The spiritual successor to Miette

Might I also add

WHEN IT HURTS TO ADMIT IT Prompts

⟡ “I don’t know when I stopped feeling like myself, but I know it wasn’t all at once.”

⟡ “I keep waiting to miss this life more than I hate it.”

⟡ “I don’t even know if I’m sad or just tired of pretending I’m not.”

⟡ “You ever wake up and realize you’re living a life you didn’t mean to choose?”

⟡ “I don’t hate you. I just don’t recognize who I am around you anymore.”

⟡ “I thought if I ignored it long enough, it would go away. It didn’t.”

⟡ “I’m not asking you to fix it. I just need you to stop telling me it’s fine.”

⟡ “I keep telling myself this is enough, but it never sounds convincing.”

⟡ “I don’t know what I want, I just know this isn’t it.”

⟡ “I’m scared that if I stop, everything I’ve been holding together will fall apart.”

⟡ “I don’t want to leave. I just don’t want to stay like this.”

⟡ “I don’t feel brave. I feel cornered.”

⟡ “Every time I say I’m okay, something in me flinches.”

⟡ “I don’t know how to explain this without sounding ungrateful.”

⟡ “I keep thinking there has to be more than just getting through the day.”

⟡ “I don’t trust myself to make a decision because what if I regret all of them?”

⟡ “I don’t know who I’d be if I wasn’t needed all the time.”

⟡ “I thought being strong would feel different than this.”

⟡ “I don’t want to disappear. I just want the noise to stop.”

⟡ “I don’t know how to ask for help without feeling like I failed.”

⟡ “I keep hoping something will force my hand so I don’t have to choose.”

⟡ “I don’t know how to leave without hurting someone.”

⟡ “I don’t want to be the reason everything changes.”

⟡ “I don’t know if I’m scared of losing this or scared of keeping it.”

⟡ “I feel like I’m watching my own life instead of living it.”

⟡ “I don’t know how much longer I can carry this and still call it living.”

⟡ “I keep thinking tomorrow I’ll feel different. Tomorrow keeps showing up the same.”

⟡ “I don’t know if I’m asking for permission or forgiveness.”

FACIAL MICRO EXPRESSIONS FOR WRITERS <3

gothic horror is when there's a location. cosmic horror is when there's an unauthorized fucking Thing. folk horror is when you're outside.

one good thing about december on this hellsite is that this gif will be making its rounds again

PLEASE for the love of the universe read anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy written from marginalized perspectives. Y’all (you know who you are) are killing me. To see people praise books about empire written exclusively by white women and then turn around and say you don’t know who Octavia Butler is or that you haven’t read any NK Jemisin or that Babel was too heavy-handed just kills me! I’m not saying you HAVE to enjoy specific books but there is such an obvious pattern here

Some of y’all love marginalized stories but you don’t give a fuck about marginalized creators and characters, and it shows. Like damn

If anyone has any recommendations give them to me please!

Gladly! The pieces on this list aren’t limited to specifically anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy, but they do center related and relevant topics, themes, etc.

Severely underhyped books of assorted speculative genres:

Read widely. Read diversely. People of the Caucasian persuasion need to stop getting pissy when the story doesn’t immediately center them and they don’t automatically relate to everything the character says and does and is. Just let yourself get swept in the story—even if it touches on (gasp!) racism—and maybe, just maybe, it’ll reveal something to you.

Or maybe not! Marginalized sff authors do not have to and should not have to educate their readers. But if I see one more white person complain about how Black characters are fundamentally annoying because they complain too much I’m going to fling myself into the sun

Thanks for coming to my ted talk I didn’t want to do it but here I am

Don't forget Aliette de Bodard! Especially her Xuya and Dominion of the Fallen series.

Zen Cho is my other favorite - Sorcerer to the Crown and The True Queen, and also Black Water Sister.

Throwing in The Kingston Cycle by CL Polk, basically everything I've ever wanted in a fantasy novel. Like if the author had my checklist.

No, seriously, do NOT.

Feeling dirty and grimy for extended periods of time is extremely draining on the mental well-being of humans. Psychological studies prove it is detrimental to our self-esteem and contentment. And no wonder; we are animals--homo sapiens, a kind of ape--that instinctively places high importance on personal grooming. Like monkeys and cats and birds in a zoo, one of the best ways to make us feel sad ... is to make us feel gross to ourselves.

So here's an easy saying from my therapist/zookeeper:

"If you feel like you hate the world, eat something.

If you feel like the world hates you, get some sleep.

If you feel like you hate yourself, take a shower.

You will probably feel much better."

Do all three at once to become the perfect life form

Whoa! Is this where @redgoldsparks ‘ comic comes from?

Yes this is the source of the text!

Sun Tzu is so fucking funny to me because for his time he was legitimately a brilliant tactician but a bunch of his insight is shit like "if you think you might lose, avoid doing that", "being outnumbered is bad generally", and "consider lying."

My personal favourite is his lengthy lecture on the subject of Supplies Being Very Important I Cannot Stress Enough The Importance Of Protecting Your Supply Lines But Also Supply Lines Are Expensive As Shit So Steal The Enemy’s Supplies At Every Opportunity. 

via- @elidyce

One of the more important things to consider about any historical work is the audience it was published for. The Art Of War was aimed at fancy nobles high on philosophy with little practical military experience who were nonetheless leading armies.

Sun Tzu, after desperatly trying to explain extremely basic logic to a bunch of upper-class twits, basically sat down and wrote the most elaborate "As per my last email" ever

I was trying to explain The Art of War to my mother recently, and I referenced The Prince, in that Machiavelli wrote The Prince both as a genuine guide on good governance* (as he saw it) but in its historical context it may also be understood as an acerbic political commentary on the issues he saw both with Italy in general and the Medicis who had exiled him specifically.

Some of Machiavelli's advice also seems blindingly obvious - "don't use mercenaries if you can avoid it, and if you can't avoid it, most certainly don't refuse to pay them," "maintaining a balanced budget is a good idea," "if you make alliances, honour them" etc. etc. - but if you look at what was going on at the time he was alive, you can see why he might feel it necessary to plainly state these things.

If stuff in a very famous book seems weird or obvious it's probably indicating that you should consider the historical context in which such a seemingly obvious thing needed to be said.

high-tension romantic scenarios to get lost in

i'm back!! i'm in a huge slump rn, so submit to my "ask" box if there is anything you want to see :) alsoo if you have anything to add to this list, reply to the post!! i love hearing what you guys have to say

This makes me want to write a piece that's just these little nonverbal actions that tell the story, no dialogue or anything. That would be fun :)

@thedemonsurfer

Whenever I injure myself doing DIY I come away with two injuries because after the first one I'm like "that was incredibly stupid, no way I'll make that mistake twice" and keep working and guess what happens next

So, uh. Did you, by any chance, just injure yourself doing DIY? And more importantly, are you okay?

I'm fine it was only the drill

Please tell me your body has the same number of holes it started the day with

Topologically yes

so glad you didn't drill through anything

and colloquially?

Skin damage only

I'd very almost healed up and was feeling smug about it. Anyway, guess who has identical drill injuries on the other hand.

Well that barely counts as an injury. That's just respect for symmetry.

Derin do you fucking have stigmata now

I have some fully completed shelves is what I have. Ignore my hands.

- Jesus, probably, (~ 12 bc)

Fighting with my ADHD brain to get things done like it’s a moody cat or toddler

you've heard of death of the author, now get ready for death of the audience: where instead of basing your reaction on a thousand uninformed opinions online, you actually read the text and engage with it

I noticed a consistency with my monster characters.

Monster memes part 2

Hot Writers Don't Gatekeep

the writers REALLY liked my artist resource post, so I thought i'd give y'all my dragon hoard of things i use for writing

Reverse Dictionary, you type in the meaning of a word, and it gives you a bunch of words that mean that. (MY MOST IMPORTANT OFFERING IN THIS LIST)

Slang Dictionary, what it says on the tin.

Anglish Translator, Anglish is if English evolved without borrowing from other languages and it really itches my brain (Anglish is if english grown without borrowing from other languages and it truly itches my brain)

Incorrect Quotes Generator, Put character names in, and incorrect quotes come out. Really fun way to goof around with your characters' dynamics.

Handspeak, an ASL dictionary

Library of Babel, Odds are, the finished version of your wip is in here somewhere

The best fantasy map maker i have ever used

Glitch Text Generator is one I use A Lot, does ť̷̨̢͓̤͔̤̤̝̺̯̄̔̄̌̄͗͒͋͂͋͝ḩ̵̼̜͍͚͕̏̓͊̈̉̆̄͐́͗͒̈̃̊̚͜i̵̻̐̇̎̏̀̋̌̃̇̿͘̚s̴̮̔̂̇͒͑͝͝ͅ to your text

Totally not bootleg microsoft office

Emotions Thesaurus a guide for writing emotions and their associated body language

Mythcreants, has a whole bunch of stuff you can read to learn more about the technical aspects of writing

A decent article talking about what to think about when creating a language

Trope Talks, particularly good for beginner and younger writers or people who have a hard time reading. Honestly this whole channel is a fantastic format to get information into my adhd rattled brain.

FOR MY AO3 BESTIES! Postimages will host your image forever so you can embed it into your work

Ambient Chaos, sometimes the only thing in the world that can kick your brain into writing mode is nuclear sirens and lofi beats

Radioooooo, play a station from any place and year. Particularly helpful for period pieces.

Food timeline, when foods were invented

you can pry starting sentences with 'and' or 'but' out of my cold, dead hands

op how does it feel to be the most correct person on earth

this is beautiful