#Observationer

[acupofbritishearlgrey]

Rockopop (17.03.1990)

[boykingscourt]

must admit I often squint at takes that are like "this woman on spn is super poorly written and this woman on spn is super poorly written and this-" because while sometimes there is a conversation to be had... surely there can't be a much simpler reason you hate these characters... surely not

[not-poignant]

Hey, hey! Random kind-of-writer here, who struggles to bring words on paper and looking for help/advice? I think I finally found my problem, which comes in the shape of 'my third person pov writing sounds like an ikea building instruction'. AKA: All that what the pov character perceives is there, things are happening/the plot is there but the writing kind of lacks thoughts/feeling/inner monolog? For years I've followed your stories and I look up to your writings skills. Especially you handling of pov and that gorgeous mixture of what the character perceives and what is happening in their head. Do you have maybe any tips/insight how do you find a balance?

Hi anon!

So firstly I'm going to point you to my dialogue research post that I put up recently, because dialogue research applies to a characters inner dialogue as well, and will kind of give you a guide as to how they're likely to be talking in their heads. (How I write as the narrator in A Stain that Won't Dissolve is actually somewhat similar to how Alex speaks, I even go out of my way not to use certain words if I don't think Alex would know what they mean).

Otherwise there's several approaches you can take.

You can imagine that the character is basically writing a journal entry or a diary entry. The narrator is, in a way, piggy backing off that. You're a fly on the wall of a character's brain. Sometimes they're going to have lots of thoughts, sometimes they're going to have none. Sometimes my characters are literally just narrating what's happening no thoughts attached, sometimes they're narrating with thoughts attached, and sometimes they're just thinking about stuff and missing what's going on in front of them.

Diary entries are like that too. They can vary from 'today I did this, did this, walked the dog, had this for dinner, and read some of this book' to 'oh my GOD I HATE this person sO MUCH and I really can't BELIEVE this is happening to me omg the DOG needs to be walked I keep FORGETTING.'

Somewhere in there, is your character.

Some characters are more - for lack of a better word - detached or utilitarian than others, some have their voices 'come to life' over the course of a story, because they're growing (Gwyn can be a bit like this).

Some characters are very observational, some are stuck in their heads. Some ground themselves through noticing their surroundings, others notice how other people are acting and behaving (especially true with trauma, Astarion notices setting way less than he notices how people are behaving around him).

It might help you to write down some little sentences like 'this character notices people a lot because people hurt them' or 'this character looks for nature because they like nature' or 'this character is very sensitive to smells so they constantly are aware of how things smell.'

From there, I am very sorry to say, it's just a matter of practice! This stuff becomes easier the more you do it. At first, it will be normal for the characters to feel a bit mechanical and not very natural, and that's because you're still building the skills you need to bring them to life from the ground up. Most writers don't have these skills even if they know what they're supposed to be learning, and they can only be learned through trying, making some mistakes, having some successes, and keeping on with the words.

How you write the first paragraph of a character this year, will be very different to next year, if you just keep writing.

Unfortunately, you can't skip past that part either. I can give you lots of tips, and you can do lots of research and guidance for yourself, but at the end of the day the best way to make it feel natural and have some depth, is to actually just keep writing characters and reflecting on what you've written, notice the paragraphs you like as well as the ones you don't, and building and building from there.

I wish you all the words, anon! It's normal to feel dissatisfied with your writing sometimes, that means you know you have room to grow - but the best thing is, you're already growing if you're noticing this stuff!!! That's actually a positive! You'll go through periods of feeling satisfied, and then dissatisfied, if you keep on keeping on, and looking at what the writers you love are doing, you'll eventually really just pick it up until it feels quite natural to you <3

[regancastlelion]

the dragon pet spoilers are genuinely so cute that I'm making a lil baby dragon a part of my MC's lore and said baby dragon will be based on my girl cat that has developed an attitude when she isn't given a treat

[acolytesinvocations]

My dreams about dying are a lot different nowadays

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[getoheaven]

can we talk about the enshittification of café wifi… you used to be able to ask the barista for a code and it logged you straight in. now, for some reason, you have to create an account with whatever the fuck provider/chain store you’re at to use it. and it sucks. but that’s always been a problem.

[hearthouses]

i am fascinated by which of my fics get attention and which don't, especially when some get immediate attention and others it's like a slow trickle of interest.

[sunstoneboy]

The getting happy to see full-sodium/full-fat condiments or other foods that aren’t gluten-free/dairy-free/sugar-free or vegan in the cupboards of my orthorexic mother who has been fear-mongered into believing she needed all these substitutions to be any bit healthy > I start feeling guilty for eating a meal with no greens pipeline is ow

[toskarin]

I think it was ivy who said at one point that the oft-missed lesson of higurashi being good is that you should write about places you know intimately, which is why contemporary games set vaguely "in rural japan" by people unfamiliar with it don't really have that same intimacy

anyway setting that aside, purely observationally, nobody has taken this more to heart than poland

[foone]

I want a human zoology textbook.

Zoology, as in the study of animals. Like, a study of how humans work, done by an author that is not human.

I specifically want this for a couple reasons:

1. Descriptive, not prescriptive: don't tell me what the author thinks humans should do or how they should be. Tell me what they do. Observationally!

2. No bias towards "nature". I don't particularly care what the author is imagining humans are like in some "garden of eden" unfallen state. I want it to reference how humans ARE.

3. No morality applied to this! What do humans DO, not what you think they should do, or how they should be. And most importantly, no self-censorship in order to avoid offending some of the humans that disagree with ways people live.

And the reason I want this is because of how biology textbooks/wiki pages get written, where even if they try to be progressive they're still written from this weird perspective where they're explaining based on old ideas and the progressive stuff gets a footnote.

Like it'll be "humans have two genders, male and female. This is determined from their chromosomes, XY for male and xx for female."

And then you scroll past two pages for men and another two pages for women, and then it has one subsection that covers non-binary people and intersex people. And it's like: well then integrate that into your main statement!

It's like the author's worldview is still "there's two genders and everyone is born as one" but they've been forced to accept there are some weird exceptions but the core worldview is unchanged. And it's understandable! Wrong, but understandable: the grew up in a world that is quite strong on the "there are only two genders" ideology and doesn't like to remember that intersex people exist.

But like, imagine if you tried to do this as a zoologist. You're like "hey, all bees are female!" and then someone points out the rare male drones and they're like "oh okay I'll update my zoology textbook."

And now it reads:

All bees are female. Most are workers, and one is the queen.

(a couple sections go pass)

Drones: recent science has discovered that some bees are born male. These rare exceptions live short lives where they fertilize a queen and then die.

And it's like, no? Drones are very important to how a hive lives and they can't survive without them?

And we're constantly doing the same thing to humans and it's just bad science. Like, sure, maybe you could have the theory that "humans come in two genders: male and female" but as soon as you see one non-binary person, you have to discard that theory: it has been proven false! It's like not believing in other galaxies after Henrietta Swan Leavitt figured out how Cepheid Variables worked.

Add to that the "nature" thing. Like, you can make a sort of argument about nature vs artificial settings for a lot of species: the whole alpha/beta wolf thing came about because it turns out wolves act differently in captivity compared to the wild, so it makes sense to study how the vast majority of wolves live, not a small group you stuffed into a small area with unusual conditions. It's like saying the lifespan of goldfish is under 5 minutes, based on your study of them in this dry box you put them in.

But humans are different: we are tool-users who build new environments for ourselves. And while you can talk about how humans living in different environments act differently, it doesn't make a lot of sense to call one of them "artificial". All of them are made by us, and humans always do this. This means all environments are natural (because building environments for ourselves is what we naturally do) and all environments are artificial: we always alter our environments to better suit us! That's one of the things we naturally do!

And as for morality, it's about not ignoring things humans do regularly because you think it's weird or you think they shouldn't.

Like that tweet where someone pointed out that lots of species can change gender. Clown fish are a big one, some frogs, a couple birds, some lizards, and humans.

And people often have an immediate knee-jerk reaction of "that doesn't count!" for the last entity in that list. Why? Because we do it (usually) with clothes and makeup and medication, instead of just "naturally"? Bullshit. We're naturally TOOL USERS. Of course we use tools to change gender. We use tools to do EVERYTHING. That's natural for us.

So yeah. I think it'd be refreshing and enlightening to have a zoology textbook written about humans with this detached non-human perspective. An unbiased description of what humans are and do, rather than one irrevocably tinged with ideas of what humans should be and should do.

Basically I want to load up Vulcan Wikipedia and check the "Humans" article.

[3liza]

if I was like 10% less concerned with medical ethics and had 40% more free time I think I could actually create a spreadsheet that predicted users' mood episodes based entirely on Tumblr posts because even just observationally the data seems to form a pattern but it would just be too weird to ever start that project. in particular the "crisis of ego/everyone hates me" type of mood episode seems to be extremely regular and I remember them being very regular when I used to have them (but if you're actively having them it's almost impossible to track them). i wonder why this hasn't been badly turned into an app yet

anyway we do not hate you. it's also fine if you're annoying, you're allowed to have bad days.

[dilfdater420]

#dilfdater420 : INSECURITY SERIES | Smile--as requested by the Cecil Stedman loving community, this is the first post of an ongoing series of headcanons/oneshot posts about different readers struggling with different insecurities. This first addition is about a reader that doesn't like their smile.

TAGS: no beta we die like rex splode. maybe a little ooc I'm not confident. gn reader (they/them pronouns). "___" is used in place of y/n. no established relationship. you're cecil's left hand man after donald. coworkers to lovers. contains both headcanon and oneshot.

"...And that's your entire schedule for the week." You recounted, sitting across from him, clipboard in hand.

It was Monday, every week started with this same routine. At 7:30 AM, you go through the general plan for the week--"general" meaning "hardly ever staying on schedule". With heroes being less than cooperative after the guardians died, and Earth's subjugation on the mind, weeks became unkempt. You didn't even know why you still did this anymore; it was a waste of both your time.

Cecil scoffed, "I wonder how well we'll stay on schedule." He seemed to resist the urge to roll his eyes, locking his fingers together as he leaned back in his chair. "Just out of curiosity, is this schedule accounting for any possible variables?"

"Well, that depends," you began, "variables meaning the villains on this Earth? Or in space, i.e. Viltrum? Invincible? The New Guardians of the Globe?"

You piqued his interest. "There's a difference?"

"Significantly."

He raised a brow, you elaborated, "If we're just counting Invincible, we account for any possible betrayal, which creates a new schedule based around defense and negotiations. "Or there's Viltrum, where if they did engage us, depending on the scale, the schedule would be centered around defense like with the Invincible schedule, and or debating discussions about how to engage during a full-scale invasion."

Cecil was a little taken aback. "And here I thought you were fucking with me, you're serious about this." He chuckled.

Now it was your turn to be taken aback. "It's my job sir." You murmured, stuttering a little.

He had never spoken so candidly before, at least not to you directly. That language was always reserved for Donald or worse when he was pissed off in the communications room. It felt intimate, but you didn't understand what coworker achievement you took to get there.

There was a silence in the room as you thought, the air getting increasingly thick. It was almost childish how awkward this all felt.

"If I may speak frankly sir," your grip tightened around your clipboard, "why do you continue to have these Monday discussions with me?"

He was beginning to answer--"I mean-it seems so unnecessary. You know that most of the schedule will not be followed yet you still request every week that I have a schedule ready for the next."

He exhaled through his nose, you sunk into your chair, feeling a nervousness on your back. "You bring up a good point," he affirmed.

"I grew up simple," there's that personality again, "this job is complex. It's nice to start my week feeling like I'm anything close to that simplicity."

Your eyes widened, looking away from his gaze as he peered into your eyes. "I see," you spoke observationally.

"Plus, I like seeing you first thing in the morning."

What?

He sighed, noticing your blush. "Not in any way that would break a labor law, just in a "I enjoy speaking with someone that understands" in the morning."

"But you didn't say "speaking" sir, you said "seeing"." You spoke your thought out loud.

It was Cecil's turn to blush, smiling a little. "Sorry, must've misspoke."

You awkwardly smiled with him--"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Cover your mouth when you smile," he gestured your action. "You always do it without fail, in fact, I don't think I've ever seen your smile before."

"Why are you keeping tally on my smile sir?" You wanted to giggle.

His blush deepened, putting his fingers to his temples. "My question still remains, ___."

You looked down in thought. "I don't know, it's a habit?" You never really liked the way your smile looked. It looked like it didn't fit your face, but how could that be true? Every smile someone is born with fits their face, and if it didn't fit your face, your face was... wrong? You were wrong?

I mean what is this, therapy?

He hummed in response. "Not to sound misogynistic or whatever, but I think you should show your smile. I've seen it on your employee file, it's nice."

Was the room always this hot? He gave you a compliment??

"Thank you, sir, I'll keep that in mind going forward." You rapid fired, standing up. "If you do excuse me, we have gone overtime for our discussion so I will leave you to get to the other areas of objective for today!"

You left before he could say anything.

Cecil looked down at the folder containing the schedule you give him each week. He grabbed his pen, and as if on some sort of autopilot, he began writing down a new objective that was just for himself: get ___ to smile more often.

He didn't understand why, he just knew he'd like to see more.

--

You and Cecil's relationship is bordering on unprofessional while simultaneously formal. He doesn't even call you by your first name but rather defaults to your last, even sprinkling in a Mx. sometimes.

Cecil doesn't know what to make of himself, and why he's very enamored with seeing you happy. He assumed projection, that's what it is! He doesn't smile, so he enjoys seeing it in other people! Easy, problem solved! Eureka!

There's a bit of cognitive dissonance when he realizes he doesn't care if anyone else is happy or sad. Maybe Donald but he's always somewhat positive anyways.

Something about your usually clean cut, professional, work-appropriate face molding into a smile, softening your eyes, captivated him. When he speaks to you, he almost goats on a positive reaction from you just in the off chance your hand won't cover his prize.

Maybe it's the chase of the thing? He wants to know all, so that includes your smile, right? Your employee ID was only a taste, a tease, something he must see with his own eyes!

He's not proud of his affinity. It makes him feel like a kid, a bad one at that. No not safe for work relations, that was something he particularly upheld. All the years that he's fired people for fornicating while on the premises, using valuable time to help the Earth in search of personal pleasures. Now look at him, a fucking hypocrite, he hates hypocrisy.

Surely this will pass, right? Surely this isn't him developing the workplace forbidden l-word for you...

He needs to avoid you. He keeps interactions to a minimum, pushing down his wants and needs. Keeping your time together to the weekly schedule review, it's only an hour and thirty minutes of time! Surely he can't fuck up an hour and thirty minutes packed with the intricacies of a well-crafted schedule.

Well, let's just say, he eventually shortened it to an hour.

a/n: Cecil crushing on the reader through the lens of their smile?

I hope this wasn't too ooc, I don't mean to misrepresent Cecil or you. I've kind of accidentally done an all nighter whilst writing. It's 6 AM for me right now as I type this lol. All that to say, I'm not with sound, sleep filled mind at the moment.

Feel free to suggest any insecurities you'd like me to cover or if you'd like to see a hero reader version of this! This is one of the many that came into my mind.

Check my masterlist here to check out my other Cecil x Reader content.

Thank you so much <3

[seasononesam]

Sam Winchester in Supernatural Season One

It's just a...just an interesting observation in a....you know...observationally interesting way.

[uispeccoll]

From the John Martin Rare Book Room

De nivis usu medico observationes variae by Thomas Bartholin, and printed in Hafniae [Copenhagen] by Matthias Godiche for Peter Haubold [bookseller], 1661.

Happy December, friends. With winter comes snow and frigid temps, of course. As you walk around, breathing in the crisp air and having your face go numb from the wind and snow, you may think to yourself, "Hmm, I wonder if anyone ever considered using snow as anesthesia?" The answer is a stone–cold "yes."

We're highlighting the work from the prodigious 17th–century Danish physician Thomas Bartholin (1616–1680). Beyond looking like Billy Joel in his heavy metal days (yes, that was a thing), Bartholin rocked a strong scientific mind and was a prolific writer. He corresponded with many of the greatest thinkers of his day, wrote over 20 books (including one on unicorns!), and conducted many experiments.

One area he dabbled in was refrigeration anesthesia (the application of cold to deaden sensation, known today as cryoanesthesia). The application of something cold has long been known to help reduce pain. Medieval physicians, such as Ibn Sina, were the first to write about it.

In De nivis usu medico observationes variae [Various observations on the medical use of snow], Bartholin picks up where those medieval writers left off, thoroughly examining all the medical applications of snow, including as a topical anesthetic.

Chapter XXII makes the first known mention of the use of mixtures of ice and snow for freezing to produce surgical anesthesia, crediting the Italian physician Marco Aurelio Severino for the technique. To avoid killing the tissues and causing gangrene, the ice–snow mixture was to be applied in narrow parallel lines to the area designated to be cut. After a quarter of an hour, feeling would be deadened and the part could be cut without pain.

Along with about 200 pages detailing all the medical properties of snow (who knew there were so many!), there is also a treatise on snow crystals by Bartholin's younger brother, Erasmus. This is the earliest publication on crystallography and preceded Boyle's Essay about the origine & virtues of gems (1672) by eleven years.

It should be noted that we do not suggest trying Bartholin's methods out for yourself this winter.

--Curator Damien Ihrig

[lesbians4armand]

“fiction affects reality” as in fiction makes people become domestic abusers if they see abuse portrayed in media, so abuse should never be portrayed: bad take, hayes code ass logic, not how that works

“fiction affects reality” as in gothic horror tv shows are really good at making people interact with art history: observationally true, very very funny effect.