#I'd make them worth the $75

[the-last-thing-you-wanted]

Some day, I'll be-

old enough to buy my own Taylor Swift merch and won't have to get on my knees and beg my parents for the evermore pajama set

-And all you're ever gonna be is mean

[ssavaart]

Sometimes You Have to Make 100 BAD Drawings To Get 1 GOOD One

(Earlier this year, a publisher asked me if I'd be interested in writing a book on art. As we discussed it... they asked me to "give it a try" and this is one of two tests I did. I don't consider myself a writer, really, so this is just "in my own voice". I wound up turning down the offer... but would love to know your thoughts on this. Thanks)

Drawing something good. Something you like. It’s… elusive. Especially when you’re just starting out.

But, here’s the thing. You have good art in you. I promise. You just have to get to it and it’s stuck under a bunch of bad art. Really bad art.

When I was younger, I would draw every day. Filling up sketchbooks with doodles and sketches and I hated ALL of them.

Page 01: Crap

Page 02: Crap

Page 03: Crap

Page 04: Worse than Crap

Page 05: What even is that?

Page 06: Ugh

And it was just downhill from there…

But… somewhere around like page 100… I made something that… “wasn’t crap”. I actually didn’t hate it.

And that gave me courage to keep going. That one drawing made it all worth it. I was cured. I was now an expert. All of my art would be great from now on.

Oh… if only.

The next drawing was worse than any other drawing before it.

How??? I just made ART! like 5 minutes before that. I got all the bad drawings out! How did my art just go from Van Gogh to Van NO???

Honestly? I… got lucky. That one good drawing? Total fluke. Dumb luck. Sheer Happenstance.

Doing 100 drawings didn’t suddenly make me an expert. It couldn’t.

Have you ever heard of the saying “If a million monkeys type on a million typewriters for a million years, they’ll eventually write Shakespeare”?

I was those monkeys and that drawing was my Shakespeare.

I just pooped out enough bad art that eventually sheer luck was going to mean I may make something really good.

And I’m TOTALLY okay with that. I was 11. I’m not a prodigy. I don’t have any special gifts. But what I did have was… a taste for how making good art felt.

Seeing that one good drawing made me want more. Like my first time tasting chocolate ice cream. I was hooked.

So, I made 100 more bad drawings. Maybe more. And, guess what? ANOTHER great drawing emerged!

Another Shakespeare from this 11 year old monkey!!!! Huzzah!

From then on… I knew that all I had to do was keep banging away at that typewriter (I’m still on the million monkey thing… bear with me) and I would get rewarded with another masterpiece.

Week after week. Month after month. I would fill up my sketchbooks with the most horrific, amateurish, incomprehensible art… and, sure enough, 1 of every 100 drawings would not suck.

I would show it to my mom and she would say “Oh! That’s wonderful!” and when she tried to turn the pages to see more, I would quickly SNATCH it out of her hands and run back into the shadows like Gollum hiding his “Precious” from prying eyes.

I dare not let her see the monstrosities that came before the work of genius.

And… this went on. For years. Predictably. Rhythmically.

Until, one day… my 75th drawing was really good.

How? It was 25 drawings early! That’s not how it was supposed to work. That wasn’t the plan.

But there it was. A really amazing drawing of a spaceship I came up with out of my head. It had lasers and a cockpit and wings and…It was glorious. And it was totally unexpected.

Maybe NOW I was an expert and I no longer needed to make bad art? Would today be the day I would only make masterpieces?

I quickly turned the page and began to draw what would soon be my second greatest work of art and… NOPE.

Still crap.

Hm. But… something was different. It was still crap. But… it wasn’t as “crappy” as the other crap.

I grabbed my previous sketchbooks and looked at the bad drawings from previous years and… guess what? My older bad drawings were WORSE than my newer bad drawings!

Apparently, the more I drew… the better my BAD drawings got too.   

Okay. So. I drew 75 more “not as crappy” bad drawings and… predictably… I made another great drawing!

I was… IMPROVING.

This went on for years. I went to high school. Then art school. I hated MOST of my art… but as I practiced… the number of BAD art I had to make to get to the GOOD art got lower and lower. Soon it was 50 bad pieces for 1 good one. Then 25. Then 10.

It took decades when I noticed… I liked my art more often than not.

It was a complete surprise. I was in my 40’s when this happened. I was SO conditioned to just accept I was going to hate my art that I hadn’t noticed that I had made 5 paintings that didn’t suck. IN A ROW!!!

Unheard of!

But, there it was. 5 good paintings. One right after the other.

The 6th one was complete trash. Tossed it in the garbage.

But, the 7th one? I liked. And the 8th. And the 9th.

I’m now 54 and I know I still have SO much bad art in me. I can feel it. Always ready to pop up and ruin my day.

But, I “pooped out” so much bad art over the years that I’m not really worried about those pop up bad art surprises. I know it’s just temporary.

I like my art now. And that’s because I got MOST of the bad art out of me and into those old sketchbooks.

I know it may seem daunting doing 100 bad drawings just to get to 1 good one. But… if you love that feeling of making that one GOOD piece of art… you need to be patient and get the bad ones out. They’re blocking the good ones. Keeping them deep inside you.

So, crack open that sketchbook. Poop out those bad pieces of art and never look back.

You’ll thank me in like 40 years or so. I promise.

(Oh. And sorry for all the poop references. I’m still that 11 year old when it comes to humor)

Poop.

[bedoballoons]

Ahhh thank you for this request!! Honestly feels like I'm torturing some of them though hehe~ Also, I apologize for this being late and if these weren't the characters you wanted!!

─⊰⁠⊹ฺ❄️𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕟𝕤⊰⁠⊹ฺ❄️

{༻~Time to workout~༺}

CW: GN! Reader! Mentions of the characters wearing their hair up, reader is less in shape then the characters and sweating also makes a appearance! Suggestive!

(Includes: Diluc, Heizou, Xiao, and Wriothesley!)

𑁍༄Diluc:

100 jumping jacks~

You plopped onto the ground, a light sheen of sweat coating your body and your muscles already on fire. You were exhausted from the workout and it felt like you could pass out at any second from lack of air...but it was more then worth it. Everytime you finished a round faster then Diluc you could sit there and catch your breath while he caught up with you...and that was always entertaining.

Today he had his hair tied up in a bun, loose strands of it clinging to his face and neck. He was wearing tighter tighter clothes then the ones he'd normally wear, meaning that every outline of his muscles was visible as the moved and god it was perfect to watch. You weren't shy about staring, even when his bright red orbs met yours with a knowing glint, he was just to good to look away from.

𑁍༄Heizou:

100 burpees~

"Phew, this is harder then I thought." Heizou leaned against the wall, using his forearm to wipe the sweat from his brow as you continued to finish up your round of burpees. His hair was disheveled, sticking to his skin and his hand when he tried to run it through the locks, even with his lack of clothing and ice cold water bottle he was still soaked and when you say it made your face blush...

You sat back after the last burpee, looking up at him with wandering eyes as he threw you his bottle...to think he'd gone shirtless. He had to of known what he was doing...

"If you keep staring at me like that, we are gonna be doing a very different kind of work out." He smirked at you as your heart skipped a beat... working out was working out...no matter what kind right...

𑁍༄Xiao:

Planks~

You bit your bottom lip, watching Xiao as he continued to plank in front of you...showing off his stamina that you loved oh so much. He'd always last longer then you with these exercises, not that you were complaining. You simply sat back against the wall, watching him as his strength was put on display for you, muscles moving and his tattoos only accentuating his perfect self as the glistened with beads of preparation under the light.

"Xiao, so you think you could still plank even if I sat on you while you did it."

"No."

"If you were sitting on me, I wouldn't want to plank anymore. I'd have other matters to attend to~"

Your eyes widened slightly at his answer. You knew full well he could without breaking a sweat....why in archons name did he say no? "What-"

𑁍༄Wriothesley:

75 crunches~

You were sprawled out on the floor, looking at the ceiling above you as your heart pounded in your ears. You couldn't believe you'd done the whole workout. "I did it. Wrio I did it! Woohoo!" You tilted your head to look at him, but he'd already moved from his spot next to you, instead sitting up like he was about to get up and head to the showers.

You didn't really knew what got into you...where the energy came from, but your rolled yourself into his lap, straddling him as you pushed him back down onto the mat. "Hey, I was really proud I completed that. Let's appreciate the moment together a little first."

"You should be proud, that was a hard workout...but I just hope you're prepared for the next one."

"What do you mean?"

"You said you wanted to appreciate the moment didn't you~"

ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡‧₊˚~Have a nice day!~*⁠.⁠✧

[joleenjackalope]

So I have some Lenore thoughts, I like the idea of her a lot. But I don't think she's worth her price. So here are just some of my thoughts, as well as my doodling out some of those thoughts. I don't think she necessarily needs all these things, it's more that I let my internal rants about how she could be better guide me out of my art block these past couple days.

Part of why people pay more for collector dolls is because they have some type of attachment to them. Either being a Monster High character they already love, from an IP they love, or even the Off White had some brand recognition. (just not from me) And I felt like Lenore COULD have been the lady in white/weeping woman ghost story that just about every town has.

That being said- What is with the glitter tears?? If she had a unique sculpt that actually had a downturn on the brows and a sad face, and actually LOOKED like a weeping garden ghost, that alone would have made her more appealing!

Then why unpainted accessories? Why one big unpainted accessory her main focus? I like the vines (I didn't go very detailed here) but either paint them or make them smaller. (What I did) But if you want me to believe that the doll is WORTH $75 then you need to show that some actual care and effort went into her manufacturing and paint her damn accessories.

I just wanted an excuse to draw the spider. I don't like the human face but I only like a few of any of the MH pets anyway. so...

Put her damn hair up. Just like with the accessories, show me she is WORTH her price.

All of the above combined, the collector dolls stray further away from the High school aspect of MH and although Victorian/period fashion isn't necessarily my thing, I know a ton of collectors would have loved her looking like a ghost who's been haunting for a long time. And since she's not a character that's being portrayed in the high school - a collector doll would have been great! There's lots of adult/non-student characters.

Mini notes- I didn't draw patterns for her clothing, but the pattern on her dress as is would have still looked lovely on a bigger, fancier gown. I didn't do full body and I have no notes on shoes. They're not my specialty. And I would have appreciated her not having a full white sclera.

Also, line art for this piece is available here, tag me if you color it! I'd love to see. ♥♥♥

[violant-apologia]

with dual-stat challenges becoming more and more common, FBG have created a standard "exchange rate" between stats: BDR stats are with 10 main stat points each, while advanced stats and NII stats are worth 15.

this prompted the question:

Which equipment has the highest converted stat total?

(stick around, there's a cool spreadsheet for you!)

in other words, which is the most "valuable" based purely on its stats? maybe the ubergoat? perhaps the hellworm transport? (make a guess now! tell me if you were right!)

so i made a spreadsheet. with the item and its stats, it outputs the converted stat total of that item. and to make sure it was accurate when it determined the winner, i should really add

EVERY

SINGLE

ITEM

there are exactly 1000 non-boon equipments in the game, by the way. wild coincidence that this was when i made a list of them all

so i did that. i slogged through every item i owned, then every item in the bazaar, then every item on the wiki. i should – should – have them all. (except maybe ones that add no stats, because they don't show up on any of the automatic lists. but really that doesn't matter)

so, without further ado... the item with the highest converted stat total is...............

all the treasures. that was probably pretty guessable, huh

okay but AFTER them it's... the............

unquenchable firebird! pulled ahead of the other whitsun creatures by its random single point in neathproofed. after that is a similar case: the aurochs-fur coat, at 71. they both beat the ubergoat and hellworm by a slim margin; those two tie at 70, along with the efficient plenipotentiary.

but you may have noticed some other columns here. what's limited total?

well, since most multi-stat challenges are only two stats at once, i also decided to measure the point value of each item's highest two stats. the winner of THAT category is the hellworm, at 75, with its 6 dreaded and 1 KT/NP. half of the treasures fall in next – all the ones with a single BDR stat at 4, rather than two at 2 each.

you may have noticed some other things on the spreadsheet, too. what are all those tickboxes about?

since i already made a way for each item to care about its highest two stats, why not a way to care about a specific pair of stats? hell, what about any combination of stats?

if you check on the boxes beneath each stat, the sheet will find the specific value of each item considering ONLY those stats. then, by looking at the highest value for this specified total for each outfit slot, the sheet finds the overall specific total. (by default, specific total only checks an item if you have it ticked as "owned". if you tick the ownership override (OO) box, it disregards whether you own items or not.)

THEN the sheet finds the best-in-slot (BiS) items for that combination, and displays whether each item is BiS, not BiS (blank) or not owned. you can filter by the BiS column to find an outfit that maximises those stats!

so, for example, if i wanted to find my best outfit for a persuasive/apoc challenge, i'd simply select thost two stats and filter for BiS:

and it shows me my best combination, and its converted point gain (243)!

so, that's what i've been doing for the past few days. since the sheet has every item in the game in it, to personalise for your account, you just have to go through and tick all the items you have. here's the link! feel free to make a copy and play around with it yourself!

[ffverr]

hello I come to you with a request. I watched x men 97 recently and was saddened by how little time the whole magneto in charge of the x men storyline got and I know he does this longer in the comics (I can't say why but the phrase "its seven in the morning max..." lives rent free in my brain) so I wanted to ask if you have any recommendation for comics from that era / any recommendations for comics with mister magnet-os because I want to get into x men comics but comics as always are so daunting

It is my great pleasure to answer this!!

Disclaimer 1, I am still going through a lot of the issues of this era but I will try my best to make it as clear a guide as I can for you!

Disclaimer 2, Headmaster of the school and leader of the X-Men are quite different positions that they kind of fused together in the 97 show so I do want to make it clear that magneto in the "seven in the morning" era is headmaster of the school, teaching young kids, while Storm is leading the X-men team and Scott is leading the X-factor team, so with that said:

Magneto's teacher arc starts in uncanny X-Men issues 199 and 200 (iconic issues containing the trial of magneto that was adapted in the show!) And then he is headmaster of the school in the book "The new mutants" by Chris Clermont, from issue 35 to issue 75. It is A LOT I admit and he gets a more minor place considering the book is about the kickass young class of new mutants that he's teaching. But it is worth checking out! Many consider this to kind of be peak magneto because.... he's trying so hard to be a good teacher and to handle all these kids and it's very humanizing for him!

I mean look at him and his 8 kids!

Now, how to get into Magneto overall? Let's get into it:

I believe it is impossible to get into Magneto without reading his ultimate origin story, Magneto: Testament by Greg Pack. It is a quick intro, it barely features his powers (not an action comic) and it is a very very emotional read. I consider it essential magneto reading!

Next up: Two One shots if you want to get a quick primer on the character pre moral arc instead of sitting through his few appearances in the Stan Lee comics:

A classic one: X-Men: God Loves, Men Kills by Chris Claremont. It is an iconic comic book one shot that can be read out of continuity just to see what his deal is when he's not necessarily on the side of the X-Men but fighting for his own ideals! It's overall a brilliant comic book!

If you want a more recent retelling of the first appearances of magneto you HAVE to read X-Men Mythos that retells magneto's major first appearance in the 60s in quite a beautiful and amazing way! It also has an absolutely insane magneto scene that is very memorable! (So this would "chronologically" come before God loves men Kills)

Now for his switch from cartoon villain of the 60s/early 70s to complex guy in the 80s, read the issues 149 and 150 from the run Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont. This is THE pivotal moment for "good guy" Magneto

(know that after issue 150, somehow he falls in the ocean from asteroid M, is rescued from a shark attack by Scott's girlfriend Lee Forester. They have a quick relationship where he struggled with his change of morals then he comes to the new mutants)

if you want to continue chronologically you read the issues 199 and 200 that I recommended at the start then go to the new mutants book I talked about earlier!

If you want MORE MODERN comics, then I advise you get right into what's happening at the moment!

House of X powers of X are two series that intertwine (you'll easily find them in the right order) by the same writer, Jonathan hickman!

It serves as a status quo change/relaunch of the X-Men universe. Magneto plays a big part of the story as he is directly involved in building a mutant nation. I'd say it's a bold but quite functional intro to X-Men comics!

Then he appears as a major character in the GREAT series X-Men Red by Al Ewing alongside Storm, a character that meant a lot to him in the 80s, so it's really nice to see again.

In this he is- epic, depressed, suicidal, sassy, it's great magneto stuff! This series is widely regarded as the best X-Men comic out right now!

(if you want context for this book read the event X of Swords, or I could explain if interested)

That's about all I will lay on you ! If this is hella confusing, don't hesitate to dm me! I can detail more cleanly exactly what you have to read and when!

Good reading!

[runawaymun]

Hey! Any advice on writing multi chaptered fics or just longer stories?

I feel like I'm okay for like snippets but have no idea how to write the middle of a story or move a character or story from point a to point b.

And asking you because you're writing is phenomenal and I'd love some advice.

(But if no brain space for advice I totally get that too and feel free to hide this ask or something)

(Anyway great updates on boundless and the one shot Brimbrond)

Sorry for taking so long to respond to this! I just wanted to take some good time to gather my thoughts because oh man oh boy I am a bit of a nerd about plot structure, even if I pants it a lot of the time -- because middles and structure absolutely plagued me when I was a beginner and so I spent a long, long time studying it and breaking it down.

I'm going to start with some very, very basic advice and then get into some more specific stuff. So let's talk first about how to structure a long-form plot first.

DISCLAIMER: this is how I personally structure plots. More often than not I veer off my own track. And this is a very western way of structuring a plot. It's well worth looking into how storytellers from around the world structure their work because it can vary wildly (Miyazaki is a great example of this). Take this with a grain of salt. It's a guideline which I find helpful. This is going to get very, very long. Bear with me:

When I'm first thinking about how to create a plot around a story I want to tell, this is the process I walk myself through, and it tends to work about 75% of the time for the stories I like to tell (I'm not much of a thriller or mystery writer and those tend to have different kinds of structure). Main recipe is as follows:

Status quo - establish the setting and the character. Do this by the middle-to-end of chapter one, preferably. You can get away with drawing it out a bit in sci-fi or fantasy works that require more worldbuilding, but try not to.

Inciting incident - I won't tell you to start in media res, as that varies from writer to writer and story to story. Generally you want to have this somewhere in chapters 1-3. Say we're talking about LOTR - I'd say the inciting incident is when Bilbo goes invisible at his birthday party and leaves for retirement. Everything sort of snowballs from there (Gandalf confirming this is The One Ring, the Ring being passed to Frodo, the adventure beginning, etc. etc). This is where your character can lose something, or be confronted with a huge problem, or gain some new information. This is the point where your story really picks up.

Point of no return - your character has been presented with a problem or is put in a situation and now they have to decide what to do about it. Sometimes characters choose to run away, or choose inaction. It's up to you and your character as to what they do next.

The annoying part - the most helpful way I've ever found to think about middles is in terms of a series of decisions and consequences. Your character must decide what to do (or try to get what they want), and this will then come with consequences to those decisions. I ignore a lot of writing advice because writers seem to be very cagey about how they compose middles and plots for some reason, but the one piece I heard that helped me was: "What does my character want, and what stops them from getting it?" -- and this can be anything, right? Frodo wants (has to) take the Ring to Mordor. Luke wants to learn to be a Jedi like his father. Inspector Poirot needs to catch the murderer. Odysseus wants to return home. Each of these characters are going to make a series of decisions toward their goal, and they may be working from incomplete information, or bad paradigms, or racing against the clock, or against impossible odds. They're going to make mistakes. Over and over and over again. The middle is a series of decisions, consequences for those decisions, and obstacles (more on that later).

Point of no return 2, electric boogaloo (i.e. the actual midpoint to the story) - the part right before the climax -- the climax IS NOT the midpoint of your story, nor is it the end. This is your midpoint where Everything Fucking Sucks. Your character's back is against the wall. They have to change, or fail.

Paradigm shift: your character learns something new, or develops in some crucial way that leads to:

The climax/confrontation: 3/4 - 7/8th of the way through your plot. Frodo decides to keep the ring. Luke uses the force to blow up the death star. Anakin's fear and the manipulation from Palpatine overtakes him and he turns to the dark side. Inspector Poirot gets his last crucial piece of information and gathers everybody together for the Big Reveal. Odysseus gets home and chases the suitors out of his house. Etc. Etc. This is that Big Point in the story we all think as the most important or crucial point (but it's not. That's the key here. THE most important point is the whole middle of how we got here).

Consequences and paradigm shift 2 electric boogaloo: varies from story to story, but this is the fallout of the last decision or confrontation. Your character may reflect on what they've learned. The killer goes to jail. Frodo returns to the Shire and it's saved, but not for him. The journey your character has been on has irreparably altered them, or the world around them -- for better or for worse.

Resolution: the place where you land the story ;) what is the final impression you want your readers to have of your character, or this world?

Alright so that's all kind of nebulous. Let me give you a slightly more specific form of this plot structure that I use pretty often, because I almost exclusively write character and relationship-driven stories since that's what interests me most:

So most of this looks much the same (the inciting incident is some kind of meetcute. The characters then have to decide if they want to have some kind of relationship -- I like to name this part the callback). Then we have a whole weird squishy section of building interest and tension, before once again we have The Big Fight (darkest before the dawn or what have you), before one or both characters have some kind of paradigm shift, they confess their feelings (or resolve the fight or whatever), and the security of the relationship is established -- happy go lucky times, everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.

So the middle here is of course still squishy and nebulous, but the focus here is still on "What decisions are the characters making? What are the consequences of those decisions? What are they learning, and how do they respond to it?" Maybe the tension is in one character being more reticent, while the other is more open. Maybe the tension is a sexual tension (will they, won't they?). Maybe a character is working off of incomplete information, or a misunderstanding, and that needs to be cleared up before the relationship (or even their own personal growth) can progress (both Elrian and Thalionel in Stars and Boundless Sky follow this pattern). The middle is a push-pull between your character's desires and outside forces that are stopping them from getting what they want, or achieving what they want to achieve.

So okay, that's all well and good. That's basic plot structure. Let me get into my thought process about middles specifically:

Begin with your ending in mind. I do not mean that you need to have like the whole resolution to your story fleshed out. If you're that kind of writer, great! But if you're more of a pantser like me, then that can be a big ask. Instead, ask yourself: what do I want my character to have learned by the end of the story? How do I want them to have changed, or grown? Do I want it to be for better, or for worse? Is there a specific plot goal you have in mind? (saving the world, or catching the murderer, solving the mystery, exorcizing the ghost, the couple getting together at the end, the found family finally gelling with each other, or whatever).

Once you have that thought in mind, now start to think about what your character might need to get from their starting point to their ending point. If it's a murder mystery, this is your information gathering section. You can lead your character to wrong or right conclusions. Have them make mistakes. Etc. etc. If it's a romance, this is where you create a string of scenes where the characters have opportunities to interact and learn more about each other (works for platonic slowburns, too). If this is a traditional hero's journey, this is where you plop in your actual journey.

Not to repeat this ad nauseum, but your middle is all about getting your character to your end goal, but in the most difficult way possible lmao. Let them make mistakes. Let them make bad decisions -- and then follow through with the consequences of those bad decisions. Give them bad information. This is where understanding your character's fundamental flaws becomes extremely important. Your entire plot, imo, stems from your character's fundamental flaws -- because ultimately that is what is going to slow them down the most from reaching their goal. Sure, you may have the big bad evil guy (bbeg), but we're not worried about him. That's an external factor and that's easy to drop in when you need a quick problem to place in front of your protagonist -- but that problem needs to be in service to your character or your worldbuilding. Teach them something. Give them an opportunity for growth. Aragorn needs to lead at Helm's Deep so he can inhabit his leadership role. The mountain pass of Caradhras needs to force the Fellowship through the mines so that Gandalf falls fighting the Balrog and comes back leveled up and ready to fight, and other characters in the fellowship have a chance to grow into their roles without relying on Gandalf for leadership. Your middle is all about crafting little opportunities for character growth, always while moving toward your end goal -- whatever that may be.

The paradigm shifts are crucial, and they can shift for better or for worse. It's up to you and your characters and the story you want to tell as to which it'll be.

If you're bored, your reader is bored. Only write what excites you, skip all the rest, and make it make sense at the end -- I'm so serious. Yes you need to add in breaks for pacing (like the whole Rivendell section in LOTR), but in those breaks still make sure that you're either expanding your worldbuilding, or giving your characters and opportunity for growth.

If you want to tell a really long (novel length) type of story, sideplots and alternate POVs are your best friend. They are structured exactly the same as a regular plot, they're just simpler or smaller and generally work in service to the main plot. Maybe there are side characters or side relationships you'd like to develop. Maybe there's a smaller mystery or a part of your worldbuilding you'd like to explore. Action plots can be side plots to romantic or platonic slowburn plots, just as much as it can be the other way around. And this is not something you need to structure out the gate. Just be curious and playful. Find points in your story that interest you, and explore them a bit. You'll find that they expand the story.

Biggest and best tip I can give you, when all is said and done, is to decide what kind of story you want to tell and then examine how other people are doing it. If you want to write a superhero story, pick out your favorites and look at how they're structured. If you want to write a mystery, same thing. If you're writing a romance or a drama, again -- same thing. Look at the pieces of fiction that you like, figure out what you like about it, and then apply it to your own work.

That's all the general advice off the top of my head. IDK how helpful this was lol. If you want more tips on middles I can try to look at it a bit more in depth, but to be quite honest middles are really what defines a genre. Romances have different middles to thrillers. Thrillers have different middles to mysteries. Mysteries have different middles to dystopian sci-fis. Etc. Etc. So take the general advice with a grain of salt and look more specifically at the genre of story that you're looking to tell.

Thanks for coming to my tedtalk <3

[northoftheroad]

Ten-ish panels to sum up Dick Grayson

@roma107 challenged me some time back: “10 Nightwing Panels That Perfectly Sum Up His Character. Your turn. Go.” It’s been hard to even get close, and in the end I couldn't quite keep it to ten panels... But, enjoy disagreeing with me all the same. 😉

1. Robin vol 2 # 13 (1995)

Dick has issues with Bruce – they have had occasional problems with communication since the early 1940s – but he is loyal to a fault.

2. Teen Titans vol 3 # 6 (2004)

Just about every one of DC’s heroes respects, trusts and is prepared to listen to Dick. Obviously, that's not because he's a nice guy – which he is, don't get me wrong – or because he puts in the work with relationships – which he does. That may make people like you, but it's not enough to get them to follow you into battle...

No, that's because he's smart, professional and competent. As you see here, he can also be intense and knows how to make a dramatic entrance...

3. World's Finest Comics vol 1 # 200 (1971)

Dick is (often, but not always) ready with a smile and a joke. He loved being Robin as a kid, he wanted to do it forever (see, for instance, Nightwing vol 2 # 75). As Batman after Final Crisis, he smiled enough to convince Two-Face it wasn't the old Batman.

To what extent Dick jokes because he's in a good mood, he’s trying to keep his spirits up or he wants to annoy criminals enough to gaude them into sloppy mistakes – it varies between creators and Dick’s mood at the time😉

However, there have certainly been periods when Dick has not put on his best behaviour. He snaps at Alfred, he's unpleasant to close friends in the Titans, etc. I'd argue this is a sign he's not in a good place, mentally. Most of the panels of short fuse/asshole Dick Grayson you will find floating around are either from when he was leading The Outsiders (vol 3), and was struggling after the death of Donna Troy. Or from the almost five years' worth of New Teen Titans comics where his behaviour is influenced by being tortured and brainwashed by Brother Blood (New Teen Titans vol 1 # 22, August 1982, to New Teen Titans # 31, May 1987).

Alternate panel: Teen Titans vol 2 # 12 (1997)

4. Battle for the Cowl # 3 (2009)

Dick is prepared to change. Whether it's about a new mantle, getting a new job to pay the bills, or moving to a new city.

5. The New Teen Titans vol 2 # 6 (1985)

Dick might drop everything when somebody asks for help, and he is open to asking for help and working with teams better than Batman. But he does have his own set of control issues. He wants to have a job instead of living on Bruce’s money; he wants to know how to cook etc so he can take care of himself. You could argue it's a response to being orphaned and losing his home at a young age, and then having several episodes when he doesn't feel secure about his place with Bruce Wayne (see, for instance Robin Year One, Batman plays a lone hand in Batman vol 1 # 13, Partner to Batman in Batman vol 1 # 65)

6. Action comics weekly # 613 (1988)

Dick is uncomfortable with casual relationships/sex. When he had a fling with Huntress (Nightwing/Huntress, 1988–1989), he tried to start a relationship. It took him a long time to accept that he could live with Kory after she had gone through with a marriage of state on her home planet, and he felt strange living with her because they weren't married (see NTT vol 2 #48).

7. Detective Comics vol 1 # 881 (2011)

Dick is a nice guy who chooses to be kind, optimistic and to give people the benefit of a doubt – but he's still sneaky and definitely not stupid.

8. Titans vol 1 # 3 (1999)

Yes, Dick jokes a lot, and he enjoys hanging out with his friends. But he's also a workaholic and holds himself to a very high standard.

Alternate panel: New Teen Titans vol 1 # 29 (1983)

9. Nightwing vol 4 # 41 (2018)

He has a tendency to self-blame - and he is also very stubborn! Presumably, the tendency to feel guilty over things outside his control is partly survivor's guilt, but also related to the very high standards he holds himself to, and the very high expectations others have on him. And, I would argue, this tendency is a reason he sometimes lets friends an family punish him without fighting back.

Bonus panel: sometimes, he can admit he has a problem with self-blame. The New Titans vol 1 # 57 (1989)

10. Nightwing vol 3 # 29 (2014)

He wants to be a safety net for everyone. That's a good summary of Nightwing as a character, in my opinion.

And... Nightwing vol 4 # 43 (2018)

Bonus. This one-shot is a good Nightwing story, but very unfair on Roy Harper/Arsenal. It touches on several things – how Dick is always ready to help, that he does not want to be like Batman, his tendency to blame himself...

[thatsnotmygunflash]

WIP Title Tag Game

Rules: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Thank you @incorrectcoldflashblog for the tag!! I have a ridiculous amount of WIPs, and this was a great way to finally sit down and make a list of all 92 of them 😅  I didn’t add my Sterek WIPs, mostly because there are 75 of them and I don’t have the time right now, but maybe I’ll do that at a different time. 

ColdFlash

A Brighter Future

An I’ll Use You As A Warning Sign 

Burn Notice

Cause Maybe You're That Thing I Need To Save Me

For Better Or Worse 

I Love to Hate Who I Was Because It Means I Could Change

I'd Cross Galaxies to Find You

I'll Tell You All About It When I See You Again 

I've Got Decades On You

It's The Second Glance That Ties Your Hands

Life Worth Fighting For

Love Me Silently 

Make Me Feel Seventeen Again

Maybe You Don't Know What's Lost Till You Find It

More Then What We Seem

No More Bad Boys

Romance Isn't Dead 

Side Effects May Include 

The Horrors I've Endured 

We Could Be Enough

Well Shit, If It Isn't The Consequences of My Actions 

What Are Friends For 

You Bring Stars To My Eyes

You Give Me Headaches 

You Got This Heaven In Your Eyes

You Know In Your Soul

You Need To Allow Me To Help 

You Should Be Here

Hannigram

A Day In The Life Of Someone Else

A Flight For The Fallen, Flies the Crow

I Dance With Demons On A High Wire 

I Won't Find A Way Out Looking Inside  

Batfamily

General 

409 In Your Coffeemaker

I Wish I Wasn't All Talk

I'm Your Mother Now

Never Gon' Get Away

One Of The Epics 

Robins Sanctuary

The Bat Academy 

The Nest

Waiting For Never

Tim/Jason

The Sparrows Tend To Fall Asleep

Dedicated To You

Everything Blurry Looks The Same

I'll Be A Better Man Today

Maybe If We Went Another Way

Product of Our Upbringings

Silent Protector 

Sit Back And Watch The Beauty In The Fall

The Robin To My Hood

You Are My Dream Come True

Your Name Has Echoed In My Mind

Slade/Dick

Falling Back Into You

Only One Place To Run To

Operation Osprey 

Relief 

Tim/Kon

Family Vacation 

Growing Pains

Wash Me With Your Water

Wayward Waynes

Buddie

Breakfast With Buck

Couches Make Great Metephors 

Call Me Anything But My Name  

Cowboy Like Me

The Other Mr. Diaz 

Am I Too Late

Ana vs. Buck

You Never Have To Pretend With Me

Who Gave You So Much Power?

MCU

Turn Back The Clock

Uncle Frank

Spideypool

How NOT To Seduce a Mercenary by Peter Parker

I'll Be Your Reason 

Same Side Of The Tracks

Spider Behavior 

Spideypool's First Couple's Retreat 

The Definition Of Insanity 

The Years Start Coming and They Don't Stop Coming

Yoda You Be My

People Say That's Love's a Game

Destiel 

73rd Hunger Games 

Cassie

Everything Went Right 

Family Engagement

Free Will Orphanage

The Rebels 

Weyler

A Little Bit Of Sugar, But Lots Of Poison Too

Courting an Addams

Love Drunk On Your Blood Till Sunrise

Percy Jackson

The Age of Prophecies

The Favored Son 

Trending Water in the Wishing Well

I'm tagging @thefastestqueeralive @simpledontmeanpeachy @vexic929 @nytephox @tiger-in-the-flightdeck @tiacat11 @whaaaaaaaalllle6 and who ever else wants to do it!

[blueskittlesart]

i’m so interested in the A and B plot but i can’t keep up, it’s just so much and i don’t know where to look. have you been doing anything else besides logging on once a month?

currently what i do is i log in once every few updates to check if there's any new archon quests i've missed, play those, and then go through the gameplay loop for as long as I can without getting bored. when kaeya's new hangout dropped i played like. 2 versions of that because i'm obsessed with him but couldn't bring myself to do any more. I did a decent amount of fontaine exploration when it dropped because i do still think the scenery and set design of the game is beautiful and I actually really enjoyed the underwater portions of fontaine. it was the first time in a while that the gameplay had felt new and exciting to me. If there's an event going on that's both interesting and either complete or almost complete, i'll do that, but if the quests or minigames are still coming out daily i won''t touch it because i don't like having to log in daily to get the full event. I also generally don't read event stories anymore, i just tap through them. Occasionally when I log on I'll do spiral abyss if it's reset, because teambuilding and combat was the other major thing I was initially into the game for. I have two fairly well-built teams that can consistently beat up to floor 12-3, but because neither of them are hyperbloom I still can't 36-star lmfao. When I was doing my fontaine story sweep I accidentally pulled neuvillette with a free pull, so for a while I was attempting to build him into a hyperbloom driver, but I eventually realized that I don't have the off-field dendro applicator support character I'd need to make a team like that viable, so I gave up and he's still sitting at like level 75 right now.

Tldr I basically don't seek out anything but the main story at this point. world quests to me feel like tedious bullshit at best and active distractions at worst, and the rewards you get from them aren't worth the hours of grinding, nor are the rewards for building new characters and teams. my triple-crowned ayaka freeze team solos basically any open-world combat i'm ever going to come across, so there's no point to me actively pulling for new characters, which makes the primogem-collecting endgame loop basically useless to me.

[endy-x]

ArtFight Recap (3)

Recap 1 / Recap 2 I thought I'd go and post my attacks from artfight that I did, I had a ton of fun this year, I'm going to post them in batches because there is a lot and I do not have the energy to make an individual post for all of them

If you want me to remove you from this list, or add or remove any links in any way just message me and I will!

Im going to put a keep reading here because there is a lot of stuff here so I dont want to block your feed if you're not interested

Attack 61 was Agnes Willowbee for @maydaymadier I am super proud of how she turned out, she was the first character after a couple days of artblock so she got a couple days worth of effort put into her and I think I can confidently say that it shows

Attack 62 was Leniss for @kr4shz This character looks really cool and I'm happy with how it turned out

Attack 63 was William for LinFan [Twitter @LinFan1590 Instagram linfan159] I am super happy with how this one turned out , the overlaying images took a lot of fiddling for me to be happy with but I'm really proud of how this turned out

Attack 64 was Dewi for @lilybug-02 I've been reading the comic this lil guy features in so stumbling upon him on artfight was a good excuse to draw him

Attack 65 was Jimbo for @simplysanders A very fun looking guy who was a joy to draw

Attack 66 was Sanquo for Emilykun [deviantART EmilykunRocks] I loved the character design and the hand resting on the horn was really fun to draw

Attack 67 was No name for EightBitAutumn [deviantART JinxTheBlissfulBunny] I really loved that character design

Attack 68 was Nova (ISAT) for @laciedoesdraw I love seeing ISAT characters and Nova was super fun to draw

Attack 69 was Beatríz for @shushetho777 Another adorable character as a revenge

Attack 70 was Nuray for @ixabits I hope I did her justice because shes so pretty

Attack 71 was ♡♡♡ Devil's Rose for @leafy-lilac I am super happy with the half and half and it worked really well with the really cool characcter

Attack 72 was Gwyidion for @shinibobo Another really cool character design that I hope I did justice

Attack 73 was Holly - Empiral Blue Pearl for Pomdough A really cool character with a very pretty design

Attack 74 was Iri for TaffySnow There were so many colours and I loved drawing this

Attack 75 was Phoenix for macaronimissile She has a super pretty refrence and I think I managed to draw her super pretty too

Attack 76 was Umbra for Snaz_uwu The reference was super Majestic but I think I did pretty well

Attack 77 was [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️] Ozzie for Lycanrosie [deviantART Lycanrosie Twitter Lycanrosie_ Instagram sierrarosie.art] I love how I did the lineless for this, Im very proud of it

Attack 78 was Bia for hinareks [Instagram hinareks] I am very happy with this art and I had a great reference to work with

Attack 79 was Mona Lisa for @zeawesomeness I really like how this one turned out, the two versions staring at eachother is something I am really proud of

Attack 80 was Ghost for User_Kara [Twitter User_Kara Instagram entity_kara] This is a really cool looking character, I dont think the amount of detail I managed did it justice but I think I did well regardless

Attack 81 was Forlorn for throat A really fun looking character, unique animal characters are always cool

And Finally, attack 82 was Jubilee Maples for @dqrshrtck A really pretty character that I drew with just over 10 minutes left of artfight

[bambamramfan]

A fun read, even if you don't entirely agree with the thesis. Full of delightfully illustrated examples. I'd rate it 75% correct.

I'd add examples of what it used to be like going to used bookstores looking for that one out of print book, vs searching amazon now. Or what I previously wrote about World of Warcraft optimization.

For the other 25%, well...

Sam Kriss wrote a while ago about the death of hipsters.

The hipster was an information-sorting algorithm: its job was to always have good taste. The hipster listened to bands you’d never heard of. The hipster drank beers brewed by Paraguayan Jesuits in the 1750s. The hipster thought Tarkovsky was for posers, and the only truly great late-Soviet filmmaker was Ali Khamraev. The hipster bought all his toilet paper from a small-batch paper factory in Abkhazia that included small fragments of tree bark in the pulp. The hipster swam deep into the vastness of human data, and always surfaced with pearls. Through its powers of snobbery and disdain, the hipster could effortlessly filter out what was good.

Almost any economist will tell you, that information gathering is just a different sort of price people pay for products. They can pay $300 up front for a good experience, or they can spend hours scouring and networking to find a similar quality experience for $100. If they find these two bundles equivalent, then that information gathering labor was worth $200 to them.

The difference is, when the naive consumer just pays *someone gets those extra $200*, whereas if the information gathering is labor (big if), then that extra labor doesn't actually pay anyone, and the world is just $200 of effort worse off. So, cetera paribus, it's better if everyone knows all the good places and at least the local industry is reaping the surplus.

So this is the death knell of hipsters, as all the information they had to seek out is accessible by everyone and just goes into rents for the producers.

...

Except we know from experience, it doesn't *really* work like that. For one, a lot of us ENJOY the hipster information gathering experience. It's a fun activity in moderation, and we even develop an identity for having a personal research base to use as a resource. How do you calculate the labor surplus lost if you're having fun? Well, I'm sure the economists can find some way to.

The other problem is that Freddie is only talking about a certain class of hipsters. The same ones Sam refers to in his essay. You can look at it as a sort of pyramid.

Top: quasi-autistic savants who are on Discords talking about secret places, or going out and mapping territories themselves.

Middle: hipsters who casually seek out new things they heard about and report back in indy magazine columns.

Bottom: the great mass who do one google search and flock to whatever they are told "the best deal" is.

(Now it's more complex than that. To be honest these three are probably only the top 25% of people, and the real base of the pyramid has no idea what any of this is about. And there's networks and lines of communication between the different layers. But you get the idea.)

For a while in the 90's and 00's, being a hipster became easier, and maybe that middle layer grew a bit in both directions. And then in the 10's the process Freddie describes ramped up, and so the value of just being a middle-tier hipster shrunk again.

But there are still a lot of secrets out there. You just have to be a much more dedicated information gatherer. Being in the top tier - which in travel might be as simple as driving places instead of flying to them IME - will still find you things where no one else is there.

This month I'm going to visit the cement factory where they filmed scifi movies like the Crowe and Super Mario Bros, and I expect to be the only one there.

[bryce-bucher]

J(a)SON Post #3

Stealing Money For Fun & Profit:

Most of my week was spent playing dark souls 2 again, but aside from that I spent most of my time working on the ATM's functionality. The ATM is heavily inspired by the ATMs in Deus Ex, and just like in that game you can input an account's information and then drain it. In the gif above you can see an example of me sneaking into the nefarious Doctor Spider's evil bank account and stealing 200 bucks. You can also blow up the ATM to get 75 bucks worth of wads of money to come out of it, or you can try to hack the ATM and get it to lock up like a dummy. Pretty simple stuff, but it always feels amazing to sneak into someone's bank account and steal all their money, and in the game as well! For those interested, I used jwildfire for the background fractal textures on the ATM UI. That program is amazing and I'd highly recommended checking it out (especially if you have an affinity for y2k visuals).

Building a Gas Station:

After a while spent purely implementing devices and mechanics, I was really itchin' to make an environment. I decided to start putting together a gas station since it's the smallest environment segment I have planned for the main map. In the images above you can probably get a good feel for my process on an environment like this. I haven't ever really done whiteboxing before this project, but I've found it to be very helpful when having to make more detailed environments. I actually hate having to litter an environment with smaller details and objects, which is the main reason why most of the environments in my previous games feel pretty sparse. I can't just get away with broad strokes this time around though, so I started to employ "words" that dictate where a planned object should go. Texturing all of the products in the gas station is easily the most tedious part, and it burns me out pretty quickly. So far, I've only textured 4 chip bag variants and 4 cereal box variants, and most of the products are yet untextured. These environments always look pretty terrible before I get them in engine and all lit up, so I have to trust that it's gonna look and feel a lot better once that is done.

Conclusion:

It's new years eve the day I'm posting this, so I hope ya'll have a good 2023, and I hope that I can actually maybe release something next year lol. There is a big collaboration project that I have a game in that is supposed to come out early next year, so I'll be posting about that when it's out. Next week I'll be back on Basidia, but until then I'm gonna keep playing Dark Souls 2. See ya.

[gothic-lottie]

Writer Interview Game

Thank you for tagging me @espressoristretto-patronum

When did you start writing?

I sort of had a project in highschool into a couple years out of highschool but it crashed and burned but I'm hoping to rescue my characters and world building from that project. I'll never write with a coauthor again because of it.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I like fantasy without captivating, relatable characters, I probably won't read it though. I also like dystopian books (big Orwell fan) and in those I care more about the Big Message™️ and world building.

Whats your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Women who can kill me and pretty men. How else do you get inspired?

Could kill me Pretty

(these are Caira and Lenya btw. If anyone ever wondered why I like Ominis so much… Lenya has been around for years before Hogwarts Legacy.)

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

One sec… it's easier to just-

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I would absolutely die if I was ever compared to Patricia C Wrede or Jennifer A Nielsen. The Enchanted Forrest Chronicles and The Ascendance Trilogy (now longer than a trilogy) were my life till I was like 14. I'm definitely nowhere near their level but I hope to get there someday.

Are there any recurring theme in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Death and autism. No, I'm not surprised

What is your reason for writing?

Well, right now it's because I'm kinda really sick so I haven't been able to do much else for almost a year. I've always felt like I'd go mad if I didn't get the stories out of my head and give them true form though.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

Any comment honestly. My fic is long so not many people have followed all the way through so comments on my newest chapters are the best because it makes me feel a bit less like I'm talking to a wall. Comments on older chapters are just as appreciated though, I know starting a long fic can be really intimidating so I really appreciate when someone decides my story is worth the time dedication to start it. I especially love hearing what your favorite parts of chapters were, especially if you noticed one of my many subtle details that I don't think anyone will notice.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

Idk. I'm just a person telling stories and drawing.

What do you feel is your greatest strenght as a writer?

I can draw anything I can't adequately put into words. I think it really helps communicate the feelings I want in a lot of scenes and also helps amplify certain comedic moments.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Honestly, I don't know. I'm not very good at flowery, pretty language and I think my writing ends up sounding a bit bland sometimes. I'm also afraid my plotlines end up a bit… I don't know how to describe what I think is wrong with them. Confused maybe? Unrealistic? It's a probably unfounded anxiety.

Tagging @rypnami @jeongyunhoed @ladyofsappho @ravenwind-75 @saibugslegacy if you haven't done it already.

[nocompromise-noregrets]

five good things

just for the hell of it because I've been insufferably bored and unmotivated all sodding day >.<

Booked my coach and airport hotel for my trip to Helsinki in October, having booked the flight and Helsinki hotel a couple of weeks ago :D :D :D got an afternoon coach and hotel in Hayes rather than getting a coach at 2am to get me to the airport to check in for the early morning flight because I am officially Too Old For That Shit these days XD

I get to go on the Elizabeth Line to get between the airport and hotel and back again, which for this hundred per cent Tube nerd is very exciting indeed.

My absolute hero Michael Monroe is doing a 40th anniversary tour for Hanoi Rocks' Two Steps from the Move album including a date in Wolverhampton and we are GOING and so is our mate Lynda who is my fellow lunatic Hanoi fan and it is going to be GREAT. L and I have known each other for 25-odd years and only got to see Himself together for the first time a couple of years ago, so to be able to do it again so soon is awesome :D

Not only that, he's just announced a solo acoustic tour of Finland between August and October and the Helsinki date is 25 October, upon which day I will PHYSICALLY BE IN HELSINKI and also not at either of the other two gigs I'm going to Helsinki for which are on the 19th and 26th, so you bet your bottom dollar I've just booked myself a ticket :D :D :D

I have FINALLY written the Twins-make-their-Choice fic; it is not long-form as I'd expected but part of a series of shorter fics involving them and their lives post-War of the Ring that I'm doing for Writers' Month and I'm having a whale of a time with them.

I'm also having a whale of a time with my TRSB fic, which I cannot talk about but am greatly enjoying collaborating with the lovely @erathene!

Oh yeah, and I got my final course result back from the OU, which got me my overall result for the whole degree, which is a First! I am a little bit smug but trying not to be too insufferable about it; it wasn't entirely unexpected as I've been pulling in Distinctions all the way along, but I'm still a bit bewildered because I spent my entire adult life until I started this degree believing I was only capable of a solid 64% - but with 30-odd years of added maturity and some proper guidance, here I am.

And I signed straight up for the MA in Applied Linguistics and am very excited to get some more top-class nerdery in come October!

Oh yeah, Deadpool and Wolverine! No spoilers here, but let me tell you, one cameo in particular made me very happy indeed and I take back 75% of what I ever said about that specific bit of casting XDDDD

And Rings of Power! Super excited for that, too. :D :D :D The trailers look like the story is really getting going after the first season's worth of exposition, and aaaaaaaa!

[berylian]

Depression life hack:

Do you have trouble getting out of bed to brush your teeth? Or have trouble brushing your teeth in general? I feel you, brushing your teeth has a lot of steps. What if you could boil it down to one?

Consider: dry brush your teeth. This helps get the big particles out so they don't build up and create plaque and irritate your gums / cause cavities. This is honestly the most important part of dental hygiene, toothpaste be damned.

Take that a step further -or, backwards? Why should you have to go all the way to the bathroom if you're not gonna rinse? Just keep your tooth brush by your bed. Now you don't have to get up, it's right there and you don't have to deal with toothpaste or water on your face. If you can swish with water or something after to make sure all the loose stuff is out, that's good too. (I literally just swallow it)

Upping the game a bit: when brushing with toothpaste just spit it out. Don't bother with rinsing. I have special prescription fluoride toothpaste I'm not supposed to rinse out, and since I removed that step it's been SO much easier to brush my teeth. It takes a little getting used to but you won't notice it after a while. And ofc you can bring that to your bed too. Maybe keep a lil cup or trashcan to spit into.

Other options: alcohol free mouthwash (the fluoride stuff). If brushing is too much work, just swish some mouthwash. But also if brushing is too much work I'd recommend an electric. It's worth it, teeth are much more expensive.

Get a smaller toothbrush. Try a kid's toothbrush, they're smaller and softer bristled so it's easier on your gums and easier to brush your back teeth. This can help with texture issues.

Get some floss picks. If you think you can manage a normal roll, go for it. If not I highly recommend the picks. Takes all the stress and dexterity out of trying to keep the floss tensioned. (I'd suggest picks with a slightly wavy handle, the straight ones are a little harder to maneuver).

Final, easiest option: try to swish some water around after eating anything. It'll help remove loose food and neutralize sugars/acids. My dentist told me to do this (in addition to everything else) so it's a good fall back.

In summary: brushing your teeth is honestly really difficult if you're depressed or chronically ill and or disabled. There's no shame in that. So fuck the rules: brush in bed, rinse in the kitchen, floss at the dinner table.

Hopefully you can try just one of these suggestions to make things easier for you. You don't have to do all of them. In fact, that'd be completely counter to the point.

TL;DR

Dry brush, no water or toothpaste

Dry brush in bed

Don't rinse after using toothpaste, just spit it out

Same thing but in bed (maybe get a cup)

Use alcohol free fluoride mouthwash (or whatever you can get)

Can also be done in bed (again, get a cup)

Get a smaller, softer toothbrush (kids brush)

And/ or an electric toothbrush (try a kid's brush)

Get floss picks (keep by your bed)

If you can't do any of these, just rinse with water after eating.

Remember, anything is better than nothing!

This is all fairly cheap too! Prices under the cut.

You can get 4-6 kids toothbrushes for like, 5$. They come in more colors too so it's more fun :)

You can get kid's (and some adult) electric toothbrushes for 10-20$. Try and make sure you get one that comes with the replacement heads in the package.

Alcohol free fluoride mouthwash is about 8-12$

You can get packs of 75-150 floss picks for like, 5$

I'd recommend sensodyne complete protection as a toothpaste bc it covers all the bases and isn't too harsh. It can be 8-15$ depending on where you go.

You should also try to change your toothbrush every 3-4 months, especially if it's worn down.