[spacetravels]

So you want to make an OC?: A Masterpost of Ways to Create, Develop, and Make Good OCs!

i made this masterpost in hopes that it helps you in making your own OCs ah;; it can also apply to developing RP characters i suppose! if you’d like to add more resources then go for it sugar pea (´ヮ`)!

How to Write Better OCs:

basic tips on how to make your oc even better

tragic backstory? learn how to write one/make yours great

writing specific characters

a wordier, great guide on how to develop your character

kick out those vague descriptions and make them AWESOME

Character Development:

how to actually make an OC

Q&A (to develop characters)

more Q&As

giving your character a backstory

how to write an attractive character

Diversity

adding more racial diversity

avoiding tokenism, AKA, how to add diversity to your cast not just because you “need” it

writing sexuality and gender expression (doesnt include non binary, if you have a good ref to that, please add on!)

masterpost on writing more diversity into your story

cultures of the world

guides to drawing different ethnicities (not just a great art reference, but also really helpful in appearance descriptions!)

Mary Sue/Gary Stu

Test to see if your character is a Sue

Explains subdivisions of Sues/Stus

Powerful Characters Don’t Have to Be Sues

Villains

villain generator

need an evil sounding name for your evil character? bam

villain archetypes

what’s your villain’s motive for being a villain?

Relationships

character perceptions (What your character thinks of themselves and what others think of them)

how to write strong relationships between two characters

8 ways to write better characters and develop their relationships with others

OCxLove Interest Handbook 

develop your couple with good ol’ Q&A!

how to write realistic relationships

how to write relatives for your characters (this is more OC related to a canon character, but will help in writing family members in general)

ARCHETYPES

12 common archetypes

8 archetypes for male/female characters

female archetypes (goes pretty indepth from two main categories)

a list of archetypes

NAMES

how to name your character

random name generator

most common surnames

surnames by ethnicity

APPEARANCE

tips for better design

basic appearance generator

pinterest board for character design (includes NSFW and images of skeletons/exposed muscle (?) so tread carefully!)

clothing ref masterpost

DETAILS

give your character better powers

a list of professions

proactive vs reactive characters

positive and negative traits

interest generator

skills generator

motivation generator

123 ideas for character flaws

list of phobias

again, this is to help inspire you or help establish your OCs! i hope you get a lot of info and help from this ahh ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

[ami0amii]

How to draw Afro textured 4c hair - an explanation/Tutorial

For those of you that don’t know what 4c hair is, 4c hair is a hair texture type that contains coils to small and tight that the hair appears to be more puffy rather than curly ( like to photo below ) this is in NO WAY to be confused with curly hair. there is a drastic difference.

As a black artist that primarily draws characters with 4c hair, I’ve been asked many times to do a tutorial on 4c hair so here we go~

before we get into 4c hair, lets take a moment to fully understand it by talking about hair texture in a general sense first

let’s take a look at this example of straight hair vs curly hair ( 1 type straight hair vs 3 type curly hair )

If you take a moment to compare the two you’ll notice straight hair is flat, it has no texture. Straight hair perfectly hangs down similar to liquid-like silk. It’s lack of curl pattern is the reason as to why it hangs perfectly flat.

curly hair on the other hand doesn’t lie down flat and silky like straight hair, It’s more thick. Curly hair in it’s raw and unstyled state has a trapezoid like shape this is because the sides of the hair spread more outward.

So why is this? Why is straight hair flat and curly hair thick?

the answer to that question is a thing called piling up. When it comes to hair texture, the shape of the hair strands aren’t the only thing that matters, its how the strands coexist with each other, Curly hair strands coexist by piling up on top each other.

moisture also effects hair texture too, different hair types absorbs moisture differently, thus the thickness of each hair type is different. 

…..soooo, how does this all relate to how to draw 4c hair?? 

Well let’s take a look at the drawing below. Notice how the arrows go outward more as the hair texture gets curlier. As we’ve already discussed, this is because hair piles up, The curlier the hair texture, the more it piles up on each other, the bigger it gets, the more outward the arrows go.

Out of any hair texture, 4C hair has the most curls. Because of this, the hair piles up on each other so much that it doesn’t lie down flat like straight hair, nor does it make a trapezoid like shape like curly hair, it instead becomes more cloud like.❤️

This is what you need to take into account when it comes to drawing 4C hair.

Think of it as piling up a bunch of cotton balls on each other. The most cotton on top of top to lead to a bigger patch of  cotton. this is 4c hair.

How to not draw 4c hair:

Garnet fanart. Let’s talk about Garnet Fanart. I notice a trend that when artists draw Garnet from Steven universe, her hair texture is usually changed to 3 type curly like texture. This subtle form of White washing has confused me because this is inaccurate. 

Garnet’s hair is in the shape of a cube. Though 3 type hair piles up on each other, it isn’t curly nor thick enough for their hair to stay in the shape of a cube. Curly hair lies down more than 4c hair. So garnet’s hair being in the shape of a cube is a dead giveaway that it is 4C. Why do you think hairstyles like flat tops are usually seen on black men with 4c hair? It’s because, the 4c hair texture is thick and strong enough to stay in whatever shape you put it in.

please, if you’re drawing a character with 4c hair, avoid drawing it like curly 3 type hair, this is very anti-black and texturist.

So, how do you draw 4c hair?

honestly, its the most easy thing in the world

i wanna clarify that blobby looking 4c drawings ( like the one on the top left ) can work depending on how cartoony your art style is.

Another thing that I want to greatly clarify when it comes to drawing 4C hair is, YOU. DONT. NEED. TO. DRAW. EVERY. HAIR. STRAND!…..like, seriously. I’ve gotten many messages about how 4C hair is hard to draw, and it’s always left me confused; but then I find out that the same people that have trouble drawing 4C hair, attempt to draw every single strand of hair. This is unnecessarily time consuming because it’s merely impossible to get every single detail down, especially when you have a simple cartoon style. 4C hair does not require much effort, all you’re doing is drawing lumps. It’s that simple, nothing more nor nothing less.

The reason why I greatly advise all of you to avoid drawing every single hair strand is because in real life, when you look at a 4C textured Afro, your eyes don’t pick up on each individual hair strand like straight or curly hair. 4C hair, appears to be more undefined and cloud like, so attempting to draw each and every individual strand is unnecessary and will most likely end up looking inaccurate.

Anyways! that’s it for now! there will be a part 2 to this tutorial that will come out next week! i hope you guys have learned from this and apply it to your black character in your art!~

[pumpkster-deactivated20250205]

ayo i found 2 pages with head angles of humans and animals, could be useful to anyone reading this

hoomans

animals

[netheritenugget]

Holy FUCK, this is an amazing tool.

[scrabbleknight]

Reblogging for my artist fellows.

[i-imade-a-thing]

Reblog this!

[butchlinkle]

The creator of the original, the animal reference tool, made their own human reference tool which allows you to search based on different body parts and poses!

https://x6ud.github.io/pose-search/

[lotors-wife]

Help my best friend escape a toxic, abusive home

Hi, please dont scroll past this!

I'm making this post on behalf of my friend Teyah, who is a mixed jewish disabled agender bi person living with an incredibly abusive father. It's dad constantly denies it food, access to medical care, and other basic necessities. It's father has also put it in dangerous situations numerous times to where it's unsafe for it to remain in the home with him. We're currently working out a plan to move in together, but it isn't possible right at this moment.

Because of it's disability, Teyah can't work and hasn't been able to get SSDI yet, leaving it completely reliant on it's father who abuses and isolates it. It's also become harder for it to walk, so it needs things to help improve it's mobility and manage symptoms. We've included it's Amazon wishlist full of things that would help improve it's quality of life.

If you could donate to it or buy it something from it's wishlist, and help it get a little bit closer to escaping it's abuser, it would really help it out!!

cashapp & venmo: $doedivine

paypal

wishlist

If you can't donate, please reblog and share this post so others can see it. thank you so much!!

[evolvingessence]

[heartonthefloor]

Like….when everyone has mental illness maybe the problem is with the systems 🤔

[anyroads]

Fun fact: “every individual could benefit from therapy” and “we need collective social and systemic change to improve people’s lives” are both statements that can coexist.

[anyroads]

Reblogging for the tags

[star-anise]

Another therapist commenting: as my readers know, I’m constantly enraged by takes like “Your mental illness is entirely societal so stop taking your meds”, but this? This is a good roundup of posts.

It’s like how everybody needs to go to the doctor, but also, we need to stop industries from poisoning the drinking water.

It’s like how every worker needs to figure out their own work/life balance, but also, every worker needs better pay, more sick leave, and shorter work hours.

People can need individual help to be able to adapt and thrive in the situations they’re in–but ALSO, we need to enact change on a societal level to create a society that values human wellbeing over profit or political power.

[everythingfox]

Biscuit boiis

[niggazinmoscow]

Capitalism doing what it does best. 

[talking222themoon]

They UNEQUIVOCALLY believe that access to water is a basic human right but USE CHILD SLAVE LABOUR TO MAKE CHOCOLATE (& were even sued over it).

[unpretty]

Tumblr: *rolls out “best stuff first”*

My blog:

[unpretty]

on the one hand this is a joke post because lol i have never made a good post in my life, but also, if i hadn’t made the connection between this update and my sudden nosedive in activity, i would have been really fucking discouraged about all the shit i’ve been working on lately. i guarantee there are people on tumblr right now who haven’t made that connection, and who are trying to figure out why suddenly no one likes anything they’ve made. and that fucking sucks.

[jasper-appreciation]

Reminder to go into your settings and turn off ‘Best Stuff First’ because my activity’s tanked a couple days ago for no reason so this stuff IS happening.

You WILL miss content with that setting on.

[sergle]

i ain’t joking when i say that my activity looks JUST like this too and i wasn’t sure why

[hiddlescheekbones]

I can only find the option on the app under Settings > Dashboard Preferences.

[clintfbarton-deactivated2025012]

To support content creators do us a favour and turn off “Best stuff first”. Open the tumblr app (Android or iOs) and go to “Settings > Dashboard Preferences. And please reblog this post, so that everybody will see this. Thank you very much!

[drferox]

I assumed I just wasn’t writing very well, but maybe it’s not just me.

Am I supposed to pay to get my writing in front of followers now?

[space-australians]

We interrupt your regularly-scheduled sci-fi content because this is important for app users, and it sucks. We all follow blogs because we want to see their content, not to have a crappy algorithm decide what’s best.

This blog is down approximately 80%, which doesn’t affect me other than as an annoyance (as this is a hobby and @okayto is small-ish) but the issue undoubtedly hurts others.

Below are instructions for turning it off. You have to do it individually–it doesn’t matter if a blog you follow turns it off, you’ll still be affected unless you do the same.

[yourplayersaidwhat]

We don’t normally reblog PSAs, but this is very clearly affecting us, too! If you haven’t been getting your daily dose of RPG humor, this setting is probably why. Turn it off so you can see all the silly shit players say!

[penbrydd]

Trying to reblog the versions of these instructions with the most notes, so they’ll actually show up for the people afflicted by this update.

[frelledbyfate]

Thank the gods that I now have an explanation for why certain things kept popping up.

All fixed now.

[feminismandmedia]

Magical.

[icrapbubbles]

👌👌 👌 👏 👏

[celestial-peaches-deactivated20]

lmaooo

[hositrugun]

For the record, the guy actually invented this with the intent of it being used to crack down on human trafficking. Traffickers often cover their victims in heavy/unusual makeup before posting pics of them online, to make them harder to detect using normal software.

[lumsel]

oh

[tenkagain]

[ladyshinga]

So basically this is a case of really shitty reporting. The article could have been about an app used to rescue victims of trafficking but they decided to flippantly make it about make-up

[lagonegirl]

Bishop Curry V may be young (10 years old, to be precise), but the little kid from Texas has some big ideas. He’s currently working on a device that could help prevent children from dying in hot cars.

The number of children who died in hot cars increased across the country last year, and Texas had the highest number of cases. Sadly for Bishop, the issue also hits close to home because a baby died in a minivan last summer outside a home near his own family’s home in McKinney.

Bishop was inspired to create a device he calls “Oasis,” which would attach to a car seat and detect if a child is left inside the vehicle, prompting it to blow cool air until parents or the police are notified.

“It would be a dream to have lots of inventions that would save many lives,” the precocious 10-year-old told the news station.

source

A lot of people don’t realize how easy it is to leave something in a hot car. It’s easy to forget something when it’s not in your daily routine, especially if it’s asleep or under a blanket or something. This is a nightmare. I don’t have kids myself, but I can absolutely understand how this could happen- everyone’s sick so you’re probably kind of out of it, you run in thinking you’re just going to be a minute, get distracted with the task at hand… and then your child dies in a horrific way because of it…

I’m all for any methods or technologies that can help prevent it from turning tragic.

#BlackPride #BlackInventors 

[soofyanstevens]

THIS IS LITERALLY THE BEST WAY TO WAKE UP holy shit I am so proud of this child I wanna give them a huge hug

[lagonegirl]

His GoFundMe is here: https://www.gofundme.com/endhotcardeaths

[tundrakatiebean]

He only has raised $2,950 as of 2/2/17

Let’s boost the hell out of this

[introvert-unicorn-deactivated20]

Words to describe someone’s voice :

adenoidal (adj) :  some of the sound seems to come through their nose.

appealing (adj): voice shows that you want help, approval, or agreement.

breathy (adj): with loud breathing noises.

booming (adj): very loud and attention-getting.

brittle (adj): if you speak in a brittle voice, you sound as if you are about to cry.

croaky (adj): they speak in a low, rough voice that sounds as if they have a sore throat.

grating (adj): a grating voice, laugh, or sound is unpleasant and annoying.

gravelly (adj): a gravelly voice sounds low and rough.

high-pitched (adj): true to its name, a high-pitched voice or sound is very high.

honeyed (adj): honeyed words or a honeyed voice sound very nice, but you cannot trust the person who is speaking.

matter-of-fact (adj): usually used if the person speaking knows what they are talking about (or absolutely think they know what they are talking about).

penetrating (adj): a penetrating voice is so high or loud that it makes you slightly uncomfortable.

raucous (adj): a raucous voice or noise is loud and sounds rough.

rough (adj): a rough voice is not soft and is unpleasant to listen to.

shrill (adj): a shrill voice is very loud, high, and unpleasant.

silvery (adj): this voice is clear, light, and pleasant.

stentorian (adj): a stentorian voice sounds very loud and severe.

strangled (adj): a strangled sound is one that someone stops before they finish making it.

strident (adj): this voice is loud and unpleasant.

thick (adj): if your voice is thick with an emotion, it sounds less clear than usual because of the emotion.

tight (adj): shows that you are nervous or annoyed.

toneless (adj): does not express any emotion.

wheezy (adj): a wheezy noise sounds as if it is made by someone who has difficulty breathing.

[cinemove]

[lolasteppereincarnate]

[punknursejoy]

@machamp your tags are perfect

[greaatsi]

Police brutality in Belarus.

2/2

Share this video!

Credits to owner.

#ЖывеБеларусь🤍❤🤍

[arnaerr]

More than 7000 people have been detained. They started to release them slowly and all the prisoners talk about how they were tortured, beaten, bones and spines broken, they couldn’t get any food for days and so on. People don’t receive any medical treatment there and are dying in the hospitals after they are released from detainment. And of course, the government denies everything.

PLEASE HELP TO SPREAD THE INFO IT’S OUR ONLY HOPE

You can find more info here: 1 , 2, 3

It’s in russian, so feel free to attach any good articles in english on reblogs. The world must know about it.

[arnaerr]

I’m reblogging it again because some people think that everything is good now, but it’s not and I can’t be silent about it. Yeah, today was a very calm day with huge peaceful protests, flowers, smiles. But it doesn’t change the fact that people were detained and tortured. 

Families and friends of these people still don’t know where they are and are they alive or not.

YOU CAN SUPPORT US BY DONATING HERE OR JUST SHARE THE INFO. TALK ABOUT IT. READ ABOUT IT.

[thedancingwriter]

Fair Use in Novels

I often get questions from Anons asking me what is appropriate to use in a novel, from song quotes to character names of wildly popular characters from other books (names that are obviously more unique than just Sarah or Alice or Amelia). So I’m going to lay the groundwork of what writers can and can’t use in their novels—or for their novels.

Quotes from song lyrics. You can’t do this. Period. If you want to use quoted song lyrics, you would have to get permission from the artists themselves—and you would likely have to pay a heady sum of money to obtain that permission. A big part of the reason why you can’t do this is because song lyrics are often so short in the first place, and if you misquote even one word, you run the risk of being sued. In fact, you run the risk of being sued period if your book is somehow published with quoted song lyrics from an actual band. 

Names of fictional characters. One Anon asked me if he or she could use a fictional character’s name as a nickname for one of his/her characters. As far as I know, this is not copyright infringement, especially if the character whose nicknamed Harry Potter does not in anyway resemble the actual Harry Potter. It is also not copyright infringement to use a fictional character’s name in passing. For example, in Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick, Leonard frequently mentions Holden Caulfield as a comparison to himself. Holden Caulfield, however, is not an actual character in the book. There’s also the question of cameos, and whether or not a writer can use an actual character as a cameo in the book. This is on shaky ground, because using a published fictional character as a cameo technically is not copyright infringement, until that character actually starts talking. However, from the article I linked to you, you still run the risk of being sued. Fan fiction is an entirely different matter, as most writers don’t profit from this work, and authors want to please enthusiastic readers. (I would both cry and feel EXTREMELY flattered if someone were to ever write a fanfiction of my book, When Stars Die.)

Public domain. Any book before 1923 is fair use. Granted this does not mean you can re-write the entire book. Basically this means you can quote these works, while attributing their authors to them, in your novels. Frenchie,from Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia by Jenny Torres Sanchez, frequently talks about Emily Dickinson and quotes her as well. Libba Bray puts a part of Tennyson’s poem, The Lady of Shallot, in A Great and Terrible Beauty. And when I do revisions for my novels, I’d like for my protagonist to quote parts of Edgar Allen Poe. 

Titles. You don’t need permission to use song titles, movie titles, book titles, television titles, and so on and so forth. You can also include the names of things, place, and events and people in your work without permission. I mention Paula Dean in brief passing in the current work I’m writing, because she owns a restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, the place my character lives. 

Pictures. I’m primarily talking about if you’re self-publishing or are allowed to work with your publisher (usually small press) on designing the cover. ANY stock photos listed on any stock photo website is fair game and can be photoshopped as much as you want to. However, you often have to buy these photos, but once you pay for them, they are yours to do with what you want. Unfortunately, you run the risk of having a similar book cover as another book, especially if you don’t do too much to that image beyond slapping your name and title of the book on it. The cover for When Stars Die received a heavy makeover, so it is not likely that I will find another book using my exact cover. I may find a book using the girl on the cover, but the plum blossoms, the colors, how the girl was edited, and my title and name are probably going to be next to impossible to find on another book. 

Quoting famous people. If the quote from, let’s say, a famous speech in the past, is over 100 years old, that work is likely in the public domain, so it’s fair to use quotes from  Georgie Washington or another popular figure. 

Referencing facts. If you’re referencing facts, like how the universe was made, this is not copyright infringement—they are unadorned facts. For the current novel I’m working on, I did use a website to help Gene’s teacher explain black holes, because Gene uses black holes as a motif to describe how people can have an effect on one another. However, because this is knowledge that you can pick up from any text book or even an astronomy class you took, I don’t need to quote the source I took it from because I did not repeat word-for-word what that website said. The website simply listed facts that you can find anywhere from a legitimate source. 

Using quotes from TV, films, or advertising. These are copyrighted, so don’t use them, unless you want to get sued. 

For now, these are the only points I can think of on what writers are allowed to use and not use in their novels. If someone can think of anything more, feel free to re-blog and add to this list!

Ask Box is always open, and I think this is the last day for my book/Amazon gift card giveaway, so you better enter while you can!

[moonlit-maiden]

Regarding naming (because I had to research this for one of my characters): names CANNOT be copyrighted. At all. HOWEVER. The exception is if the name is recognizable on a brand level, such as Harry Potter or Mickey Mouse. So if there is a character names Joe McShmo and you name a character Jo McShmo, you CAN do that if the first Joe is not 1. the flagship character or the brand and 2. the name/brand is a household name (as in the average person will think of only Jo McShmo #1 when they hear that name). It’s a very interesting caveat.

[theliteraryarchitect]

Great resource on fair use for fiction writers.

[wondersmith-and-sons]

so i know that the big van speech has been written about to hell and back already, but i really want to focus on why specifically it matters meta-textually, and how it fits into the wider scope of action movies. 

one of the reasons it’s so incredible is because it’s such a pointed and deliberate refutal to hypermasculinity in the action genre, built on literally decades of white supremacy, homophobia and misogyny, and in hollywood action flicks, one of its most persistent forms is using homoerotic tension between two (white) male leads as a punchline. masculinity, especially white masculinity, as established by the likes of Michael Bay and Quentin Tarantino, always comes at the expense of vulnerability and tenderness and can only be established by either deriding and mocking it any accusations the expression of such. 

so, when that one mook goes “what is he, your boyfriend?” to joe, it’s supposed to be an insult his masculinity, essentially setting up a rebuttal to reassert it. the expected play-out would be that he flies off the handle and either maims or threatens to main the guards, because in action films being accused of queerness is the ultimate insult. it sets the punchline similar to countless action movies before it, but then the punchline….never comes? 

Joe is angry, he is insulted, but not because he’s been accused of loving another man; he’s indignant that they dare to assume he does not love Nicky enough.  

and even at this point, the movie still could have chosen to have Joe threaten or take out the guards, it could have chosen to have Joe go “yeah, he’s boyfriend and now we’re about to beat you up” but it still never does. instead, it chooses to actively refuse to play into the culture hypermasculinity by having Joe recite fucking poetry

[sixth-light]

We all focus really hard on the main part of the Speech but my favourite line is actually the opener, “You are a child. An infant, and your mocking is thus infantile” because it flips the script so effectively; that entire hypermasculine worldview is identified, correctly, as incompatible with being a good adult member of society. 

(and then they do beat up the guards but it’s an offscreen punchline which is not a response to the homophobia so much as a way to remind the viewer & the villains that even handcuffed and outnumbered in a van, these men are extremely good at what they do.) 

[adiwriting]

I second this part being underrated. It’s such an essential part of the speech to me.

[sara-writes-deactivated20211015]

I love all of this and I also want to talk about the specificity of ‘He is not my boyfriend’ because how many times have we heard that in queerbaiting media? How many times has male affection been followed up by this refutation? It’s not always this exact line, although sometimes it is, but it’s always there.

That line didn’t need to be there. Joe could have gone straight from ‘infantile’ into his speech without changing the meaning or flow at all. It’s there for a reason. Hell, it’s there TWICE. This specific line, so loaded with ‘no homo’ toxic masculinity bullshit, is being used to celebrate a deep and powerful love between two men. God bless Greg Rucka.

[viridianpanther]

I’d been trailed/warned about this scene (i.e. had it praised to high heavens by my friends as they breathlessly told me I needed to see this movie) and yes, there is so much discourse around it—as there should be.

There’s no way it should work. A minute-long monologue about love, loaded with metaphor and imagery in the middle of a tense kidnapping, could have come across as hokey, or stagey, or self-indulgent, or simply purple. Were the movie in the hands of a less ambitious crew, it could easily have not worked, or been cut altogether.

But it’s there, and it is the crown jewel of The Old Guard. It marks a turning point in the film, because suddenly it’s a love story, and the action and fighting are almost incidental, because you’re rooting for these two. The sheer amount of work and care that went into it (those 13 takes we’ve heard so much about! While on the floor! Zip-cuffed!) shines through.

Everyone cared about getting it right. Greg Rucka gave a beautiful, poetic monologue about love to a brown Muslim man. Marwan Kenzari delivers it with such understated, lustful gusto. Luca Marinelli beams, allowing Nicky to bask in Joe’s words. Gina Prince-Bythewood chooses her shots carefully, lingering on their faces, their hands. Filming it playfully, but not comically.

The characters’ queerness is there, and it is upheld, not as “just happens to be,” but as glorious and natural. You will believe these men have adored each other for nine centuries. You will want to punch the air. If you’re gay, you will feel, at long last, seen (and wonder if this is what cishet people feel all the time when they go to the cinema.)

Basically: I fucking love this movie. If you haven’t, go see The Old Guard. Toot sweet.

[undefined5posts]

tw// explosion

Hello, hope all of you are safe and doing well.

You may have heard of what happened in Lebanon today and if not, basically, there was a big explosion in Beirut that affected many cities, destroyed shops, homes, cars, caused many injuries and deaths. The cause is uncertain.

As a fellow lebanese myself (that also lives there), today was absolutely terrifying, probably the scariest moments of my life. We heard a deafening sound as the floors were shaking. Some of us thought it was an attack, others thought it was an earthquake. As soon as it ended many expected a second one, which luckily never happened.

Here's a video of what happened that was sent to me, there are also many others that you can find online.

Windows were broken, doors wrecked, cars flipped over, buildings collapsed, people hit by flying or falling objects, and unfortunately, many didn't make it out alive.

We were one of the lucky ones, our families and friends were all safe and our homes were fine.

Some people couldn't even get out of the crumbling builings, so we saw corpses being pulled out, although some people survived the crash. But wherever we looked, there was blood, poeple were half covered in it, their shirts, pants, hair, everything. And that sight was traumatizing.

We watched the news with elders severely injured, children with blood-spattered shirts and people in pain that couldn't get in the hospitals because they were full.

Some people are missing. Just try to imagine the pain and fear their families and friends are feeling.

Articles about what happened, there are a lot more

Dozens killed, thousands wounded in Beirut blast: Live updates

Officials expect death toll to rise after huge blast rips through Lebanon's capital.

Dozens killed and thousands injured in Beirut port blast

The explosion took place at the port shortly before 19:00 local time (18:00 CET) with a large cloud of smoke billowing over the city. Eyewit

Not only are we in the middle of a pandemic, but Lebanon is also going through a very serious economical crisis. To give you an example, before, $1 equaled 1 500 lebanese pounds. Nowadays, $1 equals more than 7 000 lebanese pounds. Not to mention that we obviously don't have any dollars at disposition, so yeah we're fucked.

People are hungry, homeless, unemployed. And even if they are getting paid, it'll be useless since the prices of everything went up because they were affected by the economical fiasco.

Important additional information

Today, I heard my 7 year old cousins scream in fear that they were going to die. I saw my aunt shaking, worried that her children won't survive. I saw my dad freak out while trying to reassure us when we both knew that we were uncertain about the next minutes of our lives. I heard the panic in the trembling voices of my family and friends as they couldn't believe what had just happened. I thought my loved ones and I were going to die in the next seconds.

I'm never forgetting those moments and feelings.

I don't think signing petitions will help, i don't even know if the following links will help either, I just know Lebanon and it's people are desperate for anything because the future of this country is extremely uncertain.

https://helplebanonnow.carrd.co/

Lebanon

How can you help?

https://lebanoncrisis.carrd.co/

Lebanon & Ways to Help

Lebanon Needs You More Than Ever. Know more about the crisis in Lebanon, sign petitions, donate or explore volunteering opportunities.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/lebanonneedsorg?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link

Lebanon Needs organized by Christina Nakhle

<strong>What?</strong> We founded Lebanon Needs to provide those who need it the most with essential s… Christina Nakhle needs your support

https://helplebanon.carrd.co/

Help Lebanon

Ways to help local Lebanese communities survive the crisis.

http://redcross.org.lb/SubPage.aspx?pageid=1370&PID=158

http://www.caritas.org.lb/get_involved/donate

Donate | Caritas Lebanon

Help raise £500000 to provide disaster relief after the explosion in Beirut

Weʼre raising money to provide disaster relief after the explosion in Beirut. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lebanon-relief?utm_term=PYp7gXzyD

Lebanon At Risk of FAMINE

Help families, domestic workers, and refugees in Lebanon with food and other basic needs during this economic and public health crisis

I think donating to the red cross would be the most helpful, so if you are considering it, it'd be great.

There are so many great threads on twitter about what you can do to help, just search help lebanon or something to find them. Also if you can, please donate, and as I said, the lebanese pound is pretty much worthless currently so USD is way more useful to us.

[undefined5posts]

PLEASE SHARE

[yourbigsisnissi]

When people tell stories about how their parents beat them, it’s always interesting to see their face change because they expected me to say “me too lol” but I instead say “I’m really sorry. You didn’t deserve that” Last time a co worker who also has West Indian parents was telling me in a joking way how he remembers being beaten with a belt because lied about his report card. As he was laughing it off and saying he deserved it, I just said “wow that’s awful hun. You didn’t deserve that.” And his whole face changed. Like it hadn’t occurred to him that it’s messed up that a part of remembering his childhood is remembering how badly it hurt to be beaten so badly at such a young age. Another time I had a friend, non West Indian parents, who talked about how she made a mess on a dress that her parents got her. It was really expensive apparently and she spilled red juice on it. She talked about how she was ordered to take the dress of and was beaten with a belt too without any clothes on. And she was laughing and said “I was a bad ass kid lol” and I said “no hun you were just a kid”. And she looked at me and immediately stopped laughing and just sat there like “yea…I was just a kid. I don’t know why they did that to me” My mom was raised in a household where she was beaten so badly….I just don’t understand how she is so loving now growing up in a home where she got so little love. They called it discipline, but once she became a social worker she began to see that it was abuse. That she grew up terrified of her parents, although they thought it was respect that my mom felt. It was fear. We have to get comfortable challenging what is often seen as cultural norms. We have to be a generation of people who are not ashamed to say “I would never beat my child”.

[carnival-phantasm]

We have numerous studies linking physical punishment on children, some far less drastic than the ones mentioned, to behavior/aggressivity issues and mental disorders in the long term, but it’s so normalized that most people think kids will become “spoiled” if they don’t ever get spanked – something far more related to parents being absent and not participating in their education than “lack of punishment”.

Beating children is just the lazy, ignorant way out and a sign of failure as a parent. Hitting some defenseless kid when you are angry is far easier and quicker than calming yourself down and having a conversation where you have to adapt your words so your kid can understand, but the latter is proper parenting and teaching while the former is just giving your children a risk factor for social and psychiatric disorders.

[theghostthathauntsurlocalmansio]

being an abusive person isn’t strength, or something to be proud of. being a symbol of fear in your family household shouldn’t make you feel accomplished. hurting your children is pathetic and will only result in losing your kids, some way or another.