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I am forever grateful to an archivist mentor I worked with in grad school for some resume advice she gave me and thought maybe others would also benefit from it.

Keep a Master Resume.

This is not the resume you send out. This is a detailed resume of every job (with dates and location, supervisor and location phone number are a bonus) and as many skills/duties/accomplishments you can possibly think of for each and every one of the jobs and education programs you can think of.

She showed me hers, it was about 25 pages long, and formatted exactly like a regular resume for ease. Every time she would learn a new program/skill, she'd add it. Change in title or duties, add it. Complete something big/special/complicated/new to her/professionally significant, she would add it. This way when she went up for a promotion or raise, she had a detailed record of highlights to pick from to show she deserved it. There was no "when was that? Did I submit that last round of reviews?"

Applying to a new job? Pick and choose items from your Master Resume to plug in to the resume or CV you will be sending based on the job posting. You don't need to rewrite it, just cut and paste relevant details.

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Zoom In, Don’t Glaze Over: How to Describe Appearance Without Losing the Plot

You’ve met her before. The girl with “flowing ebony hair,” “emerald eyes,” and “lips like rose petals.” Or him, with “chiseled jawlines,” “stormy gray eyes,” and “shoulders like a Greek statue.”

We don’t know them.

We’ve just met their tropes.

Describing physical appearance is one of the trickiest — and most overdone — parts of character writing. It’s tempting to reach for shorthand: hair color, eye color, maybe a quick body scan. But if we want a reader to see someone — to feel the charge in the air when they enter a room — we need to stop writing mannequins and start writing people.

So let’s get granular. Here’s how to write physical appearance in a way that’s textured, meaningful, and deeply character-driven.

1. Hair: It’s About Story, Texture, and Care

Hair says a lot — not just about genetics, but about choices. Does your character tame it? Let it run wild? Is it dyed, greying, braided, buzzed, or piled on top of her head in a hurry?

Good hair description considers:

Texture (fine, coiled, wiry, limp, soft)

Context (windblown, sweat-damp, scorched by bleach)

Emotion (does she twist it when nervous? Is he ashamed of losing it?)

Flat: “Her long brown hair framed her face.”

Better: “Her ponytail was too tight, the kind that whispered of control issues and caffeine-fueled 4 a.m. library shifts.”

You don’t need to romanticise it. You need to make it feel real.

2. Eyes: Less Color, More Connection

We get it: her eyes are violet. Cool. But that doesn’t tell us much.

Instead of focusing solely on eye color, think about:

What the eyes do (do they dart, linger, harden?)

What others feel under them (seen, judged, safe?)

The surrounding features (dark circles, crow’s feet, smudged mascara)

Flat: “His piercing blue eyes locked on hers.”

Better: “His gaze was the kind that looked through you — like it had already weighed your worth and moved on.”

You’re not describing a passport photo. You’re describing what it feels like to be seen by them.

3. Facial Features: Use Contrast and Texture

Faces are not symmetrical ovals with random features. They’re full of tension, softness, age, emotion, and life.

Things to look for:

Asymmetry and character (a crooked nose, a scar)

Expression patterns (smiling without the eyes, habitual frowns)

Evidence of lifestyle (laugh lines, sun spots, stress acne)

Flat: “She had a delicate face.”

Better: “There was something unfinished about her face — as if her cheekbones hadn’t quite agreed on where to settle, and her mouth always seemed on the verge of disagreement.”

Let the face be a map of experience.

4. Bodies: Movement > Measurement

Forget dress sizes and six packs. Think about how bodies occupy space. How do they move? What are they hiding or showing? How do they wear their clothes — or how do the clothes wear them?

Ask:

What do others notice first? (a presence, a posture, a sound?)

How does their body express emotion? (do they go rigid, fold inwards, puff up?)

Flat: “He was tall and muscular.”

Better: “He had the kind of height that made ceilings nervous — but he moved like he was trying not to take up too much space.”

Describing someone’s body isn’t about cataloguing. It’s about showing how they exist in the world.

5. Let Emotion Tint the Lens

Who’s doing the describing? A lover? An enemy? A tired narrator? The emotional lens will shape what’s noticed and how it’s described.

In love: The chipped tooth becomes charming.

In rivalry: The smirk becomes smug.

In mourning: The face becomes blurred with memory.

Same person. Different lens. Different description.

6. Specificity is Your Superpower

Generic description = generic character. One well-chosen detail creates intimacy. Let us feel the scratch of their scarf, the clink of her earrings, the smudge of ink on their fingertips.

Examples:

“He had a habit of adjusting his collar when he lied — always clockwise, always twice.”

“Her nail polish was always chipped, but never accidentally.”

Make the reader feel like they’re the only one close enough to notice.

Describing appearance isn’t just about what your character looks like. It’s about what their appearance says — about how they move through the world, how others see them, and how they see themselves.

Zoom in on the details that matter. Skip the clichés. Let each description carry weight, story, and emotion. Because you’re not building paper dolls. You’re building people.

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ghost hunting team that keep a nonbeliever named steve around as an emergency supernatural suppressant

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Darcy’s introduction in Pride and Prejudice is really ‘what if you had just had the worst month of your life because your ex-bestie tried to lover boy scam your baby sister out of her share of your dad’s life insurance and your friend dragged you to a shitty party in a dive bar in the neighbourhood where he’d just signed a short term lease, and you decided to let your bad mood show because you were never going to see any of the assholes in this stupid shitty bar EVER again. And your friend ended up making out with a girl he’d just met there while you were stuck talking to her sister who was less cute and then her mother appeared and started trying to matchmake and started saying how if she was twenty years younger she’d clime you like a redwood and ooooh is that a black Amex, guess the next round is on you hahhahahahaha, while her other sister (how many fucking sisters does she have?!) flashed an obviously fake ID at the bar and ordered six vodka-diet red bulls and no one in her family except the less-cute sister even tried to stop her. And you went home and consoled yourself that you would never see any of these people again but then you met them over and over again because they live next door and your friend and the cute sister keep meeting up to make out but not actually date and then. You fall in love with the less-cute sister because it turns out she’s really witty and charismatic but she already knows and remembers and resents the fact that on a day when you were in a shitty mood you called her mid out loud in a dive bar.’

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JODIE. RTD. I. AM IN. YOUR WALLS.

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never thought a facebook comment would have a good theory but

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Physh's Deep-Dive Editing Checklist

Based on a post I made elsewhere: I’m the type of writer who jumps at the chance to trim things from my WIP based on beta feedback. I can either spend a whole paragraph or more adding in lore/worlduilding/context for a joke that doesn’t land, or just delete the joke and carry on. Sometimes I really do want to keep a detail, and sometimes it’s just not that important.

So here’s some things I’m thinking about when I’m editing my own WIPs. Not every single scene goes through a gauntlet, I can sort the iffy ones from the solid ones pretty easily. This gauntlet is already for scenes where I’m like “This isn’t working but I can’t figure out why yet”.

Does this scene do at least two things at once?

If I have a heavy sitting-and-talking scene that’s just information and static movement, if the setting and timing don’t matter, if I could drop this conversation elsewhere with no changes, to me it’s not doing enough. So I justify its existence to myself.

If this is critical info, what other information could I be giving with the subtext, or things unsaid? What can I convey in the body language of the speakers about how they feel about what they’re saying? How do I ground it in this location, why are they having this conversation here instead of somewhere else? Is this room a place of security, or where anyone could walk in and eavesdrop, and are they concerned about being overheard?

Does this scene embody at least one side of my themes?

Your theme is the thesis of your book, and the more characters and circumstances that support (or argue against) your core message, the more cohesive the piece will feel.

This isn’t necessary for every single scene, as that would probably feel repetitive and too tight of a script, unorganic.

But if I have a theme of ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’ and a subplot that takes up a fair amount of time that can’t speak to this theme either agreeing with it or criticizing it, I can either tweak the subplot so it fits better, or add it to ‘deleted scenes’ to maybe salvage later.

Am I advancing the plot, worldbuilding, relationships, or backstory?

I like very lean storytelling and not a ton of redundancy. Repetition is good, like a rule of threes, but rehashing the same concept with no new context, understanding, or relevancy is a bit of a waste.

Not every scene must advance the plot, but some forward momentum in one of these categories helps your book feel like it’s always working toward something and not stagnating. If you like a slower novel that marinates in itself, then that’s your taste. I’m very aware of when a story just plateaus, with themes and characters stuck in a proverbial waiting room for the next big event to move them all forward at once.

Do I have enough variety?

I am very prone to “sitting-and-talking” scenes where it’s not exposition, but it is two characters just dialoguing to each other. Dialogue comes very easy to me and I can let a scene run away from me and start peeling away from being grounded in the setting.

So if I have, say, 5 “sitting-and-talking” scenes (and they can be walking, or laying down, anything where they and their environment are divorced from each other) even if they’re all between different characters about different subjects, I’m looking for what I can have them be doing while they’re talking.

One or two of these in isolation isn’t bad! It’s when this becomes your only vector through which your characters have important conversations.

Maybe they’re also making dinner for the big upcoming feast, and I can detail all their movement with kitchen tools and ingredients, and have a bunch of background details about the recipe they’re making. Keeping it grounded in the setting.

Or they’re sparring, they’re making repairs to a necessary machine, they’re getting ready for an outing. Something that either speaks to who they are and their purpose in the story, or that will be important later.

Other things I’m looking for:

Is this foreshadowing subtle/obvious enough, where can I sneak in more details?

Are these big emotional beats balanced through the narrative or too rushed?

Have I lost any background characters that I meant to follow-up with?

Is the story too crowded, and if so, who can I cut so it’s not overwhelming?

Do the characters who need arcs have the page time necessary to see it fulfilled?

Where am I telling, not showing, and where can I change between the two for a better story?

Am I contradicting my lore, magic system, or worldbuilding in any un-justified way?

A non-exhaustive list that's hardly the end-all/be-all, just my proceses for the story that I want to tell.

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Writing References: Character Development

50 Questions ⚜ Backstory ⚜ Character-driven Story

Basics: How to Write a Character ⚜ A Story-Worthy Hero

Basics: Character-Building ⚜ Character Creation

Types of Characters: Key Characters ⚜ Literary Characters ⚜ Flat & Round Characters ⚜ Morally Grey ⚜ Narrators ⚜ Allegorical Characters ⚜ Archetypes ⚜ Stereotypical Characters

Worksheets: Backstory ⚜ Character ⚜ Kill your Characters ⚜ Antagonist; Villain; Fighting ⚜ Change; Adding Action; Conflict ⚜ Character Sketch & Bible ⚜ Protagonist & Antagonist ⚜ Name; Quirks; Flaws; Motivation ⚜ "Interviewing" your Characters ⚜ "Well-Rounded" Character

Personality Traits

5 Personality Traits (OCEAN) ⚜ 16 Personality Traits (16PF)

600+ Personality Traits ⚜ 170 Quirks

East vs. West Personalities ⚜ Trait Theories

Tips/Editing

Character Issues ⚜ Character Tropes for Inspiration

"Strong" Characters ⚜ Unlikable to Likable

Tips from Rick Riordan

Writing Notes

Binge ED ⚜ Hate ⚜ Love ⚜ Identifying Character Descriptions

Childhood Bilingualism ⚜ Children's Dialogue ⚜ On Children

Culture ⚜ Culture: Two Views ⚜ Culture Shock

Dangerousness ⚜ Flaws ⚜ Fantasy Creatures

Emotional Intelligence ⚜ Genius (Giftedness)

Emotions (1) (2) ⚜ Anger ⚜ Fear ⚜ Happiness ⚜ Sadness

Emotional Universals ⚜ External & Internal Journey

Goals & Motivations ⚜ Grammar Development ⚜ Habits

Facial Expressions ⚜ Jargon ⚜ Swearing & Taboo Expressions

Happy/Excited Body Language ⚜ Laughter & Humor

Health ⚜ Frameworks of Health ⚜ Memory

Mutism ⚜ Shyness ⚜ Parenting Styles ⚜ Generations

Psychological Reactions to Unfair Behavior

Rhetoric ⚜ The Rhetorical Triangle ⚜ Logical Fallacies

Thinking ⚜ Thinking Styles ⚜ Thought Distortions

Uncommon Words: Body ⚜ Emotions

Villains ⚜ Voice & Accent

More References: Plot ⚜ World-building ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

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Writing Notes & References

Alchemy ⚜ Antidote to Anxiety ⚜ Attachment ⚜ Autopsy

Art: Elements ⚜ Principles ⚜ Photographs ⚜ Watercolour

Bruises ⚜ Caffeine ⚜ Color Blindness ⚜ Cruise Ships

Children ⚜ Children's Dialogue ⚜ Childhood Bilingualism

Dangerousness ⚜ Drowning ⚜ Dystopia ⚜ Dystopian World

Culture ⚜ Culture Shock ⚜ Ethnocentrism & Cultural Relativism

Emotions: Anger ⚜ Fear ⚜ Happiness ⚜ Sadness

Emotional Intelligence ⚜ Genius (Giftedness) ⚜ Quirks

Facial Expressions ⚜ Laughter & Humour ⚜ Swearing & Taboo

Fantasy Creatures ⚜ Fantasy World Building

Generations ⚜ Literary & Character Tropes

Fight Scenes ⚜ Kill Adverbs

Food: Cooking Basics ⚜ Herbs & Spices ⚜ Sauces ⚜ Wine-tasting ⚜ Aphrodisiacs ⚜ List of Aphrodisiacs ⚜ Food History ⚜ Cocktails ⚜ Literary & Hollywood Cocktails ⚜ Liqueurs

Genre: Crime ⚜ Horror ⚜ Fantasy ⚜ Speculative Biology

Hate ⚜ Love ⚜ Kinds of Love ⚜ The Physiology of Love

How to Write: Food ⚜ Colours ⚜ Drunkenness

Jargon ⚜ Logical Fallacies ⚜ Memory ⚜ Memoir

Magic: Magic System ⚜ 10 Uncommon ⚜ How to Choose

Moon: Part 1 2 ⚜ Related Words

Mystical Items & Objects ⚜ Talisman ⚜ Relics ⚜ Poison

Pain ⚜ Pain & Violence ⚜ Poison Ivy & Poison Oak

Realistic Injuries ⚜ Rejection ⚜ Structural Issues ⚜ Villains

Symbolism: Colors ⚜ Food ⚜ Numbers ⚜ Storms

Thinking ⚜ Thinking Styles ⚜ Thought Distortions

Terms of Endearment ⚜ Ways of Saying "No" ⚜ Yoga

Compilations: Plot ⚜ Character ⚜ Worldbuilding ⚜ For Poets ⚜ Tips & Advice

all posts are queued. will update this every few weeks/months. send questions or requests here ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

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Writing Reference: Medicinal Herbs

10 plants for your character's medicinal herb garden

PLANT — When to Plant — Conditions & Care — Medicinal Uses

ALOE VERA — spring/autumn — sunny site indoors; pot up as needed; do not overwater — fresh plant gel for minor burns and wounds

CALENDULA — spring/autumn — well-drained soil; full sun; remove dead flower heads — cream for cuts, scrapes, inflamed skin; infusion for fungal infections

COMFREY — spring/autumn — warm sunny site; moist soil — ointment or poultice for sprains and bruises (use the leaf only)

FEVERFEW — autumn/spring — well-drained or dry, stony soil in sun — fresh leaf or tincture for headaches and migraines

LEMON BALM — spring/autumn — moist soil in sun; cut back after flowering — infusion for anxiety, poor sleep, and nervous indigestion; lotion for cold sores

PEPPERMINT — spring/autumn — sunny but moist site; do not allow to dry out — infusion for indigestion and headaches; lotion for itchy skin

ROSEMARY — spring/autumn — sunny sheltered site; protect with burlap in winter — infusion as a stimulating nerve tonic and to aid weak digestion

SAGE — autumn/spring — well-drained or dry, sunny, sheltered site — infusion for sore throats, mouth ulcers, and diarrhea

ST. JOHN'S WORT — spring/autumn — well-drained to dry soil with sun or partial shade — tincture for depression and menopause; infused oil is antiseptic and heals wounds

THYME — spring/summer — well-drained soil, may need a layer of gravel; sunny site — infusion for coughs, colds, and chest infections; lotion for fungal infections

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

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Writing Description Notes:

Updated 9th September 2024 More writing tips, review tips & writing description notes

Facial Expressions

Masking Emotions

Smiles/Smirks/Grins

Eye Contact/Eye Movements

Blushing

Voice/Tone

Body Language/Idle Movement

Thoughts/Thinking/Focusing/Distracted

Silence

Memories

Happy/Content/Comforted

Love/Romance

Sadness/Crying/Hurt

Confidence/Determination/Hopeful

Surprised/Shocked

Guilt/Regret

Disgusted/Jealous

Uncertain/Doubtful/Worried

Anger/Rage

Laughter

Confused

Speechless/Tongue Tied

Fear/Terrified

Mental Pain

Physical Pain

Tired/Drowsy/Exhausted

Eating

Drinking

Warm/Hot

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Romantic Gestures for Characters 

❥ The “I Know You” Gesture

Your character remembers something tiny. Maybe their partner always peels oranges but hates the stringy bits. So they do it for them, meticulously. No grand speech. Just peeled oranges on a napkin, handed over like, I got you. It’s not flowers. It’s better.

❥  The “You Matter More Than My Ego” Move

Apologies. Vulnerable, awkward, ugly ones. Not performative, not flowers-as-a-bandage. Just a raw, honest “I screwed up. And you didn’t deserve that.” That’s romance with guts.

❥ The “I Made This With My Clumsy, Lovesick Hands” Attempt

It’s not a five-star meal. It might be an overcooked mess. But they tried. They Googled recipes, burnt a pan, and still showed up with a crooked smile and a smoke-scented apology. Intimacy lives in the effort, not the execution.

❥  The “I’m Thinking of You Even When You’re Not Around” Habit

A voice memo left in the middle of the day. A text that says, “I saw this book and thought of you.” A saved pastry because “you love those stupid lemon ones.” It’s in the thought, the noticing. The I-carry-you-with-me-even-here of it.

❥  The “You’re Safe With Me” Moment

Middle of a panic attack. They don’t run, they don’t fix. They sit. Hold a hand. Count breaths. They become a lighthouse in the fog. That’s not just romance, it’s sanctuary.

❥ The “Make You Laugh When You Want to Cry” Trick

Silly voices. Bad dad jokes. A spontaneous dance in the kitchen just to make them smile. Love doesn’t always whisper—it cackles, snorts, belly-laughs until you can’t remember what the fight was about.

❥ The “I See the You Nobody Else Gets to See” Love

Noticing the nervous tic they try to hide. The quiet resilience. The softness behind the sarcasm. Your character sees it all and chooses to love them there. Not despite their mess, but because of it.

❥  The “I’ll Go to the Boring Thing Because You Care” Sacrifice

They hate art galleries. Or jazz. Or your character’s weird book club full of PhD students. But they show up. They try. They listen and maybe even ask a thoughtful question. Not because they suddenly love postmodern fiction, but because they love you.

❥ The “Let Me Take Care of You, Just This Once” Flip

Especially powerful when it comes from your fiercely independent character. When they finally let someone in. Accept help. Rest their head on a lap and let themselves be held. Or be the one doing the holding for someone who never asks.

❥  The “I Want to Remember This” Gesture

No, not just a scrapbook. Maybe it's saving movie stubs, or voice recording a partner’s laugh because it's perfect and might not last. Maybe it's writing a poem they'll never read. Romance often lives in what we keep sacred, quietly.

❥ Bonus — The Non-Obvious Public Gesture

Holding hands in public when your character usually doesn’t. Or kissing their partner’s temple in front of their disapproving parents. Or calling them “baby” when it makes their partner smile like a fool. Public affection isn’t about performance, it’s about pride. Claiming someone. Softly, fiercely.

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When a Character Feels Like They’re Losing Control

(Emotionally. Mentally. Internally. Completely.)

There’s a quiet kind of horror that comes with realizing you’re not okay and can’t fix it. When a character starts unraveling, it doesn’t always look like screaming or smashing things. Sometimes it’s the slow, subtle slipping of the reins...

╰ They overcompensate. Suddenly everything needs to be spotless, perfect, hyper-organized. Their planner is full, their schedule is packed, their smile is pinned on too tight. It’s not control, it’s panic dressed up in structure.

╰ They talk faster, louder or stop talking at all. They dominate conversations so they don’t have to think. Or they fall silent because words feel too risky. Either way, their voice is no longer safe territory.

╰ They get weird about small decisions. Choosing a sandwich becomes a full-body crisis. What should be easy isn’t, because nothing feels certain. It’s not about the sandwich. It’s about everything spinning too fast.

╰ They feel detached. Like they’re watching their life from a distance. They float above the room, disconnected from themselves, and laugh at things they don’t really find funny.

╰ They lash out in ways that don’t fit the moment. It’s never really about what triggered them. They explode over the dishes, or cry because someone asked if they’re okay. Their emotions are no longer matching the moment.

╰ They start avoiding mirrors. They don’t want to look at themselves, because they know. They know something’s off. They know their smile doesn’t reach their eyes. And they can’t face that truth yet.

╰ They apologize too much or not at all. They either spiral into guilt, overexplaining everything. Or they shut off and go stone-cold, too afraid that acknowledging the damage will make it real.

╰ They miss things. Conversations. Appointments. Easy tasks. Their brain is overwhelmed, trying to hold it together, and things slip through the cracks. And when they realize it, they panic more.

╰ They crave control but trust no one. They don’t delegate, don’t ask for help, because what if that help makes it worse? Trusting someone means letting go, and that’s the scariest thing of all right now.

╰ They feel like a passenger in their own life. There’s a version of them who used to be present. Who felt joy. Who wasn’t this… numb, terrified shell. And they don’t know where that person went, or how to bring them back.

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Facial Expressions & Emotional Micro-Reactions for Writers

(For those subtle moments when “he frowned” just isn’t enough.)

Tight-lipped — Mouth pressed closed, often from restraint, anxiety, or irritation. Jaw clenched — Tension from anger, fear, or self-control. Eyes narrowed — Suspicion, doubt, or intense focus. Brow furrowed — Confusion, concern, or frustration. Lip twitching — On the edge of a smile… or a snarl. Eye roll — Dismissiveness, annoyance, or teenage energy. Lip biting — Anxiety, hesitation, or suppressed emotion. Nose scrunch — Disgust, confusion, or mild sass. Blinking too fast — Shock, overwhelm, or trying not to cry. Staring blankly — Dissociation, distraction, or emotional overload. Smirking — Confidence, mischief, or sarcasm. Avoiding eye contact — Shame, discomfort, or guilt. Looking down quickly — Vulnerability, embarrassment, or attraction. Shoulders rising slightly — Insecurity, fear, or defensiveness. Forced smile — Pretending, hiding, or surviving the moment.

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Teen Titans: Starfire (2024)

written by Kami Garcia art by Gabriel Picolo, Rob Haynes, & David Calderon

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Re listening to all the sagas and got to the part in the Cyclops Saga where Polyphemus says in thanks for the lotus wine, Odysseus will be the last man to die

He's technically not wrong, he's just early. And what Polyphemus says does come to pass when Ody's whole crew is gone post-Thunder Bringer. It's a really unique piece of foreshadowing that takes a long time to pay off and can easily be overlooked in the moment, but it comes back when you listen again and realize it was always going to happen like that, with Odysseus left alone. It was just a matter of when.

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THE WAY I YELLED