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onlyanauthor · 9 years

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i know everyone and their grandmother is taking potshots at the new twilight novel but honest to god i have so many questions, so many things i needed to know in the agonizing hours occupying the space between “knew this thing exists” and “got my filthy, goblin hands on a copy,” and my first and most pressing being what are we going to do now that jacob black doesn’t have a knot? how does renesmee work in this universe – does she exist in this universe? would she have existed? if edward is the one who is against having the baby, would edythe have carried it given the reverse situation? would edward’s body – unable to change, age, or grow, even conceive a child? would there be a vampire abortion? would there, in this universe, have to be some kind of fanfic-style cis-dude mpreg for beaufort slash bella swan to fulfill her destiny of being a zombie vampire babychild incubation machine? and like, in a universe where the dynamics of half of the familial and romantic relationships are predicated on gender roles learned and assigned in like, the mid 19th and 20th fucking centuries, how does rosalie’s storyline even work? she was only a vampire because of a) her relative class status b) the existence and enactment of gender-based violence in the depression era, jasper was only a vampire because he was an active confederate soldier in texas during the southern vampire wars, would alice’s institutionalization and torture have even happened if she’d been a man? would carlisle have been a doctor? is edythe going to take the role of stalker slash protector without the hovering obligation of antiquated gender roles? how does leah’s struggle with the hypermasculinity assigned to her as a werewolf play out if she’s like, a dude, how does the whole lowkey racist narrative about quileute men being unable to control their violent, animalistic impulses because they’re native ameri– excuse me, werewolves, play out if all of them are women. i have been sending frantic, screaming voice memos about this to several people tonight and my only regret is that this was the way you all had to find out that not only did i read twilight but i am heavily emotionally invested in the consistency of the twilight universe’s internal logic buT LIKE FOR REAL IS THERE GOING TO BE MPREG IN THIS? IS BEAUFORT (BEAUFORT!!!) SWAN GONNA HAVE A BABY. WHAT HORRIFYING PORTMANTEAU IS RENESMEE GONNA SUFFER THROUGH THIS TIME

#twilight #meta #yeaaah #same

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onlyanauthor · 9 years

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there’s all this stuff about steve discovering modern music and don’t get me wrong i am About That but i just want to make sure we talk about how many songs would be about steve, in the mcu as it stands. steve is a cultural icon! steve is a national symbol! the line in don mclean’s american pie would be “the day the captain died!” there would be a springsteen song about how like, the narrator found himself driving into brooklyn with mary and they laid out on the hood of his truck and he thought about days gone by when captain america wandered these streets! there’d be a steve rogers version of candle in the wind!

just think about it, okay, sam constantly putting the songs on steve’s ipod and totally knowing when they were playing, because steve would get all uncomfortable when they came on and like, weird about it, but also, you know, a little bit like

and it’d be so beautiful, man. it’d be so beautiful.

#meta #mcu #captain america #music #history

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onlyanauthor · 9 years

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#mcu #aou #meta #captain america #sam wilson is a gift #party like its 1945!!

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onlyanauthor · 9 years

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To say that Nick Fury holds no value within the MCU, or rather, that he has no prioritized importance in Captain America: Civil War, is to thoroughly misunderstand the MCU as a - loosely - connected universe of movies, and television shows.

Nick Fury is one of two characters that shows up in both the movies and television shows - Sif is the other character, both on Agents of SHIELD - and while Coulson originally acted as the “everyman/audience insert” in the original Phase 1 series of movies, Nick Fury was the man behind the curtain.

Nick Fury has been one of the few connections between the entire MCU and considering the way Marvel/Disney has set up their universe, there’s really no justifiable way to deny his place in Civil War.

If the basis of the story itself is about superhero accountability, and asks the questions, should the Avengers be controlled, and if so, by whom? then why wouldn’t the man who brought the Avengers together, created the idea itself for the team, directed them, guided them, and oversaw their actions as the leader of SHIELD, not be included?

Fans shouldn’t have to defend Nick Fury’s place within the MCU, especially when the movies have kept a strict status quo on which characters are important. IE, white, straight, men, because yes we are getting a Black Panther and Captain Marvel movie, but that’s hardly a tip in the overall balance that favors this stringent demographic Marvel/Disney has proirtized in favor of.

Nick Fury is important. Period. One can argue CACW doesn’t need him because of the comics, but then, one would also have to acknowledge that the lack of Thunderbolts, New Warriors, Fantastic Four, the complete overhaul of who Peter Parker was during Civil War as compared to who he is in the movies (which is, essentially, no one), and the utter lack of relationships that existed and mattered in the comic book version of Civil War that don’t exist within the MCU. Even putting these things aside, you’d also have to acknowledge that the movie storyline of Civil War, and the comic book storyline of Civil War are also inherently completely different.

In the comic books it was all about registration, and superheroes revealing their secret identities to be held accountable by the government. In the MCU, no such conflict exists as the entire world knows who these individuals are.

Steve’s identity is public record, Tony revealed his in his very first movie, Natasha revealed all her - and SHIELD’s - secrets in CATWS, Rhodey already works for the government, Bruce’s identity as the Hulk is a matter of public record due to his involvement with the military, Sam’s as well since he was also in the military, and so on and so forth. The battle to be had in MCU’s Civil War is very different from the battle fought in the comic books.

Since it’s different, based around the universe of the previous movies, it should reflect that universe instead of shoehorning characters in - like Scott Lang and Spider-man - for no other reason than money, namegrabs, and call backs/easter eggs of the comics. At least not at the cost of 1. adding more diversity to an already extremely skewed white movie, and 2. the very fabric of the universe created.

For fans saying, “well the movie has Rhodey, Sam, and T’challa and they’re black!” I’d like to direct you to a comic legend who once said that people feel if you have more than three black characters in a film, suddenly it’s ghetto or urban. Dwayne McDuffie understood how Hollywood works; more importantly that for Hollywood, white people came first and that was not okay. When fans throw aside Nick Fury’s overall importance in the MCU in favor of characters like Spider-man, or Scott Lang, who have had no real impact on the MCU as of yet, they’re prioritizing white characters over black, and other characters of color. Three black characters in a movie that has a top billed cast of sixteen - meaning 13 actors of that cast are white - isn’t equality, it’s scraps, it’s settling. If they threw in Heimdall and Nick Fury that’d be every black character the MCU has introduced - not including Korath or the Dark Elf that appeared in GotG or Thor the Dark World since they were two-bit characters with maybe twenty minutes of screentime between them.

So yes, it’s a huge slap in the face that Nick Fury isn’t included in Civil War. Considering not only his overall importance within the MCU, within the fabric of Steve’s overall story - as Nick is far more important and close to Steve than Tony is it’d make more emotional impact if Nick was on an opposing side to Steve than Tony - but also to fans of color. Of fans who would like to set something more than simple scraps every now and again. Because out of near twenty slated movies - either post or pre production - Marvel has two that don’t star white men as leads.

The odds are hardly in our favor here.

#meta #erasure #mcu #Nick fury

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onlyanauthor · 10 years

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Character development thing.

Plot points on this chart to represent how important these different aspects of a character’s life are to them. By doing that you can help determine what type of things your character deems to be most meaningful in their life, especially compared to others aspects.

A brief explanation of each aspect is below in case you’re confused about the meaning of any.

Physical Aspects

Strength: to have physical power and strength

Sex: to have sexual gratification and satisfaction

Possessions: to have objects and tangible things

Health: to have physical health and stability

Appearance: to have a good external appearance

Emotional Aspects

Love: to love and be loved, romantically or otherwise

Appreciation: to be appreciated by others

Attention: to be paid attention to

Security: to feel secure emotionally

Approval: to be approved by others

Social Aspects

Respect: to be respected

Friendship: to have friends

Intimacy: to be intimate with a partner or partners

Belongingness: to feel needed and belonged

Family: to be on good terms with/have a family

Spiritual Aspects

Inner peace: to be content with themselves

Purpose: to feel as though they are fulfilling a purpose

Self-sufficiency: to feel that they are able to provide for themselves

Growth: to feel as though they are growing and changing

Acceptance: to be able to accept themselves without consequence

#WRITING #REFERENCE #STILL NOT DEAD

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onlyanauthor · 10 years

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Send me a word/fandom/characters and I will write a drabble

Cheiloproclitic - Being attracted to someones lips. Quidnunc - One who always has to know what is going on. Ultracrepidarian - Of one who speaks or offers opinions on matters beyond their knowledge. Apodyopis - The act of mentally undressing someone. Gymnophoria - The sensation that someone is mentally undressing you. Tarantism - The urge to overcome melancholy by dancing. Autolatry - The worship of one’s self. Cagamosis - An unhappy marriage. Gargalesthesia - The sensation caused my tickling. Capernoited - Slightly intoxicated or tipsy. Lalochezia - The use of abusive language to relieve stress or ease pain. Cataglottism - Kissing with tongue. Basorexia - An overwhelming desire to kiss. Brontide - The low rumbling of distant thunder. Grapholagnia - The urge to stare at obscene pictures. Agelast - A person who never laughs. Wanweird - An unhappy fate. Dystopia - Am imaginary place of total misery. A metaphor for hell. Petrichor - The smell of dry rain on the ground. Anagapesis - The feeling when one no longer loves someone they once did. Malapert - Clever in manners of speech. Duende - Unusual power to attract or charm. Concilliabule - A secret meeting of people who are hatching a plot. Strikhedonia - The pleasure of being able to say “to hell with it”. Lygerastia - The condition of one who is only amorous when the lights are out.  Ayurnamat - The philosophy that there is no point in worrying about events that cannot be changed. Sphallolalia - Flirtatious talk that leads no where. Baisemain - A kiss on the hand. Druxy - Something which looks good on the outside, but is actually rotten inside. Mamihlapinatapei - The look between two people in which each loves the other but is too afraid to make the first move.

#challenge #Shockingly #I'm still alive #PhD's are stressful

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onlyanauthor · 10 years

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Some resources for those writing medieval-type stories:

list of medieval jobs

more medieval jobs

lords of the manor

ladies of the manor

medieval ladies

medieval weapons

medieval names

more medieval names

guide to medieval terms

more medieval terms

how to write sword-fight scenes

armor

#writing #reference #medieval stories

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onlyanauthor · 10 years

Conversation

Words to describe someone's voice

adenoidal: if someone’s voice is adenoidal, some of the sound seems to come through their nose

appealing: an appealing look, voice etc shows that you want help, approval, or agreement

breathy: with loud breathing noises

brittle: if you speak in a brittle voice, you sound as if you are about to cry

croaky: if someone’s voice sounds croaky, they speak in a low rough voice that sounds as if they have a sore throat

dead: if someone’s eyes are dead, or if their voice is dead, they feel or show no emotion

disembodied: a disembodied voice comes from someone who you cannot see

flat: spoken in a voice that does not go up and down. This word is often used for describing the speech of people from a particular region.

fruity: a fruity voice or laugh is deep and strong in a pleasant way

grating: a grating voice, laugh, or sound is unpleasant and annoying

gravelly: a gravelly voice sounds low and rough

gruff: a gruff voice has a rough low sound

guttural: a guttural sound is deep and made at the back of your throat

high-pitched: a high-pitched voice or sound is very high

hoarse: someone who is hoarse or has a hoarse voice speaks in a low rough voice, usually because their throat is sore

honeyed: honeyed words or a honeyed voice sound very nice but you cannot trust the person who is speaking

husky: a husky voice is deep and sounds hoarse (=as if you have a sore throat), often in an attractive way

low adjective: a low voice or sound is quiet and difficult to hear

low adverb: in a deep voice, or with a deep sound

matter-of-fact: used about someone’s behaviour or voice

modulated: a modulated voice is controlled and pleasant to listen to

monotonous: a monotonous sound or voice is boring and unpleasant because it does not change in loudness or become higher or lower

nasal: someone with a nasal voice sounds as if they are speaking through their nose

orotund: an orotund voice is loud and clear

penetrating: a penetrating voice or sound is so high or loud that it makes you slightly uncomfortable

plummy: a plummy voice or way of speaking is considered to be typical of an English person of a high social class. This word shows that you dislike people who speak like this.

quietly: in a quiet voice

raucous: a raucous voice or noise is loud and sounds rough

ringing: a ringing sound or voice is very loud and clear

rough: a rough voice is not soft and is unpleasant to listen to

shrill: a shrill noise or voice is very loud, high, and unpleasant

silvery: a silvery voice or sound is clear, light, and pleasant

singsong: if you speak in a singsong voice, your voice rises and falls in a musical way

small: a small voice or sound is quiet

smoky: a smoky voice or smoky eyes are sexually attractive in a slightly mysterious way

softly spoken: someone who is softly spoken has a quiet gentle voice

sotto voce adjective, adverb: in a very quiet voice

stentorian: a stentorian voice sounds very loud and severe

strangled: a strangled sound is one that someone stops before they finish making it

strangulated: strangled

strident: a strident voice or sound is loud and unpleasant

taut: used about something such as a voice or expression that shows someone is nervous or angry

thick: if your voice is thick with an emotion, it sounds less clear than usual because of the emotion

thickly: with a low voice that comes mostly from your throat

thin: a thin voice or sound is high and unpleasant to listen to

throaty: a throaty sound is low and seems to come from deep in your throat

tight: a tight voice or expression shows that you are nervous or annoyed

toneless: a toneless voice does not express any emotion

tremulous: if something such as your voice or smile is tremulous, it is not steady, for example because you are afraid or excited

wheezy: a wheezy noise sounds as if it is made by someone who has difficulty breathing

wobbly: if your voice is wobbly, it goes up and down, usually because you are frightened, not confident, or are going to cry

#writing #voice #reference #words

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onlyanauthor · 10 years

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Symbolism

Birds symbolize freedom, power, messengers or carriers, transcendence, death, war, wisdom, life and death, and deities.

Blackbird - good omens, magic, shyness, insecurity, and enchantment.

Crow - guardian, carrier of souls, magic, trickery, thievery, cunning, boldness, eloquence, destiny, intelligence, swiftness, sacred law, and mysticism.

Dove - peace, purity, love, prophecy, gentleness, the Holy Spirit, and tranquility.

Eagle - swiftness, strength, courage, power, intelligence, wisdom, vision, healing, triumph, prosperity, and creation.

Goose - parenthood, luck, innocence, travels, fertility, productiveness, loyalty, teamwork, fellowship, communication, call of the quest, and cooperation.

Hawk - observance, guardianship, wisdom, illumination, truth, experience, creativity, nobility, messenger

Heron - good omens, self-reliance, and determination.

Hummingbird - messenger, joy, beauty, time, and swiftness.

Owl - silence, swiftness, keen sight, freedom, magical, watchfulness, patience, night, and intuition.

Peacock - birth, pride, spring, prestige, and resurrection. Peacock feathers were once thought to be evil because they resembled an eye.

Raven - healing, magic, divination, wisdom, eloquence, teaching, guidance, death, bad luck, shape shifting, and prophecy.

Robin - growth, joy, hope, happiness, good luck, and song.

Sparrow - intelligence, gentleness, companionship, hope, common nobility, and fertility. The sparrow is the bird of the full harvest moon.

Swan - emotions, sensitivity, dreams, true beauty, transformation, empathy, grace, innocence, balance, purity, union, and love.

Woodpecker - prophecy, magic, guardian of trees, and rhythm.

MYTHOLOGICAL BIRDS

Amihan

This bird is from Philippine mythology. It is said to be the first creature in the universe, making it part of a creation mythology.

Adar Llwch Gwin

This is a large Welsh bird that know all languages and are loyal servants to their masters.

Alicanto

This bird belongs to Chilean mythology. Its wings shine and it brings luck to miners who see it. They emerge in the desert at night and act as light. However, this bird can also lead greedy miners to their deaths. It eats silver and gold, thus being a subject for miners to search for as the birds have these precious metals in their nests. It looks like a vulture, but it much larger.

Alkonost

From Russian folklore, this bird has the head of a woman and makes beautiful sounds. When its eggs hatch, a storm comes over the ocean. It sometimes has human arms. Hearing this bird’s song will make a person forget about everything else.

Ara and Irik

In East Indian mythology, Ara and Irik were two birds involved in a creation myth. They took two eggs from the water and made the sky and the earth with them.

Avalerion

Also known as alerion or the king of the birds

The avalerion is a mythological bird from Indian mythology. At any given time, only two of these birds exist. They lay a pair of eggs every sixty years, which take sixty days to hatch. After they hatch, the parents drown themselves. Other birds care for the newly hatched birds until they can fly.

In European heraldry, the avalerion is a heraldic eagle known as the king of the bird. Avalerions are depicted as having no beak and no legs, or sometimes feathery stumps.

It is said to resemble an eagle, but is larger, has sharp razor-like wings, and is the color of fire.

Benu

Also known as Bennu

Benu is from Egyptian mythology and modeled after the heron. The bird has two white feathers on either side of its head and wears either the crown of Osiris or of Ra.This bird often represents Ra (a sun god) because it is associated with the sun. Benu is a central part of creation mythologies. Benu is a symbol of rebirth.

Caladrius

This is a white bird that can sense death, as it refused to look at anyone who was dying. However, it can also take away the sickness from others and heal them. This bird is from Roman mythology.

Feng Huang

From Chinese mythology, this phoenix is highly respected and represents yin and yang. It has a swallow’s face, but a rooster’s beak and a snake’s neck. Some say the Feng Huang resembles a peacock. This bird is often paired with the dragon.

Firebird

Also known as Zhar-Ptitsa

The appearance of the firebird is just as the name suggests: red, orange, yellow, and glowing. Most stories about the firebird include a hero on a quest to find the bird’s feathers. The firebird gives hope to those in need and it is said pearls drop from its beak. This bird has the ability to restore health. It is often seen sitting on a golden perch and eats golden apples.

Hoyl Bird

This bird comes from Jewish mythology and is immortal. Like a phoenix, it is destroyed in fire and then reborn as a full-grown hoyl bird in an egg. Its immortality was granted when Adam and Eve offered fruit to the animals. The hoyl bird was the only one that refused.

Huma

Also known as homa or the bird of paradise

The huma is a bird belonging to Persian mythology. This bird’s shadow is said to bring good luck to anyone who touches it (this detail varies). The huma is both male and female, dedicating a leg and wing to each gender. The huma flies incessantly and some say it has no legs.

The huma dies in fire and rises again in the ashes, just as a phoenix does. Some say eggs are laid in mid-air and hatched during the fall.

Kongamato

This bird has reptilian skin and comes from African mythology. This bird often dove from the sky and attacked passengers on boats to drown them. Looking into its eyes would anger the bird and guarantee death. It is said to be the size of an eagle.

Oozlum

Also known as Ouzelum

This bird is from British and Australian folklore. This bird flies backwards because while it does not know where it is going, it likes to know where it has been. This bird has colorful plumage and can be compared to an ostrich, but is smaller. Also like the ostrich, this bird buries its head when threatened, though not in sand.

Owlman

The owlman is an urban legend of Cornwall. He is an owl-like humanoid with red eyes who preys on young women. America’s mothman is its counterpart.

Roc

Also known as Rukh

This bird comes from Middle Eastern mythology. It was a massive bird similar to an eagle, though it had a forked tongue and sharp teeth. The size of the bird is said to be so large it can carry off an elephant.

SUPERSTITIONS & MYTHS

An owl that circles a house three times is said to be a sign that someone within the house will die soon.

It is said robins gained their red feathers because they attempted to remove the thorn crown from Jesus’s head, but his blood fell on the bird instead.

It is unlucky to kill a robin.

The eye on a peacock feather is said to be the “evil eye” and therefore bad luck to bring inside a home.

There are countless superstitions about birds near homes and windows that signify oncoming death.

Tip your hat at a magpie to avoid back luck.

It’s unlucky to kill sparrows because they carry the souls of the dead.

A crow at the window represents the soul of a dead person.

A nearby robin carries the soul of a deceased family member.

#writing #birds #reference #mythology

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onlyanauthor · 11 years

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And now for a Halloween themed post.

HALLOWEEN

Also known as Samhein, Sauin, La Samhna, Samhuiin, Oiche Shamhna, Samain, Hallowmas, Shadowfest, All Hallow’s Eve, Samhuinn, Samhain, Witch’s New Year, Summer’s End, the Third Harvest, Samana, Vigil of Saman, and others.

The name “Samhain”, and its other spellings and similar names, comes from the Old Irish “sam” for summer and “fuin” for end, thus making this holiday the mark of the end of summer.

The celebration of Halloween goes back six thousand years where the Celtic people celebrated the end of the harvest and the coming of winter. This day is traditionally October 31st, though some celebrated it in the early days of November. Its most precise date is when the sun is at 15 degrees Scorpio. In the year of 2013, it will occur on November 7th. The celebration usually began the day before, at sunset.

This day was used to honor the dead and those who had passed away that year, as it was said the veil between the living and the dead was thinnest at this time of year. Rather than mourning the dead, Halloween was a celebration for the death of all things old and the beginning of all things new.

SUPERSTITIONS

Bird Superstitions:

An owl that circles a house three times is said to be a sign that someone within the house will die soon.

It is said robins gained their red feathers because they attempted to remove the thorn crown from Jesus’s head, but his blood fell on the bird instead.

It is unlucky to kill a robin.

The eye on a peacock feather is said to be the “evil eye” and therefore bad luck to bring inside a home.

There are countless superstitions about birds near homes and windows that signify oncoming death.

Tip your hat at a magpie to avoid back luck.

It’s unlucky to kill sparrows because they carry the souls of the dead.

A crow at the window represents the soul of a dead person.

A nearby robin carries the soul of a deceased family member.

If a bird call comes from the north, misfortune will follow.

If a bird call comes from the west, good luck will follow.

If a bird call comes from the south, a good harvest will follow.

If a bird call comes from the east, love will follow.

Unbaptized children become birds until they are accepted into Heaven.

Pet birds must be informed of important family events or they will die.

It is unlucky to find a dead bird outside the home.

A raven near a sick person means death is coming.

In Wales, a blind person can regain sight by showing kindness to a raven.

Cardinal Superstitions

Bird Folklore

Crow Folklore

Death Superstitions

Victorian Funeral Customs and Superstitions

Superstitions on Death

Superstitions of Death

13 Superstitions About Death and Dying

Superstitions About Death

Death Superstitions

Superstitions Surrounding Death

General Superstitions:

Put almonds in your pocket when you need to find something.

Scatter chili peppers around your house to break a curse.

Never blow out the first candle you lit before you blow out the others or bad luck will follow.

Throw rice in the air to make it rain.

Ask an orange a yes or no question and count the seeds. An even number of seeds means no and an odd number means yes.

In a photograph of three, the person in the middle will die first.

Walk through the branches of a maple tree to have a long life.

Carry peach wood to have a long life.

Eat a peach to assist in making a tough decision

Mix salt and pepper together and scatter it around your house to repel evil.

Do not whistle at night.

Eat mustard seed to ensure fertility.

Place chips of cedar wood in a box with some coins to draw money to you.

If you bite your tongue, someone is talking about you or thinking of you.

Hanging up a new calendar before the year is over will bring bad luck

Animal Superstitions

Irish Superstitions and Folklore

Superstitions

Superstitions From Europe

Superstitions in Shakespeare’s Time

Folklore of Puerto Rico

Old Irish Superstitions

Halloween Superstitions:

Put out all fires in the home the night before Halloween to cleanse negative spirits. Reignite them from a common source on Halloween.

Burying apples along the path is said to serve as food for souls as they pass through our world.

The veil between the living and the dead is said to be thinnest on Halloween.

13 Halloween Superstitions

Halloween Superstitions

Halloween Superstitions and Folklore

Home & Hearth Superstitions:

Hanging a pair of scissors over the front door will cut off negativity

Hanging a cluster of acorns on the front door will protect those who live there

Put thorny branches on your doorstep to keep evil away

Smell dill to get rid of hiccups

Place cotton on an aching tooth to relieve pain

Place a sliced onion in the room of an ill person to draw out the sickness

Hang a pea pod with nine peas above your door to draw your future lover

Place a pine branch above your bed to keep illness away

Love Superstitions:

Cut an apple in half and give one half to your love for a long relationship.

Put pepper inside a piece of cotton and sew it shut to bring back a lost love

It is bad luck for siblings to marry within the same year

If you see a robin on Valentine’s Day, you will marry a crime fighter

Eight Love Superstitions and Their Origins

Superstitions About Love and Marriage

Love Superstitions

Wedding Superstitions

Love Superstitions (highlight to read text)

Sleep Superstitions:

Smell peppermint to help you sleep

Eat a bit of thyme before bed for sweet dreams

Putting garlic under the bed will prevent nightmares

Rub a lettuce leaf on your forehead to help you sleep

Placing a full glass of water by your bed every night will collect any negativity in the room, but don’t drink it

Putting a broom on the bed brings bad luck

If you leave laundry hanging outside during the night, a spirit will attach itself to it and possess the wearer

Never put a hat on the bed

Place morning glory seeds under your bed to cure nightmares

Place an onion underneath your pillow to have prophetic dreams

Never sleep with your head pointing east

Never sleep with your head pointing west

If you go to bed backwards, you will have good dreams

Sea Superstitions:

Superstitions and the Sea

13 Sailor Superstitions

Maritime Superstitions

Seafaring Superstitions

Sailors’ Superstitions

Superstition Bash: Sailors

BOOKS

Best Books to Read for Halloween

Best Halloween Books

Best Halloween Picture Books

Great Reads for Halloween

Halloween Reads

Reading for October Evenings

Spooky Kids Books to Read at Halloween

October Reading List

Witchy Picture Books

Halloween 2012 Must Reads

Killer Ghost Stories

Creepy Halloween Reads

Haunted Reads 2013

All Hallows Reads

Amazing Paranormal Books

Forests in Myth, Folklore, and Fairy Tales

Fantasy Novels Based in Native American Myth

Ghost Story Collections

Asian Folktale Picture Books

Mythology/Folklore

#Superstitions #reference #writing #halloween

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onlyanauthor · 11 years

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All about LURVEEE

do you have any tips for writing romance, or even just romantic attraction/crushes? i’m aromantic, and it’s really difficult to find advice about handling romance that isn’t written with the assumption that the person looking for advice understands it on a personal level. an explanation as to how it relates to the sexual side of things would be extremely helpful as well! -Anonymous

Much like the question I answered about friendships, this is a big area. We all have different kinds of romances in our lives. What I’ll do is go through some of the big ones for you and describe how they feel, typically advance and some of the problems/solutions your characters might find together. I’ll throw in how they can relate to sex, too.

Bear in mind that these are mostly out of my own personal experience, so you may come across more ideas from other people.

Naive Love

Naive love is often the first kind of love that people experience. They become so blinded by attraction (usually physical or aesthetic - this is the stage where people are attracted to someone being ‘cute’ or their external persona as a bad boy or popular girl) that they fall in love with the idea of the person rather than the person themselves. This kind of love is often initially drawn out and involves a lot of obsessing, which heightens our desire because the object of our affection becomes unattainable in our own minds. When we have them, the combination of our long obsession and intense fantasising becomes the force that keeps us with them.

In these relationships, we’re the most likely to change ourselves in order to please our partner. This is where you’ll hear girls asking if they should lose their virginity or smoke drugs in order to impress a boy, or boys pretending to be more masculine or exaggerate what the girl finds attractive in them.

The problem with this kind of love for people/characters is that this isn’t a healthy development. It creates pressure to be something you’re not, because of the pressure to live up to the other person’s fantasy. When you inevitably can’t, the relationship breaks down and falls to pieces as disappointment and realisation sink in.

This can be the most awkward sexual relationship possible. Since this kind of attraction is common in young people, sex becomes a way to impress the other person in order to keep them. There’s very rarely communication about it beyond ‘can I do this to you’, which risks damaging someone’s perspective on sex altogether. There’s little passion and a focus on getting the technique right, and when neither party will tell the other person that it’s not what they like or guide them as to how they do (for fear of losing them), sex can break down the relationship very quickly.

In short, it’s aesthetic, it’s obsessive and it’s very, very fragile. Your characters would be frantic about making sure they present themselves in a certain way to their love interest and wouldn’t perceive sex as an intimate bond so much as a hooking mechanism. Losing them would be their ultimate fear, but their love is despite flaws that they refuse to see. Denial, making excuses for bad behaviour and constantly taking the blame in arguments are all characteristic of naive love.

Mad Love

Mad love is probably the most destructive of all relationships. It’s almost the teenage sibling to naive love. In these relationships, the hook is the sex. The person becomes a fantasy that’s addictive to a person/character and/or enables them to feel powerful or sexy.

These relationships usually come from an inexplicable attraction. You see someone and you can’t say what it is about them, but they make your throat dry and your heart race. Your fantasies of them are almost purely sexual, and when you finally talk to them, things develop quickly, if the attraction is mutual. There’s a lot of talking at the beginning of these relationships; staying up until 3am before work or staying up all night just to read their blog. Often, the foundation is an intense intellectual connection rather than an emotional one.

Once there’s a foundation of liking the person for a few of their traits, people in these relationships quickly move on to an impassioned sexual relationship. These are the people who say they’d rather stay in bed together all day than go out somewhere with one another. They become addicted to the physical relationship and mistake it for true love.

These relationships turn destructive in several ways. The first is the likelihood of cheating, because if the relationship hits the point where the sex is slowly becoming less frequent, the addiction remains and one or both want to renew how it has made them feel. The second is violence; often people are so desperate to keep that connection that when something goes wrong, their passion comes out in entirely the wrong way. The third is simply that the relationship draws to a natural close. Sex and intellectual connection can only sustain relationships for so long before the lack of genuine emotional attachment creates arguments, resentment and anger. People who aren’t emotionally invested in one another are far less likely to go out of their way to help their partner or consider their feelings.

The summary for this would be that the physical and intellectual aspects overrule everything else and are mistaken for love. The addiction becomes a madness that becomes destructive, and the relationship will eventually destroy itself. Characters in this kind of relationship are likely to experience severe highs and lows when their relationship is going well or terribly, and any hint of betrayal or losing that sexual/intellectual connection will cause immediate panic and overreaction.

'Fixer' Love

This relationship involves two specific kinds of people/characters; the broken and the fixers. ‘Broken’ people/characters often endure very low self-esteem, fragile/problematic mental health, an over-reliance on others and a need to have somebody save them. ‘Fixers’ are people who take their satisfaction and fulfilment from being that saviour and making the broken person/character feel better.

Sometimes, these relationships really work well. It requires the ‘broken’ person to be aware of the necessary equality in a relationship and to understand that the fixer is also a person who isn’t okay all of the time. It becomes problematic when gratefulness is mistaken for love or dependency is the only thing keeping them together. They will inevitably depend on one another for what they need, and these relationships can often last a long time on that fulfilled need alone.

Sex in these relationships can be a tricky area. Sometimes the fixer takes on a very dominant role whilst trying to be sensitive to their partner’s needs, whilst in other situations, it doesn’t happen often. This relationship does not rely on sex to keep it going and sometimes it falls at the wayside next to the fulfilment of more emotionally vulnerable desires. It’s a relationship built on the foundations of feeling safe and needed. If sex is a a common part of the relationship, the fixer is usually the one giving the majority of the attention (which can sometimes lead to resentment and sexual dissatisfaction).

The things to define when looking at this kind of relationship is why they both need one another so much and where their need to fix/be fixed comes from. If the relationship breaks down, it will be extremely painful for both parties because there’s often a sense of ‘us against the world’ and a feeling of failure on the fixer’s part, or abandonment on the fixee’s part.

The One True Love

People who have found ‘the one’ are renowned for saying ‘you just know’. I’m fortunate enough to believe I’ve done so, and I think I can explain why it feels different to other relationships a little more concisely than that.

People often go through life trying out relationships that don’t work. They fail to fit into one another’s lives the right way, or there’s just something missing. When meeting ‘the right one’, they fill a void that you never realised was there to begin with, as though your life knew all along that nobody else was going to fit into it but them. Some people realise it immediately and some people realise three months later that they have no idea how they felt anywhere near whole without that person before.

These relationships aren’t common and they are hugely defining moments. This is the love that people would gladly die for, the kind that creates words like ‘ya’aburnee’ in Levantine Arabic (which, literally translated, means ‘you bury me’, an indication that the person would rather die first because they can’t bear the idea of the pain). This bond is intrinsically permanent, two halves coming together and being unable to leave one another.

That doesn’t mean it’s always harmony, though. Sometimes there are arguments and sometimes they hurt one another. Some people don’t realise someone is ‘the one’ until they’ve done something to hurt them and the threat of them leaving becomes real. These are the relationships that, when tested by fire, find a way to last. Their rarity makes it considered an idealistic cliché to write about it, but it does exist, and it can be written effectively if you know your characters.

The sexual aspect of this kind of relationship is about intimacy and communication. These lovers feel so comfortable with each other that they can guide and instruct without fear of losing them, and their intimate expression of how they feel unified. Sex is an expression of something far deeper than a physical desire, but an emotional desire to be completely absorbed into one another.

I hope that explains some of the ways your characters would be affected by love and how they might feel when they’re with someone. If it’s not sufficient, please feel free to contact me via the ask box on my blog, and I’ll be happy to talk through situational details with you.

When it comes to the actual writing, concentrate on what a character does and says rather than trying to express precisely what’s going on in their heads. It’ll make it easier for you personally whilst conveying the intended meaning to your reader. People do crazy and illogical things when they’re in love (or think they are). Love is defined as something that makes you put others before yourself, and romantic love, real romantic love, is no different.

-House of Fantasists

#Writing #love #reference

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onlyanauthor · 11 years

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the worst thing about writing is that you aren’t just a writer. you have to be a thousand things. a poet, a flirt, a weapons expert, a bleeding heart, a scholar, a legendary cook, a theorist, an engineer, a reckless teenage girl, a dying god. you have to be able to write monologues and speeches and heartfelt confessions, and you have to make them believable. writing is putting yourself into someone else’s shoes.

writing is really hard (◕︿◕✿)

#writing

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onlyanauthor · 11 years

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myths & urban legends masterpost

i really love hearing about ghost stories, folklore and the like, and im sure there people out there who can relate, so i decided to throw together a masterpost. this collection is the result of a half hours’ worth of googling around. i apologize if there are any broken links - if you catch one, please fix it. additionally, if you know any good links that arent listed here, feel free to add them!

browse carefully - some of these are pretty creepy. lots of violence and swearing scattered around, etc.

Wikipedia:

List of ghosts

List of common misconceptions

List of backmasked messages

Category:Folklore by region

Category:Folklore by nationality

Category:Fairy tales by country

Category:Urban Legends

Category:Cryptids

Category:Reportedly haunted locations

Category:Curses

Category:Folklore

Category:Films based on urban legends

Snopes: (warning: some popups! snopes is sometimes an unreliable source, so i suggest taking its articles with a grain of salt, but theyre still a pretty good read.)

Main page

Horrors

Old Wives’ Tales

Disney

Lost Legends

History

Science

Misc.:

136 creepy wikipedia articles (not all urban legends, but still a really excellent masterpost!)

American Folklore (havent delved too deep into this website but it has a lot of content - check the links across the top in the red bar)

Creepypasta Index - Highest Rated (again, havent read all of these but theres some classics on here i recognize)

All-Lies (has some irritating ads, but theres a lot of stuff on here. take note of the sweet ’90s flames on the bottom of the page)

DisneyLies - (sister site to the previous link. im not sure why there are so many creepy myths surrounding disney, but these are pretty good. also has some pretty rad flames)

#Myths #legends #writing #reference

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onlyanauthor · 11 years

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oh my god its a fictional world generator im so happy this is hte best thing i have ever found on the internet

#reference #worlbuilding #writing

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onlyanauthor · 11 years

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This is an ultimate masterlist of many, many resources that could be helpful for writers/roleplayers.

→ GENERAL

Improvement

Improve Your Writing Habits Now

5 Ways to Add Sparkle to Your Writing

Getting Over Roleplaying Insecurities

Improve Your Paras

Why the Right Word Choices Result in Better Writing

4 Ways To Have Confidence in Your Writing

Writing Better Than You Normally Do

How’s My Driving?

Describing

A Description Resource

55 Words to Describe Someones Voice

Describing Skin Colors

Describing a Person: Adding Details

Emotions Vocabulary

90 Words For ‘Looks’

Be More Descriptive

Describe a Character’s Look Well

100 Words for Facial Expressions

To Show and Not To Tell

Words to Describe Facial Expressions

Describing Clothes

List of Actions

Tone, Feelings and Emotions

Masterlists

Writing Specific Characters

Character Guides

Writing Help for Writers

Ultimate Writing Resource List

Lots of RP Guides

Online Writing Resources

List of Websites to Help You Focus

Resources for Writing Bio’s

Helpful Links for Writing Help

General Writing Resources

Resources for Biography Writing

Mental Ilnesses/Disorders Guides

8 Words You Should Avoid While Writing

Body Language

Body Language Cheat

Body Language Reference Cheat

Tips for Writers: Body Language

Types of Crying

Body Language: Mirroring

Grammar/Vocabulary

Words Instead of Walk (2)

Commonly Confused Adjectives

A Guide on Punctuation

Common Writing Mistakes

25 Synoms for ‘Expession’

How to: Avoid Misusing Variations of Words

Words to Keep Inside Your Pocket

The 13 Trickiest Grammar Hang-Ups

Other Ways to Say..

Proofreading

300+ Sophiscated and Underused Words

List of Misused Words

Words for Sex

100 Beautiful and Ugly Words

Words to Use More Often

Alternatives for ‘Smile’ or ‘Laugh’

Three Self Editing Tips

Words to Use Instead of ‘Walk’, ‘Said’, ‘Happy’ and ‘Sad’

Synonyms for Common Words

Alternatives for ‘Smile’

Transitional Words

The Many Faces and Meanings of ‘Said’

Synonyms for ‘Wrote’

A Case Of She Said, She Said

Writer’s Block

How to: Cure Writer’s Block

Some Tips on Writer’s Block

Got Writer’s Block?

6 Ways to Beat Writer’s Block

Tips for Dealing With Writer’s Block

→ APPLICATIONS

Application (Itself)

How to: Make That Application Your Bitch

How to: Make Your App Better

How to: Submit a Flawless Audition

10 Tips for Applying

Para (Sample)

Para Sample Ideas

5 Tips on Writing an IC Para Sample

Writing an IC Sample Without Escaping From the Bio

How to: Create a Worthy IC Para Sample

How to: Write an Impressive Para Sample

How to: Lengthen Short Para’s

Prompts

Drabble Stuff

Prompts List

Writing Prompts

Drabble Prompts

How to Get Into Character

Writing Challenges/Prompts

A Study in Writing Prompts for RPs

Para Prompts & Ideas

Writing Prompts for Journal Entries

A List of Para Starters

→ GUIDES

Personalities

Angry

Bad Asses

Bitches (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Childishness

Emotional Detachment

Flirtatious

The Girl Next Door

Introverts (2)

Mean Persons (2)

Psychopaths

Party Girls

Rich (2)

Rebels

Sarcasm

Serial Killers (2)

Shyness (2, 3)

Sluts

Villains (2)

Witt

Disorders

Disorders in general (2, 3, 4, 5)

Attention Deficit Disorder

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Anxiety (2, 3, 4, 5)

Avoidant Personality Disorder

Alice In Wonderland Syndrome

Bipolar Disorder (2, 3)

Cotard Delusions

Depression (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Eeating Disorders (2, 3)

Facitious Disorders

Histrionic Personality Disorder

Multiple Personality Disorder (2)

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Night Terrors

Kleptomania (2)

A Pyromaniac

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Psychopaths

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (2)

Sex Addiction (2)

Schizophrenia (2)

Sociopaths (2)

Disabilities

Aspergers Syndrome

Apathy

Someone Blind (2)

Cancer (2, 3)

Disability

Dyslexia

Muteness (2, 3)

Stutter

Jobs/Hobbies/Beliefs

Actors

Ballet Dancer (2)

Christianity

Foreigners

Gamblers

Hinduism

Hitmen

Satanism

Smokers

Stoners

Taoism

Journalists

Vegetarians

Drugs

Alcohol Influence (2, 3, 4, 5)

Cocaine Influence

Ecstasy Influence (2)

Heroin Use

LSD Influence

Marijuana Influence (2, 3)

Opiate Use

Locations

Australia

Boston

California (2, 3)

England/Britain (2, 3, 4, 5)

New York

Prison

London

The South (2)

Genders

Females (2)

Males (2)

Transgenders

Supernatural

Vampires

Witches (2)

Werewolves

Other

Amnesia

Children

A Death Scene

Loosing Someone (2)

Old Persons

Physical Injuries (2, 3)

Sexual Abuse (2)

Fight Scenes (2, 3, 4)

Horror

Torture

→ CREATING CHARACTERS

Biography Writing

Components of Your Biographies

Character sheet (2, 3)

Need Help With Character Creation?

How to: Draw Inspiration for Characters From Music

How to: Write a Biography (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)

How to: Write a Fully Developed Character

How to: Create a Cast of Characters (2)

Writing an Original Character (2, 3)

Creating Believable Characters (2, 3)

Bio Formats (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

Little Things You Can Add To Your Bios

Connections (2)

Titles

Bio Twists

Names

Female Names (2, 3, 4, 5)

Male Names (2, 3, 4, 5)

Last Names (2, 3, 4)

Personalities

Jung’s 16 Personality Types

Underused Character Personalities

Birth-Order: Personality Traits

The Difference Between Personality and Behavior

How to: Show a Characters Personality In a Paragraph

16 Character Traits

Underused Personalities

Personality Traits

Positive (2)

Negative (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Both (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Habits

Addictions and Bad Habits

Bad Habits

Character Habits

Character Quirks

Phobias (2)

Secrets

300 Possible Secrets to Give Your Characters

I Bet You Didn’t Know..

Character Plots And Secrets (2)

Celebrity Secrets

Secret Masterlist

Quotes

Song Lyrics Masterlist

Songs for Biographies

Favorite Quotes: TV and Movies

Favorite Quotes: Notable Authors

Favorite Quotes: Celebrities

Favorite Quotes: Popular Books (2)

Quotes From Songs

Character Quotes

Masterlist of Bio Lyrics

Masterlist of Bio Quotes

Masterlist of Song Lyrics

Biography Lyrics

A Masterlist of Quotes

+130 Quotes

The Quotation Garden

Mary Sue’s

A Mary Sue In The Inbox

Your Character Is A Sue, Not Just A Mary Or Gary

Not Writing A Mary Sue

→ WHILE ROLEPLAYING

Para Titles

100 Paragraph Titles

Para Titles - Song Title Edition (2,3)

A Whole Ton of Para Titles

350+ Song Titles

Para Titles For You (2)

Starters

How to: Create an interesting starter

How to: Make an Interesting Starter

Gif Conversations: A Guide

A Brief Guide to Starters

Interesting Gif Convesation Starters

Starters Masterlist

Gif Starter Posts

46 Interesting Gif Chat Starters

Ideas for Gif Chat Starters

Starters

Careers/Jobs

Masterlist: Jobs

Possible Careers for Characters

Artistic Occupations

Martha’s Vineyard Job Masterlist

Interesting Jobs

Locations/Settings/Activities

Para Ideas

Masterlist: Para Ideas

Top 50 Places for Starters

Writing Topics: Para Ideas

101 Date Ideas

68 Date Ideas

22 Date Ideas

Popular Places to Eat

Character Developement

Character Development Questionaire

Character Surveys

C.D. Questionaire

30 Day Character Development Meme

Character Development Questions (2)

100 Pt. Questionaire

IC and OOC Surveys

Online Test for Character Building

30 Days of Character Development

How to: Develop Characters

Get To Know Your Characters

→ ROMANCE

Romance (in general)

The Little Ways a Ship Gets Build

Roleplaying Relationships

8 Ways to Say I Love You

How to: Make a Set Ship RP Work

How to: Write a Romantic Scene

Do’s and Don’ts of Writing Relationships

Putting a Label on It

Synonyms for Love

Pregnancy (2, 3, 4, 5)

Smut

Smut Guide: Casual Sex

Smut Guide: For Beginners

How to: Write a First Time Sex Scene Romantically

How to: Smut - The Bare Bones

How to: Smut (For Virgins)

How to: Write Lesbian Smut

How to: Write Smut (2, 3)

How to: Write a Blowjob/Prepping for Smut

Smut Guides of Tumblr

Tips on Writing Sex Scenes

A Guide to Language in Smut

Domination and Submission

Making Love

A Smut Guide

Kisses

How to: Write a Kiss (2)

Different Types of Kisses

Writing Out the First Kiss

→ OTHER

Plot Writing

How to: Create the Best Plot for Your RP

How to: Create A Plot Outline in 8 Steps

How to: Write A Plot in 12 Steps

How to: Write A Quality Plot

How to: Spice Up Your Roleplay Plots

Components of Your Plot Page

Writing Up A Plot

Basics of Writing A Plot

Links for Plot Writing Help

Eight Unique Plot Ideas

Plot Twists

Situation Ideas (2, 3)

Guide to Plotting

Eras

Eras Masterlist

Everything You Need to Know Abut the 20’s

20’s Slang

Primary Sources on Ancient Civilizations

How to: Play the Greek Goddess ‘Harmonia’

How to: Roleplay In the Victorian Era

Victorian Dialogue

#writing #writing advice #reference

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