal act of kindness

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Little details to give your characters

Picks M&Ms out of trail mix

Bites fingernails/toenails

Has a small collection of water bottles by their bed

Cracks knuckles

Loves the smell of nail polish remover

Is a pollotarian 

Only listens to music from one decade

Never wears matching socks

Wears college sweaters (bonus if they don’t go to that school or know anyone who does)

Always chews gum/has gum

Constantly gives everyone nicknames based on a pun of their name

Laughs a little after they speak even if they didn’t say something funny

Always wears solid color hoodies

Constantly quotes/references movies

Only calls people by their full first name or full first and last name

Has a unibrow

Afraid of the dark

Impeccable manners

Smells like Vicks Vaporub

Steps over the cracks in the sidewalk or steps on the cracks in the sidewalk (if they hate their mother)

Smooths their eyebrow hairs down

Plays with their eyebrows/hair when sleepy

Picks at their skin (mostly their face)

Hugs people when they first meet them

Doesn’t shave their armpit/pubic/leg hair

Takes off their bra/gets naked as soon as they get home

Always has a snack with them

Plays with their body jewelry whenever they’re nervous/mad/sad

Likes bouncing their legs

Draws/writes on skin

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All About Writing Fight Scenes

@galaxies-are-my-ink asked,

“Do you have any advice on writing fight scenes? The type of scene I’m writing is mostly hand to hand combat between two experts. I’m definitely not an expert so when I try to write it, the scene ends up sounding repetitive and dull.”

Fore note: This post is coauthored by myself and one of my amazing critique partners, Barik S. Smith, who both writes fantastic fight scenes and teaches mixed martial arts, various artistic martial arts, and weapons classes.

I (Bryn) will tell you a secret: I trained MMA for seven years, and when I write authentic hand to hand fight scenes, they sound dull too. 

The problem with fight scenes in books is that trying to describe each punch and kick and movement (especially if it’s the only thing you’re describing) creates a fight that feels like it’s in slow motion. 

I write…

Lowering her center of gravity, she held her right hand tight to her face and threw a jab towards his chin. He shifted his weight, ducking under her punch. His hair brushed against her fist, and he stepped forward, launching a shovel hook into her exposed side.

But your brain can only read so fast. In real life that series of events would take an instant, but I needed a full eight seconds to read and comprehend it, which gave it an inherent lethargic feel. 

So, we have two primary problems:

How do we describe this fight in a way the reader can understand and keep track of? 

How do we maintain a fast paced, interesting fight once we’ve broken down the fight far enough for readers to understand it? 

(We will get back to these, I promise.) But for now, let’s look at…

Different types of “fight scenes:”

Keep reading

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As some of you may know I’ve been studying Professional and Creative Writing for three years now, and I’m heading into a fourth year of study for Honours, and one thing that has really stuck out for me over the past few years is how much pressure people put on you to write a story with some kind of important meaning.

This needs to stop.

There’s nothing wrong with writing a story with purpose and meaning, but when you limit yourself to writing a story around those morals, then you restrict what you can write.

Write what you want to write. 

Write stories for fun. 

Write stories with no moral messages and see what meaning other people read into it.

Write a story by focusing on the characters, the plot, the narrative, whatever; just write the story you want to tell, becasue if you limit yourself to writing around that moral message then you lose the possibility to open your text up and create depth to it by having multiple meanings and moral messages, contradictions and ideologies that your readers will hold onto and literature students will gush over.

Write what you want to write.

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Specific Setting Ideas

Deserted gas station at 2AM

Church tucked away on the edge of town with only a glowing cross to light it up

Liquor store with a few high school kids buying stuff for a house party

At the drive-thru late at night trying to figure out your order/everyone in the car’s order

Hospital waiting room in the early hours of the morning

Birthday party with a bad clown and kids covered in cake and snot

Basketball court on a block with a bunch of ratty apartment buildings

Dark alleyway with only a lone street lamp light at the mouth of the alley

Bench/hill in the middle of the park as the sun starts to come up

Cluttered basement with a beat-up couch and an old TV

Sunny, warm enclosed porch on the back of someone’s house

Quiet field of flowers in the middle of a wooded area

Snowy mountain trail with black ice no one notices

Dark stretch of road without street lamps at 3 AM

Rooftop in the middle of the day

Driving through heavy fog early in the morning where you feel like you’re the only one awake

On top of a giant dune in the middle of the desert with a hot breeze that never cools anyone down

Teenagers playing Marco Polo in a store

Covered bridge at the edge of town

Abandoned building that other teenagers explore

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Conveying Worldbuilding Without Exposition!

(As requested by both an anon and @my-words-are-light​)

One of the hardest parts of writing speculative fiction is presenting readers with a world that’s interesting and different from our own in a way that’s both immersive and understandable at the same time. 

Thankfully, there are a few techniques that can help you present worldbuilding information to your readers in a natural way, as well as many tricks to tweaking the presentation until it’s just right.

Four basic techniques:

1. The ignorant character. 

By introducing a character who doesn’t know about the aspects of the world building you’re trying to convey, you can let the ignorant character voice the questions the reader naturally wants to ask. Traditionally, this is seen when the protagonist or (another character) is brought into a new world, society, organization. In cases where that’s the natural outcome of the plot, and the character has a purpose in the story outside of simply asking questions, it can be pulled off just fine. But there’s another aspect to this which writers don’t often consider: 

Every character is your ignorant character. 

In a realistic world, no person knows everything. Someone will be behind on the news. Someone won’t know all the facts. Many, many someones won’t have studied a common part of their society simply because they aren’t large part of that fraction or don’t have the time for it.

Instead of inserting an ignorant character and creating a stiff and annoying piece of expository dialogue, find the character already existing in the story who doesn’t know about the thing being learned.

2. Conflicting opinions.

A fantastic way to convey detailed world building concepts is to have characters with conflicting viewpoints discuss or argue about them. Unless you’re working with a brainwashed society, every character should hold their own set of religious, political, and social beliefs. 

Examples of this kind of dialogue:

Keep reading

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almost every hp fan i know that’s attracted to men had a crush on oliver wood at some point, and i think this can be explained by 3 factors. 1. he’s goddamn hilarious and arguably one of the best side characters in the series. 2. he’s the cool, popular sports captain who’s was (most likely) a little older than you when you started reading the series so he’s got that unattainable factor, and 3. despite the previous point he is also a goddamn geek. his unapologetic enthusiasm for what he loves and his over-the-top devotion to it makes him seem ridiculous and nerdy, and yet it hits very close to home, because even if you’re not into sports, you can relate to loving something THAT much. we’ve all geeked out about something to a truly absurd extent, whether it be a sport, a fandom, a hobby, or a job. his passion and zeal for what he does is both endearing and relatable, so he seems oddly approachable because of that. oliver wood is both the popular jock who would never notice you and the dweeb who will talk your ear off about his favorite thing and that’s why we love him thanks for coming to my ted talk.

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Kauai (a Hawaiian island, if you didn’t know) is currently experiencing historic flooding, which has also caused landslides. They got around 30 inches of rain in one day, where the previous record was only 12. Not only is this affecting the people living on the island, but it’s also hurting the reefs. More than 450 people had to be evacuated, human objects, like boats, have been thrown into the reefs, and I haven’t seen anything on the news about it. Please spread the word and donate if you can, this is a major crisis and it should not be downplayed and ignored.

Sources:  x, x (The second link has donation resources)

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Charmaine: She must be pretty important to you

Bellamy:

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bellamy: *hears the elgius people talking about capturing a feisty girl* bellamy: what an idiot bellamy: WAIT THAT’S MY IDIOT 

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can we talk about some of the funny moments that happen in DH for a change?

That ‘Skeeters book contains less fact than a Chocolate frog card’  - In Memoriam 

Harry’s favourite moment had been the one when Uncle Vernon, unaware that Dudley had added his dumb-bells to his case since the last time it had been unpacked, had attempted to hoist it back into the boot and collapsed with roars of pain and much swearing. - The Dursleys Departing 

‘Are you actually as stupid as you look?’ Harry to Vernon.  - The Dursleys Departing

‘Don’t you want to remember all the good times? I mean, look at this doormat. What memories…Dudley punked on it after I saved him from the dementors’ - The Seven Potters

‘Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry,’ said Fred earnestly. ‘imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever’  - The Seven Potters

‘Ooh, you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry’  - The Seven Potters

Fred and George turned to each other and said together, ‘Wow - were identical!’ -  The Seven Potters

Mrs Weasley reappeared carrying a bottle of brandy, which she handed to Hagrid. He uncorked it and drank it straight down in one. - Fallen Warrior 

‘Saint-like,’ repeated George opening his eyes and looking up at his brother. ‘you see…I’m holy. Holey, Fred, geddit’ 

‘Pathetic,’ he told George, Pathetic! With the whole world of ear-related humour before you, you go for Holey’ 

‘Ah well,’ said George Grinning at his tear-stroked mother. ‘you’ll be able to tell us apart now, anyway, Mum’  - Fallen Warrior

‘We are holding your brother’s wedding here in a few days’ time, young man -’

‘Are they getting married in my bedroom?’ asked Ron furiously. ‘No! So why in the name of Merlin’s saggy left-’ - The Ghoul in Pyjamas 

‘I’m doing it, I’m doing -! Oh, it’s you,’ said Ron in relief, as Harry entered the room, Ron lay back down on the bed, which he had evidently just vacated.  - The Ghoul in Pyjamas

‘Oh, of course,’ said Ron, clapping a hand to his forehead. ‘I forgot we’ll be hunting down Voldermort in a library’  - The Ghoul in Pyjamas

‘Oh, well, lucky we’ve got such a large supply of Basilisk fangs, then,’ said Ron, ‘I was wondering what we were going to do with them.’ -  The Ghoul in Pyjamas

‘I think dating opportunities are going to be pretty thin on the ground, to be honest’ - The Ghoul in Pyjamas

‘How’s Norbert doin’?’

‘Norbert?’ Charlie laughed. ‘The Norwegian Ridgeback? We call her Norberta now.’

‘Wha-Norbert’s a girl?’ - The Will of Albus Dumbledore 

‘No I’m not,’ retorted Hermione, ‘I’m hoping to do some good in the world!’   - The Will of Albus Dumbledore

‘Has anyone ever tried sticking a sword in Voldermort’ - The Will of Albus Dumbledore

‘We heard Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Cinderella-’ 

‘What’s that, an illness?’ asked Ron. - The Will of Albus Dumbledore

Hagrid was causing a certain amount of disruption. Having misunderstood Fred’s directions, he had sat himself not upon the magically enlarged and reinforced seat sat aside for him in the back row, but on five seats that now resembled a large pile of golden matchsticks. - The Wedding 

‘She lingered in that charming little garden to say hello to the gnomes, such a glorious infestation! How few wizards realise how much we can learn from the wise little gonmes - or, to give them their correct name, the Gernumli gardensi.’ 

‘Ours do know a lot of excellent swear words,’ said Ron, ‘but I think Fred and George taught them those’ - The Wedding 

‘But I must say, Ginevra’s dress is far too low-cut.’

Ginny glanced around, grinning, winked at Harry. - The Wedding 

Krum was pointing at Ginny, who had just joined Luna. ‘She is also a relative of yours?’ 

‘Yeah, said Harry, suddenly irritated, ‘and shes’ seeing someone. Jealous type. Big bloke you wouldn’t want to cross him.’  - The Wedding

‘You there! Give me your chair, I’m a hundred and seven!’ - The Wedding

‘God, that’s revolting, Ron added, after one sip of the foamy, greyish coffee. The waitress had heard; she shot Ron a nasty look as she shuffled off to take the new customers orders. - A Place to Hide 

‘It’s no wonder I can’t get it out, Hermione, you packed my old jeans, they’re too tight.’

‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ hissed Hermione as she dragged the waitress out of sight of the windows. Harry heard her mutter a suggestion as to where Ron could stick his wand instead. -  A Place to Hide

‘You got in all right, then?’ Hermione whispered to Harry.  - A Place to Hide

‘No, he’s still stuck in the bog,’ said Ron. - Magic is Might

‘NO!!’ roared Ron, causing Harry to jump into a hedge.- Xenophilius Lovegood

‘I think we should vote on it,’ said Ron. ‘Those in favour of going to see Lovegood -’ His hand flew into the air before Hermione’s.  - Xenophilius Lovegood

‘Sorry, I just think it’s a bit spookier if it’s midnight!’ said Ron. ‘Yeah, because  we really need a bit more fear in our lives,’ said Harry, before he could stop himself. - Tale of the Three Brothers

‘Death’s got an invisibility cloak?’ Harry interrupted again. ‘So he can sneak up on people,’ said Ron. ‘Sometimes he gets bored of running up at them, flapping his arms and shrieking…’  - Tale of the Three Brothers 

‘For instance, this new idea that You-Know-Who can kill with a single glance from his eyes. That’s a Basilisk, listeners. One simple test: check weather the thing glaring at you has got legs. If it has, it’s safe to look into its eyes, although if it really is You-Know-Who, that’s still likely to be the last thing you ever do.’ - The Deathly Hallows 

‘Well, who wouldn’t want a nice little holiday after all the hard works he’s been putting in?’ asked Fred. - The Deathly Hallows

‘The fact remains he can move faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo when he wants to’  - The Deathly Hallows

‘Well, I don’t know how to break this to you,’ said Ron, ‘but I think they might have noticed we broke into Gringotts.’  - The Final Hiding Place

‘Stag!’ roared the barman, and he pulled out a wand. ‘Stag! You idiot - expecto patronum!’ - The Missing Mirror 

‘Aberforth’s getting a bit ratty,’ said Fred, rasing his hand in answer to several cries of greeting. ‘He wants a kip, and his bar’s turned into a railway station’ - The Lost Diadem 

The aged caretaker had just come into view, shouting, ‘Students out of bed! Students in the corridors!’ 

‘They’re supposed to be, you blithering idiot!’ shouted McGongall. - The Sacking of Severus Snape 

Percy roared, so loudly that Lupin nearly dropped his photograph.  - The Sacking of Severus Snape

‘Hello, Minister!’ bellowed Percy, sending a neat jinx straight at Thicknesse, who dropped his wand and clawed at the front of his robes, apparently in awful discomfort. ‘Did I mention I’m resigning?’  - The Battle of Hogwarts

Draco was on the upper landing, pleading with another masked Death Eater. Harry stunned the Death Eater as they passed: Malfoy looked around, beaming, for his saviour, and Ron punched him backwards on top of the Death Eater, his mouth bleeding, utterly bemused.

‘And that’s the second time we’ve saved your life tonight, you two-faced bastard!’ Ron yelled. - The Elder Wand

‘Oooh, look, a Blibbering Humdinger!’ and pointed out of the window. Everyone who heard looked around. - The Flaw in the Plan

‘As a matter of fact, I did Confund him,’ Ron whispered to Harry, as together they lifted Albus’ trunk and owl on to the train. ‘I only forgot to look in the wing mirror, and let’s face it, I can use a Supersensory charm for that.’ - Nineteen Years Later

‘Don’t get too friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pure-blood’ - Nineteen Years Later

‘No,’ said Harry firmly, ‘you and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished.’  - Nineteen Years Later

‘Outside, yeah, but at school he’s Professor Longbottom, isn’t he? I can’t work into Herbology and give him love…’ - Nineteen Years Later

‘Why are they all staring?’ demanded Albus, as he and Rose craned round to look at the other students. 

‘Don’t let it worry you,’ said Ron. ‘It’s me. I’m extremely famous.’  - Nineteen Years Later