I’m Going To Start Making Them Then!😤🤗

Lovestruck: Here, have this villain in our new Sin With Me series. She's mean and controls demons and she's hot.

Me: Nice

LS: Oh, and if she touches anything living, she fucken incinerates it. This is both a weapon and a curse.

Me: SPICE

LS: Oh, and now she's getting her own route.

Me: Take my money

LS: Oh, and by the way, she's highly successful, and values human life despite what her actions may initially suggest. Also she leaves ridiculously good tips for service workers and literally robs the rich after seeing them laugh about firing a waiter and taking away their livelihood

Me: VILLAIN ROUTES ARE THE BES

Okay so my girlfriend just wrote heartquakes instead of earthquakes and that’s the cutest thing I’ve seen all day omg

mutuals whenever i like your posts please remember that i am twirling my hair and giggling and saying “ohmigod really?? thats soooo cool”

So true :c

Me: *at work*

Brain: oh hey so here’s the cure for that writer’s block you’ve been having

Me: *driving*

Brain: and here’s some eloquent dialogue to go with it

Me: *at the grocery store*

Brain: remember that plot hole? fixed it.

Me: *in the shower*

Brain: you know that scene that’s been giving you hell? here’s three perfectly plotted ways for it to play out

Me: *actually sits down to write*

Brain: *dial tone*

Hey I saw your tips for drawing muslims but do you have any for writing them?

hello hello, thanks for the ask!

WRITING MUSLIM CHARACTERS

stereotypes to avoid

– the “oppressed hijabi” trope

listen, most of us wear hijab because we want to. because we grew up around it. because it’s as natural as wearing a shirt. please stop acting as though we all despise our hijab and our religion

– the “misunderstanding parents” trope

why are all muslim parents emotionally or physically abusive in fiction? i personally have an amazing relationship with my parents. also not all muslim parents are trying to suck the joy out of their children’s lives. they’re just trying to keep their kids safe. also this trope usually gets pretty racist because the reason they don’t understand their child is because they’re “not from here” and “don’t get how things are done” so yknow, avoid that.

– the “abusive dad” trope

listen. i’m fully aware that abusive parents are horrible and something that people should be made aware of, but when every muslim dad in fiction is abusive, that’s just islamophobia. just. give us good relationships with our family!!!

– the “silent mom” trope

how come muslim mothers in fiction have no lines? have no voice? they’re just silent products of a household there to cook and clean. what is that all about?? please. just stop

– the “White Boy Romance” trope

oh, all muslims know where i’m going with this Do. Not. Have. A. Hijabi. Take. Off. Her. Hijab. For. A. White. Boy. please. don’t have her take it off, period. but especially not for romance. actually, if your narrative involves a muslim girl stepping away from her religion and taking off her hijab and realizing she’s happier this way, throw the whole story away. i’m sorry, but if you’re not muslim, this isn’t something for you to write about. this is not your story to write, and writing it will be extremely islamophobic. avoid a typical romance. muslim romances do not occur the way western romances do. either you gotta be okay with that and write it properly, or you should do your best to avoid it altogether.

THINGS TO DO

– let them have friends!! let them have muslim friends!! especially if they live in an area that has a high muslim population.

– let them talk about things that aren’t their religion. listen, my muslim friends and i talk about religion occasionally, but i can assure you, more of our conversation revolves around the hot boy of the week or about whatever shows we’re watching. and in terms of non-muslim friends, religion isn’t a point of tension. we respect and celebrate our differences, and that’s it. we talk about it sometimes, but we don’t argue about it

– make it clear that we’re muslim without just saying it. have us take a step aside to pray. have a character compliment our hijabs. have us fast in ramadan (or make up fasts in the winter). have us eat halal meat. say bismillah before we eat. say alhamdulillah after sneezing or when we’re thankful. subhanallah when we see something beautiful

– we’re not nuns. we find people attractive. we discuss it. it’s not a big deal

– make sure we have a personality that doesn’t revolve around our religion. yes, our religion can be a huge aspect of our identity and life, but no, it’s not the only thing. make them obsessed with a show. give them nervous habits. what do they collect? are they introverted? you tell me!

– avoid intimately close friendships with the opposite gender. casual acquaintances is fine, but this is something i would personally avoid writing if possible

– research what is haram. i’ll give you a basic list:

- pork

- meat that isn’t halal

- gelatin (unless it’s plant gelatin or from a halal store)

- missing prayers

- sex before or outside of marriage

- cheating in any way

- abuse towards your family (yes, this may come as a shock to some, but it’s actually prohibited by islam)

- drinking

- drugs

do more research, of course, but this is a basic list.

i think that about covers it: don’t stereotype us, make sure it’s noticeable that we’re muslims, give us personalities, and make sure we’re avoiding haram stuff

before anyone comes at me: i’m aware that there are muslims who don’t follow the rules and who do haram things and who don’t like their religion and don’t have stable family relationships etc, etc. BUT when that is our only representation in media, it’s islamophobic. show us good muslims, who like their religion, whose religion is their identity, who don’t feel like their religion is causing them to lose out. because we exist.

please, untitled document was my father, call me untitled document (1)

That one moment when I try to start another route and just end up rereading Yvette’s route instead. I think I need help.

"no honour among thieves", a queer, crime-thriller visual novel by - wait. mod galen?!

that's right folks! you might've noticed i kinda vanished off of the face of the earth for a hot second there. reason being, i've been creating my very own visual novel, day in and day out - and today i can finally present a piece of it to you all. the demo is officially out!

what's no honour among thieves about, you may ask? the short answer would be sexy felons fucking each other over in every meaning of the word. as for the long answer...

no honour among thieves stars you, the unnamed, never-shown mc so you can project and create to your hearts content, a criminal of many trades, con art being one of them. when the ex-boyfriend of a hot mafia boss asks you to seduce and break the heart of said mafia boss for a shitton of money, you find yourself tangled up in one hell of an adventure as the resident biker gang's leader also wants a piece of the action and is acting as a glorified guard dog. there's also a girl who's willing to sell your soul to the devil for a cornchip.

as you can tell, i'm great at summaries.

memes aside, i've been working really hard on this project for months now, so if you could support it, it'd mean the world to me! you can find me on:

twitter

itch.io

and patreon!

the kickstarter to fully-fund this originally small, but now rather ambitious project, will be launching anywhere between a few days time to a week or so, depending how things go, so keep your eyes peeled (but don't worry, i'll be sure to share it on here, too.)

now, the characters!

afrom left to right - navin devraj (he/him), mercury jackson (he/she), xanthe wilde (he/they), and the siren, a.k.a siren lewis (she/her).

xanthe and mercury, the mafia boss and biker gang leader, respectively, are so far the only love interests in the game - and yes, they're both nonbinary because i can! we need more rep and i do what i want! but one of the kickstarter stretch goals is to give navin and siren route as well. either way, they will remain important side characters that the mc can become fwbs with if they so wish ;)

none of the romances are gender-locked, as they're all bi or pan anyway, and you can choose your mc's gender, attire, pronouns, title - later on you can even specify the petnames the li's will call you. that's on inclusion for everyone, babey!!

this is getting long, so i'll wrap it up.

check out the demo here!

mod galen, checking out~

-

ps: be a dear and reblog this so i can get the word out, will you? rts on my twitter also help a ton!