this was a comment on one of my post from a recent live event. it was photos of joyful queer buckaroos celebrating together and proving love is real through creation, community, and a trot of love. most important I AM LITERALLY IN PHOTO AS A REAL FLESH AND BLOOD HUMAN

it got me thinking about how DEEP AND VICIOUS the irony poisoning of these early internet communities goes. the way buds like this cannot fathom someone just being a sincere person unrelated to their OWN old days of cynical posting. it is fascinating, and i will admit, sad too

despite a DECADE of work, countless live events, 350 tinglers written well before large language models were a thing, there are still people who cannot imagine someone like me could exist. it is a strange place to be. not just part of me, but my entire EXISTENCE is often gatekept

it is easy to say ‘well chuck your art IS strange’ but honestly i think it is more than that. magical realism is common. there are stories about dinosaurs and bigfeet and unicorns. this scoundrel reaction is about two unspoken things: my art is neurodivergent, and my art is queer

heres the thing: I WILL BE FINE. what concerns me is not an issue of MYSELF, it is a concern for the other young outsider buckaroos who see comments like this one and think ‘is that what they will say if i express MY unique way? will i be dehumanized like this at every turn?'

i will be honest, i cannot say that WONT happen, but i CAN say this: for as deep as this irony poisoning goes, it is slowly dying. the way i was treated at the start of my career is LIGHTYEARS DIFFERENT from the way i am treated now. there is a massive shift towards sincerity

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY. to young artists trotting up, the things that i am harassed over and doubted for and made fun of for are NOT tangental to what has made me successful, THEY ARE LITERALLY THE SAME THINGS THAT HAVE MADE ME SUCCESSFUL. YES I AM STRANGE, WHAT OF IT?

the things that you tuck away for fear of a review that says ‘there is a PROBLEM with this art because it has always been done another way’ THOSE ARE YOUR SUPERPOWERS. the gatekeepers want you to tuck those parts of yourself away because THEY TUCKED AWAY THOSE PART OF THEMSELVES

never forget that your unique way is PURE UNFILTERED 100 PERCENT ROCKET FUEL. it will stick out (maybe, if you are lucky, scoundrels will even say that someone like you could never actually be real), but sticking out isnt so bad when you are waving the flag of love.

in fact, when youre waving the flag of love, sticking out is pretty dang cool. what are flags for, after all? LOVE IS REAL BUCKAROOS. thank you for reading, and if you enjoyed this long post then please consider preordering BURY YOUR GAYS.

LETS TROT

[FINAL WEEK WARNING]

We're officially in our final week of the donation period, which runs until April 30th!

We're so close to hitting 1k raised for the SFA and it would mean the world to us, so keep ringing that bell 🔔

Our pinned has all the information on how to donate to charity (either CareForGaza or the Sarcoma Foundation of America). There are various ways to donate, from Tiltify to Paypal. Sending in your prompts can be done in the Google doc or directly in our DMs.

Even 1$ allows you to get an amazing piece of art or fic. And if you donate to both charities, you get two prompts. Help us end this event with a bang, Techno millionaires, we believe in you!

Maybe no one cares but I saw someone saying this meme was so Technoblade and I had to, is the first thing I actually post of him, the first sketch I made of him that I actually felt like was the one.

I miss him a lot, funny guy, funny guy.

Technoblade Never Dies.

Before you kill a character...

Consider the following.

Does it advance the plot?

Killing off a character should serve a purpose in propelling the story forward. It could introduce a new conflict, escalate existing tensions, or trigger a series of events that drive the plot in a new direction. If the character's death doesn't contribute to the overall narrative arc, it might feel gratuitous or unnecessary.

Does it fulfil their personal goal?

Each character has their own arcs and objectives within the story. If the character's death aligns with or resolves their personal journey or goal, it can add depth and closure to their character arc. Conversely, if their death feels disconnected from their goals or character development, it may come across as arbitrary or unsatisfying.

Does it emphasise the theme?

The death of a character can highlight or support key themes by demonstrating their consequences or illustrating the moral dilemmas faced by the remaining characters. A well-executed death can deepen the audience's understanding of the story's themes and add layers of complexity to the narrative.

Does it motivate other characters?

Character deaths can serve as catalysts for growth or change in other characters. The loss of a loved one or ally can drive characters to reevaluate their beliefs, make difficult decisions, or embark on new paths. The impact of the death on other characters can reveal their strengths, weaknesses, and relationships, adding depth to the story's interpersonal dynamics.

Does it create realism?

The inclusion of death can lend authenticity to the story world. If the character's death feels earned and plausible within the context of the narrative, it can enhance the story's credibility and emotional resonance. However, if the death feels contrived or forced, it may strain the reader's suspension of disbelief.

Is it a fitting recompense?

In some cases, characters may meet their demise as a consequence of their actions or decisions. If the character's death serves as a form of justice or retribution for their deeds, it can feel narratively satisfying and thematically resonant. However, if the death feels arbitrary or disconnected from the character's arc or the story's events, it may feel unsatisfying or even unjustified.

Don't kill off a character for the sake of shocking the reader or invoking sadness; when considering whether to kill off a character in your story, it's crucial to ensure their demise serves a purpose beyond mere shock value or convenience. Ensure each character serves a purpose that enriches and enhances the story to avoid having to eliminate them solely for convenience. Don't use death as a means to remove an extra or irrelevant character—you shouldn't have them in the first place, if they're disposable. Doing so will undermine the depth and integrity of the narrative.

Hope this was helpful! Happy writing ❤

Oh my gosh, it's @vpofcookies, whose adorable art style we absolutely love. We're so happy to count them among our rank of contributors <3 Check the pinned now, since there are only 5 days left!

Just something I made for Twitter

You can donate to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund for as little as $1.00.

There is a fee you can choose to apply to cover processing.

Which if you choose to do leaves you with a total of ~$1.35 (USD) depending on the type of card you have.

PCRF has a score of 97% on Charity Navigator.

Adults and children alike are currently dying in Palestine due to starvation. (World Health Organization Link)

The Gaza Strip is one of two places in the entire world that is categorized as Phase 5 (the highest phase) on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification scale.

So even if you think it isn't enough, remember that donating even as little as $1.35 helps! It's $1.35 they wouldn't have had otherwise. So donate if you can. 🇵🇸

Outfit swap!

:D

Emerald duo, they are happy :D

Outfit swap!

:D

Emerald duo, they are happy :D

A family moved in down the street last month. This sounds normal, but they're suspiciously close to one in a story I'm writing. I made a character last year with the exact family. Did I somehow predict this family's arrival, or have there been any past cases of peoples' fictional creations coming to life?

We call this "parafictional" manifestation, and you can learn more by clicking on the parafiction tag my intern Jenny will append to this post. The short version is that this does happen but we have to be careful. The vast majority of the times this happens, especially with a fictional property only one person know about (like this personal project you have) these aren't truly self-aware entities that have manifested - these are lures.

Some entities like Outsider behavior patterns feed on the human capacity for creativity (has a lot to do with emotions involved with creative expression being particularly attractive to psychophagics) and to harvest that, they'll exploit your own thoughts and creations. Either to feed on you psychically, or literally.

Be careful. You obviously don't want to assume these new neighbors are automatically harmful in this way - it could just be a big coincidence - but there's a few things you can do.

Ask another creative neighbor about them. These things will be a mirror, typically. They'll reflect what the viewer already has in mind. You might see these folks as Mr and Mrs Smith from your book, but your neighbor might see them as Mr and Mrs Takahashi from the manga he's working on.

You could also very gently ask them some nonsense questions. If this is a lure, it'll also be a "chinese room" - an entity that is able to mimic human conversations simply by examining textual data en masse and regurgitating what the response is likely or expected to be without actually understanding it. You might feel silly, but try asking a nonsense question, like if the sky feels glarble or if nods yon today. If they just raise an eyebrow, green flag. If they try and respond without breaking stride, red flag.

If you get a couple red flags that way, send us another message. We'll send someone out.

honestly frothing at the mouth for the moment scp The Blade gets his act together and starts treating The Blood God like an actual person and not just a super evil side to repress. Like, The Blood God has proper motivations and philosophies and is just begging The Blade to consider proper team work but noooo. He gets fully walled off and shoved into the sea of voices, constantly pushed away to the point where he can only surface when his vessel is in danger. Of course he’d be constantly trying to buck The Blade’s control, he’s never allowed to just exist! They never talk to each other!

Unfortunately the prerequisite for The Blade to stop suppressing The Blood God and finally actually allow proper communication is a high enough friendship stat with Tubbo (who actually runs the Hivemind pretty well once a few things are sorted out), and if any of you have even glanced at Fault y’all know how well THAT is going…

One of the larger miscommunications between scp Tubbo and The Blade (of which there are frankly many) that I think really shapes Tubbos’ perception is the difference between their similar power systems. Because with Tubbo they have a massive choice in who is in the Hivemind, and assume The Blade chose to be the vessel of a violent god. Potentially they even think he allowed every single voice in, probably via evilly and non consentually going around ripping people apart to join The Blade’s Hivemind, given Tubbos’ traumatic associations with Collecting and how they equate The Blade with senseless violence. This category is more in the lines of casual assumptions not really considered, more subconscious than anything. I feel like this could be cleared up pretty easily.

What IS more of a problem is that Tubbo is fairly in control of who is fronting in the Hivemind (too controlling even). Even more crucially, Tubbo doesn’t understand that The Blade does NOT have control of his own body in certain conditions* and so legitimately couldn’t stop The Blood God from disabling Tubbo. Meanwhile The Blade feels kinda bad (and actually will have a crisis once he learns some crucial information, but spoilers) but ultimately feels like it isn’t fully his fault. He takes responsibility for his actions, but not necessarily the entire blame because that was The Blood God, not him.

But to Tubbo, it reads as ‘oh no it’s not REALLY my fault I nearly killed you because the evil person I chose to have in my skull was fronting (something that I could have stopped if I cared enough to)’ because that’s what it would mean if it was Tubbo who’d hurt someone.

Which. Yeah. Obviously the problem is far greater than that misunderstanding, but the stark differences between their headmate systems certainly isn’t helping.

if i'm being absolutely completely totally honest i think that "it wasn't you" doesn't go far enough in absolving someone of the guilt of being the subject of a brainwashing or mind control plot. because at the end of the day, it was you. it was your body, your mind, potentially even your soul, being stripped of its autonomy, intimately violated and turned against you as much as anyone else. it's a kind of assault, and should be treated as such, especially in more mature narratives. i think that "it wasn't your fault" and "your shame at being made helpless and unable to control your own body and mind's involuntary responses is understandable, but you are not in any way irredeemable or unforgivable because of what was done to you" are also necessary reassurances. and i think that there should be lingering resentment in spite of words of forgiveness and miscommunication and long-term post-traumatic consequences also.

Something I figured out when writing Mandatory Family Reunion is that you can hit a roadblock because you can’t figure out how a character would react, and sometimes the answer is the character doesn’t know either. People are complicated as hell and get confused and contradictory. One character I couldn’t untangle how he’d respond to a situation, and it was because he’d accomplished his life goal only for it to not be the happy ending he expect. He had extremely contradictory feelings about his results and no plan for what happened after he succeeded. I didn’t know what to write because the character himself had no idea what to do. So his character arc became trying to figure out what he wanted and find a new purpose in life.

After a chapter that was somewhere between an emotional rollercoaster and train wreck, I couldn’t figure out the emotions of a different character. I kept trying to force different reactions, and I hated all of them because it didn’t feel right. For some reason I couldn’t figure out how he was feeling. Simple answer: he wasn’t. I realized the character was despondent, shutting down as a coping mechanism after the emotional whirlwind of the chapter. When I allowed him that reaction, the emotional flow of the piece made more sense and the chapter I struggled with for months became much easier to finish.

There can be a lot of reasons why it’s hard to figure out a character’s response/feelings. Might be there’s too much whiplash between starkly different emotions, or there isn’t enough context on their perspective/backstory/etc for the response to make sense, could clash with the tone, on and on etc etc. But it might also be because the character doesn’t know either, and that can also be really interesting to write. Good luck out there!