#like there are no pictures of the backyard because it doesn't exist kind of no property

[grunge-mermaid]

I love how bonkers Ottawa real estate is this house isn't that special

[grapenehifics]

Trick or treat! I have a costume on but you can't see it because I've got a giant snowsuit over top in true Canadian Halloween fashion

Ah, in that case I will offer you a steaming mug of hot chocolate or apple cider, your choice, I have both, and also this plot bunny I've had running around my brain for the past couple of days:

Anakin moved to (city housing large university) to attend (said large university) but after a semester or two discovered that formal schooling wasn't doing it for him and he was both making good money with and getting more enjoyment out of his side hustle, custom carpentry, than from his classes and quit, but he still lives in (city). He's had insomnia his whole life and some nights just gives up on sleep and goes out to his backyard/garage converted workshop. There's an old transistor radio out there - maybe it got left behind by the last owners - and he turns it on just to have some background noise while he works.

He's scrolling the dial past all the commercials for personal injury lawyers and lands on some real banger of a song, which he's never heard before but he's into it so he pauses the lathe or whatever he has running and waits to listen for the station to tell him the name of the song so he can look it up later, but after the song ends it pivots straight to some spoken-word poetry thing, and now Anakin's intrigued because, what the hell is this station?

Finally the dj comes on and says okay, folks, that's the end of the show, I'm Ben Kenobi and this has been Guiding Light, thanks for staying up with me. Anakin looks at the dial and realizes he's been listening to the local university student station.

This keeps happening, and Anakin kind of becomes obsessed with Ben Kenobi and Guiding Light. He's only on two or three nights a week, for only a couple of hours at a time, in the middle of the night, and he seems to have no oversight at all because he plays the weirdest mix of stuff - classical, film scores, comedy albums, half of an audiobook, one night he played a Robert Johnson song and then for the next hour nothing but cover versions of that song, the show before Halloween he played the entirety of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds and then one of those 'spooky sounds' albums while reading Edgar Allen Poe short stories on top of it - one time he even said he'd been really caught up in this book he'd been reading and he didn't want to stop long enough to do the show so he was going to give a synopsis of what had happened so far and then read the next chapter out loud on the air. Anakin has no idea what to expect but he knows that he feels less lonely, when Ben is there, and somehow even though Ben has no idea he exists it feels like they're the only two people in the world, out in Anakin's workshop in the middle of the night.

Anakin Googles him, because he's kind of worried that if he's on the university radio station then maybe that means he's some university kid and Anakin has a crush on a nineteen-year-old (even though he doesn't sound anything like a college student), and all he finds is the radio station website, which has a huge page for all their other shows but Guiding Light gets exactly one sentence: "Ben Kenobi has been hosting Guiding Light since 2004". So, probably not a kid, then, but he's got no social whatsoever, no pictures or online presence at all, and Anakin considers driving down to the station but dismisses that as too creepy so he just resigns himself to listening to Ben when he can.

And then one night Ben gets on the air and says, 'I've got nothing planned for tonight and I feel like chatting. Here's the number of the station. Anyone want to talk?'

Anakin swallows, picks up his phone, and dials the number.

[bugeyedfreaks]

Blossom - 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12, 16, 20, 23

A bounty of Blossom questions, yay! 🥰

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

I think at this point my blog could probably be described as both a general PPG fanblog AND a platform dedicated to defending Blossom… so I think I’ve exhausted myself on describing why I like her so much, and I feel like if I wrote it all again I'd just be repeating myself. But I mean, she's great! She's the kind of character who could (and sadly sometimes does) get easily written off as the "boring girly one," but she's so much more than that. She has a lot of very strong positive qualities and just as many interesting character flaws and quirks that I feel get overlooked by a lot of people.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Nothing. She’s been in way too many fandom crossovers as it is and it drives me bonkers. 🤣

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

I've been told by maaany people that I seem to have a lot in common with her, but I guess at least two things we share are the innate desire to want to do good and to be perfectionists in whatever we do (and, of course, we get really irritated when we don't reach our desired level of perfection).

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Gosh, well... I guess one thing is that she usually looks beeeeautiful in fanart. 😌 My opinions on older versions of Blossom (and those versions of the girls in general) are very nuanced, and I can be weird and picky about it, but I do really like some of the fits I've seen fanart of Blossom in (like yours for instance, her outfit is cool!). Many people make her look very fashionable, and I appreciate seeing my fave treated well like that.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I've written a lot about the mischaracterization of her character and how the fandom sometimes treats her so... weird (i.e. with shipping and stuff.. you know what I mean... 🥴). I also don’t like it when she’s written off as just some stuck-up, bossy jerk because… okay, yeah, she can be one, but that’s not all that she is! Not that Buttercup and Bubbles don't have their share of nuance, but I'd argue that Blossom has a whole lot more nuance to her. A lot of people don't seem to pick up on that, and the result is that she's either written off as preachy and boring or completely devoid of personality (which is... more often the case, unfortunately).

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

I kind of like the idea of her growing up to be a detective (or at least doubling down on her superheroism), mostly because of this plotline in one of the chapter books where her idea of becoming "grown up" is ditching her sisters and starting her own crime-solving business.

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

PPG/RRB and any of the ones that exist outside of the world of the show. Dexter’s Lab and Samurai Jack, for example, don’t canonically exist in the world, even though there’ve been little Easter eggs in all of the shows/some CN crossover stuff, and I’m a dopey little stickler for canon (…well, most of the time, anyway!).

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Me. I'm never onscreen but I play the role of "audience member" and so we should be besties. 😆

23. Favorite picture of this character?

Every picture of her is my favorite picture, but this one popped into my head when I started thinking about it. She looks so delightfully goofy, the queen of backyard cereal meals.

[linksthoughtbrambles]

Top 5 celestial bodies (stars, nebulae, planets, etc)

OOooooooh 🤩 - Here I go! This was not an easy decision to make. Counting down to #1... and warning - long post.

5. Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star in the constellation Orion - it's one of his shoulders:

I adore this object for many reasons. First of all, it's bewitching to see, in the night sky, how red it looks compared to all the other stars around it, like it does in the image above.

Second, this star is so huge that if it were where the Sun is right now, we would be inside it.

Red supergiant stars are in the last phase of their lives, when their cores are producing huge amounts of energy and have expanded, the star's surface being forced outward by the massive outward pressure generated within.

Third, this star is going to go supernova. In other words: BOOM. A few years ago, some massive brightness fluctuations made us wonder if it was about to blow--but it didn't. Instead, it formed a huge bulge on its surface, ejecting a large amount of material but not blowing up. That's what's in the artist's rendition at the top of this post. Here are the *real* images taken of (part) of this event - the whole thing wasn't imaged because no one knew it was going to happen before it began (these were taken by the Very Large Telescope in Chile - and yes, lol, that is actually its name).

If it does blow up, we'll be able to read by it at night here on Earth.

4. Galaxy Messier 87

Messier 87 (M87) is a giant elliptical galaxy at the heart of the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies. It's massive. MASSIVE. Where our own Milky Way may have up to 400 billion stars, M87 has more than a trillion. It's pictured below, and if you think "hey that doesn't look like a galaxy," it's because it is a totally different kind from our own. Imagine a giant star-ball. Like a beehive swarming with stars in every single direction, only there are more than a trillion bees. Unlike our galaxy, which has lots of nebulas - collections of gas and dust - M87 consists almost exclusively of stars.

That's why it just looks like one, big glow in this picture.

Except.... you see that jet sticking out from the middle?

That is what makes M87 so incredible to me - it's a jet of charged particles being fired directly out of the magnetic field of M87's central, supermassive black hole. That one black hole is so powerful, it's firing these particles out into space a distance of ten times the width of our entire galaxy in each direction.

We would NOT want to be in that thing's way. It would irradiate the Earth. We wouldn't be able to exist here.

That black hole is one of two that have ever had their event horizons directly imaged. Here it is (the view in polarized light - there are others, too):

Next.

3. The Orion Molecular Cloud Complex

This gorgeous image taken by Matt Harbison contains pretty much the entire structure of this very nearby star-forming region of our galaxy, only 1,500 light years away from Earth. That might sound far, but it really isn't. Our galaxy is 100,000 light years wide. This thing is right in our backyard. (Or more accurately... we're in its). Take a good look at the shape of the star formation in this picture. Then look back at the pic near the top that showed the location of that red supergiant star, Betelgeuse. Now look back here. Look familiar? This is the same constellation, just imaged far, far longer to be able to see the faint light from these gorgeous clouds within it. Betelgeuse is the red star near the bottom left.

This thing spans a huge area of the sky. If you held your hand out, your arm straight and fingers splayed and looked at how big it was against the sky, you wouldn't be able to cover this whole structure. It is so huge and so near to us in space. But the light from these clouds is gentle, and you really need a camera to pick much of it up.

This beautiful area contains many famous nebulas, and they're all part of the same complex, connected to each other: The Horsehead Nebula, The Orion Nebula, the Flame Nebula, and reflection nebula Messier 78, among others. Lots of stars are being born here, and there are many already-born baby stars.

2. Titan

Titan is the largest moon of Saturn, the second-largest moon in our Solar System, and is larger than the planet Mercury. If it weren't orbiting Saturn, it would be a planet in its own right. It's the only moon in the Solar System with a thick atmosphere (it's twice as thick as Earth's!).

Titan's atmosphere is so thick you can't see through it in visible light. We need to use other forms of light, like infrared, to pierce it. The atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen, like the Earth's, but the orange haze is there because of huge amounts of hydrocarbons (methane, ethane, and various alcohols). But you can also see this lovely layer of blue air around the thick orange haze. This layer is the thing that truly astonishes me about Titan.

It's called a photochemical haze. In that layer, components in TItan's atmosphere interact with the sunlight that strikes the top of the atmosphere. Molecules are separated, then rearranged into new, more complicated structures.

The structures it makes...

...are amino acids.

...

Yes, you read that right. Amino acids. The building blocks of life, of proteins. Titan is the only place in the entire universe we know of other than Earth which contains these molecules critical to life as we know it.

Titan has an environmental cycle, very much like Earth's, in which hydrocarbons run fluid in lakes and rivers along its surface, evaporate, become clouds, become rain, become snow, and fill its lakes and streams back up again. Its mountains have hydrocarbon snowcaps. Apart from just being cool, this means there's energy on Titan to feed the bottom rung of an ecosystem. If we're going to look somewhere in the Solar System for life, this is one of the top targets.

Also, some cool infrared pics of the surface:

Here comes my top choice, below this.

It might surprise you.

The Earth

The Earth is a teeny, tiny planet near a star called Sol. It orbits that star once every 31,558,149.7 seconds. For a rocky world, it's pretty big and it has a lot of radioactive material at its core! That's what lets its insides stay so warm and molten. It spins once every 86,164.09 seconds, which in the grand scheme of things is quite fast. This churns up that nice, warm, molten core and turns it into a dynamo. It creates a big, beautiful magnetic bubble around the Earth which keeps it safe from the most devastating types of radiation coming from its star. This lets it bask in the star's light while being safe. It's a haven for these fragile little things we call life.

And here it is, pictured below.

Do you see it? It's a tiny, bright blue speck of dust in a sunbeam.

The picture below, titled 'Pale Blue Dot,' was taken by the Voyager 1 spaceship as it passed the orbit of Neptune. The ship turned around to snap one last picture of its home before it continued on its journey out beyond the bounds of the Solar System.

I love the Earth.

I can't possibly do any better in describing what makes this place so special than Carl Sagan originally did, so I'll quote him:

"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

...And we've never found anywhere else quite like it. Even with all the planets we've discovered orbiting other stars, there's no clear path, no direction we can say, 'Yes, let's go there!' should we ruin this oasis we live on.

Earth is so, so, so precious. It's incalculably rare. My humble request is that we all give it the love it deserves. 💞

[slashingdisneypasta]

OMG OMG OMG OMG BABY DRAGON LOTTIE AND PRINCESS POPPY BABY DRAGON LOTTIE AND PRINCESS POPPY BABY DRAGON LOTTIE AND PRINCESS POPPY-

Ok ok... Lottie is your OC, so whether these headcannons would be true on Lotties end is up to you... but I NEEDD to share my thoughts of these two with you!

Ok idk about you, but I'm imagining that when Poppy was brought to the castle, Lottie is at that dragon age where they are still so smoll and fat- like toddlers I guess XD she's a dragon, so she's not as small as a human baby, but I hope to God she's at least not too big for Poppy to carry 🥺🥺

The day that Smartass realized that Poppy would make the perfect live in baby sitter was the day that Poppy was certain she was going to die; she was holding Lottie and cooing to her, though none of the other dragons realized her attachment to baby Lottie yet (that she knew of. Maybe some of the others could tell?), and Poppy was kind of scared of Smartass finding out, thinking he wouldn't like her messing around with his kid. So when they both nearly ran into each other while rounding a corner, Poppy is trying to explain, trying to put Lottie down- but the little hatchling has dug her claws into her clothes like a cat so now Lottie is hanging off of poor Poppy's arms XD needless to say, she was very much relieved when Smartass was just happy that Lottie was happy ^^

Poppy now uses Lottie as a scapegoat for herself. Wether it's out of love for Lottie or not wanting to get their asses handed to them by Smartass, none of the dragons will mess with Poppy too much if she claims she's taking care of Lottie. She uses this especially with Greasy. Just-

Poppy: *just existing*

Dragon!Greasy: 😏😏😏😏😏😏

Poppy: *immediately gets up and speed walks away* Lottie! Where are you? Your father says it's dinner time!

So Lottie dies this with Wheezy most I bet, but imagine if she crawked onto Poppy and just... Decided she was going to nap right there XD and since Poppy isn't a huge dragon who could easily pick up baby Lottie without waking her, Pops is now pinned under this adorable scaly baby for lord knows how long. Imagine the guys' reaction to this!

Dragon!Smartass: Oi! Princess! Where are 'ya!?"

Poppy: *lying on the ground underneath a sleepy lizard baby Lottie: Shh!! She's asleep! >:(

Dragon!Smartass: ...

Dragon!Smartass: Alright then *walks away quietly*

Ok this is partially lore for the Dragon AU. Since the patrol took over a castle, that castle also had a village too most llikely. It's abandoned now, and nature has taken over the houses and fixtures by now, but this is basically Lottie's backyard now! Her dad and/or unlles will fly her down there so she can run around and play ^^ it's also good to help her practice her hunting abd flying skills.

With that, picture this with me if you will. Since Ppppy is now Lotties designated babysitter, once the dragons trust her enough to not try to run, she gets to come on these outings too! It's the first time in a while that Poppy got to be outside the stony, cold walls of the castle, and out in the open. And Lottie is just showing off everything to her! The little broken fountain that used to be the town square. The trees growing out of some of the little houses. And if this is spring, maybe there are plenty of flowers too ^^

Which, if I may add a touch of Smartass and Poppy development (romantic or platonic you decide); if it is spring and flowery, imagine that Poppy starts to make Lottie a flower crown! Smartass is watching this, there's a soft look in his eye because of his daughter's happiness. But then Lottie asks Poppy to make a flower crown for daddy too! Smartass doesn't really want one, but neither he nor Poppy can say no to Lottie. Then when Poppy puts it over his head, he makes some dry comment about how the flowers will just die anyway, so what's the point in these damn things? But then Poppy replies to that with, "They may not last like silver and gold, but that just gives all the more reason to treasure them now while you have the chance."

Unfortunately this is all I have XD I hope I didn't butcher Lotties character 😅 again, feel free to ignore or let me know if this wouldn't be Lottie ^^

YES! BABY DRAGON LOTTIE AND PRINCESS POPPY!!

Um, these are all canon?? Did you mind meld with me??? XD I especially love Poppy using Lottie as an excuse to get away from Greasy XDD You know I absolutely love it when Poppy gets a little toony and creative XDDDDD (You remember that time we talked about Poppy and Greasy getting dropped in the Phantom universe and Greasy's snuck into the walls in the women's dressing room so Poppy evacuates them all saying there's a fire or something?? That still lives on in my head all the time😂) And omg, Poppy lying on the ground with this giant dragon bubba on her stomach and she's just like... fine with it XD And giant Smartass Daddy Dragon being like- okay that's fine 😂😂😂 I love that too much XDD

May I just... add something? Perhaps some... GrownUp!Dragon Lottie with Princess Poppy??

~

Imagine another Dragon, not part of the group, threatening Poppy. He's this big, terrifying aggro thing- and Smartass just pissed him off even worse. So he goes for their weak spot, the little delicate human princess with them. He's just brewing some hot steamy flame in the back of his throat to roast her alive with, when Lottie roars and flies directly in front of Poppy. She drops on the ground so hard that it shakes and Poppy trips to the ground, but then theirs a wing fluttering over her and Poppy can only hear what's happening now. She can hear Lottie snarling and she feels almost unbearable heat crash against the wing- but she is not hurt. She hears a horrible snapping sound, like teeth and gum, and Lottie's wing flutters over head - waivers in its position, - , but Lottie does not move. A few more moments pass and then Poppy hears a whoosh, like the opposing dragon took off, and the wing slips away from her. Lottie's neck is bleeding, but she's grinning. "You should see the other guy."

.

Imagine Lottie after meeting her uncle Ryan (A shapeshifter in this au possibly?? Haven't decided yet. This definitely fits Rena's deceptive nature, though), and Smartass getting protective of her... and right beside him, is this tiny little princess Poppy getting protective of her too XD Of this giant, fearsome dragon XD

.

Imagine Lottie getting sick (Some dragon flu, I dunno), and Poppy trying to take care of her even though she's a big giant adult dragon now XDD Dragging around full sized sheets for Lottie's drippy nose, asking Wheezy or Stupid to help Lottie get to places, etc. Meanwhile Lottie, uptight and independent to a fault is constantly trying to brush her off- until Shiny comes to help Poppy (cuz they are in LOVE- ) and threatens her a little when tiny Momma Pops isn't looking XD Shiny: Mhmm, yeah honey we're okay! ~ You got talk to Smarty, okay? I'll watch the lil girl ^^ Poppy: Thank you Shiny. *leaves* Shiny: Okay listen here you little shit- Lottie: 🙄 *sniffle* =_= *sneeze* =_= bring it.

.

Imagine Lottie and Shiny teaming up to scare Greasy away from Poppy. Like- Lottie: Okay Grease, we're telling you this for your own good, okay? Shiny, can you show him the boulder? Shiny: *pats a boulder as big as Greasy's head* This big-boy right here, Grease. Get a good look. Lottie: You fucking Poppy would be like if we tried to ram this up your ass hole right now. Shiny: *gesturing to the boulder like she's a model on an early morning shopping show now* (;

[gear-project]

Two Questions. 1)Any idea on how Raven's Slow Field Needles are made? I wondered for some time if they were just regular needles by enchanted by time magic or something. 2) Is it possible that Marlene, I-No's guitar, was created from the Backyard and falls into the same category as Ramlethal's swords and likely Happy Chaos' guns? I just realized it was never explained how I-No came across her guitar nor did it imply she created it.

I believe I've covered how "Instroments" work, yes?

Instroments are Objects imbued with Magic enchantment on a basic level.

Whether that's a powerful OutRage, or a Floor-based Seal (similar to Geomancy).

In Raven's case, his Needles are enchanted with a Barrier that restricts kinetic movement… the central crux of the spell can be dispelled if one simply pulls the needle out of where it was placed. This is exactly what Sol does in the original fight with Raven during GG2's battle. He had to slowly walk towards the needle and pull it out of the ground to dispel the field.

It's not a Time Magic, per se… that would be far too powerful and require too much Mana… instead it's similar to a Dimensional Seal (or as Sol calls it, an Ouroboros Loop). It's because Raven can produce a ton of these Needles that it's such an annoying attack.

The flipside is, Sol could actually grab the needle and throw it BACK at Raven if the timing was appropriate.

Secondly, Marlene has existed for as long as I-No has exhibited her powers, so yes… in a way it is similar to Backyard Weaponry… however, unlike conventional weapons that simply "enhance" the capabilities of the user…

Marlene has more of a symbiotic relationship with I-No… in essence Marlene is a part of I-No herself… the whole package deal. In one of the earliest pictures showing I-No (in Lighting the Argent Novel), Marlene is shown "wrapped around" I-No's waist.

That's also why, later on during Strive's events… I-No is so powerful she doesn't even NEED Marlene to fight. Because of the sentimental value the Guitar had to Axl Low… he managed to steal it from her.

It didn't really change the battle situation, but it was, in essence, a reminder of what kind of person I-No used to be.

While you COULD still say that Marlene (as a weapon/guitar/both) is technically a "supernatural instroment"… only I-No could really use it that way…

To anyone else, it would just be a normal Guitar.

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

If their new friend says that in her backyard there is a sabertooth tiger that decidd to live there, thery do not belive her untils she shows them an image or videos, how would they react?

Undertale Sans - .... Uh. The joke is not funny anymore. You can't keep that in your garden it's dangerous. He will not do it for you but he will try his best to convince you to call a zoo or something. You can't just live with a sabertooth tiger in your garden, what if he becomes hungry and eats you ?

Undertale Papyrus - He's so excited and he's coming with you to see it. He never saw that kind of big cat before and immediately open the windows to invite it inside, thinking it would act like... you know, an actual cat. Except now there's a sabertooth tiger roaming in front of the door you locked yourselves in after the nice kitty tried to rip your arm off. You're calling Sans for help. Sans calls Undyne for help, he's not risking his 1 HP.

Underswap Sans and Papyrus - It was fine, you were hiding in the bushes, watching the cat. When suddenly Honey sneezed, because he is allergic to cat. Then the tiger, angry, charged you. Then Blue thought it was a good idea to jump on his back to hold him back. Now Honey and you are hiding in a tree while Blue is screaming for help, riding the sabertooth tiger that wants to eat him. Welp. Alphys is not going to be happy about this.

Underfell Sans - Nah, he's not buying it. There's noway a thing like that can exist and he doesn't want to hear more. It's better for his sanity. He doesn't want to live in a world where huge Doomfanger's lost cousin can kick his ass.

Underfell Papyrus - *GASP* "A KITTY KITTY... I MEAN CAT. A CAT." Phew, he almost loses it for a moment. Edge will insist to see the cat. Ok, he was not expecting it was that big nor that aggressive, but he doesn't care. He is madly in love with Hellbringer and he's adopting him. You can't do anything to dissuade him. Despite the tiger trying to kill him, Edge carries him home like it's nothing. Something like two minutes after, Red teleports in your room. "what thE ACTUAL FU-". He's not happy about this.

Horrortale Sans - "aaaaw, he's cute." Then he takes out his phone and shows you a picture of the cryptid that walking in his garden sometimes. It's Godzilla. It's not cute. But Oak insists Godzilla loves his chickens and his cakes. You are so confused.

Horrortale Papyrus - He screams, then takes your phone and lectures you about how you can't keep prehistorical animals in your garden because they can eat you. What did you learn to school god dammit? He's not letting you go before you call someone to take care of the cat.

Swapfell Sans - "you're shitting me. This thing doesn't exist." He's so proud of himself. See? He doesn't believe supernatural crap all the time! He's a grown up skeleton. Except then he follows you home, and sees the tiger and now Nox is having an existential crisis on your couch. What if there was more than the sabertooth tiger? Fantoms? Demons? Ladder ghost??? He's having a panic attack. He's never getting out of his house ever again and throws salt on every door of the house.

Swapfell Papyrus - The big cat likes Rus for some reason. So Rus decided to take him home to prank his brother. Nox is traumatised now. He doesn't want to get out of the room and threats his brother to call an inquisitor to purge all the heresies in this house, including Rus. Rus can't stop laughing. He's giving the tiger to a zoo after that, before his brother tried to drag him on a stake or something. He's taking a selfie before though.

[vergess]

I appreciate your life thriving as well. To answer "transfaabulous" question: i am doing fine in fact amazing for myself. I have a long list of deeds of things I've done throughout. I think what was it? Maybe the year at best. And then even then a little bit past that. it's been pretty good and actually I don't take any meds anymore. What I do now is I take CBD. I've actually found it more optimizable for what I need. A supplement to be utilized for what I do because I am a type of person where I'm very much more active when I'm trying to get things done and when I take any of the other antidepressants or anything, it's too uncontrolled on on my end for when I'm trying to think of things and process stuff. with the way it deals with my anxiety i'm able to actually optimize pushing myself more in that way so that i can go through more anxious situations. Though I tend to take a few beers or cigar maybe here or there every few months, or maybe even spacing that out even further. It's actually surprisingly tedious for me to keep up interest in habits like that.

And even then, technically, that's only half of it. I am trying to do more, so process myself psychologically and analytically with my own behaviors. I've been studying a lot of Carl Jung specifically. And other forms of various types of psychology. not only that some philosophies. I did dipped in Netzech a bit. Sun Tzu, Miyamoto Musashi, Marcus Aurelius, and a bit of Aristotle soon coming up. I have also Taoist literature soon arriving and I'm looking into more philosophical and. What's the word? Symbolic and spiritual studies concerning ceremonial magic and certain other. Umm. Concepts. It's a lot of. High processing conscious thought, but I have been making very much great progress in actually applying myself. I've been making good money on a couple of jobs and I am soon to looking forward to opening a business soon through a DBA or something like that. Long term, I'm looking into a lot of various big projects, but they'll need more capital and means of getting those done. But I have the books ready and I take a lot of studying.

My health has been pretty good as well. I've I think I've lost. What was it? 4 inches on my waist? No, wait, it was 6 alright. Uh OK. I've trimmed off like a few. Was it 10 20 pounds? Forty, maybe. No. No, I was heavier way back when this was all relevant. Probably 40 to 50 relatively. Been trying to keep up swimming and Weight lifting. And all while I've been doing that, you know all the self health growth stuff I've gotten decently into cooking. I'd like to make a few mean burgers, steaks. Uh, what was it? Octopus. Liver, chicken liver, beef liver? Fish, looking into bone marrow. All types of **** I just throw on that grill. I love to take pictures. It's fun making that stuff decent and right to tste Sometimes I still stick to drawing. But not as much. Practice a little bit of acoustic guitar, but haven't been able to come up with an idea of where I want to go with that. I feed all sorts of birds. rabbits ducks squirrels in my back yard like my whole backyard is full of its own ecosystem. and considering how movies have been and all of the current stuff i've decided to just try to go into exploring operas and stage plays that they could put on in the movie theater instead. It's very fun stuff, very intense and like interesting to kind of. Analyze.

Family relations are good and I have a couple of friends who do well sticking around to, you know, get some activities done when we can. I've also found it better to just not exist on the Internet as a persona or anything. It doesn't work for me like that. Computers for me are more of a tool or something in that manner for calculations or anything.

If anything I have become a stable powerhouse of what Steve was, and what Steve is still considering all the time back then ago. I am the "adventure" and the "experience": as I've been told.

==End of Submission 2==

Steve, my dude, I'm glad you're doing okay, but I don't even begin to have the energy to dissect everything going on in this.

I think your voice to text think cannot spell Nietzsche (which fair neither can I), and let's just leave it at that.

Does your doctor know you're only taking CBD to replace these medications?

[nishimochas]

❁﹝ enha!tegories ﹞

‣ ⒈  enhypen as some of my favorite cottagecore-esque songs.

❁﹝ lee heeseung as like the dawn by the oh hellos. ﹞

“ and like the dawn, you broke the dark and my whole earth shook. i was sleeping in the garden when i saw you. ”

light crept through the windows over your slumbering figure, heeseung's eyes steady over your face, studying every curve, angle, every dip and crevice. a sigh escapes him, content, as his fingers brush over your features in a soothing manner. the soft simper he wore blooms into a smile as your eyes begin to flutter open. you share his smile with a sleepy one of yours and snuggle closer to his frame.

"good morning, sunshine."

the moniker is met with a chuckle as he leans in to press a gingerly kiss on your crown. your arms circle his frane loosely, savoring the warmth. heeseung's heart swells when his eyes meet yours. he knows he hasn't yet seen a more beautiful sight, and he doubts such a sight to even exist in earth.

to wake up next to you for all the mornings of his life, to have you as his first sight with each break of dawn – nothing would ever compare.

“ you were the brightest shade of sun i had ever seen. ”

.

× 🌼 ×

.

❁﹝ jay park jongseong as home by jacob banks ﹞

“ so baby, baby, won't you let me in? i'm knocking on your door so let me in. i just need someone to love, i just need someone to hold. ”

the afternoon had been quaint, pleasant and proper enough for a leisurely nap. you curled up within the blankets as your system drowns out the tv noise, thoughts drifting away. as if in instinct, your hand reaches for the mess of pillows by your side – where jay usually sits, limbs in a tangle with yours as you both doze off. you couldn't hold back a sigh; it wasn't quite like home without him there.

buzz buzz.

you check your phone for the notification. an immediate smile tugs on the corner of your lips upon reading the message.

[ from: jjongddaengie 😎 ]

i'm almost home, baby. wait for me?

and so you set your phone aside and envelope yourself with the soft fabric, fighting the urge to giggle in anticipation. as the white noise of the movie you half paid attention to lulls you to sleep, you enter oblivion in the knowledge that in not very long, jay will come back home and see you as you are. you know you'll be greeted with two arms around your waist and a kiss on the shoulder; and at that moment, you know you'll always find home right where he is.

“ i need someone to kiss goodnight, and to give my heart a home. ”

.

× 🌼 ×

.

❁﹝ jake shim jaeyoon as coffee by beabadoobee ﹞

“ don't stay awake for too long, don't go to bed; i'll make a cup of coffee for your head, i'll get you up and going out of bed ”

nights like these, when it is calm and the winds are gentle, are best enjoyed with a cup of hot coffee. it's become a habit for you jake to lounge on your front porch, each with a steaming cup with hand as you two chat about everything there is under the sun and beyond. this night was not very different; same seat, same sweaters, same mugs, only this time, there was complete silence between the two of you.

you'd expected it to be tense, for an unsettling echo of quiet to descend between you. but much to your surprise, this... this was comfortable.

"jakey?"

"yes, love?"

you breath almost hitches at his answer – no matter how many times he's been affectionate with you, it'll always feel special. different. like there was no other soul in the entire universe who could ever say it the way jake does.

you take a sip from your coffee cup and glance back at him, wearing a proud grin only he could ever give you.

"let's do this more often."

“ won't you come down and get me? i like it when you hold me tight. ”

.

× 🌼 ×

.

❁﹝ park sunghoon as yellow by coldplay ﹞

“ look at the stars, look how they shine for you and everything you do; yeah, they were all yellow. ”

driving out at such an ungodly hour was, prior to being an impulse, something you and sunghoon have given much thought to. it was only when the two of you were still wide awake after having tried everything that you hopped into the car for your late night escapade. a song you weren't familiar with played in the radio station to fill the silence, but you were far too focused on counting the billboards to notice.

"twenty two... twenty three... ooo look, it's one of those ads about billboard ads–"

you roll down the car window to see further out, still counting under your breath each time you pass one by. he glances to his side and sees you; you two looked so cliche, almost straight out of a music video. he pulled over at an empty park and your displeasure was immediately made known.

"hey, i wasn't done counting..."

sunghoon chuckles from the driver's seat and pulls you in by the wrist, lips pressing softly against your temple in the most delicate of brushes.

"you can go back to counting when i'm done kissing you."

“ your skin and bones turn into something beautiful. do you know i love you so? ”

.

× 🌼 ×

.

❁﹝ kim sunoo as strawberry blonde by mitski ﹞

“ i love everybody because i love you – i dont need the city and i dont need proof. all i need, darling, is a life in your shape; i picture it, soft, and i ache. ”

the sun was especially kind today – it's warmth remained watchful over the grass you and sunoo sat on, but through a veil of clouds so as to not be so glaring. the perfect day for a picnic, as he said so himself. he always goes all out for them; whatever you craved for, he had it all. you looked through his basket with a giggle, noticing a few delicacies he doesn't usually bring.

"why macaroons?", you ask while helping him set up the mat and the containers.

"didn't you say you wanted macaroons last week? i thought i should bring some for you! i tried baking them but they didn't turn out very nice–"

his babbling was halted with a macaroon to the mouth, sending you both into a fit of laughter. you'll never get tired of how considerate he is, how much he pays attention to the things you say and how much sunoo truly cares. you popped a strawberry macaroon into your own mouth and rested your temple against his shoulder. now, you couldn't help but wonder: would it have tasted better if he made it?

“ look at you, strawberry blonde – fields rolling on, i love it when you call my name. ”

.

× 🌼 ×

.

❁﹝ yang jungwon as santa monica dream by angus and julia stone ﹞

“ goodbye to my santa monica dream – fifteen kids in the backyard drinking wine. you tell me stories of the sea, and the ones you left behind. ”

it's nearing three in the afternoon and jungwon's just about finished with helping you pack. he ushers the last suitcase out and into the car where your father waits for you. it wasn't difficult to tell that he was trying to avoid your gaze.

"hey..." you take his hand in yours, making him see you eye to eye. there's something quite crestfallen with how he looked at you; you had to go and pursue your dream away from home, he knew that, and he was happy for you. but you knew him better than that.

"i'll miss you, dork."

he could only give you a little smile, but it was more than enough. you look behind him and see the fridge door, battered with polaroids, receipts and letters. reminders of you, so he'll never forget.

you wave goodbye and so does he, not caring at all to wipe the tear streaking down his cheek. he'd miss you so and you all the same, but no matter where you are, or where you'll go – jungwon knows he'll be dreaming of you each and every night.

“ i'm singing songs about the future, wondering where you are. ”

.

× 🌼 ×

.

❁﹝ ni-ki nishimura riki as kiss me by sixpence none the richer ﹞

“ nightly, beside the green, green grass. swing, swing, swing the spinning step, you wear those shoes and i will wear that dress. ”

"hurry, we'll miss the fireworks!"

ni-ki half dragged you through the open venue, clad only in socks and you in his shoes with you broken heels in one hand. you could barely hold your laughter; you'd assume the punch had no alcohol, but given how giddy you were, it wouldn't have been surprising if it were revealed to be booze.

"cinderella! wanna get out of here?", he shouted beside you, the sentiment almost drowned out by the cacophony of fireworks and cheer. you took him by the wrist and maneuvered you two through the crowd. he'd figured that was a yes. you two found a cozy nook under the garden tree, spending the rest of the prom night watching from afar and laughing at his dirty socks.

"man, i'm seriously convinced that thing had alcohol in it." he laughs and nods along, peering over for a better view of your face.

"is that why you're so pink, then? drunk blush?"

immediately flustered, you hurry to cover your warm cheeks with two hands. another laugh escapes him – you almost expected him to tease you. but instead, ni-ki takes your hands away from your face, nudging your chin up so your eyes will meet his. you couldn't miss the smug grin he wore even if you wanted to.

"hey, kiss me."

“ lift your open hand, strike up the band and make the fireflies dance; silver moon's sparkling, so kiss me. ”

❁ :: i'm honestly kinda disappointed in this HSHSB brain go brr, but i hope u guys like it 🥺💕 (edit: i really should have proofread this wow)

[meowtastrophe]

to my eight-yr-old self

How are you?

Well, it’s the year 2018 and I have to say --no, we don’t have flying cars yet. Well, we still have aeroplanes if you count that as a flying car-- you’ve come far. Who knows you are able to keep your life till now, right?

No, you are not taking HRM because you are not in college. 

No, you did not slack off and had to repeat high school or something. 

No, you did not stop school. 

The curriculum just kind of changed haha. The DepEd decided to add 2 more years in our high school so you are now in grade 12. It’s not too bad, don’t worry. Over the years you’ll realise that you want to keep studying so upon learning about the change, you were actually quite glad about it. 

You’ll be graduating this year so just hang in there. I still remember that ‘to my 18-yr-old letter’ you wrote me--on the diary of wimpy kid thingy--back in Grade 3. You asked me that I should take the Hotel and Restaurant Management course no matter what. Well... you kinda took a different path. In seniour high--that’s what they call the grades 11&12-- you have to choose from these 3 tracks: 

STEM, which includes sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics and all that hard stuff;

HUMSS, which is Humanities and Social Sciences, and;

 ABM, which is the one you expect me to take because it’s all about Business. 

Guess, what? You took the second one HAHAHAHA. 

What happened? 

A lot had happened, actually. Let’s breeze over it:

In grade 3, you got your period. 

     You got home from school and went straight to the comfort room as usual. When you pulled down your underwear--there, it surprised you. BLOOD. You absolutely had no idea what the heck was that. You thought at that very moment that you about to die. Mom went abroad when you were at a young age so she never got to teach you these things.  Don’t worry though because luckily, mom’s on vacation that day so she was there to guide you the essentials. You did not know how to use a pad. You opened it and well... kept on ‘opening’ it. You kept peeling the outer layer to a neverending pad of cotton. Mom saw your struggle but she just chuckled and gave you a new one. 

In grade 4, you didn’t have friend yet 

      But, you were hanging in there. Nothing happened here, really. You were still adjusting and did not have a permanent friend yet. You just watched anime, edited pictures in photoshop, and all that. You were still very very very shy around this time. You couldn’t speak at all. You were one of the quietest people in the school. You had a very bad social anxiety. You were still discovering yourself. But you hanged in there. 

In grade 5, you met Y, became friends with her and; 

      You left home. This one greedy sister of your grandmother of yours (mom side), let’s call her L, took your childhood home. You still remember what she told you “che, e ate jemima mu naman neh.’’ And I still remember how baffled you were. On how she pulled out the barangay card and showed up in front of our (you and l) home with barangay officials for some reason. On how you thought “wait what? why are getting our home? aren’t you guys rich? you have a backyard pool for christ’s sake. ate jemima’s life--your guys’ life--is so much better than us. what need does she have in our home? why ours? where will we go now?”. Fortunately you found a house near-- literally in front-- of your cousin’s (dad side) house. You tried living there. This is just the start.

In grade 6, you are still best friends with Y. However;

      It was not like before. Your dad started neglecting you more. He got depressed. But of course, you did not know that at a young age. He wouldn’t go to the house for days and leave you with no money nor food. You liked going to school because it distracted you but there were times where your dad didn’t let you go to school even if you are all dressed up because he’d go to the house drunk in the morning so he’d rather catch up on sleep rather than dropping you to school. There was even a time where you guys fought and ignored each other for a month or two and that’s where you felt alone the most. You felt like even your aunt, uncle, and cousins parallel to your house were avoiding you--which you were certain they did--so you didn’t have anyone. You were glad that you were on your school break and you didn’t have to worry about not being able to go to school with all that is happening. Most of the time, you’d have no food to eat. Your electricity was cut and you’d steal from your neighbour’s. You also won’t have any drop of water. It was no different from being homeless except, you just somehow found a long-time roof.

      It’s not all that bad though because you got to live the simple life. It was fun in a sense that since you did not and could not get everything, the littlest things were enough to make you--everyone in the family--happy.  You learned to appreciate the smallest of things. You learned how hard it so to not be able to eat a meal 3 times a day so it’s very hard for you to leave a single grain of rice on your place and you'd accept any food offered to you at the present. You learned how to live through the struggle you faced... for a short while at least. 

    Then you snitched on your dad to your mom.

In grade 7, high school came, you were not classmates with Y and; 

     You did not live with your dad. After graduating from grade school, you moved to San Fernando to live with your grandfather (mom side). You also lived with his girlfriend, let’s call her M, and M’s daughter, let’s call her N. The first few months were quite alright. They took good care of you. Made you breakfast and all that. At one point, however, everything went south and you don’t know when and how. M just managed to break you mentally. Pour salt on the already existing--but small-- wound. Well, I guess it was our (you and I's) fault. This was your first time living in with other people. You got used to relying on others. You were not used to doing chores and all that because you never had to do that back at home and at the house. M would compare you to N. Grandfather would turn a blind eye on the situation-- not seeing or hearing anything. M mentioned on how she now understands as to why your dad neglected you. As to why he doesn't like you. That hit you hard. You started blaming yourself for everything. You realized how useless you were. You started thinking that no one loves you... not even your dad. You felt much more alone.

     You regretted snitching on your dad. 

In grade 8, you met A and she helped you a lot. 

     Things got worse. You hated yourself more. You did unimaginable things; such as the vice of slice and trying to kick the bucket. However, A was there. That person’s presence comforted you. Because of that person, breath still leaves your mouth. What happened to Y? She had other groups of friends haha. It’s not her fault though. Don’t blame her. She has her own life. She has the right to choose who to befriend and who to hang out with. She was liked by people so it’s not her fault that she drifted away from you for a while. It was all fine because, at the very least, A was there. Also, around November, you moved to the house your grandmother (mom side) worked hard for. The house was much better than home but it did not still felt like home. You started living with your dad and grandfather. M went abroad and N lived with her grandmother. 

In grade 9, you were not classmates with A.

      You felt A, too, slowly drifting away from you. You felt like she didn’t want to hang out with you anymore and you thought to yourself ‘well no one ever sticks to me. not even my dad so I understand’. So you took the initiative to leave her alone. You also did not blame her and thought that same as you did to Y. And Y, well, was still living her own life but you guys are still friends. But you had a change in a group of friends too. You befriended some people in your classroom and, though it was just short-term, they were enough to fill the void of loneliness. 

In grade 10, you thought everything is finally going well.

     Until your grandfather was the one who neglected this time. He was the one in charge of the finances at the house but he used them for his vices. He did not get to pay for the house for 3 months and naturally, my grandmother got mad. She asked for my grandfather to leave and he did. My dad, this time, was determined to change and redeem himself. We both thought that he’s going to be handling the money but guess what, L--yes, that L-- was the one put in charge. My grandmother's mind was clouded. She became one of those feminists who thinks ‘men are trash’ or something. Since L lives in the same subdivision as ours she was the most convenient choice. Soon after, they also asked dad to leave the house. You got separated again, for the second time. You lived alone in the house. You would go to L’s house for meals but you still lived alone in the house. You got compared, again, to Jemima, her daughter. Well, you have always been compared to her. You are connected to her because you grew up with her. When our family sees you, they always ask you about her. About how and where she is. If she's doing fine. They never asked me tho. She was an extrovert so she had more friends, much more sociable, the family likes her more for she is much more approachable, she's much more famous, famous enough for the city to know her, and she is prettier. You cannot forget the time when Jemima had food leftovers and L was like ‘don’t you want to eat it? so that become pretty like her’.

     Around this time was also your saddest birthday. It was your sweet 16th. You did not have a huge celebration because you just planned to treat your friends. Mother sent you money, your dad gave it to you, and then that's it. However, I was alone that day. You don't know where but some reason dad wasn't there. The house was literally empty. You actually tried contacting your friends prior to the day: Y, K, and A. Yes, only 3, you're quiet picky with the people you get close with. But, they couldn't make it. Your birthday is in summer so they all have their plans. Enjoying their vacation and all that. Living their life. No one could come. And then,

     3 days later, A came to the house. Carrying McDonald's and a small cake. You... I never felt so appreciated then.

In grade 11, mom went home.

     My grandfather died due to stroke so mom had to go home. She asked dad to stay in the house for a while because he was a pretty convenient errand boy. But what’s the point of errands when you don’t have money? L was holding the money. She is a busy girl, you know. That’s why mom was having a hard time whenever she needed money because L always didn’t have the time. So Mom just asked for the card, where the money is, so there won’t be any difficulties. But L didn’t want to give it and was like ‘don’t worry, your money is safe with me’. And we were all left dumbfounded. 

   Everything changed since then. 

What changed? 

Mom put you in charge of the finances but since you were busy with school and everything, you passed the torch to my dad. My mom and grandmother let dad live with you because if not, you will be alone again. You have been living peacefully since then. And now, you are writing this blog. 

So why did I take HUMSS instead of ABM? Around grade 8, I realized that I wanted to be a psychologist. Maybe because that is what I needed the most that time. I wanted to become what I needed. At the same time, I thought I wanted to help those who were struggling like me but I realized that I just wanted to learn how to help myself. Since everyone would just leave me eventually, I wanted to learn how to take care of myself. That’s why you took interest in psychology. And over time while diving deeper into the field, I got fascinated by other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, psychopathy, and likewise. I took interest in the mind of criminals and now, I am now aiming to become a forensic psychologist. 

This may change again, though. Everything changes. Decisions are not absolute and that is fine. Just like what happened in the past years, you’ll never know what will happen. One day it’s like this and the next thing you know everything is going downhill. But do not worry about it because that doesn’t matter. You cannot control the situation and the things happening around you. You cannot defy the natural flow of things. What you can control, however, are your emotions. You can control how you react to things. It may be easier to be said than done but it helps a lot. How you approach the things being thrown at you will help you mentally. Just keep your composure and let the time pass. Focus at the very moment. At what is in front of you. Worry about the future later when it’s the next one on the plate. Your current challenge right now is writing this blog and you should you just focus on it. But make sure that whenever you do something, do your very best on it. You just can’t do things just because you have to. Since that should be the only worry you have, give your all to it. 

Do not worry about the future. About what you want to do for the rest of your life because you have the rest of your life to figure that out. 

[theticklishpear]

You always have the best advice, so query? I'm starting in on a story that's been bugging me for five years now, but I'm having a bit of trouble with it. Basically it's about a girl (young woman? 19yo) who inherits a decrepit old house from her murdered grandmother. The catch is the house is in an small college town in the rural south and it's populated solely by preternatural beings. Witches, werewolves, fae, kappa, etc. and she doesn't know. By small town I mean 40-70,000, so smallish. (A)

and the college is entirely preternatural beings as well. But MC doesn’t know anything about this because her grandmother married a human and got the hell out of dodge, basically. Anyways the house has a ghost who is not loving the roommate life, and MC just figures she’s got a small kid breaking in and tries to make friends with what is basically an angsty Victorian dude who died young and is bitter* about it and fashion. Anyways I’m struggling with the whole town bit since I grew up in a city and I only lived near a small town once while in a tiny ass college in Indiana for a year. I know I want them to be pretty set in their ways, since a lot of them are super old, and kinda racist in a ‘human?!?!!?’ type way. But beyond that I’m fairly lost? Also plot is killing me. I have a lot of subplots (tea witch? Tea witch!) but no real major plot. Super rambly sorry, but any advice you’ve got would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so like, I realize 40,000 is not what most consider a small town, but I’m basing this off the town near where I went to school. So Madison, Indiana? Which has an amazing downtown totally visit worthy. Thanks again though!!

Or…12,000 people. Where on Earth did I get 40,000??? Sorry ignore that last one. 40,000…. wow.

Thanks for the kind words! I do my best–and don’t worry about rambly. I tend to get rambly, too. Let’s see what I can jump-start for you.

I’m going to start with finding plot in your setting and how to deal with your subplot ideas first and then move on to That Small Town Feeling™ under a cut, if that’s okay.

Finding Plot

Plot is all about finding the story, and the story is sorting out what you want to talk to the audience about. If you’re just looking to show off the town and the scenarios the character has to deal with as she learns where she’s moved to, then you’re probably not looking for a huge, high-stakes, world-changing kind of story–you might be looking for smaller things to showcase the supernatural abilities and characteristics of the people around her.

It might help to think of this more in terms of shorter story arcs that overlap to create a larger picture of her life in this new, strange place. The old SyFy show Eureka is probably a good place to start looking to get a feel for the way these kinds of shorter-arcs-to-paint-a-larger-picture look.

Think about what her goals are in this new place. Why did she come? What is she trying to do? Is she trying to make new friends so she can feel more like she belongs? Is she trying to fix up the house so she can sell it? Is she looking for a job so she can actually afford to live here?

What kinds of conflicts do these goals create with the people in town? Are there folks who are actively opposed to her being in town? How do they react toward her? How do they keep standing in her way? Are there others who welcome her and go out of their way to give her opportunities, thus creating a bit of inter-town tension?

Some of the best initial conflict is going to be with the ghost in the house, obviously. So think about what his goals are and what he wants. How does he go about trying to accomplish those goals? Does he have friends that help him? This doesn’t have to be the whole story arc; at some point she’ll have to find out the nature of the town she’s arrived in, and the arc of dealing with a ghost rather than rowdy kids won’t be so important or intriguing. So how does their relationship change once she finds out his nature? Does he ever help her with anything?

What kinds of conflicts do the creatures’ natures provide for your character? Does she accept their mythic natures well? Does she take it poorly? How do these new identities change how she sees the town or how she interacts with it.

Struggling with “the story you want to tell” but not worldbuildingConcept Is Not PlotFrom Concept to PlotGetting Started with Your Story from @plotlinehotlineThe GOTE MethodHow to Transform Raw Inspiration Into a Solid Novel Plan from David Safford20 Basic Plots from @thewritershandbookNaNo Overview Week: Conflict Resources from @writeblrconnectionsBuilding Tension with the Six Key Components from @hollyhamwrites5 Moral Dilemmas That Make Characters and Stories Even Better

Handling the Ideas

For the ideas about other real Characters™ in town like your tea witch and whatnot, these are perfect characters for scenes! You can explore them through your character’s curiosity without having the weight of building an entire complex plot out for them. If, as you’re writing, they become a recurring character, then consider what they’re doing in the time they’re not “on-screen” with the main story. What are they pursuing? What are they trying to accomplish with their life? What kinds of troubles are they going through?

Not all of their story has to go on the page, but throwing in moments where a character may see them on the street exiting a store, or wearing a new pendant they were given by a partner, or cleaning up a mess made in an attempt at magic (or something) will help to give depth to the character and a feeling that the town continues to live and move and breathe while you take your audience away from them for scenes elsewhere.

If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, think about how these various smaller side characters and ideas interact with what your main character is trying to achieve. Can you build threads of other things going on that your main character only sees parts of that later become the main character’s focus once she’s started to settle in to the weirdness of the town.

If a selkie’s backyard above-ground pool springs a leak and collapses, blocking off the street out of the character’s neighborhood, you’ve not only created an obstacle toward your main character’s goals, but also provided a hook for your character to go do something with that character. Or maybe several side characters are working together toward something, and while you follow the main character’s struggle with a fae contractor’s refusal to install wrought iron railings in the antique staircase, the side characters’ plan fails and things happen in town that the main character has to handle or is impacted by later when she’s out trying to accomplish something else.

Small Town Feeling

Okay, so Madison, IN is just shy of 12,000 people, like you said. In your initial ask, though, you mention the town for your story being approximately 40-70,000 people, which is a rather large difference. So I’m not entirely sure if you mean to base your story off 12,000 or ~55,000, but I assume you’re going for kind of the smaller end of things, maybe 30-45,000.

I grew up moving every two years, and I’ve lived in two towns of the size you’re talking about, and in fact, one of those two towns is where I’m living now, so I’m fairly well equipped to talk to you about some things about towns that size. (One was ~60,000; where I live now is ~55,000 centered around a university, with a small add-on town that’s growing into this one that’s ~14,500.) My grandparents also live in a small university town that’s a little over 30,000 whom I visit on a regular basis. Unfortunately, none of these were in the south–they’ve all been in the west–so while I’ve been in the south, I’m not entirely sure how some of these things change for that locality. Obviously, these are generalizations; they can be twisted, bent, exaggerated, ignored, whatever you want to fit your story. It’s all believable here.

Everybody knows where everything is in town, and they forget that new folks don’t know that the Brass Rail restaurant used to be an old train station. This means that people always say things like, “Oh, it’s down where [a non-existent store] used to be.” And that means nothing to the new person. “Great. What’s around it now?” Or, “Have you been to that new place where the [non-existent thing] was?” …. “Maybe?? Where is it?”

There are a couple of “main drags” in town, and at least two of them involve the street names “Main” and/or “Center.” The rest are named after location-relevant historical people or places. There’s usually the commercial drag, the old downtown drag, and the university drag. (I mention this one particularly because you mentioned there’s a college in this town. There are distinctly different amenities around the university than around the rest of the town.) They vary in how nice they are and take pride in either their ability to maintain the facilities (in the commercial districts) or in how long they’ve survived in the town (in the old downtown districts).

Changes at the university are the Talk of the Town forever and people who work at the university never get to hear of anything else because everyone wants your opinion on the latest department name changes and the removal of the extremely-dangerous-but-extremely-nostalgic landmark on campus. Universities and colleges employ a lot of people, so parking hang-tags are a common sight around town, and can be a hot-ticket item for car theft. If someone new moves to town, it’s safe to assume they’re either a student, a university employee, or working at one of the packing plants (or in our case, the semi-conductor plant) in town. People will talk about those changes for years past when anyone cares.

Stores tend to be a mix of mainstream and homegrown. Where I live right now is about 50/50, but the smaller it gets, the more homegrown stores there’ll be. And a lot of those homegrown stores will have strange stock lists. You’ll get a yarn store with hardware in the corner, and an old-fashioned candy store attached to a specialty clothing boutique attached to a seasonal decorations store. It can get weird and quirky.

Going to other nearby towns/cities isn’t a big deal. Everybody has to go at some point for something, because there just isn’t a shop for everything in town. Driving an hour (probably closer in the south, tbqh; the west is very far-flung) to the next town isn’t new, and it’s not treated as anything special. You just do it.

Roads are not in great condition and they never will be. Smaller towns do not have the monetary infrastructure to be able to keep the roads nice even within town, and that means all over town, not just isolated to poorer communities within town. The main drags may have pot holes or sink holes open up that are enough to take out your car, and it may take months for the city to fix them. And even then? The fix was pouring road surfacing into the hole until it looked level, but that road surfacing isn’t concrete and it sinks and compresses over time. That pot hole will be back in a matter of days, weeks, or months if you’re lucky. It won’t be as bad, but it sure will dip your car.

The streets don’t make sense sometimes. Some sections do–some are convenient grids, particularly around the university–but some sections are weirdly meandering. Some parts of town seem to be where the state decided to dump all their one-way signs, which results in either a lot of backtracking or out-of-towners driving the wrong way. Stop signs are common. Stop lights are reserved for major drags and intersections, otherwise it’s a 4-way stop. But it does seem like the city is always evaluating whether they need a stop light–the long black wires stretched across a street to gauge how many cars drive through are very common–regardless of whether one actually gets put in. Where sections of town grew into each other wind up with really weird junctions, and sometimes they get nicknamed. “It’s in that complex of buildings down by the wiggly bit” is a legit direction to give someone. Don’t worry about your town layout being perfect. Downtowns are particularly notorious for poor layout.

Special note: My town is where the state comes to test new road layouts, interchanges, and junctions, so we have a lot of weirdness going on. When I say don’t worry about your layout, I freaking mean it. Towns are weird.

Roads are 2-lanes most of the time, by which I mean 1 lane each way. Main drags are usually 4 (2 both ways) with a middle turn lane for a total of 5. That’s it. It doesn’t usually get bigger than that, and that’s usually at the commercial drag.

Outside city limits isn’t that far away, and while it’s mostly farms and whatnot, there are reasons to head out that way. Sometimes it’s faster to go out to the back roads to get home than it is to go down the main drags.

There’s an absurd amount of pride for something trivial about the town. There’s a festival each year for something weird. There’s events around town for things that would never happen elsewhere. The farmer’s market is A Destination (it’s nothing particularly special, but folks talk about it like it is). The rotary club is a visible entity (and it’s a little weird just how visible they are).

There’s a definite culture about the town. Attire for certain events heightens or relaxes depending on not only the size of town but the location within the country. There are expectations about How Things Are Done that don’t change. Holding on to the past is how they know they’ve survived, so they cling to it. There’s a prevailing slant of political opinions and religious practice, with a small smattering of other minorities that most folk ignore. Some of those minorities are LOUD, though, and that can grate on folks. In a university town, they tend to be a bit more accepting of other ways of life and belief, but mostly because “accepting” can just be “ignoring without actively disliking.” Don’t rock the boat and we won’t rock you.

You are known. This obviously isn’t a thing isolated to small towns, but it’s noticeable. People in towns this size all mingle in the same places–everybody has habits and routines, and you become a part of that with time. You wind up with relationships with your serving staff at restaurants and you know when certain grocery store clerks have their shifts. Heck, I don’t go in to the Perkins here in town that often, but the manager knows me and comes to talk, and when I need to reserve space for our NaNo group every November, I don’t even have to say anything. When I come in in October, she just sits down at my table with her book to schedule the group in. I left a scarf there and when I came in three days later, she just handed it to me over the counter without me having to see if they’d seen it. People know you, and the world is small: They know everybody else, too.

There are a few well-known figures in town that maybe not everyone has met, but they all know who they are. The McKee family runs the pet store and plant nursery on the main drag, and they’ve been running it so long that when you say you’re a McKee, everyone asks you about the store. Gloria Howell is the best real estate agent in town and everybody got their house from her. Tom runs one of the coffee shops downtown but he’s also the in-town LGBTQIA+ front-man, so to speak. Everybody knows him and everybody’s got their opinions.

If there’s anything more specific you’re looking for advice on in regards to your town, please let me know. These are just basic generics since the question wasn’t very specific. Good luck and have fun! -Pear