ahh okay so,,.. first og post on tumblr. this is my cast of characters that i will be using in art & fanfics. all o' these will be undertale au variations, please let me know if i need to tag anyone.
i would love to answer questions but i think its safe to say nothing is gonna happen until later, whenever that is
they use masculine pronouns unless otherwise specified!!
UnderTale
Comic - his hobbies consist of conspiring with the rats and finding the most ridiculous places to hide. have you ever seen someone hide under the floor? it was him, always has been.
Rus - is his love for coffee the result of his jumpy enthusiasm, or does the coffee fuel his hyperactivity at 3am? we will never know. sorts his books after levels of nostalgia.
UnderSwap
Blue - being within a ten meter radius of him will make you giddy. motivation and an energy drink is all he needs to survive. oh shit, he spiked the punch again.
Stretch - he stores everything in his pockets, and is very big on social media. maybe its his personality, but everyone is staring at the chaos in the bg, while this man stays oblivious.
UnderFell
Red, Cherry - the sad wannabe tough guy. he looks like he could crush you with a hand, but in reality he just wants to know which cafe you got your vanilla latte from.
Edge - the diplomacy is a front, he is a bastardly cat father with no sense of style (it doesnt matter though, he can make it look good, fuck you linda).
SwapFell [purple designs]
Razz - [she/they] watches youtube, tells herself just one more, and whoopsies its 4am now. all of their shirts have cursewords on them because she has the same self-restraint level everywhere she goes.
Slim, Pup - cannot bother with sorting his music into playlists. he just has that autoplaylist 'liked' with at least 1000 different songs. he knows where every. single. song. is.
FellSwap [red designs]
Wine - being around him with a coffee mug feels like a crime. it must be gold plated or it will feel out of place. wine knows that, that's why he always drinks suspicious red liquid out of a wine glass.
Mutt - oh god who put him in charge of anything. its all memes. he shouldnt even have access to the internet anymore, since he hired hackers at one point to- oh, shit, sorry, thats classified-
TwistFell {@itsladykit}
Black - the entire house smells like baked goods, all the sugar is gone, and now black doesnt know what to do because all the counters are covered with cinnamon skulls with a hint of calcium.
Twist - reeks like chaos incarnate. there is a level of tomfuckery here unparalleled to anything anyone has ever seen. everywhere is not safe, run for your sanity!
SwapTwistFell {also @itsladykit, because good shit}
Plum - about as pleasant as a really old plum. he's also... you know... dead? probably.
Cash - prickly cactus man. hes smoking - no, really, where the fuck did all these dang cigarello buds come from? the cactus prickley thingies are, in reality, his cigarello outer coating.
HorrorTale
Axe - he's also rather dead! used to be a raging something or another.
Crooks - literally hyperfocuses on aethetics and books. every room in his house has a wildly different theme that is gorgeous on its own, but mixed together as it is, its like an assorted bag of eye ouchies.
DuskTale {my own au, will elaborate later on}
Cod - [they/them] they've been sitting in that same spot, doing nothing, for the last three hours. are they breathing? it sure doesnt look like it. call an ambulance just in case.
Acid - OH sweet baby jesus, someone left the door open and now the gremlin got into the garage. i dunno what he's making but it sounds like chemical distruction. face mask anyone?
How did you make other people gain interest? My friend's making this awsome comic but is losing motivation because its getting no attention whatsoever....
Honestly, if your content is good, it'll get noticed. I actually get lectured by other artists because I post my stuff at the worst times in the middle of the night and don't try very hard to get seen. People will do the work of passing your stuff around if it's good. Extra tricks can help, I think, but I've never really relied too heavily on them, so I can't tell you how to do anything besides believing in your own content.
As far as the content, perhaps the struggle and lack of engagement is coming from the story telling side. I see a lot of comics with interesting concepts but bad exaction. Have you ever tried to tell a funny story to someone, only for it to fall flat? Is the problem that the story isn't entertaining, or is the problem how you're telling the story? In my experience, you can make any story entertaining so I'm apt to think it could be the way in which the story is being told.
Without seeing the comic, I can't really say for sure if that's why it's not getting engagement online, but I always double down on the basics.
-Write a solid script.
-Make sure the dialog is good and flows nicely without being too wordy.
-Pick panels that have interesting angles that heighten the action or emotional state of the characters.
If you have any trouble doing these things, know that I practiced for a few years before before doing my comics, and I'm still constantly learning. I'd suggest researching other comics you like and figure out how they make their stories engaging using dialog, panels and angles, ect... (Seriously, read them with the intent of breaking the pages down bit by bit) Don't reinvent the wheel, learn from the masters (People you like) and seriously look at your work and ask yourself if you are fully engaged and interested at all times. I've rewritten or cut out entire sections in both my writing and comics because they were boring. The idea was fine, but if it's told in a bland way, people are going to skip it, or even worse, stop engaging with the media.
Sorry if this is not the answer you are looking for... Some other advice is that maybe there just isn't enough there. People like stuff they can binge and really soak into, so if you only have a few pages that hardly get into the meat of the thing, people aren't going to be engaged.
The other thing to assess is the hook. If people have to read exposition from the beginning they'll get bored. Give them a good hook, a real attention grabber that makes them want... no must, turn the page. Hell, if the page is missing or out of order, they'll hunt across the whole internet for it because they have to know! Start mid action if you must, then go back and do some exposition later if you got explaining to do.
of all the writing struggles ive had recently somehow my least anticipated one was having to figure out how the hell to put in a timeskip literally just to the next day
Making your angst hurt: the power of lighthearted scenes.Â
Iâm incredibly disappointed with the trend in stories (especially âedgyâ YA novels) to bombard the reader with traumatic situations, angry characters, and relationship drama without ever first giving them a reason to root for a better future. As a readerâŚ
I might care that the main siblings are fighting if they had first been shown to have at least one happy, healthy conversation.Â
I might cry and rage with the protagonist if I knew they actually had the capacity to laugh and smile and be happy.
I might be hit by heavy and dark situations if there was some notion that it was possible for this world to have light and hope and joy to begin with.
Writers seem to forget that their readerâs eyes adjust to the dark. If you want to give your reader a truly bleak situation in a continually dim setting, you have to put them in pitch blackness. But if you just shine a light first, the sudden change makes the contrast appear substantial.
Show your readers what light means to your character before taking it away. Let the reader bond with the characters in their happy moments before (and in between) tearing them apart. Give readers a future to root for by putting sparks of that future into the past and the present. Make your characterâs tears and anger mean something.
Not only will this give your dark and emotional scenes more impact, but it says something that we as humans desperately, desperately need to hear.Â
Books with light amidst the darkness tell us that while things are hard and hurt, that weâre still allowed to breathe and hope and live and even laugh within the darkness.
We as humans need to hear this more often, because acting it out is the only way we stop from suffocating long enough to make a difference.
So write angst, and darkness, and gritty, painful stories, full of treacherous morally grey characters if you want to. But donât forget to turn the light on occasionally.
Support Brynâs ability to provide writing advice by reading their debut novel, an upbeat fantasy about a bloodthirsty siren fighting to return home while avoiding the lure of a suspiciously friendly and eccentric pirate captain!
No lie, one of the best pieces of writing advice I ever read was a one-page article in some writer magazine that I read as a teenager, in the magazine aisle of Borders (back when there was a Borders!), while I was waiting for my mom to finish in the checkout line. I didnât even buy the magazine. But it hit me so hard that Iâve never forgotten it, and it was this:
Tragedy and comedy both hit much harder if you alternate them rather than having either one alone.
I think this is narratively true of almost any opposite pair: sad-happy, warm-cold, lonely-supported, divided-united. (And itâs what makes me, personally, love that emotional pivot from enmity to alliance, or isolation to bonding.) You can absolutely write something thatâs all fluff all the time - I do! - or all tragic all the time. But the contrast really draws the emotional punches.
I do this light and then dark frequently enough in my fics that whenever there is a good wholesome chapter that makes them smile and giggle, they dread and are very eager at the same time to into the next chapter⌠because they know something absolutely terrible is about to happen but they donât know what.
This is so stunning, Maddie. I love them so much and you draw them so well. T-T I love how torn up and sad Cash looks in that first image, and I love the close up on their hands. And that hug! Man, you captured the desperation and the panic so, so well. Itâs perfect. Just.
hi i dont care if 1) this doesnât make sense 2) i dont know how to render/paint AT ALL 3) i forgot that the harvest moon 64 hat is mostly blue and only a little bit orange I DONâT CARE i just think of him every time i walk past these giant bushes covered with bright pink flowers!!!!!!!
more animation practice ripped directly from fanfic âď¸ this time Entropy, also by talkingsoupâŚ. def recommend!! love me some gen fic about the slow growth of apathy as your world gets caught in a timeloop controlled by a flower. thatâs the shit I live for.
fave thing about the undertale fandom is that basically everyone is welcome to do whatever they want in their own little fandom corners, and its like... oddly magical and nice haha
there's no way papyrus and alphys would give up on revenant though
[Revenant]
No, they certainly wouldn't--but Revenant might do it for them.
Hi! I wrote some angst. Warnings for mild(?) self-harm and not-quite-but-basically character death/suicide--and let me know if it needs additional tags. No happy ending. Papyrus is straight up not having a good time. Sorry =u=;
That first night, after the newly-formed amalgamate had realized what had happened, they had been inconsolable. Unapproachable. They had attacked the walls, attacked anyone nearby, attacked themselves, though they could not die. The Determination made sure of that.
Papyrus had stayed. It was hardâreally hardâto watch his brother and best friend fall apart, literally and figuratively. It hurt more than anything had ever hurt, but he needed to be there for them when the anguish finally subsided. He wanted, more than anything, to hold them, but Alphys had said they might still be unstable and it was best not to touch them until she could be sure it was safe. So he watched over them, and tried not to cry.
But the anguish didnât go away. Sans and UndyneâPapyrus wouldnât use the nickname Alphys had suggested for themâstill raged, still lashed out. They wouldnât eat, they wouldnât talk, even to he or Alphys. And Papyrus found himself comforting Alphys tooâshe seemed especially heartbroken, but wouldnât say about what. He had a guess, but couldnât bring himself to inquire about it. She was talking about finding some way to separate them, and he encouraged her to do soâit was better than having nothing to do.
Papyrus sat outside the observation window every day, and at this point, several days had passedâthough, he didn't know how many. Sans and Undyne still werenât talking, but theyâd stopped attacking everything so frequently. Papyrus believed it was progress, even if nothing else had changed.
In a few weeks, theyâd stopped attacking when Alphys came to give them their meal. They never ate it, but Alphys delivered it anyway; sheâd said amalgamates could still starve even if they couldnât die, so she brought them all fresh food every day. Papyrus didnât understand why his brother and Undyne would do that to themselves. Sans especially loved food, didnât heâŚ? Papyrus could only imagine he was just in so much pain that eating didnât sound good. And it wasnât the kind of pain food could heal.
After a while, they would just lay in a semi-puddle on the floor, or stay curled in a corner, the hand not connected to the spear theyâd conjured digging into their head. Alphys still wasnât sure Papyrus could hug them safely, but he was beginning to think about trying it anyway. Part of him didnât really care what might happen to him. He missed his friend, he missed his brother. They needed his help.
Quietly, he slipped into their room. âSans? UndyneâŚ?â
They flinched, hand clenching tighter. Cyan spikes burst from the floor in front of himâbut didnât hit. They were just blocking his way. That was good! He respected their boundary, stayed in place as he spoke.
âItâs me, Papyrus, your⌠Wait, am I your friend, or your brother?â
They didnât respond.
âW-well⌠either way, Iâm here for you. I⌠Iâd like to offer you a hug, if youâd⌠If youâd like oneâŚâ he said, fidgeting in place. âOr, some other, gesture of, comfort...â
The amalgamate quivered. But they still said nothing, and didnât lower their attacks.
âTh-thatâs okay! Youâre not ready yet, I understand!â Papyrus said, even though it hurt. It didnât matter what he wanted, he was there for their sake, not his. âIâll, let you be, but! Iâll! Be right outside if you need me!â
With faltering steps, he went back to sit in the chair outside. He was trying not to shiver, or get too lost in thoughtâŚ
âOh god, P-Papyrus, youâre still here?â Alphys asked wearily, startling him out of a daze. âI-Itâs, after three in the morning, you should⌠you should go home. Itâs⌠Itâs been what⌠three⌠three weeks? Of this...â
âIâm fine!â he quickly replied, rubbing at his eyes. He hadnât been asleep, but his sockets ached all the same. âI said Iâd be here for them, so I canât just. Not! Be here!â
âL-listen, if, anything happens, Iâll call you, o-okay?â Alphys replied. âI⌠I get it. I want to be there for them too, but⌠Iâve got other things I have to do. D-donât you?â
âNo! I donât!â Papyrus replied.
Alphys stared at him. She took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her snout. âO-okay, well⌠I⌠I donât think Sans or Undyne would want you to be here all the time. I⌠I havenât seen you eat, or take a nap or anything, a-and thatâs⌠k-kind of not good for you.â
âIâm fine,â Papyrus repeated. âI am too busy for those things! I wonât, canât be lazy like my brother.â
Alphys stared at him some more, then shook her head. âO-okay, but, d-donât hurt yourself, okay? Thatâs⌠thatâs l-like, the number one thing I think they would hate. Um⌠I⌠guess Iâll see you later though. Goodnight, Papyrus.â
âGoodnight, Doctor Alphys! See you later!â
She padded back off down the hall, and Papyrus turned back to watch through the observation window. His brother and Undyne were still heaped in the corner, though their attacks had faded now. Maybe he could try to talk to them again�
He crept back into the room, taking the chair with him this time. He wouldnât try to approach, but he also wouldnât be separated by a cold hard wall. If they wanted to approach him, which he believed they would eventually, they could. Having spoken to Alphys, he felt reinvigorated, and sat waiting attentively for a reaction to his presence.
There was a shuddering breath from the amalgamated monsters.
A clawed hand slapped against the wall with a wet squelch, then dug its fingers in and dragged them down the wall, leaving deep gouges. Several dozen matching gouges already dotted the walls, and Papyrus was mildly concerned theyâd tear a hole through it. The hand remained embedded, even though it shookâ
The amalgamate stood. Suddenly, fluidly they were in Papyrusâ face, the single glowing eyeâso unlike either Sansâ or Undynesââboring into him.
âFORGET. ME.â they grated out, in a ragged voice that hurt Papyrus to think about.
And then they vanished.
Papyrus shook. What had theyâwhere had Sans just taken them? There were only so many places he could have gone right? Papyrus wasnât entirely sure how the shortcuts worked but Sans had to know where he was going to use them, so he couldnât have gone anywhere too farâ
Papyrus ran. He sped through the rest of the lab, checking every room, trying not to alarm the other amalgamates but desperately thorough in his search. But the lab was empty of Undyne and his brother. So he left to search the rest of the Undergroundâas much of it as he could get to.
They were nowhere.
Papyrus couldnât give up, but they were nowhere he looked. Every inch of New Home's streets, every cog and vent and power conduit of Hotland, every nook and cranny and stream of Waterfall he could reach, all of Snowdin and its surrounding forest. The Underground wasnât large, and by mid-morning heâd already searched everywhere he could think to look. The only place he couldnât get to was the Ruins, and he was plotting to engineer some way of breaking the doors open when Alphys called him.
âP-Papyrus?! Where are you, whereâs R-Revenant?!â
âHello Doctor Alphys! I donât know,â he replied as he welded another reinforcing strip to his super-crowbar. âIâm on the case! And! Maybe with your help we can find them! They escaped using a shortcut so maybe with the power of science, you can trace their signature!â
âA-ah, uh, huh?â
âYou know, do a sci-fi thing! Iâm in the middle of constructing a device that will hopefully permit my entry into the Ruins, where I can complete my search and finally locate our errant friends. So, I can't do the scan myself. Hm⌠wait a second. Maybe in the spirit of Undyne, I should use explosives. Alphys, could I borrowâoh, never mind! Iâll make it myself!â
âW-wait, Papyrus, y-you canâtâu-uh, at least let me try the tracing thing f-first, okay? Uh, no need for blasting holes in walls if we c-can find them that way, r-right?â
Papyrus blinked. âOf course! Very smart of you, Doctor! I shall hold off on the blasting until you verify their position. Papyrus outie!â
He hung up, but got to work assembling his materials. He hadnât built anything that was meant to explode before, but heâd done it on accident so it couldnât be too hard. He couldnât mess this up, he couldnât lose anyone else, couldnât just forget aboutâ
Papyrus froze.
No.
No, Sans wouldnât.
He hadnât forgotten them butâ
What if theyâd goneâ
What if heâd taken them
there
That place.
The place between.
Outside.
Where the other pieces had been.
Where heâd been, untilâ
No, no no noâthat wasnât right that wasnât fair they couldnât just leave him surely Sans wouldnât surely Undyne wouldnât let him he couldnât just forget like everyone elseâ
Papyrus sank down, his back to the lab wall, hands clutching his skull. That was it. It had to be. Theyâd left him. Sans had left him. He was all alone now. The werenât dead but they were gone, stepped outside of reality where no one could follow and had no intention of coming back. As if heâd move on, as if he could forget so easily!
He wanted to disappear too. But the phone rang, so he cleared his throat, wrestled his emotions back under control, and answered it before it could ring a third time.
âHello Doctor Alphys! Have you made any discoveries?â
âI⌠I think so? B-but⌠I donât think it makes any senseâŚâ she replied. âI⌠I did what you suggested and scanned for unusual energy fluctuations, and there was one, right here in the lab. So, I looked for matches within range. There were some, but, the signals had decayed so I think they were old. They seemed to match where Sans usually shows up, so I had good reason to believe it was him, b-but⌠but⌠this newest one⌠didnât⌠didnât have any matches. I⌠I donât know where they went. I⌠Iâm so sorry Papyrus. Iâll keep scanning in case they show up, b-but, unless they really are in the Ruins, I⌠I donât have an answer.â
âI understand. Weâll just keep looking, itâs fine! Theyâll show up eventually, they have to,â he replied, even as his soul wanted to burst with grief. âI appreciate your help in this matter most perplexing! Keep up the good work!â
âTh⌠Thanks, Papyrus. Iâll⌠I keep going. I want to find them too. Talk to you later, when⌠when I have news, okay?â
âI look forward to it! See you later!â
Papyrus set the phone aside, and let his arms fall slack. He stared at the floor, smile gone.
He wondered if he could reboot the universe again.
