High Payoff Scenes.

Know your bricks!

Ten things that are ok, even good, to eat before you sing

Water – You should be drinking lots of this.  It shouldn’t be optional.  Singers need to drink water.

Raw fruit – Excellent source of good energy.  Think of fruit as a healthy sugar rush.

Steamed or raw veggies – If you’re hungry before a show, raw veggies will give you a healthy, “full” feeling without slowing you down.  You don’t want to be distracted by hunger when singing, but you don’t want to overeat either.

Warm tea and honey – Not too hot, though.  Hot tea is bad.  Let it sit for 5 minutes before taking a sip.   

Salad with oil and vinegar – Same as #3, but stay away from dairy-based salad dressings as diary is not good before a performance.

Chicken breast with a side of steamed veggies – If you absolutely need to have a meal before a performance, this is OK.  But eat until you are no longer hungry.  DON’T eat until you’re full!  The “full” feeling is not helpful to singers.

Omelet (no cheese) or a hard boiled egg – Good if you need a protein boost.

Warm, broth-based soup -- As opposed to cream-based soup.  Can’t stress enough that singers should stay away from dairy until AFTER a show.

Salmon (or a light fish) and veggies – See #6.

Water – Yes, it’s so important that I needed to put it in this list twice!

Hello, writerly friends~ ♥︎

You asked for a Writing Advice Masterpost, so here it is! Below you will find a collection of the best questions and answers from the last two years. Not only that, but they are also organized so you can find the answers to your questions quickly and get on with writing.

But wait, there is more!

This post is more than just a collection of advice, it’s a nexus for writing advice, resources, and information! That’s right, this post is going to grow over time. I will be updating this masterpost WEEKLY with new answers, writing advice videos, playlists, and more! So, make sure to bookmark this page and follow my blog (maxkirin.tumblr.com) so you don’t miss a thing~ ♥︎

Writing Advice Compilations

WRITERS UNITE! A book of writing advice, inspiration, and tips! Written with the help of 248 Tumblr authors. FREE DOWNLOAD!

Prompts

Daily Story Seed

Daily Weird Prompt

Daily Character Question

Your Writing Horoscope (Retired)

“Can I publish a story based on one of your prompts?”

Youtube Videos!

Virtual Writing Academy, a weekly writing class where we explore strange writing exercises. This is NOT a lecture. You are not going to learn by listening— but by WRITING. So, take out your notebooks because we are going to write! New episodes go up every Wednesday.

Writing Advice Blitz, a segment where I answer YOUR writing questions. New episodes go up every Monday.

Writing Challenges— prompts too easy for you? Looking for a challenge? YOU GOT IT. These challenges will push your writing skills to the limit! New episodes go up every Friday.

Motivation & Inspiration

Daily Writer Positivity

How to Finish Your First Novel (M. Kirin’s Origin Story)

What Confidence Is and Is NOT

How to Regain the Motivation to Finish That Book

“I’m afraid writing is a waste of time”

“I’m half-way through this book and I’m stuck”

Stop Trying to Impress People

Stop Trying to Make Your Parents Proud of your Writing

Your Parents Disapprove of Your Writing?

You’re Not The Worst Writer In The World

English Not Your First Language? Neither is Mine

A Tip for All Young Writers Worrying That Nobody Will Take Them Seriously

Dealing with Hate and Harsh Criticism

You Need to Develop a Thick Skin

Neil Gaiman’s “Make Good Art” Speech

Feeling Down About Your Writing? :c

Elizabeth Gilbert’s Inspirational Speech on the ‘Genius’

Neil Gaiman’s 8 Rules of Writing

“I am not as good as other writers” (and other lies)

The 7 Cardinal Rules of Writing Life

Be A Little Delusional

Planning, Outlining, and Getting Started

M. Kirin’s (Strange) Guide to Planning Your Novel

M. Kirin’s Click-n-Drag Story Generator

Which outlining method is the best? (Video)

“I want to write a book but I have no idea where to start”

The Story-Idea Test

M. Kirin’s Secret for Starting books, and Finishing Them

M. Kirin’s Top 3 Tips to Start Writing and Never Stopping

The 10-Minute Writing Trick

Tips for writing Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Paranormal

How Much Worldbuilding is Enough?

M. Kirin’s #1 Tip For Improving Your Writing

Let’s Talk About: Show VS Tell

The Difference Between Character & Plot (The Marcy Rule)

Dialogue

M. Kirin talks about authentic dialogue

The grammatical side of dialogue

How do I write numbers in dialogue?

Editing & Revision

M. Kirin’s Top 5 Revision Tips

How to Love and Care for Your Beta Readers

M. Kirin’s (subjective) secret recipe for the second draft

When is the best time to edit a story?

M. Kirin Talks About Editing, and Speeding Up Your Story

M. Kirin Uses Evernote to Revise Books

“Kill Your Darlings” VS “Cut What You Love”

Writing Killer Plot-Twists and Mystery Novels

“How long is a Rough Draft compared to the Finished Draft?”

Hot Button Issues

Realism is a dirty word

Racist & homophobic language in fiction

Inaccuracy in Fiction (Video)

M. Kirin drops a few bombs on ‘creative vocabulary’

“I want to write but I don’t have the time”

Is it bad to have too many LGBTQIA or POC characters?

“My antagonist is POC/LGBTQIA, is this bad?”

“All my characters are LGBTQIA, is this bad?”

When to let go of a story

Is it rational to be afraid of what people will think of you?

Let’s Talk About: Deus Ex Machina

Let’s Talk About: Coincidence in Writing

Let’s Lightly Talk About: Plagiarism & Copyright

Writing About Things You Have Never Experienced

“Do you need to go to college/university to be a good writer?”

My book is similar to something already out, what do I do?

General Advice

M. Kirin’s Cure For Writer’s Block (and Life Block)

Overcoming the First Sentence

Overcoming the First Sentence, Again

Overcoming the First Sentence, Redux

The 10-Minute Rule

Making Boring Scenes FUN to Write!

Stories are like children

Let’s Talk About Titles (And Then Talk Some More)

M. Kirin Reveals the ‘Secret’ Behind Style

How much description/scenery is too much?

How can I write faster?

I want my readers to love my characters

I think my book may be too short for my genre

My story doesn’t have an Antagonists, should I add one?

I killed one of my main characters by mistake, what do I do?

M. Kirin’s Writing Advice for Fleshing out Romantic Relationships

A warning about character names and meanings

Help! My characters are not doing what I expected them to!

Help! My characters are misbehaving! D:

A warning about character sheets

A talk about the beauty of first drafts, and pacing

Is getting attached to your characters… bad?

A note on Antagonism, and whether you need a villain or not

Past or present tense?

Is swearing okay? And other muthafuckin’ truths

“What emotion do you find hardest to write?”

“What writing software do you use?”

Communication, a must for collaborative works

Researching illegal things, cousin? I got just the thing for you!

Joss Whedon’s Top 10 Writing Tips

M. Kirin’s Tarot Cheat-Sheet

Writing Tips for Storytelling in Video-Games

Fair Use In Novels (by thedancingwriter​)

Let’s Talk About: Pen Names!

Let’s Talk About: Reactive VS Proactive Characters

Let’s Talk About: Transitioning Smoothly From Scene to Scene

Let’s Talk About: Writing The Climax (& Resolution)

Let’s Talk About: Writing The End

Let’s Talk About: Spies

Let’s Make a Title (To A Story You Haven’t Finished)

Publishing

Publishing Battle: Indie VS Traditional

“How do I turn my book into an eBook?”

Writing Music & Playlists

Writing In The Dark (Relaxing, Unobtrusive)

Writing About Love (All the Feels)

Writing & Fighting! (Super Intense!)

Writing About Horror (Welcome to Lavender Town)

Royalty And Noble Blood (Medieval Writing Playlist)

Digital Reality (Cyberpunk/Futuristic Playlist)

Lost In The Wild (Survival/Nature Playlist)

No Hero (Danger, Action, and Anti-Heroes!)

Mermaid Magic (Sunken Cities, Sea Monsters, and Magic!)

After The Bomb (Post-Apocalyptic and Dystopian)

Sorrow (Death, Grief, and Despair)

Music For Writers: Portal 2 Soundtrack (FREE)

M. Kirin’s Writing Playlists: Ravensgem

M. Kirin’s Writing Playlists: Justine’s Blood

M. Kirin’s Favorite Music to Listen to While Writing

M. Kirin’s Secret For Making Playlists

Miscellaneous

Finally! An Ask-Meme for Writers! 

M. Kirin’s Philosophy for Running a Writing Blog

Last Updated: 10-04-14. Click HERE to see the latest update. Latest posts are in Italics.

Cat Behavior

Sailor Moon Meme Question 16:

Favourite Movie:

IT WOULD TAKE 30,000 NOVELS TO FULLY EXPRESS JUST HOW MUCH I LOVE THE R MOVIE YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW

Like seriously I had to think hard to find a scene I haven’t already made a gif(set) of. I love this movie so, so, so, so much. I love this scene so, so, so, so much. I LOVE THE R MOVIE.

…

*ahem* I mean, the R movie is okay I guess…

My worst fear on a test? The feeling of getting an exam paper in front of me, and not being able to remember anything, while back at home when reading the book I thought I knew everything. Sounds familiar? In that case, it may help to try these techniques. They help you practice retrieving information, rather than being familiar with the concepts you are studying. These have helped me loads, and I’m actually pretty convinced that these techniques are better than many others I used to apply, like rereading and regular summarizing. Hopefully they work for others as well :)

1. Summarise… in questions.

How do you do it? Instead of writing down facts, you convert facts to questions. Underneath the these, you answer them in your own words. This is technically the baby of summaries and flashcards. Don’t do this with every small fact, but rather convert several to one question, and omit the less important things always. You’re not going to remember every detail and most teachers don’t require you to (of course if they do, study them lol) .

Why would you do it? It is proven that asking yourself questions about the material enhances understanding and remembrance. Additionally, you can instantly quiz yourself on the material. Only reading your summary is not going to help you much with remembering, but actively retrieving information is! Also, when you’re reading and summarising the textbook throughout the semester, you’re already getting your study material for the test ready => less stress and work for when you gotta study.

2. Teach your peer / pet / pillow

How do you do it? Explain key concepts (many books provide these at the beginning or end of the chapter) to anyone who wants to listen. Don’t have anyone who wants to? Your cat probably won’t mind (but who knows what cats want tbh) and your reflection is always listening to you as well. 

Why would you do it? Explaining things to other people requires you to really understand what you are talking about, and you will more quickly find holes in your knowledge once you’re not able to explain it. Additionally, you’re probably gonna have to explain stuff on tests so it’s good practice.

3. Re-do your homework

How do you do it? Pretty obvious. Well, don’t write every answer down in detail again! For maths it may be useful to only tackle the most important exercises again, while for history you may want to spend an hour to just go over them all and test in your head if you can form a sensible answer.

Why would you do it? Going over the homework is always a good idea because 1) the theory is practically applied in those questions, so you have to think about what you have learned, enhancing integration, and 2) teachers are lazy and will often reuse or slightly modify textbook questions.

Kimono drawing guide ½, by Kaoruko Maya (tumblr, pixiv, site). Booklet is available in pdf for ¥ 900 here.

Here you can see:

female kimono and yukata (note how the juban underwear peeks when in kimono + how belts differ)

male yukata and kimono (note how the juban underwear peeks when in kimono)

dressing up: male (kimono is not closed yet) and female (kimono closed with datejime belt and ready to put on obi)

differences between female and male kimono once dressed (note how the collars and belts set)

common drawing mistakes (compare with previous picture: shoulders lines are too defined, there is a double hem, collars are narrow, belt is not at the right place etc)

women back collar (the lower the sexier) and men back collar (close to the nape)

back and sleeves differences between men and women

collars and sleeves and view of how kimono drapes around body

Furisode back (long sleeves kimono) and formal furisode obi knot example

Spent the last two days working on this little archery guide in art and writing. Considering the rise in popularity of archers in pop culture this hopefully  comes in handy for a bunch of fandoms.

Body Language Is More Revealing Than Words: How to Read People More Clearly

Our bodies can often be more honest than our words when it comes to communicating our thoughts, feelings, and intentions.

When we choose what to say, we’re often using the executive parts of our brains (the “neocortex”). This part of the brain is responsible for conscious attention, language, and thinking, all of which we have a degree of control over with some effort.

Because we have a choice in what we say, this makes it easier to conceal, deceive, and lie with our words.

However, we don’t usually choose our body language, which comes from the automatic parts of our brains (the “limbic system”). This part of the brain is responsible for our emotions, instincts, and gut reactions, all of which we don’t normally have control over.

According to What Every Body Is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People, because our body language is more automatic than our speech, this makes it harder to conceal, deceive, and lie about our true thoughts and feelings through our bodies.

Therefore, if you want to learn how to better read people and understand what’s going on inside their minds, you need to listen more to what their bodies are communicating to you. Especially if it doesn’t match up with what they are saying.

Most of us know how to choose our words carefully. We are taught from an early age how to act polite and kind even when we don’t want to – or how to tell a harmless lie to protect someone’s feelings (“Thanks for the birthday gift! I always wanted socks!”)

However, we don’t often pay attention to what our body language is communicating. And because it happens automatically without us deliberately choosing, it’s harder to override how our body responds to a situation. Our bodies rarely lie.

In this article, I will share basic guidelines on what to look for in body language. This can also be a valuable resource in learning what your own body is communicating to others, perhaps without you even realizing it.

Click here to read more