#this is how i found out tumblr has a character limit per block

[updatingranboo]

ranboo tweet... uh

["This was such a good joke and I am appalled by the fact that it has not gone absolutely bonkers viral. I mean is comedy dead? I just dont understand how a regular human being can read the word "Greans" (A combination of green and jeans) followed by an image of, well, green jeans, and not absolutely evacuate themselves in laughter.

I believe this has something to do with the fact that comedy as we know it is dying. It has become too mainstream in todays media and that is the main problem. Gone are the days where silly little guys in their silly little hop hats are able to go "knock knock" and absolutely change the world. Nowadays you have to have so many things that go into a joke for it to remotely even be funny, setup, punchline the whole ordeal. Whatever happened to just a simple Practicality joke? Whatever happened to just being able to slap someone and be the headlining act?

The world is so full of so called "comedians" these days it makes me sick. All these people do is spend hours writing and practicing their act in order to try and sway an audience to have a good time listening to their words. For SHAME! Comedy used to be just two people on a stage just slapping eachother and going "knock knock" for twenty hours. Whatever happened to the good ol days where people just laughed at whatever someone said because their brain hadnt fully developed?

This is why I believe that I am going to start performing my comedy acts to a bunch of babies. An absolute hoard of newborns. I will make my jokes to them and they will laugh for they truly understand what humor should be. I will go to a hospital in that little room they have where it is very easy to switch said babies and cause a bit of a ruckus, but instead of doing that (very funny joke) I will simply perform for them and relish in their cheers and guffaws.

It is sad that one has to turn to performing to just babies in order for the world to understand the complexity of ones said humor, but alas if its what I must do its what I must do. Maybe one day we will revert back to absolute comedy anarchy, where the chicken has not yet crossed the road, but until then I will continue to strive and push forward in this dark age of comedy.

Maybe a complete reset of what we find funny is in order, maybe we have lost what humor once was for us. We obviously have considering my VERY FUNNY TWEET does not have a bazillion likes and has not spun off at least 30 million movie deals. (Please note that this joke is satire, and Ranboo stands in solidarity with the SAG-AFTRA strikes. Support actors and writers. -A message from Ranboo)

I spent time and effort making this tweet, I saw the green jeans in front of my eyes (which are very squishy) and my neurons fired and made this absolute gem of a joke. I was excited to share it with the world, I tweeted it nearly right after I saw it, excited to see what new adventures this tweet could bring me. I went to bed all cozy smiling like a child on christmas eve night, excited for the morning. When I woke I turned to check my phone instantly, my eyes racing to see the like total. What would it be? 500k? A million? I was surprised that my dms hadnt blown up with a personal message from every billionaire going "let me give you all of my money I can never make anything as good as your "Greans" tweet" but It must have been a glitch.

I was appalled to see that my tweet had only 30K??? 30K for the pinnacle of all of human achievement? A slap in the face of innovation is what it felt like. Like when that thomas edison guy ate a stolen lightbulb or something idk what he did really but I remember the person who made that lightbulb which he ate probably felt really sad and I felt really sad so I felt a deep connection with that person.

I quickly fell into a great depression, this is what all of my life had lead up to: one sad tweet. I didnt see the outside for years because of this tweet. I thought to myself "why would they do this?", "Isnt humanity supposed to be kind, supportive, and have a sense of humor when it comes to differently colored jean jokes?" (dcjj as I call them), and "Man I should probably have a burger" (I did) (very yummy) but as I ate my burger all I could taste were my TEARS as I chomped into it from the top down. It felt like I couldnt do anything right. Until thats when it hit me.

Im not the problem, EVERYONE ELSE IS! My humor isnt "bad" or "unfunny" or "makes me want to find a microwave and cause it to malfunction so I either become the hulk or die" (Please do not try this. -Another Ranboo message) It has to be that simply I am so far ahead in the world when it comes to comedy that my time has simply just not yet come! My jokes will be funny to a different generation, which will be frowned upon at first but I will quickly be welcomed with open arms, and told that I am an innovator, a true scholar of all that is funny.

And so I wait for that day. I wait for the day that people look back on my Greans tweet and realize, that without a doubt that it is the funniest thing that they have ever seen. The problem is not with my joke, the problem is with the world, and thats what makes humanity beautiful, is that it evolves, it changes, it doesnt stick to its mindset that a tweet that has the word "Greans" followed by a pair of green jeans doesnt get a BAZILLION LIKES! I wait for that day, and for those of you who are with me, I hope you wait patiently as well. Stay strong."]

[the-smiling-doodler]

What is the difference between twitter and tumblr

there's a lot of differences between them, from community to functionality. we'd be here all week if i listed every single one, so i'm just gonna name a few: 1. the community on tumblr is a lot more chill than the one on twitter. tumblr users HIGHLY encourage curating your own experience, it's basically impossible to be on tumblr for a while without seeing at least one post encouraging you to unfollow/block people you dont vibe with, not respond to hateful asks and block mean anons, and filter tags you dont like. this isn't to say that other apps don't do the same thing, but in my experience, tumblr users are far more vocal about it. it's very ingrained in the app's culture as a whole. linking this back to the SC fandom real quick: I've only been faced with one drama on tumblr, compared to twitter where it seems like every fucking day some new shit pops up. tumblr-exclusive SC fans are largely unaware of any of the crazy shit that goes on on twitter. i keep saying this to my moots but it is genuinely far more peaceful on here than on twitter. 2. tumblr is also more slow-paced than twitter because the character limit on this app is HUGE (4096 characters per text block, and tumblr allows a total of 1000 content blocks per post, meaning that if you use every content block you have exclusively for text, the total character limit is 4,096,000 characters per post. thats like 630154 - 819200 words !! also, reblogs count as their own post, and you can reblog a post a near infinite number of times (ignoring the 250 post limit a day.)), which i think is part of the reason why this app is more chill. it's less stressful, it feels like you can take your time on here. this isn't mentioning that you can attach up to 10 images to a post, making tumblr a better app for both writers and artists compared to twitter. the more you stay on this app, the more you notice that a lot of posts are very long. 3. i've said this on another post of mine (which i really recommend reading if you have the time because i talk a lot about the importance of reblogging posts on tumblr, among other things), but I'll say it here again: while the community on tumblr is more chill, it's also very quiet. a lot of tumblr users have become very passive in their engagement with posts, only liking and never reblogging. in my personal experience, i've found that you get far more engagement and reach on twitter than on tumblr (emphasis on personal experience, because a few of my friends have told me that they actually get more interaction on tumblr than on twitter.) in short: twitter is where you go to get famous, tumblr is where you go to hang out with friends. 4. this point came from my friend @buggyboo-exe, he said: "I'd add the fact that Tumblr allows for more, how do I say, personal interaction? On Twitter sure, you can follow people and see just your follower's posts and everything but Tumblr not only has the ask box, it also gives you the feature to answer those asks privately. I think it's just easier to make friends on Tumblr and actually keep those friends long term than on Twitter. Likely due to the slow paced thing as well. I'm not sure how to explain it better. Tumblr also started the whole "moots" thing I believe so followers are always seen more as friends then anywhere else." I think this point is very solid because, yes, although I think twitter is better in terms of quantity of engagement, tumblr allows for deeper, more personal interaction. a lot of my closest friends on this fandom are ones I've made on tumblr. I feel way more comfortable goofing around and being silly with them publicly on here than on twitter.

5. this is something I wanted to add to the post i linked in point 3 but forgot to, and that is that tumblr is more or less timeless. it's very, very, VERY common to come across posts from as far back as 15 years ago. you basically never see twitter posts ever again if they weren't made this year, but on tumblr? it's not unusual to see a post from 2015 circulating. it's not weird to reblog art or writing from months or years ago. it's also not weird to go through an artist's blog and just reblog/like all their posts in one sitting. (also, reblogging a post means you get to keep a copy of it on your blog forever. meaning that even if a user deletes their blog, or deletes the post itself, as long as you've reblogged it it's never truly gone. reblog your favorite posts if you wanna keep them with you forever!!) 6. tumblr users REALLY stress anonymity. one of the first things i told my twitter mutuals was to PRIVATE YOUR LIKES AND FOLLOWING TABS !! no one wants or needs to see that stuff. this is your personal blog, you're allowed to and even encouraged to keep things about yourself private. it is usually extremely easy to tell who is and isnt a tumblr user, because twitter users tend to: have their likes and following visible, don't have a blog title, dont have a personal blog theme, and only like posts with little to no reblogs.

I'll cut myself off here because this post is getting very long, but yeah, there's a LOTTTT of differences. i hope this answered your question !! and to anyone reading this, feel free to ask me if you have any other questions about being on tumblr. I know a lot of you are new here and i LOVE to yap, so i'd be happy to answer !!

[quinnhills]

Good to know you're feeling welcome! :D this is our little place in the internet, and we've decided to make it trans and gay as hell (n i gotta say, i did think "they-them gang! :o" when i found out you started using they/them too a while ago X3 ) n if you received this ask more than once, my tumblr bugged out before i could finish, sorry (。_。)

anyways, and sorry if this is long, but Woe- More Tumblr Things Be Upon Ye:

there used to not be an image limit before, causing a few- interesting posts… tho that changed a few years ago and recently, at first the limit being 10 images per post to now 30 images per post (you can also move the images around a bit)

if you plan on staying long term on tumblr and use desktop the most, i recommend getting the browser extensions Xkit &/or New Xkit cuz… yeah, tumblr is pretty nice, but it sometimes gets hard to use. it also adds extra useful things to the tumblr experience, which is nice to have. i'd say tumblr is like living in a cheap apartment in a calm area of the city. the place's great for what it is, just gotta be sure to leave rat traps near holes and dont worry about the Beast down the hall,

speaking of rats, we got an infestation. you may or may not have heard of it with the voter fraudage going with the polls a bit ago; since tumblr has little to No email verification, people outside tumblr buy bots to get in here and start posting malicious links. tho the bots are surprisingly easy to identify (often times blank blogs with very weird descriptions + stolen picture of lady or ai generated. you'll know it when you see it), and the protocol here is block and report spam so staff can deal with it

and btw if you want to keep a post for as long as your blog stands, i recommend rebloggin! thanks to how tumblr is build as, even if the original post or that blog is gone, the reblog will stay with you (+ tags on reblogs dont really make a post expand outside of your own blog, so many use this to create Very intricate personal tag systems to make easier finding posts, bc once a blog gets 1k+ post in it, it gets hard finding anything on it... <- knows this from experience u.u)

oh and last thing before i go again (and something i found out recently), another browser extension ive been loving: Stylus! with it you can customize a ton of sites to your liking And with a specific style found in the archive of this extension, you can change how the dashboard looks! even changing the background to any image you might want :D

so yeah, thats it, for now. i got more info if you want it, just lmk 👉👈

and you probably already noticed this, but there isnt really any word limit for posts or asks around these lands. tho on tags, the character limit on a single tag is 139. but you can put a Lot of tags, so there! be free mx quinn, no character limit holds you down no more ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ

Thank you so much for the knowledge!

Some Quinn Facts:

Mx., Ms. and Miss are all acceptable :)

I use “gay as hell” as a sort of tongue-in-cheek shorthand, but I also identify as trans as hell, queer as hell, non-binary as hell, lesbian as hell, and anxious/depressive as hell

I’m a vegetarian

My favorite food is pineapple pizza (controversial, I know)

For a few years in the early 2000s, I was a licensed auctioneer

The most times I’ve ever cried during a movie is 5 times during Happiest Season

I like the idea of books, but I’m bad at reading them

Overalls give me gender euphoria, and I don’t know why

I hope to release a solo album within the next year

I hope to direct a feature-length film by the time I’m 40

Coming out was the best thing I ever did

[britswriting]

Fallen For You |H.S AU

Fallen For You | Masterlist (I'll try and put them all under the #fallenforyoubybrit tag)

Read on Wattpad

Cover + edit made by me. Instagram watermark is my Demi Lovato edit account - I might open a Harry account but that's TBD right now

Description:

"Welcome to Fallen Ranch!" "Oh, I thought it was fall in. Like fallin' a part" Harry Styles was Boston Creek's must have rancher. He was hard to come by, hard to accommodate to, and a pain in everyone's ass; but he did a damn good job, which made him become very desirable. Everyone wanted him, and if you had him, you had to make sure you could afford to keep him. Not only was his pay out of this world, but he also requested room & board, including meals, a truck to get to town and at least one day off a week. If you wanted your chance at Harry Styles being your Rancher, there was absolutely no wiggle room for discussion. Delaney knew how much of a pain in the ass Harry Styles was. She grew up hearing the stories ever since he moved into town. "He's disrespectful", "He thinks his way is the right way" and the worst of them all? He didn't like dogs; but even with all of the bad mouthing the town has said about him, she couldn't help but notice his dreamy eyes and glistening muscles as he worked in the sun. The moment she found out her father had landed the Harry Styles, she was terrified. Her family couldn't afford her to make a fool of herself. If she wanted to keep Harry and everything that came with him, she needed to seal her heart up and throw away the key... right?

This is my warnings from my Welcome page on Wattpad before you read; the casting + their photos need to be viewed through Wattpad due to me passing Tumblr's photo limit per post.

~

Hello! Welcome to my new Harry Styles fanfic! - this is my first time writing a Harry fanfic since 2016, so honestly wish us all luck lol

This story will contain smut! - if you're uncomfortable with that, there will be warnings at the start of each chapter. 

I'm pretty warning heavy if needed, so if anything comes up that I'm aware of being triggering, I will put a disclaimer - if you find anything that I missed that should be a warning, feel free to comment! - I won't put a warning for "fat" comments due to they're not meant to come across has harmful or hateful - Delaney is plus sized and she is aware of that. Jokes get made, insecurities are shown but none of it is supposed to come across in a negative way. If those things are triggering, it should be very sparse due to I'm trying to write a confident plus sized character! 

Comment's Harry makes are never intended to be hurtful! He comes from a good place, it just all comes out wrong! <3

For those who came from the dadrry tag - it isn't immediate, but it's there!

This story contains lbgtqia characters, POC characters & plus sized characters - hate speech is not allowed, your comments will be deleted and you will be blocked. This story is a safe + loving environment for all! 

This story contains swearing! (I can't help myself I'm sorry lol)

Last prewarning, I write slow burn! - they will not be dating immediately nor having sex right away! I like writing the build up and edging in my writing, if that is something that bothers you, this book probably isn't for you! - Because it is forced proximity, they are always together and it doesn't take a million years lol they just won't be together by the 5th chapter unlike other books.

Tropes:

Rancher!Harryxplussized!OC ??

Grumpyxsunshine 

dadrry/grandparry 👀 - Harry is only 28/29! You'll understand later lol

Forced Proximity 

She falls first x he falls harder

The most important for anyone who doesn't want to see the full cast, is our MC (Main Character)

Here is Delaney! Also known as "Lane/Laney" by close friends + family

Chapter One

[miyamiwu]

An Honest Guide to Tumblr for Twitter Refugees (Part 2)

Part 0: What the heck is Tumblr and is it right for me?

Part 1: Configuring settings + customizing your Tumblr

Covered in Part 2:

Posting basics (introducing the editor, different post types)

Best practices (stating trigger warnings, adding image IDs, indicating sources, etc)

Post controls (who can reblog and reply to your posts)

Note: Like Part 1, I suggest you follow this guide while on desktop Tumblr. This post also contains lots of images without ID. Such images though are basically just screenshots of what's already described in the post body.

Posting Basics

I was gonna talk about curating your dashboard first, but considering how Tumblr veterans would think you’re a bot and just block you if they see your blog is empty, I think it’s best if we cover posting first.

Tumblr Editor

Before everything else, let’s get to know the editor.

On your desktop dashboard, you get to pick from different post types: Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Chat, Audio, and Video.

It should be pretty self-explanatory what they do, but you know what? THESE DON’T MATTER.

I talked about this briefly in Part 1, so lemme just copy-paste it here:

Although Tumblr is still advocating its different posts types (text, image, audio, video, etc.), they’ve actually been rolling out changes to their editor where only a single post type is used (text) and you just add media to it. This is called NPF (Neue Post Format). On desktop, you can turn off the beta editor and thereby turn off NPF. However, on mobile web and on the app, posts can only be made in NPF.

To put it simply: There is no difference at all between the different post types. The only difference is that when you click on a post type (for example, photo), the first block* on your post will be related to that post type (e.g. a photo block).

* If you’ve used WordPress before, then this should be familiar. But if not, then here’s a quick explanation: A block is basically a component used to create a post (text block for text, image block for images, video block for videos, etc.)

More technical info about the block editor and how to use it can be found here.

So my point is, don’t sweat too much over the different post types.

---

You can also write posts in HTML / Markdown!

If the default rich text editor is not enough for you, then get more power by using the HTML editor. It doesn't support all HTML elements, but at least you can do fancy stuff like adding some gradient text:

gradients are cool

To switch editors, click on the gear icon at the top of the editor, and in the Text Editor dropdown, choose between Rich Text, HTML, or Markdown. If you’re curious about Markdown, learn more about it here.

---

Some neat stuff you have to know about posting on Tumblr:

A. YOU CAN EDIT POSTS!!!

We’ve had an edit button here for years, and best of all, it’s free! However, for posts of yours that have been reblogged, even if you do edit the original post, the edits won’t be reflected on the reblogged version. More about reblogging in Part 4 of this guide.

B. You can post loooong articles here

Like Twitter, Tumblr also has a character limit for text. However, this limit is on a per-paragraph basis and not for your entire post. And it’s such a generous limit that I’ve never once hit it. I don’t even have to keep tabs on how many characters I’ve made. You can find a list of all the limits you have to keep in mind when using the NPF/beta editor at the bottom of this article.

C. You can save drafts and schedule posts

If you can’t finish that post right now, no worries. Just save it to your drafts first and finish it later. Or, if you’ve prepared a cool post for New Year even though it’s still November, just schedule that post to publish on a New Year. More about queue/scheduling in Part 4 of this guide.

---

Best Practices

I don’t think I need to do a step-by-step on how to use the editor because it’s pretty intuitive, so let’s talk about best practices when it comes to posting.

On stating trigger/content Warnings

In Twitter, you do this:

// tw: r*pe, g*re, m*utilation . . . . [actual triggering content]

Please don’t do this.

First of all, here on Tumblr, we do not censor out those “problematic” words. You have to spell them out so that people who have such words filtered in their settings will actually not see them. Getting content filters to work will be a pain if people have to keep in mind all variations of rape (r*ape, r@pe, r4pe, etc).

Second, those multiple dots don’t do anything. Instead, utilize the “Read More” block. This block will hide everything that comes after it under a “Keep Reading” link.

On desktop, you click on this icon that has a zigzag sandwiched between two horizontal lines:

On mobile, you do it by typing :readmore: and then hitting Enter.

(I’ll talk more about triggers/content warnings in Part 3, which will cover Tags)

Just spell everything out actually, not just trigger words

Instead of oomfs or moots, say mutals. Instead of unalive, say murder. No need to shorten or tone anything down here.

Add image ID’s

Image ID’s are basically descriptions of an image. This is important for people using screen readers. I’m guilty for not always following this, but just trust me on this.

On desktop, you hover over the image, click on the three dots that appear, and then click “Update image description.” Keep the description in simple words and state exactly what the image contains. I’m doing it for this particular image below:

On dashboard and on some themes, the image ID will be shown when you click on the ALT button that appears when you hover over the image.

Sometimes, when OP forgets to put an ID, someone will reblog the post and add the ID themselves. If you see someone doing this on one of your posts, then please be an angel and add that ID to the original post. Image descriptions will be more useful/have more impact if they’re actually part of the original post.

---

Link back to source

If you’re sharing someone else’s content from another site, please indicate the source. You can do this by adding a link to the source from within the post body itself, or by using Tumblr’s content source feature in the editor:

Click on the little gear above the editor, and in the “Content source” field, paste your link.

---

Do not repost other people’s gifs/edits

Sometimes you see a cool gif here on Tumblr that you want to use on your own post. People are generally fine with that, but you have to do it the right way.

DO NOT DO THIS: Downloading the gif and then uploading it to your own post.

Instead, DO THIS: Use Tumblr’s GIF block and search for a gif from there. Doing it this way would link back to the OP and even notify them in their Activity.

Here’s an example of how it looks:

The gif above is from my side blog, and below the image, it says “GIF by fyeahbachisagi.”

Post Controls

If you don’t want a certain post of yours to get around too much, you can disable reblogs on it. Click the gear icon at the top of the editor, and in the “Who can Reblog?” dropdown, choose from Anyone or No One.

Limits on Replies, however, is on a per-blog setting and not per post. Go to tumblr.com/settings/blog/username, and scroll all the way down until you see the setting for Replies.

---

Okay, that’s all for Part 2! Next up, in Part 3, I will talk about utilizing tags

Update: Part 3 is up! Well, kinda... Not exactly a guide catered to Twitter refugees, but still a guide to tagging:

A Guide to Tagging on Tumblr: Types of Tags

[alcego-writes]

Writing With ADHD

Writing is hard at the best of times, but when you have to add your brain to your list of obstacles, it gets exponentially more difficult. That doesn’t mean you can’t do it! Like most things, it just means you have to find a way to write that works for you.

I am notoriously ADHD. For the majority of my writing experience, I have done nothing but write short snippets of something and then disappear into obscurity because that was all I could manage to do. However, recently I’ve been able to spend time trouble-shooting my writing experience and that’s been a godsend. I’ve been writing consistently (at least four days a week) since mid-September of this year, something that was previously unthinkable. In that time, I’ve written roughly 82,000 words across several projects, which is more than I’ve written in my entire life, let alone over such a short span of time.

I’m not saying this to brag, although I am certainly proud of this, but to say that it is possible to write with ADHD. It is possible to write a lot with ADHD. And it is possible to write without being in agony with ADHD.

It’s not an easy process, as what works for writers without ADHD may not work for you, or may need to be tweaked considerably to work for you. So here I’ve broken down a few issues that I struggled with, as well as some ways to overcome those issues. (Note: These may not work for you, or may need to be changed to work for you. Don’t worry about that! All that matters is you’ve found a way to write that works for you.)

Inspiration Overload

You know what I’m talking about: when you’ve got one great idea, but before you can make any real headway on the project you get another great idea, but before you can get started on that you get yet another great idea, and so on and so forth. It happens to the best of us, and it doesn’t have to get in the way of progress!

Obviously there are a ton of ways to overcome this, but for this post I’m just going to focus on these three:

Idea Dumps

Multiple Projects

Work It In

1. Idea Dumps

It’s not exactly an attractive name, so apologies for that, but it does mean roughly what it says. Personally, I have two idea dumps: one is a Scrivener document where I jot down loose lines of inspiration or basic ideas. The other is a notebook where I loosely outline ideas so I can appease the side of my brain that demands I work on it right-now-immediately.

Obviously, there’s more options than just that. You may find that sticky notes or a legal pad or a Google Doc or the notes program on your phone works better. That’s fine! Just get the idea down, so you won’t have to worry about forgetting it and you get a little bit of satisfaction knowing you’ve gotten some work done on it.

2. Multiple Projects

If you can manage it, pull up several documents. Write down the idea and bounce between the docs as your inspiration shifts. This does require some self-control, namely knowing how many WIPs you can actively work on at the same time (and when you need to shift something onto the back-burner). 

This will look different for everyone. For me, I can work on two projects at a time when time and energy allows, but as soon as mid-terms/finals/holidays come into play, I have to shift my focus to one WIP or risk burning myself out.

Play with it! Look at your history of WIPs. When has it been the easiest for you to write? The hardest? Apply that to your writing routine and tweak it as needed until it works for you.

3. Work It In

This doesn’t work for all ideas, but finding ways to include a heist narrative in your vaporwave novel can be an incredibly rewarding feeling. To do this, consider your active WIP and the new idea you have. What does the new idea have that the other is lacking? Can the new idea be shaped to fit into the active WIP? 

For example, I developed the concept for my sci-fi novel from two different ideas. One was a young woman who doubled as a superhero trying to take down a corrupt government, and the other consisted of three clearly defined characters who lacked anything resembling a plot. By merging the two, I gave that WIP a well-rounded cast and ensured that those three characters didn’t waste away in my idea dump doc without ever getting a plot.

It’s trial and error, but it can work!

What the Fuck is a “Routine”

I don’t know about y’all, but I cannot function without a routine. I also struggle to establish anything resembling a routine without a lot of struggling. It’s hard! It’s difficult to do anything, let alone create a method of going about your day that leads to consistent productivity.

The biggest thing that helped me get a routine was to stop thinking about it as a rigid, immovable thing. Routines can be that, yes, but for me it was impossible to create a routine without trying to track my every task down to the minute. Which, if you’ve ever tried a routine like that and started falling behind, is a slippery slope.

Instead, make a list of the things you want to do every day, or every week, or every month. Look at the ones you want to do right now, and focus on doing those on a regular basis. Once you’ve worked that one thing into your day and can do it without struggling overmuch, you can start focusing on adding another.

For example, I wanted to write consistently. Not every day, but at least every week. And I wanted to have something to show for that, so I would be able to look back and say, “Hey, I’ve been doing good!” So I grabbed a sticky note, wrote the date on the top, and listed every day of the week on a different line. Each day I wrote something, I wrote the word count on the sticky note. At the end of the week, I totaled up what I wrote for the week and then stuck it in the front cover of my writing notebook.

I’ve spoken with people who take their planner/calendar and put one sticker per thousand words on the day they wrote (e.g. on November 28, I wrote 2,000 words, so I would put two stickers on November 28). You might grab a clear jar and some cotton balls/marbles/little rocks and put one in for every thousand words, or enter it into a writing program that tracks that for you. Whatever works!

The point of this is to give yourself a reward system. What I outlined above is a form of reward system, where you can see your efforts clearly and on paper. This is more effective for me than telling myself I can’t get on Tumblr/read/listen to a podcast until I’ve written x number of words, but there are different strokes for different folks. Play around with it, and find a way to reward yourself for your work! (Your brain will appreciate the dopamine boost, I guarantee it.)

Once you’ve added a few things to your daily/weekly/monthly tasks, you’ll have a routine! I like to break down my tasks as little bullet-points on a notepad so I can cross them out when I get done. (Right now my lists look like 1. Write, 2. Algebra HW, 3. Sociology HW, 4. Eat, if that gives you any idea of my priorities.

Burnout

This shit sucks!! You write 5k in one sitting and then nothing for the next eight months (I’m totally not speaking from experience... that would be.... ridiculous). It’s really disheartening, as it feels like you’ve lost all creative ability. You go to write but words Won’t Happen. The ideas don’t just turn stale; they disappear entirely.

It happens. Unfortunately, it does. Some people may call it writer’s block (which I could do an entire post about on its own, as it comes in so many different shapes and sizes) but in the end, all that matters is you Can’t Write.

Before you decide that writing just isn’t for you, take a moment to consider why you’ve burnt out. What external factors (school, work, social obligations) affected you? Were any internal factors (mental health, illness, bad break-up, etc.) getting in the way of your work? Is there anything you can do to ease those challenges?

You might be surprised to notice a few patterns. For example, I always struggled to write during a flare-up, or when my mental health got bad, or when school and work collided in disastrous ways. There isn’t always something you can do to fix those things, but just knowing that there’s a reason can be helpful.

Also, take note of when you start getting your mojo back. When do you notice the first ghostly shape of an idea taking form? When do you start itching to write? Music, relaxation, and days off can have a significant effect on your creative cycle.

In fact, your creative cycle will almost definitely insist you take days off. There’s a reason I don’t hold myself to more than 4 days of writing a week, and that’s because I know my limits. My idea-brain needs time to recharge, even if I can occasionally go weeks at a time without taking a break. (Which, for the record, usually results in burnout.)

Be kind to yourself. Take note of your patterns and play into them. Take time off, force yourself to write on the days when you know it’s just hell-brain throwing a tantrum, remember to eat and drink. You’d be surprised by how often burnout coincides with a decline in self-care.

Consistency

Routines aren’t all that matter. Consistency is key, and not for any of those bullshit “you’re not a real writer unless you write every day” reasons. Momentum is incredibly helpful, and you can’t build that unless you’re also developing good habits.

Routines can help build momentum, but the crux of it all lies in self-discipline. AKA ADHD hell.

Reward systems can help, as can accountability systems (like posting your writing progress every week...), but the biggest change for me was not any of that.

It was letting myself write badly, and celebrating those words anyway.

Sounds odd, right? Why would I celebrate what is objectively bad? It’s because a combination of ADHD-brain and my upbringing led me to develop a paralyzing case of perfectionism. What’s the point of writing it unless you do it perfect?

It’s better to write it badly and make sense of it later. As the saying goes, you can’t edit a blank page. Write badly. If you need to, turn the text the same color as the background so you can’t obsess over the quality. Write in Comic Sans (which is a very good font, but also incredibly difficult to take seriously) or something that you can’t read easily. Find a way to write garbage and then celebrate it. Celebrate the number, or the fact that you’ve gotten the dumbest version out and it can only get better from here.

By doing that, you allay fears of perfectionism. Practice makes perfect, and practice means several drafts, many of which will hurt to read. You’ll get better the more you write, and the more you write the easier it will be to push through the scenes that aren’t working. Hell, get into the practice of using brackets when you can’t think up the scene, or need a name, or need to do research, and just keep writing. No matter what, keep that momentum going.

If you need an outline to avoid getting lost, do that. If you need to feel free to explore the story without restraints, do that. Just write. Keep writing. It’s bad? Keep going. Your ideas will change; adapt to the new concept and make a note to yourself to fix the earlier aspects later. Keep going. 

And there’s obviously more I can go on about, but these are the main things that helped me. (Apologies if the text gets thick at times. Writing is one of those things I can talk about forever when the mood strikes.) Please let me know if there’s anything else you want to know! If you have any questions, feel free to pop into my ask box! I’m happy to chat.

[jencala]

I wonder how marlenemckinn can actually write with your head so far up her ass. You rec and reblog her fics all the time and gush about her so much. Is this another crush? There's lots of other writers in the fandom that could use the recs from a big blog like yours. Use your popularity to help other writers please. I do love your writing but you reblog the same writers over and over and then fangirl over some writers and rp'ers like you're a teenager.

Nonny, did you ever think maybe I like eating ass?  ;-)

Ah, where to start with this lovely ask?  Let’s start with @marlenemckinn.  I absolutely do gush over her and her fics because I love them.  I’ve been a fan of her work for a really long time and only found her tumblr a few months ago and you’d better believe I gushed at her.  She’s talented, has extremely diverse fics, is my Queen of the Wolfstar AU and if you follow my blog you know I get a massive hard-on for AU’s.  She writes my OTP beautifully and in any setting and trope she does.  I’ve also been lucky enough to get to know her a bit and she’s sweet and funny and just a lovely person.  What’s not to gush about and fan-girl over?  

You talk about me gushing over people as if in order to do it has to be a crush.  First of all, having a crush, even a fandom crush, is not a bad thing even though you seem to  think it is.  For the record, I do not have a crush on @marlenemckinn, but I definitely get a lady boner for her writing and her posts. ;-)  

Since you seem to follow me you know that’s what I do; I gush about people.  I’ve always been a fan-girl from the time I was like 9 and crazy for Menudo and when I was 15 and dying over the New Kids on the Block.  Hey, give me a break, I’m old, remember?  The point is that I’ve always been a fan-girl and I do love to shower praise on my favorite fanfic writers and RP’ers.  They work hard and deserve to be praised and gushed over.

There’s always a rise and fall of nasty stuff in fandom and right now we seem to be going through a big rise in nasty anons.  Why not spread some love and positivity when and where you can?  This fandom is blessed with a plethora of really talented creators and as someone who really likes to give praise (why yes, I do have a praise kink, thank you very much) and make others feel proud and happy about the things they enjoy, I’m going to continue doing just that.  It feels good when someone compliments you about something you’ve done and when I enjoy someone’s art, their writing, their RP or even just who they are as a person, you had better believe I am going to sing their praises from the rooftops if I can.  I don’t see why that’s a problem.  This is who I am in real life as well as online.  I won’t change and won’t apologize for it.

Now let’s address another point you made.  My popularity and helping other writers with it.  What makes you think I’m popular?  My blog has a really decent following but it’s only ¼ of what @captofthesswolfstar has and even half of what @padfootlupinblack has and that dork doesn’t even publish his writing.  lol  I have no idea where the notion that I’m a “big blog” came from.  Maybe it’s because I’m friends with some of the people who are considered to be “big blogs”, but I honestly don’t know where that perception came from.  I’m just a massive dork who writes gay porn about fictional characters and proclaims her love for other dorks.  

I have a very busy life offline and my time to read fics is really limited.  Of course the first fics I read are going to be authors I already know and love.  Of course I’m going to rec those fics.  However, I regularly read new writers as well as lots of recs that come my way.  I always make a point of asking for recs and encouraging new writers or writers that might be flying under the radar to dm me their work or to send me links.  I love finding new Wolfstar writers and recc’ing them.  I do it all the time.  If you look under my fic recs tag I’ve got tons of recs by well known writers and some you might not have heard of.  If I like the fic it gets recc’d.  

But if I don’t know about it how can I rec it or even read it?  

I really hate this thing where the “big blogs” have to feel pressure to help new creators.  Please don’t take this the wrong way, but no one has to help anyone get more readers or followers.  Most blogs with a larger following do rec newcomers and love to do so.  But it’s not their responsibility to do so.  

I have had this blog for almost 5 years and the first few years I was lucky to have 100 followers and I was thrilled to have that.  You mean 100 people want to hear the nonsense I spew?  DAMN.  I’ve worked hard with my writing, I’ve tagged other blogs to share my work and I post all the time.  It’s how I built my following and my readership for my fics.  I have zero shame in promoting myself or my work because I want it to be seen. BUT, if another blogger or writer isn’t doing the same thing and fly under my radar, how is it my job to help promote them when I don’t know they exist?

I really appreciate your comment about my writing and I’m happy you enjoy it, but this ask really threw me for a loop.  It’s not hateful per se, but it’s really not nice is it?  Bottom line is I’m going to keep gushing, keep recc’ing, and keep spreading the love I have for other creators and yelling my praises at them because that’s who I am.  Like it or not.  

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to change positions because having my head so far up @marlenemckinn‘s ass can get a bit uncomfortable for both of us and I need that woman to crank out another chapter of her fic for me.  ;-)

[dracimexidae]

@valentinaonthemoon tagged me to say 6 random things about myself - thank you, dear, and also grazie, cara!! <333

Let’s start with a thing I actually succeded in doing this year: I finally managed to lose a bit of weight! Last year in November I had enough and started to gradually work out and eat a bit better and I lost almost 19 kg! It was kind of a nightmare, considering my overall lazy and greedy ass and the fact that I haven’t been slim and in shape since I was a little kid, it’s a result I’m rather proud of! I’m still hoping I’ll be able to lose another 5 kg (my aim would be 55kg), but more importantly let’s hope I can mantain it because damn there are periods in which I definitely struggle to eat correctly, especially as in my family we are generally people who enjoy more caloric dishes (so you can imagine the struggle during the festivities, for example), and well, I’m Italian, so yeah, you get the gist, we have pretty good food and recipes here! But I made all this effort to arrive where I am, I have no intention of going back to where I was if I can have a say about it, damn it!

After receiving the thrilling news that “All I want for Christmas” by Mariah Carey is the n.1 hit of these festivities once again, and given that I already couldn’t stand listening to it on the 3rd November, last night I was randomly searching for a metal cover on YT just for to have a laugh about it and I found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEy6VCBtALs. Result: I spent the entire evening listening to this madman making metal covers of songs, some of which I never thought they could be conceived! It was an entertaining night for sure!! 

I’m developing an unhealthy (because it might lead me to buy them) love for Funkos - but, I mean, look at these cuties: 

(yes they’re about to leave to Lapland for their next mission :p - you can’t see it in the picture but at where the sign points there are other shelves in which there are little statues of Santa and his elves - beat that as a “magical place” Phil lol )

I don’t even know how this started, the point is I was first gifted with a Dumbledore Funko by a friend (I didn’t really get the reason why Dumbledore since I never expressed a particular preference over him, but whatever, it’s still pretty cute and his gown matches the violet/lilac tone of my bedroom, where he is currenty stationed), then I couldn’t resist buying the Goose Funko I found at Disney Store and, shortly after I started watching Agents of SHIELD and worshipping Melinda May, I found that her Funko existed so after some debating with myself whether I should spend my money in such a trivial way I concluded that I decided to treat myself so I bought her; after that could I leave her all alone? Of course not, so Coulson arrived! At some point I guess I’ll buy Daisy as well so the family is reunited at last! Anyway, all this was to say that I have another mighty need in this department:

CARA DUNE!!!!!!! SHE’S SO FREAKING CUTE HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STAY AWAY FROM HER?!!?! Well, right now I’m resisting, let’s open bets as to how long it will last lmao!! And there was another one first I fell in love with:

:’D I told you I have a problem! XD

I am here writing this ridicolousness while instead I have to finish decorating a goddamned tea box my mother and I wanted to give as a gift to her friend, and given that according to me it hasn’t turned out so well (I hate rice paper, I repeat, I HATE RICE PAPER), my mother thinks it’s fine, moreover we already struggled a lot but managed to install a forsaken closure because the box originally didn’t have one and the lid didn’t perfectly close the box, so I have to finish this thing instead of following my instinct to throw it in the trash straight away... And what I have to do next is glue a canvas stripe all around the box along with a button and shells... I’m sure I will finally make a mess with the canvas stripe, I’m certain of it, but I’ll have to at least try and pray to be able to give that... thing... to her in a decent state... *sigh* This, if I haven’t screwed up already with the glitters I decided to put in the picture - I don’t know yet, I have to wait until the glue dries... In the meantime I might as well transform in a unicorn for all the glitter I have on me! Oh, not to mention that before I began this project I already was making little pictures that I wanted to hang in my kitchen... Guess with what? RICE PAPER! Why do I inflict these stupid ideas upon myself? *facepalms*

I only recently installed Whatsapp on my phone, despite my annoyance with it, Zuckerberg and so called “social networks” in general (says the one who has been on Tumblr for years, but I don’t really count this one :p ) but it seems that people believe it is easier to communicate this way, instead of sending SMS, and while I have to agree regarding sending pictures or videos, for mere text messages, apart from the character limit per message (something you may guess I have always struggled with :p ), I don’t really see what need there is of another app to communicate with people... Given that the main reason I did it is to contact people for “business” and such and not to use it to send every single stupid thing to friends (I tolerate it as long as it’s occasional and with people I’m close with but I’m generally annoyed by continuous calls and messages so I wouldn’t stand people showering me with tons of messages on a daily basis, something that I sometimes see happening to my parents and friends) and that to friends (who actually already know my “allergy” to all this) I explained once again not to go crazy on me, threatening (even if as a joke) to use the blessed “block” option, I just hope that some people who have my number and I haven’t seen or heard from in a while (and with reason) won’t take this as a suggestion to rekindle anything (it would be also pretty hypocrite from their part, since I haven’t changed my number in years and they theoretically had always had the chance ro call or text me, with or without Whatsapp), because I won’t have any of it!!

I won’t go away for the festivities, apart from maybe a one-day-trip to San Marino for my birthday, as I’ve never seen it during Christmas and I haven’t been there for two years and well, I miss that place, after going for many years for the Medieval fair... I hope I’ll manage to do it! In the meantime I would like to visit again one or two museums in my city, and who knows, hopefully next year is the year in which I finally go visit the Uffizi in Florence - I have wanted to go there for years, but the few times I went to Florence I never managed to take some time to visit the museum; my plan is now to go to Florence just for that and spend the entire day in it, no distractions whatsoever (and on my own, so I can freely visit what I want and at my pace, not having to accomodate the needs of anyone else I travel with)! >:)

[spriterpt]

Hey Liss, I really want to start a small horror group rp but I never ever done one on Tumblr and I'm scared of messing up. Could you give me some advice? Is running a group rp on tumblr too stressful?

First of all, I’m so sorry for the late reply!

The biggest factor in how challenging it will be to run a group is how much time you have to put into it. That’s not to say that if you go to school or work full-time you can’t run one, but if you don’t have much time to commit to being online, it can be a lot to handle. That said, it’s incredibly rewarding to watch a roleplay thrive!

The two most important parts of your group are going to be your plot and your graphics. I wish the second wasn’t the case, but how your roleplay (and your promo graphic) looks is a huge deal when it comes to drawing people in. Roleplays with ‘basic’ graphics, sadly, often find it difficult to gain any traction in the community. If you’re not great with graphics, you may want to consider getting a co-admin who is, or contacting RPHs who do those types of services. That said, a solid plot or location is what will make people stay. Your roleplay will need to be either plot-driven or character-driven. A plot-driven roleplay is going to be harder to keep up with, as you’ll have to provide lots of events and plot drops to keep the ball rolling. Character-driven roleplays can often take a little longer to set up, as you really want to make your location come to life by providing a history and places around town for people to set their interactions, but require less upkeep as the members create their own plots. For a horror group, chances are it’s going to be a little more plot-driven.

Setting up your blog can be one of the more stressful parts of running your own group. You want to make sure everything looks good, all of the writing is error-free, and the page is properly organized so viewers can find what they’re looking for. Below is a list of important pages your page should include and my advice for them.

NAVIGATION: It’s very, very important that your navigation be properly laid out. People aren’t going to want to join a roleplay if they can’t easily find everything they need to do so. Most roleplays divide their navigation into two sections–before applying and after acceptance. The first should include your plot, rules, characters, taken/banned face claims, wanted connections, and application. It should also include any other information you’d want people to know going into it, like locations around your town. The second should include your checklist, blogroll, trigger list, and OOC masterlist.

PLOT: This should be at the top of your navigation page and, ideally, directly linked from your home page. It shouldn’t be too long or too short, just a few paragraphs. Your paragraphs also shouldn’t be too lengthy–large blocks of text can turn people away. 

RULES: The most important rules are as follows. Activity–most roleplays have an activity limit of 5 or 6 days. This allows members to balance RP with real life while still preventing too much inactivity on the dash. Characters–the number of characters you can have, the age requirements for characters/face claims if you have one, and whether characters can be on a multi-muse account or should have separate blogs. Drama/inclusivity–there should always be a zero tolerance policy for OOC drama, and rules in place to promote inclusivity such as requiring that members reply to at least 3 starters before posting their own.

CHARACTERS: This is where keeping up with a roleplay can start to get tricky. There are two types of RPs you may choose to go with–bio or appless. If it’s a bio roleplay, you need to make a graphic for and post the biography of every character. If it’s appless, you need to make sure that each time you get a new character, you update your character page. Either way, you’ll also need to keep on top of your taken face claims page. Many admins choose not to post a bio or add a character to their page until they’ve received the account for that character.

WANTED CONNECTIONS: This isn’t required, per se, but can inspire more people to join your roleplay. You should have a form for your members to fill out, and they’ll send in their wanted connections. That’s another thing to keep up with–you’ll have to put all of these on your WC page as well as remove taken connections, or edit connections that have 1 out of 2 or more muses taken (think bandmates, or multiple siblings).

APPLICATION: Your application should include, at the very least, the character’s name, age, gender AND pronouns, and face claim. Most choose to add positive and negative personality traits to their app. If it’s a bio roleplay, you’ll need to request a biography, either by simply stating ‘bio here’, or by dividing it up into sections. For instance, you can split it up into background, present, and personality, and include a paragraph or word requirement for each section if you’d like. 

CHECKLIST: This should be the first thing in your ‘after acceptance’ section and should include everything your new member has to do after being accepted. This should include getting their account in within 24 hours, following everyone on the blogroll, tracking your tags, looking at your trigger list and sending in any triggers they’d like added, sending in wanted connections, asking for the OOC blog/Discord link, posting an intro for their character, and finally posting their first interaction. Speaking of tags to track–yours should include tags for character intros, starters, events, tasks, admin notes, and new blogs to follow.

TRIGGER LIST: Some basic triggers you should include: sexual assault, suicide/self-harm, eating disorders, blood, drugs, death, abortion, violence. You should also ask that your members send in any personal triggers that they’d like added, and this should always always always be kept confidential.

OOC MASTERLIST: You may choose to only include OOC information on your character page, but an OOC masterlist can be helpful when it comes to plotting. This lists each member’s name and which characters they play, and often includes other OOC info such as age, timezone, and pronouns. This way when plotting with someone, members can immediately see all of the characters the person they’re plotting with plays.

As mentioned before, graphics and theme are also very important. Your theme should be neat, organized, but ‘pretty’. Almost all themes are going to involve at least one graphic. The color scheme of your graphic(s) should closely match that of your theme so that everything looks coherent. If there’s more than one graphic, they should look nice together without being repeats of each other. You’ll also need to create a promo graphic to post in the tags. Note that you should create a sideblog to post your promo graphics, rather than flooding your main page with them. Your promo doesn’t have to look quite as similar as the others, since they won’t be shown side-by-side, but should still give off the same ‘vibe’. You’ll want to make sure to double-check all of the writing on your page for errors, click on all of your links to see that they’re working properly, and go through your navigation from the point of view of a potential member.

The next part is being a good admin. You should be able to get on almost every single day, even just for long enough to post something in the tags and empty your inbox. Admin activity is crucial to group activity. As soon as members see the activity of the main die down, they start to decline in activity or find other groups. 

There are three key elements to promoting your roleplay. The first is through your promo sideblog and promo graphics. You should be posting these often enough that they regularly show up in the tags without being too overbearing. You’ll have to check the tags you choose and use some trial and error to figure out how often that is. {Remember that your post will only show up in the first five tags you put down.) The second is posts on your main. You can let viewers know a little about your roleplay, let them know you’re going to be around for a while, or just include a tidbit about your day. The same rules apply for how often to post these as with your promo graphics. The third element is requesting shoutouts from RPHs. This gets your RP back into the tags without having to put yet another post on the main, as well as gets news of your RP around the RPH community. Remember to always read the RPH’s rules, be polite (please and thank you), and use their name if it’s on the blog. You only have a certain amount of characters for your shoutouts, so make them count. Keeping on top of all three of these things can be difficult, but is incredibly important to running a successful roleplay. You need to make sure you have time to do this on top of your other admin duties. I’ve always found it easiest to take care of all of my other admin things first, then dedicate a chunk of time solely to promotion.

Keeping the main up-to-date is one of the most important things you’ll have to do. This includes your character page/biographies, taken face claims list, triggers list, wanted connections, OOC masterlist, and one more thing we haven’t mentioned yet. Something Tumblr has been doing lately is eating posts in the tags. That means even though you have a tag dedicated to your group’s starters, most of them won’t show up in the tag. As an admin, it’s your responsibility to keep track of all of the starters in your group and get them out to your members another way. Some groups choose to compile a list on their page, while others choose to creat a sideblog and reblog all of the starters there. Either way, this is very, very important to making sure all of your members are included. As an admin, I prefer to take things one ask at a time. New account comes in? Post the follow, add the character, add the face claim, onto the next one. Wanted connection? Put it on the WC page, post a new wanted connection on the main, onto the next one. I find that this makes it easier to keep track of everything than getting everything out of the inbox and then trying to go back through it all. 

Because there’s so much to do, you may want to consider getting one or more co-admins to help you. At least to me, it seems like most RPs have around 3 admins. It is possible to run one yourself, but you can always try on your own and ask for co-admins if you’re having trouble. You want to make sure you stay on good terms with your co-admins and consult them about updates, events, and plot drops.

Speaking of events and plot drops, that’s another thing you’ll have to take care of. Plot drops and events keep the RP alive, and if you find that the RP’s activity is a little low, something like that can help. You don’t have to do it super often, but a few days every month or so dedicated to an event can be really fun. With a horror RP, you may also want to have plot drops here and there.

You’ll also have to deal with any problems that arise in your RP. If someone comes to you with a concern about another member, you’ll have to use your critical thinking and problem-solving skills to determine exactly what’s going on and what action you should take. If you notice that someone is only writing with one or two other people, you’ll need to address it to them directly. This part can definitely be stressful and nerve-wracking, but it’s an important part of being an admin. 

One way to see how you can improve your RP is to ask RPHs for their opinions. The trick is you actually have to listen to them. If you’re repeatedly being told that your graphics need work, consider getting some help with them. If they point out a broken link or typo, you’ll need to fix it. Another way to improve is to check out other RPs! You definitely should not lift anything directly from another RP, but it can help you get a feel for how everything should be set up and what types of themes and graphics are ‘in’ right now.

I’m going to end this with a link to this amazing masterlist from rpthemehelper that includes multiple posts on every topic you could need help with. I’m sorry that this was probably way more than you were expecting to read, but I hope it helped some!

[bedlamgames]

Q&A #107

Today we have revisiting Rough Landing, a question I don’t need to answer in the best possible way, double bimbos, tumblr being tumblr, me possibly somewhat going off on one in regard to what NOT to do, and more.

[Anonymous said:] Had a Corruption rank up and one of the slaver options had both Depraved and Spiritual, which are supposed to be mutually exclusive I thought: Choice 4: Madeline Crakewyne - Human Wastelander Futanari - Competent Skybreaker - (Spi)(Fly)(Res)(Clu)(Cun)(Usc+)

- You’re right, those should be mutually exclusive. 

[Anonymous said:] There is an event where one of your slavers will slip into your tent at night and have their way with you. Can you explain some of the mechanics that govern this event?

- My absolute favourite kind of question. Mainly as there exists a resource in game already which I hope should be able to fully explain all the details. Please see under Help and Prefferences -> Forced Encounters. 

[Anonymous said:] Need to ask; any chance for standard dwarf female commission, or this one is considered up to date?

- There technically is one in Scout the Coast though I’d prefer to get another one for the examine. I’ve been trying to get one done for ages through the commission polls that would serve to be a fun NH take on Dorf Fortress. I’ve also got a set of portraits potentially coming as a bonus though there’s some health issues getting in the way of that.

So it’s not consided up to date, there is a chance, but maybe not for awhile. 

[Anonymous said:] Bug report: orc cum addict training on bimbo slave results in double bimbo.

- That’s hilarious, and far too appropriate. Alas, I must say that has been found and will be fixed for the update. 

[Anonymous said:] the links to pixiv have disappeared

- Oh tumblr... why must you be so well tumblr. Tried adding a link to the twitter which has a link to the pixiv and that’s not showing either as an active link. Thankfully if you go the tumblr directly (i.e not on the dashboard) there’s an embed of the twitter so you can access them that way.

[academiy-blog said:] Hey man, Love the work you do, please don't give up on this path, you're so talented and creative. I am in love with your game No Haven and want to make a game like it but don't know where to start or how to do it. I am a complete stranger to coding and game making but I want to create adventures that people can lose themselves in like you do. Can you please tell me where should I start learning and what skills would I need to make a game like No Haven? You're awesome, take care Your big fan, me

- First seriously appreciated!

But oh man do not like it like I did as it was the complete wrong ass-backwards way to do it :D

Starting with RAGS meant I learnt a rather terrible system like the back of my hand which I worked how to break horribly to do what I wanted it to do. Doing it that way meant I often learned the wrong lessons when it comes to coding more in general, and didn’t know that, cause it worked. 

Then moving onto Twine without the time to really take a break to learning coding properly meant I was having to pick up concepts on the go, and again made a bunch of mistakes. 

Personally if I could somehow start over I’d do a coding course of some kind, and then use that knowledge to make games rather than deciding to make games, and still at times be lacking vital knowledge about what I should be doing or indeed not doing. 

Saying that I’ve found freecodecamp (especially the emails with five things to read each week), and w3schools to be great resources so maybe you could try starting there?

[Anonymous said:]   If someone hates being spiritual leader, they won't leave role when asked. In fact slavers leave this role only if they dislike it. Is this a bug?

- I’m pretty sure that’s been fixed, but will double check. 

[From the Patreon:] Short question:How do i transform my Character or another Slaver into the opposite gender? Male -> Female or Female -> Male.Are there certain assignments?

- There's a couple of different ways. 

Biomancy and Corruption can both do it for Male>Female. So you can either work towards doing it on purpose using the encampment activities, or you can run assignment that can result in Corruption like Changing Places and it might well happen. 

There's assignments that can do it one way or the other like Keldan Alley or Into the Depths. 

Then there's the option of getting too deep in debt with the Ensnared Rose.

[From TFgames:] The game is very fun and enjoyable.How to actually win the game?I gained a lot of money, trained the slavers and slaves.What to do next?I got tired of repeating tasks.

- Hi, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Currently there's a placeholder win condition of reaching 10k gold. Honnestly it's not very interesting as is and purely in there as a placeholder, and most players from what I've heard prefer to set their own goals like aquiring certain uniques and training them up. I know one player on my discord server always goes for the full collection of cheerleaders, along with making sure they have their own 'assistants'. 

There's also the golem scenario which has an alternate win condition which is more involved complete with patron submitted art for the final victory. 

I do have plans to address the win conditions by making them more interesting and varied. So that will be coming down the line. 

[From the Collective:] Some theoretical questions:a slaver promoted witch with Racial:Wyrdcraft is supposed to go away after some time. How does this combines with aspect Bimboborn ? Does she comes back after some time? Is there a way to keep her? What happens if a slave version of her is given as a slave to a dominant slaver with the appropriate aspect. What does she gives as traits to her master? any magic or Elementalist traits ? Can she go away?

- Bimboborn would not apply like if they were sold. She does not. There isn't but certain slave training and levelling her up can get her to stick around for longer. Witches can't be given with that aspect and there's a special scene to reflect that. 

[From the Collective:] My MC gained this Debauched Exaltation:  Caress of Bone -40 And the Mal Trait that goes with it.Does it make him immune to mind control events ?Apparently not if I look at the Mashlands Witches but there's other events I haven't tested.

- Call it Malevolence light so it mainly just works on assignments. Also those totally-not-witches have all sorts of tricks so who knows what they're actually fully capable of.

[From the Collective:] Negotiate entry of the Lord's gate: It doesn't trigger a level up if your slavers win enough xp to level up at the end of the mission. You need another mission to level up.

- Doesn't surprise me. It's a miracle that utter mess of an assignment hangs together at all so something minor like that is a small price to pay. Had to try to pull it apart recently for the Twine conversion and man it is so much yikes you would not believe. 

[From the Collective:] Not really a bug, per se, but still:I want to do the Mistress of torments mission (For the Normal Success result). When my slaver number is at maximum I can't do this even if I set the general orders to "Don't recruit anyone"I think it's the case for all missions with potential slavers. You should be able to do them with the "Don't recruit anyone" option on.

- I'd need to go back and do an alternate result where no recruitment is possible for that to happen. It's something I've been trying to do a lot more with the slave taking assignments recently especially, as I know it's also annoying when you're full up on slaves and are then locked out on too many assignments.

[From the Collective:] what's the requirement for crafting traits and Artisan/Artificier aspect? leaving a slaver on crafting assignment for months doesn't seem to trigger lvl ups.

- Currently impossible as Crafting xp isn't really a thing. Saying that the first Crafting assignment is currently walking the commission poll (along with the Insatiable fuck off fight) on the patreon so now it's just a matter of time for that to change. 

[From the Collective:] Imperial Muse I don't understand a part of the rewards Rewards Diplomacy rank up bonus: large wood elf shaft x4

- That's an amusing, if very annoying bug as I keep forgetting about it (happened with this update that's about to come out too though did get to hotfix it before the public release), if I don't add a new Diplomacy assignment to a certain condition.

[From the Collective:] at the moment no enchantement. As far as  I know there is only one enchanted item, from the ooze mission, maybe a proof of concept.the tinkerer encampment position is also in development.

- There's also the enchanted armours possible to find from corruption, there's a late game assignment in the city that can provide some, certain uniques start with one, and the next update will have an update which can also provide some. 

[From the Collective:] I have just realized that the bug that allowed to promote slaves even after you have reached 20 slavers had been fixed (sometimes I hate myself) Can you do something to expand the number of slavers - Do not count slavers and slaves in camp position - Do not count unique slaves and slavers (this way you will not be blocked with new missions of the update that have a story role), the 2 golems the witch queen, the fallen paladin and his demi angel friend, maybe also the cheerleaders, was unable to have more than one until slavers were 20) - Have a small number of places that can on be used by promoted slaves - a unique mission, perhaps  one for each region that allows additional camp size. - Some camp positions can be unlocked by missions. Taskmaster at Mountains, Alchemist at City, brewer at Coast, Cook at Forest, Emissary at Plains

- The current limits are in place due to RAGS (along with partially due to how I've set up the arrays, see previous answer about mistakes being made), so for now I'm not planning to change that or add ways to get round it in RAGS. However I do plan to change this I hope in the Twine conversion. There I can redo arrays on the fly which should make changing that more reasonable. 

[From the Discord:] Favorite Boardgame?   

- I’ve played much better, much designed games and certainly much more well regarded ones, but if I’m being honest for the best memories attached to it then absolutely Go. Not the one with the black and white tiles. The International Travel Game which came out in the early 60′s that my grandparents had a copy of. 

Thinking about it I suspect how willing it was to utterly screw with the players by diverting them on a flight to Paris to ending you up in some tropical island on the other side of the world you were trying to get to might have some influence on my approach to game design :D

[From the Discord:] What are the chances of a 10 Year Anniversary Remastered Edition of RL in 2024, complete with CHAPTER 3 (j/k... but I would play it)

- Honnestly, with what I’ve learned doing WR and NH I’m reasonably confident I could do a combined RL1 and 2 in Twine in a couple of months max if I dropped everything else. So not something I’m likely to do anytime soon with so many other priorities, but one I have thought about. 

[From the Discord:] What are the most recent major Scientific, Magical & Cultural innovations in the land of NH?

- I have an assignment chained to discuss that. 

[From the Discord:] Do marlsunes get fleas?

- Yes, occasionally if they let themselves go, but it’s treatable. 

[From the Discord:] With the existence of a Horned One camp... is there any credence to the rumoured couples only Horned Two camp?

- Given how well the double horned one idea is doing in the commissions recently, looks so. 

[From the Discord:] Specifically, how advanced is the art of glassmaking in the land of No Haven? Are glass panels a thing? Maybe even one-way mirrors made by the foremost guilds that employ E:Ea?

- See that’s a more tricky question than it sounds, and it’s all down to the Neko Protection League.

One thing I’ve found with commissions is it’s often a negotiation to get everything you want, and in that sacrifices end up being made, and/or details that were important in the original pitch get overlooked to focus on something else that is more urgent to be amended. In this case the glasses I wanted to look even more archaic didn’t get reflected as much as I’d have liked. 

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a bloody fantastic pair of pictures. Just a minor regret you know that I feel as is they don’t quite fit what I had in mind for the tech level of the setting.

[From the Discord:] Draki harpies - possible or UFO-like sightings?

As cool as a visual that suggests, which is tempting don’t get me wrong, draki are of elvish and human origins only. 

[obaewankenope]

Albus Dumbledore: The Religious Leader in Harry Potter

So, I have recently had a relatively old post reblogged by someone who decided to ask me what my ‘textual’ sources were for my statement that Dumbledore is a good example of a religious zealot that basically runs a group of fanatics who follow him. As I felt this to be a good thing to ask me, I was initially calm and considered this a reasonable thing to ask, until I reached the point where they specifically state that if I can’t provide such textual sources then they’re ‘going to assume that you build your opinion off of Tumblr posts and fanfiction and I’m gonna laugh at you for thinking those are reliable sources.’

Now, perhaps I may be a tad bit rude and impolite here but, unless they work on the assumption that everything is clearly shouted out very loudly and clearly in all fiction, then I’m afraid the explicit textual sources they’re demanding are likely to not exist; the art of understanding a novel lies in reading between the lines after all. However, I’m going to be polite and retain my modicum of mature reasoning and not laugh very loudly at such a sweeping statement – working on the assumption that fiction writers don’t think through what they create is, unfortunately, a common assumption in this world and one I have little time or respect for.

Now that’s been said, perhaps it’d be best to get onto the ‘textual’ sources I’ve been requested to provide.

Note: I am using the original Harry Potter books I had bought for me mere days or hours after each was released so page numbers may differ for each edition and where they were published (mine are UK publications). Just in case anyone thinks I’m making references up.

I’m going to approach this in much the same way I approach anything that is a multi-layered question: by breaking it down and tackling each section individually. First off – Albus Dumbledore’s background.

[Read More]

Who is Albus Dumbledore and What is His Background?

I am stating this outright now that I am making use of the HPwiki since it has the most consistent and referenced information about Dumbledore that won’t require me specifically hunting through Pottermore or the books just to give a general overview of one of the most well-known and popular characters in Rowling’s magical world. If this isn’t considered by some to be a reliable source then apologies, but this is what I’m using to give you a summary of Dumbledore’s background and his numerous achievements.

According to the HPwiki, Dumbledore officially held the titles of; Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In addition, he was also the leader and creator of the Order of the Phoenix. The son of Percival and Kendra Dumbledore, Albus was a half-blood (like the other two main characters in the trio of powerful wizards that the Harry Potter series revolves around; Harry and Voldemort). It is my assumption that, due to the imagery that Rowling evokes when Harry, Ron and Hermione visit Godric’s Hollow to see the grave of Harry’s parents and they discover a grave for the Dumbledore’s with an engraving of the Death Hallows (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p.267), as well as the fact that Sirius states that all wizarding families are related in some way:

‘The pure-blood families are all interrelated…If you’re only going to let your sons and daughters marry pure-bloods your choice is very limited; there are hardly any of us left. Molly and I are cousins by marriage and Arthur’s something like my second cousin once removed. But there’s no point looking for them on here – if ever a family was a bunch of blood traitors it’s the Weasleys.’ (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, p.105)

While this doesn’t necessarily cover families with muggle-born and muggle heritage, it does infer that Albus too was related to most other wizarding families. Adding the fact that Albus was obsessed with the Deathly Hallows from a relatively young age, and the sign of the Deathly Hallows on a Dumbledore grave, then you theoretically can argue that he could have theoretically been related to the Peverell family: a family that died out in the male line as Hermione states in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in chapter twenty-two:

‘The only place I’ve managed to find the name “Peverell” is Nature’s Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy. I borrowed it from Kreacher…It lists the pure-blood families that are now extinct in the male line. Apparently the Peverells were one of the earliest families to vanish.’ (pp.346-7)

Note: Whether or not this is accurate and whether or not this is simply my own personal perception of Dumbledore’s lineage, the fact still remains that theoretically speaking, the Peverell family can be linked to at least some of the wizarding families of Britain as per Rowling’s own statements in her series.

Moving on from this potential relationship and the fact that these arguably provide some evidence for my initial comment about Dumbledore: ‘he comes into the Magical World from a long-standing magical family with age-old connections with a shit tonne of political power’. While I will agree that his family history doesn’t necessarily mean Dumbledore began with political power amassed by his family – unlike, for example, the Malfoy family or the Blacks – there is still the fact that his father, Percival Dumbledore, was either a pure-blood or a half-blood himself, thereby suggesting that he may have had some connection to the Ministry of Magic of Great Britain. Even if this were not the case, considering the fact that Dumbledore can at least be considered a half-blood with some magical lineage from pure-blood ancestors, he would have been in a more advantageous position, politically and social speaking, than muggle-borns in the magical world.

Continuing on, we are informed in The Deathly Hallows of Dumbledore’s connection with Gellert Grindelwald (pp.290-1). It is during this introduction that we also discover that, at one point, Dumbledore believed in much the same as Grindelwald in regards to the rights of wizards over muggles:

‘Your point about wizard dominance being FOR THE MUGGLES’ OWN GOOD – this, I think, is the crucial point. Yes, we have been given power and, yes, that power gives us the right to rule, but it also gives us responsibilities over the ruled. We must stress this point, it will be the foundation stone upon which we build. Where we are opposed, as we surely will be, this must be the basis of all our counter-arguments. We seize control FOR THE GREATER GOOD. And from this it follows that where we meet resistance, we must use only the force that is necessary and no more. (This was your mistake at Durmstrang! But I do not complain, because if you had not been expelled, we would never have met.)’ (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Letter to Gellert Grindelwald from Albus Dumbledore, p.291)

The above quotation lends support to my own statement in the original post that Dumbledore is ‘friends with a blood purist (Grindelwald)…[because] if you’re friends with someone like that then, on some level you agree with them.’

Ultimately, Dumbledore’s background lends itself to the initial starting blocks for the development of a saviour complex – most especially when we consider the fact that he ‘failed’ his sister and mother (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p.292). While a ‘saviour complex’ (or messiah complex) is not a diagnosis nor a clinical term, it can however be connected to delusions of grandeur; it is quite obvious that in his correspondence with Grindelwald, Dumbledore seems to believe them both to be acting in a similar manner to those who feel that they have a duty to others, a responsibility, that means they must ‘save’ others – in this case, it can be argued that Dumbledore is functioning under the belief that he must save wizarding kind from muggles, and the muggles from themselves:

‘You cannot imagine how [Grindelwald’s] ideas caught me, Harry, inflamed me. Muggles forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant. Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution.’ (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p.573)

The attack on his younger sister Ariana by muggle children, and the subsequent imprisonment of his father for attacking them in retribution, provides Albus’ character with the beginning points to have a measure of hatred, or disdain towards muggles; it also provides a point where he can begin to perceive wizards are requiring protection from muggles and muggles of being unable to handle themselves – again this would be compounded if you consider that Albus was born at the end of the nineteenth century, on the cusp of the Great War and when colonialism was still at its peak.

For the Greater Good

Moving on, we come to the point where I state that Dumbledore takes on ‘an almost mythical status’ due to his ‘amazing magical power and the fact that he defeats a Dark Wizard without resorting to similar Dark Magic to do so’. While this isn’t precisely new information, nor an incorrect statement, it does bear some supporting evidence in order to reaffirm it:

‘In a matter of months, however, Albus’s own fame had begun to eclipse that of his father. By the end of his first year, he would never again be known as the son of a Muggle-hater, but as nothing more or less than the most brilliant student ever seen at the school.’

‘He not only won every prize of note that the school offered, he was soon in regular correspondence with the most notable magical names of the day, including Nicolas Flamel, the celebrated alchemist, Bathilda Bagshot, the noted historian, and Adalbert Waffling, the magical theoretician. Several of his papers found their way into learned publications such as Transfiguration Today, Challenges in Charming and The Practical Potioneer. Dumbledore’s future career seemed likely to be meteoric, and the only question that remained was when he would become Minister for Magic. Though it was often predicted in later years, that he was on the point of taking the job, however, he never had Ministerial ambitions.’

‘Other quills will describe the triumphs of the following years. Dumbledore’s innumerable contributions to the store of wizarding knowledge, including his discovery of the twelve uses of dragon’s blood, will benefit generations to come, as will the wisdom he displayed in the many judgements he made while Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot.’

‘They say, still, that no wizarding duel ever matched that between Dumbledore and Grindelwald in 1945. Those who witnessed it have written of the terror and the awe they felt as they watched these two extraordinary wizards do battle. Dumbledore’s triumph, and its consequences for the wizarding world, are considered a turning point in magical history to match the introduction of the International Statute of Secrecy or the downfall of He Who Must Not Be Named.’

                              (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pp.22-24)

Each of these quotations support the initial statement I made as to the strength of Dumbledore’s magical ability and the fact that his defeat of Grindelwald enabled him to attain an ‘Otherworldly status’. There are numerous characters throughout Harry Potter who treat Dumbledore’s word as law – inadvertently echoing Christian parallels that Rowling herself has stated the series has; one popular concept is that Dumbledore is a metaphor for God or Death (MTV, 2007).

I state, at one point, that the members of the Order, place Dumbledore ‘above them to such a degree that his every action is revered and accepted as “for the greater good” or because he “knows best”’ and this is something I strongly stand by.  In truth, however, not every action undertook by Dumbledore is revered or accepted willingly, there is a growing measure of bitterness in Sirius Black’s opinion on Dumbledore’s decisions in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but, for the vast majority, they generally accept Dumbledore’s word and do not truly act to question or undermine it in any way (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, p.84). This could be construed as faith or trust in someone who has earned such respect, but there is the matter of the way in which Dumbledore is presented throughout the series up to the point of Voldemort’s return – after which the Ministry of Magic, led by Cornelius Fudge, seeks to undermine his authority through a combination of public smears and the stripping of official positions within the Ministry itself:

‘“They’re trying to discredit him,” said Lupin. “Didn’t you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he’d been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he’s getting old and losing his grip, but it’s not true; he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort’s return. They’ve demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot – that’s the Wizard High Court – and they’re talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class too.”’ (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, p.90)

Contrary to the belief that there is only one reference to ‘the greater good’ in regards to Dumbledore’s actions, there are, at least three. These three references are present in the last book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

‘He died as he lived, working always for the greater good and, to his last house, as willing to stretch out a hand to a small boy with dragon pox as he was on the day that I met him.’ (p.24)

‘Your point about wizard dominance being FOR THE MUGGLES’ OWN GOOD – this, I think, is the crucial point… We seize control FOR THE GREATER GOOD. And from this it follows that where we meet resistance, we must use only the force that is necessary and no more. (p.291)

‘I assuaged my conscience with empty words. It would all be for the greater good, and any harm done would be repaid a hundredfold in benefits for wizards.’ (p.573)

In an interview with Evan Solomon (2000), Rowling stated that she enjoyed writing Dumbledore’s character because he ‘is the epitome of goodness’ which, in my personal opinion, suggests that perhaps Rowling is unaware of the duplicity and the dichotomy present in her portrayal of Dumbledore. It is obvious that she planned for Dumbledore to be a figure worthy of sympathy and pity in the final book, but also one that was highly complex and multi-faceted – both marks of skilled writing and character development. However, this does not preclude the reality that Dumbledore’s actions and the way he is viewed by numerous characters in the series, do correspond with more fanatic actions and behaviours of religious leaders.

Fanaticism: What is it and How does it apply to Dumbledore?

The philosopher George Santayana (1905) provides a definition of fanaticism that I find quite apt and amusing in its presentation; fanaticism is the ‘redoubling [of] your effort when you have forgotten your aim’ – to be a fanatic is to belief quite stridently but to lack an accurate direction for that belief to travel.

Lehtsaar (1997) defines fanaticism as ‘the pursuit or defence of something in an extreme and passionate way that goes beyond normality’ with religious fanaticism further defined by ‘blind faith, the persecution of dissents and the absence of reality’ (p.9). It could be argued that this definition is in a way, inaccurate to apply to Dumbledore however, in an abstract manner it is not.

As Postman (1976) states, ‘the key to all fanatical beliefs is that they are self-confirming… (some beliefs are) fanatical not because they are “false”, but because they are expressed in such a way that they can never be shown to be false’ (pp.104-112).

In regards to historical events of religious fanaticism, one doesn’t need to look much further than the vast majority of European history – most especially in regards to Christianity. As Selengut (2008) in Sacred Fury: Understanding Religious Violence, points out that the Spanish Inquisition was largely the monarchy’s attempt to maintain Catholic Christianity as the dominant religion: ‘The inquisitions were attempts at self-protection and targeted primarily “internal enemies” of the church’ (p.66). What is of significance in regards to their entire discussion, can be explained in the following quotation from Selengut (2008):

‘The inquisitors generally saw themselves as educators helping people maintain correct beliefs by pointing out errors in knowledge and judgement’ (p.66, italics added)

It is this that characterises much of the fanaticism seen in regards to Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix. At the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore is faced with the knowledge that Voldemort has returned to his former strength; this knowledge is rejected by the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and Dumbledore’s response to contact Order members from the last war immediately. The Order then is in a similar position to the inquisitors in Selengut’s description – they see themselves as individuals who must correct incorrect beliefs with their knowledge and judgement, guided by Dumbledore.

Gall, Charbonneau and Florack (2011) in a recent study found that individuals who were the most committed to attending church found it the most difficult to cope through being tested for breast cancer (a stressful, trying experience even when a diagnosis is not given). In regards to church attendance, in most cases this includes inclusionary activities such as the community-aspect of church attendance, and often correlates with adherence to religious rules and laws. Utilising this research as support for the behaviour of Molly Weasley in the Order of the Phoenix, it is quite clear that her ability to cope successfully with the highly stressful experience of being part of the Order – which her children attempt to join repeatedly, in some cases succeeding – is highly dependent on how the degree of faith she has in the Order and Dumbledore specifically:

‘“Well,” said Mrs Weasley, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did not come, “well…I can see I’m going to be overruled. I’ll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much”’ (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, p. 85)

Of course, the reverse is also true in respects to church attendance. Dukes (1964) found that church attendance correlated strongly with increased responsiveness to placebos, and in a study by Walters (1957) it was found that those who were highly dependent on alcohol were significantly more likely to have a religious background, thus suggesting that religious individuals are dependent not only on social values but external agents as well. Therefore, it could conversely be argued that Molly Weasley isn’t necessarily an example of religious fanaticism – although she does repeatedly express intense faith and trust toward Dumbledore – but rather a more general example of a woman who relies on her faith in others in order to function, including in her support system external systems of control and regulation that, when they directly counter her faith in Dumbledore, results in an extreme stress response.

Dumbledore is an Addict: The Fanaticism of the Deathly Hallows

In the final instalment of the Harry Potter series, we are introduced to the Deathly Hallows; three magical artefacts are incontestable strength and ability, which are sought after by some wizards in order to obtain ‘mastery’ over Death.

Peele and Brodsky (1975) provide a definition of what addiction is: ‘a person’s attachment to a sensation, an object, or another person…such as to lessen his appreciation of and ability to deal with other things in his environment, or in himself, so that he has become increasingly dependent on that experience as his only source of gratification’ (p.168). While it can obviously be pointed out that Dumbledore does not spend every moment of his life obsessing about the Deathly Hallows, there is textual evidence that he spent at least a significant amount of time interested in them:

‘The Hallows, the Hallows…a desperate man’s dream!’

‘Master of death, Harry, master of Death! Was I better, ultimately, than Voldemort?’

‘I, too, sought a way to conquer death, Harry’ (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p.571)

‘It was the thing, above all, that dew us together [the Hallows]… two clever, arrogant boys with a shared obsession. He wanted to come to Godric’s Hollow, as I am sure you have grasped, because of the grave of Ignotus Peverell. He wanted to explore the place the third brother had died.’

‘I could hardly believe what I was seeing. I asked to borrow it, to examine it. I had long since given up my dream of uniting the Hallows, but I could not resist, could not help taking a closer look…It was a Cloak the likes of which I had never seen, immensely old, perfect in every respect…and then your father died, and I had two Hallows at last, all to myself!’ (p.572)

‘At the heart of our schemes, the Deathly Hallows! How they fascinated him, how they fascinated both of us! The unbeatable wand, the weapon that would lead us to power! The Resurrection Stone – to him, though I pretended not to know it, it meant an army of Inferi! To me, I confess, it meant the return of my parents, and the lifting of all responsibility from my shoulders… Invincible masters of death, Grindelwald and Dumbledore! Two months of insanity, of cruel dreams, and neglect of the only two members of my family left to me.’ (p.574)

While the above quotations do not overtly suggest addiction, they do imply an overwhelming, constant obsession with unattainable objects, to the point where responsibilities to others is discarded in favour of promoting the obsession. The ‘reality check’ Dumbledore received, which ultimately acted as a traumatic wake-up call, was the death of his sister in a three-way duel between Albus, his brother Aberforth and Grindelwald:

‘Reality returned, in the form of my rough, unlettered, and infinitely more admirable brother. I did not want to hear the truths he shouted at me. I did not want to hear that I could not set forth to seek Hallows with a fragile and unstable sister in tow.

‘The argument became a fight. Grindelwald lost control. That which I had always sensed in him, though I pretended not to, now sprang into terrible being. And Ariana…after all my mother’s care and caution…lay dead upon the floor.’ (p.574)

Throughout much of this commentary I have been quite disparaging towards Dumbledore, focusing intensely on his behaviour from the perspective of viewing it as religious fanaticism or addiction. However, there is one last point I’d like to make as to Dumbledore’s behaviour, something which is supported by textual evidence and underscores the concept of Dumbledore having been addicted to the idea of the Deathly Hallows – a metaphor for absolute power. That point pertains to the following quotation in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in King’s Cross station while Harry is between life and death:

‘I…was offered the post of Minister for Magic, not once, but several times. Naturally I refused, I had learned that I was not to be trusted with power.’ (p.575)

This single statement from Dumbledore – whether he is a figment or Harry’s mind or not – is incredibly important overall for it shows an awareness of one’s character defects and a desire not to fall into them again. This sort of mindset can be seen in cases of ex-alcoholics and other such addicts who desire not to be given the temptation such easy access would provide them; Dumbledore reflects the same reluctance to accept a position of great authority such as that of Minister for Magic even though, prior to this, he greatly desired such power and influence.

In Conclusion

Ultimately, while I can disparage Dumbledore and happily despise him for willingly leaving a child in an abusive home, I cannot, in good faith, ignore the development of his own character and the strength of his own will in overcoming what he perceived as the greatest flaw of his person. I also, cannot disregard the reality that Dumbledore amassed plenty of influential power, through the belief and faith of individuals in magical Britain, but he did not actively utilise much of this influence until it became absolutely necessary.

I still stand by my initial statement that Dumbledore is a decent example of religious fanaticism, of a religious leader who is capable of manipulating others to his view, but I do draw the line on the idea that he does this maliciously; he is meant to act as a mirror to Voldemort in Harry Potter, with Harry himself becoming the ideal.

Dumbledore has been likened to God and to Death in some discussions of his place in the narrative of Harry Potter; I can accept this metaphor when considering his mirrorlike nature to Voldemort – after all, the Devil is a mirror to God with Jesus Christ acting as the ideal. God is capable of great wonder and great horror, much as Dumbledore is capable.

This has been a post of epic proportion, providing textual evidence for much of my original post on which I was questioned. Hopefully it has been educational and somewhat illuminating.