monster lovin'

No shirt, no bra, completely bare torso, just like cis men are allowed to

It's about desexualizing breasts and "female presenting nipples" and not being criminalized for our bodies if we want to go topless because it's a million damn degrees out. This was a popular growing movement that was still widely known a decade ago!

here’s a compilation of sketches that are usually at the bottom of chapters, now they appear to you all at once ^_^

(Riskier ones under the readmore, 18+)

Consider following political and social justice tumblrs under a different login than the one you use to find cool art / cat pictures / fandom stuff / kink stuff / etc

Or like just in general, if you're getting most of your political news in the same apps where you do most of your fun / sexy shit,

There's a concept in psychology called "overcoupling," which is basically when a person's trauma is super cross-wired, so to speak, with the present or with a certain topic

Overcoupling can both cause and worsen intrusive thoughts and depression, especially for people with a history of trauma

Or, more simply: If you're mentally whipping back and forth between cute animal, funny joke, porn, genocide psa, and hate crime footage at the speed of scrolling, that can really mess with your head, and sometimes it takes people quite a while to pin it down

Or, if the place you go to relax and look at fandom shit is also where you get all your news about ongoing global crises, that's gonna seriously mess with your ability to actually relax and rest

So, many books, but the knowledge isn't eldritch - it's evidence-based!

Also, before I go into it:

This isn't something anyone needs to stress over or especially panic over, especially if you don't really feel like it's affecting you personally.

I simply was having a thoughtful night and wanted to share a nudge/tip/data point to help people be more intentional

Best of luck!

But yes, further explanation!:

The concept of overcoupling specifically comes from Somatic Experiencing, which is a type of therapy and bodywork. It was invented by a psychologist and trauma survivor, Dr. Peter Levine, in the 1990s. The idea behind Somatic Experiencing, as well as other somatic ("body-based") healing practices, is that, as we know, trauma is stored not just in the mind, but also in the body - and therefore SE says, in order to heal after trauma, we must work with the body too. They have some really cool articles and theses on the org's Research page here

But the reason I know isn't specific to somatic experiencing itself, I just know a lot about trauma, psychology books, and "mind, body, spirit" publishing (kind of a genre tag for a lot of these books, especially for alternative and non-Western healing practices).

Sooooooo,

If you want specific book recs for the eldritch-evidence-based knowledge, I highly recommend:

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

by Stephanie Foo

and

In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness

by Peter Levine

Also, for the book recs, since I've been asked before: This is in no way an ad or an affiliate link. I have never used either of those on reasonsforhope/directactionforhope, and I never plan to bc I believe in eliminating perverse incentives in my activism, etc.

--

On a different type of note, in terms of how I figured it out:

*if comfortable doing so, you may include your age range/generation in the tags for helpful demographic data

Op is being a fucking asshole for no good reason and is butthurt at pushback.

I can say it in a way that isn’t completely intentionally hurtful to novice writers or people who write character first.

Writing stories with cohesive plot is a whole different wheelhouse from oc creation and character lore development, so it’s going to be tough to nail the storytelling you’re used to seeing from authors you admire.

If you’re going to turn your beloved OC into a story, try and think of a plot as robust as your character before you commit to writing if you want it to come out cohesive. Other folks aren’t going to know your OC or their lore as well as you, and taking that for granted is tough to get over! I would try and think of the timeline of your OC’s story in a way that may overlap with pacing similar to works you’ve enjoyed before. Or look for stories that are similar to what you’re trying to do and learn from them!

Start with "who is your oc in this world? What friends and connections do they have?"

Then add just a bit of realism in there.

How would those friends and connections need to exist/affect the world? How do you want them to change as your story continues?

Some things will inevitably not work. That's fine. Put it in a drawer for later. You'd be surprised how much stuff you'll reuse after it's had time to cook! Do some research whenever you get stuck on what's bothering you.

And some of us have characters in our heads long before we have any idea for a plot! Many of those characters will not become protagonists. But our ability to come up with so many characters in full detail might help us populate the worlds we write, giving the setting more life because each side character has their own voice even if they only show up in one chapter.

I am very character and worldbuilding driven as a writer. My story ideas have all been built up from characters first. Their interactions with each other are a driving factor of the stories I write. Their personal beliefs and identities tel me more about the world and cultures they live in. And then I have more ideas for the world and I allow those ideas to change the characters. All together, it creates plot.

My stories are all lower stakes than the standard fantasy adventure, to be sure. Even the two ideas I have for stories with bigger stakes are more about preventing major conflicts, not getting into any big wars or having grand adventures to take down clear villains. That's just not how my characters are written, it's not the type of story that suits them.

It is true that sometimes starting with the characters will make it harder to come up with compelling plots and then write them out. I sure have taken years to settle on my ideas and start making any draft I'm actually proud of. But also, someone who starts only with a plot might equally struggle to write compelling characters! Sometimes planning out the plot first results in characters that feel flat because they're only made to fit a specific plot role and the author didn't flesh them out beyond that!

Writing is a matter of using several different skills in tandem, all of which have their purpose. Some of us can't even begin to think up a plot unless we have characters first because it's putting characters in situations that gives us the motivation to create a whole plot. And others need the plot first because they can't even begin to conceptualize a good character unless they have enough story built up to start forming the silhouette of a protagonist and villain or whatever other characters they might need.

We can't tear each other down! We have to support our fellow creatives.