You know that whole trope where like, the protagonists get teleported up into the aliens’ spaceship or base or whatever and the alien appears to them only it doesn’t appear as it really looks like but rather, since it doesn’t want to scare the protagonists, it takes the form of something we find familiar and pleasing and is like, “I look like your dad or whatever–is this form okay?” Like I think about that trope a lot and I think like, what if the alien couldn’t pick out a form via telepathy and only had earth media to try and decide what form would scare its human guests least and be accepted almost immediately and honestly the more I think about it the more options for what form that might be are just really fun to me.

“I have chosen the form of your earth playwright and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda–do not be afraid. I come in peace.”

“Greetings. I am Glofnorbo of the cloud you call the ‘Pegasus Nebula.’ I have scanned your earth media from afar and empirically decided that you would find the form of the one known as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson most pleasing. I have come to confer with your leaders.” 

“Do not be panic. I come in peace. I have assumed the form of your insectoid demigoddess ‘Hatsune Miku’ so that we may communicate peacefully without my true form horrifying you.” 

“It was decided that I would assume the form of your ‘Mister Rogers’ in order to best welcome your world to the galactic neighborhood without frightening your kind.”

“…So did your colleague take on the form of Jack Black for that reason too?”

“No, that is the actual Jack Black. We do not know how to make him leave.”

“…So did your colleague

take on the form of Jack Black

for that reason too?”

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

A retelling of The Ugly Duckling, where instead of a swan raised by ducks, it's a peacock egg that ended up being hatched by a chicken, called The Most Annoying Rooster, where instead of being sad about being an ugly outcast, the little peacock goes around like Excuse Me Are You Not Aware Of How Fucking Fabulous I am? And everyone except his mom finds him supremely annoying. The hen who hatched him is just like "no fuck you, my huge fabulous son can beat the shit out of all of your sons, you're just jealous."

Then the farmer whose chickens those are notices that wait shit that Fancy Chicken is in the wrong place, and as he tries to remove the peacock from the chicken coop, he refuses to leave without the hen who hatched him. So being moved to a more appropriate place for a peacock, the hen comes with him. And for the rest of his life The Most Annoying Rooster lives happily ever after as an Only Moderately Annoying Peacock, and if any bigger bird tries to do anything to the little hen, he will peck its fucking eyes out, because that's his momma who was always there for him, so he's always there for her.

i think that killing a dragon should have catastrophic nuclear-fallout level environmental consequences tbh. their blood should scorch and wither the earth with fire and poison, the toxic fumes released as they decay should choke the land and all nearby living creatures, and the entire landscape where they fell should be transformed into a blighted wasteland where bleached leviathan bones loom upwards out of the ground as a warning that can be seen from miles away, the boundary markers of an exclusion zone.

i also think that it would be wonderfully ironic if those who sought the fame and glory of the title of 'dragonslayer' only ended up with the bitter, enduring reminder of the devastation they're responsible for. this is not a place of honor. no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here.

The last time we were on a long flight, my wife and I invented a game we call "Little Guy."

You start a game of Little Guy by saying, "I'm gonna hand you a little guy." The little guy is some kind of baby animal you are imagining. "Oh," she might say in response, "Okay," and hold out her hands for it. I will then mime handing her the animal. This provides some clues as to the little guy's size, weight, and general ungainliness.

She then gets to ask questions about what kind of little guy this is, BUT NO QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS ACTUAL APPEARANCE OR SPECIES ARE ALLOWED. Qualitative questions, or questions about his behavior, are the only ones permitted. She can ask "Is he soft?" or "Does he seem nervous about being held?" or "If I put him in the bathtub, does he seem okay with that?" or "Would he like a lil grape?" or "Is he the sort of little fellow who would wear a vest in a children's book?" but not "Does he have fur," "Is he a reptile," "Is he from Asia," etc. Some questions are in a grey area so you have to follow your heart, but the point is not to identify the animal as fast as possible: the point is to guess the animal purely based on vibes + how he would act if he were in your living room right now.

And I'm not limited to yes or no answers! If she asks, "Would it feel appropriate to see this little guy in a propeller hat?" I can reply, "Oh no, he has a gravity to him. A bowler hat would be a more appropriate hat." Or if she asks, "Does this little guy have protagonist energy?" I can say something like, "he probably wouldn't be the main character in a children's cartoon. He'd probably be the main character's ditzy best friend who's always eating sandwiches, or something."

We're big Twenty Questions to kill time in a waiting room people, but Little Guy is more about the journey than the destination. It's got a different kind of sauce that's nice if "killing time" and "lowering anxiety" need to happen hand in hand.

Good Traits Gone Bad

Exploring good traits gone bad in a novel can add depth and complexity to your characters. Here are a few examples of good traits that can take a negative turn:

1. Empathy turning into manipulation: A character with a strong sense of empathy may use it to manipulate others' emotions and gain an advantage.

2. Confidence becoming arrogance: Excessive confidence can lead to arrogance, where a character belittles others and dismisses their opinions.

3. Ambition turning into obsession: A character's ambition can transform into an unhealthy obsession, causing them to prioritize success at any cost, including sacrificing relationships and moral values.

4. Loyalty becoming blind devotion: Initially loyal, a character may become blindly devoted to a cause or person, disregarding their own well-being and critical thinking.

5. Courage turning into recklessness: A character's courage can morph into reckless behavior, endangering themselves and others due to an overestimation of their abilities.

6. Determination becoming stubbornness: Excessive determination can lead to stubbornness, where a character refuses to consider alternative perspectives or change their course of action, even when it's detrimental.

7. Optimism becoming naivety: Unwavering optimism can transform into naivety, causing a character to overlook dangers or be easily deceived.

8. Protectiveness turning into possessiveness: A character's protective nature can evolve into possessiveness, where they become overly controlling and jealous in relationships.

9. Altruism becoming self-neglect: A character's selflessness may lead to neglecting their own needs and well-being, to the point of self-sacrifice and burnout.

10. Honesty becoming brutal bluntness: A character's commitment to honesty can turn into brutal bluntness, hurting others with harsh and tactless remarks.

These examples demonstrate how even admirable traits can have negative consequences when taken to extremes or used improperly. By exploring the complexities of these traits, you can create compelling and multi-dimensional characters in your novel.

Happy writing!

tags from coloredcompulsion:

“Could you be the chosen one?”

“I am very much the guy who’s here.”

THIS IS HOW ALL MY GROUP PROJECTS HAVE BEEN DONE

This is just my career progression as a whole.

I WAS HAPPIEST LIKE THREE JOBS AGO BUT SOMEONE HAD TO KEEP THINGS RUNNING

In all honesty, you’d thought that being kidnapped by an obsessed cult and used as a living sacrifice to summon and bind an ancient demon lord from Japanese folklore, was the weirdest thing you’d ever have to experience. But now that you were staring down at the surprisingly apologetic demon as they knelt before you, ever so gently untying the last of your bindings, you were starting to realise that the weirdness was only just beginning.

Apparently the idiots who had kidnapped you, had fucked up their binding ritual big time, and instead of binding the demon to this realm using you as a sacrifice, they’d accidentally bound the demon directly to you, basically turning you into a living tether between this realm and the demonic one. How they had fucked up so badly, not even the demon knew, as according to their knowledge, such a thing was impossible.

If being turned into a living tether for a demon lord from ancient folklore wasn’t enough, said demon happened to be an impossible flirt that was already quite visibly enamoured with you. 

Worse still… you were starting to enjoy it.

Did I just get married to a demon? Is that what this is?

Quite possibly.

As long as the demon respects my boundaries, I’m fine with this

Shit shit s h i t why do i wanna do this?

Please do.

this one begs for more writing… suppose i’ll have to oblige

let ahsoka be rey’s mentor

Consider this (based on a conversation I had with some friends a while ago): Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for people who actually like Pride and Prejudice. Look–I tried to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I got about 20 pages in before I came to the conclusion that the person who wrote it did so out of the belief that the original Pride and Prejudice was stuffy and boring. There were out of character vulgar puns. And the trailer for the movie did not convince me that I had missed anything by cutting short my reading experience. So, what I’m talking about here is this premise: the world of Pride and Prejudice, but if you die, it’s highly likely, almost certain that your corpse will get up and try to eat people. But no one dies in Pride and Prejudice, you might say. In fact, few or no people die in any Jane Austen novel. This is true. But people do get sick with some regularity. Imagine the tension added to Jane getting sick after going to visit Bingley if there was the chance that she would become a zombie after she died. Becoming a zombie in an eligible bachelor’s house probably would have seriously wrecked any chances of any of the living sisters ending up with him. Imagine Mr. Collins, as a minister, having the duty upon someone’s death of severing their head with a ceremonial plate or something that would prevent the corpse from rising. Obviously important, but this only makes him more self-important and obnoxious. And dangerous. For you see, in this version, Mr. Bennett, who stays in his office all the time, whose life is the only thing allowing Mrs. Bennett and her daughters to stay in the house–Mr. Bennett is definitely a zombie. He died at home, and Mrs. Bennett decided that, no way were they dealing with this, and so…just started faking it. Jane and Elizabeth know. The younger sisters don’t. In this universe, I think we have to go with zombies that are not any faster or stronger than the humans they were, and in fact tend to get weaker as time passes because their flesh is rotting. And…hmm, okay, how about they are pretty violent upon rising, and for about a week afterward, trying to bite people and spread the infection (even though most people are carriers anyway, but getting a nasty bite from a corpse will give you other stuff that will have you die while carrying the virus). But then they calm down and basically just start sort of attempting to act like they did in life, that is, taking habitual actions with no consciousness, in a depressing and desiccated way. So Mr. Bennett is a zombie, and Mrs. Bennett’s number one goal is to get her daughters married before anyone finds that out. And this, actually, makes Elizabeth’s refusal of Mr. Collins more frustrating for Mrs. Bennett–obviously Mr. Bennett didn’t tell Elizabeth that she could refuse Mr. Collins, because Mr. Bennett is dead, but Mrs. Bennett can’t say anything or the game would be up. Another question in this version–does Mr. Darcy find out about Mr. Bennett being a zombie somehow? Does Elizabeth find out that he knows and didn’t say anything and this is something that helps repair his earlier actions? Anyway, this is the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies that I was looking for.

The lineup is definitely more wide-ranging than I expected.

We start with Amelia Earhart, Frida Kahlo, and Katherine Johnson (of Hidden Figures fame - who, at 99, consulted on what her figure should look like!)

Then we have many more modern figures, very few of whom I was expecting:

It should be noted Barbie already offers figures in this line celebrating Ava DuVernay,  Emmy Rossum, ballerina Misty Copeland, and Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas.

Mr. Alexander is poised to have an even bigger impact on contemporary children’s literature. Next spring, he will begin publishing books under his own imprint, Versify, at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers, and he’s looking for risky, unconventional books like “The Crossover,” he says.

“My inclination is going to be to find books that other people might not view as feasible or doable,” he said during an interview at his publisher’s office. “I feel like I’m the guy to do that.”

i think the next silent hill game should not be scary because i don’t like scary

its a walking simulator where you just explore the town when its normal, populated, and a nice friendly resort town

and pyramid head is there but he offers me a tourist brochure

U kno I just found out that the whole quote is “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it burned in one” and I like that a lot better

apparently another version of this quote that’s centuries old is “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour” and I like the take of this one a lot

ok but

Jack in a dress ? 

Higher Quality

Ew literally says kylo hates Rey

even better:

For some reason I’m matching music genre with movie genre.

So like metal is horror movies that explore fear and darkness, hard rock is like action movies with cool explosions, tops pop is your average cute romantic comedy, prog rock is like a dark look at human thoughts and psyche.

What else?

Electronic music is sci-fi, trance is futuristic dystopia like blade runner