just bc im a lesbian doesnt mean tht i wont at times become deeply entranced with the beauty of male actor or character. it just means i wld rather be locked in a room with a man with a knife than do anything romantic or sexual with one

i feel like this whole "likes vs reblogs" discourse is (as usual) two semi mutually exclusive sides of tumblr talking past each other. some of us are here to hang out with our friends and pass around funny pictures and sad poems etc., and to this side a like is a lil hug or a bro fist or otherwise silent acknowledgement that is appreciated as such. and some ppl are here to engage in a wider community outside their friend group; to create and share fanworks, art, original projects etc., and thus are trying to reach an audience who will hopefully engage with aforementioned art and share it so more ppl can engage with it. and here by "engage" i mean comment, and by "comment" i mean discuss, not just with the original artist, but with others as well. yes some ppl make art etc. just as a hobby and a lil hug from a friend or a mutual-in-law is more than enough reason to warrant sharing it online. but other ppl make art 1) for a living, and 2) specifically bc they want to DISCUSS that art and the creation of art in general with a wider audience, not just their friends. and if they can't do that here, they will likely try to find other places where they can.

and ofc, many, many of the ppl who were "audience members" so to speak (i.e., here primarily to find and engage with art in a community, not necessarily just to hang out with a small circle of friends) left in the great twitter migration a few years back. thus the art and fandom side of tumblr suffered a huge downswing, while the friendgroup hangout side continued mostly unchanged.

ALL THIS TO SAY! the artists who are sad or upset that ppl don't reblog their work arent just snobs who don't like hugs, theyre just craving a wider audience and deeper engagement in their work, and feel that when their "audience" only likes and doesnt reblog (which is where tumblr puts our comments/discussion!), it feels like said audience just hasnt found the artwork worthy of discussion. which naturally would make the artist a bit sad and less likely to post more art later. which is why there has been a push to revive the old art and fanworks side of tumblr which revolved around indiscriminate reblogging and essay-long tags etc. WHICH! is a completely different way of blogging! than those of us who just post stuff to talk to our friends and are NOT trying to reach ppl we don't know!

however! i'm sure we would all be sad if artists (im including gifmakers) left tumblr or stopped posting their work! it would hurt no one if we made a point to reblog more stuff for our lil friend groups! artists asking for more reblogs is not a personal attack!

and artists! pls remember that us lil friend group folks are giving u lil hugs with our likes! it means we liked it! and pls dont be discouraged by lower numbers of notes than five or six years ago, there are genuinely fewer ppl here than there used to be (tho considering the recent reddit situation idk how that may be changing) and the general vibe has changed to lean more toward private groupchat hiveminds than big groups of strangers talking to each other.

ALL THIS TO SAY! pls just. don't take all this personally. these are just two different ways of using this site overlapping. there are multiple perspectives here. more than one thing can be true at the same time. thank u that is all

Hey, it's the previous anon here, you asked how I got my job and honestly? It was a simple case of right place, right time. I happened to hear third hand (through someone that I hadn't spoken to in years and just happened to run into at the supermarket, of all places) that there was a small game company that was looking for writers. Originally, my position was only going to be freelance, but as the company got bigger, they brought me on fulltime, and things kind of just went from there.

Funnily enough, at the time that I was interviewed, I had actually just dropped out of my psychology degree for mental health reasons. If I were still in that field, I'd really love to do a study on why there's such a massive overlap between fandom writers and psychology...

My best suggestion is to put out whatever feelers you can. Keep an ear out, follow your favourite writers on social media, and if you are interested in doing writing professionally, put together a portfolio of some writing and send it to whatever place you think might be interesting to work for - frankly, game studios are a really good bet for this, especially smaller ones. Even if they aren't actively looking, it might get passed along to someone, who may store it away for later reference. You never know where it might lead.

For the writing portfolio, either compile some work as a pdf, or create a wordpress blog and post some things that way. It can be any kind of work, any kind of length - speaking frankly, I did technically sneak a fanfic drabble in mine, I just changed the names since it was already somewhat ambiguous to begin with. I also included two non-fiction pieces I'd written for a university magazine, a poetry piece and a prose piece I'd recently done for a creative writing challenge, and several short pieces of work I'd originally written about friends of mine as a Christmas gift.

That said, I've seen some portfolios which have included two longer pieces - there really isn't a right or wrong answer here. Include pieces you feel good about, and don't write something simply for the sake of including it in your portfolio; if you write something with passion, or something you're interested in, it will show off your talents that much more. (Unfortunately the three-way call snk fic isn't really an option, because the writing in that is really good! Sadly, unless you're sending in an application to a game with adult content, they're probably going to be scared off. 😅 There are studios who do cover that kind of content, though, so... It really depends on who you're sending it to!)

I'd also suggest putting in some amount of information about you as a person - what kinds of things you like to do in your spare time, that kind of thing. If I read that someone really enjoys watching ocean documentaries, for example, and there happens to be a future character we're working on who lives near the ocean... Plus, it makes you feel more memorable. It's easier to remember that one writer who can quote the spinach puffs scene from Emperor's New Groove entirely from memory, versus someone who sent an email without any kind of personal information or writing samples.

I hope that helps! Obviously, I can only share my own experiences, but there are so, so many different options out there. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you lots of luck!

please i laughed so much with the idea of submitting three-way call fksdjhfksdj yeah unless they’re an adult gaming company they would be quite shocked lmao

i actually had never considered having a portfolio. i have just revamped my spanish writing blog, i used to only upload short stories (the longest one had 10k, but the other two had 1k and 4k) but now i’ve started writing poetry again, so im uploading them with nice looking graphics and everything <3

also thank you for the idea of sharing persona information, i’ve actually only redacted cvs for jobs in psychology so i tried to keep it very professional but you have a great point for more creative jobs

also i do think there’s a huge overlap, idk friend of mine that are fandom writers but for me writing had a lot to do with psychology. when i first decided i wanted to be a psychologist. i was creating a character that was a compulsive smoker and i asked myself “why is he a compulsive smoker, though?” i was 16 around that time. so i started doing research and i would read and print a lot of information, i would even take it to school and keep reading it during our breaks lol i never finished creating the character but i was fascinated about being able to understand people’s behaviours and i realized it also had a lot to do when it came to writing

i will definitely start working on a small portfolio and be on the lookout if i hear anything like that <3 thank you for taking the time to explain this to me and giving me such great tips! i will definitely work on them <3

I don't mean to be annoying, but what's wrong with liking Hamilton? you don't have to answer btw I understand if you don't want to I just want to know why

It’s… complicated… I don’t even know if I should be the one to explain it. Keep in mind that at any explanation I personally give on the situation is essentially going to be far too forgiving and apologist bc I rly like the musical. Just.. Yeah anyone reading this just keep in mind that I’m inevitably going to fall in favor w the show despite its flaws bc I suck

Anyways for anyone that doesn’t just take the show as a popular thing at face value & therefore popular = good, It’s somewhat controversial bc ppl laud it as this super diverse show full of Pee Oh Cees & but there’s also been some fair critique of the show’s possibly anti-black elements b/c it treats white racist slaveowners as cool hip guys you’d wanna spit bars with.

To be fair, the show is critical of the characters/historical figures but I can understand this criticism bc it only seems to be critical up to a point? Like. Sure Hamilton is a dick for cheating on his wife and TJ is called out for being a demon but it still glosses over some of the more unpleasant & ngl sometimes downright despicable elements of the characters/historical figures, PARTICULARLY the ones we’re supposed to root for such as Hamilton, Eliza, Mulligan, Laurens, Washington, etc.

And perhaps more worryingly although Lin claims the intent is to “put PoC back into American history” (im paraphrasing), the show erases instances we actually do appear in history, such as Mulligan’s slave Cato. Or making a kind of tacky jab at Jefferson abt Sally Hemings—which to be fair that entire song is supposed to have this dissonance between the cheery tune and how messed up TJ actually was, but it’s still… weird.

Tbh I think this was inevitably going to happen bc musicals abt revolution are rly popular but always end up being reproductions of the status quo bc the majority of ppl who support & can afford to see shows on Broadway are rich & white, they don’t want anything too challenging to their worldview.

Also Lin’s not black, he’s Puerto Rican so he has a somewhat tenuous claim to the history he’s trying to reclaim in the first place, other minorities are definitely affected by America’s racism & history but this specific part of history addresses white owners of black slaves.

And he’s using rap a historically & largely black genre to tell the story, too. I mean, there’s overlap between the experiences of the Latinx/Chicanx community and the black community, but they’re not the same. & it doesn’t really have to do with “ownership” of a genre either, but the reception to Hamilton is super off-putting bc a Latinx guy is getting all this praise from rich white ppl while they don’t give a crap abt the rest of the genre. They don’t even get all the homages in Lin’s music. (If you need proof, literally any post by a basic white person talking abt how the rap they like is abt cabinet battles unlike that “other rap” about bitches and money).

(Sidenote: I know a lot of ppl have developed negative feelings towards the musical & while that’s fair I literally give 0 fucks abt white ppl’s opinions on the show. It’s important to listen to criticism from black people definitely but they fail to treat it like the complex phenomenon it is. Too often they have annoying self-righteous superiority complexes bc they think they’re better than the nasty Pee Oh Cees who just don’t get it man.)

Tbh I’m personally unsurprised that the first real hip hop musical to be a big hit is about the whitest thing ever (remember, musicals have to hit that perfect balance of revolutionary and complacent).

Also there’s the problem with fandom too… Like… People have rightly gone “what the everloving fuck” at the realization that there’s a Hamilton fandom at all & I mean that’s completely fair. I personally don’t see a problem with like… Drawing a pretty fanart of scene you like or of Daveed in his Rad Velvet Maroon Suit, but ham fandom is just descending into this huge pile of wtf bc people ship and fangirl and look up weird minutiae abt American history to justify their headcanons and it’s just bizzaro. Also thank god it’s relatively died down bc early on it was just the biggest cesspool of disgusting racism and fetishization & apologism in the world.

“Why do you still like it, Janelle?” Because I love suffering

Now some people just like the musical for its catchiness and artistry and are rightly weirded out by the hardcore fan community, and honestly I’d recommend that approach bc ngl I’m never ever going to forgive myself for being convinced that TJ & JMads were totally a Thing™

But I like both. Honestly I like them for almost entirely different reasons. Honestly at this point if I didn’t think Hamilton was literally a Masterpiece™ I would probably end up hating it just bc there was so much discourse surrounding its hype, but I think it’s just a tribute to how catchy the songs are and how talented the cast is and just the combination of everything that I still love the show despite its problems. I know it’s not great of me but I know pretty much everyone is an apologist of something they like despite its Problems.

& the fandom in my experience is a fascinating phenomenon to me personally bc in my headspace it’s practically this entirely different entity to the musical itself? Like a lot of people think it’s cringey & it definitely is but the entire reason I still am engaged is bc I found my niche of practically a handful of close knit mutuals and Only care about Their Content, except for like… The occasional drawing. Bc our personal niche is so detached from the reality of the show or the history that it’s practically original content & has lead to some rly creative works that are much less Problematic Musical abt Demon Men but with Catchy Songs and much more along the lines of Intriguing Character Studies on the Themes of Parenting, LGBT+ Experiences & Relationships, PoC’s experiences,( and also lots and lots of self-destructive behavior)

I think Hamilton is a very interesting phenomenon. In my personal opinion even in this somewhat glorification, I’m glad Hamilton is getting people interested in history, even if people are way too excited abt it and tread the demon father’s like they were Fun Quirky Guys. I understand the horrifying response to everyones giddiness, but I don’t think it’s wrong to be excited abt history/interested in history even if it verges into dark territory, heck, learning abt history in its entirety important so we don’t glamorize the terribleness that is the past. That’s why posts abt Hamilton’s bisexuality doesn’t matter bc he was a slave owner rub me the wrong way—I mean he definitely isn’t someone we should treat as the pinnacle of ideal representation, but we should also acknowledge the totality of him as a person.

Also the show a good stepping stone that will hopefully lead to more hip hop musicals in the future. I know it being a “baby step” is a rly lame-ass excuse for why the show is good but it’s making me hopeful for the future.

Sorry abt how long this was.

Clarification/ Discussion #9001

I kinda-recently made a post regarding my thoughts and opinions on:

Transtrenders

The fact that there are so many names for the same thing in the Trans Community

Whether or not someone needs any type of dysphoria to classify under “trans”

other shit that i don’t remember but might ramble about in this post

However, what I was trying to say did not come across as intended ofc because im a fucking idiot lol so I have decided to try to rewrite what I was trying to say. Imma just go in order of what I have listed, and if you wanna discuss in reblogs or PM’s or whatever, I’d appreciate if you’d follow the list order, too. So the first thing: Transtrenders. People who use the label “transgender” as what most people see, a fashion statement. NGL, I don’t remember a lot of what I said in my previous post -will post a link to it at the end, btw- but the post was mainly directed at Transtrenders. I’m just gonna say what I think, regardless of if I at all mentioned it before hand. Being gender-nonconforming =/= transgender. Expression =/= gender. I honestly couldn’t care less if someone wanted to use transgender, their life man, but the problem I do have is when they typically associate being GNC and Trans together, which you can be both, but those are two different things. The problem I have is when people don’t take me seriously when I tell them I have gender dysphoria because some people now think that being GNC and Trans are the same thing. I came out to someone and they told me I was just a “cross-dresser trying to be special”. Now, I am not saying everyone is like this, so don’t even jump on the “don’t blame _____ for making _____ look bad!!!” train, but it feels as if I can’t be myself because others see it as a fashion trend or something. Like I said, I’m not stopping anyone from using the trans-label, nor am I forcing them, but transtrenders can hurt the trans community.  This is a good transition to the next topic oh man, I’ll now go into depth on what I meant when I talked about how there are countless different labels for the same gender/GI, or when people start mixing expression and personality into gender/GI. The example I used is Femmefluid, I believe, which is being fluid between genders, excluding male/masculine ones. Specification is totally fine, do what you want, but the fact that I don’t get is why someone can’t use a label that already exists, such as for this example- genderfluid ( which does not necessarily mean you have to be fluid between all genders and such, but just fluid in general ). You do you, not gonna stop you, but this is my opinion, and I don’t quite understand the need to have multiple labels. Labels are there to say easily who you are, but when you mix 7 different labels that overlap, it can get pretty confusing at some point. At what point do we stop defining things as a gender/GI? You gotta use real facts, psychology and shit. Biological sex anomalies are 100% possible, so researchers are looking into whether or not gender anomalies are possible, too, so NB genders are still up for debate and I do identify with an NB/Agender label at the time of saying this , but until proven otherwise, there is no scientific proof at the moment of being whatever you identify as that’s outside the binary, including what I choose to identify as. Now keep in mind that I did say scientific, as many cultures so have other genders besides male and female, but that’s not the point. Also, your gender is not your personality or expression. A girl can identify as a girl and be boyish and dress like a dude, and depending on how this made up girl wanted to use their expression, they could either be a cross-dresser or just a tomboy, nothing to do with gender. I’m starting to get off track here, but you can have any personality and expression, and that doesn’t have to necessarily be your gender. You can label yourself as much as you want, but keep in mind not everyone will know what all of your labels mean. Oh boy, here is the big one that tumblr hates: Do you actually need dysphoria to be trans? When people say yes to this question, tumblr automatically assumes that you’re saying “TO BE TRANS YOU MUST ALWAYS BE IN A CONSTANT STATE OF HATING YOURSELF AND WANT TO MEDICALLY TRANSITION” but that’s not the case, or at least with what I was trying to say. When I say yes to that question, I’m talking about experiencing social, mental, or physical dysphoria, and ohmyfuckinggod why would I want someone to be in constant distress? You don’t have to have dysphoria every second of your life; I’m talking about in general, if you’ve ever experienced dysphoria towards living as your birth sex/gender, then I personally believe you can use the label of transgender. Not everyone transition, and that is fine, and not everyone can express their feelings to know that they are experiencing dysphoria, and that is fine as well, but you can’t deny that GID is a real thing, which is what most diagnosed transgender people have -transgenderism itself isn’t a mental illness though, its just kinda the result of one-. You can be trans and experience dysphoria daily, or you can be trans and rarely feel it at all, but what I’m saying is that most people who ID with trans do/have experience(d) dysphoria at some point, with any severity. *Note- ID’ing as another gender, along side with your birth gender, is not excluded in this so don’t get mad at me for one lil thing in this huge fucking post. HOWEVER, I am not going to stop you from using the term trans. I am not going to dictate whether or not you can transition. I am not going to tell you to identify with 1 label, or how to dress, or whateverthefuck. Why? Because it’s your life, not mine. These are just my personal thoughts that I wanted to clarify. I won’t hate you if you happen to fall under anything I brought up. Do whatever the fuck you want, just be a decent human being and you have my respect, okay man? In the other post, I talked about trying to normalize the word queer a lil bit, too, but not gonna bring it up here bc boy oh boy is this lengthy. Here is the original post http://young-potato-salad.tumblr.com/post/156812358947/seriously-though and hopefully you can see the reblogs/replies as well. If you would like to discuss this further, all I ask is that you have a mature conversation. If you wanna PM, go ahead m8.