#but genuinely this is like. a frame perfect example of exactly what I'm talking about

[0046incognito]

how do you animate? ive always wanted to but idk where to start, any advice? love your art btw

thank you!! i Love encouraging people to learn to animate it seems daunting at first but once you get the hang of the basics you can basically do anything

i Started learning animation by not even animating, i just would rewatch all the original animaniacs skits animated by tokyo movie shinsha over and over again and go through them frame by frame to study the timing and movement on any shots i liked, timing is probably the Most important part of animation and a lot of it genuinely just comes down to intuition, so it's good to get into the habit of studying any animation you like frame by frame, i Still do this all the time [usually just for fun but also to use as actual tangible motion reference in whatever i'm working on, for example i learned to animate lightning effects from hunter X hunter and i learned to animate floaty bouncy movements from perfect blue]

BUT i'm getting ahead of myself, basically it's good to study animation you like before jumping right into actually animating, but that won't do you any good if you don't understand the fundamentals!! this also gives me an excuse to do a warmup for once which i usually skimp out on [<-hack fraud]

the first thing ANY animation class will teach you is The Dreaded Bouncing Ball [<-i actually like animating balls][<-intentional euphemism], because it's both simple And teaches you really essential basic animation skills such as A) motion, in general B) timing C) how timing sheets basically work, and occasionally D) squash&stretch!

you'll sometimes see animators draw charts with a bunch of lines off in the corner of a page, that's basically an old-timey timing sheet! each dash on the line indicates how many frames for a particular movement; for example, the top ball bounce has more frames bunched up at the top where it moves slowly, less frames when it's moving fast

if every motion you animate uses the same number of frames to do any movement, it'll look weird, because nothing in real life typically moves like that. you can demonstrate this in real life by just moving your hand in front of your face from one side to the other really fast; you won't see it in the middle, because that's where it's moving the fastest. this is basically where the principles for smear frames comes from!

the second thing they teach you in animation school is flour sacks so really animation is just all about nothin but balls and sacks

but the flour sack exercise is slightly more complicated so my advice for Getting STarted really ends here. once you have the hang of bouncing balls, you can apply those principles to things like character animation; some of the first "character animation" type things i ever animated when i was first learning were just really quick expression changes and flinching. this also teaches you about anticipation and what richard williams [author of the animator's survival kit highly recommend seeking out a PDF of that, he also was animation director on who framed roger rabbit and he made thief&the cobbler, he also animated some sequences on the raggedy ann&andy movie] calls Takes&Accents

this is a Really Really simple way to get started on character animation, this is only four frames! a lot of really bouncy-looking anime tend to animate their expressions pretty much exactly like this. you can always add more frames to make it smoother or more expressive, sometimes you'll also see an "anticipate up" frame before the "anticipate down", but remember the Timing is key so if you're adding more frames, try not to shift the timing too much or it might look awkward

OK i have spend like two hours typing this up instead of actually working on what i was supposed to today LOL i hope this helped at all if you have any more questions ever feel free to ask i Love talking about animation

OH ONE MORE THING!!!! i started learning animation in adobe animate [the software that was formerly Flash] but it SUCKS!!!! DON'T USE ADOBE ANIMATE!!!! i currently use a pirated copy of toonboom harmony which is THE industry standard 2D animation software and also just the best art program i have ever used in general, but it is CRAZY expensive that's why i pirated you can also invest in a perpetual license for clip studio paint pro or EX, but pro only lets you use 24 frames Total on a timeline and EX is like two hundred somethin dollars, OR i've heard decent things about procreate dreams? which is a mobile app IDK if it has a desktop version but i think it's only like twenty bucks

OK good luck have fun everyone please enjoy animating

#animation #tutorial #art tutorial #sorry this is so long i got crazy carried away i just love the medium of animation so so much and want to encourage more people to get into #it it's not that scary i promise!!!! i KNOW it seems scary to start i only started learning myself like three years ago cuz i was too #intimidated to get a headstart until in an actual classroom setting #and then it turns out art school is a scam and my school in particular sucks dick at teaching anything so all this i basically taught mysel #it's like driving it seems like the scariest shit ever but then once you actually start learning it's not that bad #[<-says the guy who still doesn't have his license at 23 cuz he had recurring nightmares about car accidents for eleven years]

[missmentelle]

How do I know if I'm being gaslit? What does that mean?

If you are experiencing “gaslighting”, it means that someone is intentionally trying to make you feel like you are irrational and insane. They will try to convince you that you can’t trust your own judgement, even about things that you experienced firsthand. The internet tends to use the term ‘gaslighting’ to describe any kind of lying or arguing, but it’s a lot more complicated than that - when you are being gaslit, it means someone is going out of their way to make you feel like you’re the crazy one who causes all the conflict in the relationship when in reality, it’s the other way around. A person who lies about liking your new haircut or starts an argument with you about whose turn it is to do the dishes is probably not gaslighting you - gaslighting is intentional, repeated, and specifically aimed at undermining your sanity and emotional stability. It is a pattern of abuse, and by definition, it can be very difficult to recognize and escape from. 

Examples of gaslighting include things like:

Insisting that things did not happen the way you remember them, even if you have proof. Maybe you and the abuser had an argument over WhatsApp yesterday, and they called you a slur. You definitely remember that this happened, because it was devastating for you, and you took screenshots in case they deleted the message. But when you confront the other person about what they said, they flat-out deny that it ever happened - in fact, they have no idea where this is coming from, and they feel insulted that you would accuse them of such a horrible thing. They didn’t do that. They’ve never done that. In fact, there was no argument. You made the whole thing up in your head. It doesn’t matter that you have screenshots - they don’t want to see them, because they know that you are totally misunderstanding what’s in them, just like you always do. When you’re being gaslit, the gaslighter doesn’t care about reality. They will flat-out deny what happened and create a new version of events that puts them in a better light, and they’ll insist that you are the one with the faulty memory for not remembering it that way. Even with evidence right in front of their faces, they’ll stick to their guns and say that you are completely inventing things. 

Constantly insisting that you overreact and blow things out of proportion. Maybe you saw a notification on your partner’s phone the other day, and you realize that they’ve been texting other people on a dating app. You are obviously very upset about the situation, and you aren’t sure if you even want to stay in the relationship. But instead of apologizing, your partner begins to get angry with you for how upset you are - they insist that you are blowing this completely out of proportion, that you’re being a huge drama queen, that you’re being manipulative and attention-seeking, and that it’s completely insane for you to be upset. Any time you are upset with the other person for genuinely hurting or harming you in some way, they flip everything around - all of a sudden, the conversation becomes focused on how unstable and dramatic you are, and the abuser’s wrongdoing is totally forgotten. The abuser paints a consistent picture of you as someone who freaks out over absolutely nothing and completely overreacts. 

Playing up your existing mental illness or insisting that you are mentally ill. Your abuser sees signs of mental illness in everything you do. If you have a history of mental illness, they’ll insist that it’s coming back - if you don’t have a history of mental illness, they’ll invent a new mental illness for you out of whole cloth. Did you get upset because your partner screamed at you? That’s not normal, you’re having huge mood swings and you’re definitely bipolar. Did you stick up for yourself when your partner was trying to control you? That’s definitely not normal, you’re acting just like this person they knew who had severe BPD. Whenever you are upset about the way you’re being treated or just refusing to be controlled, your abuser will play the mental illness card - suddenly, they are the hard-worn, loving caretaker and you are the very sick person who refuses to let them help you. Sometimes, when you are getting especially angry about your partner’s mistreatment, they may flip a switch and go from yelling at you to acting like your caretaker in an instant - they’ll start pleading with you to get help, offering to drive you to the hospital, and begging you to understand that you aren’t well and that they’re just so worried about you. The point, of course, is to completely undermine you as a person; they want you to believe that you are seriously mentally ill and incapable of understanding what’s real and what isn’t. 

Positioning themselves as the innocent “victim” in the relationship, even when they are the one mistreating you. To an outside observer, you are the one constantly being terrorized by someone who criticizes and controls you. But your gaslighter doesn’t want you to see it that way - according to them, they are the innocent victim who has to tiptoe around your constant unpredictable mood swings. They’ll claim that they try so hard to help you and avoid setting you off, but you’re just so unreasonable - they may even claim that you are the one abusing them. Any time you fight back, stand up for yourself or have a negative reaction to their abuse, they will find a way to frame things so that your response is the real issue, and not the abuse that provoked it. If they pinned you against a wall and you pushed them off you to get away, they will flip the narrative on you - they’ll swear up and down that they were just gently trying to keep you from hurting yourself when you violently attacked them. Somehow, every confrontation you have about your partner’s bad behaviour turns into you apologizing and feeling bad, even when you went into the conversation being pretty sure that you did nothing wrong. 

Intentionally turning friends and loved ones against you. A gaslighter will sometimes try to recruit your friends and family to “their” side, turning them against you. They will tell your loved ones all about your supposed mood swings, “mental health issues” and how difficult you are being, in an effort to win sympathy and destroy your credibility. The idea is that when you turn to your friends to say “my partner freaked out on me over something small last night”, they’ll respond with “mmmm, your partner already told us this story and they gave a very different version of what happened. It sounds like you’re leaving a lot out to make yourself sound better. Your partner says you’ve been acting weird lately, what’s going on with you?” It’s much easier to warp someone’s perception of reality if you can convince their friends and family to reinforce the fake reality that you’ve created. 

Dramatically misrepresenting your motives. A gaslighter will find ways to “prove” that you’re the kind of person they say you are, regardless of what you do. Even if you do something nice for them, they can find ways to twist things to suit their narrative. Did you buy them an expensive birthday present because you care about them? You’re clearly being manipulative and trying to bribe them somehow. Did you clean the whole house for them because you wanted them to be able to enjoy coming home to a clean living space? Nonsense, this was clearly you being passive-aggressive and trying to shame them for not being as clean as you. Your actions end up not mattering - no matter how hard you to try to prove that you aren’t the difficult, terrible person that your gaslighter says you are, they will always find ways to misrepresent your motives and lie about your intentions so they can turn your innocent behaviour into whatever they want it to be. 

Being gaslighted is an immensely stressful experience - it’s designed to make you feel crazy, and if you’re subjected to it for a long time, that’s exactly what will happen. It’s unbelievably stressful to be in a position where you feel like you cannot trust your own mind or make rational decisions. And when that stress inevitably starts to affect your mental health, that becomes further evidence that your abuser is correct and that you’re the crazy one. It can be extraordinarily difficult for a victim of long-term gaslighting to escape from their situation, because they genuinely start to believe that they are the problem in the relationship and that they’re lucky anyone will put up with them. 

If you suspect you are being gaslit, there are some things you can do to recognize the issue and break free from it:

Keep meticulous records. Write down the details of conversations and arguments as soon as they happen. Record fights with the audio recorder on your phone. Take and save screenshots of important conversations. Save voicemails. Keep a diary with dates and times of events. Nobody has perfect recall, but if your partner’s version of events consistently doesn’t match your hard evidence in a major way, that’s a pretty good sign that they are twisting the truth to suit their needs.

Talk to a neutral third party. Talk to someone outside the relationship that your partner doesn’t have access to - this could be a friend, a coworker, a neighbour, anyone that you feel you can trust. Turn to an internet group or forum if you have to. Show them the evidence you’ve collected or talk to them about what’s happening, and get a neutral perspective. People who have not been exposed to your gaslighter’s charms will be able to tell you pretty quickly that your situation is not normal. 

Think about your past relationships. Have any of your past relationships followed the same patterns as your current one? Has anyone in your past made similar complaints about you? If your last relationship didn’t have these kinds of issues, there’s a good chance that the new person in your life is the problem - not you.

Trust your gut. If you get the sense that something isn’t quite right, don’t ignore those feelings. Remember, you don’t actually have to be certain that you’re being gaslighted to justify leaving the relationship - if your relationship frequently causes you stress and anxiety or makes you feel like you can’t be yourself, something is seriously wrong and it may be time to go.

It’s also a good idea to talk to a mental health professional or a domestic abuse expert if you suspect you are being gaslighted - they are experts at helping your recognize it and come up with strategies to have healthier relationships in the future.

Hope this answers your question!

MM

#Anonymous

[thegreatyin]

U.04 Thoughts...basically a review/reaction. But also not. Because I'm a sarcastic narcissist.

So- I- WOW.

I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS RN

OH. MY GOD.

(spoilers ahead, be warned!)

(Also, I wrote this on my Kindle Fire, so expect spelling mistakes.)

(Also, this is vry long yes™, so it's under the cut. Read at your own risk.)

First off, I'm gonna clarify - this is my thoughts on the FIRST VIEWING. I'm gonna re-watch it later and think about stuff more then. I haven't watched it a single time after the first, because I needed to write this.

Second...

Ink was portrayed BRILLIANTLY in this episode. This is EXACTLY what he is- only in it for his own entertainment/benefit. He is Chaotic Neutral at best, and Chaotic Evil at worst. And here? He's at his worst. Straight up ELIMINATING the rest of the Multiverse, breaking the natural order of things- all because he was bored. Goddamn, I love/hate that asshole.

I gotta give props to the animation, as well- it was gorgeous. Jakei is an EXCELLENT animator, and this episode was WORTH the wait. I actually paused the episode at certain points just to appreciate how a character breathed, or how good they looked.

While the humor wasn't a prime focus, one always has to give it a HUGE shoutout. The joy, of course, usually came from my own squeals at Error's usual crazy reactions to things (imsorryilovehim) but there were also times where I took a break from my sobs just to laugh hysterically. Lots of them, in fact.

Enough praises though, lets give it a rundown. Skipping over the part that was previewed, we start in Underwap, with X-Tale Alphys. Now, what I noticed here is that Code Frisk seemed a bit surprised at all this- but I'll put that down to out-of-ut shenanigans. Anyway, X-Tale Alphys somehow uses one of the X-Tale TIMELINES to 'quarantine' Underswap, that's the main thing. Here, we also get an explanation for why Papyrus didn't come with them...there wasn't any point to it. Which is kinda a grim start for the episode, if you ask me.

Skimming over the Underfell bit- I don't have much to talk about there, surprisingly - lets discuss Nightmare and Killer and X-Tale Chara. Nightmare got a few chuckles out of me here, I have to say. Mainly from the look he gave Chara after they wanted to get the vial. It was the perfect embodiment of 'dude wtf' 

I find it interesting here that Nightmare says that he 'owns' Chara. I mean- once they get to full power, they could just OVERWRITE him away.

Then again, it won't happen if he kills Chara first. Which he plainly can, dear Lord.

Now, what REALLY gets me in this scene is what Killer said. Because they took Classic's soul, they interfered with the UT Universe, thus making a ripple effect across all the timelines connected to it. This way, Killer knew EXACTLY what was going down.

This makes me wonder- does that mean, currently, all the Sanses in the Multiverse will be aware of the X-Event? Or just the ones closely intertwined with the main UT universe, like Killer's? It's a shame they never touch more on this, I personally find it fascinating.

Anyway, we finally make our way to Outertale, where we stay for almost all of the remaining episode. Here, the Sanses, Swap, Fell, and Sans, decide that they're done with Ink's bullshit. They want to go home, and they miss their brothers.

Unfortunately, Ink went missing, because he's a little shit that can't stay in one place like a good boy. So Classic has to take a break from his beautiful, busy hair-brushing and babysit this douche. AKA, go find him.

While looking, Classic finds a meteor shower, which...has no real importance. I'm not even sure why I included it, it's just a nice moment. Followed up by a fart joke.

Long story short, Sans encounters Outer, who is actually really fucking chill??? And I love?????? Him?????????? So much????????????????

Skipping ahead a bit, Nightmare attempts to force-feed Chara some poor monster's soul, but Chara can't eat that shit. You know what they can eat? Their soul! That's right - Glitchlord, aka ERROR, is here to find Ink and beat the crap out of him.

Little personal note- I love how he goes from basically 0 to 100 in a second. "Sup Nightmare, WHERE THE FUCK IS INK."

Turns out, Ink isn't feeling things, because not even Nightmare, who can sense emotions, can find him. Which means that Ink didn't take his pills today- naughty boy.

It's a shame we don't get more of Outer, tbh- I really liked him. That's definitely one of this episode's flaws. Alas, Killer has to kill SOMETHING, otherwise his name means literally nothing.

Skipping ahead, since I, again, don't have much to say about anything else- the Error and Ink fight.

DEAR LORD, THE ERROR AND INK FIGHT.

This thing is BEAUTIFUL. It's basically a game of keep-away between a grumpy glitchlord, a mad artist, and a smol anger child. Because that's what it is- and it gave me CHILLS. Mainly Ink. He gives me chills. How he looks, the way he can effortlessly throw down everyone WITHOUT his brush, the cut Error gave him- this is what he really is, at heart. Or should I say, without one.

The fight pauses so Ink can give a speach, and now? Now, we have CONTEXT.

Record Scratch.

Freeze frame.

That context.

Ink did this all because he was going to be empty without new AUs. He sided with X-Gaster because he needed something new. Something interesting. Something to fill the emptiness that is eternally there, he did it because he was bored, he did this all to have something new, he did it to play a game that would never end- and I'll fight you on it, that is the most human thing he's done, ever. Period. Never again, I show ship Ink and X-Gaster, we're calling it Creation, you can't stop me, it's sailed, and I'm the captain.

But, you ask, why did he have to be soulless to do it? Because he would otherwise feel guilty about leaving behind Cross- a genuine FRIEND. And if that also isn't the most human thing to do, if you can find a better example I'll write a bad Jerry X Reader fanfic.

(I'm not joking. I will, please pm me if you find something.)

Anyway, the real takeaway here is that Ink successfully summons Satan, AKA X-Gaster. And he proceeds to murder everyone, shove Error in the Anti-Void for being bad, give Ink's brush back, shove Classic back into UT, kill the AUs (no, actually, Error did that, but shh-) and make Cross...come back?

Horray! Start the victory parade!

...but not really. Because, from what I can tell(?), almost everyone is in a 'Quarantine ' zone, probably to wait while Ink and the X-Tale crew break bread and make their new world. Infact, from what I can tell, the only people besides them who aren't there are Error (who's having a fit in the AV), Cross, Dream, Fresh, and Nightmare and Killer, but those last two might just be around because Nightmare blends in with the background WAY too much.

x-Faster leaves, giving Cross the option to join him, and...I hope he doesn't. I pray he doesn't.

But enough of that. Let's talk about 'Valiant Heart' for a second, huh ~?

(Putting a break to pretend like I'm organized)

Tbh, I actually thought that Dream would DIE in this scene. Really - Nightmare saw a chance to get rid of a KNOWN thorn in his side, and he took it. Luckily, Cross saved him, and they both escaped...

But this scene has other things to talk about. First off, it's beautiful. This is the only thing in Underverse (so far/as far as I know) that isn't fully animated, instead shone in quick images and only having GORGEOUS song lyrics. I LOVE this part, and it might just be my favorite out of the whole episode.

Although..... I'm 25% percent sure that Dream and Cross went to X-Tale to hide, and Nightmare and Killer are now left alone in the black space that used to be the Doodle Sphere. Do they stay there? Is Nightmare's castle still existing?? This is like Killer's line at the start- I want insight to this.

For the sake of keeping this (long) thing short, I'm gonna end here, but...wow. Things are BLEAK rn. I can't even theorize any good possibilities - I'm shook. What a way to end an arc.

....or, should I say, what a way to start one~?

#undeevee #asfzasfzgaasfzasfzgajdgej #yolo #i have #FEELINGS #underverse #long post #yin theorizes #ink sans #error sans #dream sans #nightmare sans #swap sans #cross #just cross #killer sans #outer sand #Im not tagging all those days #*AYA #AU #I FUCKING MEANT- #ugugh forget it

[ewutai]

Hi~ :3 Can i ask for number 23 and 28 with Mark? (Saw theme in "Writing Promts")If nope and it's not like that than I'm sorry for the missunderstand oh and sorry for my bad english 😣❤ Szeretlek 💝 (I love you in hungarian)

prompts: 23.“The skirt is supposed to be this short.” & 28.“I think I’m in love with you, and I’m terrified.”

3:33 | MARK

summary: your refuge became the Art Museum while his is no one less than you

Genre: museum!au and ticket seller!Mark | 100% fluff

Pairing: Mark / Reader

Word count: 1 200+

a/n: i am sorry!! i was supposed to post this friday, but my computer died and i lost everything i’d written :/ hope it’s good enough to satisfy you, anon :( enjoy this sweet mark lee ticket seller!!

Time was not always Mark Lee’s best friend.

Once in a while he’d catch himself gazing at the watch on his left wristand following the pointer’s movement, already anxious for the fifteen minutesto be transformed into sixteen—then sixteen into seventeen and it goesconsecutively. Truth to be said, he was not very comfortable with stayingstatic inside the ticket booth while he waited for the clock to reach 1:00 PMand the mass of people appear and start buying entries.

The worst part of all: Mark never had the chance to enjoy the chaos andthe frenetic activity of selling tickets because his shift ended exactly at 1PM. Some days, though, itwasn’t so bad—at Fridays, forexample, elders appeared at 10 AM and schools brought their students forexcursions—and Mark had the chance to be at least a bit active. From that, allthe rest of the week was a real burden to him.

The best part of all: after he had finished his work he’d change clothesand stay inside the Museum, going through all the exhibitions and memorizingall the paintings exposed. He learnt how to enjoyart, how to interpret the artists and then, consequently, how to kill the boredom—and that was the samething for you. You were not a fan of classic art (neither contemporaneous art)but the Art Museum was pretty much close from your school, so you had beenrefuging yourself there for months and months, without anyone to notice yourrepetitive presence.

That was until a peculiar different Wednesday.

The sunlight burnt your vision and you had been obligated to transformyour notebook into a sort of light-protector. You’d not expected the day to bethat bright and that hot, with peoplewalking on the street—running, stretching, exercising—happily, while you had abackpack weighting one hundred kilograms and your sweat coming out like raindrops fall from the sky. Mark was heading out of the museum right in the momentwhen you headed in; he saw you, completely clumsy and lost in thoughts, andthen—for some reason not even him was able to point out—he’d followed inside.

The gallery was completely empty, you perceived, and that was extremelyodd considering it’s already late on the afternoon. You shrugged the thoughtsoff and went to a random expo, ready to enjoy your limited free time. Secondswere transformed into minutes, and minutes were transformed into hours. You hadnever been so astonished by images, the beautiful colours exposed andinundating your perception with the most wonderful landscapes paintings you hadseen. You were so focused that you did not realise a pair of eyes was staringat you until you heard a noise.

You shifted your position, searching for someone. “Hello?”

No answer came, but you still heard something. Maybe it was the sound ofsomeone walking, or maybe you were just so imaginative that you were actuallyhallucinating. You shook your head, trying to keep your mind focused.

“Look,” you said “not to be rude but this place is desert today, soplease tell me I am not going insane and you are not a ghost.”

It took a while until a boy appeared. He had dark hair and eyes; hisfacial expression was hard to describe—a mixture of embarrassment and concern,you’d define—and his steps were in low pace. You counted around three minutesfor him to be at least five meters away from you and then speak

“I am not a ghost.”

You wheezed. “Let me hit you, then.”

“No!” He embraced himself, afraid of your next move.

“All right,” you furrowed your eyebrows and raised a finger to his face“are you a stalker, sir?”

“What?” He pouted. “No, I am not a stalker.”

“So why were you peeking on me?”

“I wasn’t.” He said; you tilted your head and “Fine, I was.” The boyadmitted.  

“Hum,” you turned on your heels and walked to any painting “anyway. Youshould not do that.”

He observed you. “I know and I don’t usually do. But no one came heretoday, so I found very peculiar—”

“You work here?” You cut him off and he nodded. “Ah, I see. Anyway, ifyou want to join me then…”

“Will you allow your stalker to join you?”

“For sure,” you looked back to him and smiled. “By the way, what’s yourname?”

He grinned. “Mark Lee.”

His days became better since he met you. Mark would not be anxious forpeople to come, but yes for his shift to end. He knew already, all Wednesdaysat 3:33 you arrived at the Museum—you’d always take exacts 13 minutes to reachthe gallery—and he’d wait you outside, not even bothered by the crowd of peoplefeeling the entrance and causing him to squeeze his body against the wall.

All Wednesdays, he waited two hours and thirty three minutes for you.

Once you were both in, you’d sit down somewhere inside a room and stareat a painting. Stories would be invented and loud laughing sounds would comefrom you and him. It’s finally genuinely satisfying for you to be at the ArtMuseum.

Because before that, it’s just a time-killer.

On that Wednesday, you found yourself lying down on the ground lookingat the ceiling and contemplating the image exposed. Mark had taken a place byyour side, envisaging the same frame as you—a man sitting under a tree and awoman by his side, gathering some apples; children running around an enormousfield while two other adults were talking to each other.

“Maybe they’re not adults,” you said; finally killing the silence “Maybethese two talking are teenagers.”

“Or lovers.” Mark pointed.

“Can be.”

“I bet he was angry with her” he said.

“And why is that?”

“Look at his face.” He raised a finger and you followed the direction.The boy on the painting had his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth slightly openedin a ‘O’.

“Why are you wearing this dress?”you said, your voice thick.

Mark chuckled. “What is wrong withmy dress, sweetheart?”

“It’s too short! Is it supposed tobe this revealing?”

“Yes,” Mark said; his voicehigh pitched “The skirt is supposed to bethis short! It’s close to my knees, why are you being so picky about it?”

You looked deep into Mark’s eyes and let out “I think I am in love withyou, and I am terrified.”

He gulped and blinked twice; his stare moving from you to the wallswhile you had already turned your face to the other side, not allowing him tosee the blush on your cheeks. It’d been a while since an odd sentiment filledyour chest, taking out all the air from your lungs and increasing yourheartbeat—you first thought it could be something related to anxiety, but soonyou perceived it only happened when Mark was around you. You had already givenhim your heart (even without your complete will).

It maybe was because Mark had the perfect timing for everything; alwayscheering you up, always making you feel better. Since you met him—and you’veknown him for five months now—you’d been so much happier.

“If you meant that,” he said; the silence that once paired now wasvanishing away “then I like you back. But if you did not, then I am runningaway right now.”

His words sounded like melody to your ears; as soon as his phrasesreached your eardrums, you could not hide a smile.

“Well,” you replied “I guess you don’t have to run, because I reallylike you.”

#it's so rushed i apologise #nct scenarios #nct drabbles #nct mark #mark lee #mark scenarios #nct dream scenarios #nct dream fanfic #nct u scenarios #nct 127 fanfic #nct 127 scenarios #nct preferences #nct 127 preferences #nct mark scenarios #mark lee scenarios #lee minhyung #nct minhyung #less than 5k #drabble

[texanredrose]

Have you always been willing to put your work out there? Or did you do your best to gather the courage to do so? I'm always afraid to post what I write, no matter the platform. Even if I'm also sure no one will find it.

Originally? I was willing- excited, even- to put what I wrote online. I haven’t always been okay talking about it IRL (still kinda iffy on that, ahaha) but I had no trouble using a pseudonym and/or screen name to attach to my work. I’d read all these wonderful stories, and I wanted to contribute to it, too! However, context is important.

I was 12, had just really learned how to type the previous year, and I… had no reason to be afraid. Keep in mind, this was before My Immortal and while FanFiction.Net was still becoming a thing, so most fanfics were hosted on separate sites that have since gone defunct. Basically, it wasn’t exactly easy for people to find the fics if they weren’t part of the community and the communities were more heavily moderated. It wasn’t until FFN started becoming big and reviews could be left without first registering with the site that people became emboldened enough to be jerks without reason (not to say that those types didn’t exist beforehand, but they were far and few between). Those sites are now gone and my original FFN profile got purged for some reason or another, so all that writing is lost to the depths of the internet.

And let me tell you something. I say this with utmost sincerity. My first batch of writings were, objectively, terrible. The ideas behind them were, mostly, bad and I can say that with honesty and a smile, too. It’s part of the writing process! And while I probably wouldn’t repost it in its exact condition (writing style’s changed, and even a bad idea can be enjoyable if executed well), if I had the original documents, I would dress it up a bit and be okay with posting it again, even knowing that it’s pretty bad.

So, when I came back to writing and posting fanfiction in 2010, I still wouldn’t say I needed to gather my courage. Of course, there’s plenty of anxiety in posting anything for others to see! Some people will make it their mission to upset you for really petty reasons and others will be thoughtless in their commentary and those are completely legitimate concerns. But I always looked at it as this: there’s plenty of people out there who turn to fanfic for an escape. If I can give even one person a distraction from what’s going on in their life, then it’s worth it to post. Also the reason I tend to write upbeat and fluffy fics with little drama or with a big payoff. (Downer endings are few and far between. Does that make me predictable? Yes. Do I care? Nope.) Almost always, my goal is to make someone smile, and even though it can be discouraging at times to get little to no feedback, or the host of other things I’ve gotten in reviews, comments, and direct messages, I bounce back pretty quickly. It’s trained me to recognize the difference between artistic expression and actively harming others; artistic expression is up to interpretation, and thus there will always be a myriad of opinions, and some of them might be negative, so it’s up to me, the writer, to take or leave them as I move forward. Some will make me a better writer and some are pedantic nitpicks over nothing that I can ignore; it comes with time and experience, but it’s a gradual thing. Actively harming others, though, is a dick move.

Really, the only time I get super nervous is when either portraying aspects that I have no personal experience with or specific parts of a culture. Fiction- even fanfiction- can be a powerful tool in shaping the minds of others, and that’s a responsibility all content creators share. Like with Broken, where I’m not personally asexual, or when setting events in real world scenarios, a poor attempt to portray everything faithfully can be damaging, and I recognize that. In the former example, I don’t want to perpetuate harmful stereotypes and an outsider’s perspective is bound to harbor a few of those, so I have to reach out for help, and in the latter example, it’s important to set up the cultural context but even that can be misconstrued, also to negative ends and to perpetuate stereotypes. Having the best of intentions when writing/posting doesn’t always prevent one from making a misstep. Ultimately, I feel those are risks that are worth taking, because you will either become more knowledgeable or more discerning in the end. I strongly recommend doing the appropriate amount of research beforehand, of course, to mitigate the ‘dick move’ thing and turning it into a learning moment. And having a beta or just a friend willing to read over your stuff and provide their initial impressions is good, too!

Ultimately, to anyone who aspires to write and feels nervous about it, I’m not going to lie: you’re going to get someone who hates what you write. They don’t like the pairing, they don’t like the genre, they don’t like the pacing, they don’t like the style- there’s a lot that people can complain about! Hell, there’s a lot I complain about in regards to shows and books and games, for reasons that fall into those very categories! You can’t please everyone! But it’s important to know that there’s a difference between those who just want to discourage you for some arbitrary reason and those who are genuinely objecting so that you can learn and grow as an author. If you stay true to the why when you write, it’ll resonate with someone- probably a lot of someones! My why is because we all need an escape, we need to see things go right when everything around us is going so wrong, and it gives me a chance to frame jokes, ideas, and heartfelt sentiments. Really, I write whatever gets my interest, and I will shamelessly admit that I like to reread my own work from time to time because I enjoyed creating it, so why wouldn’t I? But I share what I write because, hey, if it made me happy to write, maybe someone else will be happy to read, and that doubles the happy, yeah? Pretty simply math to me! I’m still growing as an author and this is all for fun, but I’ve learned a ton on this journey and hope to learn more!

That first step might be the hardest to take, but you pick up speed as you go! Start with something small and work your way up! I got a lot of experience from taking challenges and turning a few sentences or a general idea into a short, 2-3k words of something, and that’s more than nothing!

Also, here, a quote I’ve taken to heart. “Better to write for yourself and have no public, than write for the public and have no self.” -Cyril Connolly

I write what makes me happy but I do it with others in mind. Even when I get negative reactions, I remember that and try to do better or shrug it off, depending on the circumstances. I’m not perfect and I’ll make mistakes and everything I’ve ever written or will write could draw heavy criticism… but in the end, it’s worth it. Purely because I have fun.

(Also, Connolly wrote what’s basically official James Bond fanfiction with Ian Flemming’s approval, so… ya know, take that for what it’s worth.)

#TRR asks