#<- to block this nonsense

[gallus-rising]

here we go. i’m doing it and no one can stop me

i am (going to attempt) to rank all stands by sexiness starting with the JoJo’s themselves. by the end of this “project” all of the winners will be pitted against each other in a final showdown, as judged by me, Standfucker Extraordinaire. unfortunately no TJL stands will be included as we’ve not seen enough of them in action. sorry Jodio 😔

plz keep in mind that these are only my objectively correct opinions u-u

11: Tusk Act 1

marketable plushie lookin ass

10: Tusk Act 3

change up the colors and this thing the world’s ugliest sleep paralysis demon

9: Hermit Purple

its just vines. idk what i’m supposed to say. comes w Joseph’s slut energy built in. it’s cool that its purple i guess?

8: Tusk Act 2

Johnny you have 4 stands and almost all of them are ugly as sin wtf man. the design is finally fun so points for that at least

7: Crazy Diamond

now we’re getting onto the fuckable stands babyyyy

Crazy Diamond is just a tad much. his colors are ok, the hearts coordinating w Josuke’s design are cute. but then there’s the plating, the helmet, the tubes(??), and he even suffers from jjba Codpiece Syndrome. it’s all a bit much and doesn’t quite fit. in some of the anime promo art they gave him a sparkly diamond texture, but besides that i don’t care for him all that much.

6: Star Platinum

using the DiU palette bc of all the Star Platinum colors it’s the best. the pastels are cute and make for a fun contrast w the big muscles

an oldie but a goldie. bc Araki hadn’t gotten his footing w stand designs yet Splat looks more unique in retrospect. hair and clothing, capable of facial expressions, a tasteful loincloth as opposed to Another Fucking Codpiece.

i also think it’s cute how artists like to draw him w starry hair :>

5: Gold Experience Requiem

GER? this guy fucks. there’s simply no other way to put it. he fucks so hard. unfortunately points have to be redacted for that dead eyed stare and unmoving grimace. GER could be so much higher if he didn’t have such an awful baked in expression and this will become an unfortunate running theme. maybe if GER had more screen time that could be mitigated, but alas...

4: Stone Free

one of the few female stands, which sucks bc Araki goes off w girl stands. just look at her. the blue accented by gray, the radical bright green sunglasses, the sexy hints at her string powers, she even complements Jolyne nicely if stand/user synergy is needed. she’d probably be higher up if we saw more of her bc Araki prefers to show off her powers via having Jolyne psychically unravel which is fun! but does mean this beauty didn’t get enough time to shine 😔 not sure how i feel abt the bumpy texture as well. makes things a bit busy

3: Tusk Act 4

finally!! after 3 shit stands Tusk strikes gold in the final hour. its weird, its pink, its got (jo)stars its a cowboy, what more could you want??

more screen time goddamn it!! Tusk Act 4 gets like 2 and a half physical appearances across 2 parts. Araki wtf man. Tusk Act 4 just fucks so hard tho so it’s gotta be top 3

2: Soft & Wet

YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEA!!! NOW THIS IS WHAT I CALL A FUCKABLE STAND! Soft & Wet is the platonic ideal of a MC stand. fun mechanical parts, cute little face, the Stand Tubes finally serve an aesthetic purpose and aren’t just awkwardly tacked on. he also has such pleasing colors and silhouette. i love him so much and he’s easily one of the best, cutest, most sexy stands in all of jjba

However

Soft & Wet has 3 variants and they all look the same. base Soft & Wet, Josefumi’s Soft & Wet, and GO ⭐ BEYOND are identical. so many good multi-stage stands and Soft & Wet drops the ball on every level 😔

1: Gold Experience

Gold Experience is not just fuckable, he’s h*rny. nonstop GE everyday all the time GE is just Like That and the sheer confidence of it all overpowers the few negative aspects of his design. even the Fucking Codpiece

GE has more than 1 facial expression and a sexy alt form to mix things up. he pairs w Giorno perfectly. he’s got a Lot going on w the loud colors, ladybugs, wings, helmet, teardrop markings, vague insect texturing, and hints of The World. but unlike Crazy D it all ties together. amazing. flawless. unbelievable.

and if you don’t know what i mean when i say GE is h*rny. BEHOLD:

in every one of his Iconic poses he is dtf. the h*rniest stand for the h*rniest part. this is how it was meant to be godbless godbless and goodnight.

#*furious pecking* #jjba #the standfuckining #<- to block this nonsense

[butchmartyr]

it’s fascinating how trans women on here are tokenized to signal people’s comraderie with trans (terfs dni in bio/trans women are loved here), while at the same time we’re also harshly ejected from communities and painted as predators for piecemeal grievances that are handwaved away when done by non trans women. you can say all kinds of nasty stuff about someone, and as long as she’s a trans woman, people will believe it! people love the ideal of a trans woman but haven’t worked on their biases enough to do anything but grow to despise actual trans women

#im still blocked by a bunch of popular tme dyke bloggers despite being a nobody shot poster #just because of stupid callout nonsense #why’s it gotta go on like this #i might be dodging a bullet with people that gullible and shitty blocking me. but nobody else knows about them! #mine #genderposting #okay to rb

[soriastrider]

encountered this post the other day and immediately thought of them lol

#dirkjake #dirk strider #jake english #homestuck #my art #drew this nonsense in an attempt to get over my apparent creative block #can’t get anything done recently #but i kinda like how they turned out here :)

[stavosmissionary]

(some) gender nonconforming and androgynous characters in asoiaf

much thanks to @staysail who was the advisor and co-conspirator for this post <3

#my gifs #blood tw #long post #any nonsense on this post will be blocked. #notes #i really really wanted to include sam #its hard to find a plus size child. but i shall keep lookinh #merlin suggested the visenya fc..thank u bestie <3 #i also really regret not being able to find a proper buff fc for bri. alas #for obara too. pretend shes a teen here #part 2 perhaps.... #with people i missed like #sam baela the mormonts elissa farman qarl the maid lysono marr etc

[xoxoemynn]

I know it shouldn't surprise me, but it's frustrating af to step outside the fandom and read about OFMD's cancellation on more general entertainment sites and see the majority of reactions be along the lines of "oh well it was probably Taika being over it, he always gave me the ick anyway so, whatever," and then often devolving into comments about his personal life, or conspiracy theories that can be disproven if you use your brains for 30 seconds or maybe step outside and touch grass idk idk.

And this isn't me saying "omg how could you dislike Taika" bc truly unless you're being racist or antisemitic (which, let's be real, many are), I don't give a fuck what you think about him.

But the point remains that if you have a show that is all about celebrating queer joy and finding yourself later in life, that has a diverse cast of characters in terms of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and body type, that was WRITTEN by a diverse group of writers, that is receiving praise from critics and fans alike, that from all reports was one of Max's most successful shows despite them doing next to no promotion the first season, that had two successful seasons and the creator is on the record saying he had a plan to tell the entire story in three, and it gets CANCELED.

I don't give a fuck how you feel about Taika, or how you feel about OFMD. You SHOULD be concerned about that. Because your show is next.

And before you come at me with "it's just a show, have you seen what's happening in the world?" Yeah. I fucking have. And the arts matter. They have always mattered. It's how we've shared stories and fostered communities and passed down what's important to us as a society. And they've brought us joy. And I don't know about you, but I think we could all do with a fuckton more joy in our lives.

This is absolutely a huge loss, and unfortunately it's not going to be the last as streaming services continue to go deeper in crisis. If that doesn't concern you, idk, go enjoy yourself watching season 47 of The Bachelor.

#also truly if you're going to come on here and immediately start spouting the very nonsense I described above #kindly get fucked #and then do something productive with your life like calling your representatives or donating or going to a protest #you being a dick to people who are upset isn't going to do anything #your smug self-righteousness isn't going to save the world #the world sucks and people should be allowed to experience joy by watching a show where they feel represented #and anyway if you try it on this post or in my inbox I won't be engaging I'll just be blocking #so you're wasting both of our times #byeeeee!!! #ofmd

[sazuka57]

No actually I’m mad enough about it to speak up.

This new trend of judging ppl for making AUs upon AUs for their blorbos instead of making ocs or filing the serial numbers off is annoying af.

I wrote for ocs for 6 years (probably closer to 8, but I digress). Do you know how lonely it is writing for ocs? No one wants to read it. No one cares about it. I had exactly one person who consistently liked or even interacted with my posts and they’d do it as support, without actually reading any of my work. I wrote over a thousand pages of “original fic” and only one 90 page story got any attention and that was only because I promoted the heck out of it. The rest? Nothing. So much nothing that I just stopped posting. Kept writing, but stopped posting—because no one was reading it!

Not to mention—fanfics have a lot of sites to post on. You’ve got wattpad you’ve got ao3 you’ve got ffn you’ve got tumblr etc etc. But for original work? Uhhhh maybe tumblr. Maybe some obscure site that has probably a hundred users trying to make their story pay to read. That’s it. There’s no easily accessible platform for these things.

And also! LET PEOPLE HAVE THEIR FUN. Like this is legit the new kind of cringe culture? “Wow thinking about the blorbos in another au, so cringe. Make your own ocs loser.” Like. Stop it. Some people don’t wanna make ocs. Some people don’t wanna file off the serials. They just wanna create for the love and fun of their blorbos.

So just. Stop it. Just stop. Stop judging people about having harmless fun. If you wanna do ocs, good for you. Have fun with your ocs! Create! Spark that joy!!

And if you wanna keep using your blorbos, then good for you! Make that 36478162 AU. Let it spark joy!!! Real life works hard to suck joy out of all of us, so do what makes YOU happy.

#and if I see one more damn post about this #about making fun of ppl #I’m blocking your ass #i don’t care if we’ve been mutuals for all of my tumblr life #you can bugger off with your judgmental nonsense

[misc-obeyme]

Okay, I need to know.

How do you guys pronounce D.D.D.?

Because I was definitely saying it like dee dee dee, but then in one of the phone calls Barb definitely said dee three and now I'm losing my mind because I've been saying it wrong the whole time.

And also dee three is so much easier?? But if they're gonna say it that way why not spell it D3??

I mean how am I supposed to look at D.D.D. and pronounce that dee three, you know??? I have complaints!

Unless everyone else has always been saying it that way and it's just been me who missed it... which is probable.

#it was in a ww too but I try to block those out #and I was also like nah I didn't hear that right #but then Barb said it too and well that was it #it probably is just me huh #slow on the uptake over here #late night nonsense posting #obey me #obey me nightbringer #misc rambles

[luckthebard]

I’ve been thinking about this for a while but the most recent round of Orym slander on twitter and some of the player assumptions accompanying it are making me finally write this:

Liam is not a “glutton for tragedy”. He just likes emotionally intense storytelling, and is actually very drawn to hopeful endings.

I am so beyond exhausted of seeing that take. Liam did not plan for Vax’s tragic ending. Vax’s ending was a result of dice rolls that Liam honored because he’s always true to the emotional journey of his characters. Caleb, who so many people cite as tragic, has a happy ending. He lets go of his selfish and borderline impossible plans and settles down and achieves his childhood dream and finally makes some peace with his past. Orym is grieving, sure, but he’s focused on his job and loves his friends and wants to help people and is finally getting on with things. The insistence he’s “going dark” or going to “take a tragic turn” seems to mostly be coming from this assumption that Liam always chooses tragedy which just isn’t true.

I think the level to which Liam allows his characters to openly express grief and deal with very difficult emotions has led to this idea his characters are “sad” but prior to disintegration Vax’s ending was building to an at-peace happily-ever-after with Keyleth. He didn’t choose to have Vax die, the dice did, so Liam honored that. This would be like claiming Taliesin always makes tragic characters because he had Molly stay dead and very nearly had Percy not come back one time after the dice led to their deaths. Caleb has a tragic backstory, sure, but his journey and ending are incredibly hopeful and positive.

Orym’s really out there being a little halfling on an adventure as if Merry Brandybuck stepped into D&D and people are acting like he’s destined for a tragic downfall just because Liam’s an openly emotional player.

#cr discourse #critical role #not gonna lock reblogs on this but I will at the first sign of nonsense #this might be the thing that makes me finally block all of CR twitter

[franstastic-ideas]

I love Pokémon, it's one of my special interests, but sometimes I really hate the fanbase.

"Volo doesn't actually have any sympathetic or redeeming qualities (you just think he's pretty)."

"Geeta is secretly evil!"

"Carmine is so TOXIC!"

"Kieran is unforgiveable-"

Shut up. Shut Up. SHUT UP.

UP! THE! SHUT!

And continue to shut up until you've acquired some reading comprehension!

#I cannot actually make anyone shut up outside of using the block button so I don't have to see their nonsense #but I am So Tired™ #pokemon legends: arceus #pokemon scarlet and violet #the teal mask #volo #geeta #carmine #kieran #the teal mask spoilers

[jemmo]

Making sense of love for love's sake: the game

Despite all the things i absolutely adore about how the plot unravels and expands in love by love's sake, upon first watch, there's some things i couldn't piece together, which @lurkingshan echoes in their post:

'The way the author was messing with Myungha and forcing cruel choices on him really does not track with a desire to help him find happiness.'

And to preface, this is not something i fully get yet either. I think i'll need a good month and a sizeable reading list of relevant resources to understand just what/who this author/sunbae is and what his role is and how he is associated with myungha. But as always with the best shows for meta (aka bad buddy), as a plot unfolds, you can always find a better understanding by looking backwards and re-contextualising what you've already seen. so i watched ep 1, specifically the scene between myungha and his sunbae at the bar. And i will talk about how everything said in this scene has a whole new meaning now we know the full story, but for now i wanna focus on that question that they keep coming back to; "Then... will you change it for him?".

When you watch the show for the first time, your brain follows the simplest, most obvious version of the story you're being told, one where myungha has been pulled into the world of his sunbae's novel that's being turned into a game and given the opportunity to fix the thing he didn't like about it; making yeowoon happy, and thus you just think the rules of the game are imposed by the author, and so when these cruel choices first come up, you see them as the difficult roadblocks that are nevertheless necessary to any kind of game, forcing the player to make an impossible choice so that the game can continue in a certain direction and its only after that you learn whether it was the right choice or not, or there is no right choice, it simply changes the game you are playing.

And when its revealed what this game actually is, at first i tried to interpret these cruel choices, namely the choice between yeonwoon and myungha's grandma, and at best i could come up with the concept of this being a choice between staying stuck to the past aka choosing his grandma, even though he knows that choice doesn't mean she's safe bc he knows the future where he loses here, its an inevitability, but thats the small happiness he knew before it was taken away and thus that happiness is known and safe, theres no risk, versus choosing to pursue a new happiness, a love of yeowoon and thus himself, which he doesn't know, he hasn't experienced yet, and could be risky. Its a happiness that isn't guaranteed like his grandma, but its a happiness that looks to the future and has hope in it that he can find a new happiness to pursue despite what has happened in his past.

And that fits nice, okayish. But then i watched ep 1 and heard that question "Then... will you change it for him?" And watching through the rest of the eps, we come back to this scene at the bar and each time we get a new run up to the author asking this question, either new dialogue is added or we hear a different piece of the conversation entirely. It starts at the beginning of ep 1 as:

"Because Cha Yeowoon is the only one who's miserable." "It can't be helped that some people's lives are like that" "The fact that some people are destined to live that kind of life is what's vile."

Then a bit later in ep 1 we go back and its expanded.

"It can't be helped that some people's lives are like that" "The fact that some people are destined to live that kind of life is what's vile." "Why? Do you think you'd write it differently?" "Yes, definately. Someone like Cha Yeowoon, or someone like me with an awful life, can also be happy."

And then all the way on in ep 6, we get this new dialogue.

"I don't like talking about destiny." "Why?" "Because it means everything is predestined." "Then do you not believe in fate?" "Fate and destiny are the same. My grandma likes to say that. She said life is like a written book, and how you'll live and die are written in it. (...)I don't like things like this. Even if fate is already destined, I think it can still be changed. Otherwise, there's no point in trying." "Really? Then Myungha..."

And while we don't hear the author ask the same question, I feel like him getting cut off like that insinuates that the conversation leads to that same ending point. All that is to say, every time we hear this question being asked, its like we learn more and more about what this whole thing is, what the game is, what myungha is saying he will do by agreeing to do what the author asks. And every time, we see myungha being more defiant against the idea of yeowoon being resigned to his miserable ending. He starts off thinking that kind of life is destined, and while it's miserable, its not something he can fight. Then he says he'd want to write the story differently, bc yeowoon, or even him, could be happy. He challenges the idea that yeowoon, and thus himself, is fated to be miserable, and opens up the possibility for happiness for them both, but doesn't yet have the means or resolve to do it, its like he knows its possible on a fundamental level, but doesn't see it as something he can actually achieve. But then we circle back to the idea of destiny and books, both of which came up in the previous quote, and seems incredibly pertinent seen as this whole thing is about a novel this author has written. Myungha talks about how he hates the idea that life is a book where everything written is predestined to happen, from the moment you live to the moment you die. He says "Even if fate is already destined, I think it can still be changed. Otherwise, there's no point in trying." That vile way of life he described before that he said was destined, he is now saying it can be changed, and that possibility is now something he's holding onto, its what he sees hope in so that he can keep trying, bc now he finally is trying, he has the resolve, he's trying to realise this thing, this impossibility of rewriting the life he thought was destined through the way he loves yeowoon.

And coming back to those cruel choices, given this fresh context, it made me think. bc this isn't actually a game that myungha has been put into where the rules are dictated by an author completely separate from him. He said himself, he'd rewrite it, he'd change things for yeowoon. And when you start to think of it less as him fighting against a rigid, removed system and more like him being a character in a story he is trying to rewrite himself, that has both the author and his own limitations, or just his own if you're in the school of thought that the author is some figment or part of myungha himself or his conciousness, then you can start to see where these cruel choices might come from. They could be myungha, the author making edits to this new story, imposing his own doubts and limitations on himself. When he says he has to pick between Yeowoon and his grandma, what if that's the new author myungha seeing this story unfold and thinking no this isn't right, he can't have it all, i'm not deserving of this much happiness.

And what makes me like this idea even more is that when we get that second choice between ending after 14 days or getting 100 days back at the cost of resetting Yeowoon's affection to 0, that whole conversation happens in what I think the bar actually is which is this frozen moment in time where myungha is in the water with this extension of a voice in his head that is talking through these things. That conversation in itself needs its own post, but when you look at it both as a decision to break up or not or a decision to hold onto life or not, you can see how the author is just this soundboard relaying the decisions myungha is going through in his head. The author's voice is his own, weighing up his decisions. And if he is the author here, it only reinforces that the person making the rules of this game is him. You can even extend it further to the idea of the debuffs, where he puts in place this thing that makes it so he causes harm to yeowoon when he's around, and its only by garnering affection that he can prevent it. He gives himself a reason from the get go to stay away from yeowoon and reason it as him doing it for yeowoon's safety, when in fact the only way to make yeowoon safe is to increase his affection, which he can only do by being near him. Its a system that at first gives myungha a reason to stay away aka not like himself, but ultimately says the only way you're going to make yeowoon like you, or the only way you can like yourself, is if you accept risk. And that in itself screams to me of a myungha writing in these game systems that are trying to encourage his own-self love while falling at the hurdle of his own lack of self-worth.

The idea is still messy in my head even for me, but i just really like the idea that myungha could be trying to fix this thing both as a character and game master, and that both these versions of him have these flaws that manifest in their different ways to cause the events we see. It kinda is the definition of being your own worst enemy, the idea that in order to work towards loving yourself, the biggest obstacle you have to encounter is yourself, bc we are the ones holding ourselves back, making all these rules that make it harder to like ourselves and pursue our own happiness. The voices in our head telling us that we aren't good enough and aren't deserving are our own, and while the things that happen to us can inform what they say, we're the one's reinforcing those words. And what this show teaches us is that, if we're the one holding that pen all along, we can choose to change what those words are. If we make the rules, you don't have to create a game with concrete ultimatums, you can create a game where rules don't control you. Instead, you make the decisions, and you can make the ones that make you happy.

#wow look at me writing actual kinda thought out meta #also something something about how the pen being in his pocket wasnt a pen given to him by the author its a pen that was his the whole time #look even if this isnt the right interpretation as intended by the author i just kinda adore this headcanon ive come up with and i cant wai #to rewatch the show again through this lens and see if it holds up #i just adore the idea of this whole thing being this manifestation of a flawed doubtful person trying to navigate through their own messy #nonsensical thoughts to find their own happiness #bc yes thats what triggered me thinking of this whole thing. me seeing that post and thinking yeah that doesnt make sense7 #but then again when you tell yourself things an put your own mental blocks in the way they dont make sense either but you still have to fin #the ways to work around them in order to find happiness #like those things dont go away we just find the loopholes or the ways to overcome them that mean we can be happy #the game is your own mind - deal with your own existential crisis as you wish #anyway this is only part 1 in what i hope will be a very extensive meta analysis of this show - stay tuned #love for love's sake

[gendrie]

i will never understand how arya is just brushed aside where the north's future is concerned. she is not even considered wrt northern leadership, but arya has interactions with numerous northern houses + riverlands houses (a part of robb's kingdom) and other characters associated with the north. which is, contrary to popular belief, actually very significant.

house manderly: imprisoned in harrenhal alongside wylis

house cerwyn: imprisoned in harrenhal alongside lord medger

house glover: imprisoned in harrenhal alongside robett glover. arya/weasel is introduced to him after she instigated weasel soup to help free him. glover is now plotting with wyman manderly to retrieve rickon.

house karstark: imprisoned in harrenhal alongside some soldiers and arya showed karstark men mercy at the stoney sept before they were killed for their crimes

house frey: formerly betrothed to elmar, worked alongside him and other assorted freys in harrenhal

house bolton: arya served as a cupbearer to roose. "arya stark" is married to ramsay and is the current lady of winterfell

house smallwood: arya was treated kindly by lady smallwood and noted their sigil at trw bc of that kindness

house tully: arya sees firsthand the mixed reception that her grandfather has amongst the people of the riverlands

the red wedding in general: this was an attack on ALL of the north and motivates many lords to seek vengeance against its perpetrators. arya is one of the few northerners to survive the red wedding.

the brotherhood without banners: a group started by (none other than) ned stark to seek justice in the riverlands against the mountain. the bwb still has a few of winterfell's men within it's ranks most notably harwin

house wull, house flint of the mountains, house liddle, house norrey and house mormont: all join stannis to save "the ned's girl" aly mormont is "lady arya's" female companion at present

the night's watch: yoren saved arya in king's landing and tried to deliver her home. arya traveled with his recruits until they were attacked. after he was killed arya insisted that she and gendry dig a grave for him. arya defended samwell when he was nearly jumped and offered him food. arya executed dareon for desertion.

wildlings: a ship full of refugees from hardhome washed up in braavos. the wildling women and children had been enslaved until the sealord seized the boat. arya informs the faceless men that the lyseni sailors plan to go back to hardhome for more slaves which is likely why the iron bank end up supplying ships to help jon

"winterfell's people": arya underfoot maintained a close relationship with the smallfolk of winterfell like hodor, old nan, jory, maester luwin (ect) and continues to cherish their memory throughout her journey

this is just an overview. arya is constantly interacting with northerners throughout her story. the bulk of her time is spent in the riverlands, but that is where the war for the north was fought. even when she left to go to braavos she is still involved in the events of the north whether its via northern characters arriving in braavos (which will keep playing out in twow) or via her name being used.

honestly? its absurd to assume sansa will have "governance" of the north when she's yet to interact with a single northern character who wasnt a blood relative or her friend. arya has fought alongside the northerners, been imprisoned with the northerners, sacrificed for the northerners, given food and mercy and justice to northerners. more so than the vast majority of characters in this series. it makes absolutely no sense for her to be disregarded like this because arya is, clearly, the frontrunner for northern leadership.

#asoiaf nonsense #in my head im retired but this one was sitting in my drafts anyway so #whatever #that person always has some stupid shit to say about arya too #my own b tbh i shouldve blocked them awhile ago

[awesomechocolatesauce]

One of these days, I'll learn to stop getting upset and scroll past a bad take of Astarion and the blatant bi/pan erasure of them, but that day isn't today.

I also don't see it happening tomorrow.

Anyway, here's a screenshot of my female human bard and the canonically pansexual vampire elven man who adores her.

#'I DON'T KNOW HOW ANYONE CAN SEE HIM WITH A FEMALE' probably because he's pan??? #I'm going to start blocking people on sight for this nonsense #I know it's not something worth getting upset about because he's a fictional character but I can't help myself #people who make posts like 'stop romancing him with a woman' just gets me so mad #he's canonically pansexual #also I paid $80 for this game so I'll play it however I damn well please 💕 #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #bg3 #bg3 astarion #astarion #astarion x tav #elayne the bard #astarion x elayne #jessica's personal stuff #text post #screenshots

[unpretty]

i swear to god i've literally made long posts of romance novel recommendations before, featuring book covers, which meant that:

the book was going to be about people falling in love. because that's the plot of romance novels. there might be other set dressings, like a murder or the reform act of 1867, but those are secondary to the main plot (some people don't want to kiss, but then they do, but they can't until they can) (this is an oversimplification but you get what i'm saying here)

the people who fall in love are most likely going to be on the cover, especially if they're marginalized because authors like to be clear about that kind of thing

and i still. STILL. on a post that was at least half diverse romance where various queer models of color were about to kiss on the covers. on a post where i mentioned the set dressing or any identities not immediately obvious from the covers, which were all pretty obvious. on a post that i mentioned was exclusively romance novels and were not going to be of interest to anyone who doesn't like kissin' books. got angry comments of:

but what is it about??????

i don't care about white people, this list is not for me

i don't care about straight people, this list is not for me

i don't have any money, where can i pirate these

some people have one standard accusatory response about every book they weren't planning to buy anyway and there is nothing, literally nothing, you can do to stop them from regurgitating it right up to and including telling them directly "this book is everything you say you want and also it's free right now"

... but at least the "is it gay" crowd tends to enthusiastically support your shit as soon as they find out the answer is "yes"

#original #sees a post where multiple covers feature black sapphics about to kiss: hmm.... seems like straight white nonsense to me #anyway i don't have the patience anymore for people who just parrot shit without actually fucking reading so i just block now #sorry! you tried to make your poor reading comprehension my problem so now you don't get to read my shit! #(and yes i'm still mad at every person who's tried to cover for the fact that they hate romance novels by saying booktok instead) #(i see you and i see what you're doing and you're not clever)

[comfortyart]

30 min nonsense

#Im still in an art block save me #so have some messy nonsense rbekdhf #bkdk art #art tag #bakudeku #bkdk #bnha #lord explosion murder god dynamight #bakugo katsuki #midoriya izuku #katsudeku

[the-last-teabender]

It's been days but I'm still thinking about how someone basically asked Neil Gaiman for passive permission to use AI for writer's block and he was like "I recommend having a friend instead"

and a lot of people were like "lol yeah but your friend was Pterry" and SURE. POINT.

But the majority of friends I consult when I have writer's block are not prolific beloved authors. And many aren't authors, period.

The story I just sent in to an editor? The friend who got me unstuck is a mechanic by trade, a writer once in a while for fun. He's also known me for half my life, knows what kinds of stories I like to write, and knows what makes an entertaining story for the readership I was writing for (since he's part of it). The whole second half of the story - the good part - came about because of his suggestion. You can read it probably later this year and let me know if he was helpful, but I'm pretty sure you'll agree that he was.

Your consultant for writer's block doesn't have to be The Late Sir Terry Pratchett to be worthwhile. A friend who knows you and enjoys a good story will still help you infinitely more than an algorithm whose only chance of knowing anything about you is if it was fed one of your stories.

#and randomthunk is one of my go-tos for writer's block also #the swan and the flame is largely down to her #again a few words of suggestion that worked because she knows me and my nonsense