Brunettes (and whatever on earth you call dark haired male characters) only

abigaillmartin 2024-11-04 19:11:43 UTC #41

Usually the rich people are away from the house when we clean it. Maybe in Italy or France or something OK NO LOL 🤣🤣🤣

beebutterbee 2024-11-04 19:13:40 UTC #42

The cleaning part isn’t too bad honestly, and if you don’t mind it I think you’ll find it can be one of the more chill jobs. I think my least favorite jobs were anything in customer service Also, I’m glad the house owners are far away lol it’s nice when you can just pop in your headphones and work without running into Karens

Leyelle 2024-11-04 19:17:08 UTC #43

It's modern fantasy. But she's really more of a hero. She hasn't killed anyone, but she's willing to if she has to to keep the kids she's in charge of caring for from being murdered or put in freakshows. she didn't make the rules about killing people, she just works for the company. She just wanted to be a social worker when she grew up since she got messed up in the foster care system but she was hired by 'The Sanctuary' and now she works there

As for deranged, it doesn't mean evil, but I've usually only seen it used in the context of 'crazy in a dangerous way' even if not intentionally evil I guess? A definition versus context thing. Like "Dagger the deranged" from Dragons Riders of Berk. Tho he is evil

abigaillmartin 2024-11-04 19:17:54 UTC #44

Yep it’s pretty chill. And I saw my boss’s business partner listening to music with her headphones while working upstairs. My autism and anxiety needs a chill job like the cleaning job

abigaillmartin 2024-11-04 19:19:52 UTC #45

Also a lot of the places have fancy barns like the barns could be their own house too kind of barn. It’s in a country kind of area but fancy. Where I live is pretty flat so there’s a lot of land. Idaho for yah.

beebutterbee 2024-11-04 19:28:32 UTC #46

Ah gotchya!! Well I’m glad the kids have someone to protect them, it sounds like they could worse fates if she wasn’t around It’s admirable that she transformed the suffering she enduring in the foster care system into a life long commitment to keep other kids safe.

And yeah I totally see where you’re coming from! I think most people use deranged in that context. But for me, I don’t see “insanity” as evil but just a very human aspect of people who often go through a lot of trauma. Like if I was a character I’d probably also be considered deranged because I have schizophrenia but I def don’t think I’m an antagonist lol. Most of my main characters have some form of psychosis if not schizophrenia, but it’s such a stigmatized condition in both real life and fiction, so I wanted to represent it in a humanized way by having most of my protagonist go through life like that.

beebutterbee 2024-11-04 19:30:20 UTC #47

Heck yeah! Make some cool playlists to get in the zone of cleaning. I agree, it’s one of the more chill jobs despite it being more psychically demanding than serving up ice cream or something lol. People can just be that much more draining

abigaillmartin 2024-11-04 19:33:56 UTC #48

But serving ice cream is BORING I need something to do! That isn’t repetitive!
Cleaning gives you lots to do. Also I’m around 5’1 and very small so I can get in places no one else can. At least not high up 🤣 but there are perks of being little!

abigaillmartin 2024-11-04 19:34:31 UTC #49

Harry can attest to that. He was only 5’5 which is short for a guy.

Leyelle 2024-11-04 19:34:34 UTC #50

That makes sense. And I agree, I don't think being 'crazy' makes someone evil either. I'd just never heard anyone use the word deranged in the context you were using it.

abigaillmartin 2024-11-04 19:42:21 UTC #51

You’re right. There’s a huge stigma surrounding mental illness and I think that stigma needs to be stopped.

@beebutterbee you told me have schizophrenia correct?

Well… there’s a lot of stigma surrounding it and I think it’s wrong.

beebutterbee 2024-11-04 20:02:45 UTC #52

@Leyelle Yes, I get it, I think most people used deranged in a negative context. I guess then I'm purposely "rebranding" the word lol

@abigaillmartin Yeah there's big stigma across mental illness is general I write about it so often in my fiction because I want to change it, even just a little bit. And yes, I do, I more specifically have schizoaffective, it is one of the "schizophrenias" (there's several different conditions that use that as an umbrella term). But people really misunderstand it and tend to be scared of it.

Leyelle 2024-11-05 13:13:35 UTC #53

Ah, I get it now. Sorry, I didn't understand at first how you were using it for Mia and I was just hoping she wasn't a baddy cuz I'd be morally conflicted. She's too cute. I hope my question didn't hurt or upset you . If I did I am so sorry, that was definitely not my intent. Mia looks like a pretty character (yk I love my plus sized queenies XD.) How old is she and what ethnicity is she (coded, since I know a lot of your ocs are aliens lol)?

Leyelle 2024-11-06 00:06:41 UTC #54

my OC Yogeiris. My Dominicana! the body suit is just because this is a reference image/character design sheet lol

beebutterbee 2024-11-06 07:13:29 UTC #55

Oh no worries <3 I’m good! I didn’t take offense to anything I just love making long posts and then disappearing sorry about that lol! And yes Mia is one of my faves!! She’s for one of my second stories I plan to write/publish traditionally. Her story is actually more in sort of our reality (shocking, despite the psychics and vampires. And psychic vampires) so she’s very clearly written as Mexican/Japanese in the story :0 she’s also 15, she’s a very young protagonist. And yes I love having plus size queenies to write/draw about

Also yay new character just dropped!! So ummm drop the details what story is Yogeiris in?? I’m curious You just left us hanging with that.

Leyelle 2024-11-07 12:36:57 UTC #56

Lol, fifteen doesn't seem that young to me but it might be because I just turned nineteen lol.

As for Yogeiris she's from a romance fantasy comic I'm working on with an artist. I've not started hardcore promoting it because we're still working it out and my last attempt at working to make a comic with somebody else crashed and burned and I had to let everybody down TT.

But the comic is called "Cupid in a Cup" and it's set in an altered version of earth where everyone is either Dominican or Indian since my partner on this project is Indian. She asked if the story could include Indian characters and I just went all in lol. It does make it a very different sort of fantasy world than the usual old-european inspired ones, tho it is modern fantasy so many countries have structural things in common at this point.

My MC Yogeiris is fifteen too, and she has a Crush on this boy in her school named Vivaan so she gets this tea from a local apothecary named Medina that is supposed to make your crush fall in love with you, but really it turns you into someone else, their ideal type.

For that reason, it only works if you can gather a few necessary pieces of information for the apothecary. The problem is the further you are from the person's ideal, the more you become someone other than yourself.

It's kind of hard to explain outside of context lol, but that's the gist. the MC is Dominican her crush and bff, Pari, are indian. The apothecary is Dominican so the cast is currently about half and half. It's my first time writing romance fantasy so we'll see how it goes. It's also kind of psyche thriller because for some reason nearly every spec fic piece I write is at least partially psyche thriller lol

beebutterbee 2024-11-07 13:28:10 UTC #57

Oh that makes sense In my perspective any of the teens seem so young to me. But I even feel like 22 is really young too? Even I realize I was super derpy back then, I could still do cool stories tho! But I feel like I have so much more perspective now. It’s not that young people don’t know anything, I think they can be brilliant writers too, but I’m thinking more on like life experiences that have helped me more with emotional growth. But that just might be because my mental illness was so hard to manage in my youth.

I hope it goes well!! Sorry your last project didn’t pan out, that sounds very disheartening. This one sounds like a really fun world to delve into though! I love the setting of mixing two different heritages together. It sounds like it will make a really unique world.

I want to do that in Butter Bee too actually BUT I have to fix up the beginning so you can actually see the setting lol! I think people can see inklings of the background but it’s very crudely drawn, but I’m going back in for some in between pages for more context this winter. But i remember I drew the outline of mission-like buildings from Mexico in one panel. Their town they’re in at first is supposed to be a mix of Japanese and Mexican! But literally you cannot tell right now still, I also love the idea of combining two cultures or more together to make fantasy worlds.

Leyelle 2024-11-07 13:36:47 UTC #58

Right, we just learn different things over time. I've heard people commenting that teenagers' writing will show a lack of experience, but everyone has different experiences. I wrote my prize winning story when I was 17, and it was about enduring tropical storms in the mountains of the Dominican Republic, an experience that many people will never have, even if they live to be 60. It makes me blow a fuse when people think they can discredit somebodies capabilities just because of their age.

Thanks. I hope it goes well too, and I hope people will enjoy it, and we'll really be able to represent the two cultures well. I've learned since working with the artist that we really have a lot of things in common flora and fauna-wise, which is cool since the FL is a huge nerd for bugs and lizards and stuff lol.

Mission-like? I don't know what that is lol. But yeah combining multiple cultures for a fantasy world sounds like it would be awesome, imao. This is my first time trying it, so we'll see how it goes, but I have other fantasy stories set outside of the traditional European settings, so I look forward to seeing how those pan-out. (mostly set in the Dominican Republic, because, obvs). I just realized that both of our fantasy stories are a combination of one Asian culture and one Hispanic culture lol

beebutterbee 2024-11-07 14:23:49 UTC #59

Definitely I think there’s a distinction between teens/kids and adults but I don’t think they’re lacking thought, that upsets me too actually I hate the mentality that a lot of adults have as younger people being basically brain dead. Mary Shelley wasn’t the first and she wasn’t the last at being a great young novelist. There are many badly written Y/A novels by full grown adults so I don’t think more years makes someone a better writer I inherently.

Like yes we will probably get better at our craft as we age too and gain more insight to our stories, but I don’t think being older automatically makes someone a great writer. There’s actually a lot of talented young authors, I think they really shine with short stories! I’ve read some of those anthologies they’re actually thought provoking? I think it is because a lot of go through really trying times at a young age. But we persevere

I still use some of my story ideas from when I was 11!! They WERE badly written at that point but honestly the ideas were so good I kept them I guess since I help teach younger people art at the art center I really want to champion for the youth because they are our future, and I want to make sure they feel like they can create. I think it’s so sad when people grow out of being creative. Anyways after that novel I just want to say, KEEP WRITING!!! lol sorry I got so sappy I’m a sappy creature I guess.

I’ve actually noticed a lot of similarities in the textiles in South Asian and Hispanic clothing! Sometimes I’ll find a photo online and I’ll mistake it for Mexican because it feels so nostalgic but then it says it from some house in India But I think that’s not a coincidence, since there were traces of their goods between them.

The Missions are churches and settlements set up by the Spanish in Mexico (and some parts of the United States that used to be Mexico, I’ve been to some in Texas) unfortunately they have a super dark history, but there’s a reason I have them as the architecture in that town. But I haven’t gotten to it yet lol! They look like this:

but yes big agree! I love combining two different cultures together to make settings I do it a lot in my other stories too. Mia’s city she lives in has a Little Mexico/Chinatown neighborhood that she lives in!

beebutterbee 2024-11-07 14:24:55 UTC #60

Oh god sorry I wrote and ENTIRE NOVEL bless your soul if you can read that all in one go I just know I have some typos hiding out there I hope it’s readable lmao