Latest Posts by wierduff - Page 2

at some point, I wanna make a short list of resources frequently used by dlsite games, because a lot of people assume there's more of a baseline quality gap between "eastern" and "western" rpgmaker games than there actually is, and a lot of that comes down to the JP rpgmaker community having established avenues through which to acquire cheap royalty-free assets that specifically match the vibes of rpgs lol

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Something like this would be so colossally helpful. I'm sick and tired of trying to research specific clothing from any given culture and being met with either racist stereotypical costumes worn by yt people or ai generated garbage nonsense, and trying to be hyper specific with searches yields fuck all. Like I generally just cannot trust the legitimacy of most search results at this point. It's extremely frustrating. If there are good resources for this then they're buried deep under all the other bullshit, and idk where to start looking.

I stumbled across this blog on accident, but I am intrigued and I have to ask: is there a specific best place to read the Ulster Cycle in English?

yo! welcome to the niche corner

okay so first up the “ulster cycle” is a modern term given to a huge and disparate body of texts, some of which connect obviously to each other and some of which don’t but happen to have some of the same characters. some retellings attempt to rewrite the whole thing into a single coherent narrative but those are, by necessity, retellings rather than translations since that isn’t actually... what it is.

not all the texts have been translated but most of the big ones have and some of them even have multiple translations which is great

the big, central text and the one i reference most often is táin bó cúailnge, which used to get translated as “the cattle-raid of cooley” until thomas kinsella came along and was like “hey, maybe people would take us more seriously if we called it the táin”, so that’s what it generally gets called now. kinsella’s translation is good, as is ciarán carson’s. carson’s is a bit cheaper and personally i prefer it for general reading because of the style, but kinsella’s has the big advantage that he includes a bunch of the other stories which relate to the táin

another useful book is gantz’s early irish myths and sagas, which includes a bunch of texts from the so-called “ulster” and “mythological” cycles (again, modern terms). i would... ignore 99% of what gantz says in his little textual introductions because a lot of it is now quite outdated scholarship, but the translations themselves are solid enough

there are some more texts translated in the celtic heroic age by john carey and john koch but these are more academic translations and don’t really try and smooth over the syntax or any gaps in the manuscript for a modern audience, so that’s only if you’re really keen

you can also find a lot of the texts in translation at CELT, the Corpus of Electronic Texts (whoever came up with that acronym must have been so proud of themselves) -- these are generally older translations but hey, they’re free and they’re online and a lot of them are very accurate, even if that can make them a bit less readable

@finnlongman makes videos about medieval irish lit and has retold several ulster cycle texts on youtube here

hope this helps! you will also find various retellings out there, many of them victorian or early 20th century (lady gregory, eleanor hull etc) but like i said, if you want the texts in their most “accurate” form, these are the best places to start

[please note that links are amazon uk affiliate links, if you buy via those i get a teeny tiny commission, but actually would advocate supporting your local bookshops if possible, they’re mostly there for illustrative purposes]

i’ve been doing my homework on how to break into a writing career and honestly. there’s a Lot that i didn’t know about thats critical to a writing career in this day and age, and on the one hand, its understandable because we’re experiencing a massive cultural shift, but on the other hand, writers who do not have formal training in school or don’t have the connections to learn more via social osmosis end up extremely out of loop and working at a disadvantage. 

My girlfriend and I talk a lot about our different generations of queerness, because she was doing queer activism in the 1990s and I wasn’t.

And she’s supportive of my writing about queerness but also kind of bitter about how quickly her entire generation’s history has disappeared into a bland “AIDS was bad, gay marriage solved homophobia” narrative, and now we’re having to play catch-up to educate young LGBTQ+ people about queer history and queer theory. It gets pretty raw sometimes.

I mean, a large part of the reason TERFs have been good at educating the young and queer people haven’t is, in the 80s and 90s the leading lights of TERFdom got tenured university positions, and the leading lights of queerdom died of AIDS.

“Excuse us,” she said bitterly the other day, not at me but to me, “for not laying the groundwork for children we never thought we’d have in a future none of us thought we’d be alive for.”

actually re joking about being ‘the piracy friend’. do yourself a favour and stop relying on tumblr masterlists that are full of broken links and dodgy websites and just bookmark r/FREEMEDIAHECKYEAH’s piracy wiki (backup).

it’s the most comprehensive resource i’ve ever encountered my life and it’s also got so much extra stuff like decent free vpns/antivirus/adblock, a massive list of free software for almost every purpose you can think of, AND a list of custom search engines that mean you can search every site at once or you’re looking for something more obscure (this is how i seem to always have a link to literally anything)

there’s also this rentry, which i can vouch for less because i don’t use it so much but does have info on installing cracked versions of the more popular antivirus programs if you don’t want to pay but also don’t want to trust the free options lol

be gay do crimes

Just a bunch of useful websites

12ft – Hate paywalls? Try this site out.

My Fridge Food – No idea what to make? Tell this site what ingredients you have on hand and it will give you recipes to cook.

Project Gutenberg – Always ends up on these type of lists and for very good reason. All works that are copyright free in one place.

Ninite – New PC? Install all of your programs in one go with no bloat or unnecessary crap.

Unchecky – Tired of software trying to install additional unwanted programs? This will stop it completely by unchecking the necessary boxes when you install.

Sci-Hub – Research papers galore! Check here before shelling out money. And if it’s not here, try the next link in our list.

LibGen – Lots of free PDFs relate primarily to the sciences.

Zotero – A free and easy to use program to collect, organize, cite and share research.

Car Complaints – Buying a used car? Check out what other owners of the same model have to say about it first.

CamelCamelCamel – Check the historical prices of items on Amazon and set alerts for when prices drop.

Have I Been Pawned – Still the king when it comes to checking if your online accounts have been released in a data breach. Also able to sign up for email alerts if you’ve ever a victim of a breach.

Radio Garden – Think Google Earth but wherever you zoom, you get the radio station of that place.

Just The Recipe – Paste in the url and get just the recipe as a result. No life story or adverts.

Tineye – An Amazing reverse image search tool.

My 90s TV – Simulates 90’s TV using YouTube videos. Also has My80sTV, My70sTV, My60sTV and for the younger ones out there, My00sTV. Lose yourself in nostalgia.

Foto Forensics – Free image analysis tools.

Old Games Download – A repository of games from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Get your fix of nostalgia here.

Online OCR – Convert pictures of text into actual text and output it in the format you need.

Remove Background – An amazingly quick and accurate way to remove backgrounds from your pictures.

Twoseven – Allows you to sync videos from providers such as Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc and watch them with your friends. Ad free and also has the ability to do real time video and text chat.

Terms of Service, Didn’t Read – Get a quick summary of Terms of service plus a privacy rating.

Coolors – Struggling to get a good combination of colors? This site will generate color palettes for you.

This To That – Need to glue two things together? This’ll help.

Photopea – A free online alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Does everything in your browser.

BitWarden – Free open source password manager.

Atlas Obscura – Travelling to a new place? Find out the hidden treasures you should go to with Atlas Obscura.

ID Ransomware – Ever get ransomware on your computer? Use this to see if the virus infecting your pc has been cracked yet or not. Potentially saving you money. You can also sign up for email notifications if your particular problem hasn’t been cracked yet.

Way Back Machine – The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and loads more.

Rome2Rio – Directions from anywhere to anywhere by bus, train, plane, car and ferry.

Splitter – Seperate different audio tracks audio. Allowing you to split out music from the words for example.

myNoise – Gives you beautiful noises to match your mood. Increase your productivity, calm down and need help sleeping? All here for you.

DeepL – Best language translation tool on the web.

Forvo – Alternatively, if you need to hear a local speaking a word, this is the site for you.

Now that JK has proven herself to be the jk we always knew she was, here is a list of incredible fiction by trans authors, because the best way to tell JK to shove her bigotry where the sun don’t shine is to buy the work of authors who deserve her platform. 

The Tensorate Series - JY Yang: four fantasy novellas about the guild of Tensors, magic users who can control elemental forces known as the Slack. V political, v beautifully written. Gender is a key theme but also there are dragons (naga), so there’s something for everyone tbh. 

Love Beyond Body, Space And Time - anthology: a collection of indigenous sci-fi / spec fic stories with LGBTQ and two-spirit characters and themes. Stories include narratives of transition, love stories, and just good ol’ space romps. 

The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror - Daniel M. Lavery: a collection of fairytale retellings with a spooky and disturbing twist. Some of these are darkly comic, and others are just plain dark. All are beautifully written, because Lavery is just That Writer. 

The Spirits Series - Jordan L Hawk: a very spicy paranormal romance trilogy about Henry Strauss, an inventor, and Vincent Night, a psychic, whose differing approaches to communing with the dead cause (I’m so sorry) friction. These ones ain’t for the kiddies, but they’re so good and spooky.

The Mechanical Universe - EE Ottoman: a romance series (w a trans male protag!) set in a sort of steampunk universe, where spellcraft and mechanical animation are vying for equal respect. Tbh, everything by EE Ottoman is Very Good And Trans - The Doctor’s Discretion is my personal fave. Recommend 100%.

Peter Darling - Austin Chant: a trans retelling of Peter Pan, where Peter returns to Neverland to find that his place there is now much less certain than it was before, and he no longer belongs anywhere. There is also a romance with Captain Hook, but it works! I promise! 

The Danielle Cain series - Margaret Killjoy: a duology of novellas following Danielle Cain, a queer punk rock nomad, as she solves spooky mysteries. The first book is set in an anarchist settlement, and the theme of found family + community is prevalent throughout. 

An Unkindness of Ghosts - Rivers Solomon: on board the spaceship HSS Matilda, the last of humanity make their journey towards the Promised Land. Conditions on board are akin to the Antebellum South, and protagonist Aster is driven to find her way off the ship - if she can. 

I Wish You All the Best - Mason Deaver: a non binary teen, Ben, comes out to their parents and is kicked out. Their sister takes them in and they start a new school, where their life begins to change for the better. This one is v sweet and deals well with mental illness. 

Resilience - anthology: a collection of poetry and prose by trans women and amab trans people, featuring work by Casey Plett, KOKUMO, Magpie Leibowitz and many more. 

Small Beauty - jia qing wilson-yang: a mixed race Chinese trans woman returns to her small town Canada home after the death of her cousin, and she deals with her trauma and grief. Beautiful and sad, and absolutely honest about grief. 

Little Fish - Casey Plett: a trans woman begins to believe that her late Mennonite grandfather may have been trans, and while her own life starts to cave in, she attempts to connect with him through those who knew him. This one is A Lot but it’s phenomenal.

A Boy Called Cin - Cecil Wilde: a romance novel (so it’s SPICY) about Cin, a young trans man, and Tom, an older genderqueer billionaire. This is not your typical billionaire romance AT ALL; healthy relationships are depicted beautifully here alongside the reality of transition.

Confessions of the Fox - Jordy Rosenberg: a retelling of Jack Sheppard, the famous jailbreaker and thief. It’s told as though a trans man has discovered a manuscript about Jack (who is trans) and Jack’s story unfolds alongside the personal narrative of the manuscript discoverer. 

Nameless Woman - anthology: a collection of fiction by trans women of colour. There’s something for everyone here - romance, sci fi, personal narratives and more. A lot of the topics covered are very heavy but they’re treated honestly and sensitively. 

Maiden, Mother, Crone - anthology: a collection of fantasy stories about trans women and femmes. You want a story about a dread trans chthonic goddess? Of course you do. It’s right here. Enjoy. 

Caroline’s Heart - Austin Chant: a romance between a trans man (a COWBOY nonetheless) and a trans woman (a WITCH). Cecily has been trying to bring her lover, Caroline, back from the dead via magic, but when Roy gives his life to save her, she has a choice to make. 

The Queen of Cups - Ren Basel: a novelette about Theo, who’s about to set sail on their first voyage. As per their village’s custom, they ask the Oracle to bless their voyage, and she agrees - if she can come along. A great treatise on bravery, loyalty and independence. 

Amateur - Thomas Page McBee: not fiction, but OH WELL!! You gotta read it!! The autobiography of a trans man who learns to box and asks questions about what kind of man he wants to be; can he avoid repeating the toxic masculinity he fears? 

Trans Power - Juno Roche: also not fiction! Oops! Take me to court!! Roche interviews multiple trans people about their relationships with their transness, their sexuality and their bodies, and the result is a super empowering and beautiful book. 

The Shape of My Name - Nino Cipri: a novelette about time travel. I really can’t say much about this one because it’s better to go in without knowing a lot, but the main theme is self discovery and acceptance, especially within the context of a neglectful / abusive family. 

Pet - Akwaeke Emezi: the children in the city of Lucille know that there are no more monsters. They’ve been told so. So when Jam meets Pet, who definitely seems to be a monster, she has to face the problem of saving the world from something that it refuses to admit exists. 

There are obviously many more trans fiction authors out there, but these are the ones I’ve read and can call to mind immediately. On my to read list are Juno Dawson (who writes YA primarily), Kai Cheng Thom (whose story in Maiden, Mother, Crone was my favourite), Meredith Russo (also writes YA), Leslie Feinberg, and Sybil Lamb.

I haven’t included trans poets here because I feel like that’s a separate list in and of itself, but if anyone wants to add any, please feel free!

Btw much as I love to make fun of twitter and reddit's business decisions, I have 0% trust in tumblr's management to not go a similar route so this is your gentle reminder that you should regularly go to your blog settings to export your blog. That's a fancy way of saying you can download a backup of your blog so if everything goes down you'll still have a backup of your posts & convos.

My friend needs your feedback!!! He runs a website [Lingopie] where you can learn a language by watching TV shows and movies.

As a polyglot, he is super passionate about learning and teaching languages and wants to help students and language learners succeed. He has been working on this project 24/7, so your feedback would make his day! Here is the problem:

His website is still young, so they have limited funds to obtain licenses for movies and television shows. To help as many people as possible, he is wondering what languages you would like to learn or have exams for, so he can focus on expanding the media collection for these languages. I really like him and want his project to succeed, so I created a form where you can vote.

The following languages are available at the moment: Japanese 🇯🇵, Korean 🇰🇷, Spanish 🇪🇸, French 🇫🇷, German 🇩🇪, Italian 🇮🇹, Portuguese 🇵🇹 and English 🇺🇸

Which language are you most interested in? Please vote here!

How to Critically Analyze a Piece of Media

By Deniigiq (Almost Ph.D)

So as a person who has spent the last 5+ years working in higher education in both research and staff capacities, I feel that it is my responsibility to provide y’all with some tools to help you critically analyze shit that you come across so that you don’t end up guilt tripping yourselves and others around you 24/7.

I am writing this because I see people constantly saying that people no longer know how to critically analyze something or don’t have critical thinking skills, but very few people actually have the time/energy/obligation to break down what that actually means and looks like for others.

The good news is that I apparently do have the time, energy, and honestly, the genuine concern to start to help people do that.

This is going to be a long-ass post.

I am not sorry.

It is not comprehensive.

I am not sorry for that either. This is just a tiny taste of some shit that you can and should really go ham with.

So anyways, here’s how to critically analyze a piece of media.

Critically analyze = asking questions of a text/media/object and thinking about answers to those questions.

THAT’S IT, PEOPLE.

THAT’S ALL. Don’t make it more complicated at this point in time.

Here are some basic questions that you want to ask yourself about a text/media/object (hereafter referred to as a Thing) before, after, and during your consumption of it:

When was this made?

The period in which a Thing is made is important because the world during that particular point in time influences the decisions that went into producing the Thing.

Why was this made?

This question has layers. You will find many answers to this question if you pose it to anything that exists ever. And it should have multiple reasons because humans give many different meanings to individual things. There are often very few absolutely right answers to this question.

Who made this thing?

The layered identities of the people who create a Thing are always present in it. The important part is that if a person creates a Thing, then that Thing will have both insights into that person’s perspectives/beliefs/values/identity AND the limitations of those perspectives/beliefs/values/identity.

What ideas does this Thing include and what ideas does this Thing leave out?

This is a really basic question that you probably don’t think of to ask yourself often, but when you are presented with a Thing, you have to first identity what is literally there right in front of you (example: this is a movie about a superhero. The superhero is a tall, beefy white man. The tall beefy white man has 2 sidekicks. And so on and so on.)

THEN, once you’ve done that, you sit back and think about what is NOT there. (The tall beefy white man’s sidekicks are both white characters. None of them are woman. None of them are people of color. And so on and so on.)

Once you get to this point in your analysis, you start asking different questions about the Thing.

For each answer you come up with to the above questions, you ask yourself:

1. Why?

and

2. How?

Some questions you may find yourself making at this point include:

Why was this Thing done in this way?

Why does this Thing have that audience?

How does this aspect of the Thing affect this other aspect of it?

Why did the person who made this Thing choose to do it X-way and not Y-way?

How might the time and place this Thing was made in affect its creation?

So you may be saying to yourself at this point, “but Matt, this doesn’t sound very critical to me! This just sounds like a load of fucking questions.”

To which I will say: thank god you have finally understood, padawan.

Being critical of something does not mean that you or someone else hates it.

It does not mean that you or someone else thinks the Thing is worthless.

It does not mean that you or someone else hates the people who made the Thing or the people who like the Thing.

It simply means that you have asked questions about the Thing and have recognized what it is, what it is doing, and what it is not doing from a variety of different perspectives.

So that means that when someone comes to you and says, ‘this Thing is having X effect on its audience,’ ‘this part of this Thing is representing X idea in Y ways,’ or ‘this Thing is leaving X people out in its story, which has Y effects’ that ‘criticism’ isn’t actually a targeted attack on you as a person.

This is because Things are not personality traits. Fandom ideas and ships and headcanons and whatever else are not what makes you you. You are special and unique because of so many other things that you do and have experienced. The thing that you like does not make up the entirety of your person or identity, even if that Thing or hell, even if a specific person has a lot of emotional value to you.

And because of that, when someone criticizes a piece of media or an object, they are not criticizing you. Rather, they are explaining to you how a Thing is functioning through a lens that you often don’t have access to or haven’t thought of.

That’s all!

That’s it, folks!

And just so that we are clear, you can absolutely like a Thing after going through this process and finding that it has all sorts of limitations.

You may find that there’s a lot of shit about a bit of media/fandom/object that you don’t like, and you might decide that that shit outweighs the things you do like about whatever it is.

And regardless of the case, you are MORE than allowed to continue to consume a bit of media or whatever and say, ‘you know what? I enjoy this for a number of reasons. And I also acknowledge that there are parts of it that are not good for a number of other reasons. So now when I have fun with this Thing, I’m going to be aware of and sensitive to those less great parts, while also celebrating the good parts of it, too.’

That’s totally fine. In fact, that’s great. That’s amazing. That’s the kind of awareness that people are asking you to have when they ask for critical analysis.

So. In conclusion:

Critical analysis is a tool that helps you think beyond the surface layer of an idea/thing/object. Being asked to think critically is not an attack. It does not mean that you cannot enjoy something or let it occupy an important place in your heart.

Critical analysis is a tool for everyone to use, and it is intended to help you understand how an idea/thing/object relates both to itself and the world around it.

What you do with critical analysis after that point is all up to your values and morals.

Anyways, if you have more questions, please don’t ask me. Ask yourself and then ask Google for more information or what to do next. That’s a whole different process called ‘researching’ and no one is paying me to teach you all how to research next. (…UNLESS???)

If you create adult content and rely on Patreon for your income, you may want to start getting set up to take subscriptions through other venues. One option currently available is Subscribestar.

Don't wait until your income is being interrupted to make a switch.

A boy can dream, can't he?

So apparently last year the National Park Service in the US dropped an over 1200 page study of LGBTQ American History as part of their Who We Are program which includes studies on African-American history, Latino history, and Indigenous history. 

Like. This is awesome. But also it feels very surreal that maybe one of the most comprehensive examinations of LGBTQ history in America (it covers sports! art! race! historical sites! health! cities!) was just casually done by the parks service. 

im sorry to ask again but do you still have the link for the visual novel on google drive or something? i'm finally done with exams :D

u bet ur ass i do

original fate/stay night visual novel including english, voice, and censor patch

all you gotta do for this one is unpack and it’s ready to go. my old save files are still in there probably but just delete the savedata folder in the directory if that’s the case. if you don’t want it censored delete the patch with the highest number.

fate/stay night realta nua, all three routes, including english patch

follow the instructions in the english patch folder before playing. also the fate route folder still has a patch i made that replaces “church on the hill” with the dogsong from undertale so you might wanna delete patch.xp3 from the folder before playing

you have to change your system locale to japanese before either of these work, and for realta nua you have to run the exe file with the longer name since that’s the cracked one

if you’re on mac, follow this guide to get the game running

lets make a videogame how hard can it be

I stumbled across this blog on accident, but I am intrigued and I have to ask: is there a specific best place to read the Ulster Cycle in English?

yo! welcome to the niche corner

okay so first up the “ulster cycle” is a modern term given to a huge and disparate body of texts, some of which connect obviously to each other and some of which don’t but happen to have some of the same characters. some retellings attempt to rewrite the whole thing into a single coherent narrative but those are, by necessity, retellings rather than translations since that isn’t actually... what it is.

not all the texts have been translated but most of the big ones have and some of them even have multiple translations which is great

the big, central text and the one i reference most often is táin bó cúailnge, which used to get translated as “the cattle-raid of cooley” until thomas kinsella came along and was like “hey, maybe people would take us more seriously if we called it the táin”, so that’s what it generally gets called now. kinsella’s translation is good, as is ciarán carson’s. carson’s is a bit cheaper and personally i prefer it for general reading because of the style, but kinsella’s has the big advantage that he includes a bunch of the other stories which relate to the táin

another useful book is gantz’s early irish myths and sagas, which includes a bunch of texts from the so-called “ulster” and “mythological” cycles (again, modern terms). i would... ignore 99% of what gantz says in his little textual introductions because a lot of it is now quite outdated scholarship, but the translations themselves are solid enough

there are some more texts translated in the celtic heroic age by john carey and john koch but these are more academic translations and don’t really try and smooth over the syntax or any gaps in the manuscript for a modern audience, so that’s only if you’re really keen

you can also find a lot of the texts in translation at CELT, the Corpus of Electronic Texts (whoever came up with that acronym must have been so proud of themselves) -- these are generally older translations but hey, they’re free and they’re online and a lot of them are very accurate, even if that can make them a bit less readable

@finnlongman makes videos about medieval irish lit and has retold several ulster cycle texts on youtube here

hope this helps! you will also find various retellings out there, many of them victorian or early 20th century (lady gregory, eleanor hull etc) but like i said, if you want the texts in their most “accurate” form, these are the best places to start

[please note that links are amazon uk affiliate links, if you buy via those i get a teeny tiny commission, but actually would advocate supporting your local bookshops if possible, they’re mostly there for illustrative purposes]

I wish kinky sex ed wasn't so stigmatized even among left-leaning "sex positive" circles. Everyone's all "uwu I'm a sub I'll do anything you ask" okay mommy wants you to read The New Bottoming Book so you learn how to sub without hurting yourself since your sex ed up to this point is porn and your ex boyfriend Jared who liked to choke you incorrectly

THERE IS. a website. that takes 3D models with seams and pulls it apart to make a plushie pattern and informs you where things need to be edited or darts added for the best effect. and then it lets you scale it and print off your pattern. and I want to lose my MIND because I've lost steam halfway through so many plushie patterns in the mind numbing in betweens of unwrapping, copying all of the meshes down as pieces, transferring those, testing them, then finding obvious tweaks... like... this would eradicate 99% of my trial and error workflow for 3D models to plushies & MAYBE ILL FINALLY FINISH SCREAMTAIL...

HEY THIS IS IMPORTANT whats your favorite place to find drawing references?

While I'm talking about writing I do want to rec two INCREDIBLE writing apps that have helped me immensely as a writer with ADHD

Stimuwrite is a little program that you can customize with all sorts of really rewarding instant tactile feedback, for example sound effects every time you hit a key, emoji notifications and balloons when you hit your custom goal (which can be as low as you want for low energy days), and neat animated backgrounds.

4thewords turns writing into an RPG and you can kill monsters via word count in order to complete quests and progress through what I personally find to be an interesting and fun storyline. It comes with all the RPG trappings like loot, gear, even custom housing (win more stuff for your house by writing).

I cannot stress ENOUGH how amazing both of these have been in terms of my writing productivity as someone with pretty severe executive dysfunction issues. Usually I use Stimuwrite for the instant feedback and then copy and paste those over into 4thewords for the gamification.

Both are small indie projects, Stimuwrite is pay-what-you-can-afford and 4thewords is $4/month but they are very good about helping people who genuinely can't afford it.

and AS THE CHERRY ON TOP, Stimuwrite's programmer is a trans woman, and while I'm not sure about the 4thewords team in specific, the game is FILLED with really great rep, they are literally having a lesbian wedding global event going on right now as I type this. So like. I like giving money to them more than giving money to a lot of other projects lol.

Anyway no neither of these projects have told me to write about them or anything I just want to spread the love. Go check them out!!

Stimuwrite

4thwords

Sites to Help with Writing

1 - [ https://www.yourdictionary.com ] I use this site for the thesaurus, It helps to find synonyms for words so you don't repeat "said" a thousand times in your book.

2 - [ https://milanote.com ] This one is very helpful for organising your ideas with story boards, though it's partially free it has a paid version where you can get even more features. I use the free version.

3 - [ https://inkarnate.com ] This site is very popular to create maps, and for good reason. It's free version gives you all the features necessary to create maps, but the paid version gives you extra features. I use the free version.

4 - [ https://www.behindthename.com ] I use this one for names. It has a database of endless names alongside their country of origin and meaning. Very useful, though I use it to make sure the names I come up with don't end the wrong way.

5 - [ https://www.pinterest.com ] Do I even need to explain? Ideas? Here. Visualisation? Here. Everything you'll ever need? Here.

6 - [ https://quillbot.com ] Heard of it from a beloved friend. This site is useful for tone checks, grammar checks, and more. I only use it to edit.

7 - [ Google Docs ] I only use this one for writing, its free and perfectly usable.

8 - [ https://www.artbreeder.com ] This one is essential for character creation. It has many features that allows you to visualise and create portraits for your characters.

Bonus:

I use [ https://tabletopaudio.com ] for background noise while writing, because i cant focus in silence.

That's all, I hope this proves useful :)

Emiya to Guda as the story progresses. Man is having flashbacks and not of a good kind.

best ship dynamic is when they go from "you fool" (derogatory) to "you fool" (desperate)

Facts about in-game Yuu (Twisted Wonderland):

NOTES:

This is an ongoing the list and will be updated when there's new information. I'm not caught up w/ chap 6 and I'm not very perceptive. This list will probably be a lot longer if anyone could add to it in the comments, tags & reblogs! All help is very much appreciated plz i wanna know more about yuu Last but not least, some of these might be a stretch/be slightly incorrect so bare w/ me plz :]

They've been good friends with Heartslabyul ever since Book 1.

They're forgiving/don't hold any bad blood with the people who've overblotted (at least on the outside).

According to the Harveston event, they can play the flute.

They don't like bringing up the fact that they might go back to their world (Deuce's Wishing Star vignette).

Many people seem to consider them a "goody-two shoes" (Leona, Ruggie).

A good listener.

Based off of Malleus' interactions with them, Yuu talks to him a lot more off-screen as Malleus states that he values their opinions.

Loves Grim to hell and back.

It's implied that Yuu invites Malleus over frequently enough that he visits unprompted.

They can be snarky and brutally honest when they're pushed into it.

Comes up with stupid plans that nobody believes will work but it somehow does.

They're insecure about not having any magic.

They want to be able to help their friends.

Has a sense of self-preservation.

Does not actively seek out danger (*cough* om mc *cough*).

They've cleaned up Ramshackle since living there, however, it still looks "abandoned & ancient" on the outside.

Crowley doesn't give them more money than "needed".

*if i'm not mistaken, i think stamens is meant to be stamina? @milkygalait-blog plz correct me if im wrong :]

They don't know much about mushrooms (Floyd's Camp Vargas vignette).

They're very patient.

Used to be afraid of ghosts until they got to Twisted Wonderland.

They adapt to new/difficult situations quickly and calmly.

They don't complain much.

Very much so the silent type.

The audience doesn't really see anyone helping them out with their situation, so I assume they fix most of their problems themselves.

They don't have any memories of the Great Seven prior to coming to Twisted Wonderland.

Fluctuates between being observant and not noticing really basic stuff.

Doesn't hesitate to say cheesy things.

Keeps calm in harsh situations.

Here is @darkscorpiox list on other Yuu facts.

Here is @starsilluminateourgalaxy list on other Yuu facts.

There's this idea circulating in the Internet that all gacha games are evil. Which is dumb, because that's the same as calling all rice white jasmine rice. It's not. It very much isn't.

What people do with their time in game and the effort they put into is what make sit evil or not, and even then, it's for them personally.

Also, this section will be talking about Genshin Impact specifically, so take it or leave it.

Genshin is a game that's targeted for comfort gaming, waifu gaming, farming and managing resources. These is a game that rewards players for being consistent and attentive.

As someone with ADHD and autism, I love Genshin because it actually rewards my traits that aren't majorly appreciated in the outside world. Nitpicking at details, taking my time to look around and settle with ideas, attentiveness to small things that are otherwise negligible.

I've been playing this game for 2 years almost. In this time, I have, as a free to play, meaning I don’t pay actual physical money to receive in-game resources, being able to collect over 30 characters. And build them to my purposes.

But I'm also very casual about it. The only times when I put dedicated effort: spend hours on end in the game — are when I'm actively collecting resources for a character I want, and that does not happen often.

Or. When I'm playing with friends.

This is very important.

I have friends and family members who too play Genshin. We live very far from each other and our ability to see each other in person is limited.

But we have bi-weekly playing sessions on weekends. Where we spend several hours running around, helping each other out and goofing and fooling and making jokes and exchanging news and just hanging out.

Is it perfect? No. But this way I have a whole FOLDER of photos I made with our characters in it that I keep on my phone for when I'm sad and need emotional support.

This is 21 century. This is 2023. You might not see your precious people all the time. But you have a way of connecting to them.

And having the ability to goof around with them and spend time doing something you both enjoy is, in my humble opinion, SEVERAL TIMES BETTER than just calling and talking. Calling isn't bad. But gaming together is better.

I understand that it is a privilege that I can do this. And I will be using this privilege, because I love my friends and family and if Genshin helps me stay connected to them, then Genshin it is.

People also underestimate how useful lessons learnt in games can be. Take Genshin again.

For me, personally, it helped me widen my horizons about knowledge of the world and many things in it. It also helped me to start learning how to manage my time and energy and resources I have for the best results.

For example. I love Genshin lore. It encompasses several real world religions, cultures and philosophies. I've personally being reading up on Irish and Celtic mythology as of late to learn more about Childe's inspiration Cu Chulainn. I have also been casually reading greek mythology and gnosticism 101, because they are also in Genshin, and play a major role in it's world building.

Another example. When you log into the game, you have:

4 dailies - daily exercises to receive in-game currency - primogem - required to roll for characters.

160 of resin to farm for resources.

Sometimes also unfinished quests, if you have those.

To have better luck in rolling for a character you like, you need many primogems. For that, you do dailies.

To level up characters, you need experience, special materials and money, for that you need resin and some time to gather the materials. (keeping it simple)

To make your character strong you need to give them artifacts and weapons: those also need money, materials and resin for some of those materials.

So. Every time you log in, you decide where you want your own resources: time and effort — to go. If you are leveling a character, building their artifacts, their weapons. Or you might be gathering needed materials for a character you hope to get.

Most casual players who have well-built teams and leveled characters and weapons will tell you that it took some planning on their side: there's only so much resin to get the materials. There's only so much time a casual player can give the game. So they make a plan.

For example, take mine. When I was building Yan Fei, I logged every day to do a run for the enemy drops she needs. That took 15 minutes for all locations on my map with running counted in. I could farm her talent books only three times in a week. That took 15 minutes with all fighting and waiting. Other 4 days I collected money and experience books and boss materials she needed to be leveled up. That took 20 minutes, usually, with the running around. Plus, I had my dailies, which I do, if I log in. They take 7-10 minutes depending.

Summarizing. When I was actively investing my time in the game, I spent 40-45 minutes a day in the game. That time was not done in one go: I did some in the morning, to cheer myself up for the day. I did a bit during the day, in free time. And I rewarded myself for a good day with the rest of the needed time.

Overall, 40-45 minutes looks like a lot. But objectively, nowadays people spend a massive amount of time on social media, or watching and streaming shows. How many of you catch an episode or a half of your favorite show, or podcast, or a YouTube video while resting? How much time do you spend scrolling Tumblr and TikTok or reading books and fanfiction? This is approximately the same length as that.

Plus, on an everyday basis, I spend around 20 minutes in game: a quick run through the dailies and resin, and that's it. Usually I play events and time-consuming quests on weekends, and that's around 1-2 hours depending on the quests and my interest in a given event. Very similar to how one would relax with a movie or a show and catch up on two-three episodes you missed during the week, or checking out something new.

Playing games is as valid as a leisure time as any other more socially "acceptable" way. It's just being given a bad label by people who don't understand it and people who have not being very thoughtful of themselves and others when on it.

This also helped me understand how to plan around my disabilities as someone with BOTH ADHD and autism.

Understanding that my limited energy needs to be spent rationally, but also in a way that tomorrow I would be able to work again. Capitalism is not slowing down for me, so I need to work around it, in a way that would harm me least and encourage my growth. So make plans around my studies, my personal wants that replenish the energy, and my work. It takes effort. It also helps so much, I still feel dumb for not having done this sooner.

Understanding, that to be stronger, to grow better and develop, I need to invest in myself consciously and actively. But it doesn't have to be burdensome and boring and exhausting in a negative way. For example, I'm slowly learning Sanskrit. For me, because I'm curious about this language. But it also is a language that I need to learn for a book I'm writing for my character. So, I got a grammar book and a notebook and now I'm learning the alphabet. It's really cool, even if it's difficult. My pronunciation is garbage, but this is a step forward for my personal goals and it is being done in a way that I enjoy it, I'm not forcing myself like a parent would a petulant child.

Understanding that progress takes time. I spent over half a year making my Yanfei to my satisfaction. I need to let the seed root, to let it sprout and develop leaves. It's frustrating as hell. I have ADHD. I have imposter syndrome. I want and at times NEED the results immediately or it will hurt me emotionally. But now I'm able to manage this stress more successfully and return from the slump it causes me faster.

Yes, it took a gacha game for me actually learn this lesson and drive it home. It doesn't devalue the lesson itself and the positive reinforcement it gave me.

Gacha games can be good games. Learn to appreciate them for what they can give you.

For some, it's cute characters. For others, the cool things they learned. Some make their careers on games. Some find a place of comfort in games.

All of this is valid.

AO3 Tagging Inspiration.

Mainly a reference for me bc I always blank when it comes to tags. Sharing in case it helps anyone else, but not intended to be prescriptive. Further references:

Ao3’s Rating System Explanation

Difference Between "A/B" and "A&B"

Fanwork Ao3 Accepts Beyond Fanfic

How tagging a pairing in the “Relationship” field vs in “Additional Tags” changes search results

List of Writing Genres

Trope Examples

Most Popular Tags on Ao3

My humble plea for people to cross-post their meta & other fannish nonfiction to ao3, and tag it with “meta analysis” so I can find it and adore it