💀marrrow💀

🌊

Illustration of a werewolf representing "Death"

#WerewolfWednesday

Custom tarot card "Death" based on 15/16th century "memento mori" motifs

who are you talking to when there's no one left?

#noimnotahuman #ninah

That type of wizard is what I would call "Dieter-adjacent", by the way

Every time I see a certain genre of wizard, I'm like, "I need a wizard like that"--apparently unaware that I already have four or five of them

watercolor painting- a woman kneels behind a bush, carrying an approximation of an antique musket/rifle (I did not look at reference for this one so the shape is a bit off lol sorry everybody!). She is wearing a wildly impractical but fun outfit- a high cut onepiece with baggy ankle boots, a helmet and a big swan hat/cape.

weird painting to test out my new inking pen ☀️

He's retired until it's cool for him not to be, so it's weird to count by expacs he's probably not participating in, but damn

Looking at my timeline @ 2:56am because I drank coffee at 8pm, & Dieter's going to turn 40 over the course of 8.0

I'm so sorry. It's a poor consolation, but I'm sure you loved them a lot & gave them a good life, which is (I think) the best thing we can do for our animals🫂 May their memory be a blessing

The work boots are soo charming✨✨

The Hunter's Funeral Procession

Please? #oc

Hard agree that robust worldbuilding really elevates those stories🤝 It's supposed to be a relatively simple project, & I was thinking of a fairytale sort of feel... but we will see where the wind takes us😈

I am desperate to hear them👀👀

I didn't see the contents original notif when I opened this app from my lockscreen, & yes; this is infinitely funnier than anything I could've expected

Also unfortunately I have EXTREMELY strong opinions about Tamlin, because I see his character assassination in ACOMAF & the subsequent disdain for him both in the text & fandom as roughly parallel to a certain.... other blond man, who shall remain unnamed at this time

ACOTAR, unfortunately, takes up an ENORMOUS amount of space in my brain, despite the fact that it's pretty mid-to-bad. Both its successes & its failures fascinate me, on a craft level; I could dissect it forever

This is making me feel the same way I feel every time someone introduces themself to a discord server with their full birthdate💀💀

Idk man, lol

Like I read the outline & I'm like, "Yeah, this is a solid romance structure; literally could not be more by-the-book than this;" but then WRITING IT, I'm like, crashing out & making this thread about my anxiety that I'm not describing more architecture lmao

I guess this is really a problem for me because 98% of the time, I prefer romance as a subplot--even a prominent one. I've only read one author who's able to perfectly thread the needle btwn romance as the "point" with the ""plot"" serving as a pleasing complement, with no part feeling unfinished

This particular story I'm working on, ultimately it revolves very narrowly around the fear of one's own desires; in that case, does it NEED robust worldbuilding? Vs something like ACOTAR, which is more ""plot""-focused (e.g., the nature of the curse, its breaking, etc)

Like I'm thinking about ACOTAR & how bland its setting was--how sparse the descriptions--& I'm seeing that in this story. BUT is that a problem; besides being fantasy-themed kissing books, are they really that similar in terms of structure?

I also feel like the descriptions are overall pretty bland, specifically because I'm planning to illustrate it. Why describe people or places in great detail if I'm going to have a picture communicating the same information right there? But it FEELS fucked up, yk

Like I've set up this kind of interesting geopolitical premise... but ultimately it's just an engine to make the romance plot go. The worldbuilding outside of that isn't very extensive, because it doesn't really matter

BUT otoh, I've become absorbed in a side project... that is a romantasy, & a romantasy of this type, where the world is not richly or specifically developed. Like Barbarities, it's Euro salad with some wizards & weird creatures tossed in, & I'm... struggling with that

Of course, this is coming from someone who read a yaoi & came away complaining that the geopolitics of the situation were not more of a focus (even though I think I'd be hard-pressed to find a kissing book where geopolitics were MORE of a focus than in Barbarities)

But nevertheless, I feel unsatisfied when the fantasy world is just a backdrop for kissing; when there is no greater depth or meaning to anything going on than to facilitate or impede the kissing. It feels like a waste, yk

& I understand why that's the case, because the story is ultimately a romance, & follows the structure of a romance plot: while other things are going on, the main conflict in the story is whatever's keeping the lovers apart; the rise & fall of kingdoms is the B plot, unlike in straight fantasy

I think one of the biggest weaknesses in romantasy--or at least the most popular works--is how heavily it tends to favor the romance plot over the fantasy elements, which are essentially just there for flavor. The world is often bland & poorly defined