Knuckle: Daemon, Did You Know That Jesus Loves You?

Do you ever get that sudden outburst of motivation to go and make your life better then after 5 mins you’re like yeah that’s not happening

How can I get faster at drawing? I want to start a comic series but I take too long to draw the strips.

Hi anon! This is a great question!

I would recommend not getting hung up during the sketching process. Sketching quickly without over editing will speed up your workflow a lot, and allow your work to flow more easily. 

Practicing quick gesture drawing and composition thumbnails will be especially helpful for you, and hopefully help you gain both speed and confidence. Also study storyboarding concepts, as that might help you draw strips more quickly. A ruler might be helpful if going traditional, and digital will allow for faster and easier edits to strips. 

Further Reading/Other Resources

How to Draw Faster - video

Speed Comicking – Artist Advice – Medium 

Draw more Accurately - helpful because consistency in comics is good

Resources for Comickers

Hope this helped! Please consider giving this post a reblog/like if you enjoyed it! It helps @art-res reach more people! 

More Helpful links: Ask a Question/Request a Tut |Submit a Tutorial | Promote Your Art Commissions to +15 K Dashes | Support my art on DeviantArt / Tumblr ( @astrikos ) 

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.

Hello, writerly friends~ ♥︎

You asked for a Writing Advice Masterpost, so here it is! Below you will find a collection of the best questions and answers from the last two years. Not only that, but they are also organized so you can find the answers to your questions quickly and get on with writing.

But wait, there is more!

This post is more than just a collection of advice, it’s a nexus for writing advice, resources, and information! That’s right, this post is going to grow over time. I will be updating this masterpost WEEKLY with new answers, writing advice videos, playlists, and more! So, make sure to bookmark this page and follow my blog (maxkirin.tumblr.com) so you don’t miss a thing~ ♥︎

Writing Advice Compilations

WRITERS UNITE! A book of writing advice, inspiration, and tips! Written with the help of 248 Tumblr authors. FREE DOWNLOAD!

Prompts

Daily Story Seed

Daily Weird Prompt

Daily Character Question

Your Writing Horoscope (Retired)

“Can I publish a story based on one of your prompts?”

Youtube Videos!

Virtual Writing Academy, a weekly writing class where we explore strange writing exercises. This is NOT a lecture. You are not going to learn by listening— but by WRITING. So, take out your notebooks because we are going to write! New episodes go up every Wednesday.

Writing Advice Blitz, a segment where I answer YOUR writing questions. New episodes go up every Monday.

Writing Challenges— prompts too easy for you? Looking for a challenge? YOU GOT IT. These challenges will push your writing skills to the limit! New episodes go up every Friday.

Motivation & Inspiration

Daily Writer Positivity

How to Finish Your First Novel (M. Kirin’s Origin Story)

What Confidence Is and Is NOT

How to Regain the Motivation to Finish That Book

“I’m afraid writing is a waste of time”

“I’m half-way through this book and I’m stuck”

Stop Trying to Impress People

Stop Trying to Make Your Parents Proud of your Writing

Your Parents Disapprove of Your Writing?

You’re Not The Worst Writer In The World

English Not Your First Language? Neither is Mine

A Tip for All Young Writers Worrying That Nobody Will Take Them Seriously

Dealing with Hate and Harsh Criticism

You Need to Develop a Thick Skin

Neil Gaiman’s “Make Good Art” Speech

Feeling Down About Your Writing? :c

Elizabeth Gilbert’s Inspirational Speech on the ‘Genius’

Neil Gaiman’s 8 Rules of Writing

“I am not as good as other writers” (and other lies)

The 7 Cardinal Rules of Writing Life

Be A Little Delusional

Planning, Outlining, and Getting Started

M. Kirin’s (Strange) Guide to Planning Your Novel

M. Kirin’s Click-n-Drag Story Generator

Which outlining method is the best? (Video)

“I want to write a book but I have no idea where to start”

The Story-Idea Test

M. Kirin’s Secret for Starting books, and Finishing Them

M. Kirin’s Top 3 Tips to Start Writing and Never Stopping

The 10-Minute Writing Trick

Tips for writing Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Paranormal

How Much Worldbuilding is Enough?

M. Kirin’s #1 Tip For Improving Your Writing

Let’s Talk About: Show VS Tell

The Difference Between Character & Plot (The Marcy Rule)

Dialogue

M. Kirin talks about authentic dialogue

The grammatical side of dialogue

How do I write numbers in dialogue?

Editing & Revision

M. Kirin’s Top 5 Revision Tips

How to Love and Care for Your Beta Readers

M. Kirin’s (subjective) secret recipe for the second draft

When is the best time to edit a story?

M. Kirin Talks About Editing, and Speeding Up Your Story

M. Kirin Uses Evernote to Revise Books

“Kill Your Darlings” VS “Cut What You Love”

Writing Killer Plot-Twists and Mystery Novels

“How long is a Rough Draft compared to the Finished Draft?”

Hot Button Issues

Realism is a dirty word

Racist & homophobic language in fiction

Inaccuracy in Fiction (Video)

M. Kirin drops a few bombs on ‘creative vocabulary’

“I want to write but I don’t have the time”

Is it bad to have too many LGBTQIA or POC characters?

“My antagonist is POC/LGBTQIA, is this bad?”

“All my characters are LGBTQIA, is this bad?”

When to let go of a story

Is it rational to be afraid of what people will think of you?

Let’s Talk About: Deus Ex Machina

Let’s Talk About: Coincidence in Writing

Let’s Lightly Talk About: Plagiarism & Copyright

Writing About Things You Have Never Experienced

“Do you need to go to college/university to be a good writer?”

My book is similar to something already out, what do I do?

General Advice

M. Kirin’s Cure For Writer’s Block (and Life Block)

Overcoming the First Sentence

Overcoming the First Sentence, Again

Overcoming the First Sentence, Redux

The 10-Minute Rule

Making Boring Scenes FUN to Write!

Stories are like children

Let’s Talk About Titles (And Then Talk Some More)

M. Kirin Reveals the ‘Secret’ Behind Style

How much description/scenery is too much?

How can I write faster?

I want my readers to love my characters

I think my book may be too short for my genre

My story doesn’t have an Antagonists, should I add one?

I killed one of my main characters by mistake, what do I do?

M. Kirin’s Writing Advice for Fleshing out Romantic Relationships

A warning about character names and meanings

Help! My characters are not doing what I expected them to!

Help! My characters are misbehaving! D:

A warning about character sheets

A talk about the beauty of first drafts, and pacing

Is getting attached to your characters… bad?

A note on Antagonism, and whether you need a villain or not

Past or present tense?

Is swearing okay? And other muthafuckin’ truths

“What emotion do you find hardest to write?”

“What writing software do you use?”

Communication, a must for collaborative works

Researching illegal things, cousin? I got just the thing for you!

Joss Whedon’s Top 10 Writing Tips

M. Kirin’s Tarot Cheat-Sheet

Writing Tips for Storytelling in Video-Games

Fair Use In Novels (by thedancingwriter​)

Let’s Talk About: Pen Names!

Let’s Talk About: Reactive VS Proactive Characters

Let’s Talk About: Transitioning Smoothly From Scene to Scene

Let’s Talk About: Writing The Climax (& Resolution)

Let’s Talk About: Writing The End

Let’s Talk About: Spies

Let’s Make a Title (To A Story You Haven’t Finished)

Publishing

Publishing Battle: Indie VS Traditional

“How do I turn my book into an eBook?”

Writing Music & Playlists

Writing In The Dark (Relaxing, Unobtrusive)

Writing About Love (All the Feels)

Writing & Fighting! (Super Intense!)

Writing About Horror (Welcome to Lavender Town)

Royalty And Noble Blood (Medieval Writing Playlist)

Digital Reality (Cyberpunk/Futuristic Playlist)

Lost In The Wild (Survival/Nature Playlist)

No Hero (Danger, Action, and Anti-Heroes!)

Mermaid Magic (Sunken Cities, Sea Monsters, and Magic!)

After The Bomb (Post-Apocalyptic and Dystopian)

Sorrow (Death, Grief, and Despair)

Music For Writers: Portal 2 Soundtrack (FREE)

M. Kirin’s Writing Playlists: Ravensgem

M. Kirin’s Writing Playlists: Justine’s Blood

M. Kirin’s Favorite Music to Listen to While Writing

M. Kirin’s Secret For Making Playlists

Miscellaneous

Finally! An Ask-Meme for Writers! 

M. Kirin’s Philosophy for Running a Writing Blog

Last Updated: 10-04-14. Click HERE to see the latest update. Latest posts are in Italics.

Some Artist Tips you May or May Not Know

Just from personal experience.

1: Never try to draw on an empty stomach. You’ll make mistakes and be uncomfortable. (But don’t stuff yourself till you’re sick either.)

2: If you have to go to the bathroom, go. A full bladder or otherwise does serious damage to the attention and patience spans. Plus it gives you time to stretch your legs.

3: Before you ink it, leave it alone. Come back later (a few hours, a day?) and check for major anatomy mistakes. Work on something else while you’re waiting.

4: Stay hydrated! The brain and fine motor skills work better when properly circulated.

5: Do not have an excessive amount of sugar before sitting down to work. You’ll get jittery and impatient. Same goes for immense amounts of caffeine.

6: If you’re stuck, take a break to stand and stretch. Walk around the room. But don’t THINK of it as a break. Just take time to really focus on your body. Loosen it up, get a goooood long stretch and some deep breaths. (but don’t pass out!) It’ll jolt the mind awake and let you really relax a moment.

7: Keep. All. Your. Old. Art. I don’t care what it is. Keep it. Date it if it’s in your computer folders. Make a suitcase filled with it. (I personally have ALL my old art in a thick work folder.)

8: Keep your sketchbooks together, used and unused. If there’s a good sale on sketchbooks, get two or three! You won’t regret it later. There’s no such thing as too many. (I currently have about ten spankin’ new sketchbooks and I know I’ll need/use every single one of them.)

9: Date your sketchbooks. Put a start and finish date on them.

10: I’m afraid I don’t practice this one: date your drawings. You’ll be happy about it later. You don’t need to SIGN every drawing, but do date them. At least date pages.

11: ART BLOCK HAPPENS. Art block is pretty much a CONSTANT state of mind for artists. You’re never out of art block totally. But sometimes you get bursts of inspiration that make it feel like you’re out. So instead of feeling like you’re ill if you suddenly have artblock, remind yourself that this happens all the time, and you get out of it eventually, every time. c:>

12: If you’re REALLY stuck on some bad art block, do what I do.

Draw a brain barf. This is where you take a blank sheet of paper, and you just LET your hand be A.D.D. Draw whatever comes to mind, as it comes to mind. in the middle of drawing a hippo in a top hat but you think of a jolly rancher riding a unicycle? Switch immediately.

Let your brain just vomit all over the page. You’ll be surprised what comes up and what art block this can get you out of. It’s gotten me out of it various times.

13: Take advice from more experienced artists. But do NOT take everything as Gospel. Some people are just wrong.

14: HAND SHYNESS/ ART ENVY/ SELF CONSCIOUSNESS/ AND SKILL IMPATIENCE WILL EAT YOU ALIVE like a Titan. Do not let yourself get shy after looking at ‘better art’, do not let yourself think your art is worthless or your skills are worthless, and do not let yourself get frustrated that you cannot be at a higher skill level RIGHT NOW. Your brain will try to do this. All the time. Keep yourself in check. If you keep going at it, and keep working, you will get better. This is why you keep your old art. Look at it to remind you how far you’ve come.

15: Draw what you like. This is so important. (This does not apply for exploitative art. :l That’s just wrong. So long as you’re not targeting someone harmfully, I guess you’re fine.)

But don’t let people’s preferences dictate what you can and can’t draw. Draw whatever the heck you like. Accept that no matter WHAT there will be someone out there that hates it. Always. This is just a fact of life. But don’t let it get you down. I would have stopped being an artist at day one if I had.

16: You never. Stop. Learning. Ever. You will be old and grey and still be learning new things. That’s okay. That’s the nature of art. Even the ‘pros’ don’t know everything.

I hope these help someone out there~

How to pronounce Jungkook's name

Just saw an ask on my TL. The correct pronunciation for Jungkook is Jeong-gug. The Jeong정 rhymes with long and the Gug국 rhymes with cook. That’s why when Jimin calls out Jungkook ah it goes something like “Jeong-gug-gah”. The last consonant kinda sticking to the next syllable. Like french. Lol.

**23rd May add-ons. Please read more for updated version. Cheers!

If you venture into Korean you’ll find that even the grammar’s arranged in a way that makes it easier to roll off the tongue. Like using -eun은 / -eul을 when a word ends with a consonant.. and -neun는 / -reul를 when it ends with a vowel.

Juhng-kook is the westernized way of saying it just like how Orangutan is pronounced oh-rang-ngoo-tan when Orang(Person) is pronounced Oh-rahng (rhymes with strung) & Hutan(Forest) is pronounced who-tahn(rhymes with run).

The Jeong-cook pronunciation is sometimes adapted by JK himself every once in a blue moon for International ARMYs so you can hear him switch back and forth depending on whether they’re speaking in English or addressing I-ARMYs versus speaking naturally in Korean and not thinking much about it.

“Hi, my name is Jung-cook” vs

“Ireumeun Jeong-gug”

Please refer to this video:

** Since a lot of you are still confused over the pronunciation, I thought I’d clarify with more educational videos:

Vowels

Now the issue with the ‘ㅓ’ eo character in 한글 hangul is that a lot of people tend to pronounce it as “uh” like “uh.. idk”. I’ve seen a “how to pronounce” video done by a non-native that said exactly that. Please try to find videos from natives. That would help you with accuracy.

Here’s a good video guide:

I urge you to explore more videos to broaden your knowledge. So long as you keep with the natives, you’ll be fine. Different teachers have different things to offer.

Consonants

This is for the Spanish speaker in my ask who talked about the 'J’ and the 'Ch’. Koreans tend to pronounce consonants more abruptly so you’re kinda there but it’s not as thick as a 'J’ nor is it as thin as a 'Ch’. You have ㅊ for the thin 'chs.

Here’s a good video guide:

Have fun studying!

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I took a second the do the proper accents and that is so true 😂

(Via: Instagram.com) 😂👏👌 . Which way do you say it? . I say it like both British and American . . . . . . #louistomlinson #lou #boobear #niallhoran #nialler #harrystyles #hazza #liampayne #leeyum #daddydirectioner #zaynmalik #djmalik #onedirection #upallnight #takemehome #whereweare #thisisus #directionerforever #directioner #larry #lilo #lirry #zarry #zouis #ziall #ziam #nouis #narry #niam - See One Direction Live! http://ow.ly/r72Te

High Payoff Scenes.

If that scene you meant to be emotional, jaw-dropping and climactic isn’t working right, try taking a step back. 

All the usual aspects of a good scene also apply to the buildup toward a good scene. As well as including all these aspects into the scene itself, remember that at the point where your awe inspiring scene hits…

The reader should already feel deep, ‘positive’ emotions for the characters involved, whether that be love, intrigue, or an I love to hate them feeling.

The reader should already understand and have witnessed the characters struggling in some way with the goals they are working towards during that scene.

The reader should already have a clear picture of the character’s relationships and emotions, and understand which direction they are moving.

The reader should already be well-based in the plot and have a good understanding of every piece of information they need order to be fully immersed in the scene. 

The reader should already have a clear picture of the current stakes and playing field, so they can decide what outcome to root for. (Or in some cases, they can feel the same desperation the pov character has as they realize there are no good outcomes.)

Most importantly, remember that there are no perfect first drafts, and barely any half-decent second, third, or fourth drafts either. If you need to rewrite and rewrite a few times over, that’s okay. 

Just because the amazing scene in your head seems to fall short once it’s written, doesn’t mean all its amazingness isn’t still buried in there somewhere.