Ethics, Conflicts and Secrecy of Magic in Your Novel

Ethics

Villainous Ethics

The Wiccan Rede

Secrecy

If your magicians only work in secret:

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20 Essential Positive Traits to Make Your Characters Empathetic to Readers

Flaws to Give to Characters II

When I first posted "Flaws to Add to Characters," it gained a lot more popularity than I thought it would! And since you all loved it so much, here's another one!

>>> Selfishness - When one becomes too focused on themselves, they start to ignore those around them who've helped along the way.

>>> Indecisiveness - When one can't make a decision, ultimately, they are stuck and unable to progress.

>>> Self-Centered - Self-centered people are often too consumed with themselves to worry about anything else. Sometimes it's similar to selfishness, and other times it's not. They may be too vain or too busy victimizing themselves to care about others.

>>> Gullibility - A seriously gullible person is easy to trick, manipulate, and hurt.

>>> Skepticality - People that are just too skeptical can be difficult to deal with because they seemingly have to question every action. There's always a motive behind kindness, right..?

>>> Bluntness - Though honesty is the best policy, bluntness is something else. Being too honest can be quite hurtful depending on the situation.

>>> Pushover - Not being able to say "no" when one wants to makes it difficult to be able to advocate for themselves. Additionally, they can get taken advantage of and used.

>>> Easily Offended - This person will absolutely take EVERYTHING personally. Those around them have to be careful about their words, actions, or even behavior because they will look too deep into the most non-meaningful actions. This is usually a result of insecurity.

>>> Overthinking - We all have our moments with this one. Overthinking can often lead to indecisiveness, ensuring that a decision won't be made in the future.

>>> Impulsivity - Sometimes it's better to just think things through. Being too impulsive can lead to unideal situations, events, and outcomes.

Whaddya think? Were these helpful? I'm thinking about continuing these series, but what do you think? (Not gonna lie, these posts help me get my ideas and thoughts in order too.)

Happy writing~

3hks <3

20 Emotional Wounds in Fiction That Make Readers Root for the Character

Let's talk about character development.

Creating multidimensional characters make them more relatable to your readers. They add richness and complexity to the narrative, enhancing its overall depth and resonance.

So. How?

Happy writing ❤

how to write a morally grey character (and keep them from being a total bore)

so. your other characters have a “clear” distinction of good and evil - that is, from your perspective, your other characters have a distinction of good and evil that aligns with your own and would generally be considered by societal standards to fall under one of two groups… but now you want to make a guy that breaks those boundaries.

look no further.

i. myths

1. every character should have this???

2. every trait works on a sliding scale; when amped up to 11, good traits can become bad ones

to YOU and those they interact with, maybe… if they do not have a clear moral code of their own, of course they’ll seem this way. but they’re actually quite predictable if you actually comprehend what their motives and values are.

example: Herbert West from Re-Animator’s only motivation is re-animation of the dead. this may be evil to some, noble to others… but is it unpredictable? not really. i think we all know not to trust this man around corpses.

example: Charles Foster Offdensen from Metalocalypse’s only motivation is ensuring the health, safety, and happiness of Dethklok. he goes incredible lengths (war crimes, literally) to do so; this is evil to some, noble to others… but it he unpredictable? not really. if Dethklok is in danger, then he has dropped everything to save them and is doing so as we speak.

see above examples. moral greyness is not inherently relatable; in some cases, it would be argued that they shouldn’t be. either way, their moral greyness does not make them any more or less human than any other character. their moral greyness makes them morally grey and that’s that.

wrong. you need to show them doing things that align with their personal motivations and values. if your character wouldn’t do it, why force it? this goes both ways.

anyone saying this is afraid of making characters truly morally grey. sympathy is not something that defines morals, anyway; but regardless, sugarcoating their actions and motives by making them a poor little meow meow on purpose is… bullshit. if every morally grey character was sympathetic, fiction as a whole would be dull.

ii. values

this is the real meat of it. what does your character value? is it something practical, like revenge or power? or something wackier like the previously mentioned examples?

clearly define the values your character holds and how it shapes their goals.

iii. motivation / lengths

now… how hard does motivation hit them? how far do they go? where do they draw the line? is there a line for them?

would your character lie to meet their goals? cheat? steal? manipulate? maim? vandalize? kill?

even amongst those, is there specific lines they won’t cross? would your character go as far as killing, but draw the line at children and animals?

and amongst those lines… what would make them cross it? does your character value honesty, but would lie to protect someone? are they a pacifist… but believe followers of certain schools of thought deserve a baseball to kneecaps and won’t hesitate to act on that?

draw out the line for them and then examine their exceptions. this is what will make it seem to other characters that their morality is a roulette wheel; when, in actuality, there is a line of logic that your morally grey character is following.

Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.

Might I add:

The defeat of the wizard who made people choose how they’d be to be executed

The woman who raised the changeling alongside her biological child

The human who died of radiation poisoning after repairing the spaceship

The adventures of a space roomba

Cinderella finding Araura (and falling in love)

I don’t know a snappy description but the my nemesis cynthia story certainly lives in my head

hilariously, these are almost all in my fic tag. so, a compiled list from the notes (and some extras):

I am in love with you /p

What about the one with the princess locked in a tower learning to become a wizard? That’s lived in my mind for years and I haven’t seen it in a long time

Oh, love that story, adding it to the list: 20. Princess Talia and adding a few more contenders 21. Thyme 22. The Monster under the Bed 23. A Meaningful Death 24. Humans are unstoppable…until they aren’t 25. The Monster under the Fridge 26. Antler Guy 27. Cleric slamming healing spells

Adding a few more I remembered:  28. The Frog and the Scorpion 29. HSTHETE 30. The First Witch in the World 31. Imagine that Oceans were replaced by Forests  32. A Faerie taking a Name  33. The Dragon on the Farm  34. Synovus & Menace  35. Raising the Anti-Christ  36. Aliens vs. Flora & Fauna of Earth (pretty sure there are even more additions to the original post but I had this one saved)  37. Doctors without Borders…in Space!  38. The Villain-Wrangler  39. The Last Contact  40. The 100 Parent-Point Children  41. And the Heavens Wept  42. The Night Gentleman  43. The Serpent God and their Priestess 

44. No One Showed Up for the Last Storytime

Wow! @writing-prompt-s contributing to like half of these!

I can hardly take any credit for these stories! But I love sharing them. Unfortunately I cannot read all the prompt responses so please tag me if you want me to reblog a story that resonated with you so I can give it a little boost :)

kurt vonnegut, being good at things is not the point of doing them.

The biggest warmongering race of Aliens declare war on the local Galaxy cluster. The opposing group of peace-loving Aliens, who had befriended most Alien races, are finally forced to reveal their secret weapon, a ‘classified’ species called Humans, and their tenacity as persistence predators.

“Ma’am. The V’afinog leader has sent a message.”

Rahn closes all six of her eyes, heart sinking into her thorax. A fine tremor starts in her vestigial wings. “So it’s true. They’ve returned to their bloodthirsty crusade.”

Undan nods miserably. The holo-pad in his hands shows the details of the crisis; six ships already attached to the planet holding their Boundary Station. A thousand V’afinog are holding the planet hostage. It’s only a matter of time before they assume complete control of the Boundary Station and can open the relay of shields between their galaxy and Rahn’s.

Rahn doesn’t bother with denial. Yes, there’s supposed to be a treaty between their Galaxies. Yes, the V’afinog are breaking that treaty and risking every trade agreement that keeps them alive in their barren corner of the universe. Yes, it’s beyond imagination, beyond comprehension.

But it’s happening. 

She makes a conscious effort to hold her wings still. “The Station?”

“Still unbreached,” Undan reports. He twists the pad around so she can see the glowing red dots that mark the V’afinog troops. “However, they’re making short work of our shields. Ma’am, I don’t think we have a choice. They’re too fast.”

“On my grandmother’s wings,” Rahn whispers. This is the worst possible scenario, a scenario so awful that there is only one course of action left. “All these years holding them back wasted because those bloodthirsty lizards can’t keep a single promise.”

Undan’s wings flutter uncomfortably. He doesn’t need to ask who this new they are. “Our relations with them are quite good, ma’am. I don’t think there’s too much cause for alarm. They’ll help us.”

Rahn stares at him in horror. “Undan, you befriended one, didn’t you?”

“That’s not– I’m just saying they’ll help–”

Keep reading

If your plot feels flat, STUDY it! Your story might be lacking...

Stakes - What would happen if the protagonist failed? Would it really be such a bad thing if it happened?

Thematic relevance - Do the events of the story speak to a greater emotional or moral message? Is the conflict resolved in a way that befits the theme?

Urgency - How much time does the protagonist have to complete their goal? Are there multiple factors complicating the situation?

Drive - What motivates the protagonist? Are they an active player in the story, or are they repeatedly getting pushed around by external forces? Could you swap them out for a different character with no impact on the plot? On the flip side, do the other characters have sensible motivations of their own?

Yield - Is there foreshadowing? Do the protagonist's choices have unforeseen consequences down the road? Do they use knowledge or clues from the beginning, to help them in the end? Do they learn things about the other characters that weren't immediately obvious?

Thank you so much for this!

The Ability to Smell Beauty

“Do you smell that?” Paint asked, flicking her tongue out to taste the air, just like the orange-scaled lizard she resembled. “That is LOVELY. Where is it?”

I looked around the forest-lined landing pad. All sorts of plants that I’d never seen before waved on the breeze: tree-things shaped like willows that someone had coated in enough hairspray to make them stand on end, bush-things with leaves that snapped at flies, moss and mushrooms and lumps that could have been frogs or seedpods, or maybe oddly-shaped rocks.

“I have no idea,” I told Paint honestly.

“Help me find it,” she said, striding away from the ship with her shoulder bag held tight and determination on her scaly face.

I glanced back at the captain and several others, who were passing time with an alien card game. The person who was supposed to have delivered our next shipment was late. Nothing else to do but hang around and try not to be bored.

“We’re going to look around a little,” I called, walking after Paint. “We won’t go far.”

Captain Sunlight nodded, her own scaly yellow face focused on the cards. “Scream if you need anything.” Then she triumphantly played a card that made Mur flail his tentacles in aggravation.

I said that I would, and followed my shorter crewmate as she waded into the undergrowth with her tongue flicking madly.

“So what exact smell are we looking for?” I asked, wondering if that was the right word. “Smelling for?”

Keep reading

I think it's so funny how we bred JOBS into dogs. I have two shih tzus and they were bred to be lap dogs. All they care about is looking cute and cuddling with people. Meanwhile my grandma has a border collie and that dog needs to feel so useful all the time, he acts like he will pass away if he doesn't have a job to do constantly

On one hand this is extremely fucking funny, but on the other hand, it really boggles my mind how many people punish their dogs for just… doing the thing they were bred to do.

Your husky isn’t “hyperactive”, it’s bred to pull sleds for 8 hours straight and you have it in a 400 sq ft yard.

Your English sheepdog isn’t “pushy”, it’s bred to herd sheep, and you have neither to space nor the herd to allow it.

Your terrier isn’t “nippy”, it’s bred to kill rats and your hamster looks a hell of a lot like one.

Your Catahoula isn’t “mean to animals”, it’s bred to hunt any and all animals smaller than it, and you didn’t acclimate it to your cat.

Your Lhasa Apso isn’t “yappy”, it’s bred to bark at any tiny noise and alert watchmen to intruders

Like Jesus Christ, if you can’t provide an environment where your dog can’t fulfill its literal life purpose, maybe?? Don’t get that dog??? And if you do, maybe know the breed characteristics so you can redirect those traits into more constructive outlets????

Both your most common doodle's parts (labra and golden) want to hunt and retrieve water birds so the best suggestion I can give y'all is congratulations on your new duck hunting hobby.

#people will overlook the perfect breeds to suit their needs based on just their looks#and get a work dog because it looks cool

tags from @gnarlystarships because YEAH

Deathworlders

It has become a major topic of late that humans could be perceived as an absolutely insane race to the galactic community, assuming that most sapient species evolved on more ‘Paradise Planets’. For instance, humans are insanely good at adapting to different environments and can consume a huge number of things that are poisonous to other species. One of my favorite ideas that I came across recently is that perhaps humans make the ideal search and rescue species due to our ability to track, even untrained humans can often come up with the right ideas when tracking even if we don’t fully understand why.

_________________________________________________

Xelaqua was completely and totally lost, had been for three local days. Xe’d been playing with the other Klitori children around the edge of the forest here on M’Jang, a relatively new colony of the Klitori Union on D’Nik. The moon was a beautiful world, but a dangerous one. Klitori scales could keep most of the radiation from the gas giant they orbit at bay, but they still were advised not to go out after planetrise. 

Xelaqua had been chasing a Zo, a small, brightly colored, winged insectoid being. Being an adolecent, xe could move fairly quickly, but his arms were still short and pudgy, meaning catching the little zo had taken some time and the climbing of a very old tree of some kind. That was when xe’d realized xe was in fact very lost. Xelaqua had roamed for three days now, hiding in the roots of old trees by the river bank or in small caves during the planet day, and trying to find the colony elsewhen. The problem came when a magora, a large predator, had attacked xim. The six eyes and sharp fangs had been all Xelaqua had really seen, as it bit his tail and thrashed him into a tree. 

Xelaqua woke up some hours later, confused and frightend as the planet was overhead. The pain took a moment to set in, but come it did. A broken arm was painful but not too bad, xe had three others after all, but the missing tail was a major issue. Klitori slither along the ground, lacking legs, but with four arms. A Klitor without a tail can’t move very well, as their arms are somewhat weak due to their homeworld’s low gravity. Xelaqua was going to die out here, alone in the forest. It was odd that the magora had decided to only eat xis tail, but that was a mystery for another time. Xelaqua slowly crawled under the roots of the tree, cradling xis broken arm and doing xis best not to look at the stump where xis tail had been. Klitori don’t have the same kind of vascular system we’re used to, so bleeding out isn’t actually an issue. Which is almost unfortunate for the young Xelaqua, as starvation will set in soon. 

Another day passes, Xelaqua only venturing far enough to drink from the small steam. Nothing nearby looks edible, but xe moves so slow that xe can’t go far. Hours later, as Xelaqua sings quietly to ximself in his little hiding hole, xe hears a stange sound. Something almost like someone calling for xim, but the pronunciation was dreadful, something not Klitori at all. While Xelaqua knew not to talk to strangers, this might be xis only hope of survival. Calling out was hard, exhaustion was a major issue, but the sounds drew closer. 

Human. Xelaqua had heard of them. Insane predators, violent, brilliant, and hardy. It was hard to imagine a sapient mammal, but here it was, calling out to others to come. 

“Help need you. Xelaqua you?” Xelaqua almost giggled at the strange way it talked, obviously knowing some words in Klitori Majoris, but not much. Regardless he answered yes as they were lifting him up.

Xelaqua was amazed at the speed at which humans could move. They had set his arm (ouch!), sanitized and wrapped his tail, and given him some food and water from the colony all in less that ten minutes. They moved through the forest in a way Xelaqua had only ever seen on TV shows about predators on death worlds, where the prey might kill you as likely as other predators. Quick, silent, and most frighteningly, hard to see. Xe’d watched the other humans move about around the one carrying xim, a human named Cuthbert, but they seemed to vanish and reappear later. 

Being saved was amazing, getting saved by the galaxies greatest trackers was something else entirely. And they suggested that they might be able to regrow his tale, as reptiles on their world often had the ability. They’d have someone look into it. What an insane world they must live on if regrowing limbs is something that animals can just do. 

Smoke & Deliveries

It's finally done! I can't remember the last time I was this proud of how a snippet turned out! Please tell me what you think! I'd love to know!

A villain had ordered a pizza. That was a fact civilian was still struggling to wrap their head around as they drove.

Since when do villains order pizzas from small local pizza shops?! Surely they had... people for that? Or something? Especially a villain like Vapour, who would have been upped to supervillain status if only he were meaner and more aggressive.

That so wasn't the point.

The point was he'd ordered a pizza, and civilian had been tasked with delivering it!

Vapour got his name from his ability to control any substance in its gaseous form, along with the ability to sublimate himself into smoke and back on a whim. Because of this, he couldn't be caught despite everyone knowing where he lived. Even if someone managed to get him into handcuffs, he could turn to smoke and poof right out of them.

He was also deadly, considering he could control all gases, including the oxygen your lungs required to function. He could force it to expand inside your chest if he so wanted.

Civilians' hands were so sweaty they were almost starting to lose grip on the steering wheel. They kept swallowing, but the excess saliva never seemed to leave their mouth. This was one of the first deliveries they'd done where they didn't have to look up the directions on their GPS; everyone knew the big mansion on Noles Dr at the top of the hill. It was the only house on the street and was pretty hard to miss. Most people spend their time avoiding the place.

But here they were... driving up to it... late at night.

They weren't getting paid enough for this.

The entire area was fenced in, and the two colossal iron gates at the base of the driveway certainly looked like something out of the Addams family. The comparison was only strengthened when a gust of wind blew the gate open right as they drove up.

They continued up the driveway, hesitantly pulling up to the front of the closed garage.

Okay. Okay. They could do this. Thankfully, the villain had already paid online, which meant they didn't actually have to get close. Screw getting a tip. Maybe... they could put the pizza on the doorstep, ring the bell and then run? That... probably wouldn't get them killed... right?

Shakily, the civilian got out of the car, grabbed the pizza and began walking toward the house. They couldn't postpone it any longer lest they risk the pizza getting cold.

The front door was large but not obnoxiously so. Tall plants sat in large stone pots on either side of it.

Civilian approached cautiously. Right as they were about to set the pizza down, they heard the faint click of the lock on the front door and froze solid. The door swung open, unveiling no one there.

They weren't sure if that was better or worse.

Was this... an invitation inside...?

They continued to stand frozen, staring into the entrance hall; the blood-red carpet runner that ran over white marble floor, illuminated in warm light somehow seemed to mock the blood that felt cold in civilian's veins.

Their grip tightened on the cardboard box.

Suddenly they felt something like a ghostly push on their back, causing them to stumble forward a step. Encouraging, not forceful, but clear enough for the civilian to know it wasn't just the wind.

*Go on, come in*

They swallowed, and with a deep breath, they took a step inside. They felt a little lightheaded.

The hallway they stepped into went straight ahead, stairs to the left and what looked like a kitchen past that. They assumed they were going in that direction, but a gentle breeze blowing past them told them otherwise.

The room immediately to the right seemed to be a lounge of some kind. But when they walked in, the civilian nearly dropped the pizza.

The front half of the room was a lounge, with velvet couches and floor-to-ceiling shelves full of books and trinkets, jewelry and gemstones of all kinds. Halfway through the room, however, the marble floor stepped down into a pool with clear glass walls that stretched outside, hanging over the garden below that sparkled with the blinking lights of fireflies. The full moon beamed through the open wall, shimmering off the water and reflecting prisms through the glass. Twinkling fairy lights hung around the edges of the ceiling.

It was like something out of a fantasy; there were so many things in this room, each fascinating and pretty in its own way.

"Whoa," civilian whispered to themselves, speechless.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" A new smooth and velvety voice mused from right behind them.

The civilian spun around so fast that they nearly slipped on the marble floor.

They turned to meet Vapour, who was standing behind them, hands clasped behind his back, armed with an affable but alluring smile. He wore a luxurious black robe, tied at the waist. It looked so soft.

He was also incredibly attractive and, unfortunately, entirely too much the civilian's type, causing their heart to pick up just that little bit more.

"Oh, gods-" civilian panicked, retreating a step and bumping into the back of one of the couches, "I'm so sorry I wasn't trying to invade your privacy or anything I-"

The villain in front of them cut them off with a laugh that was so much prettier than civilian would have imagined, "Breath shutterbug, as cute as you are, I'm not about to eat you. I won't bite unless asked; I promise," the villain smirked, teasing, but something glinted in his eyes that made civilian's stomach do flips. The promise of danger, like a weapon in a glass case. Yet it had the same seductive pull of a siren call.

Civilian felt their cheeks growing hot. A villain just- did they hear that right?

"I- right- I- uhm," they stumbled, before clumsily jerking the box forward, "Your pizza,"

Vapour chuckled again, "Much appreciated, shutterbug," He took it in his hands in one swift, fluid movement before turning towards the table, robe trailing behind him in a silhouette eerily similar to his signature cape. "stay here a moment while I find your tip," he said, laying a hand on civilian's shoulder in a gentle, reassuring motion as he walked by.

Said shoulder felt like it was on fire from the brief contact. It lingered, the ghostly touch igniting their skin even through the thin fabric of their cheap delivery shirt, which felt so remarkably out of place here that it almost fit in an ironic way.

"O-oh! You don't need to do that! Really it's-" the civilian tried, forcing the words out, but the villain merely waved a dismissive hand toward them.

"Oh, nonsense. I know they don't pay you anywhere near enough," he surmised, "besides, not many people are willing to make the trip all the way out here, a bit outside town and all,"

Sure, as if that was why people wouldn't make the trip.

Still, civilian wasn't about to argue with a supervillain, that's for sure.

"So, what's your favourite kind of pizza?" Vapour asked as he slid the box down onto the table.

Civilian blinked, "I- what?"

Villain sent a disarming yet amused smile over his shoulder as he pulled out his wallet, "I'm trying to encourage you to breath; you look like you're about to faint,"

"Oh, right-"

*Right, right, right. Breath.*

"So, pizza?" Vapour prompted again.

"Meat!" Civilian replied a little too quickly before blushing slightly, "like, I mostly like meat on my pizzas, pepperoni, bacon, beef, sausage. I think meat generally tastes good with cheese. I don't like veggies or fruit on it," they babbled nervously.

The villain's eyes glinted again in that dangerously enticing way, "How fun, we like the same,"

Another blink, startled, "R-really?"

"Mmm," the villain hummed, closing their wallet. Suddenly, smoke swirled up their legs, and just like that, they were gone, with only a dense smoke hovering in their place. Before civilian could even react, the smoke rushed towards them, materializing to reveal Vapour standing with the same charming yet teasing smile and two $50 bills extended in his hand.

That little display made this feel all the more real.

Civilian's breath stuttered, wide eyes flicking between the villain's face and hand. Vapour just stood there patiently, though the growing amusement in his eyes seemed to betray his reassuring smile.

"I-" it was like they'd forgotten how to speak, "are you sure? That's so much-"

"Of course," the villain replied, voice gentle and rumbling, like the warm hum of a gas fireplace. Encompassing in a way akin to the warmth it spread. He extended his hand slightly closer to civilian in emphasis, "Go buy yourself something nice; I'm sure someone as cute as you certainly deserves it,"

The civilian immediately felt their face flush again, but they tentatively reached out to take the money, "Th-thank you,"

"Can you see yourself out?" The villain asked, tilting his head questioningly, in a stupidly charming way that his hair fell just above his sharp eyes, pupils catching the reflected moonlight like the edge of a broken bottle...

The civilian blinked out of their trance, blushing furiously, "yes!" They replied a bit too vehemently, which only caused them to blush, "Yeah, I can see myself out. Uhm, enjoy- uh, enjoy your order..."

Vapour smirked, "I'm sure I will; drive safe shutterbug," he winked before turning back around and making his way towards the sofa.

Civilian took their chance, spinning around on their heels and quickly scurrying out to the hallway and through the front door.

Luckily, that was their last delivery of the night, so they drove straight home after getting into their car. It wasn't until they were through their front door that they finally let the events of the night full hit them.

*That had all happened*

Civilian fell back, leaning against the inside of their front door.

*Vapour called me cute*

They felt their cheeks heating up and couldn't help the way their hands came up to cover their face.

The villain's voice kept echoing in their head, the way they called them shutterbug, with an almost fond teasing in their voice.

Civilian barely slept that night, and it wasn't out of fear.

Writers, please, please, please, I am begging you

I know we don't vibe with Mary Sues, and I know we like watching characters fail...

But if your character is the world's best assassin, they shouldn't be botching nearly every single step of every single job just because the plot demands it. If your character is one of the greatest fighters to ever live, they can't badly lose every single fight the plot throws at them and then barely win the final confrontation. If your character is a competent military strategist, they need at least a few small successes during the course of the plot. If your character is an experienced leader, they can't be constantly making the kind of missteps that realistically would cause their subordinates to lose confidence in them.

If your character is good at something. Show them being good at it.

If your character

is good at something. Show them

being good at it.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

…Do you ever see people critiquing specific word usage in novels and wonder if they know that language can be used in fun and figurative ways? And that this is half the joy of writing?

An example off the top of my head - if I say ‘He gave a whisper of a smile’, it does not mean that the smile is literally whispering; it means that the word ‘whisper’ invokes a sense of smallness, due perhaps to subtlety or shyness, and that is something I want connected to your mental envisioning of this dude’s smile. 

Saying ‘But that makes no sense; a smile and a whisper are two different things’ misses the point e n t i r e l y

this resonated, huh

Would there ever be a time that Foreign Aliens/Non-Humans would have to be taught that Humanity as a whole doesn’t take well to being treated like they can’t take care of themselves?

Like if we do things known in our biology to cause us pain (spicy food) and the Foreign Aliens/Non-Humans take away the food thinking it’s for our safety, but Humans don’t take well to this.

Having to explain that to Humans, especially adults but even children, we have basic rights that state we can make our own decisions and we’re responsible for our own actions.

To be treated like children as adults, like we have no idea what we’re doing to ourselves would be a huge insult and invasion on our people’s rights.

I imagine it’d make the Foreign Aliens/Non-Humans very nervous to let their new friends/companions/coworkers/etc do whatever they want simply because it’s their choice and they’ll take responsibility

Not all children, adults, people actually follow through- blaming others for their own actions -but in the general populus it’s expected, encouraged, and frequent to be independant and responsible for your own actions

And oh boy, Imagine also having to explain the times of which it’s absolutely expected and encouraged to go against a Humans’ actions/desires!

How a certain amount of alcohol is not healthy, taking medication with alcohol, trying drugs from a planet where we haven’t studied the effects on the human body yet….