The BookLong One

georgianadesign: Carolina Herrera Baez’s home in Madrid. Elle...

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:01:15 +0000

Carolina Herrera Baez’s home in Madrid. Elle Decor.

Photo

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:01:26 +0000

Obscure Color Words

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:18:25 +0000

albicant: whitish; becoming white
amaranthine: immortal; undying; deep purple-red colour
aubergine: eggplant; a dark purple colour
azure: light or sky blue; the heraldic colour blue
celadon: pale green; pale green glazed pottery
cerulean: sky-blue; dark blue; sea-green
chartreuse: yellow-green colour
cinnabar: red crystalline mercuric sulfide pigment; deep red or scarlet colour
citrine: dark greenish-yellow
eburnean: of or like ivory; ivory-coloured
erythraean: reddish colour
flavescent: yellowish or turning yellow
greige: of a grey-beige colour
haematic: blood coloured
heliotrope: purplish hue; purplish-flowered plant; ancient sundial; signalling mirror
hoary: pale silver-grey colour; grey with age
isabelline: greyish yellow
jacinthe: orange colour
kermes: brilliant red colour; a red dye derived from insects
lovat: grey-green; blue-green
madder: red dye made from brazil wood; a reddish or red-orange colour
mauve: light bluish purple
mazarine: rich blue or reddish-blue colour
russet: reddish brown
sable: black; dark; of a black colour in heraldry
saffron: orange-yellow
sarcoline: flesh-coloured
smaragdine: emerald green
tilleul: pale yellowish-green
titian: red-gold, reddish brown
vermilion: bright red
virid: green
viridian: chrome green
xanthic: yellow
zinnober: chrome green

102 Resources for Fiction Writers

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 11:17:31 +0000

102 Resources for Fiction Writers:

ruthlesscalculus:

Are you still stuck for ideas for National Novel Writing Month? Or are you working on a novel at a more leisurely pace? Here are 102 resources on Character, Point of View, Dialogue, Plot, Conflict, Structure, Outlining, Setting, and World Building, plus some links to generate Ideas and Inspiration.

CHARACTER, POINT OF VIEW, DIALOGUE

10 Days of Character Building

Name Generators

Name Playground

The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test

Priming the idea pump (A character checklist shamlessly lifted from acting)

How to Create a Character

Seven Common Character Types

Handling a Cast of Thousands – Part I: Getting to Know Your Characters

It’s Not What They Say …

Establishing the Right Point of View: How to Avoid “Stepping Out of Character”

How to Start Writing in the Third Person

Web Resources for Developing Characters

What are the Sixteen Master Archetypes?

Character: A compilation of guidance from classical and contemporary experts on creating great dramatic characters

Building Fictional Characters

Fiction Writer’s Character Chart

Character Building Workshop

Tips for Characterization

Fiction Writer’s Character Chart

Villains are People, Too, But …

Top 10 Tips for Writing Dialogue

Speaking of Dialogue

Dialogue Tips

Advantages, Disadvantages and Skills (character traits)

How to Write a Character Bible

Character Development Exercises

All Your Characters Sounds the Same — And They’re Not a Hivemind!

Medieval Names Archive

Sympathy Without Saintliness

Writing the Other: Bridging Cultural Difference for Successful Fiction

Family Echo (family tree website)

Interviewing Characters: Follow the Energy

100 Character Development Questions for Writers

Behind the Name

Lineage Chart Layout Generator

PLOT, CONFLICT, STRUCTURE, OUTLINE

How to Write a Novel: The Snowflake Method

Effectively Outlining Your Plot

Conflict and Character within Story Structure

Outlining Your Plot

Ideas, Plots & Using the Premise Sheets

How to Write a Novel

Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense

Plunge Right In … Into Your Story, That Is!

Fiction Writing Tips: Story Grid

Tips for Creating a Compelling Plot

Writer’s “Cheat Sheets”

The Thirty-six (plus one) Dramatic Situations

The Evil Overlord Devises a Plot: Excerpt from Stupid Plotting Tricks

Conflict Test

What is Conflict?

Monomyth

The Hero’s Journey: Summary of the Steps

Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes

Plotting Without Fears

Novel Outlining 101

Writing the Perfect Scene

Fight Scenes 101

Basic Plots in Literature

One-Page Plotting

The Great Swampy Middle

SETTING, WORLD BUILDING

Magical World Builder’s Guide

I Love the End of the World

World Building 101

The Art of Description: Eight Tips to Help You Bring Your Settings to Life

Creating the Perfect Setting – Part I

Creating a Believable World

An Impatient Writer’s Approach to Worldbuilding

Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions

Setting

Character and Setting Interactions

Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds

Creating Fantasy Worlds

Questions About Worldbuilding

Maps Workshop — Developing the Fictional World Through Mapping

World Builder Projects

IDEAS, INSPIRATION

Quick Story Idea Generator

Solve Your Problems Simply by Saying Them Out Loud

Busting Your Writing Rut

Writing Inspiration, or Sex on a Bicycle

Creative Acceleration: 11 Tips to Engineer a Productive Flow

The Seven Major Beginner Mistakes

Complete Your First Book with these 9 Simple Writing Habits

Free Association, Active Imagination, Twilight Imaging

Random Book Title Generator

Finishing Your Novel

Story Starters and Idea Generators

REVISION

How to Rewrite

One-Pass Manuscript Revision: From First Draft to Last in One Cycle

Editing Recipe

Cliche Finder

Revising Your Novel: Read What You’ve Written

Writing 101: So You Want to Write a Novel Part 3: Revising a Novel

TOOLS and SOFTWARE

My Writing Nook (online text editor; free)

Bubbl.us (online mind map application; free)

Freemind (mind map application; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable)

XMind (mind map application; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable)

Liquid Story Binder (novel organization and writing software; free trial, $45.95; Windows, portable)

Scrivener (novel organization and writing software; free trial, $39.95; Mac)

SuperNotecard (novel organization and writing software; free trial, $29; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable)

yWriter (novel organization and writing software; free; Windows, Linux, portable)

JDarkRoom (minimalist text editor; free; Windows, Mac, Linux, portable)

AutoRealm (map creation software; free; Windows, Linux with Wine)

politics-war: Founder of a free school for slum children...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 08:01:03 +0000

politics-war:

Founder of a free school for slum children Rajesh Kumar Sharma, second from right, and Laxmi Chandra, right, write on black boards, painted on a building wall, at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 30 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last three years.

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 02:51:16 +0000

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

― G.K. Chesterton

"At a public school in Tema, administration decided to charge a fee of 12 cedis a year, 12 CEDIS A..."

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:13:25 +0000

“At a public school in Tema, administration decided to charge a fee of 12 cedis a year, 12 CEDIS A YEAR, because the government was not supplying enough funds as needed, and several children could not afford to go. 12 CEDIS A YEAR.”

- “Education for All”, 2 dollars a day ghana

"If a writer falls in love with you, you can never die."

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 10:12:15 +0000

““If a writer falls in love with you, you can never die.””

- (via catnus)

Wow.

(via discotronich-infatuation)

wow.

(via akrofikoram)

How did this come to be?

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 10:00:06 +0000

How did this come to be?

Well… the translations aren’t exactly correct. but close...

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 09:39:16 +0000

Well… the translations aren’t exactly correct.

but close enough.

I have three of these tattooed on me

I felt the need to talk about these again…

mainly because I’m looking at the “meanings” underneath and they’re not exactly correct.

Like the one for “bravery” actually means “courage in battle/war”.

‘faithfulness’ is kind of watered down…. its a very specific type of faithfulness— marital faithfulness, symbolized by the moon and the star (which I why I have got it tattooed on me before I got married)… same with “commitment”— its actually a symbol for a promise of marriage (it roughly translates to “I will marry you”.

These are very specific Ghanaian symbols. I don’t have a problem with people using them in art, jewelry (shout out to Rachel Stewart— buy her stuff its awesome!) or getting them tattooed. My issue is when their meanings are watered down. Part of the beauty of these symbols is the complexity of their meanings, and the beautiful language they represent.

“faithfulness” the one I have tattooed on me for my husband is Osram Ne Nsoromma Kyekye Pe Aware -The North Star awaits the return of her husband, the Moon.”

There is beauty in the words that don’t exactly translate to English and have very specific meanings. If you’re going to use them— again I have no issue with this so long as you don’t dilute them to just cool symbols with neat meanings.

To me… they have power. They protect me and my family. They’re all over my home, my traditional clothing for a reason. I respect people who understand what they are, value them and treat them with the reverence they deserve.

"The planet does not need more ‘successful people’. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers,..."

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 23:09:29 +0000

“The planet does not need more ‘successful people’. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds. It needs people to live well in their places. It needs people with moral courage willing to join the struggle to make the world habitable and humane and these qualities have little to do with success as our culture is the set.”

- Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama (via q-uote)

kilele: Ghana circa 1961-62 from the archives of Willis E...

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 23:07:05 +0100

kilele:

Ghana circa 1961-62 from the archives of Willis E Bell

From the book “Playtime in Africa” by Willis E Bell and Efua T. Sutherland

Archives are owned and managed by Mmofra Foundation

“[Mmofra Foundation] are the owners and caretakers of the Bell Photograph Archive, a collection of some 90,000 black and white photographs of Ghana taken between the years 1958 – 1980 by Willis E. Bell.”

A Wonderfully Nerdy Marriage Proposal at the National Book Festival

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 10:04:00 +0100

A Wonderfully Nerdy Marriage Proposal at the National Book Festival:

via mental_floss.

I want a National Book Festival!

sampomaa: The aha moment: when all your classes and readings make sense to you after reading one...

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 09:39:35 +0100

sampomaa:

The aha moment: when all your classes and readings make sense to you after reading one sentence in another assigned reading for a completely different class.

Its been worth it!

Photo

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 15:57:24 +0100

Photo

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 11:09:20 +0100

Looking forward to reading time with the nephew :)

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:36:42 +0100

Looking forward to reading time with the nephew :)

kilele: Ghana circa 1961-62 from the archives of Willis E...

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 21:07:57 +0100

kilele:

Ghana circa 1961-62 from the archives of Willis E Bell

From the book “Playtime in Africa” by Willis E Bell

Archives are owned and managed by Mmofra Ghana

“[Mmofra Ghana] are the owners and caretakers of the Bell Photograph Archive, a collection of some 90,000 black and white photographs of Ghana taken between the years 1958 – 1980 by Willis E. Bell.”

"Life in this world is a great struggle Both for the young and old And even those who have great..."

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 12:29:00 +0100

“Life in this world is a great struggle
Both for the young and old
And even those who have great riches
Have troubles of their own
Rich men envy the poor men
Poor men envy the rii—iii-ich
Therefore what is the sense in envying
Your
Neigh-bouur?”

- Actual song from our morning assembly repertoire, with a very cheerful tune.

deviousramblings: Quote from The Fault in Our Stars by John...

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 05:12:08 +0100

deviousramblings:

Quote from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.