#scrunkly little space dogs

[neleiten]

There is not a single thought behind Oatchi's eyes

Not one

But Moss?

Moss looks like she knows what I am

[mirrorstone]

Inspiration is sort of like a bolt from the blue for most creators because it’s an incredibly intuitive process. You have a thought, dozens of other related thoughts and influences coalesce so fast that you don’t consciously follow that progression. Maybe it looks like: Watching ghost hunter videos + cool picture you saw of the Paris catacombs + neat fact you learned about how bearded vultures eat bones + remember the bone-stealing witch callout post + “I wish there was more urban fantasy about lesbians” + hehe my scrunkly scrimbo is so divorced = “What if two lesbians who used to run a super popular ghost debunking youtube channel that ended when they had a messy breakup got offered a lot of money to do one more episode debunking supposed hauntings in the Paris catacombs. They reluctantly agree for the money and at first they argue a lot, but while they go through the catacombs, unexplained spooky stuff starts happening that forces them to work together, and they discover there’s a bone-eating monster down there which they have to film and not get eaten by. But then the second twist is that it’s an evil bone-stealing cult who chased the monster out of its den and they have to expose the cult without getting ritually murdered. Along the way they remember what they loved about each other while they work together and reconcile the issues that caused them to break up.” Bam, idea is born at the speed of thought, and you probably only consciously thought about one or two of the components that came together to make it. If you’re trying to figure out how to come up with creative ideas, it can help to learn how to consciously and deliberately connect thoughts and influences to develop an idea.

Start by giving yourself a wide base of influence to work with. Experience lots of narrative art: cartoons, movies, weird little youtube short videos, music videos, books, short stories, poetry, zines, webcomics, graphic novels, folk songs, podcasts. Listen to music, browse an art museum, look at famous architecture, quilt patterns, character reference sheets, read cookbooks, biographies, magazines, walk around the neighborhood and look at gardens, peoplewatch. If you have a preferred genre, try to step outside of it. Nonfiction is just as valuable as fiction in providing you with ideas. If you learn an interesting fact, you never know how it will inspire you down the line.

Think about everything you see, and read, and hear. How did it make you feel? Why do you think it made you feel that way? What did you like and dislike about it? What decisions did the creator make when they made it? Why do you think they chose that and not something else? What decisions would you have made if you were creating it? How would you change it if you could? Why? What do you think your friends or parents or favorite character would think about it?

Make lots of lists of specific things you notice about art and ideas you like. It might help to think of stories and characters as recipes, or lists of component parts, or steps in a process. Pick your favorite genre or creator, and make a list of things that you see in their works. If you like fantasy, what are some things that lots of fantasy stories have in common? What are some things that are unique to a particular story? Think about how the things you put in your list affect the story, and make the story work. What would happen if they were removed, or replaced with something else? Try to learn about things related to works you like. Read a wikipedia article on plants or locations mentioned in the work. What historical events, new technology, or contemporary ideas influenced that genre?

Pay attention to places in the story where the author tells you about something, and places where they give a few details and let your own experiences fill in the gaps. For example, if there’s a dog in the story, does the dog’s appearance and personality and behavior all get described in detail, or did the creator leave space where your own memories of a dog you knew filled in the gaps? Where do things about a character’s design, like their color, shape, clothing, or expression suggest things to you about what that character is like, even though the creator never explicitly says those things?

Look at the lists you’ve made, and pull some things you like off the lists to combine together into the basis for a story, world, or character. Don’t feel pressured to make it something unique and amazing right off the bat, it’s just practice. Don’t worry if it’s similar to something another creator made. Just have fun with it.

As you go about your day, look at what’s happening around you. Ask yourself questions based on your creation. What would your new character order at this restaurant? How would they help you with chores if they were here? Does the world you made up have the equivalent of traffic jams, or grocery stores? How do they work? That bush you saw looks like a weird little guy, what if it was a bush dryad or a goblin in a leafy coat? What are they doing in your neighborhood? That’s a neat color combination on that wrapper, what if you had a character with that color scheme? What would they be like? People always drive up that hill way too fast because it’s so steep, what if you wrote a murder mystery where someone manipulated the victim into walking through a dangerous traffic zone like that every day and then arranged for a hit and run? How would that work? Did you learn an interesting fact? How could you put a fictional version of that into your world, or how could you use that fact as a key plot point in your story? What if the plot for the story included something that happened to you? How would it play out? How would you make a boring real life event into an exciting fictional event in that story? If you search for “plot generator” or “idea generator” online, you will find many generators that throw together randomized concepts to suggest ideas and characters. You can also look up lists of worldbuilding questions or character questions. Try finding a tumblr ask game, and go down the list answering the questions as your character would answer them. Pull up random articles on wikipedia and challenge yourself to put a piece of them into your character backstory, or world, or narrative. Don’t feel bound to stick with them exactly if you don’t want to, but use them as jumping off points, to add more details to your ideas. Don’t be afraid to come up with something cliche or silly, just brainstorm. Try changing parts of them and see if that makes them better or worse. Even if you don’t like your ideas, you’re practicing the process of being creative. When you’re done, think about what you did and didn’t like, and if there are parts of what you made that inspire you to build more ideas around them.

Best of luck, anon. You sound passionate, and you sound like someone who loves stories. I hope you’re able to learn to tap into your own wellspring of creativity, and that it brings you lots of joy.

Feel free to ignore this if it’s too much

I struggle immensely creating character designs, stories, anything like that. Ideas simply won’t come to me.

I’ve asked so many their processes for creating worlds or characters, and really the thing I lack they all describe is just *having* ideas. I draw all the time, just nothing of my own characters or stories. I feel as if I don’t have that spark that so many others do, but I want to be able to so badly — I adore your work, and how you speak about art and the world in general. How you understand things really speaks to me. Is there anything I can do? To make ideas come? I don’t know if I know how , but I want to be able to view the world in a way that allows me to create

oof. hard ask to answer, not sure that I can! it doesn't feel fair to say that ideas 'just come to me', but that is more or less what happens! I have read and watched a lot of stories, and still do (though I read much more when I was small...) and I try to listen to the ideas that come to me- I find that if there's anything that I have practice at it's listening. You get a tickle of a thought, and you have to be patient and quiet to not frighten that inkling of idea away. They are elusive, most especially when you need an idea or even just want one. My best ideas have come to me unnounced, unasked for, and often in great tides, but often they come when I'm not using my brain too hard. Daydreaming, lying down, in the shower, 3am etc etc etc.

I'm sure people will find this peculiar but I find a key method to writing is to set aside TIME to just idle your brain and let it wander- an hour at least is best, and I appreciate that finding an hour to just lie and muddle your thoughts and Not Think is very very hard to find. However, if you are allowed to count this as work (as I do), it is much more productive to set that one hour aside than to work work work and wonder why you never have any ideas, because you are filling your brain up with so much noise you can't hear them, or it frightens them away! I can't guarantee that this will work, but it works for me. Be gentle with yourself, and let your brain have some space so that it can take a walk.

[vampacidic]

ASK GAME. OMORI.

see the problem with this is that the answer for all of them is basil. basil is my most specialest little guy he is so fucked up an d i love him. he is banned from ever y public space he enters. he checks off blorbo, poor little meow meow, horse plinko, and eeby deeby (to a degree). i would say horse plinko is the strongest instinct though

hero is a scrunkly... i want to squeeze him like a dog's squeaky toy

scrimblo bimblo is hmmm. kel i suppose... it's not like i think he's underrated i just think the fandom can ahh. see characters that are dense/impulsive/don't really think before speaking and go oh he's stupid. which i mean kel is but he's not That stupid. you know. he is underrated in a 'the fandom interpretation makes ppl dislike him' way

my glup shitto is cris :) i just think she's silly. love me an ocean girl

[chaifootsteps]

…Can we, perhaps, hear all of your character responses (for the meme) in regards to Invader Zim?

Gladly!

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

Definitely Zim. I loved him from the literal first second I saw him, when I thought he was a girl. He's the reason I got into fanfiction in the first place. Precious little space ant has a very dear place in my heart.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression)

Also Zim, with a side of Purple.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

Probably Zim’s robot parents, because my little cousin who I babysat for before covid really liked them and we’d quote Parent Teacher night constantly. We had this game where he’d set up a cardboard box that was supposed to represent the makeup lady, we’d take turns being Zim’s robot mom and doing the whole “I SAID BRUSH YOUR TEETH!” exchange, and then tackle the box and forcefully brush its teeth. It was hell on my knees but I miss that.

Also I think Old Kid is hilarious. 

obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week

This is weird but I used to adore the Madness Dog when I was a kid. Like, I wrote a fic that’s been lost to the sands of time where Zim is captured and the Madness Dog is the one who rescues him.

And if they count, the Slaughtering Rat People. I always liked their designs and they feature somewhat prominently in the nextgen au I’ve got going on.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

Zim and Dib when they’re kissing. Johnny from JtHM, who counts because he makes a cameo appearance.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

Dib because America hates Dib.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

Membrane. I don’t care what Enter the Florpus says.

Thanks for the ask!

[facetsofthecloset]

@mariegoos here are the Pokemon blorbos

(with the caveat that I have only ever played Heartgold, half of Alpha Sapphire, Moon, and Pokemon Go, with a handful of anime episodes sprinkled in, so my knowledge of characters is limited lol)

Send me a fandom and I’ll tell you my: blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most):

you're right it's Guzma 😂 i had a moment when i considered "well, what about-" but then i realized i've spent the last-*counts on fingers*-9 months writing about him just about daily so. >_>

but the Team Rocket Trio also fits as a Collective Blorbo i think. they're the characters i'd most likely say "look! it's the collective blorbo from my shows!" out loud about lol

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped):

probably Acerola, she's an adorable baby ghost girl and if anyone tried to hurt her i'd chomp their bones like a feral dog

this also applies to Lillie and Hau

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave):

Professor Burnet maybe? i don't have a good sense of who's actually underappreciated because i don't spend that much time in fandom spaces lol

but she's very cool and i love her

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week):

if we're going REALLY obscure then i'd say Agrata from the Sun & Moon Battle Tree. she's a punk girl opponent and literally has like 4 lines of dialogue total including win/loss riders but she seems cool and i'm always happy to run into her 😂

also all of the Team Skull grunts and the Team GO Rocket grunts if we're being honest. i want to take them out for coffee and be friends

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave):

i was going to put Nanu in the scrimblo bimblo category but realized that he's a sad cat man who's also a cop, obvs he's a poor little meow meow how could i ever have doubted it

i'd also like to mention Grimsely at this point because i only know him from, like, one battle in Moon but he's a sexy tired goth. his original design is a casino den twink so like, either way you win

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason):

Faba. that man just. i dunno man his vibes make me want to plague his life with incidental music and like. steal his big ol' green goggle glasses and leave them in increasingly bizarre places. they severely amplified his creep vibes in the anime and i hate him. but he fascinates me

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell):

Lusamine, i guess? i don't remember anyone else annoying me to the

actually wait, anyone in the Battle Tree with either a Dusknoir or an Araquanid, with those specific move sets that mean i WILL eventually win, but i literally can't do damage to them due to my own team composition (fighting type-heavy)/they keep using Double Team so i can't hit them

so i have to wait for them to start using Struggle and hurt themselves

HALF AN HOUR LATER

when i was obsessively playing BT to try and scout Guzma i ran into them A LOT

(Guzma i have suffered for you you punk-ass bitch)

[winchesternova-k]

Hey, can you do Star Wars for the fandom ask?

hey! i’d love to!! (it’s been a while since i was hyperfixated on star wars and i’ve only seen the films minus rise of skywalker and played jedi fallen order tho so be forewarned fvgfvg)

blorbo: finn probably. i love him a lot and he had sm potential and they wasted it. also he’s just so Good and brave i love him. his backstory was so interesting and i’m a sucker for ppl doing the right thing even when it costs them big/is at a risk to themselves bc it’s Right and he rlly wants to do the right thing (also he’s the one i rotate in my mind the most when i’m hyperfixated on star wars and the standout character from the sequels for me)

scrunkly: this is so cliche but bb8 and grogu (even tho i’ve only watched the mandalorian through my tumblr dash and gif sets fvgfvg). they both remind me of my dog so i want to cuddle them both anytime i see them (honorary mention to bd-1 for the same reasons)

scrimblo bimblo: hmm i’m not super involved w the star wars fandom atm (i follow several blogs but i have no idea what’s common vs uncommon over there) so i’m gonna say cassian andor bc he was my fave from rogue one and i feel like i never see anything abt him (also bc i’m still not over the fact that when i bought my pop vinyl of him, it was in the bargain bin bc no one wanted him ????)

glup shitto: this one’s rlly difficult bc like i said i haven’t rlly engaged w much media where the characters i’m familiar w are likely to be minor characters or obscure? so i’m just gonna go w leia organa bc i got rlly excited abt her screen time in the first two sequels (even tho it didn’t go so well in the end. looking at u johnson and abrams)

poor little meow meow: i don’t rlly feel like any of the characters i like from what i’ve seen r particularly evil or pathetic (i haven’t finished fallen order yet so my answer might change to trilla bc i find her interesting but i haven’t played to the end to be sure of exactly how i feel/whether she fits this category y’know? sorry!)

horse plinko: yoda. no hesitation i hate that green bitch. he’s so mean to luke i’d LOVE to torment him to give him a little taste of his own medicine

eeby deeby: kyle fucking ron. i hate him sm. he took over and ruined the sequel trilogy and for what? he’s just a murdering, tantrum throwing space fascist and i hate his fans (and reyl0s in particular) for convincing disney that this was a good idea and for making fandom spaces unsafe for abuse survivors and fans of colour in particular (also disney for listening at all. y’all should know and do better). he could’ve been an interesting villain if they (disney) didn’t woobify him and make excuses for fascism but between that and the fandom and making reyl0 canon i hope he rots

sorry for the rant fvgfvg i’m sure my hatred of kyle ron is not a surprise to anyone who’s been following me fvgfvg

fandom blorbo asks

[vespertineflora]

star trek for the blorbo memes!

ohhh :D ok, I'm mostly a TOS person, so here goes:

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most) gotta go with probably the obvious answer and say kirk. the duality of his perceived character in popular culture vs. the way he actually behaves throughout the show is just FASCINATING. love this guy.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped) chekov, tho specifically movie chekov. actual literal baby.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave) such a difficult choice in such a classic fandom, but i think I'll go with T'Pring. this baddie said "fuck vulcan decisions, i don't wanna marry this rando i was betrothed to over a decade ago, i got a new man," and when her fiance shows up with a dude he's CLEARLY pining for by his side she's like "oh bet, imma make them roll around in the dirt for a little while, hot." is this what she's actually thinking? idk, but who cares it's hilarious and she's the reason for this most CLASSIC event in amok time.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week) that little dog they put in a costume and called an "alien." what a good little guy, cute, scraggly little unicorn dog

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/ unpopular/ controversial/ otherwise pathetic fave) tribbles. all they know is look cute, fuck, eat hot chip, and die, and it's not their fault ):

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason) mirror spock and that awful, awful goatee

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell) nomad. fuck that asshole genocidal space probe. Send me a fandom and I'll give you my blorbo memes!!

[wickedwitchofthenorth]

Gumball for the Blorbo asks?

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most):

The main man himself, Gumball Watterson! Of course, both Darwin and Rob take up a lot of my brain space as well, but they fit better into other categories. Besides, when I hear the phrase "blorbo from my shows" I think of him. (What's a more blorbo-esqe name than Gumball?)

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

That's Darwin, obviously. He's so sweet, such a ray of sunshine, but not to the point where it becomes obnoxious.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

I guess Sarah? A lot of people don't like her, but I find her endearing, and quite funny. She's in a lot of my favorite episodes too, so that might be part of it.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

None of my faves with this show are really "obscure", but I guess Hot Dog Guy? It's always fun when he shows up.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

Rob, obviously. Yes, I know he does bad things (especially in The Disaster/The Rerun two parter) but I just want him to be redeemed and have his happy ending so badly. He's been through so much, he deserves some happiness.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

That's a hard one. I like doing angst fics for both Gumball and Darwin. Darwin because he's such a ray of sunshine it's kinda interesting to break him, and because he has established abandonment issues in canon and it's fun to play with that. Gumball for kinda similar reasons, he's not a ray of sunshine like Darwin is but he rarely breaks. His determination keeps him going through a lot, so what would make him give up?

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

Probably characters you aren't supposed to like, like Felicity Parham.