#first time scheduling a post

[nossumusstellae]

Tips for Writing Mythical Creatures #1: Vampires

Firstly: Can we all just let go of the whole sparkly-like-fairy-dust trope? Please. That is not the skin of a killer.

Anyways.

Vampires. There are so many iterations of the myth, from Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Spike to Preacher's Cassidy. The word may have first appeared in the 1700’s, but the stories have a history stretching back to ancient civilizations. And all of them are different.

This is what bugs me the most about modern vampire stories: they all seem to follow the Dracula pattern. Handsome, charming, and a fondness for young women who are years younger than they are. The roots of the myth seem to be forgotten. There is so much creativity to be found in the old stories, so many different interpretations. In Russian folklore, for example, vampires were witches who had rebelled against the church in life. Europeans would place bags of grain at the graves of suspected vampires, with the belief that when the creature awoke for the night, they would be compelled to count every single grain. Vampire graves could be found by leading a virgin boy on a black horse through a graveyard. In ancient China, if a corpse was jumped over by a cat, that person would awaken a vampire.

Even the act of killing a vampire has various stories. Certain kinds of wood for the stake (Europe, Russia, Serbia), iron or plough bits driven through hearts (Bulgaria), even slices of lemon (Germany)!

The tale of the vampire has its roots in blood-sucking demons. This is the part we often forget: the myth began with stories of demonic creatures. It is this aspect I feel we could all use a little of. Vampires are not nice. They are not human. They are animals at heart, vicious and capable of murdering as many people as they need to survive.

So here are my tips for writing a better vampire:

1. Remember. They are not human. A vampire is probably not going to experience the world the same way a human would. Maybe they can see in the dark, or in ultraviolet. Taste the air like a snake. Or even hear the heartbeat of their victims. Heightened smell, and hearing. Think about the animal kingdom, the hunter animals. What traits do they have? Apply those to your vampires. Retractable Catwoman-style claws, anyone?

2. Your vampire doesn’t have to be 1800’s Victorian. Vampire myth is not exclusive to Europe. Stories exist all over the world, from Mexico to Africa. Be different!

3. Turning into a bat is cliché. How about turning into a wolf, or a rabbit? Or pigeon?

4. Shape-shifting faces: I love this about the vampires in Buffy. The way their faces would become grotesque and reveal the monster within was a great interpretation.

5. Your vampire doesn’t have to be immortal. Maybe they age the same way as a human, or just a little slower.

6. Vampires are believed to not have reflections because a mirror reflects the soul and vampires do not have one. Also, silver is said to ward of evil spirits. Take that a step further: perhaps silver is fatal to your vampire the same way it is to werewolves!

7. Think about the history of the vampires in your story. Do they have their own myths, their own gods? An entire underground society? Do people know about them, are there Hunters?

8. I’ll say it again. Sparkling like a fairy is lame.

[wafflethefry]

nothing's changed.

[gomzdrawfr]

CW: Body horror

Triple the heads, triple the forehead kisses!!

[remxedmoon]

save me bonnie isat… bonnie isat… save me…

woah what!!! isat fanart with color??? preposterous. greyscaled versions under the cut!! (and also the last doodle without the crusty old drawing next to it!! incase you want to use it for anything)

anyways. uh. scampers away like a little rat

[doctorsiren]

sorry for the lack of posting, I’ve been swamped with doing art for finals as well as just end of the semester stuff, but I replayed Portal 2 this week and drew up some thumbnails for fun

[heybaetae]

maknae line + gestures of love 🫰🏼💋🫶🏼🌹🤟🏼 happy birthday @jkvjimin! ♡

[radioroxx]

Perhaps some Isabeau being comforted as well?

isa comfort was gonna appear in the og post but i. didnt like the sketch so i scrapped it mb

so heres two to make up for it :)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji Goes To Lotus Pier AU: Part 4: Deranged Bedfellows

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.5)

[ozziyo]

she's become adept at holding shirts and ungraded term papers for ransom

[cozylittleartblog]

is this the tragic clown the sims warned me about

[theantarcticempire]

happy five year anniversary to the antarctic empire!

[senkiworks]

The Great Detective Turned Small

[keferon]

*clasps your shoulders gently and looks you straight in the eye*

Keferon. Please read Ninth by Kyn on AO3. I think you would love it very much. It has a large chapter count, but don't be intimidated, it's very easy to get into. It is currently unfinished, but is being updated regularly.

You are the seventh person that recommended this fic to me so ahahahaha yeah

I’m doing great Help I hate some parts of it but I love the other parts I’m spinning in the blender

…..I made the moodboard….

[starscream-is-my-wife]

Bird person x cat person

[thebayclans]

A drawing of exit glacier that I was going to use in the stonestar story but decided not to finish it, this is an interpretation of how it may have looked a few hundred years ago when the glacier was less receded

[ningadudexx]

please support palestinian voices and organizations 🍉 - links and sources

hello, i hope everyone can take the time to read this and consider donating if possible!! ive recently had a few people in palestine reach out to me personally asking for donations, and i think that putting the resources here in a main central post would be a great benefit to these families in order to get them more donations. ive donated to a few of these families and organizations below, but i feel bad that i cant donate more amounts since im currently a full time college student juggling with a job at the moment. so if you can, please please please considering donating or reblogging their pages, so that they can get the help they need!!! i will keep this post pinned so that it is the first thing seen on my account

I hope this post can come across as helpful to someone, the last thing i want is to speak over palestinian voices that NEED to be heard, and i sincerely hope this post doesnt do that. so many people have lost everything in their lives: loved ones, work, school, food, their homes, the list is endless. PLEASE consider donating or speading the word or even just researching on your own time from current news sources. please let me know if i got anything in this post incorrect, i want to make sure this post is a good source for people to look at.

here are a few people who i have donated to that reached out to me for help (i will try my best to update this list as people comment below this post, but i urge you to check the comments section too):

@family1234567 - https://gofund.me/600330a0

@haifa823 - https://www.gofundme.com/f/xxxx-excape-xxxxx

@qaz-1998 - https://gofund.me/f4012f59

@aya-1993 - https://gofund.me/877bdefc

@mosabfmly - https://gofund.me/5ac9124f

@sondos-gaza01 - https://chuffed.org/project/help-sondos-family

here are a few organizations as well (please suggest more to add if you can!!!):

PLEASE support palestinian voices!!!!!