#like if you have time to make a guide or to compile examples. do it

[cannimumsable]

yeah so if you genuinely don't know how to write an email instead of using chatgpt and getting something that 1: has a chance to just fucking suck (and potentially be noticeably AI) and 2: uses stolen content, ruins the environment and indicates to the gen-AI companies that you want more gen-AI bullshit that will steal things and ruin the environment, you can look up how to write an email or look up email examples. here's a website, here's another, here's the wikihow page (it's a bit shit but it does its job), here's a good one for formal emails, and here's an email I sent today (more examples under the cut):

something that's really annoying right now is that most websites are desperately trying to sell you their cool funky AI friend that can write the email for you, and look at me: you have to tell it to go fuck itself (in your head, don't use it). this isn't about you being a moron for not being about to write an email, I struggled with it for a while too, I still do sometimes, writing emails notoriously sucks. gen-AI sucks more.

also, this might not be the case for everyone, but please at least try to learn how to write the email before using chatgpt, it will help you forever. if you have a question about emails or if you're not sure how to write one specific email, you can send an ask: I'm not all-knowing but I'll do my best to help.

I can mostly help for college/high school levels and I am studying in a French school, so the codes may not be exactly the same, but I am in fact being taught by English speakers, sometimes native ones.

I'll give more general advice at the end, but here are a few examples of emails I would send.

If there's even a small chance of your teacher not recognizing you, write at the top something like "I am Name Last name, I am in your X-Y-Z class on Mondays from 8AM to 9AM". This isn't too useful in high school because your teachers likely know you, but in college your teachers might not. This will give them context.

Do your best to avoid typos or grammar errors. Reread your email, especially if the teacher is a language teacher.

Be polite, always, unless the teacher explicitly specified they don't care.

You do not need to beg for anything, don't debase yourself, and if a teacher makes you debase yourself, report them. You shouldn't have to beg for something that you ask for in an email. (so no more than one please per email, and avoid this one please if possible).

If it's possible and safe for you, prefer discussing important matters IRL.

Remember who you're talking to. Is the teacher strict or chill? Younger or older? Are they a white abled man or a Black disabled woman? Are they very into "respect the teacher!!" or do they put themselves at your level? Are you a 15 y/o high school student or a 20 something college student? Is this teacher familiar with you? Have they been understanding in the past? etc.

Generally, despite all my warnings above, a simple polite email will be fine with most teachers. If you're not sure how to identify the above possibilities or how to alter your emails depending on them, just write a formal, polite email (like seen above).

Some universities have online courses that teach you how to write emails. If there is a web-type course in your university and you can take it, take it.

Mine has one. I hate it. They defined a tweet as a "post on a blogging platform". I have to complete it or I don't pass. It still has a good tutorial for writing emails. You are lucky in the sense that emails are like the basic thing that even the boomer teachers know how to do (even if they don't like doing it), so there are a lot of resources for people who haven't written emails yet and need to learn.

If possible, ask your teacher at the start of the year what email to contact them with - if you're lucky, they'll say things about what kinds of emails they want.

If you're lucky still, someone else will send a shit email and the teacher will make a point during the class to remind how to write a proper email.

I put "Dear name" everywhere, but if it's not an extremely formal setting, some teachers will be fine with a "Hello". If you're not sure of the receiver's gender, use their title (Dr. etc).

For the extension: sometimes teachers aren't allowed to give you an extension or are assholes who don't want to give you an extension. In that case, don't bother writing another email (again: don't beg. + it will make them dislike you which you don't want).

This works more in work settings, but I read once that it's good to say "I will be taking a day off" rather than "May I take a day off/is it possible to take a day off". Just say that it's going to happen.

Know your rights. I can't know them for you. Figure out what the teacher can and cannot do through legal documents on your school's website or whatever. Know your rights depending on your state or country.

If you have a bad memory and don't want to have to look up how to write an email everytime, open your notes app or your blocknote or any preferred place to take notes and write down the important. I'd advise to note common greetings, subjects, opening and closing lines. Same for your teachers, if you need to remember which one is a bitch and which one is chill, write their name down with a description.

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - June 15-21

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $Kaybarr1735! And if you tip me and give me a way to contact you, at the end of the month I'll send you a link to all of the articles I found but didn't use each week!

1. Victory for Same-Sex Marriage in Thailand

“Thailand’s Senate voted 130-4 today to pass a same-sex marriage bill that the lower house had approved by an overwhelming majority in March. This makes Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia, and the second in Asia, to recognize same-sex relationships. […] The Thai Marriage Equality Act […] will come into force 120 days after publication in the Royal Gazette. It will stand as an example of LGBT rights progress across the Asia-Pacific region and the world.”

2. One of world’s rarest cats no longer endangered

“[The Iberian lynx’s] population grew from 62 mature individuals in 2001 to 648 in 2022. While young and mature lynx combined now have an estimated population of more than 2,000, the IUCN reports. The increase is largely thanks to conservation efforts that have focused on increasing the abundance of its main food source - the also endangered wild rabbit, known as European rabbit. Programmes to free hundreds of captive lynxes and restoring scrublands and forests have also played an important role in ensuring the lynx is no longer endangered.”

3. Planning parenthood for incarcerated men

“[M]any incarcerated young men missed [sex-ed] classroom lessons due to truancy or incarceration. Their lack of knowledge about sexual health puts them at a lifelong disadvantage. De La Cruz [a health educator] will guide [incarcerated youths] in lessons about anatomy and pregnancy, birth control and sexually transmitted infections. He also explores healthy relationships and the pitfalls of toxic masculinity. […] Workshops cover healthy relationships, gender and sexuality, and sex trafficking.”

4. Peru puts endemic fog oasis under protection

“Lomas are unique ecosystems relying on marine fog that host rare and endemic plants and animal species. […] The Peruvian government has formally granted conservation status to the 6,449-hectare (16,000-acre) desert oasis site[….] The site, the first of its kind to become protected after more than 15 years of scientific and advocacy efforts, will help scientists understand climatic and marine cycles in the area[, … and] will be protected for future research and exploration for at least three decades.”

5. Religious groups are protecting Pride events — upending the LGBTQ+ vs. faith narrative

“In some cases, de-escalation teams stand as a physical barrier between protesters and event attendees. In other instances, they try to talk with protesters. The goal is generally to keep everyone safe. Leigh was learning that sometimes this didn’t mean acting as security, but doing actual outreach. That might mean making time and space to listen to hate speech. It might mean offering food or water. […] After undergoing Zoom trainings this spring, the members of some 120 faith organizations will fan out across more than 50 Pride events in 16 states to de-escalate the actions of extremist anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups.”

6. 25 years of research shows how to restore damaged rainforest

“For the first time, results from 25 years of work to rehabilitate fire-damaged and heavily logged rainforest are now being presented. The study fills a knowledge gap about the long-term effects of restoration and may become an important guide for future efforts to restore damaged ecosystems.”

7. Audubon and Grassroots Carbon Announce First-of-its-Kind Partnership to Reward Landowners for Improving Habitats for Birds while Building Healthy Soils

“Participating landowners can profit from additional soil carbon storage created through their regenerative land management practices. These practices restore grasslands, improve bird habits, build soil health and drive nature-based soil organic carbon drawdown through the healthy soils of farms and ranches. […] Additionally, regenerative land management practices improve habitats for birds. […] This partnership exemplifies how sustainable practices can drive positive environmental change while providing tangible economic benefits for landowners.”

8. Circular food systems found to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, require much less agricultural land

“Redesigning the European food system will reduce agricultural land by 44% while dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by 70%. This reduction is possible with the current consumption of animal protein. “Moreover, animals are recyclers in the system. They can recycle nutrients from human-inedible parts of the organic waste and by-products in the food system and convert them to valuable animal products," Simon says.”

9. Could Treating Injured Raptors Help Lift a Population? Researchers found the work of rehabbers can have long-lasting benefits

“[“Wildlife professionals”] tend to have a dismissive attitude toward addressing individual animal welfare,” [… but f]or most raptor species, they found, birds released after rehabilitation were about as likely to survive as wild birds. Those released birds can have even broader impacts on the population. Back in the wild, the birds mate and breed, raising hatchlings that grow up to mate and breed, too. When the researchers modeled the effects, they found most species would see at least some population-level benefits from returning raptors to the wild.”

10. Indigenous people in the Amazon are helping to build bridges & save primates

“Working together, the Reconecta Project and the Waimiri-Atroari Indigenous people build bridges that connect the forest canopy over the BR-174 road[….] In the first 10 months of monitoring, eight different species were documented — not only monkeys such as the golden-handed tamarin and the common squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus), but also kinkajous (Potos flavus), mouse opossums (Marmosops sp.), and opossums (Didelphis sp.).”

Bonus: A rare maneless zebra was born in the UK

June 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[fanfictionlibrary01]

AO3 Data Scraped for AI Training Dataset

What is happening, and what you can do. Check for potential edits with additions at the end of the post!

What is happening? What do we know?

A user going by "nyuuzyou" on the HuggingFace platform uploaded a dataset a few days ago - containing scraped content from AO3. HuggingFace is a very popular platform and widely used for sharing machine learning and AI models/datasets. The scraped dataset includes fics, fanart, and other fanworks - all taken without permission and intended for use in training gen AI models. You can find more information in this Reddit post.

This dataset is one of several compiled from various websites—at least seven in total. While two datasets have been removed, the AO3 one was only disabled on HuggingFace. This means that it’s not downloadable at the moment but still visible. It may also return if takedown efforts end up being challenged/reversed by that user.

Key Details

Scope: On AO3, all content with work IDs between 1 and 63,200,000 has been targeted. The work ID is the number at the end of a work's URL — for example, in https://archiveofourown.org/works/12345678, 12345678 is the work ID. You can find it by simply opening the work and checking the URL in your browser’s address bar. So, if your work falls in that range and is publicly accessible (i.e., not locked and open to everyone, including guests), it’s mostly likely included in the dataset. This dataset is currently disabled on HuggingFace, but that doesn't mean it's gone. It's only a temporary takedown as of now.

Takedown notices have been issued, but this user has also uploaded the dataset to other sites after backlash and partial removal.

There are talks in the discussion forums of potentially moving this dataset to Telegram, torrents, and/or other private channels.

HuggingFace AO3 dataset page

Other distributed sites listed here (as per a Reddit comment)

Currently deleted from ModelScope

What can you do?

Should the dataset return again and you see that your work was affected: file your own DMCA or copyright takedown notice. The uploader, in their own words, "has not agreed to take down the entire repo. At this time, the scraper has agreed with taking down art from the person who owns the copyright. That means each of you will need to request a takedown."

Instructions and a sample CSV template to list your work IDs for removal are provided in this guide. You can find more details in this announcement by PaperDemon.

Lock your works! It would limit visibility to registered users only, and is a very good step to prevent scraping or unauthorized use. To lock all your works on AO3, go to “My Works,” click “Edit Works,” and select all. Then click “Edit” and check the box labeled “Only show to registered users.” Scroll down and click “Update All Works” to apply the change.

⚠️ | Final Notes:

This user has so far shown no signs of stopping and is continuing to redistribute the data across multiple sites, even after numerous takedown requests (read more here). So, we can only recommend to be cautious and beware, lock your works, feel free to make use of takedown notices if you're unfortunately affected, and spread the word to fellow creators.

Follow up on this and get the latest updated in the Fanfic Communities Network (FCN) Discord Server!

If you have more information regarding this - e.g. if works from other sites are affected too - please reach out to us in the FCN!!

Edit (2025-04-26):

The user who has scraped the works has, upon request by another person, posted a way to convert ao3 json to markdown:

https://huggingface.co/datasets/nyuuzyou/archiveofourown/discussions/170

https://gist.github.com/nyuuzyou/b2f83669ad80a22e435728245ebcdf9f

This shows us that nyuuzyou continues to show no signs of taking down the scraped works.

Edit (2025-04-28):

A user warned that even archive-locked AO3 fics were included in a scraped dataset (most likely taken while the scraper was logged in, before they were banned or switched to public-only access). Some public works were missed as well:

https://huggingface.co/datasets/nyuuzyou/archiveofourown/discussions/213#680fcdb76d9e022324a70cf1

Edit (2025-05-03):

Hey everybody, this is a bit late, but the AO3 dataset has been permanently removed from HuggingFace: https://huggingface.co/datasets/nyuuzyou/archiveofourown. While this unfortunately doesn’t prevent it from being shared elsewhere (like torrents) nor does it guarantee any deletion of past downloads and whatnot, having it taken down from a major platform like HF is still a significant step forward. (There is more info about other sites on PaperDemon.)

So please don’t be disheartened—every action counts, and this shows that pushing back and filing DMCAs and copyright notices as appropriate does make a difference. We’ll certainly keep an eye out for more info and post updates here, but thank you again to everyone who helped report, spread the word, or supported the effort. Keep reading, keep writing. ♥️

[milkoomi]

faustina’s style guide. ᥫ᭡

a mini series to help you become your very own fashion icon

chapter one — RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTS

maybe this is your first time diving into the world of aesthetic styles and fashion! or maybe you’re looking to start fresh with your look, but you aren’t sure where to begin! well, allow me to help guide you in taking your first steps into a whole new you! … fashion-wise, of course. this first chapter will discuss how to get started in your style journey, so let’s get right into it!

୨ৎ — style & aesthetic options

there’s a large variety of aesthetics to choose from, and it’s so wonderful knowing that there are so many different styles to look into! that’s the beauty of having options, you get to see all that’s available to you!

here are some of the different aesthetics…

light/dark academia

old money

coquette

grunge

corporate goth

street style

vintage

cottagecore

of course there’s plenty more out there that you can look at! pinterest will be your best friend when it comes to looking at all the different aesthetics!

୨ৎ — research

once you’ve looked over all the different aesthetics and styles that are available to you, start making a list of the ones that interest you the most! once you’ve compiled that list, start taking a deep dive into them. look at the color schemes, make note of key pieces of clothing that follow the specific style, notice what accessories are typically used!

examples:

coquette

color schemes: soft pinks/creams/pastels, light colors

key pieces: skirts & dresses, form fitting tops

accessories: bows, dainty/minimal jewelry, lace

old money

color schemes: any color pallet will do! (neutrals, monochromatic, cherry reds, blues, etc.)

key pieces: skirts/dresses, dress pants, statement cardigans/coats/sweaters, loafers

accessories: pearls, handbags/purses, headbands

academia

color schemes: neutral colors (light academia focuses on those lighter neutrals while dark academia focuses on the darker tones)

key pieces: sweaters, cardigans, sweater vests, button ups, turtlenecks

accessories: minimal to no jewelry, leather bags (backpacks), fabric tote bags

୨ৎ — vision boards

after doing some research, start creating vision boards for outfit inspiration! this will help just organize what exactly you’re looking for in whatever aesthetic/style you chose! and, it’ll help when you start to play around with different outfits!

again, pinterest will help with this a lot! see what outfits you really love and might want to recreate and save them into a board. there also might be some creators out there on different social media platforms that you might want to take inspiration from, so feel free to include their outfits as well into your vision board!

doing this will also help you see different trends within each style. you’ll see how different outfits have similarities in key pieces, accessories, and even color schemes while also seeing that even though there are tons of similarities, there’s still a wide variety of ways to style the clothes into different kinds of outfits!

୨ৎ — experimenting

this is the fun part: trying out different outfits based on the aesthetics you chose! this might take some time, but sort through your closet and see what you already have.

what to look for:

basics: simple t-shirts, tops, & bottoms

key pieces: statement tops, dresses, coats/cardigans/sweaters, shoes

accessories: jewelry, hats, scarves, bags

play around with different outfits & try out layering! work with what you’ve currently got and make note of what other pieces you might want for your outfits. maybe you’ve got on a super cute pleated skirt with a simple long-sleeve as your top! you might want to add a pair of sheer tights, but you might not have any, so make a note of adding tights to your shopping list! you might also feel like your outfit could go well with a super cute statement cardigan to bring some life into your look, but all your sweaters and cardigans are pretty basic, so add a new cardigan to your list as well!

it’s important to sift through your current wardrobe and figure out what you want to keep and what needs to go. you might have a lot of pieces that just don’t spark any joy anymore, so maybe you’ll create a donate pile. or maybe it turns out you’ve got all the right basics and accessories for a certain aesthetic you want to try, so you’d want to bring those items forward in your closet for easier access to them.

୨ৎ — take pictures

whenever i put on an outfit that i am really proud of, i’ll snap a quick pic of it so that i can save it for later inspiration! sometimes i’ll even lay out the outfit on my bed and take a picture that way too!

it’s good to save those ideas in your phone to look back on them for future reference or to figure out what else that outfit still needs to make it perfect.

here are a few photos i’ve taken of outfits i’ve loved!

final notes —

curating your perfect and ideal wardrobe takes time, but i personally think doing all the research and trying out new looks makes the process go by a lot faster in a fun and exciting way! it’s also important to know that your style is going to change a lot as you grow. as our minds and bodies change, so do our styles! and that’s okay! back in high school, i definitely sported that “abg” aesthetic, but as i got into college i started leaning more towards light academia and then in later years i experimented and felt more comfortable in more alternative fashion! that’s what i love about fashion, the fact that it’s always changing and there’s so many new looks and pieces to try out makes it that much more exciting! so always feel free to explore and try out new things! you might discover some really great things.

with lots of love, faustina 🌷

[skyefeys]

A Comprehensive Guide to Writing Gina Dialogue!!!

Do YOU like writing tgaa fics, but find yourself struggling to understand the speech habits of Gina Lestrade? Well, fortunately for you, I love linguistics and accents almost as much as I love Gina - so I've compiled a breakdown of every quirk in her speech!

(Full analysis under the break!)

Most of Gina's speech patterns can be broken down by three fundamental facts:

She speaks with a thick Cockney accent

She's uneducated, which leads to various grammar troubles

She uses a lot of informal cockney terms/slang

Let's get into it section-by-section!

(Note: Formatting looks a lot better on mobile!)

Section 1: Cockney Accent

So I’m an theater kid, and I've done dialect training for Cockney accents before - it's one of my best ones imo - so that certainly helped me write this section! Even without that, though, it's pretty easy to identify how her accent appears in her speech. Let's break it down!

Drop h's

Example: Here becomes 'ere

Drop g’s at the end of words

Example: Going becomes goin'

A few other word ends that get dropped:

Of becomes o'

And becomes an'

Th changes depending on the word - Thank you to annoyingloudmicrowavecultist for properly explaining how this works in the tags!

Voiced th becomes v

Example: With becomes wiv

Unvoiced th becomes f

Example: Nothing becomes nuffin'

For writing purposes, if a word would become unrecognizable with this change, it's left the same (but in actual speech, it would be pronounced differently)

Example: Father remains as father (but would be pronounced like fovva)

Th always remains intact at the start of words

Example: Thing remains as thing (but would be pronounced like fing)

Miscellaneous word changes

Something becomes summat (but other times is just somefin' - she's not consistent with either)

What becomes wot, whatever becomes wotever

Tomorrow becomes tomorra

Because is often shortened to 'cause, which becomes cos

Isn't almost always becomes ain't

Thank you / no thank you becomes ta / no ta

Some words spill together or are slurred

With that becomes wivvat, with it becomes wivvit (This one isn't actually used in-game, so you don't have to use it either, but it reflects how she'd actually be pronouncing it)

Isn't it becomes innit

Doesn't it becomes dunnit

Suppose becomes s'pose

Don't know becomes dunno

Probably becomes prob'ly

You might change - Another loose/inconsistent rule. Can depend on how the sentence would be pronounced out loud, but mostly is just a vibe

You becomes ya

Your/you're becomes yer

Yourself becomes yerself

Section 2: Grammatical Errors

Gina is an uneducated East End orphan, so it should come as no surprise that she makes mistakes here and there. Here are her consistent ones! Some of these are confusing/hard to explain, so I included specific examples.

Will say me instead of my, and meself instead of myself

Example: "I dunno much about guns meself."

Incorrect tense usage of was/were in negatives - Instead of I/it wasn’t, she’ll say I/it weren’t

Example: "I was up in a balloon, weren't I?"

Incorrect tense usage of does/do in negatives - Instead of he doesn’t, she’ll say he don’t

Example: "Somefin' wot 'e don't want people readin'."

Double negatives

Ever becomes never in negative statements

Example: "I swear on my life, I ain't never laid eyes on that dandy before."

Never + anything becomes never + nothing

Example: "I never done nuffin' o' the sort!"

Never + anyone becomes never + no one

Example: "All me life, growin' up in the slums, I've never trusted no one."

Haven't you ever becomes ain't you never

Example: "Ain't you lot never gone over an 'ouse lookin' for dough when the owners are out o' town?"

The word that or who in the context of ascribing a feature to a subject is replaced by the word what

Example: "She's always goin' on about all them cases wot Sholmes is lookin' into."

Other example: "I think I wouldn't fancy me chances wiv a lawyer wot lives in a place like this."

Will say them instead of those

"All them skylights open, dead easy."

Will say no more instead of anymore

"Ya dropped it, so it ain't yours no more."

She’ll sometimes mess up bigger, unfamiliar words. This one's entirely in your discretion what words she might mess up. Some canon examples:

“Supperment” instead of supplement

“Mantlescript” instead of manuscript

On a similar note, she'll sometimes confidently get sayings wrong and think she sounds smart

“Toby's...'ow did they put it...? ...Oh, yeah! A 'bone-fide' detective!”

Section 3: Cockney Terms/Slang

In addition to her thick dialect, growing up in the East End means Gina has also adopted a plethora of unique words and phrases. This'll be more like a vocab section!

Cockney rhyming slang - Some words are replaced with phrases that rhyme with them. She uses a few in canon:

Instead of believe, she’ll say Adam an’ Eve

“Would you Adam an' Eve it, eh?! Wot a mug!”

Instead of face, she’ll say chevy chase

“Yeah, I can see it written all over yer chevy chase!”

Interjections/Exclamations

Blimey - Express surprise or shock

"Blimey, yer right! That streak o' light in the photo looks just like an arrow, dunnit?"

Cor - A general interjection, kind of a euphemism for god

"Cor, listen to you! Ya stumble across a bit o' balloon an' suddenly yer the best investigator in the world!"

Oi - I doubt I need to define this one, but it's basically the equivalent of "hey"

"Oi! That's off limits up there!"

Words for people

Cove, bloke - A boy or man. Gina tends to use cove more often than bloke.

"That's where the cove ended up after 'is 'instant kinesis' or wotever they call it."

"When I lifted the last bloke's purse, 'e got wise to me."

Dandy - A conceited, fashionable upperclass man. Can be used as a noun or adjective.

In reference to Ashley Graydon: "I swear on my life, I ain't never laid eyes on that dandy before."

Dee - Thank you to uzukirie for figuring this out in the replies of this post - dee is short for detective!

To Sholmes: "I don't need no 'elp from some stuck-up dee!"

About Gregson: "Yeah, the dee let me keep it. After I looked daggers at 'im for long enough."

Swell - A wealthy or elegant person. In canon, Gina uses this exclusively in reference to McGilded.

"It's because o' that, this swell found me. …'E did 'elp me get away, mind."

Miscellaneous vocab

Dodgy - Suspicious

"It was amazin' when you showed that dodgy professor's dodgy experiment was a total fix!"

Rum - Odd or strange

"I mean, wot's the point of spendin' a joey to make a few bob, eh? That's a rum idea, innit?"

Coppers - Cops

"If you do wot the grown-ups tell ya, it'll get yer mates dragged off by the coppers. Or worse."

Scarper - Flee/run away/leave in a hurry. Also comes from rhyming slang - Scarper = Scapa Flow = Go

"If I did that, 'e said 'e'd let me scarper before the coppers showed up."

Have a butcher's - Take a look. Also comes from rhyming slang - "butcher's hook" = look

"Most days I push the cushion up wiv me 'ead an' look out the crack. Then I can 'ave a butcher's at who I'm gonna fiddle."

Rude words/phrases :)

Gordon Bennett - Expresses surprise or contempt - kind of a euphemism for goddammit.

"Gordon Bennett! You lot!"

Flamin', bleedin', - General emphasis. Pretty much just gentler ways of saying fucking.

Note!! You might be tempted to make Gina say "bloody", since that's well-known British slang, but she never says that. She says bleedin' in its place.

"Don't be so flamin' rude, 'Oddo!"

"It's lies every bleedin' place ya look in this world, innit?"

Bleedin’ Nora - A variation of "Bloody Norah", a surprised/irritated interjection.

"Wot the bleedin' Nora, 'Oddo?! Wot 'ave you gone an' done?!"

Bogtrotter - A derogatory term for an Irish person. She uses this to refer to McGilded.

"Look at the mess it's got you into, believin' in that bogtrotter!"

Mug - An idiot.

"You can't do it from inside, you mug."

Blue blazes - An alliterative exaggeration of "blazes". A euphemism for hell.

"Where the blue blazes 'ave you been, eh?"

Cobblers - Rubbish/nonsense. Literally, it means testicles - derived from Cockney rhyming slang, where "cobbler's awls" = balls.

"All this nonsense about the boss plannin' to kill people… It's cobblers!"

And 1.2k words later, that's pretty much it! Now you can write Gina dialogue spot on <3

Feel free to suggest anything I'm missing/got wrong - I come back and edit this for accuracy's sake every time I notice something I left out, or when people in the replies/tags point things out!

[grims-local-pkmn-irl-hub]

How to Write Engaging Anons

I’ve spoken to a lot of people behind close doors and we have all come to a realization: PKMN IRL as a community isn’t the greatest at sending engaging anons,,,

A lot of anons tend to get off track from what the blog runner is trying to do or will send completely unrelated anons during a plot moment on someones blog which can be incredibly frustrating for the blog runner.

So, I’ve decided to compile a little “guide” to help.

Look over the recent posts of a blog to see if they’re doing anything that could be considered plot relevant before sending an anon. Are they vague posting about something? Did they cut off a tangent too short? Did they mention they have stories to share if anyone wants them? Did they say something off or slightly concerning? ASK ABOUT IT! Ask them to elaborate! Ask for more detail!

Try and keep asks on task if a plot hook/point is currently happening. It is incredibly discouraging for a blog runner to see the notif for an anon only to open it and it have nothing to do with what they are currently trying to reveal/be engaged with. Do not latch onto a bit like your life depends on it because you are most likely just tiring out the blog runner who just wants to share interesting character/story info. Bits have a time and a place.

Don’t have a character that would realistically send that anon? Then don’t send it as that character, send it as yourself. The blog runner and character will not know the difference. This also has an added benefit of baiting a character into talking about something you know your character can then interact with. Anons are great for interaction in more ways than just asks.

Worried someone already sent the ask you’re about to send? SEND IT ANYWAYS! A blog runner would much prefer two of asks of generally the same question than zero asks! And it shows that people care enough to ask that question twice! It gives the blog runner something to think about when writing!

Don’t have any idea of what anon to send without an ask game? SEND THE SUPER “BASIC” ONES! I promise you that very basic questions like “how do feel about this”, “why do you say that”, “you mentioned [this], can you elaborate more” ARE LOVED BY BLOG RUNNERS!!! So much can be understood about a character’s mental state or attitude depending on how they choose to answer these questions. They’re “basic” and “overused” because they are really good questions to ask!

Try and engage critically with a character! Remember! This is an RP community! We are playing these characters as if they are real so you need to treat them like people! For example: Telling a very clearly mentally ill character that their thought process isn’t healthy and that they should just go to therapy isn’t the most helpful anon and it especially isn’t when that seems to be all the blog runner gets when they’re character gets like that. A good way to try and engage critically is to ask similar questions as above such as “why do you think that” along with some others like “can you walk me through your thought process”, “do you know when you started acting/thinking like this”, etc.

IC Hate Anons. These anons are fun and good! They can be very useful for story telling and showing off certain aspects of a character! They can also be super draining especially when that seems to be all that a character gets when trying to do plot hooks/points. It can make a blog runner’s motivation wane and deplete when all it ever seems like is that anons want to use their character as a punching bag. A good way to negate this is if you send an IC hate anon is to quickly follow it up with an anon that’s trying to engage critically and is asking questions and treating the character as a person. This allows for a blog runner to have choices on whether they want their character to be a punching bag right now and get beat down or would rather follow the anons line of questioning.

Ask games. I know I’m beating a dead horse here but SEND AN ASK TO THE PERSON YOU ARE REBLOGGING FROM. The blog runner will see you reblogging it from them and be waiting for an ask to come in and then it never does. Send an ask. They are literally pre-written most of the time. Okay that’s all I have to say here. 👍

Make sure the anon has some sort of substance. Even when sending anons outside of plot periods make sure the anon has something the character and blog runner can actually feasibly answer. One word anons that are just “yeah” or “okay” are incredibly difficult to respond to. So is randomly being sent quotes or things that just generally have nothing to do with the blog or pokemon in general. People have an easier time when being sent asks about their character’s pokemon, family, friends, most recent stupid post, etc. I have about 40 anons rotting in my inbox for @/espers-n-espurrs because they have nothing to respond to. And this isn’t to say silly/dumb anons shouldn’t be a thing. They should be but they should also be something someone could reasonably reply with besides just replying with “why the fuck did you send me this”.

In all, remember you are not only engaging with a character and their story but you are also engaging with a blog runner. You may never know their name or have a one on one conversation with them but the asks you send their characters do have an effect on the blog runner.

Show that you are engaging with their character, show that you care about the story they are trying to tell.

Reblogs are important for interaction but in my mind asks are the backbone of this community. A good ask and a good response allows for a good chance for others to be able to interact with the response IC.

But yeah, remember, the blog runner is still there behind that screen, you are still interacting with them when you interact with their character. Give them something to work with when you send an ask.

[al-jeanne]

10 things I do to feel close to my romantic F/O!

Hopefully, these will make you feel close to yours too♡

1. Make a Piccrew or Neka of the two of you! Dress each other up, try out different poses and backgrounds… and when you’re done, you’ll have a photo album of all the photos you took together! (Let me know if you would like a list of couples’ piccrews/Neka’s to make you and your F/O with)

2. Listen to your F/O’s voice double sing! I can’t vouch for forms of western media, but almost all Japanese seiyuus have sung something before, if you’re only willing to dig for it! Not only do a lot of IP’s include character songs, I’ve also even found cover CD’s of “popular voice actor compilations.” You can also consult my guide on how to find drama CD’s of your favorite voice actor here. I am always MORE THAN happy to help anime/Japanese game self-shippers find voice actor content; you need only ask💜

3. Snuggle their clothes! If you don’t have a shirt/jacket that belongs your F/O yet, I highly recommend getting one. If you take a trip to your local thrift store, I’m sure you’ll find something that matches their style that they left for you to find! Once you have it, I then recommend spraying it with their perfume or cologne– there are websites that let you design your own unique scents, but this is my favorite place to buy. [Bonus step: warm it up in the dryer or with a heating pad!]

4. Bring a little piece of them everywhere! I like to bring my plushie and acrylic stands out with me to photograph, but it can be anything they’d give you– a necklace, a trinket, a ring, a handkerchief– anything in your pocket that reminds you that they’re always there with you.

5. Make a “what’s in their bag” edit, and include pics all of the things they’d carry with them!

6. It’s classic, but make a playlist of songs that describe you, or the two of you together. You might even discover some new music in the process! (You can also ask some trusted friends and fandommates to make one for you!)

7. Make a list, collage, or board of their favorites things, and I mean everything! Favorite food, drink, color, season, flower, time of day, quote, gemstone, holiday, animal, movie, place…. as thorough as you’d like! Even if it’s not mentioned in canon, you know them best, right?

8. Speaking of Pinterest boards, everyone says to make them, but here are some ideas on specifically WHAT to make collages of.

•Clothes you think they’d wear (or want to see them in…)

•Decorations/design for their house (or both of yours!)

•Activities you’d want to do with them

•Places you’d like to visit together

•Moody pics that fit their style/aesthetic

•Gifts you would give them, or they would give you

•Things that would make them smile or laugh

•Quotes, or something sappy/romantic/intimate!

9. Fill out a ship template or make your own! (Like this, for example)

10. The Sims. Seriously. The base game has been free for a long time, and mods make anything you could dream of possible. I have a wonderful house, marriage, and lots of cute little kids with my F/O and it’s my favorite place to be!

Happy Selfshipping!♡

[mushimatsu]

choromatsu handwriting post

compiled all of choromatsus handwriting that i could find bc i love him

i realize these were all made by different teams and have different sources (anime/games/webkuji/etc) but there are some similarities between them all and i think its cute. i'll try to make it easier for ppl that cannot read japanese too

(note: some of these may or may not be valid criticisms, im not a native japanese speaker but i got my bachelors in japanese. idk if this means anything to anyone im just pointing out things that im noticing and maybe it will be interesting to you. if you notice anything else interesting feel free to add)

commonalities i noticed:

sometimes will combine multiple character strokes into one (normal thing to do, i've seen some native speakers do this)

with a few exceptions (mt takao for some reason), generally neat handwriting. proper and easy to read. not too big, not too small, not over stylized, but not messy either. very choromatsu

letter in s1e24

very nice handwriting, legible and neat. this is closest to how i think i would picture his handwriting. i know that the staff across different ososan things probably don't care too deeply about keeping minute handwriting details consistent and that's why they're all gonna look different but i like this one best for him.

new years cards in s2e13

very cute, love the stupid drawing of himself. everything very nice and tidy. to me these characters look a much curlier and rounder than the ones in the letter.

for both the letter and the new years cards it looks like he was careful to properly write out all the strokes of the kanji, even for more complicated ones like 緊張 and 就職. we see in mt takao that his handwriting gets a LOT messier. i know the real reason is because it was probably different animators that did his handwriting, but i'm choosing to believe that in canon it's because both of these are more fancy/formal letters addressed to people, whereas the trip guide is just for him and his brothers and doesn't necessarily need to look nice.

also i adore his tendency to add little drawings to things, like this and the mt takao guide he's everything

trip guide from mt. takao s3e8. his handwriting here, for some reason, is exceptionally bad especially compared to everything else. he writes like a little kid and i love his shitty little drawings. he's so cute.

my teachers would always correct my kanji down to the tiniest strokes, if i wrote like this is class i would get scolded so bad. you can see him combining his strokes together for 記念撮影, this will continue for the other pictures too. cute detail imo

the 昼 in 昼食 is definitely written wrong, but the second kanji 食 might be a little nitpicky. technically that bottom part is three different strokes, not two crossed over each other

more of him combining the strokes together. i wouldn't necessarily say that's wrong, since i've seen people do that before; it's probably just a habit that happens over time. i do it in english too

HOWEVER, he did write the 日 radical in 撮影 wrong here. previously, i thought he was just combining strokes again so that it looked like three lines instead of two (note 3 and 4 are two parallel lines, he just didn't lift his pen up)

but when you look at this it's clear that he very much did write three lines this time. that's the wrong radical

anyway

another example of him writing a two stroke character with just one. again, this is fine, ive seen people write their characters like this. however it looks bad when he does it here

i love how he wrote "campfire" i love how for some reason he didn't keep the letter sizing consistent or straight. also his little campfire drawing

１９時

キャンプ

ファイヤー

also there's two ways to write そ, its just a matter of choice its not important but he writes it the second way. and he messed up a kanji again

these next ones are maybe less canon cause they're not from the show itself

Airport Matsu

very tidy, combines a couple strokes together. both 松 (matsu) characters look like he combines the last two strokes together instead of writing them as two separate ones

and he does a similar thing with the right half of 野 in Matsuno

nostalgic moments webkuji

this one he writes every stroke and doesn't combine them and that's probably because different people worked on these and the tiny details like this don't matter to anyone but me. or you could say that he wrote a little neater in high school and started simplifying things as he got older.

Rock School

he drew himself again lol

i think his handwriting looks very good here actually. idk how to describe it but i like when handwriting looks like this specific way in japanese. i've seen other people that have handwriting like this and it just looks so nice. like the characters seem to vary in size, but somehow it makes it a little easier to read imo?

like in the first bullet point (underlined in yellow), the す in 多すぎる is a little big, but like it looks nice. in the second bullet point (blue), the の in 世の中 is slightly smaller but it emphasizes the kanji on either side of it. the stroke on the side of the か characters are written a little longer than usual (red). like it just looks nice, everything is shaped really nice and whenever i see people that have this handwriting i always try to emulate it lol

Neetpro

this one is a bit messier than the others. the way he wrote チョロ just doesn't look as nice as the way he wrote it in airport matsu and nostalgic moments. the way the て is written is more curved compared to the others. also the 界 kanji (blue) is written in a way that looks weird to me, and kara from this same set also writes the kanji that way so i think the same person might have written all of them lol

also interesting is that he writes き differently in this one

i was told by one of my professors that you're supposed to write さ and き with the upper and lower parts disconnected when writing by hand. it's only in text that they're connected. but i've still seen some people write them in the connected way

in all the other examples, choromatsu doesn't write them connected like that, just this one.

sukiya app

my lovely boy and his nonsense words and lies. the handwriting here comes off as very cutesy to me, at least compared to the others. some of the ways he writes, especially any box-like shape, seems round in a way. he also connects the right half of 野 again.

overall writes very neatly, altho a lot of the kanji here seems like its very big on the top and smaller on the bottom, and a lot of the letters seem more rounded. all the other examples just feel like the writing is a bit more angular, with the exception of the new years cards.

extra: coloring book

the way he wrote his name here is messier than the other examples. i like that he added little commentary on his own coloring though ("looks good!" "the tail was black too i believe") maybe he colored this with a paintbrush????? the strokes look as if he was trying to write quickly with a brush as if it was a pen. so maybe that's why its a little messier

anyway thanks for reading. i love choromatsu

[snowiwyvern]

a shitty guide to tumblr for people who have never been on this godforsaken website

yeah so ive been thinking about making one of these posts, because tumblr is pretty unlike a lot of popular social media today and because i lost the ones that used to be making rounds. this is mostly for my own use so i dont have to reexplain tumblr every time i try to introduce people to this website, and i can just send this post to them instead

this is more to help you get started with no context of how tumblr operates, its not really a strict guide for you to follow fyi. you could ignore this completely if you want, this is generally for people who are confused, lost, and need somewhere to start. this post also mostly expects you to know what the buttons do, or at least be able to figure out what they mean

quick table of contents for this post: 1. setting up your blog 2. how to use tags 3. tumblr algorithm 4. tumblr etiquette [as of this post] 5. common lingo [also as of this post]

1. setting up your blog

okay, so. tumblr has a hugeeeee bot problem. these bots typically have default pfps, nonsensical or overly average urls, no personalization to their blog with everything as the default, no reblogs/posts or very few of them. i, and many others, tend to block these. however, if youve just gotten tumblr and havent customized your blog yet, you might be confused for a bot. so the first thing you should do is something to show that youre a real person, like changing your banner, pfp, or blog title. people also tend to hide their following and likes, but thats up to you if you want them hidden

if youd like to add more information about yourself, such as having an introduction to your blog that doesnt fit in your bio, put it in an intro post and pin it to your blog to make it your pinned post [if you arent sure how to do that, press the three dots on the top right of the post and then press pin post]. ofc your pinned post could be some other post you really really like, such as a pinned reblog of a funny post, a post you made that you thought was a banger and encapsulates your blog, whatever. but keep in mind it will usually be what introduces people to your blog.

for me, my blog introduction has a short introduction to me, what i post, my main tags [ill get into that later], and masterposts. masterposts are posts that you use to link to other posts, typically for posts that are all connected in some way. some examples would be for an art challenge, an au, or a story that spans across posts. it just helps compile and keep track of things.

and ive seen that one repost of that tiktok post. you dont have to prep like its professional or smth [unless you want to ofc]. youre fine, tumblr is informal as hell. just be kind and respectful of others and you should be fine. also, random thing i didnt know where to put elsewhere. go into your settings. you can put stuff like a theme for your blog, add timestamps to posts (which i highly reccommend, keeps you from reblogging warnings that are out of date n such), and whatever else you can find in there.

in addition, you can make side blogs! side blogs are attached to your main blog, and are used for a variety of things. some examples include: gimmick blogs [a blog whos whole purpose is to do one specific thing], ask blogs [a blog where you rp as a character and answer asks as if you were them], au/story/comic blogs [just to keep all of it in one place, if you dont want to use tags], fandom blogs [to split up your blogs by the fandom they post about], and more!

2. how to use tags

people here on tumblr can be veryyyy particular on tags. if you misuse them badly enough, you will likely find out the hard way. so, to prevent that from happening, here a quick crash course in tumblr tags!

dont spam unrelated tags if you make a post about blorbo and tag bingus, despite him not being in the post, that is using an unrelated tag and people will probably get annoyed or mad at you. you tag what is in the post. im looking at you instagram users. you tag the character[s] featured in the post, the fandom/story theyre from, and as [fandom] fanart, [fandom] fanfiction, or whatever it is. [pssstt fyi instead of fandom in brackets you put the fandom the character is from!]

dont main tag vagueposts a vague post is when you talk about someone, without naming them. this is typically done to shit talk the person its about. if you reallyyyy need to talk shit about someone that badly, dont tag it with the main tags you both interact through. ngl i think its just petty and shitty to make vagueposts in the first place, but you do you.

dont main tag critique/hate of people, ships, or characters lets say, for example, you really hate a ship in your fandom, and it bothers you to the point you feel the need to make this dislike known. you do NOT tag it with the name of that ship. people go into that tag to see people talking about how much they like that ship. that is a quick way to get a lot of hate. if you really need to, use that tag with crit slapped onto the end of it. generally, dont walk into someones house, shit talk it, and be surprised when they punch you in the face.

dont censor tags youre not going to get murdered by staff if you say suicide in your tags. if you put tags using censored terms like sewerslide or suc1d3, that only makes it so people who have those terms blocked will get those posts on their dashes. tag that shit and dont censor it, for the sake of the people around you.

now that thats out of the way, heres the other cool thing about tumblr tags! as i mentioned in the third to last paragraph of the previous section, you might want to put your main tags in your pinned post. tumblr allows you to search blogs by tag, so if someone wants to search for all of your posts that are tagged #blorbo, they can!

as an example i have 5 main tags listed in my pinned post that i use, the tag with all my art, the tag with all my writing, my tag for random textposts i make, my tag of reblogs, and my mutuals tag so i can look back and be like yayyyyy i love my moots :3. and while i dont have one, people tend to have an ask tag, where they can put all the asks they answer

3. tumblr algorithm

hate to break it to you pookie, but tumblr doesnt really have an algorithm like other social media. i lied. im sorry. im stealing your spleen. the for you page is... there. but no one uses it most of the time. tumblr operates more like websites used to, and you have to go hunt your posts down in the wild.

here on tumblr, we have the dashboard! it shows the posts from the people you follow in reverse chronological order. this means that, as a tumblr newbie, your dash will be empty. so, go into the tags and follow people who post and reblog things you like. however, that is step one in the circle of life here. you can stop there, of course, but you must keep something in mind.

if you like a post and want to share it with your followers, reblog it. a like will not get it onto their dash. a like is more like telling the original poster you thought the post was neat or that you saw it; this would be more like vent posts, posts about their private life, stuff like that. if its a post youd like to share with your followers, you reblog it; this is usually someone spitting facts you want to show your followers you agree with, a post you thought was funny, cool art, and whatever else you might want to have on your blog.

fyi, when i reblog i typically leave a like. it lets me know that i have interacted with this post before, and helps me so if im looking through a mutuals or someones blog and theres an awesome post left unliked, i know i didnt reblog it. however, thats just how i like to do it

4. tumblr etiquette

tumblr is a very old website, and that comes with a lot of unspoken rules the community has learned over time. heres a quick list of some rules you might need to keep in mind!

dont repost/steal posts a common thing i see on instagram and twitter is people reposting art, animation, or copying posts they thought were clever to farm likes. here on tumblr, we have reblogs! if you want that art on your blog, just reblog it. for example, if you run a gimmick blog that focuses on posting about one character, dont repost someone elses art [especially without credit]. just go reblog the original post, and let them know how much their contribution to the fandom is appreciated in the tags.

dont derail/hijack a post if you see a post thats completely unrelated to blorbo and about a different character completely and go, wow this is so blorbo coded! talk about it in the tags, or go make your own post. we build posts together here, we dont tear them down.

blocking you dont like seeing someone on your dash or when youre looking through tags? dont go and yell at them or something, or make a vaguepost. block their ass. how dare you interpret blorbo in that way. explode. get out of my sight. block tags you dont like. block keywords you dont like. block people you dont like. curate your online experience.

youve dicovered youre blocked oh no! someway, somehow, youve discovered youre blocked! oh the woe. dont make a vaguepost about it. dont go and make a hate mob because of it. it was likely nothing personal. maybe they just didnt like the way you typed. who literally cares. move on.

mutuals whenever you make a mutual, you often get bonded through blood together. i may be be posting about dogs and youre posting about taylor swift now, but through whatever led us to become mutuals, we are forever intertwined through our experience. the dash needs some diversity anyways. however, if this mutual has, for example, spontaneously started reblogging and posting about heinous shit you hate? block. begone. curate your online experience

someone posts something you dont like so you dont like what someones posting? what should you do? nothing. just leave them alone. dont send an ask, dont leave hate in their replies/reblogs. just block them if you need to, and move on

replying to reblogs you want to reply to someone in your reblogs, but you dont want to make a whole reblog or separate post? @ them in the replies of that post and chat with them there, or go to their dms and talk there

5. common lingo

heres some common terms youre likely to run into on tumblr! ofc this can vary from fandom to fandom, but from my experience these tend to span across fandoms.

op - original poster. the origin. the person who made the first post youre reblogging

moot/mutual - a person who you follow and they follow you back

<- prev - used in tags, to denote tags taken from the previous reblog. this can stack, to denote prev prev prev, but just screenshot the tags and add them in a reblog at that point

<- ops tags - used similarly to prev, but specifically for ops tags

blorbo - a term to describe the character that has taken over your mind like a parasite

scrimblo (and its variations) - a term similar to blorbo, but with more of a scraggly tinge to it

tumblrina - a gender neutral term for tumblr users. its not used all that commonly anymore, but i felt it was worth mentioning

yuri - term for a ship between girls

yaoi - term for a ship between boys

headcanon/hc - an interpretation of a character that is not canon. usually is a trait that falls in line with their canon portrayal, but not always

id/alt text - an image description. it describes an image in text, so that if the image is not loading or someone is blind, they can still know what it is/what it says. heres a helpful image for how to write one

asks - when you open your askbox, something you have to do through your settings, it allows people to send you messages that when you answer it posts as a whole tumblr post on your blog. you can also customize your askbox, only by changing the text from 'ask me anything!' to whatever you want. also, it might just be a me thing, but i like to tag who sent the anon in by their url or anonymous if theyre on anon

anon/anonymous - what we use to refer to people who are sending you an ask while on anonymous. some people have them off, because many people dont have the balls to send... unsavory asks on main. this is also why when people are getting hate, anon is turned off

queue - something ive actually neglected to mention! when you add things to your queue, it will post a certain amount of posts over time at the rate you set it to, during the time range you set it to

communities - tumblr communities are a more recent thing that was added to tumblr! you can go join them if youd like. quick warning though, communities that are open tend to get the occasional porn bot posting links in it. report it to a community moderator. this also means that communities that you have to be accepted into likely arent going to reject you. its probably just there to help prevent bots from getting in

porn bots - bots that post links to porn. they spam tags, communities, and spam follow people. report the porn as spam or sexual content, block, and move on

of course, there are way more terms used on this website than this, especially fandom specific ones. i couldnt possibly include them all, but this should be enough so you can understand what people are saying most of the time

in conclusion...

thanks for reading! i hope you enjoyed this post, or found it helpful. make sure to be kind to people around you, stay respectful--even of things you might think are a little odd, cringe culture is dead--, and most of all, have fun!

happy blogging :3

[pssstttt hey tumblr users, if theres anything major you think i missed, let me know in the replies or a reblog and ill add it.]

[toxicpineapple]

writing tips masterpost

hello to my loyal tumblr followers... i am often asked to give writing advice but usually when people ask me this i'm nooooot completely sure what to say despite having a ton of advice to give. it's such a broad question when there are so many different things i can advise on, right? so i thought i'd make a sort of writing advice masterpost where i can compile the tips that i think people specifically in fandoms could benefit the most from hearing, OR that i wish someone had told me when i was still finding my footing as a writer.

hopefully this will be helpful to you. i am putting all of the advice under a read more since this is going to be a long one. let's roll!

✬ paragraph breaks are your friend

the fastest way to get me to stop reading a fic is if i click in and see that there are NO paragraphs made and the entire piece is in a huge block of text. no matter how good your work is, i just can't read it at that point. the giant paragraph makes me get lost, i can't focus on anything... it's a huge no.

the trick is you want your paragraphs to sort of act as a guide for your reader, taking them through the story, keeping them engaged. do not be afraid to do short paragraphs! i can understand wanting to shy away from one or two sentence paragraphs for fear of not having "enough substance" in your work, but the truth is, a thousand short paragraphs is ten times easier to read than a huge block of text.

realistically, you want to have a good amount of variety in your paragraph length. variety is key. readers will notice when your work gets formulaic, and some people will like that, but for others that can turn people away from your work. but don't force it! a paragraph should end at the end of a statement, or if the paragraph is getting too long then cut off the thought and continue in the next paragraph with a transitional phrase.

as a general rule of thumb, you want lines of dialogue by different speakers to be put in separate paragraphs. you also want to avoid doing huge chunks of narration or exposition in the same paragraph as you introduce a new speaker. just make a new paragraph! no big deal. i guarantee you your reader will be way more engaged and nobody is going to come at you for doing more rather than less.

✬ make sure the reader knows who is speaking and when

you don't have to end off every line of dialogue with "she said" and in fact i would really recommend you don't. but you ALWAYS need to have some kind of indication in the text as to who is speaking, otherwise the reader can get lost.

this doesn't necessarily mean that you always have to explicitly say who is saying what, though. if it is obvious in a scene who is saying something -- so for example, a scene where there are only two characters talking OR the dialogue has some kind of phrase, statement, etc that makes it obvious who the speaker is -- then in that case you can just let the dialogue speak for itself. sometimes in writing less can be more. you disrupt the flow of a scene if you start to exposit unnecessarily when the reader could reasonably work something out for themself.

✬ "said" is your friend too

related to the last piece of advice, here's another note: don't shy away from using the word "said".

don't overuse it, either. obviously, you don't want every single line to be "he says" "she says" back and forth, especially when they might be asking questions or shouting, in which case the word "said" probably isn't all that applicable at all. but it's a nice default. if you catch yourself busting out the thesaurus, my recommendation? quit it. just use said. it's not going to hurt you and the reader isn't going to mind.

but yeah, in the event that a character is raising their voice, whispering, inquiring -- there are tons of other words you can use in lieu of said and then an adverb. it's just context-dependent, and also, you don't really want to lean too far one way or another. like i said, variety is key. too much of the same breaks immersion.

✬ if you wouldn't say it yourself, probably don't use it in writing

another related tip. look, i get it. you want to spruce up your writing with synonyms. but the fact of the matter is that a lot of these words that "mean the same thing" on paper actually have wildly differing connotations and if you don't understand what those are you're going to look kind of silly whipping out a word you just found off the internet. we can usually tell, too.

your vocabulary will naturally grow and expand as you continue to read and learn. you don't have to try and force it to seem smarter in your writing. people who can write compelling prose and dialogue without throwing in fancy words they barely understand look a lot more intelligent than people who have a thesaurus at the ready 24/7.

✬ if there's a simpler way to say it, take it

this one can be sort of style-dependent, so if it's not your cup of tea then feel free to take or leave this tip, but in my opinion, taking a whole seven-line paragraph to describe a simple action wastes both your and the readers' time.

how many times have you read a fic where the main characters are having a conversation with these long rambling paragraphs between lines of dialogue? sometimes this makes sense! if you were writing a death note fic it would absolutely make sense for light or L to be pausing every few seconds to carefully analyse their opponent's move... but that's not always the case. sometimes characters are just making small talk.

i'm not saying you can't show off. you should show off where applicable. but there's a time and place. sometimes a scene benefits more from you taking the easy way to describe something and moving on. flowery language is great, but if you're meandering too much the reader will lose interest and attention.

✬ a metaphor is useless if nobody knows what it means

writing is subjective and highly personal. write for yourself first and foremost, and use the metaphors that feel right to you -- but the best metaphorical pieces, to me, are the ones that people can understand and identify with.

you've read a story like that, haven't you? with a reoccurring theme or motif that comes back into play at the end in a way that makes you feel so satisfied and complete? THAT'S what you aim for with literary devices like that. if you write a story that nobody can understand, with metaphors that just don't make any sense -- then you haven't really successfully told a good story, have you?

i understand wanting to have a magnum opus. i think it's easy to fall into the "misunderstood writer" mindset where you want your pieces to be so magnificent that only the likeminded will get it -- but writing is a form of communication. metaphor is just another means with which we can illustrate how we feel. you WANT your readers to understand what you're doing with the metaphors, you WANT the people who step away from your story to know what you were trying to say. you don't have to be obvious, just make it good. make it something that can be reasonably drawn from the text.

at the end of the day flowery language is just flowery language. that doesn't actually make your story good.

✬ grammar intermission

(.) period/full stop: used at the end of sentences. oftentimes not used at the end of sentences in dialogue, because lines of dialogue are considered a fragment of a larger sentence. use a period/full stop at the end of a line of dialogue if the dialogue is followed up by another complete sentence. example:

"i just went to the store," he said, scratching his head.

"i just went to the store." he scratched his head.

(,) comma: used in the middle or to separate different clauses (parts/sections) of sentences. used for incomplete clauses, AKA sections of the sentence that could not function as individual sentences. also used to indicate a slight pause. example:

she reached for the ripest banana, plucking it from the bunch.

a comma can also be replaced by a conjunction like "and" or "but". example:

she reached for the ripest banana and plucked it from the bunch.

(;) semi colon: used to separate different complete clauses in sentences, AKA sections of the sentence that are related but COULD function individually as their own sentences. example:

he sighed as he looked out the window; it had been so long since he stepped outside.

not to be confused with

(:) colon: used at the end of a line that leads into or introduces another line. example:

his fingers drummed restlessly against the window sill. it was finally happening: he was finally leaving this place.

(-) hyphen: used to connect compound words like three-years-old or hyphenated surnames like jones-smith.

(–) en dash: used to indicate ranges of time or distance, like 3–4 hours.

(—) em dash: a girl's best friend. slash j. but an em dash is used to indicate a few different things: an abrupt end to a thought or sentence, a "cut-in" where you interject something tangentially or unrelated before returning to the original thought, or a diversion in the sentence/thought. examples:

"no, listen, you don't understand—"

he scowled—an ugly look on his usually handsome features—and told her to be quiet.

it's not like she had wanted it to go that way—but when had it ever mattered what she wanted?

(()) parentheses: used to add additional context, information, or a semi-unrelated thought that would break the flow of an ongoing sentence without completely taking the reader out. example:

"no, i'm sorry. i just forgot to call you this morning," he said, looking away. (in truth, he'd sat by the phone for fifteen minutes trying to psyche himself into it, but hadn't been able to muster the courage.)

✬ show don't tell, and tell don't show

show don't tell is one of the classic pieces of writing advice that i do, often, think is correct -- but it's a little more nuanced than just never telling your readers what a character is thinking. you want the work to speak for itself without you implanting messages or themes into the reader's brain. at the same time though you don't want them to be doing too much work because it breaks immersion.

this ties into what i was saying above about simpler being better sometimes. you want to be concise especially in scenes that might call for it. a fight scene should be quick and snappy. no need to dig into the physical sensation of being enraged -- just say the character is pissed! but if a character is having a meltdown or panicking, you can get SO much more out of describing how that feels than just outright saying it.

✬ remember your perspective

another huge thing with show don't tell is that you don't want your character to be able to objectively say what everyone else is thinking and feeling -- unless that makes sense for them within the context of the story. really dig into it. DOES the character have a reason to know what their opponents, friends, etc are thinking? how well do they know the other characters? how attentive are they to the emotions of those around them?

it's better to focus on descriptions than labels in that case. say what face a character is making, describe their body language or tone. your character can have impressions, just make it clear that those ARE their impressions. and let your character be wrong! they do not have to be a completely objective source of information.

✬ when it comes to representation, if you aren't confident you can do it well, don't do it at all

i'm one of those people who's kind of of the opinion that white or cishet or otherwise systemically advantaged people have no place being the loudest voices in conversations about representation, least of all AS the representatives. if you are someone with systemic privilege and you choose to portray someone who is oppressed -- that's not necessarily a bad thing. but you need to be willing to do your research and have a sensitivity reader, and you have to be ready for people to say you did it wrong.

not much else to be said about that. your voice on the matter isn't actually all that important. there are people from the demographics involved who DO have stories to tell about themselves that will be MUCH more valuable than your perception of them, so it's honestly better to just let them tell it. that's how i feel.

✬ don't break the rules unless you know how to follow them. in other words, your rebellion should be obvious

a lot of times i see people breaking grammar or other rules and citing "stylistic" choices as their reasons why. which is all good and well, to an extent -- but you want it to be very clear that you ARE breaking the rules on purpose in a way that adds to the artistic merit of your piece.

if you don't know the rules, then it really just comes across like messy work. you both have to know how to apply the rules, and also how to break them in a stylistically significant way. if it doesn't make sense for the rules to be broken, if it says nothing... it's honestly better to just follow them. that's my take.

✬ don't be scared of names and pronouns

i said before that you want variety in your work, and that is very very true -- but it's also true that certain words like names, pronouns, etc will sort of blend into the background in writing. people don't notice them. that means if you're using a name or pronoun a lot in a scene to make it clear who exactly is being referred to...

hey. look into my eyes. breathe. it's okay. you do not have to resort to highlighting arbitrary characteristics of the characters. i know. just breathe. it's okay. use their names. they have them for a reason. it's all good.

this isn't to say that you SHOULDN'T do that, just do it when it makes sense to. if height is something the characters are noticing then use "the shorter boy". if age is relevant, eye colour, hair colour, whatever -- go ahead and use them. but don't be excessive with it. i should not be having to read the bluenette more than i'm reading shuichi's actual goddamn name.

✬ read

this is the huge one. reading other works informs your writing. it teaches you skills and tricks you can use. it helps expand your dialogue and your world view. it might even highlight to you things you do too much of in your own writing. read, all the time, whenever you can. it doesn't have to be books. it can be fanfic, articles, whatever -- just keep reading, because you will be passively absorbing knowledge during that time and it'll help you grow as a writer.

✬ practice

BOOOOOO TOMATO TOMATO TOMATO! SHE SAID THE THING SHE SAID IT!

but listen, it's literally just true. i write almost every day for at least a couple of hours and i have been on a trend of consistent growth for the past five years. go read my fics from 2019 if you don't believe me. i've grown fast and i've grown constantly. you just DO grow through constant practice, even if it doesn't always seem that way.

not only that, but you start to build confidence too. writing a lot helps develop those muscles to a point where you start to realise that you ARE that good and you DO have that dawg in you. or whatever. you just have to keep at it. you're not going to magically improve thinking for six months about how you want to be a better writer without practicing anything about it.

✬ yeah, betas are good

you want to have a good editor. i know that that can feel like having someone ELSE be the reason your piece is good, but that's genuinely not it. a beta reader is a second pair of eyes on your work, someone who can tell you about the issues and mistakes you're missing. they'll tell you when something doesn't make sense. they'll point out your punctuation errors. you don't NEED to have a good editor for every crummy little oneshot... but it's good to have one.

✬ numbers are fine and all but don't compare yourself to other people

i think almost everyone in some kind of creative pursuit wants to get some kind of acknowledgement for it. we want to be the best we can be, and it can be discouraging to receive utterly no validation along the way! i get it!!

just don't get caught up in crunching the numbers. you are not as good as your fanbase is. you alone know your skillset and you absolutely should not say "well this other writer got THIS much attention" because that'll just wear you down. it really will. external validation will only keep you going for so long, and you'll always end up needing more. you HAVE to build your own personal confidence first or you'll crash and burn.

✬ read your writing out loud

there is no quicker way to see if something is wonky in your prose than reading it out loud and seeing if it makes sense verbally. i highly recommend this to anybody who struggles with sentence flow. it's a good one.

✬ yippee hooray!

🥰 and that's what i've got for now. thank you if you made it this far, please take all these tips as you will, it is all subjective of course, these are just the tips that help Me the most when i sit down to write something.

please feel free to ask me for additional advice (on specific topics if you could!) at any time, i love encouraging new writers and i am passionate about writing so i will gladly offer support in any way i can, including beta reading works for anybody who might need that.

take care now 💖

[magenta-embers]

My Jikook Journey

Part 2 of my intro.

From "multi-shipper" to "...wait a goddamn minute."

This will be a messy and detail-lacking overview because I could easily do an individual post on each thing I mention here and delve deeper (AMA!).

When I became an ARMY in 2018, I was excited about the treasure trove of fanfics now available to me. The ship didn't really matter, but my bias was/is Jimin (bias wrecker Tae then) so the very first fic I read was a vmin camping one (there was only one sleeping bag, gasp!). For me, shipping meant I'd read fanfics or save fanart of certain pairs together because in a fictional sense/in another universe, they make a good couple. I think this is a healthy approach, keeping that boundary between reality and fiction.

When I mentioned to my k-pop fan step-sister that I was reading vmin, she gave me a weird look. She said taekook is THE ship of BTS, which confused me because vmin seemed to be closer and have better chemistry than Tae and JK. Turns out, she was right. Searching by most kudos on ao3, you get a shit ton of taekook. I accepted it readily and just thought I must be missing something since I was a baby ARMY, so I read those super popular fics and started to enjoy taekook too. I started to focus more on them because... it felt like that was what I was supposed to do.

It's a common problem, isn't it? Baby ARMY who are open to shipping are quickly found and "guided" to taekook before they have a chance to glance in another direction. If they try, taekookers, who are the majority in the shipping sphere, will convince them that taekook is THE ship. Even if they aren't ARMY (my step-sister), they know that much. As a new fan, you just want to fit in, so you'll go along with what's most popular. Some people eventually find their own way, but many don't. Asking questions is vital, but if you do it aloud, you risk getting attacked by a small but extremely aggressive portion of the most infamous fanbase.

Even back then while just innocently reading any well-written fic I could get my hands on, I noticed that Jungkook was usually portrayed as a lot edgier and darker than he really was (manifested the 2023 JK aesthetic) and Taehyung was constantly portrayed as... Jimin. Especially in fan art. For some reason, a lot of the time, the appearance/vibe/personality of Taehyung was truer to Jimin than to himself, and that confused me. "Why not just make it Jungkook x Jimin?" I kept seeing them trying to force Taehyung into the dynamic that Jimin has with Jungkook when their own dynamic was perfectly fine.

Slipping down the pipeline, I started to watch taekook moments/analysis videos because I thought gotta be missing something, right? That's how I found out people are convinced they're dating, and it wasn't just a fun fic/art thing. The videos themselves were... something. There were just way too many red circles, too much slow-mo, and too much mind-reading going on for me to take any of it seriously. Plus, the moments that weren't exaggerated were just close friend skinship. Hell, Taejin were doing more sus shit together than taekook.

And yet people insist on taekook even when taekook do nothing to insist on themselves.

At this point, it was deep into 2019. Jikook were wilding in 2019. Even I was noticing all the... little things that made me raise an eyebrow. The touches that lingered just too long in rather intimate areas, the fond/awed looks at each other, the shameless flirting, the complete lack of physical boundaries, and the normalness of it all between them. That's telling. Even though I was mainly a taekooker with a shit ton of fanart and fics saved to my phone, if you looked at my liked YouTube videos around that time, I had jikook moments videos saved, not taekook, because their moments were just more fun/juicier to watch overall. They just interacted differently than they did with other members.

A quick example would be a video compilation of taekook holding hands. Sure, they're holding hands, maybe even interlocking fingers, but they're usually standing side by side and looking in different directions or just having a neutral expression. But if you watch a jikook one, not only is it much longer, but it's just different. I feel like I'm interrupting sometimes. Even in such a simple action like holding hands, there's a softness, an intimacy there that doesn't exist in taekook. Jikook wouldn't just be holding hands (usually for absolutely no reason), they'd be looking into each other's eyes, smiling sweetly, fully turned toward each other, attention completely captured by the other. How can I explain the look in their eyes? It just doesn't exist with vmin, yoonmin, jihope, etc.

Sidebar: All of those pairs have flirty/sus moments as most really close friendship dynamics do, but they're lighthearted to me and never invoked a true sense of.... whoa whoa whoa, hang on. If Jungkook and Jimin were my close friends IRL and I saw the way they are together, my alarms would go off. As either, "Oh my god, they're fucking," or "Oh my god, they wanna fuck each other." People always say, "Oh, Jimin's like that with everyone." No. No, he's not. Pay attention. Really pay attention to the differences in the dynamics between members. None of them have the "same" relationship. Especially pay attention to how the rest of the members react to Jikook.

Anyway,

So here I was noticing this... deeper intimacy in simple interactions with those two (because I'm a human being with eyes and life experience), and yet my Twitter timeline would just dismiss them entirely. "I love their friendship," "Wow their brotherhood is so beautiful," and "They're all so close," and normally these statements wouldn't bother me because technically they're true, but I started noticing that taekook or yoonmin would brush shoulders and everyone would be like, "Omg taekook/yoonmin married/boyfriends/real," over nothing. Their moments are cute/sweet/funny, but never more than that. The blatant hypocrisy did frustrate me a little, but ultimately I didn't overthink it; I didn't want to be delulu or look too deeply into anything because I still thought I must be missing something. Taekook is the most popular for a reason, right? Right?

But Taekook died for me when Tae told Taekookers to get out of their imagination. I respected that from him and took it at face value. It was the most aggressive shutdown of shipping we've ever had. I couldn't brush him off. It's disrespectful. He's uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, over the next couple of years, Jungkook and Jimin only got more suspicious in the minor interactions and in the big staple moments. Rosebowl. Hickeygate. Etc. Everyone was bending over backward trying to explain away the things these two did with each other, and it's always the same excuses. I was also trying extremely hard to think of any reason other than the simplest one because I didn't want to be delulu.

Because there was no way two members of a boyband were actually in a long-term relationship together. Especially in a conservative country.

Ridiculous. Unrealistic. Delulu.

I was basically telling myself in a mirror that they were just extra super duper close friends with muddy boundaries that meant sucking ears and giving neck hickeys was okay. I did allow there to be the thought that, maybe they're friends with benefits and that unavoidable intimacy now bleeds through into their regular interactions.

That opinion carried until 2023.

Isn't that funny?

2023.

The year so many jikookers gave up and bemoaned that those two weren't close anymore or had broken up is the year that finally convinced me.

What tipped me over?

Jungkook's vlives.

The way he kept watching videos of Jimin when he could just phone him. It reminded me of me watching Jimin, but I'm just a fan; I watch those videos because it's the only way I can appease my yearning to be close to and connected to Jimin, and absorb everything that he does or says or is.

Jungkook doesn't have that limitation, so why's he sitting there like a lovesick puppy with the fondest/most loving eyes when he could have Jimin over with just a call? Why's he sitting there looking like he's also yearning for something he can't have like us, the fans, when he can have it? He has Jimin's number. You don't need to watch yourself tease Jimin. You can just go do it. Just text him, bro.

It felt like he just wanted to bask in Jimin without interruption, without distraction, without having to force his attention elsewhere. Beyond being incredibly sweet, it also felt like Jungkook was making a statement, a point, because he kept doing it. Why? Is he somehow obsessed with his friend and bandmate whom he's seen almost every day for over a decade? If it was to promote him, he really didn't have to do all that? He didn't do it for the others, not to that extent.

Watching Jimin, talking about Jimin, singing Jimin's songs, fkn playing Letter on guitar. (The naked vlive flirting session? Lord, what.)

The man kept having vlives with a significant Jimin focus. He insisted on it enough times that it felt like he was trying to slap some sense into me. His insistence bothered me enough for me to finally do a deep dive into jikook.

Down the rabbit hole, I went. The more I learned, the more my jaw dropped. Where the fuck was all this info on my timeline when these motherfuckers were celebrating the most basic kpop boy interactions as if they were wedding vows? I even ended up seeing pictures/info we as fans were never meant to see at the bottom of that hole. If you know, you know.

Eventually, I ended up on this video (bless this fucking channel).

I want everyone to understand that I had zero knowledge of established relationship timeline theories. I went into this video blind, just trying to find the point in time when JK started to warm up to Jimin. That's not what I found. I found something so much better.

Especially 2013-2015 had me in awe. I think I cried. Jimin and Jungkook had a fattest, cutest mutual crush on each other. Absolutely. And because they were young, not that famous, and still rookies with media and camera training, we get a lot of insight into those two that we wouldn't get in later years when they learned how to mask and behave more "idol"-like. Jimin was especially loud, almost sadly loud. If you haven't watched the timeline of at least those early years, I implore you to. It actually blew my mind and broke/healed my heart. It's really bittersweet to see two teenage boys with little to no experience in anything romantic trying to come to terms with themselves while also coming to terms with each other. It's like watching a coming-of-age romance movie.

I saw clear shifts from when the relationship hit turning points in certain years. I proposed a timeline in my head based on that. Imagine my fucking surprise when I found out other people have also come up with timelines, and more surprising yet, they were all unbelievably similar to mine, down to what changed in what half of the year. I, who had no previous knowledge that this was even a thing. I just noticed it all on my own. We were all seeing the same thing. The same changes. No red circles, no slow-mo, no mind reading. It's all in the body language.

I panicked a little because overall it seemed too good to be true, so I reached out to a taekooker friend to send me her best evidence videos and receipts because I just had to make sure I wasn't going totally delulu here. I needed to see that the other biggest ship had interactions and moments on the same level with that same consistency, maybe even their very own relationship timeline to bring me back down to Earth. But... there's nothing. Really, there's nothing between taekook. Not one moment where I was like, oh? You'll find hours-long jikook content videos that are absolutely jam-packed with content, significant content, but that sort of depth just doesn't exist for taekook. Instead, you get conspiracy theories.

I watched most of the videos on that best of jikook channel and several other staple channels. It wasn't as if I bought into everything presented. I still rolled my eyes at many things that were blown out of proportion by some creators, and jikook isn't free from red circles and slow-mo and bullshit. And yet, I was still overwhelmed by the mountain of crisp receipts dumped on my head.

Jikook have much, much more solid evidence supporting the theory that they are together than evidence against it. I took the facts as they are, took my social experiences for what they are, took my psychology background for what it is, and concluded that they are most likely together, probability-wise. At the very least, they are the ONLY pair in BTS that have ANY legitimate possibility of being romantically involved. If jikook isn't real, then none of the other ships have any hope whatsoever, let's not kid ourselves. It's them or none of them.

They also have much, much more evidence that they are together than with any random man or woman you wanna throw at them. There needs to be valuable evidence or a total shutdown for me to tip the scale. I'm going to need Jimin or Jungkook to state, "I am not dating anyone at all," or "Get out of your imagination," or a bighit relationship announcement, or a clear video of lip-on-lip action or very intimate interaction with someone else.

Frankly, I don't give a single fuck about a grainy pic/video when it's 2023 and there's no excuse for that. I don't give a fuck who owns the same vase or cooking pots. I don't give a fuck if either of them hugged a woman. These are not evidence. These aren't even as good as the worst Jikook evidence.

At this point in time, Jikook is still the only viable option with the information we currently have available to us. This is my opinion and I stand by it.

At the end of the day, the thing I want most is for Jimin to be happy. Currently, it seems that Jungkook makes Jimin the happiest (as Jungkook says). As long as that holds true, I'll be here. If that changes at some point in time, I'd accept it.

But until that day comes, what the fuck else am I supposed to think?

E.

[theygotlost]

how did u get into graphic design? its always been an interest of mine but my lack of access to photoshop has made it sort of fizzle like i have no clue how to actually learn abt it in an applicable way u_u

when I was in high school and I was deciding what to major in college I wanted to do art but it had been drilled into my head that artists dont make money and its a useless degree so I chose graphic design because its still kind of art but more practical and involves more hireable skills lol

I've been fortunate enough to have access to the adobe suite first through my school and now through my employer, but if you want to use photoshop try Photopea! it's a free dupe of photoshop you can use in your browser. I haven't actually used it much myself, but there's a million photoshop crash course/beginners guide videos on youtube that should apply to photopea as well. there's also a competing suite of products called Affinity that includes analogs to photoshop, illustrator, and indesign. it costs money but unlike adobe it's one time purchase so you might consider it a worthwhile investment. I haven't really used that one much either though so your mileage may vary

the textbook we used for my history of gd class was Graphic Design: A New History by Stephen J. Eskilson and I found it sooo fascinating. if you can get your hands on a copy or a pdf I def recommend it because it's really informative about the various styles and movements that have influenced graphic design with a lot of cool examples.

my fave gd youtube channels are Linus Boman and Elliotisacoolguy. linus does more analytical videos breaking down designs in popular culture and elliot does increasingly ridiculous design challenges. there are also a lot of websites that generate random design prompts if you need ideas for something to work on

lastly a few years ago I compiled a bunch of websites that have free gd assets like fonts, photos, icons, photoshop mockups etc so everyone have fun with these !!!

[toastedcinnamonflakes]

Guide on How to Improve Your Reading Level

So. You want to improve your reading level. You currently read only “easy” stories – for example Colleen Hoover. But you want to challenge yourself. You want to read more.

Well, let me help you. I am compiling a guide for you here to help you get more advanced with your reading. I have sorted literature into different levels, and will give you suggestions for each level. This is not an all-encompassing guide, more like a guideline – obviously I don’t know every single author. I will try to stick to authors that are all also available in English, but if one or two sneak in that are not available in English, or your main language, I apologise. I encourage you to seek suggestions outside of this, too. A good place to get good recommendations and not just the same five #BookTok books over and over again are actually newspapers and magazines with a Feuilleton! You can also message me for some tips, or find other book blogs on tumblr. I am sure most are glad to help.

I am not sorting these books by categories like “Children’s books”, “Young adult” or similar, because I find that within those loose categories, books can vary wildly. Instead, I am focusing on complexity, length, necessary existing knowledge and other factors. Without further ado, let me begin!

Level 1: Books that are short, to the point, without complex vocabulary. There usually are no metaphors there, and if there are, you do not necessarily HAVE to dive into them, the story makes sense nonetheless. You do not need to have any pre-existing knowledge to understand them, either. They are also either stand-alones or can be read as stand-alones, so you do not have to commit to a long series.

Such books are:

Most books by Dyanna Wynne Jones, especially her Fantasy novels

Books by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Most books by Leigh Bardugo (although is STRONGLY discourage you from reading the Shadow and Bone trilogy, those books are messy, unimaginative and kinda sexist. She found her literary footing after that.)

Books by Michael Ende

Most books by Erich Kästner (his few excursions into adult literature are more complex and require some previous knowledge about the Weimar Republic)

Books by Alexander Kielland Krag

Books by Walter Moers

Most books by V.E. Schwab

Books by Axie Oh

Books by Naomi Novik

Books by Casey McQuiston

Books by Kai Meyer

Books by Marissa Meyer

Books by T.J. Klune

Level 2: Now we are coming onto books that, while mostly still short, use a bit more complex vocabulary and/or metaphor. So, you might be required to not take everything literally and do a bit of interpretation. Occasionally, you might need to do a quick Wikipedia read to get context for the book. The characters are becoming a bit more complex, too, but often the text itself explains character’s motivations/thoughts directly.

Books that fit that description are for example:

"Convenience Store Woman" by Sayaka Murata

“Swimming in the Dark” by Tomasz Jędrowski

“Kim Jiyoung, born 1982” by Cho Nam-Joo

Books by Phillip Pullman, in particular his “Golden Compass” Trilogy

“Iron Widow” by Xiran Jay Zhao

“Fire and Hemlock” by Dyanna Wynne Jones

Books by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Books by Celeste Ng

“The last Unicorn” by Peter S. Beagle

Level 3: Now we are reaching books that use complex vocabulary, maybe you even need to look up a word or two (but this is how you expand your own vocabulary). The sentences are more complex, the stories are constructed in a more complex way (but still usually follow one narrative string), the characters are most of the time nuanced. You will need to pay attention to the subtext and do some interpreting of your own. Some of these books have the labels “classic” attached to them, but don’t let that scare you – in fact, for most classics, you will be able to look up information/interpretations online if you are struggling. We also have some books now that are either parts of a longer series or parts of a bigger canon (not all of them, some are still stand-alones).

Such books are for example:

Books by Agatha Christie

Books by Selma Lagerlöf (although I have to say, she very often uses metaphors, dream-sequences and similar narrative devices)

Books by Terry Pratchett

Andrzej Sapkowski’s “Witcher”Saga

“The Shadow land” by Elizabeth Kostova

Books by Joan Lindsay

“A hero of our time” by Michail Lermontow

“Sauhund” by Lion Christ

Most books/short stories by Nikolai Gogol

Some of Stanislaw Lem’s books, like “The Star Diaries”, “Tales of Pirx the Pilot”

Books by Hanne Ørstavik, particularly the books before “Love”

Books by Gerd Brantenberg

“Revolutionary Road” by Richard Yates

“Carmilla” by Sheridan Le Fanu

The “Sherlock Holmes” Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle

Level 4: On this level, the vocabulary is advanced and the sentence structure is complex. The characters are multi-dimensional, complicated and explored on a psychological level.

The books want to say something, and often say it through the use of metaphors. You need to be attentive while reading, maybe even take some notes, if you really want to get to the bottom with your interpretation. Still, the books follow a (mostly) clear plotline and while there are occasionally some “non-realistic” elements in them like Dreams, they are still somewhat grounded in a fictional reality that mostly mirrors our own. Many of these novels are also long.

Jane Austen’s books

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s books

“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier

“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte

“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte

“Agnes Grey” and “The Tennant of Wildfell Hall” by Anne Bronte

Plays by Friedrich Schiller

Plays by Henrik Ibsen

Most books by the Strugatzki brothers

“War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina” by Lew Tolstoi

“Dracula” by Bram Stoker

“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley

books by Jeannette Winterson

books by Charles Dickens

Short stories by Anton Tschechow

Books by Michail Bulgakow

Level 5: Now we have reached the territory of the truly advanced reader. These books are not simple by any stretch of the word. These novels are not always more complex than the ones on level four vocabularly-wise, but they require you to have pre-existing knowledge of other works of literature (they often make references). You need to pay close attention while reading, perhaps re-read passages multiple times. The structure of these novels is often non-linear and/or experimental. They are mostly not “realistic”, rely heavily on metaphors, symbols and signs within the text. They can be confusing at times. Often, they play with the language and experiment. The meaning of these novels is multi-layered, and interpretations can differ wildly.

Such books are:

“If on a winter’s night a traveler” by Italo Calvino

“The experiment” by the brothers Strugatzki

Almost everything by Karen Blixen (“Out of Africa” is a bit easier, though still very complex and there are many symbols in that novel, too)

Books by Jon Fosse

“The Key” by Junichiro Tanizaki

Books by Osamu Dazai

“Catherine House” by Elisabeth Thomas (okay, I was conflicted where to put this – the vocab is not that difficult, but the structure is very unclear and dream-like and it puts a lot of emphasis on symbols. Maybe it would be good to start your journey to Level 5 novels with this one, if you are not very confident in your reading abilities)

Books by Han Kang

“The futurological congress” by Stanislaw Lem

Books by Günter Grass

“The Man Outside” by Wolfgang Borchert

Books by Slavenka Draculic (specifically her novels, her essays have a different style, obviously)

Books by Sjon

Short stories by Edgar Allan Poe

Books by Vladimir Sorokin

Books by Angela Carter

“Kult” by Ljubko Deresch

Most books by Vladimir Nabokov

Tales by E.T.A. Hoffman

The differing factor between these last two levels often is the STRUCTURE of the novels. I am making this distinction because I have seen that quite a few people struggle with experimentalist/surrealist/non-linear structure.

Others of these stories have a more linear structure, yes, but require you to dig deep beneath the surface to find out the meaning of various symbols in order to interpret the story.

Also, pay attention to the language! Many of these authors, like Nabokov, play around with double-meanings, similar sounding words (homophones) and even more than one language.

I hope this guide helps. Obviously, it is not perfect, but it should give you an idea where to start and where to progress. It is important to have fun while reading, and there is no shame in jumping between the levels. But, you should challenge yourself: You are smart! You can understand difficult things! Yes, it might be hard at first, but precisely because of that you should keep trying. If you never challenge yourself, you will never get better.

I wish you all the best on your reading journey <3

[skogjeger]

Connecting and Working with Deities ❁ཻུ۪۪ ━ 

‧₊˚.  : · •.  * • ˚   . · * ✶   : · •  *   ˚ ✵

In a previous post, I opened up about the idea of compiling a list outlining ways to establish a connection and work with deities. So here are some ideas of how you can connect with deities and or worship/work with them. Mind you, these are just suggestions, so there isn't a wrong nor right way on how you want to connect with deities. It is whatever feels comfortable and feels comfortable with the deity you are wanting to have a connection with.

𖤣𖥧˚ Research & Learn

Study Mythology: Study mythological material to understand the particular deity's background and their connections with their circle. Mythology can help understand attributes, symbols, or the history. As a note though, how a deity is predicted in mythology might not even come close to how they actually behave.

Understand Cultural Context: Learn about the cultural and historical context of the deity; how they were worshipped in the past, how others in a particular culture worked with them and showed appreciation and or admiration.

𖤣𖥧˚ Create an Altar or Sacred Space

Set Up an Altar: Create a dedicated space with images, statues, symbols, and offerings related to the deity. And if you're wanting to take a cheap approach, doing a digital altar works too!

Sacred Objects: Include items that are sacred to the deity, such as crystals, herbs, or special artifacts pertaining to that deity.

𖤣𖥧˚ Offerings

Food & Drink: Offer foods and drinks that are favorable and or were common as an offering to the deity. It can range to anything like candy, beer, wine, coffee, hot chocolate, water, meat, fruit, etc.

Incense & Candles: Light incense or candles as offerings. Bonus would be that the scent/colour correlates to the deity, but this is entirely optional.

Flowers & Other Natural Offerings: Place flowers, stones, leaves, or other natural items on your altar.

𖤣𖥧˚ Artistic Creations

Create Art: Draw, paint, sculpt, or engage in any artistic endeavor that honours and or shows appreciation for the deity.

Music & Dance: Sing, play music, make music, or dance in a way that celebrates the deity.

Writing & Poems: Write a short-story, your interactions, and or poems dedicated to that deity.

𖤣𖥧˚ Divination and Signs

Divination Tools: Use tools like tarot cards, runes, scrying, or other forms of divination to seek guidance from the deity. If you are using tarot cards, what helps is looking at the major arcana cards to see which deity it is associated to.

Look for Signs: Be open to receiving signs and messages, and or look out for anything that is consistent but out of the ordinary.

𖤣𖥧˚ Study and Practice Corresponding Disciplines

Learn Related Skills: For example, if the deity is associated with healing, study and practice healing arts. If the deity is related to death, you can do funeral donations to help the bereaved.

𖤣𖥧˚ Rituals and Ceremonies

Seasonal Celebrations: Participate in or create rituals and ceremonies that align with the deity's sacred times, such as solstices, equinoxes, or specific festivals.

Personal Rituals: Develop your own rituals that feel meaningful and appropriate for your connection with the deity.

𖤣𖥧˚ Meditation and Visualization

Meditate: Find a quiet place, clear your mind, and focus on the deity. Visualize their form, symbols, and presence. If silence doesn't do too well, you can play a song that you think would be a good representation to the deity.

Guided Imagery: Use guided meditations specifically designed for connecting with deities.

𖤣𖥧˚ Prayer and Invocation

Pray Regularly or When Needed: Establish a daily or regular practice of prayer. Speak from the heart or use traditional prayers and hymns. You can either keep your prayers formal or casual, whatever feels right and appropriate.

Invoke the Deity: Call upon the deity's presence through chants, mantras, or specific invocations. You can either do this in your mind or call out loud.

𖤣𖥧˚ Join a Community

Find Like-minded People: Join groups or communities that honour and work with the same deity. It can be through Discord, Tumblr, or wherever—online or physical.

Attend Ceremonies: Participate in communal worship, festivals and gatherings.

𖤣𖥧˚ Tips for the Practice

Respect: Always approach with respect and sincerity.

Consistency (or Flexibility): Build a regular practice to deepen your connection, and even if it's not daily, there's always a flexible approach.

Intuition: Trust your intuition and personal experiences.

Adaptability: Be open to changing your methods as you grow and learn more.

Remember, the key is to develop a relationship that feels genuine and meaningful to you in whatever means possible.

[azullumi]

“and they were roommates” ; ayato & baizhu

summary — what is he like as your roommate? in correlation, how does he often act around his home shared with you?

includes — ayato and baizhu (w/ gender-neutral reader) ; separate

tags — fluff, modern au, domestic fluff if you squint so hard, no established relationship, some sprinkle of smau ; headcanons

note — i srsly dont know what ayato will take in college ; masterlist

ayato, your rich and sweet roommate

nice, sweet, caring, and gentle, he’s one of the best roommate you’ll ever ask for. it’s a wonder that he doesn’t have a ring on his finger and it’s no wonder that you two are mistaken as a couple from how you act around each other—having matching mugs and items, doing a lot of things together, and most likely choosing to spend time with one another even if there will just be silence.

despite the fact that he’s often busy and holed up in his own room, he still looks after you and as well as himself and you also do the same for him. he tells you if he won’t be able to come home or will be late, reminding you to keep the door locked and closed every time, and he worries for you if you’re nowhere to be found in your home. he opts for eating together with you and would even take you out.

he loves coffee—strong ones—in the morning and occasionally during the night when he’s busy working on something, perhaps some projects and paperworks. he appreciates it whenever you come knocking on his door and bringing him with a cup of it. however, nothing can beat his love for boba and milk tea, he often comes home sipping one on his hand and another one on the other hand that is for you.

is a messy but organized type of person and his room is a great example of that. it’s messy and things are everywhere the place but not displeasing messy—the papers are all compiled yet cluttered on his desk, his laundry isn’t folded but they’re all in his basket, his blanket is unfolded or wrinkled but that’s the only disorderly thing on his bed, and more.

but despite the untidiness of his space, it’s never dirty. he doesn’t keep plates and such in his room and will always eat at the dining area (he also washes the dishes if he’s done), he disposes of his garbage in the proper place, and he cleans after himself every time.

baizhu, your caring roommate, also a medicine student

extremely caring and attentive but not to the point that it’s suffocating. he’s helpful with the chores and is even patient when guiding or teaching you when you’re not used to some things. although the burden of all of the tasks doesn’t just rest on his shoulders as the two of you have schedules to specific ones and often take turns such as in cooking—it’s no problem, however, if one of you are unable to accomplish the task assigned.

he’s always the one to prepare breakfast and will be willing to pack you something, he cares for your wellbeing a lot and is not afraid to show it. although you wonder how he’s able to work so hard despite his busy schedule. he wakes up early, makes breakfast, does whatever he has planned for that day, and always comes home on time if ever he goes out. he also goes out for groceries, usually asking you if ever you want to accompany him or if you need something so that he can get you it.

you notice how he gets tired easily and avoids straining himself, would opt for asking for help from you if ever he needs to carry something heavy such as grocery bags. on that note, you sometimes find him passed out on the couch on a random afternoon but he wakes up easily, however—even if it’s just the smallest noise.

he organizes everything, food goes into the pantry or the refrigerator if needed, kitchen items and equipment will stay in the kitchen (absolutely no knives anywhere outside that area), personal belongings are not to be littered and mixed up with the other’s (he’ll lightly tell you off if you leave your things scattered), and the medicine should be stored in the proper place—he puts labels on some of it so that it’s not mixed with another one and to avoid confusion.

random facts about him: he prefers tea as its much healthier, doesn’t walk around the home barefoot, and he remembers where everything is placed—he has quite an incredible memory.

© azullumi — do not plagiarize, copy, repost, nor translate any of my works.

[darthkote]

Star Wars Fanfiction Request Guidelines | OPEN

Hi! I wanna try to write more each day, even if it's just small blurbs or pairing I might not typically write or think about (: I still reserve the right to say no, of course, but to make it easier, I wanted to compile a list of what I won't write/am willing to write. My ao3 -> darthkote

Below are the guidelines to help you craft a prompt that aligns with my writing preferences.

Minors DNI.

Content I Am Willing to Write

Stories rated GA to E.

Pairings of any gender or sexual identity. If you would like narrator/characters to use varying pronouns than those used in Canon, mention it!

Violence, gore, smut, where appropriate for the plot/prompt.

AUs grounded in realism within Star Wars Canon or Legends.

Canon compliant stories (I'll do my best to stay away from fanon if you so wish!)

Clone-shipping

Hurt/Comfort, angst, whump.

Polycules. Platonic, romantic, etc.

X reader. Won't use "y/n"

Content I Will Not Write

Underage characters in sexual situations.

Modern AU. Just not into it, I'm sorry.

Basically, feel free to request anything that falls into these guidelines. If something not listed makes me uncomfortable or disinterests me, I will address it directly as it arises.

Critical Details for Prompts

When submitting your prompt, consider the following elements to help guide the story:

1. Core Concept

What is the central idea or “what if” scenario?

2. Characters

Which characters are the focus?

Are there specific relationships to explore (e.g., romantic, platonic, familial)?

Any characters you’d like excluded?

3. Setting and Timeline

Where does the story take place (e.g., a specific planet, ship, or environment)?

When does it occur in the Star Wars timeline?

Note: I haven’t fully explored the Imperial Era or beyond yet. As I watch more, I will remove this note to reflect that! I have finished TBB and have not moved forward. I am progressing in timeline order in my own time. + Have watched the og trilogy.

4. Tone and Themes

What kind of tone should the story have (e.g., lighthearted, angsty, hopeful)?

Are there specific themes (e.g., redemption, survival, found family) to explore?

Click here for SFW and here for NSFW.

5. Plot Details

Are there key events or plot points you'd like included?

Should the story be action-heavy, dialogue-driven, or a balance of both?

6. Relationships

Specify the type of relationship dynamics (e.g., slow burn romance, mentor-apprentice, camaraderie).

Include whether relationships are romantic, platonic, or unrequited, etc.

7. Style and Structure

Do you have a preferred POV (e.g., first-person, third-person limited)?

Length preference (e.g., short drabble, one-shot, multi-chapter epic)?

8. Canon and AUs

Should the story adhere to Star Wars Canon or Legends, or can it diverge?

If AU, how far does it deviate?

9. Visuals and Atmosphere

Do you have specific imagery or sensory details in mind?

Example: “A dreamlike sequence during Obi-Wan’s meditation.”

10. Dialogue or Scenes

Any specific dialogue or moments to include?

Example: “Have Cody reflect on his scars during a quiet moment.”

11. Avoidances and Triggers

Are there topics, elements, or scenarios you’d like avoided?

12. Inspirations

Share any inspirations: quotes, songs, other fanfics, or Star Wars media.

13. Ending

Specify what type of ending you envision (e.g., happy, tragic, open-ended).

Note:

These are just guidelines—you don’t need to include every single detail when making a request. However, please keep in mind my personal boundaries.