Haunted 1-20
(Note: I’m getting burnt out, so I decided to take this week and the next off. Haunted will resume on July 10!)
We’re going a little closer to home with the Sims Pride 2019 list, curated in 2019 by Trip/InfraGreen who is damn fantastic as hell.
One of my favorite things about SimLit (other than being insulated and relatively hater-free, allowing some pretty awesome people to hide out and develop their talents) is how people are using it to tell more diverse stories, often because the authors themselves belong to groups that don’t get enough media representation. But now there’s a way to fix that! Besides, heaven knows my self-esteem is tied to my daily hits, so you’re likely to make someone’s day by clicking on any one of those stories.
BREAKING SHITPOST NEWS: I took a break on Saturday to do a Drawful session with a friend, which, incidentally, is why this page is very late. Point is, one of the prompts she got was “swallowing a ghost.” And. She. Drew. Yuan. It was G rated but got the point across. There were also several strategic uses of the word “ectoplasm.” As Xiyuan’s handler, you have my full permission to roast him for his paranormal escapades at every possible opportunity, and are encouraged to do so. It’s what he deserves.
Jsyk, I very well may not have gone the rated-G route had I not wasted a substantial portion of my draw time just fucking losing it over the fact that I got that prompt. Limited by time and line width! An artist’s worst enemies.
As for the comic, I am just waiting for Xiyuan to walk in nonchalantly and be like “‘Sup.” Except more refined because he’s Xiyuan.
I mean, I don’t blame you. We should have just paused the game until you stopped laughing.
What I want to know is how people who don’t know Xiyuan responded to that prompt, because what.
He will absolutely make a refined and hammy entrance, possibly with a lot of wind.
Strategic uses of the word “ectoplasm”? “Swallowing a ghost”? #bless, this is the future we deserve.
Sergio is really coming in hot with his “I know everything about the international art trade” quip. Bro. You’re talking about the Man, the Myth, the Legend. Do you know in the future times he is going to be married to a very particular ghost/reincarnated artist? Sit down.
LOL love the way his jacket looked like a cape in that one panel (AS IF HE COULD EVER) and the way nice was dripping (with sarcasm?).
Oh man and you are adding to me read list. So much of my summer is just gonna be plotting BBD 2 and reading simlits. Also working wayyyyy too much.
Hahaha, listen, 40% of the joy in writing Yuan comes from lowbrow spectrophilia jokes. Spoiler: he calls Bernard “my boo.” MY BOO.
I’m in love with telling Sergio to sit down. As in, because what he has to say about Xiyuan speaks more to his own character. That’s something I’m aware of in Chapter 1: it looks like the exposition is meant to convey information about Xiyuan, but established readers are actually learning more about the people around him. Like when Neta recognizes his name, comic-exclusive readers will ask “what did Yuan do to become famous?” but CT readers will ask “why would Neta know the name of a gallerist? Is she an artist herself?”
Anyway, this is a perfect example. Wondering what’s wrong with Yuan’s management style that causes someone to call him a nutcase and quit on the spot, citing his risky strategy as a totally understandable reason not to work with the guy? Nope! Straight to calling Sergio out for being competitive and possibly having some jealousy issues. Because even though they’re talking about Xiyuan, this scene is really about how the individual Casbah Gallery Fashion District Office employees respond to a sudden change in management.
I’ll be watching for BBD2… UWSV? USV?
God, please put a “my boo” reference in whatever BBD/CT dinner crossover we write because that is perfection.
Hahaha I did not even realize how trained I was but you’re totally right, my first impulse is to be like: okay how do these conversations tell me something about the other characters? I like it as a character development tool.
Lol I the acronyms are going to get out of control for BBD 2 😂😂😂
Will note “my boo” in the Google Doc. And if you act quickly, you can be the 5428692nd person to send Yuan “Bustin’.”
Oof that “swallowing a ghost” pun really set the bar high for Pride Month. For a moment I thought the “nice” bubble was dripping with ectoplasmic goo too and that Bernard’s disguise was unbeatable.
I’m glad people still remember that list. Behind the scenes it was maybe the hardest thing I’ve ever curated simply because I got a chihuahua puppy in the middle of it. Surely he’ll be enough of a chihuahua adult to leave me alone one of these days…
HAHAHA, my god, that “too” is doing some heavy lifting. We have to balance out the serious topics addressed here with jokes about how Yuan is basically a proton pack.
The list was a great idea! I need to catch myself up on many of those. (By the way, there’s a randomly generated family in my game consisting of two gay couples and four chihuahuas, and it makes me think of you every time.)
I’m outta words, so I’m just happy for the shout-out to Trip.
She deserves it for making that fantastic list!
Is there a link to your friend’s Yuan drawing? Also, ty for informing it was G-rated, b/c THAT was not where my mind initially went.
I love how Ari talks over Rayen in the second panel lololol. It’s really cleverly executed, with bits of letters popping over Ari’s speech bubble, but not clear enough to know what the word is (AND IT DRIVES ME BONKERS… but in a good way).
Ari is totally fan-girling (fan-boying?) over Yuan, and it is SO DANG PRECIOUS. I can’t…
I love the ice hanging from Sergio’s speech bubble! It’s such a great comparison, and I love how Sergio and Ari have such stark opposite viewpoints in these panels. Serg, being the marketing director, is coming off as arrogant. Like he’s so set in how selling SHOULD be that he snubs Yuan, who is clearly making a financial killing. Like dang, Serg, you’re so set in your ways that you can’t handle someone killing it in a way that goes against that norm. Jelly much, Serg?
Rayen is def the voice of reason between both men and their excitement.
So I’m sure you inferred this already from the approximately a million named characters introduced in Ch. 1, but I love making characters, and giving them all distinct personalities, and seeing who meshes with who. And it’s always been a secret goal to have everyone’s favorite character in CT be spread out across the board. At the end of Book 2, with a small enough audience, no two people had the same favorite characters. I’m proud of that.
Point being, sometimes it’s possible to guess who’ll mesh with whom. But you and Ari? That’s one I didn’t see coming. Hah! Good, because there’ll be a lot more of her!
I’m also happy to report that that is where everyone’s mind initially went, and the final drawing was only G-rated because she was laughing too hard & ran out of time to draw a ghost being swallowed. AND! There is another notorious instance where she did get the giggles together long enough to draw something very not G-rated, and this drawing has never been publicly released. Hit me up on the Discord server and I’ll post it with a NSFW filter so we don’t subject poor Cathy Tea to this filth.
Miles is giving me himbo vibes. I love him.
Also Sergio seems to be stanning Thea hard. I don’t blame him, we all stan Althea, but still. Don’t be quitting your cushy jobs over it, Serg! 😛
Althea is a problem, ok? I made her too cool and we’re all paying the price.