awritingunicorn

[awritingunicorn]

So... I found this and now it keeps coming to mind. You hear about "life-changing writing advice" all the time and usually its really not—but honestly this is it man.

I'm going to try it.

[awritingunicorn]

To all my writers who have a tough time with smut terms and not knowing which ones to use, I have found the holy grail for us.

This reddit user took a poll of 3,500 people and went really in depth with asking their favorite terminology, along with actual pie charts on what the readers preferred to see in their smut.

Here's the direct link to the Google doc with all the info!

[awritingunicorn]

US climate with equivalent cities from around the world.

Keep reading

[awritingunicorn]

Resources For Writing Sketchy Topics

Medicine

A Study In Physical Injury

Comas

Medical Facts And Tips For Your Writing Needs

Broken Bones

Burns

Unconsciousness & Head Trauma

Blood Loss

Stab Wounds

Pain & Shock

All About Mechanical Injuries (Injuries Caused By Violence)

Writing Specific Characters

Portraying a kleptomaniac.

Playing a character with cancer.

How to portray a power driven character.

Playing the manipulative character.

Portraying a character with borderline personality disorder.

Playing a character with Orthorexia Nervosa.

Writing a character who lost someone important.

Playing the bullies.

Portraying the drug dealer.

Playing a rebellious character.

How to portray a sociopath.

How to write characters with PTSD.

Playing characters with memory loss.

Playing a pyromaniac.

How to write a mute character.

How to write a character with an OCD.

How to play a stoner.

Playing a character with an eating disorder.

Portraying a character who is anti-social.

Portraying a character who is depressed.

How to portray someone with dyslexia.

How to portray a character with bipolar disorder.

Portraying a character with severe depression.

How to play a serial killer.

Writing insane characters.

Playing a character under the influence of marijuana.

Tips on writing a drug addict.

How to write a character with HPD.

Writing a character with Nymphomania.

Writing a character with schizophrenia.

Writing a character with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Writing a character with depression.

Writing a character who suffers from night terrors.

Writing a character with paranoid personality disorder.

How to play a victim of rape.

How to play a mentally ill/insane character.

Writing a character who self-harms.

Writing a character who is high on amphetamines.

How to play the stalker.

How to portray a character high on cocaine.

Playing a character with ADHD.

How to play a sexual assault victim.

Writing a compulsive gambler.

Playing a character who is faking a disorder.

Playing a prisoner.

Portraying an emotionally detached character.

How to play a character with social anxiety.

Portraying a character who is high.

Portraying characters who have secrets.

Portraying a recovering alcoholic.

Portraying a sex addict.

How to play someone creepy.

Portraying sexually/emotionally abused characters.

Playing a character under the influence of drugs.

Playing a character who struggles with Bulimia.

Illegal Activity

Examining Mob Mentality

How Street Gangs Work

Domestic Abuse

Torture

Assault

Murder

Terrorism

Internet Fraud

Cyberwarfare

Computer Viruses

Corporate Crime

Political Corruption

Drug Trafficking

Human Trafficking

Sex Trafficking

Illegal Immigration

Contemporary Slavery 

Black Market Prices & Profits

AK-47 prices on the black market

Bribes

Computer Hackers and Online Fraud

Contract Killing

Exotic Animals

Fake Diplomas

Fake ID Cards, Passports and Other Identity Documents

Human Smuggling Fees

Human Traffickers Prices

Kidney and Organ Trafficking Prices

Prostitution Prices

Cocaine Prices

Ecstasy Pills Prices

Heroin Prices

Marijuana Prices

Meth Prices

Earnings From Illegal Jobs

Countries In Order Of Largest To Smallest Risk

Forensics

arson

Asphyxia

Blood Analysis

Book Review

Cause & Manner of Death

Chemistry/Physics

Computers/Cell Phones/Electronics

Cool & Odd-Mostly Odd

Corpse Identification

Corpse Location

Crime and Science Radio

crime lab

Crime Scene

Cults and Religions

DNA

Document Examination

Fingerprints/Patterned Evidence

Firearms Analysis

Forensic Anthropology

Forensic Art

Forensic Dentistry

Forensic History

Forensic Psychiatry

General Forensics

Guest Blogger

High Tech Forensics

Interesting Cases

Interesting Places

Interviews

Medical History

Medical Issues

Misc

Multiple Murderers

On This Day

Poisons & Drugs

Police Procedure

Q&A

serial killers

Space Program

Stupid Criminals

Theft

Time of Death

Toxicology

Trauma

[awritingunicorn]

Attention anyone who needs hairstyle references

I want to introduce all of you to this amazing place called the ukhairdressers style gallery.

It’s basically a massive database full of high-quality images of different hairstyles. I mean, look at all the options in that sidebar (and part of it’s cut off):

In total they have 976 pages of hairstyles with about 17 styles each, that’s about 16592 hairstyles to look at. 

Look at all the stuff they’ve got! Long hair:

Short hair:

Straight hair:

Curly hair:

Afro hair:

Men’s hair:

Hair on older models:

Extra-fancy hair:

Even crazy avant-garde hair:

So if you need help with designing a character or you just want to practice drawing hair, this is a fantastic resource.

[awritingunicorn]

Helpful things for action writers to remember

Sticking a landing will royally fuck up your joints and possibly shatter your ankles, depending on how high you’re jumping/falling from. There’s a very good reason free-runners dive and roll. 

Hand-to-hand fights usually only last a matter of seconds, sometimes a few minutes. It’s exhausting work and unless you have a lot of training and history with hand-to-hand combat, you’re going to tire out really fast. 

Arrows are very effective and you can’t just yank them out without doing a lot of damage. Most of the time the head of the arrow will break off inside the body if you try pulling it out, and arrows are built to pierce deep. An arrow wound demands medical attention. 

Throwing your opponent across the room is really not all that smart. You’re giving them the chance to get up and run away. Unless you’re trying to put distance between you so you can shoot them or something, don’t throw them. 

Everyone has something called a “flinch response” when they fight. This is pretty much the brain’s way of telling you “get the fuck out of here or we’re gonna die.” Experienced fighters have trained to suppress this. Think about how long your character has been fighting. A character in a fist fight for the first time is going to take a few hits before their survival instinct kicks in and they start hitting back. A character in a fist fight for the eighth time that week is going to respond a little differently. 

ADRENALINE WORKS AGAINST YOU WHEN YOU FIGHT. THIS IS IMPORTANT. A lot of times people think that adrenaline will kick in and give you some badass fighting skills, but it’s actually the opposite. Adrenaline is what tires you out in a battle and it also affects the fighter’s efficacy - meaning it makes them shaky and inaccurate, and overall they lose about 60% of their fighting skill because their brain is focusing on not dying. Adrenaline keeps you alive, it doesn’t give you the skill to pull off a perfect roundhouse kick to the opponent’s face. 

Swords WILL bend or break if you hit something hard enough. They also dull easily and take a lot of maintenance. In reality, someone who fights with a sword would have to have to repair or replace it constantly.

Fights get messy. There’s blood and sweat everywhere, and that will make it hard to hold your weapon or get a good grip on someone. 

A serious battle also smells horrible. There’s lots of sweat, but also the smell of urine and feces. After someone dies, their bowels and bladder empty. There might also be some questionable things on the ground which can be very psychologically traumatizing. Remember to think about all of the character’s senses when they’re in a fight. Everything WILL affect them in some way. 

If your sword is sharpened down to a fine edge, the rest of the blade can’t go through the cut you make. You’ll just end up putting a tiny, shallow scratch in the surface of whatever you strike, and you could probably break your sword. 

ARCHERS ARE STRONG TOO. Have you ever drawn a bow? It takes a lot of strength, especially when you’re shooting a bow with a higher draw weight. Draw weight basically means “the amount of force you have to use to pull this sucker back enough to fire it.” To give you an idea of how that works, here’s a helpful link to tell you about finding bow sizes and draw weights for your characters.  (CLICK ME)

If an archer has to use a bow they’re not used to, it will probably throw them off a little until they’ve done a few practice shots with it and figured out its draw weight and stability. 

People bleed. If they get punched in the face, they’ll probably get a bloody nose. If they get stabbed or cut somehow, they’ll bleed accordingly. And if they’ve been fighting for a while, they’ve got a LOT of blood rushing around to provide them with oxygen. They’re going to bleed a lot. 

Here’s a link to a chart to show you how much blood a person can lose without dying. (CLICK ME) 

If you want a more in-depth medical chart, try this one. (CLICK ME)

Hopefully this helps someone out there. If you reblog, feel free to add more tips for writers or correct anything I’ve gotten wrong here. 

[awritingunicorn]

Hi! Two of my characters will have a fight. One of them will end up with a broken nose, while the other will have a couple of broken ribs. Can the character with the broken ribs be expected to be back at work (it's a desk job, little to none physical action needed) within two weeks? As for the one with the broken nose, how long would it take to heal? Should it bleed profusely, like Hollywood says? Could he engage in heavy work-outs shortly after the fight?

Hey there! Yes, two weeks is more than long enough to return to light duty work after a rib fracture. Check the Rib Fracture tag for more deets!

Broken noses can bleed a bit, they’re very vascular. He may need to have it set; if so, it should be within the first 48 hours or so. Heavy work-outs within a few hours of the fight are a bad idea, because he might start bleeding again (bp rises during a workout, which might put pressure on the clot and blow it out.) But within 1-2 days, yeah, I’d say that’s possible. A surprising number of things involve moving the nose, which will hurt. Also, he’ll be on pain meds, which can delay muscle growth, so he might have meathead friends not to even bother while he’s on pain meds.

Hope this was helpful! Disclaimittyclaims etc.

xoxo, Aunt Scripty

[awritingunicorn]

Hey, Scripty! I'm the one writing that fight with broken bones for everyone, and I need a follow-up. This is a dystopian setting, where I'm assuming all medicine is pretty much the same as nowadays, except that, for universe-related reasons, opiates are straight-up forbidden. How would you treat the patient with broken ribs, then? Would they be under anesthetics for a few days? (And how many?) Some NSAIDs "stronger" than ibuprofen, perhaps? (I'm thinking celecoxib/diclofenac, what do you think?)

Hey there! Welcome back. For  anyone who doesn’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of my archives (including me!), this ask is referring back to: http://scriptmedic.tumblr.com/post/153842614105/hi-two-of-my-characters-will-have-a-fight-one-of

Now then (or other-than-now-then, since AU). Broken ribs will do just fine with NSAIDs. (Most thincgs will; I have even heard of one ER deciding to abandon opiates entirely for a short term as part of a study.) Ibuprofen and acetaminophen are both very popular, and are sometimes prescribed to be alternated every couple hours for serious pain, because they’re metabolized differently (one renal, one hepatic).

Another alternative is Toradol / ketorolac, which might be prescribed for the first few days (no more than 5), and backed up with acetaprofen after that. Most rib fractures can be managed just fine with this kind of combo.

Hope this was helpful!

xoxo, Aunt Scripty

disclaimer    

[awritingunicorn]

Things almost every author needs to research

How bodies decompose

Wilderness survival skills

Mob mentality

Other cultures

What it takes for a human to die in a given situation

Common tropes in your genre

Average weather for your setting

[awritingunicorn]

[awritingunicorn]

child handling for the childless nurse

My current job has me working with children, which is kind of a weird shock after years in environments where a “young” patient is 40 years old.  Here’s my impressions so far:

Birth - 1 year: Essentially a small cute animal.  Handle accordingly; gently and affectionately, but relying heavily on the caregivers and with no real expectation of cooperation.

Age 1 - 2: Hates you.  Hates you so much.  You can smile, you can coo, you can attempt to soothe; they hate you anyway, because you’re a stranger and you’re scary and you’re touching them.  There’s no winning this so just get it over with as quickly and non-traumatically as possible.

Age 3 - 5: Nervous around medical things, but possible to soothe.  Easily upset, but also easily distracted from the thing that upset them.  Smartphone cartoons and “who wants a sticker?!!?!?” are key management techniques.

Age 6 - 10: Really cool, actually.  I did not realize kids were this cool.  Around this age they tend to be fairly outgoing, and super curious and eager to learn.  Absolutely do not babytalk; instead, flatter them with how grown-up they are, teach them some Fun Gross Medical Facts, and introduce potentially frightening experiences with “hey, you want to see something really cool?”

Age 11 - 14: Extremely variable.  Can be very childish or very mature, or rapidly switch from one mode to the other.  At this point you can almost treat them as an adult, just… a really sensitive and unpredictable adult.  Do not, under any circumstances, offer stickers.  (But they might grab one out of the bin anyway.)

Age 15 - 18: Basically an adult with severely limited life experience.  Treat as an adult who needs a little extra education with their care.  Keep parents out of the room as much as possible, unless the kid wants them there.  At this point you can go ahead and offer stickers again, because they’ll probably think it’s funny.  And they’ll want one.  Deep down, everyone wants a sticker.

[awritingunicorn]

How to make a character's death sadder

 Don’t have them die of old age after a long, fulfilling life. Many people don’t even think of this as sad (note that this can still work if you have enough of the other factors).

 Leave one of their major goals unfinished. The more enthusiastic they are about completing the goal, the sadder.

 Give them strong relationships with other characters.

 Make them fight against whatever is causing their death. Their ultimate loss is sadder if they struggle.

 Kill them in the middle of their character arc.

 Don’t describe their funeral in detail. Maybe it’s just me, but I find that long descriptions of funerals kill the sadness.

[awritingunicorn]

Legit Tip #147

Love is love is love, right? Well, not quite. Love changes over time, and different things are happening during these different stages of love. So today, in honor of Valentine’s Day, here’s a look at what’s going on in the different stages of love so you can craft even more realistic relationships! 

First Meeting - The first meeting isn’t necessarily the “first” time the two characters interact with one another, but it’s the first time they really take notice of each other. Whether there’s an instant attraction, an instant hatred, or a mutual feeling of interest between them, this first major moment will serve to define much of the way the first portion of the relationship unfolds. 

Getting to Know You - This isn’t about getting to know the intimate details of the other person’s psyche. This is about learning the basics - where the other person came from, what they’ve been through, what interests them, and what they want out of their life. Depending on how perceptive a partner is, they may be able to start making guesses about the inner workings of their partner’s mind by the time this phase starts to wrap up. 

Learning to Be a Couple - Once they know each other fairly well and (either consciously or subconsciously) begin to build a relationship, they enter a phase where they begin to learn to be a couple. This stage of the relationship requires them to start making concessions (such as opening up with their feelings) or requires them to find ways to fit their new partner into their life. 

For those who are entering their first relationship, this part of the process typically involves coming to learn/understand what it actually means to be a couple. For characters with a lot of other duties or responsibilities, this may mean learning to make time for their partner or learning how to give their partner strength.

The Relationship Has Landed - Your couple is finally a couple (whether they acknowledge it or not). Now what? Well, at this point they begin facing challenges together, as partners. Before thinking through a problem on their own, they may go directly to their partner to talk something over. Or they won’t make any major decisions about their own life without consulting their partner first. At this point, your characters may reach a new level of intimacy in which they don’t need to show their affection through lovey-dovey displays but through more intimate, tender displays. 

Continual Challenges - Whether they’re real-life challenges (such as a new baby or an affair) or fantastical challenges (like the rise of the warlock king), your couple is going to face continual challenges in their relationship. Bear in mind that people change over time, and as your characters develop, their relationship will have to change in order to accommodate the ways in which they have developed. If you start a story with a couple already in a relationship or jump forward in time, remember to show your characters facing continual challenges as they grow, and the relationship grows with them. 

So Over Love - Unfortunately, even the best relationships can end. A lot of writers have a surprisingly difficult time writing about exes, either cloaking everything in a veil of resentment or making them still secretly in love with each other. Nothing wrong with that, of course. However, do keep in mind that plenty of exes can - and do - end relationships amicably and manage to remain if not close friends, at the very least people who still care about one another. Do remember that even once a relationship ends, the feelings that the characters had for each other do not usually go anywhere. They may turn to anger, but they typically don’t dissipate into the ether. Writing about exes can be interesting, but be sure to examine the relationship realistically and don’t fall into the same traps so many writers do. 

(Note - If you do write exes who get back together, don’t neglect to have them take the time to relearn to be a couple. They’ve changed since they were apart - otherwise they wouldn’t be getting back together, right? So that means they need to take time to figure each other out again). 

((These stages are just a basic look at how love and relationships develop, and is by no means indicative of every relationship. It’s a starting point for looking at how relationships start, develop, grow and change, so think of it that way.)

[awritingunicorn]

The most basic rule of editing is that if you can’t bear to read it, no one else can either. So when you find yourself skimming, commit murder.

Marion Roach Smith (via writingdotcoffee)

[awritingunicorn]

fictional kiss things that end me

being unable to open their eyes for a few moments afterward

one small kiss, pulling away for an instant, then devouring each other

pressing their foreheads together while kissing

speaking normally, then after the kiss their voice is hoarse

guys furrowing their brow when kissing passionately

staring at the other’s lips, trying not to kiss them, before giving in

running their thumb over the other’s lips

when they lean forward a fraction as if to kiss the other person, then realize they shouldn’t and pull back to stop themselves

ripping the other away - “no we shouldn’t” - but when they kiss them again they moan and hold them close

one sliding their hand into the other’s hair slowly

their entire body freezing for a second when their love kisses them

accidentally being forced inches apart from each other, staring at each other’s lips, and just before they kiss someone pulls them back apart

when one stops the kiss to whisper “I’m sorry, are you sure you-” and they answer by kissing them more

a hoarse whisper “kiss me”

then licks their lips and says “please”

[awritingunicorn]

A Box Full of Resources

Tabs I’ll keep open even in the event of a zombie apocalypse:

Merriam-Webster dictionary -  Because all writers need dictionaries. It also has “fun” word tests and some pretty interesting articles. Also, their Twitter intern is nowhere near messing around.

Thesaurus.com - MW also has a thesaurus, but I really like the ranking system from this one - it ranks the synonyms listed by how close in meaning they are with the original word. This is a great starting point if you’ve already used “excited” three times in a single paragraph.

Google Translate - Are you writing in your second language and you’ve completely forgot how to say something? Are you writing a story in Italy and you need to know how to spell “grazie”?  Have you ever wondered what “voilà” actually means? Google Translate isn’t perfect, but for single words it’s good enough. If you’re a Portuguese speaker, recommend the Michaelis dictionary instead. 

Google Trends - If you’re wondering if your characters would reference Kim Kardashian or talk about “sexting” in 2008, Google has your back. Because of course it does.

Names

20.000 Names - I’ve been using this site since it was just 10.000 names. It’s a master list of names, with origins and meanings and categories that range from nationality/language to things like Evil Names. Bonus points for the Androgynous/Unisex category, if that’s your kind of thing.

Behind the Name Generator - If you don’t want to navigate thousands of names to pick one on your own, just use this generator instead. It allows you to choose the nationality and gender, and it can even give you the full name if you want.

Last Name Generator - Say you’ve already picked a first name, but last names are the death of you. Banning last names might work in your dystopian universe, but it’s not so great in contemporary stories. Don’t worry. Use this last name generator instead.

Fake name generator - For when you need an insane level of details. It’ll give you full names, birthdays, addresses, credit card numbers, everything. I’m not sure how it generates this kind of information, so I recommend discretion when using sensitive data.

Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll Health

FDA’s Birth Control List - Because the pill isn’t the only type of birth control available, and your female characters shouldn’t be stuck with it.

The FDA website as a whole has a ton of health-related resources, but I’m not sure how much of it is understandable to the general audience. 

Erowid - This is a drug database that focuses on stuff that messes with your brain - from caffeine to crystal meth. It links to hundreds of resources, from the chemistry behind it (which is fascinating, in my opinion) to first-hand accounts.

WebMD - The first thing that comes to mind when you hear that name is probably the symptom checker, which is always telling you that you have cancer or an autoimmune disease. But as far as I’ve seen, the information on illnesses is actually decent (and understandable!), and it has a drug guide that looks friendlier than the FDA’s.

Cancer.gov - Killing your characters sucks, but getting them sick without actually killing them is even worse. If you’ve decided they’ll have cancer, this is the place for you. 

The NIH and its institutes have resources on lots of diseases, and they’re great if you want more technical information (or if you absolutely don’t trust WebMD).

Miscellaneous

Time Zone Converter - Character A is in Antwerp, Character B is in Bogota, and nobody has time to do the math every time the different time zones come into play. The new layout is beautiful and modern, but I’m more used to the legacy version, which can give you results for specific dates.

Action Movie Title Generator - Incredibly useful if you’re looking for a title for a movie you could see Bruce Willis working on. 

Havocscope - Have you ever wanted to know how much a kidney actually sells for? Do you know how much your genius billionaire playboy philanthropist character spends on cocaine each month? Is your young journalist writing a piece on human trafficking, and you need to know how much money is involved in it? Skip the Deep Web and be safe from the Big Broter. Havocscope has all the answers you need.

I’ll update this post with new links if I find any. Suggestions are always appreciated!

[awritingunicorn]

Hello Mr gaiman. How old were you when you started writing stories ? I'm 14 and I try and try but they are all awful. I always give up in the middle and I can never finish what I wanted to write.

I know. I found a pile of papers of mine from my teen years and into my early twenties recently, and there were so many stories begun, so many first pages of novels never written. I’d start them, and then I’d give up because they weren’t as brilliant as Ursula K Le Guin, or Roger Zelazny, or Samuel R Delany, and anyway I wasn’t actually sure what happened next.

I was around 22 when I started finishing things. They weren’t actually very good, and they all sounded like other people, but the finishing was the important bit. I kept going. A dozen stories and a book, and then I sold one (it wasn’t very good, and I had to cut it from 8,000 words to 4,000 to sell it, but I sold it). I probably wrote another half-dozen stories over the next year, and sold three. But now they were starting to sound like me. 

Think of it this way: if you wanted to become a juggler, or a painter, you wouldn’t start jugggling, drop something and give up because you couldn’t juggle broken bottles like Penn Jillette, or start a few paintings then give up because the thing in your head was better than what your hands were getting onto the paper. You carry on. You learn. You drop things. You learn about form and shape and shade and colour and how to draw hands without the fingers looking like noodles. You finish things, learn from what you got right and what you got wrong, and then you do the next thing.

And one day you realise you got good. It takes as long as it takes. So keep writing. And all you need to do right now is try to finish things.