Risingstarling - Inner Ramblings

A Somewhat Useful Masterpost for Writers

Websites:

Write or Die is great if you want to give yourself a certain amount of time to write a set amount of words.

Tip of my Tongue for when you can’t remember the exact word

Character Traits Form 

Online Thesaurus where you just type in a word and you get a cluster of different words

Characters

Top 10 Questions for Creating Believable Characters

How to Create a Fictional Character

Describing Clothing and Appearance

The Difference between Ethnicity and Nationality

Describing a Voice

Characters (part 2)

How to write Funeral Directors  I’ve read quite a few fanfics where they just have funeral directors slapping clothes on a body and calling it a day. As a former funeral services major I can tell you that’s not the only thing they do.

How to write Drug Dealers

How to write Gamblers

Interview with a Hitman

Terms for royalty

Naming Characters

Behind the Name

Top Baby Names

Looking for a name that means a certain thing?

7 Rules of Picking Names

Most Common Surnames

Medical/Crime/Legal

Coma: Types, Causes, etc 

Tips for writing blood loss

Gunshot Wound Care

Examples of Hospital Forms

Common Legal Questions

The Writer’s Forensics Blog

Brain Injury Legal Guide

Types of Surgical Operations

Types of Mental Health Problems

A Day in the Life of a Mental Hospital Patient

Global Black Market Information Because where else would you find out how much money it takes to get a 16 year old girl to kill someone in Mexico?

Crime Scene Science

Examining Mob Mentality

How Street Gangs Work

Other Helpful Stuff

Poisonous Herbs and Plants

The Psychology of Color

The Meaning behind Rose color

Compare Character Heights - I personally love this site so much. 

Types of Swords

Color Symbolism

How a handgun works

Blueprints for Houses

The Six Types of Haunting Activities

The Difference Between lay and lie

10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling

5 Easy Tips to Improve Your Writing

How to Write a Eulogy

Types of Crying

Career Masterpost

Avoiding LGBTQ Stereotypes

Tips for Writing Ghost Stories

A Spell to See Spirits

Make Graphics out of Quotes

Superstitions and More

The 12 Common Archetypes

Language of Flowers

Military Sign Language

A Visual Dictionary of Tops

Describing Tiaras

What author do you most write like? (I’ve gotten Stephenie Meyer)

12 Realistic Woman Body Shapes

Japanese honorifics

Articles

25 Steps To Edit the Unmerciful Suck out of Your Story

10 Rules for Writing First Drafts

10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know About Writing

Create a Plot Outline in 8 Easy Steps

Publishing Agencies to Stay Away From

5 Ways to Make Your Novel Helplessly Addictive

Read More

Do you have any voice tips to offer???

OH MY GOD SOMEONE IS REALLY ASKING ME THIS SOMEONE IS REALLY ASKING ME THIS GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! 

Okay, composure Emily…composure! 

1.) A common problem that people have when singing is that they think raising their head up when they can’t reach a note will help. Let me tell ya, it really won’t. In fact, it will cause vocal problems down the road and really strain your voice. Tipping your chin down and level to the floor not only works better but sounds better.

2.) Stop using Glottal Attacks. It’s what happens when the edges of your vocal cords strike against each other in over closure. A good way to stop using them is to put soft “h’s” in front of words that begin with vowels. For example: everyone –> hh-everyone, I –> hh-I and always –> hh-always.

3.) VERY IMPORTANT TIP THAT PLAGUED ME FOR MOST OF MY CHILDHOOD: DO NOT I repeat DO NOT BREATHE WITH YOUR SHOULDERS! It used to make me shake while I sang and despite what you think, no it will not give you more air. Instead of breathing like that (vertically) you need to breathe from your chest area (I mean like around your ribs, diaphragm, etc.)  

Cup your hands around your ribs til the point where your fingers are touching. Slowly, and without moving your shoulders, breath from your abdomen. Imagine you are like a balloon being inflated. When you exhale your stomach should go IN and when your inhale your stomach should go OUT despite what cartoons depict. 

This reply is getting really long so I’ll finish it up with how you START up. Warm ups!

4.) Warm Ups. Doing warm ups before you sing is healthy for your voice and makes it easy to sing higher or lower without strain. 

This first one is called Lip Trills but I like to call it the Jean Kirschstein exercise. You know how a horse flubs it’s lips? Like BRRRRR! That’s how this works. We all do it when we’re bored but here is an example of it:

Yes, you look like a catfish, but it helps so it doesn’t matter. While you do this you hum different pitches. I do 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 which is basically like sliding up to the third and back. This may sound complicated so I’ll record a clip of it on vocaroo.

The next one is 1-5-1-9-1. We can sing this using various vowels but I use Ee-Ah-Ee-Ah-Ee.

LAST TIP! YOU NEED YOUR MOUTH TO LOOK LIKE A FISH…somewhat. When you sing things with vowels like “ee” or “ie” you tend to make your mouth wide like your smiling. DO NOT DO THAT. Instead, do this. 

Imagine that painting the Scream? Isn’t that what it’s called? Anyways, the painting of the guy that’s screaming. He holds his hands near his mouth in shock. For the time being until you can break that habit of smiling on those ie and ee words try doing this and see if it helps. 

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask! This is pretty much what I’ve learned from 10 years of singing lessons. 

Once again, I apologize that this post is really long. Thank you for asking! I love talking about singing in general! 

What do you mean I thought this was how everyone played basketball? haha

Can someone pls show them how to play basketball?

Keep reading

Part one: money, leases, landlords, legal stuff

what papers do i need to rent a house? 

Not a ton. You usually need your social security number, a driver’s license or state ID card, and copies of your paystubs or some other form of proof of income.

What is a mortgage and how does it work? Is renter’s insurance necessary? What do I do if my landlord is in violation of the lease?

A mortgage is a loan from the bank to buy a house. It’s a combination of the amount borrowed and the interest accrued. You agree to pay back the loan over a set period of time, in monthly payments. It’s a lot more involved than that so I guess let me know if you want more info on that, but you don’t really need to know about that until you’re purchasing a property. 

Renter’s insurance is required by most landlords. This is so the insurance company covers it if your home is damaged by a natural disaster or a car through your wall or something. It also covers your home getting broken into. Renter’s insurance is really cheap, I think mine is $10 a month or something.

If your landlord is in violation of the lease, go above them and talk to their supervisor or the property management company. If they aren’t responsive then go to a tenant’s rights group in your area, or contact the Department of Housing (depending on how big the issue is).

hey how are you! been following you awhile now. just wondering like how much money you should save before moving out, some tips for people not making a lot of money and dying to leave their parents lol

The general rule is 3 months of living expenses plus emergency money. This should include: 3 months of rent, 3 months of utilities, 3 months of transportation expenses (bus/train fare or gas + auto insurance), 3 months of food, 3 months of phone/internet, 3 months of miscellaneous household shit 

I’ll give you the breakdown for my house as an example:

$1300 rent x 3

$100 utilities x 3

$60 phone x 3

$70 internet x 3

$75 auto insurance x 3 OR $100 bus fare x 3

$200 food x 3

$50 houshold x 3 (toilet paper, toothpaste, paper towels, soap, cleaning supplies, towels, etc)

medical expenses, personal expenses, etc not included

$5565 total (not including gas because i forgot it)

Also, you need to put down a deposit on a unit and usually first months rent + last months rent. Deposits are generally one month worth of rent.  This means total move in expenses for my house (NOT including utilities set up fees, internet fees, or any household expenses) were $3900 to my landlord.

Also broker’s fees are a thing in big cities but not Seattle.

You also have to factor in general house shit like furniture, silverware, towels, blankets, etc. Having zero furniture is cool for awhile but will make you crazy in a short period of time (example: I lived in an apartment with no dresser, couch, chairs, or desk for six months. My only furniture was a tiny bookshelf and a mattress. It was the worst. I was only living there temporarily and didn’t want to move furniture when I moved into my permanent house).

I don’t have any credit (never had a credit card, loans, etc.) will it be hard for me to get a place to rent? 

In my experience, many places are wary of renting to people without credit. I think what generally turns them off is that you have never paid bills so they have no idea of knowing if you’ll be able to make rent on time. Oftentimes they will ask for a cosigner on a lease if you don’t have credit. This means that your parent or relative (or anyone really) will sign the lease with you and also have their name on there. This is so that if you stop paying your rent, fuck up the apartment, etc, if they are unable to find you or you will not pay the rent/charges, your cosigner is responsible for paying them.

I recommend paying bills in your name or getting a credit card and using it RESPONSIBLY. That means utilizing 30% or less of your total credit available, and always making payments ON TIME, ABOVE the minimum payment. Pay a small bill that gets paid every month for sure with a credit card, like your phone bill or the internet bill. 

I also recommend just moving into an established house and being put on the lease that way, or subletting. That way even though you don’t have credit you have rental history and references.

I know that when you rent a house you have to pay for things other than rent, what kind of stuff is normally included in that and how much is a reasonable amount to pay?

Other bills are generally water, sewer, garbage, and electricity, but it varies by location. In some states heating is separate, and it’s required for the landlord to pay the heating bill (though this may mean that they leave it on all winter and you cook, or they leave it on but really low and you freeze). The most common thing I’ve seen is that landlords pay w/s/g, and you pay for electricity. Again, this varies greatly by location. For example, my electricity gets billed 4x a year, so they’re pretty large bills when they come in, but it isn’t a monthly expense. Seattle is super mild so we don’t have air conditioning or regularly use heaters. We’re also running my boyfriend’s giant computer all the time. Our bills are generally $250-$350 every three months. This is split between four people so it’s not that bad, never more than $100 every cycle. But I gotta stress that this varies from place to place. I have friends that live in large houses with 5-6 people and their utilities are about $100 a month per person, on top of rent. You need to ask the landlord what they cover and what the utilities usually come out to every month.

HORROR STORIES/PREVENTATIVE MEASURES

When making your master post about basic tips etc, I’d like to share my horror story. I only turned on the water faucets in my bathroom not the kitchen and it turned out the cold water didn’t work. In addition the faucet was missing an aerator too so the water was super wiley. Ugh and I should mention I moved from an apartment on the 3rd floor of a building to the 10th and apparently the 10th floor has bug problems I could not foresee. Maybe some tips for prevent buggies?

Fuck that sucks. Bug tips right here. Know what they look like, don’t take furniture from the street!!!!!

WARNING SIGNS

what are some things you should watch out for when looking for somewhere to rent? With the landlord?

Unit: Lots of discarded furniture outside/by the dumpster/in communal spaces (bedbugs). Dirty communal washing machines. Dirty lobbies. Weed smell (personal preference lol). Indoor smoking. Established (5 years or older) building and many empty units. Many people leaving after year-long leases.

Landlord: Are they shady? Do they tell you about their drug habits? Do they use hard drugs? Do they accept 12 applications even though they know that the first person is going to get the unit (applications are $20-$50 each usually)? Do they avoid showing you parts of the building? Are they creepy? Do they hit on you? These are all things I have had happen when looking for a place and they were all huge red flags. Don’t rent from someone that does any of those things.

im viewing an apt tomorrow and making a list of questions to ask landlord. is there anything specific i should ask thats often forgotten?

What are the utility bills generally running each month? How long do tenants usually live in the unit? How much has the rent increased over the last three years? What kind of people live in the apartments (families, students, DINKs?)?

disclaimer: all of this varies place to place, city to city, state to state, etc. this is just based on my experiences viewing hundreds and hundreds of houses and apartments in seattle.

Hand Tutorial -Tips+Reference- by =Qinni

Great hand tips by =Qinni! ^.^

Here’s a little bit on subplots!

Skincare tips + some myth busting (acne edition) -pt1.

These are not your usual “drink water, moisturize, get plenty of sleep” shit. These are real stuff that worked for me, and they could work for you too. Keep in mind that everyone is different tho. Ur skin might not react as well as mine did.

1. It does not matter which cleanser you use

As long as it doesn’t irritate you and isn’t overly drying, it ok. Don’t bother investing in cleansers with active substances such as benzoyl peroxide or glycolic/salicylic acid, cleanesers simply do not sit on your skin for long enough for those to work. Save that money.

2. You don’t really have to change your pillowcase everyday, ya kno.

Acne bacteria are anaerobic. They won’t survive on your pillowcase anyway. Same goes for your pijamas, bra etc. if you have back acne.

3. Speaking of back acne, wear cotton and try not to carry too heavy rucksacks.

And for the love of god, don’t wear synthetic clothes AND carry heavy luggage at the same time. Will irritate you af. Synthetics do not absorb sweat so it just accumulates on your skin the whole day. Icky.

4. EXFOLIATION

But not the mechanical kind. Damages skin. Get yourself a good enzyme or acid peel, or a cream that contains them. Makes your skin so soft and nice and really helps with getting rid of blackheads and preventing blocked pores. As a bonus, gets rid of flaky skin, if you have it. There are many kinds of acids used for chemical exfoliation, mainly categorized as alpha hydroxy acids and beta hydroxy acids. They say alphas are gentler, and therefore better for sensitive skin, but also less effective for acne. I’ve tried and liked both, since I don’t have sensitive skin. Both worked for me. Do some research on this to find the best acid to use on your skin. Very important: exfoliate at night and use sunscreens!!! Exfoliating substances make your skin more sensitive to sunlight!

4. Invest in a chemical peel.

Get it performed by a dermatologist. For me, doing it once a month for three or four months saved my skin FOREVER.

5. Ditch lemon on your face…

…and apple cider vinegar. And baking soda. And sugar scrubs. And olive oil. The first two are too acidic. Baking soda is too basic. Sugar scrubs are too abrasive. Olive oil’s chemical composture isn’t suitable for acne prone skin (too much oleic acid. Ur oily skin already has enough of it. Search for oils high in linoleic acid if you want to use oils as moisturizers). Raw honey is good, apparently. Cinnamon and turmeric too. Stay vary with turmeric because according to some studies it makes skin more sensitive to sunlight.

6. You don’t really have to use toner. Invest in some hyaluronic acid serum if you want a middle step between cleansing and moisturizing.

Hyaluronic acid is an amazing humectant, and makes skin sooo well hydrated. I prefer to first apply hyaluronic to hydrate and then seal that water in with some oil-based moisturizer. That + regular exfoliation = soft skin!!!!

7. Retinoids

I used Differin on my back and it cleared me up sooo well and also got rid of my hyperkeratosis pilaris. I had quite bad bacne, and after three months they are pretty much gone. Unfortunately I’m still waiting for post-inflammatory erithema (red marks) to fade buuuut hey, I have no more acne! You should also probably go to your dermatologists to get more information on which retionid you need. Don'tforget to wear sunscreen while you’re on it. Also: you don’t have to exfoliate while on retinoid. You can, if your skin is not sensitive, but it’s not particularly necessery.

8. Topical antioxidants

Literally the most important and least known thing on this list. Lemme get a bit scienc-y.

All acne begin their journey as blocked pores. Blocked pores are those white, bumpy, skin-colored little shits below the skin surface. The most important thing you can do to prevent your acne is to prevent blocked pores. Pores are blocked as a result of sebum oxidation and consequent formation of squalene peroxide, the most comedogenic substance on earth. Bam. You have clogged pore, the perfect breeding ground for acne bacteria, which then triggers inflammatory response by your body and you get a red zit.

But this red zit would’ve never happened if your sebum never oxidized. Substances that prevent oxidation are - you guess it - antioxidants. So get yourself a good product with vitamin c, vitamin e, niacin(b3), or green tea (green tea is especially good, because it also reduces sebum output. It’s not enough to just place teabag on your skin, it wil just sit on your skin and won’t penetrate. Buy a cream). This is where you splurge, ladies. Antioxidants are also good as an anti-aging agent and serve as a protection from envirotmental pollution. Pays to invest in them.

Bonus tip

Sudocrem + tea tree oil = spot treatment!!!

Ok so this is it for now. I hope some of you will find this advice useful. I wanted to include diet/supplement tips in this post too but since this text turned out to be hella long I decided to leave it for another time. Stay happy pals!