#i'm terrible at creating characters

[thelvadams]

STARFIELD (2023) • dev. Bethesda Game Studios

Background: Bounty Hunter Wherever there are wanted individuals, there are those who profit from their capture. And your quarry knows that in the vastness of space, they can run... but they can't hide.

[egophiliac]

I have never been more concerned for a JP update from your art than I am seeing a Cheka knowing the context of Leona’s dream.

My bois ok right?????? My sweet nephews ok right??????

well

uhhhh

I'm sure the real one is fine :)

[keets-writing-corner]

I hope we see Lucifer training Charlie in Season 2. Plus it'd be cute if Vaggie was watching and Charlie decided to see if she also wanted to join in. Because Cmom, you know if she asks him to train her too he's gonna fold like Adam.

Are you me??? I literally left a reply on someone's post about wanting to see Lucifer more in season 2 and being scared it's not gonna happen cuz he's so OP and the main character is charlie and she has to solve her own problems

and I just went in with a reply like "OKAY BUT WHAT IF HE GETS TO TRAIN HER???" That solves both problems???? We get to see more of him AND Charlie gets to problem solve without him needing to just OP his way through the story

I didn't imagine Vaggie tho! :o

seriously tho the exact thought that's been on loop in my head is Charlie accidentally activates some sort of mega-angel beam or whatever, hits Lucifer in full, and she just panics CUZ OMG DAD, DID I JUST KILL YOU??? and then from the pile of rubble, Lucifer sticks out a thumbs up and you hear a muffled "THAT WAS AMAZING SWEETIE DO IT AGAIN"

[shizukais]

[unforth]

Y'all (general) really really need to exercise the block buttons more.

An opinion you don't agree with? Someone makes you uncomfortable? Something you don't like? Even just a person whose way of presenting information makes you uncomfortable (even if you agree with them)?

Block.

BLOCK.

B.L.O.C.K.

Look, I get it. I used to think seeing opinions I didn't agree with was important, that exposing myself was a way of staying informed. But finally, I hit a breaking point - I already knew the viewpoints I disagreed with, and seeing them every day was making me miserable.

I've blocked liberally since then.

And the most remarkable thing happened: I routinely see posts where lots of people are disagreeing with the same person...and I already have that person blocked.

Because the most insidious thing about letting myself see the negativity and things that made me unhappy all the time is that leaving it all there gave me the impression that there were a LOT of vocally awful people saying things that hurt me.

But there aren't.

There's actually a surprisingly small number of people who get off on trolling or are so marinated in hate that they have to spew it all around them, and when you block those people, the world gets much more peaceful.

You're not growing as a person by exposing yourself to rhetoric that hurts you. You're just hurting, which is exactly how those people want you to feel: they want you to be in as much agony as they are.

Don't give them the satisfaction.

BLOCK THEM.

(tbh I've hit the point that I think people who willfully, deliberately, loudly, intentionally don't block are engaging in a form of self-harm. seriously, you're not taking a noble stand, no one cares if you don't block except the people hurting you.)

[lillyanne4writes]

JJK/Gege Akutami appreciation post

Yeah, you read that title right. I get it that the entire fandom is upset with the latest leaks but I've seen so many angry/hateful comments toward Gege and it's making me sad. So here's a post to highlight some things I like about JJK. :)

This is in no way a complete list, so feel free to add on with your own takes too! Also, it's a long post, so I'm putting the meat of it under the cut.

The characters & their dynamics

Jjk has a huge cast, and yet every character is so unique and compelling. The reason I got into this anime (and later the manga) despite not really being into anime in general was how charming the main four characters were. Yuuji, Nobara, Megumi and Gojo immediately hooked me; I could probably watch 10 seasons of a slice of life show that's just them getting into shenanigans.

Fun interactions aside, my favourite thing about the characterisation is how everyone in this manga is allowed to have their own view on the world, especially on what it means to live a good life and die a good death. The narrative allows those views to clash without preaching about who is "correct". Characters disagree and learn from each other and their views develop organically (not necessarily in a positive direction, but always dynamically in a response to the situations they find themselves in - Yuuji's arc on how he views himself and his goals comes to mind). That stuff is really hard to write.

And it's not just the main cast either. The supporting characters are very memorable too; even minor ones have distinct personalities and clear motivations and often a backstory to explain why they are the way they are. My personal favourite background characters are Mai, Noritoshi and Tsumiki.

The worldbuilding

Can we talk about how creative the concept of curses and cursed energy is? Negative emotions accumulating into physical manifestations of things that people fear, hate, etc. is a hell of a cool idea. This is why the curse villains are my favourites in the series: from Mahito as a representation of the worst of humanity in his childish glee and sadism and cowardice to Jogo's philosophy of curses as "true beings" because they don't hide their nature and Hanami's almost sympathetic care for nature are all interesting explorations of how we view the world around us that would not be possible in a different kind of magic system. Add to that the array of creative techniques that sorcerers possess, the cursed objects, and the grade system that conveniently allows us to keep track of the danger levels of all this - you get an impressively complex magic system that still remains understandable (and fun to watch even if you don't want to keep track of the nitty-gritty and are just here for the spectacle).

Not to mention that jujutsu society is, well, a society. We get a sense of who the powerful and the oppressed are in this community, how their powers factor into that, how different characters feel about this, what they are doing to change it or on the contrary, to keep the traditions going... Every character exists in the web of a clear power structure which they interact with, influencing it and being influenced in turn. This results in a super interesting dynamic where certain characters can be enemies one moment (for example when the Kyoto students try to kill Yuuji during the exchange event on Gakuganji's, and by extension the higher-ups' orders) and allies the next (when it's time to pull together against a curse).

I'm reserving my judgement on the plot, themes and overall character arcs for now, because those things can only be really analysed once the story is complete. But even if I'll be unhappy with the ending, I'll still be very grateful for this unique world and its loveable inhabitants.

Of course, you might disagree with me on all this, and that's fine. Dropping the manga because you don't like the direction the story took is fine. Choosing to live in fanfiction delulu land is also fine. Gritting your teeth and sticking it out till the end despite disliking the plot because you're too invested to quit is also fine. Criticism and jokes are fine. The one thing that isn't fine is hating on the creator for the way they are choosing to tell their story.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Tl;dr: If you're upset about the direction JJK is taking, please try to remember why you cared so much about it in the first place. And remember that Gege is just a person sharing a story with us, and disliking someone's story is not an acceptable reason to hate on them.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

"winston quant billions: like anyone else, an entire universe" or "the good news is it's just that everyone's been terrible to you, the bad news is it's just that everyone's been terrible to you"

[commanderhorncleaver]

Introduction: Cain Flametongue

Cain Flametongue, formerly known as Brutus Quietflame, is the cub of Gaius Horncleaver and an unremarkable dam who did little for her cub aside from provide him with a younger brother named Jullus nine months after he joined an Iron Legion fahrar.

The cub grew up in a difficult time for Iron cubs with shamanist tendencies, and unlike Augustus, he wouldn't have Gaius' proximity to the fahrar to protect him physically nor through reputation.

He didn't so much take the name 'Quiet' so much as have it foisted upon him by his bandmates to emphasize his nature. He spoke little and stayed to himself. Being a larger sort, and steadily reliable even with his pyromancy, he was a strong lieutenant. This wouldn't last, though, as he was eventually scouted by Flame looking to sow seeds of discord--rumors of Baelfire's aspirations for godhood were known years before the actual ritual, after all, and the Legions needed to be distracted while the shamans worked and studied and prepared.

Brutus took the first opportunity to accept recruitment, leaking details of raids and plans, small things to help Flame with infiltration or avoiding patrols. When he was asked to assist in a strike against Blood and Iron, wiping out several warbands at once, he again eagerly accepted, and personally wiped out his own warband, including his own brother who had been assigned as his guard.

Though Flame appreciated him, and seemed to offer opportunities for his growth and development, once again, this wouldn't last, as eventually, the Citadel of Flame would take place and Gaheron would be slain by the commander and his comrades. Knowing Brutus' ties to Horncleaver--and having conveniently not been present at the slaughter of shamans--it was assumed that he had been playing the long con. Brutus was tortured: his tongue was burned out when it became evident that he wouldn't talk, and eventually it became clear he would be killed.

So he killed them all first, flaming arrows finding their marks and white-hot illusions luring his captors to their deaths. Finally free, Brutus cast off his name and ties, and swore vengeance on the name that's plagued him all his life, Gaius Horncleaver.

[nrhodact]

Ok, hot take but I hate when the anti-fujo crowd accuse women of internalized misogyny because they write more mlm than wlw or focus on the male characters over the female ones.

With all the discussion about how terribly women are written in media it doesn't cross their mind that it's the writers faults and not the fans?

If the female character is 1 dimensional, why would people focus on those characters ? Why would they write fanfiction about them? Why would they be shipped with other-equally poorly written women?

People will flock to better written characters and unfortunately writers pay attention to male characters more cause of THEIR misogyny. It shouldn't be up to the fans to fix a writer's mistakes so the women can be fleshed out and therefore more interesting. If you're a fan that likes to write all the missed potential of a female character, more power to you but not every fan wants to or should even have to do that.

[troublcmakcrs]

y'all: umm... whatcha got there?

me, with the oc i created solely to ship with tweek in his older verses: nothin, mind your fucking business

[ne0nwithazero]

It's strange how I kind of went from consistently disliking my art, to like, disliking individual pieces, but when I look at my overall work I just get filled with so much joy and pride

It's not like I'm doing anything groundbreaking or utterly amazing, but I guess it's the thing of like, seeing myself as an ordinary human capable of creating things? I just see so much beauty in humanity's capacity of creating things, and I guess I had to teach myself to see that beauty in my own capabilities as well, no matter how mediocre they are

It's hard to say I like things I create because I fear people will think I'm full of myself, but I just have so much pride in my work. If I start looking too closely at my art, I start seeing all the mistakes and everything I hate about it, but if I step back and take in the bigger picture of all I've done and how far I've come? I don't know, it's a strange feeling to describe

It's best described as this sentiment of fulfilment that makes me realize that there's nothing else I'd rather be doing with my life other than creating art I love and sharing with people

[viciouslyfilthy]

Another urge manifests today: that of making a REALTOR and/or a Regular Guy oc

Please I'm SO into weird feral guys that are either houses or balls of fur

[sonsband]

I need to stop taking book suggestions from random Top 10 lists. the more bad sex scenes I'm subjected to, the better The Sympathizer's is.

[catgirltoofies]

reviews on famous novel "don't create the torment nexus" are in!

one reviewer gives a one star review, saying, "i can't believe the writer would let the torment nexus exist in this world. doesn't he realize how awful the torment nexus would be in real life?"

another reviewer, with a two star review, says "yeah, the book was okay, the characters were all great, but i just can't get over the torment nexus. why is there such a terrible thing? don't they realize they'd be better off without the torment nexus?"

a third reviewer gave five stars, saying "i'm glad this book was written. they really need to create the torment nexus, that would really improve civilization by a lot." in the comment replies to this review, the reviewer indicated that this review was not sarcasm.

overall, "don't create the torment nexus" has a rating of two stars. find it in these stores......

[david-watts]

I will not fall into the trap of rewriting everything because my writing skills have improved since starting the work

[luxlightly]

Larian studios really said "We are going to create a Baldur's Gate that is SO queer"

Everyone is romanceable, regardless of gender. You can have he/him, she/her, or they/them pronouns and none of those are tied to what body type or genitals you have (both of which you can pick, independently of each other). The daughter of a literal god who teams up with you is like "me and my girlfriend need to go kiss for 100 years now brb". Every other npc in Baldur's Gate will casually mention their same sex partners. The ringleader of the planes hopping circus is heavily implied to be a trans woman. One person who can join you gets captured multiple times and travels the world, all to save a man he loves.

It's everywhere and it just...is. There's no stopping the plot for the game devs to pat themselves on the back for including a "diverse" character. There's no dialogue option to have a character spoon feed you the idea that they could be interested in the same gender. There's no casual homophobia. No constant casual sexual harassment towards your character just because you chose the "female" option.

And it's so varied. One queer romance is about doing everything to save the other and the reunion is a beautiful kiss. Another is being completely shot down by someone they risked so much for. A man in the streets will say "Get a load of my husband. Such a piece of work. And I'm the one who fell for the blockhead". It doesn't feel cheap if a queer character dies or is a terrible person or if their romance story falls apart completely, because there are just so many. Honestly, that goes for a lot of things in the game, diversity-wise. It's just really nice.