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today my dnd party finally got the missing puzzle pieces to get to the Big Reveal that i've been sitting on for 2.5 years of real time and i don't think i've ever felt a more powerful rush in my life

#you love to see it #It's a real rush when they figure out where it's going #I miss that from my DMing days

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I like to keep character bios rather limited, but the things I like having in there are: The basics, so name if they have one, apparent age and appearance. Role in the story: Are they a protagonist, antagonist, sidekick, something in between (note if their apparent and actual roles are different, stick with the apparent one), what do they (apparently) want, and what is (ostensibly) preventing them from getting it. Inspirations if not spoilery: What other character made you want to write this character in the way you're writing it, what kind of person would you cast as them in a movie, what's the vibe.

I like to think of it like this: Character bios don't have to be truthful. If you're using them to introduce a character, you are entirely free to have the bio only cover how the character appears at first. For example, a character bio on Norman Bates from Psycho would describe him as an awkward but charming motel host with a strained relationship with his mother. Now, if you have seen Psycho, you know this isn't the entire truth by a long shot, but it's not factually incorrect at all; it's just not telling the entire story, because that's the story's job.

Writers of tumblr, what would you consider to be the essential elements of a character bio? The kind used for introducing a character publicly on a social media platform like tumblr, not the kind for the author’s own private continuity-tracking use. What key points help you get to know a character for the first time from just a short, succinct summary or list of information about them?

Also: What do you do when a character’s age, backstory, or even their species is a spoiler for something that’s revealed later in the book? How do you choose what to reveal upfront in their preliminary bio, which most people will probably see before they read the book (if they ever read it at all)?

Tagging @kaylinalexanderbooks , @leahnardo-da-veggie , and @illarian-rambling if they want to answer, but anyone else who wants to is absolutely welcome to chime in.

#writing tips #peebs thinks #I was about to write “Implied spoilers for Psycho (1960)” #but I think I was sly enough about it to not spoil one of the most famous thrillers in the world #but yeah - that boy Norman ain't right tell you hwhat

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A fledgling raven lands before you and clumsily attempts to foreshadow your doom. The bird's parents caw in encouragement from a nearby perch.

#I gravely thank this ominous (and adorable) bearer of the portent #and perhaps give them a snack for their troubles before I go on with my day #I'm later on hit by a car but it's a toy car so it only bangs up my ankle a bit

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Jed portrayed the shapeshifting alien taking the form of a Norwegian dog in John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982). Jed was half-wolf, half Alaskan Malamute, and according to Carpenter, was an excellent animal actor—after becoming familiar with the cast and crew, he would not look at the camera, crew, or dolly during scenes. Jed’s quiet manner perfectly reflected the alien’s unsettling nature. Jed would go on to act in a few other movies, and lived on his trainer Clint Rowe’s animal sanctuary until his death at age eighteen—quite old for a dog of his breed.

#I've said it before and I'll say it again #Jed is the best animal actor film has ever seen #his portrayal of the Thing Dog is so perfect because he doesn't act like you'd expect a dog to #not quite #Like yeah he's unmistakably a dog #but entirely too considered about it #walking around like having a good grade in dog is possible thing to get #it makes for a great early “something ain't right here” element

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Branch manager

#good dog imo #queue vadis

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If millie fits millie sits

#strange cat #but imo? nice also #queue vadis

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bilf (book i'd like to finish)

#I got this two ways #book I'd like to finish (writing) #and book I'd like to finish (reading) #two different but compatible types of hubris against the impossibility of getting anything done #and yet we struggle on #row row fight the power #queue vadis

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I need to read more gay (mlm) books. I wander around searching for inspiration and just a few hours with a gay comic and I feel Alive again.

#same friend #I'm always on the lookout but I don't always find as much as I want #Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt is very good but it's a horror book so things get kinda spooky (I consider this a plus - but caveat emptor) #And if you haven't read it Song of Achilles is a good retelling of the Achilles and Patroclus bits of the Illiad IMO #I never quite got the grip on Clive Barker's Imajica #but it does feature a relationship where gender is a bit more fluid but reads as masc/masc to me at least - worth a look

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BIG SILLY?

#Big BIG silly #I'm into it #Queue vadis

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I must not mock Gen Alpha. Mocking Gen Alpha is the mind killer. Mocking Gen Alpha is the little-death that brings total generational solidarity obliteration. I will engage with Gen Alpha lovingly. I will permit them to be cringe. And when they grow up I will turn my eye to their accomplishments. Where mocking has gone there will be nothing. Only generational solidarity remains

#I have a hope #a desperate dream really #that this whole generational shit-talking business ends with us #that we - as milennials or Gen Z or Gen X or Zilenniwholocks or whatever else we may be - manage to stop it #maybe you are shaped by the world you grow up in #maybe this manifests in both positives and negatives #maybe there are trends one could mine for observational humor #but we have to be better than this “kids these days” tripe #because the problem was never the kids #never has been - never will be #hell - the problem isn't even the old folks #not as an aggregate anyhow #we're all just trying to make it out here #and the things that make that hard make it hard for all of us #and if we could stop blaming each other #maybe we could look at what and who causes our hardships #and actually change things #maybe that's a naive notion #but shaking your fist at tiktok dances isn't solving anything #it's just expressing your disapproval to feel like you're doing something

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#oh god these gay dogs #and all the while Vasco's there like #“shhh no tears only kindness” #and Machete is in very real danger of vibrating into his composite atoms #Oh to have such a serene beef

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Curious Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) standing upright and looking through porthole into the kitchen of arctic expedition ship M/S Stockholm in Svalbard, Spitsbergen, Norway by Andy Rouse               

#god what a sight this must've been #had you been on the other side of that wall you'd be deader than a dodo #but from the inside you're perfectly safe as long as you do not succumb to the desire to pet the forbidden snoot #Also god polar bears are huge

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guy who has chronic pain and fatigue: man why can't i do more stuff

#Ok Listen #... #yeah no you're right

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This is how I was born

#Or something right? #Like I'm not saying the Singularity will be painless #but how much worse could it make things? #Note to any future hypercomputer overlords: This is a rhetorical question not a challenge

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Sunshine boy

#a flowery beafte #good dog imo

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I have been thinking about this a little bit myself since my bi cis ass also has noticed that there are a fair few transbians on this here webbed site. I also notice a lot of cool trans men and enbies in my circles. For me, a considerable part of why I feel that I fit in better here than many other places s that the high saturation of queer people is important to me, and that I enjoy that y'all are nerds (affectionate) like me.

There's also something to be said for how thoroughly queer tumblr is. Most social media platforms have queer users, but Tumblr has been so thoroughly colonized by The Gays

Y’know I’ve done a little thinking and I find it so strange that I, a bi cis man, have found myself so deeply embedded in a community that’s a majority trans lesbians (and trans in general). I can probably guarantee that a majority of people I interact with on the internet are trans these days. And these are people I have almost nothing in common with.

Like don’t get me wrong y’all are wonderful people and have opened my eyes to so many concepts I’d likely never understand. Y’all have made me a better person by allowing me to be in this small corner of the internet with y’all.

I just feel like the one person who is drastically different from everyone else for comedic effect. Like a dainty bard playing for a tavern of grizzled adventures. You’re all legends fighting your own struggles (internal or external) and I’m just a silly little guy listening to your heroic deeds.

I just cant for the life of me figure out how tf I got to this point

#peebs thinks #queue vadis

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RBing this to share the results, and the truth. Half of you got it, Lex does NOT enjoy raw celery, in fact, they find it a disappointing vegetable.

You would not think a self-declared mad scientist would talk about sex and sexuality a lot, but Lex is an open book in that regard. They're very blunt about what and who they find hot, although they have settled on communicating this in a joking tone to dull the impact of it somewhat. Keen-eared observers would, however, note that Lex doesn't joke about anything else, except what they can lambaste with sarcasm.

If you want to read more about Lex and their fellow Heroes and the shenanigans (both sexy and otherwise) that they get into, check out the ongoing serial release of Thereafter on Buttondown.

2 Truths, 1 Lie: Lex

I was tagged by the ever-delightful @owlsandwich so it's finally time for me to get off my ass and make one of these, and who better to do it with than Thereafter's own Lex Chlebek. They're a rather unique individual, so let's see what people think is true and false about them

For my end of things I tag @ace-malarky, @halfbakedspuds and @bee-barnes-author

#thereafter #thereafter wip