A small list of random ass sites I’ve found useful when writing:
Fragrantica: perfume enthusiast site that has a long list of scents. v helpful when you’re writing your guilty pleasure abo fics
Just One Cookbook: recipe site that centers on Japanese cuisine. Lots of different recipes to browse, plenty of inspiration so you’re not just “ramen and sushi”
McCormick Science Institute: yes this is a real thing. the site shows off research on spices and gives the history on them. be historically accurate or just indulge in mindless fascination. boost your restaurant au with it
Cocktail Flow: a site with a variety of cocktails that’s pretty easy to navigate and offers photos of the drinks. You can sort by themes, strengths, type and base. My only real annoyance with this site is that the drinks are sometimes sorted into ~masculine~ and ~feminine~ but ehhhh. It’s great otherwise.
Tie-A-Tie: a site centered around ties, obviously. I stumbled upon it while researching tie fabrics but there’s a lot more to look at. It offers insight into dress code for events, tells you how to tie your ties, and has a section on the often forgotten about tie accessories
Even more:
Types of High Heels: A page describing twenty five different types of high heels. It gives a description and pictures. Shake it up from just “stilettos and kitten heels”
Random Job Generator: Exactly as it says. The site offer more generators like characters, plots, or town names.
You cannot possess me for I belong to myself But while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give You cannot command me, for I am a free person But I shall serve you in those ways you require and the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand.
Hi there, anon! I can tell you how I’ve been going about it. I’ve taken two approaches: submitting to publishers directly and submitting to agents.
The process for both is pretty similar. Once you find one you want to submit to, go to their website and find their submissions page (there usually is one). That page will tell you what they’re looking for. Every one of them is different, but common things they ask for are a pitch or query letter (similar to a cover letter that “sells” your book), a bio, any history of publishing, a paragraph or more synopsis of your story, and often a section of your novel (this can be anywhere from the first five pages to the whole manuscript). Most accept submissions via email, but some use online forms.
As for finding publishers and agents, here’s what I’m doing. For agents, I used a website called Query Tracker. You can search for agents by what genres they accept. For instance, I found and contacted every one that said they accepted LGBT works. ***Be careful with agents, and never go with one that asks for money up front.
For publishers, I searched for articles about publishers that accept unsolicited manuscripts. Here’s one. I put them all in a word document and have been slowly applying to each one. Publishers’ requirements are often a bit more complex thanagents, so it’s been taking some time. ***Make sure to google the publishers to ensure that they’re a legitimate company.
Then, you have to wait. Some agents will get back to you very quickly, but many say it will take weeks or longer, and publishers often say it can take months to get a response.
Why? Potential future readers can easily figure out who you are and what you’re working on, and are therefore more likely to remember you, support you as an author, and buy your future books.
Well it depends partly on how ‘immobile’ you mean. Keeping someone
completely still is pretty bad for their health in and of itself.
I also feel like I should include a general reminder that this is
writing advice. If I say something could be dangerous please don’t try it out
on yourself or someone else.
I tend to approach restraints in terms of them all having different
risks associated with them. Metal isn’t inherently more dangerous than plastic,
it’s about how the restraint is constructed and what it’s used for.
And for obvious reasons I tend to know more about the ways modern
restraints are abused and misused than I do about the risks when something is
used properly.
Plastic ties tighten easily. They can cut off circulation and that can
feed into tortures similar to finger-milking (hitting painful swellings in the
hands caused by limiting circulation). They can also cause nerve damage by
digging into flesh for long periods, especially when they’re used in suspension
tortures and stress positions.
Rope can do exactly the same thing. But it tends to have more ‘give’ to
it and it takes quite a bit more physical effort to cut off circulation with
rope than with a plastic tie. It’s used less often nowadays so I’m actually not
sure how likely nerve damage is with rope.
Metal restraints are more likely to cause broken bones. But I’ve had
much less problems with metal restraints cutting off circulation or causing general
pain. So long as they actually fit I’ve found them more comfortable.
I used to wear a pair of darby-style handcuffs as a bracelet. They’re heavy and that can make them
uncomfortable in the long term (hours) but they’ve never left lasting welts the
way plastic ties have or a numb tingling sensation the way rope has.
Generally speaking keeping people restrained in the longer term,
anything over a handful of hours, is bad for their health in a variety of ways.
Being kept in an uncomfortable position where muscles are strained is
well- basically a stress position. It’s intensely painful and causes massive
muscle damage. The fluid release caused by the die off of muscle cells usually
results in visible swelling in the first 24 hours. After 48 hours it can lead
to kidney failure.
Most long term restraint tortures allow a degree of movement because
otherwise victims die.
Being kept immobile in a position where the muscles aren’t strained also kills. But it kills more slowly.
This bit is getting outside my area and into @scriptmedic’s so I’d
suggest consulting her for more detail. I’m thinking about bedsores (or
pressure ulcers if you prefer), which develop when people don’t move much for
long periods. There are several different categories based on the severity,
ranging from a sort of spongy blister to a deep open wound that reaches the
muscle or bone.
Historically these meant a severely reduced life expectancy for
paralysed people: medics literally didn’t realise they needed to be moved. A
quick search on bedsores came up with not only direct infection and sepsis, but
infections that spread into the bones and joints and a form of cancer as
complications that could be lethal.
Which brings me to suggestions:
I’d say tailor the restraints in your story to what you want from the
story. The main questions to consider are how immobile the character needs to
be and for how long.
If keeping the character completely immobile is important then I think
the ‘safest’ option is probably a medical bed with 6 or 8 point restraints. This
is a wheeled bed with tough fabric straps which secure someone in place. They’re
designed to reduce discomfort and the chance of injury and they keep people
very still.
There are also good reasons they’re used as a last resort.
Patients can experience friction burns, dislocated bones and broken bones
struggling against either the application of restraints or the restraints
themselves. There
have also been cases of death in relatively short period of time from heart
attacks. Keeping patients in such restraints for prolonged periods is not
only dehumanising but damaging to both their physical and mental health.
I don’t have exact time-frames for this. I’m aware that there have been
cases of patients restrained in this fashion for a horrifically long period of
time who survived. But realistically…the kind of time frame these restraints are
typically used for is in the realm of hours not days.
If complete immobility is less important to the story but longer time
periods are important I’d suggest using the sorts of restraints currently
common in China for restraint torture.
These are metal ratchetting cuff restraints with a chain between the cuffed
hands and the legs. They allow the victim considerably more movement, they can
walk (but not run), handle objects and for the most part take care of
themselves. They can’t straighten their back, the restraints keep them in an
uncomfortable hunched position which causes general pain and discomfort.
But the degree of mobility and ability to relieve strained muscles means
that unlike a stress position it doesn’t tend to kill.
There are long term complications but less risk of sudden death. Long
term complications include chronic pain, weakened muscles, joint and muscular
problems, mobility problems and reduced fine motor control (in some cases due
to nerve damage in the hands caused by prolonged use of restraints.) These are
problems I’d expect to see after a month or more of constant use of these torturous
restraints.
Generally speaking there are also some things I’d advise avoiding in
your story if you don’t want the character to be injured.
Any restraint around the neck is
dangerous.
Anything that tightens easily is
dangerous; plastic
ties fall into this category and I’d suggest avoiding them in fiction and
reality. Whether ropes fall into this category or not depends on the type of
knot.
Anything with a sharp edge is
dangerous; metal
cuffs can fall into this category but don’t always. Their edges can be rounded.
Plastic ties almost always fall into this category.
A hangman’s knot is dangerous whatever part of the body it’s
applied too. It was designed to kill and unless you want the character dead or
seriously injured it’s an unrealistic thing to use. If you’re interested in a
realistic portrayal of injury from these knots and over 18Sunstone by S
Sejic contains a pretty powerful scene of a serious injury in the BDSM
community.
I wish that ao3 had an option to filter warnings (and tbh certain authors) out like I will never ever want to read it and just seeing it puts me off so much that often I end up closing my browser because that content upsets me so much lmao
There is a way to do this but I can’t recall how to do it. it’s something you type into the box for “other filters” or something, I don’t remember. who knows??
It’s not a great option, and I don’t know if you can sort out authors that way, but it’s better than nothing if someone can reblog this with how to do it!
Alrighty friends! It takes some specificity, but you can do this. Let me show you how!
So I started with going to the Sherlock (TV) section of Ao3. On the right we find this lovely section! ((I know I’m going over things you already probably know, but I figure this post may go to new Ao3 users, so bear with me.))
Underneath this, I chose sort by Kudos, because that’s a quick way to find most popular fics, for the sake of this demonstration.
With those filters on, we end up with this being our first two results:
As you can see, we have Nature and Nurture by earlgreytea68, and The Internet Is Not Just For Porn by cyerus. So what if I am utterly sick of seeing earlgreytea68 on my list? Let’s pretend I’ve read all their fics, or that I just don’t like her, or whatever. I want this author out. I go to this section on the right:
In “Search within results” I type earlgreytea68 into the bar, with a minus sign in front. This gives me the following page, upon hitting the sort and filter button:
There goes earlgreytea68! But now I’ve decided that Crack is just not my thing, I’m sick of that, too, for heaven’s sake, I want something reasonable in my gay slash fanfiction about detectives that solve crimes about glowing dogs and irish megalomaniacs. Heaven forbid this get ridiculous.
Well, then I add this to my search:
Which gets rid of everything with that tag. My results are now:
Performance in a Leading Role is now my first result!
You can do this as many times as you want; the biggest problem I have is trying to filter out multi-worded tags. For example, “Secret Relationship” is hard to filter. Better to go with authors you dislike or with words like “DubCon”.
I hope this helps! Also remember that googling site:archiveofourown.org and then adding search terms will mean google searches Ao3 for you, and sometimes that works far better.
Good luck!
An excellent in-depth guide! Thank you!!
omg changed my whole ao3 rarepair game
An excellent guide to filtering on AO3!
You can filter out phrases by enclosing them in quotes. For example, if ABO and Hydra Trash Party are not your things, try:
-“alpha/beta/omega dynamics” -”hydra trash party”
I have more advice!
Say, you’re in your random fandom- I went with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since I’ve been reading Iron Man stuff recently. Tony Stark is awesome.
But anyway, you’re on the page, and you see that there are 174,774 works! That is way too many for a casual afternoon’s browsing.
And you see that the first one is Peter Parker/Tony Stark and that is not your jam. It doesn’t work for you, or it squicks you, whatever. Wouldn’t life be easier if you could browse without seeing that pairing (or whatever pairing you don’t like)? You can!
First, click on that pairing tag(You may want to open this in another tab, actually.):
and it’ll take you to the page for that pairing tag. Click this button:
and then look at the address bar! The actual page is unimportant. Copy the numbers located here:
and go back to the original search page! Down on the side, in the same place you can get rid of other tags, type -relationship_ids:”the number you just copied”
Then hit ‘sort and filter’ annnd… magic!
The fics with that pairing are gone! You can also do multiple pairings, get rid of any tags you don’t like, and sort it by date or length or kudos, or whatever.
Enjoy.
I’d just like to add that these sorts of search modifiers ALSO WORK IN GOOGLE AND MOST RESEARCH DATABASES.
– One of the most requested subjects for an article is writing horror, so I decided to make this week predominantly about that. I’m also posting a “Resources For Horror Writers” in the next couple days so keep an eye out for that. For all of you horror writers our there who requested this, here you go. If you’re interested in the genre and are looking to give it a shot, this might also be useful to you. These are some pretty universal, basis tips, but should either be a helpful start or a helpful reminder. Either way, I hope you enjoy.
Ground The Main Conflict In Reality
Some of the scariest stories out there are completely possible. You don’t need a scary demon alien monster to scare people. A really cool thing about horror is that it leaves the reader feeling paranoid and you, as the author, get to decide about what. Your reader’s stream of consciousness should be as follows (or similar):
“Oh my gosh, the protagonist was brutally murdered in a house. I have a house. And they were beaten to death by their uncle. I have an uncle. And he owns a hard object. Oh my gosh. What if I get beaten to death by my uncle in my house. At night. Oh god. No sleep for me, I guess.”
That’s the goal.
Be Intentional With Your Characters
You need to know your characters really well in order to infer how they would react in certain situations, especially ones that are full of pressure and strenuous, emotional weight. For this, it might be useful to evaluate their past that you’ve created. Think about how they would react in less pressure-filled but similar situations, pick out a few key details about how they made decisions and turn up those aspects in the main event. Your character’s actions should be true to their personalities and your readers’ reactions shouldn’t be “Really? That doesn’t seem like him.”
Sort Out The Tone
So you know that you want to make your book scary and suspenseful. Now you need to learn how to do that. Common things that increase suspense: ditching the predictable outcome, making it seem out of the blue, etc. Things that set the tone for a scary scene: darkness, fog, silence or ominous sounds, etc. Figure out what you want the tone to be and find ways to convey it.
Frustrate The Reader
Part of the beauty of horror is that, in 99% of situations, the conflict, or at least the major tragedies were completely avoidable and the red flags that signaled danger were right in front of the protagonist’s face. The girl who picks up her phone and hears “I’m outside with a knife and I know you’re alone” doesn’t immediately lock herself in a safe place and calls the police. Instead, she gets the bright idea to venture out of her home and try to find the person who is pretty damn confident they could kill her and get away with it without a problem. The frustration the reader feels due to this incredible lack of common sense is really quite special when it comes to horror, because feeling frustration is a very nice segway to feeling fear.
Recognize What Horror Is
Horror is, essentially, just like any other story. There are characters, a conflict, twists, turns, and elements that make us care when the protagonist is struggling. In horror, the art to it comes with taking the plot twists and making them more intense, upping the tragedy when our beloved characters struggle, and turning the fear of the whole ordeal into the main attraction. In horror, you’re taking the underlying anxiety of normal fiction and throwing it in the reader’s face.
Get To Know Your Psychology
Part of the beauty of horror, or any writing really, is that with a little bit of research you can learn ways to trigger emotions and parts of the brain the human reading your story doesn’t even know exist. Humans are programmed to be afraid of the dark. Use that. People are commonly afraid of things like heights and spiders because their ancestors were harmed by them. Use this basic psychological knowledge to manipulate your readers’ emotions.
Mostly reblogs and random words 