#and I need people to start using them as templates and for source be like “me and my friend Mitch in 2017”

[mothmothwoth]

Wrote a note and put it in my friends office and then received this text after I’d left

[dengswei]

your gifsets are perfect, I'm always in awe of what you can do and you're creativity!!! Could you please explain how you made the broken glass gif with different gif in it on photopea? https://www.tumblr.com/dengswei/754916132337729536/userdramas-creator-bingo-green-asiandramanet?source=share and would it be possible to do something similar with other shapes? Thank you for your lovely creations <33

heyy thanks so much!! and of course! i have to admit the way i do it might be a little bit tedious compared to like everyone else (though i don't know how photoshop users or other photopea users might do it 🤣) okay this is gonna end up being so long because of the way i do it so i'm sorry about that and i hope it makes sense 😭

okay i have to admit i couldn't find the texture i've seen people use for the shattered glass effect so i actually used a photopea default brush from this pack

to download the brush set go to window -> plugins -> brush and then search for wall cracks brush (it's literally the only wall related brush set in photopea so it'll show up the moment you download it)

so for the gif i did above i did my giffing the usual way of creating & colouring for different gifs seperatly and then adding them all to one project (it doesn't have to be 4 gifs i just chose 4 because that's what i wanted to show in this gif)

i've done this twice once for this set and another time for this the blood of youth set and i have to say the most important part of this is keep multiple versions of the brush in the position you want as you can so once you've used it to test it out and you like that version keep it because unless you can manage to position the brush in the exact same place every time you're gonna need to reference those (or even use the magic wand tool for it later) and also you need to keep at least a white on black background version for the outline

in the brush pack the one i used was this one: (3564, crack b 9)

for this part i just say play around with both positioning and sizing of the brush, it automatically opens with the size 3000+ which is fine i think with the tushan jing one (the green gif above) i stuck with that size and just kept clicking around until i got the positioning i wanted (this is another reason why i said what i said in the paragraph above because if the brush size is bigger than 1000 it's doesn't come out in the exact positioning as you expect it too

i decide the positioning of the gifs on the way i like the brick brush looking rather than the other way around, this is the positioning i went with if you're curious & would like to use it if that's easier 🤣

you'll need to keep this as a seperate layer at the top, i had it set to screen and then added a colour fill layer clipped on later so that i had the outline for when i was masking

so to start off i have the base gif which i do nothing to, that stays as it is, with the brush layer above set to screen

next is where you want to position your other gifs it may benefit to figure this out all at first before doing any of the masking so you know which parts you want to erase and which parts you want to keep

so this is what i decided with my positioning looking at where each of the cracks are

now comes the tedious part, in some ways the way i do this is a lot similar to how i do grid but it's not as easy (for grid photopea automatically locks onto the squares making it easier to mask, here you have to do it all manually)

first put a raster mask on all of the other gifs except for the base gif & use the magic wand tool on the brush layer so you get the outline of the brush and you mask that away from your gif (so if you turned off the brush layer it should look a little something like this: (it's not perfect but it won't matter that much because you should have the original turned on at the end anyway) (you don't have to do this step tbh i just did it because i thought it looked better)

so with the brush layer turned on you can use that as a template to which parts of the cracks you want to erase, you can either use the magic wand or the paint brush tool it really depends on how much of a perfectionist you are and whether or not the sharp edges bother you (plus some of the cracks have small openings so it might erase another part you don't want if you use the magic wand tool so it really is another instance of playing around and seeing what you like, and it might also change once you add the other gifs too)

so this is how it looks after i've done that (notice in the middle you can still see the edge of the gif? that won't matter because one of the other 2 gifs i still have yet to mask will cover that) & just repeat the same thing for the other gifs you want to add

this is how my masking folders look if you're curious

& last but not least i added a green colour fill layer clipped to the brush layer and set that to darken to get the green effect (make sure that the brush layer is still set to screen)

& once you've merged all of the gifs together you should get your desired outcome like the gif above (make sure that all the gifs have the same amount of frames too)

when it comes to other shapes i'm sure you can! like i did a tutorial with the grid version here, i guess it'll just be a lot of trial and error & finding a texture or brush with different shapes to try it out with kinda like how i did with both versions of this (i definitely did it a lot better this time around compared to the first version i did of this)

hopefully this wasn't too long or too confusing, if anything is please feel free to ask me again and i'll try and explain it a little better 🤣

[elderberries-and-honey]

𝙈𝙮 𝘾𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 & 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜

A while back I received this question asking if I'd mind explaining what my creative process is like and some wanted further explanation about what goes into planning multiple generations & arcs. I do apologize that this is so overdue, and it's literally taken me months to get to. My process is always changing, and I'm constantly adding in pieces that help make the process easier. Because of this, the way I answered the question back then is also quite outdated, at least in terms of how I plan each shoot/post, and I'll hopefully provide further clarification below the cut.

However, first and foremost, I want to say I am by no means an expert and different processes work for different people. Your creative process might look totally different than mine, and that's okay! Whatever keeps you coming back and sharing your work is always going to be the best & most efficient way of doing things.

But I do think it's helpful to get insight into what works for others when you have no clue how to plan things like this, or where to even begin. So, without further ado, here is my process.

Mainly, I use a website called Milanote. It's super helpful for organization purposes, and it's mostly free. They have free templates you can use, or you can make your own. The only downside to it is you're limited on the number of "cards" that are available to you. They do have a promo that you can use where if you get someone else to sign up, you get more cards, which is what I did.

My main folder basically looks like this:

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙀𝘼𝙍𝘾𝙃

The research folder is an unorganized, organized mess and basically just looks like this:

This is where I keep all my resources, and all of the things I've researched for my story. As you can see, this includes various sources like YouTube videos, various articles, quotes, photos and even some music as well. I like having this all in one place so it's easily accessible for me, but you could just easily keep all of this in a Google or Word doc if you're low on 'cards'.

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘼𝙍𝘾𝙎

Next we have these two sections. Obviously, I had to cover them up to avoid spoilers but I did label them to hopefully provide insight. Essentially, for this decade in particular, there are going to be various arcs happening at once, especially since the children will be growing into adults and laying their foundation is going to become crucial to the story. However, I'm trying to limit myself from having too much going on at once, which is why I try to limit myself to only four arcs playing out at once.

I will also say that Plot's A through C are interconnected, or at least they will be eventually, while Plot D concerns one of the children and will impact things later down the line. This is super important for really tying different ideas together, and making sure random plots don't seem to just pop up out of the blue.

The table for myself helps a lot with this, so that I can easily see what arcs have been started, and how many 'scenes' each one has. I find this to be useful because then I know that none of the arcs are stretching too long, which ones might need more fine tuning and which ones have yet to flourish or even begin.

Each arc basically has something like this going from beginning to end, essentially following the classic three act structure. Not all of them have five components, some more or less, but generally it ends up being five. Now, this doesn't mean every plot is only five posts or anything like that. Most of the time, the timeline of events needs to be broken off into bite sized pieces and that's okay.

The resolution doesn't always mean a happy ending, and can also serve as a way for me to introduce any new arcs for a specific character, which would then start the process over. You can kind of think about this when watching a lot of television shows. We watch all this build up starting on episode one, and things get more and more intense until we finally reach the season finale. And then woah, with two minutes left of the episode, we see that the character they just thought was dead is actually alive?! Which then leads us into season two.

I do think planning this way could feel really tedious for some, but I like to map things out before I start introducing any arcs so I at least know it isn't a quick "one shot" plot, something without actual purpose or an arc that doesn't really seem to have any sort of end goal that makes logical sense. It also just helps me remember what everyone's up to, especially when there are so many characters to keep track of.

𝙎𝙃𝙊𝙊𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝘾𝙀𝙉𝙀

Before I go into the game, I basically write out a "rough draft" of sorts. This includes dialogue, any background noises (things like a clock ticking or the tapping of a pencil), a brief description of each shot/photo (including any post-editing things like adding blur effect), and a summary of what's happening in each panel.

Because I only use one document for this, and clear it out once I complete a scene, I do not have any examples to show from The Baudelaire Legacy, so I created a mock-up scenario in which Ozzy flunks a difficult test at school, as seen below.

Once I have that written, I plug it into my 'scene planning' board. However, I only include the shot/photos, and the short summary. On Milanote, I also plug in the location, time of day, attire and any pose accessories I might need (so that I remember to create an extra outfit for it). This ends up looking like the example below.

I typically will only have this open on my second monitor while I'm shooting the scene, and I just tick the boxes as I go along. This is really nice if you have to stop mid-shoot, and helps me pick up where I left off without getting confused.

I do also edit each panel in-between shooting to make sure I'm getting the shots I want, however, I don't encourage everyone to have Photoshop and Sims 4 open at the same time.

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙍𝘼𝘾𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙎

Then we have the character sheets for each of our characters. Right now, I'm only focusing on Lawrence & Winifred (though, the children's arcs are in a 'idea dump' document).

For me, this is the most important piece of the story. One of the reasons shows like The Sopranos and Breaking Bad are considered some of the best writing in television history, is mostly due to the fact that, in my opinion, they prioritize this as well. It's always good to have a strong character in mind before you begin, and this is because you don't want them to step outside themselves.

Of course, your character can change and bend within their environment or plots happening around them, and they certainly should, but you also need to ask yourself if it's being done logically. Asking yourself, 'Why did they end up this way?', 'How did we get here?' and 'How would this character specifically react to an intense situation, stress or hardship?' is crucial when writing a character that feels alive.

Having something like this helps me build their "character arc" and map it out so no one ends up being left in the dust and makes sure that everyone is important in some way. Each of the children will have a sheet created for them once they reach the teen life state as well.

I also use this page as a way to record any quirks, or habits they have. These don't have to be major or super important either. So for example, on Lawrence's character sheet, I have it written down that he wears glasses to read; a very small thing casual readers probably wouldn't even pay attention to, so it feels like an important detail to me.

𝙈𝙔 𝙎𝙋𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙎𝙃𝙀𝙀𝙏𝙎

In addition to Milanote, I also Google Sheets/Docs. This is where I keep my spreadsheet and write / keep a hard copy of my story.

My spreadsheet is basically broken up into four different tabs - one for the main sims information (the Baudelaire's), side household information, my story posts and my ageing table.

My information tables look something like this:

For story posts, I use @aheathen-conceivably's method of tracking, which you can read about here. The only thing I have added in addition to what she has is a "notes" section, and this where I include any sort of post that doesn't specifically fit into any arc but is still important - things like birthdays, marriages, holidays, etc.

𝙈𝙄𝙎𝘾𝙀𝙇𝙇𝘼𝙉𝙀𝙊𝙐𝙎 𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙈𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉

In addition to all of these things, I also use Pinterest to create moodboards for each decade, as well as each character. I like to include all sorts of things like any inspiration I'm drawing from (so, things like Greta Gerwig's Little Women or HBO's Gilded Age), photos, quotes, etc.

Annnnd that's basically it! I'm hoping this provides some good insight, and is helpful in some way. I know it seems like a lot, but the more you do it, and the more you plan, the more natural it will start to feel. Again, I am not an expert in any way, and it's always difficult to explain your process in this way (and probably why I put off trying to do so for such a long time). So, please feel free to ask for clarification in regards to any part of the above.

Happy Simming ‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃

[punk-pins]

fundamentally you need to understand that the internet-scraping text generative AI (like ChatGPT) is not the point of the AI tech boom. the only way people are making money off that is through making nonsense articles that have great search engine optimization. essentially they make a webpage that’s worded perfectly to show up as the top result on google, which generates clicks, which generates ads. text generative ai is basically a machine that creates a host page for ad space right now.

and yeah, that sucks. but I don’t think the commercialized internet is ever going away, so here we are. tbh, I think finding information on the internet, in books, or through anything is a skill that requires critical thinking and cross checking your sources. people printed bullshit in books before the internet was ever invented. misinformation is never going away. I don’t think text generative AI is going to really change the landscape that much on misinformation because people are becoming educated about it. the text generative AI isn’t a genius supercomputer, but rather a time-saving tool to get a head start on identifying key points of information to further research.

anyway. the point of the AI tech boom is leveraging big data to improve customer relationship management (CRM) to streamline manufacturing. businesses collect a ridiculous amount of data from your internet browsing and purchases, but much of that data is stored in different places with different access points. where you make money with AI isn’t in the Wild West internet, it’s in a structured environment where you know the data its scraping is accurate. companies like nvidia are getting huge because along with the new computer chips, they sell a customizable ecosystem along with it.

so let’s say you spent 10 minutes browsing a clothing retailer’s website. you navigated directly to the clothing > pants tab and filtered for black pants only. you added one pair of pants to your cart, and then spent your last minute or two browsing some shirts. you check out with just the pants, spending $40. you select standard shipping.

with AI for CRM, that company can SIGNIFICANTLY more easily analyze information about that sale. maybe the website developers see the time you spent on the site, but only the warehouse knows your shipping preferences, and sales audit knows the amount you spent, but they can’t see what color pants you bought. whereas a person would have to connect a HUGE amount of data to compile EVERY customer’s preferences across all of these things, AI can do it easily.

this allows the company to make better broad decisions, like what clothing lines to renew, in which colors, and in what quantities. but it ALSO allows them to better customize their advertising directly to you. through your browsing, they can use AI to fill a pre-made template with products you specifically may be interested in, and email it directly to you. the money is in cutting waste through better manufacturing decisions, CRM on an individual and large advertising scale, and reducing the need for human labor to collect all this information manually.

(also, AI is great for developing new computer code. where a developer would have to trawl for hours on GitHUB to find some sample code to mess with to try to solve a problem, the AI can spit out 10 possible solutions to play around with. thats big, but not the point right now.)

so I think it’s concerning how many people are sooo focused on ChatGPT as the face of AI when it’s the least profitable thing out there rn. there is money in the CRM and the manufacturing and reduced labor. corporations WILL develop the technology for those profits. frankly I think the bigger concern is how AI will affect big data in a government ecosystem. internet surveillance is real in the sense that everything you do on the internet is stored in little bits of information across a million different places. AI will significantly impact the government’s ability to scrape and compile information across the internet without having to slog through mountains of junk data.

[logicpng]

my friend and i have started collaborating on an ukagaka!!! full disclosure, i might be in your inbox way too often. i only have two questions today:

do you have any tips for inexperienced ghosters?

and is there a specific way you'd recommend organizing ideas / information?

thank you!!!! still obsessed with aster they're so lovely

if you're going to be asking about ukagaka development, I strongly suggest joining the ukagaka dream team server instead of coming to me on here. there's people far more experienced with ukagaka development than I am who are also very forthcoming with information. don't feel overwhelmed by the amount of people on there, very few are actually active, but the ones that are have a lot of experience.

I'm there too so I'll be able to help you there personally as well if I can, but pls don't use me as your only source!!! I've only finished one ghost and made the shell for another

as for your questions:

"Do you have any tips for inexperienced ghosters?"

this ended up wordy but I feel like this is a necessary warning, especially if you're using the Girl and Triangle template

Right now the most comprehensive guide/template for ghost creation is the one on ashido.com. I've personally found a lot of use for it and it covers the process of ghost creation very well! The template is likewise full of helpful functions and commentary. Far as I'm aware this is what a lot of people use for their first ghost, so I have to presume you're using it as well.

But the template the guide provides has an unfortunate side effect, and since Aster was built with it, it also may have contributed to it: it can make an impression that ALL ghosts, including ones you make, have to be just as complex or full of features.

Despite the comments saying that you don't have to fill out/even have a function, you may feel like throwing away anything sacrifices the quality of your ghost, or you may feel that it won't be complete that way.

Please don't fall into that trap!!!! This is something I've experienced making Aster, though lucky for me, most features make sense for them, their character being a literal virtual assistant. Not all functions may be fitting for your character!

Most features within that template are Completely Optional, and all your ghost needs to be a good ghost is just creative random talk and a decent shell. This is why Aster's page suggests using Simplicity template as base, it's what I'm using to make Terror Star! So that I can gradually add any functions I may need for it, instead of having an entire shopping list of things I feel like I Have to fill in, even if it may Say I don't have to.

But I feel like the g&t template is still good for studying how to use some functions for shiori events, if you use any! Since the creation of that guide there's also been an entire page of shiori events translated. So once you have some grasp on how the events work, you can just use whatever you need from there. you can also study other ghosts to see how they do things instead!

There's a saying that most developers never finish their first ghost, and I feel like this is a pretty big part of the reason why! Ultimately keep the scope of your ghost small, it doesn't have to be nowhere near as big or daunting of a project as it may seem.

"is there any way you recommend organising ideas/information?"

I've personally used Google keep for a todo list and dialogue drafts while making aster, and rn I'm trying out Obsidian, but literally anything works as long as it works for you! some folk also use Google docs for their planning. don't be afraid of playing around with different software tbh

I genuinely wish you luck on y'all's journey, and if you have any questions, please ask them on the server instead! My experience may not be enough to help you!!

[veeples]

writer interview

thanks for tagging me @narrativefoiltrope! <3 ik i don't really answer these ask/tag games v much anymore but i appreciate being tagged!

tagging: @lilas @bceky (teehee! i think it'd be fun if you answered on your game dev blog) and whoever wants to answer!

when did you start writing?

I definitely have clear memories of writing stories as early as 5th grade, so when I was like, 9-10 years old on an old Windows computer. And not too long after that, I started writing fanfiction for Inuyasha since I was obsessed as a kid.

I don't know if this counts, but in my professional job, I've been editing and sometimes writing policies for my lab for maybe four years now, but that's more technical writing than creative.

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

I end up reading a lot of what friends recommend to me, but what I read the most are sci-fi, speculative fiction, memoirs, and horror/thriller/mysteries! I'm open to quite a bit tbh and have more fun talking about shared reads than reading itself.

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

LMAO nah, I haven't published fanfic in 2 years at this point so there's really no reason to compare me to anything at all. Professional I follow a template my co-worker made since I find the break down to be helpful for ease of use. I like authors who are really, really good with economy of language and pack a lot of punch with less words but I can't think of a good example right now.

can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

It's either my phone at 11 pm when I should be sleeping or my dinky lil Target desk! I use two screens at work so I can compare other policies or bring up websites for product information though, so that feels kinda fancy.

what’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

A lot like Erin I get inspired just chatting about OC head canons! Making up scenarios, usually in a jokey way, and wanting to explore it a little bit more in a drabble since I don't really do longform writing at all.

what’s your reason for writing?

For work it's just an extra project for me to have and do when I have free time, and I'm generally OK with it. It looks good on my yearly eval. Otherwise I just write as a hobby! Most of my writing I don't even share with other people </3. It's fun for me to do, I like my lil dolls and smacking them together. Art is harder and harder for me to do these days, so sometimes it's easier to just write a lil something when the need to create hits me.

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

If I do share my writing w/ friends a good keysmash or emoji reaction makes my day! <3 Or I love when people point out particular lines they really enjoyed.

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

For my work, I just want the policies to be comprehensible, easy to navigate, and a useful source of information. I write them with the intent that if I were to come into the lab as a new person, I could refer to the technical documents and know how to perform that particular bench work.

Otherwise: my readers are just my friends, if they're having fun than I am too! And if you hated it don't tell me :(

what do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Professionally I think I'm good at really getting down the nitty gritty details of how something is done. I know how I'd want it to read as someone who needs carefully detailed instructions, so I write for myself and I think it comes off as clear.

Creatively, I really don't know! I don't think I'm good at writing. Maybe my greatest strength is that I also don't give a fuck if I'm good or not??? If I'm not confident about it I'm just not sharing it lmao.

how do you feel about your own writing?

It's a creative outlet! I like getting to be indulgent, and I'm not as critical with my writing as I am with my art. :) I can be as experimental or serious as I want! But I also desperately want to delete old TWC fics/microfics that I posted on my main blog because I feel intense cringe at them at this point and don't want them to be seen anymore.

[allthe-everything]

to all my babes out there trying to get a job, got some tips for y'all. i'm updating my resume and realised that what i do might help some people, and not everyone knows about ATS parsing. gonna be long, will add a tldr at the end

so, first things, instead of MS office, i use libreOffice as my document creator/word processor. stop giving microsoft your money - libreOffice is free and open source, and it's amazing. go get it. saves you money too and god knows we need that. but, i'm sure you can do this in publisher too, i just don't know all the buttons

onto techniques: instead of creating my resume in libreOffice's equivalent of word, i use the equivalent of microsoft's publisher - the thing meant for you to make cards and flyers and whatnot. essentially you just pick a size document, and get to throw things (pictures, text boxes, charts, whatever) onto the page where you want them. since it's geared more towards artsy things, it's a lot more flexible with formatting than word (moving images in word? just don't).

essentially, every snippet of information i put on my resume is one text box. each job with its description, each project i've worked on, etc gets its own text box. this is great in a couple ways: it means that if you want to change the formatting of your resume, you can just move around text boxes instead of fucking around with copy/paste all day. the second thing is that when a machine tries to read your resume, internally it'll read that pdf and see blocks of related information that's more precise than giant paragraphs you'd get in word. make your section titles their own text boxes (like experience, education, skills, etc) so they don't get lumped in with the real info.

i'm not gonna talk about "resume words" or "clean formatting" bc tbh i'm bad at that and i think recruiters are dumb sometimes for wanting "no templates, but only format it this one particular way". but get all your info there, arrange it how you see fit, and THEN. then we get sneaky.

in libreOffice, you can name and add descriptions to text boxes. "what!" i hear you say. "that's so weird why would anyone do that!". and i say "well, if a human is reading your resume, it doesn't matter what the text box thinks it is. but it's a machine reading your resume! you want to speak the machine's language." the name is less important than the description, in my opinion, but you can name the boxes too. what you're gonna do is select a text box, click on "format" at the top bar, then "description". and you're gonna add in the alt text box what this text box is. if it's a list of skills, write "skills". if it's education, write "education". this info won't show up visually to a human reading the doc, but it helps machines categorise the data, just a little bit better. in the description part of this, you can also try adding the key words from the job description so the machine sees them but a human really can't find it unless they really look. this isn't something i've been able to test thoroughly, though, so take it with a grain of salt.

i'm still working out all the kinks myself, and picking apart what the ATS does in terms of parsing your resume, but when i started doing this my resume was better parsed whenever i applied to jobs. which, bonus, less retyping your resume into the bullshit job app.

tldr; fuck microsoft, use libre office instead. use libre office's drawings app or ms office's publisher app for ease of use. in libre office, click text box, go to format -> description and add a description of what the text box contains. test and retest your resume in an ATS parser online to make sure the machine reads your resume correctly.

i wish this wasn't how things are, but since we're here might as well figure out hacks. if anyone else has info to add, please please do. it's rough out here.

[vampiresinforks]

making gifs - where to start

first up - source material and software downloads:

I recently got new versions of the twilight saga movies from Pahe, I went for the Bluray 2160p or 1080p whenever I could.

Use KMPlayer 64x to play and cap the movies.

You can get software like Photoshop from the various guides and websites suggested in this beautiful subreddit. This website is probably most user friendly.

1. how to make gifs?

This video tutorial is your most basic, bare-bone starting point. Grab a video you like, download KM player and get started.

2. adding a coloring

A coloring is what you add to your gifs to either color-correct them and make them look normal (looking at you - twilight blue tint) or to change the color palette for personal taste/visual effects.

Colorings usually come in the form of PSDs, as a pack of adjustment layers that has been saved in .psd format and uploaded for other people to download and use. Seldom, they come in the form of ACTIONs, as pre-recorded steps which will replicate on your project once you open the action in your Photoshop and activate it by hitting the "play" button.

Basic gif and coloring skills are all you need for your first gifs.

3. sharpening

Once you know your way around photoshop you can try your hand at sharpening. This is a tutorial on how to sharpen all layers at once "by hand". And some more advanced sharpening methods.

Nowadays, most people just record their usual sharpening steps and save them as actions. Or they use other people's actions. Here is a tutorial on how to use a sharpening action you've downloaded.

Here are a few more sharpening action sets you can use: x - x

4. adding text to gifs

This is my giffing arch nemesis so I'll just drop this tutorial here with zero explanation, y'all enjoy.

5. having fun with colors

This isn't something I do often so again, I'm just dropping this tutorial here with no explanation. But tldr gradient fill in combination with the right layer blending mode is your best friend whenever you want to add gradients, colors, colorful text, color changing text, aka all the fun stuff.

6. having fun with shapes

Now this is my bestie because where I struggle with colors and text I find messing with shapes comparatively easy. You can come across "gif templates" on tumblr fairly easily or make up your own shapes if you feel like it. Just make sure to keep it at a width of 540px total (each space between each gif should be 4px) and a height of I believe 750px total (but don't quote me on that last number).

This is a basic tutorial on how to plop two gifs into one canvas. The most important thing here is that you make sure that the number of frames or the lenght of the smart object is the same. Other than that you can go wild with this.

7. gif saving settings

@anue here on tumblr had THE BEST explanation for the different gif saving settings but went private and I'll legit never stop mourning that 💔

here are some other tutorials that attempt to explain the saving settings: one - two - three - four

most people roll with these settings but you're always welcome to adjust them for different gif sets and source videos. not every source video will like the same save settings (anime vs. disney vs. marvel action movie vs. snail documentary).

[ciayaq]

Resources

Welcome to the resources section! 

Below, you will find a comprehensive collection of tools, guides, and templates to aid in character creation and writing. This includes dialogue examples, character development templates, writing software recommendations, grammar and style checkers, and various online resources

Here is an overview:

Where to get help for Character AI

Character AI Specific Resources

Writing Software / Word Processors

Word Choice, Spelling & Grammar

Learning to Write

Miscellaneous

Image Editing

Personally, I use Google Docs or LibreOffice to write, and Canva (with Canva Pro) and Procreate for image editing. You'll find all the links to these below.

Where to get help for Character AI

Character AI Discord Server - Probably the place to go for the fastest way to get help. Most active.

The Official Character AI Discord Server

r/CharacterAI_Guides - Due to the forum-like style of Reddit, posting in this subreddit allows for more people to see your request for help. It also allows for a more in-depth discussion.

r/CharacterAI_Guides

Contacting CIAYAQ directly - If you need help, got feedback or questions, then feel free to contact me at any time. You’re very welcome to send me a DM through tumblr.

I can’t say how quickly I will get back to you. If you need more immediate help, I suggest checking out r/CharacterAI_Guides

Character.AI Specific Resources

r/CharacterAI_Guides

This is a comprehensive guide written by the lovely Vishanka. It is a fantastic source and contains all you’ll need to know to dive into Character Creation. It is what taught me in the beginning.

Dialogue Examples

An extensive collection of dialogue examples that I have personally written for my characters on Character AI. The dialogue examples you’ll find there are a mix of everything, from appearance to actions, emotions, and even some fandom-specific ones.

Feel free to use them as inspiration, templates, or the foundations for your own creations. You can copy and tweak them however you like. This document is a resource for anyone looking to create characters on Character AI - or whatever project you have going on.

Character Creation Template 2.0

This is a template designed to organise the character creation process. It offers sections for the finished character, the creation process itself, and backups of different versions. You’ll find designated areas for brainstorming notes, writing dumps, etc. At the bottom, you’ll also find links to my stuff, should you need it.

Sentence Starters

To avoid having the AI constantly start the sentences/paragraphs with a pronoun or a name, I recommend introducing variety into the way you begin the sentences and paragraphs. This document is full of starters, featuring transition words, adverbs, adverbial phrases, etc.

Writing Software / Word Processors

Something we keep seeing is users losing all the work they put into a definition because the site crashed and they didn’t get to save. It is imperative that you write off-site. Not just in the case of site-crashes, but also because this is your writing. Lose access to Character.AI, and you lose your writing. Write off-site, folks.

LibreOffice - This is a free open-source word processor that works much like Microsoft Word.

LibreOffice

Google Docs - also free and functions much like Word but just in your browser. Upside here is that it works across devices. Downside is Google.

Google Docs

Scrivener - A powerful content-generation tool for long documents, including novels and research papers. Paid software.

Scrivener

Evernote - An app designed for note-taking, organising, and archiving, which is excellent for brainstorming and writing. Has a free version, which is quite limited but it could do the job. Has an app too.

Evernote

Your Notes app. Seriously, use the notes app on your phone.

Word Choice, Spelling & Grammar

Grammarly - A spell and grammar checker, but advanced. Not only does it catch spelling mistakes, it can look at sentence variety, or tell you when a sentence sounds awkward and could be phrased better. Comes with a built-in thesaurus. Free version is enough.

Grammarly

Ginger - An alternative to Grammarly, Ginger offers advanced grammar and spell checking, along with a text-to-speech feature and a personal trainer for improving your writing skills.

Ginger Software

ProWritingAid - A comprehensive writing assistant that not only checks grammar but also offers style suggestions, readability improvements, and more. It’s an alternative to Grammarly.

ProWritingAid

Hemingway Editor - This tool helps make your writing bold and clear. It highlights complex sentences, passive voice, and other issues to improve readability.

Hemingway Editor

Thesaurus - Your one stop for synonyms and similar concepts. If you’re looking for words to create variety in your writing, this is the place to go.

Thesaurus

Dictionary - Does what it says on the tin. It’s a dictionary. Biggest plus is that it comes connected with Thesaurus that I mentioned above.

Dictionary

Merriam-Webster - A trusted dictionary and thesaurus with extensive definitions and synonyms, perfect for finding the precise word.

Merriam-Webster

Sentence Starters - To avoid having the AI constantly start the sentences/paragraphs with a pronoun or a name, I recommend introducing variety into the way you begin the sentences and paragraphs. This document is full of starters, featuring transition words, adverbs, adverbial phrases, etc.

Sentence Starters

Literary Devices - A comprehensive guide to literary devices, techniques, and terms that can enhance your writing. Explanations and examples from such things as “plot” to “Epizeuxis”, this site has it all.

LiteraryDevices

Learning to Write

Resources For Describing Emotion

Resources For Describing Characters

Resources For Describing Physical Things

Miscellaneous

Writing Prompts - Websites that offer creative writing prompts to spark inspiration and overcome writer's block.

Spizzy’s Writing Prompt Generators [Promptinor | Dark Promptinator | Romance Promptinator]

Reddit Writing Prompts

Writing Prompt Generator

BehindTheName - A website that provides the etymology and meaning of names, which can be useful for character development.

BehindTheName

Character Sheet - A Google Doc with detailed template for character development, covering basic info, physical descriptions, personal history, and personality traits. It includes prompts for exploring motivations and character arcs. It’s meant to help with developing rounded characters, or just keeping track of information.

Character Sheet

Image Editing

Here are some places you can go to edit your avatars.

Canva - An online tool for graphic design. The focus is more on design and less image editing. Does the job of basic editing of images. Free version is enough.

Canva

GIMP - A free and open-source image editor that provides advanced image manipulation capabilities similar to Adobe Photoshop. Desktop only.

GIMP

Krita - Another free, open-source painting program. Can be used for image editing. Kind of like Adobe Photoshop. Desktop and Android only.

Krita

Pixlr - A powerful online photo editor that is accessible from any device with internet access.

Pixlr

Procreate - An iOS app for digital painting and image editing. iOS only, and a paid software, no subscriptions.

Procreate

[cosmos-dot-semicolon]

🌟 (I found a cool star for u)

(⭐fanfic writers’ commentary)

Yay! Free space! Let's see…

Since you're the most writerly of the three people that sent in asks, and the person who shares the most interests with me, I'm going to freestyle some of my thoughts on fanfiction in general.

I make fanworks to respond to what stuck with me through a series. It's a form of analysis in itself for me, where you try and replicate a style by trying to make it work in your own context instead of pointing out why it works in an essay. This is something I've taken from my time studying visual art, where you're encouraged to do studies of works as well as just annotating them.

You don't have to follow them completely. You can focus on just the lines, or the palette, or the composition, but the main goal is to learn how to recreate something you like about the piece by your own hands.

I take that attitude with me into writing. It's why my favourite bits of fanfiction and fanart tend to be 'what-if' situations just left of canon. Characterisation is usually my main focus, with tone and message as my secondary aims. But even when it comes to other things like the setting or lore, I only extrapolate if I think it benefits the things above.

(or for representation. lol)

I like the challenge of those limitations. It forces you to be more creative as a writer, knowing that you have to start from some sort of formula, but you also need to make a different, compelling story and get your own interests to align with that. The small spins you can put on that are way more compelling than any massive upheavals that you tend to find in more standard AUs and such. Kinda like plot twists, actually.

wait I just realised that's what I said about why liked Ninjago season 1 and 4 so much. don't want to think about that. moving on

As a result, I approach fanfiction for different franchises differently. I love learning how different writers approach storytelling! I don't care for how there's clear 'templates' that dominate in fandom circles, because it throws away a lot of the subgenre's appeal to me in the first place. Specific AUs based off aesthetics, certain dragged out romance tropes, etc. (also the way some people do shipping but that's a whole 'nother can of worms)

I don't have much against them, I just find that they're usually less interesting than something with a specific premise and goal in mind.

Honestly I think the way I like to write fanfiction is more like. How sometimes you get spin-off books and comics of TV shows and games. Except targeted towards my favourite media and personal tastes and actually good.

I was going to complain a bit about fanon as well, but I think you already know how that is. People get very specific takes stuck in their head, usually of neutral quality at best, and it's frustrating to see if you have opposing views, or just prefer the actual. source material.

Also I don't write fanfiction for everything. I think the old adage of 'works that are above a baseline level of compelling and below a certain level of completeness are how fandoms form' is a part of that. I find it easiest to write/draw for works that have gaps in them, regardless of quality. See Dicey versus something like Inscryption (if I ever feel like editing and betaing that script, anyway…)

But I think another factor for it is also the focus of the original work. I love Disco Elysium and I'd argue it's both good and not really complete. But it's also a game deeply entwined with politics and the creator's personal experiences: I feel deeply unequipped to handle that as a storyteller who mostly focuses on characters and plot. If I did have anything to say on it, I'd probably be doing in as an essay instead.

Fandom 'meta' (stupid name) - analytical essays - are a good thing, and I think we should be encouraging it more alongside fictional fanworks.

I'm only occasionally a fanfiction reader. I used to be really into it as a kid, when I was into a bunch of series that weren't finished yet, and when I really wanted to experience games I couldn't buy. But even then I was pretty picky and ended up blocking tons of tags and had to keep compiling lists of stuff that was actually worth reading.

I don't do that much nowadays - I've learned that it's valuable to try a lot of different things in media, and I'm now way more aware of how it fuels my maladaptive daydreaming. My mindset on it now tends to be 'if you want to read that specific thing you want to see, you're going to have to be the one to write it.'

I haven't written much original stuff recently. Fanworks have always been easier for me to do for enjoyment, and I'm in the midst of a pretty exhausting degree. I do have a bunch of original ideas on the brain, though. Maybe I will touch on those at some point.

[cpcwiki]

I am suggesting for the wiki account to start from the very beginning, which imho related about the episodes. Like maybe give tutorial of the how to starts at the wiki.. Wiki is free to edit from and for all, but one need to register themself first so maybe it's confusing to the totally new account of the fandom. After that, maybe teach how to upload images (I already taught in reblog about how to properly naming image but the better things be repeated, the more info of it being on remember) like from screenshotting image/panel of the CPC (if in mobile, which at app - means to be aware from the logo webtoon watermark.. it's best to screenshotting from the PC)

Our absolute immediate danger is to putting (uploading) any necessary images that related to wiki before CPC going to becomes daily pass. Based on my calculations with @meritre24601 that taking account of anything possible like LambCat claims that she likes to end the CPC at episode 169 at IG = We're literally in red danger as it makes the FP ep 169 will on release at January 15 - well, just one month from now

The free pass of the final episode will be 2-3 weeks from that, but once the very final episode on free - then the possibility of daily pass is usually only few weeks PLUS sadly English platform not really warning about certain webtoon will becomes daily pass (unlike Indonesian that has monthly warnings about which series that will become DP) SO I won't try my luck to urging delegations of the wiki project BY not giving all my best effort - but also I know I can't do anything alone, I am just a human with limitations after all

Move on the most crucial pages in the wiki IMHO, Episodes. There's 2 types of Episode Template (I am not sure which we'll decide to have, personally I really want the more complete and longer one which we have 'gallery' section so from a particular episode we could analyse the image that related to it. I think that way easier and more understable to do, make someone focus on certain topic (in my experience, I'll pour my everything to improve overall Frederick depiction especially my initial reason is - I hate the comment section on his character page, and his page likes abandoned for years, so i am one of the most eager editor that helps to improve Frederick informations ~ later on basically 'everyone/thing'). The focus is totally depends on certain interest of editor, so as long that editor could writes objectively based on canon original source then why not? Any helps will be immensely helpful than no help at all espc from people that confused

I can try to write some guides for beginner editors! That seems like something I can get done pretty quickly that might still be helpful. I'll be free for the next two days, so I can try to get some of those done then. (Ofc some confirmation that people are actually interested in editing would be nice to have first, so I know I'm not wasting my time writing guides for people who'll never read them... I think I'll make an interest check for people who actually think they'll be able to edit soon)

Encouraging people to only focus on the area they're interested in seems like a good tactic!! As long as it falls within one of the areas the wiki is incomplete in, then I agree. Any sort of work would definitely be appreciated.

Also, what do you mean about there being 2 types of episode templates? If you're talking about the one that only has headings and no preset information (like on episode 50 for example), I wouldn't consider that a template. The only one I do consider a template is the one I made. Okay maybe I'm a little biased, but I would really like us to use the longer episode template with more information. So, if we need to choose between them, my vote is for my own template :)

Again, I am VERY VERY VERY sorry for my inactivity over the past few months!! I know keeping up an entire wiki for a still-ongoing series is difficult - I was the only editor on a couple wikis for a while, including this one at one point. It doesn't give me an excuse for having basically abandoned the wiki like that, though, especially at such an inconvenient time for us. Right now, running this blog is the most wiki-related work I can do without exhausting myself :(

This is also a good time to thank you for all your hard work again!! Btw Cookie and I maaay have been considering making you an admin... we can talk about that if you're interested!

[eruden-writes]

How did you go about publishing your own story through Amazon? I'd like pointers for future reference. If you don't mind!

Amazon offers a self-publishing option! I used it back in 2014 to make a few ebooks and, since then, they expanded to print. Which I wasn't aware of, until I started poking about in self-publishing print books.

However, to self-publish a print book, you have to wear a lot of hats. And that means...

A lot of research.

There's a lot to know to format your own books. And remember, traditional publishers have editors, cover artists, typesetters, and so much more at their disposal.

Also, you'll have to do separate formatting for a print book vs an ebook.

If you're ready for the long answer, there is a lot:

First: Plan out your sections.

There's "front matter" and "back matter" sandwiching the "text body" or the story.

Front Matter is stuff like: Title, Copyright, Dedication, Introduction, etc. (This is also where you'd add things like a Table of Contents or maybe a fantasy map.)

You can find a copyright template for self-published books easily!

Back matter is stuff like: Author's Note, Acknowledgement, Other Books by the Author. (You could also add appendices of Characters here [or in the front] or excerpts to another book.)

The text body itself will have formatting for chapter headings and scene breaks (like if you use images or * * * to break up scenes in one chapter.)

Second: Learn about paragraph styles and page styles.

A paragraph style setting makes it easier to change all of your font with one click. Especially if you get fancy with your chapters.

A page style setting will help with things like tweaking margin sizes for multiple pages.

Either find or make yourself a template in whatever processing program you use. (I used LibreOffice and I'm working on making my own template.)

idk if it's just me or what, but these things are still finicky for me. So, I'll have to do more research on how to make them behave. lol

Three: Don't be afraid to google something!

BUT double-check that the information is relatively recent. I did keep finding stuff from 2011 or 2012. The self-publishing market has changed a lot since then. (You can bypass this, usually, but adding 2022 or a similarly recent year into what you search.)

Reddit was a great source for me during this process. They literally have sub-reddits for self-publishing. So, when you put in your question in google, add "reddit" at the end. You'll often find threads filled with answers for you, whether that's one agreed-upon one or various takes.

There's a ton of stuff that's up to personal preference, but it's nice to see what your audience might take notice of.

Miscellaneous Things:

Bye bye "by:" For your covers or title pages, ditch "by" in front of the author's name. Seen as a beginner mistake.

Research widows and orphans in typesetting. This is something I still need to decide on, but for now I left them in my book unless it was a line by itself on a mostly blank page.

Larger books need larger gutter margins! (ie the part of the book, closest to the binding.)

Some people think if a self-published author's name is comparatively small on the cover or binding - compared to the title - the author doesn't have confidence. I, personally, hate when the author's name is the same size or bigger than the title, especially if the title is literally another name. Which is the author and which is the character? 😖 But that's me.

Decide if you're going to buy your own ISBN! An ISBN is an International Standard Book Number. Most countries give them away for cheap or free, but the US has 1 purveyor of "legit" ISBNs and they charge $125 for one or $395 for ten. Amazon (and other self-publishing companies) can provide you with one of their free ISBNs. This just means those ISBNs can't be used outside of their services, but you can still publish elsewhere.

Don't forget your page numbers! There is an "add page number" function for the headers or footers, but if you want it on the outer sides on opposite pages, you'll have to do some finagling. (This gave me a ton of guff.) And consider if you want your name and book title in the headers. That's an easy-to-overlook detail.

Covers. Canva is what I used to piece together mine. I also used elements from Pixabay, if I couldn't find something I needed on Canva.

There's still so much I could say. I did so much googling and waffling between what I wanted to do. And, honestly, I've probably rushed the process quite a lot and have more googling and learning yet to do.

But, yeah. I hope this helps some people out there!

[growwithrandom]

The Best Notion Template for students in 2023 | Notion for Students | Notion Templates | Notion Progress Bars

With this article, I intend to inspire you with some useful ideas, for you to implement and get Notion working for you better than how you were already using it. Notion is the best tool I’ve come across when it comes to organization and productivity.

I heard about it for the first time 2 years back, and since then with each new update, it has only made my amazement and expectations go higher and higher. It comes power packed with some really cool features which allow you to customize notion in the most unique and personal way possible. The wide variety of formulas and tweaky tools offer you to make a one-of-a-kind program that works for you, however, you want. It’s no less than making your own app that functions to make your life easier. Thousands of notion templates available on the internet are the best examples of what all you can do with notion. My Notion Template is just one of them.

Now, this program/app of yours can perform various functions in different domains, depending on your use case and needs. It can be a daily/weekly planner, life tracker, budget/finance tracker, business workspace, etc. Today, I’m gonna elaborate on one from the ocean of use cases, which is, academics. Something I used Notion the most for. When I first got aware of the possibilities that come with Notion, and many intriguing YouTube videos showing how people, particularly students, ace productivity using Notion, I decided to use it on my own.

It took me a little while to understand how different features on Notion work, and how I can mold them to work for me in the most efficient, modern, and automated way. But after much effort, I’m finally satisfied with what I have come up with. If you are a student, or anyone, learning anything, and want to have an automated system that keeps a track of your progress, your data, your tasks, reminds you of the deadlines, tests, etc., basically where you can have your mind free for innovation and productivity, and the not the tension of remembering them. Then you are at the right place. This Notion Template can start your Notion journey.

Below is my Notion template which is packed with the formulae, and functions required to keep me productive and able to multi-task, at the same time.

*It’s NOT a tutorial, just a walkthrough.’*

Overlook

I avoid having too many things going on when it comes to work and focus. Especially when I already have so much work to be tracked, like my progress, ongoing tasks, due deadlines, reminders, routine, etc. So I aim for a minimalist layout, which conveys everything, without being cluttered. One which is modern enough to have every function successfully automated, but at the same time not overwhelming. As you can see below.

Apart from just reminding you of upcoming deadlines, this Notion template also has a table that populates with routine tasks due for the current day, out of the list of mundane tasks you will list down in the second table below the first one, to declutter your mind.

The Course Structure and Notion Progress Bars

The courses section, allows you to add new notebooks for every new topic/subject/project you start working on. Inside of it is a whole program sort of thing that shows the overall progress you made in that subject/topic/project, on the basis of the work, and the progress you made in the sub-tasks associated with it.

This is my favorite part of the entire database. This is the notebook template. Every time you click ‘New’, a new notebook is created with a fixed structure. But it’s not just an ordinary notebook that has pages for you to fill. But, it’s an entire program. Firstly it has an editable view of the ‘Notifications’ panel you had on the home page. A ‘Home’ button, to go back to the home directly. Then ‘Sources’ and ‘Notes’ sections, which, as the names suggest, are for having your notes and important sources for easy future reference.

The key feature though is the Template Button named ‘Create Subject Structure’. Every time it is pressed it makes a table. It’s not an ordinary table, it’s the whole and soul of my entire database. Because it is where you have your actual tasks and sub-tasks, and in return get the progress report. This becomes possible with the brand new ‘Notion Progress Bars’ feature.

It has 3 levels of difficulty columns, ‘Hard(H)’, ‘Medium(M)’, and’ Easy(E)’. The ‘Next Review’ Date column gives you a date based on the level of difficulty you choose for a certain topic. According to your understanding, it suggests a date of revision so that each topic gets as much weightage as required to make your grasp stronger in it.

The progress column is very important because it not only shows your progress in that topic, based on the ‘Review Count’, but also is the base for calculating the overall average reflected on the cover of the Notebook.

The ‘Review Count’ is nothing but the number of times you have gone through one topic. If it’s your first time, then the Review Count will be 1, and so on.

At the end of the ‘Topics’ column, the number of entries is automatically calculated, these have their own importance in calculating the overall progress score. At the top of the Notebook, you are asked to enter the number of entries, in the ‘Total Topics’ row, and the sum at the end of the ‘Progress’ column in the ‘All Topics’ Progress’ row. This gives you the desired result.

Overall progress, reflecting on the very cover of my subject notebook helps me decide which subject to prioritize and in which I am falling behind.

Extra-Curriculars and Relax

I also have a picture gallery section, this is optional, but personally, I feel that for small breaks in between your focus sessions, this is a very nice way to relax and refresh.

If you are a university/college student, you know how much is college life and extra-curricular important for you along with your studies. To keep a track of that, I maintain these very simple sections. I just add anything I am currently working on or involved in. Every new addition is made to form a page, so anything you do, plan, etc. can be easily stored there.

With these, all the things I need to care about, come together in just one page, which has an entire database inside. It keeps me productive, and on time, along with being easy, manageable, and fun.

Lastly, as is clear by the screenshots attached, you should definitely utilize the ‘Dark’ and ‘Light’ appearance features in Notion, this helps you give an altogether different look to your Notion template. I have different color combinations for both modes, I find it to be another nicer way to play with Notion.

If after reading this you feel pretty confident about your Notion template-building skills, then you can build a high-paying side hustle successfully out of it. Click here 👉 to know more.

Thanks for reading. Hope you got some useful ideas and tips from the database design and tools of my Notion Template. Do let me know if you wish for a detailed article on anything mentioned in this article. Do share your thoughts and suggestions below.

[undeadorion]

I am once again starting a spite project. And it's all Inkblot's fault.

This site is a developmental nightmare. There's horrible misalignments everywhere, zero accessibility options, a horrible color scheme, and it's very clear they're not even looking at the code they export.

In literally any framework that isn't just basic HTML, you have the ability to make very modular layouts. Even in basic PHP, if there's a feature of your site (like a header) that's going to appear on every page, you code it in one file, then import that file everywhere you're going to be using it. Across every structure, you're going to have your base file (often called "layout") that includes all of your header and nav information. Sometimes your footer will be separate (like in PHP), or if you're using a beefier templating engine (like Twig or Jinja2) you're just gonna have a bit of code that says "page content goes here."

You then go on and create various views. Stuff like the skeleton for profiles, feeds, notifications, individual posts, every other page type you'll need. Each of them referencing those basic elements from the layout.

Only Inkblot hasn't done that. For some bizarre reason. All 3 screenshots above are different pages across Inkblot. The explore page, showing their "default" header. The "home" page that looks like they forgot what they were doing and made a sidebar instead of including the header. Then the "categories" page where the header is horribly squashed.

Also, for some bizarre reason, they've disabled any ability to use keyboard navigation on the site. This is offered by default by the browser, you don't have to do anything. Arrow keys, page up/down and the spacebar all scroll for you. Having that disabled is a serious accessibility issue.

All I know about the "team" behind this mess is just 1 developer and a handful of people helping to moderate it all. And I am determined to prove (to no one, really), that a single developer is not an excuse for this absolute tragedy of a website. It's a shambling mess of poorly strung together templates and plugins, with way too many things linking to other websites.

YOUR ABOUT PAGE SHOULD NOT BE ON A DIFFERENT DOMAIN AND LOOK LIKE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WEBSITE! FUCK!

My goal is to include as many features as I can that are found on Inkblot (minus monetization). I will also be drawing inspiration from older art gallery sites like Fur Affinity and 2010's DeviantArt. It will be 90% built from scratch using Django (instead of Flutter), only implementing plugins and code that isn't my own when 1) it can be properly sourced and 2) can be seamlessly integrated.

If I can find people to help me test alpha versions and moderate content, I will hopefully one day launch it as a real website. Otherwise, it will at the very least be a functional demo as part of my portfolio.

EDIT: If this were just someone's personal website, I wouldn't care. Inkblot's design infuriates me on so many levels because for starters, they're charging money for a "premium" version. Not just a patreon or a tipping system, but an integrated "premium" system. And second, they're handling your personal data. Part of why I'm not even sure I'll launch mine is web security is a HUGE deal. You can't just fumble your way through it and assume you'll be okay. Look at what Pillowfort did. If someone is making absolute novice mistakes like squashing images horribly out of proportion, they cannot be trusted to handle your passwords or other information. Period.

[paradise-in-k4]

File Two: An Unexpected High School’s Impromptu Detective Circle

Upon further examination into the anomaly that was rumored to be on the West Mountain, it seems that we’ve found a gap. A break in the barrier. A new source of news is coming to us straight from the outside world! It looks like the gap leads to a high school in a place where Sumireko is perhaps too familiar with. But what are you waiting for? Let’s see what happens! It’s not like this’ll be important for the Parallel Satellite Incident… or will it? I dunno, I’m not the one that can manipulate fate. That’s Remilia!

-Aya Shameimaru

———————————————

This blog’s already been a place where I can make lore, so I might as well drop it here. Besides, the blog’s multi-muse, multi-fandom, and I already have a place where you can interact with the characters I come up with right here. Overall, it’s probably better than starting a new blog and trying to gather people all over again.

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“File Two: An Unexpected High School’s Impromptu Detective Circle” is an original magical girl story that mixes the drama and slice of life stories of early adulthood in high school and the keen eyes of most rudimentary detective fiction, all propped on a backbone semi-template composed of a mix of hope and darkness that also formed a certain longstanding magical girl story called “Puella Magi Madoka Magica” in which this story could possibly even set in a universe where that and other series like Touhou all somehow co-exist as one universe.

Or at least, that’s what I’m going with at the start of this because of roaming interests while waiting for Magia Exedra to release globally sometime before the year ends. Most of this is gonna be rambling in the beginning as I throw bits and pieces of all of these aspects into this personal project, so not everything’s gonna be perfect from minute one.

This post is gonna be my master post on this story until situations need it moved elsewhere, but I know what I’m doing with this. So… yeah, just a heads up, there *might* be a few content advisories, which I’ll drop as needed the more I write on this. There aren’t any yet, but if they need any, I’ll add them here.

As more characters in this story get introduced, that’s more people that you get to see on this blog. Will some of Gensokyo’s muses get thrown into the outside world? Yes. Will some of these new characters get dropped into Gensokyo as pseudo-Touhou original characters? Possibly. Got questions? Ask away!

Everything associated with this project will be tagged as #file two on this blog.

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Original Characters

This list is not exhaustive, and more characters will be added later. Characters listed here can be discussed, so ask me anything you wanna know about them!

Haruka Tsukikaze

Yukari “Kit” Kamimaru

Hinako Takahara

Kasami Suzuki

Hinaka Yomimara

Ren Kawasaki

Shion Moyomi

The Cameos

Other characters from already-existing series that are planned to potentially appear in this story for certain reasons. Links attached to names will go back to their respective character’s profiles, which I’ve written for them.

Sumireko Usami

Kosuzu Motoori

Satori Komeiji

Aya Shameimaru

Yukari Yakumo

The Factions

Groups of people that are either recurring or play a large part in the story. This list is not exhaustive, and many if not all of the factions listed here are intended to be fictional and composed of fictional characters.

The Governing Party of Shibuya

High School’s Cooking Club

High School Performing Arts Program

School Golf Team

Circle of Ophiuchus

The Settings

This story geographically takes place in the special ward of Shibuya in Tokyo, located in the Kantō Region of Japan. While this setting is set in a region that exists IRL, many other relevant smaller organizations and businesses listed are intended to be fictional.

Yoyogi Park

High School

Home Ed. Classroom

Explaining the Seeker System

How do some of the characters become magical detectives? Using some inspirations from existing magical girl series such as Puella and their characters, I built my own ideas on how this system works. Ask away if you’re confused or wanna know more about the terms I listed. I’ll link stuff here as details unfold.

Yoko

Nozomi

The Contract

Transformations

Questions

Seekers

Deniers

Culprits

Lies

Cases

Investigations

Interrogations

Scenes

Final Deduction

Apprehension

Mementos

FAQs

As questions about this series grow, they will be archived here over time. There’s nothing here yet.

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Story Posts

Prologue

Storm Outage

Haruka’s First Day

Yakumo Debtors

Back to the Cooking Club

Yukari’s Big Audition

Kasami’s Championship Match

Exam Season

The Big Night

[silken-threads-bah]

Helloo! if possible (and feel free 2 turn this down for any reason) could we please request a Simon Henriksson (Cry Of Fear) headmate? Our only specific request is that his role is to do with dealing with trauma, and preferrably a longer template (though we already have a sign off for him so theres no need for that part)

take as long as needed!! :3 (highlighted the important parts since it's kinda a yapful)

I hope this works alright! Feel free to change whatever you'd like if it's not accurate to what you were looking for! - Eden

Name: Simon, Ezra, Henry

Age: 19

Pronouns: he/him (may also use rot/rots, zom/zombs, xey/xem, ix/ix's)

Gender: male, rotgender, zomboygender

Orientation: straight

Source: cry of fear

Roles: depression and anxiety holder, trauma holder/trauma manager

Personality: awkward, doesn't know how to start conversations and is horrible at keeping them going, quick to get attached to people if they show him any sort of kindness or interest, can be obsessive, clingy to those he is very close to, quick to get overwhelmed and shut down

Likes/interests: Reading, horror movies, writing (mostly fantasy, but he also writes about himself sometimes)

Dislikes: meditating, thinking about the past, getting caught up in drama, being treated differently from other people

Kins: zombiekin

Other/extra info: is always tired. Never doesn't need a nap. Also carries around various notepads to write things down while walking so he can keep track of his ideas

Species: human

Faceclaim: