torchicrph

[torchicrph]

RPCDIRECTORY is an 20+ discord server for finding roleplays (tumblr, jcink, discord, forum, etc), roleplay partners, rp mods, rp help, and fc help. let people know what you are brainstorming for an rp and gauge interest or post an ad and find some partners to 1x1 with. non-rp related topics/chat and problematic content is banned so that you have a safe and chill place to find rps and partners. link in the source !!

we accept members in waves of 100. if the invite link has expired please check this blog periodically for a new link.

[torchicrph]

Ornate writing that's not pretty prose

We've all been adviced against using purple prose or pretty prose in our writing, and I do go by that statement- pretty prose is like studding a frying pan with rhinestones. Sure you might've bedazzled it but it's deprived of its functionality.

Pretty prose distracts the reader from the soul of your book.

But that does not mean your writing can't be lyrical or descriptive. There's a fine line between lyrical writing and purple prose. But there are simple ways to enhance your description and prose without it being overly decorated and distracting.

TIPS TO WRITE LYRICALLY WITHOUT IT BEING PURPLE

Play around with words : for enhancing description, you don't have to use words that only an oxford graduate will understand. Instead be creative with your combination of words. For instance, when writing the description of a sunlight, instead of using adjectives like bright, shiny, golden etc. try to use words which you won't at first think of using in this scenario - like strands of sunlight, or a splatter of sunlight.

Pay attention to the when's and where's: it's important to pay attention to where you want to elaborate and where you want to keep it simple. You probably shouldn't be describing that park bench that your characters will sit in once and never visit again. But you might want to describe it if that park bench is where the story takes place - if it has emotional significance to the story or the description is necessary to the plot. Don't go elaborating the setting in the middle of an action scene. But if it's your characters just entered a misty forest that's about to change their lives - go ahead. Use all your creative energy.

Describe feelings rather than appearance: you can write prettily when describing how your character is feeling rather than how your character or their surroundings look. Say your characters depression is like being trapped in a tangle of ivy, or how your character feel like they inhaled stardust when they see their loved one. Concentrate on their feelings.

[torchicrph]

this website's negativity, knee-jerk reaction to assume the worst and utilize bad faith assumptions, and toxicity will eat you alive if you're not careful. i'm not proud to admit that the same happened to me for 3 years. i became a progressively more bitter and hateful person as i immersed myself more in this website's culture, especially the queer community on here. i found myself talking more about what i hated than what i loved. i found myself focusing on making sure that i wasn't anything like what i hated instead of becoming a person i loved. i didn't love myself, i only saw what i hated.

don't let it do the same to you. my quality of life was nonexistent during those years of my life. i was so negative, it took until people in my life pointed it out for me to see it. i only cared about talking about how i didn't want to be what i hated, i never spoke about what i wanted to be. i lost my interests. i stopped drawing, i stopped interacting others' art. i stopped playing video games. i stopped chatting with friends. i stopped taking care of myself. all i became was a walking vessel for my political beliefs.

i was just virtue signaling all day long. i wasn't helping anyone, especially not myself. that's not what activism is.. i'm not proud to admit it, but it's what was happening for 3 straight years of my life. fighting for a cause ultimately means nothing if you're causing more harm than good. hurting more people than you help isn't worth it. hurting yourself isn't worth it, either. making yourself sick and miserable over trying to do some good isn't helping in the long run.

it's so easy to get sucked into the trap of toxic virtue signaling and moral grandstanding on here. it's so easy to want to show everyone that you're one of the good guys. it's so easy to profess what you hate and how you're nothing like that, because it's all anyone else on here does. be careful. i finally realized it and am digging myself out of it. if you've found yourself in this pit, you can dig yourself out, too. it takes some time and effort, but it's worth it.

focus on what you love, not on what you hate. you can dislike peoples' actions without it ruling your life. it's fine to feel hatred, but it's not okay for it to be your only motivator in life. you're becoming the people you hate when you let this happen to you. it took me far too long to see it was happening to me, but the important part is that i'm putting in the effort to make change. you can do it, too. it's worth it.

[torchicrph]

PSA: Your blog, your posts.

Ever feel bad about posting ‘too much OOC?’ Feel like you’re reblogging a few too many aesthetic posts? Maybe you feel genuinely pressured to reblog something even though you know it won’t get any reach on your blog given that it’s a niche, unsearchable roleplay blog.

Just remind yourself that you are a person. It’s your blog. If something makes you happy, you can do as you please in a hobby space. If someone complains about someone posting ‘too much OOC’, they can shut up and quietly mute your OOC tag for a bit. Not everyone is going to write every day, sometimes you just want to reblog a funny meme relevant to your muse(s) and that’s perfectly fine.

Be kind about what people decide to post. For instance, don’t make a fuss if you see some variant of a signal boosting post on someone else’s blog, but on the flip-side, also don’t guilt and point fingers at others for not posting or engaging with certain things given the RPC context. Don’t overthink it, don’t let anyone make you feel you can’t run your blog the way YOU want to.

[torchicrph]

TUTORIAL: cutting beta editor posts while mobile on android

hello everyone !! i stumbled upon this super easy and straightforward method to cut posts in the beta editor while mobile for android users and wanted to share !! it requires the installation of a mobile extension compatible browser (firefox or kiwi) and then everything else is done natively within the mobile browser version of tumblr itself. it uses the exact same process with xkit rewritten as the desktop browser site — no need to toggle back and forth between things. after the set up, you can use tumblr to roleplay on mobile almost identically as you do on desktop !! this method is currently only feasible on android. the bottom of this tutorial details what my friend and i tested on iphone for those interested in troubleshooting this for ios further. read on for the tutorial on how to set everything up !!

tldr; if you're an android user, you can install a mobile browser that will let you use xkit rewritten. this essentially lets you perform the same workflow as desktop on mobile to cut posts.

keywords: mobile rping, beta editor, cutting posts on mobile written 12.19.2023. edited 05.22.2024.

**WARNING** ANDROID ONLY TUTORIAL

this does NOT work with ios. this tutorial was written by a samsung galaxy user so all screenshots are specific to that phone, but it should all look very similar for other android users.

Step 1. Install a Mobile Extension-Compatible Browser

this method hinges on using a mobile browser that allows for the usage of chrome or firefox extensions on mobile.

firefox on android allows for use of many of their extensions on mobile, including xkit rewritten. there are also other integrations between their web and mobile interface as well. the european browser kiwi browser allows for installation of many google chrome-based extensions on mobile. it does not integrate to google chrome in any other way. if you choose kiwi, make sure the icon is of kiwi the bird not the fruit (shown below). pick whichever you like. i've tried both on my phone and in terms of mobile tumblr browser and xkit rewritten they appear to function identically for purposes of cutting posts.

Step 2. Install & set up XKit Rewritten

for firefox...

click the kebob menu (three vertical dots) in the upper righthand corner. click "add-ons". scroll to the bottom of the page that pops up and click "find more add-ons." search for xkit rewritten and click add to firefox. (sidenote: i also recommend picking up ublock and privacy badger while you're here).

once xkit rewritten is installed, go to tumblr.com in firefox and log into your account. we will now set up xkit rewritten. click the kebob menu and click "add-ons" again. there should be an arrow next to "add-ons" this time. clicking it will open the list of extensions added to firefox. find xkit rewritten and select it. this will open the configuration menu for xkit rewritten. scroll until you see the trim reblogs option with the green scissors icon and toggle it on.

for kiwi (google chrome extension compatible)...

navigate to the chrome extension store (https://chromewebstore.google.com). you may have to type this in manually or head to google and search for it. in the extension store, search for xkit rewritten. you will be taken to the usual chrome extension installation page as you are on desktop browser. go ahead and click 'add to chrome'.

go to tumblr.com in the kiwi browser and log into your account. we will now set up xkit rewritten. look for the kebab menu (three vertical dots) in the upper right hand corner of your screen and click it.

you will now see the browser settings. scroll all the way to the bottom. find the xkit rewritten option and click it. if after clicking the menu, you only see options for a new tab, incognito mode, settings, etc, make sure you are actively in a tab, not on the page that allows you to navigate between tabs. clicking xkit rewritten will open a configuration menu similar to the one on desktop browser. scroll through the options and toggle on trim reblogs, the one with green scissors icon (as well as any other desired xkit rewritten settings).

for both browsers...

refresh your tumblr page and navigate to your original posts. at the bottom of your posts you should now see the trim reblogs' scissors icon.

Step 3. write and cut a post

the set up is now complete !! you should now be able to write, draft, and cut a post as you do on desktop browser. a refresher : write your reply, draft/queue/schedule your post, navigate to where you drafted/queued the post, click the scissors icon, make sure the first box is checked, and click "trim!" . if you would like a more in depth tutorial on how to step through the actual cutting process with xkit rewritten's trim reblogs, check out my other beta/xkit rewritten tutorial here. the same technique of scheduling a post for a few minutes in the future, scheduling it, and clicking the green popup at the bottom of the screen will still take you directly to where the post is in your queue as it does on desktop !! images of how things look on mobile are below. you are also able to paste in a gif with the image link and remove the hyperlink text as you do on desktop.

Additional Tips

i find typing my reply in my notes app and formatting it there ( bold, italic, etc ) is much easier than trying to format in tumblr on mobile browser itself. i am able to copy and paste a reply from notes into a tumblr post with all formatting intact ( as long as i use the paste function that shows up by long-pressing in the tumblr post editing space ). this is true for both browsers covered in this tutorial. the only formatting i do in tumblr post is making my reply all small text. if the automatic floating mobile dialogue box on your phone ( the one containing copy, paste, select all, etc ) is blocking the built-in tumblr post formatting controls ( bold, italic, small text, etc ), you should be able to drag the floating mobile dialogue box around to a less annoying place. you then should be able to select the small text button and other tumblr formatting without issue. this is at least the case with a samsung galaxy. this ends the tutorial portion !!

Notes on iOS

it appears this method will not currently work with ios as apple restricts things with third party extensions in its app store. ( sorry iphone users, we really tried to make it work. take up complaints with apple ). here are the things my friend i tried to get xkit rewritten installed/working on an ios mobile browser.

1. firefox is not able to provide their extensions in ios. the mozilla support page notes: "Apple has created a proprietary iOS extension system which is incompatible with Firefox add-ons and extensions for Android, Mac, Windows and Linux." 2. the kiwi browser that shows in the apple store is not the same one as the one in google play. it should be an icon of kiwi the bird, not kiwi the fruit. the fruit one does not work. 3. we tried the orion browser on iphone and were able to get pretty far but no dice. they were able to install xkit rewritten through orion's firefox extension library but while the configuration menu showed, the xkit rewritten changes did not take on tumblr mobile browser. orion does admit not all extensions work at this time and this may change in the future. 4. another potential method is to get access to xkit rewritten by using chrome's remote desktop access (a tutorial here), but we did not try this.

if anyone is able to figure out a way to install and execute xkit rewritten on ios please feel free to write your own tutorial and please let me know — i would be happy to link it with this one. kindly, please also consider linking this one as a tutorial for android users in it as well.

this concludes the tutorial !! please give this a like and/or reblog if you found this useful. thank you for reading and happy rping !!

[torchicrph]

About the previous owner of this URL.

Okay, I know for people just now looking in, it can get confusing. What it seems like is a kind of witch-hunt by a few of us against one specific person, and that person is more than willing to play up to that and cry victim.

Seriously, they're not. What they are is someone who has serially stalked and harassed multiple (and by that I mean a LOT) of RPers in different fandoms going all the way back to at least 2016/17. They have driven four people completely out of the RPC that I personally know about, and there have almost certainly been more.

They never change. They just keep coming back and doing the same thing over and over again. They have knowingly harmed people, triggered them (I know someone who has a panic attack whenever they think they might encounter this person again). And they Just. Keep. Doing it.

They've been doing this shit for 8+ years, and this is why they're not welcome in the RPC anymore.

Here is the latest (2023/4/5) callout doc with plenty of evidence, and I can get more.

They've been through a lot of fandoms over the years, but their targets are almost always male muses with some sort of 'dark' or 'dangerous' leaning, and/or military characters.

What they do: tl;dr

Send dozens of unsolicited asks looking for RP, often with unwelcome or downright creepy overtones, and ignore any and all boundaries.

Get aggressive, accusatory and guilt-trippy when rejected and will not take no for an answer.

Block evade, either by making a new blog or whining to people's partners about being blocked. They repeatedly refollow people who have already blocked them at least once.

Outright attack and harass their target's ship partners (or anyone who even makes a joke about shipping, or gets the attention they want). Meanwhile, they'll be pushing the male muse to ship themselves.

Flirts with an adult male muse using a 'child-appearing' muse (possibly not an actual child but has the appearance of one) or gets touchy-feely on anon toward other 'child' muses (and continues when told to stop).

Pretend to be someone else. Either returning on another blog/on anon and pretending they're a different person, or making another blog and claiming to be the 'best friend' of the one who did all of the above and defending them.

Change URLs repeatedly when called out or confronted in order to hide and keep doing what they're doing. Then eventually delete and come back 'as someone else' (see above) and do the same things again, often block-evading in the process.

Longer version below (I'm aware that some of my screencaps don't prove it's them, but the pattern of behavior will be very familiar).

1. Send continual asks both anon and not (I'm talking dozens a day), trying to push for interaction. This is usually with either some massively over-powered Mary-Sue or a cutesy child-appearing muse (child vampire, anime-style fox or cat-girl). Many of these asks go into sensual or sexual aspects (unwanted touching etc) even when asked IC and OOC to stop.

The Mary-Sues arrive throwing their weight around and being invincibly powerful. The mun gets angry when the target doesn't just accept this, and starts lashing out OOC. The 'child' muses start off cutesy but then begin flirting with adult-appearing males.

(They also send anons as animals or young children, which isn't bad on its own but is another way they get under people's guard.)

If the target doesn't answer all their (many) asks, or tells them they're not interested/are not RPing at the moment/are busy/didn't receive the asks, they make not-veiled-in-the-least accusations that the target is lying. They absolutely refuse to respect boundaries or take no for an answer. If you refuse to interact they will demand to know why and then not accept the explanation. If you block them, they will come back with another blog.

2. Attack and harass the target's writing partners, especially those receiving the IC attention (mostly romantic) they want for themselves. This runs from oblique 'you shouldn't talk to [name] that way' to 'do you want to date [name]?' through to OOC 'how do you know [blog name]', accusations of 'forcing a ship' and demands that the shipping partner back off. If this doesn't work out they become outright aggressive toward the shipping partner muns, sometimes having their 'muse' act violently toward the other.

Meanwhile, they're busy trying to (guess what?) force a ship on the target muse, often with the 'child-like' muses as mentioned above.

3. Pretend to be someone else. I became aware of this person somewhere around 2018-ish, when they had Shinobu Oshino blog called VampireDonuts. They were pestering at least three people in the historical RP fandoms with unsolicited asks. Another regular alt of theirs is an 'elven princess' going by 'thepureststar', 'ofpurestarlight' or variations on that theme (Emilia Clarke as an FC, usually opens with offering a drink). They brushed past a ship-partner of mine and we didn't think much of it at the time. We were apparently luckier than others had been (callout at the time here, began with the URL 'Coffeeisms', then started with one of the 'starlight' ones). Almost every single thing that's gone down from this person in the last couple of years, they were doing back then. Including block-evasion.

At a point where they were using 'ofpureststarlight' and someone started pointing out harassment from them. Another blog appeared, 'ofcelestialfire', lashing out at the accusers and talking up 'ofpureststarlight' as a wonderful friend. However the behavior, language and certain spelling/grammar errors were exactly the same. I wasn't privy to whatever finally proved they were the same, but they were called out and promptly deactivated both.

In late 2022/early 2023 they hit the Avatar (blue people) fandom and attached themselves to the main antagonist, first with the URL 'lotusreigned' (see the last part of point 1 above!).

After being blocked, they showed up with another Shinobu Oshino account 'loverofdonuts', then after being called out for their harassment again, ran through 'ofbloodissims', 'ofbatissims' and a few others in between. And then ...

As 'ofpureststarlight' they went completely off their tree at someone who was joking with the mun, dropping flirty crack asks that no-one else was taking seriously. That person has since deactivated so most the evidence is lost, but here are a few examples.

Around this same time they were hitting the DBZ fandom, and mid-2023 Spiderverse. Again, whenever blocked they would come back with a new blog and follow the same people who had just blocked them. Some of this is in the callout linked above.

Fast forward to last year, when they were being called out on this URL ...

Ironically they only arrived on this URL because they'd been called out for harassment on the original ('lotusreigned', followed by 'purplelightningwaves' and a few others).

It's also around this point that the callout linked at the top of this post comes in.

So, yeah ... I kinda lost my point of what I was going for here, but when warnings go out about this person we are not just being bitches to some poor soul. This person is bad news, has been for years, and continues to be.

[torchicrph]

𝑷𝑺𝑨: 𝑨𝒏𝒐𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒔 𝑵𝒐 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒆

sending anon hate is not just cowardly, it’s disgusting.

it's easy to hide behind a screen and hurl your negativity, but it doesn't make you tough. it makes you a coward. you can’t stand behind your words, you can’t face the consequences of your actions, and you sure as hell can’t contribute anything meaningful to this community. if you were strong enough to face the world with respect, you'd show your face and speak with dignity.

anonymous hate serves no purpose other than to bring others down, and that's something we WILL NOT tolerate here. if you can't handle the creativity, passion, and collaboration that makes this space great, then leave. don't drag others down with your bitter, empty words.

this rpc thrives on inclusivity, respect, and kindness. if you’re too weak to offer that, if your only contribution is venomous attacks behind an anonymous screen, then you are not welcome here.

we stand together, creating stories and sharing moments. we don’t stand for cruelty, and we sure as hell don’t stand for people like you.

you want to tear someone down? grow up and face them with the courage to speak truthfully, or don’t say anything at all.

your hate is not wanted here. your cowardice is not welcome.

this is a space for creators, not for trolls. you don’t belong here.

𝑲𝑬𝑬𝑷 𝑰𝑻 𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑫. 𝑲𝑬𝑬𝑷 𝑰𝑻 𝑹𝑬𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑭𝑼𝑳. 𝑶𝑹 𝑲𝑬𝑬𝑷 𝑰𝑻 𝑴𝑶𝑽𝑰𝑵𝑮. 𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆.

[torchicrph]

if you click on the fic with the tags that you know will trigger you, it's on you.

If you click 'let me see it anyways' on a blog that you've blocked, it's on you.

It's doubly on you if you block evade to look at something you shouldn't be able to see, or get a friend to send you screenshots.

If you go into a room labelled 'people who hate you', you can't be surprised when they hate you.

You are responsible for what you engage with and what you spread. You cannot control how people feel about you or what they say about you, nor should you try to. Really, you shouldn't care what people who you have blocked think about you, especially behind closed doors. You shouldn't give other random fuck wits that much power over you.

Obsessing over it, keeping track of, constantly posting about it and engaging with it, does no good for anyone involved. Especially not you. I promise. I fucking promise. It is better for your mental health to stop engaging, stop acknowledging. Block. Move on.

If you block someone, you have to actually block them. You have to ignore them. They stop existing. They don't matter. Ditto if you get blocked.

[torchicrph]

I hesitate to call this a "template" "by me" bc it's just stock assets within the Canva library that I've collected together for easier editing, but here is a gift from me for your pride month needs!

Here are 42 examples of cool pride icons you can make in Canva! I took a couple images of Frisk from Undertale in official artwork from the game, and compiled all these different pages to serve as inspiration/examples for things you can make in Canva! This is meant as a companion to that Canva tutorial Gdoc, it's something I invite you to mess around with to help you learn.

— This is a Canva template, to edit in a browser. More detailed instructions on how to edit it and use Canva are contained in the file itself, and my Gdoc is here! If you have any other questions, I'll keep my asks open. — Two different versions, a 100x100px and a 300x300px. — Difficulty: 1/5 — Requires Canva pro?: Maybe. Some assets do, some don't. This would be a good time to get a free trial of Pro to see if you'll want it in the future. — TOU: Free to edit the template to your liking - that's what it's here for! - but don't make money/claim as your own idea, credit me, likes and reblogs appreciated!

Link.

[torchicrph]

PRIDE.  —  a dash icon template by concinnitytm

happy pride month! i’ve been making dash icons with this template for my friends for some time now, so i figured i would share it now that i have an actual resource blog. contains twenty-one different pride flags, with ten gender identities and eleven sexual/romantic attraction ones + the option to split the heart in half to show off two flags at once. the icon has a transparent background  ( includes a tumblr blue layer to test how it looks on the dash )  and is sized at 64x64 aka the optimal dash icon size. i have made all of the pixel hearts myself painfully slowly, so please don’t take them anywhere else without permission. the font on the optional name space is disposable droid bb. if i have missed any identities, do shoot me a message and i’ll update the file. download link under cut, like or reblog if you plan to use, and credit me in a post or otherwise so people know where they can get one! 

Keep reading

[torchicrph]

welcome  to  a  guide  for  2025  rpc  and  a  throwback  to  the  importance  of  creating  well  rounded  ,  developed  characters  .

a  general  lovenote  and  reminder  on  how  to  create  characters  people  want  to  rp  with  ,  as  discussed  by  g.    please  note  ,  these  are  all  my  own  thoughts  and  feelings  ,  but  i'm  not  '  married  '  to  any  of  this  .  i'm  happy  for  open  conversation  ,  thoughts  ,  feedback  etc  ,  but  i  don't  tolerate  aggressive  messaging  .

the  first  thing  i  think  about  when  i  think about  my  character  ,  whether  for  a  rp  ,  a  book  ,  a  short  story  ,  or  a  1x1  partner  is  .  .  .  where  is  my  character  ?  not  just  physically  ,  but  emotionally  .  what  got  them  there  ?  what  have  they  already  overcome  ?  what  do  they  have  LEFT  to  overcome  ?

whenever  i  write  or  create  a  character  ,  i  think  about  them  in  the  same  way  i  think  about  any  story  making  .  stories  (  typically  and  in  some  manner  )  have  beginnings  ,  climaxes  and  ends  .  they  also  have  problems  that  need  to  be  solved  (  or  not  solved  )  .  there's  an  arc  we  follow  .  we  go  up  the  mountain  ,  then  back  down  again  .

a  beginning  is  not  necessarily  '  born  in  1982  ,  to  two  loving  parents  '  .  it  doesn't  need  to  be  a  beginning  of  time  ,  but  can  just  be  the  beginning  to  your  characters  story  .  e.g  '  despite  having  two  loving  parents  ,  she  had  a  deep  focus  on  soccer  .  if  not  soccer  ,  then  maths  .  if  not  maths  ,  something  else  .  from  a  young  age  ,  she  strove  for  perfection  and  being  the  best  at  something  .'

this  beginning  sets  the  tone  of  your  character  .  in  a  few  sentence  ,  we  can  already  see  what  kind  of  person  she  is  and  know  that  she  has  some  internal  demons  she's  battling  .  we  don't  necessarily  need  her  entire  family  tree  unless  it's  critical  to  the  story.

from  there,  we  have  our  climax  or  problem  statement  ,  where  things  really  begin  to  boil  .  again  ,  it  doesn't  necessarily  need  to  be  '  everything  came  to  a  head  when  her  mother  died  '  .  we  can  make  it  more  character  focused  by  writing  '  in  2012  ,  her  mother  died  and  she  threw  herself  into  trying  to  create  the  perfect  replacement  family  .  she  got  married  to  4  different  men  in  the  space  of  5  years  ,  and  has  5  children  shared  among  them  ,  as  well  as  2  step  children  .  but  she  is  unable  to  settle  down  .  she  feels  restless  .  she  finds  it  hard  to  be  a  mother  because  everything  reminds  her  of  her  own  mother  ,  and  the  loss  she's  endured  .  '  now  ,  we  already  know  two  things  about  our  character  :

1  .  she  wants  to  be  perfect  and  the  best  ,  including  at  creating  families

2  .  she  is  terrified  of  her  role  in  motherhood  due  to  the  loss  of  her  own  mother  and  feeling  unmoored  without  her

this  can  then  take  us  to  the  problem  solving  portion  of  the  character  .  this  is  usually  where  i  like  to  start  my  character  in  rps  and  1x1  and  novel  worlds  .  we  have  these  2  issues  and  2  core  beliefs  within  the  character  .  they're  instrumental  to  her  .  how  are  we  going  to  overcome  it  ?  ARE  we  going  to  overcome  it  ?

we  can  begin  to  think  of  the  butterfly  effect  in  terms  of  our  character  .  we  can  begin  to  think  of  the  tree   and  its  branches  growing  within  her  ,  extending  out  to  other  characters  .  we  can  see  how  she  effects  other  people  ,  including  those  close  to  her  ,  not  close  to  her  ,  new  friends  ,  old  friends  ,  new  love  interests  ,  past  interests  .  we  can  create  drama  and  connections  because  we  have  a  strong  foundation  .

so  .  where  does  it  end  ?  does  it  need  to  end  happily  ?  simple  answer  is  no  .  your  character  can  end  in  the  exact  same  place  as  they  did  at  the  beginning  ,  but  the  point  is  that  we've  gone  on  the  journey  with  the  character  .  maybe  we've  seen  her  talk  to  her  mother's  grave  .  maybe  we've  seen  her  go  to  grief  counselling  .  maybe  she's  gotten  pregnant  or  married  again  .  the  problem  statement  doesn't  stop  her  or  stick  her  in  one  place  .  in  fact  ,  if  anything  ,  it  can  encourage  her  to  keep  making  the  same  mistakes  .  on  the  coin  flip  ,  she  can  learn  .  she  can  grow  .  she  can  heal  .  she  can  mend  the  relationships  with  her  kids  ,  her  past  partners  ,  rekindle  love  ,  or  find  new  love  .  the  whole  point  in  the  made-up  'ending'  for  a  character  ,  is  that  we  have  options  .  we  haven't  locked  her  down  .  we  can  continue  to  plot  ,  connect  ,  develop  ,  etc  ,  as  we  go  along  .

QUESTIONS  AND  THOUGHTS  I  CONSIDER  WHEN  CREATING  A  CHARACTER  :

how  has  your  character  ended  up  where  they  are  right  in  this  moment?  think  about  where  you’re  starting  them  from,  and  what  that  looks  like  realistically.  not  just  physically  :  how  did  they  get  to  this  place  ?  but  also  mentally  :  what  did  they  have  to  do  to  become  the  person  they  are  ?  was  it  good  or  bad  ?  everything  you  are  and  do  and  become  as  a  human  is  made  up  of  tiny  almost  inconsequential  decisions  or  choices  you  made.  you  decided  to  study  x.  you  broke  up  with  y.  your  parent  passed  away  so  you  had  to  come  back  to  your  childhood  home.  your  illustrious  career  came  crashing  down  and  you  need  a  place  to  cool  off.  you  never  left  here,  you’ve  been  here  from  the  beginning,  because  you’re  searching  for  something.  what  is  it?  what  is  the  thing  that  has  your  character  right  where  they  are  in  this  exact  moment  ? 

what  emotion  do  they  feel  the  most?  regret,  anger,  longing,  nostalgia  ?  this  helps  drive  your  characters  motives  past  and  presently.  it  also  helps  you  understand  their  goals.  what  they  want  to  achieve  and  why.  maybe  they  yearn  for  longing  and  friendship  and  connection  because  they  never  got  it  as  a  child,  whether  at  home  or  at  school.  maybe  they  regret  not  keeping  in  touch  with  their  childhood  friends  because  now  they  are  surrounded  by  people  they  can’t  trust  and  work  in  a  shitty  environment  where  you  have  to  climb  over  others  to  get  on  top.  everyone  has  a  goal.  everyone  has  an  emotion  that  drives  it.  what  is  your  characters  and  why  does  it  matter?  how  does  it  present? 

when’s  the  last  time  they  cried  and  why?  everybody  cries  and  everybody  cries  in  very  different  ways.  it  says  a  lot  about  the  emotional  state  of  a  character  and  their  emotional  health.  are  they  in  tune  with  their  emotions  and  cry  at  appropriate  times?  do  they  compartmentalise  it?  do  they  only  cry  when  angry?  dig  into  it  and  think  of  the  why  why  why.  why  does  my  character  only  cry  at  this  one  thing?  why  does  my  character  only  feel  safe  crying  alone?  why. 

what  is  your  characters  biggest  regret  in  life?  did  they  get  on  a  plane  when  they  should  have  stayed?  did  they  study  a  subject  only  because  their  parents  wanted  them  to?  did  they  not  kiss  the  girl  when  they  wanted  to?  let’s  be  honest.  our  lives  are  filled  with  “if  only  i’d  done  xyz”  .  if  only  .  this  also  provides  a  great  opportunity  to  MAKE  these  plots  and  plot  with  other  people.  now  we  can  come  up  with  exes  or  ex  best  friends  or  old  flames  or  whatever  whatever  ,  because  there’s  a  good  chance  your  character  regrets  something  that  impacts  someone  else  and  they  regret  it  BECAUSE  of  that  impact  . 

ADDITIONAL  THOUGHTS  AND  TIPS  I'VE  PICKED  UP  WHILE  RPING

honestly  the  more  “whys”  you  can  answer  for  your  character,  the  more  in  depth  you’re  getting.  in  order  for  other  people  to  understand  your  character,  you  need  to  understand  them  yourself.  you  can’t  expect  people  to  write  with  your  character  if  they  don’t  really  have  much  of  a  stable  personality  and  your  plots  don’t  make  much  sense.  remember:  plotting  should  contribute  to  your  character  and  their  development.  human  relationships  don’t  just  exist  because  we  like  them.  they  exist  because  they  serve  an  unserved  part  within  ourselves. 

genuinely  think  of  their  hobbies.  it’s  all  well  and  good  to  say  “she’s  a  bookworm  and  loves  puzzles”  “he  likes  music”  but  like.  what  does  that  actually  mean?  WHY  do  they  like  certain  things  ?  do  they  like  reading  books  or  writing?  do  they  like  fantasy  and  escapism  because  it  reminds  them  of  childhood?  do  they  listen  to  only  their  dads  favourite  music  because  they  miss  him?  do  they  make  playlists  for  niche  and  specific  moods  only  applicable  to  them?  why  are  their  hobbies  important  to  them? 

consider  their  connections,  not  just  future  but  npc  and  current.   how  would  5  close  friends  describe  them  in  one  word?  how  would  their  ex  describe  them  in  one  word?  what  is  one  thing  that  others  could  safely  always  rely  on  your  character  for  (eg  designated  driver  on  nights  out,  always  having  some  type  of  fidgeting  device,  knowing  a  phone  app  to  help  you  meditate  or  streamline  a  process  etc  etc).  we  all  exist  in  the  worlds  of  our  loved  ones,  past,  present  and  future.  we  leave  marks  with  them.  we  are  known  to  them.  so  what  is  your  character  known  and  loved  for? 

pick  your  plot  first,  not  your  fc  or  your  character.  i  know  this  sounds  counterintuitive  but  when  you  have  a  plot  for  a  character  and  a  clear  path  for  development  -  it  helps  everything  else  fall  into  place.  the  worst  thing  are  characters  that  are  plotless  (specifically  for  group  rping).  i’m  going  to  be  honest  here:  your  character  has  to  have  something  to  give  other  characters.  whether  it’s  drama,  information,  hidden  secrets,  a  connection…  your  character  has  to  have  something  of  substance.  i’d  actually  prefer  they’re  a  stereotype  then  they’re  just  aimless  and  personality-less.  when  you  have  a  big  overarching  plot  and  path  for  your  character,  it  will  not  only  help  you  plot  with  others,  but  also  help  keep  your  character  moving  and  not  JUST  reliant  on  others  to  pick  up  the  slack

rping  has  always  used  the  yes  and…?  rule.  that  extends  to  your  characters.  instead  of  yes  and…?  think  of  So…  what?  your  character  loves  to  bake.  ok.  so  what?  what  does  that  mean  for  a  thread,  or  another  character?  why  do  we  care?  maybe  we’d  care  if  your  character  bakes  experimental  stuff  and  loves  to  test  it  on  other  muses.  maybe  we’d  care  if  your  character  used  to  be  a  professional  baker  but  hasn’t  baked  lovingly  in  a  while.  maybe  we’d  care  if  your  character  is  a  baker  but  has  lost  their  charm  and  schtick  and  can’t  bake  the  way  they  used  to.  this  stuff  is  important.  don’t  just  stick  arbitrary  things  onto  your  character  and  expect  others  to  care,  especially  when  you  don’t  care  and  have  just  put  it  on  your  character  as  a  random  quirk.  that’s  not  how  people  and  humans  work.  everything  means  everything. 

your  character  doesn’t  have  to  be  likeable  but  they  do  have  to  be  memorable.  evil  nasty  girls,  manipulative  jerks…  yeah  that’s  all  ok!  but  also  you  kinda  have  to  show,  don’t  tell.  you  can’t  just  SAY  your  character  is  the  “head  bitch  in  charge”  and  then  she  never  actually  talks  or  says  anything  or  does  anything.  sorry,  but  in  order  for  me  to  see  your  character,  you  actually  have  to  write  them  or  at  the  very  least  headcanon  them.  otherwise,  they’re  just  a  blob  of  musings  in  the  ether. 

in  order  to  create  a  character  ,  you  have  to  write  your  character  .  i  see  this  a  lot  in  groups  ..  people  love  to  create  a  character  pinterest  ,  graphics  ,  aesthetics  galore  .  its  amazing  !  but  they  don't  actually  write  the  character  and  it  can  close  off  a  lot  of  opportunities  to  plot  because  people  don't  know  who  your  character  really  is  .  i  hate  to  say  it  ,  and  its  not  true  for  everyone  but  :  if  you're  relying  on  aesthetic  ,  then  you  could  be  lacking  in  the  actual  creation  and  writing  aspect  .  plus  ,  people  have  come  here  to  WRITE  with  YOU  .  not  just  see  fan  edits  of  your  character  .  write  .  write  badly  .  write  starters  ,  even  if  they  scare  you  .  write  with  people  you  don't  know  .  write  with  yourself  .  write  with  your  best  friend  .  but  you  have  to  actually  do  the  writing  part  .

[torchicrph]

GOD OF GODS ; < download > . a simple, free, promo or graphic template. sized 540x304px; fonts used are abeezee, abril fatface, and courier new. as usual, don’t claim this as your own and reblog if you find it useful.

[torchicrph]

#87 “ SLIPFAST ” template by jessource.

original and premium template. if using please like / reblog and don’t forget to leave credit somewhere visible. fonts used: Forma DJR Variable + Gotika Ornament.

psd (made for the template) + textures included.

don’t redistribute, steal or claim as your own.

any issues, don’t hesitate to contact me.

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[torchicrph]

I'm seeing some frustration over fandom creatives expressing anger or distress over people feeding their work into ChatGPT. I'm not responding to OP directly because I don't want to derail their post (their intent was to provide perspective on how these models actually work, and reduce undue panic, which is all coming from a good place!), but reassurances that the addition of our work will have a negligible impact on the model (which is true at this point) does kind of miss the point? Speaking for myself, my distress is less about the practical ramifications of feeding my fic into ChatGPT, and more about the principle of someone taking my work and deliberately adding it to the dataset.

Like, I fully realize that my work is a drop in the bucket of ChatGPT's several-billion-token training set! It will not make a demonstrable practical difference in the output of the model! That doesn't change the fact that I do not want my work to be part of the set of data that the ChatGPT devs use for training.

According to their FAQ, ChatGPT can and will use user input to train itself. The terms and conditions explicitly state that they save your chats to help train and improve their models. (You can opt-out, but sharing is the default.) So if you're feeding a fic into ChatGPT, unless you've explicitly opted out, you are handing it to the ChatGPT team and giving them permission to use it for training, whether or not that was your intent.

Now, will one fic make a demonstrable difference in the output of the model? No! But as the person who spent a year and a handful of months laboring over my fic, it makes a difference to me whether my fic, specifically, is being used in the dataset. If authors are allowed to have a problem with the ChatGPT devs for scraping millions of fics without permission, they're also allowed to have a problem with folks handing their individual fics over via the chat interface.

I do want to add that if you've done this to a fic, please don't take this as me being upset with you personally! Folks are still learning new information and puzzling out what "good" vs. "bad" use is, from an ethical standpoint. (Heck, my own perspective on this is deeply based on my own subjective feelings!) And we certainly shouldn't act like one person feeding a fic into ChatGPT has the same practical negative impact, on a broad societal scale, as a team using a web crawler to scrape five billion pieces of artwork for Stable Diffusion.

The point is that fundamentally, an ethical dataset should be obtained with the consent of those providing the data. Just because it's normalized for our data to be scraped without consent doesn't make it ethical, and this is why ChatGPT gives users the option to not share data— there is actually a standardized way (robots.txt) for website servers to set policies for how bots/crawlers can interact with them, for exactly this reason— and I think fandom artists and authors are well within their rights to express a desire for opting out to be the socially-respected default within the fandom community.

[torchicrph]

𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖬𝖠𝖢𝖧𝖨𝖭𝖠𝖳𝖨𝖮𝖭 / 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗛.

／⠀free gdoc template

⠀⠀following my previous posts, a single muse template — based off of themes of machinated and artificial motifs, this is a very minimal template which can be customised mainly by its tables. ⠀⠀＜THE MACHINATION / THE FLESH＞⠀comes from the various dark-cyber aesthetics i've seen on pinterest. with a lighter almost negative colour palette, it works well with at best two different colours for contrast, but can be customised however you wish. it can fit up to around 4000~ words / 30,000~ characters, meant for those who LOVE to yap and whatnot. ⠀⠀thought of something a little more calm unlike the other two.

⠀⠀⠀⠀𝗖𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 !

⠀﹙ ✦ ﹚⠀WARNING. messing around with the tables may be difficult and can affect the pages; every border is at 0pt, so revealing the borders for a moment during customisation may help you if you want to play around with the tables without messing anything up. ⠀﹙ ✦ ﹚⠀there are a few drawings here and there ^^. ⠀﹙ ✦ ﹚⠀again if there are images beneath text, you should be able to just right click over them to "Select Image/Drawing", etc. !

⠀⠀⠀⠀𝗨𝗦𝗔𝗚𝗘 !

⠀⠀DO NOT REMOVE CREDIT⠀the main credit source is a small four-pointed star ( ✦ ) either in the header of footer of the first page of my docs. ⠀⠀TO COPY⠀—⠀file > make a copy ⠀⠀TO COPYLOCK⠀—⠀share > settings icon ( ⚙ ) > uncheck "Viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print, and copy"

﹙ ❤ ﹚⠀feel free to like & or reblog

[torchicrph]

i keep seeing this idea that Real wheelchair users all have custom active chairs, and that transport/standard chairs are just an embarrassing stereotype. “no one really uses those!” “stop drawing disabled characters in standard chairs!!”

well, plenty of us are a stereotype. sorry. custom chairs require MONEY and good medical support. meanwhile active chairs are unusable for some people. i used an uncomfy transport chair (the kind with tiny wheels and no way to self propel) for a year, and a standard chair for 7yrs. until i got my powerchair i was only ever pushed by a carer. a lot of disabled people will never use an active or custom chair. don’t pretend we don’t exist just because we don’t fit some cool independent ideal.

shoutout to people who use transport chairs and adaptive strollers and other chairs that need to be pushed by a carer

shoutout to people who use standard chairs that don’t fit their body

shoutout to people who use secondhand or makeshift wheelchairs

in my teens i literally felt invalid as a disabled person because i didnt have the ‘real actual’ type of wheelchair everyone talks about online. just my garbage transport chair that my mom had to push. ​but people with shitty wheelchairs exist and are extremely common actually