#Feeling the Spirit

[mceproductions]

Best of 2023 Music #22: Cher “DJ Play a Christmas Song”

SUM 22: Cher Unexpectedly goes back to her sounds of watershed autotune invention to bring us a holiday jam that nobody even saw coming.

[nonobadcat]

Okay, so if I pull this off it's gonna be lit like a Gaslamp fire

Working on a 3 chapter Ghost Shig x Fem!Reader Gothic Romance au for Kinktober (for readers ages 18+ - TW cannon similar child/animal abuse by worst parent of the year - Mr. Shimura and resulting Parricide).

I made Tenko 5 years old in 1885, which means the memory sequences are going to be about 1901 (aka early Edwardian era). Look at the Gibson girl floof you get to wear!

You're all welcome. Drop a like or comment if you want tagged when the first chapter hits.

[rosencrantzsguildenstern]

all period typical nicknames are free reign

[descendant-of-truth]

Shipping is fun and all but I swear every single time someone makes a comment, whether as a joke or in a legitimate analysis, about there being "no other explanation" for a pair's interactions, I lose just a bit more of my sanity

Like, no, you guys don't get it. Romance is not about the Amount of devotion, it's about the COLOR. the FLAVOR of it all. a character can be just as devoted to their platonic friend as they are to their romantic partner, and they don't love either of them more, just differently.

But because the majority of people still have it stuck in their minds that romance exists on the highest tier of love, I'm stuck seeing endless takes that boil down to "these two care about each other too much for it to NOT be romantic" as if that's the core determining factor to how literally any of this works

In conclusion: stop telling me that I don't understand the story if I don't interpret the leads as romantic, I am TIRED

[anna-scribbles]

doodles from the last few months

[somnimagus]

My page for @sheikahzine; about Impaz's duty to her village, empty of people and full of memories.

[id in alt text]

[runningwithscizzorz]

(1)Learn the rules before you break them + Gather proper references

(2) Understand what you want to break and how

(3) Can't do it? Find someone who can

(4) It's going to look really bad for a while

(5) Have fun with it!

(1) -Yes, I am that kind of artist. Yet, not in the conventional way. I encourage people to go in guns blazing when it comes to drawing something new, then coming out analyzing what they know, and what they need to learn more of right away.

-Here, I broke down the anatomical pieces of Nour and Narinder's face with the same labels so you guys can understand this weird invisible pattern that I follow in my work. Doing this with any animal you're attempting to draw greatly improves your line confidence when drawing different face shapes. Also understanding the biological function for why animals look a certain way helps you keep consistency.

(3) Time to throw any artistic guilt you have for heavily referencing people's art OUT THE WINDOW and start ANALYZING PEOPLE'S WORK YOU WANT TO BE LIKE✨ I've always done this, having a reference of someone else's amazing work right next to my own drawing so I can try and understand how they make their magic work! No shame, no embarrassment, nada. Pure, unadulterated will and spite that I would be just as good as the artist who made me so motivated and happy with their work! I couldn't figure out how to make Nour's face both sheep-like, and humanly expressive, so I looked at a LOT of Zootopia and old Disney art for help!

(2) With how I draw narilamb, I'm still working on it (as you can see) but I wanted to break Narinder's face to be fluffier and slimmer, while Nour's face would be shorter and flatter. If you look at it for too long, it's absolutely going to look weird, in the way that if you look at Anna from Frozen for too long she starts looking really weird. The anatomy isn't meant to be correct or consistent, it's meant to convey the emotion and energy I want out of the characters in that moment. If you're able to properly get that across, then you don't need to think about how broken something looks, as long as your eye is happy enough to trick your brain into thinking what you're seeing is canny.

(4) Yeah, I hate this part too. It's going to look like shit at first. I can't even look at my art from a few months ago when I was figuring out their designs... God, so fucking ugly. If it weren't for the shittiness of those drawings, I would have never gotten here! Wading through the "trust the process" stage always really sucks, but it's absolutely worth the relief of when you finally get something to look right.

(5) Art is work, yes. It's stressful, it's long, it's straining, its draining, it's exclaiming, blah blah blah. But, I try to keep my art FUN. If I find my artwork becoming slow as I depressingly drag my pen over my tablet, I'm failing. You MUST keep spirit and life in your work. The spirit of emptiness or the life of sadness can have a very meaningful place in art, but those can only exist with keeping work light, easy, and fun! If you're stressing how a specific thing looks or how you can't get something to look right no matter what, FUCK IT. Draw something to bring the flavor back in your work! I'm kind of rambling, but just, HAVE FUN!✨️ Be messy, scream, laugh, slash canvases, throw paint, smash sculptures, tear apart books, GO CRAZY

[garden-of-thoughts-fruit-of-lips]

" Out of Line"

It's the person who's "out of line" who is always told to, "Get back in line!"

I'm "out of line," and the students tell me to, "Get back in line!" But I say, "No, " and I saw a smaller line, and they all seemed happy and stood out as different. They were dressed in school uniform. So I started making my way over there. And the teacher of the line I left came and asked me to, "Get back in line" and when I replied, "No", immediately that teacher took it to the principal and now the principal and teachers from my original class started threatening me in front of the students. Who were trying to scare me to get back in place. When I started to break down and cry, my original classmates and other students of that class said, "If you would have stayed in line, this wouldn't have happened to you!" Even with that being done, I kept making my way to the other line. Now, the teachers became furious, and bullies from that school approach me, telling me to turn around. Once again, I refused, so the principal gave a "signal" to the bullies, and they said, "Fine, you could go." As I turned and walked a couple steps further, they added by yelling, "This school dressed you! So we're taking your clothes from off your back!" They started ripping the clothes off of me in front of my classmates and other students. "Hahahaha," they would all laugh as I became naked. Once, I was stripped, and the students of that class noticed the scars and bruises on my naked body. The bullies moved aside so all could see, and I saw pointing, I heard whispering and laughing, and from the laughing crowd, words came out, "How long you had that there!" followed by more laughter. I even heard the ones that had pitty for me say, "If he would have only stayed." At that exact time, I got up from off the ground and turned my back against them

[artingstarvist]

TGCF Vol 3, Chp. 43 - 44 (First "Kiss") Part 2 / 5 (First, Next)

Next part is finally done! Xie Lian's inner monologue kills me.

Novel excerpt under the cut:

[denotes panel #]

[1, 2] Xie Lian blinked, trying desperately to bat away the thousands upon millions of lingering crystalline bubbles. [3] Then he found himself caught by a pair of strong arms. [4, 5] One hand circled his waist, and the other grasped his chin. [6] In the next second, something cold and soft covered his lips. [7]In that instant, Xie Lian's eyes bulged. Never in his life had anyone treated him like this. First, no one dared, second, no one could. However this person was swift like the devil and had appeared so suddenly that he had no chance to defend himself before he'd been plunged into such a state. [8, 9] Flustered, he thrashed and desperately tried to push the person away. [10] Instead, he only succeeded in choking on large mouthfuls of water as string after string of bubbles escaped his mouth like crystal beads. Of course, this was a big mistake underwater. [11] The hands round his waist only tightened, pressing their bodies closer together, and Xie Lian's struggling hands were firmly folded and crushed against his own chest, trapping them in place. [12] His lips, too, were securely sealed. The kiss deepened, and with it, a breath of cool, gentle air was transferred into his mouth. [13, 14, 15] Completely helpless and at a loss, just as Xie Lian began to accept his fate, he finally saw the person's face clearly. [16] It was Hua Cheng. [17] The moment he realized it was Hua Cheng, he stopped struggling. Innumerable random thoughts popped into his mind, all inappropriate for the time and place, such as : So it was Hua Cheng! No wonder he's cold. [18] Ghosts don't need to breathe, but he can still transfer air to me?! [19] Don't ghosts sink in the water? [20] Hua Cheng suddenly opened his eye. [21, 22] Staring into that dark eye from such an intimate distance, Xie Lian froze again, then resumed struggling, his arms flailing like a duck so clumsy it was drowning. [23, 24] Hua Cheng easily corralled those thrashing limbs, and with his arm still firmly locked around Xie Lian's waist, Hua Cheng took him and speedily swam upward.

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

Alright, I'll say it: Jack Harkness and the Doctor's relationship is possibly the most fleshed out/complicated dynamic in Doctor Who and that is INCLUDING the master/doctor relationship. Seriously, think about it:

the fact that when they meet jack is presented as sleazy con man and the doctor makes him brave- makes him good

but that they are both willing to die for rose as long as she is safe

and then she comes back and dooms them both to live (even though jack has already died for her and the doctor WILL die for her)

(ninerosejack is canon and you cannot convince me otherwise)

but then the doctor sees jack as immortal as someone he COULD spend the rest of his life with

and instead of embracing it like you'd think he would because he is so wrecked by people leaving him/being left by him the doctor RUNS bc the Doctor is so scared of jack of what he means of what he is

jack ends up abandoned in dalek dust goes back in time to find the doctor suffers a hundred years alone/being tortured but STILL WAITS

(screw amy being the girl who waited or rory being the boy who waited- Jack Harkness is the boy who waited and he did it FIRST)

Jack finds out that he was abandoned. that the man that he loves HATES the sight of him. that the doctor would rather have a genocidal murderer than have him

and so Jack gets the hell out of dodge to go to a man who DOES love him

and don't get me wrong Jack loves Ianto and Jack DOES remember Ianto until he dies as the Face of Boe don't forget that (protecting Novice Hame from the virus as he couldn't Ianto

BUT AFTER EVERYTHING THE DOCTOR HAS DONE TO JACK JACK STILL LOVES THEM

Jack still considers five billion years cursed to never die to be BETTER than the alternative: dying a young time-agent-turned-con-man

Jack has more reason than any other companion save maybe Amy to hate the Doctor & yet spends 20 years in jail to rescue Thirteen still LOVES HER

AND AFTER FIVE BILLION YEARS HE ORGANIZES THAT FIRST MEETING ON SATELLITE FIVE HE ORGANIZES 9/ROSE'S FIRST DATE

jack harkness is a living ghost a reminder of the doctor's failures a physical fixed point and yet he still loves the girl who cursed him and the time lord that turned him into the kind of person that would give his dying breaths to protect the last of humanity in a dying city and tell the doctor that he is not alone

because fuck it, YANA was a warning but also a reminder a final gift

jack had been there all along, a ghost an echo a PROMISE

there is no more human character than jack harkness

[nonobadcat]

Real talk out of pure curiosity: I saw you posted you were working on chapter 59? Of your fic

How do you have the motivation to write 59 chapters of a fic? Or I guess how do you keep inspiration for it?

I tend to lose inspiration after like three chapters rip

Real talk: I've been working on chapter 59 for 3 months. XD

The story in question (Hypnotic Nightmare - AFO x F!Reader - TW: noncon/abusive relationship/non-reader directed violence) has been going since October 2020. It's 265,000 words and rising. I also have A Taste of Your Own Venom (Shigaraki Tomura x F!Reader - TW: consensual relationship but Tomura is pretty obviously a yandere) which is about 197,000 words and my original, professionally published book Maid For Your Master which is about 86,000 words (Gothic romance, horror, F!Reader insert, TW available here) and I am working on the sequel.

There are a few things that help me out writing these monsters:

I like slow burn relationships. Smut is great and all, but I need the back story to be seduced.

I binge produce 10-20k words at a time then take several weeks off to chill.

I try to have multiple projects so that when I can't work on one **cough cough Venom**, I work on another.

I don't post the chapters right away. I used to, but I find that writing them out, holding them back until I've started working on the next chapter, and editing them one more time before the post works best. Ideally, I like to work 5 chapters ahead because it lets me add new ideas and then build them in to previous chapters. This makes it more fun and less stressful.

I have an ending in mind before I post. This allows me to work towards an specific point which is satisfying to readers, even if I get distracted by writing out every kink on earth (eg. Hypnotic) or I need a break (Venom).

I don't post everything I write. I write out tons and tons of ideas and wait to see if I have the motivation to finish them. For example, I have a 5 chapter outline for a yandere professor Overhaul story which is waiting in the wings to be posted. Been working on that for two years.

I don't hold back when a short fic idea hits just right. That is why we've had things like Red Sky at Morning (AFO x F!reader - dubcon merman) and Hands-On Instruction (AFO x F! or M! reader - dubcon professor x college student). If someone suggests something and it sparks joy, I write it. If if doesn't, either because it's not my bag or I'm too over stressed to work on it right then, I usually just reply in private.

Truth is #4 is not happening with Hypnotic right now because these are the final chapters. I am hoping to make 60 the last and then write an epilogue to give closure.

Another thing to consider is that, for long fics (eg. > 5 chapters), I don't recommend posting them on Tumblr. Tumblr gets buggy after about 2k words, can randomly drop your post and seems to hate extensive formatting (eg - glitches after you make so many formatting changes or tags). Also, based on my two years of fanfic experience on this site, Tumblr users don't engage much with long fic as a rule. They prefer headcannons, short smut (eg - one chapter), witty one liners, etc.

For proof of this, let me point out that Part III of Feeling The Spirit has 89 likes and 25 reblogs. The <200 word SFW drabble I posted last night of Tomura clutching a plushie while gaming? Over 100 likes and 12 reblogs in 6 hours. Tumblr like fast and furious content.

Archive of Our Own is much better for long fic. The website is more stable, formatting is much better with HTML (see the text bubble exchange in the first chapter of Liar Played by the Heartstrings - it's my crowning glory), it's easier to scroll between chapters, and long fics do better with their algorithm. The more chapters you post to one story on Ao3, the more your fic gets bumped to the top, the more people see it. Tumblr shows your story more based on reblogs, so you want things that people can quickly agree with and move along because that's what they reblog.

If you're writing on Tumblr alone, losing motivation in 3 chapters makes sense because engagement drops like crazy. On Ao3, engagement doesn't really take off until chapter 10-15 (where people can binge read your stuff), so it's more motivating.

The honest truth is though - this is my natural temperament:

Ask anyone who has had the misfortune to DM me. My mouth doesn't have an off switch. One of my commenters on Feeling The Spirit compared me to Victor Hugo because I spent an entire chapter introducing the haunted house.

So... for example... Hypnotic started as a 5 chapter project... and then it kinda ran away with itself.

Honestly, the thing for me is that writing is a hobby, not my day job. I just write when it makes me happy and then post it slowly when I have enough content for people to enjoy. That keeps the pressure off and lets me share my messed up brain with all of you.

[sleepy-writes-stuff]

DP X DC PROMPT #27

(Time for something a little more lighthearted/found family. Could probably also make this a crack prompt instead.)

(#) = Notes at the end of post

(*) = Just me building off of other ideas.

✦

Visitation Rights

When Danny went to list Dani/Ellie as his heir after she'd come back from her years of traveling the world, he was quickly informed that he already had one in line for the thrown.

"What? Since when?!"

The pretentious, floating eyeball looked like he wanted to be anywhere else other than here, providing information to King Phantom, but explained anyway.

"The day you officially achieved royal status, you permanently linked your being to the Infinite Realms. When this happened, however, a child was in the process of being created with the assistance of ectoplasmic runoff that's been leaking into the mortal world for centuries. As a result of your power being incorporated into the Realms at such a time, this human child retained an imprint of your core signature. The Infinite Realms itself has recognized this child as your offspring. Your... other offspring has yet to be recognized in such a way and would therefore be considered your second heir once claimed."

Danny stared at the Observant with wide, blank eyes that were slowly filling with dread and panic.

"Why are you just telling me this now?? My coronation was over a decade ago!" He held his face in his hands and gave a horrified groan at what he just learned.

"If you really wanted that clone as your heir, I'm afraid it's too late to change it-"

Danny's head shot back up with a snarl and furious green eyes.

"That's not what I'm upset about you walking cataracts! Eleven years! I've missed eleven years of this kid's life!! How could you think I-"

At a loss for words, he growled deep in his chest. Deep enough that it echoed throughout the halls and rattled the floors.

"Who is this kid, and where can I find them?"

Once given the information and learning of the child's other parental figures, he gets to work. A few weeks later, he appears in the home office of a well-known billionaire with a stack of papers that he promptly slams onto the desk in front of the startled man. (1)

"I demand visitation rights to our son, Damian Wayne."

✦

(1) Danny actually visited Talia first to get visitation rights. Needless to say, that didn't go very well. He's still got a couple knives floating around in his chest cavity because of it.

(*) ALSO! I'm not sure how this lines up with the DC/Batman timeline. All I figured out is that if Danny waited to be crowned until after he graduated college as an astrophysicist, which take 5 to 7 years, he'd be about 36 years old when he finds out about Damian. Bruce would be about 41, so the age gap is only 5 years. If y'all wanna make this Danny/Bruce, go ahead!

[endlessartpumpkin]

Loz wheel

[saturnvs]

under the starry skies, where eagles have flown

[free-my-boy-grumbot]

“ohhh i’m so tired of love songs i wish people would write more original stuff” literally listen to lemon demon. some of his song topics include

Ronald Reagan fights his evil shadow self

Guy is trapped inside an evil arcade machine that kills people

You can do what you want to your body! dye your hair! get that tattoo! pull your teeth out! stick screws in your eyes! rip your arms off!

disgraced scientist is disgraced

I forgor 💀

Guy died and a bunch of cool haunted shit happened and it was really spooky

Please date me i’m a really nice ghost i mean normal man

I’m eating a corpse and it’s soo tasty and homoerotic come join me

ohohoho i am a Creature

well you probably know what two trucks is about

[bluerosefox]

For Them

About to go to bed and this plot idea came into my head so I'm gonna be quick.

Danny and Dani (or Ellie) are on the run from well... everything. (Bad Fenton parents? Vlad? GIW? IDK pick)

They almost escape into the zone when Ellie gets hit by something that starts destabilizing her. They escape but toss themselves into a random portal that opened up and crash land in a dark gloomy city alleyway. For a moment they think it's okay, they're safe for now but they gotta keep moving. So they do, they run and run into the city until they find a place to finally rest.

It isn't until then they realize what's happening to Ellie. Her body is destabilizing now that the adrenaline she had was going down. She starts panicking and freaking out cause she knows they don't have any ecto-dejecto.

Danny, freaking out and desperate to save her freezes her body with ghost ice to make her stop melting (basically it doesn't hurt her despite not having an ice core but instead kinda puts her in a status)

And it works.

But it sends Ellie into a deep sleep as well.

Danny, stressed and on the verge of passing out from using his ice core (and willing some of his protectior spirit into as well to keep Ellie safe in the ice), looks up when he hears footsteps coming towards him.

He passes out when he realizes the place they had hidden in, a warehouse, had already been pretty cold even before Danny had used his ice powers.

When he wakes up, he realizes hes been moved from the warehouse and freaks out and tries to find Ellie. When he opens his door from the room he was in, hes greeted by cold (but Danny isn't bothered by it) and a man, a Dr. Victor Fries, who just so happened to had been at that warehouse that night looking into stealing some valuable equipment being imported but instead had watched a young, badly hurt teen desperately try to save and have to freeze his 'sister' as she was melting in front of him.