#i'm gonna take a break from community events for a while but i do have ideas for future collabs/group projects

[flame-shadow]

Hi, all! This has been quite the project to run. Huge thanks to everyone who participated or contributed in any way - this literally couldn't have turned out the way it did without you. So many characters showing off a range of personalities, designs, and art styles. How cool to see them all intermingling. :)

Below the cut are ALL of the BF OC Collab pieces in one post for easy viewing. Credits for the contributors can be found on the individual posts accessed via hyperlinks. IDs in the alt texts. Enjoy!

1- Ant Kingdom Plaza [Daytime]

2- Ant Kingdom Plaza [Daytime]

3- Ant Kingdom Plaza [Nighttime]

4- Ant Mines

5- Underground Tavern

6- Bugaria Pier

7- Golden Settlement

8- Golden Settlement

9- Bee Kingdom Central Hive

10- Honey Factory

11- Bandit Hideout

12- Bandit Hideout

13- Defiant Root

14- Far Grasslands (Riz's Camp)

15- Wasp Kingdom

16- Termite Capitol [Green]

17- Termite Capitol [Blue]

18- Forsaken Lands [Abandoned Town]

19- Metal Island

20- Spy Cards Tournament Stage

21- Giant's Lair [Roach Village]

22- Lower Snakemouth Lab

23- Lower Snakemouth Lab

24- Upper Snakemouth [Sophie Flower Area]

25- Upper Snakemouth [Sophie Flower Area]

26- Cave of Trials

[there's an animated version of this final piece; click on the title to see it in its own post]

[wordsnstuff]

Hi!

I have reached out to more people, but I'm still having problems with this, and I wanted to hear another opinion.

As a writer, do you have problems continuing a story once you hit a difficult scene?

Because I do, and honestly it's getting me frustrated at this point.

I have a good idea and a plot already done, but every time I hit a difficult scene I just get stuck, and can't write for weeks, sometimes months. I hardly even open the documents when it happens, and sometimes it comes right when I'm on a writing spree and being happy with my writing.

Do you have any advice on how to deal with this? How can I get past this issue and just keep writing more frequently?

I'd really like to hear it!

What do you do when you hit a snag?

When approaching this topic, the frustrating thing is that age-old advice has a lot of truth to it. Sometimes it is true that the best thing you can do when you're stuck is to stop struggling against the resistance and take a meaningful, intentional break to rest your mind and reset your thought process. Sometimes the key to getting started again is shaking up the routine and the altering the process until you find a new combination of habits that meet you where you are.

However, for a lot of us, the turmoil reaches deeper than that. A lot of people who do creative things are neurodivergent, so that has a place in the conversation when discussing what's preventing us from realizing our vision. Even if you don't identify with specific neurodivergence, there are a lot of tools and techniques that have been tried and tested for coping with immense, intrinsic difficulty with things like productivity, mindfulness, interoception, focus, and consistency. Just because these techniques are not specifically designated for you doesn't mean they won't be effective for you.

It is always a helpful exercise to take a step back and examine how you're feeling, both when you are writing and when you aren't, and try to identify any areas where you might be able to improve by changing things within your control.

When it comes to a specific scene holding you back from carrying on, I usually find that it's the result of a decision I made earlier in the plot that isn't serving the story as it continues to develop. I would take a chunk of time to take an analytical look at the scene, where it's come from, what is and isn't sparking in it (is the stagnation mostly due to the characters, events, environment, or lack of information, and is it a scene that is imperative to the reader's understanding?). A lot of the time, it's a scene that can be cut, or it's a scene that can be made redundant by infusing the necessary information of the scene into another place within the story.

If you've identified a scene as "a difficult scene", ask yourself why. If it's daunting because it's too long, then it can probably be cut way down and then added to later if while editing it seems a little thin. If it's challenging because things aren't falling into place and you aren't getting into a flow, then the set-up for the scene probably hasn't been developed effectively and you need to decide whether you're gonna go back in the draft to investigate or move on and return to it while editing.

If the information in the scene needs to be communicated at this specific point in the story, the problem might be the way you've chosen to present it. Pay attention to what your instincts are telling you, because pushing through a scene for the sake of getting past it will not produce a compelling scene to read. If you need to move past it, you have permission to do that. You can always come back and completely dig it up later.

Overall, I think it's very important to write with acceptance that the plot may not turn out the way you planned it. The process is much more effective and much more enjoyable if you aren't trudging along on a predestined path. If the characters and story develop outside of the lines, see where they go. You'll always have the opportunity to return to the outline and tailor later.

Best of luck,

x Kate

[lakemojave]

Hey everybody, no cyberpunk today, still resting after an injury at work and seeing some family this evening. We'll likely be back to our normal schedule on tuesday with a couple off schedule events later in the month.

I'd also like to take this moment to apologize for very little off-stream content this year, for the scant Falling Sun updates or the lack of Complete History videos this year. I've had a lot of projects in the air this year combined with trying to apply for a new job and get out of my already stressful work situation. This has all been weighing on me for a while and I think it's a fine time to address some things in writing:

My mental health is real bad lately y'all. I've talked about this on recent streams but I figure that y'all deserve to hear that I might be taking a break from the channel pretty soon. The best thing for me would be to step away from being on camera some upcoming month unless things improve for me soon. I'm gonna stick it out through Subtember and see about the next couple of big event streams I'm planning, maybe get that Elden Ring video out before I make a call on an extended hiatus.

That being said, I really appreciate everyone who tunes in every stream, who sticks it out with me as I try and get this channel to where it was this time last year, and who have remained invested in the new stories I've been telling in the RP series. It means everything that I have this community and that folks have stuck around with me this long. I hope someday soon I'll be able to keep doing what I do on this channel with more stability and health in the various aspects of my life. Until that point, thank you all for your continued support 💜

[obeyme-and-myfics]

Hi!! May I request a continuation of short!MC with the side characters? I love your writing! 💖💖💖

Yes, of course! I took a little break from posting on the internet so that's why it took so long for me to respond. Also thank you! I try to write as well as I can. (●'◡'●) Some side characters are gonna be missing from this cuz I'm not quite comfortable writing for them yet.

I haven't met Raphael, Mephistopheles or Thirteen(I am planning on making their own parts when I do tho!) in anything other than events. So I'd like to apologize in advance because if I remember correctly one of your favs is Mephisto o(TヘTo) (I hope this doesn't sound weird since we've only met briefly on the discord server /gen)

Anyway onto the actual prompt (￣y▽￣)╭

Part 1| Part 2(here)

Prompt: How Obey Me Characters react to a short MC/Y/N

Characters: Diavolo, Barbatos, Simeon, Solomon, Luke(/p)

Headcanon List

CW/TWs: Teasing for your height,

Diavolo

I don't think he'd have much of a reaction seeing as most people/demons are a lot shorter than him

This man is easily 7ft I don't think he gives a fuck, everyone is puny to him

He'd definitely say something by accident, something he doesn't think would bother you

He's a himbo and oblivious to this shit

He'd probably say some shit like

"You're quite small for a human" or something like that

Crouches/Bends down to talk to you sometimes

Only when he really feels like it

I swear he's not trying to be rude

He'll pick you up only if you ask

For any reason too, he adores his small human

He respects you and doesn't want to help you like that unless you want him to

If he sees you struggling to grab something he'll get it for you

Gently reminds you that he can help you and you don't need to struggle with these things while he's there

Worries about other demons taking advantage of your small stature and hurting you

So he checks in on your wellbeing more often than he would if you were taller

If he knows you're around, he's making sure he doesn't accidentally run over you

I'm so sorry! to be fair he's probably gotta do that with bitches 5'7 and below

He'd probably enjoy holding/hugging you too

Like you ask for cuddles this man is cradling you in his arm

Maybe even rocking your ass to sleep

Barbatos

Man has nothing to say about your height

Like he couldn't care less about it and has the foresight to not say shit if you're a little insecure

Not that he would even if you weren't

If he sees you struggling to get something off a higher place, he's helping even if you don't ask/don't want him to

That's just kinda how he is

If you request he stop that he will but you need to communicate your wants and needs

If he sees you getting bullied(/lh) for your height and you look distressed he'll give to culprit a bit of a scolding

Depending on how bad it/Who it was it'll be harsher

Of course he'd like for you to defend yourself at least a little bit

When you do he can't help but smile a little to himself.

He likes to serve the ones he cares for so if any difficulties arise due to your height he'd be happy to attend to them

That is to say its only if you ask/he has the time to

He is still the butler of the future ruler of the Devildom after all

Barbatos also wouldn't treat you any different than how he would treat some one of average height or taller

Solomon

He makes the occasional comment about your height to your face

Giggles about it in private on occasion LIKE A BITCH

It's only occasionally that he does this tho

Overall its not that big of a deal to him

He's been alive long enough that he doesn't really care

Will absolutely help you with things your height hinders you from doing

If you're being bullied about your height he'll give you a chance to defend yourself before jumping to your defense

Will pick you up and carry you sometimes just for shits and giggles

Other times he picks you up and carries you away to hang out or aid him in another one of his magical endeavors.

and now we have Nightbringer /j

He's not doing anything to talk to you on your level Slay, king Solomon. Slay

He thinks its mildly entertaining to watch you struggle to grab something off the top shelf/anything out of your reach

He's a bit more careful with you than he normally would be with others

Has offhandedly suggested making something to make you taller if you'd like it

you gonna whoop his ass or should I?

He enjoys watching you stand up for yourself despite your height

It can be intimidating when people who are much taller than you pick on you and he understands that

or maybe you're not intimidated in the slightest and just wanted to unleash a can of whoop ass on some assholes who've been picking on you Period. Slay honestly.

He understands that too, and enjoys watching it go down

He finds it satisfying

Simeon

Won't comment on it most of the time but he does think its really cute

Only makes a comment when he's asking if you need help getting something higher up than you can reach

and its normally something like

"Oh! MC did you need help? It looks like you can't quite reach that."

A bit more careful with you than he would be normally

Though he's gentle by nature most of the time Sadistic Simeon has me in a chokehold fr fr

He won't get down to your level or do anything to demean you

not intentionally anyway

He doesn't say anything about your height for the most part but he will slip up every once in a while

It's nothing bad he just lets it slip he thinks your height is cute

He encourages you to stand up for yourself but has no problem sticking up for you or stealing you away if you're being bullied too much.

Happy to help with anything your height makes difficult when you ask

Other than that he doesn't treat you any differently due to your height

Luke

He's just happy he's not the only short one here.

If you're shorter than him he doesn't comment on it but he is excited to not be the shortest there.

He would make a few comments about it but you just gotta tell him to stop and he will

He doesn't want to make you upset with him

Sweet baby just wants to bond with you over the others making fun of your heights

Doesn't hesitate to yell at anyone making fun of your height and calling you names because of it

Makes sure you're okay afterwards

He's getting made fun of for this though

The brothers would take to calling him your guard dog

He barely gives you a chance to defend yourself but will back up if you defend yourself before he can

He borderline clings to you like a sloth

Comes to you every time he needs to vent about everyone bullying him for his own height

You're his favorite human now

If he's taller than you, he will do his best to help with things you can't reach.

He's happy to help out his friend

[solitarystarrywitch]

💫2025 Pick A Card💫

✨What you need to bring into 2025✨

Using the Crystal Angels oracle deck.

Just something short and simple for my first PAC post <3 This is for the collective so take what resonates, and leave what doesn't.

Pick an angel number that you've been seeing lately or that you feel this strong connection to at the moment.

☆ . ＋.。 . 。, ☆ ﾟ. ＋ ☆ * 。ﾟ. o, 。 . ＋ ﾟ ☆

☆ . ＋.。 . 。, ☆ ﾟ. ＋ ☆ * 。ﾟ. o, 。 . ＋ ﾟ ☆

💫222💫 Amertrine – Balancing Masculine and Feminine Energies

Allow your feminine side to creatively inspire you, and your masculine side to give you confidence

If you picked 222, it's time to find balance within your life, your time, and any projects you may have. It will not only be efficient, but very empowering and harmonious.

Spirit says this message is especially for those who are currently experiencing tensions in a friend group, and for those experiencing tensions among work friends/colleagues. Some of you may have two or more friends that are currently having drama together or butting heads, and it is disrupting not just the dynamics and harmony between the conflicting parties, but everyone else. Or tensions among colleagues are significantly affecting the work environment.

Spirit is also telling me that some of you may be the type of person to drop everything to help a friend out. While that's very generous and admirable of you, you need to first ask yourself "is this something I can really take on right now without it disrupting my own life?"

This may also connect with tensions among friends or colleagues. Ask yourself "does whatever they're butting heads about have anything to do with me at all?". If you weren't involved in the first place, don't make yourself involved.

This is your sign to focus on your needs and what you want to achieve in 2025. Finding and creating balance in your life will allow a better flow of energy.

The best analogy I can come up with is it's liked gunked up pipes where the water pressure is really shitty until you clean it out and the flow is much much better. Clear out what you don't need and focus on your goals.

Your recommended crystals to use are ametrine and caribbean calcite. <3

☆ . ＋.。 . 。, ☆ ﾟ. ＋ ☆ * 。ﾟ. o, 。 . ＋ ﾟ ☆

💫444💫 Aqua Aura – Healthy Communication in Relationships

Heart-to-heart discussions and clear, assertive communication help you understand and be understood

If you picked 444, it's time to work on asking for what you want. It's time to remember that people aren't mind readers, and that it's time to make your desires vocal.

This message is especially for the shy girlies or guys that are pretty passive when making plans and never really make a decision. It's always "oh I'm fine with whatever you want" when in reality, you have a decision in your head but you subconsciously have this rule for yourself that "it can't be you that asks for something, you just have to hope that the person picks the choice that you want too." You can break that rule and it won't be the end of the world. You are allowed to be vocal about what you want. You can also be rejected, and it also won't be the end of the world.

The point is, you never know what may bless you until you ask for it. Don't protect this Schrödinger's cat mindset of "if I dont say what I want I can't be rejected, and the possibility of being told 'yes' is always gonna be there". Find out.

Your recommended crystals are aqua aura and amazonite. <3

☆ . ＋.。 . 。, ☆ ﾟ. ＋ ☆ * 。ﾟ. o, 。 . ＋ ﾟ ☆

💫111💫 Rhodochrosite – Be Gentle with Yourself

You've been through a lot and need time to heal and recover.

If you picked 111, this is a sign to take the time to recover from events that happened 2024. If nothing necessarily personal and/or big happened to you specifically, this may also be a sign to just destress and take a step back. The holiday seasons are always the most stressful, it is okay to allow yourself time to decompress from the hectic holidays.

I'm also getting from Spirit that this new year may also bring in some moments where afterwards you may need to take your time to process and take a step back from them. Protect your energy and peace, these are not things to compromise or sacrifice.

This is the year to prioritize yourself and your happiness. You can't fill someone else's cup when yours is empty. Provide an overflowing amount of care to yourself to the point where that care and love naturally flows to your inner circle and loved ones as well.

Your recommended crystals are rhodochrosite and rose quartz. <3

☆ . ＋.。 . 。, ☆ ﾟ. ＋ ☆ * 。ﾟ. o, 。 . ＋ ﾟ ☆

Wishing you all a wonderful 2025 and sending good blessings 💫

[littlebloomclan]

Hello! Been following BloomClan for a while as part of the silent majority and I’m loving it so far! The characters and designs are so interesting, and the art is beautiful ^^

I have some questions though on the process of running this blog though :0

1) How do you go about taking notes? Do you write everything down or only what you want/what you think is important

2) How do you avoid burn out from drawing or playing the game too long?

thank you thank you!! I'm having lots of fun with this so I'm glad others like it too

1 - I take a bunch of screenshots each moon and decide what I'll show or work with. I go in order from events, check each cat, and then patrols. I dont usually screencap relationship stuff unless I think its important for me to remember. usually things I note are high negative/high positive. or I just think its cute/funny/can make a character moment of it

2- Let yourself take breaks! I have other hobbies (video games mainly, and I foster tiny kittens) so I don't draw every day. I only draw when I feel like it, since it is 100% a hobby for me. I dont really do coms or anything cause I just want it to be fun. Also to avoid burn out dont be afraid to change things up. I change how I do little details on characters a lot (like the eyes change constantly lol) I'm gonna play with some different brushes. Dont commit to things too hard. the more rigid you are I think the more it starts feeling like a chore instead of a fun project, at least for me. plus the community aspect helps! Having people also excited for your project, and reading others comics and stories, is so inspiring

In the end tho I'm just here fora good time. I'm an adult woman who likes to draw cats and tell lil stories, if people like it, then that's even more cool

[theninjamouse]

Now that I've officially cut ties, I can share some of the nonsense I've been dealing with regarding the camp I spent the last 3 years working with. This is gonna be long, bear with me.

I'm a freelance media producer. The last 3 years I've worked at this camp as the all around media guy, pictures, video, all that for roughly 6 weeks during the summer. From the beginning, the communication at this place was horrendous. I never knew where things were happening, I was never informed if the kids suddenly changed location, I was forced to walk around with all my gear and in that new York summer heat was unbearable.

But I learned the workings. And the last 2 years I was in charge of all media. So at the very least, I controlled what I deemed to be important. And I have an insanely high work ethic. One of the things I brought to the table was not only dashing around getting pictures of their massive sports day event, I filmed and put together a video of the day to present by the winner announcement that same night. This meant I only had about 3 hours to edit a 3-4 minute video, one that was GOOD. And it was good! Always! Because I am proud of my work and strive to keep that quality. All the time, people gushed over how good my pictures were.

But at the same time, I always ALWAYS felt like an outsider. Because I was still kept in the dark about most things. I had just learned enough to guess what was going on, and usually, I was right.

This last summer, it felt like I was finally starting to be fully acknowledged and welcomed. And even better! I was offered a year round position doing their social media. For a freelancer, that offer is gold. It wouldn't be enough to live on, but it would be more than enough to help me through the slower months.

So I said, cool let's make a contract, a plan. Let's get this going

"Later," I was told.

Later, I said, "Are we ready now?"

"Oh for sure, we'll talk soon."

The last 2 weeks of camp, I tried every single day to talk about the plan. The director was never in his office. But when I requested a meeting, he would always say it wasn't needed, I could come by anytime.

But every time I did, he was never there.

Camp ended. It was a welcome break. So I took that break, then reached out.

Again, brushed off. Later, I was told.

I trusted that it would happen. After all, I have the pictures. I have the knowhow. I was promised. These people value me. Need me.

Brushing off turned to flat-out ghosting. And all the while, I watched their social media page update every other day with MY work, work that while good, was unpolished. After all, if I have to upload at minimum 200 pictures a day during camp, of course I'm not going to edit each one. They don't need it for the parents to view.

But the socials? A little adjustment to the highlights, bumping up contrast would have turned them into absolute gold. Whoever was doing my job didn't edit a single image. Each post was another slap to the face

In the world of freelance, especially media, it takes time to secure work. Talks have to happen, contracts made and hours put in. If an opportunity for a project slips by, there is no guarantee that another will be around the corner.

I was stupid. I believed that this position with these people I've worked with for 3 years would come through. So I didn't do my usual mad scramble to find any work I could to last me the fall and winter months. Because, well, I had found one, right? With that, added to my real estate shoots, the odd dance comp here and there until the rush in January, I would be just fine.

Instead. It's been one dance comp. No real estate shoots since September. And not a single word from camp. And by the time I realized that I had been simply replaced, it was too late to find any of the more solid falltime gigs.

I'm tired. I'm so tired of working so hard and proving time and time again that I produce good work only to have the rug violently yanked from under my feet. I've been doing food delivery just to survive. And that sucks. This isn't what I want to do. I want to create, I want to tell stories with my words and my pictures and my videos.

But the world has shown time and time again that it doesn't care about one little photographer. Why pay a professional when phones are 'just as good'. Why display even a little curtesy and tell this person we promised a job to that we went with someone else because we don't want to pay the professional when we can just have any old Joe post the pictures said professional did?

I told them I was done. I'm not returning to camp next year. I can't do it anymore. And it freaking hurts.

Even this other massive project I have in the works has been heartbreak. Because they have taken two months to even begin to talk about actually getting started. And instead of being paid up front, like most grants are, I have been told that the expectation is a reimbursement system. That won't be accepted until March 2025. I've begged to at the very least work on a monthly invoice system. But I can't submit anything until the training of the system happens.

It was supposed to happen yesterday. And I have been left waiting with no answers since last week.

So. That's where I'm at. At the very least I will be flying home next week and I can get some hours in doing aid work for my brothers. But that is also the main source of work for my mom and my sibling. The hours and funding of the aid program are limited. I can't take it away from them, not when it's my own stupid fault for hoping that things would actually work out for me this time.

I can't do a normal 9-5. I have tried. It nearly killed me. I have conditions that make work like that nearly impossible to bear.

I'm so tired. I'll keep going, because I have to.

But I really, really don't want to anymore

[superm4ks]

hey! you’ve been pretty quiet over the winter break (which i hope means you’re resting <3). how are you feeling about f1 as a sport generally going into the ‘25 season, especially with the influx of rookies? always curious to hear your take on the sport from a more macro level too. stay well!!

Hiiii babyy 🌸🌸 ur a sweetheart thank u hope ur good too. Not to get too much into it I decided I needed a break from socmed in general so I went quiet on all my socials tumblr was just a consequence of that. I never stopped missing this community tho I love talking about racing wid yall truly. About 2025 bro omfg it's so exciting like so many narratives that cud either culminate in something great or begin to reveal themselves like u said the rookie potential alone is crazy. U got Kimi 🐜 who's a genuine shooter and Torger not even hiding the Verstappen comparisons anymore like thats his Verstappen 2.0 which is . a choice. When u have George in the other car who barely escaped from Lewis' shadow and doesn't look interested in being pushed under another 1 so imo Brackley finna blow, a lil to the right in Milton Keynes Lawson appears insane enough to try and give the actual website some trouble regardless what his pace ends up being so how daddy.com deals wid that is gonna be entertaining for sure. Olly, Jack, Bubbles and Isack in teams that prolly wont really let them do all that BUT Olly and Esteban in particular prolly gonna stress Gene out and I'll be sat for that. Then obvi u got the big questions surrounding the 1644 dynamic, the pecking order of the actual cars, can Max go for the 5th in a row or is Lando getting a 2nd shot, is Oscar gonna learn how to stay on pace for a full Sunday and give Brown arrhythmia , have Maranello figured how to put a title contender in almost absurdly competent hands, is Kimi just humbling everybody right out the gate who knows like I'm not rejecting any possibilities. I think f1 itself kinda got a reality check wid Max's 4th because ((if only there was a post I cud put together about pookies wdc that condenses my personal fav races maybe a rewatch of some sort. Kms)) Max hustled every step of the way, he pulled out old school type of moves that we hadn't seen in a while and it was cool because f1 doesn't encourage shit like that no more but he said guess what I do. He said I'm driving this mf car and it matters what I do. And to f1's surprise most people who are not bitches were into that other drivers included. Max fully established himself as a top 5 oat in machinery that finished 3rd in constructors thats not just a statement on Max's skill but what racing drivers can do. So it'll be interesting wid players like Kimi who just have that dawg bursting out their fingertips making their way into the grid if f1 in the midst of all its instability is gonna allow drivers to put their thumb on the scale or keep trying to penalize them into submission. Also what the f are they gonna do for the 'special launch' 75th anniversary event and how many times am I gonna feel the urge to let Helmut outlive me

[boogleboot]

One year since Fateheart

A year ago I posted Fateheart: A Starless Seaquel to Ao3 (link here) - the mammoth fanfic sequel to Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea.

Fateheart has had an incredible year, and has completely changed my life, by all measures. Posting it has connected me to so many wonderful people and helped bring together a genuine community over on the Starless Sea discord (which you should join hey here's a link) who have supported me through the last hellish few weeks of uni assignments as well as months and months of creative projects and ambitious fic writing.

So on this blessed solstice day, here is a lil update for those who are following the slow progress of the unofficial Starless Sea canon as developed in Fateheart.

Oh that's right, baby. It ain't just one fan sequel. It's gonna be uhhh (checks notes) at least four.

I really really wanted to get the next book out at this year mark - on the solstice and year anniversary - but despite hitting that 50k mark for NaNoWriMo last month it just didn't happen (it's been a rough couple months - I am currently doing a master's course that is kicking my ass).

But I am determined to get Fever Pitch, the next full-novel-length follow-up story, out in full as soon as humanly possible. Toward that end I have gone ahead and made a posting for it. The first few chapters are done and have been done for a while, so I shall slowly be posting them as I work on the rest.

Watch this space!!!!

I never really intended Fever Pitch to be a fully-fledged sequel. Mind you, I didn't intend that with Fateheart either, but in a different way. In my mind the next book in the sequence is and always has been a story called The Lotus Flowers. Nearly 180k words of that one exist, but it is too important a story not to get right. So I'm gonna give it as much time as it needs - and it may need quite a lot.

But in working on Lotus Flowers, I came to realise that a lot of the world-building and character development which I was taking for granted was in fact not as obvious to the reader as it would be to me - LF is, after all, set ten or so years after Fateheart, and considering all of The Starless Sea (at least for Zachary and Dorian) takes place in about two weeks, ten years is space enough for a LOT of story.

So in order to strengthen my sense of where Zachary, Dorian, and Kat have found themselves by the ten year mark, I started noting down some of the more important moments from that decade of time. And then just kept writing. And writing and writing and writing until a handful of them were fully fledged novellas.

I have put up the polished ones - they are collected together on Ao3 as 'Fateheart: The Extended Canon'. Which is. A bit pretentious. But whatever. (Also I'm not kidding myself that all the fics in this collection are vital plot points, but there are a couple standout ones which are Canon Events in my mind, that will be referenced in later full-length fics. Namely A Heart That Won't Break, Death in the Valley, and The Man Named Sky.)

But one of these short (aspirationally) stories seemed as I wrote to have particular space in it for so much of that world-building and exposition, and that was Fever Pitch.

Fever Pitch takes place five years after the birth of the Harbour, and the events of Fateheart, and is an Alice-in-Wonderland themed story which explores the lives of all the main Fateheart characters (Zachary, Dorian, Kat, and Leander, namely), introduces some new players (shoutout Tabuzae and Kirsty Baudeville), as well as establishing the limits and life of the Harbour they live in.

I'd say a solid sixty percent of this story currently exists, and I'm gonna amp up the pressure on myself to complete it by posting it as I go - something I've never done before, so bear with me.

It means so much to me that there are people out here who care as much about these people and this little world on the Starless Sea as I do - even more so that so many people have loved my offerings of more story. The above photo is of my christmas present from a housemate who was one of Fateheart's earliest readers. It's so beautiful it makes my heart leap.

We rise, we fall - as stories do.

I am committed to seeing this story through, by the way - all the way to the end - and that is gonna take years. But we start here - with the next book in the series. First few chapters to appear over Christmas.

Until then, happy solstice. To seeking x

[aphantpoet]

Today I want to talk about this piece of shit and his most memed line "Who knew clones were so paternal."

At this point the "Anyone who watched Star Wars" jokes have been done to death so I'm gonna overthink because that's what a creative writing degree taught me to do.

Before we begin, I have a family in Palestine's go fund me pinned on my blog. if you can I invite you to either donate or spread it around, every little bit helps. Thank you and back to my bullshit.

Viewer Omniscience occurs when an audience is given multiple perspectives at once, it is both a tool and a downfall to character nuance. While it can have many positives such as providing multiple perspectives from large casts of characters or characters who get separated, i want to focus on the negatives. Aside from it being funny, why does Royce Hemlock's line give us that reaction?.

Simply put, we have seen Star Wars, hemlock has not. We've played the Cal Kestis Saga and watched old men Rex, Gregor and Wolfe interact with Ezra Bridger. We were there for the Innocents of Ryloth and the whole of bad batch and the clone who was kind to Boba before he was betrayed. Hemlock was not, he was off on his mad scientist shit. He doesn't know about any of these events. The only clones he interacts with are his experiments and Emerie. there's not exactly a lot of opportunities to see the Mandalorian adoption instinct in action. Frankly, it would be weird if he did know that clones are prone to picking up any kid they see alone for more than five seconds.

It's not exclusive to this meme either. let's take Azula for an example. There are some in the fandom who expect her to intrinsically understand that everything she has been taught is wrong. Zuko was able to understand that colonisation and child abuse is bad so why couldn't she?. What they forget is that Zuko had three years away and tons of chances and his mother carefully contradicting some of his lessons as a child before he even started to realise it was wrong. Even then he has moments where he falls back, resorts to the same toxic patters of thinking he was raised with. Azula never had any of those chances, she never had anyone to point out that Ozai was in the wrong. She didn't have any independent sources to tell her that so why would a teenage girl be able to break the cycle when she doesn't even know she's in one to begin with?

It's common for people in fandoms to get bogged down by the details they already know, even when the character's don't. This lead to some of the very common debated in the SPOP fandom. We get both Catra and Adora's situations handed to us on a silver platter, served with a side of popcorn for our viewing pleasure. Catra and Adora do not. They are in their situations and can only know what has been revealed to them and what they believe. In the first episode, Adora didn't even realise that Catra and herself were both being abused (or at least she didn't classify it from that perspective because she was in it not an observer.) When she leaves she doesn't know that Hordak and Shadow Weaver continue to abuse Catra. how could she? Even if we say she would believe it if she found out she's not seeing it, none of her Rebellion friend are willing to consider that that might be a possibility and any avenue for her to be told is cut off.

In that same vein, when the two are reunited and in a position to learn what the other is going through they don't. They don't communicate and they don't have all of each other's information so they're out of sync. Adora falls back into her old patterns of being the protector or expecting Catra to tell her everything because that's what she knows. Catra slips into her pattern of pushing people away because, it's what she believes will protect her, that makes her mean. Adora isn't aware that, while she was away, any times Catra tried to reach out and forge new bonds massively backfired and that she's feeling incredible guilt as well as realising that her attempt at sacrificing herself failed but she still saved Glimmer and trying to work out what that means.

When they get to removing the chip, they're so out of sync that Adora doesn't realise that Catra is truly afraid for her life and ends up treating her like a brat. Catra doesn't realise that bringing Entrapta in to remove the chip isn't a holier than thou punishment from Adora. it's her being pragmatic and making sure that Catra's sacrifice of trying to save Glimmer and keep them out of Horde primes clutches isn't in vain because they decided to save her. It's only when Adora admits her helplessness and agrees to let Catra go and Catra forces herself open despite everything she's learnt since Adora left the Horde that they even begin to learn the other's story.

In the Clone Wars, a clone named Fives discovers the inhibitor chips in all the clones. When he tries to reveal this information he is not believed by anyone because he is the only one who experienced everything that he experienced. Anakin and Rex did not, Shaak Ti did not so when he comes out claiming things that seem impossible they believe he's crazy. it doesn't help that any evidence he could show them is in the hands of people with a vested interest in keeping it hidden. Any other way he could prove it would require a level of trust that Anakin and Rex are not primed to give him based solely on how the incident was reported to them. We know he's right but from Anakin's perspective; another one of his men just went insane, is acting erratic and paranoid and tried to kill his long time mentor. He may have compassion for him and want to help him but he doesn't believe him. We know where this goes but, to Anakin, Revenge of the Sith is months away.

I bring all this up to say, audiences can get cocky when it comes to information we already know, to the point where we assume character's not knowing something is bad writing or a sign that they're abusive or stupid or incapable of changing but all it is, is realistic world building. People keep things hidden, people aren't always placed in the exact position to learn everything all the time and they're never free from biases and emotional judgements.

So, yes, everyone who's watched Star Wars knows that the clones are building found families on main but Hemlock is not someone who's watched Star Wars, he's just a character in it.

[hypnofantasma]

"Where's the Ulterior Spectacle remake?"

I know i've gotten this a ton of times, and seeing how it's been a couple years since i said it'd exist, i decided i'd give all of my reasons why it's taking So Damn Long. hopefully, this'll reduce the amount of... hate? judgement?? i keep getting regarding this song.

1) The only reason I SHOULD be giving: the simple fact that I am working on an immense universe

I'm not working on JUST Stars Below, and even THEN, a remake has the lowest priority of all when it comes to new Stars Below songs, character development, design solidification, etc. I'd rather solidify the world and story FIRST before making a remake that might swiftly become outdated once again if I rush it. This is also why songs IN GENERAL have been slow; I'm refining the story. It's a HUGE WIP.

I'm not a company, I'm One Single Person with OCs on the internet. If I don't work on one singular aspect, I'm sorry? I guess? That leads into...

2) I'm so immensely stressed at the moment that I'm having physical health issues and can't reliably/consistently work on things

Like I still CAN draw, but completed PVs are so high-effort (and risk), low-reward for me right now that I have to make smaller things. That's why I'm focusing on Artfight for now. On top of that, I'm gonna try to get another term of college this year so I can accomplish something tangible in my life and get a degree. (College is ALSO why stuff's been slow)

If you want to know WHAT my health issues are, all you need to know is that I've got visible ribs yet my weight is constantly depleting.

3) People keep reuploading my stuff

People keep taking things from my Discord server and reuploading them on sites like Youtube. If I don't upload something, I do not want it uploaded, plain and simple. No, I am not free game just because I'm on the internet. I'm just an independent artist and not a company, and this is breaking several boundaries of mine.

If you claim it's "out of fan love" or "giving me free promotion", it doesn't change the fact it makes me (and even my community) exceedingly uncomfortable. The big one being reuploaded was Tundra Lens, and while I did make it public again, it was solely to appease the reuploaders. Please don't reupload my stuff.

It's killing my motivation and drive for the Ulterior Spectacle remake.

4) Multiple abusers in my life

I won't dive into this one but just know that, behind the scenes, I have been treated like a goddamn ragdoll. I have been treated like an object by both strangers and people extremely close to me, and I'm drained, man.

These events have been adding to my current status of being physically ill and chronically fatigued.

5) I am currently being stalked by a group who hates me and intentionally mocks me

A certain group of individuals (who will remain unnamed) are currently stalking me, gathering my creations, and making a complete mockery of a project that intends to break all of the universal rules I have crafted. I don't mind if you don't know everything about my universe; it's a lot, after all, and I'm more than happy to educate.

However, this group intends on making a complete mockery of not only my universe but also my art. It is out of malice and not parody. Due to this, I'm almost too scared to post anything, really. I don't want this to stop me, but damn it does it sting. I'll ride this out with god-rivaling perseverance if I have to.

Now....

While all of this is there, I'll also say the remake IS NOT cancelled. I'll be dead before it's cancelled. But I just wanted to give some perspective a little bit, and maybe- if you're someone mad about the lack of the remake so far- you'll understand why a little more.

Just please respect my boundaries for things, don't drum up drama with me, and leave me in peace. That's all I ask. One day this song'll be completed, and it'll be a day where I'm no longer treated as some soulless machine.

Thank you.

[monards]

Currently obsessed with thinking about Rhine and Alice meeting as teens... Alice watching her friend growing older and older than her until the cataclysm. Then she caught up to her... And then started surpassing her.

As much as it hurts her, she's long accepted that losing friends quickly is part of being around humans, but she never expected to have to be the first to die, and she knows rhinedottir won't take it as well as she would've.

(there are two wolves inside of me one wants to spoil rhinedottir and see her happy and the other one wants to see her break)

anon. oh my god. ANON WHO HURT. WHOM/. WHAHT AUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH i had to take a like. 15 minutes break after getting this, it hurt me so bad. but. we're back now.!!!!!!

I think the ambiguity around both rhine and alice's pasts is what makes them so fun.,,,, but oughhh boy does this take the cake. oh my god. head in hands as i scream.

I'm always sosooo weak to the growing old trope,, and this is just repeatedly stabbing and twisting blades into my heart. i think one of the most horrific things about the curse to me is ALWAYS gonna be the fact they're just stuck in time. they're always gonna be the same,, they can change their style, or whatever,, but they're always gonna be the them they were at the cataclysm... and the way that contrasts SO much which Alice and her almost ever changing enviornment,,, oh fuucjkkkk. Rhinedottir is her constant. Somebody shoot me in the head. I can't even BEGIN to imagine how horrific it'd for Alice to be the only one changing. for once. If they had meet as teens,, i wouldn't doubt Alice would've already been preparing to lose rhine (assuming that, if elves have 'elongated lives' that means they age weird or whatever that entails, and she would've already been through a few things by then to warrant her being a little more. well thought out) and then out of nowhere, after all this mental prep. everythings flipped upside down. and bam. she's not gonna lose rhine; rhine's gonna lose HER. Considering how sympathetic Alice clearly already is,,, that would've messed her up SO bad. oughhh boy i can't even imagine how unhealthily attached in some ways rhine could've grown during the cataclysm itself,, since when literally everything you have and loved is ripped away from you when you're hardly even a fully grown adult by then, i wouldn't blame if she sort of grew into thinking of Alice as the one thing she still had; so i can't even imagine how SHE'D react finally letting it sink in that Alice wasn't gonna be there eventually. ^ And if this actually WERE the case in canon sense (which. for my mental health im desperately gonna pretend it isn't.) ,, it'd make soo much more sense why Albedo goes to Alice with a letter, instead of Rhine communicating herself. Her trying to distance herself from Alice... because she's scared to lose alice while loving her and having her be sooo engrained in Rhinedottir's routine.. so she's trying to distance and separate herself... oughhh boy.

I'm. The entire second paragraph too,,, just about Alice herself being used to it, but not Rhine,,,, it's gonna KILL me. This is reallllyyyy feeding into my rhinedottir-humanization rants,, but dear god does it have to be horrific to experience every thing that humans were never designed to; and only adding to that list of scarring traumatic events its like, hey!!! you know the person you love???? who you sorta prepared to be with for the rest of your life?? well BOY do i have some news for you!!! -- and that makes me. So sad. so indescribably sad. Because realistically,, the average person can only go through SO much. And considering the fact I doubt rhine has really anybody who cares for her in that regard- especially after celestia effectively antagonized her to hell in back, and stuck a big red "sinner" sticky note on her head- i doubt she ever WILL again.,,, so uoghhhh her losing Alice... my heart... she'd be so fucked up after that. Like if anyone thought she went bonkers after elynas and durin got destroyed,, boy do they have something to learn. Especially with how embedded Alice is in her life already as much as she may not FULLY realize it,, they literally have a FAMILY. imagine how horrific it'd be for her to watch klee grow up, and then die too.??? the last part of alice in this world. gone. Oh my god. JEsus CHRIST. I can't emotionally recover from this idea head in hands.

anon you've officially ruined my mind. I will be thinking about this for next week. month. year. the rest of my life, actually. I will lay on my death bed and SOB over this. Thank you

[oceancoins]

Hey. So we've been gone a while. Like, a really long while. We have some updates. Long-ish post.

I know we've dipped in and out of this blog for the past year and a half. I would apologize, but honestly we had no control over it and needed the break regardless. And I'm personally not really that sorry.

We started a new job that's pretty demanding and we've had a lot going on in our personal life. It made it really hard to keep up with everything here. On top of that, we completely overestimated our spoons making a metric fuck ton of coining sideblogs and quickly got burnt out. There was a lot of drama in the community that didn't really motivate us to stay on top of that. With coining requests thrown on top of that, we basically just shut down.

We do want to return to this, though. But we're making some changes.

We've deleted our coining sideblogs. There was nothing on them anyway that was coined yet. They were barely used.

We're not gonna take requests anymore because it was just too much pressure on us with everything else we have going on. We're just gonna coin when we want to/have an idea. I'm sorry if you requested something before, genuinely I don't think any of us will have the motivation to fulfill that request anymore considering a lot of those were from December of last year and we're trying to avoid burnout.

And, most importantly, we're not getting involved in drama. We're not interacting with it, we're not commenting on it, we'll block if you try to involve us in any random discourse.

Anyway yeah. Just saying hi. Not gonna be active daily or anything but we'll start coining stuff and engaging with this community again, just with limits for our mental health. We honestly haven't touched this blog or the MOGAI/LIOM community since we left so apologies if there was some big event we missed. If it's absolutely important to update us on something, even if it is "drama", you can. Just only if its necessary that we personally know.

Tagging our mutuals, but if you'd like to be untagged please let us know. @mogai-sunflowers @bees--on--toast @rantarouowo @gravecoric @the-playing-card-system @mogai-place @elevatorb0y @epikulupu @xenoneocollector @crying-roses @maidish

[evesaintyves]

Curious about writers' methods! What's your strategy for getting through scenes that you find tricky or boring to write?

put it off for six months, start 350 other projects, spiral, quit writing forever, open and close google docs 373626827 times, spiral again, take too much sudafed at the airport and suddenly finish it in 20 minutes

for real though i am probably not a person who should be giving writing advice but here are some things that help me

take a break for a few days, don't even look at it, then come back with fresh eyes. i've seen people advise that you skip the hard scene and write an easier one, then come back later; i'm sure this works for some people, but i have never been able to do it. even in a nonlinear/nonchronological narrative, there's just a certain momentum, tension, whatever that builds through a story and if i skip around i feel like i'm disrupting that. howEVER, sometimes it helps to work on a different project or not work on anything for a while just to clear my head

if it's boring to write, it's probably gonna be boring to read. sometimes you might have to write expository dialogue or set something up for later, but you can make those scenes do double-duty for you: set a mood, reveal a character dynamic, break things up with some action/comedy/horror, play with your running motifs, get weird with it. there are ways to make boring stuff seem incidental to something more interesting

i read somewhere that writers who think visually tend to get bogged down in unnecessary description of the way characters move through space and how they're interacting with the setting. i don't know if this is true for everybody but it's 10000000% true for me and i think it's the main thing that makes scenes difficult and dissatisfying to write. when i first started writing i thought it was really important to follow through on things like characters putting down what they're holding, moving from where they were to where they are, etc. it is not that fucking important. i have to remind myself all the time. the reader will put together why the character is over there now or has a hand free. there are reasons to describe that stuff when you're setting something up or keeping a certain pace but it's just not always necessary and a lot of scenes really benefit from having the blocking, setting description, etc stripped out to focus on what's actually happening.

think about the point of the scene: why do you need it, what's the idea you're trying to put across, is there a certain emotional core or a mood you're building? what's necessary to accomplish that and what can you lose? is the scene even necessary or can you get by with a brief summary of what happens? i've written so many scenes with a whole dialogue interaction, scene-setting, time markers, etc, only to replace the whole thing with "they discussed it, and..." or "after the party, they...." or whatever. it is infuriating when this happens but learning to let that shit go is incredibly freeing.

skip the setup/preamble/transition, start right before or in the middle of what's happening and backfill what you need via dialogue, flashback, just saying what happened, whatever. sometimes even starting after the main event and focusing on the aftermath works. this kind of goes to the previous two points: you just don't have to tell the reader everything that happened, you can focus on what's important and fill in whatever background as needed.

just get through it and take comfort in the fact that if it's bad you can start over. i often just start by writing whatever shitty version of the scene i can manage: just the beats or the dialogue, or a rambly boring disorganized digressive draft that sucks. then i delete it and rewrite it. i have written so many things twice (or more) because i had to get the shitty version out first before i could figure out how i actually wanted to approach the scene or the story. a lot of times the things that are really important to communicate or give the story its heart don't become clear to me until i've written a first draft. i have a roughly 10k fic sitting around right now because i like the idea but it just sucks and needs to be rewritten from scratch. it's ok. it's not wasted effort, it's part of the process of refining your thoughts.

thank you for the question anon!!!!!!!

[frostycatblr-fandom-files]

The update nobody likes seeing: I Think I'm Taking A Break.

"Fandom is a community" they said.

Funny - I've possibly never felt more alone.

Never felt so isolated and overlooked in favor of the familiar, the "famous", the friendly and out-going. Maybe it's all just the Seasonal Affective Disorder talking, and this is all momentary, but right now, it doesn't feel that way.

It sure doesn't feel momentary between how low my interactions have been on writing that I have put so much fucking effort into.

The community I foolishly thought I was a part of only ever seems to stick to reading their same circle of friends, endlessly, forever. Rarely ever do I see someone else gets given a chance outside of the friend group. And that's an "if" on if they reblog something a friend didn't write...

"Reblogging is important for everyone!! If you like a fic reblog it! Everyone in this community is equally important and valued."

Fucking is it? Am I?

Is it important for EVERYONE in this community, or it just applicable to your friends? Is it only your friends who get your reblogs, and your comments, and your reaction memes, and whatever else? Is it only your friends who are worthy of your time for a simple reply when it comes to thanking ""everyone"" who left you a comment?

If everyone is as valuable to this community as you claim... why aren't you acting a little more like it?

Why are there people like me who feel like they have to resort to "Put Yourself Out There!" type of posts in order to get absolutely pitiable levels of acknowledgement in return for time and energy that only ends up being a waste?

A waste of the organizer's time, and a waste of the participants' time.

Some sweet soul (and god fucking bless them) sent in my Last of the Pack artwork in for a previous Fandom Friday some time back and the interactions barely budged. I think I only ever got 2 additional notes from the recommendation...

I signed up for a follower appreciation event where people were supposed to submit their masterlists, and the participants were supposed to pick two (at minimum) items out of their assigned masterlist to react to/comment on in their reblog of either the work of fiction or piece of art...

... And I haven't seen a single reblog out of it from whoever was assigned to me (yet, I believe there's still time within the event deadline, to be fair).

Thing is: I don't know that I'm gonna be postponing this inevitable hiatus I feel I need to take in order to see those for much longer.

I'm probably going to stick around just long enough to post a Fives x Reader that an anon requested from me, and then I'm going to bounce. I don't know for how long. So that means I don't know when "Deep Night" to Poets and Painters will end up being posted.

That means I don't know when anything will be posted again.

But I think I need to perform a serious evaluation of the effort I'm expending for the turn out of any type of interaction I'm getting in return while lowering my expectations AGAIN before I come back to my sideblog.

[oiblackestsheep]

Letters to MBTI: ESFJ

Dear ESFJs,

My opposite! You and I... we don't tend to run in the same social circles, most of the time lmao. But you know what, that's okay! I recognize that just because we aren't incredibly close, doesn't mean I don't see you and appreciate everything you do.

Our cognitive functions appear in reverse order and nothing reminds me of that better than getting to spend time with one of you. You find ways to be pragmatic, punctual, and inclusive of everybody in ways that I can't even manage to do in my dreams.

And when I say inclusive of everybody, usually, that extra effort goes towards making sure that people like me are included and welcomed to the group/community activities, and I really can't express how grateful I am for that. Or rather, usually, I couldn't express that because it's hard to do that verbally when you feel socially awkward, but here, I'm gonna let it rip.

So let's get into it!

I've found myself in enough social situations where I felt a bit like an outcast wallflower (which can earn you points on the internet, but not so much irl lmao), and it's the healthy ESFJ who recognizes this and decides to make the concentrated effort to help break the ice when I'm not quite sure how.

You never run out questions to ask to keep the conversation going and you always find a way to make me (and probably the other introverts) feel like we have a voice and a place at the table in any social setting. Especially when everyone else present knows each other and I'm the new person. This is such an important skill you have and I don't think you hear enough thanks from the people you help, most likely because we don't always know how best to say it.

Not to mention that you are likely the one who organized whatever event is happening, which most people take for granted. It's not easy being the one to accommodate everyone's schedules and coordinate all of the necessary components for social gatherings.

Or business gatherings! It's not all just birthday parties and baby showers with you guys; you've got serious business to get through, and all the while have to remember things like dietary restrictions, seating arrangements, appropriate time slots for all facets of the gathering. You're the one who has planned out the whole day from start to finish, hearding everyone else around, and everyone else has the luxury of going along with all of it without even noticing.

An introverted perceiver like me doesn't know the half of the hard work it takes to make these things happen!

I hope that it is as helpful to you to have me brainstorming new, potential solutions to your technical problems as it is to me when you make sure that everything is going according to plan and everyone gets the chance to comfortably and genuinely participate in all of our collaborative events.

You really do examplify everything I'd like to be better at. Maybe we should hang out more! We may not always have the most in common with our interests, but I think we could learn a lot from each other. Keep doing what you're doing ESFJs. You really are the glue that holds us all together and makes everyone feel safe!