#evictedsaint

[dmitrimolotov]

What is TMA about? What is it?

I literally opened this ask and said aloud: “Oh my dear friend, that is a dangerous question...”

TMA is The Magnus Archives, a horror-anthology podcast produced by Rusty Quill. Each episode is centred around a “statement” which is essentially a self-contained short horror story (very creepy-pasta-esque) read by the head archivist of the Magnus Institute. There is a meta-narrative that develops, following the Archive staff over the series. I could give you the Spotify synopsis or a review, but I think it’s just better to say: give it a go - if you’re a fan of horror or supernatural themes and a good mystery, it will likely appeal to you and even if that’s not normally your jam, the incredible writing and performances rapidly suck you into the world. It is very LGBTQIA+ friendly, diverse and inclusive and never resorts to exploiting cheap scares, bigotry or sexual violence. You can listen to it at the Rusty Quill website or on most podcast services and I will highly recommend it. 

#ask away #evictedsaint #tma #seriously I cannot recommend it highly enough #and it's not a droning on series either there is a set end in sight and that's the end of season 5 #which has just launched this week

[thewebcomicsreview]

what's your over-under for when he falls below 400 patrons?

The patron loss appears to be slowing down, we’re going down to die-hards and people who literally died and never cancelled. 

Gonna go with.....August 15th?

#evictedsaint

[cherubplay]

how do you search multiple tags?

I’m still working on multiple tag search, so right now it’s only possible to search one tag at a time.

#cherubplay #evictedsaint #asks

[cubesona]

Who is Kahyo? What's her story?

A fictional wife I made for myself, I’m not gonna hide that.

She’s got a long, stupid story, but like, no amount of complex stories or themes or character arcs or character development will change the fact that she exists out of me thirsting for fat fox girls.

and I’m probably a bad person for that...

But yeah whatever, yeah. She’s got a story, yeah, but it’s really long and I doubt anyone besides me cares about it.

#evictedsaint

[writeworld-blog]

Three Science Fiction Questions

evictedsaint said: Heyo! I'm having trouble with a bit of sci-fi. I'm trying to design an alien space-faring species, along with their world, culture, and physiology, but I'm having trouble trying to make them sound truly alien and non-earth related. I absolutely hate the "humanoid alien" trope, but I'm starting to see why so many writers fall back on it. It's so much easier to take a human and slap on tentacles or gills than it is to imagine an entirely different evolutionary line that makes sense. Can you help?

Have you read How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card? He's pretty great at the whole non-humanoid alien thing. Might be worth checking out what he has to say about writing Science Fiction. 

Aside from that, it's just a matter of doing research. It's probably best to understand how evolution works, so read up on evolutionary theory.

The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution by Sean B. Carroll

Why Evolution Is True by Jerry A. Coyne

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins 

The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins 

Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution by Nick Lane

What Evolution Is by Ernst W. Mayr

Cosmos by Carl Sagan

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin

At the Water's Edge: Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to Sea by Carl Zimmer

Here's a whole list of books on evolution if you want a wider selection. You could also talk to biologists, especially evolutionary biologists, on this subject. I bet they'd have some great suggestions for you.

Anonymous said: I'm writing a fantasy/sci-fi story that's set on another planet and then I realized that they wouldn't have the calendar, months etc as us. I know this is based on what type of planet and where it is compared with the sun but I don't know how to go about researching it. Any help would be awesome thank you!

I found these posts interesting: 

Calendars for Other Solar System Planets

History of Calendars

World Building: Creating a Fictional Calendar

How Stuff Works: Calendar

Alternative Calendar

Darian Calendar

Some Future Calendars

Aeon Timeline FAQ (A program that makes custom calendars.)

. Good luck!

Anonymous said: Do you have any tips on writing science fiction novels?

Have you read our post on this subject, Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Few Quick Tips? I think there's some good stuff to be found there. 

Need some SciFi-specific tips? I've got three:

Read SciFi. Read widely. Science Fiction is a long-established subgenre of Speculative Fiction with many subgenres of its own within it. The only way to truly become familiar with its tropes and with reader expectations is to read books in this genre. From classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clark to new arrivals in YA Science Fiction like A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray, Science Fiction is growing and morphing all the time. It's important to know where the genre has been, where it is now, and where it could be going.  I will list a few of my favorite, recently-read Science Fiction books below, though I make no claim that these are sentinels of the genre. I just like them, and I think you might like them, too. 

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

The Ender Quintet and Ender's Shadow Series by Orson Scott Card

Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness

Neuromancer by William Gibson

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi (Anything by Scalzi, really.)

Want more? I've got some lists for you.

Top 10 Sci-fi Books of All Time

Top 25 Science Fiction Books

Best Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Best Time Travel Fiction

Best Science Fiction of the 21st Century

Best Science Fiction

Best Science Fiction With a Female Protagonist

Wikipedia is your wingman, not your wife. When you do research, Wikipedia can be a great resource to gain a basic understanding of a topic. Sometimes you won't even be able to form questions on a topic until you've read the whole Wikipedia article on it and begin to halfway comprehend it. You can learn more about how to use Wikipedia effectively by reading this post. Eventually, however, you're going to have to go find a source, preferably an expert in the field, from which to learn the finer points of the subject. This is science fiction, after all. There can be actual experts in the field. Look into professors at your school, members of local science-related clubs, and science bloggers who write specifically on the subject you're researching. These people have the knowledge you want, and they'd probably be over the moon to talk to you about their research and experiences. Take advantage of them.  Also, subscribe to science podcasts and YouTube channels, find a few good science news resources, and keep up with some science magazines. This is the sort of everyday, passive research that could help spark ideas for future stories.

Be bold. I know people think lasers and aliens when they think Science Fiction, but the genre has produced that and so much more in the past century, and it's only getting better from here. Science is a pretty broad topic. The future is vast. You can afford to stretch your imagination to its limits. You can afford to mine the tiniest details of scientific inquiry for ideas. Be brave. Explore. Experiment. Create.

Here are a few posts on WriteWorld related to writing Science Fiction:

The Worst Blunders People Make in Inventing Fictional Alien Worlds

Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds

Arthur C. Clarke’s Three Laws

Writing Science Fiction/Fantasy: What to Avoid

Thanks for your question!

-C

#evictedsaint #science fiction #sci fi #scifi #evolution #calendar #writing tips #calendars #evolutionary theory #resources #science

[astralazuli]

#notalltrollgirls

This is the single greatest thing to come out of that post, have multiple high fives.

#Homestuck #evictedsaint

[girlinyourphone]

Pairing: EquiusVriska. AU: Tron.

"What is tron," said Equius and Vriska in unison. "Light up motorcycles," she said as he did some squats. "Yes."

#evictedsaint #Question #writings

[thewebcomicsreview]

Tumblr can be exhausting, can't it? -_-

That’s the price you have to pay sometimes for taking marginalized people’s concerns seriously while also being a human who says dumb shit without thinking about it from time to time, and it’s worth the effort to try to not be a douchebag to trans people for no reason.

attemptsupon said: Honestly this is so fuckin interesting discursively. Futa stuff obviously is often incredibly fetishistic of trans women, but then maybe so is Hussie lol?

The reason it didn’t even occur to me to look at Jade’s knotted Dog Penis from that angle (there’s a sentence) is that it’s played about 30% as a fetish and 70% for shock value, and Jade’s characterization in the epilogue is, um,

-

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(Incidentally, at no point in Homestuck proper is it so much as hinted that Jade has a tail. The epilogue would have us believe she’s had one under her skirt the whole time, and introduces it here as “showing way too much of her thigh” so even that’s a sex thing)

-

-

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And then the reveal is

Pretty much every word by, to, or about Jade in the epilogue is about how much sex she’s having, and the reveal of her knotted dog penis is used less as an exploration of trans identity and more of a gag that can be used to justify her having sex with Rose, so it’s probably fair to say that it’s presented in a pretty fetishy/sexualized way.

#Homestuck #evictedsaint

[cherubplay]

Can we *please* have better tag search functionality in the Directory?

Yeah, that’s coming soon. In the next few days hopefully.

#cherubplay #evictedsaint #asks