#and it would just be a lot easier from a technical and writing perspective to just

[the-sol-eater]

so far, the biggest conclusion I've gained from the responses to this post is that we desperately needed more timeline interactions like in 2020 and I do not understand why they're only relegated to birthdays now when they're such an important piece of Milgram's overall storytelling 😭

[alpaca-clouds]

The Words We Use On History

You all probably have come across this before. People discuss historical figures who with a very high likelihood were some flavor of queer.

My favorite example: Emperor Elagabalus. One of the very short lived emperors of Rome, who only held the throne for four years and died at the ripe old age of 18. However, there is a high likelihood they were a trans woman. They spoke frequently about wanting to live as a woman, were romantically involved with a man - but not as a man loving a man, but explicitly as a woman, speaking of themselves of wanting to be the man's wife. They also promised a lot of money to any surgeon who would be able to give them a vagina. That sounds pretty darn trans to me.

However, whenever this topic is brought up, there inevitably will be the following answer: "You cannot call them trans! The concept of trans did not exist yet!"

And of course, the same is true for basically every other potentially queer historical figure. There is a historical man who had exclusively romantic and sexual relationships with other men? "You cannot call him gay, because that did not exist yet." Two women who lived with each other and wrote poems about how fucking hot their sex was? "You cannot call them lesbian or sapphic because that concept did not exist yet!" These two couples who were very open of technically being all four together in a relationship? "You cannot call them polyamorous!"

Now, from a historical perspective I can somewhat understand that. Because as historians, yes, it somewhat paints a wrong image if we call it that. Because it transposes modern concepts of queer culture onto the historical figures.

Yet, at the same time I also have an issue with how it is handled right now. Because how it is handled right now is this:

Anyone who deals with historical topics has seen some examples of this. "Oh, this is a poem Sappho wrote about her really good friend!" Or this one statue of two women in ancient Egypt who were depicted in exactly the same way that married couples were depicted, with historians going: "They were probably sisters or something." This is especially true for historical sapphic women.

While male homosexuality is more easily admitted in terms of them having had sex with other men, this is then often framed as: "Well, but at the time it was very normal for men to have gay sex, especially in a military scenario." Which, on one hand, yeah, sure. But also: "Yeah, but it was less typical of them to then live together with that man outside of military service and write long yearning letters to him!"

When it comes to polyamory, this gets either way always just boiled down to: "Oh, yes, these very wealthy people who totally could afford to have households of their own just lived together because it was more... convenient."

And when it comes to trans people, usually the stories get told as: "This was a woman who just really wanted to do [male thing], and it had nothing to do with her gender." And: "Oh, yes, he was a queer man, who really liked to flirt with other men. But like, he just crossdressed all the time and took a female name because that made it easier."

The issue with this is: Yes, in some cases we can absolutely not know what was going through the heads of the people involved. But there are enough cases, where we actually do know because the people wrote diaries or letters or something like that. If we have one of those supposed "crossdressers" who wrote a last will going: "Once I die, make 100% sure I will be buried under this name and nobody is going to do an autopsy or undresses my dead body!" then I am pretty darn sure, this was them trying to be remembered as their identity and be buried under this real name.

In the end, whenever historians go: "We cannot know this for certain!" I just want to scream: "Yeah, but you also do not know that it was not the case. And you acting as if this was the right thing to assume until anything was proven, is you erasing queer history!"

Because, yes. Queer culture as we know it today was not around until fairly recently in human history. But queer people were always there. In fact, biologically and anthropologically there is a whole lot of evidence that we as a species come with queerness as a base setting. Most humans are at the very least probably bisexual. Maybe not biromatnic. We do not know that much for certain. But sexual? Yeah, very probable.

And of course, the same goes for other things. Historically we have no way of proofing that certain people were autistic or had ADHD. But frankly, I will very much die on the hill that Athur Conan Doyle was on the spectrum. Fight me.

[salty-an-disco]

*thinks about how there's several different versions of Hero who acts a little different depending on which route you take him through–*

*thinks about how the Hero that appears in the middle of the final battle describes himself as being 'all of them'*

*thinks about how all those different Heroes might not have been able to completely integrate themselves into a single individual*

Conclusion: Hero would develop a system (a median system, to be more exact)

Yep. This was the main reason I started drawing different variants for Hero in different chapters and givin' them different names, everyone can go home now /lhj /silly

Anyway, since I already drew all the guys, might as well talk about them in the context of Hero being a system

(note: I've semi-recently found I, myself, am a system, so a lot of this is me processing this stuff and trying to puzzle things out through my blorbo. shout out to Hero for making this discovery a lot easier to digest. that means a lot of what I'm writing here comes from my own experience and perspectives. Also, I'll be calling the different Heroes 'facets', as that represents better what they are to him)

Since they all come from the exact same source (forms through Chapter I), they don't really see themselves as all that separate or different people. The different titles are more nicknames than anything, they're all 'Hero', just– from a slightly different angle and with different roles/priorities. Hero doesn't hear distinct voices in his head like Quiet, he's more like Shifty, in a way, having their feelings and different texture affect his behavior.

Hero is vaguely aware of these different facets, even giving them those titles as a way to organize and understand himself, but doesn't worry too much about it. That's just how he is.

As for the different facets and their role within the system–

– Hero: Host; front-stuck – Technically speaking, his route would be the Stranger one, as that's where he spent the least amount of time in Chapter I and didn't develop any other identity besides 'Hero'. Not necessarily the 'original', and would rather not worry about that lest it triggers another existential crisis, but is definitely the 'main one'. The main face that's always there. Behavior and thought-process can change depending on other facets present.

– Savior: Protector/Persecutor – Formed when his will power was broken and subdued by someone far stronger. Is intent on not letting that happen again. Very headstrong and certain of himself; he has to be, or else their willpower will break again. Mainly appears to help deal with threats much bigger than them. (Fun fact: in warped AU, he and Hero were fused together)

– Champion: Physical Protector – Formed by a desire to fight and persevere against an opponent that can kill you. Very strategy-minded, focused on better ways to get out of a confrontation alive. Will always try to get out of battles with the least amount of injuries to the body possible. Does not like confrontation, but will go through it if it means survival. Appears anytime there's a need to fight and/or survive. Often alongside Savior or Fledgling.

– Liar: Social Protector/Caretaker – Formed when forced to betray someone you previously intended on helping. Despite the title, Liar is very aversed to lying, and despises when others are being dishonest. Why play these weird games that just makes things more difficult? Can't we just be blunt with each other and makes things easier? Appears when the host feels judged or like he's being given an unfair assumption during a social encounter, or later on, when the host is thinkin' back to a certain social situation that didn't go too well. Helps process those leftover feelings and make sure the host is doing well emotionally and socially.

– Fledgling: Protector – Formed when made to feel cornered by a dangerous creature and clawed to death. Similar role to Champion, in theory, though he appears, more broadly, when the host starts feeling cornered in any way. Which doesn't happen solely in physical fights. Very helpful when appearing to deal with a physical threat, not so much when the threat is more emotional or social.

– Dashing: Emotion Holder/Uplifter – Formed from a desire to do nothing but good to someone else. Not as positive and optimistic as his paired voice during The Damsel, but still makes sure the host doesn't forget there's always a bright side and some hope to hold on to. Makes sure the host is taking the time to appreciate the things and people he love and that he isn't getting to caught up in worries and anxiety. (EDIT: may change this facet's name to 'Prince')

– Accomplice: Memory Holder/Cheergiver – Formed when despite your misgivings, you put your trust in someone else. His role is more vague than the others, but is generally there to give support to those outside of the system. Makes the host take a step back and let someone they trust take the reigns, for once.

– Haunted: Caretaker – Formed while spending a good few lifetimes in Nothingness. Not exactly sure what he's supposed to do here, but tries his best to help. Took some pointers from Cold and encourages the host to put feelings aside for now, if only to focus on taking care of the body before diving back into them. The one that knows self-care, and appears when the body desperately needs it.

– Dreamer: Trauma Holder – Formed as you tried to close your eyes and pretend there's no danger just in front of you. This one is Trauma Personified and mainly only appears when the host is triggered. When he appears, it's very difficult for Hero to differentiate reality from delusions, and it feels like he's back in the construct, fighting for his life and sanity.

– Ribbons: ???/Shell – Formed across 4 chapters; as more pieces broke off, very little was left of him. Less of a facet and more a general feeling of Nothingness. That can be useful when the host is feeling too overwhelmed to think. Just kinda makes Hero zone out and shut down when he appears.

Bonus: what it looks like when some of the facets are close to front. Whether or not Hero will shapeshift depends on how long a facet lingers, and how much they're affecting him. Often, he doesn't shapeshift at all despite the many facets that appeared throughout the day

[ivyblossom]

Lessons in Story: Editing

I was a pantser for a very long time. I lived in the writing of a story, and couldn't be bothered planning it. Or editing it, frankly. I was just a drafter. The writing of it is glorious, and then it's over, and I'm done. Is that a best practice? Definitely not. But that's what so great about fanfiction. I can do that. It might not make for the best fics, and they would be full of typos, but the whole point of fanwork doing what you want the way you want to do it, right? So I did the part I understood and loved, and nothing else.

Why did I do that? Because I'm a brat, probably? I mentioned already that my maturity level has always been low.

But I think there's more to it than that. I think I worked that way because it was fun and it produced stories that weren't bad, they were sometimes pretty good, but I had no idea how they functioned. If you don't know how a story works, how do you edit or tweak it? I think I was afraid to look back at it most of the time. The only way I knew how to fix a story was to start over and write another one. That's the only thing I knew how to do. The experience of the story was living the story. How do you edit that? I always felt like restructuring the beginning of a story would mean a new branch had started, the rest of the story wouldn't match anymore. It would be a new story, I would be throwing this one way. You see what I mean?

I learned to be a slightly better editor over time (but not really). At least I fixed dropped words and typos (mostly). But even then could say to me, "Hey, this could be good if you edited it and expanded on X and got rid of Y." I'm sure people tried. But I didn't know how to do that. (Okay: I technically knew how to do that, but this basic misunderstanding made that really difficult.) It would probably freak me out a bit. I would have understood what you meant, but the only way I knew who to do that is to delete the whole thing and start over. Because I didn't really understand the pieces that make up a story. It was all one piece to me. You could cut it up, sure, but it wouldn't be one piece any more. It would be broken.

I'm not suggesting this make sense, that's what I'm learning about my own history of process.

I wouldn't have said any of this at the time because I really didn't understand that that's how it was. I could (and did) talk until I was blue in the face about narrative, but I really didn't understand how it was working from a writing perspective. If I had understood it and said it out loud, it would have been easier to fix, but I didn't realize this was my obstacle. Now I'm learning about it, and repairing it. Because of course a story isn't one piece. It's many pieces, and they fit together and look like one piece when you're done.

This is also connected to planning, which I can (and will) go on about at great length.

How did I come to have this completely bonkers belief system about how creative writing works? Who can say. It might have something to do with learning to read by myself at a very young age (2). Stories were always whole pieces that I fell into face first. I don't even exist when I read, I just experience a story whole and then return to myself. I was writing the way I was reading.

So that's an obstacle I've deconstructed, and let me tell you: it's a lot easier when you know that's behind your own process and thinking.

[cultivating-wildflowers]

Books of 2025 - April

Another quiet month wherein I said I would focus on reading instead of Other Things and then proceeded to not do that. The distraction got so bad that I had a run there where I was technically in the middle of six or seven books and not making much headway on any of them.

I did enjoy the books I ended up reading (even if I haven't finished some of them yet)! Unfortunately I'm in one of those moods where I'm Noticing Themes in, like, everything, which really slows down the process.

(I sent excerpts from several books to my sister, who had just finished beta-reading my manuscript, and her response was, "Oh wow. Ouch. How are you surviving this book??" and later just a lot of crying emojis. Girl, your guess is as good as mine.)

In further not-great news, I've barely touched the mountain of books I actually planned to read this year. It's becoming the year of the series instead.

Total books: 3  |  New reads: 3   |  2025 TBR completed: 0 (0 DNF) / 2/18 total   |   Total books read this year: 23

March | May

#1 - The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan - 5/5 stars (audio)

I read the first book in the Memoirs of Lady Trent series a little over a year ago and, while I enjoyed it apart from that emotionally-gutting twist, it didn't really leave an impression. It was only at the urging of @distance-does-not-matter and a few others that I have picked up the next book.

As those other reviews suggested, the series does pick up after the first installment. While I loved Brennan's descriptive writing in A Natural History of Dragons, The Tropic of Serpents felt more cohesive as a narrative. I really enjoy the tone of an older Lady Trent relaying to us the adventures of her younger self. The world Brennan paints is so vivid and absolutely teeming with life. This might have been easier to read than to listen to, given the volume of new names to learn, but I was able to follow it just fine.

And now, bribed with promises of friendships and a new romance, I'm eager to pick up the next book.

More like this: Weirdly, it kept reminding me of Beryl Markham's "West with the Night"? (Which I also read a year ago.) Possibly it was the combination of the setting and the autobiographical style. But I'll be honest, I also thought of Tarzan (1999) more than once.

#2 - Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 1 by Kanehito Yamada with Annaliese Christman - 4/5 stars

Found this at a bookstore while exploring Ann Arbor with Kenzie; recalled one of my mutuals mentioning the show; picked it up to check it out.

I went in completely blind on this one. The art style is fun and I love the perspective of a practically-immortal character learning to connect with the people around her. Absolutely adorable and delightful. I don't know that I'll immediately jump into the rest of the series (thankfully it's not very long) but I would like to read it eventually.

#3 - Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan - 4/5 stars (audio)

Very much a no-thoughts-head-empty sort of reading experience for me, in the best possible way. (Minus the amputation scene. I had to stop in the middle of vacuuming to grab my phone and skip it. I made many distressed noises while I did so. I may have cried.) The pacing felt somewhat disjointed after The Tropic of Serpents; so much happened and then we got to the (rather sudden) conclusion and I felt somewhat out of breath.

Drawing hearts all over the entire cast. Extra pink and purple glitter hearts for Suhail.

Currently Reading:

Kristin Lavransdatter, Part One: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset, tr. Tiina Nunnally - Note that I finally made up my mind to break this up into three books, as the series was originally published and as it's listed on Wikipedia. I am ALMOST finished with the first one! It's quick work once I settle down and pay attention. I just have to figure out how to settle down and pay attention.

The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff - I had to put this one down for a bit because it is simply much too depressing for me right now.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol 3 by Beth Brower - Lord knows why this book of all books is taking me so long to get through, but here we are.

[genericpuff]

How should someone write for a comic? I want to start a comic but I’m a bit in the dark for how to write one

This is a very, VERY broad subject that, like the question of "how to draw comics", is very multi-faceted and impossible to tackle in one response. Especially because I myself also will not have all the answers.

What I will say is that regarding writing comics, let's say webcomics, it's not an uncommon thing in the slightest to see writers come into communities like /r/webtoons and ask for people to help them draw their passion project and to that I say... please don't LOL That's not to say that's what you were going to do at all, just wanted to throw that out there as an initial opening disclaimer. Ultimately the reality is that in webcomics, many of the people creating these projects are artists first and writers second (as one of those skillsets is way more accessible than the other), and already have their own passion projects that they're working on. So if you're going into purely writing comics, you're gonna need to manage your perspective on the industry and how it functions from a writer's POV rather than the POV of an artist who picked up writing as a consequence of wanting to get into comics.

That said, the beauty of writing comics is that, in general, it requires a lot less overhead than drawing a comic. That's not to say that it's necessarily easier, because god knows writing presents its own unique challenges, but writing a script generally takes less overhead and resources than turning that script into a comic. I can pump out 10 episodes of rough scripts for Rekindled in a day or two, with tweaking and editing along the way, but actually drawing those episodes takes weeks LMAO (and I wouldn't be able to pull off a lot of the stuff I do now without the help of my assistant @banshriek who not only provides a lot of expertise in drawing backgrounds, but lightens the workload in their help with shading and rendering! they also provide great feedback when it comes to the roughs stage <3)

So if you're starting out, just like the advice I give to budding webcomic artists, it's about starting. Build that experience, get some projects under your belt no matter the size or length that you can use to show your skills (and shop around for feedback from those willing to give it!), etc. Familiarize yourself with various genres, both writing AND reading! Like scripts for film, writing a comic script doesn't HAVE to come with the visuals even if that's the end goal, you don't HAVE to relegate yourself to finding an artist to draw your comic and then posting it online in the hopes it'll get seen. There's a lot that can be done with a simple comic script, whether it's sharing it to the world as is, adapting it to a novel, or pitching it to publishers/agents. Being a comic writer comes with a lot more flexibility in that way than being just a comic artist with no script (though, again, most indie comic artists will simply pick up writing to create their passion projects, it's a much bigger task for writers to pick up art for the sake of creating a comic).

Also establish your goals. Is your plan to write for some major industry some day? Or would you rather stick to writing for smaller productions? Just like with drawing webcomics, you should be setting your expectations in places that are reasonable to meet, rather than shooting for the top of the game right off the bat. If you're wanting to get into writing comics, your first major goal should be something like writing a complete script and NOT, say, getting to write for Marvel/DC lmao

As for the actual writing of comics, I highly recommend you read Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, it delves into both the history and technical aspects of writing, drafting, and pitching comics in a very easy to understand way (it's a comic about making comics!)

Here are some other helpful resources I was sent by a pal recently that might also help familiarize you with the process of getting into the actual industry as a comic writer!

I hope this gives you at least a good place to start from! Again, it's ultimately a very broad topic that will vary from person to person (esp when it comes to the differences between genres and target demographics, ex. someone writing an action comic isn't likely going to use the exact same processes as someone who writes romance), but I hope this at least helps you find some direction in it all so you can establish your goals and start making steps in the direction you want to go in.

Good luck!!! <3

[vii0so]

[BSD 121.5] Theory/Analysis

So much to think about, so much to say. Everything in this long post will be as farfetched as it gets, you have been warned, and as always: Spoilers ahead.

...

Well...I didn't even get to write most of the stuff I wanted because I was busy and have ran out of time, so this is just: Ame-no-Gozen's realm (barely) and dot points of what I wanted to talk about...enjoy.

Topics:

Ame-no-Gozen's Realm

My dot points

A few things from my draft post

A few things I would have loved to talk about

─────────────✧

Disclaimer:

I had to research a lot of different and technical topics for this post. I only researched enough for me to try and understand, I'm in no way an expert on maths or science, so expect inaccuracies.

Note: Even though I didn't get to talk much of what I researched, I really did research a ton (even more than for my assignments due recently) so I hope it'll still be relevant later.

─────────────✧

█▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒

Ame-no-Gozen's Realm

Well, let's start this post off with "The realm of Ame-no-Gozen". It's the first time we're seeing the area in its true form.

At first, I thought "oh cool, a time paradox" then I thought "but what type?". This led me to reading about time paradoxes trying to find one that matched the situation.

Illusory time "-time might itself be a sort of illusion." "-the block time view, in which time is just another dimension like space, with all events at all times being fixed within this four-dimensional "block"." Excerpt from: Wikipedia (Temporal paradox - Illusory time)

"Eternalism" (a philosophy of time) is sometimes referred to as "block time" and is described as a four-dimensional block where the past, present and future are equally real and exist simultaneously.

Sound familiar?

Yep, it's a match!

Now, "Orthogonally", what is that?

In art, the perspective (imaginary) lines pointing to the vanishing point are referred to as "orthogonal lines"

─────────────✧

I thought of writing about how this is a story and therefore everything is already set in stone - existing at the same time - in the same world

─────────────✧

My dot points

These were typed up straight after reading the chapter when it released. I really wish I could elaborate but I'm out of time (the new chapter is releasing in less than an hour).

Some are applicable after my research and some can be slightly altered. There's also more than these that I wanted to talk about and even had a draft post with more info but none had a concrete end to the sections so I'm only showing the one topic.

Dazai knows the past and future

The og dazai (mentioned in beast novel) is THAT Dazai (hallucination Dazai) not BSD Dazai

BEAST Dazai knew the future that would pass God Dazai (switched "hallucination" Dazai to "god" Dazai for me to keep track easier) knows all - Lain exists everywhere

Akutagawa cares awww

Atshushi still calls him Dazai even though he "found out" who he was. So it's Dazai huh...? i have to read previous chaps again

It IS the book but also NOT the book. It's Dazai but also NOT Dazai. It's a version of Dazai that is the book or at least PART of the book. So much to theorise and analyse

It really is referring the LNs! loosing friends SB, Atsushi breakdown B, Dazai knows all B. (B - Beast)

Dazai looks dead...everyone dies in the future or he knows everything and is just normal level Dazai broken

Let's go, Dazai book theory is possible!!! (in a way)

He wears ADA clothes, so is he future Dazai and this is some weird paradox or is it a different Dazai all together

Dazai getting Akutagawa and Atsushi makes sense if he knew the future also beast Dazai leaving them with the knowledge -

Akutagawa remembered sushi after seeing him "die". maybe it's rashoumon's response to the possible death of the tiger??? shock waking him up...idk

(bro i forgot he even forgot him)

sigma's "how did i know that" and sushi apparently being the one with the info lies! God!Dazai is providing them with the info! since they are connected with the book, his knowledge gets passed to them in a way...maybe... maybe

maybe god!dazai can't express himself well because he lost everyone or god!dazai has no emotions (not necessarily but as placement) as he is the book and he lived through the versions of himself. meaning all dazais are connected.

next chap - atsushi uses his claws to shatter the divine beings core

─────────────✧

Random stuff from my draft post:

Things in [ ] are stuff I've typed now as additional info. Anything else was typed I while ago and is copy and pasted from my draft post.

-✧-

So, Dazai is the book...

Yeah, yeah, I know this theory has been around for quite some time but back then we didn't have enough facts. Plus, I don't mean he is the book...more like a part of the book. It's brain? Consciousness?.

Anyway, this chapter finally sold me on it.

Now, as I mentioned in my last long post [BSD 121] we have to think of Atsushi as electricity, the book as a factory and Hallucination Dazai as a backup power generator:

Atsushi and his emotions - the electricity

"Hallucination" Dazai - the backup power generator

The "book" - the factory

[ Then I was going to talk about the example again and tweak it to fit the current situation. ]

More proof that Atsushi's feelings are what dictate the world:

[ Always love having more proof of this. It's obvious but the more we get told "yes this is how it works" the better. There can never be too much confirmation. ]

Dazai and "Dazai"

"Dazai" wears the same clothes as Dazai does in the Armed Detective Agency. This could mean many things but here are two options:

"Dazai" is Dazai from the future. OR

"Dazai"

[ "Dazai" in this case is hallucination Dazai. ]

[ This section was going to be huge...but now it's the smallest. ]

[The following was a random thought I had and wrote. I wasn't planning on elaborating on it. ]

I could be crazy and say that two negatives equal a positive and that Dazai trying to die is happening at the same time as another Dazai, therefore cancelling it out and having him live instead...but that wouldn't be realistic nor do I believe it.

[ In another post, I talked about how Atsushi was always in the present. I thought I could reference it again and elaborate with this new knowledge but never typed much other than the excerpt: ]

The bookmark would be the only way to progress in a story. The only thing telling you where the 'present' is. Time is divided in three: Past -> Present -> Future Q. Where is Atsushi? A. The present No matter wether he could time travel, or we read chapter 1 again, he will always be experiencing it 'currently'/in 'present time'. - Excerpt from my long post: [BSD 119] Theory/Analysis "The Bookmark" and Akutagawa.

─────────────✧ COMPLETED (not really)

Yep...that was all.

I loved chapter 121.5 a lot. I wanted to talk about so many things.

A few things I would have loved to talk about more:

Like how the memories beast Dazai mentions having are probably Hallucination Dazai's and not BSD Dazai's (or maybe both...or all AUs). So the "original" Dazai wouldn't be BSD Dazai but hallucination Dazai.

And the fact that Dazai claims he is part of Atsushi by saying "these are things you know" but in actuality it's probably not like that. and Sigma in an older chapter knowing something and questioning how he knew that (i need to find the chapter again but I'm sure it happened). It's Dazai's knowledge!

And the fact he can hear Atsushi's thoughts!!! Like I wanted to dive into this too but again...no time.

I really hope I won't be too busy this month so I can actually complete the post for the new chapter. (...I'm actually super busy but I'll try.)

[thebramblewood]

What advice would you give to a simmer just starting out writing stories with their sims? How do you build engagement with your posts? How do you write such addictive stories?

Wow! Okay. Buckle in because this will be a long one. I think the most important thing is writing for yourself first and foremost. Don't let your passion be driven solely by engagement (though it's impossible not to be motivated by it a little bit!) but by your own desire to see your project through. I've been a creative writer forever, and 75% of that writing has been written for an audience of one. But sometimes a character or concept will grab me by the throat and refuse to let go, and that's what keeps me invested. I unfortunately can't tell you how that happens. It usually feels like a happy accident. But when it does, it comes through, and readers will want in on it too. That being said, here are some tips for actual presentation:

Engaging visuals. I don't think Reshade or fancy editing is a requirement, but I can't pretend I didn't see a huge uptick in engagement when I started using it. Now, that may also be because I started thinking more about the composition of a shot. Diversify your angles and perspectives, and don't be afraid to zoom way in or out! Move that camera around as much as possible! I know very little about the technicalities of film and photography, but I think the more you practice, the better your eye becomes for what looks dynamic.

Legible captions. I'll be brutally honest: when I'm scrolling the dash, I'm less likely to stop for story posts if the text on the images is not immediately readable. I've by no means perfected this, but I've tweaked my own text over time to make it larger, and I find that very light colors with a black border is almost always the best option. I also try to visualize leaving space for the text to fit as I'm taking shots (though I sometimes forget).

Text-only transcript. My controversial opinion is that I don't like reading transcripts because it's easier for me to engage and follow along if I can see the images and words interacting. BUT I still think it's important to include them, so I always have one under the cut. If you'd rather not do captions on images at all, I personally find it more engaging for the text to be broken up throughout rather than in a big chunk at the end. This is especially helpful if you're writing more descriptive prose, as most people (including me) unfortunately have very short attention spans.

Adaptability! It's helpful to have an outline (whether it's in your head or written) of where you want to end up and how you're going to get there, but the most fulfilling part of writing for me is in giving myself license to follow new ideas or let old ones evolve, even if that means going a bit off-track. Also, it's tempting to establish a formula and lock yourself into an aesthetic from the start, but if you feel like something isn't working, don't be afraid to change it up! You'll be unhappy if you stick with it just for consistency's sake, and you'll rob yourself of opportunities to experiment and have fun. I think readers also appreciate a shake-up so that things never start to feel stale.

That's a lot, I know, but hopefully some of it helps. I've only been doing this here for a few months, and I'm also still figuring things out!

[mcclainwilla]

Writing Fight Scenes Part 7 - Basic Ground-fighting Terminology

So a lot of what you see in movies is (bedazzled, unrealistic) stand-up fighting/sparring that involves things like punches and kicks. But the reality is, most fights don't remain 'on their feet.' In this post, I'm going to talk about why most realistic fights go to the ground, the goals of ground-fighting, and some basic terminology

Before that, I should mention that I am going to be speaking from a grappling perspective. Grappling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are very similar martial arts, the main difference being the fact that bjj is usually performed while wearing a gi. I've always found this impractical, as many of the submissions (I'll explain this term in a minute) that rely on clothing are difficult to execute if a character's opponent is wearing civilian clothing

Importance of grappling

Above all else, a character who is good at fighting will know how to grapple because it is far easier to fall than it is to stand back up. A character loses their footing? Gets tackled/tripped? Catches a fist to the face? They're going to the ground. On the other hand, once a character is on the ground, their opponent might not be so kind as to allow them back to their feet. So, what do they do?

Goals of grappling

Returning to standing position

Like I just said, it's quite hard for a character to come back to their feet after they've hit the ground, but it can be done. A character would want to 1. Create space from their opponent, 2. Move quickly (to avoid giving their opponent the chance to stop them) and 3. Protect their head, especially if their opponent is still on their feet

Pummeling/TKO/Knockout

TKO, by the way, stands for 'technical knockout,' and describes an instance where an opponent is deemed unable to fight back even while conscious, usually due to an incessant beating. If two characters are grappling, one can maneuver into a favorable position (like sitting on the chest) and just beat the shit out of the other. This is great if you have a more brutish character because the most technical part is getting into a good position

Submission

These are a little trickier to describe, because there's a lot of them. The goal of a submission is to either force an opponent to submit (no shit, right?) or to forcibly stop a fight by knocking them unconscious/breaking something. The two main categories are chokes and breaks

Chokes:

Blood chokes - these aren't as scary as they sound. They target the veins/arteries on either side of the throat to stop the flow of blood to the brain. They take hold pretty quickly but typically don't hurt at all, unless you pass out I guess

Air chokes - these are illegal in the ufc, because you can easily do damage to the throat structures. As you might guess, your character is just squeezing the hell out of the actual column of an opponent's throat. Also, they take longer to set in. Only let your character perform an air choke if they're a massive cunt/out for blood

Breaks:

This is actually another umbrella term. In reality, there are actual breaks, and then dislocations, hyperextensions, cranks/bars, and some that fall into multiple categories

Breaks - you guessed it, your character breaks bone. The most common ones are wrist, arm, elbow and knee (these two also fall into the hyperextension category), leg and ankle breaks. I've broken too many of my own bones to enjoy writing OR reading these, so

Dislocations - again, pretty self-explanatory. Shoulder and knee dislocations take precedence. Gross

Hyperextensions - mostly elbows and knees. Disgusting

Cranks/bars - this is the one I think I need to explain the most. Cranks aim to fuck up muscles, tendons and ligaments by wrenching joints beyond their normal mobilities. I see the most shoulder and knee cranks. Whump writers, you'll love these because you can go slow, drag it out. That being said, if you make me read that, I will show up in your backyard

Basic Terminology

So I already got some terms out of the way, but grappling is a whole different world than stand-up fighting. Have y'all ever heard 'jiu jitsu is gay' jokes? They're right actually

Rolling - the actual act of grappling with someone, usually for practice. It is NOT out of the ordinary for a character who does martial arts to say to their buddy, 'hey, you wanna roll?'

Clinch - 'the clinch' is kind of an intermediary stage between stand-up fighting and grappling wherein a character and their opponent are still on their feet, but they're holding onto each other. It kinda looks like a dynamic hug tbh, but really, they're fighting for a more advantageous position, so that a given character can knock their opponent to the ground

Mount - one character is flat on their back while the other straddles their chest. Ideally, the character on top (dominant position) would either sit high on their opponent's chest/collarbones, or they would sit directly on the diaphragm and squeeze with their knees

Guard - one character is flat on their back with their legs crossed around the other character's torso, who has their knees slightly spread for balance. The character on the bottom has the advantage if they can trap and pull their opponent's face to their chest, and cross their ankles high on their opponent's back. Conversely, the character on top has the advantage if they can sit up as straight as possible

Half-guard - think scissoring, almost. One character on their back/side and one sitting/kneeling upright, each with one of the other's legs crossed between their own. Same rules for advantage as guard. I don't really like this position because I don't like having my legs tangled up, it's too easy for my opponent to try a knee bar

Side control - one character flat on their back (preferably with their knees bent upwards) and the other laying on them perpendicularly, face-down. The idea here is to be as heavy as possible, to stop the character on the bottom from moving. Female characters want to press using the weight of their hips, male characters want to press using the weight of their chest; to trap a female character, lay closer to the hips, and to trap a male character, lay on the chest.

Rear mount - actually not as terrible as it sounds! Both characters on their asses, one behind the other with their arms wrapped around the torso/the ankles hooked behind the knees. DO NOT let your character cross their ankles when they are the one behind, holding their opponent. It is an EXCELLENT way to end up with broken legs (don't worry abt why)

North-south - ...69. I hate this one too, it's way too easy to get my knee fucked with

I hope this was helpful, and if not helpful, at least amusing. I guess the idea of this post was to give you some key words to google, in case you want to do more in-depth research (i.e you want your character to perform a cool submission but have no idea where to start looking)

Unimportant but funny aside, my old instructors accidentally came up with a blood choke where you literally use your face to choke someone tf out. They call it The Hickey

[literaticat]

Hi Jennifer, could you go into more detail about why an agent would want a client to focus on one other direction? If they signed for YA, and now the client wants to transition to adult and PB and assuming the client writes pretty good books in both those new categories, why would an agent not want that? I guess I’m asking if there’s a career strategy reason for picking one new direction at a time or a “skills-based” reason.

Strategy would be decided on a case-by-case basis, as with SO MANY things here, it really depends on the specific situation.

As you note, in the original answer, I said perhaps they meant "pick one new direction at a time" -- not "you are never allowed to do all the things you want to do."

It might be one of these reasons, or a combo:

SKILL-BASED: YA/Adult are similar but different skill-sets, YA/Adult vs PB are VERY different skill-sets, not everyone who is great at writing one would be great at writing all three, at least not at first. And it's a lot easier to sell a truly SUPERB book than it is to sell a "pretty good" book. There are definitely some authors who are SUPERB at writing in multiple categories of books, and have the voice/skills/passion for all of them -- and if that is you, you might be able to accelerate this process! -- but most authors aren't naturally adept at it. For most people, it takes time and practice to GET good at things you haven't tried before. It sounds to me like the OP is fairly new and hadn't yet STARTED to "branch out" and write different things. . . sooooo. . . maybe try one and see how it goes?

FOCUS: Like, it wouldn't be a great idea to run a marathon and participate in a dance marathon at the same time. Yes, a person can technically do both of those things if they've got the stamina, etc -- if you are good at both, you can do one and then do the other one -- but it would be difficult to do them both well SIMULTANEOUSLY. If you are fairly new to writing YA and your end goal is to write in multiple categories -- maybe make sure you are great at the ONE thing and can manage the time it takes to edit and all that jazz, start building relationships with your publisher and audience, and when you are solid there, add another strand, get great at that, build etc, and when you are solid THERE, add a third strand, etc etc -- rather than adding them all at once.

BRAND: Similar to the scenario above, think about this from an audience/publisher perspective. Your first YA book is a hit -- the audience who loves it would like more YA books in the same vein, and your publisher would like more YA books in the same vein. You are building a YA brand. Now, there's no particular reason you can't add on other kinds of books too -- but it is a bit of a leap to imagine that the same publisher and audience will blithely follow you to wildly different places. Either you have to figure out a way to bridge that divide and make it easy for them to follow, OR, you have to basically start from scratch every time.

So how might this work: Let's say you write YA thrillers. You've got a few out, you have a loyal audience, but you are sick of writing them. So maybe instead of a YA thriller, your next book is a YA fantasy -- still for the YA audience, still gripping, but with magic! Alternatively, maybe your next book is an Adult or MG thriller -- still a thriller, just for a different audience! As you are already established with Publisher A, it will be easier to either get them to follow you to the new category or to get Publisher B on board for the new books, and you can still write YA thrillers for Publisher A as well. Either of those makes sense and would be very natural extensions of your brand. Now you have 1-2 novels coming out a year -- while you are writing one, you are editing another, and promoting a third. That's a lot to do! But you got this!

NOW, let's say you have a kid and you decide you want to write a PB for them. You've been through some drafts, it sucked, but now it's terrific, your agent thinks they can sell it. Great! It's probably going to be a new publisher, but that's fine, you are well-established at Publisher A and B, and your audience is solid, so it will be easier for Publisher C to get on board, and while the PB audience is very different, hey, maybe some of your YA/Adult fans are now grown enough to start to have families of their own and so there will be some name recognition, and how do you like that, now your brand includes PB.

Again, there's no reason you can't do everything you want to do, but it does make sense (to me, anyway!), especially when you are new, to be somewhat strategic about what the next thing is, how you are going to manage your time, grow your brand, how your audience and publisher will feel about it, etc. Once you have a loyal audience and loyal publishers and you are more firmly established, you will be able to do whatever you want.

[firmgripplz]

you seem like such a happy fulfilled person, have you ever felt depressed and unsatisfied with life? that's something i'm really struggling with atm and i'm taking steps to change things but it's an uphill battle

Hey there 🌸 First off, I'm really sorry to hear you're struggling at the moment. Sending you a comforting hot beverage and a blanket fresh out of the dryer 💜

So to answer your question briefly, yes I've absolutely had times where I've felt depressed and unsatisfied with life. I made it out of those periods and it was an uphill battle every time. It was also one of those things where the internal change was very gradual so I didn't notice it happening until one day I did. But for me it was also relieving and idk invigorating to know that I can go through really difficult times and make it through - it makes me feel better prepared for the ebb and flow of life.

--

Long answer: A lot of factors contributed to pulling me out of those periods, but some big ones for me were:

writing down one thing a day that made me feel present (this could be really difficult so sometimes it would be like "I drank a glass of water" or "I watched an episode of a show I like"). It helped give me some perspective (no matter how small) and take me out of thought spirals - even if for a moment.

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown helped me immensely in feeling not alone with what I was going through internally, and gave me helpful tools to navigate where I was at the time

When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön helped me to lean into difficult moments and then see what I could do from there - rather than try to distract myself and become avoidant, angry, and disconnected. This is something I have to actively and deliberately practice - and it is not easy.

^also being really mindful about how my thinking and thought patterns impact my world view and general mood. This book goes into some great examples about how to reframe things in your mind to make difficult situations easier to handle. and to be clear - it's not head-in-the-sand optimism either. it's very grounded in the reality of whatever you're experiencing but just..inviting you to have multiple thoughts about it and not just the distressing ones.

^ like, i literally have to mind hack (??) myself using the tools i learned in this book. it's honestly annoying sometimes lmao (cause I'll be like UGH i just want to be angry and only angry about this situation and not give space for anything else right now) but it also has worked over time for me which is wild. Like I both know what's going on behind the curtain and still experience the magic? Wild.

I would force myself to do things that I knew would help me feel better in the long run - and I'd try to break these things down into very small steps. For example: oh I know I'd feel better if I cleaned my room. Let me put away this pen that's not in the pen cup to start. Making it manageable/attainable was huge for me.

^ I think a big part of eventually being able to do things like this was not pressuring myself to do it all at once, meeting myself wherever I was at, and doing what I could with my capacity at the time (and this took time to learn too. I've gone months before feeling pretty unable to do anything because I had an all-or-nothing approach to "improving")

Nowadays I'll check in with myself and ask myself "How much can I give to today? or to this task? 80%? 40%? 65%?" and then I make it my focus to give my all to whatever to that percentage is. This has been a much more self-compassionate and sustainable approach to my old one which was "I have to push myself to give 100% no matter what and if I don't then I've 'failed'."

Yeah in general just..practicing giving myself a lot of grace and compassion (which again. while technically simple is not easy for me to do). sometimes i'll try to talk to myself like i'm one of my friends and it honestly works p well lol.

Going for a walk/getting out of the house has always worked for me. It's always helped me to get fresh air, have a change of scenery, and move around a bit.

--

ANYWAY. Yes, I've absolutely experienced this and I'm sending you a big hug (or friendly wave if hugs aren't your thing) as you journey your way through it. I know I'm a stranger - but as someone who knows all too well the schlep of getting through something like this - please believe me when I say I'm proud of you for the steps you've taken so far 🌸 I'm rooting for you, take care 💜

[magicaldragons]

writing.

things i've learned throughout the years

speaking from personal experience, writing, whether it's for a fic or an original work, is a process that comes to everyone very differently. which is also why it took me a WHILE to figure out what worked for me.

you've definitely heard this one before, but: 1. do not worry about making your first draft perfect. it will seem terrible, and that's ok.

it's the most common writing advice i've always heard as well, and i always understood what it meant, logically, but it was a piece of advice that was very hard to follow.

the second i gave myself permission to suck, though – the moment i said "i'm going to write trash," is when everything started flowing so much more easily.

it helps IMMENSELY to just push ahead and write whatever comes to you in the moment. do not start searching up synonyms. (yeah, i see you) and if you hate a word or phrase, put a *** next to it and come back later. chances are, you'll change your mind after seeing it from a new perspective, or be able to come up with something to replace it with.

it's always easier to edit than write from scratch, so give yourself material you can edit.

2. write for yourself. write what you love – what you would read.

it definitely draws people in more than any formula you think works or a piece you deliberately craft for a specific audience.

3. as long as your writing is comprehensible, grammar means little in front of the emotion your work conveys

i've read so many works that have left such a profound effect on me, solely because i could feel the amount of heart the author poured into it, it's always easy to look past minor mistakes, as long as what the writer says makes sense.

4. most importantly, when you're starting on that path of developing your writing skills, don't show your work to anybody. hear me out:

i've written about seven stories (for various fandoms) that will never see the light of day – not because i dislike them, but because i now realize, i had to write them for me.

and these stories (and the evident progress in my storytelling skils across all of them) are what give me the most confidence when i doubt my skills.

you can always share your works in the future, but the first couple of times you venture out with a vision in mind, make yourself your audience, it prevents you from diluting your ideas with expectations of other people's perceptions.

+ and finally, a bonus point:

a lot of the writing process, is just discovering yourself, in various ways

i always used to hear writers say:

"my characters did this on their own" or "the story just wrote itself like this"

and i never understood, because MY characters never did anything of their volition, in fact, they refused to do what i intended for them to and it would be a struggle to write a scene sometimes

and again recently i had that same problem, where i couldn't for the life of me, figure out how to describe a character performing a particular action. i waited for days for any sort of inspiration or logic to strike me, but it wasn't working.

i surprised even myself though, when i highlighted the whole section and deleted it.

but as soon as i let go of writing that one scene the way i'd planned it, a completely new option presented itself, and writing THAT scene was so much easier.

so no. my characters never tell me what to do, but they tell me what they don't want to do, and the realization that common experiences in writing will manifest differently in different people, really made me realize that writing is something you should follow your instincts in.

technicality-wise, you will always keep learning and improving. growth never stops.

so it's important to do what feels true to you, and do it in a way that makes YOU feel comfortable, whether that includes taking risks, being spontaneous, or starting small.

that's when some of the best things are created.

[practically-an-x-man]

IDK who to ask you this about... Um... free choice??

5, 6, 7, 13

also 16, 18, 20, and

21... is there anything you'd like to share about your characters, their experiences, Pride, etc?

Thank you!! I think I'm going to answer this for Jimmy, since you're familiar with him and I haven't answered any of these for him yet :D

Pride Themed OC Ask Game

5. How did you figure out your oc's identity?

It was a combination of two things: one, I got some queer vibes from Lars when I watched the movie; and two, making a character a ghost means there's all sorts of historical culture and perspective you can play with, and I figured that would be interesting.

6. How does your oc feel about labels? Theirs, or in general?

In general, he's getting better about it. There are a lot of labels that are new to him, even ones that wouldn't necessarily be foreign to a modern queer person, so he's still trying to learn what they all mean.

For himself, his labels are possibly a little old-fashioned (it took him a while just to switch to "gay" when the common term in his time was... not that) but again, he means well and is trying to get caught up to speed.

7. Is there something that could cause your oc to question their identity? What?

Not really. He's been reminded of his identity his whole life, and most of his afterlife, for better or worse. He's questioned if it would be easier to suppress that part of his identity for societal reasons, just to marry a woman and ignore those feelings, but he didn't question his identity itself.

13. Would your oc be open to a poly relationship? Why or why not?

He'd have to work through some socially-ingrained standards of monogamy, since he comes from a time that was very strict about marriage and family values, but I think individually he'd be open to it once he worked through it. He's a loving, affectionate guy just by nature, I could definitely see him in a poly relationship if it presented itself.

____

16. Did you ever change an oc's identity when they were already established? Why?

I answered this one before, but the short answer is: yes in drafting/brainstorming, not once I've started publishing/posting their stories.

18. Do you prefer to give your ocs specific labels, or keep it unspecified? Why? If applicable, do you change their labels depending on circumstance?

It depends on what the OCs' perspective on it would be, based on their particular social and historical experiences.

People like Jasper and Katherine are more likely to understand or use microlabels, since they're younger, in the modern age, and have access to the internet and queer communities.

Kestrel and Eris would understand the different labels but wouldn't use them, since they view their gender identities as innate or outside modern labels. Kestrel's identity is tied to them being a changeling, and Eris' perspective is influenced from centuries of witnessing human views on queerness.

Jimmy, or my less-spoken about OC Vivienne, wouldn't give themselves specific labels because those labels didn't necessarily exist in their time periods. Vivienne would technically be nonbinary, and her being a siren is a metaphor for that, but in her time period that term didn't exist the same way it does today.

Rae, Robin, Madison, and Nikoletta might understand some labels but not all of them, due to their time periods or social circumstances (ex. Rae and Robin being from the 80s, Madison from the 60s, Nikoletta having spent most of her life in prison/isolated)

Anyway. Very long answer just to say that it depends on the OC.

20. Have your ocs helped you in self discovery? How?

Oh, absolutely. I process a lot of things through my OCs, and I've definitely worked through my thoughts on my identity using some of my OCs. Writing as a whole is a good way for me to process things, my identity included.

21… is there anything you'd like to share about your characters, their experiences, Pride, etc?

I think one of the biggest themes in my writing is this idea of "I love you enough that I want to learn", where one character is introduced to a particular community through their S/O and may not understand it immediately, but cares so much about their partner that they make a genuine effort to learn and understand. Sometimes this is candidly queer, like Jasper and Kyle's relationship; other times it's through superpowers or other fantasy elements, like with Nikoletta and Abner (their powers also represent chronic illness) or Warren and Kestrel.

Usually it's a mix of multiple things too, like Billy adapting to both Quinn's being transgender and her disabilities. It's just a repeat theme for me, but in a good way.

I think it's because I tend to write what I want, and as someone who is both queer and has physical difficulties/disabilities, I really just want a partner who will be open to learning about my experiences even if they don't understand it from the beginning. I don't expect someone to "get it" right away, I just want someone to be willing to put in the effort.

[ohbo-ohno]

How do you write fanfiction without going ooc?

Personally I think you're the best cod writer, I'm considering writing some fan fiction but I'm scared the characters arent in character

"best cod writer"??? when i haven't posted in like a month?? oh babe we are getting MARRIED ilysm thank you <3

im actually like fucking terrible at giving advice (i am not a well spoken person lmao) but i can talk At you for a bit about this!!!

grasping a character's voice is actually like. deeply difficult, and it's maaaaybe the thing i struggle with most when writing (or at least one of the things lmao). especially bc literally every single writer has a different voice for every character, so you have to find what works best for your story and your style. your ghost shouldn't look/sound exactly like someone else's ghost, because he's yours, yk?

that also being said - things that are ooc to me aren't necessarily ooc to someone else. the ghost in my mind would never let you call him a cheesy pet name like "sisi", but that doesn't mean that someone else's ghost wouldn't, yk? and to them, they're in character! so you've kinda got to decide what you think being in character is, if that makes any sense

i read a looooot of fanfiction before i started writing my own cod stuff. i've only watched the full campaign once, but i've read what's probably dozens of fics lmao - my ghost and soap are an amalgamation of the things i enjoyed most in other people's fics. think about the things that you love the most in your favorite fics, and see if you can replicate that tone/vibe

i also think that getting a character's Voice is a lot more than just dialogue. i write in either second person or third person limited, but for the sake of this i'll talk a bit about third person limited

if i'm writing smth like i'll eat you whole, im technically writing from johnny's perspective, right? so i don't write his internal monologue in his accent, but i do use certain adjective he would - like instead of describing ghost as "broad" or "hulking", i said he's "a big motherfucker" bc that's how i think johnny would talk. this doesn't matter nearly as much with second person, but letting johnny's voice float into the internal monologue helps keep me in the right headspace for the fic. it's easier for me to maintain his voice if i never really let it go, yknow what i mean?

also i know this sounds sooo stupid but i think a big part of writing in character is literally just thinking "can i see them saying this? would a person like this do this?"

like. okay. ghost is a 6'4 special forces lieutenant who is willing to do literally anything if it means completing his mission. he's a big man with an even bigger reputation. can you see him begging for your forgiveness at the slightest argument? can you see him stuttering on a first date?

and soap is an incredibly accomplished sergeant who's set records in the military, he's a demolitions expert and a skilled sniper with a hell of a temper. can you see him giggling? can you see him crying when his girlfriend is mad at him?

sometimes making sure you're not writing ooc is as simple as "They Would Not Fucking Say That", and as unhelpful as it is, that's literally just based on vibes

is any of that coherent at all?? i genuinely don't know. hope i didn't make things worse! ily!

(also just as general writing advice - practice!!! don't post everything you write!! i cannot tell you how many things i've written will never see the light of day, but all my little failures in writing have given me a better grasp on the characters, yk? you have to do badly and recognize what's bad before you can be super happy with your writing. write something and then focus on exactly what feels off to you, and change only that. idk. maybe im spouting bullshit)

[irismfrost]

July 30 - Monkey Mountain, Art

This morning was a free day, so a few of us went to climb monkey mountain, which as the name suggests, had so many monkeys!! They were so cute and we saw a lot of mom- baby pairs. They were looking at me like they didn't want me to record them but I couldn't help myself. If I got too close, they definitely would have attacked me. The hike was definitely more of a challenge than we were expecting, and we were a little lost a couple times but were able to find our way with the maps and the nice people on the trail. At one point, these two ladies started leading us to the top and they took our picture. It was also super muddy and the hike up was honestly a hit dangerous - I felt like I was rock climbing. The walk down was much easier and had nicer steps instead of literal terrain. I'm so glad I ate breakfast and they even had a water fountain at the top which was awesome. It was definitely a tough experience but one that I'm glad I partook in. I am going to be so sore tomorrow, but it's all worth it for the gainzz💪.

Our first stop on our itinerary was the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. There was an interesting collection here. Not all of it was up my alley, but I appreciated the diverse perspectives. I thought the building was arguably cooler than the art.

Our last stop was the Alien Art Center. This center, built in 1967, used to be a military hostel and transit station for the National Army soldiers to Kinmen to the Matsu Front Line. It was abandoned after the Cold War ended in the 90s and was converted into a contemporary art museum in 2016. The theme of this museum was perspective. The artists here explored different ways to see the world through different shapes, color, mediums, and physical perspectives. I feel like I've actually seen some of Getulio Alviani's (main artists at this museum) art before, or at least art from that movement/time period. I like the different ways you can look at one piece. One piece looks like a circle and a square depending on how you look at it. Some pieces use light and shadow to enhance it. Most of his work looks different depending on where you're looking at it from. And the pieces with mirror elements force you to look at yourself, usually in pieces.

The hike took so much out of me and I am totally museumed-out. As I am writing this, I am laying down in the hotel bed. We may get pizza later today for dinner. I think most of us have hit the point in the trip where we are craving some American classics.

Reflection

The beauty of art is subjective as is the definition of it. Art museums are meant to widen the perspectives of their viewers by showcasing art that you may not otherwise see. However, in my opinion, there are a few qualifiers that make art great. Art that makes you think, art that evokes emotion, and art that has technical elements (contrast, line, shape, etc). I also think that understanding the context of the art adds meaning and importance to it. Maybe it represents something bigger than itself. Maybe its purpose is only visible when paired with the entire collection.

One thing I liked about the second museum was that there were so many descriptions and paragraphs you could read that provided context. In the first one, the art only had the name, medium, and date. They were handing out audio tours, so maybe I would've gotten the context I was looking for if I took advantage of that. But I should have the freedom to browse the pieces I find interesting instead of filtering through the same artworks in the same direction as everyone else. Art doesn't need to be viewed in a linear and complete manner - and audio guides usually direct you in a specific direction. You also usually have a choice to listen to specific pieces but then you have to wait for someone else to read to you. I would personally just rather learn about it at my own pace. However, I think audio guides make sense in certain contexts. For example, when we visited the Chiang Kai-shek Shilin Residence, it had an audio guide, but it's a small house and there's really only one way to go. It is history and tells a linear story, so it makes more sense to me.

[gorgugplushie]

(paceplace) / honestly ttcc writing is very messy i agree. i love the game to bits and dissecting it but the flaws in it are as enriching to pick apart as it is frustrating to discover. it really, truly does break my heart that toons aren't as appreciated as the cogs and i wish there were toon characters you could focus on in the same way the mgrs are. the NPCs you meet along the taskline are charming and i adore every single one of them but as much as i personally like them i don't think its enough to capture people's attention in the broad sense.

irt my qualms w/ how ttcc handles its game i think one of the many main issues boils down to the fact that they're disorganized. their issue w/ how lore has been distributed has been addressed twice by the team itself iirc (once in th same tweet where they confirmed fire\\setter as canon and once in their writers backstage post from around a yr ago). their writers backstage post helped give a little more perspective on why the lore was scattered around Like That.

as all over the place as the lore is, i do feel it's important to mention that they said in their backstage writers post they plan on eventually migrating all of their social media comics to the website so things like the rain\\diver comic is very likely to still be canon they just haven't added it in yet. idk why they don't add it around the same time its posted on social media my guess is maybe they're still trying to organize all the lore or redo some of it since its so all over the place (a couple of the comics we have rn on their website that are considered canon has info that was technically retconned) but yeah. i have hope that the way they handle their lore and (hopefully!) their taskline when they get around to rewriting it will improve in the later updates. i try very hard to stay on top w/ clash's lore esp since i have ppl come to me w/ questions regarding clash's story, characters, etc. but sometimes it is Very headache-inducing so i sympathize w/ how confusing/frustrating it is to a casual player. or just any lore-enjoyer tbf. i swear on my life i almost went crazy trying to make a timeline with btl

anyways you don't have to answer this if you don't want (i gen. apologize for the wall of text i really tried to get straight to the point w/ what i'm saying. and even then there's still a lot i wanted to say) but i'm really glad to see discussions on it. oftentimes criticism gets mistaken for hate and it shuts the entire convo which Peeves me. even if w/e's being criticized turns out to fall flat its better to address or talk about it than it is to not, imo.

Yes, exactly! I agree with all the points you've made here.

It's so strange to me that ttcc doesn't really lean into more how the cogs affect the toons, or toon society for all that matter, its a wonder people are so baised with cogs because we really dont get anything about toons. Their less part of the game and more set peices for this war, which sucks!

Theres obviously alot more room to write about toon lore and it would be easier to implement it in game, yet it gets brushed aside to further characterize the cogs and thats sad bc alot of the toons are cute and unique! Ttcc has great toon designs!

I also have to agree with the way the lore is handled, id even go as far to say big updates themsleves are handled in a frankly. Unprofessional manner. I mean, compare the update live streams done in jokey powerpoint slides to ttrs panles where they talk about progress on the updates. We really get little to no inside information until it's already ready to drop. Sure the game updates more regularly but all these updates are starting to feel like filler and padding. I at least can hope that hammerspace and mix and match at least come with some toon lore?

Its a shame that alot of what drew me into this game ends up weighing it down : (

Also yeah lol i didnt main tag this for a reason i do want to keep the discussion open! But all great points!