fangfeatherandfin-moonystash - Tumblr blog

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 6 months ago

Text

Writing Notes: Culture Shock

As part of the acculturation process individuals may experience culture shock.

It occurs when individuals move to a cultural environment which is different from their own.

It can also describe the disorientation we feel when:

exposed to an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration to a new country,

a visit to a new country,

move between social environments (e.g., moving away for college),

or transitioning to another type of life (e.g, dating after divorce).

Common issues associated with culture shock:

loss of status (e.g., provider to unemployed),

unfamiliar social systems and social norms (e.g., agencies rather than extended kin networks),

distance from family and friends,

information overload,

language barriers,

generation gap, and

possible technology gap.

There is no way to prevent culture shock because everyone experiences and reacts to the contrasts between cultures differently.

Culture shock consists of at least one of 4 distinct phases:

HONEYMOON

During this period, the differences between the old and new culture are seen in a romantic light.

For example, after moving to a new country, an individual might love the new food, the pace of life, and the locals’ habits.

During the first few weeks, most people are fascinated by the new culture.

They associate with individuals who speak their language and who are polite to the foreigners.

Like most honeymoon periods, this stage eventually ends.

NEGOTIATION

After some time (usually around three months depending on the individual), differences between the old and new culture become more apparent and may create anxiety or distress.

Excitement may eventually give way to irritation, frustration and anger as one continues to experience unpleasant events that are strange and offensive to one’s own cultural attitude.

The following may heighten the feelings of disconnection from the surroundings:

Language barriers,

stark differences in public hygiene,

traffic safety,

food accessibility and

quality.

Living in a different environment can have a negative, although usually short term, effect on our health.

While negotiating culture shock we may have insomnia because of circadian rhythm disruption, problems with digestion because of gut flora due to different bacteria levels and concentrations in food and water, and difficulty in accessing healthcare or treatment (e.g., medicines with different names or active ingredients).

During the negotiation phase, people adjusting to a new culture often feel lonely and homesick because they are not yet used to the new environment and encounter unfamiliar people, customs and norms every day.

The language barrier may become a major obstacle in creating new relationships.

Some individuals find that they must pay special attention to culturally specific body language (e.g., arms crossed, smiling), conversation tone, and linguistic nuances and customs (e.g, handshake, turn taking, ending a conversation).

Example: International students often feel anxious and feel more pressure while adjusting to new cultures because there is special emphasis on their reading and writing skills.

ADJUSTMENT

As more time passes (usually 6 to 12 months) individuals generally grow accustomed to the new culture and develop routines.

The host country no longer feels new and life becomes “normal”.

Problem-solving skills for dealing with the culture have developed and most individuals accept the new culture with a positive attitude.

The culture begins to make sense, and negative reactions and responses to the culture have decreased.

ADAPTATION

In the adaptation stage individuals are able to participate fully and comfortably in the host culture but this does not mean total conversion or assimilation.

People often keep many traits from their native culture, such as accents, language and values.

This stage is often referred to as the bicultural stage.

Source ⚜ Writing Notes & References Culture ⚜ Ethnocentrism & Cultural Relativism ⚜ Animal Culture

150 notes · View notes

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 7 months ago

Text

Archaic Words: Sadness

for your next poem/story

Attrition - grief for sin, arising only from the fear of punishment

Baret - strife; grief; sorrow

Belsh - rubbish; sad stuff

Cardiacle - a disease affecting the heart; also: great grief or anxiety

Chantepleure - a sort of proverbial expression for singing and weeping successively

Complore - to weep together

Cumber - to be benumbed; confounded with grief

Dernful - dismal; sad

Drownne - to make sad

Ernfull - sad; lamentable

Glawm - to look sad

Greves - griefs

Heart-scad - grief; vexation

Peine - grief; torment; also: to put to pain

Saffle - dull; sad; melancholy

Soddy - heavy; sad

Swinful - sorrowful; sad

Tene - grief; sorrow; anger; hurt; injury; trouble; to grieve

Tristive - sad

Weeping-ripe - ready for weeping

Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References ⚜ Word Lists

212 notes · View notes

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 7 months ago

Text

Archaic Words: Love

for your next poem/story

Adamate - to love dearly

Affect - to love

After-love - love after the first love

Amorette - a love affair

Amowre - love

Apples-of-love - the fruit of some foreign herb, said to be a stimulus for the tender passion; Skinner says they are fructus solani cujusdam peregrini (i.e., the fruit of some foreign species of nightshade)

Cherte - love

Cush-love - a term of endearment used to a cow

Dileccion - love

Dreury - love; friendship

Drewe - love; friendship

Ereos - love

Favours - love-locks

Love-ache - the herb lovage

Love-bind - the herb traveller's joy

Love-day - a day appointed for the settlement of difference by arbitration; later writers seem to use the term for any quiet peaceable day

Love-drewry - courtship

Love-likinge - graciousness; peace

Love-locks - pendant locks of hair, falling near or over the ears, and cut in a variety of fashions

Love-longing - a desire of love

Love-pot - a drunkard

Lovien - the Old English verb, to love

Lovier - a lover

Luef - love

Par-amour - love; gallantry

Paramour - a lover of either sex

Philandering - making love

Pigeon-pair - Twins, when a boy and girl; it is believed by some that pigeons and doves always sit on two eggs, which produce a male and female chick, which live and love together their lives through.

Poop-noddy - the game of love

Tick - a slight touch; loving; fond

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Word Lists ⚜ Physiology of Love Love ⚜ Kinds of Love ⚜ Terms of Endearment ⚜ Archaic & Obsolete

659 notes · View notes

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 8 months ago

Text

50 Terms of Endearment

This selection of words used as terms of endearment over the past thousand years shows several items that have stood the test of time, notably darling and dear, and some recurring motifs, such as those from the semantic fields of taste and the animal kingdom. But several belong to their own time: bawcock and bully, for example, are encountered in Shakespeare.

darling (c. 888) ⚜ dear (c. 1230) ⚜ sweetheart (c. 1290)

heart (c. 1305) ⚜ honey (c. 1375) ⚜ dove (c. 1386)

cinnamon; love (c. 1405) ⚜ mulling (c. 1475) ⚜ daisy (c. 1485)

mouse (c. 1520) ⚜ whiting (c. 1529) ⚜ fool (c. 1530) ⚜ beautiful (1535)

soul (c. 1538) ⚜ bully (1548) ⚜ lamb (c. 1556) ⚜ pussy (c. 1557)

ding-ding (1564) ⚜ lover (1573) ⚜ pug (1580) ⚜ mopsy (1582)

bun (1587) ⚜ wanton (1589) ⚜ ladybird (1597) ⚜ chuck (1598)

sweetkin (1599) ⚜ duck; joy (1600) ⚜ sparrow (c. 1600)

bawcock (c. 1601) ⚜ nutting (1606) ⚜ tickling (1607)

bagpudding (1608) ⚜ dainty (1611) ⚜ flitter-mouse (1612)

pretty (1616) ⚜ old thing (c. 1625) ⚜ duckling (1630) ⚜ sweetling (1648)

pet (1767) ⚜ sweetie (1778) ⚜ cabbage (1840) ⚜ prawn (1895)

so-and-so (1897) ⚜ pumpkin (1900) ⚜ pussums (1912)

treasure (1920) ⚜ sugar (1930) ⚜ lamb-chop (1962)

Source ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Notes: On Love ⚜ Love Advice ⚜ "I love you" Word Lists: Love Pt. 1 Pt. 2 ⚜ Physiology of Love ⚜ Synonyms ⚜ Kinds of Love

6K notes · View notes

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 8 months ago

Text

One of my long time patrons requested a space painting tutorial with a focus on how to make the stars shine and the colors vibrant. So I recorded a speed paint I made under 10 minutes of how to paint the Milky Way. I hope it helps!

You can find free downloads of the brushes I used right here YuumeiArt.com/space-tutorial It contains a brush set for Photoshop and another set for Clip Studio (converted by Arcane Halo)

Music is Tree Soul by Kentdow

3K notes · View notes

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 8 months ago

Text

Happy Whumptober Wednesday, everyone!

We're shipping (another!) shiny new feature this week…

Export your work to AO3! 🎉

You can now export your work directly to AO3 from Ellipsus! We know how much love, care, and time you put into formatting your fics—now you can focus more energy on the perfect tags vs. line breaks. 🫠

Here’s how it works:

Click (or tap!) Export to AO3 to copy your current doc or draft as HTML.

A new tab with AO3 will open automatically (make sure you're logged in!).

Just paste your work and get it ready for posting!

We hope this makes your publishing process smoother, so you can spend more time basking in the glow of some well-earned kudos! 🌟 - The Ellipsus Team xo

5K notes · View notes

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 8 months ago

Text

50 Terms of Endearment

darling (c. 888) ⚜ dear (c. 1230) ⚜ sweetheart (c. 1290)

heart (c. 1305) ⚜ honey (c. 1375) ⚜ dove (c. 1386)

cinnamon; love (c. 1405) ⚜ mulling (c. 1475) ⚜ daisy (c. 1485)

mouse (c. 1520) ⚜ whiting (c. 1529) ⚜ fool (c. 1530) ⚜ beautiful (1535)

soul (c. 1538) ⚜ bully (1548) ⚜ lamb (c. 1556) ⚜ pussy (c. 1557)

ding-ding (1564) ⚜ lover (1573) ⚜ pug (1580) ⚜ mopsy (1582)

bun (1587) ⚜ wanton (1589) ⚜ ladybird (1597) ⚜ chuck (1598)

sweetkin (1599) ⚜ duck; joy (1600) ⚜ sparrow (c. 1600)

bawcock (c. 1601) ⚜ nutting (1606) ⚜ tickling (1607)

bagpudding (1608) ⚜ dainty (1611) ⚜ flitter-mouse (1612) ⚜

pretty (1616) ⚜ old thing (c. 1625) ⚜ duckling (1630) ⚜ sweetling (1648)

pet (1767) ⚜ sweetie (1778) ⚜ cabbage (1840) ⚜ prawn (1895)

so-and-so (1897) ⚜ pumpkin (1900) ⚜ pussums (1912)

treasure (1920) ⚜ sugar (1930) ⚜ lamb-chop (1962)

Source ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Notes: On Love ⚜ Love Advice ⚜ "I love you" Word Lists: Love Pt. 1 Pt. 2 ⚜ Physiology of Love ⚜ Synonyms ⚜ Kinds of Love

6K notes · View notes

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 8 months ago

Text

List of Interesting Latin Phrases

A list I made just to satisfy my vain cravings for resonating mottos for a secret society I'm working on. Enjoy!

abi in malam crucem: to the devil with you!

ad astra per ardua: to the star by steep paths

ad augusta per angusta: to honors through difficulties

aegis fortissima virtus: virue is the strongest shield

amor vincit amnia: love conquers all things

animo et fide: by courage and faith

arbitrium est judicium: an award is a judgement

aut mors aut victoria: either death or victory

aut vincere aut mori: either victory or death

bello ac pace paratus: prepared in war and peace

bibamus, moriendum est: let us drink, death is certain (Seneca and Elder)

bonis omnia bona: all things are good to the good

cede nullis: yield to no one

cito maturum, cito putridum: soon ripe, soon rotten

consensus facit legem: consent makes law

data fata secutus: following what is decreed by fate (Virgil)

durum telum necessitas: necessity is a hrad weapson

dux vitae ratio: reason is the guide of life

e fungis nati homines: men born of mushrooms

ego sum, ergo omnia sunt: I am, therefore all things are

pulvis et umbra sumus: we are but dust and shadow

quae amissa salva: things lost are safe

timor mortis morte pejor: the fear of death is worse than death

triumpho morte tam vita: I triumph in death as in life

tu vincula frange: break your chains

vel prece vel pretio: for either love or for money

verbera, sed audi: whip me, but hear me

veritas temporis filia: truth is the daughter of time

vero nihil verius: nothing is truer than the truth

vestigia nulla restrorsum: foosteps do not go backward

victus vincimus: conquered, we conquer (Plautus)

sica inimicis: a gger to his enemies

sic vita humana: thus is human life

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* . ───

💎If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! Also, join my Tumblr writing community for some more fun.

💎Before you ask, check out my masterpost part 1 and part 2

Reference: <Latin for the Illiterati: a modern guide to an ancient language> by Jon R. Stone, second edition, 2009

9K notes · View notes

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 8 months ago

Text

MO'S FANFIC BEAUTYFYING MASTERCLASS!👩‍🏫

So it seems like you guys like how I do my banners and layouts on @xxsycamore ! I wanted to share a few tips about making similar ones, along with some of my observations on their importance! Be warned, some of the screenshots I'll use to illustrate my point will be of my smut fics! This post is intended for the ikemen series community. While the tips could be found useful for other fandoms as well, it's important to note that it's only this fandom that I've taken into account and because of that my observations could be unreliable if you chose to follow my advice outside of the fandom!

The importance

First of all, a good layout is a subjective term. Second, a "good" layout is not guaranteed to boost your fic's popularity. Not all of us are able to put the time and effort into fancy banners and dividers, but the good news is, you don't really need them! You should always strive to do only as much as you can without straining yourself. Here you can see a minimal effort fic layout vs one that took 30~ minutes to put together, both posted around the same time, both having a similar reception when it comes to notes! Keep in mind that a layout is just one of the many factors to take into account for your fic's popularity status, and you shouldn't obsess with it either way.

2. The minimum: Banner + Title

Not everyone checks out every single post on their dash while they scroll! I follow around 1100 people and while not all of them are active, it's easy to miss a post that could as well have been the best thing I'd see that day. Your brain recognizes what a typical fanfiction post looks like - a rectangular picture with a title above/underneath, followed by text. As long as you scroll past a post with a similar construction and you're interested, you might want to scroll back and check it out.

3. Banners

The information that you get from a banner is typically about the character(s) featured in the fic. Using the example above, you'll see that a simple cropped picture of the character gets the job done! (an in-game sprite at that, not a fancy card photo)

If you decide to use a card, you can browse google for a good one of your character(s). I try to select a card that depicts something similar to what's happening in my fic, either the action or the "vibes" (daytime or nighttime, outside or indoors, canon or modern, etc.), but sometimes it's better to choose the one that will look good instead of the one that's more fitting.

Finding cards of good quality is also challenging, and I'd advise you to avoid blurry/low-quality banners even if those would be best fitting.

Stick to the rectangular horizontal format if possible. I like square banners sometimes, but it's better when you can see the whole layout at once!

4. Editing the banners & photo coloring

If you decide you want to go out all, you'll need a photo editing app or a program. I use one called Snow which is mainly for selfies but gets the job done. It has many filters to choose from, but inputting text there could be a hassle sometimes. Another one I use is Pixlr. Yeah, I couldn't let it go ever since the days it was just a website...it's been about 10 years but I still rely on it (now as an app) for some stuff, like cropping down images with very big height to width ratio (like thin strips for dividers). In very rare instances I use my (paid) art program, Clip Studio Paint. I know that many people use Canva for their banners but I can't get used to it, I guess it's not my thing, haha. That's why you should see what works for you. I prefer a certain amount of limitation, like having filters to choose from, simply because I don't want to think too much about it and to be able to spend too much time on it (I'm a perfectionist)...

Maybe you just want to give your picture some nice coloring, nothing too much, just a slight change of tone that it's noticeable but not in a screaming way. There are still some things to avoid, mainly old-looking filters. I'm talking about the ones that were mainstream on Instagram during the last decade, the pinkish sepia one for instance. Ones that have too high exposure value and make the bright parts practically glow are not a good look either, same for the too dark ones. Making the character unrecognizable is also not good, and some filters can do that, especially in the case where they have fair hair and the filter makes it appear as another color. Again, those examples are bad only in my own opinion and could look good in certain circumstances or if it's a desired look!

Here's the collage for the banner used for my fic Nine Nights (MDNI) before the filter (first picture), a variation I did but scrapped (second pic) and the one I went with in the end (third pic). While the bottom pic is in contrast with what I said about making characters unrecognizable, here I rely on the fact that it's enough that it's obvious this will feature all of the Crown members just by looking at the bunch of them. I liked how the colors pop up, almost as if each one gets assigned a theme color (interestingly I didn't pick the cards for that purpose), and it's just a pretty coloring in my opinion as a whole. I achieved this by tweaking the RGB values from the "Curves" tool in Snow.

Another cool thing to do with your banner is adding transparent elements in it, like how I did with this one (see it from the link below, it's not depicted here on the pics). The thing is, this could be very energy-consuming, you'll need an app/program that can do that as not all of them work with transparent images, and in the end, it could be just barely noticeable. But it can be fun from time to time.

5. Titles

A title is the other main element of your fic's layout and it should stand out. If you hate coming up with titles (understandable...) you can just put a "(character) x reader fluff", for instance. If you look at the example in point 1, I simply used the character's name in place of a title! It doesn't have to be a stressful aspect of putting your fic out there. As a side note, you can try centering your title simply by putting some spaces at the front, but leaving it aligned to the right could be a stylistic choice.

6. Colored text

This one is very optional but good if you want to fancy it up. Tumblr already gives you a bunch of colors to pick from and you can make use of them if they fit the style of your fic, but they're very limited. Luckily we can use just any color we want. (This only works on the fonts tumblr supports! The ones you can choose from when you highlight a text) Unfortunately, the way to do this will make you work with the HTML editor which you can access at the top right corner of your post editing screen (from desktop, click the settings, scroll down to Post editor) and things might seem pretty scary if this is your first time looking there. It's not too hard! You need to use a site that takes your desired piece of text, lets you select colors, and then gives you a code that once pasted in the HTML editor will make it colored when switching back to the Rich text editor. Here's the one I use because it also allows me to blend colors. At the bottom right of the page, I put the text in the first box, select the colors, and upon clicking Run it gives me the code in the bottom box. I use colored text for my title, and sometimes for my information tags.

7. Information tags

This is how I refer to the part of your layout dedicated to showing the pairings, genre, content warnings and wordcount of your fic. This is all optional even to add in the first place. I personally don't bother too much with beautifying that part, but a good tip is using some kind of symbol to separate these pieces of information if they're all in the same paragraph (I use big dots), or to place in front of them if they're in different rows (like bullet points). This gives a lot of creative freedom for text art, you should explore it if that's your thing!

8. Fonts & font size

You can experiment with Tumblr's fonts, or you can look for more fonts online - here's a handy site. It's good to find one that is legible enough. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞. Again, be warned, those fonts that are outside of tumblr's post editor cannot be colored (as far as I'm aware of)

You can spell your title in all caps if you deem that's a good look for your fic.

Play around with bolds and italics instead of making everything a different font.

The "Biggest" font option here on the editor is not the best one to use as it's simply too big. Big title fonts should be avoided if your title doesn't fit in a single row.

Having different font sizes for different things in your layout can be eye-catching! Besides the obvious upscaling of the title, you can also upscale your information tags. Using small text is also nice and prevents your post from getting too long, but this should only be done for the part of the fic that is not the fic itself. Small text could be harsh on the eyes if it's in big quantities.

9. Dividers

Dividers are another crucial part of a fancy layout! They divide different parts of your layout, like the information tags and the fic's body. There are tons of styles to choose from. Some people like to use dividers that spell out something, like a "minors DNI" warning, a "support your creatives" reminder, the name of the character featured in the fic... You can make your own set of dividers for repeated use. I like to use very thin lines which I color differently according to the fic's theme colors. I also find dividers online, mostly here on tumblr, as there are tons of them if you look them up. It's important to use dividers which are marked free to use, or to otherwise credit their creators.

10. Additional tips

Use gifs. Everything that moves is eye-catching. But don't go overboard with it - one or two moving objects on your layout is plenty. They shouldn't be put too close to the fic's body too, as people might find it distracting. Avoid flashing and glitching gifs, or if you use those and you deem it necessary, tag the post with an epilepsy warning. You can make your banners into gifs by putting a moving filter on them, making it into a video, and turning the video into a gif (the site I use for this is called ezgif and it has plenty of other options for working with gifs and videos), and you can also make or find gif dividers.

Banner themes are nice, but they don't always look good. I'm talking about making a series of banners (like for a bunch of fics made for the same creative challenge) look the same, with the same coloring and filters. I used to make all my banners purple to follow my blog's tumblr theme but I realized not everyone looks good in purple...

Try adding a synopsis for your fic! I know, this is worse than coming up with a title, but we love flipping the book over to look at the synopsis before jumping into it. Keep it very short and try beautifying it with symbols or fancy quotation marks.

Use the "intended" font from the tumblr post editor to make your information tags or synopsis stand out and shrink the overall length of the post!

Put the body of your fic under a "read more" (the last option when you hit a new row in the post editor). This is very important, especially if you're writing smut - you wouldn't want to make people scroll through all of that if they're not in the mood for it. Putting your whole fic on the dash doesn't make it more likely for people to stop and read it, or at least that's just how I see it.

Use emojis! Emojis stand out!

Take inspiration from other people. Get out of your bubble and look at how other fandoms do it, but obviously don't steal.

11. Final thoughts

Making this post felt weird to me! I was motivated by my mutuals complimenting my layouts but also because some of them said "they can't do that" and I wanted to show them it's easy. I also wanted to show them it's not that important and that they shouldn't stress over it at all! At the end of the day it's your fic that matters, not how pretty you can make it work. But instead of simplifying it, I ended up with this massive post of 11 parts, and now it looks scarily big. It's not, okay! I went too much into detail at times, and I want to stress once again that it's all optional anyway. I, personally, don't follow all of this advice. I don't go through the 10 steps of constructing my layout every time I'm about to post a fic. I typically post my fics just before going to bed, and 99% of the time I need it to happen ASAP because it's that late in the night. It's a way to beat my perfectionism, really, and I find it to work for me. I also already have these steps tested and memorized so it all happens quickly and mechanically for me. Making the layout is extremely fun for me and this is my sole driving force for putting in the effort. At the same time, I remind myself not to go overboard because it's stupid to focus on it more than on the fic itself. I love ao3 because everything looks equal on there, but I also love tumblr because I can unleash my creativity in one additional way.

In the process of making this post, I started to wonder if it seems like I'm making this out to be way more important and difficult than it really is, and I want to assure you that this is not my intention at all!

My only hope is that this proves to be helpful for whoever feels like they can use some of the information above. If it leads to just 1 additional note to those criminally underrated fics I see, then I'd be beyond happy!

Have fun posting your fics :)

57 notes · View notes

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 9 months ago

Text

pssssst hey. hey. free and expansive database of folk and fairy tales. you can thank me later

47K notes · View notes

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 9 months ago

Text

Instead of "Looked", consider

glanced

peered

gazed

stared

watched

observed

examined

scrutinized

surveyed

glimpsed

eyed

beheld

inspected

checked

viewed

glanced at

regarded

noticed

gawked

spied

6K notes · View notes

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 10 months ago

Text

Instead of "Looked", consider

glanced

peered

gazed

stared

watched

observed

examined

scrutinized

surveyed

glimpsed

eyed

beheld

inspected

checked

viewed

glanced at

regarded

noticed

gawked

spied

6K notes · View notes

fangfeatherandfin-moonystash · 10 months ago

Text

Writing Notes: World-building Questions

How long has your world existed?

How many major cultures exist in your world? (You can answer the following questions for each of them!)

How did your world originate? Do the people who inhabit this world/culture have a creation myth, or a scientific explanation for how it came to be?

If your world/culture has religion, is there one main religion, or many religions? Are the main religions of your world monotheistic or pantheistic?

What resources are in your world/culture? What are the imports/exports? Which resources are rare and valuable, and which are necessary or common?

What are some important historic events in your world/culture? How did they contribute to the geographic or social structures that exist in your world’s present day?

What holidays does your world/culture celebrate?

What is considered a curse word in your world/culture? What is considered sacred, and what is considered profane?

What is the geography and climate of your world/culture?

What are the distances between important places in your world? Draw a map if you want to!

What is the structure of your world’s/culture’s government? Are they at peace or in conflict with neighboring worlds/cultures?

What language(s) do your characters speak? Is language ever a barrier to communication?

What are some of the main dishes the people in your world/culture eat? Where does the food come from, and how is it prepared?

What are the limitations of power, energy, or magic in your world/culture?

What kinds of objects or ideas are familiar to the people of your world/culture? What kind of objects or ideas are strange or outlandish to them? Note: the answers to this might vary depending on the culture your various characters (and readers) come from! What’s familiar to you or your main character might be wildly unfamiliar to someone else.

What are some details you can use from real-world places that are similar to your story world to make it feel more believable? (Think concrete: Sights, sounds, tastes, smells, textures)

How does your main character feel about the world/culture they grew up in?

What does your main character’s home look like? You can describe their room, their house, their neighborhood, their city.

Does your main character most often interact with people who share their experiences, worldview, and upbringing, or do they most often interact with people from very different cultures and life experiences from themselves? What are some of those similarities or differences?

Where does your main character fit into the class/social status of your world/culture? What are some specific things about their location or appearance that indicate wealth, status, profession, etc.?

Source

331 notes · View notes