#oops! all infodumps

[cappydoodle]

nosy kids

[mbirnsings-71]

@pup-pee I know you have notifications on now but like hands you Magical girl Kyle!!!! He's done!! :D!!!

Magical Girl Guy can be found here!

(Transparent version under the cut because I like using that feature!!)

[sometimes-sleeby-octopus]

I have a new AU idea swimming around in my head where the Smiling Friends are all mages trying to save their town from a disaster event so I drew Mage Allan recently!!! :DD

Shout out to @universallydestinytaco for listening to my infodumping and giving great ideas and feedback on the AU!!! :D

Haven’t worked out all the details yet but here’s some (as in a lot of) info on the au:

1. It would be called the Fifteen Minutes AU since I got the idea listening to the song Fifteen Minutes by Mike Krol

2. Background: The main four would still work for Mr. Boss, but the company would be called The Smiling Sorcerers instead! Their goal is to help out around the town using their magic to make people smile!

3. Glep’s design would be very similar if not completely the same to the design in this post.

4. The main four and Mr. Boss would all have different ways of using magic/spell casting!

5. Mr Boss is a future seer and randomly gets premonitions of events shortly beforehand, usually within the same day, except in the case of really severe events like the disaster, in which he gets a couple days notice. He cannot predict everything that will happen and essentially gets a general summary.

6. Allan utilizes magic cards as both physical weapons/tools and to harness their magic. The fortune’s in the cards, so he has increased luck that he can choose to pass onto others through giving them a card. He pulls them out/summons them from the area by his heart, right underneath his bow. The drawbacks are that she can’t change the size of the cards, only combine them, and she can only use so many before running out of energy, so she has to use them wisely.

7. Glep utilizes mind magic to read others minds and even transmit thoughts to them. He can also increase the production of certain brain chemicals like adrenaline for himself without any side effects. His mind reading also works for premonitions (which makes him find out about the disaster event before the other four). The drawback is that he has to focus to clearly read someone’s thoughts and when he does so, any thoughts that someone has (intrusive, impulsive, random, untrue etc) can be read, so he has to read between the lines and ask the right questions to find out truth. He also cannot use his magic for attacks, but he can utilize it to increase his existing physical ability like in the case of using adrenaline.

8. Charlie uses his hands to cast spells that interact with the existing physical world, mainly through things like levitation and object manipulation. There is no weight limit or energy limitations for his powers, but one of the drawbacks is that the heavier the object, the more concentration it takes to levitate it. Another one of the drawbacks is that he cannot change the "core meaning" of an object (ex: he can't just instantly turn an orange into a potato, he would have to use different steps of manipulations and associations to make that happen, and it could take a while if he can’t think of a proper association).

9. Pim uses a wand to cast his light spells!! They function somewhat similarly to electricity with the different levels having different effects. The lower levels have healing properties and the higher levels are more chaotic and cause damage. They tend to use their powers more so for healing and dislike using them to cause harm, which exacerbates the drawback: The chaos of the higher levels can be difficult to control.

Lastly, here are rough sketches of Charlie and Pim’s outfits!!!

More on this later in another post assuming I don’t burn out haha :’)

TLDR: The Fifteen Minutes AU is an SF au where the main four + Mr Boss are mages working under the company The Smiling Sorcerers, which helps people using their different magical abilities. It was inspired by the song Fifteen Minutes by Mike Krol. Maybe more on the plot later! :3

[queer-omens-in-the-archives]

11, 36, 57 :D

Hi!! Thank you for the ask :D

11- What’s something you saved up for and then regretted buying?

Mattress that we weren't careful enough reading the specifications for, which turned out to be way too soft for us (back sleepers). We did exchange it for a better mattress, so no money was in fact lost (but the new mattress was more expensive so we had to pay for the difference).

36- Do you keep a daily journal or agenda?

BOY DO WE. We have to, or we forget everything we're meant to do ever (including basic things like. Eating.) as well as everything we've ever done (keeping track of paperwork? Personal projects? In JUST our brain? No can do. We have to have an external brain or we figuratively perish -- digital brain also does not work well enough, for this purpose we prefer analog.)

Each year we get two planners from Hobonichi: a Cousin and a Weeks Mega.

The Cousin serves for general scheduling (both weekly and daily), habit & general wellbeing tracking, budgeting, evening journaling.

The Weeks Mega is for keeping track of everything non-routine or spoon-expensive we actually have done (including a very beautiful writing progress tracker); when we last showered/changed our bedsheets/etc; what meds we took and when; freelancing stuff (when we have the spoons which we currently don't); also recipes, therapy memos, dream journal, general note dump, and various other things that don't fit elsewhere that we do need to have at hand somewhere.

Here they are in action:

Now this might sound like A Lot, but we really do need the extra scaffolding to function/remember things at all, and two planners is nothing considering that, when we settled on this setup a few years ago, we were looking to condense FIVE different notebooks and THREE apps into something less scattered. Finally achieved planner peace, we've had this setup since 2021 with only minor adjustments needed.

(We also have a five-year journal that asks you a question a day and you can answer in a few lines, but we fill that one in for fun, we don't need it as an external brain the way we do the other two.)

57- Do you tend to bring an appetizer, entree, dessert, or drinks to a potluck?

Appetiser. Nobody ever thinks to bring salty snacks to these things! But we love salty snacks. Sometimes supplemented with like, cucumber sticks.

[Ask meme for people in their 30s]

[fairlyqualityanon]

who're your pred/prey crushes ?

totally not collecting blorbos like trading cards shhh - 🪀

Oooooof.wav

There's a ton... I'll try to organize them. Let's start with ones I've written in some form or another.

Pred - TFA Starscream (so close with that guess lmao), anyway I've got this story I've been poking at since literally 2010 (@/wolvesinstarryskies is so supportive 💖 ) and it's gotten me through some really tough times, and yes there's a vore AU... also he's how I found out about vore to begin with (long story, it's over on my Tumblr RP blog)😳, really he's just a dick to his prey and will let them go after thoroughly messing with their head unless you can come up with some bribe worthy of Future Leader Of The Decepticons

Pred - Obey Me! Mammon, idk he threatens to eat the MC and I went "YES PLEASE", I have more fun flustering him when he's a pred than when he's prey 😼

Pred - Obey Me! Beel, it's literally canon and he's a precious boy and going hungry sucks and I'd be perfectly happy to help him not be starving 🥺 I don't care if he eats regular food at the same time as long as I'm safe

Prey - Obey Me! Lucifer (yes really), because that mans is going to take a break whether he wants to or not and I think Diavolo/Barbatos would see the humor in MC taking things into their own hands (my MC's strongest/most-expressed Sin is Pride plus she ain't afraid of this old man 😤)

Switch - Deltarune Spamton, I think he'd be easier to pay to be prey than pred, and I have a thing for robots meaning SNEO defaults to pred and I will immediately yeet myself into whatever fuel container said robopred uses no questions asked 😅

Newest obsession is Solo Leveling (IncredibleEdibleCalico actually did a piece ages back) and I only remembered after watching S1 of the anime and starting the manhwa. I mistakenly bought the books and comic (Vol 1-8) but regret neither purchase. Soooo good! 😍 Anyway here they are in super rough descending order of crush level.

Sung Jinwoo - Pred, I don't know how to put it into words, he just oozes soft pred vibes where tf did he even get that rune stone??? 🤔 maybe he saves someone from a Dungeon and discovers vore is actually pretty neat, he's comically oblivious at times and cares for his minions as people ugh the glowy eye affect it makes me weak

Woo Jinchul - Switch, professional, dry sense of humor, looked Death in the eye and only flinched when he saw the Apocalypse ahead, incredibly smart and intuitive, he's my Guilty Pleasure on this list 👮‍♂️

Song Chi-Yul - Pred, I lied here's another Guilty Pleasure, I actually literally cried at the end of the manhwa, he's only a C-rank mage but teaches swordsmanship to S-ranks, tried to save Jinwoo and Joohee but was talked out of it and regrets it to this day, he is classy and I just want to spend time with him🫡

Baek Yoonho - Prey (yes really), idk something about him makes me want to aggressively demonstrate affection, don't ever tease him about it because despite being the weakest Korean S-rank Hunter HE IS STILL AN S RANK and will cut a bitch (he was ready to beat the crap out of Hwang Dongsoo for strangling his lower-ranked guildmate edit that guildmate isn't even a Hunter and that is not a Hunter you want on your bad side srsly just Do Not The Thing)😼

Choi Jong-In - Pred, he's canonically a bit of a shit-talker and gives me OM! Diavolo vibes and I love me some playful banter with preds what is it with me and people with a red theme?? 😧

Son Kihoon - Switch, he's a sweetheart and I want to snuggle him three different ways, he cares for his strike squad and was willing to set aside a chance for tremendous personal glory as well as sacrifice his whole team to keep a literal army of High Orcs from destroying a few cities 🫂

Go Gunhee - Pred, he's a total badass who gave his all to keep Hunters from basically forming a Might Makes Right society also I have a Thing for older men I am not ashamed to admit it, Song-san is up there for a reason, the man is a Gigachad who outright rigs Hunters Association assignments to keep the D- and E-ranks as safe as possible 🙇‍♀️

Yoo Jinho - Prey, because he's just a sof' boi and must be protected at all costs, maybe he'd find it interesting and like that he was sought out for him and not just because he's Ahjin Guild's vice/Jinwoo's friend 😋

I started Stardew Valley 7/14 so there's gonna be some of that eventually my askbox is open 📨 if anyone wants to gush over their own vore crushes.

Can't forget Horizon Zero Dawn! the events of the Gemini Quest are NOT canon I refuse don't even @ me I WILL die on that hill 🔪

Kotallo - Switch, he's definitely my favorite character and I just love him so dang much, he's a fearsome warrior even without that arm and a brilliant strategist and completely loyal to the good of the Tenakth tribe as a whole, having no other ambition save serving his Chief... but I also want him to sit and relax, maybe having a stomach all to himself will give him a new perspective or insight ⚔️

Milvund - Pred, I did his miniquest back when my computer couldn't run HFW for more than 5-10 minutes but he's so precious and I'm betting would be very hesitant yet also so caring just let me comfort him 😭

Racking my brain for any other major fandoms but I can't come up with any for the life of me so have a bonus Pred TFA Cliffjumper because I have an active thread with him. ... Maybe jjks? I'd have to twist canon in knots to make Sukuna a safe pred, and there's a couple others but I haven't even finished S2 of the anime and a bunch of them are minors soooo...

>>; So much time in TFA focused on That One Smug Bastard and now I'm like "how do with other 'Cons??"

[corneille-moisie]

i was tagged by @im-sometimes-sparkles to spell my url with song titles and did not want to reblog the long reblog chain (you can reblog this one or make your own, either's fine by me :) )

candis - sukekiyo

obscure - dir en grey (cw for gore and other gross stuff, just in case)

rink - blam honey

nas ne dagoniat - tatu (not gonna get us works too :D)

energize me - after forever

inner universe - hora

l'horloge - chanton l'amour

last hallucination - schwarz stein

even in death - evanescence

-

maze - velvet eden

ophelia - kaya

if i could turn back time - cher

senzafine - lacuna coil

iidk - vidoll

edema ruh - nightwish

im tagging @moonjaehwa, @ans-main, @technicontrastron, @kurumeki, @jade-curtiss because im curious but you're under no obligation to actually do it lol :3

eta : no need to link everything, im just extra like that ^^

and if you were not tagged and wanna do it, go ahead, do it !! (tag me though, i wanna see 👀 !!)

[foxmulderautism]

my beautiful autistic mind is so picky and annoying sometimes because my biggest struggle with writing at the moment is the fact i dont like how the name bobby looks written out but i like how it sounds and also know that is his name it literally cannot be anything else. but every time i look at the letters i'm like.......

[ravenouswreckage]

[accidentalcookies]

👋 Nyello, basically all my ocs are people of color because I am a people of color lol

For whumpees specifically, I have mainly two: Shaoyuan and Vayas! I joke that it's like the world's worst roulette wheel in my head for them because whoever I'm hyperfixating on is whoever gets fucked over in my fics 😂

Shaoyuan is Chinese and a trans man! I have a whole multiverse of universes for him, so his backstory varies slightly depending on the au, but the tl;dr of things that stay consistent between all of them is that he's one half of a set of twins, usually forced to go through a sort of Training From Hell™️ that involves fratricide to become a hypercompetent living weapon, then regretting the fratricide and deciding to lay his entire life down upon the goal of getting his two baby siblings out of whatever system he's in before they're forced into the Training From Hell™️. He's a chill, deadpan sarcastic guy who looks and behaves like the platonic ideal of a stealth assassin—yet, defying all expectations, is extremely kind and loves kids. Honestly, imagine an aloof but caring black cat, then take that cat and turn it into a human, and you've basically got Shaoyuan.

Vayas is from a fantasy, non-Earth world entirely, so technically our Earth countries don't exist in his world. But if he and his family were to be born on Earth, his father would be from India and his other father (trans) would be from China! So, mixed Indian-Chinese. He's cis, but he's funky with it, and just broadly queer in terms of orientation. The aus I have with Vayas can vary Wildly, much like with Shaoyuan, but the general thread that stays the same between them is that Vayas is the son of two high-ranking members of their respective societies, is immortal in some way, and is raised in such a way as to encourage his ironclad moral compass that makes him unafraid to stand up against what he sees as unjust. Often he's something of a psychopomp, someone who guides restless spirits to find peace, and/or someone who hunts monsters in order to protect innocents (I have an au where he's a witcher). Personality-wise, I always describe him as some unholy cross between an insufferable genius and a knight in shining armor 😂 He's loud, dramatic, often blunt to the point of rudeness, and honestly just bitchy 😂 But at the same time, he'll lay down his life without question to save a stranger's life. If you've seen the post I'm thinking of, he's that trope of a character who sees themself as a shield, whose life purpose is to protect others.

honestly there needs to be more diversity in whump

mainly because i'm sick of hearing about people's cis white male whumpees HAVE SOME ORIGINALITY

when all your whumpees look the same its rly hard for me to care about any of them

if you have a main whumpee who isn't a cis white male pleaaase comment or reblog with some infodumping bc i'd love to hear about them!

[anarcho-masochist]

i just saw ur in the hospital i hope ur okay and im wishing u speedy recovery :(

Aw thanks, that's so sweet x

As fun as watching my blood get drawn 7x a day is (genuinely enjoy that part of being hospitalized. I have very pretty blood) I would also like to be back home and causing my usual mischief :)

[ratcandy]

after one million years I finally added my flight rising blog to my intro post . now everyone must go look at my dragons

[royalreef]

The distance to Miranda's leg down from her shoulder was, perhaps, a longer trip than would have been expected for literally anything else, and the journey was such a downward slope that Ava would have had to lean down to touch Miranda's leg proper, instead of just her back or the top of her hips or the sides of her body.

Her legs, too, were short. Perhaps comically short, considering her usual company, but unexpectedly short, a short that did not leave questions as to itself. They were the same length as her arms, after all, and those in comparison did not feel so terribly miniaturized. The distance between her shoulder and her hip exceeded the length of her arms, meaning Miranda would not be able to reach back to touch her legs without bending some other part of her body. So too, that meant it was a stretch just to reach back up, to find Miranda's hand.

As it was, the top of Miranda's hips would have sat just below a human's hips, and if she were to lean down, to touch her hands upon the ground like how her body seemed more and more likely to be intended for, then she would have been about thigh-high. With her legs sat under her body, as precariously as they were, it was quite a while to go to reach them.

Her legs, like her arms, were thick, stocky. Muscular in equal measure, coming off from her body like the hind legs of a crocodile, and made even thicker by the membrane that ran up the sides of her legs, likewise matching with her arms. They weren't plainly visible like her arms or her shoulders were, wearing an outfit that connected to her neck and stretched over her front, leaving much of her upper back exposed, but there was a distance of bare scales that could be seen below her pants legs. The membrane, the same as her arm, was thick, decorated at the edge with a strip of the same creamy yellow as her fins, with a parallel line on top of the leg itself. More than mere skin, it had to have perhaps fat or keratin inside of it, making it stiffer and thicker, so that the transition off of her muscular limbs wasn't so drastic.

It moved down, maybe connecting somewhere to her foot or to the side of her leg, impossible to tell over her shoes. On her hands, the matching membrane, turning the silhouette of her arm into a proper fin akin to that of a whale or a marine reptile, connected to her first and third digit, so, following the theme, it was likely to match. However, first Ava would have to get the shoes off of Miranda to see, and Miranda had not spoke of that permission being granted yet.

Her shoes were interesting, however. Much like the rest of her clothes, they were tailored and fashioned primarily for her body first, which belied certain underlying differences. Miranda's shoes were wide and multi-part, intended to be able to spread or to move in closer, even if the thicker material needed for this time of year meant limitations. They connected together into one surface, not suggesting how many digits she had, but it looked like she could move them, and perhaps even needed to spread them out for traction or balance. The shoe sat her ankles against the ground, so she was plantigrade, not digitigrade. There were pinched ends, points with textured rubber wrapped around them, where there were likely claws beneath, so those too were probably needed as a vital component of movement. There were four of these points spread evenly, so suggesting each digit had a matching claw, that would mean four digits per foot.

Miranda's hand suggested a little more to what her foot might have looked like. She had five digits there, standard, but two of those digits had been converted into opposable thumbs, the first digit and the fifth. That left three digits in the middle, the fingers which the membrane of her arms connected to, although they had no webbing between them. The thumbs, by contrast, seemed to almost tuck beneath the outline of her hand and the membrane-fins, making them hard to see from the outside, while the fingers sat closer together to each other in a singular shape. All suggested streamlining, but did not solve the mystery of her hands, and why Miranda had something so derived instead of a more typical fin like other aquatic organisms.

Each digit was short and thick, muscular in a way eerily reminiscent of a harpy eagle's. The expected tetrapod condition was present, with the expected number of bones to each finger, the last converted into a claw with a bony core and a keratin sheathe. This was where the comparison felt most apt. Each claw was massive, easily the length of someone else's finger, thick as a bear's and sweeping inwards with a wicked curve. Hooked, even. Each pointed inwards, towards the palm, so that if Miranda curled her hand into a fist, it would all fit together into a cage, trapping anything that happened to be too slow to escape. Even though Miranda held her hand loosely, idly letting Ava examine her without a large amount of fuss, the size and thickness of her hands suggested very few things could escape in time. Even worse to what happened to anything that could not. Miranda's claws, more uniquely, perhaps, looked a little overgrown, further past her quick than expected, but nothing unusual.

Furthermore came another point of comparison, though this one was a stranger one. There were pads on Miranda's palm and across the underside of all of her digits — one behind each of the five claws, one below that on the digits, one where each of the thumbs connected to her palm paralleling the other, and one in the middle of her hand below where the digits connected to her palm. They were large, squishy, like pressing down into a stress toy. It was even a little fun to do so, though the fatty pads represented their own mystery.

The back side of her hands was thickly plated with scales, looking the very most like armor, wrapping around the top of her hands like she was expecting someone to stab them. On her palms, the scales grew smaller, as expected. However, on the pads sitting on her palms, they grew in a strange pattern, which was especially odd, because her palms were the softest part of her so far. They were silky, soft to the touch, suggesting no obvious use and nothing that would make sense in tandem with the cage of her claws. These scales barely provided any texture, no great addition on top of the underlying skin, and the patterns that they grew in were peaked and pointed in zigzag patterns, not providing any more answers.

Miranda, less curious about her own body than Ava, leaned her head down and back to follow her, more interested in keeping watch over where she was touching. It meant her head bent more to the side, body slightly leaning forward and closer to the ground, her other arm lifting up and pressing closer to her chest, perhaps for balance.

If she was having any issue about having a harpy feel her up, then Miranda wasn't saying it, remaining with a strange, nearly befuddled little smile. Maybe she wasn't having issues, but it was odd. Especially now that she was patting her through her clothes, although Ava hadn't reached anywhere inappropriate, not yet. If anything, it was almost stranger for how much closer this resembled, to Miranda, her experience of knowing other merfolk and the way that they would touch her, pressing hands down against her body and holding her close, solely out of sheer friendliness.

"Yes — well, I do, less so of my people as a whole. Blue light, so you should be able to see, but it is not very strong compared to...." Miri dipped her head up and to the side in a sort of quick shrug, trying to gesture to the daylight itself. "Not as though it needs to be as strong, when it is easier to see down there."

Even just a single touch, gently running a talon across muscle and scale, told Ava volumes. Osteoderms, a powerful and streamlined form... it all made sense for a seagoing apex predator. It was interesting, how differently the two of them had evolved: Ava had become more humanoid than any other bird, while Miranda--part of a species that was popularized in myths as having a humanoid upper body--was anything but. She had a sudden desire to see Miranda in her own element, cutting through the water with ease and... snatching up fish, she supposed? Maybe that was just because she was hungry, though. Mmmm, fish...

She was getting ahead of herself, though. The harpy ran her hand down Miranda's leg, glancing up to meet her gaze briefly and make sure she wasn't overstepping any boundaries. She didn't want the merfolk to think she was just petting her like a giant cat or something.

"Interesting... that makes sense, though. Oh, do have any form of bioluminescence, too? Within the visible light spectrum, anyway." Ava's eyesight was good, but not so good that she could see into infrared or anything. "I imagine that would be very useful in the ocean depths."

Confident that she had no way of accidentally hurting the well-armored merfolk, Ava added a second hand to the exploration, gently patting Miranda's own clawed hand.

[physalian]

What No One Tells you about Writing #3

Opening this up to writing as a whole, because it turns out I have a lot more to say!

Part 1

Part 2

1. You don’t fall in love with your characters immediately

But when you do, it’s a hit of serotonin like no other. I’d been writing a tight cast of characters for my sci-fi series since 2016 and switched over in a bout of writer’s block this year to my new fantasy book. I made it about ⅓ through writing the book going through the motions, unable to visualize what these new characters look like, sound like, or would behave like without a ‘camera’ on them.

Then, all of a sudden, I opened my document to keep on chugging with the first draft, and it clicked. They were no longer faceless elements of my plot, they were my characters and I was excited to see what they could accomplish, rooting for them to succeed. Sometimes, it takes a while, but it does come.

2. Sometimes a smaller edit is better than a massive rewrite

Unless you’re changing the trajectory of your entire plot, or a character’s arc really is unrecoverable, sometimes even a single line of dialogue, a single paragraph of introspection, or a quick exchange between two characters can change everything. If something isn’t working, or your beta readers consistently aren’t jiving with a character you yourself love, try taking a step back, looking at who they are as a person, and boil down what your feedback is telling you and it might demand a simpler fix than you expect.

Tiny details inserted at the right moment can move mountains. Fan theories stand on the backs of these minutiae. One sentence can turn a platonic relationship romantic. One sentence can unravel a fair and just argument. One sentence can fill or open a massive plot hole.

3. Outline? What outline?

Not every book demands weeks upon weeks of prep and worldbuilding. I would argue that jumping right in with only a vague direction in mind gives you a massive advantage: You can’t infodump research you haven’t done. Exposition is forced to come as the plot demands it, because you haven’t designed it yet.

Not every story is simple and straightforward, but even penning the first draft with your vague plan, *then* going back and adding in deeper worldbuilding elements, more thematic details, richer character development, can get you over the writer’s block hurdle and make it far less intimidating to just shut up and write the book.

4. It’s okay to let your characters take the wheel

I’ve seen writing advice that chastises authors who let their characters run wild, off the plan the story has for them. Yeah, doing this can harm your pacing and muddy a strong and consistent arc, but refusing to leave the box of your outline greatly limits your creativity. I do this particularly when writing romantic relationships (and end up like Captain Crunch going Oops! All Gays!).

Did I plan for these two to get together? No, it just happened organically as I wrote them talking, getting closer, getting to know each other better in the circumstances they find themselves in. Was this character meant to be gay? Well, he wasn’t meant to be straight, but you know what, he’d work really well with this other boy over here. None of that would have happened if I was bound and determined to follow my original plan, because my original plan didn’t account for how the story that I want to tell evolves. You aren’t clairvoyant—it’s okay if it didn’t end up where you thought it would.

5. Fight. Scenes. Suck.

Which is crazy because I love fantasy and sci-fi, the actiony-est genres. Some authors love battle scenes and fistfights. It comes naturally to them and I will forever be jealous. I hate fight scenes. I hate blocking and choreographing them. I hate how it doesn’t read like I’m watching a movie. I hate how it could take me hours to write a scene I can read in 5 minutes. I hate that there’s no way around it except to just not write them, or put in the elbow grease and practice.

Whatever your writing kryptonite is, don’t be too hard on yourself. It won’t ever replicate the movie in your head, but our audience isn’t privy to that movie and will be none the wiser of how this didn’t fit your expectations, because it’s probably awesome on its own. It could be a fight scene, sex scene, epic battle, cavalry charge, courtroom argument, car chase—whatever. Be patient, and kind to yourself and it will all come together.

6. Write the scenes you want to write first

And then be prepared to never use them. It can be mighty difficult working backwards from a climax and figuring out how to write the story around it, but if you’re sitting at your laptop staring at your cursor and watching it blink, stuck on a tedious moment that’s necessary but frustrating, go write something exciting. Even if that amazing scene ends up no longer working in the book your story becomes, you still get practice by writing it. Particularly if you hate beginnings or the pressure of a perfect first page is too high, you’re allowed to write any other moment in the book first.

And with that, be prepared to kill your darlings. Not your characters, I mean that one badass line of dialogue living rent free in your head. That epic monologue. That whump scenario for your favorite character. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out anymore, but even if it ends up in the trash, you can always salvage something from it, even if that’s only the knowledge of what not to do in the future.

7. “This is clearly an author insert.” … Yes. It is. Point?

No one likes Mary Sues, because a character who doesn’t struggle or learn to get everything they want in life is uncompelling. The most flagrant author inserts I see aren’t Mary Sues, they’re nerdy, awkward, boring white guys whose world changes to fit their perspective, instead of the other way around—they don’t have anything to say. I’m not the intended audience to relate to these characters and I accept that, but I don’t empathize with the so-called “strong female character” who also doesn’t have flaws or an arc either.

A good author insert? When the author gives their characters pieces of themselves. When the “author insert” struggles and learns and grows and it’s a therapeutic experience just writing these characters thrown into such horrible situations. They feel human when they’re given pieces of a human’s soul. They have real human flaws and idiosyncrasies. I don’t care if the author wrote themselves as the protagonist. I care that this protagonist is entertaining. So if you want to make yourself the hero of your book, go for it! But make sure you look in the mirror and write in your flaws, as much as your strengths.

[cravesunconditionallove]

On your recent post for Vivisections

Do you have any more advice or maybe a quick scene lay out on how you'd accurately describe and show it? I've not seen many people explain this before I'd love to know more!

Permission to infodump?? awesome :D

Because it's on topic here, there are a few blogs I think need a mention because they have AMAZING medical/torture writing advice (@scripttorture and @justkidneying )

You didn't ask whether the character lives or dies, I don't know which you want so here's info on both scenarios:

Dying:

First off, without anesthesia, the pain alone would likely lead to a thing called Neurogenic Shock, which will in turn cause a BP drop and organ failure among other things. Your character will likely be breathing quickly, appear pale, have a rapid pulse, and be confused if they are still conscious. And yelling in pain of course.

For death due to blood loss: it's hard *not* to hit a major blood vessel if you're flaying someone open neck to groin, and that will also lead to quick death without immediate treatment. Cautery (using electricity to burn an area, stopping bleeding) will work on smaller bleeding but major blood vessels not so much. Symptoms are similar to shock: clammy/pale skin, thready/weak/rapid pulse, loss of consciousness.

Other: you can also risk damaging organs (someone being vivisected probably isn't going to be staying very still, even restrained, and one slip of a scalpel and oops, that's the aorta...) A punctured lung could lead to pneumo/hemothorax (air/blood in the chest cavity (pleural space), where it shouldn't be) causing respiratory distress—and then shock, and without treatment—death. If the heart is damaged, death would be near instant. Other organs like the liver, kidneys, bowels, spleen etc are pretty big bleeders, so see my Blood Loss section.

Sepsis: If they don't die immediately, sepsis is a big risk, as even in sterile environments you can't completely prevent it. Sepsis is when an infection reaches the bloodstream and is very serious. I imagine whoever is vivisecting the character probably wouldn't care too much about using sterile technique, so you can bet on an infection happening. This can set in within hours or days. Symptoms include high fever, pain, confusion/delirium, sweaty/clammy skin, low blood pressure.

Now, if you want them to live?

Surviving:

If the vivisectionist wants their patient/victim to survive, they'd need a lot of materials. Like any major surgery you'd need blood products, fluids, antibiotics, ligatures, and a way to keep the pain (somewhat) under control. Alcohol has been used in the past for similar procedures, but you could also just opt for a dose of opioids.

Antibiotics are necessary, opening someone up like that is a MAJOR risk (see "Sepsis").

I imagine they'd also somewhat monitor the character's vitals. They'd also probably have a few assistants to help with similar smaller tasks like that—stopping bleeding or handing tools, etc.

Closing the wound: Stitching someone up from such an event would be a lot of work, as you have to close many skin layers (muscle, fat, and the surface skin) and bandage it.

If you don't want to stitch them up immediately, a wound vac (negative pressure wound therapy) would be a good option. Doctors use these in cases of things like compartment syndrome. It is used when you cannot close someone back up right away.

Bandages and proper wound care are also important, you'd need to change the bandages every few hours for the first few days as deep wounds tend to produce a lot of fluids (called "exudate.") Sometimes doctors place drains to help drain away this fluid faster.

All in all, Healing from this would take months, not to mention the psychological trauma from all of this.

The scene:

Writing these scenes is honestly so variable so here's a few thoughts of mine:

You could describe the environment: (cliche, but cold metal table? Harsh lighting? Straps? A table with sharp scary-looking objects on it? How about the scent of disinfectant (or its absence).

The initial sensation would be the biggest to focus on: does the vivisectionist take their time? (pressure before pain?) shock as nerves fire as they are severed (lightning sensation shooting upwards), and the body’s instinctive flinch or freeze. Initially screaming, swearing? Sweating, rapid breathing, muscle spasms, or even vomiting as the body tries to cope?

Smells: Metallic tang of a large amount of blood (I personally HATE this smell, it's like having a penny in your mouth, or if you've ever used a metal scrubber to clean a pan, it smells kind of like that.), burning flesh (if they use cauterization) etc

If the character is partially sedated for it, keep in mind they will still react to pain, albeit sluggishly.

I hope this helps!

[writeblood]

What type of tumblr user Hogwarts Legacy characters would be

Note, I haven’t actually been part of tumblr culture since the 2010s

Sebastian

cursed memes, infodumping on extremely niche topics, and extremely tumblr style humour.

The guy who knows precisely how to respond to someone saying ‘I like your shoelaces’.

He’s never watched Supernatural in his life but read up on all 25 seasons when the superhell penultimate season finale hit.

Gets into drama with anon asks.

political takes that are usually decent and anti-capitalist, except for one opinion that got him canceled

Sebastian once spent a night accidentally reblogging NSFW content to his main blog instead of his side one so now 50% of his fetishes have been exposed.

Every photo and video he posts/reblogs, he adds a description caption so Ominis can also be subjected to his taste in memes.

Ominis

primarily text and music based, but will occasionally have videos of nature or architecture.

A lot of quotes from angsty classical literature and MCR.

His tagging is methodical and precise.

He has a huge following because one time he posted a photo of himself (taken by Sebastian) and it went viral.

Has his asks turned off and follows less than 30 blogs.

Someone once posted an expose on him, calling him a trust fund kid, but since it was mostly screenshots without description captions he never came across it.

Anne

she has one tumblr that all her friends follow her on and one secret tumblr that’s the dark side, depression, venting diary kind of stuff.

When the site went through another round of content moderation, she deleted it.

she also accidentally deleted her main blog oops...

Her normal tumblr is skateboard trick videos, small fandom media, and a mish-mesh of whatever catches her interest for the month.

She really likes the elaborate, artsy makeup looks even though she herself rarely wears it.

reblogs posts related to chronic illness and eye related disability

Her humour is ‘just girly things: waking up covered in blood’

Poppy

sooo many cute animal videos.

Has a very cutesy layout with an animal cursor.

Some people hate her blog because it has an autoplay music widget playing MARINA/Olivia Rodrigo.

She has anon asks turned off but will respond to account asks.

Occasionally reblogs a vegan/animal activist post.

She has a few close friends and will not hesitate to reblog their posts with encouraging comments.

Natsai

on the multi-lingual side of tumblr– english, french, and swahili

Lots of funny personal anecdote stories

Reblogs feminist posts that either deal with actionable things (protesting, community organising, safety) or talking about feminist public figures

Reblogs black hair tutorial/pics with the mindset that she’ll try it out but never does.

martial arts videos but the realistic ones

Likes a lot of special effects art in movies/tv shows so if you follow her with SFW filters turned off, you might see some fake blood.

Amit

studyblr, langblr, and a little bit of geeky stuff

okay, it's a lot. He's a fan of non-DC, non-Marvel comic and Star Trek

will write a 900 word breakdown of that one specific scene and its symbolism

too ashamed to openly admit he reads fanfic but reblogs a lot of posts from accounts who do

Imelda

1 post complaining about the complexities of using tumblr

3 posts related to women's football (soccer for americans)

1 personal video of her scoring the winning goal for her team

1 post and response to clowning on Garreth

'last posted 1 year ago'

MC

I’m using my OC Anesidora Fig from Shadow consumes the Sun (link in profile)

Used to have one of those semi-anonymous blogs where it’s filled with aesthetic photo compilations (light and dark academia, romanticising living in old cities, tea and coffee photoshoots despite not liking the drinks), but then she went ‘lets be mutuals, Ominis :)’ and realised…

So she panic nuked her blog and started over.

Now it’s full of studyblr, tagamemnon gossip over dead ancient roman poets, and love/romantic poems/excerpts.

english and french language included

went viral when she posted a class project video where she edited how to train your dragon but the dragon was replaced with her pet reptile a la "Jurassic Park but with a Cat" (OwlKitty)

When she starts to fancy Ominis, her reblogged love quotes start to focus more and more on his specific attributes

Since the texts she reblogs don’t have crass language or kinks, she thinks it’s entirely SFW. However, Ominis has learnt not to open her blog when he’s not alone or someone will ask him why he’s red in the face.

Her asks are open but she ignores them 90% of the time.

[justporo]

Date night with Astarion and Tav

I just had an idea. Astarion and Tav go on a night out... But it's a game they play: make it as bougie and flamboyant as possible - without spending a single piece of gold.

You start by stealing each other outfits - or maybe convincing the store clerk that you paid for it already; maybe even returning it after date night to get "your" gold back

You go to one of those restaurants that only do reservations months in advance, convincing the waiter that "of course we have a reservation, do you not know who we are??", then striding in as if you owned the place after you've caused a colossal scene, all heads already turning to you

Ordering the most expensive bottle of wine off the menu and the most expensive dish (although of course Astarion doesn't take one bite) then putting it on the tab of someone whose name you just picked up somewhere or just making a one up on the spot that sounds so important and complicated that no one dares to deny you - or just pretending you don't speak the language and are foreign nobility

You'll have to make run though before you're being found out; surely you're not creating a distraction by knocking over this priceless vase, are you? Or by throwing Astarion's untouched steak to the spoilt lap dogs over at another table causing absolute chaos?

You run or sneak out of there: but not without stealing another bottle of that fine wine (or two)

Bonus points if Astarion has lightened someone's load of jewellery at some point and presents you with a nice gift while running off; "Now's not the time, Astarion!" "That's so bland of you, darling, there's always time for presents!"

Astarion taking you somewhere else after making it out of there "because the night is still young, my heart, we're both beautiful and not at all drunk yet"

He takes you to an art museum and without any real effort picks the lock and you stroll through the empty tall halls looking at the artworks while taking swigs of wine from the stolen bottle

Astarion cannot stop infodumping on you about the paintings and statues; you don't understand a single thing but think it's adorable and you do actually learn a lot

Since no one is there to stop you, you dodge under the ropes, look at the paintings up close, make a game of imitating the faces and postures until you both die laughing

Astarion making you stand on a pedestal where a statue is currently missing from display, then looking at you as if he was taking in an renowned artwork: "Ah yes, my favourite piece of art, so exquisite!"

In turn you make him pose next to one of those noble portrait paintings and call him "the most beautiful thing ever created"; he grins and makes a stupid joke but you're pretty sure you see the pointy tips of his ears turn a little pink

You end the night by climbing onto the roofs of the city somewhere, sit there with what's left of the stolen wine, maybe play a drinking game, sitting there in your fine stolen clothes and watch the night slowly become less dark while your hearts are filled with light

I -uh- *puts it on the pile of fics I have to write* *sighs* This was mean to become like a headcanon post - it became the outline of a fic somehow, oop