#im sure this applies to lots of fandoms im just tagging what i was thinking of and said in the tags

[oceanwithouthermoon]

"they dont have any chemistry in canon-" WHAT HAPPENED TO SHIPPING CHARACTERS JUST BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT OF A SCENARIO THEY WOULD FIT INTO ONCE? what happened to "i saw it in a dream"? what happened to "i just like them so i put them together"? huh? huh? make shipping fun again

[stardustdiiving]

I would read your zhongxiao codependent yuri Like, I do generally picture them as a vaguely father/son dynamic BUT THAT IS NOT CANON. It's just as much fun to view them through a romantic interpretation! Idk why people can't view the same characters in different kinds of relationships without being weird about it.

Anyway I love your vision and would love to hear more about it lakdjs

THANK U SO MUCH Im not sure if I’m gonna write zx in the future since I’ve tended to be shy about posting my stuff relating to them for over a yr now, but I did post this fic with them last year while trying to get a hold on how to write them (mind the tags it’s pure angst omg). I was too shy to tag it as ship since it didn’t feel shippy enough, which is kind of funny to me in hindsight bc I reread it and am like. Man I think only a zx shipper would write this NUFNVJVJV

Post got kind of lot Im gonna go on a tangent about them under the cut

Honestly my theory for why ppl r very set on the father/son interpretation is everyone’s immediate thought on to how to make the power imbalance between them seem less uncomfortable is to apply a parental interpretation to it. Which is fine ofc, I get it, but the way ppl push it as canon a lot kind of grates on me a little bc they’re usually incredibly passive aggressive and pushy even if u clearly designate ur post as ship OTL

Also not really a fan of the characterizations either since ppl tend to treat Xiao like a moody teenager Zhongli has to reel in (this is hilariously reminiscent of the post I made about how ppl handle scaramouche and nahida a bit ago haha). And idk I just feel kind of polarized about the headcanon overall bc I associate it with people being really uncomfortable and frustrating about zx

I just like how there’s sort of an imbalance to them, some zxs like them being more fluffy and functional but I sort of like it where it’s not like, entirely dysfunctional but I’m prioritizing a specific kind of character study over romance. This tends to be how a lot of my ships go ngl I just sometimes enjoy the intensity/intimacy of romantic feelings thrown into the mix if it makes it interesting but I’m not often interested in a lot of my ships following more standard romance plots(?) I guess? Unless it’s specific ones. Which sounds clinical when I put it like that but this is just bc I am very aromantic NHFBVJVJ

When I say codependency in zhongxiao honestly it’s sort of a theoretical(?) codependency—not sure how to word it? I think Xiao would be really fucked up if he didn’t have Zhongli in his life suddenly but I don’t think his relationship with getting attached to people invokes what people would majorly think of when they think of codependency in a ship I suppose. It’s moreso I just feel Xiao could be at his worst with dehumanizing himself in comparison to other people with Zhongli, because said mental state is driven by how he feels about debt, service, and duty which are very closely tied with devotion and how he would feel about someone he considers his god and leader, as well as someone who saved him

It’s fun this is paired with Zhongli who generally knows how to work with Xiao kind of understands the self destructive depth Xiao’s loyalty/devotion comes with. Also fun they have been around each other for a very long time and Xiao as one of the adepti is familiar with the past I think Zhongli appreciates having around. They work but it’s also a case where Zhongli is in such a position of power over Xiao its kind of very delicate situation that’s hard for both of them to navigate. Which is fun to explore. I esp love contrasting it with other Xiao pairings (actually i think i still have that xiaoven fic up on my ao3 where I tried to convey a specific interpretation of them in a similar exploration vein too)

I totally get why people wouldn’t like it (I feel a lot of my opinions on xiao ships just clash with a lot of fandom consensus so bad all the time And it’s just bc I’m like this I’m not even trying to be contrarian or anything. HELDINCJD) but I just tend to handle shipping in a specific way. It’s not I don’t enjoy fluffy or lighthearted zl and xiao stuff I actually enjoy it a lot I just like there being layers. This makes it feel more impactful when I think about how Zhongli looks out for Xiao in canon or how Xiao gets like textually flustered talking to him (lantern rite 2023 was so tailored to my tastes it’s not even funny)

[ariesbilly]

misc. tag game

tagged by @blood-mocha-latte

a band you don’t like that many others do:

maneskin... tried a couple songs, wanted to like them.... cant do it

a childhood memory that you remember vividly:

this costume contest i refused to enter because my costume was boring and i knew i was gonna lose by the adults were like "no just join come on itll be fun" and i was like... already consumed by the darkness at that point lmfao and i sat watching everyone crying. fun! lmfao

least favorite animal and why:

i hate a snake. i respect their role in the ecosystem but dont you ever put one near me. dont put one within 5 miles of me. no. i dont trust anything that slithers bitch aint got no legs! i dont like that. and the striking? dont like that either. i have to stop talking about them now im genuinely uncomfortable

hot fandom take:

steve harrington is not a good character. he is badly written. yall only like him cuz you think joe is hot. thats literally it. the man has literally zero positive qualities. apply this to every other loved st character as well theyre all bad the show sucks i hope everyone dies

do you were any jewelry, if so, what’s your favorite piece:

i wear a friendship bracelet and a rope bracelet i got on a cruise (i forgot what theyre called. sailor bracelets or something?) and thats about the extent of my jewelry wearing

a movie others liked but you didn’t:

i don't think i've ever cognitively watched a movie and thought that i loved it or hated it. i'm usually just like Well That Sure Was A Movie. <- im keeping prevs because thats what wildest thing ive ever read in my life i need to study you lmfao as for my answer, insidious movies are bad. youre next is bad. many movies this website loves i havent even seen but i know they are bad thats why i havent watched them.

three things you love about yourself:

my hair is getting real cute lately. i am a huge bitch. i stare at my butt a lot i think its fun

a place you hope to visit in the future and why:

italyyyy i want to trace my roots

an actor that gets on your nerves and why:

idk if theres actors i have beef with for their personality lmao several i dont like because they are overhyped and im sick of seeing them. ariana grande she counts as an actress i cant stand her lmfao the vibes are rancid also stop dating married (taken) men its gross its weird

things you’re excited for in the nearby future?:

for my dog to finally be healed from her surgery cuz god its a lot of working making sure she dont pop her stitches

least favorite ship in a fandom you’re in:

if stancy is endgame im setting fires to buildings i want you all to know this. also fuck a steddie and a ronance but that goes without saying

what’s the most toxic fandom you’ve been in?:

stranger things. riverdales a close second but stranger things... you are all genuinely mentally unwell i would like to speak to your therapists and tell them shit aint working

list three things you find beautiful about life:

the ocean my best friend the ocean. animals just be out here looking for pets... brings a tear to my eye. im really struggling for a third life is bad lmfao my best friend? thats it.

any dreams for the future?

i try not to think about the future it gives me panic attacks

how are you really feeling today?

sleepy

tagging (no pressure): @panickedpenguin @avalonlights @ihaveacorgi @imsodishy

[fbj723]

honestly been going back and forth w myself on a lot of things lately attaching a read more for the sake of ik i'll be rambling like theres no tmr

a part of me wants to drop pnc but i havent really gotten everyone i wanted yet + im broke so i need to build my stash up *looks at clotho and eos* oddly enough pnc has been a game ive been pretty happy on playing still hate how i missed a login day tho tbf ive rarely borderline never interacted w the fandom so me just being in the dark w what goes on there has kinda been a blessing and a curse in a sense that i can enjoy the game in peace but it feels like im alone doing so

pgr im really REALLY tempted on dropping my glb acc, once nocti comes around which will prob be around the end of the school yr for me thats where i'd be like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ welp ig im done and drop that acc after playing around w nocti and whatev. tw im still not too sure abt?? prob when i get around to lvling up my main teams i can be like ok im done and drop that at any time since im just there to experience content ahead of time without being in cn directly

before dropping pgr entirely i do wanna complete a few stuff i had in mind tho

countdown for hyperreal which will prob happen bambi patch

still need to finish that nocti countdown for tw ive barely had any motivation completing that

nocti's bday countdown (similar to how lee's went)

glb nocti's countdown

draw every char up to latest one in cn

a few noctiskk comics thats been in the back of my head for MONTHS now

basically LOTS of countdowns and nocti stuff before i drop everything entirely

will i still draw pgr stuff after all that? mayyybeee???? itll moreso be towards kye's lore building rather than it being a standalone thing. i'll still collect merch and build up my shrines and make cosplay for chars but aside from that i'm pretty much gonna be moving on to other things

ive always had 50/50 feelings w being in the pgr fandom, tho being introduced to it on disc and then going to twt may have affected my views on this whole thing. esp when the side of the fandom i was first introduced to is like the lowest of the low, i dont want to go back to a place where a bunch of dudebro incels made fun of me for being afab and liking lee and me thinking that was a norm when it clearly isnt. its been 2 goddamn yrs and theyre still poking fun at that?? like my god grow up im so sick and tired of it.

if by a slim chance i still want to participate in being in the pgr fandom i'll just go back to lurking like ive always done in prev fandoms, if i really wanna be active in talking abt the game i'll talk abt it in servers or dms, but publicly i felt that i could never really comfortably talk abt how i feel abt it aside from here cause this site >>>>>> bc i felt like my opinions arent valid, tho that really applies to anything i do so 💀💀

pgr has been a really nice game for me to destress and detach myself from reality for a bit, tho now i wanna move on to other games and focus more on my ocs like i did back in the day. once i properly set up everyone's lore doc maybe in the future i'll make a game around them, nothing too big since i'll pretty much be making most of it, but i kinda wanna fulfill my childhood dream that was just recently unlocked

theres also that small part of me that wants to be known for my oc stuff rather than pgr stuff, but bc im not tagging w popular art tags im kinda just existing, and thats fine by me. hitting 500+ follows on twt was like peak realization of me going like "oh shit, 😨 maybe this big of a following aint for me" and it truly isnt lol

[the-lavender-creator]

could I please have some more of my favorite pathetic wet cat- I mean Toralei? Preferably something angsty. I just want her to suffer. A lot. Preferably thunder angst. If you can’t tell by now I’m a whore for thunder angst. And proud of it. Anyway. I want angst. Like a gallon of it. Oooo let me think. Okay so remember when you wrote the thunder fic and there was a line where Clawdeen was all like ‘I don’t know who told you it was bad to be afraid. But they’re wrong’. Or something like that.

WELL TIME TO FIND OUT! So! I’m obviously gonna blame Raterina- Oop I mean Caterina (no I don’t. Im lying) anyway. Let’s say Raterina shows up to check on her daughters progress. Idk like a literal queen leader of the were society would. Make sure the school is up to her daughter’s standards and all.

Well you guessed it! Theirs another storm! Except this time Toralei can’t slink away to her room with Clawdeen. Cause her mom is here! And like. The boo crew is too. And the group hadn’t been like. Officially told Toralei is scare of thunder or anything. But like. They kinda just. Know from past experiences. (Like the origin fic) and just other times toralei has been on edge specifically during a storm. And they might make a comment about it whenever toraleis being especially mean, but they never like truly make fun of her for it. Cause that would be so unlike monster high.

Buuuuut Caterina notices Toralei’s clear discomfort with the storm and immediately berates her. Probably very loudly and meanly. Basically shaming the fear out of her. Probably some stupid high class talk about how rulers don’t fear sounds or what not. Emotional manipulating bullshit on how it’s weak and bad to feel. That stuff.

And like. Toralei was already on edge and now her moms berrating her for it. So she’s probably a good five seconds from crying. And the Boo crew has seen all of this and they all kinda unanimously think ‘Ok. We don’t really like toralei but we all agree we don’t like her mom much more’ so they all kinda burst into action. Half of them slide in to defend Toralei. The others secretly create some distraction. And then once Raterina is thoroughly distracted, that’s when Clawdeen slides in and slips away with Toralei unnoticed. Where they deal with the storm together. (Oh and Clawdeen of course has to stare very clearly that everything toraleis mom just said was utter bullshit and fear is not weak and Toralei is not a weak monster for feeling it).

Famn. That was long. So sorry about that. Did I mention I love thunder angst?

you of course don’t have to write this. I just thought it would be a fun new part of the Toradeen series (featuring the boo crew somewhat accepting toralei as their own and defending the fuck out of her)

Much love! Thanks for putting up with my rambly prompts! ❤️❤️❤️

This one was originally meant to apply to my Furious Fur and Calming Claws series, but I decided to do something a little different! (Also, please send future prompts to my writing blog @vwritesawholelothm!)

Many thanks to @hodgepodgeoffandoms for beta reading!

Fandom: Monster High (Cartoon 2022) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Toralei Stripe/Clawdeen Wolf, Minor Cleo de Nile/Frankie Stein Characters: Toralei Stripe, Clawdeen Wolf, Catarina Stripe, Frankie Stein, Lagoona Blue, Meowlody (Monster High), Purrsephone (Monster High), Cleo de Nile, Draculaura (Monster High), Headless Headmistress Bloodgood Additional Tags: Thunder and Lightning, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Catarina Stripe is a Bad Mother, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Childhood Trauma, Childhood Memories, now that i think about it this is basically the plot of Descendants lmao, canon is a mere suggestion at best

Summary: The talisman owed to Catarina Stripe pops back up when Serena Wolf's daughter finds her way to Monster High. Like mother like daughter, Toralei takes it upon herself to snatch the pendant right under Clawdeen's nose, to present to her mother in a bid for love.

How fitting that her means of stealing involves inspiring a certain love, as well.

[conflitdecanard]

do you have any advice for starting to sell adoptables? i have a lot of character designs im not using, and im not even sure where to start with selling them online

Oouh I will do my best to answer ! :O Beware I will focus on how I sell on Tumblr here as you asked me on Tumblr - some stuff may not apply to other websites but most of the points should apply elsewhere too I would say !

-

But in general, you need some stuff in your description like:

Tell how you wanna be contacted ( pm, comments, email etc depends what you prefer ) - Also add " contact if interested " - People may contact you to ask you questions about the design too or some details; it happens so you may need to be ready !

Tell what kind of way you prefer to get payment and in what currency ( For me, it's paypal and in euros )

You can also say " rb/boost are welcome - You don't have to be interested if you wanna rb to boost or if you enjoy the art " It will help spread your offers and also some people can be unsure about reblogging and not being interested

I would say to add some rules too, just to be sure you are comfortable with how the designs are used like: " name,gender etc is up to the buyer " " you can/cannot resell/trade/gift " " I can hold the design for ( amount of time you prefer ) " " Don't change the design/You can change the design a bit/You can change the design how you want "

I would also recommend putting the price not only in the description but also on the pic of the adopt: To make sure people see it well but be ready to have people ask you how much they are still (￣▽￣ ) It is still a bit like retail on that point haha

Also watermark your adopts and put the social(s) you post them on the pic too ! If it is get shared around, it could help !

-

Another thing I would tell you is to TAG YOUR STUFF

You can look up artists you enjoy/respect to see what they use in their adopts tags

Don't hesitate to tag even colours or what kind of colours they are like pastel Stuff in the design like... there is sunflowers in the design ? Tag sunflowers Tag like... aesthetic too like cottagecore or dark acedemia I would say to tag potential triggers, i do that in case and also sometimes even add " ask to tag " cuz i am not sure i got everything covered

But yes tags really help to have your stuff seen - Tumblr good for that

-

Depends also what kind of design you are making - is it furry ? dnd ? humanoids ? fandom or not ? Tag as best as you can too - if you know artists who do designs like that/you, then look up what they tag these with !

-

I would recommend VERY MUCH to have a TOS too... !! It may sounds unnecessary or tiring to do but I do recommend as people can ask for a refund after getting the design and scam you :(

It never happened to me but I saw too many horrible stories like that happening to other artists to not tell you you should, even if just in case !

-

I think It is enough infos to start with ! I hope I helped even a bit but yeah ! I'm open to answer if you have more questions/need more details ! :'D

[krisiverse]

Hey same anon here. So... no offence but do you think people who ship something slightly controversial are going to just not interact with the rest of the fandom at all? I'm sure you're set in believing it's a bad ship but I really don't think everyone who ships it is a Bad Person on principle. Like them putting shipping in a separate blog with a similar url to their main is probably not them being secretive to get around dni's. Because this just in, anyone can get around dni's by ignoring them...

Shippers of controversial ships keep things separate from their main account usually to avoid subjecting people who don't want to see something to that thing, and to avoid getting hate/being called out, which is what you're doing....

Also, I don't think everyone who ships one lesbian cousin inc*st ship is inherently a proshipper... Most fans of the ship are just regular splatoon fans who contribute a lot to the fandom. I would know, a lot of people in the notes on your post have supported posts from an explicitly aohota blog

Also respectfully, I guess you want to warn people of someone shipping it but I think people can make that judgement call on their own... Filling the tag which is already separate from the main fandom tags with hate and putting individuals on blast seems more harmful than shipping fictional characters imo

hi im going to address these points one by one and out of order, im tired today

actually, you make a good point with it being put in the ship tags, i'll fix that. regardless of everything else i know how much it sucks to go into a tag for something you like and be met with hate for it

second um... incest shippers ARE proship by definition, because it means pro- ships that involve incest or pedophilia or both. there are probably other things that fall under that definition but those are the two big ones, so im sorry to say that is literally what it means

the point of a dni is that you enforce it by blocking people. there's actually been a history of people making blogs like that for the purpose of evading blocks- the main example i can think of is terfs making innocent-seeming main blogs with the express purpose of infiltrating trans-positive communities who would otherwise block them on sight. the fact that people in the notes have interacted with callie/marie shippers is exactly what i was trying to alleviate with that post, because the tags are obscure enough that a lot of people may not know what it means & interact unknowingly.

do i think everyone who ships problematic content is a "bad person"...? no, not really. they're often perfectly nice and kind and all that. but do i think they should keep to themselves and stay out of the larger splatoon community, besides others who are pro- or neutral to these kinds of ships? well... that WOULD be pretty unreasonable to ask, wouldn't it? but the thing is... someone being proship puts all those interactions into a different light. i shouldn't have to worry, if i make a post about callie and marie, that someone is going to interpret it sexually. i shouldn't have to worry if i make a post about one of them individually that someone is going to take it and apply it to their romantic/sexual dynamic of the two. it's something that makes me extremely uncomfortable, and it's a boundary i can only enforce by blocking (since as you said people can simply ignore dnis.)

which brings me to my last point... y'all have your space, which I unthinkingly put hate in and for that i'm genuinely sorry, but we have our own boundaries which we can ONLY enforce via dnis and/or blocking. the only thing we can really do to keep our space our own is to block, both the tags and the people that post in them, and that's all i told people to do; obviously i can't actively force anyone to block people, that's just my suggestion to keep them from unknowingly interacting bc other posts from people will show up even if they have the tag filtered.

i called out that particular person in the tags because they stood out to me, with the experience i'd had with the two blogs; also because i couldn't really name other active members of the community, seeing as i have nearly everyone there blocked already. my intention is to spread awareness, not to incite harassment, and if they're getting harassed (or if you'd like to avoid that possibility) i can delete those tags, likely instead putting them as part of a larger blocklist rather than focusing on one person. but again, that one person stood out to me and i wanted to prevent others from having the same experience.

i think that's all for rn, thank you for the ask and your understanding. feel free to send more asks, or if the person in question would like to talk to me directly, i would be willing to unblock them to have a discussion if they so choose

[writingpun]

nona da ninth spoilers just my thoughts abt it no real structure. lol

i liked a lot of nona but i truly feel like the book coulda been half the size tbh, there were so many Events and Things that i felt like were kind of trivial? i thought the schoolkids were cool and all, but they super fizzle out as soon as the main plot w blood of eden/the Houses gets going, and partly only serve as an introduction to Angel, who’s important because they add another thread to the UNRESOLVED PLOT HOOKS tapestry (the message). couldn’t be fucked to remember most of the more banal events that happen throughout the first half although maybe that’s just cuz i read the first half yesterday and the second half today.

All that said i like a lot o’ the gender fuckery (natch) and jod’s backstory imo was done very well. i think tamsyn muir has a real knack for writing narratives that take a little thinking to unwind, because there’s stuff that’s obviously missing or being skewed in the favor of the narrator. It was a big part of harrow the ninth, and it crept in during gideon, and it shows up here in a pretty big way. Even before the whole “i killed almost all of humanity oop” there was this building sense that jod’s whole heavy is the head schtick was a facade made to cover up the scared bitch underneath who would literally rather wipe the brains of everyone he loves and start again than admit he fucked up big time. I think the writing of Nona’s perspective was also pretty clever such that we the reader could glean what was going on sometimes even when Nona was completely clueless. I’m stupid and my brain is small but I appreciate being given the chance to rub my two little brain cells together while im reading something.

also when i was scrolling thru the tags i came across some paul hate. absolutely not in this house. paul rules. shoutout to palamades and camilla theyre real ones but im excited to see what their literally like steven universe dragon ball fusion is gonna do. Also, ngl, they seem to have a whole “intellectual joy and curiosity even when applied to terrible things” trait that im a little bit of a sucker for. ALSO they are nonbinary. fuck yeah .

truly do not understand what is going on with gideon at all (god bles,s). at first i was pretty sure she was a jod puppet, and then i wasn’t, and i saw some theories about her missing her “heart” which is fun but im also eh on it for purely personal taste reasons. I think it would be fun if jod was fucking with her brain somehow, or if she did the tampering herself--mirror what harrow did in harrow the ninth. i saw something about tamsyn saying harrow and gid are never getting back together in an interview buut im holding out hope that they’ll at least, like. talk. i wanna see them actually address all of the shit that’s gone down between them, indirectly, over the past two books.

also i have no idea what the fuck is going on with the bible stuff but i am sitting in the back and nodding peacefully. sure! you go you funky lesbians. shoutout to all the ex catholics in fandom going apeshit they seem to be having fun

[show-us-kaidenshenandoah]

ill eventually make a proper, pretty intro-post

but hello, hi, i am Kaiden-Shenandoah Knapp

also, yes, Kaiden-Shenandoah is my first name. the hyphen is optional, but you still have to type/say the whole thing. no, you may not call me "Kaiden". yes, i am aware it is a mouthful lol

(probably gonna change my surname is "Knapping" in a few years. i wanna distance myself from some shitty family while making the Indigeneity in my surname more apparent. dont be surprised when that happens. im just putting it off bc i got a lot on my plate rn lol)

(also if you knew me as "Kayleen", hi, hello, i no longer go by that childhood nickname. it is retired, wave goodbye, better to have loved and lost and all that)

this is my messily mindless "welcome to my head" blog, we do things very casually here. im making it my new Main (as of 24 March 2024). my professional/art blog is @kaidenshenandoahknapp

but the real point of this post is: i am not a bot lol

and also, stuff is on a queue (until i do a mass-reblog binge but, typically, i am on queue)

everything in my queue is now 2 post per 24 hours (as of: 20 April 2024)

ive been on tumblr before, but since this is a new Main, im just going through my favorite content-creation blogs i know and mass-queueing loads of the op's projects. (if you are one of those said blogs and find this nth new notes a day from me annoying, please let me know; and i will just spam them all to Post Now so i can get out of your hair asap) i'm also just not good at regularly keeping up with creators' new stuff week-by-week, so instead i generally mass-queue because i assume mass-reblogging is a bit more overwhelming, idk, maybe im just overthinking lol

tags guide: (mostly for me, ngl lol i need reminders of what i tag what when i do my mass-queues)

#me - me posting something

#relatable - "omg that is so me" at someone else's post

#aesthetic - me just really liking the vibes, which sometimes just also happens to be pretty to look at lmao

#canines wolves and werewolves i love - i know what i am about. ill probably have more "niche My Special Interest tags" as i find posts that fit them

#nutty nutcrackers / #the nutcracker - another Special Interest tag. pretty self-explanatory, i like The Nutcracker a lot lmao

#betty boop - you would think this belongs with fandom tags, but no. part of why i am obsessed with her (and have been since i was, like, 14) is because she was the popularization of the very next tag's trend

#infantalization in animation - it's when you apply baby facial proportions to an adult bodied character, it's most often done in female characters. i'll be using this tag outside of animated stuff btw. but yeah, anything that examines that visual design choice i am all 👀 over lmao

#other people's art - any individual person, not counting final version of studio work (like ill tag "Lilo and Stitch"'s exploratory concept art with this, sure, but i wont tag stills of the "Lilo and Stitch" film)

↳ #animal art

↳ #background art

↳ #oc art - is all "my original character in a canon piece" kind of ocs, not the "my original character in my original story" type

↳ there are also specifically listed artists here and there if they have influenced me/my style in the past or recently (such as but not limited to: #rvsa). almost all of them are indies with social media (aka: no Van Gogh, no Hayao Miyazaki. if they have their own fandom, i tag said fandom and not the specific artist, usually. it depends. there are some gray areas)

#brushes - the (digital) brushes people i like use

#art tips

#writing tips - is about actually doing the practice

#on writing - is the philsophy about the practice

#[insert fandom here]

#[insert fandom here] analysis

(here are the tags i chose for some fandoms that had multiple possible tags. this is not all of my fandom tags)

● #studio ghibli, #[insert studio ghibli title here] (i tag both the movie itself and studio. because sometimes i want something from the original movie, so i go into those tags; and i also go to the studio to look at overarching things since the studio has such a strong overall aesthetic/visual brand)

● #[insert disney title] (here, i do tag the specific movies and i dont just use the studio. because im usually looking for specific things this one disney movie has)

● #moomin (as opposed to "moominvalley", "tales of moominvalley", or the like)

● #my hero academia (so many different options for one work)

● #trigun (so many different branching creations from one source lmao im just gonna lump them together)

● #into the spiderverse (i dont use "across the spiderverse" for simplicity's sake, and i don't use the hyphen/space between "spider(-)verse" also for simplicity. its easier for me to be consistent if i just go "nah, its all one word")

● #marvel comics (i do not tag the mcu specifically)

● #dc comics, #batman (i tag both. but i dont tag any other dc comics property. i just know im esp obsessed with the batfam enough that, sure, they should get their own tag)

[higheldertala]

series 12 ranking list

please feel free to discuss and share your opinions on any of the episodes too! also please feel free to ask me any additional questions on my opinion of any specific subject!

ranking scale

good - a decent episode of doctor who.

okay - give it another draft and this would also be a good episode of doctor who.

bad - not great, noticeable flawed, needs a good fix up.

awful - downright dreadful or insulting to watch.

doctor is explicitly racist tier - does what it says on the tin.

i switched this round from my s11 ranking so this ranking is based on the ch*bnall era alone, not as the whole of nuwho.

looking back at my s11 ranking and i feel like it may have come across as a touch harsh. for clarification my big criticisms boil down to the lack of character work and obviously in s11 it was just pretty lacking of decent character work and characterisation which is probably why i ranked them all as bad and below. the same criticism of poor character still exists in this season, maybe not as bad? idk, still no where near the standard for actual good television. of course my opinions and rankings change depending on how/ what I am basing an episode on so this is none of this is concrete as such.

haunting of villa diodati - pretty good. if only all of ch*bnall’s episodes lived up to this standard, it might have actually have been good.

nikola’s tesla night of terror - solid episode, pretty reminiscent of an rtd era historic. i feel like the villian could have been a tad stronger and then it could be moved up to good.

spyfall pt1 - a solid start, sacha is a delight, definitely could used some a bit of tweaking to tidy it up.

fugitive of the judoon - ranking this episode in isolation and it ends up being middling. i feel like the fugitive plotline could be a lot stronger rather than leaving it as ✨a mystery✨. the subplot of the fam meeting jack could be a lot better and more engaging. could be worse but also be a lot better.

praxeus - the location hopping is an awful trope of ch*bnall designed nothing more than to show off the budget rather than be utilised to showcase a good story. also annoying side characters which barely add anything and only exist to become extra tag alongs.

ascension of the cyberman - gets put into the awful tier mainly because of how dull it is. a 50 minute build up for the second part (and yes I know this technically applies for all two parters but this one takes the piss). completely dull and unengaging.

revolution of the daleks - this one is perhaps harsh and it’s positioning could change based on my mood. i just don’t care for it at all honestly.

the timeless children - did no one think to stop this man when destroying 57 years of canon? yes fandom will be completely happy with this im sure(!)

spyfall pt2 - the second part falls apart. the plot is abandoned to become a run around episode, extremely bad moral decisions are made and the resolution literally happens off screen.

can you hear me? - insulting to mental health and completely wastes its fear aspect because all the main characters are severely underdeveloped.

orphan 55 - whatever was the original intent of this episode, the final execution of it is abysmal. a terrible episode of doctor who.

additional comments:

9 of out 11 episodes this series takes place on earth, with over half being set in the present day. THIS IS A SHOW ABOUT TIME AND SPACE TRAVEL. where did we lose you with this concept ch*bnall? wish we could ban earth stories for at least a season or something.

the companions still just exist for the majority of the runtime, occasionally given something to do but nothing of any consequence and are still never key players in the stories they are in. the addition of jack is pure key jangling in an attempt to get a boost in figures.

timeless child bad. destroying gallifrey again actually infuriates me more than the timeless child and i will be ignoring it as canon.

[djsadbean]

how to improve drawing kinda fast:

ditch lineart for a bit (this way its easier to part with things that aren’t working)

use a REALLY thin brush

copy, copy, copy art you think is ✨art goals✨

don’t post that stuff tho :O

if you need to trace at first, thats fine lol but break away from that eventually!! you gotta train your eyes to draw what you see, spatial awareness is very important

copy hands, poses, expressions, anything you wanna get better at

don’t copy from refs that are way too simple to be used as a “master study”, like from the calarts shows etc.

copy from stuff thats kinda complex bc if you learn how to draw it in that complex way, you can always simplify it if you want ^^

im pretty sure this is how many of us have become obsessed with hip dips details LOL

if something looks off, flip ur canvas, mess with ur sketch, or even delete (or hide) parts of the sketch and try again. if you drew it once, u can draw it again. (erase or hold up the page to the light backwards if drawing on paper)

being cool with parting with your sketch if its not working will make you a better artist

youre allowed to frankenstein refs together lol (a hand from here, a mouth from there...)

if youre having trouble making your sketches look like theres actual shapes, try shading :D

literally the only reason i shade now is to show the shapes of objects in more of a painterly way (its not just for paintings btw, its just easier to describe it that way)

try new things that youre excited about like perspective, anatomy, blah blah

copy!!!! while youre copying it’s gonna be cool to see how much you remember when you try it on your own

scribble a doodle as often as you can, not like urgently, but like as something to look forward to (like how lots of ppl look forward to wordle everyday lol)

this list can apply to anyone but its fine if you wanna take some advice and leave some if it doesn’t work out. this list is mostly just to get you comfortable with sketching and learning, not performing.

I mention that “not performing” thing bc its easy to want to please social media platforms because that attention and validation can feel amazing! 

but its also addicting because many of us crave being in a community and talking to ppl who like the same things we do

there are many communities out there from artist youtubers, artist streamers, etc. and many of them have discords and stuff and it might be fun to join! and/or join fandom ones if u want ^^ 

that way you have something thats not bound by if ig decides to not show your post to your followers or something

there’s also lots of other platforms that aren’t social media based specifically for artist communities too!

with this said, please be safe! never give out private info and you’re always free to block/report ppl who make u uncomfortable or ask weird things. 

on the topic of being in communities... reblog art you like! comment the nice things youre thinking in the tags or in an actual comment! share art you like on your ig story!

firstly, this is great for making friends

secondly, the artist cant read ur mind so they don’t hear anything nice youre saying :(

comments can be so motivating!! hearing nice things from my mutuals about my art feels great bc of that authentic human connection we’ve all been missing for like 2 years now

if i see a mutual drawing something and i think “omg they did amazing with the expression!” i write it (ive also been told i leave comments as if im talking and its kinda funny to read sometimes xD)

its channeling “girls support girls” culture in a way lol we’re our best when we’re lifting each other up <3

luv ya, be safe!! and draw lots of things!! :D

add stuff that’s helped you improve kinda fast if u want too! if we put all our brain cells together we’ll be unstoppable heheh

[a-slut-for-smut]

One Big Slutty Fuckoff List of Gloriously Smutty Alutegra fanfics :D

Greetings, fellow Alutegra sluts out there! I am but a humble whore for Alutegra for well over a decade, but finally decided it was high time to curate some of the finest, most exquisite smut of our OG girl boss/malewife ship. What spurred this on, you ask? Welp, I am guilty of sluttily luring in some of my moots aboard this ship and been promising to deliver this for AGES, so here we are years later (sorry i operate on grandma speeds!!!)

A couple things to know regarding this rec list (which may be particularly helpful for curious newcomers, horny vets feel free to scroll on down):

1.) As the title suggests, this is a smutravaganza so mostly is rated E, some M. Sorry folks, im sure there is a ton of amazing non-explicit fics but this is all i read! Also, given the very nature of the series (iirc it originally has hentai roots) it doesnt shy away from sexually kinky themes. Honestly name a kink and its probably not only been explored but likely grounded as far as canon goes. What do i mean by this? I'm only going to name a few but if any of the following get your juices flowin then Alutegra is the ship for you:

Dom/Sub BDSM (emphasis on consent)/Power play vibes- Integra is master, Alucard is her servant. As my boy Oscar Wilde said “Everything in the world is about sex — except sex. Sex is about power.” Honest to God, I don't know any ship that embodies this quote any better.

Bondage- Alucard is first discovered by Integra in a strait jacket/chains etc, and if memory serves me correctly makes several appearances throughout the series

Genderbending/fluidity- well im not sure this is the right term, but in canon Alucard can shapeshift/says he doesn't identify with a specific form/body (whether this applies to gender is up to interpretation i guess?). His "Girlycard" form is generally seen as his female form in the fandom.

Monster porn- Well, Alucard is a vampire and can shapeshift. Including a wolf/dog beast. Sky's the limit folks

Tentacle/cosmic horror porn- Alucard can conjure these shadowy tentacle thingys and a million extra eyes which serves as some sort of relevant symbolism that ive completely forgotten. Shit's hot tho (i got a cosmic horror kink shutup)

Non-penetrative sex & forbidden/taboo vibes- in canon, its established that only virgins can be turned into true vampires, everyone else turns into inhuman mindless ghouls. That said, the authors who write within the bounds of canon find very, VERY creative loopholes. Also the sheer level of pining (for penetration especially) might drive you insane no joke (proof: me). Mad respect to these authors- trust me this is sayin a lot coming from someone who actively prefers full-on penetration smut XD

2.) I am by no means a resource for canon- I watched both series YEARS ago, so my memory of the plot is shaky at best. What truly gripped me about this series is the Alutegra relationship, the true struggle in how to define their bond (or if it even can be, kudos to the fic authors that try). They are both utterly compelling characters in their own right within canon (truthfully I crush harder on Integra than Alucard) and i think the fandom absolutely recognizes that. Much of the gravitas of their bond is tied to canon, so most fics seem to understand/reflect this. No warm fuzzy coffee shop/high school AUs here folks, prepare yourselves for a truly smutty angst fest.

OK enough of that, to the smut! I'm really just commenting on the porn vs the plot so no summaries here. Oh and if any of you know the tumblr URLs of any of these authors lmk so i can tag them. Also im sure ive missed some gems, feel free to share and i'll look to add later

Welp, im going to hell and im taking you all with me- get sinning and enjoy the feast you horny hoes

One-shot porn

What It Wants and Where It Goes - by @crystallinee-waters

Femdom but goddamn its written in a way that made me ache. Alucard's sheer level of contrition, desperation for forgiveness goes beyond your standard simp energy. Top tier, i fucking LOVE how their relationship is depicted. and fun fact, i may have helped the author brainstorm some of the smuttier details <3<3

Mine - by @crystallinee-waters

Goddess at femdom and pining, but holy hell the way how explicit sexual content is approached is just *chefs kiss* I needn't remind you folks- consent is sexy as fuck and this authors fics are proof of that *sidenote - im keeping this list to smut but do yourself a favor and read ALL these authors fics, im a whore for her interpretation of their relationship

In This Darkness, I Have You by @goblins-riddles-or-frocks

What is the point of a vampire/human porn-rec list if you don't include menstrual cunnilingus smut? Also feels. Lots of feels.

Girls & Wolves by Calesvol

mmm hate-sex at its finest folks. Gotta fuck em into obedience yallwhatimsayin??

Homeostasis by Calesvol

A semi-sequel to Girls & Wolves. Very kinky smut but laced with hurt/comfort.

Kingdom of Heaven by Iggy_Lovechild

more hate-sex basically, yay. Also has a shit-ton of smutty one-shots, far too many to list- enjoy

A Queen's Throne by Anilucard

a smutty ode to Alucard's wicked, wicked tongue :D

With the Thorns Underneath by wllw

Holy femdom batman!

Loopholes by @and-i-write-sins

eyyy remember when i mentioned creative loopholes? LOL

you'd make a dead man come by valenstyne

LORD HAVE MERCY! i'll let the fic summary speak for itself: There’s more than one way to stake a vampire. Metaphorically speaking.

Pain by hypnonaut

lol this one just gets progressively kinky as it goes, but Alucard's adoration of Integra is both sweet & sexy

Tentacles of the Night by LaviniaLavender

eyyy remember when i mentioned tentacle porn? LOL

Simple Motions by @ironcladvalkyr

eyyy remember when i mentioned genderbending? but to expand on this this is probably one of the hottest things ive ever read and top tier aftercare/pillow talk

To be watched, in such silence by @ironcladvalkyr

short but smutty, the way Alucard goes on about how Integra turns him on is yums

darling, I wish you were red by @lunarcrystal

yay for cunnilingus and pining!

These fics from Cardinal_Daughter - you have to be logged in to see

Clingy - Timeline of their relationship via Integra POV.

Adore - post-canon angsty smut

Remembered - no smut but this was so achingly angsty i had to shout out

Multi chapter porn

And Though You Turn From Me - by @when-rivers-run-red

THE PINING, THE NOTICE ME SENPAI FEELS, THE TENTACLE PORN AUGHHHHHHHHH this one is a recent favorite folks, do not skip!!!

Eternal Sin by @therustycage

This post-canon multi-fic is one of my favs. Love the Alutegra interactions on how to tackle the obstacles presented in the finale, the pining, and the plot is definitely something to chew on. Slow-burn but tis a good burn

Embracing Sin by @therustycage

Sequel to Eternal Sin. Basically fluffy-porn and time travel. Delicious.

Satis by @lesmismignon

A heavy weight champ of Alutegra post-canon fics. Integra's POV on how she wrestles her feelings for Alucard- just INJECT that shit straight into my veins MMMM! Alucard's pining is top notch/the slow burn makes the smutty bits that much more exquisite. Honestly just read all her fics (one-shots) they're great

The Return by ButifulDeath

Post-canon porn with interesting plot, and fuckin hell dat smut is just *chefs kiss*

Samhain by ButifulDeath

fluffy porn one-shot sequel to The Return and it is hothothot

Like Real People Do by @my-mild-ginger

ahhh so i actually havent read this one yet as its a chonky 40 chapters (currently), seems much more fluff vs smut for those that prefer that balance

[aroaceacacia]

for context, im new to hermitblr and i've been reading thru ur 2019 talk tag & i think i have the general idea of what went down. i just have a small question -- what was the "division thing"? you referenced it in another post but ive never heard of it. was it, like, "what are your thoughts on [x person]?" or something?

tbh I don't exactly remember what it was referring to at this moment but I think it was probably in reference to something that happened to me - an anti-hermitshipper once DMed me (who was neutral leaning anti at the time) to say "please don't interact with me", and when I asked why they said "it's because of who you associate with". It turned out that they were made uncomfortable because I had reblogged posts from a user who I was friendly with and who happened to be hermitship positive.

From what I recall, this happened to other people, too (I may be wrong here). Basically, anti-hermitshippers disliked hermitshippers so strongly that they started dividing everyone in the fandom into two camps, and even association such as following/reblogging/knowing hermitshippers was enough to get you lumped into the hermitshipper collective by anti-hermitshippers, or at least it felt that way. It felt like nobody was truly allowed to be neutral in some capacity

Thinking back on it the whole "please dont interact with me" was really dumb bc they could have just blocked me? or figured out my main (I'm pretty sure it's always been in my bio??) and softblocked me? by contacting me directly it was almost like a signal to subtly let me know that I was, in their eyes, Doing Something Wrong, and the direct dialogue was a way to facilitate that conversation. maybe that's a manipulative way of putting it, but I do think there's a weirdness in that sort of approach.

Lately I've been thinking a lot abt something that I've discussed in therapy, which is that "we can't change/control what others do, we can only control ourselves/how we respond to them". I think that it strongly applies to HC shipping discourse in general; it feels like it's a lesson anti-hermitshippers in some communities still haven't learned as they continue to go out of their way to try and stop people from shipping hermits. Whether they do it for moral reasons, or personal discomfort, or whatever, I think it's fair to say that they push people out of communities and call out users because they want to stop people from shipping hermits. Meanwhile, Hermitblr's solution to these differences of opinion and taste in content has been to block users and filter tags, to "curate your own experience" - rather than changing other people's actions, to change our own, and that's enabled us to reach a point where we can all have different feelings and boundaries on a somewhat sensitive topic but still respect one another and each other's wishes.

I've been having a lot of thoughts lately.

[shifuto]

pls that person w/ the shipping takes makes me spiral every time they talk. they make it a moral thing and let me tell it makes me mentally unwell like unironically it makes me paranoid that im a Bad Person, esp when they start moralizing abt specific ships w/ nothing actually even wrong w/ them. it's rlly damaging to me. like god. god. you dont have to post this but i needed to let it out to someone who seems to Get It.

sorry this got really long X_X

tl;dr: you should try applying the logic people use against shipping or certain shipping dynamics, to fictional violence and question why only one is considered problematic while the other isn't. Sex negativity and a culture that abhors weirdos, while trivializing violent behaviour irl and in fiction, should tell you a lot

I think you should go ahead and preemptively block people. You have nothing to lose and much to gain. I do that all the time and it has made my navigating here much better. Guess the exception for me would be the Zexal fandom, since it's so small. Sometimes I will see wild shit like this and roll my eyes and hope people block me then because I'm one of those freaks in everyone's dnis hahaha

I hope this helps some. Have a nice day and stay weird anon, don't give in, there's others who appreciate you just how you are

here's the things: these are fictional stories with fictional characters that don't really exist. Yeah sure, it could be "a reflection of reality" and like.. what about it? It's still fictional lol

I used to struggle with this a lot myself, and used to be harassed, sui baited and everything back when I was on another fandom, because I draw/write porn of fictional characters. What helped me a lot was getting the logic these people use and apply it in other fictional settings such as.. violence, and question why only one is considered extremely problematic, and the other is not only socially acceptable but normalized. Trivializing violence actually "helps" justify atrocities against certain groups, even more using a Good vs Bad framework: violence is acceptable against "bad" people. Who is "bad" people? High rates of racism, antisemitism, ableism, etc everywhere should give you an idea..

all I hear about in fandom spaces is how things related to fictional sex and fictional relationships are the bane of society and "wouldn't someone think of the children**" and fictional violence is like "well, you can just blacklist tags if you don't want to see that kind of content" hmm.......

it reminds me of some of the drama that went down years ago about how "video games make people more violent***" and that not only is untrue, video games give a way for people with violent tendencies to cope and that's a good thing. Also, no one is watching horror movies and thinking they're itching to kill others, even if they are, they can just keep to themselves and have fun watching gruesome shit like nobody's business. Thinking is not a crime. And liking certain things it's not a reflection of someone's whole character (see: kinksters and how they get shit from literally everyone just because of what they like/what turns them on, and people seem to forget they're a whole human being with a life outside of kink)

a lot of the shit people cry about in here are non-issues where I come from, no one loses their head about it. If someone dislikes something they can do something about it, or they don't and that's fine too. "Right" and "wrong" are relative concepts, there's a lot of room for nuance and fiction is still fiction in the end of the day

considering a lot of folks here are from countries that are nuts with purity culture, sex negativity, and anything not "normal" is considered degeneracy that needs to be purged, it's no wonder you get the most wild takes from people in fandoms. In particular, young people, are very susceptible to accept things as facts and might not have enough maturity or critical thinking skills to process what they absorb. Unfortunately, it spreads because who can argue with that?

[sarcasm] of course incest is horrible, and age gaps are bad, and dysfunctional relationships are toxic and people who write or draw those things are just as guilty of "normalizing" and "romanticizing" it, and they are probably secretly trying to groom children with fanart of some kid's cartoons because they're a predator! People writing noncon fanfiction? Actually rapists in denial! People writing alien character X human character with massive age gaps? Obviously it's a pedophile, same with people who age up characters for porn purposes! People who are into monsters and robots and other stuff? Degens that should be shot! [/sarcasm]

as if it's fictional media causing damage to people and not people themselves.. really makes you think huh? It's easy to just blame the art, and if it doesn't exist, then there will be no more issues, right? As if censorship ever worked as "intended" and not as a tool to control people's thoughts and behaviours

the point of fiction, at least for me, is that there's no limit to what you can do. You can write or draw anything, you can go absolute batshit crazy with your rape bdsm fantasies with age gaps and monsters and shit. It's not real, and that's the fun of it. Authors tend to tag things out of courtesy, so that people can control whether they will see it or not. You can't get that from a published book, so we're spoiled in fandom spaces with content creators being very amazing at that. A lot of people I see complaining seem to be actively looking for that kind of content themselves, or they don't want it to exist near them at all. That's just such a stressful way to live when you can just... block people, blacklist tags, not engage in things that trigger you.. lol

** that's a logical fallacy commonly used to shutdown queer people and sex workers, among others (x) *** broadly, researchers have not found any connection between violent video games and violent behavior (x)

[honeyblueroad]

To the new people from twitter

There are probably enough posts already, and probably im one of the last people who should be making one of these because I migrated from Reddit in January, but I really want to make one of these so here it is.

First of all, welcome! I hope you have a good time while you’re here, it’s one of the better fandoms I’ve been in on this site and is generally a really nice environment. However, Tumblr is fairly different to Twitter both outside and inside the context of this fandom.

One major difference is the way content is spread, on Tumblr likes do little to nothing while reblogging is the way the majority of content is shared, reblogging puts a post onto your page, while still showing the creator at the top, this lets anyone who follows you or looking through your page see the post allowing them to reblog the post from you sharing it to more people. Reblogging is not the same as reposting, which is extremely rude, you are just showing more people the post and it is encouraged especially for art.

One thing that will make your experiences infinitely better is cultivating your personal fandom experience- meaning don’t be afraid to block people, even if they haven’t done anything wrong and you just disagree with their opinion, or they make you feel uncomfortable with them, and even if you just feel like it- just block them. Also, do not take it personally if someone has blocked you it doesn’t mean they even dislike you, just that they don’t want to see your content which is fine.

Another thing that is important is the lack of content creators, the majority of people don’t want content creators to see their posts, and with the lack of any content creator one here publicly its strange to be creating content of any sort with the desire for a content creator to see it. Although they’re some content creators here, while we do sometimes joke about finding their accounts- do not actually try and find their accounts. Also do not fall for the Kinnie/roleplay/trolling blogs they are not actually the creators.

While there are no content creators with public accounts, please respect their boundaries still even if you think they won’t see it, @smpboundries documents the majority of these- the most obvious being to not ship people who aren’t comfortable with it, don’t sexualize people who aren’t okay with it, and don’t truth people.

Another important feature of Tumblr is the tagging system, this is how people can see you’re posting if they aren’t following you and also how people can avoid seeing your posts. To tag your posts you should add the relevant smp (probably the dream smp) you can do this by adding #dream smp, #dsmp, or #dsmpblr into the tag section at the bottom of the post, then you should add the relevant characters in the same way as well as any relevant group name like the bench trio or sbi. Another thing you should add are tags to warn of content, this means any trigger warnings or content warnings- adding them at the top does nothing, it also considered common courtesy to tag critical posts for example c!(insert name) critical for characters or tagging dream smp critical for the dream smp as a whole, this also applies to groups such as L’manberg of the syndicate- it also considered polite to tag discourse. Tags can also help you navigate the archive which everyone has unless they have turned it off. You should make sure make sure to not tag things that are not relevant do not tag dream smp post as Minecraft and do not put Minecraft in your tags or it will show up in the main tags (for example Philza Minecraft)- the same applies for mineblr, don’t tag origins that is already the name of another fandom and don’t tag characters you didn’t mention in the post or only mentioned briefly. To block tags, you can go into your settings and find it there, here you can block any Tw/cw or anything you would rather not see (I would recommend block mcyt x readers also).

Trending is something that also very different on Tumblr as while you can get trending, it’s a lot hard and we don’t really try to- please do not spam tags to try and get trending.

If you want to communicate with a user there are many different ways to do so- you can send asks which don’t have to be a question, this can also be done privately and anonymously. Do not send hate to anyone no matter how much you disagree with them. You can also privately message people although isn’t always the norm. You can also submit posts which are will be put on their blog if they choose to feature it. Bots will follow you occasionally but they are generally quite obvious and just trying to get you onto porn sites. Don’t be afraid to ask people to tag things.

As you may have already noticed generally opinion is very different to other sites, with more Tommy, Tubbo and Wilbur sympathy and more techno and Philza crit then other sites. Please do not take character crit personally and feel free to block tags/ people if they make you uncomfortable pr make you day any worse- no matter your opinions you are guaranteed to find at least a couple mutals who agree with you.

There are also somethings that are not excepted here, ableism is not okay in any form- do not demonize character for mental illness symptoms, do not infantilize neurodivergent people, don’t call technoblade monotone, and don’t insult characters by comparing them to a mental illness (e.g., calling dream a psycho). Don’t be sexist, even if you do it in a girl boss away- don’t infantilize female content creators, don’t be overly critical of them, and don’t sexualize them if they aren’t comfortable with it. Don’t be racist- don’t assign poc characters traits based of racial stereotypes, don’t call them racist for expressing their own culture and don’t create racial allegories in the dream smp story where the poc characters are oppressing white characters. Don’t be creepy towards the minors of the server- UK consent laws are more complicated than you think and even if what you are doing is technically legal you are still a bit of a nonce, it’s still not okay to sexualize them if you are the same age, and once they are no longer underaged it is still not okay to sexualize them if they aren’t comfortable with it. Don’t post abuse apologism- it makes people uncomfortable (especially abuse victims) and leads to a negative fandom space.

Overall, although I’m sure you’ve seen some posts joking around try to scare you a little bit- as a general we aren’t that bad, and you shouldn't be afraid of interacting with most people, make sure you are having fun. Although the content tends to be focused more with analysis and friendly discourse- don’t engage with if you’re comfortable with it- I’m sure there will be something for you whether it be fanart or meme. Don’t be afraid to follow random people and respond to posts even if you are newer and don’t feel like you have t watch anything you don’t enjoy or take part in any activities you don’t want to. Fandom is for fun and if it ever stops being that don’t be afraid to take a few steps back.

[peachcitt]

okay, so style reference you say? I'm 👀

YES STYLE REFERENCE I SAY

this is going to be. a very long post i think with probably a lot of tangents and probably with a lot more thorough explanation than you could ever want but. here we go

because all of my theory/explanation posts end up So Long, i like to organize myself by keeping myself to a structure, and i also like to think if i put stuff in sub categories with bolded titles, people reading can skip ahead to the stuff they want if they're low on time or don't feel like slogging through everything. so here's the structure of the official Peach Style Reference Narrative

1. Early Days - how i started writing, my early inspirations, origins

2. Current Days - discussions of current style references plus examples and comparisons, discussions of original content versus fan content

3. Future Days - where i expect my writing to grow, trajectories i want, conclusory thoughts

without further ado, let's get into it!

1. Early Days

like i mentioned on the discord server, ive been writing creatively for. a very long time. i just turned 20 (like. literally today. we love to see it) and that seems very young, but i remember writing creatively when i was maybe six or seven, and before that i played with dolls a lot, which meant every day i was creating little narratives for myself. in addition to this - and this is probably why i started writing so young - i was (and am!) a very avid reader. i was that little jerk in elementary school reading chapter books and going into the older kids' section in the school library because i'd already mentally surpassed the books in the section meant for kids my age. so, basically, ive been writing for maybe 13 or 14 years at the least.

when i was young, my favorite books that i remember trying to copy in my own stories were: the magic treehouse books, harry potter, and percy jackson.

the magic treehouse

i honestly could not tell you which magic treehouse book it was, but i remember reading a specific magic treehouse book where the magic lady that left the treehouse for the kids sends the kids (jack and annie??) a note in distress, and she didn't get to finish signing her name because whoever had gotten her had interrupted her. it had been printed in the book with the ink on her name running.

i could not tell you anything else that happened in that book, but i can tell you that at some point in time soon after i read that book i started writing a story with an interrupted letter just like that. i loved the drama, the mystery of it all. i wanted to do something that was a little scary like that, a little exciting.

harry potter

harry potter isn't much of a style reference, but it was a huge impact of my childhood. truth be told i kind of hated the books when i was really young because i grew up watching the movies, and when i tried to read the books when i was in elementary school, the teenage angst that hits about book 5 simply Did Not make sense to me. i also find the language of harry potter to be super cumbersome, and sometimes it feels to me like the books are long just for the sake of being long. they have a huge cultural impact, but i feel the same way about harry potter's style as i do about dickens. cool and interesting, but, like, could you get to the point already? (and also my opinion of j.k. rowling has steadily been growing worse and worse over the years, for obvious reasons. harry potter is nostalgic for me, but i can't look at it now without thinking about it critically, which really lowers my opinion of it)

however, you could probably call my first fanfiction a harry potter fanfiction. i started it when i was maybe six or seven, and it was a rewrite of the chamber of secrets with my childhood best friend as the main character (she didn't know about it, i just had her as the main character because i thought she was cool). i of course never finished it, but harry potter probably did a huge part of planting that seed of magic in me. everything i want to write included some form of magic - although my perspective on what can be considered magic has steadily expanded over the years.

percy jackson

of all my childhood "style references" that still influence me to this day, percy jackson has got to be the biggest. for starters, it's magic. second, it's main themes are about friendship and family - things that i like all my stories now to always include. third - and most important - is the narrative voice.

in terms of narrative voice, percy has a huge personality. he's witty and snarky, but also very thoughtful and poignant. a lot of my early writing was in first person, and it's probably because of percy. also, percy jackson was the first fandom i really got into, and it was the first media that i started officially writing and posting fanfiction for. percy's voice is so clear and hooking, and i wanted to be able to write something funny and real like that.

also - chapter titles. the original pjo series is famous for its weird and hilarious chapter titles, and even though i didn't really start writing fics or stories that were long enough to need chapter titles until a while later, i loved the idea of putting in a chapter title that would make a reader laugh, or maybe even make a reader feel a little apprehensive about the events to come.

but back to percy's narrative voice. i loved that style, almost conversational, so much that i started thinking like it. when i wasn't doing anything, like walking home in middle school, i often found myself narrating my life in my head like percy would, trying to find that humor and spark in my every day surroundings. i still find myself doing that very often, but not necessarily in the classic pjo style. now i narrate everything in my head a little differently, but that practice narration in my early days really helped my shape my voice, i think.

other series i read when i was younger include: a a series of unfortunate events and the name of this book is secret. i don't remember seeing a lot of influence in my early writing from those books, but i definitely think the styles of those books hit me a little later, which i will talk about in the next section.

but, yeah. these were the big three of my childhood. i also read a lot of ya romance, children's mystery books, princess stories, and various types of fantasy, which i think you could probably tell from the genres i like to stick to now. except i don't write a ton of mystery because, as much as i admire the complicated plots, im not sure if i'd have the patience to plan all that out.

in terms of the rest of the genres, a ton of my earlier writing included classic ya romance and fantasy tropes - chosen girl, love triangles, angsty overpowered teens, etc etc. even though those kinds of stories are not necessarily the kinds of stories i want to write or read now, i think my early writing of those kinds of things was really valuable. it's kind of a dirty secret with finished or unfinished works generally considered 'cringe' - often that writer is a new writer, or they're trying something new, or they just haven't found their voice yet. all of those things are perfectly okay and normal, and a lot of people in the writing community preach that kind of thing, but i don't necessarily see people cutting new writers slack in actual practice. writing "overrused" tropes isn't cringe, it's normal, and, besides, what trope isn't overrused? people have been writing and telling stories for thousands of years - nothing is really new. what matter is that someone new is telling the story, and that's what makes it valuable.

so, yeah, a lot of my childhood writing is cringe to me now, but i wouldn't be where i am without it.

with that being said, let's actually look at where i am now

2. Current Days

im going to break this section down into two parts, sort of: original fiction and fanfiction. because i think both of these things have become really important to me, and i don't believe i personally could exist as a writer without one or the other. it's a symbiotic relationship.

we'll start with fanfiction.

my relationship with fanfiction is relatively positive in online spaces: i write what i want to see from media that i like, and i have fun doing it. i also get some comments on my fics by lovely people that detail exactly what they like - some even go so far to talk about narrative style, voice, or tone - and that's really helpful. generally, i see fanfiction not only as a fun hobby and vent space for my strong positive feelings about certain media, but also as a place for me to try new things, experiment, and earn positive feedback.

i don't often share my original fiction online (and if i do, never at the same scope as my fanfiction), so i don't get that same opportunity to see what "works" with readers. fanfiction gives me the space to see that, and i apply new knowledge ive learned to my original fiction. that's what i mean by a symbiotic relationship.

in terms of specific style references for specific fics (which is what i know you probably most want to see), i'll try my best to pick them all out and give specific examples.

those benevolent stars and i am the messenger by markus zusak

in my favorite book list, i saw you mention tbs, so i'll start there. to be honest, i had no idea what my style reference for tbs was when i first saw your tags, and i almost didn't think there was anything specific. style references are a bit sneaky like that - if you've been referencing for someone for a long time, it becomes less of an intentional reference and more of just a you think, so it gets harder to tell.

lucky for this post, i just finished doing my yearly reread of zusak's i am the messenger, and as i was reading, i noticed a few spots where i was like wait hey i remember doing that.

for starters, iatm has been my favorite book for about six or seven years now, so i would say that some aspects of my style certainly comes from zusak because of how much i love iatm but also his other books. zusak has this huge talent for writing short, punchy sentences that convey so much in just a few words, and i think i've ended up trying to do that in my own writing. often, in my writing you'll see fragmentary sentences such as "He stopped. Blinked. Looked at her." that's not from anything specific, but i know ive written something like that maybe a million times over. zusak doesn't do the same thing - often his fragments are jam-packed with imagery in a way that mine aren't - but there's a thoughtfulness in his fragments that are in mine, too. a sort of pause. a hint that there's thinking happening in the narrator or a certain character. for example, i did a quick flip through of my copy and we have:

"We stare across the table.

Just briefly.

At each other." (I am the Messenger, p.144)

so you see how my common sentence fragment of "he stopped / blinked / looked at her" tracks with a fragment like this? i like the way zusak broke up sentences to make you dwell on them a little longer, consider the importance of each section, so i started doing that wayy before i wrote tbs i think.

also, at the time i wrote tbs, i think i was in the process of, or had just finished doing my reread of iatm, and, like i said, zusak loves imagery. tbs is a very imagery-heavy fic. tbs was influenced by a lot of music - a lot of the scenes have very specific pieces of music that i wrote imagining the tone and vibe of. iatm also references a lot of outside media sources, mostly music and films.

there are a couple of scenes in tbs that i think i wrote specifically mimicking or accidentally referencing from iatm. for example, we have this scene in tbs:

"It was almost like he could feel Marinette’s eyes on his back, steady and gentle. 'But you still love her.”

'Yeah,' Adrien said quietly, 'I still love her.' His eyes moved along a streak of purple that bled into a dark blue. 'I hate her a little bit, too.'

Marinette was silent.

He turned around, giving her a smile." (Those Benevolent Stars, chapter 3)

and this scene from iatm:

"'Do you hate me, Ed?'

Still stupid with bubbles and vodka in my stomach, I answer. Very seriously.

'Yes,' I whisper. 'I do.'

We both smack the sudden silence with laughter." (I am the Messenger, p. 233)

obviously there are differences, and i don't think i did it on purpose, but the interaction is very similar. i love the gentle intimacy of that scene in iatm, that weird complication relationship between the main character and the person he loves, the hurt, the brushing it off with laughter. so i wrote a scene that incorporated those things

zusak is also really good at writing moments of quiet into his books that aren't necessarily important to the plot, but are still important. if you've ever read that ghibli meta post talking about the 'quiet' between scenes in studio ghibli scenes, meant to give both the audience and the characters space to breath, it's like that. nothing in iatm is not imporant - it all serves a purpose, even the quiet moments, and i try to do the same thing. there's moments like that in tbs i think, like:

"Marinette gave him a small smile before turning back to her ice cream. Adrien tried to eat his ice cream a little faster, licking up where it had dripped onto his hand.

They were quiet for a while longer, and Marinette finished her ice cream. She leaned back on her hands and looked up at the dark sky, littered with stars.

He could see them all in her eyes, too." (Those Benevolent Stars, chapter 3)

and in iatm, you get scenes like:

"Our feet dangle.

I watch them, and I watch the jeans on Audrey's legs.

We only sit there now.

Audrey and me." (I am the Messenger, p.120)

so i definitely think tbs is a very i-am-the-messenger/markuz zusak-inspired fic. there's a lot of zusak's quiet, and there's the pieces of zusak's style that i've picked up along the way that really shine in tbs

tomorrow and this body's not big enough for the both of us by edgar cantero

ive talked about cantero a few times recently, but, as you've probably noticed, in relation to my fic called 'tomorrow.' i wrote tomorrow pretty soon after reading this body's not big enough for the both of us, and i used tomorrow specifically to experiment with cantero's visual writing style. in all the books by cantero ive read, there's this kind of hyper-awareness of a film gaze - how a certain scene would be shot on a camera, dialogue as script writing, and other things like that mixed with prose. i thought it was fascinating, and after finishing this body, i really wanted to play around with that idea. so i wrote tomorrow keeping in mind a "film gaze." for example:

"Two figures sitting on a rooftop, silhouettes. The moon hovers over them carefully, a crescent afraid to break the silence. One of the figures takes a breath, looks up into the sky at the hesitant moon, and he sighs. He closes his mouth again." (tomorrow)

versus in cantero's work, where we get descriptions like:

"And then, like a high-heeled coup de grace, she arrived.

She paused briefly outside the door, her hourglass silhouette cast upon the glass panel with the fresh shiny vinyl letters" (This Body's Not Big Enough for the Both of Us, prologue)

the tone of the two excerpts are very different, but there's a very visual sense to both of them, like they are being described from a shot in a movie rather than a regular work in prose. in tomorrow i also work a lot with specific camera imagery - saying where the camera goes in the scene, what it focuses on - and this body doesn't do this too much, but cantero's meddling kids does at least once that i remember.

regardless, after finishing this body, i wanted to try my hand at the visual structure that cantero uses in his works, so i really leaned in to the idea.

chat noir's white french man hit list for feminist purposes and grasshopper jungle by andrew smith

this is, as of right now, the most recent fic on my ao3, and i started it the literal day i finished grasshopper jungle. i think you might be getting a theme here - i read a really good book, and then immediately after i start writing something. the easiest way to get inspired as a writer is to read.

chat noir's hit list is a fic that is very much aware of the fact that it is a story being told - you don't know by who or for what real reason until the end, but it's a self aware sort of story. it's also very snarky and sarcastic, and it expands past just the confines of its own story; it's about chat noir and his hit list, but it also talks in depth about emilie agreste, chat noir's relationship with ladybug, and his relationship with himself. this is very much the kind of thing that you would find in an andrew smith book - grasshopper jungle is a story being told to you, and it's also about more than just the original pieces of the plot. the narrator tells the story that expands past regular confines of the story he means to tell - he's telling the 'history' of his life and his town, but he also talks about his great-great grandfather, the origins of the ketchup his girlfriend's dad eats, and what's happening in other parts of the country as he and his best friend are hanging out. the line in chat's hit list of "stars exploded, the sun did not, life continued on" was very much a grasshopper jungle and andrew smith-inspired line.

at the end of adrien's narration in chat's hit list, he says:

"It should be mentioned at this point in time that this story is not over, although I’ll stop telling it here.

So that’s the story of Chat Noir, who is also Adrien Agreste, who was very much a normal boy, except for the fact that he wasn’t. It’s a sad story, but it is also a happy story, and it is highly confidential. I’m sure you understand." (Chat Noir's White French Man Hit List for Feminist Purposes)

and at the end of grasshopper jungle, as the main character is closing out his narration, we get:

What I have written here is not the history of Eden. It is the history of the end of the world. All real histories will be about everything, and they will stretch to the end of the world.

The end of the world started when Andrej Szczerba slid into the cold sea as his boy, Krys, watched and wept and drifted closer and closer to the United States of America.

Nobody knew anything about it." (Grasshopper Jungle, p.382-3)

It's not overtly similar, but the structure is the same: recognition of the end, short summary of where we started and left the story, tag phrase that was used prior in the work. when i was writing the end of adrien's narration, i didn't mean to mirror grasshopper jungle so closely, but sometimes things just happen that way - honestly, so many of the things i do in my writing aren't intentional, they're subconscious. when i make a conscious choice, it's related to plot or to a new strategy im applying to style or voice that i'm not used to, but a lot of the things i do fly under the radar in my brain unless im purposefully trying to piece them apart like i am here.

i will say the meta-story of chat's hit list was pretty directly inspired by grasshopper jungle because i love meta stories, and i like using opportunities to put them in. i just love the idea of reading a story of someone telling someone else a story, which is what the two books by andrew smith i've read have been, and i think that's just fascinating, which is why i used it here.

ive gotten a couple of comments on chat's hit list that liken the narrative style to pseudonymous bosch's the name of this book is secret and lemony snicket's a series of unfortunate events, which i thought was really interesting, because i was purposefully trying to make the voice an impression of andrew smith's voice adapted to the tone of ml, but i could definitely see their reasoning.

andrew smith, like i mentioned before, likes specifics - what exactly people were doing at certain times, where a specific bottle of ketchup came from, etc. from what i remember of the name of this book is secret and a series of unfortunate events, i remember the descriptions included in those books chock full of highly specific, snarky details that aren't truly necessary, but do a whole lot in terms of adding a certain flavor to the narration. i won't try and look up examples from unfortunate events and the name of this book, but here are a couple examples:

"See, the thing about Emilie Agreste, formerly Emilie Graham De Vanily, is that she was what could be generously called a ‘radical.’ Born in 1969, like most amazing and world-altering things, Emilie Graham De Vanily grew up in London alongside her twin sister, who is a nice enough woman and who is not really that important to this story, and she was raised with the firm and gentle hands of people who had witnessed war and cruelty and had found that they did not like at all. Emilie Graham De Vanily grew up learning about the true history of England, which is not a very nice history, truly, and she grew up knowing that people with white skin like her were historically not all that great. That, historically, was a very radical thought." (Chat Noir's White French Man Hit List for Feminist Purposes)

from chat's hit list, and this:

"In 1905, being seventeen years old made you a man. In 1969 when hungry Jack fought in Vietnam, seventeen years old was a man. My brother, Eric, who was somewhere in Afghanistan, was twenty-two.

Krzys Szczerba came across the Atlantic with his father. They planned on working and earning enough money so Krzys's mother, brother, and two sisters could come to the United States, too. People who did that were called Bread Polacks. They came here to make money." (Grasshopper Jungle, p. 68)

from grasshopper jungle. once again, obviously very different, but you can tell im playing around with that same feeling of giving a surplus of facts in my narration in the same way that andrew smith does. you can't really tell in the grasshopper jungle excerpt, but oftentimes the surplus of 'facts' serves almost a comedic effect, which is definitely something that you can feel in chat noir's hit list.

[REDACTED] and six of crows by leigh bardugo

as a reward for sticking around through this, i'll give out something fun here. the current long fic that ive been working on recently has proved to be very bardugo-inspired, particularly six of crows-inspired.

in six of crows, bardugo gives us action right off the bat and then integrates flashbacks into lulls of action so that there's never truly a dull moment. i found [REDACTED] to be a fic where i wanted to use flashbacks in a similar way, so that i would get something like:

"She doesn’t stay for the whole parade, but she stays for enough of it. Nothing unusual happens, just like always, but she still makes cursory patrols around the city, ending up at the Eiffel Tower, just like always. She sits on the railing way up at the top, and she crosses her ankles, swinging her legs back and forth and humming softly to herself as she watches the sun set.

'Little kitty on the roof, all alone without his lady,' he used to sing when he’d gotten back to their meeting point from patrolling his half of the city before her. It was just a silly little song, one that he’d clearly made up for himself."

It didn’t hurt until he’d been akumatized, and she’d seen that one version of the future - the one where he’d destroyed the whole world because of Gabriel Agreste. She’d seen him then, a lonely figure in white, humming his little song to himself. Who knows how long he’d been like that before she’d been transported to him, how long he’d been really and truly alone. (REDACTED, chapter 1)

and in comparison, we get a lot of scenes in six of crows like:

"Kaz leaned against the ship's railing. He wished he hadn't said anything about his brother. Even those few words raised the memories, clamoring for attention. What had he said to Geels at the Exchange? I'm the kind of bastard they only manufacture in the Barrel. One more lie, one more piece of the myth he'd built for himself.

After their father died, crushed beneath a plow with his insides strewn across a field like a trail of damp red blossoms, Jordie had sold the farm. Not for much." (Six of Crows, p.205-6)

bardugo uses most of the flashbacks during a time in which the main characters are on a long sea voyage, which means they have a lot of time to reflect on their pasts and what brought them to these situations - it's a smart way to fill the empty space of the sea voyage and to really dwell on how important the voyage is. in a similar way, i chose to use the flashbacks in dull or lulling moments in the events of the story, ones in which marinette lets her mind wander or sees something that makes her remember something specific.

however, here's a situation where you can see me adapt the style into something that makes more sense for me, personally: in my excerpt, the tense changes between the current events and the flashback events, while in bardugo's excerpt, the tense stays the same at a comfortable past tense. when i was writing my fic with the flashbacks, i thought the constant, sometimes abrupt, switching would get confusing, so i made sure to always have a clear line using the past and present tense that readers could consciously or unconsciously take notice of.

so there are a couple of instances within some fairly recent fics i have that have specific callbacks to specific books. there are a whole bunch more, i think, but these are the ones that ive played around with intentionally the most recently or the most often.

3. Future Days

based on my recent rapid experimentation in fics (the most recent four fics on my ao3 have been very experimental in comparison to most of my works), i really anticipate a lot of growth in my overall style. ive been having a lot of fun experimenting and throwing in things that a few years ago i would've never even thought of, so im really excited to see where that might lead me, style wise.

i think as a writer there's always room for growth and learning, and that kind of growth and learning comes from not only practicing writing, but also reading. i cannot stress enough how valuable and impactful reading is on writing. considering ive been trying to read a lot more than i have been in recent years, it makes a lot of sense that ive been making a lot of weird decisions and learning more about what i want to see in my own writing.

honestly, if you ever want to know about any of my other fics, or you want to see how this kind of thing translates to my original works, just shoot me an ask! this post is already long enough, so i think i'll go ahead and end it here, but just know you can always ask questions<3

thank you so much for asking me this question and letting me indulge, and thank you for reading!!!<3<3<3<3