#especially because this is gonna be a REALLY fun process to document

[mokeonn]

I'm super excited because tomorrow I'll be able to start writing my comic I've been wanting to work on :D

[nyarlathotep-thecrawlingchaos]

Here, have a casual glimpse into my thought patterns and creative process:

*just scrolling about Tumblr and vibing to "Too Much Wine" by The Fratellis*

Too much wine?

Mihawk?

Mihawk drunk??

Wait wait wait WAIT what are they all like drunk?

GASP s h i n y h e a d c a n o n s

BLANK DOCUMENT HERE I FCKEN COME—

So anyway here's some headcanons about drinking too much (insert adult beverage of choice) with the OPLA boyos.

Implied that Reader is already in a relationship with each character in question.

I shall call it.......

HAMMERED

OPLA!Zoro, Sanji, Shanks, Mihawk, Buggy X AFAB!Reader

NSFW Headcanons

Kinda Kinktober I guess? Borderline shitpost, I had way too much fun with this.

♫♬♫ Too Much Wine - The Fratellis ♫♬♫

I'll take the mead from the table

Talk straight while I'm able

Until I'm nothin' less than a crime

Zoro

"Y'know, I actually have four swords, but we're gonna have to go somewhere more private if you wanna see the other one."

Rum, sake, beer, wine, whatever you're down for drinking so is he.

Zoro's got incredibly high endurance and stamina—it's going to take a while for him to show that it's affecting him at all, but once it does, he goes from zero to one hundred faster than you can say "onigiri."

Literally no in between, no tipsy or buzzed. Just sober and then stumbling over his own feet and swearing he absolutely is not drunk the whole time.

All those repressed emotions that he hides behind a mask of dry sarcasm on a day to day basis are coming out in full effect.

That means you're getting one of two Zoros—goofy Zoro or sad Zoro.

Goofy Zoro's going to have his arm around your shoulders, laughing his ass off about that time he caught that idiot Marine brat swinging his sword around bare-ass naked so he chopped off half his hair.

He's likely to get pretty flirty in this state, even downright playful, especially if you initiate it, and it's almost definitely going to end in him dragging you somewhere private to fuck your brains out, because his restraint is totally out the window at this point.

If you end up with sad Zoro, he'll be laying his head in your lap and slurringly asking whether or not you think he's ever really going to be the best swordsman in the world, probably still beating himself up over losing to Mihawk.

Just comb your fingers through his hair and do your best to reassure him that you love him and genuinely believe in him. Whether it works or not, he's going ti end up falling asleep in your lap, so be prepared to be stuck there for a while.

"But like...you really think, like, I can beat that bird-eyed bastard? I mean he fucked me up with a goddamn butterknife."

Sanji

"There we are—a beautiful drink for a beautiful woman."

Turbo Flirt Mode: activated.

Sanji is all for pairing wine with food, but if you're looking to get a little sideways, he's going to want to show off his mixology skills to impress you—and he's going to be making some dangerous concoctions, the kind that taste like there's not a drop of booze in them.

The more lit he gets, the less subtle the flirting. If you thought he was clingy sober, you are in for a surprise, because that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Head on your shoulder, puppy dog eyes, telling you how pretty you are and how much he adores you every thirty seconds, with a big silly grin like you're the most amazing thing he's ever seen.

Brushing his lips along your neck and murmuring all the things he's going to do to you once the two of you are behind closed doors later—and he means every one of them, because you're utterly irresistible to him in this state.

He wants you giggling and blushing just as much as he wants you moaning and trembling under his touch.

Super playful once you are alone, even moreso than usual. He's definitely going to suggest doing body shots, he will beg if he has to, but honestly who in their right mind is going to turn him down?

"You're just...just so—so beautiful—honestly, it should be illegal."

Shanks

"Hold—hold my rum—no, no, just for a moment, I wanna see if I can do a backflip off the railing—"

Spoiler alert: he can't. Now he's lying on the quarterdeck alternating between hysterical laughter and "Oh God that hurt—"

Probably the most fun drunk in the world, but he can be a hazard to his own health as his judgement begins to lapse so someone's going to have to keep an eye on him.

If you're at a tavern or otherwise public location, do not under any circumstances let the man out of your sight for more than two seconds. He turns into a straight-up child, he can and will wander off, and you'll find him a mile away on top of a building, likely half-naked and singing sea shanties at the top of his lungs, with no clue as to how he got up there...or how to get back down.

He's developed quite a high tolerance over the years and tends mostly toward dark rum, though he won't turn down a stein of ale or beer.

Total life of the party energy—telling jokes and stories, he just wants to see everyone laughing and having the absolute best time.

Super, super flirty, he may as well have written the book on pick-up lines; and he doesn't care that you're already together, he's going to drop every single one of them on you just to see how much he can make you giggle or roll your eyes.

He's very likely to pull you onto his lap at some point and make out with you like no one's watching—he already doesn't really care who sees when you're both sober, but he really doesn't care after a little too much rum, so it's probably best to coax him to bed at this point.

He's perfectly happy with cuddling up, laying his head on your chest and draping his arm over you, just humming in contentment and falling asleep together...but if you want more, don't expect to get much sleep, because he wants you lasciviously.

To taste every inch of you, to suffocate between your thighs until you're screaming, to pull you onto his cock and watch you ride him until you're both too breathless and exhausted to do anything but tangle yourselves together in the sheets and drift off to sleep between slow, sensual kisses.

"Oh, princess, just when I catch my breath, you make me lose it all over again."

Mihawk

"If you insist on being such a brat about this, you're going to get what's coming to you."

Mihawk has a strong drive to be in total control of himself and everything happening around him at all times, which means he doesn't tend toward getting drunk.

But...he also has this wee little problem with his ego being larger than the entire volume of every combined ocean in the world. If you imply that you could drink him under the table...he's probably going to sneer and tell you to quit being a brat, but he's also going to be quite driven to prove you wrong.

He does love his wine, but it's generally only a glass or two to wind down and relax—he's definitely got a nice bottle of aged bourbon or eau de vie tucked away somewhere that's going to be coming out, because he's got something to prove now.

Unfortunately for him, due to the fact that he so rarely drinks heavily...he's a bit of a lightweight. Which he won't admit even to himself.

But it barely takes a single lowball of harder liquor to get that pale complexion of his a little flushed.

Perhaps just over three for him to start blinking a bit harder than normal in a futile attempt to get his vision to focus, to start speaking a bit slower to attempt to hide the slight slur in his words as you taunt him about it—which honestly only makes it more pronounced, and more amusing.

You had best enjoy it, because it's probably the only time you're going to hear the words, "Fine, you win," come out of his mouth—as well as perhaps the only time he won't be miffed about conceding. The alcohol in his system has him loosened up just enough that he can't pretend he doesn't find your boldness and sass at least a bit endearing...and even more alluring.

That being said, you're still getting punished for it, teased within an inch of your sanity, and he's going to enjoy every single second of it.

Setting his glass aside, plucking yours from your hand, pinning your hands above your head with a devilish smirk and slowly undressing you, his eyes on yours the entire time.

Trailing his fingertips across your bare skin, drawing closer and closer but never quite giving you want you want, his lips barely brushing against your neck, reminding you in an amused murmur in your ear that he could easily do this all night.

You did have the audacity to challenge him, after all—he has no choice but to remind you who's in charge.

"What is it, my little bird? Did you think you were going to get a consolation prize? You're still going to have to beg."

Buggy

"Bet you two thousand Berries I can shotgun two beers at once, watch this—"

And he basically ends up halfway drowning himself, but hey, you're two thousand Berries richer!

Honestly, there's no party like a Buggy party, because a Buggy party doesn't stop until someone loses a limb—probably him.

No, really. Don't let him use his devil fruit abilities. Keep a bucket of sea water on hand if you have to, because he may literally misplace one of his limbs and you're going to have to go on a Chop Chop Scavenger Hunt to help him find it while you're both completely smashed.

If Buggy's drinking, everybody's drinking, and everybody is getting completely fucked up. This is non-negotiable, he thrives on chaos and that's what he's intent on creating.

Anybody who passes out before him is getting something obscene drawn on their face in permanent ink. He can definitely hold his liquor, so if you can keep up with him then you can expect to be the last two living souls left conscious on the whole ship.

That being said, he doesn't care who's awake—things are going to get kinky, and he's really not bothered about anybody watching. Or joining in, for that matter. This whole operation very well may devolve into a drunken orgy if he has any say in the matter.

Then again, it may also devolve into him flopping dramatically across your lap and divulging absolutely all of his trauma in an emotionally-charged alcohol-induced rant. He won't remember it in the morning, so please do him a favor and don't remind him.

"Hey, uhh...I los—I lost my foot again. .....Sor—*hiccup* sorry."

[squarebracketsmileyface]

if it's not too much trouble, can we get a lil sneaky peek of what Jesse looks like in art form? we have a 'preview' of Birdie, so i'm keen to see our darling lil guy (again, only if you want to/it's not a particularly time-consuming task) aaaa

YOU CAN INDEED (featuring a whole new art style I accidentally absorbed. I fucking created it for Soap in my COD fic so I could draw things as him, and now it's just my fucking art style kill me)

Also closeups under the thingy because I wanna talk about this art and some general lil headcanon bits more, it took me 9 and a half hours to finish this and I genuinely love it so much. I loved the entire process.

This drawing made me love Jesse as much as I love Birdie now, I think. I'm such a visual person and without a visual on Jesse I liked him conceptually but I didn't really care about him like I do Birdie. Now I love him. I adore him. He's so small and so round and look at him standing on his bubba's knees like a big boy, Brian's barely holding him up at all, really, he's definitely doing it allllllll by himself :D

SO

Brian has rainbow spoke covers on his chair, because he works with young kids, of course he's gonna make his chair fun. I also like to think that he lets them put stickers on the outsides of his mud guards too. Also the fun yellow pushrim covers and wheelchair frame

Jesse has a lazy eye :D (featuring his exceptionally circular face and silly surprised baby eyebrows)

Brian's chipped nail polish. He teaches kids sport for a living, especially climbing, of course his nail polish is going to be super chipped all the time. He's a dad too, so he doesn't have a huge amount of time to do his nails every time they start chipping. (Also the wedding band :] )

Birdie's drawing again, because it's still so fucking cute to me. With Jesse at like very little baby age in this drawing, Birdie would be somewhere around 13 I think? So just getting into "Daaaaaaad you're embarrassing meeeeeee!" era with that doodle

The family photos on the wall, including Lark! :D

Also, finally, the wrinkles on Brian's face :D he's a guy in his fourties who spent at LEAST like five years solid living through hell in the woods (I like to think it was longer than that, like, when Alex 'killed him' was when he started living as hoodie in the woods, so honestly probably a good bit longer than just the five years of documented MH that we got), and then once that was over, he had to learn to live with the stress of a spinal cord injury while also dealing with the survivors guilt of losing the only people he knew still on the same day as he lost the use of his legs.

Also a broken nose that never got put right before it healed, because with him fighting Alex all those times, there's no way he didn't come out without at least one broken nose.

And, of course, his silly cowboy mustache (he gives Jesse horsey rides on his wheelchair and Jesse wears a cowboy hat which is FAR too big for him. It's the cutest thing Tim and Lark have ever seen)

[rainy-day-revelry]

TIM Talks

I just recently got into this fandom so please bear with me if I either retread old ground or get some small stuff wrong.

It is well known that ‘98 Young Justice are chaotic as fuck, and good, I like them that way, but I also feel like they come to recognize that they need to let out some of the chaotic energy in a more healthy outlet than crime fighting because otherwise they end up causing mass property damage which is not good for publicity. So, solution, TIM Talks.

Tim has a propensity to get into his own head when he gets bored, which can sometimes lead to him spiraling, so he realizes early on into YJ’s existence that he needs something to focus on when he gets like that lest he start Dewey decimalizing his contingencies. He enjoys the process of researching, no matter the topic, but he often hyperfixates and goes down a bunch of rabbit holes if he isn’t forced to stop, so he implements a self-imposed deadline. He has 24 hours to research any topic and at the end he’ll organize all his findings and move on to something new. Turns out slideshows are really helpful for organizing his thoughts and keeping them all in one folder helps him remember what topics he’s already done, so that how he usually finishes off these little research binges. He doesn’t go in intending to share them, they’re just a fun little side project to stave off boredom when he’s got no case work or WE files to finish.

However, on one of these research days, he ends up looking into some Kryptonian legends and has a tough time reading one of the more worn documents he’s found so he calls Kon in to help decipher it. Kon sticks around for a little bit after, he’s bored too, and realizes Tim is making a slideshow out of this information. He asks why and Tim tells him it’s a good distraction. Kon asks to see the presentation when he’s finished and Tim agrees. Turns out all the practice from being the CEO at WE has made him really good at presentations, and Kon has a lot of fun listening to it, asking if he can see some of the other presentations. Tim agrees, talking through his thought process helps the information stick better and who knows? Any of this could be useful later, especially for someone as chronically over prepared as a Bat.

By the time they get to the 5th presentation, Bart and Cassie come looking for Kon as they’d been hanging out before and he never came back from his visit to Tim‘s room. They crack open the door but Tim is in full presenter mode so Kon just puts a finger up to his lips and pats the ground next to him. By the end, Tim finally noticed the two extra presences in the room and Bart and Cassie are fully engrossed.

This becomes a regular thing for them, every time Tim makes a presentation he ends the research period by presenting it to his team. When he starts struggling to find topics Cassie suggests that the three of them each put a bunch of suggestions in a hat for Tim to randomly pick so he doesn’t go down a spiral just trying to pick a subject. By the time new members join this is an established team bonding activity. They have a specific day every other month dedicated to it, they buy snacks and bring out their pillows and blankets like it’s movie night. They all enjoy watching their usually composed friend start ranting in the middle of presenting because one of the leading researchers on the topic is CLEARLY biased, if they looked at Study D it would be instantly apparent that-

It’s Cissie who coins the name TIM Talks after Tim finally reveals his name to everyone. She breaks down laughing for a solid ten minutes after his reveal before being able to squeeze out that his Talks are way better than whoever the fuck Ted is. They mark the day down with the new name on the calendar that very evening.

In the early days of TIM Talks, interruptions were very rarely permitted. Tim has a thought process going into these things and he doesn’t appreciate being thrown off course when he’s gonna get there eventually anyway. As the team gets to know each other, this becomes less of an issue. The other members of the Core 4 are able to feel out where the process is headed and resolve to only interrupt when something important is missed or when they know they’ll be able to get Tim on a good tangent. These presentations are dual purpose, they give Tim a research and a a venting outlet. Whenever new members join, it’s heavily emphasized to not interrupt and if you have any questions to simply field them through the rest of the Core 4 to see if they think it will be well received. You have to earn your place on the board of interrupters.

All in all, it’s a good way for the whole team to destress, bond, and have a bit of fun. I like to think the schedule is has this and self care night alternating each month. I love Young Justice, especially the Core 4 and I just need them to have a chance to be kids and chill ax more often, you feel?

[isat-script-project]

How did you get started creating the script project? I think it would be fun to try to do something similar for deltarune, but I'm not sure how feasible it would actually be

the age old tale is "i was writing isat fanfiction and really wanted to get some dialogue exactly right, so i combed through 100% playthroughts on youtube to find the right spot and jotted down what i needed in a document except it got so fucking annoying i contemplated just making a website for it and then i got my grubby mits on both rpgmaker mv and the isat data files and it was all joever"

if it's the actual PROCESS. well. it was a bit of a mess. the first thing i did was make the website itself, hammering out a general layout using the sadgrl layout builder over a whole weekend and an increasingly yelling filled call with my sibling who actually knows how websites work.

you can take a look at this post where i answered what to look out for more in-depth.

i've only played ch1&2 but honestly? deltarune seems feasible. i've seen people datamine sprites from it, at least, it seems like the engine is pretty well documented.

so yah i first figured out i COULD do it, then i made the website + website layout for it (if you know how, you should also hammer out your individual page layout at this point and not wait for other people to show up and do it for you).

then i just took a crack at making a page except my process was fucking horrid, i didn't actually have all the data files nor a proper way to read them (didn't have rpgmaker mv back then, i just looked at the .json files and tried my best, which is why some weird half completed pages were floating around in the site's early days, like the tutorial one from back when). I got tired of this pretty quick and very legally aquired rpgmaker (i actually own it on steam now and i never talked about piracy in isatcord and you can prove nothing and because this ISN'T isatcord i can make blatant euphemisms.)

and at that point i just went at it making whatever scrappy pages interested me. it was a sorta trial-by-fire thing where i got more familiar with rpgmaker and isat in specific as i went along, instead of putting in the effort to figure out how shit works first, because i am just a very learn by doing kinda guy. and that's how it all went along till the legendary hero Gold showed up and taught me github and made everything better and prettier (before this i was pushing every minor change directly to neocities which was especially funny when i was tinkering w the layout so the site just updated twenty bajillion times that one weekend)

for deltarune you'd probably also be pretty chill splitting things by area, and maybe subdividing area stuff into normal/weird route as is the room pages with normal/act5 or something. the battle stuff looks interesting to do with all the act options.

so yeah refer to the linked post for general tips but again for deltarune you do probably have a good shot? just the general stuff, decide how you wanna host it early, make a test page to check out what a page should look like and how to format it, and everything else (like How The Hell Do I Portray Conditionals: the story of how the <details> tag saved us all), but the real obscure stuff is only gonna sneak up on ya when you're already many many pages deep and trying to figure out where one specific variable is increased because the rpgmaker search function SUCKS SO BAD. s192 my fucking nemesis.

best of luck 👍

i'll prolly stop answering questions about this stuff at some point unless someone is asking for smth specific (like how to connect ur github repo to ur neocities or smth) bcuz i feel like i've said all that can be said at this point on the topic. go forth wiki warriors

[hollowed-theory-hall]

I am not the biggest fan of HP but wow, your essays and researches are so very cool.

Especially the Horcrux one - to literally produce a viable process step-by-step

(Anon is referencing this post, for those curious)

Thank you so much! 💕

It means a lot to me that you can enjoy my writing without liking HP. I do like HP, but more than just the books, it's a vehicle for me to have fun analyzing and researching various things. I really like doing research, like, it's actually a hobby of mine to pick a subject and then research it to death. I usually even write myself summaries of what I learned and everything (I have a collection of these, and it's really funny to people who know me IRL). It's an actual hobby I take seriously.

It's part of what got me into writing. I love storytelling, worldbuilding, and the research involved in it. Like, I wrote a whole book set in the Victorian era because Victorian history and fashion were among the subjects I picked to research extensively out of curiosity. And since I enjoyed reading about them, I read more. When I started writing, I had a lot of the information I needed for the setting already there in documents I wrote to myself, summarizing various aspects of the era with links to their sources.

My reading about Alchemy, which resulted in the aforementioned Horcrux post, was born because I was mildly curious, so I started reading, and when I found what I read interesting, I found books to read more.

It's how I like to approach most subjects. I mean, we live in the age of information, and I made it my mission to use it. If I find anything mildly curious, I'm gonna search for it to see what it's about and get a basic understanding. If my curiosity is sated, great; if not, I keep reading. That's really the secret to a lot of it — active curiosity.

Sure, I sometimes get things wrong, sometimes it's a struggle to find the information you want with how vast the internet is and how much misinformation is out there, and the type of thinking used for analysis is something you need to train over time, so just knowledge isn't everything, but it helps. The fact that I know so much random trivia from history, science, and Alchemy is what allows me to create the connections needed for some of my HP theories. My goal for years has been to be openly and actively curious and get excited over learning something new.

The first time I remember I was shocked that other people irl don't do that was when I was talking to a classmate back in high school, and we saw a star flickering around the horizon line. She called it out as weird, and I was like: "yeah, that is weird, let me check what it is" and I pulled out my phone to do just that, and she was surprised by the fact I did. It's insane to me that she didn't even consider doing a quick search to see what the phenomenon was.

(The answer, btw, was that the star in question was Sirius (my beloved), which is the brightest star and at certain hours when it's near the horizon (depending on location, in the northern hemsphier Sirius is usually low in the sky), the atmosphere at that angle interferes with its light, making it appear like it's flashing in multiple colors or in and out of existence. Other stars flicker like this too, when low in the sky, Sirius is just the brightest, and therefore its flickering is more visible)

(As you can maybe tell, I'm a little insufferable to walk with at night if there is any star visibility because I actually know and recognize some stars and constellations, and I will stop to point them out. My favorite app on my phone is Google Sky Map, which I open if I don't recognize something in the night sky or if I want to check if I was right)

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  @alwaysurvalentine! alwaysurvalentine has 11 fics in the Stranger Things fandom on AO3 and all of them are in the Steddie tag!

@dame-zoom-a-lot recommends the following works by @alwaysurvalentine:

bad days were meant to be shared

three strikes and you're out!

aquariums and sweethearts

"If I had to put an image to their fics… I'd say a warm blanket and a piece of cake.

Their slices of life fics get cooked with so much care and thought. A lot of them are my go-to when I'm feeling kind of off or lonely. They approach conflict with so much empathy and realism. No one's just shitty out of the blue with zero reason, and characters talk things out in a way that feels like how real people would talk. There's rarely clear villains or clean-cut forever happy-ending type resolutions in real life, and their fics shine at showing the beauty of that." -- @dame-zoom-a-lot

Below the cut, @alwaysurvalentine answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

Honestly, I just really vibe with both of them as characters. It’s easy to draw some of my own parallels with how Eddie sees the world and Steve’s fall from grace within my personal life - so it’s nice to play around with characters who I can understand. Plus I love taking the “protectors” from the narrative and forcing them to allow others to care for them.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I’m a sucker for any type of soulmate au, the ones with soulmarks are my guilty pleasures. Just something about knowing there’s someone out there destined to care about you makes me feel all warm and fuzzy

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Anything slice of life or found family - I just love getting to give characters all the love and care they deserve. Especially when canon has put them through the ringer!!

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

With no cross to bear (these words just come out) by hitlikehammers https://archiveofourown.org/works/45052120/chapters/113340064 I come back to this fic again and again. Love their Eddie POV and all of the reactions from the party feel authentic and I just love a fic that really shows how much everyone cares about Steve (even if he doesn’t see it).

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I’ve had a big idea about a possession type fic starring Eddie. It’s gonna be a big project though so it may be workshopped and shelved for another time while I work on some other stuff!

What is your writing process like?

Music is my biggest inspiration and I listen to Spotify all of the time (my spotify wrapped is about to be WILD), but usually I’ll get a spark of an idea from a song, scribble down a quick interaction I can see, and then once I get home it’s getting it all out on a doc. It usually takes me a few days to a week for me to get a fic where I want it, especially when the characters take things into their own hands for the narrative (I’m looking at Eddie and Robin here)

Do you have any writing quirks?

I actually write everything in red text until I decide I like the section. I have so many documents that have different colored text based on how I feel about it. Black means it’s ready to be proofread/don’t change, purple or blue for things I want to rewrite, and then red for what I’ve gotten down but isn’t edited/reviewed yet. Besides that I also go in thinking I’m going to keep it short and sweet and then I blink and we’re 2k in - but it’s been fun nonetheless!

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

If I’m doing a prompt challenge usually it’s as soon as I’m done (totally not because I finish the day of…totally not that) but other than that I have a personal schedule to have certain things done by, otherwise I’ll nitpick forever.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Three Strikes and You’re Out! It was super fun to play around with connecting baseball terms to DnD in a way that still made sense and wasn’t just a block of info text.

How did you get the idea for aquariums and sweethearts?

It was actually a little followup I did for another fic, where Eddie visited the aquarium with Uncle Wayne but wasn’t able to get the souvenir he wanted. And I wanted Steve to kinda complete that circle, plus I wanted them to have a moment where they could kinda be kids again.

When writing aquariums and sweethearts, what was something you didn’t expect?

I honestly didn’t expect it to be so long, I was just going to write a tiny follow up but got carried away with my own aquarium memories and research so I just kept wanting to add more and more

What inspired three strikes and you're out!?

I feel like I’ve seen a lot of fics where Steve meets Eddie halfway with his interests and I wanted to see the opposite. Like it’s one thing for Eddie to concede that being a jock isn’t so bad, but it’s another for him to go out and learn about a sport/something that doesn’t interest him at all, ya know?

What was your favorite part to write from three strikes and you're out!?

Oooh! Such a hard question, for me it’s a tie between the conversation Eddie has with Lucas and his conversation with Uncle Wayne. I just liked putting Eddie in a situation where he was the one learning, instead of being the one in charge/control.

How do/did you feel writing bad days were meant to be shared?

It was a little hard starting out, I knew a couple things I wanted to happen but besides that I really went in kinda blind. Once I got into the groove though, it felt like it just wrote itself. Steve knew what he was feeling and just guided me along.

What was the most difficult part of writing bad days were meant to be shared?

So fun fact, I actually wrote the first draft completely from Eddie's point of view. I was trying to find his voice (still feel like I’m working on this but progress is progress) but it just wasn’t flowing right and Dame-Zoom-A-Lot actually helped beta for me. They’re the one who suggested the point of view switch and it worked so well!!

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

A favorite scene I’ve written has to be in aquariums and sweethearts when Eddie and the Mime gang up on Steve to poke fun at him, it just felt like something Eddie would play along with and enjoy.  These couple of lines from Three Strikes and You’re Out! Make me really happy, like sent my friends a dorky screenshot because I liked them so much: “Eddie’s world narrows to the smell of Steve’s cologne, something that smells like rain on freshly cut grass and a hint of vanilla. Just as soon as Steve leaned in, he leans away, the sun painting orange and pink highlights in his hair when he tilts his head grinning.”

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’m working on a Steve Harrington ‘character study’ from Hopper’s point of view currently and might be starting on an Anastasia AU starring Chrissy as Anya and Robin as Dimitri - super stoked for both of these!

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Endless thanks to my nominator!! I just started posting for Steddie this August and it’s been unreal. So thankful for all of my new friends and can’t wait to share some more of my little ideas and chat with other people about their art and stories! <3

Thank you to our author, @alwaysurvalentine, and our nominator, @dame-zoom-a-lot ! See more of alwaysurvalentine's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[greenerteacups]

Hi! Just wanted to say the latest chapter is lovely & amazing & sweet & had me smiling the whole time! I absolutely love your characterisation of everyone, especially Draco, so it was so so lovely to return to this world & to his thoughts!! with his best friend and crush at malfoy manor no less! All the yearning is already off to a great start hehe I am so excited for the rest of book 5!

Wanted to ask you how has it been for you to write this new book and volume? Has your writing process changed since when you’d first begun taking on a long form project like this?

& also are there any moments or surprises in this book that you’re especially excited about?

sending so much love & gratitude for you and your incredible works 💓

Thank you so much! This is really encouraging, I so appreciate it.

Inasmuch as I can use this metaphor without having kids myself, I sort of see each of the books as a different child. The first one flew out in basically a few weeks of very intensive writing, and it was a total dream — plot, pacing, symbolism, major beats, all fell into place basically without effort. The character stuff was the hardest, as I've written about before, but even then, the glorious part of writing beginnings is it's the most energy you'll ever have for a project, so the lows were pretty soft lows. Book 2, in contrast, I had to drag kicking and screaming by its ankle from under the bottommost mattress of my brain. It's one of my least favorite books (tone problem; COS has killer plot/setting/ingredients for a YA novel, but it's stuck in the doldrums of Harry Potter's well-documented Early-Installment Weirdness, before Cedric Diggory slams the gas and upshifts the whole series into its correct age bracket). More specifically, once I'd gone through and picked out everything in the book that happened because of Lucius, I didn't have a plot — hey alexa how do you rewrite Chamber of Secrets when We Got No Fucking Chamber Of Secrets — and oh by the way, even if you want to do a moody tone/political setup book, remember that your protagonists are still twelve, so if you go too dark or too intense, you'll risk torpedoing your readers' suspension of disbelief. Good luck, Charlie.

Book 3 felt the most like its own novel, if that makes sense? It's the last truly feel-good book of the series; it's a great stand-alone mystery novel with relatively low stakes. Plus you get a bunch of the big series icons: patronuses, dementors, werewolves, Hogsmeade, the Marauders' Map, and time turners arithmancy. It just felt like a good old-fashioned motherfucking romp of a mystery/adventure story, before any of the complex character work and major stakes of the late books come in.

Book 4 was the most fun I've had writing anything maybe ever. I don't even know what it was. Maybe the tournament arc, honestly? Love me a tournament arc. But in any case, I opened every new chapter feeling a tingle of excitement for what I was gonna get to do. Oh, and the romance started, finally, Jesus God (if it feels like a slow burn reading, just imagine what it felt like writing it, when everything takes ten times as long, and you have to figure out how to word the fucker.)

Book 5, in contrast, has felt much less like that tingle of "here we go!" and more like "oh, man, this is gonna be cool." Because this is the arc of the story that composed the original idea for Lionheart, literally years ago, and to be honest, I didn't think I'd get this far! If you'd asked me "do you know that it's going to take you 500,000 words of backstory before you can start writing that concept you're thinking about, and you're going to do it anyway?" I would have said: "absolutely not, strange mind-reader!" But like... I'm here! Finally! And it's... real now? Like, this isn't just a bunch of clips of scenes in my head anymore! That's rad!

That being said, it's definitely been slower than Book 4, because I kept switching back to my outline document to make sure that certain things were set up properly, and that I hadn't lost any of the plot threads or forgotten a minor beat that was vitally important for the story three chapters later. And I had a minor crisis about three months ago when I ripped out about 8 chapters in the first third of the book — basically everything from September to December — because I'd done a readthrough to check pacing (big mistake! never edit while drafting, that's satan talking) and realized I had a missing storyline. Like, there was a whole layer of the story that was just. Missing. Not there. And the existing text really couldn't fit another thread, so instead of taking weeks to pore through and try to sift out what I could save, I needed to factory reset and start over. And I didn't want to! I vividly remember sitting there with my head in my hands, trying not to weep, because I'd decimated 90,000 words of work in a single edit. But it had to be done. Because the story wasn't going to work. And now (hopefully) it will.

And of course, there's still that sense of excitement and exhilaration from before. Always. But whereas Book 4 felt like a delicious chocolate pudding, Book 5 is a medium-rare steak.

(Book 6, so far, is four shots of espresso and a whiskey chaser. FWIW.)

[lancerfay]

Happy New Year! I want to be more like, documentative of stuff I'm doing this year because it really helped me confidence wise to see how much I'd done once I sorted my drawings by year. So in lieu of just posting sketches, I think project progress posts might happen at least for a while if they're fun. Especially if folks find it interesting or helpful to see someone else do stuff at a different pace than "and now here's a finished thing". So with that in mind! OC and Vtuber mo(th)del stuff after the fold (long post):

Character Designing

You might remember my previous sketch for redoing her hairstyle (her OC name is Fay btw because mildly self inserting). In addition to the hair, I went and redesigned her outfit and figured out a color palette.

So Fay here had a few previous design iterations, a lot of the monstergirl bits are hugely influenced by Juniper Actias, one of my favorite streamers not only because she's a monstergirl enjoyer but also because she streams so much of her drawing and animation (rigging) work for her models its hugely inspiring (link for her twitch, other links are in her channel bio). I've obviously made sure to distinguish Fay here from Juniper but the influence is at least IMO undeniable nor am I particularly concerned with it being so noticeable, I'm just gonna give credit where it's due.

Face wise I was inspired by this (horny) art of like a bile titan (Helldivers 2) gijinka where the mouth split open on these seams, and that was such a cool way to have mandibles and a fucked up mouth opening (here https://vxtwitter.com/Museumofendings/status/1769777921747456421) cropping the image to show the example here because the original is kinda NSFWcore

On to the outfit, I had an old outfit design, a few actually, and those are here:

As you can see, the color palette's kept a few things and lost a few others. The teal color (my favorite color) has stayed even though I never made a conscious decision for that, it just felt right. That orange was originally picked for matching to the type of moth she's inspired by (Death's Head Hawkmoth) (also yes I know moths don't have mandibles but I'm a monsterfucker sooo...). We went from primarily sashes (its a lore thing) to being an old labcoat design mixed with some of the sashes. Conceptually she's a necromancer and the magic in my worldbuilding is very scientific in vibe, so the combo of doctor and whatnot is fun. You can also see that her claws now take the shape of scalpel blades which is very intentional (inspired by GirlDM's villainess model, Twitch Link more links in her channel bio too). Semi related the claws themselves are lorewise bone that she's grows into those shapes. Very The Locked Tomb core necromancy where its not so much skeletons as much as it is just manipulation of organic matter which is much more expansive and fun. Maybe someday I'll do a loredump about my fantasy setting I write in, but for now you just get that.

Vtuber Model Time

So I make Vtuber Models. Not a secret. I love the process, I love how creative the people that design vtubers can be. Great examples I follow not already mentioned above that I'm pretty sure make their own models are BooBeeQueen, Syraxis, LobotomyBunny, and if pngtubers are more your vibe you gotta see Oceonax who has so many bespoke animations its insane. Additionally if you watch PorcelainMaid AKA Jowol, he's done so many super sick character designs for folks to adopt as vtubers. So anyways, I love vtubers as a creative outlet and for animation its really really fun to see my own art moving just because I'm making faces at an iphone, like below! with my current/most recent model:

This little dark academia cowgirl was fun to make, she's got lots of hand toggles I was messing with, and what I learned when making her was a huge step up from my first model attempt you might remember, the android girl (link to old tumblr post here).

When it came to the moth here I have, a lot of ideas, but to keep it so it actually happens, I'm going with very basic for now. In total our project is going to have: - Face and body movements, facial and mouth tracking, and one or two hand postures to toggle, just like the cow lady up there. - A non-standing pose, as I've only done front-facing models so far and I really like how both Juniper's sitting model looks as well as Matara Kan's sitting pose.

For the tracking we know how to do that but will cover it once we get there for folks that are interested, right now we're making art assets, which folds into the pose! Here's the pose we're going with:

This half-kneeling I think is dynamic, in character, and is (I think) unique and interesting while being able to show off the whole outfit! Not super well pictured are here secondary arms, but we'll get there once we start rendering the parts, since lineart for these things looks...

... A little bit insane. If we're honest with ourselves.

The reason for this is because the model requires each piece that's going to move to be an individual layer and self-contained part. As you can see, the legs for instance are made up of chunks.

Vtuber models are functionally paper dolls, and you use temporary transform tool style warping to animate and move. For that to work the parts of the art needs to be "cut" up into these pieces. Not here that the foot and calf are one piece, I might change my mind and make each foot its own piece just for more options! For now though we're doing it this way.

The face and torso are directly front facing, this is because it's far easier to make a straight on face turned sideways look good than it is to take assets from a 3/4ths angle look anything normal facing forward, and we have to keep in mind the range of motion for those parts.

For the chest you can see here all the lineart for each of the nine (9) parts!

We do this here because we want each piece to have different physics. The way that her breasts move will be different than the cloth physics for the scarf, which is itself different from the cloth for the hanging fabric, and is itself different from the chest strap there, which isn't going to have physics but does need to move independently of the chest for working with facing angles.

We've only just started the head, but you can see here that the hair is already at least seven pieces, and the mouth interior is going to be more than ten.

As seen there where teeth and alternative texturing on the mandibles creates already eight of them, and we haven't even made the cavity parts like the throat or the (I'm not sorry) anatomically accurate proboscis tongue.

So that's where we're at as of 01-01-25! Welcome to 2025 by the by (how hellish). At this current pace, this might be done by the end of january.

I hope if you read this far that you thought this was interesting! Thanks by the way! I'm happy to answer questions if folks are interested in making vtuber models or why I picked different character design things, yapping about creating is always fun! Lastly you can have a bonus little drawing of F4 (the android girlie) I did a weekish ago~

[tw1stedthicket]

You know, what? I feel super fucking salty. About kinda everything related to my former time in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But in this moment in particular, salty that there isn't quite a developed way in their system to address people who wish not be contacted unless those people pursue the legal process of having their names removed off the legal church records and petitioning the help of them to "undo a contract of religious affliation". I've told people a few times before that I do not wish to be contacted, but I still am, and I know the reason is because there's not really a way for them to have a continuity of records that demonstrate lack of membership. Right? Like that makes no sense. If you don't wanna be part of it, then your name oughta be removed. But they have to keep it on there. I wish there was a way to like, "inactivate" it in some way. Maybe add a note with some days of correspondence where I stated I wished not to be contacted. Maybe that's the part of me that works administrative stuff in healthcare talking? Or the part of me preparing to document every note as a counselor? But I have enough sympathy for these people who contact me that like, they don't know any better. Especially because most of the people contacting me are new to the area. Also, me personally, I feel like my deconstruction would have been impossible had I not had people around me who showed me the clear dichotomy over time of people who were grounded in reality, accepting of the broader world, and legitimately intended to do so for the sake of unconditional love and friendship, and how irreverent it was but in the best, most authentic and fun way, and that was holy all on its own.

So I just kinda feel like, what the fuck is the point of targeting my hurt or anger at people still members. It's just gonna come across to them as mean-spirited and bitter. Nobody deserves harrassment either I might add, which sucks ass already because missionaries do get that from people; and although I believe in my heart that they're doing fucked up shit by audaciously trying to convince people to move from their own convictions to believe a con by a dude from the Second Great Awakening of American history that ended up spawning a church that functions mostly like a corporation (rich ppl at the top getting paid and making investments and people at the bottom earnestly trying their best to achieve worthiness) - I do also believe in my heart these people think they're motivated by love, that would have them leave their family if asked and tell other people that they can be with their families "forever" because of the restoration of the ability for us to "seal" families together in our church and by our authority from on heaven, and they would only be hurt because they are too mired in mind control right now. I've been waffling on about my desire to remove my records from church membership whilst still living at home and what PR shit that might cause for my TBM father and brother, but. I can't honestly say that being contacted every once in a while is like, all that offensive. It's a different story for others who have people try to "bear their testimony" at them or show up at their house unannounced. But I did kinda think of something.

I've tried to imagine what I might say to people a million times over, but. I think if the opportunity comes. I'm gonna flip the script. I won't shun them away like others. I won't invite them to try to argue the ins and outs of books of scripture, or answer for things they have been trained to just default to "I know it's true blah, blah, blah." I'm just gonna meet them on their level. Earnestly tell them I feel compelled by the Spirit to say that God loves all his children. I won't get into the weeds of belief or disbelief, because who the fuck knows and who the fuck cares anyway - live and let live, to me. But I'll say, God loves all his children. He loves you, missionaries. He loves me too. He made us all in His image. And I'll come out to them right there. "I'm a lesbian. And I know God loves all of his lesbian children." "I know God loves me enough that He wants to see me again with my wife, and my kids, and my family, in heaven with him throughout the eternities."

Let them sit with that. Sit with the notion that no, actually, God doesn't love you enough to save you, and you seeing him again isn't actually part of his plan. His plan is for you to prove yourself through perfection to be worthy to even stand in his presence. Let them try to find a way to worm around the fact that my future wife and kids *aren't* a family. Let them try to say that this vision of love and how clearly I feel it isn't actually love, that God actually hates sin, oh - but we don't hate gay people! Let them try to wrestle in their mind why their God has damned some people He made that there's no way they couldn't just...change the temple ceremony, right? There's no way they won't ever allow gay people who earnestly want to fall in love with people a way into the church and into heaven, right? That anybody gay they know who has a heart and wants to love, technically loves *different* than them, and it's a love that God can't stand to be in the presence of...but what if they can? What about how they can stand in my presence and feel that I am human? Will they reject that? That will be a question for their spirit and conscience.

I have a lot of quandries about why I left. But it will never happen until it touches your heart, your sense of humanity, your love for others, your integrity, your conscience, your deeply held idea of "choose the right" -- even "choose the harder right". I believe they feel it. I once did. Not my job to do anything for them. But I'll meet them where we are and let them chew on that, if ever given the chance, I think. Until one day I remove my records. And then one day, if they get married in the temple, and they decide to have kids, and their kid grows up, and one day their kid comes out to them, hey. They might think of me. Think of my love for my family and my future family. And I hope they'll realize it's the same.

[merlyn-bane]

I wanna know about Werewolf AU (take 2) in part bc why is it called take 2?

Hiiiii @ferretrade thanks for playing 😁😁

Lol so tbh the reason it's called "take 2" is probably not quite as interesting as it sounds 😂😂 sometimes if I'm not really vibing with what I have written for a fic I'll do what is essentially a 'soft' restart--I'll open a up a new document and start over without entirely deleting the old one. In the case of the werewolf AU in particular, I changed the way I wanted to format the first chapter and I am still using what I'd written up initially, just--kind of cut up into pieces throughout the new doc as flashbacks, if that makes sense. So it's still the same werewolf girlies, you just get a little peak behind the curtains at my process here lol.

And awww I'm glad you love home <3 It is very special to me, especially the families and interpersonal relationships in it, as well as that particular version of Obi. I'm still kind of in between chapters at the moment but you can definitely have a fun fact!! Obi-Wan's house being across the street from Cody's firestation is absolutely going to come up again 😌😌 look forward to the in-fic summer months is all I'm gonna say 😌😌

Also just a head's up guys, I'm taking as many questions on each WIP as y'all wanna send me, so don't feel like you can't ask about one just because someone else did <3 The WIP game post can be found here.

[libra-cant-just-dance]

That last chapter of Mirrored Walls. Dear god. We’re in the home stretch, and you’ve done such an amazing job of building the tension and progressing the plot with each chapter!

I really liked how you did this chapter through Brezziana’s eyes, which lets a lot of the action remain more objective while also not letting Brezziana herself get lost in the shuffle. I found it interesting that she’s able to note things like Mihaly being horrified about Night Swan as a human, but she’s not able to piece together their behavior with Jack- it seems like she may be close to the revelation later? It’s also interesting in light of Night Swan seeming to not recognize Mihaly- was she so caught up in the moment of a power trip that she didn’t process that, or does she not even know they’re alive?

Out of all the character connections you’ve created or developed- whether it’s Cygnus’s tie to Jack and Leda, Mihaly’s lineage, the Traveler and his involvement with historical mistakes, or something/someone else; which has been your favorite to write and flesh out? I really love how you’ve given the characters so much more depth! It always makes the chapters so interesting to read, and outstanding update as always!

Aaaa thank you so much!!!!! 😭

And also thank you for giving me an excuse to ramble skdjsj

Maybe Night Swan should be able to recognize Mihaly and that’s actually kind of a plot hole? But the way I’ve thought about it, Night Swan only ever cared about Mihaly as a potential heir and pretty much stopped thinking about them as soon as she gave them away. Also, the last time NS saw them was when they were a really little kid. Since then they’ve grown up, dyed their hair, gotten a whole new name and pronoun, etc. Idk if “mother’s intuition” should apply here, but NS doesn’t have that cuz she sucks. She’s only a mother on paper #ThrowNightSwanDownAWell2025

Mihaly’s backstory has been really fun to write, especially since I kept forgetting what my plans were there every time I stepped away from the document for too long. I thiiiink I was the most excited about Nithe Long’s whole thing? I feel like what I did with her is way different from what the canon lore implies, but as soon as we got her name I refused to believe it wasn’t some kind of pseudonym for Night Swan. I mean, Nithe Long, Night Swan, come on. So I had to make a connection there, but I don’t really remember where my ideas for the rest came from. God I’ve been writing this fic for too long.

Also a bonus fun fact about that because I wanted to allude to it but then uh,,,, plans changed. I had this idea of Mihaly, Nithe, and Cygnus being sort of a little informal found family unit later on after the story and I still think it would be really cute. All three of them have the beef of getting basically used by Night Swan and made into who they are by her and then having her just cast them aside when they weren’t useful to her anymore. Night Swan hate club! (I will forever hate on night swan the way most of you people hate on the traveler) Nithe is already Mihaly’s robo-mom and Cygnus was sort of their caregiver in the past and wishes he had a second chance to help them because he regrets letting Night Swan give them away. Also,,, Nithe x Cygnus? Wasn’t originally the plan but,,, yeah I could totally see Cygnus falling in love with a robot he created. Might be weird but hey no one’s gonna stop him. We live in the future, you can marry your iPhone, it’s fine. (Also I’ve hinted that Nithe’s capacity for emotions might be a lot more than everyone thinks it is but we don’t have time to explore that cuz she’s a side character)

[thousand-winters]

Hello pal!! I hope you're doing well after that rough morning 💖

For the writing fic ask, 1, 4, 25, 26, and 27!

Hello!!! 💖 Thank you!!! I'm awake at unholy hours of the morning when I really shouldn't be, but much better in that regard ahaha

The last sentence you wrote

I'm so glad I started lazily working on one of my wips because it would have been mortifying to put in a sentence from like 3 months ago or something ahahaha:

“How rude, I was just trying to look out for you,” Tome sniffs, fully aware that by now Reigen doesn’t buy her little act –as if he ever had anyway–, but hoping it buys her some sympathy points. “So, are you gonna open or what?”

Really hoping I can update this one soon.

4. A story idea you haven’t written yet

I have a list where I just dump all of my upcoming wip ideas with no regard for how polished they sound right away and this one is still so funny to me:

"Dimple being like one of those overprotective dads who don't want boys to date their daughters but with Mob and Teru Just in general him being kinda mean to Teru while Mob is first oblivious and then like ???"

I think this was came to be because Dimple in the fanbook is mean for no reason about Teru ahaha. When he gets asked about who he would like to possess and he goes "I bet I could tank Hanazawa's reputation so fast", like, Dimple, what do you have against him, he's living his best reformed life now ahahaha. So this silly idea came to me.

25. Besides writing, what are your other hobbies?

Tough question because I feel like sometimes I'm busy enough I don't really do too much in general ahaha.

I like playing videogames and reading if that counts, though I haven't have the time to do either of those in ages, I need to make some time for those soon or else I'm gonna go crazy haha. I enjoy doing crafts though I don't have a chance to do them often either.

I think my primary hobby activity is having deranged conversations about my fandoms ahaha. AUs, headcanons, random scenarios, analysis... the amount of back and forths I currently have going with friends is... alarming. Once you start being babbly about those things, turns out the convos just keep being generated like spores lmao

26. Are you able to write with other people around?

Oh, absolutely not 😭 Especially not my family but to be fair, I don't tend to do anything personal in front of them because my sister is noisy and can be quite mean sometimes haha, so I just... don't.

Now, put me to write on a google document or something with other people there and I start second guessing every single word I'm putting down or just going "aaaaahhhh, whatever, whatever!" while writing the first thing that comes to mind, which doesn't feel like an optimal writing decision. It's fine when it comes to just outlining or such, but not the actual writing.

27. Your favorite part of the writing process

I'm quite messy when it comes to writing so I feel like the process for me is more like chaos and screaming and panic and tears sometimes ahahaha. But honestly, I enjoy the writing in itself. Once I have a clear direction of what I'm doing in this one scene, for example, I can just rush through it while writing to my heart's content, and short of having writer's block, that feels really fun and rewarding to me.

I'm not much one for editing, frankly, because I get embarrassed once I do the final read through my work, but I enjoy the minor edits through the way. I know it's not recommended, but I tend to do that a lot, writing a sentence and then going back to look at it because it was too plain or badly phrased and modifying it until it works better for what follows or for what I want. I like that feeling of "yes, this is it".

Thank you so much for the questions!!!

From this ask game

[emmabaginskyartwhimsy]

Dear creative humans,

Do you keep having fun and interesting ideas only to shove them aside? Are you stuck in the all-too-familiar trap of “maybe one day…”

NO MORE! I’m tired of doing that and this is how I’m going to do it.

The Project

An idea for a Silly Goose Themed Tarot deck popped into my head last week, and I was like, oh absolutely. Then I started sketching, and I knew it was over for me. I needed this thing to exist.

The only issue is I’ve never attempted a project this big. A tarot deck has 78 cards in it. That’s s e v e n t y - e i g h t individual drawings AND a booklet that describes each card. This would be a serious undertaking.

The first step in starting a project is figuring out: why?

The “why” is the most important step. People seem to forget that these creative projects are a lot of hard work. If you don’t have a satisfying enough “why”, your brain will throw every excuse at you as to why you should logically give up. A silly little defense mechanism our organic vessels came up with to protect us from anything painful. Even when it’s good for us.

The problem is that growth is painful. So if you ever want to grow, you’re gonna have to get used to being uncomfortable.

Your “why” should be (mostly) internally motivated. Remember, the only thing you can control is yourself. If the reason for your creative pursuit is external validation (e.i, Internet likes & money), you are giving away your power to forces you have no control over. So inevitably, when you only get a handful of likes, you are much more likely to give up and think “what’s the point?”

The point is creating something that never existed before! There are things in your soul that will never be made unless you take the leap.

Reasons why I am undertaking this project:

#1: This is a fun concept that needs to exist

I love tarot and think it is a helpful tool. Making my own deck will help me connect with the cards, especially because I have to research the card meanings.

I really want to hold the finished deck

Improve my digital painting skills

Starting and finishing a project like this will allow me to build skills that I need for future BIGGER projects.

I will have a cool product to sell at Art Fairs!

My mind, body, and soul are all on board 👍

“I am not afraid of a little hard work” (if you know, you know)*

Not only am I going to be making a tarot deck, I am also committing to documenting the process on social media. This adds another layer of difficulty.

Reason why I am posting on social media:

#1: Recording the process and writing everything down will help me process my thoughts. Which will hopefully make condensing my thoughts into the booklet easier.

Sharing my interest with others! I might get people interested in tarot & teach people a little bit about tarot cards.

Internet footprint: If my legacy in life is being the “Silly Goose Lady,” that's a win.

Documenting growth. A good way to visualize progress.

Grow an audience that vibes with me

People might like it and want to purchase it when it’s finished

Inspire others to make their own creative projects

Okay so, now what? Wanting to do something and actually doing something are two entirely different beasts. The only thing standing between me and my goal is me.

How to control chaos incarnate?

The chaos goblin inside me hates the idea of structure. Nobody can tell me what to do, especially me.

“What if all this planning stifles my creative energy?” Cries the goblin.

This is where self-awareness comes in handy. The goblin loves exploration, which is both a good and a bad thing. If you let the goblin take the lead, you’ll never know quite where you’ll end up. My goblin is easily distracted and, more often than not, has led me to a bunch of dead ends.

Creating structure is not something you should fear as an artist. Instead of ridgid unforgiving chains, think of the planning process like bumpers in a bowling lane. A good plan will contain the goblin to the task at hand while still having fun in the process.

Making a good plan in 5 Steps

Making a good plan is all about thinking ahead and making most of the decisions now so you don’t get decision fatigue later. Otherwise, things get messy and overwhelming pretty quickly.

1. Set a time frame

If you want to reach the finish line, you need to set a pace. Be realistic. Life comes with many responsibilities. How much time is this project going to take you?

I’m measuring this project by cards per week. I did the math on how long it would take me to finish 78 cards.

1 card/week = 78 weeks → October 2025 [1.5 years]

2 cards/week = 39 weeks → January 2025 [9 Months]

3 cards/week = 26 weeks → October 2024 [6 Months]

4 cards/week = 20 weeks → September 2024 [5 Months]

In the grand scheme of life, whether you achieve something in 5 months or 1.5 years doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you got it done. Aim for a pace that is sustainable for you. Burn out is a very real struggle. Life is all about balance.

As I continue the project, I will be able to readjust my expectations accordingly. I imagine that the rate of production will fluctuate but I’m aiming to complete 3 cards per week.

2. Set project constraints/parameters

Put down that pitchfork, Chaos Goblin, and let me explain.

Limiting yourself is actually good for creativity.

I need each illustration to feel like they are a part of the same world. I’m achieving that goal by limiting things like color palette, subject, and art style.

By choosing to keep the same parameters for each of the 78 illustrations, I am freeing myself from the overwhelming task of making a bunch of decisions over and over again. That’s when a project really gets messy and overwhelming.

When in doubt, simplify.

For my project, each tarot card has a well established meaning that acts like a prompt. The Fool card, for example, is about new beginnings and taking the first step. The creative goblin gets to “silly goose-ify” this prompt without having to deal with the infinite well of choices.

3. Make a process that makes sense for you

How are you actually doing the thing? This is where the consistency really comes to play. A bad system will feel redundant and full of friction. If you hate doing a part of your project, you’re more likely to never pick it up again.

This is why I decided to draw each card digitally. This solves a lot of efficiency issues and will save me a lot of time. Imagine having to drag a tripod and camera around with me anytime I wanted to draw. The logistics of that sounds like my absolute nightmare. I only have one camera battery that lasts for about 30 - 45 mins for filming videos. Then, when I’m done, I have to scan every drawing into the computer anyway. No thank you.

Instead, I have an editing-software that screen records me while I’m drawing on my laptop/tablet. Now that’s easy 👍

4. Make a schedule

If you want this goal to come into reality, you need to put time into it. How much time is up to you, everyone's life situation is different. Remember, small consistent blocks of time are all you need to make significant progress.

I am currently a stay at home parent to a very young child. This comes with its own set of advantages and drawbacks. I spend most days looking after my son but I’ve carved out a strategy that works well for my situation.

I broke down the different tasks of my projects and assigned them to each day of the work week. This way I know exactly what I should be working on each day.

My work day bounces from nap to nap but most of my free time is at night after the baby goes to sleep around 6:30pm.

5. Set Boundaries & Priorities

Now here’s where I fight back a little on “hustle culture.” Life is meant to be lived, not toiled away. Make sure you take time for yourself. Time spent taking care of your mind, body, and soul is not wasted. The well of creativity needs replenishing, so breaks are actually a very efficient use of your time.

And FOR PETE’S SAKE, GO TO BED. The work will wait for you. Your brain needs to sleep in order to process all the information it took in today. “Sleep on it” is indeed a real thing. You might wake up with a new idea on how to fix whatever ailed you yesterday.

For me, my family takes priority. My husband works during the week, so I try to keep the weekends open for fun family outings or cozy days inside.

Our children will only be young once. I am making it a point to enjoy the time we spend together instead of stressing about a “lack of free time.” For me, my children will always be my greatest work. On the hard days, I remind myself that there will be a time where I don’t have small hands clinging to me as I try to put the dishes away. They will be off on their own adventures and I will miss those small hands very dearly.

Some closing thoughts

Remember that your plan should be flexible. Just because you mess up doesn’t mean you need to give up entirely. Take a second to go back over the plan and change the things that aren’t working. Failure is only a temporary learning state. It is not something you need to carry with you.

So go forth and create some things we’re never seen before.

The only thing left to do is take the leap.

Good luck, I’m rooting for you.

Emma

*Guess that kid’s TV show. Of course it’s Bluey lol.

[miiilowo]

mm currently looking for horror movies that aren't Annabelle, chucky, it, etc.. cause I'm gonna write a horror genre for my ocs and I need more inspo

And to just scare myself for fun :P

Feel free to throw me any horror (even better if it has some hints of comedy)

I'll try to hit a couple different genres if you're lookin for inspiration ^_^ I always recommend behind the mask: the rise of leslie vernon any time someone sends me one of these asks because it's Good. It's more comedy than horror but it's very good. mockumentary about this dude who wants to be the next big slasher who invites a film crew to document his process. Really cool thing in the third act that I won't spoil but it's there 👍hits both found footage and slashers in terms of genre . I'd also recommend scream for slashers just because. Well. It's scream. It's good man

The Ritual is one of my favorites as well. Bunch of guys get lost hiking in the woods. Horrific shit ensues. Monster is concealed almost entirely throughout the movie and it makes it uniquely scary. i enjoy it. its supernatural folk horror

I'd recommend Re-animator + Bride of Re-animator (there is sexual assault in the first one that's pretty brutal though as a warning) because not only are they a bit unsettling with all the body horror and what not, it's also so over the top and insane that it loops back around to being funny again. It's sort of a dark comedy at times more than anything else, especially in bride. They also have really strong characters and the movies are mostly fueled by that over the pure spectacle that is happening which could be helpful. It's technically adapted from a Lovecraft story but hits frankenstein parody beats more so

There is of course always The Thing (80s one) if you haven't seen it already !!!! It's considered one of the best horror movies of all time for a reason and is probably my favorite generally speaking. It's got mystery it's got an alien monster it's got blood and gore. It's antarctic among us I guess if you want a point to relate it to (the thing was one of the main inspirations for that game)

Cabin in the woods (2011) isn't the Best Movie Of All Time by any means like some people say but it's unique and I refuse to explain why because it would spoil the whole thang, but trust me. Okay. Trust me. It's kind of horror Everything. If you want inspiration and a little bit of comedy it's definitely definitely in there

A lot of my personal joy is derived from when horror movies are just like not very good. Or easy to make fun of. So. Jeepers creepers, grave encounters, almost all of the paranormal activity series, any of the Trolls movies for SURE. the list goes on. I personally would recommend looking up "horror movie playlist" on YouTube, finding one that looks mildly interesting, checking it's IMDB page and sitting down to watch it with a friend. This is a time honored tradition of mine

[fanfichubcircuit]

Not me using my rule of three highlighting method from my creative writing minor because I didn’t like the flow/vibes chapter two has in some parts

Context: Rule of three is where you highlight in three colors

Color 1: lines that are half the page or less

Color 2: lines that are a little more than half the page to across the page but not over.

Color 3: lines that are more than fully across the page

And then you look at your document and see if parts are too much one color or not and mix it up. You color ever sentence. I’m not doing dialogue lines but everything else yes. It’s very stupid of me to do for this because no one else would care about the pace y’all probably wouldn’t notice BUT I DO. Writing process is part making myself insane part forcing my roommate to read every few paragraphs (they actually really like it they’re very sweet.)

Also I’m having so much fun blogging about this whole thing?? And I especially love making polls for y’all I’m gonna make some more soon.

Chapter 2 Current word count: 1,969 and counting