Legacy - Chapter 58

really digging these leaked new designs for the new hetalia

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quick note to fanfic writers

So I have noticed that there are times when I read fanfic and I really enjoy so much about it - the dialogue, the characterisation, the descriptions. And then I find my enjoyment is hampered a little bit, not a huge amount, by incorrect dialogue punctuation. I realised this is a common problem in fanfic, and I figured a quick tutorial regarding dialogue was in order. I know it seems like a small thing, but I honestly think putting a comma in the place of a full stop/period makes all the difference with a fic’s readability, and the rules themselves are fairly straightforward.

First, just to clarify, a dialogue tag is a verb (i.e. a doing word) that describes how a word is said. Examples of dialogue tags are “said”, “shouted”, “cried”, etc. If the word does not describe specifically how the word is said and instead focuses on another action by the character (such as “coughed” or “laughed” or “smiled”), it is not a dialogue tag and should not be treated as such.

So, when writing dialogue that ends with a question mark:

“Have I told you how much I love you in that dress?” He murmured. (Incorrect)

“Have I told you how much I love you in that dress?” he murmured. (Correct)

The second example is formatted correctly. Remember, you only have to capitalise a word, unless it’s a proper noun (usually names), at the beginning of a new sentence. The “he” is not capitalised because it is still the same sentence and the word “murmured” is a dialogue tag.

Similarly:

“More than a few times now.” She teased. (Incorrect)

“More than a few times now,” she teased. (Correct)

Again, that whole line is one sentence because the word “teased” is the dialogue tag that is directly describing how the dialogue is being said. Notice the comma, as opposed to the full stop/period, and also the fact that “she” is in lowercase. 

If the word you are using is not a dialogue tag, you do need a full stop/period. For example:

He coughed, “you look chilly, though.” (Incorrect)

He coughed. “You look chilly, though.” (Correct)

This is because the character coughing is separate from the dialogue itself, which is why the sentence and the dialogue are two distinct sentences. Notice that therefore the start of each sentence is capitalised.

When you continue the dialogue after the dialogue tag:

“I didn’t mean that,” Oliver said, “although I didn’t see it as breaking my vows. Not when your life was at stake.”

Note the underlined commas and the fact that “although” is in lowercase. The way you test this is simple. Simply take out the dialogue tag in its entirety, and if the sentence still makes grammatical sense, you use commas and lowercase. 

Let’s test this out.  

 "I didn’t mean that, although I didn’t see it as breaking my vows. Not when your life was at stake.“

Yep. It still makes sense, so you have punctuated correctly.

Compare that to this example:

“I remember this one too,” she said. “You know, I thought you were going to bleed to death in my car.”

Note the underlined full stop/period and the fact that “You” is capitalised. This is because the sentences are clearly separate (whereas in the last example it was a bit more ambiguous). If you’re confused, just use the test set out above - take out the dialogue tag and see if the sentence makes grammatical sense.

“I remember this one too, you know, I thought you were going to bleed to death in my car.”

If you know anything about comma splicing, you will know that that sentence is most definitely not grammatically correct, so a full stop/period after “too” is in order, like this:

“I remember this one too. You know, I thought you were going to bleed to death in my car.”

So, in summary: 

~use a COMMA and lowercase when using dialogue tags such as “said”, etc.

~use a full stop/period and capitalise the first letter when using verbs that are not dialogue tags (such as “smiled”)

~if you’re unsure when splitting dialogue with a tag in between, take out the tag and see if it makes sense as a sentence on its own. If it does, use commas and lowercase, and if it doesn’t, use a full stop/period and capitalise.

I hope that was somewhat helpful! Grammar is a strange thing - you often don’t realise you’re doing something incorrectly until it is pointed out to you, so don’t feel bad if you realise you’ve been wrongly formatting dialogue all this time! :) It’s not a huge deal, but it honestly makes such a difference for me when reading a fic and not having the flow of the story stopped because I’ve noticed the same mistake being made over and over. Anyway, my inbox is always open if anyone has any questions about this or anything else. I used to beta a lot back in my HP days, so if you’re unsure about anything grammar-wise, I’m your girl. (I mean I’m not your girl - I wasn’t making a pass at you or anything. :P)

🌙🤲🏽RAMADAN FOR DUMMIES🌙🤲🏽

❌ islamophobes begone❌

Ramadan is super close!!! - and I’m so excited. Every year I get tonnes of questions from my non-muslim friends and even muslim friends who want to know better. So I’m compiling it all here in this post.

~ I’ve been fasting each year for more than ten years and I’ve been a student of Islamic studies more than 13 years. So yeah I know what I’m talking about.~

What is Ramadan?

It’s the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and a pillar of Islam. It has extreme significant importance to Muslims as it is the month in which the Quran was first revealed. A very holy month in which Shaytan ( the devil) is said to be locked in chains and each good deed and prayer blesses a Muslim 70 times more than any normal month of the year.

Muslims all around the world spend each day fasting from dawn till dusk. We celebrate the end of this blessed month - the first three day of the next month, Shawal - in a celebration known as Eid-ul-Fitr. It’s a really big deal for us.

How do you know when Ramadan is? Does it have a fixed date? When is Ramadan this year?

Ramadan does not have a fixed date! It depends on physical sighting of the moon or the Saudi Arabian declaration of Ramadan ( which is then again, by sighting of the moon but some countries avoid the hassle and follow that. Or if it’s a non-Muslim majority.)

The moon cycle is different for many parts of the world, hence the beginning and end of Ramadan is different - usually no more than one day - for each country.

Ramadan 2k18 is estimated to begin on 15th May! -confetti burst-

So all you do is just abstain from food and drink from dawn till dusk in Ramadan?

No! We also abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and having sex from dawn till dusk. After breaking fast most Sunni Muslims also attend series of special prayers in congregations called ‘Tarawih’ which are specific to Ramadan only. Some Muslims segregated themselves for a few days in mosques of their homes - not engaging in talking or listening to music etc - and spend the time secluded in prayer. This is not specific to Ramadan but most Muslims prefer it during this Ramadan. This practice is called ‘I’ttekaaf’.

In Ramadan the Muslim community gets together, we break the fast together as family and friends. Some hold feasts at the end of Ramadan. Nearing the end of Ramadan and throughout Ramadan able affording Muslims give money to the poor and destitute from their property, money, jewellery. This practice is called Zakat. It is not an option, every able Muslim must give Zakat in Ramadan.

Not even water?

Yes, not even water. Nothing can go into your stomach or out of it during fast. Yes, you read that right. Voluntarily vomiting breaks the fast! ( I take ten minutes brushing my teeth during the fast…careful to not let water into my throat.)

If you’re sick, do you still have to fast?

It depends on the sickness itself. You may not fast if your sickness becomes worse with fasting - however if you are a well-off Muslim - you are to feed a poor person three meals for one day for each fast you miss for your sickness/any other reason from which you recover.

If it’s a mild sickness, take a break from fasting until you get better but you are required to complete your fasting after Ramadan.

Children smaller than ages 13-15 are not allowed to fast. If you are travelling a hard and long journey, you are not required to fast. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding - you are not required to fast but you are to make up the days you missed after Ramadan is over. And you can’t fast at all when you’re menstruating. Menstruating breaks your fast.

Do medical injections, drips, eye drops, nose drops break a fast?

It’s important not to swallow any of the nose drops etc. Otherwise it’s a-okay to use. Injections and drips as long as they aren’t of glucose/nourishing stuff are permitted during fasting.

Fasting is such a good way of losing weight lol. You all must get real skinny after Ramadan!

HAH. Listen, Muslims gain more weight during Ramadan than any other month. That’s because we party after dusk and we eat a lot of fatty stuff to keep us going throughout the day. And a lot of Muslim countries have special non-alcoholic sugary drinks that we drink so. Much. After breaking the fast.

Also that’s really fucking disrespectful, we don’t fast to diet, we fast as a religious duty and to practice patience and steadfastness. The whole Muslim community comes together during this month.

How can I be behave as a Non-Muslim during Ramadan?

Be respectful!

Don’t make a big deal out of eating infront of us - most of us have been fasting for ages.

Tag tumblr content like food, porn etc as #nsfr ( not safe for Ramadan)

Don’t call Eid, ‘The Muslim Christmas’ just…don’t.

Remember that Ramadan is for all Muslims. That includes minority Muslim sects ( wahabis don’t interact ), LGBT Muslims, Muslims suffering in war zones, disabled Muslims, new converts. Ramadan is for all of us.

Please, consider donating to the people of Syria, Palestine and the Rohingya Muslims this Ramadan. They are as much as part of this Ummah as we.

Ramadan Mubarak everyone. 🌙

How to Finish

I drew this poster for Jon Acuff and his FINISH book tour. Big thanks to Jon for this collaboration, his book has some great ideas about how to complete creative and life goals.

Beata Oxenstierna (nyo! Sweden) looking older than she should in this photo. Whoops.

That dress tho👌👌👌

OKAY I have been meaning to do this for MONTHS but hey, there’s no better time than the present so buckle up, here we go! THESE BOOKS ARE A GODSEND. I am ALWAYS on the lookout for writing aids that ACTUALLY HELP. If you’re like me, and occasionally venture out to buy books on, let’s say, showing vs telling - you will always get the same rehearsed speeches on what that means. -summons pretentious writer’s voice- You’ve got to shoooooow what’s happening in the scene, not teeeeeeell~~ BAH! What you NEVER get, however, is how to do it, or how do it better.

THESE BOOKS ARE THE STUFF OF DREAMS

Each of these is so freaking helpful, I can’t even convey. They all follow the same format as the pictures I’ve shown above, so you get one detailed page of descriptions followed by tons of more in-depth, thought provoking concepts. I’ll do my best to lay out the five that I have and if you are interested, hop on over to Amazon and buy these suckers up because they are AMAZING; I have NEVER used a writing resource more than I use these. Negative Trait Thesaurus & Positive Trait Thesaurus -gives you a definition of said negative trait -gives you similar flaws also found in the book -gives you possible causes of WHY the character might have this trait -gives you a list of other behaviors the chara might have -gives you examples of the chara’s thought process -gives associated emotions -gives positive aspects of the trait, as well as negative -gives examples of well known chara’s that have this trait -talks about how the chara might overcome it -gives traits that, when combined with this one, might cause conflict How I use this information: Chara building, or when I get stuck on what I want a character to do. Man, I just can’t decide what they WOULD do. Well, awesome, I have a little guide to help me think through the character’s possible motivations. Also, I get help building a potential backstory because I get a framework of which to think, why is the character this way? Urban Setting Thesaurus & Rural Setting Thesaurus -gives a whole lot of examples of sights, smells, tastes, and sounds -gives examples of textures and sensations (ie at an ‘antique shop’ you may encounter chipped paint, distressed wood, etc) -gives you possible sources of conflict (ie at a ‘hotel’ you might have noisy neighbors) -gives list of people you might expect to find at said location -gives related settings -gives tips on this type of setting -gives a setting description example How I use this information: IMAGERY IMAGERY IMAGERY Emotion Thesaurus (aka MY FAVORITE) -gives a definition of the emotion -gives physical signs and signals (ie chara may look pale, might fidget, etc) -gives internal sensations (aka, blood pounding in the ears, dry throat, adrenaline rush) -gives mental responses (ie fight or flight) -gives cues of acute or long-term impacts of the emotion -gives ‘may escalate to _______’ and directs you to other emotions -gives cues of suppression (ie cues of suppressed rage) -gives writer tips How I use this information: I love this book so hardcore, it’s so helpful with internalizing. It’s great because I get to step outside of that box of using the same five responses to a certain emotion and start really thinking about, what can a character do instead to show that they are feeling this, rather than me using adverbs or his adrenaline pumped fifty gazillion times. These books are all co-written by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi (bless their souls) and if this sounds of interest LOOK INTO IT!! I get such buyer’s regret after buying writing guides but these are legit the best ones I have found and I reference them so, so, so much. Hope this helps anyone out there looking for something life-changing!!

[Not all German regions were exactly…. Prussia-friendly, but Ludwig obviously wasn’t the smartest child and already the sole member of the Prussia-fanclub. The gents in the last panel from left to right are Bavaria, the Rhineland, and Württemberg.

Credit for the designs for Baden and Württemberg goes to @ask-thesouthwest! Thank you for letting me use them!]

Grandpa fights/arguments in the context of Germania×Rome? (If that makes sense?)

I think I got what you meant?…maybe…let me know if I got it wrong. -Admin Jay

Germania and Rome

Rome: “Well back in my day-”Germania: “We are from the same day!”

Germania: “These damn kids and their technological fruit.”Rome: “For the last time, it’s a phone, not food!”

Rome: “I demand a carriage!”Germania: “It’s a taxi, dammit.”

Germania to Prussia: “Back in our day, we didn’t have these fancy doctors and medicine. We just died.”Rome: “But we died drunk!”

me, as a fuckin dumbass I am, thought that "the uni" was european union ;_; so, you cook for yourself? chinese soups or something like that?

I’m not allowed to use the dorm kitchen after I tried making popcorn…

Feli and Alfred are culinary arts majors, so they invite friends over to each other’s dorms at least once a week to eat. We’re usually guinea pigs for their assignments.

Other than that, I usually eat out or order in.

ALWAYS BETTER TO CRASH THE MODE 

edit: added blue