nathaniswriting

[nathaniswriting]

I’ll find you in the wind

The thought of you is never far gone.

For whenever the wind tugs and pulls at me,

I am there that day in the sun.

With the wind in their hair two young girls

agree,

To this feeling there is second to none.

Yes, this is what it feels like to be free.

Just like that summer we too came to an end,

but know that it is in the wind that I find you,

my friend.

[nathaniswriting]

helpful sites for writers

i have a little collection of websites i tend to use for coming up with ideas, naming people or places, keeping clear visuals or logistics, writing basics about places i've never been to, and so on. i tend to do a lot of research, but sometimes you just need quick references, right? so i thought i'd share some of them!

Behind the Name; good for name meanings but also just random name ideas, regardless of meanings.

Fantasy Name Generator; this link goes to the town name generator, which i use most, but there are lots of silly/fun/good inspo generators on there!

Age Calculator; for remembering how old characters are in Y month in Z year. i use this constantly.

Height Comparison; i love this for the height visuals; does character A come up to character B's shoulder? are they a head taller? what does that look like, height-wise? the chart feature is great!

Child Development Guide; what can a (neurotypical, average) 5-year-old do at that age? this is a super handy quickguide for that, with the obviously huge caveat that children develop at different paces and this is not comprehensive or accurate for every child ever. i like it as a starting point, though!

Weather Spark; good for average temperatures and weather checking!

Green's Dictionary of Slang; good for looking up "would x say this?" or "what does this phrase mean in this context?" i love the timeline because it shows when the phrase was historically in use. this is english only, though; i dig a little harder for resources like this in other languages.

[nathaniswriting]

Question, it’s been years since I’ve roleplayed but lately I’ve been thinking of getting back into it. So is the roleplaying community still alive on tumblr?

[nathaniswriting]

How to Tell If That Post of Advice Is AI Bullshit

Right, I wasn't going to write more on this, but every time I block an obvious AI-driven blog, five more clutter up the tags. So this is my current (April 2024) advice on how to spot AI posts passing themselves off as useful writing advice.

No Personality - Look up a long-running writing blog, you'll notice most people try to make their posts engaging and coming from a personal perspective. We do this because we're writers and, well, we want to convey a sense of ourselves to our readers. A lot of AI posts are straight-forward - no sense of an actual person writing them, no variation in tone or text.

No Examples - No attempts to show how pieces of advice would work in a story, or cite a work where you could see it in action. An AI post might tell you to describe a person by highlighting two or three features, and that's great, but it's hard to figure out how that works without an example.

Short, Unhelpful Definitions - A lot of what I've seen amount to two or three-sentence listicles. 'When you want to write foreshadowing, include a hint of what you want foreshadowed in an earlier chapter.' Cool beans, could've figured that out myself.

SEO/AI Prompt Language Included - I've seen way too many posts start with "this post is about..." or "now we will discuss..." or "in this post we will..." in every single blog. This language is meant to catch a search engine or is ChatGPT reframing the prompt question. It's not a natural way of writing a post for the average tumblr user.

Oddly Clinical Language - Right, I'm calling out that post that tried to give advice on writing gay characters that called us "homosexuals" the entire time. That's a generative machine trying to stay within certain parameters, not an actual person who knows that's not a word you'd use unless you were trying to be insulting or dunking on your own gay ass in the funniest way possible.

Too Perfect - Most generative AI does not make mistakes (this is how many a student gets caught trying to use it to cheat). You can find ways to make it sound more natural and have it make mistakes, but that takes time and effort, and neither of those are really a factor in these posts. They also tend to have really polished graphics and use the same format every time.

Maximized Tags (That Are Pointless) - Anyone who uses more than 10 one-word tags is a cop. Okay, fine, I'm joking, but there's a minimal amount of tags that are actually useful when promoting a post. More tags are not going to get a post noticed by the algorithm, there is no algorithm. Not everyone has to use their tags to make snarky comments, but if your tags look like a spambot, I'm gonna assume you're a spambot.

No Reblogs From The Rest of Writblr - I'm always finding new Writblr folks who have been around for awhile, but every real person I've seen reblogs posts from other people. We've all got other stuff to do, I'm writing this blog to help others and so are they, the whole point of tumblr is to pass along something you think is great.

While you'll probably see some variation in the future - as people get wise to obviously generated text, they'll try to make it look less generated - but overall, there's still going to be tells to when something is fake.

I don't have any real advice for what to do about this (other than block those blogs, which is what I do). Like most AI bullshit, I suspect most of these blogs are just another grift, attempting to build large follower counts to leverage or sell something to in the future. They may progress past these tattletale features, but I'm still going to block them when I see them. I don't see any value in writing advice compiled from the work of better writers who put the effort in when I can just go find those writers myself.

[nathaniswriting]

Writing snippet #1

Ps. I’d love some feedback, so feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

There it stood, her strength and her weakness. A sword, thrusted into the ground with little care, stood amidst the trees. It bore the marks of nature’s efforts to consume it, yet despite the weeds that strangled it and the rust that marked it, the weapon had not yielded.

[nathaniswriting]

I’ve seen parts of myself, I haven’t liked. I’ve made peace with parts of myself, I couldn’t fathom. Ive forgiven parts of my soul, I wouldn’t accept. I’ve been carrying all of me, piece by piece, in every pocket, to make something with gold. To wear as a breastplate, a shield, a belt, a helmet, a sword; an armor I can proudly declare as the works of the lord. Yet I feel every chink, clatter as I walk, and I wonder if you will know me at the end of it all.

[nathaniswriting]

I don’t know if you do advice for RP but I do a lot of it so to venture my question: I’ve been roleplaying for so many years now in one specific environment. always making an OC, writing for a few years, eventually ending their story, and picking up a new OC. problem is now I’ve been doing it so long I feel like I’m out of ideas that aren’t rehashes of old characters. It feels like there’s really only four “types” you can do. Nice & sweet, smart nerd, loud bold and big, or evil/mean. Anything that could help with this??? Thanks 💙

Role Playing: Stuck in "Character Type" Rut

Hmm... you definitely seem to be stuck in a "character type" rut as there are many different personalities and archetypes beyond what you've listed here.

A few things you can try to change it up:

1 - Character Archetypes - Do a search for "character archetypes" to learn some different types of characters. While archetypes can have all different personalities, considering different archetypes can give you a fresh new foundation for the personalities you gravitate to the most.

2 - Character Traits - You can also change up favorite personalities by tweaking the specific traits a bit. For example, you can have a character who's nice and sweet but also an ambitious fashion guru. Or, you could have a character who is nerdy and smart but also old-fashioned and scatterbrained. Or, you could have someone who is evil and mean, but also artistic and emotional.

3 - Personality Generator - If you need some inspiration, there are lots of personality generators online that can give you different combinations of traits, like "honest, determined, and avoids conflict," or "creative, disloyal, kind, unintelligent."

4 - Personality Test Types - Look up MBTI types, enneagram types, or other personality test types to get some potential character models.

5 - Choose Random Traits - Another option is to consider is looking up a list of positive traits and choosing a few that jump out at you, then do the same with a list of negative traits. Just make sure everything makes sense together.

I hope the above will give you some ideas for how to venture out from your go-to character personalities!

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[nathaniswriting]

She brushed past people and bumped against people, eager to leave the crowd that seemed to close around her like a noose around a neck, until finally, she broke free.

-Nathaniswriting

[nathaniswriting]

A specific ship trope I love: "You look like trouble but unfortunately I think I like that about you."

[nathaniswriting]

hello! i’ve got a kind of specific prompt request that i CANNOT get out of my head. kind of like “re-entering society”.

person a and person b were friends/lovers, and person b goes missing for years, and when person b returns they’re just off somehow. something is different but person a doesn’t know what.

-> check out this post too, it might give you more ideas.

Prompts for a Missing Friend Returning Different

-> feel free to edit and adjust pronouns as you see fit.

Person A stood frozen. Their heart hammered in their chest. They blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. The figure of Person B didn't disappear no matter how many times they rubbed their eyes.

There was something different about Person B. Something that Person A couldn't quite place. Whatever it was, it made A's skin crawl.

"You... you came back." Person A shook their head, as if they were trying to shake away the disbelief that was spreading across their skin like static. "How did you--? How are you here?"

Something was wrong. Horribly wrong. Every instinct in Person A's body was screaming-- begging-- for them to run. Instead, they smiled. "Person B," they breathed, "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

Person A couldn't stop themselves from trembling as they stared into Person B's eyes. They had been missing for years. Vanished without a word or a trace. Everyone thought B was dead. Yet, here they were. Standing in A's front yard. Totally unscathed.

"You're different," Person A said, voice as even as they could manage. Person B's head tilted to the side, as if they were a dog not understanding the words of their owner. "What makes you say that?"

[nathaniswriting]

falling in love with life prompts

the grey sky looking particularly warm under the glow of candles

playing music at every chance

eating. eating for your body and your heart, and learning to feel good about it

dinner early and falling asleep to a movie marathon

bundling up to catch snowflakes

thinking about what ways to make your friends smile as the year comes to close

buying flowers for every occasion because you Feel Like It

opening a new journal

accepting that people come and go, and the most important ones will always return

using your downtime to channel your creativity

calling up people you haven't talked to in ages because you think of them sometimes

rereading your favourite books and binging your comfort shows

writing every exam like it's your last, savouring each meal, every moment with your close ones

thinking about ways to get better

learning a new language just for kicks

trying something you've always wanted to do—play guitar, learn to crochet—because if not now, then when?

if not now, then when?

[nathaniswriting]

[nathaniswriting]

~ BLACK CAT X GOLDEN RETRIEVER ENERGY ~ OTP PROMPTS

requested by: @moondrop-gummies request: Can you do grumpy sunshine where she’s the grumpy but doesn’t believe she can be loved and he’s the sunshine who treats her like she’s the best thing in his life and they’re roommates? Thank you in advance! 🎀

Feel free to use and reblog!

Part 1: ~ GRUMPY X SUNSHINE ~ PROMPTS

grumpy being unable to accept anything kind that sunshine tries to do for them

sunshine just admiring anything grumpy does

sunshine staying at home despite being invited elsewhere just to spend more time with grumpy

sunshine doing the things around the house that grumpy dreads doing

grumpy being snarky about the nice things sunshine does but they both know grumpy is actually enjoying them

sunshine having endless patience with grumpy because they know/hope that they'll come around eventually

sunshine making sure to tell grumpy that they deserve the world

grumpy warming up to sunshine and being in a bright mood in sunshine's company

grumpy being patient with sunshine and listening to their long, colourful stories but that's the least they can do when sunshine does everything for them

grumpy's love language is telling sunshine that they deserve more (than grumpy could ever give them)

sunshine's love language is showering grumpy with affection until grumpy snaps

grumpy trying to push sunshine away to guard themselves from developing serious feelings

grumpy hyping sunshine up when they find out that sunshine has a crush, not knowing that it's them

^ and immediately changing course when they find out (because sunshine shouldn't throw their love away on someone as undeserving as grumpy)

sunshine not paying any mind to grumpy's self-depricating rants and just keeping up their high level of affection and warmth

grumpy being able to let their guard down and accept the love because of sunshine's unconditional and unwavering support

grumpy 'you're an idiot to choose me' & sunshine 'I would be that idiot in any universe and you love it'

grumpy being seriously worried about sunshine having developed feelings for grumpy ("you can't be sane. you should see a doctor.")

grumpy being the biggest sunshine stan but they adore them too much to be willing to expose them to the madness that means grumpy

sunshine doing everything with grumpy that want but nothing more and nothing less because they know how important it is to respect grumpy's boundaries

[nathaniswriting]

@procrastiwriting

[nathaniswriting]

"You've been poisoning me?"

"Uh, yeah. And you're welcome, by the way. You'd have died in that last assassination attempt without the immunity you got from me."

[nathaniswriting]

If your plot feels flat, STUDY it! Your story might be lacking...

Stakes - What would happen if the protagonist failed? Would it really be such a bad thing if it happened?

Thematic relevance - Do the events of the story speak to a greater emotional or moral message? Is the conflict resolved in a way that befits the theme?

Urgency - How much time does the protagonist have to complete their goal? Are there multiple factors complicating the situation?

Drive - What motivates the protagonist? Are they an active player in the story, or are they repeatedly getting pushed around by external forces? Could you swap them out for a different character with no impact on the plot? On the flip side, do the other characters have sensible motivations of their own?

Yield - Is there foreshadowing? Do the protagonist's choices have unforeseen consequences down the road? Do they use knowledge or clues from the beginning, to help them in the end? Do they learn things about the other characters that weren't immediately obvious?

[nathaniswriting]

superhero romance is actually so fun because what does “I would die for you” mean from a guy who would die for anyone?