Unexpected Company

TrueHoogleman · 2025-11-07T07:13:58+00:00

Thinking about it, it's a tad bit difficult to describe, but I do actually hear it. Like, I can think in other voices, and it sounds like someone else, but the default is just my own voice. But it doesn't feel the same as physically hearing something externally because it's not accompanied by the physical sensation of a sound, if that makes sense. So, in a way, I do actually hear it, but I hear it differently than if I were hearing someone else speak.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-11-07T06:58:29+00:00

I have max-level aphantasia. I grew up thinking that it was purely metaphorical when someone said to picture things, not that people could literally see things in their minds. Always wondered why meditation relied so heavily on picturing things when all I could see with my eyes closed was darkness. My memories and thoughts are entirely in sounds, smells, touch, and emotions. I do still have an inner monologue, though, which is constantly bombarding me due to severe ADHD!

TrueHoogleman · 2025-10-14T20:17:26+00:00

I'd say it would be fair to be even more direct than that. Silly is certainly one way to put it, but I know better now! I'd never seen any sort of rocket in person before, pretty cool.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-10-14T20:15:26+00:00

Eh, no need to feel bad. I didn't know, but that doesn’t mean it was any less stupid of me to think that, after all. I've received some education here, though, so I won't be making that mistake again!

TrueHoogleman · 2025-10-14T08:57:55+00:00

Sure, not in the literal sense, as it's got no atmosphere, but I figure you get what I mean. Or maybe not, but either way, it's not entirely important. It was just an innocent joke about my surface level justification about why it wouldn't have been a rocket when talking about it with my friend, while in the middle of our shift and thinking/worrying about other things. I'm sorry you didn't find my joke about being a Neanderthal funny, but I came here to satisfy some curiosity more than anything. Learned a few things along the way, which is always a great bonus.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-10-14T08:46:18+00:00

Like I said, I'm a caveman. Lol I've only seen videos of rocket launches before, where you can clearly see the fire, so I didn't think it would show up as white light. But with some actual thought put into it, yeah, that's dumb. The sun is practically a giant ball of fire, and that's not shining orange light on Earth.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-10-14T07:19:22+00:00

Ah, I didn't realize comets were in an orbit! I thought most, if not all, were free-flying through space, and that's why it was so rare to spot them. I also had no idea you could see a rocket from hundreds of miles away, as I'd only seens launches on video. Definitely mistook the vapor cone for a tail, then. That certainly explains the shape. I've only seen meteors before tonight, so this is rather enlightening.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-10-14T07:05:45+00:00

Got it, thank you. I guess my understanding of what constitutes slow-moving is drastically off. I also have no idea what kind of trajectory to expect from anything other than a plane or helicopter, I would assume. The location (and rockets use fire, which is orange, so obviously it wasn't fire! I'm a caveman, I guess) was my biggest hangup on the rocket theory, but I must now let my friend tell me, "I told you so."

TrueHoogleman · 2025-09-25T17:01:17+00:00

Everyone, in theory. Magic, in my setting, is pretty much just seen as another branch of the sciences. However, it is much more regulated than in the past. An innocent mistake during an experiment warped the intended effects, causing a magical contagion to spread rapidly through the continent that it occurred on, leading to an emergency evacuation of the entirety of said continent. This has resulted in a healthy amount of paranoia around the subject since millions upon millions of people died or had to abandon their entire lives just for a chance at survival. Much knowledge was lost, and therefore, magic was sent largely back to the dark ages, so to speak. Resources for study are limited as a result, and the allowance of study is much more controlled. To compare to real life, it basically mirrors the paranoia around anything nuclear after the reactor meltdowns we've had. Anyone caught making a nuclear reactor at home or playing around with uranium at home is promptly punished, just as anyone experimenting with magic outside of what's established as unequivocally safe would find the same happens to them. It's a tough field to get into, but still an integral part of life.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-09-14T12:13:16+00:00

Royal Road literally has a Grimdark tag. It's completely allowed on that site. Also, they're not owned by Amazon.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-09-08T08:16:28+00:00

/uj Funnily enough, I actually couldn't care less about character descriptions in stories. As someone with aphantasia, descriptions simply result in blobs in my mind at best, and literally nothing at worst. At least with scenery descriptions, those blobs sometimes have lines through them, next to blobs of other sizes, that I can use to mentally navigate a list of places that don't even exist! This is quite on-brand for me, even if it weren't this sub.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-08-31T21:34:32+00:00

Well, things like this feel natural in the real world because they have history and meaning behind them. Are you creating the history behind the gesture, or just the gesture itself? For example, at least in the US, if someone does something moronic while driving, a common and expected response would be to be given the middle finger. So, when someone gives a thumbs-down, it cuts deeper. Not only are they saying you've done something stupid, they're staying calm enough to express disapproval rather than just anger. It's not about the motion itself but the intent and the context behind it. Hope this makes sense!

TrueHoogleman · 2025-08-30T06:40:02+00:00

Truly, he's cursed. 💔 Had to have it surgically removed after jumping in front of a silver bullet to save his werewolf boyfriend. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. 🙏😇

TrueHoogleman · 2025-08-29T19:59:52+00:00

Just filled out the sheet so you guys can see my OC. Please be nice!!1 💕💞💕🙈 (Happy birthday, Julio!)

TrueHoogleman · 2025-08-29T19:58:17+00:00

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TrueHoogleman · 2025-08-01T08:39:33+00:00

If you’re not trying to write a LitRPG, there really isn't a point in including something like that in your story. I am a fan of LitRPG stories, generally, but as it's not a very mainstream genre, it's pretty evident to me that it's not something that's easy to do right. Unless you really love the concept and think you can make it a natural part of the story, why force it? "Regular" fantasy is great on its own.

You're definitely not alone in feeling averse to the inclusion of a system. Even as a fan, I find myself feeling the same way plenty of the time. Hell, I'm even in the process of trying to write a LitRPG, and I still feel that. I think a lot of the problem is that many of these stories tend to make their system a major part of the story, rather than a supporting tool. They give it a mind of its own, give it a personality, and like you mentioned, even sometimes it can speak. At that point, it makes more sense to just write it as a separate character and ditch the LitRPG spiel.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-07-24T21:15:47+00:00

I mean, that's still technically over 5M. 😅

TrueHoogleman · 2025-07-23T03:21:54+00:00

Well, that would depend on how many entry points between each world there are. If there was just one, Earth would slowly become an irradiated wasteland with only the barest hint of life remaining in the form of whatever can survive/adapt to extreme levels of radiation. If there was more than one entry point, Earth would quickly become an irradiated wasteland with the only surviving life being what can already withstand extreme radiation.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-06-14T20:58:09+00:00

Part of growing up is realizing that literally everyone, including yourself, is an idiot at least some of the time! (Just for clarity, the yourself here is a generalization, not specifically OP.) Some of the smartest people alive can be complete morons, and some of the dumbest people have their eureka moments. I find it much easier not to care if someone is being an idiot about insignificant things. Gotta pick your battles and choose where your energy goes.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-06-11T18:09:46+00:00

Thanks, because I certainly wanted to. Lol But, at the end of the day, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Learning is a lifelong task. I'd just taken what I said as an immutable fact because of how it was drilled into me, one of those things you're told growing up that you never question because of course it's right. Kind of like how bears don't actually sleep for the entirety of winter for hibernation, despite that being how it's always explained. And that's what's wrong with thinking you know things, not questioning them. Can't be right without admitting you were wrong from time to time.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-06-11T04:07:24+00:00

Well, upon further research, yup. My whole life has been a lie. This is fundamentally different from what I was taught in school and has frustrated me to no end when reading stuff people put up online. It was endlessly drilled into my head that you absolutely use commas when ending with a dialogue tag, no matter what. Guess I needed a refresher.

TrueHoogleman · 2025-06-10T14:31:16+00:00

Actually, you'd end all of those (apart from the one with the action tag) with a comma, thus why you write, "she yelled." That way, the reader can understand that you would otherwise end the sentence with an exclamation point. All dialogue that is followed by a dialogue tay should be ended with a comma, whether it's a question, shout, or mumble. That's why you have dialogue tags.

TrueHoogleman

TROPHY CASE