#and so some scenes are repeated. but they differ in dialogue and actions. because they are lived through the different people's povs

[asvidema]

just finished watching the last duel because i needed to try watching a medieval movie. i will say this. fuck

[s-soulwriter]

Things Real People Do in Dialogue (For Your Next Story)

Okay, let’s be real—dialogue can make or break a scene. You want your characters to sound natural, like actual humans talking, not robots reading a script. So, how do you write dialogue that feels real without it turning into a mess of awkward pauses and “ums”? Here’s a little cheat sheet of what real people actually do when they talk (and you can totally steal these for your next story):

1. People Interrupt Each Other All the Time In real conversations, nobody waits for the perfect moment to speak. We interrupt, cut each other off, and finish each other's sentences. Throw in some overlaps or interruptions in your dialogue to make it feel more dynamic and less like a rehearsed play.

2. They Don’t Always Say What They Mean Real people are masters of dodging. They’ll say one thing but mean something totally different (hello, passive-aggressive banter). Or they’ll just avoid the question entirely. Let your characters be vague, sarcastic, or just plain evasive sometimes—it makes their conversations feel more layered.

3. People Trail Off... We don’t always finish our sentences. Sometimes we just... stop talking because we assume the other person gets what we’re trying to say. Use that in your dialogue! Let a sentence trail off into nothing. It adds realism and shows the comfort (or awkwardness) between characters.

4. Repeating Words Is Normal In real life, people repeat words when they’re excited, nervous, or trying to make a point. It’s not a sign of bad writing—it’s how we talk. Let your characters get a little repetitive now and then. It adds a rhythm to their speech that feels more genuine.

5. Fillers Are Your Friends People say "um," "uh," "like," "you know," all the time. Not every character needs to sound polished or poetic. Sprinkle in some filler words where it makes sense, especially if the character is nervous or thinking on their feet.

6. Not Everyone Speaks in Complete Sentences Sometimes, people just throw out fragments instead of complete sentences, especially when emotions are high. Short, choppy dialogue can convey tension or excitement. Instead of saying “I really think we need to talk about this,” try “We need to talk. Now.”

7. Body Language Is Part of the Conversation Real people don’t just communicate with words; they use facial expressions, gestures, and body language. When your characters are talking, think about what they’re doing—are they fidgeting? Smiling? Crossing their arms? Those little actions can add a lot of subtext to the dialogue without needing extra words.

8. Awkward Silences Are Golden People don’t talk non-stop. Sometimes, they stop mid-conversation to think, or because things just got weird. Don’t be afraid to add a beat of awkward silence, a long pause, or a meaningful look between characters. It can say more than words.

9. People Talk Over Themselves When They're Nervous When we’re anxious, we tend to talk too fast, go back to rephrase what we just said, or add unnecessary details. If your character’s nervous, let them ramble a bit or correct themselves. It’s a great way to show their internal state through dialogue.

10. Inside Jokes and Shared History Real people have history. Sometimes they reference something that happened off-page, or they share an inside joke only they get. This makes your dialogue feel lived-in and shows that your characters have a life beyond the scene. Throw in a callback to something earlier, or a joke only two characters understand.

11. No One Explains Everything People leave stuff out. We assume the person we’re talking to knows what we’re talking about, so we skip over background details. Instead of having your character explain everything for the reader’s benefit, let some things go unsaid. It’ll feel more natural—and trust your reader to keep up!

12. Characters Have Different Voices Real people don’t all talk the same way. Your characters shouldn’t either! Pay attention to their unique quirks—does one character use slang? Does another speak more formally? Maybe someone’s always cutting people off while another is super polite. Give them different voices and patterns of speech so their dialogue feels authentic to them.

13. People Change the Subject In real life, conversations don’t always stay on track. People get sidetracked, jump to random topics, or avoid certain subjects altogether. If your characters are uncomfortable or trying to dodge a question, let them awkwardly change the subject or ramble to fill the space.

14. Reactions Aren’t Always Immediate People don’t always respond right away. They pause, they think, they hesitate. Sometimes they don’t know what to say, and that delay can speak volumes. Give your characters a moment to process before they respond—it’ll make the conversation feel more natural.

Important note: Please don’t use all of these tips in one dialogue at once.

[once-a-traya]

i've been thinking a lot about the way kingdom come: deliverance ii structures its romances. it's interesting, in the sense that they all feel bespoke - short fling or long term or in-between, there's no hard and fast system that applies to all characters. most games with romances stick to a rhythm: you have the initial flirtation options, then there's a companion quest (or multiple companion quests), then you are 'locked in', and finally you get a scene at the end.

anyway, spoilers under the cut.

the romance with katherine is the closest to that model. which makes sense! she's a traumatized person who needs to be convinced henry is reliable, and she also doesn't know him, so the flirting is apt. it stretches across the entire game, because trust-building takes time and action (sidequests), and much like the romance with hans, a lot of the 'romance' moments hinge on non-romance moments you have with her throughout the story. romance in this game is part of a continuum of human interactions; it's something you can lean into if you want, not a reward toggle.

rosa's romance lasts while rosa is plot-relevant, and is contingent on you flirting with her and giving her the feeling that she and her capabilities are respected. you have to spend time with her and back her up, basically. then there's the various flings, which are all context-dependent. and theresa, which is technically a full-blown romance even if she's only on-screen for five seconds, because henry makes it a romance by bringing her up and speaking of their time together - in that version of the story, she's often on his mind. (but, like the other romances, you have to actively bring her up in the epilogue yourself; the game doesn't hand you "here's your reward romance content")

which leaves us with some interesting implications re: hans and henry. there are, as far as i've been able to find, five heart-icon dialogue interactions between them in the game, one of which is The Big Scene. none of the four romance dialogue options before that are flirty. the flirting happens outside of that, in all the non-romance sections, in ways that can be brushed off as bros-being-bros if you're into that. in fact i'd say most of the development that makes the romance possible happens in the non-romance sections.

the romance choices just let you lean in a little further.

the first romance dialogue comes at the midway point; it's hans apologizing for being a dick and henry can then respond to say it's fine, hans can always rely on him no matter how he behaves, he's the closest friend henry has. the second comes at maleshov, right after henry has staged an elaborate rescue for hans, and it's about henry reassuring a panicking hans that he will always be there for him and they can handle any situation together. the third romance dialogue comes halfway through the italian job and is missable - it's henry telling hans he's missed spending time with him, and repeating that when hans tries to joke it off as a 'yes we should go wenching again soon' kind of deal. finally, the fourth is shortly afterward, with henry worried about hans's claustrophobia, and stating, 'I care about you. maybe more than you know.'

hans brushes all of these things off, it seems like, but then by the Big Scene it's obvious he's been thinking about them a lot. and then hans is the one who makes a move, not henry (though you have to pick the option to trigger it). notably, even if you end the romance scene early by leaving or fumbling the moment, hans makes it clear he thought henry had feelings for him.

so if the difference between non-romanced and romanced katherine is flirting + her feeling she can trust and rely on henry, and the difference between non-romanced and romanced rosa is flirting + her feeling respected by henry, what's the difference between non-romanced and romanced hans? well. it's henry being earnest about his feelings, and going out of his way to make it clear that he cares about and values hans above everything else.

and that, maybe, in this time of extreme trial, he's safe to make this move on.

the extended implication of that is that hans had romantic feelings for henry all along, of some sort or another. he just doesn't address them in a non-romanced path because he doesn't feel confident to abandon plausible deniability and leave the safe, charged ambiguity between him and henry. not outwardly. possibly also not inwardly.

anyway, it's interesting. it also means that the entire game is technically the hans/henry romance arc. and i think that's neat.

[aquilaofarkham]

Do you think Richter is going to kill Olrox? I almost don't want him to, but I think it would give Richter the closure he needs idk :/

oof so this has been sitting in my inbox for awhile just cause i've been figuring out a way to best formulate my thoughts on this topic but lemme try answering without sounding dismissive of other people's theories/interpretations (which i genuinely don't want to do)

short answer: no, he's not. at least that's not what i believe

long answer: so this isn't necessarily an issue specific to this fandom but rather fandoms on the whole, but castlevania fans tend to take certain moments and pieces of dialogue at their most literal meaning. which i mean i get it, i'm autistic so i often read into things very literally but guys pls sypha wasn't ACTUALLY calling alucard a real flesh and blood teenager (that's just one common example i can think of)

getting back to richter and olrox though, i think richter repeating word for word what was said to him after julia's death was an intentional decision on the writer's part. because even though olrox said he would kill richter "one day" once they finally reunite when richter's a young adult, olrox is never outwardly hostile or antagonistic towards him. during that scene in the church dungeons, he almost greets richter like an old friend who he hasn't seen in a long time and carefully reaches his hand out instead of attacking him (a moment which i STILL need an explanation for. it could be that olrox is at peace with the consequences of his actions but at the same time. writers i'm in your walls right now)

even after richter runs away, the two are still somewhat in the same vicinity as each other but again, olrox never makes the conscious decision to go after richter. mainly because he's obviously busy with other matters but when drolta asks him about richter, he just smiles and refers to him as "the son of an old foe". not his foe, just the son of one who he already bested

the only time i can remember when olrox actually snapped back at richter was when he wasn't listening and even then olrox doesn't want to kill him because (again) there are things more important currently happening than their rivalry

(just a side note but olrox also doesn't try to attack juste even when they're in the same area. probably because mizrak is there and would absolutely try to stop him but personally i think olrox is just done with belmonts now. like there's no point adding another hunter from the same family to his ledger now that the object of his *very justified* revenge is long gone)

i think some—obviously not all but SOME—fans tend to narrow their focus on richter saying "i will kill you olrox. one day" without taking into account the "but not today" addition. and i don't think richter would be smiling like this if he was really planning on killing olrox

to me this was richter's way of telling olrox "i never forgot what you did to me. but i recognize that you saved my life when you could have easily ended it. i don't forgive you and you probably don't forgive me either. that makes us even". or as @ifishouldvanish put it (i think it was them so correct me if i'm wrong!!) that scene was richter saying "nine years ago you made the decision to walk away and i've been afraid of you ever since. now i'm no longer afraid and i'm making the decision to walk away"

which honestly? i think thats infinitely more narratively fulfilling and a more interesting way of giving richter closure than having him repeat the cycle of revenge. because olrox is already repeating a different cycle of his own with mizrak

but anyway, nah i don't think richter is going to eventually kill olrox nor do i think he SHOULD. but my word isn't gospel and this is probably just a case of this evergreen post:

[editthat]

Editing (Fan)fiction Like a Pro

Yes, most of us write fanfiction for ourselves, in our free time, and as a way to release stress. This means that, more often than not, we do not have the will or energy to spend hours editing our latest one-shot or the newest chapter for that longfic we updated...uh...has it already been five months??

While I wholeheartedly agree that we shouldn't strive to be perfect in the things we do for pleasure (and what counts as perfection in a highly subjective field such as literature?), you don't need to spend tens of hours on your World, Doc, or Scrivener file to apply some crucial edits.

Even a quick second read-through can be enough to spot those little mistakes and inconsistencies that don't let your writing shine as it deserves. And yes, beta readers are a wonderful thing to have as a fanfic (and pro) writer, but not all of us have access to one (or we may be too shy to individually share our stories with people we know).

So, how should we go about this and what can we spot in a 15/20-minute reread?

Any good revision begins with a fresh, impartial eye, meaning: WAIT. Even an hour or two will do. Do not start editing immediately after writing. I know you really want to post your story or start the next section, but trust me, your brain is so synced with what you just wrote that it can recite it like a top-notch Shakespearean actor. Take a break from it, go run some errands, go to the gym, read a book, or even edit a completely different piece. Then, come back to it and wait for the "Oh my, what on Earth was I thinking?" eureka moment to come.

Punctuation matters. It may seem like it doesn't in the grand scheme of things, but it does. Why? Because when we read, even unconsciously, we fall into the flow of the text. As readers, we follow the words to guide us into the scenes they depict, and a misplaced comma or semicolon can disrupt that flow and make us do a double take. It makes the story feel clunky and hard to read, potentially causing readers to DNF. Once the flow is gone, it can be hard to get back into it.

Spelling matters, too. Similar to the point above, spelling mistakes can be harmful to readers' enjoyment of the story. One here and there is not a huge issue, but if you consistently misspell words, the text will feel clunky and hard to get through, especially for non-native speakers. I'd recommend the Merriam-Webster (for US English) or the Cambridge (UK English) dictionaries, they are free, easy to search, and have great thesauruses and writing tips.

Dialogue tags. "He said," "she shouted," "they laughed," etc. They're great until they aren't. While they are good at emphasizing who is speaking, they can become overwhelming for readers if overused. They also risk making the text repetitive and flat. I'll tackle ways to adapt these tags in a later post, but for now, if you think you have too many speech tags in your story, try to highlight which character is talking with their actions and behaviors. Make it clear enough so readers know without the need to have it spelled out for them.

Repeated words VS synonyms fest. As mentioned in the point above, word repetition can make your story feel flat. What do I mean by that? That readers feel as if they are reading a legal document or a tax return where only specific terms can be used. Fiction is magnificent because there are literally billions of words at your disposal across so many languages! If you're brave enough, you can even pull a Tolkien and make up your own (an excellent tool for immersion, especially in fantasy and sci-fi). So, if you spot the same word or character name being used multiple times within 10/15 lines, get rid of it. Either find a suitable synonym or rephrase the sentence so it doesn't include that term anymore. Just be careful not to swing too far to the other end and turn your story into a glorified thesaurus.

These are 5 quick proofreading and editing tips that do not take too long but can elevate your writing to match your amazing ideas!

What do you think? Are you already doing any or all of these? Do you have issues with any of them? I'd love to know your thoughts!

[qoldenskies]

Do you have any writing tips? Especially for characterization/dialogue :>

uhhhh i am not a professional so take this with a grain of salt. here are things i think about a lot at least

i dont have any solid ideas on how i get my prose to be Like That, i am not super confident in it, but a thing ive tried to focus on it rhythm. this goes for dialogue too; if it sounds clunky in your mouth, unless its supposed to, it might be a sign to change it up and rephrase a little.

really long paragraphs are really, really, really really hard to read. fics that consistently have paragraphs that go beyond like 6 lines are borderline unreadable to me. i stick it out sometimes but a lot of the time the sight of a fat fucking Block will just make me click out immediately

its also always good to be punchy imo. i mean it depends on what style you're going for but i notice some of the best lines from my writing are just simple, single sentence-paragraph statements lmao

false starts and filler words are what i notice the most when it comes to stuttering, which is a thing pretty much everyone does unless they're speaking very intentionally (i keep it in mind for characters who are motormouths especially because our brains move faster than our mouths do sometimes). especially when people are stressed, they'll usually start with a sentence fragment and then say something completely different because they just found a better way to rephrase it <- its probably the thing i utilize the most. in general though people repeat words more than they t-t-talk l-like t-t-this, and even when i write more dirrect stuttering dialogue i try to make it. idk consonants i guess? sorry idk if this is helpful

i script a lot of my scenes before i write them out, which usually helps me keep things well-paced. i really only include action in the scripts when its in the midst of an action scene or if its relevant to the conversation in some way (or if i just have an idea and want to keep it in mind)

TAKE NOTES WHEN YOU GET IDEAS

save all your cool ideas for your active in progress story instead of storing them away for later. got a line of dialogue or an interaction that you want to put SOMEWHERE? see if you can fit it into your multichapter first, it might help you with ideas. more will come to you in the future with your later projects!!!

you dont need to plan everything out meticulously, most parallels in cw came to me in the midst of me writing them. the motif with raph and donnie and doors was a complete accident, as a good example. it fucks hard though lmao

also when plotting out multichapters i think in what i want to progress before anything else, so there's a sense of direction. with cw it was mostly what parts of cl i wanted to address, although i originally planned to make note of shelldon in like chapter fucking three and then it didnt happen until seventeen LMFAOOOOOOOO

okay thats all i got. im not a good advice giver .... im sowwy

[queer-whatchamacallit]

So I watched all of season 3 already (SPOILERS)

Of course I loved it; how could I not?

Because I watched seasons 1 and 2 together though, I think the difference between 3 and the previous ones feels more pronounced to me, but it feels like it’s on a different path, and I think I like it.

After the first couple episodes, I noticed that it’s either presented as a montage or a long dialogue scene, and for those dialogue scenes, characters don’t multitask anymore. They never have anything to do with their hands, and they just talk to each other in spaces they don’t interact with.

And they’ve done this to a lesser extent before, but they repeat things in the dialogue a little too much. Nonnegotiables and c-folds were barely words to me anymore

Now, with the critiques out of the way, the writing is so good it hurts

But my god are those dialogue scenes great sometimes. When Richie and Carmy are bitching at each other, it still manages to feel incredibly tense and nerve-wracking with no other action and no music behind it. The conversations between Donna and Nat fucking killed me. There’s so much shit there, but there’s so much love too. Tina and Mikey’s conversation is so good omg. There’s already so much chemistry and just caring there. And my god, Carm’s conversation with NYChef/David Fields. There is no sympathy there. Carmy hurt so so much, and Chef doesn’t even remember his name. He does not care. Fucking hell dude.

And oh my god, I’m going to be thinking about the montage in episode 1 for forever. I’ve written a lot of fanfic for The Bear, so I sometimes think about it in this overly poetic way, but there was love here. There was a love for creating something. Maybe it used to be more technically difficult, but for a thousand different reasons, Carmy cooking in the modern day is so so much harder.

The way everyone slowly starts to buckle under the stress of the kitchen is devastating. Carmy panics during service, vision going blurry. Richie forgets a birthday. Syd couldn’t imagine having the energy for another project, but this one is destroying her so badly that she’s been heavily considering taking the out and jumping ship to Ever. Everyone seems so worn down, and it’s so rough to watch sometimes.

And the way they show new relationships of the cast this season was PHENOMENAL. Syd and Pete talking about food and the agreement thing? Absolutely adorable. And the Ever funeral was fucking genius. I cannot tell you how much I have wanted Syd and Luca to meet, and Carm seeing NYChef/David Fields again is a nightmare come true.

Anyway, there’s probably so much more I’d love to say, but I’m just going to let it rotate in the mental microwave some more.

[thetypedwriter]

Children of Anguish and Anarchy Book Review

Children of Anguish and Anarchy Book Review by Tomi Adeyemi

This book was so horrible. 

No one is more disappointed than me to say that. 

I’ve gone to two of Tomi Adeyemi’s book signings, including a recent one for Children of Anguish and Anarchy.

Tomi Adeyemi herself is absolutely wonderful. She’s so intelligent, hilarious, addictively charming, and can work a room like no other. The book signing was fantastic. Too bad the book couldn’t hold up to the event itself. 

Children of Anguish and Anarchy follows as the third and last installment of the Legacy of Orisha trilogy, but doesn’t read like that at all.

Other than having the same four main characters of Tzain, Zelie, Amari, and Inan, nothing about the book concludes any issue, plot story, or character development from the previous two novels. 

A completely new villain is introduced, someone we haven't heard about as a reader in the last two books whatsoever, and obliterates any of the conflict and tension that Adeyemi worked so hard to build in her previous stories. 

Gone is the tension and literally hundreds of years of in-fighting between the Maji and the monarchy, gone is the civil war and its repercussions on Orisha, gone is even one of the main characters from the last novel, Roen, who was a significant love interest for Zelie and who has been completely disappeared in this new book all together (like, what???). 

It was incredibly lazy writing to wipe away everything the first two books created in order to “unite” against this new enemy. The sentiment is nice, but it’s not the finale we wanted or needed. 

I desired answers to Amari and Zelie’s broken friendship, closure to the Inan and Roen love triangle, a verdict on how Orisha would rebuild and who would rule. 

We get none of that. 

Instead Zelie and the others spend half their time in the book on a ship with very strong slavery parallels, and the other half in the introduced land of New Gaia.

While I thought the descriptions of New Gaia were beautiful (albeit very similar to Avatar), I was dissatisfied because the whole series at this point has been focused on Orisha and Orisha’s problems, not New Gaia and not the Skulls. 

While the plot was bad and aggrieving, the characters were even worse. 

None of the characters were interesting. They were carbon copies of each other in which all they talked about was avenging their fallen Orishan people, killing the Skulls, and protecting loved ones.

Rinse and repeat. It was boring as hell to delve into four different characters’ minds only to find that they all sounded exactly the same. 

I often had to go back to the start of the chapter to tell whose internal thoughts I was reading because they were so interchangeable and self-righteous and dull.  It is never a good sign when you can’t automatically tell who’s POV you’re reading based on their internal dialogue and tone. 

Lastly, the pacing of the book was atrocious. Everything happened so goddamn fast that I felt like I never had the chance to properly digest or internalize anything.

Oh they’re on a ship? Moving on from that. Zelie got some sort of medallion shoved into her chest?? Moving on. Wait, Maji and Titans and the monarchy are all working together after two full books of them killing each other??? Five pages and it’s done with. 

It was outrageous and insulting. 

The pacing made everything feel shallow, unimportant, and unnecessary. More than most of the plot were action scenes, while difficult to write and interesting in their own right, in this book it was so repetitive that characters killing other characters 90% of the time became egregiously tedious. 

And speaking of the action, I also found it incredibly violent and graphic for a YA book. As someone who is not a fan of gore and blood, this book had so many explicit details for no reason other than being gratuitous.

For example, at one point Zelie shoves a chicken bone through someone’s cheek. I found it repulsive and it was also incessant. 

I know some people can handle brutality, but I can’t, and found it a huge turn off and made me dislike the book so much more, especially as this was a majority of the book to boot. 

Disappointment can’t even contain my full feelings for this story. For such a wonderful trilogy to succumb to such a terrible end is a tragedy. I wish the best for Tomi Adeyemi and success for her future, but I will not read another book by her again. 

Score: 2/10

Recommendation: Read Children of Blood and Bone, a magical story that will inspire and entertain you. Read Children of Virtue and Vengeance if you really need something else, but even this book I wouldn’t recommend picking up.

Do not, I repeat, do not read Children of Anguish and Anarchy. It will leave you feeling dismayed and disheartened beyond redemption.

Bonus: Here's me, my fiance, and Tomi Adeyemi at her book signing!

[thesoulforgeorder]

Very interesting new chapter! I'm really intrigued by the trial part. I have decided from the start to try the blue crystal out, though I picked the "refuse" option when it came to take it or not since it seemed waaay too shady. But out of curiosity, I tried the other options too, and it was interesting to see not only the vision offered when touching each crystal is different, but also the vision when refusing them. Based on the murals and the second set of visions, I sort of assume each crystal is a trial set by one god, and that rejecting the temptation is actually succeeding? At least that's my thought. Taking any crystal must be what the dark non-identifiable beast wants on the other hand, and probably leads to a different path altogether later on. Though I also assume rejecting or picking any crystal doesn't influence the Soulforge trial itself since that's only about getting out on the other side.

That aside, I had a few issues, especially with the Nico and Astrid convo. If talking to Nico THEN Astrid when exploring the camp. Nico went away to shower after my MC finished talking with him, but then he's standing there when going to talk with Astrid, and goes back to his workout once he's sure everything is fine (even though he was finished). Not to mention, he's still there when asking Astrid questions afterwards.

This last screenshot from the set is not necessarily wrong, though I feel like it's too soon for him to have come back from a shower (and the fact it's a sweat towel leads me to believe it's not the one he used for the shower itself)

And during the trial, if hovering a hand over all of the crystals, the fact the same dialogue appears after every one of them is strange, especially with a voice telling MC to touch it and so on. I feel like it shouldn't happen every single time, or it should have variants. To a lesser degree, it's an issue present in all instances where the MC can explore various topics with a person or experiment with various things in a situation. The same dialogue / action repeats itself after every option we pick.

These are not big issues per se, but still impact the flow of the story, so I prefer to report them. I still enjoyed the chapter a lot anyway!

Nico has me melting from his cuteness, I just can't get over it. I like both twins though.

Oh by the way, while I pick the familial love for my MC's relationship with Spencer, if I were to pick that Spencer has romatic feelings, does that mean the MC feels the same towards them, or is that only about Spencer's feelings per se?

Evening Konoi! Thank you for the feedback, I really appreciate it. The Nico section is definitely a bug. I need to fix it and have it recognise the order you chose the conversation. I know Astrid's seems to be working, I just need to figure out Nico's now lol.

It will take me a bit to get it working as intended because you also helped me realise I had an oversight for some of the sections as well so gotta do some writing to fix that! Good catch.

You have joined the club of the super smart and insightful people. The crystals do play a bigger role and you are very close to the truth!

As for the repeated scenes for when you asking questions, that is the transition passage. I have that instead of sending the player back to the same page and treating it as them waiting to still ask a question. I'll try refine how I do it in the future!

I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and appreciate Nico's tsundere vibes. He is a lot of fun to write. In part two you will get to have time with Mina, Ara and Will one on one as well so hopefully you will like them too!

As for Spencer, picking romantic feelings will only dictate what Spencer feels unless you played the "Did not Leave with Spencer path" then you could have chosen to kiss them and share those feelings as well.

However, I am letting the players decide whether they have romantic feelings for Spencer or not in the future. For those who already kissed them, they will just have the added choice of whether the feelings faded or still remain. It has been four years after all!

Thank you for the ask and hope you are having a great day

[beryllineart]

How2Draw Comics: Story

Last time we learned about conceptualizing our characters, settings, art style, etc. Now we actually have to put our characters in a situation, drive them from point A to point B through a story.

There are many different ways to do this. I'm assuming you have, if not an outlined story, a situation you want your character to experience. If you don't have a story, make your character order pizza but something happens and they have to rescue the pizza (and the delivery guy, I guess.) The first method I'll discuss is my least favorite- the Script Method.

You write a script for your story, listing pages and panels as you go along. I hate this. It feels too limiting, and panels are actually one of the most limiting and intimidating things to a beginner comic artist. Yet most tutorials encourage you to draw your panels first and then squish or stretch your drawings to fit, and that's what the Script Method is based off of. I draw my panels while I do my drawings, or even after I do them.

If pacing your comics is one of the most difficult things for you (what size do I make my panels? Is there too much dialogue on this page?) then I suggest the Storytelling Method.

You do not have to make a full short story or book. Usually I just say something like, "boy is making cake. girl walks up behind him and hugs him, kissing his floury cheek. she walks away, licking her finger. she has stolen some cake batter and he didn't notice." In my head I can see a more detailed story there, but you can tell a story without a bunch of flowery prose.

You may be wondering how this helps with pacing your comics. Well, I have actions associated with dialogue, meaning I know which drawings will have which dialogue, automatically creating a nice balance. Additionally, I know what to prioritize. I know that the panel introducing the manor will be large, because I used the words "large and imposing" to describe it. I know that when I set the ballroom scene in this story, I also need to set the scene in an establishing shot. And I know that I'm going to have Bernice's appearance on the food table be surprising, taking place after she tugs his shirt or something. (This will probably make more sense once I actually make the comic)

The final method is a very flexible one for those who aren't into words and just want to draw- the Children's Book Method.

This particular example is mind-mapping, but you can also do a more organized version by storyboarding (placing each drawing in a square and giving a short description for context). I call these collectively the Children's Book Method because the basic idea is that you don't repeat your drawings like you would in a comic. Instead, you draw those things that feel the most interesting and most dynamic, the things that are most important. (like keyframes in an animation) Children's books illustrate one scene at a time, providing context for many different moments in one picture (and some text). They are less sequential than a comic because they only have one picture per page.

I usually have a mix of the storytelling method and the storyboarding end of children's book method. And usually I tell myself a story only in my head, without writing it out, because that's all I need. And I'll admit, sometimes the stories play out in my head like a movie, which is probably why the script method works for people. Sometimes you don't know which is the most effective way to tell yourself a story until you try to draw the comic and see what is giving you the most trouble.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! I know I'm kind of rambly and don't make much sense, so if you need clarification or other tips, I'll do my best to help.

Next is Panels and Pacing: Drawing the Comic (which will probably happen in multiple posts, but this art block will make it nigh impossible for a while, why doesn't it just go away?)

[riacte]

Some thoughts about writing dialogue (coming from someone who basically transcribed the Blue9 MCC stream for fic purposes):

Real life dialogue is messy. People make mistakes, voices overlap, it gets unintelligible, people repeat themselves instinctively (even if they get their point across the first time)

And this is about Blue9 - four streamers (people who talk as a living) with effective communication / chemistry. It's still messy at times because that's simply how people communicate, especially in fast paced / stressful scenarios

Which makes it a bit tricky to translate to text, because if you repeat dialogue too much, it looks tacky even though it sounds perfectly normal.

Juggling between character voices in tense moments is also annoying because in audio form, you instinctively know who's speaking. But in text form, you have to add indicators so you just can't have paragraphs of dialogue (unlike speaking scenes between two characters)

^ although that could work if your characters have distinctive speaking styles (or mentioning characters by the name in the dialogue), but that also relies on the readers' knowledge of their speaking styles

^ even worse when it's a group and the voices are overlapping. The more characters you have to juggle in a scene, the more it feels like "[Character A] said" then "[Character B] said" and on it goes. It's already difficult to transcribe when it's a group of 5/6 and they're all talking.

At least there's one set of she/her pronouns in the Blue9 team. Actually this is partially why I like writing about men and women - it's easier to juggle pronouns (my skill issue lol)

I tried to keep it as close to canon as possible, but sometimes you have to edit down and add bits of exposition for clarity's sake. Like if you watch the stream, it makes sense. The repetition and messiness adds to the experience, honestly, But if you read the transcript, it doesn't work the best.

Tone is such a big thing. It comes instinctively in audio format, but it really is difficult to describe it in text sometimes, especially when it's a tense moment and you have to keep pushing forward instead of spending words to describe tone.

The good thing about writing about streamers is that if you use the right cues, readers can pick it up and picture that specific tone in their head. The bad thing is that this depends on the readers' knowledge and how good you are at describing. (The bad bad thing about this personally is that my OCs have weak character voices because I don't have canon basis.)

^ Bits of informality like stretching syllables and italics help. Like "oooh" is fundamentally different from "oh" and that is different from "ohhhh". And sometimes irl people do stretch syllables or pronounce them differently for humorous effect, but it can look unprofessional on text. (Like Scar's "a-maize-ing".) <- actually this can create distinctive character speaking styles and it's a cue to let readers immediately know who's speaking

Back to the action thing. These streamers are playing in a vc and they all hear each other, but realistically in action scenes, characters are gonna be in different places. There's volume to care about and voices getting lost in the chaos. But when writing, your focus is to push the story forward sooo realism is definitely not the priority

... Yeah. I'm giving my characters high quality communicators. And excellent hearing.

Dialogue in text is... intentional? You can see it in people snarking movies for having unrealistic dialogue. Its purpose is to convey something clearly. Dialogue in everyday life can contain a lot of blunders but that doesn't translate well in storytelling because we expect to learn something from dialogue. That's why it's there.

Transcribing videos and turning them into text based stories is an interesting exercise (and one that I keep on doing lol). It makes you more aware of the gap between irl and written dialogue and why there's a gap.

Godspeed to people who write dialogue between a group during an action scene. We all praise comms in MCC but it does give me a headache to write hahahaha.

[tryslora]

Hi

Do you have any advice on dialogue and how to make it flow?

I'm constantly stuck with "he said as he looked away"

"He smirked and replied"

It never feels flowy

I don't write fics I mostly write OC stuff so I have to build around my characters to really put them together.

It's just having my quiet and stoic character respond to the hyperactive pyromaniac is hard because one doesn't speak much and the other speaks too much.

Or when my other two characters are in the conversation it gets all messy and hard to keep up with who is talking and what they're doing.

Maybe I'm just blind to my own writing and don't see everything I want to see, yknow?

Hullo, Nonnie.

I’m so sorry for taking so long to reply to this question! Life has been… a particular form of chaos for the last couple of months, and I’m trying to wrangle all my tasks under control now. Which includes keeping up with responses and blogging!

ANYWAY. You’ve asked a really great question, and I’ll admit, I might struggle to answer it.

I’m one of those folks for whom the personalities come first—complete with dialogue patterns and habits—before I get descriptions, setting, plot, or oh… anything else… so breaking down how to best make your dialogue snappy and flow means taking a step back from what I do and looking at how I do it.

This is going to be a mix of advice from how I do things, and advice I’ve adopted and found useful from other writers.

First and foremost: there are two parts to creating natural, flowing dialogue. One is the dialogue itself—the words the characters choose, and how they come out—and the other is the description around it (such as the dialogue tags you reference in your examples). They have different focuses, but both are important to how the text flows.

I’m going to drop a caveat here first, because it’s my downfall: we, as humans (and uh, especially those of us with ADHD, *cough cough me*), have a tendency to repeat ourselves. We also um, ah, like, y’know, a lot. Some of this is fantastic in dialogue. Too much can change flow into drag. So. With everything else I say, please take that into account as well. When I’m editing, I have been learning to trim out the spaces where I am saying or doing the same thing multiple times in a few paragraphs. BUT. That’s the important part—it can ALL be fixed in edits!

Let’s talk words first. You say you have quiet and stoic character matched up with a hyperactive chatterbox (a dynamic I enjoy). And you’re right, this can be tough when the stoic character is like “grunt” or “mm” or “yeah” and there’s nothing else coming out. BUT. This is true to the character and gives great insight—in this case, the character’s actual dialogue is going to come from their actions. So, we’ll get to that.

The thing with the stoic character is that every word needs to mean something. Every word they say is going to be solid and important because they say so little. It might even be overloaded. I’ll admit, with this kind of character, I love writing from their POV because I can put the few words out into the open, but let them ramble inside their own head (which yes, can sometimes be like pulling teeth). I get that flow out of their thoughts more than what they say. The freebie story I drafted for my newsletter subscribers is an outtake missing scene from my next book written from the point of view of my (more) stoic character in the book, because I wanted to play with that myself.

For the chatterbox, I’m curious—do they talk so much in order to hide what they’re really feeling? I know most of my talkative characters are spilling everything in order to hide in plain sight. After all, if you’ve left every card on the table, no one can claim you’re hiding something. Even if you are leaving that one important thing out (keeping a last ace up your sleeve), no one will notice in the glut of other information.

One way to handle this is to have the stoic character really listen and pay attention to what’s underneath all the chatter. Let them respond to the one thing that really means something in the flow of words, which might stop your chatterbox in their tracks. Being seen/heard can be a shock for the kind of character who lets it all hang out.

Let’s get back to those dialogue tags and talk about actions. Every character (every person!) has body language that does a lot of the talking for them. If someone’s arms are crossed, they might be resistant to and idea, or they might be cold, or they might be trying to hold themself still. One of the things I’ve done is to roleplay my character through a scene—move like they move, fall into why they say what they say, and what they do when they are not saying something to hold back. What actions do they take, and how can I put that on the page? Not just movement, but also what do they smell/see, what’s going on inside their head, and all the why involved.

And here’s the thing: sometimes “He says” is a valid way to do it. It’s okay. Let the dialogue do its thing and don’t worry. Remember, you can add blocking later, if you need it. 

Here, quick example from one of my serialized pieces:

“I don’t feel like I can talk to Hannah.” Nevaeh scrunches up her nose. “God, no, I don’t mean that I want to be involved with her. Just. She was so weird about Stevie, and I think she might get even weirder if I asked Liz out. And I don’t know if Liz is even ready to do dating things. Or if she’s into girls! We’ve never talked about it. Why is it all so weird and complicated?” That’s one thing Pawel can answer. “Because humans are gloriously complicated beings, and we have a tendency to take even things that could be simple and overcomplicate them by worrying at them. Anxiety, intelligence, fear… they all make things feel big. And these questions are both very big and very small all at once.” “Because labels are helpful, but not necessary,” Nevaeh says. “Because they make it easier and harder all at once.” “Yes.” He’s not sure if she really gets it, so he adds, “Follow your heart.” “Is that what you do?” No, it’s not. Pawel has too many things to weigh before he can make any decisions. His career. The kids in his care. His own son. There are so many variables in his life, and he hasn’t had any chance to just leap after emotional responses. Not since Conor was conceived. Not since Chelsea first disappeared. “When I can.” He glances sideways at her, away from where Alanna and Jennie have finally stopped their game and are on the swings. “I’m glad you feel comfortable talking to me.”

This is a chatterbox teen talking to the guy her two dads are trying to bring into their relationship. And Pawel is a chatterbox as well, but he’s definitely the kind who will talk constantly in order to not say a lot of things, which is illustrated by letting him ramble internally in the final paragraph of the example.

Also, they’ve been given a setting where they are both somewhat distracted by two of Neveah’s siblings playing at the park, so they have something to do. If I were better, I’d have included things about summer scents, the sky, etc. etc. in the descriptions (they are my downfall).

If you look at the dialogue, you’ll see that the sentences are all over the place in length. Long ones, short ones, and ones that aren’t much more than fragments. I try to echo how people really talk, but avoid the pitfalls of things getting circular or buried in extra words (except Neveah says “like” a lot and it is absolutely on purpose).

One of the biggest things for me is being inside the head of the point of view character. Being able to hear the things they don’t say can really help when it feels like they aren’t saying anything, and you a build a whole story in those subtleties. Kind of like having subtitles that interpret what’s happening rather than what’s said.

If you have a lot of characters, it’s going to get confusing—90% of the book I excerpted above included multiple adults on screen and 7 or 8 kids. It was chaos. People talk over each other. In those cases a simple “Neveah says” is the easiest tag. Let them talk, and let the dialogue shine. And if characters have quirks, let those shine, too. If someone’s screaming about sugary desserts in that book, it’s probably Jennie—no need for an attribution. Growling is Leo. Finishing each others’ sentences are Emma and Conor. Spattered with “like” is Neveah. Little quirks and details are things you can hang a lot on.

And just to say… yeah, we’re all blind to our own writing. It happens. We are so close to our own words that it’s hard to see them as words anymore. I usually have to set something aside for months if I want to do a truly deep edit on it, because I need to see it as Not Mine first. Then I can be objective. Do you have a reader? Either an alpha cheerleader, or a beta you trust? That’s the best. They can tell you if they trip over something, or if something feels stilted. Or if you’ve had someone shrug six times on one page (I certainly do that, like, all the freakin’  TIME).

And in the end, less is more. It’s okay to strip things back and focus more on sentence length and how words taste in your mouth if you read them aloud. It’s okay to write just the conversation first, then figure out how they move around each other while talking. It’s okay to write the blocking first, then fit the dialogue around that. Sometimes stepping back to one piece of the puzzle helps the other one shine in your mind’s eye.

I’ve rambled a lot, and I’m not sure if this is what you were looking for. And uh, again, I’m sorry how late this response it. I really hope you are still here and see this!!

Best of luck with your words, Nonnie. And remember: whatever you write today, that’s another step on your writing journey. It’s okay to delete them, edit them, love them, put them in a box for later… whatever you want to do. Just write them, and tomorrow write a little more. Even if this isn’t your final book, pieces of it will come back in another way later. I’m currently writing “fic” of people I’ve been building over the last uhhh thirty or so years. 

Enjoy your characters and your stories. And remember, everything comes with time. Keep writing, and keep learning. You’ve got this!

[thewadapan]

In light of the good news, I've finally sat down to watch skibidi toilet. It's pretty good, not too surprisingly! Absolutely no wonder that Michael Bay seems to have such a genuine fondness for it, considering how much of a love-letter it is to his work on Transformers and how dedicated it is to just producing spectacle above all else.

The first-person-POV of the cameramen in the show is easily its most inspired element, giving an intuitive structure to the episodes (about 50% of the time the episode ends because the cameraman gets fucking bodied). As it escalates in scope and ambitions, you see the device being used in more impressively inventive ways towards narrative ends, as cameramen and TV men are used to diegetically transition between subplots. But it's also used in more subtle ways, with different effects or overlays, or simply in how the cinematography itself can communicate the emotions of the cameraman doing the recording.

Moreover, the whole thing is very video-game-y, isn't it? Not even just in terms of the assets, but in terms of the action, the beat-to-beat plotting. It's a lot of sneaking around open-level environments, picking up new weapons from dead enemies, encountering new types of enemies or bosses with their own attack patterns and weaknesses. It instantly transported me back to being a teenager, fucking around in Garry's Mod, playing Team Fortress 2 with my mates, getting through Half Life, and all that. The SFM-filmmaker aesthetic isn't just a mode of convenience—although obviously the fact that DaFuq!?Boom! has managed to maintain a pretty prodigal output can be partly attributed to the fact he's using software and assets he's clearly very comfortable with—but rather, it informs everything about the storytelling.

People love to performatively (or ignorantly) act like skibidi toilet is some incomprehensible, unprecedented "brainrot" that the kids are into, but it's nowhere near as absurd as everyone likes to pretend. I feel like I've seen something very similar to it before, but the closest thing that comes to mind is the old trend of stick-figure fight animation borne out of Newgrounds. Or if not that, then yeah, the Transformers films! It's like the entire back half of Dark of the Moon depicting this huge guerrilla war in occupied Chicago—that's clearly the main touchstone.

It's a crime that the most absurd (and often disturbing) part of the show, the SKIBIDI DOB DOB DOB YES YES earworm constantly being repeated by the skibidi toilets, has seemingly been copyright struck, resulting in many portions of the official uploads suddenly just going silent for multiple seconds. It actually incenses me that someone, or some organisation, has been able to do this. I don't really have an ethically-consistent model of how copyright should work, but in cases like this, it seems like obviously a net negative for the world. For whatever reason, the Shorts versions of the episodes seem unaffected, but they're unideal for their own reasons.

The main thing is that past a certain point, the Shorts clearly become cut-down extracts of the main widescreen episodes, which presumably have the intended aspect ratio. Some of the longer uploads have what the content-slop lore freaks describe as "secret scenes", added-in, revised, or unabridged, often containing more of the long-term plot points. The idea that these might be "secret" from the perspective of anyone just watching the Shorts is really funny to me. Also, the fact that the episodes are being collected into "Season" compilations is hilarious to me in its own right—in what attention-deficient world can 20 minutes of a show be described as a full season? Gen Alpha is so cooked bro.

Thankfully, I was able to find a Google Drive where somebody's managed to archive the full series so far with uncensored audio. But then I was checking the YouTube uploads, and I realised some of the newer ones actually have closed captions for certain lines of dialogue! As in, the reversed speech of the cameramen etc, or even what some of the skibidi toilets are saying! These subtitles are missing from that Google Drive archive, meaning it's not a perfect way of watching the show either.

But the thing is, I also think adding subtitles to the show is a huge misstep on DaFuq!?Boom!'s part. One of the things I found most surprising about skibidi toilet is that, for the most part, it actually requires the viewer to be paying pretty close attention in order to follow any of the "plot", insofar as there is one. You have to be able to tell apart all these near-identical and often silent appliance-head guys. Sometimes the POV will be some random cameraman, but other times it'll be a recurring character, and noticing that will add something to the viewing experience. Most of all, the lack of speech (and lack of expressions) for most of the characters forces you to constantly be interpreting their body language to understand what they're communicating to one another.

The subtitles stand to ruin this aspect of the show. Also, the dialogue itself is poorly-written, bro. It's nice that the writer does have something in mind for everything they're saying to one another, but it's a complete mistake to actually present that as part of the text. Frustratingly, I can't even commit to just watching future episodes without captions, because what if he decides to seriously start putting load-bearing plot stuff in them?

(According to DaFuq!?Boom!'s word of god, all the skibidi toilets can understand all languages, they just choose to speak their superior skibidi language. God I love that.)

The main completed arc of the story, set in and around a bunker, is honestly fantastic, thrilling stuff, with some individual (rudimentary) character arcs and tons of great setpieces. My favourite episode of the show, in the immediate aftermath, delivers a legitimately great twist in a brilliant way. I'm excited for the next episode to drop, but moreover, I'm on the absolute edge of my seat waiting to see how skibidi toilet transforms itself for the mainstream media of TV and/or film.

[mythica0]

For the road

🎂:: The loud house

🧁: Lincoln

🍫:Luanne

Summary: Lincoln ends up sitting next to Luanne in Vanzilla for a road trip. You can guess what happens next.

A/N: in my first Loud house fic “Code pink” this event was mentioned in a flashback. So while it’s written after it’s chronologically before. (Also please note that the dialogue from that section will be the same but the other words might not be) Hope you enjoy!

For the road

‘Road trip time!’

Lincoln thought to himself, quickly running down the steps in hopes of getting an…at least ok spot in Vanzilla.

The family was going on a trip to some random city just for fun. No destination in particular just hoping to see some new things and shop in new places and meet some new people, that sorta thing.

Everyone was excited, Vanzilla was completely repaired just a few days before so they wouldn’t have too many problems on the road.

‘But- still need a good seat!’ Lincoln rushed into the van, thankfully not the last one. He didn’t have to sit in the soggy seat, but he ended up in the back window seat, with Luanne next to him in the middle seat.

‘Luanne being next to me isn’t so bad.’ He thought- but little did he know just how wrong he was.

Y’see, normally, Luanne isn’t the worst seat-neighbor. She might tell some bad puns but nothing super crazy. But today was a different story. Luanne, while not in full ler mode, was still itching to hear a little bit of laughter. And lucky her, she got sat right next to the most ticklish of the louds.

Right as they began to drive, Lincoln started to prepare to drift off, leaning against the window and trying to tune out the chaos of the back row.

Just as he began to settle, he was startled out of his stupor with a buzzing sensation on his side.

“Wha-huh?” He jumped, squealing slightly and looking over at Luanne.

His comedian sister smiled at him mischievously. “Lincoollln~”

That grabbed everyone’s attention. They all looked over at the back seat, exept for Lynn sr. Who had to keep his eyes on the road. He just looked up for a moment and yelled back “don’t kill eachother back there!” Before continuing to drive.

What the rest of them saw, though, was certainly something.

Lincoln was laughing and squirming in his seat as Luanne squeezed his sides and scribbled on his stomach.

“Luahahahaahahanne! Whyhyhy!”

Lincoln was giggling hysterically and pushing half-heartedly at Luanne’s hands, but he wasn’t getting anywhere with it.

“I just wanted some laughy taffy for the road! Haha, get it!”

Everyone groaned slightly but were still smiling at the silly scene before them.

Lincoln couldn’t decide if he was having fun or not. In the one hand- it kinda felt… good? He was laughing and smiling and it felt nice, but at the same time he couldn’t get away from Luanne’s ruthless fingers on his torso, putting him in ticklish glee- or agony? No- glee-He decided. It wasn’t bad, it was… fun?

Luanne was also having fun, she got to hear some laughter and satisfy that craving that she tended to get for the joyful sound.

Meanwhile, everyone else just watched, even a few ‘awwww’s popping up.

That was until a high-pitched squeal erupted from the only brother. Luanne smirked. She had pinched his upper ribs in a way that was apparently really effective. She repeated the action, and while to his credit, he didn’t squeal, Lincoln still burst into louder laughter and giggles.

“This a bad spot, laughy taffy?”

“Dohohont cahahall mehehe thahahat! Ehhehehahha!” Lincoln laughed out, blushing slightly.

“Aww, why not? It’s such a cute nickname! And fitting too!”

Lisa smiled from her seat. “I have to agree with Luanne on this one- statistically you do provide the most laughs when Luanne indulges in this activity- I believe that is because you’re the most ticklish out of any of us.”

“Ihi- uhuhuh! Nohoho-“ Lincoln frantically scrambled flustered at the observant comment, seemingly just made for pure scientific observation (Lisa was definitely teasing him on purpose)

Luanne poked him repeatedly, the variety in the sensation causing his laughter to go up in pick for a moment. “Yes you are~~~ don’t lie~”

“Ihihim beheheing buhuhuhulied!” Lincoln jokingly exclaimed, covering his face with his hands.

“It’s not bullying if you enjoy it~” Luanne’s teasing, lilting voice made Lincoln even more flustered, seemingly making him laugh more.

Luanne used the fact that he was covering his face to get a surprise attack on his underarms.

“Don’t hide you’re smile from us Lincoln~”

“Eeehee! Hehehehey!” Lincoln pulled his hands away from his face to try and push Luanne’s hands away.

“There you are! Hehe, nice to see your face, Laughy taffy!”

Lincoln stuttered through his giggles once more at the nickname- but he knew protesting wouldn’t do anything, so he was ready to accept his fate until he heard a very ominous sound.

Luanne sucked in a deep breath.

And that can only mean one thing. Raspberries.

“EEEhahahaa! LUaHAHANNE HahahhahhhhHa!”

Luanne bore a raspberry on his side the best she could while buckled in a car seat, but it obviously worked well enough- by the end of it Lincoln had small tears of laughter in his eyes.

“Alright, I’m done now, laughy taffy.”

Lincoln held his sides and bent over slightly, letting out leftover giggles. “Mahahan, luahahane. Thahaht was a lohot.”

“I didn’t go to far, did I?”

“Noho, no you’re fine.”

“Phew. That’s good to hear.”

“What was the purpose of that, May I ask?” Lincoln spoke out of curiosity, the mirth still remnant in his eyes and smile.

“I already told you! Just wanted a little laughter. For the road!”

“Well good thing- we’re here for our snack break.” Their dad said, pulling into a gas station.

“Hmm. That little… show.. took longer than I thought.”

“Who would have guessed?”

“Sweet man! I’m gonna get some grub!”

They all scrambled back into their spots in Vanzilla, and Luanne pulled out a two pastel pink candies, handing one to Lincoln. He looked at it and saw the label reading “laffy taffy: strawberry”

Luanne winked at him. “Thought Id get you some laffy taffy, for the road.”

———THE END————————————————

———THE END————————————————

[mdhwrites]

Hi, its been a while since I sended an ask, hehe, I hope you are doing okay.

So, maybe this is a weird question, but, what advierte would you give me to do a good analysis? Story, character. I feel I should be able to analyze well other stories and not just repeat what other people say.

Be willing to ask yourself why and be ready to be wrong.

I've talked about it before that the worst version of analysis is when you have already come to a conclusion and then you look for evidence that says you are correct. A better way to put it in example form is the difference between:

"Why is it that I find this character entirely repugnant?"

"I find this character entirely repugnant. What are the actions that make me hate them?"

Because all analysis is biased. My questions about TOH start with "Why is this bad?" where as other people who do analysis may start with "Why is this good?" but the idea behind more objective analysis is that by requiring proof from the same set of data, we should be able to come to a conclusion that resembles each other. NOT that we'll agree mind you. Analysis of media at the end of the day is still just opinion after all. However, we should be able to both look at each other's argument and go "I disagree with you but you make a lot of fair points. I can see how, with a different point of view, one could think this. Thank you for the chat."

And the reason I depict that final part as cordial is because, well... You started with having to have this conversation with yourself. You had to look yourself in the eye and ask if you were being fair. If you were reviewing all of the facts that you could. If you had double checked the places your memory was hazy to make sure you weren't replacing the correct version of a scene with one that comes from a biased, emotional place. You made sure to eliminate excuses where they may crop up and at least attempted to judge the work on its own merit. If you were willing to ask yourself such questions, why would you get mad at someone who raised such questions to you later?

This is much of why I say I am here to teach, not to force my opinion onto others. I want to present my conclusions to my peers and hope that they make sense in a way that may add to someone's perspective on the media I critique, or even the media I like. My goal is not to win, it's to share. To try and have an open and honest dialogue about our thoughts on a work as it is.

Which probably doesn't sound entirely true due to the fandom talk I've done in the past but the thing is, most of the time when I talk about such things, I talk about excuses. About ways that someone warps what is actually on screen so that it fits within their conclusion. That will always be the end point for the opposite of how I try to do my analysis after all. If you are unwilling to ask yourself why you believe something and just look for the evidence that proves you right... You'll find it. You'll also come across like a conspiracy nut but you will find your evidence.

BIG CAVEAT

I do this shit naturally. Analysis just works with my brain. Everything I have described here though is why we have professional reviewers because it's a lot of fucking work. I keep who I like to watch review wise pretty strict because most people, especially who are just analyzing a piece of work they like because they're passionate about it, do not want to put up with all of this. They want to say how much they love the thing they do and there's nothing wrong with that. They are putting joy into the world after all with it, far more than I ever have on this blog.

But in that case, before you ask why, as yourself who. Who are you trying to be with this? Someone just sharing their feelings or someone trying to knuckle down and do some proper analysis? Just so long as the first question you ask isn't what, I think you're starting from a much better place. See you next tale.

======+++++======

A final note on not repeating what others say: I have been thanked for helping put into words the frustrations people have with things. Sometimes it can just be incredibly difficult to know why you feel the way you do, even if you poke and prod and scrape at something for an answer. I mean, it's not what we think of when we consider what good writing is but again: We have professional reviewers for a reason. They theoretically should know how to put their opinions and emotions into something that can be more logically understood and debated with and that does take good writing skills, especially to do it within the word counts that professional journalists/reviewers must.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[yandere-sins]

How do you approach requests? What's your writing style like? And unfinished drafts? Something you wanna write but are too lazy? Latest favorite thing to write about? Current fave characters to write for?

Uiuiui, so many questions! But I am happy to answer ^-^

I usually just go through my requests and read them carefully, most of the time that will spark an idea eventually and then I just go with that. That's the reason I also don't stress about doing them in order or anything, since it happens pretty randomly. Though sometimes it can happen that I get too many ideas for multiple requests or none at all, so I use a randomizer and do some extra brainstorming for the winner. It's forceable, but if possible, I prefer the natural selection of my brain. It's a team effort, so to say :D

Hm, not so sure about the writing style of if I even have one... Since English isn't my first language I try to just do things correctly grammar- & spelling-wise. I have heard that I have a bit of an odd style here and there, and I can only think that I might be influenced by the German way of writing here and there (for example, I try not to repeat words too many times and use synonyms or descriptions). I'd say I am still rather descriptive, although I am also trying to learn how to better write dialogue and actions scenes for a while now. I probably don't have the best writing style, but I'm trying :)

I've got a lot couple of drafts that I started but haven't finished, but honestly I can count them on one hand. Most of my drafts are filled with story ideas, so just the rough concepts I came up with. I am very strict about separating work spaces, so my drafts are for ideas and unfinished things, asks are usually worked on in one go while still in the asks, and my own works are on a different plattform and just get copied here ^-^ Oh, also the queue holds everything that is finished, even if it isn't edited! It just works best for me to keep it all separate!

I don't use "lazy" when it comes to writing. I love writing! It's my beloved hobby! But unfortunately (as I have been diagnosed with this year) I suffer from depression because of my self-worth and that is the bane of my existence. If I had to name the things that I absolutely want to write but struggle with because I just don't think I am good enough to write them, it would be a Aventurine Songfic that is almost done, my Sunday story that I started, and the book I wrote in 2021.

It's not really a thing for me to have a "favorite thing to write about". I will always go wild for monsters, mafia, omegaverse, religious themes, and all these things I gush about on this blog! And that can change from day to day or if I see/hear/play something new. What I like is everything sinful basically ;) The range is quite broad and since I get to write and interpret your requests, too, I have a massive amount of freedom to sprinkle something special into every one of them, so there never is just one favorite!

I think my current favorite characters to write for are the Amphoreus Characters (HSR), especially Mydei, but also my all time favorites like Sunday, Aventurine, etc. and I've also been enjoying the Love and Deepspace characters! They turned out to be more fun than I expected ^-^

I hope I answered all your questions and you either understand me better now or less! Who knows! :D Thank you for coming by to chat ♥