escargoverse-snellod - Tumblr blog

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My dream as a writer isn’t to get published and make a lot of money, it’s to have a fanbase devoted enough that I can post a story about a background character that had four lines or drop a piece of obscure lore and they go crazy over it

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girl help i have a fic idea that won't leave my brain but i don't think i have the capacity to pull it off

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My cartoon for this weekend’s @guardian books

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The desperate desire to create vs the oh so constant sleepiness plaguing my every action

[escargoverse-snellod]

The desperate desire to create vs the oh so constant sleepiness plaguing my every action

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The desperate desire to create vs the oh so constant sleepiness plaguing my every action

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I think I might, and I think showing exhaustion can absolutely be a sign of vulnerability, depending on the character.

Vulnerability means, in essence, showing weakness, but the word is rarely used in a very literal "grass is vulnerable to fire" type sense. What this weakness, this vulnerability means varies from character to character.

A way (and ftr, definitely not the only way) to look at it is this; Every character has a way they are trying to be perceived, perceived by the world, by specific people, perceived by themself. When they let the act drop (deliberately or otherwise), or someone forces the act to drop, when something is revealed that is different from their "ideal" state, this displays vulnerability, this is their "weakness."

Take for example crying as you mentioned earlier. A character who wants to present themself as happy, say, to their friends to make them think everythings fine, if they put up a happy front in front of them, then broke down crying in private, that would be hiding the vulnerability from them (but the contradiction would reveal the vulnerability to the audience). If they cry in front of a friend, that would be revealing their vulnerability to them. Conversely, if a character is totally comfortable crying around their friends, say, they cry easily at sad movies and they are happy being perceived as emotional, then I would argue they aren't really showing vulnerability, at least, not in the same way.

The reason why a character might want to present a certain way varies as well. Take, uh, take a stock "nerd" character, they might want to present themself as "cool," because they believe the alternative is being mocked. If someone does mock them, and they reveal that this does upset them, then this would be showing their vulnerability. Additionally, deliberately revealing their personality traits, interests, etc, that they usually hide because of fear of mockery, to a character who they think (but aren't certain) they can trust, that would be showing vulnerability.

So, going back to the exhaustion point. If a character wants to present themselves as always capable, always willing to keep doing whatever task is handed to them, that character showing exhaustion absolutely shows their vulnerability.

One last example before I go to bed. Say there is a character who wants to present themself as stoic and brooding, say, they do this because they believe that all happiness is fleeting, that the eventual hurt isn't worth the joy. Say this character finally lets themself smile around their friends. This would be showing vulnerability, opening themself up to happiness. When they become comfortable presenting happy always, this would no longer be showing vulnerability, but it does put a great big happy smile on my face.

Anyway, hopefully this is helpful. I'm still sorta, uh, feeling out my thoughts on this one, I guess, but I think it all makes sense. Think about your characters desires, their fears, how they want to be perceived, how they very much do not want to be perceived, what they perceive as "weakness," how they act and how they want to act. Therein lies each characters personal vulnerabilities, I think.

I have a question stuck in my mind for sometime. So: does anyone know ways of depicting a character's vulnerability that's not sadness or fear? Or based on crying? Bc I have some characters that aren't prone to crying but they do feel vulnerable. But not with tears. And can exhaustion be a form of vulnerability? Bc I feel like it can but I ain't too sure 'bout that.

[escargoverse-snellod]

The Cosmoctopus.

A long time ago, (in a galaxy far far away?), I mentioned the prospect of putting my MSpaint/Paint3D doodles on this blog. The time is now. Too tired and too distracted to write. But a desire to create too strong to ignore. So, BEHOLD! The cosmoctopus.

Can't reeaaallly get away with calling this one a doodle, I did spend some time on this. The result is still amateurish (of course, for I am an amateur, just barely dipping my toes in the waters of drawn art), but given my level of skill and such.... this is bloody fantastic, I'm so happy with how this came out. Just, really proud of this one gang.

[escargoverse-snellod]

my brain trying desperately to get me to write something

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"I cant draw" then do it bad who gives a fuck.....

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me @ my mutuals

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thinking about aus for ocs is so funny. like i already put this guy in a situation but what if i put them in another totally different one

[escargoverse-snellod]

0_0

Fuck, thats cool

okay, gotta ask.... cannibal dream?

I AM SO GLAD SOMEONE ASKED tw for cannibalism obviously

I had this dream when I was like. sixteen. maybe??? wildest dream ever, haunted me all night, I literally cannot forget it, it was so distinct. SO ANYWAYS: cue this massive dystopian metal city. picture the most grungy futuristic dystopian fantasy-adjacent NYC aesthetic, and it's stacked. the city just keeps stacking on top of itself, building upward constantly toward this grotesque, polluted sky.

I'm somewhere in the pits of this city, but of course, I'm not me. I'm a detective, bottom of the barrel grunge guy scraping by on private practice, constantly trying not to get squashed out of business by the capitalist megacorporations running the place. overpopulation is a huge issue, so no one really cares about missing people here, and anyways, if someone does go missing, most likely you're just not going to find them again. it's a long way down to the bottom of the city, and if you get shoved off the railing of an upper level, you're joining up with plenty of corpses way down at in the abyss.

but hey, detective-me needs to make a living somehow, and someone really wants their sister found. so detective-me and my scrungly-ass partner are kicking some shit up through this gross night market, looking for leads, kinda gettin nowhere. and my partner is eating this hamburger, disgusting greasy thing, and i'm chatting with the hamburger stall guy, asking him if he's seen this girl around. and after a little while, he kinda laughs and is like, you really wanna know? and I'm like yea pls I'd like to be able to keep the lights on. And he's like: well, your partner's eating her. detective-me's partner spits out his burger, starts retching. both of us are horrified. "you don't know?" this grotesque old burger stall man tells us both. "no good meat left on the market. but the corporations give us a bargain on theirs."

turns out that to reduce overpopulation and also profit, the megacorporations that rule this city are basically devouring (literally devouring) people below the poverty line. there's a whole part of this dream where I bounced rapidly back and forth between the pov of the detective-self and the missing girl in the cannibal meat factory, trying to escape even though one of the workers had fallen in love with her but didn't want to let her go. there are some extremely grotesque details i won't include because they were just utterly horrific but anyways yeah then later on i woke up in a cold sweat like WHAT THE FUCK and that's the cannibal dream╰(*°▽°*)╯i've been haunted by it ever since

[escargoverse-snellod]

Grumble grumble…

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The ink bottle lying on your desk... begins to crawl away..???

[escargoverse-snellod]

Sci-fi and Fantasy of any Kind!:Oh yes, plenty of sci-fi, oodles, piles of it, and sci-fi with a frequent fantastical bent to it too! Currently deep in pulp sci-fi with Dawn of the Planet of the Snails, but its wider universe has the potential to spiral out into all kinds of sci-fi variety.

trans/nonbinary protagonists and big queer casts!: Samantha Sinclair, my darling, my beloved, is a trans woman based on some of my own experiences being trans pre-transition, with a healthy dose of non-anecdotal background angst thrown in for good measure.

Intricate worldbuilding in any genre!: Weeellll, I'd hardly call it intricate, but I do love worldbuilding. The amount of times though, when I see some post or tip or the like and it sparks some revelation in my brain like "oh my god, how could you not have considered this?" or "surely this or that feature would be important to this culture" is too numerous to count. Mixed bag, yes, its tragic seeing some of the cracks in your own work, but hey, it means it prompts me to flesh out the cultures of my alien peoples, and thats always a plus.

Certainly, I do definitely enjoy the worldbuilding of others, especially when its of a sort of spec-evo-y, alien biology sort of a vibe. Please, somebody, pump a steady stream of spec-evo into my veins!

You just like to shout about ocs!!: I do, but its so hard to get the shouting in my head onto the page... Not necessarily when writing, but just... I dunno, vibing with them online, I never think to do it. Been meaning to make character profiles for the DotPotS crew for months, still haven't even begun.

Big found families!: Iiiisshhh. Its not necessarily a focus for DotPotS, and I don't want to raise expectations, heighten standards, or anything, but it is there.

And as for tag game lists... yeaahhh, I'm down. I've been curious about those for a while, they seem like they'd be good for jolting my brain into creativity mode, so mark me down as tentatively interested.

Tentatively, because A) I have stayed up way too bloody late, and I am in no state of mind to make any grand commitments or the like, and B)... well. I don't really have anyone to tag in response. The few writer moots I have had all seem largely inactive now...

So, uh, feel free to tag me, I'd very much appreciate it, though don't feel offended if I don't respond, or can't tag anyone else. I'm still new round these parts...

Hey writing friends! (❁´◡`❁) Along with my new writeblr intro post, I also just wanted to make a more casual post too calling for more writeblr blogs to follow and interact with! If you write any of the following or are interested in the following and 18+ feel free to say hi! I'd also love to hear about all y'alls wips so I can find more writers to follow for 2024! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

sci-fi and fantasy of any kind! cozy fantasy, epic fantasy, space opera, romantasy, you name it, i'm usually here for it! >:3

trans/nonbinary protagonists and big queer casts! it is my bread and butter (and what you'll always find me writing too)

Intricate worldbuilding in any genre! Especially ones with intricate politics, funky magical systems, or corrupt religious systems. I'm always down to yell about worldbuilding because I think it is Neat af

You just like to shout about ocs!! I'm so here for it, and I love making more connections here with people who obsess with their ocs the way I do. >:3 come yell at me about them anytime hehe

OT3S!! OT3S!! Please. Thank you.

2nd person POV & Epistolary Narratives or funky narrative experiments. This is hands down my favorite povs to read. I'm obsessed with them. Please come be obsessed about them with me.

Big found families! YES yep yes it's me I'm that bitch I love this stuff it's honestly my bread and butter ESPECIALLY IF IT IS DYSFUNCTIONAL AS HELL (bonus points if they try to murder each other at some point)

Non-European fantasies/celestial fantasies/space fantasies/underground fantasies. Yeah I know I put fantasy above, but celestial fantasies and consumed world concepts are something I'm obsessed with and I want more people to be obsessed with

Queer contemporary fiction. I'm usually in the sff boat but sometimes I write contemporary too, and I'd love to connect with more writers who write both.

The list could go on forever and ever, it's not exhaustive at all! Honestly if you're just interested in new writers to yell with, feel free to hit me up! I'm also looking to build a 2024 tag game list for writer games, so if you'd like to be added, let me know! I love spreading fun writing games around whenever I can. >:3 💝