#but i hoped this helped in some aspect!

[abstractfrog]

Happy 1 year anniversary to Mr Sherlock Holmes! Here's a litttleee celebratory comic from me

[crow-caller]

I really do think looking at bad writing is one of the best ways to learn about writing in general, especially for beginners.

the thing is, writing in general is highly subjective- a good sentence will be good in different ways to different people, or not impress someone at all.

a bad sentence? most people can spot bad sentences easy, especially if it is presented to them as 'here's an example of a bad sentence, let's unpack why.'

bad writing can also be very funny, which I think is again often more engaging than 'here's a work of literary genius go analyze it'. Like here's some bad writing from lightlark3:

The moment it was out of Horus’s grip, his body became bones. The flesh turned to ash. He became a corpse.

it's dumb as hell, but I think could foster a solid discussion when you ask 'why? what is the author intending to say? what about it makes it feel 'clunky'? How would you write the same idea?'

[fatedroses]

More than just the Demon.

[mariyekos]

One of the things that makes me feel crazy on DMC5 replays is the way V phrases his request to Dante.

He doesn't say "we need your help to stop the demon." He says "A powerful demon is about to resurrect, and we need your help, Dante." The implication seems to be that V needs Dante's help to stop it...but if you've played it before, that's not what he's really asking. V needs Dante's help in order for the resurrection to take place. Because until Urizen is weakened V has no chance of rejoining him, so he needs Dante's help to weaken Urizen so he's primed for merging and bringing about Vergil's resurrection. The "we" V refers to could also absolutely be both V and Urizen in that case, instead of just some general "we" of humanity. So he's not really asking for help to stop the resurrection, but instead to bring it about, hiding the truth in plain sight and careful wording.

The DMC 5 localization can be wonky in some places, but in other places it just shines. "We need your help, Dante." Not to stop it. He never says that. It's to bring about the resurrection itself.

[hisfluer]

how to connect with lucifer ? he’s such a revered figure that I feel there’s a wall between us

he comes across that way, doesn't he? well, i'll be the first to say that the wall is our making, not his. i put him so far above me that i thought there is no way he would want to associate with me but lucifer is a breaker of barriers, of chains, of limitations. he lives in the in-between, the morning star.

i would say to find the aspect of him that you wish to connect with. he is extremely multi-faceted and has mythology of all colors, has all kinds of stories and understandings. there is something of him that draws you to him, focus on that. is it the light he brings? is it the infernal / demonic force of him? is it the roman god that called the stars home? or the angel that rebelled against an oppressive force?

once you identify what part of him you want to connect with, start connecting. i suggest doing this way because he represents so many things that it feels like a lot and that can be overwhelming.

here's what i did: i lit a candle for him ( lightbringer, yanno? ) and told him that i would like to connect with him. that's all i did in the beginning. no spell, no incantation, just an honest request.

after that, i would find offerings to give (things that i associated with the aspect of him i was trying to connect with or things that just made me think of lucifer or just a cup of water when that's all i had. ) or i would pray to him. i suggest you do the same. there are demonic chants you can do or prayers but honestly, i never got much into that. lucifer and i have a big UPG relationship. you can journal and tell him how you represented the aspect you're trying to connect to that day. for example, if you're into the illumination of knowledge then perhaps you tell him of the things you're interesting in learning and how you're going to go about doing them. this becomes a devotional act and he will see this.

connecting with an entity, in my experience, is not akin to some huge incredibly movements of religious ecstasy or anything like that. it is very much the little things. i see lucifer in the sunsets, i see him in the dove coos, i see him in the apples i offer him, i see him in my learning and education, i see him in my self-love, i see him in my strength to stand up for myself and in all this, i am connecting with him.

i trust that he is there because he has shown me is through signs, miracles, and associations.

he is the lightbrighter. he will meet you where you are in the dark and he will guide you to illumination. you need only ask him.

if you have more questions or are unsure about something, feel free to ask! i know i'm not very active on the blog but i am around a lot!

EDIT: i also wrote this VERY LONG ask about him too. it might have some insights for you too.

[ladyluscinia]

Ok big weekend for my studying because the last practice test was like. Technically you are supposed to fail and just get a sense of what the test is like. But this practice test is real shit, "you've been studying and you should know how to answer a lot of this stuff by now" level, even if I'm not done with the courses in full. So. Yeah.

[loumauve]

in other news: doctors (of the psychiatric variety) and therapists love me. got invited to participate in yet another study lol

[batvillainz]

I don't talk about my spiritual worldveiw type stuff because I have been a wholehearted athaist from a very very young age and have a lot of emotions about it so i feel like I have a hard time being articulate about the subject and come off as an asshole or as disrespectful (mostly because the idea of a god really grates on the autism part of my brain and I can get irrationally irritated because it just. Doesn’t compute.). Which is a shame because I do like talking about it.

[zakiyah]

there are so many reasons to work out besides looking different btw

[sundevours]

Why is it more stressful to have a friend review your writing versus an editor?? This might kill me, I think

[aropride]

Where do you get most of your autism info?

oo good question,, tbh a lot of stuff i just know cuz my both my brothers are diagnosed + my best friend growing up has it, so a lot of stuff i just kinda absorbed over the years from my family + friends. usually with factchecking that stuff i just google it and scan a couple sites that look trustworthy to see if it's something that seems widely agreed on or not before i say it conclusively

for specific online sources, i know the autism self advocacy network has a lot of good info, and embrace autism is also good. also spectrumnews.org and autistic women and nonbinary network <- these r all as far as i know but also i havent done like, a full background check on all of them so i might be incorrect

i think the main thing is double checking anything from social media or any article/news story/whatever with big red flags- it definitely varies and most of these things arent like, 100% indicators that something is wrong, more that the source might be biased or ableist or just outdated. but for me big red flags are -> allistic writer/speaker insisting on person-first language (tho thats still very common in psych spaces unfortunately), calling autism a "disease"/"epidemic" or saying it needs to be cured, the puzzle piece logo and "light it up blue" (red instead is the alternative movement for that, it's for autism Acceptance rather than awareness which is the movement with weird ableist undertones (overtones?)), that sort of thing. also checking for things written by autistic people or with imput from autistic people

also academic papers can be super dense (and somewhat ableist tbh) but they also have good information sometimes, so again just checking and seeing if there's other sources for stuff & if those look reputable

+ id say just in general be especially careful with stuff on social media bc ppl will Lie or misinterpret stuff or misremember or whatever and misinformation gets spread very very quickly . but also community is nice & can be incredibly helpful so it's difficult to completely disavow it yknow .

but yeah a lot of stuff ive learned from my family & friends over the years, and dont have super good specific sources for learning that sort of thing other than just hanging out with autistic people and absorbing stuff via osmosis HAHA but i hope some of that helps :}

[artsyaprilmr]

Hi there! If you're comfortable talking about it, I'd love to hear more about your process creating Armenian OCs 😊 I've been wanting to incorporate more cultural aspects into my characters (particularly in a fantasy context, like dungeons & dragons) but I'm a bit lost about where to start. Ty! 🙏🏻

Hi! When making an OC, I work on 1. Name, 2. Appearance, 3. Personality and 4. Background. The process is the same for all of my OCs, though armenian OCs are influenced by my own experience and life more than the others :^) I go into more details under the cut!

If my main goal is the representation of cultural elements (ESPECIALLY in a fantasy setting), I focus mostly on naming and appearances. On the other hand, for characters that exist in a world similar to ours background would be much more important. I could explain the logic behind this too, but this would turn into a HUGE text and I'm trying to get to the point as efficiently as possible lol

I tried to keep this as short as possible, so if you'd like any clarifications or have any more questions, feel free to send me another ask or a dm! <333

But let's get back to fantasy! So, if I'm making an armenian coded character in a fantasy setting, I always go for an ethnic name. I feel like non-common (by western standards) names fit really well in fantasy worlds. You can also get away with using old/very traditional names because of this imo.

Appearance, like facial features, clothes and hairstyles also help to bring some parts of the real culture into a fantasy world. With facial features you have to be very mindful to not make a caricature on accident. Despite being armenian I am not safe from this also - I have to think not only about the way I perceive the character, but also about how others perceive them too. For example, Minas (my PC for da:tv and bg3) originally had a big, hooked nose and a unibrow, but I've decided to get rid of a unibrow because both of these features combined reminded me too much of some nasty caricatures about Caucasians I've seen in Russia. Despite there being real armenians, both men and women, who have both of these features, I didn't want to play into a widely spread stereotype and strengthen it with my presentation of the character.

With clothes I am also very mindful about NOT using 1 to 1 copies of actual traditional clothing - I personally find it to be in a poor taste. Clothes are a real part of someone's very real culture, treating them as a fancy thing for some fantasy wizard to wear is wrong, imo. Though elements of ensemble, its embroidery and a silhouette, jewelry and hairstyles are good things to use in a character design! I personally like mixing and matching different elements until I find something I like :^)

Other than names and appearances, if I want to hint at a character being armenian, I add traditional instruments, dances, weapons, foods, maybe even some armenian collocations or words for them to use. In a fantasy world their personality can be whatever I want it to be, just like their background. Because there's no Armenia in a fantasy world, it's important to remember that all the "armenian" characters are actually just armenian coded or armenian inspired. I basically let only the cultural aspects build and affect the character, and not the historic and social aspects (though when you're making an OC that exists in the real world, these aspects are EXTREMELY important).

[gamingstar26]

Yes, you are exactly right about totk!! A lot of my own complaints come from the story (or lack thereof). To be honest, it's a rare LOZ game that has a particularly complex or nuanced story, but in my opinion, the best ones more than make up for it with their characters.

My favorite game that I've played is Skyward Sword, and I desparately want to play Wind Waker, because the both of them have such fun and compelling characters that I don't really mind the simplicity of the narratives (and Wind Waker even hints at nuance the other games won't dive into!)

Tears of the Kingdom tries to use plot driven storytelling, but... expects us to be far more invested than most of us ever really are. There's hints of character driven story in there, but it all just falls flat in the end and feels really superficial, ESPECIALLY when you look at how they treat the women in this game. Zelda is JUST the sacrificial maiden (again) whose only autonomy comes from choosing to give up her autonomy. Mineru is JUST the smart character who magically technobabbles the solutions. Purah is JUST the scientist that tells you where to go. Most indicative of Nintendo's attitude in this, to me, is with Riju. The way they treat her, it's clear they want her to fill the role of the sexy one, but they know that won't go well if they go all out because she was canonically a young child in the last game. Still really gross, Nintendo you're not subtle.

All this to say that TOTK thinks it's more clever than if is, and fails to pull its own weight in any meaninful way.

All of this!!

I’ll add a bit more that I forgot to add:

Yea usually zelda games have simple plots overall (with some expectations of course) but they do make up for it with memorable characters, etc, etc…

My favorite zelda game is Ocarina of Time cause of the lore (also gameplay of course) and the how interesting it is to me and the overall themes it goes into being tragic and relatable, even tho the surface story is simple overall.(the hero of time games being my favs cause of the story driven nature yet also have fun gameplay) Also other games like skyward sword having a good engaging story with good characters (Groose is the best), wind waker being a simple coming of age story, but also having the king and ganondorf both cling on to the past, etc.

Like you said totk thinks it’s clever and fails to deliver on making us invested in a meaningful and exciting narrative, in a way it’s using tropes from previous zelda games like oot, botw, SS and link to the past without even knowing why they worked in the first place. While failing to reuse tho tropes in a more unique way like previous games have done. It’s true there are hints of character driven story it’s just ignored or mentioned in a half assed way.

Also like I said in the post the lack of consequences with the main story at the end, like Link’s arm just being restored even tho furry rauru had said it was beyond saving, and zelda being recalled back to normal, so her “sacrifice” was not worth it at all (master sword is also worse somehow like wtf zelda)

I’ve also noticed the way totk treats the main women it’s very not good, like you said with zelda she’s just sacrificial maiden turned into a dragon, mineru being exposition dump lady cause that’s all she does tbh, also has the worst Sage ability in the whole game, etc.

zelda being the worst one. (Tbh botw/totk zelda is mixed overall she’s overrated) cause she’s dumb as hell didn’t even recognize that Ganondorf and Calamity Ganon could be related, she does nothing until furry rauru and sonia are dead. Also being a terrible princess, she didn’t even do any meaningful things to hyrule’s rebuilding efforts other than build a school and some small memorials and fuck around doing whatever the hell she was doing pre totk. Also she stole links house damn it.

there’s also the way the gerudo are treated in the zelda series as a whole, but that’s a whole other topic others have done better at that. Like with totk and botw (mostly totk) being helpless yet also warriors needing help from hylians to even survive in their own home?! Like how ingame they explain that zelda of all people was the one to help them get to know the desert and how to survive better wtf? And the secret heroine side quest end, how it’s just some random hylian guy to be the hidden 8th. (There goes the 7 sages and the 8th being the hero of time theory)

Also the way the botw events are treated. they just pretend that none of the ancient tech never existed at all and refuse to mention anything about botw, only in small passes. And the side quest with the Hateno school mentioning the original calamity.

The depths having potential to be better but we’re just empty and massive instead, I like the bargainer statues those are cool as an concept. And the sky islands being boring and copy paste the same few islands throughout.

Holy shit this game makes me write entire essays of complaints. I’m sorry if I repeat myself I’m terrible at explaining stuff at times.

Now I’m going to play the zelda games I’ve never finished to cleanse myself of totk.

[iamthekarmapolice]

so like. if you have low self esteem is that just it? i grew up hating myself and so that’s just it forever? I never get to really truly feel good about myself?

[0bsc3ne]

bitching abt my partner again so i can get it out of my system and not let it fester

had a Discussion yesterday and i said how i didn't like that i, someone who naturally wakes up early and has to go to bed around 11-midnight to get decent sleep, have been spending the last few months either sleep deprived or forced to use sleeping pills to sleep, when he sleeps in til fucking noon, even on the two days we both have off and can, yk, spend time doing things in the morning together, and then he complains that we never do anything outside (bc we live in florida. anything after noon is just a fucking sauna.)

anyways. i ask if he can start waking up earlier. he says he'll wake up at 10 today. i go, ok, thank you, but what does that prove? that you can do it once? i've been changing my schedule for months. i want to hear that you'll try to do it consistently. (And 10 isn't early anyways, but i didn't say that). he insists he's going to do it. makes sure i see him set an alarm in front of me and everything. so anyways. 10:01 i get a text that he's going to sleep a little more.

man.

[gothasmo]

If Ais potentially finds MC at the beginning and brings them to Kuras, I wonder if Kuras directs patients that are beyond his abilities to the Seaspring as a last resort as their final choice...