#pirates of the caribbean was kind of a formative influence #so here’s the thing #after years of chasing curses and hearts and fountains; losing the pearl and winning her back and losing her again #after rum enough to drown his sins and sorrows both#captain jack sparrow wakes up one morning and he’s immortal #just like that #no deals with calypso (he hasn’t been able to find her since the brethren court broke her chains) no desperate double-dealing #one morning he just…stops #stops aging stops dying #he gets the seas forever—except #except #the edges of the map are closing in #the lure of undiscovered treasures is waning and merchant ships are becoming better defended #the day that the East India Company takes Shipwreck Island; Jack feels a great chapter in the world’s history close #(he flees to the Barbary coast with the rest of his ilk; but the romance has gone out of it—the is too much desperation #too much hunger too much blood to it nowadays #the age of the swashbuckler won’t live out the decade) #I imagine this thing he’s chased all his life would crumble through his hands as he bounced from ship to ship #he never gets used to the square rigging on the clippers; though they lead to some good work running tea from china #but the first time he sees a steamship he nearly walks off the dock out of shock #of all the ways sailing would have changed; who thought you’d get rid of the /sails/ #(he swears he’s never getting on one of those monstrosities; let alone sailing on one) #(he manages to hold out until 1893 when the longing for the sea overwhelms him and he decides that even #that ghastly smog and the humming of the engines can be endured) #sometimes he’ll see calypso out of the corner of his eye—leaning on the deck railing; darting alongside the ship with the dolphins #(someone in the early 20th century tells him they’re not fish and he nearly busts a gut laughing) #he wears a hundred names and a hundred looks; cuts his hair short or grows it long #calls himself american; spanish; english (british); caribbean #he has two dozen different copies of Stevenson’s Treasure Island—it reminds him of something gone and half-forgotten #and in 1920 when Seitz comes out with Pirate Gold; Captain Jack Sparrow is in the first row (x)

And then in the future, everything changes. He’s been through it all, of course-watched humanity rediscover the heavens above them, watched them begin to wonder what’s out there. He cheered with the rest of the world when they landed on the moon, cheered as if he’d found Isla de la Muerta all over again, because there was something new. New treasure, a new horizon. But then they stop going, stop exploring, and he goes back to riding tankers across the rising seas. So he’s surprised when one day he wakes up from a night with his bottle of rum (his truest companion), and hears that there’s colonies on Mars now, and they need ships to supply them. He spends the next decade crafting new identities, learning all he can to qualify for the job, and after several tries (and even more faked deaths-this immortality thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be in the age of the inerasable digital self) he gets it. The ships go nearly constantly now, the needs of the terraforming project creating an unbroken line of vessels from Mars to Earth and back again. “Show me that horizon,” he whispers to himself, his personal prayer of thanksgiving, each time they leave orbit, because the worlds, the stars are in motion and it’s never the same, with nearly three years for a round trip the ports are always different, even if they keep the old names. And finally one trip something goes wrong with the reactor, they’re too low on power and have to deploy the backups, and Jack (Lucky Jack, they call him, for he survives too many things he shouldn’t but science has yet to accept that maybe some things weren’t old wives’ tales after all) goes out for the spacewalk to bring up the solar panels. And as they rise, geometric patterns black against the sun’s glare, he’s struck by a powerful sense of déjà vu, because it’s all here-wind and sails, a ship beneath his feet and stars above his head, horizon in all directions. He wonders, for a moment, if the reason he’s still here is because the universe wanted a witness, to mourn the end of one age of exploration, and rejoice in the birth of the next.

Thank you for writing this. It made me cry, but oh I am so relieved to see the yearning for the stars.

That shouldn’t have given me as many feels as it did… 

And when there’s a long expedition, they’re out in the deep black throwing ions behind them in an iridescent wake, they tack into position, and raise the solar sails, great and golden like Jason’s fleece, sailing off like Argonauts to Alpha Centauri.

“…And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by…”

Save me from these glorious tags.

I just want to remind everyone how affordable buying food from indigenous tribes is. I live in a major city and I was able to purchase and ship (15) pounds of fish from back home to myself for cheaper than I could buy it from a grocery store here in the city. Yeah, shipping has its own environmental factors but I was able to support an indigenous owned business while also getting my groceries at a lesser cost. (Buying in bulk is always a good idea if you’re planning on having something shipped to you)

Some tribal owned grocers that ship:

Bow and Arrow (Ute Mountain)

Native Harvest (White Earth)

Red Lake Fishery (Red Lake)

Wozupi (Mdewakanton Dakota)

Ramona Farms (Gila River)

Tanka Bars (Oglala)

Indian Pueblo Store (Pueblos)

Twisted Cedar Wine (Cedar Paiutes)

Ute Bison (Ute)

Seka Hills Olive Oil and Vinegars (Yocha Dehe Wintun)

She Nah Nam Seafood (Nisqually)

Sakari Botanicals (Inupiaq)

Honor the Earth (?)

Nett Lake Wild Rice (Anishinaabe)

Passamaquoddy maple (Passamaquoddy)

BONUS: coffee :)

Yeego Coffee (Navajo)

Spirit Mountain Roasting (Yuma Quechan)

Birchbark Coffee (Anishinaabe)

Thunder Island Coffee (Shinnecock)

I know I don't have a lot of followers or traction but I really need help,

I'm stuck in a really bad situation with my abusive family during covid. I'm chronically I'll, and spend a lot of time in and out of the hospital (my most recent discharge was on the 5th of August. I have paperwork to prove it if need be.) And my family sees me as a useless burden since I cannot work. I am high risk if I catch covid, since I'm a type one diabetic, and I'm stranded in my house. 

I'm asking for donations, I'm hoping to save up 700$ for a flight to go and visit my boyfriend, since I'm at a risk of being homeless after another outburst from my father. They've taken food, internet, and housing from me constantly over the years, all the while abusing me for my sicknesses. 

I don't know what else to do except ask for help. I can't be homeless I'm scared of catching covid and dying

My PayPal is becky_l@telus.net

If you're Canadian my direct deposit information is lenebillingham@gmail.com

Even just reblogging this can help me I'm desperate for anything. Thanks I'm sorry for making a post like this 

https://instagram.com/p/BdsOK7mB3D1/

Hi!! After donating from a twitter post this man actually reached out to me with a phone number and informed me that he needs 140$ for a hotel room for him and his children

He’s a single father and any donations will help keep his babies safe and out of the heat 🙏

Please share and donate if you can, his cashapp is

$antoinadams26

Forgot I made these quick refs once!! It’s not that you should feel obligated to portray every part of an animal correctly, but in some cases these are very unique, interesting features that very few artists are ever utilizing creatively!

I am angry and I'm not sorry. I don't care if you're tired of seeing BLM content on your dash because I guarantee you Black people are more tired of being killed and incarcerated and belittled everyday. People want everything to return to "normal", but normal for me and every Black person is to return to an existence where everybody else gets to ignore our circumstance but us. I hate that my life's value is not enough when presented with my own hands. I hate that Black people have to continuously insist that their lives matter. I will never stop being angry and loud and you shouldn't either.

this is making a comeback because BLM content is dwindling from my dash and im upset that we're fucking fading to the background again

[ID: Screenshots of three tweets by Nathan Yaffe, @AtNathanYaffe on twitter

They read as follows:

“For people who feel unsafe about voting in person but now fear the USPS will be unable to deliver a “mail-in” ballot in a timely fashion.

There is a way around it:

1. Request a mail-in ballot.

2. Do not mail it.

3. Google your supervisor of elections to see where you can drop off your mail-in ballot. Its usually NOT THE POLLING PLACE. All states allow this!

Here is what you're accomplishing by doing this:

1. Your ballot gets in on time no matter what happens to the USPS.

2. You don't have to worry about standing in long lines and risking infection. You're just stopping by to drop it off.”

end ID]

i’m certain that i’m not the only one who’s made a post about this information, but i wanted to share this anyways, for anyone who doesn’t know this!

ALSO— double check that you’re registered to vote!!!!!

IMPORTANT!!

This is not true for all states. In the state of Tennessee your ballot -must- be mailed to be counted. I was hoping to drop it off but looked up the rules just to make sure and sure enough:

"What is the deadline to return my ballot so it can be counted?

You must mail your ballot in time for your county election commission to receive it no later than the close of polls on Election Day.

Can I hand deliver my ballot to the election office?

No. You must return your ballot by mail (USPS, FedEx, UPS, etc.)."

This could be true for your state as well. PLEASE look up your states Absentee Voting options, some states have made it easier bc of COVID but there are some that haven’t. I don’t want people to be disappointed if their vote doesn’t count because their state had ridiculous rules.

OK So with the shit with the USPS going on:

1. Check your Voter registration to make sure everything is up to date.  If you can, request a Mail-In Ballot.  I live in CO, where all elections are Mail-In only now, so I get one anyway.

2. Fill out your ballot per the instructions on your Ballot.  Some Notes:

3. INSTEAD OF MAILING IT- LOOK UP WHERE YOUR BALLOT DROP-OFF LOCATIONS ARE. 

They’re boxes you drive or walk or bus or bike or whatever up to and drop your ballot in, and the elections officials will have it that evening. Pros of Ballot Drop-Off:

Most cities will have several ballot Drop-Off locations, at places like the grocery store, the county courthouse, city hall, at high schools etc.  Google your town or county name and “Ballot Drop Off Locations” and it’ll give you directions even.

Absolutely Save the USPS, but this is the BEST way to make sure your vote gets counted this

please, please, please do not pretend this is close to over.

No offense but when are these takes trying to provide some “defense” for bullying because the objects of the bullying were “too weird” going to stop. Like people don’t usually develop these kinds of “strange” or anti-social behaviors in a vacuum anyways. I knew a girl in middle school who did the growling thing and she had been bullied since the 3rd grade, long before she got into anime. She did the growling thing because kids would physically harass her and teachers wouldn’t do anything about it, but they stopped when she started doing that. She told me it was easier to stomach getting made fun of for doing “weird” things/having “weird” interests than it was to have inherit facts about herself mocked.  

Like I know some Anime Kids in school were invariably dicks but you still can’t ultimately use odd or “cringy” behavior to justify the cruel choices of other people to mock and torment others. So many of these kids have tons of trauma from being mocked just for having a particular interest or sense of style. Was a kid wearing a raccoon tail to school because they thought it was fun and cute really worth mocking them to the point of self-hatred? If kids were getting bullied to the point of tears in this year because they liked to do Fornite Dances in the lunchroom would you think it’s funny and that the kids deserve bullying for being weird? 

And this shit was also just like an excuse to even more safely pick on people who were already on the ‘to-bully’ list. Think about how many people from this group were fat or not white or gay or neurodivergent and how that played into how they were ostracized in the first place. A lot of these kids would’ve gotten bullied even if they weren’t into anime/doing These Particular Weird Things because that’s what bullies do. That’s what bullies were doing before they “got into weird stuff” and it’s what they would’ve continued doing. Stop trying to make it a funny joke that people decided to traumatize their classmates because their classmates tried to commit the crime of having “abnormal” fun or having “abnormal” ways of dealing with harassment. 

“y’all got bullied for this other reason” 

great, you still shouldn’t have bullied these kids. the magical mystical reason behind it doesn’t change the fact there was bullying.

also making peculiar noises, movements or over-imitating special niche interest behaviors are all characteristics that could be symptoms of neurodiversity.

“we didn’t bully jack for his weird interest, just because we’re ableist” is a more accurate picture, at this point.

It’s almost as if all “reasons” people cite for bullying are just excuses for: “We just wanted to be jerks and feel superior by hurting someone.”

How to Write Dialogue

Basic Structure

There are a few ways to structure dialogue. These are the most common ways to structure a line, although I haven’t seen 7 in a very long time.

It’s a good idea to avoid using the same method twice. Two or three or four (!) straight lines of 1’s “X said” or 6’s sentences broken up by a dialogue will sound strange.

Notice how the dialogue tag (“Anna said” and variations thereof) only goes in an area that does not impede the flow of dialogue. In the case of 3, 4, and 6, the dialogue tag or action actually enhances the period’s long pause. Only place dialogue tags at the beginning or end of a phrase, or where there would normally be a period, semicolon, colon, comma, or other punctuation indicating rest.

Dialogue Tags

A dialogue tag is a word + the person saying it. “He said”, “she said”, “they said”, etc. are all dialogue tags. The most common verb in a dialogue tag is “to say” (said, says, say, etc.) A lot of authors like it for its simplicity and unobtrusiveness. For those who insist “said is dead” (implying “said” is so bland it shouldn’t be used anymore), there are a bajillion other dialogue tags to play with.

Some verbs should not be used as dialogue tags.

A dialogue tag is there to tell the reader how the character says something. You cannot say something smilingly or sighingly. You might say it happily or regretfully.

Actions are not dialogue tags.

Adverbs

Adverbs are the little “-ly” words you add at the end of dialogue tag to show how a character is saying something.

Excitedly and uncertainly are the adverbs in this case. There is a list of adverbs here and here. Don’t get too hooked on adverbs. They’re great for helping when the meaning of a line is unclear.

Take this sentence:

By itself this sentence isn’t much. You have no idea how Mirage is saying it, and it could be hundreds of different ways. Now modify that.

Now you know exactly how Mirage is saying it.

Recently, there’s been a movement to do away with adverbs or to use adverbs sparingly. Most adverbs are unnecessary. You can guess how a character is saying something by context. For example,

You can assume that Mirage is saying this in loving or affectionate voice without the adverb being there. You can also use different dialogue tags to express the same emotion.

Vs.

Finally, adverbs sound funny if you use them one after another.

If you’re addicted to adverbs, restrict them to every ten dialogue tags. If you aren’t addicted to adverbs, then just use them whenever you feel you need them. You can always delete them later if you think they’re unnecessary. 

Abandoning Your Dialogue Tags

There are some cases where you can forgo using dialogue tags altogether. When two people are speaking with each other in a natural give-and-take pattern, the audience knows that they are the ones speaking, and in what order they are speaking. See below.

You can tell Brenda said, “Was that a crack about my height?” because Anne spoke before her, and you can tell Anne said, “Shorty!” because Brenda spoke before her. Do not use this trick if more than two people are speaking at a time. You could introduce a third person like this:

Since we specified it’s Anne and Dan speaking in turn, it can only be Dan who says, “You’re so annoying.”

Read More

Writing a Relationship Your Readers Will Ship

Relationships, especially in beginner writer’s works, have a tendency to feel forced. Even in some popular and famous works of fiction, the relationship doesn’t feel natural. It seems like a boring afterthought which the writer added in at the last minute. Far too often, I find myself completely indifferent to a character’s romantic life. A good romance in a story will give the reader a bit of second-hand infatuation. They’ll root for the relationship, beg for it. If the romance is well written, you can make a reader smile and blush just by reading a few sentences. When done properly, it can even compensate for a weak and cliché plot.

But first, decide whether the romance is needed. If you’re adding a character to the plot simply for the sake of being a love interest, it’s probably not a needed romance. You can still add it, of course, but it will be much harder to keep your story focused on the central plot.

Step One Make sure the characters have chemistry.

The characters should compliment each other’s personalities. If he’s loud, stubborn, and aggressively opinionated, a more tranquil and soft-spoken love interest would suit him well. Two headstrong people wouldn’t be likely to have a lasting relationship in real life, unless they (impossibly) agreed upon every subject. But, there should be some similarities. While opposites do attract, polar opposites will not and the whole relationship will feel forced. The characters should have something in common. It could be morals, a parallel backstory, the same motivations, whatever. As long as there’s a reason for them to be drawn to each other, there’s potential.

Step Two Slow burn ships are fantastic.

Don’t make your characters fall in love right off the bat. There can be attraction, of course, but genuine feelings of true love don’t happen instantly. Your characters should become closer as people, feel at ease around each other, and truly know the other before they fall head-over-heels. The readers will crave the relationship far more, like dangling a treat right in front of a dog’s nose, but keep pulling it away. Teasing is a beautiful thing.

Find ways of showing (NOT TELLING) the characters are falling for each other. Have them stand up for one another, be protective. Have them break their own normal routine for the other. For example, a callous, guarded character could lower their walls for a moment if their love interest needs emotional support. These scenes can be awkward for the character changing their typical behavior and that discomfort can demonstrate how much they care for the other, altering their own selves for the other’s benefit.

Howeve, make sure that you combine these cute emotional moments with distance. Make the characters deny their true feelings or even distance themselves from their love interest upon discovering their feelings. The more the characters long for each other, the more the reader will long for them to be together. Build barriers between them for your characters to have to work to knock down. Keep them close, but maintain that distance until the moment is right.

Step Three “_____” translates to “I love you”

The first example of I think of when I think of this is The Princess Bride, where the male protagonist tells his soulmate “as you wish” when he really means “I love you.”

This falls under the category of show, don’t tell. Hearing a character say “I love you” has become so boring. Unless it’s done in a surprising confession or unique way, it’s boring and stale.

Come up with a phrase that you can repeat in moments throughout the story until it has a meaning of love for the characters and both know exactly what the other means when it’s spoken.

Step Four Taking a break can help create tension.

You know you loved someone if you leave them and feel awful. Apply this into the writing. Your characters can break up, then get back together in a joyous reunion.

Step Five Not every couple has a happy ending.

Sometimes, things don’t always work out for different reasons. An ending that leaves readers craving more can be a good move.

Hey y’all, this is @/littlelizzagna on Tiktok and she and the authors have 5 days to come up with just a few hundred dollars in order to release their comic book Ultraviolet!

This will lead you to the official fundraiser site as well as their merch store and YouTube channel!

Please donate if you can, share either way !

They’re at $3,238/$3,500 !

As of right now, they’re at $3,359/3,500!! Please share!

Almost at $3,400!! ❤️

My Mother’s Garden