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So I write and I can get through the first chapter, but after breaking for the night or something, I can't get back into the story. Any tips on how to overcome this? It feels almost as if I have lost motivation for writing the story but still have a passion for it.

I will gently place my hands on the sides of your face, lean really close, and say, quite loudly, "OUTLINE."

Okay, seriously, apologies to all you pantsers out there, but outlining will save your life when it comes to making story progress and pushing past the initial flare of inspiration. Also all pantsers should be held with the highest suspicion and may be liars. Or wizards. They are probably wizards.

Anyway, it is very normal to start strong and then hit a wall regardless of how much you want to do something, especially just starting out. Finding other ways to keep going regardless is how to keep feeding that urge. Some general tips:

Outline! Know how the next chapter goes? Get it down any way possible, as detailed or as minimal as you want. Whatever keeps the story going.

Worldbuild/Character Built. If you can't go straight, go sideways, filling out the details you'll use later.

Inspiration Hunt. Make that playlist, create that image board. You want to recapture that spark, and it's going to be in the stuff you surround yourself with.

Figure out what works for you. This might take a little bit more time, but when do you write best? Where? How can you replicate the situations that make you write best?

Sometimes you begin a project too soon, and it sputters right out of the gate. This is also very common, and it doesn't mean you're a bad writer, it means you need to shove that idea back to that dark corner of your brain where it can grow like a fungus. My current work in progress is based on a novel concept I had TWENTY YEARS AGO, so trust me - your ideas won't die, they just might take some time to get where they're going.

This is also hard, because you want to be working on something, and not writing is frustrating. Sometimes the best thing to do is to take those old first chapters and go through them, and see which ones have roots and which need more time to grow. Some people work great picking at several projects at once. Some people have to pick one project and stick to it, and you have to figure out whatever works for you.

So, in sum:

Sometimes the best way to write a story is to do everything but writing the actual story

Sometimes ideas need to percolate a bit longer and it's okay to give them time to grow

All pantsers are evil wizards that are not to be trusted

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A quick little shoe tutorial I put together for some friends

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I really hate the Western take on Eastern philosophies & symbols.

No, yin yang is not good vs. evil or even the balance of good & evil. No, karma is not that cunt who cut you off getting what’s coming to her. No, zen is not a day at the spa with cucumbers on your face. No, yoga is not being able to fit in your skinny jeans after a good workout. No, buddhism is not going on yoga retreats. asffffkkdjjj%^&#$%

Naming a South Asian Character

“I need a name for a South Asian character”

We’re going to need a little more information than that…

Please see the following maps of South Asia:

Image description: Two maps of South Asia. The top map depicts the South Asian region, including Afghanistan with color-coding of different regions by 8 color-coded language groups. The bottom depicts the official state/ province/ languages and scripts for countries in the South Asian region, excluding Afghanistan. See end of post for detailed image description under the cut.

(Links: Top Map, Bottom Map)

That’s a lot of languages, right?

Names in South Asian cultures are primarily dictated by religion and language. While there’s some overlap between cultures, we can make an educated guess of someone’s ethnicity & religion based on their name. For example:

Simran Dhillon … is a Punjabi Sikh.

Priyanka Ghosh … is a Bengali Hindu

Maya Srinivasan … is a Tamilian Hindu.

Harsh Patel … is a Gujarati Hindu.

Amin Usmani … is a Muslim from a traditionally Urdu speaking community.

Teresa Fernandes … is a Goan Christian.

Behind the Name is a good place to start looking as they state the specific language the name is from. As for religion, there are more factors to consider.

Sikhs

Sikh first names are gender neutral. The 10th Sikh guru designated Singh (meaning lion, for men) and Kaur (meaning heir to the throne, for women) as Sikh surnames. These surnames were designed to be equalizers within Sikh communities. However, many Sikhs keep their Punjabi surnames (many of these surnames are now primarily associated with Sikhs) and use Singh and Kaur as a middle name (eg. Ranjit Kaur Shergill, Amrit Singh Cheema). More devout Sikhs use only Singh and Kaur or use the same format legally but do not share their surnames.

Sikh first names are derived from gurbani (Sikh holy texts), so they are often uniform across cultures. Most Sikhs who aren’t Punjabi use Singh & Kaur or cultural surnames in the same format. The latter is usually seen among Afghan & Delhiite Sikh communities. While most changed their surnames to Singh & Kaur, some families still kept the surnames they had before they converted from Islam and Hinduism (eg. Harpreet Singh Laghmani, Jasleen Kaur Kapoor).

If you’re stuck on a surname for a Sikh character, Singh for men and Kaur for women is the safest way to go regardless of ethnicity.

Good resources for Sikh names can be found here:

https://www.sikhs.org/names.htm

http://www.sikhwomen.com/SikhNames/ 

Christians

South Asian Christians naming conventions depend largely on who brought Christianity to the region and when. For example, Christianity was largely brought to Goa by Portuguese Catholics so you’ll see Portuguese surnames, while many Christians in the Seven Sister States didn’t change their names. South Asian Christians will also often have Christian first names, either in Portuguese or in English.

Hindus, Jains, castes and gotras

Hinduism is the majority religion in India and the South Asian region overall. A key thing that many newcomers overlook when writing about Hindus is that rather like feudal Europe, a person’s last name can also tell you what their family used to do because of the caste system. Both Hindus and Jains employ gotras (or lineage systems) designed to keep people from the same patrilineal line from marrying each other. Thus, if your Hindu character is a Vaishya (tradesman/ merchant class), but you have chosen a last name for them related to farming, or if your Kshatriya (warrior) character has a last name that means bureaucrat, you’ve made a mistake. Most Hindus and Jains will have last names derived from Sanskrit, or a language with Sanskrit roots.

A note on middle names: in South India, Hindus will often use the father’s first name for the child’s middle name.

For what it is worth, South Asia is hardly the only region to have these particular features. Japanese society until the end of the Edo era was heavily segregated by caste, and to this day, many families with samurai last names occupy relative positions of privilege compared to other castes, even though the Japanese caste system ended with the Meiji Restoration. 

A note of caution: Baby name websites tend to be inaccurate for Hindu names, often confusing Farsi and Arabic-derived Urdu names with the more traditional Sanskrit-derived names. Behind the Name is by far the most accurate website, but it doesn’t hurt to check multiple sources. For Hindu and Jain surnames associated with different castes, regions and gotras, Wikipedia is surprisingly thorough.

Muslims

Islam is the majority religion in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as the second largest religion in India, but the differing ethnicities and arrival periods of Muslims in South Asia over the course of history can have a significant impact on a character’s name. For example,  think of when your character’s family will have arrived in South Asia or converted to Islam:

During the Delhi Sultanate, when Hindustani would have been spoken? 

Under the Mughals when Persian was more common? 

Are they from Bangladesh and thus speak Bengali? 

Do they have ancestors from Afghanistan or Swat Valley, and thus have Pashto last names? 

Does the family speak Urdu? 

All of these will impact what their name might reasonably be. As a general rule, Muslims will have last names that are in Farsi/ Persian, Urdu, Arabic and Bengali. Bangladeshi Muslims may have Hindu names (both first and last) as well.

Buddhists

When discussing Buddhists in South Asia, we are primarily talking about Nepal and Sri Lanka. The majority languages in these countries are Nepali and Sinhala, respectively. Both languages are part of the Indo-Aryan language family, and like many Indo-Aryan languages, show heavy Sanskrit influence.

Others

Don’t forget that India also has a large number of lesser known minority religions, including Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Tibetan Buddhism and a host of indigenous religions. 

Judaism: There are a number of historical Jewish enclaves in India, as the result of specific waves of migration. Like South Asian Muslim names, Jewish last names will vary depending on the ethnicity and arrival period for each particular wave of Jewish diaspora. 

Zoroastrianism: People who practice Zoroastrianism are likely to have Farsi last names. 

Tibetan Buddhism: Tibetan Buddhists will obviously have Tibetan names and are often a part of the Tibetan diaspora who entered India as refugees during the Chinese government’s invasion of Tibet.

In Conclusion

An in-depth coverage of name etymology in South Asia would probably be the size of an encyclopaedia. The above is hardly exhaustive; we haven’t scratched the surface of the ethnic and linguistic variations in any of the South Asian countries displayed on the maps above. We hope, however, that it motivates you to research carefully and appreciate the cultural diversity South Asia has to offer. Just like in any setting where issues of lineage are plainly displayed by a person’s name, names in South Asia tell stories about where a person is from, what language they speak, and what their ancestors might have done, even if this has little bearing on the character themselves. It may seem a little elaborate to try and imagine the ancestors of your character before you even decide who your character is, but the reality is that most South Asians know these things instinctively, and whether or not you do your due diligence will be part of how we judge your work. 

Name a thing to fight over, and South Asians have probably fought over it at one point or another, whether it be religion, ethnicity, language, or caste. However, one thing many South Asians have in common is pride in our individual origins. Respecting this love of identity will be invaluable as you plan your story.

At the end of the day, there is no substitute for actually talking to people who share your character’s background. We will always recommend having someone from the community you’re writing about check your naming.

– Mods SK and Marika

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I am all kinds of fucked up on coffee, like my eyes look at shit but they don’t see shit. Standing also sucks, my legs feel like that gif from the post about how it feels when you hit your funny bone, or ulnar nerve or whatever. Also wean. Need to make food or something but standing is a challenge man. Body ain’t having that shit. I shouldn’t drink twos cups again anxiety is through the roof man, a guy walked past my apartment building and stared at me the whole time he could see me, not having that shit. Nother guy was walking towards my building to go past it but he was walk towards our screen door area and I was trying to say to my mam that I was not happy with the fact she had the screens wide open (not that them being closed would do shit) but she was not hearing me until he was much closer and by that point even saying things bout it felt like he could hear me and when I brought up the other guy ma was like ‘oh he was just entranced by how gorgeous you wet’ which I know, but dude, not helping I’m paranoid right now and that freaks me out. I need food but my sister isn’t going to spend tome in the kitchen and I can’t stand also my little punk dog got into my popcorn while I was on the back porch and spread it everywhere so that he could get to the cheese in the bottom of the bowl and he went into the trash and scattered it so I had to clean that but I payed on the floor for like five minutes before finnishing it. I gotta eat something. I’m going now. If anyone reads this I hope it’s slightly coherent.

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I tumblr! My name is Elaine. You can see me in this picture! That is me holding the sign, HI! Well my hubby said that if this gets 1 MILLION notes, he will buy me a horse. I would love a horse I grew up on a farm where I rode and ate horses til i was 15 when I moved. I have not seen a horse since, not even a picture! Only one painting I painted in 7th grade. My husband obviously thinks this is going to be an impossible task thats why I am taking this on the interwebs where i can get likes. I have 5,000 on facebook so I am almost there. I want brown horse with some white. I will braid the hair. Thanks so much everyone! Please help me achieve this! :) God Bless

Art tutorials by Disney artists Griz and Norm Lemay

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Teacher: Your main objective is to work hard in this class.

Me:

a pal asked me how i drew teeth so i made this quick lil mini tutorial on how i do it!! this is by no means a professional tutorial and im still learning but i hope this might b helpful to some!

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