#<-these two are my characters from my little story for those who aren't aware

[crescentmp3]

hi im hoping i can post images now. heres a doodle of kevin and iffaeh, from reading within lines

[ image desc: a simple nearly-stickfigure drawing of iffaeh beam and kevin ashford from reading within lines, op's original story. iffaeh is on the left, turned to kevin, rambling. faer rambling is visualized with chat bubbles that contain different images; a sun and moon, a book, a water droplet, a water droplet upside-down, an hourglass, a spiral, a leaf, and a question mark. iffaeh has a decorated hat, and the drawing shows a little beard. kevin is listening to faer, looking uneasy or nerveous, with a few sweat droplets drawn on his forehead. kevin has no distinguishing features in his simply drawn form. // end id ]

[theminecraftbee]

finalized smallishsona au party, in true join order:

grian, justice. his persona is signy, and his weapon is a naginata. he's an all-arounder who gets both physical and magical attacks, with a focus on dark and light magic (eiha/kouha damaging skills and mudo/hama instakill skills alike). technically the earliest member of the team, also one of the three starter members of the team when joel joins. he has been doing this the longest out of anyone, and sometimes, it shows in ways that aren't so great.

scar, magician. his persona is majnun, and his weapon is bows. a magic and ailment-based attacker, but he gets healing and support skills in his moveset as well (that, story-wise, he focused on due to him and grian being the only two persona wielders for a while, and scar's persona being the only one suited for them). his element is wind/garu. acts as the early-game healer until joel gets better options, then settles into massive magic damage and ailments.

joel, wildcard/fool. he has many personas and roles, but his starting persona is pygmalion, who is associated with ice/bufu. his weapon is knives. his role in the party is to be everything for everyone all the time. no this doesn't say anything about him. shut up.

skizz, chariot. his persona is enkidu, and his weapon is brass knuckles. a heavy physical attacker through-and-through, the fact that his attacks cut his own hp to deal damage is unfortunately fitting for his character. what little magic he gets is fire/agi, but like, he's the party member that learns charge naturally, you will not be using those unless you have to knock over some guy's weakness and joel forgot to bring a persona to cover it. while his rescue and awakening happens before joel starts exploring Altered Space, it takes a little bit for skizz to join, as unlike joel, using his persona does not come naturally to him. also is the earlier members to get various buff skills.

mumbo, moon. his persona is ariadne, and he is the navigator. for those unfamiliar, the navigator does not enter battle with the rest of the party, but DOES have the ability to help buff the party, scan enemies for weaknesses, and do other helpful things to help the team, well, navigate. giving a man with anxiety an all-seeing web probably can't hurt anything, right? in my head he functions as a cross between fuuta's very useful scan and various dungeon skills (like the escape one), and futaba's very useful in-battle buffs.

impulse, emperor. his persona is siegfried, and his weapon is axes. he's the TRUE party healer who gets stuff like me patra (heals the party of any status effects), samerecarm (revives someone with full health), and mediarahan (heals the party to full health) as his persona gets to higher levels. he also picks up electric/zio skills for decent damage (although he doesn't have scar's magic stat and is very much built to heal most of the turns he's around). it probably says something about him that he gets healing skills once he truly awakens his persona, especially given skizz. while he's aware of his persona from the start of the plot, it takes until a bit of a ways into the plot for him to truly awaken to it. also, because this is an au and not an actual game, i can get away with the most effective party healer joining this late. any other persona game, he'd be one of the earliest members. for obvious reasons. (and the fact scar is their most effective healer for a long while is. DEFINITELY a plot point here.)

gem, empress. her persona is atalanta, and her weapon is swords. she's a late-game powerhouse type build, with powerful bufu/ice magic in combination with almighty/untyped magic damage. she can show up and cast megioladon on the shadows' asses, is what i'm saying. she also gets the debuff and buff skills that aren't already scattered across the existing party members, but unlike scar, she doesn't get concentrate, so she's not the PERFECT damage-dealer here. as one of the two party members who hasn't been directly tied into this plot from the beginning, it's possible she has her own motivations and things going on that the rest of the party doesn't know behind her awakening. but that would just be silly, right...?

[sapphic-agent]

Let's Talk About Izuku Midoriya

As most of you know, Izuku is my favorite character in the show. But dismissing my bias for a second, there are a lot of issues with his character. Mainly, how it's handled within the story and the negative affect it tends to have on the overall plot.

What I think really dampens Izuku's character is a lack of depth. Fellow Izu fans hold your fire... let me finish.

The lack of depth wasn't always a problem. In season 1, he tends to have a lot of lines that indicate complex emotions. When he's walking home after Bakugou's suicide-baiting, he shows at least a little contempt for what was said even if he tries not to take it to heart. Hell, even during the suicide baiting itself, he reacts with anger and intends to stand up to Bakugou even if he is forced into silence by fear. During the bus ride to the USJ, Kaminari and Asui are (rightfully) observing that Bakugou is a dick and Izuku is surprised at the swap in their roles. In the Battle Trials, he's guilty when Bakugou accuses him of purposely hiding his quirk, but also confronts and outsmarts him, knowing that beating Bakugou (standing up to him) is the only way he can even start to become a hero.

(This is evidence that at some point Izuku was aware that Bakugou's actions weren't alright and wanted to condemn them, he just didn't have the strength or confidence to go through with it. This entirely disappears later in the series with no reconciliation of those feelings)

We don't get many scenes like this later on. Izuku takes Bakugou's insults and attacks with no reaction or just a nervous one. And we never, ever see him attempt to stand up for himself against him.

And no, I don't count Deku vs Kacchan Part 2. Izuku was practically forced to defend himself as Bakugou would have attacked him either way, and his entire role in the fight is going on and on about his admiration for Bakugou. Izuku isn't standing up to Bakugou, he's being placed in a situation where he's forced to help develop him. The entire episode is solely for Bakugou's benefit while shoving Izuku into a corner.

But even taking a step away from Bakugou for a minute, Izuku also becomes more one dimensional in regards to Uraraka.

I've said this before answering an ask, but in the beginning of the show Izuku was the one who was attracted to Uraraka. He was flustered by her kindness and reacted bashfully to her hero suit. And for some reason this... goes away. The last time he gets even slightly embarrassed around her is the licensing exam when she appears jealous of Camie (Toga). Not only that, it feels like all of that transferred to Uraraka. She was the one who ended up becoming bashful and flushed and embarrassed, which would make sense if Izuku's feelings didn't almost entire disappear. It does both their characters a disservice; Uraraka is reduced to a more one-dimensional love interest (don't @ me for this, she has her moments and I love her) and Izuku loses another aspect of his character.

I would even say this is present with Todoroki on some level. Izuku was supposed to be his first real friend and they barely interact. Which is even worse considering they're both part of the "main trio." It would have been so easy to play them off of one another since they're supposedly best friends and should be the closest two in that trio. Their friendship was one of the starting points of the entire series and their connection is an integral part of both their characters. Yet they both interact more with Bakugou than one another.

(For comparison, look at Bakugou and Kirishima. They're in a multitude of scenes together and we see how their relationship develops over time. We see their companionship and how Bakugou comes to trust and rely on him. We don't get anywhere close to that with Izuku and Todoroki.)

Over the seasons/volumes (whichever you consume), Horikoshi has dumbed Izuku's character down to crying, defending others, and being self-sacrificing. And these aren't inherently bad traits for a main character, but they weren't all he had in the beginning. He had more personality and he had stronger feelings. Taking that away from him cheapened his character.

Another failing of Izuku's character is how him being quirkless is blatantly ignored by the series.

This was an integral part of his character. It's what separated him from the vast majority of people in the show. It destroyed the only dream he ever had. He was discriminated against for it. It defined his entire existence for the first fourteen years of his life.

And it's never talked about.

Okay, I shouldn't say that. It is used to draw parallels between him and Shinsou (and Aoyama later on). But other than that, Izuku really doesn't acknowledge it. For someone who would grapple with not being good enough for OFA, him not really dwelling on being quirkless is odd.

In a series about the corruption of society, it's strange that the discrimination the main character faced from that society isn't talked about. In fact, outside of Melissa (she's legit the only character who was born quirkless and stayed quirkless, everyone else who's listed quirkless had their quirks taken away or received a quirk later), the series doesn't really introduce quirkless people at all even though they make up 20% of the population (and that isn't a small number by any means, that would be 1.6 billion people in 2023).

Yet this issue that was very present in the beginning of the show is just... swept under the rug. Like everything Izuku went through because of it just doesn't matter. A four year old came to the realization that he was beneath his peers by society's standards, but Izuku just doesn't talk or think about it ever again.

It not only ignores the very real trauma and struggle the main character went through, it also shuns a very important piece of world building. Having Izuku born quirkless was the perfect way to introduce this problem with society. But no, other than his dream being ruined and Bakugou's bullying, Izuku doesn't struggle with this in any other way. We only have vague implications of what he went through growing up quirkless so we can't imagine what it's like for the other 1.6 billion people.

This ties into his lack of depth, but a lot of the time it feels like Izuku's only relevance is to be a prop for other characters. Bakugou is obviously the main one and I went over this in the apology analysis. But Izuku doesn't respond to his apology in any way, we never get to see his thinking or how he was affected, and then he faints at the end. Izuku is a puppet in place to further Bakugou's development. This is also present in Deku vs Kacchan Part 2; all his thoughts are centered around admitting Bakugou and propping him up.

As much as I hate it, it somewhat makes sense for Bakugou. But it's utter insanity that this is extended to Endeavor as well.

Back during the Sports Festival, Izuku displayed disdain for Endeavor. He was aware of what an awful person he was and how he hurt Todoroki. Yet for some reason he then tells Todoroki that he thinks he's ready to forgive him.

This is completely out of character for Izuku. For one, he never inserts himself into others' business unless it's to defend them. And up until that point he hadn't said a word about Endeavor; not to comfort Todoroki and not to abhor his actions. So why in the world would the first thing out of his mouth about him be that Todoroki seems ready to forgive him?

It's almost like he's acting as a mouthpiece for Horikoshi, indirectly telling the audience that Todoroki no longer holds any resentment for Endeavor. Izuku's relevance in this scene as Todoroki's best friend should not have been to assume that he's ready to forgive his abuser.

He also verbally defends Endeavor against Dabi. Even though he knows how abusive and neglectful Endeavor was to his children. Condoning Endeavor while disparaging Dabi makes no sense for Izuku's character. He was defending Shoto too which makes sense, but there was no reason to add Endeavor into that. Just because Endeavor was his mentor (for like three weeks if that) doesn't erase what he's done.

To make Izuku ignorant of this was a slap to the face of his entire character.

Even in his own major arc, Izuku gets the shaft. Dark Deku was a major let down because there was hardly a deeper dive into his character. He was on his own with the past OFA holders for weeks and we barely see him talk to them. Him cutting contact with Toshinori when we didn't even get to see them interact much made no sense (Toshi didn't even try to find him afterwards which was so out of character). The top 3 heroes allowed him- a fifteen year old student- to run on his own without even trying to talk him out of it.

And what's supposed to be an honest attempt to get him to come back and trust him turned into 1A a) physically attacking and ganging up on him and b) allowing Bakugou to goad and insult him. And he wasn't even close with all of 1A for nineteen of them to do this. This should have been restricted to Iida, Todoroki, and Uraraka (and maybe Tsu and Aoyama). He has issues with showing vulnerability in front of people, why om Earth would it make sense to blindside him with his entire class?

(The only part of Dark Deku I truly enjoyed was Uraraka sticking up for him at UA and Kota and that woman he saved earlier running to comfort him and show their gratitude. Although Eri not being there is very weird.)

Like I said above, I love Izuku. But I absolutely hate the way he's been handled by his author. He deserved an actual well thought out character arc and a lot more focus and attention. He deserved to have more intricate, complex relationships with other characters that weren't his childhood bully. He deserved to be treated well in his own story.

[redbuddi]

Do NOT Read "Lady Crystal is a Man"

People who know me know that I'm a little bit of a webtoon addict. I'm basically always reading a million different fantasy romances, even as someone who is not personally interested in romance in real life. Because of this, I am well aware of the more problematic elements of a lot of webtoons, to the point where it's easier to list webtoons that aren't problematic than to name ones that are. It's unfortunate, but it's a common aspect of webtoon consumption that most people get used to. (Note: When I say webtoons, I am talking about the genre of phone-optimized romance webcomics as a whole, not just things from the WEBTOON app. The series in question is on Tapas.)

Because of that, I will admit it is partially on me for assuming this comic was going to be more progressive than it actually was. People new to webtoons may be fooled, but I should have known better. On top of that, I am well aware that female-oriented romance stories can sometimes be a little toxic, and while this is a problem that needs to be worked on, I also know about what can happen when something meant for teenage girls is criticized. Even when the criticism is in good faith, it can start a trend of bashing anything teenage girls like and shaming them for wanting to explore media that is anything but flawless. I don't want to add to that.

But this series isn't just a little problematic. It doesn't just have some questionable elements or common plot failings. This is a series that has the potential to seriously hurt anyone who is trans, gnc, or gender questioning, and could give anyone who isn't any of those things the wrong idea about what is and isn't appropriate when it comes to trans/gnc/gender questioning individuals.

If you would like the td;dr, then in a nutshell this comic portrays material that could make an individual feel shame, discomfort, or even body dysmorphia. And on top of that the protagonist is cruelly gaslit and manipulated in ways that the series presents as if it were just light teasing, and that is all only in the 19 chapters that I was able to stomach before dropping the series entirely.

If you would like a more detailed description of this series' flaws, then I will continue below the cut.

cw: transphobia, body dysmorphia, gaslighting

Lady Crystal is a Man follows the story of a man raised as a woman attempting to escape a forced marriage by going to the mysterious and dangerous duke Illian, unaware that Illian is secretly a woman. The story is essentially a combination of two tropes, the Crossdressing Romance trope, where the main character and/or their love interest is secretly not the gender they present themselves as, a trope which has been around for as long as female-oriented comics has existed, and something a little more specific to webtoons (to my knowlege,) the Contract Marriage trope, wherin the protagonist escapes a bad situation by entering a temporary marriage with someone else, only for true romance to bloom between them. I have read many webtoons about Contractual Marriages, but not very many about crossdressing. As a nonbinary person, I tend to be uncomfortable with the highly traditional way many webtoons portray gender roles, and so I try to steer clear of series that tackle gender directly, but that is not to say no webtoon as ever handled it well. In particular one of my favorite webtoons, Alien Idol, tackles gender in an extremely understanding and informative fashion, even taking the time to acknowledge places where it's knowledge is lacking, which I've never seen a comic do so honestly before. Most webtoons are not like this, unfortunately, but that is only to my knowledge, and recently I've been wanting to expand my horizons a little bit. How can I be sure so many comics handle it poorly if I don't even read them for myself, after all? That is what convinced me to check out Lady Crystal is a Man.

In the first few chapters I was hooked. The series has extremely good artwork, and it first appeared to me that they might be trying to do a metaphor for t4t couples. Crystal is constantly coached on how to act and behave as a woman, because if he lives as a man he will be killed by his cruel and uncaring family. He takes a drug to halt his growth, and this drug is actively harming him, he is literally being torn up from the inside having to live as something he is not. He envies masculine traits he observes in others, and dreams of running away to live with the people who truly love him, cutting his hair short, and living as himself. It's because of this that I made the mistake of buying multiple chapters in advance instead of just waiting for them to unlock, and that's why I read so far into this series when normally I would have dropped it the moment it started to go downhill. Anyway, Crystal meets duke Illian, and already a connection is established by the narrative in how the two have had to live in fear of being who they really are. And at this point I was ready for them to start relating to each other and forming a bond.

This does not happen. Not really, anyway.

Illian tricks Crystal into thinking that the marriage paperwork went through extremely fast, and that they are now husband and wife. This is a red flag, but in the same chapter Illian reveals that she's just teasing Crystal as payback for trying to trick her, and that she will fully support Crystal's escape to be with her family as soon as the snow clears up. But then she doesn't. Even when Crystal admits the truth to her, and the snow clears up, Illian maintains the facade that they are married and that Crystal will have to keep staying with them until the annulment paperwork can go through. This happens because Crystal, under the impression that they are really married and that he has tricked Illian into falling in love with him only to have her heart broken, decides to take responsibility for his actions instead of running away like he originally planned. And Illian, hearing this, continues to lie to Crystal about their being married. This establishes a pattern that will continue from here: Crystal will show genuine care and consideration for others, and will be rewarded for it by being continuously manipulated by the people around him.

It's at this point that Illian finds out that Crystal is not a cis male. Not because Crystal told her, mind you, but because Crystal faints due to side effects from the drug he is taking, and Illian, who has taken the same drug, recognizes them. At first this is fine to me. I like that Illian does not get angry or upset, or even wants to confront Crystal on this, and at first I thought it was because Illian respected Crystal's boundaries and would only acknowledge it if Crystal decided to tell her. She even continues to refer to Crystal with female pronouns, even when she deduces that Crystal might be living as a woman just to not be killed in the battle for succession. But then, Illian decides to "make sure" that Crystal isn't cis. And while we aren't directly shown, it is heavily implied that Illian looked under Crystal's nightgown to see his genitals.

There had been one or two red flags up to this point. In particular, focus on the size of Crystal's hands. This was off putting to me, as this is something that could hurt people. Even people who aren't transfeminine could be hurt by this, the fact that having bigger hands than what is considered "normal" for a woman and how this is treated like a clue to Crystal's gender identity is something that would hurt anyone who identifies as a woman but doesn't fit what is considered a normal body standard. Focus on hands is even something that can be a big dogwhistle for TERFs, although I don't suspect the author is a TERF since I'm fairly certain this is a Korean comic, and I don't know what the discourse on gender in Korea is like.

Regardless, even with my growing suspicions, this was a massive shock. Crystal was unconscious at the time, unable to consent. This is unambiguously a massive violation, but the comic portrayed it as just a silly, over-the-top bit of shenanigans by our female lead. I know for a fact that this wouldn't have happened if the genders were swapped, in every webtoon I've read people who try to look under women's skirts are treated as disgusting perverts. But because Crystal is a man, suddenly it's cute and funny when his privacy is undermined. And this is the turning point where the series goes from a seemingly flawed but earnest attempt at a trans metaphor to a showcase of the most disgusting abuse I have ever seen in a story, all written as though it were just silly antics by people who are ultimately in the right.

Soon Illian and the doctor she had look at Crystal begin internally referring to him with masculine pronouns, all without asking if it's what Crystal wants to be seen as. As the doctor mulls over Crystal's potential circumstances, she thinks "Few people pretend to be the other gender, even fewer do so against their will," the series acknowledging the existence of trans people, but only as "petenders." And again, this is before they even know for sure if Crystal is doing this against his will. All the while, Crystal is portrayed in more and more infantalizing ways. He plays with snow like a child. He doesn't understand basic social cues, or even that people might be lying when they speak to him. He accepts everything Illian tells him without checking, even when he knew going into this that he would need to be careful. Illian secretly alters Crystal's communication devices so that she can see everything that Crystal says when he sends out messages to his friends in the east, who are waiting to take him in, unaware that he has been manipulated into staying against his wishes. Illian is drawn in by the way Crystal wears his heart on his sleeve, and doesn't want to let him go, even though she knows that Crystal has a home somewhere else. Crystal is prevented from escaping, and isn't even giving the courtesy of knowing that he is a prisoner.

There is another character in the comic, a cook who is portrayed as being large and strong, completely unfeminine despite being female. For one thing she's a show of hypocrisy, a cis female is a female, without question even if they don't fit eurocentric standards of femininity, but a trans female has to pass these standards with flying colors, and even then they don't really count. But there is another thing about this character. She is regularly referred to as a "monster" for her immense strength, size, and endurance. She owns it, seeming to be perfectly content with it, but not all real people who look like this would enjoy being called that. I feel that this is another acknowledgement of the other, that yes there are cis people who also don't perfectly fit their expected appearances, but they're not normal. They are exceptions. Monsters.

And then came the chapter that made me drop this series for good, completely overwriting my buyers remorse with disgust. Illian has to leave for a mission, and had instructed the Doctor to take away the drug that Crystal is using to maintain a feminine body. The doctor confronts Crystal, telling him that she "knows" he's a man, and blackmails him, threatening to tell Illian if Crystal doesn't hand over the drug. In exchange, the doctor gives Crystal a magic ring that she says will make other people perceive him as female. This is already bad for a few reasons, namely that even during this confrontation, the doctor never asks Crystal if he truly identifies as a woman or not. If Crystal did identify as a woman, then the ring would be a terrible trade. A person who wants to look at themselves as feminine does not do so in the hopes that other people will see them the same way. While the perception of others is certainly a concern, the main consideration is if the person sees themselves as feminine. A ring that only allows other people to see them as feminine would certainly be useful for people who don't want to be misgendered or seen in a way they don't want to be seen, but it wouldn't be an adequate replacement if it wouldn't help the wearer get a body that makes them comfortable. At best it would just be a supplement to something else.

But worst of all, it's all a lie. The ring doesn't actually work. It's all a trick to get Crystal to give up the drug. Yes the drug is harmful to Crystal, and Crystal himself doesn't want to take it, but as far as the Doctor knows Crystal could be trying to appear feminine for his own reasons. But without even consulting him, Illian and the doctor assume they know what's best for Crystal and trick him into giving up what could very well be the thing making him happy and comfortable in his own skin. Imagine how horrific things would be for Crystal if that was the case. Seeing his body change in ways he does not want, entirely against his will, and since the ring doesn't actually work his transformation would be fully visible to everyone around him. But instead of asking what if he wants this, Illian and the doctors decide to play the odds, and this is written as though they're being helpful by doing this. To add insult to injury, the doctor internally criticizes Crystal for accepting the trade without questioning it, seemingly forgetting that Crystal was essentially forced into it.

For obvious reasons, this was the point where I had had enough. This was abuse, plain and simple. Yes characters are not real people, and there is a place for stories that tackle things like abuse and manipulation, but this series never acknowledges the horror of what it's characters are doing, treating these things as though they're just cute and quirky romcom gags, maybe not normal but ultimately harmless. Meanwhile in the real world, these things are deeply harmful and hurtful to the readers of this series, especially those who, like the characters of the story, are forced to live in identities that are not themselves.

It's pretty common for webtoons to tackle things like this without really knowing what they're doing, and usually I'm able to shrug it off and keep reading, even if still criticizing it, as long as it seems the writers have the best of intentions. Making mistakes is how we learn, after all, and a lot of webtoons are written by young adults living in conservative societies who just need the chance to see other people's experiences. But there is a point where I draw the line, and that is when there is no perceivable compassion whatsoever for the types of people they are portraying. As I mentioned, the comic clearly shows an understanding that there are people who do not live as the gender that they are assigned at birth. But it does not see them as people. Even beyond the "pretend" line, gender is portrayed as concrete, inescapable, with terrible consequences for trying to change it. It portrays transfeminine people as clueless, weak, and unable to decide for themselves what's good for them, and illustrates anyone who doesn't fit typical standards of appearance as a strange and terrifying other that shouldn't be considered on the same level as everyone else. In general webtoons already have a massive issue with beauty standards, (don't even get me started on the way fat people are usually written,) but this is a whole other level of cruelty. While this comic was probably not specifically made to harm people, it takes careful steps to put people it doesn't like "in their place." It wants you to feel bad about yourself. This comic and comics like it should never be supported, not just for political reasons, but because, like it's characters, this comic is trying to enforce ideals that it feels for best for you, regardless of if it's what you actually want. And no one deserves to be hurt like that.

So if you see this comic or a comic like it, I encourage you to turn away. If they won't portray us as human, then we don't have any obligation to give them our support.

[not-poignant]

Worldbuilding and Writing Fiction are two separate skills.

Someone reblogged one of my shitposts yesterday (the one about intimidating myself out of worldbuilding) expressing confusion in the tags about how anyone could be intimidated out of writing through worldbuilding too much.

This was kind of baffling to me, because I think I've seen it 50-60 times now, especially with new, ambitious writers who are starting off with deep fantasy or science fiction projects. When you talk to them, they've often sunk months or even years of worldbuilding into the project, but when you ask how far they've come on the fiction side of things, they usually have writer's block, haven't started writing the story, or say they're not ready yet. 'I'm starting soon' is a common refrain. 'I just have a little bit more left to do.'

The main reason for this - I feel - is that worldbuilding and writing are two different skills. Someone who spends 5 years worldbuilding has learned how to get really good at worldbuilding, but that doesn't mean anything about how good their writing will be. Many folks think worldbuilding will automatically make a story better, but sometimes worldbuilding can become unwieldy and stressful, especially in the case of a) entirely new worlds / secondary world fantasy, or b) complex worldbuilding. Definitely not talking about contemporary romance here, lol. (Though no shade to that, I've had a lot of fun worldbuilding for those stories too).

Going from worldbuilding to writing is launching into an entirely new space. If you find writing new stories easy, that won't be a problem for you, in fact you may not even have realised they're too different skills before now.

If you find writing new stories intimidating, sometimes having hundreds or thousands of things about your world to try and constantly remember can feel overwhelming and mess with the executive function needed to start a chapter.

In some cases, worldbuilding can make it much easier to start a story. But it really depends on what you're needing to do. If you're just writing a contemporary story where you need to research two characters and two jobs, you're generally going to be just fine.

If on the other hand, you have the equivalent of a 500 page Wiki behind-the-scenes, it can feel overwhelming very quickly.

New writers fall into this trap the most, I feel. They become accustomed to what worldbuilding feels like, and they hedge on writing the actual fiction, because they just have more experience worldbuilding and keep waiting for their confidence in worldbuilding to become 'confidence in starting the story.' It doesn't work that way. They're different skills.

They might even be better at worldbuilding than writing! But that just means - if they really want to be a writer - that writing is the skill they really need to work on the most. That can be a comfort zone issue too. It can also be a 'only about 5-10% of all this work will ever appear in the story' issue, where folks want to share the worldbuilding more than the characters or plot, and therefore are just not inspired to work on their story. It can be a 'I want this story to be as good as my worldbuilding' issue. It can be a 'I find the worldbuilding part easy' issue. There are lots of reasons people stall out in worldbuilding and then feel intimidated to write the actual story.

This can also happen with established writers who become aware that the more they know about their world, the more they don't know about their world. It can start to feel like - if you write 10 articles for yourself, you end up with 100 more to write. If you write those 100 articles, you have another 300 to write. Worldbuilding never ends. Worldbuilding can be endless, and if you're an immersive writer, you can get lost very easily in the details, or in not knowing what details are critical and what details aren't. (A hint here is that you'll figure that out really fast when you start writing).

Stalling in worldbuilding can be a lot of things, it can tell you that there's something broken in the world, something broken in the story, it can tell you more about your insecurities, it can tell you how good you are at one skill and where you might need practice in another. It's super informative!

But, generally speaking, the advice I tend to give to many new writers is to try not to let your worldbuilding period last too long. Ideally, put a timer on it and see how it feels to start writing your story once the timer has gone off (3 months, 6 months, 3 weeks, put it in your phone or in your calendar, and start the first chapter, or some random scene, once that time is up).

If, after that period of time lapses, you still aren't ready to start your story, something bigger might be going on. It's an opportunity to dig deeper into the situation. And sometimes just ask yourself if you're using the idea of a novel as an excuse to do what you love most: Worldbuilding. If that's the case, there are other jobs you can parlay a solid worldbuilding ability into. It doesn't have to lead to novels. :)

But yeah it's super super common for many writers to stall out between worldbuilding and writing, and to feel overwhelmed by their own worldbuilding.

New writers get affected by it the most based on observation and hanging around writing forums, and the advice that gets asked quite often specifically on 'when do I go from worldbuilding to writing the story,' but established writers experience it too, because as Gene Wolfe once said to Neil Gaiman: "You never learn how to write a novel, Neil. You just learn how to write the novel you are on."

[whitebookposts]

Um question

during one of my “endlessly scrolling through tumblr looking at people’s opinions on Sky lore” nights I noticed one of your posts about a Valley Priestess? Several other people had drawn/talked about Valley Priestess and I am incredibly confused as to who she is

*RUNS FULL SPEED AT YOU *GRABS YOU OH MY DEAR FRIEND YOU HAVE **NO** IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE JUST AWAKENED. PRIESTESS IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER EVER AND MY HYPERFIXATED ASS WILL TALK ABOUT HER JUST GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY.

SIT DOWN FELLA THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG ONE.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Let's go back in time, circa 2017-2018, when Sky was still in development, and was yet to hit the shelves. During that time, TGC presented their pre-release concepts of what was back then known as Sky: Light Awaits, at CAFA GAME ART 2018 exhibition, held at Cetral Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China from september 8 to October 7. In that exhibition, TGC presented the crowd with a bunch of concept art, story directions and ideas, and some world-building of their upcoming game. If you are interested in seeing the exhibits TGC put up, you can check those links:

1. Layout 2. World overview 3. Storyline 4. World Map 5. Character Designs 6. Level designs 7. Interaction and customization 8. Journey comparison 9. Bits and pieces

However, for the specifc question you asked, we need to focus on number 3. Storyline. More specifically, this bit right here:

You see this? Right here? "Descendants summon and challenge and ancient (priestess)" YUP, THERE SHE IS, RIGHT HERE!! That is one of the first, and frankly, the last times she gets officially mentioned. Why? Because she was replaced by the Valley twins. That is also why the twins share one name: Samekh, because they used to be one elder, to whom this name belonged. How do we know this? Because in the concept art where the twins start to appear, they are both labeled Samekh... Just like in this very little and crunchy concept art:

You see her? In the corner?

There she is! As we can see, this singular figure is also labeled Samekh. And since we know that Samekh is the name of the valley elders and the singular Valley elder for the Priestess, we can conclude this is a concept art of her :) if you want to know more about elders' names, you can always check out Grandpa's (@grapeless-seeds) very neat doc right here!

Now, you may be asking: "If she is just a scraped elder that was already replaced by other elders, how did she resurface again?" That is a very good question! And it has a VERY long and VERY interesting history behind it.

Despite her being in the concept art, not many acknowledged her existence, moreover being anyway related to the current Valley elders. Even though many asked themselves the question "Why were there two Valley elders, and why are they so much younger than the rest of them?", a big part of the fandom agreed on the headcanon that the twins were simply two parts of one being who got split. And so, Priestess laid dormant in the discarded concept art. But things were about to change.

Let's jump into the future, circa 2020-2021, when the fandom's love for lore and elders was at it's height. Theories were flowing left and right, and as you know, Sky lore enjoyers often dig through countless concept art for crumbs of lore we usually don't get in the game. And one of said concepts through which a certain group of people dug through was the concept of Priestess. Unconciouslly, her image rooted itself in the minds of elder lore enthusiasts.

In 2020, Grandpa, who was a pretty influential Sky artist and theorist on Skyblr and the western Sky fandom, posted this headcanon on her twitter:

This, as far as I'm aware, was one of the first instances of the idea that not only the twins aren't just two halves of one being, but that they are actually children of an elder long gone: the Priestess.

Soon enough after it, a sketch by @artificial-radiance Was posted on Skyblr, featuring this idea yet again.

While the headcanon was still really obscure, it did manage to trickle down into the hearts of some very passionate (and lowkey insane) people, like me. I mean, How could it not! It was a perfect setup for drama, mystery, and the "dead mom" trope! It could finally give a much spicier explanation for the twins being younger than the rest of the elders than the "split theory" we knew beforehand. And a few more fan arts and headcanons started showing up, here are some examples:

(two old sketches by me, inspired by artificial radiance)

(a short comic by @dogedepan also inspired by artificial radiance)

As you can see, back then the design for her was really close to the single concept art piece we had - a hooded silhouette with not a lot of unique features.

The awareness of Priestess and the idea of her being the mother of the current Valley elders rooted itself stronger. But you know what really made it bloom?

Eldertwt.

Eldertwt was a joke roleplay a bunch of sky fans started on Twitter dot com, where each created a profile after an elder or a Sky spirit, interacting and making a bunch of shenanigans. The whole thing was filled with deez nuts and gay jokes, and it really didn't seem to be going anywhere serious...

Until, Grandpa, yet again, dropped a priestess bomb. In a, surprisingly, heartwrenching Eldertwt storyline (no I'm serious, you HAD to be there when it went down), Grandpa introduced Priestess again, finally forever basing Priestess as an existing character and the mother of the twins. With Grandpa drawing her in her style, a change in the way she was drawn was done

(credit to @grapeless-seeds)

And many who proceeded to draw her for Eldertwt based on Grandpa's design really hammered it down. Here are some examples

(credit to @dogedepan)

(credit to @fiomeras)

(credit to @krillcandles)

(credit to @thatskymoz)

As you can see, Priestess went from a hooded silhouette in a crunchy concept art into a full-fledged character with hair, face, and personality. With Priestess stopped being an obscured piece of concept art, she found her way into the hearts of many.

Before long, the simple little headcanon grew into a full-fledged fanon, with fanart, theories, ships, and fanfics being produced with priestess as a character in them. And honestly? This perhaps was one of the most favorite things I got to experience in Sky fandom. How a bunch of strangers came together and out of pure love and interest took a piece of concept art and a little text that never made it past development, and turned it into a full, recognizable character. And yes, this fanon might not be the most popular, and most people still go by the "split elder" theory for twins. But Priestess is THERE. She is no longer a forgotten and discarded piece of art. She is a character who holds importance to many, including me.

And you might say "Well, isn't it silly, to turn a character that doesn't even exist in the final game into a full-fledged fanon?" And you would be right, it is silly. But it's fun. And in a game like Sky, where most of what we know is through concept art, is it really a stretch to give importance to a piece of it?

Besides... Once you learn about Priestess...

You start to notice that perhaps, she isn't gone from the game entirely 😉

Anyway, I hope I answered your question! SOryy for making this SO long, it's just I love this character so so so so much, AND the history behind her is fascinating!!!

[wolfclaire]

How would you think the story would've played out if a different Gem got transported into the games, and I'm not limiting it to just the Afterlife Gems. Like if either Empires Season Gems met Pearl instead of Spider, especially Season 2 Esmp Gem, considering she's essentially the opposite of Pearl in a way?? Sun imagery with butterfly wings and the pointed ears on her skin implies she'd look/be something like a sun elf yet also unlike Pearl she's in almost complete control of her own fate and what 'games' she plays by hopping different universes and LARPing as whatever character she wants. Season one Gem can also be interesting, especially if it's near the end of the season or after the end of the season. Season one Gem getting transported into a death game where her people who look like her friends who are either missing or dead in her eyes messed up in ways they weren't before and one of your closest friends aka Pearl seems so sad and gone from the cheerful queen you knew her as. Also I choose to believe that S1!Gem is at least passively or actively aware of differing timelines cause of her reaction from when she met S2!Sausage and I think she was aware that she basically just three Evil Sausage into a little mirror of her own universe which would be like an alternate ones, I'm kinda reaching, especially since I haven't rewatched Empires S1 yet, but still I can't resist the angst of Gem knowing that these aren't her friends but still desperately trying to hold onto them like they are because the rapture happened so suddenly and abruptly when things were finally looking better and she doesn't wanna accept things. I also can't resist what would be the DL cast's reaction to these two, especially Pearl and maybe Grian

Ngl I really wonder what would be Pearl's and Grian's opinion/impression of them if it were either of them transferred and not Spider Gem

Sorry for rambling I've just been thinking about this a lot and sorry if it doesn't make sense or if it's even in character-

-Sun anon, still happy birthday also <3

Okay...let me just put this into seperated questions...cause this got potential. So ES1 and ES2 Gems would be probably totally different with the reaction to Pearl and everything happening.

ES1 Gem, post rapture (or during rapture), has basically nothing left. No kingdom, no friends, she only has her magic, Violet and fWhip. She didn't "roleplay", she isn't "LARPing", everything happening to her is real, and hurtful. If she was the one transported into the games, she would find familiarity with Pearl, but she would know something is wrong. She is The Headmistres of Crystal Cliffs, she is The Grand Wizard, she would notice Pearl's acting strange (Red stuff) and her and others memories being off.

ES2 Gem, however, wouldn't think of this "transportation" as a big deal at first. I don't think she would take it seriously at the start, as "it's just a game" or "it's just LARPing". She couldn't understand in canon why nobody else (except Pixlriffs and Oli) didn't think of anything as a big deal...she only thought they were good actors in a way. It would take Pearl's death for her to realize that this "game" is not as innocent as she might have thought...

As for Grians and Pearl's reaction? Well...

Grian wouldn't mind ES2 Gem, she looks like a guilable little princess that he can wrap around his finger... But ES1 Gem? Oh, that would be dissaster. He can tell this one is smart, he can tell she has powers on her side... He would try to get rid of her asap, even going as far as killing her himself.

Pearl, on the other hand, would feel a little weirded out by any of those two. ES1 Gem is nice....strangely overly nice, for some reason... And ES2 Gem doesn't seem to take anything seriously...she is very carefree for someone who shouldn't have unlimited lives (Grey names don't work with the same rules as those in from the specific world)

There is a lot of Angst potential, just in a different favour than what my version with Spider Gem has to offer :)

[orginllazyblog]

Where Are You?

Summary: Yuu stopped showing up in the HoM mainly because of the canon story still processing. This took place before and during Book 7.

Note: Gender-neutral Yuu (can use your Yuu oc for this)

It has been an exhausting day in school for Yuu. They just dealt with Idia's and Ortho's overblot a few weeks ago, and now Yuu has started to gain awareness. They notice how each overblot resembles the Great Seven's by the vivid dreams they are having, and now worrying for the next one. 

"*Sigh* I need to get ready for work. Just need to rest for a while before dinner." 

As minutes went by, Grim woke up Yuu to remind them that it's about to be dinner time, well, mainly to remind them of his tuna. Yuu couldn't blame Grim for this one, he did get kidnapped and probably never eaten his favorite food. 

"Sure, Grim. Let's go to Mr. Sam's shop. Maybe get more than three this time."

"Fnagh? You will?"

"Yes, I have been saving up from my job. Remember?"

"Oh yeah."

"Well then, let's go in a hurry as I have to go to work in about an hour."

*

*

*

In the House of Mouse, Yuu serves the food to the great sevens as they are the only waiter who wasn't afraid of them. Also the fact they can handle it. Yuu also knows about their evil deeds from their vivid dreams, but after dealing with the OB boys, they kind of got used to them and see the similarities between them. 

After their work hours, they are on their break so they went to the seven's table to chat with them.

"So Yuu, how's your day in Night Raven College?" (QoH)

"Busy as the upcoming exams are coming next month." 

"If you need help, you can ask one of your classmates. Why not ask Azul? I'm sure he'll help you without paying any debt." (Ursula)

"I'm pretty sure they'll ask Riddle as they are not what they call "shady" Ursula." (QoH)

"Aren't you forgetting that Leona is wiser than those two. He's even older than those brats." (Scar)

'Oh boy, here we go.' 

"Oh wait! I forgot to mention that I won't be able to come back to work."

"So when will you be back from your exams?" (EQ)

"I would say about a week or two. I'm not sure how long it'll take considering it's a different school system from my home world, but I know it won't take long."

During the conversation, Yuu didn't bring up another overblot incident, which happened to be the shroud brothers. They didn't want to make them worried, but Yuu still needs to tell them about their vivid dreams and know the truth about them. They just need to wait until the time is right. 

After hours pass, the clubhouse is about to close. Yuu farewell to the great sevens and the other disney characters as they left. Mickey congrat them and gave them their paycheck of 5,000 thuamarks. 

"Thank you, Mickey."

"No problem, Yuu."

"By the way Mickey, I won't be able to work in the next couple of weeks. I have an upcoming exam so I would need time to study and a small break as well."

"Oh okay, thank you for reminding me, Yuu. Remember to take it easy. I'll have to tell the other staff about it."

"No worries, I also told the great sevens about it. I'm sure the rest will understand my situation."

"Okie dokie! Good night, Yuu." 

Little does Yuu know this might be the last time they see the rest of the disney characters again.

________________

After a couple of weeks, Mickey and the staff were able to work knowing Yuu is busy with their education. There was some mischief going around, but it was only from Pete, and one of the great seven's shows up one time only. So far, everything seems normal. Nothing can go wrong… right?

It's been about a month, and the whole House of Mouse Club was panicking. Yuu should have been done with the exams. Where are they? Did something happen to them? 

Of course it wouldn't make sense, Yuu wouldn't just quit their job as they need money to buy their needs or send a message to Mickey or anyone to let them know. 

Even the great seven's were wondering what happened to them. Someone like Maleficent, who has access to travel to Twisted Wonderland world only to find out she can't.

 As if there is a barrier that she can't enter. That's when things are going downhill.

Mickey and his friends try to calm everyone down, but nothing seems to work. Until the lights went dim, the front stage, the screen went black. Then the loading screen started, which is not just any loading screen but the twisted wonderland loading screen. Everyone then quieted down as they sat down at their table as they watched how book 7 started.

*

* half an hour later…

*

With all there is, the screen went black again. With half of them, questions to what just happened and the sleeping beauty cast, now know what's going to happen next. 

Then again, 2 months later, the theater screen went black and the twst loading screen play. Now playing Book 7, chapter 2. 

"Hey Mal, do you know what's going on?" (Hades)

"How I'm I supposed to know? I can't enter Twisted Wonderland because the canon story is happening so I can't interfere." (Maleficent) 

"But do you know what will happen? This is where he will began to overblot." (Jafar) 

"Let's just watch it. There's no way my descendant won't-" (Maleficent)

*Malleus OB by end*

"..." (Maleficent) 

"You were saying~?" (Scar)

"Shut up." (Maleficent)

_______________________

Knowing there's like 5 chapters in Book 7, I have no clue for how long will I continue writing. So I just stop at where chpater 2

[halfusek]

i was reading the end part of abomination and was wondering three things ,1-what is the meaning of Joey changing from his real world self to his story world self ? Since it appears that joey died,does this mean that his real world self and story world self fused ?, 2-how does joey control over the story world works ? is he aware of what the story version of hackenbush has become or he is independent from joey's actions ?3 What would happen if the little devil darling cartoon has played ?

answers to all of these could potentially be "well you're supposed to come up with some interpretation yourself" but i do have things in mind as answers to these questions :)

real joey didn't die (yet), so it's not them fusing - i realize that it might be a bit confusing story joey has been created soulless however as you can see in the ending this happens

i don't mind people coming to the conclusion that story joey has real joey's soul but if you would like to hear me out on what i precisely have in mind for this

[becomes an unskippable cutscene]

so when you look through the seeing tool in batim you can see these floating gold particles

to me it's joey's soul scattered through this entire ink dimension because he is the storyteller of it and influences the way it's been made and how it functions

and that can also include some creatures

creatures that "fully" have their own soul like susie!alice don't have anything to do with him but ones that don't have a full soul of another person? or no soul at all?

the ink demon (squish) and story joey have been created but not with an use of a sacrifice

they are soulless but they are a physical manifestation of joey's soul that really has been used for creating this entire world

however he is "anchored" to his ink counterpart and that's what it stands for

that's why story joey's and bendy's "souls" join together

because in the story that joey is telling ink creatures are made/perfected via sacrifice and via using people's souls in this process - so technically story joey is "supposed" to have a soul

...yeah i know it's a bit complicated but you must understand. i'm very autistic. njknjknkjnkj

2. joey's control over the story mostly boils down to creating situations, events, enforcing themes, introducing new characters and in rare occasions tweaking character's personalities

however all of these abilities have their limits and they don't just rely on his skills as a storyteller because those aren't really that bad, there is also some ink magic fuckery involved :)

for example story joey is NOT written how he would have liked him to be - all characters become a more exaggerated/cartoonish version of themselves - and through the lense of his regret and self hatred he has made out quite an asshole out of himself

like he already was one but he's managed to make him even worse

task failed successfully

3. little devil darling. is. something, alright

it's the first bendy cartoon to exist

and yet... we've never seen any of it. it's not up there with all the other cartoons in bendy's throne room in chapter 5, nor all the other rooms inside of the giant ink machine

however. there are two things

this image is a screenshot of @lucky-dreamfisher 's theory because their eye for details really helped me with some of my own theory/headcanon crafting :)

and i agree with the conclusion they reach here - since this cartoon is missing, the very first bendy cartoon, it means that bendy is prevented from reaching perfection

and preventing joey/bendy from reaching perfection just seemed like a great revenge to come from susie!alice :) additional points for the fact that i associate "who's laughing now?" with alice since this message also appears next to boris' corpse in chapter 1

i'm not saying that story joey would have made a perfect bendy otherwise, but this way the process will never be perfect from the technical side either

but also speaking of little devil darling

there is a poster of it inside of the giant ink machine while there are no other posters

i just thought that's interesting

[to-be-a-dreamer]

Okay so this post has gained a lot of traction and I've seen some questions in the tags and also a few other posts talking about the same thing so I just want to clarify what I mean when I say "Please don't reduce Lizzie's character and death to an extension of a man's" and similar things. (Just for some clarification before we start: I don't think this is some huge issue that we need to have a big fight about, but I have seen some people talking about it and I wanted to put in my two cents)

I know no one is doing this because they're misogynistic. I know there would be similar reactions if any of the men had the same arc over the season. I know people are telling the truth when they say the connections they're making between Lizzie and the male characters aren't because she's a woman. I know no one is thinking about her gender when they're saying these things and that is what bugs me, I think.

Fandom in general, but especially the MCYT fandom, has always had issues with the way we treat women. We have a tendency to reduce them to one or two characterizations (kind, mothering, vengeful, etc.) or to their relationships with men, things that aren't inherently bad things for a character to be. The issue comes from when that's the ONLY thing they ever get to be. They're not allowed to be as complex as the men. Again, I'm not at all saying that anyone is doing this on purpose, it's just a pattern that fandom culture as a whole seems to struggle with.

And when you have an issue like, that the answer isn't to ignore the gender aspect and treat all characters the same. You have to intentionally combat it. You have to take the time to deliberately give the female characters complex characterizations and interesting storylines outside of the men. It's equality vs. equity, you know?

If you've ever done research about writing POC characters, you've probably heard people say something like "Don't just write them like you would a white character because you might accidentally enforce stereotypes and biases you didn't even know existed. You have to be aware of those things so you can intentionally go against them." It's kinda similar to that in my head. You can't just say "I would do the same thing for a man" and be done with it because men and women have been treated very differently in fandom spaces and if we want to change that, we have to be intentional about how we write them.

I don't think there's anything inherently misogynistic about connecting Lizzie's death to the Canary Curse or Joel's revenge arc, but I would like her to also have her own character lore and a connection to the Watchers that isn't about a man. In a fandom space where women are constantly defined by their relationships with men and with a character who had as tragic a story as Lizzie, I would love for some of her lore to be about her and her alone. Connections to Jimmy and Joel are awesome! I love reading them! But I don't want that to be the only thing about her, even if that's what you would talk about if she were a man. She's not a man, she's a woman in a space where women are often mistreated or only seen as extensions of men. So even if you genuinely would say the same things about a man I just want you to challenge yourself to dig a little deeper with her character and find ways to give her something that is wholly and truly her own.

She had her own plans for revenge that went horribly wrong and ultimately led to her death! Even in her vengeful anger, she held a soft spot for Pearl because she remembered how she saved her in Session 1! She was forgotten and ignored by almost everyone! She tried to cheer herself up by doing something harmless and fun and that led to her being punched and then murdered for no reason! She wasn't even angry at Jimmy when he accidentally murdered her because she felt like it was her own fault! She tried so hard at everything she did and it still wasn't enough! She knew no one would come to save her from the caves! The only thing she asked of anyone was for them to come to her slumber party and still only one person showed up for her! She was forced to turn on her own husband to complete her task! She tried to make it up to him and it led to her being out of the game! No one even gave her a funeral when she was gone! She was forgotten and ignored in both life and death! There is so much more to her than being motivation for a man or breaking a man's curse, even if those are big things that happened.

Again, I'd like to make it very clear that I'm not angry about the way Lizzie has been treated, I'm mostly joking whenever I say things like in the original post. It's mostly just a feeling of "Come on I know we can do better than that!" And in the past few days I've seen a lot of people do some really amazing things with her character! So much amazing art and fanon lore! This isn't even a huge issue anymore because a lot of people have begun to explore her individual character now that the excitement about the Canary Curse has died down. This post is just an explanation for people who were asking questions or weren't sure what people meant in some posts from earlier in the week.

[simplysnaps]

What is Wayward Baby?

I started writing my Jojo's Bizarre Adventure fanfiction in April of 2019 because I was extremely into Jojo, but was running out of content to consume. I was watching YouTube videos about the franchise and came across a video titled "The Joestar that Everyone Forgot About" by xForts

The video got me thinking about that invisible baby from Diamond is Unbreakable, and it also brought to my attention that her name's kanji can be read as "Jo Joestar," which makes her an official Jojo. For those who aren't aware, every protagonist in Jojo can be reasonably nicknamed Jojo due to the spelling or pronunciation of their name. It's just a tradition at this point, and Shizuka Joestar technically qualifies.

I started thinking about if Araki ever intended to make a part about her. Was he just leaving his options open? Did he give her a Jojo name just to be cute? Either way, it was clear that he wouldn't ever tell one now, so I got to brainstorming about what it might have looked like. Enter "Wayward Baby."

Art by @laveerie and graphic design by SimplySnaps.

Wayward Baby started as a quick 3,000 word intro I wrote in a single night and published without much thought, and certainly no plan. All I knew was that Shizuka seemed neat, and I wanted to write about a little girl Stand User. I had ideas like "Bubblegum Bitch" in my back pocket from discussions with my siblings Mallaidh Anne and Brie where the three of us talked extensively about Jojo AU's and potential Stand abilities. With Mallaidh Anne's blessing, I used his idea for Bubblegum Bitch and created Marina to go alongside it.

Art by @gotham-gargoyle

With Marina and Bubblegum Bitch in the picture, things were looking great! But I wanted more original characters on the team with hopes that someday I might get to remove all the cannon characters from the picture and tell an arc with only my babies. That meant I'd need more characters! Enter Pepsi and Shirlie.

Remember when I said I got Bubblegum Bitch from Mallaidh Anne, and how a lot of my early ideas came from talking to MA and Brie about Jojo AU's? Well, that came to a head when I realized their AU Jojo selves would fit right at home in the cast. This is sorta getting into how the sausage is made, but I don't wanna make anyone think Pepsi and Shirlie aren't their own actual characters. I basically took their appearances, Stands, and one or two one-dimensional characteristics and then extrapolated two characters from the ingredients that way.

Art by @casualswords

This resulted in Pa-Pa-Power and Mist being added to the story as well! This art predates Wayward Baby by about three years, and it's actually the first art that was included in the story. (Art in the earlier chapters was actually added retroactively. This includes the story cover and Marina/Bubblegum Bitch's designs.)

The last remaining member of the OC team was Ripley. She began as a throwaway character to get in an argument with Marina, but I actually liked their chemistry so much that I decided to have her stick around for an entire chapter. Then they had an even gayer dynamic, and I knew it was over.

Agent Ripley, Art by @gotham-gargoyle

With the crew of five original babies, the story was finally ready to kick off proper! Please consider reading it if you haven't, I put a lot of work into it! Wayward Baby is ~534k words, and the series is still ongoing at 613,367! I'm not stopping anytime soon!

Art by @gotham-gargoyle

[menheramar]

Otogi No Uta Masterlist

This series has like 3 fans so I figured I'd make it easier for people to get into it. The story is told through a series of "movements," CD dramas, and a manga. It also has cute comics, posted on the official Mute Twitter. This list will focus on collecting sources for English speaking fans.

If you don't know anything about the series, you should start by reading this twitter thread by nemuruoogarasu! Feel free to look through the unofficial wiki as well, you can learn a little more about each band and character there. The series is mostly based on the bands and the characters, so pick your favorites :)

After that, listen to some of the songs. I have a playlist compiling them from the official channel here, and I have listed them below as well. There is no specific order you have to listen to them in. Be aware that some of the songs are not uploaded in their entirety, as some have to be purchased through the official drama CDs. The full mp3 files can accessed through amazon.jp.

Story

The story is a bit confusing to follow, and as of writing, not everything has been translated. I will be updating this as often as possible.

Basically, Otogi no Uta is about several bands fighting with special music powers in "Live Battles" against each other. This is in order to obtain "The End," a thing which can grant any wish. Those who posess music powers are called "Utaibito," which could roughly translate to "Melody User," "Musician," or "Music Person" in english (though I left it as is in the manga).

Manga

The manga serves as a backstory for each band and character. You should probably get to know the characters a little through the wiki first so you are not completely lost. Each two chapters go over the backstory of how one of the bands formed and what their goal is and set the group dynamics and personalities.

Also to note, each chapter title corresponds to a song by that band! All chapters have been translated by me.

Ch 0 - Prologue (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 1 - Ensa no Roubitsu Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 2 - Ensa no Roubitsu Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 3 - HelLO wOnder WorLd♣ Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 4 - HelLO wOnder WorLd♣ Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 5 - Kazoe Uta Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 6 - Kazoe Uta Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 7 - Weltreise Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 8 - Weltreise Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 9 - Reine Seele Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 10 - Reine Seele Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 11 - Jyuroku Yaman Hana Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 12 - Jyuroku Yaman Hana Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 13 - Rinnegyo Kei Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 14 - Rinnegyo Kei Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 15 - LOUDBRAVE Part 1 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 16 - LOUDBRAVE Part 2 (tumblr) (mangadex) Ch 17 - Epilogue (tumblr) (mangadex)

Movements

There are 45 "movements" (and 2 overtures and 1 prelude), starting here. Make sure you don't miss the tabs on the top of the page to read all of them! I believe it goes over all the bands meeting up to participate in the live battles.

Songs + Drama Tracks

From my understanding, the drama tracks that aren't part of a "vs" CD go over mostly the same as the manga but more in depth.

Note: The wiki has auto translated lyrics for untranslated songs! A lot is still untranslated, but I'll do my best to gather everything here. If you find any links to translations, please send them my way, I'll be sure to add them!

Shuan no Gokumon - Setsudan Club (translated lyrics) Togabito no Shirabe - Setsudan Club (translated lyrics) Ensa no Roubitsu - Setsudan Club (translated lyrics) Setsudan Club DRAMA TRACK 01 Setsudan Club DRAMA TRACK 02

Hitoribōshi - Issun-Bōshi Komo Yūgi - Issun-Bōshi Kazoe Uta - Issun-Bōshi Issun-Bōshi DRAMA TRACK 01 Issun-Bōshi DRAMA TRACK 02

Blinzen Parade - Bremüsik Gutes Fest! - Bremüsik Weltreise - Bremüsik Bremüsik DRAMA TRACK 01 Bremüsik DRAMA TRACK 02

Rosen Melodie - BLASSKAIZ Ritus - BLASSKAIZ Reine Seele - BLASSKAIZ BLASSKAIZ DRAMA TRACK 01 BLASSKAIZ DRAMA TRACK 02

HaPpY uNBirThDAy♠ - AlicexToxic (translated lyrics) HaVE A NicE tRIP♧ - AlicexToxic HelLO wOnder WorLd♣ - AlicexToxic Alice×Toxic DRAMA TRACK 01 Alice×Toxic DRAMA TRACK 02

Liberty - Momotroop Imperfect - Momotroop LOUDBRAVE - Momotroop Momotroop DRAMA TRACK 01 Momotroop DRAMA TRACK 02

Note: I will be shortening "Mushoku no Sora to Warau Ito" to "MSWI" Ochiyuku Hasu No Hanabira Rinne Wo Mitsumete - MSWI Nehan Jakujo - MSWI Rinnegyo Kei - MSWI MSWI DRAMA TRACK 01 MSWI DRAMA TRACK 02

Jyuroku Yaman Hana - Kashin no Okina SPECIAL VOICE DRAMA

Fantasie Nacht - Bremüsik VS Setsudan Club Kaimei no Doukoku - Bremüsik VS Setsudan Club (translated lyrics) Bremüsik VS Setsudan Club DRAMA TRACK 01 (translation) Bremüsik VS Setsudan Club DRAMA TRACK 02

Hitorigoto - Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI Keep on… - Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI Rinne no Kubiki - Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI DRAMA TRACK 01 Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI DRAMA TRACK 02 Issun-Bōshi vs Momotroop vs MSWI DRAMA TRACK 03

Möbius - BLASSKAIZ VS Alice×Toxic ♢WoNdeR PaRTy♦ - BLASSKAIZ VS Alice×Toxic BLASSKAIZ VS Alice×Toxic DRAMA TRACK 01 BLASSKAIZ VS Alice×Toxic DRAMA TRACK 02

Oshimai wo Kono Te Ni - all (translated lyrics) Medorē (DJ Remix) feat. Issun-Bōshi - connected the songs of 7 units from the 1st series by Issun-Bōshi Otogi no Uta 〜CHRONICLE〜 ALL STARS - DRAMA TRACK 01 Otogi no Uta 〜CHRONICLE〜 ALL STARS -DRAMA TRACK 02 Otogi no Uta 〜CHRONICLE〜 ALL STARS -DRAMA TRACK 03

[acourtofthought]

I’ve always been so sure of Elucien, they just make sense in my head, but this new interview got in my head. Do u think it is probable that after changing the Nesta+Lucien idea, Sarah changed the Elain+Lucien too?

Cause I feel like in ACOWAR she definitely intended to put them together, there WAS a buildup and tension between them, but after that book? Nothing. And now she says:

It’s like holding two dolls and being like, now kiss! And they won’t. … And then sometimes a different character will walk in and they will just… It feels like magic in a way where, as much as I tried to plot out things years in advance, I let my characters guide a story”

And

That’s something I find to be very interesting,” she replies. “What if the forces that be put you with the wrong person? Or what if you just decide, eh, I’m not interested. … There’s a lot to explore within the concept of mates and your agency about it.

And I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little bit sad and worried cause I don’t feel I can get on board with the Elriel romance if she goes in that direction :(

I don't think she changed the idea of Elain and Lucien because all SJM has done since she's mated them is build up their compatibility to an undeniable degree, kept Lucien loyal and respectful to Elain, and continue hammering home the idea that as much as Elain is trying to fit in with the Night Court, she doesn't quite fit in like her sisters.

I also don't think SJM has a habit of changing a characters love interest that often.

Yes, she thought Dorian and Aelin would originally end up together.

She thought Nesta and Lucien would originally end up together.

But I've never heard her say, "I thought she'd be with him until I realized she'd be with that other guy until I realized, no, it's actually Bachelor #3!!!"

So far as I can tell, it's usually her having a fuzzy idea about one pairing only to have them fall apart for their endgame and that's the one that sticks.

She felt confident enough in Elain and Lucien that she spoke of them vacationing together and it was only after she was signed on for the spin-offs that she suddenly went quiet about their mating bond. It doesn't mean she changed her mind, only that she knew she was now going to need to create a story where they remained at odds until it was time for their book and a way to keep the readers guessing.

"It's like holding two dolls and being like, now kiss! And they won't".

That actually makes me cackle because all I can see her the almost kiss with Elain and Az.

Elain and Lucien have not come within touching distance for a while and I think that's because SJM knows their dolls aren't leaving with their clothes on once they do.

And yes, SJM is valid in talking about mating bonds and agency because we've all seen it and I'm sure she's aware, there are a lot of critics of the trope who feel that it does take away agency.

I have read books where the second the FJM meets her mate, she's done for, there's no turning back and he's the one for her.

I think SJM likes to flip that on it's head a bit and has the character say, "but is this what I want?"

All she's doing is proving that even with mating bonds there is agency but the only way she can demonstrate that is to have the characters experiment outside their bonds to be sure.

And while those are the questions she asks herself, she even tells us that she may not explore a rejected bond. When bonds equal the pinnacle of happiness for her characters, why would she take away from them so they end up with something less than?

Then only way a rejected bond seems like it would be for the best is if a character ended up with a bond with the opposite sex she the preferred their own.

[cherokeegal1975]

Still promoting my work. You can listen to this for free on YouTube or read it for free on DeviantART under CherokeeGal1975 in my Books and Illustrations folder. Or you can buy it on Amazon either as a paperback or Kindle ebook.

Yes, it's an mpreg, but only because I hate most of what I find in that genera, so I decided to try it myself and remove all the elements I didn't like. It was my experimental plot that became a novel.

Anyway, here's the synopsis:

Johnathan was a family man and cargo runner and had no interest in getting entangled in royal affairs. So, when a deposed and fleeing princess arranges a meeting to give him a package to keep safe, he was reluctant to take it. But she convinced him to hide the royal seal until she needed it back despite himself. Unknown to him, she had also tricked him into carrying another precious cargo.

When Johnathan learns of the trick, he’s furious. When he confronts the princess about it, he learns it’ll be impossible to return it before it’s appointed time. Then she tells him of an unbreakable bond between them and ends a long search for someone he had lost as a boy. So, instead of revenge, he does what he can to help her. He must also avoid capture; the King would execute Johnathan if he ever found out about his secret cargo.

Anyway, there's talking rat companions in very positive roles. A little girl that's also a dragon my main character adopted as his daughter after rescuing her from a gladiator stable. Gay werewolves are briefly mentioned...I wrote those in not knowing that's a popular theme in this genera. I went on a literary dumpster dive and it gave me some insight into the minds of the writers. Hated the stories, but used what I learned in my own work.

There's a princess who saves herself, but uses my main character to do it...out of desperation only. She's not evil at all. She later makes it up to him.

I've got a couple of chapter's of backstory. Two chapters that jump through time a bit as a way to keep the pace of the story up. I was mindful of that because in my first novel, I was told it was too slow.

My first novel is titled Eden Symbiotic by Meriah Smith and it's available on Amazon and on DeviantART. Since I'm aware that people aren't likely to buy my work...though I'd love that if you did, I'm so broke...I'm more about honest feedback and maybe constructive criticism. The more the better.

[bi-bard]

I Know that I've Asked it Before but Please Let the Scale Tip Here in My Favor - Arthur Shelby Imagine [Peaky Blinders]

Title: I Know that I've Asked it Before but Please Let the Scale Tip Here in My Favor

Characters: Arthur Shelby, Child!Reader [about 10]

Based On: Aperture

Word Count: 1,337 words

Warning(s): homelessness, mention of death/violence

Summary: Arthur finds a kid hiding in the shadows of an alley. He never thought that a single act of kindness could lead to anything bigger than that. And yet, he finds himself hoping that he doesn't screw everything up in the long run.

Author's Note: The amount of math that I had to do in order for this story to work... oh my god.

Part Two of "July" [Release Date: 7/26/2023]

Part Three of "July" [Release Date: 7/28/2023]

YEARBOOK - SLEEPING AT LAST WRITING CHALLENGE MASTERLIST

---------------------

Misfortune seemed to trace the streets of Birmingham.

Those that seemed to escape such a path were only focused on the conditions of those less fortunate than them when it was convenient. Not much different than most places in the world, but that didn't make it much better.

(Y/n) hadn't been merely caught by the path of misfortune; they had been born in it. There was little hope of them getting out of that circle. It was a fact that they had been all too aware of since they could comprehend the world around them. That little hope only got squashed further when they were suddenly left completely alone.

They were young, but they felt as if they were nothing more than an infant when their mother leaves them behind for the first time.

It was cold. (Y/n) tried to be grateful that it wasn't raining, but that did nothing to stop the chill creeping through their jacket that was close to falling apart.

They were curled up in a corner, knees as close to their chest as possible. They wanted to close their eyes and relax, but they couldn't. They couldn't let themself be so vulnerable.

"Hey!"

(Y/n) almost jumped out of their skin when they heard someone shout. They looked up to see a man some distance away, looking at them. Fearing the worst, as they had learned to, (Y/n) let one hand move slowly, going for the shard of glass that would have to work until they could get their hands on a real weapon.

"What are you doing down here," the man asked, starting to walk closer. "Go home!"

(Y/n) didn't respond, instead sticking out their arm as the man moved. The man looked down at the piece of glass. (Y/n) could have sworn that he scoffed.

"Come on, you can't sit here, you're gonna scare away business," the man insisted. "Go."

"No."

"Excuse me? It wasn't a suggestion, kid. Go home."

"No."

"Listen, kid. I don't care what your parents did that was so fucking unfair that you wanted to hide out here, but I can't have a fucking kid hiding out here. You have to go."

"I can't."

"Your legs aren't broken."

"I don't have anywhere else to go!"

The man's eyebrows furrowed. "Where are your parents?"

"I only had my mom." (Y/n) never wanted to disclose this much of their personal history to some stranger, but they didn't have much of a choice now. "She got sick. They wouldn't even let me see her before she died!"

The man paused.

(Y/n) could see the gears in his head moving. They wanted to know what he was thinking. They wanted to understand the paths that his thoughts went along. All they could do in that moment was hold on a little tighter to the broken bottle.

"Come on," the man muttered, nodding toward the building. (Y/n) didn't move. The man turned around again. "You want some food or not?"

"Why should I trust you?"

"Fine, stay out here-"

"Wait!" (Y/n) scrambled from their place on the ground. They shoved their broken bottle into their jacket just in case. "Who are you?"

"Name's Arthur Shelby."

That made (Y/n) fight the urge to freeze where they were. Of course, they knew who the Shelbys were. Only a fool wouldn't.

"Come on," he held the door to the pub open so (Y/n) could walk inside. They were directed to a small room in the corner. "Wait there."

"I'm (Y/n)," they called just before he could step out. "(Y/n) (Y/l/n)."

"Don't really need to know, kid," Arthur shrugged before stepping back outside.

(Y/n) sat at the small table. They were silent, taking the time to take in the appearance of the room. There were three walls separate from the two that were shared with the outside of the building. There was this fogged glass in the potential windows.

(Y/n) wondered about the purpose of the room. The reputation of the Peaky Blinders caused a thousand ideas to cross (Y/n)'s mind. All of them were what one would expect from a child who had only heard stories from their parents. Like the Boogeyman.

Arthur came back a little while later and set a bowl and a spoon were placed in front of (Y/n).

There were a few minutes before (Y/n) grabbed the spoon and dragged the bowl over to them.

"How long have you been on the street," Arthur asked.

"A few months," (Y/n) confessed between bites of food.

"Months?"

They nodded to him. "Hasn't been so bad. Most people feel bad for a little kid on the streets."

"You had a broken bottle as a weapon-"

"I said most, not all. Some people see a kid as an easy target."

Arthur took a deep breath and let the kid eat without another interruption. Much like he had been outside, he was running through all of the choices he had.

He could let this be a singular act of kindness. Shove the kid out after they were done, tell them to never look at or for him and to never tell anyone else about that day, and finally go on about his life.

Or he could help. He could help the little kid that had been curled up in the alley. The kid with no future, no one waiting for them, and nothing to lose other than their life. Arthur knew the cruelty of this city. Hell, he was a reason why it was so cruel.

A heavy sigh escaped him as the kid finally set down the spoon. "You got a place to go? Anywhere at all?"

The kid shook their head.

"Any family at all?"

Again, the kid shook their head. "My mom ran to Birmingham to find a new life. A better life. She left everyone else behind and wouldn't tell me where they were."

There was a long pause. "You'll stay with me."

"Why," the kid asked.

"Because you'll get killed out there. Very least I can do is teach you how to fight."

"You want me to stay and learn from the Peaky Blinders?"

"Yeah, sure, call it that."

"Does that mean that I'm part of the gang?!"

"Woah, woah, calm down," Arthur motioned for the kid to bring down their obvious excitement. "I never said that and don't go around saying that I did. I am making sure that you don't get yourself murdered, got it?"

"Got it!"

"Good. Make sure you're finished. We're leaving as soon as I get back."

Arthur made it seem like he was stepping out to talk to someone important. Instead, he was stepping out to figure out when his mouth had decided to run so far ahead of his brain.

He had no right dragging this kid into this life. They would better off if he had told them to run off.

Arthur was a mess. He never wanted to speak about it, but it doesn't mean that he never recognized it. Beyond just his work with the Peaky Blinders, he had a host of problems that would likely do nothing other than ruin this kid's life.

But now, he had promised to protect this kid for some unknown period of time.

It was mad. Every moment of it.

If he had watched someone like him do this, he'd laugh in their face.

An idiot. That's what he was.

However, even if he was entirely aware of such a fact, he couldn't stop it. All he could do was stand there and think of the thousand ways that this could all go wrong.

Arthur closed his eyes for a moment. No one would call him a holy man, by any means, but that wouldn't stop him from trying.

He pleaded for a little mercy. Not for him or his actions, but for (Y/n). For their sake. Their future. Their life.

The chances felt slim. Impossible, even. But he still tried.

He stood there and begged to not mess this up... not completely, at least.

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[you-cant-spell-subtext-without]

RWRB - thoughts

Already did this on the bird, so might as well retype it here:

Some thoughts on Red White and Royal Blue, and why I feel a little disappointed in some of the reactions I've seen because I need to caffeinate and also type this out into the void.

I want to preface this by saying that obviously we all consume and experience media in a vast myriad of unique and different ways, and my opinions aren't stated for the purpose of diminishing or belittling anyone else's. If you read this & disagree that's your right!

I went into RWRB expecting it to be NOTHING like the book (for ex I was aware major characters had been cut and some exposition revised). Also, the book is generally better than the adaptation - that's my mantra (w exception of Good Omens and Sandman; the Neil Gaiman effect is strong).

What I did NOT expect was how MONUMENTALLY touched I would be by such open, romantic, and intimate representation of a m/m love story on my screen. There are multiple scenes between Alex & Henry in RWRB that I have never seen so touchingly depicted before (and perhaps I'm missing other movies that do it! Drop them in the replies!) RWRB earns that R rating but it does so in such a gorgeous way - it show cases the love of these two men as a beautiful, NORMALIZED thing.

I know, you're saying - that's the bare minimum!

And it is. But, the state of our world, especially when it comes to the representation and the rights of our community - is such that I feel the need to take joy in even what is the bare minimum for people like us. (Speaking of people like us - the B in LGBTQ plus is not a silent letter!!) You can read about the importance both Casey and the director of RWRB placed on bi rep in this film in this piece.

A very important example is the sex scene in the movie, which is likely the most explicit m/m sex scene I've seen in a mass distributed highly promoted film since - ever? This is important because it's done ROMANTICALLY. And mind you - it's still leaps and bounds from explicit sex scenes in a het rom com film, which is why it's so important that we have this.

Normalizing intimate contact between couples other than those who are heterosexual is monumentally important. I for one would hate to see any negativity leveled at this film due to the (fair & justified!) disappointment folks may be having because it's different from the books take away from that very important aspect. (Also why aren't we talking about the trans rep?! Aneesh Sheth stole the show for me as Amy).

I think that's where my feelings of sadness ab some of the reactions are stemming from. I had similar thoughts when folks were upset over S&B not being identical to the books as well, but it feels even more vital for us to celebrate RWRB for everything it brings to the table and to our community instead of focusing on what its missing from the books.

I am very grateful to have a story like RWRB in existence, and I hope it leads to many more, because queer love is beautiful in all aspects, and it deserves to be seen and celebrated in ALL mediums.