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World Building Master List

Now that we’re finished with the World Building Blog Series, I’ve assembled a master list of all the post for your convenience

Language

Technology

Taboos

Marriages and Relationships

Legalities

Geography and Weather - The Basics

Geography and Weather - Plot Relevance

Transportation and Travel

Architecture

City Planning

Medicine - The Basics

Medicine - Sex and Reproduction

Medicine - Mental Health and Disability

Magic - The Basics

Magic - Healing

Magic - Combat

Magic - Animals and Shapeshifters

Clothing

Food

Entertainment

Jobs and Education

Military and Law Enforcement

Crime

War

Religion - The Basics

Religion - Holidays and Sacred Sites

Religion - Worship

Children

Races and Species

History

Flora and Fauna

Government

~ MORE THAN FRIENDS ~ FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS PROMPTS

requested by: anonymous

Feel free to use and reblog!

secret eye contact when others are around

having a long history of being best friends

having certain things that trigger the romantic side of their relationship

being 'just' friendly most of the time until it culminates into a steamy romance session every so often

*heavily breathing* "But we're just friends, right?"

not telling their other friends because they don't want destroy the harmony of their friend group

staying behind purposefully to have one-on-one time with the other

"Do you think they can tell?" "No. Why would they? We're being totally normal." (bonus: they're not being normal at all)

making promises about their friendship but not about their romance

"Of course, I'll be there for you forever!" "As a friend?" "Yes, as a friend."

struggling to explain their relationship to others

"No! We're NOT dating!"

feeling like only the other understands every aspect of them

avoiding to think about the future

valuing their friendship too high to risk it for a serious relationship

"Do you ever wish for something else?" "No, it's perfect."

never having been on a date together but knowing each other inside out

"I love you. As a friend!"

^^ in response: *mockingly* "Yeah. Or are you falling for me?"

being scared to make the next move because everything is fine the way it is

just a small inconvenience

kavetham | mild blood/injury, comfort (since today is his birthday)

Alhaitham is coming back from assisting Aether with a mission when he notices the cut on his palm, the moment he reaches for the door and feels a sting. He hadn’t paid note to it when the fighting distracted his attention, but now back in the peaceful silence of his house the wound was a throbbing annoyance.

He sighs; he pinpoints in his mind when he had lost grip of his sword and the enemy had slashed at them, and must have landed a hit on him. All in all, it was alright, as the mission had been completed successfully and without major issues otherwise.

He takes a clean rag from the cabinet and ties it over his hand, albeit with some difficulty; it would heal in a few days’ time and he had more important things to attend to, extra Akademiya work he had brought home to finish.

He had barely begun to, before Kaveh arrives home and comes to distract him. 

“What are you working -" Kaveh stops as he notices the rag tied on his junior’s palm immediately. “Haitham, what happened to you?!”

Kaveh holds out his own hand expectantly, and Alhaitham sighs, he should have known his senior wouldn’t miss it, depositing his wounded hand into the blonde’s. 

“It’s nothing but a minor inconvenience. I…” 

“Haitham, shut it. You’re hurt.” 

The rag had soaked through, Alhaitham just now realizes the cause of Kaveh’s concern.

Kaveh is already retrieving the first aid kit and unties the makeshift wrapping, and soaks a cloth in wound disinfectant. 

“I don’t nee -" Alhaitham is cut off when Kaveh presses the cloth to his hand and  it stings, quite a bit. He hisses in pain and jerks his hand back on instinct but Kaveh has a firm grip on his wrist.

His senior’s eyes soften a little at that and Kaveh strokes circles into the backside of his hand. “Shh, it’s ok. I’m almost done.” 

A soft white bandage is wrapped around his hand; Kaveh’s pressing gently into his palm until the bleeding slows. It throbs with the pressure and Alhaitham winces, it was a deeper wound than he had thought.

Kaveh notices his junior’s arm is trembling, and he brings his spare hand to finger through Alhaitham’s ashen, waved fringes as a distraction. 

Alhaitham opens his eyes that he had not realized were squeezed shut. He’s inches away from his senior’s face, and in the sunlight, Kaveh is so beautiful as always, and handsome as ever since their Akademiya days, and he finds he wanted to have him closer. He swallows. 

Kaveh, finally satisfied with how the bleeding is mostly under control now, ties a finishing touch on the bandage, a neat bow. 

“There, let me check on it later too…you never take care of yourself…” 

He looks up and Alhaitham is as pretty as ever, teal and cinnamon eyes open and trusting only for him, the sunlight casts a glow on him and he swears he’s never felt quite this way about anyone before. And since when were his lashes so long?

Kaveh cups Alhaitham’s cheeks in his hands affectionately, and kisses those plush lips gently. He’s soft and warm, and he lets out a surprised gasp before he relaxes into Kaveh’s touch and wraps his arms around the back of his senior’s neck.

Alhaitham accidentally uses his injured hand and hisses at the sting. 

“Haitham, careful!” Kaveh grasps his wrist, and tenderly kisses Alhaitham’s forehead. 

Alhaitham feels a warmth in his heart. His work could wait.

song of the summer (via muco_0 on tiktok)

She's so perfect she just goes right back to doing her thing

you guys ever think about how trigger turned one singular panel of chilchuck and laios walking and talking into chilchuck implicitly trusting laios while also being cute as hell at him

i think about it sometimes

Writing Deaf Characters | Speech is Speech

Before I get going, I’m 75% deaf, as some of you know, semi-reliant on hearing aids and lip reading. My first languages were Makaton sign and then BSL. I now use spoken English.

There are a lot of issues I find with how deaf people are represented in books, when represented at all. I would love to see more deaf and hard of hearing characters in the books I read- without having to read books specifically about deaf/HoH people- but when I find them, they’re grossly undercharacterized or stereotyped. Authors write them in a way that sets signing language characters apart from speaking characters as if they are inferior, and this makes my blood boil.

Some technicalties

I’ll keep this brief.

You may have heard that “deaf” is a slur and you should use “hearing impaired”. Don’t. I’ve never met a deaf or hard of hearing person who believed that. Use deaf for people who are deaf, and Hard of Hearing (HoH) for people who lack hearing. These can be interchangeable depending on the person. This is why sensitivity readers are a useful part of the beta process.

Sign language is incredibly varied. It developes in the same way as spoken language. Fun fact: in BSL there are at least half a dozen ways to say bullshit, my favourite of which is laying your arms across one another with one hand making a bull’s head sign and the other hand going flat, like a cowpat. It’s beautifully crude, and the face makes the exclamation mark. Wonderful.

There are different sign languages. Knowing more than one would make a character multi or bi-lingual, even if they are non-speaking.

Makaton is basic sign language used by children, and it mirrors the very simple language used by toddlers.

Yes, we swear and talk shit about people around us in sign language sometimes, and no, it isn’t disrespectful to have signing characters do this. Just remember that we also say nice things, and random things, and talk about fandoms and TV shows and what we’re having for dinner, too.

Each signed language is different from another. ASL and BSL? Nothing alike. Just google the two different signs for horse.

Remember that sign language is a language, equal to the spoken word

Therefore, treat it as such. Use quotation speech marks and dialogue tags. You only need to explicitly state that this character uses signed language once, and then let your modifiers and description do the rest.  It isn’t a form of “sub-speech" or “making hand actions”- sign language is a language all on its own: it has its own grammar rules, syntactical structures, punctuation, patterns, idioms and colloquialisms. For example, “what is your name?” becomes “Your name what?” with the facial expression forming punctuation in the same way that spoken English uses alterations of prosodic tone (inflections). There is even pidgin sign; a language phenomenon usually associated with spoken language.

In the same way that you would describe a spoken-English character’s tone of voice, you would describe a signed-English speaker’s facial expressions and the way that they sign- keeping in mind that these things are our language’s equivalent of verbal inflection.

So please, none of that use of “special speech marks” or italicised speech for sign. If your viewpoint character doesn’t understand signed speech, then you take the same approach that would be used for any other language they don’t understand, like French or Thai. E.g “He said something in rapid sign language, face wrinkling in obvious disgust.” is a good way of conveying this. The proof that you’ve done this well is in whether or not you can switch “sign language” for French or something else, and it would read the same.

Don’t be afraid to describe how things are said, either. Sign language is such a beautiful and expressive way of talking, and to see a writer do it justice would be truly fabulous. Putting this into practise:

“Oh, I love maths!” She said, fingers sharp and wide with sarcasm. She raised her eyebrows.

“I’m sorry.” He replied and made his face small, but could not keep the grin forming. She was starting to laugh, too.

This is part one of two, for the sake of readability and keeping the information simple as I can. Part two- writing the deaf characters themselves- is coming up over the weekend. See you then and best luck with your writing until that point :D

This is part of my weekly advice theme. Each week I look at what you’ve asked me to help with, and write a post or series of posts for it. Next week: settings and character development (including heroes, anti-heroes, villains, and every other kind of character).