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Description

I am not a visual artist. Nevertheless, here is my contribution to DeviantArt's 19th Birthday Celebration !

When I was approached to provide a piece for the site's upcoming birthday, I wanted to do something to acknowledge both DeviantArt as a whole and specifically the Literature community, both of which have saved my creative life (and thus, my life) time and time again.

In my journal, I asked folks to tell me what they liked most about the unique community of writers that is DeviantArt Literature. They responded. I pulled out some of their words and wrote them by hand (obviously) into the space around Fella, Bunny and friends jumping from 18 to 19. I also added the balloons and the people riding them, into which I dropped the various Literature groups that everyone recommended. You should check those out.

Because my handwriting is about as attractive as that of an enthusiastic howler monkey using his off hand, here are the folks I quoted and the words I used:

"It really is a community with longevity, and while people's involvement ebbs and flows, there are many of the familiar faces today I recognize from a decade ago." - SRSmith

"I have many a fond memory of chats going late into the night as we prompted one another and read the results." GuardianLord

"No other community I know of takes so many coordinated efforts to provide feedback and share expertise." BATTLEFAIRIES

"It feels like a warm hug, always, all the time." Yuukon

"In a roundabout way, dA more or less launched my career as a writer." DamonWakes

"The literature community here has just about everything you could reasonably want: friendly people; helpful people; contests and challenges for fun; contests and challenges to make your writing better; contests and challenges to bring/keep us together; places to find resources; ways to get critiques." ThornyEnglishRose

"I think reading what other people wrote made me want to share my stuff too, so I did." Domaex

"DeviantART is my true home on the web for all of the dear souls that make it feel this way— who continuously stand by me, offering their friendship, and invaluable feedback." LadyLincoln

"I've never been able to find another community of people so welcoming and supportive as the lit community on dA though, so I've kept coming back for it." PermanentlyExhausted

"The fact that there is such communication between individuals here, organization of groups to do activities—all this stuff you simply cannot find on social media." OneWithTheStars

"There's always people there to welcome you in, you just have to make that first move and involve yourself." Serendiipitii

"I am so very, very glad we spent our formative years as writers here, surrounded by educational articles and useful feedback and people who actively wanted critique so they could improve." TheSkaBoss

"I’ll highlight the intersection of a very supportive community with a very diverse community (both in terms of writing style/genre and in demographics.) That basically makes this place a sandbox that’s comfortable for playing in." akrasiel

"I can't think of a better writing community in terms of both ease of engagement and consistency of involvement." gliitchlord

"Almost everyone was really friendly, thoughtful, and happy to talk about things." characterconsultancy

"The DA literature community, in my experience, seems to be friendly and welcoming, and there doesn’t seem to be a major lack of people willing to help you improve your writing." Kadreshi

"I love the way that the Lit community bands together to make.shit.happen." hypermagical

"People are understanding and helpful in their comments." Whisper292

"It was great to find prompts, something I'd never done before. I liked the challenge of those crazy things and wrote quite a bit of them." xlntwtch

"I also appreciate the general supportiveness and sense of camaraderie in the community: even when people are in competition with each other - in fact, perhaps especially then - they'll encourage one another and build each other up." GDeyke

"It shows me how different someone else's viewpoint can be on the same material and it creates an opportunity for dialogue with those people which may not have otherwise happened." SubjugatedSandwich

GROUPS:
CRLiterature
theWrittenRevolution
NaPoWriMo
LitRecognition
New-Latitudes
ProjectDFC
TheWriterGang
minimalit
DA-Bookshelf
Nurturing-Narratives
Word-Smiths
Writers-Workshop
InteriorMonologue
The-Poetry-Cafe
TheSimulacrum
Screenwriters
Flash-Fic-Month
Multhaiku
Souljournalists
TalentedWritersGuild

There was no way I could quote everybody or fit in all the awesome groups everyone mentioned, and many people said a lot of great things I'd have loved to include. THANK YOU to everyone who answered my questions (and said YES to being quoted)! Please don't take it personally if you're not in here; I've got other things planned for the responses.

Happy Birthday DA, and Love to DA Literature...

Description

I am not a visual artist. Nevertheless, here is my contribution to DeviantArt's 19th Birthday Celebration !

When I was approached to provide a piece for the site's upcoming birthday, I wanted to do something to acknowledge both DeviantArt as a whole and specifically the Literature community, both of which have saved my creative life (and thus, my life) time and time again.

In my journal, I asked folks to tell me what they liked most about the unique community of writers that is DeviantArt Literature. They responded. I pulled out some of their words and wrote them by hand (obviously) into the space around Fella, Bunny and friends jumping from 18 to 19. I also added the balloons and the people riding them, into which I dropped the various Literature groups that everyone recommended. You should check those out.

Because my handwriting is about as attractive as that of an enthusiastic howler monkey using his off hand, here are the folks I quoted and the words I used:

"It really is a community with longevity, and while people's involvement ebbs and flows, there are many of the familiar faces today I recognize from a decade ago." - SRSmith

"I have many a fond memory of chats going late into the night as we prompted one another and read the results." GuardianLord

"No other community I know of takes so many coordinated efforts to provide feedback and share expertise." BATTLEFAIRIES

"It feels like a warm hug, always, all the time." Yuukon

"In a roundabout way, dA more or less launched my career as a writer." DamonWakes

"The literature community here has just about everything you could reasonably want: friendly people; helpful people; contests and challenges for fun; contests and challenges to make your writing better; contests and challenges to bring/keep us together; places to find resources; ways to get critiques." ThornyEnglishRose

"I think reading what other people wrote made me want to share my stuff too, so I did." Domaex

"DeviantART is my true home on the web for all of the dear souls that make it feel this way— who continuously stand by me, offering their friendship, and invaluable feedback." LadyLincoln

"I've never been able to find another community of people so welcoming and supportive as the lit community on dA though, so I've kept coming back for it." PermanentlyExhausted

"The fact that there is such communication between individuals here, organization of groups to do activities—all this stuff you simply cannot find on social media." OneWithTheStars

"There's always people there to welcome you in, you just have to make that first move and involve yourself." Serendiipitii

"I am so very, very glad we spent our formative years as writers here, surrounded by educational articles and useful feedback and people who actively wanted critique so they could improve." TheSkaBoss

"I’ll highlight the intersection of a very supportive community with a very diverse community (both in terms of writing style/genre and in demographics.) That basically makes this place a sandbox that’s comfortable for playing in." akrasiel

"I can't think of a better writing community in terms of both ease of engagement and consistency of involvement." gliitchlord

"Almost everyone was really friendly, thoughtful, and happy to talk about things." characterconsultancy

"The DA literature community, in my experience, seems to be friendly and welcoming, and there doesn’t seem to be a major lack of people willing to help you improve your writing." Kadreshi

"I love the way that the Lit community bands together to make.shit.happen." hypermagical

"People are understanding and helpful in their comments." Whisper292

"It was great to find prompts, something I'd never done before. I liked the challenge of those crazy things and wrote quite a bit of them." xlntwtch

"I also appreciate the general supportiveness and sense of camaraderie in the community: even when people are in competition with each other - in fact, perhaps especially then - they'll encourage one another and build each other up." GDeyke

"It shows me how different someone else's viewpoint can be on the same material and it creates an opportunity for dialogue with those people which may not have otherwise happened." SubjugatedSandwich

GROUPS:
CRLiterature
theWrittenRevolution
NaPoWriMo
LitRecognition
New-Latitudes
ProjectDFC
TheWriterGang
minimalit
DA-Bookshelf
Nurturing-Narratives
Word-Smiths
Writers-Workshop
InteriorMonologue
The-Poetry-Cafe
TheSimulacrum
Screenwriters
Flash-Fic-Month
Multhaiku
Souljournalists
TalentedWritersGuild

There was no way I could quote everybody or fit in all the awesome groups everyone mentioned, and many people said a lot of great things I'd have loved to include. THANK YOU to everyone who answered my questions (and said YES to being quoted)! Please don't take it personally if you're not in here; I've got other things planned for the responses.

Happy Birthday DA, and Love to DA Literature...