The Skellingcorner

1.5M ratings
277k ratings

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
schnapsliebe matevodka

da-fehlt-liebe-in-dir asked:

Egal wie neu du bist, Manuel ist Neuer.

kulturbanausen-deactivated20151 answered:

Egal wie unordentlich du bist, Lionel ist Messi.

hi-strangerxoxo

Egal wie Fisch du bist, Helene ist Fischer

kulturbanausen

Egal wie hart du trainierst, Pál Dárdai trainiert Hertha.

lebensmagie

Egal wie albern du bist, mein Nachbar ist Albaner.

gefuehlschaosxx

Egal wie dicht du bist, Goethe war Dichter.

kulturbanausen

Egal wie Jungfrau du bist, Arielle war Meerjungfrau.

soclose-butso-faraway

Egal was du kochst, Karl Marx

kulturbanausen

Egal wie du bist, Thomas ist Anders.

luftnot

Egal wie gut es dir geht, Bill Gates besser.

polaroid-schnappschuss

Egal wie leer du bist, es gibt Menschen die sind Lehrer.

kulturbanausen

Egal wie klug du bist, Jonny ist ein Depp.

narziss-t

egal wie bieb du bist, Justin ist bieber.

fackeltraeger-des-olymp

Egal wie jung deine Freunde sind, Jesus’ Freunde waren jünger.

schnapsliebe

Egal wie gut du schläfst, Albert schläft wie Einstein

ivyblossom
Forget about kicking ass. That’s not the metric you need to worry about. The only ass that your female character need to kick is the ass of the story — that’s the power you want to give them. The power of agency. They can be sexy and sexual without...

Forget about kicking ass.

That’s not the metric you need to worry about.

The only ass that your female character need to kick is the ass of the story — that’s the power you want to give them. The power of agency. They can be sexy and sexual without being sexualized or objectified. They can kick ass or not kick ass or have Power or Not Have Powers as long as you elevate them above mere action figures (“Look how poseable she is when she does her sexy high-kicks!”) They can be vulnerable or flawed or unlikeable as long as you treat them like real people, not like video game characters or a list of abilities or dolls or lamps or The Reason That Dude Does The Thing He’s Meant To Do. They’re not proxies, they’re not mannequins, they’re not mirrors, they’re not Walking Talking FleshLights, they’re not princesses in towers waiting to be saved, they’re not emotionless ass-kicking chicks who still don’t kick as much ass as the hero. I’d even argue that calling them “female characters” has its problems because it sounds clinical, distant, a characteristic, a check box, a footnote.

Think of them as women or as girls.

Think of them as people.

– Chuck Wendig

strong female characters writing
its-a-writer-thing clevergirlhelps

Only Child: Stereotypes & Things to Avoid

crazy-write

Hey, I’m back with some more writing tips. And this time? We are going to delve into the strange and sometimes alluring world of only children. In fiction, an only child—usually some type of secondary character—has a set of characteristics that defines them, and their personality is dictated by that one trait.

There are a lot of stereotypes out there. A lot. It’s hard to find a good, well-rounded character that is an only child. The majority of the time, they are flat, static characters that don’t have much personality aside from the usual only-child traits. Those kinds of characters make me want to rip my hair out.

Some things to avoid:

  • The spoiled brat: This one is based on truth, at least somewhat. Only children are very good at twisting the arms of their parents. When you’re young, you have a tantrum when you don’t get what you want. That usually fades as you get older, and the arm-twisting gets a bit more subtle. A very bad example of the “spoiled brat” trope is Veruca Salt, the bad nut from Willy Wonka. Her obnoxious “I want it now!” is synonymous with only children.
  • The antisocial loner: I personally hate this trope. Yeah, sometimes only children get the short end of the stick when it comes to friends. I would say that I got the short end, but that doesn’t mean that I despise people. In fact, most only children want to have friends to make up for the lack of siblings. And even if our interpersonal skills are slightly stunted, that doesn’t mean we won’t try to meet new people.
  • The bossy pushover: People tend to think that only children have a certain my-way-or-the-highway attitude. If they don’t get their way, then the whole gasket blows. A good example would be the infamous Dudley Dursley from Harry Potter. He pushes his weight around to become a menace to Harry and no doubt others. Just because we don’t have siblings doesn’t mean we’re savages.
  • The clingy dependent: No siblings = clingy! According to society, only children don’t want to socialize and happy to stay with their parents. This, my friends, is complete and utter bullshit. Let me repeat that—bull shit. Most only children are really independent, because there is a huge age gap between them and their parents. And, sure, we rely on our parents as if they were our siblings. But that does not mean that we are constantly hiding behind their legs.

There are also things that people seem to forget.

  • We know how to manipulate people: I know it sounds nasty, but its the truth. We can twist your arm (discretely or indiscreetly) to make it go our way. But don’t let this discourage you if some of your friends are only children. We only do it if we only have to or want something we really desire.
  • We are oddly independent: This goes against the clingy trope. If your parents aren’t home very often, there’s going to be a lot of time spent alone. This could be used in plot points for shit to go down.
  • Punishments are not as severe: I’m not sure if this applies to everybody, but some parents don’t discipline their children as hard as they would if they had multiple children. Grounding may not be as severe and sometimes it might end earlier than planned. This can be used as a plot device if the story needs it.
  • Don’t complain to me about your siblings: This is something that personally gets under my skin. A friend might be complaining about a sibling’s antics and I’ll nod along and agree on some points. But don’t expect me to understand why you’re so upset. The words siblings, brother, and sister don’t exactly bring emotional connections. For example, an only child may be asked what the first word that comes to mind when someone says brother, sister, etc. Some might reply with a wish; others might just shake their heads because literally nothing comes to mind.
  • There’s usually a reason why: If humans are capable of producing more than one offspring, why do only children exist? Well, there are a shit-ton of reasons why. Many parents aren’t too keen on explaining to a four-year-old why they don’t have siblings, so the big reveals are usually saved for when the child is older after years and years and years of pressing. Hell, I didn’t know why until I was 16!
  • We can share: Even though we don’t have to share our things with siblings, sharing is something we learn too. And yeah, sometimes only children can be selfish. We’re trained to get what we want. It can be a bit of hindrance but it’s something that can easily suppressed with a bit of swallowing pride. But as a word of advice, selfishness is a vice that is practically unbreakable and there will be times where only children will look like spoiled, self-centered brats. You’ve just to take it in stride because it is something ingrained in our personalities.

 There’s a lot that I’m probably missing, but this just a quick overview. Only children have a lot of potential as characters and a lot can be explored with their sometimes complex personalities. 

Don’t be like J.K. Rowling.

Just … don’t.

Source: crazy-write
only child character resources character development cliches writing tips
its-a-writer-thing nimblesnotebook-blog

r0rschach asked:

Do you have any tips on how to write a character that is the type of person willing to stand up/fight against the prejudiced comments of other characters? (Like you, for example) but in a way that doesn't make it just preaching and doesn't come across as the writer just obnoxiously shoving their beliefs into their book (because I'll probably agree with what that character says)? I've read how it's poor writing and obvious when a writer flat out preaches in their novel

fixyourwritinghabits answered:

We’ve mentioned several times that when your character does something wrong (bigoted, harmful, insulting, etc), it’s necessary to show that it’s wrong, either by having them confronted on it or in narrative. What we haven’t mentioned very often, though, is how to do that without being preachy or obvious about it. There are plenty of instances where the author skirts the edges of preachy and sometimes loses. I’ve read highly praised books with positions I agree with that still come off that way. Here’s some advice that will hopefully help:

Do:

  • Show consequences. A character being racist is going to hurt someone whether or not they’re aware of it. A man murdered by an anti-hero is going to leave behind someone grieving, even if they’re working for ‘the bad guy.’ Behavior has consequences. Don’t be afraid to show them, either to the character or the reader. A character who does something bad and has no consequence shown is when the reader assumes the writer agrees with what their character did. Don’t let that pass you by.
  • Keep it real. You don’t have to make up an over the top, horrible event. Both history and the evening news is full of horrible things that happen because of horrible people and beliefs. Draw from reality, not sensationalized problem of the week TV-ified versions of problems. Those exist for cheap entertainment, not to provoke thought. Don’t overload the drama because you think it will sell; small events have just as much of an impact as large ones. (Note: I don’t mean you can’t use other methods of exploring them, like magical realism or interpretations. But don’t rack up the unbelievability of something just to make it a soapbox issue.)
  • Use the right characters. I’ve been having a lot of conversations lately about sci-fi stories of privileged people playing at being oppressed. While this was and still is used to try to show oppressive situations in a different light, it tends to completely overshadow real oppressive situations that people living now would still face. Reversing discrimination of gay people to straight people in fiction, for example, shows jackshit - at the end of the day, gay people are still going to face challenges straight people won’t. Use characters who would face prejudice in these situations. A black person will face discrimination in sci-fi as they would real life - show that, not the ‘aliens racist against a group of mostly white people’ (or the other way around). Showing a disabled person fighting stereotypes is more real than giving a non-disabled person a “disability” to get people to relate. Fuck that shit.

Don’t:

  • Create strawmen. There are people out there with bigoted, horrible, hateful beliefs. That’s not the same as a strawman character, which would be a character created only to prove your point or belief with by saying or holding positions a real person would not do or have. Representing your ‘bad guys’ as strawman figures is one way to undermine your goal. Again, base yourself in reality, don’t wrap yourself up in things designed solely to make your point - however well-intentioned that point is - to look good.
  • Randomly punishing characters. A character was homophobic. Quick, have something bad happen to her! That’ll prove homophobia is wrong, right? Well, not really. What about the people who didn’t confront the character about her homophobia? How is something randomly bad happening to a person taking a stand against the bad thing she did? The goal should not be ‘be racist, get hit by a bus’ (it works for comedy and little else), but ‘do a bad thing, show how that thing is bad, have consequence for that bad thing being done.’ This could mean the racist character loses friends, the ableist coworker gets confronted by the boss, the homophobic baker loses business over not wanting to make a cake for a lesbian couple. Or it could mean they go unpunished, but the other characters have to face the results- the friends of racist character are no longer trusted by their POC colleagues, the disabled character has to choose between work and a safe environment, the lesbian couple goes home and cries. This is what people have to face daily, in real life. They’ll have to face it in fiction as well.
  • Make your ‘villains’ two-dimensional. The villain kicked a puppy for no reason! He called someone a racist word, again for no reason! For real, these things happen and they are done by people, but making your character ‘evil’ with no effort to make sure they are fully developed is worthless. Evil is not a demon from hell wanting to destroy the world ‘because,’ evil is a horrible human being who could murder people without regret because of religion/race/sexuality/etc and in the same breath say they love their family and mean it. Stripping humanity from characters who do evil things takes away meaning. Anyone can be against Satan. How much more real is it to deal with confronting the uncle who takes your character out on fishing trips about his racism?
  • Sacrifice story and tension for soapboxing. There’s a reason why people dislike this in fiction, no matter how much they agree with it or how right it is. Here’s the thing, your story is still a story, and it’s important that it works as a story. You may have a goal or an ideal, and a good one, but your story must still have to function as a story. A three-page speech about how something is wrong in the middle of a firefight is not going to work. It may take awhile to smooth them together, but it will be worth it.

It’s not easy to avoid being preachy, especially if you care deeply about an issue. You need to take extra care if it’s not an issue you personally face, as it’s much easier to fuck those up. But it is worth it to do it right, and to do it well. Good luck, and don’t be afraid to ask others for feedback and help.

Source: fixyourwritinghabits
characters dialogue writing tips character development
spaceshipoftheseus mazarinedrake

Basic overlooked worldbuilding questions

the-right-writing

Whether you are writing a futuristic dystopia or a cloud city of dragons, you need to figure out how people get basic supplies. These are often the most overlooked worldbuilding questions since it’s more fun to think about how cultures honor the dead or where the mountain ranges are, but answers are necessary to create a complete world.

-Where does the water come from and how is it distributed?

-Who makes the food?

-Who transports and distributes the food?

-If your world has modern utilities, are they widespread or only for the rich? For that matter, do utilities have to be modified to work in your world (for example, electric lines with anti-magic coating)?

-What happens to trash?

-What happens to sewage? 

-What building materials are available?

-What do people do when they get sick?

-What do people do in the case of a natural disaster?

-What do people do in the case of a fire?

-How are large objects moved?

-How are items that take skilled labor to make created and distributed?

Remember, the answers might be different for people at different economic levels.

spaceshipoftheseus

It’s interesting to think about *how many* of these questions were answered by a lot of ancient cities by ‘we’re settling on/next to this big river.’ Water, sewage, trash, easy boat transportation to ship in food from the surrounding well-irrigated countryside….

Source: the-right-writing
Resources
equalityingames
polygon.com

Writing Characters, Not Symptoms: A Gamer with Autism Discusses What Our Hobby Gets Wrong

Today’s post is from a gamer with autism who takes a look at four different games and addresses the positive and negative aspects of their various representations.

In my experience, many people with autism gravitate toward gaming, and many people reading this are bound to be somewhere on the spectrum, but I’ve never been comfortable talking about having autism. I’ve always been too self-conscious to discuss this aspect of myself, but April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day; it’s important to discuss why autism hasn’t had the best time in games up to now.

These portrayals have also impacted me as a person with autism; representation absolutely does have an effect and should be examined more closely.

I racked my brain to think of games featuring autistic characters that have stood out to me, and four came to mind. All of these characters are different kinds of people with autism, and some of them can be interpreted as positive representations. They also bring to light the tropes and stereotypes surrounding the condition that made me so worried about people finding out I have autism.

The article is full of eye-opening information that challenges many misconceptions about autism. I certainly learned a great deal by reading it, and I’d encourage everyone to examine it through the lens of their own assumptions about autism.

Representation