Latest Posts by aumbrictsuniwave - Page 5

how to format your story, a crash course

because my writing major soul dies a little bit more every time i see a perfectly good story improperly formatted.

this is a guide specifically for ao3 posting

1. Put A Double Return (Enter) Between Each Paragraph Instead Of An Indentation

fanfic is not academic writing. you don't need an indent at the beginning of each line. for the sake of scrolling it just makes it more organized and easier to read. The double return puts a space between the two paragraphs as seen here:

2. Make A New Paragraph Every Time The Camera Moves Or A New Thought Is Addressed

what the hell does that mean, youre probably asking. allow me to show you.

these are each three separate thoughts. so they each get their own paragraph. think about it like the reader is taking a pause between each thought, where should those pauses go?

3. Put A New Paragraph Every Time A New Person Speaks

do not and i repeat DO NOT write your dialogue like this:

"blah blah blah" he said. "blah blah blah" she said. "blah blah blah" they said. "blah blah blah" he said. "blah blah blah" she said.

it is impossible to read and its confusing and people will click off your story. dialogue should look like this:

see how each time a different person talks there's a new line? there can be not dialogue mixed with the dialogue, but every time the person speaking changes, there would be a new line.

Seeing as you already received an ask about Until Dawn, I wanted to ask you what your general opinion about the game and its use of the Wendigo is? I understand if the question has little to do with writing but I'd like your opinion before buying it in case it is offensive.

Until Dawn Game and Use of the Wendigo

From what I’ve gathered about the game, they didn’t have Algonquian people giving input to the story. While Wendigo legends have spread much farther West in modern times because of how much ecological destruction is happening, it’s spreading amongst Natives and is still staying mostly within Algonquin territory (the Cree are an Algonquin speaking people, and their nation is absolutely gigantic). 

While the game pays lip service to the original locations of the Cree, and it is remotely possible the Cree owned mountains, the thing about the bordering Cree nation is they are called Plains Cree for a reason. If you look at a map highlighting the Rockies, and you look at a map highlighting the territory of the Cree, the two barely overlap if they overlap at all.

Disclaimer: I am not Plains Cree— I am Mohawk, Mi'kmaq, and Wyandot— so I could be wrong. Plains Cree are more than welcome to correct me about ancestral lands.

However, the concepts taken from the game make me uneasy.

The Wendigo is not a random horror creature, as I have said before. It has been stolen and repurposed (before anyone comes at me saying that it’s part of their local mythology so it’s free for white people to use, allow me to explain that Native people were not free to practice their religions in Canada from 1884 and the ban lasted about a century; there was no room for there to be equal sharing of religions, because Natives had no ownership over their own). As soon as I see any Native ‘scary creature’ used, I am extremely wary. It is possible to use them respectfully, but more often than not, it’s just appropriation.

Even though the game pays lip service to keeping the Wendigo within the Cree, I cannot find a single piece of information that says the Cree were actually consulted for the game. And that’s a huge problem. The thing about the proper use of Native American mythology is it stays within our control, like the aforementioned Skinwalkers usage. It seems to me that they simply used the Wendigo for the old school horror tropes, which are inherently racist.I can’t seem to find any Native-written pieces about the game, either, which I would love to link to (followers, if you provide opinions, make sure they are either linking to Native-written works or you yourself are Native). 

But from my own glance at it, I don’t like their use of the Wendigo and I don’t like how I can’t seem to find any Native voices anywhere around the project.

~Mod Lesya 

Hi! White writer here, I’ve been going through your folklore tag and didn’t quite see what I needed to know. Anyways I’m working on a novel which features a town populated exclusively by preternatural/supernatural beings, which acts as something of a sanctuary for beings from all over the world. There’s more than one of these towns, again all over the world, but people immigrate. Anyways my question is about folklore and respectfulness? I don’t want to turn anything into a stereotype or be (a)

(B) disrespectful with cultures which, obviously, aren’t mine. It’s a small town and there’s a lot of borderline horror in the story, but I guess I’m asking about any recommendations on how to not end up reducing them to stereotypes. (This includes things like kappa, ghosts, various types of vampires, werewolves and shifters, fae, etc. no wendigos, I did read that post.) sorry if this is too broad or anything similar! If you’ve any advice though I’d really appreciate it!

Using folklore respectively

The key is showing a balanced perspective.

Every folklore, belief system, and religion has good and evil forces. The problems happen when you start to pull too heavily from the good or evil sides of any one folklore belief set.

For example, your kappa— do you have any positive Shinto forces in there? Or are you just pulling the monsters? If you’re just pulling from the monsters, especially if you’re pulling mostly marginalized belief system monsters, that’s where it gets very, very troublesome.

This might mean your core cast has to shrink down to account for a balanced perspective, and a few chaotic forces, and/or you’ll have to be careful with side characters to mention them (like, a line of dialogue about how a negative force is a threat and a positive force from the same belief system is handling it), but this is your basic formula for using folklore.

You’ll also have to be careful not to discredit certain beliefs that might make people uncomfortable (it has been expressed a few times that adding Judaism and Islam to all-myths-are-true gets touchy), so that sort of research will be required.

Bonus points that you learn more about each individual set of beliefs and end up more likely to stray away from pop culture sensationalist lists that focus on the weird Other Folklore. By spreading your focus to the less written about but just as important good characters, you create the sense of something whole.

I would also suggest considering looking at how each folklore treats good and evil. Western views tend to treat it as end points— evil is defeated [end], evil wins [end]— while other belief systems are more likely to acknowledge that good and evil will always coexist and the key is keeping them in balance.

As for the Wendigo:

It isn’t completely off limits. What that post is referencing is making sure to use the Wendigo in its original context. This means having it be a villain/ force of pure evil, and having some good Native beliefs to balance it out.

For example: if the Wendigo (or any other marginalized demon) is defeated by a Christian witch, that would have colonialist overtones by showing the “savage marginalized beast” be subdued by “good Christian people.” Even if you had a non-Christian European belief, that turns to “civilized Europeans.” There’s a lot of racism in this option. 

Meanwhile, if you had the Wendigo defeated by Wisakedjak (or the equivilent heroic figure in a marginalized belief system), then the Wendigo is being defeated by an equal, showing a balanced representation of the beliefs. You end up showing internal processes for handling our own demons, showing our cultures more thoroughly.

Tl;dr: so long as you show good and bad parts of the folklore, and don’t make blends that end up stepping on toes/are colonialist in the form of Europe Being Better, you’re worlds ahead and with proper research can flesh it out.

~ Mod Lesya

I just got an ask about a Native spirit that many Natives have asked monsterfuckers to not use.

It starts with a W.

People from the culture it’s from do not say its name because in their culture, saying the name summons the spirit. Out of respect for my friends from that culture, I do not say/type the name either.

I would kindly ask you not put that creature in my ask box in the future. I know the person that submitted it likely didn’t know so there’s no hard feelings. It’s alright. I’m not upset.

I’m not really the best person to educate folks on this topic and I wish I had some resources on why that’s not a good thing for non-Native people to use for their fiction.

I’m sure even my wording here isn’t great. I know the spirit is from a specific Native culture (there’s a lot of them, for those that didn’t know lol) and I can’t remember which one(s) and my brain is still fuzzy from being sick.

So if any of my followers are familiar with this issue, please feel free to share the info of why this isn’t good.

Again, I understand the person that sent the ask likely didn’t know all this. I’m not upset. I just think it’s worth mentioning.

So, back around 2022-2023, I had to explain to a BUNCH of friends what exactly is/was the Undertale/UTMV fandom. It was hard to explain AUs of AUs… of multiverses… to people which weren’t there to personally experience the transition?

A lot of these stories and ideas just stems from people getting inspired off of other people, and kind of building up from there. However, if you weren’t really there for the natural progression of that… the fandom will kind of seem like… a lot (even though it kind of is ^^ the rabbit hole runs deep…).

So, I tried my hand at semi-making a “comprehensive” guide to how I see the layers of the fandom ^^” (in a silly, not-so-serious way).

The deeper you go into this fandom, the harder it sometimes gets to even leave 💀

Anyways, tag yourself, I’m stuck in Hell 7 🕺

(note: please don’t take this entirely too seriously! I just used this as a way to make the entirety of the fandom slightly more digestible, instead of me yapping for hours in a pseudo lecture about the history of the fandom).

Sans Undertale is so funny because for years his fanon self was portrayed as like VERY highly emotional like crying a lot and really playing into the sad boy depression angle and stuff and then the backlash to that depiction would have you believe he was this stone-faced cold-hearted badasss who never shows any emotion and then you look at canon Sans undertale and he is neither of those things.

Sans is the guy a few years older then you in your undergrad course who never seems to do any of the work but never drops so you have no idea how he's actually doing grade wise. He wears sweats every single day and offhandely remarks about how he sometimes skips because he can't get out of bed but then he says something funny so you can't follow up without killing the vibe. He is chilling vibing to the point where you kinda wonder if he's coming to class high but then during discussions he casually offers up the most banger points no one else has thought of. Sans Undertale is an enigma wrapped up in a deception and the whole class is giggling because he keeps loudly chewing a crunchwrap supreme while the professor is talking

Dear Supporter,

I hope this message finds you and your family in good health. My name is Eman Zaqout from Gaza. I am reaching you out to seek your urgent help in spreading the word about our fundraiser. I lost both my home and my job due to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and we are facing catastrophic living conditions. 💔

I kindly ask you to visit my campaign. Your support, whether through donating or sharing, will help us reach more people who can make a difference. Thank you for your continued support for the Palestinian cause. Your dedication brings us closer to freedom. 🙏🕊

Note: Verified by several people as 90-ghost and aces-and-angels. ☑

Just gonna post this. I'm a small creator so I don't know why I'm being asked for help. But it's the least I can do. Hopefully everything is helped over there in Gaza.

Reblog if it's okay to befriend you, ask questions, ask for advice, rant, vent, let something off your chest, or just have a nice chat.

Reblog this if it’s okay to DM you and shoot the friendship shot.

Alright US mutuals, if you are interested in, morbidly fascinated by, or anxiously doomscrolling through AI news, including Stable Diffusion, Llama, ChatGPT or Dalle, you need to be aware of this.

The US Copyright Office has submitted a request for comment from the general public. Guidelines can be found on their site, but the gist of it is that they are taking citizen statements on what your views on AI are, and how the Copyright Office should address the admittedly thorny issues in rulings.

Be polite, be succinct, and be honest. They have a list of questions or suggestions, but in truth are looking to get as much data from the general public as possible. If you have links to papers or studies examining the economic impacts of AI, they want them. If you have anecdotal stories of losing commissions, they want them. If you have legal opinions, experience using these tools, or even a layman's perspective of how much human input is required for a piece of work to gain copyright, they want it.

The deadline is Oct 18th and can be submitted via the link in the article. While the regulatory apparatus of the US is largely under sway by corporate interests, this is still the actual, official time for you to directly tell the government what you think and what they should do. Comments can be submitted by individuals or on behalf of organizations. So if you are a small business, say a print shop, you can comment on behalf of the print shop as well.

Ars Technica

Thorny AI copyright questions have Copyright Office seeking public input

Should AI-created works be copyrighted? US regulators want to know what you think.

Reblog if you 100% okay with a transgender person correcting you if you accidentally misgender them or use their dead name.

please do

welcome everybody

I am Muhammad Imad Abdel Latif Sharab

First, after an aggressive war on Gaza City and its revival, we were displaced from our 3-storey house in which I and my family of 3 members live.

My father's family consists of 8 members

My grandfather, may God have mercy on him, was martyred by occupation aircraft on 12/14/2023.

The one who was martyred while he was leaving the house to check on our house next to him, which could not be reached due to a brutal enemy who does not differentiate between anyone in death, went out to check on our house, which we were not in because of my displacement to Rafah, me, my father, and our families due to the intensity of the fighting in Khan Yunis, and after that A few days ago, our store in which my father and brothers work was bombed by occupation aircraft. He was working to gather his strength from it and meet the needs of our house, which no longer exists due to the bombing. We ask you to help and contribute, even if just a little, by donating to us so that we can compensate for a little of what we lost.

Many thanks to you 😢

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

If you do not understand the words well, because I am not very good at English, but I ask you to help me with money so that I can compensate for even a little of what I lost, and I am very grateful to you, my dears😢🥺😢🥺😢🥺🥺😢

I cannot help you, I'm sorry, but I will post this just in case someone can instead of me. Best wishes.

@elizakai yaaa hhem3jjwsnjsi yippeee I did it :D

Went an odd direction with this one but that's how I like goin' 'bout my dtiys(eeven tho I don't really like how it turned out-)

You can barely call these moths tho*squints* they're erm buttermothings😼 the top one looks like a moth though bc I actually used a reference sighs

The more I look at it the worse it gets so I'll just get to posting-

Erm also this this made me pull out my tarot cards again after.. like almost a year :3 XVIII-The Moon(upright) sighsss I lob my tarot cards💞

Is it just me or are the new tumblr users convinced there's a penalty of some kind for using this site like it's meant to be used?

I procrastinated on this for ages

Miracle Musical good go listen get some hawaii part II in your brain

I heard likes don't do much so reblog if you like this lol

and I'm also obligated to show y'all the 3 stages of this because yes of course (under the cut)

A general cane guide for writers and artists (from a cane user, writer, and artist!)

Disclaimer: Though I have been using a cane for 6 years, I am not a doctor, nor am I by any means an expert. This guide is true to my experience, but there are as many ways to use a cane as there are cane users!

This guide will not include: White canes for blindness, crutches, walkers, or wheelchairs as I have no personal experience with these.

This is meant to be a general guide to get you started and avoid some common mishaps/misconceptions in your writing, but you absolutely should continue to do your own research outside of this guide!

This is NOT a medical resource!!! And never tell a real person you think they're using a cane wrong!

The biggest recurring problem I've seen is using the cane on the wrong side. The cane goes on the opposite side of the pain! If your character has even-sided pain or needs it for balance/weakness, then use the cane in the non-dominant hand to keep the dominant hand free. Some cane users also switch sides to give their arm a rest!

A cane takes about 20% of your weight off the opposite leg. It should fit within your natural gait and become something of an extension of your body. If you need more weight off than 20%, then crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair is needed.

Putting more pressure on the cane, using it on the wrong side, or having it at the wrong height can make it less effective, and can cause long term damage to your body from improper pressure and posture. (Hugh Laurie genuinely hurt his body from years of using a cane wrong on House!)

(some people elect to use a cane wrong for their personal situation despite this, everyone is different!)

(an animated GIF of a cane matching the natural walking gait. It turns red when pressure is placed on it.)

When going up and down stairs, there is an ideal standard: You want to use the handrail and the cane at the same time, or prioritize the handrail if it's only on one side. When going up stairs you lead with your good leg and follow with the cane and hurt leg together. When going down stairs you lead with the cane and the bad leg and follow with the good leg!

Realistically though, many people don't move out of the way for cane users to access the railing, many stairs don't have railings, and many are wet, rusty, or generally not ideal to grip.

In these cases, if you have a friend nearby, holding on to them is a good idea. Or, take it one step at a time carefully if you're alone.

Now we come to a very common mistake I see... Using fashion canes for medical use!

(These are 4 broad shapes, but there is INCREDIBLE variation in cane handles. Research heavily what will be best for your character's specific needs!)

The handle is the contact point for all the weight you're putting on your cane, and that pressure is being put onto your hand, wrist, and shoulder. So the shape is very important for long term use!

Knob handles (and very decorative handles) are not used for medical use for this reason. It adds extra stress to the body and can damage your hand to put constant pressure onto these painful shapes.

The weight of a cane is also incredibly important, as a heavier cane will cause wear on your body much faster. When you're using it all day, it gets heavy fast! If your character struggles with weakness, then they won't want a heavy cane if they can help it!

This is also part of why sword canes aren't usually very viable for medical use (along with them usually being knob handles) is that swords are extra weight!

However, a small knife or perhaps a retractable blade hidden within the base might be viable even for weak characters.

Bases have a lot of variability as well, and the modern standard is generally adjustable bases. Adjustable canes are very handy if your character regularly changes shoe height, for instance (gotta keep the height at your hip!)

Canes help on most terrain with their standard base and structure. But for some terrain, you might want a different base, or to forego the cane entirely! This article covers it pretty well.

Many cane users decorate their canes! Stickers are incredibly common, and painting canes is relatively common as well! You'll also see people replacing the standard wrist strap with a personalized one, or even adding a small charm to the ring the strap connects to. (nothing too large, or it gets annoying as the cane is swinging around everywhere)

(my canes, for reference)

If your character uses a cane full time, then they might also have multiple canes that look different aesthetically to match their outfits!

When it comes to practical things outside of the cane, you reasonably only have one hand available while it's being used. Many people will hook their cane onto their arm or let it dangle on the strap (if they have one) while using their cane arm, but it's often significantly less convenient than 2 hands. But, if you need 2 hands, then it's either setting the cane down or letting it hang!

For this reason, optimizing one handed use is ideal! Keeping bags/items on the side of your free hand helps keep your items accessible.

When sitting, the cane either leans against a wall or table, goes under the chair, or hooks onto the back of the chair. (It often falls when hanging off of a chair, in my experience)

When getting up, the user will either use their cane to help them balance/support as they stand, or get up and then grab their cane. This depends on what it's being used for (balance vs pain when walking, for instance!)

That's everything I can think of for now. Thank you for reading my long-but-absolutely-not-comprehensive list of things to keep in mind when writing or drawing a cane user!

Happy disability pride month! Go forth and make more characters use canes!!!

HI!! some doctor :))

HI!! some doctor :))

When Bluesky, an app I just found through a friend, makes me feel like I'm taking a breath of fresh air. Here just take a look at it, I already like it despite having not used it yet. I just had to look around and it's nice- a break from the shitty bullshit of the Internet

It looks better then Twitter/x to be honest. For me anyway.

(the link will take you to the app on Google play. Idk if it's on any other devices. And obviously it's called Bluesky) ((if you're uncomfortable with clicking the link just look it up.))

Bluesky

Forced to learn how tumblr works because quotev has officially killed itself ☹️ (please tell me terms and stuff i should know) (and explain it like youre talking to your mom about your favorite media)

being a self-taught artist with no formal training is having done art seriously since you were a young teenager and only finding out that you’re supposed to do warm up sketches every time you’re about to work on serious art when you’re fuckin twenty-five

this is the thumbnail for my dustfell animation!

This is one of my favourite things I made because it's my best looking work yet.

I hope you all like it!!

= )

note（ノート）

Must-know for Japanese fandom: the meaning of "proship" and the concept of "proshippers" in Western f｜オレンジア｜note

[TN: This is a translation of this note by Maromi. If you are able, I encourage you to read the original article for yourself as translation

I have never read a more excellent article

This is literally so cool, I love komodos- :3

Komodo dragons have iron-tipped teeth, new study shows

Komodo dragons, the world’s largest species of lizard, have iron-tipped teeth that help them to rip their prey apart, according to new research. The metal is concentrated in the cutting edge and tips of their curved, serrated teeth, staining them orange, scientists wrote in a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. Komodo dragons are native to Indonesia and weigh around 80 kilograms (176 pounds) on average. They eat almost any kind of meat and are known as deadly predators...

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/24/science/komodo-dragons-iron-teeth-scli-intl/index.html

the fucking "Get premium" block is covering all the goddamn buttons, get that shit off my screen

imma try to ublock that thang

thank you for watching the show!

og art ^

Hey guys ❤️

I finally moved into my mom's VERY crowded house, and got settled here, but an old injury has resurfaced and made it to the point that I can no longer do my job. My job also has no intentions of accommodation, as they've already made it clear that they want me back at 100% in 12 weeks, or I no longer have a job.

This being said, I will be unpaid either until the tear in my rotator cuff heals or until I can find a new job.

Please consider commissioning my [Art] or [Writing], or possibly donating a [Rootbeer] on my K0-fi for a thank you doodle!

If you can't or aren't interested in doing any of that, please consider reblogging ❤️🙏

Thank you so much!

me who's extremely shy and not used to having mutuals. Like I wanna talk but at the same time I'm just an introverted mess.

Like I'd love to get to know them more, maybe make new friends. But I have no idea how to talk to people that much anymore. In person it's eh- and on platforms it's a struggle coming out of the shell.

GIMMICKS I BEG

REBLOG THIS

@non-tyrannical-usa GET THE LIST PLEASE