#It's probably just a common formula all writers know

[vaicomcas]

Algorithm for Character Assassination

Castiel's 10-year-long character assassination has got to be the longest and most gruesome in television's history.

I always complained about the writers stripping Castiel of everything, but I sort of assumed it happened organically because they fundamentally didn't value this character. But now I am seeing that it looks very much like a conscious, long term design, which goes like this:

some kind of "bad" or "foolish" action (his "screw-up") --consequences or "crimes" that destroy him with guilt--physical and mental trauma--blows to his self-esteem--leading to some more of "screw up" -- even worse consequences--rinse and repeat.

I don't know if that's their idea of character growth, but it was such a one-way street down an abyss, that his character just got carved up piece by piece, until, I have to admit, late stage Castiel (S13 and S14 especially) was a shadow of himself, no conviction, no power, no spark, he didn't even have any coherent storylines, just random plot-assisting cameos really. (With a couple--far too few-- dadstiel scenes being slight exceptions)

Below the cut is a color-coded recount of this vicious cycle of his character's "arc" that nobody needs to read.

Purple is the "Castiel's screw-up action explained by the piles of prior blows to his self-worth"; blue is the supposed consequence of his actions, aka his "crimes" usually not actually anything he is to blame for; red is physical or mental trauma; orange is blows to his self-esteem from both enemies and friends and most often Dean

Getting exploded without so much as a thank you from those he died for--Bonkers gas-lighting storyline turning his heroics of fighting a civil war to save the world into him being super-villain --getting exploded then losing his mind --being mind controlled into killing his beloved brother or beating up Dean--hunted by angels and demons --getting berated by Dean--falling for Metatron's deceit in desperation --causing all angels to fall and many to die--losing his grace and became homeless and got killed briefly--thrown out and humiliated by Dean -- captured by angels and tortured--trying to rally the angels to return to heaven only to have to chose Dean's life over them and losing his army--dying from stolen grace with nobody caring about it--letting Sam convince him to do whatever it took to save Dean from the Mark --got beaten by Dean to an inch of his life--got turned into Rowena's attack dog and turned to angels to avoid hurting innocents--got tortured and learned angels all hated him-- severe PTSD and depression and berated for letting Metatron go--being told he was expendable and hated by angels and got branded and humiliated by Amara and nobody cared--said yes to Lucifer in order to save the world --tortured by Amara and told by angels he was worse than Lucifer--God his father reconciled with Lucifer in his body without acknowledging him----Lucifer was unable to defeat Amara and his sacrifice was meaningless--failed in a bunch of things --got yelled at by Mary for being useless--failed to kill Dagon--got yelled at by Dean for doing his own thing--regained faith through "meeting" unborn Jack and resolving to raise him away from the Winchesters--gets killed by Lucifer and his child became the Winchesters (victim))

And after that he doesn't get even shitty arcs anymore, they made him full-on plot device.

And green is "the one good thing that should have been a win for him for once in this goddam show but somehow also was portrayed as his screwup and his win was immediately and absolutely nullified ".

I can't ever fault Castiel for anything and that is a character flaw of mine. However, I do sympathize with people who are angry that Castiel lost all his backbone after Season 7, to the point that they don't even like him anymore. I hate that aspect as well but just look at it. In this show, Castiel never stood a chance.

[moody-alcoholic]

These Violent Delights

Chapter 4 - The Distance

Summary: Poly 141 x fem!reader, a/b/o alternate universe. 8.7k words. They say distance makes the heart grow fonder.

CW: MDNI +18 explicit content. a/b/o alternative universe, a/b/o dynamics, typical a/b/o universe tropes, nightmares, mentions of torture, mentions of past abuse, mentions of past SA, choking, receiving injections, sex, anal sex, spanking, handjob.

AN: The writers block has been ROUGH but hey ya get your first smut for the series. It is a poly fic after all. XD

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AO3

Enjoy <3

You’re sitting in John’s office with Dr. Piper while he’s looking through some folders. You’re trying hard to not be nervous. It reminds you of the times you would be called into the Professor's office. It was rarely for anything good. John puts the papers away, locking the drawer on his desk. It’s way too familiar for your liking, but John doesn’t look mad. 

“We’re going to be leaving for a few days, 3 at the most,” John says. 

“Where are you going?” you ask. 

“Wisconsin."

“You shouldn’t need us. I’ll leave you a way to contact us but if you do I’m going to assume it’s an emergency.” He looks between you both. Now you’re worried about him, all of them. They’re probably going away to do something dangerous. You could never see them again, they’re soldiers after all.

“What are you going to do?” you ask. 

“Dr. Montgomery let us know where we can find some of the formula. We’re going to get some so it can speed up her research,” John explains. So they can find a cure sooner. You’re still not sure what to think of this, but you know they want a cure.

You look over at Dr. Piper. She’s listening to him. You shouldn’t care, it’s your job to be a good omega and do whatever your alpha wants. John and Simon both want a cure. You’re not really listening to the conversation but Dr. Piper nods at him now and then. They’re going to be gone for a few days. You can live with that, just a few days. 

“We’ll be back before you know it.” John smiles. You smile back at him. 

“When are you leaving?” you ask. 

“Tonight.”  

Tonight comes quicker than you think. Everyone had been so busy that Johnny and Kyle didn’t even have time to eat dinner with you. It’s the first time you’d been to the mess alone. You missed the days when Dr. Piper would bring you your meals and you didn’t have to leave the barracks. She said getting out of the barracks is good though, a nice change of scenery and fresh air. 

You can’t sleep. You're not sure why. You’re turning around in bed and whatever position you’re in feels uncomfortable. You can see the light coming in under your door, you can hear their voices in the common room. You want to see them again, one last time before they leave. You slip out of bed pulling your arms around your chest. With the window open your room is always cold. 

You crack open the door and you can see them all moving around the common room. You see John’s back as he gives orders in a low voice. You’re sneaking down the corridor. You don’t know why you’re trying to be sneaky. It’s not like you’d get into trouble for wanting to say goodbye to them. You see Johnny leave the building as you make it to John, and it’s almost like he senses you before you have time to reach out to tap him on the back. He turns around, looking at you, resting the tablet he has in his hands down by his side. 

“You should be sleeping,” he says. 

“I couldn’t sleep,” you admit. A little smile forms on his lips as he puts his hand on your shoulder.

“We’ll be back soon,” he says. You look up in his eyes, his deep blue eyes. He looks sad, his expression soft. Maybe if you beg, he’ll stay.

“What if you get hurt?” you say. He lets out a chuckle, his hand moving up to your face. 

“No one’s getting hurt. Not on my watch,” he says, and you believe him. What if he gets hurt though? You don’t think you could live with yourself if any of them got hurt. 

“Cap, the truck’s here.” You look past John to see Kyle sticking his head around the door. He pauses when he notices you. John waves him away before turning his attention back to you. 

“You’re not going to worry while we’re gone are you?” Price says. You shake your head, and he leans down kissing the top of your head. You wish he didn’t have to go. His scent strong in the air, you project your scent onto him. It’s all you can really do. You see him react to it, his thumb stroking your cheek. He sighs, dropping his hand and turning to leave. You smile for him. That's what he needs, for you to be a good omega for him and not worry, or at least make him think you’re not worried. 

“Stay safe,” you call as he leaves out the door. 

“Always,” he says, smiling. You watch as he leaves, the door closing behind him. The place already feels empty. You hit the switch on the wall and the building goes dark. You walk back down to your room, there’s already a pit forming in your stomach. You almost want to wake up Dr. Piper just so you’ll have someone near you so you won’t be alone. You walk into your room seeing your nest. It’s all you want. You rush over to it, flopping down on the pillows, pulling the blankets over you. They’ll be safe, they know what they’re doing.

Your dreams are filled with visions of everyone dying. Johnny dies quickly, always shot in the head bleeding out on the floor. Kyle’s not so lucky, some kind of chemical that burns his skin and his lungs as he screams in pain. Simon’s next he takes the longest to go down, fighting to the bitter end, his body punctured with knives and bullets.

Then there’s John, it’s always the Professor who gets him and tortures him just like every other alpha he’s slaughtered. You hate the Professor being in your dreams, you hate that you’re riddled with nightmares. Dr. Piper said it’s normal—something called PTSD. You hate that they’ve all left, you hate Dr. Piper, they're doing this for her, for the cure. You don’t even want a cure. But you have to do this for them. Be a good omega. 

It’s been 24 hours since they left. You’ve been lonely. You didn’t think you were going to miss them as much as you do. You miss Johnny and Kyle keeping you company, lunches have been too quiet. Dr. Piper has been so busy you haven’t seen her much, and she’s been skipping lunch. You hate being alone. The mess is loud and busy. It’s the only other time you see any other soldiers. Sometimes you see them training around the base but then they’re caught up in whatever they're doing. 

You miss John the most. Dr. Piper said it’s normal to miss your pack, to feel like this. It doesn’t make it any easier, especially when you’re not sure when they’re going to be back. You hope John’s safe. You hope they all are.

In the mess people stare. You hear them talking under their breath. It makes you uncomfortable, so you eat faster, their eyes drilling into the back of you. It’s not their fault, they just don’t understand. You’re sick of being called a freak. You heard a new one yesterday, ‘barracks bunny.’ At least that doesn’t sound bad, and bunnies are cute. You miss having an alpha around, and you miss having someone you can go to for safety. Dr. Piper was right, John is a good alpha. When he comes back you want to go for another walk in the forest. 

You’re not allowed to leave the base alone. Maybe you could sneak out though, figure out another way through the fence. There has to be a break in the walls somewhere. Then you could see the lake whenever you want. You sigh as you finish your pudding, it's custard flavor this time. You should take a sandwich to Dr. Piper, she probably needs it. She’s been working so hard. You throw your tray away and pick up a chicken sandwich. You walk out the mess passing soldiers coming in for a late lunch. 

‘She’s fucking some SAS soldier,’ a voice says, followed with laughter. ‘Really an SAS soldier?’ 

Why should you even care? You shouldn’t care, all they think is that you’re some sex toy. Maybe that’s what John wants? You haven't had time to talk to him about it. He’s always been so soft, so kind. When he’s in heat, he’ll be different though. At the end of the day, it’s all you really are. An omega made for an alpha, to breed with an alpha make more omegas. 

You walk over to the lab still squeezing the sandwich in your hands. You’re going to start going for food later, maybe then you can avoid the rush of soldiers. At least here you’re accepted, people won’t stare or judge you. You walk in the scent of beta is strong in the air. It’s relaxing, and you stop squishing the sandwich. 

“Hey.” You turn to see the alpha looking at you, his hands behind his back as he leans forward. He’s not like other alphas. If he didn’t smell so strong, you’d presume he was a beta. Even the way he holds himself is like he’s shy. 

“Dr. Miller right?” you say, keeping your distance. He nods. 

“I’ve been working on a hormone blocker for Lieutenant Riley, would you like to see?” He says moving to the side of the table he’s working on. You can see a microscope set up. You nod, feeling intimidated by his presence, but you're too curious. You walk over to the table. He smiles at you and you press your eye up to the microscope. You don’t know what you’re looking at but it looks pretty. 

“Awesome right?” he says, sounding enthusiastic. You back up, smiling at him. 

“Do you think it will help him?” you ask. He shrugs. 

“I hope so, that’s why I’m working on it.” He looks at you sympathetically. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” you offer. It feels right. He smiles at you. 

“I’ll let you know,” he says. You nod at him. He seems nice, he makes you think of John, kind and smiley. You walk across the lab to Dr. Pipers office. You knock and she calls you in. Her office is small, not like John's; there's no personality in it, just lab equipment and a massive window looking out into the lab. She’s sitting behind a desk typing on the computer as you sit down. 

“I got you a sandwich,” you say, putting it down on her desk. “Have you ever had your own office before?” you ask her as she moves to look over at you. 

“No. Are you missing them yet?” she asks.

“It’s only been a day,” you say. You do miss them though. 

“They’re your pack. I would expect you to be missing them after a few hours.” She leans back in her chair. You nod. 

“They’ll be back before you know it. I did ask John if one of them could stay but he said they were all needed,” she explains. You would have liked it if one of them had stayed, if not to just eat with you.

“How are the nightmares?” she asks. You hang your head, you don’t want to talk about it. 

“I hear you screaming at night. We could try some sleeping pills?” she asks. You look up at her. You don’t know if you want that. Would it even help? You shake your head. 

“It’s not that bad, I don’t remember them anyway,” you lie. You’ve always found lying so easy to Dr. Piper or betas in general. Even so, you can tell she doesn’t believe you, but she doesn’t push it any further. 

“Think they’ll be back tomorrow?” you ask. 

“I don’t know. They’ll be back when they’re back. John said it could be 3 days at least.” You nod, you don’t know what you were expecting her to say. You wonder what constitutes an emergency, what would have them racing back across the country for you. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” you ask, looking out the window and seeing scientists working. 

“No. You should get some rest, things are going to get busy over the next few weeks. You should appreciate the down time,” Dr. Piper smiles. You sigh, you’re sick of being stuck in the barracks, the TV can only keep you occupied for so long. 

“Think it would be possible to get some books?” you ask. You used to read in the bunker. There was a bookshelf in one of the rooms, and you must have read each book about a million times but it was something to do. 

“I can talk to John about it when he gets back.” She rolls away on her chair and picks up a bag pulling a book out. She hands it over to you. You take it out of her hands, it’s a pretty book with a picture of a cat and a girl on the front. 

“Alice in Wonderland. It’s a bit on the nose, I was going to wait to give it to you,” she says. 

“What do you mean?” you ask, flicking through it. It’s old, the pages are turning yellow on the edges, and it's got the old book smell you like. 

“It’s about a girl who follows a rabbit down a hole into a mysterious land where she has adventures. It’s a classic book, if you like it I can definitely get you more.” She smiles, her computer beeping capturing her attention. You smile back getting up to leave, excited to have something to do other than watch TV.

Dr. Miller waves as you pass him, clutching the book. You rush back to the barracks. It’s starting to rain and when you make it back to your room you can hear the pitter patter of drops on the window, there’s a cool breeze brushing through and you can smell the pine from the forest. It’s perfect as you crawl into your nest, throwing a blanket round your shoulders. 

You open the book surprised to see your name written on the first page. It’s signed by Dr. Piper. Happy 13th birthday. It makes a lump form in your throat. She’s had this all these years. You wonder why she never gave it to you, or maybe it was the Professor stopping her. It makes you smile. You shuffle deeper into your nest and make a mental note to thank her later as you start reading.

Doctor Montgomery and Price both agreed if there was going to be a sample of the formula it would be in Professor Hale’s mansion. He hardly spent time at his other properties, just used them when he needed to travel. Besides this was where his home lab was. It wasn’t hard to get blueprints for the mansion. The place was huge, the lab suspected to be in the basement. 

“Place looks quiet, no lights, no movement.” It’s Ghost’s voice in Price’s ear. 

“Copy,” he replies. The place was quiet, no cars, no one in or out for hours. The sun is starting to set and no lights are being turned on. If the Professor was here, he wasn’t letting them know. They should move in now in case someone comes back in the evening. 

“Let’s move.” Price looks over at Soap and Gaz kneeling next to him on the forest's edge. He hears Ghost say copy as Soap leaves the cover of the foliage to meet him. Gaz moves too, standing up out of the bushes. Something’s different now, he feels more on edge then normal, like his senses have been turned up to the max. 

“Think he’s out?” Gaz asks, breaking Price’s train of thought. 

“Think so,” Price responds, getting up and walking with Gaz over to a side door. The Professor’s not a threat, but it would be nice to be able to deal with him now. He’s lucky they still don’t know where he is. The sun is low in the sky. The view from the back of the mansion is nice. Sprawling fields broken up by woodlines, he takes a moment to soak it in. 

When they get to the side door Price signals for Gaz to get the crowbar in position. Everyone is stacked up on the door. He nods at Gaz who presses down on the crowbar as the door pops open. Price gives the order for Ghost and Soap to enter. They walk in. There are no alarms—that's not good. It’s almost too quiet. Everyone funnels in. Price let’s Ghost take the lead as they walk through the kitchen into what looks like a living room. 

“Where’s the entrance to this basement?” Soap asks.

“Main lobby,” Gaz replies. Ghost keeps walking, scanning each corner as he moves. They make it to the lobby. Price can see the front doors. The place is quiet, there's no one here. 

“Ghost, Gaz, clear the next floor, Soap let’s go,” Price says gesturing to the next room. He can see Soap smile in the dark as he moves into the next room. It doesn’t take long for Soap and Price to finish clearing the ground floor. Dr. Montgomery said it was normal to hear and see things better. One of the perks of the formula, it makes clearing rooms easier when you can sense what’s in there before you enter.

Soap was already good at sweeping rooms before this but now he’s like a fine tuned machine, Price watches his nostrils flare as he enters each room, every source of noise being snapped to in an instant. It’s mainly creaking floors, rats behind the walls. Maybe he’ll have to look into some training to help them all get better at using their senses to their advantage. At least until they have a cure.  

Price can hear Ghost and Gaz upstairs, their methodical steps, the opening and closing of doors. Definitely the best thing is being able to see better even in this low light, that’s a massive advantage. The building loops round and before they know it they’re back in the lobby. Price looks for the stairs to the basement as they wait for Ghost and Gaz to come back from upstairs. 

“Place is clear,” Ghost says as he comes down the stairs with Gaz following behind. Price nods and they all follow him to the open door. They make it down into the lab. The place looks ransacked. Maybe Dr. Montgomery was right and he’s fled with the only known sample of the formula. A light comes on and now Price can see the extent of the damage, it doesn’t look like there is much left. Gaz and Soap are already pulling drawers and cupboards open. 

“What are we looking for exactly?” 

“Medical vials, anything labeled, omega project or omega initiative,” Price says going over to a computer. 

“Do you ever read the briefs?” Gaz asks. 

“‘Course,” Soap replies. Gaz hums. To Price’s surprise the computer turns on as he moves the mouse. Unsurprisingly the whole thing has been wiped. 

“Price!” Ghost calls from round one of the corners in the room. Price goes round seeing Ghost leaned over a computer. He presses play on the video. It's you, although you look younger, thinner. Your hair tied back, you look pale, sitting in a chair, your head slumped forward.

“How do you feel?” asks Dr. Montgomery. She’s the person sitting on the other end of the table, just out of frame. You don’t respond, just sniffle. 

“It’s been 5 days, and you’re coming down from your–” there’s a pause “—19th heat.” Your head looks up, your eyes swollen with tears. There’s bruising too, on your cheeks and on your neck. A knot forms in Price’s stomach. 

“Have you got any pain anywhere?” she asks. You shake your head. 

“The water is for you,” Dr. Montgomery says sliding the glass closer to you. You reach out to grip it with a shaking hand. There are marks around your wrists. The video glitches and skips along. 

“Heat experiment 15 was a failure.” It’s another voice out of frame. It’s a low male voice, it must be the Professor. There’s the sound of a door opening interrupting his speech.

“You said they would leave her neck and face alone.” It’s Dr. Montgomery, she sounds mad. 

“Doctor, you know I cannot control people’s actions,” the Professor sighs. “Is she going to recover?” 

“Physically, yes the bruising is already improving.” 

“Then what is the problem?” he asks, sounding annoyed. 

“She is becoming more and more aware during her heats. Mentally this is taking a toll,” Dr. Montgomery says. Simon skips to the next video. This time your hair is wet sticking to your face, blood running down the side of your head. The table is gone. 

“You keep pushing and pushing. How are you ever going to be a good omega if you keep pushing your alpha!” It’s just the Professor and he sounds mad, the anger is almost radiating through the monitor. The Professor steps into frame pressing his face up against yours, you flinch trying to lean back as far as you can. 

“No alpha will ever want a disobedient omega.” His hand grips your throat, choking you, pulling your neck up. Your hands grip his wrists, feet flailing. 

“You will stay here until you’ve learned your lesson!” he snaps, letting you go. You fall forward out of the chair and onto the floor pulling your knees to your chest. The Professor walks out of frame for a second then comes back, pulling your hair up. You yelp in pain as he places something on the back of your neck. You scream as the Professor holds your hands away from your neck, then your body goes limp. Ghost steps forward pulling a USB stick out the computer the video stops playing. 

“Soap!” Price shouts. He walks round the corner. “Did you listen to the part of the brief about which explosives to bring?” 

“‘Course, sir,” he smiles. Price looks at Ghost. There’s anger in his eyes. They both just witnessed the same thing, and that was only a snippet. There’s a pit in his stomach that he hasn’t felt in years. 

“Set the charges,” Price says, pushing past Soap. 

“Let’s find the formula, then blow this place further into the dirt.”

“Hey, stranger,” Dr. Miller says as you walk into the lab. It’s been over 48 hours now and you’ve still not heard if they’re coming back yet or not. You smile at him as you watch him pipetting something into a test tube. He’s alone, it is getting darker out and you’re surprised anyone is still working other than Dr. Piper. You can’t remember what you came in here for. You just wanted some company from someone who understands. It didn’t take you long to finish the book, and you read it twice before falling asleep yesterday. 

“Still working on the hormone blocker?” you ask him, and he nods. You pull over a stool to watch him. 

“I think I’m a bad omega,” you say as he squirts more solution into another tube. The chemical changes colour.  

“Missing your alpha?” he asks sympathetically. You nod, but it���s not just John. Your whole pack is gone, you miss them all.

“When did you leave the bunker?” you ask. He looks over at you for a second. 

“I managed to get out a few months before Professor Hale started to kill off the alphas.” 

“You were lucky,” you say. You remember the mass slaughter. The stench of blood was thick in the air for days. You remember how the Professor told you it was your fault. You were not being a good omega. You thought you remembered every alpha, the Professor made you scent all of them. Maybe there were more than you remembered. 

“Do you think there can be 2 alphas in a pack?” you ask him. He sits back in the stool humming.

“I think your pack situation is very unique. I think Lieutenant Riley is very controlled,” he says. It’s not exactly what you want to hear.  

“Why do you think you’re a bad omega?” he asks, changing the subject. 

“I don’t know if I want the cure,” you say. 

“That doesn’t make you a bad omega, that makes you human,” he says, smiling as he picks up a vial of something shaking it in his hand. 

“What about you, do you want a cure?” you ask him. He pauses for a second. 

“A lot of us had very normal lives before working for Professor Hale. Being in a relationship with kids, it’s hard when you have all these new instincts. Not to mention you’re the only omega we know that exists. That’s not easy for alphas knowing the only shot we have of getting an omega is one who’s already claimed,” he explains.

You didn’t think about it like that. You know what it’s like, the burning drive to find an alpha. You’ve lived through not having one for years. Maybe the Professor was being kind when he killed all the alphas, it was that or condemning them to a life of pain, searching for something they’ll never get.

“Did you have a family?” you ask. 

He shakes his head. “I had a mother who lived in Oregon, she died a couple of years ago.” 

“I’m sorry,” you say. That’s what you’re supposed to say when someone dies. He looks at you and smiles.

“I have some samples I need to test on you. They’re just simple compounds. I can give you them now. It would be a really big help.” You can smell his sincerity in the air. You nod before you even realise what you’re doing. He smiles going into a drawer and taking out two syringes. 

“Actually, I should ask Dr. Piper,” you say. 

“Don’t worry it will only take a few seconds, there’s no need to bother her, she's so busy.” His alpha is strong in the air. You don’t really have much of a choice. Before you’ve even realised it you're nodding, rolling your sleeve up. You turn to the side for him, as he cleans your arm.  

“Sharp scratch,” he says pressing the first injection in, you don’t feel anything.  

“What is it?” you ask. 

“Captain Price is going to claim you right?” You nod. His alpha is almost suffocating, it makes nervous goosebumps rise on the back of your neck. You forgot what question you asked.

“Will it help them?” you ask. He smiles, injecting the second syringe.

“Of course, everything you do here helps them.” 

“They really want a cure,” you say as he finishes and you pull your sleeve back down. 

“What do you want?” he asks, turning to write something down on a clipboard.

“I want to make them happy, and be a good omega.” It doesn't matter what you think. It’s whatever they want, especially John. You want to keep him happy. He looks over from the papers to you. 

“You know I have been working on an idea with Dr. Montgomery. I think maybe if you could give us a hand we could figure it out quicker.” He looks at you, you don’t know what to say. You should talk to her first. 

“It would really help them. We might even be able to get a cure sooner,” he says. You swallow the lump in your throat. You should do this for them, be a good omega. You remember how angry Simon was a few days ago, even asking to be discharged. You nod reluctantly. 

“I’ll talk to Dr. Montgomery, will you come back tomorrow, early morning around 6?” You nod hopping off the stool. 

“You’re a good omega for this. Captain Price will be very proud.” You smile at the praise. John will be happy. The sooner they can find a cure, the happier they will be. You smile at him as you leave the lab. You wonder why Dr. Piper hasn’t approached you about helping before. Maybe she’s not ready yet, or maybe she’s just trying to give you a break.

You don’t care, she’s lied to you before, for years. Maybe Dr. Miller is closer than he thinks to a cure. The least you can do is help. You walk back to the barracks. It’s already evening and the days feel like they’ve been going faster. That’s good, at least. Hopefully they’ll be back soon. 

You wake to the smell of alpha in the air. You sit up straight looking around. You’re laid out on the sofa. You don’t remember making it to the barracks or turning the TV on, or falling asleep. Your head is swimming, the scent of alpha is strong, you see the door open as Price and Johnny walk into the room. You smile when you see them, you want to throw yourself in John’s arms instead you pull yourself off the sofa. 

“Hey lass did ya miss us?” Johnny says, you nod going over to them. John’s alpha scent washes over you, and you project your scent into the air for him. He looks tired. 

“Yeah, it’s been boring.” Maybe you should tell them about your conversation with Dr. Miller. No, you want to wait until you have something more concrete to show them. No point in getting their hopes up for nothing. 

“Did you get the formula?” you ask as Gaz walks in the building. 

“You bet we did!” Johnny calls swinging a bag over his shoulder. You smile at him. That’s good, you’re happy for them. Now Dr. Piper has one less obstacle, and with the help you’ve been giving they could have a cure in a few months. John comes over to you, his scent strong. There’s something else there too. Sadness. 

“Let’s have a quick chat,” he says, leading you to his office. You’ve missed him, missed being around him, missed his scent. He sits down on the sofa patting the spot next to him. You smile sitting down.  

“We went to Professor Hale’s house. That was where Dr. Montgomery said we could find a copy of the formula.” Your breath catches in your throat. You dig your nails into your palms. Why didn’t they tell you?

“D-did you kill him?” you ask, swallowing hard. 

“No, he wasn’t there. We got a copy of the formula, it should help Dr. Montgomery find a cure quicker.” You nod ignoring the pain in your palms. You feel relief. You shouldn’t be relieved—he was a bad man—but for some reason you’re relieved he’s not dead. 

“I saw a video, a video of you—” 

“We don’t have to talk about it,” you say getting up. You’re embarrassed, you want to cry, you want to run away. You turn away from him, you can’t look at him right now. You were happy in the fact that you thought everything from the bunker had been destroyed. Of course the Professor kept videos of you. You can only imagine what John saw, and none of it is good.

“It’s okay,” you hear him say as he gets up off the sofa.  

“I know he would take videos. I know.” You can’t stop the tears now. Cameras were just part of your life, he would record everything for research. He especially liked to record your heats. You’re lucky you remember so little of them, you wish you didn’t remember any of it. You feel John rest one of his hands on your shoulder. You freeze up. His hand is warm, strong. He’s not going to hurt you, but he could. It would be so easy for him to slip his hand on the back of your neck and it would be over. Everything in your body is telling you to protect your neck, to run. His scent is suffocating, the smell of sadness is gone. You smell something else. 

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” he says. You smell the betas worry through the doors. You know they’re standing there listening, they’re projecting, they're trying to mask your scent without even realising it. 

“I’m okay.” It’s a lie. You’re being a bad omega, you’re lying to your alpha. You hear him sigh. He can tell. You tense up even more than you thought you ever could. You wait for the anger, the shouting, anything. His hand leaves your shoulder. It's not what you’re expecting, your hand goes up to the back of your neck. You swallow hard letting the betas scent relax you and turn to face John. His expression is soft. His hand slowly comes up to cup your cheek. You let him, keeping your eyes on him as he brushes your cheek with his thumb. 

“They hurt you,” he says as a matter of fact. You look down, you can’t look him in the eyes right now. You can’t tell what’s embarrassment or what’s sadness. 

“I only got what I deserved,” you say, looking back up at him. You can’t look in his eyes. He might not want to punish you now but he will eventually. You’re a bad omega. His hands come back to your shoulders, and you almost flinch away. His hands grip you strong and firm keeping you in place. 

“If anyone tells you that you deserved what you went through, you send them my way, all right?” he asks. You nod. You trust him, you trust him. 

You press yourself into his chest, your arms wrapping around him as you sob, trying your best to keep quiet. His scent fills your nose and you relax into him. He’s your alpha, you’re part of his pack.

“What are you going to do, kick their ass?” you ask, trying to lighten the mood.

“Worse,” he says, kissing the top of your head. You believe him. For a few seconds you let yourself imagine him kicking the Professor's ass. He would be able to, the Professor is bigger but John’s a trained soldier. You hum into his chest, letting your scent fill the air as his hand rubs your back. 

“I trust you John, I'm just not used to trusting people,” you say, opening your eyes, the tears run down your face. He pushes you off his chest, you almost want to whine from the break of contact. His hand comes up to brush your cheeks. 

“I know.” He’s gentle, his hands move slowly as you look in his eyes. You didn’t want it to just be a biology thing. You like him. You wish one day you could maybe love him. His head tips down as he leans into you, you look at his lips. He wants to kiss you, you want to kiss him. Panic rises in your chest—what if you’re a bad kisser, you’ve never really kissed anyone before! You don’t have time to worry about it as his lips meet yours. You close your eyes. His lips are soft but his beard tickles your face and it makes you smile. You don’t know if you’re doing it right but you must be on the right track as he pulls you closer to him, his arms running down your body, his fingers mapping out each curve. 

You don’t even realise you’re not breathing until his tongue presses against your lips and you gasp opening your mouth for him. Just like his touch his tongue is gentle too, he moves slow like he’s taking his time to explore your mouth. His hands grip your waist pulling you tighter as he continues his slow movements. You can smell it in the air now, arousal. You try to ignore it, it’s strong though almost as strong as his alpha. He senses your change in body movements and pulls away. You open your eyes looking at him, his eyes glossed over as he comes back up to stroke your cheek.  

“What’s wrong?” He asks, you feel yourself blushing.

“Nothing.” You say smiling up at him. “That was nice.” He kisses your forehead, you wrap your arms around him and he pulls you into the hug. You can still smell the beta’s through the door, you feel embarrassed now, they’ve been listening to this whole thing.

“Johnny and Kyle are standing outside the door.” You smile breaking away from the hug as his hands drop down to your waist. He walks around you to the door. When he opens it you can hear them scuttling away. He turns to you and you walk back into his embrace. 

“How about a cup of tea and some horrible reality TV?” he asks. You smile at him. 

“All I’ve done is watch TV for the last few days.” 

“Great so you’ll know all the best channels,” he says. You let him wrap his arm around him as you both walk out into the main common room. Johnny winks at you from the kitchen. 

“MacTavish, Garrick, get some rest,” he says to the room which is followed by ‘yes sirs.’ 

“Where’s Simon?” you ask.

“I’m sure he’ll be around soon,” John says as he moves you over to the sofa. You sit down as he heads into the kitchen. 

“How do you take the tea?”

“I like it milky and sweet.” You see him smile as he turns into the fridge. You turn the TV on flicking through the channels till you find something. 

You watch him work in the kitchen, spooning sugar into mugs, then water, then milk. He brings the mugs over and you move over making space for him as he sits down next to you. His arm rests round the back of the sofa and he motions for you to lay in his arms. He wants you to lay in his arms, your alpha wants you to lay in his arms. You pull your legs on the sofa and scoot over resting your head against his chest and your arm around his stomach. The show on the TV is familiar, you recognize the people, actors? You can’t tell. 

“So what’s this about?” he asks, wrapping his free hand around you while he sips his tea. 

“These women all live near each other in these big houses. The blonde haired woman is always upset about something,” you explain, cuddling into him. His arm is warm, you can hear his heartbeat, you can feel each muscle and scar under his shirt. 

“John, I like spending time with you,” you say as you find your fingers run across his stomach. He kisses your head again. 

“I know, we have all the time in the world.” That’s a lie if you’ve ever heard one. It’s what you need now though, his familiar scent filling your lungs. It’s what you need. It’s making you dizzy. His arm runs down your back then back up to your arm making goosebumps stand up on the back of your neck. You’ve missed him, you’re glad he’s back and safe.

“I’ll be a good omega for you,” you breathe as your body gets tired again. You feel safe, you are safe. You close your eyes.

Simon walks into the lab letting the door slam behind him. He doesn’t care if she knows he’s here or not. 

“Welcome back,” she says, watching him walk across the room. He doesn’t say anything as he stops at the table she’s working on. He puts a small crate down on the table. She stands up and clicks it open, running her fingers over the vials then looking up at Simon smiling. He used to like her smile, now he just sees the evil behind it. She takes the vials, turning to put them in a fridge behind her.

“How did it go? Smoothly?” she asks, turning back to look at him. 

“Classified,” he grunts. 

“Well omega’s been missing you,” she sighs, he can hear the annoyance in it. He huffs, shaking his head. She missed Price, not him.

“We got what you needed, and this,” he says, throwing the USB on the table. 

“What’s this?” she asks picking it up. 

“Maybe you’ll find something helpful. If not, well.” 

“Well what?” 

“Thought you might enjoy some memories.” He turns to walk away. 

“Memories? What are you talking about?” she says confused. 

“You stayed to keep her alive. I saw what it was like for her.” His voice is harsh in the air.

“Simon—” 

“No. You kept her alive. You kept her alive to be tortured.” He doesn’t want to talk to her right now. He wants to be with you, and he can’t even do that.

“So what? I should have let her die? Hale would have picked another omega, another subject,” Dr. Piper says. 

“So what?” he snaps. “She’s a human being, she’s a person. You let her suffer. You let her suffer and that's on you.” His hand rests on the door handle. 

“Simon. I tried so hard for her. I put my life on the line for her.” She steps round the desk towards him. He huffs letting his hand fall from the door handle. 

“No more excuses. You made the choice to let her go through it,” he says, turning to face her. Her eyes dilate for a second and she takes a step back. He wants to trust her, but everytime he lets his guard down with her something reminds him of who she is.

“I’m not making excuses,” she says. 

“You are, you just don’t realise it.” He opens the door and leaves. 

Simon walks through the door into the barracks. He looks at Price on the sofa with you laying up against his chest. You’re asleep breathing steady against him. You’re safe, calm in his arms. He can smell you in the air, always something sweet, strawberries or cherries. He remembers how you looked in the videos, how you looked so helpless. Price told him to destroy the USB, but he already decided he was going to give it to Dr. Montgomery. 

“You gave her the formula?” Price asks as Simon closes the door behind him. 

“Yeah, she’s working on it,” Simon says, coming over to the sofa. He moves round to the other side, grabbing a blanket and throwing it over you. Price nods at him. Simon knows all about Price’s glances, knows what they mean. He wants to be left alone.  

“How is she?” Simon asks, stepping back round the TV. 

“She’s fine, missed us,” Price says. Simon can hear the hesitation in his voice. Simon sighs, soaks you in: eyes closed, mouth open slightly, your arm wrapped round Price’s stomach. He wants nothing more than to climb onto the sofa with you both, pry you out of Price’s arms and into his. He knows you haven’t missed him. He just hopes you’re not scared of him.

“You good?” Price asks. Simon doesn’t want to lie to him.

“All good, sir,” Simon replies. 

“If you want to talk about it, you know I'm around,” Price says. 

“It’s okay Price, I’m good.” Simon’s voice is harsh in the air, his heart pounding in his ears as your scent fills his nose. You’re relaxed, you’re safe. It’s nothing like the videos, it’s nothing like the reports he has seen. 

He’s jealous. He wishes you were in his arms. He doesn’t want to be jealous of Price but he can’t help it. There’s an ache there, something he can’t put his finger on. It hurts like a deep pain in his chest, something he hasn’t felt in years. He remembers what Dr. Montgomery said; it’ll get easier once you’re claimed. He wishes it was him doing it instead of John. 

He picks his bag up then heads to his room walking past Johnny’s open door, his kit spread all over the floor. Typical, he must be the one in the showers since Gaz’s door is closed. He goes into his room throwing his bag down. He grabs a towel and a change of clothes. He needs to blow off some steam. 

Simon walks into the bathroom, his nose filled with the smell of Johnny. It’s a good smell, soapy and fresh. It reminds Simon of a warm summer's day, clean sheets in the breeze. Johnny’s head pokes out from one of the showers. 

“Hey LT, come to cop a look?” Johnny winks at him from across the room. Simon rolls his eyes, stripping his clothes off, pulling his mask over his head. He can feel Johnny’s eyes on him. Simon likes when Johnny’s eyes are on him, and he’s not sure why. There’s a new scent in the air, he could faintly smell it when he walked into the building earlier. Vanilla, only this time it's heavy in the room, he makes his way round to the showers. Simon can see Johnny trying and failing to avoid his gaze. Maybe it was just Johnny’s shower gel this whole time. 

“See something you like, Sergeant?” Simon asks, turning on the shower. He holds his hand under the water as it starts off cold. 

“It’s nice and warm in here, sir,” Johnny says, leaning on the wall between them. There’s the smell of vanilla again, this time it hits Simon fast, right at the back of his nose. He looks over at Johnny with that cheeky grin on his face and before he knows it, he’s turned off his shower. 

Johnny’s eyes follow him around as he steps into the cubicle with him. Johnny’s hands immediately run up Simon’s chest, his hands are soft, and his touch is nice. Simon presses closer to Johnny backing him up against the wall. Johnny leans up, planting his lips on Simon as he grips his waist. Simon’s hands run down Johnny’s arms as he forces his tongue into his mouth. Johnny’s touch is familiar, he knows where to touch him, how to kiss him. Simon relaxes into it letting Johnny’s hands run over him. Simon moves one of his hands up to run through Johnny’s hair letting his fingers massage his scalp. 

“It’s been a while,” Johnny says between kisses. He was right, it had been a while. Simon had missed Johnny’s touch. Maybe this is what he needed, a true way to relax and destress. Ever since you showed up in their lives everything had just been a mixture of emotions, everything had been moving at a million miles an hour. Simon could use a break, and Johnny always knows how to make Simon feel good.

Johnny’s mouth moves to his neck, he grips Simon’s cock, thrusting his hands down his shaft pressing his thumb on the underside the way Simon likes it. Johnny looks back up at him smiling before he plants another kiss on his lips. Johnny shuffles his body like he’s about to get on his knees, but Simon grips his arms instead. Johnny looks at him confused, tipping his head to the side. 

“We’re skipping the foreplay,” Simon says in a low voice that sends shivers up Johnny’s spine. There’s the cheeky grin again. Simon doesn’t change his expression, leaning down to kiss him before spinning him around. Johnny doesn’t need to be asked twice bracing himself on the short shower wall. This was definitely what Simon needed, he grips Johnny’s ass parting his cheeks digging his fingers into his skin.

It doesn’t take long for Johnny to relax too, the air being filled with the smell of something musky Simon can’t quite put his finger on. Even though the act is familiar, the sensations and the smells are new. That heavy scent of vanilla that’s making Simon’s head spin, the smell of beta filling the air and the other scent Simon can’t place. 

Johnny lets out the most beautiful moan Simon has ever heard as he eases himself into him. One of Simon’s hands reaches around to find Johnny’s cock. He pushes Johnny’s hand out the way, replacing it with his. 

“Christ Si, desperate?” Johnny moans as Simon starts to thrust into him. Simon brings his free hand up to cover Johnny’s mouth. 

“Quiet MacTavish, unless you want Price and the omega to know whats going on.” He gestures towards the wall. Johnny nods and Simon releases his hand from around Johnny’s mouth. Johnny keeps quiet but doesn’t relent with the snarky comments. Simon’s almost not paying attention, letting Johnny run his mouth, enjoying hearing his voice and letting himself get lost in the pleasure. His senses feel heightened, he can tell Johnny feels it too, Johnny’s panting becoming faster as Simon wraps his arm round his stomach hitching him up so he’s bouncing down onto him. 

The smell of alpha is strong in the air and it only gets stronger the closer Simon gets to cumming, it makes the hairs stand up on the back of Johnny’s neck, his moans becoming more like whimpers as he gives into the scent. It’s intoxicating. Simon isn’t thinking when he cums, his hand pumping his fist on Johnny’s cock, letting Johnny get as loud as he wants as he thrusts into Simon’s hand. The smell of beta and vanilla fills the air. Johnny goes limp in Simon’s arms and he holds him against the wall. 

Simon’s head is spinning, his body tingling, he’s never felt pleasure like this before, Johnny's arms are slumped over the short wall as he pants, Simon’s hand still holding his spent cock. Simon rubs his thumb over the tip causing Johnny’s whole body to twitch and shudder up against him. Simon slowly moves Johnny back under the warm water holding him up against his chest. 

“Fecking incredible sir.” Simon can’t help smiling as he lets go of Johnny letting him stand by himself. 

“Not too bad yourself Johnny,” Simon says, slapping Johnny's ass as he leaves the cubicle, going into the one next to him. This time he lets the cold water hit his skin, and his mind turns to you, the smell of strawberries fills his nose. He tries to shake it away, but it’s not long before the pit forms again in his chest like there’s something missing. Simon looks over at Johnny.

He’s finishing up, turning the shower off to leave. It’s not the same anymore, the burning pain of needing an omega is too strong. He wanted Johnny but he needs you. He closes his eyes, turning up the heat on the water. He lets it burn his shoulders as he hears the door to the room open and close. 

He’s alone now but he doesn’t want to be. He wishes it was you in the shower with him today, not Johnny. He can’t keep doing this, he has to get over you, for the team's sake. You’re Price’s omega not his, and until there is a cure it has to be that way. Frustration builds in him as he goes to leave the shower, drying his body and pulling on the fresh change of clothes. 

He has to break this up. There's no other way to do it. He picks his mask up, rubbing his thumb over the fabric before pulling it on. Simon can feel whatever he wants for the omega, but Ghost can’t care. It’s just a job, you're just a job, the job is to find a cure and leave this world behind. He picks up his towel leaving the steaming bathroom.

He looks over at the sofa. Price is asleep now, his head tipped back snoring softly. You’re still asleep against his chest, the blanket pulled all the way up to your face. Ghost sighs reluctantly. He can’t let Price sleep on the sofa all night, he’ll fuck his back up. He walks over and shakes Price’s shoulder, it doesn’t take much for him to jump awake. 

“You should go to bed,” he says once Price meets his eyeline. Price looks down at you still sleeping. He moves like he doesn’t want to wake you. Ghost sighs, he turns to walk away. He did his job and woke Price up. He hears Price waking you up as he goes back into his room. He moves fast, closing the door behind him and leaning up against it. He smells the unmistakable scent of strawberries as you pass his room. He closes his eyes, breathing it in. He smiles as your scent fills his nose. That’s it, that's the last time he’ll do that. From now on, for everyone's sake, you’re a stranger to him. 

Next

Dividers by Plum98 & gild-ui

Thank you as aways to rememberwren who told me my work was good when my brain was telling me it was shit <3

[voxceleste]

hiiiii you’re one of my favorite fic writers ever and i admire you so much. i wondered if you had any advice for other writers of how to improve? especially for someone who has been writing for years but feels like they’ve hit a point of stagnation/knows they’re “good” at writing but feels like they’re just not hitting their full potential. also, if you had any advice for the differences in working on shorter pieces vs longfics, any guidance or methods that worked for you would be so appreciated!! your work has been very genuinely inspirational to me and i hope you have a great day <3

thank you for your kind words! <3

mileage varies more with regards to writing advice than maybe anything else, so it's possible none of this will work for you.

a common framework in education theory/neurobiology/psychology/etc is that there's a goldilocks zone between comfort and frustration wherein most learning happens. games studies has a similar idea, that a game has to be mentally engaging enough to keep the player invested without making it so punishingly hard that they quit.

writing is pretty much free. unlike most other creative mediums, the scope of a project has no relationship to the value of the materials or tools needed to produce it. you're only limited by your own energy, time, and effort--which can be formidable restrictions, to be fair, but it's not like being a filmmaker, where good-quality equipment and collaborators simply take more resources to afford. writers should take advantage of this. we're really lucky in this way.

the best thing you can do to improve your writing is to attempt projects that feel a little too big for you, or that you're not confident you can pull off. it doesn't have to be "big" in terms of length; a short piece could qualify if the style, tone, structure, subject matter, etc is outside of your comfort zone, but in my experience this has often looked like longer and more complex projects. then again, i love writing long stuff, so take it with a grain of salt--some people just don't, but you mention wanting to try your hand at longfic, so i assume it's relevant. the point is that in order to grow your skills, you have to stretch them.

past fic projects that stick out in my mind for having pushed me to grow as a writer:

story with 4 POV characters, alternating POVs at a regular cadence, where goings-on in each section would affect the other chapters

story with a real-world historical setting that required research wrt material culture as well as timeline/"who was where when"

story that blended a codified and formulaic genre template (het romance novel) with seemingly incongruous story elements (protag being a passively suicidal closeted trans woman and ex-evil mastermind)

the common denominator is having a very specific story i wanted to tell about these specific characters, and digging my teeth into how to do that in a way that felt specific and not just a recycling of common fanficisms… though in all cases, there were at least one or two other fics i looked at for inspiration, if only in a distant way. (those fics, in turn, are often what i'd consider examples of "fanfic that is also just good, ambitious writing," whether or not they would stand alone as original fiction--but that's a different post that's already been made by others.) (they are also full of tropes and are very fanficcy in their own ways!) i had to put a lot of thought into how to approach them in a way that was most true to what they wanted to be in my heart, and usually had one or two specific touchpoints of non-fanfic media that i used to get my bearings, which is a good habit to get into whether or not you're interested in branching out into original fiction writing.

with regards to the transition into longfic writing… writing processes are idiosyncratic and whatever advice i give you has a good chance of being totally useless. it'll probably involve a lot of trial and error, unfortunately. some tidbits:

the worst thing a story can be is boring and this is doubly true for long stuff. i would always rather an author turn the dial a little too far than not far enough to be impactful

can't overstate the utility of a good beta reader as well as a good cheerleader or two to whom you can dump your 2am story thoughts and troubleshoot your plot issues

start the story at the latest possible point in time; many a longfic idea dies on the vine because the author thinks they have to do way more setup than is actually required. this doesn't mean you have to open in medias res with an action sequence, but if you're opening on something more quiet or "expositiony," you should know *why* you're starting there, and should be able to draw up that scene vividly and characterfully

putting a little bit of effort into fleshing out your setting and side characters can help you a ton if you write yourself into a corner. if you're stuck, it's hard to come up with a story element from nothing when your story revolves around two floating heads in featureless rooms

the period between being 1/3-2/3 done is the actual fucking worst. it's miserable every time. the story is no longer a beautiful shining thing in your head, it's an ugly blob of misshapen clay, and you haven't seen it all start to come together yet. it's not you or your project, it just sucks and there's no way out but through

trust your idea! trust your own ability! trust the magic that can be worked in the edit!

if you bite off more than you can chew with a project and aren't able to finish it, or you're disappointed by how it turns out, that's really disappointing and difficult, which i don't want to downplay. but it's not wasted time, even if no one else sees the results of your work. that effort and experience will make you a better writer.

other advice that may or may not work for you:

read a lot of fiction; read fiction that is not fanfiction, especially; read outside of your usual genres/favourite authors; read authors who are known for unusual or singular styles. challenge yourself to write something imitating one of their styles, even for a page or two. what are the characteristics of a paragraph by octavia butler? how does she approach sentences? how is that different from a similar length of text by victor hugo?

read about writing craft, not from bloggers but via well-regarded books. even if you don't agree with all the advice (which you probably won't) or it's not all directly relevant to you, these texts will address fundamentals that apply to almost all kinds of prose and prompt you to develop unglamorous good habits. steering the craft by ursula k. le guin spends each chapter on an element of writing, such as sound & rhythm or punctuation, and includes exercises to put her principles into practice. on writing well by william zinsser is a classic--its focus is nonfiction, but much of the advice is widely applicable. both of these texts are full of example excerpts from great english prose stylists. books like this aren't likely to introduce groundbreaking new ideas so much as train you to become more consciously aware of elements of style you may be less attentive to than you could be.

your only hard limitation as a writer is your own creativity; drive your stories like cars in GTA. you're here for a wild time, not a long time, and if it blows up you can just get a new one.

[ilikekidsshows]

Lately I've seen there's... a trend(?) of how people claimed/write a "girlboss" character. a lot of "girlboss" character in media I've seen nowadays are tend to be arrogant, self-centered, low empathy and entitled and I'm just completely baffled. Because I've also seen people posting about how girls nowadays just want power with no accountability, demand to be treated like a queen but has nothing to offer back, etc. like, these character portrayal in media really didn't beat the allegation at all and instead seems to be validating these real girl behavior.

It's intereting though, since this feel very backward for me. Winx (early season), Kim Possible and W.I.T.C.H, are what I'd call a girl power cartoon. Those girls are so badass without needing the narrative use the buzzword every so often or putting down the boys just to prop the girls. Which is funny because I know Astruc also work on W.I.T.C.H before and I hear most of the writers also not the first timer and yet Miraculous is the most horrible thing I've ever watch and a disgrace to superhero and magical girl genre.

---

I think wires got crossed somewhere, and now people think “girlboss” is the same thing as progressive female character writing. This happens about every five years when a new female character archetype is really successful in one thing and every hack who can’t actually write women tries to copy the archetype with no understanding. Still, I think Marinette Astruc-Cheng just gets favorite child favoritism from the writers.

I tried to look into the writing teams behind these shows and they were also written by older men, so Astruc being an old, out of touch man with sexist ideas about young girls could be a factor, but probably not the only one. But, I did find a similarity that these older shows share that Miraculous lacked. Kim Possible W.I.T.C.H. and Winx Club all had experienced head writers and directors behind them. Kim Possible was created and written by people who knew what they were making and for whom and then put their best foot forward with a long career of TV writing behind them. W.I.T.C.H.’s animated adaptation was written by an experienced writing team who had experience writing for TV and with each other. W.I.T.C.H.’s concept and source comic was also created by a trio of comic book writers with women in it. The original Winx Club was created and directed by an experienced comic book writer.

When you really think about it, a lot of the bigger issues with Miraculous’ writing are very similar to the kinds of problems you’d see in the fanfic of someone writing their first fanfics. The main character of the story is an attention black hole, the morality and sympathy follows the main character to such a degree that it just seems like the protagonist decides the morality, the continuity is out of whack and new ideas get introduced and dropped constantly like a beginner writer drops fics after the second chapter. A lack of balance and consistency are common beginner writer issues, because you need to practise those things. Miraculous, in a novel format, would not be out of place being posted on Wattpad.

However, the thing about this is that Miraculous’ writing has gotten worse the longer it’s gone on. Instead of the writers getting more experienced and becoming better at writing, they’ve become stuck on the specific points that make the writing so weak to begin with. This is probably because they’re stuck writing the same characters and the same formula instead of expanding their creativity. The original series used a lot of guest writers who’d come in to write one or a few episodes before dipping and the latest season, which has been praised for individual episodes, has also brought new people in. These people were most likely the ones with actual writing experience and that’s where the better quality came from.

People who have experience in writing just write better stuff.

[byoldervine]

so is there a reason you dont respond to dms orrrrrr

Okay you probably didn’t mean to open the floodgates but I need to VENT about this and an anon ask is there perfect excuse to do that without calling any particular individual out, which I do not intend to do

I have exactly one person in my DMs that isn’t someone asking me to commission them, and we only had a brief exchange a few months ago. For the most part I don’t respond since it always seems to follow a formula

Pretty much all my DMs start with someone saying “Hi” with no further context or elaboration, and from that alone I know where this is going but also don’t want to just make an assumption and come off as rude, so I respond in kind. The response is usually “How are you” or something like that; a pleasantry that doesn’t really do much to explain what’s up. So again, I just respond in kind. About 95% of the time they just respond with an “I’m good thanks” and, once again, nothing else

I don’t know how common this is outside of people asking you to commission them, but I honestly don’t like when people DM you but still somehow expect you to make the effort to start the conversation. I don’t know why you’re here, you came to me; what do you want me to say at this point? Maybe I’m just too antisocial to realise this isn’t abnormal behaviour and I’m just being rude, but it really winds me up tbh

And more annoying, when done in this context at least, is when they start asking further questions and trying to start a conversation - still without explaining why they’re actually messaging. Not because I don’t want that, but because, when it’s done to get commissions, it feels kinda manipulative to me, but at the same time it always makes me doubt myself; on the off chance this actually is someone wanting to talk and be friends, I don’t want to shut them down and be rude about it. So I’ll usually answer a question or two to see if it actually goes anywhere, but it of course never does

I end up asking “Is there any particular reason you wanted to DM me?” and the response still never gets straight into it; it’s almost always something like “Do you like art?” or “I see you like drawing” or things like that, like they’re looking for a prompt to continue. Again, no clue why this is. At this point I’m just dreading it because I know what’s coming but at the same time I think stuff like “What if they’re just wanting tips? What if they’re just a bit awkward? What if I assume and it’s wrong and I look like a presumptuous asshat?”, so I usually just go “Yeah?” instead

And THEN they finally mention that they do commissions, and I’m pissed off at myself for getting to this point again. I end up saying something like “Thank you, but I really enjoy creating my own artwork and so I’m not looking to commission others for it. Best of luck though”

The best response I can hope for is just a “No worries” or something, or even to just get no response at all. But the vast majority of the time, it’s something like “Oh, okay then…” or “Are you sure? I do X Y Z, you should look at my posts” or even “That’s fine I guess, I just wasn’t making enough money off of commissions this month so I needed to go around and ask”. Things that feel a little bit passive-aggressive or pushy to me. Though I also get ‘lovely’ messages like “I see you’re drawing X, I can help make it better”, which even I can’t excuse as anything but

So at this point, I don’t typically respond to DMs that don’t explain why they’re messaging. I’m more than happy to chat with people and make friends, but too many people do it just to get the commissions and then ghost when I don’t bite. It really upset me the first few times because I thought I was about to make some artist/writer friends, only to find out that they only wanted business from me and they weren’t going to talk again if I didn’t give them that

Please don’t let this deter anyone from reaching out and DMing with the intention of just having a chat; I would be more than happy for it. I just wanna know upfront what you’re looking for rather than getting a sinking feeling when I see that dreaded “Hi” pop up again

[imbecominggayer]

How To Write A Redemption Arc (Masterpost)

Everyone knows that redemption arcs are the most popular things since love triangles. And everyone is desperate to shove one of this in there.

But as someone who reads bad writing for a living, you need my advice. So inexperienced writer, let me be your Virgil as I guide you through the rings of fire and let you enter heaven!

What Is A Redemption Arc?

Basically, a redemption arc is when a morally bad character overcomes their flaws to be a better person.

What typically seperates someone from "character arc" into "redemption arc" is the fact that their sins are a lot heavier and their moral failing were an initially big part of their character identity. There's also a tighter emphasis on public opinion.

Redemption formulas aren't just villain to hero. An anti-hero can experience a redemption arc. This can include things that aren't just violent crime such as addiction, manipulation, and a mental health crisis.

Sometimes characters have corruption arcs AND redemption arcs!

Creating The Character And Their Crimes

When it comes to characters that eventually get redeemned, you need to be thoughtful in their character creation. They need to be likeable or atleast have the capacity to be likeable. And you have to strike a balance between their potential for good and wrongoing.

Obviously, you need to flesh out their character if you are exploring their psyche. This is a character who is abandoning everything they have ever know, it needs some type of justification or it won't make sense. A common justification is the different between what they wanted and what they needed.

For example: A character wants power but they really needed friendship. A character wants societal acceptance but they really need confidence.

Next, what are their crimes? Consider how severe their offenses are and give them some moral boundaries that will prevent them from going over the moral event horizon.

Common Pitfalls:

Irredeemable: Writers often times write irredeemable characters and then throw in a hail mary of a save that is annoying to read. Readers won't bat an eye at war crimes but if their darling is hurt, they won't put the pitchfork down.

Lack Of Characterization: What are their habits? What makes them feel proud? What do they care about?

Lack Of Justification: Write down exactly why this character wants redemption. I don't care how long that essay is, write it.

Making Readers Sympathize With Assholes: Sometimes readers don't want to watch you explain away abusive behavior. Sometimes they just want the villains to fall off a cliff.

Do They Deserve Redemption?

Motivations. It's not about what they do but why they did it.

Common justifications include:

Seeking revenge

Seeking approval

Desperation for companionship led them to getting mixed up with the wrong crowd

Hurting, and taking that out on others

Manipulated

Trying to pay off a debt

Trying to solve a problem in society, "for the greater good"

Stuck in a cycle of abuse

Remember, show a character's capacity for empathy or logic. It's that little capacity that allows a character to grow and change. My redeemed character, Jukka lacks empathy but does possess logic while my other redeemed character, Verne lacks logic but does have empathy.

Another hint for the audience is making a character unhappy at the beginning of the story. Or they are simply bad at being evil (Cedric cough cough)

Why Are They Like This?

Unhappy people don't act out this way. Somewhere along the way, this character probably experienced something bad and now they are the way they're.

Although it's not necessary for a character to have explicit trauma in their past in order to have a redemption arc, pity is a strong emotion in readers.

A way to not have trauma but still keep pity on their side is a cruel, conditionally loving society that adores all the worst values or distorts good values. A character that needs acceptance from society is a pitiful one!

What Makes Them Change?

We have how they are, we know what they are, we know why they are, and now we need to know why they will change!

Common motivations include:

A reminder that a loved one wanted something different from them.

Swayed by reasoning/coercion/empathy from an outside party

A reevaluation on what course of action is the most efficient

A sudden string of mistakes or bad events that are caused directly by their fatal flaws

Wanting to win the affection of a crush

Jealous of other people's friendships

Having their needs fulfilled by the good guys

A desire to do right by their loved ones

This can evolve over time but it's good to get the initial stuff sorted out!

Remember: Give your character a wake-up call. Force them into the heart of the pain they've caused. Have loved ones crying at their knees, begging them to stop.

Who Are They Seeking Redemption From?

A character seeking redemption would seek approval from the people they most hurt. This could be a singular character such as a friend or love interest, a whole community, or even themselves

The most common pitfall is having the character be forgiven instantly. In reality and as should be in fiction, characters shouldn't be quick to forgive. And someone won't ever forgive.

Be Sympathetic But Not Too Much

Don't jump straight into your character being a good person. Set them up as a real big antagonist and watch all the bravado slowly chip away.

Sacrifice And Fall Again

Your character needs to suffer for their improvement. There are some thing they can never get back. They lost all their friends who were completely devoted to the cause. They lost their social standing. They lost their entire identity and have to start all over again.

By "fall again", let this struggle mean something. Have your character relapse back into problematic behavior.

Have them fully relapse back into who they were. Completely abandon who they are becoming and let them go back to the dark side. Let them realize how nostalgia made them blind to all the pain in evil. Let them realize how the system won't accept them anymore. Let them realize there is no way to get back the things they've sacrifice.

If they aren't fully relapsing, let them act defensive. Let them say something they don't mean. Let them feel they are being needlessly critized. Let them doubt if they can be good. Let them mourn who they were. Let them think about the past. Let them feel frustrated that things aren't happening quick enough.

Positive Change And The Happiness Of Recognition

Once your character has suffered climbing up the mountain, they deserve to see the beautiful view.

Maybe they sit under an oak tree as they marvel about the beautiful sight that had previously withered underneath their oppression.

Maybe they smile at the children who won't have to experience their tyranny

Maybe they cry a little bit when a stranger hugs them in appreciation for the great work they are doing

Maybe they hold their friend's hand and think about how strange it is that they can both live together like this.

Let them recognize how everyone is different and the same. They still like their old brand of fashion. They still have issues that thrive in this newer world. They even have the same beliefs. But it's calmer now. It's a thorn covered rose and not an entire rose bush of thorns.

They are still recognizable as what they once used to be. But now they are a flower in bloom.

[tiredoflifelol]

XO Kitty Watch Notes: S1 Ep. 9 & 10

So. I liked this WAY more than I thought I would. Maybe it’s my lack of exposure to cute rom-com dramas exposing itself. Idk the script could def have been better, and the acting wasn’t always the strongest, but it wasn’t bad either. Kind of have enough thoughts for a full coherent analysis post, but I’m also thinking I wanna wait till I’ve watched season 2 and then do the whole show together. Honestly doing this has reminded me how much I love talking about media and it’s made me wanna start a reaction yt channel. (but I won’t bc I don’t rly have the time or the camera or the editing skills and no one would watch it anyways lol).

But yeah overall pleasantly surprised by this show and excited to watch season two!

Ep 9:

- Interesting emphasis on “reason, season, and a lifetime” is the show gonna follow that formula for Kitty w/ Dae, Minho, and Yuri? No clue who would be what yet. Unfortunately keep getting the feeling her and Dae aren’t endgame though. That’d be too drama fee. And as unfortunate as it is (and as much as I hate it being applied to real life) in shows like this the sweet, first love, “nice guy” is never the one that makes the final cut 😭

- Ok yeah these cuties are way too happy to last. But it’s okay, Kitty can send him my way bc that back hug with the coffee mugs?!?!

- “What a coincidence” “actually I followed u here” my guy😭

- Mrs Principal u need to divorce ur husband. He’s horrible. But I’ve actually grown to like her so much more than I thought I would.

- Yeah idk I just rly feel for her rn

- “Yuri was just a shiny thing that caught my attention” hmmm idk how I feel abt that

- And now there’s gonna be issues that Kitty knew abt Alex being her brother and didn’t tell Yuri….

- Ahaha them being fit together like a little jigsaw puzzle studying on the couch.

- Honestly if Yuri wasn’t gay I would 1000% say they should be a throuple

- although….Dae: this is my girlfriend Kitty and her girlfriend Yuri who’s my best friend (do we see the vision)

- Interesting Minho being this upset over Dae lying when technically none of it affected him? I mean it did but not in a major way? And the expression on Dae’s face as he’s looking at Minho talking…..

- Kitty: this is my girlfriend Yuri, and this is my boyfriend Dae, and his boyfriend Minho, my mortal enemy

- Dae with the sleeves rolled again! I’m so intrigued as to why they chose that as a contestant style choice for him

- YES MINHO AND DAE SCENE

- oh no no no. Pls don’t tell me they’re setting up a bff betrayal. “How could you do that to Kitty” “why are you so concerned about Kitty” WITH NO ANSWER. I’m gonna be so pissed do we not already have enough dramaaaaa. Why must romance shows always ruin friendships

- Not Minho calling the guy Florian is talking to “Biceps”. Dae coming in with the common sense of not sending it bc they don’t know details

- oh and not the jealous girlfriend now too😭

- “What if you have not done well all semester…?” “Probable doom” pls why is this show so funny sometimes

- Not the Dae and Minho tag team interrogation. But don’t show Q the morning before finals?? Dude has to focus on tests?

- THE DAMN SPARKLE MUSIC AGAIN WHEN YURI TOUCHES KITTY IM CACKLING

- Damn declining Juliana to keep teaching Kitty…I’m impressed by the messiness the writers are coming up with. (I mean irl that wouldn’t be a big deal but in a show everything is foreshadowing/building) (Also Madison coming in with her friends was cute - she’s my fav side character fs)

- I’m more invested in the Alex’s parents stuff than the relationship drama

- Random but Mrs Principal is so hot

- Ew not the husband calling his wife spoiled. That’s so gross on so many levels

- Crazy to talk abt cheating on finals in the middle of a packed audience

- Well there goes the performance. Nothing like the classic lore drop before an important moment😭

- Hsjska not them talking abt it on stage

- Ok the trip into the fireworks, dress on fire, Minho running to the rescue is so cringe I wanna scream

- wtf why are we having a weird fight over who got there first. I will be so upset if this ruins the Dae Minho friendship

- Omg Jina crying it’s gonna make me sob for her. That scene where she grabs both her kids? The “Danial follow me”? The tone with which she said “I have no idea”? Total chills. She’s giving baddie taking back her like and I’m here for it

- KITTY IF U DONT TELL DAE ITS NOT MINHO

- her crying and the fear as she told Dae made me sad for her, but imma need that girl to keep Minho from getting his face caved in.

- The look on Dae’s face though…he was so resigned and sad😭

Ep. 10:

- lowkey the tension when Dae pinned Minho against the wall though…(I jest…unless any of u agree with me. But mostly I jest)

- They were also both weirdly calm? The acting so far has been pretty good even if I didn’t like the script, but that moment for sure could have been better

- DAE IS CRYING EVERYBODY STOP

- his absolute befuddlement over it being Yuri is sending me

- Him walking away is very fair because I wouldn’t be like “oh yeah lets keep dating” if my partner said they had a crush on someone else the whole time we were (back) together, but it is heartbreaking to see her sobbing alone

- Everyone else in the family on the verge of tears and Alex just smiling in the corner💀

- Not Kitty’s dad hearing “I’m crushing on someone else (a girl) while dating my longtime bf” and going “it’s great that you’re confused, it’s how we grow!” 😭

- Noooo now she’s fighting with Q and he took the night-night tea?? Pure evil

- Mrs Principal is redeemed and making her own choices!!

- I’m dying all the other rando guys realizing Kitty lives in the boys dorm

- And I get what Q is saying about him taking Dae’s spot but there’s no guarantee Dae would have been first? Unless he was second and then yeah I could understand that…although the difference btwn 1 and 2 shouldn’t matter w/ his scholarships?

- Well damn. Her being expelled would solve a lot of this drama😭. I understand where they’re coming from though. Like you cant randomly have one person decide they want to secretly live in the opposite genders dorms for SO many dif. reasons. She really should have brought evidence of the webcam and the state of the room foreword and done a second appeal for a roommate change

- WHY IS SHE ON THE TABLE. I *cannot* handle the second hand embarrassment she gives me like GIRL PLS

- I just realized she’s had the same nails all semester. Girl is dedicated.

- “Daniel was my first love, and no matter how much time passes that stays the same” “I think I can understand that” oof. Yeah so Dae and Kitty are done. Which like I knew but…

- BRO HOW CRAZY IS A SCHOLARSHIP THAT YOU HAVE TO BE FIRST EVERY TIME. Like the dif. btwn first and second is generally very small this is INSANE

- Dae was gonna fight for her but she left the necklace omg they’re making me insane

- Look at his dad pulling out those fast and furious skills. Way to come through my guy

- STOP THEYRE MAKING ME SO SAD RN

- Not the goodbye kiss and the classic “you’ll always be important to me” spiel

- This is horrible

- Rip out my heart and stomp on it why don’t you

- Oh no. She’s gonna confess to Yuri.

- Oh no. Now Julianna is here

- They’re def setting up jealousy btwn those three for the next season which is blegh bc if there’s one thing I hate more than miscommunication tropes it’s jealousy tropes (especially when what’s presented as “unreasonable” from one partner ends up being right)

- Oh no. A Minho confession? Straight into love?? MY GUY

- she JUST said she broke up with your best friend??? What abt the bro code??? Or just timing in general???

- Crazy way to end

[bommyknocker]

Writing advice for myself (after finishing my first long fic)

A few months ago, back on May 24th, I saw Furiosa for the first time and lost my fucking mind. It had been a while since I had spent much time in fandom creative spaces, but when I saw Praetorian Jack swing across the door of the War Rig in front of Furiosa and say the words "You can speak to me," my first thought was "I need to read some fanfic about these two immediately."

Of course, because the film had literally just come out, there wasn't very much on offer yet. I was sure that many talented fanfic writers were frantically typing away, but I could not wait. "Fuck it," I thought. "I'll write my own."

I hadn't written any fanfic since I was a tween, but a week later, I had published a 5,000-word one-shot. And because I had so much fun writing that, I immediately started another fic. It was going to be shorter, just one scene of Furiosa and Jack having a conversation. So I wrote that, and then I thought about some other conversations they might have, and then I wrote a few more scenes, and then things got out of hand and I ended up with 74,000 words.

So that one scene turned into Night Watch, which is currently updating twice a week:

I definitely did not set out to write anything this long, and I am both shocked that I managed it and also pretty proud of myself! But I also learned a lot during this process. I've had a few cracks at writing non-fanfic novels in the past and they always fell apart pretty quickly. But now I am pretty much addicted to writing. It consumes my life. It is a problem.

As soon as I finished writing Night Watch, I immediately moved on to starting another fic. So before I get too far into that, I thought I'd write up some of the things I learned about writing, and then hopefully I can continue to apply them. If nothing else, the navel-gazing will be useful to me (and maybe to other people too?)

All this advice is probably pretty basic. I stand on the shoulders of giants (some of whom have very active AO3 accounts).

Plot structure

I did not start out by doing any planning at all, but when I was about 15,000 words in, the fic started to get unruly. I had a bunch of individual scenes that I liked, and I wanted to connect them together, but I had no idea how to do that in a way that felt satisfying.

At this point I took a step back and did some light reading about narrative structure. Some of these frameworks are more popular than others, like the famous Joseph Campbell monomyth or the Save the Cat beat sheet. Because romance was a central focus, I also looked at some structures specific to romance novels. While the events of a heroic adventure are pretty different to an emotional romance, they do still have certain things in common: rising and falling tensions, increasing stakes, moments of defeat and triumph (whether that's punching an enemy in the face or kissing the hot War Rig driver).

My attitude towards these frameworks was to treat them more as rough guidelines than specific metrics to aim for. While I'm not trying to write to fit a formula, having a broader idea of the pacing was extremely helpful for mapping out the overall structure of the work. I could see where my scenes might fit into the rhythms of the story, and also what gaps I'd need to fill. This is what led me to introduce some recurring external antagonists so the conflict wasn't confined to the characters' heads (although there is plenty of that too).

Narrative arcs

At this point, I had a rough plot mapped out. I had some protagonists, I had some antagonists, and I knew where they were starting and where I wanted them to finish. While I might not have worked out every single plot point, I did know what story beats I wanted to hit and where – wanting to introduce new conflicts at certain points in the story, for example. Then I worked out what events could hit those beats when I got to them.

This approach got me through the first draft. I had written over 60,000 words! I was done! Hooray!

Then I sat back and re-read the whole thing from start to finish and noticed all the places where the narrative was unsatisfying. The individual scenes might have been good, but something was off about the way they fit together.

At this point I took a step back and did some more thinking about the individual story arcs – the smaller stories within the broader narrative that make it satisfying. Plot on its own is just stuff happening. Narrative arcs are what give that stuff an emotional punch.

I ended up definining a few different kinds of arc:

Protagonist development – How do the main characters change and grow over the course of the story? What actions and emotional steps do they need to take to get there? While characters develop in complex ways, I picked one or two core themes per protagonist, like "trust" and "hope", and centered the progression around that.

Romance – How does the relationship between the characters develop? When do they catch feelings? What challenges do they have to overcome before they can act on their connection? (Probably ones related to their internal arcs, it turns out.)

Side characters – I ended up picking three side characters who I wanted to develop throughout the story. How do they change? How does their relationship with the protagonists change?

Antagonists – What do the bad guys want? How do they mess things up for our protagonists? How do they raise the stakes of the conflict?

Once I'd defined the arcs I wanted to have, I wrote out the different beats each arc would need. Some of these arcs were very shallow (Side Character A learns to do X) and others were a lot more detailed. Then I looked at the draft I'd written and identified which beats I was hitting and which ones I was missing.

Being able to map these arcs onto the overall narrative was a huge lightbulb moment for me. I went through the fic section by section and labelled which arcs the section applied to. This helped me to check the pacing of the individual arcs and see where I might need to add an extra paragraph or scene to beef them up.

Also, if a completed section wasn't contributing to any of these arcs... I rewrote it or got rid of it. In some cases, this was painful, but I think it made the resulting work a lot tighter. Everything should have a purpose.

Going through this process also helped me to see the intersections between the different arcs. It's really satisfying when two different plot threads come together, or when a character's internal development enables them to take on an external conflict. Some of my favourite moments in the story ended up coming from creating these connections, and they wouldn't have happened if I hadn't thought about the individual arcs.

When to post

Once I realised that Night Watch was well into multi-chapter territory, I had to decide whether or not to publish as I went along, or wait until I'd finished the whole thing.

Publishing chapter-by-chapter was pretty tempting – I was hungry for those sweet kudos and comments. But ultimately, I decided to wait to publish until I had finished writing.

This turned out to be a better fit for my own writing process. Empty pages are the hardest thing for me, so I try to just get stuff on the page as quickly as possible and then come back to tidy up later. I did end up making pretty substantial changes to the structure of the plot in my second draft, and doing that might have been more awkward if I'd already been posting.

Also, I figured that I wouldn't have to stress out about updating regularly if I already had all my chapters lined up and ready to go.

Other random stuff that helped

After finishing my first draft, I went back and wrote a summary of each chapter. This was really useful for checking the pacing of the story and seeing if there were any bits left out.

Scrivener is an incredibly useful app for writing and well worth the money if you can afford it.

I had a hard time working out how to write my antagonists until I wrote up a bunch of lore and biographies, purely as a reference. Even though most of it never came up, it did inform my choices about what they should do and how they would react to the events.

Asking myself "what changes during this scene?" often got me unstuck when I wasn't sure what to write. Whether that's a critical fight scene or a character's perspective on a situation shifting, change is often what gives a scene a reason for being.

If I got really blocked on a particular section, I just wrote out a rough outline of what I wanted to happen and moved on to something else. Often it was easier to come back to later.

Finding a lovely community in the Furiosa's Wasteland Discord server fuelled my brainrot in the best possible ways and made me so much more motivated to keep writing (witness!). Special thanks to the amazing xoruffitup for being my beta reader – I'd never had one before and getting that feedback was super helpful.

Now what?

I finished writing Night Watch about a month ago. Honestly, writing it was an amazing experience. I know it's "only" fanfiction, but discovering that I was able to put this story into words has done wonders for my confidence. I haven't felt this in touch with my creativity for a very long time. I'm now more than 30,000 words into the first draft of a canon-divergent AU which I'm really excited about!

And even if nobody else ends up liking it, at least I had fun writing it. (The same goes for this post too.)

In conclusion: writing is really fun. If you want to write something, you should do it. Also, go watch Furiosa.

[topazadine]

How to Use Chomolungma for Writing Adventure Stories; Or, the Plot Mountain Method

Estimated Reading Time: 13 Minutes

I've become a little obsessed with stories of Chomolungma lately. You probably know this sacred Nepalese mountain by its Westernized name, Mount Everest.

Anyway, I'm never going to scale the world's highest peak because I have no interest in losing any of my toes to frostbite or dying of pulmonary edema. Don't think I'm about to go dashing off into the wilderness.

BUT I think we writers can derive a lot of lessons from mountain climbers when plotting for grand adventure novels.

And why the hell is that? Why Chomolungma specifically? Well, I'll explain.

Just a head's up that my advice probably won't apply to romances, mysteries, or anything other than your typical "we're going on an adventure to slay a dragon or whatever." I don't have much experience in those genres and am not going to step on any toes.

As usual, this is just my opinion. There are thousands of different plotting tools out there, and this is only one of them. If you don't like it, then no need to use it. I'm simply giving you a different option. Alright, let's go!

I am sure you have seen this diagram a million billion times and are very tired of it.

It's not wrong, per se; in fact, it looks much like a mountain. Most stories do indeed have these same parts, and so will yours if you use the Plot Mountain method.

However, there's some things that this simplified version doesn't explain:

It acts as if you're just constantly ramping up pressure. There's no breathers to let readers catch up.

There are no differential tensions to keep interest.

There are no "mini-climaxes" that impress upon the reader a sense of danger.

We are not provided with an understanding of how to create different stages of the plot within the rising action.

There is no discussion of how characterization changes during the course of the plot.

It's not explained how to organize the falling action in order to provide continued tension and character development.

I also have some problems with other common plotting methods, specifically Save the Cat and the Hero's Journey. Mostly, I think that they get really tiring and formulaic because they're just so rigid. There's little room to add your own flare; you're plugging all the shit in as intended.

Save the Cat especially irks me because it basically demands that you divide up your story into little percentages so everything happens right according to this algorithm.

If I start to get a hint that your story was designed by adhering to these standards, then I can just predict what's going to happen and I don't care anymore. "Oh ... there's the B Story. I guess the Fun and Games is coming next. Yippee."

One time, I had someone beta read one of my manuscripts, and she complained that my story didn't exactly match this structure.

"I couldn't figure out where Act 1 ends and Act 2 begins!" she wailed. Well, given that I didn't design my story according to strict acts, it's no wonder you couldn't find them.

Also, I hate math. Don't infest my passion with my nemesis, please.

So, I challenge you to think a bit differently using my method instead. It combines characterization with plot and momentum to offer you a natural setup for a great story. Thinking of your story this way forces you to focus on how all elements come together, and it discourages you from piling on dumb shit that won't help.

My option is also more flexible; I'm not telling you exactly when and where the stuff needs to happen. That's up to you, babe. You're the boss.

Key elements of Plot Mountain

Your plot must be desirable for some reason.

Whatever goal your characters have should feel worthwhile. People spend their life's savings and a good portion of their lives to get to Chomolungma, facing down all the frustrations and disappointments to do it.

While your character may not necessarily know what is in store for them, they should nevertheless have a reason for wanting to achieve whatever you've got going on.

You need to "equip" your characters by giving them the skills and purpose necessary to tackle this challenge.

Mountain-madness-morons who think themselves "Chosen Ones" are generally the ones that fuck up and die. That's why you have all these rich tourists falling into crevasses, where their bodies are trapped forever.

Similarly, you must demonstrate to your readers that your character is somehow worthy of the challenge you're giving them.

Sometimes, this means they have the natural passion and inclination but need some training. At Chomolungma Base Camp, the native Sherpas give their charges some lessons in high-altitude mountaineering before they head off onto the mountain, even if they have experience. This is your "orientation session" for the characters that shows why they, specifically, can handle what you are throwing at them.

Every character has a reason for being there.

This is a good reminder for people who have a tendency to cram a million characters into their stories.

A Chomolungma expedition is not composed of random passersby who feel like going up a mountain today. Everyone there brings something unique to the table and must work in concert to achieve their goal.

This offers you many options for main characters and support characters. For example, an expedition team can have mountain climbers, Sherpa guides, porters, and a camera crew, and you can give your main cast similar roles.

Your characters have agency and make choices.

No one just kinda wanders up Chomolungma. They must consistently make the right decision, and it's rare for a deus ex machina to pop in.

Yes, things fit together to make things happen, and there are sometimes miracles, but for the most part, it is the preparation, experience, and some external circumstances (like weather) that decide whether someone lives or dies. No last-minute Hail Marys or interventions from on high.

There is a time crunch.

It's rare to summit Chomolungma in the winter because it's just too dangerous, so climbers need to head off during the spring and summer, before the weather turns nasty. There's a short window of opportunity.

Because the Nepalese government only issues a limited number of expedition passes each year, and they're so expensive, many people only get one shot in their entire lives. Everything has to go perfectly or they may never get to try again.

Additionally, being at altitude for any period of time is dangerous, which keeps people pushing for the summit even when they want to give up and go home.

You should show the pressure of your plot, explaining why it needs to be done right now rather than ten years in the future. We must feel that this is essential and that time could run out.

Every summit attempt is fraught with peril, and many have to turn back.

It is incredibly common for expeditions to hit bad weather and have to abandon the summit push; every climber knows and fears this.

Demonstrating that it's entirely possible not to hit your climax infuses the story with a sense of danger. It can also help you decide what might be more impactful and relevant to your story: having to turn back (which opens the door for a sequel) or getting to the summit and celebrating.

Not everyone makes it to the top.

You probably know that Chomolungma has at least 200 bodies littered across it, many of which have become signposts for other climbers attempting not to meet the same fate. There are likely dozens of others that have been blown away by the wind into crevasses or buried under snow.

Depending on your genre, you can and should show that others have failed, or even kill one of your characters during the "summit attempt" to highlight the peril.

Thinking of different plot points as camps reminds you that you need moments of downtime.

While you can't overstay your welcome on Chomolungma, you also can't be climbing 24/7; you'll straight up die. It's important to stop, take a break, and acclimate to the different altitudes as you keep going.

"ABC" stands for "Advanced Base Camp," basically right at the foot of the mountain. It's where you actually start your summit push. North Col is also known as Camp 1.

The camps, I think, are the key element of the Plot Mountain method, because they remind you that your story needs to "plateau" at a few different points to give your characters (and readers) time to breathe.

This doesn't mean that there's no tension at all, because things can still go bad at camp. It just means we're slowing down, recapping things, allowing for character development and maybe a bit of backstory.

You can also allow your characters to meet background characters at these camps, knowing that they will not be around forever. These background characters can offer helpful advice, sow doubt, or impress upon us the risks that will be up ahead.

Each "push" between camps is a little different, with unique dangers.

As you head up Chomolungma, there are different challenges to overcome between each camp; this may be steeper climbs or dangerous crevasses with only a tiny metal ladder to keep you from plunging to your death. Driving snow and fierce gusts can blow you off the mountain as you get higher and higher.

And, of course, there's the Death Zone at the top, where's there's practically no oxygen whatsoever and it's so freezing cold that you may lose your feet.

The danger rises with every push toward the summit, reminding you to build the tension and demonstrate the dangers in your story. After each camp, you'll show brand new risks that nevertheless fit into the plot.

A climax can't overstay its welcome.

After spending all this time preparing to reach the top of the world, climbers actually don't get that much time on the summit. It's freezing cold, the air is impossibly thin, and they need to head down before it gets dark.

Similarly, you need to let the climax linger just long enough to offer catharsis without boring everyone. This is the height of the tension, so keep it fast but thorough.

The summit isn't the end of the journey.

Many people rush to the climax and then spend almost no time wrapping things up, which makes the story feel incomplete. While the downclimb doesn't need to last as long as the summit push, you should still devote a chapter or two to the falling action, which may have its own dangers.

Characters must be changed by their time on Plot Mountain.

No one comes back from Chomolungma without changing. Maybe they have a renewed sense of purpose or a better appreciation for life. Maybe they have made friends, discovered themselves, gained better skills.

Or maybe they lost some toes while up there. Or lost a friend.

Whatever you choose, it must be clear that your characters have grown and evolved throughout the course of their story. They need to end up somewhere different internally, even if they are returning right back to base camp.

How to Use the Plot Mountain Method

Here's the major points you'll hit using Plot Mountain. This is a bit of a simplification, of course, because technically Camp 3 is in the Death Zone (above 26,247 feet), but look, we're fiction writers, not mountaineers.

Base Camp

This is the exposition, where you tell us a bit about the characters, the world, etc.

Base Camp -> ABC

We have a sense of momentum, that something is building up, but don't quite know what it is.

Advance Base Camp

The inciting event, where the character understands what is happening and must choose to accept or refuse. If they accept, they head up to North Col. If they refuse, well, you're going to push them up there.

ABC -> North Col

The first challenge (and the first chance to turn back). This is a sobering moment that impresses upon them that they are in peril, but it's not as risky as the next steps. If they came there against their will, this is when they start to get more committed and aren't refusing quite so much.

North Col

The first downtime. We learn more about the characters and get a better idea of the problem, but don't have all the details yet. Characters may still be a little delusional about what is happening. There may still be some resistance.

North Col -> Camp 2

The second challenge, which offers different dangers. The characters have faced difficulty now and have a better understanding of what is at stake. They are older, wiser, and less optimistic.

Camp 2

Characters may be questioning their ability, looking back down toward North Col and wondering if it would be cowardly to leave now. We have a better understanding of the potential dangers and the ramifications of failure.

Camp 2 -> Camp 3

The third challenge. The characters are fully committed and can't walk away. They know what they're going for and refuse to be deterred because they're so close to what they want. The dangers they face now give a taste of what the climax holds for them, impressing upon the readers that something enormous and risky will happen.

Camp 3

We are given a stronger understanding of this plot's full purpose and how it fits into the world. It's a time to stop and reflect on why this is important, what the characters have learned so far, and how their lives will change once they hit the climax.

The Death Zone

The dark before the dawn. Things are at their most difficult, but we're not quite there yet. The tension is extreme, and characters are truly fighting for their lives. They're scared, disoriented, and worn down by the challenges, but still willing to go on. There are no respites and no safe harbors. No one is going to save our characters but themselves.

Summit

Climax. It's fast, but not too fast: we get a chance to soak up what is happening, but we know that it won't last forever. There's a sense of pressure and the need to get out of the line of fire.

Death Zone Revisited

This is an opportunity to demonstrate how tired the characters are and the ramifications of their decisions. Things still feel fragile and dicey. We don't know whether the characters are out of danger just yet.

Camp 3

An opportunity to let the characters rest and reflect. We see the changes that have come about because of the climax and see them differently.

Camp 3 -> Base Camp

There's no need to linger all the way down the falling action; we don't require as much detail because we understand the world. Still, we should get a sense of how the characters navigate this new chapter of their lives and what they have learned.

Base Camp

The finale. It may be triumphant or heartbreaking, depending on what happened at the summit. Muted goodbyes, happy reunions, bittersweet reflection, and a sense that the characters are moving on with a better understanding of themselves.

And that's about it. You can add camps if you need to, or have little biovacs if your characters get stuck somewhere. You can find good places for description during those downtime moments. There's a lot to do!

I've created a masterlist of writing resources that you can peruse at your leisure, all for free.

The posts I write can sometimes take me hours - they're always intricate, always thoughtful. This one took me about 2.5 hours to complete.

I do this as a labor of love for the writing community, sharing what I have learned from almost 15 years of creative writing.

However, if you'd like to support me, maybe you'll consider buying my book? It's $0.99, which is about 7 cents for each minute you spent reading this post.

9 Years Yearning is a gay coming-of-age romance set in a fantasy world. It follows Uileac Korviridi, a young soldier training at the War Academy. His primary motivations are honoring the memory of his late parents, protecting his little sister Cerie, and becoming a top-notch soldier.

However, there's a problem: Orrinir Relickim, a rough and tough fellow pupil who just can't seem to leave Uileac alone.

The book features poetry, descriptions of a beautiful country inspired by Mongolia, and a whole lot of tsundere vibes.

You can also check it out on Goodreads for a list of expanded distribution.

If you do purchase my book, don't forget to leave a review!

Reviews are vital for visibility on Amazon and help to support indie authors like me. Whenever you love a book, be sure to let the author know! It's much appreciated.

[mcalhenwrites]

Seasons is now at a minimum of 102 chapters and this is its current word count:

I posted another chapter on AO3 just as the site went down, and while it managed to go through, AO3 has been out since then. I feel better returning to the story and fixing so many of the scenes as well as adding ones that flesh things out. It's mostly self-indulgence. No, this story probably doesn't need to be this long. I want to write this scene, I want to feed my darlings rather than kill them to follow a formula that would make this work publishable. It's being posted to fucking AO3. I've had a lot of kind words as I'm grappling with giving up sharing my writing. I know I constantly talk about it and keep on going. I don't know if that tenacity is wisdom. It probably isn't. I know a lot of the people who have attacked my writing are petty, but they're so loud, and people who like my writing tend to be rather quiet for long periods of time, and that hopelessness settles in very easily. It makes me think I don't have thick enough skin to ever be a writer, but... that isn't what makes a writer. The actual process of writing the fucking words down is what makes me a writer. I thought? And I do see patterns. Some people don't like it when other people get attention, but I've also picked up on a few people first inquiring how I write so much/find time to write, and it ends up becoming a conversation that makes me like I should be ashamed for doing something they can't. It's frustrating to not write, I get it, but you just fucking do it. Maybe never ever doing it and treating the entire process with distain means it's not meant to be something you do...? I don't like sewing. I wish I could make nice clothes for myself! But I admire those who can do it and do it well. I look forward to the day I can afford to commission amazing pieces with good materials that will last me for years and years. So no, I don't get why I should feel bad I do the thing that someone else struggles with. In the end, some people do want to drag you down. I feel like that's a common experience with creators, honestly. I love writing. I wanted to get better at it - and still do - and so I continue writing. I continue reading. I'll always keep going, and I will make time for writing even if it kills me. I have a passion for this, and... honestly, I am dealing with a lot of difficulties in my life, but I'm highly functional despite depression and chronic pain and a reproductive system deadset on ruining my life with pain and anemia. So there isn't a lot for me to look forward to in life right now. Except writing. (And maybe KH will stir some passion for life for me, if we get any announcements any time soon...) I live to write, and I want to write to live... because I gotta figure things out. Also, tier rewards are out and posted today. I am glad I set an alarm on my phone for it, because I fucking forgot until it went off. :') Please don't respond with hugs or the like, all I care about is if I can write so I'm gonna go take my gabapentin and do that before I sleep.

[valenteal]

Fun fact about me: I am a rare breed of theater nerd who doesn’t like musicals.

I find that while they do a great job showcasing the actor’s musical talents and dancing abilities musicals tend to leave storytelling and character depth by the wayside. Everything becomes a Production not just in that it is a thing that has been produced but in that it’s all over the top and kinda shallow. As a writer I think the medium of storytelling is extremely delicate, and while musicals can have good storytelling it’s very easy to get caught in the many pitfalls. Weather it’s overuse of musical numbers, formulaic songs that all sound the same, or neglecting proper character development or forgetting to showcase it with normal non-musical conversations, there are a lot of ways to go wrong with a musical.

Now, sometimes it’s done well, and people are going to hate me for this, but Disney has a pretty good track record with making musicals. And I mean Disney, not Disney channel. Encanto was flawless. I love the live action remakes of Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. But that isn’t musical theater. That’s movies. The medium is easier to work with for deeper storytelling. Stage performances have the constraints of limited space and a fixed audience who can’t see them up close. But that doesn’t mean you give up on good storytelling! It means you work to overcome those obstacles with talented and dedicated people! You can make a truly moving production on a stage but modern musical theatre just… doesn’t.

For me, a great example of this is Heathers the musical. I watched it back to back with the movie (and I plan on reading the book at some point though I’ve yet to do so) and I was able to really pin down what I dislike about musicals with that comparison. Heathers is a deep story that touches on the very real and very dark truths of being an American teenager and going to public school. It’s a story about imperfect teens who are all under pressure and who all have their own reasons. The characters are realistic and relatable, and anyone who’s been to public high school can probably recognize themselves or people they know in the characters. It tackles the very real issues of teen violence and the mental health crisis that our country is facing. The musical failed to capture any of that. The whole thing was weirdly sanitized and all the characters were turned into caricatures (wow that’s hard to spell). Heathers the musical was not deep or moving and it didn’t take itself half as seriously as it should’ve. The topics it was dealing with were too serious and close to home for them to make light of it. It’s dark. It’s heavy. The characters are kids who made mistakes, were victims of circumstance and none of them deserved to be vilified or victimized. But the musical took all of their depth away and made the whole thing more detached from reality and less serious than it is. There’s nothing wrong with that kind of storytelling, but at least write your own story instead of taking someone else’s and twisting it to suit your needs.

While Heathers is a very specific example it made some general mistakes common in musical theatre. The music itself, while catchy, is fairly unoriginal and simplistic. I don’t mean lyrically, that’s very original, though in my opinion distasteful. Meaningful conversations that showcase character depth were replaced with song and dance routines that failed to convey the same meaning. I found it to be pretty tedious in all honesty, the songs were so repetitive and they didn’t even move the story forward all that quickly, just got stuck in one moment way longer than necessary and sacrificed valuable time that could be used for real dialogue.

Anyway, that’s my informal essay on why musicals are an inferior form of storytelling, with only one example for evidence since this is just me doing this for fun and I am not going to subject myself to more musicals for no reason.

[literaticat]

hi Jenn! so I write MG. I was always told to put the catalyst at 10% of the way through the book but my agent said that seems like it's too late. was I taught wrong??

I can't say I have ever thought about math in relation to storytelling, so I asked a writer who teaches writing and KNOWS things.

She said, "Stories need what they need. Sometimes, the inciting incident is early. Sometimes it's a little later. But I'd think less about percentages, and more about the function of each scene on the reader's emotional experience. What do I want to do with this scene? Can I make it do more? Tighten it? This is the formula: Know what you want to do. Get in, get out."

As for the 10% of it all -- I mean, if a MG novel is, say, 250 pages long -- and the first 25 pages are people bopping around not doing anything -- that probably IS too long to hold a kid's attention while they wait for The Thing to happen and the story to really get going. Maybe that would fly in a grownup book, but kids books tend to be faster paced.

So it sounds like your agent thinks THIS inciting incident should come earlier -- perhaps because your first chapters are slow, or not impactful, or just not doing enough, or something like that.

But I wouldn't say that would ALWAYS be the case - I'm sure there are examples where the first chapters are also totally compelling and the inciting incident comes a little later and that's fine. I just wouldn't take any alleged "formula" too seriously. What works for THIS story?

(FWIW, when I'm critiquing novels, like we do at the Big Sur conference, it's an EXTREMELY COMMON problem that the first chapter or so is actually unnecessary and the story really gets going further in. Sometimes you need to write things for YOURSELF, like to get warmed up, to set the scene, to get to know the characters, or whatever -- and those things don't actually need to be in the actual book! I'm not saying that's YOUR problem whatsoever -- I'm just saying, it's not at all uncommon, for writers at all levels!)

[alexanderwales]

People are asking what fandom this is, and ... this is just TV detectives, I don't know what to tell you. The trope exists because the case-of-the-week needs to be neatly resolved, and a confession removes all doubt about whether the TV detective was correct about whodunnit. It's a writer's way of saying "yes, this is the solution" and getting some sense of justice in, rather than waiting on the slow march of justice which would, in the common detective show, occur years into the future after dozens of other cases had been solved.

If you don't watch television shows, the "eccentric detective" or sometimes just "detective who has some other career" is a staple of the modern television landscape. They make these shows by the dozen.

Novelist = Castle (and also Murder She Wrote) Puzzle-setter = Ludwig Psychic = Medium Fake psychic = Psych Chess grandmaster = Endgame Magician's assistant = Jonathan Creek Anthropologist = Bones Classics scholar = Inspector Morse Mathematician = Numb3rs

I was absolutely sure that there was a philosopher one, but I guess I made that up. Kid detectives are not a staple of TV detective shows, probably because of labor laws, though my childhood was filled with kid detective books (Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown). There's an Austrian dog detective show, but I've never watched it, so can't say how closely it follows the formula.

This post was mostly inspired by Ludwig, which has the protagonist make a big speech that gathers everyone together at the end of each episode, with a confession every time to wrap things up.

(I do have more respect for a show which features an actual detective with some kind of schtick, rather than someone who's just on semi-permanent ride-along. Say what you will about Adrian Monk and the way the show deals with mental illness, but at least he was an actual trained detective.)

Here's a legal PSA:

If you've committed a crime and a detective gathers everyone involved in the room, especially if he's not actually a detective and is instead a novelist, puzzle-setter, psychic, fake psychic, dog, chess grandmaster, etc. ...

YOU SHOULD NOT CONFESS.

Every year, hundreds of people are put away by non-traditional "detectives" who have either inserted themselves into the case or are working with the police in a dubiously legal capacity as advisor. In 99% of these cases, the murderer gives a full confession even though the evidence against them is circumstantial at best and often requires a long just-so story which can only guess at motive.

If this happens to you, stay quiet, do not attempt to defend yourself or talk your way out of it, only say "I want a lawyer".

Now if you find yourself being investigated by a boy genius, magician's assistant, anthropologist, classics scholar, or philosopher, it's likely that refusing to talk to the police (or investigator with no legal authority) is merely the end of the second act, and by the end of the third act they will have you dead to rights.

YOU SHOULD STILL NOT CONFESS.

Make them take it to court. Force the eccentric detective and his straight-laced police partner to take the stand and explain their methods to a jury of your peers. Have your lawyer look at the chain of custody on the evidence, especially if you believe it to have been handled by someone who has only bumbled into detective work through their natural charm and/or unique set of skills and outsider perspective that come in handy more often than they should.

Know your rights. Don't let eccentric detectives put you away.

[autisticandroids]

watched 1x14 nightmare today. so there's this moment in that ep that everybody talks about, at the end. this one:

SAM: Well I'll tell you one thing. We're lucky we had Dad. DEAN: (Looking astounded...and pleased) Well I never thought I'd hear you say that. SAM: Well, it coulda gone a whole other way after Mom. I little more tequila and a little less demon hunting and we woulda had Max's childhood. All things considered, we turned out ok. Thanks to him. DEAN: (Turning back to look at Max's house) All things considered.

it's a moment people pay a lot of attention to. because the thing is... dean's face falls, here. he's clearly put off by what sam's saying. he's bothered. and the common reading of that is that there was some degree of abuse more like max's that sam never saw. and that's like. that's DEFINITELY a legible reading of this episode.

however! i actually think this is a place where paying attention to authorial intent leads you interesting places.

so, first of all, what was the overall thesis of nightmare? i would argue that it's sam needs to stop being a pussy and whining about his childhood, some people have real problems. that's why the abuse max experiences is so cartoonishly bad, why the final conclusion is that max will always be miserable and is better off dead, why sam walks out of this experience more willing to empathize with john: the point of nightmare is that sam needs to learn that he could have had it way worse, that in fact growing up a hunter was the best option.

sam and max have a conversation in the middle of the episode that cements this point:

MAX: He blamed me for everything. For his job, for his life, for my Mom's death. SAM: Why would he blame you for your Mom's death? MAX: Because she died in my nursery, while I was asleep in my crib. As if that makes it my fault. SAM: (Looking shocked) She died in your nursery? MAX: There was a fire. And he'd get drunk and babble on like she died in some insane way. He said that she burned up. Pinned to the ceiling!

the point being made here is that sam is lucky. both mary and max's mother died in insane ways. john responded to this by accepting the insanity and getting obsessed with hunting demons. max's dad falls deeper into drink and blames max instead. this is the way to present the miserable demon hunting child soldier lifestyle as the better option.

(it's also useful to talk about how john was probably not intended to be perceived as an abusive father (though of course he obviously is, the writers just don't think anything that isn't what max went through counts as abuse); @restlesshush has a point she likes to make about how no one bothered to tell jdm that john's relationship with salmondean is fraught so he just doesn't play it that way.)

so now that we've established the overall point of nightmare, let's get back to the original point. now, i specifically want to talk about what i think the intent of the text is.

now, the basic formula of supernatural season one is that sam and dean get in an argument at the start of the episode, usually about their father, and it continues throughout. and when one of them fails to argue back, the other notices. look at this moment from 1x11 scarecrow:

DEAN: Sam. You were right. You gotta do your own thing. You gotta live your own life. SAM: Are you serious? DEAN: You’ve always known what you want. And you go after it. You stand up to Dad. And you always have. Hell, I wish I—anyway….I admire that about you. I’m proud of you, Sammy. SAM: I don’t even know what to say.

dean fails to fulfill his narrative role, and sam notices. this is the same kind of things as when for example dean becomes more and more obsessed with clinging to sam because he has to in order to maintain the format of the show (i.e. two brothers). character flows from format, instead of the other way 'round.

and here, in nightmare, dean is unsettled by sam's change of heart, mostly because it breaks format, but also because, due to the format, sam (at least in dean's perception) has the character trait of "dad-critical" and it unnerves dean when this changes. that is i think as far as we can definitively say authorial intent goes. nightmare is a sam episode, so any deeper meaning is probably imo between jensen ackles and the fans.

but, if you'll permit me to go a little deeper than authorial intent while still using it as a baseline. here, in nightmare, the tendency to notice sam failing to fulfill his role becomes a lot more interesting. look at that scarecrow quote:

DEAN: You’ve always known what you want. And you go after it. You stand up to Dad. And you always have. Hell, I wish I—anyway….I admire that about you. I’m proud of you, Sammy.

dean's disquiet when sam fails to fulfill his role as john-critic is both intriguing and unsettling. it's layered. dean isn't just reacting to sam not following the script. he needs someone to play the role of john critic in his life, because he can't do it. he is, consciously or unconsciously, relying on sam to do it for him. and that's why he makes that face outside the millers' house.

[pinkprettycure]

do you have any tips for making something magical girly-story wise? I wanna make a magical girl story but seeing what people do and don't consider magical girl stories makes me worried I'm gonna mess something up. I really like your magical girl stuff, so if you have any advice, thank you! and in general I hope you have a nice day!

Familiarize yourself more w the genre really, that's like where a lot of ppl end up going wrong where they don't... interact with mg beyond Sailor Moon and even then, they also haven't really watched Sailor Moon recently. Like if Sailor Moon is your jam you gotta go and refresh your memory on the themes and story beats. But also watching multiple types of shows to see what the stories have in common beyond "they transform" because henshin heroes are a whole separate thing that encompasses more than just MG lol

Like a lot of people have the idea that all MG is similar in tone to just the most lighthearted and goofy moments of the silliest Precure seasons, even if they never actually watched Precure, which is why we have so many people r consistently surprised that Sailor Moon had any kind of stakes in it lol

Or same with Madoka which is an even worse scenario imo because its a MG series written by someone who wasn't familiar with the genre either, it's like copying someone's math exam when math is that persons worst subject. You're not gonna understand how they got the right answer or how they messed up on the wrong ones yk?

I think watching some more "classic" shows is a good way to get an idea of how the genre started out, if you want some magic idols you should be more familiar with Creamy Mami at least a little, but the ~classics~ aren't like the end all be all of the genre lol. And I think also being more familiar with influencial non-mg franchises is a good thing... like, henshin heroes is where I'm most invested and a lot of MG warriors are basically Girl Sentai. but it's not just Sentai that has had any kind of influence on that sub-genre, like. the Sentai Formula for fights is generally, we get a funky themed general who fucks everything up for the episode, the heroes defeat him, and then he gets really big and the heroes use their mech to defeat him for good.

Some MG has the like ridiculous themed kaijin villains and MOTW, like SM and Wedding Peach and early Precure definitely has a more sentai-like vibe.

but they don't do the "get big and die from being blown up by a mech" thing in mg lol. But then some shows have the girls basically fighting kaiju which feels more like it's taking cues from Ultraman to me.

And some seasons like Heartcatch and Happiness Charge have these like, little underling villains that give "Kamen Rider Grunt"

Straight up these are just the same type of guy.

I don't think watching a ton of Godzilla films will teach you the hidden intricacies of the MG genre but it will give you an idea of what a lot of writers probably have in mind when they make up monsters lol

Knowing how the actual genre works FIRST though, is going to do way better for people getting any kind of "magical girl vibes" from your story. a lot of these stories don't feel like MG bc the writers don't know the genre, and I feel like that's also how US stories end up just so different (not necesarily in a bad way), or only ever referencing SM. VS like, Italy where these stories were way more consistently available and easily accessible. Compare like, She-ra and Star Vs to like, Winx and WITCH lmao. like, in the US only the nerdiest of nerd girls were out here watching mermaid melody. we only got a handful of shows and half them never got finished lmao

[princessnefertankh]

(Just thought people might like the full essay! You might not agree with everything 100%, but there's some good points)

Why I Don’t Use ChatGPT

An essay by Thomas Austin

Yesterday, I was asked why I do not use ChatGPT. My answer felt like it might work for my newsletter, so here it is.

When I was in high school, my two favorite classes (besides Team Sports, which I took six times), were Calculus and English. At the time, those two subjects felt as far apart from each other as the east is from the west.

Calculus was taught by Mrs. Gilbert, a fiery fast-talker whose mind worked with the flawless logic of a Rube Goldberg machine. She had been teaching for twenty years, and could predict the exact content of each year’s AP exam like it was what’s for lunch. She pushed her classes hard, but in a way that made everybody love her: on the first day she gave us all binders that were full of the year’s homework, answers included. Somebody’s had my brother’s name in the back. “Cheat if you want,” she said. “Just know you won’t be able to do it on the AP exam.” She held weekly study groups during homeroom, at which she would feed us homemade baked goods. By the end of the semester, everybody knew calculus, and everybody felt as if they had a second mom.

Mr. Macdonald taught English. We just called him Mac. He told us it was okay to curse in our stories, and assigned books that homeschooling families think should be banned. He was a good basketball player, and the kind of teacher who felt more like a peer than a superior. At the time, we all thought he was a great writer and he might have been; when he told us he was writing a book, we were all of us prepared to climb up onto our desks and shout “Oh Captain, My Captain.” I just found him on LinkedIn; he lives in New Mexico now, and works as an accountant. No matter.

Mrs. Gilbert and Mac were as surface-level different as the subjects they teach. But they shared something in common, something which, all these years later, is the reason I still can’t talk about those two subjects without talking about the people who taught them to me:

They made you love it.

In their hands, Calculus and English were art forms, not just school subjects. They were means of connecting with the world and with each other, of finding the same beauty in the formulas of polar area that lives in the closing lines of A Tale of Two Cities. They were so obviously enamored with their respective subjects that they made you forget you were being graded.

This is all a bit of an overstatement, of course; I’m a nostalgist at heart, and those classes now have the sepia tinge that all good old days have. I don’t do calculus any more. And if the frequency of this newsletter—and my fleeting promises to write more often—are any indication, I don’t put those English classes to as much use as I just romantically made it sound.

But the point stands: in those two classes, taught by those two people, math and language did more than present mere problems to be solved.

Let me pivot a moment, or fast-forward, rather, to my time as a songwriting major at Belmont University in Nashville.

I often joke that I was the worst songwriting major in the program. I don’t mean that I was the worst songwriter—I might self-deprecate if I talk to you after a show, but I actually tend to think that most of the time, I’m quite good at what I do. What I mean is that I was clearly not cut out to write the type of songs, or write at the fast pace, with which most Belmont songwriting majors seemed to have no problem.

It makes sense in hindsight. On top of teaching us to actually write songs, the department was preparing us to enter the songwriting industry. Assignments mimicked the things real-world publishing deals require. Here’s a prompt, these are your co-writers, this is your deadline. See you on Friday with a finished song.

If you’re an artist of any kind, you probably have a love-hate relationship with parameters like these. On one hand, they help you to get working and stay working. On the other, they can feel like they dispel the numinous mist that got you into creating things in the first place. Nobody’s first song arose from a prompt. It just came out, life from life, bloody and bawling and half-baked and fully loved.

I had a conversation last week with my friend Mitchell. Mitchell is a filmmaker, a photographer, and a bit of a mystic. He’s a nerd about light and space, and I’m hoping he takes all my artist photos until one of us kicks it. We were supposed to be talking business (we were shooting my next album cover later in the week), but we ended up talking art. He said something that struck me.

“I don’t want to make art about art,” he said. “I want to make art.”

As a visual artist whose work is mostly digital, he feels more than most the slow heat death that social media and the internet are forcing upon the country’s soul. If you take a photo and don’t post it on Instagram (an app I spent two hours on today, because my wife hasn’t reset the screentime password yet), did you actually take one? And therefore, if Instagram is the required final destination for your art, doesn’t that completely change the form and content of the photo you’re about to take?

“There’s a reason I can speak to snakes,” said Harry when he found out his connection with Voldemort ran soul-splittingly deep. And there’s a reason all of our photos, all of our songs, all of our spirits are starting to look the same. They’re all parts of a soul that was split to trip the algorithm. Their name is Legion.

If I need to write an email, or a song, or a series of wedding vows, ChatGPT (and any other AI tool like it) is perfectly capable of doing it. By technical standards, it may even do it better than I can. ChatGPT is a problem solver like the world has never seen. But that’s because all it has ever known is problems. It does what we do when we are being our least human selves, what I do when I’m being a poor husband, or friend, or songwriter: it sees everything as a prompt to which it must give an answer. It is not capable of sitting with questions—it was built for production, not presence. And it teaches us to see the world the same way, to do the homework to get the grades instead of learning to love the subjects.

And so, as long as I can before Will Smith has to save me from I, Robot, I will not use ChatGPT. I have enough trouble seeing the world as a place to inhabit rather than a set of stipulations; I don’t need a tool to speed me on my way. I’ll write all my emails and all my songs the hard way, and they may be worse, but I pray to God they will be better.

from: _thomasaustin on instagram

~ Thomas Austin on ChatGPT