#Theme: Alternate Modes

[crimescrimson]

Mortal Kombat 11: The Krypt

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

[heartofbalemoon]

caesar king & crowe blackforest, if it's ok..! 👑❤️🐦‍⬛

reblog with ur f/o and self insert and i’ll draw you together

(i’ll probably only do 1 or 2 but hopefully i’ll have energy for more)

[cuppajj]

Beast Ancients AU FAQ

I’ve seen a lot of asks in my inbox that are identical to each other, so I decided to put em all in one post and then some. This’ll be updated the more I develop the AU and the more info we get.

As a disclaimer, I am very new to CRK (as of December 2023) and I haven’t gotten to all the game or story modes yet (notably odyssey), so things are definitely bound to change + be elaborated on more! Anyway without further ado:

General

What are the Beast Ancients’ themes?

Vanilla is Penance, Lily is Sovereignty, Dragonberry is Pride, Cacao is Solitude, and Cheese is Conquest. I tried to keep them within the realm of their original meanings

Essentially my philosophy is: Penance is the acknowledgment (truth) that sins such as deceit exist in the world and must be cleansed. Sovereignty is an extreme form of freedom where one can have all the agency they wish, but can be just as silent about their presence/power as well. Pride is a byproduct of passion or sloth, boiling down to the adamancy of the subject. Solitude is a choice made with both resolution and apathy in various degrees, and lastly Conquest promises an abundant future at the cost of untold destruction.

If the ancients are bad, are the beasts good?

No, the old Beasts are still a threat. With a total of ten beasts to worry about, the situation on Earthbread is very dire. However, there is still hope left, and hope can go a long way.

Is there a new set of ancient heroes with soul jams?

No, and there likely won’t be. The Neo Beasts and first Beasts still have their respective soul jam halves, and both want each other’s.

Where’s Gingerbrave and his party?

Likely the Crème Republic, which becomes a refuge for many cookies after the rise of the neo beasts. They’re at the front of the resistance movement, working with Clotted Cream Cookie to plan how the beasts will be taken down.

What do the Neo Beasts think of their past selves?

Generally they see themselves as improved or improving. The only one who doesn’t feel that way is Frigid Cacao, who doesn’t reflect on himself that often.

Did they all corrupt at the same time?

Still working on that part. The timeline for beast ancients is a WIP, but for now, it’s likely that while they didn’t corrupt at once, they corrupted pretty close to one another. Cheese was likely first, followed by Lily. Vanilla was among the last to fall and evidently had it the worst.

Do the Neo Beasts still have kingdoms? How is life like there?

Answered here

What are the cookies of darkness doing?

As of writing (5/31/24) we don’t have a lot of info on the cookies of darkness in beast yeast, but at the very least I can say Dark Enchantress cookie may or may not know about Midnight Lily’s plan to destroy her.

How would legendaries react?

I admittedly don’t know everything about the legendaries to say yet, but they’re all alarmed to some degree. I can flesh them out the more I learn about them

Individual Neo Beast questions under cut!

Saint Vanilla Cookie

How do his powers work?

Answered here

Does he know he’s killing cookies?

Nope, he doesn’t see it as that and it would pain him to. He sees purification as a form of transition or ascension in itself, to put it simply; he might even envy those he turns to stardust, knowing his own tainted soul will be so much harder to liberate.

Why is he constantly crying?

He’s just like that. He’s just that big of an empath.

Has his relationship with Lily changed?

Saint Vanilla still cares very much about Lily, and may even be more open about his feelings towards her; but he admits the only reason why she’s still alive is because she convinced him to leave her for last. Lily very well knows that Vanilla, in his mind, wants to purify her more than anyone else. Vanilla often pities her choice to stew in her tainted soul, but he respects her decision… at least the alternative is that they’ll someday be the only two cookies on Earthbread.

What happened to Black Raisin?

As the very first to witness his rise, she inadvertently became his very first martyr.

Where’s Custard Cookie III?

With his relatives in the Crème Republic, alongside the rest of Gingerbrave’s party. The kid has a hard time wrapping his head around what happened to Pure Vanilla, and it may be a blessing that he’s been largely focused on worrying about the well being of his uncle, Clotted Cream Cookie. As the head of the resistance, he’s been working tirelessly… is this what a king goes through too?

Shadow Milk’s opinion on Saint?

To put it simply, he starts out thinking that a confused Vanilla will be easy to manipulate, but he soon finds out that Saint Vanilla is way smarter and more aware than made out to be. He knows Shadow Milk is with him, and he wants to purge him from his soul; but that is a process that may be harder than anything else. So in the meantime, Shadow Milk can watch as he continues on his path of Penance towards ascension, fighting back the resistance he creates before it can truly harm him. Essentially, Saint Vanilla isn’t trapped with Shadow Milk, Shadow Milk is trapped with Saint Vanilla.

Dragonberry Cookie

Is the skull on her head real?

Yes! It comes from a nondescript monster.

If Pitaya is imprisoned, where is Snapdragon?

With Tarte Tatin and/or Royal Margarine. Dragon City likely got taken over by Dragonberry’s kingdom, but they noped out of there as it happened. The two of them might’ve been the first few to recognize Hollyberry’s spiral into corruption and where it was headed

How is her family doing?

Alright for the most part, but they can feel Dragonberry’s influence in every aspect of their life now. While Royal and Jungleberry are technically still the king and queen, it’s only a figurehead role as Dragonberry is the true ruler. She still cares about her family very much, but she’s controlling and good at keeping them under her thumb. Dragonberry’s granddaughter Princess Cookie is the only one who objects this new way of life, and runs away from the palace.

How would the other dragons react?

The other dragons aren’t canon to CRK so they’re not canon to the au by extension, but just for this question, they’d be different levels of alarmed or concerned save for maybe Longan. I could see Ananas wanting a word with Dragonberry in particular esp since they’re both prideful cookies

Frigid Cacao Cookie

Does he ever go outside?

Very rarely, but it’s usually to observe the licorice sea or meet with the few denizens he has left.

Where is Dark Choco?

Still working on this part (waiting for Apathy pt 2 to come out so I have a better idea), but he’s likely alone by himself. He heard wind of his father’s corruption though and took it less well than he thought he would. Perhaps he’ll run into someone who feels the same?

Is his permafrost truly permanent or can the frozen citizens be thawed?

Technically yes, the permafrost can be thawed, but it’s a meticulous process since Cacao’s ice isn’t normal ice. It’s a cure that Crunchy Chip is looking for to save Caramel Arrow.

How does the licorice sea work for him and how did he come to tame it?

I can’t say how yet outside of the fact that it was a definitely cool and heroic thing for Dark Cacao to do, on the scale of taming the Black and White dragons. The sea, arguably a sentient monster in itself, and all of the creatures within it came to follow Cacao and Cacao only. Now it almost acts like an extension of himself: the beast can make the sea do whatever he wants, like acting as his shield, arms, or barrier, and the licorice horrors will vehemently defend him. There are tons of monsters roaming his frozen kingdom now.

Mystic Flour’s opinion on Cacao?

Working on it, but to some degree she knows Cacao is much stronger than he looks. She might see his apparent apathy for his frozen kingdom with fondness though.

Celestial Cheese Cookie

Is the Golden City still running or did she leave it to die?

It may still be running but in a scaled-down beta form. Cheese learned to accept the fact that what she’d built was entirely fake, but she didn’t move on from regaining what was lost. Her virtual Golden City serves as a blueprint for the kingdom she wants on Earthbread, and then some; with nothing in the barren desert to grow her kingdom, her brightened eyes turn elsewhere towards civilizations that could be brought into the fold. Such is the beginning of the Beast of Conquest’s terror.

She does sometimes visit her golden city, only sometimes. It doesn’t look the same; it’s not a paradise for her to escape to, but it is a promise of what she will have someday. This time, it will be no mirage, and there will be no one to threaten its destruction ever again.

Midnight Lily Cookie

What is her opinion on dark enchantress cookie?

DE is the source of insecurity for Lily, who regards herself as the weakest among all the beasts. Because she’s half of a complete whole, who was already half of another whole, she is passionate about reuniting her souls. While she is focused on expanding the influence of the faerie kingdom, her true goal is to track down Dark Enchantress Cookie and destroy her; but she knows she will need more help than just herself, and has considered asking for help from other vengeful allies.

Does she still guard the silver tree?

Yes, she still fiercely honors Elder Faerie’s wishes.

Have her relationships with the other neo beasts changed?

Ish, most notably her and Celestial Cheese are a little more on speaking terms; but they’re connecting through their potential partnership as Lily hopes she can help her take down Dark Enchantress. In return, she might help her expand her kingdom and take down Burning Spice.

If more FAQs come up, I will make a part two. Thank you for your interest!

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

How the Arknights Community was Wrong on One of Arknight's Most Powerful Classes

Or, alternatively, you all need to apologize to Rosmontis right now.

Flingers are experiencing a modern Renaissance right now. Thanks to the release of Wis'adel and the introduction of Rosmontis's absolutely busted IS module, it seems like things are on the up and up for Flingers. Even Greyy the Lightningbearer is a common sight in high level IS runs, and he doesn't even have a broken module.

How on Earth did this happen, when it wasn't very long ago that Flingers were the butt and punchline of their own joke?

The Original Let's start with how the archetype was introduced into the game: Rosmontis. Rosmontis was released alongside Mudrock for the Chapter 8 release event, and the reception was pretty mixed. Rosmontis was a limited operator, and to this point, limited operators in Arknights had been pretty middling. Nian wasn't really conclusively better than Hoshiguma, and W was good but nothing special. We were not at the point yet where Dusk or Skadi the Corrupting Heart had been released, so the running joke was typically to roll on the other operator on a limited banner. Mudrock was a really strong laneholder that still sees a lot of use today, and Weedy is by far the strongest shifter operator ever released.

It's also worth noting that Rosmontis was released during a general downturn of opinions on AoE ranged operators. Leonhardt and Meteorite were considered actually quite strong in the early days of Arknights, and I know this must sound crazy, but Mostima and W were actually super hyped for their release. People thought Mostima, base-ass Mostima with no modules, was good. But after CC Blade, and a general stint of CCs where AoE operators made relatively poor performances, the tide had shifted. Operators like Eyjafjalla and Angelina (god remember when Angelina was considered really good. Well I guess she is now. Regardless) had AoE capabilities but were much cheaper in DP and had solid secondary skills for dealing with single enemies. So people were generally pretty down on AoE operators, which wasn't helped later on by the release of Passenger, an operator considered so bad it resulted in several attempts by Hypergryph to make him better (the retrospective view is that while Passenger was bad, he was made out to be a lot worse than he was, a view I agree with).

These two factors did not help the views of Rosmontis as an operator, but it was also further not helped by what content was available to use Rosmontis in: Contingency Contract. Rosmontis, tragically, released after the first theme of Integrated Strategies came and went, and so the only high level content available to use her in was CC. CC is particularly harsh to Flingers as we'll discuss, but this is also something that Wis'adel has managed to avoid as there hasn't been a CC since her release. The only difficult content since Wis'adel's release has been IS and RA, two game modes that honestly favor Flingers as we'll discuss later on. There was just nowhere to use Rosmontis in more difficult content where she didn't feel bad.

Flingers are a pretty interesting subclass, and Arknights has really not designed any subclasses to be like them, ultimately. They have a very impressive attack range, higher bulk than other ranged operators, and a unique gimmick to their attacks: they will deal an additional hit of damage, but one that only has 50% of their ATK. In addition to this, Flingers are the only Sniper subclass that cannot hit aerial enemies without certain conditions being met (Wis'adel's S3, Rosmontis S3 with an aerial blocker).

In general, this results in a class that is very good at dealing with large groups of enemies with only modest DEF stats. This is because DEF ends up having an increased effect on Rosmontis' damage, because it will apply to both of her hits. An enemy with 375 DEF will, after the 175 Def ignore from her talent, reduce her attack damage by a total of 400.

This for a lot of people was sort of the final straw that broke the Rosmontis back. Her vulnerability to enemies having DEF was a problem, and it was generally stated to be in a way that other DPS checks would avoid. In addition, if we take a look at ideal DPS scenarios with the introductory 6-star for each Sniper class:

Ray: 1,346.22 Narantuya: 1,062 Schwarz: 880.28 Exusiai: 815.99 Chen the Holungday: 647.17 Rosmontis: 601.71 Fartooth: 583.88 Rosa: 539 W: 373.93

Rosmontis is very middle of the pack, losing in particular to Exusiai. Now, Exusiai also had the problem of being very soft to enemy DEF stats. Honestly, it should be noted that Rosmontis was always hitting higher DPH than Exusiai would for her normal attack damage.

(I've been getting really into Desmos lately)

Now this is all just auto-attack stuff and I don't want this to be exclusively a Rosmontis analysis by any means (although it's coming). The point here is that there was a pretty common conception that Rosmontis didn't really have a place in the meta, because Exusiai was so dominant in that spot. It's not hard to understand why. If we look at their S3 DPS really quickly...

At low DEF values, Exusiai is overdominant. This isn't super surprising, as she has a lot of factors working in her favor: a busted 5 hit S3, an attack interval reduction as well as a sizable ASPD buff from her talent. But it doesn't take a huge amount of defense for Rosmontis to come out on top. The specific DEF number is 580, roughly. Then, the perks of Rosmontis's S3 come to light: it's larger DEF ignore, it's halved attack interval, and it's much larger ATK buff.

This being said, there are still things working against Rosmontis, like her skill cycle being very long, and her own ATK buff resulting in Warfarin's buff being diluted compared to Exusiai. If you take a look at CC results, it is true that Rosmontis only has one top to her name: CC Spectrum, where she is part of a Risk 31 clear alongside Exusiai, which is pretty cool. But CCs, which often increase enemy DEF while reducing friendly ATK, are just very harsh to Flingers. Given that it is a class so sensitive to DEF and ATK changes to hit breakpoints, most CCs just hit Rosmontis in a double bind.

Funnily enough, Exusiai also doesn't have any top clears in CC past this point too, which is interesting to point out.

(For those counting: Rosmontis: CC5 Exusiai: CC1, CC5)

Rosmontis' position probably wasn't helped past this point by the release of Chen the Holungday either, and the rest is history. Rosmontis goes down as one of the weaker 6-stars in the game. People feel bad when they roll her. People on this website nurse weird ass grudges against her.

The Blip

It would be remiss of me to not remind people about Greyy the Lightningbearer. Greyy was a 5-star, which means that 99% of players ignored his existence, Gamepress made a dogshit summary about him that was made by people who don't play the game, and life moved on. We're going to talk about Greyy in more detail later on because he is important to talk about...

Oh well right now

Lone Trail: The Update That Should Have Changed Everything

Lone Trail was a super massive event, releasing three 6-stars that can be kindly regarded as "good but nothing amazing, bad, and my wife". It also introduced to the game the Flinger Modules, and I'm going to tell you all a secret. You and me, real close now.

It's fucked up these modules didn't receive more hype.

These modules gave Flingers a second shockwave hit. Now that doesn't seem all that impressive. After all, you might think to yourself, that shockwave still deals 50% damage. But the addition of an extra shockwave really changed the numbers of the game, because it meant a huge chunk more damage.

At minimum (673 DEF roughly) this module improves her damage by about 45%. That's pretty crazy for a module as it stands, but if you want to see the full chart, here you go. Arknights Youtubers hire me.

The extremely high peak there, where Rosmontis is doing more than triple the damage she was originally is actually getting to the exact point where Rosmontis without a module moves towards dealing scratch damage. This is pretty common with modules involving physical DPS operators, such as Blaze, to have very unique high points.

But this is 45% just off of, what is essentially

An extra shockwave

60 more points of DEF Ignore

+75 ATK attribute

This is a remarkably tame talent upgrade. The base effect, the second shockwave, is pulling so much work here. These numbers will be a bit more tame when you compare with S2 (already comes with +2 shockwaves) or S3 (already has some DEF shred) but this is still a very impactful module.

It also impacts the stun chance on her S2. Without her module, and having 4 total hits per attack, this puts her stun chance at roughly 59.04% per attack. The additional hit raises those chances to 67.232%. Not a massive increase, but it does help to patch up her odds.

This is also why Greyy's module was so important. Greyy's slow is tied to his talent, and hence the jump from 2 hits to 3 hits is very notable. Without his module, Greyy has a 64% chance to slow the enemy with every attack. With his module, those chances go up to 78.4%! That's pretty significant! He also deals 15% more damage to Slowed enemies too, which is a pretty strong mod on top of the extra shockwave. I haven't actually done Greyy's numbers, but it really does make him a lot more consistent at slowing enemies.

So now we're here, with Flinger's getting a surprisingly good module. They now deal 3 hits per attack, with Rosmontis dealing 5 hits per attack with her S2, which is actually relevant for Lone Trail (Rosmontis can remove a clean 250 DEF with every one of her attacks during her S2 against Arc Screenguards). So what happened?

Well...Flingers weren't popular, were widely regarded as a flawed class, and mostly passed over. It just wasn't worth it to people to raise Rosmontis or Greyy the Lightningbringer even if you had some inkling their module was good.

The Return of Integrated Strategies and Reclamation Algorithm

A miracle the likes of which Hypergryph may never do again...well okay maybe they will, they do be kind of nailing it on the alternate gamemodes, we have the return of Integrated Strategies and Reclamation Algorithm. These modes are actually uniquely situated in comparison to CC to benefit Flingers over other classes. This is largely because of how these modes chose to scale difficulty and the tools they give you to combat this.

In IS, enemy difficulty typically results in scaling HP and ATK buffs, and that's it. It's rare to see enemy DEF buffs in IS. In addition, many relics in IS focus on increasing ATK or ASPD or improving damage dealt. Flingers get much and much better when they deal damage with their shockwaves, and it is pretty easy to do that in IS. Rosmontis's S2 is of special note here: with her module, it deals 5 hits of damage, which means it benefits from ATK buffs to the same degree as Exusiai does, but with a lot of added perks. DEF ignore, a moderate AoE radius, and a chance to stun. This skill is way more dangerous with additional ASPD.

Greyy also benefits a ton here. Extra ASPD allows him to basically permanently lock down entire groups of enemies with slow. This is something that can also sort of be done with Chain Casters, but notably, Chain Casters can only slow down a certain number of enemies at a time with each of their attacks. Since slowed enemies tend to create clusters, Greyy can slow down entire waves of enemies with his attacks, while still dealing pretty impressive damage.

The only issue is the aerial enemies. I haven't mentioned this up until now, because in my opinion, it is the single most overhyped drawback in the entire game. There are tons of events and chapter releases where this basically doesn't matter. Aerial enemies are, for all intents and purposes, rather rare in Arknights. But in IS this is important. Flingers need some degree of map knowledge to use well. But your Sniper ticket is not necessarily the only solution to aerial enemies in any IS, and chances are you'll find more than one. For IS3, you can pick up Kroos Alter and Rosmontis and in the grand majority of situations be completely fine.

Of course, if you play IS5, this basically isn't an issue and Rosmontis is the second stronger Flinger in the game, and I think arguably the second strongest Sniper pick?

I almost forgot RA by the time I went to post this, so it's a good thing I went back because, yes, Flingers and Rosmontis are also good there too. It's literally designed for Flingers to be good, it's huge mobs of enemies all clustered closely around each other. You can use Provisions to give Rosmontis a ton of ATK or ASPD and watch her go ham on like 115 exploding spiders. They also have amazing range for vision on resource maps and have multi-hit mechanics for those stupid locks.

It's like, impressive how nicely Flingers slot in here. I'm really curious how Greyy feels when you give him one of the ASPD provisions so he has +60 ASPD.

Rosmontis CRAVES your Coagulate Supplements!!!!

The End-Times: Wis'adel and Rosmontis's Busted Module

If you've ever wanted to know how we got to this renaissance, it was Wis'adel being released, having absolutely busted numbers on her kit that basically ensured that her shockwaves would always do damage, and then going and soloing IS3 A15 like it was fucking nothing.

Wis'adel proved Flingers could be fucking fantastic.

Rosmontis has actual problems in her kit, she's ultimately a pretty early Limited operator with all the design choices that carries. Wis'adel is what you get when you ask "how far can a Flinger go?" The shockwave mechanic works well with her huge numbers and her shadow status effect. Her summons work to keep as many enemies as possible attached with a shadow. Her blast radius is massive. Honestly the fact she can blow up the UFOs in IS3 barely matters.

Soon after that, Rosmontis got her specialized Module. I've seen people complain about this. You're wrong. There's no fucking way this module should be allowed to be used in general content. It is, in fact, maybe the most busted specialized module they've released. It completely changes Rosmontis as an operator. Benefitting from Caster relics is insane for themes like IS3 which has a ton of genuinely broken ones, her new and improved equipment are insanely powerful, and the fact that she allows every Sniper and Caster to create a free rather tanky blocker with a crazy debuff effect is like

You understand this module is nuts? Surely?

The trait wouldn't really make Rosmontis meta anyhow. It would improve her damage by a lot but puts her, rather frustratingly, into the camp of mixed offensive operators who now have to worry about enemy RES values coming into play. Plenty of the enemies with decent DEF stats that Rosmontis struggles with now also come with sizable RES stats. As I've mentioned in my brief thoughts on Dagda, there are a ton of enemies Dagda hits harder by brute force than Indra does by trying to side-step the bigger stat.

It's also okay that the module is IS only, because IS is where Flingers are just at their best. Nothing is stopping you from using Rosmontis in general content, especially with her still really good BOM-X module!

Flingers, ultimately, are just a well-designed class. They have great range, AoE, and having extra instances of damage is always incredibly powerful. I do think Rosmontis has some kit issues, but I also think that a lot of people immediately dismissed her as bad based on community consensus. You want to know a cool thing about Rosmontis I haven't brought up yet? She can attack invisible enemies with her S3. Invisible enemies feel a lot more common than aerial enemies do, hell Lappland the Decadenza's event is literally a bunch of invisible enemies.

But like, that's never seen as a positive to Rosmontis unless you're a Sniperknights player and then you might just say Totter is better (and I get that, he is a bit more consistent). Rosmontis can hit an entire enemy type with her S3 that Wis'adel can't, but it's seemingly never mentioned. It's just...this community is very strange, you know?

Try Rosmontis out, hell try her out with Shamare or Warfarin. If you use Exusiai a bunch (godspeed soldier it's been rough since the Chen days), you probably already have those operators. Try Greyy out too. Then, if you really want the challenge, E0 Level 1 Wis'adel. Come on. You know that's better than like half the cas-

[nightospheresims]

roselipa super shy posepack (for ts3)

i've always wanted to convert some cute model poses and i finally figured it out! it kind of took me longer than it probably should have because the facial expressions get all wonky when pasting them over from the ts4 rig. I tried to adjust the faces as best i could, but be warned that there may be some general weirdness, especially with the eye shapes. i may have also adjusted the eyebrows too much to the point where they all look sad but i guess that goes with the theme of the pack lol.

super shy pose pack

for adult/young adult females

10 poses

pose list compatible and and non-pose list compatible options

pose list contains short descriptions and thumbnails for easy navigation<3

♡  HOW TO USE POSES ♡

Poses are meant to be used with cmomoney's pose player. It's located in the Decorations/Miscellaneous section in buy mode. Place the pose player down and choose either "Pose by Name" or "Select Pose from List".

My pose downloads come with two files: a listed and a not listed version. Select "Pose by Name" if you have the not listed file, and type in the code of the pose (provided in zip) you want to use. Select "Pose from List" if you have the listed version, and select the pose you want from the list. ONLY HAVE ONE VERSION IN YOUR PACKAGES FOLDER AT ONCE.

♡  DOWNLOAD  ♡

PATREON (free)

Mediafire Alternative

↓↓↓

♡  CREDITS  ♡

these poses are originally by roselipa! I just converted them to be usable with the ts3 rig.

@sssvitlanz @pis3update @xto3conversionsfinds @matchsim @simfluencer-network

♡  Support Me (Ko-fi) |All Downloads | TOU  ♡

[safehousebooze]

For Benthan week day 6, alternate theme: Getting frisky on a mode of transportation

They're on a train x3 (I MUST draw a continuation of this)

[writeblrcafe]

A Comprehensive Guide for Writing Advice

Sometimes, despite enjoying writing so much, something is not working for you. Maybe your well of ideas has run dry. Or your WIP has hit a corner and you can't find your way out to the end of the story. Or you need to go back to your finished draft and see if there are any kinks to clear up.

Fortunately, everyone at Writeblrcafé has experienced such, and to help you out, we have a bunch of links to helpful posts by fellow writers to help you along on your writing journey as well as some helpful links to other websites, resources and software.

General:

WHY IS WRITING IS SO FUCKING HARD? (@writers-hq)

Writer Block First Aid Kit (@isabellestone)

Websites for writers (masterpost @2soulscollide)

Writing advice (masterpost @theliteraryarchitect)

Writing resources (masterpost @stinastar)

One look thesaurus (a reverse dictionary where you can enter words or concepts)

Coming Up with Ideas:

97 Character Motivations (@theplottery)

Character Flaws (@fantasyfillsmysoul)

Character Profile (@mistblossomdesigns)

Characters Unflawed (@emptymanuscript)

Why Theme is More Important than Plot (@theplottery)

Weekly writing prompts on Reedsy

Drafting:

3 of the worst story beginnings (and how to fix them) (@theplottery)

Cheat Sheet for Writing Emotion (@myhoniahaka)

Creative Writing for Writers (@writerscreed)

Describing Physical Things (@wordsnstuff)

How to Craft a Natural Plot (@theplottery)

How to Write a Story? (masterpost @creativepromptsforwriting)

How to write: ethnicity & skin colour (@youneedsomeprompts)

What the F is Show Not Tell (@theplottery)

Writing advice from my uni teachers (@thewritingumbrellas)

First Draft: story outlining template meant to help with planning your next big writing project (@fauxriot)

The wonder/ discovery arc (@evelynmlewis)

How to structure a chapter (@theplottery)

How to pace your storytelling (@charlesoberonn)

How to write and research mental illness (@hayatheauthor)

Seven Blogs You Need To Read As An Author (@hayatheauthor)

Editing/Revising:

Eight steps in making the editing process of your book easier (@joaneunknown)

Kill Your Darlings (@tibodine)

Self editing tips (first pass) (@projecttreehouse)

Publishing:

Chill Subs: biggest database for literary magazines and small presses; track your submissions and get your writing published!

5 steps to get your novel ready to self-publish (by @nanowrimo)

Resources for finishing and publishing your novel (masterpost by @nanowrimo)

For self-publishing: this page gives you the exact pixel count of a book spine based on its page count, and/or a template you can use for the correct width/height ratio.

Software:

Scrivener: one time payment of $60 or 70€ (macOS/windows), $24 (iOS; no Euro listed for iOS); used by professionals, many tools to write and organize your novel

Bibisco: free and "pay what you want" version; multilingual, world building, character profiles, writing goals, story timeline, mind maps, notes and more templates to write a novel.

Manuskript: free open source-tool; outliner, novel assistant, distraction-free mode

Ghostwriter: a free and open alternative which has a decent interface with some interesting features, like Hemingway Mode, which disables one's backspace and delete keys, emulating a typewriter.

NaNoWriMo: an international contest to encourage writers to finish writing their novel with many events, groups for exchange with fellow writers, helpful writing advice and help for self-publishing and publishing traditionally.

Campfire Writing: website, desktop app, and mobile app, with tools built in to help manage characters, magic systems, research, etc. It has a great free option, plus monthly, annual, and lifetime purchase options. It also has built-in NaNoWriMo compatibility and a catalogue of tutorials and writing advice videos (suggestion by @harfblarf)

Websites And Writing Apps Every Author Needs In 2023 (@hayatheauthor)

Let us know in the comments if there are any links we could add to it! Reblog this post to help a fellow writer.

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[sepublic]

Interesting that pop culture portrays Van Helsing as an experienced, seasoned vampire hunter, when it's pretty clear in the novel that this is his first go around with the whole thing, his first confirmation they actually exist, and in other words he's basically winging it and hasn't necessarily thrown a punch in his entire life (Which means he can’t just throw hands with Dracula, he needs research and backup to organize the perfect trap where they won’t be instantly killed). VH doesn’t always know what’s going on, he’s figuring things as he goes along; Like yeah he's HEARD of vampires, but it's never been anything prominent to him.

If anything, his past with vampires is probably similar to a lot of readers; Familiar with the concept, knows some of the details but not all of them, and definitely presumes them fake. He sees something going on with his patient and is like Haha damn that's just like a vampire, wouldn't it be crazy if... And then he slowly starts settling into conspiracy theory mode when more and more dots show up to conveniently connect, as he does the obligatory Protagonist Searching Stuff Up bit and realizes Mein Gott!!! It might be a vampire!!!

But then at the last second VH reminds himself, Now hold on, have I actually SEEN this vampire??? But it won't do anyone harm if I added some garlic flowers, right...? And then it just gradually escalates from there into full-on paranoia and dread that vampires exist and VH needs to desecrate the dead, and then he finally gets confirmation when he sees an Undead Lucy. What the fuck.

I think there's an argument to be made that Van Helsing was doubting himself just as much as Seward and the others initially did, if not more so, and he can’t even talk to anyone about it; So there’s an elation where you finally talk to others and realize it’s really happening, you’re not crazy.

This just ties into the theme of recording that which you did see, which is indisputable, because it’s evidence and proof. So you can be certain you aren't totally insane, and can distinguish facts from assumptions and theories if necessary; Especially when one needs to consider other explanations for the same symptoms. There’s a relief confirming what is and isn’t real to dispel self-doubt, like there was for Jonathan, who also suffered from Dracula’s gaslighting distorting his perception of reality.

I think all of this makes Van Helsing's actions and secrecy a lot more understandable when handling Lucy; If you hired a doctor and he suddenly started bringing up vampires, you might be inclined to think he's insane, doesn't know what he's talking about, and has read too many vampire stories and probably believes in 'alternative' medicine. Van Helsing still has an image and reputation to uphold here, and if it's gone, he can't actually be there to help Lucy if he turns out to be right.

That isn't to say he isn't without critique, especially in later portions of the novel, but you can kinda see where this underdog stance of "I'm right and the others around me are wrong" gets vindicated and thus develops into a bit of arrogance later down the line; Particularly, in presuming his disagreements with Mina to be no different than his secrecy with Seward and Mrs. Westenra.

In the end, VH could be described as a character who wonders if he's in the novel Dracula (compared to Jonathan who knows he's in a horror story of some kind but can't name the genre), but then has to remind himself this is reality... If this is a story, it’s probably just some medical drama. And when VH does accept he's in the novel Dracula, he assumes his character development and the lessons he learns are straightforward.

[thecursedjazz]

Sorry but Postal 1 dude being Dude Sr just doesn't work at all because all of the traits that define Postal 1 Dude (and the demon) are absent in Dude Sr

Not sure that I really need to elaborate on this one.

I mean Postal 1 Dudes core fundamentals as a character is that he's a mentally comprised individual who's damaged to the point where he believes he's under attack from the whole world, he kills not because he's a sadistic and cold killer but instead because he's fully under the impression that he's left with no option but to fight back because the world is out to get him. Like his ramage wasn't even a planned thing, the first thing he does after he's "attacked" is go to the sherrif for help so he's literally just a traumatised everyman prior to Postal 1s events.

But Dude Sr...just lacks any actual substance or sign of that, there's no paranoid lunatic there, there no mention of the hate plague (which is even wierder since it literally becomes real at the end of Postal 4).

His goal is to have complete control of edensin which is fine and dandy but why would Postal 1 dude wanna run casino's and a whole city and shit? Not only that but he's fully incapable, man couldn't even keep his house and isn't even able to distinguish cries of fear from fleeing civilians from actual hostiles, his ass is NOT running a whole city.

And on top of that it can't even be connected to the demon, the demon (or dudes alternative personality if you see it that way) just simply wants to causes as much death and destruction as possible, I struggle to see how running casinos links to that.

The rampage mode ending literally tells us the Postal 1 Dudes mental health and deteriorated so much that he's trapped inside his mind, so he's either braindead by this point or the demon has full control of his body so his ass ain't acting as level headed as Dude Sr.

Dude Sr saying "we are the place called climax, and the time called now" isn't even enough to bridge that gap because EVERY postal Dude uses Postal 1 quotes.

Postal 1 Dude is also younger than P2/Postal 4 Dude, with him being 27 and being portrayed as young in the manual (the pic of him holding his gun in the corner), P2 Dude is stated to be early thirties to late forties by Postal 2 as stated by RWS and he looks alot older than P1 so how can he be his dad if he's younger?

And like, Dude Sr just doesn't have the same vibe as Postal 1 Dude or like anything related to Postal 1 as a whole, his whole setup, placement in the game, his dialogue, theme song, and motivations just....don't match to Postal 1 at all.

Of course i don't wanna come across as a douche, if you wanna headcanon that he is Dude Sr then cool, don't let me discourage you.

But if this guy IS considered as Postal 1 Dude and that is the last we see of him...as a portrayal that makes him acts nothing like himself then that just seems like such a cop out.

Anyway this whole thing was written as improv and on the spot so apologies for any typos and shit.

[kitsu-katsu]

I just finished watching arcane season 2 and just... WHAT HAPPENED???

Dude

Where did the themes go???

I spent the last 3 chapters just going "hey, remember when this was about a struggle against oppression and class divides and discrimination?" It all just... Vanished and like 3 new forms of magic took its place

What happened with Mel? What was her plot even ABOUT theme-wise this season?? What was that ending with Ambessa????

What was that mess with Caitlin's character? She was ping-ponging between going fascist and actually she's just Caitlin same as ever and is immediately forgiven

Everyone forgives each other too quick

The avenger's level threat at the end to force Piltover and Zaun together without really resolving the political and social tensions that drove this whole thing was... A choice. A bad one if you ask me

Viktor held true to his character of "I'm using hex-tech to help people and especially help those who need it in the undercity" with an off-putting undertone for a WHILE and was good, up until Jayce basically killed him and then he's all for erasing humanity?? Just like that? "I just spent days putting all my energy into saving the beast-man, and asked Singed to leave, but actually, now that the commune was destroyed in one blow by Jayce, to hell with humanity, let's go doctor! To make the hive mind!"

It felt... Wrong

Jayce's character was also handled... Confusingly

And the time loop of Viktor making Jayce magic-obsessed so that they can work together and then he can almost die and become one with the hex-core and save humanity and Jayce becomes doomed so he can change the trajectory of his life again so that Jayce comes back to almost kill him to kickstart the sharp descend and only talk once almost everyone's dead to... Undoom himself?????? Teach himself a lesson that going down the path he himself set up though Jayce was wrong??? It makes zero fucking sense

The whole break up and make up of Cait and Vi is so rushed in every angle. Vi barely found out about Cait having another girlfriend. They split paths and Vi was immediately emo mode. Then they forgave each other immediately

Same with Vi and Jinx, their whole thing was rushed as hell too

How did Zaun even reach that perfect peace in the alternate universe? They're making the case that without hextech, the discrimination would've just... Dissipated and even Silco would've turned over a new leaf and just... How so? The political and social issues between the Lanes and Piltover was much older and much bigger than hextech. Maybe if they'd CONTINUED EXPLORING THAT PLOTLINE it could make some modicum of sense

Everyone flipped like a pancake from one second to the next

And the fact that almost everyone with a suicidal ideation just... Sacrificed themselves by the end is... Also a choice.

[roobiedo]

or as the locals call it, the Bug Bus. (pills is bugs?)

squeezing in one last concept sketch for the week hehe

a note on the 'legs' on this guy: technically an isopod has seven pairs of segmented legs, which would've looked really cool and mecha-like in this design too! but i've been spinning the idea of a microbe-inspired vehicle in my head for a while now, and wanted to see what it'd be like if these two concepts were combined. it... kinda works?

the inspiration struck when i was playing a wonderful ttrpg called Wanderhome with a friend, wherein our characters came across a herd of giant isopod 'cows', just chilling, grazing, and rolling around in a wide open field. we could ride on them too! which got me thinking...

in my fictional solarpunk world, i envision 'herds' of these caravans gathered together on a grassy meadow, forming their own sub-communities outside the boundaries of the city. sort of like a car meet, or even a mini mobile town, since these vehicles also serve as an alternative home for those with wanderlust, or who prefer a more nomadic lifestyle. i imagine there aren't that many of these special vehicles, as each one is custom made with their own unique furnishings, aesthetics and quirks. maybe the people there swap homes every once in a while, so everyone gets a chance to experience the different themes each caravan has to offer.

i also think these guys would be great to take on wilderness expeditions! since they're built for navigating through difficult terrain, they'd be the perfect companion for a couple of scientists or rangers who want to venture into dense forests for their research (and probably stay there for months on end). maybe the 'ball mode' would then be a way to defend them from wild animals and natural hazards, or even a form of camouflage? idk, lots more to flesh out here 🤔

while this design was based on tiny terrestrial pill bugs, most isopods are actually much larger and ocean-dwelling, so i can definitely see this being reworked into some kind of submarine too! and since isopods also dig underground sometimes, perhaps another version has antennae that function as a drill, so they can act as construction machines, or even emergency rescue units. ALSO isopods are known detritivores, so maybe there's an isopod caravan clean-up crew, that collects and decomposes organic matter such as dead leaves as they drive through the city? yeahhh???

im just coming up with these as i type rn hfkjsh

OH and don't even get me started on the possibilities for their exterior colours, based on actual species variation of course! dairy cow, zebra, lava, panda, cappuccino, clown, RUBBER DUCKY...!!!! they'd all look so cute waaaaaaaagh

[crimescrimson]

Mortal Kombat 11: The Krypt (for @elveneye)

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[live-emotion]

Utapri Live Emotion release date

It has been confirmed that Live Emotion will release on the 12th of June!

Pre-registration is open now on Google Play and the App Store, but is currently only available for Japanese accounts.

There are also new promotional images featured on the official app and play stores that have hints of new information in them. (Information in Image descriptions and below the read more)

Previously used promotional image featuring all 18 idols and the games logo.

Otoya from a music video without the rhythm game overlay. The Japanese text reads "Idols show off their brilliant performances!"

Images of various alternate rhythm game backgrounds that can be used during gameplay instead of the previously shown cg music video dance backgrounds. Top left shows a similar layout to Shining Live, with a static concert stage background and six rhythm icon lanes. The right shows a backdrop of the full art of the initial Reiji UR Piece with 4 rhythm icon lanes, confirming the amount of lanes will differ between songs, or difficulties. Japanese text reads, "A rhythm game featuring popular songs from Uta no Prince-sama!"

Four images of the chatting screens. One close-up each with Shion, Ranmaru, and Syo, and one with Eiichi central and Nagi, Masato, and Camus in the background. Japanese text reads "Have fun talking with the idols!"

Two images of the story mode. One the left is the main story with Ai, Tokiya, and Eiji, and on the right is likely a private or piece story with Van. The Japanese text reads, "a rich story with 18 idols!"

Two shots of the Piece level up screen, showing Yamato and Cecil URs. The Yamato UR rewards the player with four of a key shaped item with a pink heart crystal and ribbon. Design will likely vary in colour and shape for each character and group. The Japanese text reads, "Let's cultivate fragments of emotions, the Emotional Pieces!"

Image of Minipri, with Ren, Natsuki, and Kira in the same room setup as was initially seen. Japanese text reads, "Decorate your own rooms!"

Image of each group, likely taken from the music video of their group songs from the Live Emotion Theme Song CD.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Dystopia

How to Research Your Dystopian Novel

Basic Features of a Dystopian Story

Takes place in the future (although it could be an alternate history, too)

Features a huge disparity between the haves and the have nots (or thrusts everyone into abject poverty and survival mode)

Has an oppressive government (but, on the flipside, there could be apocalyptic anarchy and the oppressive element could be the possibly of death at every turn, i.e. The Road by Cormac McCarthy)

Features society’s complete reliance on government (or, in the absence of government, every individual must fend for himself)

Includes an enforced groupthink consciousness (individuals are obligated to think like everyone else and accept propaganda or they are punished)

Limits information and individual freedom

In a dystopian world, the villains are in control.

Evil triumphs over good, at least in the beginning…and the middle.

Perhaps, by the end of the story, there is a spark of hope, but even that may be ambiguous and up for interpretation.

A dystopian novel is definitely not a feel-good fairy tale. It’s one that’s rife with struggle (both internal and external), and often features martyrdom.

All dystopian novels, the good ones anyway, share a sense of crushing hopelessness that, perhaps even the protagonist can’t combat.

For these reasons, a dystopian story is most effective when you focus on the theme, and then use that theme to draw parallels to the reader’s present. Orwell was a master at it.

Give Thought to Your Theme

The theme of a story is its big idea.

In a dystopian novel, the theme is usually one of the following:

Oppression

Repression

Control

Rebellion

Survival

What is the idea that you’re trying to convey in your story?

What sort of statement or observation are you making about society?

EXAMPLES

If your novel tackles the idea of an oppressive government, research oppressive governments of the past and present.

What are some real life ideas that you can incorporate into your dystopian world to emphasize your theme?

To examine how low humanity can sink under the fist of an oppressive government, start studying Nazi Europe and the Khmer Rouge killing fields of Cambodia.

When you look at these shameful times in our human history, pay attention to how these regimes came to power, and how they maintained power.

On the other hand, if your novel tackles rebellion, start studying the Nat Turner slave rebellion of 1831 or the storming of the Bastille of 1789.

Make special note of what caused these rebellions, and also consider the experiences from both sides (the rebel and the rebelled against).

When you settle on a theme, pull examples from real history to create a stronger narrative.

Create Realistic Characters

Your dystopian novel should feature a cast of compelling characters.

The protagonist should be relatable, but never perfect.

The antagonist may be evil, but never one-sided.

When you’re creating and fleshing out your characters, take time to consider how they view their society.

EXAMPLES

Your protagonist was born into the dystopia, and has no other reference point, so he accepts it without question.

Or maybe your protagonist had a life before the events that created your dystopia, and mourns for it.

You’ll need to research your characters.

Understand each character's backstory.

What history do they carry with them into your story?

Sure, you’re researching “fictional” characters, but it’s still a real process, and a necessary one if you want to create a rounded, consistent character.

It may be a good idea to "interview" your characters. A few questions to ask include:

How do you feel about your society and why?

Who do you trust and why?

What rules do you like and why?

What rules do you hate and why?

While it may feel silly, remember that the interview is confidential.

Only you and the character have to know.

This information may or may not make it onto the pages of your novel, but it will help you shape the motivations of your characters.

Remember that these characters aren’t transplants from our time and world-- they live and shape the world of your novel, and won’t always have the same mindset as your reader. The characters should act according to their own logic.

Lay Down the Law

What laws does your dystopian society abide by?

Even in the most anarchic worlds, there are rules--even if these rules forged and followed by just your protagonist alone.

But, if your dystopian novel deals with an oppressive government, they’ll definitely be a ton of rules that society must follow.

What are they? How should you create them?

Consider the following:

Study the laws of both totalitarian governments and police states

Make a list of the laws that keeps the ruling elite in power

Make a list of punishments for not keeping the law

From caste systems to cannibalism, you’ll find an exhaustive list of ways that the ruling class has preserved the power balance in their favor.

How can you implement these rules and their consequences into your novel?

Also, decide on the method of control.

How does the antagonist exert control over the protagonist? (Can be a government or an oppressive element like diminishing resources).

Is it through propaganda?

Is it through police raids?

Is it through poverty?

Finding Ideas for Your Dystopian Novel

Stumped and not sure how to find ideas for your dystopian novel? Turn on the news. We’re basically living in a dystopian landscape anyway.

What stories grab you? What do you care about?

Child slavery, privacy, the environment, lack of resources, immigration?

Exploit that idea by setting your story 50 or 100 years into the future.

What’s the inevitable (or probable) end of this idea?

This can serve as the basis of your story.

Remember to Build the World

World building is particularly crucial in a dystopian novel.

In your dystopian novel, you’re introducing a completely new world that the reader isn’t familiar with.

What does the world look like? Are there mountains and mist? Is the world dull and gray? Is it a dense, green jungle?

What caused the world to look like it does? Was it an earthquake, a war, a robot apocalypse?

What resources are limited? Sunlight? Water? Food?

Don’t just focus on one small part of the world:

The reader should have a sense of what’s happening throughout your dystopian landscape.

For a dystopian novel, world-building must come from your rich imagination.

That’s because this world doesn’t exist yet and definitely doesn’t have a Wikipedia page. But, this doesn’t mean you can’t research your world’s landscape.

Example: If your novel takes place in a desert, you can research deserts to learn more about the people who live in that environment, including what they wear, what they eat, and how they survive the harsh conditions.

Read Other Dystopian Novels

Finally, familiarize yourself with the very books that define the dystopian genre.

By reading and researching these books, you’ll have a better understanding of what your reader is hoping for when they read your dystopian novel.

When you read the following dystopian novels, do so with an analytical eye. Critique it:

What worked? What didn’t work? How would you change it? How was the pacing? What was the theme? What motifs did the author use to convey the theme?

Source ⚜ Writing Notes & References ⚜ Hate ⚜ Worksheet: Dystopian World More References: Worldbuilding ⚜ Plot ⚜ Character ⚜ 100 Sensory Words

[digi-lov]

Beelzemon Blast Mode EX2-074 Alternative Art by Tonamikanji from EX-02 Theme Booster Digital Hazard

[benthan-week-forever]

Benthan Week 2024 Themes

The votes are in! There were so many fabulous themes, both beloved classics and shiny new ideas, and the voting was neck-and-neck. See the final results below 👀🌈

Monday, August 12

Day 1: Old injury flare up

               Alternate theme: One vanishes (either of their own accord or against their will) and the other stops at nothing to find them

Tuesday, August 13

Day 2: The good ol’ Ethan sees Benji shirtless

               Alternate theme: Amnesia

Wednesday, August 14

Day 3: Enemy spy wears a mask of Ethan or Benji, the other has to notice (a “who is the real one” situation)

               Alternate theme: Unwanted sexual attention towards one and how the other handles it

Thursday, August 15

Day 4: Bickering over something, like old married couples do

               Alternate theme: Hurt Ethan and protective Benji

Friday, August 16

Day 5: Fake relationship

               Alternate theme: Getting turned on at an inappropriate time

Saturday, August 17

Day 6: Let Ethan retire/have his happy ending/walk away from the IMF

               Alternate theme: Getting frisky on a mode of transportation (boat, train, etc.)

Sunday, August 18

Day 7: Fake/Wrong date (ex. Ethan thinks he’s meeting someone for a mission, Benji thinks he’s on a date)

               Alternate theme: Going on an undercover mission, wearing costumes to blend in

We've got about two months to start creating! (Though, if you're anything like me, it'll be a panicked two AM writing sesh the night before the first day 😅) In the meantime, feel free to drop a message if you've got a question not answered by the FAQ, which you can access here, at the top of the desktop blog, or via the pinned post on mobile.

Have fun, everyone!!