creativichee - Tumblr blog

[creativichee]

Ohh, so I was looking at my storage and found these! I originally shared them on twitter before yeeting the platform. Anyway, feel free to use! Art memes for your oc :D

[creativichee]

There's a tweet that's gone viral where a person laments realizing that Star Wars "ripped off" Dune, and how learning all the elements Star Wars took from its inspiration tainted it. And I think it shows how poisonous the emphasis on originality in art can be. Because yes, it's wonderful when art makes something new, but it's also wonderful seeing how art plays on what came before, and the conversations it has with its predecessors.

There's going to be a lot of people talking about how much of an impact Goku from Dragon Ball Z has made on fiction in the wake of Akira Toriyama's recent passing, and all the characters who were inspired by him and his story. But Goku himself is derivative - he's inspired by the Monkey King from Journey to the West, one of the first novels ever written. He's far from the first character inspired by the Monkey King, either, and also far from the last.

None of this makes Goku's impact any less than it is. None of this decreases how Goku's story has inspired countless imitators. Just as Toriyama created a new icon from imitating what he loved about Journey to the West, so did Toriyama inspire countless artists to make their own iconic works with his take on the Monkey King's archetype. Goku is, in many ways, the heir to a legacy that spans back to the 16th century, and likely beyond - because I doubt the original Monkey King was formed in a vacuum.

We're taught to think that originality and imitation are opposites that cannot coexist, but they're not mutually exclusive. One can follow in another's footsteps and still take a new journey with its own unique twists and turns. The great works of art are not spawned in the absence of inspiration - they are in conversation with what came before and what will come after.

[creativichee]

So my problem with most ‘get to know your character’ questioneers is that they’re full of questions that just aren’t that important (what color eyes do they have) too hard to answer right away (what is their greatest fear) or are just impossible to answer (what is their favorite movie.)  Like no one has one single favorite movie. And even if they do the answer changes.

If I’m doing this exercise, I want 7-10 questions to get the character feeling real in my head. So I thought I’d share the ones that get me (and my students) good results: 

What is the character’s go-to drink order? (this one gets into how do they like to be publicly perceived, because there is always some level of theatricality to ordering drinks at a bar/resturant)

What is their grooming routine? (how do they treat themselves in private)

What was their most expensive purchase/where does their disposable income go? (Gets you thinking about socio-economic class, values, and how they spend their leisure time)

Do they have any scars or tattoos? (good way to get into literal backstory) 

What was the last time they cried, and under what circumstances? (Good way to get some *emotional* backstory in.) 

Are they an oldest, middle, youngest or only child? (This one might be a me thing, because I LOVE writing/reading about family dynamics, but knowing what kinds of things were ‘normal’ for them growing up is important.)

Describe the shoes they’re wearing. (This is a big catch all, gets into money, taste, practicality, level of wear, level of repair, literally what kind of shoes they require to live their life.)

Describe the place where they sleep. (ie what does their safe space look like. How much (or how little) care / decoration / personal touch goes into it.)

What is their favorite holiday? (How do they relate to their culture/outside world. Also fun is least favorite holiday.) 

What objects do they always carry around with them? (What do they need for their normal, day-to-day routine? What does ‘normal’ even look like for them.) 

[creativichee]

i made a character sheet. free to use as you wish, feel free to change whatever you want XD open source ass thing. spent all of ~maybe an hour on it.

Credit: the text in the insert-image box comes from this video, and the text for the top three lines (intense, complex, fruity) comes from this post. The actual image was made with the free NBOS character sheet creator, which is a sort of dated but free and solid text-layout sheet maker intended for ttrpg style character sheet creation.

[creativichee]

you can instantly make a cool female character if you just take any stereotypically masculine character type and make him a butch lady. easiest trick in the book. you can try this at home

[creativichee]

The Welsh Viking is pretty cool! 

[creativichee]

refseek.com

www.worldcat.org/

link.springer.com

http://bioline.org.br/

repec.org

science.gov

pdfdrive.com

[creativichee]

[creativichee]

I think the “slutty men” thing is mostly fun but I also think it’s gonna start setting us back the more I see people act like racial fetishization is fine as long as you’re “objectifying men” while doing it

[creativichee]

I think an important instinct you have to build up when you read/watch sci-fi is discerning which things are givens. If Arrival tells you that the alien language is atemporal, it is, that's not a puzzle for you to pick apart, it's a prerequisite to getting the rest of the story. When I talk sci-fi with people who don't consume a lot of it this seems to be a thing they get hung up on.

[creativichee]

I just discovered foodtimeline.org, which is exactly what it sounds like: centuries worth of information about FOOD.  If you are writing something historical and you want a starting point for figuring out what people should be eating, this might be a good place?

[creativichee]

Appropriate cards to pick for tarot readings in your stories or tabletop games

If you're writing a story in which a character receives guidance from a tarot reading, or you're playing a tabletop game and you want to make sure you pick a card that's actually going to guide your players in the correct direction, here's a few specific sets of guidance along with appropriate cards. A card name notated with (R) indicates that the reversed card should be used.

Retreat, Do not engage, Avoid, Back down:

Five of Wands[R] (Avoid conflict)

Five of Cups[R](Move on)

Eight of Cups(Retreat)

Five of Swords(You will face defeat)

Eight of Cups[R] (Situation is hopeless)

Press on, Stay the course

The Magician (Your current plans are brilliant)

The Emperor (The plan/path ahead is stable)

The World(Perfection, success)

Six of Wands(Progress, Victory)

Six of Swords (Move forward despite regrets)

Current plan of action is not good and needs revision

The Fool[R]  (Hubris, Recklessness, Need for planning)

The Magician[R) (Poor planning, you may have been manipulated)

Strength[R] (You lack the strength, fortitude, or will to succeed)

The World[R](Losing focus before reaching your goal, your preparations are incomplete)

Two of Wands[R] (Unprepared)

Knight of Wands[R] (You're rushing into a situation. Unfocused)

Knight of Swords[R] (Your current actions are thoughtless. Make a plan.)

Person or situation is untrustworthy

The Emperor[R] (Abuse of power, possessiveness)

The Devil (Questionable morality)

Justice[R] (Unfair, dishonest, corrupt)

The Moon (Illusion, superficiality)

Five of Wands (Tension or competition will be present)

Three of Cups[R] (Social troubles could happen)

Seven of Cups[R] (Temptation, illusion, distraction)

Nine of Cups [R] (Motivated by greed)

Ten of Cups[R] (Emotional manipulation or emotional instability)

Four of Pentacles [R] (Acting in self interest)

Seven of Swords (Deceit, Betrayal)

Ten of Swords (Betrayal but deadlier)

King of Swords[R] (Tyranny, abuse, manipulation)

Danger, Hazards, and other warnings

Wheel of Fortune [R] (Bad luck, external influence causing troubles)

The Tower (Destruction, confinement, a sudden imbalance)

The Moon [R] (Fear must be overcome)

Judgement (Your current actions will have consequences)

Judgement[R] (Difficulty)

Four of Wands [R] (Delays, obstacles before  your goals)

Five of Wands (Conflict)

Seven of Wands (Being overwhelmed)

Eight of Wands [R](Frustration, delays)

Ten of Wands (Stress, burdens, hard work)

Four of Cups [R] (Missing an opportunity, complacency may lead to trouble)

Five of Cups (Loss)

Ace of Pentacles[R] (Exploitation, impediments)

Two of Pentacles [R] (Financial troubles)

Five of Pentacles (Shortage, Poverty)

Nine of Pentacles [R] (Your current actions are unsustainable)

Ace of Swords [R] (Chaos, confusion)

Three of Swords (Turbulence, heartbreak)

Five of Swords (Defeat, disgrace, infamy)

Seven of Swords [R] (Getting caught)

Eight of Swords (Being trapped, blindness, obstacles)

Nine of Swords (Despair, remorse)

Person or situation is trustworthy

The Empress (Nourishing, Parental)

Queen of Wands (Warmth, Friendliness)

Queen of Cups (Compassionate, Emotionally secure)

Queen of Pentacles (Secure, Nurturing)

King of Swords (Judicious)

The Star (Hope, grace)

Seek guidance, training, help, resources, or allies before proceeding

The Hierophant (Seek spiritual guidance, return to tradition)

The Lovers (Unionize, seek aid from good companions)

Four of Wands (Seek refuge or aid within community)

Two of Cups(solidify a partnership)

Knight of Cups(You need a hero)

Three of Pentacles(Hone your skills / knowledge. Collaborate.)

Five of Pentacles (You're lacking in the physical resources you may need for the road ahead)

Page of Pentacles(Apply knowledge in a new way or acquire new skills. Study.)

Stand by, Wait, Hold position, Defend, Conserve

Temperance (Patience, Moderation, Rest)

Nine of Wands (Maintain a defensive position)

Four of Pentacles(Contemplate your options)

Four of Swords (Rest, or be vigilant)

Four of Swords[R](A warning of over-exertion.)

Three of Swords[R] (Take time to recover from recent pains)

Time for action, Do not hesitate

The Chariot (Radical behavior, seeking resolution)

Judgement(Culmination of events is immanent. A test of your morals / skills / power is approaching)

Ace of Wands (Take initiative)

Eight of Wand(Travel, or make swift changes)

Page of Cups(Heed your intuition. Take on creative ventures)

Knight of Swords (Have courage, take action. Use your anger)

A peaceful solution is possible, violence may not be necessary

Five of Wands (Avoiding conflict)

Temperance (Harmony, patience)

King of Cups (Control)

Five of Swords[R] (Moving past a grudge)

Five of Cups [R] (Moving on, Forgiveness)

[creativichee]

There’s also a large grey area between an Offensive Stereotype and “thing that can be misconstrued as a stereotype if one uses a particularly reductive lens of interpretation that the text itself is not endorsing”, and while I believe that creators should hold some level of responsibility to look out for potential unfortunate optics on their work, intentional or not, I also do think that placing the entire onus of trying to anticipate every single bad angle someone somewhere might take when reading the text upon the shoulders of the writers – instead of giving in that there should be also a level of responsibility on the part of the audience not to project whatever biases they might carry onto the text – is the kind of thing that will only end up reducing the range of stories that can be told about marginalized people. 

A japanese-american Beth Harmon would be pidgeonholed as another nerdy asian stock character. Baby Driver with a black lead would be accused of perpetuating stereotypes about black youth and crime. Phantom Of The Opera with a female Phantom would be accused of playing into the predatory lesbian stereotype. Romeo & Juliet with a gay couple would be accused of pulling the bury your gays trope – and no, you can’t just rewrite it into having a happy ending, the final tragedy of the tale is the rock onto which the entire central thesis statement of the play stands on. Remove that one element and you change the whole point of the story from a “look at what senseless hatred does to our youth” cautionary tale to a “love conquers all” inspiration piece, and it may not be the story the author wants to tell.

Sometimes, in order for a given story to function (and keep in mind, by function I don’t mean just logistically, but also thematically) it is necessary that your protagonist has specific personality traits that will play out in significant ways in the story. Or that they come from a specific background that will be an important element to the narrative. Or that they go through a particular experience that will consist on crucial plot point. All those narrative tools and building blocks are considered to be completely harmless and neutral when telling stories about straight/white people but, when applied to marginalized characters, it can be difficult to navigate them as, depending on the type of story you might want to tell, you may be steering dangerously close to falling into Unfortunate Implications™. And trying to find alternatives as to avoid falling into potentially iffy subtext is not always easy, as, depending on how central the “problematic” element to your plot, it could alter the very foundation of the story you’re trying to tell beyond recognition. See the point above about Romeo & Juliet.    

Like, I once saw a woman a gringa obviously accuse the movie Knives Out of racism because the one latina character in the otherwise consistently white and wealthy cast is the nurse, when everyone who watched the movie with their eyes and not their ass can see that the entire tension of the plot hinges upon not only the power imbalance between Martha and the Thrombeys, but also on her isolation as the one latina immigrant navigating a world of white rich people. I’ve seen people paint Rosa Diaz as an example of the Hothead Latina stereotype, when Rosa was originally written as a white woman (named Megan) and only turned latina later when Stephanie Beatriz was cast  – and it’s not like they could write out Rosa’s anger issues to avoid bad optics when it is such a defining trait of her character. I’ve seen people say Mulholland Drive is a lesbophobic movie when its story couldn’t even exist in first place if the fatally toxic lesbian relationship that moves the plot was healthy, or if it was straight.                          

That’s not to say we can’t ever question the larger patterns in stories about certain demographics, or not draw lines between artistic liberty and social responsibility, and much less that I know where such lines should be drawn. I made this post precisely to raise a discussion, not to silence people. But one thing I think it’s important to keep in mind in such discussions is that stereotypes, after all, are all about oversimplification. It is more productive, I believe, to evaluate the quality of the representation in any given piece of fiction by looking first into how much its minority characters are a) deep, complex, well-rounded, b) treated with care by the narrative, with plenty of focus and insight into their inner life, and c) a character in their own right that can carry their own storyline and doesn’t just exist to prop up other character’s stories. And only then, yes, look into their particular characterization, but without ever overlooking aspects such as the context and how nuanced such characterization is handled. Much like we’ve moved on from the simplistic mindset that a good female character is necessarily one that punches good otherwise she’s useless, I really do believe that it is time for us to move on from the the idea that there’s a one-size-fits-all model of good representation and start looking into the core of representation issues (meaning: how painfully flat it is, not to mention scarce) rather than the window dressing.

I know I am starting to sound like a broken record here, but it feels that being a latina author writing about latine characters is a losing game, when there’s extra pressure on minority authors to avoid ~problematic~ optics in their work on the basis of the “you should know better” argument. And this “lower common denominator” approach to representation, that bars people from exploring otherwise interesting and meaningful concepts in stories because the most narrow minded people in the audience will get their biases confirmed, in many ways, sounds like a new form of respectability politics. Why, if it was gringos that created and imposed those stereotypes onto my ethnicity, why it should be my responsibility as a latina creator to dispel such stereotypes by curbing my artistic expression? Instead of asking of them to take responsibility for the lenses and biases they bring onto the text? Why is it too much to ask from people to wrap their minds about the ridiculously basic concept that no story they consume about a marginalized person should be taken as a blanket representation of their entire community?

It’s ridiculous. Gringos at some point came up with the idea that latinos are all naturally inclined to crime, so now I, a latina who loves heist movies, can’t write a latino character who’s a cool car thief. Gentiles created antisemitic propaganda claiming that the jews are all blood drinking monsters, so now jewish authors who love vampires can’t write jewish vampires. Straights made up the idea that lesbian relationships tend to be unhealthy, so now sapphics who are into Brontë-ish gothic romance don’t get to read this type of story with lesbian protagonists. I want to scream.      

And at the end of the day it all boils down to how people see marginalized characters as Representation™ first and narrative tools created to tell good stories later, if at all. White/straight characters get to be evaluated on how entertaining and tridimensional they are, whereas minority characters get to be evaluated on how well they’d fit into an after school special. Fuck this shit.                            

[creativichee]

nautical history friends help

there’s a glass thing aboard wooden whaling ships where it’s like a little crystal they put in the ceiling to let light in belowdecks

what the fuck is it called

it looks kind of like this

???

[creativichee]

People joke about how flight is effectively the real life equivalent of the half a-press meme, because One Weird Trick with air pressure allows giant hunks of metal to fly. But refrigeration is an equally absurd physics hack. Like, for all of human history, the only real way to cool something besides just allowing the heat to dissipate naturally was to use apply cold stuff to the hot thing, and have it absorb some of the heat. But cold stuff is, by definition, scarce in hot environments, and is used up by this process. And that was how cooling worked for all of history, until some assholes in the 19th century figured out One Weird Trick with vapor compression that can allow you to generate an unlimited amount of cold stuff (well, limited only by your ability to continuously compress and decompress the refrigerant). Like, fuck off...

[creativichee]

How traditional pitchforks were made.

It took 6 years starting from orienting branches

[creativichee]

tip

go to this website

click the phrase generator and do this

endless supply of dnd spells

Some are more helpful than others, but hey.