#i wish i had advice!!!

[inkykeiji]

genuine ask— is ur bf bothered by ur writing? or does he know abt it? my bf doesn’t like when i write and it’s a little :/ ,, which is why i ask!!

not at all!!! he’s not bothered by it in the slightest. he does know about it and actually checks my blog regularly just to see what i’m up to! a decent chunk of my smut is inspired by our sex life anyway, but irregardless of the piece, this isn’t an issue with him. personally, i think anyone who feels any sort of jealousy etc over you writing about an actual drawing, like a series of lines on a page that don’t exist in real life, is extremely insecure and needs to do some soul searching, but that’s just my opinion!!

my boyfriend doesn’t feel threatened by these men because they aren’t real. my boyfriend understands that this is simply a creative outlet (in addition to a whole bunch of other things for me!) and that what i write doesn’t always/necessarily translate to what i want (i love the absolute fuck out of dabi but he would be a horrible, horrible romantic partner).

[bunnieswithknives]

I feel bad for neglecting Hazel so much, I do have many thoughts about her.. and also a mermaid au that im probably not going to do anything with

[periodcostumefantasylover]

Penny Dreadful 3x01

Things every therapist should tell you

[catgirljaneway]

(last images sourced from this wonderful post)

Voy + Textposts 11- Special Chakotay being a hater edition!

(Voy + Textposts 11) + (Voy + Textposts 13)

[potato-lord-but-not]

How do you come up with sketch ideas? i stg your sketchbook is like a fucking sitcom or something, your doodle dumps make me laugh out loud. how do you do that????

honestly I just think about the fictional guys wayyyy too much. I’m a very visual person when it comes to my thoughts so really it’s just copying them down to the best of my artistic abilities. always putting those guys in situations and since I’m so averse to writing fanfics I make the most crusty sketches imaginable to cope

[uncanny-tranny]

I think what might actually help the families of trans loved ones is to actually engage with where the trans person is at - especially if the family isn't quite understanding yet. When I came out, I was completely alone in figuring out my manhood. I had peers and I had exposed myself to so many trans people who explored gender, and while it was amazing, it isn't quite the same at times. I grieve quietly, sometimes, about all the missed opportunities that might have just made it easier for my family to have seen how utterly happy I was. It took them a very long time to actually notice that I was happy, especially once I got on testosterone. I'm lucky that they saw that happiness eventually, and slowly accepted it. My manhood is completely detached from their influence, both to my relief and chagrin. It's sad to me that I learned to shave from a kind online stranger, somebody who didn't even have a father and yet, I do. I have a father. I grieve at the loss of a potential shared experience. I grieve about the pain I went through when I was in that stage of transition, especially because it was raw and vulnerable. I grieve that many trans people today are traversing the path I had to, because it's sometimes lonely (even when you do have other forms of support).

It's hard to know that I will never have gotten my sense of being from my family. In many ways, it has severed a lot of connection with them because there were so many times that I was begging them to see happiness when they were focused on the idea that I was almost in a state of purgatory - flesh which felt warm but held no familiarity to them. I don't harbor ill-will toward them, I hope I don't leave the impression that I despise them. I understand what they felt, even if I can't conceptualize it myself. However, it's a raw wound in my heart, and I don't want to leave anybody else feeling that way, either.

[bonefall]

post/734733274896809984/do-you-ever-worry-your-own-writing-might-come-off that makes sense. i was asking because i'm afraid of accidentally writing misogyny myself and i kind of admire what you do

Hmm... I wish I had better advice to give you on this front, but honestly, the only thing I can tell you is to consider the perspective of your female characters.

Women are people. They have thoughts and feelings of their own, so like... just let them have their own arcs. A lot of the worst misogyny in WC comes from the way that the writers just don't care about their girls (or, in the case of tall shadow, actually get undermined and forced to rewrite entire chapters), so they're not curious about their lives, or WHY they feel the way they do or what they want, or any direction for their character arcs.

Turtle Tail as an example. She'll often just end up feeling whatever Gray Wing's plot demands. She's gotta leave when Storm dumps him to make him feel lonely. She shows up again to love him in the next book. Lets her best friend Bumble get dragged back to Tom the Wifebeater, but is sad enough about her death to be "unreasonably angry" with Clear Sky, and then calms down and accept Gray Wing is right all along.

And then she dies, so he can have his very own fridge wife.

In this way, Turtle Tail's just being used to tell Gray Wing's story. They're not interested in why she would turn on Bumble, or god forbid any lingering negative feelings for how she didn't help her, or even resentment towards Clear Sky for killing her or Gray Wing for jumping to his defense. She isn't really going through her own character arc.

She does have personality traits of her own, don't misunderstand my criticism, but as a character she revolves around Gray Wing.

So, zoom out every now and then, and just ask yourself; "Whose story is being told by what I wrote? Do my female characters have goals, wants, and agency, or are they just supporting men? How do their choices impact the narrative?"

But that's already kinda assuming that you already have characters like Turtle Tail who DO have personalities and potential of their own. Here's some super simple and practical advice that helped me;

Tally the genders in your cast. How many are boys, how many are girls, how many are others?

And take stock of how many of those characters are just in the supporting cast, and compare that to the amount you have in the main cast.

If you have a significant imbalance, ESPECIALLY in the main cast, fire the Woman Beam.

It's a really simple trick to just write a male character, and then change its gender while keeping it the same. I promise women are really not fundamentally different from men lmao. You can consider how your in-universe gender roles affect them later, if you'd like, but when you're just starting to wean yourself off a "boy bias" this trick works like a charm.

Also you're not allowed to change the body type of any girl you Woman Beam because I said so. PLEASE allow your girls to have muscles, or be fat, or be old, or have lots of scars. Do NOT do what a cowardly Triple A studio does, where the women all have the same cute or sexy face and curvy body while they're standing next to dwarves, robots, and a gorilla.

Or this shit,

If you do this I will GET you. If you're ever possessed by the dark urge, you will see my face appear in the clouds like Mufasa himself to guide you away from the path of evil.

Anyway, you get better at just making characters girls to begin with as time goes on and you practice it. It's really not as big of a deal as your brain might think it is.

Take a legitimate interest in female characters and try not to disproportionately hit them with parental/romance plots as opposed to the male cast, and you'll be fine. Don't think of them as "SPECIAL WOMEN CHARACTERS" just make a character and then let her be a girl, occasionally checking your tally and doing some critical thinking about their use in the story.

(Also remember I'm not a professional or anything, I'm just trying to give advice)

[rainbowpopeworld]

In case someone else needs to hear this, I’m posting something that feels quite personal. Please be kind 💞

No matter how long you’ve known someone or been in a relationship, you get to decide what your boundaries are and what consent looks like for you. Always.

If that means you want them to ask before they touch you, every single time, that is a reasonable and valid expectation you can set. It is not somehow better or more romantic (or fill in some other word) for someone to be able to touch you without asking. And I mean any kind of touch: touching your shoulder, holding hands, kissing, sex of any kind -anything!

It took me realizing I had cptsd and having some extended triggering stuff happen for me to notice that I needed this and then ask for it from my spouse of 20 years. And yes it took them some practice to get it right, but they love me and want to support me in the ways I need. You deserve someone who knows how to respect your boundaries and consent.

This post brought to you by reading a fanfic where Aziraphale says to Crowley that now that they are together, he never has to ask before kissing him again.

Like, even without trauma, sometimes I’m in the middle of something, and I’d like a heads up before being surprised by a face in my face. This is a common trope in romantic fiction, and unfortunately one I’m still trying to exorcise from my brain. So I’m also sharing this for me 💓💕

[cerise-on-top]

Hi! Love your writing sm, hope you're having a good day! 💗

How about an older veteran reader with Rudy, Price, Soap, and Alejandro? Just sharing war stories and offering a place for them to stay if they ever need it, a sprinkle of elderly advice here and there

Hello! Thank you, that's very kind of you! My day was somewhat rough, but at the very least I got to go home early!

Price, Soap, Alejandro and Rodolfo with an Older Veteran!Reader

Price: He’s talked to plenty of people, a few among them were war veterans as well. Price has great respect for those kinds of people. After all, you’d been in the same business as he is for a while and saw all the horrors, so it’s not particularly hard for him to relate to the things you say. He’s not as open to talking about his experiences during daytime, but if you catch him during the evening alone when he’s had a drink or two, then he’s far more willing to open up. Doesn’t matter what war you’ve fought in, some things stay the same. He’s a captain, so naturally he’s stressed out about a lot of things, such as every member of his Task Force dying while he can’t do anything but watch. He doesn’t like to show such, preferring to keep his cool, but it does occupy his mind every once in a while, regardless of how capable his boys are. Price isn’t immune to the night time melancholy, so he might confide in you. Tell him a few stories of your own, he’ll retaliate with some of the things he’s seen. Nothing confidential, naturally, but the awful horrors he’s encountered. How he’s seen his own comrades be tortured in front of him. How they were killed like bugs, as if they didn’t have a life of their own. You set the tone, really. Tell him a hopeful story and he’ll tell you one of his own. Tell him a funny story, you’ll hear about Soap’s and Ghost’s midnight shenanigans. You’re more than welcome to tell him about the old times, while you were training, he remembers those fondly and will smile while looking into his tequila. If you offer him a place to stay, he’ll be a bit torn: You seem nice enough, but does he really wanna put you in potential danger like that? You know best what comes with his profession. If there’s really no other way out, if he really is being hunted by the world and doesn’t have a place to stay, then he’ll come to you, but otherwise he’ll try to keep you safe as well. However, he has an open ear for any and all advice you could give him. He’s in his mid to late thirties, so while he has seen a few things here and there he still has much to learn. Price is someone who can appreciate some advice from someone who knows what they’re doing.

Soap: Ever since his cousin had shown him the SAS base he’s wanted to join the military, actively asking his relatives if they knew any veterans who could tell him some cool stories. There were a few, but no amount of stories told could ever satisfy him. Even now that he’s one of, if not the youngest to have passed the SAS selection, he’s still stoked to be part of it all. One day, he wants to be able to tell stories of his own. Once he figures out that you’re a veteran he’ll gravitate towards you and ask you all sorts of questions. Unlike Price, he’s more than willing to exchange stories at any point in time, you don’t need to get him tipsy and melancholic for that. If he can tell you’re okay with it, he’ll even start talking about how his training went, what he had to do in order to become a sergeant. Soap loves talking about himself in that regard, he’s very proud of what he has accomplished, but will stay quiet for some moments so you can tell him about your own career as well. He’s all ears as soon as you start talking, soaking up every word you say like a sponge. If one of your stories reminds him of something that has happened to him he’ll butt in a bit and tell a short anecdote, but other than that he’s quiet. You can tell him anything and he’ll be happy to listen. While he can be a bit of a rascal from time to time, he does take your advice to heart and listens to it. His memory is pretty good so he’ll likely remember what you said for a long time as well, especially in the right moments. Despite him being in his mid twenties, he’ll also give you some advice. Soap just really wants to seem like a cool person in your eyes. Depending on what side you fought, you might even become a hero of sorts to him. Either way, he’s all too chipper to be spending time with you. If you offer him a place to stay then you can be certain he’ll take you up on your offer. He thinks you’re the coolest person out there, so sometimes he might just ask you if he could stay with you for a night just so he could talk with you over some drinks. So, it really doesn’t need to be an emergency for him to come knocking on your door. However, he’s more willing to stay with you during an emergency than Price, fully aware that you could likely defend yourself anyway if it came down to it.

Alejandro: Out of all the people on this list, he’s the oldest one, not counting you, of course, so he has quite some experience himself. He’s a colonel, he leads people on the daily, needs to make sure everything goes well and all. He knows what he’s doing. However, he’s also a pretty social guy, so he wouldn’t hesitate to chat with you for a bit, regardless of how busy he might be. If it’s clear you’ll be talking to each other for a longer time, then he might invite you to a bar or cafe for a drink or two. Alejandro is always more than happy to hear from fellow soldiers, regardless of whether they’re on duty, or not. You’re always more than welcome to seek him out for a chat or two, he’s a good man. Tell him stories of yours first, he, too, is more than happy to tell you some of his own. He has plenty to tell himself, having been a soldier for most of his lif. Although he’d prefer to start off easy with a funny anecdote or two before diving into something rougher. Being in the military can be wild, after all. Not all of it is bad, even if a good portion of it ends up being heartbreaking. Although he won’t confide in you immediately upon meeting you for the first time, he’ll open up some more if you seek each other out from time to time. Eventually he’ll tell you about his regrets as well as the things he loves. Not as melancholic as Price, but there’s still some sadness in his tone as he speaks. If you give him some advice he’ll laugh a bit. Yes, he knows you’re older than him by quite a bit, but he’s not really the youngest anymore either, so he has some advice up his sleeve himself. Doesn’t mean he can’t appreciate it, though. Just for retaliation purposes, he’ll crack a joke about your age, but it’s not ill intentioned. You can offer him a place to stay, but he won’t take you up on it during an emergency. He’s a highly sought after man, with El Sin Nombre being out for his head as well whenever she can, Alejandro knows that things won’t end well for you if he spends too much time with you when things are bleak, but he’s more than happy to come visit you when he has time, chat with you over a drink or two. Depending on how far away you live, he might stay with you for a night or two, though. He does like getting to spend time with you.

Rodolfo: While he may not actively seek out elders just to chat with them about what he sees on the daily, he doesn’t mind hearing about it either. If a good conversation starts, then he can convince himself to stay for a bit longer just to listen to you talk about your time in the military. Rodolfo doesn’t love being in the military as much as Soap or Alejandro do. Don’t get me wrong, he still likes his profession, but the spark that used to be there when he first started has since dimmed quite a bit. While you likely can’t reignite that spark, you can give him some respite. A break would do him good. He may try to not think about work too much when he can, but if you start talking about the good old times, then he’ll grow a bit sentimental and tell you about how he first started and what it was like back then. Rodolfo has always liked Alejandro, even looked up to him a bit since he was sort of just unkillable, no matter what happened. And yes, when he starts talking about this he loses track of time and himself and will simply ramble on and on about what it used be like. Don’t worry, though, you’ll get your turn to speak once he realizes just how much he’d been talking. Apologizes about this afterwards. That would be a good time to tell him about your own training back then. The good, the bad and the ugly. It’s not often that someone gets to see it, but if you reminisce together, you might even get to see a somber smile from the guy as well. Once he’s mellowed out a bit like that, you can give him just about any advice and he’ll listen. If it’s something silly, he might chuckle a bit, but will take it to heart. Who is he to deny an elderly person their right to give him some advice? You know what you’re talking about, after all. Always more than happy to be given such, he likes knowing what he has to do in the right situations. It’s not always easy, after all. Offer him a place to stay and he’ll actually take you up on it. Whether he needs some more advice or just wants a good chat, you’ll see him come up to your home every once in a while, always with a gift such as an expensive bottle of wine. If he’s in an especially precarious situation and nearby, he’ll actually come to you, knowing that he’ll be in good hands. Please take good care of him, Rodolfo could always, and I mean always, use someone like you.

[punks-never-die205]

How would they react to their girl being bullied? Experiencing the same at the moment 😭

The Kid crew is likely to level an entire town if someone bullies a member of the crew. Killer would probably need to have Heat and Wire bodily pull Kid away and "handle" the bully himself in order to keep from turning a whole port into a blood bath over it.

I love my Kid Pirates, don't misunderstand, but they have a tendency to over react, and Kid might not just murder people willy nilly, but if his partner was being bullied, especially repeatedly, woe unto the people responsible.

He might not level an entire town, but the population of that town might be a tick or two less than what it was when they first arrived.

In more modern AUs he's probably stick to intimidation, avoiding doing anything too overt or illegal. At least at first, but I can see the squad getting a restraining order, helping you move, or helping you find a new job to get you away from the source of the bullying.

If it got physical, however, Kid would be putting people in a hospital.

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

How do you find motivation to write fics??????? I write ONE chapter and can’t finish

Motivation is FAKE, you finish by sheer force of WILL, STUBBORNNESS and SPITE /hj

In all seriousness its different for everyone.

I used to have trouble finishing stuff too ngl, its tough. But you just gotta find out whats stopping you. Is it really lack of motivation? Or is it lack of confidence or worry your writing isn't good enough yet? Or maybe you're worried no one will like what you're writing so it makes you not want to finish. Or maybe you're exhausted by other stuff happening in your life and it makes it hard to write because writing requires a lot of mental energy! Could be you might even be writing something you don't want to write just because everyone else is writing it and its super mentally and emotionally draining! The options are infinite!

Honestly when i stopped caring about what my writing sounded like and whether it was good enough or not and started treating things as more of a writing practice, it took a lot of pressure off of me and made it much easier to write. Usually I find its my own unspoken expectations on myself that make it hard to gather up motivation to write.

Motivation, by definition, is basically just a desire or willingness to do something. So what's keeping you from doing it really? You might just have a block you haven't figured it out where it's come from because we tend to default to identifying it a lack of motivation. But motivation isn't a reason! Its just a description for our desire and drive to complete a task basically.

I know this is a bit of a cop-out answer a look-within-you wise-old-mentor answer, but it really is a unique thing for everyone! Gotta get to know yourself and understand and acknowledge what might be really blocking you! and then work on that and chances are (at least in my experience) its gets easier.

Thanks for this ask! I actually needed to be reminded of this because I'm having trouble finishing something. And whaddaya know what i thought was lack of motivation was something else entirely.

I wish you luck in your writing journey mate! Its a never-ending process of being kind to yourself, working hard and getting to know yourself and what works for you, no matter how long you've been writing.

[orange-orchard-system]

Omg youre aplatonic! That´s so cool, so are some of us!

Sorry, I´m just immediately hyped, cause we so rarely see it even mentioned as a thing someone can be!

Hehe, yeah, we're largely demiplatonic to be specific! It took us a long while to figure it out because, as you said, it's rarely mentioned as a thing someone can be – but also, even after we knew about it, we spent some time not really realizing that platonic attraction was an actual thing, if that makes sense. It was only after we felt and named it for the first time that we went "ohhhhh most people actually do experience a desire to be friends with others!! That explains some things. ... That explains a lot of things."

[heckling-hydrena]

you reblogging the fr inspirobot post really rwminded me i gotta work on actually making stories and personalities for my drgaons. it will be difficult because there are over 100 of them though

a brilliant idea honestly I hope u have fun with it

[softpine]

This might be juvenile, but do you have any tips on not comparing yourself to others? (Especially when it comes to note count or popularity.) I’ve been posting a story for over a year and it hardly gets any traction. It’s tough for me to see new creators post and get hundreds or even thousands of notes. I hate that I’m doing this but don’t know how to quit it!

this is not juvenile!! i struggle with this myself, especially knowing that i hit my peak years ago and i've been on the decline ever since – but only by numbers alone! i'm more proud of my story than i've ever been, i'm more attached to my characters, i'm putting more love and thought into everything, but i had to be realistic with myself and understand that i'll never pull even half the notes i did in 2020. gone are the days when i would wake up to 3 new anons about my story and dms from people every day (i can't believe i used to get overwhelmed by it...) and i would be lying if i said it didn't make me sad sometimes, because we're humans and our brains are practically wired to crave the hit of happy chemicals you get from seeing the stupid number go up 😭 it does feel demotivating. it makes me feel less urgency to post quicker if i convince myself that no one is waiting for me anyway, which means i post less, which means even less people stick around, which makes me post less, and on and on. it's a tough thing for me to come to terms with in all honesty.

but it helps to remember that i would be writing even if no one is reading. and i know that, because i have! i've written entire novel-length fics that i've never published, i've written countless short stories in the frozen pines universe that i'll never post, i've created alternate universes that will never be shown, etc. i do it because the idea is in my head and it needs to Get Out and i'm kinda just a conduit for that. that might not apply to you, and that's okay! everyone is different. the important thing is to really sit down and think about WHY you write and what you get out of it. which part of the process makes you happiest? what makes you feel a sense of fulfillment / satisfaction? play to your strengths. try not to spend your time doing things you think other people will enjoy and instead, spend more time on the things that make you happy. for me, i haaaaate editing and i always have, so lately i've been trying to speed through it a little bit quicker even if it means the final product won't be as appealing to others. (this is still a work in progress for me...) i have more fun when i experiment with different writing styles, which might not appeal to others because it takes longer and i don't really have a recognizable style, but i don't care anymore because i'm having fun! ask yourself what YOU want from your story, and then write for yourself and only yourself.

essentially what i'm saying is: there will ALWAYS be people more popular than you, and there's no guarantee that when you find the popularity you seek, you'll be able to keep it. so you need to find some sort of intrinsic motivation to continue or you'll just keep comparing yourself to others forever and you'll deny yourself the joy of creation! "comparison is the thief of joy" could not be more true!!

[crossbackpoke-check]

it’s all the rest of what i want with you

connor dewar/brandon duhaime :: 8k

Summary:

“Brandon,” Connor says with a sigh. “There’s no baby in there.”

“Not yet,” Brandon says. Connor feels his stomach twist, almost like what he would imagine a baby kicking to feel like.

in these trying times of dewvorce, may i offer you 8k of pwp inspired by @stillfertile’s wonderful art which i had. several breakdowns about 🫶 anyway please enjoy!!!

[averlym]

BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH ENTHU ANOOOOOON 🕺🕺💃💃

okay okay okay imagine this situation:

the queens are on a road trip and they have one of those vans where you can sit in the trunk with the extra chairs (course of course Jane/Lina would get them that) and at one point Anne falls asleep in the car and Cathy is just left there screaming crying dying internally and just is an absolute tomato (bonus points if Cathy is shorter since that would be funny)

PARRLYN PARRLYN PARRLYN-

zzz ///