#but if they arent there's a reason i havent added them

[aquariium-ediits]

why are layouts so time-consuming to make

[bookishfeylin]

Hmm. I didn't want to do this, but after receiving a lot of harassment here and on Ao3 I'm debating abandoning ACOHAS. It is just... not fun to go there and expect negativity all the time about THAT ONE THING so my internet experience would be much better by simply stopping with that one fic BUT it also is the fic of my heart and I have so many arcs I want to complete, so I have really mixed feelings on it :(

[alchemiclee]

dear websites on the internet that use ads as revenue: I wouldn't block your ads if you didn't make then so fucking intrusive and annoying. a small ad here and there that doesn't pop up in the middle of my reading and distract me, doesn't suddenly start loudly speaking to me, doesn't interrupt my streams and videos without warning and make me miss stuff, and doesn't make the website completely unusable, etc, is perfectly fine! I'll accept simple ads that don't get in my way and not block them. the state ads are in right now is so intrusive, annoying, and distracting that I need to block them for my own sanity.

i'm autistic and adhd. you can't play a video ad louder than what I'm watching/listening to suddenly without warning. it's a sensory nightmare. you can't have bright flashy ads pop up over the entire page while i'm trying to read something. it's painful and extremely distracting! i'll leave your website and not finish reading the article and never come back. even for non autistic/adhd/nd people it's annoying as hell. companies like youtube are so upset at us for blocking ads and they punish US for it, but why don't they start trying to make their ads less intrusive and annoying so that we don't feel the need to block them in the first place!!!!!

like for example. don't interrupt the middle of videos we are watching. put a quiet ad banner up instead over the bottom of the video like in the good old days. those didn't bother me and I didn't feel the need to block them. these video ads are horrible and I will always try to find a way to block them.

[castielsparkle]

hehe tagged by @hellverse to post 8 shows to get to know me better!<3 (posting here bc the thread got super long :"])

1. dexter (yes this includes new blood aha)

2. the x-files (ive done my fair share of scully cosplays as well!!!)

3. z nation (guilty pleasure cheesy show 😭 its actually where i initially know dj qualls as an actor from also :')!!)

4. jane the virgin (i was watching it when it was airing still, i have yet to catch up on the ending but 😭!!!! love love love this show)

5. kingdom (i first watched this back when lockdown first started lol - instant favorite though!!)

6. fargo (been meaning to rewatch this as well, i watched it a loong time ago lol)

7. atlanta (unfortunately i havent been able to finish this as well, but when i did watch it i remember it being amazing!)

8. the end of the f***ing world (i remember somehow obtaining a red hawaiian shirt when this show came out right after i watched it the first time lol)

thank u so so much for the tag!!!! it was hard to pick just 8 so i tried to pick the ones that stuck out to me the most throughout my life after i watched them :") whoever wants to do it feel free to @ me on ur own post or reblog and do ur own!!!!<3

[bawmbo]

hi. decided that i can probably ramble a little bit in general here

i realize that theres not a lot of content revolving around the star sanses (and no jab and nightmare and the crew, all of them are interesting characters in their own respects, both together and separately) but. id say so for the stars too

i want to introduce the concept of cross joins the stars too. obviously take my character readings with a hint of salt because some of it is a personal twist on how i see the characters and i wont ever be able to recreate them as accurately as their creators do but imo cross doesnt seem like the guy to want to further havoc across the multiverse or bend to every one of nightmares whims. i think that would drive both of them up the wall

but say ink takes in cross, or dream, or blue finds him and drags him home. their roles are pretty interchangeable in that scenario. dragging home a grumpy cat, he doesnt want to be there. not at all. but everyone has food and water and theyre learning to respect his space and quickly cross realizes hes been kidnapped into a team of idiots that hes now having to call friends that are widely known and trusted as the guardians of this multiverse. great

they all anchor each other nicely in personality and battle. dream and ink struggle with similar feelings, though not directly the same, but having to be tied to a job and a one-dimensional purpose; not feeling as though they belong in any specific space (not feeling connected to the people around them for very different reasons, but otherwise not validating their humanity). both of them disagree on the end solution, "everyone needs to be saved and i want everyone to be happy" versus "not everyone can be saved for this to continue." imo creators and nim, whatever they have going on, can be really easily tied into some religious metaphors or trauma but i digress

blue can be a nice middle ground of either. he holds a more realistic view of it and has to completely reconstruct his world view after being taken out of his timeline. its scary fighting battles when your other two teammates are functionally immortal (with minor exceptions) and you are very aware of your mortality and where your feet are in battle. they love you and respect you just as much but everyone is scared for the day that you actually bite the dust. some people have the misconception that youre actually immortal when they havent heard of you. and adding cross in on it is so much better for relatability, for schedule and stability. is it selfish to be scared to die first? theres so much more going for you.

i have so much to say about dream as a character in general but i will be quiet. for two seconds to continue

cross and ink are horrible at the emotional aspects of battle de-escalation, both can be blunt and mocking or cruel. they can be jerks but usually accidentally. so dream and blue handle the emotional aspects and its easier

but dream and blue arent so good at being mean immediately and cross can put his foot down really easily.

all of them could be really close with each other. dream and ink can start off rocky and everyone in that group can annoy each other but id argue that they can be very close. i think the harsh affects of being widely idolized or demonized / the general public having such a polarized view on you would be interesting to explore too. how would it affect their personal relationships? people dont let nightmare and his crew just waltz around their house, how do they feel about the stars? are they angry they cant save everyone? are they happy they do their jobs? they dont know everything about them. and the stars are at most just 4 people out of thousands and thousands of people who could potentially need saving. i think even in a lighthearted way, a lot of the dynamics in that group could be really interesting if it was explored. isnt it funny to imagine seeing the multiverses widest known heroes wearing cat pajamas and doing summersaults for fun over park benches, playing respective instruments in the center of the city block? oh look at those guys. theyre actually just a little more eccentric than normal people. and now theyre playing uno and now theyre taking random arm wrestling requests from strangers. one of inks dads is a clown and there he is dressed up as one. hes also the local tailor. blue is devastated watching as his brother who no one ever sees is dragging an entire pallet of honey away that he was just putting down.

anyways i love writing and i think a lot of characters have a lot of writing potential. theres so many scenarios to put them in and i want to explore how everything they have to go through affects them

[clambuoyance]

sorry if youve gotten this question before but i was wondering why arent the rest of your yj98 digimon art style designs on your redbubble? id love to get the whole gang as stickers but only cissie is there and i was curious if theres a reason or if you just havent gotten around to it or something lol. love your art btw!!

funny story but it’s actually because,,,,I completely forgot I put her there 💜 I had a class assignment that required us to show our plans for an art business and gave bonus points if you already had it going, so I just put some random things on redbubble on shipped them to myself to show for my class 😓😓😓 I told myself I’d take it down after but I guess I forgot haha….

I will consider keeping them up there or adding more I am not too sure yet

[officialbillhader]

i dont watch watcher, i havent watched ryan and shane since buzzfeed unsolved, but ive been reading abt this situation and i saw someone compare it to roosterteeth and what they completely missed is how slowly roosterteeth moved content behind paywalls. and the only reason they moved more and more is because warner bros was trying to milk them for more money before ultimately shutting them down.

when i first got into roosterteeth around 2013, they had their website, but most of their content was still on youtube and the paid service for the website was youd get episodes of things a week early and a discount in merch. that was about all i could remember. then, after they fixed their website up (and the app) they started to add *new* things to the website that were behind the paywall, while still giving other episodes a week early for subscription vs non subscription. the past few years they did start making new shows that were website exclusive (not necessarily subsciption exclusive) and a few of the very lucrative shows subscription only, but it wasnt everything, and they did still upload to youtube. it was a very, if you dont pay, thats alright, but itll still be best if you use our website bc youll get content not censored by youtube and it supports us better, plus a few things not on youtube. if you want to subscribe, you get no ads, better produced shows, things early, etc, etc. but it never forced you to subscribe. never even forced you off youtube.

so the issue with watcher is theyre trying to cold turkey force people off youtube and onto their own paid website. its an extremely sudden and drastic change that involves money, all things that will piss people off. all they really needed to do was make a website, HAVE ADS ON THEIR WEBSITE (if they have their own ads they control sponsors and arent limited to youtube's tos), tell people they can get rid of ads and get exclusive videos if they pay a subscription, but keep the classics free and still upload on youtube. it needs to be a very slow rollout to work. they need to bide their time and get people on a website before even attempting what they want to do (which will never fully work anyway), this way they can start earning more money for the higher produced shows they want to do (which can then be behind the paywall)

its just a dumb business decision no matter how you look at it to put everything behind a paywall that has been free with ads for years.

[yanderespamton78]

spamton and addison headcanon post ^^

i saw one of my moots do this and i have many headcanons for mine so i thought id also post mine :D

(small sidenote a lot of these i stole borrowed from other creators and fics and stuff so i will highlight the unoriginal ones and put a key at the bottom)

addisons are 3d models so they can do stuff like glitch out and clip into walls n whatnot (but it only really happens when somethings wrong which is why spamtons is so much worse)

spamton can pop his jaw and limps in and out of place like a doll (also bjd body if that wasnt obvious)

spamton is eerily good at piano - he learnt it during his big shot era

addison hands are kinda like mitts which they can split into fingers if needed. also they can split into claws for self defence if one is in danger

spamtons ad speech and glitchiness get worse when hes stressed :c

spamton pretty much always speaks super energetically, like minecraft youtuber style

spamtons skin is made of plastic but normal addison skin is not. this also means spamton doesnt have the same thing where his hands arent mitt like which he can split into fingers theyre just always hand

addisons are luminescent but spamton isnt bc puppet

spamton (and jevil) can both speak wingdings

spamtons always had the pipis but they havent always looked like pipis. they used to look like a little red notification dot and the number on the dot would show how much damage it would do

all addisons just have black eyes (sometimes theyre lines and sometimes not depends if i can be arsed to draw proper eyes lol) but spamtons are a bright blue from the shadow crystal incident. if you look closely enough you can see a sun and clouds

also he doesnt have very good vision and without his glasses his eyes will feel like theyre burning

i believe in puppetification theory more than acid theory but i think that the acid is still harmful to addisons. if it comes in contact with their skin it can cause rashes/burning (like a bad sunburn) and if they swallow it it can make them ill or glitchy. if they swallow too much than it can cause irreversible code corruption, which is the main reason why spamton is so glitchy (but mike still caused a lot of the speech thing, its just the physical glitching caused by the acid)

spamton is super agile and sneaky like a cat (i mean no one found him for years in cyber city which isnt a massive place so it makes sense)

can mimic voices really well but in the bracketed speech. basically he can record voices

key vvv

red - taken from System Rebooting : Please Stand By (fic by manofthepipis on a03 GO READ IT ITS SO GOOD)

blue - taken from Defragmentation (comic by Zarla-s on tumblr, comicfury and devart and prolly a few others GO READ IT KAJHFKAH)

pink - idk ive seen so many people do it that I cant credit it to one specific person

anything uncoloured is smth i made up myself B)

[mchi22]

hey u wanna see me rant about an anime gacha game

so i play a mobile game called isekai slow life- youve probably seen ads for it before. its far from perfect, but i really enjoy playing it!

for christmas, they managed to get a collab with miss kobayashi's dragon maid. i used to be SUPER into that show so obviously i was hyped, especially considering they actually included fafnir, my favorite character

so. this is not the first collab event theyve had in the game, but this one is by far the greediest

i know, im playing a gacha game, i should expect as much, but let me explain:

there are 5 characters you can get, and 3 of this 5 are only obtainable through the gacha, with EXTREMELY low pull rates (note also that theres a 30% chance to pull fragments of other, non-exclusive characters. keep this in mind.)

throughout the entire event, we are given 40 vouchers to use on the gacha, for a total of 44 pulls. now, ive played this game for over a year and am very proud of the fact that i havent spent a single dollar on it. but you know what? i thought to myself: well, this is probably the only time the event its going to run, so maybe ill finally give in and buy some more vouchers

in order to get enough vouchers to pull 11 times, id need to pay twenty fucking dollars

and you know what? if i could pay $20 to ensure i could get fafnir, i would bite the bullet and do it. but for a chance???? youre fucking insane

thats not all though. remember i mentioned the fragments that show up in the gacha as well? this mechanic is by no means new to the game, but usually how they work is that in a gacha, there will be a low chance to pull a character, with a slightly higher chance to pull fragments. 100 fragments can be exchanged for the character

but the thing is, this has always also been the case during events! i assume the reason the gacha is instead using fragments of regular characters is mostly to make it harder to get the event characters, but maybe also in order to assist new players who may have just gotten the game because of the events

and no! im not done!!

when you pull from the gacha, you get points that you can then use in a shop. for the event, the shop included artifacts (just another type of item) of the dragon maid characters, which came with a sticker of them which you can use in the chat!

..... but only if you already pulled the character!

that along with the fact that you can only get their character fragments once youve already pulled them is such a punch in the face

(by the way, no other event has been like this. i have stickers of event characters i do not own)

all of this is on top of the fact that the event uses a stamina system to perform tasks, and rewards the player the more stamina they use.

after over a week of this event running, and after spending a frankly obscene amount of in-game currency, i have used 6.618k stamina

yeah to get tohru you need to use 50 fucking thousand

thats all i have to say i guess. a lot of ppl are upset about the event, even players who usually spend money on the game anyway. this paired with the fact that theyre currently running an event almost everybody hates, and a new event that seems to crash after a few minutes for almost everybody.. well the players arent very happy !

ok im done now .thanks 4 reading my insane rambling if you did or it you didnt and u just scrolled down to the bottom. thats fair i wouldnt read this shit either

[c0rinarii]

WELL! I have just concluded the game that i bought on impulse bc i was hyperfixating on some of the characters (guess who!). I have A LOT of thoughts, but i'll start with some nutshell character thoughts and pairing shenanigains. Spoilers below!

That 4th tier deserves a bit of elaboration

Juro: He is, at his core, a blank sheet of paper. A mild sandwich with no seasoning. And I like how this game handled that fact bc he was someone more prior to this, but he's given a new personality so he can rest from being so self-sacrificing (if he's anything like the juro izumi from 2 loops ago). He's in the "they're there" tier for a special reason, bc he's kind of meant to be just There.

Renya: Despite being there just to help the audience answer some questions regarding the fucked up narrative of the story, I think what gives him a leg up from the "They're there" tier is his lowkey hilarious relationship with Ryoko. He is perplexed and lowkey salty about how short their relationship lasted no matter how hard he tries. He tries to not gaf as much as Ryoko does but he still does. Ei calls him out on this. Its so so funny.

Megumi: HER NARRATIVE ON GRIEF WAS VERY WELL DONE and if it werent for the spaghetti bullshit of an ending the epilogue was, I would be soooo so intrested how she'd handle moving on from Izumi. I find the concept of Juro/Megumi much more bearable with Juro now having one sided feelings for Megumi while Megumi considers giving him a chance or not. That wouldve been a great closing to their relationship instead of. just getting toghether with no qualms! yeah juro i totally wasnt mouring a dead version of you in that simulation. lets kiss.

Miyuki: I KNEW YOU COULD SAVE THOSE KIDS WITHOUT INFLICTING SEVERE TRAUMA. Sadly aside from "saviour from above" themeing with her, theres nothing much outside of that. While im greatful she was there, she is just there in the end. But her efforts give her a leg up from that tier.

Chihiro: The concept of a very peeved elderly woman stuck in a pre-schoolers body is a funny one and im just extremely glad that 13SAR is not big enough that sobposters arent using her at large to fufill their degen fantasies. Aside from that shtick though, nothing else. Thats literally a baby

Moving onto the canon main pairings!:

I saw someone calling HijiOki queer-bait and i can kindaaaa see why when basing it off the epilogue. Yeah they havent seem to progress much past 5 years and are at best still at talking stage while some of the others are literally married with kids (oh i'll get to that.) But I like to see it as the only pairing with realistic progression past. everything thats happened. Aside that they're just very funny!! Love their dynamic, will be rooting for them no matter how long it takes.

I did not expect myself to like SekiFuyu this much!! I do agree that Iori ESPECIALLY deserves more story outside hanging with gals and crushing over Sekigahara (not to say i didnt like it!!), but im very glad that the story subverted my expectations! I want them to be happy first and foremost, but i feel like the added angst from Iori realisng that she was a clone of THE Chihiro Morimura wouldve made this ship just a little bit more peak. Aside that, I support Iori shoujoisms and Sekigahara finding love and happiness.

I think my rating on Nentomi will change the more I ruminate on it. MeguJuro would be bumped up above RenRyo IF they didnt immediately fall in love after those 5 years and have Megumi still "thinking about it" while Juro goes "pleaaase :(" bc i think Megumi deserves to tease him a lil and think more about What the hell happened. ShuuYuki is the worst case of comphet between a lesbian and a looser bisexual ive seen.

Now.... the elephant in the room.

Ive talked to moots about how much i abhored the ending at first. Aside from the Darling in the Franxx-esque cop out, you expect me to believe that some of them just. got toghether after everything?? without any processing of What The Hell just happened?? nothing at all?? god

Im not the one to usually complain about comphet bc yeah its something i hate, but it usually doesnt sour my experience of consuming media so much. But god this is where its one of the main reasons why an ending is ruined for me. I hate hate HATED some of the epilogue scenes, esp with Nentomi and Shuuyuki bc of the straight people "my wife sucks but i love her" humour it radiates. ugh.

I would've loved a much more... bleak? more bittersweet?? outlook on the situation? after realisng everything is not real and you are basically the 15 adam and eves left to recreate human civilzation... that would be a pretty fucking huge thing to grapple with. I just wished that they had more complexity with this ending. Or! just stick with the fact that they're forever trapped in space colonies left to deal with the horrors of their situations and the mistakes of those in the past. Sorry for bring a tragic yuri enjoyer, but the overbearing dread and loom from the simulation story was what really made me intrested in 13SAR. To see it just solve itself with little drawback was so lame.

I read the George Kamitani aimed for 13SAR to have a mecha and shoujo hybrid story. While that's honestly an awesome concept, im sad it means that he can miss out on more complexity when intepretting the narrative when it comes to certain relationships (shoujos can be complex too!) I also heard that the game was meant to be at least 3 times longer that it is curently which is. wow. Its a shame that so much content got cut out 😭 bc i feel like a bit more time with these characters is all i need to make my verdict more positive.

As a bonus, i'll include a crackship tierlist too! Alot has changed

I miiight need another few days or even weeks to compile another thoughts post bc theres definitely more things i wanna talk about (the narrative structure, Tamao, 2188 theories, themes of japanese imperialism-). But so far, im gonna let it ruminate for a bit before picking it back up to analyse

[snoopyliker]

okay so. still trying to piece this all together before you know its done for me so Pausing the episode heres what im understanding

the santo berço is a town that exists in a place where the membrane is incredibly weak and the reason the people look different is because we know that bodies begin to shift and change when they stay too long in these areas so i believe the gray skin, point ears, and such is a side effect on these people who were once “ignaro” they transform the longer they stay. my thought process at least rn regarding their appearances

the reason the black eyes stood out to me is because during the 6th episode with the fight when they were losing the power checks and theyd lose control and their eyes would get blacker as if consuming them right? and theyd begin to have black tears running down their face. which is really fucking specific so im wondering if the black eyes there is the same type of scenario we’re seeing here. sorta implying some sort of controlled state? or heres the thing they call themselves lucidio? i forgot how to spell it kekw which is im assuming derived from the word lucid and that sorta represents an awareness of a dreaming state. unsure if that plays into something here with their consciousness and awareness of everything it seems

the blacksmith said the tree represents their life in a way and i found it interesting that the trial is this three year thing where when they return they chop down that tree. its like a metaphor for what happens when they choose to stay in santo berço right? this tree is growing their life and when they return its cut its no longer able to continue growing it stays in that state forever now. staying in santo berço is like ending your life the growth of it. and i wonder if thats what its meant to basically mean.

what i found interesting was that the gatekeeper was brought when he was 8 and he remembers his life before santo berço and the fact children can be brought here was really interesting to me because they generally lack a sorta agency when it comes to making decisions? idk if the gatekeeper talks more about his backstory but im assuming he was brought by his parents or guardian to live here. hes 23 now so this town has existed for a Long Time. a fucking while.

what i found interesting was they themselves dont quite understand the maze and treat it as this legend and tale. but it has this thick mist around it which we know to mean an area with a very very weak membrane. which isnt surprising with all of this. but they dont seem to know that themselves. the 5 statues i assumed were the doctors but i havent gotten there yet to where anything is said about them. so im just assuming the 5 guardians are them but the thing is their documents were recent years like 2019 and 2020 and we know FOR A FACT this town has existed way longer. so either the 5 guardians arent the doctors who were doing this project and founded this town and instead someone else OR IT IS THE DOCTORS AND THERES SOME TIME TRAVEL AT PLAY.

they all are relatively aware right like they knew about caprizinha and they knew about other towns nearby and they know how cellphones and the seemingly how different the world is outside their town etc the only real confusing discrepancy is how they bring people. supposedly just asking? and people accept? and stay forever? and are seemingly happy forever? murcilos case was really odd because when we met him he really seemed to love his girlfriend jessica but when asked about her here he said well you know theres other things to life and generally the notion that its fine he doesnt care he left a life behind with no warning to anybody. like it holds so little value? thats where im like okay clearly theres some trickery something isnt adding up for people to just vanish and leave their lives. but again theyre in this town right now and dont seem to be manipulated in any way? they still have that option to leave according to the blacksmith but again they did enter in an unexpected way.

now when they found the town they did pass by a fog where they couldnt see anything except the path and an illuminated way that led them to santo berço so i wonder what exactly happened there. because they were looking for The Cave and instead found this town and its like okay how does that fucking happen. i keep going back to cesars reaction where they were going to enter the forest. the feeling that there was no going back and that shiver.

now i think back to what the doctors were doing and trying to achieve and the major question remains as Why? i wish i had taken photos of all the documents so i can read them all myself again lmao. whats the reason? they live without names just titles they have no technology or electricity they called those things aberrations. why why why why whats the point? how is this town used in an ulterior motive. its not just a town it functions to do something clearly. but what?

ok ima play the episode again ive just been ranting kkkkkk

Still so confused about the old man fml. ik on one of his papers it was written “im the blacksmith” but like was he really? is the symbol burn mark on his back one of those markings the people of santo berço seem to have on their faces the same? do all blacksmiths have that marking on their back? was his tongue cut because he left santo berço? i need to understand how he plays into this meu deus. did he even write that paper? was he just holding it? he clearly knew enough to run down that basement and release subject whatever the fuck

[actualbird]

Hi zak! I've been a longtime reader of your original works. Do you have any tips on what pieces to put in your writing folio?

hi anon !!! im very sorry it took me forever to get back to this ask, and doubly sorry if you are no longer in need of tips OTL. still, thank u for reading my original works, thats a pleasant surprise to know!! i havent posted my original writing website here in......a long while, since im the (very slow) process revamping the site HAHA,

but yeah, tips on what put in a writing portfolio!! if ever you still need em or if ever anybody out there can make use of this. all of these based completely on my personal experience of applying to writing workshops and writing jobs, so feel free to take what you think applies to you/would help you, and leave the rest behind

-

1 ) in general, put your Best Works. but take into consideration that You are usually your own worst critic, so you definitely could benefit from a second opinion (or many)

so, obviously, you wanna be putting in your best stuff. and thats still the general method that i'd choose, but with the added reminder that a lot of the time, writers can be blind to certain works that they themselves made that other people really liked or found immensely compelling.

this for lots of reasons: writerly self-esteem problems, that odd experience of mostly remembering the arduous Process of writing the thing and less the actual finished product, general blindness to stuff in your own work since you Wrote That (and probably revised it 76439754985 times) so it's just hard now for you to realize the level of skill thats apparent to many others

the opposite effect is also very possible, where you can be Incredibly attached to a work (maybe for sentimental reasons, maybe because the you learned a lot along the way, etc) but other people kinda found the whole work meh.

bottom line: by this point, you know youve got skill in writing. but the skill OF seeing and evaluating your own skill is a whole different animal

reach out to your friends, writing peers, or reading peers and ask them what they think some of your best works are. personally, i think it's good both to ask people who are Also in the practice/study/career of writing, and people who arent, simply because a more diverse set of information is always better than a lesser diverse one. if you want, you can ask follow up questions like "why?", or you can just stick to getting a general pulse check of what is resonating to the people who read your work. because [tv commercial voice] The Answer May Surprise You!

and once you know what resonates with others, you can start chopping down the list with armed with that new knowledge

-

2 ) "Best" should not be a catch-all term, cut it up into specific categories and showcase your Best in top categories you want to focus on. this way, you get a folio that's showing a wide range of your capabilities

if i were picking between two applicants, both of which submitted portfolios of their Best fiction works (and theyre both Very good), i would ultimately choose the applicant who gave a portfolio that showed a wider range of what Bests theyre capable of rather than the applicant who submitted 5 really great stories but they all still employed the same techniques/concepts/themes

......if that makes sense?

like, okay, let's assume the portfolio is a fiction portfolio. no specific lit genre limitations or whatever, just, fiction in general.

"fiction in general" is a ridiculously huge field! theres the genres of course, so many damn genres. but what im more focused on is Technique. there are so many ways to structure your plot and pacing, there are so many ways to create your cadence and tone, there are so many kinds of characters and so many ways you can make them clash, so many dang ways to make your story's themes come to light. theres a Lot

so take a portfolio as a chance to show the widest possible range of what you can do, and what you can do Well

let's say you did Tip 1 and coming from that, youve got a list of 15 stories you think would be good for a portfolio. your next step then is to identify which stories are doing the same Thing (whether that be in its genre, structure, themes, etc) and then decide which of those stories showcases your ability to Do that Thing best.

if ive got 3 different stories that are all magical realism pieces using a very subdued tone to communicate the plot's conflict and emotion, then im gonna need to pick just one to put in my folio, the one that did it Best. and then you can go back to Tip 1 and get a second opinion on that if you want, and THEN i repeat with the other stories, this time picking a different Thing-Technique-Structure-Theme-Etc to focus on

basically my point is that a portfolio, ideally, should show different Kinds of Bests. because that is much much more appealing than only seeing One kind of Best

-

3 ) you can make as many portfolios as you want, tailor-made specifically for what youre using that portfolio for

this is something i learned after college and when i was applying for various writing jobs. for context, i dual wielded fiction and nonfiction in college. though my degree ultimately/officially went into the nonfiction track, i still wrote a whole lotta original fiction, and when i was applying for jobs, my personal list of Bests included a lot of fiction pieces, as well as nonfiction pieces

but i was applying to all different kinds of jobs, and it would be slightly off-course to submit a fiction piece to a job like Feature Writer For Magazine. additionally, it would be slightly off-course to submit a nonfiction piece to a job like Romance Game Writer

(.....both of those real jobs i applied for and man, sidenote, can you believe i almost became a romance game writer? like, how ironic that is now that im into the fandom i am Currently into. guys. guys i got to the second interview stage of that job. Guys. jdhvfhvfkshd)

anyway, remember how Tip 2 is about showing off a diverse array of what youre capable of? well, dont get Too diverse. always remember the people/organization/etc that you will be submitting this portfolio to, and keep in mind what They are looking for

if youre applying for a sci-fi fiction workshop, submit your Best pieces that do different techniques or things BUT are still within the parameters sci-fi fiction, so they are relevant. if youre applying for a feature writing job, maybe fiction might work, but read the works that the magazine puts out, maybe. get a feel for their style, what they like. like idk , if theyre super into that Anthony Bourdain-esque kinda description of gritty details, then maybe a fiction piece that shows off that kind of descriptive skill can still be relevant.

make a new portfolio whenever the need arises to best adapt to whatever it is youre gunning for

-

in summary :

tip 1: Best works but cast a wider net and ask other people because us writers can get tunnel vision sometimes

tip 2: whittle down your list to show different kinds of Bests that you can do, avoid redundancy

tip 3: keep your Bests relevant to whatever the task at hand may be

well....thats all i can think of. i hope some part of this can be helpful to anybody out there. hope youre doing well, anon :")

[ihavenothingtodo10220]

do u ever think how in life we are told to aim for so much success and reach our full potential but then every other average person including celebs, idols etc etc are or have already done so, so why should we also need so much wealth or why should we need to put ourselves out there.

im constantly torn between wanting a simple affordable life that id be happy with maybe in the countryside (but its not affordable nowadays to live simply we still have to slave away) and the other side is that i have a need to constantly prove myself and to gain some type of recognition cause we are always told from kids to aim for the top paying jobs etc etc, most of that is what celebs have or do. i mean it cant always be that great what do rich ppl keep buying for each other dont they run out of things to own eventually cause they already own most rich people items?

fair enough if celebs and idols have talents but i dont im not even remotely pretty enough to do whatever it is they do but again its alwayd the what if i wouldve done things differently, maybe it would feel less narcissitic to want a bit of what celebs have if i already had done something differently yonks ago

the other issue is i no longer feel so attached to society if at all like i dont care to succeed i dont care to fail, im neither fussed if im alive or dead it just dont matter to me anymore, in the end the only thing thats going to happen is i will eventually pass away so no ones exactly going to miss me even in death or heaven as people still have their own lives i wouldnt or havent been anyone special at all

its almost saying how it only matters if its someone rich and famous so we have to be a somebody in order to be remembered otherwise we generally end up being a nobody as it is the way the internet goes into meltdown when celebs pass away as if it wasnt to be expected at some point. but if we arent on social media or we dont have a following we honestly do not matter even if we dont have partners or social group either like im so irrelevant no one gonna notice bar immediate family if i stop existing rofl

the way we have to do everything via a screen and screens are everywhere doesnt help me at all cause i feel further distanced from folk and like i dont belong, i dont need nor want a following but its almost being forced on all of us like people.

even idols cant do anything without needing to show their fans but the idols wouldnt notice every single fan to ever exist would they? all the interactions with celebs that fans have is always monentary or beifly. stays even treat bangchan like a long term permenanttherapist friend. yet neither if them truly know one another, so why do we get so attached to the idea of having thoughts and feelings towards someone whos never going to know us so again it dont matter if we do or dont exist as long as these idols and celebs briefly have enough fame for them to get by

but then what am i someone who just does nothing for a living cause i dont want what others want out of life if that makes sense? i either end up feeling like im from the wrong era dont belong with my generation dont belong with next generations would probably have preferred being in previous generations when things were simpler and affordable

sorry if this ask is a bit morbid, nihilistic or pessimistic i have so many mixed thoughts and feelings about existing lately what do you think? i mean obviously there is much narcissism in the world as it is so wouldnt we just be adding to it? am i just having nearly mid life crisis early? idfk anymore

Honestly people tell you to aim high because not only is it the best way to survive, but also because you can easily improve things. Many people who’ve done a lot were considered sub par, and the main reason they did was pure spite to the people who looked down on them and had more, and then they eventually became those people. It’s a cycle, and it’s human nature. And in this society, whether we like it or not, only the successful can truly be sure they can make it. Even middle-class families can easily crash and burn in the blink of an eye with losing their job and end up without anything to eat. But the successful don’t really have to worry about that, because they have a lot to fall back on. Things are also getting more and more expensive, and only the wealthy can really keep up with that. It’s sad, but reality.

And yeah, I think fans put so much pressure on idols because they’re just that. Idols. They idolize them and see them as these perfect beings far above any and everything, and they delude themselves into thinking they can be with them one day. So if an idol makes one wrong move, or dates someone, that false image comes crashing down. You don’t see that in the west simply because we don’t idolize celebrities to that same capacity. To us they’re not necessarily idols, and they’re much more open about their humanity.

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Okay, I just finished the Shanghai special and Im suprised to say that while the first ten minutes or so are awful and genuinely upsetting and I hate hate hate that the only reason Marinette wanted to go to Shanghai was to be around Adrien when she has FAMILY there, I actually really enjoyed the rest of the special. Like, aside from that awful start I think this is probably my favorite thing to come out of mlb aside from the Origins episodes, which I also really enjoyed, theyre probably my favorite episodes in the entire show tbh. And do you wanna guess why? Because romance doesnt matter for most of it and the focus is on friendship. Like, im actually going to go insane how is a show whose core appeal is the romance between the two leads so bad at romance that its literally only good when thats not the focus

So yeah, I really liked Marinette and Fei's relationship and I really liked Fei, I thought she was pretty compelling. Her civilian design is fine, it matches her character well enough and I dont mind that its kinda generic because shes homeless, I dont think you have much of an opportunity to develop a personal style when youre in her situation. Im not a fan of her superhero outfit, I could really do without the red hair and I honestly find it kinda strange that they would not only have a third bright red superhero, but one thats also dragon themed. Like, I understand that the Prodiginous and the miraculous she apparently also has are different but like, why not make her a shade of cyan to match her kwami or just literally anything other than red cmon

Speaking of the kwami, I was going to praise this special for just inventing a different type of ancient magic instead of adding more onto the mess that is the Miravulous Lore but then they did it anyway. Like, Im not at all opposed to having a lot of superheroes that belong to the main cast and that arent in Paris and Im not even opposed to those superheroes getting their powers through magical means because I think they did a good job with the Prodiginous, but ouououghhhh pls just stop adding more Miraculous, theres enough of them out there

Thats already kindof all I have to say, its mostly enjoyable. If you havent watched this special because youve read about the awful inciting incident, I dont blame you at all but if youre interested now, I'd recommend you just skip from 2:13 to 7:02 and you're past the worst of it. The only thing you'll miss is that its summer break and Marinette is going to Shanghai to visit her uncle and Gabriel is also going to there, officially to open a store but inofficially to find some powerful magic so he can use it for evil and also hes bringing Adrien

[ajdrawshq]

Is there any non-spoilery way you could talk about how isat isn't just about timeloops? because like I do want to check the game out eventually for sure if only because indie fun times but I'm busy for a while before I get the time and tbh I'm just not as curious because I don't know how it's gonna break that formula (also ngl no colors makes me lose 50% interest because I like. looking at colors. lots.)

UHM OK WELL UM. hm. how DO i do this without spoiling anything. im very not good at describing things especially things i Really enjoy so how do i put this . hold on i might need to look at some reviews so i know how to words. ok

as a disclaimer i havent fully interacted with a lot of (if any??) media that has timeloops so i cant say for certain what it does differently from similar media that makes it stand out from others. at the same time ive never seen something that is so directly About Timeloops in this way even if i consider stuff ive heard about in passing but i could be wrong (madoka n utena come to mind ?). ill try to think abt the things that arent Just timeloop related plus the stuff u mentioned and hope that helps it feel more interesting and less generic?

i think one of the main things i can say is that it Really makes you feel what the protagonist is feeling. more than anything ive ever watched or played or whatever . and thats saying a LOT given how much i empathize with protags in games. and its not even just an empathy thing here. both the story progression and the gameplay work in such a way that you experience pretty much everything the same way they do, while still having their own personal stuff u can learn about of course

on that note tho. that is actually something to be careful of for a few reasons. i know ur generally pretty good with darker content so i doubt thatll be a problem for u here (its not that bad tbh but there is IS a warning when u open the game/look at the steam page and it aint lying) but. due to the nature of timeloops. it CAN get tiring and this is very much intended. and this helps a lot w the story and themes in a way that its. like. think how kh days does repetition on purpose. its a lot like that (although i had way easier of a time getting thru isat than days? i cant remember how u feel abt days' gameplay but i think it was positive ? either way getting thru isat was way more bearable than days imo). it does do a good job at balancing this with a couple mechanics that mean u dont have to repeat everything all the time (i had like. Very few actual full loops by the time i finished) and theres ALWAYS new things happening, even if ur super thorough with everything. its pretty easy to do things at whatever pace u feel like and if u wanna focus on the main story only to make it easier it wouldnt take too much away from the experience (tho i do encourage talking to the npcs at least a few times), and theres always a goal to work towards. also dialogue skipping and the banana peel are ur best friends

sort of adding onto that. it really, really helps that u are sharing the experience with the protagonist. not only does that help u relate to them (even if u dont share as many traits w them as i do akvdjsn) but theyre probably the most beloved character in the game and for good reason!! its really fun to see their interactions with the rest of the main cast and the npcs, and watch them all develop in different ways throughout the game. and my goodness all of the characters are beautifully written - at first ur kinda thinking ok its a ragtag group of sillies in an rpg whats new. but their personalities and relationships and hobbies and problems and everything about them is just so well done.. they feel so natural. human even. every conversation feels real to me. one of the main themes of the game is the concept of change, and each of them represent and approach it differently, both positively and negatively. its hard not to fall in love with them as individuals and as a group because they just have so much going on, even the ones i didnt expect to like at all!!

the worldbuilding is also a fun spin on fantasy rpg worlds. it mostly revolves around the area u play in bc well. of course it does. but its vv interesting to learn about all the different cultures within the world and how they interact with and build on the themes of the game. theres all sorts of queer stuff going on and its all handled like a love letter to people who relate, and i can feel it even with what i dont relate to at all!! the way "magic" works and the ways people use it in battle and everyday life is super cool too, makes the whole thing feel a lot more believable and realistic :3 i dont wanna talk abt any specifics bc its more fun to learn abt this stuff ingame

OH AND THE TEXT.. EFFECTS?.. idk what to call that but the way dialogue (both internal and external) is written and programmed is funky as hell (affectionate). it was weird at first bc oftentimes (mostly for humor) its like. almost the way i type actually?? which feels strange in a legit game but it Works. it works so well and adds tone and vibes and a Voice in a way u usually cant get in a game without any voice acting. deltarune is also good at that but this one does it differently enough for me to consider it unique

HAVE I MENTIONED THE ART STYLE i love the art style . its so charming and expressive especially all the talking sprites n battle portraits. simultaneously silly n adorable while fully capable of being serious. and creepy. anyway look at the sillies i love them n their designs dearly (especially Siffrin (1st on the left) and Mirabelle (2nd on the left))

also on that note, the lack of colors....... i both totally understand being put off by that (i also love looking at colors n this part made me feel weird abt it when i was thinking abt getting it at first) and personally enjoy it? without saying anything spoilery (bc its really not), its just another part of the worldbuilding and themes that i now find really fun :3 should be noted that i usually have an anti blue light filter so it mightve been easier to look at w the yellowish tint going on. maybe it even looks better that way ? kinda reminded me of old films now that i think abt it.. neat!!

as a last thing i couldnt quite insert somewhere else. it is equal parts a comedy and a tragedy, and it is so, so effective at accomplishing this. the humor is fantastic and adds to the games' and characters' personality, every tragic moment is . for lack of a better word or phrase. absolutely fucking delicious. and i adore how well it can shift from one to the other gradually or in an instant, or just be both at once!!!! yippee!!!!!!!

aaand thats all i can say. i have no idea if that cleared anything up BUT i encourage u to give it a try bc i do think youd like it in the end. u probably wouldnt finish it as fast as i did but that might be a good thing jfbskndj but yeah!!!! in stars and time!!!!!! its good and i love it!!!!!!!!

[filmcanisters]

a reader, sona, and skeleton walk into a bar (1689 words) by akiyoshi_tyvt Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Undertale (Video Game) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Sans (Undertale)/Reader, Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Original Character(s), Papyrus (Undertale)/Original Character(s), Papyrus & Sans (Undertale) Characters: Sans Ensemble (Undertale), Sans (Undertale), Papyrus (Undertale), Papyrus Ensemble (Undertale), Sans (Underswap), Papyrus (Underswap), Sans (Underfell), Papyrus (Underfell), Sans (swapfell), Papyrus (Swapfell), Sans (Horrortale), Papyrus (horrortale), Sans (Underpatch), Papyrus (Underpatch), Sans (Underlust), Papyrus (Underlust), Sans (Mobtale), Papyrus (Mobtale), Original Characters, Original Trans Character(s), Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: Reader-Insert, Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), Polyamory, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Past Abuse, Alternate Universe - Underlust (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Mobtale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Swapfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Swapfell Indigo (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Horrortale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underpatch (Undertale), reader uses they/them, Aine isnt immediately unlikeable, shes still unlikeable but it takes a while to show, Emotional Manipulation, Undertale Saves and Resets, Sans (Undertale) Remembers Resets, as do other characters but youll find out who later <3, Reverse Harem, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route - "I want to stay with you.", other characters arent as important but ill tag them as they show up, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary: Having been unable to worry about housing until the last second, you were left desperately hunting for a place to stay for the start of the school year. Luckily, an old undergraduate classmate of yours offered to let you stay with her, even if she already had other roommates. You decided to accept the offer, since it gave you a place to stay for the school year that didn't seem sketchy, but as time passed, you began to wonder if it was really worth it. There was also a sense of deja-vu nagging at the back of your mind, making you wonder if you'd done something like this before.

i've been Very Into antiharem fics for whatever reason as of late and i havent written a reader insert in years lmao

its inspired by there's still magic by @rosescries, two truths and a lie by @kriscantspell, and this life is mine by @nocturnaldaydreamer!

dirty laundry (highly recommend this fic its absolutely AMAZING) is in the 'inspired by' section because im using @popatochisssp's swapfell indigo