Prompts That Hit In All The Right Places

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

academy

adventurer's guild

alchemist

apiary

apothecary

aquarium

armory

art gallery

bakery

bank

barber

barracks

bathhouse

blacksmith

boathouse

book store

bookbinder

botanical garden

brothel

butcher

carpenter

cartographer

casino

castle

cobbler

coffee shop

council chamber

court house

crypt for the noble family

dentist

distillery

docks

dovecot

dyer

embassy

farmer's market

fighting pit

fishmonger

fortune teller

gallows

gatehouse

general store

graveyard

greenhouses

guard post

guildhall

gymnasium

haberdashery

haunted house

hedge maze

herbalist

hospice

hospital

house for sale

inn

jail

jeweller

kindergarten

leatherworker

library

locksmith

mail courier

manor house

market

mayor's house

monastery

morgue

museum

music shop

observatory

orchard

orphanage

outhouse

paper maker

pawnshop

pet shop

potion shop

potter

printmaker

quest board

residence

restricted zone

sawmill

school

scribe

sewer entrance

sheriff's office

shrine

silversmith

spa

speakeasy

spice merchant

sports stadium

stables

street market

tailor

tannery

tavern

tax collector

tea house

temple

textile shop

theatre

thieves guild

thrift store

tinker's workshop

town crier post

town square

townhall

toy store

trinket shop

warehouse

watchtower

water mill

weaver

well

windmill

wishing well

wizard tower

How to write smut ?

(@urfriendlywriter | req by @rbsstuff @yourlocalmerchgirl anyone under the appropriate age, please proceed with caution :') hope this helps guys! )

writing smut depends on each person's writing style but i think there's something so gut-wrenchingly beautiful about smut when it's not very graphic and vivid. like., would this turn on a reader more?

"he kissed her, pulling her body closer to him."

or this?

"His lips felt so familiar it hurt her heart. His breathing had become more strained; his muscles tensed. She let herself sink into his embrace as his hands flattened against her spine. He drew her closer."

(Before proceeding further, these are all "in my opinion" what I think would make it better. Apply parts of the advice you like and neglect the aspects you do not agree with it. Once again I'm not saying you have to follow a certain type of style to write smut! Creative freedom exists for a reason!)

One may like either the top or the bottom one better, but it totally depends on your writing to make it work. Neither is bad, but the second example is more flattering, talking literally.

express one's sensory feelings, and the readers will automatically know what's happening.

writing, "her walls clenched against him, her breath hitching with his every thrust" is better than writing, "she was about to cum".

here are some vocabulary you can introduce in your writing:

whimpered, whispered, breathed lightly, stuttered, groaned, grunted, yearned, whined, ached, clenched, coaxed, cried out, heaved, hissed

shivering, shuddering, curling up against one's body, squirming, squirting, touching, teasing, taunting, guiding, kneeling, begging, pining, pinching, grinding,

swallowing, panting, sucking in a sharp breath, thrusting, moving gently, gripped, biting, quivering,

nibbling, tugging, pressing, licking, flicking, sucking, panting, gritting, exhaling in short breaths,

wet kisses, brushing soft kisses across their body (yk where), licking, sucking, teasing, tracing, tickling, bucking hips, forcing one on their knees

holding hips, guiding the one on top, moving aimlessly, mindlessly, sounds they make turn insanely beautiful, sinful to listen to

some adverbs to use: desperately, hurriedly, knowingly, teasingly, tauntingly, aimlessly, shamelessly, breathlessly, passionately, delicately, hungrily

he sighed with pleasure

her skin flushed

he shuddered when her body moved against his

he planted kisses along her jawline

her lips turned red, messy, kissed and flushed.

his hands were on his hair, pulling him.

light touches traveled down his back

words were coiled at his throat, coming out as broken sobs, wanting more

he arched his back, his breath quivering

her legs parted, sinking into the other's body, encircling around their waist.

+ mention the position, how they're being moved around---are they face down, kneeling, or standing, or on top or on bottom--it's really helpful to give a clear picture.

+ use lustful talk, slow seduction, teasing touches, erratic breathing, give the readers all while also giving them nothing. make them yearn but DO NOT PROLONG IT.

sources to refer to for more: (will be updated soon!)

Sad things you can do in a book other than killing of a character

Character death is sad, but it also has huge consequences on your plot that can’t be reversed. Not to mention, depending on your genre, character deaths are often reserved for later in the series as a way of telling the reader that things are getting serious. 

So, until that moment, here’s a quick list of things you can do to tug at your readers emotions: 

1.- Destruction of an item of value. For this to work you’re going to have to set this up early on, it could be a childhood toy they need to sleep at night, a necklace they swear gives them good luck, and old family trinket or any number of things. The important thing is you show just how important it is to the character, make them happy and excited just to talk about it. Later on your character will feel loss and so will the audience. 

2.- Arguing. Two characters with a strong bond arguing can be heartbreaking, even if you know the argument is going to resolve itself eventually, going from cuddles and banter to cold looks and the silent treatment, can easily hurt the audience just as much as the characters. 

3.- Betrayal. When well done, it’s worst than character death. When you as a reader fall head over heels in love with a character, only for them to betray the rest, it’s heartbreaking, especially if when you read back the foreshadowing was there. It was so obvious yet you were all so blind! As blind as the other characters. Also, unlike character death, they’re still there, there to taunt you with their mere existence. 

4.- Failure. We have probably all felt that emptiness, that feeling as the world crumbles around us, haplessness, when we failed an exam in school or just couldn’t get the house clean in time for that visit. Take that feeling and reflect it into your characters, it doesn’t have to be an exam, it can be anything, a task they’re parents asked them to do and they tried their best, a mission, anything. Just let them fail and feel the world crumble. 

5.- Being forced to stay behind. Following from point four, if a character is not good enough they can be left behind, perhaps it comes from a place of love, an attempt to protect them from enemies too strong, yet it still hurts. Perhaps they haven’t failed, perhaps they are left behind for another reason, because they are “too valuable”, or because they’ll be more useful back home. Either way, watching those close to you go of to fight for what you believe in, without you, can be painful. 

6.- Finding out something they believed in was a lie. It can be something relatively insignificant, an assumption they never bothered to question. Or something world shattering. Allow me to offer up an example with an unimportant spoiler from my second book (it’s not even out yet but oh well): in this book, while talking about some law, Henry realises his daughter believes he and her mother were married. This is an assumption Itazu made and never questioned. It affects nothing, nothing changes, yet finding out her mother and her father were not the happy married couple she’d always pictured, it’s painful. 

This could also be something huge, finding out you’re adopted for example. 

7.- History. Oh, history, how depressing it can be. And if you have a fantasy world you have many opportunities to go into this. From slaughters to slavery, finding out how society got to where it is, the base on which it is built. Well, it’s pretty depressing. Obviously be careful how much inspiration you take from real world history and always be respectful and do your research! 

8.- Scarring. An injury can be painful, it can be scary. And depending on what caused it, leave you with traumatising memories. Now add to that a physical visible reminder on your skin you can never remove. Well, that can be pretty horrible. Imagine the scar came from a battle the protagonist longs to forget, but can’t because every night before going to sleep they can’t help but glance at their arm where the nasty scars forever lies. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

This another post I could probably do a part two on someday. Can you think of any books where any of these are done effectively? Do any of these happen in your owns book? Please tell me! I love hearing from you all. 

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Things I learned about making comics

- Characters don’t have to always be detailed sometimes a small blob with a speach bubble is fine too

- Small panels can contain scenary it doesn’t have to be half page all the time

- Tilted panels shapes are cool but don’t do it in every page keep it for the action/tense scenes

- Don’t over do close shots or they lose their meaning

- Try to have a full body of your character (even if small) at least every 2 pages

- Let the audience breathe, characters don’t have to be in every single panel

- Same face angle is boring but too many different camera positions are confusing find a balance

- Backgrounds first, characters later

- Color backgrounds one page at a time but color objects all at once through all the comic (all the faces then all the air and so on)

- The closer the object the thicker the lineart

- THUMBNAILS THUMBNAILS THUMBNAILS

- Write down your text near those thumbnails you won’t remember shit later

- ALWAYS think ahead of the space for the speach bubbles

- Give your characters a dark and a light color each so they will pop against any background

- For a fast shade fill the shadow layer set it to multiply 20/30% and erase the lighter parts

- Compare the pages one next to the other the panel lines should not touch or be too close

- 4 pages at a time the layouts should all be different

- By all means do get your characters out the frames but if you gotta do it do it all the way, a single strain of hair sticking out just looks weird.

- Don’t be scared of empty sections

- There should be a difference between the orizontal and vertical spaces between the panels

- Study other comics especially ones with good visual flow

- Everything should have a purpose and sometimes to be fun to read is enough

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sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but I started to work on a comic, and as you are making a comic yourself, I was wondering if you could give any comic making tips? (Again, sorry if I'm being bothersome-)

You are not bothering me! I am willing to give you some advice on making a comic!

Here's some personal tips I have that might come in handy;

Type of comic style : there are multiple type of comics styles from clattering boxes to scrolling boxes, it depends on your viewers and how you place them. Let me give you an example;

Clattering boxes is when you create comic boxes in certain orders. Most readers go from Left to Right when reading so be sure to make it obvious on where the story is going, don't add too many boxes because you need space for speech bubbles. (Example, Cigar and News);

As you can see from the red arrows, readers focus from the left to right(unless it's a manga/Japanese comic then it's right to left) so focus on how it flows from the boxes. I suggest have small boxes for simple scenes and big spaces/big boxes for a heavy scene(heavy dialogue, important action, etc)

You can see online comics as examples from how they place their boxes.

The only flaw here is when placing dialogue, so it's best to Sketch the speech bubbles first and see if it fits or not.

Do not make too much boxes!! Make space for dialogue and action!! you'll end up covering your characters/scenes with speech bubbles.

Scrolling Boxes is mostly found to comics that you view through your phone, let's take Webtoon and an example. A lot of Webtoon comics don't clatter their boxes beside each other, they place their boxes under each other with some space. (Example, Crisis AU)

Readers can simply scroll down to follow the story line, I personally find this easier to make dialogue and not have difficulty on forcing boxes together.

I used to have a Webtoon and made a short-lived comic series by using the Scrolling box style. This can be helpful to readers who have trouble following dialogue and easier to read while scrolling(mobile and website)

Make space!! It is important to create space between the boxes to put dialogue and tension!!

Dialogue : it is the important to type out dialogue to avoid spelling mistakes and/or grammar mistakes. It is common to accidentally write misleading dialogue that avoids the main topic of the story, so please write it down on a word document and see if it fits your planned comic or not.

I suggest reading fanfiction, books, an/or poetry to spice up your dialogues. Using metaphors makes a character sound unique and smart, not only that, it brings tension as well;

"Don't make me angry" sounds bland right? Not threatening enough. let's spice it up!

"You either run away or face the consequences"

Or

"I have the ability to make your life a living hell, so I beg of you to make the right decision, or else..."

Sure, these are too many words but that's the point of tension and character! Have you seen any dramas? There's a lot of dialogue out into and they want to make sure that viewers get enough information from the situation and what the character is all about.

(Example, All Time Low)

You see this? This isn't dialogue but a poetic description of the situation. It is important to read some books that uses clever poetry/metaphors to explain the situation with style!

And this, (Example, Cigar and News)

"I thought I was simply poking a dead horse but turns out that horse came out alive"

A play of words in a common metaphor, if you know how metaphors works then you can play some words to describe something with such fashion.

"It's raining cats and dogs" popular right? What about this;

"It feels like the sky's tears had turned into small pebbles"

Play with words! Explain the situation! Give your dialogue some style depending on the character!

Do make sure to separate some sentences to give them space, we can't have a huge speech bubble cover half of the picture, right?

Storytelling : a bit similar to the dialogue part but this is really important to any type of story you are working on. Since most comics don't have narratives(aside from introductions and the mind of the protagonist), you have to tell the story through scene and action.

Read any stories that tell you a precise description of their surrounding?draw it. it doesn't have to be big, make multiple scenes and don't get too carried away when it comes to background.

You want to express it through different ways, from body language to the atmosphere itself. You can easily explain a scenery by color schemes or the way it looks, for example; a sad scene, make it dark and cold. A happy one, colorful. Angry scene, warm and a mix of dark.

You can easily search up references online!

And please script things! its important if you want things to flow smoothly in your story. Not only that, sketch out your comic first and see if it looks good! Too many boxes? Let's move them! The character seems odd? Let's change it! Experiment and see the results.

Body language and Expression : this is by far important if you want your characters to look astonishing. Body language and Expression says more than words, you see, having a character with an open mouth stand straight for multiple boxes is... unsatisfying.

Body language is key! crossed arms, hands on their hips, clasped hands, tilted head and so on!

It's awkward when you have to stand still, we always change body language!

Now, for expressions, it's a powerful thing. this depends on your art style and I assure you; it works on any art style.

But the way you express it is important.

Is your character awkward? Nervous smiling. Are they emotional? Show some teeth and furrow their eyebrows. Are they happy? Happy smiles and shut eyes!

The way you draw expressions are up to you but remember that character expressions are important.

These can spice up your story and make your characters look interesting!

Character References and clothing : this should be obvious but you gotta make sure that your characters are easy to differentiate with. Not only that, it's so you don't miss any important detail such as a tattoo or a piercing on their left ear.

And do make a precise color pallet for them, don't mix up dark blue with dark green. Believe me, I've made that mistake.

And clothing!!! I'm a total fashion nerd and I absolutely love different types of clothing styles. Sketch your characters in different attires, go crazy with coloring! Go absolutely bonkers with clothing choices!look up those clothing sets and draw them in cute outfits!

A lot of people do these so they can experiment and have fun~

Enjoy and be inspired : this is important to creators out there who want to share their work. Do this for yourself, don't let others force you to change. You're doing something that you inspired yourself into, this is your work that people look up to!

Do not closet yourself out of other comics, you are as special as other comic makers in the goddamn website.

Feel inspired by other works from stories to dramas and to other comics!

You can do it! stay strong! You have our support!

I deeply apologize if this isn't as helpful as you expected but these are my personal tips. other people can add their own tips here to help others who want some advice!

Have an amazing day, I love you

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mundane scenes are important.

This might be some unconventional writing advice, but it's important and I don't see it being talked about enough. It boils down to this:

Not every scene you write has to be essential to drive your plot forward. Your story doesn't have to be at high stakes at all times to be considered interesting either.

Don't take this the wrong way — every scene has to be crucial to your story. Not important. Crucial. Your audience should leave each scene with a new piece of information.

But even though it is important that your story isn't filled to the brim with filler scenes that don't contribute to anything, it is more than okay, and advised, to include scenes in which your characters simply... exist. Scenes in which they breathe, or bond with each other. Scenes that give your audience a chance to emotionally connect with your characters. To fall in love with a relationship. To build that emotional connection between human and character that will make the emotional impact hit that much harder.

Perhaps it isn't necessary to show your characters at work, signing papers at a desk (unless they get fired, or a dragon sets the place on fire), but it might very well be necessary for your characters to invite a couple friends over, make some pancakes, and crack a couple jokes! The scene itself might not contribute too much to the overall plot in your story, but it helps bring life into it.

Giving your audience a glimpse into your characters lives is important. Not only does it help them connect, but it's a way for your audience to start caring more deeply about your characters, as well as the relationships between them.

Your story cannot simply be ACTION ACTION ACTION.

Yes, it is super important that the things you write contribute to the plot and that filler is kept at bay, but your plot is only half of it. If a scene is rendered useless in terms of plot development, but contributes to characterization, worldbuilding or exposition, it is not useless and you don't necessarily have to cut it.

It’s about balance. Each scene has to serve a purpose, but there are multiple purposes to be served. So let your characters breathe, even for just a second.

There needs to be down time. Otherwise the emotional impact you're trying to bring upon your audience might not come into play, because your audience haven't spent enough time with your characters to care deeply about them.

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Any advice on artists who want to consider making comics? Or general advice on how you do expressions and canvas composition?

All of my advice is trash because I’m still SUPER inexperienced in the comics making department but general comic making tips:

• Read lots of comics. Watch lots of movies. Read lots of stories.

• Have an idea of where you’re going with your story before you get into the heavy duty work of making the comic. Trust me. You’ll be glad you had a direction to go in, instead of wasting your entire pilot episode like I did.

• TRY to keep the cast small and give good character introductions before adding new characters. (I didn’t do this. My story has suffered for it.)

• Make ref sheets for your characters. Bare minimum, if you don’t want to draw new sheets entirely, compile a collage of all the existing images you already use as ref for each character.

• Save your color palettes for each character.

• Draw your KEY panels first. Filler can be done last. Working linearly might cause your art to deteriorate as the page/episode progresses, so get those bigger impact panels done first, and smaller/less impactful panels done last.

Expressions?

• Mirror. Selfies. Etc. When idk how an open mouth looks from a certain angle, I’ll use my own face as reference. It’s fool proof.

• Use OBSCENE amounts of reference. YouTubers. Actors in movies. Etc.

• Appreciate the Art of Subtlety. Not every expression has to be big, dynamic, and bold. Practice working in both extremes. Soft, gentle expressions can be just as good storytellers as bold, extreme expressions.

Canvas composition?

• WOOF IDK IM STILL SUPER BAD AT THIS LOL

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The Language Of Flowers

Acacia: Hidden love, beauty in withdrawal

Amaryllis: Pride, a hard won success

Anemone: Vanishing hopes

Bells of Ireland: Wish for good luck

Carnation: Fascination, love and distinction

Daffodil (Narcissus): Honesty and truth

Dahlia flower: Warnings and change

Daisy: Innocence, loyal love and purity

Delphinium: Open heart, ardent attachement

Gardenia: Symbol of secret love

Gladiolus: Remembrance, faithfulness and sincerity

Hyacinth: I'm sorry, please forgive me.

Iris: Eloquence

Lily (general) : Purity of the heart and refined beauty

Lily of the valley: Return of happiness

Marigold: Passion and creativity

Orchid: Beauty, refinement and love

Peony: Happy marriage

Lavender: Love at first sight

Red rose: Love, respect, courage and passion

White rose: Purity, secrecy, silence, innocence and charm

Sunflower: Good luck and ambition

Tulip: Irresistible love

Violet: Faithfulness, modesty and delicate love

Zinnia: Lasting affection, daily remembrance and good memories

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WEBSITES FOR WRITERS {masterpost}

E.A. Deverell - FREE worksheets (characters, world building, narrator, etc.) and paid courses;

Hiveword - Helps to research any topic to write about (has other resources, too);

BetaBooks - Share your draft with your beta reader (can be more than one), and see where they stopped reading, their comments, etc.;

Charlotte Dillon - Research links;

Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;

One Stop for Writers - You guys... this website has literally everything we need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;

One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It's FREE!

Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;

National Centre for Writing - FREE worksheets and writing courses. Has also paid courses;

Penguin Random House - Has some writing contests and great opportunities;

Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;

The Creative Academy for Writers - "Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication." It's FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;

Reedsy - "A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book" It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;

QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I've never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);

Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It's FREE but has a paid plan;

Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;

I hope this is helpful for you!

(Also, check my blog if you want to!)

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