World Building - Tumblr Posts

Some Things To Consider When Writing Weapons Training

Your character will hurt. Even if they don't get hit, it can be exhausting training, especially if they're just starting. It can be a weird set of muscles to use, and things like their shoulders will hurt if they do what a lot of people do and tense up while holding the weapon.

They will drop the weapon. There are a lot of reasons why people drop weapons--because the weapon is awkward to hold or the person isn't used to holding them, because it gets hit out of the person's hand, because their own hand gets hit, etc--but it happens.

People get hit by accident all the time--including the person holding the weapon. When I've done jō practice, I consider it a success if I don't hit myself with it while I'm practicing. And even when doing controlled sparring or paired katas, people still end up hitting each other, especially on places like the hand.

Practice weapons still hurt. Depending on what you're doing, they're usually made of either wood or rubber rather than metal, but just because they're not metal, it doesn't mean they don't hurt. Bruises are really standard, especially if you're practicing something like knife fighting where you're doing a lot of hand-to-hand blocking.

The goal of training is not to hurt your opponent. People who (intentionally or through carelessness) hurt their sparring partners are bad at training and will probably be kicked out of it or at least get a very strong talking to. Good training will also teach them how to train without getting hurt and strongly discourage doing things in a dangerous way.

What they wear will differ widely depending on the discipline. HEMA and fencing tend to have a fair amount of protective gear (helmet, etc.), as does kendo, while disciplines like aikidō, iaidō, and jūjutsu are more likely to have people wearing a gi or hakama. This will impact how they feel about hitting opponents--it's always riskier to hit someone in a place with no protective gear.

Some weapons' training is primarily defensive, and some is primarily offensive, and some is both. Some training (knife defense, gun defense) is primarily about disarming someone with one of those weapons, where the actual use of the weapon is just as a training tool. In those cases, the specifics of the attack are usually emphasized less than the specifics of the defense. HEMA and fencing are much more offense-focused, with the goal being more about landing a hit. In forms like that (or in a similar fictional form), you'll see the mentality that the best defense is a good offense, as opposed to the mentality that the best defense is a good defense (or the best defense is running away).

Knowing one form of weapons training is (often) helpful in learning another. Even while they differ a fair amount, different weapons styles can often use similar patterns in terms of strikes, blocks, and steps. Part of this is that there are only so many useful places to hit a person and only so many ways to step. There are other things that are fairly universal as well, like awareness of your blade and your opponent's blade, awareness of your body, and awareness of relative distance.

we owe literally no one more on this planet than the woman behind fantasy name generator

There are two ways to live my life:

The easy way

And the way where instead of just using Earth which would be totally fine I build a full planet with humans but different countries and land masses for no reason

I don’t know which one to go with

Send Me Questions About My Work In Progress!

Ask me these questions on my new blog for my current work in progress @talkingstoriesandstuff​!

What genre is your story?

What are the main characters in your story?

What is the soundtrack to your story?

Is your story a standalone or a series?

Is there any romance in your story?

If your story was a fruit, which one would it be?

Which writer in you controls the plot, the author who wants to please their readers or the one who wants to make their readers suffer?

What do you do to get inspired about your WIP?

Are you plotting meticulously before writing or seeing where the pen takes you?

What stage are you at in the writing process?

What is the name of your story/series?

What is/are the message(s) of your story?

How are you conveying the themes of your story?

Is your story character, worldbuilding, or plot centric?

What is your inspiration?

If your story were the child of 2 other works, what would they be?

What is your character(s) motivation?

Is there any recurring symbolism in your story?

Who is your favorite character? Why?

What has been your favorite scene to write so far?

What compelled you to create that story?

Will there be a satisfying ending?

Where can we find diversity in your story?

Do you use any cliches? Why?

What is the age range in your OCs?

What genders are your characters, and do you think it hinders your ability to tell the story?

When did you stop worldbuilding and just start writing?

When will you be satisfied with the level of construction your story is at?

How long does your story (as a whole) span in time?

Give the most satisfying quote from a deleted scene in the book.

What is character A and B’s relationship like?

How does character x gravitate toward people and connect to them?

What is character x’s relationship with their parents?

Who is character x’s best friend?

Does character x have any siblings? If so, what is the relationship like?

How long was the story you’re working on in your head before you put it on paper?

Who is your main author inspiration for this story?

If your story is a series, how many installments are there?

How have your personal experiences inspired events or elements of the story?

Describe your favorite scene you’ve written/planned so far?

Feel free to reblog and play with your own followers!

Support Wordsnstuff!

If you enjoy my blog and wish for it to continue being updated frequently and for me to continue putting my energy toward answering your questions, please consider Buying Me A Coffee.

Request Resources, Tips, Playlists, or Prompt Lists

Instagram // Twitter //Facebook //#wordsnstuff

FAQ //monthly writing challenges // Masterlist

MY CURRENT WORK IN PROGRESS (Check it out, it’s pretty cool. At least I think it is.)

Been thinking a lot about how carefully RJ considered his world due to how many little details just make sense when you dive a little deeper.

The biggest and best example I can think of is the little throwaway facts about the Aiel. They don’t use maps. They have, like, one chair per hold. They have an oral history. Books and sung wood are very precious. Peddlers are on the very short list of three kinds of people they allow into their land. Communication is almost always done by sending runners, so it’s extremely important to have systems where people can send messages without being straight-up murdered. All of these details - ALL OF THEM - stem from the fact that the Aiel live in a fucking desert.

Desert mean very few trees, and the trees they do have are put to much better use as sources of shade. So they’re not cutting them down to make paper or furniture. And even if they were going to use something else to make paper, the process still needs water, as would any kind of ink they would make. So that rules out making maps, or writing books to record their histories.

Peddlers are literally their only source for books or paper, and they’re not exactly coming by every day. Any scraps of precious paper wouldn’t be wasted on writing letters, so it’s super important to have systems in place where even warring factions can still literally talk to one another. The only letter we’ve ever seen an Aiel write is the one the Wise Ones send to Moiraine at the Stone - information too important to be heard by anyone else, sent by one person trusted enough to deliver it to the right hands.

All of this? Is because the Aiel live in a fucking desert.

a list of 100+ buildings to put in your fantasy town

academy

adventurer's guild

alchemist

apiary

apothecary

aquarium

armory

art gallery

bakery

bank

barber

barracks

bathhouse

blacksmith

boathouse

book store

bookbinder

botanical garden

brothel

butcher

carpenter

cartographer

casino

castle

cobbler

coffee shop

council chamber

court house

crypt for the noble family

dentist

distillery

docks

dovecot

dyer

embassy

farmer's market

fighting pit

fishmonger

fortune teller

gallows

gatehouse

general store

graveyard

greenhouses

guard post

guildhall

gymnasium

haberdashery

haunted house

hedge maze

herbalist

hospice

hospital

house for sale

inn

jail

jeweller

kindergarten

leatherworker

library

locksmith

mail courier

manor house

market

mayor's house

monastery

morgue

museum

music shop

observatory

orchard

orphanage

outhouse

paper maker

pawnshop

pet shop

potion shop

potter

printmaker

quest board

residence

restricted zone

sawmill

school

scribe

sewer entrance

sheriff's office

shrine

silversmith

spa

speakeasy

spice merchant

sports stadium

stables

street market

tailor

tannery

tavern

tax collector

tea house

temple

textile shop

theatre

thieves guild

thrift store

tinker's workshop

town crier post

town square

townhall

toy store

trinket shop

warehouse

watchtower

water mill

weaver

well

windmill

wishing well

wizard tower

I agree with everything in this post

Also has anyone thought of a Harem Branch au

So Bramch was canonically in 2 boy bands in his youth, one of them being the most famous one in Pop Troll history, and both of which had to have been before Rosie's death. Idk about you, but considering how Pop Trolls are, the ultimate flex for a male troll had to be being the lead singer/leader of a boy band, which we can safely assume Branch was the leader of NSYNC's band considering the way their cameos spoke about him asking them to visit and the fact he stayed in the center of the screen. On top of that, Branch had to have been the youngest troll to ever join a boy band, seeing as he couldn't have been older than 2 when Brozone broke up.

I'm just saying the series is REALLY hyping. Branch up as the ideal Dream Boy for a pop troll to get with, and then I think to how he was literally an outcast in the first movie and can't help but laugh my ass off. Like... I bet a lot of Trolls in Pop Village that used to mske fun of him very much had expressions akin to sucking on a sour lemon when they realized Branch was Bitty B AND the presumed leader of whatever NSYNC's Troll name was.

And that's before we take the events of the movies in account and just focus on his background up until the day Rosie died! Boy had been a full on Pop Troll legend before he reached puberty and then became a hero and the best candidate for future king in later life, you can bet Poppy is gonna see this and be so damn smug her best friend/crush is such a catch and she was the only damn person to see it for so long. Like full on pointing st him and be like,

"THAT IS MY MAN! YA'LL THOUGH TI WAS CRAZY FOR TEYING BUT LOOK WHOS LAUGHING NOW!?"

Like... ever heard Skater Boi from Avril Lavigne it's gonna be a total situation like that in Pop Village when they have that concert

Classic case of "Be careful who you bully in high school"

It's not just Pop trolls, Branch has qualities that the other tribes find very attractive.

His intelligence and engineering abilities are very sought after in the Funk and Techno tribes.

Musical and composing skills are very attractive features for the Classical tribe.

The Country trolls always appreciate a hardworking, honest, and loyal troll in their community.

All those qualities together make him a highly desired troll amongst the Rock tribe.

So, yeah, Poppy might not have much competition in the Pop tribe, but she'll need to put up a fight when it comes to the others. 😉

Prompt list:

Btw you don’t necessarily have to draw for Loretober, you can just write stuff. :]

Another thing to consider is the shape of the hands of various aliens and the number of fingers on said hands.

All Sign Language that is used on Earth is based on the fact that we have five fingers and might not work for aliens that either don’t have the same number of fingers or even the same dexterity/joints as humans.

The children’s show Bluey recently introduced a deaf character and the animators had to adjust the AusLan (Australian Sign Language) because the characters only have four fingers.

I don’t know about other countries Sign Languages but I know with at least Exact English Sign Language one Sign can have different meanings depending on how you move your hand.

An example would be folding down all your fingers except for the thumb and pinky and hold your hand up makes the letter ‘Y’ (this is the same in American Sign), if you hold it close to your body and twist your wrist back and forth it’s the color ‘yellow’, holding your hand near your face and twisting your hand can mean ‘silly’ with the correct facial expression and two ‘Y’s by your shoulders and twisting your wrists means ‘play’.

And if you get a Sign wrong you could be asking for something completely different than what you think you’re asking.

I heard a rather mortifying story where a cop, fresh out of his Sign Language class, top of the class, pulled over a hard of hearing/deaf lady and unknowingly missigned driver’s license to her and got confused when she became uncomfortable and distressed when he kept insisting to see it.

He discovered that he wasn’t Signing driver’s license but something else when it occurred to him that he might be Signing driver’s license wrong and asked.

Won’t say exactly what he was unintentionally asking to see as it will get me into trouble here; @slecnaztemnot can probably guess what it was though.

And slecnaztemnot please correct me if I’ve made any errors as I’m not fluent in Sign and am still learning to help my son, he has a severe speech delay, communicate with me and others as he learns to communicate with the world.

Sign Language in the GFFA

This is a set of headcanons I developed for Speechless about how sign works in Star Wars. I do not know any sign languages myself, but that’s because I’ve found I have difficulty picking up new languages in general. I read up on a lot of theory and ran this past a few people who have more experience in real world sign language than I do, so I think it mostly checks out.

That said, if a disabled person (specifically deaf or with a speech disability) has some ideas on how to refine this to be more realistic, or would like to point out something that’s offensive, I’d greatly appreciate it.

Keep reading

i love magic systems in which using magic destroys the user. you regard the slowly worsening changes in your health as nothing more than unlucky coincidences because you're too scared to admit the magic you're becoming addicted to using is destroying you piece by piece. do you want to be loved, to watch as justice falls upon those who wronged you? it'll cost you everything.

More dystopian just-for-funsies stuff cuz I'm bored

Cordelia runs for her life in utter terror when she sees the barbaric procedure of Chipping, an integral part of the Integration. It involves a lobotomy, with that section of the brain responsible for making autonomous decisions being replaced with the Chip; ostensibly for identification purposes, the Chip is actually meant to monitor your every thought, and serve as a system override should you even entertain the mere notion of rebelling or anything remotely un-Colony-like.

So this is the price of Integration.

She chillingly remembers all the times she and her Batch-mates Misbehaved*, and the Caretakers took on a robotic gaze, eyes blank and unfeeling, as they reprimanded them in an uncanny, robotic tone. Those blank stares, those blank scoldings, the kind that deterred her and her Batch-mates from their prying curiosity with their inexplicable creepiness; they were all the same. Did their own minds even belong to them anymore?

Cordelia escapes, unwittingly to the Surface, where she finds that not everything was what she was taught it would be.

POV

I see a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Strange, how this exact same sentence is used to describe one's last moments in pre-Disaster literature. I shield my eyes from this strange, new sun and...

"Whoa."

*Misbehaved = not referring to mischief in general, but to "Untrustworthy" behaviour indicating distrust of the Colony or outright rebellion

Dystopian fiction stuff just for funsies, based on the Hunger Games "Hanging Tree" song cuz I was inspired by the different renditions of this song on Tiktok hahaha don't mind me cuz I'm boooooooooorrrrrrrrrreeedddddddd

This song is about a tree with birdcages on its branches. Cordelia encounters this tree during her time on the Surface. The tree with its birdcages look like a tree bearing fruits--except in this case, the "fruits" are the birds trapped in the cages; hence, the name "Birding Tree".

POV (Jasper taking Cordelia to the Birding Tree)

"I...I'm so sorry. About your gram'ma," I managed.

Jasper smiled as we continued treading through the grass. "Thanks...there was this lullaby she used to sing me. When I--when she passed, that lullaby, that was the first thing that came to mind. Funny, isn't it? I'd totally forgotten about it. It'd been years since she last sang it to me."

"Sorry, what--lala...bye?"

"Lull-a-by," he enunciated. "It's a bedtime song. Well, I don't know if it's actually written to be a lullaby, but she sang that to me at night."

"I didn't know you could sing someone to sleep." I probably sounded stupid saying that. He laughed.

"You learn something new everyday, huh?"

"When you've lived under the Surface, or 'under a rock', as you say, as long as I have, there's only so much you know," I quipped. "So, how did this...lull-a-by go?"

"Pardon?"

"Do you think you could...sing it to me? If you don't mind, of course."

He hesitated, looking around for a bit. "I guess I could. Since it's just you and me." He winked, and I could have sworn I almost tripped on air.

Are you...are you...

Comin' to the tree

We struck down a birdie

Singing in the breeze

Strange things have happened here,

No stranger would it be,

If we took...this birdie...

To the Birding Tree

Are you...are you...

Comin' to the tree

Hear a choir of birdsong

Raging to be free

Strange things have happened here

No stranger would it be,

If we took...these birdies...

To the Birding Tree

Are you...are you...

Comin' to the tree

Build a nest in this cage

Side by side with me

Strange things have happened here

No stranger would it be,

If Birdie stays awhile,

Here in the Birding Tree

We reached the top of the hill, and there was the tree. It had round little birdcages, hanging on its branches, like striped, hollowed-out apples. Each birdcage housed a little bird, tweeting away, looking around from its little abode.

"And, here we have it. The Birding Tree. Ta-daaaa...", he introduced lamely on purpose, and I laughed.

More dystopian fiction lore just for funsies (and I'm sorry for the inaccuracies and not-very-knowledgeable Geography stuff and continuity issues. This is just me having fun with fiction so do with it as you will as long as you credit me for it hahahahaha yes I know I'm an amateur but I'm just expanding this lore for funsies)

Cordelia was actually a perfect clone of Past-Cordelia. Present-Cordelia is actually Cordelia II. Cordelia I (the original from the Surface) was genetically engineered in a lab on the Surface, so the first Cordelia also didn't have parents. She was literally created to be a child soldier. This leads Cordelia II to feel like she has no identity at all ("I mean, none of us in the Colony ever had an identity of our own to begin with," she recalls.)

When the very first Colonists dug Underground, they used their advanced technologies to push back the magma so there would be more space Underground to build their Colony. This led to the Core overheating, which could possibly cause it to explode, so they quickly had to construct some tunnels leading away from the Core to certain parts of the Surface. This led to lava leaks on the Surface in those areas, creating more volcanoes and volcanic eruptions in the process.

This led to the Surface becoming more dangerous than it already was. Jasper still feels bitter towards the Underground for having endangered his home and his family. When the Colonists had started pushing back the magma, it led to the Surface getting colder, with occasional startling bouts of lava spurts. Therefore, the temperature on the Surface became more unstable than it already was.

Mystery/maybe-fantasy fiction world building stuff for funsies

Rowena "Winnie" Hart was accepted into a prestigious fantasy school. Her primary motivation is to find the people who murdered her parents and restore justice to her family. She believes that the murderers are linked to a secret society connected with the school.

Her parents, Jacques Hart and Lorelei Hart née Preston, used to study at the school. Her parents were part of the secret society, and were very prominent, high-ranking members. Therefore, Winnie was very famous in the school. The Hart Family was a very prestigious family with good standing. The Preston Family, Winnie's mother's family, was a family of renowned Healers and Potion-brewers.

Jacques and Lorelei had a very romantic and happy love life together, but tragically died young (for a reason that I am still trying to figure out, BTW. I'm also tryna figure out the circumstances of how they died, and whether they died when Winnie was a baby, or more recently).

Lorelei also used to be the Poisoner for the secret society; she was very good at Healing, but found Poisons to be more fascinating. She therefore exercised this talent (secretly, of course; only the society knows about it and they themselves gave her that job) to take out the enemies of the society and the school (the rest of the school didn't know about it). Of course, Lorelei also used her Healing talents publicly when needed.

Fantasy fiction featuring orphan-hero and chosen-one tropes (and this fic just so happens to have a teeny bit of inspiration from Harry Potter stuff, and maybe a bit of Lion Guard stuff, idk)

There was a boy who grew up in an orphanage for ten years, before getting adopted by his father's best friend.

The boy's uncle-figure had been looking for the boy ever since he heard that his best friend (the boy's father) and his wife (the boy's mother) died.

The boy's parents died separately, in two separate incidents. The boy's father (Aaron Edelhert) sacrificed himself to let his wife and baby son escape when there was a threat against their village. The mother took their baby boy to a different village to take refuge.

Unfortunately, when the boy was two to three years old, he was bitten by a dark snake, whose venom was lethally cursed. That snake also came from the same threat those two to three years ago, which the boy's father had partially succeeded to destroy before succumbing to his death. The mother acted quickly and extracted the curse, but at the cost of her own life. This left the boy with a scar over his eye, and his blood being laced with venom (without the curse). The venom gave him a certain immunity to some poisons, venoms and curses. It also prevented him from being recursed years later. The boy attributes this immunity to his mother's sacrifice rather than the venom itself.

POV

A tall, handsome young man stepped into the orphanage. He spoke politely to the orphanage staff, asking for a certain Augustus Jason Edelhert. They kindly obliged and gestured to the light-haired boy with a strange-looking blotch on his face.

The boy was sitting at a table with some friends, drawing pictures (really good pictures, the young man thought, he has his dad's talent).

The staff called the boy, and he walked up to them obediently, warily eyeing the man. The man stifled a gasp when he saw the blotch for what it was; a large, fat slash mark over the boy's left eye, from just above his eyebrow all the way to the bottom of his jaw. What have they done to you?

The man fought back his tears and smiled as welcomingly as he could at the little version of his brother. It stung him to know that he was a stranger in the boy's eyes (rather piercing eyes at that), but he would soon fix that.

"Augustus Jason Edelhert, this is your godfather, Cyrus Kane Waterbury. He will be looking after you in place of your parents."

Fantasy school world building for fun

Rowena Snow is the name of a distant ancestor of Winnie Hart's. Winnie was named after her. Rowena was the youngest of seven Snow children, with one of her sisters being Hildegard Snow. Hildegard Snow was very influential and remarkable in her day (for whatever reason I don't know yet). Winnie Hart looks and acts very much like Rowena Snow, but Hildegard Snow is the direct distant ancestor of Winnie Hart (whether through Winnie's mum or dad, I'm not sure yet).

HEY!!!

look away if you're scared of boobies

Woah! I'd eat here!

Dream Hub

A while back, I created an imaginary place to help me organize the many places I've seen in my dreams. This place is known as the "Dream Hub". (Very original name, I know.)

This place is split up into 4 different parts, each of which represents the four seasons: Spring Grove, Summer Oasis, Autumn Hills, and Far Winter. Now, not all of the things I've seen in my dreams are here; some are in other "dimensions" , I guess you could say, only because they would be extremely out of place if I were to place them here.

I'll make blogs explaining each place later!

Dream Hub map concept:

This is the sixteenth in a series of posts about important aspects of worldbuilding. You can find a compilation of all these posts under “Worldbuilding Basics” on my blog.

When you’re designing a world, there are bound to be different kinds of people and cultures. People...