The Skellingcorner

[The Skellingcorner]

[writersblockbuster]

The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources aims to document all given names recorded in European sources written between 600 and 1600.

[skyeventide]

I know of the Medieval Names Archive, which contains a really wide number of other links, directing to various lists of names from many regions of Europe and the rest of the world. There are essays, lists, documents, it’s extremely well-researched as far as I know.

Another really huge list of names is the Lucifer’s Onomastikon. It has names for all the continents and a number of countries for each continent, you can pick the age (it can be Medieval, but also â€œancient”, or others) and the geographic source. There are less sources, but it looks accurate.

[writersblockbuster]

Admin note: Thank you very much for adding these links, skyeventide.

[The Skellingcorner]

Ridiculous Sentence Prompts

[toxixpumpkin]

• “Who wouldn’t be angry you ate all of my cereal and faked your death for three years!”
• “I’m going to need you to put on some underwear before you say anything else.“ 
• “Quick catch that cat it stole my wallet!”
• “Fuck I feel like I got hit by a car… Wait I did? And it was your car?”
• “The skirt is short on purpose.”
• “I can’t believe I’m sitting in space jail with you of all people.”
• “So why did I have to punch that guy?”
• “I may have accidentally sort of adopted five cats.”
• “I hope you know that my name is actually ________.”
• “Please stop petting the test subjects. ”
• “That is the tenth demon summoning this week holy shit.”
• “Please put me down it’s just a sprained ankle" 
• "So what if I broke my arm I’m still doing it.”
• “Why exactly do you need chloroform at 2AM?”
• “I’m like 75% this won’t explode on us.”
• “You need to stop leaving dead bodies in my kitchen.”
• “I understand the whole sleep talking thing but what I don’t understand is the princess dragon dream and why I’m in it.”
• “I’m sorry that I got way too into playing house and accidentally kissed you passionately.”

[The Skellingcorner]

45 Things I Want to See More of in Stories (Supernatural/Paranormal Edition)

[elumish]

1. Main characters who aren’t reporters, detectives, or free-lancers
   
2. Non-Western supernatural creatures
   
3. Non-dragon supernatural creatures
   
4. Supernatural creatures fitting the culture they’re related to (phoenixes in a Greek neighborhood, kumiho in Koreatown, Dhegdheer in a Somali neighborhood)
   
5. Local mythologies
   
6. Urban legends
   
7. Organizations within supernatural hunting (hierarchies, safehouses, information networks)
   
8. Cooperation with the government
   
9. Immortal characters who act immortal
   
10. Immortal characters who have different moral standards
    
11. Supernatural characters who have different moral standards
    
12. Supernatural characters who have different types of gender
    
13. Supernatural characters who have different types of sexuality
    
14. Supernatural societies totally different from human societies
    
15. Supernatural children
    
16. Supernatural families
    
17. Main characters not ending up in romantic relationships with supernatural creatures
    
18. Non-hypersexual vampires
    
19. Aftermath of reveals of supernatural creatures to the world
    
20. Hybrids
    
21. Hybrids who are neither despised nor uber-powerful
    
22. People who are genuinely afraid of what’s going on
    
23. Non-loner main characters
    
24. Main characters without tragic backstories
    
25. Genuine non-romantic/non-sexual friendships between humans and supernatural creatures
    
26. Cooperation between different types of creatures
    
27. Inter-creature wars
    
28. Non-humanoid creatures
    
29. Stories set not in the United States
    
30. Main characters with no training
    
31. Supernatural creatures who have casual non-romantic sexual relationships
    
32. Without those relationships being demeaning or cheap
    
33. Queer supernatural creatures
    
34. Who aren’t queer-coded to be bad or hypersexual
    
35. Rural or suburban settings
    
36. Laws getting in the way of action
    
37. Ethical quandaries about the humanity (or not) of supernatural creatures
    
38. Supernatural supremacy
    
39. Different races within supernatural species (different types of vampires, of pixies, of phoenixes, etc.)
    
40. Schools for supernatural creatures
    
41. Integrated human/non-supernatural schools
    
42. Speciesism against supernatural creatures
    
43. Genuinely nice supernatural creatures
    
44. Powerful supernatural creatures who aren’t super manipulative or evil
    
45. Dragons (because we can always use more dragons)
    

[The Skellingcorner]

[punkparatroopers]

ok but 21st century vampires 

• they go out twenty minutes after sundown and set their phone alarms for half an hour before sunrise so they can cinderella it out of the club
• instead of sleeping in coffins all day they marathon shows on netflix or blog or do makeup tutorials on youtube 
• and ok, so many more job opportunities like
• web design or extra cash from accounts on etsy or whatever
• creatives who can make a profit from their work by selling it online
• airplanes staffed by a coven who only ever take flights which take off and land in the dark, the pilot switching off to his co-pilot just before daybreak
• every undesirable night shift in diners and gas stations and transport
• night time road work crews
• they bulk buy coconut water because its similar enough to blood plasma that they can cut back on real blood
• transferring their raw wealth into real estate investments and inheriting the properties from themselves every few decades
• tech savvy vamps who make a career out of helping others forge identities and stay off the grid without encumbering their real world interactions
• using the internet to get in touch with others when you first turn
• international covens keeping in touch via social media outlets
• intra-covens activities organized via facebook events  
• treaties sorted over skype calls

[The Skellingcorner]

[nimblesnotebook]

aka a list of things I want to read, some of which I can’t be bothered to write because I have too many projects already

disclaimer because i know someone is going to complain: this is my personal wishlist that i’m sharing to help inspire some story ideas so if something you want is absent from this list then make your own damn list and remind yourself that i am not a robot servant who caters to your every want

1. An accurate portrayal of a banshee
   
2. Gay and bi male characters who have strong friendships and emotional connections with other men without being attracted to them/in love with them (half of this is dependent on how fans (especially female fans) interpret the relationship)
3. Medieval fantasy inspired by the Gaels, i.e. the actual Gaels, not the crap you see in the “Celtic” tag on tumblr
4. Slavic-inspired medieval fantasy
5. Related to #3, I’d like to see tanistry in medieval fantasy because I’m sick of primogeniture-based conflicts
6. Something with ancient Carthage
7. A hunter-gatherer population with ascribed status, i.e. people are born into different social classes (this is uncommon for nomadic, foraging populations)
8. More detailed world building, e.g. people choosing the more expensive yet less functional/weaker material to build their house because it reflects that they have money, or gardens in a dry/desert environment being a sign of status and wealth
9. Masculine gay male characters who don’t [insert super-feminine thing here] in one scene so that the writer can introduce some comic relief/prove to the audience that he really is gay 
10. Straight male characters who are feminine
11. Lgbt+ characters who are apathetic about being lgbt+
12. Gay/bi male characters who don’t have any love interests/romantic subplots
13. Welsh-based names in a fantasy that are actually Welsh-based and not just English names or keyboard smashes with excess Ys and DDs and Ws and Fs.
14. A male witch in a contemporary setting who isn’t dark and mysterious and who doesn’t have to be feminine to believably engage in something typically associated with women
15. True gray morality. I want to be fighting myself over which side I agree with. Every side should have really good and really bad reasons for doing what they’re going. They should have both positive and negative consequences if they reach their goal. All sides should have characters we love and characters we hate. No character should be wholly or mostly “good” or “evil”. All of their reasons, their goals, their actions, and their consequences should differ and should have both negative and positive effects.
16. I want the “chosen one” to lose. Badly. I want them to get their ass kicked and I don’t want them to have a comeback.
17. A fight to the death where the reader desperately wants both characters to live. And none of this “oh, we found a way for both of them to live!” crap. I want someone dead.
18. I need some antagonists that I actually hate. Like Umbridge. Or Delilah (Dishonored). Or Joffrey.
19. Overweight male characters WHO AREN’T SUPER TALL.
20. I want the Hagrids and the McGonagalls and the Mr and Mrs Weasleys of the world to betray the protagonist. Give me that character who is obviously trustworthy and rip my heart out.
21. I need fantasy worlds to give actual names to places. “The Great Sea” and “The Dark Forest” and “The Central River” and “West Plains” and “Southwestia” are crap names. I know that there are some places in our world that are actually called stuff like this, but when you’re writing fantasy you have every chance in the world to come up with something better.
22. Why is everyone always late to something at the start of a story? Stop being late. Wake up earlier. If your little brother is holding you back then say “sucks for you” and go on without him.
23. Your grandfather’s sword is rusty and dull and the pommel fell off. Just let it die. Just get a new sword. A better sword.
24. I want a protagonist who has already left home. They’re not on an adventure yet or anything. They’re just “in between” places right now. Or maybe they just like to always be on the move. Or maybe they’re a hunter and only have temporary homes.
25. Dwarves without beards and elves without pointy ears.
26. I want the protagonist to upgrade as they get better at whatever it is they do. Sure, there’s sentimental value in The First Sword or The First Horse, but there are better things out there. Longer-lasting things. Play some video games and take a damn hint.
27. Good, detailed world building. I want the world to feel real yet unfamiliar.
28. Worlds that exist with little context. They just are. They’re just magical, nonsensical places that still seem to make sense by themselves.
29. Put the magic back in fantasy. I want rare magical plants with glowing sap within the stem that hardens and shatters into a few precious gems. I want these gems to have a 10% chance of granting a small wish before turning into a rainbow diamond and a 90% chance of exploding into a pinch of orange dust that, once you’ve gathered enough, can be used in a healing cream.
30. Happy sci-fi.
31. Fat characters who aren’t dumb/evil/killed off immediately/portrayed as pathetic losers.
32. I want things to change within the story. I don’t want them to be magically resurrected.restored because the author can’t seem to let go.
33. YA that takes place during a long school break, like summer break or winter break, so that nothing takes place during school.
34. Flip the trend: male characters use stealth/non-violence to settle conflicts, women use violence.

[The Skellingcorner]

Reblog this if you think writing is an art

[maxeytheviolin]

I literally had to reblog this twice in a row

[nerosaerothorn]

It takes creativity. It is the act of putting something on paper, that when others see it, a unique picture is drawn in their mind. All guided by the author. I definitely call that an art.

[meridalocksley]

Wait, there are poeple who don’t think writing is a form of art??

Originally posted by yourreactiongifs

[lala-kate]

The post was practically perfect in every way, and then somebody went and added Julie Andrews, thus shooting it into the realm of utter and absolute perfection.

[reivolutionary-penguin]

@leonawriter

[leonawriter]

And it isn’t just as simple as ‘putting an image into text form’. You can look at an image and just tell a person what’s there - ‘Susan looked at the fluffy dog’, it just tells you what’s happening. And sometimes that’s all that’s needed.

But art is turning that into something that can make people feel, that they know what Susan is like emotionally when she sees this dog - if she loves it or if she’s afraid of dogs - and it tells you what kind of dog, and how soft the fur is, and the feeling of safety or danger Susan gets when she looks at said dog.

It’s choosing the right words, because you’ve used that word already a few times in the past paragraphs, so something else would work better. It’s knowing when to use ‘(Name) did this’ again and when to describe the action in another way, not because it’s the second time you’ve used it, but because it’s easy to see by skimming the page, and the ‘image’ of the words on the page makes it obvious.

It’s knowing when to break apart the paragraphs so that people who are put off by a wall of text aren’t scared by it, and feel that it’s surmountable to read. It’s dividing things so that there’s a flow, as well. It’s making it so that you can see a person’s thoughts, how quickly they come and how detailed they are, how calm or panicked or emotional, just by looking at a page.

It’s knowing the way a character thinks, and getting inside their head, so well that you can get other people inside their head, so that other people can feel the same way as this character that they may even have never heard of before.

Writing, no matter what kind it is, makes people think. It makes people look at themselves, and think ‘is this something I’d do? What would I do in this situation? It makes people feel. It makes you go through things with these characters that you will never be able to go through in real life.

A writer chooses words in the same way that an artist chooses their paintbrushes.

[The Skellingcorner]

World Building June prompts 2016

[worldbuildingjune]

1. Introduction
   
2. Geography
   
3. People & Races
   
4. Cultures
   
5. History
   
6. Civilization & Architecture
   
7. Economy
   
8. Hierarchy, Power, & Governance
   
9. Religion & Cosmology
   
10. Language
    
11. Fauna
    
12. Flora
    
13. Food
    
14. Technology
    
15. Magic
    
16. Fashion
    
17. Arms
    
18. Armor
    
19. War
    
20. Fun
    
21. Work
    
22. The Sky
    
23. The Frontier
    
24. The Backpack
    
25. Art
    
26. Transportation
    
27. Major Figures & Important Players
    
28. Communication
    
29. Weather
    
30. Disasters
    

[The Skellingcorner]

52 short stories in 52 weeks

[ourwritingtherapy]

1. A story entitled “A New Beginning”.

2. A story about rising to a challenge.

3. A retelling of a fairytale.

4. A story about three siblings.

5. A story set in London.

6.  A story about finding something that has been lost.

7. A story about a journey.

8. A story set during a war.

9. A creepy story.

10. A story featuring a countdown.

11. A story set at a full moon.

12. A story about a contest or competition.

13. A story that takes place entirely inside a vehicle. 

14. A story from a villain’s perspective.

15. A story set at a concert or festival.

16. A story that begins with a gunshot.

17. A story set in a country you’ve never been to.

18. A story about a historical figure.

19. A story set in a theatre.

20. A story written in 2nd person narrative.

21. A story set on another planet.

22. A story written from the perspective of someone dead/undead

23. A story about a birthday.

24. A story that ends on a cliffhanger.

25. A story set at the summer solstice.

26. A story about nostalgia.

27. A story that features a song or poem.

28. A story that ends at sunrise.

29. A story opening with the words “F*** you!”

30. A story about a magical object.

31. A story set at sea.

32. A story about a curse.

33. A story set 100 years in the future.

34. A story about loneliness.

35. A story that features a real recent newspaper article.

36. A story written from an animal’s perspective.

37. A story about a scientific discovery.

38. A story set on another planet.

39. A story with only one character.

40. A story about a secret.

41. A romance that ends in tragedy.

42. A tragedy that ends in romance.

43. A retelling of a recent Hollywood movie.

44. A story that takes place the year you were born.

45. A story about a near-death experience.

46. A story about anger.

47. A story about a magic spell.

48. A story set in a strange small town.

49. A story about justice being done.

50. A creation myth.

51. A story set at Christmas.

52. A story entitled “The End”.

[The Skellingcorner]

Writing

My new blog is up and running (well, more like crawling at the moment, but hooray anyway !) *throws imaginary confetti*

[The Skellingcorner]