#i am by NO means an expert

[adrian-sheppy]

Sorry if any one has asked before but does the whole HLVRAI being like a simulation thing just not apply to the freemanverse?

(ALSO I LOOOOOOOOOOVEEEEEE UR ART MMMMMMMMMM)

:P

YAY THANK YOU!!!!! I appreciate it a lot it makes me smile when others enjoy my work. and thank you for waiting!!! . i am slow . heres a . martini shitpost make up for it hopefully. explaination under cut :3

sooo everyone just has their different ways of making it work. in HLVRAI, gordon is playing a game canonically but people have made aus where its not a game! so just like that, it depends for each enjoyer of freemanverse whether they have martini as a real guy or just a playable avatar controlled by some being outside of that dimension or whatever. gaming.

extra yapping if you want my take on it:

me personally, I dont like having character's that are "playable characters" in freemanverse because i feel like it cheapens the stakes and emotions. silly graphic to help visualize what i mean

as an example: when you watch hlvrai, youre like oh man Gordon got his hand cut off!! but no. he didnt. it's a game. the player roleplaying as gordon is acting. hes hamming it up for the audience. and that's ok because hlvrai is a COMEDY its supposed to be funny and unserious...

... and freemanverse is a comedy too, but i like to consider it ALSO a drama. it's existential. it cant NOT be existential. so martini? real guy. freemercy? real guy. freerun? real guy. they have real stakes and when they lose something, it is a tangible loss that affects them personally .  I also dont like the implications of playable characters. so for my freemanverse, there are none! that's the fun of freemanverse. we make the rules. we can all have our different versions and interpretations and its cool. ok im cutting myself off now before this becomes another one of my barely coherent essays

[marmot-bee-person]

How exactly does Della control her robot leg? Cause she definitely has some control but like… the calf is hollow, even though she clearly has control of the foot to some extent.

Idk i have no knowledge of this subject, it just struck me while i was rewatching nothing can

[bettsfic]

Hi Betts, what was it like querying your novel? Do you have any advice on finding an agent?

querying agents...is not fun. it's the worst part of the publishing experience because you're on the precipice between "i've finished a manuscript" and "what if there's no one who sees the same merit in it that i do?" it's a very lonely time, and for me anyway, after a while it started to get kind of humiliating.

i initially queried with a novel that needed serious developmental revision that was beyond my capabilities at the time. there were several agents kind enough to give me feedback in that regard but i didn't really know how to implement their suggestions and ended up giving up on the project. i queried with my short story collection instead.

i found my agent through a twitter pitch event called DVpit. by that point i'd queried i think 60 agents and received 10 full MS requests on the novel. i'd queried 15 with the short story collection and didn't receive any response from anyone. i got one like on my DVpit tweet, followed up with that agent, and she read the MS and offered to sign me. i've been very happy with her. although we were unable to sell the short story collection, so we're working on first run revisions of a different novel right now.

i think getting started can be rough, because there's no cohesive database of agents yet, only pieces of databases. from my understanding, a lot of agencies are starting to use QueryTracker, so that might be a good place to start. there's also the #MSWL tag (manuscript wish list). what worked for me was finding one agent on twitter, then clicking through the recommended accounts, checking out agency websites, and finding which agent would be the best fit for my work at that agency. it was kind of a chaotic process and i didn't really know what i was doing.

my biggest tip is that somewhere on the spreadsheet or database where you track your queries, indicate whether a rejection is a rejection from the agent or the agency. for small agencies, they tell you a rejection from one of them is a rejection from all of them, because if you're a good fit for someone else, they'll send over your MS. however with bigger agencies where there are dozens of agents, a rejection from one means that you can query other agents at that agency.

another big tip is to make sure you're ready. i went in half-baked and i really regret that. make sure your manuscript is as far as you can get it, and you're confident enough to send it straight to print if you had to.

i can talk about query letters in a different post but the main things in your query are:

personalize the query to the agent

find good comp titles and use those titles to indicate a gap in the current market that your book fills

don't take risks

that last one may be controversial because i've heard people have had success with gimmicky queries, like writing the letter in the voice of the book's narrator. but unless you're a gimmicky writer, you're not going to sign the right agent with that method. it's important to show you understand the genre of the query letter and you've done your research. the agent you sign will have a huge stake in your work for years or maybe decades; they want to sign someone who is kind, patient, and professional.

once you get an offer, find a way to tactfully figure out the agent's likelihood they'll remain an agent for a long time. i know a lot of good writers who have lost representation because their agent retired, or became an editor, or just straight-up quit. ideally you want to find someone who is really passionate about putting good books in the world.

also, you'll want to find someone who loves the same things about your work that you do, and has the same vision for it. if you write what you feel is literary fiction but they want to market it as YA, that's not a good fit. if their critical feedback is hurtful and insulting instead of solution-oriented, that's also not a good fit.

and lastly, if you're young, say under 30, there are a lot of people who will try to exploit your youth and potential. they will try to overpower you and take your work in directions you don't want it to go. they'll make you feel powerless and bad about yourself. it may be hard, but if you get a big name agent who wants to sign you but they make you feel like shit (manipulation, backhanded compliments, judgments, etc.), it's better to walk away. from my experience this is a rarity, but it's still possible. look for someone who makes you feel understood and proud of your own work, who is excited to work with you, and whose critical feedback inspires your revision and doesn't hurt your feelings.

[hexabeast]

Hey Tumblr, from a UI Designer:

This update sucks nuts and not because it's new or different, but because it's too busy. It's too noisy and cluttered and HOLY SHIT WHAT DO I FOCUS ON

THIS? Hot garbage. It's NOISE. There's too much happening. What the fuck am i supposed to focus on here? Not only that, but the information doesn't even fit on the page entirely. You talked about wanting to get more 'new' or 'unknown' posts in front of people and yet the radar is hidden and the 'check out these' section just reads as more noise, Don't even get me started on how the Tumblr Live feed just looks like if I click on it i will get nothing but viruses.

So. Let's do some tweaking.

Still cluttered, but less terrifying! This is 15 minutes shuffling things around. Give me a full day and I could do more but this is just to get the idea across,

You got too many visual elements going on rn and it's Too Much. And a lot of it users just CAN'T get rid of. So. Let them. A collapseable sidebar of Discover will let them choose whether they want to engage with it or not, while still keeping the site balanced visually.

Condensing the Stupid live feed into a section along with your following tags and the for you tab keeps it all together, again so people who want to engage in that media CAN,

Like i really cannot stress how terrible this update is from a clutter standpoint. Please. Less is more. I get you wanna be twitter, you want to be friendly to the folks who use twitter, but do you even know what parts of twitter they engaged with??

I'm begging y'all to do better. Please.

[bat-in-the-machine]

I was about to go to bed when I saw an ad for a "security" app that was blatantly lying about SPAM and I wanted to warn people away from them.

I couldn't get a better screenshot of the ad, but it claimed that USPS scam texts were evidence that your data had been leaked and was being sold on the Dark Web. This isn't true. Scams like that are sent out in batches.

You don't need to purchase a single spreadsheet to get a hundred thousand valid phone numbers to send text messages to. Or a million. Or more. Let's just stick within North America. Area codes and prefixes are a matter of public record, and each prefix can have up to ten thousand active numbers.

Given that they're adding new prefixes all over due to running out of available numbers within a prefix, you can safely assume at least half of those numbers are active, and given the rarity of landlines (including VOIP), you can assume most of those are mobile numbers.

Given that the USPS scam is a phishing scam, that's all you need. The message sends you to a domain that looks a little bit like an official site, but it's misspelled, and .com not .gov and now you're filtering out people who are suspicious. The site asks for further identification and now you're gathering the information that this so-called security company says MUST have been leaked for you to get this text.

Which means that it's extremely likely this company is just doing a variation of the exact same scam.

[berylian]

American Musical History

Seeing the absolute fuckshit going on about people hating rap, jazz, ska, etc makes me want to educate on just. The sheer amount of American music history that is founded on the work of slaves and Black Americans. That said here is all the material from my AMH course. The "playlists" have both songs and informational videos in them.

W1 - What is American Music

Slides

Playlist

Article "defining" American Music

W2 - Sacred Music in the Colonies

Slides

Playlist

W3 - Roots of African American Sacred Music

Slides

Playlist

Article on African American Spirituals

Sections on Spirituals and Gospel, Blackface Minstrelsy, the Blues, Country, R&B and Soul, Folk Music, and Rap below the cut

W4 - Spirituals and Gospel

Slides

Playlist

Biography of Mahalia Jackson

Article on African American Gospel

W5 - Blackface Minstrelsy

Slides

Playlist

Video on the Jim Crow Museum

Video. Blackface: A cultural history of a racist art form

W6 - The Blues

Slides

Playlist

Textbook on Music: Its Language, History, and Culture

Article: How ‘Race Records’ Turned Black Music Into Big Business

Article: "Shoot Myself a Cop": Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues" as Social Text

Video: Leon Redbone - Crazy Blues

Video: Mamie Smith - Crazy Blues

W8 - Blues and Country

Slides

Playlist 1: Blues

Playlist 2: Country

Video: The Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane Fiddlin John Carson

Article on Lesley Riddle, the man behind the Carter Family's Success

Textbook Chapter: Early Country Music

W9 - R&B and Soul

Slides

Playlist

Academic article: Rock! It's Still Rhythm and Blues

Textbook Chapter: Urban Contemporary: Soul, Funk, and Global

Article on James Brown redefining Black Pride

W10 - Folk Music

Textbook Chapter: American Indian Music, Folk Songs, Spirituals, and Their Collectors

Playlist

W12 - Rap

Slides

Playlist

[sindumpster]

Hey Wiggs idk if you have any experience in storywriting but i really wanna introduce my own characters to the world but have no clue how. I can't draw to save my life and i'm too insecure about my writings i always delete the drafts. H e l p

STOP DELETING YOUR DRAFTS!!

Like I mean this in the kindest way, but how are you going to share anything you make if you delete it? Especially drafts, because the whole point of a draft is to serve as a stepping stone. How are you going to improve upon a story you no longer have? At the very least, make yourself a hidden folder and save it to that so you can pretend it doesn’t exist without actually deleting it. Or make a burner email or private account somewhere you won’t check often and copy-paste your drafts to it. There’s a butt ton of ways, but I recommend picking one until you’re comfy letting your drafts stay.

Cuz yeh I do have a bit of experience as a writer. I consider myself more of a visual arts person, but I do write a lot, both for college and for myself (and RPs with friends, which is also a practice option). And I started with writing stories years before I pursued art. Neither of which I was particularly good at when I started out. I’m not a savant-type lol, I had to practice and keep working at it. It’s like learning to play an instrument—nobody expects you play Bach the first time you pick up a violin, but if you stick with it, you can learn how to play Bach.

But you’re also gonna be your own worst critic, and you’ll also have to learn how to fight the gremlin in your brain that says you suck. Like if you think I’m a good artist/writer/whatever, know that I still have that voice that tells me I suck, and that I can’t draw or write for shit. There’s artists and writers out there that make me look like a baby by comparison, and they have to fight that gremlin too, because you can always do something better. There is no point at which you can no longer improve. But that’s also kinda cool because it means there’s no limit to what you can make, and no cap to how good you can get if you stick with it. As a creative, it’s both a blessing and a curse, but it takes time to appreciate the blessing side of it.

…weird ramble aside tho, I think you should also lower your expectations when it comes to drafts. Like I mentioned before, drafts are stepping stones. Sometimes my drafts are incoherent word vomit where I just throw up sentences and words as they come to me, or lists of things I want to have in a story. Drafts will never be perfect, and may not even be good, because they’re for sorting out your ideas and trying things. The point is to fuck around and find out. Give yourself permission fuck around. Maybe it’ll go somewhere, maybe it won’t. If you stick with it though, you’ll eventually start revising and honing it down, and it’ll sound more like complete story. Trust the process and give yourself permission to make mistakes. And if your end goal is to post it, figure out how to get it to a point where you’re okay putting it out in the wild. But ultimately, let yourself enjoy the process of creating, even if you think it’s flawed. Perfection is an illusion, so fuck perfection, and have fun instead.

Another thing I’ve found is that sometimes you just need to let a project sit (writing and drawings). I usually let art age a few days where I don’t do anything, and I don’t post it. It lets me come back to it with fresh eyes so I can spot anything I want to fix. But also I’ll dislike it less. Sometimes you just hate something because you’ve been staring at it for too many hours/days/weeks, and need to NOT look at it. Writing especially, sometimes I just need to walk away from a draft for a while, so that instead of being like “THIS IS ALL GARBAGE >:[” I can instead be like “I like the idea, and that last line is 👌, but this dialogue feels a little stale”.

Also if it helps, I’ve rewritten this ask 4 times now. I’ve been drafting, if you will I’mnotsorrylmao. And I’m certain there’s a better, more concise way to say what I want. But if I fixate on that, I’m never gonna post an answer to this ask, am I? And that would suck so much worse that this imperfect response lol.

PS: I know writing and drawing are super complicated and nuanced, along with all the feelings related to them, and there’s a ton I didn’t even touch on cuz otherwise I’d never finish writing this. But if you need any pointers or more specific help on how to start, feel free to ask or reach out.

[unfinishedjulyrain]

・❥・When that part of the Avengers soundtrack starts playing. I feel it in my bones every time.

[the-cat-sorcerer]

I've thought of a kind of macabre/depressing theory on abstraction

Content/trigger warning for mentions of suicide below cut

What if abstraction is code for suicide?

I think about tadc alot and recently I was thinking about what ragatha said to pomni about abstraction, 'chasing an unattainable goal will drive you crazy, you'll ask what the point of anything is, you'll lose sight of who you are and ask why you are alive and that 9nce you reach your breaking point something really bad happens' so what if that really bad thing is suicide?

I mean all these people have been striped from their lives and memories being trapped in this weird ass world with no hopes of escaping for god knows how many years and that's going to lead yo them feel even a little depressed so what of they think that maybe, just maybe if they die they can get out of this place as maybe an exit or them just not being able to live like this anymore.

And once they do die (if even possible in this game) what if the game trys to revive or heal them as seen from the others miraculously healed injuries but that person just isn't getting up so it keeps trying and trying and trying to make them come back to life eventually leading to the corruption of that character file and a sense of being alive that the game finds to be enough to leave them alone which creates the corrupted form and it not acting like how the person would because its not really them?

And the others might not even know, it's not like there's a body to find, they likely think that it us just something that happens once you go fully crazy.

[suguwu]

Omg yes and we also got yanqing too!!😭

I’m terrible at building and his relics aren’t the best rn his spd is at 119 and crit dmg a bit over 180% still don’t know how to improve but I’m working on it I think also my mistake is that I tried to fully build too many characters at once but I didn’t know any better and I didn’t play genshin so I was just winging it out. I’ve been playing for a little over a month and I’m still struggling with dmg which can be frustrating at times

Would you mind sharing his build or if you have any tips for farming?

anon it's you and me and our same pulls against the world!!

struggling with damage is Real and is so frustrating, there are still times when i get super annoyed by the damage i'm (not) doing but you'll get there!

unfortunately there are no real tips for farming because it's solely luck based, EXCEPT for the relics you can synthesize yourself - make sure you're doing that if you haven't already!! also as you've noted it's really difficult to fully build multiple characters at once. i would suggest getting a few characters to the point where they do enough damage and then focus on one dps to rlly get the damage up there.

honestly it sounds like you're well on your way to having him built! sometimes it rlly is just luck of the draw.

my jy isn't the best jy out there but i've got him at 126 spd and 60/188 crit ratio and 2800 atk! plus the lightning damage boost. i run him on inert salsotto and the ashblazing grand duke. imo the real key is i have all of his traces unlocked and maxed.

basically i farmed like a madwoman and even though he's decently built, i still farm for him to see if i can get the perfect pieces! i basically make sure to run ashblazing at least twice a day before moving on to the other characters i'm building lol. husband priority <3

good luck with farming and building!!! you'll get it all figured out <3

[hinamie]

unconditionally

[inner-space-oddity]

How to SAFELY enjoy fireworks this year

(By someone who has worked at a firework stand his whole life)

- Read the package before lighting stuff on fire

- FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS ON THE PACKAGE

- If it says “shoots flaming balls” you better believe it does my dude /gender neutral

- Find a place to light your fireworks where there are no/far-away 1) trees 2) power lines 3) flammable objects

- A good place for most things is in your driveway. Anything bigger than your head, though, should be shot off in a wide, open space.

- When you light something (and I mean ANYTHING) actually move back more than 10 feet (50 ft for any aerial fireworks). Misfires can and will happen, and sometimes a small firework can pack a real punch!

- By god, do not hold roman candles in your hand.

- Seriously. There are things you stick in the ground to hold them for you. Those things are also for bottle rockets and bigger stick rockets, so your local fireworks retailer will keep them in stock!

- WEAR SHOES

- Don’t just leave the shrapnel/trash where is it, especially if it’s still hot. Douse that sh*t in water and pick it up so you can dispose of it when it’s cooled down

- When I say douse that shit in water, I mean it. (I have burned down one of my dad’s nice buckets because I didn’t know 💀)

- Don’t leave fireworks unattended. Shrapnel (the stuff that falls from the sky) gets everywhere and can light stuff on fire if you’re not careful.

- Wash your hands after your celebration. Fireworks are made of gunpowder and weird chemicals. I would advise against eating them.

Other things to consider/be aware of

- If you’re inside the city limits, stick to small stuff you can fit in your hand like snaps, firecrackers, and sparklers. The police will only respond to noise/fire complaints, so you won’t have to worry as long as you’re staying safe, legal, and quiet past 11:30pm (check in with your local laws/ordinances to be sure!!)

- Keep pets inside!!!! (I find it helps to leave the light and radio/TV on for them to help drown out the flashing and noise)

- Have earplugs on hand if you or someone you’re celebrating with has noise sensitivity. I also like to keep sunglasses with me for the light!

Psssst. Pass this on. And try not to start any wildfires while you’re at it.

[judiciousimprecation]

Amazon wishlists (and other shopping sites) can frequently be a terrible way to buy gifts for people.

At least in my experience, for the few years I shared my wishlists with people for birthdays/holidays, my (internal) reaction to actually getting something off said wishlist usually resembled something like “Oh yes, thank you for buying me this thing which I demonstrably did not want enough to buy for myself”.

(Obvs this is different for children or other people with financial restrictions)

[feroluce]

I have finally finished 2.4 and oh my GOD watching Dan Heng be so protective of his friends nearly killed me, MY HEART.

And yes, the cutscene where he pushes the trailblazer out of the way and even cushions their fall with his own body, but I mean even before that! When he was already trying to protect them and March 7th from Feixiao and Lingsha!!

Because if you watch the dango trio throughout the main quest, you'll notice that they often position themselves in the same way, which is a detail that makes me super happy that Hoyo thought to include- when the three of them aren't evenly spaced, March 7th and the trailblazer tend to gravitate towards each other and stand very close together, frequently side-by-side. And by comparison, Dan Heng usually stands slightly away, and often even slightly behind them, where he can pull on their leashes to wrangle them keep an eye on them.

This is probably a habit learned through experience, since March 7th said during Belobog she is the "queen of unannounced disappearances" fjdksajfkldjsak

And of course at least a little bit of it is just done for like, aesthetic purposes. It's a video game. Things have to look nice for the player. The trailblazer and Dan Heng are the same height, March 7th is a bit shorter, and Yanqing is even smaller. It makes sense to have the trailblazer and Dan Heng stand on the ends, with March 7th and Yanqing in the middle, it just looks nicer and more balanced that way. But still! Even when they're accommodating for Yanqing in this quest, they still all arrange themselves the same way, almost every time!

But this changes after Dan Heng and Yanqing become suspicious of the visitors from the Yaoqing.

The dango trio still stand around relaxed and in their usual manner when they go to the artisanship delve and meet Skott,

but Dan Heng takes notice of Lingsha when she arrives, and he and Yanqing mentioned her specifically when discussing their worries.

Yanqing worrying so much about Jing Yuan got me right in the heart, he's such a good boy WEH

And when the four of them go out to the alchemy delve to meet Lingsha for tea, the pattern breaks. Suddenly Dan Heng is standing right up front, and even walks in and enters the scene before March 7th and the trailblazer to get to Lingsha before them. He stays a step in front of them the whole time, too.

And then when Dan Heng and the trailblazer have to go be interrogated by Feixiao! The same deal! Dan Heng walks in ahead of them and stays in front of them! Noticeably so! Enough that even Feixiao takes note and voices it!

Dan Heng is so so fiercely protective of his companions, and I love it, I adore hyper vigilance in the wake of trauma like this, I'm so excited to see what else he does in 2.5, I hope we either get to see him get fucked up or the trailblazer gets fucked up in his place, I wanna see them run through the meat grinder!!!

[yangjeongin]

SKZ as DND CLASSES: WARLOCK FELIX

warlocks are seekers of the knowledge that lies hidden in the fabric of the multiverse. through pacts made with mysterious beings of supernatural power, warlocks unlock magical effects both subtle and spectacular.

[xoxoemynn]

For OFMD Tumblr friends who want a S3 and are scared of Twitter

First, no judgment from me. I very much get it. I resisted Twitter for a long time, and even though I'm now a bit more comfortable on it, it's still not my Fandom Home. There are a TON of valid reasons not to be on Twitter, but if you REALLY want to keep OFMD visible right now and help its chances of returning for a third season, Twitter is the best place to do it. Like it or not, Twitter is still the best social media platform for raising awareness and for instant news updates.

Tumblr posts don't make headlines. Topics that have been trending on Twitter do. And if we want this show to come back, we need to make OFMD impossible to ignore.

By now you've probably seen just how close we came to a S3, and if you're like me, you are RAGING and donning your battle jacket. But I get it can be intimidating to get on Twitter for the first time, so I thought I'd address some common anxieties I see. I'll put below a cut because this got a bit long, but I promise it's a quick read.

I don't know what to say! Where do I even start? That's okay! You don't have to create your own tweets (although it's great if you do). Amplifying other people's posts is also important. Go ahead and like/retweet/reply to other people's posts. This may also help you get an idea of what you may like to say in your own tweets.

Hashtags...yes? Yes! Although don't use too many or you may get flagged as a bot. The biggest one that seems to be emerging is #SaveOFMD. Other popular ones are #RenewAsACrew, #RenewOurFlagMeansDeath, and of course, #OFMD and #OurFlagMeansDeath.

Should I just be tagging all the streaming services? Per @renewasacrew, no. It's counterproductive. You'll want to tag one streamer at a time and be specific. Below is an example of a tweet I made the other day -- use specific reasons why that that particular streamer may benefit from picking up OFMD.

I'm scared. People are mean. Yeah, people are mean. But I will say the vibes over at OFMD Twitter are currently the best I've ever seen them. People seem to have united for the greater good and are being overwhelmingly positive and just trying to do whatever we can to save the show. (That said, again, I already had a pretty curated feed, and was very liberal with blocking users/terms I didn't want to see, but I've been able to spend so much more time in the For You tab than I ever have without being jump scared by something.)

But I don't know anyone there! Wouldn't I just be shouting into the void? Not if you use the hashtags! Fans are being really good about following those and engaging with the tweets. Plus, [Stede voice], I'm your friend. I'm xoxoemynn over there as well, I'll follow you back and engage with any of your posts that I see. Plus, what's been REALLY lovely to see is that SO many lurkers have come out of lurkerdom to support the efforts, and they are being welcomed with open arms, so you will not be alone. Again, I am telling you, vibes? Best I've ever seen them.

I can't get sucked into another social media platform, I don't have the time. The beauty here is you don't need to spend a lot of time. I've been on Twitter more in the past week than I have in the entire year I've had an account, and I'm still only on for maybe an hour total the entire day? I open the app, I check a couple accounts, I engage with a handful of posts, and I close the app. It takes all of five minutes. It's an extremely small lift that can have a very big impact.

My bet is on Zaslav expecting us to be upset, and that there may be a day or two of outrage, but then we'd move on. I'm sure right now he's trying to convince everyone that this is a fluke, and that it'll blow over soon. Don't let him win. Keep OFMD in the news. Be loud (but polite) and make Max and other streamers take note of what a passionate, loyal fan base this show has. Make their stocks continue to drop. Make it clear this is NOT just a fluke, it is NOT business as usual. It's a BIG fuck up with lasting consequences.

Twitter, for all its sins, is the best place to do this.

Now let's get our damned show back.