#nothing will be set in stone

[thelonelyshore-if]

While at work today, I've been pondering the specifics of the new jobs for the MC I'd like to add. Like I mentioned previously, I want one of the two new jobs to be in a creative field. I figured I'd put a poll out to get a feel for what people would like to see!

[caycanteven]

Meet Bal, short for Balsam, he’s my HorrorFell Sans.

Do not be fooled by his resting bitch face, he’s just a very tired boi who has social anxiety.

He’s a big softy I assure you. He’s very introverted and needs time to get to know people 🫶

[u3pxx]

[bad omens] you know how it is with me and body swaps and roleswaps orz

[codgod]

three weed smoking boyfriends

and yes, they smoke weed

woaw bonus closeup for people that click on readmores

[tls123]

learned a few months ago that apparently the name position in ship names indicates who's top/bottom???? i thought, okay that's probably a new thing but now i'm wondering......

is this a new thing or have i actually missed a crucial naming convention for ships for more than a decade

[faceeeeee]

No new doodles so you're getting the old human concept designs (they still need to be reworked but I ain't doing that right now🤸‍♀️)

[miilkphone]

in my rewrite i think it'd be pretty silly if garrancemau was true and real EXCEPT

its set up for garroths feelings to look like they're for aphmau, and even though he does admire her and is grateful for her being around, his feelings are actually for laurance

considering maybe some internalized homophobia?(garte's fault) so maybe he doesnt accept how he feels until near the time of his betrayal??

[daisywords]

Out of character? An approach to reconciling plot and character choices 

I see a lot of rhetoric that basically boils down to: your characters’ decisions shouldn’t be based on what will advance the plot; they should be based on the characters’ personality and experiences. 

Clearly this type of thinking is in reaction to stories where the characters feel flat or inconsistent to the point where they seem to have no internal consistency. At some point the illusion disappears and we see the puppet strings, and the immersion breaks. 

But I think sometimes writing with the “characters first” strategy can back writers into a corner. (Or maybe, more appropriately, it can steer them out of a particularly interesting corner they were excited about spending some time in.)

You might find yourself thinking “It would be really cool/interesting if my character did xyz, but I can’t make that happen because it wouldn’t be in character.” Sometimes this is appropriate. But sometimes, if you steer too far in this direction, you get “oops I think something central to my plot or something key to my excitement about this story can’t happen because it would be out of character.” 

You followed your character into a more flat or boring version of the story. Oops. 

But what can you do? You don’t want to be blatantly dancing your character though the narrative at your whims like a rag doll. You want them to feel like a person, but you still want them to make that interesting choice. 

Here’s what you’re going to do: you’re going to build your character backwards. Instead of thinking “ok my character has X personality trait or Y backstory, and therefore they would probably react like Z,” you’re going to think “ok. I want my character to do X. What kind of person would make that choice? What kind of situation might they be in? What kind of traits and prior experiences might lead a person to do that?” 

This is a strategy that might allow you to have your cake and eat it too (a consistent character who does make that interesting choice.) 

So this is me giving you permission to let go of the “character first” mindset for a second. Maybe don’t lock your characters into specific traits and backstories and mindsets before you figure out their story. You can, in fact have characters that stay in character even if you don’t “let your characters lead.” 

Tl;dr if basing your plot on the characters is stalling your story, try basing your characters on the plot instead. 

[its-your-mind]

assorted CR cast reactions to first (conscious) fjorester kiss

plus bonus travis turning bright red and dying of embarrassment and laura losing her entire shit as soon as the scene is done

[kay-valencourt]

Messing around w a hero au, here's a concept drawing of Mumbo!! More info under the cut :)

I really like the concept of villain!Mumbo, he's just a silly little guy but I think he should get to brutally murder someone. As a treat.

The au itself would be from the perspective of scar and grian (hotguy and harpy) who've decided to become heroes to help fight against the villain group "the engineers" (wip name)

One of these villains is daedalus, who really likes pissing off grian and scar. They find him incredibly annoying and don't really get all the attention on them, but something abt the guy is weirdly familiar??

Cut to their friend mumbo who is a bumbling little guy but also really smart. He works nights at Undisclosed Location and OF COURSE grian and scar would tell him abt their superhero identities!!!

Mumbo is very weird abt it, talking like he's worried while not putting a lot of emotion behind it but also he's just Like That so grian and scar ignore it and ask him to help them and he says no. Okay!! Probably just worried. Nothing wrong here.

Cue grian and scar trying to balance being heroes and their everyday work lives blah blah blah rising tension as more characters get introduced, etc etc. I don't wanna get too much into the thicker lore in case I'm still playing w it, but I wanted to try and show off my take on the usual grian/scar hero situation except I'm incredibly hyperfixated on mumbo.

[sequs-art-box]

Might try something new when the time comes.

[fjordfolk]

code cracked, sparty's separation anxiety tendencies are rooted in expectation.

[cozystars]

wonder what hes yelling about this time

Transcript

Image Two - Dialogue: Chell - "You don't think they are..." Ellen - "Girl, I'm so sure that at this point I started praying they didn't do it on my thesis."

[saharsguitar]

hey guys !! just a quick announcement that i might actually be trans so i’ll probably update you guys on that more i just felt like getting it out there

[girlsdads]

god i’m fucking deranged bc daniel could literally say to my face “i’m never racing again” and i’ll still be like… hmm he might though, things change