#i don't like the idea of muting tags of artists i like but NOBODY ELSE I KNOW actually likes her

[brightsuzaku]

yes i will delete this later maybe

at this point I think I am gonna have to mute taylor swift from my tags because I LIKE THE MUSIC, but damn is it hard not to have to scroll by my eyes with either

a. how much people either seem to hate her

or

b. some of the most rabid fans with the Worst Takes

and like, i'll say it, there is a lot I love and respect about her, but there have been some (deadly) MISSES with the tours

and i have to scroll through the bog of "are people bringing this up because they fucking hate her" or "is this a genuine thing to be worried about" mixed with the fact i had to sit here and read with my own eyeballs about how she got her contract with Big Machine Records and like, YEAH, she's privileged as heck and she's not special or whatever

but also she had a very long and difficult time trying to get *away* from that record label because of a dispute over whether she owned the masters of her own fucking music, which is WHY she is re-recording her old albums on her own terms.

and like, yes, she is a Very Rich and very Privilege White Chick, and that is GRATING for some folks, but damn, I can't stand the nitpicking where it's not needed. Taylor Swift is not punk?

Yeah, sure, she's probably not, but the most punk thing she did *was* the re-recording of her goddamn work, and that may be the ONLY punk thing she has done.

ANYWAY this is aimed at nobody or nothing in particular, but I think I am the ONLY person among my friends that actually likes her, and look, that's most normie shit in the world I like, but

i also like Britney Spears. A lot.

And i have already experienced the vitriolic anti-Britney hate to where I don't wanna have to deal with this again where I have to wade through, "is this malicious" or "is this an ACTUAL problem that should be addressed?"

like, it's going to take Taylor Swift walking out and literally saying TERF shit that would actually stop me, but damn, people love hating on her otherwise.

I go to tumblr to ENJOY fandom and things i like, and I do ym best to stay afloat even in The Horrors, but tit-for-tat "i hate this artist" makes me feel like I am in middle school again, and it's beyond upsetting

#brightsuzaku #i am so goddamn tired #i don't like the idea of muting tags of artists i like but NOBODY ELSE I KNOW actually likes her #i am probably going to delet this later but #this smacks of how cool it was to “hate” britney spears back in the day #and like i liked her music and so on but never understood what makes some artists the coolest thing to hate #and what does not #for the record i am exceedingly neutral about mcfreakin justin bieber #and i once WAS in the “heehee he sounds like a girl he's so cheesy i am glad i am not 12” #and how kpop used to be cringe but then #I KIDNA GREW THE FUCK UP and realized that cringe is dead and people should be happy #like goddamn i will deal with some of this stuff later and sort it out but like #folklore and the re-recordings were my 2020 onwards and it was so fucking nice

[dspre]

How do you create OCs without making them first on wizard101? I find it very hard to make new OCs besides the ONE on wizzy because I don't have them "made" on the game (or leveled up, for that matter). I find it really hard and I hate being a perfectionist about it o;

Short answer: idk lol

Long answer: I don’t know haha

Answer that gives actual information: Let’s see if I can make this shorter than a river, shall we? (Spoiler, I can’t. This answer is one thousand words long.) 

You may have seen me post an out-of-context metaphor a moment ago: characters are pearls. Pearls, as you probably know, are formed when an irritant, sometimes a grain of sand, gets into an oyster. The oyster coats it with layers of goop, the goop hardens, and then humans find it and go Ooh, shiny. Pearls don’t pop out of nowhere. Characters also don’t pop out of nowhere. You build them around something. 

In-game characters don’t work very well for me as that sand grain, because not many of the attributes apply to my universe or my story (for instance, levels aren’t a thing, non-human characters are, and many of my OCs are adults), and there’s no personality to them, they just go with the plot, and their backstory is “Ambrose plucked them out of thin air.” I don’t understand how people make OCs out of them, but obviously they do, and fabulously at that. 

I use other things. I have a janitor I named after a type of cell, because that type of cell acts like a janitor. I have a supergod I named after our galaxy supercluster. I’m in the middle of reblogging a lot of tag-your-OC posts to a sideblog to draw ideas from. Hat Lord started as a literal joke, then became an imaginary friend, and I don’t know how av got into AGP. The alternate universe Sabrina Greenstars also started as a joke. 

Sometimes I just need a character somewhere, so one shows up (have a library? Have a librarian). Sometimes I try to figure out who my background characters are, and they become people (your character has bumped into someone, who are they? Why were they there? Why weren’t they looking where they were going?). Speaking of background characters, try to make them recur (AGP has a scene where Eth is walking down a side street and sees a person, Feef, and later when Talon and Iridian are asking if anyone has seen Eth, Feef is who replies “yes”). 

As for personalities, I write. This may be why I’ve been having trouble lately. My characters lack depth, so I don’t write, so my characters lack depth. Do you see my problem? 

Anyway, I go into waaaaay too much detail in my story. I sometimes call it ‘scenery porn’ because I just have to describe every single tiny thing Eth sees. This means I add random actions to new characters, because otherwise you would hardly notice they were there in between the descriptions of the wallpaper, the scent of spices, and exactly which spices they might be, the creaking of the floorboards, etc., ad nauseam. And then I read way too much into them. Did they doodle something in their notebook? They’re an artist. Were they humming? Musician. Were they throwing shade? Ooh, there’s a lot you could do with that. And make sure to ask a ton of followup questions. 

I also find that there’s a fine balance between boredom and Mary Suedom. My main (and viewpoint) character has brown hair, brown eyes, and is only one inch away from the average height for her race and gender. She listens to popular music, doesn’t dress too outlandishly, and has pretty common career aspirations. That said, she’s mute, so not entirely the average template. But most importantly, you see her personality. She has thoughts and opinions and makes decisions on her own, she’s not just shunted around by the plot. She’s also not a perfect angel. Some of her decisions are stupid, or vindictive. 

I think having a relatively average main character is a good idea. I’m always wary of stories where the main character shows up already knowing loads of magic, or being old friends with the Drakes, or being Super Snarky and mouthing off at Cyrus, and of course having silver hair and purple eyes and never-before-seen powers. Tread carefully if you decide to do these. 

For side characters, I find average doesn’t work. I already have a story for my main, it’s this one, so I need something else interesting for the others. Don’t be afraid to give them weird backstories and reasons for doing things. For instance, I just saw a prompt (that I am going to use, so I say this at some risk) for a character who learned to draw photorealistically because they were the only witness to a major crime, and they couldn’t describe the perpetrator. 

Background characters are background characters, and you probably shouldn’t put too much thought into them unless you need more mains or sides, or you risk cluttering your story. (Pffhahaha look who’s talking.) 

Back to your original question, though, and getting it answered: You do need something to build on, but if you’re trying to build on something other than what you’re used to, you’ll have to make an effort at it. It won’t happen by itself. 

Other pointers: Try to figure out where there would be a person. Has your character been thrust into a new place with nobody they know (like Wysteria, perhaps)? They’ll likely try to make friends, or at least allies. Does your character go to a coffeeshop? If they’re the outgoing type, they might chat with the barista. Is there somewhere your character isn’t supposed to be? There’s probably a guard. 

One place to start other characters would be, as I said, tag-your-OC blogs. 

Here is Springhole. Read it. All of it. It also has good random generators, many of which are for the express purpose of being sand grains. 

Here are some other generators I like, but most are just for names. 

Here is a character prompt blog I like, and I’m sure you can find more with that handy little search bar on the top left of your screen. 

#who are you #okay so i have to mention #the most common irritants that start pearls are parasites and not sand grains #but that gives an entirely different tone to the metaphor #and when i say this is a thousand word i mean it #it is not 987 words #it is not 1002 words #it is #exactly #one #thousand #words #also: who thinks i'm good enough to ask for writing advice??? #because i love you #sorry for getting on several long tangents #to be fair i deleted most of the tangents #i hope this actually answered your question #if you have more please do ask