Writing My Way

theveiledfairy: 75 Free Language Learning Resources Online cokekitty: russiangrammar: (Source:...

kurenai24 — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 22:31:05 -0500

75 Free Language Learning Resources Online

cokekitty:

russiangrammar:

(Source: http://www.zencollegelife.com/75-free-language-learning-resources-online/)

Whether you’re trying to learn English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Italian –you get the picture – it’s good to get free help along the way. Luckily, there are tons of free online resources out there.

Here are 75 to get you started …

1. 101Languages.net – Learn basics like vowels, consonants, phrases and vocabulary for various languages like Arabic, Bambara, Cebuano, Estonian, Icelandic, Latvian and Serbian.

2. 123TeachMe.com – 123TeachMe offers free learning materials, including games, quizzes, vocabulary builders, mp3 study lists, RSS vocabulary lists and more for adults and children.

3. About.com – About.com offers access to various free language resources for French, Spanish and English.

4. AKTub.com – This site offers a free web-based Arabic typing tutor with a ton of cool features.

5. Apples4theTeacher.com–Free foreign language and American Sign Language resource for children.

6. AskOxford.com – Free language learning resources for French, German and Spanish are available including interactive exercises, sample material from dictionaries and more.

7. BabelNation.com – Free site that offers online language courses in Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese.

8. BBC.co.uk – BBC offers free audio and video courses in French, German, Spanish, Greek, Chinese and more, as well as beginner’s courses.

9.  BellEnglish.com – Free language-learning activities and games with a no-fee registration.

10.  Byki.com – The site allows you to download free language-learning software to help you with over 70 languages right on your desktop.

11.  Chinese-Outpost.com – Take free Chinese courses, find tutorials and utilize additional directories to learn the Chinese language.

12.  DigitalDialects.com – Digital Dialects offers free use of interactive games to help learn nearly 60 languages.

13.  Edufind.com – Resource for free access to language courses, online tests, software and language blogs.Videos

14.  EFLWorksheets.com – This English language-learning tool offers free worksheets and online exercises.

15.  EffectiveLanguageLearning.com – A ton of free language lessons (tips and strategies) for Chinese, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

16.  eLanguage.com – While the site isn’t completely free, it does offer free resources for various languages, including grammar guides.

17.  eLanguageSchool.net – A huge resource for learning multiple languages, including Dutch, French, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Korean and German.

18.  EnglishBanana.com – Games, quizzes and additional links to help learn the English language.

19.  Engoi.com – This site offers free exercises, games and online instruction to increase vocabulary retention.

20.  ESLGold.com – ESLGold.com helps you practice the English language via their vocabulary pages, exercises, examples, quizzes, and even a few study buddies.

21.  ESLMonkeys.com – Tools for those learning English as a second language, including free lessons, books, videos, quizzes, flash cards and interactive programs.

22.  ExamEnglish.com – You can test your English language skills if you’re learning the language or studying for tests like the IELTS, TOEFL, CPE, CAE, FCE or PET.

23.  Fonetiks.org – Find online pronunciation guides to varieties of the English language and nine other languages.

24.  Forvo.com – A word pronunciation dictionary that offers words as pronounced by their native speakers.

25.  FreeLang.net – Take advantage of free dictionaries, human translation and other useful resources to help you learn a number of languages.

26.  FreeLanguage.org – This site offers videos, podcasts, written tutorials and more to learn over 30 languages, including Luxembourgish, Mandarin, Polish, Tagalog and Swahili.

27.  Goethe-Verlag.com – Goethe-Verlag offers free language tests for such languages as Estonian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Swedish, Czech, Croatian, Turkish, Arabic and Dutch.

28.  Google Language Tools – While these tools don’t teach a language like the other sites, it does provide very handy translation options.

29.  GuidetoJapanese.com – Basic guides to teach Japanese language grammar.

30.  1-Language.com – Free access to materials and resources that help learn the English language like flash games, word searches, language courses and a reading library.

31.  ILUSS.it – Offers access to free online courses and resources for the self-learner who wants to study the Italian language.

32.  InternetPolyglot.com – Tutorial slide shows, lessons by pictures and sounds, word translation assistance and games to help learn languages.

33.  iTalki.com – Offers access to language teachers, language-exchange partners, discussion groups and other free resources for several languages, including English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Hindi.

34.  JapaneseLinks.net – List of mostly free links to websites that teach the Japanese language.

35.  Languageguide.org – Free sound integrated resources to learn language basics like numbers, time, greetings and more.

36.  Language-Learning-Advisor.com – This language-learning guide offers access to resources for dozens of languages, as wells aids, books, movies, music and more.

37.  LanguageLearningLibrary.org – This site offers lessons for basics like grammar, common phrases, numbers, time and more in a number of languages.

38.  LanguagesHome.com – This is a resource of translations from English to dozens of languages.

39.  LearnEnglish.org.uk – Great site for both adults and kids to learn the English language through games and theme-based activities.

40.  Learn-Korean.net – Learn the Korean language via free learning tools to help you speak and write.

41.  LearningThai.com- Tons of free lessons and additional resources to help you learn the Thai language.

42.  LingQ.com – This site offers free access to downloads, vocabulary assistance, a personal tutor and a live community. Must sign up for free account.

43.  Linguanaut.com – Take advantage of free videos, phrases, alphabet and more for over 50 languages.

44.  LiveandLearnLanguages.com – Podcasts, audio lessons, courses and dictionary reviews are available free of charge for dozens of languages.

45.  LiveMocha.com – This site includes courses in 30 languages (over 160 lessons for each), helpful tips from native speakers and conversational learning lessons.

46.  MangoLanguages.com – Mango is a free resource that teaches actual conversation skills for 12 different languages.

47.  MultilingualBooks.com – This site offers free access to a variety of online courses and lessons for languages like Russian, Arabic, Dutch, Dari, Korean and Portuguese.

48.  MyHappyPlanet.com – My Happy Planet connects users from around the world and allows them to send and receive messages to help learn respective languages from native tongues.

49.  MyLanguageExchange.com – Find a partner within this online community to help you practice your second language with a native speaker who is learning your language.

50.  NativLang.com – Learn to read and write English, Greek, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Latin and more.

51.  Omniglot.com – This is a free language-learning resource that offers help with grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, writing skills, phrases and more.

52.  OnlineFreeSpanish.com – Free games, music, activities and lessons to help learn the Spanish language.

53.  OpenCulture.com – Free language resources, including lessons you can download to your mp3 player offered for 37 languages.

54.  Parlo.com – While the site isn’t entirely free, it does offer one or two free courses each month at no cost.

55.  Phrasebase.com – This is a free social networking site offering access to international language exchange partners.

56.  Single-Serving.com – Learn essential phrases and words for travel, print them and even store them in an mp3 player to listen to them anywhere.

57.  SinoSplice.com – This site teaches Mandarin Chinese language and offers correct pronunciation, vocabulary lists and more.

58.  SpanishPrograms.com – Gain access to several free Spanish lessons and tutorials.

59.  SpanishUnlimited.com – Learn Spanish then test your level with the language test divided into levels for those ranging from beginners to advanced.

60.  SpeakOz.com– Learn the English language through a number of podcasts, videos, ebooks, dictionaries and articles.

61.  StudySpanish.com- Free Spanish tutorials offered to help with vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and verbs. Travel guides and cultural notes also available.

62.  TalkEnglish.com – Helps develop spoken English for business, travel and interviewing purposes.

63.  TextKit.com – This site offers free resources to help you learn Ancient Greek and Latin.

64.  Transcon.info – This site offers free text and audio content for current phrases in Africa, Iraq and other areas of the Middle East.

65.  Transparent.com – Transparent offers a number of language-learning products, including free software to download, articles, games and a language-learning community you can join.

66.  UniLang.org – UniLang offers tons of free resources, including language courses, videos, audio and podcasts, phrasebooks, stories, games, articles and other exercises.

67.  UniversitiesandColleges.org – This free language resource offers podcasts, online college courses, iPhone/iPod Touch applications, and access to general language-learning sites.

68.  VerbaLearn.com – Verba Learn helps people who want to improve their English vocabulary.

69.  VistaWide.com – Free online dictionaries, translators, verb conjugators, lessons, courses and practical applications for those wanting to learn numerous languages.

70.  Vocabulary.co.il – Fun games and activities to help build your English language vocabulary.

71.  Vocabulix.com – This free tool offers over 90 predefined vocabulary lessons and allows you to create your own foreign language lessons to share with others.

72.  WebGerman.com – Access to free online television from around the world as well as language picture dictionaries, language-learning libraries and more.

73.  WomenLearnThai.com – Thai language learning courses, as well as other resources to help learn the language.

74.  Word2Word.com – Word2Word.com is a free resources that offers access to help with over 115 languages, including links to online courses and other resources.

75.  World-English.org – This site offers tons of resources for learning the English language, including tests, top English words, slang, fun facts, games and vocabulary.

Writing is Rewriting: How to Avoid Mary Sues

kurenai24 — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:59:04 -0500

Writing is Rewriting: How to Avoid Mary Sues:

totalrewrite:

How to Avoid Mary Sues

Mary Sues are the bane of readers and writers alike. They’re perfect characters who are so annoying, they don’t even realize how annoying they are.

The Mary Sue

This is the most perfect of perfect characters. They’re annoying because they’re flawless and have…

yeahwriters: doubledaybooks: Loving this punctuation...

kurenai24 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:34:23 -0500

yeahwriters:

doubledaybooks:

Loving this punctuation personality chart.

Can someone please make an animated video that involves a bunch of puncuation going to a party? And I want to be the voice of the semicolon.

Photo

kurenai24 — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 00:28:27 -0500

PSA

kurenai24 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 03:03:20 -0500

barack-rocks:

pharaohhearts:

sloppylovejingle:

ironwingscarbonhearts:

lunion-fait-la-force:

wordsthatididntsay:

Fellow students, grab some textbooks/ebooks from here, here, here, and here.

We’re trying to get an education. Not go for broke. Hope this helps everyone out a little. I have so many issues with publishers and the daylight robbery that is textbooks.

Lol

DOMINIQUE!

Yo, you’re thoughtful as hell.

Chyeah

I’m gonna need this next semester whope my books are in the links

A list of bad agencies and common literary agent scams

kurenai24 — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:14:25 -0500

A list of bad agencies and common literary agent scams:

shannahmcgill:

A list of bad publishers and common publishing scams can be found here.

niamharthur: bardofspades: mituna-senpai: what if every Tumblr user suddenly looses their...

kurenai24 — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 19:17:30 -0500

niamharthur:

bardofspades:

mituna-senpai:

what if every Tumblr user suddenly looses their mouse?

J = Next Post
K = Previous Post
L = Like
N = View Notes
Space = Show Photo
Shift + R = Reblog
Shift + E = Add to Queue
Z + Tab = Switch Blogs

Character Trait Cheat Sheet

kurenai24 — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 17:45:00 -0500

krisnoel-lionhead:

In order to create a relatable character, you must think about them as having several layers. Knowing and choosing character traits is important because you don’t want them to be one dimensional. It’s all not as simple as saying “this person is mean” or “this person is kind”. Think about the people you know in real life. They all have some sort of defining trait that makes them different from everyone else. You usually know more than just one thing about them and they most likely have many interests. Your characters must be just as diverse.

I’ve listed some examples of character types:

Adventurer: high levels of energy, bold, dominant, competitive, fickle, leader. Can be aggressive or have poor judgment.

Bossy: confident, competitive, stubborn, close minded, serious, lacks shame or guilt, wants a high status.

Creator: artistic, observant, persistent, sensitive, introverted, becomes easily absorbed, enthusiastic, likes his or her own company.

Extrovert: outgoing, talkative, not easily intimidated, expressive, enjoys being with others, seeks social situations.

Fearful: driven by fears of rejection, unhappy, withdrawn, avoids stress, uncomfortable in social situations, problems being assertive.

Loner: might be directionless, little attachment to anyone, likes to be alone and avoids social situations, rarely expresses anger.

Passive-Aggressive: reserved, sulky or resentful, jealous, always assumes the worst, doesn’t know how to express their feelings, behaves in indirect ways.

Resilient: happy, productive, is able to overcome adversity, has a good sense of humor, high standards, able to go through life with minimal stress.

Victim: feels weak, pessimistic about life, acts like a burden, no deep emotions, feels helpless when left alone.

I also wanted to discuss some psychological disorders in case you’d like to include them in your manuscripts:

Anxiety: tense, shy, depressed, feels worthless, afraid of social situations, lacks confidence, worried, cries frequently.

Autism: can show delay or lack of language in severe cases, might be bossy, dislikes social rules, fights, blows up easily, can lack self-control, uninterested in others.

Depression: feelings of rejection, low self-esteem, negative self-image, intense sadness, can feel worthless.

Hypochondriac: pessimistic, self-centered, complains about aches that can’t be explained by a medical condition, worries, low energy.

If you’re thinking of a specific disorder, you should do the proper research and remember that a disorder can affect everyone differently. Not everyone will have the same traits.

Here are some lists for finding the right vocabulary and coming up with diverse character traits by combining them:

List of POSITIVE character traits: adaptable, alert, ambitious, aware, brave, calm, capable, certain, committed, compassionate, considerate, consistent, curious, dedicated, determined, efficient, expressive, faithful, happy, honest, independent, intelligent, loyal, nurturing, patient, playful, polite, productive, punctual, responsible, strong, trusting, warm, wise.

List of NEGATIVE character traits: angry, aggressive, arrogant, bossy, cruel, careless, cold, conceited, conniving, dishonest, dangerous, egocentric, evil, foolish, flaky, gloomy, grumpy, hateful, harsh, inconsiderate, immature, indulgent, ignorant, insensitive, jealous, lazy, malicious, miserly, mean, mistrusting, pessimistic, pompous, rude, scornful, thoughtless, timid.

Remember that most people have both good and bad traits, so combining them should help you form a well-rounded character.

-Kris Noel

My book

My goodreads

Poisoned by Hatred: Mary Sue, what are you? or why the concept of Sue is sexist

kurenai24 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 17:29:56 -0500

Poisoned by Hatred: Mary Sue, what are you? or why the concept of Sue is sexist:

elegantpaws:

adventuresofcomicbookgirl:

Looks like this essay was needed, so I went ahead and did it. Not sure I said everything I wanted to say, but I tried.

So, there’s this girl. She’s tragically orphaned and richer than anyone on the planet. Every guy she meets falls in love with her, but in between torrid romances she rejects…

The idea that woman has to “earn” any power, praise, love, or plot prominence is central to Mary Sue. Men do not have to do this, they are naturally assumed to be powerful, central and loveable. That’s why it’s the first thing thrown at a female character- what has she done to be given the same consideration as a male character? Why is she suddenly usurping a male role? “Mary Sue” is the easiest way to dismiss a character. It sounds bad to say “I don’t like this female character. I don’t like that this woman is powerful. I don’t like it when the plot focuses on her. I don’t like that a character I like has affections for her.” But “Mary Sue” is a way to say these things without really saying them. It gives you legitimacy.

ablogorsomething: Gonna get my future child ALL of these!

kurenai24 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 01:51:29 -0500

ablogorsomething:

Gonna get my future child ALL of these!

Includes the 30 fonts shown above. like/reblog if downloading....

kurenai24 — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:29:37 -0500

Includes the 30 fonts shown above.

like/reblog if downloading. :}

download.

25 Things You Should Know About Dialogue

kurenai24 — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:08:03 -0500

25 Things You Should Know About Dialogue:

fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment:

thelondonmag:

This is written by the same people as the ‘25 things you should know about NaNoWriMo.

Check it out.

Quote:

Also, adverbs nuzzled up against dialogue tags are an affront to all things and make Baby Jesus pee out the side of his diaper, and when he does that, people die.

So I think I’ve found my soulmate.

10 NaNoWriMo Tips

kurenai24 — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 08:53:44 -0400

writingbox:

I’ve been asked to give some tips for first time NaNoWriMo-ers. I may have mentioned some of these before, but these are my top 10 NaNo tips whether it’s your first or your fiftieth time.

Get as far ahead of the daily target as you can in week 1 while you’re running on adrenaline. Week 2 is tough, and having a good margin will help you enormously.

Turn off the television. If you think you can write in front of the tv you are just kidding yourself.

Treat yourself for reaching goals. Put your favourite chocolate bar, cake, beer, or whatever your vice is, on the table in front of you while you write. Don’t allow yourself to have it until you’ve written your daily word target.

Be strict on yourself. Sit down and tell yourself you will write for 20mins, or 30mins, or an hour. Actually do it.

Don’t do it alone. Whether you meet up with people in real life, or meet up with people online; make friends, encourage each other, motivate each other, compete against each other.

Compete against your writing buddies. Each day, check the word counts of your writing buddies. Decide whose wordcount you’re going to try and beat, then do it.

Take part in word wars (also known as word sprints.) Either meet up with friends or play with people online. Agree on an amount of time (20 mins, 1 hour, 24 hours) and at the end of that time, see who’s written the most words.

Don’t take more than one day off in a row. Don’t feel guilty about taking the odd day off, but if you make it two days off it’ll be harder to get back into it. Three days, and you’ll really struggle.

Trust your characters. Whether you’re an outliner or a discovery writer, you can often find your characters leading your story off in a direction you didn’t expect. Let them explore, you may find out that they have had a better idea than you did!

Just keep going. Not everyone will hit their 50k target, but that doesn’t mean they’ve failed at all. By carrying on until the end of the month you have achieved an incredible feat no matter what your word count. The only true failure is giving up.

But my most important tip is to have fun! Good luck everyone!

kurenai24: Somebody should write a Little Red Riding Hood au story. With Bonnie as Little Red and...

kurenai24 — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:43:40 -0400

kurenai24:

Somebody should write a Little Red Riding Hood au story.

With Bonnie as Little Red and Tyler as the Big Bad Wolf.

And have Tyler stalking Bonnie in the forest as she makes her way down to her Gram’s house.

But instead of having Tyler eat Bonnie’s gram and dress in her clothes they should have Tyler jump out in front of Bonnie and then lunge at her.

Then have Bonnie do enough damage (b/c she’s still a witch) where she makes Tyler shift back into human form.

Long story short it should end with sex in the forest.

Photo

kurenai24 — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 20:18:26 -0400

On The Handling of Disabled Characters

kurenai24 — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:53:13 -0400

writersfriend:

via Limyaael

1) Know what the disability looks like even if you don’t describe it to the reader immediately. Sometimes this is a simple matter of terminology. The author says “eye” at one point and “eyes” at another, leaving me unsure if the character has really lost an eye or was just turned a certain way the first time. It’s very easy to forget and pluralize words like hands, eyes, arms, feet, legs, and so on when you have a character who’s lost a paired part of his body. Do go through and root them out, though, because it can confuse your readers.

Other times, the slippage is more severe. The author claims at one point that the character lost a hand, and at another that he lost an arm. Well, which is it? Such things do make a difference, especially if the character is trying to maneuver around ordinary life immediately after the injury (see point 2). Similar things happen with a foot and a leg. This is one of those pesky times when you have to remember that, even if the people in your fantasy book are speaking a language other than English, your readers are reading it in English, or another Earth language. Your characters might not make any differentiation between a hand and an arm, but that nicety has to be sacrificed.

If the injury doesn’t involve the loss of a limb or eye, then it can be harder to picture. Say the character’s “paralyzed from the waist down.” Yet later in the book, the author shows her tapping her foot to music. Huh? The author needs to hold the disability very firmly in her own mind, and if she provides what are two completely different pictures on the surface, they had better be cleared up, and soon.

2) Remember that a disability makes small, ordinary tasks hard, as well as greater skills. The focus in fantasy is often on “skills”- what the character can do as far as fighting or magic goes. (At some point there shall be a rant on why this is too often simplistic). So the hero who loses a hand is pitied because he’ll have to relearn the sword, or the mage who goes blind immediately thinks first of how she can’t read her spellbooks anymore.

Y’know, the first thing I’d wonder about if I lost a hand would be how I was going to dress myself, not about how I was going to fight. And then would come carrying things around. And then, maybe, fighting. Similarly, the mage is going to have a whole host of problems that have nothing to do with losing part of her magic. It might be a big thing, but it should not be the only thing.

This is where the exact extent of the disability becomes important. Is the character absolutely stone blind, can’t see anything? That’s different from a character who’s mostly blind but can still, say, make out sunlight if she turns her head in the right direction, and perhaps faint silhouettes. A character who lost a hand but still has his arm could use that arm to balance things against his chest while opening a door with his hand, while someone whose arm is gone at the elbow or higher will have it much harder.

If some of the problems don’t seem obvious, do a little research. Consider how difficult it would be to get around in a seeing people’s world if you’ve just been struck blind. (It would be worse, not better, in a fantasy world, unless they had extremely specialized magic). Try tying one hand behind your back and see how it affects your daily life. The newly disabled character has a lot more to get used than just the loss of a skill.

3) If you want a natural phenomenon or a disease to cause the disability, make sure it can. This means that if you’re not sure, look it up. Frostbite can cost someone his ears, his fingers, his toes, and other parts of his body, but that’s because it’s frostbite. Merely walking through a day that’s about 50 degrees Fahrenheit/10 degrees Celsius for two minutes is not going to give a normal human frostbite. Also, cholera does not cause blindness, sorry. (Untreated scarlet fever can). Lightning can charbroil someone pretty well, but I have yet to hear of it giving anyone DID. Sometimes the explanations for the disabilities become too far-fetched to believe.

This applies to magic too, actually. If a curse causes blindness in everyone else, but deafness in the heroine, why is she different? “Because I want her to be” is not good enough. It could become the core of an intriguing novel, but eventually an answer would have to show up.

4) Don’t use the disability as an excuse to make your hero “better” in some way. I hate to death those fantasies where the hero loses a hand, and about a chapter later, he has a magical special silver one that’s stronger than any ordinary human hand and can grip a sword better and gives him the ability to shoot lightning bolts. It starts looking as though the author took away his hand only to provide a little shallow angst- maybe not even that- and then an excuse to give him something better.

If the point of the story is going to be the hero adapting to what happened to him, or what he was born with, and eventually overcoming it with the help of magic or a quest or whatever, then do make that the point of the story. Show what he learns along the way, the subtler adaptations that go with the magical help, and why, by the time he gets the magical help, he truly has earned it. So your heroine goes blind, but the mages quickly train a seeing raven for her and give it to her, and the raven is telepathic and funny and obeys her perfectly and even gives her eyesight better than human? I’m sorry, why did she go blind again? What’s the point? You could have a sighted heroine with a telepathic talking raven whose eyes she could share, and it would be more honest.

This is why so much suffering in fantasy books annoys me so. It’s not suffering. It’s only something that could have tragic consequences happening, and the author promptly averting any and all tragic consequences. It’s an orgy of angst and specialness.

Speaking of that…

5) Give your character other things to worry about beyond the disability itself. This is a distinction that seems lost on a lot of authors, but it’s the same as a difference between a struggle to adapt and a simple method of adapting that winds up making the hero’s life better than it was before. If his disability is severe enough- say, deafness and blindness both at once- it’s not only going to affect his sight and hearing. It’s going to affect his relationships with other people, the way he physically moves, his livelihood, his ability to perform lesser “skills” like reading, his safety, and on and on and on. Given all this rich palette of angst, the fact that an author can choose to have the character repeat, over and over again, that he misses colors or music simply astounds me.

If the disability is not that severe, then for gods’ sake stick the character in the middle of a worrisome situation made harder by the disability in some way. Don’t make the disability the core of the story. There is life after losing a hand, and it’s a hell of a lot easier than it is for a character who’s suddenly been stricken blind and deaf. If your hero has to worry about saving the world, when he was supposed to fight a duel to the death, and now that he’s lost a hand he can’t really do that, there’s a legitimate reason for moments of shock and times of frantic training. But if his life is otherwise good and he has only that to moan and groan about, the story very quickly becomes boring.

6) Portray the reactions of people who don’t know about the disability reasonably. Shall I now mention one of my most hated plotlines in fantasy? Yes, I shall.

You have a character who has a disability, one that’s not immediately visible. We shall say she’s a heroine with hemophilia. She doesn’t choose to tell anyone about it unless she has no choice, because she’s a private person, and embarrassed about it. Her traveling companion, who doesn’t know, tosses her a knife to cut their food up, and she slices her hand on it and nearly bleeds to death. Then she rants at him for not knowing, and usually gives him the silent treatment, utterly ignoring any attempt to apologize (probably until she notices the hero is attractive). The hero has to grovel, and the author paints him as an insensitive cad for not knowing already.

Is this reasonable? Is this rational? I don’t think so. It requires that the hero somehow be a mind-reader, when most of them aren’t telepathic. It would be one thing if the author eventually had the heroine explain her reasons, and treated it as a mistake, but it’s almost always treated as though the hero made a deliberate attempt to offend or kill the person with the hidden disability.

Fuck that. It’s another Big Misunderstanding Plot waiting to happen, where one character should somehow have guessed a silent character’s thoughts, and I think you all know how I feel about those.

7) Realize that a disability by itself does not make a character. “She’s blonde and blind” is no more a complete character than “She’s blonde and can perform great fire magic” is. Try to construct a story that flows from the character interacting with other characters, the setting, and the plot, not just, “Oh, but she’s blind!!!!” Just changing one part of the normal fantasy story doesn’t make it different. It looks too much like a gimmick. Deep-reaching changes in the way that you employ old fantasy methods, or deep-reaching changes in more than one aspect of the archetypes, are what’s needed.

I've been using this site for 4 years.

kurenai24 — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 15:09:33 -0400

17dvds:

canni8al:

0650pm:

If your parents ever walk into your room.
Open this link.
Then pretend to type.
Instant Essay!

oh my god you guys type in like sex or something it actually types real stuff

On Writing LGBTQ* Characters

kurenai24 — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:34:03 -0400

big-wired:

missturdle:

A list of links that folks can add to! This was requested as a follow-up to Writing Characters of Color. Please be forewarned: I apologize in advance if I link to something that turns out to be wrong, or unhelpful. I try to skim everything to make sure it’s a good resource, but I don’t have the time or means to read every single thing word for word before I post this list. Please let me know if something is terrible - I will remove it straight away.

Writing a Trans* character in Fiction

Questioning Transphobia’s Cispeople are rubbish at writing trans* characters tag [So, don’t do any of that?]

Writing Gay characters

The best way to write a trans* character

Trans Characters: An Open Letter To Spec Fic Writers

Gay Characters, Straight Writers

How to Write Gay Characters in your Mainstream Fiction

Queering SFF - Writing Queer Languages of Power

Authors say Agents try to “Straighten” Gay characters

Avoiding LGBTQ Stereotypes in YA

I’m here, I’m Queer, What the Hell do I read?

Lambda Literary - LGBTQ literature, reviews, writing advice, etc

Writing Lesbians when you’re not a Lesbian

Suggested Rules for Cispeople writing Trans* characters

GLAAD Media Guide

Thinking Queer: A guide to writing LGBT characters for Roleplay

Can a straight woman write gay characters and so on and so forth

Awesome, this is a roundup of links that’s much needed!

chirart: altabestudio: Adding character diversity: Body...

kurenai24 — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 13:52:18 -0400

chirart:

altabestudio:

Adding character diversity: Body type

Unique Features Tutorial Pt 1 by jeinu

Tips on how to draw not so cookie cutter characters! Change body type and shape, showing off natural differences in build that happen in real life! Not everyone is built the same!

Pt 2 and 3 will follow but check it out on the original posting on the artist’s deviant!

Simple and easy to understand and everything you need to know about Good Character Design 101.

mochafleur: Enjoy this list, I’ am not your educator but these people have taken the time to write...

kurenai24 — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 13:30:13 -0400

mochafleur:

Enjoy this list, I’ am not your educator but these people have taken the time to write about their personal experiences/lives/poetry/statics/facts on racism and sexism and intersectionality that is often times ignored. But simultaneously all happening at the same time in the same situation.

—————————————————————————————————————
Lies my teacher told me by James W. Loewen

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington

Learning to be white by Thandeka

Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum

Black skin, white masks by Frantz Fanon, Charles Lam Markmann

Black Looks : Race and Representations by Bell Hooks

The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison

The Soul of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois, Donald B. Gibson (Introduction), Monica M. Elbert (Notes), Monica E. Elbert (Annotations)

Ain’t I a woman: Black Women and Feminism by Bell Hooks

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney, Vincent Harding (Introduction)

Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon

Nobody Knows my name by James Baldwin

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide by Andrea Lee Smith, Winona LaDuke (Foreword)

Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald

Fantasies of the Master Race: Literature, Cinema & the Colonization of American Indians by Ward Churchill

Collected Articles of Fredrick Douglass by Fredrick Douglas

The Ways of White Folk by Langston Hughes

Brainwashed by Tom Burrell

Conversations with Audre Lorde (Literary Conversations) by Joan Wylie Hall (Editor)

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Crossing Press Feminist Series) by Audre Lorde

The Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde

Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by Melissa V Harris-Perry

The Black Woman: An Anthology by Toni Cade Bambara (Editor), Eleanor W Traylor (Introduction) The Vintage Book of African American Poetry by Michael S. Harper (Editor), Anthony Walton (Editor)

But Some Of Us Are Brave: All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men: Black Women’s Studies by Gloria T. Hull (Editor), Patricia Bell Scott (Editor), Barbara Smith (Editor)

Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior by Marimba Ani

Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools by Glenn E. Singleton (Editor), Curtis W. (Wallace) Linton (Editor)

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Things fall of Apart by Chinua Achebe

Arrow of god by Chinua Achebe

Native son by Richard Wright

Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition by Cedric J. Robinson

The Philosophy of Alain Locke: Harlem Renaissance and Beyond by Leonard Harris

The Education of Black People: Ten Critiques, 1906 - 1960 by W.E.B. Dubois

Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880 by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois (Author), David Levering Lewis

The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson

Black Women in Antiquity (Journal of African Civilizations) by Ivan Van Sertima

Let the Circle Be Unbroken: The Implications of African Spirituality in the Diaspora by Marimba Ani (Author), Richards

Mdw Dtr: Divine Speech: A Historiographical Reflection of African Deep Thought from the Time of the Pharaohs to the Present by Jacob H. Carruthers

The Eloquence of the Scribes by Ayi Kwei Armah

Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary by Walter Dean Myers