#story telling is hard

[cappycodeart]

CONCEPT DOODLES for an AU I dabbled in with a few friends after the winter king episode but kinda forgot about after the Fionna and Cake finale... I decided to revisit it and explore a little more after coming to terms with everything LOL... So, it's another "Winter King doesn't die immediately after his crown gets nuked" AU, but THIS TIME he's just dying really slowly (like Simon in the Betty episode) and ALSO joins Fionna, Cake, and Simon on their search for magic crowns. There's no logic behind this tbh, we just wanted to put him through The Horrors. And make them all friends. But mostly The Horrors. :) (he only gets to live as a treat, because I think he's funny).

Bonus (old screenshot), because this is still funny to me:

#adventure time #atimers #fionna and cake #winter king #simon petrikov #fionna campbell #cake the cat #shared custody au #winter stowaway au #fan art #digital art #flat color #2023 #this is my blog so whatevers man... ima just post what I want now... and what I want rn is silly simon AUs LOL... #so expect more of me releasing my stash tomorrow #this AU makes the story like 500x more messy but it's fine it's funny that's the point don't think too hard about it #this is their fault for killing him now I gotta make up scenarios where he is alive #his design is inspired by some doodles my friend crayon did #ALSO I wanted to keep some of his features different from default simon so they're easier to tell apart... #like YEAH they're the same character... but also I just think it'd be fun... if they had subtle differences... because alternate universes #ALSO HE'S PALE BECAUSE HE'S DYING. JUST MAKING THAT DISCLAIMER... HIS SKIN TONE IS KINDA CLOSE TO DYING SIMON IN THE BETTY EP #BUT IN NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES HE'D BE CLOSER TO SIMON'S COLORS

[artofalassa]

The Lightning

Wolfwood lives. I said so. Here's part one of the AU.

Part TWO

#trigun #vashwood #nicholas d. wolfwood #vash the stampede #trigun maximum #wolfwood lives au #las!art #hi i'm las and i'm drawing a doujin i guess #this time we're grayscale mostly #because I want to tell the story without spending a week on just one page #gonna be hard because i love colours #but i hope it won't disappoint you ;; #i just want to see the bois happy together okay #trimax setting with some aspects of tristamp

[sanctus-ingenium]

the werewolf killer | buy a print

#the big guy is olivier i haven't posted him here yet but he & finbarr had a nuclear-level falling out and now they are enemies #they are wearing two halves from the petrie crown btw tho it is hard to tell #gotta have a new setting tag because this story is ancient history for the country #werewolf #artists on tumblr #setting: inver

[dizzybizz]

missing them 😭 sorry rei

#miri is telling a story here. a really dramatic one and kazuki is reacting accordingly n playing along. #or they both realised they have forgotten smth. #buddy daddies #kazuki kurusu #miri unasaka #my art #its been too long buddads..... #this is v much a wind-down piece. art has been so fkn hard lately i cant do it i just needed to scribble smth and not worry abt it

[theethoslab]

Absolutely losing my mind over Scar’s stream today

He was already talking to Etho while catching ocelots

Joel logs in and Scar immediately asks if Etho wants to go visit him

We get so many Etho lore crumbs (although he doesn’t fully confirm anything except having stubble and trying to get rid of 2 extra house generators)

They hang out for like 2 hours doing nothing hut chatting

Eventually Scar leaves but forgot that he left his ocelots at Etho’s because he was so excited about boat boys that he never brought them home

#ethoslab #goodtimeswithscar #smallishbeans #boat boys #hermitcraft #there was so much more as well and I already want to rewatch the streams bc ads kept trying to interrupt the lore #both joel and gem told etho they wanted a generator and he told them they had to pick it up but couldn’t tell them where #he also might live in the middle of nowhere off the grid and has to chop wood for electricity #he also may or may not have a phone but hinted at probably not #but somehow managed to get fast internet #to be clear none of what he said surprised me one bit #he also retold the same story of his voice being recognized so is that still the only time #i find it hard to believe but also he is probably the closest to an actual hermit irl of anyone on the server

[uncanny-tranny]

Hey, if you have speech impediments, you are so amazing.

If you stutter or have a lisp or misspeak easily or you have a flat affect or a limited verbal vocabulary or if your voice is AAC or if you just have a difference in your vocality, you are so incredibly important and amazing.

Just know that your voice is yours. Nobody will ever be able to truly take it away. Your voice is part of you, and you deserve to make it as true to you as you deem fit. I hope you have the space to grow with your voice and whatever about it makes it unique.

#positivity #disability positivity #partially because so much of voical differences arise from disability #i've developed a really annoying lisp-ish issue #and it's hard to be positive about it because it makes me feel like i'll be treated as lesser because it's a 'childish' affect #but i literally can't help it unless i spend 110% of my focus on it. and i don't have that amount of energy #but it makes me think about others and especially those who have it more intensely than i do #and i just want to uplift everybody because vocal differences are neutral at worst #man my dad always tells a story about this coworker he had who had a stutter like you wouldn't believe... #...and he was fucking BRUTALIZED for it... 'c-c-c-c-CAN YOU GET TO THE POINT?!' is how people would talk to him... #...and obviously that made his stutter twice as fucking worse and i can't imagine the shame and humiliation that followed... #...i hope he learned that those assholes were a fucking waste of time and that he doesn't have to deal with that... #...like i'm sorry but there is no fucking need to be that sadistic toward somebody who is obviously already anxious and worried

[thisisadonaldduckblognow]

all the rise boys get done dirty on characterization by fandom in different ways i think. (not ALL the time every fanwork etc etc these are just like, trends i tend to notice?) every fandom suffers from losing character nuance.

- leo i’ve talked about plenty on this blog, how some of his canon traits (genuine belief in his skill and cockiness, capacity for joy, his manipulativeness whether for good or ill) seem to get watered down or wiped off the board and supplemented with generic sad boy. his struggles with purpose and identity and not wanting to fail somehow morph into “he hates and completely holds no value for himself”

- donnie’s canon personality gets blurred out and largely replaced with whatever list of Neurodivergent Traits. and i think there’s such a fine line to walk between exploring a character that’s been word of god confirmed as on the spectrum and overwriting what’s canonically there. it’s a hard needle to thread. it also feels like a lot of his canon emotiveness gets left off the table for some reason. bc he does have his moments of flat/deadpan delivery, but a lot of the time he’s honestly very emotive. he has the passion of a theatre kid and the vindictiveness of... also a theatre kid. and the mind of a scientist.

- raph loses so much of his rowdy teen boy energy it’s kind of wild? like interpretations sand off that he’s also impulsive and can be reckless and dumb and LOVES fighting and roughhousing and isn’t the most eloquent person. suddenly there’s this pitch perfect soft boy big bro who would never hurt a fly and always says the exact right supportive thing and singlehandedly raised his 3 brothers (which simultaneously sands off all the nuance of splinter’s issues emotionally connecting with his sons and how that affected all of them). and like i LOVE raph, he’s so full of love and care and anxiety, he clearly has learned to put a lot of work into being aware of his strength and size. but there’s a difference you know?

- mikey is like. where raph gets overparentified by fanon, mikey gets over “family therapist”-ed IMO. the impulsiveness, the goofiness, the powerful emotions including a VERY powerful temper, the flat-out dumb teen boy choices... they get ignored. suddenly there’s this only very sweet and earnest boy who has read a hundred psychology books and runs group family therapy weekly or something. he is crying in his room bc leo and raph are arguing about something. which is so. he IS very sweet and can be very earnest and is full of love! he HAS come in with his opinions and unsolicited advice a couple of times and life coached for the greater good. but there’s a difference between what he does in canon and the role he gets in fanon.

#rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #idk this is not a very eloquent rundown its very hard to explain exactly my vibe #ig the long story short is i feel like a lot of their most interesting and fun qualities get left in the dust #mikey as family therapist is getting under my skin the most rn i think its just so. #for as much as it seems like his brothers try to shelter him (esp raph with his overprotectiveness)..... i just dont see it #i dont see his brothers and definitely not his dad putting their issues on him like that... #him dragging donnie into that one dr feelings session and dragging draxum into a new moral alignment were different #than 'yeah everyone tells mikey their stuff and he has to do the labor of helping with it' #like it just doesnt vibe for me #i think he is very emotionally OPEN on all levels compared to his family #i think he is more likely to share when HE struggles #i dont think raph or leo is sitting with him at 3am like 'it all started when i was 4 and accidentally broke a plate' or what have you idk #it's all so ymmv i do just scroll past stuff i dont vibe with i dont drop hate on it i just #idk dudes its so hard to see the appeal in some of the choices made

[black-is-beautiful18]

“So we can’t write Black characters?🧍🏾‍♀️” No one said that but if they did they’d have every right. Within two weeks we have learned that not only did a white woman write a “Black romance” but that it will be marketed during Black History Month among other unbelievable things and that another white woman thinks that we put bacon grease in our hair…Tell me why we would want you to write Black characters when y’all are always doing something you’re not supposed to. Touching our experiences without an ounce of research is very bold. Of course you’re getting cussed out and left bad reviews. You thought you had a right to tell that story when you didn’t. If you want to include us in your stories do so without overstepping. That’s all.

#why do we have to keep going over this? #white authors #it’s really not that hard to understand #if we did say no you’d survive #Black stories are not yours to tell #unique writes

[faragonart]

We interrupt this program to bring you...

Echo

#doodles #Echo #echo project #furry #horror #Leo #Chase #visual novel #been playing this and god I absolutely love it #it is NOT for the feint of heart #it is pretty intesnse in its material so proceed with extreme caution if you intend to check it out... #there's a lot I wanna doodle from this VN... so many well described visuals... #I can't wait to get further in the story... #just chef's kiss #sorry sometimes I draw stuff from other things hahah... #I really wanna draw all of the main cast at some point... for fun and me time. #I just love me some messed up spooky scaries... #with amazingly well written character study~ #this game sure do be hitting home real hard sometimes I tell ya... #Echo vn #leo alvarez #chase hunter

[barbieburnanator]

THERE'S A WOLF GIRL IN FE ENGAGE?!?!?!? WITH A WOLF FRIEND AND HER OWN TAIL?!?!?!!! AND NO ONE TOLD ME ABOUT HER??!!!?!?!

#fe engage #merrin #fe merrin #fire emblem engage #my art #I just got her in my party last night and when I tell you my inner child screamed. My 12 year old self wishes they could be her #I have mixed feelings about this game #at first I had a hard time getting into it #and there's still A LOT I can't get into especially the story #but some of these later characters are really neat #I think a lot of the outfits are too much too #but I dunno. I'm starting to get into I guess #which is saying something cause I am a big bitch if I don't like something

[raeofgayshine]

Bruce Wayne, drunk and full on Brucie mood in the middle of a gala: You know, that accent doesn’t really fit in around here. It’s cute. Where are you from?

Clark, internally debating every life choice that led him to this moment: I’m from Smallville. Kansas.

Bruce, leaning closer to Clark with a flirty smile: Oh you’re cute and funny. You know, I like that in a man.

Clark, very confused but trying to just go along with it: Thank you??

Bruce: I mean, everyone knows that Kansas isn’t real but I do always enjoy a good laugh.

Clark: What.

Bruce: What? Everyone knows that Kansas was made up for Wizard of Oz.

Clark, unsure if Bruce is fucking with him or if he’s just really deep into this dumb act: Bruce, Kansas is a real place. It’s one of the 50 states that make up America.

Bruce, tilting his head a little confused: There’s 50 states? Since when?

#ravenpuff rambles #bruce wayne #Clark Kent #incorrect batman quotes #incorrect batfamily quotes #superbat #if you want to read it like that I mean Bruce is definitely flirting with Clark #and annoying him at the same time but really that’s just their relationship #anyways shout out to my sister who texted me ‘You think Bruce pretends Kansas isn’t real to annoy Clark?’ #haven’t been able to stop thinking about that since then #The thing is Bruce absolutely went into this as just a way to fuck with Clark but he got drunk and maybe leaned in a bit too hard #and then the next thing he knows he’s waking up to the news story ‘Bruce Wayne shocked to find out Kansas is real’ #*cuts to video of a distraught Bruce looking at Clark’s phone where Clark has a map of the US up* #‘See there’s Kansas’ #Bruce: ‘My whole life has been a lie?’ *looks to the camera* ‘Dick Dick did you know that Kansas was *real*’ #Dick snickering: ‘Yeah B they taught us that in school’ #Bruce: ‘Why didn’t anyone tell me?’ #His kids never fucking let him live it down nor do any of them believe Bruce when he tries to defend himself and say he knew Kansas was real #all along. They just pat his arm and go ‘Sure you did B’ #Brucie Wayne my beloved himbo of a man

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Cannot Unsee. Cannot Unknow.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #xue yang #xiao xingchen #song lan #a-qing #blood #special appearance to the fox hairpin. Cute bonus episode and scene #alas I am already struggling a bit with maintaining good flow on this arc #I’ve got a better drawn mdzs art of A-qing coming soon to make up it though! #okay time to talk about This Scene…cause wow the angst is ripe and juicy #what really gets me is the fact Song Lan stays quiet while XXC stabs him…. #And that Xue Yang never intended to tell XXC about the fake corpses #NOR did A-Qing want to tell him the truth!! #the theme of ‘ignorance is bliss’ is so strong here…xxc is blind to the evils of the world #and everyone seems to recognize how rare that is. How far they go to preserve it #Yi-city asks a lot of hard questions. As someone who values Honesty above nearly all else- #-the question posed here about whether honesty is truly the correct course of action really gets to me #Lying is a form of kindness in here. And in a story about rumours and manipulations of truth- #its a good parallel to what we see in the main story! #we see the harm caused by trying to lie to be kind. The harm in realizing youve been lied to #there are a lot of plot points around kind lies in mdzs and it facinates me!

[seagull-scribbles]

But tonight, I’ll need you to stay

#tmnt 2012 #raphael hamato #casey jones 2012 #rasey #I usually have some sort of scenario or story to go with the things I draw but urhhhhh I got nothing #they have different sleep schedules after all but Raphs always been a napper in his free time #urgh idk #does anyone want to come up with something for me? #the smudged face paint I stole from less-depresso-more-espresso #I loved the idea it’s so good for story telling and I wanted to give it a try #and one day I’ll draw these guys in a different style not a messy one\ #but they do suit the grungy look #the last ones of these where still neater and better rendered but idc it’s fun and easy and works #i have been consumed by these two since feb but the first thing i posted was really hard for me to do so to just spam you all now is healin #the caption is from a skng rena sent me who hasnt seen 2012 but based on me talking about Casey thought it would fit #hello rasey fandom i am here on the rasey tag making my small mark

[simplyavatrice]

I’m overwhelmed...with gratitude

#ava silva #avatrice #warrior nun #avatriceedit #warriornunedit #avasilvaedit #alba baptista #this girl owns my whole heart #when people ask me like...how i make so much content #it's because of her #like i just want to make stuff about her #tell stories with her #do edits #enjoy alba's incredible performance as her #i'm in so deep and perfectly content #this scene is hard for me to watch #seeing how happy she is to be alive and be loved #knowing that deep down she undrestands that it's probably not going to last much longer #her writing the letter to beatrice #wanting to tell her that she's made being alive so magical #so special #that she loves her #that being loved by her was an even greater gift than the halo that brought her back to life #she came so far #and when she comes back she's going to do so much #with bea and her ocs family at her side #so thankful for ava #myedits

[ofbreathandflame]

With the rise of booktok/booktwt, there's been this weird movement against literary criticism. It's a bizarre phenomenon, but this uptick in condemnation of criticism is so stifling. I understand that with the rise of these platforms, many people are being reintroduced into the habit of reading, which is why at the base level, I understand why many 'popular' books on booktok tend to be cozier.

The argument always falls into the 'this book means too much to me' or 'let people enjoy things,' which is rhetoric I understand -- at least fundamentally. But reading and writing have always been conduits for criticism, healthy natural criticism. We grow as writers and readers because of criticism. It's just so frustrating to see arguments like "how could you not like this character they've been the x trauma," or "why read this book if you're not going to come out liking it," and it's like...why not. That has always been the point of reading. Having a character go through copious amounts of trauma does not always translate to a character that's well-crafted. Good worldbuilding doesn't always translate to having a good story, or having beautiful prose doesn't always translate into a good plot.

There is just so much that goes into writing a story other than being able to formulate tropable (is that a word lol) characters. Good ideas don't always translate into good stories. And engaging critically with the text you read is how we figure that out, how we make sure authors are giving us a good craft. Writing is a form of entertainment too, and just like we'd do a poorly crafted show, we should always be questioning the things we read, even if we enjoy those things.

It's just werd to see people argue that we shouldn't read literature unless we know for certain we are going to like it. Or seeing people not be able to stand honest criticism of the world they've fallen in love with. I love ASOIAF -- but boy oh boy are there a lot of problems in the story: racial undertones, questionable writing decisions, weird ness overall. I also think engaging critically helps us understand how an author's biases can inform what they write. Like, HP Lovecraft wrote eerie stories, he was also a raging racist. But we can argue that his fear of PoC, his antisemitism, and all of his weird fears informed a lot of what he was writing. His writing is so eerie because a lot of that fear comes from very real, nasty places. It's not to say we have to censor his works, but he influences a lot of horror today and those fears, that racial undertone, it is still very prevalent in horror movies today. That fear of the 'unknown,'

Gone with the Wind is an incredibly racist book. It's also a well-written book. I think a lot of people also like confine criticism to just a syntax/prose/technical level -- when in reality criticism should also be applied on an ideological level. Books that are well-written, well-plotted, etc., are also -- and should also -- be up for criticism. A book can be very well-written and also propagate harmful ideologies. I often read books that I know that (on an ideological level), I might not agree with. We can learn a lot from the books we read, even the ones we hate.

I just feel like we're getting to the point where people are just telling people to 'shut up and read' and making spaces for conversation a uniform experience. I don't want to be in a space where everyone agrees with the same point. Either people won't accept criticism of their favorite book, or they think criticism shouldn't be applied to books they think are well written. Reading invokes natural criticism -- so does writing. That's literally what writing is; asking questions, interrogating the world around you. It's why we have literary devices, techniques, and elements. It's never just taking the words being printed at face value.

You can identify with a character's trauma and still understand that their badly written. You can read a story, hate everything about it, and still like a character. As I stated a while back, I'm reading Fourth Wing; the book is terrible, but I like the main character. The worldbuilding is also terrible, but the author writes her PoC characters with respect. It's not hard to acknowledge one thing about the text, and still find enough to enjoy the book. And authors grow when we're honest about what worked and what didn't work. Shadow and Bone was very formulaic and derivative at points, but Six of Crows is much more inventive and inclusive. Veronica Roth's Carve the Mark had some weird racial problems, but Chosen Ones was a much better book in terms of representation. Percy Jackson is the same way. These writers grow, not just by virtue of time, but because they were critiqued and listened to that critique. C.S. Lewis and Tolkien always publically criticized each other's work. Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes had a legendary friendship and back and forth with one another's works which provides so much insight into the conversations black authors and creatives were having.

Writing has always been about asking questions; prodding here and there, critiquing. It has always been a conversation, a dialogue. I urge people to love what they read, and read what they love, but always ask questions, always understand different perspectives, and always keep your mind open. Please stop stifling and controlling the conversations about your favorite literature, and please understand that everyone will not come out with the same reading experience as you. It doesn't make their experience any less valid than yours.

#long post #literary critique #literary criticism #booktok #books & libraries #booktwitter #but yeah it’s really hard for me to embrace booktube #and BookTok when the conversations that are most prevalent #are the ones telling people to not be critical of what they’re reading #esp the ones who desparately don’t want to understand differing opinions #‘how could you not like this’ or ‘how could you hate this character’ #easily #because I can #a traumatic backstory isn’t gonna erase a bad story #it isn’t going to make a character or book compelling #more trauma doesn’t make the story more complex #see: with fourth wing. #thank you for reading this long rant #congrats if you make it to the tags💀😭

[foldingfittedsheets]

My betrotheds mom is big in the SCA and does tons of hand sewing and period accurate clothes, she’s got several custom made outfits and enters competitions with her special projects.

One of them she meticulously researched and created a custom glove. I have no idea how much work goes into such a thing other than A Lot but whenever she tells us stories about these competitions she’s always slighted in favor of flashier offerings.

Her most recent endeavor was some kind of stiff collar. I’m not going to embarrass myself pretending to know the specifics but the original ones back in the day used layers of fabric and whale baleen to get a nice strong silhouette. She researched the crap out of it and wrote up a report to go along with the item.

At the judging one of the judges commented, “Well, it’s alright, but it’s so disappointing that it’s not fully authentic, why didn’t you use whale baleen?”

She sputtered out, “Well, if you’d read my report you’d know it’s because it’s illegal!”

#ramblies #sca #like imagine someone being like ‘why didn’t you use ivory to construct this?’ #it is a bit hard to tell with her sometimes cause she’s a very unreliable narrator and has a tendency to feel slighted #but in this case I’m 1000% sure the judge just cattily asked why she didn’t use illegally source whale parts for her crafting project #funny #story #ffs foibles