The Electric Hero, KyoryuCrimson

Saying the costs had begun to outweigh the benefits, administrators at the Cleveland Clinic confirmed Tuesday that they had decided to discontinue their use of a cancer-sniffing leopard in clinical settings. “Our ability to rapidly and accurately identify the disease has improved remarkably since we began using our detection leopard Fang in cancer screenings, but we have ultimately opted to phase out his services,” said hospital CEO Tomislav Mihaljevic, adding that “extensive” complaints from patients and families had forced the clinic’s doctors to return to more traditional methods of testing for cancer.

“They will face my wrath!”

For coming up with character names:

Behind the name (my absolute fav)

Allows you to choose the origin of where you want the name to be from, whether you want a more feminine vs masculine vs androgenous name (as voted by users), random surname generator, and clicking on the name gives you important info like if there are any famous people with the same name, where it’s from, how common it is, and how people tend to see it, etc.

You can also search their name database by letter or meaning or origin, so if you know you want a character who has a name/surname that starts with an A from Ireland, there’s a whole list for you to choose from.

Census sites

Especially useful if you’re looking for a name from a specific place and/or time period. Just search “(country) census (year)” and you’ll find a database of real people who lived in that place at that time. No one can ever call your names unrealistic again.

For coming up with place names:

Fantasy name generator

This site can basically come up with any name for any person, place, or thing you might ever need. There are also specific generators for different fandoms if you’re looking to make an OC in an established world.

For finding that one word on the tip of your tongue:

One Look Thesaurus

This is my go-to. Not only can you find synonyms like a regular thesaurus, but you can also describe words like “unhappy smile” or “quiet laugh” to find the more specific word you’re looking for.

For coming up with ideas:

Word cloud

When I need to inspire a new idea, I write down all the things I’m interested in (hauntings, academia, lesbians, etc.) and put them into a word cloud to shuffle them next to each other. Sometimes seeing a concept in a new context can spark new ideas!

WWF Discord

This is my discord channel (shameless plug) for when you need to brainstorm off other people but don’t have anyone irl to talk to. We’re also happy to read and give feedback on writing, answer writing questions, or just chat!

For visualizing places and characters:

Pinterest

Pinterest can at times be a bit too sterile for my tastes, but if you use the right words, you can find more realistic photos of places. For example, adding “aesthetic” after basically any word will bring up a more broad collection of photos to help you flesh out places.

This is also a great way to find photos of people and fashion to help visualize characters. I’m bad at describing clothes, so I usually collect photos of outfits to help me know what my characters are wearing. Searching up “character inspiration” will collect more interesting photos and drawings of people who might not exactly be of our world.

(However, to make Pinterest not show you AI results, you have to go into your settings and check the “reduce AI” box. Luckily, it does mostly work.)

Death to Stock

Like pinterest but completely AI free (hooray!) Only drawback is that you have to pay a monthly subscription (about $20 CAD).

Cosmos

Very similar to pinterest but slightly more "artsy". I'm not super familiar with this one but I believe all the photos are human and you can save them and create collections with a free account.

Dupe Photos

Royalty-free stock image site with very Pinterest-core photos!

Minecraft

If you haven’t built your entire fictional city in Minecraft instead of writing, why not? It’s fun.

The Sims

This one is dual purpose because you can not only create your characters in Create a Sim, but you can design their houses. If you really want to go for it, you can bulldoze all the lots in your town and build your world from scratch.

For checking grammar:

Grammar Girl

Easy to follow definitions and examples, and if you learn better by listening, every article comes with a podcast to follow along with instead.

Grammar Monster

This one is my favourite for checking grammar rules because there’s tons of examples in graphics that helps for any situation.

Reedsy

Among other things, reedsy can connect you to professional editors within your budget.

For writing advice:

One Stop for Writers

This one was recommended from my discord channel and has all sorts of tutorials and resources for the writing craft.

My Blog Directory

Another shameless plug, but if you need writing advice on something specific, you can search through my directory to see if it’s there. If it isn’t, you can always send me an ask about it!

For an alternative to Google Docs:

Ellipsus

Think google docs but without AI. Yay!

when i was younger and read the original trilogy for the first time i was so bothered how it was 74 years of games, i remember thinking how could it have gone on so long without anyone doing anything

these prequels highlight that people have been fighting from the get-go: lucy gray's defiance, reaper ripping down panem's flags to cover the fallen tributes, haymitch's games and how many others shared his ideologies - the capitol just drowns them out, they rewrite their stories so their efforts are forgotten

Happiness get redefined too. As a child I was taught that while “people without the gospel” may claim to be happy, they couldn’t experience true happiness, because “true and lasting happiness” only came from the gospel. Other people could only experience temporary worldly pleasure, like the kind you get from buying something cool or riding a roller coaster (yes that was an actual thing that was said) or “indulging in sin,” but it would ultimately make them unhappy in the long run.

I was told that, since those people had never known the true happiness of the gospel, they mistook worldly pleasures as happiness, but in reality their lives were empty and less meaningful and deep down, they could sense something was “missing.” Also, apostates were all depressed and angry alcoholics who couldn’t be truly happy bc they’d rejected the gospel.

The joy that they’re speaking of is religious ecstasy, an altered mental state that produces an intense high, that is relatively easily brought on by social pressure. It is also possible to reach it with meditation, intense exercise, witnessing moving beauty or music, or even heat exhaustion.

That’s part of why evangelicals hate meditation and secular music. When you find out that a live performance of “Whiter Shade of Pale” gives you the same emotional hit that your speaking in tongues episode, that’s not good for the collection plate. Evangelical cults police pleasure and secular entertainment because a pleasure-starved audience is all the more hooked by that big emotional swell point in the sermon, and while there are many, many great artists inspired by religion, the cultural contributions of American Evangelical Christianity peaked with Bibleman and Stryper.

The admonishments against drug use are similarly motivated, because a lot of those induce the states associated with “spiritual experiences” and the rubes realizing that spiritual experiences come from chemicals and not spirits is bad for business. Even more embarrassing that the chemicals work every time while the frenzy is so hard to induce.

Something I really want to point out that stuck out to me right away is that Thresh is drawn like a child. He is so frequently described as huge by Katniss, his size and strength are often remarked upon. That, coupled with the casting in the movies, makes us forget how genuinely young this child is.

This is especially poignant as young black children (particularly young black boys) frequently have their child status denied to them. They are treated by the media, by police, by adults in a position of authority - as if they are all older than they really are.

So seeing this drawing of Thresh, an older child, but still a CHILD. Being allowed to look every bit the youth that he is. Every bit as scared and traumatized as he likely was... It really resonates with me.

i love you

trans boys who can't present the way they want to

i love you

trans boys who can't cut their hair

i love you

trans boys who can cut their hair but still get dysphoria

i love you

trans boys who are insecure about their bodies

i love you

trans boys who feel too skinny or too fat

i love you

trans boys who hate their chests

i love you

trans boys who feel ugly

i love you

trans boys