so remember that worldbuilding website, notebook.ai, that was goin around and everyone was so excited, but it turned out you had to pay a (frankly outrageous) subscription to access any of the best tools?
You’re a mystic who runs a shop full of mysterious artifacts and potions and you’re sick of uninformed middle-aged suburban moms asking for energy crystals and herbal weight-loss mixtures while throwing around made-up terms.
When a middle-aged woman rolled into my shop and told me she
was looking for ichor, I didn’t think much of it at first.
You get all kinds in a shop like mine, and doubly so when
you put up the right signs on your door.
The signs that let certain kinds of people know they’re welcome, not
just the collectors or the curious or the new age mystics, looking for this
root or that crystal or wanting to gawk at a jar of old bones, but the less
innocuous individuals as well. The kind
who mean business when they come looking for their… less run-of-the-mill
specialities.
The Grim Reaper is no longer able to claim lives directly. Instead, when your time is up a mark appears on your body and it is the duty of every other person to kill you on sight.
I am not a careless person. I cover my tracks, monitor what I say, look before I cross the street. At least, I do now.
When I was 20 years old, I walked home reading a book. I was so engrossed that I failed to notice the heavy metal vehicle moving at my frail, human body at 40 mph.
It swerved, I stopped, no one was hurt, no one died. They never do.
It was only when I took the cookies out of the oven that I noticed the mark on my arm. I knew what it meant. It was my duty to report to the authorities to be murdered. If I didn’t, anyone who saw it would kill me on sight.
I didn’t want to die. I was only twenty years old! I hadn’t even finished college, much less gotten to all my grand plans and ambitions (never mind that I didn’t have any. I had time to plan out the rest of my life later. So I thought.)
I burned my arm on the cookie sheet. The scar covered the black mark somewhat, and I put a bandaid over it. The people at work didn’t question it.
After some time, the burn healed. The mark remained black over the scar, bigger now. I tried carving it out with a knife. It was winter now, and long sleeves were the norm – no one would notice my injury. The mark remained, the bloody lower layers of my skin black as death’s robes.
From then on I wore long sleeves. When I went to the doctor I covered it with paint and hoped they wouldn’t notice. They didn’t. I was lucky.
The mark grew.
I was in trouble when it reached my wrist. As soon as it covered my hand I would be discovered. I ran.
Soon I will be nothing but a shadow in the night. Perhaps some of the stories they tell of night creatures originate from people like me. Those who escaped, their marks covering them, even the whites of their eyes turned deepest black. In a way, we are no longer human. Isolated, undying, immortal, betrayers of nature’s most fundamental law: all things must come to an end.
If I outlive humanity, will I ever die?
When the sun goes nova, will I still exist?
When the universe ends, will I endure?
Or is death simply a shortcut to that end? When the last star has gone out and matter has been erased, will Death greet me with a weary sigh, saying “where have you been? We’ve been waiting for you for an eternity.”
At that point, will I even remember who is waiting for me?
he is a young man, with a young, pregnant wife. they are
poor, and can’t afford much, so he sneaks into the witch’s garden at night to
steal away the rapunzel lettuce his wife so desperately craves.
when the witch gothel catches, him she demands the child
that her garden is feeding as payment.
he agrees, because there’s nothing else he can do.
he and his wife can have more children, but not if they’re
dead. they can have more children later, when they have the means to provide
for them, when they’re older and more sure of themselves, when the prospect of
being responsible for another mouth to feed isn’t quite so terrifying.
his wife is still slick with blood when he wraps their
daughter in an old pillowcase and brings her to the stone wall separating their
land from the witch’s. “are you going to hurt her?” he asks, clutching his
crying daughter to his chest.
gothel raises an eyebrow and says, “what a foolish
question.” she pulls away from him and is gone in the next instant.
his arms feel empty, but lighter too. he’ll never say this
aloud, but it’s almost a relief to give the child away.
they couldn’t even afford to feed themselves, never mind anyone
else.
he wants to be a father. he doesn’t want to be the father of
a hungry child.
~
this is not the first time gothel has bargained a child away
from its parents. and so she tucks the squalling little girl in bend of her
elbow, and goes where she always goes.
“caroline!” she calls out, “oh mother caroline!”
she stands in front of large house, one that has the general
appearance of being many houses stacked up on top of each other, all different
colors and sizes and styles. also, from the side, it does not look unlike a
rather large shoe.
the door bangs open, and a small wave of children run for
her, small sticky hands grasping at her dress and cloak, and gap toothed grins
everywhere she turns. “have you brought us another brother?” a girl asks,
wrinkling her nose. “i have too many brothers.”
the boys turn to her, glaring, but the girl is unrepentant. she’s
the only girl in among the younger kids, and is quite cross about it.
then the older kids surround gothel, the ones that had had
the patience not to go chasing after her at a sprint. the teenagers like to
pretend like they don’t care, but she has many eager and impatient eyes on her,
lots of twitching fingers eager to take the baby away from her. that’s fine by
gothel – she’s eager to be rid of the blasted thing.
“that’s enough!” a powerful, creaky voice shouts. “that’s
quite enough of that! make room, make room, let me through!”
the crowd of children part for mother caroline. like gothel,
caroline has dark skin and black hair, a strong, wide nose and plump lips. but
while gothel appears to be a woman in the prime of her youth, caroline is an
old woman. her back is straight and strong, and there is strength in the width
of her waist. but her dark hair is streaked with silver, and her skin has
started to bend to the will of time and gravity, causing delicate wrinkles to
frame her face. “little sister,” gothel greets, “you’ve gotten older.”
caroline shoots her an irritated glance, “while you haven’t
changed at all.”
“you could have became a witch like me,” gothel says, not
for the first time, “you were always quite good with physical magic. then
neither of us would age at all!”
“change is inevitable,” caroline says with the type of
finality that makes gothel’s skin crawl. “let me see the child.”
the children crowd impossibly closer as gothel hands the
baby over, red faced and new. caroline cradles the babe against her chest, then
stills, her lips pulling down at the corners. “what’s wrong?” gothel demands,
peering down at the baby anxiously.
she looks like any other baby gothel has seen. her face is
squished oddly and her eyes are a watery blue. she has ten fingers and ten toes
– gothel checked! – and she was crying when her father handed her over, but
she’s quiet now.
There’s only one thing worse than coming up with names for your ocs ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,it’s coming up with their surnames
Some good resources for that include cities, dog breeds, and less common first names. For instance the surname of one of my main characters is Bedlington, from the terriers, and another one is Myles-Morris, which is just the names Myles and Morris stuck together. If you have a baby names book or even a good dictionary, it helps. Also collect interesting surnames from your friends–as long as you ask them if they mind being immortalized in book form that works really well.
Additional ideas: Old timey trades are often surnames (blacksmith, mason, banks, fisher, ect.) Look at street names in your area, types of trees another common one (Maple, birch, cedar), Make anagrams of other words this could even be symbolic (traitor = Mr Attrior) this could recognized though so use carefully. Ask women in your family what their maiden names were or what their mom’s maiden names were. Twist around first names/add a couple syllables (Tanya = Mrs. Tanyani).
Hey guys! As a writer myself, it’s hard to have a lot of resources for writing in one place. That’s why I decided to create this masterpost, and maybe make more if I find future resources. I hope you like it, and expect to see more masterposts like this in the future!
ZenPen: A minimalist writing website to keep you free of distractions and in the flow.
The Most Dangerous Writing App: A website where you have to keep typing or all of your writing will be lost. It helps you keep writing…kind of. You can choose between a time or word count limit!
Evernote: An online website where you can take notes and save the product to your laptop and/or smartphone!
Writer, the Internet Typewriter: It’s just you and your writing, and you can save your product on the website if you create an account.
Wordcounter: A website to help check your word and character count, and shows words you’re using frequently.
Monospace: An Android app for writing on the go when you feel the inspiration, but you don’t have your laptop on you!
For Productivity
Tide: An app that combines a pomodoro-esque timer with nature sounds and other noises! (Google Play / Apple Store)
ClearFocus: An Android app with a pomodoro-type time counter to let you concentrate easier and stay productive.
Forest: An app with a time counter to keep you focused and off your phone, and when you complete the time limit, a tree grows in your garden! (Google Play / Apple Store)
SelfControl: A Mac downloadable app that blocks you from distracting mail servers, websites, and other things!
A small list of random ass sites I’ve found useful when writing:
Fragrantica: perfume enthusiast site that has a long list of scents. v helpful when you’re writing your guilty pleasure abo fics
Just One Cookbook: recipe site that centers on Japanese cuisine. Lots of different recipes to browse, plenty of inspiration so you’re not just “ramen and sushi”
McCormick Science Institute: yes this is a real thing. the site shows off research on spices and gives the history on them. be historically accurate or just indulge in mindless fascination. boost your restaurant au with it
Cocktail Flow: a site with a variety of cocktails that’s pretty easy to navigate and offers photos of the drinks. You can sort by themes, strengths, type and base. My only real annoyance with this site is that the drinks are sometimes sorted into ~masculine~ and ~feminine~ but ehhhh. It’s great otherwise.
Tie-A-Tie: a site centered around ties, obviously. I stumbled upon it while researching tie fabrics but there’s a lot more to look at. It offers insight into dress code for events, tells you how to tie your ties, and has a section on the often forgotten about tie accessories
Even more:
Types of High Heels: A page describing twenty five different types of high heels. It gives a description and pictures. Shake it up from just “stilettos and kitten heels”
Random Job Generator: Exactly as it says. The site offer more generators like characters, plots, or town names.
Hey guys –– Tessa here. Over the past couple of weeks I decided to compile some helpful websites for aspiring authors and writers like myself. Hopefully some of these help you, too… and feel free to add onto the list!
This one might seem kind of obvious, but this website is basically a noise generator that plays background music to help you stay focused. You can choose a variety of noises –– rain, campfire, thunderstorms, crashing waves, coffee shops, fan noises, etc. – and if you create a free account you can save the mixes you like yourself, so when you come back to writing you’ll already have your favorite noises ready to play.
I’ve seen a ton of fantasy generators floating around the internet, and while some of them are helpful, this one has to be my favorite. The interface is super cool and allows you to pick between four different options –– a fantasy generator, which is a general generator used for creativity, a beast generator, which helps you come up with names for all your goblins and creatures, a spell forge, which gives you examples of spell names and their possible uses, and a land forge (my favorite!) which helps you determine a name for your magical, mythical place. There’s a ton of customizable options (such as keeping certain words and disposing others, etc.) to make it your own.
This one has been talked about in great length here on Tumblr, but I figured I’d reiterate to showcase it’s awesomeness. Basically, you paste (or type) whatever you’re working on and the application reads through your writing and lets you know if there are any difficult to read sentences, uses of the passive voice, how many adverbs you have, and what the reading level is for the specific passage. Of course, take all these edits with a grain of salt –– sometimes the editor doesn’t understand your writing style and will mark a sentence as “hard to read” when it really isn’t, but it’s a great editor for catching small mistakes and giving you useful stats on your piece, such as word count, paragraph length, etc.
This is a very long survey, but it’s 100% worth it once you have your protagonist (or set of protagonists) laid out for your story. It’s even helpful for fan fiction and RPG, so don’t dismiss it entirely if you don’t write anything original. Basically, it’s an assessment to see if your character is a “Mary Sue” (there’s a detailed explanation of what that is on the website as well). Honestly, it’s a long survey, but depending on what type of fiction you’re working with (fanfiction, original fiction, even RPG) it won’t take you very long and it’ll give you an interesting perspective on your character. I highly recommend you take this test especially if you’re an original fiction writer. Having a strong protagonist is as central as an engaging plot!
I’ve lumped these two together because they serve the same purpose –– naming a character. The “Behind the Name” Generator presents you with a ton of options to check off and it’ll present you with names that fit those specific criteria, so it’s really helpful if you’re looking for a specific type of name for your character. Similarly, the Baby Name Voyager will show you an interactive chart with popular names from the decade, and if you type a name into the search bar, it’ll tell you when it was most popular (such as the ‘90s) and what names were giving to siblings, which is extremely helpful if you want to make sure your characters’ names are cohesive to the timeline of the story. There’s also a detailed-search option like the Behind the Name generator.
Not so much a website as it is a helpful reference, but this site shows the twelve common human archetypes which is helpful when creating characters and attempting to figure out their external vs. internal motivation. This plays a lot on psychology, but fear not –– if you don’t think your character fits into a certain archetype or prefer not to use these, then don’t!
In addition, here are some awesome writing blogs who have stellar advice. Feel free to message me or any of these wonderful people if you have questions about character development, plot questions, or anything else related to writing!
You are driving down a highway. To your left is a McDonald’s and a gas station. To your right is a Wendy’s. You exit onto another highway. To your left is a McDonald’s and a gas station. To your right is a Wendy’s. You exit onto another highway. To your left is a McDonald’s and a gas station. To your right is a Wendy’s. You exit onto another highway.
You are driving through the Midwest. All you can see is corn. Occasionally you think you see eyes in the fields, but it’s probably your mind playing tricks on you. Probably. You look down at your watch and notice that it has been three hours. You look up and still, there is corn. Two hours later and still, there is corn. There is nothing but corn. There is only corn.
Your are driving through the South. There are signs everywhere, signs crying “we are all damned” and “hell is upon us.” You do not know if this is normal and are afraid to ask. On every street there is a church. At every house there is an American flag, waving in nonexistent wind. There are mothers working in their gardens. They all turn they’re heads at the sound of your car driving by. All their faces are exactly the same. You stop at a small restaurant before you leave. You ask the waitress for a burger and unsweetened tea. “Unsweetened tea!?” She cries, confused. “Unsweetened tea?” Her voice becomes deeper. “Unsweetened tea.” She intones to the kitchen. When your order arrives, it’s a burger and sweet tea.
You are driving through a city. You notice there seems to be a lot of art students. Many carry canvas bags and backpacks, but all of them have dyed hair. You look around again, and you notice that everyone has dyed hair, ranging from bright reds to deep violets. You cannot find any browns or blondes. They all have colorful hair. They are all art students. You look into your rearview mirror. Your hair is bright blue. “I’m an art student.” You whisper in horror.
You are driving west. You do not know how long you have been driving, only that you are driving west. There is so much traffic. You think you have spent days on the highway, staring at the car in front of you. You can’t be sure. The people are a strange mix of hurried and unbothered. You try to ask for directions, but the answer you receive is in another language, for all you understand it. You ask another person and they explain in a tongue you understand, and they tell you to make a right turn at In-N-Out. You look around you. There are 7 different In-N-Outs just within the radius of your eye sight. You begin to cry.
You’re the worst kind of psychic. Everyone can read YOUR mind. But they don’t always know it’s not their thoughts.
I’m the worst kind of psychic, unfortunately. And I’m pretty evil about it, too, in case you were wondering. Which you were, because I made you.
Now here’s a story. Picture this.
You’re working your graveyard shift at the El Cheapo gas station. It’s dead, as usual, and you’re scrolling through twitter on your phone because it’s not like the boss is there to stop you, or that he would even care.
You really want to open the cash register, you suddenly think. Well, it doesn’t hurt to pass time counting bills, so you open it. Your hand is just reaching for the $20’s when: now you really want to turn off the security cameras.
“No I don’t!” You accidentally shout out loud, but you know, you don’t want to get fired, and there’s no one in the store, anyway.
Yes you do! Your brain tells you. And if you don’t you’ll feel terrible.
“What-“ you start to say out loud, because what is your brain doing, but before you’ve finished the question, your head is suddenly killing you. It’s like someone is vaguely hitting it with a metal pipe.
I’m going, I’m going, you think angrily, for the moment not caring that your brain is being weird as hell, not when something as simple as turning off the security cameras could make the pain stop. You use the sleeve of your jacket to touch the computer, absentmindedly worried about finger prints.
And sure enough, as soon as the cameras go down, so does the pain.
You walk out of the back room, suddenly worried about how you’ve left the cash register open, when you see a shadow in the corner of your vision. A hand comes into view, holding a metal pipe, and then your world disappears.
You wake up to someone shaking your shoulder. It’s the boss’s daughter.
“Are you alright?” She asks, while helping you sit up.
You look at the cash register, which is still open, except that it’s completely cleared of cash. “I think we were robbed.” You say in a daze.
(And before you ask, yes, I had to hit myself with a metal pipe. No, it wasn’t fun. Yes, I have to do it if the mark isn’t cooperating. But you don’t care about that anymore. You just really want to send a picture of your credit card to the number that just texted you. You reeeeaaalllly want to. Trust me, I’m your brain.)
Candlelight-magick 