World Building Master List

Conversation Prompt

“How long has your mother been counting me as one of her children?”

“About… How old are we? Almost fourteen years now, I think. Hold on, I’ll check.”

“But, we only met thirteen years ago. How could she…? Why would she?”

“She loved you like her real child within the first month of meeting you, which, yeah, it’ll be fourteen years in two weeks, she wants to organise a party to celebrate.”

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ANIME DELINQUENTS RAP | "New Age Yakuza" | Breeton Boi ft. Ham Sandwich, Diggz Da Prophecy & More

It wouldn’t be historically accurate for my story to include BIPOC!

This is an argument often made about European-style fantasy media like Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, and Disney’s Frozen. Audiences, often white, assume that due to the majority-white setting, adding any visible number of BIPOC to the story would be unrealistic.

What these critics fail to realize is that BIPOC do in fact live, and have lived, in these settings, and records of BIPOC presence in places assumed to be majority-white have been buried, written out, or not taught due to white supremacist and/or colonial bias in the field of history. There are historical European settings that were far more diverse than is often portrayed. Consider:

The Moorish Empire exerted an extensive influence over life and culture in Southern Europe from Spain from 711 to 1492

The Ottomans were heavily involved in European affairs up until the treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, but still considered a part of Europe even through the 19th century

The sheer size of the Roman Empire ensured the continued movement of people from various backgrounds within the Mediterranean well until the end of the Byzantine Empire.

“Historical accuracy” should not be used as an excuse for media to be exclusively white in its casting. While there are places which are or were predominantly white, there will always be factors like global trade and immigration that bring multiculturalism to their doors.

And even if the presence of a certain demographic is unrealistic for a certain setting? Consider that we’ve accepted far worse inaccuracies in historical fiction in the name of artistic license. Consider that our understanding of human history is, and will always be, incomplete.

Further Reading:

Historically Diverse London, “Historical Accuracy,” and Creator Accountability

Making a Black Pride and Prejudice Resonate

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This Q&A is an excerpt from our General FAQ for Newcomers, which can be found in our new Masterpost of rules and FAQs. If you're new to Writing With Color and/or want more writing resources, check it out!

-Writing With Color

my favorite romance trope is like. you dont want to hurt me but i am asking you to hurt me. i need you to stab me. i need you to carve this out of me. i need you to cut something off of me. this will hurt both of us in incredible ways. yours are the only hands i trust enough to weild this knife. you do not want to hurt me. i am asking you to hurt me.

I’ve never been great at drawing super realistic art, and I think it’s because it never really held my interest. I just love stylized characters which is why I’ve been drawing them obsessively for over 20 years! Because of that, I’ve got a lot of ideas about how you can approach stylized anatomy - here’s a snippet of a longer video I made on this topic ✨

You can watch the full video here!

Tactical retreat

Writing Prompt #2427

"You need to stop pushing yourself like this."

"Then we need someone else to do the work I do."

[ID: A video recording of Bisan Owda, filming herself standing still and speaking in front of a car underneath the morning sky in Gaza, with the sun visible above her head. Loud sirens can be heard around her as she says:

"Hey, everyone. This is Bisan from Gaza. We're still alive, and we wish you a merry Christmas in the Christmas eve. Wish you a merry Christmas despite the churches of Gaza are closed, full of displaced people, and surrounded with snipers. We wish you a merry Christmas despite the children, women, men, Christians and Muslims of Gaza are murdered and under genocide. We wish you a merry Christmas despite that we cannot exchange gifts or spend our holidays in our homes because they are completely destroyed, and merry Christmas despite there are hundreds of killed, decomposed bodies in the the north of Gaza Strip in the streets, at least 137 them are field executed by the Israeli soldiers in front of their children. Merry Christmas, but pray for Gaza."

End ID.]

Please think about why these videos are coming out in English. In your tongue, so that you can understand them. Don't ignore them or get tired of seeing them or call them guilt-trippy. Don't stop talking about Palestine. Make Palestine impossible to ignore. Even at the cost of "disrupting" your celebrations.