Yes, that Neil Gaiman’s cat😊
Neil gaiman?
Easy mistake to make. Actually a cat.
yukio you need help
Thank you! now I can write without being cringy af
Some words to use when writing things:
winking
clenching
pulsing
fluttering
contracting
twitching
sucking
quivering
pulsating
throbbing
beating
thumping
thudding
pounding
humming
palpitate
vibrate
grinding
crushing
hammering
lashing
knocking
driving
thrusting
pushing
force
injecting
filling
dilate
stretching
lingering
expanding
bouncing
reaming
elongate
enlarge
unfolding
yielding
sternly
firmly
tightly
harshly
thoroughly
consistently
precision
accuracy
carefully
demanding
strictly
restriction
meticulously
scrupulously
rigorously
rim
edge
lip
circle
band
encircling
enclosing
surrounding
piercing
curl
lock
twist
coil
spiral
whorl
dip
wet
soak
madly
wildly
noisily
rowdily
rambunctiously
decadent
degenerate
immoral
indulgent
accept
take
invite
nook
indentation
niche
depression
indent
depress
delay
tossing
writhing
flailing
squirming
rolling
wriggling
wiggling
thrashing
struggling
grappling
striving
straining
Reblog for larger sample size whatever
Honestly the most chillest dude x unhinged insane person is my most all time favorite, I live for the comedy of it
perfectly normal and healthy relationship
I haven't seen dancing pumpkin guy ONCE this year, are you guys okay?
Iron Giant, Roz, and Baymax is practically the same idea but in different situations. They would be friends and talk about their learning experiences.
Preach🙌
this particular type of self-censoring—on a word-level rather than systemic level—occurs when someone uses special characters, spaces, or other substitutions to alter an original word/name/title. this is usually done in a manner that leaves the word legible.
examples:
d*sney
av@tar
m.arvel
n/ickelodeon
gr ishaverse
the most common version you’ll encounter is the first one, in which one or more letters are swapped out for an *.
removes a word that would otherwise appear in search results (eg “hann!bal” does not show up in searches for “hannibal”)
removes a word that would otherwise be caught by filters set to filter out that word (eg “p*rple” is not caught when filtering out “purple”)
virtue-signals—it gives your followers a hint about what type of content you oppose or do not like (eg if I see someone use “j@ne” or “j.ane/b.ob”, I assume that OP doesn’t like jane or the jane/bob ship)
subcategory of virtue signaling: humorous virtue signaling (eg, “I hate ch*ese”)
In its most basic form, censorship is like a captcha—it exists to fool machines or search algorithms while remaining legible to humans.
But because of its usage in virtue signaling, for better or worse, censoring words now carries connotations of Serious ideological Disagreement. This is why humorous virtue signaling works: “I hate ch*ese” adds Serious Ideological Disagreement to my simple dislike of cheese, and implies that I think cheese is somehow Problematic™.
to keep your anti-X content out of the X tag, so that X Stans do not have to see it (and potentially target or harass you as a result. also, it’s common fandom etiquette to keep your hate of a given thing out of that thing’s tag—more on this later.)
to discuss hate speech without actually using hate speech and potentially attracting hate groups to your blog (eg “n@zi, t*rf”)
when you censor a word, it doesn’t show up in searches and it also doesn’t get caught by filters. people who are triggered by that word and blacklisted it to protect themselves are now going to encounter it in your post.
stop censoring trigger words. seriously, stop. this doesn’t mean you have to type out slurs without censoring them, but do include a tag like “f-slur” or “misogynistic slurs” in order to help those who have blacklisted a given word. if you’re going to censor “t*rf,” I’d better see the “transphobia” warning tag on your post. and for the love of god, don’t censor tags like “rac*sm”
consider people with screenreaders, who are going to hear your special characters read aloud, and use them sparingly. “a.lice” is gonna sound confusing, but presumably less confusing than “@l*c#.” (people with screenreaders, feel free to chime in on your preferred methods of self-censorship!)
these days, about 90% of the time I encounter a censored word, especially a word that is specific to fandoms (a title, name, or ship), it seems like OP’s purpose is virtue-signaling. it’s hard to tell who is and isn’t aware that they’re also adhering to basic standards of community etiquette by keeping hate out of a tag, but occasionally someone does something that makes it painfully obvious how unaware they are: they tag the thing they just censored. if I type out “d*sney” but then tag my post “disney,” I defeat the entire point of censoring the word in the first place—unless my purpose begins and ends at virtue signaling.
the solution to this is to use “d*sney” in the body of my post and “anti-disney” in the tags. anti-X tags have a few purposes: to keep hate out of the X tag, to potentially help you find other fans who dislike X, and to ensure anti-X content can still be caught by filters.
in conclusion,
if your intent is to minimize harm, you may not be achieving that simply by swapping in an asterisk. and if your intent is not to look like an idiot, you’ll want to avoid mistake #3 above.
further reading:
what is a grawlix?
voldemorting
This one's for the scenes with multiple characters, and you're not sure how to keep everyone involved.
Writing group scenes is chaos. Someone’s talking, someone’s interrupting, someone’s zoning out thinking about breadsticks. And if you’re not careful, half your cast fades into the background like NPCs in a video game. I used to struggle with this so much—my characters would just exist in the scene without actually affecting it. But here’s what I've learned and have started implementing:
Not their literal job—like, not everyone needs to be solving a crime or casting spells. I mean: Why are they in this moment? What’s their role in the conversation?
My favourite examples are:
The Driver: Moves the convo forward. They have an agenda, they’re pushing the action.
The Instigator: Pokes the bear. Asks the messy questions. Stirring the pot like a chef on a mission.
The Voice of Reason: "Guys, maybe we don’t commit arson today?"
The Distracted One: Completely in their own world. Tuning out, doodling on a napkin, thinking about their ex.
The Observer: Not saying much, but noticing everything. (Quiet characters still have presence!)
The Wild Card: Who knows what they’ll do? Certainly not them. Probably about to make things worse.
If a character has no function, they’ll disappear. Give them something—even if it’s just a side comment, a reaction, or stealing fries off someone’s plate. Keep them interesting, and your readers will stay interested too.
“Don’t care, thank for getting the milk.” I say, taking the milk from him. “I need to bake cakes and probably other things because someone told me I can’t bake in one day.” My dad look at me and say, “Might well prove that dickhead wrong.”
You cannot believe your eyes. "…D-Dad?!" The man who vanished from your life sixteen years ago, the man who just spontaneously popped into existence in your kitchen clutching, of all things a large crate of milk and a glowing sword, stares at you nervously. "OK, first of all, I can explain…