#*300 pages not words lmao

[alexiaugustin]

to add on to the conversation about how declan last saw adam when he was breaking up with his brother while he was in a coma and how he probably wanted to punch adam for that n he never learns that adam actually came back for ronan so the next time declan sees adam again is when he literally just walks back into his family home and is dating ronan again which probably already caused him to spiral.. i also just think that to make matters worse for declan he wholeheartedly believes that it was ronan who came crawling back to adam and begged him to give him another chance & it fills declan with so much rage for the next four years every time he sees adam w ronan again. and just when he’s about to get over it and accept that adam and ronan deserve each other, adam comes downstairs with a ring on his finger the morning after declan’s wedding. declan is going to hate adam forever❤️

[helle-bored]

"I'm just not much of a reader 😔" I say when people ask how many books I read last year, after reading approximately ten million words of fanfiction

[ladeedayda]

I really like TCF, and I'm interested in book binding. So of course I was curious how much "book" would be needed to adapt the whole LN. I knew it was really long, so it'd take a couple big ones to include everything. Then I did some quick calculations and um. Uh. Well, here's a little math:

50k words at the minimum comfortable size and font comes out to approximately 100 pages. The average "largest" size books contains ~600 pages (at minimum size). That being said, it would kill me to read such tiny text for very long. Realistically, a comfortable font size (for me) would be 350 per page at most, so I'll be using that number moving on.

With that in mind, some of the more popular large book series like Eragon (906k total words, largest book having 280k words or 880 (803) pages) and Harry Potter (1M 84k total, largest having 257k or 870 (735) pages).

TCF has approximately 2M 150k words, 776 chapters. In part one. Ok, so... 2,150,000 words, with 1 page being ~350 words... that's 6143 pages. And if we gave each title in the series ~800 pages each, that's still 8 GIGANTIC books. TL;DR:

Eight books, 350 words per page, 800 pages each.

For reference, here's the A Song of Ice and Fire series, 1M 770k words, 4.2k pages (~400 words per page), 5 books total (~840 pages per book).

THAT'S A LOT OF BOOK.

[elsa-fogen]

what do you think about the fact that al likes doodling?

i have a head canon that he has some sort of scrapbook or sketchbook full of little doodles of things going on at the hotel and just in his life, I feel like he would draw really stick-figureish (is that a word?) but I read a fic that depicted it as the same art style as an Invader-Zim obsessed scene girl and I could not stop cackling.

I also feel like he would either guard it with his life from everyone (exception to Rosie, of course) or just not bother to tell anyone and one day they just find him doodling schoolgirl style, kicking his legs in the air, LMAO NEW THOUGHT WHAT IF CHARLIE OR LUCIFER FOUND IT

OH! OH! Now that you mentioned it - i LOVE that about him! I just absolutely ADORE little thing he made for the add in the first episode. And i love this fact because 1) he's the first character i like that likes to draw canonically (okay maybe also toothless from httyd?) 2) Me and Alastor share so many similarities, and even drawing???? This just makes me love him even more (i'm sure we would hate each other irl tho AHAHHAHAHA or maybe not, idk)

SO, SINCE ME AND AL ARE SO SIMILAR, I'M GONNA PROJECT ON HIM MY DRAWING HABITS >:3c Forgive me this one, i usualy don't do that, i usualy project characters on myself haha

He DOES have sketchbooks just to draw, and they are ORGANISED. He's numbers every sketchbook and counts every drawing in them since the first one. He also has two numbers for each page - through one sketchbook and through them all. He has over 300 of sketchbooks by now (I have less, only 56). They are stashed somewhere in a very safe place.

Every sketchbook has a date of first and last drawing. Also amount of drawings. It looks like: NOTEBOOK 253 (number of sketchbook, also he doesn't call them sketchbooks) 03.06.1978-05.07.1978 (dates while it was active) 119 (amount of drawings) 29961-30080 (which numbers of drawings are in this sketchbook) He would cound something else, but he's just too busy to spend time on it. He can remember something thinking about what he was drawing in that period and vice versa

He used to draw at overlords meetings, pissing off Carmila and everyone else, because it looked like he hadn't listened to them, so Carmila banned drawing at overlords meetings (Alastor is still angry about it)

But he doesn't progress too much - most of his progress was made through first 10-20 sketchbooks, now he only has slight style changes sometimes when he feels like it

Tho he's really proud of his current skill and used to think that he's literally the best (used to get angry when reminded that it's not true) (now he kinda knows, but still likes his own drawings, doesn't accept criticism and doesn't try to purposely improve)

He likes showing his drawings to people, he knows and if he does, you have to say that it's literally So Cool, show enthusiasm turning pages and say that everything is just amazing. If you don't, he'll be OFFENDED. He also can leave a sketchbook opened on a page with a drawing he likes the most, and it's like a sign "NOTICE THAT I'M DRAWING AND SAY THAT YOU LIKE IT"

If he considers you a friend (well not like Rosie, but at least like Charlie), he'll be showing you his drawings regularly (and you have to be enthusiastic about it!!!!!!) He has showed it to Charlie, but somehow her enthusiasm is... too much. She's too patronising about it. He also shows his things to Husk, he knows that Husk is annoyed and doesn't give a shit, and he just enjoys his annoyance. He also shows his drawings to Niffty and she gives him Just Right amount and vibe of enthusiasm. (He sometimes draws something for her fanfiction if he likes something enough and enjoys Niffty's reaction (she explodes from happiness)). BUT!!!!! He never shows anything to Mimzy. Because she's like, person from the real life, and he feels like she would laugh at it. To Rosie he shows only things he considers his best and her opinion is the most important to him. He can even forgive her criticism (wouldn't take it tho) (she never critisizes him and absolutely ADORES his drawings). Angel kinda likes his drawings, but isn't enthusiastic about them enough

He doesn't take requests (Angel tried "draw me like one of your french girls" shit, Alastor never did (also his ass did not get the reference and he was like "i dont??? have??? any french girls????")) (Vox also tried to make Alastor draw something for him, Alastor was just "that's interesting, i'll think about it" and never thought of it again)

SOME OF HIS DRWINGS TURNED OUT TO BE PROPHECIES but he notices that only when something happens and then he goes back to his old sketchbooks and accidentally finds it. They are just coincidenses tho, but it's fun and Alastor makes a big deal from it and screams to Rosie like "I PREDICTED THAT SHIT 27 YEARS AGO" when finds out. (it's how i predicted many plot points from SU and literally TOH hunter's possession before the show even was a thing JHJDFJHFGJFDHKH i wonder if i predicted something from Hazbin, i need to look through my sketchbooks now)

If you dare to mess with his drawings and vandalise them... oh... you better pray to whatever god you belive in to make your sufferings be enough to redeem your sins and go to heven.

[snazzilystoopid]

Hello there, fellow Ninjago fan....

I wonder, are you looking for Ninjago fics to read..?

WELL GOOD NEWS I'M HERE WITH A LIST OF AMAZING FICS FROM QUOTEV JUST FOR YOU!! <33

List is below heheh

Also just real quick: Some of these fics are not updated often/not updated anymore! These are all fem readers/ocs, but if they are gn or male I'll lyk. These are also catered to Cole lovers (ofc) but there are some other pretty good ones too!!

Dandelions~ Lloyd x Reader

https://www.quotev.com/story/15255742/dandelions-LloydG-x-reader

This is a reader insert, and I think is a gn reader if I recall. I haven't read it in a while, but I do remember really enjoying it! It's rarely updated, and has under 100 pages currently, but it's worth the read. Promise!

Element of Wishes~ OC

https://www.quotev.com/story/15032547/ELEMENT-OF-WISHES-LEGO-Ninjago

I LOVE THIS FIC SMM!! This is an OC fic, following the story of an elemental master of wishes, who also just so happens to be half-djinn! It currently has over 200 pages as well. You read through the events of Ninjago as normal, but also get to read interesting parts about the mc's own personal quest to find answers! SKYLOR ALSO PLAYS A BIG ROLE IN IT AND I LOVE THAT SM (Most of s1 has been skipped though). Cole is the current love interest, the author can sometimes leave updating for like 4 months lmao, but they have started updating regularly again! One of my all-time favourite fics! I'M CURRENTLY READING IT RN AND I LOVE ITTT

The Master of Wind~ OC

https://www.quotev.com/story/7985682/The-Master-of-Wind

I another one I haven't read for a bit, but let me tell you: I LOVED THIS BOOK WITH A BURNING PASSION OMG. Its also pretty long, with like 900 pages lol. I generally love the concept of a master of wind, more so because I love Morro, but anyways, this book is spectacular. The love interest is Lloyd, and its a bit of a slow burn, but its worth it. Sadly it hasn't been updated for 3 months now, but I am hopeful that the author will update it soon!

Just An Illusion~ Reader Insert

https://www.quotev.com/story/14405232/Just-an-Illusion

Another short-ish book with under 100 pages, but I really loved this one!! The fic begins at the Tournament of Elements, and I don't think there is a current love interest. But seriously the way I read and reread this book is acc insane 😭 The fic unfortunately has been left for 8 months as I think the author is taking a break, but I'm pretty confident that Just an Illusion will continue!

Stoneheart~ OC

https://www.quotev.com/story/14081498/Stoneheart-Ninjago-Masters-of-Spinjitzu

THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. The fic follows the story of an OC, who isn't from Ninjago, and who ends up joining the Ninja. Another MASSIVE book with over 800 pages and chock-full with a bunch of amazing original characters, and you're in for a good ride, trust me! I don't think there is a definite love interest, but it does seem to be leaning towards a certain character hehe (and no its not Cole unfortunately). Its being updated regularly-ish and I promise you will NOT regret reading it!

The Infinite Series~ Reader Insert

https://www.quotev.com/story/14276031/Infinite-Serenity-INFINITE-SERIES-BOOK-1

Another fic I enjoyed, this tells the story of the reader who died and had been reincarnated into a show from their childhood, LEGO Ninjago (obviously lol). There are two books in the series, the first one is linked above and you should be able to find the second one from there. I don't remember if there was a love interest or not but I do remember that the mc's personal story is really cool and so so creative! Book 1 had around 400 words and book 2 has like 300, however it hasn't been updated in 7 months 💔 still worth the read!

The Last~ Reader Insert

https://www.quotev.com/story/10806407/The-Last-LEGO-Ninjago-Masters-of-Spinjitzu-X-Reader

THE LAST. I LOVED THE LAST SO MUCH OMG. IM JUST SO SAD IT HASN'T BEEN UPDATED SINCE 2021 😭💔. This book is a Reader insert, where the mc is the last of their species, and joins the Ninja team, though I don't remember if there was a love interest or not, you'll have to read to find out because I really don't remember haha. Though the book has just over 100 pages, there aren't many chapters, and I don't think it's past s1 yet. Its still a good read, however, and I think a lot of you guys would like it!

The Colour of Hope & The Race Against Time~ OC

https://www.quotev.com/story/15708101/Ninjago-The-Color-of-Hope

THIS FIC IS EPIC. ITS AMAZING. It follows the story of a girl who becomes a target for a mysterious gang, and ends up in the care and protection of none other than the Ninja! (The Colour of Hope takes place between Day of the Departed and s7). The love interest is Cole, and the writing as absolutely phenomenal! This is a series, and the first book is linked above. The next book has only recently been made, so I have the upmost confidence that it'll be regularly updated, since the first one was too! Book 1 had around 250 pages I think. I PROMISE. You will wanna read it.

The Indigo and Black Series~ OC(s)

https://www.quotev.com/story/11634295/Indigo-and-Black-Pilots-Rise-of-the-Snakes-and-Destiny-of-the-Green-Ninja

I ENJOYED THIS BOOK SO MUCH! This follows the tale of not 1, but 2 mcs who are both OCs! One is the master of Time, the other, the master of Forces + Shadows. A Three-part series with 3 books, and the love interests are Cole and Kai! (Sorry Kailor fans 😭) The last book was updated around 6 months ago, but I did some digging and turns out the authors are still working on the next book, so I hope it comes out soon!

Kiss Me Baby~ Reader Insert

https://www.quotev.com/story/14954138/Kiss-Me-Baby-Ninjago

Suprisingly, this is actually a fic based on the universe of the Ninjago Movie, and I really enjoyed it! The reader is a confident teen who joins Ninjago High, but is secretly the mystery person who managed to get Lord Garmadon into prison, putting a stop to all his attacks on Ninjago City. A short book with under 100 pages, but it is also going through a rewrite if I recall. No definite love interest, but there is an implied one (once again, *sigh* it isn't Cole). Also, just throwing it out there, I was awake at like 4am reading this 😭

The Truth~ OC

https://www.quotev.com/story/9767787/The-Truth

THIS BOOK WAS LEGENDARY. I REREAD IT ALL THE TIME OML I LOVED IT. This book is all about a girl who somehow knows every member of the Ninja, though they don't actually remember her themselves. It begins at the Tournament of Elements, and runs right up to March of the Oni, where it has stopped being updated for quite a few months now 💔. The love interest is Cole, and honestly can I just say, this book was written SO WELL. Like I wish I could write like that 😭😭

Aaaaand that is all! If I DID have to pick my top 3, it would be as follows:

1ST~The Truth

2ND~Element of Wishes

3RD~ The Colour of Hope & The Race Against Time

I personally think these ones were/are the most engaging and exciting! I'm not saying the others were bad though. You'll wanna read them all. Trust me.

I hope yall enjoy these fics! <33

[karamazovposting]

On Ivan and bipolar disorder (part one)

I've never seen anyone talk about this and it doesn't surprise me considering most people don't really know what bipolar disorder actually is (the stereotypes are all wrong and good representation in media is rare, sigh) and while I'm not saying my interpretation is the only correct one as I'm a firm believer that anyone can see whatever they want in art and that's a beautiful thing, in my opinion there are enough things about Ivan's behaviour and character that make my bipolar Ivan Karamazov agenda worthy of being pushed a little.

This first part will be more of an introduction where I'll just talk, in general, about what I picked up on in the first half of the novel and then in the next parts (I don't know how many there'll be yet, there's a lot of stuff to say) I'll get more specific by going over Ivan's inner world and the more significant events that made me think yeah this young man definitely needs some lithium.

Let's start with this: I know every Dostoevsky character is fucked up in their own way, that's pretty much his thing, but there is a difference between being a little fucked up and being actually mentally ill. There's just something about Ivan that made something in my brain click and go bipolar, which has never really happened before.

Do I think Dostoevsky deliberately chose to make Ivan so bipolar coded? Considering at the time there was barely a name for this disorder (which isn't even the same name we use today), let alone an actual diagnosis, no. But as someone who is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I think his character makes a lot more sense if we see him as suffering from it. I even talked about this to my therapist who has read the book and he sees my vision too (lmao).

The thing that I'm sure jumps to someone's mind when it comes to Ivan and the topic of mental illness is the psychotic episode he goes through after Fyodor's murder, and while it kind of sustains my thesis on its own already, I thought he was bipolar coded way before that, because in my opinion there are a lot of subtle signs and behaviours that are kind of like little puzzle pieces that need to be put together to get to see the bigger picture, as bipolar disorder is not just the episodes someone goes through but also the impact those episodes have on them. It's a disorder that shapes the person, their brain chemistry and patterns and therefore their life in an irreversible way.

What initially struck me was how angry Ivan actually is. We don't really see it at first solely because we don't really see much of him in general, but I think that after he pushes Maksimov off the carriage without saying a word or explaining himself to his father we open some sort of Pandora's box. After that, almost every time he appears in the first half of the novel, he's angry. At the top of my head I can only think of two instances where he's not: when talking to Katerina before leaving for Moscow, which is also the first time we see him show an emotion other than anger (and it only took him, what? More than 300 pages? Yeah, relatable), and when he's at lunch with Alyosha shortly after. Other than that, he's always angry, and it's so visceral that I couldn't help but think that he feels that particular kind of deep rage only someone with bipolar disorder is capable of feeling (I personally nicknamed bipolar disorder the always fucking angry disorder). The way he's so deeply and irrationally angry that he feels himself shake and has to collect himself in order to not beat up Smerdyakov? The way he can't let it go and engages in conversation with him even though he himself doesn't even know why he's feeling or doing any of that? The way he treats his father? That's undiagnosed/untreated behaviour, I've been there. It may feel weird or even absurd if you're not familiar with this disorder, but there's a reason why the term bipolar rage is a thing: it is indeed on another level. It also seems like the only emotion he's comfortable with showing is anger and that's why it seems to be his only emotional outlet, as he didn't seem that eager to open up in front of Katerina and even when alone with his own brother you can feel some sort of awkwardness coming from him. I'll go into the specifics of that particular interaction with Alyosha in the future, but I think that after that Ivan's, very emotion-centered, character arc officially starts to develop as his relationship with his own feelings finally and slowly starts to change and becomes a tool to get him closer to the other characters. It's obviously not linear and I really like that, it feels very realistic.

Anyway, at first I thought I was just projecting, lots of people have anger issues and showing one symptom of something doesn't mean you have it, diagnostic criterias exist for a reason. The thing is, the more I read the more I noticed that not only Ivan happens to meet a lot of them, but he also shows some behaviors and has some personality traits that can easily be interpreted as bipolar coded (as I said a few paragraphs ago): his complex and peculiar type of loneliness, the emotional outbursts, his own perception of himself compared to how the other characters speak of him, his traumatic childhood, his attitude towards life (and death), the reasons behind his relationship with God and religion, his curated persona, the fact that no one seems to understand him. Not to mention he's described as having experienced depression and anguish multiple times in the past, and in a particular occasion in the novel not even knowing why (this one point in particular is very important as it connects to his attitude towards life and death, which is the most bipolar coded thing about him to me). All things I'll go over with more detail in the future when I'll get to his inner world.

For now I'll say that the main thing about bipolar disorder is that it fucks up one's emotions a lot, causing "inappropriate" or "abnormal" (for a lack of better terms) and exaggerated emotional responses and reactions in the people who have it (which usually manifest as the epic highs and lows the average person has at least heard of, but it can and does get more complicated than that) and I genuinely don't think Ivan reacts normally to anything, ever; the most noticeable thing to me is that his default reaction to anything, no matter what it is, is laughter. We also see him get extremely anxious to the point of being physically unwell and spiral a little after Smerdyakov and Fyodor tell him to go to Cermašnja due to what the former told him, which made me go damn, no one died yet and he's already paranoid?. His emotional regulation is a mess and he's so real (and bipolar) for that.

Another quite important thing about bipolar disorder is that it makes every emotion more intense to the point of confusion and being all over the place, which causes a person with bipolar disorder's emotional responses and reactions to be the way they are. Now, I'm not proclaiming myself as the one and only True Ivan Karamazov Understander, but I do think people tend to focus too much on his façade of coldness and on the darker side of his story, causing them to forget about how actually fun, passionate and almost childish he is at times. Ivan feels, and he feels deeply, and it isn't fair to overlook that just because he rarely shows it. Extreme rationality and collectedness can often also be a way to try to gain control over your symptoms (I'm guilty of that). We get to see some of his less collected emotionality in how dramatic he gets (like a true Karamazov) when reciting poetry in German to Katerina and in The brothers get acquainted, Rebellion and The Grand Inquisitor, as I already mentioned. At this point of the novel, something in particular happens and at this point in the novel I decide that yes, Ivan is bipolar coded.

I think I'll stop here at this sort of "cliffhanger" because this got quite long and I need one post only to elaborate that last paragraph. This isn't as coherent as I hoped it would be and, honestly, I kind of feel stupid, like I read too much into this and am seeing things that aren't there (how familiar, how fitting), but I wanted to share my perspective (and I'm also open to discussion!). Also, I won't lie, Ivan is my favorite character of The Brothers Karamazov and I don't think he's talked about enough, I've even seen people say he's the least interesting one out of the brothers which kind of broke my heart because I personally think he's the most interesting (no shade to the uninteresting Ivan gang of course). I don't know if I feel like that towards him because for the first time ever I got to see myself in a character and it was very important to me, but I don't think it really matters, "meeting" him made me happy and he will always be special to me, even if his story has its fair share of tragedy. Or maybe because of it. I'm planning on making a post about that and his ending in particular, but for now I'll focus on finishing this bipolar Ivan Karamazov essay.

No idea when I'll write the rest though, but I will.

[kiwiana-writes]

How do you find time to write so much? I want to write but when i have time it feels like nothing happens. I know taking part in fandom isnt required but i do love it and no matter how many people tell me that turning up with one fic every few months is ok i want to do more than that. So help me, mj-wan, youre my only hope. How do you make your writing muse play fair?

Unfortunately, my personal answer to this question is a combination of chronic insomnia, ADHD hyperfocus, and unemployment lmao. I can't say I recommend the first two, and the third involves having a spouse that both has a really good job and is also super fucking chill, so YMMV. HOWEVER, I do think that unfortunately there's a lot to be said for habit-building; I have entire fics that have been written one "Oh god it's Wednesday/Sunday and I have no snippets to share, I'll just add 300 words to this doc" at a time. For my original novel I'm definitely taking the 'minimum wordcount per day, if I hate it that's a problem for editing but just get something on the page' approach and I don't know if it would work for ME for fic but it might be something that would work for you!

Also I absolutely one THOUSAND percent recommend finding a hype person or two to just fucking... scream at you about whatever you're writing. It is -- at least for me -- incredibly motivating to wake up to a series of keysmashes/emojis/WHERE IS THE RESTs from my friends when I'm losing steam or generally feeling like finishing something is too hard.

Also also! I think there's been this real push towards long-ass fics recently and I am here to tell you officially that bite-sized fics are ALSO FUCKING DELICIOUS. Obviously fics will be as long as the story needs them to be but for example setting the 1889 word limit on the speakeasy bartender Henry fic gave me a LOT of mental freedom to just... skate over stuff and trust that my readers are smart enough to fill in the blanks. I thrive on a challenge, so if you do too, set yourself one! The fic must be exactly 1000 words, or exactly 666 words, or every paragraph must start with a letter of RED WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE, or... whatever makes it fun for you. Fanfiction is supposed to be FUN FOR YOU and other people are being given the opportunity to read your stuff!

(Personally, I'm fucking delighted by the 'turns up with an absolute banger once every few months and then disappears again' authors, but I absolutely hear that that's not what you WANT to be, which is so beyond fair.)

[sumikatt]

frankly, i think your point about "some people train their own AI art models" is inherently flawed because rhe vast majority of people are not training their own model. they are paying for a service which was trained on art that was taken from the internet and used without permission in order for a machine to try snd recreate something similar bit by bit. i havent gotten a commission from someone who isnt a friend of mine in well over a year because people are just choosing to generate art with AI. i dont think AI art isnt "real" art because yeah, i agree with you, the whole idea of real art or not is complex. however, it is an undeniable reality that AI is trained on the work of artists all over the world who do not even get asked for permission before a tech company makes money off of their hard work.

I agree it’s a small, small portion of people making their own models that ensure that all art involved is used with consent. Many people buy a subscription or credits to generate what they want. Most people probably use free credits on Discord to make a meme or anime girls. Many people use it many different ways, yes.

I’m sorry you’ve lost a client over it. I know commissions are hard. Freelancers without dedicated clients would be the ones to suffer most from the popularity of AI art. I can’t say I’ve felt the impact myself, since it’s also very popular to be anti-AI.

Actively searching through job boards, I also feel like it has barely affected those listings. Maybe one of like 300 art jobs in the USA/Sweden asked for AI experience (Prompt Artist), and it was an AI startup. The “normal” art jobs like UI/UX, Environments, Materials, Concept, Technical, Animator, etc all still asking for 3 years experience for entry level lmao. Saw an intern position that required an “industry-standard” portfolio. So still a pain as it was before advanced AI gen.

Many paid AI art services have takedown options for their training sets and can block names from being prompted. If you were a popular enough artist to be in a training set, you can remove it and block the majority of AI art users from copying you—like you said, a majority of people use these services instead of self-hosting.

(Sending DMCA takedown requests are actually pretty easy. I had to send one to an old teacher who reposted my art and a bunch of classmates’ art on her ArtStation. that was funny lol)

I’m not sure how I felt when I went to search up my art on haveibeentrained. Because I’m a nerd, I’d preemptively blocked scrapers on my portfolio, so nothing was there when I looked. Searched up my legal name, my old Twitter (which had some popular pieces), my old DeviantArt usernames. Nothing there, either. I was probably pruned from the set for being low-quality. Kinda funny, I thought I’d be good enough to include at least once. Maybe next time.

.safetensors / .ckpt files (which are the models Stable Diffusion runs) have no image data in them, by the way. It is all math and numbers in there. There is no way of telling what was included in the training set, unless the dev(s) that made the model release it publicly. The models themselves are usually around 3–6 GB, though there’s larger ones and mini ones.

Like my own silly brain, there’s no way of tracking down the exact art pieces the software was referencing off of when it generates something. Am I making money off of another artist’s hard work when I remember how to draw heads from a Proko video? Am I ripping off photographers when I recall their pictures when drawing my characters? I’m not a tech company, but I still make money off of the things I copy and filter through my mind and hand.

I’m rambling at this point, sorry. Of course, the core issue is capitalism. How different would people see this medium if money were not an issue? How futuristic, how exciting it is to visualize something from words alone. It’s that art machine I’d always wanted as a kid, where I think of something and it pops out on the page finished.

I think it is worth to uplift those who use the medium as ethically as they can, as @are-we-art-yet is doing—having a do-not-use artist list, avoiding corporations, don’t try to undercut traditional artists. Like with any medium, there’s a variety of artists. Some are nice and do their best to have a good impact, some don’t care at all about the ethics of their art.

I’m still pretty firmly a “traditional” artist. I won’t stop drawing or give up because of AI. I play with AI on my own hardware and power for fun and for getting ideas (is that stealing?). It’s mostly replaced scrolling through Pinterest for me, but I still save people’s art and photos that I like in my computer, so I can look at em later, maybe get inspired. And steal like an artist, I guess.

[foiazoli]

The actual day seven post but presented on day eight! So I finished both The Killing Moon and The Shadowed Sun in N. K. Jemisin’s Dreamblood duology. FANTASTIC books, I already knew I liked Jemisin but after reading a book I couldn’t get into I blew through these pretty damn fast.

I'm not exactly sure where on the high/low fantasy scale these books lie, but I did really enjoy the magic system. It was taking the idea the ancient Egyptians had of the connection between healing and dreaming, and also their fascination with death. When people try to do "culture reveres death and values it highly in their religious system" you tend to just get murder-cult that wouldn't survive 2 generations irl, but this one seemed a lot more plausible than that.

I also really enjoyed the strange relationships happening, I can't say I've ever seen 40/16 mentor/apprentice father/son almost lovers pulled off in a way that doesn't make me want to hurl before, but it... works? here. I think its the fact that they go to ALMOST lovers, and not actually doing anything that keeps it on just this side of acceptable. But socially acceptable or not, it's incredibly compelling. The second book has this enemies-to-lovers hostage-and-captor thing happening, which also ends up being really compelling despite not typically being my thing either. Jemisin just makes you give a damn about her characters, and they way they grow and change their minds about religion/society and their place in it/politics/the people around them is so natural and subtle you don't consciously notice it happening until you're 300 pages in and you can barely recognize the character as who they started as, but they had a perfectly logical and reasonable path to getting there.

And my favorite thing in a story - every single character is competent. There is no plot advancing because Jerry is a bumbling idiot and left the secret key the heroes need to save the princess out in the open, it's just pure skill and planning and training against equal levels of skill and planning and training. Of course we're not rescuing a princess, we're deciding which city-state gets the better trade deals with the rest of the continent, but the medium-high stakes are at the perfect level - not so high as to be comical and ridiculous, and not so low as to be uninteresting and irrelevant.

I've also read N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy and they're fucking phenomenal, highly recommend to any high fantasy enjoyers. I'm gonna be sure to read the rest of her work after this, it suits my tastes perfectly.

As for day 8 of my personal challenge... I gave up lmao. Migraine, travel, exhaustion relating to dealing with family members, I was done trying to force the remains of my brain to focus. Seven books in Seven days is Good Enough For Me at this point in my life, and I rest assured that my childhood reading speed mostly remains. As a recap, here's how much I read this week -

The First Sister by Linden Lewis: 344 pages; word count unavailable

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie: 384 pages; 120,432 words

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson: 365 pages; 122,199 Words

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: 334 pages; 85,514 Words

Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa: 446 pages; 170,040 Words

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin: 404 pages; 133,536 Words

The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin: 492 pages; 159,120 Words

for a grand total of 2769 pages and 790,841 words + an estimated 118,000 for The First Sister puts me at 908,841 words this week. Damn! Maybe I'll shoot for a million words in a week sometime.

[coldshrugs]

💕

thank you rinny!!! of course we have more estinio :>

💕 kissing somewhere other than lips || 300 words || uhhhh this one is kinda spicy but it's a hard fade-to-black lmao

Io sighs in his arms, a contented little sound as she turns another page, devouring some fantastical heroic myth. Estinien has given up on keeping pace; Io is truly engrossed when she forgets to ask if he’s finished reading too, and admittedly, he doesn’t mind watching her get pulled in like this. He’ll ask for a summary later.

Her back is warm against his chest, and his chin rests on her shoulder. She chuckles quietly at whatever her faux hero is getting up to, and the sound lights something in his chest. Her sigh, her laugh, and now the thought of other sounds slipping past her lips…

Thought becomes action before he can help himself. His lips meet her shoulder, and her skin gives softly beneath his kiss. 

Io’s sharp inhale, the tremor of surprise that runs across her skin, the way she melts into him after–he feels all of this on his tongue. His mouth moves to the side of her neck, and there’s the quiet moan she undoubtedly tried, and failed, to cage. Her head rolls back against his shoulder. He pulls her closer to him, if it’s possible, his hands on her belly and thigh.

“What are you doing?”

He doesn’t lift his lips from her skin. “Distracting you. Is it not obvious?”

“Hm, I think you could stand to be a touch more direct,” she laughs again, throaty and breathless, and it sends the spark of his sudden desire lower. He tugs the book from her hands and tosses it to the floor.

“Direct touch, eh?” His hands begin to roam, teasing under the loose shirt she wears, skimming over her covered inner thigh and up to her belt. Her hands rest on his legs on either side of her, fingers tensing in anticipation. “I can oblige.”

[lisanamjoon]

so much has happened and i still have 300 pages left… 🤯 i’ve already noticed little things here and there that touches on why katniss makes snow feel infuriated lmao idk if “infuriated” is quite the right word but y’all get what i mean

[thatpunkmaximoff]

[Book 4 of 4]

Story: 5 out of 5 Smut: 4 out of 5

I really thought this book was going to be my least liked, but oh my god did it prove me wrong!

It's a bit slow in the beginning, picked up a little after 300 pages, and made me fall absolutely in love. Not only did Stella become my favorite girl of the series, but Christian is warring with Rhys for that number one spot too.

This book has the perfect balance of mystery, romance, and angst. It kept me guessing up until the last few chapters and even solved the mystery of that ugly painting from book one lol.

Now enjoy my ramblings..

* Oohhhh. I love a good mystery. Who’s the stalker?

* Christian fucking with Dante and his fiancée is funny. He really is a possessive asshole.

* Christian shutting up Raya and Adam made me so happy. Take that middle school bs outta here.

* Brady suggesting Stella date someone for her blog.. I’m just imagining Christian’s reaction 😂 This won’t end well.

* It didn’t take Christian long to swoop in, huh? Lol.

* “I don’t believe in love.” — Famous last words, Christian.

* Oohhh. Pretty dress you got her, Harper.

* And social media knows Stella is “dating”. Let the shitshow begin.

* What is up with this turquoise ring?

* How fucked up would it be if Christian was Stella’s stalker? 😂

* Well at least she told her friends the truth.

* Lol at Rhys and Alex grilling Christian about Stella. I didn’t even know Alex and Christian knew each other.

* Goddamn. The stalker got close enough to slip a note in her purse?

* Awww. Christian helped her out of her panic attack 🥰

* Okay so I hate Stella’s family.

* Fuck the unicorn. I wanna cuddle Mr. Harper!

* Okay. The tension is THICK between these two at the art exhibit. Holy shit.

* Fuck. The stalker got into her apartment 😨

* Aww. Christian is so fucked. She’s sleeping in his bed 😂

* Damn. Christian is cold the morning after. Take that stick out of your ass, dude.

* Almost kiss.. oh my god! Just bang it out already!!

* Holy shit.. Stella’s fantasy 👀

* Awwww. Look at Christian and his heart of good saving the photoshoot 🥰

* He blew up a car 😂

* Christian keeps blue-balling himself. I don’t know whether to be proud of him or annoyed.

* Lol at the boys all teasing Christian over catching feelings 🤣

* Wait, wait, wait.. do Christian and Stella have a past that she doesn’t remember?! I’m so lost lmao.

* That family dinner was fucked from the beginning lmao. I’m so happy Stella stood up to her family. I had just hoped Christian would tell the sister shit for stirring the pot.

* Damn. Who is hacking into Christian’s systems? He’s gonna murder someone 😂

* ..and we have our first finger banging encounter. It only took 300+ pages 🤦🏻‍♀️

* STELLA!! — “I didn’t want soft kisses and gentle caresses. I wanted skin and blood. I wanted nails scratching down his back and bruises on my hips.” — Yes ma’am. Get it!

* Oh Stella. You’re my new favorite girl lmao.

* Way to go, Christian. Way to bring me down after that excellent scene. Just what lies are you telling, mister?

* Holy shit! He shot him 😂

* Fuck. This stalker is getting bold. Sending Christian threats? Wrong move, my dude.

* Awww. Christian’s in love with Stella 🥰 Now fess up, buddy! What secrets are you hiding?

* She told him she loved him and he implied it back 😩

* So that’s the story of the ring..

* “If she brought me to life with three words- I love you- she slayed me with an equal number. Don’t touch me.” — and my heart is broken. Ugh.

* HE FUCKING SAID THE WORDS 😭😭😭 I hate this book 💔

* Lol I love the guys teasing the fuck out of Christian.

* “You’ll always be my first, last, and only love.”

* WHO FUCKING KIDNAPPED HER?!

* So the traitor is Kage. What a dick. Now go find your girl, Christian. And figure out who the stalker is!

* Julian’s the stalker?! Wtf.

* He found her 😭

* So THAT’S the story behind that awful painting that keeps being brought up.

* Christian eats pussy like a champ 😂

* Wtf happened with the banana float 🤣

* He proposed! Oh my god, he proposed!

* They’re all sappy, married/engaged men and I love it.

* And now Stella is pregnant 😭

* They had a daughter! Oh how I wish I could have seen Rhys teasing the fuck out of him. Perfect fucking ending.

* I miss this group already.

[valaxes]

Masterpost of Valyrian Grammar

A breakdown of basic Valyrian grammar for learners and for those who use translators

So basically I’m starting this as it’s super obvious when people use translators and I thought I’d share a few things that can make it less openly jarring; it’s also useful for people who want to learn the whole language and want more explanations/examples than Duolingo and the wiki offer.

Some general information:

-you don’t need to know the vocab, just refer back to the vocab list if you get lost;

-if you know about grammatical terms that will help but it is not necessary, I’d advise you rely more heavily on understanding the similarities and differences between the examples than the explanations;

-anything in [square brackets] is there as background info and not necessary — if it confuses you just move and if still confused at the end ask a question;

-I am no expert so corrections are always most welcome;

-I make references to other languages at times—I speak some of these and others I know academically; if I include or don’t include any might fit the reference criteria that it is not making a political statement nor is it disavowing any languages; (I only speak Indo-European languages, primarily using English, Russian, and German as reference points, less commonly Italian, Latin, and French)

-I can only include so much in any one post+I’m doing a full-time degree and working part-time on top of that, so if you want specific topics please ask but I may take some time; I put more effort into my hobby writing than I do nursing my linguistics addiction lol;

-I support the Oxford comma. No discourse on this + I may not respond to people who don’t include it (jk but also not lmao).

This is my first ever Tumblr page idk how any of this works but I’ve been reliably informed that there’s lots of GoT/HotD love over here, so here we come hehe and help on tags is *much* appreciated xxxx

This blog generally will focus on HotD as there's a lot more dialogue examples there and I hope that it will mainly help fellow Daemyra Lucemond fanatics/authors. I also might write small pieces in High Valyrain (very small aka 300< words!) just to practice my own stuff. English translations will be provided ofc x

First post will be a few basic bits and bobs to start us off! I’ll add a guide and links once I’ve got a few posts up.

[writeouswriter]

Say, for instance, you accidentally closed all 300 tabs on your device. If you could only save three (3) of those tabs, what would they be?

A wikipedia article on termites? A sonic x Gordon Ramsey fanfic? A wikihow to make others think you are a vampire? Choose wisely.

Yes, for instance, hypothetically if I were to do that *sobs.*

What a cool question. Also those are the most fascinating example options you could have given and very specific to the point I feel like you have these tabs open 😆. I love those examples, how can I ever beat those.

Side tangent fun fact about me: in elementary school, I was the dork who’d wear fake fangs at recess and did convince several classmates I was a vampire. My friends now also think I’m a vampire because of my horrid sleeping patterns, pale skin and aversion to many foods. So I’ve got that down pat, no tab left open needed.

The thing with my many many lost tabs is most of them were fanfics I’d been planning on getting to, some of which were on old sites or some of which I went to ridiculous search lengths to find, and others were important tabs or reminders or writing research or occasional guitar TABs I kept open because if I didn’t, their very existence would slip from my memory forever... and uh well they kind of did immediately slip from my memory...

Not one of my 3 choices, but one particular (totally super duper important) bookmark I remember I had, though, was just a link to this song remix of the prime minister saying the words speaking moistly in 2020, lmao: X

Also pretty sure Shrek remade was there. But again I mostly lament the fanfics and research notes I won’t remember 😭

As for my choice of 3 tabs I’d save, they’re not the most exciting from the top of my head in comparison. I know the one I immediately reopened before anything else was this Pacific Rim fanfiction: From Out the Ocean Risen by Bluestar , but it thankfully was in my ao3 bookmarks, unlike others, so not lost forever to the void. (God, it’s gorgeously written.)

Oh, oh my god, I wouldn’t have even remembered it if not for this ask but my second choice would be this one page I found that told me how to copy/package a lot into the bin in Sims 2 even if there are already sims living in it. Oh my god, I need to go find this again immediately. I forgot it completely 😭 you’ve saved this information from oblivion for me.

Man, this is difficult because I don’t even know the half of the information and bookmarks I lost. That’s why they were open or bookmarked 😭

3rd one maybe my favourite 1990 something X-Files fic? But since it was a favourite, I do remember its name so it wasn’t really an unrecoverable loss like some tabs 🤔

I definitely wish I could save some of the fics I lost for a specific somewhat embarrassing fandom I shall not name, though. Mind blanking on any of them.

I’m curious, what would you save?? (Unless your amazing examples were your choices XD)

[ghoul-haunted]

oh I just realized. the thing that fixes this whole scene is to simply swap the ordering of the original words around. lmao. however I never would have realized this if I had not devoured 300 extremely delicious pages of analysis that points out in its conclusion that the obscuring and reinvention of john is primarily a result of christian supersessionism (the bane of my fucking existence). like, I was definitely there for the chapter on herod antipas, but the rest of it was fun too

[izzyspussy]

[image description: part of a bullet journal page. there are four small squares with rounded corners in shades of pink and red. inside each small square is an icon drawn in silver: a play symbol, a scene board, an open book, and a writing quill. next to each square are written things that correspond to the icons in colors that correspond with the square. end ID]

Media I loved Last Week + Progress Report

I forgot to post this yesterday, but unlike the other times I don't post this it was not because I didn't have it prepared but rather simply because I forgot I hadn't already done it.

My favorite thing I listened to last week is inferno by ELIO. I really like the sound and the lyrics, but I docked it a point because it's only a minute long.

My favorite thing I watched last week is Game Changer on DROPOUT. They had a Bachelor episode with Grant O'Brien as the Bachelor, and I want him carnally so that was right up my alley. 9/10 only because the show overall has some misses for me.

My favorite thing I read last week is the Blood Sugar Sex Magic series by trinityofone on AO3. It's a blackhannet series with some funky fantasy elements thrown in, namely the use of potions to alter Izzy's body for sex fun. My favorite part honestly is just the characterization of Stede. That man loves power and that's that on that. It says 10/10 on my sheet up there, but it's really more like a 9.5/10 just because some of the fics are not really my kink. I did read them tho lmao.

I wrote 2391 words total last week. The majority of those were to finish One Feeling Only, which I did in time for the deadline including a revision. So I'm pretty proud of that. 300 words went to finishing the mixen commission, now titled the thing that gets attached. No progress on Curse The Messenger last week, but overall I'm satisfied with this.