sophaeros

[sophaeros]

Chrome Hearts Magazine Jewelry Catalog (2001)

#fashion #jewelry #lighters #chrome hearts #OUGHHHHHHHH

[sophaeros]

I was shaking so hard then Philadelphia, me whammy fell out. What's your excuse? +

#bands #arctic monkeys #alex turner #am era #source later #i love when he looks like hes having so much fun playing mr snarl like hes just having a little giggle internally #also the little head twitch and rubbing his face..he was locking in

[sophaeros]

+ something i saw a long time ago but can't remember where is that if youre feeling stuck in a scene then the problem that's causing it is probably a few paragraphs back, so try going back and seeing if there's something you can change that would help the story flow better

Immediate Writer's Block

Had a comment on another post where I thought I'd probably need more space than the notes in which to respond, so:

constant-state-of-self-discovery Oh I get the envy I feel it right now how the fuck do you manage to write without impassable writers block after 5-9 sentences because I haven't fucking figured it out lol

I do have some advice on this!

I think most writers get blocked from time to time, it's normal and my general strategy is just to wait it out, but if you're frequently blocked after only writing a very little bit, I think the problem is one of two things: either you don't know what you want to achieve with the scene you're writing, or you don't know what should happen next within the scene to achieve that goal. If you frame "I'm blocked" as "I don't have an answer I need" then often you move from just sitting there, sweating and staring at a blank page, to thinking productively about how you're going to get where you're going. It's the difference between not knowing an answer and not knowing an answer but knowing where to look for it.

An invaluable piece of advice for this, which I think I picked up from someone who got it off a National Novel Writing Month messageboard, is "When in doubt, ninjas attack." It's not meant to be literal, you don't need to have ninjas or fight scenes just because you don't know what to do, but it helps to get the creativity flowing again. If you don't know what should happen next, or you know but you're having trouble actually writing the scene, it can be very helpful to induce a moment of uncertainty or surprise -- to have a metaphorical ninja attack. One time I did this literally -- the POV character was just on the road somewhere and I didn't know how to get them from a pastoral country road to their actual destination in an interesting way, so I had them get attacked by highway bandits and have to fight them off, which also allowed me to demonstrate that the character had significant unarmed combat skills. But it can also just be like, two characters who are having a boring conversation can be interrupted by a third person, even just a stranger asking for directions, or there can be, IDK, an explosion, or something goes missing, or etc.

Sometimes it also helps to leave it alone but keep it in your mind and go do something else -- listen to a podcast, take a walk, read a book, not because those things are distracting but because all our inputs eventually feed into our brain and come out as reactions. If you're thinking about your book while you're wandering around a park, something you see in the park might have an impact on it. If you've got YOUR story in mind while reading someone else's, you might be more inclined to look at what they're saying and see what you think of it, how it might play into your work.

And honestly, sometimes you just gotta go past it. I'm working on the next Shivadh novel right now and it opens basically with Simon the chef getting into a spat with his love-interest-to-be over some cheese. He want the cheese, she won't sell him the cheese, so they get off to a very contentious start. But I suck at writing conflict especially when it's basically "A character I like is being pompous and another character I want people to find likable is being stubborn and somewhat unpleasant". I've been stalled on it for a while. But I know where the scene ends up, like I do know what the goal is, so I just...skipped it and went on to writing a scene I like better, where they meet a second time and actually discover each others' identity and that they're about to be forced into the grownup equivalent of a school project. Once I've gotten dug deeper into the story I'll come back and write it, and by then I'll have the benefit of knowing the love interest a bit better.

So yeah -- I think a lot of breaking a writer's block, especially when you don't need rest but are just stumped about what to do, is to twist and look at it from another angle. It's not that you don't know what to write, or don't want to write what you know you have to -- it's that you don't have the correct answer to a question, or you need to leave that part alone to ferment and come back to it later. At least, for me.

#writing tips

[sophaeros]

The strange thing about growing up in conservative Christianity and then leaving it behind is that there are a lot of secular/progressive spaces that engage in similar thinking while sincerely believing their ideas are counter to conservative ones. So I thought I would just make a list of things I was taught within conservative Christianity, the stuff that was either the core of our beliefs, or the social dynamics that we created. Some of the language I use is specifically either scriptural, or Christian-speak.

This list isn’t to say “stop thinking this way.” This is actually intended to simply be informative because sometimes social justice spaces assume, “we are crafting our ideals in opposition to conservative ideals therefore whatever we think surely must be the opposite of whatever they think,” without ever seeming to know that their language and ideals look and sound the same.

So, let’s begin:

Sin-leveling: x is bad, and y is bad, and all bad things deserve an equal reaction

Sin-leveling part 2: because all things are equally bad, there’s nothing wrong with inverting the consequences. Hurting others becomes acceptable (because it’s no different than doing something distasteful), doing something distasteful is unforgivable (because it’s no different than doing something harmful)

Avoid all appearance of evil: if I assume that your behavior looks wrong, then you are wrong, even if further context would say otherwise. You should avoid doing anything that others would see as wrong because you are not allowed the benefit of the doubt or to defend yourself.

Sin by association: x company contracted with y company. Y company engages in something sinful, which means x company approves of said sinful thing which means if you purchase from x company, you are condoning, supporting, and have actually committed the sin.

Think only on what is good: or as the pastor of my old church liked to call it, “garbage in, garbage out.” Whatever ideas, thoughts, words, arguments, stories, pictures, books, movies, songs, friends, love you put in your head will create the desire to become that. If you want to be good, you must avoid any bad thought because you will “slip” into wanting it and then be unable to stop yourself from being it. (For example, type into google “is secular music” and click on the autocomplete of “a sin”)

Language as an in-group test: if you do not describe your life, experiences, and beliefs with the exact same vocabulary and in-group speak, you are either not really one of us, or you’re someone who hasn’t thought through their ideas as deeply as I have.

By any means necessary: Also known in the ex-Evangelical world as “lying for Jesus.” If my words create the necessary beliefs and actions in others, then it doesn’t matter if I am exaggerating, saying half-truths, or using manipulative language, because I’m saving others and helping them do what’s right.

Touch not God’s anointed: any critiques of those our community trusts, critiques of those we’ve deemed “the good ones,” are actually people trying to sow discord and disunity to destroy our community and their voice should be silenced because they must be lying.

Judge not lest ye be judged: A scripture that we throw at people when someone says our leadership is abusive, a scripture we cry is being taken out of context when we want to harshly critique someone ourselves. 

There’s more, lots more, but this post is already fairly long. Once again, though, this isn’t intended to be combative. I just want people to know the actual social dynamics that a lot of us grew up with in conservative Christianity communities, so they know when sometimes they’re sharing those social dynamics, not countering them.

#religion #purity culture #activism

[sophaeros]

HOLE THEORY

@/wovi / Immemorial Silence, Karman MacKendrick / Track, Tomas Tranströmer tr by Robert Bly / Black Square on a White Field, Kazimir Malevich / Hole Theory, William Pope L. / Overflowing With Empty, Judas H. / The Man With a Hole in His Head, Rick Bursky / William Pope L. / @/vren-diagram / Andrew Wyeth / Eating the Archive, Yousif M. Qasmiyeh / What We Buried, Caitlyn Siehl / Ann Carson

#web weaving #source later #hole theory

[sophaeros]

fifty shows into the fit comp i have had the thought "should i include shots of their hands in case someone wants to see what jewelry theyre wearing" can someone sedate me please im in tears

#sophaerostxt #tlsp #but. would you guys want this ......... #theres not much variation tho tbh #about the only thing i've noticed with no empirical data to back this up is that miles wears more rings more often than alex but doesnt #always wear them #these damn slides are so cramped already 😭😭

[sophaeros]

this is actually diabolical

#sophaerostxt #one sec #technology #doomscrolling

[sophaeros]

who’s gonna tell tumblr that executive dysfunction is more than Not Doing Things?

#executive dysfunction #adhd #laughing crying emoji

[sophaeros]

Feeding cats by remote control 😹😹😹❤️

#cats

[sophaeros]

Passover seder at UC Berkeley’s Gaza solidarity encampment (via twitter)

#free palestine #usa

[sophaeros]

#fanart #miu404 #ibuki miu404 #shima miu404 #the boys!! theyre so cute!!!

[sophaeros]

The landlord fears the urban oyster mushroom farmer

#landlords #fungi

[sophaeros]

feeling a little bummed abt my short hair not feeling femme enough for my fit w a short skirt but then i remembered how hard i swoon over the thought of am alex in a skirt so it's fine actually

#sophaerostxt

[sophaeros]

under control - the strokes live on conan (2003) // arctic monkeys live at pappy & harriet's palace, california, usa (2010)

#web weaving #bands #the strokes #arctic monkeys #julian casablancas #crazy..

[sophaeros]

Saturn and the moon tonight (via my telescope)

#space #SO CUTENESS❤️❤️❤️

[sophaeros]

Y'all, the world is sleeping on what NASA just pulled off with Voyager 1

The probe has been sending gibberish science data back to Earth, and scientists feared it was just the probe finally dying. You know, after working for 50 GODDAMN YEARS and LEAVING THE GODDAMN SOLAR SYSTEM and STILL CHURNING OUT GODDAMN DATA.

So they analyzed the gibberish and realized that in it was a total readout of EVERYTHING ON THE PROBE. Data, the programming, hardware specs and status, everything. They realized that one of the chips was malfunctioning.

So what do you do when your probe is 22 Billion km away and needs a fix? Why, you just REPROGRAM THAT ENTIRE GODDAMN THING. Told it to avoid the bad chip, store the data elsewhere.

Sent the new code on April 18th. Got a response on April 20th - yeah, it's so far away that it took that long just to transmit.

And the probe is working again.

From a programmer's perspective, that may be the most fucking impressive thing I have ever heard.

#programming #nasa #space

[sophaeros]

hi!  I am desperately in need for help. I need my insulin to bring my blood sugar back down. It’s $300 That’s all I need. I’m not asking for a windfall, just a little help, please.

Be blessed 💓🙏🙏💓

            DONATE AND SHARE.

bro scam message copy paste from all the way back from 2021 is crazyy😭

#ask #stevenmwitas-blog #scams #the increase from 217 to 300..inflation is hitting the scam industry hard as well it seems