#journaling into the tumblr tags for some reason

[goodplace-janet]

,

[externalmemorycomic]

Image description: A black and white illustration, designed to look like a book cover. On a decorative ribbon, the title at the top reads “External Memory”. A scroll work border of leaves and flowers divides the illustration into three rounded panels. The largest panel is in the center and shows a caravan surrounded by greenery, puddles and potted plants. The two smaller panels beneath it show a cartoon cat and mouse respectively, facing each other. At the bottom is another decorative ribbon with the text “a diary comic by My Murphy”. After the cover follows an 8 page comic. The style is cartoonish and the colours are soft pastels. Page one: An orange cat waves and says “Hello! I’m My.” The cat holds up a white mouse and says “This is Mouse, my girlfriend.” Caption: My name is actually My, but Mouse is a nickname for comic and privacy purposes. Caption: When I started this project, me and Mouse lived on a little island off the Swedish coast. The panel shows a stylised, tiny island with a lighthouse, spruce and birch trees, leaning houses and a little dock with a row boat tied to it. The cat and mouse are standing on the cliffs and a swan floats on the water in the foreground. Page two: Caption: Now we’ve moved to Ireland where we live in a caravan in the middle of nowhere. A small caravan, surrounded by greenery, overgrown trees, rocks, puddles and potted plants. The caravan has two windows and the cat and the mouse are looking out of one window each. Caption: We lived on the island to be close to my family. A ribbon with writing on it separates and labels four characters: “mom”, an ermine, “dad”, a wolverine, “brother”, a marmot and “step mom”, a squirrel. The ribbon has been torn in between “mom” and “dad”. Caption: and we moved to Ireland to be close to Mouse’s family. Three characters are shown, each with their own ribbon label. “mother-in-law”, a deer, “sister-in-law”, a jack russell terrier and “brother-in-law”, a hedgehog. Page three: Caption: Me and the mouse are currently in our thirties. The cat lounges on an antique fainting couch and the mouse sleeps on a cushion on the floor. On the floor is an open bag of “let’s” crisps and a laptop. Caption: We’re both pretty decrepit in various ways, so for this comic I draw couches and beds as often as I draw people. Caption: Disability isn’t especially interesting to me, but if a fish made an autobiographical comic… A fish under water paints a four panel comic with a brush held in its mouth. The panels the fish has painted show bubbles, waves and splashing water. Caption: …it’d probably be partly about water, whether the fish cared about water or not. Page four: Caption: My memory has always been pretty crappy. If a friend asks me: “do you remember when...” The question is shown asked by a red robin Caption: I usually have to answer: “no, I don’t.” The panel shows the cat giving this answer while looking away and blushing. Caption: There are many things in my life I’d like to remember. Mom the ermine watches as the cat opens a Christmas gift in front of a Christmas tree. The cat is much smaller than usual, its tail is bushy with excitement and it holds up a big book, “Mort”, with a skull on the cover. Caption: This comic is my EXTERNAL MEMORY so I can capture some of those moments… The cat admires a butterfly hovering above its outstretched paw Caption: …great or small. Page five: Caption: I try to make one strip per day, give or take. Pages with dates written on them blow off of a daily wall calendar by a strong breeze. As they turn over, comic pages are revealed to be drawn on the back. One comic shows the mouse with long fangs, biting the face of the cat and then hissing behind a bat wing. One comic is a pastiche of Tim Buckley’s “Loss” comic and one features a portrait of Frasier Crane and the Seattle skyline. Caption: and on the days when nothing interesting happens A close up shows the cat’s paw drawing a comic panel. In this panel a smaller, rounder version of the cat runs happily in the sunshine carrying a backpack. Caption: I reach back and draw something from my past. Caption: If you read this comic and wonder: A coyote looks at the comic on its phone, strokes its chin suspiciously and asks “did that really happen?” Caption: the answer is always yes. Caption: If you read this comic and wonder: A monkey reads the comic in zine form and think “did they really say that?” Caption: the answer is usually yes. Page six: Caption: When a specific phrase is the point of the strip, it’s recorded verbatim. The mouse says “you’re marching to the beat of the potato drum.” Caption: is a direct quote. Caption: When the point is something else, I sometimes take small liberties to make the memory fit well inside four panels. The cat sits at its drawing table, holding a pair of scissors in one hand and a paper with two comic panels in the other. Caption: Usually that means I make myself or the mouse play the part of the straight man because it will improve a joke. The cat and the mouse, dressed as clowns, stand in a circus tent. The cat pulls the clown nose from the mouse’s face and holds up a pie, ready to strike. Caption: In reality, neither of us is much of a straight man, but all art demands some sacrifices. Caption: In every way that matters, this comic always tells the truth. The cat looks up at a large, glowing, winged sphinx statue version of itself. The statue and framing is a reference to the all knowing Southern Oracle from the film adaptation of “The Neverending Story”. Caption: I am doing this to aid my memory after all, so it wouldn’t be very helpful to make my life seem more funny, interesting or relatable than it really is. The cat draws a comic while watching paint dry on the wall. Caption: That would be a pretty cruel joke to play on my future, more confused self. The cat scratches its head at a drawing of themselves as the winner of a beauty contest, wearing a sash and crown, waving to the crowd and holding flowers. Caption: She’ll probably have enough to contend with… The cat looks suspiciously at its own reflection in the mirror, not recognising it. The drawing is a pastiche of a panel from the webcomic “Gunshow” by KC Green. Caption: Maybe some of my comics will be funny or interesting or relatable to you anyway. That would make me very happy. The cat smiles and presses its paws to its face in joy, seeing that a bear and a horse are reading the comic together and laughing. Cartoon hearts float over the cat. Caption: Some of the comics probably won’t do much for anybody but me, but that’s okay too. The cat presses a page of the comic to its chest, looking contented and protective. In the last panel, the cat and the mouse are floating on air with a blue sky and white clouds behind them. The cat is smiling and twirling around, holding a paint brush out like a wand. From the brush flows paint that swirls around the two figures and making shapes of green leaves and orange and yellow flowers. On two looping blue ribbons appear the last captions: This is a record of my silly little life. Good or bad, I’m glad I get to share it. End ID.

Here’s a little introduction to External Memory! It was fun to make a proper neat and full colour comic - it’s been a while ^^

(If you like this project, please reblog this post! You can also subscribe to my patreon where I post one comic every day ^^)

[faunandfloraas]

im so glad im not the only person that looks at seungmin and goes "❓tism❓" bc he is Way Too Relatable to me as a person w autism

yeah..... like I say it in jest but also..... well, yk. sometimes you notice something and you notice something and you notice something and you go Hmmmm

[archived-and-moving]

thinking about the wings au recently and about how. I’ve told the story but still know things that haven’t been shared. I’m still keeping secrets! and some of the things i know none of the characters know. and they’re important! I told the portion of the story that was meant to be shared but there is! so much beyond that! And I haven’t explored all of that but there are things I know about it I’ve told no one. despite 350k words and 44 chapters and a 3 chapter finale. maybe they’ll make it into the epilogue. maybe they don’t. I’m having so many thoughts Tobi. anyway hiii Tobi hope you’re doing alright :)

It's so interesting, isn't it? Authors all take a different style of writing, and those who like worldbuilding first (like you) build up so much around the events of what the story is and what's happening. But then you have to cut so much out to be able to squash it all into a feasable story with good pacing.

But then there's so much left over information.

The best way I can describe it is like, when you want to draw something digitally that has to be a specific size, like a pfp or a banner! But instead of keeping the size, you try to get the entire idea, and you spend hours, perfecting all the little details. But then, when it's finally time to make the piece, you end up having to cut out huge snippets of drawing in order to make it fit! Things you adored just so that you're able to scrunch it down into the right size.

I'm sure that you're not looking for advice, and feel free to ignore this, but when I have this cool art that I had to crop down, I just post it separately, in all of its glory. If you don't want to hid the secrets that you've made, the details of the world that you've created, maybe you could make and art or a post where you could show off some of them!

You could certainly send me an ask talking about more of the world, because I love hearing you talk about it.

Or it could bounce around in your head like the DVD logo on a TV screen. Either way, extra little snippets and ideas are so fun to cradle in your arms. Because you've gotten attached to these guys! They're all important!! But they might not get to see the light of day!!!

Such interesting thoughts indeed.

Hello Quil!! So glad to hear your wings au thoughts, they're always welcome. And I'm doing well, thinking about Tam Song (like usual these days.)

[lizard-dumbass]

Whenever i hear someone talking about something they remember happening to them when they were like 4-6 years old (especially when adults do it) i get legitimately surprised that they can remember things from so early on in their childhood and at this point i'm starting to think it probably actually says something (mildly concerning) about me that i can barely remember my life prior to like. 3rd grade.

[beastsovrevelation]

Ch. 2 of And the Sea became Blood will probably take it's time, I mean, more scenes than not are still pretty much skeletons.

But, we must appreciate a supportive brother. ❤ Especially after she called him Dr. Phil.

Also, I'm seriously thinking about Charlize Theron as Lucifer's faceclaim.

They'd look great together, no?

[tempural]

Hi!! I wanted to say that I loved reading about your journey of creating a personal website. I'm still unsure between Vercel and Netlify. I have a small question to ask. See, one of the reasons I want to make a website is to archive drawings and journal/sketchbook. Would you have any tips for creating an area on my website just for the diary/journal, which has tags, files for each entry, etc.?

Bello!

Really happy to hear about your interest in websites! I want everyone to make their own site so I don't have to log into social media and get instant tummyaches ♥

Vercel vs Netlify: I think I settled on Vercel for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I just made a site on Netlify, then tested on Vercel, and now I have like 5 websites on Vercel so I just kept using it LOL. I'm sure a more tech-savvy person would know the difference - I think they have certain integrations with specific programs.

Creating a diary or journal with tags:

There's a couple of different ways you can do that, with different levels of work needed.

you got me yapping again:

This sadgrl tutorial might be outdated and may or may not work, but explains the process better than I can.

Easiest: make a journal on Dreamwidth, or another blogging site (wordpress??) that allows easy tags and RSS feed, and embed that RSS feed onto your site.

This requires almost no HTML set-up, and the easiest to organize tags, but you don't truly have the data on your own site since it's just embedded.

When I snuck into a web design class at college, this was one of the methods that the professor used for a blog within a portfolio site LOL.

Shit like wordpress is what a LOT of ~professional~ sites do for their blog section. They code it separately from the main site haha. It's the most popular thing, but not necessarily the best. And wait til you read on what the CEO of wordpress has been having meltdowns about... he owns tumblr too!

It's made with a tutorial for Neocities if that's what you use.

Medium: Set up zonelets.

It will require some HTML and JS editing, but will help automate making headers/footers for each page of a blog.

I've never used it myself, but I see other people speak highly of it.

HARD FOR ME CUZ I'M A GORILLA: I believe a lot of professional web devs will slap your face with their coding cock until you use a static site generator (SSG) to make your site.

You will need some coding knowledge to set up the tagging system since it doesn't come with it enabled by default. But it's made explicitly to be an alternative to big Static Site Generators which are...

It requires some more intimidating knowledge, because it's a lot of scripts that turn files that are not HTML/CSS/JS into plain HTML.

Also you have to use the command line, and that doesn't come with buttons that tell you what you can do. You have to copy/paste all that shit or memorize the code to 'dev build astro' and it all looks silly.

I've used Eleventy, and now am using Astro. Other people use Hugo or Jekyll or some other stuff with crazy names like Glup Shitto. I hate all these sites cuz none of the words mean anything to me. This is a common theme for me and tech. I don't know what NODES or CONTENT or ISLANDS are!!!

I had the most success attempting to learn how to use a SSG by downloading a template and altering it with github + VScodium. Here's the template page for Astro. You click on a theme you like, and it takes you to its github page. (If you don't want to use evil Microsoft stuff sorry. Skip this entire section.) Follow the instructions on the page for "forking" the glup shitto. When it tells you to run commands, I run those commands through the terminal window in VScodium. These tutorials never tell you what these commands do cuz they assume you already know. Usually those commands automatically install the files you need onto your computer, and create the final files.

You can see my wip here for a "tag system" that SHOULD show members of a web listing haha but I don't know what I'm doing and I have a reading disorder AND don't know cumputer good.

THEORETICALLY this will be the simplest and easiest way to maintain tags and files, because after you set it up you just have to write the "content" of the blog page. And you don't have to set up the header/footer ever again. I see the vision, and potential, but I am not there yet when it takes me 5 hours a day to figure out what any of the words in the documentation mean and I don't want to ask an actual tech person cuz they will be like 'obviously just press the Blip on the Repository and then Suck My Ass in the command line".

(side note I haven't updated fujofans in like a year cuz I'm struggling with this part to make updating easier).

Con: the final HTML/CSS code is really ugly if it's "minified", and a lot of themes use """"""professional"""""" CSS libraries like Bootstrap and Tailwind that I honestly think are ugly cuz that's what every fuckin' tech website uses to style their pages and make them look Professional and Minimalist with stupid code like style="500-w dark-gray-balls D-cup-bra" on every single element. Even Toyhouse uses Bootstrap. Eugh!

But maybe you're smarter than me and can wrangle these things better!

That was really long. Woops. I hope you can slug through this wall of text and find something helpful. Feel free to email me if you have any more specific questions. I may or may not be helpful.

If someone else sees this and has better suggestions for making BLOGS, please chime in. I'm begging you.

[carmyberzattosjournal]

Entry 27: 8 Word Chorus

GIF by: @mporium

Bearblr Promptober Day 27: Nightmare

Summary: Carmy's girlfriend (who he calls Darling) has a nightmare, and he comforts her. Fluff.

Warnings: Swearing, comfort, nightmare, fem reader/lass who is a trauma surgeon, she/her pronouns (1157 words)

Notes: All journal entries will be titled as such and tagged with #cb journal.

Thank you for reading. Thank you to @carmenberzattosgf for putting together this prompt list. Sideblog for commentary and yapping: @m-z-shoroi

Also, if random letters or words are black/white instead of the colors they should be, that's Tumblr being dumb, I've been fighting it for days.

27 Oct 2024

I’m the one with nightmares, so when I woke up seemingly for no reason, I was confused as hell.

I fall asleep pretty quick on workdays (and after a good fuck, I’ll be honest), but if I happen to wake up in the middle of the night, I’m usually cooked. If I can get back to sleep before the haze clears, sure, I’ll get some fitful sleep. I’ll wake up with a headache, but I won’t be miserable by the time dinner service starts. So, I did what I usually do, closed my eyes and refused to move a muscle, hoping the tides of sleep would take me again.

But then Darling flinched.

It wasn’t that little sleepy twitch of her leg that she does sometimes when she’s off in dreamland—this one was more like she recoiled from something. The immediate thought in my sleep-addled mind was that something was hurting her (spider, I don’t know, maybe I got a rat or something), so all hopes of sleep evaporated, and I propped up on my elbow to stare at her in the minimal glow from that annoying fucking streetlight coming through the drawn blinds. Faint shine on her brow, cheekbone, the bridge of her nose. She had her arms curled up tightly to her chest with the blanket bunched up under her chin. I just barely pressed the inside of my wrist to her forehead. Cool. Sticky. Not a fever. She flinched again and scrunched into a tighter ball, made a small sound, then drew in a sharp breath.

It’s funny how brains work, isn’t it? The only information I had was that she was curled up, she flinched, she was sweaty, and she didn’t feel warm, and I managed to piece together, even half-cranky from interrupted sleep, that she was having a nightmare.

I rubbed slowly between her shoulder blades, same thing I remember her doing on the nights I couldn’t seem to fend my demons off, and for a few moments, it seemed like she would doze back off. I even thought about lying back down and trying to get some amount of shuteye, but then she whimpered. Drew in another sharp breath. Whimpered again.

She was crying.

It might not have been the best decision to make, but at the time, I just needed to make it stop. I needed her to stop crying. It tore something raw in my chest, set off the buzzing in my ribs and in my temples that I got right after a sudden loud sound or when someone on the line didn’t answer me when I called for them.

“Baby girl? Hey,” I said, squeezing her shoulder. I didn’t mean for it to come out as a whisper, but I couldn’t get my voice any louder, not even when she didn’t wake up, not even when I tried twice more to call to her. There was something else, something deeper, something painful twisted up at the base of my throat that stopped the words. All I could do was tug at the blanket to try dislodging it from her grip.

She screeched when she finally did wake up. Bolted upright with wide eyes, reached blindly for something, anything to grab.

“Hey, hey, I’m right here! Hey!” That at least had some volume to it, even if it sounded like I had strep.

She threw her arms around me and crushed me in a trembling hug. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Don’t leave!” she sobbed.

“W-what? I’m not leaving! What are you-hey, it’s okay! It was just a nightmare!”

She heaved for air, coughed. I held her to my chest, rocked her back and forth, rubbed up and down her back. She shook violently, was digging her fingers so hard into the backs of my shoulders that my eyes stung.

“Hey, you’re okay.” I peppered kisses on her forehead, her temple. “Breathe. Breathe, hm? I’m not going anywhere. It was just a nightmare.”

Fucking hell, it was weird being the one calming her down. What’s weirder was that I sort of knew what to do? Maybe it was just subconscious learning, but I chanced resting my hand on her sternum. She released her grip on my shoulders, planted her hand over mine, and pressed it harder into her skin. Tucked her face into the crook of my neck, dragged in slow, shaky breaths. She intertwined her fingers with my other hand. I traced the pulse in her wrist with my thumb.

I heard her throat click when she swallowed. “Nightmare,” she breathed.

I kissed her forehead. “Yeah. Just a nightmare, sweetheart.”

“I’m sorry. You have work—”

What?

“It’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong, princess.”

Darling slumped against me at that. An eternity went by with her just tucked into me like that. Her eyelashes brushed my neck every time she blinked, sometimes a beat every few seconds, sometimes a few rapid ones in succession. Could almost hear her thinking. Almost feel her attention snapping back and forth between our bedroom in Chicago and wherever her nightmare was. Don’t leave. She told me—almost screamed at me in her panicked state—not to leave. She’d said before that she feared waking up and discovering I was a figment of her imagination; I didn’t have a chance to think too much about it before, but now it played on repeat in my head, a cursed refrain, an 8-word chorus. All of this will have been a dream.

Did I act like I didn’t love her? Was she worried about Syd being in my life? Why? Why was she worried that I’d go?

All of this will have been a dream.

My heart lurched into my throat. My eyes stung. I loved her so much that it hurt me, why the fuck did she think I would leave?

 “Why are you scared I’ll leave?” I whispered into her hair.

She gulped again. Slid my hand off her chest, into her lap. Traced the scar on my palm. “I keep having this nightmare. That… you’re on my table. You have cuts everywhere. And I can’t find my tools.”—she took a deep breath—“I keep saying that, um, we need to get a mask on you so that you can breathe. But no one else is there. And I can’t find one. And you start crashing.”

Oh.

“You tell me you have to go. I keep begging you not to leave.”

Oh.

I kissed her forehead. Tried to kiss the memories of the nightmare away. Tried to reassure her somehow, I don’t know. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She shrugged a shoulder. “I didn’t want you to worry. Please, don’t worry. I’ve always had nightmares; they don’t mean anything. Just… part of being a trauma surgeon.”

Hate to break it to you, princess, but I was going to worry anyway. Nothing personal. Just part of being in love, I guess.

[marsoid]

@wip i have a tumblr feature suggestion!!

Right now, Twitter (or whatever it’s called now) is the only social app that allows PRIVATE ACCOUNTS (instagram doesn’t count because you can’t have text posts. You expect me to post an image every time I want to vent? Facebook also doesn’t count because I hate it.)

I know we have the ability currently to make our side blogs private, but here’s the issue with that for me:

1. They can’t be FOLLOWED, you can apparently only add “members” to the blog.

2. I thought I had more points but really it keeps coming back to the fact that they can’t be followed. I don’t want to put in a password every time I want to check in on a friend. The convenience of making your own private blog and following your friends’ private blogs cannot be overstated. It’s the ONE THING that’s keeping me attached to twitter.

What’s so great about having a private blog?

Safety. Toggle your blog to “Private” in Visibility settings if you need a breather from outside attention. Only your followers will be able to see any new posts you make. Old posts will still be visible outside your blog however, similar to when a blog is deactivated I assume.

Friends-only space. Sharing thoughts and art with only a few close friends is more comfortable for a lot of people.

Actual privacy. Even if you have 0 followers, even if you don’t use tags, the tumblr search will still pull up any word used in the post itself, meaning if someone searches the right thing, your posts could still show up to anyone. Setting your blog to private would remove this concern.

Journaling. Private twitters are nice, but a private tumblr? Getting to write out a BIG LENGTHY RANT for only close friends? Hell yea

Keep explicit content away from those who don’t want to see it. Setting a blog to private is a great way to keep certain art and writings out of easily reachable spaces.

Another bridged gap between twitter and tumblr. Ok listen. I’m not necessarily advocating for every twitter user to join tumblr. But I know that’s something the tumblr staff is interested in, so I’m adding it here for that reason. I for one would ditch twitter in a heartbeat if I could have a private blog, and would probably have an easier time convincing some straggling friends to join for a feature like this. Just sayin

I also made some quick and sloppy mockups

Anyway i guess that’s the gist of it

If anyone has anything to add pls feel free. I really want a private blog LMAO

[altern1a]

With cohost closing, do you have any ideas of where alterhumans (particularly adults frankly) even meet up/find each other? or is it just discord servers and accidentally finding someone is althu in passing. Sucks that it's so hard to find community.

Alterhumans are everywhere, you just have to be willing to put yourself out there! It's so easy to miss each other when we can't recognize each other.

I will deeply, dearly miss cohost. It was unique and beautiful for how safe and easy it was to be openly alterhuman. But it was never my main platform for meeting people.

You mentioned discord servers, and yes, those are really really good for socializing! You will naturally be limited on who you can find but it's fantastic for forming bonds with whoever you do find. (May I plug Alterdirect for finding servers?)

Here on Tumblr, there are active tags you can follow to find a lot more of us. #alterhuman is a good place to start, of course. I recommend following the tags for any identity you want to meet people with. For example, I currently follow #alterhuman #otherkin #therian #fictionkin #fictionfolk and quite a few more specific ones.

If you're fictionfolk and looking for sourcemates, another thing you can do here on Tumblr is submit a canoncall to any relevant blog that accepts them. There are a lot of general canoncall blogs and some sources have "kin help" blogs that do source-specific canoncalls and some other things. Results definitely vary with canoncalls; if someone has made a discord server for fictionfolk from your source that's usually a bit better, but since not everyone is on discord you can always do both.

Something that's really started taking off in the last few years is online conventions! Tons of alterhumans that are otherwise quiet and hard to find will show up to these. @otherconvention is the biggest one and the one I personally recommend the most, but it is no longer the only option so look around! If you have trouble finding other conventions, they often advertise in the off season server for Othercon.

There is also tons of alterhuman activity outside of big centralized platforms. Older ways of connecting never really fell out of favor with the community and there's also been a big resurgence due to The Everything. Forums are a really good alternative to discord if you're good with the slower pace and lack of a dedicated app. The biggest alterhuman forum I'm familiar with is Nonhuman National Park and smaller forums advertise there so it's definitely where I recommend starting. There are also many, many personal websites, and even more going up post-cohost. A good place to start finding those is the Alterhuman Summoning Circle webring.

The larger alterhuman community is evasive and tries to stay off the radar, for obvious reasons. But once you've gotten into it, it's surprisingly well interconnected. We really like being able to find each other!

I also have a dedicated resource I'm working on to help those who aren't as enmeshed (and even those who are!) find the living alterhuman communities where they can actually meet each other. I'm not as good about keeping it up to date as I'd like to be but you can find it here: The Alterhuman Web

Thank you for reaching out to me about this, it's one of my favorite topics! It's not right for us to feel alone when there are really so many of us. We are stronger together!

I'm also going to loop in @who-is-page and @a-dragons-journal in case they have anything they want to add that I forgot about! Lemme know if you don't wanna be tagged in stuff like this. Also, anyone else who wants to can add their thoughts too, obviously.

[majickth]

Hermit's Hollow Masterpost

What is Hermit's Hollow?

Hermit's Hollow is a mysterious small town AU centered around the titular town of Hermit's Hollow. It's is heavily inspired by works such as Twin Peaks, Welcome to Nightvale, TAZ: Amnesty, Gravity Falls, and other similar media. The story, while not always in chronological order, is told through transcripts, recovered photographs, journal entries, and -- occasionally -- strange puzzles strewn about. Basically, there's weird things in the trees, the town may be almost be literally alive, and the weirdest thing at the local tourist trap is its owner.

What's the story?

Grian is a former journalist with a tarnished reputation. With nothing else left to lose, he accepts an invitation from his sister to start anew in the sleepy mountainside town of Hermit's Hollow. What appears to be a peaceful escape quickly reveals itself to be far more, however, as soon Grian is embroiled in the mystery of a missing scientist, a charming tourist trap owner, and a town that's far more than it seems. Now, armed with only a Polaroid camera and his intuition, he's determined to uncover the town's secrets -- for better or for worse.

Find the AU here: #hermits hollow au.

Official Playlist

Got some art/writing/anything you wanna share? @ me and be sure to tag it! I love seeing all the cool stuff people make :D

Art:

Grian + Pearl (Official Character Sheets)

Scar + Cub (Official Character Sheets)

Grian and Pearl Reunion (Comic)

Dead is Better - Ex and Cleo (Comic)

First Time at the the Diner

Strange Things Happen For No Reason

Take a Picture

Scar (Doodles)

Etho (Doodles)

Gem (Doodles)

Scarland [by @fadedandromeda]

Doc [by @rainoftime3]

Cleo [by @rainoftime3]

Welcome to Hermit's Hollow [by @suffer-my-beloved-mutuals]

Etho at the Pass N Gas (Comic) [by @domithekingoffools]

Fics:

Not Very Ideal, Is It? (Tumblr) [by @roxie-roo]

Day 2 (Tumblr) [by @roxie-roo]

Inbetween - Etho (Tumblr) [by @eagle-warri]

A Hollow Mystery (AO3) [by @myths-gay-and-random-bullshit]

Cosplay:

Grian [by @myst3ry-pl4nt]

Info:

General Character Overview

The Hollow is Weird

The Lunar Express

The Diner, The Facility, and The Past

Doc

Joe Hills

Impulse

Bdubs

Keralis

xB

Xisuma/Ex

Mumbo

Etho

Tango

Zedaph

False

Wels

Hermit's Hollow Recap (KHHR)

NOTE: this masterpost is incomplete. If I am missing anything, lmk and I will add it as soon as I am able.

[evilwriter37]

20 Questions for 20 Writers

Tagged by: @howtodrawyourdragon. Thank you!

1. Is writing a hobby or way of life?

100% a way of life. It kind of has been since I was a child. I was sick all the time and had story ideas, so I started writing them down when I was too sick to go to school. I got bored of just reading and wanted to make my own.

2. A journal full of writing notes or a clean, completed manuscript?

Well, currently I have folders upon folders of notes for my fantasy novel, but obviously I would like a clean, completed manuscript at some point. The entire work is 28k words at the moment.

3. Who (or what) is your writing inspiration?

My special interests for sure. Obviously How to Train Your Dragon, but when I get into something, I really get into it. Lol, one could say autism is my writing inspiration.

4.Which is worse: someone you "idolize" reading your first draft or listening to you sing?

Probably someone I idolize reading my first draft. I'm getting a lot better at receiving rejection and critique but it's still very hard for me. I had a good singing voice before I had covid. (The band teacher and the chorus teacher in high school would fight over who got to have me. I chose band.) Covid has absolutely wrecked my singing voice, but I think I can get it back with practice. So yeah, I'll take someone listening to me sing over reading my first draft.

5. Has writing from someone else's POV ever changed your own perspective?

I don't think so, no.

6. Tumblr, AO3, LiveJournal, or FFN?

Ao3. One time ao3 logged me out and I was like: "What are you doing? I live here!" I do have fics on tumblr that have over 100 notes and I have no clue how that happened, especially when I look at interaction now. Interaction and fandom as a community are just dying on this website. Oh, and fanfiction.net was so horrible that I deleted all my stories from there and never looked back.

7. AO3 wordcount, and are you satisfied with it?

3,125,805. I'm more than satisfied. I'm stunned. And for some reason self conscious? I've had people call me crazy for writing so much fanfic, especially for the same fandom, and it just hurts, because this is my passion. What did you think I was going to do? Hit 1 million words and stop writing? No fucking way.

8. What movie/book/fic gripped you irrevocably?

Movies and shows: How to Train Your Dragon, Good Omens, Teen Wolf

Books: Hard to say because I only really recently got back into reading. I haven't written fanfic for a book since I wrote a single Captive Prince fic. Oh man, Captive Prince was so good. Thank you pro censorship people for recommending it! (People got so mad about it and the themes in it that I decided I had to read it. So worth it.)

Fics: I'm so, so gripped by @lifblogs Bad Batch fic: Brother, Hold Me Up. That thing is an absolute work of art.

9. What's the highest compliment you could ever be given, and have you been given it?

I think the highest compliment I got was someone reading Infernal Fascination of all things with their book club. Like, this person would give me updates about what was said during meetings and they just devoured it. It was awesome.

10. What defines your writing style?

Visceral description and poetic prose. I like to think.

Tagging @wyked-ao3 @the-bar-sinister

[thelaurenshippen]

How much of an impact has writing and consuming fanfiction had in your writing career?

I ask about fanfiction specifically because it's such an open communication sort of media, it's so easy for author and reader to interact. Do you think you'd write differently if you'd never been in the Fanfiction community? What do you think has carried over from those works and interactions into your current works?

ooh, such a fun question! I've never really thought about this before!

so I will admit, while I have been reading fanfiction since 2006, I never actually wrote fanfiction until 2018 (and then didn't share any of it until 2021). so I think those specific relationships affected my writing in very specific ways.

from a reading perspective, I think fanfic really showed me that a story can be anything, told in a million different kinds of ways. the two fandoms that I was deeply entrenched in/reading fic in were sherlock (lol) and the winter soldier (I stand by it). both of those fandoms - TWS especially - did a lot of very interesting stuff when it came to story structure, multimedia storytelling, etc. while of course there's great published fiction that does the same (I've been a huge David Mitchell stan since I was 20, I read House of Leaves for the first time a few years ago, A Series of Unfortunate Events is such a great example of this tbh), I think there's a lot of freewheeling experimentation in fanfiction that encouraged me to do things like write Some Faraway Place as a mix of journal entries, reddit posts, letters, and tumblr posts.

it's also interesting to me that you bring up the author/reader interaction, because you're right, it is such a huge part of fanfic and a part I rarely thought about for a looooong time. I'm a socially anxious lurker by nature, so I would leave comments (show your local fanfic writer some love!) and I would follow a lot of those writers, but I'd never, like, interact with them directly. and my comments were usually along the lines of "I'M FLINGING MYSELF DIRECTLY INTO THE SUN" rather than openings to conversations lol.

but that changed significantly when I started writing fic. the first fandom I wrote for was SO small and the ship I was writing for even smaller (I'm responsible for over half the fics in that tag), so there wasn't really any interaction there. but then I started writing in a different fandom - still small but much more active - and joined a discord and everything. I'm not really active anymore, but I met someone who now has become one of my best friends and who is a huge reason why Desperate Hollow, my queer outlaw novel, finally got fucking finished.

so being in fanfic really affected my writing in the sense that I found a writer friend who - like a lot of other writing friends - has had a profound affect on me as an artist. but more broadly, writing fic for that fandom - about 200k words of it in eight months - taught me some very important things:

how to write a lot of words very, very quickly

how to let go of something being perfect - no one knows who I am on ao3 and people are just happy to have fic for a small fandom, so it doesn't have to be GOOD

how to write physicality - this is very hard for me, even now. I'm an audio first person, I rarely think about what people look like, how they move their bodies, etc. writing fic is so helpful, because if you're using canon scenes, you don't have to come up with the blocking, you just have to figure out how to describe it.

dialogue/character voice - learning how to mimic a writer's style is good from two perspectives: one, you learn more about style and voice by having to unpack someone else's. two, as a writer working in a scripted medium, you often are trying to write to an established style, because you might be in a writer's room for a world that you didn't create.

this is a less tangible effect, but writing mature works for a fandom that has mostly morally gray characters helped me get more comfortable with being bolder in my own work. Desperate Hollow is about two men in the wild west, one of whom has killed a lot of people, and both of whom are career criminals. the show I'm working on currently has the messiest found family dynamic and it will only get messier. I think in the course of writing TBS, I sometimes got scared of doing the wrong thing, or of leaning too hard into the darker parts of the story, and I'm trying to let my characters and stories be deeply imperfect now.

I hope that answers your questions!

[multiplicity-positivity]

Finding Ourselves

Discovering identity and individuality as a member of a system

As headmates, it can often be challenging for many of us to understand who we are as individuals, our own system aside. For some headmates, lacking a clear sense of self can be disorienting and frustrating. For created headmates, and those of us who struggle with dissociation, not knowing who we are can sometimes cause us to question if we even exist. We get asked a lot on this blog how headmates can try to become more individual or distinct, and in this post we’re aiming to help answer that!

A little disclaimer before we get started: we are just one DID system talking about our experiences and trying to offer advice. Not everything we say will be useful for every system! You know yourself and your system more than we ever could, so please use your own discretion when it comes to following advice we give here, or anywhere else on our blog. Also, not every headmate needs or wants to be unique and distinct, and that’s okay! This post is more for those who are trying to gain some sort of individuality, which isn’t necessary for every headmate in every system.

One more thing: our goal with this post is not to cause strife and division between headmates. We aren’t advocating for strengthened dissociative barriers, nor are we attempting to cause arguments or disagreements in other systems. Please know, however, that as system members grow more distinct in their differences, arguments and disagreements may certainly arise! We’d encourage everyone to do their best to treat each other with kindness and respect as they grow more unique and start diverging from the rest of their system a bit.

Okay, so when it comes to finding your own unique individuality as a headmate, here are some things you can try to help make yourself a bit more distinct!

Take Your Time

A vast roster of full-fledged differences between headmates likely isn’t going to appear overnight! As you and your system undergo this process, try to have some patience with yourself and each other. It may take a few months for differences to really stick or new habits to form, and that’s okay! As you try to learn more about making yourself distinct, it’ll probably be best to take things at your own pace and don’t try to rush anything.

Self-Reflection

Spend some time thinking about yourself, your goals, and your relationships with your headmates. Why do you want to be more different from the rest of your system? If you try to envision your ideal self, what do you see? Is there anything that’s drawn your attention in the past, but you weren’t able to fully explore for some reason? How would you describe yourself now, as you are? How would your headmates describe you? Ask yourself these questions and more as you think about what you’re like, and how you might like to change in the future. As you change, remember to periodically come back to self-reflection; check in with yourself and make sure that the changes you’re making are accurately reflecting the person or part you want to become!

Journalling

Having your own space to get your thoughts out separate from the rest of your system can have a ton of benefits - not just for creating individuality but also for providing yourself some personal autonomy! Your journal can be a physical notebook, a Google Doc or other digital note, a blog on Tumblr or WordPress, or anything else. Having your own space can really help you learn more about yourself as you are, the rest of your system aside. In your journal you can create a list of goals and keep track of your progress as you aim to become more distinct!

Ask Games

Ask games can be a fun and more casual way to solidify differences and learn more about what makes you unique! Sometimes having a list of specific, pointed questions can help headmates find direction when it comes to figuring out who they are. The tags “#system ask game” and “#plural ask game” here on Tumblr have some great lists of questions created by fellow systems! Keep in mind that you don’t have to wait for someone to send an ask in order to answer the questions of an ask game - any member of your system can fill in the whole list whenever they like!

Make Conscious Choices

As you live your lives, try to start thinking about the choices you make. Do you choose things out of habit, because it’s what’s expected of you, or because it’s truly what you want? Know that it’s okay to make choices that more or less align with the rest of your system! You don’t have to feel bad or ashamed about any similarities you have with your headmates. Still, if you are actively trying to differentiate yourself, questioning or thinking critically about your decisions may help you start making choices that align more with who you are or want to become.

Try New Things!

Now the meat of our post, the most important thing we believe a system member can do to actually forge their own identity and set them apart as an individual from the rest of their headmates - trying new things! Stepping out of your comfort zone, experimenting with something you hadn’t considered before, learning a new skill, and gaining different experiences… all of these things can help reinforce your uniqueness and give you a sense of personhood apart from your headmates.

Below, we’ve included a few areas you might consider to help you get started! As you learn more and explore different things, you can take note of your new likes and dislikes somewhere, like on your blog or in your journal!

Hobbies

Try practicing a new hobby or learning a new skill! There are limitless options to choose from, so don’t hold yourself back and try anything that seems even remotely interesting! YouTube is a great resource for tutorials, whether you want to learn how to sing, knit, play video games competitively, paint, breakdance, bake, write stories, or anything else! As you go through life, if you see someone doing something that piques your interest, try to take some time to learn more about it! You can start small with one hobby and gain more over time. Hopefully this can allow you to express yourself and learn more about who you are as an individual!

Foods

Hobbies aside, you can try to create your own palate when it comes to foods you eat and enjoy. Don’t be afraid to try new things and expose yourself to a wide variety of cuisines! Be wary of your body’s dietary needs and restrictions as you try new foods - as all headmates share the same body, they may share allergies and food intolerances as well!

Fashion

Experiment with makeup, accessories, and the clothes you wear! Create a look book for yourself filled with fashionable items that inspire you. If possible, try to front or cofront at a thrift store to find some more affordable clothes that fit your own sense of style! Explore aesthetics that you’re drawn to, and don’t worry if something you like may be considered “weird” or “cringe.” It’s okay to lean into these aspects as you figure out who you are!

Music

There are countless genres of music out there, each with their own unique style and sound! Try and listen to a broad variety of music, and pay attention to what you like and dislike. As you explore, think about potentially creating a playlist for yourself, or cultivating a list of artists, songs, or genres that you enjoy. Don’t let your preconceived ideas about certain genres keep you from trying them out - listen to everything with an open mind and see what stands out to you!

Rinse and repeat with other things!

Try out all sorts of different things! Listen to podcasts and audiobooks! Watch cartoons, dramas, documentaries, and anime! Read all sorts of things like poetry, plays, novels, and nonfiction! Study subjects like psychology, philosophy, astronomy or engineering! Spend time volunteering with local organizations or join up with a grassroots organization! Question and experiment with your gender and sexuality! Learn more about otherkin, copinglink, otherheartedness, therianthropy, alterhumanity, and other nonhuman identities! Spend plenty of time in nature, explore different spiritual beliefs, try learning a new language, and try to expose yourself to a wide variety of new things in general! As you explore, it may surprise you what things stick and become an important part of your life!

We’re sorry this post got so long, but hopefully this can help give some headmates a sense of direction when it comes to how they can become more distinct and gain a sense of identity in their system. Feel free to reach out with your own ideas or things your system does to help each member find their own individuality!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, and have a wonderful day!

[anamelessfool]

A Naming (part 3 of 5)

Rated Teen, Papa Emeritus II’s Son and Family

Tags: Halloween Hijinks, Eldest Kid Anxiety, Suburban Dad Secondo, Disabled Secondo, Post-Retirement Life, Magic Rituals, My AU with Seocondo being Papa from 2001-2008

CW: Underage Drinking, Strong Language

Paul does the ritual. It goes exactly as expected.

Dedicated to @kissingghouls thanks for cheering me on you’re my little Hell Pumpkin🎃 I’m on AO3 with all my other fics but Tumblr gets mad at me when I post links check out #anamelessfool halloween tag for the prev chapter, #anamelessfool halloween start to start the fic.

The car full of teens crunched along the gravel path behind the old church. Headlights illuminated the rickety silhouette of a swingset, beyond which the old churchyard loomed. The kids unfolded themselves from the car and mingled in the grass.

For most of the short ride here it was a joke. Get the weird gravedigger kid to do some magic or something, see some ghosts. But as they surveyed the headstones cast about like old crooked teeth juxtaposed beside the children’s covered picnic area they fell into a reverent silence. The big junior boy attempted to lighten the mood by dragging his body down the metal slide meant for preschoolers and he wasn’t even rewarded with the dumb grins he craved. Brian was still taking furtive nips from the flask in his jacket but Paul hadn’t been interested for two hours now. This didn’t seem like the place for it.

He wondered how he’d do it, whatever he’d decide to do. He knew he needed to create a circle and surround it with the right symbols. Something would need to be inside, maybe the candle; and he’d utter the syllables while tracing the circle once more with his tibia wand. He knew enough about magic to know that most of it was about just thinking about what you wanted and letting whatever happened after that run its course, but a good show was in order. He didn’t want to look stupid on top of failing to procure a decent paranormal event.

Dana smiled again at him, but she still held her friend Tiff’s hand. “What are you going to do for us?” she asked. In the low light emitted from the nearby streetlamp her eyes were wide, glittering. She was living her favorite quote, and all Paul needed to do was to let her soul take her where she wanted to be. Some sort of dark, mysterious place where demons and magic are fun. Paul left all that when he was too young to remember, but knew enough that gothic drama had a price.

“Maybe…” Paul analyzed the scene beyond the fence, where the ancient headstones were planted. “Spirit communication?”

“Ghosts? We’re going to talk to ghosts?” Tiff could barely contain her excitement.

“Yeah,” Paul replied quickly. “Let’s use the picnic area to set up.”

Under the awning studded with dead wasp nests was a smooth platform of sidewalk concrete. The kids gathered around and Paul felt the fear settle in. He was a natural performer as long as he was lodged in some hole with only his music to be perceived by. Now five older kids stared into him, getting more restless as he scrambled through his father's journal to find an enticingly arcane image to entertain them with.

He finally discovered a page drawn with a ring of syllables that he could reasonably pronounce. He got to work, drawing on the white concrete with the dark sidewalk chalk. He placed the candle in the center of the small circle along with the obsidian chunk and a sprinkling of the dried rose petals. The two girls were captivated while the boys half watched and half play wrestled with each other. Brian swayed a little and handed him a lighter for the candle, chuckling.

“Now I uh…call in the energies,” said Paul. He was supposed to start facing east and go clockwise, but in the dark there was no indication of true direction. He remembered observing a few of these gestures and repeated them here. Just recently at the equinox he had helped Secondo circumnabulate the property line of his home, restoring the energy buried along with all the nail-filled mason jars holding up the wards. He replicated the careful gesture of drawing a pentagram in the air with the wand, but refused to include the deep sonorous chant that went with it. He knew they would laugh.

At last he returned to the circle. “I…cast my will as a net,” he mumbled. “The Void will provide. Nevertheless I will endure.“

“Now what?” Muttered Brian.

“I circumambulate the circle.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Grunted the boy from the backseat that Paul thought was named Tyler.

“Walk around,” said Paul. “Say the words.” He held out the tibia, pointing at the syllables as he stepped toe to toe past them. The other hand held the book as he read out each symbol slowly, his voice cracking. “Ab-Che-halva-ach-aleph-namu…eke…ab-Che-halva…” In his circumambulation he kept passing Dana and Tiff, trying not to meet their eyes. He wasn’t certain whether they were fascinated or bored and he didn’t want to find out. The sounds were guttural, cruel, and unknown. He was not sure of when to stop.

And then the candle went out.

The boys stopped mugging. Paul cautiously brought the tibia back into his hoodie pocket, blinking. “Should we…go out and check?”

“Check for what?” Whispered Dana. He hadn’t realized how close she came to him, her eyes wide with excitement. The boys were already out on the grass, still pretending to be half-interested but silent and watchful all the same.

“I dunno…” Paul held out his hand and Dana took it, Tiff linking arms with her. The three of them stepped cautiously back onto the grass to scan the treeline.

There was the chainlink fence, the gravestones beyond it, solid as always. The candle went out, but nothing happened. Paul felt stupid, wondering with a growing sickness in his gut that all he did tonight was look like the weirdo gravedigger kid they thought he was.

“So does your dad talks like that to all the dead grandmas he works on or…” Tyler was already done with all this, and Dave laughed in response.

“I told you there’s no spirits there,” muttered Paul. “And he’s not the one that works on them ,okay?”

“Yeah. This is all a fucking joke. Honestly.”

Paul heard Dana’s voice and it warmed him, just for a small moment. “Listen, come on, it’s just all in good fun, ok?”

Paul felt something small bounce off his shoulder and fall into the grass. “Ouch, fuck!” snapped a kid nearby, clapping a hand over his own head. “What the hell is that?”

Paul ducked down to retrieve the items that fell by his feet. It was an ordinary quarter and two pennies. He heard someone else stir, disturbed by more items falling on their head. “Coins.”

“Coins? Oh! Yeah!” said Dana, holding one up. “Where are they coming from?”

Something fell behind Paul, bouncing off his back. A cigarette lighter phone charger. Nearby, a few crumpled receipts and empty paper soft drink cup dropped onto the grass, followed by more coins. “It's…stuff from the car…”

“Car’s fucking locked,” hissed Dave. He swore again and Paul heard another coin bounce off his head. He felt old crumbs collect in his hair, sprinkled by something inexplicable above them all.

Paul glanced over to the car.

Then something happened. It felt like his brain was broken; his eyes lied. He saw the air above the car, the negative space empty there for a moment, and then watched an object pop into existence. Something big, dark and heavy that then was dropped down on top of the car so forcefully the hood crumpled into a crush of metal.

It was a small headstone from the churchyard.

“Everybody under the awning,” Paul commanded hoarsely, running backwards while still staring fixedly at the car in front of them. Coins continued to drop seemingly from nowhere, the soft sound of them hitting the grass all around them.

Paul couldn't process what he just saw. The rock was not there, and then yet it was there. And absolutely totaled the car right before their eyes.

The night taunted them with its normalcy. There was nothing out of place. No stirring leaf, no swing disturbed. The single streetlight buzzed and threw stark highlights across the asphalt by the ruined car.

A small stone fell from the awning, skidding to Paul’s feet. But there was nothing there except those empty husks of paper wasps and cobwebs.

“The car, man!” Dave whined. He bit his lip and wrung his hands. “My fucking car…”

“Would you shut up about the car?!” the junior boy rasped. His hands were over his head. “How did that stone—”

Gravel dumped across his head and skittered to the floor. The boy yelled, hopping backwards into Dave, who nearly punched him in terror. The sliding hiss of gravel falling behind them made their heads whip around to see when more would drop.

“Just like that,” said Paul, pointing. He stared fixedly at a spot where another stone had dropped. He squinted, trying to steel his nerves. Name it, his father’s voice uttered. Name what?

Just as before, a new stream of gravel was there in the air as matter-of-factly as how they were not there moments before. The space became filled without even a blink of an eye. And more stones fell.

“I’m getting out of here,” shouted Tyler. He made a few steps towards the edge of the awning and another heavy grave marker dropped, barely missing his head and cracking the concrete. He scrambled back to the group just in time for Paul to read the date 1812 carved upon it.

“It doesn’t want us to leave!” shrieked Tiff. “What did you even do?!”

Another fall of small stones from the parking lot; this time a steady, almost luxurious stream of tiny pebbles appearing, falling, and pooling into an aggressive pile right before their eyes. The sliding, angry hiss rustled terror up Paul's spine as he bit the inside of his cheek and drew blood. Satisfied, the gravel stream ceased as if someone turned off an arcane spigot. Another rock dropped onto the Junior boy's head, and he screamed, prompting yet another small rock to be pelted at Tiff and Dana.

In the silence between the bursts of stones across their heads, one of the girls started sobbing. Paul stared down at the circle in front of him, tears blurring his own eyes. “Oh, fuck! Fuuuck!” shouted Dave and Paul whipped his head up to the sound of tires on the gravel. Another spurt of rocks fell to the ground, these much larger and thrown fast enough to bounce off the concrete.

Beside the wrecked car loomed a black hearse. The headlights dimmed as the door opened, a form gingerly rising to its feet and affixing a crutch. Tall, wide shoulders slung back. The face was obscured, but the Eye shone. The eye, a brilliant beam in the dark.

“Fuck, run!” Brian yelled, but his drinking got the best of him and he stumbled across a picnic table. The other kids were frozen on the spot, the spurts of rocks scattering around them forgotten as a storybook nightmare materialized in front of their eyes.

“No,” Paul said softly. “Don’t run.”

The hearse, the Eye, the shambling gait on the large proud form was an image out any slasher movie. But Paul knew this visage more than anyone. And more than anyone, he felt an intensity of fear only experienced by a son who had completely, utterly, and wholly fucked up.

if you like it, please reblog and share!

Next part in comments!

[heywriters]

how to make a tumblr post (and get notes!)

Have never seen any post discuss these exact things, so i'm sharing my insights with y'all*

Use images. They don't have to be good or spectacular like this extremely coherent thing I just made. They just need to catch the eye break up dashboard monotony.

The gif search feature is an unreliable wild card at best and a NSFW eye gouge at worst, but it gives credit to the op of the gif

If you're an artist your whole post is your images, so skip to the links and tags section of this post because the rest won't help much.

-> Image Descriptions

When making a post that contains images, hover over an image and click the meatballs icon in the lower right corner of the image. Click "update description" to add a description. It isn't always necessary, but it is very courteous for a variety of accessibility reasons.

-> Text

Break up your text. Run-on sentences are standard here, lack of punctuation too, you can really do whatever you want, but avoid massive blocks of text. unless you've got a really incendiary opening line and the entire center of that granite chunk of text is actually comedy gold, hard-hitting tumblr journalism, or one of those zany confessional posts that can be followed up by the drive thru meme

break up

your text.

and go light on the ALL CAPS. save it for emphasis or when you're feeling very unhinged or saRcAStiC y'know how that goes, i don't need to explain it. this site has a very dry tone to its posts so caps are rare. also periods

Bullet points and numbered posts are good and fine. The "Chat" post option is used less often these days, but different groups found uses for it so it sticks around.

Titles Matter

they help break up text and put people at ease. they are best for informative, mature posts but can make you look like a square in more relaxed conversations. sometimes they are also great for emphasis in a comedic sh*tpost (censorship is entirely up to you, btw. you don't have to censor much on tumblr except titties and genitals).

Tumblr automatically shortens long posts now, but etiquette asks that you tag #long post if you want to avoid clogging up someone's dash. It don't matter too much though, this is the "color of the sky" site, so get used to posts being too long

That being said "READ MORE" is a fantastic feature. Use it when you want some level of privacy like "hey, only click below if you want to hear about my problems" or "click below to read my 18+ fanfic." Read more is also great in case you want to delete something forever. If a reblogged post has a read more, but op deleted the og post, that content is gone (readmore has to be on the og post at time of posting for this to work, btw; edits to og post do not span all reblogs)

the other bells and whistles like colored font or italics are helpful in improving text, but we don't really rely on them. every mode of looking at this site alters those aspects somehow so we often ignore them

-> Links

Hint: People don't want to click links. We don't know where they're taking us. Most of us are on our phone and don't want to open another tab or leave the app to go on the browser. We're cozy here on Tumblr and do not wish to be whisked away (unless it's a rickroll)

Don't leave the link thumbnail to do all the work, like so

add a little sneak peak info, maybe your favorite line from the article or a reason why it's important for people to know the info on the other side of that link. Sell it!

When you're adding a link into a list, i.e. no large thumbnail just a line of text leading you to another site, try not to copy/paste the link as is

"https://......"

No one wants to click on that it's gross and scary. It's screams "meh, i'll click later if i feel like it." If the build up to the link is too good to resist ("if you want to save the orphaned puppies here's the link") then that http mess is sufficient.

Otherwise, dress your links up a little by including the title or a description of what the link goes to:

Or, if it's an informal post where you're just popping info in to back up whatever insane thing you just said, just write something like "link here" or "(x)" and hyperlink it.

-> Tags

artists, writers, and other creators: leave a tag on your creative content that makes it easy for blog visitors to see it all at once. e.g. "My work" and we click on that while on your blog and see only your works

You can have up to thirty tags on any post. All will make your post show up in searches and followed tags (it used to be only the first five tags that got you traction). However,

Please. Do not tag everything you can possibly imagine being relevant to your post because

It's called tag spam and it's against TOS

Everyone here hates that

No one is going to check all those tags ever. Someone might search one five years from now and accidentally find your post hanging out in the ether and they'll still ignore it.

Your imagination is wicked tiny because I guarantee the perfect tag is going to be something indecipherable and seemingly niche.

Follow popular tags (or at least be aware of them)

If yours is an off-the-cuff post and you don't have time to find out what a niche group is into then wing it, sure, idc. this is also the shitposting site do whatever you want

Don't put your hate in the fan tags. This is the unapologetically-like-dumb-things site and your negativity is not wanted. You can still complain, just avoid tagging to get the attention of the fans of whatever you're complaining about. That enables pvp and even nonfans will know you deserve the backlash

-> Audio & Video

clickable by nature because we all love noise and moving images so there's no special way to share posts like this. just post them with good tags and maybe a one-liner, and they'll sell themselves

Tip: it's nice to add descriptions to these too but it isn't common

Protip: if the audio is the best part of the video (e.g. a baby burps REALLY loudly and it's hilarious) please caption or tag "Unmute!"

-> mkay bye

that's all i can think of right now. will update later if i remember something

---

*this is year eleven of my time on tumbles and i studied marketing in college for like six of those years and have been applying that bupkis to tumblr ever since. every post i see that gets no traction and every lovely artist that goes nowhere on here bothers me so deeply and i sincerely want y'all to succeed <3 <3

+ If you find this helpful and want to support my blog, I have a ko-fi!

+ If you're concerned about my mental health from being on Tumblr so long and want to contribute to my "get better" fund, I have a ko-fi!