#in case the readmore doesn't work for whatever reason

[27thfirefly]

hi. i just read the last chapter of your fic went blind last year and HOLY FUCK it is so good. i get it if you don’t want to like spoil things about your fic but i have many many questions and thoughts so im just gonna write a bunch of them.

the whole thing with like. dirk tapping into ultimate dirk and part of canon and then being shoved out? and then kind of realizing that he is a small part of something very big and wanting to be a bigger part of it, and then getting orange eyes representing a stronger connection to dirk-ness? fascinating. and is daves eyes turning red then symbolic of him becoming closer to dave-ness? and speaking of that- dante??? great character, very interesting. is he like somehow a version of dave? and what was he talking about on the swings? is he also in some sort of a loop? and what was it that dirk did at the end of chapter four? he did something with the sword, right, did he make dante decapitate him and then somehow come back to life?

and hal. and cal! holy shit, i can’t believe it but you kind of made me LIKE cal somehow? in the sense that he can be violent and outrageous and insane and vengeful when dirk can’t and its kind of cathartic.

its interesting to see where things stay the same as in canon and where they dont. like dave has chat logs with rose in 2014 and 2015? but hes only fourteen. so he’s technically both older and younger than he is at the beginning of homestuck. and dirk was like 13 in 1997, which is about when daves meteor should have dropped? but did they come with the meteors at all, in this world? dirk came with lil cal on his meteor in canon, but here he got him when he was 12. but dave still seems to be somewhat in touch with his time powers, and dirk with his heart powers, so some things carried over from the game?

god. this is all so fascinating and good. i will be probably rereading the fic and eating drywall until a new chapter comes out. you are an amazing writer.

wahhh thank you very much! for what it's worth i too have been thinking a lot about went blind last year. glances at the +50k word txt document of story notes and wip chapters. so i do love getting to talk about it even if working on it is very slow at the moment! i will put this under a readmore cos i got carried away but

there's a lot of things i don't want to spoil yet yes... but i think i've laid enough of the groundwork that these things won't feel terribly out of place within the story.

one thing i do feel comfortable in divulging is that any connections to canon are deliberately tenuous... how far can a character diverge from canon while still being understood as fitting the mold for that character? when a character is deliberately obscured, how much does fanon interpretation impact what feels in-character?

when you read fanfiction or fancomics or whatever kind of work about a specific character, your mind creates a superposition of the character as they exist in the original work and the character as they exist in the fanwork. as long as the "shape" of the character in the fanwork doesn't stick out too much from your perception of the canon "shape", you can accept that character--as written by someone else--as the same as in canon. some of the choices i have made are deliberately contradictory to the text of homestuck the webcomic. i have made these choices in order to tell the story i want to tell. even so, the basis for the characters in wbly are understood to be the same as in homestuck, creating an expectation for what these characters will act like, what their baseline is, and how you as a reader approach them. your feelings about cal changing within the context of wbly is an interesting case of this in my mind--the cal within wbly is presumably still close enough to canon that you can call it the same character, but the role of cal is changed enough that your impression of him is changed. that kind of thing is FASCINATING to me.

the reason wbly would not work as an independent work is the same as why the homestuck epilogues do not work without the pre-existing fandom of homestuck: there need to be expectations for these characters and relationships in order for me to challenge those expectations.

another thing i will divulge is that went blind last year is not the full title of the story in my mind--i won't tell the full one, but it does tie into just about every conflict in the story.

thank you again for reading my overly complicated fanfic! hopefully you'll stick around even if it'll take me a lot longer than expected to complete. if not, that's fine too.

also every time i send updates to my friend i get lamentations so you know stuffs going great

#dirteater69 #ive been reading umineko and its seeping into my vocabulary and way of talking #but to be fair if you read wbly i think you should already be primed for the amount of bullshit i can spew #I HAVE MOST OF THIS FIC PLANNED OUT I JUST NEED TO GET IT DOWN... #this answered nothing but how i think about this work #which might be interesting! i spose #if you dont already know me that well lol #kris.txt #wbly

[tezzbot]

Happy early Christmas!

anyways i wanted to ask, how do you draw Sonic’s muzzle and eyes? You always seem to make it so simple, yet so expressive all the same time, i love it! They all look so goober and silly in your style!

(i can literally drawing anything but the eyes and muzzle pff)

Oh wow this is very sweet thank you so much!!! Happy holidays to you too!!!

This got a bit long so I'm putting it under a readmore lol

This is by no means a THIS IS HOW YOU HAVE TO DO IT it is simply me trying my best to explain my methods heehee draw however you like!! Art is meant to be fun first and foremost do whatever is comfortable to you!! ^_^

I usually just start w his goofy little nose, it's a teardrop shape so you gotta make sure it tapers nearer his snout, and it usually sticks up at the end!! Other characters will require... different noses... lol! usually a little triangle or circle will do for a non-hedgehog individual (world's most interesting image from a "tutorial" award goes to vvv)

Then, the front part of the muzzle is the part that, if you're drawing him profile, sort of sicks out so it doesn't really like. move? if that makes sense?? It's very round so I think it would help to picture it as a sort of orb? Like an oval behind his nose! It's a very similar case with most of the rest of the cast, with a couple exceptions ofc!

After that you get to do the fun part which is the cheeks!! They're very important when it comes to 2d art of a Sonic character's expression imo!!

When you want him so happy smiling, just like on a real person's face, the mouth pushes the cheek upward and into the space where the eyes rest, this is also generally how they rest on default in the 3D renders no matter the expression

But if he's frowning, or his mouth is small for whatever reason maybe he's going :o or something lol, I like to bring those down

The boy usually ends up lookin like this!! (resized the noses a bit they were bugging me, no shame in editing as u go lol)

Another thing is how I draw their mouths Open, what I usually do is draw the nose and mouth First, it's how I know how to shape the rest of the muzzle around that first oval I talked about lol

Sometimes when I'm drawing I feel it looks fine as is without much change needed,

But if it looks weird with the rest of the drawing, I stretch the bottom around it more (sometimes it does depend on the angle of your boy's face too)

Here's it highlighted in some art I've already posted!!! (sorry if it's difficult to see orz)

It even works on Espio!! lol

If you'd like me to go in more depth on anything, or maybe cover how I do eyes since I didn't really get to it in this one, don't hesitate to ask!! I love talkin art baybeee<3 Thank you for the ask!!!

#tezztalks #mydoodles #I have no idea how to tag this lmao #tezzthoughts #maybe idk #Also I don't generally like to sketch underneath my art so if the ones that I sketched in pink look a little wonky I'm just not used to it #lol #n e way THANK YOU!!!!<333

[felikatze]

okay!! safe ending done!! wowzers, what an ending! time to review!

First of, some complaints. Since i was skipping basically everything, the new scenes stuck out all the more, and they didn't really... feel earned. For example, Door 8. Going 4-8 resulted in a scene of Junpei poking fun at Lotus, so she tells him to fuck off, but going 5-8, the two get talking. Lotus mentions her former job, and she starts talking about "what if the human brain doesnt actually contain memories" and wireless data transfer which ties into all the telepathy stuff all over the game.

So why does she open up more to Junpei... on a route where they spent less time together?

edit. um. added a readmore. i did not realize for how long i was talking.

The same thing applies to the changed scene with Santa in Door 6. Taking this route means missing every opportunity to hang out with Santa beforehand (Door 4 & 3), yet this is the route where he just doesn't talk about metaphor, but mentions his sister and her death outright. Again, why is he more emotionally honest on a route where he knows Junpei less?

In a VN like this, ideally, choices inform what routes happen, yeah? Instead of things just "happening differently." Same with Junpei figuring out Ace's face-blindness because Akane decided to collapse for no reason.

Rlly, Akane's random fevers are the most plot devicey thing in this game, and I don't like it.

The only pre-end changed scene that made sense is Clover talking about Snake's disability in the lab, because Junpei was one of the last people to spend time with Snake. She decides against it if Junpei didn't spend time with Snake beforehand, probably realizing Junpei wouldnt know anything in that case.

And the random hint Clover has in her hand when her body is found is, hm. Like, when I went through Door 1, there just... wasn't anything like this, so where the hell did it come from? Maybe this gets explained in the true end, whatever.

I get the logic that the first door has to be 5 bcuz Junpei needs to know where the safe is, but it makes less sense with the Lotus and Santa scenes.

Okay. Moving on to: plot revelations.

So! I was correct! Ace killed everybody in the Knife and Submarine endings! And he targeted Lotus to nab her bracelet, which was all he needed for the 9 door, and everybody else was just collateral. Makes sense.

The motivation here is the new part. As soon as Santa said he's the CEO of Cradle Pharmaceutics - well yeah, that tracks. Explains how Ace knew what the sedative is. He was the one producing it. Explains his connection to the first Nonary game, as per my theory that every person is involved with the first one somehow.

I assumed he figured out Lotus was investigating him, but nah, lol, just wanted the bracelet. Fucker <3

Other plot revelations: though I do not like the method of delivery as per the above, my suspicion was confirmed!! Santa's sister is the kid who died in the first Nonary Game! Like, okay, he says car accident or whatever, but it was nine years ago, I can read. He's probably in the same situation as Lotus, where what really happened got covered up, and this is just the story he's been fed. Poor guy. Really working for the Santa nickname here. Aww man.

Right, next on the discussion block - Snake. I am so deeply satisfied that i was 100% dead on the money. He was alive, and trapped in the coffin.

I mean, you saw me speculating this before, I shall not be Ashe Bradley'd again, but when I replayed Room 5, i was all the more certain. Snake mentions his incredible hearing, meaning he'd never get jumped, and he was confident he could take Junpei in a fight, which he GOES TO PROVE in the ending. Not against Junpei, but, wow. When Clover mentions his prosthetic arm, oh yeah, it's all coming together, and this is how Junpei figures it out, too.

Also shows how Snake and Clover are connected to the game - Snake's been in it, and whatever happened injured him, resulting in his blindness and prosthetic. Also a nifty explanation for why he didn't recognize anybody else he might've met back then.

Speaking of, here is the one point i was wrong. Snake did not kill the Ninth Man, Ace did. It makes sense motive wise, as Ace wanted to eliminate anyone who knew his connection to the first Nonary Game. Still wondering how Ace knew about the verification before Zero or Snake explained it....? Whatever.

Thinking back, his face blindness is foreshadowed!! It's such a blink and you miss it moment. In the hospital room, when searching for Snake, when Junpei tells Ace that Clover and Snake look nothing alike... Ace reacts surprised! He had no idea they look different!

That's such smart foreshadowing, dear god.

Okay, next up - Akane. I already mentioned I don't like her plot device fever, and this end really takes it to the next level.

I could tell they copied over text from the submarine ending, where Akane tells Junpei she won't make it, but loved their time together, because she was, you know, bleeding out in his arms, and the same dialogue when she's got a fever feels way cheaper, you know? People can die of fevers, of course, but not like... this fast. Geez.

The thing that salvages this scene is the mystique of it, Akane vanishing, Zero saying he's right here... Well, that does have one implication, of course - that Akane is Zero.

(thinks about plot spoilers i've seen) (thinks about "is akane evil" discourse i've seen)

(thinks back to my "akane was in the first game" theory)

No fucking way, right? (<- in denial.)

Speaking of Zero. So, Zero reveals the mission statement that he wants to punish all those responsible for the first Nonary Game. Okay. So that's why Ace is here. But then why are other victims of the game here? Why is Snake here? Why is Lotus here? Why punish the family members of those involved?

Unless, of course... "The Nonary Game was always meant to save everyone." Maybe that's what Zero wants. Zero wants Junpei to succeed. For some reason. Hence Zero saying "I lost" as Junpei goes down with the ship. Whatever Zero's goal is, it hinges on Junpei.

Also, back to the Akane thing - on the assumption that Akane is Zero/was in the first game, that would finally give Junpei a Nonary Game connection, cuz he and Akane are the only ones without a confirmed one so far. He's here bcuz of Akane.

And, remember how I pointed out Akane's fixation on her childhood as odd? Well... if somebody were, say, seeking revenge against the company that traumatized them for the past 9 years, then fixating on the idyllic childhood before all that makes sense, no?

OKAYYY TIME TO ACTUALLY DISCUSS THE PLOT OUTSIDE OF WHAT I COMPLAINED ABOUT.

The Ace is Evil reveal was actually so fucking cool. PEAK manipulative Junpei moment, which is, hands down, my favorite character trait of his. If he wants something, he is going to get it, by any means possible. He's a lying and schemeing son of a bitch, and it's fucking fantastic. It was so satisfying how Junpei pulled together all the details I also noticed, all the little bits and bobs from the three extra scenes, to make the perfect trap for Ace.

Just saying "I'm actually Santa" to test Ace's face-blindness, saying he took the bracelet from Ace, confirming Ace has it, and then elaborating on why Snake isn't dead. Brilliant. Brilliant moment.

Ofc then Ace pulls the revolver, cuz fucking dumbasses left it there for anyone to nab. Also great setup, since i did door 6 first, i knew the revolver was there, and the guys just leaving it there in knife end was simply too good to be true.

Chekov's gun, in the most literal sense. If there's a gun, somebody is going to fire it.

Righto. The showdown in the incinerator. Man.

First of all, I was delighted to see Snake back, have my theory validated that he's in the coffin, though this does open the mystery of who out him there. Absolutely DELICIOUS tragedy that this is on the route where Clover is dead, and neither Junpei nor Seven have the heart to tell him.

Snake just going apeshit on Ace was a great moment, really impressive, really heartwrenching. If I gotta die, I'm taking you bitch down with me <3 iconic. Incredible. Truly Snake was Not Fucking Kidding when he said he could take Junpei in a fight. That scene of Seven dragging Junpei out of the incinerator... man.

Also rlly smart to bring up the prosthetic arm thing to let Snake go through the door. Pulls double duty as the last evidence that Snake is alive, AND for this moment. He just. screwed his hand off real quick to take the bracelet off. Truly more stories need disabled characters for spectacular moments like this.

I already talked abt my feelings w the Akane scene at the end here (the same scene in sub ending was better, but this one has more Implications), but I gotta say. It was so funny that Snake, Seven, and Junpei just all went through Door 9 without Akane and Santa. They just fucking left em. Presumably Seven and Lotus left without Junpei, but where did Santa go in this ending? Caught up to Seven and Lotus, leaving with them? Drowned in the ship? Vanished mysteriously? Who knows~

Oh, yeah, Zero probably uses Soporil to drug people, huh? Delightful little bit of irony.

Another thing... I'm incredibly glad that I played the bad ends first? Like, take the Ace twist for example - it's only really satisfying if you've done Knife or Sub end first, since it confirms that he's the killer in those. And it only became EXTRA satisfying when doing one of those in combination with the Axe ending, because this one confirmed to me that he's the killer beforehand!

And him being the CEO, Zero having a grudge against Cradle Pharmaceutics - only really matter when you've gone through Door 2 before, and learned about the 16 missing children, Seven's backstory, and arrived at the conclusion that this was a previous Nonary Game. Santa's sister being dead also only comes as a shock after this, because it confirms what I thought - that she died here, on the Gigantic.

Like, seriously, I would've been so much less satisfied if I'd done this ending first. You SAW how fucking long I speculated about Snake being alive, right? Today I dm'd a friend who is mildly insane abt 999 about my full theory, and then two hours later I got it confirmed. How much more would it suck if I just... got it confirmed in my first playthrough, and then played the bad ends? They'd be nothing! Doing them first, it's a gradual crescendo of information, pieces slotting together ever so slowly, theories evolving into a coherent whole, before the Safe ending puts them all to rest, and opens up new questions, new theories.

Like, sure. There's still value in doing like, Door 3 Route, but Sub ending is Less Woah when you've seen the lesser version of Akane's last words, AND already know for sure that Ace is the killer.

TLDR: I'm very happy i went in the order I did, and fully committed to doing all bad ends first.

AND THAT'S MY LONG FUCKIN REVIEW OF SAFE ENDING!!! i thought it was called "Safe" ending because. Everybody gets out safe, but doesnt resolve the plot, or something, you know average "normal ending" stuff for VNs. But nah it just. Involves a literal safe. Okay

NEXT STOP, LAST DESTINATION! PLAYTHROUGH 5, TRUE ENDING!

#feli speaks #feli plays 999

[addiehour]

personal thoughts on the staff post about the situation. under readmore + rbs turned off bc this is more for my archival than anything else

one thing that immediately stands out is the lack of clarification on the ban.

The reality of predstrogen's suspension was not accurately conveyed, and made it seem like we were reaching for opportunities to ban trans feminine people on the platform. This is not the case. The example comment shared in the post linked above does not meet our definition of a realistic threat of violence, and was not the deciding factor in the account suspension. [...] Transition timelines are not against our community guidelines, and weren’t a factor considered by the moderation team when discussing suspensions and subsequent appeals. We do not take action against content that is related to transitioning or trans bodies unless it includes violations of the Community Guidelines.

so what was? if it wasn't the transition timeline (which was repeatedly removed due to 'violating community guidelines', including after appeals) or the threat (which tbf i didn't assume was, on its own, the reason for the ban-- matt always cited it as 'one example'), then like... what exactly was?

the same (second) quote also re-asserts something we already knew. yeah, no duh, the concept of a transition timeline is not against community guidelines (tho it's worth mentioning that jv, an ex-employee, did refer to it as though it was equivalent to a sex worker posting an ad for their onlyfans.)

See, I don't think trans accounts here gets banned more often than, let's say, sex workers accounts. Because for Matt / moderation policies, posting a pic of your body to show up how your transition is going to your friends is the same than posting a picture of your body to promote your onlyfans. The context, the intention, doesn't matter much to them, the action is what matters. And of course, for a lot of trans folks here, their body is a very important topic to talk about, to show, to be proud of … but people like Matt don't really understand (or care) about the difference between that kind of self-expression and posting a thirst trap.

ftr, the above was posted before jv had seen the post in question (afaik), so they couldn't have known it was shoulders-up, but like-- this is still a drastically incorrect way to frame things. & transmisogynistic! like, first of all, if trans accounts don't get banned more often than sex workers... so what? they're not all sex workers, and even if they are, as long as their accs don't break guidelines they shouldn't be banned AS OFTEN AS "sex workers" (unclear if jv means sex workers or accounts specifically used for sex work).

it's also ridiculous because people post ootds all the time. people send photos of themselves in clothing made by artists on tumblr all the time, saying 'thanks for the [clothing item] it looks great on me!' i have never seen any of these threatened w community labels. objectively speaking, a trans woman saying 'look how my body has changed' in a FULLY CLOTHED transition timeline is not calling more attention to her body than a cis woman saying 'look how good i look in these jeans.' &, again, even on accounts by (e.g.) cis lesbians made for thirsting over each other (/pos) i fail to see any action being taken against (again, clothed) posts like 'i hear you girls like butches in flannel' or w/e. this is just obviously not true. moderation is not viewing all posts displaying people's bodies equally. (& tbh i disagree that you can linearly describe transition timelines as 'calling attention to the user's body', but like, whatever atp.)

furthermore, txttletale explained:

she was banned because her account was under a unique amount of scrutiny and subject to a mass harassment campaign and yes, that scrutiny came from the controversy around her transition photos.

so idrgaf if staff tells us more than once that she wasn't specifically banned for transition photos. that's like, not even the issue here. she has at least once had her account mass reported for posts like that to the point that she had to email and get it back, but even if it's not specifically over those pics, 1) they're still a major factor 2) wtf was it then lol 3) WHY DID THEY GET TAKEN DOWN.

bc nobody has managed to correctly address thus far why they continued to be consistently removed even after the appeals were re-considered by tumblr staff. i've seen some people posit that it was bc of the harness, which like. 1) i have not seen these labels on historical pride photos featuring harnesses, nor should they be used in those instances 2) whoah maybe that should be in the guidelines then!

like i get why they don't want to get into the reasons behind everybody's bans but at the very least maybe clarify your rules so trans people can better plan their posts for their audience.

Last year, the "mature" and "sexual themes" community labels were erroneously applied to some users' posts. An outside team of contractors tasked with applying community labels to posts were responsible for this larger trend of mislabeling trans-related content. When our Trust & Safety team discovered this issue (thanks largely to reports from the community), we removed the contracted team’s ability to apply community labels and added more oversight to ensure it does not happen again. In the Staff post about this, LGBTQ+ staff pushed to be more transparent but were overruled by leadership. The termination of a contractor mentioned in the original ask response was for an unrelated incident which was incorrectly attributed to this case. We regret that the mislabeling ever happened, and the negative impact it has had on the trans community on Tumblr.

...so there have been multiple transphobic moderation issues. awesome. others have pointed out that it's not clear based solely on this whether the contracted team is still on the job and what they can do (since this doesn't say they were fired or even removed from moderating, just that specifically their ability to apply labels was removed.) and the complaints of transmisogynistic application of community labels haven't disappeared, so this also seems like a failure to address the issue.

When it comes to the experience of trans folks on Tumblr encountering transphobic content, and interacting with bigoted users, we understand and share your frustrations. Tumblr’s policies, and Automattic’s policies, are written to ensure freedom of speech and expression. We prohibit harassment as defined in our Community Guidelines, but we know that this policy falls short of protecting users from the wider scope of harmful speech often used against LGBTQ+ and other marginalized people.

also disappointing as a response. excuses the way the policy is written while also acknowledging it "falls short." if it falls short, it needs to be fixed, unless the right of terfs to post about how trans women are rapists supercedes the right of trans people to exist unharassed on this platform. as many have noticed, tumblr doesn't even have a policy against misgendering, which even twitter had at some point.

they proceed to say that going forward tumblr staff is doing xyz, which tbh i'm not even responding to here bc i doubt any of that is going to happen. the existence of the post itself verifies that what trans people at tumblr want has no bearing while matt is ceo.

...ok wait i lied.

Reviewing which of the tags frequently used by the trans community are blocked, and working to make them available next week.

imo, even if there are literally thousands of tags to look through, staff needs to have someone sit down and look through all of them. this puts the burden on the community to report these things AGAIN, which is not long-term feasible or fair. just go through the tags you're blocking and figure out which are fair to block (i.e., "pro ana" "ts porn" etc.) and which aren't (not just tags like "tgirl" but "nsfw art" because nsfw art IS NOW ALLOWED LOL).

idk most of my own thoughts boil down to txttletale's tags:

it is not a very meaningful gesture but it is all that the people makign it are actually capable of so dunking on it seems lazy

it doesn't mean much and most if not all of it is stuff we already know but what else can trans staff do. i'm mostly bothered by the implication in the post that they CAN do anything when we know based on everything leading up to this and this post itself that this is not the case. ofc i think it's incredibly brave of trans staff to do ANYTHING, but still, this is capitalism & modern tech. my hopes are not particularly high.

other people additionally pointed out that this post fails to:

specify that the moderation issues primarily apply to TRANS WOMEN (not lgbtq people in general)

& specify whether there are trans women/transfems working @ tumblr (they consistently just say 'trans people' which like. alright 'trans people' are very often transmisogynistic. but it does seem tho that there are transfems there so probably just wording.)

address the numerous bans of other trans women since avery

& the previous 'unexplained' bans of black and palestinian bloggers

& the entire system for 'report sexual content' which, when spammed, explodes a blog on the spot with no explanation to its owner

& the fact that matt followed avery to twitter to list out her sideblogs

REINSTATE AVERY'S ACCOUNT. lol.

anyway. a few notable responses, as of 2/24/24.

mostly positive:

(one) (two) (three) (four) (five)

mostly critical:

(one) (two) (three) (four) (five) (six) (seven) (eight) (nine) (ten) (eleven) (twelve) (thirteen) (fourteen) (fifteen) (sixteen) (seventeen) (eighteen) (nineteen)

(jv's notes plus reddit corpospeak 'translation') (more of jv's notes) (staff member echo's response) (jv's update on matt's lack of response)

(ex-staff member lara's response)

meanwhile, matt has been silent, after politely declining an invite to pissvortex's live chat & having his wikipedia page changed to say he died feb 19 in a "car hammer explosion." truly incredible

#bentxt #. once again reblogs off/under readmore bc this is really just for me to keep everything in one place #. so. #tumblr

[sunriseverse]

how do you overcome writer's block?

hi anon!! thank you so much for your ask! i actually have a lot of thoughts on this topic!!! disclaimer that ymmv and this is just what has worked for me—though i hope it helps other people! this also got rather long, so i'm sticking it beneath a readmore.

i should start by saying that i used to get horrendous writer's block—the type that, if i were the crying type, would have left me in tears of frustration. however, after over a decade of writing, and four-plus years of that being writing with intent and dedication, i've figured out some things that have basically eliminated writer's block for me (with the exception of mental health-related hiccoughs that i can't really control).

first of all, i like to identify what kind of writer's block i'm experiencing, because that will help me determine my plan of action. broadly speaking, at least for me, writer's block can be broken down into two distinct—though at times overlapping—categories: idea block and motivation block.

idea block is what happens when, for whatever reason, no matter how hard i try, i can't come up with concepts or plots, and trying to write is a frustrating slog where none of the words i put to paper seem to feel quite right—this is the type of block where there's nothing stopping me from writing, but actually doing so feels like a slog. i also call this "dry" writer's block, because it's more tolerable to me personally—there's a lot of things i can do to help break the block that work fairly reliably for me (i'll get to that in a minute).

motivation block is what happens when i just cannot find it in myself to write, no matter how much i want to. i may have dozens of fascinating concepts, but for some reason, i just can't sit down and write. if i try and force myself, i'll feel resentful and bitter and unhappy—and this can make the entire process of writing incredibly unpleasant, as i will keep getting distracted and feel frustrated with myself. i call this "wet" writer's block—it's much harder for me to deal with, and can be pretty damaging if i try and power through it.

the third type of writer's block isn't really it's own category—it's the overlap between motivation block and idea block. i won't belabour the point, but this one is generally not something i deal with, and when it has happened, it's the most tolerable—if i have neither motivation nor ideas, then i'm generally not too upset about not writing. still, this can be frustrating! it doesn't feel good to find yourself unable to do something that brings you joy or meaning.

now that i've defined the types of writer's block, let's get to how i actually deal with them.

idea block

usually speaking, this is the easiest for me to deal with! generally speaking, i take a step back and try and assess the situation. oftentimes, the reason i can't come up with any ideas is because i'm overwhelmed by the other things in my life. my first line of action in this case is to make a plan to reduce the stress i'm experiencing, and then, after that, go through the various things i've collected and see if any of that sparks anything—for example, i'll go through my poetry tag on my blog, check out some books from the library, and watch an episode or two of a show. all of these are things that i can take inspiration from concepts or emotional beats from, and, even better, they don't really require me to do much! i also have a folder in my notes app specifically dedicated to fanfic ideas—this is where i jot down one- or two-line summaries of a fanfic concept i've thought of when i am, say, in a lecture or at the grocery store, and am not able to write at the moment, but i want to remember and work on the concept later on, and looking through this will often help with idea block. obviously, a folder of fanfic ideas is something that takes a while to build up—it's not a solution if you don't have anything already in there, but the other things i've mentioned, like reading a new book or watching a show, are things that don't require prior planning.

motivation block

this one is, like i said, much harder. however, the cause for it is often pretty immediately clear if i take a step back—usually, it's because i don't have enough happening in my life. this often occurs during breaks or on days that i don't have a ton scheduled, and the free time i have winds up seeming daunting and unappealing rather than enticing. in the past, i've definitely been guilty of trying to brute force my way through this—but, for me, at least, this is a really bad idea! it can lead to burning out, which causes damage in the long run, and is really unpleasant in the short run. instead, what i've learnt to do is to try and put myself in a writing mindset. some tools that help with this, for me, are going back to my initial concept(s) for whatever i've been working on recently, and try and identify if i've accidentally intimidated myself out of working on them, or if the concept itself is something i just don't feel particularly enthused by at the moment. once i've done that, i like to make playlists and moodboards—these can be for characters, or concepts, or anything you want, really! they're a creative exercise that doesn't require quite as much effort as writing, and they can help you with your writing later on. another thing that i do is read through my old works—anything that i've published on ao3 is fair game, and doing this often helps me to become motivated again because i'll find something that i really enjoy and want to replicate, or turns of phrase i want to use again. i also try and see if there's something physical that's the issue—i can't count the number of times where i was feeling unmotivated, and realised that, oh, i hadn't eaten in ten hours, or i was dehydrated, or i hadn't taken my medications for the day. another thing that helps with motivation block, for me, is to do a modified rubber duck method—i'll explain my wip or concept to a friend, and oftentimes they'll have comments or enthusiasm that will help me become motivated again, because i always have an easier time doing something when i feel like there's a third party that i am "accountable" towards.

total block

this one i honestly don't have a lot of advice for. generally speaking, though, in my experience, it's a good signal that i need to take a step back and recuperate—maybe i overdid it with my last project emotionally, or maybe i'm just really busy in real life and don't have the energy necessary to dedicate towards writing. either way, pushing yourself isn't a good idea! like with motivation block, it can wind up burning you out, or, barring that, make you associate writing with feelings of discomfort—which isn't something you want, because you can accidentally condition yourself into an aversion. my best advice for this is to just...............slow down! make yourself a smoothie, or eat some fruit. go for a walk, pet a cat, or work on a physical hobby. consider giving a friend a call, or texting them. in general, do something that reminds you that life doesn't have to be hectic and stressful—eventually, you'll have rested enough that your mind will probably naturally begin making up concepts and generating enthusiasm.

that's about everything i can think of! i hope anon, or anyone else reading this, find it helpful—and if anyone has any more questions, please feel free to ask!

#ask #c.txt

[neathbound-fiends]

Ask from @electricpoolshark! Answering here so I can slap a readmore on it since you didn't specify anyone so I am doing :3c everyone

What does your OC think how they’ll die?

Elliott: he expects that he'll probably die at Zee, as is the fate of a lot of zailors. It isn't an unusual way to go, his real hope is that he'll have earned enough money and taught his kids well enough and gotten them set up with backup plans to be able to thrive once he's gone

Warren: she simply doesn't intend to die, but if she does, she's sure it will be doing something incredibly grand and daring and she will perhaps even get her own folk song written about her

Arthur: he's pretty sure it'll just be old age. He's already 14, which is relatively high up there for a cat, so he's fairly certain he's got like a good year or two left in him and then he'll just go find some woods somewhere to crawl off into

Florence: she's sure that, when the time comes, it will be from a double cross. Someone will sell her out on some job or another, and she'll meet her maker (metaphorically) and that'll be that

Doc: he also doesn't intend to die, but if he does, it will likely be at the hands of whatever Judgement banished them in the first place (since, clearly, it will not be London which destroys them, but he welcomes another Campaign of '68 should they be so inclined to try)

Bolormaa: he also expects he'll probably die at Zee. He's not technically a monster hunter, but he essentially works that job on the ship, and being the woman shooting things with cannons tends to make one a target for Zee-beasts that don't particularly enjoy getting shot

Rhoda: she's fairly certain it will be in some event that nearly wipes out the City, given the course of the last few years. She'd prefer it to be something calm and peaceful when she is quite old, but summers are making her less sure this will be the case

Would your OC survive for a week on their own in the wilderness?

Elliott: it is unlikely. He spent a lot of time outside as a youth, but he is not someone I can imagine hunting, or knowing what is or isn't edible, and he's already pretty thin and sickly so he hasn't got much in reserves to help him out

Warren: despite what she'd tell you, no. She'd feel like she's hot stuff for the first like eight hours and then she would want to go home very badly

Arthur: yes! He's got a leg up on everybody else by virtue of being a literal animal. He survived on his own before, and he could do it again if need be, though with a bit more difficulty because he's an old man who has been spoiled for years now

Florence: probably not. She'd eat some weird berries that she watched an animal eat and reason that it must be safe for her also and then die on like day 2

Doc: it's a toss up. On one hand, he's got the advantage of being a devil and therefore having, presumably, weird anatomy considering they eat and drink things made from poison and that can light things on fire. On the other hand, he might just fucking kill himself to get out of the wilderness because death is preferable to camping

Bolormaa: it's possible. He has decent nature skills and is good with improvised weapons, but would fare a lot better in a marine environment or the plains due to his familiarity with it over, like, the straight up woods

Rhoda: probably not. She's not really a woodsman, and though she has a lot of knowledge regarding mushrooms and their foraging and cultivation, she's not really equipped for many other survivable skills

#fallen london oc #thank you for the ask! #elliott marsh #warren penbrook #arthur the cat #florence penbrook #the infernal surgeon #bolormaa otgonbayar #rhoda westing

[lilolilyr]

Hi, I'm your gifter for the Bering and Wells Gift Exchange! I'm up for writing basically anything that's not sex/smut, and I'd really appreciate if you could give me a prompt or any ideas you'd like to see written!

Hi! Sorry that I'm only replying now, I meant to but kept forgetting...

Some prompt ideas:

Through time travel/also being bronzed/alternative universes combining, whatever you want to pick (if you want to write an explanation at all) - Christina is suddenly there with them in the 21st century! and they're showing her this new world, Helena learning about things she hadn't noticed so far as well... maybe Christina ships her and Myka, and that's how they get together?

Crossover with The Old Guard if you happen to know that fandom, the Warehouse gang meets the immortals (I ship Andy/Quỳnh or Andy/Quỳnh/Nile if you want to include that)

Crossover with Gunpowder Milkshake, maybe Florence uses an artefact to bring Madeleine back to life/safe her life, and Myka wants to have them arrested for it but Helena understands the situation and says what's done is done, just let them be

Helena has chronic pain, either she has had it her entire life or since the bronzer, either way she's used to it and doesn't even notice anything is wrong - she's not sick, she's not getting worse, for her it's just how it's always been, bodies just randomly ache sometimes, don't they? It takes Myka noticing her wincing or repeatedly flexing her fingers while she's tinkering with some experiment that she wants to finish despite having a bad pain day for them to realise that No Helena, it certainly isn't normal to be in pain for no reason, give yourself a break and allow yourself to rest when you need it, other people aren't constantly suffering so when you are you can allow yourself to lie down for a bit and at least not make it worse ok... (pls don't let the chronic pain magically disappear if you take that prompt, tho on the other hand also no bad illness that will kill Helena or such things, just the chronic pain)

Modern no powers AU: after the death of her daughter, Helena had thrown herself into her work until she didn't have a minute to breathe anymore, her mental health only worsening and worsening. She finally quits her job, takes all her belongings with her and moves overseas, trying to find peace away from it all. One of her neighbours is Myka, a lonely woman who loss her partner a few years ago and barely ventures out of her garden and library. After a while, the two women notice that they have more in common than just their grief.

Crossover with Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, in particular I'd love to see how Dr Mac and Helena get on xD how they end up in the same time - artefact or complete AU - is up to you! I ship Mac/Phryne(/Jack)

A Myka's Ex Girlfriend Cinematic Universe canon-divergence with Amanda as the ex (ok I think the link doesn't work on mobile but go back to only seeing the part of the ask above the readmore then click the tag below this post to see the posts on my blog also using that tag), basically she's Myka's ex instead of Pete's... Also possible ot3 potential with her and Helena .

Any emotional hurt/comfort with a focus on the comfort is always welcome

Combination of any of those ideas

Some squicks I'd like to avoid: MCD and in general on-screen character death; hurt no comfort; noncon even off-screen; character bashing unless you ask me first whether it's okay in that character's case

I hope you'll find this reply, if you send me another ask in the future I'll tag them #b&wexchange22 so you can search my blog for that!

Thanks for the ask :)

#Warehouse 13 #Bering and wells #bering and wells gift exchange #warehouse 13 gift exchange #b&wexchange22 #gift exchange #lilo writes behind the scenes #ask the blogger #answered #mine #tag later #did i copy most of the prompts from last year's ask? hell yes it's the middle of the night so i have 0 braincells left to think of things #also i don't think last year's gifter actually fulfilled any of them #so there's that #x #myka's ex girlfriends cinematic universe #my w13

[ace-fandom-dumbass]

Was working on cleaning out my dorm, found a piece of paper with a thing, and I'm just going to dump it and extra thoughts under a readmore because I need to do something

I wish I could say that I'm sad because we don't talk like we used to

But I never really did talk to you, did I?

Anxiety's a bitch I guess

In any case I suppose it would be more correct to say

I'm sad I can't listen to you like I used to

I sad I never talked to you like I wanted

I miss sitting in your presence, paying attention to every word and assuring myself that this time surely I would join the comversation

But that sounds weird doesn't it

As summer approaches and I dont have Honor Guard to look forward to at the end of summer, don't have the trainings each month, I'm missing the people there. And I found this thing I wrote about those people, about some of the problems I had.

I mean, I mostly joke about it but really truly that above

And this quote is why I like and latched onto Darcy as a comfort character, I don't think I'd felt this seen and also kinda called out outside of percy jackson (which was the then undiagnosed adhd looking at Percy's adhd struggles and going "oh hey same, except I don't have adhd" and not putting two and two together until recently, but that's a tangent for a different time)

I dont know, I know I'm not the only person who does this but god i feel like crap for several reasons, but finding that paper just added to them, missing my honor guard people but not really being sure if I can or should think of them as "my honor guard people" because I didn't, and don't, really talk to any of them, and I don't know this is just me kinda dumping/venting while procrastinating and whatever

#hestia rambles #yelling into the void #vent post #my writing #i guess

[franeridart]

Anon said: i love love love LOVE how you just draw gojo leaning onto getou, hiding his face in getou's neck or back or chest <////3 im just so heartbroken over those two

So glad to hear you like him clingy as much as I do!! TT^TT as far as I’m concerned he wasn’t clingy enough in canon, so I’m fixing it as much as I can with every new doodle haha

Anon said: whenever im sad i just come to your account and look through your art :")) it brings me so much comfort :')) also i gotta mention that the teacher getou art you've made has healed my broken heart bc of jjk and now that is the only canon i accept thank you very much gege akutami has nothing on me

GAH GETO-SENSEI MY ONE AND ONLY I’m happy he makes you as soft as he does me, he’s such a comfort to me ;;;; and thank you for liking my stuff!!!! Means the world to me to hear it ;A; <3

Anon said: I miss your krbk sm 😔 No pressure intended!!!!!! I still love and support u and ur art!!!

Man I miss them too!!!!! @ hori when are you bringing my loves back from the war I’m here waiting good sir!!!

Anon said: v v curious on your thoughts on what’s currently going on in bnha manga :)))

HMMM what are my thoughts on it? Well, let’s split it in two: Deku’s side and Todoroki’s side, because that’s how it’s split in my brain atm, and allow me to start from the second because it’s easier to get through for me

I’m in love with everything Hori is doing with Todoroki and everyone involved with him - that’s to say his whole whole family and Hawks and Jeanist too, all of it, I’m so into it it’s no joke at all. Always been in love with how he handles Enji’s character and his interactions with his family and the latest developments didn’t disappoint me at all, wasn’t very much into Dabi right after the “reveal” but the more I think about it and about the story from his pov the more behind it I am, forever and always head over heels for Shouto’s way of dealing with a situation that’s as complex as one would expect from a protagonist of their very own story you could really make a manga out of the Todoroki’s family plot from Shouto’s pov alone, it’s incredible I can’t state how in love with it all I am enough. And Hawks, don’t make me start on him I’ll straight up never stop, absolutely and most definitely my favorite pro-hero I would trust him with my money and my kids 100/10 just assume I’m constantly crying over him. Also Jeanist is just hilarious so bless him and his presence in an otherwise too heavy story

Deku’s side........ well, the main problems I have with it are that one, I don’t really understant the need to keep ofa a secret from the class for the biggest part of the story when the reveal wasn’t forced upon Deku, didn’t have a huge impact on him or his relationship with the others (his leaving wasn’t directly caused by him coming clean after all, he wouldn’t have had to leave earlier had he not kept it a secret and he would have still left at this point had the class already known all along) and didn’t, like. Matter. All that much. Two, this manga is called my hero academia and I’m genuinely starting to wonder why. What was the point of all the arcs set inside the school anyway? Most of the characters growth (Deku’s especially) and the progression of the main plot happened in the arcs outside of the school anyway, and at this point it’s clear we’re not going back to the school after this or even seeing anyone graduate. What of Shinsou? What was the point of his plot when we’re not even gonna see him being active part of the class in a school environment? I’m just confused about it all, I guess. Three, which is really my biggest problem with it all, is the way Deku’s set on saving Shigaraki. It’s not like I don’t like a story in which all the villains are saved and the good guys win and love prevails and all that, call it corny but they’re exactly my type of stories, but I’m not sure I can get behind it when Twice died like that, and Midnight did as well, and Aizawa lost a leg, and Nighteye died, and Hawks might have lost his wings, and Shirakumo ended up Kurogiri and it’s still unclear whether he can be saved, like... why does Shigaraki get to be saved when so many people suffered like that? And it’s not only about them suffering by his hands, it’s about Hori and how he was ruthless with so many characters but lets the story show arbitrary kindness to Shigaraki alone, it’s all... well. Unfair. The way I see it. At this point I at the very least expect kindness for Touya as well, here.

That said if I pick the chapters one by one by themselves I do enjoy them very much. I just don’t gotta think about the big picture lmao AH but it’s all a personal opinion, of course! I know people who enjoy the way the story is going and I can see where they’re coming from, this is all arbitrary tastes and preferences on my part, I’m aware of it!

Anon said: Hi hi! I finally got into jjk AND finally caught up on the manga and i appreciate your doods soooo much more now!! They’re so great!! But imcurious, is there one specific moment in the story where you Gojo and Geto became IT for you? Just genuinely curious!!

THANK YOU happy to hear you liked jjk!!!! And that’s!!! a great question, I’m not sure I have an answer actually? I binged the manga in a day and a half, you see, and when I binge stuff that fast I rarely stop to overthink things - I did ship them as I read too since, well. They’re in love lmao but I shipped them in the same way I shipped itafushi or yuutoge after I read the prequel, you know? Just a general aknowledging of how good they were together. The main point with satosugu specifically was probably that satoru has been my favorite character since the beginning of the story and suguru got there as well as soon as I read their backstory, so once I was caught up they’re the ones I ended up spending the most time thinking about, both by themselves and together, and that ended up making me a bit obsessed..... just a bit lol

If I had to give one specific moment that got me by the heart and squeezed the hardest it’d be... probably Satoru’s “my soul knows otherwise”. And the way his voice alone could bring Suguru back, even for just a single moment. The thing about satosugu for me!!! one of the many things about them, but the main thing for me, is that they love each other. Be it platonic or however you wanna see it, they love each other. Despite everything and after it all, even if Satoru had to kill Suguru, even if Suguru killed so many and betrayed Satoru and they went their separate ways in the harshest of ways, they love each other. It’s insane, isn’t it? That they’d love each other so much they could pass over everything and anything. I’ve seen the “best friends become enemies” trope so often in shounen manga, but this is the first time I see it treated like this - with love so strong that they never blamed each other or turned that love in hate. The way satosugu do it is all-encompassing! It goes beyond the world and their differences and death itself! So if I had to pick it’d be that one, because that scene happens after it’s all over, and it all went to shit and way beyond too already, and still their souls resonate with each other and answer to each other and that sends me insane, just thinking about it. Like, god, they really still love each other. Satoru’s mourned for Suguru for a year, Suguru’s been dead for a year, they’d been separated ten whole years before then, and still! And still!!! It’s so tender I don’t know how to deal with it

Anon said: “What’s a god to a nonbeliever?”—That tag is going to haunt me for a while. The entire tag section for your latest Gojo and Geto drawing is meta-worthy.

THANK YOU it’d been eating at my brain I had to write it down somewhere why are those two like that

Anon said: Do you take commissions? No pressure! ✨❤️

Not right now!

Anon said: How do you feel about sukuna ? like/dislike or thoughts on him

AMAZING QUESTION I love him. I have absolutely zero clue as of why so don’t ask me to elaborate, I’m literally that marge pic with the potato when it’s about Sukuna, I have no meta thoughts about him nor deep reasonings behind it - by all accounts, I should dislike him! But he shows up and I’m like nghhh king, so that’s where we stand. It’s Sukuna, you know. I just think he’s neat.

Anon said: sighs time to get into another fandom bc i simp too hard for ur art 😔

HAH thank you for the trust I hope you’ll like ror if you do get into it!!! hahaha

#fran answers #oh two of these are Long #..... #long post #in case the readmore doesn't work for whatever reason

[felixfathom]

Felix pls

Or Chloe

Either is fine

i'll do both bc i can't choose </3 i love them

edit: put it under a readmore bc i wrote a whole paragraph again, hence why it also took me so long to answer i'm sorry jdhgn

edit edit: tumblr deleted the chloe one so i had to write it all over again lmao. it's 2am

favorite thing about them

his soft spot for his mom, i think. i absolutely loved seeing a more caring side for him, and i hope i'll see it come back in S4 too !! 😳

least favorite thing about them

the attempted Ladybug kissing. it made me kind of uncomfortable and i don't see how it was necessary, it made him look... very bad.

favorite line

"Oh well, it's too easy. Where's the fun? You want real? I'll show you real >:)"

he sounded cool there idk

BROTP

Félix/Chloé! they'd be a fun duo, and i'm curious as to how it was for them as kids! probably fighting over Adrien's affections lol

OTP

kind of a niche one? but i have a soft spot for Félix/Nino. it would be very awkward at first but they'd bond over their mutual hatred of Gabriel and his treatment of Adrien. cue the inevitable bromance because Nino Effect™.

NOTP

Félix/Lila. people like to say they're so similar but i simply don't see it? Félix 100% would be annoyed by her, and while i like it platonically i don't think they're eachother's type. i take it as discount AleHeather

random headcanon

i have a lot, and i'm not exaggerating - so i'll just pick a fluffy one AND an angsty one :3c

fluff - he's totally a theatre kid. given his affiliation with graham films i think he was intrigued even from a young age to all the work that goes behind the scenes. he's really excited if people ask him about that because it's one of the topics he's MOST informed on.

angst - he's been bullied at school. for one reason or another (cough cough being ND?), he was a misfit and no one really wanted to befriend him, and the people who did likely talked about him under his back or anything of the sort. that instilled some trust issues, and along with the death of his father... it's safe to say he's not in a good mindset.

unpopular opinion

‼ HOT TAKE ALERT ‼

people should stop comparing his trauma to Adrien's because they're both teens going through hard times and we shouldn't be in charge of saying who's coping "wrongly" - regardless of what he did. it's gross 😬

song i associate with them

"Geek Loser Whatever" from Be More Chill :)

favorite picture of them

perfect mix between cute & serious !! 😼

ok now for my highest kin /srs

Chloé Bourgeois

favorite thing about them

i ADORE how over-dramatic she is, and it all comes down to her expressive movements. she's the embodiment of every mean girl in cinematic history and the "Ohohoho~" vibes.

that didn't make much sense but yeah

least favorite thing about them

like with Félix's almost-kiss, the unnecessary racist remarks. there could've been many other ways to show how mean she is without going down that road 😭

favorite line

"But I'm sure that you'll need me again, Ladybug. I know that I'll be Queen Bee again someday. I'll always be Queen Bee."

sobs violently

BROTP

Chloé/Adrien means so much to me. i'm just so soft for them ??? also, my weakness for childhood friend tropes doesn't help my case

OTP

Chloé/Marinette is my favorite ml pairing! girl was crushing so hard on Ladybug. they didn't go through with her redemption bc they knew she would've been a better love interest than Adrien, send tweet 😍😍😍 /lh

NOTP

Chloé/Luka. i don't hate it but i also don't understand what the hype was about? it just felt like Chloé/Nathaniel 2.0 to me - dry tbh.

random headcanon

she's a lesbian !! i highkey think they also hinted at it a lot in canon and i have proof for that, but maybe that's for another post, huh?

also she has ADHD because i said so

unpopular opinion

i actually liked the Queen Banana akuma! she was cute, funny, and honestly? she was a lot more in character there than she was in "Sole Crusher", ironically enough 💀💀💀

song i associate with them

Really Cool Wig by Lemon Demon :)

favorite picture of them

she is and always will be my queen bee <3

#IT'S 3AM I'M SO TIRED #I'LL TAG IT LATER I'M SORRY