#wtfih6

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Ladies and gigglesprinkles, I ask now for your most sincere opinionations.

On a scale of this blog to act five, how much has Homestuck updated since the beginning of act six?

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My impression of the "shitstorm" currently plaguing the Homestuck fandom.

Andrew Hussie: I want everyone to use their imagination! 

Fandom: 

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Homestuckk the song. Ray Sipe. (by raysipeladygaga)

An impressively accurate description of Homestuck. 

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Amnesia stream is set for tomorrow, if everything goes as planned!

How it will work: 

Duke and I will livestream Amnesia: The Dark Descent. 

I have never played Amnesia. Ever. I have heard things about it, but that is it. 

Duke and I will probably be taking turns playing. One plays while the other watches, after a certain time, we will switch. 

The one that is not playing will be able to use the chatroom. 

Our chosen livestreaming service will probably be Twitch, however, with Twitch's chat program you need to register to chat. 

If you plan to participate in the stream tomorrow, register now.

Our microphone will be on and will be recording our reactions. The microphone is a very high quality. 

The planned time to start is around 12-1PM EST tomorrow, but this is subject to change. The link will be posted around 10 minutes prior to the stream. 

The stream will be open to anyone, so please, do invite your friends. 

Stream chat rules: 

1. No discussing Homestuck or MSPA. 

2. No spoilers for this or for anything. 

3. No joking about sexual assault, abuse, or anything that is potentially triggering. 

Look forward to it! 

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Writing advice from someone who should absolutely never give it

As finals are coming to a close for many students, I realize that I should have posted this earlier when it may have actually been of use. 

Should I be giving advice? No. Not at all. But I will anyway. 

Writing anything can prove challenging for some individuals, but with the abundance of resources readily available on to the internet, it does not have to be! 

Pretty much a broken record of things you have heard a million times. 

Note: I am not a professional. ( No shit. ) 

Write an outline. I have used outlines before for many things, you would be surprised how much they help. Just a basic sketch of what will be included in your document. I use outlines for character analyses, some of which I am currently working on.

Use a notebook. Any old notebook works. Do not wait until you have access to a computer! Regardless of how hideous your handwriting is, just write a few things down as you think them up. Get a cheap one so there is no hesitation to use up all of the paper. You can type everything up later. 

Have a comfortable writing utensil. If your hand starts to cramp up, that ruins the entire point of a notebook. Some people prefer pencils, some prefer pens. Personally, I use pens as the ink does not smudge, the line is controlled, there is no graphite to break, and they write beautifully. These are my absolute favorite pens. They are .38mm pens and are quite hard to find in stores, so if you see them, get them.  I would like to note, however, that these pens have somewhat of a shorter lifespan compared to other pens. 

Avoid repetition. Once you have typed up your paper, do a quick CTRL+F for words that you feel have been overused. Try to use different words each time or rephrase that portion completely. 

Use a thesaurus. "Big", "small", "happy", "sad"-  adjectives such as these are incredibly dull and should be avoided at all costs. If you would like to find another way to say something, search for it in a thesaurus.  It is incredibly helpful and aids in the struggle against common words. 

Elaborate. Paint a picture with your words. Use as many relevant details as humanly possible. 

Make sure it flows. Writing is art. It needs to have structure and it needs to be smooth. Do not try to force a phrase or a paragraph, if something seems off, try again until it sounds perfect. 

Read it out loud. 

Discuss your topic of writing with someone to get ideas. 

Ask someone else to read it and be willing to accept criticism. If you want to improve, you first must know how to do so. 

SPELL CHECK. 

Grammar check. I have only used it a few times, but it seems to be fairly accurate. If you do not know if you are using proper grammar, give it a try. 

Keep writing. Write a review of your favorite movie, write an analysis of a situation, write about your day as if it was the tale of a brave hero. Practice with writing about what you know and what you believe. 

Use Google. Something does not make sense? Unsure if something is spelled correctly? Want to know if there is a word for something? Google it. Quick and easy. 

Go for a walk. Inspiration can be found everywhere, I find it mostly in nature or by watching others interact. 

Take breaks. If you are stressed, forcing yourself to write when you cannot form a coherent sentence is completely counterproductive. Use that time to take a quick nap or do something else until you are fully prepared to continue. 

Do not be so harsh on yourself. Nobody is perfect, it will take practice to improve your skills and giving up is not an option. If you mess up, that is okay. Mistakes are allowed. Do not beat yourself up about it. 

Will add more later when I am not so incredibly sleep deprived. 

edit: Get sleep, that tends to help. 

Some resources: 

Thesaurus. 

Google.

Dictionary. 

Grammar check.

My favorite pens. 

I Write Like, compare your writing style to those of famous authors. 

Open Office - a free, easy to use alternative to Microsoft Word. Features document recovery, spellcheck, and practically everything else in Microsoft Word, minus the ridiculous ram usage. 

Character and word count. 

Unusual words. 

Unusual words part two. 

Style Guide

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation 

 The Chicago Manual of Style

Common Errors in English 

 English-Zone.Com 

 Guide to Grammar and Style 

 Sharp Points 

 Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric 

 The Vocabula Review 

Harvard resources. 

Purdue Online Writing Lab

More resources. 

Finally, 

Regardless of how amphigorous the content may be, regardless of how little substance may be present, writing is an art. Writing is literature. Literature is art. And just like any other art, writing requires motivation. Motivation, inspiration, and the complications that frequently prove creative arts to be far too challenging and demanding for many who attempt to pursue it as either a hobby or a career. 

The motivation that pulls both aspiring and professional artistic individuals from their pit of astonishingly unproductive sorrow varies from person to person, but simply surrendering the hope for a creative epiphany is at no point in time any sort of reasonable option. 

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Give...away, if there is anything to be given.

There appears to be some sort of raffle bandwagon that Duke has hopped onto before I. 

I am considering doing some type of giveaway, but as I have absolutely nothing physical of any worth and am not willing to use the postal system in the near future, my options are quite limited! 

If you can come up with unique or interesting ideas for prizes, suggest away. 

Note: Chances of in depth, lengthy character analyses as a prize are incredibly slim as it would take time and the winner would have to understand that such things often take a quite while to both research and write. 

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Today, someone asked me to explain Homestuck to them.

I do not recall how the topic came to be Homestuck, as it is not exactly a subject that I actively pursue to discuss offline.

I stared at him for a moment and carefully pondered this seemingly reasonable request. Judging by the tone of the conversation up until now, he seemed to be genuinely curious and willing to read it. With that in mind, I wanted to avoid spoilers at all costs, but at the same time I wanted to provide an accurate explanation and intriguing enough summary that could at the very least somewhat begin to express just how in depth and interesting Homestuck really is.

I should be able to do this, I thought to myself. Yes. Yes, out of all people, I should be able to. I should. This is what I do. I write analyses in my free time. That is a thing. That is one of my things. I do this. Yes.

Still actively considering about how I could possibly accomplish this seemingly simple enough task, I realized that I had been staring at him for a while and quickly darted my eyes to the floor, then to the wall, and then to my mobile, which was patiently waiting for me on the table. To simply instruct him to read it would be rude. 

This is difficult, said my non-existent inner voice which would likely have been announced to the audience with some sort of mysterious echo had this been in a movie or a scene from an extremely cheesy drama.

Wow, I was the worst possible person to ask this question. Really. Out of all the Homestucks in the world, out of the thousands and thousands of passionate fans out there that are patiently anticipating the day that they are granted the opportunity to answer such a question, he had to ask me. Me. Really, me. What great luck he has. Shit. 

I do not know how much time had passed. My awkward silence was surely causing some sort of uncomfortable and unnerving atmosphere. He could not hear my inner monologue, to both of our benefits. Perhaps he thought I was ignoring him. Perhaps he thought I was thinking about something else. Perhaps he thought that I never actually knew anything about Homestuck. Perhaps he doubted that I ever even read it. Perhaps he thought I was judging him. No, I was in the exact same situation quite recently. Really, I was. I decided that I needed to say something. Anything. I needed to open my mouth. Sounds happen. I can make sounds. It is possible for me. I do that.

“It, uh...”, I finally stammered, forcing the words out, forcing myself to respond to his request.

“Some...kids...play a game...and...stuff happens. Oh, and the plot is really deep.”

Way to go, self.

The conversation ended shortly after, but I spent the next 10 minutes quietly reevaluating my life and wondering how I came to this shameful point of becoming so incredibly distressed from the inability to properly explain a webcomic. 

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In case anyone missed it, my chosen name was "Rune". Feel free to refer to me as such.