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Untitled | soosseli

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If we want to solve the gender equality issues, then we need to start with the pants. Women deserve pockets just as much as anyone else.

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It’s the classic battle between fire and water. If you’re a fan of tribal you won’t want to miss the new Duel Decks: Merfolk vs. Goblin, out on November 10.

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FFS for Charlotte Young

“Hello! My name is Charlotte Young. I am a 21 year old transgender girl from New Orleans, Louisiana. I’ve been on hormone therapy for 18 months and now I’d like to make the next step in my transition and work towards funding my surgeries. I will be working jobs during college to afford Sexual Reasignment Surgery with my own money, and this GoFundMe campaign is to enable me to afford the $40,000 Facial feminization surgery including transportation and living costs during recovery. These funds WILL NOT be used for purchasing clothes, makeup, or anything not directly related to the surgery. Even though I pass pretty well, I still have trouble with family and I don’t feel very good about the asymmetry and masculine features of my face. I hate that I always see a pretty guy’s face in the mirror, instead of a girl’s face, because of the things that hormones can’t change like bone structure and lip shape.

My greatest hope is that I can have my surgeries done in the next 3 or 4 years to enjoy the remainder of my youth without worrying about being clocked and to be able to see ‘me’ in my reflection. FFS won’t make my face perfectly symmetrical and it won’t make me super beautiful; that’s not what it’s for. It’s for peace of mind, to know I did everything I could to be happy and comfortable in my body. Getting these surgeries means I can completely focus on my other dreams and goals. Thank you for taking the time to read all of this, Charlotte Young”

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Please donate and spread the word!

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I only ever say “I’m an adult, I can do whatever I want” before I’m about to do something very childish.

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The Amonkhet gods - Fanart

Finally, I finished the playmat … it was fun! :D

Guys, I have a proposal for you, all interested in having this final art of the 5 gods in full resolution and without the watermark, just ready to print! please send me a PM :)

I hope you like it, and I hope to be worthy XD

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You can’t run away from hug of love lovely dogs (Source: http://ift.tt/2uLPB1P)

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Did you see Wonder Woman? The fighting that the Amazons did was extremely choreographic and really beautiful to watch for a plebeian like me, but did it seem grounded in reality?

There’s nothing about Wonder Woman that’s grounded in reality. This is an intentional design decision and, to be fair, the likes of Atomic Blonde and Haywire aren’t either. In Haywire’s case, it’s because what makes for a good MMA fight is about as far from SpecOps as you can get.

The combat seen in Wonder Woman is stylistically designed to be superhuman because Diana and the Amazons are superhuman. They’re immortal, godlike beings who live on a paradise island hidden from the rest of the world. Their combat style and choreography emphasizes that aspect of their characters. It’s part of the visual storytelling ongoing to show us who and what they are.

Wonder Woman is the sort of archetypal character meant to inspire, who we look up at in wonder, who inspires us to be better, and to believe in ourselves.

The combat isn’t grounding in reality and it doesn’t need to be. In reality, we can’t reflect bullets with gauntlets and walking across No Man’s Land with just a shield would just lead to Diana’s legs being shot out from under her by a gatling gun. Realism isn’t the point of the movie though.Besides that,Wonder Woman is no more realistic than Captain America fighting Nazis with a shield or Batman doing whatever Batman does in the Dark Knight. Or Athena kicking Ares keister in the Illiad.

Wonder Woman walking into the No Man’s Land is thematic not realistic, and that’s the same for the movie’s fight choreography. Hear it: Wonder Woman walks into No Man’s Land. You don’t even need the visual to feel a sense of awe. This woman walking where soldiers are scared to go.

This is archetypal, mythic storytelling with mythic heroes.

The problem is that “grounded in reality” has become the new version of “believable” or “suspension of disbelief” or “relateable” except with much more restrictive rules. Usually because this justification is really “I don’t like it, therefore”. Used more often to shut down conversation than start it, because “realism” sounds more legitimate than personal preference or inherent bias. If you’re ever in a discussion with someone and they can’t elaborate on why it isn’t “realistic” with a genre that was never about realism anyway, then you can usually say this is why.

Realism as an argument gets brought up a lot with superheroes, and the idea that anything in the superhero genre (and this includes superspies) is real is laughable. It’s called “superhero fiction” for a reason, and DC’s heroes from the Gold and Silver Age are all archetypal, mythic heroes who are better than humanity and through which we find the best of ourselves.

What’s real are the emotions and beliefs Wonder Woman inspires in you, the sense of awe, the wonder, and the hope. To hope for and fight for a better future than the one we see before us. To inspire our dreams so we find the courage to chase them. To look up at the stars instead of down at our feet. To believe we’ll find victory so long as we keep getting up again.To remind us we can change the world.

Sometimes, we just need freedom reality’s constraints to find the best in ourselves. Inspire us to see who we could be, beyond what we’ve previously believed to be possible.

You know how many glorious scientific inventions we have because of science fiction? Like hoverboards from Back to the Future. Or flip phones from Star Trek. They weren’t grounded in reality either when they were imagined. There was only the possibility they might, maybe exist… someday.

When discussing anything creative try and remember this: no is not a shut down nor does it remove the idea’s value. Rather, any explanation on the subject is meant to help us gain a better understanding of the subject. The more we know then the more choices become available, and we’re able to pick the one best for us. 

The choreographers, directors, and producers who put together the Amazon’s combat style are people who have a firm grasp of how combat is supposed to work both onscreen and off it. They chose this route because what we see on screen is representative of the themes they had in mind and the story they were trying to tell. It was intentional, not accidental. They knew what they wanted.

The point is don’t be discouraged from chasing after a feeling or a dream just because fiction is what inspired you. The difference between fantasy and reality is the will we have to take ourselves there.

-Michi

This blog is supported through Patreon. If you enjoy our content, please consider becoming a Patron. Every contribution helps keep us online, and writing. If you already are a Patron, thank you.

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I see you are also fighting the war on dumbasses.

One person at a time. Like Sisyphus, I am bound to hell.

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harry potter is late for class

hurry, potter!

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Advice: Expanding Word Count

alexandrgideon asked: How can I make my scenes longer? Normally my chapters have a couple of scenes as they are too short to be a chapter themselves (around 500-1000 words), but this makes it feel too fast paced and I know for NaNoWriMo that at the rate I’m going, I will finish the story being 10k off the word count. Thank you

When padding the word count of a story, we have to be very careful not to write a bunch of filler scenes. Every scene in a story should have a purpose. It should establish or advance the plot, characters, setting, or any number of story elements. You should be able to look at every scene in your story and say, “If I take this out, the story won’t work.” Before you do anything else, look at your story and see if there are any scenes you could add that would contribute to the plot, characters, or setting in some way. If you think of something, ask yourself whether another scene already serves this purpose. If so, look for something else. Once you think of some scenes to add, go ahead and write them out and see how far that gets you. If you still have a long way to go, your next task is to rewrite the story with more description. Nine out of ten times, lacking description is the culprit of low word counts. The following posts will help you with description: How to Make Simple Writing More Vivid, Horror by Daylight, Describing Actions, Describing Physical Appearance, Describing Clothing and Appearance. However, you also want to be sure to avoid the treacherous info dump. Between adding a few more scenes and expanding your description, you should find that your word count increases quite a lot. :)

Here are a few other things you can do to expand your word count, especially within a single scene:

1) Make sure you are showing, not telling. Telling: “Fred was angry.” (3 words) Showing: “Fred narrowed his eyes as the insult registered. Suddenly his face became red and his jaw clenched as if he was holding back a retort.” (25 words) 2) Make sure you describe important details, such as elements of the setting, the characteristics of a person, or what a character is thinking or feeling. Angie walked into her boyfriend’s bedroom and sat on the bed to wait. When he didn’t join her after ten minutes, she went back downstairs. Could become… Angie walked into her boyfriend’s bedroom, carefully picking her way through the minefield of balled up underwear and old pizza boxes. She cleared a place for herself at the foot of the bed by moving a pile of clean but unfolded clothes. The bed was unmade, the mis-matched sheets balled up at the middle. Angie tried to imagine sleeping here and shuddered. After several minutes of waiting, she began to realize the room itself wasn’t unpleasant. A sturdy trash bag and several minutes of tidying up would make it bearable, maybe even cozy. As she made her way back downstairs to find Ted, she made a mental note to bring her cleaning supplies with her next time. 3) Make sure to include dialogue, and make sure your characters interact with each other and the settingduring the dialogue. “You really should clean your room,” Angie said, pulling a chair out from the kitchen table where Ted sat. “Why? What difference does it make?” Angie frowned. “I don’t know. Doesn’t it bother you that it’s so messy?” “No.” Ted stood up and offered his hand to Angie. “Why should it bother me when we spend all our time at your place?”

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Anonymous asked A side character in my book, the narrator’s big brother, dies right before another gives birth. Is it okay to name the baby after the brother who died, or would it just be confusing? Thank you

Sure, that would be fine and is a very believable thing to happen. The reader is unlikely to confuse an older character who died with a new baby named after them, even if that baby reaches adulthood within the story. :)

———————————————————————————– Have a writing question? I’d love to hear from you! Prohibited asks: how to portray/describe (characters, emotions, situations), specialist knowledge requests (medical, military, mental health, etc.), asking for tropes/cliches or resources, triggering/controversial topics; broad, vague, or complex questions. Asks directed to other anons/askers. I get dozens of questions per day…please don’t ask if I got your question. See master list & main site for more info!

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Could we create more of an atmosphere on Mars by dimming the lights and playing some smooth jazz?