#beta review

[dammjamboy]

BETTER CALL SAUL!

[blicketdabest33]

The worst thing about writing smut is that you can't ask someone to peer review it. Like, I'm not gonna ask my friend (who's not even in the mcyt fandom) to read over my Majorwood smut-shot where Scott is in heat I'd honestly rather kill myself than do that

[subskywalker]

Now hear me out: broke college student Omega!Anakin selling his slick in a jar/vial, slicked panties, and slicked sheets online at different prices but they always sell-out. Particular always by his top donor that goes by the name of Ben.

[retrokid616]

2 MAPS!!!!!!!!!

yeah this is normally not my night so sadly i'm calling it here so until campaign 3 later this week take care y'all enjoy the beta and wow so this was what campaign one was like live huh i can see why y'all love it lol for real happy annaversary CR but how are y'all wanna to next year on there 10th

shit ok gm keep your secrets my guy

[jacksprostate]

hey i was thinking about uploading a bunch of my snippets to ao3 for storage/ease of access since tumblr sucks. figured i'd ask yall your preferences before i spam the shit out of you

[authorlaurawinter]

BIG NEWS! New look, same great taste for the Smoke and Shadow series!

I would love to get this post boosted around the community, and will be forever grateful for your reblogs 💜

I am so very thrilled to be announcing this new set of covers and I would LOVE to have some help celebrating. If you're interested in joining my street team to help out with this reveal on social media, you can find the form here. There's also a place to sign up for ARCs with The Wings of Shattered Fire coming 11.30. You also don’t have to join the team to help with this reveal 💜

🔥

About the series: Chunky character driven tomes featuring multiple POVs, elemental magics, politics and snarky humor. Features found family, enemies to lovers, strong friendships, queer rep, and a polyamorous relationship.

🔥

Street team perks: being your awesome self and helping out an indie author, private Discord channels, swag, sneak previews, and more! I hope you'll join me as I celebrate this new release!

[michelangelinden]

@latinposeidon said this, I said "bet" (to myself), here we go.

Willex. 800 words. Rated T (for language).

It's—kinda become a thing. Willie pulling Alex in to kiss him by whatever he can grab of him.

At first it had just been his hand, when they were walking and Willie was getting tired, they'd gently tug at his hand, Alex would turn, and Willie would pull a little more to get him to press his lips to theirs.

Then there were obviously times where Alex had been out of reach, for whatever reason, where Willie would reach out a hand until he had been able to grab Alex's sleeve and tug at it like a toddler to get his attention, and then some more for Alex go get what Willie wanted (to be smooched, if that wasn't clear).

One time, when they were getting more comfortable in their relationship and both ultimately bolder, Willie had slipped a finger through Alex's beltloop and twisted him into his arms before pressing their lips together. If Alex wasn't so distracted by Willie kissing him senseless, he'd have melted right into the floor by the action. In the back of his mind he remembers Reggie and Julie giggling somewhere in the background.

Alex's favourite way for Willie to pull him in (until now at least) was when Willie had grabbed a handful of the front of Alex's hoodie the second they reached each other after a great gig. The kiss had been crushing, urgent (incredibly hot, if Alex could say so himself) and he thought about it for weeks. Especially because a few minutes later, when they were talking, nerves calmed a little, Willie had hooked a finger through Alex's necklace and used that to get him closer again (neither worried about breaking the necklace because there wasn't much tugging needed to get Alex to kiss Willie again).

Now there's a new competitor for "favourite way Willie uses to pull Alex in."

It's at band practice. Willie is sitting on the couch, vibing, being their biggest fan, clapping loudly after every song. They're having a small break before focusing on their newest song, and Alex walks over to the couch because he knows Willie has to leave soon to get to something. Willie is already getting up, ready to tell him their goodbyes.

"You really can't stay until the end of practice?" Alex asks with a small pout.

"You'll literally see each other tomorrow," Luke chimes in from somewhere by the piano.

"Shut up!" Alex calls back and suppresses a roll of his eyes.

Willie in front of him giggles and it immediately pulls Alex's attention back to him.

"I'll literally see you again tomorrow," Willie repeats teasingly. Their hands find Alex's waist, slowly sliding down to his hips.

This time Alex does roll his eyes, although very fondly. "God forbid I wanna spend time with my boyfriend."

"Well, the boyfriend is very sorry he has to leave now, but they promise to be back for practice tomorrow." Willie's thumb dips underneath the waistband of Alex's sweats and it's only mildly distracting. (Very mildly.)

"That is acceptable," Alex manages to respond.

"Are you gonna play Long Weekend for me tomorrow?" Willie asks. He's blinking up at Alex like he sometimes does when they're trying to convince him to do something illegal with them. Their hands slide to Alex's front and begin fiddling with the strings of his sweats. Now it's getting really distracting.

"I—I'm sure that can be arranged." Alex swallows. "I'll suggest it."

Willie smiles. "Thanks, baby."

Alex doesn't get to respond anything, just feels the tug at the strings where Willie pulls at them to pull him in. They kiss him, slow and innocently sweet, and before Alex can consider reciprocating, Willie is already pulling back.

"See you tomorrow," he says, ties a bow into the strings, pecks Alex's cheek, and then turns and exits the garage.

Alex stares after them. He feels like he left his brain somewhere around "Long Weekend".

The entire garage is silent around him.

"What did I just witness?" Luke asks.

Alex responds by slowly lowering himself to the ground.

"Gimme—gimme a sec," he announces before he's fully lying down on his back, eyes towards the ceiling.

It takes him too long to fully comprehend what just happened.

Reggie doesn't hesitate to drop down on his stomach next to him, propped up on his elbows, chin in his palms, legs kicking.

"So, how are we feeling about that?" he asks cheekily.

"I need to process this," Alex responds weakly.

Behind his eyes runs the scene he just experienced, Willie's expression, the petname, them pulling at his fucking pants' strings of all things.

"Can we expect this to be done before the end of practice?" Luke pipes up.

"Let the boy suffer," Julie says, "he just got knocked out cold by his own boyfriend."

"Do you wanna plan a revenge attack?" Reggie asks Alex, entirely too invested.

"I don't—I can't—" Alex says uselessly, still not recovered.

That person was gonna be the death of him.

[m00ngbin]

I want to be really obnoxious and tell people over and over that I just wrote over half of something I've been thinking about for like a week but I don't Actually want to be obnoxious so: i made something shortish and (hopefully) I'm going to publish it tomorrow/today or the day after and that's all I'm saying about it. That's it. Done. Over. Bye.

[kitsuneheartreviews]

Picture book: "Workitu's Passover" by Zahava Goshen & Ben Hagai (2024-03-30)

Ethiopia has one of the longest continuously practicing Jewish communities in the world, dating back to the 4th century CE. Being so old and so distant from other major Jewish communities, Ethiopian Jews have their own particular traditions, and one is explored here.

The day before Passover, Workitu and her sister must smash all of their family's crockery, including Workitu's favorite cup. Workitu is distraught over her loss, until she learns that all the clay is softened and worked into the plates, cups, and other tools that will be used for the following year, allowing her to keep her cup, but in a new form.

This story is less about religion, and more about emotions, family, and tradition. It is a celebration of unique heritage, and one that we really don't see much in picture books.

Oh, but why, oh why, is this book being released in the US on the LAST DAY of Passover!? I want to read this to my nephews! But our big family Seder is on night 2! I can only hope that someone manages to push through an early ebook publication, but it looks grim.

If you're going to have final-night seder with your family (or if you're in the UK, where this book already released), pick this up, definitely. And I shall envy you.

[adobe-outdesign]

thoughts on Farigarif? honestly I was like "this is nice and all but why now" and then I learned it's based on a four-horned giraffe fossil that was found in Spain and went "okay that's actually clever"

(You guys know the drill; specialty review today for the new trailer, then back to the usual first-come-first-serve order after this.)

I'm really glad Girafarig finally got an evo, as they always felt like they'd be a great pick for one—both because there's a ton of potential there and because they were a single-stager with no real gimmick outside of a cool theme. I love it when forgotten Pokemon finally get some attention, and it's even better in a case like this where the design is good as well.

The meat of the design is obviously the way the tail is handled, with it merging with the head to form a "hoodie" of sorts. Personally, I love this; it's fun, it serves a biological purpose (both protecting them from harm and confusing predators), and it looks slightly ominous when closed. It's also weird as hell, keeping the same strangeness as Girafarig and expanding upon it—which is how I like my Pokemon.

At first, I was confused by the four horns; but like Anon said, it's based off of decennatherium, an extinct animal in the giraffid family that had four horns and lived exclusively in Spain. I will say, however, that while I like the reference, I think the horns could've stood to be smaller; they're so huge like this that they distract greatly from the actual head.

Head area aside, I also appreciate the amount of changes made to the body. First, the longer neck; this was an obvious choice, both to make it more giraffe-like and make it look "older" (the only reason Girafarig had such a short neck in the first place was sprite limitations).

I also really like how the tail's black color is brought onto the neck, effectively inverting the original yellow -> black pattern. The way it runs down the back is reminiscent of a giraffe mane as well, which is neat:

The deeper orange color is also quite nice, and the cream accents give the legs an interesting shape. Likewise, the placement of the spots feels very natural while still looking different.

My only nitpick (outside of the aforementioned horn size) is that the brown running up into the back spines don't accomplish anything and they probably would've looked better just being plain cream. Also, the face "freckles", while cute, are cluttering that area a bit and probably should've been left off. Everything else, however, looks solid.

So overall, a really good evo for a Pokemon that needed it that retains the strangeness of the original design while expanding upon it both visually and thematically. We love to see it!

[patron-saints]

third time watching the untamed done with and despite being wildly in my 3zun era this time around i am still struck with the impulse to write trans zixuan/lesbian yanli on their wedding night……….help.

[virtu4l-archieve]

the dummies guide to hand-holding for buddies || minxyone93

audio length: 59 minutes

tags: 09x06, heaven can’t wait, canon divergence, fix-it, human!cas, platonic cuddling, hurt/comfort, resolved angst, no beta we die like sams wig

summary: while still dealing with the rejection of being kicked out of the bunker, cas is faced with an unbearable ache of loneliness. dean sees right through cas and he struggles with his own guilt of leading cas down this road. dean attempts to help cas to asylum through platonic physical affection.

i loved the angst in this fic. i think a lot about how dean kicked cas out when he was human. and as a first-tike human that must have been overwhelming and soul crushing for cas. it’s literally the only time he’s human in all ten seasons he’s in. dean’s guilt felt sincere. i can’t remember if dean ever apologized or admitted to feeling bad but i wouldn’t be shocked if he said nothing. the angst was perfect which built the best lead up for the fluff. they both just wanted to comfort the other after so long of hurting.

note: i’ve know about podfics for a long time already i just always found them super inconvenient since they’re kind of hard to find and listen to. that was until my smart little brain decided to check on spotify since audibooks are a thing on there now and idk maybe someone’s smart enough to upload there. and someone is- nerdynerdenstein has created a podcast making it up as we go they’ve got over 100 podfics so honestly i owe them my life and my first born.

ps~ the tag no beta we die like sams wig is underrated and needs to become mainstream.

[anothersquarenoodle]

╭──────────.★..─╮

Silver-haired characters

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INTRODUCTION

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Everybody knows that if a silver- or white-haired character appears in any piece of media, it's highly likely that they will be somebody important, whether that be as a protagonist, supporting character, or antagonist. Usually, the white hair is symbolic of a character's purity, wisdom and/or divine relations because they are a vessel for higher powers. I'm sure that at least one of your favourite characters has silver or white hair because it's definitely true for me.

These silver-haired characters don't have to be the protagonist, but they definitely have some connection to the protagonist if they aren't it themselves. The hair colour is close enough to real life platinum or white-blonde hair that it's not unrealistic yet still sets them apart from the majority. It usually signifies that these characters are special and will be important for furthering the plot.

Unfortunately though, modern uses of the silver-haired character fall flat or cause the character to become boring because the feature isn't applied creatively enough to set these characters apart from literally everyone else. This is most evident in YA fantasy novels as the authors use this trait as a "coolness factor" or a way to show the audience that they are "not like other girls".

I want to discuss my opinions about this since the trope on its own isn't particularly bad, but it can feel overused or make characters appear to be copies of other characters. Please note that all of this is based on my own observations and is no way intended to come across as some kind of fictional ruling system.

VISUAL MEDIA

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Silver-haired characters from visual media are able to use the concept of visual storytelling to aid the audience's understanding of them as powerful or important people in the story.

For example, Gojo Satoru in the anime/manga Jujutsu Kaisen (JJK) is a special grade sorcerer believed to be the strongest one of this generation. He acts as a mentor figure for the protagonist Itadori Yuji, but has a large enough fanbase that he might as well be his own main character. His "snow-white" hair and blindfolded light blue eyes make it clear to the audience that he is so powerful that lack of sight won't affect his skill. Being visually animated allows the audience to also see Gojo's own feats and understand why he is the most powerful sorcerer of this age as there is clear evidence to support his greatness.

Similarly, Princess Yue from Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) has silver hair because the moon spirit shared its life force with her when she was a child. This silver hair is symbolic of her divine connection with the moon spirit, which she eventually becomes after the death of Tui and her sacrifice to save the moon spirit. Through visual storytelling and the events of the plot, we know that she was also the princess of the northern water tribe and had a great sense of duty for her people, hence being a special character.

As with both examples, the silver/white hair is used as a plot device to tell their own story while also simultaneously furthering the stories of the protagonists. They share the spotlight without taking it away from the message being delivered.

LITERATURE

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Due to literature requiring the audience to imagine the appearances of the characters based on descriptions, visual storytelling is much harder to achieve since everything that is explicitly mentioned must have a purpose. However, visual storytelling can still occur, but requires a specific choice of words to convey the same thing a picture would. For example, silver and white are not the same in literature, but can be used interchangeably in art or animation.

Geralt of Rivia, from the series The Witcher, is a legendary monster hunter known as a witcher (hence the series name) and also has white hair. This white hair is a result of mutations witchers experience as they are subjected to intense alchemical processes and intense training. This sets them, and Geralt by extension, apart from normal humans as they are physically and magically enhanced to be more suited to monster hunting. In this case, the white hair is a side-effect instead of a biological trait, and it allows the audience to easily recognise other witchers in that world.

Unfortunately, due to the rising popularity of modern YA fantasy, some characters simply have silver/white hair because it's just a cool trait that sets them apart. The characters Mare Barrow (from Red Queen) and Violet Sorrengail (from Fourth Wing) both have brown hair at the root that becomes silver towards the tips. This colour doesn't signify anything for Mare except that she is a Red who masquerades as a Silver for plot reasons, and for Violet it's supposed to be the symptom of greying hair caused by her (implied) Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Other than this we are just told, usually by other characters, that these protagonists are smart or cunning and simply better than others, but we don't exactly see this in real time, we are either just told it happens offscreen or the plot bends to make it happen. The only thing that could be considered unique and linked to their white hair is that both Mare and Violet are able to wield lighting powers, where the lighting itself is white.

Yes, the silver/white hair usually signifies the great power of the character and how it makes them unique to the world, but that also needs to be supported by the character's own personality and actions, otherwise they are at risk of simply having that trait for the sake of ticking a box.

PERSONAL OPINIONS

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As an artist I truly love giving characters silver or white hair, especially if it comes with magical powers like controlling water/ice or lightning or some other power that has colour symbolism of any kind because it's fun to design around visual storytelling as well as how many things you can tell about a character based on how they look and the things they wear.

As a reader and (sort of) writer I also love the worldbuilding and lore behind these things because it puts things into perspective and I like to imagine that if I were to be a person in that world it would make sense to me. It is also fun to imagine a kind of world that is different yet similar to our own.

That being said, I do find that to execute such intricacies well, the creator (whether that be the author or animator or otherwise) must take small details into consideration and link different parts of the story together in a way that is organic and would make sense if that world truly existed. Most YA fantasy novels I think fall short of this because as long as they tick the boxes of specific tropes and character appearances, their books would sell regardless of their quality. Don't get me wrong though, it's definitely ok to like and enjoy those books while still finding them poorly written.

Because of this "fast fashion" style of fantasy writing, even cool and timeless designs such as the silver-haired character can feel boring or some copy of another more famous story. Sometimes the debuting silver-haired character feels exactly like another recently debuted one because they are written for the same trope or are made to be blank slates so the reader can imagine that character to be themselves. Having silver hair and immense power will mean absolutely nothing if the character isn't even a character.

Personally, I would love to read stories where the author has used the white hair to subvert the archetypes and tropes that saturate the fantasy market without stereotyping or romanticising facets of the real world. I definitely feel that creativity in writing is a rare find these days and it should be valued especially for storytelling.

FINAL NOTES

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If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading and to be honest, I didn't think that voicing my thoughts would take this long lol.

I hope that this ramble/essay was as thought provoking and entertaining for you as it was for me. If it wasn't, thats ok too and I hope that it at least you learned something from me regarding this topic <3

[mermaidsirennikita]

The dichotomy between what's popular according to booktok (from what I've see) from the most blandest books imaginable to the most taboo erotica you can think of is kinda wild.

I think that what gets me with taboo books recommended by BookTok is that they're usually very poorly written. And if the writing is poor, you're not really getting the full "shock" value.

Like, when you read Sierra Simone's Thornchapel series, the scenes read as really intense because Sierra is an excellent writer. In contrast, a book like Hooked (that one dark romance~ modern Captain Hook book, a concept I was very open to and wanted to like, for the record) is very badly written. There's taboo content and a horrible hero, but like... It just reads juvenile.

I'm about 65% through A Kiss at Midnight by Anne Stuart, a historical romance that is QUITE dark, but the writing is frankly fabulous. Because Stuart can write, the darkness (which is not like, the corny "oh he's so bad he's in a motorcycle gang" torture sequence stuff--it's TRULY intense and pretty accurate for the era) is balanced out by emotional progression and honestly? A very dry, at times dark humor. If a lesser writer handled this plotline, it would just seem like shock factor after shock factor layered on just to get people talking. Very 2edgy4me.

And I'm gonna be really real here. Some fanfic authors are made to transition to actual published books. I think Ali Hazelwood writes a really solid contemporary romance. I really enjoyed You, Again by Kate Goldbeck, and that's based on a fic I actually read. The Hurricane Wars works as a book. (And mind you, let's not take away from the work the editors and authors did to rework fics into actual books here.)

Some fic authors are meant to stay fic authors and to excel at that. I personally think that one of the reasons why we have so many blaaand romance novels right now is that a) some of them are written by less-equipped fic authors trying to write real books and b) some of the authors have read less actual books than they have fics.

There are some tensely plotted, exciting fics out there. But personally? I think the standout nature of those fics--fics like Manacled, which... I think.... is not.... for me. However, bland it is not lol--makes people think that is the NORM for fic, when it's not. The norm for fic, and what I think a lot of more casual fic consumers and people who read more fic than they do books (compared to a lot of romance readers who turn to fic to supplement their reading habits) is very plotless slice of life stuff.

And that's not meant to be derogatory. It works, especially when you're writing about characters a lot of people know and love and are PROGRAMMED to know and love. Even if it's AU and they're basically other people, if you're writing a modern, sedate romcom about Katniss and Peeta and she mentions going to archery classes and Peeta being a baker, people are like aawwwww and they enjoy the nicely written scenes that are just people being people.

That.... ultimately creates a bland story when you're writing a book about original characters nobody has a preexisting investment in.

[bdapublishing]

hey tumblr! the bda team is here to let YOU know that we're searching for beta readers (and arc readers, too, because we'll need you soon)!

if you're into crime fiction, social commentary, medical thrillers, and romance as a subplot... this might just be the reading opportunity for you.

click here to apply!!

[artblooger19moon]

Jurassic World Dominion Review

The epic conclusion of the Jurassic Era. The movie was awesome and amazing. I like the dynamic of the Dr Grant, Ellie Sattle and Ian Malcolm with Owen Grady, Claire Dearing and Maisie Lockwood. I love how Dr. Grant and Ellie have to stop Biotech from creating prehistoric locus from damaging the economy and ecosystem with the help of Ian. I love how Owen and Claire have to go to Biotech to rescue Blue’s baby Beta and Maisie. I really liked the origin of the locust , Giganotosaurus and the history of Charlotte and Maisie with their DNA with the help of Dr. Lewis Dodgson and Dr. Henry Wu. The dinosaurs were awesome especially the Atrociraptors, Pyroraptor & Therozinosaurus and the baby dinosaurs were so adorable. Blue’s baby Beta was so adorable. The moment that Rexy appears to battle the Giganotosaurus was so cool and all amazing !!! They even had for the music from the previous movies. The movie is awesome and very good !!!

I give this movie 10/10