[x]

Please copy and paste this into a Word document or deviation. Then highlight the information after the colons and type over it.

Setting

Time/Era: Exact year or approximate time

Name of Country: For fun, you could alter the name of an old empire. For example, the Assyrian Empire (Mesopotamia, BC) was particularly brutal, so a twist off of that name could be interesting for more educated readers. Readers love to be in on jokes like that. Oh, and don't steal Asrian Empire. I already called it.

Geography: I recommend you draw a map (it doesn't have to be exact; it's for consistency)

Landscape: Trees, soil, water, buildings... Imagine you wer

Character Questionnaire

This is a useful questionnaire I have all my major characters fill out. Please copy and paste it into a Word document or deviation. Then highlight the information after the colons and type over it.

Name: Full name and nicknames
Age: If your character is not a human, give it in animal/fairy/alien/whatever years and human years—for any species you invented, calculate a constant (e.g. 0.6667 alien years per human year)
Height and weight: give numbers if possible (Google "girls/boys height weight chart" to help) or use relative values (e.g. he's short for a guy his age)
Body type: frame (thin, stocky, etc.), weight, whatever
Eyes: color, s

Planning the Evil Plot

A half-guide, half-narrative on writing a story
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Basics
Before I start writing, I like to have some idea of where I'm starting, where I'm going, and how I'm going to end up there. Let's say that I want to write a comedy about an author who suddenly changes places with her Mary Sue. I should jot down some basic ideas:

Characters:
Sarah, the author: ~13 years old, average-looking, glasses, rather tall and gangly
Ellemere, the Mary Sue: ~16 years old, long flowing hair, violet eyes, etc.
Forrest (Ellemere's love interest) : ~18, stereotypical bishie who is too dark and broody to make a good love interest
Leon: ~17

I Dub Thee...

On the psychology and choosing of names
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Many authors struggle with names. After coming up with a character who perfectly fits his or her intended role, planning personality traits, clothing, hobbies, and physical descriptions, now you have to sum all of that character's being up in a name!

There is an incredible number of ways to choose a name. Often authors are baffled by the vast array of first names and surnames that could be given to a character, and it's almost impossible to start. Whether you're hoping for a name that could belong to any girl on a street or a fantasy warrior from planet Xyla, there ar

Knock Yourself Out

How to Write a [Near]-Fainting Experience
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You've probably all read books or seen movies in which a character passes out. The heroine might swoon gracefully and collapse onto the floor or into the hero's arms. People rush to bring water, a doctor, or something to revive her. She then wakes up, rosy-cheeked and a bit distressed, and she fans herself for a while while insisting that she is fine.

Fainting in real life is not nearly so beautiful. Authors, especially ones with no experience, can sometimes fall for such idealized descriptions. I am (un)fortunate enough to have experience in this area, so I will shar

Your OC's Hair

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You have the unique opportunity to see a Writer's Guide being drafted.
Some bug of a mysterious nature decided to delete the resource text last January or so and I think the text is gone for good, so I'm re-writing it. This notice will be taken down when this is no longer considered a draft. (Yes, I'm letting you read my draft. Now you have insights into my evil mind...)

*~*~*~The Actual Guide~*~*~*

Most girls are taught that there is a standard, all-encompassing way to take care of hair. You brush it every morning and don't pull the tangles too hard. When you wash it, you use a little bit of shampoo for t

Beating the Block

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Please read this list slowly and carefully. You'll get much more out of it. (Thinking about specific characters and/or listening to your book's theme music while you read may help.)

This list is mostly (but not entirely) designed to give ideas for characterization-related scenes. If your issue is more along the lines of "I don't know where I'm going," then this may not be as helpful. While you can read this just in case, meditation and logic are usually the things that work best.

If this gives you an idea, write it down! It's a long list, so you don't want to risk forgetting anything.

Not all of these though

Nobody Loves My Character!

On making characters lovable, in your story and online
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Disclaimer: This is a troubleshooting guide, and it doesn't necessarily cover every possible solution. It's based on my own experience, and not every idea may fit every character or work. Please use your common sense and personal taste when applying this information. Thanks for reading!

It's every writer's nightmare: your characters, after all the things you've put them through and all the months or years they've inhabited your head, have been eagerly displayed to the public and received an unenthusiastic response. Your audience has not been enchanted. The

Character Description Form

For commissions, art trades, requests, or any possible situation in which I or someone else could be drawing your character

This form will give me a sense of how to draw your character! Please copy and paste this text into a note or deviation. Highlight and type over the parts that aren't in bold. You can jump back to this form for the links.

Important: Please share as much information as you can think of! The more info you give me, the more easily I can draw your character, and the better the character will look. So non-visual artists, don't think details bother me. You're actually making it much easier and less frustrating.

*~*~*~*~*

Pr

Extrasuperfabulous

(with a cherry on top!)
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When you have a story, there are characters that you like, characters that you love, and characters that you hate. Then there are those characters whom you adore. You think about them a lot. You know their personalities, zodiac sign, blood type, Myers-Briggs type, favorite foods, favorite outfits... you name it! You draw them in your sketchbooks and algebra notebooks. You imagine extra scenes from the character's childhood. You can't stop thinking about that special character!

Are you this obsessed with your characters? If you are, that's okay—I am too. However, if you

Paper Villains

On writing three-dimensional villains
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Disclaimer: (as experience suggests that I need one) This resource consists of opinions. There may be better ways to write, and my advice may not fit your type of story. Please use common sense when applying the ideas expressed below. Thanks for reading!

Do you remember the Big Bad Wolf? He destroyed the Three Little Pigs' houses and ate them (or only chased them, depending on the rendition). He ran to Little Red Riding Hood's home and devoured her grandmother. The Big Bad Wolf appears in countless fairy tales to eat and terrorize the general populace.

In many children's

I Have Writer's Block!Don't panic. Don't bang your head against the wall. (All you get is a headache... trust me on that.) Writer's block requires a thoughtful, logical approach, so hating yourself will go nowhere.

The first thing we tend to do when we have writer's block is to leave the book. We close the file or notebook and say we'll get to it later. Well, sometimes that works, but sometimes we still haven't touched it a week later. Or a month later. At that point things get a little worrisome. That's why I've compiled this list.

1. Try taking a walk or bike ride. Sometimes you just need the time to yourself. I know you've probably heard this before, but that

Exercise: Your Character's Distinct Voice

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The purpose of this exercise is to see how much you've differentiated each of your main characters' voices from each other.

How to Use

Pick a few major characters in your story. (I recommend using between 3 and 6.) For each of the numbered prompts below, choose what each character would say in that circumstance. You may want to write a few sentences of dialogue from that character or a quick internal monologue.

These lines are meant to generate short pieces of dialogue (about 1-5 sentences), as it's easiest to compare lines to each other that way. If you start writing long paragraphs or another character's r

Another RainDark closed his eyes and breathed. The air smelled of leaves, dew, soil, and worms. It had rained around noon, and Dark had waited just long enough for the mud to harden a little before leaving for a midday walk. It rained a lot here, and Dark liked the smell of the air when the ground was still damp. It was... he didn't know. Nice.
Today Dark was taking a walk around the edge of the woods. This place was kind of cool. It was all nature—and pretty nature, not ugly like the Borderlands—and nobody even lived here. If Dark was a rich developer guy, he could build a bunch of houses out here and become insanely rich by selling them. But it was too nice to do stuff like that. The trees and grass looked better off undisturbed.
Dark bent down to examine some leafy flower-things. There were all these green leaves creeping out of the forest and covering the ground, and when he looked close, he saw tiny white flowers scattered among them. They came in clusters, and they dangl

Art Block Banisher

Do you find yourself staring like a zombie at a blank piece of paper on your desk? Do you whip your pencil in a circle to draw a head, erase it, draw it again, and still find yourself dissatisfied and uninspired? Do you long to draw your characters in some crazy or adorable situation but lack the ability to come up with an idea?

Never fear! The Art Block Banisher is here!

This is a list of possible scenarios you can evilly dump your favorite characters into, whether they belong to you or someone else. So think about a few favorite characters, pull out a pencil and paper, and let's go!

***

Cooking Who can cook what, and how well? How many

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Baking (A Crossover Fanfic)Dusk crept up the sky with the rising moon, slowly enveloping the humid air. Leo climbed out of the car and looked up to see if any stars were out yet. No. Good. He hated working this late, especially on the day after Christmas, when he was supposed to be spending time with Sean. But the emergency had brought him in early and kept him in late, and he had no control over that. He just hoped that Sean wouldn't be too upset.
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Your Stats and your... Artist's Description?

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Do the words "4 comments" frequently haunt your deviations? Is it difficult to find an audience for your artwork or writing? Do you yearn for detailed critique on your artistic technique and receive comments such as "nice" and "cute girl?"

Low stats result from a number of things. Maybe you don't comment much on other people's works. (You get what you give.) Perhaps you haven't joined any groups, or you haven't submitted to them yet. Maybe you are doing these things, but you're just new to the site.

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Submitted: November 12, 2012
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Delightedby `Luna--Rose

Digital Art / Drawings / People

Ooh, I've improved since last year.

So... to keep this from getting too boring, I have two questions for all of you...

(1) Drawing this was great stress relief in between homework, commissions, and college essays. If I draw more character portraits... anyone you're particularly hoping to see next?

(2) By the Kanni's standards, Kirrah is a beautiful young woman. (Why else did that womanizing chieftain's son want to marry her?) Yet our society has a different definition of beauty—one that can be seen on magazine covers and movie posters throughout the world.
Kirrah's physical traits include the following:
Strong jaw, large nose, flat face, high cheekbones, curvy/athletic figure, arched eyebrows, eyes that are horizontally wider than a typical human's
Is Kirrah beautiful? And why do you think that she is/isn't?

My skill as an artist is not related to this topic, so don't feel hesitant if you don't think she's pretty.

And as always—if you have any tips for how I can improve my art, I'd love to hear them!

love 1 1

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~~wow 0 0~~

~~mad 0 0~~

~~sad 0 0~~

~~fear 0 0~~

~~neutral 0 0~~

*odarkriseo Apr 30, 2013 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Great work

~evanescentlachrymose Dec 25, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

Beauty is highly subjective. I have a nose I'm ashamed of, because generally girls with small, turned up noses are considered pretty. I'm ghostly pale, and I'm ashamed because a lot of girls considered 'hot' have impressive tans. Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. Some people/cultures consider different features more attractive than others. I've had some people say that my skin is beautiful, while others say I'm gross and I need a tan XD

I think she's beautiful. Her nose doesn't look all that big, and she has large eyes (something I think is beautiful), clear skin, and nice hair. She also looks like a really good person from this picture

~Titanium-Alex Nov 30, 2012

I think she's BEAUTIFUL. I don't know why. There's just something about her...she's got such a nice, gentle look about her and her eyes are really lovely

And GREAT drawing!

`Luna--Rose Dec 1, 2012 General Artist

Thank you.

~Titanium-Alex Dec 1, 2012

No problem!

*Pheoniic Nov 24, 2012 Student Digital Artist

Hmmm. Beauty itself is highly subjective! There are "Beautiful woman" in our society that kind of fits that profile

[Athletic figures like Serena Williams etc.]

I'd have to say it is a female thing to be ashamed of having a huge nose... so one could say that is a less desired human characteristic.

...I was talking to my computer science teacher this one time and she's studying beauty through a scientific perspective. It ultimately comes back to proportions and symmetry..

So that is my answer!
She looks beautiful in this drawing for sure though!