Everything I draw ends up wearing a bow-tie

alphagodith

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Important thing about stories!

…but why tho? why can you not write about something suggested to you?

sorry if I didn’t explain that well enough but there’s a few reasons-

1) if a writer uses something that someone can later claim was their idea, it raises all sorts of legal problems, and ain’t nobody want to deal with that. Professional story writers have a hell of a time AVOIDING this and it really is a hazard of the occupation

2) if someone suggests an idea, some writers (myself guiltily included) feel stubborn and don’t want to make it when the joy of coming up with stories is half of the reward of making them in the first place. it also just feels like the story isn’t yours- being commissioned is different, and likewise if you do that sort of writing for a living, it erases point one altogether.

3) if someone suggests an idea that is very like one you had in mind, but haven’t been able to get around to making yet, it makes you feel unoriginal and slow, and the ‘new’ version suggested can interfere with the vision you had, which makes things feel muddy and conflicted

basically, writing is complicated, it’s very personal and legally it can be a nightmare to deal with who came up with what without carefully signed and documented evidence. That said, not everyone is the same- so!

Basically, the best thing you can do is ASK if you can send an idea to the writer: if the person you want to send your idea to says yes, then go for it! If they say no, please respect their decision! Don’t be sad or stubborn, and please keep in mind that if they respond in the negative it is very likely not because they aren’t interested in your cool idea or hate you, it’s because of all the above complications (and probably more besides!)

Important thing about stories!

hey so I just got (another) sweet email which contained multiple ideas for new doodle comic stories and while the sentiment is huge nice I can’t read those! I have to delete them as soon as I realise so I don’t feel like I stole any ideas! please don’t send them to me! this goes for any comic writers/story writers- if you send someone an idea, it immediately means we have to NOT make those stories, and if we had something lined up that was similar that is really sucky! in this case it’s not too bad bc fancomics but it’s really important! don’t do it! it’s a show of love and enthusiasm we all understand that but it makes our lives very very difficult and can actually destroy content that we want to make, which we know is not the intention, is just the facts! thank you for understanding and yeah please tell other folks this bc it’s a big deal

p.s. wrote more explanation on this here

tarantinofan asked: How would you got about writing a healthy, fluffy, passionate (both emotionally and physically), romantic couple???

Ohh, big question- and as ever I’m not sure how to answer nor do I feel particularly well qualified to do so, but I think the thing I focus on (and find most attractive in ships) is humour and respect. Allow them to be silly! Being in love makes you silly- don’t think it all has to be serious monologues and big gestures. Love can be unexpected, and the unexpected can make you laugh! It’s a reflex, to cope with the shock of it. How often have we seen the scene where one character does something silly, but basic, human, just a little slip, and we see the other character watching them laugh to themselves and then do the “…Oh.” reaction, because that’s when they realise they’re in love? It’s a trope, sure, but it moves us because it contains truth.

Respect simply means checking in; allowing each other to have enough space and say in decisions, to stop when asked to stop, and to ask before you start. All this really comes from the standpoint that I can’t really enjoy a couple unless I see them as being friends- I write ships as friends! There, I said it! That’s all it is! It might be a reluctant friendship sometimes, but if there is tension, sadness, or angst caught up in the mix, it doesn’t stem from negative emotions- it’s from a desire to create happiness in some way, or a desire for a happiness that ‘simply can’t happen’. Two people love each other, but don’t want to ruin a friendship by admitting it, so never tell one another = Sad, but from a positive place. I love him but going out with me would cause a rift between him and his family? Sad, but from a positive place. I love them but know they are going to have to leave, and causing that pain from separation would be cruel = SAD, but from a positive place! 

Whether your couple has a happily ever after or not, having the emotions and motions of the characters originating from the desire to care for, understand, and make each other happy, will help create a healthy and interesting dynamic. That’s basically what I do, I think? But it’s hard to write about writing, I’m not very good at thinking about how I do it, I just sort of… do it.

EDIT: Touching! Someone reminded me I didn’t cover the physical deal- and while this varies depending on the personalities a little bit, honestly? Just. Let people touch each other. Don’t make a big deal about it- have them lean on each other from time to time, fall asleep on each other, brush something out of the other’s hair, or just heckin clamber over the other person to get the remote instead of asking them for it. Casual, funny, affectionate, not-related-to-sexual-intimacy-at-all touching is lovely and shows a high level of comfort and trust around each other. Also, if you have two characters who have been or are ordinarily very touch starved? It makes it very personal and emotionally profound to have them accepting and enjoying little gestures and ‘meaningless’ pieces of physical interaction- sure, show a progression if you need to, going from slight surprise or even flinching at being touched to becoming entirely fine with it (or not- some things might never be okay, and in that case you show the love by having the other character learn this and respecting that boundary), but really having that little bit of friendly, playful, or so-comfortable-around-them-they-don’t-even-think-about-it contact is very nice to see and I feel is something that needs to be represented much more in media.

decaydentdeer asked: how do you go about creating an emotionally significant story? something that makes somebody stop and think a minute? or just any good story in general?

if I knew how to do that I’d have my whole life figured out my dude I’m just trying my best here, and if people find that the things I make resonate with them that’s SUPER COOL AND GREAT AND LOVELY but I don’t have any secret formula or words of wisdom to offer! I’m a big dumb who just loves writing and drawing. the only thing I constantly try to be aware of is respecting the characters, whether they’re my own or someone else’s, and allowing them to react to situations naturally.

Anonymous asked: I want to learn how to write scary things, have you got any advice?

well I’m not an expert by any stretch (very happy to be asked though!), and while mostly I recommend watching and reading things that you find scary and taking them apart to understand why you find them scary I wrote a tiny thing about using absurdity as a method of building fear way back here

Anonymous asked: do you have trouble coming up with ideas if you are sad?

actually, no! this is not to say that I don’t ever have trouble coming up with ideas- I certainly do have dry patches, or the dreaded writer’s block on occasion (although I have found the best solution to that is to try and power through it anyway) however my emotional state doesn’t particularly seem to affect how creative my brain is going to be. In fact, some of my best ideas have been the result of my being very sad, or ill, or something other than my usual cheery self. This does not mean that I believe that being sad, ill, or other than your cheery self is the best way to come up with ideas, it can just be a great incentive to create stories, which are required to solve the fact that you and other people are often sad, ill, or other than their cheery selves.

twinkleofafadingstar:

so Charlotte Bronte read Emma by Jane Austen and was really interested in this minor character named Jane Fairfax who was poor and would have been a governess had she not married well and then Bronte wrote her own novel exploring the plight of the poor governess who married this guy named Edward Fairfax Rochester in a novel called Jane Eyre and my point is don’t let anyone tell you shit about fanfiction.

(via ofpaintedflowers)

So I started writing a book on the side.

Would any of you even consider buying that shit?