On Filler Words

lizard-is-writing:

Anonymous asked: “I have a terrible attachment with just. I use it way too much in my writing, and I know it’s one of those words you should avoid, along with very and really. The problem is I don’t know what words to replace it with.”

Just, very, and really are what I’d call filler words. They don’t actually serve much of a purpose in writing unless they’re part of the voice and they don’t make much of an impact on the sentence. 

Keep reading

Character Questionnaire

plasticdynasty:

Here is a detailed character meme to fill in! (If you’re stuck on some of the questions, check the prompts here.)

Full name

[name here]

Preferred name/nickname

[name here]

Generally referred to as

[name here]

Appearance.

FACECLAIM: [Do you have a faceclaim for your character?]
SEX: [Is their anatomy male, female, or other? Was this always the case?]
HEIGHT: [how tall/short are they?]
WEIGHT: [how heavy/light are they?]
BUILD: [Thin? Fat? Bulky? Muscular? Toned? etc]
HAIR: [describe their hair, is it long or short? Soft or course? Do they style it a certain way? Do they dye it?]
SKIN: [What colour is their skin? Is it rough or smooth? Is it soft or hard? Note: feel free to change this to fur/scales etc if that’s more appropriate for your character!]
EYES: [What colour are their eyes? Do they have a distinctive sparkle or do they look kind of dull and tired? Long or short eyelashes? Eye bags? Wrinkles? Hooded lids?]
MOUTH: [Big mouth or small? Plump lips or thin lips? Perfect white teeth or crooked, gappy ones?]
NOSE: [Big or little? Pointy or bulbousy? Huge, cavernous nostrils or teeny little ones?]
HANDS: [Big or small? Manicured fingernails? Claws? Wrinkles? Visible veins? Bony knuckles? Or smooth skin and soft features?]
FEET: [Big or small? Bony or plump? Trimmed toenails? Claws?]
SCARS: [Any visible scars?]
CLOTHES: [What is their clothing style?]
OTHER FEATURES: [Optional for non-human characters, or human characters with uncommon features]
OTHER NOTEABLE FEATURES: [Optional - anything you need to mention that isn’t covered by the above.]

Speech.

VOICECLAIM: [For those without faceclaims - do you have a voiceclaim for your character?]
ACCENT: [Do they have an accent?]
VERBAL TICKS: [Any verbal ticks? Such as a tendency to stutter, repeat themselves, stumble over their words, etc.]
LANGUAGE: [What language(s) do they speak? If more than one, are they fluent in all these languages?]
ARTICULATION: [Do they tend to be good at explaining things, or can they be clumsy with words when trying to explain something?]
EDUCATION: [Do they tend to use a lot of long words? Do they ever show off about how many big words they use? Or do they prefer to use short, simple language?]
LAUGHTER: [What is their laugh like? Do they laugh a lot, or not very often?]
GRUMP: [Do they ever grumble, sneer, or grunt about things?]
BREATHING: [Do they tend to gasp, sigh, humph or sniff at things?]

Mannerisms.

FACE: [Do they have an expressive face? Do they show their emotions in their face? Or do they tend to have a poker face most of the time?]
HANDS: [Do they make a lot of hand gestures? What kind of gestures do they use?]
LEGS/FEET: [Do they tap their feet or jiggle their leg?]
EMOTIONAL OUTBURSTS: [Are they prone to these? Do they tend to cry or yell when they’re upset, or laugh and jump about when they’re happy?]
HABITS: [Do they have any habits, like humming or singing or fidgeting or fiddling?]
POSTURE: [Do they usually stand straight and to attention, or do they tend to slump? Does their posture change with their mood? How does it change?]
WALKING POSTURE: [How do they walk? Do they skip gleefully along, do they march like a soldier, do they slump their shoulders and stomp around?]
SITTING POSTURE: [How do they like to sit? Cross legged? Slouched? Feet apart or together?]
PERSONAL SPACE: [Do they like to maintain a personal bubble, or does it bother them when people get in their personal space? Do they tend to be respecful of others’ personal space?]
SPACIAL AWARENESS: [Are they good at noticing what’s around their physical space? Or do they tend to be clumsy and bump into things?]
OTHER: [Optional - anything not covered by the above.]

Health:

DIET: [What do they like to eat? Do they have a healthy, well-balanced diet? Do they eat a lot of junk food? Or do they sometimes forget to eat?]
SLEEP: [Do they sleep a lot? Or not a lot? Do they go to bed late, or do they sleep early and get up early? Are they prone to nightmares or strange dreams?]
EXERCISE: [Do they work out a lot? Too much, not enough, or just right?]
ACTIVITY: [Do they tend to work hard and exhaust themselves? Or are they pretty lazy? Or somewhere in between?]
CLEANLINESS: [Do they bathe regularly? Are they meticulous about washing?]
ODOUR: [Do they have any particular body odour (good or bad)?]
MEDICINAL DRUGS: [Any medicinal drugs taken?]
NARCOTICS: [Any recreational drugs taken?]
ADDICTIONS: [Any physical addictions?]
ILLNESS: [Any physical ailments?]
INJURIES: [Any injuries that never completely healed, and still cause trouble?]
PARASITES: [Do they have fleas or any other parasites?]
OTHER: [Optional - anything not covered by the above.]

Personal.

INTROVERT/EXTROVERT?: [Is your character one of these? How does that manifest in their life?]
OPTIMIST/PESSIMIST: [Which of these are they? Or are they in between?]
GENDER: [What is the character’s gender, if any? Do they feel that their gender matches their anatomy?]
SEXUALITY: [What type of person do they feel sexual attraction for, if any? Do they have a preference for one sex/gender in particular? Do they prefer their own race/species, or another? Is their any type of person they absolutely would NOT want to get into bed with? Or do they have no preference?]
ROMANTIC: [Are they inclined towards romance? Do they enjoy lots of romance, a little, or do they prefer no romance at all? Do they see themselves married with kids one day, or would they prefer to be alone?]
MEMORY: [Do they have a good memory? Or are they forgetful? Are they good at remembering certain things and not others?]
PLANNING: [Are they good at planning? Do they spend a lot of time planning or do they tend to leap right into things?]
PENSIVE: [Do they spend a lot of time thinking over their actions, their life, their problems, etc?]
INTUITION: [Are they good at making the right decisions, or at figuring things out from minimal clues?]
PROBLEM SOLVING: [Are they good at dealing with puzzles and problems?]
GOALS: [What is their main goal in life? Do they have any short-term goals?]
INSECURITIES: [Is there anything they are insecure about? Do they hide their insecurities well? Do they affect the way they live their life?]
ACHIEVEMENTS: [Anything they’re especially proud of?]
ANXIETY: [What, if anything, causes the character to feel anxiety?]
OVERWHELMED: [Do they ever feel like things are just too much?]
SELF-HELP: [How do they deal with their life problems?]
COMFORTS: [What helps the character to feel comfortable and happy?]
BAD HABITS: [Do they have any bad habits?]
PHILOSOPHY: [Do they have any religious or philosophical beliefs? What are they?]
TRIGGERS: [Do they have any triggers?]

The Past.

PARENTS/GUARDIANS: [Did they have a good relationship with their parents while they were growing up?]
SCHOOL: [Did they do well at school, or did they struggle?]
ADOLESCENCE: [How did puberty go? Was it a hard change? What was particularly hard (or easy) about it?]
LEAVING HOME: [What was it like for them leaving home for the first time? What prompted them to move out of the home they grew up in?]
FURTHER EDUCATION: [Did they go to college? University? What did they study, and how well did they do?]
FIRST JOB: [What was their first job? Did they enjoy it?]
LIFE EVENTS: [Did they have any important life events that affected the route their life took? This could be something traumatic or it could be something pleasant like graduating with good grades.]
WORST DAY OF THEIR LIFE: [What happened?]
BEST DAY OF THEIR LIFE: [What happened?]
LESSONS: [What are the most important things they have learned through experience?]
LOOKING BACK: [If they could re-play their life and do something differently, what would they do?]

Relationships.

FAMILY: [Who, if anyone, does the character consider their family? Are these blood relatives? And do they have a good relationship with their family?]
FRIENDSHIPS: [Do they have lots of friends, or just one or two close friends? What do they look for in a friend?]
FRIENDS IN NEED: [How do they help a friend who is going through hard times? Do they offer advice and support, or do they feel uncomfortable, not knowing what to say?]
NEEDING A FRIEND: [Do they tend to go to friends when they need help and support? Or do they deal with their problems on their own? Do their friends ever worry about them?]
ANNOYANCES: [How do they deal with arguments and disagreements with friends or partner?]
ROMANCE: [If applicable: how do they woo a potential partner? What do they look for in a potential partner?]
MARITAL PROBLEMS: [How do they deal with problems in their love life? Do they talk it through with their partner? Or do they bury their head in the sand?]
ADVERSARIES: [What would turn them off a friendship or romance?]
ENEMIES: [What would make them hate someone enough to call them an enemy?]
STRANGERS: [Do they tend to be respectful to strangers, or are they careless towards anyone who they don’t consider a friend?]
FUN STUFF: [What kind of things do they like doing with a friend?]
DATING: [What kind of things to they like doing with a romantic partner?]
BEST FRIEND: [If applicable - who do they consider their best friend?]
LOVE: [If applicable - who do they consider to be the love of their life?]
WORST ENEMY: [If applicable - who do they consider to be their worst enemy?]
RESPECT: [Do they respect their enemies, even if they don’t like them? Is there anyone they disrespect? Why?]

Interactions.

MINGLING: [Do they get along well with others, in general? Or are they bad at making new friends?]
COMFORT LEVELS: [Do they feel comfortable talking to people? What might others do that could make them uncomfortable?]
PHYSICAL: [Do they tend to be touchy-feely? Do they hug people or pat them on the back> Or do they prefer not to touch anyone?]
GROUPS: [Are the comfortable in a big group? Or do they prefer to spend time with just one or two people?]
OPENNESS: [Do they tend to open up easily? Or does it take them a while to open up to someone?]
GENEROSITY: [Do they like to buy gifts and treats for others? Would they be willing to lend money to a friend? How do they feel about people buying gifts for them?]
JEALOUSY: [What might make them feel jealous towards somebody else? Is there anyone they are jealous of, or have been jealous of in the past? How do they deal with jealousy?]
TEMPER: [Are they easily worked up or do they have a lot of patience?]
EMPATHY: [Are they able to empathise with another person’s feelings? Or do they tend to be clumsy and put their foot in it? Or do they just not care who they hurt?]
AFFECTION: [How do they show affection for others?]
DISTASTE: [How do they show that they dislike someone?]
ETIQUETTE: [Do they tend to stick to the polite norms of social situations, or can they sometimes be rude or inappropriate?]
RESPONSIBILITY: [Do they admit when they’re wrong? If they make a mistake, do they try to correct it?]
SELF ESTEEM: [Do they tend to stick up for themselves or do they let others push them around? Why?]
CONFIDENCE: [Do they care what others think of them?]
HONESTY: [Do they always speak their thoughts honestly? Or will they keep things private if they feel that it might upset someone?]
LEADER OR FOLLOWER: [Which one are they? Or are they neither?]
PARTY TRICKS: [Do they have any special skills or talents that impress other people and gain them praise?]
PRAISE: [Are they comfortable accepting compliments?]
FAILURES: [Is there anything they do that makes people annoyed or irritated?]
CRITICISM: [How do they take criticism?]
INSULTS: [How do they take insults?]
EMBARRASSMENT: [Are they easily embarrassed? How do they handle embarrassment?]
FLIRTING: [Are they flirtatious? Why?]
ATTENTION SPAN: [Are they able to concentrate on lots of things? Can they hold their concentration well? Or are they easily distracted?]
SITUATIONS: [Are they good at dealing with difficult social situations? Such as an argument or someone getting upset?]

Life.

CAREER: [Do they have a career? Are they good at it and do they like it?]
PROMOTION: [Are they hoping to advance their career?]
BOSS: [Do they have a good relationship with their boss?]
DUTY: [What kind of responsibilities do they have?]
TECH: [Are they good with modern technology or do they prefer not to tough a computer?]
POLITICS: [Do they have strong political opinions? How to they show their support/opposition for their leaders? Do they vote?]
COMBAT SKILLS: [Can they fight and defend themselves?]
HOME: [How do they like to keep their home and their personal space? Are they messy or organized?]
DAILY LIFE: [Do they cope well with day-to-day or do they tend to feel out of their depth?]
INDEPENDENCE: [Can they get on well by themselves? Or do they sometimes need help dealing with things like bills and bank accounts?]
COOKING: [Can they cook?]
BUILDING: [Can they put together an item of furniture or do basic DIY?]
CLEANING: [Do they keep their home clean and tidy? Do they always do their chores?]
SHOPPING: [Do they like to shop? Or do they prefer to only go to the store when absolutely necessary? Are they prone to impulsive buying or do they shop sensibly?]
DRIVING: [Can they drive, or operate any vehicle?]
FINANCES: [Are they in a good position financially? Are they good at taking care of their bank account? Do they usually pay their bills on time?]
MARRIAGE: [Are they married? Do they plan on getting married? If so, how do they plan on spending their life with their partner?]
KIDS: [Do they have or want kids?]
PETS: [Do they have or want pets?]
DEPENDANTS: [Do they have anyone to look after, such as an elderly relative or a sick friend?]
LAW: [Have they ever done anything illegal? What was it?]
COURT: [Have they ever been in court? Why? And what was the verdict?]
PRISON: [Have they ever been in prison?]
TRAVELLING: [Have they ever been on holiday, or would they like to?]
MEDICAL: [Do they go to the doctor/dentist when they need to? Or are they afraid of going to see the doctor?]
ILLNESS: [Do they have any mental illnesses that affect the way they live their life?]
WORRIES: [Is there anything that keeps them awake at night?]
PEACE: [Do they like peace and quiet? Or do they prefer always to listen to the radio or playing their favourite songs?]
PARTYING: [Do they go out partying a lot? Or do they prefer to stay in?]
HOBBIES: [Anything they enjoy doing in their spare time?]

friendlytroll:

incurablenecromantic:

Sometimes people like to write things about florist’s shops.  Here are two things you need to know, the most egregiously wrong things.

1. It makes no fucking sense to sketch out a bouquet before you make it.  Every individual flower is different in a way that cannot really be adjusted the way other building materials can be adjusted, and each individual bouquet is unique.  Just put the fucking flowers together.

2. No one — in months and months of working at the flower shop — has ever cared what the flower/color of the flower means.  No one’s ever asked.  It’s just not something people tend to care about outside of fiction and it’s certainly not something most florists know.  You know what florists know?  What looks good and is thematically appropriate.

Here’s an actual list of the symbology of flowers, as professionals use it:

Yellow – for friends, hospitals
Pink – girls, girlfriends, babies, bridesmaids
Red – love
Purple – queens
White – marriage and death (DO NOT SEND TO HOSPITALS)
Pink and purple – ur mum
Red, orange, and yellow – ur mum if she’s stylish
Red, yellow, blue – dudes and small children
Blue and white – rare, probably a wedding
Red and white – love for fancy bitches

Here are what the flowers actually mean to a florist:

The Fill It Out flowers:

Carnations – fuck u these are meaningless filler-flowers, not even your administrative assistant likes them, show some creativity
Alstroemeria – by and large very similar to carnations but I like them better
Tea roses – cute and lil and come several to a stalk, a classy filler flower
Moluccella laevis – filler flower but CHOICE
Delphinium – not as interesting as moluccella but purple so okay I guess
Blue thistle – FUCK YEAH, some fucking textural variety at last!  you’re getting this for a dude, aren’t you?
Chrysanthemums – barely better than carnations but better is still better
Gladiolus – ooh, risky business, someone understands the use of the Y-axis, very good

Focal points:

Long-stem roses – yeah whatever
Lilies – LBD, looks good with everything, get used as often as possible
Hydrangeas – thirsty fuckers, divas of the flower world and rightly so, treat them right and they make you look good
Gerbera daisies – the rose’s hippie cousin, hotter but no one admits it
Peonies – CHA-CHING, everybody’s absolute favorite but you need guap
Orchids – if this isn’t for a wedding you’re probably trying too hard but they’re expensive so keep ordering them

You know what matters?  THE CUSTOMER’S BUDGET.  THAT’S TELLING.

-$20 – if you’re not under 12, fuck off, get your sugar something else
$30 – good for bouquets but an arrangement will be lame
$40 – getting there, there’s something that can be done with that.  you can get some gerbs or roses with that and not have them look stupidly solo.
$50 to $70 – tolerable
$80 – FINALLY.  It sounds elitist but this really is the basic amount of money you should expect to spend on an arrangement that matters.  That’s your Mother’s Day arrangement.  You’re probably not going to spend $80 on a bouquet.
$90 to $130 – THE GOOD SHIT, you’re likely to get some orchids
$130+  – Weddings and death.  This amount of money gets you a memorial arrangement or a handmade bridal bouquet.  Don’t spend this on a Mother’s Day or a Babe I Love You arrangement, buy whosits a massage or something.

Miscellaneous:

• Everything needs greening and if you don’t think that you’re an idiot. 
• As a new employee, when you start making arrangements, you can’t see the mistakes you’re making because you’re brand new and you’re learning an art form from the ground up.
• With a few exceptions customers don’t have a clear plan in mind.  They want you to develop the bouquet for them.  They want something that will delight their little sweetbread but you’re lucky if they know that person’s favorite color, let alone flower.
• Flower shops don’t typically have every kind of flower in every kind of color.  Customers generally aren’t assed about that.  Most people don’t care about the precise shade of the rose or having daffodils in July, because they’re not boning up on flower language before they buy.  That would imply that they’ve got a clear bouquet in mind and, again, they don’t.
• Being a florist is essentially a lot like what I imagine being a mortician is about.  You’re basically keeping dead things looking good for as long as possible.  You keep the product in the fridge so it doesn’t rot and look horrible by the time the family gets a whack at it, and in the meanwhile you put it in a nice container.

Anyway that’s flowers.

this is magnificent and I love hearing about ppl job feilds

worldwithinworld:

When you are writing a story and refer to a character by a physical trait, occupation, age, or any other attribute, rather than that character’s name, you are bringing the reader’s attention to that particular attribute. That can be used quite effectively to help your reader to focus on key details with just a few words. However, if the fact that the character is “the blond,” “the magician,” “the older woman,” etc. is not relevant to that moment in the story, this will only distract the reader from the purpose of the scene. 

If your only reason for referring to a character this way is to avoid using his or her name or a pronoun too much, don’t do it. You’re fixing a problem that actually isn’t one. Just go ahead and use the name or pronoun again. It’ll be good.

dear white male writers: DO NOT DO THIS

typhoidmeri:

dizzy-redhead:

geekandmisandry:

someoneintheshadow446:

catsfeminismandatla:

geekandmisandry:

laughlikesomethingbroken:

thatgirlonstage:

laughlikesomethingbroken:

laughlikesomethingbroken:

wearevengeancenow:

the-thorster:

fozmeadows:

These horrific, sexist, racist paragraphs - screenshotted and shared for posterity by James Smythe, to whom we are all indebted - are the work of one Liam O’Flynn, a writer and English teacher. Evidently, they come from his book Writing With Stardust: the Ultimate Descriptive Guide for students, parents, teachers, and lovers of English, and are intended as examples of good writing.

UM.

Dear white male writers: DO NOT DO THIS SHIT. IT IS SUPER GROSS AND FETISHISTIC AND ALSO TERRIBLE WRITING. THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS. 

Like I just. “Her virility-brown eyes -” WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN? How can you have an “Amazonian figure” ON a “wafer-thin body” when “figure” is a word that describe’s a body’s shape, and Amazonian means pretty much the DIRECT FUCKING OPPOSITE of “wafer-thin” in the first place?  What the shitting fuck does ANY of this mean, apart from “I am only nebulously familiar with the concept of women and completely at a loss if I can’t compare their various bodyparts to jewels, animals and footstuffs”?

STOP 

GO TO WRITING JAIL

GO DIRECTLY TO WRITING JAIL, DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200

tag yourself i’m the two beryl-green jewels in the snow

if her ears frame her nose do they like, grow directly beside her nose? how does she see from them? 

*facepalm*

“ Writing With Stardust: the Ultimate Descriptive Guide for students, parents, teachers, and lovers of English “

lovers of english

oh my goddddddd

i can’t get over this fucking post

“I loved her nebulous, eden-green eyes which were a-sparkle with the ‘joie de vivre’. They were like two beryl-green jewels melted onto snow.”

1. what the fuck is joie de vivre

2. melted jewels?

3. beryl green

eden green:

WHICH ONE IS ITTTTTTTTT

@laughlikesomethingbroken

“Joie de vivre” is a French phrase that literally translates to “joy of living”, while it IS one of those phrases that gets used in English in this context it is SO EXTRA AND UNNECESSARY OH MY GOD. Don’t use French to make yourself sound sophisticated when you’re NOT I don’t know where to even START. Curvilinear waist? Sugar candy-sweet? What the FUCK are seraph’s ears? Voguish clothes? What the everloving fuck is “constellation blue” supposed to mean??? Like forget the objectification, this writing is horrifying enough before we even get to the embedded sexism

seraph’s ears are ears that you can’t see bc they’re hidden behind her 6 wings

Oyster white teeth?

holy purple prose batman

Female writers do this too. Have you read a Mills and Boon novel? Have you read high school girls’ yaoi fanfics?

Uh oh, we were focusing too much on how a grown man is selling this shit and not enough shitting on teenage girls. Egalitarians here to put an end to that shit.

Guess what? I’ve read A LOT of Harlequin novels and a LOT of fanfic and I have never ever seen anything this horrible at description.

Also, none of those stories were trying to hold themselves up as high examples of the craft

Originally posted by a-majestic-indignation

Enlisted Ranks: Army

scriptsoldier:

There’s nothing I hate more than a story that didn’t even try to get its ranks right. Why is a major giving orders to a colonel? Why is a first sergeant working with a bunch of fuzzies? Why the hell did you just call the sergeant major ‘sir’? 

Military ranks are different across the branches, but if your story features the U.S. Army, here’s a breakdown of enlisted ranks and rank etiquette. (other branches coming soon!)

Basics
Ranks in the army follow a numerical pattern, so if you’re ever not quite sure what the name of the rank higher is, you can reference them by nomenclature.
E-series: E stands for enlisted. This refers to soldiers from private to sergeant major. 
O-series: O stands for officer. This refers to soldiers from second lieutenant to general. O-series post coming soon!
W-series: W stands for warrant officer. This refers to soldiers from warrant officer 1 to chief warrant officer 5. W-series post coming soon!

In ACUs, (army combat uniform) the rank is worn in the center of the chest via a velcro patch. In class-A uniforms, the rank is worn on the shoulder.

Each pay grade earns slightly more per month than the one before it. Officers make significantly more money per month than enlisted. Time in service also affects pay, meaning a sergeant who’s been in six years will make more than a staff sergeant who’s been in three years.

E-1: Private
Most people who enlist come in at E-1 unless they were in JROTC, have a college degree, or performed some other feat with their recruiters prior to enlisting i.e. volunteer work, good P.T. scores, etc. This is the lowest pay grade and has no rank. Soldiers who are E-1s do not wear a rank. 
also known as: PV1, fuzzy (because they wear no velcro rank, there’s a patch of bare fuzz in the middle of their uniform. You can buy a patch to cover it.)
Title: Private, PV1

E-2: Private
Yes, there are two ranks by the name of private. You reach E-2 automatically after six months of enlistment. If you enroll in the Delayed Entry Program or have an acceptable P.T. card with your recruiter, you can enlist as an E-2 instead of an E-1. At E-2, you more or less have no more power than an E-1. 
also known as : PV2
Title: Private, PV2

E-3: Private First Class
The final “private” class. You reach E-3 automatically after 12 months of enlistment, assuming you’ve been an E-2 for at least four months. If you were in JROTC for four years, you enter automatically at this rank. This rank still doesn’t have much power, but may be put in charge of other privates and may assist their team leader with tasks, and on occasion may be a team leader themselves.
also known as : PFC
Title: Private, PFC.

E-4: Specialist/Corporal
The last “junior enlisted” class. You reach specialist automatically after 24 months of enlistment, assuming you’ve been a PFC for at least six months. If you enlist with a completed four year college degree, you can start out as an E-4 instead of an E-1. Specialists tend to be team leaders and may be in charge of other specialists and privates. When no NCOs are present, the senior specialist is in charge. 

Corporal, while technically the same pay grade as specialist, is actually an essentially higher rank. It’s a special rank only bestowed on those who are in leadership positions and are awaiting the appropriate time in service/time in grade to be promoted to sergeant. Corporals are considered NCOs while specialists are considered junior enlisted.  Strictly speaking corporals and specialists are the same rank, but in most situations, corporals out rank specialists.
also known as: shamshields, (specialist only) SPC, CPL
Title: Specialist, Corporal

—

Intermission!

Man, all of that text is boring. Let’s break it up a bit with some rank etiquette, shall we?

• Lower enlisted (E-1 thru E-4) tend to call each other by their surname regardless of rank. Even an E-1 will probably be calling a specialist just by their name. The exception is Corporals, who are considered NCOs and are referred to by rank.

• E-5 and above are referred to as “NCOs,” or non-commissioned officers. 

• NCOs with similar ranks might call each other by their surnames and will call lower enlisted by their surnames. When discussing another NCO with a lower enlisted, they will use that NCO’s proper rank. So a sergeant speaking to a PFC will say “Sergeant Smith needs you,” not “Smith needs you.” Freshly promoted sergeants who still hang out with lower enlisted might not mind their friends calling them their surnames in private, but formally and professionally they’re expected to address their senior properly. 

• Lower enlisted ranks are often called “joes,” especially when an NCO is addressing another NCO about their squad or platoon. “Have your joes had chow yet?” = “Have the soldiers directly under your command eaten yet?” 

• It’s considered inappropriate for lower enlisted to hang out with NCOs and it’s discouraged, especially in the work place. 

Are you all rested up? Great! Let’s get back to the ranks. 

—

E-5: Sergeant

Finally: the NCO ranks! Unlike the previous ranks, you cannot automatically rank up to sergeant. You must attend special courses and be seen by a promotion board where you’ll be expected to recite the NCO creed and have knowledge appropriate for an non-commissioned officer. From this rank on, lower-ranked soldiers will refer to you as “sergeant” and you will likely be a squad leader or in another leadership position. 

• Lower enlisted do NOT refer to sergeants by their surname unless it is paired with their rank. “Sergeant Smith,” not just “Smith,” or your private will be doing a lot of push-ups. 

• No one calls them “Sarge.” Like… just don’t do it friends. 

• Some pronounce sergeant in such a way it sounds as though the g is dropped entirely. Ser-eant, or phonetically, “saarnt.” 

also known as: SGT

Title: Sergeant

E-6: Staff Sergeant

Sergeant Plus. You probably will have similar responsibilities to an E-5, meaning probably a squad leader unless you need to fill in for a platoon sergeant. Don’t misunderstand; in lower enlisted ranks, private and private first class aren’t that much of a difference. E-5 and E-6 are a definite difference though. It is acceptable to call an E-6 either “sergeant” or “sergeant (name)” instead of staff sergeant. 

also known as: SSG

Title: Sergeant

E-7: Sergeant First Class

At this point the ranks become known as “senior NCO.” E-7 and above cannot be demoted by normal means. It actually requires a court martial or congressional approval to demote an E-7. Like, it’s surprisingly hard to demote people after this point. I once knew an E-7 who got busted with a DUI and STILL didn’t lose his rank.

Anyway, it’s still appropriate to call an E-7 “sergeant” or “sergeant (name)” instead of sergeant first class. SFCs may be platoon sergeants or in some circumstances may hold a first sergeant position. While positioned as a first sergeant, they should be referred to as “first sergeant.” Unless you work at battalion level or higher, this is probably the highest NCO rank you’ll interact with regularly, and in some cases interacting with an E-7 can be as big a deal as interacting with an E-8. 

also known as: SFC

Title: Sergeant

E-8: First Sergeant/Master Sergeant

Another dual-rank. First sergeants are the NCO in charge of a company and are usually the highest ranking NCO soldiers will interact with regularly. They run the company alongside the company commander. All NCOs answer to them and most beginning of the day and end of the day formations will be initiated and ended with them. It is only appropriate to refer to a first sergeant as “first sergeant” or “first sergeant (name).” Do not just call them “sergeant.”

Master sergeants are E-8s who are not in a first sergeant position. Typically these people wind up working in offices in battalion or brigade. It’s only appropriate to refer to a master sergeant as “master sergeant” or “master sergeant (name).”

also known as: 1SG, FSG, (first sergeant only) MSG (master sergeant only)

Titles: First Sergeant, Master Sergeant.

E-9: Sergeant Major or Command Sergeant Major

We finally reach the end of the list: Sergeant Major, the highest ranking NCO. Sergeant Majors will be found at battalion level and higher. Command Sergeant Majors are those that hold a leadership position in a battalion, brigade, etc, like first sergeant vs master sergeant. It is appropriate to refer to E-9s as “sergeant major” or “sergeant major (name).” Typically, a command sergeant major will be referred to AS command sergeant major.

In the U.S., the plural form of sergeant major is “sergeants major.” Outside the U.S., “sergeant majors” can be correct. 

also known as: SGM, CSM

Title: Sergeant Major

Now, for the most important announcement:

Soldiers NEVER, and I mean NEVER, refer to an NCO as “sir” or “ma’am.” Forget what the movies tell you; if your first sergeant is chewing you out, you do not say “ma’am, yes ma’am!” You’ll earn yourself some push-ups and some cleaning duty and probably a counseling. Do you see how under every rank I’ve provided a “title” section? That’s how your soldiers address that rank. Period. The only people who get called “sir” and “ma’am” are civilians and officers. Cannot tell you how many movies I’ve rolled my eyes into my skull because some snot-nosed private is calling their squad leader “sir.” Please cease this immediately. Thank you.

That’s all for scriptsoldier’s rank breakdown of enlisted ranks! Stay tuned for our breakdown of officers, warrant officers, and how your rank affects your standing in your unit!

mermbernation:

words-writ-in-starlight:

dainesanddaffodils:

One of my favorite phrases my Creative Writing professor had for when you’re writing fantasy is ‘giving your story a Flux Capacitor’.

Because it’s not real, it doesn’t exist. But the way it’s thrown into Back to the Future, at no point does it throw the audience off or suspend any more disbelief than time travel would. You believe Doc when he says he created the Flux Capacitor - the thing that makes time travel possible, because the universe never questions him. 

So it essentially means like, there are going to be elements to your universe that are just not gonna make any sense, even if you set up a whole system based on it. And the only way to make it work is completely own it. You cannot second-guess your system or else the reader will too. You can give it the strangest explanation, but write it like you own it.  

Either you’ve got to follow the rules of reality and physics and shit TO THE LETTER, or you have to say “naaaaaah” and fuck off with your magic/sci-fi/whatever to have a marvelous garden party where reality isn’t invited.

this is the most lovely thing I have read in a while. 

Bullshit like a professional.

rederiswrites:

Okay guys, for writing/general reference, a bit about what a ‘blacksmith’ is and isn’t:

A blacksmith is a generalist, a person who uses tools and fire to work iron.  Some blacksmiths work more specifically, so you get, say, an architectural blacksmith, who focuses more or less exclusively on things like gates, rails, fences, or an artist blacksmith, who makes wacky sculptures or what have you.  These days, though, that’s a pretty blurry line.  ‘Blacksmith’ is a pretty damn broad term, but it’s nowhere near broad enough to cover everything encompassed in ‘metalworker’, which is how I often see it used.  There are a LOT of different skills for working metal, and no one knows them all.  Some other terms:

A farrier shoes horses.  They may make the shoes, or they may buy them and then size them, but they actually do the shoeing.  Unless the blacksmith is also a farrier, they don’t know shit about horses’ hooves and are not qualified to deal with them and probably don’t want to.

A blacksmith works IRON (or steel), usually almost exclusively.  They might work with bronze or do a bit of brazing, but those are really separate skillsets.  If you work, say, tin and/or pewter, you are in fact a whitesmith.  You could also be a silversmith or a coppersmith, and so on.

Knifemakers and swordsmiths have their own highly specialized and fairly complex specialties, and usually a blacksmith wouldn’t mess with that unless they want to pick up a new skillset or if they’re really the only game going for a long way around.  By the same token, a swordsmith might never have learned the more general blacksmithing skills.  They’re not the same thing is what I’m trying to say here.  Likewise armorers.  There’s overlap but it’s not the same thing.

If you make metal items via molds and casting, you work at a foundry and are a foundryman.

Look, when metalworkers and individual shops and masters were the height of industry, this shit got REALLY specific.  There were people who spent their whole lives making pins.  Just pins.  Foundries specialized and made only bells, only cannon, only cauldrons, etc.  This is scratching the surface, I just wanted to make the point that ‘blacksmith’ is not the same thing as ‘magical muscly person who knows how to do everything related to metal’.

Helpful things for action writers to remember

bluedragonade:

berrybird:

• Sticking a landing will royally fuck up your joints and possibly shatter your ankles, depending on how high you’re jumping/falling from. There’s a very good reason free-runners dive and roll. 
• Hand-to-hand fights usually only last a matter of seconds, sometimes a few minutes. It’s exhausting work and unless you have a lot of training and history with hand-to-hand combat, you’re going to tire out really fast. 
• Arrows are very effective and you can’t just yank them out without doing a lot of damage. Most of the time the head of the arrow will break off inside the body if you try pulling it out, and arrows are built to pierce deep. An arrow wound demands medical attention. 
• Throwing your opponent across the room is really not all that smart. You’re giving them the chance to get up and run away. Unless you’re trying to put distance between you so you can shoot them or something, don’t throw them. 
• Everyone has something called a “flinch response” when they fight. This is pretty much the brain’s way of telling you “get the fuck out of here or we’re gonna die.” Experienced fighters have trained to suppress this. Think about how long your character has been fighting. A character in a fist fight for the first time is going to take a few hits before their survival instinct kicks in and they start hitting back. A character in a fist fight for the eighth time that week is going to respond a little differently. 
• ADRENALINE WORKS AGAINST YOU WHEN YOU FIGHT. THIS IS IMPORTANT. A lot of times people think that adrenaline will kick in and give you some badass fighting skills, but it’s actually the opposite. Adrenaline is what tires you out in a battle and it also affects the fighter’s efficacy - meaning it makes them shaky and inaccurate, and overall they lose about 60% of their fighting skill because their brain is focusing on not dying. Adrenaline keeps you alive, it doesn’t give you the skill to pull off a perfect roundhouse kick to the opponent’s face. 
• Swords WILL bend or break if you hit something hard enough. They also dull easily and take a lot of maintenance. In reality, someone who fights with a sword would have to have to repair or replace it constantly.
• Fights get messy. There’s blood and sweat everywhere, and that will make it hard to hold your weapon or get a good grip on someone. 
• A serious battle also smells horrible. There’s lots of sweat, but also the smell of urine and feces. After someone dies, their bowels and bladder empty. There might also be some questionable things on the ground which can be very psychologically traumatizing. Remember to think about all of the character’s senses when they’re in a fight. Everything WILL affect them in some way. 
• If your sword is sharpened down to a fine edge, the rest of the blade can’t go through the cut you make. You’ll just end up putting a tiny, shallow scratch in the surface of whatever you strike, and you could probably break your sword. 
• ARCHERS ARE STRONG TOO. Have you ever drawn a bow? It takes a lot of strength, especially when you’re shooting a bow with a higher draw weight. Draw weight basically means “the amount of force you have to use to pull this sucker back enough to fire it.” To give you an idea of how that works, here’s a helpful link to tell you about finding bow sizes and draw weights for your characters.  (CLICK ME)
• If an archer has to use a bow they’re not used to, it will probably throw them off a little until they’ve done a few practice shots with it and figured out its draw weight and stability. 
• People bleed. If they get punched in the face, they’ll probably get a bloody nose. If they get stabbed or cut somehow, they’ll bleed accordingly. And if they’ve been fighting for a while, they’ve got a LOT of blood rushing around to provide them with oxygen. They’re going to bleed a lot. 
• Here’s a link to a chart to show you how much blood a person can lose without dying. (CLICK ME) 
• If you want a more in-depth medical chart, try this one. (CLICK ME)

Hopefully this helps someone out there. If you reblog, feel free to add more tips for writers or correct anything I’ve gotten wrong here. 

@geostigmata

5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Nurses and the Nursing Profession

medicbaymax:

[I put Claire Temple there because she is the only nurse on TV that I’ve seen that actually acts like a nurse. Like, she breaks scope of practice all the freaking time, and there was that little incident where she abandoned her patients without telling anyone, but in Daredevil S1E2, I was thoroughly convinced of Rosario Dawson’s nurse status. And that’s saying something, cause you all know I’m picky.]

Nursing publicity actually sucks (see chapter 21 of this textbook), so here are some fun facts to get you thinking in the right direction when you’re writing, reading, or otherwise applying your knowledge of the nursing profession in a creative way:

---

1. Nurses treat reaction to disease. Literally our job is to assess and treat the reaction a person has to a disease process, or what impact a disease has on a person physically (are they in pain? having trouble breathing? can’t walk?), mentally (does a disease process alter how they think, their quality of life?), emotionally (are they devastated by a prognosis? depressed by their inability to act as they used to?) and spiritually (what is their relationship with their belief system? has it changed in response to disease? how do they feel about that?). In contrast, a physician treats the disease itself. 

2. Nurses have a system of diagnosis and care planning that is unique from that of a physician. Medical diagnosis of course is taken into consideration when treating a patient and planning care, but remember that we are treating a reaction to a disease process, and so our diagnoses are those reactions. Some examples include:

• Sleep deprivation
• Impaired gas exchange (difficulty breathing)
• Decreased cardiac output (less (or too little) blood getting out of the heart)
• Fear
• Deficient knowledge 
• Acute pain
• Social isolation
• Full list here

These are usually written as part of a larger “Diagnosis Statement” which goes something like this: “Impaired gas exchange related to bronchospasm as evidenced by expiratory wheezing, abnormal blood gases, patient statement of ‘I can’t breathe’ and medical diagnosis of acute asthma exacerbation.” Nurses then plan and carry out interventions to improve the patient’s condition. Often, this goal coincides with the physician’s plan of care, and a nurse can ask a physician for orders if they feel the patient needs something that requires such an order.

3. There are different “levels” of nursing. These are:

• Nurse Aide (NA or UAP): 2 weeks-3 months of training. Nurse Aides carry out patient care activities such as bathing and dressing, they can measure patient intake and output, take vital signs (depending on facility), take blood sugars (depending on facility), remove IVs and Foley Catheters and do other duties as assigned by the Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse they work under. Must have passed either     State Licensure or a facility-based training program.
• Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN): 1-1.5 years of training. These are starting to go out of style and mainly found either “grandfathered in” in hospital settings or working as supervisors in nursing homes. In addition to all things listed above, they can do a full assessment and basic nursing interventions, including placement of IVs an Foleys, pass (most) medication, collect samples for testing, take health histories, supervise Nurse Aides, and other duties as assigned by a Registered Nurse. LPNs must have taken and passed national licensure (NCLEX-PN in the USA).
• Registered Nurse (RN): 2-4 years of training, usually with an accompanying associates’ or bachelors’ degree. Registered Nurses can do all of the above, as well as administer all medications, do full range of IV therapy, write and make plan of care for nursing diagnoses, follow ACLS protocol (without deviation), do nursing research and supervise LPNs and NAs. Training for RNs focuses a lot more on critical thinking and research skills. RNs must have taken and passed national     licensure (the NCLEX-RN in the USA). This is generally what people think of when they think of a nurse.
• Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS): 6-8 years of training. CNSs are masters’ or doctoral prepared nurses who specialize in one area or population, usually in the inpatient hospital setting (though some specialties practice in community or mental health settings). They provide higher-level care in their specialty and are able to perform procedures outside an RN’s scope of practice. CNSs also teach, supervise and conduct nursing and medical research within their specialty.  CNSs have either extremely limited or no prescriptive privilege (they can’t prescribe medication).
• Nurse Practitioner (NP): 6-8 years of training (minimum Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree by 2030). NPs can often practice independently in a primary care capacity (varies by location), and have a broader scope of practice than a CNS. In a primary care capacity, they can prescribe medication, do office-level medical procedures and refer to specialists. NPs also do research, teach and supervise nurses in hospital and long-term acute care facilities.

4. Nurses are expected to question orders and advocate for their patients. We are the end-point of all orders and the last line of defense before an order hits a patient in a hospital setting. In the USA, a nurse is legally responsible for questioning orders and may choose to hold an ordered medication or intervention if they think it will harm the patient (we do have to immediately call the physician and ask for another order, but we can do it).

5. Nursing is applicable in extremely diverse fields that have nothing to do with clinical nursing care. For example, there are:

• Forensic Nurses, who collect evidence from victims of crime
• Nurse Advocates, who are practicing lawyers who also hold degrees in nursing
• Nursing Informatics Specialists, who design computer systems and technology applicable to nurses and healthcare
• Insurance Nurses, who work as liaisons between the insurance industries and patients
• Nurse Administrators, who work the business end of healthcare
• Nurse Case Managers, who work as social workers

R E F E R E N C E S