Ha Ha Seriously Tho.

odin is like “when thor was born the sun shone bright upon his beautiful face. i found loki on the sidewalk outside a taco bell”

The Wreckers - Cashing In

Another round of thugly antics. Again, check out Puckarooni for her Pokemon Superhero AU. Cool jams, friendos.

Alolan Joe - Alolan Ratata Leader and self proclaimed mousestache afficianado

Ben - Spearow Brawn of the group of Bachelor of Thuganomics

Zach - Zigzagoon Dunno what he’s doing, but he’s doing it well

Sherman - Sentret Newbie, but he makes up for it with heart

~~~~~

Zach handed the sturdy box to Ben, who nodded and set it in the center of the table in the backroom of the Thrifty. He crammed the edge of the crowbar under the lip of the metal lid.

“Alright, you got it, Sherbet?” Ben said to Sherman, who took hold of the bottom of the box.

“Sherbet?” Sherman said, quirking an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Said Ben, inclining his head down. “You. Got. It?” He held a stern face.

“Uh,” Sherman adjusted his grip and help tight. “Yeah, I got it, Be–uh. Bu…,” He looked around the thrifty and his eyes settled on a row of candies. “Bu–ttercup?” He looked back to Ben.

Zach snorted from the couch he had plopped down on. Ben shook his head, “You got a lot to learn, rookie.” He squared his shoulders, “Just, hold onto the damn thing.”

“Yes sir,” Said Sherman, his punctured ego dedicating itself to his task.

Ben worked at the crowbar, prying a little more of the lid back and setting the crowbar deeper. Once he was satisfied, he gave the crowbar a swift jerk that popped the edge of the lid off. The shrapnel flew across the room. Joe stepped into the doorway with impeccable timing.

“Gentlemen, I- Gah!” Joe squeaked as he narrowly missed the chunk of metal box that zipped past him.

“Oh, I see now. So it has come to this,” Joe straightened up and put up his fists. “Mutiny. I knew this day would come. But you’ll have to best me in combat, fiends. Come on then, let’s do this!” Joe began to hop around, waving his fists in front of him.

Sherman popped up, “Whoa wait! It was an accident, Boss. We were just trying to–”

“Finally,” Ben said, shouldering his crowbar, “Been waiting for a chance to knock that cheesy smirk off your face.” 

Ben charged at Joe, swinging the crowbar down towards Joe’s head. In a flash, Joe brought up his hands to catch the blow, the two locked eyes and grit their teeth.

“Oh, Heck Yeah!” Sherman said, eyes sparkling. He scurried over to the couch and hopped into the spot next to Zach. “This is gonna be epic. Don’t you think?”

Zach shrugged, “Maybe.”

Joe and Ben tussled for a bit. They wrestled and rolled and tumbled, finishing with Joe having taken the crowbar from Ben.

Joe pointed the crowbar at Ben, who crouched on the ground catching his breath.

“Will you yield?” Joe said.

“Yeah yeah,” Ben said, bruised ego kinda killing the mood. “I will honor the code of the thug and serve your blah blah blah.”

“Perfect,” Joe said and tossed the crowbar back to him. “Whew, almost got me that time.”

Ben caught the crowbar and stood up, “Oh blow me sideways, bristles. You hold back every time.” He scoffed out his nose and went back to the table. “Hey, Sherbet, we opening this thing or what?”

Sherman, stars in his eyes got up from the couch, “You guys are so cool. Like, when you were like, ‘Whapam! Take that’ but then Joe just did that thing where he, you know, just ‘Whoosh, bam!’ and you went flying and…” He flailed his arms. Zach leaned away to allow Sherman room to embellish.

“That’s enough, Sherman.” Joe said, “What are you opening anyway?”

“Dunno, Zach found it in the junkyard and couldn’t open it.” Sherman said “He even did his–” He wiggled his fingers and flip flopped his wrists. “Stuff.”

Zach also wiggled his fingers and then shrugged.

Joe stroked his ‘stache, “A rather tricky treasure trove, it would–” He paused, “t-uh, tantamount to tremendous tantalizing trophies for this team.” He smiled at his cleverness.

Ben scoffed, “You are such a dork.” He glared at Sherman. “Come on, hold this sucker down before I use this crowbar to vent all that hot air in your head.”

Sherman hustled over and gripped the box again. Ben got the edge into the lid again and gave it a adrenaline-fueled push. The lid peeled back like a tuna can and revealed the contents within. Ben tossed the crowbar aside as they all gathered to peek inside the box.

“Oh,” Said Zach with a neutral voice.

“Whoa,” Said Sherman with a hint of wonder.

“Hmm,” Murmured Joe, contemplating.

“Oh, goodie. More junk.” Ben said, his shoulders slumping down.

“What? This isn’t junk,” Sherman reached inside and pulled out a handful of the contents. Play cards. A bunch of them, haphazardly scattered inside the box. They had colorful pictures of monsters on one side and a big logo plastered on the other. “Don’t you remember Pouch Gremlins? For the Game Lad?”

Joe snapped his fingers, “Ha, I knew they looked familiar.” He took a few of the cards out of the box. “I used to play a shared copy of Powgrem with my brothers and sisters way back when.” He started flipping through the cards. Zach also began to dig through the contents of the box.

“Feh,” Ben said looking over the couple that Sherman had fished out, “That baby game about little kids making friends with super powered monsters and battling them. All the designs looked so lame.” His sharp eyes landed on a shiny card in Sherman’s hand, he snatched it and nodded. “Except this guy. He was awesome.”

Joe and Sherman looked at the card. Sherman smiled, “Oh yeah, Psycat. The legendary survivor of psychic experiments. The lore said that he was a loner Powgrem who killed off his old master. Pretty dark stuff.”

“Yeah, super edgy and took no shit. I liked him.” Ben said.

“My favorite was the one you could start out with, Grassasaurus Rex!” Sherman said, pulling out the relevant card, “His solar cannon attack was unbeatable!” He looked to Joe, “Oh, who was your favorite, Joe?”

Joe dug into the box and nodded, pulling out another shiny card, “This one.” He held it up, “The trickmaster, Ghostgar.” He laughed, “When I would play against my siblings, they would actually ban me from using him cause he was too good.”

“How about you, Zach?” Sherman asked, “Did you have a favorite?”

Zach was organizing the cards by color and rarity. Without looking up from his work, he muttered, “Yup.”

Joe chuckled. Sherman pressed on, “Such as…?”

Zach paused, looked over the stacks of cards before grabbing out a fairly common looking card and holding it up. “This guy.”

“Oh,” Sherman said, a little disappointed, “I guess Joltling is pretty popular.” He looked back to Joe, “I mean, it was the mascot of the series.”

Joe nodded and regarded the box again. “Hmm…what do you suppose these were doing in such a secure box?”

Ben scoffed, “Loser probably wanted to hide his shame when he moved on to something better.” He was gathering up all the copies of Psycat and silently judging the edginess of each one.

Sherman looked at the box, “Maybe they were special and he wanted to keep them safe?”

Zach finished sorting and stacking and said, “Resale.”

Joe, Ben and Sherman all looked up, struck by the idea.

Joe caught it first. “How much do you think these cards are worth?”

Ben smirked, “I hear things get more valuable over time, if you collect enough.”

“And look at all of these shinies.” Said Sherman, “They’ve gotta be worth a fortune.”

“Zach, gather up those little treasures,” Joe said, stroking his mouse-stache, “We’re headed to town!”

Ben and Sherman cheered, Zach packed the cards away.

“Gentlemen,” Joe said, “Let’s go make some money.”

…

“50 bucks?” Ben said incredulously. “Are you serious?”

He leaned over the counter of the hobby shop, making the cashier back away slightly. From behind the counter, he gave his big, friendly, Snorlax smile, “Yup, 100 even. Pretty—impressive collection, though.” He said through a yawn. “So, will that be cash or store credit?”

Joe managed to pry Ben away from the counter. “Uh, excuse my friend here. I am pretty certain there were quite a number of rare cards in there. Surely they would fetch a handsome price?”

The cashier shrugged, “Maybe a bit ago, but not anymore.” He turned in his swivel chair and grabbed another box of cards. “Everyone’s moved on to Data Goblins.” He showed them the box. Though the designs were slightly different, it seemed like the exact same game. “People just aren’t buying Powgrem anymore.” He set the box back, “So, 50.” He smiled again.

Ben wrestled out of Joe’s grip and got uncomfortably close to the cashier. “Listen, tubby, how about you grease these pockets before I grease up your face?”

The cashier held his smile and opened one of his eyes just enough to glare at Ben. The sight sent a chill down the young thug’s spine. “Fifty. Dollars. Even.”

…

Ben and Joe shuffled out of the hobby shop.

“Hey guys,” Sherman said, hustling up to them. “How’d it go?”

Joe looked at Ben, who scoffed, “Waste of time.” He looked away and folded his arms.

Zach and Sherman looked at Joe. Joe pulled the 50 dollars out of his pocket.

“Oh,” Said Sherman. Zach gave a resigned shake of the head.

“Well, you win some, you lose some.” Joe said. “But I still think 50 dollars for free is a win.” He smiled.

Sherman nodded, “Still, it would have been nice to at least keep–”

Zach zipped around in front of him and held up the Grassasaurus Rex card. “Here.”

Sherman lit up and took the card, “No way, you held onto my favorite. You’re the best.”

Zach shrugged and walked around to the other two members and held up their favorite cards.

“You sly devil,” Joe said, taking the card and slipping it into his pocket. “Should have known.”

Ben snatched his card, “What the heck? Isn’t this thing super rare? We might have gotten more cash for this.” He glared at Zach, who returned with an indifferent quirk of the eyebrow.

Joe nudged him, “You’re welcome to head back inside to trade it in.”

Ben looked back at the shop, then down to his Psycat. “Yeah, never mind. Psycat is too cool for that.” He also tucked the card into his pocket.

Zach also tucked a card into his pocket. The picture looked like a Joltling, but was a little off. It appeared as though it was merely wearing a Joltling costume…

---

Havent updated in forever, but I figure I can catch up by spreading my love of Dragalia Lost. Instead of pranking us with false hopes, it gave us the most adorable shootem up bullet hell with Notte!

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

Generators

Character

Appearance Generator

Archetypes Generator

Character Generator

Character Traits Generator

Family Generator

Job/Occupation Generator, (II)

Love Interest Generator

Motive Generator

Name Generator

Personality Generator, (II)

Quick Character Generator

Super Powers Generator

Names

Brand Name Generator

Medicine Title Generator

Name Generator

Quick Name Generator

Vehicle Generator

Town Name Generator

Plot

First Encounter Generator

First Line Generator, (II)

Plot Generator, (II), (III)

Plot Device Generator

Plot Twist Generator

Quick Plot Generator

Setting/World-Building

City Generator

Fantasy Race Generator

Laws Generator

Pet Generator

Setting Generator

Species Generator

Terrain Generator

Prompts

Subject Generator

”Take Three Nouns” Generator

Word Prompt Generator

Misc

Color Generator

Decision Generator

Dialogue Generator

Journey Generator

Title Generator, (II), (III)

Some Tips

Just a few I found from the writing tips tag!

Writing action / @berrybird

How to create a strong voice in your writing / @collegerefs

How to plot a complex novel in one day! / @lizard-is-writing

8 ways to get past writer’s block / @kiramartinauthor

psa for writers / @dasakuryo

”Write Using Your 5 Senses” / @ambientwriting

How People Watching Improves Your Writing / @wherethetransthingsare

Writing Science Fiction: Tips for Beginners / @fictionwritingtips

Creating Likeable Characters / @authors-haven

Vocabulary

Descriptive words / @somekindofstudent

Words to replace “Said” / @msocasey

Obscure color words / @mintsteelpeachlilac

Words to spice up your stories / @busyibee

Words to describe someone’s voice

Words to Use Instead of Very / @gaybybirth

Touchy Feely Words / @gaybybirth

Some Advice

Stephen King’s Top 20 Rules for Writers

”But my plot isn’t UNIQUE or BIG enough!” / @youreallwrite

8 Things Every Creative Should Know / @adamjk

(How To) Get Over Comparing Yourself to Other Creatives / @adamjk

How to Get Over Common Creative Fears (Maybe) / @adamjk

14 Tips From Stephen King On Writing / @i-can-give-you-prompts

Playlists

Electronic Thoughts / @eruditekid

“Mix About Writing” An Instrumental Mix / @shadowofemirates

Shut Up, I’m Writing! / @ninadropdead

Chill / @endlessreveries

Breathtaking Film Scores / @tweedskirts

Music to Write to Vol. 1: Starlight / @crestadeen

Music for Written Words / @ghoulpatch

Dead Men Tell No Tales / @scamandersnewt

Fatale / @dolcegf

All These Things that I’ve Done / @referenceforwriters

Feeling Soaking into Your Bones / @verylondon

I Can Feel Your Pulse in the Pages / @rphelper

Morally Ambiguous / @scamandersnewt

Wonderwall / @wheelerwrites

Pythia / @mazikeene

Ballet: To Dance / @tanaquil

Websites and Apps

For Writing

ZenPen: A minimalist writing website to keep you free of distractions and in the flow.

The Most Dangerous Writing App: A website where you have to keep typing or all of your writing will be lost. It helps you keep writing…kind of. You can choose between a time or word count limit!

Evernote: An online website where you can take notes and save the product to your laptop and/or smartphone!

Writer, the Internet Typewriter: It’s just you and your writing, and you can save your product on the website if you create an account.

Wordcounter: A website to help check your word and character count, and shows words you’re using frequently.

Monospace: An Android app for writing on the go when you feel the inspiration, but you don’t have your laptop on you!

For Productivity

Tide: An app that combines a pomodoro-esque timer with nature sounds and other noises! (Google Play / Apple Store)

ClearFocus: An Android app with a pomodoro-type time counter to let you concentrate easier and stay productive.

Forest: An app with a time counter to keep you focused and off your phone, and when you complete the time limit, a tree grows in your garden! (Google Play / Apple Store)

SelfControl: A Mac downloadable app that blocks you from distracting mail servers, websites, and other things!

Prompt Blogs

@writeworld

@dialouge-prompts

@oopsprompts

@prompts-for-the-otp

@creativepromptsforwriting

@the-modern-typewriter

@theprofessionalpromptmaker

@writers-are-writers

@otp-imagines-cult

@witterprompts

@havetobememes

@auideas

@putthepromptsonpaper

@promptsonpaper

@fyotpprompts

@otpisms

@soprompt

@otpprompts

@ablockforwritersblock

@awritersnook

Writing Tips Blogs

@writeworld

@anomalously-written

@awritersnook

@clevergirlhelps

@referenceforwriters

@whataboutwriting

@thewritershelpers

@nimblesnotebook

@slitheringink

Day 3 - Bait

Prompt: Bait

Title: Take the bait

The media had gathered for the weigh-ins for each competitor. Massive rigs designed to accurately measure the monstrous competitors, constructed from modified shipping cranes. It was here that the press could get their first look at the opponents and read their energies. Most of the time, it was a noble meeting between two strong warriors. Like the two stepping off the scales now. Cassidy Quake slipped his ARMORFLEX T-Shirt on to take a promotional shot with his newest challenger. The two flexed and traded confident smiles. The cameras flashed, and they went their separate ways.

Simple, civil, easy.

But such is not always the case. And certainly not for the next competitor.

Raptor strut out to the weigh-in stage. The newcomer had struck the scene like a comet, showering the KFL scene with glittery drama and chaos. His massive jacket, covered in rhinestones that spelled out his name, trailing behind him, he sauntered up to his rig. He raised his fists in the air.

“Hello, losers.” He called out and ran a hand through the spines on his head, made up to look like a radioactive mohawk.

Opposite him, his opponent entered. The hot-headed Rawhide was a barbaric minotarus fighter, known for the merciless beatdown of his opponents. He saw the bedazzled Raptor and gave an agitated grunt.

They stripped down and stepped on their scales. A number tumbler hanging over each scale clacked out their individual weight. In order to brawl at the Monstrous weight class, they had to make it under a certain weight. When the numbers finally stopped, the officiator at the center of the stage squinted at Rawhide’s total. He shook his head. The bullheaded kaiju growled through gritted teeth, glaring at the official.

“Aww, what a shame.” Raptor said, shaking his head, “Maybe ya’ll oughta keep off them barbecues, pahrdner.” He put enough drawl into his words that his jaw threatened to slack off his head.

Rawhide glanced down at his gut, but in doing so, spotted the scaly tail pressing down on his scale. The offending limb whipped back to Raptor’s side, and he glanced around innocently.

The officiating security robos shifted from their stations to get within tackling range of the kaiju fighter that was visibly shaking from bottled rage. But the hot-headed fighter had been warned of the prodding of opponents and slowly counted in his head to calm his emotions. The bots stepped back.

Rawhide settled back on the scale and heaved a hot breath through his nose. The officiator jotted down the correct weight and nodded to the competitors.

Raptor watched Rawhide regain control of his emotions and frowned to himself. He’d need something to push his opponent over the edge. One last push. He didn’t want to have to dig this deep. But he’d be damned if he was going to try and take on this guy without an edge.

The two competitors faced off for the photo op. Within intimate distance of Rawhide, Raptor gave a cocky smirk and said, just quietly enough for his opponent to hear.

“Say, is your daughter still single?”

Everything happened in an instant. Rawhide roared in rage and drew his giant, meaty fist back. The security bots pounced on the fighter. The resounding sound of meat on steel clattered through the weigh-in stage. The security bots struggled to hold the rage beast in place. Rawhide’s shaking fist mere inches from Raptor’s smug grin. The reptilian fighter, for his part, had not shifted an inch at the attack. He turned and left the stage while the security bots struggled to keep the flailing, wailing, raging fighter from going totally off the rails. The media trolls would have a field day with this chaos, as they usually did with Raptor’s antics.

In the prep room set up beside the weigh-in stage, Raptor confidently stepped inside and gently closed the door behind him.

“How’d it go, tough guy?” His coach, a giant mothman, asked.

Raptor turned back to face him, then promptly let his knees give out as he collapsed to the floor. He put a hand to his chest, feeling his heart rapidly pounding against his chest. He fought to get his breathing under control. 

“Just as planned,” Raptor said at last. He struggled but managed to put a smirk on his face, “He took the bait.”

---

Avoiding Info-Dumps and Boring Exposition

Exposition can be many things in a story: character backstory, definitions, history, etc., and it’s a necessary part of any narrative. Yes, it’s “telling” instead of “showing”, but there are times when you have to “tell” to aid with pacing, detail, and most important of all, reader comprehension.  

Your readers don’t know what’s in your head; they know what’s on the paper. 

So you have to give exposition (though some stories will be heavier than others) and you have to do it well or your readers won’t care enough to pay attention. Exposition is not something to just shove aside or box away with an “icky” label on it because it affects the quality of the story as a whole. If you write it well, it can enhance the story rather than detract from it– which should be the goal of any element of writing. 

Learning to write better exposition makes you a better writer in general, and part of writing better exposition means understanding the main problems and the solutions.

What is an “info-dump?”

Simply put, “large amounts of information that don’t directly matter to the moment of the scene”. They can be seen as reflections on backstory or facts about the characters or world, specifically in large quantities. 

Three commonly seen methods of info-dumping are the chapter-start block, the monologuing narrator, and the rambling narrator. (Note: the names are not official, just what I personally call them.)

The chapter-start block is when the writer starts each new scene or chapter by giving all the backstory and relevant information at the very beginning, then running off and writing the scene while hoping the reader can remember everything. That kind of writing is often the result of “I want to get to the interesting story so I’ll take care of the boring setup first”. Guess what, your readers agree. They don’t care about your exposition because you’re presenting it in a boring way, and now they may not be able to get into the actual story because they don’t understand it as well as they could. While starting a new chapter or scene with exposition isn’t necessarily bad, large qualities of information are.

The monologuing narrator is exactly what it sounds like: the narrator talks at the reader for an extended amount of time. This info-dump can be found at any point of a scene, but it still gives way too much information at once. It also sometimes presents its own problem of timing, because the narrators shouldn’t be “zoning out to think about things” in the middle of a scene unless that detail weighs very heavily on them. Narration shows train of thought and the monologuing narrator usually needs to chill. (There are times when monologues are acceptable, but writing one primarily to deliver background information is not acceptable use.)

Similar to the monologuing narrator in that character thought takes over the scene, the rambling narrator has an additional problem in that they often go off-topic or into detail that isn’t necessary for the moment. While the occasional “ramble” can be used to show character personality, a writer can’t expect readers to actually learn from that ramble. Large amounts of information aren’t easy to digest, especially when everything is presented at the same time. 

Avoiding the info dump.

Keep all information in context.

If your scene is about a character going for a job interview, don’t start mentioning their dead sister unless there’s an important connection that’s immediately relevant. Only reveal what makes sense to reveal within the events and flow of the scene. It’s true that the lines can get blurry when you’re working with a story that has interconnected elements, but early on you want to keep exposition in careful balance with the forward momentum of the narrative. Later on, once your readers are already hooked, you can ease up a little on the withholding and start exploring details– but keeping things contextual will still always be an important guideline to follow.

Use prompts for information.

Prompts are things like people, situations, in-story objects or moments that ‘remind’ the narrator of the piece of exposition. Part of avoiding never-ending, rambling, or irrelevant exposition involves using setting and plot to prompt information from the narrator’s mind, rather than just dump it all out at once. Prompts help shows connections and grant relevance by tying the information into the current scene and moment. 

Narrator perspective guides exposition.

The narrative point of view helps ground the reader’s new information by presenting it through the eyes of the person they are following. This does mean that your audience can get biased info, but that’s part of the nature of storytelling; it’s not a documentary. Similar to using prompts, narrator perspective helps guide exposition by presenting information that’s relevant to the narrator and their personal story. 

Use a “weaving” techniques to avoid giant blocks of text.

It’s best to weave your exposition between dialogue, thought, and action to write in a way that’s engaging and informative. Think of it like being in a class. If your professor spends the whole hour giving a lecture off slides, chances are you might be overwhelmed at times and tune out a bit. If they introduce an activity and give smaller lectures to explain the science behind the steps, then you are more likely to pay attention and not feel as overwhelmed. Writing works the same way. The best results are typically found when the activity (story events that are “shown”) are blended with lecture (backstory/exposition that is “told”).

Generally, you want to practice a balance of dialogue, action, and exposition. Some scenes may be heavier in one category than the other, and that’s okay, but a balance of those elements helps with overall pacing and keeps readers engaged and more likely to learn. 

Not everything needs explaining.

While there are certainly pieces of information that you have to “tell” for the story to make sense, there are times when “showing” can cut down on lengthy exposition and make for a more engaging narrative. Why have your narrator explain/“tell” about how they don’t get along with their mother when you can show the poor relationship through the way they interact? And don’t just keep it isolated to one scene, unless the story calls for it, because some parts of exposition stretch beyond individual moments and affect the entire story. It may be tempting to try and directly point everything out at once, but that’s a quick road to long-winded scenes of exposition that leave your characters and their plot behind.

Writing more interesting exposition.

For exposition to be interesting, it needs meaning, and meaning can be granted through context and the relevance to the current scene when the reader is not yet fully invested in your story. When presenting exposition, there are a few things that can be kept in mind:

Try and convey something about the character’s personality with the way they give information. We all have a personal take on things and so will a character, so let that personal perspective show via tone, word choice, fact detail, etc.

An interesting voice can carry a story decently far, especially when it comes to giving background information. It’s possible to have a character that sticks only to the facts, but without a bit of emotion behind that exposition, it can get dry really quickly. Your character needs to interact with their world, not be a robot that gives impartial explanations of everything. 

If you repeat information, which is needed for anything with heavy detail, present it in different ways or at least don’t copy the wording.

Build on detail over time, and make sure to apply that detail to the scene to allow for contextual learning. 

Tension tends to create reader interest. Giving exposition during tense moments can force a reader to learn on the spot– as long as it doesn’t distract from the scene. 

Pace yourself. Part of boring exposition is tied into how much is presented at once, and while info-dumps can be identified and avoided with relative ease, you still have to watch how much information is being presented in a scene or chapter. Even if you “weave” it correctly, there’s still a chance that it’s too much for a reader to reasonably digest.

Good luck with your work and if there are any questions, drop them in my ask box and I’ll see how I can help. Just please read my Rules and Considerations page to make sure I’m the best resource, and consider a Gift of Coffee to grant me an energy boost, if you’re feeling generous.

Happiness Will Come To You.

So guys, ive been thinking about it for a while, and

Should I do a series of illustrations/tutorials about armor and character design?

but did victor frankenstein actually have a phd