@painandpleasure86 / painandpleasure86.tumblr.com
Any other aromantic, asexual, or aro ace people write smut or romance? I've had fans tell me my work is really good, despite me being aroace and having no experience with that shit 😭
In my case, I always loved writing romance/romantic shit, smut looks so hard to me. I tried it twice and it wasn't my best.
And I'm asexual (graysexual more specifically) 😅💕
[I.D. A header image of rich red velvet, with title in white text reading ‘Writing Nobility: Forms of Address’. End I.D.]
Be it in fantasy or historical fiction, I’m a bit of a sucker for palace politics. However, there is one thing that always breaks my immersion, and that is incorrect forms of address. It’s a minor issue to get annoyed over, I know, but it is the sort of thing that, once you’ve learned it, you don’t forget it. As writers, getting the little details right is a great tool for making our worlds feel realistic, and when you’re populating your courts and castles, the right forms of address are exactly the type of little detail that’s useful.
(Disclaimer: These are English forms, so may not be applicable to those writing nobility of other countries)
Please remember, ‘Your Majesty’ and ‘Your Highness’ are not interchangeable! This is the most common error I see and it really gets my goat. Calling a King or Queen ‘Your Highness’ would be considered very insulting. Of course, this can be used deliberately—perhaps the old, powerful King wants to insult the young, inexperienced King of his neighbouring country by calling him ‘Your Highness’ as subtle power signalling. This can be a great tool for creating tension when writing political drama, but it has to be done consciously.
Note: The parts in (parentheses) are often considered optional.
Titled nobility will often be referred to by said title rather than their actual surname, e.g. George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, is known as ‘Buckingham’, not ‘Villiers’. The ways titles are passed down family lines can get complicated and going into that would make this post way too long, but it’s a fun thing to research if you’re interested.
Final point, I often see ‘Your Excellency’ being used to refer to nobles, but that’s actually a form of address for high-ranking officials, e.g. ambassadors (who could be nobility, of course, but even then they would be called ‘Your Excellency’ for their ambassadorial status, not their noble one).
As I stated in the point about using ‘Your Majesty’ versus ‘Your Highness’, bending the rules can be very effective. As an additional point, in writing fantasy, you aren’t bound by the rules at all, rather you can use them as a building block for creating your own rules of address (one thing I want to see more is gender-neutral stuff—we need more enby rep, dammit!). Bending and breaking the rules is a lot easier to do effectively if you have a strong idea of what they are in the first place, though, and I hope this post is helpful for that!
Like this post? Follow for more writerly content! It’ll be lovely to have you along :D
And, finally:
For all of you that only gaves me likes in my two one-shots and in fics of another writers... A friendly reminder. :)
Vos @theworksgaga ... Un meme que publiqué en mi Instagram
