#but like. if you have feedback for my art blog. i frankly have no idea what to do

[aijee]

Happy [whichever flavor of winter holiday you're celebrating this year]! Here’s a little word vomit before the year ends.

I’m briefly back to this blog because of an email notification for an Ask—only to find out it’s a porn bot lol so I've checked another checkmark on the True Tumblr ExperienceTM.

I write this update with bittersweet feelings. My summer was restful and I got to spend much of it with family and friends. It felt like an incredibly long time coming, the feeling being exacerbated with the ongoing—god, it's still ongoing—pandemic. (I'll talk more on this later, so be forewarned if COVID talk isn’t in your interest right now.) I got to eat so much good food, sleep in a huge bed, bask in a lot of sunlight and open space. Then fall and winter came.

I eventually left my family and the country they live in. When work restarted after an anxious period of dragging out the question “When is work going to start?”, that rest buffer was consumed like tissue paper to a forest fire. It was so quick, I didn't even recognize I was back to Really Fucking Burnt Out in less than a month. (Thank you, My Boss, for emailing me on a Sunday night, asking me if I'd like to start that Monday, given me no mental preparation whatsoever. You’re a net-good person still, but I didn’t like that very much 🥲) Being in a place where winter is actually cold really doesn't help much, either.

On the bright side, I am grateful to be in a new living space I've come to love, with some lovely art books, cookbooks, knick knacks and pillows. I love taking naps and resting on my couch, playing video games or binging Youtube videos. I rarely use my computer/desk anymore, with work being not-from-home, but I'm happy with how it turned out nonetheless; I especially love the gifts from my friends proudly on display there. I treated myself to a small Christmas tree (celebrating solo this year) and an amazing new rice cooker. I am fully stocked with good food and ingredients for a lot of self-indulgent holiday cooking/baking/eating. I'm on the journey of demoralizing food and simply enjoying it as a form of loving and nourishing myself. (Shout out to IDOTSC Mingyu 😘)

It's hard to swallow that we're going into our third year with COVID. It's hard to continue being so vigilant, thorough with cleaning, conservative with social activities, and careful with finances when so many are too stubborn or prideful to do the same. And now omicron is flying under the radar. The idea of getting long COVID gives me intense anxiety that it’s hard to function sometimes.

I look back at my writing over the years with mixed feelings—that is, if I can handle looking below the author’s notes at all. It’s the kind of cringe/recoil common to looking back at past work. Flimsy metaphors. Unrealistic dialogue. Exaggerated imagery and overused tropes. Maybe on a different day, I’ll feel different. But for a long time, I haven’t felt confident or motivated in my writing. Maybe a soft ball of a post on this blog will be a baby step towards feeling better. 

Looking back on the positive feedback can feel like little gems to offset the weight of self-doubt, heavy on the other side of the scale. These days, I don’t feel as lifted by the comments as I used to, I think, and that scares me. I hate to sound ungrateful. But, frankly, there’s a numbness that has spread to my everyday anyway, and positivity towards things I’m increasingly unhappy with can only go so far. Or perhaps I don’t visit them with the same mindset as before, because I simply can’t look at my writing. 

And yet I can’t help but have some pride in myself for making what I did, at the age I made them. To think! I’ve written book-sized stories before graduation! Lent some happy escape in people’s days! God knows we need fun content more than ever. While I haven’t posted anything new recently, I think about how people might be going through a hard time, or are so, so tired, and feel even a modicum better from reading what I wrote. While my opinion on the writing quality remain deprecating at the moment, my opinion on the value of those stories is positive. That, I’m glad I still feel.

It’s probably evident that my investment in fanfic-writing is more than just making two dolls kiss or engaging with a K-Pop band (though it certainly is like that sometimes). There’s always been a part of me that I was working on when I wrote. I think I’m at a phase where I don’t need to do that as much through writing and posting things online. 

I’m lucky to have a therapist I like and feel progress with. I enjoy the feeling of journaling in a physical notebook. I’ve made some of the closest friendships I’ve ever had over the last year. Separation from family has been hard, but beneficial for me as a product of complex Asian values I’ve only just begun to unpack. And to some extent, I’ve found an internal peace in this moment. It’s strange.

There is some unfinished writing sitting in my folders. I can’t promise whether they’ll be finished or edited, but I may post an excerpt one day or another. Or I may post unrealized ideas for stories, if people on this platform are still interested in those.

Thank you kindly for supporting me in whatever capacity you’ve been able to. You are so, so fucking strong for getting as far as you have. The world is harsh, and hard, and cruel. But there is so much love in it, too, and happiness, and laughter. Rather than think I couldn’t survive this world without those things, I’m trying to think that it should be celebrated that we have that joy, that we can experience them. What powerful agents of art and love we can be. And, indeed, fanfiction is very much a part of that.

Thank you. Here’s to the many plot twists and turns of this year, and to soon turning over the cover of a new one.

#aijeepost

[galacticlamps]

Tagged by @the--highlanders​ ! Thanks!

How many works do you have on AO3?

13

What’s your total AO3 word count?

76,200

(oh what a nice even number - I should try to mess that up as soon as possible, shouldn’t I?)

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Aw man is this intentionally worded to be really hard to answer? I get that it says ‘written’ and not ‘posted’ but then what constitutes a ‘fandom?’ I definitely wrote fics for stuff I was interested in long before I even knew the word ‘fic’ - I did it throughout my childhood, and then in high school, and while I didn’t do it as much in college, it still happened from time to time. So a lot of the books/movies/tv shows/plays/musicals I wrote things for aren’t really fandoms, and frankly, I had to check my old folder just now to even remember some of them existed. I’ll just list the ones that I know for sure had fandoms, since that’s more fun (and embarrassing), right?

Obviously Doctor Who, classic and modern, Torchwood, Sherlock Holmes (ironically more of these seem to be about the books, but yes, I will admit, some for that tv show too), Les Mis, a couple different Marvel comics & movies, Good Omens, hell, I even found a Night Vale fic in there just now.

And I know there are other older things not even in that folder, some of which never made it to a computer at all, so if I had to ballpark a number I’d probably say around 25ish but really, who knows?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Across the Gap

On the Spot

Expectations

Shards of Memories & Fragments of Glass

Itemized

(this was fun, I’d never noticed Ao3 even had a stats page until now lol)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to! Sometimes I take a long time to do so but for the most part, I usually get around to it. The rare exception would be if I first saw the comment when I was super busy/distracted and then felt like way too much time passed before I noticed it again, that it might be awkward if I said something at that point.

I do genuinely enjoy hearing what people think, but I’m also weirdly terrified of making anyone feel like they have to reply to my comments. I know that’s probably a little strange, but it’s actually a large part of why I made this Ao3 account in the first place - my original one, from high school, is followed by some long-time friends of mine who aren’t interested in this fandom, some of whom are involved in art & writing professionally. The thought of anyone like that reading something I wrote out of friendliness or even just curiosity and potentially having to pretend they liked it for the same reasons stressed me tf out, so I like having this virtually anonymous one because I can relax knowing that anyone who reads or interacts with something I wrote has probably done so only because they wanted to, rather than feeling obligated, and there’s no pressure on them to be nice to me about it if anything I write or post annoys them - so I really hope nobody who does just know me as an anonymous blog has ever worried about offending me by not replying to something, trust me, I’m perfectly happy with it!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t think I’ve really written any angsty endings? I guess the answer would have to be Reckless just because it involves the characters arguing about sad/weighty things and there isn’t really any solution to those issues - but even then I think I ended it with a kind of acceptance that stops it from really qualifying as angst? I also set it in the the same universe as other fics, so maybe that doesn’t even count as an ending? Am I that bad at ending things on angst? Lol

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Obviously none of the fics I’ve posted are crossovers but I’m trying to think now if any of my WIP’s are - I’ve definitely poached setting/premise ideas from other media, but in terms of actual crossovers . . . I’ve got a few cross-era or cross-Doctor, a few involving Torchwood, but that’s already the same universe, so the only thing that’d qualify as a true crossover would be some vague pieces of a fic where Jamie, Zoe, and Two end up on the Enterprise, since I think the 60s series of Star Trek and Dr Who feel kind of compatible, don’t they? In fact, aren’t there like officially licensed crossover comics or something? Or did I make that up? Idk, and the ideas are very loose, so it’s not much of a WIP either

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope, never

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I’ve never written smut, but I’m wondering if it’s possible that could change soon. There’s a longish multi-chapter fic I’ve been working on for a frankly embarrassing amount of time, and the plot does call for a sex scene at one point towards the end, but I can’t seem to make up my mind on how - uh, I guess the word is explicit? - it should get. I know I could easily do a fade to black/implication thing, but it’s kind of a source of contention and anxiety for the characters, so to skip over writing the actual scene and just revisit them afterwards rings of “and they slept together and now everything’s fine!” which feels kinda cheap to me - in this context, anyway - and not the right payoff for a long fic that’s otherwise more of an interpersonal drama/slightly a period piece, if I had to place it in a genre. I feel like my aversion to actually writing the scene might just be prudishness I should get over, or maybe just self-doubt, because I know I’d rather have a well-written, funny, character-development-supporting sex scene than nothing at all, but since I’ve never had any interest in writing a scene like that before, I don’t know if I can do it well, and I also don’t want to ruin a fic I’m otherwise proud of by doing it badly... ugh I have to figure this out

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I seriously doubt it

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

What’s your all time favorite ship?

I mean, it’s gotta be Two & Jamie. I’ve shipped things before with varying levels of investment, but I’ve never been able to use the term ‘otp’ in a literal sense until I came across them, and now it’s already basically gone out of fashion, go figure!

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I’m not sure if I have one? My WIP doc is huge, but I don’t actually intend to get around to finishing everything in it, so I’d like to think that anything I’ve currently singled out to complete can actually get done.

That said, I do have a few AU’s that I don’t really plan to finish, but it might be cool if I could. Two of them are for all the main + some supporting characters of the Second Doctor’s era - one’s a modern day school teachers AU, and the other is a typical fantasy/fairy tale AU. Another is just Two/Jamie, based on Doctor Faustus (specifically the Marlowe play version) but right now there are two different versions of the ending coexisting in my head. I’ve written parts of scenes & some gen. backstory for all of those ideas, but I don’t know if I’ll ever try to finish them, or what form a finished product would even take - a series of one-shots set in the same universe? one long multi-chapter fic with some kind of overarching plot? And the amount of context/worldbuilding a big AU like these would require might not make them very appealing fics for people to read, so maybe it is better if I just keep them to myself, since in my head I already know what’s going on in those worlds lol.

What are your writing strengths?

I honestly don’t know. I haven’t had a creative writing class since middle school, and since then I’ve only ever shown creative writing to others in a fandom context, so it’s been a while since I’ve discussed it or gotten critical feedback. I suppose when I work in other arts or even academic writing contexts, people usually say I’m kind of insightful or at least detail oriented, which might just be another way of saying I overthink things, but I like to imagine I’m decent at finding little points of interest to expand upon.

What are your writing weaknesses?

If you’ve read this far I feel like you must know what I’m about to say: I do not know how to be concise.

Usually when I’m writing a fic, I put down the dialogue first on its own, leaving out the action of the scene and whatever plot/context led there, even if I’ve already figured all of that out. But then when I go to add those things in, they’re always longer than I wanted them to be. I don’t mind writing something long, but I don’t want my fics to be a slog to get through either, and there can be a point at which the stuff I’ve added for context overwhelms the stuff that I wanted the fic to be about in the first place, so it becomes a structural/proportion issue too. I haven’t completely given up on any fics because of this yet, but there’s one I’ve been struggling with for a couple months now - probably because I’m even second-guessing myself on which scenes need to be written out and which can just be referenced like a recap. Hopefully I figure that one out soon.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

((this is karma isn’t it? i posted a fic last week with two words of gaelic in it and was worried about that and now this is karma))

In general, I don’t want to do it. I feel like you’ve gotta have a really good grasp of a language to write dialogue & speech patterns for someone who’s a native speaker, and since I’m far from fluent in any language the characters I write for are, I wouldn’t feel confident writing any significant amount of dialogue in, say, Gaelic.

As a sidenote, though, I kinda love it when other people do it, particularly for Jamie. Irish (Gaeilge) and Scottish (Gàidhlig) are both languages I’ve wanted to learn for a long time, because my family’s fresh out of living speakers of either & I think that’s a shame, but I started with Irish and at the moment I’m still very much learning it. As different as they are, it still helps me understand parts of lyrics or texts that I come across in Gàidhlig fairly frequently, so when it comes up in a fic I get to feel like I’m being responsible and practicing, and it’s great when I can actually understand what’s being said.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I’m gonna go with Harry Potter even though that’s probably not a perfectly accurate answer - it’s almost certainly the first thing that has a fandom that I ever wrote for, but it was in a notebook when I was a kid and never something that I even typed on a computer, much less posted online or shared with other members of a fandom. But even then, I’m sure it wasn’t the first pre-existing fictional universe I ever set an original story in, because I did that a lot when I was a kid, it’s just hard to remember those clearly or on any kind of timeline.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

I’m very partial to Across the Gap, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that ranked first on the kudos thing above - but I’ve also got a soft spot for So Merrily We’ll Sing. It’s so self-indulgent it feels silly saying ‘it was so easy to write!’ but I guess having a fic that’s already just 100% headcaonons and fluff tied together by a song you really love does prevent it from being much of a labor (I also managed to refrain from making that one unnecessarily long, so that’s another win there)

tagging @terryfphanatics and anyone else who wants to do it - sorry I’m bad at remembering whose tumblr goes with whose Ao3 account, but I really would be interested to read this if anyone else feels like answering them!

#oh boy that was long #sorry #also sorry if the 13 is really big for some reason #i dont know how it got that way so i dont know how to change it #it doesnt look like that when i edit the post only when i save it #not fic but fic talk

[mrskurono]

i wanted to say something related with the thing about the plain repetitive fics earlier when the notification popped up but was busy and in a horrible humor 🥴🥴 so imma say it now

we as consumers (the ones who only read) are most at fault here i think bc the writers always ask and the ones with beautifully written 5k words almost beg for readers to interact/reblog so it spreads and gets to other people(i am at fault here too im a social anxiety ridden person) and because of this lack of interaction the "shitty" or plain or whatever gets more interactions... on other side there are also lazy ass people that don't wanna read 5k words (their loss lol) and stick with the plain ooc shitty cookie cutter stories, the ones who get the spotlight unfortunately...

sorry for the long ass rant, got lost in the middle and wrote it with a baby crying and screaming and laughing by my side lol, hope ur having a good day/evening and taking care of you and your baby💕💕

For the five hundred and fifty two years I've been on this site I will say there was a definitive switch between supporting content creators (of any media) and now expecting things to be spoon fed them in the simplest way without feeling an obligation to return the favor with even the meager of feedback. I wouldn't say it went down hill when Tumblr did it's purge bc honestly it was going downhill before that. It was like one month people were excited to share their hyperfixations and fandoms. And now no one wants to do anything bc of the cringe worthy puritan culture that has swept through most social medias. This focus on likes only, popularity and being a god send famous person is just so fucking weird to me. Anymore anyone is so afraid to even entertain the idea that they would consume something "unsanitary" and then get in trouble for it that it's reached its way to the creators. Many have stopped bc of hate. Many have stopped for fear of hate. Just as many have stopped bc its just not worth it anymore. It's frankly sad bc now "trendy" things are the only thing that sells. Tik tok reaction crap, daddy kinks, uwu sub babies, etc. This very tiny box of what's "ok" has doubled down on so many people just straight up quitting. These things that have been deemed "acceptable" while other things get demonized.

And this goes for non sexual items too. Wanna write best friends au? Unrealistic, bull crap, "never happens". But twelve dozen people wanna write a mafia au? Great, brilliant, "totally plausible". A lot of people complain about the sexual factors of fandoms but honestly fluff is just as looked down on unless it's exactly how this mass decided it to be. It use to be in fandoms you could find so much. Oh my god there was so so so much you could find. If you thought of it, you could find it. But now its the same idea regurgitated fifty times. I get people enjoying what they enjoy (I for one enjoy friendships and mutual pining and such) but the fact that everything else gets shoved to the side bc the majority doesn't "want it" and then others are "too afraid" to engage frankly means more and more writers are going to leave and not come back. And it's sad really bc so many writers are wonderful and great but no one wants to support them. I understand being anxiety riddled. I didn't start posting even online half a decade after I started writing. I kept everything on a note app and interacted with no one when I did get brave enough to post online in the small fandoms I was in. So the anxiety thing I get but at some point you have to decide if it's worth more to lurk and watch your content creators and friends leave. Or to support them and others.

Make entirely new blog. Give no defining traits to yourself. Don't even have to talk to anyone if you don't want to. But reblogging (with proper tags) means a million different things to artists of all kind. You don't even have to leave a comment. Simply reblogging something and making sure it can be spread through proper tags in the fandom means the world to creators and it's so small but keeps us going. I do it here on my blog all the time. I'm not an avid reader but I adore art and reblog the crap out of characters I might not even like. Just so that artist knows "hey, someone saw this and they want more people to see it bc its amazing"

This isn't meant to be mean spirited or a lecture but frankly Tumblr is going to loose a lot of its media and its sad to watch it go down the drains. But on the brightside ao3 is still wonderful and a heavenly place to post fics! The traffic is wonderful and to any fic writers who haven't signed up for it I really suggest it. All the fandoms I've posted in so far have been really engaging and lots of people even comment which is just such a serotonin boost. If you haven't started cross posting on ao3 I highly suggest it

#three.talks #anon

[comebeonetwothree]

Blog #1: The Beginning

05/25/2021

Welcome to my, I have no clue what I’m doing so bare with me, travel blog!! For these next few weeks, I will be driving across the country and back, hitting around 19 states in 8-weeks. 

Post grad life is a strange in between stage of: YES I DID IT and oh fuck I think I’m supposed to be an adult now. That comes with the constant question circling like a gnat on a hot summer day... So what’s next? 

Honestly Grandma, Aunt Karen, Uncle John and Kyle’s mom’s lesbian partner, I have no fucking clue so please stop asking!!!! 

But my actions are an answer to that question. I chose to postpone that whole adult career thing for a little longer. So I’m traveling for two months and I will avoid that question “What’s Next?”

COVID-19 really messed up the picture perfect ending of college, nevertheless, I still managed to have a blast every night in a “socially distant” manner ;) 

Traveling has always been a dream of mine, and I always assumed it would be there when I was ready and I would be ready when it got here.  Sheeshhh was I wrong... who would have imagined a pandemic closing down not only our borders to other countries, but state borders as well. 

It’s now been over a year since I have left New York State, and quite frankly, I am ready to explore. So naturally I got home from college a week ago and now I am off...

 Who

Who cares... 

Three girls, one car... How bad could it be? No, really, if we come back with bruises and cuts all over, I didn’t “fall down the stairs” or “walk into a door”...it’s official, our cycles have linked and we have gone mad. 

The goal is to meet new people along the way, people that touch our lives and make this trip more spectacular. And maybe we will touch some lives as well.

I can only imagine that who we are now will change and evolve throughout our journey, having only started this trip with hopes and dreams. When reality sets in, things will change, and discoveries about ourselves will begin to happen. 

Self-discovery is such an important aspect of this trip for all three of us. Personally, by not having any clue what I want to do for the rest of my life, I  hope the open mindedness of my current state will help me find joy in the simple life and give me insight into my future. 

 What

Whatever man...

Eight weeks of sight seeing, connecting to ourselves and trying new hobbies.

I hate jumping the gun and announcing any new hobbies because, 10 out of 10 times, I do one for a week and give up on that bullshit.

And sorry in advance if this blog takes a back seat... My plan is to prioritize life's natural beauties and learning. 

I’ve always wanted to start writing but was never inspired, and fiction isn't up my ally... I have the imagination of a 12-year-old boy, so go about that as you please :)

While trying to disconnect myself to the social world as best as I can, this new digital age is not going anywhere and as a Communications major, I am not escaping its black hole effect anytime soon. 

Blogging makes this feel less Gen Z and more “intellectual” if you will. 

I hope to keep this blog updated once at the end of every week, including the stops made within the week and the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How’s of that weeks adventures. With some room for special surprises:) 

Overtime this blog will hopefully shape into what it needs to be. I researched many ways to blog and nothing caught my attention, so why would it catch yours? Here I am trying out my own version of this, so feedback is greatly appreciated in finding new fun ways to keep y’all entertained!

 Where

Where are we...

Give or take, there will be 19 states we will stay in. Starting in New York, we will slowly move down south and wrap back around. I won’t be revealing the locations until the following week's blogs, or on my Instagram and Facebook. 

We have secured 75% of the locations we will be staying at, and the rest is a fuck it. Hopefully finding some first come first serve campgrounds, or we’ll just sleep in the car. 

When in these locations, we will either be camping or staying in motels/hotels in cities. Trying to do this the cheapest way we can think of, my glizzy art might just have to make a reappearance (If you don’t know what glizzy is, hop off this blog right now and go to Urban Dictionary. And if you are not familiar with my glizzy art, well you probably should have followed me on snapchat during the last month of college in a pandemic). 

When

When in Rome...

Tomorrow people, it’s happening...

 If you are reading this today, its tomorrow!!! If you are reading this tomorrow it’s today!!! And if you are reading this a week from today, go fuck yourself, now you have to catch up... don’t be late again mister!

Why

Why the fuck not...

There is some serious independence when it comes to taking off for two months in a car with friends. 

I still remember when my mom had to drive me to my friends houses, and would talk to their parents to make sure I was safe. 

Going away to college was a leap in the direction of being an independent young woman. But I also went to a small town college and had roommates, making it a great step to the adult world of being fully responsible for my own actions. 

Next level right now.  I will be living out of a car, buying my own food and supplies, and not having the security of my family being a simple three hour drive away... not that I ever took advantage of that (sorry mom). 

Why the blogging... 

Not knowing what I am good at is quite frustrating, four years of college later... so I am going to just try new things until I find my passion. And this blog is a great place to reflect.

Spending two months out of the job force is already a weird concept to me. I've had a job for the majority of college waitressing at a local joint (shout out to Sloan’s NY Grill!). I worked all throughout high school as well. 

Not having any job obligation now seems strange, so let's hope this becomes  self-discovery into multiple opportunities or it will be the most publicly awkward diary ever:/ 

 How

How did you make it this far...

This came about one night drunk at a bar... simply expressing how weird it is COVID can take almost everything away from us so quickly. 

Maya and Mary both have a direction in their life as to “What’s Next.” Both having spent their last semesters of college pursuing opportunities for their future, they have become idols to me. 

I was lucky enough to bring this idea up before they left me for their full adult lives... getting an opportunity to travel with my two best friends. 

Mary is pursuing a teaching degree and spent her last semester as a student teach back home. Maya spent the last few months doing an in-person internship in the city to further her connections in the fashion industry. 

They both have this responsible adult thing going on, and I’m over here saying some dumb shit like “Hey let's take two months off of life and travel!” Weirdly enough, alcohol might have had an influential factor here, but they said hell yessss!! 

The next morning, waking up with a classic hangover, we all texted each other and reiterated the idea of this whole cross country, two-month excursion. 

And now look where we are :) 

 Bottom Line

Sooooo, this is a temporary blog that may or may not last. Don’t get your hopes up too high! I want to share this experience with everyone who has supported us through this crazy idea, and give a shout out to everyone who has reached out and wished us the best!

I am fully winging this and hope it's not too illiterate for you smarty pants out there... I’m just trying to have fun with it. This is not meant to be a job, but a start to finding the answer to everyone's question...

What’s Next?

#travel #beginners guide #fuck it #cross country #post grad #fuck covid #blogging for beginners #we are young #jubilation

[megaderping]

I’ve been thinking a lot about online fandom climates but specifically my experiences within the Undertale fandom and especially the Discord and Soundcloud communities. If there is one thing I’ve noticed in all that time, it’s... just how quickly negativity can spread and make others feel outraged as well. And how little communication and respect happens in these online spaces. For instance, one of the servers I’m a part of- it used to be commonplace for people to nitpick the HELL out of AUs and other fanworks. This led to this twisted sense of superiority and jealousy. People were outraged that the works they put so much time and care into were overshadowed by other works that they felt were less deserving. I, regrettably, fell into this habit, too, and for a long time I was just so... hostile and resentful toward certain AUs and Undertale fanworks. And on one hand, I get it. There are popular Undertale fanworks that do things that are... frankly uncomfortable. Misgendering Frisk/Chara/Napstablook/etc, killing off Alphys or Papyrus for shock value, uncomfortable ships etc, etc. To a lesser extent, some just have really bad writing or characterization. I understand wanting to vent about these things in a safe space rather than swarming the content creators- but my concern is that many of these servers are actually public or semi-public, and with a large userbase that kinda feeds into circular venting that can consume channels and leave spaces with an overall toxic atmosphere. Granted, I ALSO get that not every content creator has been polite in response to fan concerns. I have seen popular  creators actively mock people who politely raise issues to them. And I think that’s really in poor taste- I get being frustrated if someone comes to you saying this thing you worked on is uncomfortable/hurtful, but I think as long as they are NOT attacking, it’s important to have patience. People aren’t mind readers. Popularity doesn’t excuse folks from human decency, and I also think that fans of content creators should also just... not gang up on someone who maybe has a dissenting opinion on the thing they enjoy? Though I will say, there’s also a pretty serious problem of disrespect toward content creators, too. Consider how many people go to Youtube and reupload people’s art/animation without credit or consent. This is a HUGE problem in the Undertale AU community especially, but it doesn’t end there. People will argue a creator’s decisions. I see this a LOT with people who label their work’s Chara as nonbinary- there’s a VERY vocal part of the fanbase that INSISTS Chara must be female... which is really unpleasant (yes, I realize gender discourse goes both way and aggression is never cool but I see this particular example a LOT). Never mind the occasional entitlement.

One prominent issue I see is just... the expectation of a work to conform to popular headcanons/interpretations. When IF started releasing its dubs, people got angry because some of our casting choices were unconventional. But it’s not just a matter of voice interpretations. There are ideas within the fandom collective people just treat as Objective Canon. E.G. Gaster being lost to “the void” and forgotten, Toriel and Asgore NEEDING to get back together Post-Paci and especially in any timeline where one/both kids is saved (disregarding that Toriel has a right to keep boundaries), the assumption that every work will select certain dialogue choices that are popular when things like Places to Go exists and deserve exploration, too. But it’s not just that. Take the Undertoad AU- people have gotten SO angry and entitled over its character placements (especially Kammy as “Toriel”). They got hostile when the AU creators declared they aren’t directly using roles, and while I personally think the matter could’ve been handled more delicately toward the fans, I also sympathize in that it is an AU that has been disrespected by fans since its inception, and as a content creator, that can be so, SO exhausting. But it’s not just Utoad. Team Switched has gotten so much flak for not sticking to the original Underswap concepts. The ORIGINAL Underswap creators got so fed up with fans disregarding their comfort zones and drawing ships they did not approve of (and requested people not draw) that they up and deleted the blog and disowned the AU. I know it’s just fandom, but it’s just SO unfortunate when a content creator’s ideas aren’t respected. When a creator asks that people not create certain types of fan content or sets up certain boundaries. More than anything, people need to understand that we’re all just... people. And just ‘cause someone is popular doesn’t make them unapproachable. I know, personally, I’d MUCH rather someone come to me if they had a legitimate grievance with my work so I can understand and at the very least keep it in mind going forward- especially if it was hurtful. People make mistakes, and sometimes the social climates one grows up in means they still have a LOT of room to learn or they just might not be privy to implications behind a given idea. Or they’re just inexperienced. It’s why I HATED when the SC and Discord spheres would tear into people with less experience- folks who are still learning to create and don’t have the foundation or knowledge others have. Like, goodness. There was this one AU made by someone whose first language was NOT English, and everyone would meme the heck out of it instead of talking to the creator and giving constructive feedback. It’s one thing if a content creator refuses to take input and lashes out- at that point, it’s best to block/unfollow and move on. But it is SO important to remember that this is a fandom that is FULL of young people, and making a public mockery of their work can really discourage them from honing their skills. It’s just... cringe culture is really bad. And so is online bullying. And so often, that’s what happens. The UTSC community, for instance? Rampant with all manner of toxicity. Backlash towards anyone who dares mention the oversaturation of Megalovania styled tracks, mockery toward new composers, transphobia (good LORD I heard about some awful conduct in *that* regard), the idea that servers that have zero tolerance for edgy slurs are “too soft” (yes, the IF server won’t let you be racist/homophobic/transphobic edgelords. Human decency is kinda important). These things, of course, are just a universal part of fandom and especially public spaces. There will always be online toxicity. But I think it’s important to remember not to get too swept up on it. To step back sometimes and understand that there’s a point where you can’t force change and sometimes it’s better to block/unfollow and find something more positive to remind you of what you enjoy about fandom. Though as one final note, I think it is ABSOLUTELY important to watch out for younger fans because SO many fandom spaces have predators and abusers. When it reaches a point where someone is actively hurting others, then it is completely understandable to spread the word. But that should be saved for the people who are actually a danger and not the person giving a dissenting opinion on a character you enjoy.

#fandom #discourse #undertale discourse #undertale #dorkvents #tw: transphobia mention #i will add any other tags you guys see fit

[conclusionofa507-blog]

professional writing services

About me

Four Things To Know Before Hiring A Professional Resume Writing Service

Four Things To Know Before Hiring A Professional Resume Writing Service Enter your email beneath and I’ll ship you a free book. I lately spoke with a artistic professional in New York who makes a dwelling as each a fine artist and a photographer. He knows, as all professionals do, that each one our skills complement each other and, frankly, relieve us from placing an excessive amount of stress on ourselves to be the world’s finest at any one factor. Learn about the most effective writing retainers, how the offers work, and tips on how to land them. I'm Jeff Goins, the most effective-promoting author of five books together with The Art of Work and Real Artists Don't Starve. Enter your email below and I'll send you a free book. I’m Jeff Goins, the most effective-selling writer of five books together with The Art of Work and Real Artists Don’t Starve. But the problem was I didn’t know what I was doing. Upload your old resume and considered one of our experts will review it and send you a free assessment. Stress your skills and accomplishments to safe your goal job within the educational, education, scientific, medical, or research industries. Highlight your qualifications and achievements to showcase your aggressive edge in making use of for government jobs. Online platform that allows businesses to rent and manage freelancers, contractors and consultants. You have to keep challenging your self, keep pushing yourself past your limits. Because I was envious of my pals’ writing success, I would try no matter it was they were doing that I thought made them successful. If you solely have one book and fall in love with it and readers don’t feel the same means, you’ll be devastated. If you have other initiatives in the works, you won’t take it as personally, and you’ll proceed to work instead of getting stuck in self-pity and despair. The truth is that till you permit the world to read your guide, you’ll never know how good it's or what sort of an impression it can have, or what your readers can educate you. I used to think my failures prohibited me from success, that every time I failed I had to go back to square one. Now I know that failure is the only method you get to success and that each my failures has taught me something I wouldn’t have been in a position to move forward with out. What professionals know that the rest of us don’t recognize is that failure can teach you more than success ever will. I did this eight occasions, every time I had a new concept. But none of these blogs stuck until I decided to stay with one, which occurs to be the weblog you’re reading at present. It’s not enough to indicate up and write daily. Pros don’t just sit at residence and write, utterly disconnected from the world. They connect with other communities, give back and serve, and join with other human beings, whether or not it be in individual or online. But being a hermit and isolating your self from the rest of the world will only restrict your ideas and creativity. Failure is feedback, and actually profitable people use it to move ahead in their careers. You should put the time in, but it’s extra of a marathon than a dash. Professionals understand that their e mail record is certainly one of their greatest belongings. They use a professional autoresponder like Aweber, and so they don’t simply have an “e-mail list” of family and friends who by no means opted in. The professionals understand that it takes a dedicated fan base and lots of promotion to make a difference with their books and earn a dwelling. Industry professional Nick Usborne teaches you how to expand each writing project you take on, so you may make more cash as a freelance copywriter.

[naruto-scenarios-plus-akatsuki]

Fanfic question meme: 6, 7, 10, 11-14, 23, 26-28, 43, 46!! Sorry if that's too many!! xoxoxoxox 💖💖💖💖

Thank you so much for asking me some questions and its not too many at all ^.^

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

I’m mainly going to focus on pairs I like in Naruto, because that’s what I’m heavily involved in at the moment. I’ve only written fanfiction for 3 different fandoms and I’m considering that’s what the question meant by “involved in”. 

For Naruto: SasuHina (I just love reading fanfiction on this pair), ShikaTema (right from the start, I knew they be together

For Batman: BatmanxCatwoman, JokerxHarley (I usually stick to those two as my favorite because I like angst but most fanfictions on them get repetitive)

For Twilight: EdwardxBella, LelaxSam (don’t judge me 😖)

7. List your NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in.

For Naruto: GaaSaku (this pairing has always confused me; to me its a no), ShikaHidan (also a no), ItaSaku (its an interesting idea but I really cant see Sakura falling for Sasuke’s brother when she’s so hung up on Sasuke), KakaSaku (no student-teacher relationships), ItaSasu (No incest). 

For Batman: BatmanxHarley, BatmanxJoker

For Twilight: EdwardxAlice, RosexJacob

10.  Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in

There’s probably lots of fandoms I dont write for. Some of them I want to, others I know I cant write fanfiction for. 

X-men

Attack on Titan

Hunger Games (I have a few drafts of story I never posted that I had lost inspiration to)

Fast and Furious (I had an outline of a story I wanted to do, but never wrote for it.)

Inuyasha

Vampire Knight

The Walking Dead

Death Note

Avatar

Sherlock

Host

11. Who is your current OTP?

Oh gosh, can I say my OC Saryie with Sai? Lmao Uh probably still heavily like the idea of SasuSaku together out of the canon pairs. Otherwise, I’m mostly reading oc stories with cannon pairings. 

12. Who is your current OT3?

Hmm can’t really answer this because I don’t have one, sorry ^.^’ 

13. Any NoTPs?

Again, I say no to Gaara and Sakura ever being together. Also all the ones stated above again. Haha. 

I also find the pairing of Naruto and Temari weird.

14. Go on, who are your BroTPs?

NaruGaa, ShikaChoji, KakaGai, HidanKaku, KisaItac 

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

I’m honestly fond of my most current story that’s about my OC Saryie with her team. Its called Stirring Emotions. I know I have mentioned it before and I know some people may be sick of me talking about it. However, I am so fond of it because it was the first multiple chapter story I finish in less than a year, that’s how pumped I was to write it even when I was busy finishing up school. 

I like it so much because I knew I wanted to create something different that could be added on to the Naruto world. I am rather picky though, and I don’t like how most oc stories try to mess with Naruto’s life or his background. So I knew I didn’t want to do that with my story. I wanted a character to bare witness to the plot of Naruto without actually changing anything. Now my oc Saryie had been in the drafts for years. I created her when I was 13 years old when I first started watching Naruto. She was a very blunt and unrefined character that I created. I truly got to test out her personality in a different story that was a Naruto AU fic I created. It got me use to writing her character. Then before this story came along, I had worked hard to develop her story and her background. Which also led me to develop more OCs because I wanted to put Saryie on a team that was  going to help add to Saryie’s background. 

So the whole process of preparing and designing characters was very fun for me. Plus, I really wanted to write a proper story for Sai where he is neither the perfect boyfriend or the worst boyfriend. Some people will either write Sai as too dumb or they will write him as too sensitive. I wanted to create a slow burn of how Sai discovers his feelings and wanted to portray a real life feel of a relationship. 

I’m very proud of my story for that reason.  Also, figuring out ways to add to the Naruto story was what made my story even more enjoyable, because I wasn’t just working on creating a romance fic but an all encompassing adventure and romance one. I’m still working on the Sequel to my Stirring Emotions story with Sharing Emotions where Saryie and Sai’s relationship grows further and takes places during the war.  So yea, that’s what I’m most fond of… can’t you tell? lmao 

Sorry for rambling. 

26. How do you come up with your fanfic titles?

I’ve been told on more than one occasion that I am not the best at naming stories 🙂 I perfectly agree. Some feedback I have gotten is that my titles are too dull and dont catch reader’s interest. 

So how do I pick titles? Well for instances with these scenario requests if I write the scenario first, I try to pick a title that summarizes the event. However if I choose a title first and then write the scenario, I just make the title generic. 

As for my stories on fanfiction… I kind just go with the first thing that pops into my head which is bad sometimes. 😅

27. What do you hate more: Coming up with titles or writing summaries?

Titles. Summaries are ok. I’m not the greatest at it, but I try. 

28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?

I always thought it be cool too see fanart of my Naruto AU story where most Naruto characters are at an Art college. This story was like created when I was 14 years old so its not the greatest but… can you imagine like…

Naruto all deck out like a pop artist as he has dreams of being a singer 

Hinata in cute ballet outfit

Sasuke as a hiphop dancer 

Tenten as a painter with her colthes splattered with paint and pencils in her hair

Temari as a violinist with combat boots and piercings with a rock band shirt on.

Shikamaru with a man-bun, smoking a cigarette, with a guitar strapped to his back

Sai looking prestine and formal, but always caring a sketch pad with him. 

Ugh… I want it. I tried drawing it myself once. Didn’t come out well. 

43. Is there anyone in your fandom who really inspires you?

Yes, the whole reason I wanted to refine my own oc was because of an author on fanfiction. She had created a neat Kakashixoc fic that wasn’t at all mary-sueish and didnt affect the plot of Naruto and made me fantasize creating my own story in a similar way. 

There are also a few authors on tumblr that had inspired me to start my own imagines blog. 

46. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?Probably my latest story with my OC because its more well-written. Frankly my Naruto AU story embarrasses me when I read back on it and even if I do like the compliments I get on it, I know its not the best. I was a young teenager when I wrote it and I just wish I had thought about it more. 

#text post #about me #thank you for asking #you so sweet #ten gold stars!!! #feel free to ask me more questions #or if youre curious about anything else

[acrobat-elle]

I have no idea how this post is going to be received, but I’ve seen a few things today that set my teeth on edge.

This is a friendly reminder that fic writers and artists do what they do for free. People who run fic-finding blogs do what they do for free. People who make gifs do it for free. People who put together amazing rec lists do it for free. People who read and reblog every fic they come across do it for free. People who write amazingly-detailed, insightful or funny tags on their reblogs do it for free. And we get to enjoy the fruits of their labor. How cool is that? There’s so much amazing stuff out there for us to consume, and it doesn’t cost us a penny. It makes fandom fun and it makes fandom better.

And all of these people - the artists, the writers, the finders, the giffers, and the reccers - also have lives of their own. They go to school. They work full-time jobs. They have families and significant others and friends and hobbies. They have health problems. They have mental health issues. They have fandom for fun, and they have fandom to escape. Some people like to talk to anyone and everyone who hits up their inbox. Some people are more introverted. Some people prefer to keep a small circle of friends, or got cautious about making new friends after they’ve been burned a few times (haven’t we all run into toxic people online at some point?). Some people follow thousands of blogs. Some follow a few.

What they don’t have is a debt to fandom. They don’t actually owe anyone anything. Whether it’s an update on a multi-chapter, a response to a prompt, a new piece of art when someone requests it, a list of their favorite bed-sharing fics, a gifset, a like, a reblog, a comment, or a beta. 

(I’m not saying that feedback or likes/reblogs/comments aren’t important, obviously. *waves* Hi, I write fic. Of course it’s important. That’s not why I’m writing this.)

A lot of times people expect these things, and in some cases people demand these things. It’s not cool. And when the artist/writer/blogger doesn’t deliver, they get anon hate and snotty comments. One of the biggest complaints I’ve seen in the fandom - that good fics by lesser-known authors get ignored - is trying to be addressed by a new blog specifically devoted to promoting these authors. Amazing idea, right? Someone saw a problem and is making a genuine, good-hearted effort to fix it.

That blog is less than a day old, and they’ve already gotten anon comments along the lines of, “Why bother? It won’t help,” and “Why are you waiting before you start reccing? There are authors need your help now.” I repeat: that blog is less than a day old. Someone decided to take time out of their life to try and shed a spotlight on new/lesser-known authors - for FREE - and they’re already getting shit on.

So, I’m a writer. I don’t know how "famous” I am, or how famous other people think I am. I follow very few blogs because 1) I tried following hundreds of people when I first started on Tumblr and it got incredibly overwhelming for me, 2) I’ve gradually whittled my dash down to be as drama-free as possible, and 3) I follow authors and artists who I know from experience post quality content that I know I’ll love. And frankly, I can’t even keep up with everything they post and feel like crap when I fall behind on fic-reading.

Y’all, I work full-time. I have friends IRL and online. I follow a few blogs that make me happy. I try to write. I have serious struggles with depression sometimes. I hang out with my asshole cats. And I am tired. I don’t live in an online bubble to deliberately exclude people. All I do is try to make an online experience for myself that makes fandom more enjoyable for me, rather than more stressful.

I... don’t have any sort of grand thesis or conclusion here, other than we need to be nice to each other, and maybe take other people’s experiences into account when evaluating their behavior. And please, if you find yourself getting angry at authors or artists or gif-makers or rec blogs, remember that you’re getting angry at people who spend hours producing content for you to enjoy, for free. They never had to give you anything, but they still do.

#elle for ts #i don't know if i'll lose followers over this or not #fandom stuff

[hiddenpuncher]

My First Game Jam: Winter 2017

Here we go again!

Over the next two weeks (January 7th - January 21st) I'll be making a game for My First Game Jam: Winter 2017. This will actually be my second game jam, so please, nobody call the police. In spite of the title, the jam invites complete beginners and experienced programmers alike, so long as the latter try something new. I'm still a beginner, but I'll honour that agreement and strive to try new things this time around. Aside from learning new things and making a new kind of game, one of those new things I'll be trying is to keep a development blog. This will be it.

The first game I made was "Boyle and Bubble" a very short little SHMUP for GBJAM 5, which spanned the first ten days of October 2016. It's incredibly simple, but I learned a lot in creating and finishing it; I'd fooled around a little with prototypes before, but never "released" anything that could be called a game. Before I get started on this next game I'd like to take note of what I learned in my first game jam, and keep it in mind going forward.

No matter what, just start

Get going! Boyle and Bubble grew really organically, and I'm not sure if this is because I got very lucky, or if I it was because I didn't have any grand designs in mind to begin with, and just played around and let it happen. I built a game around realistic restrictions I observed about my own skill and the conditions of the jam; the art had to be simple, I am terrible at making engines for platformers, and it had to feel like something that could have existed on the Game Boy. It also helped that GBJAM 5 happened to fall in the run up to Hallowe'en, so there were a lot of pumpkins and ghouls and skellies flying around social media. I realised a SHMUP would make movement easier on me, and I idly started to pixel a small cutesy witch.

From that point, everything came together pretty simply -- a witch typically has a cauldron and casts spells, so the enemies became elemental, and the player had to mix up elements in her cauldron to come up with new magic. Granted, this is an incredibly simple premise, and it didn't birth a ground-breaking new type of gameplay, but going in without a colossal set of expectations and goals was really liberating. There was only a week to work with, and a simple concept like that seemed to work.

Releasing feels good

Most of the reason I'm taking part in this jam, aside from to learn something new, is quite frankly to release something, and get that buzz. I still have lots of prototypes lying around, but since the end of GBJAM 5 I've been committed to working on a new game that I think has a manageable scope that I still know will take me a good deal of time to complete. Sometimes I can feel myself burning out working on it, and I'm eager to find reasons to go back and work on other projects -- maybe now I know this, I can do this better, or maybe so-and-so project didn't fail that badly, if I just try something like this... So a game jam is a great compromise. A set period of time when I can focus on something outwith my long term project, and happily draw a line under it when the deadline comes around. I'll get back to my larger project, but I'll have that wonderful Game Finished And Released feeling.

Plan small, and then resmallerise it

Talking about the size of my current project brings me to the next point - size.  Planning simple and planning small are key. Certain ideas lend themselves better to jams than others. Boyle and Bubble in some ways suited a jam really well, but less so in others. In the game you can play now, there's a singular level, but I spent so much of the week programming and making consistent the elemental combination system and plugging in all the different spells that I didn't have time to build all the levels and enemies and bosses necessary to showcase those spells. All of that code exists in the game, but playing through the only level on offer, you'll never see it. I had to settle for letting you choose to use two elements separately, or combine them depending on the circumstances. My plan was small going in, but even so, planning smaller still wouldn't have hurt.

Prototype core mechanics first

This is going to seem like a silly thing to even have to say, but I have to say it, if only to myself. I talked about how Boyle and Bubble grew organically from the restrictions and spriting the player character, but even that was probably a mistake. It helped that the Game Boy limitations meant my art was never going to have to be super complex, but a square box would have suited for pretty much every enemy in the game until much later.

More importantly, Boyle and Bubble had no failure condition for the majority of development, so "playtesting" really was just to see if enemies behaved according to plan. The player couldn't take damage from enemies or projectiles, so there was no incentive to move evasively -- a pretty core mechanic in a SHMUP, second only arguably to, you know, "shooting 'em up". Since there was no threat, playing the game only began to feel like actually 'playing a game' much later. I floated through the levels and saw how movement patterns worked and how projectiles behaved, but the feel of the game was missing for a long time. Had I been playtesting with player death for a great deal more of the development, the game might have felt very, very different earlier on, and probably for the better. The simplest form of the final game is what should be built first.

Budget time around the smallest features with the biggest impact

Hit points! Damn it! Closer to the deadline for GBJAM 5, I started doing my best to budget my time accordingly. With two days to go, I was taking a look at my "development log" (notepad file filled with annotations like "FIX!!" and "this is bad, probably do this like this") and being pretty brutal about what to cut and what to prioritise. It's the reason why the game only features one level, limited enemies, attacks, etc. But even though this was good practice, I still managed to goof colossally.

With about 20 minutes until the deadline and the itch.io page all filled out and ready for the upload, I was almost finished, but had to choose between two things to finish. I'd wanted for a while to program in a three-hit HP system to make the game a little more lenient, but I also had no way to round the game out. There was a boss, and he had an attack cycle, and you could defeat him and he blew up, but then nothing happened. I knew what should happen -- Boyle should glide slowly over to the right of the screen, her adventure complete, fade to black, credits roll. That's how a game should end. So that's what I did. I shelved the HP system ("hey, at least the player can die and restart") and plugged in a way to take control from the player after the boss is defeated, float them over to the right side of the screen, and whipped up a quick credits reel. Boyle hovers up top and waves to you as the names scroll up, and then it boots you to the main menu. Fine! Good. But this was a mistake.

Considering how few people played the game, it really couldn't afford to turn people off quickly. Getting hit by an enemy and being told to restart is a pretty good way to lose patience with a game, I think, and not only that but the threat of taking damage persisted through the level -- the credits sequence was good for a few moments at the end of the game. It wasn't a good trade-off. I don't know that anybody else ever saw them. Four of the five comments people kindly left as feedback for the game reference how unforgiving it was to have a one-hit kill mechanic in the game. One even notes that they were disheartened to die in one hit the moment they encountered the boss.

The ultimate gut-punch here is that on the day after the jam ended I opened the project file back up and carried on tinkering. I'd planned on taking a break, but I couldn't get out of the habit after a week of working on the game religiously. I knew the game should have the three HP system, even before the feedback, so I looked into it. It turned out to be incredibly simple, and took me less than ten minutes to implement.

Don't neglect sound

Another small feature that would have dramatically changed the game was sound. In the run up to the game jam I'd read or watched something (I regret I can't remember whose advice this was) where this point was stressed -- not to neglect sound, because it makes such a big difference. I knew this going in, and told myself that there might be no music, but I would at least have time to whip up a few sounds in BFXR. In the end I cut sound as something to accomplish, and I wish I hadn't -- I went to the trouble of adding particle effects and little explosions and a couple of animations that sound would have really spiced up, even without music.

I wasn't particularly concerned with "winning" GBJAM 5, but I was surprised how well the game did in a few categories (visuals especially), but you can see from a quick breakdown of the categories that having no sound really made a difference. The best score you can possibly honestly give for a game with no sound is a middling one -- that's taking a generous view, with the approach that "well the sound wasn't good or bad", but I think really the score you give to a game with no sound is the lowest possible score.

I deprioritised sound in order to play to my (relative) strengths. I knew I could just about program the game, and I can make very simple pixel art, but with sound, I have no experience. In some ways maybe this wasn't such a bad thing, but again, there's a catch; immediately after the jam ended, I was surprised that people actually approached me over social media offering to give the game a soundtrack. I had thought of working on the jam as such a personal project (and knew well enough people from all discipline's loathing of being asked to work for free, or worse, for "exposure") that I made peace with the idea that if I can't do it, it won't be in my game. The generosity of strangers really caught me off-guard.

Don't neglect your health, either

Budgeting time is important to get your game finished, but you have to budget the time in the day to keep yourself going, too. I made some duff decisions on what to cut from the game, but I think in some ways they were excusable because it meant I finished the game. But I cut time out of my routines outwith programming that simply aren't sustainable -- I stopped running for that week and ate very badly, because it was easier than taking time out to cook smart meals, and an hour out for a run was an hour I could spend bugfixing. I was glued to my screen, and pretty much the only social contact I had was a stalwart friend who was practically responsible for safeguarding my brain and keeping me sane as I stared at code for hours and hours on end. This was okay for a week, I think, but I don't plan on doing it again, even for just the two week span of MyFirstGameJam.

Game development fridge magnet wisdom is actually really, really good

If these nuggets all seem incredibly familiar, I'm sure it's because they have been expressed (much more effectively) in a hundred other lists like this. Derek Yu's "Finishing a Game" probably covers everything here and more, and it's all really great advice. His book on Spelunky was also really insightful and helpful to read. Following Tom Francis's development of both Gunpoint and Heat Signature and learning from his "Make A Game With No Experience" series and dev logs helped me a ton, too. I probably couldn't cite all the sources that I try to keep in mind when fiddling around with a little prototype -- the almost zen koan-status game design wisdom of Miyamoto Shigeru, that one Mega Man X Sequelitis episode, Mark Brown's really insightful Game Maker's Toolkit series, and so many others. All this is really just to say Take Advice From Smart People, You Dummy.

Show people your game, and talk to other people that make games

This was the #1 thing learned -- show off your game on social media, and find other people making games there too. I dislike a lot about social media platforms and what fills them, but I met so many amazing people that were super supportive, and offered advice and feedback. Also, as a complete novice, everyone was like a mentor to me, even if indirectly; watching much more experienced devs create amazing games alongside my own efforts was much less off-putting than I would have thought, and actually just inspiring. It was really gratifying for some reason to see titles I'd seen in development on Twitter (Bob&Dob! Soulstice! Zero Star! Noru! Monster Buds! Zipper League Hockey!) appear as fully-fledged games on-site on the final day. Also, to reiterate an earlier point, Twitter was the medium through which people offered to pitch in with sound and music post-release. People coming out of the wings to support you is amazing.

If nothing else, game jams are the ideal way to get as many hands as possible on your work. Boyle and Bubble has only been downloaded something like 40 or 50 times, but this is way more people than would ever have played my first game otherwise. Feedback is incredibly important to learn lots of important lessons early on in any discipline, and jams really foster that. That was fantastic to experience, and I'm looking forward to it again.

With that said, My First Game Jam: Winter 2017 is well underway, and I have lots to do. Next time I post, a brand new baby prototype will have been born.

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