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iviarellereads · 1 year

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Harrow the Ninth, Chapter 44

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For detail on The Locked Tomb coverage and the index, read this one!)

(Herald icon) In which an old friend is back... sort of.(1)

THAT SAME NIGHT BEFORE THE EMPEROR'S MURDER

There's some description, in second-person, of the stabbing inflicted upon her in the prologue.

You'd been stabbed from behind, and you'd collapsed backward onto the rapier's hilt. Its foible(2) pointed upward where it protruded from your torso. And you'd gone and left me behind.

Our unnamed but obviously identified(3) body-animation algorithm pushes the rapier back out of Harrow's body, and she plans to make whoever stabbed Harrow sorry for the act. Her hands can't quite grip the rapier the way she wants to, because her hands aren't her hands, they're Harrow's. Gideon swears vengeance on whoever stabbed her Harrow, in the corridor so hot the air is shimmering.

Pool of blood: check. Air so hot: check. Surrounded by big and illicit bones: check. Looking at your hand to keep this tally--what hand there was, beneath the blood, and your fingers, and your small palms, and their absolute lack of thenar(4) muscle--reality went through me. Kind of like a big iron railing, now that I think about it.(5) You were gone. You'd left me behind.(6) Inside you. "Fuck," I said. It wasn't my voice. "Fuck. Oh, shit. Oh, fucking hell. Help. Yuck. Aaaargh."

Gideon encounters a herald in the corridor, and several paragraphs are spent describing its horror.

I lined up your front foot with your back ankle, thumb wrapped low around the hilt of your sword, which proves that you can put the swordfighter into the necromancer but you can't, wait, hang on.(7) And I said, "Goddamn it, I told you to lift weights."

After an encounter that goes badly for Gideon and Harrow's body, she manages to squeeze past it and into Harrow's bedroom.

I burst into the nearest room. The bedroom. I kind of knew the layout, but I'd never really been able to use your eyes. Living inside you--if I start I'll never stop,(8) so we have to move on--was like living in a well, and every time I bobbed to the surface I kind of got clotheslined(9) back down to the bottom. I'm not complaining, I just want you to know.

There, she retrieves her old two-hander. Looking at it, she gets cranky at Harrow for not understanding how to care for a sword.(10) Then she gets cranky at Harrow for doing her own brain surgery rather than be beholden to anyone, for taking Gideon's sacrifice and throwing it away. Then she gets cranky at Harrow AGAIN for not doing a single fucking squat or star jump(11) in ten months.

As I stood with that sword grasped between your hands, the hilt of the two-hander bit our(12) skin, but not fatally. There were a couple of callouses now on those soft necromancer's palms, and I was proud of you.(13)

Gideon engages the Herald, and some sort of healing process is definitely happening for her in a way it never did for Harrow, "probably because [Gideon is] a good girl and [Harrow is] an evil nun".(14)

She takes out the Herald, and catches a glance at herself in the mirror, seeing Harrow's face, with her own golden eyes so foreign to it. She tries different facial expressions, but they don't feel right in Harrow's musculature. It's Harrow's body, "but it was all filled up with me."

I said hoarsely: "Get back here. Get back here right now, or I'll make you say the worst shit I can think of. Just mean and gross. Beneath even me, is what I'm saying." No response. "Oooooh, Palamedes. I am measurably less intelligent than you. Put your tongue in my mouth, and I'll flop my tongue against it." Nothing. "I think bones are mediocre." Maybe you were dead. "Ohhhhhrr, Gideon, I was so dumb to think a tub of ancient freezer meat was my girlfriend. Please show me how to do a press-up. Also, I'm very obviously attracted to y--no, damn it, this is just sad.(15) This is garbage." My temper was going. Maybe your temper was going. "Come back. I hate this. Eat me, and let's go full Lyctor. I didn't fall on a fence for this, Nonagesimus."

More Heralds start to show up. Gideon realizes that she now has access to Harrow's memories, though she has to actively look for something to know it, as she realizes more were always going to come. She hopes and wants and practically prays for Harrow to return, but no luck.

"Whenever you're ready," I said. "Don't worry, honey. I'll keep the home fires burning."(16)

=====

(1) In this, the first chapter in Harrow the Ninth in which Harrow does not appear! I keep my tags for the book in a pinned entry in my Windows clipboard and it was so strange to have to delete #Harrowhark Nonagesimus from the tags after pasting, and then type #Gideon Nav (2) Foible - in fencing, the part of the sword between the middle of the blade and the tip, one of the weakest points in the sword. (3) Gideon! (4) The thenar muscles are the ones that make up the meat below your thumb, on your palm. (5) Gideon, you cheeky lass. You remembered! (6) Somehow Gideon has been witness to everything that's happened to Harrow, and still believes that Harrow doesn't want her. She can't read Harrow's thoughts, she can only see through her senses, just like Harrow couldn't read Gideon's thoughts in the Lyctor chamber at Canaan House. She can't see the motivation, and she has eighteen years, a lifetime's worth, of memories that say Harrow opposite-of-cares about her. The last few weeks of connection doesn't quite overpower the things Gideon still believes about herself, thanks to a lifetime of traumatic conditioning. (7) Ah, a classic phrase. For real though, I don't think there's a single origin, but more or less, you can take the thing out of its element but you can't make it change its nature. See examples like "you can take the mathematician out of the classroom but you can't make them stop calculating the golden ratio in the garden flowers" (not a thing I've ever heard before but given how many videos and essays there are about the golden ratio in nature, it felt appropriate). Not to be mistaken for "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink", which is more about not being able to force someone to do something they're uncomfortable with even when it would be good for them. (8) Laughing, crying, making jokes? All of the above? (9) It's kind of a wrestling move. Someone's running at you, you stick out an arm, run toward them, catch them in the neck, and bowl them backward with your and their combined momentum. Do not attempt at home without professional wrestling trainer supervision! (10) You never actually told her, and even if someone tried to teach her, she'd just have started throwing up and bleeding from her brain at the thought of caring for the sword that she thought hated her. (11) Jumping jacks, for those of us in the sort of North American region. (12) The jump back and forth between "your" and "our", between Harrow as an individual and Gideon as a part of her… My heart can't take it. (13) And this. Gideon believes that Harrow has abandoned her intentionally, but she's still proud of her. I just. MY EMOTIONS! (14) Or perhaps Gideon's return means that the Lyctoral process continues, making Harrow a full Lyctor, and the healing factor is what she was supposed to have had all along but had to actively fake. (See: when Ianthe stabbed herself and then Harrow at the beginning of the book.) (15) Gideon can't even let herself believe that Harrow cared about her. Never mind that Harrow put Gideon on what she thought was the easy mission (walking the Fourth kids through the facility) so that Harrow took the dangerous one (possibly confronting Palamedes and "Dulcinea" about being the killers) at Canaan House. Never mind all the other things. Again, a lifetime of conditioning compared to a few weeks of honesty and connection. (16) And even believing that Harrow has abandoned her, has wasted her gift and sacrifice, and outright doesn't care about her wellbeing... Gideon still does this. She still makes flirty, too-emotionally-revealing statements like this. She still loves Harrow so much.

#the locked tomb #tlt #harrow the ninth #htn #harrow the ninth spoilers #htn spoilers #gideon nav

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azeez-unv · 13 days

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DEAR PARENTS,

தமிழில்

1. If you don't love each other right as husband and wife, your children might grow up with a warped view of marriage and make some bad romantic choices. You are their reference point

2. If you don't intentionally mentor your child, someone out there will mentor him/her and your child will want to grow up to be like them, not like you

3. If you don't take time to parent your children, don't blame the devil when they don't turn out right. Stop using the devil as a scapegoat, some grown adults are bad, not because of the devil's work but because the parents failed to do their work

4. If you don't go out of your way to sharpen your children's skills and talents, your children will go into careers and jobs they hate, feeling unhappy crying why you were not supportive. Your role as a parent is to help your children identify and fulfil their purpose at an early age

5. If you won't solve your own personal issues and sort matters in your marriage quickly, you will have no energy and time to dedicate to your children. Some parents are busy fighting instead of parenting

6. If you don't create an environment where your children can come to talk to you about anything; your children might go through abuse, depression, doubt, fear and suffer in silence. What are you in their lives for if they can't run to you?

7. If you keep dishing out gadgets and technology to your children but you fail to be attentive in your children's lives; don't be shocked when your children are raised by screens, socialites, social media influences, the dark web and porn

8. If you don't talk candidly with your children about sex, and all your approach to sex is based on fear; don't be shocked when your children make bad sexual choices

9. If you don't express and affirm love to your children at home, don't be shocked when your children fall prey to people who lure them with a fall sense of love, especially romantic love. Your young one is only looking for the affection and attention you did not give

10. If you don't take time to celebrate your child's accomplishments and gifts no matter how small but you are quick to complain, someone out there will and that someone out there will have a bigger influence over your child than you

11. If you don't make your children feel part of a family, your teenage children will find outsiders who will be more accepting and maybe ruin their lives. That is how most young ones join gangs. We all look for a place to belong

12. If you don't stop shouting and fighting each other as a couple, don't get surprised when your children do poorly in school. It is difficult for a child to focus when the parents are at war

13. If you keep running away from parenthood claiming you are not ready, no one prepared you, you were not raised well either or the child was an unwanted pregnancy; your cowardice will cost an innocent life. The child is here! Accept it, equip yourself and be the best parent you can be

14. If you don't create a home full of love and warmth, don't get shocked when your child hates being at home. Who likes staying in a toxic environment? When your child is young he/she will be phyiscally present but escaping home in their mind by locking themselves in the room, watching a lot of TV or keeping silent. And then when your child becomes a teenager, he/she will find excuses to leave the house and come home late no matter how much you complain. And when your child becomes an adult he/she will jump into freedom by going wild in campus, at work, in the neighbourhood and online because they have been emancipated from your home full of darkness and oppression

It is easy to neglect the needs of children when they are young and all you do is tell them is "Stop crying", "Stop being ungrateful", "You will do as I say in my house". Children rarely speak because they are at your mercy, but soon, they will rebel and act out if you put them through a home of abandonment, fear, lack of love and coldness.

Dear parents, it better dawn on you how much you positively or negatively affect your children and how when you two don't get marriage right, you might fail to get parenthood right. So many of the pain and mess in the lives of adults today and in their marriages stems from how those adults were raised or not raised. You have the power to shape your children's destiny, world view, self image, social life, wealth, decisions, well being and future.

Don't fail them!

அன்பான பெற்றோர்கள்,

1. நீங்கள் கணவன்-மனைவியாக ஒருவரையொருவர் சரியாக நேசிக்கவில்லை என்றால், உங்கள் குழந்தைகள் திருமணத்தைப் பற்றிய தவறான பார்வையுடன் வளர்ந்து சில மோசமான காதல் தேர்வுகளை செய்யலாம். நீங்கள் அவர்களின் குறிப்பு புள்ளி

2. நீங்கள் வேண்டுமென்றே உங்கள் குழந்தைக்கு வழிகாட்டவில்லை என்றால், அங்குள்ள ஒருவர் அவருக்கு/அவளுக்கு வழிகாட்டுவார், உங்கள் குழந்தை உங்களைப் போல் அல்லாமல் அவர்களைப் போல வளர விரும்புகிறது.

3. உங்கள் பிள்ளைகளுக்குப் பெற்றோருக்கு நீங்கள் நேரம் ஒதுக்கவில்லை என்றால், அவர்கள் சரியாக மாறாதபோது பிசாசைக் குறை சொல்லாதீர்கள். பிசாசை பலிகடாவாகப் பயன்படுத்துவதை நிறுத்துங்கள், சில வளர்ந்த பெரியவர்கள் கெட்டவர்கள், பிசாசின் வேலையால் அல்ல, ஆனால் பெற்றோர்கள் தங்கள் வேலையைச் செய்யத் தவறியதால்

4. உங்கள் குழந்தைகளின் திறமைகளையும் திறமைகளையும் கூர்மைப்படுத்த நீங்கள் வெளியேறவில்லை என்றால், உங்கள் பிள்ளைகள் அவர்கள் வெறுக்கும் தொழில் மற்றும் வேலைகளுக்குச் செல்வார்கள், நீங்கள் ஏன் ஆதரவளிக்கவில்லை என்று மகிழ்ச்சியில்லாமல் அழுவார்கள். உங்கள் பிள்ளைகள் சிறுவயதிலேயே அவர்களின் நோக்கத்தைக் கண்டறிந்து நிறைவேற்ற உதவுவதே பெற்றோராக உங்கள் பங்கு

5. உங்களது சொந்தப் பிரச்சினைகளைத் தீர்த்து, உங்கள் திருமணத்தில் உள்ள விஷயங்களை விரைவாகத் தீர்த்து வைக்காவிட்டால், உங்கள் குழந்தைகளுக்காக அர்ப்பணிக்க உங்களுக்கு சக்தியும் நேரமும் இருக்காது. சில பெற்றோர்கள் பெற்றோருக்குப் பதிலாக சண்டையிடுவதில் மும்முரமாக உள்ளனர்

6. உங்கள் பிள்ளைகள் உங்களிடம் எதையும் பேச வரக்கூடிய சூழலை நீங்கள் உருவாக்கவில்லை என்றால்; உங்கள் குழந்தைகள் துஷ்பிரயோகம், மனச்சோர்வு, சந்தேகம், பயம் மற்றும் மௌனமாக பாதிக்கப்படலாம். அவர்களால் உங்களிடம் ஓட முடியாவிட்டால் அவர்களின் வாழ்க்கையில் நீங்கள் எதற்காக?

7. நீங்கள் உங்கள் குழந்தைகளுக்கு கேஜெட்டுகள் மற்றும் தொழில்நுட்பத்தை வழங்குகிறீர்கள் ஆனால் உங்கள் குழந்தைகளின் வாழ்க்கையில் நீங்கள் கவனத்துடன் இருக்க தவறினால்; உங்கள் குழந்தைகள் திரைகள், சமூகவாதிகள், சமூக ஊடக தாக்கங்கள், இருண்ட வலை மற்றும் ஆபாசத்தால் வளர்க்கப்படும்போது அதிர்ச்சியடைய வேண்டாம்

8. செக்ஸ் பற்றி உங்கள் குழந்தைகளுடன் வெளிப்படையாகப் பேசாமல், உடலுறவுக்கான உங்கள் அணுகுமுறை அனைத்தும் பயத்தின் அடிப்படையில் அமைந்தால்; உங்கள் குழந்தைகள் மோசமான பாலியல் தேர்வுகளை செய்யும் போது அதிர்ச்சி அடைய வேண்டாம்

9. நீங்கள் வீட்டில் உங்கள் குழந்தைகளிடம் அன்பை வெளிப்படுத்தவில்லை மற்றும் உறுதிப்படுத்தவில்லை என்றால், உங்கள் குழந்தைகள் காதல் உணர்வுடன், குறிப்பாக காதல் காதல் மூலம் அவர்களை கவர்ந்திழுக்கும் நபர்களுக்கு இரையாகும்போது அதிர்ச்சியடைய வேண்டாம். உங்கள் இளைஞன் நீங்கள் கொடுக்காத பாசத்தையும் கவனத்தையும் மட்டுமே தேடுகிறான்

10. உங்கள் குழந்தையின் சாதனைகள் மற்றும் பரிசுகளைக் கொண்டாட நீங்கள் நேரத்தை எடுத்துக் கொள்ளாமல், எவ்வளவு சிறியதாக இருந்தாலும், நீங்கள் விரைவாக புகார் செய்தால், அங்குள்ள ஒருவர் உங்களை விட உங்கள் குழந்தையின் மீது அதிக செல்வாக்கு செலுத்துவார்.

11. உங்கள் குழந்தைகளை ஒரு குடும்பத்தின் அங்கமாக உணர வைக்கவில்லை என்றால், உங்கள் டீன் ஏஜ் பிள்ளைகள் வெளியாட்களை அதிகம் ஏற்றுக்கொள்ளும் மற்றும் அவர்களின் வாழ்க்கையை அழித்து விடுவார்கள். இப்படித்தான் பெரும்பாலான இளைஞர்கள் கும்பல்களில் இணைகிறார்கள். நாம் அனைவரும் சொந்த இடத்தைத் தேடுகிறோம்

12. நீங்கள் ஜோடியாக ஒருவரையொருவர் சத்தம் போடுவதையும் சண்டையிடுவதையும் நிறுத்தவில்லை என்றால், உங்கள் குழந்தைகள் பள்ளியில் மோசமாக இருக்கும்போது ஆச்சரியப்பட வேண்டாம். பெற்றோர்கள் போரில் ஈடுபடும்போது ஒரு குழந்தைக்கு கவனம் செலுத்துவது கடினம்

13. நீங்கள் தயாராக இல்லை, யாரும் உங்களை தயார்படுத்தவில்லை, நீங்கள் நன்றாக வளர்க்கப்படவில்லை அல்லது குழந்தை தேவையற்ற கர்ப்பம் என்று கூறி பெற்றோரை விட்டு ஓடிக்கொண்டே இருந்தால்; உங்கள் கோழைத்தனம் ஒரு அப்பாவி உயிரை இழக்கும். குழந்தை இங்கே! அதை ஏற்றுக்கொண்டு, உங்களைச் சித்தப்படுத்துங்கள், நீங்கள் சிறந்த பெற்றோராக இருங்கள்

14. அன்பும் அரவணைப்பும் நிறைந்த வீட்டை நீங்கள் உருவாக்கவில்லை என்றால், உங்கள் பிள்ளை வீட்டில் இருப்பதை வெறுக்கும் போது அதிர்ச்சி அடைய வேண்டாம். நச்சு சூழலில் தங்குவதை யார் விரும்புகிறார்கள்? உங்கள் குழந்தை இளமையாக இருக்கும் போது, அவர் உடல் ரீதியாக இருப்பார், ஆனால் அறையில் தங்களைப் பூட்டிக்கொண்டு, நிறைய டிவி பார்ப்பதன் மூலம் அல்லது அமைதியாக இருப்பதன் மூலம் அவர்களின் மனதில் வீட்டை விட்டு வெளியேறுவார். பின்னர் உங்கள் பிள்ளை டீனேஜராக மாறும்போது, நீங்கள் எவ்வளவு புகார் செய்தாலும் வீட்டை விட்டு வெளியேறி தாமதமாக வீட்டிற்கு வருவதற்கு அவர்/அவள் சாக்குகளைக் கண்டுபிடிப்பார். மேலும், உங்கள் குழந்தை வயது வந்தவுடன், வளாகத்திலும், வேலையிலும், சுற்றுப்புறத்திலும், ஆன்லைனிலும் காட்டுத்தனமாகச் சென்று சுதந்திரத்தில் குதிப்பார், ஏனென்றால் இருளும் அடக்குமுறையும் நிறைந்த உங்கள் வீட்டிலிருந்து அவர்கள் விடுவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளனர்.

சிறுவயதில் குழந்தைகளின் தேவைகளைப் புறக்கணிப்பது எளிது, நீங்கள் செய்வது எல்லாம் "அழுகையை நிறுத்து", "நன்றியற்றவனாக இருப்பதை நிறுத்து", "என் வீட்டில் நான் சொன்னபடியே செய்வாய்" என்று மட்டும்தான். குழந்தைகள் உங்கள் கருணையில் இருப்பதால் அரிதாகவே பேசுவார்கள், ஆனால் நீங்கள் அவர்களை கைவிடுதல், பயம், அன்பு இல்லாமை மற்றும் குளிர்ச்சியான வீட்டிற்குள் வைத்தால், அவர்கள் விரைவில் கிளர்ச்சி செய்து செயல்படுவார்கள்.

அன்பான பெற்றோர்களே, உங்கள் குழந்தைகளை நீங்கள் எந்தளவுக்கு நேர்மறையாக அல்லது எதிர்மறையாகப் பாதிக்கிறீர்கள் என்பதையும், உங்கள் இருவருக்கும் திருமணம் சரியாக நடக்காதபோது, பெற்றோரை சரியாகப் பெறுவதில் நீங்கள் எப்படித் தோல்வியடைவீர்கள் என்பதையும் நன்றாகப் புரிந்துகொள்கிறீர்கள். இன்று பெரியவர்களின் வாழ்க்கையிலும் அவர்களின் திருமணங்களிலும் உள்ள பல வலிகளும் குழப்பங்களும் அந்த பெரியவர்கள் எவ்வாறு வளர்க்கப்பட்டனர் அல்லது வளர்க்கப்படவில்லை என்பதிலிருந்து உருவாகின்றன. உங்கள் குழந்தைகளின் விதி, உலகக் கண்ணோட்டம், சுய உருவம், சமூக வாழ்க்கை, செல்வம், முடிவுகள், நல்வாழ்வு மற்றும் எதிர்காலம் ஆகியவற்றை வடிவ��ைக்கும் சக்தி உங்களிடம் உள்ளது.

அவர்களைத் தவற விடாதீர்கள்!

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admissionshalapune · 1 month

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How To Avoid Mistakes In MBA Admissions Consultant Selection

Choosing the Best Admission Consultants for MBA is like finding the ideal teammate for your application journey. Their guidance can significantly impact your success. Here's a roadmap to avoid pitfalls and pick the perfect partner:

1. Know Your Needs: Before diving in, get clear on what areas require support. Do you crave a master storyteller to craft compelling essays? Perhaps interview jitters need calming, or maybe you're overwhelmed with school selection. Identifying these needs helps target consultants with relevant expertise.

2. Deep Dive Research: Treat your consultant search like a mini-investigation. Scour websites, devour reviews, and leverage your network. Chat with current students or alumni for recommendations. Success rates and admissions know-how are key metrics to consider.

3. Credential Check: Ensure your consultant possesses the right "weapons" for this battle. Look for solid experience in MBA admissions and a deep understanding of the application process. Insights into your target schools are a bonus.

4. Finding the "Click" Factor: Remember, you'll be working closely with this person. Choose someone whose communication style resonates with you. Feeling comfortable and understood is crucial for an effective partnership.

5. Ask Away! Don't be shy! Consultants should answer your questions openly. Ask about their approach, success rates, availability, and of course, fees. Transparent communication fosters trust and a smooth collaboration.

6. Beware of Admission Unicorns: If a consultant guarantees entry into a top-tier school, run for the hills! Admissions decisions involve intricate evaluations, and no one holds the key to guaranteed acceptance.

7. Shop Around: Don't limit yourself to the first consultant you meet. Explore different options to find someone who aligns perfectly with your needs and budget.

8. Trust Your Gut: Intuition is powerful. If something feels off, or doubts cloud your judgment, move on. The right consultant will feel like a natural fit.

9. Transparency Matters: A reputable consultant should be upfront about their process, fees, and services offered. Hidden costs or a lack of transparency are red flags to watch out for.

10. Reference Check: Past clients' experiences are invaluable. Ask for references and follow up to get their honest feedback on working with the consultant.

By following these steps, you'll avoid common missteps and find the ideal MBA admissions consultant to empower you on your application journey. Remember, a great consultant acts as your guide, strategist, and cheerleader, maximizing your chances of landing that coveted acceptance letter.

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alledherlu-q-pereon · 9 months

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Elaborations to this: questions answered in order, section by section left collom, then right

Physical section

1. shit at making food at hate easting it, still do most of it usually tho

2. idk what I'm supposed to be preventing but I do go to the doctors a lot

3. this seems like the same thing but i have a fuck ton of medical problems and am dealing with most of them

4. can't get a job cause too dumb so nothing to take time off of. / moot.

5. the clothes I like are way too slutty for my ugly body

6. oxymoron

7. I'm an objectivist, so not possible.

---

8. that ones on me I should be doing that more

9. I mean I don't but only because I haven't figured out how to do that in a way that doesn't make my skin feel like a coffee filter. Am actively working with a nutritionist

10. yeah I'm pre op and trying to not get murdered or accused of sexual assault for being trans so no. Maybe in a few years?

11. not hot enough to go anywhere fun and can't afford it anyway

12. too much, If anything

13. those are not fun they are very stressful

14. shave every day because facial hair is gross as hell

Psychological section

1. see physical, question 11

2. What the hell is psychotherapy. That sounds like it would require a professional and I have better things spend my time and money on

3. To do what? I live in a rural shithole.

4. See physical question 4.

5. Fuck does that mean

6. No fucking way am i engaging my intelligence. I hate that bitch she's a loser

7. For me, This is called "doing anything"

---

8. Yup.

9. Used to but it takes a lot of time and is a hard thing to re-start doing.

10. That is called transitioning and dear God I am fucking trying.

11. No.

12. I mean usually it's because I am genuinely incapable of doing them and also they are responsibilities I *should* be doing, but I am disabled and need help and yeah that's not happening.

13. See Physical question 4

14. Do this daily but I think I should try and up my variation on what I say

Emotional section

1. Only person whose company I enjoy without having to pay for doing that lives half the world away so depending on your definition of "with" thats either a 3 or a 0

2. Yep I talk to her almost every day

3. Fuck books. And I barely watch movies once. They're too long I prefer YouTube.

4. Like my couch?

5. Like political shit on twitter? I do that but these questions are very clinically worded and I'm 90% sure you mean something other than what I'm inferring but idk what the hell that is

---

6. No. I'm ugly.

7. Yep, estrogen will do that to you. Steve hartman will do that also.

8. Nothing worth praising as of yet

9. Have you heard of Magic the Noah?

Spiritual section

1. I already answered this question. Physiological question 8

2. Those are two separate things what the hell are you asking me here?

3. I mean I'm not much of "stuff" person so pretty much nailing it. In fact I'm planning on selling like, most of my non-essential stuff to help save for ffs so I should get a 4 honestly

4. I am currently actively fighting with my social worker to try and get her to be more in control of my life and she's refusing so yeah once again nailing that.

5. Did that like 4 years ago. Haven't actually achieved it yet, if I did I wouldn't be on tumblr. But yeah it's fuckin identified all right

6. Like eating and sleeping? Physical questions 8 and 12 respectively.

7. I'm poor and need to save for ffs. I'll do it after that.

8. Again, fuck reading.

---

9. Fuck nature also

10. What? Like watch more porn? Okay I'll do that.

11. What optimism lol

12. What the hell does this mean? I'm not in school if that's what you mean

13. I prefer to just pray wherever I happen to be standing

14. Established that I do that

15. Yeah there are a lot of hot sex workers on my twitter timeline that I would kill to be instead of myself, which I'm pretty sure is what being in awe of someone is

Relationship section

1. Long distance

2. They live with me???

3. Am very open about that stuff with my gf

4. I don't have friends

5. Yep I talk to her regularly

6. Dear God I wish they fucking would

---

7. See above

8. I do that a lot. It is usually ignored but I do still ask

9. Yup I do that when I need to do that

10. No one likes me so that is a tall order. Also I don't want to.

11. We have 3 cats

12. I should do that again soonish

Workplace section

1-12. See physical question 4

Balance section

1. See above

2-5. Genuinely what the fuck are you asking me here

Relevant section

1. Idk how to practice I have never been taught how to do that in a way that I can follow

---

was going to put this as a reblog on the actual post but I can't find it now. It is gone. If I find it again I'll copy paste this there so I can find out what grade I got. If I don't then oh well that happens.

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adventism-atheism-orthodoxy-me · 11 months

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Same-Sex Love Isn’t Love; It’s Lust

God Bless you if you can follow the link and actually read the article. I'm not vested enough to actually make a payment to gain access.

What I can say is that lines in the sand like this obfuscate what really needs to happen in the mind of someone who struggles. I'm an unabashed heterosexual with more socially acceptable problems of my own - anger, for instance, and pride - I think higher of myself then I ought. These are just off the top of my head. I don't have a confessor Priest, so this is it; as far as I'm willing to go in a public space.

What I can say is that the desire for sinlessness counts for a lot, in spite of actions on the ground...

51 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right[b] spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar. -- Psalms 51

Incidentally, I think this Psalm is sung at every Orthodox Vespers service, without exception. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

And remember - this is a song written by a man deemed to be, "after God's own heart". (1 Samuel 13:14) After he has been confronted by his sins of adultery and murder.

Now, I don't know anything about the Homosexual community. Nothing. At all. And, honestly, I don't care to. That is the least interesting aspect of your personality. That is identifying you by your sin instead of by all the other many things you could identify as - an artist, a poet, or a scholar.

"I love my son. He's masculine. Does that make me lustful? Maybe a pedophile?"

"Don't confuse the issue!"

I'm not.

Protestants love to play games with the Greek words agape, eros, philia, and storge - assigning very specific definitions to each use. I heard once that the only use of agape outside the Bible was between a man and a prostitute. I do not know what some of these word games mean, if anything.

If I am attracted to others, but do not act on some of the baser desires that I might want to act on, does that still condemn me? Can I not have a non-sexual, emotional fulfilling relationship with a same sex companion? Is that not theoretically possible?

Do I not still love my son?

One must always be careful to not tempt fate. Sometimes the structured life of a monastic life might be what's required to temper the emotions; the voices; the Logismoi.

Obviously, monasticism and Protestantism mix like oil and water. Avoid Protestants. They don't even want to understand.

At the end of the day, we are not our thoughts.

We are not the Logismoi that harass and assault us. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can say, "no" to them. Thinking in this way has been liberating in a manner that I cannot express. It makes the struggle easier knowing that it's not the thought that condemns; but rather my attitude towards that thought - "Thinking about thinking", and the resulting action....

My hope for myself is that the, "no", gets easier with time.

Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a Sinner.

#Besetting Sin #Habitual sin #Chronic sin #Logismoi #Eastern Orthodox Christianity #Western Christianity

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alliance75 · 11 months

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10 Useful Tips for Senior Software Developer Recruitment

Companies are finding that hiring senior software developers is becoming as expensive as collecting high-quality diamonds and pearls. It is also becoming 5x more competitive every year.

Senior software developer talent is needed across industries and business segments, and software companies serving diverse markets are facing a huge influx of demand.

What strategies do you have to attract senior software talent that is so much sought after across global markets? Here are ten tips for senior software developer recruitment or senior software engineer recruitment.

1. Increase Employer Brand Visibility

One of the reasons companies are struggling with senior software developer recruitment is that their employer brand has little or no visibility. On the other hand, expert software engineers and developers get approached by recruiters maybe ten times a week. You need to have a strong employer brand to be considered when there is so much competition.

2. Location Matters

Posting ads in local markets might not get you the desired number of qualified applicants. Whether it is for senior Java developer recruitment or senior software engineer recruitment for back-end development, the locations where talent availability is high need to be tracked. Global IT recruiters can help you source senior talent from strategic locations.

3. Innovative Hiring Funnel Management

The chances of highly sought-after senior software talent responding to time-consuming hiring methods are very less. You need to revise your hiring funnel and adopt a tech-optimized method that makes it easy for senior engineering recruitment agencies in Dubai to apply for a job and undergo the hiring process with ease using their smartphones. Tech-savvy screening attracts senior developers.

4. Work On Fine-Tuning Job Descriptions

False advertising, exaggerations, lack of clarity, and basic styles in job descriptions are definite “No” for senior software developer recruitment. These are professionals who have great insights to identify cliche descriptions easily. A well-defined, well-marketed, and clear job description increases engagement.

Provide the key facts in a smaller, compact version that includes tech stack, project type, and the top 2-3 skills and work tasks. Let there be options to drill down and choose longer descriptions. Let the description connect with your brand in the best manner. Focus on what is in there for the target candidates. You can attract more candidates that way.

5. Go Beyond Resumes

Making resumes the sum total of all your screening might not get you the right talent. It could actually bring contrary results. Dig deeper into candidates’ online profiles, portfolios, interactions, references, and professional endorsements.

6. Targeted Approach – Personalized Outreach

When you finally shortlist your best-match list of candidates, plan a personalized outreach method. Your first interaction should showcase how working for your company or project can benefit them. Top recruiters with expertise in senior software engineer recruitment can guide the process, helping you create a strong talent pipeline.

7. Make Technical Tests Appealing, Challenging, and Relevant

Experts in senior software developer recruitment point out that one sure way to drive away brilliant tech talent is to make them undertake boring or tricky tasks in the guise of testing. Senior developers can easily see if they are being manipulated. Make the assessments and tests an experience in themselves by gamifying them and creating challenging tasks based on real-world scenarios. You need to also set a flexible pace for completing the home-based assignment.

8. Analyze Portfolio/Track Records

Whether it is about senior Java developer recruitment or for hiring senior PHP developers, restricting your screening to academics and certifications might cut out your access to a diverse, large, richer talent pool. Some of the best senior software developers are self-taught; selecting professionals using academic credentials translates to losing great candidates who may have been a perfect fit for the job.

9. Aptitude For Creativity and Innovation

Many companies confuse greater knowledge and technical skills with abilities for innovation. Creativity is a right-brain approach, and it cannot be judged by academic knowledge or programming experience. If your project needs innovation and new ideas, include a test in the senior software developer recruitment process that judges the ability to think on the feet and generate new ideas.

10. Avoid The Slightest Delay in Making An Offer

When you are competing for talent in a market where brilliant candidates are lured by so many companies, the slightest delay could translate to some other company’s offer being accepted.

Final Thoughts

Partner with an IT recruitment agency with access to worldwide talent pools and the infrastructure and expertise to optimize talent sourcing funnels and candidate engagement. Find out how fast they can source talent through an intuitive, inspiring senior software engineer recruitment process. You can reach out to Alliance Recruitment Agency in the UAE for more insights.

About Alliance Recruitment Agency-UAE

Alliance Recruitment Agency has an extensive software talent pool network that covers 30+ global locations where superior talent availability is intense. Our global manpower agency has helped 10,000+ clients benefit from high-quality software talent recruitment. Our services have enabled businesses to take on new projects and scale up existing projects with ease and in a secure manner. Whether you need dedicated senior software developers or cross-border remote teams, get the best talent by partnering with us.

View Source: https://www.alliancerecruitmentagency.ae/10-useful-tips-senior-software-developer-recruitment/

#engineering recruitment agencies in Dubai

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writingquestionsanswered · 3 years

Note

Do you have any tips on identifying plot holes during revisions?

10 Tips for Identifying Plot Holes

1) Create a "Big Picture" Overview of Your Story

Whether you use a scene list, chapter by chapter summary, timeline, flow chart of events, or some combination of the above, having a "big picture" overview of your story allows you to see all the smaller parts and how they fit together. Not only can it help you spot problems as you're creating it, it also gives you something to follow as you're revising to help make sure everything makes sense.

2) Create a List of Plot Points and Subplot Points

Make a list of your story's plot points and subplot points. Once again, not only can the creation of this list help you spot potential problems, it will also be a crucial tool during the revision process as well as helpful for the next exercise.

3) Follow the Chain of Cause and Effect

Good continuity in your story means having a tight relationship between cause and effect. For each plot point and subplot point, you should be able to ask "why did this happen" and answer "because this other thing happened." You should also be able to look at each plot point or subplot point and say, "Because this happened, this next thing happens."

4) Look at Character Choices

Since stories are ultimately about people who want something trying to get that thing, plot points and subplot point are often the result of character choices and actions. So, for every choice a character makes or action they take, ask why? Did that choice make sense for that character's personality, situation, and back story? Did it make sense for that particular moment?

5) Make Sure Subplots Are Tied Up

Make a list of your subplots and make sure they're all tied up by the end. Pay attention to how and when they branched back into the story and what they accomplished.

6) Create Character/Setting Continuity Tables

Create a table of important characteristics like hair color, eye color, current age, birthday, etc. and when you're reading through your story, any time a detail like that comes up, check it in the table to make sure you've got it right. You can do the same thing for setting details.

7) Create a Technical Detail Checklist

For every technical detail you include in your story, whether that's the moon being out and in a certain phase in a particular scene, the amount of time it takes to travel a particular distance, how a particular weapon works, the ingredients of a particular spell or potion, the types of berries your character forages, an historical garment or costume... put it in a checklist. Then, when you're revising and you get to that item, double-check the details you've included in the actual story against your research (or look them up again), and check them off when you're sure they're accurate.

8) Create a "Things That Need Reviewing" Checklist

You can do the same while you're writing/editing for general things you want to double-check, like maybe you recall your character mentioning something about their childhood home in a chapter, and now they're saying something else about it and you want to go back later and make sure the two things are coherent.

9) Review Your Manuscript with Fresh Eyes

When you've been with your WIP for weeks or months or years, it becomes tough to see mistakes that would be obvious to anyone else. If you can, try stepping away from your manuscript for a few days or weeks so that you can come back to it with fresh eyes. Another trick you can use (especially if you can't step away for long or at all) is to change the font style and/or color in your manuscript. This can trick your brain into feeling like it's seeing everything for the first time. Reading it out loud or trying to to visualize it like a movie can also help.

10) Get Feedback from Other People

If you plan on posting or publishing your story anyway, it's crucial to get critical eyes on your story during your revision process. Critique groups, writing groups, critique partners, beta readers, and editors are all great ways to get feedback on your story before publication. These folks can help you spot problems, like plot holes and continuity errors, before you share, query, or publish your story.

I hope that helps!

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serendipitous-magic · 3 years

Note

What is your writing advice for young people who want to write fanfiction and original stories in the near future?

If this is just Way Too Much, skip to the end (#16). My most important piece of advice is there. I also happen to think #5 is pretty good.

-_-_-_-

1) Literally just write. Write whatever you want, and do a lot of it.

_-_

2) You don’t have to post everything. In fact you don’t have to post anything. You can, don’t get me wrong, but it can be intimidating to sit down and think “I will now write something that other people will see and read and judge with their eyeballs.” Because that’s probably gonna lead to nerves and writer's block. Just write down the ideas that you have, the things you want to write, whatever’s in your brain that you want to explore and expand upon and make into something. And then if you want to, share it. Or don’t share it. I have plenty of half-baked ideas and documents and random story chapters and shit hidden away on my Google Drive that will never see the light of day, for a whole number of reasons. I wanted to write it but it wasn’t ~Spicy~ enough to warrant posting, or it’s only like an eighth of a good idea, or it’s like one scene with no story around it, or it’s just something incredibly self-indulgent I just wanted to write for my own enjoyment.

Point being, don’t write for other people. Don’t write so that other people can read it; write what you want, write for yourself, and then if you want to share it, do.

_-_

3) You can pretty much ignore any and all of these for fanfiction. In fact, you can ignore pretty much any rules or guidelines you want for fanfiction. Fanfic is a sandbox. You don’t have to be a “professional writer” to post fic. No one expects you to be Stephen King or Margaret Atwood. Fanfic is just for playing in a fandom and having fun. If you wanna write a 50 chapter slow burn with very little plot aside from the OTP slowly getting to know each other, and no real stakes or central conflict, I guarantee people would read that. Really, fanfiction is the Old West of writing: lawless, wild, unpredictable, and free.

However, here are the rules you must follow:

-Separate your paragraphs. (I’m sure you know this already, but I’m gonna say it anyway just in case.) Do not post one big block of text. Make a paragraph break when someone new is talking, when the characters are in a new place, when a new event occurs that changes the scene, when a chunk of time has passed, and when there’s a major change in subject.

-I know it’s obvious, but... grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. They exist to make writing easy for readers to read, and more people will read your stuff if they don’t have to stop and try to figure out what you meant.

-Use tags and labels, as is possible with whatever site you’re using. Especially if you include possibly triggering content in your story. Again, I know it’s obvious, but it’s common courtesy. Bonus: tagging the themes and content of your story helps readers find it and read it :)

-If possible, limit the use of all-caps and exclamation marks / question marks. 99% of the time, one ! or one ? will do. If you overload the page with a lot of all-caps and long rows of exclamation marks or question marks, it hampers readability.

... That’s literally all I can think of. And, like I said, it’s all pretty basic stuff. You were probably rolling your eyes like, “Uh, yeah, Gwen, I know.” But that’s literally it. You can pretty much do whatever you want in fanfic.

That being said, here’s my advice for both fanfiction and original work...

_-_

4) A quick and dirty rule for coming up with a plot, starting a story, keeping up pacing, or maintaining tension: figure out what dreams, desires, and goals are nearest and dearest to your main character’s heart (see #16). Then set up the main conflict to be directly in opposition to that goal. It doesn’t have to be in a tangible way, though it could be. But, if your main character wants more than anything to reach the ships on the southern coast of your world and sail to a new life, make sure the main conflict immediately prevents them from doing that - in fact, make sure to send them north. If your main character just wants to keep their loved ones safe, kidnap the loved ones. If your main character just wants to date their best-friend-turned-crush, make sure they think they have no chance - or, make them cocky about it, and make sure it makes Person B determined not to ever like them. You get it. Figure out what your character most wants, and then keep them from having that. Boom - your conflict now ties in with your character's motivation. It's like instant yeast for plots.

_-_

5) If you’re anything like me, you want your first draft to be Good, despite all that advice about how the first draft doesn’t have to be good and it’s just to get words on the page, yadda yadda. And if you’re somewhat of a perfectionist (like myself), it’s easy to get stuck looking at a blank page because you don’t have The Perfect Words, and you want what you write to be Good the first time.

Here’s how I cheat that:

Instead of trying to write a Good First Draft from a blank page, hit the enter key a few times, skip a little down on the page, change your ink to red (or blue, or whatever - just something immediately identifiable as Not Black) and just thought vomit. Write whatever the hell you’re thinking, exactly as you think it. Don’t worry about it being readable, don’t worry about narrative flow for now, don’t worry about covering all the details, don’t worry about anything except either a) getting all the details of your idea out onto the page, whether that’s a lot or whether it’s just a sentence or two, or b) if you don’t have an idea yet, finding your way there.

Because this method is also very good for finding your way to ideas when you’re stuck in writer’s block.

Because of how human brains work, getting this stuff out onto the page - in all its messy, stream-of-consciousness glory - will likely spark more thoughts. As you write your original idea about the scene, it’ll likely spark more ideas. Creation begets creation. If you just start thought-vomiting your ideas onto the page, chances are you’ll think of more things as you go, and you’ll start filling out description or dialogue or tone or action or whatever, and pretty soon the scene starts writing itself.

Not sure where you’re going with the scene or which ideas you wanna use? Use a lot of ambivalent language in your “thought-vomit draft.” My pre-writing notes are chock-full of the words “maybe,” “perhaps,” and the phrases, “At some point...” and “...or something like that.” In this way, I don’t tie myself down to one idea; it’s just an idea, and I’m keeping it on the page in case I use it, but I might chuck it in the trash or change it or whatever.

And then, once your ideas for the scene (or story, or chapter, or whatever) are on the page, then go back to the top and start translating them into a “real” first draft. Use black ink, and start copy-pasting chunks of the thought-vomit up into the top part of the document and translating them into Draft 1. Separate out paragraphs where paragraph breaks should be. Add the correct punctuation and whatnot. Change “describe the lobby here - include potted plants, fancy carpet, blood stain, etc.” into an actual description of the lobby. Flesh it out, or condense, or whatever it needs. And if you’re still stuck, change back to red ink and ramble some more until you find a path that feels right, then plug that in. This keeps you from looking at a blank page, and it allows you to generate a kind of Draft 0.5, somewhere between a plan and a first draft.

You don’t have to use every idea. Like I said, jot down whatever comes to mind, put a “maybe” before or after it, and keep working. If the idea grabs you and you wanna keep expanding on it and exploring it, cool. If you just wanna jot it down so you don’t forget it and then move on, also cool. Red-ink draft / “thought-vomit draft” is your time to jump around in the timeline, add or finesse details at whatever point your brain moves to, etc. Don’t try to do it exactly in story order, because you will get tangential thoughts and ideas, and you will not remember to write them down five pages later when you finally get to taking notes on that scene. Trust me. On that note...

_-_

6) Write everything down the moment you think of it. Seriously.

“I’ll remember it when I get around to writing that scene in a couple days / weeks / months (/years).”

You won’t.

Write it down.

Phone, journal, google docs - hell, my family regularly laughs at me for grabbing a napkin during dinner and scribbling thoughts down alongside pasta sauce stains.

And then, once you have it written down somewhere...

_-_

7) Consolidate your writing ideas in one place.

Maybe this isn’t really your style, and that’s totally chill.

Buuuut, if you’re Type-A like me - or if you tend to be somewhat unorganized and you know you’ll lose track of your writing notes if they’re scattered across multiple notebooks, journals, napkins, phone notes, etc. - having one consolidated document of notes is a life saver. I keep mine on Google Docs so I can access it, add to it, and look through it for inspiration anywhere at any time. When I have one of those Shower Thoughts that I jot down on my phone or on a napkin during dinner, I set myself a reminder on my phone to type it up in my Story Ideas document later.

(Or, if the idea I had was for a story of mine that I’ve already started planning / drafting / whatever, I put it in the document for that story instead of the Big Random Story Ideas doc. You get it.)

_-_

8) Have other ways to collect and save writing ideas, besides just writing stuff down. If you like Pinterest, make pinterest boards of your characters or stories or settings or whatever. If you’re big into playlists, make a playlist for your character / setting / story / etc. Or both. Or something else. I’m not good at drawing, but maybe you are, and maybe you like to draw your ideas. Whatever form it takes, having another way to save ideas and think about your stories is invaluable.

_-_

9) Some writers can just start writing with no idea where the story is going, and they just kind of figure it out as they go. I envy those writers. And I do that sometimes for fanfiction, where the stakes are somewhat lower and the audience is reading more for scene-to-scene enjoyment (and to see their OTP kiss) than for a Driving And Compelling Narrative.

But here’s the thing: especially if you’re just kind of starting out, writing without some sort of plan is really, really hard, and will likely lead you into a slow, meandering narrative that will likely frustrate you.

Even if you think you’re someone that just can’t write with a plan (and again, I have the highest respect for pansters out there - I don’t know how you do it, you crazy bastards, but you keep doing you) - even if you think “I can’t work with plans, they’re too prescriptive, I just want to write and see what happens -”

Try at least making the most skeletal of plans.

Even if you have no clue what 90% of the story is, yet. That’s fine. But you need to have some idea of what you’re building to, even if that’s nothing more specific than a feeling, or a turning point for your character. Even if your entire plan for everything beyond Chapter 1 is, “At some point, Charlie needs to realize that Ed was lying to her.”

This is where those Draft 0.5 notes come in handy. Because, more than likely, working on your current scene that way will spark ideas for later scenes, which you can put down at the bottom of the document and save for when they become relevant. In my experience, the line between planning ahead and making a Draft 0.5 is exceptionally thin. One can quickly turn into the other.

If you’re really, really resistant to the idea of planning ahead, that’s okay. It’s not everybody’s style. But for the love of all that is holy, write down your ideas for future scenes, even if you’re a person that doesn’t like to plan and writes only in story order, because you will not remember that idea once you get to that scene.

_-_

10) You don’t have to write in order.

Here’s the thing: I’m a person that can only do my Draft 1 in story order (meaning, chronological order). I just have to be in that flow; I need to write in story order for me to best channel where the character is at from scene to scene, both narratively and emotionally.

But my Thought Vomit Draft is another thing entirely. By using the brain hack of putting my notes in red (or another color, it doesn’t matter) and going down to the bottom of the document / page and taking notes there, and then integrating them into whatever plan I have, and then translating them into Draft 1 once I get there in the story - by doing that, I can get my good ideas onto the page (and expound upon them and let my muse carry me and ride that momentum while I’m in the moment of inspiration) without writing out of order.

Maybe that’s just me. But if you’re a person who really prefers to write in story order, that could be hugely helpful to you. It is to me.

_-_

11) Emotion and motivation will do more for your story than technicalities of plot.

If your characters really care about something, and their journey through the (shaky or weak) plot is emotionally engaging, it will be a much more compelling story than a story with a “perfect” plot and unrelatable or unmotivated characters.

If your characters care about what they’re doing, and it means something to them, and their goals and actions are driven by dreams or fears or emotions that are integral to who they are, your audience will care too. If you have a perfectly crafted plot that hits all the right beats and has high stakes and fast pacing and drama - but your characters don’t connect with what’s happening in a way that’s deeply meaningful or emotional for them? You’re gonna have a hard time engaging readers.

When in doubt, prioritize character emotion and motivation over plot. Emotion is what drives story.

This power is highly exploitable. (Just look at pulp novels and shitty but entertaining movies.) You can even use it to glaze over plot holes or reinvigorate a limp narrative. Use it that way sparingly, though. It’s a band-aid, not a surgery.

_-_

12) Evil villains are hard to write - mostly because there are very few truly evil people in the world. (There are a few. Billionaires and several big name politicians come to mind.) But by and large, there aren’t that many evil people. There are plenty of bad people, but bad people have some good in them, somewhere in there. Trying to write an evil villain is hard, because they often turn very cartoony.

Here’s a tip: it’s much easier to write antagonists who aren’t evil. Even if they’re bad people. Of course, there’s no reason you can’t write a villain that’s just truly evil - a serial killer, or an abuser, or a billionaire, or someone who legit just wants to hurt people or blow up the earth or stay in control of an oppressed population, or whatever. But chances are, it’s gonna be really hard to make them feel real, and even harder to create a plot around them that doesn’t feel forced or contrived.

Instead, try writing an antagonist / villain whose motivations and goals directly clash with your protagonist’s - but not because they want to take over the world or see people suffer. Write an antagonist who’s chaotic good, but whose perception of the situation is completely opposite from your hero’s. Write an antagonist whose only desire is to save people, and who will do anything to achieve that goal - anything. Write an antagonist who believes in the letter of the law, and will hinder and oppose the hero’s methods even if they agree with the hero’s motivation. Write an antagonist who got in way over their head and did some things they regret, and now they don’t know how to get out, and they’re doing their best but whatever they set in motion is too powerful for them to stop now.

Write villains who are human. Write a killer who thought they were doing the right thing by taking their victim out of the equation, who vomits at the sight of the body and sobs over the grave they dig. Write a government leader who truly believes she’s doing what’s best for her people in the long-term, even if it might hurt them in the short term, and is willing to endure the hatred and belligerence of the masses if it means securing what she thinks is a better future for her people. Write a teenage bully that thinks they’re the one being picked on by the world, and they’re just fighting back, standing their ground. Write a scientist who will break any code of ethics and hurt anyone he needs to - in order to bring back his baby sister from the grave, because he promised her he’d protect her and he failed. Write an antagonist who is selfish and self-centered and capricious - because in order to survive they had to look out for Number One, and that habit ain’t about to break anytime soon.

Write villains who aren’t even villains. Write antagonists who oppose the hero because of moral differences. Write antagonists who are trying to do the right thing. Write antagonists who treat the heroes with kindness and dignity and respect and gentleness.

They don’t have to be good. They don’t have to be Misunderstood Sweethearts who “deserve” a redemption arc. They can be cruel and nasty and dismissive and callous and violent and etc. etc.

Just hesitate before you make them Evil-with-a-capital-E. Because evil is hard to write, and honestly, boring to read. Flawed human beings with goals and motivations that directly oppose the main characters’ are much easier to write and much more interesting to read.

Ask why. Why is your villain trying to take over the world? What does that even mean? Are they trying to create a Star-Trek-like post-capitalism utopia, but they know that won’t happen in a million lifetimes, so they’re trying to do it by force? Are they actually super in favor of human rights, but they got very impatient waiting for the world to do anything about poverty and war, so they decided to take it into their own hands? Are they determined to fix the world - no matter the cost? Are they terrified and overwhelmed, but committed to see it through to the end? Or - maybe they’re just doing it on a dare. Maybe they don’t really give a shit about world domination, they were just a mediocre rich white guy who decided to fuck around and find out, and now he’s kind of curious how far he can take this thing. And now he’s kind of an internationally-wanted criminal, so he’s kind of stuck living on his hidden private island in his multi-billion dollar secret base, strapping lasers to sharks’ heads for the hell of it. Gross, selfish, uncaring, and dangerous? For sure. Evil? Depends on your definition. See, now we’re getting somewhere.

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13) It’s tempting to let the plot control the characters. It’s easy to drop your characters into a situation and see how they react. But here’s the thing: that doesn’t drive plot. In fact, it bogs down pacing. Instead, try to build you plot off of your characters’ actions and decisions. Let your character build their own situation. Not to say it should go they way they wanted it to go; in fact, usually, their grand plans should go to hell very quickly. But having the characters take action and make decisions, and letting the plot develop based on that, is much easier to make compelling than making a rigid series of events and then trying to herd your characters into them.

_-_

14) Having trouble justifying a character’s actions? Consider having them make the opposite decision, or having them approach the situation in a different way. For example: you need your character to go meet the bad guy, for plot reasons, even though there’s no way it’s not a trap. If the character goes, readers are gonna be groaning with their head in their hands, because c’mon man, that was really fucking stupid. But he’s gotta go, because the plot needs that. Two ways you might handle this: a) He knows it’s probably a trap. He decides not to go. The plot conspires to get him near the villain anyway. Or, b) He knows it’s a trap. But he needs to go, for (insert reasons here). So, he approaches it in an unexpected way. He brings backup, recruiting a side character we met earlier in the story. Or he arrives on the back of a dragon, because ain’t nobody gonna fuck with a dude on a dragon. Or he goes - early, and ambushes the villain. It may work, it may not. He may get himself kidnapped anyway. But it moves the plot along without having Stupid Hero Syndrome.

_-_

15) This is a legit piece of advice: if all of this sounds overwhelming, literally just ignore it and write what you want. For real. Writing should be fun, and every single writer operates differently. If you’re sitting here like “I’m getting stressed just reading this,” just flip me a good-natured bird and get on with your life. I promise I won’t take it personally. Same goes for literally any other writing advice you see. Lots of rules and guidelines can very quickly make anything thoroughly un-fun. Just write. If you’re passionate about it and you do it for long enough, you’ll start figuring out the tips and tricks on your own.

_-_

16) Here’s the best piece of advice I can give you: know your characters. More importantly, know what’s important to them. Build their personality and decisions off of that, and build your plot off of their decisions.

I see a lot of character building sheets that ask a shit-ton of questions like “What’s their most prized possession?” “Do they like their family?” “What’s their favorite food?”

And while these are good questions, my problem with this type of character building is that if you start there, with the little stuff, you’re building on nothing. IMO, to make a truly strong character (not strong like Inner Strength, strong like effective), you need a strong foundation.

Here are the things you must know about your character:

a) What are their greatest fears / deepest insecurities? And I don’t mean “wasps” or “heights.” I mean the deep shit. I mean fears like “living a meaningless life,” or “turning out just like their parents,” or “that no one will ever love them,” or “being powerless.” You may say, “But they’re really scared of wasps! They fall into a wasp nest when they were little and got stung so much they almost died!” Great! That’s a fantastic bit of backstory. They should absolutely be afraid of wasps, and that should absolutely be an impediment later in the story. But dig deeper. What about that event actually scarred them? Was it the helplessness? Stumbling around, swatting at the air, not being able to do a single thing to stop what was happening to them? Was it that they were alone, and no matter how loud they screamed, no one was coming? Was it the bodily horror of feeling themself turn into an inhuman creature as they swelled up from the stings, unable to move their fingers or face normally anymore?

And don’t forget insecurities, because those factor in, too. Are they deeply insecure about their identity? Do they believe, deep down, that they’re ugly? Did they grow up poor and they’ve always been really touchy about that? Why? Dig deep. Figure out what really, really bothers them.

b) What are their hopes and dreams? What do they truly want out of life? What do they consider the most valuable to their experience here in this thing called life? Is it the freedom to forge their own path and be independent? Is it the approval of their family or peers? Is it a home? Is it knowledge, or understanding? Spiritual fulfillment? Is it deeply important to them that they contribute to their community, or protect those they love? What do they need in order to feel truly and deeply fulfilled in life?

Figure out those two things (each one encompasses several things, btw, you don’t have to stop at just one for each), and then use that to inform how they behave and the types of decisions they make within the story.

It also informs character behavior and personality.

Let’s say we have a character who’s afraid of helplessness. They’re probably gonna be the person that always wants to do something, try something, no matter how hopeless the situation seems. They’d despise just sitting and waiting, probably, because it makes them feel powerless. They might even be the person that makes rash decisions and acts impulsively and puts themself in danger unnecessarily, because in their mind it’s better than being at the mercy of fate. This is one way you could use a character’s personality to inform their decisions, which in turn helps to inform plot.

Or, let’s say we have a character whose greatest fear is being left behind or forgotten. We may have a chatterbox on our hands. They might be obnoxious. They might love the spotlight, constantly vying for attention no matter the situation, because deep down they’re so afraid that they’d be forgotten otherwise. Or, it may go the opposite way. They may be so afraid of people leaving them that they’re terrified of bothering people. They don’t want to do anything that could annoy people, anything that might give people a reason to leave them. They might be exceedingly polite, quiet, accommodating. A push-over, really.

These are two nearly opposite types of personalities, both stemming from the same core fear/insecurity. You can go a lot of different ways with it. But if you build on that strong foundation, you’ll have a strong character, and a stronger plot.

Likewise, the structure of your story can and should inform the design of these character traits. If you need your characters to team up near the end, it may be impactful if you give your main character a deep fear of commitment, an insecurity about being unwanted or left behind, and make them highly value independence and freedom. That could make their team-up for the final battle very meaningful. Conversely, you can use your character’s deepest fears and desires to help design the plot. Is your character deeply insecure about voicing their opinions or taking a stand, because of trauma they faced in the past? Make them face that. Build that into the climactic third act. Give them the big inspirational speech where they stand up and talk about what they believe to be important, what they think the group should do. And then design that character arc to run through the story, giving you more handholds and stepping stones, more pieces of foundation on which to design the plot.

In this way, character should inform story as much as story informs character. It’s a feedback loop.

Bonus: if you build your character and your plot off of each other in this way, it automatically starts to build in the foundations of that emotional investment I mentioned earlier. If your character’s decisions are based on what they most want and do not want in life, you basically have your character motivation and stakes pre-built.

Note: you need to know these things about your villain, too.

-_-_-

I’m genuinely sorry about the length of this, lmao. But you did ask.

Best of luck!

Edit: I forgot an important one:

17) Start when the scene starts and end when the scene ends.

What do I mean by that?

If your notes say “Danny asks Nicole out after school and majorly flubs it,” start the scene when Danny approaches Nicole after school. Better yet, cold-open the scene on “I was wondering if, you know, you’d wanna. You know. Hang out some time?”

Don’t start that morning when Danny goes to school, unless you’re gonna cover the school day in like one or two sentences. Don’t spend whole paragraphs going through the school day, unless it’s to cover other plot points first (in which case apply these same guidelines there), or if the paragraphs are there for a specific reason, like to illustrate how stressed he is and how it seems like every little thing is going wrong. Even then, trim the fat as much as possible. Expounding and describing everything Moment-to-moment is for the meat of the scenes, not the leading-up-to and coming-away-from.

Here’s my rule of thumb: study how and when movies cut from scene to scene. Movies have exceptionally strict, limited time for storytelling; they’re excellent examples of starting a scene when the plot point starts and ending when it’s over. If you can’t picture a movie showing everything you showed, start the scene later and end it earlier.

#asks #anon #writing advice #writing tips #writing #fanfic writing #fanfiction #character creation #plot development #character development #my advice #original writing

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gentlemanmcbitch · 2 years

Text

Literally Everybody At the Dark Crisis Memorial: A Comprehensive List

Alrighty no preamble everyone's saying "where's x person" "where's y person" "is this person there" in the dark crisis preview so because I'm bored I'm gonna go through and point out every single costumed fucker of note in that image let's GO

That said my knowledge only goes so far so I'm gonna put down some unknowns (by number) and would love the help to identify them, as well as anybody who I miss completely!

Okay starting over here we've got:

-Nightwing (Dick Grayson) leading the service up front -Barda and Miracle (Scott Free) -Flash (probably Wally West) -Hawk (Hank Hall) and Dove (Dawn Granger) -I'm guessing the purple hood in the foreground is Spoiler (Stephanie Brown) -I'm also gonna guess the redhead (the one in full view, not in the foreground) is Barbara Gordon -Unknown #1: not sure who that tiny fella with the mohawk is, my guess is someone from the Lobo fam but idk if any of them have a mohawk? Also why so short -Unknown #2: I'm gonna randomly guess the hooded person in the front is Raven, but honestly could be anybody -Unknown #3: Who's that metal guy next to maybe Raven? I honestly have nothing on this -I also see a silhouetted horned guy wayyy in the front (look above bardas left horn thing) who I think may be Blue Devil

More under the cut!

Moving on, we've got:

-Robin (Tim Drake) -Aqualad/man (Jackson Hyde) -Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) and probably Lois Lane -Batwoman (Kate Kane) (the redhead right in the foreground) -Red tornado -A bat person next to red tornado who is probably Cassandra Cain -Above Kara's head way in the background is Katana, you can tell from the square shoulder plate -Unknown #4: weirdly prominent random guy with a backpack? Maybe I'm reading into this too much -Unknown #5: whoever's between Cass and Tornado -Unknown #6-7: I think those two hugging people in the background are the Wonder Twins but they could be anybody -Unknown #8: another shortie, this time to the left of Barbara (far right of the picture) in green. Costume alone makes me think Enchantress but there's no reason she'd be that small -Unknown #9: the white and gold guy way in the background on the far left looks like godspeed but I thought he was dead? Idk -Unknown #10: left of #9, partially cut off in this screenshot, is a suited man facing away from the viewer. He's so prominently drawn that I thought he was The Question, but I think Renee Montoya currently holds that title so I may be wrong on that

alrighty, over here we got:

-Superboy (Conner Kent) -Robin (Damian Wayne) -Booster Gold -Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) -Black Lightning -The Lobo fam girl from the Rebirth Teen Titans comic whose name I cannot remember (Crush? Carnage?) up in the foreground -Also from the Rebirth TT comic but whose name I remember, Roundhouse! He's in the background above Beetle's head -Doctor Light (the non-evil one whose real name escapes me) -Naomi McDuffie -I think the man in the foreground is Beast Boy (Garfield Logan) but the tank top is a weird costume choice for him -Unknown #11: There's a...gorilla?? to the left of Doctor Light and I have NO idea who they are but they're so distinctly shaped that they've got to be somebody. -Unknown #12: There's another hooded figure slightly to the left of Black Lightning's head. The shape of the hood makes me think Red Hood (Jason Todd) in his Rebirth/Infinite Frontier costume, but the sloped shoulders make me think it's someone less buff. Maybe an arrowfam person since we haven't seen any of them, but your guess is as good as mine! -Unknown #13: to the right of Roundhouse (from our perspective) is a figure I don't recognize. He could be one of the metal men (who are also here, I'll get to them soon) but he's a bit separated from them so maybe not.

And finishing out the folks on the ground, we can see:

-Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) -Cyborg (Vic Stone) -The Signal (Duke Thomas) -The Metal Men (see I told you I'd get to them) -Metamorpho -Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes) -Bunker (Miguel Barragan) -The redhead standing to the left of Cyborg, who due to the lack of mask + cloak + standing among multiple Titans members I'd guess is Omen (Lilith Clay) -Unknown #14: I have no idea who this woman in the immediate foreground is. Like, not a single clue. Please help.

Up, up in the sky, we've got:

-Plastic man sticking his lil head above the crowd -Superman (Jon Kent) -Green Lantern(s) (Jessica Cruz and Jo Mullein) -Starfire (Koriand'r) -Unknown #15: Incredibly nondescript dude in a black cape. My first guess was Osiris if Black Adam died with the league, but I think that's wrong since he hasn't really been mentioned in comics in a LONG time. if he wasn't so white-looking I'd say Icon.

Lastly, watching mysteriously from the rooftops, we have:

-Deathstroke (Slade Wilson) -Unknowns #16-20: these are distinctive silhouettes, but every villain I think of who would match them definitely wouldn't be the type to pay respects, and every non-villain I think of wouldn't be lurking up here in the first place. Maybe far right is the Trickster from the Flash Rogues? Would appreciate some more guesses!

The people with Deathstroke could also be the other villains on the cover art for Dark Crisis, which would make far right Nekron, second from the right Doomsday, second from the left Ares(?), and idk about the other two, but it'd be kind of wild if all the major villains of this event were just like. Hanging out at the memorial service.

This post is long enough so if anyone points out one of the unknowns, I'll just edit the post instead of adding it in a reblog. I will, of course, give credit to whoever finds out. I really just did this to avoid doing my work for class tomorrow, but it was fun. Thanks for reading and consider this my application to DC tumblr <3

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aro-comics · 3 years

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Debunking Arophobia (Part 1)

NOTE: This entire series is dedicated to discussing arophobia and it’s harm - in case this isn’t something you want to see, I’m putting each post in this series underneath a read more.

Debunking Arophobia, Part 1/7 - Hello y'all, we're back and starting on the promised, borderline fabled (at this point, anyway, b/c I feel like I meant to post this three months ago 😅) debunking arophobia comic! This series is a longer one, but I believe it's important to address these sentiments that are hurtful to aromantic people and invalidate our identities. I hope that this can help bring some peace to anyone who's heard similar things in their life 💚💚 About my mother - coming out to family/guardians, if you're able to do so, is always hard. And I think that oftentimes, the narrative is often construed as being an all or nothing event, even though in reality (as many other LGBTQ+ people have stated) it's more complicated, and sometimes it's something you keep doing through life as you meet more people! My own experience has definitely been non-linear and complicated, in some ways. Its in the comments below if you're interested. 🐸✨ Also feel free to let me know if y'all have any other experiences with amatonormative ideas, or arophobia, that you'd like me to address! I'd love to make more content (albeit, maybe not in a comic format like this 😭) about this subject some day 💚💚

[Image Description:

Slide 1: Title slide. The title reads “Debunking Arophobia”. Underneath is a drawing of Celia slapping her hand over a speech bubble that seems to be saying “but you can’t be aro, we all-” while she says NO.

Slide 2: Text slide. Caption reads “this comic will contain Arophobia and an in-depth analysis of its harm. It will also discuss some negativity surrounding (my personal) experiences as an aromantic person. Please, if this content will upset you in any way, skip this comic.”

Slide 3: “Nooooo don’t say that. You’ll find the right person eventually.” A large speech bubble emerges from a phone Celia holds away from her head.

Slide 4: [A continuation from the scene from the previous slide. The rest of Celia is drawn, and she seems a bit upset as she looks down]

“That’s what my mother said to me, when I confessed - albeit, as a side remark during conversation instead of a proper coming out - to being aromantic.”

Slide 5: “I was lucky, that I was confident in my orientation.”

Celia sits in her room, looking downcast as she struggles to find the words to continue the conversation.

Slide 6: “That instead, all I felt was a surge of frustration -” A drawing of Celia with an annoyed expression,

“-followed by a deep breath -” Celia breathing out, trying to calm herself down,

“-after which I explained I was sure about who I was. And that there is nothing wrong about not finding said ‘right person’” Celia is drawn from the side as she talks seriously on the phone.

Slide 7: Celia speaks to the viewer: “While the contents of that conversation are worthy of their discussion in their own right, I want to explain why that phrase is both wrong, and harmful, in this comic series.”

Slide 8: Celia keeps talking, annoyed. “To start with, on a higher or moral level: It’s both dismissive and disrespectful to tell someone what they should identify as, period.”

Slide 9: “For example, nobody says kids shouldn’t feel an “opposite gender” crush because they might not be straight when they’re older -”

A drawing of a pair of kindergartners. The girl is holding a heart-shaped valentine, which she’s giving to a boy.

“- because even though this may be true, nobody can confirm that. It doesn’t make sense to decide what others feel (especially when it’s not hurting anyone).”

Slide 10: Celia speaks to the viewer, “And it’s for the same reasons it’s not okay to tell someone they can’t NOT feel attraction. Nobody has the right to make that decision for other people.”]

#RegularComic #DebunkingArophobia

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lin-nin · 3 years

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Tribulation & Tenderness - Chapter 8

Ship: Main Technoblade x Reader, some Dream x Reader

Plot: You're a princess in a Kingdom suffering a years long famine. In a desperate attempt to help your people, you accept one simple offer: Marriage to the crown prince of a neighboring kingdom. Anything to help your people survive. Surely it can't be too bad, can it?

Chapter List: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Disclaimer: Cross-posted on Wattpad (discontinued) and Ao3. This is based off of everyone's CHARACTERS. I do not write fanfic based off the actual people.

Chapter 8: Introductions

< | Previous Chapter

At some point in the journey, you had opened the curtains to the carriage windows, peering outside of them curiously. You knew you were well beyond your territory now. All the lands that sprawled outside were Techno’s, small farms and towns whipping by as you went. You weren’t entirely sure exactly how long the two of you had been traveling, but you knew you were beyond ready to get out and stretch. Your legs were growing restless, and you were sure it showed in how you shifted constantly beneath your blanket.

“We’ll be there soon. The capital isn’t too far off now, those are the outlying villages there,” Techno spoke up, glancing from the book in his lap. He pointed out the window, your gaze following the direction. Beyond the window stood a clearly more populated town. It seemed to flourish well. At least from what you could see.

“Good. I’m tired of being in here,” You nearly whined, leaning back some. He chuckled in response, returning his attention back to his book. The two of you had lapsed into silence some time ago, but it was welcome. You took the time to watch the landscape roll by. Now, though, you were just ready to get to the castle. You knew it was definitely gonna be eventful, though you weren’t entirely sure how eventful.

The scenery slowly morphed from the flourishing outer towns to that of the capital, buildings lining the cobbled streets. People were looking towards the carriage, clearly clamoring. Were they excited to see you? Or were they unhappy that it was you inside with Techno? You couldn’t gauge that from inside, and you weren’t sure you really wanted the answer. Not right now, at least. You sunk against the seat, closing your eyes and taking a slow breath. That similar nervousness was beginning to build in your stomach again.

“It won’t be too bad. They’re not scary.” Techno reassured you from his spot, closing his book and setting it aside. He glanced out of the window instead. You shifted, giving a small nod.

“It’s hard to not be nervous. You are the only person here I know,” you murmured. Your fingers curled into the blanket on your lap. Then they smoothed it over, repeating the motion several times. As if it were the most therapeutic thing there was right now. The castle was quickly coming into sight, and you nervously chewed on your lip. Was there anything about this place that wasn't intimidating?

As if to answer your question, the carriage lurched to a halt. No sooner than the carriage's stop, you could hear an almost overwhelming clamor outside of it. "Technoblade!" One voice had called out, clearly enunciating each syllable of his name. You turned to the aforem prince, raising an eyebrow.

Before he could even comment, a much louder voice was calling out, "Oi! Techno! Took you long enough to get here!" Were those both his brothers? He sighed, standing up to move towards the door.

"Might as well get it over with before they come in here themselves." He shook his head, opening the door and stepping down onto the stone beneath the carriage. He turned back towards the carriage and where you sat, holding out a hand to help you down. You had carefully moved the blanket away from your lap, moving towards the exit. Your hand was shaking, you realized, as you settled it into Techno’s. His fingers curled around your palm, grounding you slightly as you followed him down onto the path below. Once you had landed safely, his hand was withdrawing from yours. Much to your chagrin.

Your attention was forced away from Techno, instead to the small gathering of people who had been clearly waiting. Four of them stood there, and you really wanted to shrink away from them. It didn’t help that two of them were tall. Just like Techno. Were those his brothers? There were certainly some similarities between them.

“How was your trip?” One of the men said. He wasn’t as tall as the others, but he was clearly older. Blonde hair was held in a loose ponytail, quite similar to how Techno wore his. Just without the braids. His blue eyes were framed by the faintest hint of bags. He seemed… nice. Whoever he was, Techno hadn’t told you of him.

"It was fine. Philza, meet my fiancée," Techno motioned towards you. The man turned to you with a soft smile, offering his hand out for a shake. You very carefully took it, offering a soft smile.

"Lovely to meet you. I'm these boys's uncle." He let go of your hand as he spoke. At least he was relatively nice. It helped to soothe your nerves. Of course, it still didn't stop you from sticking to Techno’s side, almost literally. He was the most reassuring thing here.

"Those are my brothers," Techno grabbed your attention, pointing out the two tall ones.

"Wilbur," he identified one of them. He was the tallest of the group. If he had been closer, you undoubtedly would have had to crane your head back. He didn't have long hair, but it was instead kept short. Soft brown curls sat messily atop his head, a few trapped beneath a thin circlet. His brown eyes looked nothing short of tired. That seemed to be a theme among the family, but you didn't exactly question it. He raised his hand, waving at you.

"Pleasure." He inclined his head, and you could only blink. This was the man your parents assumed you would be marrying. He definitely held himself differently from Techno, so you could understand their rage.

"Nice to meet you, Wilbur." You were quick to greet, turning to look at the blonde one beside him. His hair was quite similar to Wilbur’s, just blonde instead of brunette. He bore quite the resemblance to Philza. Just younger and taller. Blue eyes looked at you excitedly, not nearly as exhausted looking as his family.

"Tommy." Techno gave Tommy a very pointed glare. Almost as if to tell him to behave.

"It's about time Techno got a wife," Tommy huffed. His voice was louder than Wilbur and Philza's. You had a feeling it could get louder if prompted. Heat rose to your cheeks at the statement, and you looked aside. You weren’t married to him yet.

"I'm Tubbo! Tommy's friend!" The shortest of the bunch greeted rather excitedly. He grinned at you, and you couldn’t help but smile back at him. He seemed kind, even with the ends of his brown locks covering his brown eyes. Techno had been right. They didn't seem too bad, and all around seemed nice. Hopefully you were able to form a friendship with them over time.

"Schlatt has been in a fit about needing you to come talk to him when you came back. I told him you would be busy, but he didn’t care to listen,” Philza spoke up once more, causing Techno to give perhaps the most irritated sigh you had heard.

“I don’t care about him. What does he even want?” Techno put a hand between your shoulders, gingerly steering you forward towards the castle. He walked alongside Philza, keeping his hand steady. You found solace in the touch, not caring to move away. You didn’t exactly want to get lost here.

“Same thing he wanted the past couple of weeks. Complaints about the marriage arrangement. You know he’s determined that this is the worst decision ever. It’s not, but he really has himself convinced it is,” Philza explained to Techno. You couldn’t help but frown at that. You had no idea who this Schlatt was, but he sounded somewhat important. He didn’t seem to like the idea of you being here, either.

“Hey, Tubbo,” Tommy’s voice rang from behind you. You hadn’t even noticed the other three following. That wasn’t exactly surprising, though.

“Yes, Tommy?”

“Have you ever tried telling your father to shut the fuck up?” You couldn’t help but snort at the words, head shaking. “Why’s he care who Techno marries?” There was a couple of seconds of silence following the questions.

“You know he’s kind of scary, Tommy. I’m the one who has to stay with him at the end of the day.” Tubbo sounded almost reluctant, and you peered over your shoulder to get a peek at him and the blonde.

“Remember what happened last time he spoke out, Tommy. We agreed that we wouldn’t have him do anything like that again,” Wilbur had spoken up, voice level and calm. He sounded like a voice of reason to the younger.

“I know, I just wish someone would shut him up. Maybe we should give Tubbo a room in the castle. Techno! Hey, Techno!” Tommy pondered out loud before calling to the man beside you. Quite loudly. That must have been what Techno meant when he said Tommy was obnoxious. You had tuned out of Techno and Philza’s conversation in favor of the one the other three had been having, but turned your attention to the men beside you. Especially since Tommy was relentlessly dragging them into this conversation instead.

Techno sighed, not even bothering to glance at his younger brother. He must be used to this. There was no telling how much this happened. “Yes, Tommy?”

“Could we give Tubbo a room here in the castle? So he doesn’t have to deal with shitty Schlatt?” Tubbo stammered as Tommy spoke, as if weakly protesting. He was largely ignored.

“I’m not king yet, Tommy. That isn’t my call. It probably won’t be for a while.” He reasoned, leading the blonde to frustratedly groan.

“Father never sides with me. Surely you can put a word in for poor Tubbo here.” You hardly paid attention to the shifting scenery around you, only distractedly noting the warm toned walls and tile floors. A touch nicer than your own castle, but somehow that wasn’t a surprise. You were more fond of listening to the siblings bicker back and forth between each other instead.

“Depends. Does Tubbo want a room in the castle?” All attention shifted to the aforementioned male, who seemed to sweat under the pressure.

“I, uh… I mean, I’m not entirely opposed to it, no. It would be nice to get away from him…” Tubbo murmured in uncertainty. Techno nodded, pausing in the middle of the room they had entered. Subsequently, his hand fell away from your shoulders and you immediately missed the warmth of his hand there. It had been comforting. Sure, it wasn’t as intimidating now that you knew four other people at least liked you. Yet you also knew there was one person, if not more, that weren’t entirely fond of you. Or the idea of you.

“Then I’ll speak to him about it. I’m sure we have a room to spare. Now, do you three intend to follow me? I would like to do a tour of the castle,” Techno turned to the three others. You glanced over towards Philza, who simply chuckled and shook his head.

“I’ll see you around, little one,” The older blonde said. He walked by you, gently patting your shoulder in reassurance as he walked up one of the sets of stairs winding around either side of the room.

“I’m going, Nihachu wants to see me for something anyways.” Wilbur didn’t say much, instead opting to just walk away. That was fine with you, honestly. You briefly watched him go down a hall to the left of the stairs, wondering who Nihachu was. You’d probably meet them sooner or later. There were a lot of people to meet, but there was time for that.

“Oh, you hear that Tubbo? Techno wants to be alone with his woman-” Tommy had began loudly, causing Techno to groan.

“Tommy-”

“Let’s give him some privacy. Behave yourselves, you two! Don’t do anything Quackity would do!” Tommy was already leaving, dragging Tubbo alongside him. Techno sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. You really understood what he meant when he called Tommy obnoxious.

“Ignore him. He’s an idiot. Let’s just go, shall we?” He turned towards you. You laughed a little, shaking your head.

“He’s certainly a character. They all are,” You couldn’t help smiling fondly though. You knew you would grow to like them. They had, momentarily, squashed all stress and worry you had felt. Techno’s hand returned to your shoulder, moving you along the way to finally start the proper tour of the castle. Without Tommy breathing down your shoulders.

Next Chapter | >

#technoblade #technoblade x reader #dream #dreamwastaken #dream x reader #reader insert #kingdom au #sleepy bois inc #sleepy bois family #dream team #dream smp #t&t

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dingyuxi · 3 years

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COMPREHENSIVE GIFFING TUTORIAL (vapoursynth + ps cc 2018) + some tips and tricks on color correction, blending and subtitles

You guys asked for it, so here we are! This is by no means the gold standard to giffing. Rather, this is simply my process and my own preferences. Take it as you will. Additionally since I use a mac some of my controls/panels may look different than what you would see for windows users.

DOWNLOADING YOUR SOURCE

This step is extremely important to the quality of your gifset. If you want high-quality gifs I would recommend giffing sources in 1080p whenever possible (especially if you’re going for larger dimensions). You may get away with 720p for smaller gifs. For kdramas, your go-to source would be dr*maday or torrents. (you can search my faq tag if you’d like to know specifics on finding and downloading torrents).

IMPORTING + PROCESSING YOUR FILES WITH VAPOURSYNTH (VS)

Please note that this tutorial does not cover basic installation and set-up of vs. If you would like to know how to download and set-up vapoursynth (it works for both mac and pc) along with some of it’s basics you can find more information at: https://hackmd.io/@nibreon/vapoursynth-book/%2F%40nibreon%2Fvapoursynth-book

Once you’ve identified what portion of your video you’d like to gif, simply drag your video file into VS. Specify the start time and duration of the clip you’d like to import. Typically you’ll be aiming for ~3-8 second clip depending on how big your gifs will be. I am very lazy when it comes to importing. The less of it I have to do, the better. Therefore, I often import clips that are 10-15 seconds long, sometimes even up to 20 seconds. I wouldn’t recommend going over 15 seconds most of the time though, because this will usually bring you over the 500 frames photoshop allows you to import at once. (when I do go over, I will sometimes import the processed VS file into PS in segments). You can also choose to import the VS output as segments if you want all your gifs on separate canvases. (I'll go into more detail on this later)

Once you’ve imported the clip into VS your screen should roughly look like this once the resizer pops up:

In the top left is where you will be applying your cropping, sharpening and denoising filters. Cropping: Keep in mind the Tumblr dimensions: 540px for full-width gifs and 268px for half size gifs, 177/178/177px for 3 gifs across. The height is completely up to your own preference. Usually I work in 540x300px. Once you edit those parameters you can drag/resize your video file to fit your new canvas. Sharpening + Denoising: You can choose to skip this if you would rather sharpen in ps. I personally do all my cropping, denoising and sharpening in vs. I use finesharp and KNML for sharpening and denoising respectively. Once you select those two filters from their drop down menus, be sure the select the checkbox as well. You should now notice 2 additional lines of code in the top right box. The line that reads: video = core.knlm.KNLMeansCL(video, 0, 6, 4, 1.2, channels="YUV") is where you will adjust your denoising parameters. You will only be adjusting those 4 numbers. I usually use: 0, 1, 0, 1.2. Now find the line that reads: video = hnw.FineSharp(video, sstr=0.22). These are your sharpening parameters. once again we’re only adjusting the number at the end. I typically use somewhere between 0.33-0.55. Depending on the quality of your source and preferences these parameters may change.

Here is a breakdown of the KNML parameters (source: @/nibreon HackMD):

Once you have finalized your parameters, copy all the code in that top right box and paste it into your vapoursynth editor. Note: you can ‘inactivate’ certain lines of code by adding the # symbol at the start the line. That line of code will then be greyed-out. This is what your code should now look like (the highlighted section is the part I just copy and pasted):

If you would like to preview your filters and see if you need to make any adjustments, simply navigate to the top bar and select script > preview. If you like what you see, great! If not, you can adjust the parameters directly in the editor until you see a result you’re happy with. Once you’re happy you can move onto the final step in vs: processing.

Processing: Once again, navigate to the top bar and select script > encode video. Another window should pop up. Make sure you set ‘header’ to ‘Y4M’ then click ‘start’. Patiently wait for that to finish processing. The longer your clip is and the more filters you add, the longer it will take.

IMPORTING YOUR CLIP INTO PHOTOSHOP (PS)

Now you’re done with the vapoursynth section! Not too hard, right? I use the timeline method when I gif. To import your video file into ps navigate to file > import > video frames to layers. Here you can use the sliders to further specify what range you would like to import. Make sure the ‘make frame animation’ box is checked. To optimize smoothness of your gif, avoid checking the ‘limit to every _ frames’ box. Hit ‘OK’ and wait for the frames to import. Depending on the size of your clip, ps may notify you that you are importing a large file and it may take a long time to process, simply say ‘ok’ to this. UNLESS you get a message saying it will limit to 500 frames. This means your clips contained more than 500 frames and you should select a smaller section to avoid cutting out any critical parts. (Note: you can always go back and repeat this process to select a smaller range of frames from the same video clip until you’ve imported all the frames you need).

Timing: You can adjust the timing of your gifs before converting to timeline. Select all the frames (Navigate to the icon with the 4 bars at the bottom right of you screen. Select “select all frames”). Click the drop down next to the timing of any of the frames. Select ‘other’ and input a your preferred timing. I personally use ‘0.04′ but I've seen people use anywhere from 0.4-0.8ms. Also as a note: when you convert your gif to timeline it has a tendency to mess up your timing so even if you input 0.04 or 0.05 it won’t actually be that timing later. If you want the true frame rate you can set your timing right before saving. You can also adjust timing at the end. (see export/saving gif section for more info)

Now the next part can be tedious and for that reason I’ve created numerous actions to speed up this process. But for the sake of this tutorial I will walk you through the steps. At the bottom of your screen is your timeline. As you can see, it defaults to frames, but we want to convert this into a smart object so that all your coloring/edits are made to all of the layers. To do this: 1) Navigate to the icon with the 4 bars at the bottom right of you screen. Select “select all frames” 2) Now select all your layers in your layer panel. On mac you can use cmd + option + A as a shortcut. 3) Back to the icon with the 4 bars, select “convert to video timeline” 4) Right click on all layers (which should still all be selected) and find “convert to smart object”

(Aside: Actions) actions are SUPER helpful to streamlining your giffing process. you can find actions people have made available on resource blogs like itsphotoshop OR you can choose to make your own custom actions. To do this, all you need to do is locate your action panel. Then from the controls at the bottom of the panel select the one that looks like a sheet of paper to “create a new action” Once you’ve named it and hit ‘ok’ the record icon should now be red. PS will now basically ‘record’ whatever you do. To stop recording hit the square icon. Now whenever you want ps to execute the same set of steps you just did, you can locate the action you just made and ‘play’ it by selecting the triangle icon. I highly recommend making an action for the steps I just outlined above to convert your gif into a smart object timeline. It will make your process much faster and more painless.

COLORING

Now the fun part! I focus on emphasizing the colors already present in the video source or getting rid of some less-than desirable overtones when I color. It gives the gif a natural look, but makes everything pop a little more. We will be working with selective color, curves, levels, and brightness/contrast mostly. This is the original gif I will be using to demonstrate coloring:

Curves: I always start with curves. The first curve layer I use to set a desirable black point. To do this, locate the top dropper icon from the curves panel and select the darkest point of your image. This will set that section to “true black” Feel free to play around with this until you find a desirable outcome. Now add another curves layer. This one we will be using to adjust the brightness/contrast. First, I always start off with ‘auto’ and see where that takes me. If you like the outcome, great! If you don’t play around with the different curve points until you get an outcome you like.

Selective Color: This adjustment layer will be your best friend. For me, I will typically work with reds, yellows, and black. If the source has a lot of blue/cyan I will use those too. Basically look at your source and determine which base colors you’d like to emphasize/alter. For blacks I usually up the black by +1-5 depending on the source. For reds, it also depends on the source. But I will typically either decrease cyan (to make red stand out more) or increase cyan (to make the red not look so overexposed). You want to be careful here. Overexposing the red can make your skin tones look like red tomatoes! And for my content base, where most of the actors are of asian descent, we should be emphasizing the yellows and NOT the reds (see aside on color correction + skin tones for more info). After altering the reds to my liking, I do the same process for the yellows. To bring back natural skin tones and color, you will likely want to darken the yellows, expose them a bit more and maybe even up the yellow slider. A common rule of thumb: if you want to make any of the colors less exposed, increase the cyan. If you want to increase exposure on any of the colors, decrease the cyan. If you want a color to appear more strongly or prominently, increase the black. The magentas and yellows I use more to adjust hues. You can add multiple selective color layers to further emphasize your changes.

Levels: Now we will work on the lighting some more. This creates more contrast and depth to your gif, often making them look ‘crisper’ To emphasize the bright parts, move the right-hand slider to the left. The emphasize the dark parts, move the left-hand slider to the right. You may also choose to move the middle slider to adjust more neutral lighting. Do so until you find a setting to your liking.

Miscellaneous: Depending on your gif you may need to play with other adjustment layers. Some other ones I often use are the brightness/contrast and exposure to adjust lighting and add more dimension to the gif. For additional color correction I use color balance and to a lesser extent hue/saturation and vibrance.

(Aside: Color correction + skin tones): We are anti-whitewashing and anti-redwashing when it comes to asian media. Like I mentioned earlier, natural asian skin tones have yellow undertones, not red/pink. Therefore when you’re bringing in color you should be mindful of this delicate balance. Adding more red does NOT equal un-whiteashing. Be VERY careful how you balance the yellows with selective color/hues/color balance.

^^ Here is an example of what I mean by overexposing the reds. Poor seungho is looking as sunburnt as a cherry tomato. Note: if your original source is already overexposed with red, fix it! You can do this by applying the same basic principles I explained earlier. Try upping the cyan on the reds in selective color, or shifting the color balance to favor cyan over red with the color balance adjustment layer. You may also choose to favor the yellow over blue.

^^ Now this is straight-up whitewashing. This is what happens when you are not careful with your correction of yellow. I’m not saying you can’t touch the yellow slider or get rid of some yellow form the overall image (because sometimes it is very much needed), but you should be very mindful how your corrections can affect skin tones. If you decide to decrease saturation of yellows, or decrease yellow in the selective color section of the reds, do so with caution. If your reds are looking too pink, add some yellow in the red selective color, up the yellow and black of the yellow selective color.

^^ If you hit that happy medium, you can emphasize the natural skin tones without overexposure. Here the underlying tones are very much still in the yellow range.

(Aside: Blending): I will very briefly talk about how to blend two gifs together. First make sure you’ve imported both your gifs into ps and converted them into the timeline format. On one of the gifs, right click the gif layer in the layer panel > duplicate layer > select the canvas of the gif you’d like to blend the gif with. On the canvas you just copied your second gif to, you can now drag the two layers around the on the canvas to get your desired positioning. On the top gif apply a layer mask. This can be found in your layers panel at the bottom, and is indicated by the white rectangle with the circle. Next, make sure you select the mask in the layer panel (it will show up as a white rectangle on the layer you applied the mask). Grab your paintbrush tool and make sure your color is set to black. Now you can effectively ‘erase’ the part of the top gif you don’t want to show anymore. I recommend setting your brush hardness to 0% to get a smoother transition. You can also play with the opacity settings. If you want to add back in a part you erased, just switch to a white paintbrush and you will be able to undo what you had just ‘erased’ with the black. When you merge the gifs, they will play the same number of frames. This means your blended gif length is limited by the gif with the fewer number of frames. You can move around your timeline layer and shorten the included portion by dragging either end of the timeline layer in until you get both gifs to play the parts you want.

CAPTIONS/SUBTITLES

I often get asked about my subtitle font/styling settings. Personally I find the best fonts for subtitles are calibri and arial. I use calibri with the following settings: 12-14px, bold italic plus faux bold, 1px black stroke (optional: drop shadow set to ‘multiply’ at around 85% opacity), and tracking (VA) set to 75. If you would like your subtitles to fade-in or fade-out you can apply the ‘fade effect’. Locate the b/w square icon in your timeline panel. Select fade and drag it onto your text layer in your timeline. You can then right click on the wedge shape to adjust your fade duration. I usually use 0.35s. If you drag and drop the effect towards the beginning of your text you can get the fade-in effect. To get the fade-out, simply drag and drop your fade towards the end of your text layer.

SAVING/EXPORTING YOUR GIF

We’ve reached the final stretch! If you need to adjust your frame rate timing: you will need to revert your timeline to frames. To do this: 1) Navigate to the icon of 4 bars at the right of your timeline panel. Select convert frames > flatten frames into clips. 2) Navigate to the icon of 4 bars at the right of your timeline panel. Select convert frames > convert to frame animation > when promoted hit ’ok’. If at this point you see more than one frame in your timeline panel, delete the frames until only one is left. In the example below I would delete the first frame by hitting the trash icon from the timeline panel.

If there is only one frame, leave it as is. 3) Navigate to the icon of 4 bars at the right of your timeline panel. Select ‘make frames from layers’ You will most likely need to delete the first frame in your timeline panel (it won’t have your coloring). Sometimes ps adds in some ‘blank’ frames as well, delete those too. Now you can adjust your timing.

Once your timing is set: When you’re saving your gif, just keep in mind it must be under 10mb. Navigate to file > export > save for web. When it comes to your save settings I typically use either selective diffusion or adaptive diffusion. I also also occasionally use adaptive pattern (I find this is best for dark scenes without a lot of contrast). Set colors to 256, quality to bicubic and looping options to forever. If you want to preview your gif, hit the preview button in the bottom left. Otherwise, go ahead a hit ‘save’ and you’re DONE!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Feel free to check out my ‘ps things’ tag for more photoshop stuff/mini tutorials. Additionally @/nibreon and the hackmd site I linked previously are your best resources for vs questions. If you would like to see my giffing process in motion feel free to check out this video. It’s sped up but you can slow down the playback. Additionally be sure to check out resource blogs like itsphotoshop for more helpful tutorials and resources.

If you reached the end of this beast, kudos to you! I hope this helps and never be afraid to reach out with any questions.

#gif tutorial #itsphotoshop #resources #kdramaedit #ps things #m:tut

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