#this is the most fun and most creative I’ve been with any project ever

[edit-corner]

day 5: a polyamorous relationship (implied / canon or headcannon) OR : a t4t couple (impled / canon or headcanon)

✮ Polysho Tumblr Layouts !!

For @lavendergalactic’s pride week event !! Credit if using, reblogs are appreciated !! Transparents used are from @/sekaitransparents & @/prsk2dmv-transparents !!

[comicaurora]

Hey Red!

I have a writing question I’d like to ask, if that’s cool with you!

When it comes to starting a new story, big or small, pantsing or structuring, with black tea or chamomile, do you have any tips for, er, actually pulling the trigger and beginning? I don’t mean the “accusatory blank page”, I mean in getting to the “I genuinely believe this is a story worth telling and that should be told by me” mindset sufficient to commit. (Insofar as there’s a difference.)

Asking you because you’re someone who has excellent and proven skills in showwomanship, creativity, execution and all-round good storytelling vibes. Cuz while I’ve studied story structure and writing advice aplenty… It’s hard to take the dive when you’ve only ever been in the kiddie pool, so to speak.

Thanks either way!

Aw shucks!

I kinda feel like there's an intermediate stage here that I usually hit first, which is when I've been telling a story for myself for so long that I start feeling like I don't want to keep it to myself anymore.

A lot of the stuff I write or draw is just for me - stuff where I enjoy the act of creation or use it to flesh out and play with a concept I've been toying with. Sketchbook stuff that doesn't have an outside audience in mind, just stuff that I like. These aren't stories that have the end goal of sharing them - hell, half of them are just comic or prose adaptations of story beats that stuck with me that I wanted to play around with as practice and for fun. The rest of it is sketch pages of characters, doodles of scenes or snippets of prose writing built around a single scene or concept.

I think that the creative urge, when examined, should be subdivided into two extremely distinct subsections for clarity; the desire to make, and the desire to share. Not every person shares both in equal measure - in fact I'd say it's much more common for them to exist independently. The desire to share isn't limited to art you yourself created, either - fandom is constructed from a massive excess of the desire to share, passing around a story for examination and discussion because it is inherently fun to share the experience, and most of us can relate to the burning need to talk about this thing that's in my brain. And there's plenty of art that results from the desire to make that has none of the desire to share, ref cit everything in a sketchbook or every private writing exercise done for the joy of it. Neither element can be forced, and there's nothing wrong with either one existing without the other.

For me at least, the desire to share builds slowly for the larger projects. I might be eager to share a doodle or a sketch I think people will get a kick out of, but something bigger and more complicated will stay in my brain for much longer, and might never make it out. For me, Aurora started as just a playground for me to write and draw in, but over the years it built up to something I wanted to share - something I felt I'd be betraying if I let it sit in my head. It kind of just grew naturally, and if I'd tried to force it beforehand I would've felt self-conscious and uncomfortable rather than getting any joy out of the act of sharing.

[podcastjam]

Project Spotlight #4: The Ichorous Rot

Time for another project spotlight! Today, we're chatting with Sam from The Ichorous Rot.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your teammates!

@spinning-logic: Hey-o, I'm Charlie. I will be voice acting, sound editing, and assisting in some writing for our Podcast Jam entry! My first ever fiction podcast was Welcome to Night Vale (as it is for many, I'm sure), and my current favorite is pretty squarely tied with Malevolent and The Magnus Archives--though I'm truly loving Protocol too. I'm dipping my toes into hearing even more podcasts, like WOE.BEGONE and Old Gods of Appalachia. This is the first Podcast I've ever worked on, and hopefully what I learn from it will lead to creating more!

@moookar: Hi hi hello, I’m Mooo! I’m voice acting and writing. I’ve never worked on a podcast before TIR, but boy oh boy do I have lots of experience listening: WOE.BEGONE, Malevolent, and The Grotto are some of my current favorites, and I got started listening with The Magnus Archives and Dimension 20. Most of all, I’m just a fan of any speculative fiction I can get my hands on.

@gooboogy: I'm G! I do the music and some of the voice acting for The Ichorous Rot. I've been listening to audiobooks for ages and I listened to The Adventure Zone but only really started listening to audio dramas about a year ago with The Magnus Archives and Malevolent. It's not until I listened to WOE.BEGONE that I considered doing one myself! I don't have a fav podcast, but I have some fav characters such as Lucas Miller, Elias Bouchard, Kayne, and Ty Betteridge respectively. My fav genre is when Shit Gets Weird and I love it best when there's fucked up little blorbos :3

@fluxoid: Hey there! I'm Niall! I'll be doing some of the voice work for the Ichorous Rot. I've been listening to audio drama (and actual play) podcasts for over a decade now, starting with Welcome to Night Vale (of course). Current favorites are probably WOE.BEGONE and Midst, though I'm listening to many more. This is my first foray into the creative side of things and I'm excited to see where it goes!

@falloutcoys: Hello, I'm Sam! I'll be co-writing for The Ichorous Rot. I got started listening to WTNV in 2014 but really got into audio dramas when I picked up TMA in 2021. My current favorite pods have to be Midst,Not Quite Dead and WOE.BEGONE! This will be the first show I'm involved being published, but I'm writing my own passion project as well (@aboardtheichthyoid).

What's your podcast about?

Our project is set in 1880s West Virginia. Dr. Theodore Yates as he's overwhelmed in his duties as Janesville’s only doctor by a mysterious illness spreading through the town. We follow him through a combination of his own medical notes recorded on a wax cylinder, and snippets of audio following him and his best friend Alonzo as he tries to find a way to resolve The Ichorous Rot. It's a mystery that explores the effects of working class life and generational trauma through a supernatural lens.

What are you most excited about in this event?

This event has been such a great learning opportunity and way to collaborate with others! Everyone has had great ideas and we're able to bounce off each other and flesh out the story together, which is a really unique experience.

Any advice for other participants, or those on the fence about joining?

If you've been on the fence about joining, go for it! This is a really fun experience and it has the lowest possible stakes. Worst case scenario, you've met some great people and learned about producing a podcast. Best case scenario, you make an episode you're really proud of that grows into something much bigger.

While this team is no longer looking for new members, you can follow their project here on Tumblr @theichorousrot. Additionally, with a couple days left to sign up, there's still time to join the fun and work on a Podcast Jam project yourself - find out more information here!

[mihai-florescu]

i think i feel pretty similar to you in that the world is terrible, depressing, it sucks. that’s it’s natural state and we will always return there. but i thank that even though it hurts there are ideals unhampered by reality, stories we can create where that cycle ends for a moment in a happier direction. it isnt our job or duty as there isnt any grand purpose like that, but there is an opportunity out there to create a story with our lives. whether it’s a well known story or lost by the wayside, those who acknowledge the layer beneath the cheery “reality” that is peddled can be writers of their own. i might be delusional and there really is no hope but i hope to create stories for people to enjoy that elusive dream in if only for a temporary respite and cant give up until i well and truly fail. i don’t know if any of my thoughts speak to you in any meaningful way, but i felt compelled to share as while i think we share beliefs we seem to have come to rather different conclusions. i want to give my life to a story, an art, that will hold ideals the real world can never truly embody and thus cannot really give up as every taste of the real reality only strengthens my resolve. is there something like that for you? i’ve read your blog for a while and in my mind (which is an inexperienced mind so I apologize for sharing its fallible perceptions) you seemed like a fascinating person who holds ideals the world refuses to embody and is slowly sinking under that weight. i know it’s not really my place, so i apologize for my audacity, but i believe that you are the sort of person who can create a true happiness for yourself eventually. well, i mean i kind of have to if i believe that for myself. i have more to say, but it seems this is become a ridiculously long message. i apologize, my words likely have crossed between ideas and lost sense at times. i hope they help, or at least don’t harm. i hope you find loveliness loveliness in your day as you deserve it.

I've been journaling about this yesterday... my entire outlook on life i guess? I know i used to be creative and make projects that i found fun, but i cant find this drive in me anymore, i'm more than ready to give up (if only upset at the way it ended so im pressuring myself to make a good Last Project, but nothing is good anymore. It's all so...plain. useless. banal. there's no wit or multilayer to anything i can come up with anymore. I cant develop an idea anymore. There are enough stories, enough artworks, plenty of them bad, theres no need for me to add to it). Im sure it's just burnout stacked on top of depression and general worsening misanthropy and paranoia, but i don't think i will ever feel more hopeful again.

However i do think art, literature, games, even just stories from other people are keeping me grounded. They're also humanity's only redeeming quality - imagination will save our souls... but my position isn't to be an artist anymore, i cant spare the energy and i dont see a point in it either. I cant do a single basic living thing anymore that others seem to be able to do? I very much feel like an npc trying to do my most necessary tasks as best i can, failing more often than not. I hate getting asked what i'll do on a day off (it used to be often at my internship. I dont even want to imagine what they thought about me, that's another can of worms that still haunts me and contributed to why i became like this). The answer is quite literally Pretend I Dont Exist. I will not do anything. I cant do anything. I stop existing the second you stop seeing me, im just in bed dreading the next time i have to be human. I think when other people say they didnt do anything it's a hyperbole, but i can go weeks, and i have gone months even, without leaving the house, if i wasnt expected to.

Part of me wants to think, hope, i could maybe even get interested in making things again if there was no expectation for me to be a person for a few years, completely disappear off the grid (the expectation to be a person that just doesnt come natural to me anymore... and a specific one at that - achieving goals and moving forward, working, with ambitions or any sort of drive, young and energetic, an only child with a good education earning a living... i despise the idea of making money. I despise consumerism too. I want to fund artists, family owned restaurants, bookshops, cafes, and i do, i spend so much money without realising, but i'm really worried i'll run out and not be able to make any to survive once im older and wont get funds from my parents anymore. So i try to save and fail... My family friends, same age or even younger, are buying their own cars and apartments, successfully working multiple well paying jobs at the same time, with plans for the future...? Id like to know both how and why. How do you have the energy and why do you care. But even if they tell me the answers it doesnt change how i feel in my own life)

But this also has skewed my perception of other people... it connects to how i dont actually understand friendships anymore, im sure i mentioned it recently. Like with being an artist, there was a time i did understand and had deep friendships, i think, but it's quite alien to me now? In the way im not real until i have to interact with someone else, and even then, debatable, theyre not real to me either. Like i know this isnt a good mindset to have but it's either everything is real and i genuinely believe we need to disappear, to put an end to this sad species soon, or nothing is real and everyone's just playing a role in a story i get to watch. In a way taking away people's humanity and making them characters in my head is out of kindness, im being delusionally optimistic and quite frankly parasocial even with "friends", but it keeps me floating, stable. Ish. Still kind of empty but entertained enough. But then actually having a conversation outside my head with them is scary, unpredictable... on good days that can be fun too. My roommate always says i end up on side quests a lot if i leave the house, i think im just open to witnessing new stories... just on good, no, great days though, i cant stress that part enough. Great days are getting rarer and rarer. Most days pass by while im in bed and in my head trying to process anything, where i can barely have a coherent thought, and i wait for the day to end. Today was good for example but i still didnt manage to do anything to earn me the title of person, yet it was good because i 1. Ate, and 2. Didnt cry.

The part of your ask that hit me the most was when you said i seemed like a fascinating person, past tense. Im sure i was, but nowadays im very little even a person. Cant be helped. I hope i managed to explain how and why. If you ever want to share your art, my dms are open, i can maybe tell you about my gallery of failure wips i cant stand to look at anymore. I saw the followup ask with your personal info but im not quite sure what else to say... even this ask took too long to answer and now i need a nappp

[misguidedghostie]

❀ hello beautiful people of writeblr!

i’ve been lurking in this little corner of the internet for a while now, so I figured it was about time to introduce myself.

my name is kayli (she/her) but you can call me kay or ghostie! this is actually a side blog, so i follow from @bookishfreedom (and you can also find me on instagram at @bookishfreedom !)

❀ what i write

I write a little bit of everything, although most often fantasy and romance, and i always have multiple WIPs floating around. I’m really good at starting things, but not so good at finishing them… so I’m working on keeping one focus at a time

most of what i write is original work, but i used to be pretty into writing fanfic, and it’s something i’d like to get back into, if only a little. just as a low-pressure way to keep the creative juices flowing

❀ why I’m here

i’ve been writing for fun since i was old enough to hold a pencil, but i haven’t always been good at making writing a priority. i figure if I’m ever going to achieve my dream of someday being traditionally published, that needs to change

this blog will probably be a mix of things - writing excerpts, inspo, and whatever else writing related I come across :) hoping it’ll help keep me accountable, as well as being a fun way to track my writing journey.

and most importantly, I’d really love to make some writing friends 💖 so come say hi in the notes, i’d love to find lots more writers to follow and chat with. (i’ve never done them but consider me a tag game -friendly blog!!)

❀ my current (primary) wips

project birdsong - wlw romantasy (drafting)

• witch hunter x witch, enemies to lovers

• elemental magic

• lesbian mc & bi love interest

project red hood - low fantasy (outlining)

• loosely a little red riding hood retelling

• feminine rage, burn down the world vibes

• bi assassin FMC

❀ misc fun facts about me

I’m 24, bi, and recently diagnosed audhd

I’m a software engineer by day, and by night i have far too many hobbies fighting for my attention (incl but not limited to: reading, painting, video games, hiking…)

in college i minored in both german and creative writing (because i am an indecisive bitch at heart)

I don’t have any pets of my own, but at any given moment I am almost certainly fostering at least one animal!

❀ if anyone read all of that

you have earned my undying love and devotion. let’s be friends? 🥹 my dms are always open if you ever need someone to rant about writing with

[dai-bendu-conlang]

hello! i’ve been doing a project recently where i’m creating a new writing script and i’m just getting to the designing stage (finally after a whole lot of research!).

i was wondering if you could tell me a little about how you designed the dai bendu writing system or any interesting things you decided to do with it?

Okay this is going to be much less impressive and helpful than you think it might be, my apologies xD

So, first of: we tried to create our conlang based on the scraps of Jedi language worldbuilding we were given. So when it came to script, we searched for whether there were any scraps. Lo and behold: the sequel trilogy is useful for once as it gave us the sacred Jedi texts and boom: we had a script.

We copied pretty much ever “letter” of those pages and tried to see how many there were. We’d already decided that we were going for a phonological script, meaning that every letter would correspond to a singular specific sound. And then we looked at the letters we had and adapted them until we liked their look. After all, this is supposed to be a modernized script. And that is pretty much it.

Now, as an addendum: what we didn’t know when we did that is that the sacred jedi texts are even more lackluster in creative world building than we assumed. Here is a pretty good research article on what those pages might all be based on. So technically speaking the design of our script falls somewhere between Ge’ez and Coptic.

I’ll hand it to them, however. This is a step up for the absolute catastrophic fuck up that was using Hebrew for Sith originally. Shout out to Ben Grossblatt for fixing that, I’m sorry Disney never let you do more stuff for Sith.

I think the most interesting thing - and our one phonological exception - is the fact that we created a letter that means “Dai” aka “Force”.

We went for three circles as circles keep showing up in Jedi art and we like the symbolism of a circle connecting all. This also enables some really neat calligraphy, which I think Jedi would enjoy practicing. Also fun fact: if you’re insane enough to for some reason sort how every single sith and Jedi temple we know looks like, you’ll discover that Jedi prefer domes in their building designs.

For you: I’d recommend looking into the environment of your culture. What did they first start writing on? What materials were used? How would that have changed? Did they have contact with other cultures that might have influenced the script? And also, is it writeable? Is this something you can do calligraphy with as easily as take some notes grocery shopping? If your script isn’t practical in every day life, you might wanna change it until it is. I’d recommend practicing writing it yourself.

[crescent-dreams]

Creator's Corner - mrfeenysmustache

Let's start off easy: how did you become a fan of the Inuyasha fandom?

An old friend of mine from middle school made me stay up late with her one night and watch an episode. I was immediately obsessed. I’ve been here loving these dogs ever since.

Art or Fanfic: which work of yours are you most proud of?

Oh, man. This is one of those questions that’s hard. The SessKag fic I’m most proud of would probably be The Arrangement. It was my first foray into writing smut, and I’m so proud of how it came out and how I grew as a writer with it.

Is there anything you don't like to draw?

Probably gore and action and stuff like that. I’m just not a super fan of that stuff anyway so drawing it would be difficult to have fun with.

What are your favourite fanfic tropes to write?

So many!!! But I love love love angst with a happy ending. Any of the tropes that cause the characters grief before they cross the happy finish line I’m a HUGE sucker for.

You're in a creative mood: how do you decide whether to write or to draw?

I decide to draw cuz it takes less brain power than sitting and writing lmao

Where do you find inspiration?

I get a lot of inspiration from music. I have several stories and art pieces directly inspired by songs. Movies/shows as well.

If you could spend one day in the feudal era - what would you do?

Hide.

Describe your dream project.

I’ve had a SessKag plot brewing for a while that I think of so often, but I’ve had writers block for the last year that’s made it hard to write. Arranged marriage, political intrigue, fantasy world-building…. I’m very excited about it.

If you could get the power/skill of one Inuyasha character: what would you choose?

I wish I had the muscle to haul around that giant boomerang like Sango does cuz… damn. 

You can find @mrfeenysmustache on Ao3 and Tumblr! And please check out our Creator’s Corner Masterlist for all our past creators!

[writeouswriter]

Winter Reading/Arting/Writing Tag

Thanks so much for the tag, @ink-bunny-blue! (X)

Describe one creative WIP project you plan on working on over winter

I always “plan on” working on a thousand things and then do none of them 😭 because I haven’t been in so much a “creative slump” as I’ve been in an iron gripped chokehold by hyperfixation for the last year, so on one hand I’ve been unable to focus on any of my original writing because it’s not about The Interest™️, and then on the other hand I haven’t even been able to write anything about The Interest™️ because the fixation on it is so strong, everything I write for it has to be Perfect™️ (and nothing’s ever perfect, you know). On that note, if my ability to write returns from the war and I ever get a day off from this purgatory of a job, I really really really want to work on this comparative essay about The Interest™️ involving analyzing parallels to a certain classic play, and looking into various aspects of the tragicomic structure and themes of identity and change. Also, God willing, I’d love to get one fic done, just one, please please please, I have a few winter-y or Christmas-y ones I’m dying to get my brain to sign off on despite my lack of free time, come on, brain, yip yip.

Art, same thing, something Christmas-y for The Interest™️, also I gotta finish some zine pieces.

As for original writing, would love to work on my untitled WIP about an astrobiologist and team of other assorted scientists brought in by a somewhat questionable facility to study an extraterrestrial artefact and being affected strangely by it, but it’s a bit up in the air plot wise. Would love to answer asks about it though if anyone is interested 😭

Recommend a book

Definitely mentioned it before but:

Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds by Brandon Sanderson

“Stephen Leeds is perfectly sane. It's his hallucinations who are mad.”

This is like speculative fiction/thriller/mystery that’s hard to explain, but perfect balance of humour and sincerity, sci-fi and reality, and character and plot, probably my favourite standalone novel ever (well it’s really 3 novellas that somewhat connect and come together to form a novel, but either way).

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

Charlie Jordan is being driven across the country by a serial killer. Maybe.

This is a thriller book set in the 90s that as its title suggests, takes place over the course of one night, where a troubled, film-obsessed college girl (and unreliable narrator) who recently witnessed her friend’s murder (but can’t recall the killer’s face) decides to travel back home via a ride share where her driver may or may not be said killer, and has to, you guessed it, survive the night.

Now, this is actually one of Sager’s lowest ranked and seemingly most universally hated novels, whereas it’s the only one of his I actually thoroughly enjoyed/didn’t find mediocre and thought had a sense of style as I like the almost cinematic way it was written?? It was fast paced, it was fun, it had unique prose, and I think it perfectly captured the vibes of a cheesy 90s B-movie (said as a compliment).

Recommend a fic

I still cannot recommend From Out the Ocean Risen by Bluestar enough, it acts as a sequel fic to the movie Pacific Rim, and has some of the most gorgeously well executed cinematic prose and imagery I’ve ever read, not to mention impeccable character dialogue, and an incredible grasp on the balance between drama/angst/action/heart/humour.

What’s a Little B&E Between Friends by VoiceOfNurse is also a fantastic Pacific Rim series with a solid grasp on both character dynamics/POV and style. A fascinating, very humanizing character study, both angsty and fun.

Recommend Music

I’ve suddenly never heard a song in my life.

The Killing Moon by Echo & The Bunnymen is stuck in my head again, so, *tosses that at you*

She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult also in my head so *throws that also*

Also, even though I haven’t actively listened to them in a while, I’m still still actually super excited for Green Day’s new album, so *one more toss*

Dilemma

The American Dream is Killing Me

Tagging if you want to do it no pressure!: @the-angriest-bunny-of-the-fandom, @writing2sirvive, @druidx, @universalfanfic, @karolinarodrigueswrites, @multi-lefaiye, @transmasc-wizard, @drabbleitout, @merelyafigment, @aritany, @rockium-z, @caffernnn and anyone who wants to do this, feel free to say I tagged you, you’re tagged.

[doubleappled]

About the blogger meme

Thank you to @bioloyg for the tag and the fic callout! Team Pete forever and for always!

Star Sign: Libra, but it never resonates the way my enneagram 2 does

Favorite Holidays: Groundhog Day. I love those little dudes (although I wish we could leave them in peace so maybe let’s just celebrate their existence and not force our way into their homes)

Last Meal: Enchiladas for dinner

Last Music Listened To: Waxahatche’s Great Thunder

Last Movie Watched: hmmmm in the theater? I think Bottoms, which I adored

Last TV Show Watched: Shameless. I’m in the beginning of season 9 and it is messing me up in 5000 different ways. The acting is great (sometimes) and the writing is awful (mostly) and the storylines are ridiculous (always) and it’s at least 5 or 6 seasons too long. But every once in a while it really makes you think, and it’s completely gotten under my skin. And I will finish it if it’s the last thing I ever do. And it might be, because wow.

Last Book/Fic Finished: I just finished Justin Torres’ Blackouts and I LOVED it. And the most recent chapter of @glitterslag’s It's Been You and Me Since Before I Was Me — is a witchy creepy Appalachian Gothic MASTERPIECE that I adore. Oh and Blissymbolics’ Colorless Richie Jerimovich, also a masterpiece even though it is sydrichie and that is giving me a teeny tiny identity crisis okay moving on

Last Book/Fic Abandoned: I am thisclose to giving up on Lessons In Chemistry. I do not get this book at all.

Currently Reading: nobody ever got my soul right like she could by seh28

Last Thing Researched for Art/Writing/Hyperfixation: Quite a bit about what happens to children of people wirh narcissistic personality disorder (hi Donna, yes I am armchair psychologizing and pathologizing a fictional character) for the fic I’m currently writing. I’m not a really intense researcher, but I’ve read all about elevator mechanics and ancient marriage rites and British parking tickets and EMP’s 2019 spring menu and how to cook uni and where pastina comes from, all for fics. I love that aspect of writing.

Favorite Online Fandom Memory: It’s embarrassing, but it’s probably the first time that one of my favorite fic authors commented on one of my own fics, ca. 2018. I was on the subway, and I dropped my phone on the disgusting wet floor when I saw the incredibly lovely comment they’d posted.

FaNvorite Old Fandom You Wish Would Drag You Back In/Have A Resurgence: I really only have two old fandoms, but I do miss HP quite a bit. It’s such a robust space, with really nice people, and so many different fests and prompts and challenges. I still read a bit when my favorite authors post, and would like to write for it again someday. (Also, if you’re the anon who’s messaged me multiple times to tell me that my new fics aren’t as good or creative as my HP, and that I “used to be a good writer” — please stop. That’s not the way to convince me to go back, and it makes me feel bad)

Favorite Thing You Enjoy That Never Had an Active or Big "Fandom" but You Wish It Did: Truly I’ve never experienced a hyperfixation like I have with The Bear. I wish fanfic had existed in its current state when I was younger, or that I’d been cool enough to figure out the concept and write it on my own. I would have been VERY ACTIVE in a Dead Poets Society fandom if it had existed when I was obsessed with that movie, a decade after it came out, when I watched it practically every day for a year 🤪

Tempting Project You're Trying to Rein In/Don't Have Time For: I just have 15 different Bear WIPs, none of which have any plot, wooo!

Anyway this was all very fun to think about. Tagging @amieraisposting @kdbleu @justabovewater20 @yannaryartside @glitterslag — only if this is your jam — and anyone else who wants to join in.

[gothra]

Do you have any butchie fic rec’s?

sorry this one took so long, it turns out that gathering links takes a bit longer than i thought it might. just a warning: I’m going wide, because I don’t know where to stop so I’m just going to be loading a bunch in here. and they are mostly smut except for a few domestic ones, and a few bits of angst.

The first and best ones I read were the ones in aishahiwatari’s repertoire. This is kind of one of the larger collection of Butchie fics that I’ve found in the tag, so it would take forever to explain the premise of all of them, if you have spare time just take a look. There’s a lot of porn (and you will soon come to realize that that’s kind of the running theme here) but the one that really fucked me up was earth or diabolical creature because FUCK Hughie and Butcher have a toddler and she’s cute and I’m losing i

I also like this series, it’s got a lot of creative and interesting choices for smut scenarios and it all ends in a dramatic and emotional fashion.

this one is slightly like the one above but I’m not complaining because it’s good and it’s cute

okay now we’re getting into the standalones. I’ll include any of the more important content warnings, but it’s a lot to type so bare with me if you click and there’s something I’ve missed im sorry

bitter skin by none_the_wiser (one-shot. short and spicy! really encapsulates the sort of rough-and-tumble, love-to-hate-you-hate-to-love-you high that butchie seems to be on. they honestly write it better than I can.)

if you wanna be my lover…, by watchthequeenconquer (spice girls!!! The comparisons are apt. if passing out, choking, mildly dubious consent, verbal humiliation, intoxication or play fighting bothers you, avoid.)

this writer has a series of other fics that are more domestic and fluffy, centered more on them raising Ryan, which I LOVE and need MORE of:

but it may be a lunatic you’re looking for by cathect (love how horny this one is and the blurb always makes me laugh)

(bad?) neighbors by motherfuckingsorcery (I love fics that exploit hughie’s obvious praise kink)

Most of the butchie fics from holyfudgemonkies 2021 kinktober collection (keep your eyes on the tags as some have some darker and dead dove stuff but overall a fun reading experience). honestly just their whole tag has some fun stuff

if you’re noticing that I’m getting less and less specific and I’m just posting full collections, it’s because I didn’t realize just how much work this was so I’m basically just posting every fic I’ve ever read. that being said…

struck by a bolt is a very sexy series by (ourdramaqueen)

one way ticket to a dead end by ezran (hot! a bit of toxic behavior in this one tho)

ask a question, get an answer by satsumasegments (I WISH this had happened instead. it’s such a hot, smoothly written fic I love it)

when I say that this next fic fucked me up, I’m not joking. I don’t know why I read it, because death bothers me a lot, even fictional deaths, but I read it and I couldn’t function properly for days after. I think I’m just sensitive but Christ it was painful.

so you should definitely read what do they know about friends by satsuma segments

the spare knife of happiness by flwrgardens (did I mention how much I LOVE Hughie and butcher being domestic with Ryan?? Because I love it. this is such a you-have-already-left-kudos-here ass fic I love it I love it)

house of stone by tylerose (more domesticity. GIVE ME MORE DOMESTICITY AND FALLING IN LOVE!! tw for drug use but it’s just Temp V)

touch me gently, it’s been too long by spacelesscass (so tender like chicken nugget. so soft.)

please note that not every fic I’ve ever read and liked is on this list, I just tried to maintain what little brevity I had left because putting this together was so exhausting?? if you want the rest let me know but i'd basically be putting the whole tag in there since 1. it's very small and 2. i read a lot of fics

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork; photos by Nurit Wilde.

“Tork in the late 1960’s” - Nurit Wilde, Instagram, June 19, 2021

“I’m free, I don’t know what I’ll be doing. I’m actually a little apprehensive, because there’s no doubt that there are three other incredibly talented fellows out there. They’re very talented guys. Mike is one of the funniest people I’ve ever known. Micky is even funnier and Davy is just cute as a button. Who could ask for anything more? Davy dances so great, did you see him dance in the film? I’ve not seen dancing like that on the screen except from Fred Astaire. The only other thing is that I’m both really relieved and really, really apprehensive. I’m terribly glad and also terribly sad.” - Peter Tork, NME, January 25, 1969

"[Tork] says The Peter Tork Project plays music ‘sort of on the heavy end’ of album-oriented rock radio. ‘We’re not heavy metal per say, but we’re just on the pop side of that,’ adds the affable performer. The band, formed in January with Scott Avitabile on guitar, Jerry Renino on bass and Derek Lord at the drums, is one of several ensembles with which Tork has performed since leaving The Monkees. [In the early 1970s, Peter was a member of the] San Francisco-based rock band named [Osceola]. ‘That was a name full of significance,’ he said. ‘[Osceola] was chief of the Seminoles, the only tribe never to have surrendered to the federal government.’ Tork said he identifies strongly with that kind of defiance. ‘All of my early life was spent feeling out of whack. Physically I matured late and never was very athletic and always found myself on the short end of the stick. I was raised in a liberal family in the middle of the McCarthy era.’ Against those odds, Tork inevitably developed an inferiority complex that he carried into adulthood and his musical career. When he became one of four young men chosen out of 437 applicants to become what were supposed to be the ‘American Beatles,’ his self-doubt grew to mammoth proportions. ‘Half of the time I would think I didn’t deserve it and the other half I would think I was God’s gift to the children. I got my head turned around. It was the “arrogant doormat” syndrome low self-esteem combined with arrogance.’ [...] Tork recalls now that he wanted things done his way, but wasn’t willing to put his effort where his mouth was. His subsequent attempts at a career of his own were consistent failures, and for a while in the mid-’70s he joined his wife in the teaching profession, instructing a variety of classes in private high schools. That career was shortlived. [More about Peter’s time teaching here and here.] ‘Not that I didn’t enjoy teaching, but there’s no money in it. It’s a tragic comment on social priorities, but there it is.’ Tork expresses fervent enthusiasm for his new group [...]. As for his old bandmates, with whom he enjoyed superstardom for such a short time so many years ago, Tork says he stays in touch. Assessing his relationships with each one, Tork favored the diminutive, British-born Davy Jones ‘because he could see things the others couldn’t. Occasionally he was able to reach down into the depths.’ Drummer [Micky] Dolenz, who gained childhood fame as TV’s ‘Circus Boy,’ was ‘a whole lot more fun’ to be around than the other Monkees. Nesmith, considered the most creative of the four, was the most ‘respectable, in the sense that he did his work and had a sense of his own work ethic.’” - The Daily Oklahoman, November 7, 1983

"To tell you truth… I… I never was able in those days [the '60s] particularly — I’m getting better at it these days — but in those days I was almost entirely unable to fight for what I saw as quality. If I didn’t get somebody fighting on my behalf then it didn’t, just didn’t come to pass." - Peter Tork, Headquarters radio, September 1989 (read more here)

"I had pathological self value. I really didn’t have a sense of it at all. I didn’t get why. I thought I had been picked almost at random. I didn’t have any sense of myself bringing anything except that character to the Monkees. What I thought they hired me for was that character, and I think to this day that that had a lot to do with it. I didn’t recognize how that sprung forth from whom who I really am. I thought I was faking them out. I thought I was handing them a lie and they were buying the lie — and so how could I value myself? Any time you compliment somebody and they can’t take the compliment, what they’re saying to you is, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ That’s the message that anybody with low self-esteem gives back when somebody compliments them. Which is where I was. All that played into this fame thing. 
And it plays backwards, too. The reason that I got into the fame game was because I didn’t have any sense of value. I thought, ‘Jeez, if I can get the millions to love me then I’ll be all right.’ I got the millions to love me — and it still wasn’t all right. What a surprise. Ha, ha, ha.” - Peter Tork, Toxic Fame: Celebrities Speak on Stardom (1996) (x)

[purplewitch156]

hello I love your works!! especially Of Your Making!! you mentioned that was your first fanfic; what were some of the struggles you experienced if you don't mind me asking? any writing advice you could give for a new writer?

I really appreciate getting your ask today because I’m having an extremely irritating weekend, but this is a good step in the right direction, so thank you!

You know what’s funny, I didn’t struggle with Of Your Making, which is weird because it’s typical to run out of steam or enthusiasm while working on a project (especially large projects) or to come across bumps in the story’s structure or plot or characters that completely derail the creative flow. But that never happened in OYM. Even when I didn’t know what the next scene was going to be or what was going to happen after the Carcerem, I figured out answers to those questions startlingly fast. And I think I know why.

OYM was my fourth full-length story. The ones previous were all original works that were geared toward young teens (I was trying to make a career at it; I’m not trying anymore). And one of the things that you’re told when you’re trying to make a career out of writing is to brand yourself. Find your audience and write to that audience. Your fans will know what to expect from you and they will (theoretically) read your future publications. I was writing stories that naturally fit in with the middle school crowd so that was who all my future stories needed to garner to. The problem was I felt stifled and stuck. I wanted to write more adult themes, but I felt that I couldn’t. Now, I could have made a new pen name and published under that. That’s totally acceptable and something that many people do, but I was also coming to terms with the fact that I wasn’t having fun writing anymore. I didn’t like the pressure and expectations I was putting on myself and so when I started my first fanfic, all those problems that were attached to original writing weren’t there anymore. It was like I was able to breathe again. I felt free in a way that I had not felt in a very long time. And best of all, I was having fun. And I think it was because of this that OYM was one of the easiest stories I’ve ever written. It was the most self-healing writing experience I have ever had simply because I removed all my rules and judgments and wrote for myself.

My advice to new writers:

Number 1: Study stories. This doesn’t have to just be written stories. This can include movies or video games. Pay attention to aspects of a story that you like and aspects that you don’t like and try to figure out why you like the bits you like and why you don’t like the bits you don’t. I’m not saying you should be overly critical about all the content you consume! Just become a bit analytical. A bit curious. If you feel like something’s missing or something didn’t quite work or something pulled you out of the immersion, try to pinpoint it. Try to figure it out. The same goes for the stuff that sucked you in. Try to figure out how it sucked you in. Why it sucked you in. The more you do this, the more it becomes second nature and the more you’re able to implement the stuff you like in your writing and dodge or spot the stuff that’s not working.

Number 2: Pull from yourself. I don’t mean to write everything autobiographically, though you can do that if you want. I’m more talking about pulling from your own experiences. For example, we all know what fear feels like. We all know what happiness feels like. We know what it’s like to make a new friend and what it’s like to lose them. When we read these experiences and feelings, we connect with the character more. We empathize with them. We understand them. We’ve been there, too, and because of that the story resonates stronger. Take this comic by @sarahseeandersen:

It's funny because it’s true.

I hope I was helpful. I’ve actually been reading Invisible Ink, A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate by Brian McDonald and I’m finding it to be quite fascinating. He can be a bit forceful and rule-focused, which makes sense. He’s teaching you how to do something and having a structure or strategy is super helpful for that. So if you decide to read it (and I do recommend it) take his advice (and really, anyone’s advice, mine included) with a grain of salt. Writing is meant to be explorative and creative. And fun. Most especially, fun.   

[kiryoutann]

# RANT

currently trying to survive the worst writer’s block i’ve ever experienced. like, have u ever felt like u need to write something but nothing comes up? i’ve been struggling to write even the simplest dialogue because it doesn’t feel right. and i know that most writers should separate the creative process and the editing process, but i just can’t continue to the next paragraph when i feel like the last one isn’t good enough. i’ve been feeling detached from the characters too TT_TT!! and it’s difficult to keep them in character. it used to be so easy for me to come up with metaphors, but now it’s just too much. AND it used to be fun and easy to find inspiration for the upcoming chapters and projects, but now i’ve been writing and abandoning everything because it all feels so wrong and doesn’t make any sense.

and i’ve been searching for inspiration from listening to songs, reading (poems, fiction, and fan fiction), watching movies; but still nothing. it used to be so easy for me to understand the meaning of poems, now i read it multiple times and still couldn’t comprehend the meaning behind it. whenever i read a deep, beautiful lyrics from a song, i just feel embarrassed cause i don’t think i’ll be able to achieve that level of artistry anymore :(

i’m sorry for delaying everything. i really want to write again but my head isn’t working right now.

[tap-tap-tap-im-in]

With another Bethesda release looming somewhere in the ether of the future (bets are split between it being released on track with the delayed timeline or being delayed again), I want to take another crack at explaining why their games tickle my brain quite so much.

It is of course memetic now that their games are usually a buggy mess on release. Everyone remembers backwards flying dragons and horrible system destroying crashes. Everyone makes fun of them for releasing Skyrim on every platform imaginable (I myself am downloading it on the PS4 right now because it would be nice to play it in the living room without having to drag my computer in there). So it's easy to wonder why a studio that regularly releases such clearly unfinished games gets such good will.

I think it's ambition. I've mentioned previously that their games are immersive sims, but ones that are created purely by the design patterns of least resistance. What that means is that the studio sets out to create a huge sprawling RPG with hundreds of hours of content, but they are going to take the cheapest route to get there while still checking all the boxes. To me, each and every one of their games has that feel of a student project where halfway through someone just accepted that they weren't going to be able to put their best work into it, but it was going to be *finished* at least.

So why do I think these are systemic designed games, when that is the kind of thing that kills other studios? Because systemic design is the easiest way to fill out a world that's too big.

Bethesda RPGs have always been like that. From Arena and Daggerfall using entirely randomly generated worlds and dungeons, to the way Oblivion relies on poorly designed level scaling, Bethesda builds systems and then bends them to what the plot or quest needs. No quest or gameplay gimmick is so important that new systems will be built just to accommodate it, but that doesn't mean that they can't... fudge it a little.

My favorite example of this is in Fallout 3. In Fallout 3, there is a train you take from one area to another. For most loading transitions this is just a fade to black and then back up as one cell is unloaded and another is loaded in its place, but they really wanted to give the player the feeling of riding the train. So in this one instance, you can get in the train and you get to watch it drive down the track. There are no other moving or pilotable vehicles in the game so of course the engine doesn't support this by default. How did the designers accomplish this then? They gave an NPC a train hat. (https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/07/22/fallout-3-broken-steel-train-is-actually-just-a-giant-npc-hat). There's no reason to program the engine to move another kind of mesh around when the engine already fully supports NPCs.

This kind of creative reapplication of existing resources should be familiar to anyone involved with game design or theatre. That's the magic of creating something from a budget that could never fully realize it. But what's unique about the Bethesda games is that the games are so big that they are basically nothing but choices like this. Why do horses suck? Why does dragon riding suck? Why do the vampire and werewolf mechanics rely so heavily on the spell system? Why do these legendary items you hear about in quests often seem pretty lackluster when you get them? Because they are all tied to strict systems that weren't ever really designed with them in mind. Everything has to follow the rules of the engine, the player, the npcs, the quests, the weather.

But where Bethesda is almost solely unique is that they never let this hinder their creativity. Sure the quests never really live up to their potential, but you can tell how much joy the designer must have had in coming up with it. The only quests that Bethesda fans complain about are the so called "Radiant" quests, because those are randomly generated. If you bring up any quest that was written by one of the many many Bethesda quest designers, and it will have its fans.

It's the gaming equivalent of a long running show on a shoestring budget, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Buffy. It's not what you were expecting, but if you can tap into the joy that's put into it, it's such a good time. Plus, there's the joy of system driven design. Everything is run by rules in these worlds, and because the rules weren't made with all the other rules in mind, you can do some pretty ridiculous things once you understand all the systems and their interactions.

And on top of it all, Bethesda engine design is iterative to a fault. They walk away from every game with an understanding of what the last version of the engine did well and what it didn't (usually a lot) and they spend some extra time addressing this over time. The best example of this is the evolution of the crafting systems between Skyrim and Fallout 4. The crafting system in Skyrim was interesting. Long running systems like Alchemy and Enchanting were much streamlined from previous versions, cooking introduced both a new healing system and a way to use a bunch of items that were in the game for immersion but basically useless, but smithing was a pain. It was a system that was super rewarding to interact with, but the map didn't tell you where ore deposits were and without a mod you couldn't note where they were on the map for yourself, and ore was uncommon enough that if you were doing any extensive smithing you found yourself going to the few mines you could remember having what you wanted or spending a bunch on buying the resources from merchants. But Fallout 4 applied what was done with cooking to all of the crafting systems. It reprioritized player behavior with items and provided much more choice on how to obtain resources.

Bethesda games are good bad games, and with every release they get a little better at everything they've done before, but because they are too ambitious for their own good, every game tries to do more than it really can.

[eetarot]

The first official post.

I posted some preliminary work over on @qwertyfingers a few days ago, but I've decided to be organised for once and stick everything on it's own blog, so here's an intro post for organisational clarity. I'll be posting any and all updates about the project here, and that's all it'll be used for, to keep the streams from crossing.

What is this project?

I’m aiming to produce a full major arcana for a tarot, using themes, imagery, characters and places pulled from Everything Everything lyrics and odds and ends like interviews, song Q&As and so on.

Some major arcana cards have immediately evident analogues in EEs body of work. For example, The Empress is a ‘great mother’/'mother nature’ figure, protective and wrathful in turn, obvious parallels to Tin (The Manhole).

They will embrace me tonight as a A father and a son And I will carry homo sapiens through the night

Our Empress can be represented by the Fox, and potentially bring in some evolution imagery from Choice Mountain, Leave the Engine Room.

Judgement meanwhile is a representation of a rapture-like apocalyptic event that rewrites everything we know - which is heavily telegraphed in much Mountainhead but especially Wild Guess and The Witness.

Do you know what I saw? Nothing but endless fields of bodies swimming in the pit There was blinding light There were many eyes How could I know that? How could I know that? If I wasn’t there?

The role of Judgement in this deck will be played by this great accident in the pit. The exact visual it will take on is less apparent, but we have our basic inspiration already.

Other cards are more difficult. The Devil is hard precisely because there are almost too many options to draw from, but few prominent or recurrent enough to be the obvious choice. There are multiple places to draw lyrical inspiration for The Hermit from, but none of them provide any visual information. But this whole thing is a process and I’ll get there eventually.

Why are you doing this?

I had the initial idea for this project in 2021. I became really intrigued by tarots status as a sort of agreed-upon set of glyphs and stories shared across time and spent a lot of time researcing the different designs and meanings of cards throughout time. I don’t “believe” in the power of tarot any more than astrology (i.e. not at all), but I’m fascinated by the function of the imagery and art of the cards themselves.

During my reading I got to thinking about what I feel strongly enough about to consider creating a deck and I struck upon this. The first card I ever had a plan for was The High Priestess. Described as a sort of spiritual or social leader-by-example, a representative of the best of humanity and our collective knowledge. In a tounge-in-cheek way, that’s exactly what Come Alive Diana is about.

Her phantom head is thinking for all mankind I saw her portrait in the Mail Her phantom head was directing the holiest of hunts

I was immediately struck by the image of a spectral Diana cradling her own severed head in a pretty gruesome pastiche of the traditional depiction of the card, and haven’t been able to get the thought of it out of my mind since. It’s spiralled out of control since then.

So yeah. Mostly I’m doing this because it interests me on a purely artistic level, and because it’s a fun challenge to approach something really creative in a strangely scientific way. Like I’m dissecting and analysing a bunch of art I really enjoy and creating horrifying chimeras with the remains. I love it.

How will it all get done?

I’m a relatively experienced watercolour and gouache painter and illustrator, though I’ve never tackled a project this big before. The thing that scares me most is having to learn architectural drawings for at least two of the cards I have planned so far. But I look forward to it.

Right now I’m working on typing up all of the notes I have scattered between sketchbooks and notepads about my ideas for different things and making sure I know which areas need my attention most right now. Otherwise, I’m just vibing.

I welcome any questions or suggestions you might have in my ask box or messages! In an ideal world I’d like to complete all of the card artwork myself, but I have no pre-existing skill in graphic or product design and have no idea how to go about choosing a font or designing a card beyond the illustration and so if that’s something you do know about and would like to get involved please do.

Currently I have no plans of printing these up or making any overtures towards this being more than a casual passion project. My only experience with the professional art world is very informal local gallery shows and I don’t feel ready to change that!

[cozymochi]

🌻 >:)

IM FOUND ONE OF THESE MEMES IN MY DRAFts! Im gonna rank my experiences in the major fandoms i’ve engaged with.

🩵 YUGIOH! - Second longest running fascination. Upside!! Made life long friends. DOWNSIDE!! Was my first go at online engagement and in those 10 years so much happened that I still can’t help but feel a little sour. …Though ygo back in the day wasn’t good at tag comments, so I didn’t even know those were a thing for years until I branched out. 5/10. But grows to a 7/10 because i’ve settled into a niche area with so few people that it’s now a silly little club. 💕

🧡 Dragon Ball/Z - GENUINE CHAOS. Started off slow but intensified hard cuz get who got involved while Super was airing??? (I didn’t watch it lol), so the discourse and fighting was at an all time high. I have no idea how I even survived this in retrospect. My slight association with people netted me troll asks and my liking of Yamcha also set me up for those. …and frequent art reposting, and quite a few bizarre interactions. Pretty sure my art and edits have circulated more in latin america than I even know. This was also pre-tumblr purge so the amount of nsfw that got thrown my way is… something. That said!! Made also really good friends 💕 and DB/Z probably desensitized me to longer form discussions. 5/10 for insanity, but 8/10 for good reception and VERY PEAK and generous humans.

I think dbz hardened me.

💚 Invader Zim- started off fun (mostly irl with my friendo from days of YGO), but quickly devolved into territory that tested my patience. WHY ON EARTH THIS SERIES’ CONSUMERS had such a huge morality high ground base is beyond me. It’s this fandoms fault I learned about certain modern day online discourse terms and what instilled an irrational posting fear for a year lol. Fun at first and there’s super creative and receptive folk (then those people got kicked out) and left the most insufferable beings imaginable. There’s no in between. Shoutout to all 3 friends made who are still peak. 3/10, if I ever finish any remaining projects or decide to bite the bullet and show completed work, i’m not engaging again. The base just skews somewhere I can’t handle. Which is crazy given the ABOVE contenders have, on paper, done so much more.

dbz hardened me but iz weakened me. Which is probably why i need the formers bootcamp back. Don’t think I’m as fearful now, but i’ll still be salty.

💜 Twisted Wonderland - this is a work in progress experience. Will require further evaluation if all of the above experiences haven’t set my standards. Will stay in my corner. So far it’s 6/10 in vibes (they’re much calmer than the last one), tho I question how much of the interest is from what i do vs. what I did for others. Haven’t shared a ton of opinions yet and god knows lol we don’t want that /s. Still recovering from the former making me wanna just not do much. Baby steps I suppose.

💙 - Sonic The Hedgehog: This is a cheat, I have never interacted with the fandom directly (purely by happenstance, so thankfully no traces exist), but I have been into this since I was a child with no issues. So by default this is the best one. 10/10, didn’t engage, but I do lurk. Though all the stuff I see on tweeter isn’t exactly anything out of the norm for fandoms in general to do, so it weirds me out that people rag on this one for just kinda talking amongst themselves about innocuous things.

“omg this fandom is arguing over QUILL length ughhh can they never be pleased [30 yt videos about this drop]” ngl, this just feels like par for the course junk fandoms do. It really feels no different from DBZ where people go ham about the art style changes and which one is better. Or stupid shit in IZ where they fight about comics vs movie vs show. Like??? The only major difference here is that StH has more people in it (by the millions).

So literally nothing these folk do or say strikes me as anything more serious than what other fandoms already do??? Its just more outsiders see it then churn out content and perpetuate something worse from what’s honestly….pretty tame stuff. Maybe it’s just twitter’s setup given that’s all folk talk about.