#the inspo comes from mixed sources

[spkyart]

I wonder what his favorite word is

[mahoganyrust]

@frosti-moon “Both of them wearing (mostly) historically accurate Norse clothes? I love seeing how different artists design those.”

I may have gone overboard…messy in some places but that’s bc I was impatient to draw the frost idfk-

Here we have Chief Hiccup and Winter Spirit Jack

Nice throwback to my God of War days for inspo. Hiccup’s a bit of a mix of Kratos/Odin/Tyr while Jack is a mix of Baldur/Freya + Pandora from the old games.

I swear to all that is good, if someone calls him Jokul Frosti one more time I’m gonna rant- Actually fuck it ima rant in advance.

Ahem.

People really like the idea of Jack being “Jokul Frosti”, especially if they are exploring concepts with an old setting where Jack is further back in time. I loved it when I first came across it because duh pretty awesome. And ofc many believe that is where the name “Jack Frost” derived from. It’s cool. However, I have since done enough research to decide this isn’t very accurate.

In Norse mythology the God of wind and voice, Kari, has two sons. Some sources say otherwise and that it’s just one son - Jokul Frosti, but fuck that, my sources are older.

Kari has *two* sons - Jokul AND Frosti. They were two bros. Their names mean Icicle and Frost. Jokul went on to have a bunch of kids who were all very winter themed. It also makes more sense bc (especially in Norse stuff) it’s very odd to come across a mythological figure with two names. Think of all the gods you know, MOST are going by one. Plus it’s weird…like why is his name two things? Icicle Frost? What? Pick one. Brev it don’t make sense. It don’t add up. Most minor Norse gods are having just the one main brand right? (The big dogs like Odin, Freya, Freyr etc etc usually have side hustles tho, but we ain’t talking about them).

So what I think has happened is that somewhere down the line, probably through oral conversation, the two brothers and their names got merged into one person. Then after the merge, Jack Frost came about, hence our predicament.

Like- ya’ll do wut ya want but I personally think the Winter Twins are a better idea for our fan stuff. In my headcanon (and in my fic) they are more like Jack’s wacky adopted-uncle-types that left him their power after they kicked the bucket cos they thought he was a pretty cool mortal. Like Manny brought him back but like- so did they at the same time. Double whammy. Anyways. ✌️thanks for coming to my TEDtalk.

[lucifers-horror-harem]

Heaven’s Night

Hey guys! I’m back for another Blood Fest fic!!! I’m kind of shocked I’m even able to keep up but I’ve been getting some real good inspo off of these prompts, and of course thanks again @the-slasher-files​ for hosting this challenge <3 Hope you guys like this one, I got a little gory and tried to focus on descriptions more <3

Keywords: Cold. Rapture

Prompts: Gore. CNC.

Warnings: Gore, violence, rough sex, CNC, size difference, hair pulling, man handling

Word Count: ~1,300

The smell that hit your nostrils was downright revolting. The sight was simultaneously not as delightful either, and the fear mixed with nausea would have certainly caused you to lose your lunch had there been anything in your stomach to begin with. Instead, your eyes screwed shut, hand over your mouth as you struggled to swallow back your gag reflex. All you could do was inhale shakily as you tried your best to ignore the smell of rotting meat mixed with sharp copper.

Even though you had heard it what felt like hundreds of times before, the long drawn out sound of metal scraping metal made you jump. But you didn't open your eyes. Not yet. Shivering, you shook your head back and forth as you tried to ignore the icy terror that flooded your veins. You wanted to ignore the carnage for a little while longer before he forced you to see the truth. 

Which didn't take long. A massive hand fisted your hair and caused you to yelp, your hands instinctively flying to the hand as your eyes flew open. Every time you saw him felt like the first time. Your breath caught in your throat and all thoughts ceased as you took in the behemoth before you. The others you had come across in this Hellish limbo had many names for him, all of them referencing the massive pyramid resting upon his shoulders instead of a head. 

He didn't let up. Instead, his fingers wrapped around your hair, coiling like worms as he continued to lift you further. On tiptoes, you cried out as you tried your best to use his forearm for support, the solid muscle slick with black gore that made you want to retch anew. Ragged breathing echoed from behind the metal of his helmet, rusted from what you only imagined were the countless years he had spent in this cruel town subjected to whatever his punishment was supposed to be.

He didn't move you far. You had been cowering under a table in the abandoned club you had made your home in order to escape the horrors that wandered around when the sirens wailed out into the night. Nothing ever seemed to breach the sanctity of this spot, and tonight two of them just so happened to. With little care, he jerked his arm to the side and released you, sending you stumbling against the low stage nearby, knocking the wind out of you in the process. 

As you winced and struggled to inhale, you realized that inches from your face was the source of the gore. You hadn't realized one of them could produce this much. In fact, you hadn't believed that many of the monsters in this town had proper organs. But this one had. It was the leg mannequin, the being that consisted of two sets of legs on the top and bottom of a torso, seemingly fused together in the middle. The top set of legs was splayed provocatively around the pole that had been erected in the middle of the stage, the metal rod between the thighs as they still seemed to twitch even after their "death." The bottom set of legs, however, was split apart from its sexless crotch by the gigantic butcher's blade that Pyramid Head dragged behind him everywhere he went. The blade had penetrated the wooden stage, the shadow looming over you in the dim lighting. Blackened guts were pooled where the creature lay pinned, none of which you could truly identify other than masses of flesh. 

Your attention returned to Pyramid Head as his rough hands gripped your hips, yanking you towards him and scratching your back along the rotting floorboards. Panic rose in your stomach as you instinctively tried to fight him off. You knew you couldn't, but you knew you didn't want to. It excited the both of you too much. You didn't think about how he just ruined another pair of your pants as he tore them from your body. You stopped worrying about the blood caked on his palms. The only thing that caused your stomach to flutter in anxiety was that he wasn't taking you from behind, instead he was simply going to leave you on your back. You haven't faced him in the moment before. You weren't sure what he expected or wanted, but considering he made it a point to keep you around you hoped he was fine with whatever you were doing. 

His heavy breathing turned into grunts as he yanked the apron away from his waist, his massive cock already at attention. Before you could even put up much of a fuss, he gripped behind your knees and pushed your legs against your chest in one swift movement. Your hands flew up to meet his, a move that was both a crave for intimacy and warning for him to remain gentle. He never did, and yet you continued the ritual anyways. At least this time you were properly aroused, his thick member shoving its way inside of you and stretching your walls to accommodate him.

The action itself left stars in your vision, eyes trained on the ceiling as they rolled back. Mouth hung open, not certain if a scream or a moan would release. But the animalistic grunts that filled the room were more than enough to make up for the fact you couldn't find your own voice. You were certain your hands were going to give out soon as you struggled to hold onto him. The floor rubbed uncomfortably against your back as he unceremoniously thrust into you so roughly you were certain the impact would have sent you further had he not been holding you back. 

The sharp tip of his helmet bobbed dangerously above your collar, dancing along your neck with each thrust. And yet you bared your throat instinctively to him, your pleasure mounting steadily as he continued to fill you over and over. You had never been so close to him before, close enough to touch his helmet. It felt so uncharacteristically intimate for whatever relationship had developed between you two over the time you had been trapped in this Hell. But perhaps even in this Hell, there was room for moments of bliss to be shared. 

You weren't certain how long it had been, but eventually his thrusts grew more erratic, his breathing heavy and panting. One of his hands shot up to your throat, pressing tightly as you trembled beneath his intense grip. You were certain this is how it would end. The beast's grip was brutal, and quickly your vision began to reduce to a pin prick. The lewd sounds of wet flesh slapping together mounted, sounding like it came from a tunnel. 

Sudden release. Your chest heaved, fresh air filling your lungs like balloons as you couldn't help the sounds that you made. Whether they were screams or moans, you couldn't tell. Your limbs reacted on their own, twitching and trembling against your own will. Warmth spread throughout your body, the monster's seed spilling out around him as he emptied himself into you. His own body twitched in response, the veins in his arms seemingly pulsing harder as his muscles shifted beneath the skin. His fingers flexed, but loosened their hold on you, leaving blooming bruises along your hips and neck. You noticed the Adam's apple in his throat bob as he struggled to regain composure. 

You had already begun to drift off as he finally slid free from you, the rest of his fluids leaking down your ass as he let your limbs drop back down to the stage. Whining pathetically, you couldn't manage more than a look through tired lids at him. Usually he left after he was finished, but he spent a moment looking over his work. It seemed that over time he began to appreciate the state he left you in. Almost like for the first time, he was admiring his work.

Finally, as sleep began to pull you down, the sound of metal filled your ears again, becoming more faint as your breath began to slow.

[the-hawthorns-ocs]

how does your creative process work? i always struggle to have ideas and create worlds that still have cats but are unique with unique roles. any advice?

Ok so the biggest piece of advice I can give is don't get caught up worrying about if your story/world is unique enough! Everyone gets inspiration from somewhere, especially in fandom spaces! Plus with so many of us making silly little cat worlds, our ideas are bound to overlap!

Tbh I think some of the best ways to make your world come across as unique is to take inspo from lots of different sources and just mix them together in your own fun ways! Just think about different things that you like the world building for and make a world building soup out of them!

For the Kinship world I took a lot of inspo from The Guardians of Ga'hoole, I love the owl society in those books, I liked the idea of multiple roles that one could train to become a part of, I liked the more advanced tools, materials and weapons, I liked that the world took place in a post human extinction that is just never explained. I took all of these things and made them my own for the Kinships! I mixed together ideas from Warriors with TGoG and then customized it to fit the vibes and setting/environment of the Kinships!

Also speaking of environment, the setting of your story can really help make your world your own. Coming up with a cool place or just a place that you like a lot can really help in giving you ideas for your world and story! I love Yosemite National Park and California's Pacific Northwest in general so I decided to set the Kinships in a territory that is very similar to that area! Deciding this really helped me come up with more ideas, how would this society interact with the environment? How would they need to adapt to the seasons and world around them? What sorts of things would they eat? Ehat plants could they use for healing? What objects from their territory would they use as names? Idk.. it just really helps get the creativity flowing!

[milfzatannaz]

Goth wardrobe advice

hiiiii baby bats!!!! I just wanted to write a lil post on how to start building a goth wardrobe! I started around 6 months ago and I’ve been very happy with the looks I’ve been able to create, and I thought to just write down how I was able to rlly curate my aesthetic! (though I will tack onto this post that goth is a music based subculture so you can be goth without fancy elaborate looks)

when it comes to shopping for clothes, my personal advice is buy individual pieces, not outfits. meaning you buy clothes with the intention of mixing and matching which will save money and help you from over-buying. plus flexibility in your wardrobe allows for more fun and creativity!

the look

The first step to creating your style is to envision what kind of look you want to go for. goth style pulls from so many different sources! Trad goths from the 80s evolved from punk, and subsequent iterations of the style have Victorian, glam, etc sentiments. you can lean more romantic or more edgy, it’s up to you! the first step is to create a vision board. I love Pinterest personally. from there I typed “trad goth” “casual goth” “90s goth” and streamlined what I want to emulate. Don’t forget to watch goth rock music videos for style inspo- siouxsie is my personal icon and wore such interesting things, as well as Patricia Morrison! there’s also a level of gender nonconformity in goth that you can lean into. for instance, I’m femme but with a shaved head that really compliments my style and makes me feel really confident. It’s all so variable and individual. one of the original tenets of goth was the DIY aspect, which I think is super important. don’t be afraid to rip, cut, add safety pins, or paint on clothes you buy.

shopping

shopping for goth clothes has a lot of misconceptions. you really don’t need to ever buy from a fast fashion site like killstar or dollskill to get the looks you want. In fact most goths would prefer that you look elsewhere at first, bc a lot of us aren’t comfortable with the way our subculture has been commodified and commercialized. thrift stores have given me tons of luck. I typically prefer red white and blue, but goodwill can have good stuff too! (now, thrifting is more environmentally friendly, but that doesn’t mean that the company is ethical, like Salvation Army and goodwill. it’s a matter of choosing what’s right for your personal values.)

you can buy black clothes at pretty much any store which makes creating outfits somewhat easy. shop where you can afford it and what has good options for your body type and comfort level. I buy most of my stuff secondhand but I own a few things from H&M and Pacsun. pacsun has amazing corset tops that are affordable during their sales, and H&M has foundational pieces for okay quality. Try Depop too because I LOVE vintage clothes and you can find amazing things on the app, like dresses from the 90s and 70s blouses!

General wardrobe items

here’s what I bought when building my wardrobe:

- black trousers

- black skirts (midi AND mini. I prefer long skirts but I like to have choices)

- band tees for my fav goth bands

- a white button down blouse

- bustiers/corsets. I have incredible luck thrifting them but some I’ve gotten new. They’re sexy and fun on their own but even cooler layered over something!

- tights! fishnets are a must as well as solid sheer black and other fun patterns

- dresses in plaid or solid colors. you don’t have to JUST wear black, in fact siouxsie wore tons of color back in the day. black is just what we’re known for but maroon, purple and white are great too.

- long sleeve sheer tops. I have one black mesh and one black lace top. These can be worn over bras for an edgier look or under band tees to add texture and complexity.

- SHOES! I don’t buy secondhand shoes only bc I have wonky feet. My two main pairs are my doc martens Jadon platforms and Mary janes. Shoes are an entirely personal decision so do your research! A lot of ppl like Demonias but I haven’t swung for those yet.

- accessories, accessories, accessories. Perhaps what makes someone recognizably goth is our funky accessories. I have multiple belts, ranging from the standard black with grommets to a triple belt and a corset waist cincher. I buy my jewelry off Etsy or I buy them from flea markets, and I lean towards ankhs bc I’m a sandman nerd lmfao. (I own 3 ankh necklaces, a bracelet, and two pairs of earrings oops). I also have a few silver crucifixes and a spiked collar.

- outerwear. I’m a leather jacket aficionado and I hand painted a trad goth jacket, but other options are black long coats and blazers. vests are pretty great too.

final notes

I’m a baby bat myself so I, too am learning the ropes and exploring my style. remember that it’s about self expression and making yourself stand out, not uniformity. there are so many unique alternative subcultures and no one is stopping you from pulling from all sorts of inspo! Remember to have fun when shopping or getting dressed above all else!!!!

other great resources can be found on r/gothfashion and from goth YouTubers!

[stardustizuku]

PART 1: How did we get here, again?:

The origins of Villainess Stories

Villainess Stories are an interesting phenomena that took a chokehold of the mainstream anime community, right around 2020, thanks to a little anime named:

“My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!”

I say this, but while it was popularized in 2020, that’s not where this is even close to starting.

I always find myself having to remind most people that: The anime is rarely the origin.

I’ve stated plenty of times before, animation is expensive. More often than not, animes are a commercial of sorts, for manga, light novels and merch. It isn’t until the source material has proven to be successful on its own, that it gets an adaptation.

A risk of this magnitude had to come from somewhere.

That somewhere was Shōsetsuka ni Narō.

Much like many of your favorite animes, My Next Life as a Villainess began as a web novel in the site “Shōsetsuka ni Narō”. A self-publishing Japanese website that brought you “Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!”; “Log Horizon”; “I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability”; “I’m in Love with the Villainess”; and for anyone who follows my page: yes. Ascendance of a Bookworm.

Among many others. Like seriously, a bunch of the most popular animes you’ll find being broadcasted in the latest part of this decade - started in Naro from 2012 - 2016.

“My Next Life as a Villainess” was published in 2014, and it ran all the way until 2015. With the Light Novel running from 2015, to this day.

Unfortunately, if you try to find a bit of a timeline as to where the genre came from, you will find a loud crowd that claims that all these mangas are a rip-off of one another, that have no basis on video games. That’s a blatant lie, born mostly out of a complete disinterest in the genre.

The villainess genre has a long, convoluted and frankly complicated story.

Unlike western media, in which you basically take one of the mediums (film, animation, or gaming) and more or less see it evolve with little to no influence of other mediums - Japanese media takes inspo from other mediums all the time.

What do I mean by this?

Let’s take animation. Film animation has a very linear timeline. It starts with Disney, moves to Pixar, moves to Dreamworks. It references almost only itself. If Hollywood does something you can barely feel it film animation. If something becomes popular on the small screen and tv, or streaming services, Film Animation has no clue.

Japanese Animation is different. Manga, webnovels, and games tend to influence each other all the time.

This is why you have extremely popular animes that have a mix of other medium in them. Like, Sword Art Online, which involves mixing elements of video games mechanics with anime tropes. As well as adaptations across the mediums: manga being adapted to animes, live action, musical theatre and even games.

This makes trying to analyze just anime, a fruitless endeavor.

In part too, because the ones who determine what anime becomes an anime, is in large part the manga industry.

Like the BIG THREE are the big three, not for any issues related to the anime, but because they saved Shonen Jump - a manga magazine. Sword Art Online too, became popular due to already popular JRPGs and MMOs. At the same time, it’s undeniable success, and change the course of history forever - came first in the form of a Light Novel (yes SAO was also originally a Light Novel entered in a contest in 2002). So it comes as no surprise that the first to feel its impact was the light novel industry.

The existence of “My Next Life as a Villainess” has then to be divided Parts. The Isekai Part of it, Game Part of it, and the Manga/Anime. Which melted together in the form of a popular webnovel.

Now. Isekais are weird.

People will always point and laugh about how the “original Isekai” is Alice in Wonderland or Wizard of Oz.

But Isekai is a hard thing to define, specially its origins. At it’s core, Isekai is just “Being sent to another word” and that’s as universal as of a trope as any other. After all, it’s the first step of A Hero’s Journey taken to its most literal of interpretations. Crossing the Threshold into a New World is pretty much the beginning of any adventure. It stands to reason that this “New World” is a literal new one. This leaves everyone guessing as to what you’d consider the “first Isekai”. Some will point at Urashima Tarō, some at the Super Mario Bros movie, some will point at Superbook, or Mashin Hero Wataru.

That said, nowadays, “Isekai” became a genre of its own. It has a very specific aesthetic, tropes and characters.

So rather than to try and find where it originated, it’s more productive to see when it started to take the shape of what we would nowadays consider to be the essence.

And something to notice too, is that the trope varies greatly depending on what current you take. You could consider Digimon a precursor of Sword Art Online, but that would have very little impact on Villainess tropes.

In this sense, I would consider Vision of Escaflowne (1994), Inuyasha (1996) and Fushigi Yugi (1991) as the pioneers of what it is now Isekai Shoujo.

They all talk about high school girls being transported to another world. They all talk about destiny and fate, and whether we have to follow the path someone else has set for us.

Vision of Escaflowne presents the idea of fate. It involves also war and the nature of trauma. It’s a slightly more mature story. But it cements this idea of “the chosen one”.

Talking about Fushigi Yugi, it’s often considered to be the first “transported into a novel” Isekai with a shoujo romance focus. I wish I had read it or watched it because a lot of the tropes that eventually become a staple of the Isekai story come from here. Including the predestined story, someone being told they have a role to play, the jealousy of someone trying to steal your position, as well as a romance based around saving the world.

And I cannot possibly understate the influence of Rumiko Takahashi’s Inuyasha. This woman quite literally created the concept of a harem and reverse harem romance with Ranma 1/2. She’s the queen of love triangles. While it would take a bit more for the Isekai genre aimed at women to fully take off, it’s undeniable to anyone who’s watched it how much contemporaries borrow from it. Not to mention, it’s perhaps the most famous one. While Escaflowne and Fushigi Yugi are both relatively unknown, specially in the west, everyone knows Inuyasha. It had 164 episodes, 5 films, and even a recent sequel.

Parallel to this, games started to transform too.

For villainess characters in otome games have been here since literally the inception of the genre.

Angelique, the (by and large) considered to be the pioneer or inventor of the genre, was released in 1994. This game has a villainess character, in the name of Rosalia de Cartagena. The game is about the Queen that rules the Universe, deciding to chose a new ruler, via a competition. She chooses two Queen candidates: Angelique and Rosalia. Rosalia being the rival, you (as a player) are supposed to defeat.

Surprisingly, though, when the game comes out, Rosalia becomes hugely popular with audiences. “How popular?” You may ask.

Well, popular enough that in 1998, KOEI released a game named Angelique DUET, in which you can choose to play as either Angelique or Rosalia.

Yeah, so you may considered that the villainess as the main character trope dates back for as far as 1998.

But…well, I’m twisting the truth just the slightest bit.

While the original Angelique story, is about two rival Queen Candidates competing for the throne, and yes, you will lose the game if you let Rosalia win…- Rosalia is never a full fledge villainess.

Yes, she’s a a rival, but not a villainess.

She isn’t evil.

The original game had two (main) endings: The Queen Ending and The Love Ending.

And in the Love Ending, which was still a Good Ending, Rosalia would become Queen.

You could quite literally, only choose between love and duty. And if you chose Love, you were letting Rosalia win.

She wasn’t evil. In fact, she’s described as talented, smart and was literally trained to be a Queen. It’s just that in the framing of the story, you have to defeat her to become Queen.

And even if you win, in Angelique Special 2, (where you play as the successor to Angelique) it is more than hinted that Angelique and Rosalia are friends - even when Angelique became Queen. Which is supported by the fact that the player can actually GAIN friendship points from Rosalia in the original game, by going into her room and chatting with her.

So, Rosalia is not evil, not by any long shot.

But this game cemented the idea of two Rivals Queens, an extensive Harem of Men, and the idea of duty vs love.

Albarea’s Maiden, released in 1997, also introduced the concept of the Saintess or the Holy Maiden, set to save the world by competing against other girls. With one of them being a counselor-type supporting character, and your active rival.

Later famous Otome game, Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side, released in 2002, popularized the concept of Friendship Routes. You could avoid the Rival Mode and befriend Shiho Arisawa, Mizuki Sud, Natsumi Fuji or Tamami Konno, instead of the Love Routes.

So you have these two genres, and both are growing in its own ways.

Otome series keep gaining popularity, like massive amounts of it. Obviously, it grows so much that it creates its own ecosystem. Varying from school romance, to historical fantasy, and all the likes. Games like Brother’s Conflict, Diabolik Lovers, Uta no Prince-sama, among others exploded in popularity around 2010-2012.

Meanwhile shoujo is also thriving as its own thing. Developing its tropes, one of which will come extremely handy later, that involves the “pick me” girl Japanese Version. Series like Kimi Ni Todoke, Kaichou Wa Maid, Special A, become extremely popular too around this time.

Finally, Summer of 2012 rolls around and.

Oh how I dread this.

As much as I would like not to talk about Sword Art Online, it’s unfortunately enough, a critical piece for most of anime history.

I cannot understate how much this anime changed the game. It wasn’t the first to introduce the concept of video games and anime - with The World Only God Knows coming out in 2011 - but it was the first to (in the first season) take its premise extremely seriously. It was the first to combine Isekai with gaming, and a power fantasy that many would soon find themselves indulging into. That’s it, a world where what makes you a loser, is your biggest strength.

Which launched it to popularity.

It became a sensation; a phenomena.

It opened the flood gates for many others who would try to combine anime, gaming and the Isekai concepts.

In the webnovel sphere, meanwhile, you could see that Magic Academy Stories and Historical Fantasy with the Princess archetype were fairly popular already. But it’s way harder to distinctively examine them for one reason.

Simply put, uhm. It’s, ah, sexism.

While a lot of stories aimed at boys would often get picked up without a second thought for an anime adaptation - the same could not be said of stories aimed at women. Be it webnovels, light novel or manga, it takes extreme power for a shoujo to get picked up. So, these stories simply don’t get an anime, which means we don’t get adaptations, which means no translation or English documentation.

And honestly? There’s just so far as my Japanese friend’s broken English and Google translate can get me.

It’s easy for me to analyze Angelique’s influence because there’s English archieves of it!

The same cannot be said, of what’s essentially a fanfiction website filled with self indulgent writing. As much as it is a treasure trove of why the genre blew up - I simply cannot access it.

But what from what I can see Isekai Villainess Stories exploded in 2014. You could already see it bubbling up in 2013. Notably, for anyone reading this from the AoB tag, Ascendance of a Bookworm came out in 2013. An Isekai story that heavily focused on Royalty and the “Holy Maiden” archetype.

It took just the right tweaks to get it right.

The first to appear, from all the digging I could find in English Archieves, was in 2013 with the “I Will Live with Humility and Dependability as My Motto” novel. It was discontinued in 2017.

It is nothing like “My Next Life as Villainess”. The protagonist was about to enter elementary school when she dies, the story told is one of a manga she was reading (not a game), and it lacks the harem aspect that would later be so cliche it borders on brain dead. But you see a lot of what would become essential. A heroine with a goal different to romance, an original villainess that bullies the heroine, and a wish for a simple no-problem life.

After that, most of what followed were novellas and small short stories, much which are now discontinued or on hiatus. Which is to be expected. Naro allows all types of stories in its website. And back then there was no format. No tropes, no guidelines to what works and doesn’t.

Trial and error landed us with “My Next Life as a Villainess”. And I mean a lot of trial and error. From what has been archieved and translated on English, there’s easily 15 stories with a similar premise that were published in 2014. Which may not sound like a lot, but that’s only what has been popular enough to be saved into English. I cannot imagine how much got lost in Japanese.

But, there you have it.

First, the sudden explosion of Isekai Gaming with the popularity of the Sword Art Online Anime.

Followed by a growing interest in Otome Games. An audience prepped by the original 1994 and 1996, to be endeared by a rival/villainess character.

An audience of Shoujo fanatics which grew up with Isekai shows like Escaflowne, Fushigi Yugi, and Inuyasha in the late 90s.

And an audience of webnovel enthusiasts, already in love with princess aesthetics and magical academies.

Anyways.

Once that reached the main consciousness, all hell broke loose.

After “My Next Life as a Villainess” blew up, it was only a matter of time for countless of self-published stories to follow suit.

Obviously, I’m glossing over a lot of history. I wasn’t able to touch upon the Light Novel and Visual Novel games, mostly because that’s a massive sinkhole you’d need a MASTERS to sort through. Made, entirely not easier, by the fact that mediums keep interacting with each other. Visual novels get picked up, turned into anime, which inspires the next batch of game developers and artists. And the feedback loop is somehow even quicker there, for some reason.

Like, My Next Life debuted in 2014, we got the anime until 2020, and its popularity only reached anime-backed levels of explosion until 2024. It took ten-fucking-years for this to become a thing. Whereas shonen and shonen manga has maybe 5 year gap? Shonen Jump spits out anime adaptations almost as fast as it cuts anything that isn’t OnePiece levels of popular. Again, it’s a can of sexism worms I’m not interested in today.

“Wait,” you ask. “I still don’t get it”

What do you not get?

“Well, I understand we’re the Isekai aspect comes from. I understand the gaming and all. But wasn’t Rosalia a good girl? How do you go from the Rival-Everyone-Likes in the game, to the horrible Villainess that The Original Catherine is meant to be? Her description of a the game’s villainess is far meaner than Rosalia was”.

Alright, so, you remember how I named these series “All Girls Dream of Cinderella?

“Yeah”

Well. We now have to talk about Cinderella.

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[wyrmsfornerves]

Hi! Younger artist here, I just saw your post with all those super cool monster designs and I took a quick stroll through your blog, and I was wondering if you had any specific inspirations for those designs or where you get inspo for character designs in general? Or perhaps some tidbits on how you learned how to make wild designs like that?

Sorry if this is a bit of a big ask, I just think it's really cool and I was curious!

Hello! Thank you for your question and apologies for taking so long to answer, I just got really excited and wanted to be thorough! 

My biggest piece of advice is research and develop a visual library of reference material! Your visual library is like a mental database of everything you’ve ever seen in your life, and this is what you can pull from to design concepts. 

There are a couple ways to start this as a practice: 

Notice what you see! It can be a chair, a sunset, a shoe, the light on a tree, but if you see something you think is beautiful or interesting, mentally make a note of it!

Document what you like! With computers and cameras this is a lot easier to do nowadays, but if you see something interesting to you, document it. You can draw it, or take/save a photo to folder. 

Organize it! I highly recommend coming up with a system for referencing back to find things, either through image tags or folders or even a manual filing system. 

Pay attention to your personal preferences and experiences. Try to think about what draws you to certain visual elements, identifying them can lead you to more things you like. Also pay attention to what you don’t like and why, it doesn’t necessarily need to be bad or amoral, we all have personal tastes. 

Get out of your comfort zone! I recommend trying to see something you’ve never seen before often. Find a new artist, a new genre, research a new type of design movement, go to a new place, etc. 

Try to find context for your research! For example, If you really love a specific era of fashion, research that time period and the way historical context informs it. Context can be really important, especially if you are working with references new to you!

Important Note 01: You don’t want to copy or rip-off these things. In my experience the best way to avoid that is to have a lot of reference points for any project and embrace your authentic personal interests, experiences, and identity. 

Important Note 02: Like any research, be conscious of primary person vs secondary sources! One is not better than another necessarily, but I find I work my best with a  mix of both. I like to start with primary sources and then move to secondary sources, Ie: looking at authentic suits of armor before moving to contemporary armor concept art. You don’t have to do this, it’s just something I find helpful. 

Important Note 03: While mostly I’m referring to visual references, audio, music, and writing are also super helpful!

Ok now, how do you curate all that for a project. For those monster illustrations I wanted to explore how color can be horrific. Keywords: Color & Horror. So I start looking through references for things that have the effect I want color wise, vivid and maximalist, and things that I find scary or horrifying. Here are some of the things I knew about or discovered during the research process that had the vibe I wanted. 

Notable Influences 

Color and Design 

Peruvian & Guatemalan Textiles and Traditional Clothing 

Spanish Traditional/Folk Clothing 

Sammezzano Castle, Italy

Nasir al-Mulk Mosque, Iran

Russian Traditional/Folk Costumes 

Fonthill Castle, Pennsylvania

Zhangye National Geopark

Nick Cave - sculpture artist

Lousie Zhang

Magnhild Kennedy - “Damselfrau”

Horror

Catacomb Saints

Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo

Japanese Yokai

Greek & Roman Mythology

Mandrills & Monkeys

Charles Fréger’s Photographs of  European Pagan Costuming

Avant Garde Fashion

Alexander McQueen

Vedas by  Nicolas Alan Cope and Dustin Edward Arnold 

Stephen Jones - Hats

Mummies

Reliquaries

Marina González Eme

Lorenzo Nanni

H.R Giger

Intersections of Color & Horror

Microscopic Imagery

Moths, Beetles & Shrimp

Suspiria (1977)

AJ Fosik

Hungry | Johannes J. Jaruraak

Once you’ve gathered these references in one place (like a moodboard, folder,  or Pinterest board) It’s time to pay attention to wear aesthetics intersect, what patterns are coming up, what proportions of color, what textures reoccur, what elements of clothing reoccur, etc.. What relationship do different images have with each other, what emotional effect do they create. 

Now that you’ve studied up, it’s time to sketch, try and create things that feel similar to the work you are looking at but not copy it, instead try mixing things together. Experiment! Let your personal style and preferences sink in! Interpret what you’ve learned!

From there, it’s more of a design process, how to use proportion, light, anatomy, perspective, form, repetition, etc, to create the desired effect. Then you refine and refine.

For new or different projects you repeat the process, maybe you use similar points of reference, maybe you go a completely different direction. 

Anyway that was long, but I hope it was helpful!

[propersavages]

The Books of Beginning is the best kind of children’s fantasy because it mixes a bunch of other children’s fantasy into one giant, crazy pot of ridiculousness.

like it’s got

- The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings

- Narnia

- A Series of Unfortunate Events

- Oliver Twist?? (i know it isn’t fantasy)

- Weirdly not much of Harry Potter but a little bit

- Earthsea (maybe? if i squint?)

- and BACK TO THE FUTURE!!!

I will gladly accept more nominations.

My point is, Tolkien’s ‘pot of story’ is rife here, that is, the wonderful thing about fantasy is how you can take inspo from a billion other sources that have come before you, and remix it in a new refreshing way (if you do it well). and these book do it well!

[heartkaji]

hi mars i love your writing so much 🥺🥺 i’m thinking of starting a blog because of you so do you have any writing tips?

HI BABYYY i’m so glad i could inspire you to start writing i’m so happy to hear that💞💞 here’s a few for you ml 💘

read what you want to write. obviously you have to choose HOW you want to write first. in my case i wanted my writing to be similar to poetry since i love poems. there are diff types of poetry but prose poetry is my favorite so i decided on making my works based on that. once you’ve decided how you wanna write, read as many works as you can that basically embody that.

make it your own : if you’re using another author’s work as inspiration you might end up developing a writing style that’s pretty much identical to theirs. it’s harder to notice in writing so i’ll use art as an example: have you ever seen someone’s art and thought it was by a particular artist, only to find out it was someone else who drew it ? if your work looks like something the author you’re getting inspo from could’ve written, you’re doing it wrong 🙏 if you’re using pinterest or tumblr as inspo sources chances are your inspiration is a small or unpublished writer so you really don’t want your work sounding similar to theirs. making your work a little more unique by mixing inspo from different sources is a great help.

to add more on the last point, try making your own signature phrases !! for example, ppl have told me they know a work is mine once they see phrases like ‘blood drenched cheeks’ (as opposed to blushing or flushed cheeks) ‘blood crept up his throat’ (to show nervousness) etc etc. you can see these exact phrases in almost EVERY fic i’ve ever written. idk about them being entirely unique but if people are associating certain phrases with you, you are definitely on the right path to making a writing style that’s uniquely yours 💯 another thing i do is i use slashes in place of dashes, commas, semicolons etc and ‘&’ instead of ‘and’. it’s used in poetry sometimes but pretty uncommon in fic writing. my use of these symbols in writing has also been pointed out on here so i know i’m doing it right 🙏

decide how you want your works to SOUND. what vibe do you want your writing to give ? i like to write with the intention of making my fics sound ‘melancholically romantic’. i’d say my bakugo fic, kinich drabble and old kaji oneshot are works of mine that do well to capture this vibe. i like my works to have a somewhat ‘gloomy’ air as opposed to bright and happy, and i make the romance on a more steamy side, not innocent and cute at all. decide what tone or vibe you want your work to give off and use language and setting accordingly !!

PROOFREAD. this is really basic advice but i NEED to spell it out because gosh, the amount of fics i see that say ‘not proofread’ on the daily ?? anytime i see that in the authors note i scroll immediately. if you couldn’t put effort into making your fic readable, why would i give it a read ? please anon, use grammarly if you have to. i personally don’t use it because i write things ‘grammatically incorrectly’ for the sake of sounding poetic sometimes so having grammarly trying to correct what is perfectly fine in my eyes can get annoying. that said i reread my fics like ten times before i post, and i reread it at different times as well, not just reading it over and over again in one sitting. having stuff like spelling errors in my fics is just so embarassing to me, i prefer to avoid that at all costs 🙏

lastly, WRITE WHAT YOU LIKE. tumblr sucks when it comes to giving feedback. it makes me miss wattpad where everyone spammed comments but hey what can you do ? don’t let lack of engagement discourage you from writing the way YOU want to. i’ve written fics in really thick prose and some of those don’t get as many reactions, but does it make me consider changing my writing style ? NO. everything i post on here is first for myself before anyone else. it should be the same way for you too nonnie. the moment you become focused on writing what will get you the most likes and reblogs rather than what you actually want to, you become a content creator, not a writer. write as you like and own it ‼️

[bonesandthebees]

Hello! Sorry if this has been asked/answered before but how do you come up with names like pythia, eldingvegr, etc. or am i just uncultured and you’re using names from other things

Pythia is a term from Ancient Greece, and was the title used to denote the Head Priestess at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, and was also known as the Oracle of Delphi. So yeah, future-seeing priest/priestess from Ancient Greece.

now as for the words in stars, I had a different 'source' for words depending on the planet I was talking about. most of the terms from Eldingvegr, like Eldingvegr, Sólsid, Nóttsid, örlen, etc. all came from Old Norse words that I put a bit of a twist on. Anything related to Themis (ie: the names of the mentioned royals, Anthemoessa, etc.) were inspired from Ancient Greece (Themis being both a goddess of justice, but the name also was a shortened version of Themiscyra which was where the mythological Amazons lived). I used the latin words for mushrooms for Kinoko (Atramentaria, Amanita) and latin was also scattered around some other planets as well. so yeah, it was just a mix of a lot of ancient languages that I took inspo from!

[noirapocalypto]

stature, roots and change 🖤

Thank you so much!! 🥺💕

[ oc asks: character design ]

stature: What's your OC's body type? How tall are they? Do they wear clothing to accentuate their look or do they try to mask it?

Salem is 6'2" (188cm, I hope I converted that correctly, I'm a silly American), so he's a tall boy. He's broad shouldered and a bit on the stocky side. There's some natural thickness to him, especially around the arms, thigh and ass. He's thicc, juicy and bitable in all the right places. At his healthiest, he looks strong and in pretty good shape. He's the only OC of mine who's body type drastically changes throughout his story. In his very early 20s, he was a bit on the softer side. Not much muscle definition. During his bad years, when his mental health and drug addiction were at their worst, he was much more underweight. He looked a bit gaunt, and it obvious he was skipping meals or just not eating enough/properly for someone his size. Post rehab and during his recovery (at the start of 2077 and forward), he starts gaining his weight back after he begins to eat regularly again. He also begins to work out a bit more, so his muscles started developing some definition and he starts to tone up. He's not super defined and cut, and he likely won't ever be. But he is healthy and his more active lifestyle starts to show. While he does wear clothes that often show off his body (form fitting jeans, tank tops, etc), he doesn't really do it with the intention of accentuating his physique. He never really cared much to hide his looks, even when he was at his unhealthiest.

change: Has your OC ever drastically changed their appearance? Significant haircuts, big tattoos, complete wardrobe swap, etc? Why? How do they feel about the change?

Most of Salem's drastic modifications started around his early 20s. Salem's is very into self-expression and thinks the way he looks is an expression of who he is and what he's about. Plus, I think Salem's always had a bit of a chip on his shoulder since his youth, he was always made to feel like he was strange and was a bit of a reject growing up. So he decided, 'If you think I'm weird now, just wait.' It started with little things here and there--the tattoos were the first time come. Then the scarification (for no other reason than he thought they looked cool), then the eyes. The facial cyberware and cyberarm were probably results of injuries from 'accidents' he's caused during his bad years. His wardrobe has more or less stayed the same. In his later years, he's more open to wearing some color: such as darker shades of reds/blues/greens. But for the most part, he's always going to be a dark palette kind of guy with his attires. Though he has been known to clean up very well when he wants to--especially when the situation calls for a more formal look. A huge contrast from the baby faced kid he was in those early years. But he's happy with how he looks. It feels like him, no one else looks like him. And people can either love it or leave it--because he's not one to change for anyone.

roots: Is your OC's look inspired by any specific style of clothing or fashion trend? What are the roots and/or inspiration for their look?

Answering this one last and putting it under a read-more since it's pic heavy. 🖤

Salem has a very specific style that I can't really recreate in game, sadly. 😭So I depend a lot on inspo pics, since I'm also not good at describing fashion. 😅 His main source of inspiration is rapper Ghostemane. He's the reason Salem exists, so I wanted to borrow from his aesthetics.

Just grungy and distressed. Oversized tanks, covered in tattoos, all that good stuff. Then he started taking on some of $uicideboy$ aesthetics too. Just gives me Salem vibes, with the face tattoos and just the whole look.

The rest is just a mishmash of grungy and urban style. So it's basically a giant mixing pot of these specific styles/looks dkjfghlsjddfg

[xyl4-4444]

Do you have any art advice?

Sorry for the VERY belated reply but..

Yes of course I have some (general) advice, that have helped me as an artist.

Buckle up, because it's going to be a long post.

Start a Sketchbook. If it's your first ever try at dipping your fingers into these, you can turn an average notebook into one to overcome your fear of ruining a 30zł costing sketchbook in the future. If you're afraid of ruining your first page of your sketchbook, then just draw what the year is. Trust me when I say this, this has been my go-to when filling up the first page EVER SINCE I STARTED IT BACK IN 2019. Once you'll have 10+ sketchbooks finished, you can look back at your first and current sketchbook and see how your skills have changed over time.

Sign up to Pinterest and start making boards for thing like: Art inspo, references,etc. I created mine back in mid-2020 and I've gotta say, this has been one of my sources of inspo ever since. Of course, Pinterest is not just an art inspo-exclusive site, as there are things like cooking tutorials, room decor ideas, Hell.. even MEMES are here..

Don't be afraid to try out other blending modes other than Multiply, Add or Overlay. These three aforementioned blending modes are surely neat and all, but there are more blending modes out there (thought the full amount of those depends on the art program you're using, I use FireAlpaca btw). There are such layer modes like: Difference, Hard Light, Darken, Screen, Exclusion, Luminosity to name a few. So go out, experiment with them in your art, mix-and-match then and see what you'll get.

Use references. Look, I know that the "JuSt PrAcTiCe" advice is NOT ENOUGH to help an artist, and I get that (That's why I've listed my first tip as "Go grab a sketchbook"), however there's a little catch... Let's say... you wanna draw something for example... Hands - the most tedious part of the human body that a lot of artists are struggling to draw correctly. You try to draw it on paper.. and suddenly - You've just realized, that the hand you drew, didn't come out as you expected. So what do you do in this situation? Well you go search up 'hand references' of course. You can do that with other things like: backgrounds, computers, skateboards, weird deep-sea animals like Giant Isopods etc... ...or you just want to try out a different art style References are a good tool, if you don't know how some things work in an artistic sense, that's all I'm saying.

Use you art program's features to AN ADVANTAGE. Especially the filters tab. I use FireAlpaca to make art. It's a free art program, so I don't have to pay over 100zł montly, unlike Photoshop or.. Clip Studio Paint. However it doesn't have that many features or filters like Photoshop does, and that's okay. Because despite this, you can make great art with it. Wanna make a picture you've just pasted from the web to have some nice halftones? Well you can covert the layer into an 8-bit one, enable halftones and adjust to your liking. Wanna have some interesting colors in your art? Use Gradiation map or Tone Curve and fuck around. Want your art to have a softer look? Use a 'Soft Light' mode, go to 'Gaussian Blur' and later go to 'Levels' and adjust the to your liking. Wanna make a drawing have a pixel-ish look? you can use the 'Mosaic' filter for that. The list goes on.

Last but not least... Have Fun. Art has no rules. You can make fanarts of your favourite series 24/7, make numerous paintings of landscapes on canvas, draw your OCs, doodle on Ms Paint of all things.. or just scribble things in your sketchbook. In the end you're making art, and what matters the most is that you're having fun with it. So go out while you're drawing (as long as you're not harming anybody)

Yeah, that's all

[catsaar]

How do you get inspo for your builds? Do you just become possessed and start building??? Or you go on pinterest

Love this question Thanks for asking.

Pinterest is a main source of inspo for sure. I've also been binging a lot of interior design youtube lately. Lone Fox and Caroline Winkler are the 2 channels I've watched most recently.

Sometimes inspo comes from just playing the game and needing a certain community lot. Like the gym and modern museum I made for San Myshuno. I'll end up having a bit of an idea inspired by the in game surroundings and then going on pinterest to get some additional ideas.

Other times it's from travels I've made, movies/shows I've watched, other games I'm playing etc. I just have like a light bulb moment and go from there, mixing different things I've seen and looked up and making it my own.

New items can be an inspiration too, whether cc or an official pack. The last interior I made was due to me wanting to use that couch in pierisim's new set and I had a sim couple that still needed to move in together so I tried to merge the styles from their previous places.

I think inspo comes and goes, you can't really force it. I hadn't opened my game in months because I've just been feeling drained. The seasonal depression was extra seasoned this year. And that's okay too, in the end you just need to have fun and not pressure yourself. When you're enjoying yourself, that's when you create the best things no matter what it is you're making.

Edit: I want to add an important source of inspo I forgot. Other simmers! There's so much talent in this community. Don't copy but definitely get inspired by them. When I started my building journey there have been plenty of simmers that inspired me in the possibilities of this game and influenced my style while I was progressing in finding my own.

[stevengrantshubby]

More Misc Thoughts About My Winx Club AU

so im thinking about how brianna, the fairy of art, powers work.

im thinking that the epithets each girl has comes from like...themselves. like the og winx got theirs for marketing mostly (imo argue if you want but yeah) but i think as each fairy or witch connects more with their powers they give themselves an epithets as they specialize or lean more in one way.

example: like there could be another fairy with a strong connection to water. but as they grow they really lean into drawing power from fresh water sources, while aisha uses morphix. so aisha in italian, i believe, is the fairy of fluids so the plasma like morphix works well for her. if that makes sense yknow?

so for brianna...im thinking of changing her to like beinf from solaria and making her a fairy of color? like itll give her a rainbow motif and since i wanted a hippie style personality and boho fashion inspo, and the art thing could related to that. though i dont think a magic user connected to light has to be from solaria, so she still might be from callisto. idk. i think with her magic she can manipulate light into something a bit more thick, kinda paint like. guess itd be like morphix...hm perhaps aisha will mentor brianna a bit? idk

im also thinking more about zari, the fairy of paper. much like brianna im thinking about making her from linphea cause after doing some research paper is just related to narute and plants. right now i have her from dolona. which again, just brings up that i dont think ppl connected to nature need to be from linphea but im not sure now. also, i need to look into different types of paper to understand them better. i know (at least i think i know) ppl used to use cotton and linens for paper, called rags, i think. im still working this out.

a new thought ive been having recently though, is adding a specialist, or sorcerer, to the mix as a part of the club and not just side characters.

in this au, guy fairies and wizards (so like here im thinking that fairies and sorcerer arent gendered terms in this au but witch and wizard are. if that bothers you im sorry, but i dont wanna call them witches of the black circle and sorcerers of the black circle isnt as cool). but im not 100% on what actually makes them different in terms of magic. like from the wiki i remember fairies use positive magic and witches negative, which is a choice so a person can switch around. i dont remember anything about sorcerers or magicians tho. i suppose it would make sense for them to mostly use neutral magic or like a mix of negative and positive magic.

im still trying to figure out that kind of thing.

now agatha. agatha, agatha, agatha...shes the witch of sweets cause really i was thinking about hansel and gretel and other witches that uses food to trap their victims. really so she leans into using candy, sugar, and baked goods kind of spells. agatha is really good with potions and things like that. havent thought much about lana yet.

there are a lot of vague ideas i have about this. but thats all for now!

[etrey]

Transform Your Space with AFS Mosaics: Stunning Kitchen Design Ideas

When it comes to giving your kitchen a fresh, stylish update, AFS Mosaics offers a world of possibilities. Whether you're renovating your entire kitchen or simply looking for new kitchen inspo, these tiles can transform your space with elegance and charm. Let's explore some fantastic kitchen design ideas that will elevate the heart of your home.

Kitchen Design Ideas

Revamping your kitchen can be an exciting yet daunting task. With the right kitchen design ideas, you can create a space that is both functional and beautiful. AFS Mosaics provide an array of options to suit any style, from modern and sleek to classic and timeless. Consider incorporating a mosaic backsplash to add a pop of color and texture. This can serve as the focal point of your kitchen, drawing attention and adding a touch of luxury.

Another great idea is to use AFS Mosaics on your kitchen island. This creates a stunning centerpiece that not only looks amazing but also offers durability and ease of maintenance. Whether you prefer intricate patterns or simple, elegant designs, there’s a mosaic style to match your vision.

New Kitchen Inspo

If you're on the lookout for new kitchen inspo, look no further than the versatility of AFS Mosaics. These tiles can be used in numerous creative ways to make your kitchen stand out. For instance, consider a mosaic feature wall. This bold statement can add depth and character to your kitchen, making it a true reflection of your personal style.

Incorporating mosaics into your flooring is another innovative idea. Not only does it enhance the visual appeal of your kitchen, but it also provides a durable surface that can withstand heavy foot traffic. For those who love a touch of luxury, metallic or glass mosaics can add a sophisticated shine and modern edge to your kitchen floors.

New Kitchen Inspiration

Finding new kitchen inspiration can sometimes be challenging, but AFS Mosaics make it easier than ever. One trend to consider is mixing different mosaic styles and colors. This eclectic approach can create a unique, personalized look that is both trendy and timeless.

Another source of inspiration is to incorporate mosaics into unexpected areas, such as the sides of cabinets or the fronts of drawers. This not only adds an element of surprise but also ties together the overall design of your kitchen seamlessly. With AFS Mosaics, the possibilities are truly endless, allowing you to customize every detail to suit your taste.

Conclusion

Incorporating AFS Mosaics into your kitchen design is a surefire way to create a stunning, personalized space.

https://samuel347.wordpress.com/2024/06/11/enhance-your-kitchen-design-with-afs-mosaics-a-stunning-array-of-kitchen-backsplash-tile-options/ 

Business Name — AFS Mosaics

Phone : +1 617 905 6629

E- Mail — ariel@afsmosaics.com 

Website Link -https://www.afsmosaics.com/

GMB — https://g.co/kgs/jFGnWUm

Address — 32 Mellen Street Needham, MA 02494.

[shaguro]

I love your writing sm :33 does anything encourage you to write what you write cause honestly if it comes from your imagination !!

-🐣

omg my first emoji anon 🥹 i made it yall

thank you so much, i’m so happy you enjoy it. 🩷 a lot of my story ideas come randomly! like while i’m taking a walk, watching a show or listening to music, music is the best for inspo. sometimes a line of dialogue will pop into my head and i immediately start writing. so it’s a mix of my imagination and outside sources. unless it’s a request, this is usually how it goes for me. 🩷