people should be allowed to read and write bad books

i'd rather read 1,000 bad books written by real people than one good book written by ai

Not every story is about seeing yourself in it. Sometimes it’s about learning to see other people too.

@tearyeyedcat this was beautifully written, thank you for adding it!

write unpublishable things. it's good for you.

I feel like some people need to relearn Genre Expectations... "Man, this tragedy sucks!!! Why didn't they just do XYZ, then everything could have ended happily!!" well, then it wouldn't be a tragedy, would it. "Man, this lighthearted teen romcom is terrible, it's so sappy and unrealistic!!" Well, yeah. If it had been gritty and dark, it wouldn't have been a lighthearted romcom, would it. Is the writing actually bad or are you just trying to order a milkshake from a Home Depot

you think writing is mostly making up rich worlds and complex characters and devising their interactions, but really it's mostly double-checking the meanings of incredibly basic words just in case you have been using them wrong your entire life. and that's ok

reading a good interesting book after a horrible reading slump and suddenly you can feel the sun shining again and the sky is more beautiful than ever and birds are all singing songs to you

Don't think about writing as just the act of getting words down on a page.

Brainstorming ideas. Daydreaming about the characters. Researching the world they inhabit. Trying to come up with a fucking title.

If you only count the time you spend sitting at a keyboard, you're not giving yourself credit for all of the work you did leading up to the moment when the story is finally clear enough in your mind that you can start putting it into actual words.

Exactly! Creating a story is more than just typing it out. That’s only one part of the glorious web we weave.

Brainstorming, gather inspiration by reading/watching movies or shows, fantasizing our characters in scenarios, meditating to allow your brain to free-think. Creating art or music inspired by your characters, drafting mood boards, finding headcanons. These activities are ALL a part of the creative process.

Yes, writing your ideas down and crafting the drafts are important in the story-sharing process, but never feel guilty if you need time to rest and gather inspiration passively. The happier you are, and the more relaxed you are, the more naturally that story will flow out of you. 💖✨

Sometimes fiction doesn’t have a moral to the story. Sometimes fiction points at something and goes “Ever thought about THAT???” And you look at what it’s pointing at for a bit.

if you start reading books again. you will feel at least a little better. I promise

one time a professor asked me if i’d ever wanted to write anything “more important” than romance. and i said no. i was put on this earth to write about sad people kissing. and if another writer ever came up to me and said they wanted to write 400 pages containing nothing but a character baking a single loaf of bread each day, then i would tell them to do that. people don't write something because it's important. they write about something and that is what makes it important

nothing makes u feel stupid quite like being a writer. out here googling “rooms in a house” to make sure i didn’t forget one of em. blockhead behavior.

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

having an oc you havent drawn / written about publicly yet that only exist as a concept is so funny. i have special access to this limited edition guy from my brain