#but yeah important to note that not all motivation advice for art works for everyone

[ya-killin-me-smalls]

I find it funny how so much of the fic/book writing advice out there is to focus on one thing at a time so you don't get overwhelmed and that's definitely good advice if it helps you, but no one talks about having multiple Large Projects of different genres going at once so it's harder for you to get bored and you don't have to force yourself into the same headspace repeatedly until one is finished

like to each their own but for me bouncing around between projects depending on my mood has been much more helpful than trying to force laser focus on one

[bluecoloreddreams]

(Disclaimer: this contains spoilers for the Fruits Basket and Fruits Basket: Another manga, as well as taking into consideration tidbits from Takaya’s twitter.) 

So, okay, first of all we have to address the YMMV aspect: Some people don’t like this ship. As long as they’re respectful, I have no beef with that. I’m well aware that some people cannot/choose not to make the distinction between ��real life” and “fiction”— I have the luxury of this choice, so some of the “problematic” ships/character aspects within Furuba don’t bother me (for the most part). It’s fiction, and I’m aware of this.  

Again, some people cannot/do not make this distinction, and that’s none of my business because that’s their personal life. I’m aware that people dislike aspects of Akigure, and that’s fine. 

Personally? I’ve been reading Furuba since like, basically the dawn of time. I was reading scans on, like,  MSN groups. I remember a friend at church (of all places) telling me about the Akito reveal because I was behind on updates. It’s literally engrained upon my shipping heart at this point. 

(Headcanons ahoy! Like literally, this is all headcanon/my perspective on the series as a whole. YMMV/YKINMK/Dead Dove, the whole works, if you know you know

YES I wrote it like it’s an actual research paper because I have No Chill At All, please forgive me. It’s long and pretty rambling.) 

Addressing the first elephant in the room: Given my limited interactions with the fandom, my impression of Akigure from a generalized fan POV is that it’s pretty divisive. Every episode she comes up there are “I hate this kid” comments and I cry

Akito is a favorite of mine, and it’s impossible for anime-only’s to make a deep, informed call on her character. On the other hand, a lot of manga-readers dislike her too. 

So, why am I talking about whether or not people like Akito as a character? 

I’m of the opinion that it impacts people’s ability to view her character arc as one that deserves a happy ending. That she doesn’t deserve to have love, happiness, or forgiveness, all of which are given to her when she and Shigure finally end up together on equal footing. (Do I think the way it’s rushed in the original Furuba ending? Yeah, but hey. Sensei had like a huge ensemble cast to wrap ends on. Now there’s Furubana to look to and it’s just chef’s kiss.)

There’s a mental aspect in this, involving the dichotomy between “reality” and “fiction”. 

There is absolutely zero argument that are a lot of things that Akito does that uh, listen, if it was IRL she’d be in jail! Jail for terror baby! Jail for life! 

Fortunately, Fruits Basket is a work of fiction. These characters aren’t real, they’re idealized brushstrokes of human nature created to move a plot and a message along. 

That’s why Akito and Shigure work as a couple and as characters: 

They’re both incredibly deep characters that get passed off as one-dimensional by a lot of people (and the original anime, woof). Some of it is again, because anime-only fans just don’t have the whole story, since Akito’s arc is one that builds gradually until it hits a point where all hell breaks loose, which we are a ways away from. 

So what’s the message that their relationship and characters are supposed to pass on? 

Well, it breaks down into two categories: world building and thematic arcs. The latter is more important and what I’ll be focusing on, while the former is just a little spice that I, personally enjoy, and won’t really talk about in depth. (It’s that the magical realism in Furuba sets up the idea of soulmates, it’s just…. Something I enjoy and it’s really heacanony, so I can’t really justify spending more words on it!) 

When discussing Fruits Baskets in any capacity, I feel like we must first keep in mind the thematic “lessons” of the series: 

There is an inherent loneliness in living as a human being, since loss, grief, and hurt are indelible parts of the human experience, and learning to cope with these feelings in a compassionate manner is a life-long lesson 

People react differently to the loneliness of existence, and their reactions are based upon their personalities, their upbringings, and their own choices 

Everyone is capable of change and learning, if they choose to do so, however: 

Personal agency is taught, but in the vacuum of positive reinforcement, the ability of a person to choose to be compassionate is stifled or outright inaccessible

Therefore, if you are not taught to deal with your grief and existence outside of others, your ability to connect may become warped, manipulative, or abusive, and this is not the fault of the child but instead the parental figure 

Eventually, you will be aware of your actions, and then it is your burden to choose—some people do not take this choice (the head maid, Ren, Kyo’s bio dad, Rin’s parents, Sawa’s mother in Furubana)  

Abuse has long lasting effects on the psyche and can be physical, emotional, and/or mental in nature and must be dealt with in order to grow as a person

“Dealt with” does not mean that it goes away, but that it is acknowledged and given a positive outlet (Yuki’s garden, Aaya’s shop, Rin’s art, Momiji’s violin playing)

Forgiveness is not linear

Forgiving yourself is a long and arduous process, and happens independent of other people’s forgiveness

This is really brought to the forefront in Fruits Basket: Another, when Shiki talks about how his mother interacts with the rest of the Sohma family. It’s shown she’s done what she can to make amends, but recognizes that while she can individually hold relationships with certain family members, as a whole, it's best if she allows them to be away from her. 

This is a whole tangent on its own, but there’s a certain blanket of casual forgiveness given to Akito by the entirety of the shown Zodiac in Furubana, in that they trust that she’s raised a kind and thoughtful son and allow him the grace of his own family. 

Again, in Takaya’s tweets post-series that acknowledges that Akito’s friends with Uo-chan, despite her relationship with Kureno (and it shows a depth of awareness on Kureno’s part that he stays away

People flourish in environments where love and positive reinforcement is given freely, even when people are in the wrong

This doesn’t mean that no one is ever scolded: see Komaki and Kakeru, Kisa and Hiro, Hatori chews out Shigure all the time, but never ceases being his confidant 

So okay, that’s A Lot. But every single character in Furuba follows these themes in their own manner, because the series is about healing and learning how to heal from abuse, neglect, and isolation. Someone’s gonna have to be doing it. Point blank, the end, to tell a story there must be conflict, and boy howdy, there’s a lot of conflict in Furuba. Every personal thematic arc in the series ends up tying into a romantic one, because Furuba is a romcom drama. 

There’s a loop that goes “personal betterment”->”crush”/”friendship”->”conflict”->”personal growth”/”relationship growth” in the series for every character. That’s the bread and butter of Furuba. 

But anyway. To the question: 

I love them because they work, they’re both their own people with their own narrative focuses, motivations, conflicts, and flaws. Both Shigure and Akito are believable in their own right in the context of Furuba, and I think Takaya did wonderfully in crafting a story where their personalities mesh well and give each other reasons to better themselves.

To talk about them together, you have to talk about them separately. 

I’m gonna start with Shigure because, truthfully? 

I just want to lament about how often he’s simply passed off as either comic relief or absolute trash. He’s so underestimated! 

“He’s a joke of a grown man… He is reliable and I trust him.” (Another, v. 3)

He’s incredibly intelligent when it comes to interpersonal relationships, which is why he’s able to do what he does. He’s also incredibly kind—no one made him take in Yuki or Kyo or Tohru. He could have just went “ah, I��d prefer not to” and moved on. But he didn’t, made up some bullshit so Haru would feel like taking in Yuki was a transaction, and let me just tell you, I am the same age as Shigure and if you gave ME three teenagers to be the guardian of?! It would be a full on disaster.

He’s actually incredibly trustworthy (if he wants to be), insightful, and a genuinely good guardian despite his jokes and wisecracking. 

He forced Kyo to go back to school, knowing full well it would be good for him. He lets a whole host of children run rampant through his home. Kids who actually enjoy his presence. He’s shown as having a good familial relationship with Rin (who tries to warp that for her own means), Kisa, Haru, and Momiji. His advice to Tohru is genuine, insightful, and ridiculously helpful. 

Shigure is good with people. He gets up at the crack of dawn to drive Shiki to see Sawa in Furubana. He’s who Mutsuki and Hajime immediately go “holy shit you need to do something about this” to when they find out Shiki’s getting nasty notes about Akito. He’s who Shiki goes to when Sawa fell down the stairs as a child. As much as Shiki and the others make fun of Shigure, he’s obviously someone who’s trustworthy. And that’s not some new development, he’s always been trustworthy in regards to those he loves. No one asked him to show up to Tohru’s teacher conference, he volunteered. Like this dude loves people, he’s the dog spirit after all, and rightly so. 

Does he have his own motivations? Of course! But so does everyone else in Furuba. He’s a complex character, man! 

He laughs and jokes a lot because he’s projecting this image of a laid back, doofus. When you think about who he’s friends with, the whole middling goofball act makes a lot of sense. Just like some of Ayame’s over the top behavior is a defense mechanism, I believe that Shigure casts himself as a generally unappealing man to keep himself safe from advances when he was in school, but also to temper the wildly unequal personalities of his other two friends. He’s the sort of person who would just go “eh, whatever makes it easy”, and that’s just how he is. 

He doesn’t mean the creepy school girl thing, it’s a bit and I think the only people who don’t realize he’s running a bit are Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru who are absolutely too stupid to realize he’s playing them for reactions. He thinks it’s funny. 

Anyway:

When the older Zodiac had the dream of Shigure, Shigure is the only one who made the active choice to seek out that feeling. His soul was touched, and he decided that he wanted that and only that. This doesn’t necessarily mean he went full Jacob from Breaking Dawn, but it does mean he acknowledged there was a bond, and he wanted it. 

When you get into the technicalities of the curse, it’s mentioned that their Zodiac spirits influence how they interact with Akito, and that going against her can cause physical and emotional pain. Yuki cries when meeting her, and it’s mentioned that that’s just the normal reaction for the Zodiacs. 

It’s hard to say how much of their early interactions are influenced by the curse, but it’s obvious that Shigure has genuine fondness for her. She wasn’t always absolutely broken, as shown in Yuki’s backstory, and was a precocious child, one who sought affection openly. 

Shigure has an indulgent personality, and is shown to love being adored. Guess who loves him! Akito! Guess who wants lots and lots of affection! Akito! 

Their personalities are very well matched as they get older: They’re both intelligent and coy. They both have fairly sharp tongues when needed, and have no qualms about doing whatever it takes to get what they want. 

Shigure wants Akito to be independent from the curse. He’s made it clear to her he doesn’t want to be her father, he doesn’t want to be her friend, he wants to be her lover. Those are boundaries that Akito’s never been given before, and his frankness with her and his jealousy with Kureno is something she agonizes over, simply because she’s never been given any sort of serious interpersonal boundaries, or repercussions for her actions. He’s always kept himself separate from her, because of those boundaries, even when they were children. 

That’s important. It opens the door to the idea that her actions have consequences, and is a persistent nagging in the back of her mind. 

“Even though you hadn’t realized it, I was waiting for that day.” (ch 101)

For the bulk of the series, the only person who sees Akito as a person separate from the curse, and sees a future where she can grow is Akito. He has an extraordinary amount of patience for her, and forgives her for a lot. 

There are only two incidents that Shigure cannot forgive: Her sleeping with Kureno, and at the very end of the series, I’m of the full opinion that if Akito had pushed Tohru off the cliff, Shigure would have been done with her. Look at that expression, that is the look of someone who is toeing the line of throwing away all his hopes and dreams. If she really had pushed Tohru, I just...... The series would have taken a much darker tone. 

OKAY that’s enough about our favorite terrible author! (Okay, an aside, Shigure, please share your work ethic, you goof off so much but you’ve published so many things…how…)  

ONTO AKITO! 

“I’ve  finally realized… she hated her own shallowness all this time, from the very start.” // “It’s frightening because you have no choices.” (ch 121) 

A lot of people dislike Akito because she, for the bulk of the manga, is violent, manipulative and just downright unpleasant. And that’s fine, but it’s not the point of her arc or the themes of the manga.  (It is, however, the point of Rin’s: you don’t have to forgive everyone.) 

She’s not the only violent person in the series. If we as readers can forgive Uo-chan and Kyoko, or even Hana-chan for her moment of violence, why can we not extend the same grace to Akito? 

Violence is often shown as a knee-jerk reaction to fear and sadness: Kyoko, Uo, Hana, Kyo, Rin, and Akito all react violently to negative situations and feelings. Even Kisa reacts violently when she’s at her worst, biting both Haru and Tohru when she’s in her tiger form, which is shown to actually cause pain like a real tiger would. (It’s played for laughs, but has anyone been bitten for realsies by a house cat? That hurts! How much more would a house-cat sized tiger hurt!!!) 

Out of all of them, Hanajima and Kisa are the only characters to show immediate remorse, because they have what the others don’t: A positive support system. Once positive role models and support systems are in place, all of the others begin to learn how to react differently and ease out of the knee-jerk reactions that were ingrained in them. 

It’s made explicit in the manga that you have to be taught how to react positively, you have to learn and choose to be good, to be friendly, to love yourself outside of others’ perceptions of yourself. Look at Yuki’s arc. Look at Uo-chan’s. Kyoko’s. 

Yuki sums it up nicely in the last chapter of the manga, where he tells Tohru that she taught the Zodiac how to become human. She allows them to grow into people who can make the choice to be loving, compassionate individuals. 

Just because Akito doesn’t interact positively with Tohru for the bulk of the manga, it doesn’t make it any less true: 

Akito is kept in a juvenile state of being: No one teaches her to suck it up, that the world exists outside of herself, that other people are people and not things. In fact, she’s actively encouraged to act the way she does. She’s incredibly broken, between the maids of the Sohma estate just… allowing her to do whatever the fuck she wants and her absolutely jacked up relationship with Ren and Akira. She has no moral compass at all. No one bothers to teach her that her actions have serious consequences. 

She knows, in a roundabout way that hey, these people don’t like me. There’s a serious mental dissonance between what she latently knows—these are all people with no connection to her other than the bond of the curse. This is why Tohru is able to break through to her at the climax of the manga: 

She knows she’s wrong, but no one has ever told her she’s wrong but understood why she’s doing it. Akito just didn’t have the words to explain herself. What do children do when they cannot communicate? They lash out. Kids will bite, scratch, yell, kick, fall to the floor and have screaming tantrums out of frustration. Eventually, most kids learn that there are other ways to express frustration, and move along. (Not all, though, but most.)

Akito was taught that this is acceptable, allowable, and is her right as god. She is actively broken and kept that way through the neglect of the Sohma family maids, Ren’s abuse, and how Akira framed her role in the Zodiac. 

I can go on and on and on and on why the way Akito was treated for her role in the Zodiac by her parents and the rest of the Sohma estate was just awful. I hate it, it’s terrible, she never had a chance to learn and grow and be the genuinely thoughtful woman we know she grows into. 

She doesn’t force her path of forgiveness onto others and is fully cognizant of what she did, the repercussions of her actions, and lives her entire life after the curse breaks trying to right what she did wrong. 

“Even if she gets hurt, she says she deserves it. She tells me not to let it bother me, but… I’ve always, always loved her so much.” (Another, ch. 13) 

Tohru opens the door for Akito. She extends her hand, offers her friendship despite having seen the absolute worst of Akito. She tells Akito that everyone is lonely, everyone wants bonds, and acknowledges Akito’s worst fears, that Akito herself is selfish and dirty for wanting something assured and unending because she, Tohru, herself is dirty and selfish. Tohru knows what Akito has done, knows she’s injured some of her beloved friends, had plans to lock up Kyo, hurt Hatori. 

Tohru still forgives her. One of Tohru’s striking traits in the manga is that she is suffering, every day, she struggles with the grief of losing her mother and the fear of being alone in the world. Through nothing but her own empathy and realization that loneliness is universal, she’s able to forgive people. She forgives Akito and cares for her, and through Tohru, Akito is introduced to the realization that she’s been wrong and that maybe, she shouldn’t be forgiven. 

Shigure also forgives her, and this is the crux of their ship. 

To me, that itself is wildly important. 

They’ve always circled around each other, and Shigure has always been waiting for Akito to be able to come to him again, in full control of her life and choices. He wants Akito the woman, not Akito the god. 

He’s been waiting for the day Akito can meet him as an equal. Akito wants it too, and has wanted him to turn and see her for a very very long time. But she’s been terrified, the entire time, that when he does see her as herself, Shigure won’t like what he sees, and will leave. She’s aware of what she’s done post-curse, she’s aware of the impacts it will have on the former Zodiac members, and she’s aware that once the “bonds” of god and the animals is gone, there may not be anyone left for her.

Neither of them are under any illusions at the end of the series: Akito knows she has to atone for what she did, Shigure knows she has to learn to grow into a person who can function alone. They both know that there are people who are against them changing the oppressive structure of the Sohma family. 

Neither of them care. There are things that they want, together, and it’s enough. There’s a whole new world for them to explore and learn about. And in Furubana, this is shown to be a lifelong effort on their parts: 

“She said after meeting me, she learned so many things for the first time. She smiled happily as she said it.” (Another, #13) 

To close, I’d like to take a moment to talk about the curse and Shigure, and how he set things in motion. 

Without Shigure, the curse would have devolved on its own, yes, but the circumstances would not have allowed for the freedom the Zodiac had at the end of the manga. It would not have ended with Akito being able to learn and live freely. Allowing Tohru into the Sohma family cracked open a door to compassion and kindness none of them had ever experienced before, because the Sohma family seems to exist in a vacuum of stability and love. 

It wasn’t that Shigure knew instantly that Tohru was kind and loving and thoughtful, if anything, his read on her was “completely normal, albeit strange, teenage girl who obviously has a rough life”. But she was normal, she was from outside the Sohmas, and he knew that was enough. No one in the family was stepping up to change the status quo and how stifling and abusive it was, so he did it himself. 

He did it because he loved Akito. 

Not because he felt bad for himself, or Hatori, or any of the others, but merely because he loved her to the point of manipulation. It backfired in his face, because he got a big ol’ dose of “loving and respecting” juice from Tohru, but he still got the end he wanted. 

What I mean to say is best summarized in  chapter 123: 

“It would be nice to live in a kind world, without any troubles, without any fear, without hurting anybody, without ever being hurt, only doing the right thing. I wish I could reach this kind world by the shortest path possible. … “That’s wrong”, or “that’s stupid”: If it’s someone else’s life it’s so easy to make such irresponsible comments. ...It would be great, but it doesn’t exist. … Little by little, walking one step at a time, is all you can do.” 

We get to experience the roughest part of the path with Akito and Shigure, we got to watch them be terrible people who were lonely and in want of love struggle and learn how to get up and move on. 

They tease each other, Shigure is thoughtful of the distinction between “the person Akito was raised to be” and “the person who Akito is”. He’s seen her at her messiest, and she’s seen him at his most jealous. They still chose each other, despite the hurt they caused each other, and others. They make up for it, reflect, and live a life that demonstrates that they have learned. They have friends who are thoughtful and loving and would not hesitate to drop everything and help them, lend an ear when they’re frustrated, help them not to make the same mistakes. 

And then we get to see them be wonderful, kind, thoughtful, loving parents in Furubana. 

We got to see their adorable, kind, compassionate child be friends with the children of the people Akito hurt, because everyone in the former Zodiac’s family collectively decided “never again, no”. 

Their child adores them. Shiki in Furubana #13 radiates love for Akito and Shigure the same way Mutsuki and Hajime do. 

They are genuinely good parents, even when they tease Shiki, and I think that is testament for how good they are for each other and how much they’ve changed as adults. 

I think that’s enough of a reason to ship them, don’t you?

[prosebushpatch]

From one writer to another: do you have any tips on still getting words down even when motivation's low? I've been on a low streak lately and I still wanna write but it's kind of a struggle to get words down and anything I DO get down doesn't come out good.

Always happy to help if I’m able! I guess as a disclaimer, this is just how I’ve been getting words down recently and may not work for everyone and I’m not an expert or anything. Also I’m super about to ramble because I’ve been thinking about writing far too much recently but here we go!

For me, when I’m struggling with motivation, it tends to be that there’s a scene/project/ect in the way of me writing what I want to write. A quick tip for confronting that is to just write a completely unrelated (or related!) drabble/one-shot of something you love to write. Whether it can be used in a project or not isn’t what’s important, it’s just supposed to help you loosen up a bit. Also, if it’s something you love to write, chances are you’ll indulge in all the good and fun descriptions and get silly with the prose, which is healing for the tired writer’s heart, tbh.

Also, sometimes I get a spark of inspiration from art or a song and I just want to write a flicker of a moment because it made me feel a specific something and I want to try and mimic that with a little bit of writing! I don’t tend to do anything with it after that but it’s a fun way to just get words out.

Going along with that, another tip is to shake up what you’re writing. If you’re working on a long story, write something short! A snippet where you don’t need to worry about plot. If you’re working on a short story, write a poem! Force yourself to rhyme. It doesn’t have to be good! Allow yourself to write nonsense that sounds pretty~ Write a limerick to try and make yourself laugh.

Something else that might help is to ask yourself who you are as an audience. What do you want to read? Write exactly that! Indulge! Indulge in self decadence! I cannot stress enough that the more you love a trope or character dynamic or whatever it is, the more it’ll be fun to write.

Okay. Here’s a more serious note. So, this is a piece of advice one of my professors shared in the fall and it sort of changed my life but if we find ourselves unable to write/struggling with writer’s block it usually means that we’re afraid of something. For me, that usually manifests as fear of perfection, or specifically not being able to achieve it. (There’s more behind that but I’m simplifying). And overcoming fear sure isn’t easy. I still feel a little like crying with some stories that matter just a little too much to not accomplish all I’m desperate for them to. But it becomes manageable when I remember the reasons that I write are stronger than my fear. I’m at the point where I can look at a piece that matters just a little too much and when I get twitchy because it’s not perfect in its syntax, I can take a step back and say, “I wanted to write a story where I can feel the love between these friends. Did I do this? Yes.”

Yeah, we can always improve. No, we will never be completely eloquent one hundred percent of the time. Yes, sometimes these things we create matter a little too much and we get a little too lost in everything it’s not. And that’s okay. It happens. There’s even a place for it, how ardently we love and care about the polish of our craft.

But the reasons we write are stronger than our fears. The reasons I write are stronger than my fears. The reasons you write are stronger than your fears. I think that’s the most important thing to remember when struggling with motivation.

This is so long! I hope it’s not too ramble-y and helps even a bit. But I’m cheering for you! \o/ May your words flow freely soon, and may they be what you needed to read! I guarantee that if you needed them, someone else probably did too <3

[mfackenthal]

The MFackenthal Show and @maxattack-powell!

banner by @whenyourheartskipsabeat

Hello all!  Welcome back to the MFackenthal Show!  I am so glad that you are here today.  If you’re new to the show, I encourage you to go here to find past episodes.  There are only a few.

The MFackenthal Show has officially been green lit for more episodes!  We used to only be able to afford to run the show every once in a while, but the people have spoken - they want to see the show more often!  The funding came through and we hope to give the people what they want!  Do you want to be on the show?  Do you have someone that you want to see on the show?  If so - reblog or comment or send a message to let MFackenthal know!  We’ll see what we can do!  We have this show and two others lined up for you!

I could not be more excited to bring you this next guest.  She has been with the fandom for quite a while.  She was one of the first people I started communicating with on a regular basis.  She has talked me up, supported me from the beginning and though she hasn’t written much lately - when she does drop a chapter - it’s long and it’s worth it!  Please welcome to the stage @maxattack-powell!!!!!  (Insert Cheering here!)

(Megs greets Max with a hug - which means that Megs essentially runs and leaps into Max’s arms.  Max is fairly tall and Megs is barely 5′3″) 

Megs:  Max, I am so happy that you are here!  Can you believe that you’re here today?

Max:  Haha, yes - I can.  But I am honored to be here.

Megs:  Max, sit with me.  For those in the audience who may not know you, tell us about when and why you joined the fandom.

Max: Yanno, I always made my best guess at this before, but I knew you were going to ask me this - so I looked it up.  Did you know that now there’s this Official Tumblr blog called @memories, and it knows down to the minute when someone joined? Let me go check it… *digs through the blogs posts* Okay, it was apparently 07/31/2017 at 1:17:15 PM, which means it must have been on the weekend because of the time of day haha.

As for why ... hmm, well… I found the Choices app one day, when it only had like… three series I think! Anyone else remember that time? 

Megs:  I do!  Because I was playing Hollywood University I think I downloaded choices the day the app came out.

Max: Awh!  Well, I fell in love with The Freshman Series. Mostly because of Chris Powell and Zack Zilberg, and a long time ago I was in another fandom that had tons of fan fiction/art… so I googled “Choices Chris Powell” and any other combination I could think of looking for possible fanfiction. The fandom was almost non existent at the time. There was actually one person, who has long since left the fandom due to fandom dramas - we all know the kinds I’m talking about - but a few others had started posting their works as well… and I got hooked. Eventually I felt the bug to write how I felt TF should play out as well, and here I am *looks back at the “joined tumblr timestamp”* uhh… 20ish months ago!  Haha!!

Megs:  LOL, when you put it that way it doesn’t sound like that long ago ... lets call a spade a spade - that was almost 2 years ago!  That’s amazing!  You have to have seen so much in this fandom!  What is it that keeps you around?

Max: There are so many awesome people in this fandom, in this world we’ve all created for our pixelated loves lol. Soooo many creative minds to follow and enjoy. The content people share, original or repost… it’s great. 

... Unfortunately it is also a double edge sword ... the drama, the jealousy, the rumors, the hate, etc. I’ve sadly seen far too much and it comes in so many forms… it’s unnecessary.

Megs:  I couldn’t agree more!  If you could tell the fandom one thing - what would it be?

Max: It would be that we’re all here because we want to have a good time. No one came here to get ridiculed, to be scrutinized or chastised for their opinions, their likes or dislikes. Real life has enough of that going on. We are all individuals - if you want to be treated nicely, fairly, etc. you must also do the same to others. There is no reason someone must agree with you or anyone else. Live and let live. Embrace our differences as it makes us who we are. Most of the issues I see stem from a simple difference in opinion. That is ridiculous. Everyone’s entitled to their own thoughts. We must build each other up, not tear one another down. No one here owes anyone anything, now go have some fun.

(The room stands up in applause!)

Megs:  You should definitely stand up and take a bow, Max! 

(Max does just as Megs suggests - but she also makes Megs stand up and do the same. Laughing, they both sit back down.)

Awh, Max ... okay, let’s get back to you.  We know that you’d fight anyone for the position of The Chris Powell Appreciation/Fan Club.  And for those who don’t know, Max has been retelling the full The Freshman series, interweaving dialogue and plot from PB but also adding much of her own content.  MC and Chris get a backstory.  Chris gets best friends from back home.  What is your favorite piece that you have written?

Max: Oh geez hahaha. Um… can I just say The Freshman Chronicles as a whole? I’ve written for different fandoms, and I have original WIPs but I’ll stick to the Choices fandom for this answer. I’ve put a lot of time into TFC. Tons of additional story work, research on characters and their backgrounds, PBs and my own OCs. You should see my file folder setup haha. It’s crazy… I have so many docs, pictures and gifs. Most organized by location (Hartfeld, Boston, New Haven, Cherryfield, etc.), then by character… and on some I get more detailed and split them by emotion and situation.

Megs: By what again?

Max:  Emotion and Situation ... Yeah. I warned you it was crazy! *laughs* TFC was the reason I joined tumblr really. Instead of staying a Nonny and only reading others posted works. I wanted to comment, like and reblog what I enjoyed, while I also worked on my own contribution to the fandom. I had a vision for Chris and MC that had more than the game could give, and I wanted to see if i was still any good at writing since it had been years and years… it’s funny to see how different my current posts are from my first over a year ago. Makes me want to go update a few because they could use a little help *awkward laugh*

Megs:  I’m sure we can all relate to that!  Hmmm ... I’m starting to get a feel for this, I think, but what is your writing process?

Max:  Lots of planning, mostly in my head. When I feel like I have a decent concept I might type out some notes or work it into my outline (another crazy thing I have going for TFC because it’s so big haha). But usually, once I hatch out a basic plan on where I’m going… I just start typing. Keeping the general plot and main points I want to hit in mind, I simply start typing… keeping it as organic as possible. It usually works out well. 

Megs:  Do you have any advice for other writers?

Max: First, and most importantly… do it because you enjoy it. Don’t do it for likes, reblogs, popularity, etc. If you’re having a good time dreaming things up and typing them out, that’s what’s important. The rest is just an extra bonus. Also, don’t give up. It’s easy to become discouraged, frustrated, distracted and more… but remember - your creative cells can’t be running all the time. They need to rest just like your body. Take breaks… go read, play games, hang out with friends/family, watch a movie… whatever. Just do something to help you relax, to reset and you���ll very probably find inspiration and/or motivation to continue. Remember, this is for fun. *wink and finger guns*

Megs: So what do you do for fun?

Max: I actually have a few things I do regularly. A big one is making costumes/props for conventions, small productions, etc. I also train and show horses. I do the same with my dogs, but more for competitions and not really any shows. I’ve always drawn, sculpted, painted since I was old enough to hold things with my hands… and about a year ago I started learning how to do it digitally as well. I run (not at all for fun haha) and play hockey (totally for fun), follow comics and watch anime. I've restored houses, cars and old furniture. I like to read as much as I can - that’s an important one. I also play video games. Something I’ve done since I was young… I've even competed, and won, a few gaming tournaments.

Megs:  You don’t know how to be bored do you?

Max: LOL, Megs.  Yeah, um, so there’s a “few” *makes air quotes* of my never ending list of interests haha. Gives me a lot to talk about with people, eh?

Megs: Not that I can understand how you’d have time for this ... but what do you do to help pay for your many activities?

Max:  Oh like, my job? Well that can be a simple answer… like “I work in software” but the more interesting way to say it is I use my MBA, experience in business, the financial industry and technology to improve and stabilize my customers environment through technological solutions that fit their specific needs. *presses lips together* I solve problems by designing solutions. Bored yet? Hahaha.

Megs:  No!  That sounds wonderful!  Who doesn’t want their stuff to be designed better?  Any chance you could start working for tumblr?  Some of us have a few complaints ... tags ... mobile losing our work ...

Max:  I’m not sure they could pay me enough to help them with all of their problems!  But, tumblr, feel free to send me an offer!

Megs:  Seriously - send her a 6 figure offer!

Max:  Okay, Megs, well now I have a question for you.

Megs: Uhhhh, Max, that’s not exactly how this is supposed to go. 

Max:  Yeah, don’t care.  Your fans need to know ... Hoooow do you find the time to read and review so much?! And I know that’s just in this fandom.  I know you read books and you may read for other fandoms!?  Seriously, it’s awesome. We need to clock your page flipping speed haha.

Megs:  *blushes* Oh my gosh, you have to stop!  Here’s the key to how I do it ... I wake up at 5:30am and read for about 30 minutes.  Then I workout and start my day.  I read in line at the grocery stores.  I read on my breaks at work. 

Max:  Oh my gosh - you’re such a nerd and I love that!  Okay, nerd, what is your favorite thing to do, besides reading all the things of course?

Megs: This show, of course!  And, of course, getting people to do silly things on this show with me.  For instance - with as athletic as you are, I hear you can’t jump? 

Max:  Megs, shhhhh.  You told me you weren’t going to bring that up.

Megs:  I did no such thing! (Meg says while laughing) I said I might not bring it up.

Max:  Uh huh.

(Kris Kross’s “Jump” starts playing in the studio)

Megs:  Come on - show me what you’ve got! 

(Megs starts “singing” along and jumping along with the song. Max stays seated.  Megs finally pulls Max up into a standing position. Max plays along and “jumps” next to Megs - getting no air at all.)

Oh, come on Max - put some real strength in to it.  Jump! Jump! Jump!

(Max jumps and gets the smallest amount of air time.)

Max:  *laughing* Megs - I’m tall!  I don’t need to jump to reach things!

Megs:  *laughing* That must be nice.  I got good at this type of jumping because I had to learn to jump up and gently grab things from the grocery so I didn’t knock everything down.

*continuing to jump around the audience - getting everyone to join her* And that’s all for the show today today, folks!  Thank you for watching!!  Have a great night!

[abundantchewtoys]

HS Epi: Meat p10 reaction

So, with little fanfare, we've passed the point in time that is the Masterpiece.

I wonder if John's next interaction with the outside world will be granting himself retcon powers, or whether from his perspective the next thing is being summoned by Vriska. That being said, I wonder how Vriska will react to seeing these people emerge from the house artefact, you'd think she'd be very surprised. Will John & co. have felt it to be hours from their perspective, being trapped? Or longer? Can't have been years, or their relative age difference wouldn't matter any more.

Also, is Davepetasprite^2 nearby for their confrontation with LE? If not, this definitely won't be the final showoff! But if she is, well... I wonder how things turn out, this almost can't already be it for Lord English. Then again, if the perspective now switches back to Earth C for a long time, by the time we switch back the plot could be culminating.

I also wonder if there will be any interaction with the people outside the Black Hole's event horizon (I know, contradiction in termini there). Like, post-retcon Aradia, who'd been watching the mayhem unfold.

---

"Jane Crocker sweeps into her office" Well then. That answers that. Mary Poppins-style entry for them, then? :P Courtyard Droll isn't around to be wielding an umbrella, fortunately.

I'm interested to get a good look into her mind, given all we've heard said about the state of Earth C, and Dave's mistrust in her. Also wondering how her relationship with her Dad has evolved over the years. Wouldn't at all be surprised if he was still leaving supportive notes as well as confectionary in her office.

Blaperile has a good point, Dirk might be coming around, being her campaign manager. Their relationship was always interesting, due to the similarities to as well as the differences with John & Dave's.

"The sun cuts through her venetian blinds, painting butter-yellow strips of light all the way from one end of her impeccably tailored office to the other." In other words, exactly the state in which a private investigator likes their office to brood. :P Stations may change but demeanors don't do as quickly.

"It’s a lovely day, like most days, so not terribly remarkable except for the horrid news that she has just received at her customary morning press conference." There's competition afoot and its name is Vantas.

"[Jane] brushes her hands over her hips to smooth the wrinkles out of her powder-blue pencil skirt. Then she hems, haws, puffs out her cheeks, and takes a very deep breath before snatching a pillow off the nearest couch so that she can scream into it." So majestic. And such a Jane thing to do, too (even though Rose started the whole screaming into pillows for Homestuck), remember the time she was being 'supportive' when Jake was contemplating Dirk's affections? Both times, really.

"There are, surely, a multitude of ways for a person to find out that an acquaintance is running against you in a presidential election. From a carapacian reporter, in front of twenty-six other members of the interspecies press, was not the method Jane would have personally chosen." Welp. Well, yeah, it stood to reason Dave wasn't going to say anything, given his misgivings about her. 27 reporters, huh. Kinda wondering about how representative they were to the entirety of the populace. All the bigwig stations must've been represented, of course, but then it would seem humanity has an overly large representation in those already.

"She cannot believe that Karkat would do this to her. This is no longer a political fiat (which the election would surely have been had she run uncontested by any other civilization-founding celebrities) but rather a battle between “friends.” What did Vantas think he was doing?" Well, uh, it seems that he's giving you fair competition where you seemed to be of the idea there wouldn't be any. That's not really a good starting point for a politician, Jane. Seems like her business-minded attitude is indeed influencing her campaign strategy.

"This could not have possibly been Karkat’s idea." Yeah, I'd thought she'd be on to it quickly.

"He is not cut out for politics, neither intellectually nor in the very important matter of social constitution. Certainly not when it comes to economic policy. In fact, Jane is pretty sure that Karkat Vantas would probably literally burst into flame if too many people happened to look at him at the same time, like a vampire walking out into the sun." I was going to say that's unfair of her, but then she's never known Karkat when he's aflame with purpose, only the Karkat that's been hurt too much and suffered too many losses to remain motivated. Also, of course she'd "think of the economy" first. :P That's hilarious given Dave's concerns.

"Wait. Jane lowers the pillow from her face and stares at her brass-and-glass art deco ceiling. Was that vampire thing xenophobic against Kanaya?" Well, at least we know that IF Jane's really xenophobic, as Dave fears, she's trying to become aware of when she is and doing something about it. Of course, trying and succeeding are two different things - just as Karkat.

As for it being hurtful, well... Good thing she never met Game Over Kanaya, she might have had some objections to death-by-light-from-above.

"Dave was certainly no Dirk Strider, no Rose Lalonde, no Roxy, but he had that same scheming gene, buried deep down beneath his transparent onion layers of posturing and, frankly, rather outdated humor. An instinct to plan." Well, I wouldn't have said as much - if it was genetically determined there's no reason Dave couldn't have just not inherited those genes. But then, I'm all here to see Dave's take on scheming, sure. He's had a great example in John planting ideas about apple juice in his head. The bar is already set.

"And despite being inarguably the dimmest of his family’s impressive ecto-biological stock...

Oh, dear. Stock. That’s likely a problematic word, isn’t it?" Yep, seems like Jane really is trying. Can't believe I'm saying this, but if Kankri were here, he might have some good advice for her. A lot of bad, too, but still.

"Despite being the least mentally gifted member of his family" Eesh, okay, but she's still got a lot of prejudices to work out.

"Dave has always had an awful lot of opinions on the economy. In fact, Jane cannot remember a single conversation she’s ever had with him that wasn’t about the economy. She thinks back to one time at John’s eighteenth birthday when Dave engaged her in a rigorous and rather one-sided debate about deregulation and the failure of “neoliberal austerity measures” until Karkat had to come over and put his hands over his roommate’s mouth to make him stop talking." Well, I guess he's really, REALLY concerned. Can't blame the guy, though, but poor Jane, Rose knows what that's like, being on the other side of that trailing, lumbering monologuing. At least Rose's monologue's don't meander. :P

"carapacians were widely known to be swayed by underdog populism." That's because their civilisation was founded by WV, isn't it?

"And the consorts? Who had even given them the right to vote in the first place? In any other year..." Oh, so... Does that mean the consorts only got their right to vote so recently, after 5000 years. That's... Well, that might just be indicative that until recently, their political activism was nothing to write home about.

Jane starts to chew a pencil and it's just so FITTING for her, she's so fidgety, it's probably how Jade ended up being so giddy.

"In any other year, this wouldn’t be a problem. She’d be happy to accept a graceful, temporary defeat and let Karkat play president for a couple of years. After all, unlike her, he was not immortal." ... Eesh, so, yeah, that confirms that Karkat's godhood isn't expected to be eternal, unlike the humans. They could be wrong about it.

But what is so special about the current year, is the political situation on Earth C THAT volatile, or is Jane aware of things about to unfold on a cosmic scale - or even pan-cosmic, if she knows about the events back in canon with the Black Hole 'n all.

"But Earth C’s paper-thin idyllic history was very close to a boiling point—its very first boiling point, in fact, which will have everything to do with the problematic nature of troll reproduction." Ahhhh, right. So that's why she's aiming for the reigns. Didn't think her 'political takeover' had so moral reasons. ... Or, well, at least humanitarian.

"The first generation of natural-born trolls obviously cannot be entrusted to a troll." ...

Well that's just cruel. I know she'll have reasons given troll history on Alternia and B2 Earth alike, but it's their purpose as gods to change the world for the better, together.

Guess now we get to see the parts of her thinking that gave Dave reason to brand her a fascist, semi-serious or not.

"The citizens of Earth C were able to rest easy knowing that the government held careful rein over the... well, over matters of equity. No one could possibly trust something so important to a troll, knowing what everyone knew about their violent history." So it's the hemospectrum she fears would be reinstated. She's equating their biology with their ideology then, thinking natural-born trolls are fundamentally more oppressive as to those birthed through scientific means. Oooh boy. That's a whole steaming pot of problematic thinking.

"Jane presses her eyes shut and runs her fingers along the fine-grain patterns in her mahogany-paneled desk. She is about to think something that she has promised herself never to think again. In fact, she is about to say it—this horrible, ghoulish, girlish thought that used to rule her world and make her so terribly weak. The shameful thought is expressed out loud in the form of a defeated sigh." ... Is it... "I wish Dad was here?" Even if he's still alive, she might have tried to become her own woman, cutting more ties than is healthy.

"JANE: I need Jake." Pfffff, okay, yeah, that I understand. She needs his support to swing the voters. Guess Jane is also trying very hard to be "over him", just like Jake with Dirk. I can see how well that is going for her. Now I wonder how the Nannasprites are doing.

"She spins around and, still sitting on her desk, presses a familiar entry on her phone’s contact list." Either it's Jake and it's familiar to her because she still looks at it ten times every day, or Dirk's because they get along so well and are working together on her campaign.

"JAKE: Ahoy ahoy!" ... Yeah, this is going to be so cumbersome for Jane, I can just feel it, her old feelings now causing quite the opposite response towards everything that makes Jake who he is.

"the ol’ horse tranquilizer trick." Just... just how many times has Dirk pulled this on him already? And how many more times is Jake willing to go through with their show?

"JAKE: Which i suppose i should have seen coming, as dirk has ended all of our matches in this fashion for the past week." ... Jake. Jake, honey, you need a coach. A non-robotic one. Or settle for a non-shitty spirit guide. I know that narrows it down to basically zero, as far as sprites are concerned, but still.

"JANE: Oh dear. That sounds absolutely terrible, Jake. Is there anything I can do to help?" I wouldn't like it if Jane keeps pretending to care for Jake if there wasn't any truth left to the gesture.

"JAKE: Help? Gadzooks woman! I hardly think myself in need of help. JAKE: Its a jolly good adventure working with someone so predictably unpredictable as our good friend dirk!" Then again, it would be hard not to get exasperated by all of this... airheadedness, well meaning as it is.

"You would think that Jake enjoyed the sadomasochistic nature of his and Dirk’s personal and professional relationships. Judging from the last conversation about election strategy with Dirk, he seems to be perfectly aware of this feature of Jake’s personality. You can’t be too nice when courting his endorsement, Dirk would say. He doesn’t respond to nice." So Dirk is still being rather methodical in his interactions with Jake. :/ But I mean, Jake does respond better to challenges, at least initially. He appears not be scared off/by Dirk though, I wonder how he's worked through his feelings about their breakup?

"something big and hollow and metal connecting with Jake’s head. When Jake comes back to the phone, he’s yelling into it." Jake's life is just like a cartoon on even the best of days, isn't it?

"I appreciate very much that you have called me out of the blue to say such nice things to me with no ulterior motive!

From anyone else, this would have been a portentous statement. However, Jane knows that Jake English could not have possibly meant this with anything but the utmost sincerity." Well, I wouldn't mind it for Jake to have developed a level of self-awareness, but yeah... That's unlikely by now, isn't it?

"JAKE: Because i must note that although i try to stay sporting about what comes at me, i cant say that i am chuffed about how much of my correspondence lately has to do with the marketing of my image. JAKE: Its beginning to feel like all people want from me is to stick my derriere on a signpost for their own profit." ... Well, okay, he's become self-aware to the extent he realizes people idolize him and pine for his affections. But that's just because he was so very much affected by that during the session. It'll take a lot longer for him to pick up on more subtle and rarer things, though.

"It must be so difficult. For you more than the rest of us, due to your, let’s say... JANE: Natural gifts? JAKE: Huh?" Well, guess he doesn't realize his good looks yet, at least.

"JANE: But you know that I have always wanted what’s best for you, right? JANE: And I am ready to give that to you. JAKE: To give me what? JANE: The best, Jake. The very best." That could be very ominous, "what's best for you". But what would it be if it were sincere? A way to follow in his Grandma's footsteps, while ensuring he doesn't blunder and blow up anyting unintentionally?"

Jake is quiet a moment, and Jane can hear the rusty gears turning in his head." Insert "*thinking*" smiley here.

"JANE: You should stop by to see me this evening! JAKE: Do you mean my evening or yours? Were in different time zones right now and i dare say that the sun just went down here so if you wanted to have a soiree on my time youve missed your chance." It'd be a fair question, assuming Jane could've been in his neighbourhood. I'm sure their meetup won't go quite as nefarious as pretending they're dating to the press, right? ... Right, Jane?"

Jane feels her fake smile flexing so hard that it was beginning to hurt. Oh yes, she loved this man in basically every category that you could possibly love a person, but sometimes talking to him is like trying to build a house of cards while riding a mechanical bull." Ah, so they were facetiming? :P Note the past tense in 'loved'. :/ Well, old flames do still elicit feelings of friendship, a lot of times.

"JANE: Mine, of course! I’ll have the best year of your favorite crocodile-made scotch flown in from the Consort Kingdom and we’ll have a little catch-up.

Jake actually hates scotch, and only drinks it for appearance’s sake. But for this—for this unbelievably pivotal moment in the history of the planet that they created with their bare hands—Jane is willing to spend a few thousand boonbucks to watch her old friend pretend to sip at the same glass for a couple of hours while prattling on." So: A) Crocodiles might be living in Scotland, if the scotch authentic. Highlander Crocs in kilts and playing bagpipes. Glorious. B) Boonbucks are the currency running the economy, which explains how they can all be so rich. Of course, their influx of cash could've disrupted the economy, but if it had Dave's would've already complained about it. C) Guess there's never been something as disruptive to happen to Earth C as the Mother Grub, then. Not even natural disasters. D) Plan Fake Date is apparently, actually going to happen.

"Time to work your magic, Crocker." Magic being ruthless business-minded political scheming, I hope. Since she's serving Jake drinks he doesn't like, it'll all be for pretense, down to the drinks too. But I wouldn't like to be in Jake's shoes if she starts to fake-fancying him.

[izahunny]

your local hunny’s art tips

So yeah, I’m actually gonna commit to this. Note that my experience is different to everyone else’s, I’ve officially drawn for 6-5-ish years, and my style of drawing may be different. I’m just a fucking baby and maybe this is some obvious shit. But yeah, I wanna give out some tips as a thanks to the SMITE community and such. 

1) Take small breaks in between, step away from the art and do something like go on your phone or eat shit, before going back into the piece in your own time. It's obvious shit, but often we can't help ignoring the urge to take a break.

2) Draw to your aesthetic! Draw your faves w/ instagram wavy eyebrows or glossy eyeshadow, or draw them in your favourite or dream outfits. The enthusiasm and the excitement provide the perfect motivation to do things like being more productive or experimenting and getting more creative.

3) The brushes I use for painting at the present moment are here, for my lineless art, I use a solid ink pen and this blend brush.

4) When it comes to blending, it's better to use an acrylic brush with high blending and low opacity, and the colour picker. It's more realistic when the blending has texture - especially when it comes to the skin.

5)DON'T HESITATE BITCH!!!!! ! ! Don't be afraid to use different colours for shading (it's more vibrant), experiment w different poses and expressions and techniques. In traditional art, I go ALL OUT by drawing w ball-point pen and messily scribbling w copic markers.

(If you want more examples of not hesitating bitch, ive got a handful of traditional art on my art insta)

When you don't hesitate bitch, you earn more confidence and your works look more fluid and have more character. If you mess up?? Girl ur good, learn from ur mistakes :*

6) A friend was the one who told me this, and without this bit of advice, siiiiiiiiis I'd be NOWHERE. It's basically 'You know you're good, know your worth. Yeah, validation is great, but don't go looking for it in order to believe your art is good."

7) Super fucking obvious, but alter your drawing environment that optimizes as much productivity and comfort as possible. For me, I need bg noise, I have a playlist w songs that get me in the mood, I Skype call or go on Netflix/Stan (I like watching Brooklyn Nine Nine, 1000 ways to die, 50 ways to kill your lover, RuPaul's drag race, or deadly women)

8) You know how they say that in order to prevent same face syndrome, you use various shapes? That shit works. Do it. That was how I finessed thru my smite requests

8) *WILL BE UNDER THE READMORE, THIS IS THE ONE I WANNA TALK ABT A LOT*

Aside from using references for what you'd normally use refs for, I use references to mainly diversify chars.

I'll explain fully, when I draw certain POC chars, I find an appropriate model/face claim that suits them - this helps me to 1. Make them look more realistic/unique and 2. POC w/o shooting in the dark. This is usually for adapting the char to my art style, so if its an irl POC then I’m good. I don't use this for just POC chars, often I use models that look as close to my ideal idea or look for a character or poses that I like. Usually I keep the likeness or I exaggerate, as long as I have a visual reference of my idea. 

Mainly my ‘models’ are actors or models, often from Instagram. I like using poses from older paintings or Instagram photos. Basically, I use Instagram a lot.

An example of using a POC to help model another POC.  I like Lucy l.iu for nu wa bc of her elegant and mature look, also I like her facial structure. (Also she doesn’t look completely like Lucy but it was during the time where I was still getting the hang of likeness). Comparing her to the model I used for Chang’e, you can see different shapes and facial alignments.

I wanted to capture Chronos’ jawline perfectly so it caters to my style, so I use my insta crush bc he has the jawline I need. I find the post w the right angle and use it, then I thought he wouldn't look complete w/o the large lips nopalitoss has, so I gave it to him. He looks cooler and the looks gives him more of a vogue handsome look while still maintaining Chronos’ maturity.

For Nu Wa, I used Justine’s (my other insta crush) poses so I could capture this Instagram ‘feelin’ myself’ vibes for the piece I'm working on. I use various and mash them together to get what I envisioned. Also Justine is my body reference for Nu Wa.

I referred to this guy in order to give Thanatos an appropriate hairstylbc I didn't want Thanatos to have the same hair style as Chronos. I also used him for Chronos,I used this pose for him which I thought looked neat. Same model, different purposes.

Of course this accommodates to my style so it may be harder or easier for yall to find refs. However I still think its important to use refs for drawing poc characters, so that you gain a better understanding of certain features pocs possess.

So this concludes my art tips, kudos to you for reaching to the end and listening to my ramblings. Hopefully these would help in some way, if not, then I hope it was a nice read. I’ll do one more part, it will be a tutorial so feel free to hit me up w what you want to learn/or know what I do in particular. 

[doodleodramablog-blog]

Inspiration & Motivation - the tale of two ex-lovers.

So after the huge success of my first blog (6 people read it including my own family), here we are with blog number- Two *insert drum roll*.

I did an Instagram story poll thing for this one, asking which blog to write first; inspiration & motivation or pricing (you know by now which of the two emerged as a winner). I will however, write one on pricing soon (too). So thank you to everyone who participated in the poll.

Now that we are done with the awkward intro-session and are all warm & toasty, let’s dive straight into the subject. Let me start with “my” definition or differentiation between the two. According to me, inspiration is ideas and motivation is the energy/zest/zeal/enthusiasm to implement these ideas.

Often, I find it challenging to bring these two people together, under the same roof (hence the title). They are like ex-lovers who went through a bad breakup and therefore cannot see eye to eye. And whenever they are in the same room together, the air is tensed but it helps get work done!

Before I start rambling about them, I think it’s very important to understand and acknowledge what is it that you need help with. Are you lacking motivation or inspiration?

Let’s talk about motivation first. Now these are some pointers that help me personally to get motivated. (Try them at your own risk).

Consume more so you can create more : I religiously follow and sometimes stalk truck loads of artists (illustrators, cartoonists, comedians, vloggers, poets, photographers, etc). Just seeing people put out amazing work, puts me in a good mood. I try to feed off on their energy and it helps me give myself that little push to work harder on my craft/skill.

Note : this might have the opposite effect too. I know creators who look at other people’s work and go “Oh! Everyone’s creating such amazing content and I’m a potato. Woe is me. I’m hopeless”. That brings me to the next pointer…

2. Know what works for you : take a walk, get a cup of coffee, stretch/sketch(or both), music, pet a floof (a real or imaginary pet), etc. Any of these or all of these could work for you. Motivation is all about working your mood to work for you. Even a nap could help! Try a few things and see what works best for you.

3. Take time off : taking a break helps. For me taking a break from my immediate surroundings does even better. So my breaks are as simple as sitting on the couch in my living area instead of sitting on the chair in my studio, just change of scenery can help sometimes. Do something outside of work. I turn to music or books or movies or tending to my dying plants and this can sometimes even spark inspiration (more on that later). I like going shopping for plants (that i will eventually kill), books, and stationery in general.

4. Let lazy takeover : There are only so many battles you can fight in a day and only so many that you can win so it’s totally ok to let lazy take over somedays. Don’t try to fight it everyday, every second (I’ll make a horrible parent!). Somedays you just want to smell bad, look bad, and pretend dead. And that is A-ok.

(Again, these pointers work for me. I’ve been told that I should be banned from giving advice…so…)

I’d also like to add another pointer here. I don’t usually struggle with motivation when it comes to client work. I somehow like being accountable and I hate to admit this, but I do work well under pressure and with deadlines. (As a student, I loved writing exams and that’s one of the things I miss about my student life- exams. Yeah. So now you know). Also, with client work there’s usually a set (agreed upon) brief available so inspiration is already served, you just need to bring your motivation to dinner table.

Moving onto Inspiration, this is harder to achieve than motivation (IMHO). Now inspiration doesn’t come knocking on my forehead every single day as soon as I wake up. So whenever it does come, I try and grab it with both my hands and soak in as much as I can.

Note : Here I’d like to throw in a recommendation- Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. PLEASE read that book if you’d like to explore creativity, inspiration, motivation and all that jazz. READ IT.

Here are a few things that help me get inspired. Again, these work for me but might not work for you so don’t come looking for me with a butcher knife. Don’t.

People : Indians are THE funniest race on planet earth. We just don’t know how to laugh at ourselves. All my comics come from observing people, their action-reactions, us as a society and our approach to life. I love observing people. So I am that creep who sits in coffee shops and pretends like I’m working or eating but I’m actually listening to your conversations, watching your body language, and making layouts for my next comic, featuring YOU. (Learn the art of subtlety before you practice this stunt. We have laws now so be civilised).

Anything but work : Surprisingly, I don’t get ideas when I look at other fellow illustrators/comic artists’ work. I get motivated, sure but not inspired. For that, I need to look outside of my work. I often get my ideas/concepts from books I’m currently reading, maybe a film I recently watched, an incident, circumstances, relatives at family gatherings, Facebook activity of my “Facebook friends”, etc. Yeah, I feel like I have a self awarded degree in human psychology (although I studied journalism, advertising, & film).

Shame your creative block in public : Let EVERYONE know that you are not inspired at the moment by drawing/writing about the creative block. And if this creative block visits often which it will (pesky little rascal), find creative ways to introduce your uninvited guest, the creative block to the world. Sooner or later you will get on its nerves and drive it away (for a while at least).

Go back to where you came from! : (immigrants can sit down. HAHA. OK sorry). What I mean by that is, when you’re stuck in a rut, reach for comfort food (first) and then for something familiar. For me, I love warming up with some rough sketches of faces with varied expressions. I find that relaxing because it’s something I know and enjoy doing. It’s like giving my ego a mini massage session. Don’t tell your brain to create a master piece just let your muscle memory do its job and draw some gibberish. Anything. Once you’re over that block, you can go ahead and poop all over that smooth road now!

So these are some of my cue cards/go-to pointers whenever I am stuck/not in the mood/not feeling it. But then again, they are not foolproof and that explains why I only did client work today. But hey! At least we got this blog done. I hope this was some help to the 3 people who will read it. PLEASE do drop me a note/message here. There’s also the ask me anything section.

There’s also the Doodleodrama Facebook & Instagram & email. If you have questions/opinions/suggestions- let me know!

*takes a bow and doesn’t leave*

[kang-yoochanie]

How to survive high school (by a straight A and mentally ill high school graduate)

If this post isn't a way to show that through 4 years of high school I have SUCKED at titling things then I don't know what is.

Anyways, long-ass titles aside, this is a mini guide for kids about to go into grade 9, or any grade really, who want to prepare themselves or change themselves.

Cause boy do I know you change a lot through high school. Thank god. 

Don’t expect this to be formal, or funny (unless you have my sense of humour in which case I think it’s fucking hilarious but that’s besides the point), but hopefully it will be helpful. (tip 1; long intros like this are useless 90% of the times, this time being part of that 90%) 

1) Honestly you may as well just buy yourself two locks for your locker right away. Have one locking your locker, and the other on you or at home. My locks broke so many times, or I forgot what the combo was, I went through so many of those fucking things (except in grade 12, I just gave up and stopped using my locker even though that was against the rules at my school lmao)

2) Dressing nice can be fun and can be a way to motivate yourself to get up in the morning, but don’t stress about what others will think about how you’re dressed or how you look. By the end of the day everyone’s going to look like trash any ways, so don’t bother

3) Those guidance counsellors? Yea. Use ‘em. Even if they’re the worst people on the planet Earth, use them. They can help tell your teachers about your problems, or just give you a quiet place to sit for a bit. 

4) DON’T STRESS ABOUT THE FUTURE. Everyone’s gonna say “you’re in grade 9, you better start thinking about what you wanna be” and they’ll say that every goddamn year. But let me tell you. I knew from grade 7 I wanted to go to art school. I really wanted to be an artist. I applied to an art school this year, I got into that art school this year, and I declined the offer. In my last few months of high school I changed my mind. I decided that I didn’t know what the fuck I wanted to do, so I chose a program that’s sort of like English. TLDR; people change their fucking minds. So don’t stress about it

5) Now this may differ from country to country but Universities and colleges don’t look at your grade 9 or 10 marks. They don’t give a shit if you got a 20% on a test in grade 9 (which I did lmao). They will only look at 11 and 12, and really they only look at your grade 11 marks for early acceptances. If you have shitty grade 11 marks but good grade 12 marks then you’re fine.

6) Speaking of Universities, apply to every single one that you can. I applied to something like 10 different schools/programs. Some of them I didn’t even know if I wanted to go into them. Some of them were incredibly hard to get into and I was sure I wasn’t going to get in. But I applied to everything that caught my interest, so that I could have doors open. (and, as it turns out, the program I’m going into was one of those last minute ‘i’m not sure if i’ll like this or not but it sounds kinda cool so I’ll apply’)

7) Learn new study habits. The jump between grade 8 and 9 (and 10 and 11 so rip your 10ers) is insane. It’s normal for grades to drop a bit (or a lot @ my multiple failed tests in gr 9 lmao) but just take it with grace and learn which way of studying works best for you. (protip: figure out if you’re an auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learner. If you’re 2, or like me and all 3 of them, then your just have to figure out which subject you learn best with which learning style. for example, in math I learn best by doing (kinesthetic) but I suck at learning math by seeing (visual), but in history I learn best by discussing and hearing (auditory) and seeing (visual), but if you make me act out history, write notes or anything like that I won’t learn shit.) 

8) If you’re not a math or science person, don’t take them. Same goes for English, or any other subject. In my school system it was required for you to take english every year, so there was no getting out of that, but I could chose to stop taking math after grade 11, and science after grade 10. A lot of people associate being good at math and science as being “smart”, and I got a lot of comments that because I wasn’t taking them my studies were “easy”. And trust me, if you decide to not take them you’ll hear the same thing. But the thing is, you don’t need them. If you’re going into an English program, then why in the fucking world would you take Chemistry or math?? What’s the use of it? Once you know the basic skills in both subjects I say drop it, unless you need it or find it fun. 

9) Speaking of not doing things that you can’t, each country has different terms for the “upper” level classes and the “lower” level classes. So I’ll be referring to them as just that. If you find that an “upper” level class goes too fast for you or you just aren’t learning from it, go to the lower level. Not all your classes have to be “upper” and not all have to be “lower”, it all depends on you. You’re not smarter for being in an “upper” level class, and you’re not dumber for being in a “lower” level class. It’s all based on styles of learning. That’s it. and 95% of the time, the two levels learn the same things, just at different paces and with different techniques. 

10) If you have a mental illness, let your teachers know. Even if you don’t want to tell anyone. Even if you think it’s embarrassing. Trust me, telling your teachers will make your life 100% easier, a lot of them are very understanding. I had teachers who would let me leave the class with a friend at any point I felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack. And when I went through my major depressive episodes and missed weeks of school, my teachers let me do work at home that was strictly in class work or let me delay tests or just skip units all together, and I often got extra time for everything. But if I hadn’t told them about my situation, I would have ended up being stuck and probably would have failed all my classes.

11) If someone offers you help, take it. ALWAYS ACCEPT HELP. Even if you have a stupid sense of pride (like me) and think you can do everything by yourself (like me) YOU CAN’T (like...you guessed it, me). Trust me, when a parent, teacher, or even sibling helps you with homework, or essays or studying, it just makes things easier. 

12) Take notes. I know I said taking notes doesn’t always help me, or other people, but do it anyways. And not on your computer. Hand write your notes, even if you have the messiest fucking handwriting, just do it. It’s been proven that you’re more likely to retain information that you handwrite over notes on a computer or reading, no matter what your learning type is. 

13) Don’t do things last minute. Don’t do your project last minute, or your essay, or study for a test. Cramming doesn’t work. Basically what I’m saying is manage your time properly. If you have 2 weeks to study for a test, take those two weeks. Don’t take just 10 hours the night before. 

14) We’re almost done, don’t worry. Join extra curricular activities! HAVE A LIFE. Literally it’s one of my biggest regrets that I didn’t do more. If you aren’t a sports person, join clubs. If you aren’t a clubs person, join sports. If you’re neither, join student council or something. If you want access to everything (sports, clubs, etc) join Yearbook, it’s a great way to be involved while also hiding from everyone. But join things, make new friends. Have a life. It’ll make things SO much easier

15) Speaking of friends, don’t worry about them. You’re going to make new friends, lose friends and then repeat. You and everyone else change so much through high school it’s almost impossible to constantly have the exact same friend group. So don’t worry if you lose friends, you’re going to make new ones, I promise. 

14) My last and most important point; GRADES DON’T MATTER. It’s a number (or letter) that is marking you on how you felt the day you were taking a test or doing a presentation. That’s all it is. It’s not testing your intelligence, it’s not something to compete over. It’s just a stupid little number. I’m not saying ignore it completely, still try to work hard to learn things, but don’t do it for the sole reason of getting a good grade. One of the biggest things I learned in my last two years of high school was that when I was stressed about my grades and studied for the only purpose of getting a 90%, and literally gave up my life to study, I often didn’t do well. Those are the times when I failed tests, and also the times where I barely was able to get an 80% average. But in 11 and 12 I decided to take it easy. I studied a little bit every second or third night, but I tried not to stress about it. On nights before tests I would limit myself and never stay up past midnight. I forced myself to not care about grades even though every little anxious bone in me told me to care. And I went from having an 80.2% average in grade 10, to an 88% in grade 11 and a 92.5% in grade 12 (i feel inclined to say it was 95% but I had two hard ass teachers second semester so uh yeah that sucked). SO DON’T STRESS. LET GO OF THE IMPORTANCE OF GRADES. RAISE YOUR MIDDLE FINGER TO THAT A. Just do the best you can and then continue to push yourself to do better. Do it because you want to, not because you want a higher grade.

I hope this was somewhat helpful. High school is what you make of it, it can be fun, or horrible, so try to have fun with it. I have a lot of good memories from it. The best piece of advice I can really give is just be aware that your life isn’t only school, and it doesn’t end after high school. (Also always buy your teachers christmas gifts or end of year gifts, they will love you and you will instantly become a favourite)

[noxiim]

(1/3)Okayyyy so i mightve sent a few asks abt this before but this topic is really now bugging me cuz i have depression and im sensitive to like everything. Im starting to take this "not getting notes on my art" thing really personally and i know it sounds childish (and i laugh at myself for it) but i cant help but get upset when i spend so much time and effort and get like no feedback. And i know people say not to draw what u love and not for attention but honestly i dont even know what

and i dont even know if im drawing what ilike sometimes. Yeah i love bts but i dont know if i like what im drawing or ifim just doing it for notes???? And i have a lot of anxiety too and thats wherei feel like im taking this too personally. Cuz im starting to think that my artdoesnt get notes cuz its straight up not good which leads me to think ishouldnt even try to pursue a career in art anymore. But im not good atanything else so wtf am i gonna do if i dont succeed in art???? Like i said i laugh at myself for thinking like this and iprobably sound like a fuckin child but i cant help it???? Like i think my artis decent???? But maybe its not???? Idk like this was really hitting me todaycuz i feel like im wasting so much time and im probably gonna be one of thosepoor college students cuz i decided to focus on art more rather than taking ajob cuz i thought i could make money off of my art but yknow clearly its notgoing so well and im scared for my future U dont have to give advice to all of that i just needed tolet that all out 

Aw dude don’t worry I get what you mean,I actually experienced something similar when I first started posting my art totumblr, and even recently when I first started posting bts fanart. It’sperfectly normal to want recognition (in this case in the form of notes) forsomething you worked so hard on!! I think one of the major issues with postingto such a big fandom such as bts though is that there’s so many peopleproducing content at any given time, that it’s incredibly easy to get drownedout. Especially since tumblr changed how search and track tagging worked, itmade it that much harder for people to get noticed for their content.

When I first switched to drawing for bts,I found it hard because I also focused a lot on my note count. For someone whowas originally well established in a previous fandom, the move to bts was quitea jarring experience. I had built my following on tf2 art, and used toconsistently get a couple hundred notes, but one of main reasons why I left wasbecause of the dwindling of note counts. When I first left, overwatch had justcome out and a lot of attention shifted towards that game away from tf2, andalthough I still love the game, the dramatic decrease in notes on my art fortf2 really made me sad and I ended up deciding to leave the fandom after 3years of drawing tf2 art. I hopped around a bit, before eventually getting intobts. Even then, my first few pieces (they’re not on my #bts fanart tag so mostpeople wouldn’t have ever seen them) either got no notes at all or only two orthree. It was easier for me to establish myself in a fandom such as tf2 back inthe day since it was such a small, tight knit community with limited contentcreators, but now with bts there are so many more people and it just seemedhopeless for a while and I lost motivation in my art. I stopped wanting todraw, since it felt like nobody cared. Art is the biggest hobby I have, solosing my confidence in my art was crushing.

Now you might be wondering how I got towhere I am today. I’ll be completely honest with you. For me, I highly doubt Iwould be anywhere near where I am if it weren’t for networks. I had neverjoined a network before, but decided to join armiesnet and jimin network one daywhen I saw that applications were open. I got accepted, and I joined theirrespective group chats too. I met lots of great people on those chats, and madea lot of new friends which was nice after having moved fandoms and lost touchwith many previous mutuals. I’m so glad I joined networks, because not only doyou have the chance to make mutuals who will support you and your art, thenetwork blog itself also reblogs all its members’ content which gives youexposure to members of the network through both the network tag and through thedashboard. It’s a perfect way to get started, rather than hoping that somebodywith a decent following will happen to stumble across your work in the tags oneday and reblog it.

That being said, unless you’re like somesort of godly human being I don’t think we can ever get over how note countsfeel as an artist. We need something to gauge people’s response to our art, andthat tends to default to note counts. I can assure you that the feeling of disappointmentwhen your post doesn’t get as many notes as you want/expected it to is a thingpretty much all artists on this site shares. People always say “you should drawfor yourself, not for other people” but that’s the equivalent of like say themona lisa being painted and then left to rot in Da Vinci’s closet or something.The whole point of art is sharing your ideas/love for something through yourdrawings with other people, and so it’s perfectly normal to want therecognition you deserve for working so hard and putting so much love into yourcraft. When it feels like you’re all alone, you have to remember not to giveup. Creating art in such a big fandom can be unforgiving, but just rememberthat your art is never the one at fault. It’s all about finding that littlegolden window of exposure, whether it be through one big blog or a couplesmaller blogs reblogging your work. Those kind few people will be what helpsyou grow, and you have to keep posting for that to happen. If you water a plantbut it doesn’t bloom the next day, abandoning it will get you nowhere. If youjust keep going, keep watering it, results will come. Keep reminding yourselfthat you’re doing well, and you can compare older art to your current art tosee the progress and keep you motivated. Don’t force yourself to draw if youaren’t feeling it – art is something that should make you happy. I used to drawbecause I felt the pressure to put out content, but that just resulted in mefalling into a negative spiral of art block, limited motivation and generalunhappiness with my art as a result. Remember that there’s no such thing as adeadline when it comes to posting art on tumblr – work at whatever pace suitsyou and if anybody tries to rush you, shut them down. You’re the artist, youget to choose what you do with your art, how you do it, and how long you spendon it.

If you truly have your sights set onbecoming an artist full time, then by all means go for it! I can’t give muchadvice in that area since I only plan on keeping art as a hobby, but justremember that art school is always optional. In the end, working as an artistis all about the portfolio, not where you graduated from. It’s more importantto work on your art than it is to get in to an amazing art school. Sure, artschools can be useful, but in the end they are simply tools, sort of like atutorial rather than something that will magically turn you into an amazing artistwith amazing job offers. At the end of the day, it’s all up to yourself to workhard and promote yourself. Since art is all about reaching different audienceswith your work, promoting yourself is essential, even if it’s just casualfanart on tumblr. Feedback can’t come without exposure, and exposure can’t comewithout self-promotion.

Lastly, remind yourself that there’s nosuch thing as ‘bad art’. That might sound like a stupid statement, but inreality art is a constantly changing thing. There is no pinnacle of perfection,no model artwork that represents the most perfect drawing out there. Everyonehas different styles, everyone has different approaches, and most importantly,everyone is still improving. I’m still learning and trying to improve my ownart, and there’s no shame in that. It’s easy to perceive someone else’s art asbetter than yours which would lead to some self-critical thoughts, but you haveto remember that the other artist is probably looking at their own art andpicking it apart, thinking “aw man there are so many mistakes here.” It’s fineto make mistakes, after all, that’s how we learn. Just because we see mistakesin our own art doesn’t mean that everyone else will too – nobody looks at artand their first thought is to list all of the mistakes present. As long as youare aware of what you are less confident in and actively work to improve it,you can quickly surpass even the people you look up to.

So yeah, sorry that this is hella longlol, but in all honestly I can understand what you’re going through. It’seasier said than done, but even though it might feel hard - don’t give up. Youmight feel like you’re not getting anywhere at the moment but I assure you thatif you just keep going, things will only get better. That’s the thing abouttumblr, if you keep posting art your audience can only grow. For now, I would definitelyrecommend joining some networks, and making some friends. It’s not uncommon forpeople to promo their own work in the network chat occasionally, as long as youdon’t spam haha

Anywho, I wish you the best of luck withyour art journey. If you need me you know where to find me 💕💕💕

[elizas-writing]

Movie Reviews: To the Bone

And here’s another film from Netflix about mental disability that is inaccurate in many ways. This time, we got eating disorders with the film To the Bone.

After feeling so burned out from Atypical, I had no hopes for this. But I watched it anyway for pure research, and yeah, it’s still pretty bad. While I wasn’t as frustrated with To the Bone as I was with Atypical, I expected way more substance, both in depicting eating disorders accurately and just telling a good story.

Once again, I will go into spoilers, and as such, some of the content to be discussed may be upsetting and even triggering to some. Just a quick pre-caution for anyone struggling or recovering from any eating disorder; your mental health is more important than listening to me rant about how bad a movie is.

And yes, I know that the director and leading actress have histories with eating disorders, but that doesn’t excuse bad writing, and it most certainly doesn’t mean they speak for a variety of experiences. It’s still limited to your typical Hollywood cliches of eating disorders, specifically anorexia. Plus it just seems wrong that someone who had an eating disorder lost so much weight for an acting role even of their own free will, but I digress.

Ellen (Lily Collins) is an anorexic college dropout who’s struggling to recover, and she has been kicked out of many inpatient programs. Desperate, her stepmother sets her up with a seemingly unconventional specialist (Keanu Reeves) who offers her another inpatient program, determined to have her face her struggles and get on the path to recovery with new friends and experiences to make life meaningful again.

Seems like a simple set up with a lot of potential, but what made it irritating to watch was that it felt like every tired teen drama I’ve seen before. From the moment you see Ellen, you know she’s the rebellious type with some snarky one-liners and a knack for art, and you can figure from there how she’ll act and what she’ll learn in the next hour and forty minutes. It’s a character trope I’ve seen before, and even joked about, and it adds nothing new or interesting. But the cliches don’t stop there.

They emphasize on how this doctor is so out of the norm but aside from being brutally honest and occasionally swearing in front of his patients, there’s nothing new about him. Also, I really don’t know how to feel on how he talks to patients. I know brutal honesty is often necessary in cases of life-or-death, but you kinda also have to be careful when someone is not mentally well to handle more stress. Those methods are very questionable, and nothing much else really stands out.

Everyone else feels like shoehorned-in representation without any forethought. You’re gay? Check! You’re Jewish? Check! You’re black and fat? Check, check! It achieves the bare minimum to have diversity fill up the frame but not actually bother establishing unique personalities. You can see what they’re trying to go for in some arcs, but they don’t have enough time to fully develop. This drives into the film’s biggest problem with how eating disorders are represented. You only see anorexia depicted in the most extreme ways (with conventionally attractive actors), and there are a couple cases of bulimia and binging which are mostly glanced over to focus on Ellen. Much like Atypical, it’s not to say that extreme cases don’t exist, but it distorts the audience’s perception on what anorexia looks like and how to identify it. Not everyone is going to have their collarbones and ribs jutting out, and physical appearance does not always indicate whether someone has an eating disorder. If you base anorexia purely on a look, you could be denying someone treatment when they desperately need it.

It also fails in properly diving in on the mental aspect of eating disorders and how they rationalize their behavior and struggle against it when they know it’s unhealthy. There are scenes of extreme work outs, but never a discussion how it started or what sparked such a mindset. In fact, it goes against its own advice of not discussing food and calories and still talks about food and calories anyway! And for as non-conventional as they try to make this doctor out to be, he sure does a bum fuck job of making sure his patients don’t relapse too often and actually get better! It reminded me a lot of Thirteen Reasons Why and how it focuses way too much on putting characters through misery rather than recovery. Granted, recovery is hard and takes a lot of effort and some damage is irreversible, but if you’re trying to put in this hopeful message, it doesn’t help when you just see everyone getting worse, or even pull crap like building up a pregnant character’s recovery and chance for happiness, and then she miscarries not even ten minutes after having a happy baby shower scene (no really, that happens).

Instead of any sort of education on eating disorders, we’re given a ton of pointless plot threads which come right out of nowhere only to be dropped a few scenes later. There’s this weird thing with the stepmom where she keeps trying to put blame on something for Ellen’s anorexia, and it always ends up with Ellen’s biological mother who’s a lesbian and mentally ill. Really, we have to put in homophobia with all this? For as much as she likes to blame her mother’s homosexuality for disrupting a happy family, her absentee husband sure gives a shit about his dying daughter. Yeah, the dad’s never in the picture cause we totally shouldn’t call out parents who aren’t there for their mentally ill kids. They also throw in this bit about Ellen’s art where the stuff she shared on Tumblr inspired a girl to commit suicide and she left a note for Ellen. Uh, what? Again, it goes nowhere.

But the big plot device dropped in the movie is a totally unneeded and forced romance with a guy who I can only describe as Augustus Waters if he was fifty times more annoying. At first it seemed intriguing to show a male character recovering from an eating disorder-- and a former ballerina at that--, but his free spiritedness and how much of an opposite he is to Ellen is obnoxious and almost creepy. He’s only there in the film to promote that you need romance to recover. Seriously, there’s a dream sequence towards the end where he comes to her and shows a vision of her skin-and-bones corpse and only then is she inspired to get healthy again. And there’s a part earlier where he finds out his knee injury is permanent so he won’t be able to dance again and pulls the whole “I need you” shit because dancing was his only motivation to get better, and I quote:

“And now that I’m done doing the one thing that makes me feel, you’re my next thing.”

Gotta love that unhealthy dependence! Cause it’s a good idea to show mentally ill people that life is only meaningful if you have someone to romantically love you! Freaking yikes... I’m trying to think if that line or the scene where her mom bottle feeds and holds her like an infant is creepier-- and yes, that last one is an actual scene and it’s super uncomfortable.

Once again, this is just another wasted opportunity of a movie. There are so many ideas they tried touching on, and the attempt is there, but there wasn’t enough time to fully develop them; they either had to make it a longer film or turn it into a TV series. The only scene I liked was that rain scene purely for aesthetic and that’s it. Otherwise, it’s just tropes I’ve seen before which add nothing new and problematic depictions of eating disorders and bad ideas on recovery. I was really more bored than anything. Not as infuriating as something like Atypical or Thirteen Reasons Why, but still not worth your time.

[waqasblog2]

19 SEO Tips To Increase 📈 Your Search Rank🔍👍 [With Proof!]

Last Updated - 2019-03-11

One of my 2018 New Year's resolutions was to make organic search traffic a top priority.

And you know what it worked!

For transparency sake in March 2018 this site appeared almost 180,000 in Google search results. This translated to 61,000 page views. For any given month in 2017 I was lucky to earn 5000 impressions.

By November 2018, 8 months later, I had improved my organic search traffic to over 160,000, which continued to climb in December, despite the holiday lull.

The good news is you can follow my lead and improve your organic traffic and Google results. You may not see the large numbers I had, but you will see improved traffic.

The actual traffic volume will vary by niche and target market. My numbers increased because there is a lot of search volume for web development. But if you have basically 0 visitors from Google each month, which most sites experience, 100 or 500 new visitors could make a positive impact on your business.

After making many deliberate technical changes to this site and changing my content strategy things improved. My next goal is to reach 1 million monthly search impressions.

These tips are not related to building backlinks, at least not directly, they are mostly related to on-page and technical SEO. This means how you can clean up your site's code to make it faster and easier to use. These tips

After reading these tips you will want to audit your site to see how many of these tips can be applied to your site to make it rank better.

How did I do it? How can you replicate my success?

In this article you will learn 20 actionable tips you can implement today, for free, to start reaping the rewards of increased traffic to your web site.

Full disclosure, my results are mine. Your results can and will vary. I do use some paid tools, but you can implement these tips for free. The services and tools I use help me scale and complete tasks faster.

Intentional Effort and Motivation

I wont lie, I invested 10-20 hours a week for the first two months of 2018 making changes, one by one. I have not stopped making changes and will continue to make upgrades.

Good SEO is hard and takes a lot of intentional effort. But anything worth doing does.

The good news is there are many FREE things you can start doing today that will have an immediate impact.

Last week I got involved in a conversation with fellow Microsoft MVPs about our annual contributions. You see we were in the last week of our award renewal period, which means everyone is evaluating what we have done the past year.

A key area for MVPs is their blogs. How many, how much reach, how to get more reach etc.

Of course great content is the goal, but reaching the developer and IT community is more important for our MVP award status.

If no one reads the content we pour our soul into then does it really matter?

The good news is you can get the eyeballs you are after. And you don't have to be a Microsoft MVP to win big.

As MVPs we are motivated to reach others and provide good advice so everyone can succeed. Hopefully that is your first goal.

The second goal of course is to use our platforms to confirm our expertise and work ethics to earn great paying gigs and sell our products. Right now my main revenue goal is to enroll students in my Progressive Web App Course.

So between the MVP program, developer projects and my course I have lots of motivation to make this blog popular.

Organic Search Engine Optimization

Over 93% of web traffic originates with search.

The best news is that traffic is FREE! But it is not easy to earn.

That means a solid SEO strategy is important for anyone wanting to reach folks with their message. Compared to all the paid traffic channels, organic SEO is by far the best source of traffic.

Search engine optimization or SEO is the art of creating content and earning good placement on tarageted search or keyword phrases in search engines.

I emphasize earning because you can't buy your way to the top. At least not for a reasonable return.

The algorithms used by Google, Bing and other search engines are highly gaurded trade secrets. But they boil down to these requirements:

That's it!

Simple, right?

Win these two categories and you will earn things like backlinks, etc.

The tips I share in this article are designed help you meet these two requirements. Plus this is not limited to just Microsoft MVPs. These tips will work for any web site.

Here is the Proof

I had neglected my SEO for a few years. I neglected checking my analytics and just assumed things were still humming along like they were several years ago.

After an MVP meeting in Boston I went and checked my analytics. I was sad, because there was almost no traffic.

Last year I made an intentional effort to grow my reach, but honestly I went down the wrong path. I listened to successful marketers talk about their channels, mostly paid.

So like them I spent a lot of time and money trying to grow an audience through things like Facebook ads. And to be honest I grew an audience. I have over 6000 Facebook fans and an email list I grew from 0 to 1400+ in the past year.

What was I doing wrong? I mean I try to author content I think other developers need to know. My site is fast, That is something I preach about, so I have to load fast!

Turns out despite writing good content (yes that is arbitrary 😃) no one was reading the content.

Bad search rankings were the big reason why. So over Christmas I decided to focus 100% of my effort to grow my organic search.

It was not an overnight success, but so far it was close.

I really started to see results in mid February. That is roughly when the items I am sharing in this post were fully implemented.

Over the course of the year my traffic gradually improved as articles accrued better rankings. I also added more articles over time.

Note: There were a couple of short periods where I made changes and the analytics code was omitted. Also, note a seasonal drop off over the Christmas holidays. Tech traffic drops when developers go on vacation, who knew!

Not every article is a success by my standards, most are. A few seem to be stuck on page 2-4. But over time I tweak the content and they gradually improve.

So what did I do?

Author Greenfield Content

Back in the 2010 time frame I was challenged by my manager to author more 'thought leadership' content.

What does that mean?

I wrote what I will call vanity content. These are articles I felt others needed to hear or that I felt were important.

Often they are more op-ed than substantive or actionable.

In short, developers really want to know how to get their job done, not theories.

Anyway, I wrote a lot of articles that were more editorials than practical. An example of these areticles is one I wrote about Mark Zuckerberg comments at TechCrunch Disrupt.

Lots of pontifications and yeah it tells you what I think.

But who the heck cares?

That page ranks for absolutely 0 keywords!!!!

Turns out I had hundreds of URLs ranking for 0 keywords, which means they were just dead weight.

Unless I share those articles on social media no one will ever read the article. And even then it is questionable. Most tweets and Facebook posts have little to no engagement to speak of.

Heck I am looking over that article and just see words, lots and lots of words.

I don't even want to read it!

I may apply one of my later tips to this article, I will let you guess which one!

Up to that point (2010) I typically wrote about things I thought were helpful. Typically it was how to write code, which should be what I write about! I want to help developers write better code.

At the same time I want business decision makers to know what they need to use for their business. So explaining technology is the other key content area.

But I can't just write things I get a fancy for. I need to write for what others are searching for.

So, in mid February I switched back to focusing on that strategy. I started writing on topics I would have never dreamed of 4 months ago. And you know what, people are reading those articles!

These articles fall in the category of Greenfield content. The difference between these articles and the vainity posts are they have a long traffic life. Sometimes vanity articles get a great initial bump, but quickly fade into obscurity.

Greenfield content targets common search phrases with decent or large volumes. Those searches are pretty steady over time.

The HTML Input Placeholder Color article is just an example. That page basks in 5-20 victors a day.

Did you know most web sites can't even get 25 real visitors a day!

Aggregate those view over 365 days and I should have 1,825-7,300 readers over the course of the year.

And you know what, I should get even more. I am not fully ranking as high as I can for that page's keywords yet. I am almost there! I am betting I can get to 30-50 readers a day by the end of April! #BOOM

To target these topics I needed to discover what people were searching for. This means keyword mining.

The best place to start is the Google Adwords keyword planner. You will need an Adwords account and I think it needs to be active for a while before you have full access. I also think they recently changed the rules to require some paid activity.

Bing has a similar tool, but it not near as good.

There are great paid services like AHrefs, which I now subscribe and SEMRush.

These tools should give you a good idea what phrases people are entering in search engines to find answers to their questions. They will also tell you estimated volumes, etc. The paid services will also help you understand how stiff the competition is, so you can target simple topics first.

There are other free keyword tools available online. Even with the paid services you will need to take time to identify target keywords to create content.

Key takeaway: Write What People Are Searching For

Write Differently Than Your English Teacher Taught, Write for the Web

I have mixed feelings about my experiences in English classes. I enjoyed the reading, but not the subsequent book reports. To this day I still get 'critiques' about my grammar and writing style. Somehow it never seemed like it followed a formula like math and chemistry.

Writing has changed in the past 30 years, thanks to the Internet.

In school we were and still are taught to write for print, not for digital.

There is a difference and knowing how to write for online makes a difference.

Most of us were taught a 'Chicago Style' of writing. 5 paragraphs, intro and conclusion. Each paragraph at least 3 sentences.

I still fight to avoid this style today.

But as you may have noticed this article avoids that style.

And for good reason.

Research says it does not work online. I call it 'Internet Style'.

Even if you still read the morning paper or physical books, you no longer need to write for print.

Internet readers don't want long paragraphs, instead use short paragraphs.

Make sure there is margin or spacing between the paragraphs.

You should also 'bridge' paragraphs. Brian Dean has the best advice, I love Bucket Brigades.

Make your content skimmable. This way your readers can scroll down the page before committing to a full article. I often look for lists and main headers to get the general idea before committing.

79% of your audience is only going to skim your content. That’s not likely to change.

Don't be hurt knowing everyone will not read your content.

Instead, create content that is easily skimmable and still provides value. Your goal is to help them, not consume their time.

You should also try your best to tell a story. A problem in my primary niche here on Love2Dev is being too technical. Most the content in the development space reads like documentation.

Over the past year I have authored a new Progressive Web Application book and articles for other publications. At least on two occasions my editors pushed me to tell a story with my content. As a developer my mind struggles with the concept of making technical content read more like a novel.

Don't worry you won't have to write the next Harry Potter, just something that engages your audience. Over the past year I have been working more and more with C# Corner to improve the site's SEO. The idea of producing and updating content from documentation and example style articles into something more engaging has been a struggle.

Since the authors are developers and general learn development concepts from documentation the creative side is often overlooked. But not only will incorporating a story based approach engage more readers, it will help your search profile.

Why?

Because your content will be better quality and over time you will be rewarded.

Appeal to the reader's person, and don't just produce dry content that bores them. Make them engage deeper than just scanning your articles by telling a story they can relate.

Telling a story is also a great way to acheive my next tip, writing long!

Write Long

Research shows longer content ranks better. But this is not the whole story.

Just because this research shows longer articles rank better does not mean this rule applies 100% of the time.

Sometimes short content is the right content. I still try to hit at least 500 words an article.

My workflow is to identify a primary keyword phrase and look at the top 10-20 results. How long are there articles? Especially the top 3 results, they matter the most.

More may not be better.

Sometimes the question (keyword) can be answered in a sentance or two.

This does not mean to write 2 sentance articles! Answer the provide an answer as quickly and succinctly as you can, but always provide more depth to the topic.

Recently I have been producing a series of 'how to' on topics I consider very beginner. For example JavaScript for loops. The funny thing is everytime I start on these 'simple' topics I find some intermediate or advanced topic to cover in the article.

I do find authoring longer articles gives me an opportunity to prove my skill level, show off a little and cover a broad range of keyword opportunities.

If I can produce an article that ranks in the top 30 for 500 or more keyword phrases means I have a winner that will generate traffic for years to come. The CSS Placeholder Color article ranks for over 400 keywords I know about.

Think about that reach?

Bonus : Make sure you mention your primary keywords or keywords in the first two paragraphs. You don't want your primary keyword to show up around word 1500!

Backlinks Matter

There are two types of backlinks, external and internal. Google and other search engines use them to find pages as well as apply value to the page. Basically, they are the most important ranking factor.

An Authority Hacker research study confirms backlinks “are still the most strongly correlated factor for SEO success.” They are not alone, other studies back up their findings.

While the correlation between links and search position is weakening, it does not seem to be completely fading. Until search engines can find a more reliable mechanism to rank content they will continue to be important.

This means you should focus on acquiring links to your content. You should also plan your internal linking strategy. The goal is not just earn a large quantity of links, but earn links from topically relevant pages that also have authority or equity to pass to your page.

Use Media (Images & Videos)

I know we tend to write toward developers, but a picture is worth a thousand words.

Research has shown content with pictures and videos rank better.

Way back in 2009 Moz did a study that found posts with images, lists and videos attracted the most domain backlinks.

But who has time to find and sometimes pay for photos?

I don't.

These are just some of the free sites I use for artwork. Sometimes I pay for photos and design work. It depends on the content and potential pay back.

I was spending time creating illustrations. But honestly there is little return in the time it takes to create a decent illustration. Sometimes it took longer to make the feature illustration than it took to write the content.

Today I have changed to a good photo. I may overlay some text, but that is rare. I limit my effort to uploading the original and then letting a set of AWS Lambdas optimize the image and create a responsive array to include in my pages. The Lambdas even create the HTML, CSS and JSON I need to render any page I might create.

For technical content, which most MVPs produce, you should also include screen shots. Phones have made that super easy. On Android just hold the power and down volume button down.

iPhones are similar, push the power button and home button at the same time and quickly release.

On Windows you can hit the Windows + PrtScn button on most keyboards. Windows also has the Snipping tool. Just hit the start button and start typing snipping and it will show up.

The snipping tool allows you to isolate an area of the screen for a screen capture. You can then annotate the image. There are a few of these in this article.

I have also started making screen captures of source code because I have been having markdown to HTML rendering issues with HTML. I hope to fix that soon.

There are many opportunities for you to add artwork in your content. Images are an easy improvement.

But there are more opportunities...

Start a YouTube Channel

Last year one of the first things I did was get serious about video. I had grand visions of becoming a YouTube star.

I got a green screen, tripod, lavaliere microphones and of course editing software.

Video production is way more complicated than I anticipated. Not to mention getting people to watch developer videos on YouTube is not easy.

In fact, I will warn to not expect much traffic from YouTube in terms of traffic to your channel. Developer topics are not highly sought after.

Which is a shame because there is some great content on how to develop great software.

I got a little depressed about my results. But then I looked at the subscription and view numbers of what I consider to be my YouTube competition. You know what, their numbers sucked too!

I was making my expectations against different niches. So basically here is the honest truth, developers are missing out on great YouTube content.

But the rest of the world loves YouTube. I have learned so much about everything, including development the past year watching YouTube each morning when I get up.

So why I am telling you to start a YouTube channel?

That last point is important, but first what is OBS?

Open Broadcast Studio is a free, open source video recording tool. Thanks to Kevin Griffen for turning me on this great piece of software.

It can record your screen and create the videos you need for YouTube. But that is not where it shines.

You can use it for YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Twitch and other live media platforms!

Live is where the action is.

I still use Camtasia to record my screen for code walk throughs and slide decks. I should probably switch. But when I stream live from my desktop I use OBS.

While I was at the summit I forgot my phone tripod and needed to get creative. So I used OBS from my Surface to interview Greg Whitworth about CSS. I live streamed the interview and now it is a permanent video on my YouTube channel.

The cool thing is when you stream a live video on YouTube you can then post it as a regular video!

Did I say no editing and production involved?

Plus it was all FREE! Heck Yeah!!!!!

But wait there is more! I have not forgotten the SEO part.

Now the hard part starts. You need to write a blog post on the topic. When you are done writing, embed the YouTube video in the article. Google loves this!

YouTube is one of their properties. So they love anyone that promotes their properties. When you embed a video in your blog post you are killing two birds at once.

You are promoting your video on YouTube, but you are also adding multi-media to your article.

Images, videos and anything that adds non-text value to your content makes it rank better.

Users are four times more likely to consume video content than written copy.

In fact anywhere you can, embed the video. Add it to LinkedIn, Google Plus, Facebook, etc. There are literally thousands of sites you can embed your YouTube video.

Make sure you put a link to the blog post in the video's description. Even though it is a nofollow link, it still has some juice. I get site traffic from these links.

Today, I don't worry about my YouTube traffic. Its great if it happens. But I know the real value is embedding the video in the article.

For the record I will record a video for this article and embed it....right here looks good!

I don't always record the video first, sometimes it takes a few days to get around to it. But I try. I can testify when I add that video I typically see a rankings boost within 24 hours. Sometimes that is the difference between a position 25 and a place in the top 10!

Publish to a YouTube channel and embed the videos in your articles, Google loves to promote its own properties!

Sign up for a FREE Lumen 5 Account

Video is hot, duh I just wrote about it.

Attaching short videos with your social media posts is a great way to increase your engagement numbers.

But who has time to make all those 15 second videos? I don't.

Initially I signed up for Shakr, which costs $100/month. I made lots of videos using this service. They provide templates for 10-120 second videos. The best part is they render in the cloud, so your computer is not tied up with an intense video rendering process.

Most videos take 5-10 minutes to produce.

But $100, too much for my needs.

Then one day I found Lumen 5. I honestly have no idea how I found it.

They have paid plans, but I don't pay at all. I use the free service.

You can add your RSS feed and they will periodically grab your latest post, extract text and add background images. All that left is you hitting a button to render the video.

You can customize the video, but honestly I don't.

If you have followed my social media the past year you have seen these videos. Maybe you are following me thanks to the attention those videos gave my social channels!

You can also add these videos to your posts for that media bump.

Once you create a Lumen5 account add your RSS feed and it will make promo videos you can add to social media to promote your posts.

Attaching these videos to Tweets, Facebook and other social media posts will increase your aggregate engagement rates!

Emojis Increase Engagement Rates

Add emojis to your post titles and make sure you share the emojis in your social media shares.

Thanks to Kirupa for sharing how to use emojis in HTML. He explains how to get code points and add them to your text.

Go to Emojipedia.com to get the code points, it has a built in feature to copy them to your clipboard. You can then paste the emoji in your text.

The emojis show in the search results, which makes more people click your result, and that will move you up the ranks.

That's right, the number of times searchers click or chose your link in the search results affects how well it ranks. If you are in the top 10 for a week and have zero clicks then most likely you will be dropped down.

Having the visual pop provided by an emoji can grab the attention that earns a few extra clicks. Those clicks translate into better rankings.

The emojis also get better social response rates.

Its all about the visual attraction. Remember we like to look at pictures more than we like to read and emojis are just fun!

Ask Brian Terlson!

Embed Slide Decks

Even if you don't speak at conferences and user groups like I do slide decks can be your SEO friend.

I use PowerPoint to help me outline content. Plus I can create diagrams and currate images.

You can export your slides as images and PDFs. The images can then be repurposed in your written articles or videos.

You may also want to use the slide deck to record a video or do a YouTube live stream. Of course then you can embed the recording!

You should also create accounts on SlideShare and SpeakerDeck and upload your slide decks. Make sure you include a good description with a link back to your article.

You should also include links to your content in the slides. Google can read those links and give you backlink credit.

Exporting to a PDF can be valuable as well. There are thousands of document sharing sites you can upload to, like Scribd. Google can also parse the PDF for those links and give you a backlink.

I also use some of my slide decks as free lead magnets to grow my e-mail list. I typically reformat the slides to make them more 'book' appropriate and keep the content a little different since it is a lead magent.

Slide decks are an often overlooked tool to increase your search engine visibility.

Make Infographics

Just like slide decks infographics can be powerful SEO tools.

People like pictures and infographics are informative graphics (see how they are combined to a cool word?)

You can also share those on image sharing sites and of course earn links back to your site.

Pro Tip: Turn your slide decks into InfoGraphics!

I have created a few infographics and they seem to be well liked. I do pay graphic design specialist to create them for me. I spend about $40-50 for each one, but it is well worth the inevestment.

FYI: I have ordered an infographic for this article 😁

Use HTTPS

As of this summer I doubt any site using HTTP will be listed in any search results.

Google has made it clear in recent years HTTPS is a ranking signal. Chrome and other browsers are getting more aggressive with visual messages when a page does not use HTTPS.

This means consumers will not visit insecure sites.

The evidence is clear, if you are not using HTTPS you probably are not listed in the first page for any search today. There are some exceptions to this rule.

My anecdotal survey says less than 10% of the searches I perform or research include pages using HTTP.

Another observation about sites using HTTTP, they tend to be abandoned. By that I mean the content has not been updated in a year or more, in most cases. Which is probably why they have not been upgraded to use HTTPS.

When I find sites using HTTP I tend to review them and find what they rank for and put that content on my to do list because I know I should be able to out rank that page within a month or so.

Certificates are free today, so there is not real excuse to use HTTP anymore. Upgrade, today if you have not.

Be Fast - Real Fast

I have been saying this for over a decade. I still encounter developers that argue web performance does not matter.

The reality is consumers, real people, want pages to load fast. Like before they click a link fast. On mobile cellular connections no less.

Google has been clear, speed matters for search engine ranking. Marketers know this.

In fact they write more about web performance optimization than developers do. And those are the people that hire developers, think about that...

The first rule is you need to have meaningful content painted on the screen within a second. You should also be usable between 3-5 seconds after the user perceives they requested the page.

At 3 seconds you have lost 50% of the customers that wanted to read or interact with your page.

Mobile makes this harder.

Always test your site and pages on real mobile hardward and by that I mean average mobile phones, not an iPhone X or Pixel 2.

You can use the Chrome developer tools to perform simulated tests. WebPageTest is another great way to audit your pages. Your goal is to achieve a speed index of 1000 or less.

I wont hijack this article with web performance optimization advice. I have enough of that on the site already!

Do Not Use Fast Food Frameworks

I know I get lots of grief about this topic. But I am 100% right.

Sites that use Angular, React, Vue, Ember and other fast food frameworks don't rank well.

The #1 reason is they load too damn slow!

JavaScript is the #1 reason your pages don't render fast.

Plus Google deprecated their AJAX cralwing policy a couple of years ago, which means single page apps and AJAX heavy sites won't index well in the first place.

If you want to rank well, ditch the framework and focus on pre-rendered static web sites using thin JavaScript.

Remember the average web page takes 22 seconds to render on mobile phones. JavaScript is the reason. My pages average 3-4 seconds, just sayin.

Fix Your Broken Backlinks

The first thing I did over Christmas was repairing my backlink profile. These are links to your site. They account for about 33% of your ability to rank, or so the experts say.

I did the research and found about 2000 broken backlinks to my site! That was more than were active. No wonder my organic SEO had fallen so much.

Most were pointing to my original blog engine's routes. I spent about 30 minutes each night going through the list and identifying the URLs they pointed to and setup a 301 redirect to a new page.

Sometimes this was redirecting the link to the new route. Other times I had removed the content all together. I either pointed them to my blog's home page, my home page or a related page.

If you are not familiar with a 301 redirect it refers to the HTTP status code returned from the server when a resource is requested but has been moved to a new address. It tells the client (browser) the resource has permanently moved and what the new URL is. The user agent should then load the new location.

By configuring 301 redirects you are reclaiming these links. For Love2Dev this had a big impact on the domain rating. This is a common KPI different search engine optimization tools have created to indicate the domain's health in terms of SEO. Each service has their own algorithm so I won't try to provide details.

The irony to this story is one of the first blog posts I wrote was how to setup a 301 redirect in ASP.NET.

Claim Your Site in the Google & Bing Web Master Tools

The first place to identify your broken links is in the Google & Bing web master tools.

This is your 'official' window into how the search engines view your site. You can see what backlinks you have been credited, what search phrases you rank for and how much traffic they send.

Just as important you can also see if there are crawl errors. The main thing I look for are 404 or not found URLs on my site.

Google reports these URLs and what source pointed to the missing URL. You can then configure a 301 to direct that traffic to a new URL.

If you have not configured your site in these web master tools you should read the instructions. You will need to either add a special HTML page or a DNS record to verify ownership.

In Google you should also claim up to a combination of 4 variations: http://domain.com, http://www.domain.com, https://domain.com and https://www.domain.com. I can't remember why this is important, but do it. The stats and information will be available for your cononical protocol and domain.

Canonical Tag

Speaking of cononical, you should add a rel="cononical" META tag to every page. Its value should be the final or single source of truth for the page.

You should setup 301 redirects for anyone entering your site using HTTP and the domain configuration you are not using.

For example I route everyone to https://love2dev.com/{slug}. You may route to your www version, it is up to you. Just route them to a single source.

Search engines use the cononical tag to give the authoritative URL all the credit. This keeps your link juice from being distributed to other versions, which reduces your ability to rank.

Open Graph & Structured Data

There is no proven correlation between structured data and your ability to rank, yet. But it can be helpful for social media marketing and the potential to be listed in a position 0 resource.

Position 0 are the useful content boxes above the first listing. The content can be in a variety of forms, like lists, image packs or paragraphs. The content is 'scraped' from one of the top 10 listings, not nessecarily the #1 listing.

I have a few pages benefiting from position 0 right now. I can attest they drive a higher volume of traffic than normal search listings.

Sometimes structure data is used for these resources.

Structured data is also used for local SEO, but that is an entirely different subject.

Re-Purpose Old Content

If you are like me and started blogging over a decade ago you have old, crusty articles. Some of then have some value, they just need to be refurbished.

Before you throw out those old articles, evaluate if their core value or points are still valid today. If so refresh the content.

Not only do you get a new article, but you don't have to start fresh.

Remember to 301 the old URL before publishing to a new URL.

One thing I am doing as I refresh old articles is use shorter URLs, you may want to do this as well.

Delete Dead Weight Pages

Remember that Zuckerberg article I mentioned earlier? Dead weight. I need to delete it.

I wont now, because it is an example for this post.

But I have deleted around 400 dead posts on this blog since the first of the year. I am removing 40 this week alone.

Removing dead pages helps your site rank better because Google has a clearer picture of what your site is about. Plus those old post that no longer have backlinks or talk about technology that no longer exists dont offer value to anyone.

Google Gary Illyes unpacked this topic in a Q&A with Stone Temple Consulting a few years ago. Its about having high quality content. If you think about those pages are not bringing you traffic but they consume spidering time from the Googlebot and create 'noise' that keeps potential visitors from reading your core message.

I think removing those posts was a big reason why my newer posts started doing better.

Make sure you setup a 301 redirect from these posts to something live on your site. For me, most of those URLs now point to my main blog page.

Use Mobile First Responsive Design

This should not even need to be mentioned, but I will anyway. Google is aggresively swapping their mobile index to be their primary index right now. That's because the majority of searches originate on mobile devices.

By June mobile will be the primary index. This means Google will spider or evaluate your site as it renders on a phone more than it will as a desktop. Perform poorly on small view ports and you risk not ranking in search results.

This should emphasize the need to have a mobile first responsive layout on your site. You need to be able to render nicely on any device and any viewport.

Shoot For Big Targets - Hit Long Tails

Its easy to start digging into keyword data. I know I am fascinated by the terms and volumes I am finding in my research. Its important you understand how to read the data to form a realistic strategy.

Remember how I said the placeholder color article ranked for hundreds of phrases? The vast majority of those terms are lucky to see 10-20 searches a month.

Sure there are about 10-12 with over 500 searches a month globally. And yes those are the primary terms I am targeting. But I am careful to identify different 'long tail' phrases.

About 20% of the billions of searches Google handles each day are entered for the first time! This means there was no way for you to know to target those phrases.

For what it's worth this is where their RankBrain AI engine kicks in. But that's another complex topic....

Think about 20% of a billion. That is a lot of potential traffic to your site. And it does not stop with new searches. The vast majority of search keyword phrases are entered less than 20-30 times a month.

Search engines do their best to interpret the user's intention and deliver the best result set. It helps when you know how to pepper your content with latent semantic phrases.

These are words and phrases that relate to the target keyword. For example, writing about Toyota automobiles should be surrounded by phrases related to driving or repairing a car.

Knowing what semantic or contextual phrases helps, a lot.

You can manually try to harvest search suggestions by entering primary phrases in the search to see what the auto suggest tool returns.

But free tools are always better!

Nile Patel's free uber suggest tool is very helpful.

There are also many services you can pay for, and full disclosure, I recommend this if you are serious. I subscribe to aHrefs and it is worth every penny.

I have refreshed and updated dozens of articles with additional phrases over the past few months and seen immediate impacts. But I need to know what to add and these tools help guide me to the right phrases.

I have to say this may be one of the biggest improvements I made. In the past most of my articles would have some rank on 5-10 phrases. Today it is rare I have an article with less than 100 phrases with some SEO ranking.

Wrapping it Up

These tips have focused on how you can modify a combination of on page/technical SEO and your content/editorial strategy.

Some should be obvious, but if you are like most you neglect the easy things more than you should. Others you probably never considered.

I know there are items in this list I never applied till I took a leap of faith. Letting go of hundreds of old posts is a good example.

Organic search should be a primary goal of any content strategy. It is where the majority of web journeys begin. The traffic is free, but not easy to earn.

Writing content people need is important, but making sure you provide the best experience means your great content is sure to rank high and earns lots of free, reoccuring traffic.

This content was originally published here.

[thumper-darling]

all the writer asks? and can you use your current story for the blank ones?

1. Favorite place to write.

My most productive nights writing were spent in hotel rooms with cheap black coffee and terrible lighting. It sets a very motivating vibe. 

2. Favorite part of writing.

Creating and developing characters. Character arcs?? are ?? my favorite??

3. Least favorite part of writing.

writing ™ 

4. Do you have writing habits or rituals?

Yeah, procrastinating for months. :’)

5. Books or authors that influenced your style the most.

Patrick Ness and Stephen Chbosky are pretty big idols of mine

6. Favorite character you ever created.

Cadence, she’s my hero 

7. Favorite author.

Rainbow Rowell or Patrick Ness

8. Favorite trope to write.

Coming of Age Angst ™ and realistic development for the main character

9. Least favorite trope to write.

Love triangles or over-dramatic and non-realistic romantic interests. 

10. Pick a writer to co-write a book with and tell us what you’d write about.

I’d love to work with Chbosky and write a spin-off of Perks of Being a Wallflower, or like a potential sequel? That would make my actual dreams come true. 

11. Describe your writing process from scratch to finish.

In the beginning, I print off a million character questionnaires and fill out every detail about my main characters. It’s funny, because my characters always come first, and the story soon follows. After I know my characters inside and out, I think in their mindset for days and write down notes about things I for sure want to include in my story whether it be a plot twist or just a small piece of dialogue. Once I find the character’s voice, I feel ready to start writing the story.

12. How do you deal with self-doubts?

I’m still not great with this, because I have a LOT of self-doubt, but I know that writing is what I want to pursue. I just remember that I have talent and I shouldn’t worry about the first draft because the first draft is almost always awful.

13. How do you deal with writers block?

I read. A lot. Reading helps spark ideas and un-stick my story.

14. What’s the most research you ever put into a book?

OH MY GOD. I would look at maps and historic timelines. I filled nearly 4-5 pages of a journal just with a timeline of events and it was lit. 

15. Where does your inspiration come from?

Literally anything. That bench on the corner? INSPIRED. Pulling out of a driveway? INSPIRED. That sandwich looks tasty. INSPIRED. No, but in all seriousness I just observe my surroundings at all times and in an average day I can pull an idea out of something. 

16. Where do you take your motivation from?

I just think of my future and what impact/ message I’d like to leave behind to anybody who reads my writing. 

17. On avarage, how much writing do you get done in a day?

None. Writing isn’t something I can do everyday. Some days I’m more inspired and motivated than others. If I try writing when I don’t have the energy, it turns out forced and choppy. I let the motivation come to me.

18. What’s your revision or rewriting process like?

I typically like to wait a week or two before re-reading and editing, that way I can have space from my writing. I do it gradually through out the story so I can draw potential ideas from what I have so far. 

19. First line of a WIP you’re working on.

Version 1: “The shop had been empty for a little over an hour, and Charlotte was beginning to grow restless.”

Version 2: “Charlotte had a look of determination set in the furrow of her eyebrows and curiosity in the gleam of her eyes.”

20. Post a snippet of a WIP you’re working on.

“Whenever Jordyn spoke, it was reminiscent of watching an old southern film. Her slight, hidden drawl was nothing less than soothing. Charlotte sometimes liked to picture her with obnoxiously tight ringlet curls and big, poofy southern belle dresses with frilly ribbons and lace. The thought brought a subtle snort from Charlotte.”

21. Post the last sentence you wrote in one of your WIP’s.

Version 1: “He just followed his feet, and they lead him to her.”

Version 2: “His only response was a smirk before he opened the door to the back alley.”

22. How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied and a project is ultimately done for you?

At least a million

23. Single or multi POV, and why?

Single, I feel like it leaves for more mystery. That way the reader can interpret different POV’s for themselves. 

24. Poetry or prose, and why?

Prose, rhyming isn’t my forte 

25. Linear or non-linear, and why?

Depends on the story I’m trying to tell. Sometimes one way has more impact than another. 

26. Standalone or series, and why?

Standalones are beautiful for some stories, but others simply must be more than just one book long. Some stories exceed one book.  

27. Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished? 

I share drafts with people I trust to edit or give me feedback. 

28. And who do you share them with?

My friends that love stories. 

29. Who do you write for?

Mainly for myself, but also for anybody that needs to hear the message my story can offer them. 

30. Favorite line you’ve ever written.

“So, as a sign of letting go, I introduced my lips to his cheek and the sound of my skin meeting his was a melody playing a sweet goodbye.”

“Kissing him was like kissing air or water, it was so sweet and slow that it was a natural instinct to flow with it. However, kissing her was like fire because it was warm, inviting, and compelling, but had all the potential to burn him. Their love was like melting into each other, neither would make it out alive.”

31. Hardest character to write.

Side characters or the main character’s family. Because those characters are always important and meaningful, but I don’t want to write them only as a means of helping the main character. I hate flat characters and everybody deserves to have a story, you know?

32. Easiest character to write.

The sidekick ™ 

The one who always knows just what to say and how to say it. 

33. Do you listen to music when you’re writing?

Only for specific scenes that music could really inspire me for. Like if I’m writing a sad scene and I’m not really in that head space, I listen to depressing ass music so I can understand the scene better. 

34. Handwritten notes or typed notes?

Both. Here, have some of my notes.

Just some random dialogue drabbles:

 “So, can I find you here often?” “Jamie…I work here.” “Oh, yeah, right. Of course.”

“There’s nothing beautiful nor poetic about being an asshole, Jenny. Calm down.”

“Listen, you’ll always be a jalapeno bagel and strawberry cream cheese to me, but I sort of feel like I should know your name by now.” 

“Emma, have you ever been in love?” “I might have been. Then again, girls are easy to love, I’m pretty sure Jamie is a different story. If you want my advice Charlotte, date a girl.” 

35. Tell some backstory details about one of your characters in your story ________.

The main character is named Charlotte Caroline Tillman. She’s named after the city and state(ish) that her parents met in. She has an older brother named Chance and a calico cat named Sally Mae. Charlotte goes to an Arts Magnet High School and she has a troubled history with her father, and a lot of the story is about her accepting things she cannot change. Her best friend, Emma, is v gay and v hot. 

36. A spoiler for story _________.

Charlotte ends up leaving town and everyone she loves. All that’s left behind is a note and a phone number. She leaves her life behind. No closure and no goodbyes. She’s kind of a dick. 

37. Most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you.

“That’s where you’re wrong. Everybody has a story, and every one is worth being told.” 

38. Have you shared your outline of your story ________ with someone? If so, what did they think of it?

Lol no, my outline isn’t even finished homeboy

39. Do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one.

I usually base my side characters off of people I know or have met, even if only for a brief moment. For example, today at work I saw somebody and instantly knew that I needed her in my story. She is now the inspiration for my character Jenny. 

40. Original Fiction or Fanfiction, and why?

Both are equally fun and important. Fanfiction is an amazing starting point for beginners, and it helps them write. However, original fiction is so raw and new that it could inspire future writers. 

41. How many stories do you work on at one time?

Typically just one, but I always have other stories in the back of my head. I like to focus on one at a time though, that way I can keep characters and plot points straight. 

42. How do you figure out your characters looks, personality, etc.

Well, like I’ve said, my characters come first. So based on whatever kind of story I want to tell, my character has to portray that. So I pick and choose different tropes and arc ideas that could impact the story even further. 

43. Are you an avid reader?

I heckin’ try to be. Sadly, I don’t always get into stories easily. 

44. Best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

I had an English teacher write a note on one of my writing pieces telling me that she knew I had talent and every teacher has one student where they think “That one…that one’s gonna be the one who makes it” I was that student for her. Oh, and my composition professor had my class read some of our writing pieces, and he told the next semester’s class about my writing. The next time I had him in class, he handed me a form for a writing contest. 

45. Worst piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

I honestly probably blocked it out. Idk, probably that I use too many commas? Or that one of my chapters was written in a passive voice. 

46. What would your story _______ look like as a tv show or movie? 

OH MAN! It would be great and I feel like a lot of the stories I write would be 100 times better on the big screen. 

47. Do you start with characters or plot when working on a new story?

Characters. 

48. Favorite genre to write in.

Contemporary or science fiction

49. What do you find the hardest to write in a story, the beginning, the middle or the end?

The middle

50. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had.

A coven of teenage witches that were randomly selected to be given magic. Some of them became corrupt with power, and the others found good use for them. 

51. Describe the aesthetic of your story _______ in 5 sentences or words.

Self love, friendship, denial, heavy, heartbreaking 

52. How did writing change you?

It opened my mind to endless ideas and helped me grow. I often didn’t know what I was feeling until I wrote about it. 

53. What does writing mean to you?

It means creating a million versions of yourself and turning it into a lesson or inspiration for other. 

54. Any writing advice you want to share?

Don’t stop. There are so many things you have to tell the world, so tell them. 

[talesfromsomeday]

GSNK - Please Select a Present

Read on AO3 | Series on AO3 Series: Alternate Route (Part 2) | Title: Please Select a Present Fandom: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun | Pairing: MayuMiko (Platonic/Greyromantic [QPR]) Rating: G | Warnings: None | Genres: Fluff Summary: Mayu is rather suddenly made aware that Mikoshiba's birthday is on Valentine's Day, and sets out to find a gift for him. Author’s Notes: I'm sorry this is a day late! I wanted to finally follow up on my first fic and post something for Mikoshiba's birthday, and this is what I came up with. ------------ “Oh, Mikoshiba...” Nozaki started, swiveling his chair to face the table Mayu was huddled at between Mikoshiba and Sakura. “Your birthday is coming up, is there something you want to do?” Mayu’s head popped up in a rare moment of reflex, startling Mikoshiba, who just barely managed to stutter out an answer. “I-I didn’t really think of anything... I thought you would be busy planning for your notes and research...”

“Ah, that’s true. There’s a lot of new chocolate displays this year,” Nozaki nodded, touching his chin. “That doesn’t mean we can’t make time to celebrate, Mikorin!” Sakura chimed in, an almost scolding tone directed at Nozaki. “Most of the research and note-taking is only during school anyway. We’ll have plenty of time after!” “Y-you really don’t have to worry about it! It’s fine!” Mikoshiba insisted. “It’s awkward to be out on my birthday anyway...” “Well, if you really don’t want to...” Sakura replied quietly. “Maybe we can do something the day after?” “Mikoto-san’s birthday...” Mayu finally said. “Is it Valentine’s?” Everyone stared at him, except for Mikoshiba, who was fidgeting with his pen and staring at the flowers on the page in front of him. “You didn’t know?” Nozaki finally asked. Mayu shook his head. “Ah. Well, yes, it’s Valentine’s Day.” “Poor Mikorin...” Sakura wiped a tear from her eye. “Hey! Don’t make fun of me!” Mikoshiba accused, finally moving into motion again to point an annoyed finger at her. “Well, we can plan something for the day after,” Nozaki said. “Try and think of something you want to do.” Everyone went back to working on their portions of the manga, and Mayu laid his head back down on the table and watched Mikoshiba’s hands carefully tracing ink in the shapes of flowers. It was only after Mikoshiba and Sakura went home for the night that Mayu got up from the table to pull insistently on his elder brother’s sleeve. “Hm? What is it, Mayu?” “Mikoto-san’s birthday...” “Oh, did you want to come along for the celebration?” “Yes, but... a gift...” “I see! Yes, you two are pretty close, you should definitely get him a gift!” Mayu could tell by the glint in his eye that his brother had some ulterior motives, but he couldn’t really be bothered to care too much. “You could get him chocolates! Or flowers! Wait, are flowers too romantic? What about a confession letter?” Mayu frowned at him. “No, you’re right, that’s too much.” “His birthday,” Mayu emphasized. “Hmm... you’re right that Mikoshiba doesn’t like Valentine’s Day much… so it would probably be best just to focus on the birthday part.” His brother held his chin and shut his eyes in thought. “Something heartfelt and not too romantic...” Mayu wondered why “not romantic” was even being mentioned as a qualifier, but chalked it up to the unfortunate date of Mikoshiba’s birthday and didn’t question it further. As the minutes stretched on in silence with no new ideas, Mayu debated going home. He ultimately decided he was too tired, though, so after Nozaki suggested he ask Sakura for advice and returned to working on his manga, he curled up on his futon in the corner to get some rest. --------- “And everything has to be pink, you know? Always pink and covered in ribbons and stuff! It’s so embarrassing!” Mikoshiba buried his face in his hands as Sakura awkwardly patted his shoulder in an attempt to console him. “Don’t worry, Mikorin, we’ll do something fun for your birthday so you’ll forget all about all the pink, okay?” The only response she got was something that sounded distinctly like a muffled sob. “Oh, Mayu-kun!” Sakura quickly waved as she saw the boy walking down the hall towards them. “Sakura-san, can we talk?” A confused look crossed Sakura’s face, but she nodded. “Sure, is something wrong...?” Mayu shook his head, then turned and started walking away, towards the stairwell. Sakura gave Mikoshiba another quick pat on the shoulder, assured him she’d be right back, and rushed to follow after Mayu. “What’s up, Mayu-kun?” Sakura asked once they had gotten into the stairwell and out of earshot of Mikoshiba. “Mikoto-san’s birthday...” Sakura’s face lit up. “Oh! Are you going to do something for him? You should get him chocolates! Or flowers!?” Mayu sighed quietly to himself and wondered when exactly his brother and Sakura would finally get together. They sure had a lot in common, at least as far as he could see. “His birthday,” Mayu emphasized again, feeling tired from repeating himself. “Oh, right, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to do a Valentine’s thing, would it...? But I’m sure there’s something else you can do!” Mayu frowned. “D-don’t worry, Mayu-kun! If you need help, I’ll help you! We can go after school and look for something!” Mayu wasn’t sure how well it would work out, but he wanted his gift to be a surprise, so he couldn’t ask Mikoshiba directly. Though it would certainly be tiring, Mayu didn’t think it could hurt, so he agreed to a meeting place with Sakura and left for class. After the long day of school, they met up in front of the building and decided to head in the direction of the nearby mall. “So, Mayu-kun, how were your classes today?” Mayu considered the question. “I slept the best in math today.” He nodded slightly. “Uh, I think you’re supposed to be paying attention…” Sakura said. “Ah, but what about gym?” “We played basketball...” Sakura’s face brightened. “Did you score any points?” Mayu considered it. “Brother is better at basketball than me,” he finally said. He could tell Sakura was now questioning whether he had actually tried or not, but he didn’t feel the need to argue in his defense. “I see,” she said. “Are there any sports you like besides judo?” Mayu tried to think about what other sports existed, finally landing on one he had tried as a kid. “Archery?” “Ah, I think that suits you! It requires a lot of strength, but you don’t have to move much.” Mayu nodded slightly. It was something he wouldn’t mind doing again, though practicing two sports at once seemed like it would be too tiring. His train of thought was interrupted when he suddenly became aware of a familiar presence nearby, and he turned to find his brother hiding behind a nearby tree. “Hiding” was really being generous, as the thin twig of a tree was barely wide enough to hide one arm, much less his whole body. Still, the older Nozaki looked startled when Mayu lazily pointed him out, drawing Sakura’s attention. “Oh, Nozaki-kun! What are you doing here?” Though Mayu could tell by the slight twitch in her eye that she already knew, she still seemed perfectly happy to see him. “I—I needed some supplies from the art store!” He quickly lied. “Nozaki-kun, if you wanted to come along you could have just asked.” Nozaki rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and finally moved out from behind the tree to join them, and the three of them started walking again. It wasn’t too long before they arrived at the mall. Mayu felt a wave of tiredness as he stepped into the busy building, but he valiantly fought the urge to yawn. “Okay, commence Operation ‘Get Mikorin the Perfect Gift’!” Sakura declared, clenching her fist. “Operation ‘Gift’,” Mayu agreed with a surprising amount of energy, which was to say, with a voice he recognized as slightly more emotional than monotone. “Ah, yeah, that’s a bit shorter, huh?” Sakura laughed. “Mayu is very good at shortening things and coming up with acronyms,” Nozaki nodded. “Doesn’t it get confusing though, since he does that all the time?” Sakura questioned, then shook her head. “No, never mind, that’s not important right now. Mayu-kun!” She turned back towards him. “Where do you want to start?” Mayu shrugged with one shoulder. “That’s what I figured,” she said dejectedly. “We could go to the art store,” Nozaki suggested. “Nozaki-kun, we both know you were lying, so how is that supposed to help us get a gift for Mikorin?” “I was only partially lying, I really do need some supplies,” Nozaki said seriously. “Okay, fine. We’ll go to the art store while we try to think of a better choice.” With their destination agreed on, they set off in that direction. Nozaki busied himself loading a basket with screentone sheets while Mayu hung around with Sakura, who was browsing the oil paints and brushes. “Do you ever draw, Mayu?” Sakura idly asked, thumbing through a cup of brushes. “Yes, for judo.” Sakura gave him a weird look. “Why would you need to draw for judo?” “To teach my team moves. I practice because they focus better when I draw things they like.” “What sort of requests do they make…?” Sakura asked suspiciously.            “Well, they always want me to draw girls…” He paused. “They have specific tastes, I guess.” Sakura looked even more suspicious. “…would you show me sometime?” She finally asked, her curiosity about the content plain on her face. Mayu figured she was probably also wondering if he could draw as well as his brother could. “One of my classmates made a blog to collect them,” he said, pulling out his phone. “Here.” He opened up the webpage and handed the phone to her. “It’s surprisingly girly,” Sakura commented to herself. “Do you do all the drawings on a white board? That’s gotta be tough!” Mayu nodded. “Wait, ‘MayuMayu’...? Where have I heard that name before?” She considered it, scrolling through the pictures and squinting at the screen. Mayu wondered if she had spontaneously forgotten his name when she suddenly jumped, a bright blush appearing across her face. She hurriedly shoved the phone back into Mayu’s hands. “Wait here I’ll be right back!” She almost yelled, scrambling out of the aisle and leaving Mayu standing there confused. He briefly considered following her but decided it would be too much trouble and went back to looking at the myriad of paint colors. He’d find out why she was acting so weird eventually, no point in expending the energy on it now. She returned after several minutes of hushed voices floating over from the next aisle, smiling innocently but still blushing a little too much to really sell it. They went back to their shopping, but Mayu did not miss all the furtive glances she kept sending him. Once Nozaki had retrieved all of his needed supplies, and Sakura had splurged on a few new brushes, they finally left the store and promptly realized they had forgotten to think about where to go next. “Well, Mikorin collects figures right? We could go look at the figure store,” Sakura suggested. “Yeah, that makes sense,” Nozaki agreed, nodding. Mayu also nodded his agreement, and so the three of them set off to look at figures. “I forgot that it’s a little bit intimidating,” Sakura said as she stepped sheepishly inside. She turned towards Mayu. “Do you know what series or characters he likes? There’s a lot of choices…” They started to wander around the store, Mayu pointing out the figures that he recognized from Mikoshiba’s collection. By the time they had circled the whole place, it was clear to all of them that identifying the series or favorite characters was not the issue; it was finding a figure from any of those series the store stocked that Mikoshiba didn’t have. “W-well, it doesn’t have to be a figure! I’m sure there’s something else so let’s keep looking!” Sakura turned to lead them out of the store, accidentally bumping into someone who was standing behind her. “Oh, sorry—” She stopped suddenly as she realized who it was. “Oh, Mikoshiba,” Nozaki half-greeted from behind her. “M-Mikorin!? How long have you been standing there?” Sakura squeaked. He ignored both of them in favor of groaning pathetically. “Not again…” He covered his face with the hand that wasn’t cradling a large figure box next to his hip. After a long minute of silence, he finally looked at them again. “What are you guys even doing in here this time!? Is Nozaki planning to buy a figure to mutilate again? And why is Mayu with you!?” “Sorry, Mikorin! We were just looking around,” Sakura said, holding her hands up defensively. “Although, now that you mention it,” Nozaki started, “it still wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a figure for reference.” Mayu could practically see the steam coming out of Mikoshiba’s ears at the comment. “Out! Out! If you’re not going to respect the figures then just leave!” He summarily kicked both of them out of the store, leaving Mayu standing in the aisle, looking at the back of Mikoshiba’s head and the box that was still in his hands. “Are you going to buy that?” Mayu finally asked, pointing at the box. Mikoshiba finally turned back to him, his cheeks slightly flushed. “I was thinking about it, but I don’t have enough money right now…” “Can I see?” Mayu asked. “Huh? Oh, uh, sure…”Mikoshiba sheepishly handed him the box. Mayu took it and examined the figure more closely. It didn’t seem as incriminating as the one that he had been holding the last time Nozaki and Sakura had seen him in the store, or at least it didn’t seem so based on the description his brother had given him of the incident. The figure was of a girl with short, pale pink hair, wearing a somewhat short skirt, a button-up shirt, and a green hoodie. She also had a small pixel spaceship hair clip in her bangs and a cat-shaped plush backpack on her back. Mayu really had no idea who she was or what series she came from. “Cute,” Mayu finally commented. Mikoshiba seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.“Right? She’s one of my favorites from this series! But the price… it’s normal for a prepaint statue but it’s a little more than I can afford right now...” Mayu’s eyes finally settled on the price tag on the front of the box. It was a little over ten thousand yen; he didn’t really have enough money for it either. He briefly wondered if pooling their money would be enough, but he didn’t think that was any way to get someone a birthday present out of the blue and quickly gave up the idea. He handed the box back. “Maybe for your birthday?” “It’s too embarrassing to ask my parents for something like this! But maybe I’ll get some money or something…” Mikoshiba said, looking at the figure sadly before putting it back on the shelf. Mayu suddenly had an idea. “Mikoto-san, do you want to come with us?”“Huh? Why? No, I mean… what are you guys even doing here?” “We just wanted to hang around,” Mayu lied. Mikoshiba eyed him suspiciously. “You wanted to hang around?” He asked skeptically. Mayu shrugged. “Brother was going so I couldn’t go to his house. I decided to come along.” Mikoshiba didn’t look entirely convinced but he dropped the subject. “Alright, well, I guess I can go with you? Since we’re all here? Where were you guys planning to go next?” Mayu shrugged again. “Haven’t decided.” “Okay. Well, I guess we should go get Nozaki and Sakura, huh? They look a little antsy out there.” “Gossiping?” Mayu suggested, looking at the pair outside, leaning close together with their hands hiding their mouths. “Probably,” Mikoshiba said dryly. They finally turned and headed out of the store to meet Nozaki and Sakura. “Why didn’t you kick Mayu out too?” Nozaki grumbled. “Now, now, Nozaki-kun, I’m sure he has his reasons,” Sakura chided with a knowing tone. Mikoshiba seemed to pointedly ignore her implications. “So, where do you guys want to go?” He asked. “Oh, are you coming along, Mikorin?” Sakura asked, her eyebrows drawing together. “Mayu asked me to come…” “Oh,” Sakura said, giving Mayu a questioning look. “Alright then! Why don’t you pick, Mikorin?” “Why do I have to pick?” Mikoshiba groaned. “Hmm… how about the game store?” Sakura discreetly looked to Mayu for guidance, and catching his tiny nod, agreed. “Okay! Let’s go!” “I didn’t know you liked games, Sakura?” Nozaki questioned. “I don’t play them often but it’s fun to look around!” She shot him a “please play along” look, which he surprisingly noticed and heeded. “Ah, okay. Then let’s go!” They finally headed off. “Maybe I should play a game sometime too? Dating sims are kind of fun. At least that one we played was.” “Well, you are always complaining you don’t have any hobbies when you finish your manga early…” Mikoshiba said. “But then we’ll probably just end up drawing more doujinshi...” “Doujinshi?” Mayu questioned. “Ah, when Mikoshiba made me play the game, we got really attached to this side character named Tomoda, so we ended up drawing a doujinshi where he gets his own love story with the—” “Nozaki!” Mikoshiba quickly cut him off. “I’m sure he’s not interested in what it’s about!” “With who?” Mayu prompted, inadvertently ignoring Mikoshiba’s attempt to end the conversation. “With the protagonist,” Nozaki finished before Mikoshiba could stop him. Mikoshiba covered his eyes with one hand. “They pulled an all-nighter to finish it; it was little shocking the next day when I saw it,” Sakura added. Mikoshiba covered his face with his other hand. Mayu wondered to himself why Mikoshiba was so embarrassed about it, but decided not to question further. “We’re here,” he finally said, which made Mikoshiba reluctantly uncover his face. “They have a display for Girls Princess 4! I forgot it was coming out this month!” He suddenly exclaimed, eyeing the display in the front window. “The tenth, huh? That’s this Friday,” Nozaki said. “Crap, that means I can’t buy it yet!” Mikoshiba finally rushed inside the store to look at the promotional stands, and Mayu followed slowly after. “And I can’t preorder it either because I’m short a little bit...” He added with a depressed tone. “Ask for your birthday?” “It’s a gal game, though! It’s embarrassing!” “Hm,” Mayu hummed noncommittally. “I really hope I get some money so I can buy all this stuff...” Mikoshiba whined, turning the display game case over in his hands. Mayu watched his fingers twirling idly, then noted the price on the box. It was three thousand yen; that was certainly a price he could manage. With a plan decided, he touched Mikoshiba’s hand gently. “I’ll be back.” He looked around for Nozaki and Sakura, found them in one of the corners of the store, and walked over. “Sakura-san.” “Hm? What is it Mayu?” “Can you do something for me?” --------- Mayu knew it couldn’t have been easy, but Sakura managed a lot better than he himself could have, he was sure of that. It was finally Mikoshiba’s birthday; Mikoshiba had declined going out until tomorrow, but had (happily, Mayu hoped) allowed him to visit. Staying at home kept him more or less safely insulated from all the pink and hearts and romance outside, which Mayu knew he would appreciate, and which he himself was a little happy for, too. Now, the two of them were huddled together on Mikoshiba’s bed as Mikoshiba showed him what his parents had given him for his birthday. “And they told me last week that they were going to give me some money too, so I wanted to go and preorder Girls Princess 4, but somehow I couldn’t get down there to do it? Every time I planned to go, Sakura appeared to ask me for help with something, it was weird!” Yes, it could not have been easy for Sakura. Mayu definitely owed her one. He pulled his bag into his lap and opened it. “So I never got to preorder it... I think I’ll go down tomorrow and see if they still have some cop—” Mikoshiba fell quiet suddenly when he caught sight of the game case that Mayu had slipped carefully out of his bag and held out to him. “I asked her to keep you,” Mayu admitted. “Sorry.” Mikoshiba stared at the case for several moments, then looked at Mayu, then back at the case again. He did it several times before Mayu moved the case a little closer to him, trying to encourage him to take it. Mikoshiba’s hands finally lifted, gently taking hold of the case. “You bought it for me....?” “Happy birthday.” Mayu smiled softly, and a slight blush appeared on Mikoshiba’s face. “T-thank you,” he said, his head falling onto Mayu’s shoulder to avoid the younger’s gaze. Mayu gently patted the back of his head. “Shall we play?” He suggested. Mikoshiba sat up again. “Yeah! But you have to pick your own love interest this time!” Mayu smiled again “Sure.” Mikoshiba smiled wide and got up to put the game in.

[thesunnyshow]

Name: Elsie

Writing Blog URLs: @jyeonvoir​, @linochee​, and @cinnominroll​

What fandoms do you write for?: The Boyz, Stray Kids, and NCT (Mostly for dreamie)

Age: 20

Nationality: Indonesian

Languages: Native-level Indonesia, Intermediate English, and Beginner-level Chinese

Star Sign: Aries

MBTI: ESFP-A

Favorite color: Soft blue and pink

Favorite food: Fried chicken

Favorite movie: Along With The Gods: Two Worlds

Favorite ice cream flavor: Chocolate

Favorite animal: Cat and Dog

Dream job (whether you have a job or not): Since I was in middle school, I dreamed to be a news anchor or a tv presenter

Coffee or tea? What are you ordering?: I actually prefer milk more than those two, But if I have to choose, I will go with tea

Go-to karaoke song: Popular songs of the year that I know (Western and Korean)

If you could have one superpower, what would you choose?: Space and time manipulation

If you could visit a historical era, which would you choose?: Srivijaya era (3rd – 14th centuries) or Majapahit era (1293–1500)

If you could restart your life, knowing what you do now, would you?: I don’t think I would. Restarting my life would mean I have a chance to fix my future, but it also means I might lose something I have in the future (and it does not always mean good)

If you were a trope in a teen high school movie, what would you have been?: Either the popular kid or the loner

Would you rather fight 100 chicken-sized horses or one horse-sized chicken?: 100 chicken-sized horses. Normal-sized chicken already scares me, I can’t imagine what will happen if I have to fight horse-sized chicken, even it’s one.

Do you believe in aliens/supernatural creatures?: Yes, I do. Not everything can be explained in science, y’know.

Fun fact about yourself that not everyone would know?: When I was five y.o, I had my parents panicked once. So back then, instead of going home with my little sister, I went to the hospital alone and visited my mother who had just given birth to my little brother without giving any notice to them. My neighbour, who saw my little sister went home without me, worried and called my dad. Panicked, my dad called my mom and told them that I was missing. Lucky, I arrived at my mom’s room just when she answered my dad’s call and they hadn’t called the police yet. Later that night, I got a long lecture from my dad at home.

When did you post your first piece?: If I remember it correctly, it was around early July 2018 on my personal blog -- one or two weeks after I just joined Tumblr. But, before Tumblr, I had posted fics on Wattpad in late 2014

Why did you decide to write for Tumblr?: It’s all because I found a few interesting fics here and then it motives me to write again. I also happened to be looking for a new platform to write since I was bored with Wattpad.

Do you write fluff/angst/crack/general/smut, combo, etc? Why?: I do write fluff and angst fics, but mostly fluff because I’m a sucker for fluff. I’m not good with angst and bad at writing smut

Do you write OCs, X Readers, Ships...etc?: Used to write Ocs, but since I joined Tumblr I write X Readers more often than OCs.

What inspires you to write?: MVs (The one with a story) and song lyrics

What genres/AUs do you enjoy writing the most?: Romance with a little bit of fantasy

What do you do when you hit a rough spot creatively?: Take a break from writing for a while

What is your favorite work and why? Your most successful?: My favorite work of mine and the most succesful, excluding the drabbles and timestamps, is Lee Know’s fic titled “What Are You Up To?”. Among the oneshots I had made, it is the only fic that reached more than 200 notes and I’m quite proud of it. It was inspired by a Korean novel I read and a bitter experience of my junior high school love.

What do you hope your readers take away from your work?: I hope my readers can see many sides of a relationship, either it friendship or between lovers. Sometimes, relationship can’t be smooth and have a happy ending like in movies and novels, and it’s not always sad and dark. Also, since the culture that I have grown up with different from people that I meet from this online platform, I want to show how I see a relationship supposed to be.

Who is your favorite person to write about?: In the boyz, it was Sunwoo and Kevin since they are the easiest out of twelve to write for me. In Stray Kids, It is either Bang Chan, Hyunjin, or Lee Know. As for NCT, I think it will be Jaemin and Jeno.

Do you think there’s a difference between writing fanfiction vs. completely original prose?: Yes, I do. To me, writing fanfiction is easier than an original. In fanfiction, I don’t need to make a detailed characterization of the characters since it’s using a real person as the reference. But as for an original, the more detailed the characterization of the characters the more people could get the sketch of the story since this is the character that I made myself without a reference. 

What do you think makes a good story?: A good description, and language that easy to understand, followed with a balanced proportion of dialogue and description.

What is your writing process like?: I start by writing the outline first and do some research before starting to write it. I don’t have a specific plan like when should I write or how long it should be, but I tend to write when I’m in the mood. I can’t force myself to finish a fic just in one week (If I do, I will not satisfy with it and the ending will feel rushed). That’s why It usually takes a long time for me to finish a fic or req.

Would you ever repurpose a fic into a completely original story?: Yes. Of course I would. I’m actually in the process of repurposing one of my old fics into a webtoon with my little sister. But we don’t know when we will start.

What tropes do you love, and what tropes can’t you stand?: I love strangers-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, secret relationship, and bad boy tropes. To be exact, any trope that show a good development of the characters and has a fantasy in it will be in my to-read list. However, I can’t stand the tropes with angst (especially if I’m not in the mood to read angst), break up, and thriller in it. I will still read it, but not on the top of my to-read list.

What has been one of the biggest factors of your success (of any size)?: Supportive friends and family members. 

Do you ever feel there are times when you’re writing for others, rather than yourself?: No, I don’t. I always write for myself and put my satisfaction first before anything. 

Do you ever feel like people have misunderstood you or your writing at times?: No, I don’t. It never happens to me.

Do your offline friends/loved ones know you write for Tumblr?: Some of my college friends who are a Kpop stan do know about it, though they don’t know my blog url. Only my little sister does.

Do you think fanfic writers get unfairly judged?: Yeah, most of the times. Especially for those who write X Readers fics.

Do you think art can be a medium for change?: Absolutely. Art has the power to inspire change in the masses.

How much would you say audience feedback/engagement means to you?: Feedback and constructive criticism on my works are so, so valued! It’s important for me to able to improve and motivate myself.

What is one thing you wish you could tell your followers?: Please stay healthy and be happy. Feel free to talk to me whenever you want because my ask always open for you.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers who might be too scared to put themselves out there?: You will never know your potential until you try it. It’s okay if your first work doesn’t look great. No one is perfect, even me. I used to make so many grammatical errors in my first fic (even in the newest one, though it wasn’t that bad like before). As long as you satisfy with it, you still can improve it in the future.

Are there any times when you regret joining Tumblr?: Nah, There aren’t.

Do you have any mutuals who have been particularly formative/supportive in your Tumblr journey?: Yes, I do. And I’m thankful for that. Because of them, I was able to learn new things and experience many styles of writing by reading theirs.

Pick a quote to end your interview with: “Sometimes you feel like you are alone in this world, but in reality, you have people around you who love and care for you.” -- Huang Renjun

BONUS: K-POP CONFIDENTIAL

Interested in your very own episode of The Sunny Show? Find out how to apply HERE.

[joshhutchsource]

Josh Hutcherson AMA Transcript

This is the transcript from Josh’s AMA on Reddit on February 16th, 2017.  All spelling and grammar errors are as written by the original people  This is very long, so the majority is under a read more.

Q:  Do you miss working with the Hunger Games cast?

Josh:  yes... they were the best! family forever. i miss them all dearly... however we still hang now and then and keep in touch.

Q:  Hi! What's your favorite television show to watch?

Josh:  the Bob Ross painting show... i can benge for hours

Q:  Hey Mr. Hutcherson, is there any actor (that you have not yet worked with) that you wish to work with someday?

Josh:  so many.... joaquin phoenix is up there for sure.

Q:  Hi Josh, You got second class treatment from Rosemary Telesco and continued with Katniss Everdeen. Does it hurt your feelings?

Josh:  hahaha.... life imitates art…

Q:  What do you define as your first "big break" into acting and that business?

Josh:  For me my first ever job was personally my big break.. I was 9 and I held a goat in the backgroud for a bible study video in ohio.... everyone starts somewhere…

Q:  How do you go about choosing a script that you want to work on, both for this project and other professional work?

Josh:  I want originality. Characters that are bold and have clear voices. i also want to push the boundaries of what reality is.

Q:  Hey Josh! What is the craziest encounter you've had with a fan?

Josh:  i had two girls and their mom show up at my door a few years ago during christmas with my family..... that was..... awkward. Im not answering the door next time. Haha

Q:  do you think 2017 is going to be a good year?

Josh:  hard to believe it can be... however I feel like so many people are getting involved that werent before... this is a moment when people feel energized.

Q:  If you had not been an actor, what profession would you have done?

Josh:  i like building stuff... and i like photography... maybe building stuff and taking pictures of it... if thats a job

Q:  Because Im sure you get the same questions over and over - what's your favorite day of the week, and why?

Josh:  Thursday... not becuase im here... but because i like how the word looks. and wednesday is finally over.

Q:  JOSH is there anything you couldn't live without?

Josh:  my freedom of speech and gluten

Q:  your favorite song at this moment?

Josh:  Lazarus by David Bowie

Q:  Why were you such a little bitch in the hunger games ?

Josh:  i prefer other words... however this little bitch survived. so... yeah.

Q:  Which country do you think is the safest in a zombie apocalypse?

Josh:  Iceland... no doubt. Zombies hate Byjork

Q:  What's your idea of a successful person. What would make someone successful in your eyes?

Josh:  A person who is comfortable in their skin... I'm defintely not. I have gotten better as time goes on but someone who is and who is genuine is successful for me.

Q:  Do you have any advice for someone dealing with depression?

Josh:  I'm not certified to answer this sort of thing. However I go back to perception. As well as really find what you care about and express it. film, music, walking... whatever it is that you can connect with is what i try to lose myself in.

Q:  i feel like, in my mind, i always associate you with the jungle. Why is that?

Josh:  that really makes me smile. I love the jungle and i feel a part of it often. thank you.

Q:  hi josh, I'm not very good at english so I can't write a good question but do you like mango?

Josh:  yes... im human. never trust someone who doesnt

Q:  What do you think about Darren Aeronosfsky as a director?

Josh:  I think hes great... requiem is on point!!

Q:  Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Josh:  here in this ama.

probably isolated somehwere thinking of ideas of things to make movies about. I dont know!!!! cant think that far ahead honestly.

Q:  in ten words can you describe your experience directing "Ape"?

Josh:  BEst experience of my life creatively hello cars cat apples

Q:  What's your favorite food?

Josh:  Skyline Chili... Only available in the greater Cincy area…

Q:  You still here? And if so, what do you think of the Oscar contenders this year?

Josh:  Moonlight!!! That movie was incredible. I also really loved LA LA Land. those two really stood out for me. so many great performances though. Denzel was on point!

Q:  Donald Trump or President Snow ?

Josh:  I mean... one in the same right?

Q:  How are Driver and Manchi?

Josh:  they are the loves of my life.... I worship them. I believe they are quite happy. they get plenty of love and attention!

Q:  ‼️‼️‼️ BERNIE SANDERS !!!! ❗️❗️❗️❗️

now that i got your attention,

Do you watch TV SHOWS ? If yes which one

You are such an inspiration to me. After almost 10 years as a fan, im really proud of you and everything you've achieved! I cant wait to watch ALL your upcomings projects and you are such an AMAZING human being Joshua. Thank you for everything. Seeing you in Paris in 2015 was the best moment of my life, i hope i will see you again and talk with you. Please don't forget your fans, we love you so much. (We missed you so much) Will you ever come back in France? :)

Josh:  THANK YOU!! that made my day=] I love france and would love to come back!

I do watch some tv... not so so much. I really love GIRLS. that show is so perfect in so many ways. Ive never seen a show that feels more flawed and honest like that one. Best characters ever.

Q:  Really wanna know if you'll keep supporting Bernie although the election is over?

Josh:  ABSOLUTELY. we must. things are crazy now but we need to vote in local elections and keep our voices loud. I miss the days when Bernie was a real option…

Q:  Hey Josh! Congrats on your director debut of "Ape." Were there things you did differently as an actor because you were also the director? How did it change your perspective?

Josh:  it was hard... I liked it a lot but it was tough because i couldnt watch the monitors obviously so i had to make notes in my mind while acting in the scene... i realy liked this experience though and i have somehow even more respect for directors than before.

Q:  Do you believe in a real life happy ending? If yes, what would you tell someone who kind of lost hope?

Josh:  I think a happy ending is possible. I really believe its all about perception. If you can learn to manage that then you can find ways to be happy all the time

Q:  HEY JOSH! I'm so glad you have finally done an AMA!

What advice would you give you're teenage self when entering the theatre/acting community?

Josh:  thick skin. actors are the most insecure and insane types of people... with that you need to have thick skin to deflect the dissapointment and let downs and judgements.

Q:  Do you want to repeat the experience as a director??

Josh:  No doubt. I loved it. its extremely addictive and Im feining fo some mo.

Q:  Hi Josh ! How are you ? Will there be a French subtitled version for Ape ? I'm a French fan :) Thank you !

Josh:  oui... i think.

Q:  Yooo RV was a dumpster fire of a movie...that being said, how awesome was it to work with Robin Williams??

Josh:  hahahahah! Robin is a saint... biggest heart in the world and never a dull moment. he was the best.

Q:  What kind of movies would you like to direct in the future?

Josh:  I like stuff that bends reality and questions the human condition... bending the rules. I love films like being john malkovich and eternal sunshine of a spotless mind

Q:  Hey Josh! What's your all time favorite movie or a movie you think everyone needs to see?

Josh:  Two for the Road. 60's film that was way ahead of its time and has inspried so many modern love stories. its great!

Q:  Hello, Josh! As an aspiring filmmaker, I know how tedious making any sort of film can be. What gets you motivated to create? Also, what’s your favorite snack? Cause, duh, snacks are some of the best motivators.

Josh:  Honestly I think i get inspired when i see a dope movie... like when i saw moonlight i just wanted to go out and create something personal and important.

Also sitting in a restaurant looking around and making up stories about the people...

Snack..... kale. Fuk off kale!! frosted flakes

Q:  JOSH. Huge fan, you're awesome, yadda yadda ;)

You're such a strong ally to the LGBT community. How did you get involved with your organization, Straight But Not Narrow? What is your advice to the community in the wake of certain political events?

Josh:  We started SBNN becuase it felt like there was a lack of outreach to bridge communities together... especially in schools where bullying is brutal. I think now more than ever showing your support to your neighbors is paramount in surviving whats going on.

We are all here and human

Q:  What was it like working with Mark Ruffalo?

Josh:  Hes the best guy in the world. I love that human!

Q:  Josh! Favorite 80's movie?

Josh:  Lost Boys

Q:  Do you have any directorial advice?

Josh:  prepare!! Its so important to know what you want to make so when youre there on set you have it all set up.

The script is the absolute base for everything. understad it inside and out.

Q:  Hi Josh!

You and I went to the same school, and you even lived in the same neighborhood as some of my close friends. We’ve never met because you always looked like you wanted privacy and I wanted to respect that, plus I’m a shy person who wouldn’t have known what to say. I’ve always wondered if you felt like you sort of missed out on your high-school experience, and if that impacted you on a social and mental level.

I’m trying to pursue my dream of becoming a published author, but sometimes I just feel like it’s never going to happen and that I’ll never be successful in the only thing that I’m passionate about. What advice would you give to someone who’s been told over and over again to give up their dream and focus on a more practical plan for their life?

Thanks for doing this AMA! It’s really awesome seeing someone from Union doing what they love!

Josh:  I think that going for something different in life is for sure the most important thing to do... FUCK THE HATERS!

Only you can stop yourself from going for it.

that should be on an inspirational cat poster...

Q:  How would you beat up Donald trump?

Josh:  With knowledge.... it seems to be his biggest weakness…

Q:  Would you rather be attacked by 50 duck sized horses or 1 horse sized duck?

Josh:  One horse sized duck.... no question... Ive seen some big ass ducks…

Q:  What are the kind of things you learned while working your blockbuster role in "The Hunger Games Trilogy"?

Josh:  TEAMWORK. we had massive crews and it is not possible without all that.

Q:  Josh Do you have any Tips for a Happy life?

Josh:  Inner happiness... you wont find it in anything else in the world. thats the only way to get by and be happy

Q:  what is the number one thing on your bucket list?

Josh:  go to patagonia…

Q:  Was this role challenging for you to play and how do you think you did?

Josh:  It definitely was challenging... its a deep and dark place to go to and I like tapping into that side of myself... I think I did alright... Im my hardest critic

Q:  It's so easy to hack me because all of my passwords are your name, what do you think about that?

Josh:  Its kinda dope,... maybe try changing it for a bit?

Q:  What is your favorite horror movie?

Josh:  I really like It Follows... and classics like the shining of course... some chronenburg stuff too... butchered that spelling

Q:  Is it harder to be an actor or a director?

Have you thought about being in another large franchise such as the hunger games?

Josh:  Hmmm. I would say that directing definitely requires a shit ton more focus and work!!! Id say thats more challenging for sure

Q:  Are you looking forward to doing the full length APE?

Josh:  YES!!! The plan is to fastrack this into production after the short comes out. the feature is even deeper and darker... gonna be weird…

Q:  If Peeta tried to fight you, could real life you take him down?

Josh:  fuck yeah!!! well... maybe not. I have a ferocious side that I can tap into.

Q:  Hi Josh (my brothers name too) What is the most Hollywood thing you have done/seen so far?

Josh:  dont ever come to hollywood for a vacation... its tacky and nothing like they make it seem. Hah.

Q:  There's definitely a theme of dealing with mental health issues in your film. Is this something you've dealt with personally?

Josh:  There have been moments where I've questioned my mental state... haven't gone too far down that road but I think it's beyond interesting to try to empathize and deal with people who are dealing with those.

Q:  hey josh! the other night i was really high and felt like i was you. did you feel it too?

Josh:  Wait... was that monday?? I felt something then…

Q:  Hi,

What is your dream role, if you could have any in the world, and what is your dream directorial role (genre, plot, cast to direct)? If you had to pick one of these, dream role or dream directing opportunity, which would you prefer to do?

Now this is the obligatory thank-you part that I could not pass up the opportunity to post, considering how much your LGBT+ work has meant to me:

I figured this would be a good opportunity to send some well-deserved thanks your way and hope you see it…! This idea of wanting to thank you started in a letter I started writing a good few years ago now… which I still happen to have in my bedside table, because it never got sent. (I don’t think I ever figured out where to send fan-mail to you, which didn’t help my cause.)

I don’t remember, when I was younger, knowing of any out actors. I’m 20 now, but up until my mid-teens, there was a big blank space around the ideas of ‘LGBT+’ and ‘the world’ being connected for me. I’ve known I was gay since I was 11, but the experience was very isolating, not knowing any gay people in real life. I had no foundation to go on, no experience in this, and obviously felt as though I couldn’t talk with anyone about it, even though I remember very few support-type services.

I remember seeing you in Zathura (my Dad loves Jumanji, so it was bound to happen) and ever since then, I think I’ve just sort of stuck with you. I must have seen that movie when I was about 12/13, and I think that’s when I started to hear what it was you were saying, because I noticed it was relevant to me. I followed what you were saying, and as I got older and more aware of myself and the world, it really started to have an impact on me. I felt as though that was my connection, as though that was my way of learning partly about who I was.

Even though you weren’t gay, the fact that you were only a few years older than me and were into the things and the field I also enjoyed really helped me relate to you. Because I related to you and because you actually meant something to me, the message you seemed so passionate about really resonated with me and it gave me a sort of courage and hope I don’t think someone older (or just generally someone whom I didn’t look up to) would have been able to instil. For the first time, someone I liked and someone I respected was talking about this thing I wasn’t able to share with anyone else. And they were a proper force in the ‘wider world.’

I never really struggle with ‘being gay,’ but I struggled with what other people might have thought, and again your dialogue helped with that. It was just so amazing to see someone whom I respected acting in a way that showed me he would treat me and people like me just as he would any other person. Even though it wasn’t a two way conversation between us, I felt that because you were a person with such a big stature who was brave enough to say this in public, that surely you knew people like me were out there and you were at least partially talking to us.

In the big scheme of things, I didn’t have it as hard as some others do, and I never want to take that for granted. My parents are relatively liberal and Australia is an OK climate to LGBT+ in. But I still found that it was hard to relate who I was with something bigger, and it was scary thinking about whether I would have to start a journey of discovery (not just self-discovery, but a discovery of ‘everything LGBT+’ I suppose you could say) on my own. Simply said, you helped me bridge the gap that I think sometimes people forget exists, even for young LGBT+ people in “supportive” environments. Just because they’re supportive doesn’t mean they’re informative or comfortable.

Nowadays, I’m so happy when I see younger celebrities come out, because I know how much that visibility and that platform means to young LGBT+ kids who simply want to see someone like them on television or in the media. Ellen Page, Charlie Carver, Tom Daley, Troye Sivan, Gus Kenworthy, etc, are all fantastic people that I just know will help make all the difference in someone’s life, as you did in mine.

So, all in all, I just wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done and continue to do for me and everyone else like me! I think it’s fair to say you’re not just an ally, but a friend too. I hope one day I get to shake your hand and thank you in-person for what you’ve done.

(...well this is the most personal thing I've ever written on this website.)

Josh:  Of course! I think its beyond important to give people their voice and fair shot at what they want from life. GET OUT OF THE WAY HATERS!

Only light can drive out dark.

[leapingtitan]

Nick Talks: Video Making

Alright. This is going to be a little different and a little long, but as you have probably figured, I was originally going to have this question in the AMA. It’s a very good question but there are certain things preventing me from including in, mainly for the slightly long description that I’m about to give in this post. Depending on what format you like to work with, posting something like this can work out good both in text and video/narrative form, but in that video specifically, I felt like it just wouldn’t fit in.

Now, first of all, I feel like it’s mandatory to state that I’m nowhere near professional at editing. In fact, I’ve only been doing this for a little less than two months. That amount of time is nothing compared to people who have done it for a year, maybe two years and not to mention people who do this as a full-time job, on a completely different level at that.

The thing is, if I were to give a full tutorial on how to make videos, it would be better if I just did it in video form. “But why didn’t you just include it in the AMA, then?” Yeah, two reasons. One, I don’t think anyone wants to sit in front of their screen watching me do something for 10 hours (AT LEAST). And two, like I said, I’m pretty amateur at this point.

However, since people are expressing genuine interest and it’s a completely logical question nonetheless, I’ve decided to at least try answering in a fashion that would appeal to people. Personally, I think doing this in text form is okay for now. Like I said, I can’t give a full class on video editing, but I can give you the step-by-step process as well as my two cents on each individual step.

If you are genuinely interested in the process and want to find out more (or just read what I’m writing in general... either is fine), I recommend reading carefully and slowly whilst paying attention because this is going to be slightly longer than my usual posts and I’ll try my best to explain. Let’s do this.

Step 1: The Idea

This may seem obvious to some of you, but this is, and I mean it, the most important part. The idea sets everything else into motion and determines what the final product will be and how it will be received by viewers. Even if your effects and cuts are Hollywood-quality, if the overall concept is bad, people aren’t gonna like it. And this applies to quite literally everything. It doesn’t matter if it’s art, fiction, meta, theories, videos, the idea is the seed of everything that has to do with creativity.

Now, where do ideas come from? From everywhere! For me, it’s mostly just being active in the fandom. As I’ve said in the past, I do a lot of read-through’s while waiting for new chapters, and I always get more and more ideas each time. Another important source is you guys! Tumblr and the people I follow really inspire me. This in it of itself has multiple sources including other theories and meta, and quite commonly answers to asks. Everything combined together becomes the foundation for the idea, before the idea itself actually booms into existence. Lastly, I watch other YouTubers and have seen people make similar content to this. though in different fandoms and different forms. However, this is a big inspiration to me and it’s what got me to make what I’m making right now. The lore of Attack on Titan has different things that one can talk about, and my fellow meta writers are well aware of this already. 

What makes a good idea? Well, this one has a lot of different factors. For me, 98% of the feedback that I’ve gotten these past 2 months has been positive. You can call this luck, but I’ve had a lot of people to look up to and a lot of references and examples to gather experience from. But I swear, I cannot make this more clear: YOU ARE GOING TO SUCK AT THE BEGINNING. This doesn’t always apply, but you need to gather experience from failure before you can achieve something that is remotely good. Past experience can come from anything and can then be adapted and used in different ways. For example, are you a meta writer? It’s possible that your first meta got over 200 notes and was very well received, okay! But you probably already have some kind of idea how to keep your readers entertained and express your thoughts in a beautiful and addicting fashion. Maybe you’re good at writing essays in English? See what I mean? If you’re starting from complete zero in a completely new aspect though... you can read what I wrote above again. Trial and error, experience and patience are the most important aspects. And I already said this, but I’ll say it again: This applies to everything.

Step 2: Time and Motivation

Well, the idea is the most important step. But the hardest step... is this. I swear... This is the reason why Part 2 of The Timeline and History of Attack on Titan came out. Let’s start with time. First of all, I kind of already said this, but I’m not doing this as a full-time job. This is a hobby. A way for me to display what you call meta in a more visual and acoustic format. And for the record, there is school... obviously. I have studies, classes, extra work as well as things which do not involve anything academic whatsoever, like my personal life. So, okay... but it’s not like I’m 24/7 studying... right? Nope, not even close. With that, this brings me to my next aspect.

Motivation. For the record, this applies to everything. Surprise! I could have a whole day all for myself free of any worries and disturbances whatsoever. I can just sit down... and not even edit 4 seconds of video. Motivation comes from a lot of different places, mainly you guys, the community here on Tumblr, as well as my own ideas and plans for the future as to what I like doing and what kind of person I am as a whole. Reflecting really does help, but it’s absolutely vital to say this: Motivation is temporary and can’t be forced. Even if I have all of those things I mentioned, there is absolutely no guarantee that it instantly boosts the chances of me making something good by 80% or above... and that’s even way too much to be completely honest. Then there is the mood I am in. Like everyone else, I have a personal life and there are many different things that affect me. This can be of various magnitudes, but let me tell you, it can definitely prevent me from doing anything even if I do have all of the positive things I just mentioned. You just can’t force it and it has to come naturally. Personal life plays a big part, and I’ll usually take care of whatever is bothering me before having the peace of mind to sit down and get to work... that’s how it is.

Step 3 (Optional): Writing a Script

Alright, we got all of the theoretical and psychological aspects all of the way. Now we get to the actual video... except not. The reason why this step is optional can probably already made out by some of you who are reading this. For The Timeline and History of Attack on Titan video series, I wrote an entire script of everything I wanted to say. Now, back up and let’s be real here: Nobody in their right mind can possibly recite the entire Shingeki no Kyojin lore and backstory off the top of their head without jinxing at least once. For informative videos where you are trying to get your point across in a mannered, organized and appealing fashion, writing a script is the ideal solution. You have time to organize your thoughts, not make mistakes and have the full freedom to correct them at the spot before you present them to the public.

Now, of course, if you’re doing a live reaction or just freestyle/improvising, writing a script is not necessary. I mean, it wouldn’t be called a Live reaction otherwise if you’re preparing it before that... As for thoughts and opinions, this is where you have to make the choice. Do you want to spend maybe an hour (for me at least) writing a script and clearing your thoughts one by one with each word so that it can be easier afterwards? Or do you want the freedom to speak exactly that which comes to your mind at the spot. For me, like I said, it depends on the type of video you are making. Something very lore-ish and very appeal-concentrated like the Timeline series is definitely better to write a script. However, this isn’t to say that it’s mandatory. Some people are good at speaking their thoughts and having an organized mind and get their point across, nice and clean on the spot. For me, it depends. In my case there are a lot of different factors (which most definitely include the first two steps of this guide by the way), but I can’t speak on behalf of everyone reading this, obviously. Do what you are comfortable with and whatever fits your style. And of course, trial and error counts here as well.

Step 4: Recording the Audio

It’s the for the transition in format. Before you begin, here are the things I recommend to everyone: 

If you’re sick, don’t do this. Period.

Get comfortable and clear your throat.

Have a glass of water nearby at all times. You’re gonna see exactly what I mean.

If you’ve written one, bring up your script and read the first few lines or paragraphs to get comfortable and prepared. If you haven’t, clear your thoughts for a few minutes and relax.

And lastly, sit down in/on that chair with the full knowledge and awareness of the fact that you’re probably going to be sitting there for a bit and potentially fuck up. A lot.

After you’ve done that, it’s time to hit record... and after you do... well... that’s pretty much it. Depending on the type of content you are making, the things you’ll be saying and recording will be different. 

This is something I still frequently do, so take my advice: Talk slowly, take deep breaths, don’t worry if you mess up. Stop talking, drink up that water, stand up, roll around in your chair (if your chair can roll that is) and then try again. Talking slow is very important and I never realized that my words were shooting out like a machine gun and no one could recognize them until one of my private viewers pointed it out at the beginning. And for that, I’m grateful. Usually in improvisation videos like my Reviews and Live Reactions I’ll talk like I usually do (still the advice remains helpful forever),though in informative videos where you HAVE to appeal, definitely consider the pace of your speech. 

Now, I’m speaking from my perspective, but I know a lot of you out there don’t have English as a native language. There are accents, ways you pronounce words and overall different ways of talking. For me... I really don’t see it that much. English is like an extension of my senses and I barely think about it, though my hybrid accent definitely stands out at times, I believe it’s not as bad as it used to be a certain period of time ago. Also, for those of you who don’t know (and this is going to surprise a lot of people), English is not my first/native language. It’s my second, and I’ve been learning it since I was about 3 years old, purely out of fascination and interest and the fact that it’s around you everywhere ago. To be even more honest, I can probably speak it better than my native language at this point. This is why I apologize for the fact that I can’t relate with everyone reading this right now, but I am currently struggling with another language which is a completely different story, but trust me... I know what it’s like. Generally, I wouldn’t recommend doing this unless you are comfortable with your speech. This takes time and... overall practice and being surrounded by the language is the best advice I can give. I can’t say anymore though because like I said, it’s different for everyone and I also don’t want to make this a “How to Speak Foreign Languages” class... that’s not my goal here, but I felt like this was important to point out.

Something else to point out is hardware. You do not have to bankrupt yourself and buy the most expensive microphone you find on Amazon. Mine is anything but magic,and my advice is: Set up the microphone properly through your computer’s settings. Volume and microphone boost are important aspects. Too much boost means louder but lots of background noise which, even when removed, can tamper with the voice itself which is why I have mine set to 0 at all times. If it’s too quiet I’ll just amplify it/increase the volume manually. Now, if you do want a more advanced mic, then that’s okay too. I would recommend this for something that’s more professional, but really unless you’re doing something like studio quality music recording or voice acting, it’s not really that important. However, here are two vital things:

Do not use your phone for anything that’s not simple things... or you know, the snk voice meme.

When people watch your video, their ears will be affected a lot quicker than their eyes. Hearing takes subconscious priority to sight and has an even greater impact on whether or not you’re going to keep watching or not. For me, if the first two seconds is full of background noise and bad voice quality, I’ll click 3 minutes further to see if it’s still like that... if it is, immediate click on that “X”.

If your mic doesn’t have one by default, use a pop filter or wind screen. These remove any loud unnecessary pops and noises which you may get while recording, especially if you are close to the microphone. I have both for convenience sake, but just one is okay. (Though in my case, not using the microphone boost requires me to be pretty close to the mic, meaning I go for the wind screen most of the time)

Anyway, those are all of the things you should keep in mind. While recording, you are going to mess up. Again, again... and again. Did something make you laugh? Did you get interrupted by someone walking into the room or calling you on your phone? Did you just fail to say what you were trying to say even though it’s right in your head/right in front of you? All of that happens and it’s completely normal. You can’t get it on the first try flawlessly, even with a script in front of your eyes. Trial and error, like I said. I have a folder full of outtakes/bloopers which is like 100MB of shenanigans at this point which I’m thinking of posting when I get more of those... and oh yes, that’s going to happen. I’ve messed up a lot, and you probably will too. Just remember what I wrote in the first two steps. Trial and error, patience, and with time... experience. It’s not like Kaji Yuuki pulled off Eren’s screaming lines on the first time.

Step 5: Editing the Audio

The times you messed up in Step 4, the longer this is going to take. For me, there is a lot of cutting and fixing up to do. Most of the time the full track has outtakes (some of which I’ll just extract in the folder I mentioned for future keeping) and fails, which I cut out and put the pieces together to make a clean, constant track of speech. Even if I don’t necessarily “mess up”, a lot of the time I obviously have to catch my breath. My throat will get dry, I’ll have to stand up and do other things and so on. Also, my full raw tracks are like 40% “uhm” “aaaand” “but” “and yeah” “so yeah” or just constant silence with me forgetting my thoughts if I don’t have a script in front of me. Most of the time I’ll just cut that out if I see it as annoying and overall something that no one wants to hear. I’m usually satisfied with the results.

I rarely tamper with the original audio aside from cutting, though there are simple things like filters, noise removal and the chipmunk/high pitch voice I used for Flocke in the Chapter 90 review. Overall though, I prefer to keep the original audio as it is, at least for now.

Step 6: Editing the Video

After you are done with the audio... it’s time for the video. The Idea is the most important part. Time and Motivation is the hardest part. And this... is the long part. Depending on what type of video you’re making and how many different visuals and animations you are going to put in it, this can take a variety of different amounts of time.

One question which I get somewhat frequently is what program I use. The answer is: You can use whatever you want and whatever you feel comfortable with. Personally, I use Sony Vegas 13. There is also Adobe Premiere which the “professional” standard I guess and if you’re using a Mac there is Final Cut. (I haven’t heard too many good things about the newer versions of Final Cut but I know Pro is regarded as a very good editing program. Though I don’t use a Mac myself so I can’t really give a perspective on that). Now, again, you don’t have to bankrupt yourself and buy Adobe Premiere or anything like that... there are different programs out there. Though, if you are looking to make something at least a bit more advanced, you may want to consider something that’s not Windows Movie Maker. I mean, it’s good for general editing but anything else does require a more advanced software. I started with Windows Movie Maker on XP like 11 years ago, now? And that’s basically my foundation for getting the hang of editing software in general.

Back to the editing itself. There are way too many things to mention here, but one that is important is using panels from the manga. In order to avoid copyright, any panel from the manga that I take (usually the official Crunchyroll version) has its dialogue whited out and removed. I literally do this in like 20 seconds in MS Paint by the way, but if you take all of the manga panels that I use in one video, especially The Timeline and History of Attack on Titan and add up the time it takes to remove the text from it, it does stack up to about 15-20 minutes which is like the length of the whole video itself... so... yeah.

For editing you need to be visual and well.. visualize how you want everything to look in your head. I wish I could explain this in more detail but... just like anything else creativity-related, you have to figure it out on your own and learn what you are comfortable with, as well as learn from mistakes and improve over time, of course.

Also, this step includes custom graphics and backgrounds which I make myself. These vary from video to video in both time and overall design.

Step 7: Rendering

I recently found a preset and messed around with it so that the file size of my videos is smaller, though the render time itself is slightly longer which is interesting. Anyways, after you’re done editing and the video is good to go, you render it. Basically exporting it and... yeah, you know what rendering is. With the AMA video it took around half an an hour and the video was 26 minutes long so... I think I like this new preset. Anyways, that’s all about this. While rendering, I also do the next step.

Step 8: Making the Thumbnail

This is probably my favorite and the most fun part in general. I always considered my strong side to be the graphic/photo-manipulative side where I can make something as colorful and eye-candy-ish as I can and place the text in the most convenient places and make it the most convenient size as possible. Personally this is a way for me to relax after finally finishing editing.

In case I need the thumbnail before that, for instance in the end screen in the video, I’ll usually just make it after I’m done editing the audio, so Step 5.5 is appropriate, I guess.

Step 9: Uploading and Finalization

Uploading the video to YouTube is another time consuming part, and knowing my schedule, I usually let this happen at the latest hours of the day because I’ve been trying to get the editing done beforehand. Depending on the size and length of the video, this can take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. With my old rendering template it took about 2 and a half hours for a ~12 minute video. Now it takes the same time for a 26-minute video, so I’m saving a lot of time with the new template.

Then there is the misc. work like promoting it on here, getting the description and annotations out (I don’t like using End Cards... the 20 second limitation hinders Sawano’s music which I use at the end of my videos) and overall making sure people can watch it as comfortably as possible.

There is also a processing time after uploading (around 10 minutes) before the video can be viewed, and there is around a 5 minute period after that which limits the quality to 240p or 480p for whatever reason... Waiting for a little bit fixes it though.

Step 10: Repeat from Step 1

Conclusion

Well... this is really all I can say and the best advice that I can give you. I find it really interesting to know that people themselves take interest in what actually goes into making these things, though like I said, there are a lot of tutorials out there but from most of the things that I’ve taken interest in, I’ve picked up on them and learned the skill on my own. Again, there are many sources out there that can help you, and I just hope that you are now more informed after reading (if you did) this. I’ll try to answer any other questions as usual, though this pretty much sums up most of the things.

I know I didn’t answer some things like how long it takes to get a video out, but it really varies. On average, counting the whole process, I’d say maybe 8 or 9 hours. Step 1 and Step 2 are the biggest factor in this, as well as the editing step, but... yes, that’s all.

Thank you for reading!