Top 10 Muffin-Top Burning Exercises 

All About Writing Fight Scenes

@galaxies-are-my-ink asked,

“Do you have any advice on writing fight scenes? The type of scene I’m writing is mostly hand to hand combat between two experts. I’m definitely not an expert so when I try to write it, the scene ends up sounding repetitive and dull.”

Fore note: This post is coauthored by myself and one of my amazing critique partners, Barik S. Smith, who both writes fantastic fight scenes and teaches mixed martial arts, various artistic martial arts, and weapons classes.

I (Bryn) will tell you a secret: I trained MMA for seven years, and when I write authentic hand to hand fight scenes, they sound dull too. 

The problem with fight scenes in books is that trying to describe each punch and kick and movement (especially if it’s the only thing you’re describing) creates a fight that feels like it’s in slow motion. 

I write…

Lowering her center of gravity, she held her right hand tight to her face and threw a jab towards his chin. He shifted his weight, ducking under her punch. His hair brushed against her fist, and he stepped forward, launching a shovel hook into her exposed side.

But your brain can only read so fast. In real life that series of events would take an instant, but I needed a full eight seconds to read and comprehend it, which gave it an inherent lethargic feel. 

So, we have two primary problems:

How do we describe this fight in a way the reader can understand and keep track of? 

How do we maintain a fast paced, interesting fight once we’ve broken down the fight far enough for readers to understand it? 

(We will get back to these, I promise.) But for now, let’s look at…

Different types of “fight scenes:”

Keep reading

Cersei : You only have two dragons now 

Daenerys: Nope, still three

and…

I'm an aspiring artist, kinda Any specific tips?

I’m also still learning myself but I’ll give you some tips that helped me get to where i am today :D

Use REFERENCES! Don’t ever feel ashamed or embarrassed to, they seriously help. They will help you learn. I use to use reference for poses all the time in till I felt confident enough to start drawing my own poses from my head. using those references helped me learn some things about anatomy that i never noticed before. So use references for something you’re not really confident enough in till you do feel confident.

Get INSPIRATION. Find artists who inspire you (the more the better) if you just love the way they draw faces, or landscapes, or anything. examine their style copy a few of their drawings (its fine as long as you don’t post it or anything) use it as a reference, it will help you learn a few things and develop a style of your own. I have many artists i look up to and sometimes when i feel uninspired or on an art block, i would sometimes visit their blogs and just look at their art and it makes me feel like drawing something (I don’t think this works on everyone though)

POST THINGS! let people see your work. When someone likes it or re-blogs it or leaves a comment, it is like the best feeling ever! it will makes you want to draw even more and post your art. i highly recommend you to download this app called “art amino” it’s amazing for artists who want their work to be noticed. art amino is a very friendly community full of artists who also want to improve, they try to help each other out. Ive made so many good friends on that app and it gave me the confidence to post my art on bigger sites like Tumblr XD

DRAW DRAW DRAW! buy like one of those cute minnie sketchbooks where you can carry around everywhere, and draw in there when you have the chance, maybe have a goal to fill it in by the end of the year or something. dont over work your self though, it could hurt you, if you are ever on an art block, just walk away and do something else for a while, like watch a movie.

PATIENCE AND PRACTISE!!!!!! I know you probably get told that a lot but seriously i think that practise is the most important! I know that anyone can draw, the problem is not everyone wants to, and the people who want to, get discouraged if they don’t see results fast enough. BUT GETTING GOOD AT SOMETHING LIKE REALLY GOOD IS A VERY SLOW PROGRESS! Everyone starts from a level 0, everyone starts from nothing, i started from nothing, every big successful person started from nothing, its just the will to not give up no matter how hard it gets is what not every person has. everyone has the ability but not the will. BE THAT PERSON WHO HAS THE WILL!!! I believe in you!! no but for real, you can do it <3

Here are some links to stuff that really helped me out :D

Elentori’s Insp Blog- super cool i can just scroll through it forever (sadly it doesn’t go on forever :P)

References- these are suuuper helpful!!

tutorials- these are badass B)

character design references - <333

Ross Draws - very helpful for who wants to draw like a badass digitally

Mary doodles- very entertaining and awesome for traditional artists 

Markcrilley - Very amazing realistic drawings! and also Manga XD

Fine Art-Tips - for traditional artists (He’s amazing)

DrawingWiffWaffles- she’s super cool! just look at her sketchbook vids! inspirational :P

Draw with Jazza- does many tutorials (for almost everything art related) also does cool art competitions 

there are more but i don’t want to make this post too longbut I really hope I helps :)

On the Shelves in Oxford this week we have two books focusing on two of our favourite things- literature and happiness!

Thinking with Literature offers a new perspective for mainstream literary criticism and the value of close reading, and demonstrates viability of cognitive analysis of all kinds of literature.

Happiness Explained shows how a wide range of factors can contribute to better and happier lives and how, together, they provide a new blueprint for assessing progress in terms of personal wellbeing.

Photos by Yasmin Coonjah for Oxford University Press.

DeviantART – ArandaDill

Writing Character Relationships

Character relationships are important to add dimension to the characters and can help make them and the plot more realistic. This isn’t just for romantic relationships because building the characters’ platonic and familial relationships are important as well. So here are a few tips on creating believable and endearing relationships your readers will love.

Don’t rush into it. This goes for platonic relationships as well as romantic ones. A big cliché complaint with romance stories is that the two characters tend to meet and fall head over heels in love with each other after two conversations or one loving glance across the room (sorry Romeo and Juliet). While romantic connections can begin on the first date, the characters probably shouldn’t be professing undying love and devotion to each other an hour after meeting. The problem isn’t so much the length of time that they’ve known each other as it is how well they know each other, which is why character friendships need time too. If your characters spend two full days together where they really get to know each other deeply and we can see the progression from strangers to people who understand each other, great. If their relationship spans a year but all they do is check each other out then you have a problem. Make them know each other and interact in meaningful ways to create the relationship and show how it came to be.

Show their history. Not every relationship your characters have is going to be created in the span of time in which the story takes place. Your character might have a best friend they’ve known for ten years or three older siblings. Just because these predate the beginning of the story doesn’t mean you don’t have to show what kind of relationship they have. You can say that so-and-so is the best friend but you have to make us believe it. Are they the kind of friends that tell each other everything, like even what they probably shouldn’t? Or are they more the kind that have fun and leave the drama when they go out? Show what kind of relationship the characters have rather than just telling.

Give the reader a sense of why the relationship fits. In some stories you read about the guy and the girl who are just so cute together and they’re falling in love but…why? Why does this pairing work? Having things in common is important, particularly in things that are important to the character, like values. But they can and should also have differences, some of which serve to make the other better. Together they should push each other and support each other. If you make them connect in this way it makes the connection much stronger to the reader and that makes them want to cheer them on more. If it’s all about the smooching it can get rather boring quite quickly.

Make them complete without the other(s). I know I just said that making the characters push each other is a good thing, but they still need to be complete characters on their own. If the only real thing you can say about the character is that they are X’s soulmate or best friend, then they’re not a character. It’s more interesting to see how people interact with each other than Love Interests™ following each other around.  

this was gonna be a tutorial and i guess it still is but if anything it’s just a really long and drawn out “essay” on drawing people with epicanthic folds. one of my biggest pet peeves is people drawing asian people exclusively with the same type of eye they’d give white people or anyone else who typically doesn’t have the fold! however i know that most people are taught with the standard white person eye (google image search for “eye” and it’ll all be pictures of white people’s eyes) so learning to draw epicanthic folds is a consciously learned thing. 

therefore i bring you this, which attempts to break the mechanics of epicanthic folds down into something that’s a bit easier to digest and implement in your own art! 

style can be argued i guess but it’s not that hard to stylize eyes with folds if you do proper observation and research. eyes with epicanthic folds are as diverse as eyes without so it’s not like you have to adhere to a strict model for them (although many people think that you have to) and all it takes to distinguish the two in stylized art (and even in semi/realism once you think about it) is a few lines! like i said this is a learned process but it’ll make your asian characters (and characters of other races even) a bit more interesting and believable.

Ciel naming Sebastian (.◜ω◝.)

**Please  do not reupload  here/on other sites**