#[thinking of a blog graphics and tags etc revamp but]

[grimowled]

*peeks in*

[caeboa]

Welcome to my blog!

Hello! I was overdue for a pinned post so I am putting one up. Most importantly if you're just here to see my art and would like to skip updates and text posts, please check my tag my art. My other Frequently used tags can be found here! My asks are open and I am happy to talk to people through there. If you'd like something replied to privately make it clear in the message. Anonymous asks are on, I reserve the right not to reply to any that make me uncomfortable or to turn them off if people are being weird. @alerane is my reblog tumblr, where I share art and things I like that are not mine! @detectivesplotslies is my Danganronpa sideblog, which I both reblog and post on. I do tag spoilers still on there, but I keep it separate because I'd rather not spoil some friends of mine on accident if they don't filter tags. It has spoilers for All Games so warning, I contained them for a reason. All my main links to other platforms are on my Carrd here but I'll go through the main ones under the read more.

Twitter - I have a twitter, and the shakiness of the platform aside I do still intend to post art there. On twitter I mostly post art and share projects like zines I'm on. Instagram - On instagram I post both art and cosplay stuff, and some holiday & trip photos, so if that interests you head over. Tiktok - On Tikok I post timelapses of both digital & traditional art as well as cosplay videos! There are spoilers on this account, labeled in the thumbnails and first 3 ish seconds so watch out. Patreon - I have a Patreon! It's... not much but it's a place you can support me if you'd like. You get access to a discord server where I spam share my Works in Progress that don't get posted elsewhere! I also share inspiration art from all sorts of platforms & post smaller announcements for upcoming stuff there first. I have plans for new reward tiers and bonuses in 2023 so stay tuned. Ko-fi - I have a ko-fi for tips! Every bit is appreciated. Bigcartel - the shop where I have charms, stickers and prints. It will be fully open again after convention season. Teepublic - an apparel shop with my mosaic designs up for print on demand for T-shirts, mugs, hoodies, pillows, phone cases, etc. I try to put things I think will look nice on these items here with lots of background colour options! If something is not on here there's usually a reason, the main three being 1) the design was hard to cutout from the background for a graphic 2) it was previously and was taken down by the IP holding company 3) it is a design based on an indie game/series which the creator has set limits on creation and distribution of fanart pieces. Feel free to ask though if you have a specific one you're wondering about. Otherwise there's a link to my portfolio & email on my carrd for those seeking freelance illustration & commission quotes! I do have a commissions example post but I am revamping it, so I will edit this post with the new one when it is here. Thanks for reading!

[kyaruun]

Since when did the graphics suck they're literally so cute

This one is literally embedded in my mind like I ASSOCIATE this with you

It isssss literally so cute but your other graphics are also so cute wthhhhhhh

Buuut I can do some tutorials on things you wanna know that I can do? I've been wanting to make a tutorial for a while now actually

. Me too like I don't have a schedule and while I write on a "rotation", I spend so muxh time and energy on irl things that I don't get much time to write. I literally haven't gotten through my reqs from last August. Rip my 800 event from. Before then??? Cannot even keep track it's been like a year

My follow count is only that high bcs I wrote for haikyuu (in 2020 its peak) then I joined the genshin bus kinda early (?) Which is still huge and I wrote misc fics for whatever else, and it was also my edit blog??? And now I'm here shitposting so I got followers from like lots of places

The way yours is in the 700s and a loooot older than mine pls I'm also in the 700s in nazukisser.... insanity

Well personally i love your leo so I think that it should happen because you deserve it. And writing a series.... yes.... smaus are so fun I have domicile on nazukisser for reference if you want it and my fav smau ever is club stupid by tumblr user kodzuvii highly recommend I just become a redhead kita's cousin and tendou's best friend number 1 miracle girl and down bad for suna rintarou whenever I read it.

WAAAA I can't wait to see your revamp !!! Thank you.. I always try to have some sort of match (character/color/style) all throughout!! If you need help/opinions/etc lmk!!!

Right like what happened . We were thriving. Then we boomed for a second and died. Like I see the nazuna x reader tag and ME AND KAZE ARE THE ONLY ONES like bruh? And my fics have been flopping tho it seems everyone's have been flopping too

Yeah the only thing keeping me tied down here is the server..... it's like my lifetime... come back we miss you

I MISS NURI TOO... bee has arknights now....I miss.... and runanananna....... ate swanee's writing.... SHE DOES THAT TO US TOO not that I hate it but she drops like a couple of lines in snippets and dips and I'm like *SCREEEECHES*

If you come back to my server we welcome you back we miss you :(((

I can only be grateful that some of us are left tho.... i7 is so dead and e7 LMFAO??? I was legit the only one it was so darned sad

THAT'S THE ONLY ONE I LIKE!! i love watching vids about journaling and that kind of thing and they make the cutest decorated polaroids so i wanted to do something like that but very cutesy themed,, spring made me think of picnics so gingham <3 i actually played around with a few similar concepts like polaroid + random stickers and i planned to make banners with that but uuuu there are so many characters,, can't keep my focus for too long. i think they came out cute but it's probably too late to use them </3

i always wonder about what do people use to edit their pics because i was born a ps girlie and i still don't know how to use ps properly oops making your themes look nice and cohesive,, those cute pinned etc etc people who edit icons and make them look super aesthetic

i think i never tried to promote my blog because followers don't feel like an integral part of the process for me. i just write what comes to mind and share it with the world: if people like it i'm absolutely delighted and if they don't well,, at the end of the day most of my writing has been fun for me ^^ like come on i've written things that are silly and self indulgent and they worked fine and i'm here like. wow

i have considered writing for more series but the thing is the media i like has a fandom of like. 2.5 people on the good days. so it really doesn't make too much sense to even try that <.< genshin fandom scares tf out of me so i'll keep my extra fluffy albedo thoughts to myself. the bazillion "childe being a dumbass in love" posts. kazuha writing poetry. oops. getting flashbacks to the time i almost made a hypmic blog but i stopped myself at the last second out of embarrassment

i'm torn on whether a) people just aren't interested in that kind of content anymore (no way) or b) people DO read our stuff, they simply don't interact. not even a like. the migration of people from other social media into tumblr,, like sorry but i've been here since 2016? and it gets worst for writers every day </3

i have an immense amount of cute enstars thoughts a day and i feel like if i can't share them i will combust (my best friend has to deal with me every day),, it's mostly cute romantic stuff with my favs and my ocs, for obv reasons so i'm like uuuu should i even tell this to someone it's just embarrassing. like only other enstarries could understand why i keep rotating this bunch of dorks around my brain and getting the biggest serotonin boost out of it ueeee

i kind of miss being in a server with other people. i've been feeling very lonely lately due to uni so i think that'd be good for my mental health but at the same time,, i don't want to go back to talking once in a blue moon you know? ooo to be an anxious mess every day of your life.... like i get nervous so easily and i know i'll make someone uncomfortable so i simply keep quiet or i don't know how to join conversations because my social skills are -1. i'm a bit of a mess TT

as a bonus for reading all of this, wips of some of the banners/wallpapers? i was working on the last time. rei was meant to be a light pink/purple ish kind of shade but i don't mind how these came out either ^^ i need to print the cgs as polaroids again

[famedroleplay]

bonus task: new muse tasks

open to: new muses

reward: 10 tracker points

deadline: four weeks after muse’s acceptance into the roleplay

upon acceptance as a new muse into the roleplay, the following tasks may be completed for tracker points. this is to help muns establish their new muses and get a kickstart on points during the muse’s first four weeks in the roleplay. please do not post these task completions until your muse’s acceptance graphic has been posted to the main!

these are optional tasks. new muses are not required to complete them, although it is encouraged. please note that revamped muses cannot collect points for new muse tasks.

please tag completions of these task with #famednewmusetask.

1. answer the establishing questionnaire — answer the following questions regarding your muse. this is meant to help you think about the answers if they’re topics you’re not sure about, as well as to help introduce aspects on your muse to others through the dash! this will be worth 5 tracker points.

why did your muse become an idol?

what does your muse think of their company and their group?

is your muse on their first contract or their second? if they’ve renewed, what were their feelings around that at the time and what were their hopes for their second contract? if they haven’t renewed, what are their current thoughts on the end of their eventual first contract?

what are your muse’s goals, ambitions, and motivations?

what moments or people in your muse’s life are or have been the most impactful and/or the most important to them?

what are five of your muse’s favorite things? feel free to expand on why this is and/or how these became their favorite things.

what is one conflict, internal or external, that your muse is currently dealing with, has recently dealt with, or will need to deal with in the future?

if your muse has established career claims, what are their thoughts on their career so far? if they do not, how do they feel about not having individual activities yet? what would they like to do in the future, if anything? if they don’t have ambitions for individual activities, explain why.

2. fill out an official profile — some of you may already have one on your blog, but please fill out this profile template and post it for this part of the task. it should be written either as if by a marketing director at their company or as if by a fan compiling information from public appearances and statements, either way, feeding into their image and avoiding unattractive information. the answers do not have to be entirely factual, particularly sections like ideal type. this will be worth 2 tracker points.

3. three wanted plots —  create a post detailing three (or more) wanted plots for your muse. these can include established connections, first meetings, connections intended for ongoing development, plots that can be added to any existing connections you might have, plots that involve any points claim you’d like to make, etc. this post should include a description of the type of connection the plot entails and you’re also encouraged to touch on where you’d like the plot to possibly go and how it could potentially develop. each plot should include a description of at least one hundred words. this will be worth 3 tracker points.

[thefairefolk-rp]

Do you have any advice for someone trying to start their own literate/semi-literate roleplay? (I know yours is fully literate but I'd like to allow short replies sometimes in mine) It's my first time

Hi there! Oh gosh I have so many things I wish I could have told myself seven years ago when this all began. I’ll try to boil it down to some things I think are most important. But, I already know this is going to be a novel lol. So, sorry in advance. 

1. Don’t be too overzealous with the amount of characters, factions and locations in the game: When I first started, I set out to make this massive sprawling faerie world with a choose-your-own-adventure feel to it. I wrote new bios alllll the time, and added new interesting groups and organizations whenever they came to mind. We had everything from barmaids in the distant slums, to wild fae youth living in the woods, to princesses living in the capitol. What this turned into was an rp that had literally over 100 (?!?!) characters to choose from, from pretty much everywhere on this huge map. I got to write all these super fun characters and people seemed really intrigued by the variety. In theory this was great. However, I started to realize that it made it more difficult for our members to come up with storylines long-term. Sometimes it was hard to even come up with how to get two characters with vastly different backstories could be in the same place. In 2018 I did a complete revamp that largely involved finding a more central theme for the rp, and cutting a huge number of bios and groups out. What I landed on was a concept that was a fae royal court drama, instead of a story about an entire faerie world.  So, now most characters are nobility, or involved with royals. There is now also a central theme of these warring old fae families, and an established history of backstabbing and scandal. It has helped a lot because now characters have tons of parties, royal events, etc. that they can plausibly meet at and even old beefs between families to stir things up. I could have saved so.much.time if I had really tasked myself in the beginning with deciding exactly what I wanted this story to be about and stopping myself when I started over-designing. 

2. Find a really solid admin team that you trust: I think in the beginning I felt like this was rp was my baby, and felt like things needed to be done a specific way. I was more resistant to changing things, even when they needed to be. But, over the years I have gotten to work with so many talented people with skills and ideas I could never have dreamed up. The more open I was to other ideas, the better this rp became. To this day some of my favorite things in the rp were not made by me! Also, find people with strengths you don’t have. For example: I find it really difficult to come up with new events, while the other two admins here are very good at them.

3. Make sure maintaining diversity is a constant goal. Many people are tired of seeing white-washed, straight, cis, non-disabled characters over and over. I think it’s our responsibility as rp admins to make sure our characters reflect the true diversity of the world around us. Add diverse faceclaims, and do your research on any group you are trying to represent that you are not very familiar with to make sure it is done with respect. This includes race, gender, sexuality and body diversity (quite honestly, we are still not where I want us to be with every category yet). We somewhat recently made the choice to disallowing people to change the race of a character because of how often people wanted to swap out a POC for a white faceclaim to make sure our diverse choices stay diverse. On a side note, there are a lot of rph’s (roleplay helpers) who will not promote or shoutout your group if your diversity is lacking. So it’s just beneficial all-around to make sure you’re doing it right.

4. Make sure your roleplay feels unpretentious and un-intimidating even for those who may not have participated in a literate rp before, or never rp’d at all. I think literate roleplays can have a (sometimes earned) reputation for being a bit elitist and intimidating. It can feel like a lot, especially when for so many of these roleplays such a large writing sample is asked for. We made an Application Guide that boils down our most important information, and a description of what is expected of an applicant so that people feel like they have a solid jumping off point. We also send a “How to Get Started” guide to all new members that includes a list of which blogs to follow, the link to our member list, and the link to our rp’s discord channel. If someone tells you they are new to this, really go the extra mile to make sure they are settled and comfortable.

5. Promote your rp effectively: Make sure your theme is easy to navigate, your color scheme is easy on the eyes and fits the vibe of the roleplay, and that a navigation page is easily accessible. Try to make your navigation page as intuitive as possible. If you have lots of lore like we do, making sure people can easily find the article that will answer their question. Also make sure a link to the plot, and characters is visible on the main page.

I recommend making sure your rp’s page really matches your setting and story so that it’s immediately apparent what some of the themes of the plot are. We use lots of royal imagery, fantasy imagery and nature imagery for ours. I know obtaining pretty graphics, especially if you may not be as well acquainted with with photoshop, can be difficult. Do the best you can, with what you have and don’t sweat it too much if it doesn’t start out how you want it to. I taught myself photoshop for this roleplay, and made many of my own graphics at first. They weren’t perfect, but I was able to get the idea across. I found the person who made my current graphics through a roleplay that I loved the aesthetic of. There are definitely some rp helpers on here who accept commissions to design graphics. Some charge, others don’t. Decide what works best for you! Also, make sure that the small 

I’m not sure if you know about about making a promo blog, and how to use the tags to promote. Let me know if you don’t, and I can PM you way more info on that because there definitely is a bit of a science to it. 

6. Don’t get too let down by slow periods: Obviously I am very very stubborn because this rp is old af. But, just know ALL roleplays have slow periods. I have had apps dry up for weeks or even months sometimes. I have had the dash entirely stop moving before, and activity 99.9% die. This used to absolutely panic me. But, now I get that this is just the inevitability of a long-term roleplay sometimes. It is often an indicator that something needs to change. Adding a fun event, or a new plot drop can make all the difference.  We recently did an Avatar: The Last Airbender AU that really boosted activity! If that doesn’t help, troubleshoot by messaging rph’s who offer opinions or rp help, or straight up asking your members what they’d like. Both can have great insight on what you can improve. But, be ready to not always hear what you want to. 

I hope this was helpful! If you come off anon and send me a message, I would be more than happy to chat with you further in private messages and answer more questions. I am genuinely so jazzed to see new literate/semi-literate roleplays pop up!

- Admin L

[walkingshcdow-a]

Announcement: 1/29/2020

Good evening, y’all! I just want to give a quick update on what activity on this blog is going to look like, which muses are going to be active (and to what extent), and all that good stuff. I’m placing it under a “read more”, simply because this will be a long post.

General Notes

State testing will soon be upon my students. I’m working hard to prepare them. On the plus side, this Saturday (2/1/2020) is my last debate meet of the semester! That said, we’re implementing some study Saturdays, where I’ll be offering tutoring/mini-lessons for four hours on select Saturdays. I will place semi-hiatus notices in advance for those. 

I’m also contending with a severe depression. I have it in my Habitica app that I need to do at least one reply/ask/meme a day, so I don’t fall out of the habit/give into the dark side, but expect me to be a little slower. Some of y’all know what triggered this particular bout of depression - nothing RP related, but it is intensely personal and intensely painful. I’m getting the professional help I need and I have to remind myself that that’s what matters right now. Good vibes are appreciated, though! Always. And as always, I’ll be sending you guys love and positive thoughts at every chance I get. 

Summer will be better.

Muse Activity

My muse activity, as anyone with a MuMu or multiple blogs will attest to, fluctuates. However I want to give some notes on all muses for those of you who are curious.

Rudyard Funn: Rudyard is listed as active and he is! I’m struggling to keep up with old threads from his former blog, so if you have something you’d like to keep from there, please link me! 

Georgie Crusoe: I’m testing Georgie. I’m not ready to unleash her on new RP partners (unless they RP canon Wooden Overcoats characters), just because I’m getting used to her and deciding whether or not I plan to keep her. If you enjoy my Georgie, please let me know!

Masha Voronina: Masha is active, but I am insecure about my female OCs in general. Please send love/asks/anons/threads her way! 

Anna Garcia: Like Masha, Anna is active and I’m a bit insecure about my female OCs so any love is very appreciated! That said, I’m pretty confident in her voice and PSYCHED about the urban fantasy world I’ve built surrounding her (and Santiago and a bunch of unlockable OCs and verses for canons...) Hit me up!!

Victor Frankenstein: Victor is really only open for interaction with @professor-of-predators. I’m using him to cope with some things and I don’t really want to open him up to others at this point in time.

Finnegan: Finnegan is so underrated. PLEASE hit me up for him! He’s active and terrible but capable of growth. 

Diaval: I haven’t seen “Maleficent 2″ yet. I will! That said, I’ve had a huge resurge of muse for him. Please RP with him! Minor changes might be made to his bio when I see M2, but from what I’ve heard, I’m on the right trajectory with him anyways.

Elizabeth Lavenza: Elizabeth is on hiatus. When I bring her back, I want to divorce her from my 2015 verses more (still have Victor with an NPC sister) and allow her to shine without Victor looming over her. This is a project to consider in the summer, if the muse strikes.

Erik: Erik is selective af. I’ve never made it a secret that I think the Pha.ndom is a total cesspool. I am willing to play Erik, but insofar as shipping goes, please just assume that my endgame is Erik/Nadir with my Nadir unless we’ve explicitly discussed otherwise. I’m just really exhausted with feeling like this muse is romanticized, sexualized, and fetishized. 

Nadir Khan: Nadir is so selective, I should just put him on hiatus. I don’t have a lot of muse for him outside of fanfiction right now. If you have an interesting plot idea, feel free to message me, but I may not have the spoons to indulge you.

Gleb Vaganov: Gleb is on indefinite hiatus. I have lost inspiration for him, but hope that he may return to me in the future. 

Santiago Ortiz: Santiago is selective, but only because he’s a little harder for me to write than some of the others. If you want to plot, message me! I’m eager to use him, he’s just very different than my usual “type”. I’m excited about his universe and using him.

Percy Blakeney: I have muse for Percy, but I think I’ll put him on semi-hiatus for my mental health. I also know not many people know what to do with him and that’s okay! If you have a specific plot, lmk.

Marguerite St. Just: Like Percy, I have muse for Marguerite, but I’m putting her on semi-hiatus. Not many people know what to do with her and that’s okay! If you have a specific plot, lmk. 

Madeleine de Chandon: I have inspiration for this OC, but I want to revamp her. She is so far on hiatus as I workshop her that she isn’t even listed on my muse list.

Jaskier: I want to pick up Jaskier from “The Witcher” as a muse, but I want to do some test writing - fanfictions, private RPs, etc. If you’d like to privately RP with him, message me! He’ll be Netflix based because I don’t know anything about games besides what the Wiki tells me. Not sorry.

Please note that it is physically impossible for me to devote the same amount of time/focus/energy on each of my muses as the same time. I hope to keep my turn-around times short, but I ask for your patience as I do work full-time and am dealing with a lot of RL stressors. This is a hobby, not my job.

Verse Reconstruction

You may have noticed I’m not tagging verses. I’m working on deciding how to go about doing that in an efficient way. My threads will be a little messy for the time being but I’m thinking of doing big, blanket verse tags (ex. .001 | canon, .002 | modern, .003 | historical, etc.). I might include more specific tags, but I don’t know what that will look like.

I do know that all my muses will have their canon verses, a modern verse (if they are not a modern character), an urban fantasy verse (if they are not urban fantasy character), historical verses (generally tagged or tagged by era), a Disney verse (if they are not a Disney character), a D&D/medieval fantasy inspired verse, and so forth. I’m sure there are others I’ve neglected to include in this list. 

Give me time to construct these tags and/or pages. I work full time and can’t believe I’ve carved time to make an announcement post.

Graphics/Layout/Etc.

I need to save up to commission my favorite graphics-maker to beautify this blog. In the meantime, I hope it’s easy enough to navigate and not too unsightly!

Misc.

If you’ve read all of this, please know that I love you. Thank you for being patient with me as I’ve searched for an online home. Hopefully I will feel at ease on my MuMu. 

As always, please respect my rules and boundaries, but don’t be shy! I promise to do the same for you!

Peace!

[folkelorde]

Hey Kati, I'm a newish admin (I've attempted to start around 4 RPs in my time) and I was wondering if I could get some advice? All my RPs are dead, like, dead-dead. I get absolutely no traffic, no questions, no apps, nothing for any of my RPs and at this point I feel like I'm just clogging up tags and annoying people with my promos. I guess I'm wondering how people actually get traffic to their RPs? At this point with all the genres I've done I feel like I must be missing something important.

hi ! first of all, i’m so sorry that things haven’t been taking off. it’s so frustrating when you’re so excited about something and all you want to do is write and no one else seems to be on your wavelength. however, i do think there are a couple factors that go into starting something that takes off and i’d like to think that i’m pretty good at spotting when something’s gonna be a hit or not ? idk ! let me try to break it down for you.

AESTHETICS. it’s sad, but this is probably the #1 reason why a cool rp wouldn’t get the traffic it deserves. a nice, readable theme is most important, but then a color scheme with some graphics with a matching psd and all that. i’m not saying they have to be crazy, my personal photoshop knowledge is just slapping some pics from unsplash or some other image hosting site under a psd and i’ve had pretty good success with that. if you can’t do it, there are plenty of nice people out there who can probably help you fancy things up a bit. in addition, it helps to pay attention to rp trends – stylized dash icons, urls without dashes, using small gifs/icons, that sort of thing goes a longer way than you’d think. 

SETTING A DATE/GOAL. honestly, there hits a point where if a roleplay is getting no attention then it’s NEVER going to, because onlookers will see that it’s going nowhere and there’s the ‘bandwagon effect.’ if it shows no signs of opening within a week, people tend to lose interest. it helps to set an opening/acceptance date pretty quickly, even if all the apps you want aren’t there yet – push it back if you need to, but create a sense of urgency within interested people ( within reason, give people enough time to figure out their character. ) if people see no signs of opening, they’ll look for something else – personally, i tend to not send my app until the rp sets an opening/acceptance date because i’ve been burned too many times getting excited for things that haven’t panned out. 

ACTIVITY/PROMOING. people like to see you on the dash, and those pre-opening days are crucial. it sucks, but a new rp pretty much needs the admin to pop on daily and make their presence known. if you can’t keep up with that, it’s not a big deal – you should just get a co-admin to help you out ! in addition to promoing in the tags, reach out to blogs for shoutouts. if you notice you’re not getting traction, some rps do OPINIONS, which can be a constructive way to learn a few reasons why people might not be applying.  

there’s a ton of factors that go into it, whether it’s timing, genre, etc, but another thing is just…knowing when to call it. if you’ve gone a week or so without any applications or interest, it might just be the wrong time for your idea. better to just hang up your hat and revamp it later than waste your time. if you’d like to message me privately ( or even publicly ) i’d be happy to take a look at what you’ve got going and try to give you some insight ! good luck – i know that if you’re passionate about your ideas, you’ll wind up persevering and i’m completely rooting for you, so lmk if there’s anything else i can do to help you out. 

[pirequehideux-a-blog]

[edited!]: This post is now just being used as personal reference for a big project going forward! Don’t mind it, PSAs will come when needed!

The current sitch:

Presently I have 3 tumblr accounts I have any possible intention on using: 

my personal ( mainblog: skykinks ) which I use to follow IRL folks, artblogs, and other junk. It’s really messy, though, and I don’t log on as much as I want to. It also sort of acts as the ‘holding’ place for all my inactive sideblogs so I don’t have to feel guilty looking at URLs I’m not active on. Also currently the home of my artblog, which is a sideblog.

main RP account ( mainblog: pirequehideux ) which I use for general RP purposes. Great and all, but all my follows come from one RP blog which is currently in desperate need of an overhaul.

side RP account ( mainblog: marmoriites ) which is a??? RP account I made to house all my anime RP shit ( which is frankly mostly Voltron ), and while I really love the worldbuilding I did there, and am really happy with my muses, I don’t like the fandom and don’t feel like reaching out so... these blogs are getting shoved in the graveyard but I don’t want to abandon all the work? marmoriites started out as a sideblog and shouldn’t be TOO hard to move back to one, that way I can at least keep my #branding and my content easily accessible.

Between the first two accounts, I have-- a SHITTON of sideblogs. ( though I’m putting my full blog list here, just so all my info is in one spot )

pirequehideux - Altered Plot Phantom of the Opera. Needs a bit of a characterization overhaul. Might??? Go quiet for a while as I want to use my version of the story to make an actual graphic novel for publishing, since Leroux’s book is open license and I’ve literally written my own version!

tidehearted - Age of Sail multimuse. Not going anywhere, just needs to be polished & have some muses added.

ferrousstars - Panfandom multi for muses that don’t fit anywhere else, or whose fandoms I avoid getting too deep in. I’ve also been using it to sort of store some RPC type stuff?? Needs muses added, might have more going on- but that’ll be below.

neutralreborn - Tolkien AU Melkor. Needs a bit of a re-vamp for characterization.

forgedinflame - Tolkien Gothmog/Kosomot who might as well be an OC for all the character development I’ve given him, versus his minimal canon appearances, & has a billion AUs that make him accessible in almost any fandom- except Age of Sail because he fucking hates water. Needs to have more information added.

elvesbehavingbadly - Tolkien multimuse Needs completely rebuilt tbh, and needs characters/details added. Huge project tbh.

ofsubtlearts - HP Severus Snape. All HP blogs need a disclaimer/selectivity update. Needs some verses added and some info updated/re-organized.

technicallyaferret - HP Draco Malfoy. All HP blogs need a disclaimer/selectivity update. Needs a SERIOUS overhaul to most info/characterization details, needs tags, etc.

indiscretus - HP multimuse. All HP blogs need a disclaimer/selectivity update. Needs a complete overhaul & move to a fresh blog ( same URL ). full overhaul, basically.

violencetorn - a Kylo Ren blog I foolishly made because I fell in love with those damn movies. He may or may not make his way onto ferrousstars, but I also just want to find a use for the bg I made for this blog. Otherwise this blog is going to the graveyard.

url redacted - super hidden private marvel multi. Needs a HUGE overhaul & major update. might be going less hidden eventually with it??

marmoriites/marmcrites - voltron galra/worldbuilding hub. needs to be scooted to a sideblog & re-organized but probably needs to stay dead.

lionlocked - voltron paladin blog. Has basically no info on it whoops.

skyjynx - an aesthetic/moodboard blog. needs a url change because whoops this is my art username, needs cleaned up and some organizational tags added so I can reblog more general aesthetic pictures in addition to the blog when I don’t have time to make edits.

skyjynxart - my art blog. Needs to actually get running whoops orz

skykinks - miscellaneous??? personal??? 

Things I have been thinking about/wanting to do with my blogs/blogs I’ve been considering running:

fashion blog? - I always find gorgeous outfits/dresses/shoes/accessories/etc and think “I know I’m going to use this!!!” but have no immediate use for it so it sits in my likes for years bc I don’t have anywhere to stow it where it won’t get lost?? So I’ve been contemplating a fashion blog, or perhaps a set of fashion tags on that aesthetic blog, idk, to store stuff like that. Happening regardless of what big choice I make, but whether it’ll be a new set of tags when I revamp the aesthetic blog or a blog unto itself is to be determined.

RPH - I want to have a solid place to collect useful info, writing tips, memes I can’t use immediately but want to in the future, and possibly even answer questions for newbies or something like that. I don’t want to go super serious with a big RPH blog, but it would be nice to have somewhere to dump all my resources so they’re not scattered across blogs.

[webdesignagencyuk]

When to Consider a Website Redesign?

Sweated a lot to design your website with images, UI, color scheme to make it beautiful or paid an exorbitant amount of cost to design and develop and finally it’s been exhaustive with no result? Redesigning the website is being popular nowadays. A targeting website redesign is a way a tedious process. The main concept to showcase business on the website to turn visitors into customers. If there is no sign of yearly growth then it’s time to redesign or revamp your website. Functional changes take place when performance up-gradation needed, redesigning the website conceptualize the look and feel of the website. The revamping term comprises both performance and redesigning concepts.

Website redesign or revamping seems a very obvious question. The flawed website at the very beginning tends to wrong the rebuilding of the websites at the end. So, it is a nice opportunity to evaluate and determine what to do to rebuild your new website. The most important thing is to review the existing website that is lacking to attract customer’s attention. Customer engagement always plays a crucial part in the website. It is a virtual outlet of your business. If your website design and functionality solely being a barrier in pulling customer attraction or preventing it to be more productive than its time to revamp the website.

Most of the parts can be done by deciding the things that are non-working with the website and making strategies for it to work properly to gain visitor’s attention. Below are some reasons that are given, if you need to opt to revamp or redesign your website to make it a priority for the company and avoid adverse effects.

If your website falls into the categories of following reasons then without wasting a minute one should go for website revamping.

The first and foremost part of the website is its look and user experience. Each website today is being operated on mobile phones more than laptops. It’s the basic requirement of the website to looks good on mobile phones and tablets.

According to google analytics, the bounce rate of the webpage is the rate of the percentage which tells that the user only visited a single page and left without going through other pages of the website. During their sessions. A high bounce rate of the website indicates that low and poor user satisfaction.

You can check website load time by a website like Google Analytics, tool.pingdom.com or gtmetrix.com. If it gives you the time more than 5 seconds to load than speed update is much needed on your website. A study says that 50% of users left the website just because it takes more than 5 seconds to load.

Your website should deliver the latest content about your current business to your client. Whether it is award, certification, affiliations or launched a brand new product. Your website should emphasis on them. Giving a complete makeover to your website can create unique identification for your business.

Competitors are the most important elements in the growth of your business. If your competitor recasts their showcase then its time you to also think about mutating yours. This can embrace blogs, the reincarnation of websites, etc.

Search engine optimization is the key element to find your website easily on search engines like google yahoo and other ones. On-page search engine optimization mainly used to rank websites on all popular search engines for relevant queries about the website. Each page primarily focuses on the unique keywords focusing on website aim. These title tags are HTML elements and one can customize the website display on search engines by these title tags.

Bad UI tends to a bad impression on customers and a high bounce rate. UI must be impressive if the user is not satisfied with the experience on your website then you are risking losing your audience. For Example, too many images take the high time it takes to load them is not a good experience for the user.

Dead links in the website direct to 404 not found page if the website contains any. Dead links look like ordinary links they don’t send the user on the indicated page when clicked resulting in them abandon the site. Removing them or replacing them with appropriate links. Rather than a manual check, websites like “brokenlinkscheck.com” will disclose all the dead links.

The social network is the big platform for marketing and your pages on this social networking are the virtual marketing realm. So, with new and innovative ideas you can revamp your website.

Lack of content management systems can also make an adverse effect on the growth of the organization. The content management system is a kind of web application with different user level permission to manage the content of the website. Websites can be integrated with good CMS so the changes in website content can be easy for users without any kind of programming knowledge.

Opportunities and growth of an organization are always presented by the relevant content of the website. The fresh and new content of the website will always retain your visitors. This can also be achieved by delivering the latest content which shows your current business goals and market values and updating the website by publishing new articles with high-quality content will be helpful.

Security breaching and content-stealing led customers to choose websites to visit more careful nowadays so secure network communication on your website will increase the visitors’ faith in you more and make you more trustworthy for them.

There is a major problem when a technical issue arises. Better customer support is most important to make consumers satisfied. But if too much troubleshooting your website needed just because any aspect of a website is not working properly and you spend more time to fix it then it’s not favorable for the profit and sales growth. It is a serious call to hire a website redesign services company to redesign your website in order to grow your business.

The website is considered a virtual storefront for any organization and reflects the value of the company. So time to time a significant check is a must to gain benefits and reduce risks in business. Re-inventing the website is a very careful task and without any planning and thought process will result in poor performance of your organization. By following the latest 2019 design trends and technologies, Bytegrow IT Solutions offer amazing website redesign services that improve the overall usability and graphic look of your business website.

Source: Click here.

[warcommanded]

Blog revamp 2/21-2/25

Hokay! This blog is a hot fucking mess and i’m sick of it. So i’m going to be attempting a massive blog revamp this weekend while i’ve got some time off to try and clean up the mess that’s been around since day one. Here’s what to expect, or at least what i want out of this revamp:

- A proper, continuously running queue that holds a decent mix of memes, replies, musings, etc etc etc. 

- I will be cleaning up my posts -- deleting/privatizing OOC content, properly tagging all posts left untagged, etc

- As mentioned a few days ago, I will be dropping all threads with the exceptions of the ones made in the last week, as well as my plotted ones with @valkiriya and @flashbangrevolvcr. I’ve been struggling horribly with my muse, and i think i need another fresh start.

- I will be clearing my inbox. I’m going to try and answer as much as i can that’s in there, but some of the memes are gone and i don’t feel like searching through to find them. After they’re answered, I will likely be closing my askbox for a couple days while I finish the revamp

- While this likely won’t happen this week, I will have a new theme up and running (I’ve commissioned a lovely graphics maker to make one for me). I will also be completing Jack’s bio, rewriting my rules, and changing up my pages a little bit.

- I will be going on an unfollowing spree -- this will mostly consist of clearing out inactive blogs, but there are some blogs I will likely be unfollowing either because we don’t write/haven’t spoken/i’m uninterested in the things posted to the blog.

- I will be (finally) implementing a thread tracker to better keep track of what the fuck is happening on this blog and actually keep track of where things go.

- I haven’t totally decided on this yeah, but I may be limiting my drafts to no more than ~15 at a time. As much as I hate it, I am overwhelmed right now, and I’ve always maintained that this will be a low activity blog, but I think this is best for right now to keep from getting super overwhelmed.

- Several drabbles focused around different points in jack’s life -- childhood, SEP, omnic-crisis, golden days, post-fall, and recall. I’m hoping that this, more than anything, will help me solidify my portrayal, as well as help get me back into the groove of writing.

This list may be added to later if I think of anything else, but I really hope to get this all done this weekend, and I think this will really help me get back into the groove of this blog and get me back in touch with Jack. Thank you to everyone who’s stayed with me while I’ve been in this negative rut, you all are the real MVP’s and I love you all so much.

- Becca

[dtkrippene]

Managing a blog page for a group or organization can be fun and rewarding – a phrase that should immediately toggle the cautionary button.

It’s that time of year for our annual writer’s group conference in mid-March. Since I blog somewhat regularly on WordPress, I was asked to revamp an outdated WordPress page to post presenter profiles, interviews, and conference news. Essentially, I’d be the ‘ghost in the shell’ to solicit, edit, format, and post articles by other group members.

Hey, I use WordPress all the time. How much trouble could it be?

Looking back, I ignored the ‘check details before proceeding’ indicator, and thought I’d share a few things I learned.

Get a Clear Mission Statement Before Proceeding

Valentina Conde – Unsplash

The group gave me carte blanc to redesign the page, which included an upgrade to a premium page for a small annual fee with access to better template options, widget buttons, and customary links. Nobody had to learn HTML tech-speak or pay a monthly “mortgage fee” to fancy-pants web designers.

That part was the easy.

Once the docket was approved, we created a process for members to sign up for one or more of the over twenty articles slated to print over a time frame of four – five months. First solicitation was met with a silence akin to a high school gymnasium at 2:00 AM. It took a bit of prodding by group officers to get things rolling, but eventually folks stepped up.

Create a New User Account for the Blog

Ludovic Toinel – Unsplash

I blew this one big time. As a WordPress Premium Plan user myself, I hoped to minimize the setup time by creating a new page while logged in with my own account, then adding others for administrators. Updating a page whose original owner hadn’t participated with the group for isn’t the best way to go. Page could be accessed by anyone.

I didn’t have problems with approved members accessing the blog and creating a post, but like Facebook, the WordPress folks like having an “owner” available for everything. Since I revamped the page while signed in on my personal account, only way I can unlock myself is if I delete the account. The annual bill hits my account every year like the return of robins in spring. Every year I have to rebill the group. I’m still working on a third-party Paypal invoice option.

Twenty-twenty hindsight; start fresh.

First, sign out first from any personal WordPress and Email accounts that are open.

Create a new group email and sign-in credentials if one is not available. I found Gmail to be work best. May sound like a Homer Simpson “duh”, but make sure officers know how to access it.

Then go to WordPress and create new account, using group email.

Have fun building the chosen template to fit your needs.

Be sure to include group’s mission statement in the blog page “About” profile.

Have more than one administrator assist with the management of it. I suggest offering a cocktail or two before making your pitch.

  Select Template to Suit the Group’s Brand

From: blogaholicdesigns

I love WordPress because they take the pain out of designing a page. They have lots of them for writers and authors, and the web is chock full of outside designers who create WordPress compatible temples.  You want it to be easy to read, not splattered with visual frilly things that distract from the text. Save that for a personal blog that celebrates all things unicorn.

I stuck with the same template I use for my personal page because I’m lazy, and the Chateau Theme has a good balance of widget placement, logos and link options.

I’ll not go into details of initial page set up. WordPress is fairly easy to navigate, and numerous Youtube videos exist from people who don’t get out much. Best advice I have in how to organize the page:

I’ve always believed a picture tells a story, even if it’s a simple message. Not everyone agrees, but to me, a blog page becomes it’s just another bunch of words in an overcrowded blogosphere universe. And since the graphic is the first visual a reader sees, make it a good one.

I went all out on my personal page on dtkrippene.com. Took me weeks to find that perfect graphic to represent my brand, “Searching For Light in the Darkness.” For a writer’s group, we agreed something less snazzy to be appropriate.

  Ready, Set, Blog – Wait …

To fill in that vast empty draft space, articles authored by other group members should be submitted with the following criteria.

Micah Boswell – Unsplash

Article typed in Times-New-Roman, 12 Font, preferably on Word for Window’s, or compatible program like Open Docs. The days of handing a secretary handwritten notes for letter dictation ended decades ago, and I don’t have time to retype an entire draft. Cutting and pasting on that blank template above saves a pile of time. Avoid fancy fonts; work this on the WordPress draft if you want them.

To this day, I still get articles inside the body of an email or formatted in a weird font that I must reformat. As a result, I transfer all summitted articles to a separate Word document by copying text, using “Paste Special – Unformatted Text” to remove hidden formatting problems that don’t translate well on WordPress, followed by changing the pasted text to NTR 12. Even then, I frequently have to use WordPress’ “Clear Formatting” Button (little eraser symbol) on pasted text.

Patrick Goth – Unsplash

A useable headshot for profile or interview, not a thumbprint taken from google images, or blurry selfie shot. There won’t be enough pixels. Do not include the photo inside the Word document; which requires screen-printing to clipboard, then opening a photo program to access pic for saving as a jpeg, only to get a photo the size of a postage stamp. Most professional agents and authors will provide a media kit upon request. The upside with WordPress, if the photo is too large, it’s easily reduced in the body of the draft.

Marco Djallo – Unsplash

Editing isn’t supposed to be in the job description, but it ends up as one. Minor faux pas for punctuation and a missing word happens to everyone, but I’ve had to practically retype some submissions. There’s a lot more to it than typesetting. When I write an article for someone else, I treat it as if I’m submitting to an agent. I mean – we’re supposed to be writers.

  Include social media and website links if doing a presenter profile or interview. The most time-consuming chore with posting someone else’s work (aside from chasing down useable photos), is searching the net for said links. Why is this important? It’s a common courtesy in a profile piece, and the more links we have inside the article, the greater the SEO search linkages the article will have, which leads to greater exposure. The pros know this.

Get article author’s bio and headshot. The point of volunteering to submit an article is exposure for the author. “Written by Such-n-such” is about as invisible as the dialogue tag – “said”. If article author hasn’t created a bio, this is the time to draft one. Call me old-fashioned for thinking readers want to see a human face, I tend to reject avatars. It might be acceptable with Twitter and Instagram, but if an article author wishes to remain anonymous, so be it. Unicorns and cute pugs are not writers.

Leio Mclaren – Unsplash

Article should include author’s social media links as well. I remember asking one article author if they had any social media links included in their bio, who answered with “I don’t use social media.” I almost followed up with “how does anyone know you exist as an author”, but sighed – que sera sera, and quit asking.

  Pay attention to tags and keywords. For the conference, every article should be tagged with: Writing, Writing Conferences, Writing Craft. If the article is a profile or interview, add tags to identify the skill set, like ‘Author Voice’, Query Letters’, or ‘Staging Fight Scenes’. If an author of YA fantasy, tags should include YA and Fantasy. If the profile is about a publisher or book coach, include the publisher’s agency name, ‘Marketing’, ‘Self-Publishing’, ‘Indie-Publishing’, etc. It helps fine tune SEO search engines, so browsers looking for book writing tips don’t end up with suggestions on how much to tip.

  Share the article on other Social Media accounts. If the group doesn’t have a Facebook Page, get one (sorry, didn’t mean to shout). To paraphrase the words of a NYT bestselling author who spoke at a past conference, blogs exist in a ‘tsunami of content’. To break out of the isolated bubble of a few group members and family friends who might read it, group postings need a social media sprinkler to let others aware the group exists. We’ve found contacting and liking other writer groups and interested parties pays big dividends. Fellow group members who participate in social media should also help broadcast the news. Ask any RWA Chapter Group; many of them have the best communicative share net on the planet.

From: imfunny.net

When posting the article link, Facebook automatically pops the first paragraph and the picture embedded in the article. It may appear to save time, but what often happens is the photograph displayed may not be the article header pic (if article contains more than one photo). Even if it is, the photograph won’t paste to Facebook Photobook. Took me a few iterations to discover the best course of action is to type in the article title, followed by pasting the article link, then physically attaching the article picture from file. Sounds convoluted, but the article graphic becomes a permanent record on the Facebook page, and it won’t be a cat selfie.

  And if You’re Still a Gluten for Punishment …

Vance Osterhout – Unsplash

Our group page goes into hibernation after conference activity ends, until the next cycle begins six months later. I’ve been taught that leaving an active website unattended for long periods of time, can undo all the connections gathered. Personally, I don’t blog often, but I try to be regular. As if I wasn’t having enough fun with the group site, I suggested the platform was available to membership during the off months to:

Announce a new book, short story, or article that appeared in a magazine

Offer a poem, or short story for others to read.

Allow other writerly folk who have something to share with the group

Invite blog sharing from other sites. We’ll post your article, you post ours.

Share your writer’s journey.

Share a valuable lesson learned that may help others

Share successes. Share disappointments. We’re all in this together.

The list is endless.

The submissions for off-season, unfortunately – haven’t been.

A Side Note on Other Blogging Platforms

Markus Spiske – Unsplash

I’m a diehard WordPress user, because I’m too lazy to relearn another platform. But if you’re interested in what’s available, check out The 10 Best Free Blogging Platforms in 2018! (Pros & Cons). What you’ll find is – free gets you in the game, but it’s going to cost a bit more for any kind of customization.

I still run across writers and authors who feel the need to have someone design a custom blog website to be unique. If you want a primer for how much this stuff costs, read How Much Does a Website Design or Redesign Cost? [2019 Guide] for a hefty dose of sticker shock.

From: digitalsynopsis.com

I’ve lost count of those who claim to have a brother, cousin, uncle-of-a-neighbor who has some chops in programing. I’m all for unique, but if it’s a group site, the major issue is what happens if the programmer/administrator gets hit by the proverbial bus? Time and time again I’ve seen website “owners” disappear, leaving the hapless writer stuck with an HTML intensive site without an instruction manual.

I’m sure I missed a few things, but I think I’ve confused you enough. If you remember anything, stick with simple. You’ll be glad you did.

This ghost-in-the-shell thing is hard enough as it is.

  May You Blog Well and Prosper

**********

By the way, we still have openings for the GLVWG Write Stuff Conference™, March 21 – 23, 2019. Check out the amazing line up of speakers and get an opportunity to pitch your book to agents and editors.

You can learn all about the presenters on the GLVWG WordPress Blog.

A lot of work went into those articles. Throw us bone will ya, and give us a like.

  Ghost in the Shell – Group Blogging for Fun and High Blood Pressure Managing a blog page for a group or organization can be fun and rewarding – a phrase that should immediately toggle the cautionary button.