[ PERMANENT HIATUS ]

I work at a greeting card shop, a mom-and-pop (but really single mom shop) kind of place and I have to add to this! 

Companies have just started to make wedding cards featuring same-sex couples in the last two years. This year for the first time a major distributor made same sex Valentines Day cards! I was over the moon!  

This is from Papyrus! They are a great card company that you can get at loads of stores like Target. 

BUT THEIR WEDDING ONES ARE BRAND NEW AND AWESOME. 

See that matching set of ties? That was our best selling wedding card about four to six months after marriage equality became legal in our state! Do you know how many nervous old women I had to help pick out a same-sex card? LIKE SO MANY. 

I had a man in his 90′s who was super nervous even ask me (quote), “I don’t mean to be offensive I just don’t know the word for a girl who likes girls and I don’t know what card to get my great niece.” And I was like, “The word is lesbian, you aren’t being at all offensive, and this card here will be perfect.” BEST DAY OF MY WORKING LIFE OKAY. 

Meri-Meri cards also have great same sex cards!! The Mr. and Mr. banner is also one of our best selling wedding cards! 

BUT HOLD THE FUCK UP.

BECAUSE LET’S TALK ABOUT ANOTHER CUSTOM CARD SHOP LESS THAN A BLOCK AWAY FROM US.

Ladyfingers Letterpress!! Run by a woke as fuck lesbian couple!! 

You want a card for a transgender family member? FUCK YEAH YOU DO. 

You want a polygamous/bisexual inclusive card? HELL YES. 

You want to remind your family that you are the GAY COUSIN??? 

DON’T SUBSCRIBE TO ANY GENDER? ANY SEXUALITY? STILL QUESTIONING? LOOK AT THIS. 

FUCK YEAH INCLUSIVE GREETING CARDS.

Writing characters is tough. Writing the right character for your story is even tougher. Here’s a few quick tips to kick your characters into high gear: 

Don’t plan too much. Sure, it’s great if you know your character’s favorite color, but over-planning in my case has always lead to failing characters. In my experience, my most successful characters came about very organically. Once you get a taste of their personality, it spills out. You know as much about them as your reader does, you remember to write the important things. You will know them just well enough to know that you can figure out anything you don’t yet know about them. 

All characters want something. Don’t give them too many wants. You might write out a list of twenty five things they want, but it’s not worth it. Come up with one thing they want more than anything else. See ahead to what kind of conflicts they’ll have. It’s easy if their wants go along with their conflict, for instance, the girl with the self esteem problem wants only to feel appreciated. Remember: not all characters should have to want the same thing. Other smaller problems are subplot. 

Make memorable characters. A character does not have to be a total weirdo to be memorable. Sometimes, it’s just how normal and relatable they actually are that’s going to make readers like them. The rule to go by though: give them personalities. Give them opinions and habits, make them moody sometimes. No one is happy all the time. A character with personality is going to be memorable. Think about your favorite characters in published works of fiction or movies and think about their various habits to get you started. 

I got a request on how to prevent white-washing dark skinned characters when brightening or adding a pastel color to your edit, so here we go!

Things you need:

GIMP

take me to the mall

give me $2000