A perfect spell description. Ah yes, something as sacred as my aunt's shitty casserole.

Actually, writing a good, understandable spell is pretty much like following a recipe, and much like a recipe, it's all to your personal taste.

So before we get into my "recipe" for a perfect spell I would like to remind you all that what follows is my personal opinion and tips as a veteran on the wiki. I would suggest reading this, where I talk about writing style and how to optimize your own style for the most impact on FTF.

Now, let's get into it.

The Perfect Spell Recipe

• x1 Solid Translation

• Always start a spell with a translation, formatted as such: Spell Name (Kanji, Romaji):
• If your spell can't easily be translated and has a fancy name, most people format it like this: Spell Name (<ruby class="rubytext ruby-ja" lang="ja"><rb>Kanji</rb><rp>(</rp><rt>Katakana</rt><rp>)</rp></ruby>, Katakana Romaji lit. "Kanji Meaning"):

• This version makes use of the Ruby template.

• Some good translation sites for Kanji are Nihongodict and Tanoshii Japanese and for Katakana I use this.

• x1 Introductory Sentence

• The first sentence should introduce the spell. Is it a basic level spell? Is it their favorite spell? Give a brief overall sentence to pull the reader in.

• Preparation Sentence(s)

• How does the spell form? Do they recite an incantation? Is it a simple thought? Does ethernano cluster around their hand into the fireball they are about to cast?

• Appearance Sentence(s)

• What does the spell look like, how does it move. Is it a giant sword of ice? Is it a lightning bolt that can strike the opponent in the blink of an eye?

• Affect Sentence(s)

• This is where you describe the major effects of the spells. Is it a high-level defensive barrier to block attacks? Does it burn the opponent? Be creative, use metaphor and simile to strengthen the description of this awesome ability.

• Personalization Sentence(s)

• This is where things get different. When you're writing a spell on a Magic Article you most often use "the user/the caster" and "they" when describing spells and end it after the Affect Sentence(s). For me, when writing a character's spell on their pages, I like to use their name and pronouns, customizing the description to their skill level. This can be sprinkled throughout the Introductory Sentence to the Affect Sentence(s) but comes into play as a closer, defining how they personally use it in a fight.

Here's an example of what I deem to be my perfect spell recipe from my character Loki:

• Ace of Pentacles (銭貨の最優, Senka no Saiyuushu): Ace of Pentacles is a forceful spell stemming from Gravity Magic, that gives Loki both an offensive and defensive countermeasure in a fight. By exerting and compressing his magic power around his body, Loki is capable of rapidly exerting an omnidirectional pulse of gravity, forcing anything backward with the force of a freight train. In an offensive manner, Loki uses this to knock his opponents backward with power great enough to send them flying, breaking their ribs in the process. In a defensive manner, he can use it to keep opponents away from himself, as well as their projectiles and spells to make him literally untouchable.

Like I said before, your perfect spell recipe might include more sentences or fewer sentences than mine. It all goes back to your unique writing style. What you should strive for in a spell is that it defines the abilities and appearance of the spell in a clear manner that can be easily understood by readers.

I hope you got something out of this blog and that it helps explain the components of a spell. And as Ina Garten said, if you can't get homemade, store-bought is fine.

— Astrarchē

Yo, I'm Jonny, your friendly neighborhood furry, and today, I've come to give my two cents regarding the expansion of existent magic and the creation of user-interpreted pages.

I'm going to cut straight to the point here, under no circumstance, will there ever be a need to create a whole-new version of an already-existing magic. Canon content is by-no-means limited and is being expanded on by the admins as we speak, and concepts produced by other members of the wiki can be utilised without much hassle through acquiring permission from the respective owner of the concept.

Sure, we've all done it before, or at the least thought about it, but what benefit are you gaining when erecting a page for your adaptation aside from renaming the page (though most of the time "renaming" is simply adding your name or the word "magic" at the end) and sticking your template on it? Unless feeding your ego happens to be one of your pastimes, you gain nothing.

Here are some common thoughts that occur when expanding on an existent magic and solutions that don't involve creating a page;

1) "I want to add some individual flair to the magic." Then look no further than your character pages. Magic, no matter how basic or common, should always be unique to the one casting it, this provides a great opportunity to add your own twist or interpretation of the magic at hand.

2) "I want to expand on a certain aspect of the magic." Go ahead, as long as it falls within the boundaries of what's capable with the magic, though it's still not a sufficient reason to increase the overall page count of the wiki. Though if your expansion deviates considerably from its originator, then you're better off making a new (subtype) magic entirely or consulting a fellow author for their opinion, rather than senselessly making: "Wood Magic (FurryBoi)" or "Earth-Make Magic".

3) "I want to reword the main page's description slightly, claim it as my own while also adding nothing remotely substantial when compared to the content that is present." Look, you're not fooling anyone here, if anything, you're making a fool of yourself. The description on the page you're referencing from, detailed or lacking in detail, is never final unless explicitly stated so. What does this mean? You can write your own (logical) description and you won't be attacked for writing it, so I encourage you to do just that, not only will it boost how confident you are in your writing abilities, it'll make your articles a heck of a lot more interesting to read.

In summary, your interpretation should ideally be projected onto your character pages, instead of warranting its own page. That's all for now folks, and don't hesitate to leave your own opinion on the matter on my talk page, Discord, or down below.

Jonny ^{(HERE'S JONNY!)}

Hey, it's Astrarche here and today I thought I'd speak a little bit about writing style and how your style affects how your articles are viewed on the wiki.

This will tie into some future tutorial posts as the best way to write something, even if you need advice on the way, is to write it in your own style.

On FTF I typically see two different styles of writers. The first is Brief the other is Verbose. In other words, someone who prefers writing shorter descriptions or one who writes rather long-winded descriptions.

Both of these have their faults and strengths.

Brief writers are often prone to short descriptions of things that aren't really explanatory, and thus, are confusing for people reading.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Verbose writers often write so much that they get lost in their own description of a concept, providing so much detail that it is overwhelming if not impossible to read.

You may be wondering, "Liza, what is the point you're trying to make?"

Well, the point I'm trying to make is to balance both of these aspects.

And that is style of writing.

An example is that I write rather long-winded appearance sections (a four-paragraph standard), this is because I'm the type of author that has visualized almost every aspect of their character's physique. The type of author that could tell you how many freckles their character has on their left cheek. Some people write appearance sections that are only one or maybe two paragraphs long— choosing only to describe the basics of their hair, eyes, body structure and outfit.

Which one is correct method? Both.

Why? Because it all comes down to style.

I listed my concerns with each major archetype for writing styles on the wiki at the beginning of this blog. If a description (no matter what it is) is too short, it might not provide enough depth for a reader. If a description is too long, it could overwhelm a reader or draw away from the overall purpose.

Your writing style is unique to you but should balance both of these aspects. It should provide necessary detail without overwhelming or diving astray from the intended topic. How to determine whether your writing fits this balance is up to you.

Some styles naturally lean towards being briefer. Some styles lean towards being more verbose.

What I would recommend if you have doubts on whether you've done justice to whatever you're writing about, is by asking other members of the wiki. Sometimes getting a second set of eyes is what you need to bring your descriptions to another level.

FTF is all about collaboration. Other people will be reading your articles and you will be reading people's articles. It is important to be able to answer people's questions if they arise and have descriptions that are explanatory.

As a last thought, this post in no way is meant to make you self-conscious of your style, it is meant to shed some light onto how others understand and view your writing and how to stay true to your style while still finding a balance in length.

Thank you for your time and I hope you got something out of this. If you've got any questions or comments, feel free to ask me.

—Astrarche

Hello, since lately people have been struggling with Switch Templates and since Switch Templates are particularly a major pain in the ass to use properly, I thought I would make a handy little guide on how you use Switch, either for two or three images.

Let's start with Switch2

{{switch2
|option1=Title 1
|[[File:IMAGE.extension|300px]]
|option2=Title 2
|[[File:IMAGE.extension|300px]]}}

This is the formatting you will want to copy into source mode. Title refers to what title the image will be given. Image refers to the actual name of the image and its extension.

This copycode is geared towards an infobox size at 300px. For a switch within the regular formatting of your page, I recommend somewhere around 200px.

Switch3

{{switch3
|option1=Title 1
|[[File:IMAGE.extension|300px]]
|option2=Title 2
|[[File:IMAGE.extension|300px]]
|option3=Title 3
|[[File:IMAGE.extension|300px]]}}

Really, Switch3 looks pretty much identical to Switch2, just with the addition of a third segment.

So that concludes my fast tutorial on inputting code for the two major switch templates.

One quick note: If the template is not working for you, please make sure the template is titled appropriately as "switch2" or "switch3" there is no space between them.

If you're still encountering any problems with them, feel free to shoot a comment down here and I'll do what I can to help out.

Cya'll later!

—Astrarche

So, in typical fashion for myself, I’ve been talking about writing, looking at some of my old writing and cringing at what I see. So I thought since I'm having traumatic flashbacks about my own poorly written dialogue, how about I try to help others evade the mistakes I made.

Dialogue is imperative to a story, it helps carry the plot and create realistic meaningful characters. Thus, it’s necessary to have, realistic dialogue.

Here, enjoy a sample of some of my oldest dialogue:

[REDACT] shot a killer look at [REDACT], sneering with murderous intent. "Don't think that this is over so soon. I will end you."

Now maybe you’re thinking, “but Liza, what’s the problem with that?”

It’s cliche. But more than that, it doesn't carry any sense of who the character is. It feels forced.

Dialogue should be reflective of the mannerisms of your character. It's the difference between the way you'd write a knowledgeable scholar versus a teenage boy.

Dialogue is a careful balance between the line itself and how you describe the delivery of it.

Let's look at that first line again. Here's what I'd do to change it.

[REDACT]'s eyes shone with feverish rage. "Don't think this is over." She threatened, her tone acrid, "I will end you." It wasn't a threat. But a promise.

By adding glimpses of physical appearance, changing the wording just a tad bit, and further reinforcing it, you're able to be that much more convincing.

The next aspect of writing dialogue is interruption.

"Pizza?" Eric asked.

"Sure," Lara replied.

Cass cut in, "If you don't want pizza just say so, you don't always have to agree with him."

"She wants pizza, just let it go," Eric said.

This is boring. You could brush by dialogue like this so easily. It doesn't tell you anything about the characters or their interactions. By adding action and thought in between the lines, not only does it make it more interesting to read, but it gives you a sense of character.

"Pizza?" Eric asked.

Lara ducked her head, "Sure," She was lactose intolerant.

Cass looked at the exchange, getting in between them. "If you don't want pizza just say so," She said incredulously, "You don't always have to agree with him."

Eric scoffed, his voice harsher than it was before, "She wants pizza. Let it go."

Think about the voice of the character. Their background. Are they old or young? Educated or not? Rich or poor? Your character should speak in a way that reflects them.

Take this for example: Nodoka is a calm 63-year-old woman. Emile is a hot-headed 20-year-old.

“Sweet girl-“

“Don’t call me that.” Emile interrupted.

Nodoka’s eyes hardened, “Flaming girl,” she countered. After no response from Emile, she continued, “You hold violence, energy, anger inside. What makes you think you can help others if you can’t help yourself?”

Look at this, and then reverse the names.

“Sweet girl-“

“Don’t call me that.” Nodoka interrupted.

Emile’s eyes hardened, “Flaming girl,” she countered. After no response from Nodoka, she continued, “You hold violence, energy, anger inside. What makes you think you can help others if you can’t help yourself?”

The dialogue feels unnatural when such refined speech comes from a young character and a violent outburst comes from a calm mature character.

Like I said earlier, it's the difference between the dialogue you'd write for a scholar and a teenage boy. A teenage boy would not use the word euphoric to describe his joy. A twenty-year-old girl would not call anyone "Sweet girl."

The final notes for writing convincing dialogue just stem from being able to format and punctuate dialogue.

I don't really think I need to write my own dialogue punctuation guide as there are many out there, so here, have a hot link: punctuating dialogue.

I hope this was helpful to you and if not? Well, I guess you wasted five(ish) minutes of your life. If you've got any questions about dialogue that you think I could help you with, feel free to leave a comment down below.

Well, cya next time on whatever topic I decide to do.

~Astrarche

Hello, I'm Astrarche, and this post is for new users looking to figure out how exactly to get started.

I'll be breaking down how to create a page, how to use basic templates (property and infobox), basic page formatting (headers and font types), images, and translations.

With that, let's get into it!

Page Creation

To create a page, click on the widget with a page icon. It will take you to something that should look like this:

Select 'Blank Page' to give yourself a fresh canvas to work with and enter your article name in the title bar. Once you've done this, click create and it will take you to a page that looks something like this:

Basic Templates

The first thing you should do whenever you create a page is put a property template on it.

Property templates claim a page as your article and discourage other people from editing them.

The basic template is {{Property|USERNAME}}. To use it, replace USERNAME with your username.

The second necessary template for most, if not all pages, besides story pages, is an infobox.

Infoboxes vary depending on what you need them for. The most common ones are Character Infoboxes and Magic Infoboxes.

Here is my recommendation for a Character Infobox.

Here is my recommendation for a Magic Infobox.

Infoboxes can be directly accessed in source mode by replying to the options listed after the equal sign:

For a larger list of useful templates and infoboxes, click here.

Formatting

Besides templates, formatting is an important part of the pages we make.

The most important thing is to give your article section headers, which are done by putting a title between equal signs in source mode. What type of sections you will make varies on your personal style and the page you're creating.

Example:

Text Formatting goes hand in hand with headers.

To make bold text, enter '''TEXT'''

To make italic text, enter ''TEXT''

To make a link, enter [[TEXT]]

Images

Images are an essential part of the wiki, to showcase what things look like by means of art or a faceclaim. Uploading images is actually not that difficult.

To add an image enter in [[File:Imagename.extension]]

This should take you to an upload page, where you can select an image or gif from your computer to upload.

That will create something similar to this:

To resize your image, add this to the first code [[File:Imagename.extension|200px]]

By entering a number you are capable of changing the size via pixels. For infoboxes, I recommend 300px. For additional images on the page, I recommend somewhere between 200-400px depending on the height and width of the image.

Here is an example of an image with changed size:

You can also make it so images wrap around text as well as a caption. To do these things enter [[File:Imagename.extension|200px|thumb|DIRECTION|CAPTION]].

Direction refers to left or right. You can pick either side depending on your preference. Caption is where you enter your caption for the image. The example, as you can see, is on the right, with this text wrapping around it.

Translations

Translations are also an essential part of wiki that adds to the aesthetic appeal of your page.

For character names, I recommend getting your translations from here

For magics, aliases and etc, I recommend getting your translations from here or here

To properly format your translations enter English Name (Kanji/Characters, Romaji/English Pronunciation):

Also make sure to read the site's rules, these are imperative.

If you need any more help, feel free to leave a comment on this post and if I don't reply to you, it is likely that other members of the community will do their best to help you as well.