#PERSONALLY. i've already rambled about this a lot on discord because that as a concept is just so. holy fuck

[stapliy]

new i.i ep got me thinking about c.obs and me.phone.4 in a rather. dubious manner. one might even say extremely inappropriate like extremely. much to ponder on!

[fumifooms]

oh, sorry for so many asks, i also wanted to say too though i really agree so much with your chilchuck thoughts so far, even down to your personal headcanons about how things might go post-series. and you're absolutely right, i'll defend that little guy any day myself. you understand him so well and it's kind of relaxing to have someone else dish out this kind of analysis and already agree with all of it cus it's just so real, so thank you again for the Meal <- perhaps the perfect thing to say about dungeon meshi analysis when i think about it

i know you have playlists and stuff so i wanted to share a song i've been listening to that that reminds me of him: divine loser by clem turner

No worries, they’ve been a lot of fun! I do plan on getting back to each one btw, just gotta get through some other things first hopefully. Aaaah that’s really nice to hear 🥺 I do know the feeling haha, it’s always fun to have posts that Get It that you just nod along with 🤝 I’ve thought sooo much about Chilchuck I rotate him in my brain like rotisserie chicken more often than not, glad it all ended up being productive haha. Y’know recently my friends have been calling me a Chilchuck superfan/scholar jokingly and it actually made me have a realization moment of…

Bc I’ve always said Laios was my fave and like, he does mean everything to me idk if I’ve ever felt so seen as with Laios, I relate to him sooo much, but then. Okay alright that can be a different thing than a character being your favorite fine FINE I admit it Chilchuck’s my top blorbo. He’s so.🧍‍♂️I can’t even describe. He’s so….. He’s a clown but he’s also perfection in its best imperfect form I will not be taking further questions today. My friend called him my silly rabbit like that one meme and it makes me laugh sm

Thank you for the music rec!! I listened to it and yes agreed, sent straight to my Chil playlist. Songs are my bread and butter when I have character brainrot bc like with web weavings I feel like there are so many emotions and thoughts you can communicate about something so simply through one… (Which for anyone interested here’s my web weaving tag, got 2 about Chil). Gonna link all my dunmeshi playlists while I’m here: Dungeon Meshi, Chilchuck & his wife, marchil, Mithrun.

Ok everyone saw this coming but this ask ran away from me and I ramble about some song lyrics I associate with Chil & different facets of his life below the cut. Some people find my, ehem, heated rambles about Chil entertaining, this is your cue to get out the popcorn.

When thinking about songs for Chil I have 3 angles I take: About Chilchuck, about him and his wife, or about him & Marcille. Marchil is so engraved into me with their arcs together, that they’re like the concept of closure and letting go and letting yourself live again to me, sorry for all the non-enjoyers… But his dynamic with Marcille is a large part of his character arc so still fits, rock on.

I think currently my top song for him is Jackrabbit by San Fermin, because it combines all three it makes me go wild. It’s about trepidation… Throwing yourself into it even despite the fear (working with traps, survival in poverty where you have to rush & hustle), or just staying there paralyzed(not reaching out to his wife). Flight or freeze!! Saying goodbyes and saying hellos!! Not dying alone!! The life cycle of a wild rabbit living and dying, the baton pass race of life from generation to generation!! Chil and his daughters even!!! Going through life at a frenzied pace!! It is so Chilchuck and so marchil, and the music does give that hurried and scared energy to me too, and sigh the Marcille side to it with fear of death too…

Extra fun context but the other day on the discord server we were talking about what animal each character’s fursona would be as we do and I thought of a rabbit for Chilchuck: Quick footed, ‘cowardly’, small and frail and seen as weak 🙃, athletic and slender, pulls stunts, stressed out, has very fine hearing and has good instincts, etc. And ofc that fits really well with Marcille since she’s kinda associated with dungeon rabbits hehe~ But I think while Marcille’s 100% the cute round rabbit Chil’s more like a brown hare, more wild and like, more like a jackalope if we’re still doing monsters... I do lowkey find it more fun than his associated monster being mimics because he’s crabby, because they’re clever (with where they place themselves) and because of how he has a soft shell but soft insides, lol.

OKAY so that’s my song pick with the main 3 facets sure, now I’ll share some lyrics for each 3 sides separatedly 😈 Kinda summarizing my web weavings for him thus far. If we start with Chilchuck by himself we have… Enter One by Shelby Merry and Drunk by The Living Tombstone

With his wife, we have the bad end, and the good end for if they get back together with Lost Kitten by Metric and North by Sleeping At Last… Okay okay plus Love Like Ghosts and My Heart is Buried in Venice… Little Soldier by The Crane Wives for them also RUIN me

And Marchil… Marchil oh my beloved. Another buddy also made a full analysis on discord about Soap by The Oh Hellos for them lol, but these are Not I by I Fight Dragons and My Heart is Buried in Venice again~

Okay okay two more. Boats & Birds by Gregory and The Hawk, and Tummy by Tamino.

Finishing it up with quotes from, in order, A Softer World by Joey Comeau, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Acknowledgements by Danez Smith, The Letter by Richard Paul Evans, and last but not least posts from dead tumblr account flintcoded. I keep looking around and finding MORE fitting quotes. Someone stop me- In loving me you hold a knife at my throat, in loving you I tell you exactly where to cut. Forgive me, memory is a rope around my neck. I need you to be happy, I need one of us to be happy.

Hand in unlovable hand…

In conclusion;

[thisblogwilleatourselves]

mirror anon works. and no worries, i also enjoy rambling about plurality.

to preface: there really isn't a right or wrong way to be plural. every system has their own answers for these questions, and having a different one from others doesn't make you wrong or less of a system. my answers come from our personal perspective as a cisplural system who had to do a lot of faking it before any of it started to make sense.

you don't need to feel like "separate people" straight off the bat - or at all. in addition, systems where only the core fronts are not uncommon and are still systems. if it's more comfortable and less privacy-invading to think of your headmates as different versions of or pieces of you, that's perfectly valid. you may have more luck working on talking to them internally or through a proxy like discord or simplyplural chat at first rather than having them front. we just personally found the opposite easier, for our own internal structure reasons.

you don't need to lie or erase your previous explaination of reality. if you want to, go ahead - but i've found it's easier to go with the path of least resistence on these things. you can just frame it as "realizing that you're a system." even cisDID systems go through long periods of denial and repression, so it's not at all unreasonable to "suddenly" become a system.

flailing around is fine too. it's really more of a vibes thing, really. if one headmate is supposed to be more cheerful, acting more cheerful. if one is supposed to like a certain food or hobby or something, indulging in that when they're front and avoiding it when they're not. etc. even that can be overcomplicating it - changing your icon or using a typing quirk or such are all effective tactics as well. it's really just whatever helps you&.

to be blunt: from our perspective, with everything you've already said, you are already plural. more on the median side, but there's nothing lesser about that. if you'd prefer to be more separate, or have more of you, that's an option, but you don't need to distance yourself from the label because you don't have those things yet. try out different things and see what makes you(&) feel comfortable. best of luck. 🪞

Ah thank you! yea sometimes even tho we know plurality is an entire spectrum we don't give the same leniency to ourselves.

ohh we didn't know that that was a way you could be plural in, like seeing them as different versions of yourself, which in our current situation would prob be a good starting point cause we already see our other selves as past/alternate lives of ourself and identify as them all at once (tho with others being more prominent like z1m and b1ll) like we go by a name that refers to all 4 of us and beyond, but it's become less in time ourself and more like a mask, cause ppl don't get it when we tell them we are z1m and the others so we just say we are "insert name". We aren't sure it even is a core, the core or whatever that is could’ve been somebody else, are memories are too bad to recall clearly. We do have pluralkit in our personal discord servers, but haven't used it much. maybe we'll start trying ^^.

ohh that makes sense. we have been "out" and then back in the "closet" with telling our mom we are plural, then singlet. then plural lol so she's used to the routine.

alrighty, we have like concepts tied to our headmates now already, like z1m is surreal, types with a mix of lowercase and uppercase, and b1ll uses lots of these' things' you add onto' the end of a word, and caps for emphasis, sponge is cheerful and optimistic while b1ll is very pessimistic, z1m is like both at the same time, and we don't know what Jerm is in that comparison but we associate it with clowns. there is associations with our name we tell others like winter, white, blood, owls, fog.

ahhh thank youuu again

we've actually been told that each time we've asked for other plural ppls honest opinions with our descriptions and each time ppl told us we were likely plural median. we aren't sure if we wanna be fully separate, we like the idea of being a bunch of versions of us, still treated as mostly one entity but regonized that we aren't the same as a singlet. and us changing who we are at the moment being natural and fluid.

we will keep testing the waters and see how deep we can go! ^^

[pokerninja2]

This is my banner for my Twitter account, and I decided to (temporarily at least) make it my tumblr's as well! The Sparks of Hope one was mainly just a placeholder until I got something more appropriate set up. I plan on making something new for this account, mainly because this one doesn't fit the dimensions of a tumblr banner, but I think it's good enough to leave as for now.

I haven't talked about my OCs outside of Pearl on this account, so I suppose consider this the "introduction to my OCs" post. I've had all of these girls since 2017 (or later in some cases) and I love them. They're my babies! A lot of my followers on Twitter like them as well, which I'm very happy for. While I wouldn't say they've made a huge impact on my life or changed it in any significant way, drawing them has generally made me a happier person over the years.

This particular piece of all my girls (except one who I came up with after the pic was made so she missed out, maybe next time!) taking a group photo together is probably the one I'm most proud of. I've never really drawn them interacting together despite really wanting to, and I'm very happy with the end result! It's definitely inspired me to do more stuff with them in the future.

Anyway, now I wanna talk about each one!

I already posted about Pearl a few times on this account but I think it's only fitting I start with her, considering she's my mascot and all. She's always been my go-to to draw whenever I wanna do something like a seasonal drawing or event. She's also been my pfp on everywhere aside from discord occasionally, so chances are if you know me, you're familiar with her.

A little girl like Pearl needs little friends, which is something she has in droves!

All six of these girls were made at around the same time, both so she'd have a friend group and so I could make even more characters and worlds that fit into the Mario universe. Obviously, Belle, Brooke, and Brittany are a closely-knit trio, and they're ones that I tend to use a lot alongside Pearl.

I've also been using Squishy more too. She was retired for a few years before I brought her back and came up with the idea that the girls haul her around (or she hauls herself around) with a wagon. Then I loved her even more!

I regrettably don't use Sarina or Diamond very much, which is a shame because I think they're great designs. I just don't think there's as many good opportunities to use them compared to the others.

Following them is Kia, who I made a few years later. While she technically falls closer to a Donkey Kong OC than a Mario one, I'd say she counts enough! I think my reasons for liking her are pretty self-explanatory - a cute Kremling who was abandoned by the rest of her people and taken in by the Kong Family, becoming an ape in everything but blood. She lives with the Kongs on DK Island so she doesn't get to interact with Pearl and friends much, but they're definitely friends!

And last but certainly not least is the character I made after I made the banner, Rabbid Pearl! As the Rabbids are supposed to be extreme parodies of the character they're portraying, I thought it would be fun to do the same here. Pearl is nice, friendly, and outgoing, while Rabbid Pearl is so friendly she will trap everyone she meets in a hug and make them her new best friend! She has no concept of personal space, so she can be a bit of a hassle to deal with. She was originally made as a one-off joke when I was caught up in Sparks of Hope hype. But then I fell in love with her, and decided to just make her a part of the friend group anyway. Next time I do another one of these group shots, she's definitely going on there!

If you've read all the way down here, then thanks for letting me ramble on and on about my girls. I love them with all my heart and I love using them for art pieces. Hoping you like them too!

[cwritesfiction]

Heya! For STS (but kind of tangentially, because I'm actually very curious about this): how has the querying process been for you? Any tips for someone (me) who's preparing to query for the first time in a few months? I'm crossing my fingers for you & Under No Illusions!

It's been...wild? This query round has been wild.

I'll toss some things here and put the rest under a cut:

Part of the querying process is deciding how you will vent. I'm a big fan of running my mouth on discord

After you start sending queries, you WILL find a typo. It's inevitable. And it's ok

Querytracker is a blessing and a curse

Everything. Is. Slow. My fastest request came after 12 days. My slowest request came after 151 days.

I'm sure you already know this but it bears repeating a thousand times for everyone who's ever queried anything ever: rejections on queries or submissions do not mean your book was bad. Good stories get passed on all the time for many reasons, sometimes just because of sheer volume.

Okay, here's my long querying ramble. Not advice! Just a description of how querying has gone for me specifically.

Context: This is my second time querying. The first story I queried was enjoyable and had a lot of good, but it had some big plot problems that I tried to patch when I should've just started over. For that round, I sent 64 queries and got 3 requests (one being a partial that got bumped to a full...so maybe 4, depending on how you count.)

Under No Illusions was a much stronger story with a much better query. I've sent 53 queries and gotten 8 full requests and 3 partial requests. As I type this, I have two pending queries and three pending submissions. I'm not sending any more.

Here's why:

Querying, for me, takes a lot of time. I talked a little about it here. I'd rather spend that time working on my next project because I think that's more likely to connect me with an agent, since...

I'm pretty sure Under No Illusions is done. The tl;dr is agents have complimented the story's premise, humor, and characters, but more than one person has commented on how difficult it would be to market because of the characters' ages (they're 18, in their first semester of college.) I'm well aware there are other YA books with college-aged characters - I comped one! - but they're still a risk, especially for a debut author.

Here's the wildest query response I received: It was a pass. She said she wished she could offer because she enjoyed the story's humor; she just wasn't able to build a large enough submission list. And then she asked if I had anything else she could read, complete with a brand new submission button on query manager. Basically, a free full request for whatever I wanted to send.

But...I've been working on an adult rom-com. And she only reps YA. RIP.

Anyway, the fact that that particular agent (who runs a long-established, reputable agency and has a respectable client list) couldn't build a submission list for No Illusions means I doubt anyone else will be able to. And that's okay! Like, it sucks, but it's okay. I think it's good to know when to call it quits. There's nothing saying I can't use No Illusions (or its parts) for something later. That's literally what I'm doing with my current WIP - I took a concept I botched in my first novel attempt and now, I'm doing it justice.

Feel free to ask if you have any specific querying questions! I'm not an expert by any means but I can share my experience!

[constarellations]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER.REPOST, DO NOT REBLOG!

NAME: Kosmic! Well, it's a more recent change in terms of online alias. I still very much go by Eryn, but because I've been able to take that name and make it my IRL name, I've decided to have a new online name for comfort's sake. Ofc, I don't mind being called by my IRL name here, but I grew up old-school, ya know?

PRONOUNS: they/them!

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION:  I like to start with Tumblr IMs, but I'm definitely okay with sharing my Discord with mutuals because 1.) I hate Tumblr IMs, and 2.) my mobile app is typically logged into my personal account, so I don't always respond to messages quickly.

NAME OF MUSE(s): Aether is my primary muse always, but I do want to write more with Xiao, Wanderer, Freminet, Lyney, Lynette, and Layla! Aether just comes more naturally, but I know that I'll never get a chance to write the others if I don't have everyone on the same blog.

BEST EXPERIENCE: This one is rather personal and less about the Tumblr RPC, but I think the 'best experience' I've ever gotten from RP is being able to meet my current partner through Discord Group RP. Between Gen.shin specifically and RP, if it wasn't for meeting him, I would still be stuck in a horrible situation IRL because I wouldn't have been able to physically move away. And without that, I wouldn't have been able to continue having a passion for the game and RP, and thus wouldn't have been able to meet all the wonderful friends I've made. It's a butterfly effect, but it still falls under a 'best rp experience' imo.

RP PET PEEVES / DEALBREAKERS: One-sided conversations and being talked over constantly. For me personally, roleplay is about building a story and developing characters together. More times than I can count have I've been subjected to people who exclusively talk about their characters or personal interests, and will always change the topic to fit themselves whenever I try to engage with something based on my muse/experiences. I'm not a brick wall to be talked to, and my muses are not accessories for your own character. Roleplay is a partnership between writers imo, and I will drop people who continue to act in such a manner as stated above.

MUSE PREFERENCES: As in muses that I would like to write against? Hm, I know I prefer dynamics that easily give my characters a reason to go back for more. It may be a basic answer, but it does encompass a lot of variety in muses I think? Whether it be shared history, empathy, a mystery to solve, a curiosity to explore, an itch to scratch — it's hard to argue that realistic relationships aren't built on the base concept of reoccurrance. It's not exactly always fun for me to try to mash two random characters with no similarities and try to make them stick; after all, why should my character want to see some stranger again without reason? This is also why I want to make my own muses have enough depth to intrigue other characters to want to form that connection, because I want our characters to develop and grow because they know each other, to have a lasting bond whether it be familial, platonic, or romantic.

PLOTS OR MEMES:  I like plotting mostly, but I'm always okay with memes! It really just depends on how much canon has given to our characters. Let's take Lyney as an example: with his strongest bonds like Lynette, Freminet, and Arlecchino, I would gladly start with memes because there's already a basis for interaction. But if a Ga Ming were to show up? That's a bit more difficult since there's nothing really tying them together in canon. Like sure, I can figure something out, but what does the mun want from this exchange? At that point, I'd rather plot something to make sure both parties are satisfied.

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: At minimum a paragraph, but I personally struggle to provide quality with shorter replies. Between my tendency to ramble and my desire to give an enjoyable response ( and my brain wants my writing partners to go 'goddamn that's a good response' ), my replies tend to be 3-5 paragraphs? It really depends on the overall plot of a thread and how close I am to that particular mun. Honestly it's one of the reasons I struggle to write nowadays cuz I'm never happy with my own replies ;~;

BEST TIME TO WRITE: Truly, honestly? I write the best when I'm doing actual work, and it SUUUUCKSSSSS. All my brain juice is flowing when I'm working and my brain has time to wander, but due to working in food service, I don't exactly have time to write. I do keep a notebook at my prep table to write down scraps of sentences, whether it be a thread I'm really focused on, or a headcanon thought that will disappear the moment I get home, but it's still not often I get the chance to stop and actually write it down because at that point, my brain goes blank. Same with when I get home, all those thoughts are lost to the wind. After that, the best time for me is in the early morning when I'm still in bed. I do keep a notebook in my nightstand and I'll pull it out when I have the time to write because that's when everything is 'fresh' for me.

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S): This current batch of muses? Well, my partner likes to joke that I'm an Aether kinnie, but I think that's just cuz he loves how I write him lol. I try to not use Aether as a 'self-insert' cuz I hate the whole "the Traveler is only a self-insert and not their own character" shtick, and I don't think I'm really similiar to anyone else I write? I do find shared qualities between myself and my muses, but that's about it. Now if any of y'all think otherwise, then. . . ¯_(ツ)_/¯

TAGGED BY : @citrinitxs ( thank you, idr if anyone else has tagged me in this but honestly I need to do this meme at some point ) TAGGING: idk who hasn't done this yet, but feel free to snag it and say I tagged you cuz I'd love to read what you write!

[dreadnotau]

Big (but sort of not big) announcement time! (At the bottom is a TL;DR if you don’t have time to read paragraphs of my ramblings.)

First thing’s first, I got into college!!! A lot of you probably don’t know, but it’s been a massive uphill battle to practice for the exams to enter the art college I wanted. It’s why I haven’t been posting basically anywhere but here since the year started. It was a lot of work and stress, but it paid off! I’m gonna be studying subjects and doing art things that I’m ACTUALLY interested in! No more are the days of dreading the next German test or pulling my hair out because of some bullshit math equations, from now on it’s just blood, sweat and tears poured into canvases, baby!

Joking aside, this is genuinely monumental for me. Though it DOES mean I’m gonna be pulled thin on my time and creative juices the moment the first semester starts, I’m still excited to keep working on Dread Not alongside the schoolwork I’ll inevitably have to do, too. This comic is, as I’ve said many times, my biggest passion project yet, and the fact that I stuck with it for over a year now is another thing I have to be very proud of.

But, in all honesty, this project wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for my best friend, Meow! As some of you may know (or maybe noticed the changed bio), Meowchela is the co-author of Dread Not, and is the one who encouraged me to go through with a full comic telling of the story, (instead of just letting it sit idly in my brain like most of my Deltarune and Undertale AUs do, whoops) so, again, you have her to thank for all of this. She’s not directly involved with the creation of the pages (yet?), but she is the one who helped add many characters, sideplots, and satisfying conclusions to what was, originally, just an AU about Toriel, Asgore, Spade, Gaster, and Kris, as well as helping with designing characters both that appear later on and have appeared already (Rouxls’ fabulous design was made by her!)

The reason I bring this all up in detail now is because she is now OFFICIALLY credited as a co-author. I used to just mention her in posts and tags, as well as give her a special role in the discord server, but now she’s credited alongside me in the bios of both the Twitter and the Tumblr accounts! The reasons why she didn’t want to be credited until recently are her own, but I hope you all give her as warm a welcome as you gave me as a fellow author of Dread Not! She knows this story better than anyone (better than even me sometimes, whoops x2) and I hope we can all see it through to the end!

Don't take my word for it all, though, here's a statement from Meow:

Hello everyone! I'm Meow, who you now know as the co-author for Dread Not! I've been around for this project since the concept stages, and seeing all of your love and support for it means so much more than I can reliably say. You may now be wondering why I've been so silent despite being around for so long, and the answer to that is very personal. All I'll say is that it took a while to build up the courage to allow Kooki to even mention me by name (and trust me, he's wanted to since we made the blog!) and so having a proper credit like this is monumental. I'm happy to finally be more front and center for the project, even if still a litle nervous! =w=;;

Thank you for reading from the bottom of my heart. Seeing everyone being so kind about the comic is half the reason I came out of my shell in the first place. While it's true that without me the comic wouldn't exist, in turn my efforts would never have been realized had it not been for all of you! So thank you again, and I hope you're as excited for what's to come as I am!

And, lastly, and kind of least importantly (to me), I’ll be postponing this week’s page. Both so I can relax for 2 seconds after my exams, and so I can have more ready for the week after this one. I’m gonna be going on vacation soon, too, so I’ll try to have a page ready for posting while I’m away from home. And, if it’s not ready, it’ll just be postponed for a week, too. You guys have dealt with longer hiatuses, it shouldn’t be a big deal, right?

TL;DR: Kooki is in college now and October is gonna kick his ass. Meowchela is now officially credited as a co-author of Dread Not. This week’s page will be postponed so I can actually go touch grass for once.

Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for your continued support of this comic! Act 1 is in it’s last third, and progress on Act 2 is looking promising. Stay tuned!

[zu-is-here]

Hi Zu! Hope you are doing well 💜

Or at least better than me, ahem. Because right now I'm having a hell of a fever, which is obviously not pleasant in the slightest. But! The good part is, sometimes when my health is sabotaging my life once again, I get extremely creative. I figured you wouldn't mind me rambling a little, so here we go.

There's this really random but quite interesting thought. Not sure if anyone talked about it, personally I've never heard anything like that. Anyways. What if the positive energy in golden apples were able to call for those who they find... convenient? Of course it wouldn't be Nightmare, because he's made from negative energy; Dream neither, for he never had a hard time being, well, truly positive. Acceptance, kindness, forgiveness, and so many other things come naturally to him. Villagers, on the other hand, were never such a case. Which means they are the only ones the golden apples could call for, kind of manipulating them into doing one and only bad deed in order to never be able to cause negativity and harm ever again (either from their nature changing more or less after eating the golden apples, or from death in case only spirits can eat those apples, and their energy is not compatible with humans/monsters). It makes sense in a way that it's apples. Not some rocks, or artifacts, or leaves/the tree itself (if we're sticking to 'the Tree of Feelings' theme). One could say the energies are contained in and represented as something edible because Nightmare eats them, there wouldn't be any plot if that weren't the case. Point taken, true enough, but. Here comes another 'what if' (and my personal headcanon which is also true for every apple twins in every story of mine)! Dream and Nightmare are spirits in a body that resembles an Underswap!Sans, sure, but who said it works like a monster one, too? I like to think it's false, and the apple twins bodies are similar to a skeleton monster's only visually. (It is perfectly alright to disagree, or have a few different opinions on that matter, or whatever else! I'm merely sharing what I like, no pressure here.) So, if those bodies are working differently, and both Dream and Nightmare are still very much spirits made of positivity and negativity respectively, there isn't likely to be any problem with absorbing whatever else represents the very same positive and negative energies, be that edible or not for humans and monsters.

Okay, you already know how much I love talking about world-building and stuff, it might as well never end. Buuuuuut I'm getting tired, both from excitement and efforts to keep track of what I've already said and make the whole thing, well, make sense. Hope I did well so far. It's a bit difficult to judge such things with a fever like mine, I just got so excited I couldn't help but share this (x

It's funny how I still can write in English with ease. It's even funnier that I write this to the person who shares my native language, only so the most of your followers would understand what I'm saying, too (x No worries though, I'm alright with doing so, otherwise I wouldn't!

Take care,

anfie.

Hi anfie! Sorry for the late reply, saved the best for last ♪

That's an interesting concept indeed! *^* Fair enough this energy's source is edible (apart from the fact that the apple itself could also be a reference both to the forbidden fruit, and to the apple of discord, etc.)

However, I'm not really sure about the villagers, for the Guardians defended the apples from everyone including the villagers, though many did try to take the fruits for their own (?) purposes.

Speaking about your headcanon, this actually may be more than that! ☆ Considering that (according to the canon) Nightmare's bones were fully broken after the incident, and his whole body became goopy.

So Dream and Nightmare being the spirits to absorbe any energies? Ohhh so much potential! (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) Thank you a lot for sharing your ideas *^*

Sometimes I also find such a good compromise solution amusing (≧∀≦) Hope you'll get better very soon without losing your creative wave!╰(*´︶`*)╯

Take care ♡

[prettywordsyouwrite]

How do you deal with other writers? A writer I looked up to had been leaving positive comments on my fics but eventually stopped commenting altogether and basically told me they were trying to be supportive, but my writing isn't really their thing.

My fics are niche as it is (a rarepair in an already very tiny fandom), so I don't get a ton of kudos and comments to begin with. They write for a popular pairing and have the most popular fic in the fandom.

I am absolutely heartbroken and I'm doubting myself. I'm in a discord that includes this writer and now I just feel bad and want to leave the server, but I would miss the other friends I've made there. I just feel like my writing sucks and I don't fit in with all the great writers on the discord and I don't have anything to add to conversations anymore. I also feel like I don't want to read and comment on their fic anymore, because it just reminds me that mine aren't good enough.

First off, I just want to say that your feeling of heartbreak is validated. This writer shouldn’t have told you the reason why they read your stories. Writing is hard enough, let alone getting any feedback for it! And I truly feel there are ways to approach things where honest feedback can help (if requested by the writer for such feedback!), but most of the time, people post online in these communities for validation of what they’ve worked hard on. As a fellow writer, I’m ashamed to read someone knocked you for your writing, knowing full well how much effort each individual puts into writing. 

Writing is a form of art and expression and not showing the respect it deserves even if it’s not your cup of tea really grates me. I personally don’t like some genres of writing and have read some stories that aren’t my thing. We all have in our journey as a reader! However, I would never go around telling another writer anything less than “good job”... your work doesn’t deserve to be diminished all because they feel they are in a position of power to do so. 

However, I think a lot of us all have doubts about our work, and how we fare in the writing communities that we belong to. So you’re definitely not alone in this! 

For me, I will admit that whilst I’ve loved immersing myself around other writers, getting to know how they approach certain topics and how they enjoy writing and sharing that joy with them, there’s a whole other side fuelled on by my insecurities, that I find myself struggling with the concept of being an active member of any writing community. I have had moments during my time here where my writing has truly been impacted by these communities and my desire to be accepted and feeling like I’m not. I understand your current mindset of not wanting to contribute or feeling your input would not be worthy in this Discord server. I’ve been there before myself!

It’s damn hard to be a writer and maintain an audience. It’s two different worlds. We write for the enjoyment of the process (well, I hope that’s what you write for), and we post for the feedback of said work. If we don’t get interaction, we’re less motivated to continue. But allowing your writing journey to be dictated by others isn’t fair to you, or the words bursting to be written either. As hard as it is, if you’re happy writing in the genre that you do and it brings you joy, then that’s the main thing. 

Right now, I feel the impact of others is causing your self-doubt to go beyond the level it should. You have been given “evidence” from this writer, who you’ve respected and now you carry that around on your shoulders. I think you need to step back, or leave the Discord server temporarily, and focus on how to navigate the “evidence” this person has given you. How can you remove the baggage this careless person has thrown at you? You don’t have to carry their problems around. Because as hurtful as this is, and cruel as this person was knowing full well that you no doubt have supported them a great deal in return, you aren’t the one with the problem. They are. And they simply made it your problem by voicing it. Their voice matters and they don’t seem to realise this or care enough, given their status in the community. Which isn’t uncommon, sadly.

But you also matter. And I truly hope this ramble of an answer allows you to feel so. You’re not alone and you are worthy. Your work has no doubt touched someone out there. It’s so easy to focus on the negative comments but I bet you’ve had some really kind ones as well. Go back and reread them. You might find some healing in knowing you matter from this exercise.

I truly hope you can rediscover your confidence as you are good enough.