#i like to break down complex idea and help people with problems but i was not build to teach in classrooms. i get knocked off points when

[superectojazzmage]

I really like the nuance of how the new episode handles Matt’s feelings about and conflicts with the justice system.

A lazier show would’ve portrayed Leeroy as some innocent wittle woobie who never did wrong and suffers for the sake of liberal white guilt and ego-stroking. But instead they didn’t have him as a perfect victim; he’s a snide, obnoxious, ableist, ignorant, ungrateful, and genuinely kinda stupid asshole who probably brought a lot of his problems on himself. But he’s also still a victim of a broken system that doesn’t seem to have any idea how to reform him beyond punishing him harder and harder after each dumb thing he does.

It’s not some easy one-way street thing. Leeroy’s a piece of shit who probably deserved at least some of the jail time he’s been through and the system is failing to do its job. Leeroy’s a dick but not a monster and doesn’t deserve such harsh treatment by the court and the court also isn’t staffed by strawman assholes who get off on keeping the little guy down - most of the people involved are doing the best they can and the clerk Matt meets with even bends the rules as much as she can manage for the sake of cutting Matt and Leeroy a break. Multiple things are true.

And the conversation/debate between Matt and the clerk. He opposes harsh justice and preaches about fixing the system, but he doesn’t walk the talk. He wasn’t reforming anyone by beating bad guys to a pulp as Daredevil, hell, he still can’t do it - he beat the ever-loving shit out of Powell and Powell didn’t change at all or suffer any consequences beyond bruises and black eyes. He was entirely on-board with Bullseye getting life imprisonment instead of any kind of reformative therapy (and he was right to do so in that case since Bullseye was never going to let himself be helped and would just kill again; once again, no easy answers). He shit-talks Daredevil and that whole lifestyle but clearly misses it and hasn’t dealt with the personal problems that got him addicted to it to begin with. He insists on everyone around him putting faith in the system but clearly hates that same system. He’s well-meaning, but he’s also a hypocrite.

Matt recognizes that the system has problems out the ass, but were his attempts to cut the red tape actually doing that or was he just recreating those problems in his own way for the sake of feeling powerful? Of chasing that high he got anytime he broke a supervillain’s bones or terrorized a mugger? What does it say when Matt and Kingpin are both spouting the same kind of rhetoric about beating back the bureaucracy and making a change to the broken government? What DOES it take to fix these complex issues? Because clearly Matt and Wilson’s brute force tactics aren’t it.

It’s some good, multifaceted handling of a subject that most media today bungles.

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[malusokay]

Haiii !! I'm obsessed with your blog. Do you have any tips for staying motivated? I wanna better my life and I have all the resources to do so. it's just motivation that's the problem 😓😓

surround yourself with inspiration.

for me, my friends are one of my biggest motivations—having people around who inspire and encourage you to grow is everything.

it’s not just about support; it’s about energy. being in a circle of people who push you, directly or indirectly, to be better is so important.

don’t lose sight of your goals.

always keep in mind what you’re working for, whether it’s an academic milestone or something personal. knowing your “why” makes the process so much easier.

when you have a clear picture of what you’re striving for, working hard feels purposeful instead of just tiring.

set HUGE goals, and then work backwards.

start with the biggest, boldest goal, then break it down into smaller, manageable steps that fill the gap between where you are now and where you want to be.

here’s what I mean: let’s say you’re in high school, and your ultimate goal is Cambridge.

you now → finishing an essay → getting a specific grade → finding balance → acing exams → writing your personal statement → Cambridge.

this is a very vague example, but the idea is to create a roadmap where every step feels doable—and every step brings you closer. you guys get my point hahaha

find balance to avoid burnout.

I’m a total workaholic, and spending time on things that don’t align with my main goals usually makes me feel horrible. but balance is non-negotiable.

for me, balance means baking with my friends, diving into hobbies that challenge me outside of academia, reading something complex but unrelated to my studies, or creating content like this to inspire others.

whatever it looks like for you, find something that lets you reset and recharge.

visualise, but don’t let it become procrastination.

I’m all for making Pinterest boards and visualising your dream life and I highly recommend doing it because it ties into the whole “don’t lose sight of your goals” idea.

BUT: overplanning can become its own trap. making endless lists, moodboards, or ideas without ever starting the actual work is just procrastination in a prettier outfit.

so yes, make your Pinterest board, set your goals, but don’t stop there. Start taking action, even if it’s just one small step today.

I hope this is helpful to you, and I wish you the very best on your journey, if you (or anyone else hahah) have more questions regarding this, just let me know, and we can dive into this topic a little deeper. <3

my insta @ malusokay

[brujamala-aka-gigi]

sea bunny plushies and random tarot messages

( ( i had to take some time off because life was being too exhausting but now i'm back with my pac readings, missed tumblr so much tbh. ) )

so: pick a sea bunny plushie and let's see what random pieces of advice you can get from the tarot.

number 1 number 2 number 3

number 4 number 5 number 6

꒰ঌ ✦ scroll down for the results ໒꒱ ༘*.ﾟ

-ˋˏ ༻ ❁ Masterpost and Tarot Menu ❁༺ ˎˊ-

images are from pinterest and dividers are by @nicodefresas

reblog if you enjoyed this reading or if you enjoy sea bunny plushies <3

༘⋆♡⸝⸝💌⊹。°˖➴

꒰ BUNNY NUMBER ONE ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

Being overly confident and reliant on thoughts that don’t come from healthy spaces is understandable if you’re in a desperate rush to find stability in your life. But sometimes these ideas will make you unable to move further, especially if moving on involves the questioning of such toxic beliefs. It is quite normal to find comfort in what we already know, but just because something is normalized (on the outside world or on your inner world) it doesn’t mean it’s healthy, or that it’s actually genuine to you. Even if your ambitions are coherent, take time to reflect on how you understand and conceptualize your own struggle and your path to success.

꒰ BUNNY NUMBER TWO ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

Neglecting healthy conversations about your emotions for the sake of other’s comfort is definitely stunting the development of many unrelated matters, not recognizing the importance of preserving your mental and emotional stability, is taking a toll on other aspects of your life. You’re giving away too much of your energy to people and places that won’t make an effort to comprehend the real complexity and validity of your purest emotions. Even if you feel like you’ve recently been too emotional, that won’t be solved by dissociating yourself from something so human and natural as feelings are.

꒰ BUNNY NUMBER THREE ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

This is a great moment to understand that it’s okay if you are not entirely sure on what to do next with your life. Taking the time to rest or taking an entirely new direction is also part of your own life path. Don’t expect answers that will come from outside yourself, you will find more clarity if you focus on building your own spaces of comfort and growth with the resources and people you already have in your life. Don’t look for things that are not meant to find you yet, find the time to take care and nurture what’s already there for you to help you grow.

꒰ BUNNY NUMBER FOUR ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

Even if it is quite undesirable to be in situations where you have to embrace chaos and accept uncertainty, it is helpful to understand that uninterrupted stability eventually begins to feel like stagnation. Situations of conflict are necessary on time to time in order to test the value and strength of anything. It’s key to understand that what’s needed in moment’s of instability is not a toxic sense of optimism and hope, but more so an objective analysis of  what can be done since the problem is giving an opportunity to fix what’s broken and check what could break next.

꒰ BUNNY NUMBER FIVE ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

Your decision taking abilities might be affected by a false sense of urgency on time to time. If your mind is moving too quickly and it seems like there’s only few options where you have to go all in, just know that it’s likely that you are not thinking completely straight. Being paralyzed and stuck on unhealthy thought patterns is keeping you away from seeing the full picture. The overly rationalized insecurities and negative self talk might be unperceivable due to it being incorporated as normal and healthy “self criticism”. Is not, and it’ll affect your life negatively.

꒰ BUNNY NUMBER SIX ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

It’s okay to embrace the simple pleasures in life and feel confident in material success, yet being overly fixated on this will take away many opportunities to develop a deeper perspective on many issues you might be wilfully ignoring. Don’t allow yourself to change your core beliefs in order to appease hedonistic needs, as this will bring you to periods of stagnation. Take the time to establish your priorities and keep them in mind whenever anything feels too good to be true, if you don’t care for your success, nobody else will.

Hey hiii, it's me, Gigi. I hope you enjoyed this reading and you found something helpful or entertaining on it. In all honesty, im so so soo obsessed with those plushies like, i couldn't resist the urge to use them as visuals for this post i dont care how unserious it seems.

anyways, i'm back to being cronically online, my bookings are open so check my tarot menu if you're interested. and my masterpost has all my pac readings so far if you're into them.

if you feel like reblogging and liking this post, i appreciate the shit out of that and i love you.

i think i don't have much else to say, other than hi im back, missed this place so much.

so,,, bye <3 much love, gigi.

[jupitermelichios]

Hey, we need to talk about the way Batfamily fans write Cass using ASL, because a lot of it is really fucking ableist

But Cass can't speak, of course she needs to sign!

Not true! There is nothing physically wrong with Cass's vocal chords or mouth, there's nothing in her brain stopping her from making sounds, and she is not an elective mute. She actually learns to speak individual words really quickly after she puts herself into an environment where that's a useful skill. Basil teaches her to quote huge chunks of Shakespeare in Nu52, and that's easier for her than forming simple sentences. That would definitely not be the case if she had any physical limitations on her speech.

Cass's disability is that she was not taught any language, and so she is having to grok the entire concept of language from the ground up. Grammar and syntax; tonality; how to combine words to convey more complex ideas; how putting two words next to one another can change their meaning; how to break down a whole idea into the individual parts needed to turn it into words; the fact that people's words might not line up with their tone and body language so you have to pay attention to both; how to tell if someone wants a response or is stating a fact; how to work out meaning from context if a word is new or someone has an unfamiliar accent; how to know if someone is using a new word or if they actually just have an unfamilar accent and all the ways words can be bent and changed before they become something new; the fact that two words can use the same sounds but have the same meaning; the fact that there can be two different words that mean the same thing. This is all stuff she didn't learn as a baby, and not knowing it would be just as much an impediment to learning ASL as learning English (for accent, swap out things like having limited movement in their hands, or having learned slightly different forms of the same sign, using a lot of home-signs etc, it's the same concept in a different medium).

There is no language on earth Cass wouldn't have these problems with. ASL is not any kind of shortcut.

But she reads body language, and ASL is kind of like body language right?

Not true, also pretty abelist! Just as the sounds which make up spoken language are essentially arbitrary (there's no objective reason why the sound "gud" should mean good, English speakers just all agree it does) so most of the signs in ASL are arbitrary! There's no reason for

to mean good. ASL users just all agree that it does. Cass knowing body language would not help her any more with ASL than it would with English, and if anything, it might make it harder, because sign uses the whole body and therefore changes the way people use body language so unless she saw a lot of ASL users as a child (and there's no particular reason to think she did), she would have to adjust what she knows about body language to account for those differences!

But she signs in the comics!

Nope! She uses hand gestures to communicate sometimes, but that's not signing. Pointing at food and miming eating to convey hunger is not sign. Pretending to punch someone and pulling it at the last second to convey you could hurt them but won't (Cass's actual first communication with Bruce in the comics) isn't signing. I've done the point and mime thing in countries where I didn't speak the language, that does not mean I knew that country's native sign language!

But she learns ballet, that's like a physical language, so sign is the same thing!

Nope! Also low key kinda abelist. Dance is a method of communication, but it isn't a full language. There's almost no grammar or sentence structure, the vocabulary is extremely limited, and also you can just make up new dance moves or use moves from different styles of dance together and still convey your meaning (you cannot just make random gestures or use BSL and expect ASL users to understand you, because they're full complex languages). Cass vibes with dance pretty hard, but that's precisely because it isn't a language, it doesn't require any of the skills she struggles with in order to communicate emotion.

But ASL isn't like a real language, it's not as complex or nuanced as spoken English so it would be easier for her to learn

That is so fucking gross I don't even want to have this conversation with you. Go and sit in the timeout box and think about what you've just said, and then commit to doing better.

But I just think that once she learned it, she'd like using ASL because [it's very expressive/she's used to her world being very quiet/she can use it on stealth missions more easily/etc]

Valid, understandable, have a lovely day

But I'm writing an AU were she uses ASL because her backstory is too comic-book-y to fit in no-capes AUs but I didn't want to erase her communication difficulties so I've written her as having a different disability

Cool. Send me a link when you're done.

But what if I write her using makatong?

(For context, makatong is a form of sign developed for people who have intellectual or phsyical disabilities that affect language use, which uses more descriptive signs which require less precise hand possitioning than other sign languages, and which has very simple grammar, making it easier to learn than ASL). Yes this would be easier for her, because it's intended for people with similar difficulties to hers, but since her difficulties stem purely from a lack of experience which can be (and are, in canon) overcome with practise, it would be kind of needlessly limiting compared to her just starting out with very simple spoken language, and wouldn't give her as many chances to develop those language learning skills. Makatong is also not mutually intelligable with any other sign language, so she couldn't easily transition from that to ASL once she got used to signing, she'd have to start learning it from scratch.

But I HC her as deaf

There is 0 comics evidence to support that, but it's a headcanon, so who cares. You do you. Have fun.

But learning sign language would be better than learning to speak anyway because it's a universal language!

That is not even slightly how it work. Go read the wikipedia article on sign languages around the world or something. Do some research.

TL:DR; Cass does not use ASL in the comics, and nothing about her disability or sign languages in general would make learning ASL easier or more convinent for her than spoken English. That does't mean writing her signing is inherently bad, but you should examine your reasons for doing it to ensure you're not just perpetuating ableist stereotypes about the language.

[wovenintosilk]

Stubborn

Received a request through a reblog for something related to Miguel's fangs. It's not exactly focused on them but they're definitely part of it!

No Content Warnings

GN!Reader

Word Count: 1100

━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━

“Get your fingers away from my mouth. Are you a child?”

You pouted and withdrew your hand, thwarted in your attempts to sneakily lift the corner of your boyfriend’s lip. “I want to see them,” you defended. “They’re so nice to look.”

“If you’re that bored, I will find you something more productive to do,” he reminded you and twisted his face further from your reach. “I’m not in the habit of allowing people to lounge around my workspace for the fun of it.”

“Can my something productive be getting you to smile?”

“Absolutely not.”

You sighed and sank further into your chair, head tilted back to the ceiling you stared at far too much. “You said you would be finished with this by now.”

“It was a possibility but it required far more attention than I expected. It won’t be much longer.”

Miguel’s desire to be busy never surprised you. From the day you’d met him to the day you kissed him for the first time, you always understood why he obsessed in the way he did. It didn’t hurt you but you worried – more about his own health than anything else.

When was the last time he’d even eaten?

“You know, I actually do have a job to get done,” you said. “I’ll be back soon. Try not to get too big of a headache by scowling at that screen.”

“I know.”

The grumbled words didn’t help your concerns. You cast a glance over your shoulder in his direction. The harsh artificial lighting of his office highlighted how he hunched over his work, shone off his suit in a piercing way.

It really couldn’t be good for him to stand like that.

Your first stop took you over an hour to reach and you still didn’t doubt for one second that Miguel would still be working on your return. Though he cared little about food quality lately, you insisted on getting him something healthy and what you knew he would enjoy.

If it took you ages to find, you didn’t mind too much. You knew it wouldn’t impact on your plans going forward.

Around the side of Miguel’s office, a few wires connected just behind a broken section of the wall. You had to hold your breath to squeeze half into it in order to reach them.

“This is a very bad idea.”

You jumped, hit your head against the wall in your startle, and groaned in the unexpected pain. Lyla watched with a humoured smirk from where she’d appeared, projected out of your personal watch.

“It’ll be fine,” you said. “He won’t even know it was me.”

“He will,” she corrected. “But that’s not what I’m worried about. I know you can handle Miguel yourself but I think you shouldn’t play with electricity.”

“When you asked me to get him to take a break, you should have known I’d need to resort to some extreme measures.”

She sighed and waved a hand for you to continue. You squeezed your way further in so you could reach the wire that fed his office and a few of the surrounding halls. Hobie showed you it wouldn’t turn off the rest of the complex when he did it last time as a joke.

“I’ve already backed up everything he’s working on. If he throws you out, I take no responsibility for it.”

You grinned cut the wire. Everything plummeted into darkness around you, computers shut off loudly and the ever-present hum stopped. You grinned proudly and dropped your cutter back into its space before you headed to the office.

You realised one of the main problems when you walked through the doors and spotted him on his platform. The one that wouldn’t move now without electricity.

“Wow,” you said loudly. “Can you believe the timing of this?”

He turned slowly. The silence stretched thickly between you, your smile a match for his glare. Lyla was right, he knew exactly what had happened.

“Either you have to come down here or find a way to get me up there,” you called. “Because I can’t reach you otherwise.”

You held up the food right as a bright web attached to your chest. It pulled you forward and lifted you into the air as though you weighed nothing. It might not be the first time it had happened to you but you’d never really get used to the sensation of being dragged around.

He steadied you when you landed, his hand rested on your arm until you gained your balance back. His lip curled up ever so slightly as he waited.

“I brought food,” you said and sat down in your chair.

“What did you do?”

“Went a ridiculous distance to get this for you,” you noted. “Do you know how far this place is? And then I got back and the power disappeared. Had to walk here in the dark.���

“Do you know how busy I was? How much you may have gotten lost?”

“I’m sure Lyla managed to get it saved. You can take a break while she finds the fault.”

He loomed above you, leaned down and opened his mouth ever so slightly. Finally, you had an opportunity to see those massive fangs you loved so much. You loved his habit of using them to intimidate. He didn’t even do it purposefully.

“You can’t really be blaming me for the electricity,” you said.

“I’m not stupid.”

You finally placed the packet of food aside, reached up and grabbed the front of his suit so you could pull him closer. You used your free hand to cup his jaw, ran your thumb over his bottom lip. Those fangs really were beautiful. What you’d give to have them showing more often…

“I need you to take a break,” you said. “It might take a while to fix. You may as well give your body a small rest, okay?”

Before you let him go, you pressed a small kiss to the underside of his jaw. He leaned into the touch just enough to let you know you’d been somewhat forgiven for your meddling.

He took the food from you, muttered something about stubbornness, and listened as you spoke about everything you’d been waiting to tell him.

[fancyfeathers]

Yandere!Batboys as Villains with Robin!Darlings AU Masterlist

Bro I had an idea for this AU, what if some of the rouges like Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Riddler were good in this AU, like they never became villains or enemies of Batman and or even allies of the Robins.

Like I could imagine that Dick’s darling developing extreme claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces) and hemophobia (fear of blood), along with a number of other traumas and phobias after being kidnapped and missing for over a month. It gets so bad for her that it does not just impact her vigilante work but even her day to day civilian life. So Bruce makes a few calls, looking for someone who may be able to help her in her current mental state and stumbles upon a psychologist who is a current professor at Gotham University and has a specialization in phobias, Dr. Jonathan Crane.

In this AU he would not be obsessed with fear like he is in other iterations of him, but instead due to his own trauma that his father put him through, he wants to help people who have gone through other highly traumatic experiences. So when he gets the call from Bruce Wayne about his adopted daughter and the things she had gone through, he accepts almost instantly, besides her story about getting kidnapped by a serial killer with a hero complex and highly unstable emotions was everywhere in Gotham.

He would drive to Wayne Manor after his lectures everyday and sit down and have sessions with Dick’s darling, psycho analyzing her and moving in to break down her trauma to get to the root problem. But he hears the stories about what exactly happened to her from her adoptive father, the GCPD files he got access to for her case, and then from her and then the things that happened to her is anyone’s worse nightmare.

Eventually they do make progress and after that is when Bruce green lights her for patrol again and that is how he finds out her identity. Dick’s darling saved his life during a mass attack on the city, she swings him out of the way and when she sets him down in a back alley and immediately makes sure he is okay is when everything clicks in place, he knows her mind inside and out by that point so when she is about to leave…

“Get somewhere safe, a basement or-“

“We’re going to discuss this at our next session, yes?”

“You knew?!”

I can picture Poison Ivy in this AU as a friend from school to Jason’s darling, a law major and a biology major hitting it off. They were originally supposed to be roommates but with the chaos that the life of a bat brings, Jason’s darling commutes to school. They are really close friends and a lot of their classmates joke that Jason’s darling is like Pamela’s sugar mama since she has access to Bruce Wayne’s credit card and she likes spoiling her friends.

In this AU, Pamela never becomes Poison Ivy but still she is an ally of her college friend. She found out about the identity of Jason’s darling when she was walking back to her dorm and she finds the injured vigilante hiding out behind the engineering building and immediately takes her inside to hide her and the mask accidentally falls off and there is a long awkward silence and…

“Is this why you dropped me as your roommate at the last minute?!”

“Um… ya…”

“…you bitch.”

Along with Ivy in this AU, I think Jason's darling would be friends with Edward Nygma, like I imagine him as another college student in this AU, a psychology major with an english minor, and it would be a trio with Ivy and Jason's darling. Unlike Ivy, I imagine he figures out her secret identity very quickly, so when he sees her as a vigilante, running and pretty badly injured at night, he just pulls his car over and yells at her to get in.

"Does everyone and their mother know my identity?"

"What, like it was hard?"

I also think it would be somewhat funny if they started helping her or became small-time vigilantes themselves. So say one time Jason's darling gets kidnapped by Jason most likely, Edward causes a distraction while Ivy knocks the goons out, so just Edward just walks up and like...

"I crack when I’m weary, tingle when I’m scared and stretch when I’m proud. What am I?"

"Really?"

"What?! You asked me to distract them!"

Or like the idea of Edward setting up traps to delay enemies so Jason's darling can move quicker but accidentally ends up catching the Batman in it and it is just a look of pure fear on Edward's face as he tries to apologize.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Stuck in Planning Stage of Writing

Anonymous asked: Do you have any advice on how to get out of the planning stage and more into the doing stage of writing? I’m up to my ears in notes for scenes and fragments of dialogue between characters. I know where I want to go with the story, I’ve even written a handful of scenes when the ideas come to me, but now that I have this lump of thoughts I need to start organizing and placing them all in their rightful spaces. The one thing I truly know is how much I’d love to see this through. Do you have any advice for a girl who’s unwittingly made herself stuck with a puzzle?

[Ask edited for length]

Planning a novel can sometimes be like digging a really deep hole for a specific purpose, then suddenly realizing you've stranded yourself at the bottom of the hole without a ladder. You've spent so much time digging the hole, you'd like nothing more than to get out of the hole and move forward with whatever project required you to dig the hole in the first place. There's just one problem: you can't teleport yourself out of the hole. You have to climb... or, ideally, build yourself a ladder to climb out with whatever materials are available to you.

That's probably where you are right now with your story. The hole you've dug was necessary, and it's good that you dug it, but as much as you'd like to just magically leap out and write your story, you can't do that. You have to build yourself a ladder to climb out of the hole first. So...

My go-to emergency "get out of the planning hole I've dug myself into" ladders are timelines, scene lists, and outlines.

Timelines: Your story may take place over a single day or several centuries, but either way, time flows in your story. All of those notes and fragments of dialogue and partial scenes are moments or events that happen within the time frame of your story. So, plotting those moments and scenes out on a timeline--according to when they need to happen--is about the easiest way to break your story down into its existing pieces and to see what's missing/where.

There are lots of ways you can format a timeline, such as a table, a list, a horizontal timeline, calendar, or a roadmap timeline. My go-to is a basic two-column document where the left column is date/time and the right column is the moment/event. There are also apps and online tools that will help you build a timeline in various formats.

Horizontal Timeline:

Calendar Timeline:

Table Timeline:

More info: Making a Timeline for Your Story Scene Lists: Stories are made up of scenes, so a list of those scenes is another great way to organize the events of your story. You may even find that creating a scene list is easier after making a timeline, because a timeline may help you see where certain moments or events need to be their own scenes and which can be combined together into a single scene. Just like timelines, scene lists can be as simple or complex as you want to make them. Once again, my go-to is a simple two-column document with the left column for the scene number and the right column for the scene summary, preferably just a sentence or two. Ultimately, once I have my rough timeline and scene list done, I usually combine them into one multi-column document along with my story structure beats.

Table Scene List with Beats:

Complex Scene List/Timeline/Beat Sheet:

More info: Scene Lists

Outlines: Outlines can be really any format you want them to be, and some people count timelines and scene lists as their outlines. My go-to outline is just an exhaustive beginning to end summary of everything that needs to happen. Sometimes, just working through your story from beginning to end can be the best way to make sense of all those disparate pieces you've been piling up.

More info: Guide: How to Outline a Plot Story Structure: Finally, I want to talk a bit about story structure templates like Save the Cat Writes a Novel!, Larry Brooks story structure, seven point story structure, etc. Story structure templates can be a really great way to make sure you're hitting all the right story beats--almost like a road map through your story. It's just important to know you do not by any means have to stick to any particular story structure exactly. Use it as a guide, take what works, leave what doesn't, and don't panic if your beats don't fall exactly where it says they should. As long as your story is working, that's what matters. Some writers even like to frankenplan their stories using a variety of different structure templates.

More info: Creating a Detailed Story Outline (story structure)

Once you finally have a roadmap for moving forward, whether that's a timeline, scene list, outline, or all of the above, you know you're ready to start writing!

Final note: I just want to add that planning isn't for everyone. Some people are discovery writers who let their stories work themselves out as they go. The above is just meant for people who are planners, who have done a lot of planning, but need to pull that planning together into a cohesive, organized document. And... if you have all of the above and still find yourself unable to start, you might find help in the links below. Happy writing! More help:

Beginning a New Story Figuring Out Where to Start a Story Deciding How to Open Your Book How to Move a Story Forward Trouble Getting Started Have Plot, Can’t Write

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[mushynka]

TW: This fic contains themes of violence, emotional struggles, trauma, and complex relationships. There are moments of brutality and intense emotional moments. Please read with caution.

Note: English is not my first language, so I apologize for any mistakes or awkward phrasing. I appreciate your understanding and patience with any errors! I'm using Google translator to help me sometimes so...yeah. Forgive me.

I was inspired to write this fic after watching the X-Men cartoon episode “Deadly Reunions,” but I’m not holding tightly to canon, so some things may differ from the show’s events or characterizations.

𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 #1

Character: Sabretooth aka Victor Creed, Charles Xavier, X-Men.

---

The walls were too white. Too clean, too quiet, too... controlled. Victor Creed—Sabretooth—hated control. Hated being caged. He had spent too much of his life behind bars, in cold cells where men prodded at him like an animal, testing his limits, waiting for him to break. And now, here he was again. A prisoner of the X-Men. He let out a low growl, shifting against the medical table he was strapped to. His wrists were bound in reinforced restraints—Xavier wasn’t stupid. But the straps weren’t the problem. Something was wrong inside him.

His body burned, feverish and weak in a way that made no sense. His healing factor should have kicked in already, should have burned through whatever was messing with him. But it wasn’t. His wounds from the last fight still ached, and there was something crawling under his skin, a sickness that felt deeper than flesh. Through half-lidded eyes, he saw Charles Xavier watching him from across the room, his face calm but unreadable.

- You’re wasting your time, Baldy - Sabretooth rasped, his voice rough with exhaustion. -You think chaining me up is gonna make me start purring like a house cat?

Xavier didn’t react to the taunt. He never did. - No, Victor. But you are sick. And whether you accept it or not, you need help.

Sabretooth bared his fangs in a tired grin. “Help? That what you call it? Or are you just keeping me alive so you can dig around in my head?”

Xavier sighed, folding his hands in his lap. - There’s something inside you, Victor. A virus—mutated, foreign. Your healing factor is compromised. If we don’t intervene, you may not recover.

Sabretooth scoffed, but the words hit something deep. His healing had never failed him before. It was the one thing that always pulled him through, no matter what hell he ended up in. The idea that it was faltering now—while he was locked up in this place—didn’t sit right. And he hated the way Xavier was looking at him. Like he cared. Sabretooth sneered.

- So what? You gonna poke around my brain again? See if you can turn me into one of your little choir boys?

Xavier’s expression remained gentle.

- I only want to understand, Victor.

Sabretooth snarled, yanking against the restraints. - You wanna understand? Here’s a lesson - you put a beast in a cage, it doesn’t become tame. It gets meaner.

The door slid open before Xavier could respond.

Logan.

Sabretooth could smell him before he even stepped inside. The thick scent of sweat and metal and anger.

- Tell me why we haven’t put this bastard six feet under yet. Sabretooth grinned despite the exhaustion weighing him down.

- Missed you too, runt.

Logan’s fists clenched at his sides, the urge to tear into him practically vibrating off of him. It was always like this with them. A never-ending war, written into their bones. Xavier’s voice was firm but calm. - Because, Logan, Victor is not beyond saving. Logan let out a bitter laugh. - Yeah? Tell that to the people he’s butchered.

The room was thick with tension, the kind that could snap with a single wrong word. Sabretooth had pushed Logan to the edge more times than he could count. Maybe, just this once, he should push a little harder. But something stopped him. Maybe it was the heat pulsing through his skull, or the way Xavier was still watching him—not like an enemy, not like an experiment, but like a man. Like someone worth something. It was a look Sabretooth wasn’t used to. And he wasn’t sure he liked it.

---

Sabretooth’s body was failing him. The fever burned hot in his veins, making his limbs feel like dead weight against the restraints. His healing factor should’ve kicked in by now, but instead, his wounds still throbbed, his muscles ached, and the sickness crawled deeper under his skin. Xavier had said it was a virus - mutated, foreign. Something strong enough to override the one thing that had kept him alive all these years. Sabretooth hated this. Hated feeling weak. Hated being trapped in this sterile white room while the X-Men circled like vultures, waiting to see if he’d drop. And he especially hated the way Xavier was still watching him. That quiet, patient look, like he saw something more than the monster everyone else did. It made Sabretooth’s skin crawl.

- Get outta my head - he growled, even though Xavier hadn’t made a move to use his powers yet.

- I haven’t entered your mind, Victor.

- But you want to! - Sabretooth’s lips curled into a weak sneer. - Ain’t that why you’re keeping me alive? You want to poke around, see what makes the big bad wolf tick?

- No. I want to help you.

Sabretooth let out a rough laugh, but it turned into a cough- deep and wet, something rattling in his chest. He clenched his teeth, refusing to let them see any more weakness. The door slid open again, and this time, Cyclops and Jean stepped inside.

- Anything?- Cyclops asked, his voice sharp, like he wasn’t interested in wasting time.

Xavier shook his head. - His condition is worsening.

- Then let Beast take a look at him -Cyclops crossed his arms. - I don’t see why you need to be here.

Jean was quieter, studying Sabretooth with that same careful look she always gave people. She wasn’t as openly hostile as Cyclops or Logan, but she didn’t trust him either. None of them did. And why should they? They only saw what he’d shown them- violence, rage, the beast that tore through anything in its way.

Sabretooth smirked weakly. - Careful, Summers. Keep scowling like that, you’ll get wrinkles.

Cyclops ignored him. - Professor, what are you really hoping to accomplish here?

Xavier’s voice was calm, steady. -Understanding.

Cyclops let out a breath, clearly frustrated.

- You know what he’s done. How many people he’s killed. You’re not going to change that.

Xavier’s gaze didn’t waver. - No, I can’t change the past. But I can show him something different.

Jean hesitated before speaking. - What if he’s right, Professor? What if he doesn’t want to change?

Xavier didn’t respond right away. Instead, he turned his attention fully to Sabretooth.

- Victor,” he said gently, - let me inside your mind.

The room went silent. Sabretooth stared at him, his muscles tensing against the restraints. - No.

Xavier’s voice was quiet but firm. - I can help you fight this virus. But I need to see what’s happening inside you—both physically and mentally.

- Don’t play games with me! - Sabretooth snapped, his voice hoarse. - I know what you’re really after. You want to see what makes me me. You want to pick me apart like some damn science experiment.

Jean shifted uncomfortably, and even Cyclops looked a little uneasy. But Xavier didn’t flinch.

- I don’t see you as an experiment, Victor.

A cold, bitter laugh scraped out of Sabretooth’s throat. - Then you’re a damn fool.

Xavier didn’t move closer, didn’t try to push. He just sat there, watching him with that same unshaken patience.

- You’ve built walls around yourself. Strong ones. But I wonder—did you build them to keep people out... or to keep yourself in?

The words hit something deep, something Sabretooth hadn’t let himself think about in a long time. His jaw clenched, his breathing rough. Xavier’s voice was even gentler now. - Let me see, Victor.

Sabretooth squeezed his eyes shut. His body burned, his mind a haze of fever and exhaustion. He didn’t have the strength to fight this, not the way he normally would. And before he could stop himself—before he could shove Xavier out- he felt it. A presence in his mind. Light at first, just a whisper against his thoughts. Then deeper, pushing through the cracks, slipping past the walls he had spent years building. And suddenly, Xavier was there.

The physical world blurred away, replaced by something colder, darker - jagged edges of memory, violent flashes of past battles, shadows of old wounds that never truly healed. It was like stepping into a fortress. Walls upon walls, built high and thick, not just to keep others out, but to keep something else inside.

Pain.

Rage.

Fear.

And beneath it all… something deeper. Something that Sabretooth himself didn’t want to acknowledge. Xavier moved carefully, not forcing his way in but allowing the mind to unfold naturally. But it didn’t take long before he was met with resistance- raw, wild, furious resistance.

A snarl echoed through the mental space, and suddenly, Victor Creed was there. Not the man bound to the medical table, weak from sickness, but the beast - towering, feral, eyes glowing with fury.

- Get out! - Sabretooth growled, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. - You don’t belong here, Baldy.

Xavier remained steady. - I only want to understand, Victor.

The world around them shifted violently. And then, Xavier was inside the memory.

The stench of sweat and filth clung to the cold metal bars. The sound of chains rattling. Low, mocking laughter. A younger Victor Creed crouched in the corner of a rusted cage, his hands bound, his body covered in half-healed wounds. Outside the bars, a group of men stood watching him, sneering.

- Ain’t nothing but a damn animal - one of them said.

Victor’s muscles tensed, his claws digging into his palms. His healing factor was slower then - still strong, but not as powerful as it would one day become. He could still feel the wounds, still feel the ache of every strike they had dealt him.

- C’mon, mutt. Give us a show.

Victor stayed still, his breathing slow and steady. He had learned, by now, that if he reacted too quickly, they would enjoy it. And he would not give them that satisfaction.

- Maybe he’s finally breaking - another voice chuckled. - Maybe he’s starting to learn his place.

Victor’s fingers twitched.

No.

He had no place here.

And he would never be broken.

The man banged against the bars again, harder this time. - C’mon, mutt! Show us what you—

A blur of movement.

A snarl ripping through the air.

And then Victor was on him.

He didn’t know how he had broken free - if it was pure rage, if the chains had finally weakened, or if he had simply willed his body to move faster than ever before.

But it didn’t matter.

The moment he had his hands on the man, the world narrowed to a single point of focus- tear him apart. Fresh blood dripped out his mouth. Tasted sweet and bitter at the same time and yet Victor drinking it straight outta his victim's throat.

The other men shouted in alarm, scrambling back as Victor slammed his victim to the ground. Blood sprayed, bones snapped, and the scent of raw violence filled the air. Filled his nostrils. Pupils dilated like on drugs. Cause blood was now his drug. It was over in seconds. The others didn’t try to stop him. They knew better. Victor stood over the broken body, his chest heaving, his eyes wild. Blood dripped from his claws, hot and slick, thick. And when he turned to face the others, they stepped back. For the first time, they were afraid. Victor’s lips curled into a slow, sharp grin. Good.

They died with pure fear in their eyes.

---

The memory shattered, and Xavier was back in the mental space, staring at the towering, snarling form of Sabretooth.

Victor’s voice was sharp, mocking. - That what you wanted, Chuck? You wanted to understand me? Well, there it is. That’s who I am.

Xavier’s expression didn’t waver. He had felt everything - the pain, the fear, the moment of triumph that had quickly soured into something else. Something hollow. Because even then, when Victor had torn down his captors, when he had won - he had still been alone. Still been caged. Xavier exhaled softly.

- That is what was done to you, Victor. But it is not who you are.

Sabretooth let out a rough laugh. - You don’t get it, do you? - He stepped forward, his massive form casting a shadow over Xavier. - I didn’t just survive that place. I became what they wanted me to be. And I kept going. I tore through anyone who stood in my way. I enjoyed it.

But Xavier didn’t flinch. Didn’t back away. Instead, he looked deeper. Through the memories, through the layers of rage and violence and hatred that Victor had used as armor. And beneath it, buried so deep that even Victor himself refused to acknowledge it - there was something else.

Loneliness.

A child who had never known kindness.

A man who had spent his life proving he was strong, because no one had ever allowed him to be weak.

Xavier’s voice softened. - You never had a choice, did you?

Sabretooth stiffened.

- Every time you fought, every time you killed, you were surviving. And the world never gave you any reason to believe there was another way.

A deep, growling breath. - Shut up.

But Xavier didn’t.

- You built walls around yourself, Victor. You let the world believe you were nothing but a monster - because that was easier than hoping for something different. But you don’t have to be alone anymore.

A snarl. A lunge.

And then—

Sabretooth’s body collapsed.

Not in the mental space. In the real world.

Xavier was yanked back into reality as Victor’s body slumped against the restraints, his chest rising and falling in sharp, ragged breaths.

The virus was taking its toll.

Jean gasped, stepping forward. - Professor, what happened?

Xavier’s hands were trembling slightly as he withdrew from Victor’s mind, his own breathing uneven. He had seen too much. Felt too much. But he had also seen something else. Hope. He looked down at Victor’s unconscious form, his expression unreadable.

- Prepare the medical lab - Xavier said quietly. - He’s getting worse.

Logan’s voice was sharp. -And if he doesn’t pull through?

Xavier didn’t answer right away. Instead, he reached out - just for a moment - and placed a hand against Victor’s fevered forehead.

And for the first time in Sabretooth’s life, someone touched him with kindness.

- We will help him.

Because Victor Creed was not just a beast. And for the first time in a long, long time…

He wasn’t alone.

End of Chapter 1. Lemme know if you want a second part. Hope you guys enjoyed it ♥️ - Mushka

(And im really sorry for any mistakes if there are any. Im ultra insecure about my english)

[graceshouldwrite]

4 Ways to Get Back Into Your WIP

You know when you might have taken a long break, worked on other projects, talked to other people about it, and basically did EVERYTHING to get yourself back into it, but it’s not working?

Even though you still want to LIKE your WIP and work on it? 

These tips are based on my own experience dealing with that feeling. I went through something like that for around a year, but now, I’m getting past it and returning to my main WIP more excited than I’ve been for a long time! 

1. List out WHAT you don’t like and fix it

COMMON CORE ISSUES:

Plot + Subplots? 

They might seem too (among other things):

lackluster

complex

unnecessary

confusing

You might not know how to:

develop the plots

make them believable

add the scenes you want without giving the book 800+ pages

choose scenes to cut to fit the word count goal...

Characters?

A BIG ONE: some writers try to force themselves to like X character for whatever reason (e.g. based them on a specific aesthetic, felt forced to add specific rep, etc), but they just DON’T. 

Or, maybe:

you don’t know how to develop your characters

their group dynamic is too difficult to write/doesn’t make a lot of sense

your character voices, personalities, or appearances might not be distinct enough

Prose?

You might:

want to add more humour (prose is too depressing and atmospherically dark)

want to add more gravity (prose is too comedic and romantic)

want to shift from past to present tense, want to tell story from another POV, etc. 

Organization?

OFTEN, the book’s just TOO COMPLEX with all the characters, subplots, etc. and it’s too intimidating to try to sort out all the mess that’s your WIP 

SO…

The lists I gave you are most of the big, common issues. Once they’re sorted into SPECIFIC types of problems, don’t they get less intimidating to look at? 

I know you might think, gee, Grace, these problems will take [insert comically large time frame] to solve. 

Well, if you genuinely want to like your project again and work on it, DO IT.

Slowing down your WIP finish date is worth it if it helps you get back into it. If you never get back into the project, you’ll NEVER FINISH IT. Late > never.

Heck, you might not even be too late—you might find yourself back in the passionate fever you were when you started it, and be in the headspace to write furiously :) 

I think you know how to solve these broken-down problems. Some require more sheer line-editing, while others require big executive decisions (e.g. getting rid of a character or rewriting an entire subplot/the plot). But, it will be worth it when you start to love your project again.

2. Remember why you started it 

Before each project, write a STATEMENT OF PURPOSE at the beginning of your doc to remind you why you’re writing this story in the first place. If you didn’t do this, it’s not too late to start one now! 

It could be something as close to heart as “I want to express how unrequited love feels,” or something as grand as like “I want to write a tragic allegory of the political and economic state of the world that explores human nature” (I am projecting in both of these examples, but you get it). 

Something SPECIFIC is a lot better for this than things like: “I told X this story idea and they liked it,” or “I promised to write this for X,” or “I want to tell this story just cuz.” These latter examples probably won’t fill you with passion. 

3. Listen BEYOND your WIP playlists. Look at images BEYOND your WIP aesthetics 

Many people think revisiting your old playlists / boards help, but that often contributes to the staleness!!!! 

Instead, by purposefully expanding your scope of consumed media, you open yourself up to more inspiration and ideas of where you want to take your project.  New images and new songs will give you new ideas on atmosphere, mood, scenes, and so much more. 

4. Compare your WIP to a similar book you like

You know THAT BOOK that comes to mind whenever someone asks you which book is your favourite/impacted you deeply? Think of how your book will impact readers in the same way. All the emotional turmoil and mental enlightenment That Book gave you is what YOU will give to the readers who resonate with YOUR book one day!

The author of the book you’re thinking about went through drafts, edits, and maybe even wanted to give up at some point, (LIKE YOU!) but pushed through it. Now, their book is on the bestseller list/on a bookshelf/a classic (whatever appeals to you)!  Don’t stop before YOUR book is there, too. 

∘₊✧────── ☾☼☽ ──────✧₊∘

instagram: @ grace_should_write

A LOT of this comes from personal experience; I had this mental tussle with my main WIP a while back, so I hope this helps anyone else dealing with the same problem :)

Hope this was helpful, and let me know if you have any questions by commenting, re-blogging, or DMing me on IG. Any and all engagement is appreciated <3333

Happy writing, and have a great day!

- grace <3

[bayesic-bitch]

How could consciousness possibly not be real? I'm here perceiving shit and having internal experience all day. Surely you are too. So is "consciousness isn't real" just semantics, playing with the definition of "consciousness"? Or what?

So, this comes down to two main arguments: 1) I don't have to explain consciousness, I just have to explain your perception of your own consciousness and your belief that it's real, and 2) consciousness being real but not acting on the physical world does nothing to explain the former anyway -- odds are you're categorically wrong about what your own experience is.

We talked about 2) last time this came up. But to recap, basically the idea is that Chalmers and other modern epiphemoninalists avoid the problem of dualism breaking physics by taking this position: the world can create internal experiences, but internal experiences don't act on the world. Physical events can cause qualia, but qualia cannot cause physical events. This is necessary because if qualia could cause physical events, then you could observe that effect scientifically. Once you observe it, you can study it, quantify it, and then you would have to make a place for souls in the standard model. Very few philosophers think that's likely. But if qualia can't cause physical events, that poses problems too -- namely you saying "I see a red apple" is a physical, observable event, so it can't have been caused by qualia. So under this view, all your reportable beliefs about your own conscious experiences have no causal relation to your actual conscious experiences. And while it's conceivable that your beliefs about your qualia just so happen to line with your actual qualia despite there being no connection, that seems like an absurd coincidence -- there's no reason to believe that you are correct about any of your qualia, ever, and we know for sure that our conversation here is causally isolated from both of our actual experiences.

And all of this is something Chalmers & co are willing to accept, because at present it seems like this is the only way to make substance dualism work and not contradict physics.

@nightcore-nasheed mentioned that there's a similar argument for property dualism, but I'm nowhere near as familiar with it, so I'll leave that aside.

Now we can return to 1). At this point, we've proposed a view of consciousness that "takes consciousness seriously", but this does nothing to explain our belief in our own consciousness. Dennett in particular wants to say that this is the only thing we need to explain. I don't have any direct, voiceable evidence of my own qualia. I know I feel things, and I know other people also say they feel things, and those are the things I need to explain. The solution is then to turn this into a psych/neurobio problem -- why is it that we have persistent beliefs in our own consciousness? Is it evolutionarily helpful to have such a belief? There's a couple not-absurd answers you could have here. For instance, when the brain is Turing-complete or nearly so, it is necessarily impossible to deterministically model our own thought processes (because of the halting problem). We must necessarily view our own minds as being irreducible to themselves, even if they are physically reducible. And extending this notion to others simply involves generalizing from our own experiences.

If this seems unsatisfying, well, yeah, a bit. But as we said before, substance dualists are also committed to a position like this, because they hold that the brain acts purely independently of input from qualia. To an epiphenomenalist like Chalmers, consciousness is still an illusion in the brain, it just also happens to be correct for unrelated reasons.

So the position of Dennett and other more-or-less reducible physicalists is: why do this? why add the bizarre complexity of an extra-physical realm with no evidence to support it, if it doesn't even explain why we say we are conscious? Better to just accept that our belief in our internal experience is incorrect and try to figure out why than to add all these extra hoops to jump through. Besides, our conversation would be causally isolated from both of our qualia anyway -- since they can't affect our conversation no matter what, it's categorically impossible to learn anything useful about them by talking about them. So what's the point in even discussing this view in the first place?

There are other positions taken by non-reducible physicalists, but personally I've never found the explanations for why physical systems can be non-reducible particularly convincing. So for the time being I'm stuck with the reductive physicalists. I can't say I'm happy about it, but I don't see a better option. In reality, I feel like this is one of those problems that's better dissolved than solved -- somewhere along the line we probably made a mistake formalizing this problem, and eventually neuroscience will come along and render the question moot without actually resolving it. .

[mattslolita]

i'm sure alot of you are well aware about the current situation circulating @/selenascorner.

the very first time i ever spoke to her, selena texted me first on may 10th of this year, sending me the 'blackgirls4chris' picture. she said she loved my page and at the time she saw my post about hateful and racist anons in my friend's inbox. i guess she was trying to cheer me up? i have no idea.

two days later she texted me again checking in on me, which i definitely appreciated and found really sweet of her. we had a conversation about an irl girl she was having problems with, and i was comforting her about it and giving her advice on it. i just wished i could've found out sooner what kind of person she was before i gave my time and energy to someone like her.

on may 16th she texted me first again, asking me how i was and i asked her how she was - she told me she had relapsed again. it was due to another mutual of mine, but i will respect her and not mention who she is due to the fact that her name is currently being dragged thru the mud and she in fact does not deserve this the way selena made me believe. she told me this mutual friend 'traumatized' her because of the decision she chose to no longer talk to selena. my mutual friend made it clear ( from the message selena sent me from their dms ) that she was not intentionally trying to hurt her. selena has triggered my mutual friend because of the things she told her, and my mutual friend said she needed space to protect herself, and rightfully so.

and that's where i come in with my story and experience.

i gave selena my instagram to text me more because i genuinely wanted to be there for her. i should've listened to my friends, because they tell me sometimes i put myself in a bad situation due to me wanting to be there for EVERYONE.

every other day i texted her, she was always telling me how she had attempted, as well as self harm. as someone who used to self harm myself, this was so triggering to me especially with the things i have going on in my own life. but because i know what it's like to have done these things before, i have constantly tried to help her and be by her side no matter what. alot of the time, she made it seem like she couldn't get help no matter how many times i urged her to try. every attempt always ended in a text with her saying no or just completely saying she couldn't get help and nothing would help her. there are so many options to get help for self harm and suicide, and i will provide links at the end of this for any of you out there who have struggled with these same things.

as time went on, i began to feel emotionally drained and helpless about selena. i wasn't sure what to do to help her anymore, yet i still tried my best because i didn't want her to feel like she was alone. but a person can only take in so much shit before they eventually began to break down.

selena had become toxic towards me, and even whilst seeing that i told myself she still deserved a good friend and she just needed reassurance someone would be there for her. about two and a half weeks ago i told all of my friends due to my circumstances of my own situation, i would be inactive on instagram and tumblr because i needed to take time for myself. one day i was able to get back to people and text them. when i texted selena, i apologized for not being as active. she called me selfish, said i only cared about myself and never bothered to try and help her when she needed me.

after everything she had told me and all i tried to do to help her, she called me selfish because i didn't text her back. she has a victim complex as well as toxicity. i felt trapped being her friend at this point, because any thing i said i needed to be careful so it didn't set her off. i should've to my friends after getting their advice on this because she was clearly taking a toll on my mental health. she's scared me multiple times when she told me she had attempted.

i repeatedly told selena that i loved and cared about her so much, yet to no avail. she asked me about a few of my friends one day, asking if they were safe people to talk to. not thinking anything of it, i told her they were because they are. they ended up telling me she had texted each of them, beginning to trauma dump on them as well. i found it mighty fucking fishy that the things she would tell my friends did not always add up to what she talked to me about.

one of my best friends friend in particular experienced this trauma dumping, triggering experience with selena.

my best friend texted me and told me selena had texted her, asking if she could tell her some things. boom, she dumps all these things on her - now i know my best friend, and i know she's not gonna beat around the fucking bush about things and she'll tell you exactly how she feels. my best friend gave selena the best advice she could, telling her that she should seek some type of help. selena responds to her coldy, telling her there was no way she could get help. and rightfully so, my best friend blocked selena. my best friend made it clear to selena that she already had enough negativity in her life and if selena wasn't going to take her advice for trying to help her, she could no longer talk to her anymore.

selena then texts me and tells me how my 'best friend' traumatized her from the way she handled things. i will admit truthfully, i felt bad and i told selena i was so sorry for what happened and that my best friend blocking her wasn't the best way to handle things. but in all honesty? i said that to selena because i didn't want her thinking i was 'choosing sides' because then i felt she'd get mad at me. and i didn't want her to get mad at me. i was so afraid that selena might go off to other people and tell her i acted like my mutual friend i mentioned earlier.

and now after everything that's happened, my best friend was right for blocking her and protecting her peace, as well as my mutual friend no longer wanting to communicate with her. selena proceeded to be angry with me when i told her i understood my best friend's side, because there's always two sides to a story - she made me out to be a bad friend for defending my best friend, going as far as to tell other people about the situation. selena made me feel like i had to either choose her or my best friend, and that's when i decided i was done.

i was tired of the constant guilt she was giving me, making me feel like i was a bad person for how i felt and my decisions. she said i chose my best friend over her, hurting her and saying how she trusted me and how she never judged her. NOT FUCKING ONCE did i ever judge selena for anything she's been through or what she's told me.

i ultimately decided i couldn't keep this toxicity in my life, because she was draining me and all my friends could clearly see she was taking a toll on me. so i decided to tell selena it was not a good idea to be her friend anymore. i told her i still cared about her alot and would love her always, but i couldn't handle it anymore. i made it known that multiple times i wanted to tell her how triggering she could be and how much she's affected me. selena then proceeds to apologize for everything, say she didn't want to lose me as a friend and everything - and me being me, i ended up feeling terrible because i didn't want her to feel alone. but she needed to realize how she made me feel and how toxic our friendship had become.

she sent me one final text, once again making everything about her. she told me the first 'red flag' from me was how i chose my best friend's side over hers even though i made it clear i wasn't 'taking sides'. i left her on read after her final goodbye and her wishing me the best in the future. i felt a huge weight off my shoulders because i had finally rid myself of the clear toxicity i was enduring being friends with her.

now i find out that selena's been dragging my fucking name through the mud, calling me a bad person and making me out to be so terrible to other people. even after everything i had gone through for her, all the times i tried to be there for her, this is what i get for being a fucking people pleaser, wanting to help anybody and everybody.

i don't even want to get into selena sexting minors, because what the actual fuck - i didn't even find out about that until yesterday, and it digusts me. for those of you defending her by saying "oh she's still a minor herself!" so let me ask you this, would you let your eight grade sister / brother date a grown as the fuck senior in high school? because it almost as equivalent to that. and you should be ashamed for defending someone like that.

i encourage anyone who's gone through the same thing as me to immediately notice the signs and cut whoever you cut out of your life, because it can and will negatively affect her. selena has done this to multiple friends of mine and / or multiple people i'm associated with, and they've unfortunately had this same experience with her. nobody deserves to go through this at all, and if you ever want to talk to me about anything or you guys need anything at all, my inbox or pms are open to anyone. and yes, i'm a safe person to come to because i genuinely care about all of you and your wellbeing. please be mindful and safe of the things you say to others, because you could end up having put yourself in a terrible situation because of it.

here are the links to some suicide prevention hotlines for anyone who needs them :

i love you all, please take care of yourselves and be safe on this app!

[zairene]

reconciliation, izuku midoriya x black female reader

synopsis: after breaking up with izuku midoriya, he stands at your doorstep months later seeking the care that you once had given him.

wc: 1.1k

a/n: a rewritten & improved version of a fic i wrote on my old page before i deleted it. i tried revising parts that i couldn’t remember but think of this as the better version of the last one. could be turned into a mini series to rebuild their relationship, if this does well enough that is. + not proofread, mistakes might be here and there

SOMEHOW, SOMETIME AGAIN, izuku finds himself right in front of your apartment complex. the bruises and scars on his skin submerged his body as if he were drowning. and the only thing that could possibly be racing through his mind is you. all the time that you both spent apart only made him realize how dependent he had became on how much you cared about him.

things didn’t work out between you two. izuku had the tendency to put his life in great peril in order to shield his loved ones from the reality of the world surrounding them. however, the idea that his life being taken away from him would cause a greater impact on the people he loved, and that it wouldn’t be seen as a heroic act but more so an unfortunate circumstance. once he came to the realization that being prone to making sacrifices wasn’t healthy, he had to go on the journey regain self control. to assist him in becoming fully aware of his worth as a person.

he seemed to not know that his life matters too. and you breaking up with him made him notice his damaging lifestyle. he had learned that it’s okay to make sacrifices, but also to think about how it would affect those around him. would his life being lost solve all the problems that were present or create more?

this brings him back to the present.

the loud crack of thunder had made him flinch, and gave him the ability to make his way to your front door. he held his head down and his arms swung by his side. he felt embarrassed. he felt stupid. it had been months since you both last talked. why would you open your house to him after everything he’s put you through?

his left hand balled into a fist, ready to knock on your door. as soon as he did, he stood waiting. seconds later, the door opened and there you stood. his eyes landed on your figure. your eyes had bags under them, your hand was fiddling with your bonnet which was slipping slightly. you froze in your spot, taking in the sight. you didn’t expect to see the man you broken up with back on your doorstep at 2 in the mornings.

“oh my god…” the only words you could seem to verbalize out before ushering him into your house. you sat him down on your couch, going to grab bandages and the appropriate medicine to help him heal even after he left your house. you came back to see that he had made himself more comfortable yet still having a troubling look on his face.

you sit down quiet close next to him setting everything in your hand on the table in front of him. you began to take care of his wounds. you scanned his body, searching for wounds you could treat successfully so he could go to a clinic for the worst ones that may require antibiotics for how deep the stab wounds were.

your started to wipe blood off of his hands and fingers and around the cuts of his wounds, wrapping it with bandages. you both hadn’t said a word, he just sat in the still of the place you considered a home.

“i shouldn’t be doing this to you,” izuku said. you look at him and sigh with uncertainty. you didn’t know how to respond to a statement like that. “this isn’t your responsibility. i’m still wondering why you even helped me.” he continued.

“i still feel obligated to help you, midoriya. i can’t turn you away looking like this, no matter what time it is.” his heart ached at you using his last name, the last time you both were involved you were on a first name basis. now it felt like the both of you were back at square one.

“i can’t help but feel guilty.”

“for what? needing help? that’s my job.” to you, he sounded absolutely ridiculous right now.

“no, for taking advantage of the fact i need help to get you to talk to me now.” you were stunned. in a way, he was right. but you couldn’t help but feel bad for him. it return back to his reticent attitude. trying not to make the situation as bad as it already felt. you were finally done with the things you could treat. to the rest he was on his own, he didn’t mind as most of his pain went away. maybe it was the adrenaline. maybe he just didn’t care about it at the moment. he didn’t even know himself.

he muttered a measly thank you, as he walked past you, ready to leave your house assuming that you didn’t want him there. you bit your lip, thinking about speaking. his hands fiddled with your doorknob but then he finally got a grip on it. the sound of your door opening had triggered your body to turn around.

“izuku, wait.” he stopped, and closed your door again, avoiding rain to get inside your house. he looked back at you. you walked up to him and wrapped your arms around him, giving him a hug.

at first, he was stiff. he didn’t hug back, he was more surprised than anything. not at the fact you used his first name again but that you hugged him. all the feelings that he managed to push away came rushing back in that one moment. tears pricked at his waterline and his arms wrapped around yours. he squeezed you slightly.

“i still care about you, m’kay?” you whispered into his ear, his head nodded in response. you pulled back to see that he had a few tears running down his face. he looked away in embarrassment as red hues coated his face. you chuckled slightly, putting both of your hands on his cheeks. you used your thumb to wipe his tears away.

“i’m not mad at you. i never was. i just… get worried about your well-being sometimes.” he nodded.

“i know. me too.” a smile came on his face.

“stay safe. and remember i’m here for you regardless of anything we went through. alright?”

“alright.” you both shared a brief hug again before he left your house. you felt a huge weight had been lifted off of your heart. sure, a long talk between you both was was long overdue. but knowing that you both were on speaking terms again gave you some hope for the future.

TAGLIST FORM

[oh-katsuki]

im listening to that fucking charlie puth song “i don’t think that i like her” because there is the INKLING idea of a fic / art there that i literally cannot put into words and it’s gonna make me blow up so here’s my best attempt.... 

tsukishima who is absolutely JADED about dating. not in a like... weird way... but just because he’s always hated it when people get close to him just because they think he’s handsome. hates when people behave that way.. feels like he’s being used. n to make things worse, when he does decide to give it a try... it never works and they always end up breaking things off right when kei starts to catch feelings. 

so when he starts liking you first... it drives him absolutely crazy. i mean... you haven’t even confessed to him (yet)... what’s he doing tying himself up in knots over you?? really... it’s the first time he’s liked someone this way and it makes him antsy... makes his chest hurt... makes him feel like his skin is crawling in a way that he (alarmingly) doesn’t hate. 

but see... he’s got this nasty little complex. kei doesn’t want to be close.. he doesn’t want to feel this way. hates how he gets red in the face.. how he feels like he has to clutch his chest whenever he thinks about something you did that was particularly cute. makes him gasp for air. it’s childish, really. a childish aversion to feelings and dating stemming from his middle and high school years. nothing extreme, but enough to be considered a complex.

yamaguchi, of course, figures out that kei likes you immediately. he knows his friend like the back of his hand, so it doesn’t take long for him to confront kei and wrench the embarrassing admittance from his grimy hands. 

in kei’s defense... it’s pretty hard not to like you. you’re friendly and upbeat, rarely ever gloomy and when you are, you get this earnest expression on your face that makes him want to fix all of your problems for you. you’re genuine, or at least you come across that way. kei and his complex know better. kei’s seen all of the tricks (he thinks). sure, maybe his ego is a little big for the bag it’s in, but kei likes to think he’s got it all figured out, feelings aside. 

“i don’t think i like them anymore,” kei admits one warm spring afternoon in yamaguchi’s dorm. 

the heat in the room that day is almost stifling and even the open window doesn’t help. for some reason, humidity creeps into the air early and kei adjusts the collar of his shirt. 

“oh?” yamaguchi spins in his desk chair. “what makes you say that?” 

“i’m over it,” he lies (unbeknownst to himself). “it’s all the same anyway. they’re just playing with me.” 

“you know,” yamaguchi laughs, “for someone who’s hardly ever had what could be considered a girlfriend, you sure are jaded.” 

kei shrugs his shoulders, avoiding sitting up to keep yamaguchi from seeing the pink covering his cheeks. 

“so what?” 

“so maybe don’t be like that,” yamaguchi rolls his eyes, not that kei can see it, but he knows that he does. 

“like what? practical? proactive?” 

“paranoid,” yamaguchi says. 

“whatever, i’m serious,” kei says, “i don’t like them anymore.” 

“right,” yamaguchi says, “i don’t believe you.” 

“you don’t have to,” kei scoffs, “but it’s true” 

course, kei knows somewhere deep down that he’s lying. of course he is, usually he doesn’t give so much as a word to yamaguchi about these things, let alone announcing to the world that he “doesn’t like you anymore”, but what else can he do? so kei and his complex convince himself that there’s no feelings. 

course that all flies out of the window when you come up to him in the library and kei once again has to resist clutching his chest like he’s having a massive heart attack. he “doesn’t like you anymore”, but you send his world candy-colored anyway. 

[rosanna-writer]

Fic Writer ask game

Thanks for the tag @whatishowedyouinthedark!

Describe your writing process from idea to posting/publishing For longer fics, I usually start with an outline. It's usually just a bullet point list of events with sub-bullets for random notes about the event (things to make sure get mentioned, scraps of dialogue I'm already thinking will be included, etc), and sometimes I'll write the summary first and throw that at the top of the document. Then I just follow the outline, mostly in order, and decide on chapter breaks as I go based on vibes. I draft pretty slowly because I clean as I go, and for canonverse-fic (especially anything that's first person Feyre POV), I stop to refer to PDF copies of the books pretty frequently to make sure things "match." Then I do a once-over, usually reading aloud, to catch typos and awkward phrasing, and then post!

Are you a plotter or a pantser? I'm a plotter for sure! I like to do all my thinking in the outline, so drafting is a brain-off, "just refer to the notes" type of deal

What do you listen to when you are writing? Nothing! I find it distracting, and I'd pause it all the time to read things out loud anyway.

What’s your drink of choice(while writing)? Coffee! I usually try to take myself on a coffee shop writing date once a week.

Promote yourself! What’s your favorite thing you’ve written? It's so hard to pick! But I have a soft spot for everything that gives me warm fuzzy feelings because I wrote it specifically with friends in mind, like I Knew You Were Trouble, The Great War, and Love At First Sight's For Suckers <3

Share a fic of yours that you think is underrated/deserves more love. with you i serve, with you i fall down, there's just not much of an audience for genfic centered around Mor's frienships (and it's a short drabble). But I think it works really nicely as a missing scene from canon

Do you have any advice for new writers? "Just keep going!!!!" feels like trite, unhelpful advice, but I think it boils down to this: it takes a loooooooong time to get decent at identifying problems in your work and fixing them because that's a skill in and of itself. There will be literal years of feeling like your work is meh but not really knowing why (that sort of "something is off, but idk what" thing), and it's frustrating as hell. All you can do is just keep going and practice until you get past it. Creative writing classes or feedback from a knowledgeable beta (i.e. someone who actually reads in your genre AND knows how to deliver criticism kindly) can speed the process along, but ultimately, the only way out is through.

What is a writing style/technique that others do really well that you'd like to get better at? "Atmospheric" writing that whisks you away somewhere else/pieces that feel "dreamy." There are SO many writers I admire who do it well (@bloomingdarkgarden, @thesistersarcheron, @popjunkie42, and @foundress0fnothing have all killed it with the otherworldly fairytale vibes), and I feel like I'm just sitting here writing the Generic Airport Novels of fic lol

Is there a character you were surprised you enjoyed writing as much as you did? Azriel! I've always liked him because a character archetype I adore is Very Sad But Very Sexy Spy. But in we said hello and your eyes look like coming home, I really didn't anticipate how healing having a quietly helpful "loyal attack dog" kind of person in her life would be for Feyre, who has her whole "years being the breadwinner burned me out because no one came through for me" complex at the forefront of her mind in that AU. Rhys combats it in more of a caretaking/mother hen/"let me be soft and spoil you because no one else did" kind of way, which I LOVE, but there's also something about Azriel's love language being a grim "it's handled" that goes so hard.

The Az that exists in my head is more or less the Night Court's Olivia Pope, and I want to write more of him quietly assassinating people/planting evidence/leaking damaging things to the press on the High Lord and High Lady's behalf.

Everyone I mentioned above can consider themselves tagged <3

[the-ellia-west]

spill the tea on your wips <3

heyyy it's been so long since i've interacted with you, how's writing going? i wanna know about everything!

OH MY GOSH I'M SO SORRY I FORGOT I HAD AN INBOX

So...

I've shelved most of My WIPs because I don't really like them,and I'm focusing on J&R.

I also have ideas for a side comic to improve my art skills

But for now, I'll explain J&R (Also known as JoR or The Jest of Royalty)

It stars a cast of eight intricately complex heroes from different kingdoms and different species coming together and overcoming their trauma to become a found family.

Ronan - Main Protagonist, 17 years old, Elf, Hunter - Ronan is the one who started the group and whose goal holds them all together.A feisty young man who solves all his problems with punching and is desperate for revenge on the people who killed his family

Mangrove - Ronan's Rival, 19 years old, fallen god of Chaos and Conflict - Mangrove is an egotistical wreck with a love of causing trouble who is addicted to the power high he gets from starting fights and causing chaos

Finn - Ronan's Main, nicer mentor, 32 years old, Messenger - Finn is a loyal, smart leader who can make quick decisions but often accidentally disregards the emotions of those he loves to protect them

Morena - The group mother figure, 30yrs, Witch/Cleric Healer - A kindhearted, slightly isolated potion maker who specializes in healing and loves to spend time with others, helping them out to the point of self neglect

Wild - Stealth Guy, 16yrs, abused child - Wild is a noble's son with the ability to turn himself invisible who has locked his emotions within himself to hide from his own pain and now struggles to feel anything at all. He is very quiet but very wise.

Phenik - Team Heart, 17yrs, Merchant - Phenik is an upbeat lovable kid who tries his hardest at everything he attempts and just wants to help people and make a living for himself, instantly jumping at the opportunity to provide his unique skills to the group and have a home

Rose - Team Powerhouse, 29yrs, Magic Researcher - Rose is a massively powerful plant mage with a deep-seeded fascination with magic and a love and protection of her brother-in-law, desperate to push her magic as far as it can go to make sure she's powerful enough to save those she loves (and also for research purposes, making herself a living tast subject)

Jakkon - Team Negotiator/Tired Mentor, 31yrs, Politician, Rose's Brother-in-law - Exhausted and just wants to make sure Rose is safe. He is angry and sarcastic, not caring for the welfare of the group, and only doing necessary tasks, (copes with his shitty life with anger and amounts of alcohol that make many other characters concerned for his health)

The plot is centered around Ronan breaking Mangrove's godly magical artifact and having to hunt it down for his complex revenge scheme. Roping everyone else into the group bc they need help and it eventually devolves into this found family having to save the world from three psychopathic evil kings who want to use the magical artifact to become gods and rule the world.

I love all my babies, and their relationships and character Arcs give me life

(Jak and Mangrove are my favorites, though I love all of them)

Phenik and Morena are loved by the whole group, Jak and Mangrove are hated by the whole group (not necessarily everybody but still)

Relationship examples:

Morena & Finn are incredibly oblivious to the massive crushes they have on each other

Phenik and Wild are best friends

Ronan and Mangrove hate each other's guts

If Jak gets the opportunity, he will be a petty little bastard toward Finn in particular

Rose has tea with Morena after breakfast

Thank you so much for the ask BTW!