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gard3nias · 5 months ago

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12| The butterfly, the cricket and the wing-man

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wc: 4.49k

date: 31/08/2024

mdi // masterlist // playlist

—Now playing: Wild at heart by Lana Del Rey ✫

The dancing queens didn't stop dancing: they eventually listened to every ABBA vinyl record the bright curly-headed dancing queen owned on her shelf because her wavy-haired bibliophile dancing queen of a friend couldn’t help herself—but she was helping the bright curly-headed dancing queen without even knowing.

Ultimately, the latter’s father went back to his workshop. Hopped, to be exact.

At the same time, the bus drove past their neighbourhood, heading for its terminal. It was a matter of time before it passed a big grey gate, turning left to its last stop.

Behind the tall metal gate was a stone path leading to a light-brown house in the centre of a big plot. Its owners often aren’t around, at least not as much as their child, their only heir who was now there with her friends. They were shared across the house, apparently according to their genders but, really, they were working. Yeah, while the dancing queens were going at it in the bright curly-headed one’s living room and had recently dismissed a study hangout, the heir and her friends were working, preparing for the upcoming weeks of the campaign.

—Now playing: Friends by BTS ✫

Adrielle and Avyanna moved rooms, from the kitchen to the living room, giving the chef space to prepare dinner. The two senior high school students were working on the cheerleading team they wanted to create for the school’s basketball team. They were as busy as their guy friends completing their tasks a few meters away in the study room on the main floor. Unlike the girls, they were a lot more unserious especially because among them was Jungkook who decided to take on the role of the comedian of the group causing his friends to laugh nonstop.

Their task was to create the flyers so now they were browsing the internet, looking for inspiration and judging the ones they didn’t find fit or appealing. If Adrielle were to be there with them, she would’ve regretted even mentally objecting to Jungkook’s statement about not wanting to participate in what he considered the ‘boring’ part of this operation because indeed he wasn’t fit for it.

Jimin was at the computer, Taehyung had scribbled a little nothing on a piece of paper while Jungkook was slightly bent over between the two, leaning on the back of Jimin’s chair.

—Now playing: Boys with fun by BTS ✫

“Gosh! This has the potential of being an ad for condoms!” he exclaimed, pointing at the screen while Taehyung leaned closer and Jimin scrunched his face. “What the fuck? How so?”

”Like… look at the decorations. They are so disgusting they make you hate babies and therefore having them as well,” he causally explained, causing Jimin’s face to scrunch even more and Taehyung to simply laugh, expressing his confusion differently.

��It literally has the look of the aftermath of a baby swallowing a unicorn and having terrible indigestion only to throw up rainbows and shit glittery cupcakes,” he explained even further, pointing at the screen as he did so.

“What the fuck?” Taehyung wholeheartedly laughed, “You have a very creative mind up there, Jungkook”

“Please, Kook. Shut up. We’re supposed to be printing the flyers out by now—” Jimin firmly spoke after failing to derive some sense from all that.

“Woah, woah, woah, woah. Hold on there. I thought they told us to look for templates, not fully take over the creation. Or did we suddenly forget that we’re working with Adrielle, Adrielle Hawthorne? The Adrielle Hawthorne and not some buggy doppelganger?”

“Jungkook, oh my, God. They are just flyers, it’s not that serious—”

“Fuck yes, it is. Y’all forgot who I’m talking about? We’ve worked with her on various school projects, simple school projects, and she can be not just a stick in the fucking ass but a full plank. In fact, this girl sets your whole ass on fire. Fucking fireworks out of your asshole. New Year's night typa shit.” His friends couldn’t help but laugh at his hilarious and dramatic description of their friend.

“Showing her the ideas is going to let you sleep well at night?”

“Hell yeah. Imagine going to bed only to dream about having your ass on fire, fireworks in your asshole that pop with every fucking little detail that gives Adrielle the ick. Ooh, fuck. I’m already getting goosebumps—”

“Oh shut up. Let’s look for the templates then. Can’t have you knocking on my bedroom door at night asking to share the bed because you had nightmares,” they laughed and changed focus to browse the internet further, looking for the right templates but even then, Jungkook couldn’t keep quiet or stay focused. “You know… originally, I had never signed up for this—”

“And originally, I thought speaking was just a right and not a fucking duty so shut the fuck up,” Jimin spoke, keeping his eyes on the screen as he typed away at the computer.

“Jeez! What has you behaving like this? When was the last time you let loose and fucked? Or do you miss making out with your pizza dough? —”

“Oh, my God, Jungkook!” Taehyung was back to laughing loudly while Jimin simply rolled his eyes and did nothing to suppress the smile on his face.

“What? Did I lie? He probably hasn’t fucked a girl in so long so is starting to sound like one, Adrielle to be precise—”

“Hey, man. I’m not like you. I’m not interested in Adrielle,”

“Never said you were—”

“But the way you said it makes it easy to make the connection,”

“There he goes again, interrupting my speech—”

“Your speech?!” Jungkook pointed at Jimin as he looked at Taehyung because his point had just been proven, “You’re barely making any coherent sense so what speech are you talking about!—”

“You know? That party I wanted to host at mine? Jimin you’re so invited. In fact, you’re the first one on my guest list and I’ll underline your name in red as in ‘in great and urgent need of pussy’—” Taehyung’s loud laugh broke through the room as Jimin hit back with: “I’m always invited to your parties regardless—”

“Yeah, but this one is urgent. The last time you were turned on was maybe this morning after watching food porn—” Jungkook had to complete his sentence so he could dodge Jimin’s punch on the shoulder as they both laughed. Taehyung, on the other hand, had stopped laughing loudly and was now squirming as he silently laughed in his chair.

“You know? Don’t ever come to me looking for food. I’ll fucking starve you,” Jimin jokingly warned before sitting back down, “And why do think I need pussy?”

“Because pussy is awesome. Literally, pussy equals a great time, so yeah, you’re in dire need of it ‘cause you sound like an old man who��s working in a factory all his life.” Jimin simply facepalmed himself while taehyung was doing breathing exercises because he’s been laughing for too long and his abs seemed to be permanently and painfully contracted.

“Okay, okay, but, jokes aside, y’all are with me in the party thingy, right?” and his friends agreed, unaware that this party wasn’t just a way for Jungkook to get drunk, high on cigarettes or on sex. Jungkook wanted to hook his friend up with the special girl who’d been clouding his mind and have the two of them enclosed in a space even smaller than their school so they could meet and possibly talk.

“When will it be? Have you decided yet?” Taehyung continued, turning around to face who he’d just spoken to. “During the campaign weeks. I don’t know exactly when but probably this Friday or next. Which one would be better?”

“Do however you wish. You have exactly a month,” Jimin reassured, fingers typing away on the keyboard.

Jungkook didn’t want to rush it. The party wouldn’t be all about drinks, music and one-night stands. He needed it to be good enough to buy votes but also give enough space for Taehyung to shoot his shot. He’d have to help both Adrielle and Taehyung get what they want. Adrielle, the position and Taehyung, a chat with his crush.

“So, I changed my mind and I think I’ll be inviting only students over sixteen. Wouldn’t want to claim responsibility for irresponsible fourteen-year-olds, you know. And second, I have my age limit when it comes to hooking up, so…” he winked, gaining a disgusted look from Jimin who snapped his head back to look at him.

“Don’t lie to yourself because the last thing a drunken Jungkook is going to remember at a party is asking the age of the girl he’s about to fuck—”

“Oh, great heavens. Why do y’all keep painting me as this disgusting predator or something?”

“I never said that you are but I know for sure that if you find interest in someone, be them ten years older than you or not, you wouldn’t know. Would never know,” and Taehyung chuckled, agreeing with Jimin and watching the baffled expression on Jungkook’s face.

“All the parties I go to have people around my age and I’ve never gone above and hooked up with someone younger than me with more than two years. Like… I’m trying to have a good time, not a tutoring session!” he exclaimed, getting a bit frustrated. “I’m not a disgusting type of person—”

“Yeah, I mean… at the end of the day, you always hook up with the same girls, so yeah, I get where you’re coming from,” Taehyung butted in. “The town’s small,” Jungkook simply shrugged his shoulders.

“Man whore!” Taehyung jokingly mocked before taking off and running out of the room with Jungkook sprinting right behind him, screaming: “Just because you don’t blab about your hook-ups as much as I do doesn’t mean you’re any different!”

The screams took the girls by surprise as they turned around to look at the commotion but soon went back to work, paying them no attention.

“Will he ever stop talking about sex? It’s like he’s always in heat, jeez,” Adrielle mumbled to herself and her friend who simply rolled her eyes.

“So… I could lead the team because I’m good at gymnastics and just dancing in general, so that’s covered,” Avyanna said, going back to what they were doing and looking at what Adrielle was writing on her blue ring binder.

“Yeah. That would be perfect. How would you be doing the auditions?”

“Ooh. Oh, my God. I don’t know right now. I’d have to watch a few teenage movies before I can answer that,” she seriously replied but Adrielle chuckled and reassured her that she had three weeks to come up with everything.

“How will you be going about the garden with Nana?”

“I haven’t shown her my plan yet. I will tomorrow and, according to what she says, we proceed,” Avyanna nodded before her serious demeanour vanished for a split second as Jungkook and Taehyung ran all the way back to the living room. Precisely Taehyung jumped across the coffee table and was now at one end of the sofa while Jungkook was on the other.

“When will y’all be serious for once?” Adrielle sighed, looking at her childish friends.

“He’s trying to tickle me to death—”

“And he called me a man whore,” Jungkook replied back, eyes transfixed on the friend he wanted to catch.

“I mean, is he wrong?” Avyanna replied, turning a bit on her left to look at Jungkook whose eyes finally changed focus. “What? Why?”

“You only talk about sex… or parties which implies you’ll be getting laid eventually,” she explained. In the meantime, Taehyung was mentally thanking her for distracting him and giving him space and time to make his final escape.

“And so what?”

“That’s what a manwhore is.”

“I be bagging them girls because of this pretty face and my charming ways, baby. Not my fault. It’s in my nature,” he boasted, smirking at Avyanna as she rolled her eyes and Adrielle mumbled: “Humble much” to herself.

“Why are y’all suddenly behaving like I’m this big bad guy that mocks everyone?—”

“You literally said I jerk off to food porn a few minutes ago!” Jimin exclaimed as he got out of the office.

“What?!”

“You did?!” the girls laughed while Jungkook proudly agreed, claiming the title.

“Okay, that was a good one—”

“Good what? Avyanna!” Jimin exclaimed.

“Get your ass back here!” Jungkook yelled as he saw Taehyung running at the speed of light right behind Jimin. In the meantime, Adrielle was still laughing her ass out at Jungkook’s joke.

“Adrielle, fuck you like… seriously… fuck you so bad—”

“I’m sorry…” she apologised laughing now both at the joke and Jimin’s facial expression.

“Keep your apologies to yourself!” he dramatically pouted and feigned crying as he left the room and went back to the office. Not without screaming, hoping that Taehyung and Jungkook would come back so they could finish the work.

The girls simply went back to what they were doing.

—Now playing: Telepathy by BTS ✫

So… in the end, Taehyung and Jimin do not function when Jungkook is around—honestly, nobody does—so Adrielle had to join in because dinner time was inching closer and closer and the boys were nowhere close to finishing—they hadn’t finished the flyers yet. And this wasn’t good news to Adrielle who was already feeling the competition from the other running teams.

Avyanna had just finished setting up their instagram profile with a nice colour theme and a nicely-made logo which would end up on their final presentation. The only thing missing were the pictures of every member of the team with their specified role in the group.

“So, how would we go about for the pictures and when shall I upload them?” she asked, poking her head into the office to meet the backs of her friends and Jungkook spread out on a chair, typing away on his phone.

“I’m making a list for my party. Don’t say I’m playing around,” he immediately explained, looking at her for a split second before going back to the device. Avyanna just rolled her eyes, not giving a single fuck about what he said or what he was doing at all.

“Oh, Avyanna. Erm, I don’t really know,” Adrielle was still back-facing her friend as she responded, too busy on the computer.

“I’ll never understand how you know how to use Canva so well. Like… what the fuck?” Jimin admired the work on the computer, looking at Adrielle like a kid looking at a magician.

“It’s Adrielle, Jimin. She’s good at everything basically,” Avyanna simply replied, moving closer to the group. Taehyung was sitting next to Adrielle with his chin resting on his hands and eyes transfixed on every little detail his friend worked on.

“Look at you all silent. You could help us with the pics,” she proceeded, now referring to Taehyung. Despite her call for his attention, he didn’t reply, just smiled and went back to looking at the screen.

“Hey! Are you doubting your skills or something because, as far as I’m concerned, you’re fucking amazing, Tae,”

“Yeah, you’re awesome.” Jimin butted in while Jungkook’s attention finally moved away from his phone to know who was receiving all these compliments.

“Yeah, but this is serious shit not just something to do as a hobby,” Taehyung finally spoke, sitting up straight and sighing.

“You’re been cultivating this hobby for years—”

“Woah-ho! Taehyung, in order to convince you Avyanna is using big words, jeez—” Jungkook laughed, getting up from his seat and moving closer to who he’d just spoken to.

“Hey, shut up! Just because I don’t cuss every two words like you do, doesn’t mean I’m using big words. What’s so big about the word ‘cultivating’?” she snapped back and he simply replied by tickling her for a bit before moving his attention to the screen.

“Anyway, as I was saying. The work has to be done by someone from our team and you’re the only one who can out of all of us. Adrielle is way too fussy…” no reply from the blondie, “Jimin has trembling hands—”

“Which is a fat fucking lie because it would mean I cut myself every time I cut onions—”

Avyanna cackled and softly pushed Jimin’s head, wanting him to shush as she went on, “Jungkook would just throw pranks and take selfies rather than our pictures…” This time around, Jungkook didn’t snap back like he usually does but just laughed, mentally agreeing with her words, “and I suck—”

“Damn, yeah, you do,” he whispered, gaining an elbow in the side before he dramatically cried like a baby. Avyanna just proceeded with her explanation, rolling her eyes at the overly dramatic rolling-Jungkook on the floor.

“So you, Taehyung, are the only person up for the task. And, anyway, why you being shy all of a sudden? They’re just some lame-ass pictures—”

“Mine aren’t—”

“Shut up Jungkook and get back to suffering. Anyway, Tae, what do you think?” she smiled, looking at the respondent in hopes he’d consider everything she’d just said. Taehyung sighed, “It’s not like I have a choice anyway—”

“Fantastic! We love you,” Avyanna clamoured, squeezing his cheeks like a grandmother does to her nephew. He just smiled, finding everything hilarious.

Never could there be a dead moment whenever he’s with his friends. In fact, he believes that at least 60% of his abs were developed from the crazy amount of times they make him laugh.

Soon, Adrielle’s seriousness and speed brought their fruits and they were done with the flyers, nicely decorated thanks to her magic. She had finished a few minutes after the chef announced dinner was served and around twenty minutes after her parents had returned from work.

To pay for how much delay he’d caused them, Adrielle instructed Jungkook to make sure the right number of flyers would be printed and assigned Avyana as his personal guard as she took Jimin and Taehyung to the living room to show them her ideas for the final presentation. Yeah, this time around, the two boys were functioning just fine, completely serious and actively participating.

On the other hand, Avyanna and Jungkook were cracking some silly dance moves to the sound of the printer.

Finally, around ten minutes later, everyone, teenagers and parents, were sitting around the dining table to have dinner.

—Now playing: Venice Bitch by Lana Del Rey ✫

Them being at Adrielle’s was almost equivalent to being in the comfort of their homes so they easily lost track of time—didn’t mind really.

October was already knocking at the door, asking to be welcomed in along with its cold breeze, warm-coloured dry leaves, half-naked trees, dimly bright days and dark late afternoons. The sky above their heads was a smooth pitch-black surface decorated by a few stars here and there. The wind lacing the air wasn’t harsh enough to make trees start singing as it rushed through their leaves nor too cold for anyone to be shaking but it still called for an extra clothing layer to avoid catching a cold already in September.

They finished having dinner around two hours ago and spent their time hanging out, finally doing something unrelated to school that day.

They had a few drinks but considering it was Sunday, they didn’t go in strong and just had enough to live the moment. That type of activity is reserved for Fridays and Saturdays but Jungkook didn’t know this—or at least he did but just couldn’t bring himself to give even half a fuck.

Since the hands of the clock were inching closer and closer to the top numbers, to signal the end of another day, they had to pack up and leave to give themselves and the owners of the house the chance to rest and be fully energized for the next day.

The five senior-year high school students were all gathered outside by the big metal gate. Three were smoking while two were busy handling school-related issues.

“Honestly… why me?” Jungkook whined like a baby watching Jimin and Adrielle place the boxes of flyers in the trunk of his car.

“Kook, as we already told you, you use your car on a daily basis especially to go to school so it’s easier like this to transport the boxes,” Adrielle spoke slowly like one does to a stubborn child.

Taehyung blew out smoke from his cigarette and side-eyed his friend, chuckling and rolling his eyes because he knew what was coming. Jungkook probably had too much to drink and no one even noticed because if they had, they would’ve snatched the glass away from him immediately. The last thing any one of them wanted to handle was Jungkook being hangover—grumpier than Grumpy himself.

“Yeah, yeah… but… you see this beauty on four wheels?—” Jungkook burps “This artwork? It wasn’t coined to be carrying flyers around,” he kept going, speaking in whispering tones like he was high on drugs and seeing visions. Then he shoved his cigarette back in his mouth.

Jimin and Adrielle didn’t reply to him again. The first one mostly rolled her eyes like she always does and the second simply smiled.

“Are you high or something?” Avyanna was smoking her cigarette off while she giggled, looking at how messily Jungkook was smoking his. He shook his head a bit too much to deny but everyone saw through that and they chuckled.

“I guess I will be driving everyone home tonight,” Jimin chanted, going back to take another box.

“No, no, no. My baby… she belongs to me—” he burps.

“Jungkook, it’s just a stupid car,” Avyanna laughed. She always found him too funny whenever he was like this and the tons of videos of his sitting in her gallery can prove that.

“You know… that adjective you just used…” Jungkook began. “Oh, my God. I don’t think it’s just cigarettes. Did he drink? Who gets drunk on a fucking Sunday night?” Jimin questioned as he dropped the last box of flyers into the vehicle and closed the trunk. In the meantime, seeing how much her friend struggled to speak, Avyanna happily exclaimed: “Ooh, we love ourselves a blabbing Jungkook on a Sunday night!”

“That adjective…” he continued, struggling not to slur his words, “Didn’t just hurt my baby… but it hurt… me. Devasted me. Oh, my God! Avyanna… do you really hate me that much? Look what you’ve done to me,” he whined, throwing himself on the floor to behave like a fallen soldier but, luckily for him, his friends caught him before he could do any damage to himself. They were laughing through the whole process. Avyanna the most, especially while he was trying to speak coherently so he could paint her as a traitor.

“Okay, okay. It’s time for bed. Way past your bedtime,” Taehyung spoke with the cigarette tightly held between his lips as he held onto Jungkook’s shoulders. Jimin held the legs while Avyanna simply snatched the cigarette away from his fingers, causing him to whine and stretch to take it back and eventually fail. The girl wholeheartedly laughed, finding him hilarious and adorable at the same time—these were also the only times she could laugh in his face without him wanting to run after her and have her quickly greet Death by tickling her too much.

“He’s allergic to being serious, so much so he had to get drunk, bruh,” Adrielle chuckled, hand on her waist as she watched her friends try to carry him and place him in the backseat.

“Kook, I swear to you that if tomorrow you try to bust our asses because of your hangover, I’ll freaking rip every hair strand from your head. It will probably ease the headache,” she ultimately spoke, watching her friends succeed in placing the big drunk baby in the back. She knew that this warning was given to the breeze to carry along to wherever it wanted because the Jungkook of right now can’t understand anything and the Jungkook he’ll be tomorrow would rip her tongue out of her mouth if she ever wanted to repeat the sentence or bring her words to action.

“Y’all get ready to take the bus tomorrow no matter what because he surely won’t be in the mood to be doing anyone favours,” Taehyung spoke after taking his cigarette to quickly finish smocking before they left.

“Fuck! That’s true! He won’t pick me up tomorrow,” Avyanna whined and giggled, crumbling Jungkook’s cigarette under the sole of her shoes while she finished smoking hers.

“You better shut the fuck up because out of all of us, you’re the one who takes the bus the least because he always drives you to school, always. And, anyway, his car is staying at mine. I can’t just drop it at his and go home on foot,” Jimin explained, pointing fingers before getting into the driver’s seat. Avyanna only giggled and turned around to lean on the car, “I guess a great day awaits Jungkook tomorrow. Like just imagine him waking up with a raging headache, messing up everything he’s doing exactly because of it only to come out and see that his car isn’t where it usually is,” she chuckled more.

“Ooh and since he’s a hangover, he won’t turn his phone on unless he really needs to so when he can’t find his car, he finally goes to his messages just to see that Jimin sent him a voice message: ‘erm, you were so drunk last night I had to drive everyone home and since it was late and the bus wasn’t available, I had to drive myself home with your car. It’s parked in front of my house you can take it after school’” Taehyung laughed as they pictured everything in their head.

“He’d fucking lose it right then and there. He’d start cussing everyone and everything while he stumped his way to the bus stop,” Avyanna continued.

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of Jimin turning the engine on, so they got the queue they’d leave any moment from then and quickly took a few last draws before discarding the cigarettes by crushing them with their shoes.

“Oh, fuck you all for polluting not just your lungs but also my freaking compound! I wish you the best fucking night ever!” Adrielle exclaimed as they got in the car, laughing and blowing her kisses.

Finally, they drove off, out of her compound and to their homes while Avyanna waved at her friend from the back window.

Adrielle chuckled as she waved back and once they had completely left her compound, she pressed the button to allow her gates to close and trekked back to her home to get herself a good beauty sleep after everything that was today.

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thatndginger · 6 months ago

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Get To Know Your Moots Writeblr Interview

I was tagged by @ceph-the-ghost-writer (their post here!) for this ^.^ Thank you very very much my dear <3

apologies if any of you have been tagged in this before, I've been away for a bit, but I'll throw this out to @chauceryfairytales @theprissythumbelina @theroseempress @aalinaaaaaa @serenanymph @scribe-of-stories @scribble-dee-vee @writernopal @rosieartsie @afoolandathief

The blank question template can be found here!

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr?

My writeblr has been alive since around 2022 or something. I can’t be 100% sure because I just turned my regular blog into a writeblr one lol

What led you to create it?

Two things – I really wanted people to talk to about writing and I wanted to start taking my writing seriously. Cryptid is my favorite person in the world but he’s not a writer and doesn’t *get it*. I wanted other writers to talk to and be weird with about our stories. And having outside accountability in the form of posting about my story on my blog is exactly the kind of low-stakes drive I needed to keep writing.

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

Just how supportive and nice and welcoming people are. It’s really easy to feel like you belong here. And all you have to do is be a little weirdo obsessed with your oc’s, because everyone else is doing the same thing and cheering each other on. It’s truly lovely.

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

I have what I call a ‘feral cat friendship style’ where it takes me a long time to warm up to someone, but once I have you will *never get me to leave*. I’ll start leaving dead mice & memes at your door, just you wait.

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

I genuinely love when people are just Weird about their characters. It makes me more interested when people pop in just to say “character x would eat Weetabix with no milk for breakfast” because now I need to know what the hell is going on with that character. I don’t even care about the important facts anymore. I just want to know what weird little thoughts y’all have about your ocs.

What tips/advice do you have for someone who made a Writeblr today?

Completely unoriginal but honestly just be yourself and have fun. There’s no point in anything if you aren’t enjoying it. Follower counts don’t matter, the number of likes or reblogs you get don’t matter. All you gotta do is start posting about your writing. If you want to make friends, the easiest way to do that is to join in on tag games or the weekly ask games writeblr plays. (tag games are also great ways to find more people to follow.)

WIP It Good

Which Works-In-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

My big writing project is Shapeshifter. It consumes all of my waking – and some of my sleeping – thoughts. But within that I’ve currently got two stories going: Into the Storm and The Runaway. Both are set in the same world and have some overlap of characters, but The Runaway takes place about 5 years after Into the Storm. It’s fun because ItS is more of a typical urban fantasy mystery/intrigue while Runaway is hardcore a romance story. Switching genres while in the same world is really fun.

How long have you been working on them?

Technically, I’ve been working on The Runaway since 2014/2015. I made one of the main characters, Dean, around then, but I didn’t do a lot with him or the world until 2019 when I ‘officially’ started the Shapeshifter project. I usually lean towards saying I started it all in 2019, unless I want to be dramatic and talk about the ‘full story’...

Do you remember what inspired/what got you started?

Ah, dammit, the full story it is. SO. Baby K was really into internet rp forums as a teen, and had just graduated to one-on-one rp. Along comes a girl who wants to make an rp about shapeshifters – humans who can turn into many types of animals – and Baby K could not be more enthused about this idea. That’s how Dean and Temperance got started, and where they remained for many many years. Eventually not-so-Baby K gets tired of the girl they’re rping with contributing absolutely nothing to the worldbuilding and strikes off on their own.

I joke that I took Temperance in the divorce. It’s okay though, that girl will never read this and if she does she can talk to my lawyer about it.

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

All of it? I plastered my bedroom/office walls with Shapeshifter. I plastered my *ceiling* with Shapeshifter. I bought stickers for the laptop I’m currently typing on that remind me of Shapeshifter characters. I am deeply, deeply mentally unwell about this story.

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

I’m working on an urban fantasy story about three shapeshifter friends who inadvertently become ‘fixers’ for their community when the authorities turn a blind eye.

What do you want to say (if it’s different from what you do say)?

I spend the majority of my life writing about three queer disasters who also happen to turn into animals sometimes, and the problems they get into that are only occasionally due to the fact that they turn into animals sometimes.

Let's Rotate Blorbos

Name any characters you created.

Just in Into the Storm there’s: Kerr McKay, Warrick Salehrad, Jay de Lange, Carlisle Morrish, Reese Tucker, Lex Causey, Gabriel Beckham, Portia Beckham, Kanda Salae, Mayuri Salae, Aleksei Rybkin, Jaime Sheridan, Mags, Lucian Bardem, Rose MacGinnis, and Enora Nolan. For now.

Who’s the most unhinged?

Depends on what kind of unhinged you’re looking for. The fun kind? Warrick. The ‘actively harmful’ kind? Lucian Bardem.

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

Kerr, Jay, and Warrick. These three live in my head so much that sometimes they commentate my life. It’s not nearly as entertaining as it sounds.

Do you ever cringe at them?

*Constantly*. They are disaster people. I love them.

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?

About 60%? I know where the story needs to go and what I need the characters to do, but I leave them a lot of room to decide how they want to get there.

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters?

ABSOLUTELY. Ask me all the weird questions. I’m slow to answer because my life is hectic af, but I love getting questions about my idiots.

On Writeblr Engagement

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account?

I’d say ‘vibes’ but that’s a copout answer. I don’t go off someone’s intro much besides seeing what genres they’re into and if they’ve got any glaring red flags for something I might not like. Mostly I notice new writeblr accounts because one of my mutuals is interacting with them and they seem cool. Then I do a quick scroll through their blog to check out what they do/interests they have/how they interact with others. Like I said, it’s vibes.

What makes you decide against following?

If someone is too self-absorbed – ie doesn’t interact with anyone, talks about their work like it’s the next Great Novel That Will Change The World. I don’t want to deal with that in my tumblr space.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

I try? I’m not very good at remembering to look outside my little circle, especially when the burnout and anxiety are bad. Like now...

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

I’m sewing dolls based on my mutuals’ characters. They’ll have multiple outfits and tailor-made accessories. I’ve had *dreams* about some of my mutuals’ ocs. I can be just as mentally unwell about my mutuals’ characters as I am about my own.

#tag games #i've fully given up on pretending i'm not just some strange feral creature #and i think my answers reflect that

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callsignspark · 1 year ago

Note

Ik this isnt part of the ask game, but would you consider showing us how you outline in Trello?? It looks so freaking effective!

I have been waiting for someone to ask me this question. thank you so so so so much you’re going to regret asking lmao

so as I said before I use Trello - a free cloud based project management tool - to outline and write my fics (and also for my to do list and my Christmas present shopping and vacation planning and literally everything) because, to be 100% honest with you, I have no chill. I have never been relaxed about anything. ever. not a single day in my life. and therefore I marinate on fic ideas in my mind for months (sometimes years!) before I start doing anything with them. this is my process I use for everything I write and we’re using Mar[r]y Me as my example!

the first thing is the idea. I get an idea and I word vomit vibes into the closest thing (notes app, google doc, scribbling into my work notebook, texting a friend) and then I marinate on the idea. I first had the idea for Mar[r]y Me on January 25, 2023. it went through several iterations as I shaped what it was going to be and below is what I sent to Jordan in June 2023 and it’s the basis for the story we’ve all been following. (or mostly, it’s changed quite a bit since then.)

once I’m ready to start writing I create a board in Trello. think of a board like a white board, you then add “cards” which I think of as sticky notes except with a lot more features. also my process is the same no matter if it’s a one shot or a multi chapter fic, it just depends if it gets its own board or it goes into my one shot board. (which is filled with ideas waiting to be written lol) anyway. this is the Mar[r]y Me board!

for a multi chapter fic like this each chapter gets a card in the IN PROGRESS list (they move to the right as things get written/posted). each card follows a template: title, due date (loosely assigned to get an idea of what a posting schedule may look like), a label (always being with need to plan), and a checklist. also the chapter outline - obviously.

before I get into the outline, I use the labels as a nice visual representation of what the status of everything is. as the screenshot below shows, the each writing stage has its own color (and I use the color blind color schemes so I get the fun patterns too!) and it gets changed as we go along. it helps me know at a quick glance where everything is at the moment.

I also love the checklist feature, see below. which basically has all the steps I need to follow once I have a chapter written and ready for final editing. it may seem like overkill but I work long hours and you’d be amazed at how easily my brain forgets things lmao. so this ensures nothing is missed when I’m getting ready to post.

now onto the outline. my outline goes from something super basic, to a few bullet points, to an in depth summary of what’s going to be written. using chapter one as an example of this progression.

1. this is the og outline for the whole story. just a dream and a vibe and one sentence. literally.

2. the expanded outline for chapter one

3. just a small section of the final outline I used to write the chapter. a lot of my final outline ends up being actual sentences that I use in the final draft, I basically write the chapter in bullet points and unfinished sentences.

4. I use the very expanded outline to write the actual chapter. following along bullet point by bullet point. an example from chapter 9 since that’s what I’m writing rn.

5. once everything is written, all the bullet points have been used up or ignored, I transfer it into google docs and read it to myself, editing as I go. once I’m happy with my final rough draft I use grammarly to idiot check things because I’m an engineer not an English major. then I start using the checklist (teaser posting, creating tumblr post, etc.) and then the worst part. I walk around my home office and I read the entire chapter out loud to myself and make final edits as I go. is it excruciating to have to listen to myself speak the flirting I’ve just written out loud? yes. have I made myself cry multiple times? yes. do I find a lot of rough spots and smooth them out? yes. that’s usually done on Thursday nights.

6. from there it’s all final editing and formatting and scheduling the final post. I also have to create the accompanying recipe post for Mar[r]y Me so I do that too. and we post on Fridays! sometimes I share the google doc link with friends so they get an advanced copy of the chapter and sometimes they get to be surprised with everyone else (I’m running behind schedule and don’t have time to share it lmao)

it’s a lot of work for something I’m producing for free but I genuinely love it so much and it helps me keep everything straight. there would be so many lost ideas and abandoned thoughts if I didn’t do it this way. it’s crazy that this the first fic I’ve ever written and that I’ll probably be close to 90k words by the time it’s finished.

if you’ve made it this far thank you for indulging my very intense brain and it’s processes. I love the community we’ve created here on this blog and I’m so excited to keep writing and sharing. and I especially want to give a big thank you to my very good friends Ames, Alexa, and Jordan. Mar[r]y Me would not be the story it is without them and I can’t thank you enough for your love and encouragement during this story.

#asks answered #anon <3 #I don’t know how to tag this #elle hyperfixates on something #<- yeah that’ll work

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mi4016tomberry · 2 years ago

Text

Ouseburn Project 21

Here's the final animatic:

I've learnt a lot from this project with the dozens of mistakes that I've made with all of the rewrites and changes throughout its course. The animatic I've ended up with does the job fairly well, I wish I had more time to keep working at things like the pacing so that the shots aren't quite so rushed, primarily at the end with the closeup of the pigeon and his scream; I intended was that the pigeon staring straight at the ghost hunter would scare him off and he would run and bang his head and get knocked out but because I had to rush the ending and was capped on time, I couldn't quite get it to the place that I wanted. I also wish I could've gone with the original alcoholic ghost hunting idea but it just went too far over the time limit and as a result the idea was watered down more and more as the project underwent changes. I still ended up with something in the same vein and it was interesting trying some voice acting for the project. I also had a lot of fun making little characters that I would use to explore the pub and the character design itself came out in a really fun way. The frames themselves are all pretty good but they come out a bit choppy in the video and maybe if I had more time I could smooth things out but its only an animatic so its never going to be perfect.

Pros/ things I've learnt:

Character Design

Leaning Audition

Attempting to use cartoony sound effects

Using Maya as a template to speed up background work

Writing - although it was garbage overall I pushed myself to giving it a go and ended up with an endless number of failed scribbles but from this I'm figuring out what works.

Cons/ what I will improve:

Not entirely coherent and meanders around a little, the more I make these things the better I will get and it is still very early days so I just need to keep ironing out all of the bumps along the road.

Inconsistent voices, due to all the re recording of dialogue, the accent changed multiple times but in doing so I saw a glimpse into the process of character creation in totality from voices to visuals to dialogue that suited the character and what would make sense in the situation for that person. Ultimately, I cocked most of this up and its all over the place but this is a test run for future attempts in this area.

Lack of simplicity, I need to keep things much simpler so that I can focus my energy on fewer things and refine those skills rather than getting sidetracked every five seconds and wanting to try different things. In this project I ended up having a go at: using cartoony sound effects, close up slow motion fall, exaggerrated reaction face (the face after sniffing), minor shading on characters to see how much more time consuming it is, voice acting, etc... I had initially intended this project to focus on learning how to animate speech and instead had half a go at many different things.

I'm hoping that on the next project I can animate in something other than photoshop because I'm limiting myself to software not designed for animation and I need to get accustomed to real animation software. Adobe audition is something I feel pretty comfortable with now and I enjoy using the software. Overall, the animatic itself has a few pros despite me focusing mainly its flaws and its something I've learnt a lot from, at least this project is somewhat finished unlike my last project which was cut short and only made sense with additional context so there's definitely progress but I need to make something simple so it's cohesive because honestly it didn't really make much sense.

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oswanily · 3 years ago

Text

I posted 1 330 times in 2021

1211 posts created (91%)

119 posts reblogged (9%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.1 posts.

I added 5 205 tags in 2021

#100bc - 1037 posts

#100 baby challenge - 1035 posts

#nily100 - 1035 posts

#nily100 gen2 - 560 posts

#simblr - 296 posts

#the sims 4 - 295 posts

#sims 4 gameplay - 295 posts

#ts4 - 294 posts

#sims 4 - 294 posts

#sims 4 100 baby challenge - 64 posts

Longest Tag: 94 characters

#also cc will be posted tomorrow i'm just back in college and haven't had time to take previews

My Top Posts in 2021

Canning Station Recolor

@merrymomo asked for a recolor of icemunmun’s Canning Station version 3.0, and here it is! If there is anything you want recolored, feel free to ask!

Info and download under the cut!

Recolor: needs the mesh by icemunmun! link above!

the canning station mod requires Outdoor Retreat, so this probably does too (idk if the object in itself needs the pack, or if it just need it to be functional)

65 swatches: 45 from my Removable palette, and 20 swatches with a wood texture (i know it’s too much, i just can’t help it...)

If you don’t want the mod but still want the object, you can just keep the .package with the canning station, and then it will be decorative only! That’s what i’ll do at least 🙂

Sorry for the terrible looking preview, i was too lazy to make a room and everything...

Tag me if you use it in your gameplay, I want to see !

Contact me if there is any issues, I’ll fix them as fast as I can.

By downloading any of my CC, you agree to my TOU.

Download: SimFileShare | Dropbox

@maxismatchccworld @mmfinds @eileenccfolder @maxismatchbuildcc @sssvitlanz

270 notes • Posted 2021-04-29 02:17:44 GMT

These Scribbles Chalkboard

yeah, i changed my preview style, again. I don’t know how long this one will stay either.

Anyways, here is a decorative chalkboard I made from the Sims Sessions sign a long time ago! Isn’t it super cute? I think it is.

Info and download under the cut:

Base game compatible

10 swatches: 5 designs in 2 wood tones

Sculptures and Kids decor categories

For some reason it doesn’t have a footprint so I’d advise you put something like a backpack underneath it, just so your sims don’t walk through it...

Price: 200§

Tag me if you use it in your screenies so I can see! And feel free to contact me if there is any issues, so I can fix them. Also, if you like my content, consider buying me a coffee or asking for a commission ! It would help me a lot 💖

By downloading any of my CC, you agree to my TOU.

Download: SimFileShare | Dropbox

The drawings come from the Internet, credit to whoever made them. Also, credit to the people who created the CC I used in my screenshots.

@maxismatchccworld @mmfinds @mmoutfitters @maxismatchbuildcc @eileenccfolder

271 notes • Posted 2021-10-01 15:13:42 GMT

Summer Fun tattoos

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I really wanted my first post of the year to be a CC post. Also, since I learned to make recolors, I’ve always wanted to make some tattoos - I tried it four or five times in the last year - and I never was satisfied enough with the result to post them, until I finally figured it out last November ! So to celebrate this blog’s birthday (I mean my first CC post, in December 2019) I give you these ! A small set of arm tattoos that are summer and holiday themed - well, most of them are at least.

Info and download under the cut!

9 Swatches shown above - screenshots from S4S

The weird white/yellow shading around the tattoos come from the S4S lighting, they’re not like that in game!!

All tattoos are located on the same spot (left arm) and are in the corresponding tattoo category

BGC

Not 100 opaque because I find it more realistic that way

Three of the swatches have English, but you wan barely see it (first, fifth and ninth swatch)

Made on female frame body template, but enabled for men cause why not!

Tag me if you use them in your let’s play, I want to see !

Contact me if there is any issues, I’ll fix them as fast as I can.

By downloading any of my CC, you agree to my TOU.

Download: SimFileShare | Dropbox

The designs I used for the tattoos are not mine, credit goes to the tattoo artist who made them - his name is Jean André, if you want to check out his work. Also, credit to the people who created the CC I used in my screenshots.

@maxismatchccworld @mmfinds

🎵 Happy late birthday to you, my CC creator career... 🎵

355 notes • Posted 2021-01-05 21:46:00 GMT

Upper Hand Tattoos

Another one! Wait that’s DJ Khaled’s thing... Aaaaanyways...... The name is self explanatory. These are tattoos of hands. Located in the upper back. Hence upper hand. I think I need to stop writing now cause I don’t know what I’m saying.

Info, swatches and download under the cut:

All tattoos are located on the same spot (upper back) and are in the corresponding tattoo category

BGC

Custom thumbnails

Made on female frame, but enabled for both!

Not 100% opaque because I find it better looking that way

12 swatches shown below (click picture for better quality):

Tag me if you use them so I can reblog you!

Contact me if there is any issues, I’ll fix them as fast as I can.

By downloading any of my CC, you agree to my TOU.

Download: SimFileShare | Dropbox

The designs I used for the tattoos are not mine, credit goes to the tattoo artist who made them - his name is Jean André, if you want to check out his work, he’s really good! Also, credit to the people who created the CC I used in my screenshots.

@maxismatchccworld @mmfinds @s4library @eileenccfolder @sssvitlanz @wcifsareclosed

357 notes • Posted 2021-03-10 02:27:47 GMT

Show Your Pride Rugs!

More rainbows! This time it’s a rug, because I love rugs. I would legit put a rainbow rug in my house, if I had a house. But I don’t, so my sims will instead.

Info and download under the cut:

BGC

4x3 size rug

21 swatches ↓

Tag me if you use it in your screenies so I can see! And feel free to contact me if there is any issues, so I can fix them. Also, if you like my content, consider buying me a coffee! It would help me a lot 💖

By downloading any of my CC, you agree to my TOU.

Download: SimFileShare | Dropbox

The patterns come from the Internet, credit to whoever made them. Also, credit to the people who created the CC I used in my screenshots.

@maxismatchccworld @eileenccfolder @maxismatchbuildcc @mmfinds

596 notes • Posted 2021-06-18 08:01:01 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #tumblr yir

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fieldofcain · 5 years ago

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OC Companion Meme!

(thanks to @yesjejunus and @socksual-innuendos for giving me the template and telling me to do this! :D)

General

Name: Cain Braun

Location: Wandering in and around Freeside during the day, in his room or the lobby of The Caldera Motel at night

How to obtain: The player walks up and interacts with Cain and has an option to help with a quest to regain lost cargo from raiders and ends up uncovering a lot more than he bargained for.

Companion Wheel

I think we should travel together:

“Alright, lead the way.”

“Sure, what’s our destination, Courier?”

Use Melee:

“Rough and tumble, let’s do it.”

“Finishing ‘em off? Sure, let’s go.”

Use Ranged:

“They’ll be ashes.”

“One shot is all I need.”

Open Inventory:

“Take what you like, just don’t get greedy.”

“Okay, life is a give and take, right?”

Stay Close:

“I’ll cover you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.”

Keep Distance:

“Sure, I’ll let you breathe.”

“I’ll scope it out.”

Stealth:

“Getting the jump on ‘em, I like it.”

“Right, I’ll be quiet.”

Back Up:

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“I’ll get out of your way, sorry.”

Be Passive:

“Sure, but if they go for their weapon, I’ll toast ‘em.”

“Negotiation was never a strong suit of mine, go get ‘em.”

Be Aggressive:

“Time to burn some cells!”

“Taking the fight to them, let’s go!”

Use Stimpack:

“Ah, much better, thank you.”

“Nice, thanks.”

Wait Here:

“Okay, give me a signal if things go south.”

“Sure, I’ll keep watch here.”

Follow Me:

“Getting back to it? Sounds good.”

“Sure.”

Send to the Lucky 38:

“Okay, you can find me up top.”

“Fun, back to the Strip. See you later.”

Send Home: (can be found where?)

“Sure, I’ll be at the Caldera when you need me again.”

“Okay, just be safe out there.”

Injured:

“Ah, shit. I’m gonna need a stimpak here, quickly!”

“This is getting a little to hot for my tastes, I’m getting fried!”

Death:

“Give…my mother…letter…guhhh.”

“I’m…I’m sorry…”

Aggression: aggressive/not aggressive/very aggressive/frenzied

Confidence: cowardly/cautious/average/brave/foolhardy

Assistance: helps nobody/helps allies/helps friends and allies

Karma: very evil/evil/neutral/good/very good

Perks

“Care-avan Guard”: Cain and the Courier get a 2% hp/sec passive health regen out of combat

“Practiced Hand”: Energy Weapons and Rifle weapons gain a 50% increase to reload and aim speed for Cain and the Courier

(This perk is achieved by getting the ‘Good’ result from Cain’s personal quest)

“Raising Cain”: Cain gains invulnerability from damage for 2 seconds after killing an enemy

(This perk is achieved by getting the ‘Bad’ result from Cain’s personal quest)

Drops

“The Caldera”:

Legendary Laser Rifle, 50% faster reload and aim speed with fire damage

(3) Stimpaks

Cain’s Leathers:

AV 14 medium armor, WT 4

Quests and Recruitment

Recruitment:

The Courier finds Cain in Freeside and simply approaches him at either the Caldera Motel or the street. They must be on good terms with the Gun Runners and not have joined the Legion. Upon talking to him, Cain asks the Courier for some help if they are willing to give it. He has been contracted to retrieve some confiscated caravan goods from raiders for a client. His partner has mysteriously disappeared and asks the Courier to be another gun.

Upon acceptance of the quest, Cain will make his way to his room in The Caldera (or if he’s there already) and start gearing up. All loot in this room is a [Steal] prompt. You can either follow him or meet him outside Freeside. Upon arrival at the start site, Cain makes conversation briefly about who The Courier is and who he is before setting out. The player follows him to a location where raiders have set up camp in a cave. After clearing them out, Cain finds his friend’s body with a scribbled note on top. It reads:

“They found me, the fuckers. They’re leaving me for dead. Gecks will get me, or the nightstalkers…damn. Saw some bandits around here earlier, I’m sure they’ll come for the caravan once they see the smoke. Shit, Cain, I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ll make it to the bar tonight. Tell the Runners that…”

The rest is smudged, as if the man was surprised. Cain is sad and says a few words over his friend’s body before turning to the Courier and heading back to Freeside after a brief conversation. He then offers to tag along since they worked well together, but he asks for five hundred caps. Merc’s fee, you know?

Personal Quest:

Upon gaining enough positive rep with Cain through various means (Includes positive interactions with NCR, kindness to children, mercenary work, etc.) and rep with the NCR, Cain approaches the Courier and asks for a favor. It deals with the caravan mystery that he had come across in the recruitment quest, and he seems to have a lead. One of the caravan hands that traveled with him on his first journey to the Sierra Nevadas was behind the attack on the caravan. Once accepted, Cain is visibly relieved and tells the Courier that he’s happy he has an ally for this one. The old associate is camped out in a parking garage just south of Primm, and upon reaching the destination, Cain asks the Courier to stay their hand if they find the man, at least for a little bit. They are met with raiders guarding the garage. Upon clearing them out, a small office is left, and the door unlocks. Out walks a man, who proceeds to try to hug Cain, who refuses. If the Courier is aggressive and angry in response, it will get Cain angry as well, and after some dialogue, Cain will shoot the man on the spot. If taking the softer approach, Cain gains through information that the man was forced by his employer to do the act…the very same employer who employed Cain. He explains that he must have wanted to hold the mercs in contempt and collect the fee for failure. Cain can also gain this information by reading the terminal in the office if he kills his friend.

Either way, the next stop is New Vegas, in an old office building outside the city. It seems this is where the businessman is based. You can go in guns blazing or take a stealthy approach. Either way, Cain will confront the man about the death of his friend and the man’s greed. The man is not remorseful in the slightest, and even if you convince Cain not to kill him, he will attack, and Cain will kill him in self-defense.

If you let the old associate live and kill the businessman, you will receive the “Practiced Hands” perk.

If you killed both of the men, you will receive the “Raising Cain” perk.

Ending Slides

Personal Quest Unfinished: Cain continued working for various employers (regardless of their credibility) until a stray bullet ended up hitting his leg, which he eventually had to have amputated. Unable to work, Cain turned to drinking and became a regular at Freeside’s seedier establishments.

If the Courier sides with Legion and…

Completion ending 1: Cain never did understand why the Courier showed such kindness then sided with such monsters as the Legion. Overcome with a kind of sad resoluteness, he enlisted in the NCR Military, in the hopes that he would one day meet the Courier on the filed of battle and ask why. And if need be, put them down.

Completion ending 2: Cain was furious that the person that had helped him kill his enemies joined with the Legion to kill his friends. He immediately joined the NCR Military and would distinguish himself as a crack shot and a ruthless soldier. If he met the Courier in a firefight, that bastard would be dead before they could say ‘Traitor’.

If the Courier sides with NCR and…

Completion ending 1: Cain fully endorsed the Courier’s decision and would council them to keep trading relatively free to operate as usual. He knew all too well the dangers of bureaucracy. Whenever the Courier had a meeting to go to the NCR leadership, Cain was always there, giving helpful advice and keeping his friend safe.

Completion ending 2: Cain was all too happy to smoke some Legionnaires, and happily followed the Courier into every firefight. Every time there was a mission to infiltrate and secure camps or even hunt down patrols, Cain was the first to volunteer. He would eventually be known among the NCR troops as “Hurricane” Braun, laser-merc of the Mojave.

If the Courier sides with House and…

· Completion ending 1: Cain knew that House was a big player in the Mojave, but when he saw what he was, the greed of House put a sour taste in his mouth. He would visit the Courier every now and then to talk and catch up, but he returned to guard-work and did quite well for himself.

· �� Completion ending 2: Cain thought the Courier had been had but being a lackey for a lackey was nothing new to him. He continued his duty of guarding the Courier, and while he planned and plotted to kill the skeletal man in the tower for his greed, he never could.

If the Courier makes New Vegas independent and…

Completion ending 1: Cain knew that the NCR’s grip on New Vegas was weak, so when the Courier booted up the bots and seized control of New Vegas, he wasn’t all that surprised. Maybe a free New Vegas was good? And good it was. Trade blossomed, and Cain found himself on the elite council of guards and caravan masters who could usher in this new era of prosperity.

Completion ending 2: Cain wasn’t too thrilled about the bots taking over New Vegas, but he trusted the Courier with his life, so he stayed. Turns out a free city makes for crime, and while the bots could get most of it, Cain found himself in a position to be security detail for the Courier’s most personal assignments. It is said that a man in leather stalks the streets at night, looking for trouble…

#fallout #fallout nv #long post #companion meme #oc companion meme #cain

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tender-history · 6 years ago

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Fic Plotting 101: How I Start from an Idea.

Hullo, hi, welcome! It’s Plotting 101 with Dee: Part One!

Before we get started, here’s why I made this post:

1) I get a lot of CCs asking how to approach plotting, pacing and especially story flow, and I wanted to link them all to something useful,

2) I see a lot of people wanting to write plot but unsure how to approach it because it can be overwhelming,

3) Google Searching ‘how to plot’ can be EXTREMELY scary.

Let’s take Number 3 first. If you’re going to Google ‘how to plot’, you’re going to end up with advice on everything ranging from ‘don’t plot’ to six sheet spreadsheets with fifty columns each that wants you to put down everything from your character’s eye color to what exactly they think of instant noodles. You’ll end up with diagrams, beat sheets, templates, storyboards, and find guides that range from six-step plotting techniques to fifty-steps. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t follow that method - sometimes, if you’re a person who likes character design and questionnaires a lot, you’ll love that method. But I’m not like that, and a lot of writers I know aren’t like that either. There’s nothing I hate more than some spreadsheet asking me my character’s weight and height. And if you go down that road, chances are that you’ll just go down the rabbit hole of intricately designing your characters and settings for AGES instead of actually writing anything at all.

So - if not through spreadsheets or beat-sheets, how DO you plot?

If you ask me, the best plotting method is to do WHAT WORKS FOR YOU.

How do you find what works for you? You try things. I tried many different ways of plotting before I decided what worked for me. So this is going to be less a guide on how to plot and more an explanation of the ways I plot, with the hope that maybe you can find something in here to help you.

> For me, step ONE is the IDEA.

This is your big shiny nugget. Your driving force. This is EXTREMELY important, because no one idea is equal to another. Some ideas are better, because they can help you do something unique, something only you can do, which makes you stand out. For the sake of demonstrating this whole thing, let’s take The Tender History of Tides. Tender History lived on my Ideas folder in my Notes app for months before I began writing it. This was my one-line quick jot-down: ‘what if I wrote non-royalty historical fantasy set in Joseon Korea?’

Done before? Yeah. Can be done in a unique way? Heck yeah.

Your idea is very very important because it’s the axis on which you’ll pivot your entire plot. It’ll grow and develop and change if you just give it some thought.

So, plotting suggestion #1 right here: Keep an Ideas folder. You WILL forget your idea, however shiny it is. Keeping it all in one place helps in more than one way: 1) You know it won’t disappear from your mind, 2) Sometimes ideas can overlap, come together, and turn into a whole new story.

For Tender History, the historical fantasy set in Joseon Korea idea very, very quickly merged with another idea I’d had: taegi dark-fic with sea-monster Tae and monster-hunter Yoongi. They were disparate thoughts, things I thought of at different times, things I then put together to create something more unique than what they would have been individually.

I often generate ideas this way. I’ll consult my Ideas folder for thoughts I’ve had in the past, then see if they can be combined with something else to make a better shiny.

Few examples:

1) vhope magic shop au + but what if the whole thing is set in a game arcade?

2) taegi vampire au + but what if this was set in the fashion world?

3) vmin library au + but what if they went to a magical school?

Combination is one way of idea generation. Other ways of idea generation that I sometimes use:

> Use images. Go on Pinterest, check out some aesthetics, let your imagination run wild.

> Use online prompters. There are so many prompt generators floating around! For Fantasy, I use Seventh Sanctum sometimes (they have hundreds of different sort of prompt generators, and some are really good if you’re stuck on banal things like naming, or a quick character design). For fan fiction, there are prompt bots on Twitter. You can even google writing prompts, there are several websites that offer one per day, which you can then use to kick start your imagination.

> Now you have your idea. Step TWO, for me, is developing the idea.

This is the step where you can really stand out in the crowd when it comes to plotting. It’s great having a unique idea, but this is the part where you flesh it out.

Here’s how I do that:

> Scribble down a skeleton of what you think the story will be: In my case, for this Taegi fic, the skeleton looked something like this:

taegi, yoongi is a detective, tae is a supernatural being of some sort, setting is joseon korea, time period is (???), wintry, monsters and murders, dark, atmospheric, there’s a romance and it’s both soft and dangerous, side: noble seokjin, scholar namjoon, doctor jimin (?). they’re in a village and there are these murders and everyone is keeping secrets.

This, as you see, is a ramble. It’s just whatever’s in my head, being committed to paper. Now, plotting is WORK. Putting what’s up there - that ramble, that mess of ideas - into a functioning, well-paced, structured, organized plot requires you to put work into it. It’s not easy. But it’s a lot of fun. And when it starts coming together, you really feel very good about your writing and your story!

So, moving on to the actual work now:

> Write a 250 word pitch of the story. Organize your ramble into something coherent, meaningful and easy to absorb. Imagine that this is exactly like the back blurb on a book. The back blurb on a book is meant to entice you to read it. IF it’s enticing enough for you to read, then you can imagine that it might be enticing to a reader. But first - you have to make it enticing for YOU. As the writer, YOU have to feel like, ok, this is gonna be a killer story if I tackle it.

The objective of this pitch is two-fold:

1) You have to be able to tell three things from it: the idea, the characters, and the main conflict.

2) A complete STRANGER - i.e., someone who has no idea about your story - should be able to look at this pitch and tell what exactly the story is about.

I can’t stress the importance of this step. Often times, it’s not until you force yourself to explain your plot in 250 words that you find possible issues with it.

Here’s how I explained Tender History in 250 words or less:

“In late 1700s Joseon Korea, a string of strange murders sends Inspector Kim Seokjin to a frozen northern province. Accompanying him is Min Yoongi, once a scholar of the supernatural, now an indentured laborer until a debt for his crimes against the palace can be paid. Quickly taking on eccentric artist Kim Taehyung as his assistant, Yoongi sets out to find the monster that’s terrorizing the land. But there’s more to both the icy lakes and the people here. More to Taehyung and his unflinching ease at drawing scenes of death. Yoongi just needs to figure out what.”

Note a couple of things here.

A) You as the writer knows who the important characters are, because they are named.

B) You know the setting: 1700s, Joseon Korea, icy, winter.

C) You know the characterization and how they play into this world: inspector Seokjin, indentured worker Yoongi, artist Taehyung.

D) You know the conflict: murders, monsters, secrets.

E) You ALSO, if you look deeply enough, know the inner character conflict - Yoongi has debts, he has no free will until he pays them.

If I show this to you, a stranger, you should ALSO be able to glean these basic details from this 250 word pitch.

It’s not easy. It just looks easy. I spent hours putting this down in a way that was completely right: precise, simple, yet very explanatory. This pitch will force you to confront what is the story, its actual plot and actual characters, and what is only set dressing. You can’t ramble about it anymore for hours. You can’t have a bunch of disconnected ideas anymore. You HAVE to fit it into something concise, something easily absorbed - not just by you, but by a reader who can’t see into your mind.

You will also know, by putting this down, if the characters aren’t developed enough inside your head. Because why would anyone go to a wintry frozen land to catch a monster? You can’t answer that unless you know, by forcing your thoughts into coherency, that oh, Yoongi has no real free-will here.

> Step THREE, marry external and internal conflict.

Or this is step 1.5, actually. You cannot plot a story without both external and internal conflict. Or, you can, but then you won’t touch your readers as much as you would want to.

What do I mean by this?

Your external conflict is something that exists outside of your characters - your regular villain, say. This is your Darth Vader, your Voldemort, your Capitol.

Your internal conflict is what your character feels. This is HARDER. In Hunger Games, Katniss ponders and combats her own ruthlessness. In Harry Potter, Harry’s desire to fit into the world and live a normal life continuously contrasts with his own fame and the symbol of hope he becomes.

In Tender History, my external conflict is very fancy: murder, monsters, scary villages, etc. Internal conflict is a lot less so: Yoongi in this fic continuously has to wrestle with feelings of guilt and unfairness, with wanting to do good but feeling too burned by the system. If you’ve read Murmuration, the external conflict is the Scarab, but the internal conflict is their own ambition, their guilt over what they had to do to survive, their (terrifying) loyalty to each other.

Internal conflict is where you find your character voice. If I’d set Tender History Yoongi in a celebrated position at his job, he’d be a much different character. His voice would be much different. He has power! He has resources! Versus this Yoongi, who has nothing, and hence has to trust the people he’s allowed to work with to tell him the truth.

Think of it like peeling the layers:

1) The Idea,

2) Develop the Idea,

3) Fill in the External Conflict,

4) Fill in the Internal Conflict.

I have a few major rules I follow at this point of plotting. They’re like this:

1) Are these the right characters for my story? - This means I do a round of thinking about whether these people are the perfect vehicle to tell this story I want to tell. Great, I want to tell a story about wintry Joseon Korea, and monster-fighting. But. Is indentured-worker Yoongi the best person to carry this? What if I make him a village leader instead? What if he’s a runaway prince? What if he’s the monster? Depending on what you want your story to be, you have to think of your character to fit the telling. In Romance of Old Clothes, I chose Tae POV for the whole thing because I wanted to illustrate his reading of people vs. other people’s reading of him. Taehyung’s internal conflict in that fic was that he lies to himself extensively. He’s got this idea of who he is, which is untrue, which is then broken down in a climactic moment. He’s my perfect character to tell that story, because of his obliviousness. Similarly, in Tender History, Yoongi’s the perfect character to tell this story, because of who he is in society, his internal troubles, and his monster-hunting experience.

2)What are some details I would add to this world? - I have a basic idea of the conflict, the world, and the characters now. This is where I take out a chart or a notebook and get to work. I do this like a mindmap: I jot down anything I can think of - say, okay, Joseon Korea: food, art, paintings, caste system, civil examinations, scholars, winter, roads, Confucianism, shrines, religion, music, monsters, gender roles. Then I begin detailing it. ‘Food’ for example: royals eat different food from commoners eat different food from untouchable castes or peasants. Summer food is different from spring food is different from winter food. When I read about food for this fic, I read about the ‘barley gap’ or the gap between barley and rice cultivation during winter. People historically starved during this time. If my story is set in winter, this is an important detail.

Let’s take something more contemporary. I’m writing about a vintage clothes store. Details I would need - clothes, brands, size of the shop, layout of the shop, how do they procure clothes, how do they test authenticity, what are their customers like, who do they interact with, where is their shop in the city, what does being in that locality mean, what seasons are busy for them.

A mindmap is just a page full of words, questions, things you know, things you don’t know. Filling it up is the next major step.

3) What is character development going to be? - This is very important. Okay, you have an external and internal conflict. Now, start of the story being point A, and end being point B, what exactly is A and B for my character? What do I want them to become? In Romance of Old Clothes, Taehyung at Point A is lying to himself about his own nature. By Point B, he’s able to identify that he needs to let people in, open up more. In Wonder Woman, Diana at the beginning of the story is rather naive, believing that if only she could destroy the God of War, the whole war will end. By the end, she understands and admits that things are not that black and white - that people sometimes fight wars because they want to, not due to some external influence.

You have to know this to continue.

Step 4, in how I plot, is to put down a starting scene, a few story beats, and the rough idea of an ending.

But I’ll get into that - and more, including pacing - in Series 2 of this series of posts! Please let me know here or on twitter if these are helpful, or if I’m just rambling too much.

Since I am now struggling a lot to balance writing with work, and if you want to help me keep on writing posts like this, please consider donating to my ko-fi.

I also made a post on how I world-build, the tools and templates I use for the same: it’s over here!

https://tender-history.tumblr.com/post/185910085044/on-research-worldbuilding-and-culture

#writing #world-building #bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #mine #.research #.resources

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carraville · 7 years ago

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year in fic review (2017)

using the wonderful @neyvenger ‘s template! everyone should do this i wanna read <3

Year at a glance: Total number of completed stories: 25 (26 if u count hockey) Total word count: 146929

Overall Thoughts:

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted? LOTS MORE it’s probly bc i wrote a hella lot while jumping from train to train traveling all of Europe, and probly bc i gave up on school by mid-sem last year, and probly bc the only thing i can do at work that looks like i’m still doing work when i’m not is write

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? The fuCKING GERMS i blame it on germs like i 100% would never have thought i’d write 16k of thomasfips who does that also joemilly??? but i luff

What’s your own favorite story of the year? i dont have one i love and hate them all equally... i guess strangeways here we come just bc i took so damn long to write it and tbf i didn’t write a lot of carraville this year so it was kind of like my One and Only

Did you take any writing risks this year?

writing a lot of people I didn’t know how to write, writing about a lot of Big Things (particularly on the bridge between starshine and clay) that i wasn’t sure about, writing a lot of aus i’d never done before, writing ??? PORN???? even tho ive never banged anyone in my life

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the new year? all 12 months of football prompts! hopefully! and writing more new ships and meeting more people and reading good fic also finally doing all my historical aus bc if there’s one thing i’ve learnt this year, it’s not to give a shit what other people want and just write what u want even if no one is going to read it xoxo

From my past year of writing, what was…

My best story of this year: from a writing perspective i think an die nachgeborenen just bc it was the most? complete, i guess? and plotty? like if i changed the names and pretended it wasn’t creepy i could probably send it for rejection

My most popular story of this year: strangeways, here we come i guess cos i published it around that time the r*dditors were sneaking around lmao

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: the wonder of my world cos it’s niche and manc but!!!!!!! i love my mancs

Most fun story to write: fuckin. 30 Shades Of Red

Story with the single sexiest moment: The Anonymous Present That Appeared For Sab’s Birthday That Doesn’t Exist

Most “holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story: Again, The Anonymous Present that Doesn’t Exist

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: I’m pretty set when it comes to characters, I guess, because I only like writing when I understand them, but maybe Aubade bc I’d never written Iker till then and I really liked how it turned out

Hardest story to write: summer sang in me a little while bc it was a) wrestling with a Lot of Football feelings that I didn’t know how to talk about, b) wresting with trashbag xabi alonso and what I thought of him vs. what other people thought of him, c) writing ships and people I had 0 idea about

Biggest surprise: i like germs! wtf

Highlights + Wrap-up: ok I TRIED TO PICK DIFFERENT ONES FROM ALL FIC

Favorite Opening Lines (3):

when the world was ours

There's a crunch. There's a crunch and it's over.

the setting sun is sweetest last

When all the hands have been shaken and hugs exchanged someone presses a microphone into his hands and he fumbles, not quite sure how to put what he's feeling into words. Eventually he settles for something about looking towards the final on Saturday and he sees David from the corner of his eye shaking his head, almost as if to say: god, Gaz, how do you manage to make everything about United when this should be about you.

In the end, it's simple.

cheesed to meet you

Philipp calls Thomas first, because he always calls Thomas first.

"I didn't do it," Thomas says immediately, with the kind of well-practiced plausibility that only comes from doing the things he says he hasn't done.

Favorite Closing Lines (4):

yes, yes, we are magicians

You jog back to the halfway line. Your face must be shining under the lights, and you wonder if mum's in the crowd, smiling. Let's go to Wembley some day. Rooney rolls the ball to you and you're off again, no marcus's ball scribbled into the patchy leather, no divots and pot-holes in a sandy, well-worn pitch.

You're nineteen years old and going to the Euros.

Every blade of grass here is the exact same height.

in this story we belong to ourselves

Liverpool is. A river that runs before two men who used to have numbers on their backs and now have a house no longer empty. A stream of memories and breaking apart and going again. The Mersey, quiet, grey, flowing gently through the Narrows and out into the great big sea, ever so slightly out of reach.

Variation IX

He says I've missed you, mate.

I say You know, I thought you might.

He says I hope you missed me too.

I say Well of course, otherwise where would I go for Christmas this year?

And then he starts laughing and I start laughing and we laugh and laugh and don’t stop until he kisses me again.

yes, there will be song

You step back and turn, take the steps two at a time. Somewhere outside Anfield there's a man with a shirt that's as as red as the names on the back. He's got a scarf around his neck like a docker, and he presses his face to the Shankly gates like he's kissing a trophy. Make us dream, he whispers, a secret he's never told anyone else, his heart heavy and his eyes tired but his body trembling with a belief too full for words. Above him, the sky is golden.

Favorite Lines From Anywhere (5):

strangeways, here we come

It's weak against Paraguay, it's tired against Paraguay, but the England fans are singing and they have to listen. Countries are not clubs. This sinks deeper than loyalty, at once more insular and more ubiquitous than Liverpool or United could ever be. There are little flags hung up in Sainsbury's, strangers with their arms round each other in pubs, the radios of an electronics store tuned in to Radio 5 Live. Come on England. Bandied about like a mantra, a swear word, a secret password offered by old hands who brace themselves for more disappointment with a nudge and a wink. England always - a host of words go here, crash out , fuck up , lose , but -

Believe rises above them all. Maybe it's delusional. Maybe it's arrogant. Beckham takes a free kick that delights and astonishes the way his free kicks do and it ends up in the back of the net. Every four years St George goes back up and people who still remember '66 are bought a pint, and for every we'll go out at the group stages there's an underlying thread of god help me, we might win this yet, because what is hope if not alive?

Come on England. The cup awaits you and is yours.

sekrit yuletide fic

In his dreams he doesn't leave. Salvador Iglesias Sr. doesn't die and Chava doesn't become a dickhead. He keeps the number on his back and the band around his arm. He doesn't cheat on Ximena, but he tells her, and they part as best friends. In his dreams they win the championship. And again the next year, and again the one after that. Each time Potro scores the winning goal and Moi runs to him to celebrate and Potro kisses him for the whole world to see, over and over, until their lips are numb and all they know are themselves.

summer sang in me a little while

Why are you still here? you ask him. It is easier that way. He turns to you, dark circles under his eyes, and doesn't reply. Only reaches over to tangle his calloused fingers in your hair, rests his forehead against yours. This time you are the one who leans forward to kiss him, immersing yourself in the warmth of his skin. You taste his blood. You taste the salt and iron of his blood.

the wonder of my world

What makes a club? Love, belief, hope - and someone to attach it to, the player everyone grows up watching, whose name is instantly recognisable to the point that you don't have to mention who he plays for next. Who pours his soul into the game and hammers his heart onto the crest. You don't get that kind of player very often. United were lucky to have three.

So here. The last musketeer. He's not looking at the crowd anymore, just the middle distance. Still the thousands sing. Love, belief, hope, and memories. Ryan might never run again but Paul realises that it doesn't matter. It's that he's already run. And in a hundred years from now someone might pull up a grainy youtube video and watch the number eleven on the left wing and fall in love, all over again. The way he was meant to be loved. Ball at his feet. Red.

an die nachgeborenen

"I don't need a plan," Thomas says, like he's talking to a child. "That's the beauty of it. All I have to do is wait and see what happens. It's only – " he smiles again, wan, quiet. "Well. You know."

The refrain arcs, jagged, through Philipp's head.

"I promised you wouldn't die."

"I won't." Thomas stands up, leaves a hand on Philipp's shoulder. His palm is still warm. "I'm invincible, didn't I tell you?"

And with a single, chipper whistling note, he hits the exit button and slips out, the door closing immediately behind him with a gentle click .

Fic Goals for 2018:

i wna write gifts that people will like :> aka MORE NICHE BULLSHIT

#my fic #self indulgent trash xoxo

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soccerdrawings · 5 years ago

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Hi GB, amuse acquaint yourself.

Football Soccer jersey Shirt Builder photoshop template by .. | soccer photoshop templates My name is Geunbae Lee but I go by “GB” which is an easier adaptation to accent and spell for added bodies (I absitively to UX my name 😊). I’m originally from South Korea but I spent best of my aboriginal adolescence and aerial academy in Vancouver and Toronto. For undergrad, I abounding the University of Michigan — Ann Arbor and I accelerating with a bulk in Psychology. Adapted now, I’m finishing up my Master’s in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) at Georgia Institute of Technology which is amid in Atlanta. Aftermost summer, I did an internship at Facebook as a Artefact Artist and I’ll be abutting Facebook as a full-timer this attainable June.What is your accomplishments and how did you get into UI/UX design?At the University of Michigan, I was initially advancing a Mechanical Engineering major. However, afterwards two years, I apparent that it wasn’t the adapted fit for me. I knew there was commodity abroad I absolutely capital to do with my life. Therefore, I absitively to booty some time off to serve in the Army. Afterwards two years of confined my country, I accustomed that during assorted moments of my life, I was acutely amorous about acquirements how bodies behave, anticipate and feel. Aback I went aback to Michigan I afflicted my above to Psychology.After graduation, I wasn’t yet into UI/UX design. Actually, I didn’t alike apperceive abundant about these fields and absolutely didn’t anticipate I would end up in the tech industry. In fact, I was aback in South Korea advancing for law school. During this time, one of my advisers from the University of Michigan came for a address alternation and we were able to bolt up. That’s aback he adapted that I booty a attending at HCI and UX. As anon as I researched the field, I instantly knew that it was commodity I absolutely capital to booty a added dive in.Long adventure short, that’s aback I started to advise myself how to design, cipher and apprentice about the architecture and tech industry. Aural those aboriginal few months, I able and activated for HCI programs and thankfully was accepted in my top choice. Self-teaching sounds like an attainable word, but I hardly slept for those few months afore the Master’s program, not alone because I acquainted so behind, but additionally because I was amorous and absorbed with it. The adventure was aloof a alternation of achieve — jumping one dispatch bean at a time.How do you alarm what you do aback you accommodated new people?When I aboriginal approved to argue my parents that I capital to go aback to the United States to appear alum school, they asked me what HCI and UX are all about. I told them that best of the graduates become either UX Designers or UX Advisers who try to accept people’s behaviors aback application a agenda product. With their allegation they achieve an accomplishment to advance the artefact to achieve bigger user experiences.If I get asked the aforementioned catechism today, in accession to what I said before, I’d say that I consistently try to accept what the users admiration and feel afflictive with so that I can try to achieve the accessories added user affable and accessible. Lastly, I would accent that architecture isn’t aloof a final artefact area aggregate looks nice and cool. Instead there is a lot of anticipation and accord continuously accident amid engineers, designers, researchers, artefact managers and added aggregation associates to bigger the product.What added activities or initiatives do you adore besides agenda design?Beside designing, I try to acquisition things that abate my stress. On a circadian base I go to the gym and during my workout, I accept to some of my admired music or watch funny TV shows. Aback I’m at the gym, I feel like I can destress and accept some fun so that afterwards I booty a balmy shower, I’m able to jump aback and focus on accomplishing added work.In accession to that, I adulation to address in both English and in my built-in Korean language. The things I like to address about are mostly belief about what I’ve abstruse and accomplished with honest tips that could achieve a absolute appulse to others. Aftermost year, I started to address about my adventures in architecture on Medium which acquiescently were able to affect and admonition added acceptance aloof like me.When I was a newbie in the architecture acreage and attractive advanced to alpha my aboriginal appellation in alum school, I was advancing my portfolio for an internship. During this activity I accomplished abundant situations area bodies I accomplished out to didn’t acknowledgment back. To be honest, this was absolutely absolutely barefaced because bodies are alive and they apparently accept hundreds of agnate inquiries. However, aback a few bodies responded and provided honest feedback, suggestions and their know-hows, I couldn’t acknowledge them enough. I’m generally reminded of their generosity and kindness.Drawing from my own experience, I appetite to admonition added aggressive designers and students. Thankfully, bodies do ability out to me with questions. I try to absorb at atomic 30 annual to an hour, via babble or email as able-bodied as through video calls allowance others. Often, there are abounding questions that I don’t apperceive the answers myself. This absolutely keeps me alike added motivated to apprentice new things and strive to become a bigger designer.Would you accord us a glance at your day? A day in the activity of GB starts with…

Soccer Tournament PSD Flyer Template Free Download | Free .. | soccer photoshop templates A day in my activity for me has absolutely afflicted anytime aback my son was built-in aftermost May. My son, Grayson, was built-in aloof 5 canicule afore my internship at Facebook started. Anytime aback he was born, “time” feels absolutely abbreviate now and I bulk every added of it. I absorb best of my time with my ancestors and try to set abreast time to assignment on my projects and to accumulate acquirements new things.On a accustomed day, I deathwatch up about 7 AM, as that’s aback my son wakes up. While my wife prepares babyish aliment for my son, I ablution his calmly and sit him bottomward on the babyish aerial armchair to augment him. Afterwards that, we all get to sit bottomward and eat breakfast. I additionally try to admonition my wife with the laundry, affable and attractive afterwards my son. On the canicule aback I don’t accept classes, I about accept some added time to assignment on my assignments, ancillary projects and admonition added students.Everyday is altered of course, but I try to beating out baby things aboriginal such as chic assignments so that I can administer on the big projects as able-bodied as some of my aggressive projects (just like the Chargeless Annual Templates!). With Spotify on, I sit in my armchair and body a bank with the absolute world, authoritative myself siloed in my little cubicle, designing. Sometimes, I scribble, booty notes, activate and chase for inspirations for my designs. Best of the time I accept Annual and/or a prototyping apparatus open.If I accept some added chargeless time, I browse tech-related accessories on places like Muzli or TechCrunch to break up to date. I additionally try to apprehend a lot of accessories on Medium and bolt annual on assorted Facebook groups, added amusing media sites and by chatting with others with agnate interests.I absolutely ambition I had added hours in my day 😊Would you acquaint us about a accomplished or accepted activity you’re best appreciative of?Over the advance of two years, I accept managed to complete several projects. Some were acceptable ones and some, I ambition I had spent added time and accomplishment on. The activity I spent alive best during my firs year of alum academy is alleged Grocery HelpAR. The purpose of the activity was to actualize an enhance grocery arcade acquaintance for all-embracing apprentice who were new to the United States. We presented our band-aid at a University antagonism and won added place. This activity additionally played a above role at accepting assorted internship offers.Another activity that I’m appreciative of is absolutely accident adapted now. It is about creating easy-to-use Annual templates that anyone can use during their UX architecture process. With bound time for projects, I’ve witnessed so abounding bodies alpha their architecture activity from blemish or accent about not actuality able to acquisition assorted templates that are chargeless to spearhead their process. On the added hand, there are so abounding chargeless Annual templates that were accompanying to app and web design. Therefore, I anticipation creating a adventure map, user personas and a gradients arrangement would be actual helpful. You can analysis out some of the templates that I’m designing and absolution on Annual App Sources or on my Dribbble.Lastly, I afresh adapted a new artefact abstraction for LinkedIn which I call, “LinkedIn Conference.” It is a artefact aimed to enhance the appointment networking adventures of attendees. To apprentice added about it, apprehend my commodity appear on Muzli.You’ve apparently noticed that aback it comes to inspiration, there is an affluence of information, communities, tools, and assets on the web. Who do you follow?To be honest, aback I aboriginal got my anxiety into the apple of architecture and tech, I met a lot of bodies and some of the conversations were about acclaimed bodies with names that I’ve never heard of. Aback I didn’t accept any accomplishments ability and was alive absorption on acquirements the accoutrement and practicing, I absolutely didn’t affliction about who to chase or get aggressive by. To be added specific, at the time, I was best acceptable to get aggressive by the attractive designs rather than to analysis the actuality who fabricated it.But as time passed, I started to artlessly attending for designers that aggressive me. For me, “following” designers agency annual their articles, examination their presentations, alert to their Ted talks, advertent their portfolio and acquirements their stories.To get design-related admonition or to get answers to questions I ability have, I go on to Designer’s Guild and HH Architecture Facebook groups. The bodies there are mostly designers that ambit from awful accomplished acceptance to professionals from all sorts of backgrounds and companies. Aloof by annual the posts, I generally retrieve affluent information.For architecture inspiration, I like to go to Dribbble, Behance or Pinterest. There are a lot of air-conditioned and adorned designs that I actualize moodboards for afore I alpha my project. There, I acquisition lots of colors, fonts, layouts and added which I could use or adapt to admonition out during my projects. In accession to that, casual at portfolio websites of added designers is additionally inspiring. Until now, I consistently acquainted like you don’t “have” to alpha from a bare area in advanced of you. Finding afflatus and some association apprenticed templates absolutely has added ups than downs.

Sport Football Soccer Club PSD Files and Photoshop Templates - soccer photoshop templates | soccer photoshop templates If you could, what career admonition would you activity to your adolescent self?The apple is so big and there are so abounding accomplished people. There will be situations area you feel like you’re way abaft or not acceptable enough. Also, it’ll feel like there are so abounding things to do and learn. If you feel that way at some point in your life, booty activity and activity instead of accusatory or accomplishing nothing. Already you get to alpha on something, you’re already bisected way to accomplishing your goal. You ability aloof charge the added advance and action to abide advancing it.I feel like activity doesn’t run perfectly. For me, if I had activate what I was amorous about in aerial academy and alike aback I entered university, I would’ve spent my time added wisely. I would accept done added internships in my field. But I couldn’t go aback in time of course, instead all I could do was to try to achieve my bearings bigger with the time I had. Everyday, I strive to achieve something. I try to not dream big from the beginning, yet I still accept that ambition in the aback of my mind. For now, the affair that’s in advanced of me is the best important affair to accomplish. Afterwards that, aloof like bent on the dispatch stones, eventually, I’ll get to cantankerous to the added ancillary area I can get abutting to accomplishing my career goals.What are some of the design, development, and activity administration accoutrement in your workflow?To accumulate things organized, I use Google Drive and Dropbox as able-bodied as a Babble document. Sometimes, I’ll accumulate a actual organized binder in my computer and accomplish altered files with adapted names so I can calmly acquisition them later. Aback it comes to accepted ideation, I’m a huge fan of a anthology and a pencil, because I can aloof author abroad things and bound announcement things anywhere. For quick wireframes, depending on the situation, I’ll use Balsamiq Mockups or again, duke sketch, but I tend to anticipate my duke annual is not that great.When it comes bottomward to designing, I’m a huge fan of Sketch. It’s way easier and quicker than Photoshop and I don’t alike bethink the aftermost time I opened Photoshop to be honest. Alike for my internship at Facebook, I noticed that best of the bodies about me were application Sketch. But I absolutely appetite to get my calmly on Invision Studio and try Figma. But as for now, I’m absolutely annoyed with what Annual offers. For prototyping, I adulation application Framer.js, Principle and Invision depending on the bearings and the claim of the allegiance of the prototypes.Lastly, aback it comes bottomward to coding, I use Brackets.io. There are a lot of air-conditioned extensions that I can download which makes it attainable for me to use. But I anticipate Sublime or Atom.io are additionally great. Brackets.io is aloof absolutely attainable to use aback I comedy about with CSS because I’m a abecedarian in coding and it’s consistently nice to see ‘live’ as I achieve changes to it.How did you get alien to Annual and what do you like/dislike best about it?A brace years ago aback I aboriginal got my calmly on a “design” tool, it wasn’t Annual absolutely — It was Photoshop. Bodies were still application mostly Photoshop and I was alien to it by others as my aboriginal tool. Not continued afterwards, I began to apprehension bodies talking about Annual everywhere. Aback I aboriginal downloaded the balloon adaptation and followed a few tutorials online, I instantly acquainted acceptable about the product. You know, it aloof acquainted so attainable — I didn’t accept to anguish about so abounding altered appearance in Photoshop that I wasn’t utilizing such as angel modification features. To be honest, aback I was aboriginal acquirements Photoshop, I was like, “am I declared to apperceive how to use this apparatus or is this aloof for accession cause?” Annual removed all the accidental actuality and alike fabricated the shortcuts attainable to use.There is annihilation absolutely that I don’t like about Sketch. At my level, I feel like I’m accepting abundant admonition from the plugins that so abounding acute bodies are alms for free. And, the actuality that best companies now accept confused to Annual agency that it charge be good, right? New accoutrement like Invision Studio are rolling out to enhance the workflow for designers and to abutting the gap amid designers and developers these days. While I don’t apperceive if Annual will still be the apparatus to use in the abutting few years, it’s the best important apparatus that I would acquaint architecture acceptance to pay for. It’s annual it!What admonition would you activity to those starting out in your field?Since I haven’t had continued acquaintance in the industry, I consistently feel alert about giving advice. But I can accommodate some admonition and claimed tips to acceptance who are still belief architecture at school. All of these are based on my claimed acquaintance and added abundant write-ups can be activate on my Medium.First, it’s acutely important to accumulate aggregate accessible (putting calm your “A game”) for attainable internships or job opportunities. The things you would charge in adjustment to administer for positions are mainly a portfolio website and a resume/CV. However, I alone capital to angle out from the blow of the applicants, so I absitively to add my Medium as able-bodied as my Dribbble account. I anticipation administration my account and adventures through alive blogging and alive on mini ancillary projects which focused heavily on Visual and Interaction Architecture could argue the recruiters and interviewers that I’m absolutely amorous about design. Dribbble was absolutely a absolute belvedere for me to upload my artistic assignment and appearance off my architecture abilities which eventually acted as a abstruse booze to argue others that I accept the skills.Next, I would acerb acclaim to apprehend a lot of articles, annual and blogs about the tech industry and UI/UX in general. Similarly, it’s additionally air-conditioned accessible if you are able to break abreast on the architecture trends, chase affecting bodies to see their assignment (get inspired) and best importantly, try to actor what they are accomplishing to activate with. Accepting able bulk of accomplishments ability with a focus on what you should apperceive and what is acceptable to apperceive will admonition you to bound convenance and apprentice things forth the way.

Football PSD Files and Photoshop Templates from ThemeForest - soccer photoshop templates | soccer photoshop templates For example, if you appetite to enhance your Visual Architecture skills, aloof go on Dribbble or Behance and try to archetype absolutely how others advised their apps, websites and added air-conditioned things. For me, it was a circadian task. Aback I aboriginal started to apprentice Sketch, I artlessly took a screenshot of a architecture that I absolutely admired and approved to actualize the aforementioned affair from scratch. It helped me to apprentice added about shadows, colors, typography, layouts and more. And afterwards a lot of practices, not alone did the apparatus become accessible for me to use but also, I acquainted abundant added adequate cogent others that I can visually achieve commodity attending great.The aftermost admonition I would activity is to be apprehensive and be honest about your work. Also, for the things that you don’t know, be accurate and appearance alertness to apprentice instead of appearance it. The architecture and the tech apple is too ample to be able to accept everything. If you are starting out fresh, try to focus a lot of your practices on acquirements acknowledging designs (mobile, web etc) instead of actuality balked about acquirements AR/VR/IoT concurrently. One footfall at a time is ideal, don’t try to jump about too abundant (unless you absolutely feel like that’s the way you appetite to pursue). Anyways, what I’m aggravating to say is that not alive commodity is accepted but with a lot of admonition and advisers out there, you’ll be able to apprentice and bolt up appealing quickly. All it takes is time, accomplishment and the alive passion.What makes you smile and adore life?Before I got married, sitting bottomward with my admired aliment while watching movies or my admired shows were one of my admired hobbies. Also, I was a aggressive gamer who played League of Legends day and night which I admired doing. Added than that, I played soccer account with my friends, afraid out for drinks and catholic to places that I capital to visit.But a lot of things accept afflicted anytime aback I got affiliated and afterwards my son was born. With such a time crisis and accepting to booty on responsibilities of a ancestor and a husband, a lot of the things that I acclimated to adore by myself has been put to the side. Sometimes I absence the old canicule but all of that is abandoned aback I see my ancestors smile and laugh. On the way aback home with balmy aliment sitting in my car, I already see my wife’s aflame face as anon as I footfall central the house. There, I additionally see my son who’s still a crawler, greeting me with “dada!”To be frank, I’ve never absurd myself accepting affiliated this aboriginal and accepting a child. Aback my wife was pregnant, I was still a apprentice at Georgia Tech, aggravating to amount out my way in the architecture acreage with an internship to acquisition for the Summer and a full-time job afterwards graduation. The burden I had on my amateur fabricated me abstraction and convenance architecture day and night as able-bodied as to amount out a way to put aliment on the table for my family. At the end, I’m animated it formed out the way I had hoped. The adventure has aloof amorphous for me and I’m so aflame for all the joys that I’ll be accepting from it.Tell us a bit about your internship at Facebook. What was it like to be allotment of the architecture team?Although I can’t allocution in detail about the projects I formed on, I can say that my acquaintance at Facebook was phenomenal. Aback I was aboriginal continued an activity to accompany Facebook as an intern, I ran beyond the anteroom assorted times and shouted out loud saying, “Yes! I did it!” At the time, I acquainted like all my adamantine assignment for the accomplished several months had assuredly paid off (whew! I still bethink that day like it was yesterday). Shortly afterwards the action though, I bethink I began to agitation because I acquainted like there was way added things to apprentice and bolt up to. Accepting into Facebook was yet accession huge motivational agency for me to abide with the things that I was alive on.During my internship, I met so abounding accomplished bodies and throughout my internship, they helped me out in so abounding altered ways. With aloof three months advanced of me, I bare to get adequate with the space, get to apperceive my teammates and the artefact that I was activity to accord to. And to be honest, time confused so fast that I bare to get organized and accent what I bare to do on a account basis. Basically, I bare to be efficient, productive, active and best importantly, break motivated.Everyday there was commodity new that I abstruse and realized. First, I abstruse to bigger present my assignment in advanced of added designers and cantankerous anatomic teammates in adjustment to get affluent feedback. Accepting acknowledgment aboriginal and whenever all-important helped me to appearance my projects in the best way possible. As I alternate in presentations, affairs and architecture critiques, I boring became adequate with the amplitude of accepting acknowledgment from added bodies and to booty that acknowledgment and advance the solutions I was designing.In accession to that, I accomplished how important it is to body relationships with your teammates. Whenever I was ashore on commodity or had questions, I bare to apperceive who I could ability out to for answers. Aback allurement for help, I bare to be alert of their time and already I accustomed the help, I absolutely bare to acknowledge them for demography time to admonition me. And afore all that, it was up to me to apprentice about their responsibilities and roles aural the team. To admonition me with that, I set up one-on-one affairs with anniversary associates of my aggregation during my aboriginal few weeks.When I reflect aback on my internship at Facebook, one of the acumen why I admired it so abundant was because my managers were accessible in so abounding ways. Kevin Charboneau (my absolute intern manager) and Matt Turpin both formed adamantine to adviser me throughout my activity and sat bottomward with me whenever I had questions affective forward. From them, I abstruse so abounding admired acquaint as to how I should finer present my assignment and body up a case for my projects with a solid botheration statement. I additionally abstruse how accepting a able action to break the botheration as able-bodied be aflame to do so are capital to the projects. I was absolutely advantageous to accommodated such accomplished and caring managers. Without their effort, I wouldn’t accept had a acknowledged internship.To this day, I’ll never balloon the balmy acceptable of my teammates and their efforts in acceptance me to accept such a admirable acquaintance at Facebook. This attainable June, I’ll be abutting Facebook as a full-time Artefact Artist and I’m air-conditioned aflame to see what’s advancing up abutting in my journey. This adventure is aloof 1% finished.If you like GB’s adventure and appetite to affix with him, analysis out his website, LinkedIn, Dribbble and Annual freebies on Annual App Sources.

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tylerocaillustration-blog · 6 years ago

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Illustration Part Five

Assignment: Seven Days

To start this assignment, I created a series of mind maps so I could figure out the media, methods and concept I was going to work with.

In this mind map, I considered different types of media I have explored throughout the course such as advertisement, book covers and magazine illustrations. I decided I was going to create a poster. I feel like I enjoyed creating a poster the most out of all of the assignments and exercises and it was a medium that I could explore freely and creatively.

Next I created a mind map to help me decide what my poster was going to be about. I was very interested in creating a poster advertising an exhibition or gallery. This covers a wide range of subjects I could choose from, it could be anything from a new history exhibition to an exhibit dedicated to film costumes. I eventually decided I was going to create my poster for an exhibit about a famous person. I then linked this to one of my notes “7 days in the life of someone. A week long exhibition about the life of that chosen person”

I chose two people I thought would be the most interesting to use for this project. I chose Frida Kahlo and Hunter S Thompson. Both of these influential people had wild and interesting lives so I thought they would be fun to portray in my artwork. I created a mind map focusing on both of my chosen people and also researched their lives and sketched images of them and people/things associated with them

After some deliberation, I realised that because Frida Kahlo is a renowned artist, it would be difficult to justify the poster design when her own artwork could just as easily be used to represent herself. I decided to use Hunter S Thompson as my main subject for the exhibition poster. I was excited to see how I would be able to portray him through style, colour and imagery. From here, I wrote my brief.

SEVEN DAYS - BRIEF

You will create a poster for a week long exhibition at a local museum that focuses on the life and work of Hunter S Thompson.The poster must be at an A3 size so it can be shrunk down to A4. You can choose any medium to create the final illustration but it must be in colour and it should express the personality of Hunter S Thompson. The illustration must show 7 different images that represent him, each aspect of the poster should come together so people instantly recognise that the exhibit is about Hunter S Thompson.

After researching some more about Hunter S Thompson, I created a mood board and produced some more sketchbook work so I could start to form ideas for my poster.

To capture the wild side of Hunter S Thompson’s life and the Gonzo movement. I used materials like charcoal, ink pen and pencil to create a rough look, I didn’t want the drawings to look too precise or neat as I felt it didn’t match the tone of the exhibition; However I also kept in mind that the images had to look recognisable.

As well as sketching Hunter S Thompson himself I also sketched objects and actions that I felt represented daily life for Hunter S Thompson such as smoking cigarettes and using his typewriter.

Whiskey - Hunter S Thompson was a heavy drinker and even encouraged interviewers to drink a glass of whiskey before answering any questions.

Gun - Hunter was a firearms and explosive enthusiast, he collected them and was a co-creator of the fourth amendment foundation, which assisted people defending themselves against search and seizure.

Cigarettes - Hunter’s choice of cigarette brand was the Dunhills and he smoked every day up until his death. Smoking is a part of his image, in most of the photos of him I found, he is smoking and even his characters are always smoking in his writing.

Typewriter - Writing novels and articles is what Hunter S Thompson was famous for. Some of his most popular novels were Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Rum diary and Hells Angels. He is the founder of the Gonzo journalism movement, which is a personal style of journalism that includes the reporter being part of the story and it can also contain fictional and satirical elements.

Las Vegas - Hunter S Thompson travelled around whilst he was writing, he is well known for his road trip around Las Vegas which he wrote about in one of his novels, the reader is never really sure what is real and what isn't.

Hat and sunglasses - Hunter was known for wearing bucket hats and aviator sunglasses. These accessories are frequently used in artwork and costumes portraying Hunter. His specific style has even influenced the fashion world:

https://www.vogue.com/article/hunter-s-thompson-style-fashion-sunglasses-coat

Motorcycle - Hunter immersed himself in the lifestyle of the dangerous motorcycle group “The Hell’s Angels” in the 1960′s, he rode with them and wrote about them in graphic detail. He developed a passion for riding his motorcycle and even wrote about it.

Next, I digitally coloured some of my illustrations.I used blue to represent the sad and depressing aspects of Hunter S Thompson’s writing and red to represent the chaotic, destructive aspects.

After this I had to start planning on how I was going to layout my illustrations. I produced some different templates to experiment with.

I felt like both blue on white and red on white wasn’t very interesting, it gave the poster a corporate look and the straight edges and font seemed too simple and boring for my intended design. I needed to find a way to bring more character and expression to my poster. I decided to load the charcoal drawings into one of the templates to experiment with. I adjusted the levels of the image so that the charcoal showed up a lot harsher and bolder. This was already starting to stand out more than my previous poster layouts.

I looked back to my visual reference and mind maps for inspiration. I found I was inspired by the cover illustration by Ralph Steadman for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I decided to use the same colour scheme as he had. All of the colours together closely resemble fire which could represent danger or violence. It is also visually more stimulating than my previous colour palettes and people may associate the colour scheme with the book cover, which would help to express the themes and topic of the exhibition.

I used the paint tool to give my charcoal illustrations a yellow background, and for the poster background, I filled in the colour so that it was dark orange, this helped make the main illustrations stand out. I also added messy, scribbled borders to my 7 images to give it a more chaotic and rugged appearance. I then used the paint tool and with the charcoal brush quickly wrote some details of the exhibition just to get an idea of how the font should look. I also decided after finishing the colours and font that it might be interesting to add some small details. In “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” The book starts with the main character ‘Raoul Duke’ hallucinating bats. A lot of people remember and quote this scene so I thought adding in some bats could provide some insight. I also painted some red trees in the background, this which I thought added a stark and strange charm to the piece.

I wanted to hand draw the charcoal borders and writing myself for a more authentic and raw style. I printed the black and white draft onto A3 and reworked the illustration to the desired effect.

After reworking the image using charcoal, I scanned it into Photoshop to add colour. I decided that the pattern I originally intended to create was a bit too busy, so I added some faded red paint strokes in Photoshop for texture and pattern as well as the bats.

Charcoal/ Photoshop (297mm x 420mm)

Overall, I feel that I carried out a successful brief. I think my final piece exaggerates the wild life of Hunter S Thompson and still manages to work as a strong exhibition poster focused on 7 days. It was great to be able to work with charcoal again and create interesting work.

#illustrationpartfive #assignment5

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xluckytheninjax · 7 years ago

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Watch Dogs: A closer look at an OC of mine

So,basically,I’m bored.I was looking for an excuse to draw,and looking for one of those 10+ character/OC memes with the randomass questions,but found this instead.It’s an OC meme/bio template,found here by Mister-Saturn on dA.

This thing is long,but it covers a lot.So,yeee.

Who better to go depth about than WD!Kayla,since I’m all about Watch Dogs these days?A lot of this stuff is copied from the original post I made...i also removed some of the things since I have not thought about it as far

Basics

Full Name:

Kayla Horizon

Nicknames:

Kay/Ninja/Ghost/Lucky

Hacker allias/screename:

N1nJ4 {Ninja}

Sex:

Female

Age:

23 years old

Birth Date:

03/03/1995 {if the WD world took place in 2018}

Birthplace:

In Gauteng,South Africa

Current Residence:

Close to San Francisco,a great damn house

Appearance

Height:

5’11

Eyes:

“Not every day you see someone with heterochromia.”

Left eye is blue,right eye is green

Hair:

Original hair color is dirty blonde Currently ombre:Brown - Dirty blonde - Blonde

Long hair,shaved shorter on the right side.Leaving it loose or tying it in a ponytail or something depends on how she’s feeling,and whether it’s mission time or not.Can’t work if you’ve got hair in your face.

Physical Flaws/Birthmarks/Scars:

Huge scar through her left eye,and a small one through her lip on the right.There are some other faint scars here and there,nothing too major though.

Lots of freckles

Usual Attire:

{I’ll post the clothing rambles from the original}

Has a variety of beanies,snapbacks and caps

Has one pair of sunglasses,aviators,as the rest got broken

She wears glasses,unless out on missions

Has a lot of t-shirts and hoodies

Has a fair amount of long sleeved shirts

Has a lot of jeans,shorts and sweatpants

Owns a few pairs of sneakers and track-shoes,and two pairs of combat boots

Has a few bandannas/masks

Has literally one fancy shirt she wears with a vest,bowtie,black pants and sneakers

Went to Swelter Skelter as some sort of glow in the dark Matryoshka-fied skeleton

Doesn’t wear any jewelry apart from her piercings and some random bracelets

Carries a shoulder bag which is clearly bigger on the inside {otherwise,how would you fit a laptop,drone,RC rover,and some other stuff in there?} With some badges and Dedsec decals

Hoodies are 60% of the time oversized

PJs are a random t-shirt and boardshorts {Onesie in the winter over that}

Has a hoodie that says 'Ghost’ and '07’ on the back {Aka my favorite Mystery skulls song and lucky number}

Tattoos/Piercings:

A lot of ear piercings on both sides,and a tongue piercing

A bunch of stars on her left wrist,a small ‘x’ on top of her right wrist,and a ’=D’ on her back {right shoulder}

Other Accessories:

She wears a lot of bracelets ‘n stuff,and glasses

Personality

Personality Traits:

Stubborn

Cares a lot for her family,friends and workpals {who’re also friends}

Loyal to DedSec

Not easily influenced

Quiet

Overthinks everything

Sarcastic

Not easily intimidated {Or so she claims}

Happy with what her life is,even between all the stress and overthinking.

Has some trust issues.The type where she gets this feeling in her gut telling her whether a person can be trusted or not.She trusted her workpals immediately,she trusted Ray immediately…as an example of who she didn’t trust,Horatio’s co-worker.And she wasn’t even on that mission.

Usually keeps things that wouldn’t be important to the current objective(s)/mission(s) to herself

It’s a good thing her face is blurred out like the others’,cause she’s camera shy.She hates getting photos taken of her,she hates looking at the camera…unless of course,she’s the one taking a photo of scenery or of friends.If you’re gonna point a camera of any sort to her face,she will not hesitate to break it.

Very protective over the things and people she cares about.So,you wreck her car? You insult DedSec or target her pals? You mess with Sitara’s artwork? You kidnap other DedSec members? Mess with DedSec’s systems? You mess with her dog or drag her family into things you shouldn’t? You better start running then,pal.And make it fast.

Trained herself to not cry in front of people.It’s harder than it looks.Anger also gets bottled up.One day she’ll snap….probably.Then all chaos and hell will break loose.

Loses a lot of sleep thinking

Stresses over nothing

Introvert

Reckons anything can be solved by an asskicking

Takes her job seriously,but,in between she likes messing with people

Claims she doesn’t care,but she cares too much

Honesty,loyalty,respect and trust are big things to her.As explained before,she follows her gut on who to trust and who not.If you’re gonna betray DedSec,you might end up dead.Everybody lies,it’s human nature,but that’s where trust and loyalty comes in with honesty.The three walk hand in hand,really.Respect? You respect her,she respects you,as easy as that.

-Because she keeps a lot of things to herself,a lot of her personality remains a mystery.

What annoys her?

A lot of things,don’t worry about it

What makes her happy?

Again,a lot of things,like animals {especially baby animals and dogs} and games,no worries.

Greatest Fears/Phobias:

Fear of needles and a slight fear of tight spaces and heights

Patience Level:

Really patient depending on who she’s dealing with

Self-esteem:

Might seem really confident,and she really does seem to be that way,but in reality,her self-esteem is pathetic

Hobbies/Interests:

Gaming

Streetracing

Drawing

Hacking

Writing

Collecting Vinyl/pop figures

Favorites:

Color - Purple/Blood red

Food - Pizza

Animal - Giraffes/dogs of all types {including wild ones like wolves and hyenas}/rhinos

Clothing - Hoodies/t-shirts

School Subject - “When I was in highschool....IT and Life science/Biology“

Music (genre) - Punk rock/alternative rock/rock n roll/pop music

Books (genre) - Adventure,mystery,action,comedy

Movies (genre) - ^^^

Season - Autumn/Fall

Time of Day - Night time

Least Favorites:

Color - Pink

Food - Bananas/Onions

Animal - Doesn’t really have a least favorite animal...except if humans count

Clothing - Skirts ‘n dresses

School Subject - Health Class/PE

Music (genre) - Classical/Rap

Books (genre) - Romance

Movies (genre) - ^^

Season - Winter

Time of Day - Early morning

Personal

A brief description of your character’s history:

Born South African,moved to San Francisco.Parents also in SF,while sister moved to South Korea with a friend.Been living there for 5 years.Hacking’s been a big hobby since she was younger.She kept it a secret from her parents,to avoid being lectured and banned from her computer.Big gamer since she was a teenager.Became an intern at a police station while still at university.It doesn’t make sense why an IT student would decide on working at a police station,but eyyy,whatever.Got promoted for solving some huge computer related cases through hacking.Two years back she was called to investigate something not even closely related to hacking computers.They reckoned she would be able to handle it.Went undercover.Had to take on dangerous 'jobs’ and compete in races in order to infiltrate and take down a ruthless international crime smuggling syndicate, consisting of illegal street racers and car thieves.She ended up leaving her temporary job because of the amount of times the police chased after her for street racing,resisting arrest and all the property damage.Y'know,going too deep undercover.Wrecked a lot of cars,got rid of a lot of thugs,hacked a lot cameras,streetlights and other things to finish her job and to get away.After that was over,she made sure to erase all of that off her profile on the ctOS database.Had to do a lot of things,a lot of dangerous things,to get noticed by DedSec,and eventually got in.It wasn’t really necesary that she put her life in danger like that,but she did anyway.Go big or go home…I won’t go much into detail about that because I haven’t thought as far.

{This mess….I’ll fix eventually.It’s random,it doesn’t make sense,it isn’t how real life works,but whatever.}

Political Preference:

“Anything’s better than where we are now,honestly”

Darkest Secret:

“All of ‘em are the same amount of darkness.I’ve done a lot of bad stuff,killed a lot of people...bad people of course....I think the worst thing I’ve done is probably causing a huge car crash during one of the races while I was undercover...”

Guilty Pleasures:

None?

Does she keep a diary or journal?

Yep,shockingly enough,she has a journal.She doesn’t use it as a diary,to write the day’s happenings,not always.She uses it to write notes down,draw scribbles,and to write down thoughts,things she has to do,etc.

Relationships

Family Living With:

She lives with her dog and a lot of house plants.Yeah.

Family Situation:

Her parents live in close range to her,which was just luck,honestly,and her sister {21 years old} lives in South Korea with a friend

Former Friends:

She had a group of friends back home,which she slowly lost contact with after high school...well,after the one’s wedding anyway.

Current Friends:

The main DedSec crew {Marcus,Sitara,Wrench,Josh,Ray} and some of the other DedSec members in the area.Was friends with Horatio too...but as we know....he’s gone.

Former Love Interest:

A guy from school...we’re not gonna go into that

Current Love Interest:

None

Former Enemies:

Former racing buddies...the bunch from when she went undercover...police,kinda?

Current Enemies:

The same people,plus the gangs,Blume,etc

What do his/her friends like about her?

She’s a good firend and teammate,who cares a lot more for them than herself,she always sticks to mission orders while still having fun

What do his/her friends dislike about her?

The fact that she cares more for others than herself {it’s good and bad},always getting into trouble and almost gets herself killed somehow

Why do his/her enemies hate her?

That’s some streetracing history

The fact that she’s a hacker/DedSec member

Always ruining plans with her pals

Occupation:

She’s a member of DedSec,so,she’s a hacker.

As a cover/dayjob she works at a huge gaming store on some days {Every second day except for weekends}.It’s just a temporary job for now.She ended up applying for some programming job,like her parents wanted.Just waiting to hear back.

Relationship Status:

Single,no crushes or anything of the sort. “Had to leave everyone behind since we moved here….went to uni,didn’t find anyone that’s my type…and some things that happened in the past leave me in this state where I am against romance I guess? Not like an abusive relationship or heartbreak or anything like that…just things I’m not gonna talk about.”

Virgin?

Yep

Hate anyone?

Obviously - can’t have enemies for nothin’

Killed anyone?

Again,that’s obvious

Would you and your character get along?

Yeah,she’s my persona after all

Would you like to hang out with your character?

Hell yeah

Would your character like you?

Not sure on that one

Abilities/Achievements

Achievements:

Took down that whole group of people stealing cars ‘n stuff {those NFS:U shenanigans}

Finished high school and she finished studying at the university too

Became a famous gamer {No hacking/cheats}

Still being alive is also an achievement

Failures:

Got innocent people killed

Almost got Marcus and the others killed a few times

Skills:

That’s part of the ‘other’ section I’m adding to the thing

How strong is she?

Fairly strong

Health

Diet:

She follows a healthy diet {she ain’t no vegan/vegetarian though},but she doesn’t mind eating sweet things now and then.The girl lives on Pepsi,some other sodas,lots of water and energy drinks.

Exercise:

She likes exercising to keep herself in shape for missions and such - jogs from time to time,goes to a gym,ye.

Physical Health Problems:

Nothing major or deadly...nothing as far as I know?

Mental Health Problems:

Does being a bit of an insomniac count?

Hygiene:

Amazing hygiene,very important to this human.She isn’t one of those extremely clean freaks though,who are afriad of germs ‘n getting their hands dirty.

Situations (What would they do or how would they react?)

Your character is called up for an award and is congratulated.

She’s be happy and accept,but she won’t go bragging about it or anything.

Your character didn’t win any awards and watches as someone else is congratulated.

She’s be really damn happy for that person,unless it’s someone with a hidden agenda/someone of evil nature.

Your character is winning at a game of some kind.

Again,she’d be happy,but doesn’t brag or go and insult the other team {if it’s a multiplayer game}

Your character lost at a game of some kind.

You win some,you lose some.She shrugs,and encourages her team that they’ll do better next time {again,if it’s a multiplayer game}.

Your character has a crush on someone and must find out how to tell them.

Whelp,like me,she’s probably not gonna tell the person.Fear of getting rejected ‘n all.

Your character tells that person and they agree to go out with them.

She makes sure to get enough advice so she doesn’t screw up.Real nervous and flustered.

Your character tells that person and gets rejected.

That’s why we don’t tell the person in the first place.

Your character is asked out by someone they like.

Very blushy and flustered,speaks gibberish,and would probably say yes.She wouldn’t trust it at first,but if she knows the true intentions of the person,she’d agree.

Your character is asked out by someone they don’t like that way.

To spare feelings,she’d still agree,but if it goes a bit too far/awkward,she’ll explain.

Your character’s crush is revealed by someone else.

She doesn’t have a crush at the moment,so ha

Your character loses a family member or a close friend.

That actually happened...losing Horatio was a painful time,full of sadness and crying.She wasn’t as close to him,but,yeah.

Your character loses a pet.

Crying for a million years

Your character loses a very important personal belonging.

If it was stolen,she’ll track the person down and kick their ass.if it was lost through anything else,she’d be sad,mad,and probably see if she can replace it.

Your character loses something that they were borrowing.

“Well shit” Time to go on a crazy search for the item.

Your character is stolen from.

Track ‘em down,and kick their ass

Your character is offered drugs/alcohol/a cigarette.

Hates alcohol,smoking and drugs.Thus,she doesn’t drink at all,she has never smoked,never done drugs or vaping or anything of the sort. if you’re gonna give her alcohol,she’s not gonna drink it.If you’re gonna give her a cigarrette,she’ll throw it away.If you give her drugs,she’ll give them right back.

Your character is publicly humiliated in front of a lot of people.

Wouldn’t be the first time.She shrugs it off,but,it’ll haunt her thoughts for quite a while.

Your character killed someone.

She’s killed a lot of people...bad people,so,nothing big.

Your character witnessed a murder.

She can’t handle death of the innocent,so usually when witnessing the murder of an innocent person or animal,she’ll murder whoever did it.She gets this weird feeling inside,like a mini heart attack or so.

Your character is being argued with.

She’s stubborn,so don’t think she’ll give up on arguments so easily.If it’s someone she cares about,she’ll accept their statement rather than arguing.

Your character trips and hurts herself.

Welcome to clumsy R us.Since she was little,she tripped a lot and hurt herself.Scraped knees ‘n legs,scraped elbows,arms and hands.It’s happened so much before,that she doesn’t even feel the pain anymore.

Your character is given a gift they’ve always wanted.

Really thankful,thanks the person a million times,makes sure what she’ giving is put to use.

Your character is given a gift they couldn’t care less about.

She is still thankful,and still makes use of whatever she’s given.

Your character arrives home after a bad day.

She just showers,eats,then goes to watch TV,play games,listen music or whatever,and goes to bed early.

Your character arrives home after a good day.

Pretty much the same thing...just less angry/sad and she goes to bed whenever she feels like.

Other

{self added section to repost the rest of the stuff}

Working for: DedSec,what did you expect? She was going to go work for those dumbass monkeys,or the rat cult? Pff,nah.

Cars:

Personal car is the Ford Ranger truck she got ported in from home. It’s white with black decals and raptor kit.The thing’s a beast.

Other car she keeps in the garage is the Lotus Elise she used to streetrace with.Purple with a white stripe down the middle.This thing is upgraded to the max {of course what garages can do,plus some things only a hacker can pull off}.Best part is,it doesn’t look like it belongs on the /shittycarmods subreddit.

During the day,while on missions,she has some randomass car/truck/four wheeler/motorbike she 'borrows’ or the one car she’s been putting some DedSec decals on {Sitara’s design,of course}….Then there’s the DedSec police cruiser too.

Pets: She has a Great Dane named Trompie.Her parents watch the dog during the day {or night depending on missions} and if she has to stay at the Hackerspace/work on missions all day,she takes him along.He behaves,and doesn’t annoy anyone…unless he sits on the couch.He’s got his own little space,with food,water and a blanket to sit on,plus newspapers.Even got toys.He’s 7 months old,and like his owner,he has heterochromia.The name’s Afrikaans,since well,can’t forget your roots,can ya? Wears a DedSec bandana over his collar.Pretty smart,but he has a thing for chasing after the drones and little RC rovers.Was not a big fan of Wrench Jr.

It took a few weeks for Wrench to get used to the dog.He didn’t even notice it until it was lazing on the couch next to Mickey while she was working.It was a scene to experience.

He doesn’t go along on missions for obvious reasons {Micks doesn’t want him to get hurt/killed…and she’s pretty sure he’d be in the way…or set off an explosive or something}.

Random shiz:

Main hangout is the main Hackerspace from the game.Second being the Silicon Valley one.

Has gone on some missions with Marcus {the ones where multiple things need to be done or where it’s going to take more than one person to do,but it’s only one thing that needs to be stolen/hacked}.

When looked at with the profiler her profile says

ctOS.exe has stopped responding

Memes 'n Dreams

How 'bout nah

Also does the parkouring,climbing high buildings and messing with cranes

Likes the skeleton Dedsec paint on her cars/motorbikes

Almost shot Lenni quite a few times - too many witnesses stopped her from doing so

Finds it entertaining to help Wrench {he’s a really amusing guy to be around,alright?}

Graffiti is great

Reckons a 'Josh protection squad’ should be made {Don’t harass him,pls}

Sees Ray as some sort of cool hippie uncle

Doesn’t smoke but always has a lighter to set stuff on fire if needed

Named her drone and rover she printed.Harvey for the rover and Zippy for the drone.Why,you might ask? Why not? Their names are painted on the sides of them.

“There’s another reason I get called Ninja.It’s not just the screenname.“

Sneaking/Stealth skill +100

Parkour skill +90

Agility +87

Speed +85

Martial arts and self defence +90

Even with skill,she’s really damn clumsy

Is sometimes going out on missions instead of Marcus,if Marcus needs to rest or recover.Goes on own little side missions as well

“First day on the damn job and I get my hoodie stolen by my workpal.”

When out on missions during the day,she wears a range of shirts/hoodies.On nightly missions she wears all black.

Weapons of choice are:

*Stungun

*SVD/other snipers {Including the Stun sniper}

*Shotguns

*Baseball bat

*Knives,especially flip knives

When hanging out at the Hackerspace {with nothing else to do} she’s sitting with her laptop or working on a PC.Either hacking,working stuff out,or searching useful stuff.

Her phone has a little charm hanging on the side.It’s a mini Deadpool logo

Always there to lend a hand

While she has told the others about the street racing stuff after first joining,she literally never talked about it again, hoping they’d forget

Isn’t one for cursing too much,but in some situations it’s needed to calm a person down…will not hesitate to swear in another language.

Fingerguns

Doesn’t drink coffee or tea,or hot chocolate.

Always carries one of her flip knives with her.

Never reveals location of her house or her parents’. Usually kills the cameras temporarily in the area when she’s driving home.

Night owl/always exhausted pigeon

Likes fire and setting things on fire {Do you know how great it is to set gangs’ supplies ablaze just to spite them?}

Also a fan of explosives.Don’t give her any though….she’ll probably blow stuff up she’s not supposed to.

Not that good a swimmer.She can swim well enough to keep herself from sinking,but she ain’t no olympic medallist.

Likes camping

Probably became part of the team a bit before our boy Marcus.A few weeks before,probably.

References to movies/games/songs and puns 100%

Loves animals,and pets every single dog she can

Doesn’t have the cleanest resume.Street racing,property damage,murder,hacking,breaking into private property,stealing {data,high-tech weapons,etc},car theft,resisting arrest,the list goes on.

Wishes grappling hooks were actually a thing {simlar to those of JC3 or spy movies}

Loves Deadpool

Always has earphones in the ears if not listening to others talk or on missions,and still hears everything she’s supposed to around her. {I own this skill,so it ain’t impossible}

Loving the zombie apocalypse/post apocalyptic stuff

Loves drawing,that’s why graffiti is also great

While she dresses like a hipster/geek {with some badass Dedsec stuff in between} most of the time,she’s an emo/punk soul.

Can’t dance to save her life

Reckons that her haircut is shit,and that it’s the product from getting drunk with friends.Thus,the hate for alcohol grows stronger

Likes Vaperwave and Retrowave stuff

Avoids clubs of any sort

Mosquito magnet

Can program and reprogram a lot of things,such as robots,drones,hell,if she tries hard enough she might be able to do the same to cars,but building/rebuilding/re-engineering things…that’s difficult.The only building related skill she has is upgrading and modding her drone and RC rover,along with fixing up/upgrading/modding cars.

Learned a lot about cars while undercover.

Did some graffiti work for Sitara.Got a badass galaxy DedSec design on the side of some building,and a little DedSec-fied Undertale reference one too.

Was very disturbed when that whole thing with the DedSec parody and strip club owner went down.Almost had a heart attack when Marcus told the bunch that the Bratva threw him in the trunk of a car that’s in the process of being crushed.

When threatening people {Bad people,'course} she likes saying that she’s going to snap the person like a stick

House isn’t as big a mess as one would think {Compared to Ray’s old place/the silo and the motel room where Aiden lived before it got blown up}.The hacking related things,such as her computer,laptop,at least nine monitors,a ton of harddrives,etc,are in her room,and there’s no sign of anything of the sort outside of that.

Parents still oblivious,still don’t know she’s a hacker,still don’t know about her street racing ways.She prefers it that way….that’s why nobody sees the garage or bedroom.

Not a fan of attention,would rather keep a low profile and let her workpals get the fame.But of course,when there’s some bad stuff on DedSec,she won’t be afraid to show off her opinion and stick with the others

It’s great being sometimes-partners with Marcus

It’s also great going off on missions on your own

“Screw you,you son of a bitch.”

*Proceeds to flip person off as it’s the worst she’ll do before it switches to violence and knife threats*

“Viva La Resistance/Rebellion” in a really bad French accent

“You see this knife? It’s my knife. What I’m gonna do with it? Shove it down your throat if you don’t shut the hell up.”

“The name’s Dead Inside.How ya doin’?”

“You look like a terrorist.”

“I promise you,I am NOT a terrorist.”

“What are you then?”

“A ninja.”

“Are you some kind of weirdass goth person?”

“Nin-ja.”

She has abandonment issues,that’s why she prefers doing missions solo.Means she can’t lose anyone while on missions or get betrayed/left behind.

#that took a lot longer to do than I expected #but have some new suff and stuff from the original post #still working on my trainwreck of a oneshot #still working on my picture #character bio #watch dogs #watch dogs 2 #watch dogs oc

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swipestream · 7 years ago

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The Big Impact of Little (Crappy) Crafts

Today’s guest post is by Tomcollectice, and talks about how game crafting doesn’t have to be phenomenal artistry to be effective at the table. – Steady Hands John

Every Sunday before I game I find myself loading my car with this:

And a backpack full of books and notes and stuff.

Plus any food or snacks I feel like bringing.

Every week I arrive to my friendly gaggle of murder hobos loaded down like a hobo myself. I suppose its only fitting. This probably sounds like a pain, but I just haven’t figured out a better way to transport 80-ish modular dungeon tiles, 6 hill pieces, about a dozen cave pieces, various scatter pieces, stalagmite (stalactite? I always forget which is which), and the myriad stairs, tables, chairs (yes, chairs, in scale), beds, tents, doors, treasure chests, spell templates, one teeny tiny camp fire, and an actual bag of rocks.

I blame this man. And this one. And this one. And probably this one too. There are others. They’re all blame-worthy as well. And here’s the punchline: I’m a really, really crappy artist.

This should come as good news to anyone who’s labeled themselves “non-artistic”. Seriously, I can barely handle stick figures. Or straight lines. Or even measurements. And somehow I’m carting around Murder Hobo Magic Fun Time Land every Sunday. If my crusty punk ass can do this, trust me, you can too. And that’s because of the other good news: if you think you’re bad at art stuff, you are probably wrong.

I’m the first person to point and laugh at my theater degree, but something my artsy fartsy education instilled in me was an evangelical faith that everyone has a bit of art in them. Crafting is probably the best proof I have of this fact. And as obnoxious as I find it when my brethren wax philosophical about art like it were The Force, it is here where I start to see their point. Five years after my first effort turning frozen pizza packaging into a wizard’s tower, this little hobby within a hobby is impacting my life in unexpectedly large ways.

One of my favorite things about tabletop gaming is its ability to bring people together. It’s always brought to mind images of telling stories around a fire. Crafting only compounds this feeling. And quite frankly, this happens even if you feel like you’ve made total crap. This even happens when you try to make total crap! Calling upon all the best talent available to any toddler of moderately average intelligence, I once farted out something vaguely giant-like because I found myself needing an impromptu giant mini. And by mini, I mean “sharpie scribble sized to scale”. I might be biased. But something about it makes me smile. It made my players smile, too, which is all that matters. It made the game more fun.

Beware: the mighty scribble of doom and death and more doom!!

That fun is why you find yourself cutting organic egg cartons into endless rock-like shapes, or scoping out dollar general cardboard dumpsters like you’re prospecting, or making a point of ordering hot wings with your pizza because you need the foam clam shell to make rows of bricks. And something happens along the way: you get halfway decent. I don’t know when it happened, but my projects went from “good job, Timmy”, to “I guess those things could look like that”, to “holy crap, that looks like it’s on purpose”! And somehow, without noticing, I had become the patron saint of murder hobos, forming the world they murdered in from the giant plastic cases hauled across the various planes.

Let me tell you what I told myself getting into this: little art leads to big art. And with that, something very important happened: I gave myself permission to suck.

And now that I had so much stuff, that stuff turned into the thing that caught people’s eye and brought them into the hobby. Bringing in new players is always a good thing, but this also includes people like my niece and nephew, and my stepson. My nephew received his players handbook, monster manual, and dungeon master’s guide with a polite, bewildered “thank you” when he opened them as gifts. After seeing the game played with tiles and crafts, he “gets it”, he’s totally into it, and he’s bringing friends over when we play. My stepson, this strange little human I find myself trying to raise without the over protective neurosis I apply to my cats, has grown a bit obsessed. He gives me teen angst and attitude if we can’t play. Which means I have a teenager that I am simultaneously responsible for and not related to wanting to spend time with me . . . for hours. He even asked me to show him how to make stuff. How does that even happen??

Let me tell you what I told myself getting into this: little art leads to big art. And with that, something very important happened: I gave myself permission to suck. And I could not have chosen a better community in which to suck. I barely dip my toe in the online crafting universe, and I can already tell you it is one of the most friendly and supportive places on earth. Imagine a place where the internet actually lives up to its potential to be more than just a haven for stupid angry political rants and stupid angry ranting porn. Tabletop crafting online is that impossibly good and ideal place. It actually exists, and it is a land of glue guns, cardboard, and 50 cent Walmart paint.

So if any of you are watching crafting channels, or looking at my craptastic pictures, and wondering if this is something you can or should do, let me answer that for you now: yes and yes. I can’t promise any nerdy Hallmark moments, but I can tell you, emphatically, this is a rabbit hole you will enjoy falling into. I don’t presume to be an example to anyone, but in this case, I encourage any and all to be like me: suck. Suck hard. Suck a lot. Suck spectacularly.

Happy gaming. I should probably write the article Gnome Stew actually asked for now. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts below.

The Big Impact of Little (Crappy) Crafts published first on http://ift.tt/2zdiasi

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fesahaawit · 7 years ago

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The One Good Thing About Being Busy

Anyone who knows me in real life (and that includes those of you who read this blog regularly) knows I hate being busy. There’s no better or more eloquent way to say it. I just hate it. I hate trying to manage multiple projects with multiple deadlines and I hate having a full calendar. Not having enough downtime in my schedule to relax and enjoy life fills me with anxiety, hurts my sleep habits and even affects what I eat/consume. That’s the reason I started this year of slow living experiments, and especially the slow work experiment: because I felt anxious just knowing how busy parts of 2017 were going to be.

You might be surprised then when I tell you how being busy actually helped me this month. Because it was an extremely busy month. Aside from the few months where I was finishing writing the book, editing the book, etc., October felt like one of the busiest months of the year. I had a little bit of anxiety and I didn’t sleep much for the last week of it. My eating/consumption habits were pretty healthy, but every time I felt my anxiety creep back in, I knew I had to make a decision. And that’s exactly what being busy helped me do this month: make decisions.

I know I am not unique in the fact that I like to dream big and hope I can get a lot done in a little amount of time. It’s actually a pretty classic move: assuming we can get a lot done, that is. So, we over-promise, over-commit and fill our calendars with an overwhelming number of deadlines. And then the anxiety, stress, and gloom and doom attitude sets in. If we let this go on and continue to repeat this pattern, we either start resenting our bosses or clients OR we start doing a bad job of everything.

I had some really big and ambitious dreams for what I could accomplish in the last two months of this year. And for what it’s worth, if it was any other year, I do think I could have done it all. But it’s not any other year. In a little over two months, my first book is coming out. (!!!) And because it’s my first book, I had no idea how much work would go into promoting and launching it. So, I had all these deadlines laid out for other projects I wanted to do, and it all looked like it could come together pretty easily. And then my publicist told me I would start doing interviews at the end of October, and my beautiful colour-coded calendar blew up in my face.

That conversation took place a few weeks ago, but I continued to spend most of October thinking I could bring at least one of my new projects to life before the new year. I kept working on it, sent some files to my designer and felt ok about the progress I was making. But I didn’t feel great about it. I knew I could do better, if I had more time. After tracking my hours, I knew I was already working 35-40 (productive) hours/week and my brain couldn’t seem to handle much more. The only way to get more time would’ve been to sleep less, and that’s not better for anyone. So, instead, I had to make some executive decisions.

PS: For anyone who is considering tracking their time, I can’t write a how-to post about that because I just made a scribbly mess in my planner! But here are two posts that might help you: ways to do it + how it helps you.

I could list all the new projects I was going to work on and explain the number of executive decisions I made, but it could all be summed up in one sentence: I decided to do what I already do well, just a little bit better. And since you now know I’m not a huge fan of things like sales funnels, and will always put people over profit, I thought I’d do something a little different. Rather than write content that could try to sell you on these things, I’m going to tell you exactly when they will be available. I know each of these things isn’t for everyone, but they might be for you. So here are the details:

RIGHT NOW: Simple Year 2018 is Open for Early Reg!

When Courtney Carver asked if I wanted to contribute to Simple Year 2016, my first thought was: ME!?!? A group of the minimalism + simple living bloggers I looked up to had come together and created a course that could help people simplify their lives, and I was being invited to join them? I couldn’t believe it. And when I talked to Courtney on the phone for the first time, I honestly felt like I was talking to a celebrity. Two years later, I feel extremely grateful to call her my friend, along with many of the other course contributors. I can also tell you that the lessons in Simple Year have changed my life for the better (particularly the ones on digital + relationships).

I’ve also received some amazing feedback about my content, which I teach every July:

If this feels like a course you’d want to invest in for yourself, early registration is open right now until November 14th at 12pm (noon) EST. It’s $199 USD (less than $17/month) right now, and will go up to $249 USD in January.

NOVEMBER 20: The Year of Less + Book Tour

In a few weeks, I’ll be sharing some exciting news about my book! I would also love to do a mini book tour, but I will need your help to make it happen. If you would be interested in helping me come to your city next year, please stay tuned! This is the project I am most excited about. <3

NOVEMBER 27: Mindful Budgeting 2018 Planners

I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t going to create 2018 planners. The list of reasons for this was long. I was worried that it would be too much to promote these + the book at the same time. I was worried that some people might confuse the planners with the book, and order it thinking it was going to be a memoir and then be horribly disappointed to have a planner show up at their door instead. (Did my anxiety make these stories up? That’s a topic for another day, lol.) I also couldn’t find a printer in North America who could use double-loop wire binding and make them even more helpful. That didn’t happen in time, so I wasn’t going to create new planners.

When I shared this news with the existing Mindful Budgeting Facebook group, the reaction can only be described as: supportively-disappointed. You were so understanding of my reasons, but also said you didn’t care what it looked like and just wanted a new planner for next year. So, I’m making that for you! It’ll look/feel the same but, with the help and suggestions from current users, I am adding a few new templates that will make it just a little bit better. Thank you for this feedback, friends. It’s another example of why we’re better when we work together.

If it looks like November is going to be another “busy” month, you’re right—in a sense. But by giving myself permission to push my big ideas aside until next year, I am now able to put my time and energy into projects I already do well, just a little bit better. Q4 is always my busiest season, and you guys have come to know that about me. If I was a “smarter” business owner, I would space these things out, so it doesn’t feel like I’m telling you about so many things at the same time. But that’s just not how my business works! I love a new calendar year, and I love working on projects that revolve around a year—and heck, I even wrote a book about a year of my life, haha. So, this is it. It all comes at once, and then we can spend the rest of the year talking about real life. :)

Delaying some of these projects will affect my income and my finances. I had done some projections for how much I could earn in Q4, and those numbers will be much lower than I had expected. But that’s ok right now! I would rather do a few things well and still have time to enjoy life than push myself to reach unrealistic deadlines and goals. I know the work will be better for it, and I will definitely be better for it. So, all-in-all, I feel like this slow living experiment was a HUGE success.

Experiment #8: Slow Work

track how many hours I work every day (and how many per project) – done!

set realistic expectations of what I can get done (with timelines) – done!

explore other creative outlets (this could be fun – stay tuned!) – no time (yet)

share how I slowly grew my blog (incl. dollars + blog stats) – done!

share plans for what’s next – done! :)

Thank you for an incredible month, friends! I don’t ever plan on turning this into a blog about blogging/working for yourself, but it was extremely helpful for me to share all of these things with you.

Oh, and if you have any questions about Simple Year, Courtney is hosting a webinar tomorrow at 8pm EST where she will be doing a live Q&A! xoxo

The One Good Thing About Being Busy posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnwIdQ

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fesahaawit · 7 years ago

Text

The One Good Thing About Being Busy

RIGHT NOW: Simple Year 2018 is Open for Early Reg!

I’ve also received some amazing feedback about my content, which I teach every July:

NOVEMBER 20: The Year of Less + Book Tour

NOVEMBER 27: Mindful Budgeting 2018 Planners

Experiment #8: Slow Work

track how many hours I work every day (and how many per project) – done!

set realistic expectations of what I can get done (with timelines) – done!

explore other creative outlets (this could be fun – stay tuned!) – no time (yet)

share how I slowly grew my blog (incl. dollars + blog stats) – done!

share plans for what’s next – done! :)

Oh, and if you have any questions about Simple Year, Courtney is hosting a webinar tomorrow at 8pm EST where she will be doing a live Q&A! xoxo

The One Good Thing About Being Busy posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnwIdQ

0 notes

fesahaawit · 7 years ago

Text

The One Good Thing About Being Busy

RIGHT NOW: Simple Year 2018 is Open for Early Reg!

I’ve also received some amazing feedback about my content, which I teach every July:

NOVEMBER 20: The Year of Less + Book Tour

NOVEMBER 27: Mindful Budgeting 2018 Planners

Experiment #8: Slow Work

track how many hours I work every day (and how many per project) – done!

set realistic expectations of what I can get done (with timelines) – done!

explore other creative outlets (this could be fun – stay tuned!) – no time (yet)

share how I slowly grew my blog (incl. dollars + blog stats) – done!

share plans for what’s next – done! :)

Oh, and if you have any questions about Simple Year, Courtney is hosting a webinar tomorrow at 8pm EST where she will be doing a live Q&A! xoxo

The One Good Thing About Being Busy posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnwIdQ

0 notes