A Velvety Skeleton Friend Here To Bring You Financial Luck This October 🔮✨

I think next thursday is gonna be the best day of my entire life tbh

Writing a Believable Family: Information You Need

So today I thought I’d help out myself and anyone else who’s writing something where family plays a central role, seeing as a lot of people write about families but I barely see any posts about it!

Families are really fun to read about (imo), but often hard to write, as each family has a different dynamic that you really need to get a hold of. It’s easy to get discouraged because sometimes your fictional family might feel like strangers when they interact with each other. So without further ado, here are some questions and prompts to help you get to know your characters’ families.

Questions

Who is in this family? Are they all important characters?

How big of a role does this family play in the story? The theme of family in general?

Who looks the most like who? What general physical features do they all share?

Who is closest with each other? Who feels more distant?

What is a tradition this family has?

What holidays does this family celebrate? What religion do they practice?

What does this family always fight about?

Are all the relationships in this family healthy? If not, what makes them toxic?

Who is in charge or seems to have the most authority?

Is there a social hierarchy within the family? Who generally seems the coolest to the others?

Does this family travel a lot together? Where do they go?

What was/were the older generation(s) like before the younger generation(s) were born?

Has anyone in this family died? How did this impact the others?

Do members of the family have different politics? How does this affect the family’s relationship?

How much do your characters value their family?

What movies does this family watch on movie nights? What movies do they refuse to watch together?

What role does extended family play in this family’s life? (Ignore if the family you’re writing about is an extended family.)

Who argues the most?

What personality traits does the family share?

What makes this family unique?

What did/does the younger generation do for fun as little kids?

If this family had a vacation home, where would it be?

Who looks up to who?

Prompts

Write a conversation at the family’s dinner table.

What was the most disastrous family reunion/outing? Write it.

Try making a character web (shown in this post) for the family.

How does the rest of the family behave when one member graduates?

Write the script for everyone’s favorite old home video.

Draw a family tree. See how many generations you can go back.

Write each family member’s favorite family memory.

Describe how a family road would trip play out.

This family becomes the family fighting in Walmart. Describe how this happened.

The family is known for their top-notch annual ________ party. Write one such party.

Have a character from the family give your reader a “tour” of the family home.

Who got drunk at the last reunion? What ensued?

A character from the family is going through their favorite family photos. What are they? Why do they like them? What is the story behind them?

Imagine that this family has one huge family scandal in its history. What was it? How did people react when they found out?

A character has been hiding a secret for years, and their family finds out.

So, as promised, here’s my list of lesbian movies for all of our lovely followers and the people you want to share it with. I hope I haven’t forgotten any good ones, but if you feel like that is the case, feel free to add movies to the list! 

This is my gift for all of you, I hope you’ll like it ♥

/ Mod W

Tipping the Velvet 

based on the book by sarah waters (she has written many lesbian books!)

it’s a bbc adapatation

technically a mini series but i like to see it as three hours of lesbian content heaven

it’s about this girl who falls in love with an actress and she goes to see her at the theatre five billion times until the actress notices her (that’s just the first part, other things happen to the main so watch the rest for more lesbian content~)

the main character (nan astley/king) is like… my fave. i love her.

the book is very good too!!!

honestly i have so much love for this movie/book i get all giddy just thinking of it

Bound

lesbian gangster/mob movie do i need to say more???

the main actresses are cute af (one of them is a butch lesbian!)

it’s awesome and very cool

(gonna trigger warn for use of lesbophobic slurs used by some characters/some lesbophobic violence)

Below Her Mouth

meh plot with amazing sex scenes basically?

a lot of sex scenes

i mean it like half the movie is graphic sex so if ur uncomfortable with that you probably shouldn’t watch it lol

all female cast

willa from wynonna earp!

The Handmaiden

also based on a book by sarah waters (called Fingersmith, there’s a bbc adaptation of it too which you should totally check out as well)

good quality movie right there

(putting a trigger warning here for sexual and psychological abuse and abuse in general)

Kyss Mig

one of few good swedish movies

basically about two step-sisters who fall in love (they’re not actually related i promise)

But I’m a Cheerleader

baby natasha lyonne is in this one! also i have a crush on clea duvall in this movie lol

a very cute love story tbh

good aesthetic

you’ve probably heard of it before but idc cause it’s great

(it’s like a satire of conversion therapy so if that’s something you can’t watch i don’t recommend this movie for you in particular)

If These Walls Could Talk 2 

a bunch of famous actresses (like chloë sevigny, michelle williams, natasha lyonne, ellen degeneres, etc. etc.)

divided in three segments from three different periods in time

one segment is set during the feminist movement in the 70s and features chloë sevigny as a butch lesbian with a motorcycle do i even need to say more??

Anatomy of a Love Seen

this is about two actresses who were a couple when they shot a movie together and now they have to go back and re-shoot some love scenes but they’re not a couple anymore and it’s sad af

i have basically never seen this movie in any rec lists but it’s actually one of my faves and i cry so much to this movie tbh

Saving Face

this is a good one

also pretty funny tbh!

it’s about a doctor who falls in love with a dancer and the doctor’s relationship with her conservative mom

it’s kind of rom-comish

Lost and Delirious

warning: very sad like super sad?

it’s about a girl who goes to a boarding school and so happens to become roommates with a lesbian couple

teen angst squared and multiplied with gay panic

The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls In Love

you may have heard of this one but if you haven’t it’s time you watch it

that woman who plays tina on the l word is a butch-ish girl in this one

VERY CUTE and chill

every time i watch this it feels like this movie is the director’s BABY like it seems like she cares about this story so much and it makes the movie feel so genuine and lovely

i want every baby lesbian to watch this, please, it’s my gift to you.

D.E.B.S.

you may have heard of this one too but if you haven’t seen it yet it’s definitely worth a watch!

lesbian spies!

the heroine falls in love with the villain (that enemies to lovers trope tho!!)

Desert Hearts

old but good!

i feel like this movie is on most of these long rec lists but people probably don’t watch it cause it’s old but it is actually pretty good!

your classic “oops i thought i was straight but that woman is hot” story

Margarita With a Straw

indian girl figures out she’s bi when she goes to uni in new york and meets a lesbian girl

cute, funny, sad, it has everything tbh

The Hours (actually one of my all-time favorite movies/books!)

The Intervention

The Kids Are All Right

The Children’s Hour

Elena Undone

Fucking Åmål 

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

Vintage anime booby statues. That my mum bought for him cause she knows he hates it.

if you found out that your dad has 120k followers on tiktok what would it be for? what would your dad’s tiktok niche be

self-editing for fiction writers

Showing vs Telling

Do you have any narrative summary, or are you bouncing from scene to scene without pausing for breath?

Characterization & Exposition

What information do your readers need in order to understand your story? At what point in the story do they need to know it?

How are you getting this info across to your readers? Is it all at once through a writer-to-reader lecture?

If exposition comes out through dialogue, is it through dialogue your characters would actually speak even if your readers didn’t have to know the information? In other words, does the dialogue exist only to put the information across?

Point of View

Look at your descriptions. Can you tell how your viewpoint character feels about what you’re describing?

Proportion

Look at descriptions. Are the details you give the ones your viewpoint character would notice?

Reread your first fifty pages, paying attention to what you spend your time on. Are the characters you develop most fully important to the ending? Do you use the locations you develop in detail later in the story? Do any of the characters play a surprising role in the ending? Could readers guess this from the amount of time you spend on them?

Dialogue

Can you get rid of some of your speaker attributions entirely? Try replacing some with beats. 

How often have you paragrapher your dialogue?Try paragraphing a little more often. 

See How it Sounds

Read your dialogue aloud. At some point, read aloud every word you write.

Be on the lookout for places where you are tempted to change the wording. 

How well do your characters understand each other? Do they ever mislead on another? Any outright lies? 

Interior Monologue

First, how much interior monologue do you have? If you seem to have a lot, check to see whether some is actually dialogue description in disguise. Are you using interior monologue to show things that should be told?

Do you have thinker attributions you should get rid of (by  recasting into 3rd person, by setting the interior monologue off in its own paragraph or in italics, or by simply dropping the attribution)

Do your mechanics match your narrative distance?(Thinker attributions, italics, first person when your narrative is in third?)

Easy Beats

How many beats do you have? How often do you interrupt your dialogue?

What are your beats describing? Familiar every day actions, such as dialling a telephone or buying groceries? How often do you repeat a beat? Are your characters always looking out of windows or lighting cigarettes? 

Do your beats help illuminate your characters? Are they individual or general actions anyone might do under just about any circumstances?

Do your beats fit the rhythm of your dialogue? Read it aloud and find out

Breaking up is easy to do

Look for white space. How much is there? Do you have paragraphs that go on as much as a page in length? 

Do you have scenes with NO longer paragraphs? Remember what you’re after is the right balance. 

Have your characters made little speeches to one another? 

If you’re writing a novel, are all your scenes or chapters exactly the same length? -> brief scenes or chapters can give you more control over your story. They can add to your story’s tension. Longer chapters can give it a more leisurely feels. If scene or chapter length remains steady while the tension of the story varies considerably, your are passing up the chance to reinforce the tension. 

Once is usually enough

Reread your manuscript, keeping in mind what you are trying to do with each paragraph–what character point you’re trying to establish, what sort of mood you’re trying to create, what background you’re trying to suggest. In how many different ways are you accomplishing each of these ends?

If more than one way, try reading the passage without the weakest approach and see if it itsn’t more effective. 

How about on a chapter level? Do you have more than one chapter that accomplishes the same thing?

Is there a plot device or stylistic effect you are particularly pleased with? How often do you use it?

Keep on the lookout for unintentional word repeats. The more striking a word or phrase is, the more jarring it will be if repeated 

Sophistication 

How many -ing and as phrases do you write? The only ones that count are the ones that place a bit of action in a subordinate clause

How about -ly adverbs?

Do you have a lot of short sentences, both within your dialogue and within your description and narration? Try stringing some of them together with commas

Editing? Oh you mean fic patching.

Ball gown, France, ca. 1865. Kobe Fashion Museum

I'm so excited to read this! Do you want a queer, racially diverse, plus size friendly, and all around loving adaptation of Nancy Drew in comic form? Check it out! If you don't have a comic shop to hop to you can purchase this comic digitally from Amazon or Comixology!

Dynamite Entertainment has announced a new series, Nancy Drew, by Kelly Thompson and Jenn St-Onge. The teen sleuth’s latest daring adventure debuts in June, with cover variant artwork by the astonishing assemblage of Tula Lotay, Marguerite Sauvage, Annie Wu, and series artist Jenn St-Onge.

In the new series, Nancy Drew is seventeen and good at everything… especially solving crimes. But her totally-in-control-and-obviously-running-perfectly-smooth-(but-not-really) life hits a snag when a mysterious message drags her back to the hometown she left behind. There she’ll have to find out which of her friends are still her friends, which are enemies, and who exactly is trying to kill her…and (hopefully) stop them before they succeed. Nancy, the classic master teen mystery-cracker, will be shown in a way you’ve never seen before, by a creative team with a huge respect for the original tales, and what she could mean for a modern audience.

Kelly Thompson and Jenn St-Onge Plot New Adventures for Nancy Drew #comics Dynamite Entertainment has announced a new series, Nancy Drew, by Kelly Thompson and Jenn St-Onge…

I actually own the Hawkgirl statue in the background!

So I am replaying Mac’s route, and I looked around her room more and I noticed she had some figures and I looked a bit closer and thought I recognised one, so took a screenshot and zoomed in then compared it to what I thought it was. SHE HAS A GERALT FIGURE FROM THE WITCHER!!!!! The Witcher 3 is one of my favourite video games and I also love the books and comics. Knowing Mac is into comics and Geralt is known as The White Wolf, this really amused me. I wonder what artist sneaked that in and if they have been waiting to see if anyone notices. This is one reason why I love Lovestruck, their attention to detail is incredible.