alex

Ssumbody once told me the world is gonna roll me~

[niuniente]

CAT by  By 九米 / Zhaobangni (1631123)

[aimakyu]

Anyone else have the impression that Teo is more of a side/background function instead of being the main reason The Ssum exists? lol

I feel like those mini games and social ‘interactions’ took over lmao poor Teo

[qkmlh]

Looks like one of the new features is that TEO will be changing his hair color as time goes on!! I wonder if the options you choose affect his style?? Either way tho how cute~ (♡ˊ͈ ॢ꒳ ॢˋ͈)♪

[aimakyu]

Not surprised, i bet it’s either gonna be delayed again or it’ll have lots or bugs 🥲 this is giving me bad memories from years ago tho, when it was delayed and then “cancelled” lol

[aimakyu]

SIR ???

HELLO ??

I’m on mobile so i can’t show properly, but there are also two new guys: the blonde one above and another with black/white hair. Are they NPCs or LIs we’ll eventually be able to date in the future??

AND ANOTHER THING!

Teo seems customizable?? Or he really likes cosplay?? Sometimes he has purple eyes, other times blue eyes.. there is also a photo/cg with pink hair and eyes

On a side note, while i still have my reservations, i’m really glad they decided to work on this game and release it!

[cheritzteam]

[The Ssum] What is The Ssum?

Hello, this is Cheritz!

Happy April Fool’s Day! Have you all got a joke to share?

The new title that we announced yesterday was a lie…

… Just kidding! April Fool’s!

Are you waiting for the game that’ll make your daily lives from April 27th onwards more exciting?

Ssumone who wakes me up every morning… Sometimes lovey-dovey, sometimes arguing - a relationship that matures… Secret features that can be discovered as you play…

With our first release, the game holds 200 days worth of real-time content. The story after 200 days will be continuously updated.

For those of you who have played Mystic Messenger, we’re sure you’ll be curious about a lot of things: Will “The Ssum: Forbidden Lab” be an experience as exciting as Mystic Messenger? What kind of game is “The Ssum?” We now reveal our Cheritz Team Diary!

You can catch up on future news through our newly-renovated The Ssum website and social media.

Yes, the game is being released!

Please look forward to upcoming news!

P.S. Today is ZEN’s birthday in Mystic Messenger! (We’re not kidding!) How about visiting Twitter to celebrate his special day?

Thank you.

Best regards, Cheritz.

[cheritzteam]

[The Ssum] Notice on Release of Cheritz’s New Title, ‘The Ssum’

Hello, this is Cheritz.

As spring makes its way with the last day of March, we bring you exciting news!

Four years ago, our experimental game ‘The Ssum’ was soft-launched in selected regions, and it shut down its services after we had collected enough data.

(*Only a few of you will recognize it! 

The opening video we used at the time is available on Youtube)

Uncertain of its official release, The Ssum Project was not canceled, but instead was being developed in secret(?).

After four long, long years…

Finally!

At last!

We are getting ready for its ‘official release!’

The game’s official title is “The Ssum: Forbidden Lab.”

(To find out what the game is really about… please look forward to future news!)

All polished-up for the official launch, The Ssum has gone through countless changes in its original settings, designs and features.

Look at all those changes!

The Ssum: Forbidden Lab will be available on 27th of April, 2022!

Why does it have the name ‘Forbidden Lab’ next to the title?

How will it bring fun and joy to your daily life?

Upcoming news will tell you all about it!

After our soft-launch, too focused on our mission to bring you fun and joy, we have kept you waiting for too long.

We sincerely appreciate your patience and will be back with more information soon!

Thank you.

P.S. Did you know that Seung-hoon Seok, the voice actor of our main character, had an interview with us during The Ssum’s development?

You can watch the interview here.

Best regards,

Cheritz

[aimakyu]

1) IM HAPPY FINALLY

2) am i the only one worried about what does the monthly subscription entail?

[roach-works]

Encanto Meta: Mirabel's True Gift

SPOILERS for the movie under the cut.

it seems like people agree that mirabel didn't get powers and that this was a good thing because she was in a key position to break her family out of the increasingly toxic downward spiral of stress caused by their exceptionalism and abuela's overbearing expectations of her family

but the thing is, i don't think that's exactly it.

mirabel didn't lack a gift. her gift was that she was abuela's true heir, and her power was control over the casita.

her door vanished when she touched it because her abuela could not relinquish her grip--over the house, over the magic, over her family, over her own fear-driven expectations--and unconsciously or not, her grandmother took it away. she couldn't cede control. she couldn't even acknowledge that this was an issue. she denied all of it, and in denying it she denied mirabel's door, her gift, her importance, and her place in the future of the family.

evidence one: no one else is accommodated by the house the way mirabel is. they ask now and then, it anticipates them a bit. but it doesn't dance around them the way it dances for mirabel and her abuella. from the very first scene, mirabel is literally in tune with casita the way everyone else is in tune with their own powers. it's a fundamental part of her moveset and her music.

evidence two: when casita is being torn apart, it's clearly being torn in two. it helps her in her struggle towards the candle even as it's dying, even as abuela screams for her to stop. abuela's unyielding grip is clearly driving the destruction, but even then the soul of the house is desperately aiding mirabel's will. it drives everyone away from her against their wishes to further hers. she's in control, even as her abuela's refusal to cooperate tears it all apart. at the last, the house drives everyone out of the blast zone but protects mirabel with broken pieces of door as its very final act of volition. the framing is incredibly clear: mirabel is the house's true mistress. mirabel is who the house chose to run this show. abuela can only deny this, not reverse it.

evidence three: when everyone's finally reconciled, abuela's most significant gesture--for her own healing, for the family's, and for mirabel's--is to formally pass stewardship of the household to mirabel. she gives over the doorknob. she invites mirabel to try again. she acknowledges she wasn't fair to reject mirabel before. and now mirabel's door is the front door, and mirabel's power is openly acknowledged as the central power. it restores casita and from casita the wellspring of magic the rest of the family draws from.

mirabel had a gift the entire time. in denying it to her, in refusing to relinquish command to the next generation, abuela kept the family stuck in a downward spiral around the very point of her husband's death, unable to heal, loss compounding itself. except: she asked her husband, her dead husband, for help. and abuelo sent her mirabel.

in acknowledging that mirabel's gift had been there all along, overlooked, not actually absent but continuously suppressed, abuela acknowledged that it was finally time to move on with her life and let her family carry on without her direct control. and that everyone was, actually, going to live happily ever after.

[tending-the-hearth]

no no no but Bruno leaving not because he didn't love his family, not because there was a vision that would hurt his family, but leaving because his vision would change how the family looked at his sobrina is the most heartbreaking thing

if the vision had just shown the Miracle fading, Casita cracking, but had no one else, he would have stayed, and probably helped to figure out what that meant.

and i'm sure he thought about that as the vision was being created, he thought that he'd show his mother, and they'd figure things out.

but then Mirabel appeared in the vision, and all bets were off.

Bruno saw a grown-up version of his sobrina.

his kindhearted sobrina who wore glasses his color green so that she'd match everyone in the family in some way.

his little sobrina who spent the night after her ceremony crying in her room, all alone.

his wonderful sobrina who did her absolute best to light up every room she entered.

his precious sobrina, who was only five, and who was struggling to make her family proud.

If it was just the house, Bruno would stay.

But he refused to put Mirabel through more heartbreak, more ostracization.

and the fact that finding that out shocked Mirabel is so sad, because to her, she was the ungifted Madrigal. She was clumsy, always in the way, and nobody special.

So someone putting her first, someone doing something to take care of her, to protect her, is so out of the ordinary, so unfamiliar to her, that it takes a moment for her to actually understand.

And I don't think she really did understand.

The only people who truly loved her after her ceremony were her parents and Antonio. She couldn't fathom one of her gifted family members actually thinking about her and putting her in front of everything else.

Bruno's thought process of "protect Mirabel first, save the Miracle and the Family second" is so incredibly bittersweet, because Mirabel can't imagine why anyone would do that.

(it's the same with Antonio saying "I need you" during his ceremony because no one's ever needed just Mirabel)

[holdnarrytight]

I just realised yet another little detail that symbolises so much in the story!

During Dos Orugitas, we see a young Alma Madrigal that seemed to be cheerful, playful and even a little clumsy. The braided hair, the frilly dress and the big smiles help create an image of her as a sweet, carefree young woman who was not afraid to just be herself.

Once the tragedy with Pedro happens and the miracle is born, Alma immediately takes shelter in casita and we see her silently processing the events of the evening, looking extremely weary, lonely and traumatised.

The next time we see Alma, she is putting on a black cloak and leaving the room. This room was the cocoon where she transformed into a new person, leaving her old self behind. She's become different. Her smile doesn't quite meet her eyes anymore. She looks tired, somber. Older, even.

There's a shadow, a trauma she's carrying that soon takes form in the perfectionism and control that eventually hurt her loved ones. This event shapes the way she deals with challenges from this moment on, and she is always in fear of the family losing their home once again.

She became harsh. Strict. Everything has to be perfect in order to protect and earn the miracle the love of her life granted their family with his noble sacrifice.

This is an incredibly strong woman who has been through hell and came out alive, for her family's sake. This black cloak follows her from her young years to her old age, and becomes a constant throughout the movie. It represents the weight and the burden of the grief she silently carried ever since that moment, and will continue to carry for the rest of her life. It represents the change she had to go through, putting her emotions last in order to become the strong matriarch her kids and the village needed. It represents the loss of not only her beloved Pedro, but also of her innocence, her youth, her laughter and her smile.

From the moment young Alma Madrigal and her children were gifted a miracle, she became the one responsible for the whole village. She, as the only one blessed with the magic and the one whose gift repelled the enemies, was naturally placed in a position of power and leadership in the worst moment of her life.

It's likely she was the one everyone immediately looked to for directions right after the miracle happened, and that she had to leave her feelings behind to help other lost and grieving people rebuild their lives and their homes, creating what the village of Encanto eventually became. She put everyone else first. She was extremely selfless.

Alma Madrigal is such a complex character. There are so many layers to her personality. This is why you guys can't just write her off as a villain or as a horrible person/grandmother. It's not so black and white.

[aimakyu]

Guess i’ll rewatch naruto because why not

[aimakyu]

I’ve never watched “boruto”, not interested, but somehow today i found out about episode 218.

I’m in tears.

I keep listening to that ost (the one on the background during the scene) and still can’t believe it really happened.

Why, just why.

[aimakyu]

Hello! I’m fairly new to this game (started less than a week ago) and i saw there is an event coming, so i’m here to ask if any of you have some tips for me? ^^

I tried participating in Barbatos bday event but i dropped it when it started to ask too many points during battles lol

So i don’t know how this event will be different or if it’s worth it for a newbie

Thank you in advance~

[aimakyu]

I’m a little confused.. i’m re-reading Arthur’s route and there is a line that bothers me:

“I can’t wait for X book to be published so i can i reread it” (said by Sebastian)

Now, vampire-Arthur is living exactly when human-Arthur is alive right? Because human-Arthur died in 1930 and the story takes place roughly around 1890-1900, so i’m wondering: do we have two Arthur at the same time? That’s the game’s logic?

[letswritesomenovels]

Drafting

The Draft Notebook 

Be More Productive with Ambient Noise 

How to Steal: Know Your Tropes 

How to Steal: Good Writers Borrow

Write What You Know (Not What You’ve Experienced)

The Best Way to End a Writing Session

How To Finish a Draft

A Few Tips on Chapters

Language, Description, & Dialog 

“To Be” Or Not “To Be”: What Exactly Is Passive Voice?

Tagging Dialog 

Narrative Voice

Writing Better Descriptions

Basic Rules for Metaphors and Similes

Character, Plot, & Setting 

Creating Characters: a 4-Step Process 

Writing Relationships Your Reader Can Get Behind

Informative Character Names

The Strength of a Symmetrical Plot 

How to Foreshadow

Crafting Homes of Paper, Ink, and Neutral PH Glue

Motivation

On Writing Flawed Books

How to Return to Your Manuscript

The Acknowledgements Page

Staring at Blank Pages

What to Do When You Can’t Write

Motivational Writing Posters

Publishing

Writing the Perfect Query Letter

How to Write a Synopsis 

How to Pitch Your Novel in Under a Minute

A Glossary of Publishing Terms: Vol 1

Writing Tools

Why You Should Give Scrivener a Try

Outlining, Brainstorming, and Researching with Scrivener

Drafting with Scrivener

Editing with Scrivener 

CTRL+F

The Forest Productivity App

Editsaurus 

NaNoWriMo

Why Try NaNoWriMo

October Prep 

Why Listen to Writing Podcasts

Pick a New Daily Word Count Goal 

How to Write 2000 Words a Day

How to Plan a Novel without a Story

Pacemaker: Custom Daily Word Count Website

NaNoWriMo Master Post

Other

How to Read an Absurd Number of Books

Writing Workshops: An Introduction

Writing Groups

Different Types of Fantasy Novels

Ambient Soundscapes Based on Famous Writers

Ko-Fi & Other Support

If you enjoy my posts and can afford it, I would greatly appreciate it if you donated to my new ko-fi page! Each of these posts represents multiple hours of unpaid labor. I love writing for this blog, but I’m also an underpaid 20-something trying to stay afloat. I’ve made this master post of every essay I’ve written for this blog as a way to show my appreciation in advance of any support. If you donate, to further show my gratitude and appreciation, I’ll take requests for essay topics in the ‘messages of support.’ 

If you can’t afford to donate via ko-fi, another great way to show your support is simply by reblogging posts that you find useful and helping my blog reach new writers. 

Thanks so much! 

[patientno7]

the suffering never ends

[sinksanksockie2]

This is the real process

[thewritingbeast-blog]

Resources for you!

Character Ideas:

Character creation masterpost

Character Alignment Chart

More character alignment descriptions

Muslim Character questions

Characters with magical powers

Building a new character advice

How to create a character for an online or tabletop RPG (also a good guide on creating characters in general)

Royalty/nobility TV Tropes page

Basic character profile

OC masterpost

Random character generators - (1), (2), (3), (4)

D&D Character Building Tool

Character Design Ideas:

How clothing affects a character’s personality

Character Design Inspiration blog

Concept art, fan art, cool art to be inspired by

Character design references and inspiration

Sources for POC character design ideas and models

Create your own character model using HeroForge

For horned characters

Body and hair types guide

Random outfit generator

Naming Help:

Amazing site with an endless amount of naming resources

General advice on avoiding naming appropriation

Hispanic Surnames

Gothic Victorian names

Huge master list for character things in general

Masterlist of names of all types - including but not limited to ancient/old world names, Celtic, African, Northern European, Southern and Central American Native names, Japanese, Chinese, Mongolian, Polynesian, and more

Another name masterlist

How to pick a character name guide

Yet another names masterlist

Creating Background/backstory:

Character Sheet/Development Sheet

Another character development list

In-depth character personality, motivations and traits sheet

320 talents and passions for characters

On writing likes and dislikes that aren’t frivolous

Why you should write non-human characters non-conforming to the gender binary

Stereotypes, tropes, and archetypes

Random backstory generator

Assassin and thief character tropes to avoid

Character Interactions and putting your character into your world/story:

Comparing character height/height references

Characters who are scientists and writing about them doing science

Describing what different voices sound like

Describing skin tones

Writing friendship interactions that are platonic

Why having one character knock their friend unconscious to prevent them from doing something is a bad idea

Advice on shipping OCs with canon characters and what to avoid doing

Sweet Polly Oliver and Sweet on Polly Oliver situations (think of Disney’s Mulan for an example)

How to write multiple viewpoints/juggling a main cast of more than 4 to 6 characters

How to make readers care about your morally gray hero/anti-hero

On platonic OC and canon character relationships

How to avoid Godmodding in RPs

When it’s cheap to kill off a character

Writing dialogue

Things you shouldn’t do to canon characters

Avoiding purple prose in writing and RPs

Slang resources

Dialogue tips

Websites to chart your story/plot/character relationships

Bonus art masterlist!

[brucewayneright]

BLESS EVERYONE IN THIS POST.

[pervyking]

I will always reblog this!

[aimakyu]

Ya know, even through is ups and downs, plot holes, imperfections or whatever, Mystic Messenger will always be my favorite otome game.

I’m so attached to its characters is almost scary sometimes. I wanna hug them all and say: “everything’s going to be okay, you got this; you’ve come so far, i’m so proud of you”