julieyumi:

twudle:

For people curious about my settings

1. I use the brush tool for almost everything, even for lineart. Easy for rough sketching.

2. Blending, works better with a texture thrown in.

3. Flat brush gets you a semi painterly look, wonderful for laying down color and whatnot.

4. Overlay abuse, I actually do most of my color blending with them haha

Brushes downloaded from here I believe

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ragewang:

uncomfortableconfusion:

The cutest kitten gifs ever on tumblr

do not do this to my frail and mortal being

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i just love it <3 <3 

lokishorns:

the-fandoms-are-cool:

a massively extended version of ruthlesscalculus’ post

General Tips

• Joss Whedon’s Top 10 Writing Tips
• Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone
• 34 Writing Tips that will make you a Better Writer
• 50 Free resources that will improve your writing skills
• 5 ways to get out of the comfort zone and become a stronger writer
• 10 ways to avoid Writing Insecurity
• The Writer’s Guide to Overcoming Insecurity
• The Difference Between Good Writers and Bad Writers
• You’re Not Hemingway - Developing Your Own Style
• 7 Ways to use Brain Science to Hook Readers and Reel them In
• 8 Short Story Tips from Kurt Vonnegut
• How to Show, Not Tell
• 5 Essential Story Ingredients
• How to Write Fiction that grabs your readers from page one
• Why research is important in writing
• Make Your Reader Root for Your Main Character
• Writing Ergonomics (Staying Comfortable Whilst Writing)
• The Importance of Body Language

Character Development

• 10 days of Character Building
• Name Generators
• Name Playground
• Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test
• Seven Common Character Types
• Handling a Cast of Thousands Part 1 - Getting To Know Your Characters
• Web Resources for Developing Characters
• Building Fictional Characters
• Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
• Character Building Workshop
• Tips for Characterization
• Character Chart for Fiction Writers
• Villains are people too but…
• How to Write a Character Bible
• Character Development Exercises
• All Your Characters Talk the Same - And They’re Not A Hivemind!
• Medieval Names Archive
• Sympathy Without Saintliness
• Family Echo (Family Tree Maker)
• Behind The Name
• 100 Character Development Questions for Writers
• Aether’s Character Development Worksheet
• The 12 Common Archetypes
• Six Types of Courageous Characters
• Kazza’s List of Character Secrets - Part 1, Part 2
• Creating Believable Characters With Personality
• Body Language Cheat Sheet
• Creating Fictional Characters Series
• Three Ways to Avoid Lazy Character Description
• 7 Rules for Picking Names for Fictional Characters
• Character Development Questionnaire
• How to Create Fictional Characters
• Character Name Resources
• Character Development Template
• Character Development Through Hobbies
• Character Flaws List
• 10 Questions for Creating Believable Characters
• Ari’s Archetype Series
• How to Craft Compelling Characters
• List of 200 Character Traits
• Writing Characters of the Opposite Sex
• Making Your Characters Likable
• Do you really know your characters?
• Character Development: Virtues
• Character Development: Vices
• Character Morality Alignment
• List of Negative Personality Traits
• List of Positive Personality Traits
• List of Emotions - Positive
• List of Emotions - Negative
• Loon’s Character Development Series - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
• Phobia List A-L (Part 1), M-Z (Part 2)
• 30 Day In Depth Character Development Meme
• Words for Emotions based on Severity
• Eight Bad Characters
• High Level Description of the Sixteen Personality Types

Female Characters

• How Not to Write Female Characters
• Writing Female Characters
• How to write empowering female characters
• Why I write strong female characters
• Red Flags for Female Characters Written by Men
• Writing strong female characters
• The Female Character Flowchart
• Eight Heroine Archetypes

Male Characters

• Eight Hero Archetypes

Tips for Specific Characters

• Writing A Vampire
• Writing Pansexual Characters
• Writing Characters on the Police Force
• Writing Drunk Characters
• Writing A Manipulative Character
• Writing A Friends With Benefits Relationship
• Writing A Natural Born Leader
• Writing A Flirtatious Character
• Writing A Nice Character
• Fiction Writing Exercises for Creating Villains
• Five Traits to Contribute to an Epic Villain
• Writing Villains that Rock
• Writing British Characters
• How To Write A Character With A Baby
• On Assassin Characters

Dialogue

• It’s Not What They Say…
• Top 8 Tips for Writing Dialogue
• Speaking of Dialogue
• The Great Said Debate
• He Said, She Said, Who Said What?
• How to Write Dialogue Unique to Your Characters
• Writing Dialogue: Go for Realistic, Not Real-Life

Point of View

• Establishing The Right Point of View
• How to Start Writing in the Third Person
• The I Problem

Plot, Conflict, Structure and Outline

• Writing A Novel Using the Snowflake Method
• Effectively Outlining Your Novel
• Conflict and Character Within Story Structure
• Outlining Your Plot
• Ideas, Plots and Using the Premise Sheets
• How To Write A Novel
• Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense
• Plunge Right In…Into Your Story, That Is
• Tips for Creating a Compelling Plot
• 36 (plus one) Dramatic Situations
• The Evil Overlord Devises A Plot: Excerpt from Stupid Plot Tricks
• Conflict Test
• What is Conflict?
• Monomyth
• The Hero’s Journey: Summary of Steps
• Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes
• Plotting Without Fears
• Novel Outlining 101
• Writing The Perfect Scene
• One-Page Plotting
• The Great Swampy Middle
• How Can You Know What Belongs In Your Book?
• Create A Plot Outline in 8 Easy Steps
• How to Organize and Develop Ideas for Your Novel
• Create Structure in your novel using index cards
• Choosing the best outline method for you
• Hatch’s Plot Bank

Setting & Worldbuilding

• Magical Word Builder’s Guide
• I Love The End Of The World
• World Building 101
• The Art of Description: Eight Tips to Help Bring Your Settings to Life
• Creating the Perfect Setting - Part 1
• Creating a Believable World
• Setting
• Character and Setting Interactions
• Maps Workshop - Developing the Fictional World Through Mapping
• World Builders Project
• How To Create Fantasy Worlds
• Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds

Creativity Boosters* denotes prompts

• *Creative Writing Prompts
• *Ink Provoking
• *Story Starter
• *Story Spinner
• *Story Kitchen
• *Language is a Virus
• *The Dabbling Mum
• Quick Story Idea Generator
• Solve Your Problems By Simply Saying Them Out Loud
• Busting Your Writing Rut
• Creative Acceleration: 11 Tips To Engineer A Productive Flow
• Writing Inspiration, Or Sex on a Bicycle
• The Seven Major Beginner Mistakes
• Complete Your First Book with these 9 Simple Writing Habits
• Free Association, Active Imagination, Twilight Imaging
• Random Book Title Generator
• Finishing Your Novel
• Story Starters & Idea Generators
• Words to Use More Often

Revision & Grammar

• How To Rewrite
• Editing Recipe
• Cliche Finder
• Revising Your Novel: Read What You’ve Written
• Writing 101: Revising A Novel
• 20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes
• Synonyms for the Most Commonly Used Words of the English Language
• Grammar Urban Legends

Tools & Software

• Tip Of My Tongue - Find the word you’re looking for
• Write or Die - Stay motivated
• Stay Focused - Tool for Chrome, lock yourself out of distracting websites
• My Writing Nook - Online Text Editor, Free
• Bubbl.us - Online Mind Map Application, Free
• Family Echo - Online Family Tree Maker, Free
• Freemind - Mind Map Application; Free; Windows, Mac, Linux, Portable
• Xmind - Mind Map Application; Free; Windows, Mac, Linux, Portable
• Liquid Story Binder - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free trial, $45.95; Windows, Portable
• Scrivener - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free trial, $39.95; Mac
• SuperNotecard - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free trial, $29; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable
• yWriter - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free; Windows, Linux, portable
• JDarkRoom - Minimalist Text Editing Application; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable
• AutoRealm - Map Creation Application; free; Windows, Linux with Wine

Specific Help

• Fashion Terminology
• All About Kissing
• Genre Help: Romance
• 187 Mental Illnesses
• Types of Mental Illness
• Eye Color List
• Spectral Groupings

I made a very small noise to express a very large amount of happiness.

PLEASE, DON’T EVER DELETE THIS.

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kagamii:

here are my brush settings! i appreciate them a lot (sweats)

texture download: x

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http://pov.imv.au.dk/Issue_13/section_5/artc1A.html

*You need to know why you want to make this film?

what this film about ? where the story is going?

* Visit the person and make test interview

* Know what the person is willing to talk about?

* Choose the gender of your documentary

* For the zoom it is better to move the camera

* Bring the camera to the first meeting to the person get used to the camera presence.

* The person should be filmed from below at eye - level

* the person should rephrase the question, make a statement like they are answering a question. 

* Should have several shots for camera movement like panning and tilting it can used for several tasks  

* Do not start the interview until the person has become used to the presence of the camera.

Creative writing: creating your urban legend

As Walter Murch once said - “Film editing is now something almost everyone can do at a simple level and enjoy it, but to take it to a higher level requires

innod:

9 Ways to Generate Your Best Ideas

Idea generation is often seen as the magic side of creativity, and although I love the magic of it, I also feel like I have learned there is a practical side to it as well.

The great idea spirit seems as unpredictable as the weather. Don’t get me wrong, I agree that idea generation has a mystical side, I just think we have more power to be the catalyst of this spirit than many creatives believe.

Here are 9 ways to flip your own idea generation switch:

1. Think Hard & Then Let Go
This idea comes from Jason Lehrer in his talk for 99u.com. Basically proof that the epiphany moment actually comes from a state in your mind when you are unfocused! 

This is so true because often I will get so worked up trying to come up with an idea, let go, leave the ‘drawing board’ and take a shower or go on a walk and BAM! The idea pops into my head!


2. Brainstorm Ideas You don’t Intend to Use
This is such an important practice and it takes the relaxed approach from number 1 on this list. When you brainstorm ideas that you don’t intend to use, you are free to fail, the pressure is off. This is where the good ideas are often born.


3. Sketchbook / Notepad
Figure out a system that works for you. If you are like me you grew up with a ton of sketchbooks that you started strong with, but only filled in the first couple pages. Start small if it’s a struggle. The true point of this needs to be something you can always have on you to catch those breakthroughs when they happen. I consistently use my iphone to note ideas.


4. Get a Brainstorm Partner
My wife is my brainstorm partner (she doesn’t really have a choice). I run all of my ideas by her, and she is so honest that it used to actually scare me, BUT this is what you are looking for in a brainstorm partner. You need someone who can quickly identify when ideas have no merit at all, and to help you discuss and develop the good ones before you actually get started. You especially need this if you do your primary mental processing externally.


5. Cling to the Constraints
Idea generation can be daunting when the paper is completely blank. A good practice to is to fill that blank sheet with what you do know. If this is for a specific purpose, list the requirements. If this is for yourself, list what you want to get out of it. If this is for a specific topic, list what you already know about it, list what other people have told you, research and list what you can find. Ideas can be so elusive and cloudy, constraints and requirements give us something to hold onto in this uncertain and mystical area. This is a great talk from Katie Hawkins-Gaar on the importance of limitations or constraint.

6. Start with First Idea, Then Go Back to the Drawing Board
Sometimes your best ideas come in the middle of the execution of other ideas. So if you are having a hard time coming up with more than one idea, and you don’t feel good about that idea, just get started anyway. Sometimes the project becomes more clear when you are actually working on it. While you execute that first idea, you may start to understand what’s not working with the idea, and this gives you a good springboard for brainstorming new ideas.
 

7. Loosen Your Brain with Free Association
Just start writing or talking. This practice loosens my mind. I find it really easy to talk nonsense, if you know me very well at all you probably already know this. Often though in this silliness I find a creative groove. Free association is a Freudian psychological practice where the patient just speaks what comes to mind. Personally I like to get into this pattern and then start the ideation process.
 

8. Observe the Pattern
Look back, when do you create your best ideas? Sometimes it’s hard to see how it happened, but if you look at enough of these moments a pattern should emerge. For me it has often been a certain type of music, and depending on the type of idea I am looking for, I will put on a specific type of music.
 

9. Start the Day Over with a Nap
Michael Hyatt, a well known leadership blogger, is a big supporter of daily naps. He even wrote a blog post about it. I can’t say I support daily naps for everyone, I can’t practice it daily, but I do love Winston Churchill’s ideas on napping. He believed it was like starting your day twice. I love this because it’s sort of a restart button on your day. If you have the opportunity and your brain goes into gridlock and you can’t think of any ideas, take a short nap. When you wake up your mind will definitely be in a different place because you literally can’t sleep without your mind changing states.

Learning how to come up with ideas consistently will make or break your creative path, so it’s important to find what works for you.

How did you come up with your best idea?

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chaperoned:

———————————————————————————————

“Readers tend to like characters who are struggling to achieve a goal. This simple principle can be invaluable in creating sympathetic protagonists.

• Characters working toward a goal are active characters.
• Characters who aren’t working toward a goal are reactive.

Reactive characters are much weaker than active characters, and we tend not to like them. Unfortunately, many writers end up unknowingly creating reactive protagonists.” - Odyssey Writing Tips

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PROACTIVE CHARACTERS »»

• A proactive character is a character who does things. They make decisions, they initiate actions, and they are driven by a goal that often makes them pick the wrong decisions and actions.
• This is important because what characters choose to do is going to create your plot. Why they choose to do it will create your stakes. Together, these factors make you invested in a plot.
• Proactive characters drive plot. They don’t just have strong goals; they actively pursue them. That’s one of the reasons people tend to love villains: they have a clear goal, are often centered around the attainment of that goal, and those goals give interesting insights into their personality and choices.
• This makes proactive characters are easier to build around and work with as the plot progresses. You can make plots around their goals and find ways for those goals to lead to new ones.
• You can get away with having reactive characters in literature sometimes because you’re able to rely on secondary characters to drive the plot and impact your character. (If you roleplay, you don’t get this luxury in RP because everything is centered around character interaction.)

———————————————————————————————

WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT »»

Thehappylogophile has an answer:

“Almost every novel has it: down-time. That moment between the adrenalin-fuelled car chase and the point where the slasher leaps out of the tree-line and drags the protagonist’s boyfriend into the undergrowth. It’s a chance for the characters (and the reader) to take a deep breath and process everything that’s just happened. It’s often the point where characters share information, or plot their next move, or take advantage of the lull in death-dealing to “celebrate the wonder of life”. (Cue the sleazy electric guitar.)

So, how does your character behave in the lull? If she takes the opportunity to sit quietly and cry, or goes along with someone else’s suggestion, or her entire plan revolves around waiting to see what happens next, she’s probably a reactive character.

A proactive character is likely to be the one leading the conversation, making plans that include the theme (if not the words) “the best defense is a good offense”, or even taking the opportunity to return to her pre-story goals.”

What you should take away from this is: when a character isn’t driving the plot, s/he needs to have interesting goals/development outside of the main plot to work towards. This way, your character is always developing over the course of the game and still doing something during downtime instead of sitting idly by.

———————————————————————————————

IS MY CHARACTER REACTIVE »»

“A reactive character is more likely to do what’s “easiest” or “more immediate”. If choosing between two love interests, the reactive character will go with the one in front of him right now. Or the one who tries the hardest to woo him. Or the one that his friends tell him he should go with. Alternately, he won’t make a choice at all — at least, not until he’s either forced to do so by outside events (“Declare your undying love for me, or I’ll start drowning kittens! “) or one of the options is removed (“Now that Laura is dead, you have to love me!”).”

In short, reactive characters don’t make the interesting decisions that give us insights to a person’s personality or develop it.

“A proactive character will make a choice. It may not be the right choice (and often isn’t), but it’s a choice nonetheless: “I’ve considered my options and have decided that I’m really in love with the evil, but incredibly sexy, vampire, and not the sweet girl-next-door who’s always been there for me. How could anything possibly go wrong?”

In roleplay, you can generally characters aren’t reactive when their histories/personality read more like a grocery list of characteristics or events. Proactive characters’ applications are driven by and explore their goals and decisions.

———————————————————————————————

WHY DO PEOPLE MAKE REACTIVE CHARACTERS? HOW CAN I AVOID IT? »»

A big reason people make reactive characters is often because of the method they employ creating characters. Many times, writers will take a sort of Frankenstein approach — mixing and mashing character traits and then try to flesh them out. They say my character has x, y, and z trait. S/he has these traits because of a, b, and c.

Don’t do that. That approach generally does not work (unless mixed with others). It wastes your time and doesn’t get at the heart of the issues.

Sure, that can be a good approach to generate ideas. However, unless you find a conflict to base those traits around or use them to further that conflict, no one is going to be invested in your character or have a good idea of how these traits manifest and, most importantly, why.

If you need a formula to follow, try starting with:

• In order of importance, what are the five most important things to your character and why? (make note of conflicting wants and goals)

Tie in information about your character’s deeper motivations. Try to think about where your character’s sense of worth comes from, who they’re trying to impress and why, which of their own (or others’) priorities these might clash with, what characters may believe others want, their goals/values and how they were established, re-occurring problems in your character’s life (jealousy, financial issues, etc.), what sort of person other characters believe yours is, in what ways your character is uniquely selfish, your character’s opinion of him/herself, your character’s ambitions, what your character works to gain/protect, etc. If you’re having trouble, try this resource.

• Ex. Being liked. It is important to my character that he is liked. Peter struggled with it as a child because of his romantic involvement with his  goldfish, leading other children to think he was strange. He can be somewhat sycophant because of this and tries to secure that he is liked by making himself valuable to others even when it can be damaging to himself and those around him.

and/or

•  Character Name   wants to accomplish these three goals: being more   character trait  , obtaining   status symbol  , and protecting his/her ______. S/he wants to accomplish these things because s/he values ___, ___, and ___. S/he is driven to accomplish them because s/he is   good/bad trait   and   good/bad trait   and isn’t above doing _____ and ____ to get these things, which makes him/her   good/bad trait  ,   good/bad trait  , and   good/bad trait   (or makes other people view him/her that way).

Don’t use really broad, universal traits. If you’re using characteristics like those mentioned here (reserved, trusting, critical, etc.), it might mean you’re being too broad. Saying your character is angry or selfish, for example, fails to give insight into what that says about your character. Everyone is selfish and angry — just to varying degrees and because of various factors. For example, in this episode of Awkward Black Girl (which is an amazing webseries if you haven’t seen it), the main character Jae is sent to anger management. The characters in her anger management session go around saying why they’re there, and Jay (different character) shows how this gives insight to the things they care about. Pete gets angry when time is left on a microwave and not cleared because he cares about time management, Jae has an outburst when someone doesn’t return her stapler because she wants to feel respected.

My favorite trick to generate ideas for a character application is asking myself:

• How is my character   broad characteristic   (ex. uniquely selfish)? It helps you focus in on a goal, gain insight to what they value, and develop specific ways their characteristics manifest.

The key to creating proactive characters is to have them become involved in solving their own problems/accomplishing their goals, rather than depend on others to solve them. If you want an example, you can go here, where you can read through an author’s personal attempt to make her character more proactive.

———————————————————————————————

WHAT IF I’M ALREADY DOING IT? »»

(The first step is admitting you have a problem.)

The number one reason players get bored in roleplay or feel “stuck” with what they’re writing is because of something editors deem “episodic writing”. Cheryl Wyatt describes it as happening when “one scene happens then another and another and so on but there is really no point to the scenes”.

It happens when you lose sight of your character’s goals and how you want to develop him or her. (The reason people get so invested in relationship lines in roleplay is because it’s a quick and easy way to create goals and because there are pre-established milestones you can develop your character around. This development is often generic but satisfying as players are more invested in the stakes.)

Episodic writing happens for two reasons: 1) your character is reactive or 2) you’ve lost sight of your goals for your character and you’re letting them be reactive when they have a number of things established that would make them proactive. For example, your scenes/characters might read like this. You can see another great example of a problematic storyline here.

Additionally, you might be limiting the scope of how your character can develop and need to branch out more. Or you’re not thinking through ways you can accomplish the goals you’ve established for your character going in.

How do you fix it? Give your character a goal - or better yet, several goals. Let your character need help accomplishing those goals. This helps you develop character relationships, helps you develop your character (especially when you tie in weaknesses, values, etc.), and gives your character something to do. BAM! it really is that simple.

What kind of goal? There are some amazing resources here.

Then, you can have those goals lead to more and more negative consequences. It’s a bit like that book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, where a little problem can lead to big ones.

One of the best examples I’ve read (but can’t find the link to) is this:

• Jane has become obsessed with growing a certain type of flower to spite her smug neighbor. Despite her best efforts, the flower won’t grow. She tries buying an expensive fertilizer online. She doesn’t realize that buying it has set her back $20 and her checking account is now on a negative. If she doesn’t pay rent, she’ll be kicked out. And on and on and on. Through this, you can help develop your character’s traits. For example, if Jane is too prideful to ask someone for money, this could result in character growth.

Jane is interesting because Jane is proactive. She actively works to grow that mfing flower. Her bad decision/goal leads to other bad decisions/goals.

Tada. You’re now well on your way to making your characters more proactive.

See also: Quick & Dirty Guide To Improving Your Writing

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