#you've already got the secondary page that no one looks at

[mysterialnos]

@staff reqs/ideas in tags? Also honestly doing some data collection and idea fielding might not be the worst idea. Throw out some surveys or polls (lol) maybe and get what people like, dislike, use, don't use (though the latter hopefully y'all have click metrics for).

Idk, I feel like there's a way to solve this without devolving into every other platform. I avoid algos myself, it's why I'm here, and I'm a SWE. It's organic here, and I can breathe.

On the complete other side, open source social sounds like a trip and a fantastic idea from my perspective, lolol. (Idk how easy, very different from what I work with)

If y'all do open source people can add/make shit and really lean into the "customizable" brand. You could even market that a little. A build kit, premade stuff, etc.

I think things use to be more customizable anyway. Like lean into yee old neigh myspace level stuff, I bet people would lose their minds (in a good way) with like cool blog wallpaper and stuff. Really hone in on that individuality.

I could go on. Yes and your site's current direction friends, and don't make it into something it's not, which everyone else seems to be dying doing anyway. That's what I'd say.

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience. 

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content. 

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up. 

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant. 

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are. 

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds. 

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs. 

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread. 

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads. 

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed. 

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.  

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it. 

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.  

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.  

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.  

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages. 

Test what the right daily push notification limit is. 

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users. 

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.

[fernsnailz]

hello! i was wondering how long you've been animating for? and what got you into storyboarding & comic making? do you have any tips for comic making (paneling) & animating?

i've been animating since i was a teenager but i didn't start animating consistently until college, so a little over 5 years! but i've been making comics since i was little, so animating and storyboarding just kinda came naturally from that.

my general advice for comics is that it's all about flow and timing! flow is about determining the right pacing for your scene as well as making it readable. usually the panels flow from one into the other - like in the example below (by tracy yardley who is REALLY good at this stuff), the motion of the characters leads into the next panel, and the speech bubbles also line up with where the action of the panel naturally leads.

obligatory archie sonic mention complete

timing is just as important and can be conveyed in a number of different ways in comics. usually with my work, the size of the panel indicates how long i imagine the moment is. so a small panel is a short moment, and a large panel requires a bit more time.

long moments can also be split into multiple shorter moments if you break it up into numerous panels.

paneling itself can be pretty tricky - i tend to break a lot of my pages up into thirds first (at whatever proportion you need), then arrange whatever panels i need within those thirds.

these aren't really rules that are set in stone, just a few things that i've found have helped me. you don't need to fill a whole page with tons of Stuff for a comic - it's all about figuring out how you want your story to flow through the page's space. same with storyboarding, that flow and timing is important in an even more literal sense because storyboards flows through actual time, not just space on a page.

idk if any of this makes much sense so. i also highly highly recommend the Comics Devices Library for other elements and principles you can use lol it's very good 👍

i don't have as many tips for animating since 1) i consider myself to be a comic/storyboard artist first and an animator second, and 2) animating is. very complex lol. if you're new to animating then i suggest starting SMALL and trying out some beginner animation exercises and the 12 Principles of Animation.

if you're already an animator and just looking for general advice then uhh. idk arcs are important. arcs are SO fucking important do not forget that most motions move in some sort of arc. also remember to label your keyframes and looping animations. and put secondary actions and limbs on different layers if you don't want to go crazy. also animate your character's eyes and pupils moving if a shot feels too still. yeah that's all i got good night tristate area

[shi-daisy]

Chapter 13 and 14 have me reeling omg ma'am! 😭 The fluff 💗 the twists😱 the smut 🥵 We been blessed! I love how Tamlin is finally getting his healing arc/found family/Lucien romance because the way you write our boy is so cuteeeee!!! The flashbacks were adorable, Lucien is so handsome and adorable and I need both of them to be happy and cherished forever. Goodbye SJM canon this is what's canon for me now!

Few questions tho, given that you've named all the other 'nameless' characters like the Vanserra family, Tamlin's family, and other secondary characters is there are a reason why you haven't named Rhysand's family? Like is it because you're looking for a fitting name or a story reason?

Also, given that the new Dusk Court is seemingly a mix of Greece and Japan do you have headcannons for the other courts? What would Spring, Autumn or Winter be?

Finally I can't wait to see more of the Njght Court rebellion. After the whole Dusk reveal I'm excited to see their reactions and maybe backstory, and them with the Valkyries because Gwyn and Lunara would be such a cute friendship. Also Grim is best boy I love this man he's had one scene and now I need a prequel we stan himbo dad warrior in this house! He's what Cassian should've been!

Speaking of, Nesta needs to come back and read everyone for filth! Book 2 might be all about her but she so fun to read here too, especially as Tam's sister (they'd be cute as a ship too but platonic siblings Nestlin is life)

Anyway so sorry for the long message, I love your fic and I'm cheering you on! 💗

Aaaaaaaaa!!!! Anon c'mere and let me hug you! You're so sweet! Thank you so much!!! 🥰🥰🥰 it's been a joy to write this fic and while I already loved Tamlin and Lucien both as individuals and as a ship before, thanks to the fic they've gone up to otp status in my heart. I'm so excited to keep bringing you my boys and their adventures be it sweet and fluffy or high stakes.

Okay so to answer your questions, the reason I haven't named Rhysand's family (or the other bat boys family) is less interesting that twist a or story and has more to do with spite. I am spiteful AF when it comes to the page hogging bats and I refuse to give them any once of development or thought other than antagosnist. So I have zero intention of naming any of those characters because I know SJM would grant them names before the Acheron parents or the Vanserras or any other more important character. So no, I'm just a petty spiteful slug in that case. Sorry to disappoint.

Glad to hear you cought the Greece/Japan mix invented for Dusk. Given that Night seems to be based on Greece along with Middle East at least from what little world building we were shown I thought it would be cool to have them have Greek influence due to Night's colonization but also retain the Japanese inspired culture and aesthetic that was theirs before their fall. I have some ideas for the other courts but these are just headcanons.

Spring- Scottland, France

Summer- Kingdom of Hawaii, Polynesian, Caribbean

Autumn- Spain, Ireland

Winter- Russia, Norway, Korea

Day- Madagascar, Kenya, Roman Empire

Dawn- India, China, Vietnam

Dusk- Japan, Greece, England (Gothic period)

Night- Greece, Middle East

You shall get more Night Court rebellion content soon, I love this group and trust me you haven't met them all yet, lots of peeps want Rhys gone. Gwyn and Lunara will be good pals don't you worry, priestess stick together and I really want more Gwyn she is a delight. Seriously considering a prequel with them at some point.

Funny you mention Grim, he's the favorite so far out of the Rebellion oc's and while I love this precious edgy himbo he is not of my creation @maplesamurai made him as an NPC for one of our D&D campaigns and I've been obsessed with him since then (that version of him and of D&D Lunara are also a couple, mates in every universe baby!) So thank him for the best boy and best himbo. Cassian's got nothing on the best dilf!

Nesta too will get more page time, I'm just keeping from adding too much before her own book, while her healing is mostly happening offscreen and she will be stable by the time of book 2 girlie will have stuff to deal with later that I need to put off for now, but do expect her to get a good moment along with the rest of the squad. Also yes platonic Nestlin for life! They'd be an awesome ship, but as siblings they're a winning combo. Eris look out Nesta now has an older brother to keep an eye on ya once you're official!

Don't ever worry about long questions anon, I live for comments and asks and any attention so I'm absolutely delighted that you sent me this and so grateful you love my silly fix it fic! Thanks so much and I hope I've answered your question! 💙

[kobblefort]

Rushsly: Into the Depths 1

Sorry for no updates yesterday; I spent the entire day making food, watching longform YouTube videos, and working on some other artistic outlets. In the interest of maintaining my anonymity until at least the end of this project and possibly indefinitely after that, I won't be sharing them (well, I can't send home-cooked food over the internet anyway - yet! Get on that shit, techbros!) but you'll be relieved to know they turned out well. I'm only just now sitting down at the computer this evening after a day that mostly tanked due to me starting to feel under the weather, but I think I know the cure - and obviously, it's the single greatest simulation game of all time, Dwarf Fortress.

There's no better way to start off a session than crashing the game, so I decide to make a nice and agonizingly slow "quick"save and throw Rushsly into Stonesense, the isometric-3D fortress visualizer which is notoriously stable when used with the Steam release and mods. Well actually it was working fine before I tried to maximize the window, then it crashed. I could find some way to blame the program for that, but I've been reading "The Inner Game of Tennis" lately, and though I'm not very far into it, I get the gist that I probably shouldn't, but also I shouldn't blame myself either? When I say not very far, I mean literally 4 or 5 pages. Are you even allowed to say you're "reading" a book when you've barely made it past the foreword and preface? Fine. I'm browsing The Inner Game of Tennis, and I'll consider myself reading it in 20 or 30 pages. Anyway, the fort looks pretty unassuming from the top, besides that "chimney" which is not actually there, but I can't get anyone up there to destroy the "downward staircase" tile without creating another "downward staircase" tile, which I'd need to get someone up there to destroy on and on over and over forever for the rest of my life. It doesn't have an "upward staircase" tile below it so it's purely a cosmetic blemish. Clear glass tiles also look very funny in Stonesense.

The furnace floor, where I already had to alter the stockpile by a single tile so I could put down a floor tile to stop the growth of a young tower-cap. I fucking hate floor fungus!!

The catacombs really do look a bit shit from this angle sorry kobbles. The little magma pockets do look cool though.

The (secondary now, I guess?) production floor is such a fucking mess and I hate it but I'm never going to do anything about it.

The tavern and chief's chambers look pretty cool though! I like that the dogs get sprites but my kobbles are just the letter "k." I feel bad for the people in the bedroom below who have a clear glass ceiling. Imagine trying to sleep and a bunch of motherfuckers are dancing above you and you can not only hear but see it the whole time. What a life!

And the only other floor of any visual interest is the barracks+hospital+dungeon floor. I like that stonesense makes the wells into faucets. Kobbles got plumbing lol

It always hurts to give a miner a different job, since I like it when the mining gets done fast, but since he wasn't particularly great at it anyway: Zhag, the miner who did not give a single shit about breaching the caverns, has been transferred to the military right around the time that a couple years of constant training starts really paying off for On Speechlessmonstrous and Zomrca Lulledjackals. In fact, it's sparring with one another that brought on this "level-up."

Two girls, both keenly aware of their bodies and the way they move, pushing each other to greater and greater heights of martial prowess. I don't care who you are, that's yuri. And also they're drunk. But kobbles, like dwarves, are basically always drunk. There was a time when I'd be like "Same! That's so me, lol!!" but it's long been over. I don't actually miss alcohol, I just miss the way alcohol used to feel, the effect it used to have on me. For the last little while, whenever I finally gave in to the temptation to knock some shots back every 2 or 3 weeks I would just suddenly jump-cut straight to the next day, waking up with literally all my clothes on including my goddamn socks like a fucking bastard feeling absolutely miserable in every physical sense and terrified that I had fucking humiliated myself and made lifelong enemies in the 25 Discord conversations I didn't remember starting. Now if I try to drink at all my body just says "no, fuck you. Go to bed" and all I can bring myself to do is lay down and get five to seven hours of miserably low-quality sleep - while still lucid enough to take my socks off, thank fucking god. I can't complain, really. The time from my early 20s when drinking made everything beautiful and everyone into my friend has long been over. If I never wake up in a stranger's bed or literally drooping halfway off the couch of their back porch again it'll still be too soon. But it's fine for kobbles to drink I guess. They were literally programmed to do it

At only 136 steel bars, it feels a bit too early to be getting the kobbles into steel armor, but new weapons and shields should do them well - provided they're not all too attached to their current gear. The dream is, eventually, adamantine, but to tell the truth I've never actually gotten that far in a fort. They either died in a horrible violent tragedy or from the miserable slowness of FPS death far before we could chance upon any Hidden Fun Stuff. To be completely honest, despite making a few attempts as early as early as 2009, even installing it on the computers at my high school and getting away with playing it all through study hall because nothing that looks like that could possibly actually be a game, I really never figured the game out or had any real success. I just didn't have the patience to either learn to read the ASCII or manually check every tile every time I wanted to know what anything was. This was back when carp were serious threats and rhesus macaque invasions were commonplace - the Brazil era, as I've literally just now decided to dub it - but half the things I take for granted really weren't even in the game yet. Also, on those same high school computers I managed to install Cave Story, and I got all the way to Hell before getting hopelessly stuck, which is what happens to me basically every time I play Cave Story, though I did manage to beat Hell & Ballos just once as a kid. I like to joke that my soul is stuck in Cave Story Hell forever until I finally beat it one more time, but sometimes I get scared it's not a joke. One time my friends came over while they were tripping on acid, and I was stoned and playing PaRappa the Rapper, and they were watching with so much delight but then I got to the bathroom level and just couldn't fucking do it, failing attempt after attempt, and one of those same friends professed to me years later that he feels like part of his soul is still trapped in the PaRappa the Rapper bathroom level, instead of experiencing the catharsis of the big concert finale level. The other friend from that time is no longer my friend because he burned down his fucking house with a turtle and several dogs and cats inside. All the dogs and most of the cats escaped but the turtle did not and since then he has been in permanent rehab because every time he almost finishes up at a halfway house he decides "you know what, I should take mushrooms right now. I should get so high on cough medicine that I can't even pretend to function for 5 minutes. While I'm in this fucking halfway house that I could be free from if I just waited one or two more weeks to take these mushrooms or cough medicine." I mean I can't really begrudge him the drugs but, well, actually I think I can. I can begrudge anyone for anything if I want. He also had a pad on the floor where his dogs could shit instead of just taking them out, I mean that's not just on him that's on his whole family being fucked up. Basically just fuck that guy

We'll be breaching the first cavern layer in earnest soon. I'm not quite sure what I actually want to do down there - fungiwood and tower-cap don't actually interest me, considering how much wood we have on the surface, and farming has been going so well that we don't really need anything edible from down here, either. Maybe I just want to stir the pot. Maybe I just want conflict. You know there's a reason why people who play this game say "losing is fun" and it's beca

Oh Fuck Oh Shit No No No Oh Shit Get The Fuck Out Of There Everybody Get The Fuck Inside Right Now Oh Fuck Oh Fuck Oh Fuck Oh My God Please No ... errr .......

Everyone has more than enough time to get inside safely, because... it's a fucking giant tortoise. In the time it takes for everyone who was topside to get safely into the base, the weretortoise has... not moved a single tile.

The moat bridge is retracted, marksmen are poised and (hopefully) ready to fire, but uhh... I don't want to say I overreacted, but I may in fact have overreacted.

Its kill record is not impressive, either. I'm more impressed by the names of some of these places it's been. "Grayhatchet" is actually pretty cool. "Questsloshed" that one sounds kind of horny... "Womansoak" That's what they call me when I walk up in the fucking club LOL !!!!!!!! Sorry. I'm going to be normal again.

The were-tortoise reverts back to a lobster (yes I have the mod that adds crustacean civilizations installed on this world) and skitters away off the map and far from my mind. Honestly, he might be more intimidating in this form. However strong the were-tortoise form might be, it's not exactly effective. Another thing I learned is that the statue "radar" does not actually tell you where or which statue was toppled, it literally just says that one was. If I wanted to put in a bunch of effort, I could set up a system where I have statues of one material put on the west, another material on the east, other materials north and south, maybe even go 8-directional with it, but I kind of don't care. The reason that people who play a lot of Dwarf Fortress say that "losing is fun" has two reasons. First of all, there is no real "winning" in Dwarf Fortress - you can become the new Mountainhome of your civilization, sure, but that's more of "the best game state you can attain" than a victory. It ultimately just comes with more challenges: an entourage of picky, problem-causing nobles and a king/queen/gender-unspecific-position-of-royalty/whatever else show up to make demands, and it's not like you export a certain amount of wealth and roll the credits or something. The second is that, since you cannot win, getting your fortress to be perfect, infallible, and autonomous only actually serves to make the game boring. Losing is not just a learning experience as far as the actual mechanical game goes, but an exciting event that changes the story and landscape of your world. After this fort inevitably goes down in flames I am going to keep playing in this world and Rushsly will be not just a memory in my mind but something that existed and changed the culture and history of The Land of Nails, the biggest continent in The Dimensions of Portent. (Kind of a lame name though. Why don't you portend to go fuck yourself, lol. Not you the reader, just a general unspecified "you".)

There's motherfucking gold in them there hills, tons of gems too. I'm prone to ignore stuff like silver and cassiterite because it's not that valuable and more important not that interesting to me, but I can absolutely be tempted by the glint of gold, and much like Sonic Adventure 2's breakout MILF Rouge the Bat I always love a good gem. If you don't think she's a milf you're looking at the wrong pictures - the wiki is wrong, the writers and designers of the games are wrong, she is a 43 yr old cougar. And me well I just want to be the pudgy twink 10+ years younger than her that she is just ever so slightly emotionally abusive towards, not in the traumatizing way just the sexy way. Like "the hurting your feelings but then you also get aroused from it and afterwards she's like yeah you know i didn't actually mean it" way.

Fucking kitchen full of fucking miasma

Just USE THE BARRELS YOU FUCKING BASTARDS

Like why do they do this

With nothing but perfect timing, a metalcrafter falls into a strange mood that makes him cry out for:

-metal bars (He's already taken a platinum one)

-logs (We have plenty all over the fucking place but he won't grab any)

-silk cloth (We have 100s of these too, he won't take any)

-bones (which means we have to slaughter an animal in the same disgusting butcher room with the miasma and all the meat already just sitting on the floor.)

Zylr has made an enemy out of me but I am honor-bound to help his bitch ass create a masterpiece so fuck it.

He takes the bones and... just keeps bitching. I don't know. Does he just want more bones? Because I'm not going to be heartbroken over killing another horse. Fuck it. I'll gladly kill another horse. I hate horses and want them to not exist.

And yes, he did literally just want more bones.

And downstairs, they finally started putting things in barrels. Not before letting our food & meat stocks drop by literally hundreds of items, but I guess a win is a win. kind of. Not really a complete win yet either there's still very much some shit on the floor. Fuck it I'll just make them throw it out too. What were you really going to do with horse nervous tissue, like be honest. As usual I had to run cleanowned in dfhack like 5 times to make the kobbles actually start taking out the garbage but they did it. (I know the military backpack glitch but I don't understand how meals got claimed as owned without even making it out of the kitchen (I don't feel like explaining the military backpack glitch right now but I can later if someone asks me to (We're kind of losing the fucking plot here though (and suddenly I care about that))))

Zylr had the good sense to offer this to me instead of keeping it as a personal treasure, and I mean, 20k value ain't bad. Most interestingly is the chain either has an image of itself on it, or is making a reference to another platinum chain that exists somewhere. It would be really funny to just put it in the dungeon and tie criminals to it, but it feels weirdly appropriate to put it in one of the churches, so I'm going to do that instead.

AMBUSH TIME!!!!

The fucking pricks are going after our bird towers. It's so personal now.

Their necromancer doesn't even make it past the first row of traps.

A boar that their necromancer resurrected literally kicks one of them to death. I don't think these guys are very good at this.

With their... leader(??) and three of their most fearless caged, and one of their least lucky shredded into fucking bits, the stragglers just awkwardly wander off the map to go hide. They didn't even make it past the third row of traps on the very first level.

They also did not even make a dent in our bird numbers, despite them being the only targets they were able to even take shots at. Though this does serve to prove we need to reinforce the Bird Towers to prevent unnecessary loss of bird life, that's literally all it proved. They will one day be back with more, they may come back with the idea of maybe not walking straight into the trap hallway, but for now they are idiots who barely managed to kill a single goose.

Unfortunately, speaking of idiots, our marksbold squad was deployed up to the fortifications above the trade depot, and despite getting a clear shot on one of them, fucking did nothing because the ones with bows keep picking up bolts and the ones with crossbows keep picking up arrows. Since different types of ammo is a mod thing, there's no actual option to force them to use one or the other, I guess our best bet is to just dispose of all the bows and arrows and force everyone to use only crossbows. I don't feel like doing that right now though and I've also hit the 30 image limit again so you'll just have to find out whether that even works or not on the next exciting episode of Rushsly. I probably should have ended it on a cliffhanger but I think it's funnier if the thing you have to look forward to is just me cleaning out some traps, figuring out to do with some prisoners, and trying to fix a military logistics problem. This ain't that new-fangled Witch from Saturn Ion gundam show this is the classic 1979 gundam. WHO WILL SURVIVE?

[banrionceallach]

One thing I really, really appreciate about Mask of the Rose is Archie and Griz's relationship

(Spoilers from here on, especially for Griz's route.

They're very clearly of opposite views when it comes to 'Is Mr Pages/The Masters In General to be trusted?' and they're both written as having already developed feelings for the player character prior to the start of the game's timeline, but they both care about each other a lot.

Archie spends half his first in-game conversation with you worried about the Masters banning maps of London and the other half going 'Hey Player Character, seems like Griz is really into you, you should tell her you're interested back.' If you then imply you don't return Griz's feelings, despite this giving him a better chance with you, his reply is essentially 'oh no, really? Are you sure? Griz is going to be really sad! D:'

To put this in perspective, Archie's dialogue if you're in a relationship with him, more or less states that he has been in love with you for months. He hasn't said anything, because he doesn't want you to feel awkward if you don't return his feelings, given that you're living in the same house. (Gotta love a guy who respects boundaries) He also is pretty clear about the fact he thought he couldn't compete with Griz for your affection. And he still spends half the first conversation trying to get you to notice Griz's feelings for you because he doesn't want her to be sad.

When Archie is arrested, Griz absolutely rejects the possibility of him being guilty. She immediately speaks (unsuccessfully) to Mr Pages about Archie's arrest, hoping the Masters will free him, despite insisting prior to the arrest that trying to use her influence with Mr Pages for anything would be unfair/unethical/etc. (Which, tbh, she's not wrong.)

She will also attempt (if you help her) to re-write the laws of London in a very risky eldritch manner, in order to save Archie, so that even if he is guilty he becomes retroactively 'not guilty' and cannot be hanged. Once Rachel comes looking for help, Griz will demand she help Archie in exchange. And she also emphasises how important it is for the residents of Chapman's not to do anything that might upset the Masters because of how it could reflect on Archie and affect his case.

If you speak to her after the arrest while in a relationship with Archie she will also ask you how you're doing and say she knows the situation must be hard for you, but not to worry you've got Griz on your side and she'll think of something!

All this to say, there's a real sense of a bond between Archie and Griz (and the Player) which you would expect from people who have gone through and are still grappling with traumatic experiences together.

Archie wants both Griz and the Player to be happy and unless it's made clear to him that you're absolutely not into Griz, he's willing to work against his own hopes if that's what's required. Griz might prefer the Player choose her rather than Archie, but that is secondary to saving his life so he can come home and she can have arguments with him at the dinner table.

[littlemonstert-blog]

Temari's Overrated

overrated.

I don't dislike Temari's character, I do find her overrated in comparison to other characters and here's why.

Let's look into character wise

Temari's not a bad character either but she literally has like 10 pages worth of screen time in Part 1. 5 pages worth in Part 2 (Shippuden) . Only reason she gets hyped so much is because Naruto fandom has convinced itself to believe a “badass girl who's kinda mean” equals best female character ever.

Her entire character in has been:

Gaara's older sister, She's great at wind style and Temari maybe has a crush on Shikamaru.

My other point, the ShikaTema ship. When you're on any Naruto social media (Twitter, reddit, tiktok etc). You've definitely seen people say it's “the best ship” or “the only ship that makes sense” and “the one ship that everyone likes”. I don't have any problems with it.

But, where were are the romantic moments of Shikatema that made them the best couple in the entire series? The only time they ever even got romantically close to one another was when Shikamaru was looking for a wedding gift for Naruto and Hinata after The Last movie.

Please do not use any filler screencaps because if it didn't happen in the manga its not canon.

And Shikamaru made it clear and that he wasn’t romantically into Temari before this event due to how oblivious he was to Temari.

People shit on Naruto for being oblivious/dense to Hinata’s feelings despite the fact that there is a canon explanation as to why he couldn’t understand Hinata’s feelings. But nobody says anything about Shikamaru being dense to Temari as well despite having a good upbringing and understanding how his parents speak with each other romantically.

Certain (some not all) people claim that Shikamaru and Temari already had chemistry since OG Naruto and only panel they use to support it this:

the only conversation between Shikamaru and Temari that can be seen as chemistry in a sense without it being half-way or taken out of context like most people do with this couple.

People like to compare them to other ships that had WAY more moments and screentime. Just because they have no drama.

most ships, these two characters have little to no interactions. What makes it worse, you can't even give them the benefit of the doubt for having offscreen interactions as when they live three days away from each other. Meanwhile, something like Naruto and Hinata or Sai and Ino likely had interacted offscreen 

Let's be honest here, the author said it himself Naruto is a battle shōnen manga romance was never a main focus. It will always be secondary part or not there at all like other shōnen.

 her power-scaling

This isn't to say Temari is weak I say she is at least Jonin level

As far as war arc, Temari literally doesn't due much at all compared to others. Manga whatever the anime adds is NOT CANON

She did one thing in war arc :

With the help of two other shinobi, she managed to damage base edo third raikage. Assuming he was actually blitzed and didn't just decide to tank it (since they stated they haven't inflicted any significant damage, implying he likely didn't even care to dodge)

This is anime-only aka filler that's not canon to manga

(Even if you did consider this a feat, Madara just dusted himself off like nothing happen and set up for fire style.)

Comparing other Konoha memebers

Can you tell me something important that Temari ever did to develop the plot? People insult female characters like sakura, karin and Ino but they contributed far more than temari. Heck, even tenten with her little screentime helped more than Temari.

Sakura: Contributed alot during the war, became one of the best medical ninja

Hinata: Assisted Ino in redirecting the ten-tails attack by linking her byakugan to Ino’s mind transfer. Saved the whole shinobi alliance including Naruto, Killer B, Might Guy and Kakashi. Helped Naruto when he was about to give-in after witnessing neji’s death.

Ino: Linked everybody multiple times during the war together. She was the only person capable of doing that from her clan. Besides her father.

Karin: Helped Tsunade retore her reserves. Also destroyed multiple shinzu arms that zetsu tried to use to kill team taka and the shinobi. She was one of the most important memebers that sasuke had in team taka.

Tenten: A memeber of the team 10(chapter258) who was sent to rescue Temari’s brother while temari did absolutely nothing. Temari only arrived after gaara had died. Tenten was also one of those who destroyed more than one of kakuzu’s heart.

I shouldn't have say much about Mei & Tsunade.

Could list more but, I want to keep this short.

Temari as a character, has no purpose after the chunin exams arc, where her best feats was defeating Tenten (basically fodder) and defeating an already weakened Tayuya.

Which begs the question.how is Temari a well written character if she's barely around. Only Gaara was the most relevant sibling. The sand village in general wasn't that important. Most notable characters were Gaara, Chiyo and Sasori that were relevant from the Sand. Maybe If I push it, their father the previous Kage and the bijuu Shukaku.

( Edit: Looking back & a comment I can't reply back for a odd reason. Kankuro did have a bit of a bigger role than his sister)

Temari seems like one of the most overrated characters in the show upon her non relevant appearances for the plot compared to other female characters.

again I don't dislike this character, I just think in certain aspects she's overrated.

[blue-flamed-phoenix]

Chapter 1 - A04 - Handler Donald pierce fanfic.

"Just 'bout ready to go, Doc"

Pierce said as he approached the hummer that Dr. Rice was sitting in. "Good, get everyone over here to do the mission briefing. We need to be thoroughly prepared for this mission in particular." Dr. Rice said as he looked up from what looked like a case file with a red tag on it. 

"Forgive me, Doc but catchin' mutey's is kind of my men's specialty." Pierce spoke though Dr. Rice only shook his head. "No, we're not just catching mutants at this point. We're catching more then just mutants." Dr. Rice began as he passed the file that was in his hands over to pierce. 

"Say hello to a mutant slash supernatural hybrid." Dr. Rice said as Pierce opened the file. "Hex labs made em'?" Pierce asked to which Dr. Rice nodded. "There are 15 subjects all together. 8 have already been found, now we're just looking for the other 7." Dr. Rice continued as he looked around for a second. 

"The file you've got right there is the file for the high risk group or as what Hex labs named them as the red tags. Those 5 individuals are highly intelligent and have been trained to be killing machine's essentially. The higher ups wanted the 7 lost subjects to be dealt with personally by both you and I." Dr. Rice continued as Pierce looked through the file for the 'red tags'. 

However he stopped when he turned the page to the last subject and that is when Dr. Rice spoke again. "This one in particular I am interested in. Which is why her capture will be our main priority." Dr. Rice said as he pointed to the subject's photo. Pierce gave him a quizzical look before Dr. Rice continued. 

"She will be a very valuable asset to us. She is highly dangerous, way more then any of the other red tags. Her physical and mental test results are extraordinary but that also make's her a lot harder to catch her. She is extremely volatile and will definitely not go down without a fight. It's because of that behaviour that makes her practically untouchable." Dr. Rice explained. "ok, Doc so what's our game plan?" pierce asked as he read through the file.

The file:

"It's simple. Our main target is her, the others are secondary targets and much easier to take down. Your men will need to be on high alert if we are to catch her." Dr. Rice explained as Pierce closed the file and handed it back to the doctor. "But we still need to proceed with caution as her mutation is completely unknown to us. Sadly before we were able to get our hands on the files, some of the information was redacted." Dr. Rice cautioned and Pierce nodded. 

"Don't you worry Doc, there hasn't been a single mutey we haven't caught before." Pierce said as he appeared pretty laid back.  

"You may be right about that Pierce but what we're dealing with is way more then just a singular mutant. These hybrids were made to fight to the death and they were made as walking, talking weapons essentially. The whole project was sanctioned by the military and Government. Hex Labs had the goal of making the perfect soldier and in a way they succeeded. But the problem is the hybrids can't be controlled as well as Hex Labs designed them to be." Dr. Rice explained further.

"We'll see" Pierce said as he began to radio the other reavers to come towards them to discuss the mission brief. 

~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~

Dakota's P.O.V

"You sleep ok?" Trevor asked though I didn't really turn to answer him. 

"Slept fine" I answered as I stared out of one of the many large windows of the abandoned factory that we were currently vacating. I sat on the large window sill just staring out the window at nothing in particular. We've been in this abandoned factory for 2 weeks now and we've been on the run for about 2 months now. Two months since the collapse of Hex Labs, quite literally. We blew the entire place up pretty much. 

"Nightmares been bothering you again?" Trevor pushed and I only nodded without a verbal reply. I heard him sigh before he spoke again. "We're leaving today, probably gonna be walking for a few hours. Got a tip off that Transigen is getting closer to us." Trevor said and I turned my head to him.

"Then why didn't we leave a week ago, then they wouldn't be gaining on us" I stated but Trevor only shook his head. "I never said they were gaining on us, I said the were getting closer." Trevor explained and I turned my head to look out the window again. Trevor was one of the staff at Hex Labs. He was there from the start, since the moment we were all born. He's like our alpha or leader if our group was ever a pack. He helped us escape Hex Labs and in fact he's a retired veteran. He taught me how to keep control of certain urges.

"You should start to prepare, all 7 of you will shift to hide suspicion and sightings as usual if anything happens I'll have clothes for all of you." Trevor continued and I nodded. "I know the plan I just think we should have left earlier." I explained my concern as there are only 7 of us as the other 8 were captured. "Hey, this plan is full proof, we've used it before and how long have you known me?" Trevor asked as I turned my head to look at him again. "ever since I could remember" I said. "Exactly, we have nothing worry about and you all know the back up plan in case someone gets caught" Trevor said and I nodded.

"We should head down stairs now and prepare the others" Trevor suggest and again I nodded before getting off the window sill. "No doubt Alia's probably nervous." Trevor chuckled and I nodded with a smile. "When is she not nervous" I said as I walked past Trevor and to the stair well Trevor following behind me. We make our way down stairs and as soon as we get there I see Alia anxiously pacing whilst Calum is trying to calm her. "We're ready to go Trev." Violet said as she approached us. "Good, we'll get going in a few minutes." Trevor said while I looked around at the last 7 of us. Like me, Alia, Calum and Violet are all red tags. We were grew up together, trained together and we've protected each other ever since.

 "Andy, how's Zoe doing?" Trevor asked Andy who was in the beta group or secondary group to the red tags. "Yeah, uh Dakota she want's to talk to you about something." Andy said a bit hesitantly and I only nodded before walking towards another stairwell that led to the rooms we were sleeping in. I make my way up there and as I do I can hear sobbing.

Zoe was also a red tag though she wasn't nearly anything like us. She was anger driven, reckless, volatile, cold or cruel she was everything but those terms. 

As I make it up the stairs I immediately see Zoe sitting on her bed with her knees cuddled to her chest, her face blotchy from crying. "What's wrong Zo?" I asked as I walked towards her. I don't often show emotions but in the rare cases that I do, it's usually around Zoe or my twin brother Calum and sometimes Alia. But you see me and Zoe we have something in common that no one else has. We have a secret that we both vowed to keep until our own deaths. Something we have never told another soul. 

"My stomach's been feeling weird and I've been throwing up lately. I think...I think I'm..." She sobbed as she touched her stomach and straight away I knew. I quickly sat on her bed and brought her into a hug. "I-I don't want to get rid of it but I'm so scared." Zoe stuttered as she cried in my arms. She was only 16 years old were as I was 17, almost 18 in about a month or two. "We'll all figure it out together, did you want to tell anyone?" I asked as I didn't question her choice of keeping it. "N-no I-I don't think I want to tell anyone just yet." Zoe stuttered out as I released her from the hug. "Your going to be fine, your strong and when the time comes we're all going to be there to support you no matter what." I assured. But as Zoe went to say something suddenly we heard conflict down stairs and the sound of car engines outside.

I shot up from Zoe's bed and sprinted to the window just in time to see several trucks pulling up outside of the factory. "Shit! We gotta go, NOW!" I said as I ran over to Zoe grabbed her hand and pulled her with me to the stair well but I stopped as soon as I heard yelling downstairs. "Shit" I whispered as I gestured for Zoe to keep quiet. As the yelling continued I suddenly heard gun shots. Zoe flinched at the sound of the gunshots as she held onto my hand with a tight grip. 

-> Next Chapter ->

[ink-fireplace-coffee]

Notion Wip Tour Part 3: Characters

part 1 ; part 2

aka what @memento-morri-writes and @italiangothicwriteblr asked for (sorry for being late, life got in the way and I had group project drama... anyway)

yay characters!

for characters I simply type "Characters" in a h2 and then I insert a gallery view of an empty database. It should look like this

which honestly... sucks for a lot of reasons.

But don't worry! Cause Notion does take into account both aestheticd and personalization, so we are going to use that opportunity haha

first things first: erasing that useless "untitled" on the top of the database. I already have a title! (You can create multiple gallery views and sort them out by main characters, secondary ones and antagonists, but I use tags for that)

So what we are going to do is go to the three dots on the right side of the gallery view (next to the blue "new" button that appears when you hover above it), and then click on Layout. You'll get another menu and here you can: change the layout (I use galleries cuase pretty pictures, but you can also make a list format or a table!), hide the database title, choose what you want to preview before opening each "card" (can be the contents of the page OR the cover OR leave them blank. I personally choose covers, but you do you), choose the size of the cards (if you have a tin of characters, I do recomend the small one), decide if you want the image to fit or not and finally, choose if when you click each individual card you want it to open in center peek (a medium size square in the middle of your screen), side peak (a page to the size of your databse) or full page.

Phew that was a lot. So by hiding the databse title, choosing the cover to be the content preview of the cards and making them small, we get to this

Do not forget the three buttons cause we are going to be looking into the other functions in a minute. For now, let's create each character and let me show you the wonderful world of ✨templates✨

When you open the first card, this is what it will show

Personally I have no needs for to-dos, so I erase that as well as the created feature on top, and I change my font and size exactly as you would on a normal notion page, as well as allowing full width. I also erase that "Add a comment..." line by going hovering in the "Tags" line, clicking on the six dots, clicking on Customize Page and selecting Off in "Top Level Discussions"

This is what we've done so far:

see the difference? I personally like it better :)

Before even typing your beloved OC name, you are going to click on the little underlined part of the text called "create a template"

templates save my life in Notion. Specially with characters. Cause I don't have to type stuff a hundred times, just once.

so you click on create a template and suddenly this pops up!

Nothing's wrong, you are not editing your page, just your template. As you can see you can name it (I personally name it Character's template), and change the font, the size... all that. It's like a new page, essentially.

THIS IS A TEMPLATE MEANING YOU ARE NOT GOING TO ANSWER ANY OF THE POINTS YOU ADD TO IT!!!

Quick N/A: If you don't know, I'm a psychology student. And I've learnt how to writr clinical reports for one of my classes, so I use whatever applies to that for my OCs. This means my character's sheets are really technical in some ways.

Personal Data

I add a title (h2), in here I create a bullet list with the following:

Full name, nicknames, age (in years or months, I tend to use how we write it on reports in class so year:month), birhtdate, gender, pronouns, sexual orientation, social status, working status, ethnicity (if applies), race (if applies), and then sometimes height and weight.

Story Goal

This section I usually put it to the right of the first one, by creating another block (h2) and then dragging it to the right side of my other title, until I see a blue line. After that remember to select all the bullet points you've added to the previous block and drag them right under the Personal Data title or you'll get this weird gap.

In the Story Goal I simply write that: what does my character want to achieve at the beginning of the story? why is it so important for them? and what happens if they fail? you can write it plainly, but I like making a callout (/callout) and typing it there (nice thing about callouts, you can change the emoji or the icon that shows!)

In my case I added some strst cause it goes with the theme of my wip :)

With the extra space, you can choose to add a picture or embed a playlisy of your character if you have one! (don't do it yet tho, we are on the template, remember? no individual details yet)

Traits

(here's when you are gonna see the psych student influence haha). Basically, I make a toggle with bullet points inside, dividing them by Central Traits and Peripherial Traits.

A central trait is an attribute in someone’s personality that is considered particularly meaningful, in that its presence or absence signals the presence or absence of other traits. Which, basically means the things you are "extremely" (for example, I consider myself to be a an extremely creative person because it's a trait I use to define myself usually)

A peripherial trait is not as meaningful, or impactful for the person. Following my previous example, I consider myself to be extremely creative yes, but no so much idk talkative, even if i could be talking for hours with the right person. It's not as important, not as strikcing.

Anamnesis

okay my psych student side keeps showing on this one. BUT i warned I was basing on off my psych report so that's how it is haha

when writing a clinical report the anamnesis is also called clinical history and it's basically that. A recap of everything that happened to the patient that might or might not be related to well the problem they present OR IN THIS CASE the story goal.

Basically write a backstory. that's it. (Again, not in the template. please)

As I explained it on the ask I answered about how I organized my character's info (and the reason why I am doing this): usually childhood stories. Why and when is the goal they have born? what causes them to want to achieve them? Are there any critical moments in their life up until the start of the story that are relevant to their character development?

Just, go nuts.

Likes and Dislikes

you can also toggle this or make bullet points or just write it as a list... I don't have a preference but I do love toggles (as you can guess).

Likes and Dislikes are usually for me but not only: food, hobbies, colors, fashion sense, weather, people... Everything and anytihng really. Go crazy. The more you flesh these blorbos of yours, the happier you'll be. trust me

(Also I know this goes after Anamnesis but I usually put this on the right side of the Traits section. Idk I just think its neat but of course your character template your rules so just grab what you like and tweak it so it's yours)

Connections

yayy the last part! On here I create yet another toggle (are you tired of them yet?) and list all the important relationships my character has. I write a short description of what that person means to my character and sometimes their first impression or initial thoughts of them.

If you want to add a Pinterent or Spotify or any other link, go to the top of the page and add a property called URL. You can add a few and change the name to whatever the link is <3

After you are done editing your template, simply click the back button on the top left and you'll be back to the character's card we clicked on at the start. This time with a major difference tho:

now you can choose the template we've done and it'll automatically appear not only in that card but for every single one you decide to create on that database <3

And this is the end result for one of my OC's:

as you can see I've added a tag called "main character" so that I can filter through them. For that, hover over the Gallery and you'll see two different options: Filter and Sort.

I hope this was helpful and if you have any questions let me know!! I absolutely adore Notion and I am obsessed over my wip page <3

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Hi! I've realized (damn) that I use the terms "realize" and "notice" a lot. <-Just like in this sentence. Really, a lot. In my last fic, with less than 5k words, there are 13 variants of realize and 3 of notice. Please, help.

Ah, you've got me at a good time, I just went through this with my own work. These are words that aren't actually necessary, but feel like they are. Here's a list of words you should be on the look out for:

think

realize

notice

know

hear

see

felt

Do a search for these words in your current work or manuscript, and nuke them from orbit. Now, there are some exceptions, such as:

Keep them if they're essential parts of dialogue.

Keep them if they're essential parts of the paragraph (reflecting on seeing a Bigfoot, trying to decide how one is feeling, etc)

Keep them if you really think they're justified in staying. (But nine times out of ten, they're not.)

Why get rid of them? Because they're almost always stating the obvious, something the reader can infer based on the POV, and only make your sentences more clumsy. If we know who's POV we're following, be it in first or third person, we don't need these add-on words to make that clear. It should already be clear that we're following the perspective of one person. Consider the following:

He wouldn't look at her, eyes fixed firmly on a point over her shoulder. She realized he was lying to her.

Versus

He wouldn't look at her, eyes fixed firmly on a point over her shoulder. He was lying to her.

Same sentence, same meaning, but in cutting that one part, it becomes snappier and more intense. Now, this is from the woman's perspective - what if we write it from the guy's?

He wouldn't look at her, eyes fixed firmly on a point over her shoulder. He knew she realized he was lying to her.

Even clunkier, right?

He wouldn't look at her, eyes fixed firmly on a point over her shoulder. He was lying to her, and she knew it.

Now, in this case I'm going to justify the use of the word "knew," because we're not talking about what the POV character knows, but what the secondary character is discovering. It's his perspective on what's going on in her head, which may or may not be correct. This works with most POVs - you might find it more challenging with Third Person Omniscient, but it's still worth doing (and if you're having trouble juggling Third Person Omniscient, just switch to Third Person Limited).

Editing these out takes work, but they'll make your sentences snappier, and your words flow better. Remember, there are always exceptions to the rule - if you can't bring yourself to cut a "he noticed" from a single sentence, it's fine, but if there are five of those to every page, get to snipping.

[noelle-holi-gay]

Good day Hazel! Just wanted to ask ya how on earth are you so consistent in writing? Whats your process like? I know you for Dare To Dream and im honestly fuckn impressed how you wrote 25k in... a month? I could barely manage 11k in two months! Admittedly I havent read a bunch of your other Suselle and Kriselle fics, but I'm still impressed how consistent you are, even with the recent concert one I'm surpised how fast you were.

Life kinda gets in the way sometimes, I haven't written in like 7 months because I've been absolutely hammered out with irl happenings, and I wanna know how you manage your schedule and momentum when writing.

Hey! Sorry I didn't answer this sooner, the past few days have been actually insane as I'm sure you can guess KDSJHGFSDHFGSDF

So, I don't know, this is kind of always a hard question to answer because process is always so personal, you know? But I do have a few tricks I use to make it as painless as possible, so that when I sit down to write I actually get words on the page. First, though, don't knock your pace, friend; 11K in two months isn't bad at all. Sometimes you can do a lot more with a lot less, anyway.

Primarily, I have outlines, and I outline constantly in my head. I don't always write down my outlines explicitly, but I think about my stories allll the time when I'm walking places, in the bathroom/shower, doing chores--whatever occupies my body and not my mind, I'm usually thinking about my stories. Sometimes down to the details; I've blocked out entire conversations between characters in my head before while in the shower or something, including which versions of 'said' i use for which lines and where I cut the dialog with actions, and all that shit. If you've already got it in your head, then when you have free time to actually write, it often just dumps out of you onto the page.

If I don't have a really strong idea for a scene already loaded, though, it can be a bit harder to jump that first sentence hurdle; but it gets a lot easier over time. I have had to start so so many scenes over the years that at this point I just run through a bunch of different potential starts--starting with fast-paced action, starting with dialog, starting with a character's internal thoughts, starting with a description of the setting, starting with sensory imagery that the POV character is feeling--and then find one that works and write it down before I can second-guess myself, just so I can get over that initial hump. It becomes quicker and quicker with practice. And once I break that hump, the rest of the scene usually flows pretty easily.

If I'm REALLY struggling with how a scene should go, thuogh, that usually means there's something missing from it structurally--its too boring, or its too convoluted, or something like that. In that case, I'll really think about what I'm trying to accomplish with the scene, what the best way to get there is, and if there's any sub-conflict I can leverage within the scene to chug it along. Oftentimes in scenes, you want there to be two parallel 'conflicts' happening that can bounce of of one another (though I use 'conflict' pretty loosely here). For example, maybe Kris and Noelle are having an emotional conversation about their childhood; but at the same time, maybe they're walking down the street. The 'walking down the street' part may sound horribly insignificant, but keeping things in motion like that is very useful for breaking up the conversation: maybe Noelle looks away to admire the scenery before going on, or Kris trips after hearing something particularly unexpected, or they both stop walking for a minute, even though they're going to be late for class, because they've realized this is more important--the secondary 'conflict' in the scene gives you something to bounce the primary conflict off of. If I'm having a lot of trouble getting invested in a scene, in my experience, it's usually because I need to give it a secondary conflict.

From a logistic standpoint, too, a lot of my productivity literally just comes from having google docs on my phone, because if I'm in like for two minutes at the grocery store, well, that's two minutes of writing I can accomplish. The little things add up, especially since I don't bring my computer everywhere -- if I were limited to just writing on my computer instead of when im walking places, eating lunch, running errands, etc, my fics would never ever get done. It's at least 30-40% of my writing time these days.

Hope some of that was helpful and/or interesting! Hope you have a good one.

[destielficarchive]

Hi, so just curious do we have an update on the deathbanjo situation? If you’re making a post about this anyhow you can ignore this - and thank you for your work btw! Really appreciate it!

Hey anon...I see you read my tags... *sweat drop*...yes, I got an ask overnight related to it, and I've done some independent research on what the ask says, and I've been waffling on what exactly to say and how to handle it, and I even DMed another archivist friend to get their opinion and was thinking I wouldn't say anything publicly until I'd had a chance to talk over the facets of it, but I haven't heard back, and you've messaged me, and...

When someone relatively unknown deletes, I generally don't have too many ethical concerns to wrestle with, and whether they say "yes, distribute" or "no, don't distribute" or never say anything at all, it's usually basically a net-neutral for me, as I'm unlikely to ever get more than a handful of requests for their works.

That is not the situation with deathbanjo. Their work is extremely popular and deservingly beloved, and the deletion wasn't announced or forecast, and a lot of readers are upset, and since neither deathbanjo nor anyone they know has said anything publicly on Tumblr, and I have said something, I'm likely to become the de facto face for whatever gets announced, and I'll have to deal with the...everything...that that produces.

Which isn't to say I'd ever distribute when asked not to, because I won't, but it is to say that it raises questions such as, "do I suggest other ways that people can access the work publicly and legally (specifically: do I link to the Wayback machine?)" and "do I go all activist and try to tamp down on other people distributing them, as I know of at least one person who has already offered to do, author preferences be damned?" Things like this are what keep me up at night, wondering what the best way to handle things is, supporting and respecting authors while also aiding readers.

So, all that said, here's what I know:

A person who says they are a friend of deathbanjo sent me an ask indicating that deathbanjo DOES NOT want the works distributed. I'm usually a pretty trusting person, but I'll own having a random stranger I've never heard of pop into my notes with something like this makes me a little leery; for a less popular author/less fraught situation, I wouldn't even worry about it - the odds that it'd matter much one way or the other would be low enough that it'd be far easier for me to just take them at their word and not distribute. However, given how wide-spread desire for these fics are, that's not what will happen this time. Many, many people want them - I've already turned down multiple requests from people who apparently have the reading comprehension level of the average half-rotted forest log. So, I spent some time investigating. Tumblr search is utterly broken on the person's blog, but I know a fair few tools for bypassing Tumblr's standard bullshit, and while I didn't find much evidence one way or the other, I found just enough to tilt me from "this ask kinda looks like BS" to "this ask is most likely legit."

I am not going to publish the ask, since I don't want to "out" the person who sent it - it wasn't on anon, but the text of it is simple, straightforward, and to the point:

Hi, I'm a friend of deathbanjo. They do NOT want their fics distributed. Thank you for understanding.

Based on the ask I received and my own research, the Destiel Fic Archive and I, it's owner (@unforth) WILL NOT be distributing deathbanjo's works.

On the secondary question of, "will I facilitate other people finding them?" Well...the Wayback Machine, also known as the Internet Archive, is a public, legal, well-known website that I've personally been using for literally 20+ years. All it does is archive websites that are fed to it, and it's archived over 632 billion sites (I first looked into it in the early oughts when Tripod deleted and I wanted to find my personal anime page...it was there...presumably still is...), including many deleted AO3 stories. When a story is deleted, it's one of the first places I personally go to try to find it, and even when I can't get the work it can often help me find titles, identify what's missing, and give me leads for getting more information. Anyone can access the Wayback Machine, without needing a log in. All you need is the link to the original work, and there are multiple ways to track those links down. Using all the strategies I personally know, I've just checked, and it looks like four of the eight works are on Wayback in their entirety. Some of the others might be - I didn't try every trick in my book, and I'm not going to, cause, well...I don't need to. That's not my point right now anyway.

No, I won't link the four here.

No, I won't (at least not right now, it's been on my to do list for a while) write up a tutorial on how to track down the necessary information and look things up on Wayback and strategies for working around the weird issues that can arise while trying to access AO3 through it.

But, if anyone reading this who loved deathbanjo's works is prepared to do the leg work, anyone who knows how or is willing to futz around and figure it out can access those four works...you do you, ya know?

Sharing that it's possible to access them is about as far as I'm prepared to stretch my personal ethics to "get around" deathbanjo's shared preference, and even that doesn't feel as "appropriate" as I'm really comfortable with, but I know a lot of people are really upset about this, and since Wayback is a known, and excellent, resource...well, now ya know, and what you or anyone does with that information is up to you.

I'm sorry that this is the outcome. It's not the one I would have wanted, but my running this project isn't about what I personally want. I just try to preserve and, when allowed, distribute, and I'll not break my word on not distributing even when I know denying access is gonna break a fuckton of hearts.

Take this as a lesson: download the stories you love, guys, cause you never know what will happen. They literally can be gone tomorrow, and you may get zero notice, so if it's something that you know you want to reread 'til the end of your days, make sure you grab a back up while you can.

It's a sad fandom day, but the stories will live in our hearts.

Lastly, while I know my saying this isn't worth much...

I can only prevent myself distributing, but I beg everyone reading this to respect deathbanjo's preferences. Fanauthors do so, so much for readers, and if they want their stories gone, that's up to them. If you have copies, please, please don't share the stories around when they've asked for them not to be. Be considerate. Think how you'd feel, in their position. Honor their wishes. Mourn, but be a good fandom citizen.

It's a huge collective loss for the Destiel fandom, but it's not the first time, and it won't be the last, and it'll be okay. Remember that, in the end, deathbanjo is just another one of us, another fan who sat at their computer and put fingers to keyboard. If you really love their work you can best show that love by respecting them and treating them like a human with autonomy who has made a choice.

Please don't contact me and ask me to make an exception for you. I won't, and I'll get annoyed at the request. I'm not going to share, so please don't waste both your time and mine.

[Image ID: a looping animated gif from an episode of Supernatural, showing actress Felicia Day playing the role of Charlie Bradbury. She's holding up one hand in a Vulcan salute, and the subtitle reads, "Peace out bitches." /End ID]

[hot-wiings]

The One Where You're A Retail Worker And Have To Deal With Christmas Karens All Day, But You Get To Come Home To Two Sweet Boyfriends.

Edited: 12-14-2020

You sighed as you walked up to your apartment door, your body ached and you sported what could be called the worst migraine ever. You felt completely done. With sluggish movements, you inserted your key into the slot and pushed the door open. Even with your mask on, your senses were immediately sent into overload from the scent of freshly baked Christmas cookies as you entered the apartment.

You would be gorging your feelings out later.

"How was work princess?"

You ripped your mask off and placed it in the mask basket and put your hand on the wall to balance yourself as you began taking off your work shoes. You tried to muster up the best smile you could find to deliver to one of your boyfriends, Katsuki Bakugo. You didn't want to worry him, him, or Eijirou. You didn't want them to think you couldn't handle your job. They were already pressuring you to quit, with the assurance that they would help pay for your bills, but the idea of taking advantage of the money they made as rising heroes felt so wrong, and medical school was so expensive.

"It's was fine."

You finished with your shoes and practically threw them on the ground before you walked over, leaned up on your tiptoes, and kissed Katsuki on the cheek. You felt too exhausted to kiss Katsuki, but you knew he wouldn't have let you go without a hello kiss. It was quick and brief, practically a graze against his cheek.

"Give me a real kiss."

You lightly groaned, turning from the entryway to your shared bedroom to look back at Katsuki who was frowning. Normally you wouldn't complain about how clingy Katsuki got when you came home from work. He was so clingy, especially after he baked, and you loved it. You loved when he was soft, a special side he showed to you and Eijirou that the world wasn't privy to. You loved it so, but today you were so tired. So sick and tired of everything, and you just wanted to be alone.

"I just got back from work, can't I just go shower? Gotta wash away any residue COVID."

"Fine, but you're gonna give me a real kiss once you're done."

You turned back around and made your way to the bedroom, thankfully your other boyfriend, Eijirou Kirishima, was not in there. You grabbed some clothes from the closet, they weren't even yours but rather one of Katsuki's shirts and a pair of Eijirou's boxers. You were too upset to notice - not that either of them would care at the prospect of you wearing their clothes.

You walked into the bathroom, closing the door shut behind you. You tossed your clothes onto the closed toilet seat before you turned the nobs of the shower on so your boyfriends would think you were bathing, guise as to why you actually came into the bathroom. After a minute of letting the shower run, a minute of waiting to see if they would come to talk or interrupt you, you slid down to your knees.

Bringing your hands up to your face you tried not to let the sobs out. You wouldn't will your self to cry, you didn't want to give them the satisfaction. You couldn't handle it. Every stressful thing you went through that day. Every rude word yelled at you. Every word screamed at you. You tried to push it down, letting nothing but a few stray tears escape, but soon more and more fell. They fell and fell until a sob escaped your throat. A knock on the door broke you out of your reverie. Quickly, you swiped your hands over your eyes to wipe away the tears shed. You tried to steady your voice and even your breaths.

"What's up?"

"Hey, what do you want for-"

"I swear to god, please do not ask me what I want for dinner."

"Sorry, I won't... Are you okay?"

Eijirou didn't wait for your answer before pulling the bathroom door open. He frowned at your form, on your knees with your hand pressing into your mouth, obvious tears streaking down your face. He sat down on the ground next to you, pulled your body on top of his lap, and wrapped his arms around your frame. Carefully, he tried to pry your hands away from your mouth.

"It's okay baby, it's okay. I'll figure dinner out. I can go to the store, I can get your favorite, or there's takeout. You want takeout?"

Your sobs grew louder as Eijirou rocked you in his arms, trying desperately to comfort you. You didn't want to worry him, you didn't want him to see you break down. He was a hero who could handle everything, and you were a med-student who couldn't handle getting yelled at by a customer. You felt another pair of hands on your body, rubbing your arms and whispering words. Your sobs must have attracted Katsuki's attention.

Great. Another person to see the stressed med-student finally crack.

"Hey, what's wrong princess? What's wrong? Did some fuckin' extra hurt you? I'll fuck them up, they won't even know what hit them."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"It's okay baby, just that it all out."

"It's the stupid holiday rush. A woman got mad at me, she called me a stupid whore and threatened to spit on me, then my manager said I handled it too poorly and lost a valuable customer. My manager singled me out and gave me shitty jobs, and made me deal with any upset customers. I have a fifty-page paper due soon, my teacher hates me and medical school is so fucking hard."

"I'll fucking blow up the department store."

"Katsuki, no."

"Katsuki, yes!"

"I'm fine, I can handle it-"

Katsuki pressed a kiss against your lips to get you to shut up. It was a long, deep one. One he would have liked to get earlier but you had deprived him of, all due to these fuckers putting you in a stressful sad state.

"You're overexerting yourself. Just drop your shitty job, simple as that."

"I need to pay for medical school. It's so expensive, student loans won't cover it all."

"Princess. You have a fifty-page paper due and you barely have time for it because of your job. What good is paying for medical school if you don't pass it?"

"Baby, Katsuki's right. We can pay for it, we might not be pros yet, but we still bring in a hefty amount combined. Well, take care of yourself."

You bit your lip, contemplating their words. Katsuki was right. What good is paying your school bills if you didn't have the grades to stay in the program? But you didn't want to take their money. You didn't want to be the girl who had to leach off of her boyfriends.

"It's really expensive..."

"I know you hate the idea of us paying for it, so we'll compromise. We pay now, and you can pay us back after you've graduated."

"I think that sounds like a fair deal. Consider it a secondary student loan."

"Okay, I'll quit... But you have to let me pay back every single dime, not a penny less."

Eijirou buried his face in your neck, leaving little grateful kisses up to your ear where he left sweet little murmurs and whispers.

"You've got this babe. For now, just destress, we can all take a shower, and we can even convince Katsuki to do his thing."

A little smile makes way to your face as you lace your fingers with Katsuki. You bring his hand up to your face and leave soft kisses on his knuckles as you and Eijirou look at him with pleading eyes.

"Will you do the thing...?"

"What thing-Oh. No. Last time I said I was done, I mean it."

"Please, Katsuki... It'll help me destress and relax."

"Yeah. Do it for her."

Katsuki gives you both a scowl, but you could see a discreet smile break though as he stood up. He put his hand out to help you up out of Eijirou's lap and lead you both to the kitchen.

"I swear to fucking god, this is the last time I'm doing this. I mean it this time."

Katsuki grabbed the hem of his shirt and lifted it over his head before proceeding to grab the knives and measuring cups.

"Now, what do you want for dinner?"

[writing-to-stay-awake]

I bet that all of this is incredibly sound advice. 👍🏻 you sound like you know what you're talking about. I sincerely applaud your ability to be a proactive paper writer and all around joy of a student.

I just wanted to throw some other practical things out there for someone who might be struggling. For reference, I also received my bachelor's degree as an English Literary Studies major with a 3.835 gpa. As a student, we seem to have been polar opposites. From a mix of being a severe procrastinator, and simply not having the time for all of this (student athlete life was actually rough), I had to learn really fast how to write something basically in one try. (I was the haggard student who had pulled the all-nighter but finished their 17 page paper in one night. I did in fact get an A.)

1. Pay attention to your syllabus. It likely notes when you're going to write papers. And often they state generally what they will be about. Take note of the books/reading that matters. With potential ideas already in mind, take note of good material to possibly use in your paper the FIRST TIME you read the book. Actually mark it. This saves time with the research phase.

2. Figure out your professor's idiosyncrasies. I had a professor who would deduct points if you didn't include certain elements in the title of your paper. This professor also wouldn't tell you that and you only discovered it after the first papers were graded. Basically. Try to make friends with someone who's had the class before and get the relevant gossip.

3. Think about your paper as a roadtrip. You are taking your audience, the reader, on that roadtrip, and your map is your thesis statement. Organize your paper to match the order of your thesis statement (and vice versa). It just makes sense and I promise this is super helpful if you're writing on the fly without an outline. Get stuck on where to go next? What's next in line in the thesis? Go there! (You technically have one. And you can always go back and adjust it if you find an awesome point to throw in when you're already down on the 7th page.)

4. Secondary sources are your friend. You are not the only one, probably, who has ever thought or written about your topic. Use your university's online resources. I think ours used EBSCO or something like that. PEER REVIEWED SOURCES. Also. You can totally one hundred percent include articles you DISAGREE WITH. It actually makes things more exciting. Which leads me to 5.

5. Don't just think about how to prove your point. Whatever that point is. Trying to meet your page minimum is that much easier if you actually include a few points where you anticipate argument. This also makes you look like you've really thought about this. You can disagree or concede (state why your concession doesn't matter in the grand scheme.). Either is fine really. Just make it relevant. Disagreement of other viewpoints using real evidence can firm up your own stance (just give textual evidence for why your point is "the right way to look at it". This is an english paper. Believe in the theory of Death of the Author, Interpret however you see fit and just show how you got there.). Secondary sources which you need to include anyway are great places to find these disagreeing points. Two birds. One stone. Wipe hands as you check off those paper requirements.

6. This is an english paper. Consider whoever is reading it would also be a person interested in the "conversation." They aren't there just to get a rehash of the book. Assume, honestly, that they've already read it, but that they may need some key "reminders" about what's going on. They're there for the point of your argument. Write like it.

7. This is the one class where writing fantastical sentences with a million commas is totally acceptable, so long as you can actually do it correctly by using all of the proper punctuation. Don't be afraid to show some vocabulary. Just make sure you do it properly.

8. Professors dig the active voice. They dig it so much they usually penalize the use of the passive voice unless there's a real good reason. (And there probably isn't.)

9. This is my last piece of advice. And one that one of my upper level professors really pounded into me. I thank her every day. In high school I got taught that the last paragraph was basically your summary. I honestly believed that. I could not have been more wrong and I could not have been writing more boring papers until I learned otherwise. Do not be afraid to put something NEW in the final paragraph. Not new evidence per se, rather give the reader a reason to have slogged along through all of that analysis. Make a point. Make them care. Take all those paragraphs that said some stuff and did some analysis and then finally weave them all together and make your reader go..."Oh. Oh, I never thought of it that way." Or "Oh. I disagree, but I can totally see that." You've made your roadtrip. What was the end destination. Where were we going the whole time?

10. I lied. I couldn't stand to end on an odd number. THIS IS REALLY THE LAST PIECE OF ADVICE! When all of your writing is supposedly done. Give the paper a full clean read through. (I recommend reading it aloud. This is a stupidly simple way to catch easy grammar errors. Your brain will fill in blanks without you realizing it if you read silently because it knows what you meant, but you'll hear the mistakes when you say them outloud.) Then check your thesis statement again. Did your paper follow the map? If yes, great. Good for you! If not, that's okay. Honest. Most of the time I ended up straying somehow. Do you like where you ended up? (I usually did a lot better than if I'd followed to the letter.) Just adjust your thesis statement to match the journey. This is something I started doing and it CHANGED MY LIFE. I no longer felt bound to the confines of my self-set parameters. As long as the argument is still sound, YOU'RE FINE. Your professor will literally never know the difference and you have the freedom to realize and explore an amazing tangent that your original thesis might not have allowed for. I mean. One time I started writing, then realized I was actually very effectively arguing the opposite point. I liked it better. It was more interesting. And my evidence was sound. I didn't throw the paper away because it didn't match my thesis. I made myself flexible and changed the thesis instead.

I don't know if these were helpful, but that's my two cents. And they seemed useful to other people I helped.

A Quick Guide on How To Write an English Paper

Hello! Once upon a time, I completed a degree in English Writing Arts and Literature. I finished my degree with a 3.7 GPA, so it’s safe to say that I know how to write an English paper. So here are my tips and tricks to outline, write, and edit an English paper.

Outline-

This is essentially the most important part of any paper. I used to make really detailed outlines that included quotes I wanted to use from both the book and the research materials as well as breaking down those quotes. Here’s what my outlines used to look like:

I would share this with friends in my class to gauge what I should tweak. Google Drive should be everyone’s study essential. If I was a beauty blogger, I would say that Google Drive was my holy grail product.

An important thing to remember here is that when you’re writing quotes in those boxes, you should be writing where you got them from so you’re not searching an entire novel for that specific quote. For me, the outline was the side dish of my paper. It’s not the main event, but it really adds to the ease of paper writing.

Writing-

A rule of thumb I always used that added inches to my papers was that whenever I used a quote, I would introduce it in 2-3 sentences and explain it in 4-5 sentences. For an English paper, it’s important to highlight how the sentence is written. Is there a metaphor? What does that add to the overall tone of the novel and your understanding? Then you can tie it back to your thesis. I also used to highlight my research and then use a quote to prove it. 

An important thing to note is that you should ALWAYS have a concluding sentence after presenting an idea. So say one idea carries you five paragraphs when you’re completely done with that idea, write “Overall,” or “In essence” and then summarize the last five paragraphs. That should only take you a maximum of two sentences.

Editing-

A good paper should not be done overnight. You want time to thoroughly edit your paper. There’s a syllabus for a reason. I would start research a week and a half in advance, but I was always thinking about what topics to expand on during class discussions. Research usually took me about a good two hours after that then I would read what I printed out, highlighted, and find more resources if I had to. All in all, research took me about a day.

I would write the paper in one sitting and then step away from it for one whole day. With fresh eyes, I would get my first round of editing done by printing out the paper and highlighting problem areas. Then I’d go back and fix them before sharing the paper with one of my friends in class. After they’re done, I would look at their comments and fix whatever issues they saw. At the beginning of my English career, I would meet up with a tutor for a private session, but that seemed to waste both of our times when I got the hang of it. 

An excellent resource is your professor. Most professors will read your paper in advance and give you feedback. It’s also a good idea to meet up with your professor in the research phase because they’ll give you research materials or at least help you zero in on your topic. There were only two professors I personally wasn’t comfortable going to for this type of thing for a few reasons, but most of the English professors were extremely accommodating. They have office hours for a reason!

Say you don’t have time to do all that editing, download Grammarly. It’s free and you can just upload your paper to it. It will just fix grammatical errors, but most professors will take out a large chunk of points for grammar alone so it’s a pretty solid option if you’re in a time crunch.

Using this method in the paper writing process always got me a high grade. I find it to be proactive and eliminates confusion and rushing. However, I just want to note that just because it worked well for me does not mean it will work that way for you. This kind of paper writing was tailored for me after doing the paper writing thing for a while. Most methods take time to curate so if this does not work for you, know that you’ll find your method in time. 

Good luck!