Tone: Pale, Rosy, Olive, Dark, Tanned, Alabaster, Ebony, Bronze, Golden, Fair
Texture: Smooth, Rough, Silky, Coarse, Flaky, Supple, Wrinkled, Calloused, Bumpy
Condition: Moles, Acne, Dry, Greasy, Freckled, Scars, Birthmarks, Bruised, Sunburned, Flawless
Complexion: Clear, Ruddy, Sallow, Glowing, Dull, Even-toned, Blotchy
Size: Small, Large, Average, Tiny, Bulging, Narrow
Color: Grey, Brown, Blue, Violet, Pink, Green, Gold, Hazel, Crimson, Amber, Turquoise, Sapphire, Onyx
Shape: Doe-eyed, Almond, Close-set, Wide-set, Round, Oval, Hooded, Monolid
Expression: Deep-set, Squinty, Monolid, Heavy eyelids, Upturned, Downturned, Piercing, Gentle, Sparkling, Steely
Other: Glassy, Bloodshot, Tear-filled, Clear, Glinting, Shiny
Thickness: Thin, Thick, Fine, Normal
Texture: Greasy, Dry, Soft, Shiny, Curly, Frizzy, Wild, Unruly, Straight, Smooth, Wavy, Floppy
Length: Cropped, Pixie-cut, Afro, Shoulder length, Back length, Waist length, Past hip-length, Buzz cut, Bald
Styles: Weave, Hair extensions, Jaw length, Layered, Mohawk, Dreadlocks, Box braids, Faux locks, Braid, Ponytail, Bun, Updo
Color: White, Salt and pepper, Platinum blonde, Golden blonde, Dirty blonde, Blonde, Strawberry blonde, Ash brown, Mouse brown, Chestnut brown, Golden brown, Chocolate brown, Dark brown, Jet black, Ginger, Red, Auburn, Dyed, Highlights, Low-lights, Ombre
Eyebrows: Thin eyebrows, Average eyebrows, Thick eyebrows, Plucked eyebrows, Bushy eyebrows, Arched eyebrows, Straight eyebrows
Shape: Full, Thin, Heart-shaped, Bow-shaped, Wide, Small
Texture: Chapped, Smooth, Cracked, Soft, Rough
Color: Pale, Pink, Red, Crimson, Brown, Purple, Nude
Expression: Smiling, Frowning, Pursed, Pouting, Curved, Neutral, Tight-lipped, Parted
Shape: Button, Roman, Hooked, Aquiline, Flat, Pointed, Wide, Narrow, Crooked, Upturned, Snub
Size: Small, Large, Average, Long, Short
Condition: Freckled, Sunburned, Smooth, Bumpy
Frame: Petite, Slim, Athletic, Muscular, Average, Stocky, Large, Lean, Stout, Bony, Broad-shouldered, Narrow-shouldered
Height: Short, Tall, Average, Petite, Giant
Posture: Upright, Slouched, Rigid, Relaxed, Graceful, Awkward, Stiff, Hunched
Size: Small, Large, Average, Delicate, Strong
Texture: Smooth, Rough, Calloused, Soft, Firm
Condition: Clean, Dirty, Manicured, Scarred, Wrinkled
Nails: Short, Long, Polished, Chipped, Clean, Dirty, Painted, Natural
Tone: Deep, High, Soft, Loud, Raspy, Melodic, Monotonous, Hoarse, Clear, Gentle
Volume: Loud, Soft, Whispery, Booming, Muted
Pace: Fast, Slow, Steady, Hasty, Measured
Expression: Cheerful, Sad, Angry, Calm, Anxious, Confident, Nervous, Excited, Bored
words to use instead of ______
Mild: clearly, decidedly, distinctly, markedly, considerably, notably, largely, recognizably, especially, indubitably Moderate: especially, surprisingly, substantially, uncommonly, chiefly, incredibly, obviously, unmistakably, considerably, awfully, wonderfully, particularly Bold: profusely, unequivocally, strikingly, astonishingly, exceedingly, absolutely, exceptionally, extremely, unquestionably, vastly, incontestably
Mild: often, oftentimes, sometime Moderate: frequently, usually, various, generally Bold: regularly, recurrent, persistent
Mild: many, much, several Moderate: numerous, bountiful, considerable Bold: multitude, profuse, vast
Mild: sizable, ample, large, considerable, great, above average, important Moderate: ponderous, significant, crucial, vast, copious, magnificent, substantial Bold: enormous, immense, colossal, extensive, endless, paramount, boundless, prodigious, imposing, gigantic, voluminous, limitless, essential
Mild: slight, limited, trivial, minor, light, puny, superficial, undersized, dinky, negligible, faint Moderate: scant, petite, inconsiderable, microscopic, dwarf, unsubstantial, minimum, miniature, tiny Bold: insignificant, minute, meager, infinitesimal, ineffectual, undetectable, inconsequential
Mild: acceptable, favorable, agreeable, pleasing, satisfactory, satisfying, super, able, relevant, accomplished, efficient, reliable, ample, useful, profitable, adequate, adept Moderate: great, honorable, admirable, commendable, sound, splendid, superb, valuable, wonderful, worthy, clever, proficient, qualified, apt, skillful, thorough, wholesome Bold: excellent, exceptional, gratifying, marvelous, reputable, stupendous, superior, exemplary, virtuous, expert, solid, advantageous, flawless, extensive, perfect
Mild: cheap, dissatisfactory, faculty, off, mean, wrong, unpleasant, unwell, low, grim, sour, regretful Moderate: careless, defective, inferior, imperfect, deficient, rough, ill-suited, inadequate, unsatisfactory, delinquent, sinful, unruly, wicked, rancid, grave, harsh, terrible, downcast Bold: awful, unacceptable, corrupt, dreadful, putrid, erroneous, detrimental, ruinous, vile, villainous, diseased, adverse, evil
more words to use instead other words to use instead even more words to use instead
mental heal ˊ^ˋ
explicit warning: don't read on if you're under 18 or uncomfortable with anything nsfw/smut related
have fun with these ;) | tag me if you use any | if yall want more prompts like this, jus drop an ask
“I’ve never done this before.”
“I’ll go slow.”
“Will it hurt?”
“Do you trust me?”
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Tell me what to do.”
“I’ll talk you through it, okay?”
“This is my first time…”
“I promise I won’t hurt you.”
“Be gentle, please…”
“Am I going too fast?”
“Can you show me how?”
“Does this feel good?”
“Should I slow down?”
“I wanted you to be my first…”
“I want to make this perfect for you.”
“Tell me what feels good.”
“Show me how you like it.”
“We can stop whenever you like.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“You’re doing so well…”
“We can keep going, if you want.”
“Relax, I’ve got you.”
“No need to rush—we have all night.”
“Let me help you.”
“There’s no reason to be nervous.”
“Is this okay?”
“Do that again…”
“I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Let’s find out what you like together, alright?”
Many people create lists of synonyms for the word 'said,' but what about the word 'look'? Here are some synonyms that I enjoy using in my writing, along with their meanings for your reference. While all these words relate to 'look,' they each carry distinct meanings and nuances, so I thought it would be helpful to provide meanings for each one.
Gaze - To look steadily and intently, especially in admiration or thought.
Glance - A brief or hurried look.
Peek - A quick and typically secretive look.
Peer - To look with difficulty or concentration.
Scan - To look over quickly but thoroughly.
Observe - To watch carefully and attentively.
Inspect - To look at closely in order to assess condition or quality.
Stare - To look fixedly or vacantly at someone or something.
Glimpse - To see or perceive briefly or partially.
Eye - To look or stare at intently.
Peruse - To read or examine something with great care.
Scrutinize - To examine or inspect closely and thoroughly.
Behold - To see or observe a thing or person, especially a remarkable one.
Witness - To see something happen, typically a significant event.
Spot - To see, notice, or recognize someone or something.
Contemplate - To look thoughtfully for a long time at.
Sight - To suddenly or unexpectedly see something or someone.
Ogle - To stare at in a lecherous manner.
Leer - To look or gaze in an unpleasant, malicious way.
Gawk - To stare openly and stupidly.
Gape - To stare with one's mouth open wide, in amazement.
Squint - To look with eyes partially closed.
Regard - To consider or think of in a specified way.
Admire - To regard with pleasure, wonder, and approval.
Skim - To look through quickly to gain superficial knowledge.
Reconnoiter - To make a military observation of a region.
Flick - To look or move the eyes quickly.
Rake - To look through something rapidly and unsystematically.
Glare - To look angrily or fiercely.
Peep - To look quickly and secretly through an opening.
Focus - To concentrate one's visual effort on.
Discover - To find or realize something not clear before.
Spot-check - To examine something briefly or at random.
Devour - To look over with eager enthusiasm.
Examine - To inspect in detail to determine condition.
Feast one's eyes - To look at something with great enjoyment.
Catch sight of - To suddenly or unexpectedly see.
Clap eyes on - To suddenly see someone or something.
Set eyes on - To look at, especially for the first time.
Take a dekko - Colloquial for taking a look.
Leer at - To look or gaze in a suggestive manner.
Rubberneck - To stare at something in a foolish way.
Make out - To manage to see or read with difficulty.
Lay eyes on - To see or look at.
Pore over - To look at or read something intently.
Ogle at - To look at in a lecherous or predatory way.
Pry - To look or inquire into something in a determined manner.
Dart - To look quickly or furtively.
Drink in - To look at with great enjoyment or fascination.
Bask in - To look at or enjoy something for a period of time.
Eyes narrowing with a sharp, intense stare.
Clenched jaw and pursed lips.
Crossing arms defensively.
Making snide or sarcastic remarks.
Glancing repeatedly at the object of jealousy.
Trying to outdo or one-up the rival.
Faking a smile that doesn’t reach the eyes.
Speaking in a tense, clipped tone.
Avoiding eye contact with the person they’re jealous of.
Drumming fingers impatiently on a surface.
Feeling a burning sensation in the chest.
Sighing loudly or rolling their eyes.
Gritting teeth and taking deep, forced breaths.
Biting their lower lip hard.
Tapping foot incessantly.
Passive-aggressively commenting on the situation.
Mimicking or mocking the rival’s behavior.
Frequently changing the subject away from the rival.
Feeling a knot tighten in their stomach.
Casting resentful, sidelong glances.
What? What are you talking about, “don’t use the passive voice”? Are you feeling okay? Who told you that? Come on, let’s you and me go to their house and beat them with golf clubs. It’s just grammar. English is full of grammar: you should go ahead and use all of it whenever you want, on account of English is the language you’re writing in.
Now hang on. What are you even saying to me? Don’t use adverbs? My guy, that is an entire part of speech. That’s, like—that’s gotta be at least 20% of the dictionary. I don’t know who told you not to use adverbs, but you should definitely throw them into the Columbia river.
Buddy, “filler” is what we called the episodes of Dragon Ball Z where Goku wasn’t blasting Frieza because the anime was in production before Akira Toriyama had written the part where Goku blasts Frieza. Outside of this extremely specific context, “filler” does not exist. Just because a scene wouldn’t make it into the Wikipedia synopsis of your story’s plot doesn’t mean it isn’t important to your story. This is why “plot” and “story” are different words!
First of all, a lot of what you think of as “grammar” is actually orthography. Should I put a comma here? How do I spell this word in this context? These are questions of orthography (which is a fancy Greek word meaning “correct-writing”). In fact, most of the “grammar questions” you’ll see posted online pertain to orthography; this number probably doubles in spaces for writers specifically.
If you’re a native speaker of English, your grammar is probably flawless and unremarkable for the purposes of writing prose. Instead, orthography refers to the set rules governing spelling, punctuation, and whitespace. There are a few things you should know about orthography:
English has no single orthography. You already know spelling and punctuation differ from country to country, but did you know it can even differ from publisher to publisher? Some newspapers will set parenthetical statements apart with em dashes—like this, with no spaces—while others will use slightly shorter dashes – like this, with spaces – to name just one example.
Orthography is boring, and nobody cares about it or knows what it is. For most readers, orthography is “invisible”. Readers pay attention to the words on a page, not the paper itself; in much the same way, readers pay attention to the meaning of a text and not the orthography, which exists only to convey that meaning.
That doesn’t mean it’s not important. Actually, that means it’s of the utmost importance. Because orthography can only be invisible if it meets the reader’s expectations.
You need to learn how to format dialogue into paragraphs. You need to learn when to end a quote with a comma versus a period. You need to learn how to use apostrophes, colons and semicolons. You need to learn these things not so you can win meaningless brownie points from your English teacher for having “Good Grammar”, but so that your prose looks like other prose the reader has consumed.
If you printed a novel on purple paper, you’d have the reader wondering: why purple? Then they’d be focusing on the paper and not the words on it. And you probably don’t want that! So it goes with orthography: whenever you deviate from standard practices, you force the reader to work out in their head whether that deviation was intentional or a mistake. Too much of that can destroy the flow of reading and prevent the reader from getting immersed.
You may chafe at this idea. You may think these “rules” are confusing and arbitrary. You’re correct to think that. They’re made the fuck up! What matters is that they were made the fuck up collaboratively, by thousands of writers over hundreds of years. Whether you like it or not, you are part of that collaboration: you’re not the first person to write prose, and you can’t expect yours to be the first prose your readers have ever read.
That doesn’t mean “never break the rules”, mind you. Once you’ve gotten comfortable with English orthography, then you are free to break it as you please. Knowing what’s expected gives you the power to do unexpected things on purpose. And that’s the really cool shit.
Nobody is saying this. Only I am brave enough to say it.
Well, bye!
Furrowing brows deeply.
Tilting head to one side.
Eyes squinting as if trying to see something clearly.
Biting the inner cheek in thought.
Scratching or rubbing the back of the head.
Asking, “What do you mean?” repeatedly.
Frowning and pursing lips.
Looking around as if searching for clues.
Running fingers through hair in frustration.
Sighing and shaking head slowly.
Muttering under breath, trying to make sense of things.
Rubbing temples as if to ward off a headache.
Staring blankly into space.
Crossing and uncrossing arms, unsure of what to do.
Shuffling feet awkwardly.
Pulling at their collar or fidgeting with clothing.
Glancing at others for confirmation or help.
Blinking rapidly, trying to process information.
Clenching and unclenching fists.
Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling.
I've seen a lot of advice on how to write an outline, and how to write your first draft. But how do you even come up with the concept for your story? To some that's the easy part, for me, it's kinda tricky. But I wrote down some advice to help out. If this works for you, great. If it doesn't, also great, I hope you found it interesting!
C.S. Lewis said the idea for his most well known series came from a very specific image that popped into his head: a fawn standing next to a lamppost in a snowy forest. And from there he wrote the Chronicles of Narnia. Indeed, many writers have spoken of the use of a single image being used as a starting place for their story, and I'm here to say it doesn't even have to be an image! Start with a character, a bit of worldbuilding, an object, a monster, a conflict, a scene, a dynamic, a setting, or yes, an image. Anything, so long as you're drawn to it. Just one thing; just one cool thing.
Then ask questions, specifically one: "What would be a cool/interesting thing to add?" And keep asking that question.
Go hog wild.
Based on your starting place, write down every cool idea you have; every idea that interests you. Don't bother making it cohesive, that'll come later.
But write down LITERALLY EVERYTHING--the name of the thing and a brief blurb of what that thing is. Stuff like characters, arcs, villains, events, lore, big dragons, cities, love interests, fight scenes, spicy scenes, dialogue, literally anything and everything.
This time instead of asking what, you're gonna be asking why.
You've got your neat list of cool ideas, now it's time to connect them. It's time to ask yourself, "Why are these things related?"
Why are the protagonist and antagonist at odds? Why would the characters go to this location? What is the relationship between these two characters? Why does this artifact exist? Why would this event happen; why would this character be there?
This sounds like the boring "got to have justifications for the cool stuff," portion of the process, but it's not. It's the "making these cool things even cooler," portion of the process.
You know what's cooler than two cool characters in a vacuum? Two cool characters that have a direct connection to each other. Even cooler, having those characters have a some kind of conflict.
And because of that conflict they'll probably have to go to a certain location... why not that cool setting you had on your list? That's probably where they'll have that conversation, and fight that monster, and find that object.
Woah! Did you see what you just did?
You just wrote a list of characters with specific relationships and conflicts, going to locations to do things.
That's a story! You've written the first notes of a story!
And now that you got words on a page, you can refine that. You can refine it into an outline, and build off it. You can't improve a blank page. The sculptor can't chisel away at empty air.
So that's my advice's, and it's just mine. If you have your own for this kind of thing, let me know, I'd love to hear about it.
Describing aromas can add a whole new layer to your storytelling, immersing your readers in the atmosphere of your scenes. Here's a categorized list of different words to help you describe scents in your writing.
Crisp
Clean
Pure
Refreshing
Invigorating
Bright
Zesty
Airy
Dewy
Herbal
Minty
Oceanic
Morning breeze
Green grass
Rain-kissed
Fragrant
Sweet
Floral
Delicate
Perfumed
Lush
Blooming
Petaled
Jasmine
Rose-scented
Lavender
Hibiscus
Gardenia
Lilac
Wildflower
Juicy
Tangy
Sweet
Citrusy
Tropical
Ripe
Pungent
Tart
Berry-like
Melon-scented
Apple-blossom
Peachy
Grape-like
Banana-esque
Citrus burst
Musky
Earthy
Woody
Grounded
Rich
Smoky
Resinous
Pine-scented
Oak-like
Cedarwood
Amber
Mossy
Soil-rich
Sandalwood
Forest floor
Spiced
Warm
Cozy
Inviting
Cinnamon-like
Clove-scented
Nutmeg
Ginger
Cardamom
Coffee-infused
Chocolatey
Vanilla-sweet
Toasted
Roasted
Hearth-like
Metallic
Oily
Chemical
Synthetic
Acrid
Pungent
Foul
Musty
Smoky
Rubber-like
Diesel-scented
Gasoline
Paint-thinner
Industrial
Sharp
Herbal
Aromatic
Earthy
Leafy
Grass-like
Sage-scented
Basil-like
Thyme-infused
Rosemary
Chamomile
Green tea
Wild mint
Eucalyptus
Cinnamon-bark
Clary sage
Antique
Nostalgic
Ethereal
Enigmatic
Exotic
Haunted
Mysterious
Eerie
Poignant
Dreamlike
Surreal
Enveloping
Mesmerizing
Captivating
Transcendent
I hope this list can help you with your writing. 🌷✨
Feel free to share your favorite scent descriptions in the replies below! What scents do you love to incorporate into your stories?
Happy Writing! - Rin T.
forget's resource bank, writing stuff. i have no order back at main so this had to be created. you probably know me as @forget-me-maybe sometimes i reblog things that should be on main here and pls just ignore that.
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