If You Are Going To Do Historical Inaccuracy, Then Go Big. Just Take It To A Whole ‘nother Level.

What some person says: You need to do research for fantasy and think critically about how your world functions. How did they domesticate those creatures, and how are they feeding them? How are your cities fed, and what happens to their waste? How are all those soldiers trained and paid? Have you googled feudalism? 

What y’all think they mean: fill your book with unnecessary factual details about your fantasy world that no one cares about 

What they actually mean: You need to know the way your world functions for your own benefit, to be able to create a story that makes sense and holds up under scrutiny. If you don’t research, you’ll end up repeating dumb stereotypes about Medieval England that are more based on modern biases than real history and making grotesque factual errors that will make your story unreadable for anyone that paid more attention in class than you did. Not to mention that your pool of inspiration will be entirely based in other, already written fantasies, instead of the vast, colorful and woefully untapped well of actual human history. 

Writing great friendships

Some of the best chemistry/relationships in fiction exist between characters who are/become friends. Here are some tips for making friendships come alive on the page:

1. Banter

One of the most interesting aspects of fictional friendships is the way the characters interact with each other whilst important plot points are occurring.

If your characters have easy banter, teasing one another without missing a beat and managing to bounce off each other even in the toughest circumstances, it will be clear to the reader that these two are/should be good friends.

Friends know each other well. They know the other’s character so well that they can easily find something to tease each other over. However, this also means knowing which topics are off-limits.

If you want to write a good, healthy friendship, your characters shouldn’t use humour/sarcasm as a way to hurt the other. It should be good-natured and understood as such from both sides.

Different friendships will have different types of chemistry. Some friends may tease each other with facial expressions. Others may already anticipate a snarky remark and counter it before it’s been spoken. Others will have physical ways of goofing around. 

Some friends might not tease each other at all. Banter isn’t necessary; it’s just a good way to make your characters come alive and make their friendship one that is loved by readers.

What’s important is chemistry - the way they automatically react to each other.

Think Sam and Dean in Supernatural or Juliette and Kenji in the Shatter Me series.

2. Mutual support 

Unless you purposefully want to write an unhealthy/toxic friendship, your characters should both be supportive of the other. 

This means that, even if one is the MC and the other the side-kick, both should be cognisant of the other’s feelings and problems, and should be considerate in this regard.

Few things will make your MC as likable as remembering to check in and be there for their best friend even when they are in the thick of a crisis.

You need to show your characters being vulnerable in front of each other and being supportive in ways that are tailored to the needs of each friend.

So, if one of the characters really responds to physical comfort, the other should know to give hugs/rub their back when they’re not feeling well. Similarly, if one of them doesn’t like being touched and responds to material comfort, have the other bring them ice cream and join them for a movie marathon. Whatever works for your characters.

What gets me every time is when a character is falling apart and won’t listen to/be consoled by anyone but their best friend (but this is just personal preference).

3. Knowing the other’s past/family life

This really only applies to characters who have been friends for quite a while.

Good friends know each other’s backstory - the highs and lows and mundane details. They know they layout of their family home and they probably know their family members well.

Friends will often talk about these things, only having to mention a few words for the other to know what they’re talking about i.e. “The ‘09 Thanksgiving disaster” or “You know how Uncle Fred is”

This will instantly make it clear that your characters are close and have come a long way together. 

Perhaps there are issues at home/trauma from the past that the other character will immediately understand. So, if one character appears with a black eye, their friend might know that the father was probably drunk the night before and got violent. Or if the character has a nightmare, the friend might know that it was about childhood abuse etc.

This can also apply to good things i.e. if one of the characters gets a nice note in their lunchbox, the other might know that their grandma is in town.

Whatever works for your story should be used to indicate the level of unspoken understanding the friends have.

4. Being protective

Few things will make your readers love a friendship more than the friends being fiercely protective of each other (in a healthy, non-territorial way).

Has someone hurt one of the characters? The other should be furious and want to exact revenge. Does someone say something demeaning to one of the friends? The other should defend them immediately and vehemently.

This can also take on a humorous twist if one of the characters starts dating someone. The friend can make extra sure that said date is sincere and promise to exact vengeance if their friend is hurt.

This can also be a great plot device, since it could explain why the MC’s best friend joins the quest/goes along on the journey. Perhaps this is the main plot point: a character seeking to protect/avenge their friend.

If you want to go in a toxic direction, this can be taken too far i.e. a friend who never lets the other spend time with anyone else/stalks the other/is patronising etc.

5.  Common interest(s)

Even if the two characters are vastly different, there should be something that keeps them together besides loyalty.

This is especially important for characters who become friends throughout the course of the novel.

This doesn’t have to mean that both of them go hiking every weekend or want to become pilots one day. It could be something small, like a love of cheesy movies or a shared taste in music. Maybe they both enjoy silence/don’t like other people. Maybe they are both social justice warriors, but for different causes. 

This could also be common characteristics instead of interests. Perhaps both are very ambitious/funny/social.

There should just be some factor that ignited the friendship and brings the two of them together.

This doesn’t necessarily have to be a big part of your story, but you should at least have it mentioned to make the friendship appear more authentic.

Reblog if you found these tips useful. Comment if you would like a Part 2. Follow me for similar content.

The mashup you never thought would work

Genuinely can’t put into words how fucking fuming I am that people are not going to see Captain Marvel because they think it’s a film about “putting down men”. She is a powerful superhero who is going to be more powerful than other male characters in the MCU, this doesn’t mean she’s putting them down. Thor is clearly a more powerful character than Valkyrie in Ragnarok but none of us have come online and said the film is sexist/puts down women, it’s just the character’s qualities. Why can’t we just enjoy this new super hero for her amazing qualities and either celebrate the fact she’s a woman, or just not let it effect you’re judgement at all until you’ve seen it. The comments I’ve seen online are honestly delirious. Genuinely people worrying that she will be, and I quote, “an unlikeble character who will use her powers to show up other men in the MCU”, so basically if she does anything powerful or cool in endgame these losers are gonna write it off as what I will assume they define as “feminist propaganda”. Honestly if anyone is thinking like this PLEASE just get a life, take the film for what it is: a superhero movie about an extremely powerful and awesome individual who, yes, will most likely be one of the most powerful additions to the MCU, shut up and enjoy it, or don’t, but don’t use gender as your reason for claiming it’s a bad film.

Notes to Thirteen Year Old Girls

When your best friend tells you all she had for breakfast Was a packet of Splenda and a Diet Coke, And she tells you that she’ll stop after she loses five more pounds, Do not believe her. Tell her mother. It does not matter how angry your friend gets. The pain of that will always be preferable to the pain Of seeing your best friend in four years Weighing as much as she does now Half-dead in the hospital.

When your father sneaks into your bed in the dead of the night, And he tells you that this is how fathers love their daughters, Do not believe him. Tell your English teacher. She will have read millions of stories of girls like you. There is a one in six chance that she will be a girl like you. There is a five in six chance that she will know what to say to you. There is a six in six chance that she will help you.

When your veins whisper to you in the moonlight And say that there are so many nightmares inside you That could be free If you would just open your arms, Do not believe them. Tell your school’s guidance counselor, No matter how scared you are Because whispers are liars, And opening your arms will only open the passage For more nightmares to climb in.

And when the therapists say that you are better, Totally better, And you don’t need to worry about the sadness again, Do not believe them. Always be cautious, because sadness has a way Of sneaking up on you When you’re not looking. Be careful. Be careful.

youtube comment of the week

its true about how mama mai fits into any fight scene

Somewhat Controversial LGBT Themed Opinions:

The letters are only for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender”

Although being LGBT does have disadvantages, LGBT people on first world countries are not oppressed

You need dysphoria to be trans

There’s only two (scientifically proven) genders

Gender isn’t a spectrum

Kids that haven’t gone through puberty shouldn’t medically transition

Asexuality isn’t inherently LGBT, nor is it a spectrum

Demisexuality isn’t a thing

Pansexuality and bisexuality are the same thing

Cops are allowed at pride

TERF ideology is gross, but TERFs shouldn’t be banned from pride just because of their opinions

PDA can be allowed at pride, but over-the-top kinky displays shouldn’t be

Pedophilia is disgusting and isn’t LGBT

LGBT people do not have to be democrats or fit a certain political agenda

Being LGBT isn’t a personality trait