Interdimensional Bun of Mystery

They gave us a whole Hall of the Novice with standard mechanic markers and then went and threw it all out the window. "Here, have your XP ring and you can forget everything we just taught you because none of it is right for DT+ content"

I will never get over the delight & joy of seeing the AO3 emails when someone has gone through one of my fic collections & left kudos/comments. It just warms my cold and shriveled little writer's heart.

I write for myself--first & always--but it gives me warm fuzzies that others like my fics.

This is so gorgeous; I love the storytelling there in the transitions and the colors are breathtaking.

Finding out bunnies can be grumpy little bitches is making me love them 100 times more

Yessssssssss

new tourism campaign dropped

I wish video game criticism was a serious field and not mostly a misogynist grift.

when the world's on fire, support a small artist and get shit that makes you happy

if you like this stuff, check out @catmintstudios.bsky.social

(the stinky pin is for my niece who is proud of how... ahem... loud.... she is...)

Since we're talking about both character voice *and* consent in NSFW scenes, I wanna re-share one of my all-time favorite resources for writing a character asking for or giving consent in a way that feels authentic to their voice. Not every story needs it, but if yours does this is super helpful.

ghods, the amount of detail and worldbuilding here I am rolling around in it, it is just so *delicious*.

the sound I just made <dies>

by @asparrowsfall on tumblr Let's take a look at what makes dialogue unique to a character. I'm gonna list these as bullet points first, and then i'll suggest some exercises to explore these aspects of speech. Most important aspects - focus on these first Vocabulary - the words they use. As subset of this: Complexity of words, which can include: Syllable length Likelihood to be used in casual conversation - a character can be very smart and still use very informal language. Cultural touchpoints Culture can include pop culture references - think Tony Stark’s nicknames for everyone, i.e. “Point Break” and “Underoos” How in or out of sync the character is with the story’s setting with regard to both time and place - are they from a different country or era of time than their peers? Important - Check these out if you have time How likely the character is to speak their mind vs. change the subject - this could be for any number of reasons, from fear to duplicity Amount they say / Introvertedness / how reticent they are - This is somewhat related to the above point, but not necessarily, and should be researched from different angles. Subverting a topic is not the same thing as being afraid to talk about it. Different ways of speaking with different characters - this could be a function of story (i.e. how a character who is captured speaks to their captors as opposed to friends) as well as pure Code Switching Deep cuts - Advanced aspects of speech Fluency in the language they are speaking Accents - You do not have to write a character in an accent, i.e. spell the words differently to show the accent, if you don’t want to. It really depends on the piece (usually how light hearted or humorous you want it to be) whether you do or not.

Dialogue analysis exercise Find five (or more, but at least five) representative lines from your character’s canon dialogue. If they don’t speak, don’t have five lines, do the best you can. (I imagine other forms of communications can probably also be analyzed in this way, but I’m gonna focus on dialogue for now.) These are going to be your key phrases. They need to be from canon and they need to be words that really show off who your character is.

1. Say the words out loud. Read them again and again. What do they sound / feel like? 2. What is the average syllable length? How many long words do they use? 3. Do any words jump out at you as archaic? What about modern pop culture references? 4. What is a different way they could have said this? Write some alternate versions of this phrase and figure out WHY the character didn’t say it this way instead. What is the difference between the canon dialogue and the alternative? Try to be as specific as possible. It’s as important to know what they wouldn’t say as what they would. 5. Look up any of the more complex words and find some similar ones, with a similar level of complexity. Use a thesaurus you trust and possibly also Wordnik. If your character doesn’t use ANY complex words, reflect on that. Why? What’s their reason? How does that fit with the rest of their personality? 6. Think of some other characters from other pop culture pieces who speak in a similar way. It doesn’t have to be 100% the same, but if it can help your ear get used to some new-but-different phrases, it’s enough. You’re training your brain to speak like the character. Start to sort phrases they would say from ones they wouldn’t. How do these two characters differ? 7. Now that you have worked thoroughly through your key phrases, start to imagine these lines said in something other than the original context. What if they were said to a different character? WOULD they even be said? What would change? What would happen if your character was scared / hurt / overjoyed / sick? 8. Finally, after all that, write some NEW dialogue for your character, either as practice, or right into your fic draft. Keep using your key phrases as a guide and go back to canon as much as you need to! You can do this!

for you, dear reader: a tumblr post regarding writing existing character voices for fanfic which i've found immensely helpful

I love this just to pepper in a bit for my pirates, too. It's so good.

This is (yet another reason) I don't skip cutscenes on alt-playthroughs. I don't NG+ a lot unless I am looking for something specific, but seeing stuff, *hearing* voiced cutscenes. There are lil tidbits I pick up, nuances that I don't get just reading text (though the script/db text *is* helpful!)

Why did I just read that with my own two eyes and can I have that space in my brain back, ghods, some people.

The puritanical view of how *fictional encounters* between *made up characters* in a *story* "must be" is just...

I get liking to see negotiation in a story! But to demand it every time?☠️

And just kind of stopped reading for pleasure at all because of it. It all became *work*; I had to read to stay "up to date" on the genre, I had to read for research, if I wasn't doing *those* things I was Doing It Wrong, so I just.. stopped.

Btwn college (also got a lit degree) and SFF conventions where authors were talking about The Greats™️, I had this awful "I have read all of the wrong things, I am reading trash, I should be reading The Good Stuff™️and The Important People™️" feeling (combo w/not interrogating *who* those people were)

I am wheezing at the thought of that third piece.

(Also, these two are *so good* so so so good. I love your nyxemet so much.)

as of august 29th my shop orders will be subject to tariffs which SUCKS A LOT considering 90% of my business goes to the US so hey, if you've been thinking about buying some stickers you should do that

fangcrush.storenvy.com

You can have critical conversations and craft discussion with someone who enjoys the character/ship/trope, you can do it without resorting to just being a meanie jerk-face about the character/ship/trope.

Behave like an adult who actually cares about the feelings of other people. 🧵🪦

Yucking a friend's yum is never cool (heck, yucking a stranger's yum isn't, either), especially when it's a yum that's *hurting no one*.

You do not have to like every character, trope, ship, whatever, but don't dump your hate on the people who do enjoy them. That's just cruel. 🧵

A Final Fantasy 14 meme image with four panels. A Roegadyn sits in a dark room on the first panel with a caption "I fear no man". On the second panel the Roegadyn is leaning forward with the caption "But that thing….". On the third panel is a screenshot of a Warrior of Light riding a Yan mount. On the fourth panel a Roegadyn looks shocked with the caption "it scares me".

ffxiv players when they see a yan mount:

Dangerbun in the Historia aiming set (red commadore's hat, red coat with large cuffs, white cravat, blue-black pants, and brown leather thigh boots and brown leather gloves). She's in a blurry solution 9. SHE IS WEARING A HAT. A HAT. AND SHE HAS EARS.

When you not only raid your pirate boyfriend's wardrobe, but you *also* steal his hat this time...

let's take ibuprofen together 🌟

oh nooooooo
I am so bad at that kind of jumping. 😭

any magic ninjas in chat

And just saying, but Ko-Fi members can now vote which poses I will make Ko-Fi exclusive, so if you want to see them early, get them cheaper and have full access to them all 👀 you know what you can do
ko-fi.com/polls/Beach-...

genus lepus
#art #zigzart

Heee is sooo cutttteeeeeee I still cannot. I am so glad I got to catch part of the stream yesterday (also I am so glad I caught the parts that I did catch!!!! PUBBY!)

Buffalo alongside highway with police cars.

This isn't Yellowstone. Owner has been contacted and sounds like they're safely off the highway in Elma.