@eid_yara

Some ship dynamics:

• *six months into cuddling and calling each other "babe"* wait... Are we in love???

• an incarnation of evil and an incarnation of the person meant to slay them fall in love before either of them learns of the fate that awaits them

• a person stuck in a timeloop and their partner who unbeknownst to them is also stuck in the timeloop and had to watch them die thousands of times

• "we used to date the same person but honestly I like you way better than I ever liked them"

• "I need to do this alone" "not if I can help it"

• big & grumpy one becomes affectionate and needy when in love and the small sunshine one LOVES to indulge them

• graveyard keeper x necromancer (bonus points if they're bitter exes)

• vampire eager to learn about the current state of the world after long slumber x divorced librarian in their 40s

• old gods who treat planets and their inhabitants as pawns on a board, about to settle a millenia-old argument (bonus points if the argument turns out to be about something really stupid)

• "I want to study you" "get in my guts then" "what" "what"

No matter what anyone tries to say otherwise, Jayce and Mel truly loved each other. The love was there and that is an undeniable fact.

i don't buck how long DOES it take to shoot a scene

The most important pitstop

I'm reading again about the early days of the 1948 Nakba, and I'm just... at loss for words (cw: rape, child murder)

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, by Ilan Pappé (2006, p. 90)

And, continuing on p. 91:

Her name is Kira Obedinskaya. 

She’s 12 years old and she’s from Mariupol. 

Her mom died when Kira was an infant. Her dad, Yevhen, died during the r*ussian shelling of the city on March 17. Kira was wounded while trying to leave the city and (with people she was together) forcefully deported to Donetsk - on the territory occupied by r*ussia. 

It’s kidnapping. 

It’s mass deportation. 

It’s happening right now and I want to scream about that at the top of my lungs.

Kira has a grandfather, Oleksandr, who wants to take her home, but he’s unable to do so. Mostly because r*ssians are unwilling to negotiate. And, probably, because they sincerely enjoy torturing people.

The only thing I can do is scream about her. About her and about all the broken lives. And maybe, just maybe, if we scream loud enough we’ll be heard.

So please, scream about Kira too.

Elements of real science I'd love to see in more fictional magic systems

Categories are defined by people, not by nature, and way looser around the edges than everyone thinks. "We like to divide spell-casting into rituals, runic magic, instantaneous spells, and curses or blessings, but the 'curse or blessing' category has more to do with how long a spell LASTS than how it's SET, and the line between ritual and inscribed runes gets really blurry in places..."

Models of 'how this works' that get taught to little kids which are fully debunked later as 'over-simplified and actually totally inaccurate, but a good way to learn, this is better', only to be replaced two years of study after that because, 'actually that was also a lie for the sake of learning, learn this one instead'. "Yes, we teach kids that planes stack in layers and sometimes holes form between them, and I know last year we covered the Humperdink Theory Of Planar Interweaving where those so-called holes are areas of enmeshment with the fibers of multiple planes at once, but today we're finally going to talk about the Planar Mosaic Model."

Frenzies of curiosity each time something unexpected happens, as wizards try to figure out, if this is a divergence from the pattern they THOUGHT they knew, then what is the bigger pattern? IE, "We've seen the Power of Friendship be insufficient to slaying this balrog for years! Why were these particular adventurers finally able to do it now?"

Basically, magic not as an objective force of the universe, but a hodgepodge thing humans made up to try and talk about and interface with the truth of the actual universe.

"Yes, we've been studying the lore and secrets of the universe for a thousand years. Things still just happen sometimes! That's why it's magic!"

A Guide to Writing: Making New Cultures

Cultures, like anything, take time to build. They are what define a people and what make their customs. It’s complicated and integrated into their society. It changes as the people change but the fundamentals often remain unchanged even centuries and millennia into the future.

When creating new worlds, if it’s not set in the world that we know, then the people, while being similar, will be different. What they hold as value will be different. That’s where new cultures come in. countries will be define by something and way out of the way towns will have things that are connected to them. Making new cultures can be a messy process, and I am by no way an expert, but there are at least five things that define a culture and should be present and known.

Customs

Customs are a traditional ways of doing something specify to a set of people or place. If you can’t think of any, think of some traditions that are from where you’re from. For example, in America and many other countries, it’s traditional to put up a tree for the winter holidays. 

If the story you’re writing centers around a new culture, then the customs of its people is something that should come into play, even it’s something small. Maybe it’s someone coming of age. Maybe it’s someone passing away. Whatever the case, customs are a personal thing that people share. Be sure to not overlook them.

Arts

Art is a way people share their thoughts that are hard to convey. A way to pass on knowledge and to capture the emotions. Perhaps they capture their history in tapestries and artisans make paintings for a living.

Not only that, body art is an important part of many cultures. Maybe tattoos mean something at a certain age or it’s something like a brand. Perhaps they’re just decorative and meant to look flashy.

Social Institution

A social institution is a group of people who are together for a common purpose such as economy and government. These institutions are a part of the social order of society and they govern behavior and expectations of individuals.

For example, a charities and other nonprofit organizations fall under this category. In this culture you’re writing about, how do they feel about such organizations? Are the promoted? Frowned upon? Not only that, but this includes the education system, cultural groups, how families are defined, health care, market values, politics, and religions.

Each of these things may not hold equal value, or perhaps they all have the same weight. Are the church (in this instance used only to refer to religion) and state separate or together? Is the market, trading goods and services, more important than anything else? What’s the health of the people like and what methods do they use for healing?

Achievements

Achievements, in this case, are defined as things the people have done to better and further themselves. What are some of the things these people have done since they became a people? Was something medical? Was it something that benefited not only them, but the people around the as well?

However, the achievements don’t always have to grand. It could be something small like finding an easier way to make paint or a way to make their weapons. Achievements are things that are well earned and come from something small like inconvenience or big like a fight.

And not all that glitters is gold. An achievement can benefit the majority, but what about everyone else? Is it useful to everyone? Does it need to be? More importantly, what was the reason? It doesn’t always need to be known in detail, but things happen for a reason. As the writer, you, are the very least, need to know.

Behavior Characteristic

We all know that there are somethings that are frowned upon in modern culture. Things like people with breasts going around topless or anyone walking pants-less through the streets. There are certain things people just don’t do because of the consequences and the culture.

What are some of the things that are okay for people to do? What are things that are harmless yet frowned upon? There are things that are widely accepted and if these normal things are challenged then it should be explain if it’s not something carried over from a real culture.

If there are things that are carried over from real cultures, then that’s a tricky ground to walk on if you don’t know anything. Research and asking are an important part of this process if you want to do this. Carrying over form real cultures is fine as long as it’s not a bastardization of it.

Of course, like I said in the beginning of this, I’m not an expert. I don’t really know everything there is to know but this is what I’ve realized when making new cultures myself.

See ya, kiddos