Tips on Creating ARMOR for your character

Its no secret that armor in the fictional world has often been butchered for the sake of sex-appeal or just general “coolness” or “aesthetic”. But what can you do to avoid this trope in your armor design? Well, here are a few things to consider to avoid such pitfalls.

What time period is this? What time period did your character come from?

★What state should this armor be in? (Has been taken care of? Will it need repairing? You can’t just grab armor off of an age old skeleton and expect it to be in prime condition).

★Consider the coloring of your armor that would make sense for the culture that it is from.

★Overall, just do you research.

★ When making modifications or your own armor, do such changes make sense? What are the reasons for these changes? Do they serve as advantages?

★Does the society or culture that the armor is from have male and female versions of their armor? (Most of this time, the answer is a “no” as not dying is gender neutral. If your character is female, she may have to make certain modifications if she gets her hands on predominately male armor by making it lighter, fitting it better to her body, etc.)

★Consider mobility of said armor.

★Consider the level of defense this armor will serve and whether or not this makes sense for the type of weaponry the wearer’s are supposed to be up against.

★For real, this could all be summarized as do your research. So please, if it important to you to have accurate and sensible armor, do your research.

Halloween Writing Prompts

A little late for Halloween but still close enough that I can justify sharing these. 🙂

★ Sugar Coated

A group of kids participate in trick-or-treating around their block. They stop off at an odd house of an elderly woman who just moved in recently (I think you know where this is going…). She gives them each a different candy bar. After Halloween, the candies mix with the kid’s other candy. They didn’t know something was off about them until a member of their group ate one, and woke up breathing fire and with scaly wings the next day. Shortly thereafter, another kid contacted the others to report a weird golden aura surrounding them and that they think they were growing… feathered wings? What on earth was going on?

★ Grandpa’s Crypt

A group of teens on Halloween visit on of the kid’s grandpa’s crypt, hoping to scare each other silly with ghost stories and made-up noises. But the night takes a dark turn when the door of the crypt swings shut. And their adventure begins. You see, the grandfather, unbeknownst to teens, was a little eccentric, but rich. He desired to be buried with his riches, much like the Egyptians, but, unlike the Egyptians, he also wanted to be buried in an underground maze rigged with a network of traps.

★ The Magic Mask Shop

A new mask shop comes to town every Halloween. It suddenly shows up and then goes away. But this year, they are selling some very special masks. They appear to be masquerade masks but, they not only hide the wearer’s face but transform them entirely.

★ Rest in Reese’s Pieces

A kid, on the night of Halloween, hears the doorbell ring. He opens to find a tall man standing at the door with a black cloak, skull face, and a large scythe. The child, assuming him to be a trick-or-treater, is impressed with the costume and says as such, before giving the reaper a big handful of Reese’s Cups. Luckily, the Reaper was a sucker for chocolate, and disappeared. The next morning, the child wakes with a gift from the reaper at the foot of his bed….

★ Spell Bound

The night of Halloween, you run into a woman on the street. She looks very sad, and her costume intricate, with burn marks along her skirt. You kindly ask her if she was alright and if she’d like a lift or anything. She replies she doesn’t want much; just a single licorice. You kindly oblige, giving her every licorice you can find in your trick-or-treat stash. She seems to brighten up at this, and disappears. Unbeknownst to you, there was a witch burning in that part of town, and you had just met the witch who was victim of this. But she seemed to like you well enough and appreciate the candy, so it should be no surprise to you when you find a giant, leather book in your trick-or treat sack labeled “Spells”.

Questions to Ask about your Magic System

Just a questionnaire that can help guide you when you’re building your magic system for your story or roleplaying world.

★ What can your magic do?

★ What can’t it do?

★ What is a price for overusing it?

★ Is there an “incorrect” way to wield the magic?

★ Does it require training?

★ Who possesses it?

★ Do you have to be born with it or obtain it?

★ Can animals have magic/how does it effect the animals of your world?

★ How does magic change your world’s caste system/economy/society?

★ What laws are in place concerning your magic? (is it legal, illegal, must be used in certain ways, etc.)

★ Does the magic require anything to wield? (ingredients, staff, wand, etc.)

★ Are there any indicators of a magic wielder?

★ Are there different types of magic?

★ If so, how do they differ?

November Writing Prompts

★ Communion by Fire

Fires are very special things. For centuries, people have been gathering around them, exchanging stories and making conversation around them as people feel the warm flames. Tell me about a special fire that someone finds. This fire is ever burning and the walls between alternate realities and timelines are particularly thin here, making it so souls from all sorts of worlds and eras can gather and make conversation here by the fire.

★ Tales from a Tree

A girl finds a very special tree in her woods that likes to make polite conversation and talk about all sorts of things. Being alive for so long, you’re bound to see something interesting.

★ Fall Queen

Every year, the armies of the Fall Queen and Winter Queen are at war. And, every year, Winter wins, only the be dethroned by spring in the later months. But she will enjoy her few months of victory and ice and The Fall Queen retreats and waits for her next moment to strike. But something odd happened this year. This balance was threatened as the Fall Queen, after dethroning summer, maintains her Queenship. The Winter Queen lost this year.

★ Time Travel and Campsites

A group of teens go camping only to wake up and find they have traveled back in time to the medieval England.

★ The Cornmaze Reaper

Every year, per tradition, the children of a village are let loose in the corn, to prove themselves worthy. They must elude the Reaper and make it to the other side, before succumbing to the clutches of the cornmaze.

★ The Lady who runs the Apple Stand

I bought apples from someone today on the way home from work. She was very kind, don’t get me wrong. And she sells the best apples. But today she offered me a special one. One half was green and the other was red. For some reason, it reminded me of something. Then I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before; her skin was white as snow, her lips were red as blood, and her hair was black as coal.

★ Pumpkin Girl

A girl finds she has one small magical gift: every pumpkin she carves, comes to life.

Books to read while sipping cider in front of a roaring fire, while fall leaves smack against your window during a chilly rain…

★ Cinder by Marissa Meyer

★The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

★The Magic Thief Series by Sarah Prineas

★The Alchlemyst: The Immortal Secrets of Nicholas Flammel by Michael Scott

★The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Conan Doyle

★Winterling by Sarah Prineas

★Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Montgomery

★The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett

★Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Writing Prompt: Sleeping Beast

A Prince hears rumors that a damsel is in distress in her kingdom. She has been cursed to sleep, and, as you may have guessed, can only be awakened by “true love’s kiss”. At least that’s what the fairies told him. Valiant as ever, he rides off to save the princess. But when he arrives, he finds a flourishing kingdom. The fairies tell him it is a rouse prepared by the evil witch Maleficent. They urged him forward, leading him to a dungeon beneath the city. There, he sees a beautiful Princess, asleep. But something is not right. Green luminescent chains wrap round her body, pinning her to where she rests. A evil presence can be felt. The Prince slowly begins to realize why this “Princess” was forced into a slumber…

Writing Prompt: Fairytale Apocalypse

We all know about the fairytale world of Grimm, where the princesses were saved and everyone lived happily ever after. But, let’s say, there is an alternate timeline that run parallel to this utopian one. One where the Princesses were not rescued. One where the castles crumbled and the world is ripping itself apart at the seams. One where wolves roam in the woods (careful not to wear red), sea witches and pirates rule the ocean, witches curses and magic go unchecked, and dragons circle the sky. A fairytale world living in an apocalypse.

The Gardener’s Reaper

A Sestina

This story begins as many. Once upon a time,

The Reaper lived in a kingdom of bones

His job to collect the souls that rest.

Adorned with a scowl and a cloak grey.

Every day he woke, alone. Every morning  he sadly rose.

His love being only his garden.

But it did not love him back, his garden.

He would tend his plants, time after time,

He would have been content only with a single red rose,

A rose to brighten his kingdom of bones

But alas his flowers would die, his garden as grey

As the face of those who passed.

But as fate would have it, a woman he passed,

For his errands called him to the surface where he saw a garden.

Lush and green, filled with red blooms. This gardener’s domain was not grey.

So he offered her pay to stay with him for a time,

To tend his garden, in his kingdom of bones

In hopes the gardener would yield him a rose.

She agreed, saying she would give him his rose

Before three months would pass.

And so they went together, to the land of old bones,

Where the woman worked to make a beautiful garden

For the reaper. A place where he could bide his time.

A place beyond the reach of the underworld’s grey.

The gardener toiled, her garden green against the skyline so grey.

And on the third month, as promised, she yielded the reaper a rose.

Delighted, he put it beside his bed, where he could see it all the time.

Every time he would wave at the gardener as he walked passed,

The smile on his face not only because of the garden.

His mind no longer burdened with thoughts of souls and bones.

But alas, oh, alas, the gardener was not made to stay in the kingdom of bones,

For the green drew the attention of the souls who were jealous in the grey.

So, one day, when the reaper was gone, they found their way to the garden.

And there they destroyed every living thing. Every single rose.

The Reaper returned and knew something was wrong as he walked passed,

The gate was ajar. He ran to her, but, tragically, the gardener had run out of time.

There in the garden, the Reaper cried, laying to rest her bones.

He could not fix it this time. The grey had won.

But as time passed, as if in defiance, on her grave, it can be seen growing tall. A rose.

Evening Poems: Lost

Once I found home In a place  

A House of brick I couldn’t replace  

But in wind and rain, it crumbled down.  

Home in a Thing, cannot be found.  

Once I found home in a love 

But twas fleeting as a dove 

I came to realize then, when they left 

You cannot find home in what draws breath.  

Once I found home in the mirror 

In life I plunged forward with no fear 

But failure came, despite giving my best  

You cannot find home in your own chest.  

Then I found a home, in a voice  

The path that I had chosen was my own choice 

But there is one, who can renew, 

And transform even the likes of you.  

On this Earth, no home is found. 

Not in person, thing, or town.  

It is found in someone who offers grace.  

I’ll know home, when I see his face.  

The Reality of Poetry

The reality of poetry is nothing is ever new 

Every word before the formation of the language was thought of and known. 

The reality of poetry is it has all been written.  

The reality of poetry is you are not actually writing. You are pointing. 

To what are you pointing? 

Something bigger and more beautiful than what is before your eyes  

The world you see is a painting  

And what else is a painting for but to reveal the heart of the painter.  

And so that’s what I hope to do 

With every syllable 

And Every pen stroke  

To reveal the heart of the painter