#i'm not gonna say if it's improvement or not bc i certainly prefer it but it's subjective but ough. i think i'm jsut gonna

[macroglossus]

absolute tragedy in that i started what was supposed to be a duo of drawings three years ago and did not start/complete the second one until now (once again i say three years later) and there's a DRAMATIC difference

[cupidlakes]

ok I know I'm late, but I was watching the stream so I'll just say it right now. i love how George doesn't look down on us!

ok, so y'know how sometimes a streamer will say things like "ok chat I don't care about X thing. I'll just leave it like that" or "chat probably doesn't even know what they're saying, I'm not even gonna look at it"? look, I PERSONALLY don't like it, but I understand how chat can and will be annoying sometimes.

but like, George is not like that at all? he cares so much about what we think, and it's kinda funny sometimes. he'll literally waste a whole 10 minutes if it means that the audio is good and we're all satisfied with the setup, camera, etc. i think that's genuinely so sweet of him! he values our opinions and constantly include us on things by making pools and asking questions. so it feels more like "we're having fun together" rather than "you're watching this for me and want it this way, so that's what you'll get"... am I making sense here?

(and I know that has nothing to do with anything, but I think it's the cutest thing when George refers to chat as "you" as if we're only one person ^_^)

no bc you’re right it literally is the sweetest thing ever and not to sound repetitive but i have a genuine place in my heart for the way george interacts with his chat, is it in line with the usual twitch meta/culture? not necessarily but it doesn’t mean his streams aren’t a lovely and special experience because of it, because they are

george uses his chat as notes on what to do while still considering his own professional opinion, you’re right! whenever he picks up on advice, he’ll consider and implement to the best of his abilities bc all he want to ever do is enhance the quality of his streams and chat is his way of getting that direct feedback. both cooking streams are the best example (aside from how he’s always incessantly checking if things are good on our end in general, as you mentioned)

like the way he’ll carefully consider and take on everything we say shows his openness and regard for our opinion

he seems even lost without a chat to refer to sometimes (look at the first time he did a twitter space) and the way george has never lost his patience with his chat before, or his donos or anything of the like shows me he’s very much suited to be a streamer and good at what he does! his welcoming vibe always leaves his audience feeling appreciated, or at the very least i’ll speak for myself saying that and i can only respect it

it’s so unique and yes! “so it feels more like "we're having fun together" rather than "you're watching this for me and want it this way, so that's what you'll get"” <- this is real, he strikes a good balance and the way he goes about it makes it read more like “this is what i think you guys deserve, the quality you deserve” as opposed to “i’m doing everything you say verbatim because i have to as a cc” or alternatively “i’m not listening to you guys because i know best”

it really is a two way street, i love that he’ll get us in on jokes and rib off us, even if he has little eye roll moments @ chats antics it doesn’t read as anything other than fondness in the moment, i really just like his gentle care and attentiveness shown and it’s such a patented gnf thing 🌟 i’d never prefer him to snap at his chat or anything, he has such a distinct awareness of his audience and only focuses on the good which certainly aids in my enjoyment and it’s cool he takes things in stride so easily AND still has fun with us AND constantly uses our live commentary to improve upon himself

[cs-discourse]

here we go

https://cs-discourse.tumblr.com/post/179953845684/uuuuwuu-every1-whos-concerned-abt-biased-judging

ok this attitude has been pissing me off long enough that it's time for one of my Big Ole Posts (tm) about how shitty this is! thanks. 

uuuuwuu every1 whos concerned abt biased judging in comps is just soooow entitled !!!1 i cant bewieve ppl wouldnt want some1 whos literally explicitly stating at this point that they trust their friends more to "demonstrate dedication to the character" they assign to a design to b an influence in judging comps !!!!!11 bc artists Never weigh in on other artist's comps, so obviously thes ppl just want fwee merc designs !!!1!!1 also my last braincell just died pleas h

so here's the og post in question for quick reference

i honestly have no idea why people keep bringing up this idea of bias in judging competitions because, while i do think there is a type of bias that certainly exists, i think a lot of so-called "bias" that people have is ... not whatsoever like what people think it is lol. artists are people and there's always going to be SOME kind of bias no matter what you do, because it's literally fuckin impossible to NOT be biased. by that i mean:

your taste in plots/types of characters/medias influence your judging

quality of writing or art can influence your judging

the person who's applying for the adopt you may have previous judgement about

even if you say you aren't biased, you STILL have preferences and tastes in things that you prefer more than others, which in of itself is a kind of bias

people who know you (friends for example) will naturally know what your taste is. 

a competition is judged based on what form the artist thinks is best, right? 

NEWSFLASH EVERYONE'S IDEA OF "WHAT'S BEST" IS DIFFERENT FROM PERSON TO PERSON ..... "BEST" is literally the most subjective thing there is, and while i agree that there are certain aspects of art and writing that you can use as objective measurements of tangible skill, it's... still subjective. what people think is "best" will vary from person to person because we all have different tastes. so, essentially, this boils down to the idea that the winner of an adopt competition will ALWAYS be the form the artist liked best, because that is what the artist perceives as best. so like. when people appear biased in adopt competitions towards friends or certain circles, it's probably because they're literally friends because they have similar tastes in things, and therefore the form the artist likes best is naturally going to be from someone who shares similar tastes. 

so whenever i hear about """bias""" in competitions i just kind of roll my eyes tbqh because it's usually followed by complaints of "BUT I PUT IN SO MUCH EFFORT" or "I WROTE SO MUCH MORE THAN THE WINNER" uhhhh. if adopt contests were won by effort alone it wouldn't be a contest, it'd be an endurance test lol. literally just "who has the most time to waste writing out 60000k words of absolute meaningless fluff"... because, i hate to break it to you, but ANYONE can write 5000 words of mindless drivel that has literally no substance to it. 

now in caps for emphasis. takes a deep breath

THERE IS NO SKILL NEEDED TO BLOAT YOUR WORD COUNT. 

YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW HOW TO WRITE WELL TO WRITE 5000 WORDS.

YOU JUST NEED TO KNOW HOW TO TYPE AND PUT SENTENCES TOGETHER.

quality > quantity, always. like, i'm sorry you put in so many hours of effort but, those people who win with MUCH smaller wordcounts... did they not work to get as good as they did with writing? you put in 5 hours into one tryout. but others, take me for example: i have been writing for over 10 bloody years. i've worked hard to improve my writing, so you can't tell me i "didn't put in as much effort" as you because i did. i put in YEARS of work to get better so doing simple things would take me LESS time now. inb4 IT'S UNFAIR! dude, the literal definition of a contest is for the best to win. it wouldn't be a contest if it wasn't like that lol. it'd just be charity. what you should be doing instead of complaining about it is ASKING FOR CRIT and WORKING TO IMPROVE like a good sport? i get that it's discouraging but you should be prepared to lose when you join a contest. it's valid to be upset about but the moment you say you deserve it more than others JUST because of your effort, then i have a problem. 

and you know, there's gonna be times where i think a comp winner is objectively less skilled than other tryouts. honestly i just kind of shrug that off on account of different taste lol. sometimes that's just how it be, bc of those predetermined biases i mentioned before, and maybe a judge and i are just in completely stages of life so what i call quality might not appeal to the judge. that's also fine. anyway this really got off on a tangent but i'm leaving it in bc i think it needs saying. back to the og post

 > i cant bewieve ppl wouldnt want some1 whos literally explicitly stating at this point that they trust their friends more to "demonstrate dedication to the character" they assign to a design to b an influence in judging comps !!!!!11

wtf didn't i address this in a different post

here let me link it for you

https://cs-discourse.tumblr.com/post/179841459154/post179838988303-the-difference-is-that-you-have

which was replying to this: https://cs-discourse.tumblr.com/post/179838988303/179837734509-idk-anon-i-kinda-agree-with-the

i said it once but i'll say it again: artist entries aren't main adopts lol. people don't work for artist entries. all you fucking do is post on one like "can i have this pls" .. there is... no effort put into that lol. main adopts you WORK for. it's a CONTEST. claiming an artist entry is NOT a contest. if a bunch of little nasty gremlins come running up to me like a hungry horde trying to be the first one to claim my design, i think giving friends first pick is COMPLETELY FINE, BECAUSE WHAT DID ANYONE ELSE DO TO "DESERVE" THAT DESIGN? nothing. you did. nothing. you're literally coming here with this attitude that NOT GIVING THINGS AWAY TO STRANGERS FOR FREE SOMEHOW EQUALS BIAS? i literally do not understand your logic whatsoever. like. i'm trying really fucking hard. at least with main adopts the "payment" is the effort you put in trying to answer the artist's prompt. i know i sound super dumb repeating myself but i don't know how much simpler i can make this concept tbh

and this is EXACTLY why i say ya'll are fucking entitled because merc and any of the kal artists could be making REAL $$$$ selling their own designs and adoptables and art and NOT deal with all the bs ya'll throw at them. they're literally here because the ENJOY MAKING ((( FREE ))) CONTENT for you, and they're not obligated to do this. they can stop whenever they want. if you had to pay per hour for the length of time collectively worked by ANY species artist staff, the lot of you would be fucking broke. i'm actually constantly shocked that species artists work like, 8 hours or more on some of these gorgeous designs just to give them away for free in a contest. 

so, yeah, as someone who hasn't spent my entire life on CS (i've only been here for a year and a half), ya'll seem pretty fucking entitled to me lol. the world outside CS rarely gives out such gorgeous designs in write-to-adopt contests so i'm honestly baffled at the amount of bloody entitlement i see

>bc artists Never weigh in on other artist's comps, so obviously thes ppl just want fwee merc designs !!!1!!1 

this part i don't actually understand what you mean. do you mean they... help judge other comps? or like, enter them? i don't get what you mean by "weigh in" but listen, lol. just because something DOES happen doesn't mean it gives you a good reason to assume the worst. i mean... of course it happens. it's statistically impossible for skewed contests and bias to NOT happen, because there's always going to be cases of it happening. but like, what proof do you have that merc will be biased lol? like, real proof? because your main point i've basically debunked and don't believe in at all. do better than "i cant bewieve ppl wouldnt want some1 whos literally explicitly stating at this point that they trust their friends more to "demonstrate dedication to the character" they assign to a design to b an influence in judging comps !!!!!11" because this doesn't make any sense to me for the reasons i already listed above lmao. if artist entries were supposed to be contests they'd be contests. what the hell makes you important enough to get first dibs on a stranger's work. ARTIST ENTRIES AREN'T EVEN MADE TO BE GIVEN AWAY, THEY'RE MADE AS ARTIST ENTRIES.... LIKE.... JESUS i struggle to understand ya'll

anyway im done here, if you wanna actually talk and debate this hmu on discord at lysander#9229 bc if you actually talk to me instead of spew this hot mess on the blog i might actually listen to you and change my mind and be nice about it instead of being a condescending bitch. 

wait one more thing

>also my last braincell just died pleas h

yea clearly

p.s., why do you ppl keep going to the blog to give critique on merc's designs when on literally every other design merc makes there's this:

https://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3950980

here i even linked it for you. idk why it's so hard for yall to give constructive crit like decent human beings

[coralsweep]

this probably sounds like a silly interview question or something but i'm honestly just curious and i love learning about other writers' processes! is writing just a hobby that you enjoy, or is it more of a craft you're actively trying to improve in? what do you think has made your prose improve the most?

haha no worries! gonna answer this one now & the others later... sorta like a mini reward for when i complete my work 😂

writing a hobby or a craft actively trying to improve in?

hm.. a bit of both? i’m not trying to make a living off my writing bc i think that’s too difficult and insecure to attempt; i don’t believe the average author makes enough money to sustain themselves. not gonna go into the details bc that’s long and i’m typing on my phone, but yk how it is.

so in that sense, writing is a hobby; however, it is probably my most serious one? i’d like to make some money off of it (original fiction, that is) and i put more time into it as compared to, like, crochet or whatnot.

re: actively improving, i find this a bit of a struggle, because... i’m not sure how to?! aside from practice, i suppose, and reading (i am a firm believer that reading improves writing!)... what can one do to improve in the same sense that a visual artist can, say, practice anatomy studies or whatnot. yk?

and i’m not sure if you are a writer or not—if you’re comfortable lmk, bc i’d love to hear your thoughts on that as well! what are ways one can improve their writing, or specific aspects of it? through critique partners, perhaps? close reading? are there enjoyable or worthwhile exercises?

what made my writing improve the most?

hm... also a difficult question! there are two answers off the top of my head: growing as a person, and reading/speaking to other writers.

and i’ll get to those in a sec, but first: i think “improve” is also a very... subjective thing? maybe this is contradicting my earlier statement aha. like, certainly, compared to the stuff i wrote when i was in elementary/middle school, there’s a clear “improvement”: new speakers get their own paragraphs, now, and i’ve begun to put thought into pacing... but i think a number of the changes i’ve made to my writing over the years has also come from.. simply a sense of aesthetic?

for example, i think in my earlier works on ao3, i used a lot more parentheses. i had whole scenes and such in parentheses! i certainly think that my work is better without as many and that structure, now, but it’s not like i can definitely say that that doesn’t add anything and that work structured in that manner is worse. imo, it’s simply a preference of taste!

and i’ll now get to the “reading/speaking to other writers” here: why did i try to stop using as many parentheses? well, i’ll be honest: it was first because i saw a tumblr post dissing them haha. ah, good ol’ writeblr. so in that sense, i was influenced—or convinced?—by another writer, one whom i had never actually spoken to personally; many other influences have come about in a similar manner, whether it was reading an excerpt or a short fic or simply being influenced by the conversations i had seen online in writing spaces... ex. what are other authors proud of in their own writing? is that something i agree with and would want to emulate? etc etc.

i think being around other writers and reading others’ work and whatnot really lends to improvement or simply an extension of your creativity... because the way one interprets someone else’s work is unique! and the whole ‘an author cannot dictate what the audience perception is’ etc etc.. it’s very cool.

(re: fanfic that has influenced my style.. there’s this one very specific fic which had such a neat concept that it really, well, influenced me lol. i was meaning to post abt it for fanfic writer appreciation week but i missed the first day [aug 01] so i’ll have to do all 7 prompts before the end of this week... thank you for the inadvertent reminder haha.)

and to circle back to growing as a person.. well, my answer is much simpler haha. compared to 2018, which was iirc when i started posting to ao3, i’d like to say i’ve matured! or at least have begun to grow a larger awareness of the going-ons around myself; i’ve considered (however briefly) others’ perspectives and whatnot, which i can explore in writing.. etc etc.

ok ok i think that is enough typing for now. i have a 2hr lecture to catch up on so i’ll be going now 😂 please do tell me abt ur own writing process and such (if you’re comfortable)!!