Space mermaids? As in: alien mermaids that live in the vacuum of space and swim between the stars? A setting that uses the analogy of deep space as the open ocean but keeps all the sea monsters? DO WANT!!
Luring astronauts into black holes with a song that carries across the void where no one can hear you scream
Not audible song, though—maybe they sing in frequencies that ship’s sensors pick up—as distress beacons, as spaceports, as fleets. They would have to be huge, to travel between stars, massive space-black bodes with biolumescent patterns, photosynthesizing pure starlight into fuel, too enormous and frail to hold up in the atmosphere of a world. Fins that catch solar radiation instead of water, schools of them slingshotting between stars. Eggs laid in the tails of comets that warm and hatch as they rocket around suns. Voices that are heard in the slow radio pulses of quasars; language of half-light. Homes in the shelters of nebulae, like clownfish and sea anemone. They gather together star-stuff, shape solar systems like we build houses. Maybe, like certain breeds of lobsters, they never stop growing, so there are a few really ancient ones, star-eaters, curled up and sleeping in the warm glow of red suns, layered over with a crust of asteroids; so big passing ships assume they are young worlds, the slow thrum of their heartbeats like the pulsing of a binary system. Mermaids so large a fleet of ships is little more than krill; the universe is vast, and they live in the darkness between tiny islands of light.
Something that’s almost never covered in fantasy mediums is common names.
Like we all know fantasy names are unusual, but any name to a foreign culture is considered unusual English names to Indian people are very unusual for example. But naturally, given that it’s an entire culture, there will be some common names, it’d be refreshing to at one point here this exchange.
“So I was talking to Vicnae and-”
“Wait which Vicnae? You can’t just say Vicnae. There are ten Vicnae’s in my village alone.”
This has 100 notes yesterday and 300 this morning what the fuck happened.
People understand the truly important things.
DSA (a German fantasy P&P RPG) actually has the name Alrik, which is hugely popular in the universe. Everyone is Alrik.
This is also a great excuse to use “X the Y” or “X of Y” type names without being pretentious. Calling someone “Thognor The Stout” goes from pomposity to practicality if he lives down the road from Thognor The Small.
my family is from a town in Ireland where everyone has the last name Ryan. literally like everyone. so they differentiated families by calling them by their professions, right?
That’s actually a wise move that many people do practice. Don’t have enough job experience, but need it to get the job? Put yourself down as having had experience in a position in a company that is no longer in business, especially if it closed years ago. They literally have no way of verifying this (do not do this for chains wherein only the store closed, but not the chain). It’s a good way to fluff up your resume, just make sure you put down a position wherein you used skills you already have.
For instance, you can say you were a Personal Assistant – typing, data entry, responding to emails, taking phone calls.
Or you were an entry level cashier/customer service worker. Retraining is simple at that point.
Need brief training on that, so that you can say you literally were trained?
All for free, just sign up with Alison. Takes 2 seconds to login with your google account, and then you can take some open courseware. Open University is another good place to go for good business acumen courses.
Seriously, Alison is amazing. Most courses are only around an hour or so long, and you can say you have some knowledge or some experience in these things… because you do.
they get fogged up when we drink hot beverages.
they get smudged for no reason.
we will push them up using anything in our area (i.e shoulder, whatever is in my hand, scrunching my nose up so they get pushed up, etc.).
they get knocked off our faces all. the. fucking. time.
when we change clothes we either take them off or they fall off when we pull our shirts off.
we have to clean them after being in the rain.
we own multiple pairs of them, not just one lone pair for our whole lives.
most people don’t wear them in the pool, but some have extra old pairs for the pool (like me).
some people take them off during sex, that’s fine! but some people keep them on.
they don’t get squished into your face when you kiss (most of the time. at least from what i’ve experienced and i’ve got some mf big glasses).
if we look down and look back up while you talk/to peek up at something, we will just peek blindly over the top of them.
we clean them on whatever item of clothing is closest.
some of us have prescription sunglasses and some of us wear contacts when we need to wear sunglasses.
please keep some of these in mind when you write characters with glasses cause y’all who have 20/20 vision keep telling me all characters sleep in their glasses and own the same singular pair from age 6-25 and they never clean them.
( there’s this but you missed a few iconic glasses traits – “where’d I put my glasses” (is wearing them) – new glasses getting scratched on basically nothing. where’d the nick come from? we just don’t know. – forgetting you’re wearing synthetic material and just smudge the junk on your glasses around – after doing so, proceeding to hunt down any friend who is wearing a more cottony material – getting eyelashes on your glasses – stabbing yourself in the face with the arm of your glasses – “woah are you blind?” – “how many fingers am I holding up??” – walking into a warm room from the cold and suddenly being unable to see because your glasses fogged up – going outside and everything is Super Crisp 1080p – having three pairs of glasses and putting all of them at once – “aw dude you have transition lenses? lucky.” – the non-glasses scrutinising squint – taking off your glasses and suddenly you’re a different entity entirely – if you’re too good for taking off your glasses when dressing/undressing, realising you didn’t pull the collar of a shirt out enough and subjecting to your fate )
-For female characters wearing eye makeup is pretty much useless
– the reason why is because no matter what we do, the mascara will smear on our glasses
– thinking “Oh, there’s a little smudge. I’ll just clean it quickly”, then taking the glasses off and wondering how the hell you could see with what looks like three layers of dirt on them
– giving your loved one a little kiss but in the wrong angle so their nose touches your glasses
– the look™ when you’re in your bed lying on the side with your glasses on (aka the glasses are skewed)
-sleeping in glasses fucking hurts… well, not anymore, but it used too
-if you have long eyelashes, having to push your glasses down your nose so they dont constantly rub each other, then having to push them up cuz you cant see
-WHY WONT YOU STAY ON MY FACE?!?!?!
-*they tilt crooked slightly* oh wow, And… now Im falling over
-having transitions and right after walking into a building you can’t see because they’re still dark
-forgetting where you put them then having to either ask for help or judge your entire surroundings
-dont like contacts? like cosplaying? guess what! you’re blind now!
-trading glasses with other glasses wearers to see how blind your friends are
-when there’s a smudge that just. Won’t. Go. Away.
-“hey do you have lens cleaner?”
-your old glasses become your back up pair in case your current ones break
-metal and plastic frames are very different and most people have a preference
-*goes to bed* ”Wait. I’m wearing my glasses.”
-the ‘why won’t you stay on my face’ has the inverse of *leans over cliff* ‘oh my god, they’re actually staying on my face. w h a t’
-that moment is usually is paired with instinctively holding onto them.
-those moments are also paired with the thought ‘I should really get one of those neck-holders’
-’why is that so blurry…wait, I’m not wearing my glasses’
-wakes up, puts glasses on, looks at ceiling, sees bug, ‘hahaha nope.’ takes glasses off, no bug. good.
-sometimes? long hair? goes? weird directions? It curls around the frames and is kinda weird? (I’m talking straight hair, idk about curly/wavy) and don’t get me started on hair tangling in the elbow of the frames.
-for people who don’t have prescription sunglasses/wear contacts- sunglasses over glasses is your new best friend or those annoying two-toned glasses that are kinda sunglasses if you look through them right. Otherwise, it’s sun blind or natural blind.
-’this sport requires a helmet/mask’ *raises hand* Can I wear my glasses under it?
-glasses are actually pretty strong and I’ve survived pencils, fingers, pillows, kickballs, and various other things that were (accidentally or not) aimed at my face.
-glasses also break stupid easy and my dad’s glasses fell apart on a whim.
-having a ball thrown at your face while wearing glasses may protect your eyes, but it doesn’t protect your nose and the area around your eyes from getting bruises from the frames being forced into your face.
-*looking at impressionist/abstract painting* *takes off glasses* *soft gasp of wonder*
-when you first get them it’s like ‘wait what the heck, I was SO BLIND BEFORE’ even tho you might not have even noticed at first.
-looking halfway through them and halfway not in order to see things as blurry and not blurry at the same time. IDK it’s amusing.
I can confirm that’s as someone who wears glasses it’s ALL true. I have another point tho.
-*in science class* “so you’ll need to grab some goggle for eye safety” and you’ll hear one of three options. “You have glasses on so you don’t need goggles”, “take your glasses off” in which case then you’re suddenly blind for science class, or the best option “they’ll fit.over your glasses”
I HAD SHOP CLASSES WHEN I WAS IN MY FIRST HIGH SCHOOL AND OH BOY I HAVE HEARD ALL THREE
I would also like to add
Going to push your glasses up but forgetting you’ve taken them off
Going to take your glasses off when you’ve already taken them off
Looking down and they slide down the bridge of your nose. Pushing them back up only for them to slide down again.
“Let me try on your glasses for a second”
Realizing when you need a new pair because you can’t see as clear anymore
Forgetting to take them off when you’re getting into the shower
Getting a case for your glasses and never using it
In the West, plot is commonly thought to revolve around conflict: a confrontation between two or more elements, in which one ultimately dominates the other. The standard three- and five-act plot structures–which permeate Western media–have conflict written into their very foundations. A “problem” appears near the end of the first act; and, in the second act, the conflict generated by this problem takes center stage. Conflict is used to create reader involvement even by many post-modern writers, whose work otherwise defies traditional structure.
The necessity of conflict is preached as a kind of dogma by contemporary writers’ workshops and Internet “guides” to writing. A plot without conflict is considered dull; some even go so far as to call it impossible. This has influenced not only fiction, but writing in general–arguably even philosophy. Yet, is there any truth to this belief? Does plot necessarily hinge on conflict? No. Such claims are a product of the West’s insularity. For countless centuries, Chinese and Japanese writers have used a plot structure that does not have conflict “built in”, so to speak. Rather, it relies on exposition and contrast to generate interest. This structure is known as kishōtenketsu.
Probably one of the best things I’ve discovered trying to write. Actually, I’m going to go ahead and say this is the BEST things I’ve discovered when it comes to writing. This has freed my writing so much!! In fact, looking back some of the work I tried to write followed this formula before I was even aware of it. And I find that I write best this way.
Also adding other links to other articles on the subject for future reference:
wupacing 