The Paper House

victoriousvocabulary:

TRUCULENT

[adjective]

1. fierce; cruel; savagely brutal.

2. brutally harsh; vitriolic; scathing.

3. aggressively hostile; belligerent.

Etymology: Latin truculentus, equivalent to truc-, stem of trux - savage, pitiless.

[Sandara]

victoriousvocabulary:

QUIXOTIC

[adjective]

1. exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic and impractical.

2. caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality; extravagantly chivalrous.

3. capricious; impulsive.

Etymology: From English Quixote, a visionary, after Don Quixote, hero of a romance by Miguel de Cervantes.

[Chris Patio]

keyboardsmashwriters:

Finding Unique Character Traits || Part 1

Exercise –
Take your cast of characters and describe their hands.

Why? –
Description of characters often relies heavily upon eye and hair color, and while these things can be important, they’re only a starting point. Unique traits are what set characters apart, giving them contrast from the rest of the cast that helps them stand out, and sometimes finding the unique trait in question requires a bit of searching.

Goal –
Hands are unique to every person. So much can be said about a character by their calluses, the length and quality of their nails, tan lines, discolorations, prominent scars, so on and so forth.

Think of your character’s activities and how it shows on their hands. Do they have a job that requires a lot of labor? How about dirty labor? Do they smoke? Do they have anxiety-induced nail-biting habits? Do they chew on their fingers? Are they artists or do they write by hand a lot? Even the strength in one’s grip or how someone shakes hands with another speaks volumes.

If you’re feeling up to the challenge, then describe their hands as they’re using them, or describe their hands from the perspective of another character as said character notices them—however that might occur. Put the description in a story, a piece of flash fiction or a snippet. See what happens.

Make sure to tag your posts with “ksw exercise”!

writeworld:

Writer’s Block

A picture says a thousand words. Write them.

Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.

Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!

fuckyeahforensics:

Note the bright “cherry red” or bright pink lividity to the hand. Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is a form of asphyxia that results when CO is inhaled, diffuses across alveoli, and binds tightly to hemoglobin. Poorly ventilated houses with faulty heaters, housefires, and motor vehicle exhaust are the most common sources. Even small atmospheric concentrations of CO are dangerous, because CO binds to hemoglobin 200 times more avidly than oxygen. Drowsiness and headache occur at carboxyhemoglobin concentrations between 10 and 20%. Levels from 20 to 30% can be fatal to persons with pre-existing cardiac or respiratory disease. Levels above 30 to 40% can be fatal to anyone. Similar lividity could be the result of cyanide poisoning or monofluoroacetate poisoning.

(via halloa-what-is-this)

dduane:

Stained glass Sun, Southwark Tavern, London