Does your world have an education system? If so, which areas of study are the most valued?
What are the most undervalued jobs in your world? Who works them?
Which genre of music is the most popular?
How common is it to speak a language that is not your native one?
How is public intimacy regarded?
Does age play a role in how much respect a person gets at first glance? Why?
Which meals or foods are considered classics or universally loved?
What is that one thing that it seems like every kid does? (For example, where I live, it’s soccer.)
Does magic play a role in your world? How important is it and under what circumstances is it used?
How are criminals punished?
What is considered the worst possible crime that a person could commit?
Do people keep pets? Which ones are the most popular?
What are the three most common pastimes?
How are people like the police regarded by the general public?
Are there any gender roles or stereotypes that exist? If so, what are they?
How are people in the LGBT+ community treated?
How are disabled people treated?
How are people of color treated?
What is the general lifestyle of the average person in your world?
Do people with mental illnesses have access to resources they might need (therapists, medication, etc.)?
What are beauty standards for men and women like?
If any, what are the stereotypes that exist for each age group?
Which is valued more, the arts or the sciences?
What constitutes as standard intelligence?
Think of the biggest accomplishments or events in your world’s history. Is there a certain theme that carries through them all?
Do forms of entertainment like TV, movies, and theater — or anything resembling them — exist? How popular are they?
Does anything like the Internet exist? What is it most commonly used for?
When are kids expected to move out of their parents’ house?
When are people expected to get their first job? Does this standard vary depending on the family’s financial stability?
Do arranged marriages exist?
Describe your world’s (or country’s) government in five words or less.
If anything, what will absolutely not be tolerated in your world?
What does a typical family look like, if any?
What happens on the home front in times of war? What do people who aren’t actively engaged in the conflict do to try and help?
What role does music play in society?
How often do people travel? How far do they go, usually?
Is it common for families to live in different corners of the world?
How is hunting regarded?
Are there any endangered species? What is the punishment for threatening them?
If any, what are the most famous pieces of literature or most famous authors? Why are they so well-known?
What is the most common form of transportation?
What are the current fashion trends? How are they different from the trends that one, ten, and thirty years ago?
Is there anyone in your world’s history who is regarded as truly evil?
Does your world have a military? Are there different branches, such as the navy or marines? How does someone enlist?
What are some common first date activities?
What do people do when they need to relax?
How common is it for people to go out with a group of friends versus alone?
How do people get their electricity/power?
At what age is a person considered “old”?
At what point is it less offensive to be considered “old” by younger people?
Do your workers have a minimum wage? What is it?
What makes it easy for a person to consider a house a home?
Who usually lives in a single house?
Is there a “standard age” for a person to reach certain milestones in life (As in getting a job, finding a partner and getting married, having kids)?
How might the rich display their wealth?
Usually, how close are families to each other? Are they in contact with their third cousins on the other side of the world or do they barely know how many siblings they have?
Which skills are considered the most important to have?
Which laws are the most commonly broken?
Does your world have any absolutely ridiculous laws? What are they/
Are there any career paths are considered more valuable than others? Why?
Is there any dedicated time of relaxation (like the weekend or a long holiday)?
What is your country’s relationship with the countries around it?
Can people easily talk about the politics of their world and keep a level head?
What degree of control does the government have over the lives of the people?
Is there a traditional process for mourning loved ones who have passed?
In general, how much do people gesture when they speak?
In general, how are people that speak with an accent regarded?
What does a person have to do to be considered a prodigy?
Have common is it to be a farmer or someone that produces food?
Is the majority of your world’s food produced by big businesses or by smaller farmers?
We see them all the time - horses in fiction. And there is so much to learn about them that it can be a little overwhelming! But I work with horses a lot so I thought I’d be able to help some of you guys out by going through the basics you’ll need for writing. (by the way, I only ride English style. If somebody wants to do something similar for Western riding, by all means, fire away.)
Horses and ponies - whats the difference?
It’s the height. Horses and ponies are measured in hands - 1 hand = approx 4 inches. A pony is anything below 14.2hh,(hands), a horse is anything taller. Any pony smaller than 14hh would really only be suitable for children. A stockier 14.2hh could hold teens or small adults, but most teens and adults would probably ride horses. 16hh would be an average size.
Stallions, mares and geldings.
A Mare is a female horse. They can be quite moody sometimes - which they show by being uncooperative and putting their ears back. A Stallion is a male horse that has not been castrated. They can be very, very strong willed, and are typically not suitable for the novice rider. A gelding is a male horse that has been gelded/castrated, They often have a more relaxed, placid nature. A colt is a young male, and a filly is a young female.
Training a horse under saddle is called ‘Breaking.’ A horse is typically broken around ¾ years of age, once it has finished growing. Breaking correctly is a long and patient process - not something that your character can do in a few minutes.
Gaits
Horses have four gaits. Walk, trot, canter, and gallop - in that order of ascending speed. Nobody trots away from danger. if your characters are fleeing, they are in a flat out gallop.
The tack
For describing scenes - you’ll really only need to talk about the reins and the bit. Pressure on the reins (held by the rider) should slow the horse down. The horse feels this pressure acting through the bit.
All you really need to worry about for the saddle are the stirrups, and the girth. The girth is holding the saddle on, and the feet go into the stirrups.
Learning to ride
Is difficult! Your character won’t be a pro withing a couple of days. Its hard on your legs, and learning to balance can be tricky too. Somebody who is very comfortable in the saddle is relaxed and secure, and able to deal with however the horse acts. The rising trot, when the rider goes ‘up and down’ in sync with the horses movement in the trot, can be particularly difficult.
Ability
The average gallop is around 45km/h. So, bear i mind that a horse cannot outrun a car or anything like that. Jumping ability varies - a heavier horse will struggle over a 90cm hedge, but a quality animal could easily pop 1.60m (but only with a good rider.) If your character gallops the horse on hard ground, it could easily go lame - they aren’t invincible!
Horses don’t eat the same way as dogs or cats. They are grazers - meaning they need to eat little, and often. Your character giving them a Handel of oats once a day is really not going to keep them alive. They need forage - grass or hay - and a lot of it.
Portraying atmospheres
Showing how the horse is feeling can be a really great tool for expressing the ‘mood’ of a scene.
Relaxed - A relaxed horse will have its ears back lazily, but not pinned against its head. It will likely doze off and close its eyes, maybe while resting a hind leg.
Alert - Horses are super smart animals, and many say that they have a sixth sense that lets them know when something is coming. An alert horse stands up straight, and has its ears pricked forward.
Upset - If something bad is happening, the horse won’t be in good mood. It might pin its ears flat back against its skull, and bare its teeth. It will flick its tail irritably, and a horse will kick out or bite at something if its unhappy.
Horses are deeply empathetic animals. They are herd animals too, and can form deep connections with their people. A horse who is fond of a person may whinny when they see them, and nuzzle their face and neck. A real trust can form between horse and rider. To show this as your story progresses, the horse will become pleased to be with the character, and the character’s nerves aboard the horse will begin to fade.
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If you have any more specific questions, feel free to message me. All of this is very basic, and I am more than happy to help some fellow writers.
So, let me guess— you just started a new book, right? And you’re stumped. You have no idea how much an AK47 goes for nowadays. I get ya, cousin. Tough world we live in. A writer’s gotta know, but them NSA hounds are after ya 24/7. I know, cousin, I know. If there was only a way to find out all of this rather edgy information without getting yourself in trouble…
You’re in luck, cousin. I have just the thing for ya.
I got your back, cousin. Just head over to Havocscope.
((PS: In case you’re wondering, Havocscope is a database full of information regarding the criminal underworld. The information you will find there has been taken from newspapers and police reports. It’s perfectly legal, no need to worry about the NSA hounds, cousin ;p))
All this time. ALL THIS TIME i had no idea SAI had perspective transform capabilities.
What?????????????? Is this?????????? How do ???????
I think they mean the Free Transform selection! If you use that correctly you can mess with the selected objects form a bit better?
oh thank you! i noticed with transform selection that using CTRL gives it different effects, i just didnt know what all what this was and thought there was some funnky feature i never knew about
This is some stuff I’ve gathered over the years from various masterposts and poking around on the internet that help me with my creative writing. I hope you find something to help you, these have really gotten me far! (Note: Everything is free!)
I can not stress how amazing this website is. You can keep track of your characters, events, plot lines, and settings. It’s great if your story has a lot of different characters and places you need to keep track of. You can create timelines in which you place in your characters and have a visual representation of where they are and the events happening while they’re there. There’s a lot of information about it on the site if you want specificities.
This lets you set a goal for how many words/chapters/lines/etc. you want to write in whatever frame of time you choose. There are many options for how you can divide your time, and what your quota is for each day. It also gives you visual representations of your goals and progress. This is super helpful is you’re a procrastinator like me.
This site is awesome. You enter in a name, and it gives you a list of names similar to it. This is great for when you want a specific type of name (ex. specific to a time period, specific to a race) or when you have a certain feel for a name you want, but don’t have an actual name in mind.
Having a practically unheard of surname can sounds awkward, unless it has some sort of relevance to your story. Keep it mainstream and believable by picking from this list. If you scroll to the bottom there are also options for popular surnames in America by race, which can be quite helpful.
If you’re not one to sit and scroll through lists, then try out a surname generator. You can also enter a first name and see how the name and the generated surname look next to each other. This can also generate a lot of other types of names, like for locations or boats or teams or first names or whatever.
Having some visuals can be quite helpful if you need inspiration. Just play around with search terms and you’ll find some cool, inspiring stuff. You can also create an account and pin pictures that inspire you to look at later. If you want, you can have different collections of pictures if you want to organize your pinned pictures with different labels. As an example, here’s mine (which you could also use for inspiration).
(Warning: Some of the links are nsfw and/or potentially triggering) These are a couple of blogs that have some cool pictures that are good for inspiration. Also, I recommend creating a blog that you use to reblog things that inspire you for whatever your writing. I have one for a novel I’m writing and looking at it always gets me inspired.
I love this site. You can turn on sounds like river, fire, storm, railroad and others. You can combine them to create different environment sounds, and choose the individual volume of each one. Another thing this site does, is it has a space for writing. It’s very simple, just an empty space, but the background slowly changes color as you write. It’s not distracting like it sounds, it’s actually very relaxing, and the change is nice so you’re not staring at the same-looking screen for hours.
This site is good if you want to hear the background noise to your story. It has themed generators for specific sounds like a battlefield or a spaceship, but also other types of sounds. It’s great for getting into the mood or the scene.
8tracks is my go-to site for writing music. You can search by mood, genre, fandom/character (good for fanfics), or anything else that comes to mind. There are also tags like “writing inspiration” and “character inspiration” that have great stuff. You search multiple tags at once, to get the exact feel you want. You can also make collections of playlists, which is helpful to organize by things like “fight scenes” or “insane characters.” I’ve linked playlists that are great for writing inspiration above, each with a different theme. Also, here’s a helpful masterpost that has a collection of 8tracks playlists for writing that are categorized by scene type.
Video game music is designed to get you hyped and concentrated, which is great for writing! It’s also quite fun to listen to, so if you’re looking to write an exciting but light-hearted scene, this is good to get you in the mood.
This is actually just a link to one of Daft Punk’s ablums. It was the soundtrack to Tron: Legacy, so it’s super intense and future-y sounding. You can listen to the album anywhere, really. They also have songs that aren’t on that album that are good for future writing.
These are some masterposts I use a bunch that have lots of great writing resources. They’re mostly resources for writing characters, but the first one touches on a couple different topics.
If you feel like you’re character is a little too perfect, here’s a bunch of flaws you can give them. However, know that this list was originally created for RPG characters, and anything that would give the character a disadvantage would be considered a “flaw,” so that’s why a few of the suggestions are a little odd. It’s a great list otherwise, and extremely helpful.
This is a site that explains what all the colors stand for and mean, and what they’re associated with. Throwing color symbolism in your story can be really cool and an easy thing to do to make your story a little deeper.
Realistically depict your character being stranded or going on an adventure in a challenging terrain. There are guides for being stuck on a island, in the jungle, in the forest, in the ocean/open water, in the desert, and in the snow/extreme cold.
fun fact! google image search allows you to search for images that you are legally allowed to use for example as textures for your art or as assets for your blogs and websites
I keep forgetting that not everyone knows about this.
