#i've created so many Pinterest boards for them as well
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-What was your first ship, and what fandom is it from?
Hi! Thanks for sending this in!
My first ship that I can think of was samkate, from Holes. I was obsessed with them, and still am tbh. They are the blue print. I think they are what cemented me as a tragedy enjoyer. I love hopeless devotion, I love starcrossed lovers.
#i still have fanfiction I've written for them somewhere deep down in the vaults of my computer#i've created so many Pinterest boards for them as well#i love them more than meljay. they are to well tangled in my soul#ask
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my creative writing process as a planner 🌟
the idea:
story ideas come to me at the most random and inconvenient of times. right before i fall asleep, when i'm in the shower, during my classes, etcetera. my main rule is to always write them down, whether it's in my notes app or a slip of paper or a journal... i'll forget it if i don't.
i try keeping it simple at this stage and not thinking too deeply about it, otherwise it becomes quite overwhelming. sometimes ¡'ll make a pinterest board depending on what the idea is. if it's more of an aesthetic, then i can make a moodboard out of it to help inspire me more. however, if the idea is a plot of some sort, that can be a bit more difficult.
character and world building:
this is my favorite part. once i have an idea set in stone and i'm ready to work on it, i begin building the characters and the world around it. i figure out the mechanics of the idea and how it can relate to characters and the world they're in.
at this point, i'm definitely making pinterest boards, playlists, and picrews to feel more immersed in the skeleton of the story.
i still keep it as simple as possible, and try to enjoy it. when i try juggling too many things at once, i end up wanting to abandon the project. slow and steady is the key for me :)
creating the story:
now we get down to what being a writer actually is.. transforming the idea into a story. i have to at least come up with one major plotline to start. i usually write in my journal during this stage, but sometimes i'll use notion to organize everything and keep track of it all.
oftentimes, the main plot will come to me when i'm working on character and world building. sometimes it's even the idea that first popped into my head. the story is usually influenced by dreams i've had, my own every day experiences, and other media i consume.
arcs, subplots, themes, etc:
this stage is for the smaller details that are vital for the story to flow and actually work. it's like a puzzle that's finally coming together.
for me, a story isn't a good one without arcs and themes, so those are of utmost importance. subplots are necessary to make the world more immersive, give readers insight on the characters, and keep the story naturally flowing. everything has to be woven back in to the main plot or idea, though.
i will say, this is the stage that tends to give me the biggest headache :P
zero draft:
jumping into a first draft as a heavy planner is too scary for me. so i came up with the idea of a zero draft. basically- zero expectations.
this is the backbone of my story. in this stage, i'm basically just taking myself through the steps of the story. i organize the plot and subplots into chapters, and with each chapter i go through all the beats of each scene. literally every. single. thing. that happens.
i don't usually include dialogue in this phase, but i do mention when a character will be in a conversation. all the focus should be on putting a needle and thread through the story and tying it all together.
first draft:
the first draft is somewhat easier for me because i do a zero draft. so, i know everything that will happen in a chapter and just have to utilize my writing abilities to make it rhythmic.
this is the first stage where i write dialogue, so it tends to be corny. a lot of my writing can be cliche and basic as well. that's what editing is for though!
i usually stress the most when writing my first draft, because it's the first time the story is actually being written in the format of a novel. by the end, it's not always very good either. but i do not look back at all, which means absolutely no editing until the first draft is finished.
and so on…
once the first draft is finished, then comes draft two. it's enjoyable to be able to read your own work all over again, though it's sometimes embarrassing as writing does improve with practice.
i focus on one chapter at a time-reading slowly, editing, filling in plot holes, fixing anything that changed later in the story. i try to catch as many details as i can.
usually, after as many rounds of editing one likes, the draft would be sent to an editor and beta readers. then i'd look into publishing companies (can you tell i haven't gotten to that point yet? lol)
are you a planner or a pantser?
#writers on tumblr#writing#writeblr#writers and poets#literature#writerscommunity#storytelling#planner#pantser#writing process#my writing process#zero draft#first draft#writing tips#writing advice#author
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Miraculous Pinterest Pen-Pals
My favorite online interaction that I've ever had was when I was in highschool (2017-ish) I started getting really regular DMs from a person I didn't know on pinterest. They had a pfp that was Ladybug from Miraculous Ladybug and would send me posts from pinterest about the show while they excitedly talked about how cute the fanart they would send was- they did this completely in spanish.
Important context...I don't speak spanish. I took a couple school required spanish courses in middle and high school but I wasn't incredibly adept at it.
I popped their message into google translate and their excitement over a piece of fanart of the Miraculous Jewelry Box was so joyous that (despite being incredibly confused) I wanted to respond. I looked at their account and didn't recognize the name, their bio said they were 13 and I was 15 turning 16 so I didn't think I actually knew them irl but I felt bad leaving them hanging so I pulled out my old Spanish class notebooks and using my (luckily well recorded) grammar and sentence structure note guides as well as a digital Spanish dictionary (I didn't trust google translate to NOT make me sound like a fool- the Disney songs that were put through google translate many times were very popular back then, especially the song "Let It Go" so I was incredibly skeptical of Google Translate at the time.) I wrote back a response. It took me about half an hour to write a two sentence reply that essentially boiled down to "Yes I think the drawing is pretty too! I like how the artist really showed the Kwami's personalities!"
Until 2019 the two of us continued to send fan art back and forth, always adding our thoughts in Spanish. Their screen name was just a bunch of emojis and I never ended up learning their name or finding a way to contact them off of Pinterest- we had been chatting back and forth for so long I got embarrassed at the idea of admitting that I actually knew next to nothing about them and admitting that I didn't actually speak Spanish irl- for some reason it felt a little like lying that I never told them I was an English speaker and I cared enough about their opinion of me that I didn't want to disappoint them.
In 2019 though they stopped sending posts, all activity on their Pinterest stopped and a few weeks after they went silent their whole account got taken down.
I panicked, thinking something bad might've happened but the fact was that I knew nothing about them except for what you could see on their Pinterest boards. They liked miraculous ladybug, their favorite colors were blue and orange, they were likely a girl because they referred to themselves as la hija menor de mi madre once when talking about their relationship with their siblings and their fights over who got to use the TV. They liked lolita fashion and dogs and those DIY Decoden phone case/card decoration things, but other than that I knew nothing about them.
I think about them pretty often, especially when I see Miraculous Ladybug content- honestly the memories they gave me might be the only real reason I'm still active in Miraculous Fandom despite not having watched past the Chat Blanc episode.
While I miss them, or at least regret that out interactions got cut off so harshly, being their Pinterest Pal, being their friend made me really hopeful about creating connections with others- especially people with overlapping interests. Being their friend really let me know that being loud about your likes was important because it could lead to the most unlikely of bridges.
#miraculous#pen pals#miraculous ladybug#marinette dupain cheng#adrien agreste#miraculous kwamis#pinterest#spanish#español#personal#personal post
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Hey! I was wondering how you’re approaching making a save? How do you plan out what lots you want, what you want them to look like and who you want to live there? How do you decide what places you want the worlds to be based on? I find this topic so exciting!😅 Sorry for asking so many questions!
Hi no worries at all, I'm happy to answer this! A save takes a lot of planning and if you're considering starting one it's always a good idea to feel out how others have approached it too. It's going to be a little bit of a long answer so I'm going to stick it under a cut. ↩️
How do you plan out what lots you want?
I have a notebook that I've been keeping over the past year. Each world has its own page- the left side has a sticky with inspo words along with potential ideas. The right side has three categories: community, residential, and rental. I will write the in-game lot names down to start and as things evolve I will replace them with the ideas, then eventually the actual lot names. On the inside cover of the same notebook I have stickies with about 75 different lot ideas (cafe, toy shop, art museum, etc.) so if I'm ever stumped I can look over those. Generally, I try to think about what sims would want to do, whether it makes sense in the world, and keep it well-rounded in terms of lot type/availability.
How do you plan out what you want them to look like?
Beyond the inspiration listed in the book, I have Pinterest boards for each world with tons of architecture and interior pictures. Sometimes I heavily reference a specific build, sometimes I mash a bunch together to create something entirely new, and sometimes I just sit down and do it from scratch pulling from my own memory/experience.
How do you plan out who you want to live there?
When I start building sometimes I have a general idea of who I want living there already, but sometimes it's just a build. Once I start decorating is really when I begin to form an idea of who the sims are. If I'm feeling really CAS inspired I will make families without knowing where they're living yet and then do it in reverse.
How do you decide what places you want the worlds to be based on?
For The Neighborhood V1 it's been pretty easy since I'm just going along with the general existing themes of Willow Creek/Magnolia Promenade. Newcrest will be far less derivative since I'm going to move into a completely new "area" of the U.S.
I do have a different save planned (shhhhh) which will be pretty "out there"/more fantasy based so it will be based around some broader concepts.
I hope this helps to answer your questions! If you have any others feel free to ask. A save is really, really hard work. It's the biggest project I have ever taken on personally, even bigger than I initially realized. But it's also been incredibly rewarding in a creative sense!
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A part of growing up is realizing that sometimes things that work for the majority/most people...just don't for you.
This post is based on me accepting that some "productivity tools" just aren't productive for me, personally
And that's alright. Just need to find anothe one, or another way to go about it
Not every tool works for everyone
I tried Notion for writing and keeping my ideas organized. And on paper / in theory, it's all cool and good and writeblr even has templates for it
But it just doesn't work for me
Just not comfortable.
So I'm planning on taking what I've done so far out and putting it all somewhere else.
Similarly, I keep adding to Google Tasks but too messy and my things get lost.
People are different and growing up is learning, understanding, and accepting that sometimes stuff that works for others just doesn't work for you
One reason against Notion and Google Tasks could be that I'm probably ADD, or neurodivergent at the very least
Right now, here's what I'm trying out:
Google sheets for story. 1 sheet for characters, 1 for outline/plot, 1 for dialogue ideas (did this for 1 novel and it worked really well!)
Discord for ideas. I made a server that's just me. And channels are collections like #ideas #resources. Then planning on creating threads inside them. So a thread called writing in #resources that's that
I was addicted to Pinterest and have so many boards and stuff organized. It's an issue finding stuff but stuff's there and I might try to make use of the boards and collections I have rn, instead of adding more
Moving Notion to Google Docs before I organize and move to Discord
Using Ywriter for scene organization and heavy stories
Using Google docs for actual writing (I do this anyway)
Zotero for academic referencing, researching, collection (I used this before and enjoyed it. Right now I'm using it for a research paper I'm doing just for fun ie I'm not affiliated with any uni or organization, it's just my new hyperfixation and I'd like to write a paper :))
#life tips#growth#writeblr#notion#discord#google sheets#pinterest#ywriter#google docs#zotero#academic research#studyblr#mine#online tools#self acceptance#self growth#self learning#writing
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Hey dear! How long since I wrote to you, I don't know if I can ask but could you give me some advice on how to edit/theme/customize your blog in an aesthetic way?
Idk, even basic tips are fine, I really love seeing your blog and I think you have really good taste in aesthetics ❤️
hey lovey! it would be my pleasure to try and help you <3. i say try because my explaining skills are the absolute worst but i will do my best lmao. gonna do this in bullet points ok:
have an idea / inpisration / a crumb of what you want your blog to look like! you can find inspo literally anywhere, a friends blog even (but please remember to always ask and don't take it harshly if said person declines you doing so). pinterest is also amazing for this, looking up graphics, different aesthetics, templates, i literally have a board on my pinterest i've had for years now where i get graphic inspo or where i go when i just need to feed my creative juices to put me in the mood to create something. canva is also great, i literally go on there and look up headers, moodboards, etc and just star them for later. keywords are everything as well, so like 'aesthetic here + color, vibe, look, graphic, template' helps sites like canva and pin lead you in the right direction. same with just typing things like 'green, grunge, lovecore, etc'.
edit on desktop! now i know not everyone has a laptop or ipad or the ability to do this but i highly rec it over editing on the janky mobile app where sometimes things save and sometimes they don't. plus i always use one of the random saved user blogs i have to make a test layout / theme so if i don't like it everything on my main blog is fine, didn't change, and i didn't waste all that time on a theme i don't even want to look at lmao. so making a side blog where you do that is also great cause you can just copy and paste your nav post over, you can take the graphics you've already made and upload them onto your main without second guessing if they look good because you've already seen what it all looks like!
start small! by that i mean start with a simple theme or idea and build up from that. don't just start with seven graphics and ideas and overwhelm yourself. sometimes i just think of a color and be like yeah i'm make something with this color or wrapped around that color and i create something great.
ask a friend for help! i can't tell you how many times i've asked friends if this theme looked good or to send me inspo pics or what theme they think i should do, or even asked them to help me find resources. utilize your besties and mutuals.
not everyones aesthetic is the same! some people like messy themes, some like overdone, some like super simple. don't compare yourself to anyone!!!! everyone creates differently, everyone sees colors and aesthetics amd themes differently. no matter what you decide to go with is all your own and great and special.
etc: putting all your most important links in your nav is always a good rule of thumb (anything you really want to highlight as well), if you use pngs they're all over tumblr and pinterest 'transparent' + 'png' at the end or beginning of what you're looking for will always lead you in the right direction, and when it comes to pngs i highly rec adding them to a white background or transparent one and make the size of the background 500px and move the png halfway / towards the bottom (centered) of the background so tumblr doesn't make your header all the way at the top and ugly, don't make your nav post too long, take colors from your images / aesthetics to incorporate throughout the whole theme so everything meshes well together, don't use flashy dividers because it's not good on a lot of users eyes and unless you state a tw in the tags it's just not as cool as some people think lol.
that's all i can think of but if you have any more questions bby my pms are open!!
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Do you have any art advice?
Sorry for the VERY belated reply but..
Yes of course I have some (general) advice, that have helped me as an artist.
Buckle up, because it's going to be a long post.
Start a Sketchbook. If it's your first ever try at dipping your fingers into these, you can turn an average notebook into one to overcome your fear of ruining a 30zł costing sketchbook in the future.
If you're afraid of ruining your first page of your sketchbook, then just draw what the year is. Trust me when I say this, this has been my go-to when filling up the first page EVER SINCE I STARTED IT BACK IN 2019.
Once you'll have 10+ sketchbooks finished, you can look back at your first and current sketchbook and see how your skills have changed over time.
Sign up to Pinterest and start making boards for thing like: Art inspo, references,etc.
I created mine back in mid-2020 and I've gotta say, this has been one of my sources of inspo ever since. Of course, Pinterest is not just an art inspo-exclusive site, as there are things like cooking tutorials, room decor ideas, Hell.. even MEMES are here..
Don't be afraid to try out other blending modes other than Multiply, Add or Overlay.
These three aforementioned blending modes are surely neat and all, but there are more blending modes out there (thought the full amount of those depends on the art program you're using, I use FireAlpaca btw).
There are such layer modes like: Difference, Hard Light, Darken, Screen, Exclusion, Luminosity to name a few. So go out, experiment with them in your art, mix-and-match then and see what you'll get.
Use references.
Look, I know that the "JuSt PrAcTiCe" advice is NOT ENOUGH to help an artist, and I get that (That's why I've listed my first tip as "Go grab a sketchbook"), however there's a little catch...
Let's say... you wanna draw something for example... Hands - the most tedious part of the human body that a lot of artists are struggling to draw correctly. You try to draw it on paper.. and suddenly - You've just realized, that the hand you drew, didn't come out as you expected.
So what do you do in this situation? Well you go search up 'hand references' of course.
You can do that with other things like: backgrounds, computers, skateboards, weird deep-sea animals like Giant Isopods etc...
...or you just want to try out a different art style
References are a good tool, if you don't know how some things work in an artistic sense, that's all I'm saying.
Use you art program's features to AN ADVANTAGE. Especially the filters tab.
I use FireAlpaca to make art. It's a free art program, so I don't have to pay over 100zł montly, unlike Photoshop or.. Clip Studio Paint. However it doesn't have that many features or filters like Photoshop does, and that's okay. Because despite this, you can make great art with it.
Wanna make a picture you've just pasted from the web to have some nice halftones? Well you can covert the layer into an 8-bit one, enable halftones and adjust to your liking.
Wanna have some interesting colors in your art? Use Gradiation map or Tone Curve and fuck around.
Want your art to have a softer look? Use a 'Soft Light' mode, go to 'Gaussian Blur' and later go to 'Levels' and adjust the to your liking.
Wanna make a drawing have a pixel-ish look? you can use the 'Mosaic' filter for that.
The list goes on.
Last but not least... Have Fun.
Art has no rules.
You can make fanarts of your favourite series 24/7, make numerous paintings of landscapes on canvas, draw your OCs, doodle on Ms Paint of all things.. or just scribble things in your sketchbook.
In the end you're making art, and what matters the most is that you're having fun with it.
So go out while you're drawing (as long as you're not harming anybody)
Yeah, that's all
#not art related#xylas-qna#asks#again I am sorry for replying to this WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYyy too late#Heads up: I am NOT an art pro#I'm just giving things that have helped me as an artist and I hope these'll help you too one day
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So, an introduction. Or (as SOMEONE, who has been snickering over my head for two days now, put it) a SERIOUS POST.
TL;DR:
I write fanfic and stuff (ao3 links under cut)
I do arts and crafts (and a lot more different shit than these)
I have too much fun with customising legos (that's because when I hyperfixate I REALLY DO)
Read more under the cut 🖤
This blog is dedicated solely to my HP hyperfixation. Since tumblr is favouring main blog and I have this tendency to create one for each fandom I'm currently obsessing about, you may see likes and follows by @sorceress-nadira.
I've read HP in my teens, stopped after OOTP ending, cried and made a promise to one Sirius Black that I will NOT read further. Kept it until today (and it's been almost 20 years) and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Fictional character or not, I made a promise and no one can stop me from being in full denial.
Still, I know about the canon, because I believe in research. Even if I do research to conclude "that's bullshit" and write something completely different.
So far there are following stories on AO3:
The Black Occamy - which is still being written and I currently estimate it to contain around 35 chapters when it's done. Since I'm doing extensive worldbuilding, I may on occasion refer to my headcanon as #occamy verse. It contains a self-insert OC, to which there is no denying, and I have long forgiven myself for creating characters in worlds I love. While it's a self-insert, it's also a really well-crafted character, so you should give her a chance. She's badass. Really badass. The fic also contains Marauders, mostly Sirius, but other well-known characters will be appearing (and staying) along the way.
That's My Spot which is also posted on the blog. Just a short Sirius x non-gender reader I wrote to overcome writers' block. I may add more and if I like a request, I may write it as well in spare time.
The Enchanted Cafe: Season of Pumpkin Spice also posted on the blog. I had a sudden craving for some coffee shop AU with the boys.
Series of Remadora microfics written for October 2023 prompts. Not too many and not for every day. They are set in Occamy-verse as well.
Beside that I have headcanons for a lot of things and even more opinions that I'm more than willing to share.
I try to add images and videos to my ideas. I'm not ready to call it ART, because that would imply the level of skill that I simply do not have. Starting in September 2023 I decided to learn how to draw and, well, I keep on learning! I'm posting my art attempts here and on IG for Occamy art.
I am also very fluent in talking to machines and photomanipulation, which is why I decided to share my AI-generated images and gifs with the world. You will see them tagged as #sd ai and #stable diffiusion, and if the idea of AI doesn't appeal to you, feel free to filter them out.
I am a huge beliver in Pinterest boards - this one is dedicated to Occamyverse.
I tried to access tiktok and while I cannot for the life of mine understand it, I have dabbled in a stupid video or two. Feel free to check it out as well, if that's your fancy, but keep in mind it's no longer updated. I gave up.
Beside that I encourage you to talk to me about stuff. I like talking - which should be obvious by now by the sheer length of this post.
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6 years from now I've encountered the most amazing roleplayer I could ever met. She completes me in way no one could ever have. She knows exactly where to take our stories, how to make our characters evolve. I have tried so many time to find someone like this on tumblr too to have other players to play with, but none of them is ever able to have such layered characters, such beautiful writing, and that amazing chemistry that we have. We like to plot, chat, write, creates memes and pinterest boards and anything, and she is always on point. What an amazing artist she is. I like to think that she, too, cannot find anyone else to play as well as I do with her, since our characters are connected in ways that are unimaginable to outsiders. We are not even doubling at this point, we have so many current roleplays and stories while people here have a hard time finding someone to double with. It's a shame, because truly I think the roleplay community would benefit from more people like her.
❤️
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4, 18, 27, 36, and 40 for the OC adjective ask game, pls? :3 - 🔮⛈️
»»—————————- 𓆩❤︎𓆪 —————————-««
𝚁𝚘ü𝚡𝚘 𝚔𝚘𝚓 𝚊𝚟𝚠𝚎𝚒;
Hello, my friend, and thank you for the question!
From this ask game.
I've linked the pinterest boards of each character mentioned, as well as added content warnings before each: keep yourselves safe, and let me know if I missed any tags!
WHICH OC IS THE MOST...
Ambitious?
(desius link cw: images relating to death, blood, carnivals)
The most ambitious could go to quite a few, but I'll choose Walker Hitch this time; a siyal from my general lore. Though she's at the 'top of the food chain' nowadays, it wasn't always like this. She began as a gladiator in the siyal city and worked her way up to be the best. Desius provided some unfair help, but that's not too unusual for them.
Walker is easily one of my favorite and most complicated characters that I've created; she's cruel, powerful, and arrogant. And her strength never wavers.
Attentive?
A guardian angel turned god, Emery Norcross is a gentle giant and a sweetheart. He's from Faefinder, a wip I've only begun to plan out, though I created him long before this. As a guardian angel, he is very understanding and gentle with the boy he's assigned to protect, and attentive to every need, whether verbalized or not.
Anxious?
(ellyse link cw: images relating to death, blood, horror game Alice: Madness Returns)
Tallie Hightwist, from my twisted Alice retelling Ellyse of Wonderspire, is easily one of the most anxious. She's a chimeric human and my version of The Mad Hatter. Only able to die at the hands of another chimeric/person from her fairytale. She's known to ramble and will often interrupt herself, list multiple synonyms, or speak in ways that confuse the average person. She's also extremely anxious due to a traumatic past involving Ellyse, or Alice.
Bold?
This one would definitely go to Valiant, another from my general lore! She's a luminary; immortal, but with a good heart. She's extremely confident and does her best to free those who are enslaved; she has freed many genies over her lifetime,so much so that she's known as their protector!
Spontaneous?
As usual, I had a lot of good choices for this one, but I've settled on my version of the Cheshire cat, from Ellyse of Wonderspire, Shire Alastair Marcellus.
Shire has a shattered mine. Literally; his energy, or lifeforce, is shattered into pieces, and this leads him to not always be super coherent. However, he is incredibly mischievous and loves to explore. He's known to pop up in random places all over the Worlds to confuse and play pranks on residents.
Lots of new characters introduced here, and I'm super excited to be talking about them more!
»»—————————- 𓆩❤︎𓆪 —————————-««
~ Of Fables & Feathers,
🕊️ Locke J. Haven
locket’s tags:
╔═════════════════════╗
@365runesofwriting
@enchanted-lightning-aes
@thepixiediaries
@midnight-and-his-melodiverse
@perasperaadastrawriting
@fearofahumanplanet
[ your tag could be here... ]
╚═════════════════════╝
#oc: walker#oc: valiant#oc: tallie#wip: ellyse of wonderspire#wip: fable#oc: shire#oc: emery#wip: faefinder#oct#oct 2022#2022#key: enchanted-lightning-aes#locket answers
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Trials and Tribulations of the Chronautical Art Style
When I first came up with the idea for Chronautical, it was for a story rather than a game. So when it came time to make it into a game, I had to think about visuals in a more concrete way.
This log will detail the long journey I had designing Chronautical's art style over and over again.
From the beginning, I knew what the stylistic pillars were: seafaring stories, steampunk-adjacent technology, and a storybook adventure. I gathered up a pinterest board full of all the things that made me dream of Chronautical. I wanted to create a sense of wonder and a full-feeling world so unlike our own. But there was a roadblock to that.
As an artist, I've had a lot of self esteem problems. It's common. So at first I didn't think I was capable of making anything I needed. So instead, I used Photobashing and some light Matte Painting to achieve my goals. If I couldn't do it, then surely editing things together could work. Even more so, I pixelized it, thinking my photobashing wasn't where it needed to be, so all pixel art could be what we needed.
But luckily someone said just to keep the photobash how it was. And this was fine. I was still very uneasy in my art, so I justified the process. If the game is going to be big, I need to work quickly right?
These produced some… interesting results, combining artbreeder faces and pinterest clothes bodies. Well, as I progressed the photobashing just wasn't cutting it (clearly), we needed characters to be drawn at the very least.
Alistair eluded me. Jack was very easy, I knew his face as soon as I saw it. But to this day I don't think Alistair is quite right. So through development, he changed subtly (or not so subtly) several times. I did several face studies of a variety of faces from around the internet, and nothing quite stuck.
During this time, I still was trying to match oils to the realism of the backgrounds, a process which remained stiff and forced. I was still trying to get my footing as an artist, and had many style tries throughout this stage.
But then, the style changed again, it's most influential change (barring the one I made at the beginning of this semester). I was assigned to do the whole trailer! And I had only one weekend to do so!
Designing a trailer and designing the assets are linked, but I needed all new ones for what I had in mind. I also gave Shannon (who does sound and music design) a vision for what I needed from the trailer's soundtrack.
How do you sell a visual novel? The same way you'd sell a book! You have to bring the viewer into the world, and deliver them the immersive action and in-depth world that reading the story makes them feel. So off to learn premiere!
I spent 30 hours in total drawing all the characters, assets, and constructing the backgrounds. Then everything got Parallax'd to the beat. Drafted, storyboarded, constructed, all in 3 days flat! (I barely talked to my poor sweet girlfriend for those 3 days :[ )
What was important about the process though, was a crunchy textured inking pen I did everything in, and the flats I used as a fast process. These I carried on into the next phase of Chronautical assets. These were better than any previous iteration, and for a while, I was content with them.
But then, I knew I wasn't really enjoying the process. I'm an painter at heart, and flats wasn't giving me what I was looking for. And the palette I had previously used for comics was too bright and garish for the soft storybook feel I intended.
So the last redesign happened. And this time I had enough self confidence to do the backgrounds as well. So all of it was being redone!
My art professor was the one who inspired the style, as he said that watercolor forces me to stop, and usually I get too worried about things and overwork them. And he was right!
So that is the final style, with all assets from characters to backgrounds to ui 100% drawn by me, in a nice ink-and-watercolor way.
So the main lesson is! Don't doubt yourself! If I had only just drawn it all from the beginning, maybe I wouldn't have to redo it so often!
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hi willow!! 3 and 26 for the writer asks? :>
3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?
my writing ritual always starts out with things that i probably shouldn't be putting so much focus on LOL and it usually starts with creating a pinterest board, or looking at one i've already made. i have to see everything in order to get my creative juices flowing, and so i try to acquire as many visual aids as i can to help with the process. i also spend an absurd amount of time finding the right ambiance and/or white noise to write with. for southern charm, it was a lot of red dead redemption with thunderstorm backgrounds LOL and then for honey, don't feed me it's been a lot of the ghost of tsushima ost, things like that. at some point — and this has to happen, in order for me to get anywhere — i go on like a three hour walk and listen to music, usually from a playlist i've already made for the fic i'm trying to write, and i just daydream what is to come. i really enjoy this part because i can just put my body on autopilot and put all my energy into my brain. this is all cursed bc i'm so sure none of it is necessary LOL but it must happen. it must.
26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?
well, first of all, i have to have — what i believe to be — a very serious understanding of their character, and even if it's not exactly canon, i have to have a decent grasp on something. i can't half-ass comprehend a character, which is why i'm hesitant to write someone like toji or gojo or hawks for example, because i think they are more complex than they seem. it takes my full focus to dissect a character like that, and it's not something i can do quickly or on command; it takes genuine effort. i also have to find something — anything at all — that is myself in them. it's the best way for me to relate to them and therefore write them, and 99% of the time, it's never the pretty things LOL
writing bakugou, i call a lot on my own issues with insecurity and the struggle i can sometimes have expressing myself correctly in words. dabi is — as you know, mao dearest LOL — a whirlwind of things; i quite literally explore the ugliest sides of myself, and i don't mean that i am "like" him or can actually relate to him, but — that voice in your head that flares up on instinct when you're angry, how deeply things from your past still affect you, that overwhelming, all encompassing fear of rejection and not being enough, all that bad stuff — i dig into that to write with that at the forefront of my mind. i take all these things that naturally occur to me and then put myself in their shoes, if that makes sense, and try to multiply it in a way that is justifiable to their character.
i don't find it too hard to get out of those spaces either, and so i don't regret them ! bc they tend to be dark places and i grow tired of living in them, and actively look forward to writing something else.
#thank you for asking mao !! 🥺#i know that you know the pain of writing dabi LOL that cursed man#also anon about the princessxtoji fic#i have not forgotten you#it is coming...eventually#✿ ask willow#✿ ask game
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i was just reading through your blog (gotta stay caught up y'know) and just saw the one ask about how they have steve ideas and wanna talk about the. and how you love talking about steve. i'm not a writer but i aspire to be able to write like you. i kinda have an idea on what i want to do but i just can't seem to make it work or to make myself write. do you have any advice you'd be willing to share? obviously tho don't feel like you need to give out your secrets to writing angelic fics!
thanks for creating a safe space for us all to read these kinda things! it personally always helps me when i have a rough day and i somehow relate to them everytime! 🤍
oh my gosh, this got covered up in my inbox somehow, i'm so sorry for the late response!!
firstly, i wanna say thank you! the fact that someone wants to write the way that i do is honestly something that i've never once thought i would hear, and it warms my heart to know that you enjoy my fics so much!! (also angelic fics??? you're too kind!! <3)
as for the tips, honestly, it's hard to write. it really is. sometimes the words don't flow and sometimes you doubt them and think they aren't that good and you don't feel motivated to post. there are a lot of ways that you can doubt yourself as a writer, and for me, it happens often. i can't give a definitive answer as to how to overcome this other than to just write. i know it sounds cheesy or like bad advice, but if you're stuck, just get it down and move onto the next scene if you need to. or, if you're just starting, then just write freely and try not to judge yourself too much on it, which i know is easier said than done.
some general tips i have are also:
write down your fic ideas if you don't have the time to write them when you think of them. be as specific as you need to. i use my notes app on my phone for this!
if you need prompts or inspiration, use pinterest. i have a board there that has lots of prompts and prompt lists, and tumblr can also be a good source for those!
read. i know it sounds silly, but the more you surround yourself with good writing, the more your writing style develops to take on the forms of those that you read from. if you read something that sounds stunning, or hear a metaphor that you like, write it down and remember it and use it yourself!
don't be afraid of figurative language. a lot of writing styles can almost seem bland because they're very straightforward, and while some people do prefer that kind of style - and that's totally fine! - figurative language totally helps make your style a little more poetic and emotional.
when you feel like you're using a word too much and need a synonym, use wordhippo! it's a website and i use it all the time to help with my writing. it can also help to find antonyms and many other things.
try to really feel and imagine what's happening in your story. put yourself in the perspective of your narrator/pov-holder - what are they feeling? seeing? noticing about those around them? try to capture that as best you can.
this is more of a preference thing, kind of, but don't be afraid to crosspost to other sites! i use both tumblr and ao3 to upload works, and some of my works that flop here do amazing on ao3! sometimes tumblr can completely miss your works and it can be really disheartening, so uploading to another site as well can be a great idea!
try not to worry about word count, and pay more attention to what you want to accomplish with your fic. what story are you trying to tell? how are you trying to make the readers feel? try to think of that as your goals instead of a word count because no matter how short or long your fic is, someone will read it.
most of all, i would say to write things you enjoy! the greatest part of making good fics is that it's things you enjoy; loving your work really does make it stand out. it's really obvious when an author really puts their heart into something. on that same note, write the silly things you want to! write self-indulgent things! whatever you like and want to see, write it! i write to be able to share my passions and things that i would love to see happen in the show with other people, but also for myself! be your own biggest fan, most loyal supporter! i promise that you've got this! (literally don't worry so much about fic quality, about whether it's good enough or not. i've seen some very basic writing styles praised above high heavens here, in other fandoms, on tumblr. don't stress it <3)
hearing you say that our shared space brightens your days and makes you feel welcome makes me truly feel so happy and loved, thank you, sincerely. i'm so happy that we've all got this little corner of the internet to share our thoughts and cheer each other up when we need it, whether we even realize it or not. that is so, so important to me, and thank you all for being here and making this space with me <3 i love you all
finally, i want to say that, if you need help with your writing or need a supporter, or even if you just want to self promote your work, please send me an ask or a dm! i would absolutely love to help you in any way you need it!! i'm always here for you! <33
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4, 22, and 23 for the writing asks please?
4 what does it take for you to be proud of something you’ve written?
I'm always proud if something I write makes people happy I guess. Or they enjoy it? However I am immensely proud of Morning Coffee because it was the first true work I ever finished. I never expected to be as long as it was and so many people read it, commented on it and loved Liam and Fessor, I can't help but be proud of that.
Honestly anything I finish I'm proud of. Doesn't happen a lot.
22 how much of your own self/experiences do you believe pours into your projects? if this differs per project, which projects have the most and least of you?
A good majority of Morning Coffee was just me projecting. I've said before Liam is my anxiety and Gabriel is my insecurity. Both have a lot of myself in them, mostly Liam. A lot of what both characters went through was based on real life experiences. It does depend on the project. Restoring Life is probably the least like me because I find it difficult to relate to Noll if he was a real person. I created him because I wanted someone completely opposite of Liam and G and I wanted to write something with an artist. a lot of myself is in River too, him and Colin are a bit of a reflection of myself and my partner to an extent. If the character doesn't have any of me in them, they're usually based off of someone I know, Aiden is a good example of this.
23 what do you do to engage with your projects which isn’t actually writing? ex: playlists, pinterest boards, etc. how much do they play a role in the development of your work?
I've made pinterest board for G, Liam, Aiden, Barrett so far, I think. They're fun because searching for stuff I'll see something and go, yep that totally fits them and it might be something I didn't consider before. I've done face claims for several characters as well. I do have a MC playlist that was made by a friend. Most of the stuff is done after I create or write something but songs usually give me the most creativity when it comes to thinking up scenarios. I've written drabbles based on a single line of a song.
Thank you!! These are quite fun.
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Soo. Per the course of Blaze. I forgot to follow through on my promise when I said I would.
Nut here it is
Started when I was staring in a mirror once before a shower and acting like Nelson if he was really like, preppy.
Rest under the cut because this will be long and WAYY too much slay (also like vague spoilers...)
Slaytec Origins:
The first piece of lore I ever created for this was: Yassified version of Nelson named Nicole and he says "You know how many people I've killed honey? Yeah, yeah, thought so.. So why don't you be a doll and kill yourself and make this 10 times more easier so I can go back to looking at pintrest aesthetic boards"
Characters (that I have so far):
Nelson: Nicole
Wesley/Wes: Wheatley/Wheat
Deborah/Deb: Daniella/Dan
Benjamin: Bently/Ben
Scott: Scar
Autumn: Spring
Matthias: Martin
Samantha: Sarah
Woodland/Woods: Grassland/Grass
Bailey: Bayleaf
Jasper: Rose Quartz
Xander: Xander
Personalities (that I have so far):
Nicole: Cofounded the company with Wheatley because they thought it’d be so slay aesthetic.
Likes: Pinterest and Tumblr
Dislikes: Working
Wheatley: Cofounded the company with Nicole and actually somewhat cares about the work they’re doing.
Likes: Pinterest, Tumblr, and Daniella
Dislikes: Cringe culture
Daniella: Small frail woman who can’t do shit. Crushing hard over Wheatley
Likes: Looking at couple’s Pinterest boards with Wheatley
Dislikes: Nicole, yas, Slaytec, slay
Bentley: Resident homosexual. Basically the Tim Stoker of Slaytec
Likes: Men, women, being fruity
Dislikes: Nicole
Scar: Big and buff. Not shy and not afraid to speak up. Pretty much the only one left who does work.
Likes: Gains, speaking up for himself and others
Dislikes: Nicole
Spring: Wanna be yass queen Slaytec employee but can’t be slay for the life of her.
Likes: Nicole, slaying, yass
Dislikes: Project 114209-25119
Martin, Sarah, and Grass: A bunch of clickbait Trend Riding Twitch streamers living in the Spellbound House
Like as a collective: Trends, Twitch, clickbait, streaming, the live chat
Dislike as a collective: Barbie Jeeps, yas, Pinterest, Tumblr, slay, Slaytec, Nicole
Bayleaf: The stand-in for Martin, Sarah, and Grass’s live chat
Likes: Just being there, violence
Dislikes: Yas, Pinterest, Tumblr, slay, Slaytec, Nicole
Rose Quartz: Shy little pookie bear who actively gives away every position of power he’s ever landed in
Likes: Yas, sparkles, Pinterest, Tumblr, slay
Dislikes: Power
Xander: Xander was already slay. They are the EXACT same
Extra:
Project 863: Project 114209-25119 (There's a meaning. Decipher it or whatever)
The Mercury Mountaineer: Barbie Jeeps
Nicole killed Wheatley saying "There's not enough yas for the two of us"
Nicole has the longest most annoying red nails and literally can't do shit with them
Scar was the one to create Project 114209-25119
BONUS FROM ME AND MY FRIEND'S COVOS ABOUT THIS:
"Nicole?"
"OMG WHEATLEY- You know I'm looking at my pintrest boards!"
"I was too but Scar said we have a problem"
They spend more time Pinterest-ing then doing science
"You had Jane? Well I have matches" (Nicole talking to Elias Bouchard)
Ben would 100% dress like Tim
Nicole (yassified Nelson) sitting there with his long red nails loudly typing into his phone keyboard looking for a Pinterest board while annoyingly chewing gum with his mouth open, feet propped on the desk, the sparkles around him shining bright enough to blind (edited)
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Liminal space - Detective game
To start my research I began to add pins to a new Pinterest board with my mind map in mind to get an idea for what I wanted for my game. Towards the bottom, you can see I started with more stylized, Japanese style artwork, but I started trying to push into more into a space setting. Moving up, I started looking more towards space and colourful stylized cityscapes. As I tried to link the images closer to a false reality and space, themes, it moved more into blade runner territory towards the middle until I finally got to a vibe I was happy with. I’ve gotten to a lot of retro futurism artwork and an aesthetic I dubbed, space greenhouse which feels like an extremely interesting theme to work on. I’d also been looking into some detective games and how effective they can be at masking certain story aspects in a way that makes a game for fun and mysterious. So the first Idea I've landed on is a detective game set in a abandoned botanical space station, light years away from the earth, as you have to uncover the mystery of the passengers disappearance. I've chosen this because I have always held a fondness of space and a massive love of any botanical setting. Although I haven’t played many detective games, I used to love the sherlock Holmes series and generally love solving puzzles.
Just for the art style of this game I would love to start exploring retro futurism as a genre. I also started looking a lot into the space botany themes I mentioned before. A subcategory of retro futurism based on more of the colonization of space.
This mind map gives a little look into what I was thinking when trying to create a moodboard and this idea. Off of the base game idea, I have: Retro, Mechanics, Criminology and Space as the key themes. At face value, they may seem like strange themes to take from the mindmap but I’ve done it because I think this is what my idea boils down to.
I’ve chosen space because I’ve always been fascinated with it in concept and as a setting, along with the freedom it carries from a developmental standpoint. I’ve taken, Liminality, Setting and time off of this. Time is a common theme that comes up with space in a Science fiction setting. It opens up a lot of possibilities in the detective aspect of the game. I could essentially have some deduction or evidential mechanics similar to that of the Obra Dinn, utilising flashbacks to find clues and piece them together. This could also be useful for a game that spans multiple time periods in it’s exploration mechanics. I then wrote in the the links to 70’s detective media.
I put setting because that is what space is going to be for my game (the setting) and I wanted to explore what I could do with it. Another aspect of my life I wanted to look at introducing to this idea was botany. A lot of my house is dominated by plants and a lot of my family are obsessed with gardening. This lead to me writing down the space greenhouse setting to get to botany, plants and Mechanisms against nature. The contrast between the artificial and Natural was a big theme for my FMP last year which would mean I am quite familiar with creating that vibe.
Liminality is going to be a given with an idea due to the setting being so far away from any life, but it still helps having some knowledge on the topic of liminality and how to achieve it effectively. I put it on my mind map because I am already pretty well acquainted with it from my last topic.
Both my Criminology and Mechanics themes were both to do with the detective aspects of the game, and I used them to flesh out what type of gameplay I wanted. I landed on using mini games like the cross referencing one from the Spiderman game to gather and link evidence. Throughout the game, I am going to give the player the option to make an accusation as to what happened to the passengers of the spaceship at any point, but the more evidence they have gathered, the more accurate it’s going to be, similar to the game Paradise Killer. There would also be the option for interplanetary travel by flying a life ship. Expanding the possibilities for different settings, making the game more scalable.
Off of retro I had all of my art styles and inspiration. Although cel shading like that in The Wolf Among us, I think trying to achieve the retro futuristic would be more effective.
Shadow of a doubt
Fall out new Vegas
Paradise killer
Passenger
Blade runner
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