Swifty’s Daily Thoughts

We already know Rex’s clone network is probably going to fail, and Howzer was a new character with no mention in previous series. Neither Hera nor Rex ever eluded to him so… either he’s out or he’s just gonna go live as a hermit which I don’t really see happening. This one’s more of a hunch than anything.

Then we have the empire. The empire was known for having all human workers. From the representation on the planets, to the common foot soldier. Not many aliens were working unless it was by slavery, other kinds of manual labor and serfdom, or they just got unique opportunities. Palpatine has already used the excuse of “the clones let the fall of Kamino happen” to put the recruitment bill into place (bitch). So, if Chuchi was found out to be assisting the network with their mini “rebellion”, Palpatine may use this and the fact that many separatist planets were alien civilizations as an excuse to cycle out alien representatives with human ones. Seeing as the governor who replaced Ames was human, they may already be cycling out the alien governors of resisting planets. Even though Ames herself was human, I think the point still has merit.

I take it you must not have read the constant stream of "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if the Empire killed them all just like in Rogue One"; " All the title cast WILL die," "Everyone dies but Omega", "Hunter's totally gonna kill Crosshair", "Crosshair's totally gonna kill Hunter", " Wrecker's gonna kill everyone and then himself", "No no, Rampart's going to kill Crosshair this time", "What if Crosshair kills Commander Cody", "What if Commander Cody kills Crosshair", "Tech should just plain stay dead and maybe everyone else can now die as well", "Echo gets killed on Hoth", and my personal favorite, " If they're not in Star Wars Rebels, then the Empire killed them" (explain how The Mandalorian is talking, walking, and breathing, then)...so I hope I explained it all to you in full disclosure mode.

Also, nobody ever told me that I needed to smile, nod, like, and otherwise go along with every single reaction post without outright questioning it like the forums of old, so again, I feel the need to ask:

Also, nobody ever told me that I needed to smile, nod, like, and otherwise go along with every single reaction post without outright questioning it like the forums of old

Precisely! You’re allowed to have your own opinion, and sure you can say what you like and don’t like about things in canon and fandom, but… why do it on random posts of people who seem to be looking forward to seeing season 3? or even if they like/want to see this trope, that’s their opinion. not yours. you’re not obliged to comment on it. personally when I feel negative about anything I just go by: keep it to your blog, and tag appropriately.

and to answer your question:

Why do we absolutely need to have a mass extinction event in every single piece of media now, and if that's really what everyone wants...why should I watch?

anticipation - bouncing legs - darting eyes - breathing deeply - useless / mindless tasks - eyes on the clock - checking and re-checking

frustration - grumbling - heavy footsteps - hot flush - narrowed eyes - pointing fingers - pacing / stomping

sadness - eyes filling up with tears - blinking quickly - hiccuped breaths - face turned away - red / burning cheeks - short sentences with gulps

happiness - smiling / cheeks hurting - animated - chest hurts from laughing - rapid movements - eye contact - quick speaking

boredom - complaining - sighing - grumbling - pacing - leg bouncing - picking at nails

fear - quick heartbeat - shaking / clammy hands - pinching self - tuck away - closing eyes - clenched hands

disappointment - no eye contact - hard swallow - clenched hands - tears, occasionally - mhm-hmm

tiredness - spacing out - eyes closing - nodding head absently - long sighs - no eye contact - grim smile

Also, still NOTHING about confirming that Crosshair and Omega aren't secretly carrying dormant inhibitor chips in their heads. Hilarious.

✧ What is happening?

As of early May 2022, you might have gotten this message when trying to save edits on your custom pages or when trying to install new ones:

“Looks like you’re trying to add some Javascript or invalid html to your page. You’ll need to contact Support if you’d like to use Javascript.”

✧ Why is this happening?

Tumblr is preventing potential malicious uses of javascript and decided to ban any form of javascript on your pages, and for now the only way to re-enable it is to “contact Support”.

More info: https://help.tumblr.com/hc/en-us/articles/5869629271319

✧ How to contact support:

Just “contact Support” is vague enough in itself, so here’s a quick guide on what to write in your request to them so you can get approved asap. Please note that it may take some time for them to process your request. This exact method isn’t guaranteed, but here’s what I did that got me approved within a week.

1. Go to https://www.tumblr.com/support

2. In the Category option, choose “Customizing your Tumblr”.

3. In the message box, list out all the blogs you want to use custom pages on. Then, give a brief description of what you use those blogs for. You only need to state the blog names, *not* each of the custom page urls, or the javascript file links. Here’s a template:

(Remember the please & thankyous! Staff are flooded with requests right now so be mindful).

4. Skip the Attachment part.

5. For the Relevant Blog option, pick your main blog (the very first blog you created on your account)

6. For the Account Email, enter the email you use to sign in to Tumblr

7. Complete the Captcha and wait for the tick ✓ to show

8. Click Next.

9. You’ll reach the “Does any of this help?” screen. No, it does not. Scroll to the bottom and click “No, send my thing”.

I don’t know about you guys, but I have a hard time keeping the terms for various parts of clone armour straight in my mind. So, I decided to make this Guide To Armour, to make my life easier for those times I’m drawing or writing stuff and need to reference what this, that or the other piece is called, how it’s put on or taken off. (I’ve also tried to include/come up with some casual or slang terms for some parts because you cannot seriously expect these guys to use the Right Proper Terminology for everything all of the time.)

This is based on the Clone Wars cartoons, because that’s what I know best. Also, this is just the standard armour of regular troopers; if y’all want something about the possible additions/variations that you could have then lmk and I’ll see what I can put together I guess?

Note: a lot of this terminology is taken from medieval knights’ armour. Many terms are originally French; alternative names provided where possible. I did do a bit of research on medieval plate armour, which is the closest thing I can think of to clone armour, but I am by no means an expert so if you have any input or corrections feel free to @ me. Likewise, if you’ve cosplayed as a clone trooper or stormtrooper, I’d very much like to hear about your experience wearing this stuff, how it moves and how it might be similar or different to the “real thing” so to speak.

Figure 1: Clone trooper armour, front view. Kix got chosen for this because he’s a vain little bastard and loves to be painted. (ETA: this diagram now comes with a second, funnier version.)

(long post under cut)

1 Write.

2 Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.

3 Finish what you're writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.

4 Put it aside. Read it pretending you've never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that this is.

5 Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

6 Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.

7 Laugh at your own jokes.

have your protagonist walk into them

have them walk into your protagonist

falling from the sky

they flirt with your protagonist in a coffee shop

your protagonist flirts with them first

your protagonist saves them / they save your protagonist

they fix your protagonist's car

find them hiding in a closet

find them making out with someone in a closet

eavesdropping on your protagonist

involved in a car chase after your protagonist

your protagonist mistakes them for someone else

they bond with your mc over how loud the neighbours are

OR they move in next door and are annoyingly loud and your protagonist is determined to teach them what good music is

they kidnap your protagonist for ransom

they accidentally commit vehicular manslaughter and your mc is the only witness

the barista mistakes their order for your protagonist's

pizza delivery man

walk in on their demon summoning circle

they keep trying to sell your mc something on a flyer

secretly your mc's long-lost sister *gasp*

online dating site

they mistake your mc for a celebrity and try to take pictures with them

taxi driver

your mc catches them shoplifting and tries to get them to return what they stole

or they see your mc shoplifting and get them arrested

friend of a friend

Writing kidnappings

masterlist. main navigation.

@bluebxlle_writer on instagram

1. Purpose

Common purposes of kidnapping are :

• They require that person to achieve something

• The person has important information

• For ransom, to get something from another character

• For bait, to lure another character

Also, raise the stakes. This may seem trivial, but trust me, it helps. The readers won't care about the kidnapping if the stakes aren't high enough. Maybe the mcs will get lots of money or crucial information if they manage to kidnap someone. Or alternately, maybe something bad will happen if the mcs don't rescue the victim from their kidnappers on time.

2. How it took place

Did the kidnappers have a messy plan - needing to break into a place, fight, and physically drag the victim out of there, which will make the kidnapping known to practically everyone, or did they have an elaborate plan where they drug the victim and smuggle them out through the sewers, so that nobody knew about the kidnapping until a few days have passed? How the kidnappers organize their kidnapping plan will say a lot about their personality and efficiency.

3. How the kidnappers treat the victim

Another important aspect that will also help in the characterizations of the kidnappers is to decide how they will treat the victim. Antagonists will probably torture them - and might even finish it by killing them even after they give in. Protagonists might be more awkward, giving their prisoner food, and checking them once in a while.

But yk what? Screw bad guy and good guy norms. Why not spice it up? Make your antagonists terribble kidnappers, unconsciously striking small talk with the prisoners (yes, like Ming Hua and Ghazan to Mako and Bolin from tlok), while your protagonists ruthless and not hesitating to torture them.

4. How the victim acts

Think about how the prisoner will react to being kidnapped. Will they cower in fear, or make snarky comments and not care about the situation? And during the interrogation, if there's any, will they immediately give in to save themselves or remain strong and keep their mouth shut? Will they try to escape at all, or simply accept their fate?

Or even better, they'll outsmart their kidnappers by pretending to strike a deal with them, only to betray that deal later (my personal favorite oml).

5. Reaction of friends and families

There are three possibilities on how friends and families will react to the victims being kidnapped :

1. They'll become distraught, willing to do anything to get the victim back, even if it means they'll play dirty. If you choose this option, there are more options to write about :

• They'll work together and become an even better team to rescue the victim.

• They'll let their emotions take over and start blaming one another, causing fights and the team to fall apart, which will make a rescue mission difficult.

• They'll strike a deal with another group of villains and work together to save the victim.

2. They won't even notice that the victim is missing, making the whole thing even sadder. A perfect example of this is the kidnapping of Klaus in TUA - none of his siblings noticed when he went missing, not even after he literally time traveled back and forth. Not to mention that when they heard that their brother had been kidnapped, their first thought was Five, not Klaus.

3. Even worse, they might know that the victim had been kidnapped, but they won't do anything about it - either because they don't care enough, or they prioritized their current missions over rescuing the victim. This one never fails to make me cry :"

Not sure how to properly ask this but how do I write a fight scene between two characters who are both trained but might have different skill sets, while anyone still might get out alive that it could factor in?

Two things come to mind. First, it’s unlikely that you’re writing from both character’s perspectives simultaneously. Second, not every fight is going to be to the death.

When you’re writing a scene, it’s important to have clear goals for the participants. Violence is a way your characters attempt to exert their will on the world around them, it doesn’t simply occur for its own sake. (This isn’t a moral judgement; just that if your violence lacks motivation, it will come across as hollow. There are ways to leverage this, but, that’s a more complicated topic.) If you have two characters who want each other dead, then chances are someone’s not walking away. However, if you have characters with different goals, then any combat that occurs will be at cross purposes.

You don’t necessarily need to explain those goals to your audience. In fact, by default, your characters are unlikely to know their foe’s goals. That’s the biggest consideration in the other part of this question.

Your characters aren’t part of a psychic gestalt. They don’t automatically know what the other people around them are thinking, feeling, or planning. Even with an omniscient narrator, your characters won’t know their foes thoughts and plans, though the audience may be. With a limited narrator, you’re going to be writing the scene from the perspective of one of your characters, and, again, they won’t know what their foe is planning.

When both of your characters have the same background, it can provide an edge against one another. They’ve had the same training, and they’ll have learned the same strategies, tactics, and techniques. This means they have some ability to predict the other’s actions. They’ll be in a better position to predict their foe’s goals, and how what they’ll do to realize them.

If your characters have different backgrounds and skillsets, they won’t have that advantage; that’s the difference. They’ll have to guess at their foe’s methods, based on the information they have. They’re less likely to know what their foe wants, and they won’t know how their foe will go about achieving their goals.

So, how do you write two characters with different backgrounds in conflict? By remembering that they’re different people, and don’t know what the other person was trained to do.

-Starke

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Choke. Just think about it, seriously. Think about what choking is and imagine speaking while it’s happening. That would fuckin’ hurt, man.

Hiss. Look, it’s just not possible, okay? No matter how “evil” you want your character to seem.

Snarl. Animals snarls. The Beast from Beauty and the Beast snarls. The Hulk snarls. You know who doesn’t snarl? PEOPLE WHEN THEY’RE SPEAKING.

Shriek. Come on, 99% of the time, “shriek” is not the word you want.Let’s face it: if you put an exclamation point at the end of the sentence, your reader gets the picture. Don’t bring to mind banshees and screaming toddlers.

Hiss is a low, threatening whisper. Raw, guttural, vicious. It is NOT a literal hiss like an animal, it is a tone of voice that serves the same function. Someone will hiss that they’re going to cut your throat- a message from one person to the other.

Snarl is the same kind of thing. Not literal, it’s a tone of voice that serves the same function. It’s raw and gutteral like a hiss, but more savage than vicious. It’s loud, it’s showy, it’s intimidating. It’s very alpha male, big man, look at how fucking dangerous I am. I’ll take ALL of you on. Even if they’re snarling at one person in particular, nobody better back them up or they’re gonna get fucked up too.

Shriek. Come on, seriously? We’ve all heard people shriek either in fear or outrage. High pitched, loud, out of control, feminine. Men can shriek, but it’s funny and emasculating. Think angry italian women throwing pots and pans or ladies on tables who just saw a mouse.

a wolf’s fur is so unbelievably thick that you can get like, your whole hand into it while petting. and then you can keep going

wolves are a lot bigger than you think they are. think about how big you think a wolf is then just like double that

they dont really smell like dog but they DO smell and youre not going to be able to figure out if its a good smell or not

a wolf really wants to lick the inside of your mouth. he will not stop trying to lick the inside of your mouth at any cost, and generally speaking you need to press your lips together kind of tightly when he approaches your face so that he doesnt worm his damn tongue in there to give you what he thinks is an appropriate greeting

a wolf doesnt really want to look at you while you pet him but he wants you to pet him. hes embarrassed

if a grown ass wolf decides to lay down on you, you just have to deal with it and thats your life now

young wolves, much like young dogs, are overwhelmingly goofy and stupid. a teenage wolf will see your very fragile, very human shoulder and go “i can probably step on that with my full weight” and then he will do it

(source)

Unsplash -  photography, illustration, and art

Pixabay - same as unsplash

Pexels - stock photos and videos

Stockvault.net - stock photos

freepngimg - icons, pictures and clipart

Veceezy - vectors and clipart

Kissclipart and kissPNG - more vectors and clipart (often transparent!)

Getdrawings - simplistic images and drawing tutorials

Gumroad - photoshop brushes (and more)

Canva - needs login but has lots of templates

Library of Congress - historical posters and photos

NASA - you guessed it

Creative Commons - all kinds of stuff, homie

Even Adobe has some free images

There are so many ways to make moodboards, bookcovers, and icons without infringing copyright! As artists, authors, and other creatives, we need to be especially careful not to use someone else’s work and pass it off as our own. 

I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.

IN RESPONSE TO Acknowledged Answered Protested

INPUT/JOIN CONVERSATION/ASK Added Implored Inquired Insisted Proposed Queried Questioned Recommended Testified

GUILTY/RELUCTANCE/SORRY Admitted Apologized Conceded Confessed Professed

FOR SOMEONE ELSE Advised Criticized Suggested

JUST CHECKING Affirmed Agreed Alleged Confirmed

LOUD Announced Chanted Crowed

LEWD/CUTE/SECRET SPY FEEL Appealed Disclosed Moaned

ANGRY FUCK OFF MATE WANNA FIGHT Argued Barked Challenged Cursed Fumed Growled Hissed Roared Swore

SMARTASS Articulated Asserted Assured Avowed Claimed Commanded Cross-examined Demanded Digressed Directed Foretold Instructed Interrupted Predicted Proclaimed Quoted Theorized

ASSHOLE Bellowed Boasted Bragged

NERVOUS TRAINWRECK Babbled Bawled Mumbled Sputtered Stammered Stuttered

SUAVE MOTHERFUCKER Bargained Divulged Disclosed Exhorted

FIRST OFF Began

LASTLY Concluded Concurred

WEAK PUSY Begged Blurted Complained Cried Faltered Fretted

HAPPY/LOL Cajoled Exclaimed Gushed Jested Joked Laughed

WEIRDLY HAPPY/EXCITED Extolled Jabbered Raved

BRUH, CHILL Cautioned Warned

ACTUALLY, YOU’RE WRONG Chided Contended Corrected Countered Debated Elaborated Objected Ranted Retorted

CHILL SAVAGE Commented Continued Observed Surmised

LISTEN BUDDY Enunciated Explained Elaborated Hinted Implied Lectured Reiterated Recited Reminded Stressed

BRUH I NEED U AND U NEED ME Confided Offered Urged

FINE Consented Decided

TOO EMO FULL OF EMOTIONS Croaked Lamented Pledged Sobbed Sympathized Wailed Whimpered

JUST SAYING Declared Decreed Mentioned Noted Pointed out Postulated Speculated Stated Told Vouched

WASN’T ME Denied Lied

EVIL SMARTASS Dictated Equivocated Ordered Reprimanded Threatened

BORED Droned Sighed

SHHHH IT’S QUIET TIME Echoed Mumbled Murmured Muttered Uttered Whispered

DRAMA QUEEN Exaggerated Panted Pleaded Prayed Preached

OH SHIT Gasped Marveled Screamed Screeched Shouted Shrieked Yelped Yelled

ANNOYED Grumbled Grunted Jeered Quipped Scolded Snapped Snarled Sneered

ANNOYING Nagged

I DON’T REALLY CARE BUT WHATEVER Guessed Ventured

I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM Hooted Howled Yowled

I WONDER Pondered Voiced Wondered

OH, YEAH, WHOOPS Recalled Recited Remembered

SURPRISE BITCH Revealed

IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD Scoffed Snickered Snorted

BITCHY Tattled Taunted Teased