Aro Worlds: Aro Creativity

Connecting aro creatives and aro audiences. This blog makes, discusses, promotes and collates free creative content representing, celebrating and appealing to the aromantic community. aro media resources links ⁕ prompts ⁕ aro fiction ⁕ when quiver meets quill ⁕ aro narrative collections ⁕ artist profiles ⁕ stock image library ⁕ @aroflagarchive blog about ⁕ tag list ⁕ content advisories ⁕ ask ⁕ submission info ⁕ submit ⁕ profile info allo-aro resources hallo, aro ⁕ allo-aro fiction ⁕ information hub ⁕ flags ⁕ stock images ⁕ allo-aro 101 ⁕ @alloaroworlds ⁕ directory personal about k. a. ⁕ ko-fi ⁕ patreon pronouns ze / hir / hirs / hirself

[aroworlds]

Links, Books and About

As I can’t fit everything into my description box, let’s have a post!

Me

I’m an adult, Australian, autistic, agender, allosexual (abrosexual) aromantic (nebularomantic/arovague and idemromantic). The gods cursed me with mental illnesses, coeliac disease, dermatitis and chronic hand, wrist, shoulder and back pain ... leaving me with an equally-chronic spoon shortage. I make simple stock images for as many shades of the aromantic umbrella as possible, I sew and design cross-stitch pride patches, and I write flash fiction, short fiction and essays while sighing at the novel projects my chronic pain made me surrender. Lastly, I consider myself a loveless aro and have written an essay about that.

If you want to read my essays, head on over to the discussion post category on my Aro Worlds website.

If you want to help me survive capitalism as a disabled aro creator, please follow my pointing hands to Patreon and Ko-fi. Patrons get early access to stories, essay posts, images and patterns, as well as a few exclusive stories.

Aro Arrows

Aro Arrows is an archive of free to use aromantic-spectrum stock images intended for websites, flyers and publications, including:

Arrow dividers

Bunting banners

Banner bases

Gradient flags

Cross stitch icon bases

Text and page frames

Pixel art letter stickers and icons

Pixel art text stickers and banners

Block text stickers and banners

Phone-sized wallpapers and backgrounds

Combination (aro and non-aro identity) arrows and bunting

I’ve also started an archive category for high-res versions of aromantic pride flags. All flags here are 5000 x 3000, 300 PPI images with links to the original announcement post/flag creator.

Allo-Aro Information Hub

People should keep in mind that this is a work in progress and is in want of updating with more recent content. It is, however, somewhere folks can begin to find allo-aro-authored information, discussions and community.

Current pages include:

Allo-aro 101

Allo-aro friendly uses of a-spec terminology, a guide

Allo-aro erasure, a guide

Allo-aro community inclusion, a guide

My allo-aro manifesto

My allo-aro post archive

My allo-aro fiction archive

An allo-aro Tumblr community directory

An allo-aro flag guide

How allies should write allo-aro characters, a guide

How to ally, a post series

How (not) to ally, a post series

The main hub page also includes links to playlists, other folks’ essays and media posts.

Aro Pride Patch Tutorials

I have a tutorial series for making cross stitch pride patches, ranging from simple square flag designs to text, arrow, ace of spades and heart shapes! If you’re a beginner in hand sewing or embroidery, I recommend starting from the first tutorial and working your way through in order as listed here.

Folks can find my many patterns (including other queer and LGBTQIA+ patterns) archived in my patch pattern gallery.

Fiction and Books

Most of my fiction is free for anyone to read, even on Patreon!

Folks who are interested in shorter, stand-alone aromantic stories may enjoy:

Hallo, Aro

What If It Isn’t

The Wind and the Stars

Ringbound

Folks who want a longer, interconnected series of fantasy short stories and novelettes that aren’t just about aromanticism may enjoy:

The Mara and Esher stories

The Darius stories

The Eagle Court stories

Folks who want collections of aromantic stories may enjoy:

Hallo, Aro

Bones of Green and Hearts of Gold

When Quiver Meets Quill

Spirits Most Singular

Folks who want allosexual and non-asexual aromantic protagonists may enjoy:

Hallo, Aro

Bones of Green and Hearts of Gold

The Nine Laws stories

About my Blogs

@aroworlds​​​​​​​​​: an archive for free creative media (fiction, poetry, art, images and music) encompassing as much of the aromantic spectrum as possible. Content is tagged by format, identity and creator.

Links: About | Content Advisory | Artist Profiles | Post Prompts | Links Page

@alloaroworlds​​​​​​​​​: an archive for any allo-aro content (including creative media, positivity and discussion posts).

Links: About / Content Advisory

@aroflagarchive​​​​​​​​​: an archive for aromantic spectrum (and related) flags. Content is tagged by identity and creator, meaning one can search for “aroace” or “aroflux” to find a wealth of flag variations.

[artsymeeshee]

The Aro fam

[timeboundpoet]

You sing me your love songs

You sing me to sleep

But I can't reach out to hold you

I may only watch you weep

I wish not for my touch to turn you

Nor my reassurance be mistaken for desire

I wish only to comfort you closely

A love, still, not what you require

[kitocrystal]

Happy Pride Month

[draw-maxvn]

Happy Pride Month!

[sandpaperoctopi]

aro parade 🏹

[quackerz-creations]

I gift you pride-pods!

[astvrall]

Happy pride month!

[gracesliterarydegree]

Orange on Blue

You remind me of orange on blue

Of early mornings and sunsets

Of our Concentrate Album

Of sunlight and walks

Of tiger lilies and clear summer skys

You remind me of some of the last times I was truly happy

And you make me think of spirals and stars

Of quiet moments and loud experiences

Of your hand in mine

Glowing orange etched with spirals against my blue with stars

You're my person

Even if i dont love you the way conventionally portrayed in movies

Even if I fuck up

You're my person

My best friend

My partner

I love you

And im sorry that I cant love you normally

Just know that you remind me of

Orange on Blue

My favorite colors

Because of you <3

[bonesthedestroyeroflegos]

Some Aroace, Aro, and Ace fossil horses for Pride. Arohippace and Eohippace if you will.

[mar64ds]

Happy pride! If you’re looking for aspec stories, I could recommend you my RPG Maker games.

-Friendship Test: A long story-focused game that explores different aspec identities (aromanticism, aplatonicism, lovelessness…). Lots of aspecs have seen themselves on this game, maybe you’re next. Jokes aside, it’s a passion project that means a lot to me and it’s completely free for you to enjoy!

-Exe tries to save the holidays: A short follow-up to Friendship Test! While the main focus is not on aspec themes, we do have an aspec protagonist whose identity is important for her character. The game only costs 1,30$!

-Estranged Family: A spin-off to Friendship Test which is currently on development, but there is a 2 hour long demo available! I continue to explore more aspec themes here, maybe you’ll like this one too!

-Obsolete Friends: A short semi-horror game, unrelated to the Friendship Test series. Aspec themes are not the main focus, but there are aspec characters that are important to the story. It’s my newest game and it costs 2$!

You can find all my games on itch.io! Or you can watch full playthrough on the official channels for each game. Sorry I can't link anything cause Tumblr always makes sure my posts don't show up on the tags when I include links. But you can find everything on the blogs @friendship-test and @obsolete-friends ! Either way, thanks for reading!

[aroworlds]

Did I create this display to celebrate Aromantic Visibility Day? Nope, this is how my dolls dress every day...

(Between my doll dresses, backpack, jewellery, bookmarks and writing, aromanticism looms large in my creativity. Visibility, though, isn't just about pride colours or fictional representation. It's about making space for the diverse experiences, fears, needs and hopes of aromantics living in communities that struggle to reckon with our existence.)

[qwertycake]

happy pride month! I'm gonna take a sec to share my queer novellas again!

🗡 ARMOURED BODY - Apothiplatonic-aro-ace non-binary knight (xe/xem) is given the thankless task of slaying a loathed dragon (and forced to reckon with parts of xemself xe didn't want to face).

🐙 DAWN & NOON & THE TIME-STEALING OCTOPI - Silly nonsense book about pirates, robots, and time shenanigans, featuring an aro pirate, a non-binary carpenter, a maedic/NBLW relationship, and found family.

both are free to read with no ads on AO3 and they're both less than 20k words long, so super quick to get through. more writing will be shared soon-ish!!

[winterwoodragon]

First art of pride month!

[threeracoonsinatrehchcoat]

[tbalderdash-art-blog]

Tree Sparro! Shape is a bit off (the angle of the back), but... something something not conforming to society's expectations?

It's always really exciting seeing a bird that's like a common bird but a bit different and rarer (the black cheeks distinguish it from a house sparrow)

[aroworlds]

Hallo, Aro: Allosexual Aro Flash Fiction

(As this project now encompasses twenty stories, I thought I'd celebrate with a master post.)

Is it "aay-romantic" or "arrow-mantic"? What if she hears "I’m a romantic" instead of "I’m aromantic"? What if she says "isn’t that just friendship" or "that can’t be real" or, worst of all, "I’m looking for something more"?

Hallo, Aro is a series of flash fiction stories about allosexual aromantic characters navigating friendship, sexual attraction, aromanticism and the weight of amatonormative expectation.

Contains: Dragons, a duchess's daughter, an autistic who collects pride merch, odd voyages into creative non-fiction, werewolves and gods, hunters of witches and the fae, the power in aromantic discovery, and lots of allo-aro feels and experiences.

Plus many trans, multisexual and sapphic aros!

Unspoken

How do you tell the person you like about the relationship you want when it requires a language nobody speaks?

Leaving

You leave a trail of people behind you, the cruel and curious and stubborn, until you find someone who understands the word aromantic.

Friendship

All Eliza wants is to partner a dragon’s handmaiden without risking romantic complications–but her dragon has something just as valuable to offer.

Lucky

The only way Piper can survive his workplace's fumbling attempts at aro acceptance is to make a game of it.

Attraction

Eliza can’t help fearing that her interest in another girl is best explained by a word she doesn’t wish applied to her: romance.

Existence

How do you come to terms with your path through life when nobody said the word that describes you?

Neuronormative

What does aromanticism mean to an autistic who cannot distinguish it from alloromanticism?

Loveless

When Paide ein Iteme says the words “I don’t love”, he doesn’t just refer to romantic relationships.

Monstrous

You submit, obediently, to their chains and collars … until you start to wonder what it is about your beast’s nature that requires the loving to demand such restrictions.

Pressure, Side One

When aromantics speak of the social pressures that weight our existence, sex negativity seldom comes first to mind.

Pressure, Side Two

Even in a city wrought to display our proud green, many things are shaded purple.

Abrasive

Spending Midsummer night with a pretty man shouldn’t be a problem for Suki … except for everybody else’s romantic expectations.

Question

When people ask about your love life, it demonstrates their acceptance of your queerness. What does it mean, as an aromantic, when they show no interest at all?

Antagonist

Cai likes women, casual sex and an absence of long-term relationships. None which would be a problem if said women didn’t see this as proof of his becoming the enemy...

Witch

The forest road promises you the chance of a world beyond marriage’s expectation … but the witch waiting by the roadside offers up queerer, stranger proofs of validity.

Hunter

The Citadel assumes that Prudence obediently searches for the sorcerer potentate’s missing twin … but she has her own reasons to hunt the Ring’s witches.

Pillar

When fog creeps and moon fades, the desperate seek out gods few dare name … but even gods struggle to witness the cruel consequences of their people’s amatonormativity.

Tomorrow

Stories speak of heroes’ sexual escapades on the night before they risk their lives, but Darius doesn’t dread death as much as he does the complications of surviving to see the day after tomorrow.

Steel

When a needlewoman agrees to run away with her fae lover, their fairy-tale ending has little to do with happily-ever-after.

Future

Helping Sala choose an outfit to attract men's attention seems an exercise in absurdity. Yet when Sala asks Daisy about her romantic dreams, the answer just might change her future.