#but the creative block is HARD because i want to do something fun

[gristlegrinder]

my plan for tomorrow night is to sit around and carve a pumpkin. i have been planning this for two weeks and i have not figured out what design i want to do. help

[partycatty]

i was sent an incredibly delicious prompt to use, and i just can't resist it omg. requester wanted to be anonymous, but just know i appreciate u! i won't lie, i ran into so many blocks trying to get this out. writing is hard :( i ended up taking a couple creative liberties anon i hope that's okay

bi-han > new tricks

johnny cage's girlfriend catches him cheating, so she tries to get back at him using bi-han. it's all fun and games, until something new starts to blossom.

warnings: u get cheated on, THIS IS NSFW, author struggles to write johnny in a bad light bc of their favoritism /j, accidental bottom bi-han

notes: i'm rubbing my hands together like a little fly rn, also bi-han's betrayal doesn't happen in this case, also also yes i made a gif of johnny getting his shit rocked for this fic thumbnail

masterlist <3

PART 2 !!!!

•you and johnny got together following the end of the storyline's events. he charmed you to holy hell and back with those dumb sunglasses and pickup lines at the academy. he was a sweetheart at first, love-bombing you endlessly until you accepted his thirtieth relationship proposal. deciding to stop dragging him along like a lost puppy, you finally said yes, and off you went to date a movie star!

•the change from being nobody to somebody was JARRING. suddenly, cameras were up your ass all the time, and you caught yourself staring out of your apartment window on multiple occasions to see people scurry away when they're spotted.

•even so, you can't lie. the parties that celebrities hold rival outworld's temptations. especially if johnny is hosting. despite downsizing from his mega mansion, his new home was still expansive enough to hold a large number of people. and boy did he take advantage of the space.

•everyone was a few drinks deep, you yourself were a little buzzed but with the intention of loosening up and socializing. johnny however, seems to have other intentions.

•johnny is canonically a recovering alcoholic. he'd indulge in a girly drink every now and then, maybe some whiskey on a really shitty day. but today, he must have combined the two flavors of vice and was now fitting his clothed dick into some random C-list actress's ass, grinding to the music. his sunglasses sloppily clung onto his nose and his face was flushed. drunk or not, he was dry humping some random broad at his own damn party, with you only a few feet away.

•you want to scream so bad, to tear her bleached blonde hair to the ground and beat her, and then johnny. but all you can do is stand there horrified, that is, until johnny looks up from his buried face in her neck and makes eye contact with you, eyes wide.

•"babe — goddamnit — babe!" johnny slurs out, holding your arms tight on his balcony. "it's not... fuck. it's just fun! it's a party! lighten up!"

•after a drunken back and forth, johnny eventually throws his hands in the air and tells you to fuck off because he can find better at that very party. although you heavily disagreed, the conversation abruptly ended when you slurred something back along the lines of "you want some other bitch? have 'em then!" officially ending your relationship and storming out of the party.

•the following few days were rough on your heart, and majority of the time your bed was occupied and loud sobs echoed across your walls. you could've had it all, dammit, and this dickhead just threw you away like nothing! he thinks he can just score any woman he wants, whenever he wants. even if he learned his lesson from cris, his playboy attitude runs in his veins. it's not something he's gonna shake easily, and you were a victim to his unchanging behavior.

•back to living with nothing, you decided to retreat to the one place you knew you were wanted; the lin kuei compound. bi-han, kuai liang and tomas respected your strength when it came to fighting against evil and welcomed you like their own.

•after about three days of living on the lin kuei's land, you check social media. you went ghost online after the breakup since the paparazzi and article rats were prowling the internet (and your home) for details about your breakup with the A-Lister. checking social media proved to be a stupid move, because almost instantly your feed was flooding with photos and videos of your ex-boyfriend partying on yachts and posing with models. he's really out here posting like he's not damaged in the slightest, but literally everyone and their mother can read the post a little deeper and see he's compensating for losing you. you were mature, well-spoken, and well respected, and he was still trying to get his shit together after everything that happened. you were just another crack in his shittily held together glass. and it was time to get back at him.

•it starts off innocently enough, you snap quick photos of the grandmaster when he's not looking, showing only his veiny arms and a hint of his blue uniform. you'd post it to your story to pretend to soft launch this new "boyfriend," linking a romantic song to the post and letting people run wild. this proved effective immediately, as you noticed that "UgotCAGEd" with the little verified mark would view your story almost the exact moment it'd go up. you knew that he knew exactly who was in the photo, and it just had to have been driving him up a wall. he even tried to combat this by posting more and more, each setting getting more lavish and sexy than the last. if anything, johnny was a chronic 1-upper. but you couldn't just post blurry pictures of bi-han forever. this needed to cut deep.

•and you were going to play this stupid game, because if he goes low, you go in the TRENCHES.

•"grandmaster sub-zero, i-i have a favor to ask you," you politely ask, bowing once before smiling up at bi-han. "i have a plan. a... ridiculous one. but it needs your help."

•"you want us to fake partnership?" bi-han asks you, trying to summarize your lengthy explanation. "go ask kuai liang. or tomas. they need something to do these days, with shang tsung imprisoned. i'm busy."

•"it can't be them, it has to be you," you respectfully protest, putting your hands in a prayer position to beg for his help. "johnny is... jealous of you. it would be most effective. and i'll be forever in your debt." bi-han's eyes momentarily widen at your insistence. your desperation for his help caught him a little off guard.

•it's true. johnny was jealous ever since he got his shit kicked in when they first met. they were never really huge fans of each other since then. standing in front of him now, it's easy to understand how bi-han was so superior. his emotions never took control, he was a powerful leader for his clan, and his furrowed brows and gravely voice rumbled inside of your chest... jesus, now that you're getting a good look, he's actually pretty hot. oh, no.

•"this is ridiculous," bi-han groans, trying to angle himself just right in the selfie. he stands behind you, hand wrapped around your neck as you try to angle the photo just right to where it only gives a tease of his face in the mirror's reflection. "how long does one photo take?"

•"it has to be perfect," you reply, eyes focused on your phone as you wiggle it in different directions to get the best possible view. "crouch down a little more, so more of your jawline shows."

•he leans down, and his breath fans across your neck and ear as he sighs in frustration. you can't deny the little tingle it made you feel inside. but hey, anyone would be nervous if a brick wall like bi-han was in breathing vicinity...

•you snap the photo, seemingly satisfied but now fighting a flustered expression. when you look it over, you realize no, this isn't enough. johnny would leak his own sex tape with a model to beat you at this stupid game, and while you weren't necessarily ready to start blowing the ninja, you knew you needed to get one step ahead.

•"can we take... one more?" you ask sheepishly, already trying to put into words what exactly you're going to ask from this expressionless man.

•"only if it's quick," he replies with a frown, crossing his arms.

•you take a deep breath, spinning to face him and nearly chest to chest from the tightness of the small bedroom you were given.

•pointing to your bed, bi-han almost instantly understands. his lips turn into a thin line as his cheeks are brushed with warmth, warmth that he tries to conceal from you with his hand as he rubs his face.

•he sits himself on the bed, propped up on his elbows with a knowing look in his eye. it's difficult to maintain eye contact as you crawl onto the edge of the bed, hesitant to do what you wanted. for a moment, you want to pull away and trash your entire plan. there's no way you were about to climb up and sit on a ninja grandmaster's lap as revenge against your movie star ex. how in the genuine hell did you end up in this situation??

•"come on, woman," bi-han grumbles, sitting up for a moment to abruptly wrap his hands around your hips and pulling you to sit atop his lap. you tense up, realizing you're now straddling him... and lowkey, he looks good under you. he also just manhandled you. hm. curious.

•you try to shift yourself to comfortably rest on his hips before seeming satisfied with the position. shakily, you reach up to snap a selfie, one that conceals his face but shows you sticking your tongue out and flipping the bird.

•and then you felt it.

•at first, it went unnoticed due to your nerves about the uncharacteristic closeness. but, once you settled to snap the photo, you realized that... bi-han was rock fucking hard underneath you. you weren't sure if you should acknowledge it, but regardless, it felt so perfectly sized against your clothed folds, and you make your interest unintentionally obvious when you let out a nervous whimper. bi-han's eyes remained trained onto yours with a hint of hunger in his low-lidded gaze. even though he wanted to initially hide the boner, it was now abundantly obvious and he felt a surge of confidence gauging your reaction. the hands that rested on your hips tightened, his cold fingers digging into your flesh.

•"you feel that?" he grumbles out, his body feeling suddenly incredibly hot against yours. you swallow and nod. as you do, his firm grip starts to rock your hips back and forth against his cock, the friction of the fabric dividing you two sending you wild already. "whose is bigger?"

•"...yours," you answer breathlessly, allowing yourself to be controlled by the cryomancer's hands. your confession was true, too. johnny's dick was long and lean, but bi-han's.... lord. it felt thick. even through layers of clothes it felt like it could tear you down the middle if he pounded hard enough. a new part of you wanted to find out.

•with a sudden haste, bi-han hikes up your skirt and top, holding the clothes bunched around your waist as he abruptly gives you even closer contact to his cock. you could feel it twitch and throb, and every part of you wanted to sink it into your throat to see how well it hugs your mouth's fleshy walls. his hands crawl underneath the bunched up clothes and settle on your hips, this time directly gripping the plush of them.

•a shiver shot down your spine, both with sudden arousal and the frosty trails on your body from his fingertips. even if he wouldn't admit it, he was just as excited as you were. he let out a low growl feeling your pussy leak through your panties and dampen his dick.

•"i hated the way he looked at you," he'd grumble, eyes fixated on the friction he was creating by manhandling your frame to grind against his. "wanted you all to myself — ngh —"

•you wanted so badly to stop and unpack that wild, sudden confession, but you were already fiending for his popsicle like a motherfucker. through your hazy vision, you see bi-han lock eyes with you, a devilish glint present. he reaches between the two of you and palms himself while you try to relieve the pressure on your clit using the back of his hand.

•finally fed up with the foreplay, bi-han pushes you off of him, making you elevate your body on your knees. he tugs his shirt up and his pants down. his member springs free from the tight constraints, and lord help us all, it's as long and thick as it felt through the pants.

•"you wish to get back at that pompous wannabe?" he asks, voice dangerously husky. "get to it then." obeying like a dog, you settle between his parted legs. still holding his dick, he slaps it against your cheek expectantly.

•the tension, the hunger, and the high emotions overtook your strength to remain proper in front of the grandmaster as you eagerly licked at the base of his shaft, trailing kisses all the way to the warm tip. once you feel properly sure of his size, you slowly but surely sink him into your mouth, barely able to get his dick deep enough without causing a strain on your jaw muscles. bi-han tries to keep his arousal under wraps, but when he feels you hollow out your cheeks to give him the greatest pleasure possible, he lets out a little whine of surprise, though it still sounds more animalistic due to his grumbly voice.

•you hold this position for a moment, letting your warmth completely encapsulate his freezing body. you were starting to see stars in the corner of your eyes before bi-han harshly pulls you up by your hair, making you sputter for breath. a thin trail of saliva follows your lips as he raises your head.

•"wait," he commands breathlessly, fumbling with his other hand to find your phone that was discarded onto the mattress. when he does find it, he struggles even more, mind blank from horniness and also his unfamiliarity with smart devices. you chuckle to yourself, climbing back up to his chest and weaving your way between his arms to show him how to record a video. when it's finally figured out, you crawl back down to where you were and grab his cock with a full hand, stroking it lazily. he winces.

•"sensitive already?" you ask in a low tone, giggling to yourself. bi-han didn't have much time to relieve his sexual desires, so it's no wonder that the slightest bit of head nearly sends this man flying to the moon. "i expected more from you, grandmaster—"

•"—shut the fuck up," he replies sternly, not finding your teasing all too funny. "i'll silence that whore mouth."

•woah

•and with that, he holds the phone up, angled downward at you as you angle your lips on his tip again. he grabs the fistful of your hair and sinks you down once more, this time holding you in place. you barely had time to get some air in before getting your throat thoroughly plugged. you put your hands on his thighs to ensure you'd stay upright, but always sure to look at the camera as you gag and drool.

•"that's more like it," he'll purr, pushing your hair from your face as he holds you still. he then directs his voice to the camera. "how about that, cage? taught your dog some new tricks. i'd say she's exceeding expectations."

•when he finally lets you breathe, you only get a couple gasps before willingly taking his cock again, this time bobbing rhythmically. bi-han, as a ninja, is incredibly good at staying silent, so all he can do is let out occasional exhales and sharp intakes of breath as you suck him off.

•you're sure to put on more of a show than usual for the video, looking into the camera with a sultry smile even with your lips stretched out to accommodate for his giant dick. you've got an expression that says "fuck you."

•when bi-han has enough of your pace, he starts to buck his hips into your throat, creating a nasty gargling sound in the back of your head that would be otherwise nauseating. you're surprised he's not ripping the hair straight from your scalp as he death grips a fistful. frosty hands grip the sheets, solidifying them with a thin sheet of ice as he nears the edge. his body can't decide between lurching forward and arching back as you make him cum.

•he's a silent orgasm-haver. bi-han bites down hard on his lower lip as he releases, clenching his eyes shut and knitting his brows together. and boy, does he love to ride the high of fucking your face. he loves it even more knowing he'll have an audience.

•he wanted to cum into your mouth so badly, but even he knew better. he had to make the money shot something memorable. cum painted your face beautifully, dripping down your cheeks and catching in your eyebrows. there was even a thick streak starting from your hairline. with no time to ever do this himself, his jizz accumulated within him for quite some time, now soaking your entire face.

•bi-han stops the video, but only to snap photos of your messied, flushed face. gripping your cheeks to hold you in place, he's sure to make sure every drop of cum is within camera shot as he catches his breath.

•you swipe a glob of his load from your forehead and stick your finger in your mouth, tasting his arousal for you with a smirk.

•"definitely sending that to him," you giggle as he tucks his dick back into his pants. "i'm in your debt, bi-han." normally, he would've protested the use of his first name from an associate of liu kang, but he was too high from his orgasm to really give a shit. instead, he grumbles a small "mhm," and nods, fighting a little smirk himself.

•he stands up and grabs a loose towel, holding up your face more sweetly this time as he wipes you clean. the gesture was oddly soothing. he seemed like a pump and dump kind of man, and he probably is! but you're touching a sweet spot he didn't know he even had. even so, he's silent, never once communicating this and instead expressing it through the minor gesture.

•a relationship doesn't quite blossom yet, but the sexual tension between you two is now incredibly obvious to the lin kuei. his gaze lingers, as does yours. the touches during training last a moment longer. your silly little plan of making johnny angry seemed to have blossomed a new... situationship? we'll unpack that some other time.

•the following morning, your phone rings. it's johnny.

•"DID YOU BLOW THE FUCKING ICE NINJA?!"

[gallusrostromegalus]

I am constantly procrastinating working on my original fic by writing fanfic. Any advice for how to refocus and finish my novel?

Well. The novel probably needs a nap.

Procrastinating is a symptom that something is preventing you from doing the thing you "should" be doing. Most of the time it's an unrelated, but actually higher priority task like resting after an illness (society is fucking lying about anything else being more important) or filing your taxes (actually this one is pretty important).

...but if you're procrastinating on one creative project with another creative project, you're not procrastinating: something about the novel is off right now, the fanfic is more appealing to you.

Consider the following:

You may be writing fic because it brings you more joy than the novel. If you really want to get back to the novel, figure out what would make working on it more enjoyable. Engagement from a beta-editor? Skipping this really boring scene and coming back to it later? Adding more smut?

You may also be writing fic because it's got a lower spoon coat than the novel and you need to conserve your spoons right now. Any extra stress in your life? Moving? Toothache? Recovering from Covid? Annoying roommate? Sick family member? It's an election year? ANY of those could soak up extra spoons and make your novel too expensive for your spoons budget. Let it take a nap, and come back when you're feeling better.

You may be sharpening your artistic skills on a lower-stakes project before going back to the novel. This is pretty normal- even Michaelangelo took breaks to work on other pieces while sculpting The David, both for a change of pace and so he could try something out without fucking up the big block.

Fortunately, you're writing, so you can always try writing the challenging scene a dozen times in different docs or save the parts that were good but don't not in a spare parts bucket doc.

Or keep working on that fic, it's helping you learn on a subconscious level.

You don't love the novel right now. This is alright. This is usually temporary, and the solution is the same- put it aside and work on something else.

Maybe you are just bored of the novel. That's fine and normal, you just save all the documents to your hard drive and come back later. When the fic inevitably gets boring too, you'll come back to the novel and either go "oh hey this kicks ass!" And return to it with renewed enthusiasm.

...Or you'll come back to it and go "oh. This is actually a piece of shit" And that's okay too, because there's nothing more useless than polishing a turd, but that turd is still valuable as compost. You learned things writing it, and you can still rifle through the novel for good lines or scenes or turns of phrase and put those in your spare parts doc to ferment into The Good Shit in the back of your mind.

HOWEVER:

If you are experiencing a different phenomenon wherein you are actively distressed while writing the fic- either out of misplaced guilt, or the fic isn't actually fun you just feel compelled to do something, or absolutely every creative endeavor is stressing you out, you may be experiencing a serious mental or physical health issue and you should see your GP or a specialist ASAP. Pain is an indicator that something is wrong. Do not ignore your body's warning light.

That sounds really dramatic and hyperbolic but realizing I was not enjoying ANY creative work was the symptom that finally got me to sit down and go "huh. All these random pains, irregular sleep cycle, frequent migraines and weird bouts of vertigo aren't normal either, I should get this looked at." And it turned out I had dangerously low blood oxygen at night from undiagnosed sleep apnea. I have a CPAP machine now and it's AMAZING.

I really hope this is regular artistic shuffle and not a serious health concern, but if you're experiencing creative stress AND a bunch of other shit, it may be serious.

[planetallure]

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ fic recs

CW: these works contain explicit content intended for those 18+. make sure to read the rules of the writers before interacting.

@peterthepark : coming back to this blog made me realize when exactly i started back reading fanfic fr. the moment that was eddie mf munson, touched something in me. reign was one of my first intros that really stuck with me. it kinda blew my mind and scared me at the same time because i was like…how do i move on…what’s better than this??? brilliance. creative genius. like what more do you want from me? reign, i miss you. <3

i rec literally anything she’s written about eddie or tasm!peter parker.

@ohcaptains : i really don’t know what to tell you man. leah. is. HER. she simply does not miss. funny story: when i first started my old blog, it was ageless so i ended up getting blocked. so i pm’d her basically begging to come back home because i knew what i had lost. i’m not ashamed.

"dealers choice" - if you happened to miss the moment that was eddie munson or you miss his character or you were never really into him, this lil universe is for you. <3

"learning in public" - carmy x fem!reader. he needs it. he wants it. he has to have it. a man on his knees. enjoy.

"don't you dare fall in love" - heads up this one was discontinued and will not be continued (so don’t go harassing her about it) but the last part has an open ending so don’t let that stop you. college student/dealer!ellie x fem!reader. it’s beautiful and perfect. enjoy.

also ALL of her frank castle, abby anderson, tasm!peter parker fics. thank youuu

@inknopewetrust : this woman is a W R I T E R. the beautiful angsty things that come from her brain need to be cherished. thank you for your service.

“hoping i’ll find [a glimpse of us]” - when i tell you this shit was so fricking good!!!!!?! another piece of LITERATURE that i couldn’t believe i got to read for free on tumblr. i am such a sucker for a angsty slow burn and this still lives in me head rent free to this day. the tension had me giggling and laughing and biting my nail and crying. i need to spin back. i need to feel something!!

“secret” : now this one was a sexy forbidden romance. eddie’s our man who isn’t our man but is and oh m gee the angst in this one got me too, though it wasn’t as much. preppy!reader x eddie munson iykyk.

@etherealising : the absolute sweetest person i’ve met on here. every interaction i have with her just makes me smile. on TOP of that she’s a beautiful writer and storyteller. vee you have my heart.

“all i ever knew only you” - the best carmy x oc fic i’ve ever had the pleasure of reading on here. i’m so emotionally attached to this series, its characters and i think it has such re-readablity . the characterization is also so well done carmy x baby 4life. it’s currently discontinued but she is currently doing a rewrite and it’s going really well! in the meantime, please don’t let that stop you from reading the original while it’s still up. you won’t regret it.

“a buried and a burning flame” - vee single-handedly has me looking a richie different now. like…wait a minute :)) the bickering and banter is so fun. tension? check. spice?? check.

“flew like a moth to you” - a continuation of the one above. babyyyy!!! yes, yes, uh huh 🙂‍↕️ these two? LOVE EM. he’s officially in my heart.

@totheblood : star is so kind and super creative. she has created some of my favorite ellie williams smau’s on here.

"the hard way" - rockstar!ellie williams x ex-gf!reader smau. you guys are brought together again to solve the mystery that is the anonymous account blackmailing the two of you. mmm, nothing like the takedown of a shady mf to bring the girls together again :)

@cherriesxinthespring : another sweetheart with a beautiful mind. ik people get the characterization/true nature of ellie so wrong, but not rosie. she gets it.

“wasteland, baby!” - the wlw true enemies to lovers slow burn i’ve been dreaming of. tap in. right now.

@elliesbelle

“nobody compares to you” : a deliciously angsty slow burn second chance romance (ex!ellie x f!reader)

all the text convos for abby and ellie.

@newasskid : this blog makes me so nostalgic. THE first fic series that i read and rebloged when i started my first ff blog, came from this writer. i honestly feel it was my first time reading fanfic that wasn’t a silly little wattpad story or imagine and i was honestly gagged. i was like, “this…this is literature.” what can i say? i love good ass characterization! and this one was no exception.

“hard knock life” - like i said i was gagged with how good it was. i read the first two chapters back in 2022 and i still remember the feeling i felt reading them. this new blog i’m making is a fresh start for me and a chance for me to get back into old fandoms. will be revisiting this one soon.

@lovelettersfromluna

"one of your girls" - biker!ellie/roommate!ellie/camgirl!ellie x f!reader ALL rolled into to this ridiculously sexy little universe!! i love these two so much :’(

"compass" - vampire!ellie !!!! my new favorite thing. the way luna writes her feeding on reader ALONE is the most erotic and intimate thing. my god this was hot.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

sending all of this beautiful writers my love and respect y’all are amazing and so important. <3

[leconcombrerit]

This thing had been rotting in my files for a year (minus three weeks but that's basically a year). It was a redraw of one of my first ever pieces for this fandom, and I still find it quite okay if a little stiff in places, so I thought I might as well share it since I don't draw that much anymore.

And then I had second thoughts, which obviously led to me posting it anyway, as you can see, but I realized I've almost made it a point not to draw anything related to Sasi anymore. As in at all. I can't, and I don't want to, and even sharing old art feels a bit 'meh'. It's too directly linked to my long going art block.

What I mean by that is that if I took all the followers I have out there and asked them what they know me or initially followed me for, you might have a fair amount of Lis 2 and the occasional Desert Bluffs afficionados, but you'd get an overwhelming majority of Sanders Sides. Sanders Sides fashion posts even. I was by no means famous for it or anything, but at my small artist scale, it was the biggest success I had.

And it makes it much harder to go back to it at all now. One, because I don't give a damn about the show anymore. Two, because I haven't been properly obsessing over anything in a while (there was a series early this year but given the actual emotional distress I get thinking about it I'm ruling it out). I haven't had real engagement from my own brain, nor real engagement from a broad audience -which makes sense, I'm not posting for anything that will reach a broad audience. But it takes its toll regardless.

Even when I finally finished writing a long fic, I couldn't help but feel 'all this for what ? Ten people or so and two hundreds have dropped it ?'. Which is a bad way to think about stuff you write for your own enjoyment but, you know, the brain gets happy with external validation even if you pretend really hard you don't care.

And so it feels tempting to go back to the golden goose just the time to get the creative juice pumping back, and I try, and I always end up frustrated and angry and feeling even less like making art that before. I'm not having fun with Sasi. Like an old friend you have nothing to say to and yet you have so much to say otherwise, so you get a bit frustrated, you know ? Not sure I'm making much sense, but that's how it feels. I want to have something like that again, but it won't be with Sanders Sides, and I somehow just want if off my radar.

It was left hanging, then lost its spark, and then I stopped caring altogether and I most likely won't even watch the finale when it does come out. I'm over it. I wish I wasn't though, because it does feel like the artistic spark won't come back all on its own this time, and the buzzing community made it so much easier to bounce back and do shit when your brain got wired all wrong.

It sounds like I'm just bawling after love and likes and stuff, and I guess that's part of it, in a way ? Like I'm in no place to do things for myself, and seeing the one thing I used to use to get back in the flow giving me a bored sense of dread doesn't feel too great.

Yet this drawing is still good ! I find it good ! I don't remember everything, but I can tell from the looks of it that I spent a while on it ! It's nice ! I should celebrate that. So I'm sharing it. I think it will be the last piece of Sasi I ever share, though. I'm not watching the finale when it comes out. I don't care about it. I'll just keep doodling my OCs and characters from cool books every once in a while. I'll write little things.

I just really, really need to stop trying to go back to it when it's clearly not working and not even for good reasons. It was a fun ride though ! So yeah. Basically. A whole ass rant for a one year old piece of art. I'm in my bi-annual depresso mood, nothing too surprising there.

[briarandhissecretgarden]

A Minecraft Movie Trailer Dive

Alright!! I have a hard time talking about things in a more real? manner like this but I feel like it's important to be honest and share thoughts.

So the Minecraft movie trailer is a trailer that exists and it's incredibly upsetting to say the least. i had always had hopes of it being entirely animated and be a sort fo film version of Minecraft: Story Mode but it's clearly not that at all. It's a shame too, it's incredibly disappointing to know it's live action as I am a HUGE advocate for animated movies and blockbusters and such. I think Minecraft is a game that is so fantastical and developed and normalized within it's own plane of existence that trying to translate it as anything other than an animated movie fundamentally goes against what the game is supposed to be.

Minecraft is creativity incarnate. It is a canvas for you to do quite literally anything with. And i think turning it into a pathetic cash grab live action movie is about as hard away as you can get from it's core values. You lazily slap real people to into the game to mock and laugh at and disrupt the flow of it's own universe. Treating this game as if it is nothing but a child' plaything despite the fact that people of any age can play it and find joy and excitement. I think the jokes and the overall childish view of the game is disgusting I think it belittles it, I think Minecraft as a whole, encourages all ages and helps develop personal understanding of the world around us and our own ideals. Maybe we'd like to build a large house, go on, here are hundreds of blocks to choose from! Loads of colors, be free!!! Perhaps you'd like to calm down and play with friends or even challenge yourselves, go on with multiplayer! There's servers and achievements!!! There's plenty of things to do. And I think one of the most important things is that, none of this is wrong or weird. None of this is an incorrect way of playing, nothing you do is bad. This isn't supposed to be humbling this isn't supposed to be stressful or something to laugh at. Your desires and plans are valid.

Perhaps as an autistic individual myself, I find that so comforting. I understand it's just a movie, but it's a movie that fundamentally gets everything wrong about this lovely game. I don't understand how these trailers and jokes and plot points are treated as if it's okay to be bad if it's for children. It's saddening.

Either way, moving onto a different subject that I have much more knowledge about and care too much of, the Piglins.

This trailer shows off that Piglins are meant to be the main antagonists, as well as the The Seer having a role in the plot. I have many problems with this, and I will be discussing this through the lens of my own experiences, especially as it comes to my race. (I am latino for those who don't know)

First things first, no, the Piglins aren't evil by any means. I know a lot of media has a very black and white view of them but honestly, take a moment to think about this.

Piglins are minding their business, having fun, living their lives, when a bunch of explorers come barging into their home, exploiting them for their willingness to barter, stealing their valuables right from their houses, and on top of that, being killed and hurt because they dare fight back and attempt to protect one another.

To me, it's incredibly disheartening to see Piglins being portrayed as some kind of aggressors, savages and barbaric monsters all because they want to protect their way of life. I don't understand how emotionless people seem to act toward them. They aren't even physically accurate to the game models. They wear clothes, they use tools, they talk amongst themselves. It's very disgusting to see how this group that is CLEARLY INTELLIGENT BTW (they make music, tools, clothes, armor, buildings, homes and have a complex social system) being drawn and shown in less clothes, more violent tendencies, a more destroyed home and life, even showing violence among themselves to portray them as anything other than the interesting and complex species they are.

I'm just tired of the racist undertones that most Piglin plots seem to have. I find it insulting to them, i find it concerning regarding the language used. 'barbaric' 'crude' 'savage'

Just makes me angry.

[stranger-opinions]

maybe it's not a writers-block; maybe you just need a break

creativity is a muscle, right?

you need to exercise it to keep it in good shape, to have it ready when you need it and don't we all love those hyperfocused sprints of writing where the words just spill out of our fingertips...

but muscles get sore when you overuse them, will strain when you force them past their limits, they need nourishment to stay healthy and in shape

fandom today has a competitive atmosphere. many wouldn't admit that; it's supposed to be fun after all. just vibing with our mutuals, playing with the blorbos having a fun time online to scratch a few itches.

but the truth is that it can become a lot of pressure rather fast.

putting out several k of (edited) writing a month, setting up painstakingly formatted posts with the right tags and a fun header we spent hours on to look effortlessly cool and eye-catching just to hit post and then feel... nervous. excited too, sure...

but damn, when will the next chapter be finished? or the next one shot? will there be enough time to put a few blubs in between so that the few people who actually seem to care won't forget about us and move on?

writing for writing's sake is a nice notion. the myth of the self-sustaining artist who needs nothing more than a passion and their tools of choice.

but shit isn't just created out of nothing.

what has that all to do with the title of this post do you ask?

very few people can just keep going and going making art like that without needing any breaks and a good portion of those people very likely have very different conditions than most of us have with full-time jobs, families, school and so on.

For many of us writing is a main outlet, an important hobby and a safe space but that still doesn't change that it is a creative hobby, an outlet that demands energy: emotional, mental and physical (typing for hours is hard work if you want to believe it or not) and that sometimes makes it impossible to accept that we just need a fucking break.

"writers-block", in my own experience, is my brain telling me that something is off and that it's on strike until I fucking fix that.

and sometimes it's just that I need a break.

that I need to recharge my creative batteries, take in things that inspire me, that make me happy and get me excited without having to make anything myself. to just be. take some walks amongst trees, watch a new series, read a new book, go into a deep dive of some random topic on wikipedia until I don't know where the fuck I started from.

sometimes I just need to log out, cut the overstimulation of a never ending dashboard, turn off what everybody else on tumblr is doing, how much everbody is putting out, get away from my frustration about "my flopped fic" or the latest fandom drama and reconnect with the real reason I am doing this.

the love for stories and the source material.

for some people those breaks can be as short as two days, for other is might be weeks or months and that is not only okay but totally normal.

sometimes you might realize that the reason you are not writing is that you actually don't want to. sometimes you just want to daydream without the extra work sometimes you're just not in a writing mood and it's not much deeper than that.

that doesn't have to mean you're done with your blorbos. it just means that there are more valid and fun ways to play with them.

don't worry, the fandom will still be there when you decide to pick up the keyboard again. maybe with less people, maybe with many different people but you will always find someone who cares. those who have moved on to different things not come back wouldn't likely have stayed if you had powered through.

fandom shouldn't be a you're in or you're out thing but a place you come to when you want to.

contentification of fandom has had a lot of negative effects on the way we create and so many people fade from their hobby because they simply burn themselves out to a point where it leaves a scar.

so. find something that makes you happy that does not require you to invest too much creational energy. rest those muscles as long as it takes.

nothing you can get on tumblr or ao3 is worth the sore brain, the frustration with yourself and the stress you add onto your mental health ontop of everything else in your life.

recharge, reevaluate, reconnect

have fun

[avatar-anna]

hi i know u said u had writers block and i have this idea for a blurb/fic idk if you take requests and please delete this if you hate it BUT i’m terrible at writing and can’t get this idea out of my head, mua/yn and harry are secretly dating, some of the crew figure it out as tour goes on but fans start to notice a girl at every show who’s wearing like subtly matching outfits to harry and that’s how people find out they’re together, i just think it’d be such a cute concept AND maybe H doesn’t realise at first and she won’t tell him till he notices and she gets all shy when he asks her about it 🥺

so, i actually already have a makeup artist!y/n. it was one of the first fics i'd ever written on this page. so i just kinda tried to do a continuation of it here. enjoy!

The Makeup Artist, Vogue Beauty Secrets, Painting H's Nails

"Five more minutes."

"You said that five minutes ago."

Harry pulled back, his swollen lips turned down into a pout. "Do you not want five more minutes? You're hurting my heart, here, lovie."

You giggled and booped Harry's nose before kissing his cheek. "I want all the minutes, baby. But I think I'm also the only one paying attention to how close we're getting to showtime. And I have a job too, you know."

Harry didn't say anything to your attempt at logic, just leaned in again, his nose nudging against yours until he finally kissed you. And even though you knew you should've already been setting up your makeup kit to get the band ready, you let him. It was hard to say no, it was hard to say anything when he kept licking the seam of your lips, urging you to give him what he wanted. You.

And because you were about as obsessed with him as he was with you, you gave in, pushing him deeper into his makeup chair as you wrapped your arms around his neck. Harry grinned into the kiss, satisfied that you gave in.

"I'm gonna get fired for not doing my job," you mumbled a couple minutes later as he kissed his way up to your ear.

"By who? I'm technically the one that hired you," Harry replied with ease.

You rolled your eyes and pulled back just enough to hold his cheeks in your hands. "I have to get you ready."

He huffed. "It's not that much. We could even skip a couple steps. Save some time."

"I don't know about that," you said, brushing away a stray strand of his hair that had fallen in his face. "I was thinking about putting a little glitter on your chest, make it really sparkle under all those bright lights."

"I think you just want an excuse to rub your hands all over my chest."

"Well, duh. I thought that was a given."

As far as gigs went, being Harry's makeup artist was pretty low maintenance. It had been that way from the start, though sometimes you delved into some fun pre-show skincare when he let you. The bulk of your job was mainly with the women of the band, who were more than happy to let you take creative liberties with their makeup each show, though today would have to be on the simple side seeing as Harry was currently holding you hostage in his dressing room.

You were the one who liked to really go all out for your boyfriend's shows. The girls in the Love Band still needed something functional, cohesive, and something that didn't stand out so much since Harry was technically the focal point. So if you had time, you went all out with your own makeup, sometimes matching your eyeshadow or blush to Harry's stage outfits.

As you tried to remove yourself from Harry's lap, his arms tightened around your waist. "Just one more, and then I'm good."

Sighing, you kissed your pouty boyfriend's forehead. "Oh, my love, it's never just one more kiss with you."

*.*

You were waiting for Harry by the side of the stage just before he was meant to go on. Some days you went to the tour bus to catch up on sleep during shows or napped in Harry's dressing room, but recently you'd been staying to watch him perform. You knew he appreciated it, and you enjoyed the high energy of being in the crowd and watching your boyfriend do what he loved (aside from kissing you senseless, of course).

"Is it just me, or are we matching?"

You turned toward where Harry was walking toward you, smiling as he looked you up and down. When he reached you, his arms snaked around your waist, his lips against your temple as he mumbled, "I love it."

Looking down at the denim vest and jeans you were wearing to tonight's show, you said, "What, this old thing? It's just something I threw together."

"I don't know whether I should love or hate how cute you guys are."

Spinning around while remaining in the circle of Harry's arms, you grinned sheepishly at Ny'Oh. "It's a coincidence, I swear."

She laughed and shook her head, not believing you for a minute. "Yeah? And what about all the other times?"

It was no secret that you and Harry were together, though this new leg of the tour came with some new crew members who didn't know Harry was dating Love on Tour's makeup artist. You always blushed furiously any time someone caught you holding hands or having a little lunch date at craft services or sharing a kiss in what you thought was a secret corner or hallway. You preferred to keep things low-key, not wanting to draw too much attention to the fact that you were technically dating your boss, but Harry didn't have any kind of reservations. He was more than comfortable with kissing your cheek and calling you pet names and holding you against his chest in front of everyone. On tour, that is. Outside of the confines of a venue or tour bus, you and Harry both agreed to keep your relationship private for now, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to yourselves.

"I think of it as a challenge," you said to Ny'Oh. "It takes skill to be this subtle yet just on the nose."

"A fine line, if you will," Harry added, grinning from ear to ear.

Shaking your head, you said, "Nope. That was too much. Even for me."

After exchanging a couple more laughs with Harry and the band as they prepared to go onstage, you kissed Harry good luck and left to go find your spot on the floor to watch the show. You preferred to watch with the rest of the audience, though Harry always made sure you were within arm's reach of a security guard at all times. Just in case.

Walking to your spot a few paces from the barricade, you admired the wide array of colorful outfits and costumes fans wore. It was why you loved being in the crowd. Seeing everyone all dressed up in feather boas and sparkly cowboy hats and homemade outfits that matched albums and songs. It was inspiring to see the space Harry's shows created, and to be part of it in a small way.

"Your makeup looks amazing!"

Turning to your right, you saw a group of girls, maybe in their late teens or early twenties. Each of them were dressed in a spectrum of glitter and heart sunglasses and merch, wide smiles on their faces as they waited for Harry to come out.

You'd gone for a pretty tame look. For you, anyway. Simple base makeup with a pretty blue eyeshadow and daisies that lined your crease and just beneath your lash line that took way longer than they should've. But the result was just how you wanted it, so you couldn't really complain.

"Thank you," you said to the girl who spoke. She was dressed in a pair of jeans outlined in sequins, a shirt with Canyon Moon lyrics tucked in as a crop top. She also had her makeup done, her eyes and cheeks decked out in eyeshadow that shifted color in the light. "I like yours too."

You talked to the girls a little while longer, but when the lights died down and the song that signaled the show was about to start came on, the girls quickly said their goodbyes and faced the stage. Still, they were close enough that despite the commotion, you could hear them talking. About you.

"I swear, I've seen her before."

"So? Tons of people go to multiple shows."

"Yeah, but...I don't know. It feels like she's standing separate from the rest of us."

You smiled to yourself and tried to focus on the stage instead of eavesdropping on the conversation about you, which was forgotten the second the opening chords to Daydreaming began. The concert was like all the rest you'd been to, and yet you still weren't sick of it. Seeing Harry's smile and witnessing the sheer joy on his face as he performed made going to show after show well worth it.

And when he was in your section, he was always close enough to make eye contact, even wink as he sang certain lyrics, which would definitely earn him a smack on the arm later. But even so, it made your cheeks flush and your stomach flip with excitement. And Harry, who could read you like a book, grinned as he moved on to a different part of the stage.

"Did you see how he looked at her! He winked!"

"You sound crazy!"

Smiling to yourself, you shook your head. Maybe it was time to watch from backstage for a while.

[verdemoth]

Woah hey hey. Yeah it’s me, Tala, it’s been a while, huh? Like legitimately a year whoops. Hey mutuals sorry about that, i’m totally still kicking and you guys are super cool and i hope we can still vibe 👉👈 there’s a lot of very awesome people i’ve missed interacting with

To cut a long story short: i had really bad art block for almost a full year and fell out of practice further, and that put me in a bad place generally because without my main creative outlet it’s hard for me to regulate and deal with other problems. And hard for me to be creative in other ways when i was still stuck on all the ideas i wanted to do but couldn’t. For the past 5-6 months it’s been better though! Not at the same output i used to have but i think i’ll just have to be content with that; at the very least, drawing is usually fun again :)! Speaking of other problems though, my health’s been a struggle, not in a scary life threatening way but VERY fatiguing. And i think that’s just something i have to be content with too. Took me this long to get around to updating my tumblr account in part because of this fatigue and in part because it had been so long i got anxious

But i want to get back to posting! i do have artwork i’ve done in this time that i’ll start uploading soon :] and being able to draw again means i can be more creative in general, and some of my ocs have seen more development 👀 i hope to talk about them more later!

[rhymeswithchronic]

I’ve seen a little bit of speculation about how Evbo’s abilities as Parkour God would translate to PvP Civ in relation to Vengeance for the Lamb, and I’m not sure how much I’d be able to actually state in story, so enjoy a little bit of personal thought dump!

First, I like the idea that people from Parkour Civ are immune to PvP damage and vice versa. This definitely means Evbo is quite overpowered in a place where Parkour isn’t really practiced, and the same goes for Boey (PVP Evbo) who can’t be hurt by Parkour. Unlike Boey who actually has been shown to not be terrible at Parkour, Evbo has no experience in physical combat. He can definitely take hits but he sucks at giving them back. He can grab shit really hard and that’s scary when he could break your weapon, but he ain’t gonna be able to outfight anyone in sword to sword combat

His abilities are kind of funky. He retains any personal abilities given to him by his divinity, but he lacks the connection to the world that he has in Parkour Civ, where he could feasibly do whatever he wants whenever he wants by editing the source code. That isn’t available to him in PvP Civ. He’s A god, not THE god. He has no control over the wider world whatsoever. The closest thing he has is that he can revive people and set spawn points, but that’s because those are less intrinsically tied to the world and more tied to the actual players.

Physical attributes are still present. Physical strength, limited teleportation, brief moments of spectator and of course, tapping into his proper Godly form. (CookieGod had one too and I like to think it was based on a dragon. It would probably be a full dragon though rather than the still human like form Evbo has because the old god fully gave into his godhood whereas Evbo still clings to his humanity while only occasionally tapping into that ability)

The one thing that definitely marks him as divine is his ability to create and destroy matter/blocks. He can access the creative mode inventory, but he’s not coding anything like he could in Parkour Civ.

Evbo also could not survive indefinitely in PvP Civ. He no longer has to eat food to survive (though he certainly can and still feels hunger, he wouldn’t starve) he still requires energy to sustain himself. In Parkour Civilization, this energy comes from a few different sources: Devotion (which is typically consumed in offered food, with things like bread and cake that have to be homemade having more than food made with less care), worship (the active worshipping of the Parkour God) and the act of Parkour itself. He is Parkour after all

In PVP Civ, he receives none of these things except for the very faint scrap of the occasional parkour done during fights. While it’s something I’m probably not going to explore in Vengeance, it might be fun to do an AU of an AU exploring this aspect more. He’s fine for awhile, working off of the stored excess of energy gained from his home world, but eventually, cut off completely, he would start to starve again. This process would be quickened by things like overuse of his God Form, but no matter what, he would eventually run dry. At that point, he would essentially become mortal again until either he died or made it back to Parkour Civilization, in where he would be able to regain the lost energy.

He’s running on a Duracell battery right now essentially. Technically, someone could ‘feed’ him by doing Parkour and what would be hilarious to imagine

So! What I like to imagine basically is that he is powerful, but not ALL powerful like he is in Parkour Civ. Hope someone finds this interesting or just the image of someone furiously doing parkour to feed a hungry Evbo funny lmao

[eddiediaaz]

hi lovely!! do you have any tips on making cool fun and sexy typography?

hey joanna!! this made me giggle haha, i'm not quiiiite sure how to answer that, but here are some tips i keep in my when i do typography, and some examples:

FONTS

don't be afraid to "shop" for fonts and try funky fonts you've never used/seen. i often try so many before settling. i almost always use at least 2 different font for gifsets, even 3 sometimes. i think a good font pairing can do a lot for a gif. it's usually something like:

serif + cursive/funky fonts (example)

sans serif + cursive/funky fonts (example)

serif + sans serif fonts (example)

two different cursive/funky fonts (example)

or even simply the same font but all caps + all lowercase (example)

in case you're unsure where too start or want inspiration, here's a great resource: usergif's font pairing guide and its fonts page

BLEND MODES & LAYER STYLES

i think playing around with different blend modes and layer styles will always elevate your typography game, in my opinion. it's usually a bit more dynamic than just an opaque color. tho this minimalist typography can also be really good.

when you double click on a text layer, you get all the layer style options, as well as the blend modes. a very popular layer style is setting the layer's blending option to difference, paired with a color and/or gradient overlay (often set to multiply/color dodge). a drop shadow is also important so the text is more easily readable. we often see a black soft drop shadow, but don't hesitate to be creative with it, for example a thick, hard line, colorful drop shadow.

i feel like this step often takes the most time for me because the possibilities are endless. definitely play around with layer styles, especially drop shadow, color overlay, gradient overlay, stroke. and also try different blending modes for these settings.

as for the layer's blend mode, also definitely play around with them. and keep in mind that the text's color will also give a different result, it doesn't have to be white + blend mode set to difference, even tho this is a classic that works well.

TEXT WRAPING & POSITION

a great feature on photoshop is definitely the text warping tool. to access it, right click on a text layer and go "warp text". from there you'll get a few different styles and setting sliders. my favorites are flag and wave (example). you can always go back to edit these settings once they're done by right clicking again. and you can even keyframe/animate these settings!

typography doesn't always have to be centered and straight, i often prefer it on a side and rotated a little. you can easily rotate typography by selecting the layer(s) and hitting ctrl + T. you can also play with the skew and pespective after hitting ctrl + T by right clicking the canvas and clicking on either. these will give different ways to move your text.

SIZING

i love playing around with different font sizes, it makes the typography more interesting in my opinion, and it's a way to emphasize some words.

so for that reason i usually put each word on a different layer so i can edit each word separately. sometimes i will also put each letter on a different layer, because it can be interesting to offset/rotate some letters sometimes (example) (another example).

i often pair a quite small serif or sans serif font with a much bigger funky font (example). and often that bigger font will also have different sized words (example). i play around a lot with this!

ADDED EFFECTS

there are some things than can be done to enhance typography:

adding a colorful rectangle block behind the text (example)

using text symbols such as quotation marks or backets (example)

using lines around the text (example) (another example)

these can definitely bring typography to a different level

MORE RESOURCES

great font website

usergif's typography tag

my fonts tag

this is all i can think of right now, i hope it helps :D if you have any question on a specific text effect let me know, i can definitely make a tutorial!

[shiftylinguini]

Fuck I Can't Write Crisis Pack:

@phoebe-delia asked in response to this fun lil ask game:

Do you have any advice for getting out of a slump/getting writing confidence back? . (for the ask anything) Do you have any advice for getting out of a slump/getting writing confidence back?

Now THIS. This is a good question, and something that is very much on my mind and has been for a while, as I am currently absolutely in the midst of this and trying to army crawl my way out. I don't have any magic bullets (is that the saying? idk) but I have been here before and i do have a small arsenal of tips or methods that I find can help me. 

Here is my Fuck I Can't Write Crisis Pack (In no particular order):

Write anything 

This is hardly groundbreaking advice, and it's also the hardest thing to actually do (imo) so do not beat yourself up if it takes a while to get to this. Basically, write ANYTHING―it can be aimless, it can be pointless, it can be crap (crap is subjective!! don't let the brain gremlins win!!). 

Don't think about posting it, don't worry about anyone else ever reading it, just fling a few words onto a page and feel the rusty faucet turn on, proving to yourself that it still works. 

Try and sus out what it is that's blocking you 

Again this one is hard and annoying but functional. Once you can put your finger on the particular reason you're staring at a flashing black line on a blank page it can help you kick that reason off your lawn and into the bin. 

And then, take it out of the bin and be kind to yourself about whatever that reason is. Maybe you feel shit because you're comparing yourself to others, your last fic felt like a lead balloon, you can't muster enthusiasm for what you once loved doing and fear that it's gone forever, you're projecting in a Tumblr post―whatever it is, it's something all the writers you admire and aspire to be like have felt, and been annoyed with themselves for, and so you can wrap it up in a blanket and put it on a shelf and be kind to it so it, (respectfully) shuts the fuck up. 

(and remember, everyone feels insecure about their stuff. Like literally everyone, at some stage, feels like their stuff is rubbish)

Cheat on your OTP 

Okay this one might not work for everyone, but it really does for me lol. Ruts (not the sexy kind) can often come with not wanting to engage in my usual ships, being annoyed by my lack of ability to fucking write them/anything/all my ideas taste like cardboard/bleh, and stepping out on them and reading something new can snap me out of it. Just, an injection of new ideas or scenarios or words or even just a little reprieve from being fed up with myself, which ideally, is why we're all here anyway. 

(And then I come crawling back, and am welcomed with open arms haha)

In a similar vein:

Engage in media 

This subtitle is genuinely terrible, i am sorry, LMAO, but essentially: find a piece of media that makes you go "oh, helLO sailor", unhinge your jaw like a snake, and consume it whole. 

Let it nourish you, inspire you, excite you, making you feel SOMETHING, and then take that and think "fuck, what if i wrote bleepbloopblarp" and even if you write nary a single word, you've thought about it and that fucking counts. 

It might be an album, a book, a song, a show, gifs of a hot person, the wikipedia summary of a movie, literally anything counts here if it makes you feel a twinge of creativity. 

Ask yourself, what would Astolat do? 

No for real. @candybarrnerd and I genuinely use this haha.  

Worried your idea is stupid? Astolat would say write it. 

Worried it's too weird? Nah, just write it. 

It's dumb and no one will read it? Just write it for you *waggles eyebrows* (and then find out that yeah, nah, someone else will absolutely read this and be real fucking happy about it haha.)

Worried you're a one trick pony and have already written this fic before, like, and not even once before, and also you're projecting again in Tumblr post? WRITE IT AGAIN! As Astolat once said, "it's a fic so nice, I wrote it thrice". 

It's good advice. 

Make a friend or lean hard on the ones you have here

Misery loves company because it knows they'll come out of this together :). I know, I know, that's fucking NAFF, but fandom is all about finding like-minded freaks and blowing up their DMs because you saw a gif and now feel a kind of ways about it. 

And lastly: 

FUCK STATS! 

I mean I love stats (yay validation!), but god can they make you feel like a worthless shit (hey where did my validation go :((( ). It can be really insidious, so piss that right off when it starts to fuck with your confidence or outlook on your own writing.

Hopefully there is something useful here, even if it's just looking at this advice and thinking "no that's shit, it's writing POISON" cos then you can maybe do the version you think is NOT shit, and that might work. 

Good luck, fellow travelers!!

[softcryz]

I want to see crea as different species, lizard, scug, scav... Go silly

GO SILLY I DID!!

I've technically drawn him as a slugcat over a thousand times but I will take any excuse to do it again and again because. Well. It's fun.

I usually draw him with the antenna but if we're going true slugcat then we have to embrace his tiny ass ears and his tiny stub tail.

Just a really fucking big and strong slugcat. Whenever I draw him his markings change so who knows maybe that's just something that happens. Makes him throw up paint.

NOW.. ANYTHING BESIDES SLUGCAT IS A STRUGGLE. I kinda failed at making him look scavenger-like and I apologize.

Huge. Probably muscular. Probably has like a strap thingy so that he can have more items on his person.

I.. ALSO HAD A LOT OF TROUBLE HERE. It's so hard to make something feel like him without the shape of his antenna. He doesn't take inspiration off of a specific lizard in general, I just kinda threw stuff around. (But if I had to choose two, probably either caramel lizard or his Canvas Lizards)

He's got like weird rainbow ribbon-y frills. I dunno. His head would probably end up being the white of his antenna?? It's like the reverse of a normal lizard which is fun.

I would've done more (EX; ancient, human, ect) but my brain blocks me from what he would look like as those things (even though I desperately want to draw them) SO.. THIS IS ALL FOR NOW

Except for cat Creativity. Cat Creativity has existed for ages. BEFORE Creativity was even a concept. But I won't explain why that is

I had these weird little rambles from last night of me trying to decode what makes Creativity "Creativity" too? I failed but they exist and they're out in the world now

[myobsessionsspace]

Hi! This is a reply to the anon asking about Jungkook and his songwriting process. I work in a creative field and have many friends who work in creative fields so that has a big influence on how I view this topic.

The first thing I want to talk about is how every person has a completely different creative process. But one thing I have noticed is that contrary to popular belief most people do not get inspiration from hard times or going through difficult experiences. For most people the inspiration comes from having grown as a person, the conversations and things that helped them during those times or from totally different things. Most of the time feeling bad can block you from feeling inspiration or being creative alltogether. And I believe this is also true for Jungkook. I don't think he is a person who gets inspired by difficult life experiences.

Another thing is that from what I have seen he seems to get a lot of inspiration and joy from the process of making itself. This is how inspiration works for a lot of people. People get ideas by working very hard, doing other parts of the project and practicing a lot. Inspiration is not something that just happens most of the time, it's something that you work on. It's not as romantic as getting inspired by big life events or getting struck by an idea but it is very fun.

It makes complete sense to me how he talked about wanting to focus on how to use his voice and the more technical aspects of making music. I also think he is not someone who is creative in a language focussed way. I don't think he is a storyteller like RM. RM likes to make people think and get them engaged in thinking about life, society and other big topics.

I think the thing that Jungkook enjoys the most is how he can make people feel and that he can make them forget about everything for a while and help them really be in the moment. That makes him have different goals in his songwriting and creative process. Lyrics and what the song is about are not his main focus and he is comfortable letting other people do that part for him. His focus is more on how he can express the feelings of the song in the best way (using his voice, instruments, tempo etc.). And also I think that he is most interested in and talented at the parts that are seen as less interesting by a lot of people. Or that are more behind the scenes and less visible to the average person.

He is very good in expressing himself in other ways than language. The most important ways being visual (think about his editing and photography), through dance and through sound. He loves singing and playing around with his voice and he loves dancing and performing.

And he does express himself alot. He shows his feelings on his face and with his whole body and he seems to really be himself in every situation. But I think he is someone who really lives in the moment and he doesn't dwell on his feelings once he is done feeling them. I don't think he is someone who processes their feelings through language or talking. And I would not be surprised if it takes him a very long time to process his feelings. He probably does it on his own when he is somewhere he feels safe and comfortable. So deep conversations about his feelings and thoughts is probably something we will never see from him.

Maybe it's because I am very similar to him in a lot of ways but to me he doesn't seem hard to understand at all. Everything he says and does makes so much sense to me. I have the easiest time understanding him out of all the members. Hope that helps!

in reference to this ask

Yes, yes, yes!⬆️⬆️⬆️

Thank you lovely for your thoughts and insights.

I was also thinking about the creative that Jungkook is and how he also uses film, photography, art of different mediums to express himself too.

There’s so much that we can add, and I appreciate you and anyone else adding to this conversation.

Thank you 💜

[gaybananabread]

Helloo Casey!! For augtickletober number 27, would you mind writing lee bakugou & ler shoji? hehe, Thank you!!

TickleTober Day 27 - Hysterical

I’m trying my best to get these pumped out, sorry for the repeated lateness! Shoji has amazing ler potential! It was really fun writing for him, and I always love wrecking Bakubabe. Have a great rest of your day, and Enjoy!

Lee: Bakugou

Ler: Shouji

Summary: Bakugou is talking big game to his peers, as usual. Only this time, Shouji gets sick of it. He decides to put the explosion-quirked user in his place.

Warnings: rougher tickling! This is a tickle fic, so if you don’t like that, scroll away!

“I could destroy any of you extras, no sweat!” 

Bakugou was showboating once again, talking down to his peers. They were all more than used to his mouth, though a few teeth were ground as he continued. 

“None of you could tough it out to Number One!” Then, because he’s Bakugou, he took things a bit too far by individually telling them how bad they were. “I mean, do you see dunce face ever getting to even Number twenty? Or pink cheeks going anywhere near pro level? She’d probably puke on the evaluators! And don’t even get me started on big lips or rock face!”

That ticked off the others. All of 1A knew that he had a temper and a mouth, but that was just too far. One student in particular got pretty miffed at him for insulting some of the nicest teens in their class. Shouji stepped forward, all his arms crossed. “How about we put that to the test?”

The fiery blonde stared down the taller student, as if the extra inches and muscle mass were nothing. He was never one to back down from a challenge. “Oh yeah? You think you could take me, arms-a-plenty? You’re fuckin’ on!” 

They set a time and place; the main training gym after class, that day. Bakugou was ready to fight like hell. Shouji, however, had other plans. Something to really put the blonde in his place without hurting him. All he had to do was wait.

-

None of the other students went to the gym, knowing it would probably be an aggressive match. The possibility of crossfire from an angry Bakugou wasn’t something anyone wanted to be stuck in; those two had the entire gym to themselves.

Bakugou was wearing a tight tank, showing off his muscular arms. Shouji didn’t mind; just made his job all the easier. He was wearing something similar, though his was a turtleneck. Both seemed primed to fight, though only one intended to do so. That boy, of course, had plenty of trash talk. 

“You ready to get your ass kicked, octopus arms?” He sighed, rolling his shoulders. “So creative, Bakugou.” The simplistic nicknames didn’t bother him, but when it was toward his friends, he got angry. That jerk was gonna learn his lesson…

He growled, priming his palms with little sparks and pops and getting into a fighting stance. Shouji copied him, going over his plan in his head. Dodge, pin and destroy. Easy enough, if he could do the first part without getting blown off the Earth. 

With a nod from each side, the spar began. Bakugou went in hard and fast, wanting to do as much early damage as possible. The multi-armed student blocked and dodged what he could, taking a few minor hits. He did not, however, fight back. All part of his plan.

Bakugou, rather predictably, took offense to that. “Why’re you goin’ easy on me, huh?! You think I’m weak?! I’ll show you weak, you bastard!” He then, also predictably, charged Shouji, getting a bit sloppy in his attack due to overconfidence and an inflated temper. 

Shouji sidestepped the assault, wrapping his strong, webbed arms around the blonde. He took a few explosive shots, but after taking him down and pinning him, the blonde was subdued. Thrashing and cussing his head off, yes, but subdued. “THE HELL?! GET OFFA’ ME, YOU BASTARD!” 

The masked student chuckled, forcing Baku’s arms above his head. “There really are other things you should be worried about, Bakugou. Like being nicer to our classmates. Actions, especially words, have consequences.” One poke to the side was all Bakugou needed to realize what he meant. “YOU WOULDN’T FUCKING DARE!”

“Oh, but I would.” With that, four hands descended on the explosive blonde. One on his ribs, one on his belly, and one on each of his sides. A pair kept his hands firmly pinned above his head. That damn quirk… It made everything so much more unbearable. He had tried to hold in his reactions, but the moment one hand reached the top of his ribs, he was done for.

“GEHEHET OHOFF, YOU AHAHAHASS!” Shouji was going in strong, not wanting to give the other teen a chance to escape. He was strong, but not strong enough to keep a wily, enraged Bakugou pinned for long. “I don’t think I will. You need to be nicer to your classmates, or no one will want to be around you.”

He sounded so painfully nonchalant about it. Like the bigger student wasn’t trying to tickle him to pieces; he wouldn’t ever admit it, but he was also succeeding. “FUHUCK OHOHOFF!” 

Bakugou couldn’t believe it. He had never considered the multi-armed teen a threat before. Sure, he was built and had skill, but not enough to put him on the “Destroy” list. Now, though? Shouji was in slot four. That ass was going down when he recovered. 

“You like to cuss, don’t you? It’s not very becoming of a hero.” He didn’t really care about the boy’s language, but it was something else to tease him over. It was nice to see him laughing so much; Shouji was just getting started. 

Bakugou would have cursed at him some more, but was cut off by a rather goofy sound. The sound of someone blowing a raspberry on his stomach. “GYAAAAH! YOUHUHU- YOUHU’RE DEHEHEAD!” 

Works every time. Shouji had the mouth blow more smaller raspberries along his stomach, driving Bakugou up the wall. He bucked and squirmed to no avail; Shouji had him pinned, and the tickling wasn’t helping his thought process. “You’re not as threatening when you’re laughing like this. It’s a good look on you.”

One of the hands on his side moved to his thigh, squeezing and poking along the outer edge. A snort broke up his laughter, quickly followed by more as the squeezes continued. “SCREHE- *snrk* SCREHEHEW YOUHUHU!”

“Still insulting me, huh? Midoriya was right; you really never learn.” Shouji was thoroughly amused. It was fun to put the boy in his place, as well as hear his laughter. It was loud and boisterous, just like him. To a few other students in their class, Shouji was a rather feared tickle monster. He added Bakugou to that small list of “victims.” Whether he enjoyed it like the others was a mystery of its own. 

He was just about to yell out a rebuttal when he felt a torturous, dumb, killer sensation on his death spot. Shouji had changed the damn hand there to a mouth, having it blow raspberries right at the top of his ribs. Oh, that absolute *dickhead*. “KGUAHAHAHA! YOHOHUHUHU- *snrk* AHAHAHAHA!” 

That hysterical reaction was exactly what Shouji was looking for. He wouldn’t kill his classmate, of course, but he needed to learn. With Bakugou, lessons always needed to be learned the hard way. It was the best way he could think of without hurting him. It was the most fun for Shouji anyways.

Bakugou tried to get loose, tried to tell him off, tried to do anything other than laugh his ass off: but he couldn’t. The raspberries, merciless tickling, and childish nature of it all was just too much for even him to handle. Tears of mirth sprung in the corners of his eyes, his cheeks and even neck becoming a deep, vibrant red. 

Okay, that was far enough. Shouji stopped, pulling all his appendages away from the blonde. He giggled like a maniac even after the tickles stopped, cruel phantom sensations keeping him in stitches. The white-haired mutant let go of Bakugou, climbing off him. He playfully nudged his side with his boot, the smugness in his voice almost suffocating. “You alive, Bakugou? I didn’t go too far, did I?”

The explosive teen shot him the bird, making him snort. “Okay, you’re good.” Growling, Bakugou started to pull himself together. The giggling got quieter as he sat up, wobbly smile giving way to a determined glare. Shouji took that as his sign to get out of dodge. “I’ll leave you to it. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

The bigger teen briskly made his way to the exit as Bakugou managed to get to his feet. He found it cute that Shouji was trying to run after that. His stamina was something to be feared, especially when revenge was on the table. Baku staggered over to the gym exit, slowly but steadily regaining his energy.

Oh, that multi-limbed menace was going down.

[doomhands-jr]

I'm gonna give you all some tough love and I need you to be good sports about it.

I received a comment on AO3 today asking me to not make the reader wait as long for the next chapter. And that's not the first time I've received a comment like that. I know it's all in good fun, so I'm not even really upset about it, but I do need to drop some truth. I posted chapter 9 on July 12th. I posted chapter 10 on July 22nd.

Bro, that's ten days.

It's not uncommon for writers to take MONTHS to update a single chapter. Some of my favorite authors have made me wait YEARS between chapters, and I do so without complaint because I know just how much effort goes into writing each chapter. I've been pretty consistent about how often I update, and that's a point of pride for me because it took me a long time to build the discipline I needed to work at something long-term this diligently (where my fellow ADHD creatives at?). Writing doesn't just happen. I have to make the choice to sit down and block out all distractions and dedicate consistent time and effort, not just writing each chapter, but editing it and making sure it has a decent emotional payoff and fits in with where I want it the story to go. It's a lot of mental effort. And considering just how much effort it takes, getting a chapter out in ten days is WICKED fast. Now, that being said, I still kind of like when you guys send me comments or messages talking about how impatient you are for the next chapter, especially when the tone is kind of a self-roast for being so impatient. It's actually really cute because I get what it's like to be really excited about a story and want the update RIGHT NOW. I just want to make sure that you also understand that I'm working as fast as I can (and I'm doing this all for free mind you), and I want to feel like that effort is appreciated and acknowledged. Ja feel? I write first and foremost for myself, but I also do it for you guys because I love the community we've built together and I love that people are finding healing through this story. It makes me feel like all the effort is worth it. So I guess, to summarize, go ahead and express how excited and impatient you are for a chapter, just make sure that you're also keeping in mind that writing is hard work, especially multi-chaptered fics, and that I have a life outside of Tumblr that I also need to work towards. And if you ever do get really impatient and need me to post something fast, leaving long, detailed comments about what you liked in the last chapter is the quickest way to jump-start my creativity. Every time I receive one, I get inspired to write more.

Anyways, love you guys. Thanks for being such good sports about everything. Can't wait to show you the next chapter, but it's proving to be a tricky one to get the tone right, so it might be another ten days or so lmao. -River