#tool of creation

[musingsofmaisie]

The Magic Trick You Didn't See

@ariaste I just finished reading your analysis. Interesting. Not sure I'm completely on board with your primary hypothesis, but you raise some very interesting points. Kudos for doing it.

Link to @ariaste piece here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/193IXS11XN46lziHRb6eUpM17yK0BQkRqke1Wh64A_e0/edit

I do have a few places where my thinking diverges from yours though.

First, on Aziraphale and Angel now-Crowley's meeting in Before the Beginning: I think the primary purpose of this scene was to establish that Crowley still possesses a Tool of Creation (that in S1 we assumed was merely a part of his exploded Bentley) and that this will be important in the denouement. He KISSES it, for goodness' sake. That, and of course that Angel now-Crowley was a joyful and precious innocent who didn't deserve his fate.

Go back to S1E5 when he mentions Alpha Centauri and "I worked on that." We are also given the distinct impression that Crowley was an angel of considerable rank and power. Seeing Crowley in Heaven with Muriel and the way he was treated by the leadership-can I get a "deferentially" here?-is a setup for the reveal of his identity. There are files! Aziraphale can request them! Aziraphale finding out the truth is to me the macguffin that will 1) make him realize that heaven is not the place of "truth, light and good" and 2) catalyze whatever action that brings the tale to its conclusion.

When Crowley interrogates Jim-the "It hurts!" "I KNOW! Do it anyway!" and "Yeah, like the places where the furniture used to be" both strongly indicated to me that Crowley was speaking from experience-that he had had his memory wiped when he Fell-and has recovered some, but not all of it. Hence the offer of a hot chocolate. Empathy. (I think this what he meant by "Ask him properly.")

Later, when he tries to explain Gravity to Jim, I got the feeling that that was one of the places where the furniture used to be. (And also not remembering Saraquiel and Furfur).

Second, in the story of Job, it's being told directly from Aziraphale's point of view, that's why I assumed, in his recollection, that Crowley Bildad the Shuhite was wearing cool shades. And this is also where Aziraphale makes reference that he knew the angel Crowley used to be. Before the Garden of Eden. And Crowley says "the angel you knew is not me". Rather harshly, I thought.

Currently rereading "the Crow Road" and annotating it. There do seem to be some compelling parallels so far. Makes me wonder when Muriel will get to Aziraphale's journals. Like you, I suspect that's where we're going next. I can't figure out the timeline, though. It seems like the next scene has to take place many years from now.

This is getting too long so I'll wrap up by saying that I'm convinced that NG would not foist on us a plot device that wraps up S3 like Bobby "It was all a dream" Ewing from the last season of Dallas. It would be a violation of his own writing ethos and his commitment to doing something that would make Terry proud. The Metatron is literally a Deus ex Machina, but I don't think that NG would rely solely on him-or that technique-to conclude the story.

We all want our heroes to get their happy ending. But knowing Neil's knack for the twist in the storyline, I' don't think I'm not sure that it will look like what we think it will.

Cheers,

Maisie

[astrhae]

crowley used the metal tool in season 1 to start time, and we learn that he's used it first to start space. to create the stars -- he still remembers how. he still remembers all of heaven's passwords: in the book crowley is described as an optimist because he has the "utter surety... that the universe would look after him". not god, but the universe. and of course he does: he helped create it and he's looking after it, too.

think about it: aziraphale had a sword, but crowley is about to face satan who wants to destroy the world, and crowley's only weapon is a tool of creation

[juniemunie]

[Abandoned by the Lightners, his heart became cracked with hatred.]

Hitting a lil' too close to home?

[ionomycin]

Welcome home

[luetta]

[void-and-virtue]

Lying on the floor in a puddle of my tears and staring blankly at the ceiling as I once again think about all the fucked up, multi-dimensional ways that Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk and Han Sooyoung encompass the god vs creation and deity vs worshipper dynamics

[a-devious-route]

The more you know:

[FR] J'ai découvert (thanks tiktok) ce petit site bien pratique qui référence des images qui sont libres de droits et/ou maintenant dans le domaine publique!

Je ne crois pas avoir vu beaucoup de gens en parler par ici, mais sharing is caring donc voilà! Si vous chercher des textures/images pour vos créations, je crois que vous allez en avoir pour un bon moment à hoarder le tout et explorer la plateforme!

-------

[EN] I discovered (thanks tiktok) this handy little site that references images that are royalty-free and/or now in the public domain!

I don't think I've seen many people talking about it around here, but sharing is caring so here you go! If you're looking for textures/images for your creations, I think you'll be hoarding and exploring the platform for a while !

See yah!

[ray-winters]

I have now turned the Majestic Rep Ride The Cyclone Cast into both Stardew Valley characters as well as Legos. This is how I have spent my weekend. No further questions.

[intramoon]

Just my thoughts on InZoi (that no one asked for) ...

I am not a cynic but I am skeptical of any new "life simulation" games. And that's not to say I don't want The Sims to have a competitor, I think EA needs a competitor for The Sims. For the price tag of The Sims, EA needs pressure on them to address their complacency (with game content, the growing issues with paid content, etc). InZoi is far from that. At face value, I think the gameplay is unimpressive. I can understand why people are drawn to an in-depth, hyperrealistic character creation but to what end? The inclusion of AI, even if just for primarly patterns/textures, is an increasingly slippery slope. It's just for patterns ... for now, but how will AI provide shortcuts for the company in the future? That's one of my concerns and I think it's a bit shady for the company to have this feature. Any kind of AI generation has significant environmental impacts and contributes to art theft/the distribution of AI that has burdened the art community. I struggle to find a justifiable reason for the game having AI because I don’t think there is one. If you consider the computer that is needed to run a game with graphics like InZoi, the game isn’t accessible to people with “lower-end”/older PCs. An issue The Sims team had to address with the Sims 4 ie. the change in graphics and the game no longer being open world. I like that more people can play The Sims without needing a PC that is worth thousands of dollars. I keep seeing the comparison of InZoi to GTAV NPCs. As someone who has spent a lot of time playing with friends on GTAV FiveM servers, even those servers have better gameplay than I’ve seen with InZoi. Not to be funny but InZoi reminds me of those invasive 3D p*rn game ads.

The other aspect of InZoi that bothers me a little (maybe a lot) is the stark difference in how “regular” simmers are reacting to InZoi versus how some content creators/custom content creators are reacting. It’s a little frustrating for the people, even if through EA’s allotted 21-day early accesses, who make hundreds if not thousands of dollars off the community aren’t acknowledging let alone addressing the glaring concerns users have about InZoi. It seems many of them are going to brush these concerns aside for the opportunity to mod for the game (a game to me that doesn’t seem to value artists' work) and worse case scenario will jump ship to InZoi if Simblr takes issue with it.

It’s … interesting.

[comrade-slugcat]

Rodimus absolutely shreds on the flamethrowing electric guitar (and is shortly thereafter arrested for several counts of arson)

[sillynpanc]

|Professor Layton and the Mistakes of the Past AU + Short summary of the story|

DISCLAIMER: Please consider this is just an alternate story/universe I'm making, Nothing that happens in this story interferes with the original timeline of the games, so remember that this is all just a fan-made story

This story may also contain spoilers for games released so far, in this case the story begins with the end of "Professor Layton and the Lost Future", but due to problems, Luke continues with Layton (I will go into more detail later)

.

I confess that I am very happy to be announcing this, I have been creating this for a long time, but unfortunately as I posted on Twitter, I ended up losing some things because Twitter was banned here in Brazil

But now that I've created this blog, I can finally get back to creating more stuff about it!

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A brief summary:

- "In "Professor Layton and the Mistakes of the Past", the esteemed professor and detective Hershel Layton and his faithful assistant Luke Triton are summoned to unravel a mysterious enigma involving the ancient Ashford family. The story begins when Victor Ashford, a member of the prestigious family, requests Layton's assistance to investigate a series of peculiar and unsettling events related to an ancestral artefact of his family

The Ashford mansion, with its elegance and beauty, hides more than it appears. Upon arrival, Layton and Luke encounter a Victor who, though polite and formal, reveals signs of deep concern and emotional burden. As the investigation progresses, they uncover that the artefact may be linked to an ancient curse and the Ashford family's dark secrets

Amidst mysteries, challenging puzzles, and surprising revelations, Layton and Luke must employ their full wit to uncover the truth. They will face challenges that go beyond ordinary riddles and delve into Victor's troubled past, as the truth about the artefact and its influence comes to light." -

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EXTRA‼️

(If you had the patience to read this far, I really appreciate it!

I will soon bring more information about it, and I really hope you like it!)

[pinayelf]

I made these for personal use, but I thought I'd share!

These are tiled image materials for CSP. They're transparent (the color backgrounds in the examples are ones I chose) so you can place them over any color background you'd prefer.

DOWNLOAD HERE (Free)

[flowery-laser-blasts]

Finally finished a sketch based on a convo between @miss-doodle-jester, @theatticdemon and I had about gardening.

The less you know the better.

[simplefoodsmallfarmz]

In the tradition.

When you operate a small farm, stuff happens and ya gotta stop and repair, replace or recycle what’s broken. It’s not always easy and it definitely is a time commitment, however, it still remains a blessing because during the downtime, lessons are learned.

What have you fixed recently?

[offside-the-lines]

Safe Sex Resource

A lot of the time, in our writings online, we don’t always show our characters practicing safe sex (whether for narrative flow or other reasons) and will just add in our author’s notes to practice safe sex in your real life. It can be hard to find good and concise information online so I have compiled this for authors to link in their notes. I recommend everyone take a look, there might be something in here you didn't already know.

This post is largely inspired by @fakejuly who shared a lot of their knowledge and advice from their years in the sw industry, and from my own experience creating curriculums for and teaching sex & relationship education.

I have tried to make it as inclusive as possible, please let me know if you have any feedback. If you spot something I missed, please let me know. I will be updating this periodically. My inbox is also always open if you have any questions/concerns/etc.

Last update: Jan 16, 2024

wrap it up

"Condoms prevent STIs and pregnancy in the vast majority of cases, when used correctly." 

Using a condom correctly and consistently can increase its efficacy from 87% to 98%. Most surveyed individuals are not using it correctly or consistently so make sure you are well-informed. We hear this all the time, but what does “used correctly” actually mean?

Familiarize yourself with the steps.

Using the right size: if it's too big, it can slide off or leak; if it's too small, it can break or come off. Condoms usually come in 5 sizes (there are options like MyONE that have 52 sizes).

Condoms can be damaged by heat. They should be kept somewhere cool (not in wallets, or sat on in back pockets, or kept in your glovebox). They also have an expiry date. 

Sex can also lead to friction (heat) so condoms should be changed between activities and after about 15 minutes of any vigorous activity.

Never double up (i.e. wearing two condoms or using both an external and an internal condom).

Use lube 100% of the time (except oral sex), even if you think you don't need it, even for "lubricated" condoms (the lube mainly stops it sticking to itself). Lube should be applied to the outside, but a drop in the tip of the condom before putting it on is also a good idea.

NEVER use oil-based lube or any type of oil (e.g. lotion, vaseline, coconut oil). Water based lube is the best option. Silicone based lube can be good for sex in water (e.g. shower, pool, bath) or providing more sustaining slip, but be careful near your sex toys (more on this later).

Penetrative partners should hold the base of the condom when they pull out immediately after they ejaculate so the condom doesn't leak or come off as the penis gets flaccid.

For oral sex (vulval or anal), you should use a barrier. You can make one out of a condom. (There are also companies like Loral that make latex “underwear” that have great sensation transfer and are a very good barrier for AFAB individuals).

Sharing sex toys: Most of the sex toy safety recommends "don't share them ever" which unfortunately is impractical for some people.

If more than one person is going to use the toy (within a session or between different sessions), use a condom.

Condoms are often coated in a thin layer of silicone lube. This can react with low-quality silicone toys - there are unlubricated condoms for those - but higher-quality (platinum cured) silicone should be fine. When in doubt, spot test on the base of the toy.

As with above, always use water-based lube. 

Condoms have not been proven to protect you from mold that the toy may be harboring or toxic chemicals from low-quality materials (e.g. jelly toys).

prevention is the best cure

Due to the variable efficacy of condoms, for individuals where pregnancy is a concern, it is recommended to also be using the pill, injection, IUD, etc.

Condoms (internal or external) are the only prevention for STIs. This isn't meant to be stressful - the most common STIs are treatable and often curable (more on this later).

STIs can be transmitted via fluids AND skin contact, so use condoms when you’re engaging in oral sex, hand stuff or sharing sex toys, in addition to penetrative sex.

STIs can be transmissible via any of your fluid membranes, that includes your mouth, throat, nose, and eyes.

Condoms are extremely effective against HIV, and reasonably effective against chlamydia and gonorrhea. Contracting chlamydia and gonorrhea is not the end of the world, it is curable with antibiotics but you can also be asymptomatic.

Condoms aren’t as effective at preventing herpes (symptomatically will manifest as open sores) and HPV (symptomatically will manifest as genital warts). 

Everyone who is able to should get the HPV vaccine, regardless of gender or sexuality. HPV is the most common STI. Most cases resolve on their own within 2 years, but for those that don’t, it can lead to cancers of the cervix, vagina, vulva, penis, anus and throat. Almost all cervical cancers are caused by HPV. The vaccine is extremely effective.

Even if you believe you have been safe and are asymptomatic, get tested regularly. At least once a year. (Even if you are in a long term monogamous relationship).

In summary:

Try your best to be safe but in real life, shit happens, so at least stick to these three things: 1) know your safety boundaries prior to sex and don't change them for anybody, 2) talk/ask about STI status before anything begins, and 3) get tested regularly.

CONSENT IS MANDATORY.

Communication is what makes sex good. Talking about sex is sexy. :) 

[topazadine]

Quality Assurance Checks for Character Development

Congratulations, you created a little guy! Now, we want to ensure that he (or she or they or it) will withstand the horrors of being thrust in front of an unloving audience.

I've invented some exercises that may help you refine your characterization and ensure that you have created a well-rounded, interesting character who has deep motivations and a consistent personality.

These are the not the end-all-be-all of characterization; they're not meant to be. Nor are they the only exercises you can do to ensure that your characters feel real. (Remember: characters aren't people, but they should feel like people.)

However, I hope these will give you a jumping-off point to tinker with your characters a bit more. Who knows? Maybe you'll even end up writing what you thought about here.

Also, they are in no particular order of importance, so pick the ones that feel relevant to you and leave the rest. Or do them all, I'm not your mom.

Alternate Universe (AU)

Purpose: To determine whether your character would feel "real" outside of the specific plot.

Good for: Characters who are bound by the narrative or seem to be pushed around by the plot too much.

Used on: Any character, but especially the MC.

How to do the exercise: Imagine a setting that is completely opposite to what you have in your story. This means you can't just transfer a Fantasy character into a SciFi story; they're too similar. Instead, think of putting a thriller character into a romance, or a fantasy character into a slice-of-life modern novel, or a literary character in a silly generic story.

How would they react? Would they still function as a character? Could you imagine them doing this?

Plot Eradication

Purpose: To determine whether the character is completely driven by the plot or would have interest on their own. Works similar to the above, but more radically.

Good for: Characters who are too bound by the narrative.

Used on: MC.

How to do the exercise: Remove the plot. Just get rid of it. The inciding incident never happened, the dragon didn't destroy the village, whatever.

Would you be able to come up with something else for the character to do? Could you imagine a different story for them within this same universe? If not, then your character is too wrapped up in this specific plot and could not stand on their own. They only exist for this one purpose. You need to give them some more agency.

Domino Plot Disaster

Purpose: To see if your character is making decisions that directly shape the plot, or if the plot seems to thrum on without them doing anything.

Good for: Characters that are too bound by the narrative.

Used on: MC, but could also be used on side characters.

How to do the exercise: At a pivotal plot point, make the character do something else. They may fail during a fight, or they may refuse to do something, or they may run away when the confrontation comes. It can even be smaller things, like refusing to talk to someone who could have given them good information.

Does the plot still get to where it needs to go without them doing what they did originally? Then you have built a good plot, to be sure, but the character is just being dragged along on strings, not making their own choices. Consider how you can give them more agency.

The No-Good Very-Bad Day

Purpose: To understand a character's motivations beyond another character, vocation, or activity.

Good for: Characters who do not have a clear drive or purpose in their lives, especially MCs whose lives revolve around a Love Interest.

Used on: Usually MCs with a Love Interest.

How to do the exercise: Have the worst possible thing that could ever happen to a character ... happen. Could be their partner dying, their home being destroyed, losing their job, whatever.

Now explain how they come back from this. Do not let them just kill themselves! Consider how they would build their life back up and what would encourage them to go on. This helps us understand what, beyond circumstance, really drives them.

Line Swapping

Purpose: To ensure that characters are differentiated enough.

Good for: Characters that are too similar to each other.

Used on: Two characters who you worry are too alike. Often the MC and Love Interest.

How to do the exercise: Take "quintessential" lines from the two characters and swap them for one another. Don't pick ones that are just "okay" or whatever; choose ones that you feel really distil their personality.

Now you take Character A's line and attribute it to Character B, and vice versa. Do this for as many lines as you feel is necessary. Preferably, you'll create a new "trick" draft just for this exercise. Keep everything else the same so you're forced to reread everything to find what you changed.

Now wait a week or two and revisit the text. Did you even notice that the character lines were switched without remembering where you put it? That means you need to work on differentiating them more.

Character Swapping

Purpose: To ensure that every character is differentiated enough; similar to above, but more global.

Good for: Side characters.

Used on: Mostly side characters (we will assume your MC can't be swapped out).

How to do the exercise: Take an action point and change who does it. For example, "Aya swung the sword high" becomes "Pima swung the sword high." Preferably, you will do this for more than a few character actions.

As with line swapping, let it sit for a while and see if you even noticed that you changed which side character did the action. If you didn't, then you can merge the two characters (Pimaya?), remove one, or work on differentiating them more, depending on how important they are.

Dramatis Personnae

Purpose: To ensure you do not have too many background characters.

Good for: Stories that have more than 5 named characters.

Used on: All named characters.

How to do the exercise: First, write out a list of all named characters with a brief bio for each of them. For example, "Uileac Korviridi is a cavalryman. He is Orrinir Relickim's husband and Cerie Korviridi's older brother."

Now, pick a metric based on the length of your story. This could be how many times they are named (use Google or Word's "search" function to figure that out), how many lines they speak, or how many pages/scenes they appear on. Write this down for every single character.

If you find that multiple characters only speak once, or are only named once, or appear in only a single scene, you need to look at them more carefully and decide if they really belong there. If they serve some purpose beyond idle back chatter, you could just not name them.

Perspective Flip

Purpose: To ensure all characters have coherent reactions to plot points - and that the MC you have chosen is interesting enough.

Good for: Wooden MCs or undifferentiated side characters.

Used on: Side characters.

How to do the exercise: Rewrite a scene from the perspective of a side character. Does the scene feel different? More interesting? What are they thinking about that is different than the MC? Do this for as many side characters as you want.

You might find that this allows you to differentiate them more and provide more interesting actions when you return to your main perspective. You may even find that your actual MC isn't as interesting as your side characters and that you have more work to do on them.

Hello, Human Resources?!

Purpose: In genres other than straight smut, to determine whether a love interest's actions are actually sweet, or whether the Love Interest is just physically attractive. (Inspired by the "Hello, Human Resources?!" meme.)

Good for: Love Interests who the author has firmly established is incredibly hot, with reams of pages about their glistening abs, but who is kind of an asshole.

Used on: Love Interests.

How to do the exercise: Swap out the incredibly handsome sexy fabulous good-looking rich Love Interest with some schlub, whatever that means to you.

Do their lines now feel icky? Creepy? Has all the chemistry gone bye-bye? Then that means you need to work on developing chemistry other than "Love Interest is hot."

Now, it's fine if MC now just likes them as a friend because they're not physically attracted to them. But if MC would be utterly repulsed by everything they do now that they don't have a ripped six-pack, you've got to fix stuff.

POV Mergers

Purpose: To ensure that you are using just enough POVs to tell the story. The more POVs you have, the more confusing it gets for the reader, and the more likely they are to give up.

Good for: Stories that have more than two POVs. Two POVs are common when telling a love story from both sides and is typically not a problem.

Used on: All POV characters.

How to do the exercise: Pick a POV and try telling it from one of the other POVs. Does it still work, or would it be impossible to explain things that way?

For example, it would be incredibly difficult to tell the same story without three POVs if all the characters are separated for a significant period of time, or if they all have different information that they are refusing to share until a significant reveal (such as in a murder mystery).

It would not be incredibly difficult to tell the same story if all the characters are together throughout the entire story and you're just splitting POVs because you think it makes it sound more intellectual.

Using this might also show you which POV is the most interesting and which is weaker, so you can Kirby-style absorb one POV into another.

Did you like this? Maybe you will like my book, too.

9 Years Yearning is a coming-of-age gay romance set in a fantasy world with poetry magic. We see the world through the eyes of Uileac Korviridi, orphaned at age 11 after a raid on the family farm and sent to the Bremish War Academy as a military trainee.

Uileac expects to spend his adolescence getting hit in the head with wooden swords, saving up to buy his own horse, and protect his little sister, Cerie, as she goes through her own training to become a High Poet.

What he does NOT expect is to become fascinated by Orrinir Relickim, a fellow soldier who is hopelessly in love with him (but refuses to admit it).

There are fistfights, horse purchases, tearful confessions - and, of course, some poetry.

If you do decide to purchase my book, please don't forget to leave a review!

Reviews are crucial for visibility on Amazon! I've been told that authors who don't get any reviews are actually sent to the real Amazon to be eaten by piranhas for their Bad Book Crimes.

Pls ... pls I don't want to be eaten, how will I make content for you that way?