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reblog to give a strawberry to the person you reblogged this from

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How to write the cold

The way we feel cold is universal, but the way we contextualise it is not. Cold has a variety of connotations for readers, so it's important to decide how to use it, and what mood you want to convey in your scene.

While cold is often associated with negative aspects in writing, if there's anything the winter season teaches us, is that it can be a positive thing as well. Rather than just using the word cold, in your next writing project, try to contextualise it. Describe the weather, the light on the snow, the comfort of warmth after an icy swim, or the fear and loneliness of the dark on a cold night.

Here are our quick tips on how to write the cold:

In nature

Clean mountain air

Glittering ice crystals

Unique wildlife, like snow hares or polar bears

Snow muffled sounds

Steam rising from hot springs

Icy water in rivers and lakes

Overcast and rainy

Bright sun on fresh snow

Icebergs, glaciers, and ice floes

Storms and blizzards

Branches moving and creaking

Frozen ponds

Morning frost on grass

Snowdrops pushing through snowdrifts

Crisp and clear night skies

Wolves howling in the dark

Bare branches scraping against windows

Eerie shadows

Foods and objects

The scent of cinnamon and nutmeg

Heavy winter coats and scarves

Rich, hot meals with lots of gravy

Tea or coffee left out too long

Ice-cream, sorbets, or ice-lollies

Metal that is cold to the touch (like pots and pans or door handles)

Cold beverages straight out of the fridge

An icy bath

Freezer trucks or walk-in refrigerators

Dry ice

Crisp, fresh sheets on cold nights

Ice sculptures

A tap with a drip that freezes in place

Frozen celebratory drinks (like daiquiris)

A single cube of ice floating in a whisky glass

A cold pack for an injury

Character moods

Isolated

Lonely

Aloof

Sad

Comfortable

Snuggly

Focused

Panicked

Indifferent

A lack of affection

Calm and calculated

Disengaged

Serene

Depressed

Awestruck

Anxious

Reverent

Melancholy

Nostalgic

Impatient

Frustrated

Reflective

Character body language

Hunched shoulders

Crossed arms

Shivering

Snuggling into something warm

Rub hands together for warmth

Tight or strained expression

Biting dry lips

Furrowing brow

Glaring against brightness

Tense and rigid stance

Stand close to others

Slow, deliberate steps

Move quickly to somewhere warm

Sitting relaxed in a warm space

Actions and events

Start a fire or build a shelter

Winter hikes

Outdoor activities like skating, skiing, or sledding

Traffic jams or snowed in cars

Frozen lakes cracking underfoot

Dodging icicles falling from rooftops

Going ice-fishing

Long sea voyages

Frostbite

Suffering from a cold, the flu, or pneumonia

Brainfreeze

Snuggling under a warm duvet

Sipping from a steaming hot drink for comfort

Cold-water swimming

Walking to work in the rain

Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere

Chrismas in July in the Southern Hemisphere

Reading a good book by the fire while it snows outside

Positive aspects

While cold is often associated with negative emotions, using it as a juxtaposition can often help to accentuate the positive feelings you want to convey.

If it's cold outside, a character enjoying a hot chocolate under their duvet will give a much more positive impression than if they were simply staying in bed.

The beauty of the natural world in winter, like snow, ice, and winter foliage can also be used to create a scene of happiness and wonder.

Negative aspects

Cold is often used to describe characters who are emotionally detached, calculating, or generally unfeeling. It's become an easy way to clue your readers in to how they're meant to feel about your character.

There are also more creative ways to use the cold, however, like describing the disappointment of forgetting about a hot drink you put down somewhere and only remembering when it's already gone cold, or the feeling of shock after you first step out of a warm shower.

Helpful synonyms

chilly

frigid

icy

wintry

frosty

cool

nippy

freezing

glacial

brisk

chilled

cool

polar

bitter

snowy

raw

refrigerated

arctic

rimy

draughty

[viktouria]

fiction.tools

Just discovered this site that links to all sorts of resources for writers/story tellers/etc!

Includes links to:

Idea generators

Map creators/generators

Story/world/character organizers

Mind-mapping tools

Word processors

Screenwriting software

Revision/formatting tools

Book cover makers

Free stock images

Submission & self-publishing tools

(Not everything they link to is 100% free but there's a handy search filter as well as labels on the posts to identify features.)

[viktouria]

Bethlehem, Palestine.

Usually there is a festive parade to celebrate Christmas.

But today it is a silent march for the lives lost in Gaza.

20,000K+ dead. Countless under the rubble and so many more injured.

[viktouria]

Neil gets in a fight on the court and it’s one of those where gloves are dropped and helmets are thrown and the punches are quick and hard. Neil gets far more good hits in than the other guy but he doesn’t escape unharmed. His nose is gushing and his mouth is full of blood when one of the foxes finally pulls him off. There’s blood in his teeth, lips tight in a grin far from his father’s but his own brand of deadly, and his eyes stay locked on his mark. Neil says something back, spits blood across the court and he’s not fighting against the hold Matt and Kevin have on him, but he’s leaning into it like he might break free any second. Cocky.

You would think Andrew would already be there, ready to help keep Neil back or throw his own punches but no. No, Andrew is silently losing his mind over how fucking hot Neil Josten is. Everyone’s so confused about why he hasn’t at least come closer but he literally can’t move. He’s so fucking gone for Neil Josten. It takes him a full twenty minutes to get it together, Neil’s not even on the court anymore, he was banished to the locker room by coach for being a disappointment or something, and Andrew still can’t focus. He lets two goals in before Kevin successfully ruins his high and he gets back into the game, but the image of Neil's stupid bloody grin is seared into his brain to the point he can’t even look at Neil until they are safely back in their dorm room. Neil finds it hilarious, Andrew can’t even lie about how hot it was.

Andrew fighting for his life pt2

[viktouria]

Boss is asleep, cannot stop me from frogposting

[viktouria]

Do any of u have decent recipes that are like 5 ingredients (not including spices) and take 45 mins or less to prepare i gotta stop eating sandwiches for dinner

[viktouria]

love love love this

I made uquiz while slightly feverish about which hozier song you would be whooooo

[viktouria]

Just a bunch of useful websites

12ft – Hate paywalls? Try this site out.

My Fridge Food – No idea what to make? Tell this site what ingredients you have on hand and it will give you recipes to cook.

Project Gutenberg – Always ends up on these type of lists and for very good reason. All works that are copyright free in one place.

Ninite – New PC? Install all of your programs in one go with no bloat or unnecessary crap.

Unchecky – Tired of software trying to install additional unwanted programs? This will stop it completely by unchecking the necessary boxes when you install.

Sci-Hub – Research papers galore! Check here before shelling out money. And if it’s not here, try the next link in our list.

LibGen – Lots of free PDFs relate primarily to the sciences.

Zotero – A free and easy to use program to collect, organize, cite and share research.

Car Complaints – Buying a used car? Check out what other owners of the same model have to say about it first.

CamelCamelCamel – Check the historical prices of items on Amazon and set alerts for when prices drop.

Have I Been Pawned – Still the king when it comes to checking if your online accounts have been released in a data breach. Also able to sign up for email alerts if you’ve ever a victim of a breach.

Radio Garden – Think Google Earth but wherever you zoom, you get the radio station of that place.

Just The Recipe – Paste in the url and get just the recipe as a result. No life story or adverts.

Tineye – An Amazing reverse image search tool.

My 90s TV – Simulates 90’s TV using YouTube videos. Also has My80sTV, My70sTV, My60sTV and for the younger ones out there, My00sTV. Lose yourself in nostalgia.

Foto Forensics – Free image analysis tools.

Old Games Download – A repository of games from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Get your fix of nostalgia here.

Online OCR – Convert pictures of text into actual text and output it in the format you need.

Remove Background – An amazingly quick and accurate way to remove backgrounds from your pictures.

Twoseven – Allows you to sync videos from providers such as Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc and watch them with your friends. Ad free and also has the ability to do real time video and text chat.

Terms of Service, Didn’t Read – Get a quick summary of Terms of service plus a privacy rating.

Coolors – Struggling to get a good combination of colors? This site will generate color palettes for you.

This To That – Need to glue two things together? This’ll help.

Photopea – A free online alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Does everything in your browser.

BitWarden – Free open source password manager.

Atlas Obscura – Travelling to a new place? Find out the hidden treasures you should go to with Atlas Obscura.

ID Ransomware – Ever get ransomware on your computer? Use this to see if the virus infecting your pc has been cracked yet or not. Potentially saving you money. You can also sign up for email notifications if your particular problem hasn’t been cracked yet.

Way Back Machine – The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and loads more.

Rome2Rio – Directions from anywhere to anywhere by bus, train, plane, car and ferry.

Splitter – Seperate different audio tracks audio. Allowing you to split out music from the words for example.

myNoise – Gives you beautiful noises to match your mood. Increase your productivity, calm down and need help sleeping? All here for you.

DeepL – Best language translation tool on the web.

Forvo – Alternatively, if you need to hear a local speaking a word, this is the site for you.

[viktouria]

[viktouria]

TUESDAY AGAIN NO PROBLEM

[viktouria]

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

[viktouria]

Message AF!!

[viktouria]

i just want to be one of the pinterest girlies but the call to be a little hobgoblin is too strong

[viktouria]

artificial light; preview  — code

simple theme designed for a clean, contemporary aesthetic.

includes:

minimal sidebar with title and (optional + concealable) description and a search bar

up to five links

customizable post widths

custom font sizes

lots of color options!

dark mode (which responds to browser settings)

semi-responsive layout for mobile use

(optional) infinite scroll

jump to top button

full credits in the code! please like or reblog if you plan on using!

[viktouria]

Friendly reminder that while this is an aesthetic blog, it’s also a place that’s radical in the sense that it centers people of color and people of size in an aesthetic that erased us for a long time. I try to also feature aesthetic posts of people living with visible differences or mobility aids as I find them. The point of the space is to showcase that aesthetics are not specific to body types, and I do the work of sifting through endless images of thin white and seemingly able bodied models to pick and choose posts that reflect my tastes while centering people who have traditionally been "othered."

However if you’re just following me to reblog cutesy pink things and thin people, then you can find one of the thousands of other aesthetic blogs that will cater to your needs. Kind of defeats the purpose of following me if the only thing you take from here is traditional body types.

[viktouria]