how do you infinite scroller webcomic people DO IT

how to format your story, a crash course

because my writing major soul dies a little bit more every time i see a perfectly good story improperly formatted.

this is a guide specifically for ao3 posting

1. Put A Double Return (Enter) Between Each Paragraph Instead Of An Indentation

fanfic is not academic writing. you don't need an indent at the beginning of each line. for the sake of scrolling it just makes it more organized and easier to read. The double return puts a space between the two paragraphs as seen here:

2. Make A New Paragraph Every Time The Camera Moves Or A New Thought Is Addressed

what the hell does that mean, youre probably asking. allow me to show you.

these are each three separate thoughts. so they each get their own paragraph. think about it like the reader is taking a pause between each thought, where should those pauses go?

3. Put A New Paragraph Every Time A New Person Speaks

do not and i repeat DO NOT write your dialogue like this:

"blah blah blah" he said. "blah blah blah" she said. "blah blah blah" they said. "blah blah blah" he said. "blah blah blah" she said.

it is impossible to read and its confusing and people will click off your story. dialogue should look like this:

see how each time a different person talks there's a new line? there can be not dialogue mixed with the dialogue, but every time the person speaking changes, there would be a new line.

Today I learned

Free Audiobooks and Ebooks on OVERDRIVE.

Free Graphic Novels (DC, Marvel, Image, etc), Music, TV shows, and music on HOOPLA.

Free music that you can KEEP on FREEGAL

You are PAYING for all this with your tax money - USE THEM. Most likely systems will have all 3 or 2 out of 3, so if you aren’t sure call your local library’s reference/information desk and how you can get set-up or started.

Hey, highkey from a library worker: 

Overdrive has a new mobile app called LIBBY I find it easier to use.  It’s the same content as Overdrive just better for mobile.  Overdrive and Libby both let you send items to your kindle as well.  

Can confirm Overdrive is amazing. 

I work in the largest library system in my state (17 branches in total).

I use it not only for ebooks, but movies as well.

Other FREE resources to check with your library for are:

If you don’t have a library card…

GET ONE!

If someone says libraries are a thing of the past…

BOOP THEM IN THE NOSE WITH YOUR KINDLE!

Don’t discount libraries as “quiet” places. 

THEY ARE ALIVE!!!

THEY ARE LOUD!!!

THEY ARE YOUR DOORWAYS TO KNOWLEDGE!!

Also if you can’t find something particular at your library and want to support local book stores, Libro.fm is basically the exact same thing as audible, but it lets you choose an indie bookstore to purchase through instead of your money going to Amazon.

All of this is very good and true EXCEPT for the fact that if the audiobook or ebook you want is an Audible Original or Kindle Exclusive, we cannot provide access to that because Amazon is frankly terrible and we cannot purchase ebooks or audiobooks for libraries rom Amazon!

Also, depending on your library system and the book you want to read or listen to, you may not find the ebook/audibook you’re listening for in your library’s catalog – but chances are likely that we can get it for you through OverDrive! Most libraries have a “patron request” feature where you can ask the library to purchase a book for you – give it a shot! (caveat: not all audiobooks/ebooks are available on OverDrive, and even if they were once available, they may no longer be able – licenses are weird and complicated!)

Also also, I heartily second the recommendation for the Libby By OverDrive app. Way more user friendly than the og OverDrive app, but all the same content!

SYNONYMS FOR WORDS COMMONLY USED IN STUDENTS' WRITINGS

by larae.net

Art Tips | Line Weight

—

Hello, I didn’t make it in time but I still wanted to share this short guide on applying varying line weight onto a drawing.

In my first year of art college, drawing class was like a treasure trove of new tips and knowledge which I looked forward to every week. I used to only draw either very lightly overall or with the same intensity and no variation in my lines. 

But one of the first things introduced to us in drawing class was how to vary our lines and mark making to capture light and shadow through just our line drawings. I never noticed the big difference it made to drawing only in a line with the same weight or which was uniform in pressure. I saw how it added more depth and fluidity to the character or subject making them less flat and stiff overall.

So ever since then I have tried to observe more and make thoughtful decisions of where I can play with the pressure of my lines while drawing.

Hope this is helpful! :)

-xz

Words to replace said, except this actually helps

I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.

IN RESPONSE TO Acknowledged Answered Protested

INPUT/JOIN CONVERSATION/ASK Added Implored Inquired Insisted Proposed Queried Questioned Recommended Testified

GUILTY/RELUCTANCE/SORRY Admitted Apologized Conceded Confessed Professed

FOR SOMEONE ELSE Advised Criticized Suggested

JUST CHECKING Affirmed Agreed Alleged Confirmed

LOUD Announced Chanted Crowed

LEWD/CUTE/SECRET SPY FEEL Appealed Disclosed Moaned

ANGRY FUCK OFF MATE WANNA FIGHT Argued Barked Challenged Cursed Fumed Growled Hissed Roared Swore

SMARTASS Articulated Asserted Assured Avowed Claimed Commanded Cross-examined Demanded Digressed Directed Foretold Instructed Interrupted Predicted Proclaimed Quoted Theorized

ASSHOLE Bellowed Boasted Bragged

NERVOUS TRAINWRECK Babbled Bawled Mumbled Sputtered Stammered Stuttered

SUAVE MOTHERFUCKER Bargained Divulged Disclosed Exhorted

FIRST OFF Began

LASTLY Concluded Concurred

WEAK PUSY Begged Blurted Complained Cried Faltered Fretted

HAPPY/LOL Cajoled Exclaimed Gushed Jested Joked Laughed

WEIRDLY HAPPY/EXCITED Extolled Jabbered Raved

BRUH, CHILL Cautioned Warned

ACTUALLY, YOU’RE WRONG Chided Contended Corrected Countered Debated Elaborated Objected Ranted Retorted

CHILL SAVAGE Commented Continued Observed Surmised

LISTEN BUDDY Enunciated Explained Elaborated Hinted Implied Lectured Reiterated Recited Reminded Stressed

BRUH I NEED U AND U NEED ME Confided Offered Urged

FINE Consented Decided

TOO EMO FULL OF EMOTIONS Croaked Lamented Pledged Sobbed Sympathized Wailed Whimpered

JUST SAYING Declared Decreed Mentioned Noted Pointed out Postulated Speculated Stated Told Vouched

WASN’T ME Denied Lied

EVIL SMARTASS Dictated Equivocated Ordered Reprimanded Threatened

BORED Droned Sighed

SHHHH IT’S QUIET TIME Echoed Mumbled Murmured Muttered Uttered Whispered

DRAMA QUEEN Exaggerated Panted Pleaded Prayed Preached

OH SHIT Gasped Marveled Screamed Screeched Shouted Shrieked Yelped Yelled

ANNOYED Grumbled Grunted Jeered Quipped Scolded Snapped Snarled Sneered

ANNOYING Nagged

I DON’T REALLY CARE BUT WHATEVER Guessed Ventured

I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM Hooted Howled Yowled

I WONDER Pondered Voiced Wondered

OH, YEAH, WHOOPS Recalled Recited Remembered

SURPRISE BITCH Revealed

IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD Scoffed Snickered Snorted

BITCHY Tattled Taunted Teased

Edit: People, I’m an English and creative writing double major in college; I understand that there’s nothing wrong with simply using “said.” This was just for fun, and it comes in handy when I need to add pizzazz. 

comic about someone’s strange dream (and daydreams)

I don’t understand the logic that whoever is calmest in an argument is winning and that somehow anger invalidates your words. I mean I can argue that your great aunt’s name is Jihinksenbob for an hour straight and be perfectly fine. It’s very easy to be calm when the topic doesn’t affect you personally or you just don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.

I call that logic the “hysteria fallacy”. Basically, “You’re angry, therefore I don’t have to listen to you” is just another way to say “You’re being hysterical, therefore I don’t have to listen to you”.

So we’re getting BOTWxPokemon game, eh?

Something very stupid that came to my mind and I couldn’t stop working on this. Done entirely in Photoshop CC. About 6-8 hours.

Music is Guardian Battle from BOTW and stick snap sound is from freesound.org

A Visual #Fashion Guide For Women - Necklines, Skirt Types & More!

Come and Shop with us at www.GoGetGlam.com 

I made these as a way to compile all the geographical vocabulary that I thought was useful and interesting for writers. Some descriptors share categories, and some are simplified, but for the most part everything is in its proper place. Not all the words are as useable as others, and some might take tricky wording to pull off, but I hope these prove useful to all you writers out there!

(save the images to zoom in on the pics)

Kind characters are not boring; in fact, due to the vast amount of people who hold that opinion, kind characters are as edgy as it gets. In this essay I will

You know what, I’m not done! I think that the whole concept that kind characters are uninteresting and vanilla is such a broad generalization and takes kindness to mean lawful or goody-two-shoes, when there are so many ways for someone to a character to be kind.

Kindness does not require passivity or social grace. Kind characters can stick to their guns and stand up for what they believe in. They can yell and scream and curse. Kind characters can be angry and disappointed when others do not show them the same compassion they show others. Kind characters can be tactless, oblivious. They may be rough around the edges (but have a heart of gold).

Kind characters often value justice and strive to stay connected to their humanity, even when the things they must do threaten to strip it away from them. Kind characters sometimes have to make difficult choices. Sometimes, kind characters even behave in a way that is unkind.

Kindness is complex, and it’s only a single solitairy characteristic that contributes to a character’s personality. While it can absolutely present as soft-spoken, honest, and open-hearted (my personal FAVE), it certainly doesn’t have to be.

TL;DR Kindness is not boring

Every writing advice thing ever: Don’t get bogged down in details on your first draft. Just write! ☺️

Me: How I begin this scene hinges on whether cheese sandwiches were served with mayo in the 50’s.

have not seen anything more relatable today >.<

let me link the world’s most useful twitter thread. 

some excerpts:

there’s nothing to stop you from using the <get there> method for research details. in fact, i know many many writers who use it for just that.

the theme that always resonates me the most in stories is “the world is cruel; therefore I won’t be.”

when a pessimistic, self-destructive character who has been made hard and cynical and bitter by repeated trauma and horror is suddenly put into a situation where they could be like “well, that’s just how it is, life’s a bitch” but they choose not to? When they decide instead they’ll be damned if they don’t die fighting to make their shitty fucking world a little bit less shitty?

When they are yanked into a relationship with someone who is way more hopeful and idealistic than they are, who has not experienced the same suffering, and they think “I’m not going to let them hurt the way I was hurt” even though they may not have ever given a damn about what anyone else was going through before?

That’s just about the most important story there is, if you ask me

This is about Sci-Hub. yeah we get it.. gatekeep knowledge and protect the interests of capital…

Listen, this is serious.

Do not use the website called Sci-Hub!

It lets people access scientific articles for free. This is dangerous. It helps the free flow of knowledge and reduces the competitive edge of all the people who worked really hard to have been born into a wealth.

Like, it’s literally a website where you can type in the DOI of an article and read it, without ever having to pay the publisher who exploited the author.

So, again, do not, under any circumstance, use Sci-Hub. I mean, can you imagine a world where knowledge is free and easily accessible to everyone? Even, y'know, poor people?

Libgen also has many books online, including textbooks, searchable by name, author, and ISBN. Can you imagine textbook companies not getting their hard-earned income from poor college students? Here is the link just so you make sure that you never accidentally stumble across this horrible, unethical website.

Oh, and while we’re talking about books, if you’ve managed to stay clear from Libgen, definitely don’t go to zlibrary, where you can also find a lot of textbooks, but unfortunately they’re completely free.

nooo don’t use sites that make academic papers accessible to everyone, why would you do such a terrible thing

for physics and physics-adjacent journals, definitely don’t go to arxiv.org, where you can find recently and soon-to-be published articles for free. (Older articles too, because it keeps all the articles that were put on there.)

then there’s the Internet Archive (aka The Wayback Machine), which contains pretty much everything:

it’s always fighting off attacks from publishers and capitalist interests

and don’t forget Project Gutenberg, where everything out of copyright will eventually live:

“This is your daily, friendly reminder to use commas instead of periods during the dialogue of your story,” she said with a smile.

“Unless you are following the dialogue with an action and not a dialogue tag.” He took a deep breath and sat back down after making the clarifying statement. 

“However,” she added, shifting in her seat, “it’s appropriate to use a comma if there’s action in the middle of a sentence.”

“True.” She glanced at the others. “You can also end with a period if you include an action between two separate statements.”

Things I didn’t know

“And–” she waved a pen as though to underline her statement–“if you’re interrupting a sentence with an action, you need to type two hyphens to make an en-dash.”

You guys have no idea how many students in my advanced fiction workshop didn’t know any of this when writing their stories.

Okay, but someone please explain question marks when followed by a dialogue tag. How do?

“The speech tag is still part of the previous sentence,” she explained, ‘so it isn’t capitalised.“

“What do you mean?” he asked. “But there’s a full stop as part of the question mark!”

She nodded gravely. “I know!” she said. “A lot of people find this confusing. But the speech tag belongs to the line of dialogue, it’s still part of the sentence, so it’s wrong to capitalise it.”

She reblogged the post again, because she had recently read far too many potentially enjoyable stories marred by poor dialogue punctuation.

I’ve only seen this post in screenshots till now..

NOICE. Can’t wait to use this

“There are two more ways"—she pointed to the blackboard—“to punctuate interruptions. One is with the em dashes outside the quotations marks to indicate continuous speech. The action occurs at the same time as speech. The other—” she sipped from a glass of water “—is em dashes within the quotation marks to indicate interrupted speech.”

Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):

And!

V.E. Schwab’s advice on creating memorable characters.

this has changed me character creation entirely

Remember to apply this to both protagonists and antagonists!

This is excellent, in part because so many additional questions flow naturally from it. Why do they fear what they fear? Why do they want what they want? What would force them to overcome their fear? Are they conflicted about some of the things they would do to get what they want? Ashamed?

Afraid?

— https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/325399.html?thread=1869956375#cmt1869956375 (via pitviperofdoom)

99% of anime protags for “into another world” genre

Source: Uzlo (uzlolzu)