#is this hashtag relatable comedy or whatever

[hauntedtrait]

🐴Once Upon A Time In Chestnut Ridge: A Bachelor Challenge

Meet Dakota Blue Heron, Chestnut Ridge's most eligible bachelor!

Dakota is 29, stands 6'3 tall, living on Crow's Head ranch, primarily a horse ranch that is open for guests in the spring and summer months. The ranch is owned and operated by the Heron family, being passed down through generations for over a century. Kindly, Dakota's parents have allowed the ranch to be used this season, in hopes that the show's popularity will help bring in more guests and customers.

Dakota accepted the network's offer to be Bachelor in hopes of finding a life partner, having little time to meet new people in his regular life. Also because, in his words, "this seems fun!"

Here's a few things he wants potential contestants to know about him: he spends his days working in various different parts of the ranch (in the horse stalls and gardens especially), he grows most of his food and whatever he doesn't grow he sources from local and ethical producers, he loves being surrounded by people (especially those he holds dearly), occasionally hunts (deer and invasive species mostly). He speaks navajo, navajo sign language, english and spanish, and is a tribal member of the navajo nation. Dakota wants kids and is looking for a partner with similar desires to start a family.

Keep reading below for more info!

Likes: fellow animal enthusiasts, physical contact (his love language), his grandmother's cooking, gardening, spending his days outside, being with family, cinnamon, old hollywood films, people who are connected to their families or communities, fry bread

Dislikes: being cooped up inside, snow days, musical theater, cilantro (he's got the soap taste gene), sudden loud sounds, stand up comedy, cold showers, people who don't like getting dirty, cops, cigarette smoke

GUIDELINES:

8 contestants will be accepted

contestants should have at least 5 likes and/or dislikes

contestants have 15 skill points to distribute as they wish

contestants can have 3-5 traits, except for unflirty or romantic, do give them at least one negative trait, it's more fun that way

unfortunately, only human contestants for this one. YA and adult only, any amount of story/backstory, any aspiration except for romance related aspirations, any gender (pleaseeee give them pronouns). include all this information in your entry please.

any cc and outfits, though try to keep to 1 outfit per category. maxis match or maxis mix is fine EXCEPT for alpha hairs, no alpha hairs please.

Download can be private or public, up to you, BUT please include ALL cc in the download!

i own most of the packs except for some of the kits, but i do have the ‘kits made bgc’ so i can replace stuff if needed

i will be changing skin details and giving them more outfits, if you submit a sim you are consenting to have them be changed to fit my sim style. honestly i highly encourage everyone to use sliders and custom presets, i think sims look a lot better with those and i dont love how vanilla presets look tbh

if you do not have the horse ranch pack but would like for certain skills, traits or aspirations from the pack to be used on your sim, let me know and i will add it in game!

tag me in your posts and use the hashtag #chestnutbc

UPDATE:

NEW DEADLINE: AUGUST 14

PLEASE READ:

As stated previously, Dakota likesmasculine-leaning sims. No strict gender preference, but I am looking for masculine contestants. Be it women who are more butch, masc leaning non binary, cis or trans men on the masculine side of the spectrum. Dakota's type tends to be people with muscles, masculine-leaning, who look like they could pick him up and throw him around. Dad types are a plus too. He prefers people who aren't very skinny, who have some meat on their bones. Strong types, protective vibes, and obviously people who can and are willing to work on a farm and live and deal with animals every day, it's not easy work!

[game-tok]

TikTok Gaming Videos: Where Creativity and Gaming Collide

Are you looking to expand your online gaming community of like-minded individuals? The place to be for Video gaming is on TikTok. This social media site is becoming popular among gamers as a place to talk about their shared experiences and watch popular short films. Walkthroughs, reviews, comedy skits, and challenges are just some of the many types of gaming-related material available on TikTok. If you're interested in finding out what all the fuss is about, you should go see it for yourself. Come along with me as I delve into the world of TikTok Video Games!

What Exactly Is TikTok Gaming?

Video games are the focus of their own dedicated area of the popular video sharing app TikTok. Video gamers from all around the world may meet here to socialize and network over their common interest.

Videos on TikTok Gaming range from gameplay guides to reviews of games and consoles to comedic skits based on popular video game characters to challenges based on a wide range of video games. The gaming community has a huge opportunity to express itself in its own way through this medium.

TikTok Gaming is distinguished from rival sites by its unique hashtag system. Using hashtags like #gamingreviews and #CS2gameplay, users may find and communicate with others who share their interests.

The exciting new TikTok Gaming platform allows users to broadcast their skills and creativity to the world in the form of short videos. It's no wonder that the site is gaining users every day from gamers all across the world.

Video Game Content on TikTok

TikTok Gaming videos can take numerous forms, just as the great variety of hobbies held by the platform's users. One common form showcases the best moments of gameplay alongside the player's commentary and emotions. These kinds of documentaries could be instructive for players of all skill levels.

Another common type of video on TikTok Gaming is a tutorial about how to improve at a specific game. This sort of material is really helpful for newcomers and experienced players alike.

A powerful challenge system allows users to issue challenges to one another in TikTok Gaming. Participating in these contests in a group of friends is a lot of laughs.

New video games and gaming software are regularly discussed in video reviews. There is candid discussion among players concerning their use of these items.

Video content on TikTok Gaming spans entertainment, education, competitiveness, and critical analysis of video games.

The Ups and Downs of TikTok for Video Game Players

Gaming's popularity on TikTok has been on the rise in recent months. However, like other form of social networking, it has its own benefits and drawbacks.

TikTok Gaming's global user base is a testament to the platform's success in uniting people with common interests. It's a fantastic way for gamers to meet new people with similar interests and pick up useful tips and tricks from one another.

TikTok videos are often quite short, so they may not be the greatest choice when trying to demonstrate more involved Best gaming softwares or narrative. The platform is also notorious for its disregard for learning and development objectives.

Because of the algorithmic nature of TikTok's content distribution method, some content creators may find it challenging to break through and create an audience without relying on sensationalism or viral trends.

There are benefits and drawbacks to using TikTok Gaming, but overall, it's a fantastic platform for gamers interested in expanding their social networks by connecting with like-minded individuals from all around the world.

How to Find Video Game Content on TikTok

It's easy to search for game videos on TikTok. You may find whatever you need by using the app's search box to look for the relevant hashtag or term. You'll have access to a wealth of player-made material from all over the globe.

If you're new to TikTok gaming, try searching for #tiktokgaming, #gamerlife, or #gamertok. These will lead you to an abundance of gaming primers.

Choose your preferred game style by using the filters provided. If you're looking for Mobile gaming trends and other first-person shooter topics, try searching with the hashtags #fpsgames or #shootergames.

If you follow your favorite players and creators on TikTok, you may also receive access to great gaming videos. Many prominent players run their own channels, where they often share news and gameplay footage with fans.

TikTok's "For You" tab is not to be ignored. For instance, if you've been viewing a lot of gaming videos as of late, your personalized stream will likely begin featuring some incredible new material shortly.

Conclusion

TikTok Gaming is a global platform where gamers can broadcast their passion for video games to the world. TikTok is a video sharing platform where gamers may broadcast their skills and adventures to their peers.

There are benefits and drawbacks to using TikTok as a gaming community, but the benefits are more convincing. You may meet interesting people from all over the world and expand your knowledge of games by participating in these communities.

The gaming community on TikTok is a lively and entertaining area to meet other players and discuss games. Whether you're looking for tips on how to improve your gaming skills or you just want to pass some time watching movies, our growing community has something for you.

[ellistocracy]

currently suffering from terminal brainrot, the symptoms of which include 1. the characteristic artist shrimp posture and 2. holding my tablet pen so tight while drawing that i gave myself 3 separate blisters on my hand and had to stop

[mrdrhenwardhykle]

So, I had this thought process

I've been thinking a lot about that Adam Sandler movie "Pixels", and I think I just wrote a summarized alternate plot for it in my head and I need to write it down.

Okay;

Let's start by brainstorming on writing better and more relatable protagonists. For many, this movie is very hard to watch because it almost feels like a bunch of middle-aged guy's writing in nice-guy self inserts of themselves to feel better about whatever mid-life crisis they're having. And maybe this wouldn't be too bad if their characters were just a bit more than "middle aged creep who lives in his mom's basement is secretly a romantic warrior when put in the right scenario".

At least for me, it's very hard to relate to that kind of protagonist; given how that character is usually the most developed out of all the characters in this type movie. I often find that it's hard to relate to nerdy nice guy characters who often get away with the lack of likeable qualities just because "life should have treated them better". It comes off more as a pity-party more than anything, and their unmotivated dynamic with the "out of their league" love interest, who always comes off as nothing more than a trophy and\or act as an excuse to get the climax rolling in the last 20 minutes after getting captured by the big bad.

So then, how would I write an 80's nostalgia themed adventure movie? What, say, would you think would be a practical way to write the main cast in a way that audiences new and old can relate? Easy; If your intention is to give your entire audience a wave of nostalgia, but to still keep it relatable, then why not make your main cast kids? (credit to Black Nerd Comedy for that idea) I would probably suggest between the age of 12 and 16, and maybe with the occasional big brother\sister type characters and some of their friends . Kids often have a ton of freedom, a large imagination, basic priorities, and a lot less worries than adults. Just about anyone should be able to relate to that, since everybody either was or is a kid at some point of time. And I'm not saying that you can't write for\relate to older protagonists, but you don't want to alienate your audience, especially when making something that might catch the eye of a younger crowd.

Not to mention that ever since the 80's, kids have always been a major player by the impact of technology. For some reason though, the plot of Pixels doesn't really have to do with technology. There's guns and contraptions that are specifically made to destroy the pixels, but it doesn't really go much father than that with the tech. The plot more focuses on going on the "alien invasion" route (which I would think would be more 60's sci-fi based than 80's, which was more experimental in cosmic horror with its alien media)(not including Space Invaders. Shush. That does not count). Honestly, I think 80's nostalgia can be replaced with just about anything when it comes to a "shape-shifting aliens who mimic earthly cultures" plot. It's very basic, yet it doesn't really fit in with the theme of arcade games. It just comes off as a poor excuse for pandering to 80's kids, instead of using that element to bring up interesting concepts and world-exploring in this universe.

So I have two solutions for this, either;

A. Do not do a time jump, and keep the story in the 80's. Make it an alternate universe where different forms of consoles and computers are being developed. Maybe the adult characters are very unfamiliar with these changes, but allowing for the kid characters to have more of an advantage because that stuff would be more relevant to them. Because this was before a time where kids often thought about becoming programmers, it will also work as a disadvantage to the kids because they won't have an excuse to suddenly know how the opposing side works.

Or B. It takes place in a modern era, with Virtual reality, game consoles, and laptops, but it doesn't overly modernize itself with teens on phones, saying outdated things like "lemmie just take a selfie" saying "hashtag" out loud, or any junk like that (Because guess what? Teens and kids don't usually act like that). Maybe make the environment time neutral by making it a mix between the 2010's, 2000's, 1990's, and 1980's. I don't really think it's relevant enough to work in a present setting.

And lastly, let's talk about the big bad of the movie.

Really in Pixels, it's more of a self-struggle either projected upon others, or manifested into it's own being for the protagonist to succeed. There's not really a lot of leg space for anyone else to develop other than the main character (and perhaps something happens occasionally to the comedic reliefs\mascot characters). I imagine maybe this version doesn't have just one central character\plot, kind of like Stranger Things. However, unlike Stranger Things, I would also like a compelling and intriguing villain. Sadly, Pixels doesn't really have that; i has Donkey Kong, but he's nothing more than an alien catering to the protagonist's inner struggles (and nostalgia). There's nothing really more to DK other than that, so there's not a lot of difference between him and any of his previous minions.

And there's nothing really compelling about DK; because at least in canon, he's just a scared circus animal. There's not a lot of reasoning behind his actions other than to just invade. It's basic alien stuff like I said before, it can basically be replaced with some other theme than arcade games.

So what would be a compelling antagonist? Foils to the main group of characters (such as an older school bully, or maybe twisted programmers), create conflict, but if we're keeping the theme of attack of the machines and videogame characters, there has to be a bigger bad than that.

Oh! If only there was an already established villain-coded, tech-based, 80's icon with the ability to control almost all technology!

....

Trust me, I'm onto something!

Max Headroom was always presented as an egotistical talking head. He had multiple shows in the 1980's, as well as guest starred on multiple shows. Perhaps Max survives off of his viewers, and constantly strives to expand his audience. Max does not tend to care about other's well beings, and just wishes to use them as a way to gain publicity for his shows. Max also has a tendency to step over whoever he needs to to gain popularity, including his own film crew.

Max also has multiple canon abilities such as:

Being able to transfer to any screen (including arcade games)

See and interact with the people watching him

Control more than one screen

Interact with himself from one screen to another (multitask)

Turn on and off lights (and likely other outlets as well)

Manipulate the visuals of the screen that he's controlling

All of these abilities can be expanded and explored enough to set him up as a powerful and unpredictable villain.

I've also came up with a couple motives as well;

A. If this is in a modern era, Max could be suffering from a long hiatus since he hasn't been that active since the 80's; causing Max to seek as much attention to thrive off of as possible. To do this, Max hijacks as many outlets as possible to air his show. He might also use this as a way to repel audiences away from all other media; making it easier to turn to him for entertainment.

B. This takes place in an alternate universe where Max Headroom became more popular than it originally was. He starts taking over half of ads and television shows on air, getting more power hungry with each channel he takes. However, in his media take-over, ratings take a slight drop due to uninterested children who have turned to other outlets like toys, videogames, and arcades. This inspires Max to take a full takeover over everything electrical, causing a full invasion of all things electrical.

(I also forgot to mention that Max very likely hates children, and has canonly protested the execution of all of them)

Bam! And there you have it. A slightly more efficient plot for Pixels.

This was rotting in my head for a while and I wanted to let it out. Sorry for the ramble.

[rpgsandbox]

Part homage, all farce, the AWFULLY CHEERFUL ENGINE! is an irreverent, affectionate parody of pop-culture tropes and a love-letter to 80s roleplaying games in a new, modern comic-book sized format! It’s a wacky roleplaying game of action comedy!

       Hardcover collector's omnibus, softcover rules and adventures, blank ID cards, monster cards, hero role cards, VTT tokens

Are you a fan of the Ghostbusters RPG from the 1980s? Danger Mouse or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Bill & Ted or Rick & Morty? Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Dracula, or sci-fi adventures on the final frontier? Do you enjoy chortling at TV tropes or chuckling at pop-culture parodies? Then the Awfully Cheerful Engine! is here for you!

ACE! is brought to you by Russ 'Morrus' Morrissey (EN World, WOIN, Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD), Dave Chapman (Doctor Who, Star Trek Adventures), and Marc Langworthy (Hellboy, Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD). With a foreword by Sandy Petersen, co-author of the Ghostbusters RPG!

ACE! is designed for everybody! From talking animals to pulp heroes to eldritch horrors, kids and adults alike will find adventures to love with the Awfully Cheerful Engine!

This tabletop roleplaying game, which we’re calling ACE! with an exclamation point, is one of fast, cinematic, action comedy. To play you need a handful of six-sided dice, a pen, and some paper. Each player plays one Hero, except for one player who takes the role of the Director.

Think of ACE! as an irreverent, fun-packed movie. You might play as ghost hunters in New York City, a band of plucky galactic guardians, vampire slayers, or soldiers of fortune in the Los Angeles underground. Heck, you might even be cartoon animals. Good grief!

This is a multi-dimensional, time-hopping, genre-mashing, pan-galactic portal into any type of adventure you can imagine! Want to play in a fantasy world full of elves and orcs? Crew a starship as it explores the galaxy? Hunt vampires in Victorian London? Play as animal detectives, robot cowboys, wizards, ninjas, or time traveling bounty hunters?

The only limit is your imagination, and the requirement that you have fun.

This Kickstarter is for the full five-book set.

What? Five books, you say? Fear not -- they're pretty small books! They include the core rules, and four hilarious genre-hopping adventures. Each book is about 30 pages long. Except for one which is longer, but we wrote 'BUMPER SIZE ISSUE' on the front of that, so it's OK. If you’ve ever held a comic-book in your hand, the Awfully Cheerful Engine! will feel very familiar!

The core rulebook is just 30 pages in a bright, colorful comic-book sized format. We even gave it an issue number, like a comic-book! After that, each 'issue' is a standalone adventure, designed for one-shots or short campaigns with new characters each time. One week you might be fighting ghosts on the streets of Manhattan, and the next you might be exploring the frontiers of space in your trusty starship!

You don't have to play them all, or in order. The standalone format means you can fit them in whenever and however you feel like it. GM can't make your regular game? Go bust some ghosts instead! Pickup game at a convention? Investigate the strange goings-on in a small American town in the 1980s. Running a livestream? Board a starship and fight the Kulkan Empire! Play one of them, some of them, or all of them! It's up to you!

                Are they comics? Or are they RPGs? (They're RPGs)

ACE #1: Introducing the Awfully Cheerful Engine! With a foreword by Ghostbusters RPG author Sandy Petersen, this book tells you the rules, how to create your Heroes, and gives you a bunch of Extras (NPCs & monsters) to use. By Russ Morrissey.

ACE #2: Spirits of Manhattan. Strap on your Anti-Plasm Particle Thrower, grab your Electromagnetic Field Detector, and jump into your Ghostmobile. New York City needs your help! By Dave Chapman and Russ Morrissey.

ACE #3: Montana Drones & The Raiders of the Cutty Sark. At the request of Army Intelligence, Montana Drones and her team travel the globe in search of lost or hidden artefacts, often exploring dangerous sites and racing against hostile enemy agents to keep the objects of their quests from falling into the wrong hands. Striking locations, exciting chases, dangerous enemies and monotonous classroom lectures await! By Marc Langworthy.

ACE #4: Strange Science. Welcome to Wilden Falls, your average American town in the heart of the country. Surrounded by trees, nature, and there’s a wonderful waterfall that brings the tourists. It’s a quaint little town. Until weird things start happening at the local research facility, people go missing, and there’s a sudden influx of fitness nuts in the town. That’s before we get to the time travel, bodysnatching, and portals to other dimensions. Maybe ‘strange’ isn’t strong enough a word for it! By Dave Chapman.

ACE #5: Beam Me Up! These are the voyages of the starship FSS Brazen. Its continuing mission: to recklessly go where plenty of people have probably been before… and hope a major interstellar incident isn’t sparked in the process. In this highly illogical adventure for the ACE! roleplaying game, you’ll explore frontiers you never thought you had. By Marc Langworthy.

We give you four adventures to start with, and we have plans for more, but there's also a free compatibility license so anybody can write and publish material powered by the Awfully Cheerful Engine!

Hardy Hobbit. Teenage Samurai. Cheerful Stuntman. Clumsy Vampire. Squeamish Ghost. Who knew you could say so much in just two words? The possibilities are endless.

It’s not just Awfully Cheerful! It’s fast and fun, too!

You won’t get bogged down in endless rules and character sheets that look like tax forms. Your ACE! ID Card contains everything you need to know, and it’s only about the size of a credit card! But don’t try to spend it. It’s not a real credit card. Honestly, we tried, and it didn't end well.

You can download blank ID cards from our website. Don’t worry, there’s a printer-friendly black-and-white version too!

Making your Hero takes about five minutes. And that includes a coffee break.

You can choose from an array of talking animals, alien and fantasy species, and occupations from a bunch of genres. Play a cat, a crow, or a turtle. An alien, an elf, a robot, or a vampire. A knight, a pirate, or a wizard. An astronaut, a burglar, a reporter, or a spy. The core book has dozens of Roles to get you started with, and each adventure book introduces more!

Even better, you can already use our online character builder and make a character in about 30 seconds! It's so quick! Give it a try! And if you felt like sharing your Hero on Twitter with the hashtag #awfullycheerful and a link to this page, well, we'd be most awfully grateful!

                                       Build your Hero online!

Alternatively, each adventure comes with its own selection of pre-generated characters. If you don't want to make your own characters, you can simply use those - perfect for one-shots or new players!

Download the pre-gens for all four adventures from the official website!

In A.C.E! each Hero (that's you!) has a Role. Your Role gives you a special ability only you can use. Here's a quick look at some of the Roles you can play!

Talking animals like Ape, Cat, Crow, Dog, Kangaroo, and Turtle.

Species like Alien, Dwarf, Elf, Ghost, Goblin, Golem, Hobbit, Monster, Ogre, Robot, Vampire, and Werewolf.

Fantasy roles like Alchemist, Assassin, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Knight, Ninja, Outlaw, Pirate, Ranger, Samurai, Slayer, and Wizard.

Occupations like Actor, Archeologist, Astronaut, Athlete, Bounty Hunter, Boxer, Burglar, Chef, Con Artist, Cowboy, Detective, Doctor, Engineer, Gambler, Gangster, Hacker, Hermit, Inventor, Musician, Pilot, Priest, Professor, Reporter, Scientist, Smuggler, Soldier, Spy, Student, and Stuntman.

Even a couple of superheroes like Speedster and Vigilante!

Yep, you can play a Ghost. You don’t take damage unless its from a holy source or some special sci-fi ecto-gadget. But you also can’t pick things up. So there’s that.

Each of the adventures adds some more Roles (or recommends some old ones)!

Spirits of Manhattan adds Ghost, Demonologist, Doctor, Engineer, Exorcist, Inventor, Priest, Professor, Scientist, and Student.

Raiders of the Cutty Sark adds Botanist, Double-Agent, Socialite, and Witch.

Strange Science adds Brain, Cheerleader, Outsider, Protector, Radio Presenter, and Tycoon.

Beam Me Up adds Captain, Chief Engineer, Comms, Hologram, Gunner, Counsellor, and Pilot.

ACE! is a pretty fast, light game. If you played 1986's Ghostbusters RPG, you'll see the influence immediately.

Stats! The AWFULLY CHEERFUL ENGINE! is a d6 dice pool system*. You have four Stats -- Smarts, Moves, Style, and Brawn. If you have a Moves score of 3, you roll three six-sided dice when you try to jump a motorcycle over a ravine. If you roll high enough, you succeed. It's pretty simple!

Focuses! For each Stat you also have a Focus. For Smarts it might be a science, or chess, or history. For Style it might be bluffing, singing, or fashion, and for Brawn it might be brawling or swimming. You can choose from plenty of focuses. Foci. Focuses. Whatever.  Anyway, if the thing you're trying to do relates to a Focus, you get to roll an extra two dice.

Trait! You choose a trait, like Angry or Cheerful or Rebellious or Despondent. This, combined with your Role, makes you a Gullible Vampire, a Brave Turtle, or a Squeamish Scientist.

Karma! Finally, you have a bunch of Karma points. These can be spent for extra dice or to absorb damage from attacks, and they're recovered by using your trait.

*Fun fact -- did you know that 1986's Ghostbusters RPG, by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis and Greg Stafford, was the first ever dice pool RPG? Also Sandy Petersen has written an awesome foreword for the AWFULLY CHEERFUL ENGINE!

What, I hear you ask, is a CALAMITY DIE?

The Calamity Die is how you find out that your friends really aren't your friends. You see, when you make a roll, one of those dice is a different color, and is called the Calamity Die. And if your roll fails, and also the Calamity Die rolls a 1, your so-called 'friends' decide what happens to you. It won't kill you or anything, but...

Well, we'll leave that thought with you.

                             Nooooo! And it was all going so well!

Kickstarter campaign ends: Fri, June 18 2021 10:00 PM BST

Website: [Awfully Cheerful Engine] [EN Publishing] [facebook] [twitter]

[youarejesting]

Wash out.2 (special)

Banners: @purpleskies1999​ Pairings: Dolphintrainer!Taehyung x SharkDiver!Jin,  Mer!Jimin x Reader, Scientist!Namjoon x MerKing!Jungkook, Mer!Yoongi x Mer!Hoseok. Words: 1k Genre: Mystery, Romance, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, little bit of Action, Slice of life, Enemies2Lovers, Friends2lovers, Social media au, Fake Texts, Fake Subs.

Summary: Taehyung and his best friend Y/N are Dolphin trainers at Wash Out; Marine Wildlife and Theme Park. When the nerdy marine biologist and resident veterinarian Doctor Kim Namjoon goes missing; the two friends form a ragtag team with Taehyung's rival Seokjin and a…. Fish?

Namjoon swallowed the pills hoping he would be able to keep them down, they were a fast-acting anti-nausea medication. It wasn’t his fault, he just had trouble getting out on the ocean waves without feeling painfully seasick. 

He placed his things inside the locker and everything else he needed was placed in the waterproof ziplock pouch attached to a lanyard around his neck. Before heading out to the dock, the group headed out and to the end of the bay where there were some sharp rocks that tended to catch sick and injured marine life. Between the rocks, the rock pools were quite deep, so it could be anything from a shark or a Jellyfish or a broken surfboard. But, they responded to the call as they always did, and they would care for the animal or just clean out the pools of debris.

The boat was in motion and as such was not causing Namjoon any stress, it was only when the boat stopped and was rocked gently by the waves would it stir in his stomach. He hoped they would never reach their destination, though the hope was short-lived as the boat slowed to a stop and the swaying felt more like churning. Namjoon, saving himself from heaving, jumped into the ocean and swam to the edge of the rock pools looking in, he began inspecting the creature. It was dark and he couldn't really see but, he soon noticed it was a human.

Grief consumed him, "It's a body," Namjoon reported seriously, "this poor young man had most likely drowned and was washed up during the high tide into the--" 

It moved, that couldn't be, his eyes must be playing tricks on him, the man was now facing him, his features were delicate and his eyes seemed to watch and follow Namjoon's movements. Namjoon again passed it off as a trick of the eye and the reflection on the water, or even the froth of the waves, until the thing blinked. Hands reached in to grab the body and that's when he was smacked with something in the face, whatever it was, it was fierce and he felt as if he was going to blackout. 

He had no strength to move under the water, but he was also intrigued by the two figures swimming towards him. The first took his left hand, his reddish hair glowing faintly as the sun broke the water and left small beams of light shining on the two gentlemen. The second smaller and blonde grabbed his right hand and they swam so fast. Namjoon was starting to feel like all the oxygen was being sucked out of his lungs but just as he felt himself seeing black he broke the surface. 

Wherever he was it was night time, it was dark but there was a glow like a thousand stars on the walls, and the two men threw him out of the water and onto the ground and climbed out, this was the moment Namjoon noticed they had fishtails. "Mermaids" He muttered, receiving two glares. "You don't like that term, I am sorry?"

They stood up naked making Namjoon turn red, they wrapped themselves in silk that glistened like the sun on the waves. The redhead draped Namjoon's hands with a piece of similar fabric and he let out a, "oooh so soft..." at the cold watery feel as it touched his skin, before it tightened, binding his hands together. "Oh. I see."

There was a strange clicking and he turned to see the blonde returning his thin legs shaking as if he had just run a marathon and would collapse any second. More importantly and taking up his entire attention span was the clicking coming from two very large and deep blue crabs, They were the size of a miniature pony but twice as stocky, he came closer slowly and began patting the shell of the crustacean with a prominent grin on his face.

He was lifted onto the crab and he almost passed out, this creature was majestic and he was overjoyed with being this close and seeing such a gargantuan version. "You are big boy aren't you, you are so perfect, you are doing amazing"

The two who were leading and sharing a crab were sitting sideways and watching him patting the creature and speaking gibberish, they shared a look and rolled their eyes, heading through the place, there were lanterns filled with crystals that gave off a large green glow and the walls were covered with a blue bioluminescent slime, that seemed to come from snails that were traveling around the large cave painting the walls there houses glowing brightly lighting the whole place.

It was like a scene from a fantasy movie but all Namjoon could think of was studying each organism and creature and looking into their lifestyles. He knew there was so much to learn. He touched the wall and his fingers were covered in the thick glowing slime and he grinned and played with it slowly. 

Namjoon was glad for his notebook and phone, as he would be able to document some of the creatures and sights he saw. He was going to take out his phone from the pouch, and snap some photos when the crabs stopped and he felt the fabric around his hands being pulled. Thanking the creature with a friendly grin he followed after them into an ornate room with big arches and intricate carvings in the crystal pillars that all glowed.

The room was round and directly across from the entrance was a small platform with a tall ornate throne, it seemed to be made of hard crystals but lavished with the soft silk fabric which made it seem quite comfortable. 

Upon the seat was the most beautiful young man Namjoon had ever seen fabric wrapped delicately around his waist a little lower than Namjoon was comfortable with, it showed off the man’s deep adonis belt. His chest and arms were also muscular and Namjoon counted at least six elaborate necklaces and three armbands, the latter looking as if they would snap if he flexed his bicep. His hair was a little shaggy making his features look softer and more androgynous. 

Namjoon was stopped and the men beside him began speaking, in their language, it was melodic, slow, and higher-pitched. Namjoon wondered if it was because they had to communicate underwater that the pitch was raised to cut through the water, he wondered if they had some sort of sonar in their bodies.

The young man on the throne listened to his subordinates, his eyes trailing over Namjoon’s form, making him feel nervous. Many people thought he was funny looking and dressed oddly, they thought his personality was dull and his hobbies and interests were too eclectic to be relatable. He was just waiting for the man on the throne to look at him with the same level of displeasure as others do when they first meet.

But it never happened instead the young man stood from his perch and walked towards him, stopping a few inches shorter than himself Namjoon smiled at him and held out his hand. The young man looked at Namjoon’s hand intrigued but waved him off and he was guided into another chamber and was made to sit in a room that he could only liken to a prison cell. 

Namjoon had been there for what felt like half a day but according to his phone was only a few hours. The young man returned, handing him something wrapped in a leaf, Namjoon took it and frowned, it was seafood and he didn’t particularly like seafood especially since he had met so many nice sea creatures that day he couldn’t stomach it. 

He handed it back shaking his head and the man frowned and tried to demonstrate eating it and handed it back. Namjoon tried he really did but the moment the raw fish touched his lips he vomited in the corner.

The man sighed placing down the leaf of food and rubbed Namjoon’s back in wonder, he looked at Namjoon’s build and tried removing his shirt making Namjoon blush but reluctantly removed his shirt. 

“You all seem to trust skinship, so I will cooperate with your customs” He removed his shirt and dropped it to the floor beside him. The young man’s eyes were big and made him seem so innocent when he looked at Namjoon’s broad chest. He seemed to measure their builds making Namjoon chuckle. “Our builds are quite different, you all seem quite small and lithe for agility when swimming. If you think my shoulders are wide, you should see my best friend, he has very broad shoulders.”

The man in front of him adopted a deeper voice while scrunching his nose playfully. Namjoon rubbed the back of his head bashfully, he must stick out like a sore thumb, a big burly guy with a deep voice amongst these elegant lean creatures who were sweetly spoken.

He lowered his head in a greeting and said something and Namjoon lowered his head and repeated it making him laugh his face lighting up. This perhaps king was cheeky, he liked to play games, or at least this was the impression Namjoon got from him.

It was going to take a while for the two to communicate properly without understanding but the king hummed and kissed him on the lips surprising Namjoon. When the two finally pulled away from the kiss the young man laughed again and said. “I hope now you can understand me, my name is Jeon Jungkook, I am the King of the Merpeople”

“What!?”

Tags: @backinblack1967  @miriamxsworld​ ​

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[purinpet]

Hmm tell me about your ocs - 🦾

wow a non cursed ask ??? shocking

anyways i cant find any drawings of them atm so take this picrew

this is mila and kat who r fnaf ocs (yes , cringe i know . i am cringe but i am free .) and are totally in lesbians with eachother

theyre two mice who are tiny entertainment animatronics that randomly appear on the mini stages to do comedy or music related performances— their comedy bits usually consist of kat (the brown mouse) being evil and silly and mila, being a lovestruck idiot, goes along with whatever she says and SHENANIGANS INSUE …….

because of their small size the only animatronic they can really bond with is mini music man who is hashtag besties with them and they scurry through the vents together

if mila and kat were actually canon enemies in FNAF they’d probably just be annoying animatronics who would distract you and give you a jumpscare if you’re caught by them a couple times

[fredware]

5 ways how you can become Tumblr famous!

1. Be a stand-up comedian. That is quite hard to achieve, but after some study you will get better. Maybe. someday you'll become a Tumblr comedy genius. (Pro tip: make LOTS of popculture references, preferably from Friends, The Office or other cult classics.)

2. Draw fanart for Tumblr Sexymen. Sans, the Once-ler, Alastor, Bill Cipher, the list goes on. If you consistently make fanart for them, especially the weird type of fanart, you'll surely get an appropriate amount of clout.

3. Become a fanblog. Take one series you really like and make it your WHOLE personality, at least on Tumblr. You can make yourself a sideblog for your other interests, but if you truly want to become Tumblr famous, you have to sacrifice your interests. Name yourself after an inside joke from the fandom and post ONLY fandom-related stuff. Reblog fanart, make fanfics, comedy skits and scenarios, inside jokes, memes, whatever your heart desires. The possibilities are endless.

4. Aesthetic blog. Post videos of you making cute, aesthetic videos of making custom planners, food, art ect., preferably an ASMR. Add a shit ton of hashtags so that you'll be seen on literally every hashtag ever, even if it's only 1% related to the post. Stimboards are also a good option, but expect a tad bit smaller audience.

5. And last but not least, the NSFW art blog. This one... really speaks for itself, doesn't it? Nothing more to add.

[yegarts]

“I Am YEG Arts” Series: Hunter Cardinal

The magic of collaboration and connection starts with an encounter. If you’re an artist reading this, you likely have goosebumps. If you’re the artist who said it, you’re Hunter Cardinal, a sakāwithiniwak (Woodland Cree) theatre artist, hailing from Sucker Creek Cree First Nation. Though his name has been on the lips of Fringe Theatre fans since 2018, he’s most recently gained attention for his and his sister’s newest co-endeavour, Naheyawin. With clients including the Legislative Assembly Office, Naheyawin offers sustainable, Indigenous-based solutions for businesses and institutions working to improve diversity and inclusions and reinvigorate the spirit of Treaty into their organizations.

Regardless of whether he’s writing a play or teaching a workshop, it’s the questions Hunter asks that change the approaches people take. Those skills, paired with his belief that storytellers tell stories for those who need them, help us value our shared histories. Playwright, actor, and myth architect, this week’s “I Am YEG Arts” story belongs to Hunter Cardinal.

How did you first get involved in the YEG arts community?

I got my start in high school at Strathcona Composite High School! Through the different musicals and training opportunities during that time, I found myself surrounded by incredible teachers and artists from this vibrant community. This often results in me getting to work with people I’ve looked up to for a very long time—something that never gets old for me.

You describe yourself as an Indigenous myth-architect. What does that involve, and what’s the significance of the title?

Myth-architecture is an extension of the teachings we’ve gained from our Elders, who have told us that storytellers tell stories for those who need them. Myth architecture begins with a question that feels important but is without an answer and challenges us to craft a narrative that provides some sort of response. Often, this looks like “completing,” “expanding,” or “setting up” a pre-existing myth. With the play Lake of the Strangers, for example, we completed the myth of Mista Muskwa (The Big Bear) as we tried to answer the question: Why should we heal when there is so much darkness?

Looking back on your success as a first-time playwright with Fringe Theatre, what advice would you give aspiring playwrights?

I would encourage people to use everything they can about themselves and who they are as a person when crafting a story. So often we’re encouraged to leave who we are and whatever we’re bringing with us ‘at the door’ so that we can perform at our best. However, in my experience, the personal is highly universal.

Tell us a little about how Naheyawin came to be and what one of the highlights has been for you.

Naheyawin came from the ways in which my sister and I wanted to combine our passions—storytelling and system thinking—and be of service to our communities. The word Naheyawin, which can be said to translate into ‘the act of being Cree,’ was inspired by a phrase in our family.

That phrase is “When the people forget, the language remembers,” which reminds us that we can look to aspects of who we are—like our language—for guidance and tools to help us with the challenges we’re faced with today. What this looks like today is providing Indigenous-based solutions for the improvement of diversity and inclusion in businesses and organizations across Turtle Island (North America). This can take the form of webinars or us working with organizations on the unique challenges and opportunities they have to better incorporate Indigenous ideas or peoples into their work. I would say a highlight for me is whenever I get the opportunity to facilitate a webinar. I am so honoured to take part in the journey of learning that folx embark on—and so inspired by their open minds and hearts during our time together.

When you’re working with Edmonton businesses or community groups, what do you help them understand about Indigenous spirit.

For me, the most important thing is recognizing the gaps in world views of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. We often forget that Indigenous peoples have an entirely different way of looking at the world, so when we are talking about certain things like art, land stewardship, or Treaty—though we are using the same words, we are relating to them in entirely different ways. So recognizing these gaps gives us the opportunity to build those metaphoric bridges that lead to a deeper understanding and innovative solutions.

Did you always want to combine your passions for your work and your culture into your artistry?

Combing my culture into my work was fairly recent for me. I was raised with regular, but not frequent, exposure to things like smudging, going to sweat lodges, and visiting family up north at Sucker Creek First Nation. But it wasn’t until I was struggling with a role for a small project that was exploring Chekhov’s Three Sisters that I saw the utility of my culture and identity. For the entire process, I felt like the worst actor in the whole world (an all too familiar feeling)—every choice I made felt awkward and contrived, and nothing felt authentic or realized. When debriefing with my director at the time, he drew a connection between my character’s love of Latin and my love of Indigenous languages—and then everything changed for me. I felt like I had permission to use parts of myself that I otherwise would have ignored because I didn’t think it would be useful or appropriate (kind of tragic when I think about it). I then explored using parts of my identity as an Indigenous 20-something male as the backbone of my role as Hamlet at the Freewill Shakespeare Festival and felt like I could bring something very unique and grounded to that role.

What role has mentorship played in your life? Is there a piece of advice that you carry with you?

Mentorship has guided me entirely through my career—so it would be difficult to pin down just one piece of advice. But if I had to pick one, it would be the late Brent Carver sharing with me that in order to be fully present in a scene, an actor cannot leave themselves at the door. The bits of your life, emotions, etc., that you carry with you throughout the day can be fuel for creating beautiful, authentic, and singular moments on the stage. In that teaching, I walked away with the feeling that I am more than enough, and every single part of who I am and where my life has taken me is valuable.

What excites you most about the YEG arts scene right now?

The community. Edmonton has such a thriving scene here—and I would attribute that to the wonderful people that make this such an incredible ecosystem. All the success I’ve been fortunate to experience was all given to me (freely, without question) by those in this community—the roles, experiences, training, and connections.

A lot of the themes in your work seem to focus on the benefits of talking and listening—the richness of understanding. How have you seen that turn into meaningful change.

Talking and listening—whether as an actor, artist, or just a human going about their day—allows you to take a moment to connect with whoever or whatever is around you. That moment of reflection can also allow you to ground yourself in who you are, the values you enter a space with, etc., while at the same time allowing others to be different and unique themselves. I find that this moment to remember that you are connected—yet distinct—can really help folx become a more rooted ally, actor, or person. Often this can be done by asking yourself things like: what or who brought me here? How? What is my goal? What or who is around me?

Why do you choose to live and work in Edmonton?

I’m living here because this is where my friends and family are! When I’ve travelled or lived in other cities, I have always missed the sense of community here. Plus, the cost of living here is much more reasonable than Toronto or Vancouver. Also, I have a great connection to a local farmer for some very high quality, grass-fed beef.

What kind of city do you hope to help Edmonton become?

I hope this city becomes a place where folx feel connected to the larger stories that we’re connected to as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. The richness of our shared histories makes me so excited to be here, and I really hope that people feel that in the future when they think about their connection to this place. Not only that, I hope that they feel a sense of wonder at the futures that await us.

Want more YEG Arts Stories? We’ll be sharing them here all year and on social media using the hashtag #IamYegArts. Follow along! Click here to learn more about Hunter Cardinal and Nahayawin

About Hunter Cardinal

Hunter Cardinal is a sakāwithiniwak (Woodland Cree) theatrical artist hailing from Sucker Creek Cree First Nation and currently based in Edmonton, Alberta. Holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting degree from the University of Alberta, class of 2015, Hunter has performed across Canada and off-Broadway in New York. Recent stage credits include Titus Bouffonious (Theatre Network), Lake of the Strangers (Naheyawin and Fringe Theatre) and Hamlet (Freewill Shakespeare Festival). He is humbled by the steadfast support of his community, with notable achievements to date including the 2020 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role in a Comedy for his work as Fink in Titus Bouffonious, the 2019 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Outstanding New Play given to Lake of the Strangers, his first play co-written with his sister and dubbed Edmonton’s Best Actor by Vue Weekly in 2018.

[angeloncewas]

dont wanna make this ask long bc i am tired and dont have the energy to be a well spoken (?) person rn but it probably will be long anyways, so sorry!! but like. as somebody who has hyperfixated on both idubbbz and schlatt (along with a plethora of other problematic content creators, i really know how to fuckn pick em!!) they absolutely foster a dogshit community, at least outside of platforms like tumblr, where like. you cant really avoid fandom culture like you can on twitter or ig, if that makes sense. on here, if you wanna post about your favorite youtuber, whether you tag it or not, other fans will likely see and if you say some bad shit, you will likely get called on it, whereas on ig basically only your followers will see it even if you use a hashtag and on twitter its like if you arent in a subtwt/fandom then you basically dont interact with any subtwt at all unless its an accident, ya know?

so like. i think what im trying to say here is that while ive met a lot of fans of both these creators, especially schlatt, who are great people as far as i can tell, i am also specifically on the fandom side of things and as soon as i step out of that space i realize that a lot of people who watch them are not actually minorities like me and my mutuals who can catch on to satire or who watch their more behind the scenes stuff where you can see them act like a decent person or even call out people for the things they usually joke about which just. fucking sucks. it sucks that, as much as i do believe schlatt is actually a good person (and sort of idubbbz, although i dont really watch him much anymore for a plethora of reasons, mostly related to the fact that i cant stand his jokes anymore even if he is playing a character as he's said before), he also keeps doing terrible fucking things and im really glad his actual friends have been calling him on it recently, especially after that jackbox video (which is a whole other thing on its own bc it literally seemed like nobody wanted to be there basically the entire video?? like as somebody who watched all the jackbox videos before that one, it was really fucking off in that call and the jokes were next level fucking upsetting), but sometimes it's just kinda like. exhausting. bc his community is already fucking bad now, you cant undo accidentally fostering a community of fucking racist homophobes who dont get that you're playing a character, unless you kinda drop off and build a whole new community from that, which would be stupid to do at this point in his career. not really sure where i was going with this tbh, but i thought i would chime in on this discussion as a viewer of mainly schlatt, but also a past idubbbz viewer who is basically a seasoned fucking vet at dealing with shitty fanbases because of him and many other dumb youtube white boys

(also, note on that anisa thing: ian's main fanbase was definitely pissed just bc she does sex work and a lot of them are too fucking young or just too fucking dense i guess to clock the fact that he's putting on an act bc, like i said before, they either dont watch his behind the scenes content, or they do and they kinda just miss those moments between still trying to entertain where he gets genuine. that being said, a lot of people outside of his fanbase were also pissy bc anisa is a less than spectacular lady if you really do your research on her, kind of a bad person but it's not something a lot of people know about, especially since one of the few videos made on it was by fucking creepshow art)

sorry for the rant again, i feel like i do this every other week now and i apologize, you just seem to have the best discourse and i enjoy partaking <3 hope you have a good rest of your day/night/whatever time you're reading this!

—🦷

Thank you for the input (don't mind the rant !) and I hope you have a good rest of your day too <3 For post length, I'll answer under the cut :)

Yeah, I get what you mean (I think ahdsufsd). Fandom as a concept is pretty... I don't even know how to describe it, but it's the kind of thing that I feel like white male Redditors would think of as pussy shit, y'know? Like the Ricegum gang isn't a fucking "fandom" they're a... well, a fandom, but they're not gonna admit to that. So when you step outside of a community like Tumblr (the queerest place on the internet TM) you come into contact with the faces of the fandom you're dealing with and oftentimes they're a lot less like you than you might've thought from the similar interest. It's like going to a Weezer concert and realizing you're surrounded by incels (this is a JOKE).

Satire's a rough topic because some people don't think it should exist at all. Like any words that can be directly interpreted as bigoted or problematic should not be uttered. I disagree with that, I think it's one of the most interesting forms of both social commentary and comedy, but I do see the problem. There are people who watched Filthy Frank (to take an example from that other anon) and didn't know or care what the point of his actions were (I don't know what they were tbh - I never watched him, but it sounds like he's a pretty decent dude) and instead read his jokes as-is. There are thousands upon thousands of people who aren't gonna get satire and that's a problem because if they're already bigoted they're gonna see people like Schlatt and iDubbz and whoever else as truly validating.

(Largely unrelated but yo, is iDubbz still going? Are the views alright? Is the adsense popping? Has he just kept going with Content Cops? I haven't heard about him since the girlfriend thing dropped.)

"you cant undo accidentally fostering a community of fucking racist homophobes who dont get that you're playing a character, unless you kinda drop off and build a whole new community from that"

I think this is what's pertinent when it comes to discussing Schlatt. After the Jackbox video (for me at least, he might've been there before) he put himself at a crossroads. If he'd apologized, said "sorry, I took it too far, that was a mistake" - yeah, plenty of people wouldn't have forgiven him and plenty of bigoted fans of his would've said that the apology was just to placate the snowflakes on Twitter, but to the sort of in-between people it would've shown that he's able to recognize and reconcile his mistakes. He could've transitioned into content that's A) actually good (when I say that the video was bad I don't just mean in terms of racism, I mean it straight up was not entertaining) and B) less "edgy" for the sake of. I wouldn't expect him to go uwu squeaky clean, but he's already reeled in the bad people, so if he really wanted to foster a good, progressive audience, he has to do something significant to show that.

But he didn't.

Maybe for the sake of his career, maybe because he likes those bigoted fans, maybe because he just doesn't get it - I don't know. I don't think we'll ever know. I spoke earlier about doing what is right over what is easy and in the case of Schlatt it just feels like he really did take the easy way out. Whoever he is in his personal life doesn't change how he's perceived online and the kinds of people that are idolizing him for it.

(And yeah I saw the video on Anisa when I Googled her to check if they were still dating, but then I saw who it was made by and I was like oh well whatever avhfdfkj)

[comradeclown]

OK, so in honour of my top posts now being me saying at various degrees of length that Arthur is gay (hashtag mylegacy, lmao…), I thought I should just go for it and actually dive in a bit a lot into why I read the character as gay. Now, usually all the justification I need to read a character as gay is “wouldn’t it be cool if this character I like/relate to/etc were gay like me?” and “it’s OK, officer, I do what I want”, and I’m well aware that 99% of the time it’s me using my own creativity to do a resistant reading + the film/book/whatever bumbling into subtext entirely by accident. And while I definitely don’t think there’s ever any more justification needed for any kind of LGBT reading, lol, as it comes to Arthur, obviously feel free to disagree with me, but I honestly think my read of him as a gay man is entirely textually supported, however unwitting and accidental that might have been on the part of the filmmakers (mind you, I don’t think it was Todd Phillips’ conscious intent, but I’m like… 85% sure Joaquin Phoenix knew exactly what he was doing).

(ETA that this is extremely long, so I’ve put it all under a cut.)

First of all, there’s of course… pretty much the entirety of Joaquin Phoenix’s performance (a very, very small sample can be found in my he gay son tag and just generally in my arthur fleck tag, ha), from his mannerisms to his physicality to the way he interacts with other characters. I know part of it is a function of wanting to go back to the character’s campy roots (which are themselves… you know…), and I know I’m relying on stereotypes to some extent, but first of all, you can’t divorce either camp or gender non-conformity from LGBT history and existence, and secondly this is literally how characters have been coded as gay throughout the entire history of cinema. What I’m saying here is that you can’t have a character who acts like Arthur does, literal limp wrist and all, or says “come on, Muuuurrrayyy, do I look like the kind of girl clown who could start a movement” the way he does, to pick one of many, many examples, and not evoke the long history of cinematic wink emojis at People Like Me.

That in itself would… honestly be plenty, lol, but it could be chalked up to, idk, Joaquin Phoenix doing his own thing, were it not for the fact that it’s completely reinforced at every turn by the filmmaking language, even down to his wardrobe choices, and it’s worth noting at this point that the framing is always one of empathy — albeit with nuance — and affording the character subjectivity, rather than being “ew, look at this gross [homophobic slur]”. Like, the very first time we see Arthur, literally our first impression of the character, he’s at a mirror, putting on make-up and then ruining it by crying, and while the make-up is of course part of his job, this is just not how the inner crises of straight male characters are expressed in the language of cinema. Of note too is the fact that he’s clearly visually separated from his co-workers in all the scenes at Ha-Ha’s, indicating his alienation from them, and while this could be chalked up purely to his disabilities, I don’t buy that that’s the only reason, given that Gary gets shit due to his dwarfism, sure, but at the end of the day he’s clearly “one of the boys” in a way Arthur (can’t be) isn’t.

There are honestly so many examples of the framing working to separate Arthur from conventional masculinity and heterosexuality that I’m just going to pick some highlights, such as: obviously, the way he expresses himself emotionally through dancing (to the point that one of his coworkers explicitly ribs him about it, “if your dancing doesn’t do the trick”), which again is not something that straight male characters do in the language of cinema. The fact that all the media we see him consume is musicals, classic comedies and a talk show he’s obsessively fannish about and watches with his mother — and we know he’s a fan of the show as a whole, not just Murray, hence him saying “I love Dr Sally” (and the way he says it…). Or, speaking of his media habits, when he’s dancing with the gun while watching Shall We Dance, this could have so, so easily been about him ~regaining his lost masculinity~ through, say, fantasies of revenge or badassery, but instead it’s about him being acknowledged as a great dancer and punishing bad dancers, and it all ends in slapstick anyway.

Also, while I’m on this topic, I want to address the nature of Arthur’s dissociative fantasies about Sophie. Honestly, I don’t read them as indicative of genuine romantic/sexual interest at all, because the film frames them as identical to Arthur’s more deliberate daydreams about Murray. I mean, not that I’m adverse to gay readings of that if that’s what you want to do, lmao, but to me they’re both very clearly post-traumatic fantasies of having another person look after you for once, of having someone value and cherish you and take care of you emotionally (which obviously has massive appeal if you’ve been dealing with the after-effects of catastrophic trauma all your life but nobody has given a shit about your suffering and you’ve had to be the one to look after other people to boot). Note that after the get-together with Sophie — which is clearly patterned after all those old comedies and musicals Arthur watches — the Sophie fantasies are incredibly platonic and involve things like having another person be there for you in a crisis, telling you something supportive, getting you a hot drink (in contrast with the reality of the hospital scene, in which Arthur is alone and he’s the one trying to comfort someone else, i.e., holding Penny’s hand), essentially no different from fantasy!Murray hugging Arthur and knowing exactly what to say to make him feel good about himself. Also note that both fantasies involve being the object of someone else’s affection, Murray picks Arthur out of the audience and Sophie comes to him, it’s a pillow princess Cinderella fantasy, more than someone loving you it’s about being loved. (And, once more, this could easily have all been v. v. different, the Murray fantasy could have been the much more conventionally masculine fantasy of being a famous comedian and being invited on Murray’s show, the Sophie fantasies could have had an undeniable sexual component, etc.)

Anyway, to get back to the general point of cinematic framing, again if the movie didn’t want me to read Artie as gay, it shouldn’t have had a pivotal moment in his character arc be him sitting at his mother’s vanity table, doing a new make-up look which involves using her lipstick, and then having a Moment while he’s literally holding a quasi-glamour shot of her.

And the thing is, all these reams of stuff aren’t even the key piece of the puzzle for me, which is the way in which the film as a whole can be read as a gay narrative. I’ve posted before about how part of the emotional catharsis of the film is about Arthur finally shamelessly embracing and even revelling in all his freakishness and socially-despised traits, a big one of which being what is arguably his effeminacy and… honestly I don’t need to explain how that’s a classic gay (and more generally LGBT) narrative, do I? Like, there’s a reason why a pivotal scene is Arthur having his hair-dyeing underwear rave in a flat that’s suddenly incredibly bright and sunny for the first time, it’s about reclaiming the pain and ugliness of your life and your circumstances into a space of potential liberation, which is honestly why this movie is always going to be incredibly personally meaningful to me for so many reasons, but definitely meaningful to me as a gay woman. (Again, this could so, so easily have been about him becoming some stone-cold badass or whatever, but instead the film has him dye his hair, put on a super garish new outfit and new make-up look, dance shamelessly in the street, and be incredibly campy on national television.)

More generally, there’s other aspects of the narrative arc that tie into this general theme and which also serve to continually distance Arthur from the conventional cinematic narratives of heterosexual manhood: for instance, once he starts fully embracing the Joker persona — which is… just Arthur, the crucial difference is in how others perceive him and how he perceives himself — any attraction to women, feigned or real, goes completely out the window and the only genuinely affectionate interaction he has with another human being is with Gary (I know we all love to joke about his first kiss being with Dr Sally, but it’s obviously Comedy Jokes and he doesn’t even kiss her for real, his make-up is completely intact; Arthur’s only real kiss in the movie is when he kisses Gary). Or, when Arthur’s personal narrative finally intersects completely with the larger social narrative — which is itself about upheaval, reclamation and potential liberation — the big triumphant moment is him once again dancing, this time for a cheering crowd, and using blood like lipstick to redraw his smile.

Or even, to a lesser extent, his whole sub-plot with his mother, before I watched the film I was worried that this was going to be the usual narrative about the henpecked guy who finally puts the bitch in her place as part of becoming a Real Man, and it’s not at all, quite the opposite, Arthur is not henpecked and is clearly in charge of the household, he genuinely loves Penny — and is confident she loves him back — and enjoys doing at least some things with her (them watching the Murray Franklin Show together), and up until the reveal any issues he has with her are largely the product of having to look after an ill person with zero social support and while working a physically and emotionally demanding job and dealing with his own disabilities. When he kills her, it’s a deeply sad and self-destructive scene and it’s the result of his profound anguish and sense of betrayal and he frames it as the bitter, trauma-haunted dark half of self-actualisation and self-acceptance (“that’s the real me”, “I haven’t been happy one minute of my entire fucking life”, “now I realise… it’s a fucking comedy”).

Or, at a more meta-textual level, the way the film is unabashedly both a pulpy thriller and a melodrama, just shamelessly embracing all its emotions, its pain and catharsis, without a trace of irony. Like, yeah, part of this is the immense sincerity and compassion Joaquin Phoenix brings to his performance, but it really is the movie’s approach as a whole, and when there is humour — and I do think there’s quite a lot of humour in the movie — it’s not the distancing, let’s-not-feel-anything-too-deeply-bro humour of your typical MCU movie, it’s the camp sensibility of laughing with and at your own tragedy. (Myriad examples down to the use of certain songs in the soundtrack.)

On a final note, you guys know how much I don’t care about authorial intent, but I feel compelled to point out that in his director’s commentary, Todd Phillips says, while discussing Arthur’s journey into becoming Joker, that he reads the larger pop-cultural character of the Joker as someone who doesn’t want women, and like… Again, it’s not like I think that he was deliberately making a gay narrative in any way, it’s just that if you’re creating this journey of a man who eventually becomes a character who’s not interested in women in that sense, you’ve also just ended up stumbling into a gay narrative accidentally on purpose, lmao, what’s the real difference between “at the end of the story, Arthur doesn’t want women because he’s ~da Joker now, baby, he doesn’t want anything~” and “at the end of the story, Arthur doesn’t want women because he’s gay and he’s no longer deeply repressed and closeted”?

Anyway, like I said, feel free to disagree, he’s a fictional character, lol, but this is where I’m coming from, and the reason why if everyone involved in the movie decided to make a statement tomorrow about how much Arthur Fleck wants to bone women I’d just say “shit, idc, I’m afraid you made a gay movie about Arthur Fleck, a gay man, it’s a little too late to retcon this bitch now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”. Also this is over 2,000 words long what the fuck I am so sorry

[full-course-identity]

Give me your thoughts on uuuh Jake

wew boy

okay. gonna word dump this, and probably other interpretation asks, so I can get the words out there.

from my POV, there’s 3 types of canon Jake + 1 fanon vers + my personal interpretation. lemme explain what they are;

Book Jake, who I don’t have enough experience with bc I STILL haven’t finished the book… >_>;

2River Jake, who is kinda oblivious and very in-the-moment impulsive (not so bad he’s jumping place to place ADHD like Rich, but like, not considering that maybe dropping everything to seduce Madeline or Christine is a bad idea when he clearly really likes Chloe). these are debatably survival mechanisms bc of his family (and wealth, if you want to go into the “being rich actually traumatizes you and locks you into dissociation” theory–but to be fair, this is partially reliant on thinking Jake is Genuinely Rich. … well, not Rich as in… yeah); ignoring any pain he feels in favor of getting dicked down and forgetting about everything for a while. very “I’m not sad, I’m busy!!!!!” 

Bway (possibly the new canon general for all Jakes since it sounds like London’s is modeled after him but just… toned down), who is still oblivious, but towards other people’s emotions instead of himself; he’s manipulative, a little impulsive but a lot more malicious about it, and he knows exactly how hurt he is about his parents. this jake’s awareness of himself makes him act worse because he knows this is the only thing that seems to help and it’s basically the only thing he actually has control of. his wealthiness is undeniably present and Bad here because the reason taking what he wants and not caring that it hurts people is his main coping skill is pretty much only because he’s been allowed that privilege all his life. i tend to think this version of him should be done by a white cishet dude (despite jake’s actor on bway being genuinely FANTASTIC) bc being marginalized in a high school should’ve curved a lot of the “endless power and privilege” he gets for being rich (Not That One). 

[i… think this jake has ‘better’/more nuanced writing in BWay… but i don’t think it fits the musical nor is it the overall direction i think it should’ve gone. BMC feels best to me when there’s a heavier element of Dark Humor that briefly nods to a Larger and more Fucked Up world behind the bit we see in the musical. making it largely a twisted comedy, maybe even ramping that up further with more whiplash lines like jake’s “which means the house is empty, so that’s fun”]

Fanon Jake is… like most of the fanon characters in BMC, a bit… “bipolar” (like, radically shifting depending on the situation). the BMC fandom has been born with heavy engagement from minors in the current fascist climate of fandom as a whole. as a result, you have three general uses of jake that as “approved of” by somehow the exact same people despite being conflicting in a lot of ways. THIS IS NOT ME SHITTING ON FANON, i actually think most of this fandom is just a casual romp for most people and that shouldn’t be snatched away from them nor mocked nor treated like you HAVE to be logically consistent when this is just a fun hobby for most… but there are still trends i notice:

1: Jake the sweet bi disaster who loves their significant other and is just a little bit hopeless in their silliness and Down For Whatever-esque personality. this is often used for shippy pictures and memes and cute little oneshots, plus, of course, fluff.

2: Jake the tragic abuse victim who is extremely sad and has to learn to love again and has always been selfless, plus or minus a permanent disability post-fire. this is of course used for hurt/comfort, plus in combination kinda with michael in the bathroom-esque posts and tragic art, often also used as an example of the squip being the worst for jeremy or rich guilt trauma. also: aesthetic and moodboard posts.

3: the one I have the least good will towards: Jake the “why does everybody woobify mlm? You can’t portray him without flaws! queer boys aren’t your fetish!!!” with an attached, clunkily written reasons why he was an asshole that is also simultaneously watered down so you don’t think he’s a Monster bc then you’d be vilifying queer men (well, more like they’d feel bad about their cutesy-er ‘emotional support’ art and writing which is Totally Different from all the other cutesy emotional support art and writing). 

basically, Meta Trying To Make Jake Reasonably Flawed But Not Evil in this fandom is RARELY genuine–it’s more often than not moralistic hand-wringing made so that they can wash themselves of the guilt for actually enjoying something with a character they portray as mlm, or otherwise the guilt of enjoying anything romantic or sexual involving men or queer people period when we’re apparently not supposed to do that anymore, as decreed by the radfems infesting our spaces. 

and, well, or you’re an mlm writing this post, you’re probably young and still feeling extremely sensitive and scared about your identity. i once saw a very wise post by a trans person who had been trans for a long time, who said that when you first come out as trans (or queer in general, but especially trans people who are beginning social or physical transition and coming to terms with themselves) you are obvs on High Fucking Alert and so you’re insecure and scared of anything, ranging from “obvious transphobia” to “just trans people enjoying themselves and exploring transphobia in fiction or else their own sexuality”. again, this can relate to a lot of identities tbh, and as such young mlm either cis or trans can get very Itchy about people enjoying mlm content.

anyway.

wrapping it back around to me: i edit jake on a case by case basis (sometimes i even make him eviler or meaner based on what’s set up during Bway, he’s just not my usual go-to villain), but i tend to think of him as a tragic Mr. Peanutbutter-y sweetheart who kinda knows he feels like shit yet also knows that if he stops to assess it, it would make his life a lot harder in a time where he can’t afford that. his relationship with chloe is extremely toxic (chloe abuses him horribly, specifically), and so he tries to claw his way out of it only to be continually back in by chloe and her bullshit. 

this is why he doesn’t really get... well. he genuinely thought the thing with christine was going to be permanent; he wasn’t jerking her around, he thought he was over chloe and wanted a girl as cool and fun and genuinely nice as her. afterward he Gets It, and so feels Really Bad--at a time where he doesn’t have his house, his legs are broken (i don’t tend to put him in a perma-wheelchair), his parents have abandoned him, and he best friend is in the hospital. guilt crashes in on him from all sides, and he just has to... pretend it isn’t, even as he can no longer stop himself from thinking about it.

if i was to do a jake focused story, it’d probably be a dating sim where you play as him and watch his life change in conjunction with his attempts to find happiness again; you can either choose decisions that help him greatly or ruin his life so ver much... hmm. lets file that under hashtag “story ideas i’ll never use even though they could be great”

to wrap this up: i like jake. i don’t... really enjoy most of the written content (fanfic, meta, sometimes even the storylines on ask blogs) in this fandom about him or... really, most of the characters, which i feel bad about--i’d enjoy it more if it was every in conjunction with my usual Wants in a fic, which is, like. extreme angst.

BUT

i do still like jake, and i can super enjoy his portrayal in memes and visual art

he’s just not my total fave, but like, the reason he tends not to come up a lot in my content is more what i’m focusing on and why. i’d be happy to use him in stories if his presence fit.

as a bonus

here’s the ships i’m happy to use him for, generally: deere, michael/jake, brooke/jake, toxic chloe/jake, and of course, different ocs/jake

his identities/labels: cis, bisexual/romantic... tho sometimes i actually go for bisexual and aromantic! outside bway and eviler jakes, i’m good with him being any race, and even then it’s just a matter of suspending disbelief re: privilege theory. also, PTSD probably, and maybe generalized anxiety as a result. maaaaaybe autistic too? adhd would be a hard sell for me since he seems super put together in a way that’d be extremely difficult for every form of adhd, but i can see him being neurodivergent on the spectrum + like dyslexia maybe. oh, and i sorta-kinda think he may be color blind? but really i’d drop that at a moment’s notice if it’d be easier to write him without it lol.

his interests: one is more or less sports in general, tho i think that, unless he went straight for track or swimming or something Olympics (which he probably can’t do now...), that’s a high school or some college only focus for him. so, besides sports, i think he’d kinda like the satisfaction and steady growth of Collecting Rare Things That You Have To Look For, like cool rocks, bugs, etc. 

as for careers... some form of doctor something, maybe a businessman of some sort but he’d likely try to curve his power in that field as much as possible; he inherits his parents' assets and company or whatever, but he probably takes a backseat to that and only really has it out of a sense of ‘it’s my job as my parent’s kid to keep the company going--without engaging in the same awful legal issues they did--for as long as i can’. one of my fave jake-is-there stories, vanceypant’s spicy bis-focused fic 1999, has him owning a restaurant, and that was cool as hell.

also jake loves dogs. especially golden retrievers. yes.

[comicteaparty]

March 7th-March 13th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from March 7th, 2020 to March 13th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What is your overall marketing/promotion strategy for your webcomic?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I don't know if this counts as a strategy, but these are some of the things I do to promote my comic or my work in general. 1. Most important from what I've noticed (which I have been failing at due to stress and self-doubt lately) is to post updates to your comic frequently and consistently. It seems somewhat silly that simply putting your work out there is the best way to grow an audience, but it really is. Newly posted chapters frequently get shown on more pages and thus detected by the algorithms and potential readers. It also helps to establish trust with current and returning readers. 2. Participating in art/comic events, forums, and other comicking communities (such as this one). In a way, this isn't really marketing directly, but it is good to build connections with other creators! 3. Conventions! I actually have gotten a several new readers/followers from attending cons. It's also nice just to talk to people, get your name out there locally, and to make a little bit of money while at it. 4. Social media promotion. Tbh, this hasn't been super helpful to me, but more eyes is always a win in my book. I try to post almost every day, even if it isn't art or comic related. Having some kind of social media presence at all, even if it's small, shows people that you are working hard to connect to others. Also finding the right hashtags definitely helps with visibility.

kayotics

Overall, my strategy for marketing is to be authentic and just keep plugging my stuff. People will come if they like it. I work as a marketer for my day job, so I know what I COULD do, but I really don’t do that much since a whole marketing plan would take a lot more time than I have available to me. Some of the stuff I do otherwise: - regular updates. This ones pretty important for retaining viewers I already have. Any good marketing strategy is thinking about retaining people, not just getting new ones - self promo: this usually is on top webcomics or on social media. I get a LOT of traffic from top webcomics, and I get a good handful of people from social media. - conventions, like mentioned before, can be a great way to get people’s eyes on your stuff. I have a postcard that I hand out to people if they come by or they purchase something. - the thing I don’t do enough is post more art outside of the comic, or even just little previews. If I were dedicated to marketing, I’d be sharing sketches or illustrations on social media to grow my audience.

DanitheCarutor

Ah you know, I don't really have much of a strategy. At some point I promoted as much as I could on Twitter, adding my comic to those share/promo thread, getting in on relevant hashtag events, participating on WebComic Chat (whenever I remembered to). I've done a little promotion on forums, but there is really only so much you can do since only so many people hang out there and if your work is super niche like mine, they will pretty much avoid your promos at all cost. Lmao Other than those I don't really do much, at some point I attempted to use Instagram but the site/app is very stingy about offsite links. I also started a Facebook page, although if you don't have the money to boost your promos and don't usually have a lot going on with your comic outside of weekly updates, it won't get a whole lot of attention. I've also tried to be more active, but I'm not a good conversationalist, and I tend to be kind of a thread/conversation/mood killer so I try to avoid talking outside of Q&A prompts like this.

eli [a winged tale]

Same Dani, I used Instagram for a while too and I just don’t think the platform is a good fit for my vertical scroll comic (see exhibit 1) Twitter is a mixed bag as well and I think unless you have a solid following already, it’s hard to gain traction. What really helped was being on Webtoon’s staff pick for a couple days. I’m not sure how Tapas picked up but it’s reassuring that there’s a couple of followers gained every week when I posted regularly. So it really does sound like the first step is to have a steady update schedule (working on the buffer! Got a month’s work down today). It’s just challenging because while I could upload one page a week but on the vertical scroll sites it seems like a longer episode (6-7 pages) is valued more as a solid update. Love hearing everyone’s thoughts and hope to learn from y’all! (edited)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Consistency and con attendance were big ones for me, but something I learned worked well (and was really fun to do) was creating really fun, really dumb, non-canon bits of art every now and then. Following meme prompts or funny ideas from other people. If your comic can afford some humor being thrown its way, making people laugh is a great way to get some attention. No one needs to know the details of your story - they just need to relate to the characters/humor somehow. I had more than one person come across my dumb, meme-y ancillary art and go “Welp, I want to read your comic now.”

eli [a winged tale]

Memes to the rescue! What has been your favourite to do? And which one has surprised you in its relatability/popularity?

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Two shots of vodka.

Also that terrible sweater meme. Everyone is required to do the terrible sweater meme. People eat it up.

eli [a winged tale]

Too good

Ahh I can’t wait till I can actually write silly adult characters

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Now that you mention it, the nice thing about the terrible sweater meme is it works with a WIDE variety of comics.

eli [a winged tale]

I would love to do a meme with y’all

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

"Came for the story, staying for the sick memes"

Spring-heeled Jack

I try to post updates every friday when my new pages go up on Patreon. And then I make my big post when my tapas and website update at the end of the month. Between all that, I have little flyers that I carry with me and if I'm ever in a shop that has a little self promotion section, I plan on tacking up a flyer. I do conventions, and this will be my first convention season while actively making a comic, so flyers will be handed out then as well.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

My comic isnt very comedy-heavy, and even for the funny scenes, my sense of humor isn't compatible with most people's. So a lot of the memes out there just don't work. But terrible sweater meme doesn't have to be hilarious. It can be just cute, or even weird.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

For me, uh lmao. I sometimes make some funny strip panels and it was received well even though it's not polished for my liking lmao

Spring-heeled Jack

Keii, I feel you. I'm not good with comedy and my comic isn't meant to be funny, either, so I don't know how well a comedy meme will help me.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

overall, I try to be honest with just self promo and asking when I have a chance "Hey pls check out my comic lol"

eli [a winged tale]

Or maybe just something relatable? Seen a couple caption this on tumblr

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think instead of memes, what I'm gonna do is my characters cosplaying more well known characters from works that have some tonal similarities with my own. This isn't just for advertising purposes; it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time for myself. But I'm realizing it can serve some of the same purposes that memes do.

Spring-heeled Jack

That's extremely cute!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Keyword being "SOME" Tonal similarities... Some of them aren't very similar but have a couple of parallels, etc.

Spring-heeled Jack

Oh for sure. Even if you could find that 'perfect match', it might not be a great cosplay for them, and give too much away

Are "draw the squad" prompts still a thing? I love those

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The One White Dude and the Tiger Dude in my comic will definitely cosplay Calvin and Hobbes at some point.

Spring-heeled Jack

LOL

omg please, Keii

eli [a winged tale]

YES

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yeah, not every comic will have super memeable humor - but whatever you can do to break down that wall between you and a potential reader and go “Hey! Look at this. Is this relatable? Do you get the reference? Etc” Is a very good bet

Also yes squad memes are PERFECT

You can boil down your comic’s relationships so simply.

Spring-heeled Jack

I have four couples in my comic so those "ship dynamic" posts might be fun

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

What are squad memes?

eli [a winged tale]

I also need to be educated about squad I mean all the memes

Spring-heeled Jack

OH MAN!! They are fun as heck. You can find templates and it's a very simple character design in the template, but the poses are super silly. And then you just draw your characters in place of those simple figures(edited)

If you google "Draw the squad" you will find a bunch

renieplayerone

Oh! Ill have to try that! These squad bases look fun!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I still have one of those I need to finish Back when I first started sharing my work, I was surprised and delighted at how quickly people shoved it through a meme filter.

Maybe that’s another thing! If marketing opportunities present themselves as a surprise, try running with them and see where they take you Within reason, of course. Never feel forced to follow anything that people respond to in a particular way. Just take it into account and see how you feel about it.

renieplayerone

(Im here to lurk on this week's question, i have no strategy and need ideas haha)

eli [a winged tale]

Omg draw the squad looks

too many to choose

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I love draw the squad poses so much TuT I wish I had more time to draw within more of them. I think I always get a little dishearten about making memes because I feel like I need to make my jokes full illustrations but I never have time for much extra content beyond ballpoint pen sketches :T

Mei

Honestly I don't have a marketing or promotion strategy for my webcomic. I make updates every week, and I post it on my twitter and kinda plug it there. I'm actually god awful at trying to make people read my comic because I'm a little bit nervous about it, to be honest. So I just sort of leave it there and see if people find it, half the time. That being said, I tried to promote it pretty hard at conventions last year. But that didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I'm hoping to make flyers with QR codes so that people can scan it, and it'll take them to the landing page/tapas for the comic. That might be a bit easier than getting them to just search the title, plus having a flyer is a nice bit of promotion if I get the opportunity?! Making memes and drawing characters in different clothes or in squad things sounds like super fun tho and I might look into that in the future

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's nice to hear everyone talk about this topic. TBH I had completely stopped promoting my comic because I got too scared of backlash, being a disappointment, etc. (Initially I'd attracted a number of people who weren't actually my target audience, and that led to some less than ideal results.) But some time last year, it occurred to me that 1) I'm making this comic for my reader self (or my "hypothetical taste twin" as I like to call it)... which means 2) I only have to appeal to people like me. So I started asking myself, "What would I have to say/do to get me to read this comic?" and that made it significantly less intimidating. I haven't actually started doing self promo (though I did start plugging my updates on Twitter at least). But most future self promo I do will be based on that ^ question.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(oh god, I was just checking out the latest update for one of the Korean webcomics I read, and the new episode is about a hikikomori... who says "I want to change, but I can't step outside because... maybe there isn't a single person out there who will understand me." THAT WAS ME but with comic promo. Well, I'm getting better and I also hope this character will, too, though knowing this comic his chances aren't so great lol...)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I hope that wasn't too awkward to share! Tl;dr I really think the "what would I have to say/do to get ME to check out my comic" is a good approach for anyone else feeling intimidated about doing self promos.

In the same vein, but on the opposite side of the coin: I'm curious to know, what were some things that got YOU to read someone else's comic?

Some of my own answers to that aren't very relevant to what we can do for our own comics: e.g. I'm Korean and when Naver has a new comic in their pro comic lineup, I may check it out. I'm also a member of SpiderForest and I check out the applicants' comics during the app season. Stuff like that aren't really good promo options that we can take. But things that may be relevant: - 'Evocative scenery shot that doesn't show the face/ doesn't focus on the face.' MY WEAKNESS. That kinda pictures feel subtle and kind of lonely to me, even if it's a group shot. And I like stories with those vibes. -Promo includes an evocative quote. Could be from the comic itself, or from something else like a classical literature or whatever. The creator of Ark (https://www.arkcomic.com/) does this sometimes and even though I'm already following Ark, those promos get my attention.

eli [a winged tale]

Definitely the art promo now that I think of it! Merch, posters, banners etc. If the art intrigues me, I definitely take a look at the site/blurb/first chapter

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I wonder if we can semi-workshop promo art at some point? Not really intensive like "change xyz" because that's not always feasible with art, but just impression feedback like, "this pictures gives me these vibes, and makes me expect this kinda story"

I would be curious to see everyone's even if we don't workshop

eli [a winged tale]

YES

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Yesssss

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Yes please. I don‘t promo besides update notices simply because I have no clue to start.

Mei

Sometimes I get really attracted by the style of the story? I immediately started reading Wolfsbane because the art was cool and different from a lot of whta I'd seen on Webtoon up until that point. And then the story was perfect for me. What keii said about writing for yourself is right. Patrick Ness once said you should write the stories your younger self would have loved to pick up on a shelf

and I think that's a pretty evocative thing. At the end of the day, you should be enjoying what you're writing (hopefully). And if you enjoy it and you're having fun making it, that can rub off on the people reading it, or you find the people who like that similar vein of story?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(It's also 100% legit to write stories for your current self )

Mei

(oh yes 100% that's what i'm doing HEHE)

Tolkein wrote LOTR because he was like

in love with worldbuilding

was there a market for such a strange type of novel at the time? No. Definitely not. Did he write it anyway? YEAH HE DID

Deo101 [Millennium]

I really wanna do an art workshop yes.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Aight, anyone who wants an impression feedback from me, post your promo art in #art_help

Warning, my impressions may be totally off lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

Also I don't do much marketing. Mostly I try to get in with communities and learn about making comics, I just want to improve my craft. All I really do is make my updated every week, and share whatever art Ive made on my Twitter or whatever

Okay! I think I only have my cover on my phone, but on my computer I also have my banners and icon. So I'll share all those in a bit when I'm at my computer

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(off topic but I'm sick, and when I'm sick or very tired I constantly misread words. I read "my banners" as "my bananas" and I was very confused for a couple seconds.)

Deo101 [Millennium]

My bananers

Feather J. Fern

I am terrible at marketing my own work, but I am very good at marketing other people's work. I use the "you would like it for this reason" to grab people. Unfortunately I can't do it for my comic because I am bad at seeing the good in my own work oof. I am getting better at it though.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's a really good way to do it!

And I can relate. My own hangup is a little different, but it can be extremely difficult to be brave for sure, whether in front of other people, or just in front of your own brain that constantly judges you.

Feather J. Fern

Yeah I was talking about a friend's comic and then the person I was talking to was like "Don't you write comics" and I was like "ahfoofjw yeah but don't look at them"

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I was thinking a lot about the whole "it's like [well known work] meets [another well known work]" approach that was discussed earlier. And I think that could be relevant here. Like, think of something that has either influenced your comic significantly, or just happens to have some core similarities. How would you market that thing? Could you market your own thing using a similar approach -- since there are similarities?

I'd thought of a really good example to compare HoK to. Then I got sad because the said example is extremely obscure outside of Korea. But now I'm like, hey, people don't have to KNOW that work. I can do this differently. I can talk about HoK the way I could talk about it.

('it' as in the other work that's obscure outside of Korea)

Feather J. Fern

I do think that's a good fast shortcut but I don't like using it becuase the shortcut sometimes makes people angry when they don't get what they like out of those two things

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's why I said to NOT actually bring up the comparison work

Don't name it

Just list the traits that are shared in common

Feather J. Fern

Oh sorry

I miss read

(And my name changed colours all the sudden?)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's a confusing topic, so no worries

It means you leveled up

Feather J. Fern

OWO!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Say you want to compare your work to... I dunno, DBZ, because it's got super strong aliens duking it out barehanded, blasting ki-like energy attacks, etc. Don't name DBZ. Talk about your work the way you'd talk about your favorite aspects of DBZ. "My comic has super strong aliens duking it out hand-to-hand! YEEEAH!"

OH MY GOD I NEED TO DO THIS NOW.

Feather J. Fern

Yeah! That's what I would do. (But it also helps for me that my comic has no hard reference points) but for my new comic, people are gonna compare it to Zach Bell, and Angelic Layer i think

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm gonna write up some drafts that I will revise and tweet at a later time

Feather J. Fern

So I jsut got to you know, not promo it as such XD

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I want to do this too for a quick pitch

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Do it (shop talk or story help maybe?)

I'm writing a vomit draft for mine

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yee

Feather J. Fern

I think I will do it for Story help

(Also so I can help flesh out my new project lol lol)

eli [a winged tale]

Kei I might be suuuuper off since I read only the beginning but I sort of thought inuyasha but Korea and handsome boys

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Sometimes you don't even realize your story can be marketed as "blah meets blah" until much later down the line - I've only started realizing the number of existing properties I've absorbed unintentionally into my comic. It's not how I'd market it on a serious front, but to a friend for story help, heck yes.

But a lot of people on Twitter seem to do that strategy for PitMAD and it works great for them, so... shrug

I guess it still belongs in a "pitch arsenal," as it were

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, the one "blah" I just thought of is something I hadn't realized for all these years. But it makes so much sense now that I look at it.

eli [a winged tale]

See that’s where I got confused but I think this is what I’m gonna aim to do: - pitch to readers: inspiration but this awesome unique thing in the comic - pitch to other comic makers: the Logline - pitch to agents: comparison works if requested and longer pitch depending on their format - pitch to family: just read it plzthanksbye

renieplayerone

or alternative pitch to family: Please dear god never read this

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's me

Oof... Writing the 'promote your comic by talking about the traits it shares with Another Person's Work,' I made myself cry, and that is definitely a sign I'm on the right track.

eli [a winged tale]

Right track is good!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

It took me years to even think of an 'other more popular work' comparison for Children of Shadow. XD But at the same time, it's really different from the works I compare it to, so it's hard to say 'Read this if you like X or X because it has a few similarities in theme and tone, but is still very much its own thing'.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah which is why I'm not even gonna namedrop my X.

I'm just straight up gonna talk about 'My comic has [this trait]' (and X shares that trait, but no one needs to know for the purpose of that pitch)

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

To answer the weekly question... I really don't have a marketing strategy. Marketing is my achilles heel, so I generally just throw pages up and hope someone sees them. I don't really understand social media nor do I have the energy to sink tonnes of time into it, which seems to be one of the biggest requirements for being picked up by algorithms. So my marketing strategy is just.., keep making comics and talking to other creators and hope for the best

eli [a winged tale]

I think that’s still solid Capn

Ultimately you need a product to promote

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's something that helps me, because while I can talk about my favorite works done by others, I feel stuck when trying to do the same with my own. So it's basically telling my brain, 'hey, you already know how to do it with other stories. Do the same thing with your own.'

eli [a winged tale]

So true Kei

renieplayerone

thats my strategy too. best case you market it great, worst case you've made a new friend so win win :3

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

My incredibly low numbers after 14 years of making webcomics beg to differ but... maybe someday I can hire someone to help me market.

eli [a winged tale]

I’m using the comic platforms rather than my own site so... sort of relying on their algorithms. I imagine it can be harder if you just post on your own website?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Sometimes the platforms don't help much if their audience isn't into the type of comics you make

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I post on both my own website and on platforms, but the algorithms for WT and Tapas don’t seem to like me, haha.(edited)

renieplayerone

yeah same

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

One of my top favorite webcomics got a front page feature on Tapas once, but it wasn't the kind of a story that gets a lot of traction there, so it still didn't get very popular. And that was in no way a measure of its quality. It is an excellent comic, just not a good fit for that particular place.

renieplayerone

I get far more views on my site, but I get way more engagement on Tapas and WT

I actually treat those two mirrors AS marketing for the main site(edited)

eli [a winged tale]

Exactly renie! Good perspective!

I never know what different platforms tailor to...

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Yeah, what Keiiii said. I make dark fantasy comics and both WT and Tapas favour romance, especially comics geared towards a female audience and drawn anime style. My comics aren’t particularly feminine and romance isn’t much of a focus, so they’re just not what that demographic is into.

eli [a winged tale]

I’ve been trying to remember how I came across my favourite comics and usually it’s through the art (interesting characters, unique dynamic style that I enjoy) and the first chapter holding promise (able to see what the character wants/will have to change into)

Romance has always been the best seller in the story world I think

Oh and most recently hiveworks and other web publishers have great recommendations too per genre

And comic conventions are always fun to meet creators. Sometimes If I feel I jive with someone I’m an instant fan

renieplayerone

I absolutely need to get better at having confidence enough to make friends at conventions x_x

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I have noticed my audience grow a bit since joining Spiderforest. They’ve helped me get a bit better at promotion, though marketing just isn’t my talent, lol.

renieplayerone

im always terrified haha

eli [a winged tale]

It’s a big step for sure renie! It took me like... three years going to VanCAF as an attendee before actually exhibiting and making friends(edited)

Mei

I know i'm late but i personally detest the 'this book is X meets Y!!', even though I get why people do it. I just wish they'd describe it to me like what if I'd never read either of those books......

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I would really love to get out to cons, they sound like a great opportunity for connecting with other creators. One of these years I’ll be able to get to one!(edited)

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah im usually kinda like "okay, well are you doing anything new or are you just doing those things :/"

renieplayerone

I exhibit with the Boston Comics Roundtable and I still havent gotten the courage XD

Mei

yeah, cons are really fun even to attend or to make friends! I find it really tough though, I'm so intimidated;;

yeah Deo... same... it's like

sure, I could pitch a story as two things. Like I don't know "The Walking Dead meets Shaun of the Dead" which is semi redundant anyway

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I only use it to give people a framework for the kinds of tones and themes they can expect from my work when I have to keep my explanation short and sweet.

renieplayerone

they should have badges that say "Hi i want to make friends but you are all so awesome its intimidating be kind"

Mei

or you know... use those words to just describe the story? It may be a personal preference, some agents LOVE comparisons

Yes renie, yes!

i'd love a badge like that like

pls talk to me i'm scare

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Sometimes a few words can’t fully describe a story as well as saying: ‘It’s a little bit like X meets X but if you add [insert unique thing your story does]’

Mei

I personally find that it depends a bit too much on people having read those books or stories before. BUT if you're pitching to an agent, they've usually read those books

so then they get a sense or vibe of like, what the genre is

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

It’s all down to preference, really. Your own and the person you’re pitching to. If you don’t want to use comparisons to describe your own work, that’s valid, but try not to dismiss people who do.

Mei

so I get it, I just don't like it personally xD I think a lot of the times it takes away from your own voice and story

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That too is part of the reason why I'm not namedropping the works

Just having my self-promo self learn from my 'promo other people's stuff' self

Mei

yeah for sure, it adds that level of excitement to your own work that you'd give to others?

eli [a winged tale]

I think a cool exercise might be to check out someone’s work here and see how you would promote it

It’s always good to see from someone else’s perspective

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

yessssss, all of my friends have been much better at promoting than I am

mostly because they have no shame regarding it but they also just... know what sounds cool

Mei

Oh i'm very good at promoting my friends' work

I sold his DnD book to a kpop stan who doesn't like DnD and doesn't play, and it was a crowning achievement

eli [a winged tale]

Like for yours I’d probably say... Manta Ray princess finds herself very much dead but is given a second chance to revive her friends and save her kingdom... just need to find someone very much living and very much not afraid of the seaghosts they have become

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

SOLID

though now I imagine Phaedra as a Manta Ray in a dress which is... not entirely untrue

eli [a winged tale]

LOL omg I haven’t even thought of that! Just thought manta Princess is a hook

Mei

Me, pointing at Cheth "I mean look at him, LOOK AT HIM and tell me you don't want to read this"

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I guess for my work I market it from four potential angles: 1) The princess is cool and has a sword, 2) The villain is the best character, 3) The environments ain't bad, and 4) THERE'S A DOG

again, you gotta know who you're talking to and what they already like

eli [a winged tale]

In a world where a fallen god became trapped in the sea, a dead princess is given a second chance to fight for her life with a mysterious sea-bitten boy and undo the sea ghost curse that plagues the world.

Dammit I repeated world

Mei

hey... the environments are GREAT

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah Lady your environment shots are

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

ok I do try BUT BACK TO MARKETING

The number of times I see someone marketing their comic with very epic-sounding descriptors or broad generalizations... then that one day where they're finally like "oh, I have a character who turns into a hamster at nighttime" and people are like 'I'M SOLD'

And then they go ".... THAT'S WHAT YOU ALL WANTED???"

often it's those little weird details that get people interested

Deo101 [Millennium]

I wanna read about the were hamster please

Mei

sometimes I think the simplest and maybe slightly silly lines are what grabs people?

when things sound TOO epic i feel a bit intimidated

eli [a winged tale]

takes notes

Mei

but if someone were to sell me a big adventure epic as "it's hamsters and they fight the forces of evil" i'd read it

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

god yes

"Four small creatures band together to defeat a great darkness overwhelming their homeland."

No.

"Hamsters fight evil."

YES

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I.... I have no idea how to snappily describe my comics. XD

eli [a winged tale]

Same... I got to kids with wings for hair then my brain short circuits

Mei

i'd say it's the way you'd tell the story to a close friend

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

The best I came up with was 'Teenagers with supernatural powers team up with woodland critters to defeat monsters' but it sounds more adventure-y and doesn't really get at the fact that it's a dark story with horror elements and everyone's mentally ill.

Mei

like they come up to you and go "what's your comic about" "oh you know, my stupid comic's about mutant hamsters that take over the world" or something

(don't call your comics stupid none of your comics are stupid they are great)

Deo101 [Millennium]

"plant man and his goth boyfriend babysitting a ton of bozos" would probably be mine then

Mei

BEAUTIFUL

i'm sold

Deo101 [Millennium]

ghsakgjhgkhkgahgk my target audience...

Mei

i do think tho like this form of comedic one-lining may not work for something dark?

Unless you go "Spooky horror about cats that become humans at night!"

would need experimentation

eli [a winged tale]

It’s a balance I think.

Kids stranded on an island with weapons explore the darkness in human nature - Lord of the Flies

Mei

ooh yeah that's a good one!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

A space explorer stranded on a foreign planet must join forces with the indigenous population and save his ship before his life support runs out.

Alternately

Small man goes to war with small carrot people

Pikmin

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios) I wonder if one could describe CoS the way how people might describe Evangelion, but with magical powers instead of mechs.

Teens, monsters, mental illnesses

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Probably. Though I've never seen Evangelion, but those three words work very well.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The relationship dynamics are way different, but yeah, those three things...

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Also add trauma and cute lil animals and you have Children of Shadow. XD

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Evangelion also has trauma (though I don't know if you'd like it; this isn't a rec, just a promo discussion!) and it was refreshing to see at the time

A teen trying to fight huge monsters, even if he was doing it inside an equally huge mech, could lead to traumatizing experiences, and it was the first time I saw that seriously explored

Hmm, so I guess "teens, talking animals, monsters, mental illnesses feat. trauma" ?

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don't know if it's similar at all, but that description reminds me strongly of Eureka 7. Wow, was that series intense,

🌈ERROR404 🌈

I really liked how the end happened - it was a nice solution to the lack of budget issue and told the story of his psyche reall well

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Though Eureka 7 was intense in a good way. I found the ending kind of unsatisfying, but admittedly I find the endings of 90% of animes unsatisfying (probably a cultural clash). But I enjoy them for the journey more than the ending.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I haven't watched Eureka 7, but the storyboard artist (one of the storyboard artists maybe?) for that anime is one of my favorite artists.

DanitheCarutor

Ah, a little late, but regarding the snappy promos I'm in the same boat as Cap'n with not knowing how to make one. At least one that would be ridiculous and totally not fitting the darker themes. I agree with all the people who have a generally hard time coming up with a pitch for their work, while having an easier time promoting other people's comics. Honestly my comic can be super boring to people who don't like pretentious, non-fantastical, angsty, character study types of stories. So it's really hard to think of a way to make it sound interesting without spoiling anything. Man! That thing when people come up to you, asking what your comic is about! Me: "Oh! Ah, it's uh, kinda sad and it has uh mental illness" -trails off with uncomfortable laughter- Them: Oh cool. -has a look of complete disinterest- Someone was actually extremely enthusiastic about the vague description of my comic, which somehow made me a mix of uncomfortable and excited.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I saw the conversation about blurbs and I just thought of one for a comic I'm working on! "An ecologist and a bird have a conversation about ethics"

I haven't started the comic yet so please send your critiques(edited)

and first impressions

(of the blurb)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

"Angsty character study with a heavy dose of mental illness" <--- Could this descriptor work? @DanitheCarutor

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

kei said exactly what I was just typing

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Great minds

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

oh, i just realized i've read dani's comic

I think your description is fine?

The artsy, angsty comics I follow all have kind of short, tongue in cheek descriptions

it's hard to capture the tone of an emotional comic in one sentence so they either joke about it or make it intentionally misleading

for example Drop Out's description is something like "two friends go on a road trip" and Fritz Fargo's description is "a human dumpster fire in the 90s"

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The dumpster fire one is insta-effective

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Dani, maybe make your description shorter if anything?

Something like, "An emotionally stunted alcoholic attempts to make amends"

and then follow it up with kei's line about it being an angsty character study

RebelVampire

Im not gonna stop the convo cause it is on topic. However, i do want to remind ppl these #creator_babble chats are permanently archived. So thats something to keep in mind if youre gonna workshop.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I asked before in this discord about making my own blurb better. The main critique I got was that I included too many things that I thought were interesting and unique that a new reader probably wouldn't care about. Like how the mc's powers work. But though it's unique and important to the story, it's not going to be a main reason someone reads the comic. I revised the blurb to remove extraneous info and make the tone of the comic more apparent, and I think now I didn't lose anything and made it more concise.

I think maybe agtahr could also be summarized a bit more succinctly

DanitheCarutor

Yup, you did once upon a time but said you stopped reading it a while ago. (which is totally fine, the reason is understandable.) The mix of yours and Keii's descriptions do sound a lot better than mine. Lol Thank you Fish and @keii’ii (Heart of Keol)! I've noticed people really like the word 'angst' when you describe heavy stuff. At least when I was a teenager everyone found it appealing. I'll tinker with it a bit and use Drop_Out and Fritz Fargo as a reference. Anyways, I'm going to stop talking now, don't want to bog down the main topic.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's a good point; 'the best things about this story' and 'things that should go in its blurb' have an overlap, but they aren't always the same.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Yeah, I did but I'll probably pick it up again eventually. I remember enjoying it. If you do want to keep talking, we can move to shop talk?

mirandalorian

babbling I have the first three episodes of my webtoon ready to post tomorrow and I’m really excited and feel kinda proud that I made it this far...even though it’s not very far. It’s far for me without posting immediately end babbling

Feather J. Fern

I forgot to ask, but if people are tabling at cons, do you guys have promo stuff at your con tables for your comics?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Mostly a business card, but yes

carcarchu

i never did but my table partner one year had free postcards she gave out with purchase / to passerbys with her comic info and an illustration on it

kayotics

I always keep free postcards to advertise my comic on the table right next to my business cards.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yep, the free postcards did wonders for me last year. They disappeared quickly!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Buisness cards and postcards~

Feather J. Fern

Seems like Business and Postcards are the way to go.

Mei

business cards!!

i might be making flyers/postcards for my comic next time though! :D

sagaholmgaard

I haven't done much to promote my comic but I've gotten some good ideas reading through this, thanks! I currently plug my updates in twitter and instagram with a cool/fun panel from the new page. I do also share WIPS and try to engage through my instagram stories (Asking things like, 'what type of benders would the Reclaim squad be in an avatar au' and making doodles for the answers), but that only reaches those who follow my IG. its good fun tho. I've done memes with the characters a few times but I didn't get much attention, LOL. But it's fun so maybe worth trying again

Spring-heeled Jack

Today I went into a locally owned comic shop and went to the guy that owns it and said "I'm a local artist and I'm writing a comic. Could I give you some small flyers to let people take?" And he said yes, and then asked if I have any physical copies. I don't yet but told him I'll bring some by when I have them. He then let me know he carries other local artists! Something cool to think about if you have a local comic shop.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

ooo that's good to know

I droped off my zines at my local comic shop but maybe I'll drop flyers of my webcomic too lmaooo

Spring-heeled Jack

I also just ordered a business card carrier so I can tote some around with ease. I carry my flyers in my sketchbook. You should totally ask, it never hurts! Carry a few extra just in case you find yourself in a new area and find another cafe or comic shop.

I ran mine off on my at home printer on some nice quality but regular weight paper. I might need to get some more professionally done.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I keep a handful of business cards in my wallet -- that way, any time someone says "hey, that looks cool, what are you drawing?" they get a card with the title and URL. Slowly but steadily burns through the supply.

DanitheCarutor

Seeing if my local book shops will carry copies of my comic when I print them eventually is something I'm kind of excited about! My town is hardcore into supporting local artists and writers, so that'll be something neat to try out. Although I'm a little nervous that the rating might be a little too mature for what the vendors want on their shelves.

I know of using postcards to advertise, but never heard of fliers. Maybe I'll give that a try.(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I use double sided business cards, so on one side, it showcases some of my art, and the other side has contact info, a link to my comic website, and a QR code. It's been pretty helpful so far at conventions.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

You guys have all these sophisticated answers to this and my answer is just "scream on every social media platform I can reach and every person I meet about my comic."

Though I may not scream at people irl,,,

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Let's see... I have a twitter where I repost my comic pages, and a couple mirrors that help reach different audiences. I've also carried around business cards that have my comic's URL on it. One fun strategy I've used is doing review-exchange things, in an I-critique-your-comic-if-you-critique-mine way (with the assumption that most people who read all the way through Super Galaxy Knights end up liking it). Though, that isn't really viable anymore now that the comic is 600+ pages, cuz nobody would ever agree to that trade lol. And... that's pretty much it? Though, I should note that my goal with Super Galaxy Knights isn't to make the most popular comic I can so that I can make a living off ads or patreon or print sales or whatever. If I ever do manage to make money off the comic, it'll be in "spinoff tech" (basically, video games or other media based off it). (it's the reason why a bunch of early Starstuff Stories fleshed out the abilities of the characters they focused on) I would like people to read the story because I think people would like the story, but it's not like my future depends on its popularity.

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

We (me and Q) are gonna (hopefully) tabeling at cons this year! I thought about doing free non permenant tattoos with our comic things. Also we have beautiful zines of the first chapter to sell. but a free postcard is also good

Desnik

promotional strategies...ah...the biggest thing I did for my first webcomic, RAWR! Dinosaur Friends, was simply update on a general platform (tumblr), using a consistent schedule and the same tags every time. That allowed some of the bigger biology/humor/critter blogs on tumblr to find me and I got a lot of people reading from their generous reblogs. I found some more niche crossover from sci-comm blog comments and dinosaur toy collector forums, because sometimes I'd have a comic that would coincide with paleontology news. It was mainly about finding my niche and bringing my stuff to that niche. To those struggling with finding readers, I would recommend distilling the contents of your comic and then reaching out to people who buy/read things like your comic. I've definitely made friends from general 'webcomic' forums and discords, but in terms of building a readership it's all about finding the niche and catering to it in a human way

In general I highly recommend shopping around for stuff like hobby blogs/forums/groups/discords that have some relation to the content of your webcomic. Those people DO want new content related to their hobby, but they don't really deal well with salesy pitches. Just be human and also a nerd for that hobby, too (nerdy enough to make webcomics about it)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, it's like fan comic for an existing IP with an existing fandom, except it's a fan comic of a 'thing' rather than an IP (e.g. you make a pirate comic? Great! Nobody owns pirates, but there are lots of pirate fans out there!).

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

The very first customer I had at the first con I tabled at, came over and said "I like ghosts! I like the ocean! I'll take it!" And wrote me later saying it was exactly what they were looking for.

And honestly it's all because I make sure every cover has something spooky and something watery, and the genres are in the title I make it very easy for people to understand what it might be like.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

omg the genres are in the title

that's genius

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Definitely not planned But it helps so much!

I think if authors have a rule on certain symbols/motifs they MUST make sure come across on covers/posters/etc, that can be a good marketing strategy. With some wiggle room, of course.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I... I feel like I can barely even describe what my comic is, which makes it so hard to market. 'Do you like comics with cute animals and eldritch horrors and angsty teens that have superpowers and hidden religious symbolism everywhere?!? Then my comic is for you!' What even is that demographic, because I sure don't know.(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios) If you take away the cute animals part, that actually sounds like stuff a lot of teens are into/ a lot of people were into when they were teens. And most people love cute animals, so adding that to the mix, in theory, shouldn't reduce the accessibility too much. Buuuuut CoS has its unique flavor that's decidedly different from all the "angsty teens, eldritch horrors, religious symbolism" stuff I consumed when I was younger. I don't know how to describe that flavor, nor how to utilize it for marketing. But yeah, maybe some food for thought?

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've used short phrases that are sort of representative to describe my comic. Examples include "consensual mind control" "a guy whose ideal life is not being entirely alive" "friendship" and "anticlimactic conversations"

I have no idea how effective any of those are

someone tell me pls

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

As someone who just started reading your comic last night I think consensual mind control is a really cool descriptor. I haven't heard that too much before.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

!

that makes me happy

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) Heh, I'm not sure what that unique flavour is, either, but it might have something to do with me avoiding the typical 'chosen one' structure that most teen fantasy literature has. The characters are all (except Fawna) a part of the hidden world already rather than discovering it, and everyone's pretty much running around like chickens with their heads cut off rather than having any power over their situation (which is kind of a huge part of the theme of the comic). It's definitely different than the typical urban fantasy, so it's been really hard to find which audience that appeals to. From what I've gathered based on the people who comment on my website, it's mostly academics in college or beyond, for whatever reason. XD

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Honestly I think for almost all comics their first pages were what convinced me to keep reading. Even with Phantomarine I was ambivalent about the description but then I saw the first page, and though, yeah, I'm into this.

Maybe my own comic can be the same way

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Exactly the same with me and your comic - I was also all about that first page It's a powerful thing! I think for anyone about to delve into a comic - which is, by nature, a very visual thing - it's going to be that visual that ultimately pushes them over the edge.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

maybe my description should just be ascii art of my main character O-O | -(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

^ It's why I tinkered with the first page of HoK soooo many times even after it went live. But it wasn't enough; it still gave off the wrong impression as to what kind of a story one should expect. Finally, more than a year after I started posting it, I redid like 1/4 to 1/3 of chapter one from scratch. Even though it will never be perfect, I can live with it now. chapter 2 on the other hand... It's an imperfect intro to the right story, rather than an intro (good or not) to the wrong story.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

To be honest, my intro probably doesn't hit the right notes to explain what my comic is about, which may be part of my problem. It starts out seeming more like an anthropomorphic fantasy than a dark urban fantasy / horror story. That's just something I think I'm going to have to live with, because I'm tired of reworking old pages (I already do it far too much). I think my best solution is drawing a new cover that showcases the tone and subject matter better than the one I'm using now.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

oh god, you reminded me of the 3 cover pages I spent hours on only to later scrap. Then my current cover page I did in one hour after it came to me at 4am(edited)

and it was perfect

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

XD

and my page redoings were after the reboot.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Cap, I don't know how representative it is of the story but I looked up the Ashes cover page and it's very impressive

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Yeah, I already redrew my intro once.... and this is the third iteration of this comic. And I'm currently redrawing the first two chapters of my other comic. I'm so sick to death of starting over. -_-

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Oh, thank you!! I like to go all-out on covers, heh.

Kabocha

Promotion... ... is that a thing you can eat? ... A few things I've tried is business cards -- tweeting about it -- posting about it on dA... I try to stay away from services like Tapas and Webtoon because I'm not formatted for those sorts of things, and I fear I'll probably just frustrate myself. It's a delicate balance right now between remaining happy with my work and getting it seen, but overall, I guess I'm not too stressed about it since it's not a source of income for me... I just... like making comics. I've also done conventions -- Conventions are fun, don't get me wrong, but nowadays they're a really low return on interest for many shows for original stuff (except slice of life and "oh no I did a bad" types of zines -- people seem to really enjoy things like that since it's often pretty easy to relate to). They feel like they used to be easier for selling original work, but the market's gotten rougher because there's so much competition and only so many dollars. if I ever print, I'm probably going to have to lean on some marketing-savvy friends for help... Hopefully things haven't changed too much by then. I think the tool that's worked best for me in the past few years has been doing guest comics here and there, as well as using topwebcomics, oddly enough. TWC was pretty good for referrals when I started doing comics way back in 2006~2007...

sagaholmgaard

Since the topic is about promotion... Do yall know if there are any twitter hashtag events for webcomic creators? My friends in the indie game industry have certain hashtags that people can post in during specific times every week - do we have anything similar?

Kabocha

#Webcomicchat!

https://webcomicchat.com/for-creators You may also find this page helpful

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

#webcomicchat is great because you get to talk shop while talking about your own work! It's not just "look at my comic"

sagaholmgaard

Ahh!! Thank you!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I know some people do #WebcomicWednesday - not sure how official it is, but it gets some attention!

sagaholmgaard

I'll check that one out as well!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

There's also #comicartistsunite too

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

webcomicchat always looked like fun, but I definitively am on the wrong side of the globe for the times it's going on

mirandalorian

Promotion is difficult. I always feel like I'm being too pushy, even for something that's free. I also feel like I built up a following that had nothing to do with comics or art and so when I switched directions to head that way, i don't get the response I would like. Reading all the thoughts here has been really helpful tho. Just got to put them into practice

Feather J. Fern

I think my current attempt for promotion is at least being more willing to promote. I have to force my fear of "I shouldn't tell people because it's not as good as (blank)" and just shove my comic into a spotlight

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

If anyone is worried about bothering people, putting variety into your promotions will make things more palatable for people for sure. I have one person on my timeline spamming the same exact post over and over again, almost daily, and it doesn't seem to be doing them any favors There's no need for a promotion every day. The people I see that do a more-obvious promotion tweet, like, weekly, or every two weeks, seem to get good results from that Sometimes less is more

mirandalorian

I need to get to that point Feathery. And ya, daily is a bit extreme imo. But I have to figure out the good balance

Feather J. Fern

Even weekly I don't do it because I feel like I am spamming and I feel awkward

Oh! Speaking of promotions, one way I found I got my comic promoted was by doing guest comics for other people! I got lots of viewers after each guest comic I did

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, for social media promo, e.g. on Twitter, you want to make your actual tweets have value -- not just things being linked off the tweets. (This is where gag-a-day kinda comics have an advantage, because each strip has entertainment value and you can just post the whole strip in a tweet.) Obviously this doesn't apply to every promo tweet; so like, weekly promo tweet that's solely about the links, as mentioned by others, is fine. But yeah, aside from those, you wanna make your promo tweets fun to read.

Feather J. Fern

Also cameos! Cameos are a great promo

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Not gonna lie, I am lowkey paranoid about doing cameos. Someone I know had to remove their cameo of someone else's character, because that other person objected to their character being in the print version of the comic.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Uff

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

oh rip

Feather J. Fern

Oh man, that's rough.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'll never even print HoK but I can still imagine someone being all "NOPE, I CHANGED MY MIND" at a later time

Feather J. Fern

I am planning to do some cameos for other people, not that Go Figure will ever be in print but I can see that problem. I think what I would say is that if you want a cameo you have to be 100% certain

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Might be a good idea to have a very simple agreement thing you can have them sign

Feather J. Fern

Yeah I was going to have a written consent form

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

"I agree to let you do a cameo of my character, and to not be a jerk about it at a later time. Signed"

Feather J. Fern

Signed and dated by both parties XD

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

There's also the broad hashtags like #webcomics and even things more geared to genres like #drama and #fantasy and so on. Doing art memes helps sometimes, too.

mirandalorian

What do you think the best hashtags to use are? Is webcomics too saturdated?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm not sure about the best hashtags, but my biggest thing about hashtags on Twitter : don't use a bunch of hashtags in a single tweet!

For broad hashtags like #webcomics or #fantasy, I gotta wonder if anyone's actually checking those out...

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Yeah, I usually tag my update posts with #webcomic and my comic's name, but honestly I have no idea if #webcomic has ever helped out my post ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

mirandalorian

Ya, I typically keep it to two or less, but i always wonder if webcomic is actually useful lol

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

takes note to use something more specific than #webcomic in my next update tweet

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think it may potentially be useful as a label for someone who's just found you on that platform, and is not sure what you're promoting. But beyond that...

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

I usually use #historicalfiction and #webcomic. Not sure which one helps more, but well, there it is.

mirandalorian

Ya, I should use the genre tag too.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Do people even search genre tags for that matter lol (a bit pessimistic, but still a genuine question)

like, I'll be the first to admit, I don't hashtag search to look for new comics to read. I don't think I ever hashtag search ANYTHING, unless it's like..... a very active trend that I am interested in (e.g. an upcoming video game that I'm looking forward to)

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Well, the tags are popular enough to be suggested by twitter so I'd think some use them, probably likeminded folk.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Same keii. I mostly use hashtags to look for fan art, exclusively on Instagram.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

There's also a trend of "art sharing" tweets. I have found a couple of artists and webcomics through that kind of event, but again, the turnover isn't anything to write home about.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I wonder if readers make use of the search more than us creators do?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I doubt it, Lee

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

:/

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I never use it as a reader, at any rate, though I don't know if others are like that.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Though, actually that's not true, I have used hashtags to look at more things being posted within art events. So inktober, mermay, hourly comic day, etc.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

But art event hashtags are useful, because -- like I mentioned before -- those tweets provide entertainment value without anyone having to click on offsite links. e.g. the #StartToFinish tag that's hot right now.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I have followed new artists from those tags though and then checked out their off-site stuff. It's definitely a more round about way than someone specifically looking for comics to read via hashtag

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

From my limited observation, when people are looking for comics to read, they tend to ask for recs rather than do hashtag search?

"Anyone know of some good magical girl webcomics?" etc

which is a bit of a bummer for us creators, because that is completely outside of our control. Nothing we can do about it.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

here's the popularity for the #webcomics tag

So SOME people use it.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight) I'm gonna guess it's mostly creators using them to promote, rather than readers using them to search.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Also it seems to be peak in popularity in the USA

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) the graph implies interaction, really.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

What counts as interaction?

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

tweeting it and searching it

what I'm saying is we can't know.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don’t so much in Twitter, but I personally DO search hashtags on Insta to find new art.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's true, we can't know. I just personally can't imagine anyone searching for #webcomics to find stuff to read

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Insta is definitely hashtag game city.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, IG is a different beast

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Comics don’t generally gel so well with Insta’s format, though, so I’m usually seeking art and not comics.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

just to be safe, occasionally use it

To be honest, I'm probably more likely to find and become a fan of webcomics here on this server than any social media

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, I wouldn't say "don't use #webcomics" -- use it if you have no other, more specific tags to put. But on Twitter, you don't want too many hashtags, so if you got more specific ones... use those instead!

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

I feel somewhat self conscious in getting an instagram. But I'll get one most likely.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

It might be a good idea to switch up your tags regularly? Choose two or three from a relevant list each update and see if any of those tweets get a noticeable boost in engagement.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Yeah that sounds a good strategy

speaking of, any other creators into historical webcomics?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I don't seek them out, but there's some that I read.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

yours is touching upon the historical keii with the joseon-style elements.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's definitely not historical but yeah, got the aesthetics going for it!

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Yeah!

I must admit, I'm a bit starved for like-minded creators. I mean people that create historical webcomics. I know and follow a few but that's not nearly enough.

(if I'm babbling too much for creator babble please tell me!)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Babbling is fine! But this might be better for #general or possibly shop talk as it's not related to this week's topic?

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

oh sorry, there's a specific topic here too?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, all the channels under CTP Activities have a... topic thingie that changes weekly

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

okay got it. I'll take it there. Sorry :/

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Don't be sorry, be glad to chat about this stuff in another channel

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

With insta please be mindful that if you‘ll always post with the same hashtags, their algorythmn likely will assume you‘re a bot.

mirandalorian

Oh really?

I definitely did not know that.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Yup, it‘s a big annoyance. At least it was that way half a year ago, how is the algorythm now? Nobody knows.

I kinda hate insta, but it‘s the platform with the most interactions for me, although I don‘t know if it goes beyound liking my panel cutout.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Instagram does it‘s darnest to lock the user into theor own ecosystem.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Yeah, hard same. I definitely get the most likes there, but I get very few referrals from insta.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Funnily, the only social media where I KNOW I got at least one reader from is pillowfort and their teeny-tiny webcomic comunity!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I keep wanting to hop over there, but also starting a new social media sounds exhausting TuT one day.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I need to start using PF

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

It‘s pretty chill, reminds me of the hey-day of livejournal, with great filtering - more intended to create many small communities than one giant pot like twitter.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don’t think any platform’s algorithms like me. I get very low engagement no matter where I post. I’m just not good at figuring out what these platforms pick up.(edited)

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I still have three invites left for this week.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Does cross promotion work for you guys at all?

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

A little bit? But I think my comics are a hard sell, so I generally don’t get a lot of referrals when I cross-promote with other creators.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

It‘s how I found this community; but otherwise, nope.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Now I need to check out your comics Lee. I'm intrigued!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Haha, if you want to! If they’re not your cup of tea that’s a-okay.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I still have three invites left for this week.

@chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa] if you don't have plans for those invites, I would definitely take one and follow you first

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

About the hashtag thing on Twitter..... I have found the hashtags #webtoon #webtooncanvas and #celebrateCANVASday to be particularly useful for those of us publishing on Webtoon Canvas. I have gained a few new readers from this, and the official Webtoon Canvas page often retweets when these hashtags are used.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

That's good to know. I'm planning to start mirroring on Webtoon so I'll have to be sure to remember to use those tags.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I need to fix my series on WT first. But I'll give those hashtags a try once that's been done

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I tried using webtoon hashtags a few times, but their page never retweeted me. It seems either random, or there’s some hidden requirement for getting a rt.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

i use the tag sometimes but I found it more responsive if you have a vertical scrolling format comic

then they're more likely to respond to you

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Oh, yeah.... I use a traditional page format.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

same rip

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I do combine all my pages into long episodes at the ends of chapters, so it’s kinda scrolling, but they’re just traditional pages stacked on top of each other, lol. WT definitely doesn’t like that, but I don’t have the time to reformat hundreds of pages.

Feather J. Fern

Also promo thought, I randomly joined people's streams before and then got hooked on their comics after seeing them draw on twitch or something like that

Pistashi

I struggle a bit with promo stuff, because I get too self-conscious about self-promoting and I'm the type of person that ends up doing too much of it or none of it

at the moment I'm working on making a press kit and sharing it with some blogs and networks about comics

but still, what I usually do is join groups and try to talk with people that works with art and comics

this is kind of more inclined to networking and meeting new people to talk about what we like than promoting my work to potential readers

nothing wrong with that, but looking with a more critical eye I still have a lot to learn about building an audience and reaching people who could become future readers

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I wonder HOW much a large social media following is worth. Insta‘s shown me that it isn‘t necessarily translating into readers.

carcarchu

in my experience followings on different platforms are non-transferable. same goes with having a large following on your comic itself, doesn't necessarily mean having a lot of followers on your art accounts. that's why they say "don't build your sandcastle in someone else's sandbox"

Pistashi

that makes a lot of sense

kayotics

If you’re building your following around your own content (original art, comic updates, etc) then the likelihood that the following is transferable is higher, but it’s still not 100%. You’re competing with everything else on their timeline too.

RebelVampire

i think a thing to consider with webcomics especially when it comes to social media is that a good portion of people who follow comic creators on social media are other comic creators, not people who are just readers. and the good majority of comic creators do not have a lot of time to read other webcomics. While there are certainly exceptions, I see those very few and far in between. So the conversion rates for social media right now are super low until the dynamic of the communities on the platforms changes.

kayotics

I’d agree with that, but also having a social media presence has definitely opened up some doors to being seen by other creators, many of whom are professionals. It’s good for networking, might not be the best for gaining and retaining readers.

RebelVampire

Oh yeah for sure. My point was about conversion factor

its factor in networking is a whole other matter entirely

and is indespensible

kayotics

One thing that I didn’t mention for myself is that networking has helped a LOT with getting new readers. Word of mouth, is always the best way to advertise, and other webcomic people giving you a plug can see some really strong results

[celtfather]

Funny Irish Stories

The rock walls of Ireland make for a harrowing driving experience. Is it calamity or comedy? Do musicians love song requests or not? How to stand out with good food. The Lost Druid Brewery tells their tale. Why do musicians forget lyrics during shows? I can’t speak for most musicians. But I will share my reasons.

This is Pub Songs & Stories #252.

WHO'S PLAYING IN THE PUB TODAY

Welcome to Pub Songs & Stories. This is the Virtual Public House to share stories and inspiration behind music with your host Marc Gunn. Subscribe to the podcast and download free music at PubSong.com.

0:27 - WHAT’S NEW?

If you're new to the Pub Songs & Stories, please subscribe and post a comment on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

Today’s show is brought to you by my Gunn Runners on Patreon. Special thanks to mine Robert, Mikey Mason, Jacob and Sue

Background sounds from The Pocket in North Georgia

Check out the new Mont St-Michel Video.

What are you doing while listening to Pub Songs & Stories? I’d love your thoughts and feedback. Take a picture of where you are. Post it on social media. Use the hashtag #pubstories so I can find it and share your story.

5:05 - CONCERNED FOR AIR, NOT CLIMATE CHANGE

One of my big goals with mentioning the Climate Almanac in the last show was to start a discussion. Someone emailed me last week. They responded “my concern about air and water (not climate change) are more health related than political.”

I know I didn’t make myself clear. My fight against climate change is not political either. I don’t care about your politics. Sure 95% of all Climate scientists say human-made climate change is real. And so yes, I trust the science. If you wanna call that political, that’s up to you.

But I’ve been passively supporting the environment long before the climate change discussion began, back when I was a member of the Surfrider Foundation in college, when I was actually studying to be a marine biologist.

But I’m not talking about climate change for the science I can’t see, but rather for the empirical evidence that I can see. And you can see.

We both see and feel the repercussions of pollution. I remember picking up a Budweiser beer can that someone left on the bank of a lake in Alabama. That’s something you can see. Or have you seen the oil film left on the water of a lake?

My friend pointed out the public health effects on asthma. In Texas, they frequently have air quality warnings. I didn’t need the warnings. Every time one of those days came about, I used my inhaler BEFORE I heard the warning. For those of us who live with asthma. That is something to fight against. And it will get worse.

Taking care of the planet is an everyone issue. Remember that the human population on earth grows exponentially. It might not affect you… right now. But it will one day. Because more people means more pollution. Whether that’s air pollution, water pollution, whatever.

You, your kids and other people will feel the effects. We are a community. So we should take care of one another.

So even if you don’t believe scientists who warn about human-made Climate Change. There is no harm done in supporting the Climate Change movement. Even small changes can make a big difference over time. Because if each of us makes a small change, that means BIG change. That’s what the Climate Almanac is about.

7:34 - Old Blind Dogs “Bonnie Earl” from Four on the Floor

12:16 - NEW TO IRISH & CELTIC MUSIC: BEST OF 2022 PLAYLIST

There’s a lot of great new music added to our Best of 2022 playlist on Spotify and Amazon Music.

Wolf & Clover

Lissa Schneckenburger

Jenna Monynihan

Heather Dale

Marc Gunn “Breathing”

Old Blind Dogs

Kathy Barwick

Marys Lane

Listen to the playlists on Spotify or Amazon Music.

12:54 - UPCOMING SHOWS

APR 2-3: Sherwood Forest Faire, Paige, TX

APR 9-10: Sherwood Forest Faire, Paige, TX

One show daily with Brobdingnagian Bards. Others with Jamie Haeuser

APR 16: : Ironshield Brewing in Lawrenceville, GA @ 7:00 – 10:00 PM.

APR 22-24: JordanCon, Atlanta, GA

13:37 - Kathy Barwick “My Native Home” from In My Life

18:45 - STORY OF JOUSTING WITH JALOPIES

Have you ever driven in Ireland? The roads were not made for our modern automobiles. They’re kind of narrow. It comes with its own challenges.

Dublin Abbey is a band out of Seattle. They share their story of driving the narrow rural roads of Ireland.

21:50 - “Jousting With Jalopies” by Dublin Abbey from Single

It is always interesting driving in Ireland. Those narrow roads are just crazy. It’s actually very fine art to drive in them. While also doing it on the wrong side of the road. Sometimes even with a stick shift. I can definitely appreciate Dublin Abbey’s comedy

24:04 - HOW THE LOST DRUID BREWERY STANDS OUT WITH FOOD

I love good, creative, interesting food. I’m happy to say The Lost Druid Brewery stands out on that front. And there’s a reason as Rob and Stacia will tell you about.

29:17 - Beyond the Pale “Mooney (The Donegal Fiddler)” from Queen of Skye

35:03 - SUPPORT WHAT YOU LOVE

The musicians on this podcast are happy to share their music freely with you. However, if you hear something you love, these artists need your financial support. Please visit their website, sign up to their mailing list and buy something. Your purchase allows them to keep making music. And if you’re not into the physical stuff, many artists accept tips or are on Patreon like I am. So please support the arts.

If this show made you happy, then you can also join the Gunn Runners Club on Patreon. Your support pays for the production and promotion of my music and this podcast. If you have questions or comments, drop me an email.

- The War Doctor (Podcast) - Donald MacGillavry (Music) - Breathing in Mont-Saint-Michel (Video) - Battle of Aughrim/Star of Munster (Music) - St Patrick's Day Irish Music & Dance (Podcast) - Dunvegan Castle & Gardens (Video)

36:20 - Wolf & Clover “The Columbus Set” from Twelvemonth and a Day

40:31 - STORY OF TORTURING MUSICIANS WITH SONG REQUESTS

I love song requests. Heck, I think most indie musicians do. It saves me from having to think about what song to play next. Some musicians are even great asking for a tip to go with the song request. I’m not so great at that. But I still love getting and fulfilling the requests.

The one problem I have is that I have 24 solo albums. I do not know the lyrics for all of the songs on those CDs.

Did you ever see Middleman? I loved that TV show. They had this “stump the band” game. Someone would ask the musician if he could play a song. Andrew does that sometimes. He’s a whiz when it comes to playing melodies on the recorder. I, on the other hand, am not. I can barely remember many of the songs I’ve recorded. And that’s sort of how the story of “Why Do You Torture Me?” got started.

For about two years, I had a monthly residency in Marietta, Georgia at Johnnie MacCracken’s Irish Pub. I was living in Birmingham at the time. I drove there once a month to play for a small group of fans.

Almost every month, Chris would request the song “Christmastime in Texas”. This is a song I wrote early on in the Brobdingnagian Bards career. Andrew helped me refine it. It’s a satirical song about how they celebrate Christmas in Texas. Chris loves that song.

I loved it when I wrote. But I’ll be honest. Sometimes I write a song. I love it. And a while later, I realize it’s not as good as I thought it was or I hoped it was. That was certainly the case with “Christmastime in Texas”.

It was after midnight one evening. Chris requested the song. On a whim, I replied with that first line of the chorus: “Why do you toruture me? Why do you request a song that I can’t sing.”

Happily, my digital recorder was running while I improvised a new song. In fact, it wasn’t very different from the one you can hear on the latest CD, Selcouth. I definitely tightened up the verses. But it wasn’t too different.

The song captures the quirky things about writing and recording songs. Like the fact that I have written song lyrics in front of me while recording. I play the song over and over again, until I get it right.

But I think my favorite verse is the last one. Because it visually captures that moment when you’re singing a song and you forget the lyrics. It used to be a running joke with me. Because I forgot the lyrics so often during shows. Fortunately, I realized if I actually had a set list, I’d spend more time focusing on the song I’m performing and less on what the next song would be. So I remember more lyrics these days.

44:43 - Marc Gunn “Why Do You Torture Me?” from Selcouth

47:21 - NEXT TIME - Arbor Day and Ellen Gibling

Pub Songs & Stories was produced by Marc Gunn. The show is edited by Mitchell Petersen with graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs. You can subscribe and listen wherever you find podcasts. You can also subscribe to my mailing list. You will get regular updates of new music, podcasts, special offers, and you’ll get 21 songs for free. Welcome to the pub at www.pubsong.com!

#pubstories #dublinabbey #aprilfoolsday

Check out this episode!

[unexpected-readings-of-poetry]

Ratatouille the conceptual musical; online musicals and intermediality from the other direction

When musical theatre creators use intermedial techniques, live onstage performance combined with new media technology is brought before an audience, either in person or by proxy. Intermedial technologies such as projection allow performances to feature pre-recorded material or to include live performance from another location, expanding the depth of the musical by stepping outside the limits of conventional live performance. In 2020, young people on TikTok built a musical from the inside out, in a piece of intermedial theatre unlike any produced by theatre makers for the stage or for deliberate performance. Ratatouille the TikTok musical lacks official direction, staging, script, score, cast, scenography, and pretty much everything else that goes into making theatre. However, the medium of musical theatre, the medium of the TikTok app, and the medium of the meme culture that grew up around it create an intermedial performance that breaks the mould for musical theatre performance of the future.

Throughout the first year of the COVID-19 lockdown, many young people flocked to TikTok, a social media platform in the form of short videos, up to 60 seconds. The amount of creators experiencing the boredom that came out of enforced lockdown with reduced opportunities spawned a massive influx of new memes and entertaining content, and TikTok was the perfect place to explore that. The app allows users to combine their own video with existing sound as well as creating their own, and offers video editing tools such as filters and captions. Once a video is uploaded to TikTok, other users can use the material in their own videos. The audio can be used alone or played over a new video, with the second user being able to include their own sound as well or decide to work only with what another TikTok user has created. They also have the option to duet a video, placing the original material on one side of the screen, and themselves on the other. The audio from the original video can be added to, and many users create interactive videos designed to be duetted, leaving gaps to be filled in their speech, or looking off-screen in the direction of the duetting user. Multiple duets of a song can be used to build harmony, or complete multi-voice videos. Much of the creative culture that developed around TikTok relies on pre-existing knowledge of video or sound, which is then re-created and re-interpreted multiple times by different users.

Before Ratatouille, TikTok creators had already been creating remediated musicals based on existing popular media and recognisable concepts. Alexa Chalnick became popular in August 2020 for creating a song for a musical version of the 2012 movie ‘The Lorax’, and Daniel Mertzlufft, one of the foremost creators of Ratatouille, had previously become famous for Grocery Store: The Musical. In Mertzlufft’s original video, he demonstrates various vocal techniques stereotypically found in an emotional climactic breakup scene taking place in a grocery store. This was duetted by over 500 people adding characters and background to the setting of the grocery store, including shop employees, squeaky wheels on a trolley, and a bystanding can of soup (Chen, 2020). Creating comedy through this extreme attention to detail and over-dramatisation is highly indicative of the type of humour throughout TikTok’s user base, and provides a springboard for the creation of Ratatouille. At the end of of 2020, all of this combined to produce The TikTok Ratatouille Musical, a conceptual musical rather than a concept musical; conceptual in that the musical itself does not exist, but the concept of it is an established musical, recognisable to the many TikTok users who came across it. The overall musical is not determined by a definitive script or performance, but is made up of whatever fragments of the musical make their way to viewers, and the idea of the musical that this creates in each person’s head becomes the musical itself.

The first contribution to the Ratatouille Musical was ‘Ode to Remy’, a 20 second melody made in August 2020 by Emily Jacobsen, praising Remy the rat, the protagonist of the 2007 Disney/Pixar film Ratatouille. In October, another TikTok user, Daniel Mertzlufft, arranged the song in the style of the finale to a Disney musical, especially inspired by “[t]he end of Hunchback [of Notre Dame]” (cited in Alter, 2020). The video’s sound was made digitally using Logic Pro X, and features vocals from Mertzlufft and Cori Jaskier. The video features Mertzlufft dancing and lipsynching to the music, with captions describing the context and intended visuals for the “Big Act II finale”, with “lots of glitter […] Confetti everywhere! Lights going crazy! Remy on a lift flying over the audience!” superimposed over an image of Remy from the movie. This video is the most widely used and referenced song from the musical, featuring in duets proposing scenographic (Ardell, VOID, msfashionbunny, Shoebox Musicals), contextual (Katie, Cleary), and promotional material (Siswick) for the musical. After Mertzlufft’s song gained traction, more creators began composing music for the musical, such as Gabbi Bolt’s ‘Trash is Our Treasure’ and Blake Rouse’s Kitchen Tango duet. People started to duet the videos with proposals for choreography (Simonis), set (Shoebox Musicals) and costume design (Ardell), and even demonstrating what the backstage crew of the musical would be doing at crucial moments (Cook). This carried on developing through the end of 2020, culminating in a concert run by Seaview Productions, featuring performances by many of the creators involved in Ratatouille, as well as Broadway singers and performers such as Tituss Burgess and Andrew Barth Feldman.

TikTok provides an unusual context to explore the concept of intermediality. TikTok as a performance medium consists at its base level of visual and auditory components, created and/or combined by the user. The use of TikTok as a performance platform allows multiple performance types, and facilitates the addition of extra materials, such as a green screen function to provide background images, the combination of pre-existing and simultaneously recorded sound, and the interactive aspect of duetting or otherwise featuring other users’ videos in one’s own.

Ratatouille challenges the notion that liveness in theatre is a necessary component for intermedial performance (Klich & Scheer, 2012, p71). Blending of live, in-person performance and virtual or pre-recorded material is becoming more widely accepted practice throughout all forms of theatre.Robin Nelson suggests that theatre “as a live phenomenon in the here and now” is “being re-qualified contextually as it accommodates an integrated production, recording and storage medium” (2010, pp. 13-14). While the audience doesn’t experience Ratatouille live, the concept of liveness within the musical itself is blurred. When TikTok users add new content to the musical by duetting and adding to existing content, the mixing of existing media in the form of the original video or sound, with new media adds multiple layers of liveness and intermediality. This is evident in Rouse’s ‘Kitchen Tango’ open duet, in which he performs one part, leaving the part of Colette to be sung by other users. Some users, such as Amber, film their reactions to videos within the musical. This contributes to the feeling of liveness in the musical, as viewers of the reaction videos experience the original material alongside the reactor.

Although TikTok as a technological medium is closer to film technology than theatre, Ratatouille is closer to a stage musical than a celluloid musical. The construction and performance style of the musical is almost entirely consciously theatrical. Shoebox Musicals’ demonstration of the visual scenography includes a revolving stage, flown in set pieces, and a cyclorama, lit by miniature stage lights. Similarly, msfashionbunny’s set model features a split set on a revolving stage, demonstrating the use of scale to differentiate the size of the rats and the humans, similar to the use of scale in the set design for Lloyd-Webber’s Cats. Ardell’s costume designs propose using one of the performers’ legs as the rat’s tail, a design choice which would be frowned on in a film musical, where believable realism is the goal, but the suspended disbelief of the theatre fully allows for. Broadway performer Kevin Chamberlin composed Anyone Can Cook, and Karina Simonis choreographed a dance for Rouse’s ‘Kitchen Tango’.

Ratatouille supports Nelson’s argument that “the relations between different media in a multitracked text are ultimately a matter of perception and interpretation” (2010, p13). Not all of the videos contributing to Ratatouille are performances of songs or demonstrations of visuals. Some creators propose a scene, costume, visual effect or theatrical decision simply by describing it. Jack Cleary describes a scene in which food critic Anton Ego eats the ratatouille, proposing this as his first song in the musical. Despite the relative lack of visual or auditory material, these videos are linked with the rest of the musical by using hashtags in the video description, or by using a song from the musical in the background. These are often still included in the accepted canon of the musical, because audiences build a mental representation of the musical themselves based on the pieces provided by other people.

The musical does not need to be seen in a specific order. The purpose of the Ratatouille musical is not to tell the story of Remy, as most viewers are familiar with the plot from the movie. Instead, the purpose is to remediate the concept of the story through recognisable scenes, which the viewer can assemble in their own head. Every consumer has a different experience of the musical. Most viewers will be familiar with the audio of the most popular songs, and some of the more popular videos featuring choreography, visual design, or contextual explanations. Users have some control over which parts of the musical they see and therefore which songs, performances or proposed stylistic choices are included in their mental version of the musical. Some people even began proposing changes to the accepted material content, such as whether or not to replace the lyric “Remy the ratatouille”, as the character is a rat, rather than a ratatouille. Despite not adding material to the musical itself, this internal discourse contributed to the experience of the musical, becoming something of a metanarrative within the overall concept of the musical, as audiences could decide for themselves whether or not to include the song in their interpretation of the musical.

While the purpose of most conventional theatre is to create a production for audience consumption, the medium of TikTok means that the creators of the musical are also audience members, and the creation of the musical is done for the enjoyment of the creators. Although TikTok does provide payment to a few creators with a large number of viewers, many of the contributors only became popular enough to qualify thanks to their role in the development of Ratatouille. Instead, the creation of the musical was borne from a desire to create and share with other TikTok users.

On January 1st, 2021, Seaview Productions staged a performance of the songs from Ratatouille, featuring many of the original creators. The concert was hugely popular, and raised over $2m for The Actors Fund. However, I would argue that the concert marked the end of the Ratatouille musical. Rather than creating a vague framework for audiences to transpose their imagined version of the musical onto, Seaview Productions cast actors and celebrities as the lead characters, providing one definitive image for the musical, rather than allowing audiences to fill in the visuals using context from the film and the recognisable TikTok videos. After the concert, interest in the production of new Ratatouille content dropped almost completely, and the focus of TikTok users shifted elsewhere. Although the intermediality of TikTok allowed the musical to take flight, once Ratatouille entered a new performance medium, it was all over.

The internet musical

The internet allows musical fans to experience musical theatre outside of attending live performances by listening to soundtracks, discussing with other fans, and watching recordings, legal or otherwise. However, the experience of watching a recording of a stage musical is very different from watching an online musical staged for the internet. In 2009, A Very Potter Musical by Starkid, a musical parody of Harry Potter, reached internet fame in fandom spaces after a video recording of a performance was uploaded to YouTube. The musical became extremely popular with fans of Harry Potter, and Starkid produced two sequels, which were also uploaded to YouTube. However, the intermediality and the use of the internet in this case is very different to how it is used in Ratatouille. A Very Potter Musical was produced for live, in-person performance, rather than internet consumption, and the recording is not designed to be the main form of consumption. The use of the internet in the distribution and popularity of A Very Potter Musical largely takes the form of fandom and social media marketing, rather than as the primary vehicle of the musical.

Similarly, the internet musical differs from a celluloid musical because it relies on a framework provided by the internet. The experience of watchingThe Greatest Showman (2017) on Netflix is effectively no different to watching the same musical on DVD, and even in cinemas the material is received in the same way. However, watching AV byte’s 2016 short video ‘The Internet is Down - THE MUSICAL’ relies on the audience accessing it via YouTube. The context of the internet contrasts with the content of the song: a worldwide internet blackout. Watching the video on DVD or a non-internet based format would remove the context and reduce the effectiveness of the piece.

The intermedial use of the internet as a performance vehicle for music and performance has already been established before being necessitated by COVD-19. Choral performances using the internet have been pioneered by choirs and composers such as Eric Whitacre. In Lux Aeterna (2012), Whitacre uses pre-recorded videos and audio tracks of 185 singers in a grid on screen. At 1:00, a singer’s video is expanded during their solo, drawing attention to the performer in a way that is difficult to achieve in live choral performance. In Sing Gently (2020), Whitacre assembles 17572 singers, which would be very difficult to bring together for a live performance, and the use of the internet to facilitate the creation of the video allows Whitacre to use material from performers in 129 countries simultaneously.

The internet is an integral part of modern-day culture, and is used in almost every aspect of life, from education and employment to entertainment and socialisation. It’s natural that theatre and performance finds a new home online, and finds innovative ways to do so, especially under the circumstances of a global lockdown. Using the internet as a platform for musical performance has been a necessary move due to the pandemic, but has also succeeded in making musicals much more accessible for people who would otherwise be obstructed from seeing them (Schiavon, 2020). Since most popular theatre, especially megamusicals and performances featuring popular performers, takes place in major cities such as London’s West End and Broadway in New York, people who live in remote places are less able to attend them. Additionally, people with disabilities, either physical or mental may be prevented from seeing musicals due to added obstructions to travelling, accessing to theatre spaces, and the multisensory experience of a large-scale theatre performance being incredibly overwhelming. Therefore, moving more theatre and performance online opens up opportunities for more people to access musical theatre. While making recorded stage musicals more readily available online is a very positive step, musical theatre makers should fully embrace the available technology to usher in a new generation of online musicals.

The conventions of intermedial theatre are difficult to define, as people at the forefront of theatrical innovation are always finding new ways to integrate new media with performance, meaning that “previously existing medium specific conventions are changed” (Kattenbelt, 2008, p 25). Innovation in technology pushes artistic creators to come up with new ways to use technology in performance and to make performance with technology. When faced with cancellations and boredom, creators turned to newly available technology to do what they do best, and in doing so, redefined the conventions of the musical. As intermedial technology continues to develop, so too, hopefully, will the creation of musical theatre.

Bibliography

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[limetray-blog]

Food Truck Business: The Most Comprehensive Guide on the Internet

If you’ve been eying a food truck business to enter the restaurant world or simply because you like the concept, you may want to use this article as a guide. Let’s start by rounding up what a food truck is.

A food truck is simply a truck that serves food. With its insides scooped out, turned into a kitchen and moving from one busy office district to high footfall night-market. A restaurant on wheels, if you will.

Got 30 mins for lunch? Why go to a restaurant when the restaurant can come to you.

And food truck businesses are of different types- some sell ice creams, some sell frozen and packed food, and some have kitchens on board in order to prepare food from scratch. In recent years, food truck businesses have also begun offering gourmet cuisine and niche menus.

Here are some well-known food trucks from around the world:

History of Food Tuck Businesses

The chuckwagon, a wagon/cart, on which people transported and cooked food in the 19th century in the USA and Canada, is considered to be a predecessor to food trucks. In the year 1866, Charles Goodnight, a Texas cattle rancher, fitted a sturdy US Army wagon with interior shelving and drawers, stocking it with kitchen, medical and food supplies. Food supplies consisted of dried beans, coffee, cornmeal, cloth-wrapped bacon, salt pork, and other easy-to-preserve food items. The wagon also contained a water barrel and a sling to kindle wood to heat and cook food.

In 1872, a food vendor by the name of Walter Scott gave birth to the idea for the modern food truck. He cut open windows in a small covered wagon, parked it in front of a newspaper office in Providence Rhode Island, and sold sandwiches, pies, and coffee to pressmen and journalists.

In a few years, a former lunch-counter boy named Thomas H. Buckley started manufacturing lunch wagons in Worcester, Massachusetts. He introduced several models such as the Owl and the White House Cafe, complete with sinks, refrigerators, and stoves, and had the interiors decorated with ornaments.

In the 1950s, US Army authorized mobile canteens were created and became popular at stateside army bases.

The recent resurgence of food truck businesses took place due to several reasons related to the Recession of 2008. Food trucks are considered to be trendy, and thus, combined with economic and technological factors led to an increase in the number of food truck businesses in the country. With the construction business drying up, there was a surplus of food trucks and chefs from high-end restaurants were being laid off. For such chefs, with years of experience, going into the food truck business seemed like the only viable and lucrative option.

Food truck businesses have become a very common phenomenon across the United States, with many of them being found in the suburbs and small towns all across the country, graduating from American metropolitan areas like New York and Los Angeles. They are also being hired by people for special events such as weddings, movie shoots, and corporate gatherings, as well as to carry advertising promotions.

Food truck businesses in popular culture

The popularity of food trucks in the US speaks for itself. They can be seen very regularly on national television. The shows named The Great Food Truck Race and Eat St. feature food trucks from all around the United States.

On Food Truck Face-Off, a show in Canada, 4 teams battle for a prize- use of a customized food truck for a year.

In the American comedy-drama Chef, a high-end chef has a meltdown and follows to rediscover his passion for cooking while driving and operating from a basic food truck.

During Donald Trump’s campaign for the presidency, Marco Gutierrez, the founder of Latinos For Trump famously said in an MSNBC interview that there would be “taco trucks on every corner” if Mexican immigration to the US continued. The comment triggered ridicule and memes under the hashtag #TacoTrucksOnEveryCorner.

Considering a food truck business? It’s not a bad idea

An entrepreneur passionate about food or looking to tap into the food industry will have several questions to answer and many blanks to fill. They must make decisions regarding the choice of cuisine, location for the restaurant, how and where to hire staff members from, decor, and many, many more. And the food business is one of the most competitive businesses with skyrocketing rents and increasing customer acquisition costs.

Starting a food truck business would be a viable option for such entrepreneurs, simply because of the benefits it offers.

Case in point, Alvin Cailan, and his story.

But nobody should tell you it’s easy. Just like any business, it takes long hours. And grit.

Myths about a food truck Business

It’s easy: Especially at the start of your food truck business, you will be on the streets 6 to 7 days a week. And for very long hours. Not to mention showing up at every event or pop-up opportunity you can find.

Quicker profits: You are likely to spend nearly everything you make, in the early days of your food truck business. Just like a traditional restaurant business, profits take time.

You should get into the food truck business because you love to cook: If you are looking to cut your teeth in the food business world, you could start with catering (not to your friends and family). Testing your menu on a few paying customers is a good idea before you jump into investing time and money in a food truck business. This could help you refine your menu and get a sense of the challenges of running a service.

You don’t have to pay rent:  Depending on where you are, you might need to pay rent for storage space and a commercial kitchen to do your prep work. This apart you will have to pay for licenses, permits, and municipal clearances. More on this later.

Food truck businesses are not inspected by the health department: Food trucks follow the same regulations as restaurants and have to go through the same (if not more) paperwork.

The benefits that food truck businesses offer over traditional sit-down restaurants

Less risky: As a business owner, you are always looking to minimize risk in order to maximize profits. With a food truck, you do save on rent (and a long term lease) which is one of the largest cost centers for a new restaurant.

Novelty: It’s easier to get noticed with a food truck than with a sit-down restaurant. A food truck allows entrepreneurs to test their concept quickly and assert their uniqueness before franchising their trucks or starting a few sit-down restaurants. The possibility of food trucks physically moving allows the brand to reach several high footfall places, thereby gaining more customers.

Lower costs: Due to its size being much smaller than a restaurant, food trucks run on lower operational and overhead costs. Thus, you can save up money for future plans and expansions. More on costs later.

Flexible location: With food trucks being able to move, they can cater to customers from different areas and have a wider reach than traditional restaurants do.

A meaningful experience: It’s easy for a restaurant to be disconnected from their customers. Operating a food truck is a lot more hands-on where you are not only the chef but also the business head, cashier and just about everything else.

Starting a food truck business

At this point, food trucks may seem like a good option for you. Run correctly, it can be a great option to (seriously) enter the food business world.

Here is a list of things to keep in mind if you want to start a food truck business.

Food truck business costs

According to food truck business entrepreneurs who have just started out, or have a more or less established business, the cost of starting a food truck ranges between $60,000 – $75,000 on the lower side. And about ₹8 – ₹10 lakhs in India. On the upper end, a fully loaded commercial vehicle can cost upwards of $250,000 in the US and ₹20 Lakhs in India. This, of course, depends primarily on your location. Other factors, such as the type of vehicle used, the food sold, goals of the entrepreneur and other start-up costs.

The process of starting up

Not as streamlined as starting a restaurant, starting a food truck business requires you to navigate a few crucial steps.

Truck, equipment and raw materials: Food trucks are customized commercial vehicles and come in different shapes and sizes. A brand new commercial truck to use as the base of your food truck business would cost you between $20,000 – 40,000 or ₹4 – ₹5 lakhs, in India. Along with that, kitchen equipment such as a kitchen chimney, stove, cutlery, utensils, and other items can run you another $20,000 or ₹2 – ₹3 lakhs. Finally, raw materials to cook your meals would cost about $7,000 or ₹30,000, depending on what you serve.

Deciding a location or locations to serve: A person starting a food truck business must scope out a few high traffic places in their city. Busy commercial districts with a lot of offices is a good option. Another great option is to park close to shopping malls or marketplaces. Plan for parking availability and one-way streets when you decided on your location.

Deciding a menu: Something about food truck spells comfort food, whatever that might be in your city. Adding a new twist to classics (that everyone will want to eat regularly) is a great idea. Or you could import a regional cuisine and serve it in a novel way. Be sure to design your menu keeping in mind that people are likely to eat your food on the go. So the food that is easy to carry and is not messy to eat.

Insurance: Insurance is an important step, in order to take account for possible risks and liabilities.

Billing & POS: Using POS is an important part of running a food truck, as it helps you store data which can come in handy while suggesting repeated orders and collecting customer feedback. Very good POS (that does more than just billing) can cost between $79-$899 or ₹24,000 – ₹50,000, in India.

Marketing costs: Marketing is vital for your food truck to succeed and attract customers, and there are various steps that need to be followed in order to successfully market your product. Using marketing methods suitable for your food truck business would run you almost $7000 or ₹40,000 (per month).

Staff: You’ll need to hire a few staff members (when your food truck business takes flight) and pay for their uniform (if any), and salaries. This figure can vary with the number of people you rope in, but assuming you take in 3 people, you’d need a little over $8000 or ₹40,000, in India (per month) for salaries and additions.

Licensing: Since a food truck is a business, it is important to note that one would need several licenses to begin.

For the US,

Start with a health permit: This will determine the location, hours, your audience, and other street food vendors you may partner with.

This will cost you, $800 – $5000.

For India,  

Food license: For starters, the FSSAI license (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) is required, since a food truck is essentially a food business. The same standards related to the availability of safe and wholesome foods for human consumption need to be followed, and businesses with an annual turnover of ₹12 lakhs or more are required to obtain this license.

Follow these steps to get your FSSAI license.

Fire Department NOC: Since the trucks have gas appliances like fryers, boilers, and ovens, chances of a fire-related accident happening exist, no matter how little. Therefore, a certificate from the Chief Fire Officer is compulsory.

Permission from the local municipal corporation: Permission from the local municipal corporation is required for locations where the entrepreneur intends to serve food.

Commercial vehicle license: A vehicle license issued by RTO of commercial vehicles, and a NOC of vehicle ownership is required.

All the required paperwork would cost you approximately ₹25,000.

Health & safety concerns

Food truck businesses carry a health and hygiene concern with them, which arises from the fact that food truck employees have to do their jobs in a very confined space, which is typically 8 x 20 feet on average, and due to the restricted space, trucks often lack equipment that restaurants are able to use. This leads to more contamination. Air pollution is another area of consideration.

According to an article by The Los Angeles Times, about 27% of the food truck businesses in the city earned lower than an A grade, as per a review by Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. In comparison, 5% of restaurants and almost 18% of food carts fell below that mark.

Onto the “softer” stuff

What theme can I go for?

Now that you have the necessary information required to start a food truck business, you need to decide on a theme. Your theme may be influenced by the menu you choose, or the location you decide to serve at, or a combination of both. It could also be influenced by a culinary experience you once went through or a story that is true to you.

How can I brand my food truck?

Once you have your theme or concept it’s time to turn that into your brand. Branding is one of the first steps one must take in order to promote their product or service. It is a way to attract customers, by spreading a message, and a vision, that shows the public what the company is all about.

In order for your food truck to become popular, you will need to brand it as well. A brand isn’t simply the tagline of your company, but also the name, the various designs, the packaging, and the story your company carries. All of them need to be catchy enough to attract the attention of prospective consumers, in order for them to give your products a try. While building your brand, you need to take care of the following aspects-

Name and tagline: The name of your food truck is the first thing that customers will look at, and thus, it needs to be catchy. In today’s world, using basic names rarely works; the name of your food truck needs to have a punch, while at the same time, it must inform the people about what exactly you’re selling. Coupled with the name is the tagline, which works best when it’s both catchy and clever. Use of humor and/or wordplay tends to work best.

Captures the spirit of your food and service

Gives your brand a personality

Differentiates you from your competition

Helps you resonate and relate with your customers

These are just a few tips to name your food truck. You might want to dive deeper into naming ideas.

Design and logo: Your company’s design and logo are visual representations of what you’re offering to the masses. While there are many ways to go about it, your design should be such that it works best on both posters and packaging. It is important to keep in mind that the usage of colors is an important aspect of your design and logo, and thus, it is always wise to hire or take the help of a professional designer to get this done.

Brand story: Brands have a variety of stories. Some of overcoming hardships, some of becoming successful overnight, some of discovering something, and some that involve two or more people from the same or different backgrounds coming together to create something unique. Remember, a good story always sells.

Your brand image will be one of the factors that are going to determine the continuity of your business in the long run. Therefore, it is a must that you take your time to come up with something that is strong and is guaranteed to attract customers.

How can I promote my food truck business?

After you have given your food truck business a unique name, design, and logo, it is time to begin marketing it. There are several ways to market your product to potential customers, and you can take advantage of a combination of those in order to achieve your business goals and reach more customers. You must choose what works best for your brand.

In today’s times, however, it is necessary to promote your food truck business through the following means:

Website and/or application: A website describes everything about the business- its story, products, and services offered, available discounts, etc. Using these means are a great way to reach more people outside your designated geographical zone, and educate people about your food truck. Mobile applications make ease of access easier for customers, due to their generally user-friendly interfaces. And a well-designed website that allows your customers to place orders for a pick-up is a good idea to start off with.

Search engine visibility or “food trucks near me”: People keep Googling queries like “food trucks near me” or “food trucks in (name of the city)” all the time. It is important to make sure your website ranks higher in search engine searches, through the use of proper keywords or paid campaigns. Ranking higher in search engines allows more and more people to view your website and click on them, thereby garnering more attention. For food trucks businesses, however, search results are often dominated by food magazine articles called “listicles”. These lists round up the best in a given city, neighborhood or region. You could get in touch with these magazines to explore your options of getting reviewed or running a campaign on their platform.

Social media marketing or “sliding into DMs”: Social media websites will be your friend when it comes to promoting your product. Sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter allow you to buy ads for a reasonable price, thereby helping you promote your work further. Most Social Media platforms are welcoming more direct communication with customers (which is perfect for a food truck business). Instagram is the go-to social network for food businesses. And with WhatsApp launching a WhatsApp for Business, it is easier for people to keep in touch with the company through a phone number. WhatsApp For Business is a relatively new tool that allows businesses to have their own verified WhatsApp number, in order to interact with customers over textual messages and send them promotional messages. The idea behind this is to give customers a more personalized feel and retain them longer.

Apart from these online means to promote your food truck business, you should look to take advantage of a few traditional methods as well. With food trucks businesses, the following tools of promotions would work the best.

Fliers and posters: Fliers and posters are effective for local communication. You could distribute fliers and put up posters in neighborhoods that you visit frequently or get more sales from. You could do this ahead of time so that you have a long line of customers when you visit.

Promotional offers: Offering customers benefits such as a discount or buy 2 get 1 free is a surefire way to gain new customers and popularity. You may also offer loyalty points and coupons that offer a free meal after a set number of purchases, in an attempt to look for long term customers.

Try these ideas to promote your restaurant.

Developing contacts: It is important to be able to maintain important relations with people, especially those who hold an important place in society and can help popularize your food truck business. Food critics, journalists and food events organizers, to be specific.

Offer to help: Once you develop contacts, you can offer to provide catering services to the people you know in order to build your credibility. The extra revenue would not hurt either.

Follow up with customers: One way to retain customers is by following up with them, thanking them for visiting your food truck and taking their opinions and criticisms respectfully.

Get involved with the community: Take part in community events and interact with people, keeping in mind that every person is a potential customer.

Give out handouts and coupons: Handouts and coupons are a great way to promote your food truck since they provide information and a possible method to spread awareness of discounts and other special offers.

How to appeal to customers with customer service

The following are a few good tips to follow in order to correctly appeal to potential customers:

It is important to mentally prepare yourself for long hours of service and make preparations for the same.

Keeping a positive attitude is essential, especially when things seem to become chaotic.

Caring about customers by striking up conversations with them.

Being community-minded will allow you to gel well with the people and reach more people.

Whatever means you use to promote your food truck business, it must be able to strike a chord with the people you are targeting. Not all methods work for everyone. Constantly refining your customer service is possibly the single most important way (apart from your food of course) of gaining a fan following.

Thus, it’s important to carefully choose your method of promotion by looking into your target market and budget.

Which restaurant POS should I use?

Running your food truck business means you will have to manage lots of data. To track sales and accounting. But this data can be used in many other clever ways. Regardless of how data-heavy your approach is, you will still need to store all this data.

This problem is solved with a Restaurant Point of Sale (POS) System.

Restaurant point-of-sale systems (Restaurant POS) enable transactions, increase operational functionality that enhances the guest experience and streamlines business operations. For your food truck, you’ll need a POS in order to conduct your business smoothly and without too much hassle.

But what POS must you choose from? Here is a list of the ones you can opt to use:

Traditional restaurant POS: The traditional restaurant POS has dominated restaurants for a very long time. These systems run on a closed internal network and store data on local servers. These are built on the traditional client-server groundwork and aim to provide high-end functions such as inventory management, customer relationship management, and analytics, in order to meet the increasing demands of the restaurant industry. As such, the cost of maintenance is high as well. This system, however, has its drawbacks, which include:

Risk of data loss

Expensive to maintain

Requires constant maintenance

Not scalable

Does not provide a complete solution

Cloud Restaurant POS: Cloud POS allows restaurants to access information remotely instead of having to be physically present, due to the information already being uploaded to the internet. With this system, there is a lesser risk of you losing your data and you can carry on with your transactions even when the internet is unavailable; they will simply sync when the internet comes back on. Most importantly, cloud POS is much cheaper to use than traditional POS. However, cloud POS charge a regular fee, that can get quite expensive in the long run, and most of its features become unavailable upon disconnection from the internet.

Once again, the choice of POS lies in your hands, but it is important to weigh the pros and cons of both the options and go for the one that suits your needs the most. For a detailed guide on which POS you should look to choose, read our guide on Choosing a Restaurant POS system.

A cloud-based POS, or cPOS allows data to be stored in a cloud server. While a physical system isn’t required, a stable internet connection is a must in order for this to work properly. They offer the services that traditional POS systems offer, as well as for analytics, customer relationship, loyalty, and inventory management.

All that is left, is to start!

If you are exploring a food truck business idea, know that it’s not all easy. There are setup costs, licenses and permits to navigate. On top of marketing your food truck business, building your brand and gaining followers. But it also is a good entry into the food business world with lesser risks and financial burden. Most of all, it is a good way to give shape to your dreams of having a food business.

And being outdoors, seeing customers smile, traveling and doing what you love, is definitely a bonus. Wouldn’t you say?