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We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

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i made a character sheet. free to use as you wish, feel free to change whatever you want XD open source ass thing. spent all of ~maybe an hour on it.

Credit: the text in the insert-image box comes from this video, and the text for the top three lines (intense, complex, fruity) comes from this post. The actual image was made with the free NBOS character sheet creator, which is a sort of dated but free and solid text-layout sheet maker intended for ttrpg style character sheet creation.

[the-darkish-side-of-specs]

Hey! Are there blacksmiths in your story? I'm a hobbyist blacksmith and I'm here to help!

Blacksmithing is one of those things that a lot of people get wrong because they don't realize it stuck around past the advent of the assembly line. Here's a list of some common misconceptions I see and what to do instead!

Not all blacksmiths are gigantic terrifying muscly guys with beards and deep voices. I am 5'8, skinny as a twig, have the muscle mass of wet bread, and exist on Tumblr. Anybody who is strong enough to pick up a hammer and understands fire safety can be a blacksmith.

You can make more than just swords with blacksmithing. Though swords are undeniably practical, they're not the only things that can be made. I've made candle holders, wall hooks, kebab skewers, fire pokers, and more. Look up things other people have made, it's really amazing what can be done.

"Red-hot" is actually not that hot by blacksmith terms. when heated up, the metal goes from black, to red, to orange, to yellow, to white. (for temperature reference, I got a second degree burn from picking up a piece of metal on black heat) The ideal color to work with the metal is yellow. White is not ideal at all, because the metal starts sparking and gets all weird and lumpy when it cools. (At no point in this process does the metal get even close to melting. It gets soft enough to work with, but I have never once seen metal become a liquid.)

Blacksmithing takes fucking forever. Not even taking into account starting the forge, selecting and preparing metal, etc. etc. it takes me around an hour to make one (1) fancy skewer. The metals blacksmiths work with heat up and cool down incredibly fast. When the forge is going good, it only takes like 20 seconds to get your metal hot enough to work with, but it takes about the same time for it to cool down, sometimes even less.

As long as you are careful, it is actually stupidly easy to not get hurt while blacksmithing. When I picked up this hobby I was like "okay, cool! I'm gonna make stuff, and I'm gonna end up in the hospital at some point!" Thus far, the latter has yet to occur. I've been doing this for nearly a year. I have earned myself a new scar from the aforementioned second degree burn, and one singe mark on my jeans. I don't even wear gloves half the time. Literally just eye protection, common sense, and fast reflexes and you'll probably be fine. (Accidents still happen of course, but I have found adequate safety weirdly easy to achieve with this hobby)

A forge is not a fire. The forge is the thing blacksmiths put their metal in to heat it up. It starts as a small fire, usually with newspaper or something else that's relatively small and burns easily, which we then put in the forge itself, which is sort of a fireplace-esque thing (there's a lot of different types of forge, look into it and try to figure out what sort of forge would make the most sense for the context you're writing about) and we cover it with coal, which then catches fire and heats up. The forge gets really hot, and sometimes really bright. Sometimes when I stare at the forge for too long it's like staring into the sun. The forge is also not a waterfall of lava, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Welding and blacksmithing are not the same thing. They often go hand-in-hand, but you cannot connected two pieces of metal with traditional blacksmithing alone. There is something called forge welding, where you heat your metal, sprinkle borax (or the in-universe equivalent) on it to prevent the metal from oxidizing/being non-weldable, and hammer the pieces together very quickly. Forge welding also sends sparks flying everywhere, and if you're working in a small space with other blacksmiths, you usually want to announce that you're welding before you do, so that everyone in a five-foot radius can get out of that five-foot radius. You also cannot just stuck some random pebbles into the forge and get a decent piece of metal that you can actually make something with, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Anvils are really fucking heavy. Nothing else to add here.

Making jewelry is not a blacksmithing thing unless you want jewelry made of steel. And it will be very ugly if you try. Blacksmithing wasn't invented to make small things.

If there's anything here I didn't mention, just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

[the-darkish-side-of-specs]

You know, when I see fictional characters who repress all their emotions, they're usually aloof and very blunt about keeping people at a distance, sometimes to an edgy degree—but what I don't see nearly enough are the emotionally repressed characters who are just…mellow.

Think about it. In real life, the person that's bottling up all their emotions is not the one that's brooding in the corner and snaps at you for trying to befriend them. More often than not, it's that friendly person in your circle who makes easy conversation with you, laughs with you, and listens and gives advice whenever you're upset. But you never see them upset, in fact they seem to have endless patience for you and everything around them—and so you call them their friend, you trust them. And only after months of telling them all your secrets do you realize…

…they've never actually told you anything about themselves.

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i made a character sheet. free to use as you wish, feel free to change whatever you want XD open source ass thing. spent all of ~maybe an hour on it.

Credit: the text in the insert-image box comes from this video, and the text for the top three lines (intense, complex, fruity) comes from this post. The actual image was made with the free NBOS character sheet creator, which is a sort of dated but free and solid text-layout sheet maker intended for ttrpg style character sheet creation.

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People talk a lot about how reading is necessary for writing, but when you really want to improve your writing, it’s important to go beyond just simple reading. Here are some things to do when reading:

Note how they begin and end the story. There are a ton of rather contradictory pieces of advice about starting stories, so see how they do it in the stories you enjoy. Don’t only look at the most popular stories, but look at your more obscure favorites.

See what strikes you. Is it fast or complicated scenes with a lot of emotions? Is it stark lines? Pithy dialogue? What do you remember the next day?

Pay attention to different styles. It’s not just whether they use past or present tense, first or third person. It’s whether the writing is more neutral or deeper inside character’s heads. Do they use italics? Parentheses? Other interesting stylistic choices? Take the ones you like and try them out in your own writing. See what works and what doesn’t.

Keep track of how they deal with other characters. Do we see a lot of secondary character each for very brief periods of time or are there a couple that show up a lot? How much information do we get about secondary characters? Do they have their own plots or do their plots revolve entirely around the main characters? 

Count how many plots there are. Is there just one main plot or are there multiple subplots? Are the storylines mostly plot-based or character-based?  

Pay attention to what you don’t like. If you don’t like what’s going on in a book or even just a scene, note what it is. Does the dialogue feel awkward? Are the characters inconsistent? Does the plot feel too convenient or cobbled together? Does the wording just feel off? See if you can spot those issues in your own writing, especially when reading a completed draft or beginning a later draft.

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TRUTH. What you need is imagination, and you don’t need to go anywhere to use it.

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can't believe it's 2022 and we still have posts around about not overusing "said" like seriously? Imagine if I made a list of words to use instead of "and." wouldn't that be stupid?

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Writing a Blind or Visually Impaired Character

A Multi-Step Guide Written by a Visually Impaired Writer and Blogger

I’m hoping this blog will over time develop its own following, and when it does people will inevitably see my bio and notice what I included: I’m visually impaired.

Yes, a visually impaired writer, and I’ve written with two blind characters before so I have some practice in the field.

So, inevitably, someone is going to ask how to write a blind character.

Or, at least, I hope you’ll ask someone who’s actually blind or visually impaired about writing a blind character before you get too involved with your new WIP.

All parts will be tagged #blindcharacter in my blog, and I will add links to every post as I finish each part. Follow my blog for more writing advice.

Note, this post updates fairly often and old versions are still floating around out there. The most current version of this post is pinned to my blog with any new guides or links you might of missed.

As of 24 January 2021, this is the most extensive and screen reader friendly version of this post.

Part One: Crafting the Blind Character

In which I tell you how to begin making a blind character who is more than a cardboard cutout

Part Two: Narrative Choice, Visual Description, Verbal Description, Social Interaction

In which I give you a basic rundown on how to write from the perspective of a character who can’t see and still make the narration descriptive

Part Three: Tropes and Clichés to Avoid

Your blind readers will thank you for not being the 5000th person to do this and manage to actually finish your story. (Do you have any idea how many stories I’ve noped out of within two chapters because of these clichés? A Lot.)

-New- Part Four: Canes, Guide Dogs, and O&M

Everything I can tell you about 1) how to learn how to use a cane 2) how a cane works 3) how to describe what your character experiences with their cane 4) everything I know on guide dogs

Part Five: Small Aspects of being Blind You Never Thought Of

5 January 2021 Edit: This link has been fixed to correspond with the correct post

Or, really, very normal everyday things for blind people, the inclusion of which will make your characters more real and authentic. It’s the tiny details.

Part Six: Should You Cure Your Character’s Blindness? (Short Answer: No)

There’s no way to write a cure for your blind character that doesn’t make blind readers hate you. Sorry. We came here to finally experience a relatable character who experiences the world like us, but none of us are getting cured so seeing this character we learned to love become something alien from us in the end feels like a slap in the face

Why I’m Blind and What I See -NEW-

I thought I’d finally make a post explaining the complicated situation about my vision. Includes an explanation of visual snow and exotropia, two of the three causes for my vision issues.

Writing Blind Characters Falling in Love, an Advice Post:

Someone asked what being blind and falling in love have to do with each other. Honestly, blindness changes your perspective on everything and it makes an impact on every relationship you have. This includes some things that you definitely do not want your character’s love interest to be/do.

Writing Blind Jokes (Should You Do It?)

You know those flow charts of “should you do x?” going around? It’s like that, but screen reader friendly. Should you write blind jokes. It’s pretty complicated and there are a lot of possible scenarios and details to consider.

Advice for Writing Toph Beifong -NEW-

In this I discuss what I would like to see done in fanfiction with Toph’s character after ten years of reading Avatar the Last Airbender fanfiction

A small essay addressing the frequently asked question on giving your blind character a superpower to help them “see.”

It’s became a popular question, so to make the answer easier/faster for everyone to access, I wrote what will usually be my initial answer. Below there are a few links to some notable past questions on this subject.

Mourning My Vision, it’s More than Depression. 

A small personal essay addressing the nuances of the mourning period you experience with a new disability. The mourning period is mentioned in other guides, but this is more detailed.

Dealing with Heightened Senses, a video by Molly Burke with additional commentary by me

While Molly talks about the myths and truths about heightened senses, I talk about the correlation with blindness and neuro-divergency and how co-morbid disorders/disabilities might affect sensory processing.

Satirical Commentary on the phrase “that blank look in their eyes” used too often in fiction to identify a blind character

a:tla, I’m looking at you (and my eyes aren’t blank)

I Found a Lost Piece of Blindness History

My grandmother told me about her blind aunt and how she sent letters. It led me to speculate about all the O&M things people develop on their own but never get a chance to pass onto other blind people. Technology and techniques are lost in history and reinvented, including the white cane ad guide dogs.

Includes a little history on the introduction of guide dogs into the 20th century

The Following are Answered Anon Questions

Making Your Blog More Accessible

Making Links Accessible to Screen Readers

Reblogging to Add an Image Description to Someone Else’s Image

Why I Write Image Descriptions

Writing Blind Characters

Advice for a Character Who was Born Blind

Over-Protective Parents of a Blind Character, Why They’re Over-Protective and How to Avoid Crossing a Line

A Blind Character in Victorian Era Historical Fiction

Is It Bad Not to Have Guide Dogs in a Fantasy/Historical Setting Without Guide Dogs (short answer: it’s not bad)

Someone Asked About My Thoughts on a Medusa-like Character Blinding Herself to Avoid Hurting Anyone

-New- Characters Who Have Recently Gone Blind and Avoiding Inspiration Porn

Talking about Popular Blind Characters In Media

Does Daredevil’s Echolocation Negate His Blindness

Someone Else was Asked How to Write Daredevil Fanfiction

Blind Characters with Superpowers/Fighting Styles

World Setting where the General Population has a Superpower

Superpowers that don’t involve sight, Five questions to ask yourself if this superpower is a bad idea or a good one

-New- Your character would not use a cane as a weapon, it’s a bad idea

D&D/Roleplaying Blind Characters

-New- Animal Familiars Acting as Service Animals and Advice for Communicating with Your DM

-New- Portraying Older Blind Characters + Causes for Vision Loss with Old Age

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June’s World Building Cheat Sheet

The New & Improved version

Part One: History

Part Two: Lightweight conlang

Part Three:  Pwease build me a culture

Part Four: Devil Worship but not really because it’s fantasy.

Part Five: Let’s get political

Part Six: Fashion History and YOU

Part Seven: DON’T check your biases

Part Eight: Because I didn’t get political enough last time

Part Nine: Multicultural

Part Ten: Positivity from a Negative Nelly

Bonus Rants & Musings

1950s Housewife

Historical Inaccuracy + Plot Devices

Gender Roles in Fiction

[the-darkish-side-of-specs]

Mᴀsᴛᴇʀʟɪsᴛ ⌨︎

---- General -----------❦︎

How to improve your writing quality

Anime recs for writers

Writing fight scenes

Writing kidnappings

Writing first chapters + examples

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---- Advice ---------- ❦︎

Avoiding lost of interest in a new story idea

Winning Nanowrimo while balancing school

Writing as a pantser

My writing advice for new writers

---- Characters ------❦︎

Writing hateable characters who aren't antagonists

Writing insecure characters

Types of smart characters

Writing Indonesian characters

Writing characters with jealousy

How I create my characters

Writing cynical characters

Writing double agents

--

---- Worldbuilding --❦︎

Writing fantasy economy

Writing a fictional war

Writing fictional governments

Creating an original fantasy creature

A guide to high fantasy worldbuilding

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---- Character arcs -❦︎

How to write redemption arcs

How to write sacrifice arcs

How to write corruption arcs

How to write fall arcs

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---- Villains ---------❦︎

Types of villains

Writing female villains

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---- Romance -------❦︎

Writing star-crossed lovers

Writing friends to lovers

Writing childhood best friends to lovers with mutual pining

Writing academic rivals to lovers

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---- Relationships ------❦︎

Writing sibling relationships

Writing found family

Writing believable friendships

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---- Prompts -----------❦︎

Villain redemption arc prompts

Hero x villain prompts

Most heartbreaking tropes in my opinion

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---- How tos ------------❦︎

How to fire a shotgun

---- 𝙿𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝙾𝙿𝙴𝙽.

⌫ back to main navigation.

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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

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How to write a kiss scene

requested by: anon request: How do I write a good kiss scene? As how do I describe it? What details or words would make it good?

What goes into the writing of a kiss scene?

details to incorporate:

the sensations in their stomach, their chest, and their knees

the way their breathing changes shortly before the kiss

the feeling of the other's hands

the texture of the other's clothing

the moment they realise they've reached the point of no return

the feeling they're left with after the kiss

words to use...

... to describe the kiss:

tentative

tender

hesitant

quick

soft

gentle

delicate

languid

feathery

familiar

exploring

hungry

heated

fiery

frantic

impatient

sloppy

messy

aggressive

... to describe how they feel about the kiss:

nervous

excited

giddy

anxious

apprehensive

ambiguous

surprised

reassured

certain

confident

relieved

eager

greedy

... to show what the lips do:

exploring each other

brushing over each other

locking

devouring

touching

sealing

pressing against each other

capturing

lapping

tasting

crushing together

travelling (the other's body)

trailing (down to the other's chin)

grinning into the kiss

caressing

lingering

... to show how their body reacts:

feeling warm all over

buzzing

humming

pumping/palpitating heart

clenching lungs

joy bubbling up

tingly stomach

warm chest

burning cheeks

sweaty palms

blood rushing through their veins

... to describe what their hands are doing:

tangling in their lover's hair

wrapping their arms around their lover's neck

intertwining their fingers with their lover

resting on their lover's hips

pressing into their lover's shoulder blades

cupping their lover's cheeks

touching their lover's chin

curling their arm around their lover's waist

resting on their lover's shoulders

grabbing their lover's collar

sneaking up under their lover's shirt

brushing over their lover's bare skin

lightly squeezing their lover's butt

focus on:

the sensations instead of what's physically happening. (the protagonists might very well not know themselves what is happening exactly, but they feel very precisely)

I hope this helps <3

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Game-Changing Sites for Writers

A recent search for a specific type of site to help me build new characters led me down a rabbit hole. Normally, that would make me much less productive, but I have found a treasure trove of websites for writers.

Bring Characters/Places to Life

There are a few different places you can use to create a picture of something entirely new. I love this site for making character pictures as references, instead of stock photos or whatever pops up on Google Images.

thispersondoesnotexist: every time you reload the page, this site generates a headshot of someone who doesn't exist. This is great if you're thinking about a character's personality or age and don't have specifics for their facial features yet.

Night Cafe: this is an AI art generator that takes your text prompt and generates an image for it. I tried it for various scenery, like "forest" or "cottage." It takes a minute for your requested photo to load, but no more than maybe five for the program to finish the picture.

Art Breeder: this website has endless images of people, places, and general things. Users can blend photos to create something new and curious visitors can browse/download those images without creating an account. (But if you do want to make an account to create your own, it's free!)

Find Random Places on Earth

You might prefer to set a story in a real-life environment so you can reference that place's weather, seasons, small-town vibe, or whatever you like. If that's the case, try:

MapCrunch: the homepage generates a new location each day and gives the location/GPS info in the top left of the screen. To see more images from previous days, hit "Gallery" in the top left.

Atlas Obscura: hover over or tap the "Places" tab, then hit "Random Place." A new page will load with a randomly generated location on the planet, provide a Google Maps link, and tell you a little bit about the place.

Random World Cities: this site makes randomly selected lists of global cities. Six appear for each search, although you'll have to look them up to find more information about each place. You can also use the site to have it select countries, US cities or US states too.

Vary Your Wording

Thesauruses are great, but these websites have some pretty cool perspectives on finding just the right words for stories.

Describing Words: tell this website which word you want to stop repeating and it will give you tons of alternative words that mean the same thing. It typically has way more options than other sites I use.

Reverse Dictionary: type what you need a word for in Reverse Dictionary's search box and it will give you tons of words that closely match what you want. It also lists the words in order of relevancy, starting with a word that most accurately describes what you typed. (There's also an option to get definitions for search results!)

Tip of My Tongue: this website is phenomenal. It lets you search for that word you can't quite place by a letter in it, the definition, what it sounds like, or even its scrambled letters. A long list of potential options will appear on the right side of the screen for every search.

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Hope this helps when you need a hand during next writing session 💛

[the-darkish-side-of-specs]

How do I describe a tired person? I got 'dark circles under the eyes' but it kind of stops there.

[the-darkish-side-of-specs]

How do I describe a tired person? I got 'dark circles under the eyes' but it kind of stops there.

[the-darkish-side-of-specs]

Hey um could please give advice on writing unrequited love? I'm working on a project and I'm stumped!

Guide: Writing Unrequited Love

What is Unrequited Love?

Unrequited love is when someone develops romantic feelings for a person who does not share those feelings. While it's possible for someone to have platonic love for someone that's not returned, when we talk about "unrequited love," we are always talking about unrequited romantic love.

What is the Difference Between a One-Sided Crush and Unrequited Love?

One-sided crushes and unrequited love are often conflated, but they're actually two different things. Whereas a crush is superficial because it develops quickly based on limited interaction and knowledge of the person, love is deeper because it develops over time with someone you actually know and interact with often. One-sided crushes can develop into unrequited love.

What is the Difference Between Unrequited Love and Forbidden Love?

Unrequited love and forbidden love are also two things that are often conflated, but the difference is that forbidden love is mutual--both people want to reciprocate the love, but reciprocation is constrained or prevented due to circumstances beyond their control. For example, there may be social or religious differences keeping them apart, or one person may be in a relationship they're not ready to leave despite their feelings for the other person.

With unrequited love, on the other hand, the only thing preventing reciprocation is that the other person isn't interested.

Can reciprocated love become unrequited over time?

Yes. When romantic feelings are mutual and love is returned, but the reciprocation of that love diminishes and disappears over time, that's still a form of unrequited love. However, this version of unrequited love is quite different from the kind where there was never mutual love in the first place. While these two versions of unrequited love share some emotional aspects in common, mutual love that turned unrequited comes with its own unique set of issues. In fiction, when we talk about unrequited love, we're usually talking about the kind where the love was never mutual, though both kinds are often portrayed in fiction.

What Does Unrequited Love Feel Like for the One Who Loves?

they think about the other person constantly

they fantasize about being in a relationship with them

they're deeply hopeful the love will eventually be returned

they long for and search out interaction with the person

they long for and reach for physical touch with the person

they want to know everything about the other person

they constantly look for signs of interest from the other person

they often feel they're getting mixed signals from the other person

they're deeply jealous when other person shows interest in another

they're hurt or offended when others point out futility of situation

they discount signs of person's affection for someone else

they find ways to mentally invalidate person's real relationship

they put the person on a pedestal and can't see their flaws

they believe they are destined to be with the other person

What's Going On that the One Who Loves Can't See?

the other person isn't thinking or fantasizing about them

the other person will never return their love

they do not seek or desire interaction or physical touch

interactions are viewed neutrally or are not desired

physical touch is viewed neutrally or is not desired

interest in "getting to know" one another is platonic or absent

"mixed signals" are just signs that are misinterpreted

there are no actual signs of romantic interest being shown

the person is not perfect and has flaws that are being disregarded

the person may have feelings for another or be in a relationship

What Does Unrequited Love Feel Like for the Other Person?

Sometimes "the person who doesn't love" is so disinterested, they never realize the other person has feelings for them. Other times they figure it out or are alerted to the situation by the person who loves them or someone else. When they know about it, they may:

feel pressured to return other person's feelings

feel burdened by knowledge of those feelings

feel doubtful, questioning why they don't return other's feelings

feel that something is wrong with them for not returning feelings

feel guilty for not being able to return person's feelings

feel awkward interacting with that person from then on

feel sad that they're causing them pain by not reciprocating

feel torn between maintaining connection and ending it

In some cases, the knowledge of that love--even if not returned--can present an unhealthy situation on both sides, because the one who is loved may:

be flattered by the interest and want to encourage it

feel validated by the person's love and become dependent on it

fear rejecting person in case no one else ever loves them

feel safe and secure in the person's love and not want to part ways

cave to the pressure/expectation and fake reciprocation

string the one who loves them along in case own feelings change

How Does the One Who Loves Cope/Move On?

let go of illusions

be honest about lack of reciprocation/interest

take person off the pedestal and acknowledge their flaws

remove self from other's presence/cease interactions

stay busy

distract self with hobbies, travel, meeting new people

go on some dates

practice self-love/investing in self

spend time grieving situation

seek help/support from family/friends, therapy, support group

How is the Situation Resolved?

Unrequited love situations can be resolved a number of ways:

one who is loved confronts other and ask them to move on

one who is loved removes themself from situation

one who is loved starts relationship with someone else

one who loves realizes futility and moves on of own accord

one who loves moves on with help/support from others

one who loves loses their feelings for the other person

one who loves falls in love with someone else

situation becomes mutually awkward/upsetting and both move on

Pitfalls to Avoid When Portraying Unrequited Love

*** REMEMBER... the following does not apply to relationships where love was once reciprocated, or reciprocation was faked or implied but never truly existed.

implying that unrequited love must eventually be requited

vilifying the person who does not requite the person's love

romanticizing behaviors that are obsessive, possessive, or stalking

portraying the "one who loves" as a failure or loser

romanticizing situations that are unhealthy for one or both parties

Good luck with your story!

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