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Oceans of ink and color

@orcaraminga / orcaraminga.tumblr.com

Digital cetacean swimming through the deep waters of the internet. AO3 | ko-fi | Instagram | Substack 🌊 Italian Writer. Ideas are like waves: they travel. 📖 WIPs: Legacy of the Yew & Stories the Seagull Told Me. 🐚 Identity: Neurodivergent & Disabled | She/Her | Demisexual. 🖋️ Content: chapters or sneek peeks from my WIPs, storytelling hacks, reflections, and reblogs.

🌊 Welcome to the Orca Pod! Here’s a Navigation Chart

Hi! I’m Orca Raminga, a writer with a mind constantly swimming between hundreds of different waves. Sometimes I chill on the surface, sometimes I go deeper. 

In Italian the word 'raminga' describes a person who wanders. Depending on the context, it translates to Wanderer, Wayfarer, or Roamer. For me it’s about a restless curiosity and mind. It implies traveling without a fixed destination, sometimes a lonely road… sometimes driven by a desire to explore. While I do have my goals, I find the greatest value in the process, because it’s the journey that truly counts. That is why I chose 'Raminga' as part of my username: 

"Not all those who wander are lost."

Ramingo is also one of the words used to describe Aragorn (that’s how in the italian versions of LOTR you call him as Ranger). 

I must admit I did not choose Orca because of how amazing orcas are or because of the inspiring simbology, but… just because I like them. Eh, not everything must be that deep!

🖋️About Me

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Reblogged

protect em dashes.

protect “not x, not y, but z” format.

protect short sentence stacking as a stylistic choice.

protect fanfic writers—who are kind enough to share their works with people to read for free—from ai witch hunts, speculations and accusations.

“don’t like don’t read” also applies to any fic that is ai-generated and any fic you think is ai-generated by the way. if you don’t like what you’re reading for any reason, you can always stop reading and exit the fic at any point. but harassment is never ever justified. no matter if you think you’ve found a noble excuse to do it. and also…

witch hunts, speculations and accusations harm the writing community as much as ai does. if not more. I don’t want to see another innocent writer get driven away from the community because someone decides to harass and accuse them for using ai just because their fic happens to have “ai telltales” — the same telltales ai got from having been trained on millions of human-made works to mimic how real humans actually write.

Fucking THANK YOU

And also, people who do witch hunt should really search for the Streisand Effect =.=

I don' like AI and I hope all data centers collapse to never be rebuilt again, but pointless moral crusades to normal people instead of making corporations/billionaries accountable for their actions lead to nothing.

(Also you don't pay to read fanfictions, it's not like you can ask a refund. They are literally a gift to the world and to the unforgiving internet culture *facepalm*)

I’ve always imagined my collection of poems and short stories "Stories The Seagull Told Me" as an illustrated book. Something with lots of ink, dark vibes, hand-drawn. But while I’m decently skilled with digital graphic design, I have lots of insecurities with traditional art.

Of course I can’t afford to commission 10+ illustrations, though I do plan to do so at least for the cover of my urban fantasy WIP. (I'll find the money for that, one way or another.)

And for the collection? Well, AI is not an option. I want my work as a writer to be respected, it would not make sense to disrespect visual artists like that... plus all the other cons about generative AI in general, plus fuck capitalism, etc.

The solution is simple, in theory: making the illustrations myself.

So here I am, with pens and pencils and brushes again after my art teacher in middle school laughed at me when I told her I wished to study art. (I mean, she was probably right given my undiagnosed dysgraphia, but I am almost 30 and I still remember that moment after 15+ years. Asshole.)

I do think my drawing skills are embarassing and cringe but a friend tells me I underestimate my artwork. I'll just quote Alessandro Manzoni saying ai posteri l'ardua sentenza.

I don't now if these pieces will be in the book, for now I consider them preliminary sketches. But I missed posting stuff on Tumblr and I wanted to give some updates =)

The landscape is one of my favourite places in the world, one that inspired me to write the collection, which is mostly a love letter to the Mediterranean Sea after all.

The Cat is the protagonist of one of the stories, I think people will enjoy him very much, when the time will come.

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Anonymous asked:

Firstly, how's Uni? I want to make sure you're not too stressed.... And my question, are you writing anything at the moment, and if yes, what is it about and where can I read it? (I LOVE reading new thingss)

Hello there!

I don't understand how I didn't see this message, I've opened tumblr 2/3 times in last week even  if I wasn't posting or reblogginh .-. I am sorry for the delayed answer!

I am a little bit stressed to be honest XD I have 2 exams this week, finger crossed 🤞 

I am not having a breakdown though, my mental health is getting better (thanks to the professionals that help me and the work I put in it 💓). 

I took four exams between May and June, and I have two more to take in september to graduate, so unfortunately I can't spend six hours a day writing like I'd like to ❤️‍🩹  But I finished the outline for Legacy of the Yew and I started organizing the scenes I've already written. I also found an alpha reader to whom I sent the first chapters (I am writing them in Italian, but I’ll probably translate the first chapters when I have more free time), so I can happily say I'm still managing to find some time to write. ^^ among other things, a professor asked me to co-write an article about a project in our area!

I also wrote a short poem in Italian that will be published in an anthology by an indie collective in a few months. 

[Now that I think about it, my fins had been full 😯]

For now I am not writing new stories in english 😢 except stuff for Stories The Seagull Told Me (I need to decide how to publish them first, though), but I’ll probably publish new sneek peeks from LOTY at the end of the month, and possibly translating an article I wrote on Substack. I miss wandering around this crazy site❤️

Generally speaking I am doing pretty well, I am just a bit over-worked XD

Hope you’re doing well in your day to day life too, Anonymous! ❤️

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UPDATE

I passed the exams **

Now I'm spending the weekend reading and writing and of course... swimming! 😍

I’m sorry friends, but “just google it” is no longer viable advice. What are we even telling people to do anymore, go try to google useful info and the first three pages are just ads for products that might be the exact opposite of what the person is trying to find but The Algorithm thinks the words are related enough? And if it’s not ads it’s just sponsored websites filled with listicles, just pages and pages of “TOP FIFTEEN [thing you googled] IMAGINED AS DISNEY PRINCESSES” like… what are we even doing anymore, google? I can no longer use you as shorthand for people doing real and actual helpful research on their own.

Time to drop some links again.

https://searchmysite.net/ Search engine for the indie web, personal websites, digital gardens. You can also find them in websites like Neocities, Indieweb, Blogarama, and write.as. There is also a big list of personal websites.

https://search.marginalia.nu/ Search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and promotes websites that aren’t usually at the top of the list.

https://www.worldcat.org/ Search engine for items in libraries (books, but also maps, articles, sound recordings, theses, etc.)

https://scholar.google.com/ Search engine for scientific papers, reviews, etc. It’s still google, but a lot better than the normal search engine counterpart.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines A list of search engines sorted by subject, area, and more. If you’re searching on a specific area, it might be worth checking if there is one focused on that area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_databases_and_search_engines A list of academic databases and search engines.

https://tineye.com/ Reverse image search alternative to Google’s. Also, P.S.: Please stop using Google, and start using more privacy focused search engines, like DuckDuckGo or SearchX (opensource; personally haven’t used it yet, but it looks promising for privacy-focused users)

I think Vivaldi is no-AI too?

Also, change gmail!

Like Tuta mail or Proton.

Anonymous asked:

Firstly, how's Uni? I want to make sure you're not too stressed.... And my question, are you writing anything at the moment, and if yes, what is it about and where can I read it? (I LOVE reading new thingss)

Hello there!

I don't understand how I didn't see this message, I've opened tumblr 2/3 times in last week even  if I wasn't posting or reblogginh .-. I am sorry for the delayed answer!

I am a little bit stressed to be honest XD I have 2 exams this week, finger crossed 🤞 

I am not having a breakdown though, my mental health is getting better (thanks to the professionals that help me and the work I put in it 💓). 

I took four exams between May and June, and I have two more to take in september to graduate, so unfortunately I can't spend six hours a day writing like I'd like to ❤️‍🩹  But I finished the outline for Legacy of the Yew and I started organizing the scenes I've already written. I also found an alpha reader to whom I sent the first chapters (I am writing them in Italian, but I’ll probably translate the first chapters when I have more free time), so I can happily say I'm still managing to find some time to write. ^^ among other things, a professor asked me to co-write an article about a project in our area!

I also wrote a short poem in Italian that will be published in an anthology by an indie collective in a few months. 

[Now that I think about it, my fins had been full 😯]

For now I am not writing new stories in english 😢 except stuff for Stories The Seagull Told Me (I need to decide how to publish them first, though), but I’ll probably publish new sneek peeks from LOTY at the end of the month, and possibly translating an article I wrote on Substack. I miss wandering around this crazy site❤️

Generally speaking I am doing pretty well, I am just a bit over-worked XD

Hope you’re doing well in your day to day life too, Anonymous! ❤️

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Reblogged

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

okay so i just got my dream job??? a week after applying to it?? and now i’m thinking….maybe this is the good luck post

…..not even six hours later i got an offer of a well paying full time long-term job with free room and board in queens in nyc, allowing me independence and a way to escape an abusive situation and an unhealthy environment

likes charge reblogs cast, folks, this is the good luck post

i need all the help i can get for finals

Hey so

the last time I reblogged this post right before I got a great job, in a permanent work-from-home position, with benefits, retirement, and a salary literally 3x what I was making before, doing something I really like. 

So you know. 

This might be the real one, y’all.

I could use some luck

🙏Need that lease application approved pleadge

I'll also put my Daruma Doll to join the good luck post. Fingers crossed everybody! 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀

So, I just finished binge watching The Dragon Prince.

I have my doubts about some narrative choices... but overall I love it.

While we wait for The Dragon King, can someone reccomend a good fanfiction in which the other Startouch Elves get a well deserved, cosmically balanced kick in the ass?

I—

I just want to BEAT the Ever-Loving Cosmic Shit Out of Them

But I CAN'T WRITE FICS NOW

BECAUSE I HAVE UNIVERSITY

And TWO ORIGINAL PROJECTS

And STUFF

But I really really want to see them getting slapped in the face with an archdragon-sized brick.

Today I learned 3D animation is a horror show outside the camera's field of view.

Just to add context, the director wanted the scene to use an 85mm lens which is slightly telephoto. Telephoto lenses give a very intimate feel because they compress the scene. Background and foreground objects can appear larger at longer focal lengths.

But that compression can also make objects look the wrong size in context with the subject depending on the framing.

This is done in live action as well using another person's hands in front of the camera.

Or sometimes they create giant fake hands like in Hellboy.

they did this in lord of the rings too!

“In the main menu of Mario Power Tennis, Toad is present to explain the selection options. It appears as though Toad is close to the background and roughly the same size as the icons. However, moving the viewpoint reveals that Toad is actually extremely tiny and extremely close to the camera (note Toad near the left edge of the screen in the bottom image).”

TOAD IN THE VOID

No, no it isn’t.

this gif is perfectly timed because it gives you enough time to read it, comprehend it, and still have this too-long-for-comfort moment of suspense before being punched square in the solar plexus

A scene from a Star Wars movie plays out, but with different captions.

The captions say, in order:

“I made this into a GIF”

“It’s the Rickroll right?

There are no captions in the third image.

“It’s the Rickroll, right?”

There is a pause, and then the image changes to show a scene from Monty Python and it is captioned

“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

I was high off my ass last night and had this dream where I was in this dense ass forest and sitting there was a tall woman. She was so tall I couldn’t see her face but she was wearing gold and I was like “uh…hi?” And she said “I made you, do you know that?” And I nodded and she was like “I hear your thoughts. Why do you hate my creation? Why do you try to destroy yourself? I made you perfect as you are. Please don’t break my heart”. Then she started crying and it flooded and I woke up with fucking heart palpitations like what does it Mean™️????

polar opposite of this post

inspiration struck and would not let me go until i drew this

This is really beautiful!!!

"I want to live in a world in which teenagers can fulfil their natural purpose of being annoying" and "I do not always want to be annoyed by the teenagers" are compatible sentiments

You! You are the only person who has correctly understood this post. The point is not that they should go be annoying somewhere else, it's that being annoyed by teenagers in normal public places, while annoying, is a good thing. It is a sign of societal health. We adults just need to be ok with the fact that we're going to be annoyed sometimes.

A little update to show you I ain't dead 🫠

So, it's a bit of a rough period with uni. I struggle a bit to catch up with stuff, online and offline. On the bright side, I met on the italian side of Instagram an indie collective of readers/writers/editors and I'm having a lot of fun chatting/interacting with them.

Today I had to take part of the administrative law exam, but it didn't go well, and I was a bit disappointed. Luckily, I have a very helpful professor, and a few colleagues and I will probably meet with him for clarification about some topics before the next exam.

The internship is deadly boring.

Don't worry, I am still writing the LOTY saga and the collection of short stories/poems. ❤️

For the friends who follow/tag me: I read you, but sometimes I'm too tired to comment, share, or interact😬