#and i think that's because the advice was so low effort lol

[meanbossart]

Ask Compilation: Advice, influences and Misc.

Apologies for taking so long on some of these, admittedly I'm much more likely to entirely forget about asks that are about me and my interests 💃 Thank you for all the questions regardless! And thank you specially to everyone who just drops nice messages into my inbox out of kindness.

I'm brazillian and a native portuguese speaker!

I'll probably return to twitter eventually, but a) I hate that place and b) It didn't make much sense to me to turn it into a BG3 account out of the blue. I am considering making an Instagram or a new twitter just to have more places where people can follow in case they don't care for tumblr, but it's just been a very busy year so far and so that's kind of low on the list of priorities. If I ever do that I'll be sure to announce it here. Have a nice day yourself!

Sorry to hear that! I've gotten a few messages before about this issue, and the problem is that since I am myself not from the US, my options are also limited :( a lot of patreon alternatives don't work for me because they either don't go through paypal, take insane currency conversion fees, or just straight up block me from signing up.

Speak for yourself, I just assume everyone I speak to online has committed some sort of atrocious crime until proven otherwise. Except for me - of course. I have never done anything bad in my life.

I still have a lot to learn! But I will basically use whatever works for me at the moment, as well as make a sincere effort to learn about musculature and anatomy so I can understand those components and how they move, instead of only knowing what they look like when still - that's how you get better at drawing from memory. Volume mostly comes from coloring and understanding light, which is it's own beast but can very much be learned from similar reference materials and observing it IRL!

My favorite places to get reference are medical diagrams, weird pictures I take of myself, 3D software (often Virt-a-mate) and questionably phrased image google searches.

My favorite artists are Jason Shawn Alexander and Sean Murphy, but I'm not sure how much of it reflects in my art nowadays! I generally seek to pick up techniques from artists rather than to emulate style.

Honestly I love that you guys generally do the thing he would hate the most: take him very non-seriously LOL

I've been in a real Chelsea Wolfe and Amyl And The Sniffers kick lately! But usually you'll also find me listening to stuff like Boy Harsher, Swans, FWF, JK Flesh Lingua Ignota, Nick Cave, David Bowie, and so on. Music for the weird gays, basically.

I went insane and wrote a 23-chapter-long-and-still-ongoing fic in like four months. But also - I'm not that good, I'm just shamelessly pretentious LOL

Hm. That's a good question, but I'm not really sure. Sincerely not trying to be a edgier-than-thou here (in fact, this has made me a little self conscious at one time or another) but a lot of art that I don't mean to be horror-y in nature at all has been associated with the genre. So perhaps I don't know what I'm doing either, LOL.

I think just leaning on making things look slightly "wrong" or "ugly" on purpose is the way, but I also find that if you just seek to depict people as they are instead of idealized versions of themselves, you will arrive at that either way.

Thank you for reading! Honestly, I'm guilty of having not read much at all since I was in my late teens, and the style I'm employing for ANE is very different from the things I would call "influential" for me, or even that I used to enjoy reading at all before. I read a lot of Chuck Palahniuk as a youth (and, no slight to people who do like him still, but nowadays I'm not sure why I ever did. His stories don't speak to me at all anymore) as well a lot of weird experimental lit that I didn't even care to remember the name of. My last book stint from one or two years ago was composed solely of historical and medical literature, and last year I got really into Cormac Mcarthy thanks to the internet.

So, all in all, I'm absolutely all over the place LOL if you put a gun to my head and told me to list my favorite books, I'd say The Indifferent Stars Above and Blood Meridian.

(Consider the reading portion of the question to have been answered above) I really really liked Beau is Afraid and think it's a really great "horror" movie. Sue me.

[evil-general-john-macnamara]

hello i am EVIL general john macnama. i am like john macnamara but EVIL and BAD. you will be ATTACKED by me in your time of need. i will find you in the worst moments and tell you BAD ADVICE. do not expect me to be good for i am NOT GOOD i am EVIL. he/him.

ooc talk vvvv

this account is mainly satire! i will reply to asks but do not expect full in depth roleplay with loads of lore because that's not what this blog is for and i don't have that much planned here. i tag the posts as roleplay so people who don't want roleplay content by any means - even the low effort ones like this - can exist without this in the main tags. i'm not a roleplayer! at least not in public with people i don't know

this account was also started as a bit but got a lot more attention than i was expecting. because of that i went from expecting to make weird posts that disappeared into the void to actually answering asks every day

i was not prepared for this lol.

i'm keeping it up for as long as it goes because i still think the bit is funny but know that i'm not the most serious about this account and that if i one day stop using it that's just gonna be that

other than that general boundaries are that if you plan to send in an ask know that i could very easily be rude because it's part of the character, don't hold expectations and get disappointed if i shut them down (ie trying to flirt and getting rejected), and don't take the replies or comments seriously

i cannot stress this enough this blog was for a joke!

that's all :] have fun

[blueskittlesart]

hiiiiiiii so um. ik a while back you posted a doodle of yourself with short hair and i’ve been thinking about cutting mine short—do you have any tips about picking a style or anything that might not be obvious about having short hair?

oh fuck yes I do! I've had short-medium hair in a few different styles since I was thirteen (im 20 now, so it's been a while) and I recently buzzed my head for the second time so i'm pretty experienced in this area lol!

first thing you should know is that if anyone has ever suggested that you don't have the "facial structure" for short hair or that you're not gonna look good with it is full of shit. no one tells men they don't have the face for short hair. i promise it's gonna look good. chop that shit off

in terms of style, be aware of the amount of work the style you pick is going to take. when I first cut my hair short the reference photo I gave my stylist was of a heavily styled cut--something that would take gel and hairspray and a lot of effort to maintain every day. The base cut was fine, but it didn't look like my reference photo without a ton of effort on my part, and at 13 I wasn't really willing to put that kind of effort in, so my hair ended up unstyled and kind of flat and weird for a while. if you're someone that doesn't like to put a ton of work into styling their hair every day, pick a style you can just wake up and go with. my personal favorite lazy bitch haircut is the buzzcut that i currently have. insanely low maintenance and comes with the added benefit of stopping weird men from talking to you in public. perfect haircut.

Also be aware of how your cut is going to grow out and/or how often you're going to have to get it trimmed to keep it looking the same way. that was something i remember being really surprised about when i first cut my hair off--when your hair gets to a certain length, it grows more slowly and you don't have to cut it as regularly to maintain its health and your look. when you have shorter hair, your hair grows FAST, and if you're not planning on growing it out you're going to need much more regular trimming to keep it in check. Make sure that that's in your budget or that you have the time and skill to trim it back yourself! Alternatively, if you're planning on growing it out after the cut, look into how it's gonna grow out so you know what to expect in terms of look and styling. I like to buzz my head mid-summer and let it grow out for about a year before shaving it all off again, because I know that I like all the stages of growing out that cut and I know how to style all of them. there's always gonna be an awkward stage of growing out your hair, but make sure that you're not gonna spend a ton of time hating your look just to get your length back if that's your plan!

my final advice: if you're looking for a specifically masculine haircut as an afab person, do not go to the same older female stylist you've been going to since you were 10 years old. trust me. You can show that woman a picture of a whole grown man for reference and you will still be leaving with a karen cut. she is incapable of giving you what you want. Either try to find a stylist who you trust to use your reference faithfully, go to a male barber, or cut it yourself! especially if you're going for a simple buzzcut or something similar, it's really easy to cut your own hair at home with a pair of electric clippers from amazon. I've been cutting my hair with safety scissors and some clippers borrowed from a friend for going on 4 years now. it's easier than you think!! youtube tutorials are your best friend.

now onto things you might not know:

listen to me. this is the single most important piece of advice i can give you. buy spray-on sunscreen and SPRAY YOUR FUCKING HEAD. there is no hell like a peeling sunburn all over your fucking scalp. it will happen and you will not expect it and you will want to die. you are going to think your hair is thick enough that it won't happen and it is going to happen anyway. do not take chances with this shit

you do NOT need nearly as much shampoo and conditioner for a short cut as you are instinctively going to put in your hands after years of having long hair. think, proportionately, about the product-to-hair ratio you were using BEFORE your haircut, and do not squirt out more than like a nickel-sized pool of product at the absolute most. your bank account and your hair will thank you.

short hair still needs to be taken care of especially if you're bleaching/otherwise chemically treating it regularly! if you're putting harsh chemicals in your hair you should be using restorative treatments afterwards regardless of length. no matter how short your hair is it can still get stringy and gross and break!!

in that same vein, you CANNOT be applying bleach to your short hair in the same way you do for your long hair. listen to me. Drugstore bleach cannot be sitting directly on your scalp for more than 20 minutes. if your hair is short, any amount of bleach you put in it is going to end up sitting directly on your scalp. i know it's tedious to do multiple passes but chemical burns are even more tedious. please do not put bleach on your skin

also in regards to bleaching/color, keep in mind that your semipermanent color is probably going to have less longevity in your short hair than it did in your long hair. Since all your hair is close to your scalp now, it's taking the brunt of your shampoo regimen and therefore the dye is going to wash out quicker than it would in long hair where most of the dye is further away from the scalp. if you're regularly trimming your hair to keep it your desired length, you're also going to be cutting out a lot more color than you would by just trimming dead ends on long hair. you may find yourself spending more on hair dye if you dye your hair regularly!

[kassymalone]

Any tips on writing dastardly villains?

Always happy to help you, quiet one! My advice as always is 'make it make sense'.

In this case, its 'what does the villain want and how do they plan to get it?' This starts getting complicated quickly, but it helps you break down who your villain is and how they're going to win or lose.

If you've got a smart villain, then they'll have a dastardly plan. If they're the smug/proud type, then there's likely to be more holes in the plan that the heroes can exploit, because the villain will think its flawless. If the villain is more humble or careful, the plan will be harder to foil, forcing the heroes to be smarter in turn. If your villain is a brute, then you need to put your hero in a position where the threat of physical violence is real - a super smart millionaire with superpowers isn't going to be scared of a mob enforcer, but a woman living alone on the bad side of town with nowhere to run will.

Which brings us to the villains arsenal. What do they have that makes them a threat, and what weakness is going to cause their downfall? Lex Luthor has endless money to buy any weapon or property or fund any terrorist, he has endless henchmen and an army of lawyers to do his bidding, BUT... he's also only human. In the best interpretations I've seen, he takes every effort to keep his business and crime life separate, because plausible deniability is how he gets away with it. Sure, Superman can beat him up, but without the evidence that he did something wrong he's not going to jail. (Gathering that evidence is Clark Kents job, but I digress).

To use an example from my work - Red from Love? I Think Not. He had two goals - get rid of the evidence, and get the girl (for a phrase). His advantages were careful planning, brute strength, and magic, while his weaknesses were low stamina, predictability, and being too lost in his fantasy of love to see the truth of what was around him. He was so lost that he didn't see his brothers betrayals coming, didn't see the threats around him, and even though the survivor MC wasn't as strong or smart, they were able to get the upper hand because they had a strong focus on reality and most importantly, they had a real support system.

For a more recent example, take Sun from Three Steps to Obsession. Yes, he has crazy robot strength, but he never uses it on Starshine and its never implied that he would. His villainy towards them is purely psychological. He's not particularly smart, but he is /overwhelming/ - he's a bull in a China shop, barrelling towards what he wants and crushing anything in his path. He never leaves Starshine alone with their thoughts long enough to see what's really going on, how overwhelmed they are. Even when he becomes a physical threat at the end of arc 2, its not that Sun is going to hurt them, but that he's not going to stop Afton from doing so. Sun is defeated when he stops listening to Moon, the one of them that does the thinking, because he's so singleminded in his desire to posses Starshine.

Perhaps the most important piece of villainous advice is this: no-one is the villain in their own mind. Every villain I write is a hero in a different story, just with one loose screw or stay wire that pushes them beyond what's socially acceptable. Just being plain evil isn't fun - you have to make your readers love them before you pull the rug out.

Hope this helps! Ask me if you want any clarification (writing this on my lunch break, so can't get too into it, lol)

[genericpuff]

Same anon as before talking about writing stuff and worrying about if people will find it (but not the same anon as the other asks before that) - I think many people who are budding writers and artists have these concerns and bring them to you because you A). Are a creator yourself so you know what you're talking about in a verified sense and B). Idk about other anons but some of us (like me) take your reasoning (and critique) in regard to writing seriously because of your experience and how you analyze stuff such as LO.

I think at least some of us (again I can't speak for everyone nor can I or should I) wants to make sure they're not making mistakes such as the ones RS does in writing.

Also I might just take you up on your offer of Zelda fanfic - I do so love LoZ 😅.

ugh god, am I y'all's role model now or smthing? why would you do that to yourself (ㆆ_ㆆ)

okay but jokes aside, obviously people can't help who they look up to and I'm not gonna be a dick if y'all look up to my work and what I do here, just remember also that you're not obligated to agree with everything I say or take it to heart, you also shouldn't take my analysis of LO and how it's written/drawn personally because so much of that analysis is within the VERY specific definitions in which LO exists, definitions that don't really apply to many other webtoons on the platform. If there's anything I say or criticize LO for that speaks to you and your own work on a certain level, try not to take it as a direct personal attack towards you and more just like... if the things I'm saying about LO feel like they apply to your work, take it as advice for improving your own craft.

Or don't! You can literally ignore me and do what you were gonna do anyways. I literally cannot take that away from you and you absolutely shouldn't let me. I have no real power over anyone here, that's what I mean when I say I'm just a guy participating in their hyperfixation so don't feel like you gotta take me too seriously lmao

Also, yeah, okay, I'm a webcomic creator myself, but to put myself on the cross for once - I've never succeeded at this gig. Rekindled is the most consistent audience I've had in years, I think the last time my work was in a banner rotation was in 2015 (and it wasn't on WT), and I somehow make something like $20/month off Patreon. I've had small victories along the way, it hasn't been all bad, but this isn't my living and chances are low I'll ever find mass success with it. Everything I said about not taking my opinion too seriously because I'm just a random Internet guy applies to people like Rachel as well, while I criticize her work on the basis of it being a commercial product that should know better and I DEFINITELY harp on her for a lot of shit, at the end of the day she's in no way obligated to pay even a second of attention to me because she's made way more money in webcomics in the last 2-3 years than I could ever dream of making in the 10 years I've been doing this, that's something I can't take away from her and that was never the goal when it came to discussing her work. All I have to show for my own efforts is experience and rhetoric, and a few odd readers who have been around so long I wonder why they even still follow me LOL I am your typical "can never live up to the success of those who they criticize" chronically online shitposter. I don't think I should have to be on Rachel's level to be able to discuss her work, mind you, that's half the function of an audience to begin with, but it's not like I have any real legitimacy in this industry that you should worry about what I have to say. It's not like I'm capable of robbing Rachel of her awards or the money she's made lol

And by all means, go ahead and look for my fanfiction stuff, but I'm not providing any eye bleach because I wrote it when I was like, 13 years old, so search at your own risk lmao

(and if you do find it, no you didn't （︶^︶）/hj)

[wheelie-hurting]

I feel like I have internalized ableism and I don't know who else to talk about it. I know cripple punk is all about rejecting the narrative of what a "good" disabled person is and that's really what I'm struggling with right now.

I feel like I have to constantly prove to myself and able-bodied people that I'm always doing the right thing or following the right regiment. I'm doing my physical therapy, I'm avoiding caffeine for my POTS, I'm following an anti-inflammatory diet, yadda yadda. I think a part of me feels that maybe the ableds will "accept" me when they see all my effort or offer me a seat at the table or something.

A few weeks ago one of my coworkers, who also has POTS, drank two Monsters and then had a POTS episode. They may have been correlated. They may also have not. But I of course made assumptions and jumped to conclusions and I am so ashamed of the things that ran through my head when this happened to my coworker. I was SO smug and self-righteous. I thought to myself, "well what did they expect drinking that much caffeine? Of course their negligence would have consequences." I was just SO unsympathetic. Like what the fuck is wrong with me? Do I think mentally berating other disabled people will win me the approval of able-bodied people?q

Tldr; how do I stop my internalized ableism? It's harming the way I view myself and other disabled people. Also you don't owe me an answer if it is too mentally or physically taxing.

yeah it’s not fun to have those thoughts but ngl it’s not harming them as long as ur only thinking it, and not saying it to them. might be my low empathy speaking but yeah. i do however thing that u probably would benefit by working through those thoughts and “beliefs” for your own sake as well as others.

i don’t know if i have any advice because since i have low empathy i tend to not care much about other people but myself, so i kind of have a “mind my own business” mindset lol. i don’t really care what other ppl do, sure i judge ppl sometimes but i usually don’t say anything. but i guess it is important to learn how to accept that other people can do whatever they want, no matter how it’ll affect them. it takes time and practice, if you notice yourself having those thoughts towards another disabled person, try thinking “that is their life, they can do whatever they want to” or something.

when it comes to internalised ableism towards yourself i think the same applies, but since i kind of have a distorted sense of self importance due to my npd i don’t have much issue with it💀 practice acceptance, things are the way they are, you do what you can, and your are allowed to to what you want and need.

[jazzythursday]

Hiiii, Jazzy! For the ask game: 🍓 🥑 🔪 🌿 🪲 (hehe sorry djsakgjkdg <3)

Hi Sparrow!!

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

I’m a long time fanfic reader, but I didn’t start really writing anything until 2021. I think, probably, because of the pandemic and needing some kind of outlet for creating things (and also because the Miraculous Ladybug plotlines were haunting my dreams, rattling their chains around in my brain until I finally caved and wrote some actual communication/emotional resolution for the characters that I wasn't getting from the show)

🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?

You and @waterloou lol

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Bahaha there are SO many, because I frequently have to look things up to write all the fun little facts Wylan has in his head. But I’m not sure researching poisons and how to build bombs/fireworks is all that weird, to be honest.

I’m going to go with the time I was writing a Good Omens fic, and I used google street view to virtually walk from the Ritz to around where Aziraphale’s bookshop would be in soho, so I could know exactly what it looked like and if/when they would likely pass by St. James’s park on the way, and what named streets would be on that route. (I’m not even sure that’s that weird. Maybe I need to be weirder...)

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

I do generally believe in the whole “not forcing it and take breaks if you need to” thing usually, but as for advice:

Consume some type of media you really like. Movie, show, book, an old favorite fic, anything that inspires you. I also like going back to the source material for things like fic because it gives me ideas or gets me into the right mental place to write the characters, and I like reading my own fics to brush up on my own interpretations/style.

🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here

Oh...did you say 50? becuase I slipped and wrote 283...

(from Jesper's pov of the bookshop scene in ch 1 of Everyday)

At some point he loses Wylan to an art book he seems keen on and quietly drifts away with, leaving Jesper to talk to the enthusiastic bookeep on his own.

Jesper’s arms are getting progressively heavier with book recommendations, and the bookkeeper is somehow still holding at least twice as many. He doesn’t understand where they're even coming from at this rate, because more just seem to, to appear each time he looks away. 

He thinks about Kaz and his sleight of hand, and wonders at the chance that the bastard of the Barrel has been giving magic lessons to Wijnstraat booksellers in his free time. 

He actually has read some of the books the man recommends, either because they were commonly popular in his parents house or on the frontier, or from his short stint in university.

Unfortunately, mentioning that prompts the bookeep to ask, “Ah, so you’re a student, then?”

“Er—” Jesper blanches, in such a pitifully uncomposed way that he’s sure he can just feel Kaz shaking his head in judgemental spirit. The bookeep raises one solitary eyebrow, and Jesper, for some reason—probably because he’s Jesper—keeps bloody talking. “Yea-up. Yeah,” he bobs his head in a jerky nod, “Students, at the university. Good ol’ U of K. Woo...” Jesper cheers. Actually cheers. 

Great fucking work Fahey, very believable.

The bookkeep raises his other eyebrow, but smiles kindly. “That must be exciting. What are you studying?”  “Business,” Jesper answers quickly, and makes a concerted effort to not let it sound like a question. 

His fingers twitch, longing to trace over the pearl handles of his revolvers, but they’re hidden deep under the folds of his coat, and—apparently—he’s a university student now. 

I'm probably (definitely) going to be late to my fist class today now, but I really don't regret it.

Thanks for the questions!! 💖

[egg-emperor]

I feel like the closest Eggman could get to comforting someone who is upset is saying "stop being a whiner, the only person whose opinion matters is me! your stupid feelings of inadequacy aren't important! Now get back to work."

That presuming they aren't an enemy, in which case he's probably just rub their face in it.

Lol yes, that's exactly what I imagine his best "advice" is like when he isn't trying an especially manipulative and deceitful method. It'll always be self focused as he's only capable of thinking about himself. It's not conventional sweet and caring advice and comfort and it comes off as rude, cold, and selfish even when he is attempting to perform it to get them to pull themself together if it will benefit him personally in some way.

He's just so deeply narcissistic and has such low empathy that he focuses on himself and can't understand how they feel and doesn't care to try to do any better. Especially since he's only bothering at all for selfish reasons. XD So you get things like him saying his opinion and feelings are all that matters, that whining or being a crybaby is just silly and and they need to snap out of it and man up to put effort in to change it.

I also imagine him saying funny stuff like "You shouldn't think about [thing you're upset about], the only thing you should be thinking about is me." lol. Everything else isn't important and is underserving of their focus and energy and attention, it's all supposed to be on him, which is why they should get back to work to benefit him instead of being hung up on it! And that's the belittling/dismissive method I'm referring to in my last post.

But then in cases where they're an outright enemy, he laughs and mocks them to see them in a state of weakness and will be relentlessly cruel with no holding back because their misery isn't a loss of something useful to him like with his lackeys or anyone else he's trying to get something out of, it's only something for him to take full pleasure in, so he will mock them and rub it in to make them feel pathetic and small for being "soft".

[bogkeep]

Do you have any advice or resources on pricing commissions/commissions in general? I've been thinking of starting comms

I hope this is an okay thing to ask lol

PS: luv ur art!

for resources, there's this video (subtitled but not transcribed sorry) which lays it out really well! there used to be a really good twitter thread by yoshi yoshitani, but it seems to be deleted.

here's some general experience/advice:

- IN A PERFECT WORLD we would all price our commissions well and fairly and comparable to industry standard, buuuuuut i get why most of us don't. compared to industry standard my $130 character portraits are also underpriced, and while i AM steadily upping my prices (my first comms were $40 for a fully colored and shaded fullbody. oof) 1) i need to consider what audience i have and who will be able to commission me, and 2) i mostly do commissions for some extra pocket money, not to make a living. i think my prices are comparable to many fellow internet artists in the same sphere.

- the way i price my commissions are that the MINIMUM amount needs to be the amount i have to be paid to feel like a commission is worth doing (taking into account my limited amount of time and energy to work on art, if i take paid $50 but then spend several days to complete it i will grow resentful and stretch myself too thin for too little), and the MAXIMUM is "at what point will the price paralyze me because i feel like I don't feel like i can make something worth that amount."

- working on a commission WILL take longer than just working on a Fun Piece For Yourself, both because you're putting in extra effort trying to make it worth the money you're given, and because you will spend time communicating with your client. you will get a better grip on your timeframe after you have more experience doing commissions.

- you're not just taking paid for the art itself, but client communications, your experience and expertise which has taken years to build, revisions, tools, etc.

- something they JUST told us in clock school: sometimes you get clock repairs that cost less than your quote and you might feel bad about this, but you will definitely do clock repairs that cost a lot more than your quote. THIS IS HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE, THIS IS HOW YOU BREAK EVEN. when you give a quote at the beginning you don't know how much the work is going to take and estimates are always rough, but you're using your time and expertise to offer a service and you need money to live.

- your prices/quote can have wriggle room like "will cost X amount but Y for Extra Detailed Stuff Like Wings/Fancy Outfit/Background Detail"

- don't offer commissions you don't wanna do! i used to offer a wide range of styles and price categories, including some really cheap sketch options, and i don't Regret doing those per se but nowadays i only offer a narrowed down selection. I don't have time to do fullbodies with full backgrounds, so even if it's something i CAN do and people WOULD pay me for, I don't HAVE to do that.

- its okay, encouraged even, to adjust your prices as you go along and get more experienced at doing commissions. it's pretty normal to start out with low prices to get the hang of it (tattoo apprentices do tattoos for lower prices unil they're done with their training, and doing commissions is its own skill)

- if someone thinks your prices are too high, you don't want them as your clients to begin with. dealing with shitty commissioners is rarely worth the pay, and higher prices tend to result in better and more respectful clients.

i hope im not forgetting something hope this helps

[streetlights-was-taken]

revisited this fic idea more than a year later. I'm still not committing to it, buuuut I kinda want to play around with choicescript and, well, I already have a sample CYOA text written from last year

I tweaked the code a bit so that the game looks a little more genshin-like. the pictures are just the banner versions of the namecards, which are available in the genshin fanwiki.

anyway. I don't think I explained the concept of the story in this blog yet! there are two main ideas:

you play as an unnamed wind wisp observer whose responsibility is to witness and preserve venti's story, just as venti preserves teyvat's history. from time to time, venti asks advice from the winds. but he loses "divinity" the more he gains "agency" so there's a greater chance he won't listen to the wind's advice if his divinity stat is low. the endings are tied to the divinity stat, since it determines if venti ends up as a bard, archon, or god

the other main idea is that venti summons the twins to teyvat when he makes a wish upon the stars. this is one of the first route selections. choosing "hero" means lumine is the traveler; choosing "savior" means she's the abyss princess. (I found out that choicescript has darkmode, so I enabled it if the player chooses the savior route)

going deeper into it, the divinity stat is somewhat misleading. I remember this talk about how games can be about the things you don't explicitly mechanize. this is somewhat similar. technically, what I wanted to really measure for the different routes and endings is a memory stat, since venti is really an archivist if you think about it. that's his main role so far in the game. he has perfect memory when his divinity stat is high, but his memory becomes "faulty" the more he loses divinity. so this is where the "god" and "bard" endings come in.

well, that's the initial idea. in truth, I simplified everything to one stat because I thought I would try this with AO3's limited way of making CYOA fics. I had a workskin set up and everything! you can see how the CYOA works in my sandbox fic. but obviously, I abandoned the idea since it's very high effort.

I'm trying out choicescript because someone mentioned the pilot script I wrote in the past for fun. I actually forgot that I shared it with them lol. anyway, we talked about writing and I mentioned to them that in the past, I was interested in learning how to write a CYOA game. and I guess from there, I remembered how much I played text games. I'm just exploring and trying it out.

I could have tried twine instead. but I feel that twine has too many bells and whistles that would distract me from actually writing. I have zero art skills too, so something minimalistic fits my skillset more, I think.

ANYWAYYY idk if I'll write this fic, but this definitely opened up some possibilities. but I'll have to rethink the mechanics because now I don't need to be tied down to just one stat. I have the power of javascript! I can do whatever I want now!!

also maybe it's just my meds are finally working because I cobbled this together in two nights. it's really not that hard to get into! but I also code for a living so that definitely helps.

[vergess]

this is a personal af question that you do not need to answer publicly or at all esp. bc its for fanficish writing purposes but anyway so like how DO you, personally at least, deal with episodes of psychosis? because google tells me that the go to needs to be antipsychotics but 1. the context is a character who does not have regular access to them anyway 2. every one i have looked at has GOD AWFUL PERMANENT SIDE EFFECTS that seem to be almost guaranteed to happen? and my doctor oc would not subject that to anybody. the usual psychosis symptoms i write in my current rps are post-ictal and postpartum psychosis specifically because getting information about that from people who actually HAVE THE CONDITIONS is easy, and there seem to be other methods of dealing with them without antipsychotics (plus, you know, magic dnd for one, and pokemon psychic bs for the other) but finding information on how people with other forms of psychosis (in this case, schizotypal ftr) deal with it from their own perspective is almost impossible? it's ALL ableist bullshit from doctors which is why i am hesitant to trust the idea of "antipsychotics are the only way" :/ even reddit is not helpful here lol and i want to get this right? i know it's just tumblr rp/ao3 fanfic/discord rp that nobody important will read but me and my friends are trying to NOT be ableist shitbags on purpose you know?

Boy I really just don't answer tough asks over the winter months, huh.

I started keeping a closer eye on how media that I otherwise recommend depicts psychosis since getting this ask, and I'm disappointed to announce that over the last two months only two (2) pieces of media have been Normal About Psychosis.

So, the first thing to remember when writing a Psycho is: WE ARE WHOLE ASS ADULTS WITH ADULT BRAINS OKAY, we're not small children lost in a fantasy. We're not violent monsters out for blood. We are people who sometimes see, hear, etc things that aren't really there.

Writing a psychotic character competently isn't about curing them, or even about reducing their symptoms. It's about showing how they cope with those symptoms while carrying on with their daily lives.

I'm currently on the lowest possible dose of antipsychotic right now, and I will say two things about that. 1) the meds make reality checks and other coping skills MUCH more effective. 2) Even at a low dose, abstract and creative thinking are hindered. I don't feel hindered; but I have a 24 year long writing portfolio that says I sure as shit am hindered.

Whether a character will benefit from going on meds is going to be a balancing act. But since you aren't actually looking for meds advice, lets talk about those Other Coping Skills.

Broadly, I would split my skills into three categories: stuff for hallucinations, stuff for delusions, and stuff for dissociation.

So, first off, reality checking is my #1 go to for hallucinations.

You pick this skill up pretty quickly as a kid; everyone does. The difference being that where a non-psychotic person eventually gets to stop relying on others to tell them what is real, we get to keep on asking forever.

It's actually super exhausting to be in a crowded space because most of the nonverbal cues you come to rely on (eg, no one else flinched so that noise probably wasn't real) become INSTANTLY useless. Every noise, movement etc may of may not be real, and your only option is to either gauge other people's lack of reaction, or ask someone you trust for a reality check.

Sounds like an easy way for an abusive shit to control your entire life with no effort? It is!!

THAT'S WHY PSYCHOTIC PEOPLE ARE WAY MORE LIKELY TO BE ABUSED THAN THE GENERAL POPULATION.

Once you know if something is real or not, you can decide to ignore it. Like ignoring anything obtrusive, this is easier if you are in a good mood, physically comfortable, etc. An absurd amount of "coping with psychosis" is just constantly monitoring yourself and others to make sure you are reacting to the right things at the right volume.

Ignoring something that your brain insists is real and a threat is very tiring, so there's also a lot of sleeping.

Delusions are significantly harder to manage than hallucinations, IMO. Not just because, as a multiply marginalized person there are myriad ways that an ambiguous "them" is actually trying to ruin my life for real. Being on terror watchlists due to racism REALLY makes it IMPOSSIBLE to manage my paranoid delusions because some of the more insane shit is just real.

But there are other delusions that are easier to handle. Mostly, this comes down to self monitoring again. I can take an extra second to ask myself, "hang on, statistically speaking, how likely is it that this total stranger ACTUALLY wants to kill me?" The answer, of course, is "violent crime has been trending down for years, and everyone in this area thinks I'm white as long as I don't go outside during the summer, so I'm safe."

It's all about finding the information that helps keep you calm.

Because the absolute certainty that this is a murderer and you are walking into the slaughter will not go away. You just... take it on faith that this time will turn out as safely as the last 399 times.

It's just a shitload of observation, mimicry, and forcing myself to do things that feel dangerous by reminding myself that they aren't.

That shit sounds simple, but it's a CONSTANT fight; it never really gets easier, you just get used to it.

Which brings me back around to my meds again: I think I prefer it this way. My writing sucks, and I keep crying when I read it because it's wrong, it sounds like a field amputation. But god, I went to a cafe during the morning rush a few days ago, and the overload of noise and data only left me bedridden for ONE day. ONE!!! Not a WEEK!

Maybe losing my only art is okay in light of how much less bad things are.

Anyway, I can't remember the name of the 2014 short story about the One Person With Psychosis being wrongfully shunned by her colony because she doesn't feel affective empathy, in spite of her constant and perfectly reasoned moral code ensuring she is, if anything, the least dangerous person in town. I wish I could remember it!! It's a good example!!!

I haven't read it yet, but people I love and trust seem to generally agree that the psychosis in Harrow the Ninth is well written, too, so maybe check that out IDK

[k-tarotz]

Can I request a personal reading for myself? :D

Sun sign: pisces | Rising: Taurus | Moon: Leo

I don't know my mbti sorry :(

Initial: S

My question is: What would my relationship(friendship)with Hoseok and Yoongi be like? Would any of them have any romantic feelings about me?👀 And what would be their first impressions of me?

I hope it's not too much lol, I asked about these two because they're my bias and utt🩷

Hiii please don’t apologise!! It’s completely alright to not know your mbti! It’s an option, not a necessity <3

w Yoongi

the hanged man, 7oS rev., KoP rev.

So unfortunately I do not see you two having a deeper relationship, your friendship would be very lowkey and from the best of my understanding it would be due to lack of effort from his part. Yoongi doesn’t seem to be the type to just open up to anyone as he most likely went through a lot of friendships in his life, making him have a lot of experiences which would make him cautious.

He wouldn’t be rude towards you though, he would always do his best to be polite, kind and get along with you well but your personal views or perhaps opinions on certain things in general might clash. You two could have this tendency to get annoyed at each other and bicker a lot.

He would rather be like an older brother who does his best to get along with you, more than anything.

w Hoseok

9ofS, 5ofP, 9ofP rev., 7ofC rev.

Alright! So! Hoseok would definitely be someone that is rather concerned for you. He would look at you as someone that has their head up in the clouds pretty often, so he might often give you realistic advices when you need it, or perhaps help you out when you are at low points in your life out of pure care. I do think your friendship with him would be deeper than Yoongi’s, but maybe not as deep as you might wish it to be? Which, I am sorry for. However, I would like to mention that there would be a special kind of trust between you two. He would be someone that can listen to you without making you feel bad about your emotions, or perhaps just situations you are in. In his eyes you would be a friend that needs someone to rely on, and he would do his best for you in that sense. I don’t think he would go to insane lengths, but he would still care for you more than one does in an average friendship.

I am sorry, I don’t think either one of them would have any kind of romantic feelings for you, everything seems strictly platonic from their side.

disc.; I know this isn’t necessarily as positive as some others but please keep in mind cultural gaps and generational gaps could possibly play a part in how you guys view each other!! I am sorry though </3

— Candy

[purplebass]

hey there! realising, long story short, that i really need to get into creating art as a way to regain my sense of autonomy and get into motion the habits leading to the mental health benefits down the line. but i'm honestly so stuck, even creating graphics for my profile here on this site seems like so much effort that I feel like it'd be more of a task (and the minute I start thinking of something like that I go into Fawn Mode and lose all creative ability) rather than something fun to do. i've got a million fragmented ideas of things i think would be fun to do in theory, but in practice whenever i remember the real world and its demands i immediately go numb and lose interest and it's just hard to connect with my creative side.

just reaching out because you are so brilliantly artistic and i can tell that everything you put out is such an expression of who you are. and i also know you're very open to the 'what is good for my brain' conversations. so if you have the bandwidth to give advice/suggestions can you think of any low-demand/low-effort ways to reconnect with my creative side and build my confidence to feel safe to express myself (i know it's in there somewhere!) are there any things you've found you can still do when you have limited spoons? or are feeling too tense or tired to think properly? tysm xx

hi!!! I'm glad you reached out to me because I love giving creative advice <3 creative block often happens to me too and sometimes I can't really help it and that's okay. Sometimes we need to recharge in order to feel creative again. If you're looking for a creativity boost that works for writing and editing pictures, I try to look at Pinterest for inspiration. I usually start with a word that maybe stuck in my brain or simply something I like (like purple for example) and it's a chain from there lol more images pop up and I add the ones that speak the most to me to a board (like an aesthetic board). Or I start from a song that stuck in my head and won't leave me. What I can do about it? What does inspire me? Bc sometimes there is a story behind that! Another way is to try to write freely too and without thinking about punctuation or grammar. Stream of consciousness-like. Just write about what comes to your mind after choosing a picture you really like or a concept or starting from a song you like. But this last bit may not work all the time because if you feel stuck, it feels like you can't bring anything outside of your brain on to the page.

Since you love to read, I would also suggest two books. The first is "Drawing with the right side of the brain" by Betty Edwards and "The artists' way: a spiritual path to higher creativity" by Julia Cameron.

The first one is more about drawing but I think it can also apply to writing as well because the author explains how the sides of the brain work and how you can "unlock" your right side to visualize what you wish to create on paper with more clarity. She is convinced that even the most talented people sometimes use the left side more and this hinders their creations and doesn't help to unlock their full potential. I think you might love this since you like neuroscience :)

The second book by Julia Cameron could also be helpful because it's like a weekly course and every week she asks you to do some tasks in order to slowly reconnect with your creativity from inside of you. I still haven't read this but someone said it wasn't bad especially if you are trying to find yourself and your muse.

I hope these help 😀

[iampikachuhearmeroar]

yknow, if there's one piece of advice I can give to people who don't have special needs in school, it's that DO NOT under any circumstance, idek (???) apply to be a scribe/writer for a special accommodations kid just to solely get out of class.

I had this happen to me in year 11 or 12, when the public school I was at, as well as the nsw education board, were adamant that the ONLY way I was to ever sit my hsc (end of high school) exams and pass, was to have a scribe. and a scribe only since no one would take the time & effort to EVER read my OWN hand written responses if I chose to do them by handwriting only.... and also that the education board kept outright refusing my access to a laptop bc "exams are meant to be handwritten only!!!! this student obvs wants an easy way to do her exams and wants to cheat!!!!" and "obvs this student, her teachers, her GP and the occupational therapists we made her see..... are all lying that she kid NEEDS a laptop accommodation for her exams to let her have a chance of succeeding.... so instead, we'll give her depression and anxiety so bad that she won't bother studying, lol."

so the first couple of scribes i had were good, bc they were in the year below me, and so, didn't know me. they told me to take my time and breathe etc etc. all around being supportive. however, one girl who had volunteered to be my scribe was originally in my year, but forced to repeat bc she'd missed too much class or whatever. moreover, she never liked me bc of the ~stuck up catholic school bitch~ thing that some people still held against me even after I'd been there for a while and was nice to everyone.

but what did this girl's dislike of me lead her to say??? she demanded of me, for my ancient history or w/e the fuck exam she had to write for me, that: "can you just hurry the fuck up and get this done so I can GET TO LUNCH ON TIME???? bc I only signed up for this to get out of class and get extra lunch time if you're quick. its not my fault you're *the R word*."

like Sally. you full well know HSC exams are long. ancient history was 2 or 3 hrs, I can't remember now. of course you're going to miss lunch. why the fuck did you even bother signing up for this, if you actually D O N T want to help people, let alone help someone you don't like???? wow. what a kind soul you are, you dumb ass. I don't give a fuck if you want to miss class. you signed up to help, so get writing. you selfish ass bitch.

anyway, I took my precious, painstaking time in this exam mostly out of spite for this bitch, bc i didn't think she deserved to have lunch on time when she'd signed up to help people for the full exam time. and also for calling me the *R word*. like I get that. it was 2012/2013, and I'd had people call me it plenty at catholic school too, for being related to the special ed dept. but there was NO REASON to call me that right before my exam that you signed up to help me with.

as an aside, I was practically a low needs special needs student. all I wanted was a fucking laptop for my exams. but instead, I had to settle for this fucking cow, who actually didn't give a fuck if she made me fail or not.

anyway. my point is, if you sign up to help any type of special needs student at school or at uni, have some fucking empathy and patience for the other person. having a scribe should NEVER be an option in exams, in my opinion, because it's impossible to relate coherent thoughts under exams stress. or at least it is for me. and esp as someone who used to do writing as a hobby in high school, this was like purposely cutting off my arms, which I could ACTUALLY use and also the direct brain connection to: brain to arm, to hand and pen, to paper. I fucking L O A T H E D it so much, and esp in the case of this girl.

like yes I did end up getting a laptop, which ended up being pretty pointless anyway (diagrams in entertainment industry and biology and doing double the work for multiple choice).... but still. I have this experience buried in my brain whenever I think about how shit special accommodation organisation can be for exams for special ed kids. don't sign up if you don't actually WANT to help, and instead want to do it solely to get out of your classes and expect early and extra break times.

[ticklystuff]

Hiiiiii I saw that Childe and Zhongli have their banners together and I was wondering which of the two would be the better pick? You are the Chili expert, so there's no better person to ask c: I want both but I'm F2P so I can only get one.. *sigh* any advice is appreciated! I'm a newish player (started during Baizhu's banner), but I do want to do abyss one day. Thanks for reading and I hope I'm not bothering you

ah hello anon! i hope you're enjoying the game and you are correct; this is my area of expertise ohohoho

the only answer to your question: break out your wallet and get both pull whoever you like more

since you mentioned abyss, all characters are viable some more than others but childe and zhongli are both great for abyss runs and both are considered f2p friendly. if you really want my opinion, i say go for zhongli because childe is for sweaty gamers, whereas zhongli is mainly for people that like comfort but he does appeal to all crowds. they are night and day though when it comes to their roles:

zhongli - off-field support, easy gameplay, easy to build, low investment, good pick for many teams but is usually not the best option

childe - on-field dps, steeper learning curve, harder to build, higher investment, is only good for one team but that one team is arguably the best team in the game and childe will be your best option for that specific team (you can use him as your hydro in other teams but he will perform worse than others)

very long explanations under cut:

there really isn't much to say about zhongli. he is the best shielder in the game and the comfort he brings is valuable. unfortunately, he doesn't provide much outside of defensive utility, which kinda ties in with what i said with him usually not being the best pick for a lot of teams because once ppl learn to survive without his shield, they start to phase zhongli out of their teams for more offensive options. i used to do abyss clears for friends and whenever i felt like i needed more damage, zhongli would often be the first one to be swapped out. that being said, getting hit and flung around or just dying is considered a dps loss lmao so unless you're a pro-gamer with perfect dodges, zhongli will always hold some value. i always bring him on my personal account because he lets me turn my brain off lol

but ya, since zhongli doesn't offer much outside of defensive utility, i do think his pull value is heavily affected by your account and which other characters you might have. characters like baizhu, kokomi, kirara, diona, layla etc will all give him competition and even though they might not be superior defensive options, they offer other utility outside of survivability. he's still a good pull though! there's just many things to consider

childe is unfortunately a one-trick pony and is only good in one team. you are free to use him in other teams, but he is outclassed by the other hydros and requires more effort to learn. his one good team though is arguably the best team in the game and is referred to as international, consisting of childe, kazuha, xiangling, and bennett, and childe is the best hydro for this team. the team is regarded highly by low to mid spenders because a c0 childe can perform on par with many other teams consisting of five stars with constellations and is a great team for speedrunning abyss and has been the only team consistently in the top five of abyss teams for the past two years. a couple of reasons why the team is good: damage is split somewhat evenly between childe and xiangling and you buff both of them, which is unlike teams with xiao or eula where you only buff the main dps. the team has a good mix of front-loaded (childe burst) and consistent (childe melee and xiangling burst) damage, making rotations flexible and adaptable to whatever abyss decides to throw at you (ex: you can kill off a wave of enemies with childe's burst and then save xiangling's burst for another wave). although the team is primarily aoe focused, it still does good damage in single-target scenarios, which is great because most other teams usually are only good in one scenario. the team does have a steeper learning curve and has a bunch of nuances you need to get used to and if you hate xiangling for whatever reason, you will have a bad time, but there's a good reason why childe is the golden child of the speedrunning community

although childe is harder to play, his playstyle is a good gateway to understanding genshin's mechanics, if you're interested in that. also, his complicated kit does mean he has a few tricks up his sleeve that only childe can do and while most of them are situational, they do have their uses and does make him a surprisingly versatile character, despite the constricting cooldown

anyway, since childe is heavily tied to international, i've linked a good video below if you feel like watching to get a better understanding of his playstyle (it's a long video, but the basics section is the important part and it's not that bad and also i like the cute fanart lol). also, even though international is good, it is overkill and you don't need this much damage to clear abyss, so if that doesn't interest you, then maybe childe isn't best for you, but he's still a good pick. sorry that this is so long, but i hope my response helps and that it all makes sense!

[inkovert]

Welcome back to writeblr! ...I say as I only now dip back in myself after too many years of lurking. >.> I can't wait to follow along with your journey of editing your draft! I'm at a similar point in my writing, and while there's so much talk about writing and plotting and eventually publishing maybe, sometimes it feels lonely to work in that in-between zone of being "done" but not really. And congrats on 60 books! That's insane! As someone who desperately needs to read more, do you have any recommendations for Best and Worst books that you read?

aw thank you! Yes I definitely get the lurking. I've been lurking myself for the past few months but have finally decided to commit to posting again.

Haha I didn't think my editing journey would be of interest to anyone so I'm happy to hear that. I may post about it more than I'd intended to then in hopes that it may be useful to someone.

I 100% agree with you - though I understand finishing a draft of a story requires a *massive* amount of time/effort so understandable that there aren't floods of people posting about this part of the process - but I have been floundering to find advice about editing and while there is some out there I wish there was more! And just more commiseration about how hard it is? Like I've only just started in the last month and I haven't made much progress, I'm still figuring out an organized method to go about it. All that is to say I'm happy to commiserate with you any time about this "done-but-not-really" phase that we're both in lol.

Re best and worst books I've read: oof. It has so much to do with preference! A book that I consider 10/10 great someone else may not find their cup of tea. If you're asking for book recommendations for you to personally read for enjoyment I'd need more info on what you personally look for in books! If you're looking for recommendations on books to read to analyze story elements that I think have been done well and/or not so well, that's a list I'll provide below (excuse if this is not what you were asking for):

Books Stronger in Important Story Elements

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles:  Strengths: Storytelling, narrative voice/tone, well-rounded characters, character development. Weaknesses/Criticisms: time-jumps could be confusing.

 I think this novel was brilliant and so enjoyable because of the way the story was told. Of all the things I listed as its strengths the biggest was the character development. Following The Count (the MC) from where he began to where he ended, and how his growth came about so organically was so satisfying. And despite the slower-pacing of this story, the narration is delivered in such a charming way to keep you engaged and turning the pages. 

Legendborn by Tracey Deonn:  Strengths: everything.  Weaknesses/Criticisms: nothing (I’m joking I just can’t think of any).

This book is probably in my top three reads of this year. You want well-rounded characters with clear motivations? You got it. You want amazing and well-explained worldbuilding with information delivered to you at necessary times and not info-dumped into a wall of exposition? You got it. You want a well-paced story that nicely balances the heightened action and suspenseful beats of the story with the low-stakes emotional, introspective beats that will keep you hungrily devouring the pages? You got it. You want a well-developed and not-forced romantic subplot? You got it. I have nothing bad to say about this book, but I’m sure there are criticisms out there if you want to go looking for them. 

Pachinko by Lee Min-Jin:  Strengths: strong characters/character development over long time period, thematically strong Weaknesses/Criticisms: again, don’t have any but they’re there ofc

If you are writing an epic saga or a series, even though this book is a standalone, I think it’s a masterclass in how to write realistic characters who readers get to follow over an extended period of time. You can watch how they grow over a number of decades and simultaneously how they retain their flaws and the core of their identities. A big theme/trope of this story is generational trauma, which is handled incredibly well. 

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah  Strengths: strong atmospheric writing and strong conflict  Weaknesses/Criticisms: Some people think the ending was rushed/too unrealistic- while I understand the criticism I don’t agree with it so form your own opinion!

I will preface this by saying there are a number of CWs in this book that I would look up before reading because I was shocked/unprepared when they came up as I was reading. That being said, this is an emotionally heavy book. But what I think it does the best is that it makes it clear from the get-go that the setting is a major character of the book, and Hannah does so with such strong atmospheric writing that you can feel yourself in the bone-chilling, bleak, harsh winters of Alaska. But even more than that, is that the major conflict(s) that are central to the story are not just man vs. man or man vs. self but also man vs. nature. The setting is a silent but imposing antagonist, that is foreshadowed long before it becomes a threat, which makes this book even more terrifyingly engaging. 

Books Weaker in Important Story Elements

Disclaimer: I am criticizing these books purely from a writing stand-point. These books may be great content/premise wise; they’re probably someone’s favorite book, and that’s fine. But objectively I think most of my writing-specific criticisms are valid (and I’ve read reviews from other readers who have shared similar viewpoints). 

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzales

I hate to criticize an author of color because there’s so few of us out there. But that doesn’t mean we’re above making mistakes. To be fully transparent, I did not finish this book (DNF'd @ 30%), but I was buddy reading it with a friend who did finish it and she told me that all the issues I had with it carried on to the end of the book, so I feel confident/comfortable still saying this. This book had a lot of potential, and the premise was quite interesting, but the strength of the story got buried beneath heaps of exposition/info-dumping, a lot of “telling” not “showing” (mostly with regards to the characters, which made it hard for me to connect with them and see them as real people). Another issue this book suffered from was its lack of focus. The author attempted to tackle way too many things in this story, which left her unable to meaningfully explore any one theme/subplot. So this book taught me that being overambitious with the topics I’m trying to tackle may not always be a good thing and can cause my story to suffer. And info-dumping on your readers can make them want to pull their hair out (at least that was the case for me). See: Lengendborn on how to balance the info you give readers.

Things We Do In the Dark by Jennifer Hillier This is a thriller/mystery novel also by an author of color (I’m sorry). This book did a lot of things well and I think it was a great novel…just not as a thriller. It took me a while to figure out why I felt meh about this book and it was because there was such a lack of suspense. I wasn’t sitting at the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. I felt like I was reading a contemporary fiction novel sans thriller. 

Upgrade by Blake Crouch Same as above. This book did not have me hanging at the edge of my seat despite being a sci-fi thriller. What I believe this book suffered from most though, is that it felt like it was written for a movie adaptation, and not to please/satisfy its readers. In this new age where books are being shuttle to the screen with increasing frequency, I get it (esp because this author already has one his books being adapted to screen). But I think that just sets you up for the “movie is better than the book” comment. If you’re a novelist, honor your medium and write a book, not a screenplay. 

An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard There are too many issues with this book to count, so I’ll just list the lessons that I learned post-read: If you’re writing a book with multiple POVs, make sure each POV matters. Don’t use multiple POVs just to give the illusion that the story is fast-paced just because we’re constantly shifting POVs, or to make it seem like more is happening in your story when really…nothing is. It just makes the story unnecessarily complicated and hard to follow. Put as much time and effort into crafting villains as you do your main characters. Don’t make them caricatures! Make them well-rounded so they feel real and I actually give a shit about them even if I don’t agree with them. If you’re gonna build up to some intense moment or event - make sure there’s actually a satisfying payoff. Don’t end every conflict/battle in two sentences. It just makes me as a reader stop trusting you every time you point a red arrow at a scene and say “Look! This is cool/important!” I'll walk away feeling cheated and lied to.

I hope this was somewhat helpful to *someone* even if this wasn’t what you were looking for. Feel free to ask any follow up questions or come back and chat with me :)