#I have others I want to post but these were shorter and relevant to current events | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ozzgin · 25 days

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Do you have any advice for those who want to post their stories and ideas on here but are just starting out

Not sure if I'm the best person to offer advice on these matters, as I feel my presence here has been mostly accidental. That being said, I am capable of introspection and I've been here long enough to notice patterns, so I can gladly share my own observations with you! Feel free to draw your own conclusions. Everyone else is invited to offer corrections or additions. :)

Guide under the cut because it's another long ramble divided in 3 parts.

What to post

The million-dollar question. Do you want to share original stories, or fanfiction? Various genres, or reader centered romances? You have the choice to try your luck and dive in with your own thing or scour the market to build a following first.

I've seen trending original stories from accounts who'd just started out, but don't use that as a reference for the quality of your own work. If you're not gaining traction, it doesn't automatically mean it's bad. There are hundreds of variables involved: the time, the context, the people. It takes one big blog to discover your story and share it, and you've taken your first step into recognition. The main issue is, there's no guarantee when or if it's going to happen.

Your other choice is to introduce yourself with fanfiction. Consider it a way of saying “let me show you my writing skills through something of your interest”. If you've been wanting to write fanfiction from the beginning, great! Now comes the next question: what is your goal? If you want more recognition, you'll want to consider the fandoms. Is there something you're into that's currently also trending on Tumblr? Writing for Hazbin Hotel, for example, will most likely get you more notes than writing for some 90s manga very few people know about. At the end of the day, you shouldn't feel pressured to write for what's "selling", but you can always find a compromise that works for you. Once you gain more followers, you can always sprinkle in more variety. Having more people who appreciate your work will give you a little boost when venturing into other areas.

I'll give you my personal case: I decided to share my Baki story right at the time a new season was out. It just so happened that many other people were interested in said character. "I only watched two episodes and immediately searched for fics", or "I saw an edit and now I'm here". So, there were people actively keeping tab on recent works for more content, and one of the relevant blogs in the fandom shared my content as well. That got the ball rolling. I've always been a multi-fandom blog, and thus with more visitors came more diverse requests. "Wait a minute, I came for X, but I see you like Y, too!"

TL;DR: If you're interested in original work or lesser known fandoms but want recognition, try to expand into trending and popular fandoms to gain visibility.

How to post

Is there a specific template you must adhere to? Absolutely not. However, I've noticed many common elements from people sharing their stories. There are authors who will dive right into the story, no title, no descriptions, but they already have followers who know what to expect. If you're just starting out, you might want to offer a helping hand to people who don't know you yet. Have a concise, clear title. Make it obvious from the beginning what your story is about. You can include trigger warnings or content previews. Maybe a little synopsis or two-three sentences to summarize everything. I've seen some blogs mention that their shorter stories get more interaction (1-2k words), so this might be something to consider. If you would prefer going for longer works, perhaps it's wise to give everyone a heads-up and include the word count at the beginning. If you want to encourage people to check out your other works, you can include a link to your masterlist at the top of the post.

Regardless of appearances, once your content is written, it needs to be tagged. Which brings us to the next topic:

This truly isn't meant to call anyone out, just something I noticed. Many people don't know how to use the hashtag feature.

Let me give you a fabricated example: you just published your best fanfiction so far. The magnum opus of your work. Time passes, and you barely get any notes. You tagged the post with #fanfic (because it's fanfiction, right?), #writers of tumblr (to notify other writers of your presence), and #series name. It's not bad by any means, but these are extremely generic hashtags. If your only anchor for the post is, say, #Harry Potter, it will be immediately drowned by the massive influx of various content under this tag: memes, fanart, discussions, screenshots. Everything meets here. If your story is a reader insert, your target is not only the overall fandom, but specifically the people looking for this type of story. Which characters are featured? Is it more of a fluffy romance, or downright smut? Is your original character a monster? If so, what kind? You have to help people find your content. If you're not sure what tags to include, use other blogs as reference. Find stories similar to yours and check the top posts. What other tags did the author use? Is there a common pattern among these popular stories?

TD;DR: Make your posts clear and obvious within the first few lines. Overly general or overly specific tags are not bad, but they shouldn't be your only identifying features. Make it very easy for people to navigate your blog (masterlists, consistent hashtag system, etc)

When to post

At one point I asked myself, out of curiosity, why some of my own posts are more popular than others despite the same amount of effort. Is there a difference depending on when you release your content? The answer is yes! There's an article discussing the best times to post on social media in order to maximize engagement. Of course, there's many variables involved, and these time intervals are not a guarantee. When are your followers most active? When do you notice a peak in notifications? Have a look at this neat desktop feature. It gives you all the answers you need. If your engagement is the highest at a given hour, it might be worth a shot to post your content then. You can also schedule your posts to match the patterns.

Let's say you posted something, and you suspect it hasn't reached all of your followers. Maybe it was a slow day, and it got less engagement than usual. I've seen people who reblog their own content the next day or even regularly, so you can opt for that if you're worried you missed out.

Additionally, Tumblr seems to reward activity. You may post as often or as little as you'd like, as long as you maintain a certain regularity. If you search for top posts/blogs of all time, you'll notice it's not actually an all-time chart, but only the content with recent engagement. A post with a million notes that hasn't been touched in 5 years won't show up. Same for blogs. The recommendations you see are of accounts who frequently post under the given hashtag. This is something to keep in mind as well.

Lastly, if you're willing/are extroverted enough, you can always try to network and build a group of mutuals. Reblog, leave comments, reach out to people within the fandom or who do the same thing. When a post is fresh, it may be temporarily bumped to the top of the search if it receives a burst of engagement. So, it definitely helps to have a bunch of friends who give you a little boost.

Yeah. This is what I have. It's not a matter-of-fact textbook, just what I personally witnessed or my own inferences. The most important detail is to give yourself time, and of course to have fun! I wish you the best of luck, and don’t forget that your ideas are worthy regardless of the outcome.

#personal #advice #sorry for the ramble y'all this is what 6 years in academia does to you

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tuherrus · 8 months

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Could you do a TL;DR of the whole Kino thing, please?

i can't promise that this will be much shorter but i'll do my very best for you anon!

DISCLAIMER ONCE AGAIN DO NOT HARASS KINO OR DO ANYTHING STUPID, i'm not your dad but use some common sense

i'm pulling info from the doc currently available here and asks and messages i've received which are available in the tag kinodraws on my blog, everything is alleged, use your own brain and make your own judgement on whether you wish to support kino

kino (they/them), current account kinodraws on most platforms, is a fairly popular online artist and now tattoo artist who has for years on various accounts scammed people out of money via unfulfilled commissions, fundraisers and recently even a charity zine (the doc mentions a bunch of other allegations of bad behavior and random stuff like ghosting webcomic companies etc but i'll try to keep this brief and focus on what i feel is most relevant)

some of kino's previous accounts and their scamming related to them:

PAISELEY, currently permabanned on furaffinity, here's a livejournal of a bunch of people corroborating their experiences being scammed by kino through unfulfilled commissions

CAPONE, also permabanned on furaffinity for the same reasons

RIVETS, permabanned once again on furaffinity for scamming

ARTIST BEWARE PAGE, the user got a refund after nearly an entire year of messaging kino about the subject

RUN ME THROUGH ZINE, all pages of which kino deleted, the proceeds of which were supposed to go to charity, you can find a lot of the things related to this on my tag and pinned post it was an ofmd zine and was very badly managed (missing artists and pieces etc etc) that ended up never being released kino ghosts the zine, deletes the pages and pockets the money made (allegedly $1300 but we have no real way of knowing how much the proceeds actually were), posts a falsified receipt only after people pressure them to speak on the matter after months of silence, people contact the charity and the charity reports kino donated just $1 kino once again goes silent and only after a giant uproar they FINALLY donate the money to the charity, but not before they blame someone else for not posting receipts about it (it was kino's responsibility) and guilt tripping people about how they've been harassed (again i do not condone harassment but people literally wanted them to just donate the money where it was supposed to go in the first place and they refused to even address that nor why they forged the first receipt)

kino also has a tendency to make expensive frivolous purchases (electronics, a hot tub, tattoos, a custom chair....) time and time again once they've scammed money out of people via whatever method they've chosen (they often post about these purchases too after deleting whatever emergency commissions post or a post asking for donations), and while far be it from me to tell someone what to do with their finances, they can't seem to stop scamming in order to get money

so i'd strongly suggest not supporting kino! they manipulate, lie and steal and claim they're a victim of some mass bullying campaign when in reality they've spent seventeen years scamming people out of money and people are getting rightfully angry! they also will likely continue to do so as long as people give them money

again use your own brain when reading people's testimonies about kino, a lot of them in the tag on my blog, but i believe these people and that their experiences are real considering the number of messages i've received (some of which people wished to remain private)

kino's made their bed and i want them to finally lie in it, so even if one person is convinced not to support kino via all this information then i'll be satisfied

i'm sorry this still got so long!

#kinodraws

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blondietalks · 7 months

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Is blogging still relevant in the age of TikToks and Instagram?

Hi, it’s blondietalks here! On this week of my Digital Communities thread, I will be exploring the topic of blogging and its relevance in the current Internet atmosphere.

In my opinion, blogging is still relevant in some ways. However, it is incomparable to the relevance of TikTok and Instagram as the public spheres on these platforms are getting more engagement by the day.

The Pilot episode of the Internet: Blogging

Blogging was the foundation of the rise of the Internet. Blog websites – formerly known as weblogs, created the first public sphere for people all over the world to come together online. Before blogging, traditional websites that were set up by big companies did not allow a two-way communication system for the readers to interact with (Duermyer 2022). Blogs have become a public sphere by allowing equal participation for the users and the sharing of public opinion.

Knowing this it is no surprise that a large chunk of users still use the Internet to blog as their way to embody their online presence. Being a part of the blogging community – for example, being a member of a subgroup on Reddit – gives people a sense of community and support from the peers whom they interact with. In all its glory, people still blog because there are others who still demand for it and engage with it, in turn making it somewhat relevant.

The Relevance of Blogging

When people search on Google “why does my Epson printer won’t go online”, they most likely wouldn’t want to watch a whole video explaining why. This is where blog posts come in handy when people are searching for content that they can glance through quickly. Blog posts are still mainly the first result that appears when you search for a topic on Google. The Google algorithm that prevails blog websites on their platform is what keeps these blogs around.

Some people turn to blogging because it gives them a sense of anonymity. For people outside of my circle, you wouldn’t know who I am writing this blog post on Tumblr. People feel more comfortable writing their thoughts online instead of recording a video of themselves talking on media-based platforms. Based on an article on BBC (2021), online anonymity helps people to openly speak up about their concerns while protecting their privacy. Using platforms that focus on pieces of writing instead of media that might expose their identity allows the participation of anonymous users.

Blogging vs. TikTok and Instagram

So how does blogging fit in the current rise of TikTok and Instagram?

Blogs are getting less engagement these days because people are more attracted to fast-paced content. As the attention span of social media users get shorter and shorter, content that are digestible and easy to follow will get the engagement that they strive for.

An example of how Instagram can be used to capture the attention of social media users is the phenomenon of spreading political and environmental education with the use of infographics. Instead of reading through lengthy blogs about a chosen topic, resourceful accounts such as the Instagram account below make information more digestible and attainable for people.

@/impact on Instagram posting an infographic about the history of slavery. Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CwS5HGGu1wH/?hl=en&img_index=1

People also prefer TikTok and Instagram over blog websites because of the intelligent algorithms that these applications offer. These platforms can learn a user’s interest just by their engagement and activity on the application. According to Huang (2022), generation Z are using TikTok as their search engine because of its powerful algorithm that makes searching for information more convenient. TikTok is constantly learning the user’s behaviour and presenting them with content that is in their favour.

Video-based platforms give people an enriched experience with visual stimulation compared to blog websites. Based on Huang (2022), a TikTok user stated that a restaurant review on the application feels more genuine based on watching the reviewer’s facial expressions. People use TikTok to obtain product and establishment reviews because they can observe it first-hand through video recording.

The conclusion

So, in conclusion, just because blogging is not trending through the charts anymore, that doesn't mean that it’s completely irrelevant. I believe that blogging is still relevant as ever because people will go back and forth between platforms and in ways of expressing themselves on the Internet. Some days they feel like hopping onto TikTok trends – and another day they might write up their opinion on Tumblr under a hashtag that no one else is reading through.

That's all for this week, catch up with you guys soon :)

List of references Duermyer, R 2022, ‘What is blogging?’, The Balance, 29 November, viewed 1 October 2023, <https://www.thebalancemoney.com/blogging-what-is-it-1794405>. Huang, K 2022, ‘For Gen Z, TikTok is the new search engine’, The New York Times, 16 September, viewed 1 October 2023, <https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/technology/gen-z-tiktok-search-engine.html>. BBC 2021, ‘Social media: should people be allowed to be anonymous online?’, BBC, 26 February, viewed 1 October 2023, <https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/56114122 >.

#MDA20009 #Week4

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cozylittleartblog · 9 months

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Oop, hello there! ^^ I remember you from DA, still think your art is so cool!! Still fond of the vintage characters and the world of Tessa n' Val! I'm currently testing the waters on Tumblr lol, hoping to get around a different vibe for documenting my projects n' chatting about stuff I like, and wanted to ask: as someone who's been on Tumblr for a while, what are your main tips for a starting artist in the platform? Wish ya a great day! Stay artful n' creative :]

HI!!!! i remember you too, i always get really excited when artists i like come here. tumblr is the only website i really use for myself and not just to post art, so it means i get to follow them and interact with their art 🥺 i ditched deviantart for everything that isn't posting art and bitching about the website via status updates lmfao, the new inbox and watched deviants tabs are so... out of the way and counter intuitive. hate it there.

anyway, I've written a general tumblr how-to post because there's been so many exoduses (exodi??) from other platforms over the last few years, but I don't think I've ever written one for artists? or at least I can't find it if I did. so here are some hot tips 😎👉👉

NUMBER ONE BIGGEST RULE: if you're an artist and you want to actively gain a following and curate your art, please have a separate art blog where you post exclusively or near exclusively art. it's ok to reblog a post here or there, but tumblr is a website About curating and having specific blogs! it's not that people don't want to see or hear about the artist behind the work, but they don't want 43289 unrelated memes and posts for fandoms they're not in 😅 admittedly i have skipped following some good artists here because their reblogs completely drown out their art and clog my dashboard. people really like curated blogs, almost every artist has a separate art blog 'round these parts. (it's completely fine to post WIPs and text posts discussing your art too, some people would like to see your process!)

speaking of curating: tags are your best friend! tumblr tracks the first 20 tags I believe, so use the first 20 tags to add your important search terms. this is where you put anything you'd want to turn up in the search. really you probably wont have more than 10 of these tags. after that you are welcome to ramble in the tags or use organizational tags for your specific blog.

not sure how to tag? search up what terms you'd use to try to find your own post if you were someone else, and see what tags popular posts in that tag used. you should ALWAYS use the #art and #artists on tumblr tags, as well as any relevant common trigger/content warning tags :D here's how i do it:

FOR FANDOM POSTS: where applicable, I tag Fandom, Fandom Acronym, Featured Characters, Featured Ships, and sometimes #[fandom] fanart and/or #[fandom acronym] fanart. FOR ORIGINAL POSTS: you can tag your art medium (digital art, traditional art, sculpting, etc), the general aesthetic or themes, time periods, and if it features your OCs you can use #oc and their names so if people want to see all your OC content they can find it. admittedly i mostly post fanart so i am very spontaneous with the tags i use on my original art posts lol

4. shorter captions seem to be preferred by the masses, I personally either dump my extra comments in the tags of the original post or I'll put them under a cut. unless it's extremely relevant to the post, like explaining ideas or headcanons

5. have all your handy links in your bio! you can use basic HTML coding to insert links with text and put in line breaks. you should have links to other socials (or something like a carrd that links them for you) and your support streams, like shops and tip jars and patreons. and ofc a little about you and what people can expect to see you draw!

6. have your inbox open! you don't have to take requests, but sometimes someone will throw a brilliant idea at you that you may Coincidentally be inclined to draw. it's also just fun to interact with people who like what you do! sweet comments go a long way

7. last one i can think of - do a seIf-reblog at some point in the day. people live in different timezones and not everybody finishes their dashboard. personally I schedule posts for 12 pm cst and then one seIf-reblog at 8 pm cst. it's also okay to reblog your older artworks for new followers to see, especially if you haven't posted in a while. TV airs re-runs and so can you B)

hope some of it helps!

#tumblr guide #tumblr how to #artists #ask #ninacti0n #will be following u from my main hehe #tumblr artists

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aita-systemized · 18 days

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This account hasn't posted in a while so it might be inactive but I'm gonna shoot my shot.

WIBTA for cutting and/or dying our hair w/o asking the other alters?

(ages not relevant, but genders are). So our system has a lot of trouble with making decisions, both for our whole system and frequently just as individual alters. In the case of making a decision for the whole system, we usually have to do it on the spot and forget any decisions we make as a collective, and have trouble getting even most of our frequent fronters out within the time frame needed to make the decision. So most of our decisions are just one guy making the decision and the rest of us dealing with it afterwards.

I, the host, (N, ftm) hate having long hair. It makes me dysphoric everytime I remember that the hair I feel is mind and it's on my body. This is alleviated if I tie it up somehow so I can live with long-ish hair, but I'd prefer to cut it. I also think the current shade of pink does NOT suit us and it isn't one anybody likes all that much (that I know of at least). So I'd like to at least dye it a dark purple and preferably cut it short.

The problem with this, is that I know not every alter would agree with that. Even if I haven't seen anyone say they like this pink (even the people who wanted pink in the first place) its not like I know everything, someone might. And most of our alters have long hair in the innerworld and would likely prefer our hair to be even longer than it is now. Most of our alters are more feminine, I'm one of few who isn't. I understand that I'm outnumbered here but it's my body too and I am so, so tired of the pink at this point. I could take growing it out if we just dyed it purple.

This situation could be solved much easier if making a collective decision about fucling ANYTHING was actually a reasonable goal. We try polls and writing all our ideas down and stuff but that just doesn't work. Something I am worried about though, is making other alters upset, particularly M (presents as transfem in innerworld but were afab so do with that what you will? Idk if im allowed to say shes transfem but it's relevant info) who I love and adore.

They may get very uncomfortable if our hair is cut, as could many others who I might not even get to ask the opinions of if they yk, don't front before we have to decide. But keeping it long also could upset some alter, including myself! Different genders and alter feeling dysphoria about things involving our hair and all wanting to look different... it's a mess.

Also also, we are bad at taking care of ourselves. It's difficult to brush and wash out hair enough, which is way less of a problem if it's shorter.

So, wibta? Please help

(oops! sorry for the inactivity, we are very disabled and our energy crashes HARD)

#system aita #did #osdd #system #alter #poll #intrasystem #17 #anon

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theromanticscrooge · 1 year

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Rambles About What Happened and What I’m Doing

I left YouTube back in late 2017. Then I slowly quit and pulled away from being “The Romance Scrooge” over 2018, too.

What originally happened was that my laptop died. I didn’t have backups of my videos, my Photoshop and Illustrator files, or any of the assets/footage I was actively using to make videos at the time. It was the topping of a shit cake. I was 2 years out of college with a fine arts degree, but I wasn’t selling art or working in an art studio like I’d hoped. There were no art studios close enough. I had no confidence in myself or my art. I was juggling 5 different part time merchandiser jobs in addition to picking up whatever gigs I could find on freelancer apps. I wanted to be in charge of my schedule, my life, my time, and every detail.

Instead, I was drowning. I had burned out from trying to do too much at once and refusing to acknowledge that I had anxiety and depression among other personal issues that I’m not getting into. Everything was slowly shoved onto the backburner because I was floundering so bad, getting more stressed out, and had no idea how to fix things let alone get help or start rebuilding my life. Then 2020 happened and honestly, it was a downhill slide until the past 6-8 months. I’ve made more progress figuring out who I am, what my limits are, what I want from life, and otherwise this year than in the past 4-5 years. There’s still a lot I want and need to do, but I decided that resurrecting Scrooge and giving things another go is part of that.

I’ve been working on weird, surreal art under the pen name Cosmimarshmello, too. I’m currently workshopping what to do with that, too, but I consider that a separate project from anything I’m doing with Scrooge.

Where to go From Here...

I’ve been fighting with pretty bad writer’s block for the last few years. Cobbling together a coherent thought or something worth posting happened once in a blue moon. It could be once a month or once every 5 months. There’s a few thoughts on here I’m considering about taking another crack at, like my post on April and Donnie between the 2003 TMNT to Rise of the TMNT. I’m leaning towards writing and making something new for now, though. I feel like the proverbial floodgates opened back up and I can work up to what I used to be able to do and eventually better.

For now, I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do now or what my next video will be. I want to ease into things so it’ll be rambly blog posts and shorter thoughts/takes on various topics for awhile while I find my voice again. There’s gonna be more waffling like this since, honestly, stream of thought is a fantastic base for getting thoughts out period. It’s how I used to brainstorm, too. The process would be: dump several paragraphs on a specific idea here, then comb through and sew together what’s relevant, discard what isn’t, put irrelevant ideas in a different draft for later. Some sessions led to a few more video ideas than just the big one I originally had in mind.

Part of it is that I feel like I don’t have anything interesting or meaningful enough to talk about. There’s so many more people in the niche I used to be part of. Every bigger topic has already been covered by three different people and there’s already established reviewers or creators that viewers immediately go to for particular topics or things. That’s before even tackling how beastly YouTube’s algorithm has become, among other potential spaces. The algorithm is exactly why I’m leaning towards starting back up here and branching out to spaces like Mastodon first. At least for the text-based stuff.

They aren’t dominated by an algorithm. People will actually see my posts; even if it’s weeks, months, or years later. That factor helps a lot with how disposable social media can make someone feel.

I still feel like someone with not a lot to say. But I’ve kept tabs on a few different YouTubers that started small or are consistent and getting better every day. Honestly, a big part of starting again now is to remind myself that some projects and journeys are worthwhile; not only will my writing and potential videos get better with time, but hopefully it helps with personal growth, too.

I’ve been especially inspired by someone going through a hard time and showing parts of how she’s working on herself and her life through YouTube. I’m wondering if I can do similar for someone else by chronicling the “behind the scenes” stuff like this.

#rambly #rambly thoughts #talking about getting my shit together #behind the scenes #my thought processes #why i'm back here stuff

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ank01-fan · 1 year

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ChatGPT Won’t Replace Google Search (Yet)

Even in the relentless news and noise of early 2023, you’ve probably heard about ChatGPT, the GPT-3-powered (technically, 3.5) chatbot that’s eerily able to simulate human-like responses. Consider, for example, this question and answer (created by GPT-3): Is ChatGPT a search engine? No, ChatGPT is not a search engine. It is an artificial intelligence chatbot that uses natural language processing to understand and respond to user input. That’s not bad, and it sounds like something an actual human would write. GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) is a deep learning system that generates text based on predicting language patterns after being pre-trained with a large set of documents. For this post, I’ll be using OpenAI’s Playground with the “text-davinci-003” GPT-3 model, which can be programmed to produce shorter answers and is more reliable than the ChatGPT Beta. The current models are genuinely impressive, including parsing complex questions: How would you explain ChatGPT to a 5 year old? ChatGPT is like a robot friend who can talk to you and answer your questions. It's like having a friend who knows a lot about different things and can help you learn new things. GPT can even mimic human creativity, and make us start questioning our own talents: Write a slogan for a Mars-themed restaurant run by lizard people, in the style of Edgar Allen Poe. "Lizards of Mars, Dine Here In Splendor, Where Dreams Unfurl And Palates Render!” By now, you’ve probably seen dozens of examples, so what does all of this have to do with Google Search and our jobs as search marketers?

Google and the era of natural language

In the early days of search, search engines were built to index words and short phrases and had no ability to process natural language. If you were looking for a new laptop, you might search for something like “laptop” or “buy laptop.” I sometimes joke that, if you walked into Best Buy and just started shouting “laptop!”, you’d probably be escorted out by security. We humans adapted to early search, though, and we dumbed down our language. As search became more sophisticated, we learned that we could use more complex queries, and, especially with the advent of voice search, we experimented with something closer to natural language. As Google adapted, something interesting happened: our queries became questions, prompting Google to realize that sometimes we don’t want a link to a resource — we want an answer. Google has evolved a great deal as an “answer engine,” including building out the Knowledge Graph and surfacing web results as direct answers known as Featured Snippets. If, for example, you search for “How does Google search work?”, you might get back a Featured Snippet (essentially, an attributed answer) like this: This particular example is a little clunky, but it illustrates how the algorithm works. Google is looking for bits and pieces of documents that might answer the question. In this case, it’s obvious that the extracted passage isn’t really a complete answer. Now, consider the same question posed to GPT-3: How does Google search work? Google Search works by crawling the web and indexing websites. When a user searches for something, Google looks through its index and returns the most relevant results. It uses a combination of algorithms and other techniques to determine the relevance of the results. These algorithms take into account factors such as the words used in the query, the freshness of the content, the popularity of the website, and the location of the user. I can nitpick this answer, but all in all, it’s pretty good, and it’s a much more complete answer than an excerpt from a website. The GPT-3 engine has essentially summarized multiple sources. It’s easy to see how this could start to make Google nervous.

Trust and the attribution problem

On the surface, GPT-3 (and especially ChatGPT) can return some pretty human-looking responses. Putting aside ethical questions (including plagiarism and bias, which I’ll cover briefly later), there are some serious practical problems. The Google “answer” has one major advantage: attribution. We can easily go to the source page. This not only provides us more information, but it provides more context, including details about the source itself. Those details can help us trust (or, in some cases, distrust) the answer. Consider, for example, another answer GPT-3 returned for the question above: How does Google search work? Google Search works by using a combination of algorithms and programs to analyze the content of web pages and other online content to determine its relevance to a user's search query. Google Search algorithms look for a variety of factors, including keyword density, freshness, and the number of other sites that link to the page. Google also uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve its search results. This answer also sounds plausible, except that most SEOs would cringe at the mention of keyword density (underlining added by me), widely considered a myth. It’s entirely possible that this piece of information came from an entirely different source, but without attribution, we can’t validate it. While this is a complex problem (machine-generated text doesn’t use sources in quite the same way a human does, or might use dozens or hundreds of sources), hybrid approaches that reduce the number of sources and provide attribution are possible. Consider this answer from Neeva — an alternative search engine focused on privacy (hat tip to Greg Sterling) — for “Should I get a tall latte or a grande?”: While this functionality is in beta and is obviously not operating at Google scale, Neeva attempts to provide primary sources. I’ve purposely chosen a ridiculous example because the stakes are low. Imagine a question squarely in what Google’s calls the YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) realm, such as “Is Bitcoin or Dogecoin better?”: This is a question that could seriously impact my financial future, and knowing where the answer is coming from makes a big difference and allows me to dig deeper and either establish trust or reject those sources. Related to trust is a deeper, ethical issue of whether machine-generated text is a form of plagiarism. While traditional plagiarism generally requires intent and copying sizable chunks of text, machine-generated text is still being built off of the backs of writers and content creators, without — at least in the case of ChatGPT — any clear attribution. In Google’s case, overuse of machine-generated text could discourage content creators and cause us to question whether we want to contribute our efforts to someone else’s machine.

Hallucinations and machine dreams

Without careful constraints, machine learning systems are prone to hallucination. In the case of ChatGPT, that essentially means that the system can generate answers that are not rooted in reality. Simply put, ChatGPT doesn’t understand anything it’s saying — it’s creating new patterns based on human language. Consider this nonsense question I posed to GPT-3: What is Mozart's 1976 hit "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" about? Mozart's 1976 hit "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" is not related to the 2006 film of the same name. It is an instrumental piece that captures the frenetic energy of Tokyo’s streets at night. The song is built around a catchy, syncopated piano line and a driving, upbeat rhythm. While intriguing, there is no such instrumental piece. I’ve asked a nonsensical question and GPT-3 has obliged me with a nonsensical answer (Nonsense In, Nonsense Out). I should point out that ChatGPT already has some constraints built in that address problems like this, and complex models (including OpenAI’s GPT-3 interface) allow you to control “randomness” (high randomness = less constraints), but the core problem is challenging. Again, consider a higher-risk financial question: What's more popular: Dogecoin, Bassetcoin, or Norwegianlundehundcoin? Dogecoin is by far the most popular of the three coins, with a current market capitalization of over $9 billion. Bassetcoin and Norwegianlundehundcoin are much smaller coins with market caps of only a few hundred thousand dollars each. A market cap of a few hundred thousand dollars each is pretty impressive for two cryptocurrencies that (as of this writing) don’t exist. I’m sorry to say that I started this example with Labradoodlecoin, only to discover that Labradoodlecoin actually exists. I’m pushing the engine pretty hard to prove a point here, and modern machine-generated text is much less prone to hallucination than previous iterations. That said, any time you combine multiple sources without regard to their veracity or completeness, there’s a real risk that the end result will be plausible-sounding nonsense.

Scale and the real-time internet

This one’s pretty straightforward: What works at beta scale may not work at Google scale. As the late Bill Slawski would point out, just because Google has an idea — or even patents an idea — doesn’t mean that they implement that idea in search (for many reasons). Another issue is the sheer speed of the internet. ChatGPT is trained on a static corpus — a moment in time. Google crawls and indexes the internet very quickly and can return information that is recent, localized, and even personalized. It’s worth noting that Google has invested massive amounts of money into machine learning. Google’s LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) is capable of generating complex, human-like text. Google is well aware of the limitations and costs of these models. If they’ve moved slowly in deploying them across search, there are probably good reasons. While the topic of bias is far beyond the scope of this article, scale also contributes to bias issues. Once you move on from a static, controlled corpus and open up machine learning models to the entire world of real-time content, human bias creeps in quickly (including racism, sexism, homophobia, and other destructive biases). At Google scale, reducing bias is a problem that requires a lot of human intervention and resources.

Code red and future threats

None of this is to suggest that Google doesn’t take GPT (including ChatGPT) seriously. Google reportedly issued a “code red” after ChatGPT went viral. While Google is understandably quiet about their internal reactions, it is almost certain that recent developments are accelerating discussions and developments in Mountain View. Another clear threat is that Microsoft is an investor (to the tune of $1 billion) in OpenAI (and, with it, ChatGPT), and rumors are circulating that they may invest billions more. Microsoft has also announced that they will start integrating ChatGPT into Bing search before the end of March, although it’s unclear what from that initial rollout will take. One of the biggest long-term impacts of models like ChatGPT and LaMDA will be in conversational search (including, but not limited to, voice search). Consider the following “conversation” I had with ChatGPT (edited for length): What are the top five three-row SUVs? It's difficult to say which are the top five three-row SUVs as it can be subjective and depend on factors such as personal preference, budget, and location. However, some three-row SUVs that are often considered to be among the best in their class include: - Honda Pilot - Toyota Highlander - Kia Telluride - Hyundai Palisade - Subaru AscentWhich of them is the least expensive? Out of the five SUVs that I mentioned, the Subaru Ascent tends to be the least expensive with a starting price around $32,295. The other SUVs that I mentioned have a starting price around $32,000 - $38,000. However, it's important to note that the final price can vary depending on the specific trim level and options that are selected. Is the Subaru generally considered reliable? Subaru is generally considered to be a reliable automaker, with many of their vehicles receiving high marks for dependability. The Subaru Ascent, in particular, has a reputation for being a reliable vehicle with a comfortable interior and good fuel economy. According to Consumer Reports, the Ascent gets an above-average reliability score. Sorry, ChatGPT can definitely get chatty (and this is the edited version). Note the follow-up questions and how I didn’t need to repeat information or provide context. ChatGPT understood that I wanted to build on previous answers. While this model won’t serve all of the use cases of search, there are definitely situations where the ability to easily and conversationally refine a query could be revolutionary, especially for complex questions, and, yes, complex purchases. Imagine Google being able to serve different ads at each step on this journey toward a purchase. Unfortunately, the biggest short-term threat to Google is that people and companies will likely use ChatGPT to churn out mountains of low-quality content, costing Google time and money and likely resulting in major, reactive algorithm updates. This will also be a serious headache for search marketers, who will have to react to those updates. What’s certain for 2023 is that the popularity of ChatGPT and its accessibility to the general public is going to cause an explosion of investment (for better or worse) and accelerate development. While Google isn’t going anywhere, we can expect the landscape of search to change in unexpected (and occasionally unwanted) ways in the next year. Read More Source by Read the full article

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bfxenon · 1 year

Text

ChatGPT Won’t Replace Google Search (Yet)

Is ChatGPT a search engine?

No, ChatGPT is not a search engine. It is an artificial intelligence chatbot that uses natural language processing to understand and respond to user input.

That’s not bad, and it sounds like something an actual human would write.

GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) is a deep learning system that generates text based on predicting language patterns after being pre-trained with a large set of documents. For this post, I’ll be using OpenAI’s Playground with the “text-davinci-003” GPT-3 model, which can be programmed to produce shorter answers and is more reliable than the ChatGPT Beta.

The current models are genuinely impressive, including parsing complex questions:

How would you explain ChatGPT to a 5 year old?

ChatGPT is like a robot friend who can talk to you and answer your questions. It's like having a friend who knows a lot about different things and can help you learn new things.

GPT can even mimic human creativity, and make us start questioning our own talents:

Write a slogan for a Mars-themed restaurant run by lizard people, in the style of Edgar Allen Poe.

"Lizards of Mars, Dine Here In Splendor, Where Dreams Unfurl And Palates Render!”

By now, you’ve probably seen dozens of examples, so what does all of this have to do with Google Search and our jobs as search marketers?

Google and the era of natural language

As search became more sophisticated, we learned that we could use more complex queries, and, especially with the advent of voice search, we experimented with something closer to natural language. As Google adapted, something interesting happened: our queries became questions, prompting Google to realize that sometimes we don’t want a link to a resource — we want an answer.

Google has evolved a great deal as an “answer engine,” including building out the Knowledge Graph and surfacing web results as direct answers known as Featured Snippets. If, for example, you search for “How does Google search work?”, you might get back a Featured Snippet (essentially, an attributed answer) like this:

This particular example is a little clunky, but it illustrates how the algorithm works. Google is looking for bits and pieces of documents that might answer the question. In this case, it’s obvious that the extracted passage isn’t really a complete answer.

Now, consider the same question posed to GPT-3:

How does Google search work?

Google Search works by crawling the web and indexing websites. When a user searches for something, Google looks through its index and returns the most relevant results. It uses a combination of algorithms and other techniques to determine the relevance of the results. These algorithms take into account factors such as the words used in the query, the freshness of the content, the popularity of the website, and the location of the user.

I can nitpick this answer, but all in all, it’s pretty good, and it’s a much more complete answer than an excerpt from a website. The GPT-3 engine has essentially summarized multiple sources.

It’s easy to see how this could start to make Google nervous.

Trust and the attribution problem

The Google “answer” has one major advantage: attribution. We can easily go to the source page. This not only provides us more information, but it provides more context, including details about the source itself. Those details can help us trust (or, in some cases, distrust) the answer.

Consider, for example, another answer GPT-3 returned for the question above:

How does Google search work?

Google Search works by using a combination of algorithms and programs to analyze the content of web pages and other online content to determine its relevance to a user's search query. Google Search algorithms look for a variety of factors, including keyword density, freshness, and the number of other sites that link to the page. Google also uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve its search results.

This answer also sounds plausible, except that most SEOs would cringe at the mention of keyword density (underlining added by me), widely considered a myth. It’s entirely possible that this piece of information came from an entirely different source, but without attribution, we can’t validate it.

While this is a complex problem (machine-generated text doesn’t use sources in quite the same way a human dozen, or might use dozens or hundreds of sources), hybrid approaches that reduce the number of sources and provide attribution are possible.

Consider this answer from Neeva — an alternative search engine focused on privacy (hat tip to Greg Sterling) — for “Should I get a tall latte or a grande?”:

While this functionality is in beta and is obviously not operating at Google scale, Neeva attempts to provide primary sources. I’ve purposely chosen a ridiculous example because the stakes are low. Imagine a question squarely in what Google’s calls the YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) realm, such as “Is Bitcoin or Dogecoin better?”:

This is a question that could seriously impact my financial future, and knowing where the answer is coming from makes a big difference and allows me to dig deeper and either establish trust or reject those sources.

Related to trust is a deeper, ethical issue of whether machine-generated text is a form of plagiarism. While traditional plagiarism generally requires intent and copying sizable chunks of text, machine-generated text is still being built off of the backs of writers and content creators, without — at least in the case of ChatGPT — any clear attribution. In Google’s case, overuse of machine-generated text could discourage content creators and cause us to question whether we want to contribute our efforts to someone else’s machine.

Hallucinations and machine dreams

What is Mozart's 1976 hit "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" about?

Mozart's 1976 hit "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" is not related to the 2006 film of the same name. It is an instrumental piece that captures the frenetic energy of Tokyo’s streets at night. The song is built around a catchy, syncopated piano line and a driving, upbeat rhythm.

While intriguing, there is no such instrumental piece. I’ve asked a nonsensical question and GPT-3 has obliged me with a nonsensical answer (Nonsense In, Nonsense Out).

I should point out that ChatGPT already has some constraints built in that address problems like this, and complex models (including OpenAI’s GPT-3 interface) allow you to control “randomness” (high randomness = less constraints), but the core problem is challenging.

Again, consider a higher-risk financial question:

What's more popular: Dogecoin, Bassetcoin, or Norwegianlundehundcoin?

Dogecoin is by far the most popular of the three coins, with a current market capitalization of over $9 billion. Bassetcoin and Norwegianlundehundcoin are much smaller coins with market caps of only a few hundred thousand dollars each.

A market cap of a few hundred thousand dollars each is pretty impressive for two cryptocurrencies that (as of this writing) don’t exist. I’m sorry to say that I started this example with Labradoodlecoin, only to discover that Labradoodlecoin actually exists.

I’m pushing the engine pretty hard to prove a point here, and modern machine-generated text is much less prone to hallucination than previous iterations. That said, any time you combine multiple sources without regard to their veracity or completeness, there’s a real risk that the end result will be plausible-sounding nonsense.

Scale and the real-time internet

Another issue is the sheer speed of the internet. ChatGPT is trained on a static corpus — a moment in time. Google crawls and indexes the internet very quickly and can return information that is recent, localized, and even personalized.

It’s worth noting that Google has invested massive amounts of money into machine learning. Google’s LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) is capable of generating complex, human-like text. Google is well aware of the limitations and costs of these models. If they’ve moved slowly in deploying them across search, there are probably good reasons.

While the topic of bias is far beyond the scope of this article, scale also contributes to bias issues. Once you move on from a static, controlled corpus and open up machine learning models to the entire world of real-time content, human bias creeps in quickly (including racism, sexism, homophobia, and other destructive biases). At Google scale, reducing bias is a problem that requires a lot of human intervention and resources.

Code red and future threats

Another clear threat is that Microsoft is an investor (to the tune of $1 billion) in OpenAI (and, with it, ChatGPT), and rumors are circulating that they may invest billions more. Microsoft has also announced that they will start integrating ChatGPT into Bing search before the end of March, although it’s unclear what from that initial rollout will take.

One of the biggest long-term impacts of models like ChatGPT and LaMDA will be in conversational search (including, but not limited to, voice search). Consider the following “conversation” I had with ChatGPT (edited for length):

What are the top five three-row SUVs?

It's difficult to say which are the top five three-row SUVs as it can be subjective and depend on factors such as personal preference, budget, and location. However, some three-row SUVs that are often considered to be among the best in their class include:

Honda Pilot

Toyota Highlander

Kia Telluride

Hyundai Palisade

Subaru Ascent

Which of them is the least expensive?

Out of the five SUVs that I mentioned, the Subaru Ascent tends to be the least expensive with a starting price around $32,295. The other SUVs that I mentioned have a starting price around $32,000 - $38,000. However, it's important to note that the final price can vary depending on the specific trim level and options that are selected.

Is the Subaru generally considered reliable?

Subaru is generally considered to be a reliable automaker, with many of their vehicles receiving high marks for dependability. The Subaru Ascent, in particular, has a reputation for being a reliable vehicle with a comfortable interior and good fuel economy. According to Consumer Reports, the Ascent gets an above-average reliability score.

Sorry, ChatGPT can definitely get chatty (and this is the edited version). Note the follow-up questions and how I didn’t need to repeat information or provide context. ChatGPT understood that I wanted to build on previous answers.

While this model won’t serve all of the use cases of search, there are definitely situations where the ability to easily and conversationally refine a query could be revolutionary, especially for complex questions, and, yes, complex purchases. Imagine Google being able to serve different ads at each step on this journey toward a purchase.

Unfortunately, the biggest short-term threat to Google is that people and companies will likely use ChatGPT to churn out mountains of low-quality content, costing Google time and money and likely resulting in major, reactive algorithm updates. This will also be a serious headache for search marketers, who will have to react to those updates.

What’s certain for 2023 is that the popularity of ChatGPT and its accessibility to the general public is going to cause an explosion of investment (for better or worse) and accelerate development. While Google isn’t going anywhere, we can expect the landscape of search to change in unexpected (and occasionally unwanted) ways in the next year.

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messengerhermes · 3 years

Text

Illegal Shit to Ask in a Job Interview

So I just saw a post going around from someone who works in HR highlighting some of the things that, at least in the United States, are both illegal and not an employer's fucking business to fish for in a job interview. I wanted to make a shorter post that shares a more comprehensive list in bullet form, so here we go. Link at the bottom to my source. Here's information employers do not need to know, and also, it may be illegal (or dubious for them) to ask you:

Your Age (beyond 16+, 18+, or 21+, depending on the job). They cannot ask explicitly how old you are.

Your Medical History. (scroll down for a second bulleted list about this)

Whether you have children/are married

How you get to work. Unless the job explicitly says you need a car, not their business

Whether you're a veteran

What your sexuality or gender is (I've had this asked in an interview)

When you graduated high school/college

Your legal history (ie, have you ever been arrested or convicted of any crimes)

Whether or not you own your house, your car and who you live with

Your religion or details about how you practice/where you go

Whether you have been pregnant or are currently pregnant

Your race/the race of anyone in your family

Your ethnicity

Your citizenship status/where you are from

Your height and weight

Where your family members work

Personal information (if you've had a name change, etc)

What organizations you've been part of (ie local clubs, fraternity/sorority stuff)

Also, I want to expand on the bit about medical histories, because I did some work with an organization that does career coaching for disabled job seekers and as someone who occasionally uses a cane, the ableism that crops up trying to find work grinds my gears. Regarding your Medical History, Employers Cannot:

Ask any of your diagnosis

Ask any medications you take

Ask how any of your mobility or access devices work

Ask details of your condition

If an employer asks you about your ability to complete a task, or you want to work in explicit information about what accommodations you may need, all the above information still applies. A strategy I have been taught to answer task questions that are fishing around for "can you actually do this thing" looks a bit like this:

"I send emails and navigate my computer using the software Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which means I often will keep my office door closed at work so my microphone doesn't pick up cross talk from others. I always let colleagues know to knock and I can easily pause my microphone to talk to them."

Whenever I need to move larger items around, I get a dolly or rolling cart to transport them. If there are items that need to be pulled down from a higher shelf, I tag team with a colleague to retrieve those.

I believe we do better work when we aren't rushing, so I always put a fifteen-minute buffer window between meetings in order to give myself and my colleagues time to get to our meeting room and feel prepared

All of the above examples name the tools or skills you might use to complete a task (which, employers are required to provide those tools to you, if you need Dragon they pay for that, not you) while not going into detail about why you use those tools or what your disability is. ---------

Overall, you are not legally required to share any of the things listed above. If at some point some of those feel useful to share--ie you're applying for an organization that works with veterans and you yourself served, or you did a lot of relevant volunteer work through your fraternity and think dropping your organization's name will give you clout, share that information.

But know you are not obliged to divulge shit and as someone who's been on team hiring panels, everything you say in an interview will be used to judge your qualifications, including if you mention having spawnlings or if you say you're single. Also, source link for the information I added about no no questions. (Also PS, for the love of the stars, explore unions y'all. Most of the US operates at "at will" employment, which means employers don't need a reason to fire us without notice or severance pay. At Will employment makes employee protection laws meant to protect against racism, queerphobia, ableism, ageism, sexism, et al much weaker, because employers don't need to give reason for firing you, and often will just give "not a good fit/team player" or some other shit, and then it's on you to sue if you believe you were fired for discriminatory reasons)

#Employment #Job Interviews #Disability #Ableism #Workforce #Employee rights #labor rights #Unions are good yall

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absolxguardian · 3 years

Photo

So Kazuma’s sword has bothered me since I learned that the game took place it the late Meiji era, and I recently did the research on it. And then case 2 has this line! It’s just so ridiculous when you know that Kazuma Asogi is completely breaking the law by carrying a katana in 1900 Japan.

Swords have historically been a sign of legal class divisions in Japan, and even today are highly restricted (for example current law prohibits the ownership of swords produced as modern weapons even if they’re for display purposes. They need to posses cultural/historical significance). Upon his rise, Hideyoshi confiscated all of the swords from the peasantry, and during most of the Edo period peasants could only own wakizashi (the shorter of the two swords traditionally worn by samurai). This is why daisho (set of paired swords) and especially the katana became such a symbol of the samurai class.

During the Meiji era, the Imperial Government made a point of dissolving the old caste system and becoming less “anachronistic” in the eyes of western powers. Over the course of several years, the samurai class lost their privileges and monopoly on professional military service. Samurai families became shizoku, a rank that was merely for documentation purposes. In 1876, Shizoku were no longer permitted to carry their swords. Doing so would lead to its confiscation. Swords were already banned from commoners back in 1870 after the Boshin War. Only the daimyo themselves (now part of the aristocratic kazoku with the old court nobles), military, and police could carry swords.

Given Kazuma’s theme is titled “Samurai with a Mission”, I think he’s supposed to be from a shizoku family. Which means that despite all of the actual progressive ideals he has, carrying that sword he would seem like a dissident and a reactionary. It’s also impossible for any of the exceptions to apply to him. Even if he had once served in the military (I will be making a post about conscription soon), he certainly doesn’t now. And under the revised kazoku system, it was only the daimyo and his wife that held titles. Their sons might be their heirs, but they didn’t have a rank while their father still lived. Also I think Kazuma’s parents are plot relevant anyway, so he could only be a nephew at a daimyo or other relative at best. And like obviously he’s not a cop.

And we know from the end of 1-1 that he’s not carrying a empty handle in a scabbard, or a prop weapon, or it’s been sealed in the scabbard. It’s a real, useable sword.

Ironically, it would be in London where the law would have nothing to say against Kazuma bringing his sword with him. The wearing of swords in public only became restricted in 1936. Even today, bladed weapons are less restricted in the UK than in Japan.

I just find it really interesting how TGAA has a character that’s spiritually a samurai, and rather representing being stuck in the past and unwilling to change, they’re all about good progress and change. Also it’s just funny to think of someone like the Emperor giving Kazuma or his family a “I can do want I want” permit for carrying their family sword in public. That’s the only thing I can think of that’s remotely plausible other than getting into more elaborate alt history beyond the presence of the main characters.

#ace attorney #kazuma asougi #tgaa #the great ace attorney #tgaa spoilers #tgaa historical context

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ciaran-archive · 3 years

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Serious question. How do you write long stories? Is there a technique or advice for that? No matter what story I have in mind, I can't seem to tell it in anything longer than 1 to 2k. Writing 5k is tiring already, where do people seriously get that stamina to even do 50 or 100 or 200k? It's mind-blowingly amazing.

there is nothing less worthy or amazing about writing shorter fic - i know writers who struggle with it, and i’ve come to inhabit that position somewhat myself, though i’m determined to stay in practice. it’s a different skillset, that’s all. your fics aren’t worse for being shorter.

that said i will not deny that longer fics generate far more engagement from fandoms simply by virtue of updating more often → being on top of the ao3 tag when people first open it → getting more clicks and being considered less ‘frivolous’ (which is bullshit, but what can you do)

if you’re dead sure you want to write longer fic, i would first recommend reading this post about writing drabbles, which i promise is relevant to the point i’m about to make.

Because drabbles are about one moment. You don't need to know exactly what happened before this moment of dialogue, or what happens next, or what's happening around it. You don't have to do any of the planning you might do for a longer fic, but you also don't have the space to let the scene lead in and develop naturally. You've got 100 words.

a lot of writing a longer story is about establishing the scope of your story, deciding what beats you want to hit. there are a lot of ways to go about this; [some people like to outline. i don’t outline, ever, so if you want help for outlining you should look at the other sources on the internet. there are quite a few.] i’m going to talk about the way i’ve learnt to do it.

so when i’m writing a short fic, the thing i’m considering is one or two ideas, and one or two moments (short in this case being under 5k). this also depends on the style i’m going for - fics with sparser styles can fit more scenes, if i’m going for my usual style, each scene takes about 700-2000 words at least and therefore takes up more space. a lot of how i eased into writing longer fics was focusing on stylistic changes - you can push up the word count of a fic by going moment by moment. note the difference between:

They’d been standing next to each other as they spoke; now Felix turned to him in the rain, startled by the admission of weakness. He reached out clumsily, bumping his hand against Ryan’s until he took the hint and grabbed on.

and

The rain made it near-impossible to hear Ryan speaking, but the harshness in his voice would’ve been audible through a hurricane. “So you ran away,” he said, like he hadn’t expected this.

“Course I did,” Felix snapped. “What was I supposed to do? Stick it out and let her kill me?” I almost did, he added under his breath.

Ryan’s sensitive werewolf ears, of course, caught that. “I’m glad you did,” he amended, as though it pained him to admit it. “I would’ve - I did the same. It’s all you can do, sometimes.”

Felix turned to him, blinking through the curtains of water. Ryan was slouching in the downpour, eyes narrowed elsewhere. Mostly he was startled by the admission of weakness - rare in a person who prided himself so thoroughly on being reliable and independent. He reached out, struck by the urge to offer whatever clumsy comfort he was capable of; his hand bumped against Ryan’s, and he held it there until Ryan caught up and wove their fingers together.

His hands were wet and cold, and he gripped so hard Felix’s very human bones ached, but he wouldn’t have pulled away now. Not when he’d been the one to offer.

it’s not even that one is necessarily better than the other - they both work, and they’re working in different ways. they’re set in the same scene, conveying the same beat - reaching out to comfort someone in the wake of vulnerability. it’s just that one is longer, and therefore gives you more room to - set the scene (rain, being unable to hear each other) - use dialogue to show what is being told in the first example - convey extra information about the characters (actually, if this was a scene i was writing in a fic or novel, the stuff about ryan being a werewolf would already be known to the reader, so i would use that space to convey something else about ryan in that moment) - elaborate on felix’s internal state: the transition from defensive to curious/surprised to gentle - linger for a sentence or two on the moment of connection

this is about unraveling a scene and making it bigger than it was, breaking it apart into tinier beats and describing each one in the narrative. what happens when you do that and your fic doesn’t get much bigger still?

back to scope! we understand, as people who read and write and live, that the part of a story that you choose to depict in a narrative is not the entire story: events happen off-screen. some of them happened before the story started, and they will continue to happen after the story ends. the narrative is only showing you an arc, a particular series of events.

when you’re writing fic, you have in fact tremendous amounts of flexibility when it comes to the scope of a story. you can write something that is about a single moment in canon, and trust that your audience is following along because they have the context already. so you don’t need to waste time on setting it up, which often means - if you’re given to a certain kind of fic writing (canon compliant / small divergences / missing scenes / character studies) your fics will end up not being very long because you’re not reiterating what you don’t need to reiterate. your idea is small because it inhabits a small space, is squished between canon events, and so doesn’t ever get bigger. if this is what is happening, it’s good, and you should try to preserve this going forward.

people who are writing longer fic are, simply, working with bigger ideas*. they’re not just going “what if he said what he wanted in this scene instead of going home?” and writing the bit where they kiss immediately after - they’re also going “what if this changed everything in the future? what happens if they tackle all their problems together from now on? what new problems arise from this?”

*hopefully they are working with bigger ideas. i have seen longfics that are just incredibly fucking tedious because the author swallowed a thesaurus and had a tenuous grasp on plotting to begin with.

that’s for a canon divergent fic, presumably. you might also be writing a post-canon fic, with its own set of pre-fic events and a new set of problems to deal with. currently, for example, i’m writing a fic where akira and goro were dating after canon, broke up, and stayed together in a deeply dysfunctional way after that - and the consequences for them now that they’re forced to deal with the mess they’ve made of their lives, together and apart. so now they have to deal with: the catalyst for dealing with their old problems, which is a problem in itself, and their old problems, which have been festering for a really long time.

which forms the core of the scope i’m talking about. i have to go through a bunch of scenes to set this fic up - i need to show their old problems and their new problems, i need to explain why the old ones haven’t been dealt with already, i need to set up the potential for dealing with them and the necessity of doing so, i need to give them places to start, and also i want to allow them to fail so they can choose to start again. i know these things because i have some idea of the kind of story i want to tell. if i didn’t know this, my story would not go anywhere by itself, and i would have to start outlining scene by scene the way people who actually outline do it, and i hate doing that because then i never write.

if you can outline and it doesn’t make you want to chew wood, then i highly recommend picking up the habit. it’s very useful, and the methodical approach is a fantastic failsafe for the moments when you (me) get stuck on your fic (breakup au) and have to stop writing for several weeks in order to figure out a single fucking plot point that will let you move forward and

anyway.

so yeah! to sum up;

find a larger scope for your story

get in the habit of picking apart beats into discrete moments and guiding the narrative through them

learn to outline if you can

last thing - which is perhaps the most vital and least reliable - stamina.

you WILL lose interest in half the longer fics you write. it WILL suck. if you think you know pain because you have 700 words of a fic and can’t get through the last 400, i promise you it is like that but much worse because you have 7000 words now, or 17000 words, and you are stuck with no way forward. it will suck so BAD.

don’t beat yourself up over it. once you’re in the habit of writing something long, you will retain that habit, and be able to apply it elsewhere. the words aren’t wasted, they’re practice, and they’re worth what they’ve taught you.

but! all the scope and internal scene-building and outlines won’t help you if you do not (and this is not as bad as everyone makes it sound) actually write. you HAVE to learn to actually write. you have to figure out what you like about writing and make a longfic outline [/ scene beats notes chart / themes mind map / tumblr tag of inspiring quotes and photography] that consists entirely of stuff you love and then you have to sit down and write your fic. it is not terribly scary. it’s okay to fail, but you also have no way around this.

i hope this helped, and good luck!

#writelogging #ok 2 rb #anon #asks

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blindbeta · 3 years

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Hey! I saw the post you answered about echolocation as a way to avoid writing canes, but I was wondering what you think of a character using a cane and echolocation at the same time? For things like knowing how big the room is or if there are large obstacles, get a feeling for the buildings in a street, etc. The cane would be their main mobility aid, along with sighted guides, but echolocation is a tool in their arsenal. Thank you!

Hi nonnie! Thank you for this question. It is a good one. You all come up with good questions. :)

First, here is the post anon is talking about. I would suggest reading the notes as well because some good discussions occurred. Check the notes of this current post as well, because I’m not as familiar with this topic and someone might be able to discuss it from more experience than I can.

I am working on a post about blind tropes I’m tired of, and that aren’t necessarily bad, but potentially bad if used for bad purposes, such as to avoid writing about canes or guide animals fir navigation. And how to possibly do them BETTER. Echolocation is one of the things I want to cover.

Why Do I Dislike the Echolocation Trope?

It’s overused and boring. Can it be done well and in an interesting way? Yes. Do people normally make it interesting? No.

The majority of things I see on echolocation are like “this character is blind and uses echolocation to SEE.” That’s it. That’s the skill the character has. It is also usually used to avoid writing about canes or guides dogs, or used in weird ways, like allowing characters to locate or ‘see’ things they would not be able to see with the echolocation method.

Obviously, you aren’t doing that. You’ve done your research and you understand that canes are important and provide a specific function that echolocation cannot fill. This includes interacting with their environment to map it out and remember it better, using stairs and escalators, feeling cracks or obstacles on the ground, signaling to drivers or other people that you cannot see well (this is essential when crossing the street).

Echolocation is just something people think blind people use regularly and that is not the case. It can be hard to learn and someone would have to already be able to use a cane before learning to use it. It requires good hearing and probably wouldn’t work in a crowded, noisy area. Rain and snow may hinder echolocation as well.

So Echolocation Has No Use?

Not necessarily. I just want to stress the trope is way too common for the extent that it is used in the blind community.

Here are a few ways I know people use active and passive echolocation:

-listening for the amount of echo in a room. A convention hall is going to sound way different from a small classroom. The amount of echo can also tell someone if there are things on the walls (such as posters or shelves with knickknacks) because empty walls sound more echo-y.

-The tap method for white canes. This can be seen as a kind of echolocation, although I think people mostly think of making click sounds. This can give a good idea of your surroundings, although it may not work if there is a lot of noise, and in my opinion, and the tap method can get tiring to use for a long time (although I suppose people who favor it get used to it). I don’t think this method is used all the time though.

What About Toph?

I guess Toph’s thing would be considered echolocation? Yes, I like Toph. Her ability is fun and even common in her world. She just took a tool she had and refined it to her needs. A blind blogger even wrote a post about Toph which you can find here.

Here is the part I find relevant to this discussion:

Also, even in an AU with bending, I think Toph would like the advantage of tapping her cane to create a stronger, more distinct vibration than a small shifting of her weight on her feet. It would have more control.

Where I Would Rather See Echolocation

There are places where I would prefer to see echolocation despite not being jazzed about the trope.

Non-human characters!

- sea creatures/half sea creatures who use echolocation in real life

- mermaids!

- animals or half animal characters who use echolocation in real life

- robots, cyborgs, or other similar characters

I’m okay with these because 1) characters who live in the sea might not be able to use a cane effectively and 2) some animals already have a precedent of being able to use echolocation, thus making them believably able to use it (although if they are able to hold a cane, echolocation should not replace white cane use).

I am also more open to robots and similar characters using echolocation because the techy side of them makes it more believable, especially since in order for it to be useful, it would need to be beyond human levels of echolocation. Which are currently not that great. Canes should also be used, at least in my opinion.

I bring this up because your questions were about echolocation being used “For things like knowing how big the room is or if there are large obstacles, get a feeling for the buildings in a street, etc”. This is an interesting way to think about echolocation, as these things would be out of reach of a cane and a person would certainly want to know about them.

To be honest, I don’t know if real echolocation is this good when done by humans. Thst’s why I suggest non-human characters use it. Also, just because you know the shape and size of something there does not mean you can tell what that object is.

However, I feel like instead of wanting to know about objects so far away, most people want to know about things they can run into that their cane cannot detect. This would include anything that is above the ground.

Sunu Bands and Sonar Canes

If you’re really interested in writing this with a human character, I would suggest researching the SUNU Band. It was co-created by a man with low vision, Fernando Albertorio, which I could only find in one video, which is concerning. For some reason I couldn’t find much about the creators, not that I need info they aren’t comfortable with. I personally feel that it is important to highlight blind inventors.

Here is the video

The creator describes it as providing information where a person turns their wrist in a specific direction. The band can give them an idea about objects or obstacles there. The band has an inside setting (with shorter range) and an outside setting (with longer range). He describes it as being useful for avoiding objects like branches that a cane cannot find, or a sign post a cane might miss.

The Sunu Band website is here.

It describes the Sunu Band as being useful for avoiding injuries to the upper body. I feel this is the most useful part of this kind of tool. While it is good to know how big a room is and where buildings are, I am more concerned with getting hit in the face by a tree branch lol. I have used this device myself and it can be hard to get angles right and understand the vibrations. However, I think it is a good device to have, especially because it can reduce injuries or maybe help you locate something you’re searching for, like a water fountain you know is there.

This type of technology is not meant to replace a cane or a guide dog and is even supposed to be worn on the wrist that isn’t using the cane (probably so you can turn your wrist more easily?)

This cool review pointed out the usefulness of this product when standing in lines because you can know when to move up. The review also has practical demonstrations of using the band indoors. You can watch it here.

Another review by the same channel is also helpful.

The channel also mentions one can distinguish moving objects from stagnant objects by the duration of the vibrations.

There are lots of canes that have similar functions, although I prefer a regular cane. If I’m going to use anything else, it would be a Sunu Band. These laser or sonar canes have, according to my research, been around since the 80s and are still in articles today. However, while I haven’t used one myself, I feel more interested in the apps they come with than the actual cane. I would rather my cane find objects than use this technology to avoid them and I wonder how good the range is, vertically, if the detection comes from a cane. Lastly, I’m sure these are very expensive, sensitive to extreme temperatures, not water proof, and harder to replace than a regular cane. At least, according to a few reviews I found for the WeWalk cane. Although their app sounds extremely useful.

So, if you want to use these for your story, it would probably be more realistic. Unless these or similar devices are what you were talking about, in which case I hope this helps.

If you have more questions or wanted to expand on this question, let me know.

Honestly, I feel out of my depth here. If anyone else wants to talk about their experiences with echolocation or any of the above devices, please share. Honestly, some tropes are a little more specific in how or why they don’t work and how or when they do work. I tried to show that here. As with anything, variety can help. If you feel a bit iffy on whether a trope will work, adding other blind characters with different experiences will do wonders, especially because most of these issues stem from stereotypes or myths.

#blind #accessibility for the blind #echolocation

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chicoriii · 3 years

Text

Season 4, Episode 19 - Simplificator (Simpleman)

Geez, unfortunately I lost the first half of this post accidentally which hurts also because I feel a bit sick since yesterday (nothing serious, just a cold). Luckily, it wasn't lots of text, as there's not much to say about this episode. Now I need to write it again. It's rather going to be shorter than version I lost, as I feel tired.

So it was the first typical filler episode that could happen in any other seasons. I have nothing against fillers, as long as they are decent enough. This one wasn't bad, though it would not be among my favourite ones. Still I think it was better than many this season's episodes. And to be fair, I would prefer more fillers like that than the whole mess that's happening in season 4.

It was also more comedic episode, and I'm not a fan of them, I have never liked humor in this show much. There are kids shows or movies that could be really funny for me, like Phineas and Ferb. The only more comedic episode of Miraculous I really liked was Reverser and even that had one super idiotic thing I hated (that one about sending trash to the moon). Humor in this episode is more appealing to kids, in my opinion.

So it's continuation of Marinette being dumb if she can't even hide the Miracle Box well, knowing Manon will be there. I don't get why she could not take the kids with her. But I'm surprised that her grandpa wasn't angry that he was forced to babysit four children. I thought it would be reason why he got akumatised. The real one was rather weak, but it wasn't untypical for this show. Still Animan had the dumbest motivation to get akumatised.

I don't like Simplificator (the original name is much better) design but his power was even cool. There were much more uninspired akumas this season like Rocketear.

The battle wasn't interesting much, as the whole situation wasn't funny to me. Also it seemed to be far-fetched that the kids weren't affected by the Simpleman's power at all. I know they wanted an episode in which the children are saving the world, which is not a bad idea, but there should have been explained in believable way. I assume it's a statement like "children are not making things complicated", but I don't think it's true in real. Kids are different, some see things as simple, some not.

I wonder what was the big deal with the whole "I can't have a boyfriend as long as I'm Ladybug" drama from early season 4 if that hasn't changed Marinette attitude towards Adrien at all? Was it just a drama for the sake of drama, right? She's still dreaming about being with him, she still wants to confess to him. It's like Truth and Gang of Secrets didn't happen (I would be happy if the latter didn't in real ;)). But I'm really not surprised, Marinette is written extremely inconsistent this season, like many other aspects and characters. That was logical that if after Truth she is convinced that she can't have a boyfriend, she will try to be just friends with Adrien and that would let her to talk to him normally more often, as it's been shown even in season 1 that she can do it as long she's in "being Adrien's friend" mode. I have written a post about it in which I was almost sure that development in Adrienette will happen this way, but that was back then in those beautiful days, when I was still unaware that season 4 is going to be as much inconsistent and illogical mess as it is. There's not only zero development, I have a feeling Marinette is dealing with it even worse than before, seeing how she's running away from Adrien in Wishmaker, though she wasn't even thinking about making any romantic gesture towards him at that moment.

If I wasn't as much disappointed by season 4 as the whole and Ladynoir drama didn't kill the ship to me, I would be very angry about Adrienette current situation. Not only lack of development, but also lack of relevant and really exciting moments between them. And I'm even somewhat glad that nothing happens between them, since Marinette's love towards Adrien can't be realistic to me anymore because of her terrible attitude towards Chat Noir since Optigami. She clearly shows that she doesn't need Chat Noir when she has Rena and she forgets that he exists when she should not if she really cares about him.

And seeing that I don't believe that Ladynoir mess is going to make their relationship better. People seem to be sure that will happen, because it appears to be logical, but personally after Hack-san, I have no faith in writers. Adrienette development seemed to be totally logical as well, and what? Nothing happens. I don't believe that Ladynoir drama is there for any other reason than just for the sake of drama, like that one with Marinette crying because she can't have a boyfriend. At best they will bring back the old status quo, but not exactly because there's still Rena. Marinette definitely isn't going to take away the fox Miraculous from Alya all by herself, no matter what will happen, because it would hurt her. I don't see Alya stopped being a permanent Miraculous holder unless things like Lila stealing the fox or Su-Han telling Marinette to do that would happen. But even if, Alya will remain having all the Miraculous lore knowledge that Marinettte has, access to the Miracle Box and knowing Ladybug's identity, she will still have a huge advantage over Chat Noir.

Some time ago I've seen someone claiming that it looks like there would be no development in the Love Square before the identity reveal, only then every problems will be magically fixed. I wasn't thinking like that back then, but now I feel the creators have no intention to develop their relationship significantly in any of the sides before the reveal. I no longer expect any nice things I'd love to see in this show, I prefer to have zero hopes.

#miraculous ladybug #ml season 4 #ml simpleman #ml spoilers #ml spoiler #ml season 4 spoilers #chicoriii about S4 episodes #chicoriii #original post

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hyrule-kingdom-updates · 3 years

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ALL of the emojis for Siv :D

What is the kindest thing your OC has ever done for someone? What is the kindest thing someone has ever done for them? On the flip side, what is the worst thing your OC has done to another person?

I don’t think I can point out a *single* ultimate kind act, but Siv raising and caring for his brother throughout their whole childhood is definitely one of the kindest periods of his life. Spoilers, but: Siv didn’t actually believe himself to be capable of being a knight, in fact Ligero was specifically trying to keep him out of Larc’s life, letting them grow to be more independent, giving Siv every reason to be jealous and spiteful. But Siv trained to be a knight anyways because he didn’t want his brother to be alone through it all. He would never admit it, but Siv is a really kind and soft person. He cared for everyone of LinkLink’s scars and scabs when they went shield surfing, he took Zavis to a surprise party when his mother didn’t bother to throw anything that special. He wrote Revali letters, he sewed little rat plushies for Aryll to add to her collection—and I think it all stems from his childhood, where the only thing that he was certain of, the only choice that he could without a doubt claim was a good and kind thing that he didn’t mess up on, was caring and loving for someone that he by all other means didn’t have to.

As for the kindest thing someone has done for him, well honestly I think Siv would consider anyone giving him a basic amount of respect and appreciation as the “kindest” thing. Although once, Zavis allowed himself to team up with Link to plan a perfect party for Siv, which is to say, a very notable feat.

As for the worst thing Siv has done to someone: that’s probably spoilers. :3

What does your OC do when they see others upset or in pain? An upset friend? A stranger?

If a stranger was upset, Siv would probably just think, “Sucks to suck!” and move on. Unless they were like, REALLY sobbing, to the point where it would be impossible to ignore. Then he might stop walking, chat them up and buy them a drink, maybe hear their woes, but that’s probably it.

If it was a friend, he’d be immediately on their case, but would still try to play it off as him being an apathetic, disgruntled guy. But you know, Siv didn’t become an official royal Branch Buddy for nothing.

What is something true about your OC that they refuse to admit about themselves? Is there any reason to this besides embarrassment?

Under absolutely no circumstances will Siv admit that he is shorter than anyone. He finds it completely unfair that BOTH of his brothers are taller than him. He would hate it if you told him so, but Siv without a doubt has inherited a bit of his father’s ego, so calling him short, or even complimenting his hot royal guard brother when Siv is right there would ruffle his feathers to say the least

Describe a regular day for your OC. What is their schedule (if they have one).

Pre-Orator days, Siv basically wakes up whenever he wants (usually past noon), feeds the pet rats in the alleyways, then heads to the underground. Everyday is scraping enough rupees for a hot meal and a drink by selling illegal tickets to the underground monster fights, maybe organize a rigged gambling ring or two, and obviously scam any ten year olds that were looking to enter the world of pocket monster fighting themselves. Then when the “work” day is done, he’ll pop by an adequate tavern (the only one that would tolerate letting someone like him around) and eat and drink, and...that’s pretty much it.

As the Royal Orator, Siv wakes up and immediately heads to the dining hall, then hauls all the food and drink over to his office by 10am, cause that’s when his official work hours kick in. He then has to just sit there, listen to people’s grievances and input that will promptly be ignored (by either his hand, or most certainly by his superiors) while also posting out the important announcements and rat doodles with the Quill of Roost(both pre and post consumption). He might grab lunch in between and do fuck all, but by 9pm he’s gone out and about, doing whatever it takes to get as little sleep as possible because he doesn’t really like the sort of dreams he’s been having.

Current Siv doesn’t have a schedule, but he does have an agenda.

How does your OC think they will die? Does death scare them? Is there any reason for this?

Siv isn’t thinking about death. In truth, he thought he would have died much, MUCH earlier. Maybe get stabbed or executed? Maybe have a poor run in with an ex or particularly angry victim of his scams? But hey, now that’s he’s living the high life with all this power, he doesn’t care about death! For all he knows, he could live forever as long as he sticks with Ganon! All he has to do is follow what he says, and he’ll be happy forever and never have to fear anything ever again.

What is your OC’s most traumatic experience? (If they don’t have just one traumatic experience either pick one or describe them all!)

The Asunder Incident.

Siv constantly questions himself after that, “Why would I do that? Was I really capable of killing someone? Surely not, I’m not...I’m not that bad...” but the facts obviously stated otherwise. This was basically the incident that cemented himself as the person he is at the start of hku, apathetic and broken. He wouldn’t admit it then, but this singular event basically solidified everyone’s prejudice and perception of him, and rightfully proved them correct. It was his own actions that left him hated, abandoned, and alone, so yeah, he can’t complain now, it’s all his fault.

How would your OC react to the death of a friend/family member/loved one? Is there anyone they can confide in?

If Ligero died he would throw a fucking party for the ages.

Other than that, yeah, if someone he knew and cared about died he would be very heart broken about it. I think the only person he would really confide in about it would be Larc, but if it WAS Larc that died...I can only assume he would at the very least be severely depressed. He’s his favourite, cherished, little brat brother, after all.

What would your OC be like if they were evil. Or if they’re already evil what would they be like as the good guy?

This is an interesting question given that...I’ve already shown both sides to this, haven’t I? Maybe I’ll just let the story speak for itself...

How would your OC react to somebody telling them that they love them? (+ bonus give another characters/OC name!)

Siv would first play it off as a joke because defense mechanism! “Haha, yeah, and you know what I love? The bathroom!” and he would be off escape the situation. But if they were persistent, he would be very flustered and very...vulnerable, and scarily sentimental in his opinion. It would take some time, but I believe eventually he would really, truly accept it, in the end. Although patience is certainly a virtue, it took an entire childhood for him to use the L word for his brother.

What does your OC hate about themself? What lies about themself do they believe? On the flip side, What does your OC love about themself?

He hates being a bad person. He does not believe himself to be good or worthy of anything, thus he internalizes it wholeheartedly in order to gain that sense of control. So now that Siv’s accepted he will never be truly happy, he’s like, “Great! I can just not care about anyone else now.”

Thankfully, that’s changed recently, and he now believes, “You know what? I’m NOT a bad person! It’s everyone else that’s been wronging me! The problem with me is that I’ve been way to much of a coward to take what I deserve, so now I’m gonna do it, no matter what! I deserve to not be hurt anymore, and if I can’t do whatever it takes to achieve that, then how can I say I deserve to be happy in the first place?” Be sure to thank Calamity Ganon for that pep talk.

Right now Siv loves his power. He’s had the most control and power in this one relationship with Ganon than he’s ever had with anyone else in his entire life. He’s finally on top! Number one! He has something to really be proud of about himself! The old Siv hated themselves, but now that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Does your OC have any scars? How and when did they get them?

He doesn’t have any notable scars, especially given that he’s got the power o’ malice, baby! Malice is a representation of many things, one of them being time and memory, so it’s pretty easy for it to heal and return skin, flesh, and bone to a prior state. Perfect for healing and repairing people and objects, alike! Of course, malice is more famous for doing the opposite, sucking your soul out from you prematurely, feeling yourself die rapidly, your last breath being snatched and forced out of your lungs, a thousand breaths meant for a lifetime suddenly sapped out in a few minutes. But I don’t know why I’m talking about that, that’s not relevant haha

What is something your OC blames themself for and is it really their fault? Does it keep them up at night and is there any lingering trauma?

The Asunder Incident, he blames his actions for leading him to basically abandon his brother for like fifteen years. But that’s all I’m gonna say as I have plans to talk about his feelings on it further in the actual story.

In what situation would your OC be pushed to commit an act of violence? Would they go as far to kill someone if they had to? How would this affect them and their relationships with others?

Why, I can’t answer this in detail! That’d be giving away the story :3

Ok, maybe I’ll say this: Siv tells himself that he would do anything to get what he wants, of course he would do anything, because if he can’t, well then that just means he’s a pathetic coward who doesn’t deserve happiness anyways. So of course he claims that he will do anything, even killing someone.

What would your OC do if they were given god-like powers or the ability to change anything about the world for a whole day?

Siv would eliminate all shitty parents, maybe also give revive some dead people, and also permanently have a giant neon green tattoo of a dick be on Ligero’s forehead. Assivus would do the first thing, but he might also make everyone who has ever wronged him suffer for a very long time on top of that.

Describe one of your OC’s worst nightmares.

- Oh no, made a ficlet.

The first night he was in the castle, he had a dream.

There was a man, sitting across from him, dressed in glittering gold, with a green sash wrapped across his chest and waist. He was tapping his long nails against a desk, HIS desk, the white and purple quill still in the cup of ink, and blank parchment in front of him.

The man looked very out of place, and that was ignoring the fact that he was a withering corpse.

You’re dashing, aren’t you? The man said, still tapping his fingers. That’s when Siv realized that he was just sitting opposite to him, in the seat where guests were supposed to be. He tried to speak, but couldn’t. He tried to move, but couldn’t. He tried to blink, but didn’t.

He sat there and listened to the man, attentively.

Do you know what you’re doing here, Asunder? the man asked. Asivus didn’t. Do you know why I’ve allowed you here? What you are?

Siv didn’t know, but he couldn’t exactly express as such.

That’s because you don’t need to know. At least for now. The man leaned forward like mist, disappearing as Siv felt something pass through him, he couldn’t turn to look behind him as a delicate hand was on his shoulder. You’ll know things when I want you to know. You’ll say things when I want them to be said. And you will do things when I want them to be done. Because I own you. Err...

The man suddenly stopped to think, leaning on the right arm of Siv’s chair, tapping his bony chin, as if he had made a casual slip of the tongue. Because...you owe me. Yes, that’s the word. I’ve helped you so much Assivus Asunder. Or “will?” “Have?” “Am currently?” Futures and times are a funny thing. I apologize, I’ll have my words sorted out into something more professional and proper in our future.

The man spun around, and suddenly, he was no longer a corpse, but a dashing Gerudo man, dressed brilliantly and handsomely. His eyes were no longer a hollow gold, but green, somehow familiar.

The room was no longer some dinky orator office, but the sanctum of the castle, the apex of the kingdom. The man snapped his head towards him.

Let me ask you something, Assivus Asunder: Would you rather be here?

He gestured to the grand view of the sanctum, the sunset casting striking shades of red, black, and gold across the towering walls.

Or here?

The world spun once again, and they were suddenly on a dark street. The houses of Rauru diced the stone brick pavement. Siv glanced around and saw himself, sitting on the ground. There were two knights, one of them cursing loudly, and the other laying down beside him. There was so much blood and he could feel himself floating closer and—

No. NO. Wait. STOP. PLEASE! He tried to speak, scream, anything. No sound came. He saw a sword, a dark and rich puddle that seemed to even reflect his own face and—

They were suddenly back in the office.

Which is better? What do you prefer, of the two? I’m assuming the former? The man looked at him. I will allow you to nod yes or no to the former.

Siv immediately nodded a yes.

Trick question!The man boomed. Both are fantastic places, environments that you should love and cherish. There is so much good hiding in the places you would least expect, Assivus. I’ll help you remember that.

The world was suddenly nothing. Nothing but black. Just him, in a chair, staring at this smiling, pleasant, scary, red haired man.

Don’t you want help, Assivus? I think there’s something you want, that you need help attaining? Isn’t there something? There’s no shame in admitting.

Siv thought for a moment, then slowly nodded a yes.

Do you want MY help?

Uhh...Siv wasn’t sure what to make of that.

Perhaps you can do a favor for me?

Fuck no! was Siv’s immediate thought. Who the fuck—First off, I don’t think I really like you, actually, so—

Oh that’s alright! The man was suddenly very close to his face. Oh shit, could he hear my thoughts? Assivus, you can do whatever you want to do to be happy. I don’t want to force anything from you. He patted his cheek with a very cold hand.

In fact, I’ve now decided you don’t have to do anything for me. I am going to help you, and you don’t need to do anything in return. The man stood back, clasping his hands together. How does that sound?

I... He tried to speak, but remembered he couldn’t even move his lips.

I’m sorry again, Asunder. Here, I’ll allow you to speak now. The man didn’t even wave a hand, but Siv could suddenly feel how hoarse and dry his throat was.

So how about it, Assivus Asunder? I want you to be in charge of your destiny, I want you to be in total control. I would never force anything from you, I will simply be here, by your side, helping here and there, as you...figure it all out. How is that? Does that sound alright?

Siv opened his mouth, but couldn’t decide the words. If I say yes can I go back to sleep? Hella tired...

The man didn’t move, but Siv someone sensed a whisper beckoning somewhere with a “Yes. We’re all tired of many things, aren’t we?”

“O-Ok...” Siv finally said. “Alright, sure. I don’t see why n—”

Before the words were fully out of his mouth, the world suddenly stopped dead, as quick as a snap. He awoke from his bed with a jolt, his heart racing like he had just run a marathon, even though he didn’t find those last moments to be that thrilling or terrifying.

Siv sat for a moment longer, trying to contemplate the dream. But as most dreams are, the memory of it fell out of his grasp like loose sand between his fingers, and soon enough, it was already gone.

He flopped back into bed with a sigh.

Whatever it was, it was probably nothing.

What advice would your OC give to their younger self? What advice does your OC need now?

Already answered in a previous ask c:

#oc ask game #out of character #Asivus Hartell #hku spoilers #Yes the ficlet at the end I'd consider canon

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konohagakureship · 4 years

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Hidan and Kakuzu d&d au! Two more members of the Akatsuki Fellowship!! They are travelling around Khorvaire, in the world of Eberron!

au! Akatsuki D&D

Headcanons:

All the info related to places and clans is from the canonic lore of Eberron, or from interpretations that I’ve found here and there, and also a bit of my own homebrew lore. I’m gathering all the info and sources in my WorldAnvil page so you can check it out if you want :)

And this is the map with notes so you can pin all the locations.

This time I chose to put only the info relevant to the characters to make the post shorter. But still, this will be a LONG post so be prepared xD

Founding of the Akatsuki Fellowship

All the members of the party met in Sharn, the biggest city of the continent of Khorvaire. They were there for different reasons but ended up travelling together across the world.

Hidan the bloody warlock

Hidan was born in the warrior nation of Karrnath in the city of Atur, where the living and dead coexist in a daily basis.

His parents were members of the Blood of Vol cult, and actively participated in the life of the Crimson Monastery, the largest worship site dedicated to Vol in the entire continent.

From a young age, his parents instructed him in the faith of the Divinity Within and encouraged him to follow their path and become a Seeker of the Blood of Vol.

The Blood of Vol is a religion centered on the belief of Divinity Within, which means that they do not revere any deity but the blood that courses through their own veins. The followers of the Blood of Vol are called Seekers, and many of them are necromancers employed by the government of Karrnath to control their undead soldiers.

Seekers believe that death is a curse prevent mortals from achieving divinity, so by breaking the curse of mortality, humanity will be able to live a plenty existence. Necromancy is an attempt to fight the curse of mortality and prevent the loss of the knowledge and skills obtained by past generations.

Contrary to the popular belief, Seekers cherish life and do not want to become undead. Those who become undead are considered to be martyrs who have given up their own chance at divinity to help others, since they will become tools for the living.

The Blood of Vol cult is ruled from Atur by The Crimson Covenant.

At the age of twelve, Hidan showed signs of possessing magical abilities, which catched the interest of the Cult and welcomed him into the Crimson Monastery to train his powers in favor of their religion and ulterior plans.

Hidan had always been an avid follower of his faith, but soon after joining the Monastery he started to interpret it in his own terms.

His warlock status made him believe that his blood carried the divine will, and that his mission was to actively fight for the Divinity Within by converting all the misguided mortals to The Blood of Vol, or sending them to their deceiving gods to see for themselves how misguided they were.

The years passed and Hidan only grew more powerful and reckless, learning and crafting unique invocations to unleash his magic at its fullest potential.

His ever growing power mixed with his free interpretation of the beliefs of The Blood of Vol, marked him as an individual too independent and powerful to escalate in the ranks of the Cult.

In an attempt to channel his energy and give him a purpose, The Covenant prompted him to join the Order of the Emerald Claw, the paramilitary arm of the Blood of Vol, and sent him to Rekkenmark.

The Order of the Emerald Claw is an outlawed organization of Karrn patriots and Blood of Vol worshippers spread throughout Khorvaire. They continue to operate in a semi-terrorist fashion to this day, proclaiming their desire to see Karrnath once again rise to power.

Their connection to the Cult is only known by highest ranking members of the Order.

Hidan was sent to Rekkenmark, in the border with Thrane. His cell had the undercover mission to hunt down any paladin of the Church of the Silver Flame that entered Karrnath with the intention of killing Vol’s vampires and undeads.

The Blood of Vol is a forbidden religion in some regions of the continent due to the evil connotations associated with their practices, and many groups such as the Church of the Silver Flame actively works to destroy them.

His days as an Emerald Claw Knight were short, though.

At the beginning, Hidan thought that the Order was his rightful place, that surrounded by powerful patriots he will be able to bring the divine will to all the mortals and spread his faith to the edge of the world.

However, he soon started to feel disenchanted with how the Order handled their business and how little they cared about his divine will. He realised that like in the Monastery, the Order also lacked of determination, and so he began to make their creed his and reform it by his own standards.

The time passed and Hidan grew more reckless and discarded his superior’s orders more frequently, which caused friction within his cell.

By recommendation of The Covenant, when the situation became unsustainable, The Emerald Claw “prompted” him to take his own path and fight for the Order by himself in his own terms, far away from Rekkenmark.

Instead of going back to Atur, Hidan decided to travel the world, free from any restraints, finding misguided mortals to convert to the Blood of Vol and killing all those who didn’t want to achieve immortality.

Unsurprisingly for everyone but himself, his homicidal activities granted him the status of “kill in sight” in many cities, and soon the bounty for his head was high enough to buy a villa in the upper levels of Sharn.

So Hidan, a powerful warlock and Seeker, spent the following years running away from the law and inquisitors of every city he stepped on. He never bothered to hide his presence anyway...

After a near death experience with a Flame paladin in Sigilstar, he traveled to Sharn, where he knew he could hide from prying eyes and find refuge in one of the Order’s liars.

However, The Emerald Claw rejected to host him as he attracted too much attention, forcing him to hide in the lowest levels of the city, where he was told that there was a unofficially Vol-friendly tavern run by elves.

Little did he know, that in the Callestan district lived one of the most renowned bounty hunters of Sharn, who was currently drinking a pint in the same tavern he choose to spend the night in.

Kakuzu the bounty hunter

Kakuzu was born in the port city of Zarash’ak, in The Shaodw Marshes.

His father was a human from House Vadalis (beast tamers), while his mother was a human with a quarter of orc blood from House Tharashk with the Mark of Finding (bounty hunters).

He was raised within the Tharashk House and learned how to bounty hunt from a young age. Even though his training was focused on the ways of his mother’s House, he enjoyed spending time with his father and help him train and sell his imported beasts from the Eldeen Reaches.

Kakuzu spent his childhood proudly working for House Tharashk, dreaming of becoming a renowned bounty hunter and awakening a powerful Mark of Finding. However, his dreams would sunk when at the age of seventeen he finally manifested his dragonmark.

It was an aberrant dragonmark.

The dragonmarks are passed through bloodlines and when two members of different dragonmarked families reproduce it often results in aberrant dragonmarks. Originally aberrant marked were seen as outcasts and outsiders, often shunned by the houses and eked out a pitiful existence. Now they unite under their own House, House Tarkanan.

Kakuzu tried to hide his new mark, constantly covering his body as much as he could and not getting intimately close to anyone for fear of being discovered and casted aside. His mood soured in a couple of months, and he ostracised himself from his closest friends and family.

But after a couple of years it had grown up so much that it almost took his entire back, and inevitably the House found out about his condition and expelled him from the clan.

Abandoned by his people, he traveled to Sharn in an attempt to join the Aberrant Dragonmarked House Tarkanan.

House Tarkanan is a house only formed by aberrant markeds, from any race and clan. They are usually bounty hunters, mercenaries and accountants.

When House Tarkanan first established itself in Sharn, the halfling Boromar Clan attempted to assimilate them, but the offer was turned down. This resulted in the Boromars attempting to destroy the House. When this proved too difficult a deal was struck. Since the Boromar clan doesn't traffic in assassinations, it was agreed that so long as House Tarkanan doesn't take contracts against the Boromars, they would be permitted to stay in Sharn without paying a fee.

Despite being shunned away by his family and now working as a bounty hunter for a bunch of criminals, Kakuzu found his place in Sharn. He also worked as an accountant for the clan from time to time, a nice changes of winds from his usual, dirtier, business.

He made himself a name in Sharn, and over the years was granted the title of Baron, as a senior assassin of the Clan. Kakuzu was well known in the city, especially in the districts of Lower Dura.

He established his residence in the lawless district of Callestan mainly because the rent was cheaper, but also because his best informants also maraud those streets, inns and ateliers.

Kakuzu is a baron of House Tarkanan, and his main income comes from the clan’s dealings. However, he takes freelance work if the pay is good enough, and he usually doubles his fees if the contract is from his former House.

House Tharashk, despite expelling Kakuzu many years ago, is often interested in hiring his services in the big city, since bounty hunters that are not from House Tarkanan or the Boromar Clan are not allowed to make business freely even after paying a bountiful fee.

House Tharashk has deals and a close relationship with House Thuranni. The elven house team with them whenever they need to find artifacts or people, in exchange for influences and intel. They are currently working together with the Emerald Claw in Stormreach (Xen’dirk), seeking ancient artifacts for Lady Vol.

House Thuranni is involved in many dubious affairs and unofficially allied with many organisations, such as the Blood of Vol and the Emerald Claw. The Thuranni fought alongside Karrnath during the War, and they have an important presence in Atur with their True Shapers academy.

These unofficial affairs turn every Thuranni establishment into a safehouse for those allies who need refuge or a meeting point.

So Kakuzu visits The Shadowkeeper tavern whenever the Tharashk need something from him, to catch up with his informants, or just to drink a large pint.

...though cashing in a good bounty for a dumb Seeker, is also interesting.

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We have 6 out of 8 members of the party!! yeyyy!!! now i need to finish the other two ;)

#naruto #akatsuki #hidan #kakuzu #au! akatsuki d&d #d&d #Dungeons and Dragons #eberron #my art #there's only 2 more left to go!!!!!#now i need to update the info in the WA page and also the map #anyway! check the other two posts too bc their lore is connected in some characters and you may understand them better #i know this is A LOT of lore to read hahaha but i hope you find it interesting #i tried to stick with the canon as much as i could and build their backstories and characters based on the canon material #some things are homebrew but most of it is canon so that's pretty cool for an au :DDDD #hidan is always like: why nobody wants to join the BoV? why is everyone prosecuting me? i have never been wrong in my life #kakuzu is done with life in general #also! kakuzu doesn't like itachi bc he's a thuranni and thuranni are allies with the tharashk #itachi doesn't like him bc he's an aberrant marked and he has prejudices against him which is not nice #itachi helps in the tavern when he's not assassinating people for his House. but he really doesn't work there #sasori and kakuzu exchange intel very often. both visit the tavern almost daily and gossip about everything #first sasori only went bc of the intel. now he has extended rants with deidara about art and their academies and how much they actually suck #deidara lives in the garret so now he's neighbours with hidan who rented a tiny cheap room #kisame's there too. he has an orc sized room for him and his tiny orclet. so he's their neighbour too #now there's only konan and nagato left!! and if you haven't noticed. there's a bit of foreshadowing in hidan's story ;)#i hope you like their designs and lore!! and tysm for reading all this text xD i know it's long but i really enjoy sharing it with you!#and as always if you have any question just send me an ask!

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