#creative constraints

[krissym72]

Mastering the Art of Crafting AI Image Prompts: A Comprehensive Guide

In the dynamic landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), the fusion of technology and creativity has birthed a remarkable phenomenon: AI image prompts. These prompts serve as catalysts for AI systems to generate visual content autonomously, igniting a revolution in creative AI applications. Defining AI Image Prompts:AI image prompts are carefully crafted instructions or stimuli designed to…

[euthymiya]

acting like you’re some woke person just because you advocate for middle aged women to be lifeless on the internet is not the flex you think it is 💀

You seem rather passionate about this so I’m going to indulge your ask to let you know three things:

Writing is a hobby that gets better with age, life experience, and practice. The best pieces of writing objectively come from older people and I’m not talking about fanfiction. I mean books and literature. I’m serious—go look at some of the most well known pieces of literature and then search up the ages of their authors during the years they were published. You’ll find the older writers tend to bust out bangers and this principle is very much applicable to fics too by default. Also writing fanfic is not “lifeless” lol. Some of you act like writing fanfic is juvenile compared to a novel and it’s rly not that different from writing an original piece of fiction. Sure, sometimes fanfic can be a little less on the conventional side in terms of technique. But genuinely the concept of putting characters into situations to create a plot is literally the main thing on both sides here and if you think writing fanfic is silly, it makes 0 sense to hold creative writing to some pedestal. Some fanfic writers demonstrate AMAZING original world building skills especially if they write au’s that diverge from canon and I think you are out of your mind if you think this hobby is not oftentimes an impressive one rather than “lifeless”

Being 30+ doesn’t automatically mean you must/do have a family and kids but I’ll still indulge that point and say you can easily balance a work and personal life while also having a hobby. I know middle aged men who dedicate more time to hobbies like hunting and fishing than middle aged women do with writing. One actually requires you to leave your house and family behind and the other you can do from the comfort of your home and tend to your family should you need to. I think the nature of your opinion only stems from a misogynistic view on aging women but that’s another can of worms

People don’t stop consuming and enjoying things as soon as they hit their third decade of living. If that’s your viewpoint on life, you’re going to set yourself up for a very miserable time once you hit 30. If you’re already 30+ then you’re a hypocrite by default by even being here in the first place lol. Also, life is literally so fucking silly okay? You wake up, work, pay taxes, and try to get by with what is usually an underpaid paycheck. Just fucking enjoy your life and let others enjoy theirs okay? If a 30 year old likes anime, then that is literally so god damn harmless I cannot stress enough how unimportant that is. There are 30 year olds out there doing heinous things in their free time and you choose to be bothered by someone who happens to produce an assortment of words from time to time. Please reevaluate your priorities

All things aside I cannot convince you that being 30+ and enjoying fandom and fanfic is not weird unless you really just realize that it’s not weird. Idk how old you are but I assume you’re younger than 30 because no 30 year old would be on fandom tumblr and then bash others for it. But regardless, just because you think something is weird doesn’t mean it’s bad. It is literally the most harmless thing I do not understand why you would care so much, just move on???? When you think someone dresses weird in real life do you go point it out to them??? No you think it to yourself and move tf on—and if you would voice it to them then you are literally a rude individual. Plain and simple. Rude and disrespectful and I would suggest you again, reevaluate. And it’s the same principle here. You just move on. If you seriously cannot be convinced that this is normal and just absolutely are dead set on believing that 30+ year olds who enjoy fandom are weird, fine. But just keep it to yourself it is the bare minimum you can do to be a decent person I cannot stress this enough to you

And one more thing. The people who are writing the mangas and animes you enjoy so much are middle aged. Older than 30/40. Grown people who might even have families and kids. Creativity has no age limit it is just a small joy that people indulge in at any age and it’s a very nice thing when they share it for others to enjoy, as well. Please just enjoy someone’s art and live a little. I promise you will be much happier and peaceful if you just read a good fic without worrying about the age of whoever produced it. I guarantee you a lot of the BEST fics you’ll read will come from the older writers they are literally doing you a favor if you happen to enjoy reading fanfic. Why bite the hand that feeds you?

[angelsdean]

fun writing exercise: construct a scenario where dean and cas reunite and still get together romantically without ever having a Formal Conversation about Cas's declaration of love.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The writer must impose constraints. A painter who uses a canvas rather than a wall; a composer who opts for a given key - all establish a system of constraints. So do avant-garde artists, who try to avoid constraints - they simply construct others, unnoticed.

- Umberto Eco

[kitkatsgalore]

Happy birthday, Yechan! 🥳

[nihilisticlinguistics]

one of my favorite things that my husband and i do for the holidays is give each other themed gifts.

last year I received a "5 Senses" gift theme from him: a visible mending class (touch), a textiles art exhibit (sight), a candle-making kit (smell), a fancy dinner out (taste), and tickets to a Haydn concert (hearing).

I got him a 'Floral' theme made up of a cherry-blossom gin, a horticulture video game on Steam, a flower jigsaw puzzle, a pack of flower-patterned socks, and a bimonthly bouquet delivery.

this year I'm plotting a 'Treasure' theme. I'm thinking a fancy compass, a set of gold D&D dice he's been coveting, chocolate coins, kohatukou (crystal gummy candy), a treasure box for his accessories, and an Exit: The Game about recovering a lost treasure.

[nightshadesmusings]

Missing Common (Important) Things

What if, at a point, you found That you lack a critical thing? What if you didn’t know That said thing is missing?

What if you didn’t know it was around? You had many doo-dads and it was working Folks call you unusual as you lack a particular gizmo And you unknowingly go along, ignoring loud hissing.

You accepted the pain and assumed this was life You thought you were broken; you’re just something else Like this poem, you’re better when you use all the letters, No matter who tells you to never use your “e.”

Constrained writing: Cannot use the letter “e” until the last verse

[colorisbyshe]

worst experience in the world is watching one of your fave musicians get stunted musically and put out nearly identical tracks three times in a row. even worse is if the main difference in the songs is just that they're getting shorter and shorter.

like please i believed in you, i vouched for you, i was invested in you changing the industry not the industry changing yoooou let me hold your hand i will literally give you my life's vitality to make better music

[princesssarcastia]

watching the clone wars and thinking about The Logistical Problem of Barriss Offee's appearance in both Attack of the Clones and in The Clone Wars. and the ways you can solve or reconcile it as such.

She's at the first battle of Geonosis, presumably with her master, Luminara, and she's not the only padawan there with their master. presumably they only brought older, experienced padawans with them—ones nearly ready to be knighted. but when we next see her, in the TV show, she's still a padawan. they knighted anakin "full of emotions and attachments and pretty clearly not ready" skywalker before they knighted her. there's a few watsonian ways that could shake out.

absurd option: barriss experiences some kind of age regression between the very start of the war, and the middle of it where we see her again. sith artifact, separatist weapon, weird force squall erupting right beneath her, whatever. no one ever talks about it because, well, it's sort of rude to bring up. plus, barriss at any age would probably rather die than admit she's disquieted by the loss of several years of her life and self. but it would explain why she isn't knighted when they're knighting pretty much everyone.

it would also be another reason added to the pile explaining why she sort of had a breakdown before the war ends. one day you go to sleep, and the next you wake up somewhere you don't reecognize, surrounded by soldiers and war, and your master is telling you, "the last thing you remember was three years ago. get up, we have work to do." that'd knock anyone off balance

prodigy option: which padawans would you bring to a giant battle on an enemy planet? the older ones, sure, but more importantly: the ones who know how to fight. the ones who are good at it, who have a knack for it. the idea that barriss offee is too young to be knighted before the war is over, but too good with a blade to leave behind when they need their best? scintillating. tell me more.

tell me about the apprentice to a master diplomat with a level head, a sweet young girl with impeccable manners—and an uncanny and incongruous talent for defeating her opponents in spars and cutting down her enemies in the field. who even at, what, 15? moves so efficiently and purposefully through a conflict she dances. who the temple battlemaster praises as one of the incomparables of her generation.

talk to me about how the order decides to make use of her warrior's body without realizing she, as a middling-aged teen, doesn't have a warrior's mind. making use of it too young and too much and too long for her to bear, until she eventually snaps. radicalizes. decides to fight the violence that's killing her the only way she's learned how: with more violence.

interference from on high option: i'm frankly using anakin as a yardstick here, but maybe he shouldn't be. there's also the chance that she's not even that much younger than anakin, but the council is much less willing to interfere with any other padawan, in any other master-padawan relationship. And most other teenagers aren't supposed to be knighted.

So Anakin and Barriss are peers, but Luminara hasn't had the council breathing down her neck and interfering the way Obi-Wan clearly has. Anakin gets knighted, and it strikes Barriss as odd. Though she would never presume to say it, he clearly lacks necessary control over his emotions, and a certain wisdom and self-mastery Barriss thought was necessary to become a Jedi Knight. But the council has knighted him, so clearly he must be a jedi knight, and have the necessary qualities as such.

And though Barriss would never presume to ask Luminara, Luminara can see her almost-side-eye, her calculation, and wants to stop it before it turns into comparison. "Knighting a padawan before they are ready is often the result when those outside an apprenticeship make such decisions as should be left to those within it."

red flags option: or perhaps, after surviving the battle of geonosis, and being somewhat more outwardly stable than skywalker; being the picture perfect image of a dutiful jedi; the council pushes for Barriss to be knighted at the start of the war, or soon after—and Luminara says no. Luminara says she's not ready.

And when they push back, Luminara goes so far as to warn them that she won't be overruled on or convinced to let go of her misgivings about, her own padawan (the was you have convinced and overruled some jedi i could mention, is what she doesn't say, but she's very much side-eyeing everyone else for that.). Barriss isn't ready, even if her peers are. Luminara can sense it.

Perhaps, if the galaxy was not at war, Barriss would be ready. But the war, the violence...it unsettles her. Disquiets her mind, in a way a jedi knight should not be disquieted, in Luminara's opinion. She waits, she supports, she guides Barriss with a firm hand, but that unsettled undercurrent never goes away.

In fact, Barriss, over the course of the war, becomes somehow less ready to be knighted than she was at the start of it. There's a brittleness to her that Luminara can sense, for all that it never reaches the surface. It goes on long enough that Luminara becomes resigned to the idea she and her apprentice will remain stuck in this holding pattern until the war is ended.

Perhaps Barris will finally be knighted once this war is over, Luminara mulls over, as she leaves Barris behind on Coruscant so she re-center herself for the battles to come. Surely it can't be long now. Surely, I can see the galaxy to peace for the sake of my padawan.

Luminara knew she wasn't ready to become a Jedi Knight. but she never expected....never saw....

How could she not have seen?

[goatsandgangsters]

I've been asked to post my Personal Variation on how to do timestamp roulette, so!

the original premise is based on closing your eyes and wiggling your mouse back and forth over the timeline to select shots at random, which doesn't really appeal to me bc of the inherent biasing of landing more in the middle than on the ends

SO. my method for timestamp roulette is putting the number of minutes for the episode into a random number generator and going to that minute

from there, you could also RNG 0–59 for seconds if you really want it randomized. OR you could select a shot from Anywhere Within The Randomly Selected Minute Only, which I like because it still forces you to be creative with a random scene and encourages you to gif with shots you wouldn't typically use but still gives you a little bit of creative license

[sharpstake]

can't wait to see choicenators bitching about how the survey had no effect for a year while completely forgetting the results of this are likely set to influence the next round of production.

[dorminchu]

concept—hypothetical mr. robot season 5. 2d animation, akin to paranoia agent. or magnetic rose.

— includes flashbacks the fall of e-corp in the 1990s to flesh out mr. alderson a little, like what was he working on before he got fired? how does whiterose know or care? seriously I want to know!

— a few glimpses to the "real" elliot's childhood growing up (a la the opening flashback from 2x04 or 2x01), maybe from darlene or angela's pov, complete w/retrospective voiceover

— all the actors reprise their roles in a style where they would record prior to animating (to keep in spirit with the original format) kinda like how the original dub of beastars worked

well, as long as I'm dreaming -u-

I'll think of more stuff as I rewatch s3-4 for the third time

[divinekangaroo]

I think I posted about getting a Remarkable? Worst name ever I feel embarrassed even writing it so I will call it the rmk.

it’s surprisingly pleasant to use as that infinite notebook, and I’ve found it astoundingly useful at work, like writing/drawing/mapping matrix shit out (or difficult emails) before going to computer.

for writing, though, I’m of two minds. I picked an old concept one shot (a 9k txl) and managed to long-hand write a full zero draft soooo easily. No distraction, good flow, no pain; the ability to add notes at random times; the ability to add a sentence or two in boring overlong meetings…so the zero draft one shot felt like a pure success, such absolute ease of writing. but then I get stuck: the only thing I can do to get that draft a step closer to a post is fully re-type it out on the computer, which took me three of my available night blocks anyway and with very little improvement/edit.

I could possibly improve my handwriting, ‘text to type’ it in the rmk, then email my computer a PDF and copy-paste into word…but then I’m stuck on the computer again anyway.

I could ‘text to type’ it in the rmk and *only* edit it within the rmk , then do the pdf copy-paste only when I’m ready to post - but tbh the editing capabilities for word processing are fairly poor.

and then comes the issue of multichaps. I thought, ‘all right, my handwritings a lost cause on this one for text to type to test that ‘edit and finalise on rmk’ workflow…so let’s try fixing one of these languishing unfinished chapters I have…’ but I can’t get an editable doc from computer to rmk. Only PDF. So I’m not gonna fully re write something just to edit it on the rmk, and you can’t split screen so you can’t even flick back and forth to make that rewrite on the device easier.

then the final issue being, I have no idea how you’d actually write a multichap on this, because I neeeeed to flick back and forth. Does this idea belong here or there or in the future? Did I say that already? Idek! And so again: limited ability to deal with complex story structures.

so yeah, a success at work, a success at actually giving me *back* some time for writing (it’s such a delightfully comfortable thing to use with longhand, and that zero draft really was a fluid pleasure to write - can use at playground, at table, on couch watching kids) but *only* limited to well defined, well visualised one-shots that can be zero-drafted, and at some point there’s a duplication of effort or a transfer barrier that causes delay anyway.

[hag-lad]

Why can’t I write with voice notes?! When I get into a good flow of writing, I type at about the same speed as I speak, if not a little faster. And yet, when I try to take voice notes for writing, they turn out so stupid, literally not how I would phrase things at all.

I’m sure it’s a perception bias, like. When I write, I can backspace and fix a word here and there but when I speak, it feels more permanent. Still, I think there’s an element of repressed creativity here. Like I feel some kind of shame when I speak my prose style out loud?!

Bananas.

[quaddmgd]

i've got a really cool cp77 post brewing and i want to show it already ahhhh

but it has to be on saturday. it's an opportunity i just can't miss

[kingofmyborrowedheart]

i’ve been wondering how you make swiftlet- do you listen to taylor’s entire discography for each episode or do you just listen like normal and take notes when something you want to discuss comes up?

Hi Miles! So Swiftlit started out as my senior capstone project for college. I chose to write about expanding the literary canon in higher education and using music as a way to enter into analysis and I specifically used Taylor’s music as an example. For my creative piece I decided to write podcast scripts combining literary theory and Taylor’s music, so the Feminist Theories, reputation and Characters episodes were the pieces I wrote for it. I just expanded on them for the actual podcast and separated the rep bits from the Characters one and turned them into two episodes. For the other episodes if there’s a holiday coming up I try to think of some theme related to it I could center an episode around. Before actually starting the podcast, I jotted down some potential episode ideas of parallels that particularly strike me in her works and I’ve just been bouncing around that list. I don’t tend to actively seek out an idea, although one might hit me when I’m listening to her music. I’m just kind of aware of the parallels and common themes she writes about thanks to listening for so long and my background in Creative Writing and literary analysis. I’ve been “trained” to search for connections and themes in all kinds of work so it just kinda happens with hers too. I do have a big lyric document that I go through and search for key words if doing a Marvelous Motif episode to help me out; though this time I went song by song to make sure I didn’t miss anything. To sum up this long rant: I essentially just have too much Taylor knowledge floating around in my head that I call on and see if I can find a decent amount of connections with other songs to get an episode out of.