Avatar

The cruelest thing in the world is false hope

@fictionbanshee

Requests are OPEN

How to Plot a Complex Novel in One Day

Now first, I have to say, that the plot you’re able to come up with in one day is not going to be without its flaws, but coming up with it all at once, the entire story unfolds right in front of you and makes you want to keep going with it. So, where to begin?

  • What is your premise and basic plot? Pick your plot. I recommend just pulling one from this list. No plots are “original” so making yours interesting and complicated will easily distract from that fact, that and interesting characters. Characters will be something for you to work on another day, because this is plotting day. You’ll want the main plot to be fairly straight forward, because a confusing main plot will doom you if you want subplots.
  • Decide who the characters will be. They don’t have to have names at this point. You don’t even need to know who they are other than why they have to be in the story. The more characters there are the more complicated the plot will be. If you intend to have more than one subplot, then you’ll want more characters. Multiple interconnected subplots will give the illusion that the story is very complicated and will give the reader a lot of different things to look at at all times. It also gives you the chance to develop many side characters. The plot I worked out yesterday had 13 characters, all were necessary. Decide their “roles” don’t bother with much else. This seems shallow, but this is plot. Plot is shallow.
  • Now, decide what drives each character. Why specifically are they in this story? You can make this up. You don’t even know these characters yet. Just so long as everyone has their own motivations, you’re in the clear.
  • What aren’t these characters giving away right off the bat? Give them a secret! It doesn’t have to be something that they are actively lying about or trying to hide, just find something that perhaps ties them into the plot or subplot. This is a moment to dig into subplot. This does not need to be at all connected to their drive to be present in the story.  Decide who is in love with who, what did this person do in the 70’s that’s coming back to bite them today, and what continues to haunt what-his-face to this very day. This is where you start to see the characters take shape. Don’t worry much about who they are or what they look like, just focus on what they’re doing to the story.
  • What is going to change these characters? Now this will take some thinking. Everyone wants at least a few of the characters to come out changed by the end of the story, so think, how will they be different as a result of the plot/subplot? It might not be plot that changes them, but if you have a lot of characters, a few changes that are worked into the bones of the plot might help you.
  • Now list out the major events of the novel with subplot in chronological order. This will be your timeline. Especially list the historical things that you want to exist in backstory. List everything you can think of. Think about where the story is going. At this point, you likely haven’t focused too much on the main plot, yeah, it’s there, but now really focus on the rising actions, how this main plot builds its conflict, then the climactic moment. Make sure you get all of that in there. This might take a few hours.
  • Decide where to start writing. This part will take a LOT of thinking. It’s hard! But now that you’ve got the timeline, pick an interesting point to begin at. Something with action. Something relevant. Preferably not at the beginning of your timeline - you want to have huge reveals later on where these important things that happened prior are exposed. This is the point where you think about what information should come out when. This will be a revision of your last list, except instead of being chronological, it exists to build tension.
  • Once you’ve gotten the second list done, you’ve got a plot. Does it need work? Probably. But with that said, at this point you probably have no idea who half your characters are. Save that for tomorrow, that too will be a lot of work.

Every girl has had the experience where a creepy guy asks for our number and we don’t want to give it to him, but we also don’t want to get gutted in a back alley. “Give him a fake number!” I hear you call, okay and then he says “okay let me call you real quick!” Because they are learning. “Give them your number and then block them!” Okay and then they can plug it into something like Spokeo, pay $10 and know everything about you. So what do you do?

First pick a fake name, I use Jessica, then download the Google Voice app, hook it up to your email, pick a number, and set up a fake greeting with your fake name. You can set it to ring your actual phone like a normal call or text but they don’t have real info on you.

Go forth and don’t get murdered, ladies!

Everyone reblog this post.

It’s so sad that this is what is used as a method at all. This sucks and evil people suck💯

“He is rainwater and smoke and wishes. He is honey and wind and bitter as truth and sharp with hurting and endlessly, unbearably sweet.”

— Amy Zhang, This Is Where the World Ends 

Hey guys! As a writer myself, it’s hard to have a lot of resources for writing in one place. That’s why I decided to create this masterpost, and maybe make more if I find future resources. I hope you like it, and expect to see more masterposts like this in the future!

Generators

Character

Names

Plot

Setting/World-Building

Prompts

Misc

Some Tips

Just a few I found from the writing tips tag!

Vocabulary

Some Advice

Playlists

Websites and Apps

For Writing

  • ZenPen: A minimalist writing website to keep you free of distractions and in the flow.
  • The Most Dangerous Writing App: A website where you have to keep typing or all of your writing will be lost. It helps you keep writing…kind of. You can choose between a time or word count limit!
  • Evernote: An online website where you can take notes and save the product to your laptop and/or smartphone!
  • Writer, the Internet Typewriter: It’s just you and your writing, and you can save your product on the website if you create an account.
  • Wordcounter: A website to help check your word and character count, and shows words you’re using frequently.
  • Monospace: An Android app for writing on the go when you feel the inspiration, but you don’t have your laptop on you!

For Productivity

  • Tide: An app that combines a pomodoro-esque timer with nature sounds and other noises! (Google Play / Apple Store)
  • ClearFocus: An Android app with a pomodoro-type time counter to let you concentrate easier and stay productive.
  • Forest: An app with a time counter to keep you focused and off your phone, and when you complete the time limit, a tree grows in your garden! (Google Play / Apple Store)
  • SelfControl: A Mac downloadable app that blocks you from distracting mail servers, websites, and other things!

Prompt Blogs

Writing Tips Blogs

Reblogging to save a writer

Hey fellow writers! Enjoy!

reblogging so i never lose this

types of people as environments

sea: wild hair, iced coffee, probably listens to billie eilish, great instagram, wears bracelets/anklets, was that kid that thought they had some authority on greek mythology bc they read the percy jackson books, seems like they have their life together but actually are lowkey falling apart, can vibe w/ anyone

forest: hot coffee, guitar/indie/folk music, runs an aesthetic blog, doesn’t tell anyone what their favorite songs are bc that’s Too Personal, absolutely has to put fairy lights everywhere, loves their friends and makes sure they know it, if you hurt them they won’t do anything back they’ll just leave without a word or a trace

desert: long road trips, retro diners at 2am, also eats a lot of fast food, nothing fazes them, drunk declarations of love, their hair is their personality, thrives during nighttime, bored eater, acts chill and will say they’re Fine as they lay face down on the floor but also will tell their life story after 10pm

mountains: hot chocolate, gorgeous hair, adrenaline junkie, has a lot of secrets/emotional depth, morning person, will go insane if they’re cooped up indoors for too long, complete 180 from the person their 12-year-old self thought they would be but thank god for that

meadow: softie, henna tattoos, puts flowers in their hair, sparkling water, pastels, likes taylor swift, barely knows how to drive, good at drawing/painting, doesn’t hide their feelings, ppl think their openness can be taken advantage of but they see your motives and Know What You’re Trying To Do

tundra: flawless eyebrows, wears lots of dark colors, thick skin, intense as hell but it’s cool, eyes that stare into your fricken soul, seems emotionally unavailable but actually secretly loves a lot of people and is scared of losing them but will never show it

lake: iced tea, lives at chipotle, hands and feet are always cold, completely screwed up spotify algorithm, hates days when they can’t see the sun, loves spring/summer, really just wants to Calm Down, niche humor, has been saying they’re dead inside since 2014

5 Tips From Famous Authors

“If you’re using dialogue, say it out aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech” 

- John Steinbeck 

“Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short- term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper, you can lose and idea forever.” 

- Will Self 

“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club” 

- Jack London

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time - or tools- to write. Simple as that.” 

- Stephen King

“Never use a long word where a short one will do” 

- George Orwell 

In the last 3 months I reblogged a lot of tips etc. Sooo, I decided to organize them into different categories! Beware because this list is really really long and it took me ages to make it.

Life:

Waking up early and refreshed
Balancing sleep & education
Little things to do more of
Organize your laptop
How to eat well
How to eat cheaply
Tips for when you have abusive parents
Simplifying your life
Get yo’ life together guide
How to grow the fuck up (friendliness)
How to grow the fuck up – Guide to life (typesetjez)
Small ways to improve your life
Learn things for free
Top 50 online learning sites
Detox your summer

College:

First-time college student advice 
Tips for incoming freshmen 
Getting through your first year 
Morning habits worth starting in college 
Useful college tips 
How to approach classes 
How to get a 4.00 GPA 
How to be productive after school 
Backpack essentials 
Upgrade your workspace 
A Really Fucking Vulgar Guide to Not Losing Your Shit in College 
Trying party drugs 

Productivity:

Productivity 101
Productive things that aren’t studying 
How to be productive during the weekend 

Taking notes:

How to outline and revise using the stewart method 
Upgrade your notes masterpost 
How lentilstudies takes notes 

Studying:

How to gain discipline 
Real tips for studying 
Secrets to efficiently 
How to study like a boss 
Study tips for different learning styles 
Types of study breaks 
How to make a study plan 
Planning the perfect study schedule
Bizarre music study tip 
Study music/noises 
What to do when you don’t want to study 
How to study when you don’t want to 

Finals:

Complete exam study guide 
Study tips – finals edition 
Revise for exams 
Tips for doing well on your exams 
Relaxing during exam periods 

Learning different subjects:

625 words to know in your target language 
How to do well in physics 
Chemistry printables 
Studying for math 

Self care:

Self care tips for students 
App that helps avoiding self-harm 
Apps for your mental health 
Self care tips for when you hit rock bottom 
How daily affirmations can change your life 
Dealing with losing friendships 

Other masterposts:

Alistudys masterpost of tips 
Essential school masterpost 
Apartment hacks masterpost  

THAT FIRST SITE IS EVERY WRITER’S DREAM DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I’VE TRIED WRITING SOMETHING AND THOUGHT GOD DAMN IS THERE A SPECIFIC WORD FOR WHAT I’M USING TWO SENTENCES TO DESCRIBE AND JUST GETTING A BUNCH OF SHIT GOOGLE RESULTS

Reblog to save sanity!

Avatar

Fun Vampire Fact; the reason that Vampires traditionally cannot see their reflections in a mirror is because mirrors used to be backed with a reflective layer of silver — which, as the metal of purity, would not ‘interact’ with Vampires, who are the Devil’s work.

However, modern mirrors have used aluminum as their reflective backing for many years now — and aluminum is not a ‘picky’ metal at all. So Vampires are able to see their reflections in modern mirrors.

All I can think about is a vampire used to not seeing their reflection in mirrors for centuries, and one day they are just walking along and unknowingly pass a mirror backed with aluminum and THEY NEARLY SHIT THEMSELVES.

reblogging for that gif

This is the Lucky Ace. Reblog to recieve a wad of cash that is oddly specific to your current needs.

I reblogged this shit two days ago y’all… what kinda sorcery is this. Oddly specific too …. I’ll take it tho 🤯

I think I did it wrong

Uh I reblogged this like 3 days ago and I start my new job on Monday??? Like idk how you accidentally find a job but I did.

I need to get paid asap so pls ace help

I GOT PAID I GOT PAID!!!!!! MUCH MORE THAN I EXPECTED AAAAAAAAAAAA THANK YOU ACE

I legit have a specific amount i want in my head rn it better come true 😭

I ALSO HAVE A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF MONEY I WOULD LIKE TO ACQUIRE, PLEASE HELP

This has worked before, so why not again?

I could really use a miracle. So why not

im super broke let’s see some magic people.

Source
“Image Credit: Carol Rossetti
When Brazilian graphic designer Carol Rossetti began posting colorful illustrations of women and their stories to Facebook, she had no idea how popular they would become. 
Thousands of shares throughout the world later, the appeal of Rosetti’s work is clear. Much like the street art phenomenon Stop Telling Women To Smile, Rossetti’s empowering images are the kind you want to post on every street corner, as both a reminder and affirmation of women’s bodily autonomy. 
“It has always bothered me, the world’s attempts to control women’s bodies, behavior and identities,” Rossetti told Mic via email. “It’s a kind of oppression so deeply entangled in our culture that most people don’t even see it’s there, and how cruel it can be.”
Rossetti’s illustrations touch upon an impressive range of intersectional topics, including LGBTQ identity, body image, ageism, racism, sexism and ableism. Some characters are based on the experiences of friends or her own life, while others draw inspiration from the stories many women have shared across the Internet. 
“I see those situations I portray every day,” she wrote. “I lived some of them myself.”
Despite quickly garnering thousands of enthusiastic comments and shares on Facebook, the project started as something personal — so personal, in fact, that Rossetti is still figuring out what to call it. For now, the images reside in albums simply titled “WOMEN in english!“ or ”Mujeres en español!“ which is fitting: Rossetti’s illustrations encompass a vast set of experiences that together create a powerful picture of both women’s identity and oppression.
One of the most interesting aspects of the project is the way it has struck such a global chord. Rossetti originally wrote the text of the illustrations in Portuguese, and then worked with an Australian woman to translate them to English. A group of Israeli feminists also took it upon themselves to create versions of the illustrations in Hebrew. Now, more people have reached out to Rossetti through Facebook and offered to translate her work into even more languages. Next on the docket? Spanish, Russian, German and Lithuanian.
It’s an inspiring show of global solidarity, but the message of Rossetti’s art is clear in any language. Above all, her images celebrate being true to oneself, respecting others and questioning what society tells us is acceptable or beautiful.
“I can’t change the world by myself,” Rossetti said. “But I’d love to know that my work made people review their privileges and be more open to understanding and respecting one another.”

From the site: All images courtesy Carol Rossetti and used with permission. You can find more illustrations, as well as more languages, on her Facebook page.

Oooh. I reblogged a partial version of this recently but I didn’t know how many more there were! I LOVE these!

OK SO THERE ARE TONS MORE OF THESE OF THE ARTISTS FB PAGE. GUYS THESE ARE AWESOME.

LOOK

AT

THESE

LETS APPLAUD CAROL ROSSETTI EVERYONE

  LOOK

Um, these are like the best thing ever.

I wish i got nice things like that. Everyone is always judging me based on my choices.

Everyone needs to see this! Spread this post!!!

A few of these I absolutely needed to save to remember at times

I’ll send it again because this is wonderful

My favorite thing about this is how there’s diversity in the women even when it isn’t relevant. There are more fat women than just the illustrations regarding body image. There are multiple women in wheelchairs even when the text isn’t focusing on it. there are so many different races and ethnicity even when that’s not what the words are focusing on. One of them doesn’t have a left arm and it isn’t the focus. It’s beautiful, showing the overlap between all these things.

Yes! I was going to say that too.

yes yes yes yes yes!!!! 

Avatar

Do this four times repeatedly and you’ll be out. But how does it work? There’s some real brain science behind it.

We’re trying this tonight!

It’s about time someone got around to uncovering all the cheat codes for this “human being” software. It’s only been out for like 10,000 years.

?????????????

I’ve used this technique for about a year, and I can safely say that it has efficiently transformed my sleeping habits from several hours of struggle to fall asleep, to passing out in a matter of minutes.

It’s a form of Alexander Technique. It’s a technique that was designed for actors to keep their body in ready working condition and give it the best way to perform. This is the method used to calm, and center the body. Once the body is at that point it can perform anything you want it to.

Reblogging for later reference after I tried it earlier today to try to calm down. It actually does help a lot, not just for sleep but if you have problems with anxiety.

My default mental setting is “vibrating intensely in the background.” After doing this, I felt noticeably calm and relaxed - I wasn’t as fixated on my breathing, I wasn’t tense, my movements weren’t jerky and I didn’t feel like I had to be as tense as possible to be under control. 10/10 would recommend.

me gonna try it

dont wanna reblog but insomnia is a bitch for some ppl so heres for my mutuals having trouble sleeping.

Source: mic.com

Irish people; The faeries aren’t real

Irish people; No fucking way will I go in that faerie ring

Look, I don’t believe in God, but I will not disrespect the Good Gentlemen of the Hills. That’s just common sense.

Between this and the Icelanders with their elves I do not understand what is going on above the 50th parallel.

My general rule of thumb: you don’t have to believe in everything, but don’t fuck with it, just in case.

^^^ that part

Avatar

This is truer than true. Especially the Irish part.

Let me tell you what I know about this after living here for nearly thirty years.

This is a modern European country, the home of hot net startups, of Internet giants and (in some places, some very few places) the fastest broadband on Earth. People here live in this century, HARD.

Yet they get nervous about walking up that one hill close to their home after dark, because, you know… stuff happens there.

I know this because Peter and I live next to One Of Those Hills. There are people in our locality who wouldn’t go up our tiny country road on a dark night for love or money. What they make of us being so close to it for so long without harm coming to us, I have no idea. For all I know, it’s ascribed to us being writers (i.e. sort of bards) or mad folk (also in some kind of positive relationship with the Dangerous Side: don’t forget that the root word of “silly”, which used to be English for “crazy”, is the Old English _saelig_, “holy”…) or otherwise somehow weirdly exempt.

And you know what? I’m never going to ask. Because one does not discuss such things. Lest people from outside get the wrong idea about us, about normal modern Irish people living in normal modern Ireland.

You hear about this in whispers, though, in the pub, late at night, when all the tourists have gone to bed or gone away and no one but the locals are around. That hill. That curve in the road. That cold feeling you get in that one place. There is a deep understanding that there is something here older than us, that doesn’t care about us particularly, that (when we obtrude on it) is as willing to kick us in the slats as to let us pass by unmolested.

So you greet the magpies, singly or otherwise. You let stones in the middle of fields be. You apologize to the hawthorn bush when you’re pruning it. If you see something peculiar that cannot be otherwise explained, you are polite to it and pass onward about your business without further comment. And you don’t go on about it afterwards. Because it’s… unwise. Not that you personally know any examples of people who’ve screwed it up, of course. But you don’t meddle, and you learn when to look the other way, not to see, not to hear. Some things have just been here (for various values of “here” and various values of “been”) a lot longer than you have, and will be here still after you’re gone. That’s the way of it. When you hear the story about the idiots who for a prank chainsawed the centuries-old fairy tree a couple of counties over, you say – if asked by a neighbor – exactly what they’re probably thinking: “Poor fuckers. They’re doomed.” And if asked by anybody else you shake your head and say something anodyne about Kids These Days. (While thinking DOOMED all over again, because there are some particularly self-destructive ways to increase entropy.)

Meanwhile, in Iceland: the county council that carelessly knocked a known elf rock off a hillside when repairing a road has had to go dig the rock up from where it got buried during construction, because that road has had the most impossible damn stuff happen to it since that you ever heard of. Doubtless some nice person (maybe they’ll send out for the Priest of Thor or some such) will come along and do a little propitiatory sacrifice of some kind to the alfar, belatedly begging their pardon for the inconvenience.

They’re building the alfar a new temple, too.

Atlantic islands. Faerie: we haz it.

The Southwest is like this in some ways. You don’t go traveling along the highways at night with an empty car seat. Because an empty car seat is an invitation. You stick your luggage, your laptop bag, whatever you got in that seat. Else something best left undiscussed and unnamed (because to discuss it by name is to go ‘AY WE’RE TALKING BOUT YA WE’RE HERE AND ALSO IGNORANT OF WHAT YOU’RE CAPABLE OF’ at the top of your damn lungs at them) will jump in to the car, after which you’re gonna have a bad time.

If you’re out in the woods, you keep constant, consistent count of your party and make sure you know everyone well enough that you can ID them by face alone, lest something imitating a person get at you. They like to insert themselves in the party and just observe before they strike. It’s a game to them. In general you don’t fuck with the weird, you ignore the lights in the sky (no, this isn’t a god damn night vale reference, yes I’m serious) and the woods, you lock up at night and you don’t answer the door for love or money. Whatever or whoever’s knocking ain’t your buddy.

^ So much good advice in this post right here

I live in the south and… you just… don’t go into the woods or fields at night.

Don’t go near big trees in the night

If you live on a farm, don’t look outside the windows at night

I have broken all these rules.

I’ve seen some shit.

If it sounds like your mom, but you didn’t realize your mom is home…. it’s not your mom. Promise.

One walked onto the porch once. Wasn’t fun. But they’re not super keen on guns. Typically bolt when they see one.

You think it’s the neighbor kids.

It’s not the neighbor kids.

Might sound like coyotes but you never really /see/ the coyotes but then wow that one cow was reaaaaaally fucked up this morning. The next night when you hear another one screaming you just turn the tv up a little more. Maybe fire a gun in the air but you don’t go after it. If it is coyotes then it’s probably a pack and you seriously don’t want to fuck with that and if it’s the other thing you seriously REALLY don’t want to fuck with that.

So in the south, especially near the mountains, you just go straight from your car to inside your house, draw your curtains and watch tv.

If you see lights in the fields just fucking leave it alone.

Eyes forward. Don’t be fucking stupid. Mind your own business. Call your neighbors and tell them to bring the cats in. There’s coyotes out. Some of them know. Most of them don’t.

Other than that everything’s a ghost and they died in the civil war. Literally all of everything else is just the civil war. We used to smell old perfume and pipe tobacco in the weeks leading up to the battle anniversaries.

Shit’s wild and I sound fucking crazy but I swear to god it’s true.

Every time this post comes around, it’s my favorite to open up the notes and read the stories. Probably shouldn’t have since I’m sleeping alone tonight, but you know, it’s fine. 😂

Austrian girl here who has lived in Ireland for 5+ years. This shit is LEGIT. I’ve seen it with my own two Catholic eyes. 

Sure, visit during the day. That’s alright as long as you’re respectful. But you couldn’t PAY ME ENOUGH to go there at night. These are also the last places where you wanna start littering. 

I grew up in southwest Pennsylvania which is a weird mixture of American cultures and environments. I was in the heavily forested mountains (northern Appalachia) but had lots and lots of corn fields and cow pastures. Like the Smoky Mountains and fields of Kansas combined. And being so cut off from a lot of the world, we had our fair share of ghost stories.

We had ‘witches’ in the mountains (more like ghost-women who will snatch you up by making you wander in a daze around the forest like the Blair Witch before killing you or letting you back out into society but you’re… different). Or devils in springs or abandoned wells (don’t look too long into one or something will follow you). 

But we also had the cornfield demons. I’ve witnessed this many times. You’ll be in the passenger seat looking out the window and see red glowing eyes in the cornfield. No light shining in that direction. Just two red dots a few inches apart faintly glowing in a pitch black cornfield. They’re not the glow of deer eyes in the headlights. More like the embers of a dying fire. Sometimes, as you drive away, you’ll look out the back window or side mirror and you can see the eyes have moved to the edge of the corn field, still watching you. If you bring it up with the driver, they’ll call you paranoid, but grip the wheel a bit tighter and driver a little faster.

I was walking to a friend’s house one night. It was about 20 minutes down a dirt road with forest on one side and a cornfield on the other. I’ve walked past it many times and wasn’t really concerned. My main worry was coming across a skunk or porcupine. I didn’t have a flashlight because the moonlight was bright enough and I knew the walk really well. Then I saw the eyes. I immediately averted mine (because for some reason that’s how to not annoy it) but they kept wandering back. They were still there, watching. I heard rustling and saw the eyes come closer and I took off running. I got to my friends without a scratch, but I was terrified. I mentioned it to my friend and that’s when I found out it was A Thing. Her parents agreed and shared their stories. I brought it up more and almost everyone knew what I was talking about. It was a phenomenon a lot of folks around town experienced but never mentioned. To this day, I don’t linger around poorly light cornfields at night. 

@thedevilinthealchemy and I are very old friends. I used to live in the same town as her, in Southern California. One night, a few years ago, we were celebrating the end of finals and the start of winter break, and we just hanging out in her car, killing ourselves with late night Taco Bell. Well, we decide we don’t want to go home just yet, so we start driving. We drive up a canyon, near her place. Now, we both had made this trip many, many times, in daylight and dark. A local tourist trap is in that canyon, and there’s a shortcut to a college campus that goes through that canyon. It was a normal winter night in SoCal. 

Well, about halfway through I start to get scared. For no reason. Within the span of two heartbeats I grew so terrified that my palms were shaking and my mouth was dry and for some reason I couldn’t take my eyes off the wood to the driver’s side. 

“Turn around.” I say, quickly. 

“Dude, already on it.” Kama said, doing a quick three point turn. I look in the mirror as she’s pealing away and see the creature. It was vaguely humanoid, and hairless, with elongated limbs and pitch black eyes, on all four limbs, loping after us. Now, if you’re in the know, you might be thinking “hey that’s like the creatures from Until Dawn, I call bullshit on this.” Well, Until Dawn was four years away, and it wasn’t even in development yet, so shush. 

I rip my eyes away from it and hold on tight as she drives. Then, at the same time, both of us get this instinct and we speak. 

“Don’t look in the backseat.” Needless to say, neither of us did. She drove damn near 90 on a dark canyon until we saw the lights of her complex at the mouth of it. 

I haven’t gone back in there since, and that canyon got shut down about a year ago due to a landslide and it hasn’t opened back up. I’m a history major, and research always has been my first love, so I go digging. I visit the local history society, talk about my tale. Turns out the whole valley used to belong to a people called the Tativam. One day, after the Spanish arrived, they vanished. Without a trace. We have a graveyard of theirs that we know of. One of my professors was trying to stop the houses that were being built on it. Spoiler alert: he didn’t, and the houses are hella haunted, and nobody wants to live there. 

Personally I do think the creature is a wendigo. That chain of mountains is park of unbroken chain that leads right up the Serra Nevadas and Donner Pass. 

THE Donner Pass. 

You do the math. 

I’m from Northern California myself, state capitol, and while we don’t have much by way of critters (sure, we’ve got Bigfoot up in the redwoods, but those guys are mostly harmless).

Most of what we’ve got is due to the Gold Rush, and not just the hauntings (though there are plenty of those, a great many of them are theatre ghosts, most of whom are harmless, though some are very particular).  What we’ve got by way of Things were brought along on the trail from the Old Country to the East Coast and then along thousands of miles of wagon trail.

We’ve got our fair share of phantom hitchhikers and women in white, but mostly what we’ve got are the Things That Survived The Flood.  There was a flood in the early 1860s, one that caused the state capitol to actually be relocated for a while, and when it was over and the floodwaters receded, there was enough sediment left behind that what had been the second floor of buildings was now the ground floor.

There are a handful of places in Old Town that you Do Not Go after dark (despite being safe during the day).  When I worked in Old Town, giving comedic history tours, we started from and returned to a restaurant that had a club downstairs (in what had been the ground floor before The Flood) and there was a storeroom down there that got locked at sunset and no one questioned it, but the door to that storeroom was pretty much right next to the portable shed we changed clothes in, and I know, more than once, I heard knocking and scratching and one of my very last tours I got a facefull of wet-plant rot smell (not quite mildew, but not stinky like rotting meat gets) so bad I couldn’t breathe. It’s one of the reasons I stopped doing the tours, really, because I was starting to get the feeling I was being singled out, and I didn’t want to find out what by.

Avatar

When I was like 17, I lived in the woods on the northwest coast of canada. One day, I decided to go for a walk in a part of the woods I had never been to before. Because sometimes I see weird things out there, I made sure to bring my grandma’s dog with me, just running free and off-leash. These are wild woods, too, not parkland, so the only clear areas are deer trails. I stuck along to those because, you know, I don’t want to get lost, and about an hour in I hear this strange whistling. Just a short call- One long, sharp whistle followed quickly by a short, piping one. Now, I’m in a good mood and I figure it must be some new kind of bird, so I whistle back: long call, short call. It whistles again. I’m amused, so I whistle again. Long call, short call, and then just to be fun, I throw in a little trill at the end. It whistles back. It whistles back the exact same pattern. Now, normally that would freak me out, but I was in a REALLY good mood. A really weirdly good mood. So, I whistled again. And when it whistled back to me, I giggled. I… Don’t giggle. Not alone in the woods over basically nothing. The whistle came again, and there was a rustle in the distance. Seeing a shady outcrop, I ran to hide, feeling like I was playing hide-and-seek with someone. It whistled, I whistled back. Another rustle. Closer. I suddenly realized I hadn’t seen the dog in a while. I looked around, and saw him a few feet away, staring point-blank and totally still into the forest. The whistle came again, closer this time, and suddenly my weirdly bubbly feeling was gone. Instant fear. I got the dog’s attention and we absolutely booked it out of there, all the way back to the eight-foot-high gate that marked the start of the wild land. I locked it behind me, and we never went back. I never really had any idea what was whistling with me in the forest. Maybe some kind of mimic bird that had escaped home, or a squatter hiding out there sewhere messing with this kid and their dog. I only just remembered that when I was a kid, we learned about the Tsonoqua woman. The Tsonoqua woman is supposed to be an old woman who lives in the woods. She carries a basket on her back and has long, tangled hair. When children wander away from camp, it is said that she snatches them up in her basket and steals them away forever. But because she has bad sight, she uses her keen ears to hunt, and calls out with a birdlike whistle.

I have lived in southern California for a lifetime. There are things here that even I don’t understand. Things I can’t describe. If you ever take any advice from my blog, please, please, remember this.

Coyotes don’t hunt in packs.

East of England UK. Sometimes when I drive home in winter I stick damn straight on my particular route home from work. There are other routes. Sometimes I just get a Feeling and I’ll take The Other Route and those nights I won’t see anything and it’s all fine. But it’s pitch black through fields and scattered trees and under moonlight for half my way home and if I don’t listen to the Feeling and I look into the hedgerows as I drive there is Something there, following - a shadow that is not caused by the headlamp of my moped.

I’m pretty sure it’s Shucky. I’m not entirely sure how I’m not dead yet, seeing Black Shuck so often, but I don’t know what the hell else that shadow hound could be but Shucky.

I’ve moved a lot in my life, mostly to rural areas, and I can confirm that you don’t fuck with cornfields at night, highways with an empty seat, and if you’re driving alone at night, put on some music or sing.

As a fairly suburban midwestern gal, with anxiety to boot, I don’t recall truly encountering anything, and I apply the policies of ‘exhaust all logical explanations,’ ‘it’s probably your anxiety (paired with a vivid imagination),” and ‘don’t have to believe in it, but don’t screw with it’. But I do recall some inner voice when I was in the Berkshire mountains telling me Not To Look In The Woods. It could’ve just been my brain psyching itself out, but…Massachusetts is old, old land, so it’s a possibility. For my sanity, I’m choosing to believe it was my anxiety, coupled with the fact I had watched a crapton of videos on wendigos for research into a book. After all, Massachusetts was Algonquin territory. I have the same thing with my granddad’s woods, despite it being my refuge from stress and knowing them backwards and forwards.

I suppose it’s an instinct. A Rule: don’t go in the woods at night. After all, there’s a lot of old barbed wire in there that once caught my brother’s leg…but deep down, it’s not the barbed wire that puts that feeling in my gut, and if it’s a Physical Thing, I don’t want to see it.

and soon, I’m heading into older, wilder territory for two weeks.

Anyone from Alaska have any tips?

Also suburban midwesterner here. My old subdivision was. Not Good. I always got Bad Vibes from that place, but we moved in when I was 12, what was I gonna do?

I remember distinctly trying to fall asleep and Knowing there was someone in my bedroom, watching me. You know the feeling when someone’s looking at you? How you can almost feel their gaze? I’d get that on my back, as I laid in my loft bed. I’ll swear to anyone or anything that there was something haunting my room. I stuck a desk and an armchair under there, might as well be comfy.

When I was in middle school, we raised ducks for the county fair. Now, ducks are usually pretty quiet animals. They make some noise, but all in all, no more than an excitable dog. But one night, we (my brother, my parents, and I) could hear them going absolutely nuts all the way from the house. When we got to the back deck, we could see Something was in the duck’s enclosure with them. It was big, hairy, and had one of the ducks in its mouth. Mom went back inside and came back out with a cookie sheet and a big metal ladle. The rest of us went inside (I can only speak for myself, but something told me that had the potential to go bad, fast) and she raised hell banging the two together. I saw the thing raise its head and look directly at us. Don’t think I’ve ever been more scared than at that moment. It jumped the fence, duck still in its mouth, and ran off into the cornfield behind the subdivision (and it’s always the cornfields, isn’t it?). They said it was a coyote. Coyotes aren’t that big. They don’t come this far east either. I’ve got no idea what it was, but I hope I never see it again.

In Which Diversity Isn't a Myth

Ok. I’m tired of the typical vampire, werewolf and fairy.I’m also tired of the occidental-centrism in mythology. Hence, this list. 

I tried to included as many cultural variants as I could find and think of. (Unfortunately, I was restricted by language. Some Russian creatures looked very interesting but I don’t speak Russian…) Please, add creatures from your culture when reblogguing (if not already present). It took me a while to gather all those sites but I know it could be more expansive. I intend on periodically editing this list. 

Of note: I did not include specific legendary creatures (Merlin, Pegasus, ect), gods/goddesses/deities and heroes.

  • Dragons

The Ancient Dragon (Egypt, Babylon and Sumer)

Of the Cockatrice (creature with the body of a dragon)

  • Little creatures (without wings)

Chanaque /Alux (the equivalent of leprechauns in Aztec/Mayan folklore)

  • Creatures with wings (except dragons)

Bendith Y Mamau (Welsh fairies)

Peri (Persian fairies)

Yü Nü (Chinese fairies)

Garuda (Bird-like creature in Hindu and Buddhist myths)

Bean Nighe (a Scottish fairy; the equivalent of a banshee in Celtic mythology)

  • Spirited Creatures

Jinn (Genies in Arabic folklore)

Oni (demons in Japanese folklore)

Mahaha (a demon in Inuit mythology)

Flying Head (a demon in Iroquois mythology)

  • Ghosts

Toyol (a dead baby ghost in Malay folklore)

Yuki-onna (a ghost in Japanese folklore)

The Pontianak (a ghost in Malay mythology)

Funayurei (a ghost in Japanese folklore)

Zagaz (ghosts in Moroccan folklore)

  • Horse-like mythical creatures

The Kelpie (Could have also fitted in the sea creatures category)

Hippocamps (sea horses in Greek mythology)

Karkadann, more on the Karkadann (a persian unicorn)

Ceffyl Dwfr (fairy-like water horse creatures in Cymric mythology)

  • Undead creatures

Asanbosam and Sasabonsam (Vampires from West Africa)

  • Shape-shifters and half-human creatures (except mermaids) 

Satyrs (half-man, half-goat)

Sirens in Greek Mythology (half-woman and half-bird creatures)

The Kumiho (half fox and half woman creatures)

Scorpion Men (warriors from Babylonian mythology)

Domovoi (a shape-shifter in Russian folklore)

Aatxe (Basque mythology; red bull that can shift in a human)

Yech (Native American folklore)

Ijiraat (shapeshifters in Inuit mythology)

  • Sea creatures

The Kraken (a sea monster)

Nuckelavee (a Scottish elf who mainly lives in the sea)

Lamiak (sea nymphs in Basque mythology)

Bunyip (sea monster in Aboriginal mythology)

Apkallu/abgal (Sumerian mermen)

The Encantado (water spirits in Ancient Amazon River mythology)

Zin (water spirit in Nigerian folklore)

Qallupilluk (sea creatures in Inuit mythology)

  • Monsters That Don’t Fit in Any Other Category

Myrmidons (ant warriors)

Giants: The Mystery and the Myth (50 min long documentary)

Inupasugjuk (giants in Inuit mythology)

Fomorians (an Irish divine race of giants)

The Orthus (two-headed serpent-tailed dog)

Rakshasa (humanoids in Hindu and Buddhist mythology)

Yakshas (warriors in Hindu mythology)

Taqriaqsuit (“Shadow people” in Inuit mythology)

  • References on Folklore and Mythology Across the Globe
  • References on writing a myth or mythical creatures

(I have stumbled upon web sites that believed some of these mythical creatures exist today… Especially dragons, in fact. I just had to share the love and scepticism.)

Somthing I think should be pointed out more is, Billy Hargrove did not have an abusive past or a traumatic backstory™

The abuse he went through was his present life. He is an asshole not because of what his father used to do but because of what his did an hour ago.

He never had a life without abuse. He never got to decide who he was when he didn't have to be scared of the consequences of existing El has a traumatic past and she killed because of it, but once she was free she was good. We never saw Billy free of abuse.

Billy never saw himself free of abuse