Scribbled Fiction

We haven't done a list in a while! Let's do another, shall we? Seeing as how we seem to have the same three girl characters over and over again in stories anymore, let's look at some unique tropes that I don't see nearly enough. * Redheads, especially redheads that aren't Balls of Fire™ Girl characters who are tough but don't hate on children or girly things, it's just not their thing. They admire other girls who do such things, but it's just not for them. Ones who wear skirts?? Where are my girls who like wearing skirts? Girl heroes who wear glasses and find a way to work with the glasses in order to fight rather than just not wearing them(because bro you will be blind, plz save yourself) Girls who exist without any kind of trauma. I love angst, I really love angst, but it's nice sometimes just to see characters who are living life without trauma. The whole Broken Girl trope can be a little overdone. Girls who care, really care, about other people. ...

This is about to be your new favorite thing. I'm currently watching through Once Upon A Time with my sister, and I couldn't help but notice- Snow and Charming have a certain... something about the way they see everything. It's all 'love wins' and 'it'll be all right, I know it' and 'I believe in you'. It really grabbed my attention. I was about to label it as just standard character angst, but it wasn't. It was like angst, but... in the other direction, you know? I'm calling it light angst. As in, like angst but the other way. The opposite side of the spectrum. The other extreme, if you will. While regular angst, or 'dark angst' as we'll call it so we can tell them apart for the post, is a dedication to believing that everything is terrible, tragic, empty, you know the gist. Picture the opposite of that, and you have light angst. Unashamed, open dedication to the belief that everything is okay and will turn out for the better ...

Spare me your woodlands and your small villages. I got something better for you. Underwater Give me Little Mermaid aesthetic, give me people who have a city in a bubble on the bottom of the sea, give me trenches that are actually filled with the magic wielders that abandoned the world above, I'll take it all. In space Can we talk about how few and far between magic in space tropes are used? I get that people don't really want fantasy/sci-fi crossovers, but there is still so much potential aside from that! Ships(not spaceships, we're talking wood) that fly through the stars via fairy dust! Sirens in the center of black holes! Werewolves that have taken control of their situation by living on the moon and only going to the light side of it when they want to hunt! This can be done, people! The mountains There are ways to use the mountains that aren't your standard fantasy woodland settings. Give me a kingdom that only spans the mountain range and they have mortal enemies b...

It's been ages since I did a collab with anyone, right? I really need to work on that, come to think of it.🤔 ANYway! I collaborated with not one, not two, but FOUR other bloggers to create the ultimate list of bookwormish(sorry, book DRAGONish), gift ideas! If you're shopping for any book lover in your life, you came to the right place. Not gonna lie, if anyone wants to buy me anything on this list, it would not go unappreciated. Just sayin'. Let's see the list! 103 EPIC BOOKDRAGON GIFTS | Christmas Collab Apparel featuring text of classic books (Storiarts) The Story Peddler "Spikefruit" tea (Adagio) Custom candle from Book of the Wick (create for your favorite book!) More bookish gifts from Novelly Yours Winter-themed bookish goodies from The Bookish Box Classic book-themed candles from Wordsmith Candles Out of Time series inspired candles from Brandr Page Anchors Humorous bookish goodies ;) Custom Bookish Scarf | Storiarts Dragon Bookends The Book Lover...

Time to talk about another one of my favorite tropes! This time it's the Rabble King, another trope that may already have a name but I named anyway. For the record, I'm pretty sure I had a better name for this trope, but I forgot what it was, so we're going with the Rabble King. So who is the Rabble King? The Rabble King is a trope I've been noticing more in some of my favorite stories. In essence, he's a subgenre of the anti-villain trope. He's normally one from the underbelly of society, and he runs his own kind of kingdom. Some rabble kings own casinos, some run pubs, some just have a bunch of lackeys that do things for them, but they normally tend to be in charge of somebody. (Let me quickly clarify that while I'm using the word 'he' for this post, the Rabble King can also be a she.) Another strong trait of the Rabble King is his morality. The Rabble King doesn't care about sides. He'll just assist whoever can afford to pay him more. He a...

I got here to preview this post before I published it, only to discover that I had written the list and nothing else! No intro, no elaboration, no wrapup. I shake my head in my own self-disappointment. Ah well, here I am now, a little late but here anyway! I like it when characters have skills. Even if the skills aren't super important to the plot. I don't think they have to be important, so long as the character has them. It just provides a little extra intrigue and a little extra well-roundedness to the character. Not to mention, who knows if they'll be useful in the future! So here's a list of random skills your character can have. If you have any other ideas that I didn't include here, let me know what they are in the comments! Maybe I'll do a part 2. Random cool skills for characters: Wood carving Drawing Painting Oil Pastels Knot Tying Sailing Fencing Playing Spoons Beatboxing Street Drummer Knows random trivia Customizes clothes/Tailor Memorizes stuff eas...

I'm bad at naming chapters. The worst, actually. I used to write out the whole chapter without naming it, then go back through, agonizing over what to use as the title name. All the titles I could think of were either over-the-top or just lame. It was a pain for so long before I finally started paying attention to the chapter titles in other books and realized that a traditional chapter title was not required. I really have no idea if this is a common issue with other writers, for all I know everyone else can name chapters with less effort than it takes to blink. But if it's hard for you like it's hard for me, keep reading. This one's for you. ;) Idea #1: Don't name them! Just use numbers. You don't always need a title, and frankly, readers put very little pressure on you to title them in the first place. You can skip the name and just give the chapter a number. And there are many ways to number, too! You can use just plain numbers(20,21,22) or write them out(Tw...

I haven't done a list post in a while, and this isn't exactly a list post, not like  A List of Quirks To Give Your Character  or  Subtle Details You Can Add To Your Character's Look , but I think all of these things need a little more attention and a little more representation in stories. So without further ado, let's go! Platonic relationships I can't stress this enough. People can be friends. Just friends. They don't have to get romantically involved. People can care about one another and be willing to die for one another and hug each other and not fall in love. Some friendships be strong like that. Parents and siblings that are involved in the conflict Pretty sure right now the only stories that let parents or siblings get involved in the main story are contemporary stories. Y'know, realistic fiction and stuff. Why can't the parents get involved in other genres? Horror, fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, all of those? Families should be involved mor...

I'm just going to include the hot take right here up front: I think the protector character has fallen out of style because our society has become extremely focused on the self. Social media and just modern-day society, in general, has us constantly questioning ourselves: Who am I , who do I want to be, how can I become everything I want to be? And I think because of this, all our characters end up with that same mindset. They wonder who they are, and how they can become everything they want to be. Thus, characters like the Protector are no longer written because a lot of people no longer wonder instead about how they can help and protect others. But it's not too late to fix that. ;) So who is the protector character? I don't know about you, but when I think of a protector character my mind automatically goes to the gentle giants. Like Fezzik from The Princess Bride . Characters who are big and strong, but are so sweet and care so much about their friends that ...

Those of you who have read Gail Carson Levin's book 'Writing Magic' will remember Gail's character questionnaire, and specifically, two unconventional questions on it. 1) Describe his/her room 2) Items in his/her pockets, backpack, or purse Most questionnaires don't have questions like these, and that's what made them stand out to me as a young writer. Why would one need to know either one of these things to understand the character, you may ask? Because they help us figure out what kind of person your character is, all based on what things they keep around them. Why it's important For example, the state of your character's room says something about their personality. If their room is messy, that tells us that their state of mind might be messy, or that they're currently too busy or distracted to clean, or that they're bad with responsibilities such as cleaning. And we could take it a step further from there. The room is messy, bu...

So I'm really in love with magic systems. Not just the basic ones where hocus pocus you cast a spell and that's it. Those have no consequences, no rules, no structure.  No, no, no, my dear spellcasters, I am here for the really unique and complex magic systems, and when I find a good one I will literally seek out my sister and start ranting about it immediately. For a very long time. Hehe. Sorry Rachel. But really can we please talk about how gorgeous  some magic systems are??? I seriously love when someone puts in the time and the effort think  about their magic: what it is, how it works, and what can make it shine. *chef kiss* I love it. So today we talk about the greatest unique magic systems in books and film. Matthew Swift (Urban Sorcery) Oh mah word. I cannot stop talking about how awesome this series is. Because it is awesome!! One of the primary reasons I love it is the amazing magic system . The magic in these books has such intense urban fanta...

Here's something I've noticed from years of writing and reading: One small and perfect detail can help you envision a character's whole appearance. If a character's appearance feels bland, or if you feel like you just can't 'see' them in your mind's eye, adding something as simple as a nose shape or a necklace can suddenly bring it all together. That one detail establishes the basic gist of your character's appearance to the reader, and their mind will then take over and fill in all kinds of fun little details from there. It's incredible! And it only takes one small extra step on your part. Here's an example of this technique in action. We start off with a very simple description. He was tall and blond, in jeans and a t-shirt. Not so interesting, not so memorable. He could use some help. Add a small and unique detail. He was tall and blond, in jeans and a band t-shirt, with a diamond earring in his right  ear. And there it is!...