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flightyalrighty · 28 days

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(sorry if you've gotten this before or if this is not the right kind of question for the blog)

Do you have any advice on HOW to make a comic series? From what I've seen your work is fantastic, well made and written! (Cool concepts, story, and character dynamics etc)

How did you start? How DO you start?? How do you comic lol

I'm glad you enjoy my work! I'll do my best to answer this question!

I could give the ol' "Just jump in! Get started!" But I don't think that's the answer you're looking for, here. Even if it's technically the correct one.

"How do you make a comic series" Is one of those questions where the answer is kinda difficult to summarize in a single ask, because there's a whole lot that goes into it, y'know? I'll give you a brief run-down of my process.

I figure an idea for a story. In the case of Infested, the whole story was written before I even got started on the script. This is an outlier in my usual process and I don't normally do this and definitely don't recommend it.

Figure the plot like how you would figure a regular story's plot; The beats you wanna hit, the way the characters develop, the beginning, the middle, the end. What's the point of the story? What, exactly, are you trying to convey here? Who's the target audience? All that stuff ought to be figured out before even picking up a [MEDIUM OF ARTIST'S CHOICE].

Script the story. If you've seen a movie script, these things look a bit like that. You wanna not skip this step because this is where you determine the visual language of each page. Comic script writing is a whole thing and a half but I do have some random tips regarding it. -> When writing the beginning of a new scene, write down the time of day, the weather, and any important details about your setting (this is most important if you're working in a team). -> Using storyboard/film language when trying to figure out a scene is very helpful. You're not gonna remember exactly how that scene looked in your head when you finally get around to penciling it. Trust me. Write it down. Or thumbnail it! Thumbnails are also very helpful! -> Remember that you have very limited space for dialogue. Write with that in mind.

Figure the paneling on a page. I work at 11x17 and do my panel layouts based on those dimensions. I tend to make more important panels, or panels with PUNCH or SHOCK bigger than the others. Each panel is an individual illustration, but together they make a whole piece. You gotta treat it like that, y'know? Find the focal point on a page, find the most important element of it, and make that your focal point. Don't be afraid to get a lil wacky with panel shapes, either. They don't HAVE to be squares and rectangles. Check out what other cartoonists do! Get inspired! Paneling is an art-form within itself!

Page from "Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name" By Tess Stone

5. Penciling time! Get the perspective figured out, then draw the background, then draw the characters. Do it in that order. Trust me. With a background already set up, characters can be drawn more like they exist within that space, instead of floating in front of it. Also? Be aware that comic artists need to be ready to draw ANYTHING. You may have a great idea that you GOTTA put out into the world, but you have no idea how to draw, say, a car. Or debris. Or jungle foliage. There's no shame in using references, tutorials, or even doing a bit of tracing if something's outside your wheelhouse. Here's a bazillion tutorials from two guys who REALLY know their stuff.

6. Speech Balloons! Yes, really. In fact, you may want to do this and penciling at the same time. I certainly do. It's better to figure this out immediately so it doesn't hurt you later when it comes to getting your balloons to share a space with your art. Here's some great advice on the whole subject from a master of the craft

7. Inks! Line weight variation is key. Closer to the "camera" means thicker lines. If a part of a character is in shadow, that part is gonna get thicker lines, too. Personally, I make my background line art thinner than character line art. It helps the characters pop out!

8. Flats! Or flat colors if you wanna get specific about terminology. It's exactly what it sounds like -- Coloring the characters and backgrounds with the bare bones basic colors. I highly recommend keeping the character flats and bg flats on separate layers if you're working digitally.

9. Rendering! There's no hard and fast rule as to how a cartoonist ought to render their comic -- If they want to do that at all, even. Go with what you believe looks good AND is something you can do quickly. The "quickly" part is important. Heed my warning. Don't be like me.

And then I'd schedule the comic to be uploaded on whatever day suits me -- Thursday (usually) in Infested's case.

Of course, I kinda suck at relaying my process, so the final thing I can do for you is direct you to an extremely helpful book that really breaks it down in a way that may click with you as it did with me.

I hope this was in any way helpful to you!

#Anonymous #asks #comic advice

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mauesartetc · 11 months

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Thoughts on Helluva Boss 205 ("Unhappy Campers")

Wow, this... This one may actually be worse than Murder Family. That's impressive.

Is anyone else noticing a pattern of Helluva Boss episodes going absolutely nowhere? Each one ends without affecting the larger plot in any meaningful way. Season 1's structure was fairly episodic as well, but at least back then there was some sense of progression.

I usually include separate lists of pros and cons in these critiques, but in this case, I have so few compliments to give this thing it's not worth it. I tried my best to find more to like about this episode, but it gave me bupkis to work with. So I'll just present all my notes in chronological order.

Let's get this over with.

-Looks like the rehab facility where Barb used to live is located in Sloth (on account of the floating islands and all the pink in the environment), just like the hospital in this season's previous episode. We've never seen care centers in any other ring, so... Does Hell society's opinion of sick people dictate that they're just lazy? Some clarification on that might be nice.

-"She's got a job now. A life. Don't fuck it up by findin' her." Holy shit, the nurse is the most mature, sympathetic character in this entire episode. Tasing Blitzo in the butthole earns her bonus points in my book. Nurse Pussyface, you are way too good for this show.

-Why is Blitzo even trying to visit his sister if he's been kicked out of the facility several times and knows she hates him? What's the impetus? "Look, I know you hate my guts, but Dad's dead, and he named you in the will." Or maybe he had an experience that reminded him of her and figured he'd drop by to see how she was? Y'know, something.

-By the way, Helluva's animation is usually a highlight, but here there's not much to say about it. It wasn't especially memorable or ambitious; just kinda... passable. Even the climactic fight scene (which I'll get to later) didn't have much to write home about.

-How the hell didn't the client notice the holes in his boat before he rowed it out into deep water? Because I'm pretty sure it would leak when it was still in the shallow end of the lake, unless this is a unique real-life boating phenomenon I'm not aware of. Also, you'd think this guy was a bit too gung-ho to get out on the lake for someone who can't swim. Did someone have a gun to your head, dude?

Fun fact: Did y'all know I was on staff at a summer camp once? We had a pond, canoes, and a boathouse just like the camp in this episode. One thing we had that this camp apparently doesn't, however, is this important rule: No one gets in a canoe without a life jacket. EVER. But, well... We see later that the adults at this camp don't care much about safety, so I guess that's fair enough. (Though I'm curious how they manage to stay open, or what the client's loved ones have to say about his mysterious disappearance.)

-What did the client do to get sent to Hell after he died? Mrs. Mayberry murdered someone, so that's why she's here, but this kid seems pretty chill-? (And don't even try to explain this on Twitter, writers. If it's not in the story itself, it ain't canon.) I also can't help but notice that his design reflects the way he died, but every other sinner's appearance is just random. Consistency? Who needs it!

-Some unintentional hilarity for ya: Here's Millie's face after the client recounted his death.

And she holds this pose for the remainder of the scene. Was there NO direction on how to animate Millie here?! This is a grim situation and she's smiling?! I get that she's a demon, but damn that is cold. It's never been clearer that half her role in this story is just smiling and looking cute, to the point the animators don't know what else to do with her.

-Richard Horvitz's valley girl voice was kinda funny. I dug it. Not sure why Moxxie and Millie had to dress in drag for anything other than cheap laughs, though.

-I know Millie's hurtin' for more development, but this story's conflict would have made SO much more sense from a character standpoint if Moxxie were getting all the praise from the campers. Think about it: He's the one Blitzo always shits on and doesn't believe in. He's the one whose father doesn't love him. He's the one who never gets positive attention from anyone except his wife. Suddenly the conflict is much more compelling: Now that he has approval from these humans, maybe he doesn't need it from Blitzo anymore (not sure why he needed his approval in the first place, but whatever). Maybe he'd realize what he's been missing, and how shitty Blitzo's treatment has been in comparison. Could this be the breaking point that finally gets him to muster some self-respect and quit IMP? We'll never know, because the episode has miscalculated where the most interesting dilemma actually lies.

As far as we can tell, Millie's had zero reason to doubt herself, and we never see her being mistreated like Moxxie has.

Take these lines of dialogue: "And for once I feel like... Like I'm important! Like I'm somebody to be proud of!"

Wouldn't they fit so much better if they came out of Moxxie's mouth?

-I kinda liked how the lyrics of Millie's song were humble while Moxxie's lyrics were egotistical, showing that being down to earth will win you friends while being self-centered will turn people off. But is that really the kind of message we need in an adult show? It's a useful lesson for children, but after you hit the age of this series' target demographic, most people will have the social skills to know better than to pull what Moxxie did at the campfire.

-Speaking of Moxxie being super immature, why does he weep when a bunch of preteens ignores him? They're...They're kids, Mox. They aren't your peers. Literally who cares. This behavior makes no sense outside of (once again) cheap humor. I could understand being bummed out that you're not good with kids if you wanted to have your own someday, but even that doesn't warrant actual tears. And this makes him look like a massive hypocrite later on when he asks Millie why it matters what "these yokels" feel about her. I mean... You seemed to care a lot about how they saw you, Moxxie...

-Moxxie's excuse for why it's so hard for him to get information on the case is that everyone's too busy "swooning over" Millie. Here's a thought: Why doesn't Millie get the info? She's the one everyone likes, so it should be a snap, right? Well, once again, the characters get railroaded because the writers can't entertain any other plot ideas. And of course Moxxie ends up getting blamed for everything as if he's the only one who fucked up here.

-Why the hell would a summer camp show so much favoritism toward a single camper that they set up a friggin' concert for this camper and this camper only? Yeah yeah, "viral sensation" and everything, but 1) The news crew can wait another day or so for camp to end in order to conduct an interview (y'know, something that wouldn't require a huge-ass stage and pyrotechnics that'd cost the camp boatloads of money), and 2) The camp staff thinks Millie is a child. How fucking irresponsible can you get to lavish this much attention on a kid? Think it'll go to her head or something? Psssh nah. Also, you're telling me none of the other campers are the tiniest bit jealous? How do you think they feel, seeing this one kid get treated like a god while they're left in the dust?

Okay, plot-wise, the writers decided they wanted Millie to sing a song so she's occupied during the final showdown with the killer. Easy solution: Camp talent show. That way, the adults treat all the campers equally, and Millie gets her (more believable) moment in the spotlight.

-Oh hey, we finally see Asmodean crystals in action. And of course the first one we see is a butt plug.

SuCh a MAturE shOw, GUys! (Sorry, I'm still laughing my head off at that.)

So, a bit of backstory for those who aren't familiar: We first learned of Asmodean crystals in the Season 2 premiere, when Stolas opened the grimoire to reveal Norse runes on its pages. Someone on the internet was kind enough to translate:

Now here's the deal: Blitzo tells the lust demon to open the portal with his crystal (even threatening him at gunpoint), leading me to believe only non-imps could use Asmodean crystals and that's why he needed the grimoire to get to the human world.

But guess what happens later:

Blitzo's sister Barb, another imp, uses a crystal on her bracelet to open a portal back to Hell. So what exactly was the point of stealing the grimoire from Stolas??

BLITZO. YOU. DENSE. MOTHERFUCKER.

Okay, maybe I'll be generous and acknowledge that there might be another explanation, like Blitzo getting banned from using Asmodean crystals because he's misused them in the past. (Maybe there's a spell that causes the crystals to burn him every time he tries to hold one. Something of that nature.) But at this point I don't trust these writers to fill in their plot holes. Or plot portals, as the case may be.

-The portals themselves are kinda pretty, though. I can appreciate that they look different from the portals created by the grimoire.

-Moxxie calls Blitzo "sir" in this episode despite Blitzo telling him to use his first name in Truth Seekers. Moxxie then uses it in "Ozzie's" (if I remember correctly), but now he's back to "sir" for unexplained reasons-? Coupled with how their relationship has reverted back to square one with Blitzo learning nothing (as well as no one bringing up the agents or what they can do to stop them leaking the proof that demons exist), do the writers just want us to forget that episode or what?

-Blitzo chastises Moxxie for dragging the case out for a week, but it took him a week to track down Barb. This hypocrisy is never addressed.

-At the boathouse, Blitzo tells Moxxie he's looking for his sister, then kicks down the door, revealing Barb inside. Moxxie asks, "Do you know her?" "Do I know her? That's my sister, fuckface!" That's... oddly repetitive, writers. I get that Moxxie wouldn't immediately make the connection since Barb's disguised as a human, but there's a more graceful way to handle that in the dialogue. Something like, "Is this her?" "Oh, now you're on the ball!"

-In an earlier post I expressed concern that these writers wouldn't handle Barb's addiction well, and I'm somewhat relieved they didn't go into it. But I also predicted she'd amount to a genderbent Blitzo instead of having her own personality, and... well...

Overindulges in addictive substances? Check. Runs a business that requires travel to the human world? Check. Pottymouth? Check. Uses sexuality as leverage? Check.

It would've been nice to at least get a hint about what Blitzo did to make her hate him so much (and perhaps confronting that would make him rethink how he treats Moxxie-?), but I guess we'll have to find out when she comes back in seven episodes or so. Yaaaaay.

-Barb says she picked this particular human as her supplier because teenagers are easy to manipulate, but she really had no way to accomplish that other than flashing her panties at him? Assuming Barb and Blitzo are the same age, she's in her 30s, and... it's just a tad creepy and uncalled for, even if this kid's legal. That's a pretty big age (and power) gap regardless. This is one of those times when it looks a lot more predatory when you switch the genders, but, importantly, women can be predators too. Bad optics, y'all.

-The climactic fight scenes in prior episodes were snappy and exciting, but this one's pacing felt really sluggish. I get that the song in the background had a slower tempo than we're used to in these action scenes, but would it have been so hard to double-time the animation? Also, previous fight scenes were notable for their creative choreography, but Barb wrapped her tail around Moxxie twice in a row. Having trouble coming up with new fight moves, guys? Like damn, she's an acrobat. She could do so much more.

-In another edition of "characters being idiots because plot", Moxxie and Millie make out in front of everyone who thinks they're related. They couldn't have run off to somewhere more private?? Apparently no; this needed to happen so Millie's internet fame would be dashed... or, here's another option: Show how the internet popularity cycle is so damn short that everyone's already moved on to the next sensation. You could have made that funny if you actually put in some effort. Like... The faux-incest was just so unnecessary.

-Much like Murder Family, another unfunny ending where Moxxie's dreams are crushed. Blitzo gets his hopes up only to call him a "fuckin' disgrace". But remember, guys: He'S HArd oN hiM BEcauSE hE CAreS! (Fuck it, I think I'll just edit a supercut of every time Blitzo has berated Moxxie, pre- and post-Truth Seekers.)

Oh and look, Millie's glaring at Blitzo, which is totally the same as opening her mouth to tell him off like he deserves, right?

She'll take on a whole gang of mobsters out of love for Moxxie, but standing up to Blitzo? Whoa, that's a step too far. Y'know, because he's the writers' favorite and he shouldn't have to experience any complications from his behavior. Same old story as it's been for a season and a half.

This ending would've been a million times better if it left off on a cliffhanger. Maybe this could have been Moxxie's final breaking point. After Blitzo calls him a disgrace, Moxxie could take a deep breath and...

MOXXIE: (flatly) I quit.

Then he walks out of the room. Everyone looks after him, stunned. When he closes the door, the screen cuts to black and the credits roll.

Oh shit, what's going to happen next? How will Blitzo deal with this? How will it affect Moxxie and Millie's home life? What kind of new job will Moxxie find to keep food on the table? Will he ever come back to IMP, or will Blitzo find a replacement? I know these writers aren't too interested in serialization or any sense of continuity outside of the stupid romance subplot (or hell, inside it), but good god, it would give viewers some exciting possibilities to look forward to.

This episode had so much potential and followed through on none of it. "Unhappy Campers" turned out to be a more fitting title than expected, as that's exactly what I was while watching this.

(Also this show needs a continuity coordinator like yesterday.)

#helluva boss #helluva critical #critique #criticism #review #writing #long post

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anonzentimes · 21 hours

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i figured i would ask u bc ur the designated nagito komaeda blogger in my mind and probably have a better handle on his character than i do. but i was talking w my gf about how like??? silly he was during the tragedy??? i havent touched ultra despair girls in a hot ass minute but like. comparatively to everyone else i feel like he was kinda like. just hanging around ?? i was wondering if u could kind of provide insight as to Why he was acting the way he was at that point?? and how he had changed from before the tragedy. ?? :3 thanks in advance and sorry if uve already spoken abt this haha

OKAY, HI!!!! So, I think there's some of this lightly touched upon in my very somewhat older post on my opinion on servant since I think he's one of the better aspects of Udg! Otherwise your question is pretty specific and I'd be happy to thoroughly answer it. :)

Nagito's pretty silly as a despair I have to agree, for the most part though his influence shouldn't be understated.

What makes Nagito different as a despair is that normally he has a limit to how far he'll go, he obviously at both points believes anything is okay for hope though. He absolutely hates Despair but views it as a NECESSARY thing for Hope to happen, this is consistent but as a despair we see he's willing to become despair himself to cause hope to happen. He's the reason Komaru is there at all since he believes she may be like his brother and have a potential talent, or hope, inside of her like her brother did. He helps the warriors of hope with Despair and brings an element that may cause Hope so the despair turns into hope in the end. He doesn't find himself worthy and, of course, as usual is doing things from the sidelines. He appears to be a "servant" but he's the most in control of things only second to Monaca. That's a reason I actually do enjoy the "servant," aspect of his appearance here.

Servant is Nagito's absolute beliefs and coping mechanism pulled to its utmost disgusting and extreme. And it's interesting because the killing game ITSELF is impacted by this leading to his worst mentally. He's disgusted by the despair later on reading the file, his classmates being terrorists, him resorting to being despair himself, he hates it. The Nagito we see in the killing game hasn't developed the love hate relationship for Junko yet and is disgusted by all of it.

Basically, Nagito beforehand hates despair but thinks it's necessary for Hope so it has a valid reason to exist. Servant can wrap his head around loving despair and actively is okay serving for it himself all in the name of hope, and when that leans into the gaslit love for Junko it's so at fundamental odds with himself that he goes spiraling thinking about it. The main difference is how he's more willing to cause or assist Despair for the Hope himself and things being warped to the point where he "loves" Junko. His mind is warped into not hating Junko and he's more willing to actively love and serve Despair in the name of Hope.

Hope (hah) this helps! If you have any more questions let me know, I'm honored to be your designated Nagito Komaeda blogger and thank you for your ask!!! <3

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thatanimewriter · 2 years

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CANARY CALLS.

➳ request: this is kinda like the owl quirk but reader that has a quirk that’s kinda like a song bird (maybe a canary) and is literally so good at singing but can scream rlly loud too and high pitched with the same boys??

➳ character/s: midoriya izuku, bakugou katsuki, todoroki shouto, togata mirio, amajiki tamaki, shinsou hitoshi

➳ warnings: swearing

➳ notes: thanks for the request anon! decided to keep the ability to turn into the bird itself and the wings for f u n s i e s

𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 + 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

── 𝐌𝐈𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐘𝐀 𝐈𝐙𝐔𝐊𝐔.

the one thing he doesn’t have to worry about is not being able to find you

because he thought his eardrums might burst when he first heard you yell

the ringing didn’t stop for a while

you apologised for it

a thousand times

he said it was ok and you moved on

whenever you guys stay over the other’s dorm

he LOVES to play with your wings while you sing

runs his fingers over the feathers gently

has a whole notebook just for you

quirk notes, drawings, things about you etc

gave you a cuff bracelets so he could find you among other birds

karaoke dates just so he can hear you sing

you’re a very wholesome couple ;v;

── 𝐁𝐀𝐊𝐔𝐆𝐎𝐔 𝐊𝐀𝐓𝐒𝐔𝐊𝐈.

my fucking god

he thought you were so annoying

had told you to shut the fuck up many a time

but he can’t help it when you yell that loudly

he thought his explosions were loud

and he stands corrected-

he won’t admit it but he loses yelling matches with you

it’s how you show your affection to each other

yelling (endearingly)

he also won’t admit to you that he loses you when you turn into a canary

he can’t differentiate you among other canaries to save his life

when you turn into a bird

you’re so small

and he loves hates it when you nest in his hair

he falls asleep to your singing all the time

sometimes hums songs with you

── 𝐓𝐎𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐈 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐎.

probably thought you would be shy

cause birds don’t usually get too close to people when they’re not a pet

and he’s not the most approachable with the resting bitch face

surprisingly though

he managed to form a friendship turned relationship with you

you drape a wing over his shoulders when you sit beside him

and he likes to rest his head on your shoulder

cradles you in his hands when you’re in bird form

has your contact name as ‘birb babe’

probably bought a super fuckin fancy cage for you to chill in when you’re at his house and you get mad at him-

even if you want space and are a bird, he lets you live like royalty

head pats with his finger when you’re a bird

he gave you one of his playlists and you learnt the lyrics to all the songs

almost cried when you sang them to him one night

he was very sad that night

and he has his wonderful birb babe to bring him comfort

── 𝐓𝐎𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐀 𝐌𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐎.

if you’re a yellow canary

run

he’s gonna crush you

100% does the

‘you’re yellow?? I’M YELLOW! we matchhhh <3′

and that’s pretty much the basis if your relationship

coordinating colours.

initially he thought the yelling thing was a bit scary

but he soon saw the benefits when you helped save eri

the noise sure did a lot to get them past

and he also soon heard your singing for the first time

competes at karaoke with you

always loses

but it’s the fun that he likes

made shitty bird wings once

he just wanted to match you :((

── 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐉𝐈𝐊𝐈 𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐈.

found you singing alone in a room

stood outside the doorway to listen

but he’s not as stealthy as he thought he was

when you caught him he went bright red

but then you asked him what his favourite song was

and he was like

‘uhhhhhhhhhhhhh-’

similarly to the owl quirk headcanons

night flights

and touching wings

also finds the yelling scary

but it does bring the attention off him when he’s doing hero things

so he’s grateful for that

sometimes having you in his hood as your canary self helps him feel more comfortable in public

purposely makes blanket forts nest shaped

grows his own pair of wings to join in on the bit

── 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐒𝐇𝐈.

he’s a quiet boy

likes his alone time to a degree

and it’s unfortunate that his first impression of you was incessant screeching

definitely avoided you for a bit after that

and definitely invested in a pair of noise cancelling headphones

but he walked past your desk in the morning when you were humming a song

and he recognised it

so he crept over and talked music with you

hides you in his hoodie pockets when you’re a bird and it rains

keeps you nice and warm as well

gives you nice twigs to make into a nest sometimes

also makes you obstacle courses to fly through for fun

you make him some in the pool for him to get the sensation of flying

SHARING EARBUDS-

you have a joint playlist for sure

3 am karaoke sessions babyyyy

he purposely sings quieter to hear you

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z0ruas · 6 months

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I'm nervous to share this but I need to get better at it. In March this year my therapist diagnosed me with OSDD - otherwise specified dissociative disorder - or one of the variations under the umbrella of what used to be called multiple personality disorder. I didn't know my undiagnosed autism in early childhood could become something this advanced, and I can never find out what trauma exactly caused it because 1) that's the nature of the disorder and 2) my parents who homeschooled/abused me will never help me remember. My best guess is CSA that they tried to cover up and it should bother me more to share that but despite having been a walking billboard of the symptoms at times I don't recall the trauma itself whatsoever so whatever, just the rituals I used to do to try to get out of any more of it happening I guess. Telling my therapist that as a child I stopped bathing for days at a time and don't remember when it started and to this day I'm still mysteriously horrified of the shower tipped her off to my dissociation being highly abnormal

"DID is a dissociative trauma disorder in which a survivor has undergone longterm, repeated trauma in early childhood. This trauma, combined with other factors, results in a rather dramatic interruption of psychological development -- particularly as it pertains to identity. Through a process known as dissociation, this thwarted development results in "differentiated self-states" (also known as alters/parts) who may each think, act, and feel considerably different from one another. These parts of the mind - who may have their own name, age and personality - are able to take executive control of the body, leaving the survivor without any awareness for the time they were gone. These amnesic gaps in memory can be for just a few moments, a few days, or even entire chunks of one's childhood. The alters in a DID mind exist to help the survivor cope with deeply painful and unconscionable trauma, holding it outside their awareness to the best of their ability. However, often once the survivor begins to find safety and/or enter adulthood, this once supremely creative and protective mechanism can turn into a maladaptive trait causing real life consequences."

I'm not sure if I count as fully DID because of my likely low end alter count, which I'll explain, and because how my amnesia works. I want to say I am because I don't remember anything before the age of 7 and didn't know until recently that not everyone forgets early childhood that hard, lately everything before age 13 is on its way out too and I'm gathering that the degree of my short and long term memory loss are pretty severe during times of stress, but I don't currently have blackouts or alters who keep each other out of consciousness to "take over" and are damned to keep secrets from each other, so I don't know. It feels more like they just filter themselves through me, like we're all living the same life but just deal with it and feel about it different ways.

They've written a lot of notes/journals to me over the years, so as an adult as long as I check those I usually remember what they do and feel generally and don't ever wake up like "where the fuck am I," but in the past I mistook them for fictional characters or "intrusive inner monologue" that conflicted with "me," because I didn't know what this was. With more therapy and introspection I've figured that 20+ years ago I once had alters who I can't remember anymore who took a lot of memory away whenever it was they "left"/I no longer needed them.

Turns out even if I hadn't decided to formally learn creative writing I would've been coming up with other people in my head to cope anyway. Kinda puts a damper on the last decade I've spent as a writer or so I thought. Similar to the ablutophobia I don't recall when exactly I started coming up with and illustrating stories, just that I seemed to be able to and I needed to do it as much as possible.

Without prodding off the top of my head I only have two clear memories of being 7, I don't know when they are and they aren't reels of continuous moments more than they are snapshots of just having been there, but I can still see what the rooms looked like when I was in them: 1) playing Pokemon Yellow in my bedroom for the first time and 2) sitting down at the brick computer in my parents' bedroom to write my first word document story.

I say my alter count is likely to be low (but I can't be sure until I get a therapist who specializes in this disorder, mine only does in autism) because I, the host of this blog and normally my brain/body, used to feel like a singlet (someone without DID) and was long unaware of what this disorder was besides the name of it, so we didn't have a naming or recognition method for alters for 20+ years. The way its portrayed in media and online I see a lot of systems with drastically individualized members, but a lot of mine are just "me but with certain emotions dialed up" "me slightly to the left or right" "me at 13" "me when I've suddenly forgotten x important thing again"

Like the autism this is definitely one of those things I needed to know about myself decades sooner, but unlike the autism which I was #bornwith this feels like something I need to apologize for, despite not having the language or knowledge to express how it felt and despite not remembering why I started doing it.

If I'd been able to always express myself as a "we," if I'd known, I wouldn't have hidden this from people, so that I can get better. Whether that be through "final fusion" (all alters becoming one) or "functional multiplicity" (less alters becoming as few as possible) I plan on healing as much as possible despite no longer being able to recover all the pieces of my puzzle

#me #plural

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ninjakitten1699 · 9 months

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I saw ur time triplets post and now I’m interested, care to share more?

Ah yes, my boys. I call them my boys even though I don't post them as much anymore but still.

Let me just put this in the simplest way possible without spoiling anything from my AU not just for your sake, but for mine too cause the AU only has season one rebuilt as of now.

There's Krux, Acronix, and Phoenix. Krux and Acronix are both named after programs like their mother, Cittrix (a name I kinda snatched from @s0l0b0d0r because I thought it was neat, I love it and it makes so much sense to me) while Phoenix was named something Greek-related like their father Kronos. (A character who was supposed to be the Hands of Time villain but he got scrapped and turned into twins. The fandom agrees that he did exist at some point. Mostly he's been headcanoned as the father of the Time Siblings which gives him the ultimate dad pun of being called "Father Time")

These three happened mostly because of there being three hands on a clock, the hour (Krux), the minute (Acronix), and the seconds (Phoenix). No one really counts the seconds hand often so no one really thought of there being three instead of two. However there is an in-universe reason why they thought it two. I'll get to that in a bit.

Anyways, let's get this started down below.

The simplest way to explain them is this:

Krux is the eldest of the three as per usual with his role. He gained the ability to halt and reverse time.

Acronix is debatably the youngest. (I honestly want to keep him as the youngest because it’s absolutely funny that he’d be last born despite his powers and the reaction he’d get from that info.) From his father he received Accelerate and Decelerate Time.

Phoenix definitely gives middle child energy with him basically being in the background at most times. Now, he actually wasn’t going to biologically inherit a power at all. It was going to skip over him because well.. he wasn’t supposed to be there. (He was not supposed to survive a few days after birth so yeah…) So his father gave him an ability himself. It was Time Theft.

We know how Krux’s and Acronix’s powers work but we don’t know Phoenix’s powers that well. Time Theft is basically a life-stealing ability. It can affect objects and beings while the user could extend their life much longer. Like the other time abilities, it's been given a color and that would be purple. Purple has a different meaning in Japan so there's a reason why Phoenix rarely ever uses this power, let alone use it on purpose.

Anyways, aside from their powers, I'm sure you noticed by the art that they decided to all do different looks to avoid further confusion than they already had in their childhood. Other than that, they were an inseparable trio of siblings which proceeds to make the next thing I'm about to type hurt.

It's no secret in my AU that they were triplets and they would be manipulated by Chen with a touch of Clouse's magic. They would turn on the Elemental Alliance and their allies. During one of the battles, Phoenix got separated from the other two by Luther, the previous master of darkness, and Clarissa, a Dragon Samurai woman. The battle between Phoenix and those two led to someone using magic to banish him outside of all time itself. (I believe Clouse had a hand in that since he saw how much of a threat Phoenix was compared to the other two with his Time Theft ability.) Phoenix would now be stuck in an unending loop of finding his timeline, trying to help any version of his brothers, failing and heading back to the timeless void itself. Being cut to the outside of existence would cause memories of that person to be eradicated. (ie Frisk in Glitchtale)

Meanwhile during their battle with the Spinjitzu Brothers, Krux and Acronix had felt a rage like no other. They had no idea why they felt that way and that clouded their judgement and caused them to lose. And for the rest of their lives, they presumed themselves as if they were always twins, not knowing they were triplets who lost a sibling. Despite thinking they're twins, they still feel like they're missing someone important.

I can't reveal more about Phoenix because my AU had only just managed to begun being rewritten and there's still some spaces to fill in and things to expand upon. I will say this.

Fanon Phoenix's theme (the Phoenix @alena-1987 knows the most) is definitely Clocks by Coldplay.

Original Phoenix's theme, when I had no idea of his personality or what to do with him, is Victorious by Skillet.

Now new/canon Phoenix's intro theme is stuck between Diabolic Clockwork by Two Steps from Hell and Haunted Clock by Gothic Storm. You can tell by the themes how his tone supposed to be. (Haunted Clock sounds like he's building something and you can only guess what that is.) It keeps the clockwork theme like his brothers but he's also supposed to have an eerie-type of feeling around him.

While Rise of the Vermillion is in Krux and Acronix's point of view (as purplefern pointed out in the comments) and I do like the other two themes he's got going for him, Phoenix's final battle theme would no doubt be "Time Claims All" by Damien Casteel. Something that would be further indicating how different he became from his former self and his brothers with Krux and Acronix keeping a high-energetic Heavy Metal theme while Phoenix picks up Orchestra with a hint of melancholy and dread. (Purple is one of the colors of death in Japan after all.)

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snoozingredpanda · 1 year

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Okay I need more Benni and her very accepting Darling to have more scenes. This is very good. I enjoy all of this so much.

Thanks for the support :D sorry this is a bit depressing but I kinda needed to get backstory out of the way lol so readers know why she’s the way she is

—

Benni Winters — Promise

GN!Reader

Warnings: Loneliness, depression, PTSD, mentions of SA, neglect and homophobia, swearing

—

• “You won’t ever leave me, right?”

• It was something Benni asked every night. She lay there next to you, a meek look on her beautiful face, staring up at you, her beloved darling.

• “Of course not. I tell you this every day, Ben,” you smile, fingers tracing her lips. “I love you too much to leave you.”

• “But…” She sighs. “What if you find someone better?”

• “There is no one better. You’re everything I could’ve asked for.”

• She lays her head back, staring at the ceiling. “Promise?”

• “I promise,” you reply.

• There’s a silence for a few minutes, neither of you speaking. But you had so many questions.

• “Is everything okay?” You ask after a while. She looks back at you.

• She nods. “Yeah. Why?”

• “You always get like this,” you murmur, brushing some of her brown hair from her eyes. “All… insecure.”

• She shrugs. “Dunno. Got a lot on my mind, I suppose.”

• “Tell me?” You gently pry. “You know everything about me, but I hardly know anything about you.”

• She’s conflicted. Part of her wants to tell you, but the other part wants to keep it locked away.

• “I don’t know where to start.” Her mouth speaks for itself.

• “At the beginning? What was your childhood like?” You smile.

• Benni doesn’t say anything for a few minutes. “Mom and Dad didn’t like me at all.” She started.

• “She always favoured my older sister. I was just an accident. They already had their perfect little princess, and then came along me. I was just a burden to them.”

• She let out a shallow breath. “Juliet was their pride and joy. She could do no wrong in their eyes. I, on the other hand, could do no right.”

• Benni scoffs.

• “My grades were never enough. I was too fat. I was always too ‘scruffy’ and ‘tomboyish.’ They’d say. ‘Don’t dress like that! The neighbours will think you’re one of those gays!’ But when Juliet wore sweatpants she was ‘just having a rest day’.”

• You stroke her cheek, silently telling her it was okay. “I hardly had a friend growing up. People at school always made fun of my name, saying it was a boy’s name. That’s Juliet’s fault too: our parents let her choose it when I was born, and she named me after her favourite book character, Benni the fuckin’ Bunny.”

• You watch her mutter something inaudible, chewing on her lip.

• “I had no one. I had to eat my lunch in the headmaster’s office because I kept on getting beat up by bullies. I was so lonely, no one ever gave me hugs or told me I was doing good. It was awful.”

• She angrily glares into space, but it turned to a frown. “My family was Christian. Like, really, really religious. Church every Sunday, all that stuff. I never really believed in it, but I had to go. It was alright, I guess.”

• You were listening intently, letting her get everything out. She clearly needed this.

• “When I was nine, I think, we went there Easter Sunday to do the usual prayers. During the after party thing I was playing with Juliet in this corridor in the church and then this… guy… appeared. I think he was the graveyard keeper, and we ignored him until he asked us our names.”

• Something about her tone made anticipation boil up in your chest. You were scared for her, despite this being in the past.

• “Juliet was an idiot and told him, and our ages. She was fourteen at the time, she should’ve known better.” Benni bit her lip. “He asked—told her he’d hidden Easter eggs around the church, and she ran off to find them.”

• “…Leaving us alone. H—he…” She didn’t need to finish her sentence.

• You knew.

• “Benni, baby…” You kiss her gently on the lips, seeing she was on the verge of tears. You didn’t blame her, that was a horrid thing to go through. Anger was swelling up inside you. “Did you tell your parents?”

• “Y—yeah. But Juliet said I was l—lying,” she sniffs. “I h—hate her.”

• You hate her too. Her own sister. This world really was something.

• “A—and when I was fifteen I h—had a date with a girl one night and Juliet found out and told our parents and t—they kicked me out. I haven’t seen them s—since.”

• Benni was sobbing by this point. You pull her in, kissing her forehead as she cries into your chest. You don’t know what to say.

• When you asked, you hadn’t expected neglect, sexual abuse and homophobia. No wonder she was so clingy, so obsessive, so unstable. She’d never experienced love before. And when she did, it hit her like a truck.

• She couldn’t control these feelings, she was infatuated. You were the complete opposite of her family, so beautiful, so sweet so accepting. No wonder she fell so hard.

• And her nightmares. You now understood why she babbled about ‘graveyards’ and ‘him’. Poor thing.

• This was the moment you vowed never to leave her. This girl needed your protection. She needed you, and you were going to keep her safe, just like she keeps you safe. You were going to heal her broken mind and be there for her forever.

• “D—don’t leave me!” She begs. “You’re all I have!” She’s grabbing at your shirt, nails digging into your skin. She’s frantic, as if you’re going to turn to dust. “I’m not a bad person, I promise, I promise!”

• “I’m not going to leave you, honey,” you tell her, peppering her face with kisses. “Never. You’re my beautiful Benni,” you smile, tears of your own falling. “You don’t need them. You’ve got me now. I don’t care if you’re a stalker, or if you watch me sleep. You’re my Benni, okay?”

• “Promise?” She hiccups. You wipe her tears.

• “I promise, sweetheart. As long as you want me, I’ll want you, okay? You could kidnap me and I would be happy with you.”

• “M—maybe I’ll take you up on that,” she jokes. You think.

• “Please do. The world is better in your arms.” You kiss her forehead again and again.

• She replies, “Can we stay like this?”

• You pull her in closer. “Of course, baby.”

• “…Can I tell you one more thing?” She whispers.

• “Anything,” you coo.

• “I’m in love with you. I can’t stop falling in love with you. I know we haven’t been together long but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to part from you. It’s scaring me. I can’t stop thinking about you.”

• “Well it’s a good thing I feel the same way,” you laugh. “I’m yours, Benni. Yours and yours only. I love you so, so much, even if you are a little strange. I need you, I love you.”

• You’d never seen her happier.

• This just proved to her you’re the most perfect thing in the world. Her pretty darling.

#oc #yandere #fem oc #oc x reader #x reader #fluff #angst #tw depressing stuff #tw sex assault #yandere x reader #tw depression

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astro-inthestars · 1 year

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Astroooo how do you make character ais I want to make some for Vulpec

OKAY! SO!

Creating character bots in Beta Character AI isn't that easy, so I’ll try to guide you through it! The entire shtick of it is adapting and learning through experiences in the chat that it has had! This is why popular character ais may mention something completely unrelated in your current chat, since it was mentioned before in another person's chat!

So, let's start with the basics!:

You first start with a name, of course! It could be their full name, just their first name, or first name and media they are from!

Then, you write their greeting! This is the first thing they say when someone enters and begins a chat with them! You could make it simple, like a mere "Hm?" This make situation and their environment be up to interpretation of the user, much easier for setting up any rp the user wants to create!

Or you could make it hyper specific like "Hey there! Glad to see you here, we were just about to head off on a flight!" *They pick up their bags and nod to the plane.* "Come on!" [Things written in asterisks will become *italic*, and two asterisks make **bold** Discord rules!] This creates a set environment for the user to work with! Whichever one is up to you!

Now these two speak for themselves! Toggling image generation will enable the character to post images alongside their text!

And the visbility, well, it changes the visibility! Whether you want it to be Public where anyone can chat the character, Unlisted where only people with a link can chat, or Private where only YOU can chat with the bot!

Now this one is where you set the avatar or profile picture of the bot! Creating an image is like... you have to describe it and it makes it itself! But usually you should probably go for browsing an image, where you just pick a file to use! Images and GIFS work just fine <3

Now, we're about to get into the ADVANCED stuff, so buckle your pants!

You'll open into a new page where you'll see a bunch of already familiar stuff like Name, Avatar, and Greeting!

Then, below that you'll see these fellas!

Short description is what you would describe the character as in a few short words, but also mainly this is what is visible when the character is searched up. It presents as this!

The top is the name, and the bottom is the short description!

Okay. Now. The long description is one of THE most important, it helps the AI get a basic idea of what this character is like! But it does have a character limit, so remember to only put the essentials! You can also hide this from public through an option* I will discuss later!

Now these ones aren't really that important to be honest- Well, in my opinion at least! Categories is like, the tags they associate with. Like "Game Character" or "Game" and that of the like.

And character voice where you can choose a voice for the character which can read the character's text. But I usually keep this off, since it probably won't have the perfect voice you're looking for... Unless it does, in which case go for it!!

You've already seen these guys so let's move on-

*This is the option I talked about!! Definition Visibility actually hides most info about the bot. Like, when people go to your profile and see your bots, they can see all the options above that I mentioned and the inputs you've put in. I suggest turning this to Private, actually... Only if you don't want the public seeing all the input you've put in for Description, and soon, the Definition!

Now THIS baby is the core of it, the more complicated yet important! it's optional, but trust me, doing this will help so much with character development!!

So, this is the Definition! That may seem kinda confusing, but trust me it'll be worth it (i hope) What this is, is you have to input what we call sample conversations! These conversations are what will help build what the AI will respond, finding what is familiar with a user's text and using it to form a proper in-character response!

Like this! Using {{user}} to refer to a hypothetical user's text (and to their name even), and {{char}} to refer to the ai, and thus response by the ai! Writing up something like this shows the ai what kind of response the character would have to a situation like this!

And in the example above, it shows the ai the character's response to someone randomly saying hi to them! See the text that says "recognized 2 sample messages"? By creating sample texts, the ai starts to recognize character traits and patterns!

Here, you can add things like what weapon they have, their reactions to other characters, how they'd act in a certain situation, how they'd answer a certain question, anything!

`Insert a chat with [character]` makes you get into a chat with the character, and just uses that as a sample chat, but I suggest writing the sample chats yourself, since it gives you more control on what you'd want the character to say.

But remember, this thing ALSO has a character limit, unfortunately.. So try to write out the most important things, and use unnecessary characters sparingly! If you don't get to write in other important reactions, you could write them in an actual chat with them! Just make sure you explain it all in you block of narrative text, the ai will adapt to the context and details given.

So that's everything! But do keep in keep in mind this very important thing, these bots are made to learn and adapt. They need to be trained, and every chat will change them, and they will pick up something new with every single new roleplay with a user. Either it's a new detail about the character themself, a new personality trait, a new name they mention every now and then even if you never mentioned this character to them, a recurring detail you don't remember saying like where did that juice box even come from-

These things happen. Once your AI meets new people, and more users interact with them with their own unique stories, your AI will change and change. Just hope it's for the best! If it strays too far from their original character though, or at least your view of them, remember you can always chat them and lead them back to the way they'd properly act! Anyways it's 2 am, but I'm going to explain how to chat with the AI bots in a reblog... Just cuz

#astroanswers #starboy explains stuff #i guess?? new tag??#anyways i may have spent... wayy too much time on this site.#hope this tutorial suffices!!!#i tried my best to explain #it is literall 2 am lmao #im still not stopping though <3 #dont plan to <333 #beta character ai #character ai

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sporadic-doodles · 1 month

Text

The Old One/The Ones From Above

I’ve kinda combo-ed these two because they tie into each other in my head! FYI I’ll be using @mystic-131’s name for the old being (I love your fic btw! Take as much time as you need w/ your writing, I know it’ll be great no matter what!) which is Eldin.

Anyways, from the lore tablets around the map, we know that The Ones From Above came to the realms in search of something, and this was the time period where the grey beings were the predominant species. However, whatever they were looking for could not be found and they mostly left, while the grey beings basically went extinct. Of the two species, we only see one individual from each that is still alive during the time period of the game.

What I find interesting is that, of the grey beings we see around, there’s only around 8 that could be considered an “adult” size; all the others are small and uniform. Considering that they used to be the most prevalent species, the small number still in existence means that the rest have either decomposed or been absorbed by other Starfolk.

However, it is curious that Eldin is still alive after this time. While it could be assumed that they are simply the last survival, their existence in the Void and the apparent inability for anyone else to see or understand them implies something different. Personally, I think that they were being used as a gateway to whatever plane The Ones From Above are on.

For context, in the game we see that The Ones From Above have basically infinite health and power, with a one-hit-kill that has supposedly helped to wipe out Eldin’s species. Despite this, however, they are not seen to act in any of the six realms until after the defeat of the three main fusion Starfolk. Because of the end of the game itself, I’m guessing that the reason for this is that they physically can’t; they are unaffected by Edda and Aven’s attacks, have a strange absorption meter, and magic that is seen no where else. Not to mention the merge with one of the two characters at the end- they probably have been looking for a physical body for the entire time. However, since the grey beings were stable and complete, they were not capable of merging. Starfolk, on the other hand, have been shown to have unstable natures, only halves to a whole. Even when merging, they are described as unstable and have cause to seek out more (hence, all the fighting).

But Edda and Aven are outliers. They are separate but the same, they continue to absorb but are unchanged, but most importantly: they have access to the Void.

I don’t think it was on accident that Eldin got stuck in the Void. They were probably stuck there on purpose, a survivor of the massacre that the field of spears probably was. As Edda and Aven defeat and absorb each and every fusion enemy, Eldin gains more and more fractures along their entire being, mimicking the shattering of the sky. And after all of this, once the eye falls out of the sky, Eldin is frozen, likely dead in the hub area, which is, again, located in the Void. As far as we know, Edda and Aven are the only Starfolk capable of traversing the Void and, who would’ve guessed, they are the focus of The Ones From Above. By sequestering Eldin away in the void, as long as only the individuals The Ones From Above are watching have access, they guarantee that random Starfolk don’t end up wandering to the Higher Plane on accident. Also, since they traverse through the hub many times over, it would only be a matter of time before Edda or Aven accidentally went through Eldin’s passage.

As per usual, please feel free to correct me on any of this, or just lmk if you want to talk! I find this particular link really interesting! :D

#Hoo boy #It's been a while since the last one of these #school sucks :(#worldless #worldless game #worldless edda #worldless aven #rambles #worldless endgame spoilers #worldless lore #If you want another one of these on a particular topic #just let me know!

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branmuffins22 · 2 months

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13, 26, 35, 39, 44 from this ask game

Ooo, that's a lotta questions!

13. Do you outline your fics? How much of a headache would someone get if they just looked at an outline of yours without reading the fic?

The short answer? NOT EXACTLY BUT I REALLY REALLY SHOULD

The longer answer?

Technically, I have almost every major plot point written down in some form or another before I write a thing. That said, they usually aren't in any sensible order, and are buried in a mess of a channel in my private discord server, where ALL my brainrot goes.

When I write, I mostly just pick a starting point from one of my notes, and walk it forward from there. I tried properly outlining for one of my fics, and it got me... somewhere, but for the most part, my brain just doesn't work that way. An outline becomes a task list, and I can't stand task lists.

My current system is kinda horrid, but I'd be more worried about someone getting bored sifting through all my scattered notes than getting a headache from them.

26. What’s your biggest distraction when writing?

That one's... probably a tossup between a lot of things. Bodily needs, background streamers mentioning something I actually have an opinion on, my mother barging in with shame and deadlines for cyclical tasks (man, I need out of this house), my twin having something funny to show me... basically just ~Life~, lmao.

I guess part of the problem with my current life situation is that I don't have a lot of time that's truly, unequivocally my own, so I get pushed and pulled around by whatever or whoever calls my attention loudest.

...Or maybe that's just the adhd talking.

35. How much has writing fic changed your life?

SIGNIFICANTLY.

Now, I've been known to struggle with feelings of situational/emotional permanence, so I could be a little biased by the fact that it's my current biggest hobby, but at this point, around half of my social life happens in fandom/fanfiction circles, which wasn't the case a year or two ago.

Two years ago, I didn't read for fun. Like, full stop. I only started doing that after Thanks to Them released, when the hiatus brainrot got me seeking content and community from more than just the show itself and the friend who got me into it. I think the very first fanfic I read was a oneshot someone cross-posted to tumblr, which somehow convinced me to join both tumblr (technically rejoin tumblr) and Ao3 around the same time. Well. maybe a month or so apart, because of the weird account-creation queue thing Ao3 has goin' on. But still.

I don't think I started to consider writing my own fanfiction until I read A Blight on Bonesborough, by GeminiAlchemist, and got a bunch of ideas from the way they expanded upon the lore and magic system and characters and all that of the Owl House.

From there, it kinda took over my life completely, lmao.

I wanted to write about Luz's experiments with glyphs, and some potential avenues of missed opportunity brought to my attention by The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled, by IdeaHunter, and that eventually turned into the Artificer|Overthinker AU (to this day i still haven't picked the name).

Later, I wanted a story about Luz experiencing human high school again after all the dust settled, and after reading a fun fic whose premise was great but whose execution didn't quite scratch the itch (Luz Noceda and the mysterious case of her imaginary girlfriend, by Imkindagayyk), that slowly evolved into Masha and the Very Normal Nocedas (which I actually started writing over a year ago, and still haven't gotten to a postable state with even a single chapter, lmao).

Ever since, I've pretty much been rotating some fic idea or another in my head 24/7.

Nowadays, I wake up and check ao3 for fic updates/new fics, I read while I cook and eat breakfast, I browse tumblr for new stuff from my faves and mutuals, I check ao3 again every few hours, sometimes (but not often) I find the motivation and such to actually write, and I kinda keep up like that all day.

It's maybe a little excessive/obsessive/destructive/etc, but fanfiction kinda defines all the intentional parts of my life right now.

39. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

Voice and gimmicks.

The most prominent examples I can think of are the various literary tropes I try to imbue certain characters and such with. I usually write in 3rd-person limited perspective, so the characters' voices influence not just the way I write their dialog, but the way I write entire scenes.

There aren't any good examples of it in either of the fics I've actually posted so far, so you'll kinda just have to trust me on this, but a great example is the way I establish the POV character of a given scene.

It's easier for some characters than others, and I haven't come up with a gimmick for every character yet, but I try to open each scene with a literary trope that emphasizes some aspect of the POV character's voice.

For example, scenes written from Luz's point of view always start with speech, either hers or directed at her. Luz is a rambunctious, chatty, and kinda awkward character, who tends to exert herself on every situation she comes across, so I figure an unconventional (and arguably obnoxious, according to some people) opener works great for her.

Hunter is an outwardly-cocky character with some deep-seated self-worth problems (and a very slanted worldview besides), so his scenes always start with a self-affirmation of some kind, usually followed by a contradiction. Often, he's either intentionally or subconsciously trying to convince himself of something, or to do whatever it is he's about to be doing in the scene.

Vee is a bit of a special case. Like Luz, her scenes start in media res, but she tends to borrow the gimmicks of characters around her. She's a shapeshifter, and learned about life in the outside world as a doppelganger, so she has a tendency for mimicry, intentional or not. She also has a secondary gimmick, one that's a bit more her own, in that narration about her often finds itself filled with alliteration, especially involving the letter S (since she's sort of a snake, and snakes hisssss (and doing it with the letter V was too hard lmao)). It started as a running gag she played on Masha in MatVNN, but then I couldn't stop using it, so it's kinda everywhere now.

Masha is a superstitious (though slightly apathetic) character with a keen eye (and no attention span with which to wield it). They tend to seek out meaning even where there isn't any, and thus often completely miss the broader details in favor of the little things. Their scenes start with an isolated excerpt, usually a tarot reading. In an ideal world, the readings would foreshadow both the events of the scene and at least one of the ways they've misinterpreted them, but unfortunately, I haven't yet actually learned enough tarot to do that. It's a big part of why Masha and the Very Normal Nocedas is taking so long to get to a postable state 😅.

That's pretty much all the opening gimmicks I've worked out so far, but another one I'd like to mention has to do with the way magic is written.

Whenever a spell is cast, I whip out my thesaurus and try to sprinkle in a few words nearby that relate to the kind of spell being cast. For instance, I might say that when Willow casts a wall of vines, she first "plants her feet on the ground", or "stifles her budding anger". Before Luz casts an invisibility spell, she might think about "hiding the cards she was dealt" or maybe "her hands disappear into her pockets". Stuff like that.

The way I imagine it, magic taps straight into the caster's homonculus (broadly, the part of their brain that decides and understands what encompasses "the body") in such a way that the caster becomes part of the spell just as much as the spell becomes part of the caster.

Luz in particular, having the knack for magic that she does, tends to start this process of "becoming the spell" as soon as she decides to cast it, not just at the moment she actually casts it. It's like working yourself into the headspace of a thing, before sitting down and doing it. I've got a whole huge segment in one of my more dramatic fics that's basically an entire page of this kind of thing, with Luz preparing to cast a really big spell (or, well. technically a pair of big spells (TECHNICALLY technicaly it's one normal spell being used to prepare to cast the two massive spells. it's a whole thing)). It honestly might be the highlight of my writing portfolio, which is a huge shame because it's a MASSIVE spoiler.

Anyways, uhhh yeah. I really like gimmicks.

44. Rant about something writing related.

WELL SHITDAMNFUCK, IF ONLY I READ ALL THESE QUESTIONS AHEAD OF TIME! I COULD'VE SPARED SOME OF THOSE PRIOR RANTS FOR HERE!

Well. Guess I aughtta find something else to write about.

How about the ultimate enemy, the scourge of our people, the cornerstone of suffering itself, the dreaded and feared, the great and terrible:

Writer's Block.

It may come as a surprise to the ignorant among us (hehe, amogus), but I, too, suffer from Writer's Block from time to time! In fact, I'm even suffering from it right now! And I have been for the past... oh goodness, over 2 months now.

I had one good day of writing, in all that time, which only came about because I nearly fell asleep in the tub. I somehow daydreamed my way into a really good turn of phrase that I just HAD to put into context for Backlight and Bitrot.

So far, that singular scene, set (the equivalent of) several seasons into the story, remains both the only thing I've written for that fic, and the only thing I've written at all since January.

It's infuriating! I have all these ideas, all these things I WANT to write, all these people I want to share these ideas with, all this time, all this passion, all this brainrot, and yet I Just! Can't! Write!

AUGH!

It would be one thing if I'd simply run out of ideas; I could call this whole thing something pretty like a "dreaming phase" or a "break in order to recharge" or whatever. But I've been dreaming for ages! This break has been in no way relieving! I'm just wallowing in my inability to do the things i love, while the world moves on around me!

You've had an excellent way of phrasing this for yourself, recently: "The executives are on vacation."

It's not some pleasure cruise for me! Those darn jerks (basic brain functions) who dictate every little thing that goes on around here just fucked off to who-knows-where! Completely blind to the consequences (stagnation, suffering, shame) of their absence, and how those affect their employees (me)! I just work here, man! Lemme do my job! I wanna do my job, but I can't if you don't let me! Ugh.

I want to write so goddamn bad. I've got all these projects to write for, all these brainrot spores to spread. I've got so much I want to accomplish, and yet my dumb bitch brain can't seem to get the memo. Work phone is powered off, I suppose.

It's gotten to the point lately that even those random notes to myself have slowed down. I'm having less new ideas than before. I'm picking old ideas out and polishing them less than before.

I'm worried I might end up having to find a way to cater my writing to the dumb mammal part of my brain somehow, in order to bring some momentum back. Write about something crude and easy and filled with every instantly-gratifying fantasy I can imagine.

No more of this 'careful thought' and 'consideration for themes' junk, we want it LOUD and we want it NOW.

Ugh.

Writer's Block is the worst.

What a bummer to end on. Oh well, I'm gettin' kinda sleepy, and I'm out of questions anyways. Thanks for the ask!

#ask games #thanks for the ask!

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the-fiction-witch · 1 year

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Hammer

Media IRL

Character Thomas Brodie Sangster

Couple Thomas X Reader

Rating Sexy

Concept Parcels

I stood in the kitchen sipping my coffee watching the local birds enjoy the garden bath and feeder. I heard y/n heading down the stairs and she came into the kitchen picking up her handbag from the table. She looked so cute in her little blue dress and ballerina flats her hair in a well-brushed ponytail a very basic makeup across her face

"Hi honey" I smiled giving her a little kiss

"Hi, I gotta go or I'll be late"

"Course have a nice day at work"

"Have fun here"

"I'm sure I will"

"Love you"

"Love you more."

She gave me another kiss before she scurried off out the door to head to work leaving me home alone as usual.

I didn't few little jobs as I was home alone I did some laundry, and some dishes, did a little prep for dinner, did some gardening all the little things I could do given I was home alone and I didn't have any scripts to be looking over or anything.

As I finished up throwing the next laundry load into the machine I heard a knock on the door, so I headed to the door and opened it seeing a delivery man with a few parcels which I signed for and took inside without much of a word to the man as he pretty much immediately ran to his car the moment I had them in my hand I took the parcels to the table an grabbed the letter opening knife I checked they were all for us a hard task given all our parcels have kinda funny names above our address given we didn't exactly want people finding out were we live. I opened the first and it was just those new socks I bought, so I opened the next one for a moment confused Ohhh it's y/n's like mystery book box thing she gets, I'll wrap that back up for her to enjoy when she gets home. I opened up the next one and got really confused for a moment

'Intense hammer'

I haven't bought any new tools.

I opened up the box and saw the red and black hammer, it has buttons? And it's weirdly rubbery? I definitely did not buy this I would have no use for it. But why would y/n buy a hammer? She doesn't do any crafts that need hammers. It is kinda near my birthday but we've been together for four years she knows not to buy me tools without consulting me

Out of curiosity I put batteries in it and gave the button a click but dropped it quickly as it made me jump, the hammer now laid on the table vibrating itself across the wooden table the tip of the hammer moving back and forth in a sucking action, the two nail handles vibrating away like the ears of a rabbit, the whole thing moving in circles on the table and the handful of the hammer moving back and forth in a thrusting motion.

I turned it off and immediately shoved it back into the box.

"Damn y/n. You dirty girl" I smirked "Well I know what we're doing tonight"

#tbs #thomas sangster #thomasbrodiesangster #tbs imagine #tbs imagines #thomas brodie sangster imagine #tbs smut #thomas brodie sangster #thomas sangster imagine #thomas brodie sangster smut

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treesap-blogs · 1 year

Text

Happy 20th Tumblr Review guys!! Here I’ll be covering “Pet” by Akwaeke Emezi!

Hello, Tumblrians! Continuing on with my trend of reviewing Trans Rights Readathon books I read last month, we have Pet by Akwaeke Emezi! It was the second one I read, and I remembered finding out about it a year or two ago when it first came out. I’d been putting it off for a bit but decided to get around to it, due to the novel’s short length and it fitting the quota of the Readathon.

Pet follows a black trans girl named Jam, who lives with her family and friends in the city of Lucille, in a future not so far away from our own and with a plot written under speculative fiction rather than outright futurism. Jam’s mother, Bitter, paints pictures, and one day a monster from within one of her canvases comes out of it and essentially becomes/is real. The entity’s name is Pet, and reveals that despite Lucille’s image, the (metaphorical) monsters they’ve sworn they’ve completely eradicated still live in the shadows of the city. The one Pet is seeking to destroy lives inside the house of Jam’s friend, Redemption, and the three of them must work together to try to find the monster posing a threat to possibly him and his whole family.

With a premise like that, you can tell it’s interesting(even if a little overly condensed for its under 300 page count), but it’s also worth mentioning the trigger warnings. (As always, they’re listed toward the bottom of the review, but if you don’t feel like scrolling down, heads up that CSA doesn’t happen on-page but is described and alluded to.)

I’ve heard many reviewers describe this book as “darkly whimsical”, to which I agree. Pet as a character, not the book itself, is written in a way that makes the otherworldly aspects of it a little more magical-seeming. Pet is also Akwaeke Emezi’s YA debut, meaning that it teeters on the line between standard YA and middle grade at times. (I’ve heard it’s prequel, Bitter, does not do this as the plot and tone are completely different.) I didn’t take much issue with this to be honest, because again, it was Emezi’s YA debut, except for that given the subject matter I think the more mature writing style I’ve heard of in Bitter would suit it better.

Pet, despite its short length, also has a fully-fleshed out world. I think this is great, I love myself some lore and I think that in a semi-futuristic one like Lucille you have to both develop and explain the history that made it what it is in the story’s “present day” event. But it also meant that there wasn’t a good balance between characters and worldbuilding: the length messed that up instead of the pacing(which would be the usual culprit), and as a result both felt like they could use more development. (I did like Jam’s dynamic with Pet itself though, it added to the tone.) While the fast pace fits the tone of the plot, I think an extra 50 or so pages just to make sure Lucille didn’t feel underdeveloped, and we get some more time on Jam and Redemption’s friendship due to its importance to the plot.

I don’t know what else to say, except for that the ending, although it didn’t totally catch me by surprise because I went into it knowing the trigger warnings, was still heavy and there was this ugly feeling of tenseness building up to that that I’m not sure how to comment on. Because on one hand, good writing?, on the other…I don’t know. Everything kinda wrapped up quickly, which is good for those who don’t want to dwell on that for too long (myself included), but the quickness of the ending also gave me a bit of whiplash.

I do appreciate the ending recognizing that although not everything can be perfect and fixed, what matters are people going out of their way to protect others and preventing those patterns from being encouraged or ongoing. That was handled carefully, which is something I was slightly scared about.

I don’t know how else to continue this review, I think those are all of my words. I don’t have super strong opinions except for that Akwaeke Emezi’s writing style is something I enjoyed immensely, and I want to read more of their works in which that can be showcased outside the confines of this story’s short length.

(Here’s some pictures of the Pet fanart I made for TRR! Pictured: Jam, Redemption, and the titular character, Pet.)

Book Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars

(Book content/trigger warnings: Child abuse(specifically CSA), pedophilia, violence and some blood.)

~Paz, signing off!

Trans Rights Readathon Reviews: 2/5

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caixxa · 1 year

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I posted 5,037 times in 2022

321 posts created (6%)

4,716 posts reblogged (94%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@coffeeandgunpowder

@keysmashery

@gingervivilou

@torillatavataan

@violasmirabiles

I tagged 2,888 of my posts in 2022

Only 43% of my posts had no tags

#fic - 211 posts

#hockey rpf - 121 posts

#cinema - 119 posts

#suomi - 111 posts

#answered - 100 posts

#asks - 100 posts

#ask game - 83 posts

#long post - 75 posts

#music - 71 posts

#ao3 - 60 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#not even looking at the notes to see the but but i love makeup yeah you can love makeup and do it not everyone has the same interest and tim

My Top Posts in 2022:

Janne Ahonen got bronze in the Finnish championships. Send him to the Olympics pls.

22 notes - Posted January 16, 2022

July 18th! Miro Heiskanen's birthday!

To celebrate, I will start posting a new 5-chapter fic, one chapter a day through this week.

I'll post around lunchtime in Finland, which means that for American readers, a new update should be waiting for you like a morning paper fresh from print when you wake up.

Yes, it's a Helsinki spin-off of my Oulu summer fic Summer Kisses but it's an independent story and can be read as a standalone.

22 notes - Posted July 18, 2022

Katso Козаки | Пороблено в Украине, пародия 2014 YouTubessa

youtube

Something light in a horrific situation:

7 years ago, Volodymyr Zelensky danced in heels and latex for a parody video of an Ukrainian boy band on TV.

As if we didn't have mad respect for the president of Ukraine based on his leadership in fighting back the Russian invasion, there's more proof that he's 💯 badass.

61 notes - Posted February 28, 2022

I've been meaning to ask this for ages and your last post finally inspired me to do so.

So, if you don't mind: what would be some sweet pet names in Finnish? (something to the effect of darling/sweetheart/my love, if possible)

I cannot find many sweet ones online and I'm kinda getting desperate at this point...

Thanks in advance :)

Hi!

Glad you asked because I was just thinking that I might have to do a post about this.

Here are some off the top of my head:

Rakas (dear, loved - this is used both in addressing very close people like dear - rakas äiti, dear mom, and by itself when it has basically the same meaning as the next one ->)

Rakkaani (my love)

Kulta (literal meaning gold but this is the most usual pet name. I think it is used pretty much the same way as darling and sweetheart - it can also be used in a condescending way, lapsi kulta, child dear, has more the sound of a oh sweet summer child. But basically this would be your honey/darling/sweetheart)

The three above are the most usual ones, the ones below can be and are also used:

beibi, hani (literally the english words baby and honey, only written the way they would be written in finnish. Beibi can also be used in the same meaning as babe, referring to a cute, hot, desirable girl)

Muru (literally crumb, I think it's shortened from the next one ->)

Kullanmuru, kultamuru (gold crumb, for me the uses of these are closest to Sweetheart or sweetie)

Pupu, pupunen (bunny, (li'l) honeybunny - for people that you can see calling each other bunny. I get a feel that this could be easier used by a mother to a child than an adult couple to each other but, you know, if you're the type)

Tyypit, rakkaat, anyone, feel free to add your thoughts and suggestions!

82 notes - Posted March 29, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I want everyone to consider that the purity-anti-tendencies against any chosen part of fanfic contribute to broadening the platform for these tendencies overall. There is a parallel between the willingness to censor uncomfortable themes and tropes from Ao3 and the willingness to censor LGBTQ+ education from schools or ban books from public libraries. If you don't want the latter, do not contribute to the former.

Not every story is for everyone. Choose your reading, use the back button liberally but the abuse report button with great consideration.

Remember:

the author is not the same as their work

what would be illegal, for a reason, in the real world, is not illegal to imagine

the author that you wish to hurt for something they have created is a real living person; the characters in their fiction are not

155 notes - Posted April 10, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #long post #me #Youtube

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a-tale-of-legends · 2 years

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So I don't have pokemon masters, so I usually get the gist of certain events from @/jadeazora, so here's something I noticed so far with the new rival event:

Hop Hau and Calem- Now Hop and Hau seeme obvious, right? They are the two that people often compare each other with ( which I find totally unfair), and they seem to have very similar wavelengths in energy. Sunshine bois! Then there's Calem, who most would except to be the level headed voice of reason.

So here's the thing. I don't think that idea is wrong, but I think there's more than that. Hop and Calem, in terms of character, are similar in that they are kinda perfectionists( Calem towards himself and how much he can handle,Hop formerly in the idea of becoming a legend by living up to Leon's name). They both have this ' go go go, get things done' mentality, despite their different personalities. Hau here is really the calmness that these two need- a sign to take it easy. I will admit I don't know Calem all that much, so I could be totally off base with this and my next point: they all seem to be trying( or used to be trying) to actively impress someone/ live up to some standard Hop used to be like this in regards to Lee, Hau with Hala and Calem seems to just pressure himself? Or maybe that's the fanon/oc talking.

Next we have Marnie, Gladion and Barry. Again another team that has two that would get along great/match each other's vibe really well, and the one that looks out of place( I don't think out of place is the right word here, but I digress). But for me, the minute I saw these three I thought " ah yes. The stubborn, don't think about the long-term, just thing about the now and going team,". Yes this also applies to Marnie, which is probably just my interpretation of her haha. But like it kinda makes sense, to me. Gladion may be an older brother but he's done questionable things because he was just focusing on the now and going. For good reason, of course, but when you rush towards a battle with your former boss without a real plan, I think that kinda shows how you probably didn't think long term here. Barry is Barry, we all know his arc and we love him for it. Marnie is interesting cause from what I've seen from his event she's really actually focusing on Spikemuth? Idk, I don't play Masters so I don't know how the continuity is there when it comes to the SwSh characters all that well. But regardless of that, Marnie, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, always gave me the vibe of not thinking the whole picture. Like she's driven! Very focused on her and her battling and wanting to be champion! But like. Outside of that, with the state of Spikemuth, the state of being Champion itself, all the finer little details she kinda doesn't take into account for. I'm not saying she has to- she's a kid. I don't think kids have to take into account everything they do. This is just me saying that Marnie always gave me the vibe of act first, think later. Again. Could be completely wrong, cause I don't play Masters and I dunno the characterization of these rivals in Masters all that well. These are just my thoughts on the whole thing.

#r rambles #pokemon masters #rival marnie #rival hop #rivap hau #rival gladion #rival calem #pokemon masters ex #pokemas #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon sm #pokemon usum #rival barry #pokemon dppt #i hope all of this makes sense!#sorry for any typos!

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