#i think it's based on your class???

[spiritoast]

various sol funnies scribbled while i watched a friend play for the first time

[quorras]

every time i see someone call tron 'cyberpunk', i lose ten years off my lifespan

[baejax-the-great]

This is the most books I've read in a year since I was a kid I think. 50 books, 8 DNFs, and only three nonfiction which is so low for me. Shout out to the ROTE and Murderbot series for being some of my favorite fiction I've ever read.

[rivilu]

So the one person I was told was making empty sheet templates seems to have deleted so I took the situation into my own hands. Enjoy.

[pastafossa]

Hey I just wanted to ask a writer question. I really admire your writing and the amount of work and dedication you put into your stories and characters. You are one of my favourite authors ever. I have been wanting to get into writing and I was wondering how you flesh out your characters? For example you have a character that you’ve thought out, do you have a template that you fill in? Or just write a whole bunch of points about the character in a Google doc? I know that question might not make the most sense but I have a few characters that I’ve given quirks and backstories in my mind but I have no idea how to transfer them onto paper? Like Jane from TRT, is there just a big template or doc where you randomly put points into or some other type of organization? I know it’s not an easy thing to answer on text or even something you might not want to answer but even one sentence of advice is much appreciated :) Thank you so much for everything! I appreciate you. I will also put this into the ask thingy if you want to answer on there instead of PM 😁

I've managed to hammer this out in bits and pieces over the moments I've been more coherent so I think I'll make sense. First, thank you so, so, so much! I honestly love these characters so I'm always happy to hear someone likes it, even if I enjoy the work! 😭

Second - I do in fact have a template in doc form that I use to keep things organized! It's one I've been using since I took a novel writing course years ago by a published author, and in one particular class we went over character development, which is where I learned the template. The way I was taught (and the way I develop major characters) - first, even before filling in the template, I figure out their archetype(s). What story role are they filling? Who will they be a foil for? I like to think of those as your foundation, because every character is an archetype of some kind, and you can use that to build them up. To use Jane as an example, she's an antihero archetype, yes, but I've also pulled elements from: the Unscrupulous Hero, the Sympathetic Murderer, the Combat Pragmatist, and the Ineffectual Loner. Compared to Matt's hero archetype, she's the Lancer. Archetypes can help you if you're struggling to build up from the bottom.

Once I have the archetype, I start filling in the Major Character/Hero template, which roughly looks like this (if you don't fill it all right away, that's fine, because there's a step after this to fill it in the rest of the way). I like this one because I feel like it covers VERY important things that a lot of online character profiles skip, and has much less of a focus on looks (which I find way less important from a writing perspective):

Name: Age: Family History: Career: Physical Description: (include things like scars, notable or unusual features) Preferred Style of Clothing: (instead of listing brands, try to instead describe their style of clothing as it relates to their character - ex: Jane wears upper-end pantsuits in muted colors when meeting clients, because they carry a strong emphasis on professionalism; when hunting things down, she wears what is practical over anything to do with aesthetic) Goal: (every character should have one; what are they trying to do?) Motivation: (WHY do they want that goal?) Big Secret: (if it were Jane, it'd be what happened in Los Angeles; so what are they hiding? Keeping to themselves?) Self-image: (How do they see themselves? Are they confident and secure? Insecure and depressed?) Internal Conflict: (what are they struggling with?) Game: (What's some little game they enjoy?) Pet: (if applicable) Temptation: (what's aaaalways going to lure them in?) Vehicle: (if applicable; alternatively, how do they prefer to get around?) What makes them unique: (our fake post-apocalyptic character we made as a class had his teeth sharpened into points to scare people; Jane is often fidgeting with threads; just anything that stands out) How do they speak: (do they speak very precisely? Use lots of slang? Do they have an accent?) Quote: (What quote sums them up, or what quote do they relate to most? I have an entire folder of these for Jane tbh, and some for Ciro as well) Lesson Learned: (All characters should grow in some way, rather than stagnating. So how do they grow? What do they learn through the story?)

Now, this is something I was encouraged to do after the template, and also something I was already doing on my own. Once you have the template as finished as you feel comfortable with, you might feel like you need to develop the character a little further to fill in the rest, or solidify what you already have. The way you can do that? Write something short with this character. It doesn't have to be anything you need to post; it can be based on a short scene, based on a prompt, things like that. I like dumping them into: humorous scenarios, angsty scenarios, and Action Oriented (TM) scenes. Those really help you get into the meat of the character (aka: how they react to teasing/flirting/jokes; how they react to strong emotion; how they react in situations that might cause panic). Basically, it's your way of introducing yourself to them and becoming more comfortable writing them, because often a character might act a certain way in a cold, rigid template, but behave entirely differently once you drop them into a scene. Alternatively, you might get to writing and realize you need to make an adjustment so that they have better chemistry with the other characters. Writing a new character's a dance, and you're both going to step on each other's toes in the beginning, but once you learn how they move, it gets easier. And it helps them develop and grow as you learn about them!

[gracetheacefromouterspace]

As someone who is pro artist and believes in a significantly more regulated tech industry in general, I do find it funny when people are like GenAi is not actually intelligent!!! It’s just a bunch of statistics!!! It just copies the training data!!! They’re lying that it’s actually AI!!!! My homies in Christ, that’s what all AI is like from the most basic classifier to neural nets, trained statistics machines to make decisions. That’s,,, literally our current definition of AI

[basementxdweller]

i hate the hobbit because it is retarded and also gay

[thedevotionaltour]

i havent even read enough gl to justify the feelings and emotions i have about kyle i just have the lovers heart and also something wrong with me. and my projection. in my mind he's just like me. and he would have loved college vending machine frozen cheeseburger and heating it up in the microwave at 1 in the morning because he was bored and didn't want to work on a drawing assignment on 20" x 30" paper that was due tomorrow in his freshman year. he would have loved going to the club to push off finals work that's creating the worst stress known to man in his brain. and he would love to annoy the fuck out of his roommate when high and avoiding homework on a saturday.

[crossbackpoke-check]

about to be sooo nosy so. my apologies. but. morgan frost? girlfriend? do share (or don’t! again this is so nosy i’m sorry)

for legal purposes i can neither confirm nor deny anything about morgan and his girlfriend but afaik i think he’s single right now? at one point (within the past four years 😭) he did for sure have a girlfriend and that is the extent of my wag knowledge

[aimarann]

I want my gf to come back home I can't sleep without her and I'm so tired I'm gonna cry

[fivehundredsporks]

finally finished dragons dogma dark arisen! very fun game highly recommend for RPG fans, nothing beats latching onto a monster stabbing it repeatedly (literally you can climb onto them and its so cool)

started the second one today! not too far in, I've only made my arisen and my main pawn, and ofc I've made the pawn look WAY better than my arisen lmao

[ifyourereadingthisblinktwice]

conflict of sticking with my environmental planning degree plan and a potentially more stable/well paying job vs wanting to go for an arts degree in literature analysis and writing and history and culture because i love it so so much but know it wont be considered ‘useful’. FIGHT

[tuckersdeslauriers]

If you don't mind me asking, do you find it any difficulties writing smut scenes? Do you have any tips for other writers on the subject?

i don't mind you asking at all! i don't really have difficulty writing smut scenes anymore - i'm sure i used to because in the same way love scenes are choreographed on tv, smut scenes are technical to write. obviously they have to be...you know. enjoyable to the reader. but at the end of the day there are certain beats you have to hit, and that keeps it kinda technical in nature.

as for tips or advice, just...practice. you don't get good at smut writing without practicing smut writing. also, don't just copy other people's style - everyone does something a little different with smut whether that's based on experience, what you like, what you've read, etc...and that's good! smut should be varied.

you didn't ask for this but i will say my one big pet peeve with smut writing is when it lasts like, 3 sentences. like you're building up to the smut and then it's literally less than a paragraph's worth of writing. i feel like a lot of writers would benefit from letting themselves sit in discomfort for a few minutes and really try to stretch their muscles when it comes to smut writing. challenge yourself to write more and just try, because that's how you learn.

ALSO, find a friend you trust an ask them to read your work. ask for actual, critical feedback. ask about specific details or things you're not sure are working. just opening yourself up to that and knowing it's eventually going to help you improve is always good.

[viric-dreams]

🎲 for Ockham!

If your OC played a pen and paper RPG, what class would they pick? Warrior, mage, thief, ranger, cleric, paladin, druid, necromancer, bard (or other, if that’s not enough).

Oh, that's an interesting one. Especially because I have a limited grasp on D&D classes to begin with. So Ockham is unlikely to go for a charisma build, because that tends to be very talking/interaction-heavy, and Ockham's more likely to just chill in the background. Similarly, relying on a strength-based character doesn't seem like fun to himherthem. I'm thinking Ockham would pick something like a mage or wizard, and be relatively quiet through most of gameplay, just vibing. But when it comes time to problem-solve and other options within the party seem exhausted, Ockham has some kind of slightly offbeat plan that hadn't occurred to anyone else, especially if it comes from unusual application of some obscure mechanic of the game hidden in some manual somewhere that the DM would have to check is a thing that actually does exist.

[beeseverywhen]

Saw a post talking about how it's stupid that literary analysis is seen as this boring excruciating thing and yep. Couldn't agree more. But it got me thinking about how much I love how ppl on this site talk about ideas that were traditionally pretty inaccessible things, restricted only to an academic elite, so casually. Like yeah there's no running from how there are people here who are determined to be anti intellectual and those that have their head up their own arses and are determined to think that they are way more intellectual than they are lol but there are even more people just talking about these ideas casually and I just think that's so important and so cool and honestly that's what the internets all about??? Its about getting exposed to people and ideas you never would have gotten exposed to irl.

Like its so fun! I love that ppl talk about philosophy and sociology and literature analysis as these everyday things that you can joke about and make memes about. Yeah loads of you are wrong lol and tumblr is the home of net zero information, but acting like there aren't idiots spouting shit in every university worldwide is ridiculous. Sometimes people are wrong and they are really sure they are right! And part of the fun of learning is accepting that and reading between the lines. Being ready to challenge people and challenge your own ideas! Yeah I just love it tbh. I love getting to see ppl sharing this specialist knowledge like it's nothing. I've been introduced to so many fascinating ideas and texts through tumblr. I love to bump in to someone raving about their speciality and let what they've told me lead me in to a total wormhole of research and end up knowing way more about an idea I never would have even considered

[polarisblitzwing]

KIU MLP designs! Because why not, lol

Pit & DP's cutie mark designs ~

Some things I put into consideration for their cutie mark designs~

Pit: (Palutena bow) arrow pointed towards a circular symbol of light, laurel crown leaves, wings, and a heart :)

Dark Pit: (Silver bow) arrow, his wings (which represent the freedom of flight), a broken laurel crown (doesn't listen to the gods/does what he wants), and broken mirror glass (he wants to find his own identity) ^

Fun facts in this mini au: DP came out of the mirror as a blank flank. He represents Pit's desire to have a bit more independence and be free from his responsibilities sometimes, so this was reflected as someone with someone with complete freedom to choose their path/destiny.

DP believes cutie marks restrict someone's path for a while, but learns later on this isn't the case. Once he realizes that, he earns his cutie mark later on. I imagine Viridi got a little bit too bossy one day and DP made sure she remembered that he's not Pit & that no one can control him. (Laurel crowns were snapped that day.)

He's very outspoken and this litttle pony will sass you & snipe you at point blank with his staff (so be careful xD)