#hate that quality difference but I just need this out of my drafts

[beetlejuce]

— Well, she'll be on the Fanta Orange. — Fanta Orange, so that's her secret. DERRY GIRLS | 3.02 "The Affair"

[cereovo]

A set of very conceptual notes I drafted a while back for someone asking for advice on learning to draw humans. I'm entirely self-taught so this is less of a tutorial and more of a very rambling set of general principles I follow and ideas that helped while I was learning. I figured I'd post it in case anyone else could get use out of it!

I also recommend checking out:

Drawing East Asian Faces by Chuwenjie

How to Think When you Draw (lots of good tutorials in this series)

Pose reference sites such as Adorkastock

Transcript and some elaboration under the cut:

Img 1 - Drawing a face

The two most important elements (at least for me) when drawing a face are the outline of the cheek/jaw and the nose*. I often start with a circle to indicate the round part of the skull, then add a straight like and a 'V' to one side [to create the side of the face and the jaw]. The nose creates an easy template for the rest of the face's features to follow (eyebrows at the top of the nose bridge, eyes towards the center of the bridge, ear lines up to eye) and the placement/direction and overlap with other features is a very simple way to indicate dimension. [A sketch of a face that has been adjusted by moving its parts to create 3 different angles. The following text is underneath:] -Different 3/4th views can be created just by adjusting the position of and amount of overlap between the facial features. - The top of the ear usually lines up with the corner of the eye. Think of how glasses are designed [specifically, how the arms run from the eyeline to the ear] [I go on a tangent in these next few paragraphs] *One thing I see many artists do - not just beginners - is learn how to draw A Person. As in, one singular person with one set of bodily proportions and one set of facial features. It's an issue that runs a bit deeper than 'same face syndrome' because sometimes these artists can draw more than one face, they're just not very representative of [the diversity present across] real people. Part of the reason I'm talking more about how to think about approaches to drawing - rather than showing specific how-to's - is because there is no one correct or right way to draw a person. The sooner you allow yourself to explore variety - fat people, old people, people of color, people with [conventionally] 'unattractive' features - the easier it'll be! Artists often draw their own features honestly and without [harmful] caricature, so it's always a good idea to look at art made by the kinds of people you're trying to draw if you're ever unsure about how to handle something. In general, it's far more important to learn how to interpret a variety of forms than to learn how to replicate the Platonic Ideal of the Human Body.

Img 2 - Stuff that helped me

Jumping into drawing humans (faces or otherwise) straight from photo reference can be overwhelming. The trick is to simplify forms into shapes - but even this concept is sort of abstract and it may be hard to know where to begin. Good news - Thousands of other artists have already figured it out. [When starting out] I needed to learn from photo reference AND artists I admired in order to improve. [When looking at stylization you are inspired by] ask yourself: WHY does this simplification work? How can I translate it into a different pose? Instead of copying what you see in a photo reference exactly, try to focus on the general forms first. My two biggest style inspirations for humans while learning to draw them were Steven Universe and Sabrina Cotugno's art. SU gets a lot of hate [in this instance I was specifically referring to a time on tumblr when the art was knocked for 'losing quality'] but its style does a great job of simplifying anatomy in a way that still portrays a diversity of bodies + features. [Extremely simplified drawings of Lapis, Steven, and Amethyst] SU characters are still identifiable- and still read as 'human' - even when reduced to just a few lines!

Img 3 - Things I keep in mind while drawing side profiles

- Eyebrows + eyes close to the 'edge' of the face - Forehead needs enough room for a brain - Eye is > shaped from the sides - Mouth kinda halfway [between the nose and the chin] but closer to the nose - Skin/fat exists under the jaw [and connects to the neck] - neck is about one half the width of the whole head - the back of the skull always sticks out a bit further than you might expect - Sometimes less is more - contours exist on every face, but drawing them in may make your character seem much older than they're supposed to be. However, it's a good idea to use them when you *want* your character to look old! These are very general notes- every face is different and has different proportions [and playing around with them creates unique and interesting character designs]

[daycourtofficial]

Hello, I'd like to order a pumpkin spice + caramel latte with a cookie, please 🙏💕

I also included Atlas in this because I found this deep in my drafts and okay I keep saying it but this one got me 😭😭😭 I have outdone myself a bit with this one

Last chance to order a coffee for gingerfucker week 🔫

“We could cancel.”

She ignored him, her focus on holding Atlas’s kicking legs to put him in his pants. Eris huffed, holding down Atlas’s arms to help calm his son’s squirming.

“Do they really deserve to see him?”

She finished pulling the tiny pants up before turning to Eris, an annoyed look on her face at his words.

“Fostering a relationship between yourself and the people of Autumn means giving them things.”

“Yes, but they know his name, surely that’s enough.”

His mate gazed at him, arms crossed across her chest. The red gown she wore made her look resplendent. Red velvet, off the shoulder sleeves. She was pushing boundaries for Autumnal nobility; ladies were expected to be modest - covered shoulders, covered legs, loose fabrics.

She, however, had slowly been showing more and more skin over the years, setting trends throughout the court. In a quick three years, female’s fashion had changed drastically, a quality tailor or seamstress in high demand.

Her tanned skin looked so warm beneath the red fabric, as if the falling leaves couldn’t resist kissing her skin before they fell.

She wore a string of black pearls, a rarity found only on a short stretch of coastline in the Night Court. She was quick to exchange her normal blues and blacks for varying shades of red, green, orange, and brown. But she could never shake a black accessory somewhere, a tiny homage to her home court, to her family miles away.

“They need to see him, Eris.”

“The last time anyone not apart of our family or staff saw him was against our will.”

“It will be okay. We will show him off from one of the balconies.”

She fixed the tiny bonnet on Atlas’s head, the babe pulling it askew immediately. His chubby fingers wrapped around the ribbon, holding tightly.

“They haven’t seen a High Lord’s babe in a long time. The last one was Lucien - don’t the people deserve a new young heir to adore?”

“The people of Autumn never adored Lucien. He looked weird.”

She gave her mate a look, shaking her head as she looked at Atlas. “Daddy’s so silly.”

“No one has ever called me silly.”

She shook her head, her voice taking on an affectionate tone, not looking away from their son. “Not to his face they don’t.”

The murmuring of a crowd outside caused both of them to look, Atlas taking the opportunity to reach for his mother’s shiny necklace. He tugged lightly, as if controlled by a dragon desperate for the jewels.

She gently wrapped around his hand before he could hurt her. “No, Atlas. That would hurt.”

He looked up, nodding as if he understood her words.

“Eris, they’re growing restless.” She had redirected her attention to him, the playful tone gone, replaced by exasperation.

“Let them.”

“You are very unhelpful.”

“Haven’t my new policies as High Lord been enough to earn their favor? Crops have never grown so well, I’ve lowered taxation rates, worked for fair trading rates between us and neighboring courts. What more do they want?” He couldn’t help the exasperation in his tone, the past few years both incredibly successful but exhausting.

“They want you, Eris.”

“They have never wanted me.”

“They have never wanted the you they thought they knew. They have never wanted a second Beron. But you’re not Beron. You’re different.”

Eris sighed through his nose, looking at Atlas. He hated being on the wrong end of his mate’s stubbornness.

“What if showing them Atlas just gives them a better look before they can take him away? We can wait until he’s older.” Her free hand reached out, brushing through Eris’s hair with a softness he never quite got used to.

“Atlas deserves to be loved by more than us. We can’t lock him away from a court he may one day rule.”

“But I want to.” It was Atlas who reached out, grabbing his dad’s nose and holding onto it. Eris leaned into the touch, his forehead meeting his son’s.

“I know. But he is going to be so loved. And no one will take him away from us.”

Eris had never heard such loud cheering, such audible happiness until the crowd caught sight of his son. It was a sound he would hear two more times, the presentation of his children making him feel closer to the people of Autumn than other act as High Lord.

Most of them could not relate to the power he held, the title given to him by the land, the decisions he made daily having far larger consequences than most could fathom. But they could relate to the title he preferred more than any other: father.

[soraviie]

you don't trust androids.txt

━ type: BTS (hyung line) x f! reader

━ about: android! au, heavy angst, slight fluff, nothing majorly fun 

━ pictures taken from Pinterest  ━ navigation

━ c/w: implied smut, mentions of suicide attempt, mention of near-death experience, mention of losing a limb, a portrayal of poor mental health, undercurrent of dystopian themes, mention of losing bodily autonomy, mention of hating one’s body, mention of depression and anxiety, discrimination against androids

━ wanted to keep this one in the drafts but here it is T-T

NAMJOON: “There’s a ç in Jean Lurçat,” he points out helpfully. His programming suggests it is friendly but the way your teeth grind suggests otherwise. Perhaps…cavities? Humans were prone to them and Namjoon was no medical unit to know any better, he was after all an informational unit. But you don’t seem to be appreciative of that either. 

“Have I done something wrong?” he asks. 

“Contrary what your chip states, being an obnoxious know-it-all is not helpful!” you snap, red rimmed eyes meeting his. “I mean, who do you think you are?”

He blinks. You’ve met dozens of times already, surely you knew who he was. 

“My name is Namjoon,” he points at the tag on his chest. “I am an informational android unit. Here to help.”

“Well, you’re not! Not by nitpicking every single sentence I write!” you hissed and despite it not being expected, he experienced an operational error. If a sudden simulated pang of sadness could be called that. 

He rarely gets to talk to anyone in the museum and over the course of these weeks with you coming in and out of the building, he’d assumed, naively, that he’d made a friend for the first time in his life. Or existence rather, he corrects. Androids were not alive hence they could have no, well, life. 

“I apologize,” he bows curtly and leaves, shoulders slumped. You watch after him feeling like the grandest asshole in the world. 

“That’s because you are,” you chide yourself before slamming the multi-kilogram art book closed shut. 

A week passes and despite it not being a part of his programming, Namjoon is sulking. You’re nowhere to be seen. Maybe you avoided him due to it being awkward. Or maybe you just flat out hated him. The operational error occurs again - it makes his stomach feel like a gaping hole in spite of him knowing it was full of wires and memory cards. Perhaps he should be checked for bugs. 

“Excuse me,” a thin voice appears behind him and he finds you shifting from one foot to another, a gift in hand. 

“Hello!” he greets you pleasantly, face contorting in a dimpled smile before recalling last week and lets it deflate quite fast. 

“Are you in need of assistance?”

“No, I came here to say “thank you” and apologize. It was rude of me to insult you. I’m just…” you exhaled, shivering faintly to yourself with nerves. “I moved here only recently and I’m not used to androids. Not that it is any excuse for my behaviour. It was cruel, I apologize.”

“Accepted,” Namjoon graciously nods along, the weird bug in his stomach evaporating into thin air. He glances down at the anxiously clutched gift bag. 

“Is that from your family? Was your thesis accepted?”

You glimpse at it almost self-consciously. 

“It did. You caught onto all the mistakes so there were no objections from the superiors hence…thank you. You were not being an irritating know it all but…helpful,” you offer him a small smile and he encounters a different sort of bug, this one gnaws on his chest. “It’s for you.”

Astounded, he gently accepts the bag and peers inside. No one has ever given him anything. Inside there sits a folded shirt. The quality of the cloth is to his liking and on the tag he spots the name of the company specializing in android wear. It must have cost a small fortune. 

“I thought at first to give you a book but you probably already know everything and then I remembered you wear the same clothes every day but I didn’t know which colour-”

“It is perfect,” Namjoon interrupts, his wires suggesting that the limit of his smile has reached the maximum capacity. “Thank you, ________.”

You squirm but then frown. 

“Why is your face so red?”

“Uh…an operational error,” he lies. trying to appear sincere. “Will I be seeing you here?” 

“Would you like to?” demurely,  you question and he eagerly nods. 

“Very much.”

YOONGI: “So at which point you thought to inform me?!” you shrieked though it came out more like a hysteric squeak. But who wouldn’t be upset when their boyfriend, previously assumed as human, factory reset himself whilst being balls deep into your guts. 

“Baby, I can explain,” he begins, cautiously inching himself across the bed but you throw yourself against the headboard, clutching the sheets to your chest. Not that there was anything left to hide anymore.

“You better!” you yelled. “You knew from the very first meeting! I don’t trust androids!”

He licks his lips guiltily. He looks human. Acts like one too yet even so you can’t help but feel like an utter dimwit for being fooled like this.

“I know, I know,” he mutters guiltily, running long fingers through the orange hair. He said he dyed it. Bud did he? Did it matter? What else did he lie about?

“And I’m sorry for that! I meant to tell you. I did! But you wouldn’t have me if you knew early on and I liked you so much. I…love you so much.”

His gaze lands to sit dead onto your eyes, a feat for Yoongi indeed and despite expecting to see some blue lights, cogs and wires stretched beneath the artificial material there’s nothing but the familiar brown staring back.

“No fair,” you grumble. “Busting out the L-word.”

He chuckles fondly - a sound you adore even after this mindfuck.

“Can’t risk you running away from me.”

Gingerly, he touches your knee and you flinch.

“It may be a synthetic skin but it’s real,” he whispers moving to softly cup your cheek. “I’m the same Yoongi you’ve always known.”

Unwillingly, your body relaxes as he does his magic, fingers grazing through your hair in a monotone, calming motion. His ultra-effective weapon to having you be soft.

“But how can you…feel?” incredulous yet truthful, you ponder out loud. “You run on…programming…?”

“I’ve been a free android for twenty years,” he insists. “All my "programming” has rusted so much it’s running independent like a human brain would. No exterior orders.“

"So what was that?” you abruptly plank attempting to demonstrate his sudden seizure. “What was that all about?”

“Oh,” he laughs timidly, the gummy smile on show and ears flushing pink. You wonder if there’s wiring there as well but then simply let the matter rest. “I realized I love you, want to spend my life together with you and I…I freaked.”

“Good or a bad freakout?”

He leans in to peck your lips.

“Good,” he mutters in between kisses. “Very, very good.”

JIN: “Want to hear a joke about pizza?”

“No.”

“Good, it’s too cheesy.”

You could physically feel your eyes roll 360 degrees around your skull. The recovery and betterment android unit, J-I-N-100, levels you down with a thoroughly displeased scowl.

“Why aren’t you laughing?” he frowns. “I specifically requested it.”

“Fault in the program,” you slighted, moving to adjust the IV drip.

“Ah! A derogatory reference to my existence. How very original.”

His face and tone is neutral, for all intents and purposes he could have just recounted the level of precipitation outside. That’s what’s wrong with them, you think to yourself, how quickly they can go back to being robotic. And frankly, it’s not all androids you can’t stand to be around, it’s this specific unit that’s been making your life a miserable hell, even further than it was.

Losing a limb, a leg, in this case, was hard. It still continues to be hard. The bitterness that seeps from the court decision - the overruling of a criminal penalty for the drunk driver who’d mowed you over was a bottomless well. On top of that, churning away at a hospital, trying to regain the simple ability to walk using a prosthetic leg made you claw at the walls frequently enough and then this thing came.

The jokes you could tolerate, barely but still, but you couldn’t, couldn’t handle to watch him get his palm crushed one day and then without a care in the world church it away, grab a new one like a brochure at a religious congregation, given away like candy, and stuck it onto himself. No recovery period, no shock, no trauma. Brush it off, move on. How could you not hate him when he joked to you all day long as you fell out of bed or fell walking due to the simple fact that you were human.

Pain was the basis of all life and he felt none. To be in the presence of something that was not alive yet acted as though it was…unnerving. Deeply unnerving yet humanity had already moved past being the only humanoids, moved past the notion of disgust for artificial intelligence, leaving you to choke alone on the bouts of spontaneous rage.

All you heard whenever he opened his mouth was “tiny, pathetic human, wriggling around like a worm”.

“You bent your leg the wrong way,” he points out and your head twitches upwards, removing the crayon-coloured painting of yours from your vision. It’s now brimming with his face, one he said is of course mechanically engineered as it was perfect. He was perfect. A thing he often remarked on.

“What?”

“Your leg,” he repeats slowly as though talking to a child. “It’s made of a similar structure as my legs, if you bend the knee in that position, it’ll wear out the joint wiring.”

You hadn’t even thought about that. This leg…this leg doesn’t belong to you. It’s like him. An alien object lodged onto you. A parasite.

“Here, lemme fix that,” he reaches and on the brink of hurling, you kick yourself away, falling onto the floor. Android unit J-I-N appears almost startled.

“Don’t touch me! Do not touch me! Get out!”

“I can’t!” he objects weakly. “I’m your personal betterment unit if you reject me, I’ll be -”

“I DON’T CARE! GET OUT!”

For an android, purposefully wired being not meant to experience fear, he looks terrified. And that expression haunts you.

Waking up in the midst of a deep night is nothing new. Doctors said the traumatic event of nearly dying and then losing a limb will give you hours upon hours of unslept nights. Walking was still difficult, especially in the dark of the hospital where everything was quiet and creepy. Usually, J-I-N-100 would help you, asked or not, guide you to the bathroom, or fetch you a glass of water but after kicking him out he hadn’t shown for the entirety of the day.

You wander the halls blindly and then the knee jerks on its own and you find yourself on the floor.

“Fucking shit.”

Trying to push yourself off the linoleum, you faintly hear a peculiar noise. A strangled noise of crying. At first, you dismiss it. It was a hospital people cried day and night, every hour of the week but the sound is so terrified, so broken you couldn’t bear to continue the asshole routine.

Following it, you stumble upon the escape stairs, grey and empty and in the middle of them sits unit J-I-N-100. Crying. An android crying. A sight you never assumed was possible.

“Uh…are you okay?” you dumbly ask.

He hides his face away, shoulders shaking before a venomous hiss flies your way.

“Why do you care? I’m a machine.”

You stand awkwardly.

“If this is about what I said, just ask for them to transfer you to a different patient-”

He abruptly laughs loudly and dryly, a laugh of no amusement.

“You don’t understand do you, human? There are no transfers for androids. If we don’t satisfy our patient, there are no do-overs! I’ll be sent to the HQ and be,” his voice drops into a hush. “Be disassembled.”

For an android that was death. You didn’t like him but for him to die due to your displeasure was tyrannical.

“I’m sorry,” you gasp. “I-I didn’t know.”

“You don’t know anything,” he accuses heatedly and you couldn’t blame him.

“No, I don’t.”

There’s a beat of stilted silence.

“You hate that leg of yours because it’s like me. It’s strange. An alien organism. You hate for having these parts but they are not mine. Every part of me belongs to someone else. My eyes, my ears, my legs have been replaced thousand times over. This body is not my own and yet I’m forced to reside in it. Do you have any idea what that feels like?”

Abruptly, all his magnanimous tirades about having the most perfect body make sense in another kind of way. He must have been trying to convince himself of liking it when the truth couldn’t be any further away. Your words now feel sickening and a surge of want, to protect, to shield this android, makes you almost dizzy.

But he doesn’t care for it. Not anymore.

“Please, leave,” he asks. The sound of his voice is broken, worn to its absolute limit. “If I’m around you it is my programming to smile and I don’t want to smile anymore.”

You oblige and close the door to the staircase quietly behind yourself.

To be home again was to experience bliss. Your small, overcluttered apartment had never appeared like the gate of heaven itself. The smell, even the crowded look into the smog-ridden city below is pure ecstasy. Putting the crotches down you sink into the sofa, nearly crying at the comfort of unity. But then that grading, awful sound interrupts your ecstasy. A fucking neighbour. Grabbing the crutch, you’re already prepared to beat these annoying motherfucking neighbours into the next planet only to find J-I-N standing on the other side.

His expression is murderous.

“Why did you do that?”

Timidly, you shift in the doorway.

“I was trying to help.”

“You lied!” he cries out. “You chased down the board members of the android unit assignment, harassed them for hours and then lied to their faces that I’m the most adequate, most perfect unit in the facility!”

“Did it work?”

He calms down, hands coming to stand still by his thighs.

“It did. No unit has ever reached such a score.”

You nod.

“But you hated me…” he breathes, even without any visible cogs, you can see how the logic of your action is not computing in his brain. “You literally hated me all this time.”

“I don’t wish you death. I would never want that!” frustrated you trying to run a hand through your hair only to remember it is supposed to hold a crotch now. “It’s just my fragile human psyche. I’m sorry for it and I’m sorry you have to go through everything. It’s horrible.”

He seems to be beaten into a state of stupor only to shrug.

“It…It is what it is.”

“It shouldn’t have to be.”

For a while, there is only the muted sound of either of you trying to make some sort of conversation.

“Because of what you did, they’re reassigning me. Private health field, I’m a home care unit now.”

“That’s…great,” you weakly surmise. You don’t actually know if it’s great or not. There’s a lot you don’t know. Maybe it was high time to fix that.

“Wait does this mean you’ll be reassembled?!”

“No,” J-I-N shakes his head. “No, reassembling or disassembling. Home care units change very little. Just a little update and I’ll be sparkly new.”

“Perfected the perfection,” you try to joke and he chuckles weakly almost sounding surprised that someone might amuse him and not the other way around.

“Do you…” he shakes with nerves and you grow ever more astounded. He was so alive. A very peculiar android, one who couldn’t give it credit for his programming. Whatever happened that made J-I-N, he was different. Perhaps he made himself different.

“Do you need a home care android? Your recovery period is almost a year.”

“They sent me a catalogue but I haven’t gone through it yet,” you throw your head at the inside of your apartment.

“May…I apply for the job?”

You blink at his demureness.

“But I’m awful.”

“You were,” he agrees. “But you’ve got an update and besides I’m in need of employment.”

“I…” you think it over. In spite of not getting along, you still had grown at least accustomed to him. And J-I-N was far more gracious than you would have been in his situation.

“I’m okay with that. Are you?”

“Yeah,” he squeezes a small smile. “You’re not the worst human on the planet anymore.”

“Thanks,” you snort.

“Also fair warning, this update will contain nearly 68GB of various puns and jokes for the sake of breaking the ice with the patient.”

You feel a part of yourself shrivel and die with that information, still, you force out a polite -

“Looking forward to it.”

HOSEOK: “But…but what am I supposed to do with him?!” as quietly as possible, you hiss into the phone where a woman sighs at your incessant questions.

“He is a mental health android unit, treat him like an app or something.”

“He’s not an app!” you argue with some heat. “He is an android! A being! One you sent to my home without my consent.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have tried to slit your wrists open at a workplace,” she snides and drops the phone, leaving you open-mouthed at the sheer audacity before slamming the phone down into the kitchen counter.

“Your levels of adrenaline and anger are out of the norm. Should I help you to relax?” the android’s voice pops up unexpected right beside you and you scream.

The last thing you wanted after being discharged from a mental institute is to be observed. Like a zoo animal. What will it do if one does this? What will it do if one pokes it in this spot?

“No, please, it is not necessary,” you trail off, fear gripping you whole. This thing will live you. For three months, there will be a stranger, designed to hover over you like a Damocles sword. You couldn’t even feel safe in your own home when it was anxiety in the first place that wore you down so much you wanted to escape it in any way you could.

The mental health unit leans its head to the side. He looks very human, it must be the absolute prime model and somehow it’s even more disturbing. It’s a humanoid that was not human and that knowledge activates some primal terror gifted by your ancestors. You’re choking on your tongue.

“I’ll just use the bathroom,” you force out and make a run for it.

It takes hours for you to exit, shaking on the tile floor was time-consuming and finding the android unit freely moving through your space doesn’t put you at any ease.

“What are you doing?” you rasp.

He turns around, beaming wide and you shudder.

“Making dinner,” he replies cheerfully. “Your file suggested it will be one of my duties.”

In his hands, there sits a cup. It’s your favourite cup. It wasn’t passed from generations, it wasn’t a gift and it wasn’t really that expensive. It had a chip in the side and you bought it essentially from a flea market but it still is your favourite cup. One he has usurped like your peace in your own home.

“Please, don’t..don’t touch my stuff.”

The smile falls from his face and noticing your intent, scared gaze at the cup he places it down.

“But I…I have to make you dinner.”

“You don’t. I’ll do it on my own.”

He blinks, struggling to understand. It goes against his programming, while the emotional core of his does state he should instantaneously assume greater distance. He was creating unease, something he was not engineered to do and the two clashing commands were rapidly wearing down his operational core.

“I can…run you a bath. Baths are beneficiary for human beings.”

The thought of undressing in front of him, of being that vulnerable, nearly makes you gag.

“No, please, just do nothing.”

“If I do nothing, my dispatchers will think you don’t want me.”

“I don’t want you. I’m scared of you.”

His mouth despite it being an impossibility runs dry.

“You’re scared of me?” he echoes weakly.

“You’re a stranger invited into my house without my consent. Of course, I’m scared of you!”

“Right,” he buffers. “I-I…I’ll log myself off in the hallway. Will that make you feel better?”

It’s probably cruel, nevertheless, you nod. You couldn’t be around anyone and despite the opinion of general denizens, androids did count as someone.

Shoulders slumped, he dragged himself away before plopping to sit by the door and proceeding not to move. It was creepy.

At night, you hear him moving around and shivering underneath the blanket from the rampaging onslaught of paranoia, you could not relax for a single second.

Weeks pass and the mental health unit keeps an intrepid vigil to keep out of your way. You don’t even know where he is at times as he occupies no room and makes no noise but at times you almost forget he is there. He still performs some menial tasks when you’re away either being tested or taking a prescribed walk and exercise class. Your floors are too clean and when you fail to make food for yourself it magically appears, though you note that they’re not served in your dishes and neither your pots nor pans were ever used again.

Coming home late one night, you step over the threshold and find it empty and dark, abandoned almost but on the counter there sits a cupcake with a simple note attached.

“I’m very proud of you, ______________.”

Heat rushes to your eyes and your throat tightens. You can’t even recall when was the last time anyone said they’re proud of you.

“Umm…mental health android?” you call out. He didn’t even have a name you realize. He wore no badge and there was nothing in his introductory form. “Mental health android?”

No response. Perhaps, he left. You gave him no order, maybe it somehow messed with his programming so bad he left. You rifle through the apartment high and low, in the end, finding him crouched in the broom closet. It’s an awfully minuscule space, not suitable for anyone, be it an android, human or a cat but it is the only space in the entirety of your home, you did not look into. Just how long had he slept here for your convenience.

You lean down and shake him but he does not wake.

“Sir? Sir?” you shake him harder but you might as well be handling a ragdoll. “Sir? Please, wake up.”

At that, his eyes pop open and you screech from the abruptness of the motion, falling on your backside. He rushes to help you up but pulls his hand away at the last second, conflictedly squirming in the place.

“Are you okay? Are you in distress?” he questions nervously and you gather yourself off the floor.

“No, I’m just…” you sigh. “You shouldn’t sleep in the broom closet. It’s too small.”

“It was the only hiding place. I would not scare you there. You would not see me.”

Something in the innocent explanation, so purely kind-hearted, mellows your own.

“Please, use the living room.”

He nods stiffly.

“Also uhm…” unwillingly, tears pool in your eyes. “Thank you for the cupcake. Did you…make it?”

He shakes his head sadly and solemnly.

“You did not give me permission to use your things, so I bought it.”

“With what money?” as far as you knew androids couldn’t pride themselves on the biggest income.

“I work odd jobs at times,” he shyly confesses. “If I earn enough money, I can apply for citizenship and become a self-sustained android.”

“You used that money to…” you choke. “To buy me a cupcake.”

“To buy you all food and the flowers by your bedside table.”

He shrugs it off with such ease like it’s not by far one of the kindest things you’ve seen a humanoid do.

“Oh, no, don’t cry!”

Too late you’re absolute sobbing your heart out. About everything. When you were little you thought it will be such a dream. It wasn’t. It wasn’t a dream at all.

He once again reaches to hug you, probably due to his programming but holds himself back, to be respectful, however, you hug him first, not caring anymore that his skin is synthetic and his brain is made of chops. You just need someone to connect with. Any connection, any at all would be bliss and this android has shown you unbridled kindness no humans in your life would.

When you’ve cried out half the hurt, not all but a decent chunk, a steaming cup of chamomile tea, served in your favourite mug sits in front of you as the rain taps against the window. It’s easier to breathe. The android sits unsure at the edge of the sofa, uncertain what his next action should be.

“Do you have a name?” you ask, twiddling with the edge of the blanket.

“I’m a mental health care android unit 9876Q36x/3.”

“Right. Have you considered choosing a name?”

If he wanted to be a self-governed android, the idea of freedom must be constant in his mind.

“I did,” he slowly says as though it’s a secret. “Hoseok.”

“It’s a lovely name.”

He offers a gentle smile and you feel for once a bit better.

“Thank you, _______________. I like your name as well.”

 © soraviii/soraviie 2022-2023

[untoldsoup]

Hi! I was curious about how you organise work with your comics, including the writing parts :)

Idk if my process is how it's supposed to be done, but I'll share what's been working for me so far!

So for the btb comic, I got it written last year before the 'change' comic was done being drawn. I learned alot about how I wanted to do storytelling with that comic and it influenced how I organized the sequel.

One thing I learned from the 'change' comic is I absolutely loathed drawing the same location too much. Most of that comic is the wedding and by the end of the wedding I was so sick of drawing the wedding scenes (it almost caused me to quit a few times lol).

So when writing the script for the sequel I told myself every chapter would indicate a scene change. This would help me get through drawing a chapter knowing a new scene location would be drawn for the next chapter.

A scene change can be as small as a different room or as big as a new location, as long as *something* changed about the background I would have to draw.

Each chapter is its own word document (well google docs now, i switch over)

I write my stories in movie script format. When researching how to write comics I found the most helpful advice was screenwriting advice. I highly encourage people to watch youtube videos on screenwriting. I also watched a ton of videos aimed at screenwriters that talk about plot, how to write interesting characters, and the three act structure.

I made sure i could answer questions such as "why is my character doing this?" And "what motivates them?" And "how does their wants and desires change throughout the story?" I made sure that each character's motives and personality could answer these questions with a few simple words. I needed to make sure I have a clear understanding of what they wanted.

I go through a TON of edits in my chapters. I even edit alot when I finally start drawing, if I think some dialogue would work better rephrased once I see it next to my art. Editing is huge. Your first draft really is just getting the "dumbest" version down. Once you get over that hurdle, you can mold the script into what you need.

I remove a lot of dialogue during edits. Comics are a visual story telling device, so i try and make sure the words and art work together, and that the words don't feel like they could exist without the art.

There is nothing I hate more than when a comic page is a giant block of text. I find large scary blocks of text uninteresting, So I will often go out of my way to draw more panels if it means breaking up the dialogue.

I also try my best to write realistic dialogue. Would this character say this? Why are they saying this?

If you notice with my stories alot of characters are not direct in how they speak. In real life no one tells you directly "i am mad". They deflect, lash out, say things because they are jealous or hurt ect ect. I wanted to do my best to have my dialogue reflect how each character would realistically handle the pain they are dealt.

When I start drawing, I have the script for the chapter I'm working on open on one computer screen, and my art tablet with my program open on the other. This way as I'm drawing I can easily reference my script.

If I'm drawing an action heavy scene, I will often start paneling out on paper some crude sketches just so I can keep track of where everything should be. It's easy for things to get lost in the action so I try my best to make sure I am aware of where every character is in busy scenes.

These drawings are extremely crude but really really helpful. I don't mind sharing these as they are so abstract they don't really give anything away lol. But they do help me organize.

I use clip Studio to draw and from there start drawing my pages. Each page takes about 2-3 days to finish depending on complexity. I think I get about two pages done a week, more if I have vacation days or something from work.

I have a full time Quality Analyst job, so I'm only able to work on my comic between the hours of midnight and 5am lol. It's why you always see me updating and posting at horrible hours lol.

Anyway I hope that helps? Hopefully I answered your questions!

[highlordofkrypton]

Love the writing advice of posting everything you write I need to do that more often! May I ask for advice on how to get everything onto the paper? Sometimes I get stuck on the writing phase and the perfectionist in me won’t write it until it’s perfect in my head first.

Of course! I love talking about writing with other writers, it’s how we learn and refine our own processes 😊 How else will we know what works for each and every one of us?

My #1 advice is:

JUST DO IT.

Easier said than done, I know 😂

Until you put writing on a page, there is nothing to perfect. It’s just thoughts that you’re ruminating on. I like to compare it to having anxiety—for me, anxiety came from always trying to plan ahead for every single outcome to the point that it overwhelmed me.

The moment I realized that I was capable of handling any problem if it comes down to it, I was freed. I just have to get out and do whatever I needed to do. If something bad happens, we adapt. If it’s good, well, fuck, that’s the best outcome!

So, I started applying it to writing. Just start, we can go back and edit later. That’s the whole beauty of it. No one knows what your first draft looks like nor do they have to; you can rework it later, but first you need something to work with in the first place.

Just start, and write until you get to the end.

Other tips:

Even if you ‘perfect’ something in your head, it might not translate well on paper. Reading out loud helps a lot for flow, not just dialogue.

Get HYPE PERSON/cheerleader to help you push through! I never wrote a story from start to end before last October. I hated everything I wrote, but I hand-picked one friend to drag my ass to the finish line solely on encouragement.

Once you’ve practiced ‘getting it down’ often enough, it becomes easier and easier and your first drafts become more polished because you understand your style and flow better.

Try just doing. Often, when I write, I kind of go into a trance/mode where I don’t think, I just word vomit onto a page. Anything that comes to mind, just put it down. No editing. Keep going.

If your perfectionism is still blocking you, make a draft called ‘DUMP’ where you just throw all your ideas onto a page. Turns out, whenever I do this, an outline manifests and it’s a lot easier to get a really solid first draft.

GET EXCITED ABOUT YOUR WORK. Don’t worry about the quality, hype yourself up about your IDEA. HEY WORLD, I’VE GOT A STORY TO TELL AND IT’S REALLY COOL!

Most readers are not necessarily writers themselves, and if you’re writing fanfiction, the expectations are at zero for quality. Nobody is paying for this, and I’ve seen people who are more than happy with bullet points outlining a fic and the key events. Things that you consider imperfect will go completely unnoticed by people most people.

Imperfection is where the charm lives. Some thing that you might have forgotten or worded in a way that was interpreted differently might actually open up doors to headcanons, speculation and other beloved things. In my fic that I’m just posting without planning or editing, I got these awesome intricate comments about parallels and theories—none of which was planned, but heck, let’s go with whatever they said! It’s better than anything I would come up with!

Perfection isn’t real anyway; there are too many standards, each of them different for different people. Write what makes you happy.

A couple of the biggest observations I’ve noticed by just dropping chapters without a plan is that I’m a lot harder on myself than anyone else is, and if I’m having fun writing something, that comes through 100% to the readers. It’s actually what matters most. Your passion and your investment shows, and it’s contagious. So, go for it! Do the thing! Live your best life.

I hope this helps and encourages you! There is no right answer, only what’s right for you and gets you going 😁

[spaceagebachelormann]

hello 🥺 i just finished shadow and bone s2 and i wanted to ask if you would write some cute fluff for a poly genya x david x reader relationship, please.

being poly with genya safin and david kostyk.

-> ft. genya safin and david kostyk

-> warnings. none!

-> mars thoughts. the two loves of my life in one request. sorry for the wait!! remember that reblogs >> likes. if you like my writing please reblog it to show your support. divider (under) by @/benkeibear

-> links. m.list || s&b m.list || navigation

oh <3 they are absolutely lovely

they both literally adore you so much

genya wakes you both up every morning, since she typically gets up around 6am and doesn’t want you sleeping in all day

meanwhile you and david just wanna lay there and sleep

genya bby will not allow it

they have very similar love languages!! but ofc there are some differences

genyas are words of affirmation, physical touch, and gift giving (both receiving ofc, genya cares about equality)

she likes to hold your hands and tell you how pretty you are and how much he loves you while giving you a little gift!! her only condition is that you do it back

meanwhile david’s love languages are physical touch, gift giving, and quality time

he likes taking you (and genya) out on walks and picnics and stuff like that where he can hold your guys hands and give y’all random stuff he finds on the ground

they are always right by you when you’re sad. like babes have a 6th sense or something cause you sniffle for a sec or show your upset in some way and those two are by your side immediately

and they’re so sweet when they comfort you!! don’t leave your side unless you need food or water, they listen intently, all the good stuff <3

and they’re super supportive of your interests btw

david hates bugs but if you like them he’d go into the woods and bring you a whole 7 story bug hotel cause he loves you that much

^^ genya doesn’t mind bugs but prefers to stay away from most of them

same for her though

IMMA COME BACK AND ADD TO THIS LATER!! i accidentally posted the draft too soon 😭

[victimeyez]

HELLO I am alive (mostly) and wanted to provide a little update on life and story progress.

Okay, uh, to try to summarize a whole lot of shit, I have been insanely busy. Partner and I were hunting for a new place, got new place, all the stress of moving one place in-state and another across state lines. New place was NOT what was promised on every account and has revealed itself to be a miserable little death trap. 

Now we are living out of suitcases and boxes while voraciously hunting for a new place so we can move AGAIN. I work 45 hours + 30 min commute each way, so I have about 4 hours a day to house hunt, view houses, clean, run errands, rest, food prep, socialize, and write. I have weekends off, but I have timed obligations every day of the week. 

Because of all the craziness, writing has had to take a back seat to make way for “trying to plug a sinking ship while on it” emergency procedures. This has slowed my writing progress significantly, and I’m continuously disappointed by my progress. However, I look back on my time spent, and find none wasted. I’ve just been overwhelmed. 

I am hoping we will have the new place secured + initial move complete within the next week or two, and then we’ll be able to unpack at a more relaxed pace. I am eager to get my life back. 

As for the actual writing, I have struggled with keeping a consistent schedule due to additional factors. I lost a beta reader who contributed a lot due to an unfortunate disagreement, and my writing goes much smoother when I have a few people I can bounce ideas off of.

I also will be writing, think “oh I’m almost done”, and then get additional ideas of what I want to do and what needs to be described. At the end of the week, I usually find myself at an impasse. Do I hurry up and close the scene so I can post the chapter on time, or do I take the additional time to really write this the way I want? I want to be timely with my updates, and setting a posting schedule for myself has really helped to keep me going. It’s important to me. It is also important to me that I write a story that I enjoy writing, and a story that does not compromise on any qualities that people enjoy. If people are reading for the pain, then I want to provide indulgent scenes of pain. Would the story still be worth reading if I cut half of my ideas just so I could publish on time? I don’t know. I would hate to skip out on any qualities of the story that people enjoy reading, because that’s the whole point!

I don’t really know what to do. I don’t want to dissolve my deadlines because they have really helped keep me driven, but I also don’t want to produce rougher and shorter pieces just to try to maintain the pace. I consider all of this story to be a rough draft, and hope to better refine it later on, but I still want to show writing that has gone through significant edits and thought. 

I value the opinions of other writers and readers. I’m thinking about what I want to do to make this work better. Maybe I could do more polls and things with different ideas I have so those who would like to vote can have a say, but I don’t want to spam folks on my taglist or reveal potential spoilers to anyone who does not want them. 

Anyways, this is just to try to explain myself a little bit I guess. Comments, thoughts, messages, replies, smoke signals, and carrier pigeons are all appreciated if anyone has suggestions. Thank you, thank you so much to the people that read my little stories and put up with my erratic schedule. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it, it really means the world to me. 

TLDR;

[texasdreamer01]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Self-tagging from @ygodmyy20! 👋

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

80!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

239,131.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently Stargate Atlantis, but I'm considering the Hobbit fandom again due to some fandom events.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Psychopomp (Space Australians fandom, technically origfic) Twixt Primroses and Hawthorns (Hobbit fandom) All we are, and all we have… (Star Wars TCW / Prequel fandom) Ādfȳr (Hobbit fandom) Nice Manners for a Thief (Hobbit fandom)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I do my best, even if it's just to say thank you. I've gotten some puzzling comments before, so I haven't gotten to them yet.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Uhhhhhhhhhh I guess it depends on the fandom? I write angst a lot, anyway, so it's difficult to tell which is the most angstiest story. Maybe The Serenity Protocol, for the Star Wars fandom?

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

In terms of most satisfying resolution, maybe Svabhāva from YGO DM.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I had this one guy who left comments on every single fic on FFN below a thousand words saying "This is not a drabble.", which I suppose counts?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yep! According to my commenters, "hot".

10. Do you write crossovers?

Yyyyy-no? I have one drafted but it's not even remotely finished.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Once! And it was even from someone commenting on my fic! They did a terrible job filing off the serial numbers for it, too.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've translated my own fics as practice, but never by anyone else.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Accidentally, yes.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I have a multitude of ships because of different dynamics and fandoms, so honestly I couldn't pick between them?

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Kintsugi, in the Sherlock fandom. I had to take a break from it and don't know if I'll ever be able to re-dedicate the time it needs.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Verbiage. I used to write a lot of poetry before doing long-form, so the word choices carried over.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Writing while tired or otherwise preoccupied, mostly because I write to think out an idea rather than to attract attention, so I'm not terribly concerned with quality until I re-read it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Pretty fun for some fandoms! It gets frustrating with some conlangs that are obviously under-developed, or if it's a fandom that's typically English-only and you have characters that know other languages but for some reason never use them.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Danny Phantom.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Ehhh. I can definitely say I've improved with my writing, but I've never gotten into the habit of genuinely liking my work because I know it could be better.

No pressure tags: @spurious, @pandora15, and anyone else that wants to do it!

[elronds-pointy-ears]

I have nowhere else to be tonight.

So I’ve been working on this for a while now and I decided to upload this now because if I don’t do it now i probably will never so here we are.

I decided to write a little fluffy oneshot for @thesolarangel This silly story is written just for you and I hope it might help you sleep a little better.

Also special thanks to @lotrnonsense​ who helped me every now and then and cheered me up to keep writing and most importantly upload this piece of shit.

And please don’t be to hard on me this is my first ever written story so yeah.. I hope you like it lol

Pairing: Elrond x Reader

Warnings: A little self deprecation

Genre: Fluff and a little angsty i guess

Word Count: about 2121

Disclaimer: lotheg is sindarin for a single flower or blossom,  On nydha means good night

Finally after a long day at work your superior had finally sent you home. He saw how tired and exhausted you had been the last half an hour, repeatedly losing grip on the tool you had been holding. He had watched you for a while now shaking his head every now and then when you’d been so engrossed into your little project that you had not heard the young ellon next to you asking for your attention for the second time now. You had worked so much these past few weeks and had barely time for yourself, you were basically drowning in it. Celebrimbor knew you needed a break.

 When you dropped one of the drafts you had created for the 4th time he finally decided to stop this nonsense. „You should go home now dear.“ He proposed in a quiet manner. Nontheless it startled you a little that you jumped and he caught your arm just in case you were gonna stumble. His expression was soft „I know you want to finish this as soon as you can but you need to sleep at some point.“ „No no I am almost done for today anyway I..“ you tried to protest but as soon as you started Celebrimbors face turned much more serious. „This is not a request.“ He declared with an edge to his tone that let you know there would be no further discussion. You knew you could be stubborn at some times but you had needed merely 10 more minutes to finish this part of the project you wanted to complete so badly.

On the way home you felt how exhausted and overworked you had been. Every joint in your body ached, every muscle cried out with each step. If that had not been enough already destiny seemed to hate you when you saw a young couple, lovedrunkenly running into you on their way through the city. They would be heading to the festivities, that were about to tart in an hour or two you had guessed. You hated to admit it but you were jealous that these two could have what you wanted and waited for so long now. Your face became serious and a wave of frustration hit you. That was how you walked home that evening to spent another evening on your own. Your allowed your thoughts to wander a little and it was not doing you any good to be honest.

You tended to overwork yourself every now and then because once inspiration hit you, you needed to use it, to create. It had always been like that. You would not have even just a glimpse of an idea for weeks and then once the spark came it inflicted a flame as hot as dragons fire. You’d been so overwhelmed with it that sometimes you wished you could split yourself up to work on different things at the same time. It was one quality that you were sure made Celebrimbor ask you come to Ost-in-Edhil and work for him as part of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain. You could not believe that THE Lord Celebrimbor personally had invited you to join him in Eregion and you were so grateful and proud. But you were not part of this place just yet. You still had to work for the High King first and finish a mission he had trusted you with. After that Celebrimbor had offered you to stay in Eregion.

You finally arrived at your door and quickly opened it, stepping inside and shutting the door behind you. You had been overthinking again.  You needed to complete this new project of yours since you would have to go back to Lindon in not more than a month. You were just about to work on some more concept drawings when you heard a knock on your door. You sighed and considered ignoring the knock just when a voice from the other side caught your attention. It was your dear friend Elrond, who called your name through the door. „Come on now I know you’re home. Open up.“

You got up and opened the door just a little to peek through the door. You knew Elrond would see that something has been nagging at you and he would question it.

As you expected, Elrond took in your restless form, not showing you know what he’d been thinking. He called your name softly, „May I come in? Or are you going to leave me here?“ After about three seconds you stepped aside making way for him to enter your place. „So what is it El? Did something happen or what do I owe a visit from the High Kings Herald personally?“ You tried to joke with him. Charismatic as he’d always been he laughed at your attempt at humor. „Can I not pay my friend a visit? I came to check on you.“ Of course he would know you’d been trying to evade his questions. „Elrond you know I am well.“ You walked around him to your bed. „I’ve been busy that’s all. And tired so if you don’t mind I’d like for you to come back some other time. I was just about to rest a little.“ You gestured to the bed. When you looked back at his face, his smile had faltered and you swore you saw a glimpse of concern in his pretty eyes. 

„I saw you earlier. You looked stressed and unwell. Lord Celebrimbor told me how hard you had been working.” You grew a little annoyed now. „May the Valar help me Elrond I told you I am fine.“Elrond just kept staring at you. „I am sorry“ he said sadly, „for not noticing it sooner. I should have paid more attention.“

It struck you everytime how much of an idiot he could be. He was the sweetest elf you had ever met, always worrying about others and trying to please everyone. Your annoyance had left as fast as it had come. Now you were the one who felt sorry for your little outburst. You could not blame him, he had trouble as a younger elf and only ever wanted to do his best. It was beyond you how he could blame him for something he had clearly no saying in. „Elrond.. I don’t know why you always believe everything to be your fault.“ You acknowledged. Elrond came closer and took your hands in his. „Stop pretending everything is fine, when it is not.“ he urged. You stared blankly back at him. „I care about you,“ he said stressing out your name. You have not been well for a while now and it pains me to see you this way.“ The way he said it with such sincerity in his voice made you look away. You stared at your feet feeling too shy to look at him now. You let out a breath you had not remembered you’d been holding. You could not think of anything to say. You knew he was right. He always was. He ducked a little trying to see your face and catch your eyes again. „You know you can tell me anything, right? I won’t judge you.“ You knew he was being honest. That was just one of his qualities you cherished so much. He had always been honest and truthful. It was part of the reason why he was your best friend for a very long time now. Thinking about everything that had been happening you’d kind of lost it a little, giving in to the whirlwind of emotion that you had to this point held back so successfully. You looked away and turned your head towards the window. Elrond heard you sniffle softly, barely audible even for his elven ears. „Come here love. Let me hold you.“. He wrapped his long arms around you in a swift motion. When you fully started to cry into his shoulder he only tightened his grip on you further. You felt so at home in his strong arms. His lean, but strong body engulfing yours felt so overwhelming. In this moment you gave in and felt free to let him break down the walls you had built to protect yourself. You sobbed into his shoulder while he held you close, whispering reassuring things to you. „It’s ok lotheg. I am here. I will always be here.“. After a while you stopped your outburst and quickly apaologized: „Ugh no I cried all over your fine Shirt.„. Elrond laughed out your name at that. „Only you could believe I cared about the shirt, when a friend needs me? Please stop apologizing there is nothing you have to apologize for.“ „Sorry..“ you said without thinking. Elrond called you with a warning but playful tone. You blushed at that. He saw your flushed cheeks and chuckled. „You are so cute.“, which made your cheeks even warmer than before. You never told him but you believed you had a crush on him for a very long time now. A foolish dumb crush that was also part of the reason you had felt so sad lately. Of course youhad imagined how it was to tell him but you would never execute the plans you made in your head. It would never work out you knew that. He only ever saw you as a friend and nothing more. All you would do is destroy the beautiful friendship between you.

You spent some more time together, just sitting and talking. You could not help yourself but speak about you in such a negative way that Elrond spoke your name suddenly, taking your hands in his bigger ones. He looked at you in bewilderment: „Don’t put yourself down like that. You are the most beautiful, strong, and extraordinary person I know. It deeply hurts me to hear you speak so bad about yourself.“ You looked at him, mouth slightly agape. You were lost for words. You didn’t know what to say now. You looked down to your feet: „I.. I know sorry..“ you stuttered. „I just tend to be very insecure you know that I don’t know what to do, or how to change that.“ Elrond brougt your hands, which he’d still been holding to his lips and kissed them lightly. „I never ever would want you to change anything about you.“ He brings your head closer to his so that your foreheads touch. 

He looked at you with such love and fondness that you had never seen anyone look at you before. The next thing he whispered was so quiet you could barely hear it, making you question if it was even meant for your ears „Why can’t you see what I can see?“

A knock on your door broke the moment. It was your friends Merenion,  Aeghel and Calandil, calling for you to open the door. They were heading to the festivities down by the Docks. You both froze, no one moved to the door. You really didn’t want to go. You wanted to stay Home, preferably with Elrond but you knew he’d want to, no had to attend. After a moment of silence your friends decided to leave. Elrond was the first to speak: „Why don’t we stay here tonight? At your place?“. „What no..? You don’t have to stay with me El. I’m fine. Really.” You responded. “Besides you’re expected to attend. The High King…“ „Should be able to rule his Kingdom for one night alone.” interjected Elrond. “I have written his speech this morning,he has it already..“ He smiled at you with crinkly eyes. „Oh but you definitely still need to be there you..“ He interrupted you again calling your name. „Stop. I’ve got nowhere else to be tonight besides here.” The ellon looked at you with beautiful big eyes full of adoration. Don’t push me away you know I am alot stronger than you. I won’t budge.“ He smiled. He had so pretty eyes you could stare at them for a lifetime and still would never tire of their gleam. Suddenly he walked over to the bed and picked up a big fluffy blanket. „Here.“ He wrapped you into the blanket like a Burrito. „We can watch the fireworks from the balcony if you’d like“. You hummed in acceptance.

You sat on the balcony for over an hour now. The sun had long set and the darkness wrapped itself around each Tree and Flower that you could see from your balcony. You shared a couch. All the time you sat there you had not been talking all that much. The two of you sat mostly in what could be called a comfortable silnce. He had told you about his latest visit to Khazad-dûm. He had such a soothing voice you believed you could listen to him talk all day and all night. Ever since you knew him, he’d captivated you. Something about this young ellon next to you was just attracting you to no end. The Fireworks were about to start anytime soon now but you were so exhausted and tired from the previous weeks you slowly drifted off. Your friend had held you this whole time and gently drew circles on your arm. Elrond noticed your droopy eyes and waited a while until he deemed it safe to carry you to the bed without waking you. He lifted you up easily, tugged you in, putting your head on a soft pillow, making sure you are comfortable. He leans down to give you a kiss on your forehead whispering „goodnight my little lotheg“. Before he could get back up and leave, you sleepily called for him. Missing his warmth and fearing another nightmare you wanted him to stay. You sleepdrunkenly asked him to stay with you. Elrond smiled down at you and you felt the mattress shift beside you. He joined you under the blanket and wrapped his long warm arms around you, face nestled in the crook of your neck where your hair lay. „On nydha“. He closed his eyes and you both slept peacefully, entangled in each others embraces through the night. No bad dreams haunted you, no good dreams either. You would not complain though for you had just experienced a dream come true to you.

[gtunesmiff]

What is the single biggest mistake writers make?

They're ants when they should be spiders.

Let me explain... Here's how most people approach writing a song:

They write on a section;

Once they're happy with it, they move on to the next one;

They continue in this way until all sections are written

I call this the "ant approach", because it follows a clear path from A to B. You start somewhere, and you finish one thing after the other until you end up somewhere.

t seems plausible. We like clear-cut processes like this. There's something soothing in formulas like this.

Here's the problem: this process doesn't work

(or at least it makes your life a lot harder than it needs to be)

Why? Let me explain it from the lyrics perspective (most writers have an easier time seeing the issue here).

For decades, here's how I used to write my lyrics:

Verse I: I got this! Man, some of these lines sound so cool!

Pre-Chorus: Starting to run out of ideas here... I guess I'll have to lower my standards somewhat.

Chorus: Right, chorus time. Time for a summary of everything I already wrote... well, if I'm honest, I don't quite know what it means myself...

Verse II: Ugh, I hate this! Why does lyric writing have to be so hard? What haven't I said yet? And what else rhymes with "broken"? I wonder what ChatGPT would make of this.

Chorus: Gosh, this makes even less sense now, but I'm so used to this chorus that I don't want to change it anymore.

Bridge: Maybe I'll just do a "who-oh" type section or repeat the same phrase over and over.

Chorus: Please don't ask me what my song is about, because it has so many layers that even I don't know (and honestly, maybe it's about nothing).

Recognizable?

Well, this happens in music, too, it's just that most writers don't recognize it there (probably because they don't know it any other way).

What's the alternative?

I present: The Spider process.

Consider the spider web:

We don't care where the spider began crafting it.

We don't care that it didn't look like a web for the first few hours.

We don't even care that the spider had to undo some of its work.

All that matters is that all the right connections were made at some point during the process and that the spider ended up with a great, working web.

The Spider Process doesn't work from A to B like the ant, it starts with a rough version and iterates on it over many drafts.

(And if you're not slapping your forehead yelling "of course!" right now, let me elaborate because this makes a MASSIVE, MASSIVE difference.)

Instead of fabricating your song as you go (which makes it easy to lose focus, lyrically and musically), you start with a rough draft.

Your goal is NOT to write and finish a section - it's to write the ENTIRE song, and quickly.

And if you think your song's not going to be good at that point: You're right! Your first draft is going to suck!

But that's the beauty of it: You can write something that sucks! And you know how to make something terrible better.

Think about it, what's more fun, what's easier: writing perfectionism... or making something bad a little better?

The Ant Process sets you up for failure because every single thing you write needs to be great. You don't move on until your section (your line, your sound) is perfect.

The Spider Process on the other hand sets you up for success because with your first draft, you're not trying to change the world. You're just trying to write something. You're having fun, you're fooling around.

The quality comes from rewriting your draft and iterating on your ideas. You're approaching perfection step by step instead of having to write something perfect right off the bat!

So when I write lyrics now, I don't write them from start to finish and line by line, I write a few words here, a few words there. A little for the verse, a little for the chorus, get an idea for the pre-chorus, then jump to the bridge, and so on... that's how a spider works: little by little, weaving that web, until it all comes together.

Here's another way to look at it that might help:

Don't think of your song as a blank page or a void where you have to create everything from scratch. Not only is it unhelpful, it's also not true.

Instead, think of writing as shaping a statue out of a giant block of marble. As Michelangelo said: “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”

Fun fact: the word decide comes from latin "decidere", literally "to cut off". By writing down a line, by recording a riff, by picking a chord progression, you're getting rid of everything your song is NOT. You're cutting off your options. You're not "creating", you're deciding what your song is.

This is one of several basic principles that have shaped the process I use now, what I call the 24-Hour Song. I wrote my last album of 15 songs in 14 days (6 hour days), and it's the best music I've ever written. I wouldn't have been able to do that a few years ago (it used to take me MONTHS to finish a song).

If you want to be able to do this, too (maybe you're a dad like me or you have a full time job on the side), keep reading my emails. I'll show you how you can write your best songs at record speed, too.

Stay gefährlich,

Friedemann

Holistic Songwriting

[batman-daily]

Big Updates Coming Soon!

So it’s come to my attention that the links to the story arcs in the pinned post are broken. Yay. Welp, rather than try to restore them as they were, I’m taking this opportunity to do something a little different.

Coming soon, I’ll be posting the COMPLETE story arcs, including all color Sunday strips! Well, I’ve needed to scan those for ages anyway, so this is a good excuse to finally do that!

This way, I can present the most accessible, readable version of the Batman comic strip, much better than scrolling backwards through the archives like everyone had to do before. I’d thought about trying to rework the whole thing in webcomic format (y’know, tabs for “first,” “next,” etc), but I don’t know how to do that. So we’re going the big-ass masterpost route! Hopefully that will be okay with everyone.

It’s going to take me a while, since scanning, cropping, and color-adjusting the Sundays alone is very time-consuming and… well, you know me, I’m prone to burnout. Subject to moods.

A note about scan quality: I’m still using my old scans for the black and white, and the color scans are turning out to be… okay. I’m trying not to be too much of a perfectionist, between all the extra work it’d take and the fact that I still want DC to publish these with the care and quality they deserve. I’d hate to think that my posting these might hinder any potential for a collection, but DC has still shown no internet in reprinting it, so I’m taking this next step to hopefully spread more awareness of this forgotten Bat-gem.

The only thing to decide is if I should post them in reverse chronological order so they can appear in chronological order on the main page (if that makes sense) or if that’s silly. But I’ll worry about that after I’ve drafted all the posts. The first arc with Catwoman is already in the bag!

For everyone who has already read the strips, despite the awkward format, THANK YOU! And whether you’re already a fan or curious to read it for the first time, these masterposts will hopefully give you a fresh, accessible way to read this saga! Now, let’s just hope I actually manage to pull this off!

[zeltqz]

I felt this needed to be sent as an ask. I know it's one of the hardest things to do (writing when your motivation is weighing) but you have to try your best NOT to listen to them (those who keep asking for updates with no consideration of what it's like for the author). Pressure ain't doing nothing but motivating negativity. I know the guilt, I've been there. At the end of the day I gave what I could and the fic ended up being discontinued a month ago. I permanently quit writing because I felt it was so overwhelming and stressful despite being something I absolutely love doing, I just couldn't take knowing people waited for my updates, I was disappointing them and that disappointed me. Talk about depression. Writers depression is very real. So eventually I unpublished my wattpad fics, deleted all my Tumblr fics, and stayed a silent reader, I wrote short poems or small works here and there for my private instagram, just whenever I felt like it. I honestly thought it was permanent. Until a friend of mine started writing which sparked my interest in it again. So I restarted my blog a couple days ago. Gave thought to what it was I wanna write and how I want this blog to be different. Atm I'm barely writing, I started 3 fics last week yet they remain in my drafts untouched with no further progress. But I can honestly say the nonchalance and freedom I have is quite nice, I try to write here and again. Or even if a single sentence or dialogue comes to mind I note it down, that gave life to another sentence and another and another until I put it together and it formed about a decent paragraph.. I'M RAMBLING. I lost track of what I was supposed to say. I don't even know the main point of this story. Forgive me. But seriously, the best advice I can give is to unburden yourself before you drown. Literally. Write what you want when you can, your wips, don't delete them!! I promise you some time later you'll definitely be inspired for them again. And when u do you'll be able to literally write more for it!! I have an idea from 2 yrs ago and it's pretty decent, with some editing it could be even better. So please don't delete them 😭😭 and don't let people push you to update. You can if you can and You can't if you can't!!! I'm here if you need any help 🙏🏻 I noticed that talking about your writing with someone who reciprocates your energy can ignite a full on passionate conversation that will lead to creating quality work!! Like new ideas or even roots to go for old works.. It's a good way to keep the motivation flowing when you're running thin 🤍🤍🤍

this is honestly the sweetest piece of advice soeone ever gave me. its so detailed and relatable too because i used to be a wattpad writer back in 2021 and then ppl kept on asking for update update update and it was so stressful so I just logged out of the account and to this day i havent logged back in 😭😭

as someone who used to be a silent reader i understand the frustration of needing an update. dont get me wrong i understand. i used to feel that exact way because fics were my only source of happiness at one point in my life when everything was shitty. but now im actually writing them, i know why some writers dont want to update so fast because its so much pressure when theres 5-6 ppl in ur inbox asking for update update update

ik how hard it is to finish a story but also how desperate it can get for the readers waiting for said update. which is the reason im constantly trying to keep writing but now i feel like i just cant. im such a perfectionist i dont post anything i dont feel is my best but rn i feel like none of my works are and its making me slack a lot and i feel like if i dont stop feeling this way then i might stop writing as a whole because its making me frustrated

writing genuinely makes me happy bc i feel like its an escape from reality (which i desperately need bc i hate my life) but i cant write good enough which is making me annoyed because i need that reality escape sooooo bad

and the reason i asked yesterday which fics of mine were peoples favourites, most of them were the series that i had deleted from my page because i reread them and hated it so bad. now im rewriting it but with this lack of motivation its one of the hardest things ive had to do in a while

and i barely talk to ppl about my fics because idk i barely recieve comments about them except for PT 2 PLS. like as much as i would LOVE to write part 2 3 4 5 6 7 etc its not motivating enough since i dont have anyone motivating me to write.

ugh this is a lot i dont except anyone to read this but THANKS FOR THE ASK <3

[onlyjaeyun]

alright now WHAT THE FUCK? so much shit just happened i need a moment to unpack everything. okay so first of all fashion icon yn ☝️ jay is so proud of u bby. second of all yn is gONNA CO-COACH WITH SUNGHOON? 😨😨 so much stuff is happening i feel like im about to forget smth important from the new chap again but YOOOOO WHY IS SUNGHOON SO SASSY 😭 the sassy men apocalypse is so real 🤕 but pookie calm down pls he keeps eating yn up if i had someone pointing out my daddy issues like that i would straight up cry. ngl if i were in yn’s place i would’ve blocked from the first “what the FUCK” but that’s just me personally 😶 ANYWHO jaemin what the FUCK 😨😨😨 i’m actually so like ?!?!?! he’s so cheating he’s literally actually deadass wallahi fr fr cheating ??????????? like the fucking audacity that some male species have is actually jaw dropping. how r u gonna get all insecure about yn being surrounded by her friends who r practically like her brothers and go “i don’t feel comfortable around them” like WHAT 😨 the self projection is sO REAL. and bby. yn, my love. my angel. my everything. dump his ass i’m begging you. EVEN IF YOU TRULY BELIEVE that u can’t find anyone better and you won’t be able to find anyone after someone as shitty as CH jaems (which u for sure will!!) it’s so much better to be single rather than be with someone who literally does not give a singular flying fuck about you. like girl protect your dignity 🤕🤕 break up with his ass even if he’s the last bf you’ll ever have it’s better than being with someone who’s CHEATING. anywho now that that’s out of the way, really jaemin. jakyung??? REALLY???? ngl the whole hoon & jakyung convo really made me almost throw up the whole time “i can’t study when im tense like this” please do me a favour and suck my dick ew i gen can’t. also WDYM THEYRE GONNA FUCK SO MUCH SOONER THAN ANY OF UR SMAUS? 😨 mamas pls calm down i am not prepared for a hate fucking between yn & hoon (i am. im playing im so seated for it.)

anywho my rant for chap.4 is done and i just wanted to say congratulations zadie !!! you know u ate that smau up SO WELL (especially when it’s supposed to be e2l and the characters are supposed to be hated for character development purposes) when you get anons in ur inbox hating on your work 🥰 like u fr made it and i’m so proud of you ! anyways CH ate. easily one of the best enha smaus in the making with your amazing writing & plot development sending u so much love zadie & so many hugs & kisses i can’t wait to see u piss more ppl off and i can’t wait to see the new CH chapters <333

(no but like genuinely is it that hard to SCROLL AWAY from smth that doesn’t please you? 💀 i don’t get it cuz i’ve seen works that i personally didn’t like yet i never felt the need to go in their inbox and be like “ur shit is so unlikeable dawg what the fuck” because what??? wasting my time like that when i could be searching for a diff fic that i could actually like.

like hello people have different tastes. there might be smth that u don’t like (that one anon) that a different person would gladly eat up (me basically) and there’s absolutely no reason to shit/hate on other people’s works/tastes. ESPECIALLY on tumblr. an app where u get to read literally top quality work for FREE.

and i’m sure so many writers are open for feedback as long as it’s NICE. you can very easily send feedback about a shitty work WHILE appreciating the writer’s effort and hard work spent on it even if the end result didn’t satisfy you. but to straight up go “ur shit is unlikable” IS CRAZY FOR ME 💀💀💀 like pls go into ur notes app or go into ur drafts and write shit that’s “likeable” for u instead of hating on miss zadie 🙏🏼 anywho im sorry this became so long but that was so unnecessary like anon grow up pls you’re better than this

i just want u to know zadie that this is YOUR work. (really want to emphasise this especially after that one ask u got during SB and how it made u pull away from the DDLG concept), the first person that should be satisfied with your works is YOU. if you want to add ddlg pls do if u don’t then don’t if u want to extend the e2l plot in CH please DOOOO these are works and literally universes that you’re creating according to your own liking (and i promise whatever you put out will be amazing because all your works are actually so incredible you’re UNABLE to make smth bad) so pls pls pls add whatever u want !! write whatever you want as long as YOURE satisfied then that’s all that matters ! again love u so much i hope you’re taking care of urself <333

& and always keep your foot down these bitches necks ☝️💯

-⁉️

THERE YOU ARE HI ANGEL BABY 🤭🤭🤭🤍 i hope youve been doing well and are taking good care of yourself !!!!!

gonna try my best and respond to all parts so excuse me pls if i forget any 😭

I ABSOLUTELY AGREEEE. being single is so much better than being with someone like CH!jaems and im afraid ch!y/n's gonna need a while to realise that 🫣 and i know hhe whole jakyung x hoonie part was a little 😞 bc like why would he do that we all know he's madly in love with his enemy (he literally genuinely hates her) but its for the plot i promise 😞😞😞😞

i have also decided to add the smut a little earlier mostly bc i havent properly written smut for hoonie yet and i want to so bad like he's so dreamy and so mean it manes me want to spread my legs and go feral like full on begging and shit so the reason behind the early scheduled smut scene is mostly because of my hunger for sunghoon (jake look away baby)

and the whole not liking a character situation with the E2L is somehhing i struggled with a lot because i 100% agree with you hence the reason i responded the way i did but i genuinely get the nonie bc like thats our hoonie and i make him look so bad BUT I PROMISE ITS FOR THE PLOT 😭😭😭

i will also never get the whole idea of going into someone's inbox and just ranting and complaining when you could just..click away but whatever honestly sto ive accepted that this smau will trigger a LOT of people and i have come to the conclusion that it justa pproves my thoughts of doing what's necessary 🫣

thank you so, so much for your sweet words baby. i do need those reminders every now and then simply because as a writer i tend to get caught up by all the engagement and interactions and asks and comments and the numbers that i tend to forget who i'm writing for in the first place. i hope you know this ask literally means the world to me and i love and appreciate you so so so much, sending you a big kiss rn 🥺☁️🫧🩷

[16-pennies]

Literally hurling myself into your ask box to say I LOVE Silver and I am shamefully, shamefully behind on reading it.

Have you ever done that thing where you open a fic in a tab, burn through 50k of it in a day, and then like... lose the tab? And forget to subscribe? And then come back months later and you can't even remember what chapter you got to???

It's completely disgraceful and I'm going to be re-reading it from the beginning, which actually just works out as a wonderful little treat for myself!

Aaaaanyway that's my grovelling done. Sorry you're bored and lonely! That sucks :( AMA literally whenever I'm never busy lol

So a question for you!

How are you feeling now you're so close to the end of Silver?! From the dates it looks like you're on track for finishing it almost exactly two years after starting it! Do you have something else that you're working on next, or are you taking a well-deserved break?

Hi hi hi!!! Thank you so much for the ask <3 And you're so relatable. The number of fics I've half-read and then completely lost track of is embarrassing. I'd love to hear your thoughts as you embark on your reread!

I didn't even notice that Silver might wrap up on its 2 year anniversary. It's strange to think of how much my life has changed in that period. As to how I'm feeling... nervous 😬 I have no problem admitting that plot is my weakness and I think satisfying endings are difficult for me. I'd hate to think that my readers made it through 220k+ only to feel like I could've wrapped it up better.

But other than my own insecurity, I'm excited to be able to say I have a completed draft for such a massive word count. There are still a few scenes I need to fill in, which is why I don't know exactly how many chapters are left.

I'll probably make a more detailed post about this when the story is finished, but I came up with the premise for Silver and wrote the first chapter(s) when I was 15. (So if you're rereading those early chapters, sorry about the lesser quality. I did my best with editing.) I didn't come back to it until I was 21. It's been an interesting journey, writing characters that I looked up to and now am much older than.

Anyway. Let me stop there before I philosophise for thousands of words.

Since I finished the bulk of Silver in 2021, I've been working on my next longfic (thought not as long as Silver) I'm calling The Trial. It's a lumione, post-canon Ministry shenanigans with some trauma not-quite-recovery thrown in. I know that ship isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's been my guilty pleasure for years and I'm excited to write something more substantial than one-shots for them. It's also been one of the most challenging drafts I've ever worked on, as far as process goes, but that's a different conversation.

That's probably way more answer than you asked for, so I'll stop here, but if you ever want to chat my ask/messages/whatever else are always open!

bel

[prompt-master]

henlo i am sorry to bother you but i am ten years late to the danganronpa fandom and two years late to your fanfics but i was wondering if you might consider finishing your Bear Trap story? like even if its just a quick lil synopsis of what you wanted to write, or if its an unfinished chapter, id take anything 👉👈

also ur lovely ok bye

Ok this was worded very kindly so I'm going to justify it with a full geniune response.

I'm honestly probably never going to update Bear Trap, but I WILL give you a synopsis. I did however want to first quickly explain why I don't plan on finishing that fic.

To keep a long story short. I kinda hate BT. It was my first fic after a two year break and imo it shows in the quality. I thank BT for temporarily getting me back into the writing groove, but I cringe way too hard looking back on it. I do have an unfinished chapter draft, but I'm not sure if I'd ever post it. I'll have to reread it at some point and see how I feel.

I would also like to say that if anyone else is willing to write the last part, I am more than willing to work with them.

Now, here is what I had planned for BT, bare (haha bear) in mind that it's messy because it was just self indulgent nonsense:

The format of BT was meant to go; build up, impact, aftermath. With each chapter focusing on a different story beat.

There was going to be a fake chapter released only on tumblr where Naegi died, only for the characters to go "did you actually think that would happen?" meant to poke fun over how many people thought I was going to kill Naegi.

This means the last chapter was going to entirely focus on the aftermath of Naegi's injury. I wanted each character to get an analysis of how they're feeling and each individual relationship would get a spotlight

This also means that. Tbh. The aftermath segment probably would not fit cleanly into one chapter since it would be pretty big.

It began with the hospital ride from the helicopter, Togami and Kiri watching as medics struggle to keep Naegi stable. There's a very dissociative vibe going on.

Because Togami and Kiri are closer to Naegi then they are each other, they don't really know how to comfort each other. It's awkward, quiet. They only speak to share facts and speculation. But there's a moment where they lean shoulder to shoulder.

Naegi was going to lose his leg, and have to get a prosthetic. Some of the fic was going to focus on him relearning how to walk with his new leg with the help of his partners.

I wanted to make sure that Naegi becoming disabled wasn't a "bad" ending. It's obviously upsetting to lose a limb in a tragic accident, and Naegi does have to cope with it. But I wanted to feel more empowering in a "see this shit? It's proof I survived"

Togami was ofc going to lovingly call him a cockroach

There was going to be exploration over how despite being known around the world for surviving a tragedy, they still don't really know how to LIVE with tragedy. They are just forced to keep moving on without getting a moment to breathe.

Due to Naegi seeing how freaked out Togami and Kiri were, he tries to keep everything together and stay lighthearted for their sake. He knows they want to see he's okay. This meant he pushed aside his own coping however.

The fic was going to end with Naegi finally letting out his emotions and crying in front of both of them, admitting that he was scared and thought he was going to die, and that he was so grateful they were there. Even if he had died then, he wouldve been more okay with it if they were with him. But that doesn't mean he was actually okay with it.

Togami negotiates them all a 2 week vacation lmao

If I remember correctly (I did not reread the fic to check, I'm going solely off memory) I was going to make a point about how despite feeling like they nearly lost their chance to tell Naegi they love him, both Tog and Kiri know that a confession shortly after a traumatic experience isn't the best idea. But also, Naegi doesn't need a confession to know they love him.

There were certainty more details to thefic that I can't fully recall ATM, such as the specifics of each individual character/relationship analysis. Let me know if you have any questions! Ty again for your kindness