#my faq for mobile users

[dunmertwink]

Please read carefully before commissioning a piece from me!

As always, if you have questions that aren't answered here or something below is confusing, just ask! I’ll be happy to help!

What types of commissions do you take?

I will be doing character Headshot commissions the most since they are the least likely to burn me out and I can churn them out quickly. But, I will occasionally be doing larger works. There will be fewer open slots for these. In general:

10 Slots for Headshots

3-5 Slots for Larger Commissions

What types of Backgrounds can I get with Headshots? Larger Commissions?

Available Backgrounds for Headshots (you can choose a background fill or a shape/color block in most of the following):

transparent (no background)

solid (1 color background)

2-color gradient

2-color pattern (additional charge*)

Pride flags

stylized Pride flags (additional charge*)

Larger Commissions can have the same backgrounds as above or a scene. The scene will incur an additional charge based on what type of commission you ordered (colored sketch✳, lines, flats, cel shading, or full render✳).

*See next section for pricing and add-ons

✳Colored Sketch and Full Render are exclusive to larger commissions and cannot be ordered in Headshot Commissions

What are your prices?

Prices may change depending on circumstances. Prices shown are BASE or starting prices and are subject to add-ons!

Headshot Base Prices:

Lineart: Starting at $20 USD

Flats: Starting at $25 USD

Cel-Shaded: Starting at $40 USD

Add-ons are charges incurred for more detailed work, special backgrounds, and/or currency conversion fees.

Headshot Add-ons:

Intricate details: $5 USD

(super-intricate headwear, tattoos, mech, and/or jewelry)

Patterned Backgrounds: $2 USD

Stylized Pride Flags: $3 USD

(Example: cyberpunk character with techy pride flag)

Currency Conversion Fee: 4% of overall price

(To make up for Paypal's fee, I'll be charging more for customers outside of the US)

Larger Commission Prices TBD*

Do you do refunds?

No. I work with you extensively throughout the process, updating you and getting critiques from you and implementing your suggested revisions; all so that your end product is something you are happy with.

I don’t consider the commission complete until you’re satisfied with your product. If you don’t like the finished product at that point, honestly, that ones on you.

Can I get a background with all types of commissions?

No; not all. If you order a Sketch or Lineart piece, you will not be able to get a special background. Lineart is always B&W/ grayscale.

How long does the process take?

I will generally reach out to selected commissioners immediately to let you know you've been accepted.

You'll get a sketch within 3 days, possibly sooner depending on how many commissions I have in waiting (Headshots are quick). Once you approve the sketch, I'll send you an invoice.

After I have been paid, please allow up to 14 days to get your finished piece (also depending on how many commissions I have in waiting). Headshots tend to be quick, but just in case.

If I need more time due to life events, I will reach out to you and we can discuss the next steps.

Terms & Conditions

You must be 18+ (or age of majority) to commission a piece; meaning you are legally able to have your own account with Paypal and similar sites.

(Yes, PayPal allows invoices to be paid with Credit/Debit if you do not have an account, but due to the nature of some commissions, I am a bit uncomfortable working with minors.)

I reserve the right to reject requests

I exclusively use Paypal. Please be aware of this.

Please do not remove my signature. It will be small enough that it won’t interfere.

Please do not feed my work to an AI or resell/ develop as an NFT.

What to Expect:

Most times, there will be a Google Form to fill out as an application for a commission. Please fill this out when it becomes available if interested.

If accepted, I will contact you via my comms email. You may need to check your spam folder (I don’t think this will be an issue but just in case). This is where I will ask you to provide as many references for what you want as you can.

I will reach out to you with an initial sketch for you to approve within 3 days of acceptance.

Once you approve the design, I will send an invoice.

Payment will be due upon receiving your invoice. I will not start work on your approved design until I have been paid!

Please allow up to 14 days from the day of payment to receive your completed piece (more for a large commission; I will give you a better estimate while in contact). I will reach out if I need more time.

Please consider crediting me if you would like to post the work outside of Tumblr. You don’t have to, but it would be nice!

Do you have restrictions on what you'll draw?

Yes. See Below:

Will Draw:

Your Ocs

Blorbos*

Your Fursona/ furries

Mech (super-intricate stuff incurs an additional charge)

Light Kink (leather gear, some props, puppy masks, collars, etc.)

Won’t Draw:

Racist, anti-LGBTQIA+, antisemitic, Islamophobic, misogynistic, and other hateful content/symbols

Gore/ Horror

Pedophilic or incestuous content

Abusive or sexually explicit depictions of real people/celebrities

Super sexually explicit or violent acts (See gore/horror and abusive acts involving real people)

I will literally draw anything that does not fall into the "Won't draw" category. You are not limited to options in the "Will Draw" category; I'm only including them as examples!

*Specific Media Exceptions:

Media that’s fine, I’m just not willing to draw (I have made it twelve years on this site without seeing any of these and I don’t intend to start [not judging you - do you little dudes/dudettes/dudenbies, just curating my experience thanks]):

Superwholock

My Little Pony

Miraculous Ladybug

Steven Universe

Homestuck

Undertale/ Deltarune

Tumblr Sexymen™

Media that I will absolutely block you for asking me to draw:

Harry Potter

Attack on Titan

Dream SNP

Copganda (yeah ALL those shows)

Military propaganda (like C.O.D., Top Gun, etc.)

[gunthermunch]

Hi! I'm very interested in reading your story from the beginning and I've followed the links but they don't work 🥹

They just tell me it doesn't work. Is there any other way?

mobile navigation does not work on android devices because tumblr sucks! you can paste this https://gunthermunch.tumblr.com/tagged/munch/chrono on your browser or go to my page (which i recommend)

[duketectivecomics]

Hi there! Welcome to the Duke Fan HQ!

Here's some helpful links for mobile users:

About | FAQ | Reading Rec | Tags

Some other bat-blogs I run:

Main/Gen DC Hub | Girl!Robins | Bat-Gals | Oracle!Babs Day

And a few PSAs:

I host a very small, Duke-centric Discord server (known as The Hatch). If small discords are your jam, plz dm me or send a not-anonymous ask for a link!

My main inbox got overwhelmed with headcanons so I started @dukethomasheadcanons to help with that. I don't quite have the editing skills or the time to publish all of the wonderful asks that have been sent over time, however, and I'm looking to pass the baton. Plz dm me if interested!

Duke Week 2024 will be here before we know it! Info & themes for the Weeks of the past can be found here! Keep an eye out for further announcements!

Thanks visitors & followers alike for taking some time to learn about one of my bat-blorbos of all time! :D

[staff]

Attention! Incoming, over the next week! An upgrade for all your blogs that are using the default Tumblr theme!

Any blog that uses the “Tumblr Official” theme with its default settings and no advanced customization will switch to using our new blog view on web. Why?

Easier access to gifting, tipping, messaging, and all of the other wonderful things your blog allows.

Consistency! It’s a similar view and experience to our mobile apps.

New default URL! Instead of yourtumblrname.tumblr.com, folks will access your blog at tumblr.com/yourtumblrname. 

This is optional and can be toggled off or on from your blog settings. No one who is using a custom theme will be affected by this update. But for those who are using the default, this is what the new view will look like:

FAQ

Why is this good? Why does this matter?

New and existing features such as gifting, tipping, and messaging will appear in the same spot across the board. This will make it easier for folks to navigate any blog and find what they’re looking for. Additionally, the newly-improved notes view means conversations happening around a post can be filtered, making them easier to use.

Does this mean you will eventually get rid of custom themes?

No! Being able to express yourself with the broadest array of possible options is an essential part of Tumblr. We’re proud of being one of the last places to allow custom HTML and CSS, allowing users to truly make their blog their own or select from a wide variety of pre-built themes. Again, no one who is using a custom theme will be affected by this update.

How do I enable the new default view if I’m using a custom theme?

Head to your blog settings on web and switch the “Custom theme” toggle off. Anyone navigating to your blog will now see the new blog view at tumblr.com/yourtumblrname. Your blog settings, ask button, archive, gifting, and blog-level tipping will live at the top of your new view, where your followers expect to find them. Anyone that navigates to your blog’s old view will be redirected here.

How do I use my Tumblr with a custom theme?

If you’d like to customize your blog, head to your blog settings on web and turn the “Enable custom theme” switch on. From there, you can “Edit theme” or “View website.” Your customized blog will now appear in the theme of your choice at yourtumblrname.tumblr.com. In addition, folks can also view your blog in the new default blog view at tumblr.com/yourtumblrname, with all its bells and whistles immediately accessible at the top—where followers expect them to be. 

Questions? Please do consider reading this Help Center article, as you will likely find some answers to your questions there. If not, you can ask questions on @wip every Monday from 6 AM—6 PM EST or write to Support with a specific issue you’re having.

[bigboysdrinkmilk]

📌 Pinned Post 📌

Welcome to Bigboysdrinkmilk’s Tumblr, where I post gym progress pics and shitposts. That’s it.

Want to donate to my growth? Gains are expensive:

Venmo: @bigboysdrinkmilk

Cashapp: $bigboysdrinkmilk

Or follow me on Instagram? intheshadowofyggdrasil

Feel free to send asks, anon or not, or DM with messages! I’m friendly but generally slow to respond. Mobile users, find commonly used tags in the tags in this post.

About Me/FAQ:

Name: Roman

Age: 31

Gender: Male (He/Him)

Sexuality: Gay/Queer/Poly

Location: Seattle, Washington

“Will you give me gym advice?”: I’m happy to share my experiences or opinions, but I am not a certified personal trainer and what I do or what works for me may not work for you.

“Want some nudes?”: My DMs are always open but I have a very active and fulfilling sex life out in the real world and don’t necessarily have the energy to be horny on here all that often.

“Why aren’t you answering my ask?”: This could be for a variety of reasons, including: you asked personal information or medical advice, the ask was in response to something that was too distant time wise, you were insulting or negging or otherwise being strange, I’ve already answered the question recently, I missed it, or it was really sweet and I’m keeping it in my inbox to hold on to. Feel free to ask again, but certain things don’t get responses.

“I don’t like what you’re posting.”: Cool. No need to announce your departure. I tag clumps of posts that may clog up people’s dash, usually with something like #ask or #tumblrgames. If that solves your issue, great! If not, the unfollow button is right over there.

“Have you ever committed a felony? Do you intend to commit a felony? Are you committing a felony right now?”: Babygirl, we don’t know each other that way. And what are you, a cop?

“What’s your workout routine?”: I rotate through sets of three day splits in a six days on one day off pattern so that different muscle group combos are hit in various arrangements with each group being hit twice a week. It’s overly complicated and not what I’d say other people should do. If you’re asking what I recommend to other people, Push-Pull-Legs is great for beginners and intermediate lifters, alike.

[little-acts-of-gratitude]

Hello, Tumblr! I am incredibly excited to announce the start of my biggest project so far: Little Acts of Gratitude! It's a post-WW AU fancomic that follows a Ganondorf redemption-ish story set on the Great Sea, in which Link decides to defy fate right before the final duel and bring his sworn enemy back to the surface. But why? The comic explores the Triforce Trio and the world around them, in an attempt to solve the ancient mysteries and tie the loose ends. Suffice it to say, I have big, big plans for this story >:^з.

If you have access to desktop Tumblr, I recommend reading the comic that way, as you’ll be able to see a fancy blog theme with a comfy pagination and a banner for each chapter! But if not, there'll also be a dedicated pagination system for mobile users, like this:

(Page 0) next > last ▷

And now, FAQ/Disclaimer/whatever:

There’s no upload schedule planned as of now. I’ll try my best to aim for monthly updates and have at least a little backlog whenever possible, but more often than not I’ll probably upload the pages as soon as I am done with them. Also I’ll make sure to announce any major hiatuses if for some reason updates will take more time than planned. Just please don’t send any asks/DMs regarding this matter.

As a non-native English speaker, I’d greatly appreciate it if you guys pointed out any grammar mistakes I might make! This goes double for the instances of me using ASL for Link, as I don’t have any kind of experience with sign languages.

You may see the artifacts on the pages - this is the result of me Glazing them, just to see how that pans out. I'll... probably think of an option to show you guys the clean hi-res pages eventually.

For now, the comic will stay a Tumblr exclusive — but I am thinking of potentially crossposting it on other webcomic-hosting platforms! Once I amass a decent amount of pages and decide where exactly to upload them, I will provide links. As for the social media presence, I... don't really have anything other than Tumblr (except, well, iykyk), so no promises there.

And for, uh, legal purposes: the Legend of Zelda series belongs to Nintendo; I am not affiliated with them and do not claim ownership on anything other than the artwork itself. Not that they're currently going for fancomics, thankfully.

And... Thanks for taking time to read this! My lack of work ethics is my lifelong nemesis, but I hope that, despite everything, this comic will see the light of day, that I won’t stop working on it until I’m done, and that you will have a great time reading my silly little AU for a silly little vidyagame ✨!

[pleasanttaleswithkaityb]

How to Create a Structured Navigation Page on Tumblr: A Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

Creating a navigation page helps moots stay up today on your posts, especially stories or series on your Simblr. Below are the steps I used to help me organize and create my navigation system!

What Does "Mobile-Friendly" Mean?

A mobile-friendly navigation page keeps users within their Tumblr app while they explore your links. This ensures a smooth user experience for those primarily using Tumblr on mobile devices. To achieve this: - Use links that are generated within the Tumblr app or dashboard viewer. - Avoid using direct URL links from a web browser, as they may redirect mobile users from the Tumblr app. - You can test the links yourself on the Tumblr app to make sure they open correctly without redirecting out of the app.

Step 1: Planning Your Content

Before creating your page, plan the content and sections you want to include. Think about categories like:

Household stories

Series updates

Character profiles

FAQs

Gameplay guides

Mods and CC (Custom Content)

Step 2: Pinning Your Main Navigation Post

To ensure that your navigation is the first thing visitors see, you can pin a post on your Tumblr blog. Here's the process:

Write Your Navigation Post: Create a post with all your navigation links and information. This post will serve as the main guide for visitors to your blog.

Pin the Post: - Open your Tumblr dashboard. - Navigate to the post you want to pin. - On the top right of the post, click the "..." (more) button. - From the dropdown menu, select "Pin this post to the top of your blog".

Set Pin Duration: Decide how long you want the post pinned.

Check Your Blog: Visit your Tumblr blog to ensure the post is pinned at the top.

By pinning your main navigation post, you make it easy for followers and visitors to understand how to explore and enjoy your content right from the start.

Step 3: Organize Your Tags

Establish a tagging system that works for you and be consistent. For example here are some of mine:

Use #the[lastname]household for family-specific posts.

Tag seasonal stories with #fall1, #winter1, etc.

Create special tags for FAQs, such as #askkaityb for questions.

Step 4: Create Hyperlinks

Transform tags into clickable links that lead to filtered content:

- Write out your tags in your blogs search bar - Click a tag, the page should change to all your post with that tag. you're going to copy the URL and hyperlink that to your navigation post (for example here what mine looks like: https://www.tumblr.com/pleasanttaleswithkaityb/tagged/pleasantview%20legacy) - Repeat for each tag you plan to use.

Step 5: Design and Layout

Make your navigation page visually appealing:

Use headers to denote different sections. Consider adding icons or images for visual interest. Keep the layout clean and readable.

Step 6: Publish and Promote

Once you’re happy with the page:

Make sure to publish or reblog your new navigation page in a post to inform your followers.

Step 7: Maintenance

Regularly check your navigation page to reflect new content and ensure all links work. Now, anytime you tag a post with your hashtags, that link's thread will automatically be updated!

Tips:

Keep your audience in mind. Use clear, descriptive titles for your links.

Update your navigation page regularly as you add new content.

Encourage feedback. Ask your followers if they find the navigation page helpful.

Feel free to customize this guide to match your blog's specifics and needs. Let me know if y'all have found any of your own tips & tricks for creating your navigation system! Happy simming!

@bambiwhims - Hope this helps :3

[octocon]

Welcome to Octocon's official Tumblr!

This blog will be used to further engage with the Octocon community, and to offer support to Octocon's users on Tumblr!

What is Octocon?

Octocon is the modern, all-in-one platform for people with dissociative disorders (like DID and OSDD) to manage their disorder and express themselves!

We provide a mobile application (currently available for Android) that lets you manage your alters, track your front history, keep a daily journal, and keep your friends up-to-date on who's fronting.

We also provide a Discord bot that automatically syncs with the Octocon app to let you send messages as your alters.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to join our official Discord support server for help!

Click "Keep reading" below for a short FAQ about our platform!

FAQ

How do I use Octocon?

You can get started by downloading our mobile app on the Google Play Store, or by inviting our Discord bot to your Discord server!

When will the app be available for iOS or other platforms?

The iOS app has a projected launch date of late 2024 to early 2025!

We also plan on developing a web app, but it's further down the backlog, so we don't have an exact time frame yet.

Is the platform safe/secure? Will you look at my data?

Octocon takes privacy and security extremely seriously. We will never peek into your data stored on our platform without explicit consent, regardless of how you identify.

We'll also never terminate an account for any reason other than abuse of our platform or suspicions of illegal activity.

Furthermore, we take great effort to secure our servers, and all of your data is private by default. If you'd like an alter to be shared with your friends or publicly, you'll have to explicitly set them as such!

For more information, please read our privacy policy.

Are you "anti-endo"?

Octocon takes the stance of being "traumacentric"; our platform is designed to be used by those with dissociative disorders caused by trauma, though we can not and will not ban or otherwise impede users from accessing our platform if they don't identify as such.

We do ask that our Discord communities remain traumagenic-only spaces for the comfort of our members, but we are actively against harassment of those who identify as non-traumagenic.

[yourdailyqueer]

Welcome to Your Daily Queer

Follow this blog for posts about queers/those LGBTQIA+ every couple of hours. This blog has been running since 2018 and has over 9000 posts related to queer folk. As of March 2024 there are 362 posts in queue and 229 drafts.

Spreadsheet of people listed created by anonymous user (it/it’s pronouns)

Here is my chaotic navigation system (mobile)

Ethnicity navigation (mobile)

Here is FAQ (mobile)

To search type in url bar /search/name of thing. To find a tag /tagged/name of thing. To go to next page scroll to bottom of blog or go /page/2 in search bar etc.

Feel free to submit someone and send an ask or submit - you may see the person your submitted within a couple of months (if they have not already been posted).

If you see a post that needs updating for whatever reason then send an ask. I may not respond straight away but I will get to it.

[wwdits-kink-meme]

WWDITS KINK MEME

Why not start a revival? Send in your prompts!!

This is an experimental format, so hopefully it works out!

SUBMIT A KINK MEME

FAQ (also under cut for mobile users)

What is a kink meme? Basically a public (usually nsfw) prompt, popularized on Livejournal. One person will throw out an idea that they don’t or can’t fulfill themselves in the hopes that it will spark creativity in someone else! A kink meme can be as simple as pairing + trope, or a full well-thought-out AU!

How do I submit a kink meme? Use the ask button on this blog and it will go into the queue! You can submit anonymously (traditional), but it will be posted either way - make sure you click anonymous if you don’t want your face on it!

How do I fill a kink meme? Any way you like! You can write a fic directly in the reblogs, post it on another site and provide a link, or even post a 32 part series in the replies! We just ask that you link the prompt on your creative piece and/or reblog the submission with your piece included or linked (whichever applicable). If you are putting an explicit fill in reblogs, please remember to add a community label if the original post does not already have one!

Can I fill/submit an NSFW prompt if I am under 18? NO!!!!!!!! Doing so not only endangers you, but the adults in fandom, as well. We can’t stop you from seeking out certain content if you want to see it, but you should not be interacting directly with adults on sexual topics.

Can I fill a prompt with art? Absolutely! If your craft is drawing, painting, crocheting, stop-motion, needlepoint, cosplay, etc etc etc and you are inspired by a kink meme, we encourage you to participate! We also encourage adding alt text to any images.

What content do you allow in submissions? All kinks are welcome - yes, even that one. We will reject submissions that are not WWDITS-based, are hateful in some way, or appear to be submitted in bad faith. Venting, character-bashing, or incomprehensible prompts will be deleted. Transphobia, racism, homophobia, antisemitism, ableism, etc will get you blocked. Due to the limitations of the mods, we are currently only accepting submissions in English or Spanish.

How are kink memes tagged? Tags will include any and all pairings, kinks, applicable tropes, and potentially triggering content to the best of our ability. If we have missed something or you would like to request a certain trigger tag, send us an ask! We cannot guarantee that we will be able to tag for everything, however, and it is important to remember to protect yourself and your online experience. Submissions with explicit language will have community tags attached.

Can I submit SFW prompts? Of course! Despite the name, kink memes aren’t just for porn.

Can I submit prompts with characters from the WWDITS movie, too? Absolutely!

Can I submit prompts with my OC? No, but not because we don’t like your OC - we just don’t know them! These prompts are for someone else to fill, so it has to include characters they know.

Can I submit reader-insert or y/n prompts? Yes, as long as the other characters are from WWDITS!

Can I submit RPF prompts? No, as we prefer that this kink meme focus on the characters in the show rather than the actors who play them. However, celebrities who have appeared in the show as themselves count as characters and are fair game (within reason)!

Can I submit crossover prompts? Yes, under certain conditions. This is a WWDITS kink meme, and we want to ensure those characters have the spotlight! So if your prompt is mostly about the crossover property, or if the WWDITS character is simply one of a medley of different characters, it may be rejected. No Harry Potter, please.

Can I make my own kink meme for a different fandom using this blog as a template? Of course! We encourage this - please bring kink memes back to fandom!!

Who are the mods? Just some adult fans who long for the insanity that was LJ back in the day.

Mod the Impaler - they/them ModMilla - she/her

[askagamedev]

recently a Ubisoft exec apparently said that customers would have to get used to not owning their games for streaming and game services like game pass to really take off. What’s your take on that? Are we really headed to a place where none of us own our games anymore and we just rent them? If we buy games digitally do we actually own them? Can the rights to those games be taken away even after we paid for them?

As with most things, it's good to take the time to understand the nuance of what was said. The Ubisoft person doing the speaking was Philippe Tremblay and he is Director of Subscriptions at Ubisoft. In [the article], he was specifically talking about the mental shift that needs to happen in order for a subscription business model in games to really take hold, because game subscription services are really still in their early stages. Realistically speaking, subscriptions have one of two possible futures - an eventual plateau where subscriptions reach sustainability and equilibrium or an eventual crash because they couldn't.

Look at digital music streaming services like Spotify. They have largely reached their plateau as a massive chunk of the music market. There are still people who buy physical albums, but they are in the minority. The majority of music consumers tend to listen to their music via streaming services and have gotten used to not owning their music. This is one possible future for video games.

Let's contrast this with the current state of movie and tv streaming services. There's a huge number of streaming customers, but there are still strong physical media sales because the streaming services can't necessarily keep the shows and films the people want due to licensing issues. When this kind of volatility in the availability of the product is commonplace, it upsets the user base and puts them off of staying as subscribers. This is another possible future for video games.

As for buying games digitally and "owning" them... well, not really? Like... we've known for ages that end of service for live games is the end of the road, barring player-run grey shards and the like. There are many MMOG, MOBA, looter shooter, mobile, etc. games that have been shut down permanently. Some kinds of games are inherently ownable and some are not.

As player, it is largely up to us to decide what kind of games we want to support. Playing with a regular group of friends in a live service game is a huge amount of fun but absolutely not conducive to owning the game. Playing a single-player game by myself at my leisure is much more conducive to ownership, but I lose out on content updates and the camaraderie of playing with friends. It is my belief that we should all support the things we value. There are no solutions, only tradeoffs.

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[nonspace]

Theme #11: Stereo

Blog Theme. Old web nostalgia.

↳ [GITHUB] | [THEME GARDEN]

Enable custom themes in your blog settings on web. Switch the “Custom theme” toggle on or off. For more information, find the help center article here.

Features:

Full height sidebar with image, title, user info and description

4 custom links

Accent color

3 Custom Google Fonts, font size, weight, line height

Post width selection: 300, 400, 500, 540 & 700px

Mobile responsive

Credits:

Feather Icons

Dummy texts are lyrics by The Midnight's "Ghost in your Stereo"

Edit and customise to your liking. Don’t repost/redistribute and/or claim as your own. Do not use as a base code. Leave the credit, thank you.

If you are having issues, take a look at this themes FAQ, or my general FAQ. Not finding anything? Send me a message. Please report any bugs to me by either opening an issue on GitHub or sending a message.

[cripplecharacters]

Hello! Sorry this is going to be a long ask.

I'm writing a cast of four characters, all of whom have some form of disability and I'd like your input, especially since a few of them fall into tropes I've seen talked about on the blog.

I have autism, ADHD, and chronic joint pain that is undiagnosed but probably related to hypermobility. All of them have ADHD and autism but I'm not going to talk about that at length for any of them because I'm pretty comfortable with writing them.

Dispite the amount of disabled characters I have and the questions I have about how to portray them, this is not a story about disability or the disabled experience, but I do want to showcase my disabled characters in a nuanced way that highlights that their disability is not separable from them.

This is also for a fanfiction, and the source has some trouble with how it portrays disability (evil character with an eye patch, bionics that completely negate the disability) and I'm trying to figure out what I can modify and what I need to just throw out.

I'll go in alphabetical order and talk about them and the tropes I'm worried about falling into/what I want advice on.

Autumn (he/they)

He has ADHD, autism, classical EDS, is mildly HoH (about 20-30 decibels less than normal range), and has three fingers on his right hand due to an injury. They use a variety of mobility aids throughout the story, starting with only occasionally using a cane and ending with using forearm crutches on good days and a wheelchair on bad days.

The tropes/things I'm concerned about with them are the “good” wheelchair user, the noble dead disabled character, and finger prosthetics

The "pure/good" wheelchair user trope I'm partially concerned about because he becomes the moral core of the cast as time goes on and he gets more disabled. He doesn't become a better person, really, but everyone else gets Worse. He's still snarky and can be selfish and jaded at times, but I feel like it's harder to demonstrate that at the end.

Being the most honest and least willing to capitulate to doing terrible things leads to his execution, which is a turning point and a point of no return. I feel like this ties into a trope of the disabled character dying first, especially since he's the one who's using disability aids/is most explicitly disabled.

I've seen the posts about why finger prosthetics aren't useful/common, but I was thinking that he'd start off with canon-typical bionic fingers before eventually realizing that he doesn't need them and it's more hassle to put them on and off than it is to just not have them. Is this an okay use of finger prosthetics since it's kind of grappling with the trope itself? Or would it be better for him not to have them in the first place?

Right now I have it so Autumn’s sister Summer died and he named himself in her honor when he transitioned. That's pretty immutable at this point. However, right now I have her as d/Deaf, with much more profound hearing loss than Autumn. (Which is also why he knows ASL) Does this fall into a disabled dead character issue?

Chauncey (he/him)

Chauncey has ADHD, autism, burn scars, chronic pain (unspecified, based on my own experiences) and dyscalculia.

Chauncey's the one I'm frankly least concerned about any specific tropes. There are only one or two concerns I have with him:

As an author, it's important to know what disability a character has even if they don't know. I know in your FAQ you say “I'm disabled is it okay to x” is generally okay, but do you think I should have a more specific disability in mind that matches my symptoms or can I keep it no specificity?

He's a clone who was rapidly aged and I wasn't sure how to figure out if/how that might affect his dyscalculia since it's not exactly a situation that happens in real life but that's about it.

Morticia (she/her)

She's my protagonist. She has autism, ADHD, a visual impairment in the form of a missing eye, and visible scarring on her face.

She's heavily based on the canon character who was an “evil eyepatch” guy. I changed it so she actually has issues with said eye and made her less evil during the period of time she uses it but I'm not sure if I should just ditch the eyepatch all together.

She starts with a bionic eye (it's not perfect, but she can see out of it to some extent). Then she gets into some sci-fi bullshit and starts piloting around a robot telepathically, but her signals get crossed with her bionic eye, so she covers it with an eyepatch while she's piloting the robot. She does use this scheme to commit 28 murders, but the murders are kind of justified by the plot? She's really written as doing some ehh things for what she believes is right. I definitely wouldn't write the eyepatch that way if it wasn't in the source, but it was like the way to identify her character in the source, so it feels weird to not have it at all.

After that, she gets arrested, gets her bionic taken, and gets a prosthetic to keep appearances and hold the shape. Stuff happens, and she gets another bionic with some more visual info that is sometimes too much for her. She gets a lot worse than when she had the eye patch, but she does still have a noticeable eye difference. Her later bionic is totally customizable and she normally keeps it a glowing gold.

I have questions about her facial scarring because she uses it to play on people's perceptions. When she's campaigning and trying to look innocent and kind, she covers it as much as she can. However, when she feels like she is in control and can do whatever she wants without consequences, she doesn't bother or even chooses to try to cover her freckles but avoid her scars because she thinks they make her more intimidating. This results in her having her scarring visible during scenes where she's being "evil" but not when she's being "good." Is that okay? It feels like it's playing into the "villain with scars" but since she as a character is doing that, it feels less like the story itself is doing it (especially since Chauncey has similar or slightly more prominent scarring and doesn't do similar things), but I'm unsure.

She is evil, and disabled, but I don't want her to be an evil disabled character. I try to associate her covering up her scarring more with masking/trying to fit in than with her being “good” but I'm not sure if it comes off that way.

Mortimer (he/him)

ADHD, autism, and limb difference (upper arm amputee)

Mortimer is probably the character I'm most worried about with my disability rep (shocking considering the five huge paragraphs I just wrote about Morticia). He's the trope of “amputee that fixes his own prosthetics/tinkers on himself.” He also makes Autumn and Morti’s aids (at least until the arrest). He also kind of falls into an autistic savant but I'm less worried about how to navigate that since I'm very familiar with the autistic community, am autistic, and have other autistic characters.

I'm worried that if I make the prosthetics he makes not “cybernetic fix-all” it'll defeat some of what I'm trying to do with making him just as good as inventors who have done that in canon. I don't know how to retcon that canon without using an author's note, which feels disjointed and I want to avoid it.

To try to work with this and not ignore the fact he's disabled, I show the prosthetics needing maintenance and try to show them sometimes being uncomfortable or heavy.

However, this leads into my second problem with how I'm handling his disability. His character arc causes him to go from being the nicest one in the cast who is very meticulous but can sometimes have a temper, to becoming reckless, rude, and seemingly uncaring.

As he becomes more reckless and less willing to care for himself, he stops doing some of the necessary maintenance on his prosthetic, causing it to break more often and rust. I'm worried this looks like I'm tying his disability getting “worse” with his morality, since he also stops caring for others as much when he stops caring for himself.

I'm also not sure if it is okay for him to paint his bionic arm to try to look like a flesh arm, since he was a criminal and he was trying to make himself look less identifiable at a glance. And if it is, when he stops doing his maintenance on it, it makes sense for the paint to chip, but that would strengthen the association of him being more visibly disabled as he becomes meaner and harsher. I'm not sure if having Autumn bring the only one who's personality remains more or less the same while becoming more visibly disabled balences this out a little bit or if it's a point of having two tropes at the same time doesn't make either better. (If Autumn is a “good wheelchair user”)

Questions involving more than one character:

Autumn knows some ASL. Mortimer is an unrealistic character that knows far more than any one person can know, and he knows basically any language as far as the story is concerned. Autumn teaches Morti a little ASL, as well. Since Autumn can understand most conversation, they generally use it instead of whispering rather than in normal conversation. Is that an acceptable use of ASL?

Currently all of my visible facial and limb differences are due to injury. I have extremely few other characters with any prominence or description at all, certainly to the extent where it would be reasonable to know if someone has a difference due to injury or birth. Do I change/add something to these four so it's less All Injuries?

I mentioned before Mortimer and Morticia trying to hide their differences for different reasons. I don't really want to go into any sense of shame they have over it, just them hiding for practical purposes. If it's not appropriate to hide them for practical purposes, do I have people react as if they had hidden them or is that erasure? (e.g. Mortimer doesn't paint his arm and it's visibly mechanical. Is that something the police are looking to identify him by or do I ignore it? It feels weird to ignore it, but if it's causing problems for the characters it feels like a reasonable reaction would be to try to blend in, but is trying to blend in/hiding their disability just heightening the sense that disabled people need to hide?)

I'm so sorry I wrote an Entire Essay I promise I tried to be concise but I have a lot of questions about the tropes I fear I'm hitting and whether I'm missing anything trying to portray the disabilities I don't have

Hi!

I will answer only some of your questions because I don't have enough experience with a lot of the subject matter here. I'd recommend looking at this post some time after it's published to see if maybe a follower had an answer/suggestion for you.

Now for the questions I'm able to answer:

For Chauncey;

It's 100% okay to base it on your own experience. At times disabilities are mysterious and unspecific, that's just how it sometimes is. The problem with this that appears from abled authors is that the symptoms or treatments just often don't make sense, because they have no clue what they're doing; confusing basic terms, making weird conclusions...

But you are a person with lived experience. You understand how your symptoms work and how you manage it from the best - first person - point of view. If someone is well-equipped to write a character with your disability, it's you.

For Morticia (cool name BTW);

As of the bionic eye; as far as I'm aware they don't really exist yet, but this is a sci-fi scenario so it's a bit different. (If you want to hear about the currently real options, here's a post that could interest you).

I'm slightly puzzled by her eyepatch fixing the signal issues; I would've assumed that it would transmit things either way (?) because with an eyepatch she would still see, just the inside of the patch and not the usual stuff. But my cluelessness here might be my fault by the fact that I'm not familiar with the source material. But if it's meant for a general (non-fandom) audience, I think it would be great if you could elaborate on the science here!

With the later eyes she gets, I advise you to keep her visually impaired even if her vision improves somewhat. It shouldn't be a cure. You potentially could think of it like hearing aids, where they can be more or less helpful, but are often more annoying than anything else and aren't fully "restoring" the sense by any means. Maybe her bionic eye has static, or weird spots, or causes double vision.

Now for the "hmm" part...

"When she's campaigning and trying to look innocent and kind, she covers it as much as she can. However, when she feels like she is in control and can do whatever she wants without consequences, she doesn't bother or even chooses to try to cover her freckles but avoid her scars because she thinks they make her more intimidating."

Please, please, please don't do this. To answer your question; not okay.

I have written a post somewhat about this kind of thing. I really dislike playing with ableism in this way. Portraying scars as "intimidating" on an already dicey character... just no.

To pull this off in a way that's not offensive, you would have to research disfiguremisia in and out. It would need active commentary and a lot of teaching-the-reader-why-this-is-bad, and if you have to ask if it's okay, then you just aren't ready for it. And that's fine! You don't have to write a scenario based on heavy disfiguremisia, so don't. Remember, it's not her acting a certain way, it's you writing her to act a certain way.

I don't want you to take this personally, but please just don't write this. Not like this, at least.

For the "fitting in" part, I addressed it in the post linked above; I don't think that I have anything to add that wasn't included there.

For Mortimer, the best I can do right now is give you a bunch of links that will hopefully be helpful to you. This is just way beyond my answering capabilities and we don't have any mods who are amputees at the moment, so you're at the mercy of follower input for the most part. But;

Post of posts about arm prosthetics

Our general amputee tag

@cy-cyborg 's account, xe posts great writing advice, often regarding prosthetics. I believe that ze accepts asks as well.

For the rest of the questions;

"Currently all of my visible facial and limb differences are due to injury [...] Do I change/add something to these four so it's less All Injuries?

I would say yes! Some of the tropes that you're working if are Not Great, so adding a few additional characters that don't fall into them will help a lot. Try having some characters with similar disabilities that don't tick the issue-causing boxes. Throw someone with a facial difference that doesn't commit any kind of mass murder in there.

"I mentioned before Mortimer and Morticia trying to hide their differences for different reasons. [...] If it's not appropriate to hide them for practical purposes, do I have people react as if they had hidden them or is that erasure?"

In real life they would probably be recognized by it, though I need to say that there is absolutely a part of the population who just Doesn't Notice. People can absolutely be oblivious, especially if the lack of limb is hidden by clothes. Particularly if there are a lot of things going on.

That said, if whoever seen them has noticed, then they would look for that. That's just the logical outcome. But I don't think an eyepatch helps much to hide the actual disability, they would still assume that the person with a bionic eye and the eyepatch-wearing person are probably the same.

You can potentially avoid it by making a large chunk of the population disabled, lol. "Girl without an eye" isn't very helpful information to hunt someone by when there's dozens of people with that description in the city.

For the end, I'm sorry that some parts of it might have come off as Not the Most Encouraging (the Morticia part...), please remember that I'm just criticizing the tropes and implications. I can kind of tell that whatever the source material is, it is way worse about its treatment of disability/facial difference, so I would consider it an improvement nonetheless. Still, it could be better. I hope that the above links and answers will help you with your project.

If any followers are familiar with the topics discussed here, you can leave a reply or reblog with your suggestions. Remember to be constructive.

I hope this helps!

Mod Sasza

Hey! Mod Patch hopping in here to talk a bit about Autumn. I think that you’re aware of the tropes this could fall into is a good first step. 

First of all, you mention Autumn is missing some fingers and has classical EDS. Both of these could make using a manual wheelchair more difficult. Is the wheelchair in question manual? If it is perhaps consider adding a power assist (perhaps like a fantasy version of a smart drive. 

I’m not too concerned about him being “pure” because you mention that they are 1) working with other “immoral” folks. My suggestion would be to try and lean into the selfish and jaded parts of the character. Show his motivations aren't exclusively disability-related. I am a bit concerned about his execution. I understand that you might not be able to change that plot point but can you have other characters who use mobility aids and survive longer? They don’t have to be as major in the story.

mod Patch

[ofmdbigbang]

Happy Pride pirates, and welcome to the OFMD Big Bang 2023!

We were thrilled and overwhelmed by the amazing works that you all produced last year, and we hope that some of you have enough creative juice left to come and join us again!

SIGN UPS ARE NOW OPEN

Under the cut will be the majority of the information that you will need as part of the Big Bang for Mobile Users, but the most important links are right here:

Author Sign Up Form

Artist Sign Up Form

This post also will not contain the full FAQ guide, so please read that if you can.

HAPPY WRITING!

2023 Schedule

June 1st  — June 30th — Author Sign Ups June 1st  — August 25th (or when all stories are claimed) — Artist Sign Ups June 16th  — Writing Officially Starts July 15th — 20th  —  First Check-In (Summaries Due) August 15th — 20th — Second Check-In (5000+ words required) August 25th  — Artist Claim Post (for stories at 5000+ words only) September 10th — 15th  — Third Check-In for Authors, Artist Check-In October 1st — 5th  — Final Check In and Pitch Hitter Cutoff October 15th — 20th  — Final Submission; Stories complete, beta read, and edited; Art complete October 22nd  — Posting Starts (All deadlines end at 11:59 PM EDT/EST)

FAQs

Please read the full post if possible as not all FAQs have been posted here

How do I sign up?

To participate as a writer, sign up using the link above! Sign ups begin June 1st, 2023 and run through July 1st, 2023.

To participate as an artist, sign up using the link above! Artist sign ups begin June 1st, 2023 and run through August 25th, 2023.

Can I sign up as both an author and an artist?

You may sign up in both categories, but please be aware of your ability to balance your workload. Signing up as an artist is a commitment to the writer you claim that you will produce artwork for their story. Signing up as a writer is a commitment to the artist that claims you that you will produce a finished story to accompany that artwork.

When and how do artists claim stories?

The Artist Claim Post will go up on August 25th, 2023. In order to submit your story for an artist claim, you must be at least halfway finished with your draft (minimum 5000 words). Authors will submit their story summaries during Author Check-in Number 2, summaries will be anonymized and posted, and artists will fill out a form to claim the story. All artist claims are first come, first served.

Where will the stories and artwork be posted?

All stories and their accompanying art should be posted in their entirety to Archive of Our Own, with a header linking to your story submitted to this tumblr. During the final check-in, when you have finished your works, you will claim a date and time to post your works to AO3 and the linked header to tumblr. You will be responsible for posting your own story/header at least 2, but no more than 24, hours before your assigned time. Please do not cross-promote your works until the bang is completed.

What is the minimum word count? Is there a maximum word count?

The minimum word count required for this festival is 10,000 words. There is no maximum word count.

Can I use a story I’m already writing?

The goal of a big bang is to create a new work of long fiction within a specific time frame. As such, stories you have begun prior to the start of the bang cannot be used. Planning, preparing, and outlining prior to the bang is allowed; beginning your story before the bang starts defeats the purpose of the challenge.

Can I write more than one story?

Signing up for more than one story is allowed, but discouraged due to the high word count requirement. You are the best judge of your writing pace, so please only sign up for what you feel is realistically achievable. Remember that submitting a summary to the Artist Claim Post is a commitment to your artist to complete your story or stories.

What if I don’t finish my story?

You may drop from the OFMD Big Bang at any time prior to receiving an artist claim without penalty. Dropping after art claims is unfair to your artist. If you drop after receiving your artist claim without prior contact with the mods, you may not be allowed to participate in next year’s OFMD Big Bang.

Is a beta required for my story?

Your story must be beta-read at least once before submission. If you do not already have a beta reader, you can visit our beta page (TBA) to request one.

Can I submit my story early?

You may not submit your completed story until at least 2, but no more than 24, hours before your assigned posting date and time. However, if you finish before October 22nd, 2023, you will be poised to claim your posting time slot as soon as the final check-in opens. Please do not post your story to AO3 more than 24 hours before your assigned posting date/time.

May I post my story as a series of installments over time?

No. Your entire story must be posted on AO3 before you submit to our tumblr. You may start posting to AO3 up to 24 hours before your time slot, in order to get all chapters posted and any formatting issues resolved. Please choose your posting slot accordingly. If you need more than 24 hours to format your story, please use AO3’s draft and preview system.

What are the art requirements for the OFMD Big Bang?

The OFMD Big Bang allows a wide array of art, with requirements based on the media. Artists providing a graphics package should include at least one piece of cover art, and a banner/header (which can be a modified version of the cover art). Artists submitting a fanmix should include a linkable (hosted on spotify, youtube, or the like) mix of at least five songs with front and back cover art. Artists submitting traditional or digital artwork should include 2+ pieces of artwork, though one piece can be a banner/header or a piece of cover art cropped from the first piece of art. Artists submitting a fanvid should include at least one video of at least one minute in length. Artists submitting a Photoset or Gifset must have at least six (6) frames. Artists submitting a podfic should include a recording which covers the entire text of the story. In all cases, artwork should not whitewash any character played by an actor of color. If deemed necessary by the mods, artists may be asked to adjust palette/skin tone color of their work.

The summaries posted to the Artist Claim Post will include a note on any types of artwork an author prefers to receive/not to receive. Some authors may be uncomfortable with certain content (eg. nudity) or formats. Please do your best to make an artist claim that will best suit both you and your writer.

Artists are required to host their artwork on a site of their choosing, and then provide embedding links to their authors. Simply emailing your finished art files to the author is not acceptable. See below for more information.

Can I claim more than one story?

Please claim only one story in the first Artist Claim Post. If we still have unclaimed stories, we will post a second round claim post later that same week.

[saphushia]

brother,,, pressing the FAQ link just takes me back to your profile,,, ngl im not a follower but ive been trying to see what brushes you use and i was wondering if it was supposed to take me back to ur account or to like,,,, a different link idk SORYR

whuh.... why's it doing that...

ok so i just checked and I GUESS tumblr mobile has decided that all links to blog pages in the app just. redirect to the main blog page instead of opening up in browser like it used to. tumblr mobile i hate youuuu. unfortunately i don't know any way to get mobile to open the link in browser so you can actually see the page other than copying the link and pasting in browser yourself orz

it's saphushia.tumblr.com/faq -_- maybe one day tumblr mobile won't suck ass and will actually let you look at blog pages

thanks for letting me know man o7 had no idea

maybe i'll go back to working up my neocities page just so i can put my faq on there and have tumblr actually link to it properly for mobile users.... hell world

[cinnamonest]

Have you played HSR!!!

I did get some asks a while back but it's been a while no worries! Just to clarify, I haven't played HSR because I don't have the means. I'm a console person + PS4 user (which is how I play genshin). I don't have a PS5, I don't have a PC capable of running games, and there's no way my phone can fit it storage-wise (and I prefer to avoid mobile games unless there's no other platform available anyway).

I want to get the PS5 eventually, so I would then. Not sure why they didn't make it available for PS4.

I'm also working to update my page for an FAQ list of things I haven't played/seen since I get a lot of questions on it, I'll link that when its done.