kayla-the-sphinx

[kayla-the-sphinx]

Okay, but the pure cinema with what they’ve done with Poseidon here, the interaction with Sally, the LONGING he has to truly connect with Percy, its all so heartbreaking in the best way. You can see so clearly that, when he dreams, he dreams of Sally and Percy, of them as a family, of what could have should have would have been had he been a mortal man. It just… its so good, and I’m so here for the angst that comes with this as the seasons go on

#percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #sally jackson #Poseidon #that scene on Olympus wow #you could really feel the angst through the screen

[kayla-the-sphinx]

Adding in pubmed for any medical or biological study research (really helpful for papers and staying informed on diseases people overhype or don’t seem to understand)

Skip Google for Research

As Google has worked to overtake the internet, its search algorithm has not just gotten worse.  It has been designed to prioritize advertisers and popular pages often times excluding pages and content that better matches your search terms 

As a writer in need of information for my stories, I find this unacceptable.  As a proponent of availability of information so the populace can actually educate itself, it is unforgivable.

Below is a concise list of useful research sites compiled by Edward Clark over on Facebook. I was familiar with some, but not all of these.

⁂

Google is so powerful that it “hides” other search systems from us. We just don’t know the existence of most of them. Meanwhile, there are still a huge number of excellent searchers in the world who specialize in books, science, other smart information. Keep a list of sites you never heard of.

www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.

www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.

https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.

www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.

http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.

www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.

www.pdfdrive.com is the largest website for free download of books in PDF format. Claiming over 225 million names.

www.base-search.net is one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free

#research #papers #homework #medical knowledge #all of these are really good tools!

[kayla-the-sphinx]

Something I love about stories is a concept an old English teacher told me: every story has a bit of the author’s soul in it. Sometimes it’s just like a “tiny mirror” like OP described it, and other times it’s a character walking onto the page like, “hello my name is AUTHOR’S FULL NAME and I’m here to go on the coolest possible adventure with all of my favorite characters/famous people.” It’s been like this since stories were made. Heck, other people have said this before, but the Divine Comedy is a legitimate self insert adventure and it’s revered as a literary classic! Whether you’re writing fanfic or novels or plays or comics or something else entirely, you’re going to end up showing at least a bit of yourself in the characters, so why should anyone be shamed for having fun with that and proudly throwing all of themself onto the page?

The stigma of self-inserts is so harmful to the creative process. Relax. Admit it. Everything you make is derivative of yourself, always, no exceptions. You can turn the mirror into tinier and tinier shards or you can make it as big as you want to reflect as much as you want. At the end of the day it's always going to show you inside of it. Pretending otherwise is stupid.

#writing #self insert #self indulgent #when in doubt remember what Jane Austine named her favorite characters #the best characters are the ones we can admit have at least some backing in our own experiences

[kayla-the-sphinx]

Otter Nonsense

#otters #otter nonsense

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Hello gamers, local disabled cane user is gonna teach you how to design a cane.

Tl:dr: design a cane based on comfortability and the disability of the character

First things first, you need to know why you’re character needs a cane. Do they have chronic pain? Unhealed injury? Muscle or joint issues? Do they have poor blood circulation which makes them dizzy? Do they need the cane all the time or does their disability fluctuate? Do they use a wheelchair or a walker sometimes?

There’s a lot you should know about a characters ability/disability in order to find what type of mobility aid they should be using.

There are a bunch of different kinds of canes/crutches. The 4 on the left are crutches. The difference between canes and crutches are, crutches are meant to keep weight off your legs as much as possible, and generally you use a crutch on each arm. Canes are used for stability and you usually only use one. Folding canes are great for people who only use their cane sometimes

Great! You’ve picked either a cane or crutches for your character. I’m done right? WRONG. Cane handles.

This is probably the most important part of canes because if you have the wrong handle your wrist will die.

I gently kiss all the canes on the left, they are all very good for grip and wrist, although the middle left is designed for left or right hand so you cannot switch hands with it.

The ones on the right are also pretty good, they wouldn’t be my first choice but they are still great. The top one is also very good as it has a wristband so you can’t drop it as easily. (Trust me when I say I DROP MY CANE SO MUCH)

Sigh. The middle cane handles… the bottom one I have never actually seen but it looks like it would kill my wrist. The top one is uncomfortable for long period uses, but it is good for if you’re a shepherd. And the pimp cane… the knob cane… it’s awful. Just no. It’s hard to grip, it is unstable it’s bad it’s awful I throw it into a fire. Please don’t give your character, they don’t deserve that pain

Now you know the basic ergonomic things, there are different shafts for canes and crutches

You can really get creative with this type of thing, just as long as it looks stable enough.

Here are some good examples of pretty canes that are ergonomic and good to use! (featuring victor arcane who i adore)

Add some cute details to the cane if you want! You can add stickers, colours, grip support. And while I love the concept of cane swords those are very unstable, if you want a cane weapon you can make it lead weighted, put knives in it. A poison vile in the shaft. Be creative.

Just some of these components are important to consider with a disabled character. There’s a lot more to consider with wheelchairs and walkers which I don’t have the experience with.

If you do have any questions my asks are always open to questions about this stuff! I’d love to help if you’re making a disabled character.

[kayla-the-sphinx]

I really appreciate the horror in Dracula (as of where I am now in reading Dracula Daily) not coming from what we now think of as the “standard” horror. Like, yes there’s still lots of lurking and mystery in the shadows, but the story is much more reliant on persistent dread rather than a quick jump scare. I’ve never liked horror, and this whole endeavor was to get out of my comfort zone a bit, but I think the subtle change in Jonathan from carefree to scared to utterly numb and succumbing to his fate is a much better horror narrative than 90% of horror media made today which focuses more on the physical harm rather than the persistent, psychological distress of being in harms way

#dracula #dracula daily #horror

[kayla-the-sphinx]

rereading my own writing is just a constant fluctuation between "damn, girl, you wrote this? (affectionate)" and "damn, girl, you wrote this? (derogatory)"

#writers

[kayla-the-sphinx]

Whole-heartedly BEGGING writers to unlearn everything schools taught you about how long a paragraph is. If theres a new subject, INCLUDING ACTIONS, theres a new paragraph. A paragraph can be a single word too btw stop making things unreadable

#writing #any time a new idea new dialogue or “camera shift as someone put it happens start a new paragraph

[kayla-the-sphinx]

Something I’ve been thinking about is how plot twists can not only change a single event in a story, but the entire story’s perception. I mean, an average plot twist that maybe shakes a few things up but doesn’t affect much will surprise the readers, and if written well it may still be enjoyed even if it’s known, but a GOOD or GREAT plot twist can make a work become an instant classic and give it immense staying power.

For example, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a MYSTERY where the two are presented and assumed to be two separate beings and it’s only revealed at the very end that they were the same person all along. Reading this without knowing who they are? Groundbreaking. Reading the book even while knowing the twists: still good, and you end up following right alongside all the other characters.

Plot twists really do seem to be one of the most decisive parts of media regarding its staying power. Has anyone even heard anything about Game of Thrones since the disastrous end full of exciting “twists?” Me neither. However, I do know several people (myself included) who gave Attack on Titan a second chance and more careful watch after all of those twists were revealed. Personally, I know I still have a long way to go to master the “perfect” plot twist, but for anyone out there who is looking into ways it can be done, I think I’ve figured out one major piece:

The best plot twists are really just the plot all along. The twist itself is the lie told to the audience in the beginning, but the moment they feel it kick in is really when the truth is just revealed. Maybe one or a few characters know the actual plot, but keeping the others (and therefore the reader/viewer) in the lie will ensure that the twist is not only effective, but makes sense in the grand scheme and leaves a more lasting impact.

#plot twist #writing #AOT #got #dr jekyll and mr hyde #this feels kind of rambly but it’s been on my mind lately #also if you don’t like gore don’t wants AOT #I didn’t finish it at first because I hate shows with so much death #that said there are several videos on YouTube to watch about the twists and lore if you want the gore free version of this epic story #also if there are any other great twists please feel free to comment them or add them to the post!

[kayla-the-sphinx]

Sometimes Death of the Author is about the ideals and themes conveyed by a text, about how author intent is often lost to the winds of a thousand life views shifting their words and finding new, yet just as impactful meanings. Other times, it’s about a book with a remarkable sense of dread and suspense in its time becoming a comedy after a hundred or so years of the main character being an extremely popular Halloween staple

#dracula daily #writing #Dracula #dr jekyll and mr hyde #this post is about Dracula mainly since I’m reading it right now #dying laughing as this dude is mildly unnerved by his good buddy Dracula #this also works for Jekyll and Hyde though since the entire thing originally was a big twist

[kayla-the-sphinx]

that some people respond to any well-foreshadowed reveal with “ugh that plot twist was so predictable” proves bad faith criticism has rotted their brains to the point they think it’s bad writing if they can correctly identify information the writers were intentionally giving them

#writing #plot twist

[kayla-the-sphinx]

Based on actual events

[kayla-the-sphinx]

i think a big thing that disconcerts adults about learning new skills is that learning as an adult means you are very aware of how bad you are at the beginning in a way children aren’t.

i picked up the saxophone when i was 11 and played until i was about 17. by the end of it i was first chair in our highest ensemble, a district honor band player, etc. but at the beginning – and this is important – i was bad. for the first year or so, i had no rhythm, i couldn’t make my tongue line up with my fingers, i was consistently sharp, etc. etc. other kids actually made fun of me for my lack of skill.

but 11 year old me didn’t care. 11 year old me practiced, but she also thought that being able to play the pink panther made her incredible (i shudder in retrospect). i mean, i was aware i wasn’t a master, but my skill level didn’t deter me from wailing out those notes in a way that i’m sure had my band director questioning his career decisions.

right now, i’m trying to pick up the guitar. it’s a very different instrument from the saxophone, and i struggle a lot with things like strumming patterns and barre chords. and sometimes i don’t want to play, because i know i’m bad at guitar. and sometimes i beat myself up when stumbling through a poor acoustic rendition of Everybody Wants to Rule the World because it’s not how i want it to sound. and it’s made even more frustrating because i can navigate the saxophone so smoothly.

but then i remember that i have to think like a kid. i might not be the best at guitar by any stretch of the imagination, but every little bit of progress is still progress. humility is a big part of learning, but if you treat a practice session like your own private concert, it becomes so much more fun, even if you’re bad like i am.  when you’re first picking up a skill, whether it be an instrument, or a language, or a fine art, no one is expecting you to be the yo yo ma of that thing. forget about how little you know about the skill and think instead about how much you have to learn – that’s fun! do your best!!

[kayla-the-sphinx]

There is a new Chrome extension that detects if a video you’re streaming has a strobe in it, will freeze the video and stick this warning up there until you approve it.

WHERE THE HELL HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE????

[kayla-the-sphinx]

OVER 900!!! Omg, I know it’s nowhere near viral but dang, this is WAY more traction than I ever thought a 3+ year old post would garner!!!

…so uh, I guess everyone’s in a forest craze now?

#i made a post about forests like 3 years ago #it had maybe 8 notes initially and i’ve honestly debased deleting it whenever i de-clutter my blog #forests #posts

[kayla-the-sphinx]

…so uh, I guess everyone’s in a forest craze now?

#forests #nature #I made a post about forests like 3 years ago #it had maybe 8 notes initially and I’ve honestly debased deleting it whenever I de-clutter my blog #I came in the other day to see it getting a ton of attention out of nowhere #y’all it’s at like OVER 200 NOTES NOW!!! #I’m not complaining this is actually pretty cool tbh #also I love reading all the tags and add-ons people left with their own experiences #idk if anyone who sees this post will even know what I’m talking about but I just had to say something because this is wild to me

[kayla-the-sphinx]

I cannot emphasize enough how much you need to read thoroughly through the terms of any publication before you send your writing to them. It is mandatory that you know and understand what rights you’re giving away when you’re trying to get published.

Just the other day I was emailed by a relatively new indie journal looking for writers. They made it very clear that they did not pay writers for their work, so I figured I’d probably be passing, but I took a look at their Copyright policy out of curiosity and it was a nightmare. They wanted “non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide license and right to use, display, reproduce, distribute, and publish the Work on the internet and on or in any medium” (that’s copy and pasted btw) and that was the first of 10 sections on their Copyright agreement page. Yikes. That’s exactly the type of publishing nightmare you don’t want to be trapped in. 

Most journals will ask for “First North American Rights” or a variation on “First Rights” which operate under the assumption that all right revert back to you and they only have the right to be the first publishers of the work. That is what you need to be looking for because you do want to retain all the rights to your work. 

You want all rights to revert back to you upon publication in case you, say, want to publish it again in the future or use it for a bookmark or post it on your blog, or anything else you might want to do with the writing you worked hard on. Any time a publisher wants more than that, be very suspicious. Anyone who wants to own your work forever and be able to do whatever they want with it without your permission is not to be trusted. Anyone who wants all that and wants you to sign away your right to ever be paid for your work is running a scam.

Protect your writing. It’s not just your intellectual property, it’s also your baby. You worked hard on it. You need to do the extra research to protect yourself so that a scammer (or even a well meaning start up) doesn’t steal you work right from under you nose and make money off of it.

#writing #publishing