가뮤 By 然 先生@yun_ooyun

sometimes, it dawns on me just how incredibly happy i am that fanfic exists as a medium. like, the amount of experiences had, the excitement and thrills and tears and joy—and more—that writers of fic can give to so, so many people... it's immeasurable; it's wonderful.

and just. what an amazing thought, you know? in a world where we're all struggling to get by, recognising this beautiful thing we have created, knowing that we're all sharing in taking some sort of pleasure/lesson/comfort etc from reading and/or writing it?

that's really special.

I’m really confused on what my gender and sexuality is, what do you have to say that would help?

Try not to stress out about putting a definitive label on it, because at the end of the day, the label doesn't matter that much. It comes down to what you feel, who you like, and what you identify with. Sometimes this takes a long time. It took me until I was 20 to finally realise this stuff myself, for some this realisation happens even in like their 60s!

My advice would be that you don't need to rush anything. Like who you want to like and if you absolutely feel like you NEED to have a label, use whatever just feels best at the time, you're allowed to change. Or you could use a more vague, yet overarching term like "queer" or "genderqueer" as those cover basically everything.

I wish you all the best in your journey! :D

Unmute !

"Let the red dawn surmise / What we shall do, / When this blue starlight dies / And all is through"

This is a long scrolling comic I started in 2019 that won't look good uploaded here as a complete image. I'm sure I could divide it up in a way that Tumblr would like, but I also have worked on this for a long time and would like to post it and yeet myself off to read a good book. So HEY! Follow one of the two links here to see the complete comic (or download the full PNG from the Patreon post)!

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/cassildas-song-72323431

Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/post/Cassildas-Song--Critical-Role-comic-B0B2F6Y32

burning food is an inherited trait

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

How I Outline My Characters

Intro

Hey guys! Today I’m going to be talking about how I outline and build my characters. I used to be so uninspired when I was building characters, because to me it just felt like I was filling in blanks, and I couldn’t really connect to the character. So I just decided to take a bare-bones character profile (specifically Reedsy’s, which I highly recommend) and cut and add things as I saw fit. I want to stress that it’s in no way comprehensive–in fact, I’m always adding new things–but it does cover quite a bit, and so far, it’s worked well for me!

1. Identity and appearance

This section involves all the fundamental parts of a character. First, I begin with names: the character’s name in English (or in another language, if applicable) and their nickname(s). Then, I go through all the details of birth, location, age, etc. etc. Next, I dive into nationality and heritage, the languages the character understands, and their gender and pronouns (I know there’s a difference between the two, I just group them together because it’s easier to keep track of). Finally, I go into all the statistics of appearance and health, along with a description of what they look like in the text!

2. Personality and psychology

In the second section of my character profile, I nail down the basic personality and psychology of the character. “General” includes their normal temperament, preferences, moral compass, and more. The second subsection delves into “plot-significant” elements of the character’s mind, such as the heart’s desire, weaknesses, insecurities, and fears. “Classifications,” the third subsection, is just about categorizations like zodiac signs and personality types. Last is a list of miscellaneous “favorites” of the character. I pay a lot of attention to the first two parts of this section, as they are essential for me to figure out the story!

3. Communication and mannerisms

Next, I delve into the communications and mannerisms of the character, whether that’s vocal, physical, or emotional. Most of this is pretty self-explanatory, so I’ll just elaborate on a few. A swear word can tell you a lot about a character, surprisingly enough–whether it’s religious or not, whether the character whispers it or yells it, etc.

Under the “physical” subsection, “gestures” refers to the level of gesturing that a character does, as well as what kind of gestures they make–e.g. big and sweeping gestures, or small and confined ones? In the “emotions” subsection, "humor” refers to what the character finds funny, e.g. dark humor. “Smile” refers to what the character’s smile looks like, which can be very telling. For example, do they have a close-lipped smile or a wide, toothy grin? Do they have both but show one of them more often, and if so, why?

4. Social media and related

Here, I decide what social media platforms the character would use if they had them, and if so, what type of content they would post. This is a fun character exercise and it can be taken further by actually creating social media profiles for your characters on certain websites!

I also make a miniature playlist of what songs I think they would listen to, specifically songs that would be on their all-time most played Spotify playlist. Making playlists is one of my favorite ways to flesh out characters!

5. Backstory

Probably the most important part of the profile plot-wise, “Backstory” covers the entire background of a character–their childhood, memories, aspirations, abstract details, and everything to do with the past and what their life and mind was like prior to the story. Under “Description,” I simply write out a longer summary of the character’s backstory.

6. Family

Here, I just build the character’s family, noting their names, ages, birth/death, history, their relationship with the character, etc. This is pretty self-explanatory. After going into immediate family, I mention extended family. Both can reveal insights into the character–are they closer to one side of their family than to the other? Why? Is there any conflict that may be shown between the character and their family in the story?

7. Relationships

This section is all about relationships; familial, platonic or romantic. This helps me figure out the dynamics between characters. I also include a “Perception” section, which allows me to view the character from multiple angles. If this character is involved in romance, I note what qualities they want in a relationship or in their ideal partner(s).

8. Story elements

Finally, I figure out the current situation of the character: where are they right now and where do they want to be? What’s their goal? What motivates them? These questions let me build a plot. Lastly, I plan out their character arc–how they change and develop during the course of the story.

aple 🍎

Art by John Stone

I don't know who needs to hear this but you don't need to expose every single facet of yourself online. There is no inherent requirement for you to be 100% transparent about your personal life and yourself in your online presence. Your online persona is a curtain, and it can be as thin or as thick as you're comfortable with. You can share your chosen name and leave it at that, and there's nothing wrong with that. Don't let people bully you into thinking you need to share all your intimate details, wants, needs, diagnoses, because you don't. There is no bare minimum, you can share nothing and that is completely acceptable.

This is your internet stage show and you're in charge of the curtain. Both the material it's made of, and how far up it goes. Remember that.