You Bet Your Butt There Is! They’re Called Contronyms

a list of soft, pretty words 🕊💐

astral (adj.) of, connected with, or resembling the stars. paradisaic (adj.) of or belonging to heaven or god. empyrean (adj.) belonging to or deriving from heaven. seraphic (adj.) characteristic of or resembling an angel. sublime (adj.) of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe. svelte (adj.) slender, graceful and elegant. (describing a person)

a quick visual guide to the enemies to lovers trope because a lot of y’all are confused

Some words to use when writing things:

winking

clenching

pulsing

fluttering

contracting

twitching

sucking

quivering

pulsating

throbbing

beating

thumping

thudding

pounding

humming

palpitate

vibrate

grinding

crushing

hammering

lashing

knocking

driving

thrusting

pushing

force

injecting

filling

dilate

stretching

lingering

expanding

bouncing

reaming

elongate

enlarge

unfolding

yielding

sternly

firmly

tightly 

harshly

thoroughly

consistently

precision

accuracy

carefully

demanding

strictly

restriction

meticulously

scrupulously

rigorously

rim

edge

lip

circle

band

encircling

enclosing

surrounding

piercing

curl

lock

twist

coil

spiral

whorl

dip

wet

soak

madly

wildly

noisily

rowdily

rambunctiously

decadent

degenerate

immoral

indulgent

accept

take

invite

nook

indentation

niche

depression

indent

depress

delay

tossing

writhing

flailing

squirming

rolling

wriggling

wiggling

thrashing

struggling

grappling

striving

straining

a massively extended version of ruthlesscalculus’ post

General Tips

Joss Whedon’s Top 10 Writing Tips

Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

34 Writing Tips that will make you a Better Writer

50 Free resources that will improve your writing skills

5 ways to get out of the comfort zone and become a stronger writer

10 ways to avoid Writing Insecurity

The Writer’s Guide to Overcoming Insecurity

The Difference Between Good Writers and Bad Writers

You’re Not Hemingway - Developing Your Own Style

7 Ways to use Brain Science to Hook Readers and Reel them In

8 Short Story Tips from Kurt Vonnegut

How to Show, Not Tell

5 Essential Story Ingredients

How to Write Fiction that grabs your readers from page one

Why research is important in writing

Make Your Reader Root for Your Main Character

Writing Ergonomics (Staying Comfortable Whilst Writing)

The Importance of Body Language

Character Development

10 days of Character Building

Name Generators

Name Playground

Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test

Seven Common Character Types

Handling a Cast of Thousands Part 1 - Getting To Know Your Characters

Web Resources for Developing Characters

Building Fictional Characters

Fiction Writer’s Character Chart

Character Building Workshop

Tips for Characterization

Character Chart for Fiction Writers

Villains are people too but…

How to Write a Character Bible

Character Development Exercises

All Your Characters Talk the Same - And They’re Not A Hivemind!

Medieval Names Archive

Sympathy Without Saintliness

Family Echo (Family Tree Maker)

Behind The Name

100 Character Development Questions for Writers

Aether’s Character Development Worksheet

The 12 Common Archetypes

Six Types of Courageous Characters

Kazza’s List of Character Secrets - Part 1, Part 2

Creating Believable Characters With Personality

Body Language Cheat Sheet

Creating Fictional Characters Series

Three Ways to Avoid Lazy Character Description

7 Rules for Picking Names for Fictional Characters

Character Development Questionnaire

How to Create Fictional Characters

Character Name Resources

Character Development Template

Character Development Through Hobbies

Character Flaws List

10 Questions for Creating Believable Characters

Ari’s Archetype Series

How to Craft Compelling Characters

List of 200 Character Traits

Writing Characters of the Opposite Sex

Making Your Characters Likable

Do you really know your characters?

Character Development: Virtues

Character Development: Vices

Character Morality Alignment

List of Negative Personality Traits

List of Positive Personality Traits

List of Emotions - Positive

List of Emotions - Negative

Loon’s Character Development Series - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Phobia List A-L (Part 1), M-Z (Part 2)

30 Day In Depth Character Development Meme

Words for Emotions based on Severity

Eight Bad Characters

High Level Description of the Sixteen Personality Types

Female Characters

How Not to Write Female Characters

Writing Female Characters

How to write empowering female characters

Why I write strong female characters

Red Flags for Female Characters Written by Men

Writing strong female characters

The Female Character Flowchart

Eight Heroine Archetypes

Male Characters

Eight Hero Archetypes

Tips for Specific Characters

Writing A Vampire

Writing Pansexual Characters

Writing Characters on the Police Force

Writing Drunk Characters

Writing A Manipulative Character

Writing A Friends With Benefits Relationship

Writing A Natural Born Leader

Writing A Flirtatious Character

Writing A Nice Character

Fiction Writing Exercises for Creating Villains

Five Traits to Contribute to an Epic Villain

Writing Villains that Rock

Writing British Characters

How To Write A Character With A Baby

On Assassin Characters

Dialogue

It’s Not What They Say…

Top 8 Tips for Writing Dialogue

Speaking of Dialogue

The Great Said Debate

He Said, She Said, Who Said What?

How to Write Dialogue Unique to Your Characters

Writing Dialogue: Go for Realistic, Not Real-Life

Point of View

Establishing The Right Point of View

How to Start Writing in the Third Person

The I Problem

Plot, Conflict, Structure and Outline

Writing A Novel Using the Snowflake Method

Effectively Outlining Your Novel

Conflict and Character Within Story Structure

Outlining Your Plot

Ideas, Plots and Using the Premise Sheets

How To Write A Novel

Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense

Plunge Right In…Into Your Story, That Is

Tips for Creating a Compelling Plot

36 (plus one) Dramatic Situations

The Evil Overlord Devises A Plot: Excerpt from Stupid Plot Tricks

Conflict Test

What is Conflict?

Monomyth

The Hero’s Journey: Summary of Steps

Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes

Plotting Without Fears

Novel Outlining 101

Writing The Perfect Scene

One-Page Plotting

The Great Swampy Middle

How Can You Know What Belongs In Your Book?

Create A Plot Outline in 8 Easy Steps

How to Organize and Develop Ideas for Your Novel

Create Structure in your novel using index cards

Choosing the best outline method for you

Hatch’s Plot Bank

Setting & Worldbuilding

Magical Word Builder’s Guide

I Love The End Of The World

World Building 101

The Art of Description: Eight Tips to Help Bring Your Settings to Life

Creating the Perfect Setting - Part 1

Creating a Believable World

Setting

Character and Setting Interactions

Maps Workshop - Developing the Fictional World Through Mapping

World Builders Project

How To Create Fantasy Worlds

Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds

Creativity Boosters* denotes prompts

*Creative Writing Prompts

*Ink Provoking

*Story Starter

*Story Spinner

*Story Kitchen

*Language is a Virus

*The Dabbling Mum

Quick Story Idea Generator

Solve Your Problems By Simply Saying Them Out Loud

Busting Your Writing Rut

Creative Acceleration: 11 Tips To Engineer A Productive Flow

Writing Inspiration, Or Sex on a Bicycle

The Seven Major Beginner Mistakes

Complete Your First Book with these 9 Simple Writing Habits

Free Association, Active Imagination, Twilight Imaging

Random Book Title Generator

Finishing Your Novel

Story Starters & Idea Generators

Words to Use More Often

Revision & Grammar

How To Rewrite

Editing Recipe

Cliche Finder

Revising Your Novel: Read What You’ve Written

Writing 101: Revising A Novel

20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes

Synonyms for the Most Commonly Used Words of the English Language

Grammar Urban Legends

Tools & Software

Tip Of My Tongue - Find the word you’re looking for

Write or Die - Stay motivated

Stay Focused - Tool for Chrome, lock yourself out of distracting websites

My Writing Nook - Online Text Editor, Free

Bubbl.us - Online Mind Map Application, Free

Family Echo - Online Family Tree Maker, Free

Freemind - Mind Map Application; Free; Windows, Mac, Linux, Portable

Xmind - Mind Map Application; Free; Windows, Mac, Linux, Portable

Liquid Story Binder - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free trial, $45.95; Windows, Portable

Scrivener - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free trial, $39.95; Mac

SuperNotecard - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free trial, $29; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable

yWriter - Novel Organization and Writing Application; free; Windows, Linux, portable

JDarkRoom - Minimalist Text Editing Application; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable

AutoRealm - Map Creation Application; free; Windows, Linux with Wine

Specific Help

Fashion Terminology

All About Kissing

Genre Help: Romance

187 Mental Illnesses

Types of Mental Illness

Eye Color List

Spectral Groupings

OKAY SIT DOWN SHUT UP, WE’RE GONNA TALK COLORS

THIS IS SAPPHIRE

THIS IS TEAL

THIS IS PERIWINKLE

THIS IS AZURE

 AND THIS IS TURQUOISE

WONDER WHY THOSE ALL DON’T LOOK LIKE THE SAME COLOR? BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT 

OTHER THAN BEING PART OF THE SAME FAMILY OF BLUES, THEY ARE NOT ALL THE SAME FUCKING COLOR! WHY WOULD THEY ALL BE THE SAME FUCKING COLOR! DO YOU THINK WE JUST NAME NEW COLORS FOR KICKS!?!?!?

WHEN DESCRIBING A CHARACTER’S GOD FORSAKEN EYE COLOR, PICK ONE YA GODDAMN HIPPIE

I’m compelled by stories where the characters suffer a lot, but only if there’s catharsis in the end. If they just die without ever getting to recover I’m OUT because what’s the fucking purpose then? Voyeurism? Bye

So I thought this was commonly known internet navigation (but apparently it might just be those of us who have been using the internet since the 90's who still know it). Or so it seems based on... a grumpy comment I got.

When you see an arrow like this:

It means you click it to expand out a hidden section.

It's an accordion section/menu! It's useful in web design to hide information that may be overwhelming under specific headers so people can only see what they need.

Here I'm using it for people who need the content warnings to be able to check, but for those who don't need them and don't want to be spoiled to just move right past without accidentally reading anything.

It's still the user's responsibility to click the arrow and read things as they need! But it is all warned. (And, yes, the all encompassing issues are already a tag on the fic, I'm just providing additonal warnings per chapter.)

100 Words for Facial Expressions

1. Absent: preoccupied 2. Agonized: as if in pain or tormented 3. Alluring: attractive, in the sense of arousing desire 4. Appealing: attractive, in the sense of encouraging goodwill and/or interest 5. Beatific: see blissful 6. Bilious: ill-natured 7. Black: angry or sad, or see hostile 8. Bleak: see grim and hopeless 9. Blinking: surprise, or lack of concern 10. Blissful: showing a state of happiness or divine contentment 11. Blithe: carefree, lighthearted, or heedlessly indifferent 12. Brooding: see anxious and gloomy 13. Bug eyed: frightened or surprised 14. Chagrined: humiliated or disappointed 15. Cheeky: cocky, insolent 16. Cheerless: sad 17. Choleric: hot-tempered, irate 18. Coy: flirtily playful, or evasive 19. Crestfallen: see despondent 20. Darkly: with depressed or malevolent feelings 21. Deadpan: expressionless, to conceal emotion or heighten humor 22. Dejected: see despondent 23. Derisive: see sardonic 24. Despondent: depressed or discouraged 25. Doleful: sad or afflicted 26. Dour: stern or obstinate; see also despondent 27. Downcast: see despondent 28. Dreamy: distracted by daydreaming or fantasizing 29. Ecstatic: delighted or entranced 30. Etched: see fixed 31. Faint: cowardly, weak, or barely perceptible 32. Fixed: concentrated or immobile 33. Furtive: stealthy 34. Gazing: staring intently 35. Glancing: staring briefly as if curious but evasive 36. Glaring: see hostile 37. Glazed: expressionless due to fatigue or confusion 38. Gloomy: see despondent and sullen 39. Glowering: annoyed or angry 40. Glowing: see radiant 41. Grim: see despondent; also, fatalistic or pessimistic 42. Grave: serious, expressing emotion due to loss or sadness 43. Haunted: frightened, worried, or guilty 44. Hopeless: depressed by a lack of encouragement or optimism 45. Hostile: aggressively angry, intimidating, or resistant 46. Hunted: tense as if worried about pursuit 47. Impassive: see deadpan 48. Inscrutable: mysterious, unreadable 49. Jeering: insulting or mocking 50. Languid: lazy or weak 51. Leering: see meaningful; also, sexually suggestive 52. Meaningful: to convey an implicit connotation or shared secret 53. Mild: easygoing 54. Mischievous: annoyingly or maliciously playful 55. Moody: see sullen 56. Pained: affected with discomfort or pain 57. Pallid: see wan 58. Peering: with curiosity or suspicion 59. Peeved: annoyed 60. Petulant: see cheeky and peeved 61. Pitying: sympathetic 62. Pleading: seeking apology or assistance 63. Pouting: see sullen 64. Quizzical: questioning or confused 65. Radiant: bright, happy 66. Roguish: see mischievous 67. Sanguine: bloodthirsty, confident 68. Sardonic: mocking 69. Scornful: contemptuous or mocking 70. Scowling: displeased or threatening 71. Searching: curious or suspicious 72. Set: see fixed 73. Shamefaced: ashamed or bashful 74. Slack-jawed: dumbfounded or surprised 75. Sly: cunning; see also furtive and mischievous 76. Snarling: surly 77. Sneering: see scornful 78. Somber: see grave 79. Sour: unpleasant 80. Stolid: inexpressive 81. Straight-faced: see deadpan 82. Sulky: see sullen 83. Sullen: resentful 84. Taunting: see jeering 85. Taut: high-strung 86. Tense: see taut 87. Tight: see pained and taut 88. Unblinking: see fixed 89. Vacant: blank or stupid looking 90. Veiled: see inscrutable 91. Wan: pale, sickly; see also faint 92. Wary: cautious or cunning 93. Wide eyed: frightened or surprised 94. Wild eyed: excited, frightened, or stressful 95. Wistful: yearning or sadly thoughtful 96. Withering: devastating; see also wrathful 97. Woeful: full of grief or lamentation 98. Wolfish: see leering and mischievous 99. Wrathful: indignant or vengeful 100. Wry: twisted or crooked to express cleverness or a dark or ironic feeling

The Five Stages of Decomposition

Found a little summary of human decomposition primarily used for writing, but an interesting read for everyone else. 

Following death, the human body progresses through five basic stages of decomposition. The duration and degree of each stage is largely influenced by the environment (temperature, humidity, etc.), body mass, any wrappings or coverings of the body, and obviously scavenging or other post-mortem disturbances. Additionally, submerged or buried bodies will decompose much differently than bodies left on the ground. This is what I will be referring to below. Here are the general descriptions of the five stages of decomposition:

Fresh

The fresh stage begins immediately after death when the circulatory system (heart beating/pumping blood) stops functioning. It is during this stage that the blood will settle with gravity creating a condition known as lividity. After several hours the muscles will also begin to stiffen in a process known as rigor mortis.  The body temperature will also begin to acclimate to the environment.  Cells will begin to break down and release enzymes during a process called autolysis which can cause blisters on the skin. The anaerobic organisms in the digestive tract will begin to multiply, producing acids and gases (the source of the bad odors). This process is often referred to as putrefaction.

Bloat

As the name implies, the gases being produced during putrefaction begin to build and will give the body a distended appearance. Gases and fluid will eventually escape through the natural orifices as the pressure builds.  As the gastrointestinal bacteria multiply and can lead to conditions like marbling which is a discoloration pattern seen in the skin. You may also see green discoloration in the abdomen areas and eventually a darkening (blackish) coloring of the skin overall as the process advances. Interestingly enough; I remember one time I was giving a lecture on forensic entomology at a college campus and after the lecture a serious looking young black student approached me. She asked me why I only showed pictures of black victims in my presentation. I was a bit taken back and briefly confused as I ran through a mental recap of the cases I presented. I finally told her that all of the victims were in fact white (Caucasian) in life but due to this process their skin darkened. It was an eye-opening experience and I made sure to describe this process more effectively when lecturing the public.

Active Decay

During his phase the body begins to lose much of it’s fluids and mass (tissue) through purge and insect and/or vertebrate scavenging (coyote, fox, lion, etc). During this phase you may see very large maggot masses and notice a considerable increase in foul odors.

Advanced Decay

This phase is the end of the active decay process. Temperatures can either speed up (heat) or slow down (cold) how quickly a body reaches this phase. The body has very little body mass and soil staining of the surrounding soils is still evident. This soil staining (from body fluids) may actually kill some of the surrounding vegetation temporarily. Maggots will migrate away from the body to pupate and flies will cease laying eggs.

Dry/Skeletal

This phase is the last measurable stage of decomposition. The timing of this stage varies widely by environment. For example, a body in Florida in July (hot/humid) may reach this stage in a week while in the Winter in the Rocky Mountains (cold/arid) it might take months. If there is any skin left it will be leather-like and very tough. Mostly the body is reduced to bones and connective tissue. There is no biomass available for diverse insect colonization. Some beetles and adventitious insects may colonize a body for shelter or feeding on other insects and connective tissue. Over time the bones may “bleach” (turn white) with exposure to sunlight and eventually will begin to exhibit cracks after several years. These weathering cracks are distinctive and would not be confused with a fresh break (injury) unless by an inexperienced analyst.

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20 Basic Plots

These basic plots are from the Tennessee Screenwriting Association, but I thought it would be useful to share them with you all. Many writers believe that there are only so many “basic plots” that make up a story, 20 of them to be exact, and that it all depends on how you develop these plots. This is the same idea that there are only so many story arcs, and that all of our stories fit into a certain category. This is not to say you can’t create something that is uniquely yours, because you can mess with these elements, but when cut something down to the bare bones—nothing is really original. These recognizable story forms work and that’s why they’re used over and over again. Here are the 20 basic plots—

1. QUEST – the protagonist is searching for something (person, place, thing, or idea) and is on a journey to find it.

2. ADVENTURE – the protagonist searches for their fortune, but has to leave home to do it.

3. PURSUIT - hide-and-seek plot, one group or person chasing another.

4. RESCUE - the protagonist is searching for someone or something that needs to be saved—this usually involves protagonist, victim, and antagonist.

5. ESCAPE – the protagonist wants to escape some sort of situation, on a quest to get away.

6. REVENGE - retaliation against someone else for wrong-doings.

7. THE RIDDLE - the protagonist’s search to find the hidden meaning of something.

8. RIVALRY - the protagonist is competing for same object or goal as another person.

9. UNDERDOG – the protagonist has a great disadvantage and faces overwhelming odds while trying to reach his or her goals.

10. TEMPTATION – the protagonist is tempted into doing something that is unwise, wrong or immoral.

11. METAMORPHOSIS - the physical characteristics of the protagonist actually changes from one form to another.

12. TRANSFORMATION - the protagonist journeys through a stage of life that moves them from one significant character state to another.

13. MATURATION - the protagonist faces a problem that causes them to learn from it and mature into adulthood.

14. LOVE - the protagonist overcomes the obstacles that prevent him or her from engaging in true love.

15. FORBIDDEN LOVE – the protagonist overcomes obstacles that prevent him or her from true love, but sometimes find the outcome too high a price to live with.

16. SACRIFICE - the protagonist is motivated by a higher purpose such as love, honor, and charity or for the sake of humanity.

17. DISCOVERY - the protagonist, having to overcome a life-changing event, discovers a deeper meaning of life that changes their outlook.

18. WRETCHED EXCESS - the protagonist pushes the limits of acceptable behavior to the extreme and is forced to deal with the consequences.

19. ASCENSION – this rags-to-riches plot deals with the rise of the protagonist due to a dominating character trait that helps them to succeed.

20. DECISION – this riches-to-rags plot deals with the fall of the protagonist due to dominating character trait that eventually destroys their success.

It’s easy to see that some stories can fit into a few of these categories and you can build your story up around several of these basic plots. Generally, a story will fit into one category more than another. There are many references on basic plots, and not all writers have the same opinions on it, so it helps to research them yourself. I just thought this might give you a little motivation or help you structure your story better.

-Kris Noel