sondersrpg

[sondersrpg]

Random Stuff for Your Story

I have bookmarks saved for random, different, interesting topics that don’t really fit into any single category, so I decided to just put them all together in one list.

A list of resources on miscellaneous topics to help make your stories more interesting.

Writing Accurate Heist Scenes A tumblr thread that discusses accurate heist scenes for heist movies, and what it’s like to work as a security guard.

Friends, Not Love Interests Helpful advice for anyone who is writing two characters as friends (particularly when one is female and the other is male), in order to help minimize the chance of readers wanting them to fall in love.

The Writer’s Guide to Distinguishing Marks on Characters A basic guide on different types of distinguishing marks for characters, such as freckles, birthmarks, scars, and tattoos.  

Don’t Use Specific Numbers in Your Story A tumblr thread that explains if your story doesn’t need a specific number for something (whether a date, age, span of time, etc.), then you don’t need to use a number. Includes helpful examples.

Pet Peeves in TV Shows and Movies A tumblr thread with different lists of things that people find annoying in TV shows and movies. Many of these things can also apply to situations in stories.

Types of Paperwork That Characters Could Do A tumblr thread that discusses how fanfiction writers often give their characters “large amounts of paperwork they hate doing,” but don’t describe the type of paperwork.  Provides a list of different types of paperwork that characters could be working on.

In Time Travel Movies, When the Time Traveler Asks... A tumblr thread that discusses more realistic responses for when a time traveler asks what year it is or where they are, instead of people automatically thinking they are weird or crazy for asking.  

Reasons for a Character’s Death Explains the reasons why you might kill off a character, and offers advice on how to make a character’s death meaningful.

Dialogue Responses to “I Thought You Were Dead!” A list of different responses that a character could give when someone else says, “I thought you were dead.”

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I’m a writer, poet, and editor. I share writing resources that I’ve collected over the years and found helpful for my own writing. If you like my blog, follow me for more resources! ♡

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[sondersrpg]

Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Character

What is their relationship with their parents?

What is their favorite meal?

How do they identify?

What's their style?

Are they proud of themselves?

Are they patient or impatient?

Do they have siblings, and what's their relationship with them?

What are their standards?

Have they ever been in love?

When was the last time they felt loved?

Have they gotten their heart broken?

Do they know who they are?

What are their preferences?

What do they want?

What are their goals?

What would they do if they failed?

What would they save in a fire?

What's one childhood item they still love?

[sondersrpg]

20 Ways to Show Extreme Fear in Your Writing

As I dive into researching signs of fear for my horror WIP, I wanted to share some of the most compelling and visceral reactions I’ve come across. Whether you’re writing a chilling scene or crafting a character’s panic, these 20 signs of fear can help bring tension and realism to your story.

Physical Reactions

Hyperventilating — sucking in air but never feeling like it’s enough

Chest tightens — feels like a weight or hands pressing down

Limbs shaking violently, knees buckling

Complete loss of muscle control — collapsing or unable to stand

Cold sweat soaking through clothes

Heart hammering so hard they feel it in their throat or head

Tunnel vision — the world narrowing down to one terrifying focal point

Ringing in the ears or sudden deafness, like the world drops away

Dizziness / feeling faint / vision blurring

Dry mouth — unable to speak or even scream

Uncontrollable Behavior

Screaming / sobbing / gasping — involuntary vocal outbursts

Panic run — bolting without thinking, tripping over everything

Clawing at their own skin / chest / throat — like trying to escape their body

Begging / pleading out loud even if no one’s there

Repeating words or phrases — “No, no, no” / “This isn’t happening”

Hiding instinctively — diving under tables, closets, or corners

Desperate grabbing — reaching for someone, anything solid

Loss of bladder or bowel control (for extreme terror)

Total mental shutdown — frozen, slack-jawed, staring blankly

Memory blackout — later can’t recall what happened during the worst moment

[sondersrpg]

Season 2: Fall 1896, Paris

While things take a chaotic turn in 1936 Chicago, fall arrives in 1896 Paris with a flourish, the radiant colors and crisp blue skies a promise of gentler times ahead. It may not be enough, however, to cause the Sonders to forget there's a murderer on the loose among them. And while they may be safe from the Task Force in the past, an esoteric cabal of artists, intellectuals, and spiritualists has taken a keen interest in the influx of incongruous Americans in the City of Light.

"We stand at the threshold of a new century but we do not have to enter it blindly! The gift of knowledge awaits but first we must find and befriend those that have brought it here to us."

[sondersrpg]

Being a writer is basically emotionally bonding with fictional people and then ruining their lives for fun.

[sondersrpg]

Do you have any tips for how to slow down time in a story?

How to slow down time

To slow down time in your story you need to use a mix of different writing ingredients: you need different descriptions that capture the reader in the moment as well as internal monologue and different sentence structures.

Detailed Descriptions:

Sensory Details: Use the five senses—sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch to describe what the character is seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting in intricate detail.

Detailed Observations: Zoom in on small, often overlooked details. The sound a tea cup makes as it hits the ground, the way an expression on a character's face changes, the turning of heads as someone enters the room.

Slow Motion: Manipulate the time by describing how it feels like slow motion to the characters: "Time slowed down, and it felt as if the whole of humanity had decided to stop breathing for a moment."

Physical Reactions: A detailed description of the physical aspects of a scene. The movements a character makes, how their gaze turns, their breathing changes, their body begins to shake.

Psychological Aspects: Focus on the anxiety of a character looking at a clock that never seems to move, their nervousness seeping out of them

Internal Monologue:

Memories and Flashbacks: Add context by showing memories or flashbacks that relate to the situation.

Pondering: Let the character reflect on the situation, their feelings and their plan for the next steps. Let the reader explore the character's inner life.

Dialogue:

Reduced Dialogue: Dialogue brings a scene into real time. Use it thoughtfully and sparringly, with lots of inner thoughts and reactions in between.

Silence: Make use of silence between the characters which can be filled with more descriptions.

Language:

Smaller Steps: Write out each action taken, no matter how small, and focus on describing each step that happens.

Control Pacing: Use your sentence structure to create long descriptions that slow it down, and short, impactful ones to pick up the pace if needed for a moment.

More: Masterpost: How to write a story

- Jana

[sondersrpg]

Sonder; the realization that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own.

[sondersrpg]

Writing Challenge:

(one shot or threaded) - Your characters find themselves trying to de-escalate a fight (public or private).

[sondersrpg]

Open Name - Romance for Esther Blum

He’s a member of the task force investigating Sonders, and Esther’s mother is on their radar. Esther doesn’t know her mother is a Sonder, so this character would be trying to get close to her in an effort to get as much information about Sarah Blum as possible. 

This would be a slow burn as he tries to win her over. He would play the sweet guy, all while trying to weasel his way into her life to find out just where Sarah Blum disappeared to. From there, I’d love to see what develops - whether he starts to genuinely fall for Esther, or if it’s all strictly business.

Suggested face is David Corenswet from Hollywood, but I’m open to other FCs. Want Ad Here

[sondersrpg]

SONDERS

Our story takes place in two different periods: Chicago 1936, in the height of the Great Depression, which is our NOW; and Paris 1896, during the great Belle Epoque, which is our THEN. Characters can reside within either period but those who are known as SONDERS exist in both, maintaining two separate, and sometimes very different lives (or identities!) as they are transported without warning from one period to the other. Come join us for Season 2, set in Paris of 1896. (Note: site plot is optional! If you’re curious bout what’s been going on, here’s a season 1 summary.)

Est. July 2022

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An Evening with the Guild of Idealists

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Le Sablier Bistrot is not particularly remarkable amongst its brethren scattered around Montmartre. It’s clear to see from the street that it was once a home, and in some ways it still serves as one, at least symbolically, for the discontented artists that gather there regularly to discuss materials and methods and what their work should say and do in a world careening between extremes, obsessed with everything and nothing, hurtling towards the end of an age.

A small handwritten sign on the front door reads, in French: CLOSED – Private Party, Invited guests welcome. Stepping inside, you enter the first of two, low-ceilinged dining rooms with ochre colored walls. The second is through an open doorway to the right. A swinging door with flecking blue-green paint, midway down the left-hand wall, leads to the kitchen, and straight ahead, the matching back door stands wide open to the pleasant evening air, revealing a rear courtyard.

The tables and chairs in the main dining room have been pushed towards the walls, providing ample space for standing and mingling as well as helping oneself to the trestle tables laid with bite-sized morsels and uncorked bottles of wine. The smaller second dining room has been cleared and the walls hung with a fascinating array of paintings and drawings. Their bold colors, distorted and distressed figures, and peculiar iconography show that they have little in common with the work of the Romantics, Realists, and Impressionists on display at the Palais des Champs-Élysées.

The courtyard is made of rough stone and hemmed in by the neighboring buildings. There are more tables scattered, lit by low candles, and an arbor of grapevines. Beneath it, on a carpet of yellowing leaves, a violinist and cellist play, their meditative music occasionally accompanied by a soprano singer, the lyrics beautiful but not always sensical to those who understand French, as if the words had been occasionally chosen for their sound more than their meaning.

Among those already gathered, one gentleman stands out for the way he moves easily between groups, and takes it upon himself to greet each new arrival.

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An Evening of Art & Fellowship

Translation: The members of the Guild of Idealists request the pleasure of the company of Priscilla De Lyons and her guest to a reception to announce the Guild's forthcoming exhibition. The Hourglass Bistrot, Rue Lepic. Thursday, October 9th, 7:30 p.m. Dress: Informal. RSVP: Not required.

[sondersrpg]

Season 1 Summary

Like most events of great importance, there were many smaller events that lead up to the shooting at the start of the summer, some of which hadn’t seemed very important at all. For the Sonders, the story usually began with the first time they were ever transported back in time. A period of adjustment usually followed. Then there was a small notice in the newspapers and radio—a telephone number and simple instructions asking the public to anonymously report anyone who disappeared often and suspiciously for days or weeks at a time with poor explanation. While initially this seemed like some odd April Fool’s prank, the ad ran over and over and over again. Most didn’t know what it meant, but for the Sonders who come across it, they realize it for what it is – a manhunt.

Behind that little tip line is the Time Exploitation and Endangerment Task Force set upon recovering as much information as they possibly can about those who Sonder. Recruited onto that task force on top of his daily responsibilities is John Daley—a war veteran married to his own principles, though that becomes compromised when he meets one Marco Suarez, the younger of the Suarez brothers, while investigating his older brother Tristan. What begins as a profitable distraction soon turns into something much more meaningful and dangerous for them both.

But he doesn’t entirely neglect his duties—at least not with the Time Exploitation and Endangerment Task Force (or “TEETF” on all censored documents). He manages to follow up on some of the tips coming through, and one allegation amidst the many obviously false ones catches his eye, —those made against Patrick Nolan.While Patrick’s name is reported more than once, John Daley’s interest may lie in the fact that he’s known Pat since they were children (though they clearly went very separate ways).

But it’s no surprise that anyone has caught onto Patrick’s disappearances given how frequent and consistent they are, and always without warning. Until recently, even his new wife, Juniper Nolan nee Jacobs, lamented his desertions, though the couple now maintain that he’s merely been out of town for work.

He’s not the only one brought to the TEETF’s attention. There’s also Frank Albright and Barbara Bondurant, perhaps only noticed due to their usual habits. Frank is always hustling and gambling, trying to make up for the money his family fritters away but he, too, disappears for months at a time. This, of course, could have been attributed to the many debts he owed to rather unsavory folk—but there had been enough calls that he was worth looking into.

Barbara would never be able to disappear without someone’s notice, though. She was too punctual, too organized, and too steadfast to simply go as she pleased, even for just a few hours or a day at most. No, someone in the 11th District precinct would always notice her absences, and those someones would note them to the tip line in their own envious fit. Barbara, after all, was the only one who could work with Detective Nicholas Beck.

Nicholas Beck, who preferred to mind his own business, thank you very much, had begun to notice Barbara’s secretive behavior. Barbara struggles to keep her sondering abilities under wraps while the two investigate a string of cold case murders. But it’s easy to see there is some deeper connection growing between the two.

There is some consolation for Barbara, however. She’s not alone—in Paris she finds a naked and reasonably doubtful Aryan Carter, who believes himself to be in a hyper realistic dream. It takes some time, but Barbara convinces him the reality of the situation and gives him some advice on how to survive as a Sonder. And so, John Daley has had his work cut out for him, investigating the few credible leads he has. It was too bad that he hadn’t been more careful in his surveillance—too bad for Clyde Hudgens. In a case of mistaken identity, Juniper believes she sees her ex-fiance, Clyde, outside of the Nolan home. Both in warning, and perhaps retribution for years of sin, Patrick Nolan beats Clyde Hudgens within an inch of his life, sending the man straight into the arms of ER nurse and his estranged sister, Clara Morel (who had shown up to his wedding quite unexpectedly).

But he’s not alone. Dick Costigan, a good guy but terrible cop, helps put Clyde back in his place. Dick had always bent the rules a little when it came to enforcing the law and protecting those he loved. Maybe it has something to do with his missing sister, or maybe it’s the cruel treatment he endured at his father’s hands, or maybe the guilt he carries over his dead mother. Maybe it’s all of the above.

Which makes it a complicated blessing when he meets Mamie O’Connor, chorus girl and recently minted Sonder, who comes into the station to report the theft of her purse and pay. Scared to death of waking up in 1896 again, it’s the lack of sleep that causes her to overlook her assailant until it’s too late. Absolutely charmed, Dick takes the report then buys Mamie a chili dog, igniting a whirlwind romance. While Mamie’s absences have yet to be noticed, it’s only a matter of time, despite her best efforts to keep the secret on the advice of her sondering mentor, Frank.

There are two Sonders who seem to have no one to miss them, much to their glee and secret dismay. Maggie Murphy and the exploitatively handsome Gael Navarro are constantly plotting their next big job with their gang of orphans in Chicago—the two have a solid system, at least as far as Gael is concerned – one kind word from him, and Maggie is perfectly agreeable to whatever he has planned.

But while both Gael and Maggie are both Sonders, their trips to Paris don’t always line up nor do their interests there. Maggie lives and works in a baker's shop, working on her terrible French, while Gael sticks to what he knows best, pickpocketing and flattering bored women with loose purses.

There are those, however, who are unknowingly impacted by the Sonders around them. Esther Blum struggles with the responsibilities of her entire household and bookstore, including extortion at the hands of a local gang. With her mother missing after a long history of frequent absences (and an obsession with all things French), and her father nearly bed-bound by his grief, the Blum family is in shambles but Esther soldiers on, refusing to believe her mother is gone for good.

Meanwhile, in Paris, there is Celestine Donnadieu, who somehow has managed to know at least three different Sonders—Patrick Nolan, Frank Albright, and Mamie O’Connor. There is no telling how many she’s actually known over the years, and it’s unlikely she’ll ever notice anything peculiar as she focuses her attentions on her ongoing polite feud with Priscilla de Lyons. Their current object of contention? Why, none other than Frank Albright.

While many Sonders find themselves yearning for their own time, there are some, like Sophie Renard, who desperately want to stay in 1896 Paris. Her new life in the past is the one fantasy that Sophie didn’t have to make for herself and she thrives there, except for the stimulants she takes in a bid to stay awake. When she finds herself miserably back in Chicago, she vents her rage on anyone she can and turns to depressants to put her to sleep in effort to return.

These chemically induced ups and downs of her moods lead her to pick a fight with Juniper Nolan over their mutual friend, Wanda Chen. Wanda is less than pleased with the situation, obtaining a bloody nose in the process of attempting to reason with the overly-medicated woman.

Sophie feels out of control in Chicago—in 1936. She desperately wishes to be back in Paris, back with Auguste De La Croix. Auguste, who is always patiently awaiting Sophie's return. She flitters in and out of his life as she pleases and without explanation. He is fine with that, for their friendship does not require it. He is simply content when she is there, being his muse. He never worries; he has all the confidence she'll return. She always does.

Auguste is not the only one who waits for the Sonders.

Madame Gigi Badeaux has provided shelter for as many Sonders as she can collect, with Frank Albright as the recruiter and unofficial guide to new Sonders that pop-up. No one really understands why the Madame provides a refuge and protection to Sonders, but many suspect it has something to do with her missing son, Matthieu Badeaux, who may have been a Sonders himself, now stuck in Chicago 1936.

But how can John know anything going on in 1896 until he speaks to a Sonder himself? Maybe if he had moved sooner, the tragedy at the Decoration Day Fair would have never occurred. Now, Butch Masters, prominent donor to Chicago’s crime lab and secret donor to the TEETF, is dead—shot in cold blood by a known thug who vanishes into thin air just as the police are closing in.

Now, it’s more important than ever for the TEETF to gather information on the Sonders, catch the killer among them, and prevent them from becoming a greater menace. Meanwhile, the Sonders must tread even more carefully, watching over their shoulder in both times and places, for who knows what the killer might do if he’s recognized by one of his own? https://sonders.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=395

[sondersrpg]

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY

New York City, 1962. Our story centres around the people who work in the Beaufort Building - an office building north of Times Square that is home to a number of industries. We have the Beau Records studio, fashioned after the Brill Building that songwriters like Carole King called home. You’ll also find Scene Magazine, taking its inspiration from the Village Voice, and a fashion house.

While the Beaufort is a central location, everyone has lives outside of work - New York is a big place with endless stories to tell.

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SONDERS

Our story takes place in two different periods: Chicago 1936, in the height of the Great Depression, which is our NOW; and Paris 1896, during the great Belle Epoque, which is our THEN. Characters can reside within either period but those who are known as SONDERS exist in both, maintaining two separate, and sometimes very different lives (or identities!) as they are transported without warning from one period to the other. Come join us for Season 2, set in Paris of 1896. (Note: site plot is optional! If you’re curious bout what’s been going on, here’s a season 1 summary.)

Est. July 2022

Profile App

Helpful & Friendly Community

No word counts

JCINK 18+

Rating 3/3/3

Wanteds available

Mobile Friendly

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