Friends, David Benjamin / Oh Brother, Frank Turner 

Exploring rural forests

- Bring a flashlight. Bring an extra battery. Bring another battery. Bring your headphones. Do not bring a camera.

- Set out after rain. It cleans the air.

- If a tree falls in your peripheral, it's a warning. Be careful, you only get one.

- If a tree falls right in front of you, something is out to kill you, and something wants to protect you.

- Those hooves you hear? Don't go looking, it's not a deer.

- You might get the urge to take your shoes off. Allow yourself to give in, if you are feeling reckless. However, no matter how familiar the ground seems, don't let it touch your ankles. Make sure you remember your name. Not all trees are born from seeds.

- The man with the dog does have eyes. He just shares them.

- If you come across a field with cows, check the height of the grass. Does it grow above your knees? Make haste. Do not dwell on the question what the cows have eaten instead.

- You might hear your own steps echoed in the bushes. Looking will not help you. There is nothing there to see.

- It's not thunder, it's moaning. You are lucky their pain is keeping them occupied.

- If you visit the abandoned house, don't close the door behind you.

- You can rest on a fallen trunk, but do not eat. You can lay your bag on a picknick bench, but remain standing.

- The carved signs are not meant for you.

- Horses do not step in puddles for they fear they will break a leg. Horses do not step in puddles for they fear they will be dragged under.

- The shadow is not that big, it's just closer than you think.

- The rolling fields look wonderful. Don't stay for the sunset.

To Lily, a modern Beauty, by @ladyliliana. I hope this fits her! Requests for OC aesthetics are open.

Towards the end of a cold day. Värmland, Sweden (December 4, 2023).

Good morning! If I were to request an oc and have a picture/art reference, would that and a short description suffice for a aesthetic request?

Hello, friend! That would be fine. Most useful for me are answers on question such as: ‘what do they enjoy?‘, ‘what are they fighting for?‘, ’what kind of personality do they have? Are they timid, brave?‘A general sense of the story (is it a science-fiction, horror, fantasy?), also helps. If I have any more questions, I’ll simply ask them!

HI! can you tell me about your fave oc? or first oc, or both? Maybe 1,3 and 14 for the questions.

Thanks so much for the questions! (I amgetting around to your moodboard as soon as I got my other laptopback :')) I will assume Cultor was my first real OC, becauseit's a little unclear when this all started, but all the others Iremember where either very vague or just me with a different name. Ican hardly choose a favorite OC, so I will just take the maincharacter of my currect WIP (who I do love, so there's that) ^^. 1.What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering(name, appearance, backstory, etc.)?First OC: I think thefirst thing I considered about Cultor was his race. He's a characterfrom a fantasy, and I made up a population group that was sort ofmaginalized. They consisted of people that were 'mixed': half humanand half elf, one/fifth troll and three quarters dwarf, that sort ofthing. For this story I made up a specific mythical being, which wascalled will-o'-the-wisp but was somethingnot-quite-feary-not-quite-human. His father was a human, his mothersuch a will-o'-the-wisp. Favorite OC: The first thing I found out about Tungsten was his dislike towards leaving stuff behind. His father works in a antique store and hegrew up surrounded by things that had once been precious, but werenow broken, forgotten and gathering dust. He would rather live a lifeon the outskirts of society, leaving no traces.  

2. How did you choose their name?First OC: Because I was eleven andstill believed all things have meaning, I looked up Latin words withtranslations that fitted Cultor as a person. If I remember correctly,his name means 'friend'. Favorite OC: Funny thing, becausethis whole story started with Tungsten's name and the names of histo-be friends. Sometime in the middle of high-school, I found this list in my chemistry book with theEnglish names of the first discovered elements. I am Dutch, so I didnot know these English names, and they struck me as quite beautiful.For some reason I thought they would make amazing stage names for agroup of traveling artists; the idea stuck, and here we are.    14. If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep inmind while working with your OC, what would those things be?FirstOC: Well, Cultor's father was the badguy (I was such an originalchild *ahum*), so his mental struggle about fighting his own dad waspretty important. The other would be his protective nature; he'sabout sixteen in the story, but he thinks himself quite an adult andhe is convinced he has to look out for everyone. Favorite OC:Tungsten's main goal is to find his place between the band of artistshe has just joined, so most of his actions are motivated by that.Further I think it's important to know that though he's quiet andshy, this never stops him from doing what he wants to do, tremblinghands and all.Thanks so much again!  

Sorry to bother you again but 'It's allright' by Mother Mother? Ultimate angsty JonMartin song.

GOD YOU HAVE NO IDEA

I HAVE AN ENTIRE FUCKING ANIMATION PLANNED OUT TO IT IN MY HEAD FEATURING JONMARTIN

ALSO IT FUCKING S L A P S

@roach-works // Melissa Broder, "Problem Area" // Mary Oliver, "The Return" // @annavonsyfert // Koyoharu Gotouge, Demon Slayer // Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance // David Levithan, How They Met and Other Stories // Tennessee Williams, Notebooks

Tag Game Rules: Tag 10 people you would like to learn more about!

I was tagged by @andtheotherstars, thanks so much!

Age: 19

Birthplace: A tiny town in the Netherlands

Current Time: 11:26

Drink you last had: A cup of tea. At this point, I think I'm 90% tea.

Favorite Song: I can hardly choose one since it changes all the time, but Saturn by Sleeping at Last and Starman by David Bowie must be two favorites.

Grossest Memory: Probably a friend throwing up in the bed we were sharing, while we were in it.

Horror, Yes or No: Hell no. I'm really no good with ghosts and all that stuff. Gore is okay, but not much fun.

In Love: Nope. And honestly never have been.

Jealous of People: Quite often, but I try not to let it show.

Love at first sight? Or should I walk by again?: I believe people can fall for each other at first sight, but to me, you can hardly call that 'love'. I think love needs a little more time.

Middle Name: Maria

Number of Siblings: Two brothers; a younger and an older one.

One Wish: To know what I want to do with my future.

Question you’re always asked: You are studying arts and culture? What are you going to dó with that?

Reasons to Smile: Oh, lots! I got an extra day off today. I spent last night with my family and thinking back of that is nice. I am going to stay over at a friend's the upcoming weekend and we'll be going to a LGTBQ+ party (which I've never done before). I got concerts and a musical and a trip planned for the upcoming months. My first draft is going well. My cat just came in and is now sleeping in my lap.  

Song that I last sang: Well, we are celebrating Carnaval over here, so it's a horrible Dutch song I belted out surrounded my happy drunk people.

Time I woke up: Eight o'clock.

Underwear Colour: Blue. Quality information.

Vacation Destination: I'll be visiting Copenhagen in a few months, and I got two vacations yet to plan! (Wow, it sounds like I'm quite a traveler when said like this).

Worst Habit: Procastinating, I think. And hypocrisy (like, I'll give all my friends tons of advise and tell them to take care of themselves, and here I am, a goblin, eating nothing but an apple till five in the afternoon).

Favorite Food: Homemade soup and pancakes!

Zodiac Sign: Cancer

I'm tagging @teacups-and-tealeaves, @writinginthetwilight, @andtheotherwriter and @merigreenleaf. Don’t do it if you don’t feel like it!

But this is a paradox, is it not? Because what is braver than admitting you are not brave? If you can’t face the truth in the mirror, at least you can face the truth right here, in this piece of text. You have shown us. You have told us writers -  scared, trembling, bold writers - that you are afraid to speak out. And in doing so, you have confronted us and yourself with such a vulnerable, honest thing. 

Maybe you cannot stand up to anyone (yet). Maybe you cannot raise your voice (yet). Maybe you cannot confront (yet). But you can write about it. You are doing it right now. You are giving us the murky depth of your heart and you are defying the norm by admitting your doubts.

Why do I write? Why do so many writers write? Because we see the things that are wrong - with the world, with ourselves. And we cannot speak about them. So we put them on paper. Instead of yelling, arguing, confronting, we create a story, a poem.

They say the pen in mightier than the sword. You just told us that you are not a fighting, sword-wielding knight. But you have used your pen, and you are most certainly a writer.

I am not bold

There are a lot of things a lot of people say about how to be a writer. Write every day, get published, get readers to love you, win awards and whatever. But for me there is one thing that all writers, actually all creative people, seem to have in common.

They are bold.

They defy the norm, they defy the conventions, they defy the universe itself.

Writers write from the murky awful depths of their hearts. This goes for all writers not just some genres. There is unique courage in writing a story that tears your own self apart. But they do it anyway and then they stitch themselves back together by writing more! 

Here’s my problem. I am not bold.

I am a coward. I would be the first to say that. I hate confrontation. I don’t ever point out anything wrong. I cannot stand up to anyone without having a complete panic attack. I cannot even stand in front of a mirror and face the truth of myself without my knees shaking. I stay quiet when people around me raise their voices. I stay quiet when saying something would mean something. I stay quiet even if my heart is breaking, especially when my heart is breaking.

I don’t confront. I don’t question. I don’t refuse.

This might be conditioning from my upbringing. This might be the weight of expectations thrown on me. Or this might just be who I am.

At the end of the day, all this means is that I pull back when I should write honestly. I step aside when I should forge on. I delete the words that must have stayed.

At the end of the day, I am not bold enough to be a writer. And I probably never will be.

can we send OC requests to you now? you seem back in groove. :)

I am! Life is pretty hectic at the moment (it always is), but since making aesthetics relaxes me, I am trying to do it as much as I can. There’s still quite a line, but send me all your requests and I promise they will get done!