Day 1 On My Advent Calendar, I Got Krampus!

The Kitten is absolutely smitten!

(Text in ALT because my handwriting is not... writing)

The ✨️wrist thing✨️:

You captured this dummy drama vampire perfectly! 🦇🎀 Kudos to drawing two very fine hands, I was struggling with mine, haha!

Art trade with @purrlockswatson! Their original vampire character, London Pierce ♡

He's just a cutie, disaster kitten

Erik live reaction:

Thank you so much for doing this - and so fast! I tip my hat to you!

And I am simply delighted that you hear Lerik in this song too, it's his song, poor, unhappy "I just want to be like everybody else" Erik.

Will Wood + PoTO is one of my favourite things. I have a comic and the bare bones of an animatic.

Love me normally – Will Wood

@purrlockswatson request

This song is so Lerik coded omg

Uncommon Questions for OCs and their creators:

Send me a # (questions for OCs) or a letter (questions for creators) and I’ll answer

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR OCs

What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

How easy is it for your character to laugh?

How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

How easy is it to earn their trust?

How easy is it to earn their mistrust?

Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child

Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?

What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?

How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?

What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?

What animal do they fear most?

How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?

What makes their stomach turn?

Are they easily embarrassed?

What embarrasses them?

What is their favorite number?

If they were asked to explain the difference between romantic and platonic or familial love, how would they do so?

Why do they get up in the morning? 

How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)? 

How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)? 

 Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom? 

 What are their thoughts on marriage? 

 What is their preferred mode of transportation? 

 What causes them to feel dread? 

 Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth? 

 Do they usually live up to their own ideals? 

 Who do they most regret meeting? 

 Who are they the most glad to have met? 

 Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke? 

 Could they be considered lazy? 

 How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt? 

 How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive? 

Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap? 

Do they have a system for remembering names, long lists of numbers, things that need to go in a certain order (like anagrams, putting things to melodies, etc)? 

What memory do they revisit the most often? 

How easy is it for them to ignore flaws in other people? 

How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

How do they feel about children? 

How badly do they want to reach their end goal? 

If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so? 

QUESTIONS FOR CREATORS

A) Why are you excited about this character? B) What inspired you to create them? C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story? D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look? E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you? F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)? G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most? H) What trait do you admire most? I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe? J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

Blog post: The Freedom to be Grotesque and Gothic Authoresses

Purrlock Holmes Books

The Freedom to be Grotesque: Gothic Authoresses

Reclaim authorship over “grotesque” writing. Writers have long been forced to deny the impact of their writing for fear of frightening reade

"I shall thus give a general answer to the question, so frequently asked me—How I, then a young girl, came to think of, and to dilate upon, so very hideous an idea?"

- Mary Shelley, Introduction to Frankenstein

In the 1831 edition of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley explained how she, as a 19-year-old young woman, wrote a work that shook contemporary intellectuals.

“I didn’t mean anything by it; it’s only flight of fancy,” the writers who defined gothic literature said to a world that was not prepared to accept that women with no formal education were capable of the intellectual prowess woven into these tales of dark, profound, terrifying worlds.

We have long lived in a society that is quick to denounce, demonise and deny the voices that speak in a different tone. Even if you never show it to a single soul, write. Write, because to write dark, terrible things is to accept that they exist inside you without shame.

-

Unedited post - with a short piece I published years ago - linked above!

Fictional love interests, we have beef!

Guess what suckers, my application to be the lady lead in a novel has been rejected again. Maybe because I tormented the gentleman lead for wearing a dark t-shirt and jeans.

What do you mean the best I could hope for is an Armani suit?

Villain arc it is, then.

(In all seriousness, I have nothing against people who dress like this. What gets on my nerves is that there is only one type of "attractive" on the fiction market. It's true, "don't like don't read," but I'm having a hard time finding writing I do like because they're all copycats of each other - yet they all try to frame those leads as "special," "The One," "the Exception," "he's not just A Guy" - actual phrasing I've seen in an actual publication - and it just gets tiring and puts me in a sarcastic mood.)

You'll tell them, Pierce. Show them those, um, ballet flats.

Pierce, pre-vampire turning, had many vices. Repressed memories, drowned in naïvety and substance abuse, is the darker side to his story.

However, in this latest short and silly (by my standards, at least) chapter, he's all chaos kitten, enjoy it while you can!

Part 5 of Last Night at Vena Cava:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63019435/chapters/163719073

(As always, please give me feedback - comment, DM, send asks - I'd love to hear whatever you have to say or ask!)

Cat Character Reference Sheet Comms!

Have your favourite character drawn as a cat! Showcase their best quotes and silly moments. Example is BBC's Purrlock and his shenanigans, which OC or best goober do you want to see cattified?

(Purrlock put that sheet back on this instant)

Commission here on Ko-fi!

Red death.

I was recently informed by @blackghostm2o that we never got to see Cherik at a masquerade. This is my humble attempt to rectify that, since we all know that Cherik is the best dressed Phantom. The fashion historian Bernadette Banner has made a Red Death gown with the boning exposed to give it a skeletal look, so I borrowed the idea and incorporated a boned corset.

Guilty as charged, your honour.

(I'm already swamped in unfinished sketches, so I got to ask: How much, exactly, do you people want to see Kitty Cherik powdering his fluffy snoot?)

Phantom of the Opera (1990), you did Erik proud

Alternate title: Christine, we have beef!

(Meme inspired by this post.)

I have not a bad word for this Erik (and not just because I can feel a certain friend of mine holding a chandelier over my head). The 1990 adaptation made some big changes to the story, but it perfectly captured the childlike soul of Leroux's Erik that is often lost in translation but vital to him. (When I was explaining POTO to someone outside the situation, i. e. my mum, two things I kept using as comparisons were a child and Gollum - not because he's a chaos gremlin, I was trying to describe how he has a skewered perspective of the world that isn't evil but doesn't follow the accepted moral system. But that's for another time.)

I found myself trying very hard not to resent Christine - a first time for me. I will defend her choosing the Compte de Chagny over Erik, she doesn't owe Erik love, no matter what he did for her. The problem is that she took on a responsibility she couldn't possibly carry.

Never, ever assume to fully understand someone. Especially someone like Erik, who thinks and exists on a different pane as most people. Christine was wrong, terribly wrong, to assume she 'knew his heart.'

When faced with a person so sensitive, so particular, when you are the one person trusted by someone who trusts no one, don't make huge gambles like that. She shouldn't have assumed she knew what Erik needs better than he himself does - if he told you he is happy with where they were, then stay there with him! Instead, she pulled the 'I can fix him' and shattered him completely. I don't hate her for being unable to catch Erik when he falls, I hate her for blindly promising to catch him and failing him.

(I do realise how much of the above describes myself and my worries about how people treat me, so fair warning, I may be a bit biased.)

An opinion: in most versions of the story, Erik emotionally manipulates Christine, but here, Christine is the one who is emotionally manipulative. ('Manipulative' may sound malicious, but manipulators aren't always aware of what they're doing.)

In the second part of the series, she said at least three times 'If you love me...' Now, that is one of my least favourite sentences to see and hear in the best of times, but this is somehow even worse because Erik DOES do everything because he loves her. In other versions, there is the question of possessiveness against love when it comes to their relationship; in that context, I would accept her saying this, to remind him that he should love and not obsess over her. But here, Erik is not possessive.

As for Monsieur Carrière, I have beef with him, too. It's an even bigger, tougher slice of beef. He is irresponsible: not once, but twice, he got in relationships and then left his partners when they have children. The first time could be a mistake; the second time, especially when kept Erik's mother in the dark about his marriage, is inexcusable. Yes, he stayed with her till the end, but then left their son in a basement. Yes, he reached out to Erik in the end, but too little, too late. If Erik is emotional and irrational, it's because Carrière never gave him the guidance he should have.

Christine and Carrière love Erik, I don't doubt it. But it's still painful to see Erik fall down through everyone and everything that should have caught him: his talent, his parents, Christine.

If you'll excuse me, I need to cry in the catacombs and draw something miserable.

I talk about several other adaptations here!