Freakin’ Bats

I write. I draw. Sometimes I share things. Follow along if you want. Or don’t. I can’t control you.

[purple-on-black]

About me:

Look, I’mma be honest, I have no idea what I’m doing. I have no idea how to use Tumblr, or really any online space anymore. I’m not even sure I know how to properly socialize anymore. I thought I was doing it right for years and then all of a sudden, the 20-year generational rotation happened, and all the rules changed. Now I’m too old and tired and riddled with anxiety to try to keep up with these social rules that keep changing faster and faster by the day.

I used to sit quietly and observe a group like an anthropologist until I understood the social structure and behavior well enough that I felt confident enough to integrate. But lately that doesn’t work so well. And the punishment for getting it wrong…well let’s just say there’s not usually a second chance.

I feel like a feral kitten, curled up and hiding underneath a car, watching the other members of my colony venture out to interact with these strange creatures called “humans.” Some are nice, give soft head pats and maybe even a can of tuna. Others kick them or shoot at them with BB guns. And there is zero way to know what reaction you will get. I *want* to go out there—more than anything. The tuna smells intoxicating, and at night I dream about what a nice soft head-pat would feel like, but every day I just see more and more cruelty—Some even dressing it up in kindness, laying out a can of tuna laced with poison. And I don’t know how to tell the kind people apart from the cruel, and no one gives me the same answer.

But I’m hungry. I can’t stay huddled under a fender forever. A few times I’ve tried to venture out, fear be damned, but my claws are out the whole time, I seem unapproachable even mean, then always end up fleeing back to the safety of my hiding spot before long.

So, I am once again venturing out and just…hoping I won’t end up getting chosen for target practice.

I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m gonna just try.

A little about me:

I love arts, especially animation. I wanted to be an animator as a kid, but school was too expensive. And truthfully, I don’t know that I would have long-term been able to handle the brutal conditions required for the industry.

I draw and write. Those are my main two hobbies. I’m not very good but I try.

I speak in metaphor, so sorry if you’re a very literal thinker—you’re probably going to have a difficult time.

I’m sex-repulsed asexual. I revile from any sort of sex, romance, or shipping. Not an anti-shipper or anything, just don’t like it and hate how much it’s shoved in my face. (And how I’m not allowed to say I don’t like it, or else I’m an evil person who hates shippers and is probably homophobic because I don’t like being forced to scroll through thousands of bytes of fan-content of characters I happen to enjoy fucking every other member of the cast, all because I dared to want to participate in ‘the fandom.’ Nope; I don’t get to have consent, I just have to lie there and take it. …it’s almost ironic.)

The world in which I exist is one full of violence, and usually death. Often daily. And I don’t shy away from it in my arts either. It doesn’t affect me much—I’m used to it, and it’s just a fact of life—but I sometimes forget that other people don’t share these views or experiences. I try to keep things tasteful and tag appropriately but genuinely sometimes I forget, or don’t think something warrants a full tag. If you are particularly squeamish, just be aware.

Things you’ll probably see shared here:

Fallout (4, and TV show)

Hellaverse (Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss)

The Amazing Digital Circus

Teen Titans (2003)/general DC comics

Pokemon

Hurt/Comfort tropiness (sorry, it’s my specialty.)

Abandoned buildings

Some original concepts

[redd956]

Whump Prompt List: Parental Caretaker

Caretaker calling whumpee dear, baby, sugar, sweetie, champ, and anything similar

Like "Stay with me baby. You're doing great, just stay with me."

Parental caretaker guiding/encouraging whumpee with their words

"Hold on to me tight dear."

"I've got you... [Caretaker's] got you."

"It's alright. I'm here... I'm here now"

Caretaker giving whumpee permission to express their pain or cry

Caretaker hugging, holding, or cradling whumpee

"It's okay- It's okay... You did everything right..."

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Caretaker patting whumpee on the back as they embrace

Drying whumpee's face with their sleeve

Lulling a whumpee to sleep. Maybe they're telling a story, humming or singing. Maybe they got whumpee a priceless gift like an white noise machine or music box, and whumpee is listening to it in order to sleep

[hauntingsbyholent]

Do better. Be better. Stop being so emotional. Don't do this. And don't do that. This list of 'Things Not To Do' is growing longer by the second.

The set of standards laid out on this list is for me, but not for you. While I cannot eat here, you may. Instead of me relaxing, only you can. The hypocrisy. The double standard. The no-nos.

Whilst I wither away, I continue to water you. Showering you, keeping you happy. Healthy. Parts of me fall away. Of course. You are above me.

Above me? Where? In height? In status? In position? Or power?

Where does 'above me' derive from? Where have you gotten this notion? Because I am a black sheep? The odd one out? The smudge on a shirt that won't wash out?

I am here. I am me. Me. Not you. Me.

I will not wilt. I will not die. I will be present. Powerful. Here. And Now.

No matter where. No matter now. I will see everything. I am the creaking of the floors as you open each door. I am tapping on the walls as you peer down the halls. The rattling on the windows as you go on tattling. The shadow that flickers past your eyes as you begin to doze.

Your list. Your standard. Your position. Your 'above me'. It is all you. You never considered me. My list. My standard. My position. Will you understand now?

[an0neemouse]

Sometimes the words don't just flow. Sometimes no matter how long you wait or what you do, it still just feels like pulling teeth. That isn't a failing on your part or a lack of passion for the project even. It's just that not every single line of your project is going to come flying out of your fingers like rainbows and lightning. Sometimes you just have to plonk one word down after another until you get to a part that gets your creative juices flowing again. And that's okay! You can always edit. Always, always, always. Just get the words on paper.

[thereturnofsluggie]

HEY WRITERS!!

quick tell me your current word count and a short summary of your current wip!!

[purple-on-black]

As a writer:

GOOGLE EARTH STREET VIEW HAS BEEN MY GODSEND! No more do I have to drive three hours every time I want to check the accuracy of the location!

[alivingtypo]

you can pry starting sentences with 'and' or 'but' out of my cold, dead hands

[today-till-tomorrow]

op how does it feel to be the most correct person on earth

[scribeherself]

There is no drug on earth that can replicate the absolute euphoria of hitting a writing flow state at 2:00 AM. You aren’t even typing anymore. You are a vessel. You are a channel for the gods. The characters are speaking directly into your brain and you’re just the stenographer trying to keep up. You feel like you could fight a bear. You feel like you invented the alphabet

[purple-on-black]

I want to talk about Stephen King’s “The Stand,” because I just finished my third read through, it’s one of my favorite books, and dammit, I wanna geek out about it!

I’m just gonna come out of pocket and say:

OH MY GOD, HAROLD IS THE MOST STEREOTYPICAL REDDIT NICE-GUY INCEL ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET.

He is the stereotype before that stereotype even existed!

I just keep waiting for King to mention him tipping his fedora with a slimy “m’lady” before remembering, “oh yeah, this was written before Reddit existed.”

Of all the times (twice) that this book has been remade into a visual medium, how has no one jumped on this obvious visual shorthand? Of all the reviews I’ve seen and discussions I’ve looked at about this book, I’m surprised no one has mentioned it. I mean come on—it’s literally RIGHT THERE!

I am begging for someone to remake this with Harold fully embracing his Reddit-mod self (for the first half) and looking like Control Freak from the Teen Titans show.

That would do…so much of the work for you without ever having to use a single line of exposition dialogue.

[hauntingsbyholent]

Write, rewrite, edit, revise, submit, revise... It is endless. All the submissions and continuous revisions, simply to communicate an idea. I learned to write in one style, but it "reads too much like a textbook". The textbook gets deleted, and I start again. What is it to write like a textbook? Too many words? Too plain? The only feedback is "textbook sounding".

The next style, long-winded sentences, communicating at least five different ideas, each of these ideas distinct, and all connected in a single sentence. These sentences grow into long, dense paragraphs that stretch over multiple pages. The paragraphs scroll for hours, building upon hundreds of references, to support a central idea. This idea lost as I dive into the rabbit hole of literature and discuss each and every study. "There are too many words"... I have moved from the textbook to a convoluted writer. "Remove 'the, also, furthermore, and anything ending with -ly' these words are fillers and unnecessary."

I edit my work thoroughly and remove any excess words deemed unnecessary. From 20,000 to 19,950 words. Every day, I read over each paragraph and sentence, agonizing over every word. "Your writing can be very convoluted, sentences should not start with 'coupled with'. The reader does not know the subject of the sentence". I am missing something... What am I missing? Each revision, every edit, I try to improve... But time keeps moving, and my revisions keep growing.

"Try reading George Orwell's work. It is direct and to the point. Your writing should be like that too." At last, an example and name to the style. "Direct". Each sentence should communicate one point. Every paragraph communicates one idea. Simple. Instead of dreaming, pondering, revising, editing, and submitting to just receive the same critiques. The work is drafted, edited, submitted, and revised.

Academics learn to write over their careers. Their style changes as they mature. However, there is a gross expectation. The expectation to be a perfect writer. A perfect writer who magically knows how to write without mentorship. This is an academic fallacy that is happily cultivated in research.

[jadeazora]

I love how, fresh after learning they're all just brain scans, Kinger decides "Well, if there's no body to return to, if this has to be my home, I'm not living like this" and starts patching things up himself.

[smallcloverleaf]

Also

Related to this:

[snakebites-and-ink]

When a character with some sort of medical background is dangerously sick or injured, and they're definitely not in any state to treat themself but on autopilot they start listing out their symptoms in clinical language. Like they can't help but fall back on the familiar routine instead of processing the implications

[luna-azzurra]

Your character doesn't need to be likeable. They need to be legible. The reader needs to understand every decision they make even when it's wrong, even when it's ugly, even when they want to shake them. Likeable is easy and forgettable. Legible is what makes someone stay with you for years. Make the logic of every bad choice visible. The reader doesn't have to agree with it. They just have to follow it.

[phoenix--dawn]

There's something satisfying about reading your own work and marveling at parts of it. Like, was I unconscious when I wrote this? I barely remember it... but the more intimate and emotionally vulnerable scenes somehow still manage to make my heart skip a beat 🥹🥰

[ardently-queer]

I miss when I was writing regularly before The Big Hiatus and I got comments all the time. I do write for myself, I make story choices that I enjoy. Some of it's wanting validation but, a whole lot less than it used to be and mostly what I want comments for now is, I spend so much time with my head in this story. It just makes my day when other people engage with it and want to talk to me about it. Even when it's something they didn't like - when it's about 'this thing made me feel this kind of way' and not, unsolicited advice. Positive or negative, I do not appreciate being told what to do in my own story. It's going where it's going but I do love to hear what you feel and think about where it's gone so far.

If you loved someone's work, PLEASE comment. And not just with emoticons. Give us specificsssss. Please ramble into our inboxes. I promise we don't find it annoying. Statistics show us that people are receiving our work, interacting with it - when you comment, we get to hear a little bit about how much people engage with it and that means so much.

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

anon in my inbox said fanfic writers who wrote about dark and taboo topics were not “real writers” because of what they wrote about.

reblog if you believe anon is wrong and writers are writers, no matter what they write about. no matter how they portray these taboo topics.

reblog if you believe art can be about topics that are controversial, taboo or outright disturbing, and artists who create controversial, taboo or outright disturbing art are as valid as artists who create art of conservative values.

reblog to laugh at anon ♡

[purple-on-black]

Dare I say, art SHOULD be about controversial topics.

If it’s not there to make a person stop and think about their own life and values, what is it for?