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A dog would never say “yolo” or “you only lick once” because they can lick many, many times and are acutely aware of this.

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“you only lick once!” -what a dog would say :)

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for those of you who are confused abt the colours in the bisexual pride flag:

the pink represents attraction to same/similar genders the blue represents attraction to genders different from ones own and the purple represents donatello, the best ninja turtle

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some of y’all never journeyed deep into the fade in ancient ruins and battlefields to see the dreams of lost civilizations, watched as hosts of spirits clash to re-enact the bloody past in ancient wars both famous and forgotten and it shows

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https://www.instagram.com/p/BUqkIqyl3p8/

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Worldbuilding: The Government & Politics

Each land has somebody in charge. Be it Monarchy, Senate or theocracy. Let’s have a look at what you should consider when building your government.

Styles of Government

Absolute Monarchy: The state is run by one person and one person only.

Constitutional Monarchy: This style means that the monarch only has a figure-head position of the government while the government rules the kingdom.

Senate: Elected officials sit and debate over matters of state.

Theocracy: The Church rules the land

In Service to the People

All governments are there to provide the people with different services and are there to service their interests. At least they are supposed to do that.

Governments are meant to ensure that people are provided with leadership, healthcare, protection and trade. It is up to you to assign politicians to oversee each of these issues.

Taxation

All of these services had to be paid somehow. So taxes must be levied. If you have some issues in thinking of taxes, feel free to borrow from history and even now. Some governments will place taxes on merchants who import foreign goods. This is put in place to protect national trade. Some governments tax nobility in order to keep them from getting too powerful.

Positions in the Government

As I have outlined above, some parties and politicians are granted the right to rule over different services the government provides.

But how are these positions filled? Whenever election seasons comes along, we have officials hammering at our doors, holding up children and splashing their faces everywhere. A modern practice? Nope. Roman politicians used to hold games, feed the people and make rousing speeches in order to get elected. Remember one thing: the politicians may wield the power but the people have the real power.

This is only if the post is elective. Some governments are focused on hereditary or appointment. In mediaeval times, the government would be made up with the monarch and a council of lords. These lords were chosen for their nobility and power over their merits. In England during the Tudor era, Henry VIII made a ruckus by appointing two councils one who was son of a butcher and the other who was son of a blacksmith. The nobility hated them despite their success in administration.

For most nobles and wealthy, a place in office is seen as one way to power. In Ancient Rome and Greece, politics was one of two career choices for noble men. The other being war.

Might and Right

How powerful is your kingdom? Is it relatively powers or weak? You should always make a study of the hierarchy of power in your world from most powerful to least. In real world history, we always favour the larger and richer country as being the most power. Of course throw in the army and we got a superpower. Look at America for a second. Strip away the military, the corporations and trade, and what is it? It needs all of these to be powerful and without it, it is just a land where crazy shit occurs.

Monarchies

If you gave your land a monarchy, there are some things you must consider. Look at any of the monarchy posts I made here. You will need to look at succession laws, regencies, protecting your monarch, their reach of power.

Politics

Politics makes the world go around. Nah, it doesn’t but it’s supposed to at any rate. Politics is always one issue that is difficult to address in worldbuilding. It’s a great beast that none of us really understand or think is important. Unfortunately it is so let’s have a look at worldbuilding politics.

Major political factions

Turn on the news and find the politics tab. They will talk about different parties which all seem similar but are slightly different. Not all politics is like sheep in a pen. You’ll have groups who believe one thing that contrasts the other.

In Ireland, we have Sinn Fein, Fine Gael, Fine Fail, Labour, independents and some others my teachers failed to mention.

In America, you have a simpler version with your Democrats and Republicans.

In Ancient Rome, they had a Senate where two political parties who sit: the people and the nobility.

In Tudor England, we had am interesting one. Spain and France were allies waiting to be had so some nobles supported relations with one or the other, which led to nobles arguing over the best option while Henry VIII fucked everyone and ate himself from an Abercrombie model to a middling whale. Then you had the entire RELIGIOUS crisis shit but let’s not go there.

When making different factions, give them each a number of the same number of time thinking. Give them goals, notable members, reasons that they are there, followers and goodies and baddies. Note which factions get on with one another and which ones hate one another, this can be used for plot later on.

Money, Threats and Bribery

Let’s take another look at the real world. What other groups sometimes influence politics? These groups don’t necessarily have to be evil. Some of these groups might lobby politicians to change laws that effect them or to make laws to suit their needs.

In Italy, mostly in the period of before and during the Renaissance, the Pope had some pull in each city state and each ruler of the city states had pull with the Vatican. A Pope might be involved in a plot to take down a pair of powerful brothers (I cannot watch you die, not again Bradley James) and a family might take over the Vatican, like the Borgias and Medici.

During the Wars of the Roses, London merchants tipped the scales of power by disallowing the Queen of England to enter the city and claim residence meaning she had to go somewhere else. When the new claimant arrived, they crowned him king. Why did they do this? Margaret of Anjou had an army of Scottish and the ability to keep the war going. Edward of York could stop the war, letting the merchants get back to making money.

Of course, Ireland has Catholicism sitting on the shoulder of the government and influencing every major decision.

Relations Abroad

All politics are both prevalent at home and abroad. All kingdoms and countries have relationships with other lands. And always remember: knowledge is power so have your spies at the ready. Some relations are good and some are terrible. When choosing how your kingdom sees their neighbors, look at your map. Are there any borders that might be in dispute? Any resources like mines and rivers? Or is there any reason when they ought to be friends? A greater threat that threatens your nations?

Going back to Tudor times, Spain, France and England had a funny sort of relationship. They would all take turns being friends and then the vilest of enemies. France would make a friendship with Spain to take down England. Then Spain would be friends with England to ensure that they could take down France. Then France would ally with Spain to end England. This tomfoolery kept the balance of power in Europe for years.

To make or keep a good relationship or any relationship with another country you must communicate with them. Sending ambassadors of gold standing is seen as an excellent try for peace. If you send a shitty ambassador who is of bad standing, this may effect relations and could lead to bad blood between the nations. Most courts included permanent ambassadors who dwelt either in or near the palace who acted as a mouthpiece between rulers ad governments.

Treaties are also things you must think about. These are documents that bind nations in agreements. These can cover peace, war and trade. Some treaties can also cause trouble. The only reason why England and Russia got involved in WWI, was because Russia had a treaty with Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian empire invaded them putting Russia at war. When this happened, England got involved and declared war on the empire. Make sure to mention a few of them that are in place or in talks.

Always ensure that you make note of which countries have traditional rivalries or alliances. France and England were always at each other’s throats. Well, England was at everyone’s throat because they couldn’t stop invading other countries for five fucking minutes. (*clears throat*) So I suggest making lists of which countries have rivalries and which have always been friends and why. Of course speaking of alliances, which monarchs are related by blood or marriage? Think of Europe at any stage in time. All the monarchs were related to some degree, no more prevalent after Victoria pumped out all her kids and married them off. Look at how these relationships effect the running of the country.

For @el-queen

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Writing a Character With Psychosis

If your character has psychosis, first, give yourself a pat on the back for taking a big step! Not very many people do this, and not very many people do it well. Here’s a small text post to try to help. Hallucinations:

- Auditory hallucinations can come from inside the mind, too. You can hear people calling your name, and occasionally screaming or laughing. Someone who has knowledge of their condition will try their best to ignore them.

-Voices in the head can be anything from a ‘narrator’ narrating what they do, a friend, or a manipulative enemy. Sometimes you’ll hear choruses of things–your character can try to reason with their voices, but the less human the voices sound, the harder that can be.

-Voices can be very convincing, and your character can miss them if they disappear.

-Tactile hallucinations can be anything from feeling rain when there isn’t any to someone tapping on your shoulder to working at school with someone’s 'hands’ around your neck. They’re often the hardest to distinguish from reality.

-Seeing things can be realistic or unrealistic. You might have someone watching you the whole day, or seeing your cat when he’s actually dead, to bending down to pick a 'pencil’ up when it disappears. Seeing things float or flickering lights can be annoying to your character. Images distorting are not uncommon.

-Your character will be annoyed by these if they have identified their hallucinations as fake. Hallucinations detract from ones life and complicate ones day.

-Delusions can last for a long time or for a short time. Your character will be afraid, and a flight or fight response will be the majority of their actions. Feeling things chasing them is common, and certain objects might bring them comfort.

-Paranoia isn’t just with psychosis. If your character is aware of their psychosis, then they will distrust everything and possibly ask other people if things are real. Nothing is definite.

-Stigma against psychosis is very common, and stigma against medicine is too. Your character will probably be afraid of telling people.

-Medicine will take more than a month sometimes to completely kick in. Sometimes while it’s kicking in, stress will make it worse.

-This post is specifically for psychosis and hallucinations/delusions. I am not educated on schizophrenia, and am not making a generalization of that.

Long story short, please do other research. The world is plagued with books that exacerbate stigma and myths. Ask people who suffer from psychosis or used to. This is not meant to be your only resource, nor it is definite for all cases. Every case of psychosis is different, and you can’t say one thing happens for everyone. Thank you for reading! TL;DR Just a resource if you want to write a character with psychosis, do other research too.

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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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[original post]

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I sincerely cant remember the last time that staff rolled out a feature that improved this website in any way

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And when you close your eyes again, they open in a different head.

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The old Gods are not dead

They are not sleeping

They have always been here, watching

Letting humans practice their free will

Helping those that are wise enough to ask

And blessing those that remember Them

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YOU’VE BEEN HIT BY

YOU’VE BEEN STRUCK BY

A SMOOTH CRIMINAL