The Skellingcorner

[The Skellingcorner]

[downtroddendeity]

So, just for fun, while I was doing my annual Night Watch reread, I decided to map out the barricades over the course of the story.

These are just the big ones and the ones that are explicitly mentioned. Most of the fighting happened on Heroes Street, somewhere in the vicinity of the big red arrow, but the map doesn’t show enough to guess if the barricades are at the edge of the page or a little farther out. The People’s Republic definitely extends a good ways farther down, too; they’ve got contingents on both gates that they control. The red on the bridges it where Vimes had traps laid down to stop people coming across, and the dotted ones are where I’d assume there have to be pretty major barricades, but Vimes also ordered most of the little alleyways blocked with carts.

Dunno if this is interesting to anyone else, but hey.

[The Skellingcorner]

Color Synonyms

[damselwrites]

White

also: pale; blanched; sallow; pallid; waxen; spectral; translucent; albino; 

Grey

also: dust; stone; pepper;  

Black

also:  coal; slate; dusky; ebon; shadow; murky; 

Tan

also: flesh; khaki; cream; tawny; 

Brown

also:  henna; russet; sepia; chestnut; cocoa; drab; bronze; 

Red

also: terracotta ; rouge; carmine;  fire-engine; ruddy

Orange

also:  pumpkin ; rust ; 

Yellow

also: sunny; amber; saffron; hay; straw; platinum; 

Green

also: viridescent; grass; jade; forest; 

Blue

also: turquoise; cyan; ultramarine; royal; aqua; aquamarine;

Purple

also: berry;  amaranthine;

Pink

also: flushed; candy; cherry blossom; petal pink ; 

—– source: http://ingridsundberg.com/

—–additional synonyms added by me

[amphyria]

COLOORRRRRRRRRR

[missgoal]

I don’t even care if this shit is cannon, I just love the rainbow bitchslap I just received.

[decorxtiveocean]

//Omg! I found it!!!

[humunanunga]

See also: these three pages

[asterias-confused-writings]

I NEEDED THIS!!!
Reblogging this to help others who might need this!

[The Skellingcorner]

writerswrite.co.za

Spotting The 6 Big Shifts Digital Brings To Publishing - Writers Write

In a crowded, noisy, and often fractured market, to stand out and make a name as an author, take heed of these six big shifts digital brings to publishing.

[amandaonwriting]

The Market Did What?

As fiction becomes more and more digital, writers have a wider scope for new platforms on which to publish – from Amazon imprints to Smashwords and everything in between.

The World Wide Web has, in fact, become our deliciously smoked digital publishing oyster.

Or has it?

With independent authors and smaller imprints and presses giving traditional publishing houses a solid run for their money, there is far more diversity and opportunity in the market.

For hungry new authors, this means that publishing your novel electronically is an affordable way to enter the market.

But, there’s a flip side. Competition. A lot more competition. And clutter. Lots of clutter.

You’ll be fighting for your voice. You won’t have the marketing megaphone of the bigger publishers to amplify your voice.

How to breakout?

In a crowded, noisy, and often fractured market, to stand out and make a name as an author, you may want to take heed of these six big shifts digital brings to independent and self-publishing.

[The Skellingcorner]

[freshbrewedlife]

Scott Kranz | @scott_kranz

[The Skellingcorner]

Historical Story Prompts

[onetruepairingideas]

• Saw you needed help getting out of your carriage
• You accidentally flung your dancing shoe across the ballroom and hit me in the back…or was it an accident?
• Let me help you get your bonnet unstuck out of that tree
• Scandalous ankles and/or unbound hair
• You were signaling someone else with your fan to meet in the gardens and I thought you were looking at me…well this is awkward
• Don’t mind me dumping water on you milord but your wig had caught fire, I think you got too close to the candles
• really why does this party need 5-hour candles, can I hang out with you all my friends are already drunk and there are four more hours left
• You caught me without gloves! I’m practically naked!
• Sorry wrong sedan chair

[The Skellingcorner]

[The Skellingcorner]

[rdjlock]

HE IS A PRINCESS!!! 

[The Skellingcorner]

[positive-memes]

wholesome streamer thinks his microphone is muted, wishes his cat goodnight

[thecheshirecass]

Now THIS is a heated gaming moment.

[The Skellingcorner]

[pigeonbooks]

More often than not I’ll crack into a sprawling fantasy series and, while I appreciate the luscious descriptions of furniture, landscapes, and clothing, all I’m focused on is that I don’t actually know how this world works. I only know what it looks like.  

Including some functionality to your universe can add to immersion and give your reader a strong foundation on which to build their mental model of your universe. 

You certainly don’t need to use all of these questions! In fact, I recommend against that, as all of these certainly won’t make it into your final draft. I personally find that starting my worldbuilding off with 5 to 10 functional questions helps pave the way for glittery and elaborate aesthetic development later on.

• How is the healthcare funded in your world?
• How does healthcare functionally differ between the wealthy and the poor? (i.e. can only the wealthy go to hospitals? do poor families often have to rely on back-alley procedures?)
• Where are health centers (i.e. hospitals, small clinics, etc.) organized in your cities?
• Does it differ in smaller towns?
• How does this affect people’s ability to get healthcare?
• Is healthcare magical, and if it is, how does that affect the healthcare system? 
  
• If healing is instantaneous, how does that affect people’s views on injury, illness, and chronic ailments?
• If you have both magical and physical healthcare, which one is deemed superior and how does that affect society? 
  
• What illnesses are common in your world? 
• How does this affect daily life? 
• What do the people in your world think illnesses are? 
• Is it a miasma theory? 
• Humor theory? 
• Demons? 
• Do they know about biological viruses and bacteria? 
• How does this affect healthcare?

• How do people get water? 
  
• Is the water sanitary and if not, how do they sanitize it?
• How does agriculture work? 
• Is it large corporations or individual farms?
• What sort of agricultural technology exists in your world and how does it affect food production?
• Are farmers wealthy or poor?
  
• What sort of natural resources does your world/country(ies) have and how are they obtained?
• How does this affect the average wealth of the country?
• How does this wealth affect the culture? 
• What livestock or beasts of burden are most valued? Least valued? Why?
• What is considered a luxury good vs. a regular good?

• What forms of transportation does your world have?
• What classes use what forms of transportation?
• How far has the average citizen traveled, given your transportation limitations?
• Which cities are the most accessible and which are the least? Why?
  
• How do popular transportation methods change how cities/towns are laid out?
• Does your world have public transportation? What is it?
• Is there a coming-of-age aspect to travel?
  
• Describe your world’s postal system or whatever equivalent there is. 
• Who pays for it? 
• How reliable is it? 
• Are there emergency methods for transporting information?

• How does your world keep time (i.e. watches, sundials, water clock, etc.)?
  
• Does your world have a currency system, barter system, or something else? 
• If you have multiple countries, do different currencies have different values across said countries?
• How does this affect travel?
• Do you have banks in your world and if so, how are they run?
• Who owns the banks? Government? Wealthy? How does this affect the economy and/or class system?
• How does credit operate in your universe?
  
• Does your world operate more on big corporations or small business? Something in between?
  
• How are workers/labourers treated in your world? 
• Are there workers unions and if so, what are common views on unions? 
• Describe your tax system. If you don’t have a tax system, explain why and how your world is affected by that. 
• Can certain social classes not own property, certain livestock, certain businesses, etc.? Why?
• How are business records kept? Are business records kept?
  
• If your world has technology, does your world prioritize developing entertainment tech, communications tech, transportation tech or something else entirely?
  
• What does this say about your world?
• How does this affect your economy?

• To the closest approximation, what type of government does your world have? 
• How are rulers/presidents/nobles put in place? 
• How much power does an individual ruler have? 
• Is there a veto process? 
• If you have multiple countries, do they have different types of rulers?
  
• Describe any large-scale alliances (i.e. countries, factions, etc.) that are present in your world. 
• How did they come about and how are they maintained? 
• Are they strained or peaceful? 
• How does it affect the greater politics of your world?
• Describe how wars are fought both internationally and nationally. 
• Do methods of war differ between countries/races? 
• What about philosophies about war?
• If there is a military, what is its hierarchy structure?
  
• How does the military recruit?
• Is the military looked upon favourably in your society?
• What weapons are used by each country/type of people during warfare, and how does that affect war strategies?
  
• Describe the sentencing system of your world. 
• Is your accused innocent until proven guilty, or guilty until proven innocent?
• How are lawbreakers punished? 
• If you have prisons, describe how they are organized and run, and who owns them. 
• Does differing ownership change how the prisons operate?
• What are the major ways in which laws between countries vary? 
• Do laws between cities vary? If so, how and why?
• How does citizenship work in your world? What rights and privileges do citizens have that others do not? 
• Can certain classes or races not become citizens?
• Are there certain taboo subjects or opinions that artist/authors/musicians are not allowed to depict (i.e. portraying the official religion in a negative light, explicit sexual material, etc.)? What does this say about your society?
• How do people get around these censorship laws?
• What is the official hierarchy of duty in your world? (i.e. is family the most important, or patriotism? What about clan?)
• How many languages are there in your world, and how many languages share a common origin? 
• How many people are multilingual? 
• Which language is the most common?
• How is multilingualism viewed?
• How are different languages viewed? (i.e. is one language ugly/barbaric while another is romantic and sensual?)

Feel free to add your own questions in reblogs or in comments!

[The Skellingcorner]

[myjetpack]

for @newscientist

[neil-gaiman]

I can go from field to bog in 5 seconds.