#but there are plenty of ppl who are much more or much less willing to Let That Shit Go

[britneyshakespeare]

like i am not a snob about fast food by any means. but i've never heard someone get giddy and excited about a new mcdonald's or kfc opening up near them or offering new menu items. so many ppl are like yeah whatever this company directly supports queerphobic causes but it tassstes good. i need to emphasize this so i don't seem to be apathetic while i order chicken prepared in a way that you can get at half a dozen other fast food places within a 10 mile radius.

do you ever feel like people only like chick-fil-a so much because they're not supposed to

[tododeku-or-bust]

thank you so much for making that 80 instances post. I am very much a white person- and I cannot express how jarring it was to see examples of racism and anti blackness coming from people within my own fandom. I wanted to ask- do you have some tips for being a better black ally online and how help advocate for black rights? Your post opened my eyes a little and now I’m inspired :)

😅 well you got the spirit. This applies overall to antiblackness, not just in fandom spaces (of which, antiblackness is also ubiquitous).

Listen and reblog Black people when they speak on these topics DIRECTLY. There's this idea that somehow what Black ppl have to say is less valid unless a white person backs it up or "simplifies" it. That's racist. Be willing to understand the message from the messenger, even if it makes you feel uncomfortable. If you're more worried about "oh well people won't like that I shared this on my blog" than you are over racism occurring... My friend you're actively choosing to ignore racism then 🤷🏾‍♀️

Speak up directly when anti-Black racism is occurring in front of you. You have to actively be an ally. "Not being racist" isn't enough. No one wants to be told after they've experienced antiblackness that "oh I believed in/felt sorry for you" okay but when I was getting jumped you stood by!! 🤣 as far as I'm concerned, you are complicit in the violence I experienced.

Recognize your place as an ally, not my white savior. Again, I don't need you to speak for me (unless I'm not in the room, in which case, speak up for me). This is a real big one with racist white liberals who think their politics are One Size Fits All. You don't know better than me what I experienced and you don't know better than me what I need.

Do the reading!! I cannot emphasize enough that if you don't know what you're talking about, it's okay to shut up 🤣 There are plenty of Black bloggers online that share numerous books and documentaries if you want to start there. I personally started my overall political nonfiction journey with the SPLC Summer Reading List one year and branched from there. You're gonna have to get uncomfortable and accept that there's things we've discussed, that you recognize in your own behavior as racism. You gotta be willing to get over that, that's the only way you're ever going to be helpful.

As for a specific fandom note, you can reread that list (and the second one, in the future) and use it to start recognizing when these things occur in your space- bc trust me, even if it wasn't your named fandom, $10 it's occurred anyway. Go "oh, shit, this is racist!" Rather than believing it's "just drama".

Um, those are my main ones. If anybody Black wants to add anything, go for it.

[halehavetogosometime]

Steddie (stranger things) omo shipping meme

This is a kink thing, folks, discussion ppl desperate to pee.

dldr

I love running through this series of questions when I’m all fired up on a “new” ship. I’m a multi shipper here as well, but I’ll start with these two yahoos, Steve and Eddie (some qs I approach as if Steddie are a couple in the future and living together, and some  I stick more closely to canon for)

 .

Who gets desperate because they didn’t want to get up from a video game/work/other activity

This is definitely more likely to be an Eddie move– hyperfocus can be a bitch, man. I can see him reading or especially working on a campaign or music and just putting it off or even not noticing until someone else, maybe Steve, sitting across the room, like, notices the quality of the bounce has changed and totally clocks it as Eddie-has-to-pee instead of the normal Eddie-finding-the-right-stimulation-threshold. Maybe Steve would pop over with a drink, or maybe he made himself a sandwich and did one for Eddie as well, so he intentionally interrupt Eddie’s focus which, like, normally he wouldn’t… but in a case like this he’d do it intentionally, “Hey babe, I made some for me, you want some too?” and Eddie jolts out of it, comes back to the world, accepts whatever Steve was giving him, and then Oh-So-Casually scoots rapidly towards the bathroom.

Can also see, like, Eddie hyperfocusing on a day when he’s home and Steve’s at work, only for Steve to come home and interrupt and Eddie to realize he’s Absolutely Desperate.

In neither case do I see him actually really wetting himself, not unless they play these games. 

Now Steve… I can definitely see Steve specifically having had close calls or incidents related to sports? Like, many an athlete has many a time pissed themselves, or peed right off the field etc because they are SO well hydrated and sometimes it just is like that. 

But then again, that’s “can’t” stop the activity more than it is “don’t want to”

Who insists they can hold it even when they can’t

Either. I can see Eddie more often being the one, like, not in tune with what his body is up to and getting into a tight spot and then doubling-down bluffing about it… but i can see either one of them getting, like, competitive about it, not willing to be the one who admits he’s gotta pee first… or imbibing substances that mess with his control… i especially can see Drunk!Former-Frat-type Steve forgetting that he broke the seal and not remembering he’s not gonna be able to hold it, etc, but trying to bluff his way through anyway

By the same token, can see high!eddie having nooooooo idea how bad hes gotta pee, really.

Who pees in a bottle because they didn’t want to leave their warm bed at night

Oh absolutely either one. 

Steve maybe doesn’t do it as much, was less in the habit when he lived in his parent’s pristine house, or when the likelihood of having a girl over was high, wouldn’t want to miss something like that and have a potential partner find it…

And def after they are together, if one catches the other at it, he’s gonna give him good-natured shit about it, but yeah. No big deal.

Who doesn’t pay attention to their fluid intake

Steve, maybe, if he’s drinking alcohol (otherwise, he’s more likely to just Always Be well hydrated, less “not paying attention” and more “always shooting for hydrated, even if that means peeing a lot more”)… but Eddie probs more normally, vacillating wildly between over and under hydrated. 

Who has the larger bladder

I can see arguments for either, steve has to pee a lot, but that’s cuz he’s usually well hydrated. Can see that either resulting in him Not holding as much, cuz always peeing, or holding plenty, just, there’s always plenty to hold…

And I can see Eddie with a monster bladder cuz he’s always putting it off, and therefore always holding… or the opposite, especially if he’s bad about, like, drinking water, and it usually drinking, like, coffee or other things that are stimulants/diuretics/bladder irritants.

Who is more likely to have a shy bladder

I think it could be fun to write either one that way… but of the two, probs more likely Eddie. He’s a more baseline-anxious type to begin with… and I think athletics to the degree Steve has participated are very likely to cure anyone of that– when you gotta, then you gotta, and you gotta take every opportunity, even when you’re packed in with a bunch of other athletes and there’s maybe not much privacy

Who will only use an appropriate facility

I don’t think either would care, really. Steve has definitely pissed in some “convenient” places during/after games, or in folks’ backyards during parties, but also i bet Eddie has pissed in the woods in particular many a time.

If we gave either one a shy bladder, that could be a component, but i don’t think it much is if we’re trying to be canon compliant.

More likely to have a holding kink

I want to say eddie, who i think is more likely to be kinkier in general/aware of his kinks. 

But steve, between the athletics, the drinking at parties, the general competitiveness, and the fact that he definitely definitely has had a great deal MORE sex than eddie– it’s entirely possible, that if he had one he would also have figured it out.

Who challenges the other to a holding contest

Either. They’re competitive. Actually, maybe it’s a comment/dare/etx from Robin or one of the kids.

How would each react to having and accident

Lol depends on how sober they are and or if there are extenuating Upside down shenanigans.

I can see eddie being embarrassed/humiliated maybe? If it was, like, sober in company or while he was trying to be cool or smth. Like maybe if it was Steve catching him coming out of a hyperfocus sesh and he doesn’t make it, maybe then he’d be embarrassed, especially if they were dating and hadn’t been that long. 

But if he’s in an altered state and/or really after all the shit they’ve been through, idk that he would care that much.

Similar for steve, like, if it were to happen somehow like on a date or smth, some situ where he was trying to be Cool Steve, maybe he’d b embarrassed about it. Maybe if it happened during sex, where he prides himself on always giving a Good Time… maybe then he’d be bothered… but otherwise, nah. Again, intense athletics + altered states + the upside freaking down, who gives a shit.

How would each react to the other being desperate/having an accident

I mean, with horniness in anything I write. But otherwise…

So if Eddie’s in the pickle, genuine stressed about whether he’s gonna make it/or in the aftermath, Steve’s gonna be good about it (in the later seasons, might have been a real Ass earlier). He’s gonna do his best to get Eddie wherever he’s got to go, or find him a bottle, or encourage him to piss on a tree or whatever, the fuck does anyone care about it. Clothes wash. 

He might tease some, definitely if this is pre-established kinky game stuff for them, but he’s gonna do his best to make Eddie not feel bad/keep other folks from knowing, etc.

In the reverse situ, Eddie would definitely come out of the gate making fun, but he’d shift Very quickly into being genuinely helpful/trying to make Steve laugh about it (even if laughing isn’t exactly ideal, lol)

Who is more likely to wet because of anxiety/fear

Probs eddie. If steve was prone to that, it would have come up almost certainly when Robin mentioned it in the bathroom at Starcourt.

Plus eddie just reads as a nervier dude in general. Dunno how likely, but he’d def be more likely

Who is more likely to wet deliberately

Either if part of some kinky game, steve if during a fight or smth when he knows there’s no point devoting any more brainspace to it (like sometimes in athletics), Steve maybe also more generally (probs again in context of drinking etc) more when they are living at home, partly because he’s not gonna worry so much about ruining his clothes/shoes? Like, not that eddie wears real fancy stuff, but sometimes maybe he does, and especially steve has an empty house with built-in washer dryer and eddie Shares a small space with his uncle and likely does laundry elsewhere.

[torialefay]

I reblogged my topic I was going to send here in case you didn't want to continue answering and furthering the concept about how lack of experience can affect the desirability of a person in sexual/romantic.

I'm 26, virgin, the last time I even kissed a guy was 5 years ago, never been in a long-term relationship and even though it is a HUGE insecurity of mine, I'm open about it on here because I have received a lot comments like-

'You're a virgin? your smut is so good and accurate, I thought you'd have loads of experience'

Which I love those comments, froth over them but I'm honest about my inexperience so ppl know I have no idea what the hell I'm writing about half the time.

But as a cis female, I do understand that it's more 'acceptable' for a woman to be 26 and have a lack of experience vs men to be 26 and have a lack of experience.

It's hard both ways- don't get me wrong because I know plenty of guys who are like...

'I don't want to be with someone who's a virgin because it's too much pressure to be someone's first'

Which for starters, how mediocre and effortless is your performance in the bedroom that you think it's 'too much pressure' to give someone a good time?

And secondly, I would argue and say there's less pressure because there's nothing for us to compare it too??

But as a female, I think we do get more sympathy about being a late-bloomer because 'she's a romantic, she's waiting until marriage, sex is more intimate for her etc etc'.

Whereas most the time when a guy is inexperienced, ppl are going to be like 'why? You're a guy, just go fuck whoever- unless you're a creep or incel wtf?'

But it's double edged because most ppl don't want to be with someone who's inexperienced but how are we meant to gain experience?

And then there's the whole other topic of a women being sexually rejected by a man and the stigma surrounding that-

Women are tend to be told that men will take all offers of sex and has someone who has been sexually rejected (more than once) by guys- I can safely say it's a level of humiliation that you don't find anywhere else.

In summary, as a demisexual 26 year old inexperienced female, pls give us a chance because most of us are eager and willing to learn and are just excited about fkn getting chosen by someone in all honesty.

i think it's okay to post about it as long as it's informational and isn't coming for anyone 😭😂 and i think this is an important topic because there definitely are people on this platform who also haven't had sex before & i think it's good for them to know that it's actually pretty normal. i have friends who haven't slept with anyone, and they're in their mid-twenties as well.

i also have friends who have liked & disliked that they were "virgins"... sometimes i struggle with the word bc i think it can have a negative or weird connotation sometimes, but i'm gonna use it for now anyways. there are some people who like the feeling of knowing they're gonna be the first dick inside of you/first person to do something to you (as if you've never used a toy or fingers before but whatever), and there are definitely people who don't give af about you & assume you want your first experience to be with someone more "special" than them. there's a wide range of responses to someone who openly says that they are a virgin.

i don't think most realize just how many people there are around our age who actually haven't slept with anyone... because they simply don't talk about it or have been made to feel weird or ashamed. my heart breaks over that sometimes bc some people simply want it out of curiosity, but others only want it to say they've done it or to not feel "weird" about themselves... or feeling "different" i guess.

i do think i've met more fem people who need an emotional connection before experiencing sexual attraction to a person... but i think there are plenty of masc people who feel this way as well, but it's been pushed on them that they SHOULD have the urge to fuck. and here's the same: it is so fucking hard & backwards to get into a relationship these days. i've read some studies that have projected that only about 60% of people in our age range & below will end up in relationships and be with that person long term/to the point of marriage... people have a dating problem & a commitment problem and that makes it a lot harder for some people to have sex or even want to have sex. even for me, i've only slept with people i've been in relationships with... but at this point in society, i genuinely don't know if i'll ever be in a meaningful relationship again sooooo ig you know what that means 🥲

point blank, there are tons of people out there, fem and masc, who haven't had sex. most of them just don't talk about it. and i don't think it's anything that anyone should be shamed for- regardless of the gender they identify as. plus, there will be plenty of people who are great at sex their first time, and plenty who aren't. some potential partners don't want to risk it as not being "great" their first time & that could contribute to saying no. but i would bet that there are plenty of people out there who would be just fine with it.

i hope you never have to feel alone in this. if people don't wanna fuck, that's not always on you. and please never feel like you have to be "chosen" bc a lot of these guys & gals choose sucky people for reasons we don't really know other than they think they'll insure a good time. i love youuuuu ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[scarfacemarston]

a lot of ppl say dutch could never love a woman due to how almost decoratively he treats them, or that his true mate is a man (hosea).

personally, i think he could only love a woman as extreme as himself---someone just as wrapped up in ideologies and willing to go through extremes and tolerate his extremes. any thoughts?

That's an interesting question. I think it would be an intense and passionate fling /relationship, to put it that way. It would start with fireworks, but then I think it would be too extreme for them to handle. It would end just as intense. If Dutch's fights with Molly were stormy, imagine a fight with a partner who has the same energy level and 'extremes' as him. I don't know if I'd call that love, either. However, I could be wrong. I think it would be infatuation, but not necessarily love. He is too interested in fantasy, including the idea of courtly love. (Love as in the Arthurian Medieval trope of romantic courtship.) His flirting style is extremely similar to at least one IRL royal figure I know. This is seen in how he flirts with Mary-Beth and Molly, who are two opposites when it comes to temperaments. He sometimes finds it sexy when Molly is firey with him, but only to a certain extent. If she "becomes too much," for lack of better phrasing, we know what happens. I think he believes Mary Beth would be "easier" to date and fits a different type of scenario for him. He is one of the gang members who like to "rescue" people; a lot of people in the gang owe something to him. On one hand, someone could call it altruism. On the other, someone could say it's manipulative depending on how they view Dutch's personality and motives. So if we have someone that extreme, they probably wouldn't be a "rescue". So would a potential partner like you're describing start off with that courtly love scenario that Dutch loves so much? Probably not, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be interested. It's just what I theorize he was used to. I believe that once someone breaks that fantasy, there appears to be a lot of struggles and the potential for moving on. I wish we knew more about Anabelle.

Hell, you could apply that with Arthur and John and how they are treated as well. One person is more "explosive" than the other. He gets along better with Arthur - the less explosive one, than John - the "explosive one". I have posted PLENTY of audio showing the difference there. So I think that same idea could apply to romantic relationships. TLDR: It could be more of an infatuation, fling or short-term relationship rather than anything lengthier. That seems to be what the gang knows about him as well as they are not surprised whatsoever when Dutch is trying to move on "again". John, Karen, and Arthur especially have interesting reactions to this.

[blueiight]

Theres a movie or netflix show coming out bout cleopatra where some black(?) girl play her & now ppl coming out the woodwork left n right acting like evil blacks is taking away their heritage (& the heritage in q is one ancient queen). like omg stfuu.. cleopatra is a greek name. the ptolemys admit in their records they came from the greeks, of all of them only cleopatra spoke the ancient egyptian language. this perhaps indicates cleopatra had a mother of the ancient egyptian variety & outside the ptolemic family? facts is. the earliest ancient egyptians were “Black” in the sense of being dark skinned native africans. most people in ancient times were darker complexioned.. egypt is not only very close to the mediterranean & west asia, but is also very close to what is now deemed the sudan. theres actually more pyramids in sudan then there are in egypt. the nilotic super ethnicgroup w/ hundreds of ethnicities within r people native to the entire nile river valley… including egypt. if ur willing to acknowledge egypt is a mixed society u must also accept the presence of dark skinned africans native to the region (as well as light skinned people). but alas, the popular conception of “mixed societies” is built off the premise of eliminating dark skinned people, and the egyptian state since the 70s has tried to expel the darker skinned peoples native to the country. normal people who acknowledge the roots of ancient egypt r not tryna ‘take away modern egypt from nobody’ or claim some ancient dynasty that dont exist no more. multiple groups lived in ancient egypt just as they do in the modern egypt. but the cultural fixation on certain parts of the 1000+ yrs of the ancient egyptian civilization/s is motivated in part bc medieval arab conquerors & modern british colonialists could not believe the marvels infront of them were made & forged by africans..the obsession began w them, not black people.. the premise of this cleopatra movie reads of agitation of antiblack sentiment in nb ppl for clicks. cuz also… hollywood / netflix specifically is also an entertainment apparatus & under no obligation to educate much less tell the truth. agitation, antagonizing& polarization = more clicks, more views, more money. simply put: ancient egypt has been a contentious topic bc so many ppl r obsessed w/ the giant monuments & cant believe africans made them. there r plenty of african civilizations in the massive book of human history that r underdiscussed cuz they didnt make big stone statues n wont make hollywood or producers or wdf quick money. native black north africans + immigrants r being kicked out of north african countries for being black. and these are the real tragedies of life

[vancilocs]

Fuck it, tell me all you want how hot joe, miro and carmina are

two ppl i think are hot and then miro

🥵 : Is your OC perceived as physically attractive to others? Is it at first glance or is it something that takes more time to reach fruition?

Joe is tall and muscular and tattooed he gets a lot of people looking at him like oh damn

Some people maybe, he's pretty short and a bit chubby so people tend to glance over him but he's not ugly by any means

She's pretty, tall and slender with pretty big boobs so she gets some looks

💦 : Is your OC’s attractiveness based on looks or a more intangible aura?

It's a combo of him being hot and also acting confident and outgoing, he's approachable

I suppose most people who are attracted to him get to know him first and find out he's a fun guy and are then willing to overlook his appearance

Combo of looks and her weird but appealing aura. Who r u goth babygirl

💪 : What is your OC’s most physically attractive attribute? 

Boobs, arms, tattoos

Hair, piercings, tattoos

Boobs

🧠 : What is your OC’s most mentally attractive attribute?

How easy he's talk to, general friendliness

Calmness, goofiness

How attentive she is towards people she's talking to, gentle demeanor

👀 : Does your OC believe they are attractive? Do they use that to their advantage?

He doesn't work out that hard to not feel sexy. Definitely mooched drinks off Mirad before they broke up

Meh, he's alright. Working with hot and tall people like Gabe and Raven kinda left him thinking that he's below average but so what.

She doesn't think of her own attractiveness and when people call her hot or beautiful she's surprised

👃 : Does your OC smell good? Do they have a signature scent?

After he lays off that Axe bodyspray and switches to something less harsh yeah

Just deodorant and cigarettes so no he doesn't smell good

She's easily irritated by scents so she wears very neutral deodorants and just showers plenty often

👂 : Does your OC have an attractive voice?

If you're into Aussie accents, sure

No

Low, raspy, sensual, quiet, yes

🚲 : Does your OC enjoy playing the field? Or are they more monogamy-minded?

He's never had a one-night-stand and doesn't want to, he's not the kind to sleep around

Not the type to sleep around, though if someone mega hot offered he'd be like ah what the hell

Very monogamous

😍 : What does your OC find irresistible in others?

Sassiness, ass n titties, preferably in lingerie

Confidence

Level-headedness and smarts, strong physique

💘 : Is your OC a very good flirt? Are they charming?

He's annoyingly good at flirting, ask Mirad or Mae

He's good in the sense that he's just kinda straightforward and genuine abt it so it has its charm

She's also straightforward but very serious so it can feel threatening when she's just trying to flirt

💋 : Is your OC a good kisser? How do they do it?

The man can smooch (if you don't mind the beard)

He's alright

No complaints

🦴 : Does your OC have much sexual experience? What are they like?

He's pretty experienced with men and women both

He's had a few girlfriends he's gone all the way with

A couple of long-term relationships, not inexperienced

💞 : Do they treat sex casually or do they view it as something with a lot of emotional weight?

Not into casual hookups and tends to wait in relationships too

Leans on the serious side but like. Not a huge deal

Needs a lot of trust to jump into bed

🔥 : What’s a surefire way to make your OC get flustered?

Lingerie

Pick him up or pin him to a wall

Gentle, slow touch

🧸 : Into public displays of affection or are they more reserved?

Moderate, kisses, holding hands, arm around waist or shoulders, hand in back pocket

Also kinda moderate, reserved abt kisses though

Will link arms or maybe hold hands, that's about it

💌 : How would they plan a romantic evening for a significant other?

Get wine, get snacks, get a movie, maybe get a candle or two, get clean nice sheets for the bed, nice clothes and underwear and remember to brush your teeth, wash hands, cut and clean nails, trim wherever needed,

Clean, get some snacks, some wine bc that's fancy probably, get some music or a movie or something, wash hair and teeth, maybe swap piercings to something that won't get snagged on things

Make dinner, light a candle, set the table nicely, wear cute clothes and underwear (that isn't sensory hell), make the bed nice, shoo the cats out of the way

💐 : What is their courting style? How would they woo someone?

Ask them for a drink first, try and make a good impression with manners and clothes and all, remember important dates with gifts or dates, bring flowers, be attentive

Go out and have fun often, give small, inexpensive gifts or bring flowers maybe, remember small things

Go on dates and get to know each other, give handmade gifts, show pictures of cats, give compliments

👙 : What kind of underwear do they use? Is it pretty or functional?

Local man has 17 pairs of black boxers

Bunch of boxers but make some fun and patterned

Mostly functional and comfortable panties and bras (that give enough support though) but a couple of sets of matching cute lacy ones for racier needs

[vtomleni]

i wish more ppl on this website acknowledged that jumping to the worst conclusions IS a bad thing.

I understand that userbase is mostly mentally and physically disabled ppl, but at the same time, it somehow constantly have posts like "i don't care about your mental/physical illness! X is evil/gross and if you ever had anything do with it u r evil and horrible!!" or other way around, "why r these losers cannot even Y? R u fuckin serious, yall r pathetic, fucking disgusting website"

Please stop trying to label ppl as unable to change and become better, it's not accountability, it's fucked up, it's labeling ppl as "bad/good" once again. I don't ask anyone to forgive anyone, there are ppl i personally would never forgive, just stop acting as if ppl r forever defiled and ruined morally because of mistakes they've committed and expressing remorse over, especially when it comes to discriminations that are enforced by system, we all grow up in racist/ableist/antisemitic/intersexist/imperialistic/etc world, we all internalised it, so all of ppl need to unlearn it. Taking responsibility for doing horrible shit includes ensuring that person will try not to repeat that shit, it includes changing for better.

Like, i do jump to conclusions, even when someone i know isn't bigoted says something that can be vaguely interpreted as racist/sexist/etc my brain immediately interprets thing as bigoted and i say something accusatory, and like. This is my trauma response. Shitty trauma response. It's bad, it's bad and unnecessary to be "prepared" that "everyone is actually evil/ have bad intentions". Because it means i will mostly see people as having bad intentions, you know what i mean? Heart will twist their intentions into what a person believes about them. I still have this response, but I'm trying to calm myself down, apologise to ppl after accusing them. When people are hurt it makes sense for them to be scared of being hurt again, but it still isn't right to accuse, distrust and hurt other people because of that.

Media literacy and alike.

This is website, a lot, if not most, of whom are mentally and physically disabled. Being bad at interpretations of people's intentions and metaphors is like autism 101. Memory issues for example makes me personally horrible at trying to solve,,, well,,, anything really,,, riddles, murder mysteries, whatever, I just cannot hold it in my head, there's too much fog there. And that's just the ones i can recall right now, there are a lot of reasons why people might struggle with it. There's also a lot of mocking in these "the dude touched the grass in last fucking century/ you are so chronically online it's embarrassing/ the media literacy on this webbed site"/ that posts where ppl were shamed for not washing their hair for idk,,, month? a few months, and things of such nature. Like, yeah, some people can't go out/etc, yeah it does benefit ppl to go out/etc, and they should if they can, but acting as if not going out is embarrassing or that it's moral failing is NOT helpful.

"But if this website is full of disabled ppl who's being ableist?" I don't think ALL ppl on tumblr dot com r disabled, I've even seen homophobes here, so there are probably plenty of abled bodied and minded ppl here, but anyhow, i think a pretty big part of the ppl who adds on it is other disabled ppl. Internalised ableism, basically.

Like, I've been ableist before i even knew what autism was, right now i police myself to sound "coherent" and use less words parasites so other ppl can understand me and are most importantly, willing to understand what i am trying to say. And what i am trying to say, is that, i get it, it sucks to be devalued by yourself and/or others in comparison with abled ppl, it makes sense to try soothe feeling of being shamed by being "well, i at least, better than these ppl who cannot do things i can" but it's still wrong and cruel thing to do. If you are disabled, you're allowed to be angry at the fact that you cannot do some things because of disability, you're allowed to cry, to have whatever emotions it rises in you, but it doesn't give you right to be cruel. Especially to other disabled people, you know how sucks it is to be devalued and mocked at for not being able to do things, so don't repeat the same mistake. Be kind to others.

[iturbide]

also like geez man not to bring it up like this but edelgard gets plenty of Tragic Backstory that ppl would totally be all over if she were also a Hot Guy Protagonist but this woman is like isolated, distrustful, traumatized, and like shes definitely intelligent, but so tunnel-visioned and inable to actually reach out and look for connection and - again - trust that she's kinda just. Stuck being the way she is. Byleth's influence isn't enough to help get her out of the "I have to be the one to fix things because otherwise what if the Bad Things Happen Again going-about-it-with-good-intentions-but-poor-execution" thing she's just stubborn and by her own past experiences can't risk to trust anyone. idk man I want her to be so many other things of a character than she ended up being but it feels more like rushed writing/not knowing what to really DO with her than anything else.

that is a lot of words. sorry bout that.

No please bring it up absolutely bring it up because I didn't want to say it despite thinking it real hard.

Like. If Edelgard had been a Male Lord, a part of me really doubts that we'd be getting as much of this. There's this insidious misogynistic element where it's kind of swept under the rug when male characters have this kind of campaign in their story, or even embraced when their motives are explained by a Tragic Backstory -- but as soon as a female character does exactly the same thing, they're decried as terrible monsters. It certainly doesn't happen in every case, but...well, I've seen my fair share of Edelgard fans hyper-focused on her obsession with Byleth (the "soft el tee hee uwu" effect) and writing off the war crimes, as opposed to contextualizing them.

And you're also right about her writing being rushed and her character potential really being wasted. Because that's really how it feels to me, too: there is so much inherent potential to her character, with that backstory and that personality, with her drive and ambition...but it never gets to shine. Instead her own route reduces her to being obsessed with Byleth (who is never allowed to oppose her through contrivances of the narrative that gut their response options until only those that support Edelgard remain) and steamrolling across Fodlan consequence-free. She stalls her own campaign for five years in Crimson Flower because she's so upset that Byleth's gone. In every other route she's made major inroads into conquering the Kingdom and holds the Bridge of Myrddin by the time Byleth gets back, but in Crimson Flower her own classmates imply that her search for Byleth was her priority. They make her less competent in her own route, and whether it was intended that way or not, the implication is that she's so obsessed with her teacher after they saved her from Rhea that she's willing to put her ambitions on hold to get them back so they can do this together.

And the thing is, they could have done interesting things with that route. It's the one and only route where our faction knows about the Agarthans going in! They relegate a whole arm of the plot to end card tie-ups!! Imagine if they'd put the same effort into Crimson Flower that they had the other routes: after taking out Rhea in Fhirdiad, we could have had a reckoning where Edelgard has to confront the lies she's told her classmates by revealing the truth about Arianrhod and the threat in the shadows that she's known about for years but hasn't shared! Let her friends feel understandably betrayed by that revelation! Let us have a month where Byleth's interactions with the Strike Force in the monastery feature Edelgard's allies grappling with this and deciding whether they want to place their faith in her again now that they know she's lied to them to meet her own ends! Give her a chapter where she faces consequences for conquering a sovereign nation and installing an Imperial-born leader -- let there be an uprising in the Alliance! Show Edelgard, and the player by proxy, that there are consequences to this!

And they wouldn't even have to soften or change her approach!! If they went with an Alliance uprising, she could learn the lesson that, yeah, people aren't gonna be thrilled if you come conquer their home and put one of your own people with no idea of the local culture and customs in charge. It could get her to rethink her plans and put Count Gloucester in charge -- a pro-Imperial Alliance-born leader who has always had designs on the head seat of the round table. She could not only secure his loyalty with that appointment, but arguably she could pacify some measure of dissent from the Alliance territories because she's left them in the care of someone from their home. Let her apologize to her friends for lying to them and endeavor to trust them in ways she hadn't before! Let her see some growth and change, even if it doesn't change her belief that This Was the Only Way -- heck, it's better if it doesn't change that core belief, because that's such a key part of her character!

And then -- what if she made that apology and her classmates didn't give her an immediate answer, and she then left to have a meeting with Thales where he intended to get rid of her since her usefulness has pretty well ended, but instead her classmates show up to join the fight on her side because they're willing to trust her again! So you have this big battle with Thales where he escapes at the end, but when he teleports out it lets Hubert get a bead on where the Agarthan base of operations is, and the final mission is storming it the way you do in other routes -- only this time Thales is the Big Endgame Boss, so the whole chapter is just a nightmare of Agarthan agents, Titanus machines, traps, etc. because when she showed her hand at Arianrhod it gave him time to buff up defenses in Shambhala! So we get to actually take on and take down the Agarthans ourselves and get that feeling of triumph that yeah, maybe things are going to work out!!

Would it have been more work? Oh, absolutely yes. But I also really think it could have elevated Edelgard's route by giving her an actual arc and addressing some of her character flaws while still preserving what makes her so interesting as a character.

[seijorhi]

asks :))

what i have learned today is that y’all wanna get fucked by some monsters...

What does nostos mean? What language is it in? 🤔 also I of course loved it, mind blown as usual queen

it’s ancient greek! it means homecoming, the idea of a triumphant return home for the hero after a long journey. i found it through looking at the root of nostalgia. in this fic of course it’s kind of a grim tongue in cheek play on it. the reader’s coming back to the mountains, but she’s running away after a bad breakup, and the welcome she gets is... shall we say less than ideal haha

Just read nostos-

First of all as a person who reads monster shit- hell ya. Mhm. That’s some good shit right there. That was DELICIOUS horror. It actually had me a bit nervous and afraid to read what was gonna happen next 😳

Secondly- omg I wanna know what happened next (at the end) 👀 know what I mean??? 😼

ANYWAY AS ALWAYS you never disappoint and your writing is fantastic (if/when you write horror yandere stuff again I’ll be there- frothing at the mouth. A+++++ work ILY💖)

you want me to write the monster porn, just say it bby ghfjdkshgfjkd but ty

Omfg that fic was so good!

Did the readers mom know about monster kuroo?? Or was she just worried because of the previous murder? And did Kuroo somehow manipulate reader into coming back to the forest or was it just a big coincidence? (👁👄👁 there's no such thing as a coincidence)

Looking forward to your future work <3

ty nonnie!! i didn’t have the right space for it, but after kohsuke was ripped apart and eaten kuroo stayed by the reader’s side until late in the night, only disappearing when he heard the reader’s parents/search party approaching. they found her lying in pools of blood (and scattered half eaten body parts), shaking and unresponsive – they knew no animal could’ve done something like that. so they knew something lurked in those woods, but considering the reader had repressed the memories, her mom couldn’t just come out and say it <33

You are an AMAZING horror writer!!!

The uneasiness I got from the conversations with the mom is just *chefs kiss*

A+++++

ahh thank you!! horror is such a hard genre to write because i’m never sure if the suspense and everything’s gonna hit right haha

I read Nostos before going to sleep last night and at the time I was like “sure hope this doesn’t give me nightmares” and thankfully it didn’t lol. But I think I’m willing to take that chance again because it’s so GOOD and I think I’m just going to have to relive it – @ohno-otome

fhdjgbfhjkdfn i’m glad it didn’t give you nightmares bby!! but i also appreciate that haha, i’m an absolute wimp with scary movies and stuff but i just can’t stop watching them haha

I just wanna say that I was listening to "You're a psychotic villain playlist" on youtube while reading Kuroo's oneshot and I can't explain the emotions I felt, but I'd let Kuroo do things to me asdfghjkl – @itishebihime-samaforyou

ooh nice! sometimes the right playlist makes things doubly as fun haha

OH MY GOD!?!?! Nostos was soooo GOOD?!?!? Like it was so creepy (but in a good way), and scary and suspenseful!! And the ending!?!? Omggg honestly one my fav fics from you!! You did my mans Kuroo justice 🥺💖💕

TYYYYYYY i was genuinely concerned i was gonna scare everybody off haha

Ah! The new fic! Chiefs kiss! Magnificent! Bravo!🧚‍♀️✨🧞‍♀️🦖🦭🌹💫

tysm nonnie!!! <33

i’m pretty sure i’m in the same/similar timezone as you? and i do be staying up late to be one of the first to read your fics (i usually stay up late anyways). so imagine my surprise when i see you post in the afternoon. in conclusion, whether you post to align with your european and american readers’ timezone, my gmt+10 arse will still be one of the first to read your fics. also nostos sjdufigyyjf i have to admit, i recently just found out about monster fucking and nostos scratched the itch😫 i feel bad for kohsuke though

bby i always post at like 2-4 in the morning please get some sleep!! the fics will be there in the morning lmao. i kinda low key forget about my aussie/gmt+10 followers because i think there’s like... 3 of you haha

Honestly if i could give u a dollar everytime i got off to your fics, you'd probably be rich by now

lmao the idea that people find my fics hot enough to get off to still blows my mind lol

your newest kuroo fic was so SO good!! its totally okay if you dont want to answer this so you can keep things ambiguous but is monster kuroo planning on killing the reader after he's...done with them

thank you, bby!! but no, monster kuroo isn’t gonna eat her – he’s had plenty of chances to do that if that’s what he wanted, but he has other plans for the poor reader

RHI, I WANT TO STATE FOR THE RECORD THAT I AM OKAY WITH MORE MONSTER FUCKING IN THE FUTURE. i also want to say im not a monster fucker, but that just feels like a lie at this point. okay, now that that's off my chest, i love it. the mystery, the connections of kuroo to a cat. kuroo's probably gonna go and batter around his prey once they're under his grip like my cat does. hopefully the reader will come out somewhat unscathed, if they are ever allowed to leave 😌 love this, love how different it is, the way kuroo just tries to weasel in. very monster and yandere vibes, very you. have i said i love this yet?? id willingly let him get me drunk on his cock, maybe never leave the peace of the mountains again

‘i want to say that i’m not a monster fucker’ bby the denial will get you nowhere haha. just lean in and embrace it hgfjkdlkfgjnkdl ahh but thank you this is such a sweet ask ILY!!!

Omg omg the monster thing kuroo was in ur latest fic is so familiar to me abdhdmfnjfjf. I remember being told abt a monster with VERY SIMILAR characteristics to it (aka the not being able to go inside a house unless invited and using fire to lure ppl out) AND JFC IT TERRIFIED ME. Esp how when i told ppl around me and they didnt recognize what it was, but it was somehow known to the kid that told me abt it.

(Some ppl thought it was familiar but still didnt know what it was)

Do u know what im talking abt? Hopefully u do

-🥚

GHFJDK so the monster in this is kind of based off the nekomata spirit in japanese folklore - they can appear like people, torment victims by reanimating the corpses of their loved ones, they’ve been blamed for forest fires, so it was just fun to use that as a basis and then go buck wild haha. anyway thanks for the ask bby!

Rest In Peace Kohsuke, you would’ve loved Haikyuu season 5😔✊– @joyvstheworld

poor kohsuke deserved better, i’m just mean to the oc’s i throw into fics haha

Monsterfucking ❤❤❤❤❤❤ a little annoyed you're making me simp for yan Kuroo though (a vibe tho tbh). You're so extremely talented!!!! &

This is probably a stupid question, but how did Kageyama react when he couldn't find y/n? How is life with yan Suga? I imagine probably awful BUT yknow maybe the stockholm syndrome set in fast lmao. Sorry, I'm going on a binge reading your stuff. - @oracleofdin

i will not apologise for making you simp for kuroo he deserves it the man’s a snacc. and as far as your second question, suga’s a very caring, very smothering kinda yandere, so i guess in some ways it’s better than what the reader had with kageyama but... pick your poison haha

That was so good. I’m so shook rn I can’t comprehend anything but how good that was and how good a writer you are

TYSM NONNIE!!! <33

Ok, so, I just read Final Girl and the lil' ticket addition to it and just---

Well, ok I've been playing Dead by Daylight a lot lately? And I'm just picturing Tetsu as the newest killer "The Trickster" and I'm positively RANDY.

Your writing is ALREADY thirst inducing and just as satisfying, but this has SENT ME- If you're not familiar, please...

https://youtu.be/iowkiPobYYQ

Understand my thirst. (I'd also like to clarify, I use a different skin for him that gives him black hair and he looks like Kuroo with an undercut.)

~ @the-casual-hedonist 🌸

i love how feral y’all got for final girl kuroo. like bo and akaashi had his fans, but i put a spiked bat in kuroo’s hands and y’all lost your goddamn minds and i love to see it. fghdjkvhfjdkls thanks for the ask bby

idk why but I love preggo reader as long as I don't pretend it's me 😢✋ I hate babies n pregnancy anywhere else other than horny haikyuu fics

i think that’s a valid thing for a lot of fans. the idea of breeding is sexy, the actual getting pregnant and having a kid thing... not so much. but especially with non-con scenario’s, it’s more about the aspect on control than the actual desire to have kids. but yeah, i feel you

Sorry to bother but uh was just wondering in fracture did Osamu kill his wife or was it actually an “unfortunate event” ? Love your work btw!!

he most certainly did :))

LMFAO RHI i totally get not liking cheating/infidelity fics (towards reader) bc IT HIRTS ME SO BAD I CANNOT HANDLE THOSE.

id be reading fics those fics like: tf you mean my yandere aimt gonna baby me and only want me??🤨🤨🤨⁉️‼️

EXACTLY! listen i get that it’s a fucked up fantasy, but in my fucked up fantasy you damn well better have the decency to be loyal smh

Finders keepers is the most beautiful thing I've read by you: I read it twice like I normally do and here's what I figured out the second time (that's when I analyze it and find the little tidbits of things that are much darker than they appear (: )

To start I LOVE THE DETAILS OF THEM NEVER TEACHING READER ANYTHING- at first I assumed "oh they might see her as a little sister or child or something" but realized thAT WAS THE ISSUE!! they infantilize her and isolate her from everyone but her group. the small details like that are what make the story amazing 😎💅

ahh thank you so much, nonnie!! pls this is making me soft 🥺

I just wanted to stop by and say that I love your writing and I hope you're doing well!!! Drink plenty of water and keep up the amazing work :) but seriously you're one of the best fanfic writers I've seen on tumblr! I read your "Imitation" piece about kuroo and i keep coming back to it, it's so good! I did want to ask if you think it'd be possible for the reader to ever escape with the baby (or at least attempt to). Or if Kenma would "help" at all just to put an end to kuroo's antics lmao

kenma would in no way help the reader, and tbh by that point if kuroo did get her pregnant, she’d be far too emotionally dependant on him to actually even want to leave, but thanks for the ask!

You know who I think would be a perfect Yandere in the JJK world? Choso.

🚨Spoilers Ahead🚨

After being locked in a glass jar for however long he was, and all that happened with his brothers, I feel like he would absolutely never let his darling out of his sight. He would be possessive. Obsessive. And Oh So delusional. Sure he’d be your anything - he truly is a softy - but to what end?🤤

choso would make an excellent yandere, ngl 😌

what au/troupe of your fav character(s) that you have written do you like the most?

(rlly hope this makes sense🙏)

i am always a slut for soulmate au’s :))

[kendrixtermina]

Dear fellow whouffle lovers: Can we stop the “no one would do the billions of years thing for a friend” nonsense?

Now I LOVELOVELOVE whouffle & have a huge collection of quotes stashed away about how it’s totally canon, but can we please, please stop all this

“no one would do [insert dramatic sacrifice] for just a friend” thing? 

People would TOTALLY rage against the heavens for a friend. There are lots of epic stories about it. Like, the oldest stories like the Illiad & Gilgamesh & stuff. 

Indeed IRL ppl most commonly do extreme sacrifices for family members.

The Doctor was quite willing to go ballistic for Amy who wasn’t a love interest (at least not at the time of series 6) & he was also suuuper broken up about the loss of Donna, who isn’t one either. 

Can we stop acting like friendship is lesser to romance?

It’s not like this

Or even like this,

You can be both at once. Someone calling you your friend doesn’t mean they don’t love you, it means they consider you a friend, ie they like & respect you and like to have fun with you. You should want to hear this from your partner, especially in a long-term relationship.

Americans are so weird acting like friendship is somehow something insulting, and due to cultural osmosis its spreading everywhere ugh... 

If you actually like someone (& not just their butt) you should be happy to get to be with them as a simple friend, even if it’s not exactly as you would like. 

Also, not all friends or lovers are the same. 

A lifelong BFF is not the same as a casual acqaintance; A wife of 50 years is not the same as someone you’ve casually dated for a few weeks. 

It’s really like THIS:

See? Two axes. One for “how much I like you” and one for romance.

If you don’t stand with your  invested comitted girlfriend because of some shit your drinking buddies say because “bros before hos” you’re a jerk, but some rando you’ve been casual dating 2 months is not suddenly more important than your childhood friend you’ve known all your life.

Being willing to do extreme stuff to help someone only tells you about the vertical axis: How important are they to you. It says nothing about wether they are a friend, a family member, a mentor or a lover.

For that you gotta look at the second axis & romance-specific behaviors... of which there are plenty. The flirty comments, held gazes, the aesthetic motifs, the quickly fluctuating tempestous feelings, the slow deliberate hand kisses ohmygosh, the serenade! #OTP

So the situation, as I see it, is really like this:

(I just added the new series ppl cause else it would get too crowded)

So almost all the companions are the the upper third affection wise, after all, they are close  comrades that go through life & death situations. Some are lovers, some are students, some are besties, some surrogate family members... but for all of them, the following hold true:  Threaten them you’re in big trouble; they’re the one thing the Doctor has unshakeable faith in.

You see that I put Amy & Donna on top cause they wanted to keep adventuring forever.

I put the master in the middle cause they have a bit of UST & star-struck admiration, but there’s usually more emphasis on the “friend” part.

I gave River more ‘relationship’ points cause they got married & were together longer, but Rose more friendship points because they had less communication hangups & more mutual admiration.

Clara, of course, is in the soulmate spot cause she both really understands him & knows all about him like a really great friend, but also has this beautiful intense passion going on *.*

[normal-thoughts-official]

Do u think Alec and raphael would have good relationship on the show after the finale? You have good metas about Raphael and I wanted to ask do you think Alec punching him was justified? Or could be redeemed?

ive talked about the punching before and i think the punching... was definitely not in any way justified, it wasn't rapha's fault, it was IZZY who fucking roped him into addiction not the other way around lol. but also alec didnt know that so i kinda get why he did it cuz that's his little sister and at the end of the day if you see your little sibling in a situation where it looks like they're being hurt it's punch first ask questions later

at the same time, i cant pretend racism didnt have something to do with his immediate assumption that it was rapha's fault (both because he's a vampire and because he's latino and of course latinos are All Predatory Sexy Drug Dealers) despite the fact that rapha wasn't hurting izzy at all. but there was also a lot of context that would point in that direction cuz he knew izzy was suffering because of addiction and that she was roped into it and then he saw a vampire feeding on her so like. i wouldnt ask questions either y'know?

so like alec definitely wasn't right about it and it wasn't justified but i don't exactly fault him for it either. i fault the writing for never questioning the whole "rapha was the one who roped izzy into it" narrative or the punch, and for having MAGNUS of all people be judgemental or rapha. magnus who knew rapha back when he was addicted. magnus who helped him recover. magnus who KNEW he had been clean for decades and how hard he worked towards that. magnus who knows rapha's heart better than anyone and knows how much he cares and that he'd never ever do this... just fucking assumed it was rapha's fault. bullshit. sorry that's just complete and utter bullcrap

so i don't find the writing redeemable but i do think the punch is something they could have worked out, if alec apologized to him and said that it wasn't his fault and they actually talked about it. but that would have to happen, you know? it cant just be like, we move on now. especially because obviously a part of rapha blames himself for the yin fen thing which is INSANE. izzy was the one who triggered and used him, not the other way around. that couldnt have been more obvious, its not debatable and the only reason ppl even entertain the idea that rapha was at fault is racism

and like look izzy is not a monster or whatever she was literally desperate enough to put her life on the line for vampire venom (like when she showed up at the den) but that doesnt make it any less true that she triggered rapha's addiction on purpose several times. the circumstances make it not be Pure Evil on her part, but they dont make it any less awful for raphael. and while i still mostly like izzy and think she's "redeemable", i fully understand those who don't and even agree with their reasoning honestly, especially because sh never acknowledged her fucked up actions and the fandom treats that plotline in a completely izzy-centric way despite the fact that rapha was in a way, WAY worse position than her

and i only find her redeemable assuming that she 1- took the full fault for what happened; 2- apologized to rapha; 3- tried to make things right. not in a catholic Feeling Guilty way but as in like trying to help raphael way - like finding him a support group for example. which is what i hc happened in my version of sh where things make sense and the writing isn't racist shit

anyway anyway. yes i could see alec and rapha working it out. i can't really see a close relationship, tho. first, because at the end of the day alec is on izzy's side first and foremost even if he's willing to admit she was at fault, and while i think that obviously rapha has forgiven her and they have like, positive feelings for each other, distance between him and izzy is not only present but good for them both and especially for rapha. so i can't see them being close. beyond that, i don't see much rapha and alec have in common besides loving magnus with their whole hearts and being autistic

i guess they have similar senses of humor so i could see them having some whispered conversations where they roast the attendees at a clave event or something, but they dont last long and mostly rapha is focused on, you know, his friends, partners, family, his clan. and i also think it would take rapha a loooong time to fully trust alec with magnus, because well... alec did fuck up plenty of times lmao and rapha knows better than anyone that as good intentioned as the lightwoods may be they have a lot of potential to really fucking hurt downworlders, and he's seen it happen to magnus already. but also alec does have magnus' happiness as his first priority and more and more so as time goes by, so i think eventually hed grow to trust alec. he was obviously happy at their wedding and he knew how much that meant for him, so

so i think they'd have, like. a neutral-to-positive relationship with each other (especially as time goes by and rapha begins to trust alec more and the yin fen thing feels less raw) and might even team up and trust each other to have their backs in battle and stuff like that, but i cant really see them being super close. but like thats okay and it works, and besides, neither of them would want to have magnus choose, so they interact with each other just fine and as long as magnus is happy, theyre happy, really

[kindofwriter]

Hey there! My group of friends have been hardcore considering turning a passion project of ours into a real podcast, and I was wondering if you had any advice for newbies putting together a show. We’re a small, young team, but we have a lot of passion for our concept and some writing/sound experience under our belts. Do you have any tips regarding finding actors, the process of plotting, sensitivity readers, or anything else you’ve had experience with in your projects? Thanks for reading!

Ok, finally ready with this! Thank you so much for the question, I will try to share my ~wisdom~ in the following post, but feel free to ask any further questions!

How to start a podcast: 1. when you’re new and/or 2. when you have money!

1. It’s easier than you think! My first advice is to just go for it! Even if it doesn’t quite go as planned you’ll have fun, and it’ll give you great experience for whatever you want to work on next!

Casting:

I’m going to assume this is an unpaid project (hence the former part of this advice being for free podcasting!) but if that’s not the case please skip to section two!

When I can’t offer any form of payment for a project I like to use friends as a cast. Not because my friends deserve any less payment! But because I can pay them in free chips and credentials for their portfolios, and it makes me feel slightly less bad!

Ways to go about deciding which friends to cast: I was lucky enough to do a lot of theatre work in my first year of uni, so I already knew a lot of people who were interested in both acting and production work. You’ll probably come across several actors who think voice acting is beneath them, but who wants to be friends with those people? What I’m trying to say is: if you have friends who are interested in theatre they’ll probably be interested in this! Especially given the past year.

I also poached people from my DnD group, because I could already gauge their acting specialities from that, and I knew what kinds of things they were interested in based on which DnD campaigns they enjoyed best.

If you know anyone who is interested in public speaking, whatever you all those reading awards where you read aloud dramatically, or something like radio and TV presenting then they’ll probably also be interested and do a great job! The great thing about podcasts is that all you really need is someone with a good voice - they’re free to do whatever they like with the rest of their face as long as they’re reading the lines!

You can, of course, also put out a casting call. It’s very important that you make it clear that it would be unpaid work. Even if you plan to set up a kofi, patreon, or kickstarter (info in the money section!), if you don’t have the money to begin with you shouldn’t promise it to people.

There are up and downsides to both. Casting people you know means you’re more likely to be comfortable working with them, there’s less pressure to offer payment, and your cast are more likely to have free time specifically for this project. However, you won’t have the draw of casting known industry voices, and (like I found!) your cast may not have any social media engagement whatsoever!

If you put out a casting call you’re more likely to get a pool of diverse voices, it will likely be people invested (even if not plugged in) to the industry, and you can request that they have their own equipment! However, you then have to work with people you don’t know, a level of professionalism that isn’t usually present on first time projects may be expected, and unpaid casting calls are not wildly well received.

Personally, for your first show, I’d try to use as many friends, or even friends-of-friends as possible. That being said, if you want advice on putting together an audition pack let me know!

Plotting:

It depends on what kind of show you’re aiming to write, but in general plotting a podcast is kind of like plotting a TV show. First of all you should plot out what’s going to happen in a season. Then plot out what’s going to happen in each episode. Ideally each episode will have its own arc, but things don’t always work out like that.

I like to plan things out in a fair amount of detail beforehand (this is especially helpful if you’re writing collaboratively.) Start with what’s going to happen in each episode. Once I know that, I then like to write how it starts and finishes, then the content in bullet points. If you ever can’t think of anything then don’t worry! A lot of things really come together when you’re actually writing.

The most important thing is to not worry at all about the first draft. Just get it down, editing is much easier and more fun once you have something to work with!

There are definitely much more qualified people than me out there giving advice about writing and plotting though; even if it’s directed at prose and script writers it’s still more than applicable!

Sensitivity readers:

If you have the option of sensitivity readers they’re always a great idea! But asking someone to read your work (usually for free) is both time consuming and potentially risky if you don’t know and trust them.

Tumblr, the writeblr community specifically, is a good place to find a sensitivity reader. A lot of people want the practise and are willing to do it for free if you put a call out.

One of the best ways to get feedback on your work is to cast/find people who are appropriate for the roles and then ask for feedback. Obviously they don’t have to, but you’ll find that usually they want to. You can aid in this by giving them some way to give feedback anonymously - maybe a google form - as no matter how chill and friendly you are as the prod team you will always be seen as In Charge.

If you don’t feel right asking someone, especially from a marginalised group, to read and comment on your work for free, you can always just ask general questions in forums or on social media. This isn’t as reliable, as people can lie online, but if you find the right communities and explain you just want to portray characters as accurately as possible there will always be people willing to offer some help. Reddit, for all its flaws, builds great communities, though remember to check the rules to make sure people outside of whatever group they’re aiming to support are allowed to post.

Of course, the first step to writing anything outside of your own experience is a tonne of research. The sensitivity reader should be picking up on small things, not telling you the basics of their experiences. And everyone’s experiences are different, which makes this even tougher! You can get things so spot on for a handful of people whilst inadvertently offending others. Be prepared to be adaptable and take on criticism, but also remember that you don’t have to bend to everyone’s whim; one person saying ‘but this wasn’t my experience!!’ doesn’t mean you’ve done a bad job.

Equipment:

I know you didn’t ask, but this was what I found scariest when I was Brand New.

If you have the money and you’re very serious about this I haven’t encountered a single person who wouldn’t recommend a Blue Yeti mic. However when you’re just starting out, and especially if you’re not planning to have all of your cast together record together/separately but with the same mic, blowing over $100 on a mic is huge, scary, and not always feasible.

I have three small desk mics that I loan out to my cast when needed. They cost ~£30 ($40) from (ew, I know) Amazon. You don’t need a mic for each cast member - you don’t even need a mic for the max number of character speaking in a scene at once. You could probably do it all with one mic, but the time that would take and the affect it would have on scenes may be worth the extra cost! These obviously don’t produce the crisp quality a professional recording mic would, but they have a pop filter and a windscreen and seem to do a good job at reducing background static.

Further noise reduction: Mr Alexander Jalexander Newall, when starting his podcast empire half a decade ago, got it in one: blanket forts.

If you can build a little fabric den for your cast to record in: perfect! If not, tell them just to stick a duvet over their head. This increases the risk of moving duvet sounds, but reduces everything else! And if they shift under the blanket you can always ask them to get comfortable then read the lines again.

And, info courtesy of the McElroys: you can also record in a wardrobe or a room with plenty of bookshelves if you don’t want to build the world’s most bangin’ blanket fort.

The most important advice you will ever receive:

Don’t be scared to ask for help! Join Facebook groups and ask questions! Join discord servers! Message people on Twitter and ask for advice (certain ppl are much more amenable to this than others, but this is pretty clear from their Vibe)! Heck, you can message me on Twitter (or here. Or send another anon. And if I don’t know the answer I’ll ask someone who does!) Everyone just wants to help everyone else, and if they don’t they’re probably not the kind of people you want to associate with. Good luck! And let me know once you socials are up, so I can follow and get excited!

Now, onto 2. Money stuff!

A lot of the info stays the same, but money kind of raises the stakes. Once money’s involved, especially once money and people you don’t know so well are involved, suddenly you have to operate like a business.

Casting:

If you’re planning to pay actors proper wages from the get-go you probably want to put out a casting call. Paid work will attract professionals, and professionals will not only do a great job, but will also help you gain an audience (and have their own equipment!)

You get to decide what the hourly rate is, but usually, depending on where you’re from, there is an average hourly rate voice actors get paid, and if you’re nowhere close to that people will be put off.

You should also make clear what the hourly rate includes: whether it is just recorded audio hours, or includes table reads and directorial time. A lot of people just have every actor record their lines separately, sometimes without direction, then edit them all together. This certainly saves on cost, and makes for a quick turnaround, but it’s no fun, and sometimes makes the show kind of soulless.

Kickstarters:

You can run a kickstarter on an unpaid project, in the hopes of eventually paying the cast and maybe funding future seasons. But I’m going to assume this is advice for ‘I can pay the cast, but what is a kickstarter for?’

Well, that’s up to you! It can be for equipment, for better editing, for podcast music, for podcast art, for a pay rise for the team, for bonus content. Depending on how many stretch goals you have, it can be for all of these things!

In short: backers give money, and get things in return, for example $5 might get you a pin badge, while $100 might get you a signed poster. When the kickstarter reaches a certain goal, maybe $5,000, then the team may then have enough money to produce a holiday special, for example. At $10,000 everyone on the team may get a 10% pay rise.

This is a great way to get people invested in the show, and a great way to make money! But if you want a really great kickstarter you’ll probably want to hire someone with experience in this area.

Contracts:

Money means contracts! Usually two will suffice, they just need edited for each individual team member:

An NDA, to prevent people from discussing the show in any inappropriate situations.

And a literal workplace contract.

You’ll be able to search how to draft these online, but it’s useful to have the help of a lawyer. There are people who do this specifically for podcasts who’ll be able to help you out, but again: you have to pay them!

Equipment:

As I said, actors will probably have their own equipment, but if you want them all recording together: you can rent a studio! They’ll already have all the equipment for you, which is The Dream!

Or you can convert a room into your own studio! Get some soundproof panelling on the walls and invest in a good mixer. I’m afraid I don’t have much advice on this, as I cannot afford anything close to a good mixer! But there are plenty of articles online with helpful information.

I wouldn’t recommend making a paid podcast as your first project, as it’s a lot of pressure, and would almost definitely mean bringing new people onto even the production side of things. There’s always the option to work on another project first, something smaller-scale, to work out any roadblocks you may run into during the paid show. But I’m not telling anyone what to do: if you’re ready, go for it!

Anyway, this was very long and quite rambly, and is probably filled with things you don't actually need to know! But I hope at least some of it was useful! Please feel free to ask any other questions - now or in future, PM or anon - and again: best of luck! I'm so excited for you!

[twilightofthe]

ON “DAVEGATE”

Ohhhhhh BOY so I was behind on the Mando docuseries so I had been staying out of all the “Davegate” stuff cuz I didn’t know context or what exactly Filoni said and I just saw the second ep where he says the thing about the overarching theme of SW and....... ohhhhh boy, yeah, now I get why some people were like hmmmmmm about what he said 😂

Like uhhhhhh I’m very sorry mr. Dave I understand you have been working with SW for a Very long time and all, but how did you get “Anakin has daddy issues” as the theme of the prequels and Star Wars in general?!?!??

I mean, I’m just a humble fan, but I’ve never seen ANY portrayals of Anakin in SW media that imply he’s looking for a father or needs a father to make things better like? It never seemed to bother him, if anything, I feel like his past as a slave and working under Watto and dealing with the other adult racers and stuff makes him more disagreeable to the idea of a firm paternal authority figure telling him what to do. Like I agree with Dave that Qui Gon would have taken a more parental role with Anakin and that Obi Wan didn’t take a parental role at all, but I DEFINITELY don’t agree that it necessarily would have made things better or basically anything else on Dave’s (imho) ice-cold take on Obi Wan and how much he really cares

I mean, Anakin’s complicated relationship with authority in general is a whole ‘nother discussion on how while he simultaneously chafes against authority and is all about his own independence, but at the same time gravitates toward confident, intelligent, authoritative figures who he knows he can rely on to make difficult decisions and trusts to make the world make sense— or at least make sense the way he thinks it should be (and yes here I mean Obi Wan, Padmé, and Palpatine, in different ways). He’s a pleaser at heart, he wants to make the people he cares about happy with him because if he’s received validation from one he respects that means he’s done something Good because these authority figures he approves of are the examples of right and good in his world, so that means he’s fine to follow their direction because he trusts them.

Anakin did find a father figure in the prequels and as Dave said, it’s not Obi Wan (and that’s NOT a bad thing), the problem is it’s fucking Palpatine. Qui Gon was the wise, experienced older man who first saw potential in him and praised him. Yeah he might have started to see him as a father figure, maybe, we don’t have enough time. It’s enough for him to get to like the idea tho and start making a box in his head for “people who make the world make sense”= “people like Qui Gon”. Then, with Qui Gon dead, Anakin still has that now empty spot in his mind and immediately comes across another wise, experienced older man who first saw potential in him and praised him. Of course he’s gonna latch onto Palps as a new sort of father figure, because who else does he have? Obi Wan?

Nah, Obi Wan, he kinda recognizes as another who’s a little scared, a little lost, a little uncertain soul like himself. He’s gonna see Obi Wan as someone different because “you’re like me, you’re figuring this out as you go too”. Obi Wan doesnt become his father figure because right away there’s too much similarity between them, it puts them onto more of an equal level, they’re more a team figuring stuff out and rolling with the punches. He respects Obi Wan immensely and considers him another one of those people he would follow, but Obi Wan hasn’t gained his respect through insta-father impression, Obi Wan has gained his respect because Anakin has seen Obi Wan grow and mature along with his own apprenticeship, he’s watched Obi Wan be tested and prove himself time after time again. Anakin looks up to and respects Obi Wan and his authority because he knows Obi Wan, and knows just exactly how good he is. Obi Wan isn’t Anakin’s father. He’s his example, his challenge he’s always striving to meet, his hopeful equal, and arguably who he sees as his better half as much as he’s frustrated by him sometimes.

Anakin has plenty of authority figures in his life willing and offering to guide him, he doesn’t suffer from the lack of a father, and that’s not why he makes the choices he does. Anakin HAS a father figure throughout the prequels, that father figure just happens to be a fucking Sith Lord who guides him the wrong way.

If Qui Gon survived, I think Anakin would have turned out differently because Qui Gon would have filled that father figure role Palpatine had had, and that would have influenced him differently as well as the loss of Obi Wan as his Master would have. Does that make him “better” or less likely to fall? No, because Darth Sidious ABSOLUTELY would have still forced his way into Anakin’s life regardless. Anakin has a big heart, all it would take would be one time for Sheevy to make an impact on him and then suddenly Palps is right back corrupting him again, and I don’t think Qui Gon’s presence alone could stop it. In fact, it might make things worse as Obi Wan might not be as involved in Anakin’s life in this scenario, and Obi Wan played a HUGE role in keeping Anakin in the Light, or should I say making Anakin want to stay in the Light becaus HIS FALL WAS HIS OWN FUCKING CHOICE AND FAULT, NOT THE ORDER’S.

So yeah that was my spiel on Anakin tryna debunk the “daddy issues” theory, sorry Dave, I just can’t agree.

I don’t even have the energy to explain just why I’m like “uhhhhh nO?” about Dave’s take regarding the Jedi Order vs Qui Gon or his take on Obi Wan’s feelings regarding Anakin and why I highkey disagree, but other ppl have made better posts on that regardless lol

[dragimal]

now that s5 is over and I’m starting to wind down from the high of the finale, I think I can finally grasp *exactly* why I have mixed feelings on s5. to be clear, I absolutely ADORE TMA as a whole, and still consider it one of the best pieces of horror media I’ve consumed. but s5 left me feeling... not bad, but off, even when there’s plenty I still rly like abt s5

it mainly comes down to 2 things for me: 1) the severe tone shift, and 2) Martin being Fucking Weird for a lot of the season

a lot of ppl have talked abt how s5 just wasn’t as scary as the previous seasons for various reasons. one kinda inevitable reason was simply that a lot of the mystery of the horror had been revealed at that point, and a monster is never as scary once you can see it clearly. but I think the bigger reason is that the format shifted from horror anthology to.... sociology anthology. like, every statement of s5 felt like a sociology paper on fear and systemic abuse, rather than something meant to chill the reader

this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, honestly-- like I said, much of the mystery had been revealed, so I think it was an understandable move to try to shift the narrative somehow. also, I love sociology papers! I think they’re interesting to read, and s5 gave us some rly creative frameworks for some of them (the poetic carousel, Oliver’s professional assessment, Jared’s garden--)

however, I do think the tone shift was still a bit jarring, esp considering what the audience was used to up to that point. perhaps that’s an appropriate move, to match a plot point as game-changing as the literal apocalypse. BUT that doesn’t mean the tone shift still wasn’t a bit of a let-down, in terms of horror and tension

like, yeah a lot of the mystery was gone, but Hill Top Road ended up being the big mystery of s5... and we weren’t even fully aware of it til almost the end of the season? sure, there was plenty of fan speculation, but we were also considering SO many other possibilities, Hill Top was never rly a core theory until VERY late in the game. like, the mystery seemed to take a backseat to the sociology papers, if that makes sense, lmao

literally the ONE episode to give me chills down my spine like the good ol’ days pre-s5 was MAG196: This Old House. Annabelle vaguely threatening Martin, and ending on, “You have no idea who’s listening, do you?” fucking SUPERB, I was absolutely DELIGHTED by the possibilities of that one line! like, what did it mean? were we gonna go full meta??

but the last few eps after that were... frankly kind of a letdown from that spike of tension? I think those last eps are what rly cinched this idea for me-- that s5 was literally like reading a sociology paper. it rly all was just, arguing about the possibilities, considering the consequences, and making decisions. which, again, isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s not horror-- it’s a thought exercise with an apocalyptic garnish

EDIT-- I forgot to say, I think this is part of why MAG200 simply didn’t hit me the same way it hit others. it was intellectually satisfying-- it tied up loose ends, closed character arcs/relationships, left some delicious ambiguity-- but not emotionally cathartic, if that makes sense? like, I was expecting to cry, but I didn’t even rly get teary? I was grinning and delighted by all the satisfying conclusions, but I didn’t feel that emotional RELEASE that I was expecting and hoping for

as for jonmartin, I want to be clear here. I am NOT one of those ppl that thinks jonmartin came out of nowhere in s4-- I think the buildup pre-s5 was excellent, and their finally being together at the end of s4 was so so earned and rewarding. I’m also NOT one of those ppl that thinks arguments = abuse. I think when I briefly criticized jonmartin in s5 in the past, ppl got this impression that like, I think that jonmartin miscommunicating and having bad coping mechanisms... means that they’re bad for each other and abusing each other? and that’s just not the case?? 

I admit that my initial response to some of the jonmartin weirdness may have been a bit harsh, but even at the time I still loved jonmartin and was simply looking at their relationship with a critical but loving lens

what I have a problem with is that Martin pulls just as much bullshit as Jon in s5, and NEVER gets called out for it

this post I made a while back gets more into the details that bother me, but essentially, there’s always been this rly uneven “accountability scale” (idk what else to call it) for Jon vs. a lot of other characters-- in that, Jon always gets called out for his bullshit, while a lot of other characters don’t. now a lot of this is perfectly explainable as Jon being the main character, so we simply see his fuck-ups AND the subsequent consequences more often than any other character. and there are plenty of characters that I absolutely do NOT blame for going a bit overboard (I give Melanie and Tim in particular a ton of leeway here, given their respective situations. they more or less have full rights to bully Jon imo)

but, the problem is, there are also a LOT of moments where other characters say something absolutely horrific to Jon (namely Basira and Georgie in s4), like imply that he’s responsible for problems he had absolutely no control over, or fucking blame him for literally being groomed into an Archivist by people/powers he couldn’t even grasp... and those accusations are just left to sit and fester in Jon, completely uncontested

the nice thing abt s5 is that most of this is addressed-- like Basira’s completely unfair double-standards for “monsters”, and Georgie unknowingly blaming Jon for his trauma, etc.-- in very satisfying ways.

.... except for Martin.

without rehashing that linked post too much, Martin’s main problem in s5 is that his go-to response to trauma is denial. he denies the fact that he wants to kill avatars for his own satisfaction (which is a completely reasonable desire on its own tbqh!), and instead continues to lie to himself (for quite a long time) that killing avatars is actually helping anyone but Jon and Martin. he denies that Jon’s become a real full-fledged “monster”, and refuses to acknowledge all the baggage that comes with that

this denial unintentionally projects a lot of rly fucked-up messages at Jon, like: Jon is now a freaky horrorshow (even when he’s doing something completely innocuous, like talking casually about his powers); Jon’s fears over losing his autonomy/identity to the Eye, and his fears over his proven abilities to hurt others, are invalid; monsters inherently deserve to die, despite Jon technically being one; Jon not being able to use his powers “well enough” is some failure on his part

now, none of this is to say Martin’s characterization on its own is a bad thing-- I actually think it could’ve been interesting! it’s a perfectly reasonable trauma response, it tracks for Martin’s character pre-s5, and could have been a rly interesting perspective to explore.... if it was ever actually challenged by the narrative or other characters

I think the closest we got was Martin’s conversation with himself in his own domain, when his double calls him out for fantasizing a happy ending where Jonah is dead and Jon and Martin kiss (OUGH.... JONNY YOU HURT ME..), but that still never rly addresses the hurt that Martin’s denial causes Jon

and god, I was rly holding out-- Martin seemed to chill out on the denial a lot after the first third of the season, and I was hoping it might go a similar route as Basira, where it would just take a while to rly address Martin’s issues. but then Jon and Martin have their argument in MAG194, and I was fully on Martin’s side of it, UNTIL he said, “You weren’t meant to enjoy it this much!” (in reference to Jon killing avatars), and when Jon calls him out, Martin just brushes over it! 

BOY when I tell you I went BALLISTIC.... FUCK YOU Martin, YOU’RE the one that went all Kill Bill and PUSHED Jon to feel the same way!! JESUS. like I get that that wasn’t the core of the argument there, but oh my god that one bit...

and once again, to make myself perfectly fucking crystal clear here, this is coming from someone who relates heavily to both Jon and Martin. I can see exactly where Martin is coming from for many of his decisions, and the trauma that’s led him to mentally protect himself like this. so it only makes me more frustrated to see him refuse to face his own issues, while still (understandably) expecting Jon to face his issues. yes, Jon pulls a LOT of bullshit in s5 that he deserves to be called out for (and called out he is!), but accountability goes both ways, Martin! you can’t demand responsible behavior from others if you’re not willing to extend the same courtesy!

[mentalisttraceur-long]

Someone replied to my last post on my main blog:

Aka to stop actions taken by panic, which ppl (rightfully) flipped their shit at trump for saying that on the leaked journo interview

So, there is a difference between

someone deliberately withholding or misrepresenting information to influence people into making decisions they wouldn't make if they had the full information (which seems to be a key part of what people were mad at Trump for in the case you're talking about) and

the emergent behavior of nuance decay which always happens in networks of human activity.

I assert that the mask flip was overwhelmingly in the latter category. There wasn't a cabal of scientists or censors who withheld information or outright lied about the efficacy of masks. Just because the nuanced version didn't reach someone doesn't mean it was deliberately withheld or intercepted. And if you pay attention to human social dynamics it should be overwhelmingly obvious that nuance decay is the default unless actively resisted as a collective effort, so to me it seems obvious that this is the most justified explanation.

You can maybe accuse, like, American Society/Culture for misinforming or lying, but you can't rightly level that allegation against most individual people anywhere along the causal chain. The truth was always out there, always readily available if people actively sought to make their opinion sources the kind of people who could give them that nuanced truth. The truth was just not winning the memetic natural selection competition.

I mean, shit, if anyone asked me for my opinion on masks back before there was any public messaging about it, I would've said exactly this (I know this because I remember having this conversation when I first started seeing people wearing masks): that the people knee-jerk getting masks to protect themselves grossly misunderstand how masks work, because masks primarily protect others from you if you're sick. I was briefly against it before it was cool because my opposition to wrong cognition flagged it.

And I'm just a guy who

once learned that the Japanese have a norm of wearing masks when they get sick to protect others, and

has some above-average mental feel/intuitions/simulations for physical phenomena.

I don't remember if I consciously predicted we would have mask shortages but if I know I would have thought of the possibility if I had occasion to think about it, because I already knew that's how modern supply chains work - they run on thin margins and "just in time" availability if they can.

And if you had asked me for recommendations given the constraint of "there's not enough masks" I'd say exactly this to most mask buyers: "stop buying masks, they don't really protect you, and other people need them more". Which isn't a lie nor intended to prevent panic behavior, it's the most honest formulation available given constraints like

most people literally mentally tune out if you use too many words or nuancing asides;

many people incorrectly process any non-zero probability as way more probability than I would like to convey here, so much so that I would be more dishonest if I said "they only negligently protect you" instead of "they don't really protect you";

I don't have sufficiently precise knowledge about the person I am talking to and how my words will be (mis)interpreted.

But I would've given the nuances to almost anyone if they seemed at all interested/receptive/compatible with that.

And... if you had asked me for recommendations assuming no mask shortages, but like everyone is milling about doing almost normal life stuff, but 'rona is still going around, I would've been like "well that's a weirdly specific set of constraints but I guess I can see that - yeah actually now that I think about it it's totally plausible people would keep interacting and moving about in large numbers... *deep sigh* okay so yeah if people are regularly going out and there's a realistic chance that they're shedding 'rona and there's plenty of masks they should totally wear masks".

To be clear I would've told you all this for any hypothetical infectious agent spread by human respiration/coughing/sneezing, even before this strain of 'rona was a known thing. Well, that last one, "everyone should wear masks if there's a realistic chance they're shedding it", I would only say if it had severely bad consequences to get infected by it.

That's not to say I would have reached for "let's have everyone wear masks" unprompted - the above is assuming you specifically asked me for mask-related recommendations.

The point of all that is: I know I can't have been the only one, or even particularly rare in this regard. I think there were plenty of people who were also ready and willing to say these full takes to anyone who seemed willing and able to listen. And I think those takes were put out there, they just didn't spread. Less due to deliberate manipulation and more because brevity and punchy reaction-invoking one-liners and controversy will always outcompete detail and nuance and stuff everyone can agree on (unless we all actively work to maintain a culture with very different memetic selective pressures - unlike modern social media and published news/op-ed media).