Speaking of reading! Look what Storygraph made me:
I read a whole 37 books! (That feels so much better than the *nine* in 2022. My goal was 26 and I did BETTER! This year I'm going for 52, wish me luck. 🍀)
faejilly reblogged
@Fanfic writers:
My friend send me this link, is a series on a profile on Ao3 (tumblr) that has different tutorials to insert things to fanfics via html code, I thought I would share bc it’s really cool
Lists of tutorials:
This is a tutorial/live example on how to make large images fit on mobile browsers but remain normal size on desktop browsers.
This is a tutorial/live example on how to mimic the look of letters, fliers, and stationery (as well as other forms of written media) without using images. For all your epistolary fic needs.
This is a tutorial/live example on how to create a "Choose Your Own Adventure" fic. While this has been explained before (see here), this particular tutorial shows you how to use a work skin to hide the next parts from the reader until they click through to get to them.
This is a live example of how an author can create linked footnotes in their work with only a little bit of HTML and no workskins required. This is best viewed by clicking "Entire Work". While I've included the actual coding in bold and italic once you click "Hide Creator's Style", there's a more detailed explanation here.
This a tutorial/live example on how to have text change or appear once a cursor is hovering over it. Helpful for pop-up spoilers, language translations, quick author's notes, etc.
Anonymous on tumblr: do you have a skin that would mimic the author’s notes and review/kudos buttons section from the end of a fic? the desired effect being that the fic could go on after the “end” of the fic, so after the author’s notes and review/kudos buttons
Here's a tutorial/live example to do just that, with some of the buttons actually functioning. I'll explain more inside!
This is a tutorial/live example on how to align images to the left or right of the screen and have text wrap around them.
This is a tutorial/live example on how to mimic email windows on AO3 without the need to use images.
This is a tutorial/live example on how to mimic iOS text messages on AO3 without the need to use images. There's also a chapter on how to have emojis displayed on AO3 as well.
Bored with the default page dividers? This is a tutorial/live example on how customize your page dividers with no images needed (though I do show you how you could use images if you wanted to do such a thing).
This is a live example how to make invisible text that can only be seen by highlighting the text. Tutorial is included in text, and you can always leave comments about questions you may have.
MOBILE USERS: Sadly, this probably won't work for you, since highlighting in a mobile browser is different than web. I've tried correcting this, but have yet to find a solution.
Original coding and design is from layouttest. I make no claims for it, just tweaked it so it will work on AO3.
This is a live example of my AO3 skin that allows the author to recreate the look of lined notebook paper in their work. To learn more about it, you can find the tutorial here.
This is a live example of my AO3 skin that allows the author to recreate the look of sticky notes (aka Post-Its) in their fic. To learn more about it, you can find the tutorial here.
This is a live example of my AO3 skin that allows the author to recreate the look of Deadpool's thinking boxes in their fic. To learn more about it, you can find the tutorial here.
This is a live example of my AO3 skin that allows the author to recreate the look of a newspaper article in their work. To learn more about it, you can find the tutorial here.
Scrivener Tips & Hidden Features
Heads up, writerly friends!
Twitter user juliewagnerrr posted a very good thread on a bunch of the secret features of Scrivener. For instance, did you know that program has a built-in name generator?
You can read their thread over HERE. Fully recommend!
#some day#maybe#idk#I'm bad at writing#do I need more things#that I may not use?#maaaaaybe#let's see how habitica goes first#😅😅😅#scrivener#on writing#resources#reference#idk what tags did I use to use?#signal boost#I guess?#try it for camp nano this year#tell me how it goes#or something like that#queueue
This is one criminally underrated Batman villain.
SERIOUSLY THOUGH SHE WAS MY FAVORITE BATMAN VILLAIN
Her physical condition didn’t allow her to age
No one took her seriously as an actress
And even when she was trying to get into a happy romantic relationship (albeit with another villain) he still couldn’t take her seriously as a consenting, sexually active and romantically interested adult
That’s a lot of blows to someone’s psyche
and Babydoll is both a sympathetic villain and a formidable one
I remember this episode fucked me up a a kid.
And man, do I wish we could see this Batman again: the Batman that consoles his villains, because the majority (if not all) of them are mentally ill people. And Batman knows this and wants them healthy again, not punished and GOD definitely not dead.
poppypicklesticks
Baby Doll is so underrated as a Batman villain
but her episode was perfect
Batman: The Animated Series The story of one fucked up, traumatized little boy, doing his best to help other fucked up traumatized people.
albawrites
The Batman that cares about the inmates is my favorite. He doesn’t put up with their shit, but he does try to reach out here and there and he’s as human as he can be to them.
When Harley was re-institutionalized, he got her that dress she wanted.
In the comics based on B:tAS, there was a time during Christmas that there was snow and it was Mr. Freeze’s fault, and he was making it snow because Christmas was his anniversary with Nora and she LOVED it when it snowed on Christmas, so Batman let him finish mourning before calmly taking him back to Arkham.
He never, ever gives up on Harvey possibly recovering.
Sure, Batman is going to throw punches and do what it takes to take these guys down when they’re hurting or threatening people. And he’s not going be a complete bleeding heart; he has to protect the innocent. He’s going to take them down and take them back to Arkham, but it doesn’t mean he’s incapable of being a bit human to the ones who deserve it.
Batman needs become human again
Because it needs to be here:
Remember that time a young girl with near god-like psychic powers threatened to destroy reality and the only one that could stop her was Batman because he had a previous encounter with her and was tasked with killing her to restore reality.
But instead, Batman sat with her on a swing and kept her company as the girl’s psychic powers slowly killed her.
No?
i-am-the-karkat-media-worldwide
Fuck you people making me emotional
The. Batman.
filbypott
This is MY Batman, not the murderous fascist they’ve made him into.
ace-spacepup
It’s ridiculous to think that this isn’t what studios want from our heroes. This is dark and sad without being grim-dark. We need our heroes to be compassionate. There’s enough darkness in the world already. Give us our heroes who care and truly fight for justice.
It’s like they forgot that batman is, at his core, a Noir character.
And what makes Noir a good style, is that the protagonist never gives up and allows themself to wallow in the darkness around them. The world is dark, and bleak, and cold hearted, yes.
But the protagonist fights against that.
Fights for their humanity.
Claws their way out of that muck, and even if the ending is as dour and bleak as the world around them, the Noir Hero shoulders that burden and carries on.
A battered lantern with a flickering light inside them. Refusing to let it burn out.
That’s what Batman should be.
Maybe this is just me being a little protective of like...90s anime, but people who want to criticize Utena for being ambiguous about Utena and Anthy being romantic are like....kinda missing the point?
Like, yall, this is an Ikuhara show. It was 1997. He was coming out of Sailor Moon and just went buck WILD with that shit. Its 90% visual metaphor and unexplained symbolism. I honestly can't even tell you in words what ACTUALLY, like, LITERALLY happens at the end of the show? Its all about the themes and the EMOTIONS, the plot is kind of incomprehensible and intentionally so.
What's the castle? Who is Dios? What's up with all the cars? Why did Nanami turn into a cow? I don't know! It doesn't matter, that's not the point!
Like "but do they KISS"? Do they KISS? Look, sometimes you dont kiss. Sometimes you just symbolically explore the way society tries to force girls into misogynistic and heteronormative expectations with flowery fairy tales and toxic predatory men, and only through our relationships with other women can we break free and find self actualization and freedom. Only through our love for other girls can we revolutionize the world!
Do they kiss? I guess not? I don't even know what the fuck happened, honestly, but I know this show hasnt been an icon of queer anime fandom for 20+ fucking years for nothing.
They kissed in the movie but Utena also turned into a car so your point stands.
That sounds about right.
so @elfyourmother has been talking about Astoria today
and I never really did my character/routes overview posts like I meant to
or even the MAY IS ME AND I AM MAY photoset because I love May Chan so much
and maybe I should work on that?
or maybe not?
but really I have realized that I’m still upset about Cerberus?
The appeal of S1 Cerberus is adoring & adorable puppy dog eyes + BICEPS AS BIG AS YOUR HEAD
and s4 has neither puppy eyes nor biceps
and the PRIMARY CONFLICT in almost every other s2/s3 arc is just handwaved away between season
just whatever
and it doesn’t even cause the primary conflict that matches any of the other s4 conflicts?
and like I know these sentences don’t make a lot of sense because I’m trying to avoid specific spoilers
BUT I AM APPARENTLY STILL UPSET
this is part of why I never read Gangsters: In Love. Because even in the very first chapter, when you’ve picked your route, the background from before the game is different for different characters
and apparently I cannot handle divergent world-building for the world-state BEFORE THE GAME STARTS
afterwards, yes, I can handle the necessary conceit of all your other characters lives not falling apart without the MC to save them, despite the requirement of the MC’s help in their particular route
but the world needs to start the same, ykwim?
#snek wife is best wife#still and forever#also hades is still my favorite disaster husband#alex cyprin is flawless and wonderful and not at all a disaster spouse#just saying#for contrast#anyways#idek where I'm going with this#consistency is important?#somethingsomething#I'm also still mad about lovestruck's issues#but that's a separate post#SOME DAY#maybe#jilly spam#astoria fates kiss
Astoria: Fate’s Kiss
slightly more coherent this time for @quilleth
What is Astoria you may ask?
It is an Android / iOS visual novel-style romance game by @voltageamemix. (Basically it’s a very pretty book with character sprites and some dramatic music and a few dialogue options.) They have three such games, but Astoria is my favorite.
Because Greek Mythology, (and lesbian gangs), and excellent Found Family Feels, and a diverse cast, and a great sense of humor.
The prologue is free, as are the first couple chapters in each route, so you can get a feel for what you like and what you want. After that, you purchase individual character routes by chapter (ie Main Story Part 1) or season … chapters end on cliff-hangers, but each season is a complete story-arc, with a guaranteed happy ending.
(n.b. Happily Ever After does, by season 3 and 4, equate to marriage and child(ren), for reasons that are well grounded in the MC’s personality & history, but if that’s not your sort of HEA, maybe stop after season 1 or 2.)
That said, you start the prologue, find out the MC is a lovely young lady who works for a sort-of secret organization serving Olympus. It takes a lovely modern twist on familiar mythology, and a surprising amount of time is spent on paperwork. ;) Also in dealing with Artifacts and Monsters (people, not humans, whose power manifests in ways reminiscent of the mythology, aka Hydra’s Aura is a multi-headed snake thing) and keeping all this weird magic stuff out of the eyes of the general public. Basically you’re tasked with keeping humans safe from Monsters and vice versa and hoping Godly Powers don’t run amok. It’s a cool gig, though you’re currently an office-drone and want nothing more than to be a Field Agent. (Like your mother before you.)
Your MC is pretty well defined, with a set back-story, an impressive work ethic, and a lovely relationship with her brother. (Not that you meet him until quite a ways into some of the routes. He’s still grand.) Some personality aspects are set, but there is a bit of variety between routes, that the type of person she would be to romance different characters is also different, and they do a very good job of illustrating that while still making it clear she came from the same background, still has the same over-arcing goals, etc.
You meet SIX different potential LI’s and you have to pick just one. It’s traumatic, I tell you. They’re all (four men, one woman, one nb) very pretty. Your MC’s best friend May Chan will back me up on this. (Also May Chan is delightful. She makes every route better.)
The routes are quite linear; what choices you can make through-out the story are mostly for flavor text/characterization and some variation in your final chapter. (There are non-graphic sex scenes, especially in seasons 2 and 3 – varying degrees of heat/fade to black, but never explicit. There are potentially a lot of them. Up to you if that’s a pro or a con.) There are no branching plot paths, so you may sometimes have to make your person do something you don’t want to do, which can be stressful, but it does always all work out in the end. Promise.
It is not cheap, if you’re going to buy more than one season or character arc at a time, but they are professionally done, with gorgeous art, wonderful characters, and well-paced, emotionally satisfying narratives.
/so good you guys. my heart.
Top Ten Characters Meme!
tagged by @theherocomplex to list ten favorite characters in ten different series/fandoms (again? this one does seem to get around) ... as I just flailed this the other day, if anyone HAS NOT BEEN TAGGED consider this your chance. (If you’d like.) Tell us about your babies. Please. <3
- Number Ten Ox - Bridge of Birds, etc. (Barry Hughart)
- Nausicaa - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Miyazaki/Ghibli)
- Derek Morgan - Criminal Minds
- Alec Hardison - Leverage
- Charles Cornick - Alpha and Omega, etc. (Patricia Briggs)
- Maskelle - Wheel of the Infinite (Martha Wells)
- Zoe Washburne - Firefly
- Amanda Waller - DCAU
- Martha Jones - Doctor Who
- Stone - Raksura (Martha Wells)
#theherocomplex#character memery#so I figured I could cheat#and have two Martha Wells#since they're different books/words/series/one of them's not even human?#I am enjoying this#must think of different people each time!#though I will shortly forget#who I've listed and who I haven't#also I should really put Ista on one of these#some day#because Ista <3
ages and ages ago, @fourth-age and @loquaciousquark both tagged me in that book meme (all the books of __ color) w/ orange and green respectively.
and thanks to the bedbug purge back before our “exciting”(tm) international move, I could not find any?
I mean, if I count the boys’ picture books? Should I count the boys’ pictures books? Because I did a much better job replacing their stuff than my stuff during the past five years.
(ALSO, Beyond Belief #1 is sort of green. and Sparks Nevada #1 is pretty orange? Do comics count?)
This is surprisingly difficult, is what I’m getting at, and even the things which are maybe sort of green are kind of blue-ish, mostly?
Basically, I think the point of this post is that I do not own enough books and/or I need a new meme to take into account the e-book collection?
:P
have I mentioned they are the worst spies
they get caught
every time
(though I suppose, being able to get out of trouble every time is potentially more important a skill than avoiding it in the first place, as no one can avoid it 100%? Sort of?)
So I can't remotely afford them, but I am inexplicable heart-broken that these boots do not exist in my size. </3
TBH, this is true of most of the site, but I'm ... only distantly regretful for most of them. But I feel I need these boots, or I shall never know peace of mind again ...
/melodrama
/of course, for a lowly $300 I could have these instead ...
*sobs*
Source: chiestore.com
faejilly reblogged
Here is the full free Suki and Sokka comic released by Dark Horse today!
deesky
Suki using chiblocking!!!!
THIS IS ADORABLE
davecity
I am a proud owner of this story after FCBD.
i am jealous of you forever also show of my heart SHOW OF MY HEART AUGH I MISS YOU SO