I have a mute character in the story I’m writing and one of my beta readers suggested I use italics when they sign so that I don’t have to keep peppering “they signed” or “their hands flashed” throughout the piece.

But like…I always read italics in a different tone like they’re thoughts. It seems quieter than using normal quotations which makes what they say look less significant on the page than other character’s dialogue.

I really don’t think my audience needs me to use completely different punctuation around a mute character. There’s no need to act like they’re speaking a different language since their muteness isn’t a focal point in the story.

So really this reader’s comment has done the complete opposite of what they intended. Now I’m actively taking out as many of my “hands flashed” notations as possible and just writing in normal body language because, clearly, the other characters understand them and my audience doesn’t need to be coddled.

As an HOH reader and writer I can affirm that once the signing has been established it can just be treated like “said”.

You can add little things for emphasis though, like how fast or flippant a sign is given, also a lot of our “punctuation” is in facial expressions, so wild looks is kind of normal. Also messing up signs and just.. pushing them aside. Like, you mess up a fingerspell and just take both hands and shove the air in front of you to your side, people who sign eventually end up doing this for other things, like a “forget it” motion. It’s like a “wave it off” gesture.

Body language for someone who signs is a lot more animated than someone who speaks, as we use our upper body a lot in our conversations, so the act of “signing” is more than just hand signals.

Yes….yes GOOD this is the good stuff right here. I’m going to incorporate some of these ASAP ESPECIALLY the pushing the air but to clear it of your mistakes

i love in fantasy when its like “king galamir the mighty golden eagle and his most trusted advisor who would never betray him, gruelworm bloodeye the treacherous”

When my sister and I were kids we had this one action figure, who was actually a brutalized batman doll without his cape (the dog chewed half his head, too), who we dubbed ‘Evil Chancellor Traytor’. The idea was that in the fictional society of our toys, ‘chancellor’ just came with the word ‘evil’ in front of it, as a matter of ancient tradition. Like ‘grand’ or ‘high’ or something along those lines.

Anyway, the running gag was that the king (an old Power Rangers knock-off doll) had absolute and unwavering faith in Evil Chancellor Traytor, who basically comported himself like a mix between Grima Wormtongue and Jafar from the Aladdin movies. Everyone was always sure that Evil Chancellor Traytor had something to do with the nefarious scheme of the day. The dude even carried around a poisoned knife called ‘the kingslayer’.

The additional twist on the joke, though, was that he never was behind anything. The king was actually right. Evil Chancellor Traytor was the most devoted civil servant in the entire Action Figure Dystopia. He spent his nights working on writing up new legislature to ensure that broken toys had access to mobility devices, was always on the lookout to acquire new shoeboxes for expanding city infrastructure, and drafted a proposal that once got half the ‘settlement’ in my sister and I’s closet moved to the upper shelf so that vulnerable toys were less likely to be snatched up by the dog.

The knife, as it turned out, was as symbolic as the ‘evil’ in his name. See, Action Figure Dystopia had a long history of corrupted monarchs getting too big for their thrones and exploiting the underclasses. The job of the Evil Chancellor was to always remain vigilant, and loyally serve a good ruler - or, if the regent should became a despot, to slay them on behalf of the people.

But since killing the king would be a terrible crime, the Evil Chancellor had to be the kind of person who would willingly die to spare the people from the plight of a wicked leader; because the murder would be pinned on them, in order to keep the ‘machinery of politics’ working as smoothly as ever.

Anyway, Evil Chancellor Traytor had a diary, in which my sister I would take turns writing out the most over-the-top good shit he’d done behind the scenes. Usually after everyone else had finished talking shit about him. I don’t know why but we got the biggest kick out of being like:

Barbie With the Unfortunate Haircut: Oh that Evil Chancellor Traytor! Why can’t the king see how wicked he is?!

Charmander From the Vending Machine: Char!

Jurassic Park Toy of Jeff Goldblum With Disturbingly Realistic Face: At least if someone puts a knife in the king’s back, we’ll know where to look!

Evil Chancellor Traytor’s Diary: Today I was feeding ducks at the park when I noticed another legless action figure sitting by the benches. I put a hundred dollars into his bag while he wasn’t looking. I really need to increase budgeting to the medical treatment centers. If only we had enough glue, I think we would see far fewer toys trying to get by without limbs… *insert iconic evil laugh*

Anyway, Evil Chancellor Traytor eventually fell victim to one of my mom’s cleaning sprees, and she decided he was too busted up to keep and tossed him out. My littler brother, who tended to follow my sister and I’s games like he was watching a daily soap opera, cried so hard that we had to do a special ‘episode’ where one of the toys found the Evil Chancellor’s diary, and so he got a big huge memorial and the king threw himself into the empty grave and then ordered the toys driving the toy bulldozer to bury him so that ‘Traytor’s grave would have a body’ (this seemed very important for some reason).

And then we had the Quest For a New King. Somehow or another that ended up being a giant rubber snake called ‘Tyrant King Cobra’.

::closes tab, shuts off computer, and proceeds to have the best day ever just by knowing this exists::

i will always reblog Evil Chancellor Traytor

tbh that’s some A-grade worldbuilding and use of tropes, these kids should be hired to direct movies instead of crusty idiots like Michael Bay 

i call this the 'I'm normal about media' moodboard

just some reminders for people who are writing IDs:

do not put judgements in your ids. do not say "it needs to be noted the character looks extra adorable here" do not say "an ugly person" or "a hilarious meme" or anything like that. we don't need you to tell us how to feel about something.

do put descriptive words and adjectives. "a crudely drawn image" or "a painting of a scarlet colored apple" or "a person with large hands". we do need you to tell us descriptors so we have context.

do not type words incorrectly. do write words exactly as they appear in the image.

let me say that again: EXACTLY as they appear. is the word capitalized? capitalize it. is the word "yes" written with 3 s's? write it in the description as "yesss" not as "yesssss" or "yes". are the words in all caps? write them in all caps, or write "text in all caps says" and then include a lowercase version. is a word misspelled? spell it exactly the same way. if the image says "washning mashing" it should not be written as "washing machine"*

*you can definitely say "the words 'washing machine' are misspelled as 'washning mashing'," just make sure that you do include the exact transcription in your description

disabled people, people with screen readers, and ANYONE else who uses IDs to interpret images deserves to interpret the image as accurately as possible, and its important to transcribe and describe things properly and without judgements added.

*my last words as I'm coughing up blood from a really bad punch in the dick(medium size)* they should make posts.........for spiders*dies*

Hi! I’m really sick of whitewashing and the various excuses that artists come up with, so I wrote a guide! How To Not Whitewash, at least with regards to skin tone. Please make use of it, and encourage other artists to do so as well. Here’s a link to this guide on a Google Doc - this document has image descriptions. Feel free to contact me if the link stops working, or if you have questions (in good faith).

remaking bc my last post got basically no notes or help. im chronically ill but i work because my disability got denied so many times i gave up, ive been ill on and off last month so i dont have enough for rent. im sure im late on it so i think my goal will change but i currently need 716 to pay. its my last month because my last 2 months of my lease are paid through.

p@ypal

ven/mo

c@shapp

im 50 bucks short id really just like to get this paid today

A little study of Quannah Chasinghorse at the met tonight because she’s just so 😭

ive said it before and ill say it again: astrological signs, meyers briggs, uquiz tests; all fake bullshit that have nothing to do with someones personality. but the instrument you played in highschool band/orchestra? that shit’s realer than math. youre branded for life. i may not be able to guess which instrument you played but as soon as you tell me itll IMMEDIATELY make sense

Read this and save a life - YOUR OWN

From a surgical nurse and certified CPR teacher:

Please pause for 2 minutes and read this:

1. Let’s say it’s 7.25pm and you’re going home (alone of course) after an unusually hard day on the job.

2. You’re really tired, upset and frustrated.

3 Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to drag out into your arm and up in to your jaw. You are only about five km from the hospital nearest your home.

4. Unfortunately you don’t know if you’ll be able to make it that far.

5. You have been trained in CPR, but the guy who taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself.

6. HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE? Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.

7. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.

8. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

9. Tell as many other people as possible about this. It could save their lives!!

10. A cardiologist says If everyone who gets this mail kindly sends it to 10 people, you can bet that we’ll save at least one life.

11. Rather than sending jokes, please... contribute by forwarding this mail which can save a person’s life.

12. If this message comes around you... more than once… please don’t get irritated... You should instead, be happy that you have many friends who care about you & keeps reminding you how to deal with a Heart attack.

please take the time and boost this post by reposting it and sending it to those you love because we all need to understand how to quickly deal with heart attacks

as someone who has been having signs of a heart attack recently, i’m really glad i found this post

I feel like the people who follow me need this

ill reblog this whenever appears in my dash

since we recently lost a member of the ed community to heart attack

please take a little time to read this

[ID: a close up photo of a wooly sheep in a sunny field. it’s sticking its pink tongue out playfully. it also has large curled horns that curve in front of its eyes. End ID]

y’all ever remember something extremely embarrassing and just feel horrible about it

Pro Tip: Try to think of something embarrassing some else has done. You probably can't. Which means no one else remembers the cringe thing you did.

wait that actually helps so much

With summer approaching I just wanna remind people that “Hawaiian” is not a summer party theme.

My people, my culture and our history are not your summer aesthetic. My heritage isn’t a theme or a costume.

Those parties with plastic lei and “sexy” hula costumes only add to the harmful ignorance and degrading stereotypes that surround my people.

We’re not sexual objects, we’re not an aesthetic, we’re not pineapple shaped party decorations or paper umbrellas in your drinks.

We’re human beings who deserve respect and acknowledgement. We’re a culture and a history that deserves honor and remembrance.

Casual and ignorant racism is still racism.

#heyy! no fancy post, no art or anything else to show. just me, my empty pockets and mental illnesses. please help me, autistic trans-masc clown father, buy food.

10€ alone would be enough to buy some vegetables. that's all i really need. this carbs only diet has been ruining me. i currently don't have a single penny to my name, this month has been one of the worst in a long time, and i haven't been able to get any work. i can't offer much in return aside from my undying love & appreciation for any and all help you're willing to give! 💖

one of my friends found radiooooo which is a site that streams music from any country from any decade (well, most countries/decade combos work) and we’ve been digging going on a quest to find what is rad

so far the following is good

let’s add 70s armenia and 70s japan to this list

actually im willing to bet 70s *any country will be amazing, it’s all been really good so far

and if you go for 90s india fast music you might get hit in the face with tunak tunak tun right away so get your meme groove on

one of my moms recommended 70s east germany and this proves true, this is weird and amazing in a good way

also set the mood to “weird” for maximum fun, it enhances literally every station

i'm so fucking tired of international media reporting on the philippine election with the undertone of "poor uncivilized savage uneducated little brown asian country is so so sooooo stupid for electing a dictator's son" as if there aren't thousands on the streets protesting it, as if there isn't electoral fraud, as if there aren't people staying at voting precincts for over 24 hours just to be denied their right to vote, as if this isn't a product of decades of US-backed imperialism and as if foreign powers don't have a hand in this decades-long project of historical revisionism. if you aren't reporting about the philippine election with these contexts in mind then don't report at all because fuck you we do not need your pity nor your "help"

exactly this. it's what i was going for when i mentioned how foreign powers have their hands dirty in meddling with our elections. before cambridge analytica and facebook fucked over the US 2016 elections they fucked with ours here in the same year. and now facebook, youtube, and tiktok are willing accomplices to a massive disinformation and historical revisionist campaign because it makes them a quick buck.

highlights from me having AI dungeon generate fake recipes