#I added creative notes for the first time! very proud of this one

[scekrex]

I shall greet you with a good morning/noon/afternoon/evening/night/midnight.I hope this pity request of mine shall be noticed or seen at once

I just wonder how about a angel reader that helps during the creation of Eden like when Adam was created Reader couldn't help but befriended with the poor lonely mortal every day and every moment he has and the creator likes seeing that his angel is accompanying his first mortal creation while he was making the soulmate of the insignificant mortal who keeps talking about different that is seen around the garden of Eden they even named animals but i must remind you that this time Adam was still a kind soul and Lucifer on the other hand was quite jealous on the mortal and angel(reader) interaction since he's been admiring reader for such a long time so timeskip when both of Adams spouses left him there is his only friend angel hugging him comforting him and ended up sleeping together

-i hope this wasn't much of a bother to you dear writer and be careful have a long life always take care of your health!who knows who your death might be anywhere near anyways i highly appreciate that this pity request of mine reached your attention so this is where I shall end my poetic request your fan:P

By sleeping together I assume you meant physically sleeping and not sex - if I misunderstood let me know. ALSO MOM WAKE UP I HAVE A FAN HOLY SHIT dzcuehcz

Hurt and grieve but don't suffer alone

pairing: Adam x male!reader

warnings: language & angst

note: not beta read bc fuck you I don't have beta readers

If you were to be asked how existence was before god had created Adam, you weren’t to respond with ‘boring’, because it never had been boring. But with Adam created, it was much more entertaining, that was for sure.

The creatures Adam had started to call ‘animals’ at some point had been cute and entertaining, they had been fun to observe and figure out, the ones with fur were so soft to pet. And yet the human that lived in Eden was far more interesting - how could he not be? Adam, as he had been named, was a kind one. And you were proud to say that you had been the first of the angels to interact with him. You visited the human every day, spent the time with him when God’s tasks ran out - after the first time meeting Adam that had happened a lot. Father had made it clear that he liked the bond that slowly formed between the both of you. Yes, Lucifer was his favorite but that didn’t mean he hated all his other children, he even encouraged you to interact with the creative human he had created, to support him and keep him company.

Adam was quite the sight, he was not only very handsome, he was also a charmer. The brunette human was attentive, he was quick to notice and compliment even the smallest changes of your appearance. You had put in some extra effort to clean your feathered wings? The first man was there to tell you how glorious your wings were looking. Your hair was looking a little messier than usual? Adam would make sure you were doing okay and that your messy hair didn’t mean you were stressed. God had created Adam after his very own image and it showed, the man was the definition of kindness and pureness and you adored him for that.

The sun was shining down on you, providing comfortable warmth for you, the human and all of God’s other creations. Lucifer’s curious eyes were observing your interaction with the human from a nearby tree. You were laying in the grass, Adam’s head was resting on your chest and he was as relaxed as he could be when he pointed to a little creature with beautiful wings that landed on your nose, “Look Y/N, a butterfly.” You chuckled softly at his casual way of naming the new found creature that would now be called butterfly. “Its wings look almost as beautiful as yours,” the brunette added with a soft hum and watched as the newly named creation flew away. One of mentioned wings came up to caress his cheek, the softness of your feathers against his skin made Adam close his eyes in comfort. “You’re such a charmer, Adam,” you offered the first and so far only human your warmest smile. The tall brunette hummed, “I am just stating how things are, it only makes sense for God’s children to look beautiful.” Your hand gently pushed some of his thick brown hair out of his face, “Is that the reason for your divine looks?”

Adam opened his eyes to look at you, his brown eyes provided just as much warmth as the sun, that you were sure about. Because whenever the first man looked at you, you couldn’t help but feel adored and appreciated and those feelings made your body feel warm and fuzzy.

Lucifer didn’t like the closeness the both of you shared, he didn’t understand why you took such a liking to the first human at all. He was a mortal, a thing created to fill the place God had created, he was just one out of many creations and he surely wouldn’t remain the only of his kind for very long, Father had made plans to create a partner for Adam after all. Why couldn't it be Lucifer resting on your chest as you enjoyed the beauty Father had created? Why Adam?

Lucifer would never understand what the brunette had to offer that he hadn’t. There was a reason why he was Father’s favorite after all. And yet you were petting Adam’s hair and not Lucifer’s. Yet you rather spent your days roaming around Eden with the first human instead of spending your days behind heaven’s holy gates with Lucifer. It bothered the angel, it bothered him very much.

When the sun set and night rolled around, Lucifer took off and went back to heaven, you however stayed in Eden with Adam. “You see the little sparkles surrounded by darkness? Those are stars,” Adam mumbled, his eyes were falling shut again and again and yet the mortal refused to go to sleep. Why sleep when he could enjoy your company a little longer? “Yeah,” you hummend, “Why so?” The brunette shrugged, “It feels right to call them that, they glow even though darkness surrounds them constantly, they bring dimension to the dark night sky and yet they don’t shine bright enough to hurt your eyes, they feel comfortable just like the word ‘star’ does.” And that made sense, you guessed. Father had given Adam the task to name things and the first human was doing a great job so far. “You are a star too, Y/N,” he then added and you looked at him, his head still resting on your chest. Your wings came up to wrap around the human, providing warmth the sun couldn’t since it had set a while ago. “Because I shine in the dark?” You were referring to the white feathers of your wings that looked like they were glowing in the dark just like the stars were. Adam though shook his head, “No, because you feel comfortable.”

Adam didn’t remain alone for very long and while that caused your visits to reduce since he now had proper company, it didn’t shrink the bond you two had built, you remained just as close as before. But with more time that you spent in heaven, the more you realized Lucifer’s odd behavior towards you and the grudge he seemed to hold against Adam for no reason at all. “I simply do not like you spending so much time around the human, “ the blonde angel spoke, his words were sour and his body language only underlined the honesty of his spoken words. “He was not created for our entertainment.” You however simply shook your head lightly, “Father said he appreciates me spending time with Adam, he thinks it’s a good influence and while Lilith was made from him for him, Father sees no problem in me continuing my visits, he even encourages them. I understand that you are worried, Lucifer,” you rested your hand gently on his shoulder, “But Adam and I get along really well.”

-

But oh how things took a bad turn, no one had expected Lilith to turn down Adam and seek comfort in Lucifer and neither did anyone expect Eve to eat the apple and leave Adam just like Lilith had done before.

As soon as you heard the news you made your way down to Eden to look for the brunette first human. You found him near a lake, your lake to be exact, Adam had named that one lake after you because it was the place you and him spent most of your nights. It was surrounded by trees and yet it offered a perfectly clear view of the sky. A family of ducks lived near that lake and given that those ducks had feathers that reminded him of your wings - one of them was a purely white duck - he had named this spot after you. So it was obvious he would seek comfort at your spot. “Adam,” your soft voice made him look up, you stood next to where he was sitting, tears were standing in his eyes and his cheeks were red - so were his puffy eyes. You sat down next to the lonely human, carefully lifted him in your lap and pulled him in a tight hug, your wings wrapped around the human's body in comfort. Adam clearly needed some comfort. “I heard, I’m so sorry.” The human remained silent, he hadn’t had the strength to talk about what had happened and you understood, it must be very hard to lose the one that had been created for him and only him twice in a row. “I will stay for as long as you need me,” you whispered as you gently patted his back on slow motions. The poor soul was hurt so badly that you were able to feel the damage that had been caused by both of his women turning against him. “For the night?” he asked with a broken voice as tears leaked from his eyes, you nodded. “For the night, “ you assured him, “And for the following day as well, if you wish so.” His fingers dug into your robe, he held onto you as if he was afraid to lose you too and given the situation you understood.

The first man must have been quite exhausted from all the crying he had done because it didn’t take the brunette very long to fall asleep in your arms, and you stayed. You stayed at Eden for an entire week, and you only left after that week because Father had asked to speak with you. Adam was left with your promise to come back and that promise you fulfilled when you returned to him only a few hours later. From then on the human refused to let you leave for very long, he was too afraid you would turn against him as well, but how could you when he was the most perfect thing Father had ever created? No. You would keep him from more damage, guide his soul until he was ready to join you in heaven. And with Fathers blessing, that was your task for the following years.

[highabovethecloudssomewhere]

tips/resources that taught me how to Art as an Adult - a masterlist

Four years ago I decided that “I’m too old to learn how to draw” is a pointless lie I’d believed for too long and you’re never too old to learn something new. I still definitely consider myself a novice and a learner but I’m at a very happy place with my art and I’m having a ton of fun so I thought I’d pass along the tips/resources that helped me get started and kept me motivated. 

I’ll get into resources under the cut, but here are personal tips I lined up for myself that helped during the early stages of frustration and wanting to give up. obviously they won’t work for everyone, but they really kept me going

fill 14 sketchbooks. if you still want to give up after that you can (I’m currently at 13 sketchbooks and could not imagine ever letting it go)

what specifically do you want to be able to draw? For me my goal has always been characters and cats. I’ve added things to it here and there, but starting out overwhelmed with how much you don’t know isn’t great. find a handful of things you really want to draw and see where it takes you.

get yourself a sketchbook fancy enough that you feel cool as heck but cheap enough that you don’t mind absolutely destroying it. Personally, I love EXCEED bullet journals. the dotted paper keeps me from being too picky but are less intrusive than lined paper. From my experience, EXCEED bullet journals takes acrylic and ink like a champ, and they’ve got nice covers that just make you “feel” cool. confidence is important!

acrylic paint and post-it notes are great ways to cover mistakes. I personally love anything that makes my sketchbooks feel “sketchbooky” so this is super fun. 

it is okay to “waste”/”ruin” pages. one time I was in “I’m a failure” artblock and so I poured black coffee onto my sketchbook. (it was gonna get dumped out anyway and I was Very frustrated with my art.) then when the pages dried I just kept right along using it. taught me a lot about not being perfect. sketchbooks are about learning and love, not about perfection.

try drawing in pen. seriously, draw in pen. it’s scary as frick to not be able to go back on mistakes but that’s what the post-it acrylic-paint tip is for, and it’ll help with all sorts of stuff like lineweight and line confidence. it takes some of the stress off too because, you screw up? oh well! Try again! it encourages “try again” over “meticulously nitpick until it’s perfect” and has done wonders for me. I started out my first two sketchbooks in pencil before making the switch and I’ve never gone back. 

(also sketching in highlighter and lining with pen is super fun and cool and satisfying!)

the first page doesn’t matter. I usually just use the first page of the sketchbook to write my favorite songs at the time and then do the same thing on the last page. first page jitters begone. 

(starting in the middle of the sketchbook also gets rid of those jitters pretty nicely. I tried this a couple times and personally still prefer the linear front-to-back but it was fun for a while.)

picking a color theme for your sketchbook can make it feel more “sketchbooky” too. I usually go with blue or orange- blue acrylic paint, blue post-it notes, those cheap blue BIC pens, etc. I like this bc it makes the sketchbook feel like a sketchbook and is very satisfying.

And figure out why you’re doing it. I did it because I always wanted to make cool art and draw my characters, but if you’re doing it for a career then obviously the path to that looks much different. Don’t compare yourself to others. Be inspired by people who are better than you. Acknowledge where you need to grow and where you’re strongest. Lean into those strengths. Adapt to those weaknesses. Be proud of being a beginner- you won’t be one for long. 

Now: some of my favorite creatives and resources!

///

CREATORS:

"Kasey Golden" Mostly traditional art, mostly watercolor, cartoonist, art challenges

"DrawingWiffWaffles" Mostly traditional art, alcohol markers & pens, semi-realism

"LavenderTowne" Digital art, art tips/tutorials, cartoonist

"ABD Illustrates" Digital art, speedpaints, semi-realism

"Proko" (or "Stan Prokopenko") Realism, anatomy tutorials, free complete "Anatomy For Artists" series- basically as hogwild as you can get learning hyper-realistic anatomy

"Ethan Becker" Digital art, ex-DreamWorks employee, tips/tutorials, "Perfect Practice"

"Sinix Design" Digital art, anatomy tips/tutorials, general tips/tutorials, realist

"Oliver's Antics" Digital and traditional art, tips/tutorials, speedpaints, semi-realistic style

“Nerdforge” Traditional art, painting, metalwork, woodwork, bookbinding, building, seriously these people do everything they’re incredible

///

FOR GESTURE DRAWING:

Line of Action Gesture drawing, figure drawing, optional timed practice sessions

AdorkaStock fantastic line of unique reference poses

 ///

Aaand that’s about all I’ve got! there are so many resources out there and so many amazing artists to be inspired by. just have fun with art! art is freedom. be proud to be a beginner and be excited for how you’ll grow. I hope these tips are helpful for someone out there! <3 

Here’s my first digital artwork (April 2019) up against my latest (August 2022)

April 2019:

August 2022:

best of luck to you all. I believe in each and every one of you. <3 happy drawing!

[frostycatblr-fandom-files]

"Creative" Miniseries

Warnings and Information: Because some of these get suggestive, we're gonna say Minors DNI.

I went down a list of creative hobbies at random, so some of these may not necessarily "fit" our 501st boys in blue. This is more a creative writing exercise than a serious list of headcanons.

If I miss someone from a certain unit, or you want to see so-and-so with a different creative hobby than the one I went with at random, let me know and I can do another part just for them. It doesn't have to be in the form of a request, but you're welcome to make one (it'll be easier to keep track of that way/guarantee I'll see it)!

Captain Rex 

If his cyare was a photographer, he keeps their photos on the inside of his chestplate, anywhere really, but the most important one is over his heart. They don't stay very nice for long due to friction, but that's okay. He keeps extra copies and dutifully replaces them when he gets a spare moment. He started doing this after Umbara. The photo he always, always keeps over his heart is of him taking care of his brothers. He doesn't know why you snapped that photo of him stepping off the gunship, one arm tucked around an injured, unpainted Shiny and the other free hand patting someone on the back. But there's something about the way he looked to you behind the camera that made you take the picture. It's the picture that came after it, though… A delicious and sultry little snapshot of you posing suggestively with his helmet. That one, he keeps very, very well hidden. 

Tup

If his cyare was a jeweler/beader, he proudly boasts all the experimental jewelry. On more than one occasion he wishes he had his ears pierced, but he knows it'll just end badly if he ever has to take his helmet off quickly for any reason. You made a hair-tie for him once as a sort of compromise. It was made of a dark leather cord and the odd tear-drop shaped bead kicking around in your box of materials that hung so beautifully, delicately, from the cord; nestled between two spherical beads on either side. It was more of a sea glass blue than the proud navy of the 501st, but it looked nice against his hair all the same. He used to wear it around his wrist when he slept. He's not sure when he lost it. But it was his favorite thing you'd made for him. So when you make him a replacement, something similar that he can keep around his neck this time, he makes a great effort not to lose this one. 

Jesse

If his cyare had the patience for a needle and thread, he finds secret details added to his blacks and his other fabric wear in embroidery floss. Miniaturized star charts. An animal or a flower he told you about from his last campaign. Short jokes when you had the time to meticulously plot out each letter to make them all legible. Strings of coordinates. Kamino. Your home planet. Where you first met. Where you had your first… ahem, "flight" together (or nearly did). The next place you wanted to go on a date. Jesse ends up getting a lot of cogs stitched into his belongings, usually with a note that reads "If you can find all the icons of the Republic I've hidden, we get to do whatever you want the next time you have shore leave. There are 16 cogs. You have 12 standard hours to find them all. Good luck, ARC trooper~" and Jesse always finds them all. 

Dogma

He counts himself lucky his cyare delights in drawing him so much. Portrait studies in all sorts of mediums. "I have something new I want to try! Will you model for me, please?" Watercolor. Oil pastel. Gouache. Pencil. Charcoals. Colored pencils. Ink. Heck, even crayon. You take such care to capture every little detail of his face, his tattoo. It was dependent on the medium, but sometimes the details of his tattoo were so crisp, it was like looking himself in the mirror. You've drawn him up in his armor a few times, but you find the impersonal plastoid so… "blasé" (which had been an odd choice to express your disinterest). You'd much rather be drawing him. His face. Just all of him posed in anything and everything he wore (or didn't) while looking so disciplined and compliant for you. You've even hinted you'd love to do some… anatomical study sessions with him, whenever he thinks he's comfortable with the idea. 

Fives

He counts himself very lucky he didn't get himself thrown out of his cyare's pottery studio the first time he wandered in and found them in the middle of throwing at the wheel. Building a vase to replace yet another decoration that had been ruined in a bout of roughhousing by pulling up and pushing in the lump of clay in your hands. "Hah. You sure know how to work your hands and fingers. Bet you have really-" and he'd been hasty to shut his mouth with the gentle ticking of one of your brows in a go on, I dare you sort of fashion. All his worries were disarmed with a simple laugh when you said he was welcome to watch you work, but you'd prefer to have a little warning next time before he came barging in. The clay moved so fluidly, so effortlessly in your hands as you built beautifully balanced vases and designed intricate pitchers and teapots for the Jedi Temple, Fives suspected you could throw in your sleep. And, oh yes, you certainly had expert control of your fingers whenever you promised him a more "private demonstration". 

Echo

He thinks his cyare has the voice of an angel. They sing. They can croon, or warble, and they can get somber and bluesy. It's all beautiful to Echo. Suddenly that song he was sick to death of on the radio goes from barely tolerable to beautiful, and almost hauntingly so. His cyare could take an upbeat ditty popular on the dancefloor of 79's and turn it into something romantic and heartfelt by slowing down the tempo, and drawing out the words just the right amount. And you could do the opposite, too. He's almost positive you could take a funeral dirge meant to be sung quickly under one's breath while they hastily buried the dead in their armor could become so soulful and twice as meaningful. Your voice is like magic to Echo, and it soothes him to hear you sing as you wander about the house.

Hardcase

He's always had a bit of a hard time sleeping thanks to the leak in his growth jar that made him hyperactive. His brothers have made more threats to tape or tie him down into his bunk than he can count. So his cyare, clever thing that they are, comes up with something so simple, Kix is kicking himself for all these sleep inducers he could have saved himself had Hardcase started using this sooner. He loves the dirty jokes he can make about his cyare's hobby as a crocheter. "They're a hooker in their spare time! And they've got a whole room full of WIPs and chains, too! I get to help if I promise to behave." It's right about the point that he brings up all the various types of yarns and threads and everything in every color under the sun that they've collected from all over the galaxy that people realize Hardcase is talking about how many blankets, dish cloths and table runners (whatever the kriff those are) his darling's made. "Why the kriff did you have to make it all sound so kinky, Hardcase? You're telling me they just made you a blanket?" It's not just a blanket to Hardcase. It's far more comfortable than those scratchy GAR sheets. It's soft, and it's warm, and because this was something that cannot be made by machine ("Those articles on the Holonet are full of it! Crochet CAN NOT be replicated by machine!") and instead, with an amount of patience that would make his head spin, just for him, Hardcase finds himself falling asleep and staying asleep much easier than before. 

Kix

He's almost glad that he complained about a lackluster medical infographic he'd been asked to distribute to his brothers in front of his cyare. "That's… that's the worst visual artwork they could have possibly chosen on how to perform the Heimlich Maneuver." You had taken one peek over his shoulder as you removed the shoulder bell that bears the shattered red cross on it and agreed. "That's absolutely awful. And their layout is atrocious; who the kriff designed this? Not someone in the GAR, I hope. I can do better than that." You fired up your graphic design software and spent the next several hours tweaking with the design of a new handout. No silly novelty fonts that made it hard to distinguish an "N" from an "M". Concise bullet points of medical information that was easy to understand. You consulted him to make sure it was up to snuff after several hours, and Kix could have collapsed in his euphoria when you asked him what he thought of an additional handout you'd thought of and had started working on. You remembered his complaint about this new medical drama going around the galaxy and how it was full of false information that a lot of his brothers had taken to heart. "Cyare, you're a lifesaver!" It makes you laugh between his kisses when you remind him that you're only a graphic designer, and he's the medic. 

[Masterlist] [Bad Batch + Wolfpack Edition] [212th Edition]

[w2writesstuff]

What W2 Wrote in 2023

Considering that I'm prrrrrobably not going to manage to put out anything else this year, yeah, let's do a roundup now while I've got a moment. (Note: Only includes fun stuff; no professional shit here.)

January

I can't even remember January. Nothing happens in Januaries.

February

to the beat of your heart, ch. 3 (MDZS) The ongoing adventures of a self-indulgent happy-ending everybody-lives-and-also-bones WangXian canon-divergent AU; a joint project between my wife and me.

It’s Hard to Say “I Do” When You Don’t (@shousetsubangbang) Original story about a guy whose long-time crush asks him to pretend to be his boyfriend at a family wedding. Fake dating ensues.

March

Kintsukuroi (DMBJ) This heihua piece may be the best thing I've written all year? Look, I'm just very proud of how I made it exactly what I wanted it to be.

April

Head (@shousetsubangbang) This was a last-minute fill because the story I wanted to write failed to make itself writeable. Oh well! Still a funny and cute blowjob.

May

to the beat of your heart, ch. 4 (MDZS)

I want to be where all the stupid shit I say sounds so romantic and true (Guardian, WeiLan) Someday I will write a longer and more complicated series of Guardian sex pollen shenanigans, but until then, enjoy this one.

The Rightful Ruler (The Blood of Youth, Lei Wujie/Xiao Se) Still the only English-language story on AO3 for this pairing! Includes maybe the funniest line I wrote all year? You make the call!

The Doctor is In (Psych-Hunter) I know nobody watched Psych-Hunter, and with good reason, but I did, and I think Jiang Shuo should get to spy on the sexy gay doctor if he wants to.

June

A Single Explosion (DMBJ, Pangxi + Xiao Ge) For PingPang Week, with @pangzi in mind. Here's the missing part of Ultimate Note, where Pangzi takes care of Xiao Ge in the hospital.

Dog (The Disguiser, Ah Cheng/Ming Lou) This was actually written before I saw the post going around about how the sexiest thing one guy can be is another's dog. But it's true!

And I am green, and you are wood (DMBJ/Mystic Nine) Another exchange fic, where Liang Wan gets a chance to meet all of Zhang Rishan's old (boy)friends, especially Ba Ye.

Reverse Cowgirl (Not Gay as in Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, Queer as in Dude Ranch) (@shousetsubangbang) Is this the hottest thing I've ever written for SSBB? Might just be. Lesbian ranch hands recruit a city girl.

July

Stay (Beyond Evil, Oh Jihwa/Yu Jaeyi) Because you know what that show needed? Small town lesbians.

Little Spear (The Blood of Youth, Sikong Qianluo/Xiao Se) This show has some cute het, but how it would work in bed is another matter entirely; or, two gay people try to have straight sex.

动须相应 (live-action Hikaru no Go, Yu Liang/Shi Guang) It's hard to get much gayer than the actual show without adding explicit sex, so ... here you go! Post-series boyfriends.

One Quiet Night (Kingdom, Seobi + Lee Chang/Yeongshin) This is the other thing I'm really proud of, because it too came out pretty much exactly the way I envisioned it. A nurse, a prince, and a scrappy piece of shit more or less all fall in love.

August

Hooks in My Sides (Beyond Evil, JWDS) This certainly was the most popular thing I've written all year. It's unfortunately easy to write poor Juwon having a gay meltdown.

A World Made Up of Silver and Copper (@shousetsubangbang) A prince-and-pauper scenario, this time focusing on the prince's adventures in being mistaken for himself. (Hint: they are sexy.)

September

...Funny how the first months of each semester are usually a complete wash for me creatively, huh?

October

to the beat of your heart, ch. 5 (MDZS)

Over My Dead Body (@shousetsubangbang) Nothing like the romance of possessing a corpse only to find he's not actually dead. (Note to DMBJ fans: This should taste like heihua.)

November

A fair amount of November was spent writing something that I just couldn't finish for December's SSBB, once I realized how long it'd have to be and how little free time I had. Maybe next year!

December

Antivenin (@shousetsubangbang) A mean bisexual and an even meaner lesbian team up to distract their gay boss from his terrible crush.

-

And that's it! It always feels kind of weird to see it all gathered in one place, like ... wow, that's not nearly as much as I thought it was. But at the same time, it involves a couple of pieces I feel very good about, so overall I'm going to take the win.

The most fun I had was doing my Small Fandom Summer thing, where I wrote fic for fandoms that had <1000 English-language works on AO3. Maybe I'll do that again next year!

Anyway, if you do wind up reading something, especially the original stuff, thanks. A lot of this can be a very lonely process, especially when there's not much of a built-in audience. Saying you liked something makes me feel a little less like I'm screaming into the void.

Onward to 2024!

[oliverreedmasterass]

Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby Competition🤩

Oh my god Addison I am SO sorry for the wait, but thank you for the request!!

Sleek, Modern, Sexy

Words: 3.8k

Warnings: brief mention of a kinda nasty finger injury, the Blue Man Group

--------------------------------

“Sam,” Josh’s voice shook over the phone. “We did it. We won a Grammy.” 

Sam was taking a nap when his phone broke him out of his slumbers and, while he had at first been groggy, he immediately snapped awake. 

“You’re kidding,” was all he could manage to say. 

“For Best Rock Album. We actually won.” 

Sam sprung to his feet and raked a hand through his long hair in disbelief. Their EP had beat Weezer, Ghost, Fall Out Boy, and Alice In Chains. It didn’t feel real. In fact, Sam hadn’t felt such a gratifying sense of victory since nine years earlier. 

He was about a foot and a half shorter, his hair was clipped above his ears, and, at that point, he had only touched his dad’s bass a handful of times. Instead of playing music with his brothers, he spent his days flipping through Marvel comics and, more importantly, designing his car for the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby. 

Despite his young age, Sam had established himself as a kid with a serious eye for engineering. It was most likely due to his father, Kelly, encouraging him to watch various Discovery Channel programs with him, and coming home with Lego kits, telling Sam to “go ham.” Sam’s creativity, logical reasoning, and handiwork made him a triple threat when it came to building a small, wooden car to race against his fellow Cub Scouts. He could hardly focus in school because he was too busy drawing blueprints and testing various models, hypothesizing which would be the fastest, or most aerodynamic. 

A week before the competition was supposed to happen, Sam was ready to put his car together. His older brothers, Jake and Josh, took interest in his project and trailed him into the garage as he gathered his tools. 

“I made a car for my troop,” Josh shared with Sam, hoping to impart some wisdom on his younger brother. 

“It was a lousy car,” Jake reminded Josh. “You placed in dead last because you glued your tires to a block of wood without checking to make sure that they rotated. The stupid thing sat at the starting line.” 

Josh frowned at Jake. “The whole point of this competition is to learn from your mistakes.” 

“I bought a Hot Wheels car ten minutes beforehand because I forgot to make one and got disqualified,” Jake told Sam. “So the bar isn’t too high if you want to impress Mom and Dad.” 

“I just want to make something I’m proud of,” Sam answered with a shrug. “But also I’m pretty sure I can win this thing,” he added. “The people in my troop aren’t the brightest.” 

“I guess things haven’t changed that much since we were there, huh Josh?” Jake nudged his twin in the ribs, which earned him a smack on the arm in return. He rubbed his forming bruise and motioned towards Sam’s journal. “Is that your plan?” 

“Uh huh,” Sam answered. He set his block of wood down and handed Jake the book. He would never say it to them upfront, but Sam really did want to impress his older brothers with his car. Earning their respect meant the world to him, and the fact that they had taken interest in his work was filling his heart with joy. 

Jake scanned over the various sketches of Sam’s car and raised his eyebrows. 

“This is detailed, Sammy. You really have been working hard on this.” 

Josh grabbed the notebook from Jake and studied it as well.

“There’s notes in here about aerodynamics. How do you know what that is?” 

“Dad showed me a documentary about how planes fly a few weeks ago. I thought it might make my car go faster too, with physics and all.” 

“Dad and his science documentaries,” Jake rolled his eyes. “So, can I help you with the saw?” 

Sam felt bad, but he had a specific plan in mind that he knew Jake couldn’t pull off. Plus, his parents had made it very clear to Sam that he and his siblings weren’t allowed to touch anything sharp. After Jake had sliced the tip of Sam’s thumb off a few years earlier, all of the Kiszka siblings were barred from putting their hands on any knives, saws, or other items that could cut. 

“I have to wait for Dad,” he sternly told Jake. The last thing he wanted was to get in trouble with his parents or, even worse, have Jake cut his thumb off again. That had hurt pretty bad. 

Jake looked like he wanted to protest, but Josh put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, and then pointed up the stairs at the main level of their house. 

“I’ll go and grab the old man now so we can get this thing started.” 

Sam wasn’t sure that he liked how Josh was referring to his project as a group effort, but he decided to let it slide since he was grateful that Josh was following his parent’s orders. It was rare that his brothers listened to their parents, especially since they had entered their teenage years. 

Josh bound up the rickety wooden steps and threw open the door leading into their kitchen, disappearing from sight while calling out for their dad. Sam and Jake stood in silence for a few beats, but then Jake cleared his throat. 

“Your design really does look good. Like, a lot better than the stuff I saw when Josh and I did the competition.” 

“We’ll see how it turns out,” Sam mumbled, his cheeks flushing. Jake seemed to be uncomfortable with the silence lingering between them because he moved across the garage to retrieve a soccer ball that was sitting around. Sam tried to focus his attention back on his blueprint while Jake started to juggle the ball, his sneakers squeaking against the pavement. 

Josh came back down a few minutes later with Kelly in tow, and the two joined Sam’s side. 

“You’re in charge here, kiddo,” Kelly told Sam. “You let me know what you need, and I’ll give you a hand. But you’re in the driver’s seat.” Kelly couldn’t help but chuckle at his pun. “What’s first?” 

“We have to rough cut my design,” Sam regained some of his confidence. He liked the feeling of being in charge and, more than that, holding his dad and Josh’s attention. Jake, on the other hand, was too preoccupied with his soccer ball at the other end of the garage. Kelly grabbed the block of wood Sam had been given by his Scoutmaster. 

“Shave it down a bit?” 

“Yeah, a lot thinner,” Sam said. He reached for his sketches and held them up to his dad to inspect. Kelly’s eyes scanned over Sam’s pencil drawings and he broke out into a smile. 

“Sounds good,” he said as he carefully set the notebook back down. 

Kelly let Sam wear a pair of safety goggles while he used his saw on the wood and instructed Jake and Josh to stand at least ten feet back. Jake had joined their side the second he saw Kelly bust out the saw, and looked visibly disappointed that he couldn’t move closer to see his dad cut the wood. While Kelly got to work, Sam looked over his shoulder a few times and grinned at his older brothers, who were both standing on their toes trying to get a better view. Sam had a front row seat though, and he remembered that he was the one in charge. He put that authority into practice when he noticed that his dad was being conservative with how much he shaved off. 

“I want it to be light,” Sam told his dad. “Take off more.” 

“You got it,” Kelly grunted. 

When he was done, Kelly presented Sam with his altered block, which was cut down to a thin rectangle. Sam cradled the wood in his small hands and studied it, picturing how it would look when it was done. He was still feeling confident that his design was going to win. 

“I need to sand it now,” Sam announced. This brought Jake and Josh closer to him, looking expectant that they would be asked to lend a hand. Sam wanted to be in charge of smoothing out certain edges of his car because he had to be very particular about it all, but he also wanted to make his brothers happy. “You can sand the tires,” he tried to delegate the work. “That will cut down on the friction.” 

That was more than enough to satisfy Jake and Josh since they happily accepted some sand paper from Kelly and grabbed Sam’s tires. 

“I didn’t realize you were supposed to do this,” Sam overheard Josh telling Jake. 

“It wouldn’t have mattered for your car, considering your tires didn’t even work.” 

“No need to keep bringing that up.” 

Sam kept his goggles on because they made him feel official, and he settled at his dad’s work bench to focus on his work. He reasoned that his car needed to be curved slightly in the front and have its corners be softened. He had read a lot of books at the library about the fastest cars on the planet, and a lot of them followed a similar structure. Sam grabbed his sandpaper and got to work, rubbing it carefully against the wood while biting his lip in deep concentration. 

“I think we’ve got the tires in good shape,” Jake joined Sam’s side while he finished shaving down the front of his car. Sam let out a short huff because he didn’t want to be distracted from his work, but he turned to look back at Jake, who was holding out the four black tires in his hand with a satisfied grin. Sam grabbed one of the tires and held it up to the lightbulb screwed into the wall above their dad’s bench to inspect their work. 

“Just a bit more sanding and then it should be good,” Sam said back to Jake. 

“You’re kidding,” Jake’s smile dropped. “We spent like twenty minutes on those.” 

“Friction will slow it down. I need this car to be as fast as possible.” 

Jake took the tire back from Sam and turned back to return to Josh. “The sandpaper is gonna turn my hands to stumps pretty soon,” he grumbled under his breath. 

Sam focused back on sanding the wood and, by the time Jake and Josh returned to his side holding out the tires again, he was happy with how the body of his car looked. It was pretty close to his drawings, which Kelly verified when he stuck his head back into the garage to check on their progress. 

“This is gonna be a fast one,” he claimed as he twirled the car around in his hands. “I can tell.” 

“Can you make some holes near the bottom for the axles and tires?” Sam asked his dad. “Oh, and also a few holes in the bottom for my weights?” Kelly inspected where Sam had penciled in for him to cut and brought the wood back to his workstation to use his loud drill. Within no time, the wood was back in Sam’s hands, and Kelly excused himself to get started on dinner upstairs.

Sam grinned down at his car and then snapped his head back up to look across at Jake and Josh. 

“It’s time to decorate it.” 

“What are you gonna do for the paint job?” Josh’s eyes were wide with interest.  

“Flames?” Jake guessed. “The Batman logo?” 

Sam shook his head. “I want it to be sleek, modern, and sexy.” 

“Sexy?” Jake and Josh both gaped at their younger brother. 

“You’re ten, what do you know about sexy?” Josh sounded genuinely concerned. 

“I hear people call cars sexy,” Sam replied. That was really all he understood about the word. His response seemed to bring some relief to his brothers since they dropped the subject. 

“So, sleek and modern, huh?” Jake asked Sam. 

“I want it to be red and glossy,” Sam shared. 

“Only red?” Josh checked in. “You could paint something else on it, you know.” 

“I was gonna do a Spiderman design, but I think only red is better,” Sam replied. “It feels more, I don’t know, grown up.” 

“I can grab you a Sharpie and you could write some stuff on it,” Josh suggested. “Like ‘Sam Kiszka rules’ and ‘I love my brothers.’”

“Ew, gross,” Jake made a face. “Don’t you dare write that on your car.” 

Sam laughed at his brothers. 

“I’m just gonna do red.” 

Josh was hovering around Sam quite a bit while he retrieved a tube of red acrylic paint from their arts and crafts drawer, and he took the hint. 

“Do you want to help me paint?” Sam asked Josh. 

“Sure,” Josh tried to sound cool, though Sam could tell that he was secretly ecstatic. 

They settled back in the garage and grabbed their paint brushes, both spreading the scarlet shade over the wood. Off to the side, Jake had snagged his own paintbrush and was carefully decorating the discarded pieces of wood that Kelly had cut off of the original block of wood with the Cool S. Sam and Josh covered the car in three hefty coats of paint before Sam decided that it was looking good. The color was bright and was certain to gather a lot of attention out on the track. To top it off, Sam added some gloss over the paint so it had a bit of a shine to it when it was held up to the light. 

“What do you think?” Sam called over to Jake, who had started mindlessly painting on his bare arms so they were mostly blue. He let his brush drop back down onto the table in embarrassment, and squinted to look at Sam’s progress. 

“Looking good!” he called back, giving a blue thumbs up. 

Since they had to wait for the paint to dry, Jake and Josh excused themselves so they could find something else to do to keep themselves preoccupied that wasn’t watching paint dry. Sam overheard them scheming to paint Jake entirely blue so he could run around their neighborhood pretending to be a member of the Blue Man Group. 

Sam took advantage of the peace and quiet and focused hard on aligning his axles and securing the tires. When he was satisfied, he glued the axles in place and then popped the tires on. He gave the car a light push across Kelly’s work bench and watched in delight as it moved in a straight line with ease. 

“Nice,” Sam whispered to himself. And then he hustled upstairs to find his mom. 

Karen was the self-proclaimed expert with the hot glue gun, which was what Sam needed to secure his metal into the back of his car to insure that it moved as fast as possible. 

“MOOOOOOOOOOM!” Sam shouted from the kitchen. 

“Yeah, Hun?” Karen’s voice was muffled from the other end of the house. Sam cradled his car in his arms to make sure it didn’t get damaged, and ran down the hallway to his parent’s room. There, he found Karen, laying on top of their Queen bed while flipping through Water For Elephants. 

“Can you glue something for me?” Sam asked, out of breath. 

“Is this your Pinewood Derby car?” Karen asked in intrigue, motioning for Sam to pass her his car so she could admire it. Sam excitedly handed it to her, hoping to receive more praise for his hard work. “Oh wow,” Karen breathed out. “This looks really good, Sammy. I love the color too.” 

“Josh helped me paint it,” Sam said as he puffed out his chest in pride. 

“That was nice of him,” Karen gave Sam a warm smile. “So what do you need me to glue?” 

“I have these Tungsten balls that should fit in the holes Dad drilled to the bottom of the car in the back,” Sam explained quickly. “I need the hot glue gun to make sure that they stay in place.” 

“Let me grab it,” Karen told Sam. He watched her mark her place in her book and stand from the bed to rummage through her closet for the hot glue gun. It had been a while since she had needed it; the kids weren’t doing art projects as much as they used to. 

They moved to the kitchen where she could plug the glue gun in, and Sam stood on his step stool to watch his mom trap the metal inside the drilled holes with the hot glue. While they waited for it to harden, Sam watched an entirely blue Jake run around the front yard, waving his hands around and cackling loudly. Karen caught a glimpse of her son and shook her head in disbelief. 

“What am I going to do with your brother?” she sighed. 

They both watched as Josh ran behind Jake with the garden hose, trying to wash him off with an equally loud laugh. 

Later that evening, the entire Kiszka family crowded in the living room to watch Sam test his design against the infamous Hot Wheel car that had gotten Jake disqualified three years earlier. On their homemade track, built out of old carboxes, Sam and a slightly less blue Jake held their cars at the starting line. 

“On your marks,” Josh called, “Get set, go!” 

Jake and Sam dropped their cars at the same time and watched in awe at the incredible speed that carried Sam’s car to the finish line in what felt like the blink of an eye. A few seconds later, Jake’s Hot Wheel clunked past the finish line. Sam’s grin was wide as he pictured his car winning the following weekend at the Derby in a similar fashion. 

In what felt like no time, Sam was at the Frankenmuth Youth Center, carefully shielding his car model from any harm. His fellow Cub Scouts were crowding around the racetrack and playing with their cars on the gym floor, which Sam noted was ruining their tires. 

He was standing off to the side, surrounded by his family, attempting to remain calm while he waited his turn for the competition. When the time finally came, Sam could feel his heart start to thunder in his chest. 

You can do this, he thought down to his car. He hoped with all of his might that his car was going to win. The prize was a large trophy which was pretty cool, but Sam mostly wanted to prove to the other kids that he could make the best, fastest car out there. 

He eyed his competitors and noted that their cars were too tall, too wide, too flimsy-looking, too chunky. In comparison his car looked like a part of the Indianapolis 500. Sam gingerly placed his car in its designated lane and then, per the Scoutmaster’s direction, took two steps away from the starting line. 

C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, Sam silently prayed. 

“Let’s go, Sam!” Josh called from the crowd. 

Please, Sam tried one last time. 

The bar holding the cars in place on their elevated slope was removed, and the cars sped down the track in a quick zip. The bright red color of Sam’s car definitely made it stand out against his competitors, and he had no trouble tracking it as it zoomed down the track at the front of the pack. The other cars felt like they were miles behind him. Sam started to imagine all of the bragging rights he would earn on the playground and could feel his stomach turn in glee. The Scoutmaster’s shrill whistle marking the end of the race brought Sam out of his daydream and, beaming wide, he waited to hear the announcement that his car had won. But, off in the distance, he saw the Scoutmaster holding a different car up. 

Bradley, who was conveniently the Scoutmaster’s son, ran to join his dad with an excited whoop, dancing at the finish line with his winning car. Sam’s face dropped in shock. Bradley’s car hadn’t seemed like a threat to him when he studied the other cars in the race earlier, but there must have been something about his design that outshone Sam’s. 

Sam could feel the excitement oozing out of him until he noticed that the Scoutmaster was holding up his car as well. He could just barely hear his gruff voice call out, “Second place!” 

Even though Sam had been shooting for first place, second place got a trophy as well which was more than enough to keep him happy. He had never won anything in his life and had always dreamed of having something shiny to display on his bookcase, just like his siblings. 

He sprinted to the finish line and had his winning car placed back in his hands, which he immediately lifted up in victory. Within seconds his family was by his side, clasping him on the back and congratulating him. That is, everyone but Josh. 

“Don’t you think it’s a bit rigged that the Scoutmaster’s son won?” he asked with his brows furrowed. 

“Joshua, not right now,” Karen told him. 

“It just seems a little bit fixed,” Josh continued to argue. 

Sam hadn’t considered that, but Josh did have a point. 

“Bradley cheated!” he called out. 

“No,” Kelly assured Sam, turning briefly to shoot Josh a glare. “He won fair and square. But you got second place which is so wonderful! You should be so proud of yourself.” 

“They stole that win from you,” Josh whispered to Sam. 

“Joshua,” Karen warned her son again. Josh took the hint and shuffled away from Sam. 

Sam was ready to continue spewing conspiracies that the entire race was fixed, but he was quickly distracted when the Scoutmaster announced that they begin the award ceremony. While Sam continued to hold onto his car, he was handed a polished gold trophy that had “2nd Place” written on a plaque at the bottom. He could hear his family whoop and cheer for him loudly and, in that moment, Sam felt like he had accomplished something truly great for the first  time. He always felt like he was living in the shadow of his older siblings but, finally, he could enjoy the limelight. He felt a new confidence growing in him as he realized he had won something that he was in charge of. It had been his design, not Jake’s, not Josh’s, not Ronnie’s, not his parent’s, his. He couldn’t be more proud. 

After receiving the news from Josh about their Grammy, Sam felt transported back to his youth when he placed second at the Pinewood Derby Competition. Like nine years prior, his heart swelled with joy that he, Danny, and his brothers had come together to create something that was uniquely theirs, and found success along the way. 

“We worked so hard for this,” Sam told Josh, his voice quivering as his emotions caught up to him.

“Nice to finally win first, right, Sammy?” Jake joined Josh, calling into the phone to Sam. 

“It definitely is,” Sam laughed.

[shytastemakerthing]

hi! I hope you're having a nice day/night! can I ask for a TWST matchup?

I have she/her pronouns. I'm about 5'2, but I look a bit older than I am. I have dark brown eyes and black hair, and I'm Hispanic [Venezuelan]. My music taste is all over, but my favorite artist is Melanie Martinez. I like writing creatively and drawing. I'm in a lot of fandoms but my main three are MPHFPC, TWST, and PJO/HOO. I have attachment anxiety, and do get anxious very easily. I have a tendency to either be tired asf and not talk that much, or have too much energy. My personality is kinda rude at first, but I'll be nice if I like you. I'm a but on the introverted side, tho. My love languages are quality time, and gifts. Ty!

Hello! Thank you so much for your request! I'm finally able to get these rolling out so hopefully by the end of the week, maybe a little into next, I'll be able to have everyone's done! I thank you all so much for your patience, it is been a very hectic time for me between work, school, hurricane, and just Overall sickness that seems to be going around!

Note: This one was a little hard because I had too many ideas but I managed to narrow it down! I also saw there was no preference for romantic or platonic so this is romantic as default, if you would like platonic, don't hesitate to message me😊

CW: None!

I match you with........

Floyd Leech

🐚 He totally understands how you go from being tired and quiet to all of a sudden being the most loud and outgoing person on campus.... that's literally him. He understands the constant changes in one's mood and all that comes along with it. Honestly, out of everyone at NRC, he supports you the absolute most.

🐚 Floyd is absolutely someone who would love some quality time. Everyone always runs away from him because of.... well, just being him. So the fact that when you see him zooming towards you at breakneck speed with open arms, honestly, he feels all warm and fuzzy inside.

🐚 There is a lot that you guys could do as far as spending time together. You could meet him for basketball practice (if you show up to games, he will be showing off), you could come and see him at work (Azul begs you to come bevaise when you're there, the moody eel actually decides to work), but he will absolutely LOVE to go swimming with you, especially if he gets to be in his merform.

🐚 Floyd is a chronic gift giver, change my mind. He sees anything and everything a gift that he could give to you, and he loves when you gift him anything back. He will show up at random times with shells that he found, pretty rocks, a random flower, maybe even a free drink. But the one he is especially proud of, was a little charm bracelet that had a little eel on it with some shells and a pearl. He sees you wearing that and you have a very happy and clingy eel.

🐚 By default, if you're with Floyd, you're bound to see Jade a lot ad well. At first, it was rather creepy, but Jade was genuinely checking to see if you truly do care for his brother. Sure, people have shown interest in the past before, but more often than not, it never ended too well. So, to see that you genuinely love his brother, it brings an actual smile to his face. You certainly have his blessing.

🐚 If you draw Floyd by any chance, prepare for him to that that picture and literally frame it in his room. It's his most prized possession at this point. And if you ever ask him to model for you? Well, just make sure he keeps his shirt on because man does not care, if you wanna draw him, you'll draw all of him. If that's not your thing, voice it real fast. But he will LOVE it if you draw him in his merform.

🐚 Speaking of merform, he would be absolutely content to just lounge in one of the pools in his natural form, you just resting on his chest as he floats around. Usually, he hates being stationary for long periods of time. He gets antsy. But with you there relaxing, so content and comfortable snuggling up to him, he doesn't feel that urge to just flop around. Jade and Azul are both surprised and impressed.

🐚 Overall, he understands you better than anyone else. Between the constant changes in your mood (he is the same and has become a pro at reading you, and vice versa), how he lives it when you draw him, or the little gifts you receive from one another, I sure hope you like the Leech name because he is determined and certain that you're going to share it with him one day.

[nuatthebeach]

2022 Wrapped

Tagged by @corneliaavenue! You're a lovely thing <3

Oof, it's already 2023, isn't it? Oh, well.

Post the top 5 works you're most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular)

it's gonna be 4 now lol.

persist and resist the temptation to ask you - this one is perhaps the most authentic, soul-pouring fic i've ever written. and the one i'm most proud of because of my growth in writing prose and pacing overall. there were many times i would huddle with a blanket in a dark room (💀) simply because of how much i was feeling in the moment. it was the most visceral experience i've had writing so far.

like passing notes in secrecy - i would say that when i finished persist, i was in this writing craze/high in that i simply wanted to write anything since i finally felt like i was on a roll, but that wouldn't do this fic - and my work - justice. because persist was so angsty, i desperately needed to write something that was light and fluffy in consequence for my own sake. i'm very happy about the banter and humor i was able to apply to this OTP; it was pure serotonin, and i hope it was the same for others.

Midnight - my first hinny smut!! aka i took my headcanon of switch!hinny and really ran with it. though i no longer have the same exact headcanon about the two of them, i'm still really proud of how steamy this turned out. and i have a feeling all the private bookmarkers do too 👀

you knew that i'm a mastermind, and now you're mine - man, the sheer power tswift holds on all fic writers everywhere. the aim was to use this song ("mastermind") in irony to show how the wizarding world perceives ginny relative to her relationship with harry. and because ginny is such a force of nature, she and the press manage to come to a certain albeit amusing level of agreement (a true mastermind har dee har). it's a bamf character moment for her, and she owned every second of it.

your top 4 current WIPs that you're excited to release in the new year

you reminded me to open up my google docs for the first time in a month! phewww.

premed hinny!rivals to lovers fic - snippet here. my final fuck you (and extremely reluctant thank you) to undergrad in the form of my OTP. fic is fully outlined and ready to be written if only i could give it the time of day 😭. but now that i have a lot of time opened up for me in the next several months, i'll finally get to it! fingers crossed

anniversary hinny smut - hinny roleplays as strangers in a bar, and let's just say we'll stick the art of acting to the shitty movies. a whole ass page written so far, so i take that as a win!

a somewhat angst, somewhat crack fic... i uh... have the most written for this wip so far of all my wips and im both proud and mortified by that. let's just say it's a story of how hinny finds themselves back to each other postwar... and the path is not exactly a straight route. playlist is a wip as well.

another crack fic because apparently that's all @takearisk-ao3 and me are on... though it's more accurate to say i helped to brainstorm and Hannah, the brilliant Executioner. to quote Hannah's post... "no comment."

im adding a fifth one because why not. hinny!vampire au. though there's only been half a page written for it so far, and hence a lot of white space, im so, so ready for the tools of creativity to lead me to more crackheadery that ive yet to discover. (like i needed more to start with.)

your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year

i think my writing comes off a bit "cleaner" now? there's more of a coherent plot, resolution to my fics than most of the simple "slices of life" that i wrote more of last year.

i'd like to think the dialogue comes off more natural now too. im finally getting the hang of doing more "showing" than telling and implementing symbolism and metaphors when trying to display a broader theme/concept.

im able to sit with fics and be at ease with the fact that im not going to have the right answer immediately. that i have to wait before i can post to make it better. i started prioritizing quality over mass production - and while this is still something i struggle with a lot of the times - i feel like this is a bit of a step up from last year. and most importantly, i learned that rewrites - not just editing - may be necessary too, and that is okay. that does not make me a bad writer but (hopefully) a thoughtful one.

your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year

to not constantly compare myself to other people's writing. focus on how i can improve myself without being intimidated by all the works of the many amazing writers in the fandom. to finally put words on the page fearlessly and authentically, like i felt i did with persist.

to take more risks. keep putting my characters in uncomfortable situations and testing out how they can grow from them. to not feel limited in my writing just because in my young age i havent experienced them. to push my boundaries more. (i thank @fairsquare16 @takearisk-ao3 and @narukoibito for encouraging this and the first goal every single time i feel even the slightest bit down about it; they're also the reason im still entertaining all these crackfics so put the blame on them when they eventually come out)

and your number 1 favorite line you've written this year

my fucking answer to this changes every two seconds...not for any other reason except that it's my biggest conspiracy theory that i have early, early onset dementia and can't for the life of me remember. here's one for now:

Like the story, the moral is just as simple: love unconditionally, act irrevocably. One shouldn't fear wearing their heart on their sleeve if the alternative is to never plant, water, and bathe it with the light of day.

After all, what are mistakes if not signs to grow?

Tagging

@narukoibito @heartstopping-waves @ashotofogdensoldfirewhiskey and whoever else would like to do it (i truly mean that)!

[undercoverpena]

hi jo! firstly, thank you for being such a positive kind influence in the community, you deserve all the love!

secondly, pls don’t feel pressured to answer if you wouldn’t like to, genuinely!

but i was wondering if you have any advice for writers on here that severely lack getting feedback from readers. i can’t help but feel extremely discouraged receiving virtually no comments (no matter how small) about my works when i post them. it’s a bit disheartening and it’s starting to affect my confidence in my writing, especially when numbers/notes don’t mean anything to me. i know that creativity and skill is not reflected by any parameters on social media whatsoever, but i just can’t help but self-doubt when i feel really proud about a work yet receive no feedback.

thank you for taking the time to read and i genuinely appreciate you < 3

hiii, that’s so sweet. I’m not sure what I’ve done, but I thoroughly appreciate it! thank you so much! 🩷

I shall be completely honest, I am not entirely sure how to answer or what answer I can provide. but as always, I shall give it my best go:

getting people to engage is a tricky thing, and something unfortunately you can’t make happen. on some occasions, it’s instant and with others it takes time. I know stories that have had so much interaction in the comments but then on others there’s been none—and they’re written by the same person. equally, even some of my pieces get very few comments and then others get a lot. so it’s difficult.

my first advice on what you can do to help is consider making sure your piece indicates what you’d like someone to do. sometimes people are scared/nervous, because they don’t want to do it wrong. so if you haven’t, adding a simple “If you can let me know your thoughts in the comments, be much appreciated” shows an indication that you warrant that kind of feedback.

if you’re already doing that and still struggling, I recommend seeing if you can reach out to some friends or writers you admire and create a ‘buddy’ group. this way you can share amongst one another your works, give each other feedback (and also then scream at one another about plots and characters). by creating a circle for yourself, it can make it feel less like you’re shouting into a void, and at least then if interaction is slow, you know there’s someone more than you who is invested in your story. if that’s something you feel would benefit you.

I had a group like this for a different thing and it was ahhhmazing. we bounced off one another, but we were also one another’s cheerleaders (and that’s such a nice feeling).

lastly, you love your story, right? remind yourself of that. something I’ve told a friend to do is before they upload and share it, copy and paste quotes or passages that they love from their work. put it in a fresh document somewhere just for you. and, when you begin to feel disheartened, remember the beauty in which you created. put it in a cool font, add it into a graphic (if you make them) or just have it in a format that tells your brain it isn’t on tumblr or where else you post.

I know it’s cliche, but the person who has to love your work first, is you. and while I know it’s disheartening (like honestly, you’re not alone in it), and unfortunately there isn’t a spell I can cast or a bit of helpful advice that I can offer to let you know what makes people interact.

and while I know I said this on the “be kind” post, but I like the phrasing. you just haven’t found your people, and that takes time. and by that I mean, the people who love your work, the words, the places, the descriptions you create—not just the character or fandom.

again, I am not entirely sure if this has been helpful. I feel i give such poopy advice and I’m so sorry if it is. but just know it’s okay to feel whatever you feel, just don’t let it smush out your flame (if you can help it) 🩷✨

equally, if anyone has any advice, please drop it below. I am very aware I am not that good at the advice hahaha!

[princess-of-the-corner]

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Recap: Olympus Coliseum (Pain and Panic Cup)

First of all, shout-out to Mudarrow’s KH2:FM Proud Mode walkthrough! That’s what I’m using for research in conjunction with KH Wiki! I figured I’d share that tidbit now since I should REALLY be crediting my sources.

Also, one thing I forgot to mention: All Limits have a “Limit Gauge” that runs out very quickly when you don’t use their commands, so they will stop on their own if you don’t use the finisher.

Upon arrival in the Entrance to the Underworld, Sora, Donald, and Goofy note that there don’t appear to be any Heartless or Nobodies around.

There is, however, a large stadium of some kind on the other side of the River Styx (or is it the River Lethe? I don’t know which Underworld River this one is, and Disney took so many creative liberties I’m not sure what hints I could rely on).

They don’t know what it is, but Auron explains that it’s the Underdrome.

It’s Hades’ personal Coliseum, where Fiends of the Underworld once clashed endlessly.

However, Zeus didn’t like the senseless violence, so he locked it up.

SDG want to know how it got unlocked.

“Some fool must’ve gone and unsealed it,” Auron figures.

“What an idiot,” Sora replies, completely unaware of the irony.

Auron walks off, and when Sora suggests they could get caught up, Auron instead insists he go check in on his friends as the camera pans over to the gates that lead “upstairs”.

Auron is gone by the time they look back.

We then meet Pain and Panic.

Panic tells SDG to talk to him if they want to enter a tournament, and Pain lets them know that Hades was gracious enough to make it nonlethal.

And if you win, you’ll earn fabulous prizes.

Plus, more tournaments will be added from time to time.

Currently, the only available tournament is the Pain and Panic cup.

All enemies are level 25.

There are 10 rounds.

The gimmick is that you can’t use Drive Forms, but Limits consume less MP.

Also, the enemies don’t give you EXP of any kind.

Instead,t hey drop score prizes that increase your score. Winning with a score of 2,000 or greater will mark the tournament as complete in Jiminy’s Journal.

Round 4 has Hot Rods, so use your anti Hot Rod strategies.

Round 8 is a repeat of the Rapid Thruster Horde from the Land of Dragons, so you only have to survive 80 seconds.

Round 10 pits you against Leon and Yuffie.

Yuffie can no longer heal, but she can still jump around and teleport.

She can either perform a two-hit melee combo with her Shuriken, or jump into the air and yeet it at you.

Leon is the more dangerous of the two. He has two separate melee attacks he can perform with his Gunblade (either charging forward and performing a multihit combo, or slashing sideways twice before slashing away), and can also “unleash his fighting spirit” to power up his blade the same way he did in KH1 to enhance ALL of his attacks.

When you beat the Tournament, you’re taken to the awards ceremony, and Pain and Panic display the trophy in the Underworld Entrance.

As for your “fabulous prizes”?

You get a Protect Belt (armor item, +3 defense), and a Serenity Stone (synthesis material).

That’s all for the Tournament, but remember what I said about the Absent Silhouette? How I’d be covering it “later” when I had a good place to fit it.

Upon challenging the Absent Silhouette, SDG are taken to the storm tossed island, where said Absent Silhouette transforms into Zexion.

Zexion only has one attack, trapping SDG inside of Books. It cannot be blocked.

If Donald or Goofy are trapped in books, Sora will have to destroy the books to release them.

If Sora is trapped by this attack, then he gets transported to a nightmare dimension (along with both Donald and Goofy, releasing them from their own books if they were caught), where he must find and destroy the book that holds Zexion, while a bunch of fake books fly around.

Zexion can continue to attack Sora in this state, sealing his command menu (forcing Sora to use a reaction Command to turn the pages of the command menu until he finds the command to revert it to normal), dash around Sora and attack him while invisible, or a couple of more advanced attacks that can’t be summarized easily:

If Zexion traps Sora inside a book while Sora is already trapped in the nightmare dimension, then Sora will have to use the “Struggle” Reaction Command 10 times to escape it. Using it 10 times will generate the prompt for “Reset” which releases Sora. Using it 10 times in quick succession will generate the prompt for “Break” which frees Sora from the book and deals damage to the one Zexion is hiding in.

His most dangerous attack is one that clears out all the Books but 3, places them in the center of the room under 3 spotlights, and then flashes between the three books like some kind of roulette.

Once a spotlight has been chosen, meteor’s rain down.

Whichever book the roulette lands on is where SDG need to stand to avoid getting hit by the meteor barrage Zexion summons.

On the plus side, the book the roulette stops on will ALWAYS be the one holding Zexion, so this is also an opening.

Once the book holding Zexion has had its HP depleted, Sora gains the “Dispel” Reaction Command, which dispels the illusion of the Nightmare Dimension and allows SDG to continue fighting Zexion.

Once Zexion is defeated, he reverts back to an Absent Silhouette, and the Absent Silhouette fades from existence.

Sora gets an item slot.

Donald gets 3 more Max HP.

Goofy gets Damage Control (Damage is halved at low HP).

You also get the Book of Shadows (recipe for the Shadow Archive and Shadow Archive + accessories) and a Lost Illusion (Synthesis Material).

That’s it for Olympus Coliseum for now.

Next time, we cover one of those two Disney Worlds that was unlocked upon clearing Timeless River.

See you then.

-

Man has a complicated bossfight!

[ghostdrafts]

Hi Ghost!

How would Jason Todd (Titans) react to his best friend writing fanfiction?

AH, okay. First of all, thank you for this. Easily one of the funnest things I’ve written in awhile (but I always have fun with your requests, let’s be real) and my askbox is currently empty, so you are doing a civic duty by asking!

That face. That face right there is the exact expression he’s going to make after he asks what you’re writing about when you start to explain what it is you’re doing.

I feel like he’d probably alternate between a couple of different reactions, but every single one is going to end with him (affectionately) teasing you.

But don’t let him lie, he actually thinks it’s pretty neat and if you happen to get a kudos left on ao3 at two in the morning from a user by thebestrobin it totally wasn’t him, alright? Yes, it was.

And as a fun little bonus, I’m really high on the idea of any canonverse fandom. Tim Drake is proof and I will die on that hill.

So, if anything you write pertains to him or the Titans in some way, he’s simultaneously going to double down on his teasing and get really invested.

I wouldn’t say that, you’re making me sound like a dumbass!

Jason. Honey, sweetie, baby. You kind of are.

Offense taken.

Not really.

He will sit quietly with you while you’re writing, whether throwing around headcanon ideas or working on a new chapter. At some point, his attention will shift from whatever he’s doing to read over your shoulder.

He will ask a lot of questions. Like, so many questions. And at a certain point it’s less that he doesn’t understand and more about him wanting to see into the world of your writing from your own perspective.

He’ll occasionally throw his own ideas out there! If you’re out and you see something that sparks his imagination, he’ll turn to you and say something like hey, imagine x character with so-and-so

It gets added to the next chapter and he gets so giddy when he sees that an outsiders idea has been accepted into your writing! He’s all smiles, feeling very proud of himself for it.

He’ll be your beta reader! He doesn’t know what a beta is, but he’ll ask to see your rough drafts before it’s posted and Jason being Jason, doesn’t stop himself from correcting any spelling errors. It happens to the best of us.

All your titles come from him. He’ll read it, before volunteering random song lyrics to go by.

He makes an effort to learn more about whatever fandoms you write about. He’ll take the time to watch movies, tv shows, whatever it is, and make a lot of mental notes to keep up with you when you spiral into a hyper-manic, fanfic writer tangent.

He loves hearing all of it. And if you’re the kind of person that prefers physically writing something down to get the creative juices flowing before actually typing it into your next masterpiece of work, he’ll randomly buy you journals and so many pens you end up with a whole collection of them.

Little references from your fics get plucked out as inside jokes between the two of you. Whether it’s a phrase or an action, character behavior. It gets brought up between the two of you constantly.

And Dick is confused every single time he hears it.

Kory asks if that’s just a human thing, because it doesn’t make any sense??

Dick tells her it’s not a human thing, it’s the side effect of sharing one brain cell.

Which makes it funnier for Jason to incorporate more references that only the two of you understand into totally normal conversations.

He’s a total sucker for seasonal prompts. He doesn’t know what it is, but he never had a proper Christmas and Halloween is a nightmare when you’re a little kid, all alone on the streets of Crime Alley, so when the holidays roll around and you start writing fluffy pieces about carving pumpkins and baking cookies, rainy days curled up by the fire, he adores it.

You’d find him, burrowed under his blankets, head barely poking out in a mess of curly hair, scrolling through his phone. He wouldn’t tell you what he’s doing, but it becomes clear when he rolls over after several minutes and asks you to post a part two.

All in all, Jason is a menace, but he’s the most supportive best friend anyone can ask for and very easily converted into the worlds biggest fanboy for your writing exclusively. He actively reads your works, but doesn’t really stray to other fanfics, because it’s just not the same.

[inkofamethyst]

May 15, 2023

okay.  inconsequential rant.  but.  instead of graduating with two BS degrees, I could’ve graduated with a BS in bio and a BA in anth.  all because I changed my four year plan at the last minute last sem to take stats this sem instead of another bio class.  and also because the department changed the BA requirements after I had already added the second degree.  because, like, who goes back to check the degree requirements to make such a “minor” change after already adding the degree??  originally (two years ago) the BA required a language and some other humanities classes that i didn’t have the room to take, but not anymore.  i just think it would’ve been cooler to have a BA as well, you know, to highlight my well-roundedness or whatever :(  ultimately, very very small issue.  i recognize that.  i’m just a bit annoyed is all, but it’ll pass.

In other academic news, cell bio grades went fine.  Latin honors not jeopardized.  So that’s squeaky clean.

I didn’t think I was going to cry after the concerts last night, but I was incredibly mistaken.  I sobbed for like ten minutes in some secluded part of the performing arts building (apparently not secluded enough though because some parent walked by with her kid and hugged me because she saw I was in tears) because

I don’t know if I’m ever going to do performing arts again.  If I’ll have the time, if I’ll make the cut... This has been a lifeline for me, a creative outlet, a social activity for almost as long as I’ve been alive.  Performance keeps me sane.  And I don’t wanna give it up.

Even if I can carve out some time for performing arts in the future, I highly doubt it’ll be something as cool and niche and aligned to my own personal interests as this orchestra was.

I’m going to miss these people so so much.  We’re all just passionate hobbyists.  Dedicated to making a product we can be proud of.

One of the choir directors took the time to compliment my vocal style and sincerely express his dismay at my departure.  He’s not an easy person to please, and it really touched me.  Especially since I don’t have formal vocal training which really makes me feel insecure sometimes.

I had a pretty dope solo in the fake finale, and in the first concert I missed the first note because it’s low enough in my range that, even when belting on a mic, I couldn’t hear myself over the orchestra at fortissimo to get it in tune.  No one seemed to notice, but that freaked me out.  Absolutely impacted my performance through the next several bars (missed a few planned vibratos, didn’t get full breaths in).  Then I was told that the arranger of the piece would be at the second concert, and, luckily, I hit it.  It was amazing.  After the concert, the arranger came backstage and told me that I not only killed it, but, in his opinion, sounded better than the original vocalist (I cannot tell you how many times I listened to the original recording this semester to get the feel just right, and it seems to have paid off).  That comment pushed me over the edge.

I didn’t give a senior speech because I was afraid of getting up there in front of the orch and not knowing what to say.  I probably would’ve cried then too and ruined my whole Cool Girl demeanor (but perhaps would’ve come off as a bit less aloof and a bit more human lol).  I wasn’t sure if I was going to go to the end of semester picnic, but I think I want to.  If only to hang out and say goodbye one last time.

I was supposed to go home today, but I kind of don’t want to leave.  Post-concert blues and post-concert high are mixing and it feels dreadful.  And it’s probably not just about the concert, but the whole graduation thing.  I feel like I haven’t truly exhausted the campus yet.

Today I’m thankful for the coolest thing I have ever been a part of.

[threewaysdivided]

as a fellow painfully slow writer, i'd just like to say—i feel you; i understand you, and you are not alone atop the Word Glacier. stay strong, and if it comes down to it, don't be afraid to rant to the wallpaper! it can't exactly talk back, but i've found getting spoilers into even just the open air can help soothe the ache—either way, i wish you an untroubled pen.

(referring to this post)

Aww, thanks anon! And all the very best with your project as well 💜

I suppose this is the double-edged sword of the planner-writing style.

On one hand, having the story already planned out in depth is great! The path is already there so I don't have to stress about pantsing myself into a plot-hole I can't get out of. I can look ahead and remind myself of future things I love (and know that I've already done some of the prep-work for them when the time comes). I can move up and down the timeline to work on future scenes if I'm not feeling the immediate upcoming chapter (I've been playing around with some Conner stuff recently). And sometimes I can take a break from the storytelling altogether to play with thought-exercises and meta-analyses (hence those posts about The Light and Martian Prejudice). NGL I would love for Deathly Weapons to get a TVTropes page once it's a little further along, so I can see what other people are making of the meta-side. It's fun to be able to plant foreshadowing when I know what it's pointing to - both a little secret for me to enjoy now, and a treat for other people to find later.

But on the other... they say "write for yourself", and in some ways for me this story has already been written. I'm still relishing the details and having fun tinkering around adding new flourishes, little elaborations and rediscovering things in my upcoming notes, but most of those big emotions and moments of discovery are experiences I've already had in planning. It's not in prose, but most of the substance is already there for me - if someone asked me to make a Deathly Weapons wiki, I could probably do that and do it faster than actually putting chapters out. You can probably tell that I usually engage with fandom via meta and reading more than writing. I’m proud of what I've made and I want to get it written up and posted, but the experience of discovering what that story is is definitely something I'm creating to share with others.   DW started out as the fanfic I wanted to find but couldn't, and as the one writing it I can never experience what that blind-read would have been like - it's why I love it when commenters/ reviewers stop by and give me a glimpse of their experiences with it.

(Also, let it not go unsaid: I massively overcommitted with this one. Deathly Weapons has 11 planned missions alongside intervening character chapters. I think YJS1 captured lightning in a bottle and I wanted to reflect some of that in Arc II, but amidst the throes of creativity I kind of jumped in feet-first and ended up setting myself the task of solo-writing a half-season as my first major fanfic project. Whoops.)

Besides that, I think fandom is a very community experience. I got into writing fic through reading it and finding fanart (which I think is the same for a lot of people). I don't really like the word "engagement" these days because of how overused and corporatized it's become but there is something to be said for reciprocity - being part of that shared community and creative energy. It's kind of like mutual gift-giving but the main gift is time.

Being a slow creator is kind of hard in that space because fandom is so ephemeral. There are some series which have unusual staying power (A:TLA and B:TAS are considered classics for good reason and Danny Phantom is infamous as the fandom-which-does-not-die) but most of them will ebb and flow, and age out and sometimes haemorrhage when canon backflips off a cliff over every shark in existence and fanworks are kind of at the whims of that. It's the price we pay for piggybacking off someone else's work and audience. I thought I was safe, I thought I had picked two series which were finished or at least over but nooooo...

It's one of the reasons I'm incredibly grateful to have found some discord friends who were willing to let me share major DW spoilers with them, as well as to @cryxdraws and @doodly-doop for making and sharing their lovely DW art pieces. Not only was it really generous for them to give me their time like that, it's been amazing to know that there are people out there for who this little hobby project means something, and who also think it's worth seeing through to the end.

So, until then...

[maxbrodbeckfilmblog]

The Hands of Men - Sound Design

I also did the sound design for The Hands of Men, through the Cinematic Post Production Module. This meant I was able to accompany my cinematography with sounds which corresponded with my own personal creative vision.

Atmos

I began the sound design with the atmos. We wanted the atmos to play a major role in establishing the unsettling and surreal tone of the film. The director gave me Eraserhead as a reference, which has perhaps the most unhinged sound design I've ever heard, which was an exciting prospect. After rewatching Eraserhead I worked my way through every sound on Soundly until i found the greatest wind noises of all time. I layered them ontop of radio static, on set room tone, laundromat sounds, rainfall, cave rumbles and more and ended up with 10-15 tracks of sound effects I intended to bring in and out to create a base for our soundscape.

I experimented with plugins on each track and found that Pitch Shifts came in handy on almost every single one. Seperating the sounds further in pitch created a fuller, denser sound which I think worked well. Once I was happy with the sound of each track, I noted which of the tracks I thought would work best over each scene of the film, and spent an afternoon changing the levels to create a coherant, but unique feel to each scene. For example, scene four is slightly rainier, scene three is staticy, scene five is windy, etc.

The atmos was adjusted further to account for the action of the scene. The Sub-Bass track that runs throughout swells with the pain when violet looks at Richard's hand. There are four key moments where the atmos grows with the tension of the scene and then hard cuts out into the next moment, from scene 2-3, just before the dolly zoom, from scene 3-4 and at the amputation.

I love the combination of the sounds I've chosen. I think I could have worked further in the levels of them to exaggerate the differences and characterise each scene and moment futher, but overall I am very pleased with my atmos.

SfX

To go with the thick, noisy atmos I'd built I worked on some pretty ridiculous, over the top sounds to pair it with. I'll work through scene by scene and detail the design.

1

The gift wrapping is mostly sounds recorded on set on the boom mic, treated and brought out of their soundscape to work ontop of my atmos in a heightened state.

The door opening is a sound I found. I tried many doors, but this door is easily the best.

The creak is from a sound effect used later, this was added late in the design and just works to play off the stereotype and add character to the scene.

The door slam is from on-set, enhanced and brought loud in the mix to work as a bit of a jumpscare in Violets mind. The atmos first changes in time with its slam.

2

The sounds the hand makes when Violet pokes at it are snapped twigs, they are pitched to sound like bones cracking. I am especially proud of the second poke, which sounds like they are actually about to pull his finger off and he's just fine with it.

The fork sound is a combination of a fork scraping against seramic and a large metal object hitting wood. I played with the plugins until this sounded as good as I could get it, but I would like to work futher on this sound. The atmost changes again on the sound.

3

The footsteps are recorded by our director Paula on a creeky floorboard in her flat, paired with found footsteps of socks on carpet. They are subtle in the mix but work well with the tone of the film.

The unwrapping sound is mostly from on set, emphasised similarly to the wrapping at the start.

The Dolly zoom is an amalgamation of things. First of all there is a gasp and a violin shriek, which articulates the light change and with it comes an entirely new soundscape. Violins scorced from the internet spiral in tandem with rising backwards screams, sizzling and hissing sounds. As it gets louder we hear moaning sounds I was unable to get a WAV of, so are MP3 files, for obvious reasons I did not record these sounds, though they are not copyrighted.

5

The amputation is the same noise as the fork in scene 2, but with different plugins to emphasise it and add weight. Over this there is celery snapping which comes back when the hand grows.

There are slurp sounds made vocally to imply the regrowth of the hand.

THE HAND NOISES

The sounds the hand makes when it hurts were the focus of my sound design work. I love the results.

At first we used the sound of an old kettle coming to the boil, which worked amazingly but got really annoying when it happened throughout the film, so Paula suggested we replaced it with microphone feedback. The microphone feedback works to embody the mental reaction to the pain and creates a migrane esque feel to it. Under this there is eggs frying, distant screams in reverse, a camp fire in reverse, fireworks and what's left of our original kettle, along with a rise in some of the atmos tracks. The final sound is a bit like a burn, which was the idea. For reference I took from the sounds used in films when vampires are exposed to sunlight, as this is the effect I imagined when Violet looks at Richard's hand.

Mix

The mixing process for this film was crazy. We wanted the sound to be as busy and noisy as possible, whilst also having plenty of room to grow and grow to enhance certain moments of the film, such as the dolly zoom or the amputation. I spent quite some time playing with how much I could push the atmos against the dialogue whilst never making it the focus of the film, and I think I have it at a good level in each moment of the film. However, when it was played on the big speakers in the crit the atmos is completely burried in the mix, so it's possible I should return to this and raise it throughout.

The Sound effects get louder and louder throughout, and some key moments like the footsteps, the chop or the regrowth are a little lost in retrospect and require further attention. I will certainly keep working on the mix, as I think it really elevate the film beyond where it is at.

Overall I am so happy with my sound design. This film is very special to me and I'm so glad it was the first thing I did the sound for. :)

[asanders345gd-i]

ARTS345 Final Course Reflection

This design course has been a huge learning experience for me, primarily in regards to my creative processes. The magazine project being semester-long was absolutely the biggest test of this. I've always struggled with internal motivators. The urgency that accompanies a quickly approaching deadline is unfortunately the signal for my hardest and most focused work. In terms of the magazine, I often sacrificed progress for other more urgent and immediate project deadlines. The biggest takeaway here is a need to build on existing time management skills in the grace period between terms, which I fully plan on doing to avoid another frantic semester.

My ideas for subject matter was also much clearer near the project start date. As time progressed, I found myself forgetting what ideas or elements I wanted to include. Ironic for an magazine on ADHD management, but frustrating nonetheless. Creative energy waxed and waned in a similar way. There would be weeks where I hated every single one of my concepts, and didn't end up with anything of substance to show for it. I have been pulling 8 hour homework days extremely often this semester, but the lack of progress by the end of them has been defeating. Thankfully, there are a multitude of online resources describing how to keep stamina during long-term projects with ADHD that will be extremely helpful to me.

Toward the final submission date, however, I'm really proud of my ability to pull things together. I went from few solid final designs to ones I really love in about a month. My goal was to experiment with a lot of high contrast black and white imagery. Color can be something I include to an excess with varying levels of successful execution. I love the visual puzzle nature of silhouette and figure-ground work and have been interested in working in that style recently. Aside from black and white ink illustrations, I felt type would be a crucial element here. For headers, I chose to create extremely large type in dynamic placements that demands one's focus. Here I discovered just how much I love working with dynamic type. It was a challenge to arrange the letters on the page, especially with their half-letter size, but the payoff after seeing it physically printed was well worth it. My approaches were usually either very large text or very small, which in context of my subject matter, was so useful for creating and retaining visual interest. Photography was my biggest uncertainty in terms of subject matter. I initially took photographs of natural shadows I found in the world, but I felt they were a bad fit for something largely black-and-white. Suddenly, though, I remembered the B&W 35mm photographs and scans from an intro photography class I had taken. After hunting, I tossed a few in and realized they fit perfectly. I loved using existing assets from previous courses, as it helps me not forget their successes and allows me to build upon those.

In assembling the work, I began to feel a bit uneasy. Craft is not always my strong point, and I especially didn't want to make too large of a mistake considering how long the spreads took to print and trim. I thought about using the demo method from class, however, I found my notes were so quickly written that I didn't understand the process. To solve this problem, I researched saddle stitch binding and selected it for the final. For a first try, I think I did pretty well. No catastrophic tears or rips, and the pages hold together pretty well. I would love to keep doing this for projects and personal work, just maybe with a smaller page count.

As a whole, I feel I got a lot from this course in terms of self discovery. My art and design work has really matured this semester and I think the magazine is a perfect example of such. In taking what I've learned technically and internally, I feel a much greater confidence in everything I do going forward. With some edits, I will be adding this project to my professional portfolio.

[mwill]

Effective Content

Effective content is developed and shared through effective planning. Today, the content is one of the most important marketing strategies on the market. Yes, billboards, tv ads, radio ads are still around, but effective social media can accurate your business very quicky, some companies within minutes. This is why having an effective social media/online approach is so important to business success. 

How can we create an effective social media platform for our businesses? There are a few key elements to the equation. First, know your audience and your voice. Second is to create your own content that is relevant to your audience, and make your content stand out. This takes time and effort, researching what is out there and how popular it is. Last is engagement and analyzing this success rate of the socials. 

Know your audience, Know your voice

The audience depends on the product or service you are providing. This takes some market research and raw data to understand. I would research your audience and your target audience before understanding your brand voice. As an example, if our business is feminine care, we are not going to have a voice be over joyful or to sad. Our voice is going to be a calm, understanding motherly voice. If we are doing our business voice on men's clippers, we are going to make you feel happy, proud, and attractive. Our business is feminine care, depending on our product line, we are going to have our brand voice as such. Feminine care is also something that seems to be a taboo to talk about sometimes. We again, can shape our brand voice around that, being comfortable to speak about it. After we understand our audience we brand our voice around this. This is effective in getting our socials started and maintaining them. Why? We know who we are talking to, they know what we will be talking about, and they can trust us because we keep the same voice a crossed all aspects of our business. Effectiveness comes from being consistent. 

Relevant in your content creationAfter understanding your brand's voice and audience, we want to dive into the most important aspects of our socials- what are we going to do to create and keep our audience? Market research on your competitors and how they conduct their business on socials is important. Make note of what is working for them, and what snot. Be sure to check engagement and reviews on what their audience is saying. The next steps are to create content around your business. This is not just photos and videos of the products- it is tips, testimonies, influencer, and customer recommendations. Be fun and entertaining on your socials! This helps engagement and gaining a community. This helps with making relevant content on your social's. It can be expensive making content. This will help to understand what to create and when.  Create content that your views will love, make them think, and even make them cry. Do you remember the writing tips from English class? Pathos, ethos, and logos. Socials are just the same- in photo versions. Use emotions, use logic, use ethics and use creativity when creating content. 

Engagement and Analyzing

Engagement tracking and analyzing what this means is the last essential step into building a successful social media network. 

Hootsuite is a great tool to use when analyzing this valuable information. Engagement also can be seen is how many new followers you gain, what others are saying on your posts, and even others post, and seeing how much traffic you are generating. A great deal of business minds sometimes does not understand, it doesn't happen overnight or the first try. Customers will check it out, see what you and the business is about, and process the information. Understand this key bit of information when running socials is important. They might see it once and continue to come back. We are always making "the first impression" while running businesses and social media. Never get comfortable, always be ready for those new followers and engagers and every impression may be someone is first. 

Know your audience, know your voice, create this content around them, and engage with your community. Socials is about building long term relationships and keeping these relationships alive. 

[briannas-casebook]

INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE PLAY: SHORT STOP-MOTION ANIMATION

For our latest project in Introduction to Creative Play class, we were given the task of creating a short stop motion animation with various Minifigure toys such as lego Minifigures. Working in groups of four, we picked out some figures. I picked out the scientist figure with brown hair and the cave woman.

I observed that, together, our Minifigures had something of a weird science theme going on with them. Such as the scientist, the cave woman, and the Bender from Futurama vinyl figure. So I suggested to the group that we make an animation about a mad scientist getting up to shenanigans in a lab. The group liked this Idea and after a bit of brainstorming, we decided it would be a Frankenstein-like story of a scientist bringing a monster to life. But instead of a figure, the monster would be a live-action actor's hand. With this, we started narrowing down our cast of "actors" from five to two (not including the live-action hand): the scientist lego mini figure (with her neatly done brown ponytail swapped out for the messy red hair of the cave woman minifigure) as the mad scientist, and the Bender Vinyl as her robotic assistant.

While planning out the story, I provided storyboards. I wanted the scene to utilise the features and props the minifigures came with, so I drew a scene where the creature is brought to life using one of her potions.

One of the students I was working with took on the directors role and wanted the look of the film to pay homage to classic horror movies of the 20s, 30s, and 40s, and wanted the final film to be filtered in black and white in post. While ambitious on paper, I realized this wouldn't be hard to do. I just needed to put a black-and-white filter over the video footage I'd film and save it onto my phone camera roll.

Using photos, we did some tests comparing color, specifically of the positions to test how well the colors of blue and green would translate to the black-and-white noir filter.

As you can see, the liquid in the blue potion looked darker and stood out more compared to the green potion, which looks more clear, so we went with the blue potion for the film.

For the filming and animation, I propped my phone on a 10-inch bendable legs mini tripod and animated the film using the app Stop Motion. In the first scene, one of our group suggested we have a scene where we used the openable chest Bender had to our advantage and have the scientist pull the potion out of Bender like a cabinet.

After filming all scenes, I exported the stop-motion movies as videos to my photo reel and applied the noir filter to them. I wasn't satisfied with the cleanness of the iPhone photos noir filter, however, so to get the more intense and dramatic aged feel of the lighting of old horror films, I adjusted some of the effects on the AJUST section of the photo editor. Taking notes on the adjustments made for each property so as to remember them and apply them to the rest of the footage clips.

One member of the group told me that I could apply filters and adjustments to multiple videos at once, however, she did not remember how to do so. So I just filtered and adjusted each video one at a time. This is something I will research for future use.

Once that was done, I airdropped the clips to the director, who as of writing this, is still editing the film together, picking a soundtrack, and adding sound and visual effects to it with the editing app CapCut. Once it's ready, I will receive a copy and upload it to my Vimeo with credits from each member of the team in the video's description.

Overall, I'm proud of my contributions to the group project and really pleased I was given the chance to work with a group. It's interesting to see how ideas can develop organically when people come together and where this process can lead. It was a very rewarding and fun experience for me and I hope I can work with these people again in the future on other projects.