The Skellingcorner

neil-gaiman

A Letter from “Crawly” to Azirapil

mostlydeadlanguages

This remarkable letter of unknown provenance surfaced recently in the cuneiform collection of the University of West Wessex. Addressed to Azirapil from a Mr. “Crawly,” it appears to be begging for the other’s return to Ur from a western journey with another individual, Abiraham. The relationship between the two (brothers? business partners? friends?) is unknown, and all three names are quite unusual. The letter also mentions a Mr. Ea-naṣir in Ur; if this is the same Ea-naṣir as the merchant mentioned in UET V 22, 29, 71, and 81, then the original letter would be dated to the Larsa period, around 1800 BCE. However, this particular copy appears to be a scribal exercise; the writing is relatively unskilled, and the cuneiform is Neo-Assyrian in form. It is unclear whether the text is based on a historical letter, or if its unusual names and content were invented for scribal practice.

Text:

Tell Azirapil [1]:

Thus says “Crawly” [2]:

When will your time in the West be finished? Abiraham [3] seems very dirty, and I am weary [4] in Ur. [There is] a talented mirsu-maker [5] on Wide Street!

Watch out, for I have acquired a new friend. His name is Ea-Naṣir [6], and I may play wickedly with him if you do not return.

Come quickly!

Keep reading

neil-gaiman

So many people have sent this to me.

I wish that Terry was still alive to see the amazing things that people are creating inspired by what we made so long ago.

Source: mostlydeadlanguages

sweetlittlevampire

chief0keefe

please pray for franklin, there’s nothing wrong with him he just sounds like chewbacca and got a snaggletooth

Source: chief0keefe

writerswritecompany

word-nerds-united

Places 666 shows up

word-nerds-united

11:06am

11:06 is 666 minutes after midnight. This does not take in account for daylight savings.

January 27th; 6pm

27 day and 18 hours after a start date would equal 666 hours. January 27th and 6 pm is 666 hours into a new year.

October 28th (27th on a leap year)

666 days is about 1.8 years, and the calendar puts the 666th day from January first of 201X to October 28th of 201X(+1 year)

crazywritingbooklover

Op, how do you know this?

OP HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS? O.O

thatsthat24

tittled

rickatchu

elodieunderglass

oh NO

justtrustmeokay

Source: tittled

writerswritecompany

Source: writerswrite.co.za

misseowyns

t-high-la420

the switch from ‘a girl worth fighting for’ to coming upon the decimated village in mulan is THE MOST kick-in-the-teeth mood change IN ALL OF CINEMA

furikomaru

That scene shift did more for our generation’s understanding of the horror of war in ten seconds than Game of Thrones did in eight seasons, and it did it without showing us a single dead body.

genresavvygentleman

OKAY BUT HOLD ON THOUGH.

I’ve spent the past… five? Let’s say five - the past five years analyzing the structure of Disney Musicals as part of the process to write my own/a parody of them, and the thing is that all the modern ones have roughly the same number of songs - except Mulan.

Mulan has about half, because after AGWFF ends with that unresolved final phrase, there are no more songs until the end credits, which isn’t even sung in-universe.

Mulan wasn’t even the REALM of fucking around - when they arrive at that village, when the true horrors of war are brought into the story, not only does it interrupt THAT song, it breaks the entire fucking mold - the movie’s damn genre changes; it is no longer a musical.

And the Huns represent this from the start - Jafar and Hades are notable for not having proper villain songs, but Jafar does get his Prince Ali refrain and Hades and his plan get sung ABOUT by the muses. No scene with the Huns has any singing, they are mentioned once in song (the second line of Man, natch), and they of all Disney Villains are probably the most serious - no jokes, no witty asides, no sassy delivery of dry humor. The Huns are an invading army who plan to straight up kill a fuckton of people, including children, and AGWFF’s sudden end is the moment when our happy go lucky MUSICAL protagonists finally come in contact with them and their work directly - and it breaks them. Because shit like the Huns cannot exist in happy go lucky musical world. They just exist in our world. The real world. And you can’t sing your problems away here.

The end of A Girl Worth Fighting For is a brilliant use of metanarrative sensibilities to convey a message. It is utterly perfect.

truelight8

Daaaamn, Tony. That’s fucking deep, my guy

genresavvygentleman

I didn’t spend two years and thousands of dollars on a Master’s Degree in literature to NOT over analyze every text I engage with.

word-nerds-united

falyros

A thought that arises from the idea of tiefling babies often ending up being abandoned: A rich tiefling adventurer retiring and starting up a tiefling orphanage that takes care of rejected tiefling babies and children.

obsoletesystem

A thought that arises from the idea of a tiefling orphanage: the rich tiefling adventurer regretting his initiative of filling a mansion with dozens of little devils that all can cast Thaumaturgy. At will.

falyros

Oh Boy. :’D

Personally I headcanon that tiefling magic starts to manifest around puberty, but if that wasn’t the case, they’d just have to suck it up and tiefling baby-proof the hell out of the place. B) Have no vases and stuff that might fall over and break during tremors. Have sturdy furniture. Lock doors and windows. Avoid having open flames around. Shove cotton or something into your ears.

Oh yeah, and some of the babies might in that case be able to cast friends, minor illusion, ray of frost, or mage hand. Could result in chaos…

obsoletesystem

My next one shot is definitely going to be “A party of tiefling babies escape from the orphanage (to go to the candy shop)”

falyros

battlecrazed-axe-mage

Oh my fuck. I legit NEED to play (or run?) that one-shot now

Source: falyros

word-nerds-united

Anonymous asked:

any advice for coming up with a name for a big setting (like a city, town, or country)?

writingquestionsanswered answered:

I’ve got a whole post about it, and I’ve actually been wanting to update it. So here goes!

Guide: Naming Locations

1) Genre/Theme/Tone

It’s important to consider the genre, theme, and tone of your story when choosing a town name. Notice how the following place names reflect the genre or theme of the story:King’s Landing (sounds fantastical, from Game of Thrones)Cloud City (sounds futuristic, from Star Wars)Silent Hill (sounds scary, from a horror game)Sweet Valley (sounds happy and upbeat, from a YA series)Bikini Bottom (sounds funny, from Spongebob Squarepants)Radiator Springs (sounds car-related, from Disney’s Cars)Halloween Town (sounds spooky, from The Nightmare Before Christmas)Storybrooke (sounds fairytale-related, from Once Upon a Time)

2) Time/Place

It’s also important to consider when and where your story takes place. For example, “Vista Gulch” wouldn’t be a good name for a town in Victorian England because “vista” is a Spanish word commonly found where Spanish is (or was) a common language. And “gulch” is specific to the American Southwest, though it can occasionally be found in other places in North America. If you’re not sure what would be appropriate for your story, look for similar places in similar time periods. For example, if you’re writing a medieval fantasy set in a fictional world but modeled strongly after medieval France, look at maps of medieval France to see what kinds of names the towns, cities, and other places had.

3) Size/Settlement Type (Settlement Hierarchy)

When you’re naming any kind of settlement, it’s important to have some idea of the population/size, as this can sometimes influence naming conventions. These may differ slightly in different time periods/parts of the world, but this is a good general guide:

Homestead - a single dwelling or cluster of dwellings, typically occupied by one family or several related families. In modern times, often referred to as a “compound.” (Example: Fraser’s Ridge in Outlander, at least initially when it’s the cabin and just a few surrounding families.)

Hamlet - a very small community, typically with 100 people or fewer, and little in the services/amenities outside of possibly a church and a post office. When a hamlet has a small train station, they’re often called a “whistle-stop.” (Examples: Blackwater, Missouri. Whitwell-on-the-Hill, England)

Village - a small community of 1,000 people or fewer, likely to have a church or a few, a post office, a market, and possibly a few businesses. (Examples: Highbury in Jane Austen’s Emma. Hogsmeade in Harry Potter)

Town - a larger community of people, typically with the standard services/businesses, as well as schools and parks, often clustered around a town square/downtown/main street area. (Small town: 1,000 - 5,000, Town: 5,000 - 10,000, Large Town: 10,000 to 100,000) Larger towns may have shopping centers, malls, movie theaters, entertainment venues, etc. (Example: Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls)

City - a sprawling community with a robust center and a wide variety of businesses and services. Ranging in size from 100,000 (small) to just under one-million (huge.) Larger cities often include suburbs and towns. (Examples: Waco, Texas. Miami, Florida. Manchester, England. Okayama, Japan)

Metropolis - a very large city and its suburbs, of between one-million and three-million people, typically made up of several smaller cities and towns that have expanded into one another. (Examples: San Diego, California. Birmingham, England. Chicago, Illinois)

Conurbation - a group of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that have expanded into one another to create an enormous, polycentric urban area, with anywhere from three-million to ten-million people. (Examples: Los Angeles, California. London, England. New York, New York. Tokyo, Japan)

Megalopolis - a group of conurbations clustered together, with a total population of more than ten-million. (Examples: Sao Paulo, Brazil (12 million), Moscow, Russia (13 million), Beijing, China (18 million), Shanghai, China (24 million)

4) Geography

Words like gulch, butte,and bayou tend to be regional terms. You probably wouldn’t find Berle’s Bayou in Idaho, or Windy Butte in Rhode Island.Words like mount, cape, and valley are dependent upon terrain. Most of the time, you won’t have a town named “mount” something unless there are hills or mountains nearby. You wouldn’t use “cape” unless the town was on a cape, which requires a large body of water.

5) History

Is there a historical person or event that your town might be named after? The Simpsons’ hometown of Springfield is ironically named after its founder, Jebediah Springfield. Chattanooga, Tennessee is named after the Cherokee town that was there first. Nargothrond, in The Lord of the Rings, is an Elvish town with an Elvish name.

6) Combination of Words

person name + geographical term = Smithfield, Smith Creek
group name + geographical term = Pioneer Valley, Settlers’ Ridge
descriptive word + geographical term = Mystic Falls, Smoky Hill
person name + settlement type = Smithton, Claraville
landmark + settlement type = Bridgton, Beaconville

Word Lists:

Types of Settlements

Geographical Features

Place Words

Common Suffixes

Other Descriptors

And remember, if all else fails, you can look to real areas/places for inspiration. Often they can help you figure out a believable naming convention for a particular type of area. :)