#((Also sorry for how wordy this got; got caught up setting a scene.))

[muckduckgoose]

@bonkersdbobcat​ (source)

Honker watched the officer as the latter read over the mayor’s note. Despite the feline’s confident assessment of himself, he seemed to give off a rather ‘new guy’ aura to him. Not helping was the fact that Honker couldn’t seem to recall seeing this particular officer outside of the occasional appearance in W.A.N.D.A.’s city surveillance footage, none of which exactly showed him having a good time.

Of course, someone at least deemed him fit to be his official escort, and Honker usually gave most people he met the benefit of the doubt regardless, so he nodded along respectfully before responding. “Oh, most of it’s just analyzing the layout based on building schematics Mayor Owlson let me download to my tablet,” he reached around to pat his backpack, indicating where the tablet in question currently rested, “and calculating the most cost-effective renovation plans to convert the existing structures into living spaces for the homeless community.”

The homeless situation had, unfortunately, worsened since the catastrophe select few called ‘the Ramrod Incident’. Honker could’ve asked that Darkwing Duck have been allowed to be his escort for this, but the masked mallard had been a bit too busy as of late dealing with supervillain copycats that’d begun to spring up not long after the fictional Fearsome Four were flushed back to their home reality.

“I’m told City Hall is already looking into a building firm to take on the actual architectural work once I put together a concrete proof of concept.”

[yorit1]

Superman and Stiles

Stiles was excited today was his first day at the Daily Planet. Stiles was going to be working as an investigative reporter. Stiles always loved unravelling mysteries as a child, and now he was going to work on unravelling the world’s biggest mysteries. His dad is a Sheriff in Beacon Hills, and as a teenager, Stiles would always go to crime scenes and kept an evidence board to help discover who had committed the crime. Stiles does not sleep until he uncovers the truth. He hopes that his first day at work will be successful and he will be able to dig for some information. 

Stiles was so nervous that he ran into someone. When he looked up, he saw a good looking man with dark hair and light eyes behind glasses, and he had a kind smile. 

“I’m so sorry,” The man said to Stiles. “No, um, that was me. The first day and all, I’m kind of nervous.”

“I’m sure you’ll Um do great. I’m Hale. I mean Derek Hale, reporter, here. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.” Derek said as he helped his hand out to Stiles. 

Stiles shook hands with Derek and felt relived maybe this day would be looking up. 

“Stilinkski, Hale, I see that the two of you have met. Hale, I want 1000 words on the oil spill on my desk by tomorrow Stilinski you will be assisting him.” The editor Finstock said. 

Derek walked towards his desk and showed Stiles his seat. 

Stiles first day on the job goes well, and he and Derek had finished the assignment. He was able to do some investigating and was able to get to know his new coworker. Stiles was walking home when he suddenly saw a man with a gun standing in front of him. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Stiles muttered under his breath.

“Money now.” The guy said. 

I don’t have any on me. Let me look, nope.” Stiles said as he patted his sides, searching to see if he had something and returned empty. 

The robber was getting fed up with Stiles and shot his gun. Stiles looked at the barrel and suddenly felt himself in arms and being lifted, and the gunshot whizzed past below him. Stiles looked and saw he was in the air. He looked and saw that superman was holding him. 

“I had that,” Stiles said as Superman let him down when it was safe. 

“Yea, it looked like that. I’m always happy to help.” Superman said and went to punch the guy that tried to rob stiles when he saw him getting up towards them. “Just call my name, and ill come to you,” Superman said and flew away. 

Stiles looked up and was shocked; he could not believe that Superman had just saved him. There was something familiar about Superman, and Stiles was going to try to figure it out. When Stiles had questions, he always tried to find answers for them. All in all, it was an eventful first day. 

Derek was flying to the fortress of solitude, and the whole time he was thinking of that young man he had met, stiles. Stiles was so bright and had beautiful amber eyes that showed his curiosity and his thirst for knowledge. Derek instantly felt the connection to him and knew that he was something special. Derek could not believe that he had to save him that way. He sure was wordy and always liked getting the last word in and never backed down even if he would get shot. Derek knew that the human was the right person for him. Derek could not stop thinking of the feel of him in his hands, the way he smelled and feeling his heartbeat. 

The next thing Derek knows, he is at the fortress of solitude. He lands and places the stone in place to open the fortress. He has a few things to work out today and will do his best to figure things out. 

“Hello, Kal El,” the AI image of his dad said. 

“I met someone today, and I think they are the one. They almost got themselves killed. I’m working with them, and I don’t know what to do. Should I try and woo them, or should I just focus on my job of protecting the world?”

“Your role as Superman is to save the world, but you cannot do the work alone,” The AI said. 

“Where is Gerard Argent?”

“Gerard has gone underground. We have not seen him in months.”

So Derek had his role in protecting people, but he will also try to court Stiles. There was something extraordinary about that man, and he wanted to get to know him better. 

Derek suddenly hears a commotion a bridge was collapsing and a bus was about to fall into the sea. Derek hurried and flew over to where he was needed and caught the bus just on time before it landed in the water. Derek lifted it back up and placed it on the road back in safety. 

Derek landed and saw Stiles standing right in front of him. 

“Great save, Superman. Can I ask you a few questions for the Daily Planet?” Stiles asked. 

“Yes, ask away,” Superman answered. 

“How does it feel to be this city’s hero? You always come to the rescue right on time. Is there anyone on team superman that helps you out?” Stiles asked. 

“Currently, I am working alone. The fight to save the city never stops, and I will do all that I can to save the world.” Superman answered. 

“What does being Superman mean to you?” Stiles asked. 

“It means that anyone in trouble will be saved hope and justice for all.” Superman answered. 

Stiles asked superman a few more questions, and Superman dutifully answered all of them. 

“Thanks for answering all my questions,” Stiles said. 

Stiles moved to get up but tripped over his two feet and was about to fall, but superman caught him and set him right. 

Derek relished holding Stiles close to him. There was something so right with him being in his arms. 

Stiles knew that there was something familiar about Superman, and the more time he spent with him, the more he reminded him of someone else. Stiles was going to try to figure out why Superman was so familiar to him. 

“Stay safe, Stiles,” Superman said and flew away. 

Stiles had a lot to write for this report. He was new on the daily planet and just got a significant scoup. He competed with Matt for the permanent reporter’s position, and this interview with Superman should get him significant points. Stiles had a dream of revealing the truth and consistently publishing and uncovering what was going on, and he would not let Matt get in his way. He knew that he could do excellent work and his first day on the job proved that to him. He will continue to work his most challenging and tell the Daily Planet readers what was happening in the world. 

Stiles Hurried home to write the article and send it to the editor. Hopefully, he will have more run-ins with Superman.

[quickspinner]

Hi, I kind of have some questions that I’m curious about. Let’s say ML is getting a reboot and you were a writer hired for the show. 1. What would you change? And which episodes would you remove? 2.How would you have written Luka into season 1? 3. How would have made the interactions between Luka and Marinette work? 4. How would you write Lukanette to be endgame?

I feel like this is an essay question on a final exam! 😆 I’m going to have to be general by necessity here or I’d be writing several pages of thesis for weeks. (edit: and even so it is super long and wordy, so just imagine how bad it could have been) 

1. What would I change?

Honestly, I don’t think I would change a lot of the basic premise. I like the show and I like the characters as a whole, but I would definitely tweak a few things in the storytelling approach. 

a) I would remove some of the restrictions they’ve placed on themselves, such as their commitment to each episode being as stand alone as possible. It’s possible to have continuity and still have an episode format where young kids can jump in at any point and understand what’s going on. You can have character growth and consistent timelines without making it so that anyone who misses an episode is lost, and you can have the occasional two-parter episode if you have a heavy point to make. If this ultimately ends up shifting the target audience a little older, then so be it, although I don’t think it’s especially necessary. I feel like one of the show’s big problems is that they’re trying to tell a story that’s outgrown their framework, and it’s something that should have been planned for from the beginning.

b) I would rework their ‘forumula’ of having Marinette make a mistake and then learn from it. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the idea of ‘each episode should teach a lesson’ but they’re not committed enough to it, and it’s a mistake to think that just because Marinette is the protagonist, she has to be the one making all the mistakes and learning all the lessons. As a result we end up with Marinette suffering for no good reason and apologizing in situations where she did nothing wrong, and the ‘lesson’ she was meant to learn ends up muddled and confusing. It’s okay if not every episode has a lesson. As a parent I don’t ask that every single moment of my children’s entertainment be educational, just that it not be actively harmful, and the current presentation often is thanks to their determination to blame Marinette and the confusing messaging that results. So, follow through with that lesson formula most of the time, but let the appropriate character learn a lesson, and address it more clearly. 

Gamer 2.0 is a perfect example. The worst thing Marinette did was disregard Max’s feelings about the tournament so that she could play with Adrien, and they could have acknowledged that while also having Max learn the lesson that sometimes you have to learn to lose gracefully, and that just because effort isn’t rewarded the way you wanted it to be, it doesn’t mean it was without value. Or Reflekdoll; both Juleka and Alya had lessons to learn about communicating clearly and paying attention to other people’s feelings respectively. 

c) Expanding from that, I’d have the narrative hold people accountable more equitably across the board. A good 90% of my frustration with Adrien/Chat Noir is that the narrative never holds him accountable for his actions (I’m excluding NY here because I have a whole other essay’s worth of Stuff to say on that, but yes, I will acknowledge that it was at least a minimal step forward towards holding him accountable). What I mean by that is, there is never any doubt that Chloe is behaving badly. There is never any doubt that Lila is not a good person. The narrative makes it clear through their presentations, the other characters’ reactions to them, and the consequences of their actions, that the way they behave is not okay.

Likewise, the narrative never fails to condemn Marinette for her mistakes, often through ridicule and humiliation and sometimes by consequences far out of proportion of her actual mistakes. 

Adrien/Chat is never on the receiving end of that. None of the things he does that we’re all so salty about are ever that bad, certainly no worse than many other characters. However, he’s never held to account for it. There’s never any apology, and rarely any consequences. Copycat is maybe the closest episode to holding Chat accountable, but even so there’s no acknowledgement or apology required for Chat himself. Because, as per point b above, Marinette is the one who makes mistakes and learns lessons and so it’s her mistakes that we focus on. I was utterly shocked in Frozer when he leaned forward and told her to use her lucky charm instead of saying “hey, sorry I ran off and left you to face the villain alone, which might have gotten you seriously hurt if I hadn’t happened along in the nick of time.” It wasn’t fair of him to be upset with Ladybug in Siren when she agreed to do what she could to get Fu to fill him in (and followed through) but there was no apology for that either. He was right to be upset but he was mad at the wrong person, and at the end of the day he got what he wanted without actually having to admit that he did anything wrong or unfair, and that’s frustrating. Glaciator came close, when he graciously accepted Ladybug’s rejection, but there was no change after that to drive it home (and he wasn’t held accountable for lying to his friends to ditch their ice cream plan either). Again, none of these things individually make him a bad person or a horrible character, but it’s grating to see him constantly let off the hook, usually with Marinette having to take responsibility instead.

Not only Chat, but Alya as well, and we’ve actually seen Nino do some apologizing so that’s a positive start. Get past the idea that Marinette is the only one who can make mistakes and learn a lesson; the kids will learn it just as well from someone else. Go watch some 80′s cartoons, geeze, they were masters of the morality-based narrative. 

Let us see Chat (and others) apologize and then (per point a) improve his behavior, maybe getting upset and caught up in his feelings again but this time recognizing that they have a job to do first. Let everybody grow, instead of pounding on Marinette again and again and again. 

d) More time with the side characters. I don’t know how I’d manage it tbh, half an hour is not a lot of time, but I would love to see more of the friendships and especially the art club. Perhaps if the show were less focused on making Marinette the lesson of every episode, there would be more time for the other characters to grow and learn and be explored.

Which episodes would you remove?

I don’t think there are any episodes that I would remove...maybe Party Crasher because that episode was just...weird...but I did like the friendship aspect of it (this is one of those ones where their formula gets muddy and confusing, because...”don’t tell lies and make crappy excuses to your friends” is really what we were supposed to get from that? So, I don’t know if that episode was salvageable. Almost all the other episodes that really give me cringe (hello, Puppeteer 2) contained important moments that could have been delivered in a less upsetting matter if the points above were addressed. Stormy Weather 2 was pretty pointless, but it wouldn’t have been if there had been any actual continuity for a clip show to catch you up on. (while we were chatting today @verfound made a great point though about how Puppeteer 2 could have been used as a clip show as they walked through the wax museum, and I had to agree that would have been much more effective).

2.How would you have written Luka into season 1?

I honestly don’t think I would have? I think he came in at right about the right time. I would have maybe given him a cameo in Reflekta just to set up Captain Hardrock a little more, but other than that, I don’t think it was time for him to come on the scene yet.

3. How would have made the interactions between Luka and Marinette work?

I actually really like how things are now. I would like to see Marinette be more direct and honest with him. Right now, Luka consistently arranges everything so that she never has to admit anything she isn’t ready for. He addresses her feelings without her ever having to bring them up, admit to them, or voice them on her own, and while that’s very kind and I feel like both Luka’s perceptiveness and his kindness and desire to make her comfortable are very central to his character, I would like Marinette tp at some point acknowledge his feelings and her own to his face. Right now their relationship has a level of honesty that I feel like is lacking in most of the others, but it’s mainly due to Luka’s perceptiveness and willingness to be honest himself than it does with anything Marinette’s done, so I’d like to see her exhibit a little more agency there. 

4. How would you write Lukanette to be endgame?

Ooof...I mean, I feel like I addressed some possibilities for that in Finding Harmony and in Second Chance. Marinette has to get over her feelings for Adrien, either by recognizing that she’s just ready to let go (Finding Harmony), dating him and letting the relationship come to a natural end (Second Chance), or confessing her feelings to him and being rejected so that she can get through the heartbreak and move on. The push-and-pull situation the show has her in right now was sustainable for a while, and for seasons one and two it felt like there was some growth there so her constant flailing didn’t seem totally useless. It seemed like she was getting closer to telling him, like she was getting more comfortable with him over time, like there was still the possibility of him liking her back. Up through Despair Bear I was on board with the Adrien is oblivious/in denial of his feelings theory and all was well. 

But as he continued to choose Kagami over Marinette over and over then Marinette’s flailing began to be more pathetic and hopeless, and I became less willing to believe that Adrien had any real feelings for Marinette beyond friendship, and that’s where the ‘Whatever chance there was, I think I missed it’ conversation in Finding Harmony came from. There was a moment where maybe if she had been able to confess they could have been something, but she didn’t, and the moment has passed and now she has to move on.

So yeah, to me there has to be a breaking point of some kind that gives Marinette that push to start making an effort to get over her feelings (Puppeteer 2 would have been the perfect place for it, and I think it was after that episode that I actually started writing Finding Harmony). She’d have to put in effort, it would be hard, and she would do everything she was attempting to do in the NY special and more, and it would take time and support and it would hurt. There’d be Lukanette comfort and support just like there has been up until now, but they wouldn’t date until Marinette reached a point where she really felt free. 

Second Chance was more along the lines of what I expected to actually happen, in that Marinette and Adrien would get together for a while, and then post series there would be a breakup and a reunion with Luka where they rekindle their feelings. 

I haven’t written a fic where Marinette confesses and is rejected because I just don’t want to deal in that kind of pain. But, Miracle Queen is honestly an acceptable substitute, where she sees Adrien’s budding relationship with someone else and resigns herself to it and commits to moving on. I just would want season 4 to pick up at that point, and move her through that difficult time of trying to break all those old habits, trying to find a way to be his friend without indulging in ways that are unhealthy for her (like long tight hugs and sniffing his cologne). I don’t think rushing straight into another relationship is a healthy answer for either Marinette or Luka. This is something Marinette has to work through, and Luka can support her, but she has to do the work herself. 

So that’s my off-the-cuff, didn’t study, winging it exam answer. Hope it satisfies some of your curiosity!

[audreygallegoba2a]

Work in progress

Between yesterday and today, I have been able to write a whole draft that I am quite happy with. After talking with Lynsey I have been thinking about how could I approach this adaptation, and since then I have had the peace of mind that everything is acceptable, basically. I didn’t have to be the canonic hero’s journey or similar. So, I have been trying many very different approaches these days as well as thinking a lot in my free times such as every shower every day, fun times.

One of the last approaches I had a go with was to interpret the main actions of the book but in a more abstract way and maybe changing up the order and such. Trying for a few hours with this concept led me to the idea that finally worked out for me: I would focus only on one of those events and maybe fit the rest of them inside of this main one. 

This event was, specifically, the party at Jekyll’s with Utterson and Lanyon, from the ‘REMARKABLE INCIDENT OF DR. LANYON’. It caught my attention because of everything else this dinner was.

Jekyll is ‘back’ and healthy again

Utterson, Lanyon and Jekyll’s last dinner together 

Last time Lanyon and Jekyll see each other

After this, they both get sick

Lanyon dies afterwards

Jekyll goes back to not be ok, he got worse, in fact

And so I mix this evens up a bit as well as some others, change up the era, and some other aspects too, and I ended up with my setting: an informal dinner between this three good old friends at Jekyll’s.

Main Characters:

Dr Henry Jekyll  → Henry

Mr Gabriel Utterson  → Gabriel

Dr Hastie Lanyon  → Hastie

Extras:

Mr Edward Hyde  → Señor Eduardo ( Henry wearing a bullfighter outfit/eating Spanish ham )

Poole  → Reginald ( Hastie wearing a swimsuit and armbands )

This name was inspired by Reginald Jeeves that appears in short stories and novels by  P. G. Wodehouse, ‘Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie Wooster’. And so I did a simile with the two servant characters and used Jeeves name instead.

Little Girl  → Hastie wearing pigtails and colourful beads, and a dress

This is a rough screenplay for Hastie, let me tell you that already.

This adaptation has not the intention of telling the Strange Case in a different way or anything like that but instead just takes inspiration from it. Everything that happens in it comes from somewhere in the book. During the screenplay, many events and references make an appearance:

Dinner at Jekyll’s: Utterson, Lanyon and Jekyll

Jekyll looks like he is doing better than before

Their friendship

The wine

Utterson’s cousin told him the story about the door 

The two doors

The little girl and her whole encounter with Hyde

Jekyll’s lab and his transformation

The encounter between Utterson and Hyde at the door

Hyde’s attitude to him

Hyde's cane and the way he walks

Hyde being wanted throughout London

Lanyon’s death ( i am so sorry for some reason )

Lanyon’s envelope to Utterson

Utterson by his fireside and Poole’s visit

‘Foul play’ and his concern

They going to Jekyll’s to see what is wrong with him

Poole confess Jekyll’s condition to Utterson

The papers to Poole

and a bunch of almost literal quotes said mainly by Gabriel Utterson.

Right now, the story is still not finished, last words are being said by Henry after Gabriel tells him about Hastie’s death. Things that I would like to include for me to call it an end are: some kind of link to the envelope but back to the logical world, the fact that they ordered Spanish food or something like that night, and so that’s why the references, the possibility of Henry dying in the near future - depression/suicide - and maybe some kind of final reference for Gabriel linked to the end of the story for Utterson in the book.

This whole thing that I have been working on is pretty weird, and I don’t know if it is just me, but I think it could work and makes sense? To me? I don't even know anymore.

Also worth mentioning: I wish I could mention in the screenplay every animated transition between different scenes or scenarios, as well as specific camera shots or movements. I see it as a whole fluid long sequence that links scenes seamlessly. And so... yeah. I would come back and reflect some more thoughts as soon as I get or remember them.

- Pls excuse my wordiness today, too many hours in front of a computer only thinking and writing. If it were drawing it would be a whole different story.

[frederator-studios]

Meet Ryan North, Writer on Bravest Warriors

And lots of other stuff too: you probably know Ryan from his writing on the Adventure Time and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl comic book series. He’s also the mind behind the iconic Dinosaur Comics, in which clip art T-Rex, Utahraptor and Dromiceiomimus philosophize on the tri-weekly. He may be the biggest comics star out there who doesn’t draw!? Regardless, I’d like to see a challenger face off against him; he is, apparently, very tall. I caught up with Ryan just as he was in the midst of ECCC 2018:

When did you know you wanted to be a writer, or did it just kind of happen?

There was no "sit straight up in bed at midnight, suddenly wide awake, and whisper 'I want to be a writer'" moment, if that's what you're wondering!  But it's always been something I enjoyed. I went to school for computer science (and have a masters in computational linguistics) but when I graduated I had the choice to a) get a real job, or b) be a writer, and all I had to do to become a writer was fail to get a real job. And it turns out it's really easy to not get a job!

Having studied computer science, you created tech for webcomic authors - how did those projects come about? What other ways have your programming skillz intersected with your creative career?

That's true! The thought process was basically, "There is a service that does not exist, so I guess I'll have to write it.” There were a couple: RSSPECT for rss feed generation (remember RSS? I MISS IT), and Project Wonderful for advertising that doesn't suck. That continues on to this very day!  And of course when it came to writing Squirrel Girl for Marvel, I made her a computer science student too, so there's the intersection.

So if you don’t draw, what motivated you to get into comics - were you just that big a fan?

I was more of a fan in abstract, really - I couldn't get comics growing up, and this was before the internet. But then when I got a job as an undergrad, I took my first paycheque and walked into a comic shoppe and just started buying things at random, and loved them all, so it was nice that my theoretical interest in comics was actually real. I started Dinosaur Comics - my fixed art webcomic - in my last year of undergrad.

Did you discover the dinosaur artwork for Dinosaur Comics - or did they find you?

Some would argue, quite convincingly, that they are a universal constant, and can never be either created or destroyed.

What do you consider your finest accomplishment?

I would like to go to two places: Antarctica and space. I sell plush T-Rexes from Dinosaur Comics at topatoco.com/qwantz, and some AMAZING READERS brought him to both the South Pole, and the edge of space. It is a weird feeling to be jealous of a fictional character you created, but it's a good one. And I'm gonna take all the credit for T-Rex's accomplishments here, even though I had nothing to do with them.

What can you tell us about your writing process? What would you recommend to young writers trying to get disciplined/motivated?

Figure out where and how you work. You have to be honest with yourself. For example, I know that I work best in the morning, and I rarely do good work after 5pm. So I get up at 7am and I write until it's 5pm, and then I stop. I also know that I work best alone, so I don't go to coffee shops or hang out with friends to write. If I'm working, I'm alone. Knowing this lets me set up the circumstances that help me get work done. It's more fun to hang out with friends, but at least this way when I do it I know it's hanging out, so I don't try to work during it, and I can enjoy it for what it is instead of feeling guilty about not working.

Does it work pretty smoothly, writing comics like Squirrel Girl and Adventure Time and having them illustrated by other (super talented) folks?

I've been really lucky, I think, in always collaborating with amazing people.  Braden Lamb and Shelli Paroline were my partners on Adventure Time, and we just clicked as a team and we're still great friends, years after the book ended.  We even made our own comic together: The Midas Flesh, published by Boom! BOX - it's about King Midas in space. And with Squirrel Girl it's the same - Erica (Henderson) and I get along great and my favourite thing is getting back art from her - or any artist - because you get to see your words and scenes transformed into pictures that are even better than you imagined.  

What are your thoughts about writing branching narratives / "make your own story" books - are they the Future? What are the biggest challenges, and what have you been most proud of in that area?

I mean, I like them! I like how they capture a lot of the semantics of gaming in a different medium. The challenge is keeping track of state: in a game you can pick up a sword or not pick up a sword, and that's easy: just set a variable. In a book you need to have a choice to pick up that sword, and then every option after that choice has to be duplicated, or else you lose track of whether they picked up the sword or not. There are ways to get around this but most of them involve cheating in some way (ie: just asking the reader if they have the sword, to which they will always say, "Oh yes absolutely, I just love swords especially now that I know they're useful.” So it's always something to keep in mind.

I guess the most impressive thing we had happen was the Kickstarter for To Be or Not To Be: my chooseable-path version of Hamlet.  We raised over $580,000 (for a book!), which was the most-funded publishing project on Kickstarter at the time. That was a crazy book.

How did you come to write for Bravest Warriors?

I was already a fan of the show (having come in after the first season) so it was a matter of saying yes when I was asked if I was interested!  I WAS.

What are your favorite things about Beth, Danny, Wallow and Chris?

For me it's the teamwork: these are people who mess up - and save - the universe on the regular. Also, I love competent characters, and Beth is clearly the most competent character of the bunch. BETH4EVER.

What's your favorite thing about Bravest Warriors in general?

The series is set both in the future AND in space, which are my favourite time periods / general locales to be in. It opens things up to basically any kind of story you can imagine, which is terrific. No idea is too out-there for the Bravest Warriors, which is super fun for a writer, and hopefully super-fun to watch too!  In my first episode (RoboChris) I got to invent an evil robot Chris, and everyone said "Okay, awesome, let's absolutely go with that”.

If you had to describe your writing style in a few words, how would you?

Enthusiastic! And also maybe a little teeny eensie bit wordy.

What are your favorite cartoons, and the biggest inspirations of your work?

I grew up on The Real Ghostbusters, and I loved that that show wasn't afraid to tackle big ideas in what was supposed to be just a tie-in show for a goofy movie (SORRY BUT GHOSTBUSTERS IS GOOFY). It's a lesson I try to take with me: you don't need to talk down to kids, teens, anyone: they're smart, and they'll pick up what you're laying down. Plus that show had Slimer, which I will argue RIGHT NOW is the original Catbug. The longer I get into answering this question the more parallels I see!

Would you ever want to make your own cartoon?

OBVIOUSLY, THAT WOULD BE AMAZING.

(Slimer. Anyone want to draw him and Catbug as best pals?!)

Which 5 books / comics / movies / seasons of TV would you have on a desert island - a desert island with a functional entertainment center?

1. Babylon 5 (all 5 seasons, though we all know you only really need seasons 1-4 and then the “Sleeping in Light” finale in Season 5)

2. A complete print-out of Wikipedia, bound as a book in order to satisfy the requirements of this question.

3. Star Trek TNG (all 7 seasons, thank you)

4. A complete run of Action Comics (because that's gotta keep me busy for a while)

and let's say for the last one...

5... the Bravest Warriors comics by my good friend Joey Comeau (THEY ARE AWESOME AND SO IS HE).

Are you living the dream? Cause it kinda seems like you're living the dream?

I'm 2m tall and I've got my own dog and I've only gotten trapped in a hole once!  THAT IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF LIVING THE DREAM.

Thanks for the interview Ryan! Best of luck in all current and future projects. We look forward to seeing more of the work you do and the holes you get yourself out of.

- Cooper

[mcwriting]

A Day Without Coffee

     Ayyyyyy guess who’s back again!! So I decided to wait on the pt 2 on A Flight to Remember and write the other story I mentioned in the a/n in AFTR. So, once again, Tom Holland x Reader bc I’m extra. Also this is literally the longest, most paragraph-y thing I’ve ever written soooo… Btw written in a sort of first person and slang text so if certain things don’t sound descriptive enough it’s because I’m trying to mimic regular-type speaking.

Fandom: (As always) Marvel bc Spider-man

Ship: Tom Holland (Sleepy!Tom) x Reader

Setting: Atlanta/An interview room

Word Count: 1,848 (wow that’s a lot my bad)

Warnings: Probably none other than one “cuss” word and Tom acting like an idiot lol; also this isn’t really a warning but it’s a little wordy (hopefully y'all are into that)

Rating: K+ (Maybe? I never know how to rate these lol. Rlly only bc I say the one word at the end)

Background: Reader was cast in the Spider-man Hoco sequel and recalls a story about when Tom made a fool of himself in front of you while in an interview. Reader began dating Tom at the end of shooting the movie.

---

     Aside from the blinding lights, fake enthusiasm, and repetitive questions, you quite liked the whole “interview process.” Since you were new to the Hollywood scene, no one really knew much about you, so fans and interviewers were continually learning new facts and interesting tidbits about you that most people didn’t know.

You were on your seemingly billionth interview for the upcoming Spider-man sequel you had surprisingly been cast in.

You had gone into the audition as a fan, thinking you were only there for the experience. You never knew that only a month later you’d be on set in Atlanta, Georgia, surrounded by well known celebrities (and all around hottie, Tom Holland) while living out your dream.

“So, y/n,” the interviewer’s words cut you back into reality.

“Do you have any crazy or funny stories from filming that you can share with us?”

You laughed and thought about the question for a moment.

“Are you asking about before or after Tom and I started dating, because that’s definitely a factor…”

You gave a fake chuckle and smile. 

When you and Tom met, there was an instant friendship, along with the rest of the cast and crew. Though you had good off-screen chemistry with everyone on set, yours and Tom’s was different. Maybe it was the fact that you had walked in with the biggest crush on him, or just that fact that the two of you could play off each other and bounce off of one another’s jokes. Even Harrison joked occasionally about his jealousy towards your playful friendship. 

It really was no surprise to anyone, aside from you, perhaps, that Tom asked you out during the last week of filming. In hindsight, you should’ve seen it coming, from his stolen glances during the three-and-something months of shooting to the way Harrison and Jacob (who both knew of Tom’s intentions prior to you being asked out) prodded at Tom in the week leading up to that special day.

“Well I feel like all we hear about anymore is the post-dating gossip. So how about something from before you two got together, huh?” the woman’s inquiry once again snapped you from your thoughts.

“Haha well there was this one time. We were about a month or so into shooting and, as some may already know, I carpooled with Tom and Harrison to work since I was staying so close to their rental house…”

Since the first week of filming, you had been driving from your place to theirs, where you ate breakfast with the two every morning at six-or earlier if one of you needed extra time in hair/makeup/wardrobe that day-before getting into the (incredibly nice) car Tom was leasing and making your way to the studio. 

Tom didn’t quite trust you to drive.

“Y/n, I’m the older, and obviously more experienced, driver. It’s fine”

“Tom, you aren’t even from America. You literally drive on the wrong side of the road most of the time.”

“Well I’ve had to drive in this city every time I’ve been here. If I’m not more experienced in America, I’m at least more experienced in Atlanta.”

That’s where the argument had ended, because he did have a point.

Plus, his place was closer to the studio and big city traffic was never your favorite. 

“… and one day I got a call from Tom at like, I don’t know, four thirty? And he goes ‘Oh my God, y/n, I’m so sorry but I completely forgot that I’m supposed to be in early today for a certain scene we’re doing today. I would’ve just gone alone and left Harrison to go with you but he’s still sick and the cold medicine you got him has left him with a bit of a hangover.’ So I get up and let him know I’m on my way, right?

“So it’s so early that I literally just forgo changing or anything like that because I’m in a rush and need to get to Tom’s place. I literally got in my car wearing this super old, way too big t-shirt and and then a pair of sweats I’d been sleeping in the past couple of days and just drove away. I totally forgot shoes and went in my socks.”

The interviewer interjects a “No way!” before you continue.

“I know right! So anyways, I rush over there, totally ignoring speed limit signs to get there, pull in the driveway, and just burst through the door from the garage into the house. Thankfully I had left a pair of slides at the house that I could just slip on before grabbing Tom. Harrison had come down with some flu or awful cold the day before and there was no way he could come with us, not that I’d let him of course. I mean, it was the works: he was coughing, could barely breathe, hardly able to function. 

“Unfortunately that also meant that we didn’t have anyone to make breakfast, because I think anyone that follows Haz knows he’s a bit of a cook. Most days I’d come and he would have cooked bacon, gotten he and Tom eggs, and me a muffin, since that’s literally what I live on. While the two of them would sit down with a cup of coffee, I always drank a cup of, I know, I know, iced tea. I mean, to them it’s like, a cardinal sin, but I can’t get enough of the stuff.

“But anywho, I grab my shoes and toss Tom the keys while grabbing a couple of granola bars. Here’s where you see the mistake: Tom didn’t get to drink his coffee. Now, usually, this wouldn’t be a problem, I mean, there’s always coffee on set. Except for today.”

“Oh no!” the interviewer exclaims, trying to keep the story lively.

“We get to set and it turns out that the coffee maker, like, blew out or something and we were so close to being late that Tom was immediately sent to wardrobe and stuff, and of course the only way he can drink while he’s in the suit is by shoving a little tube in a hole they cut in the suit and letting him drink. Problem is, he can only have water since they don’t want him to mess up the suit.

“Fast forward to like, ten thirty that night. They never replaced the coffee maker and Tom was allowed to take off the mask once just to scarf down a quick lunch at midday. He was literally so exhausted and kept falling asleep everywhere. Thank God he wasn’t doing major stunts that day, because he probably would have hurt himself or worse. 

“Anyways; ten thirty p.m. and they finally let Tom go, so he gets the suit peeled off of him and stumbles toward the bathroom in his robe, holding his clothes to change into. He was so tired that it took him almost ten minutes just to slip on his usual joggers and white t-shirt. I had to help him tie his tennis shoes! It was wild. 

“I grabbed all of our stuff and Tom tried to reach for the keys and I was like ‘uh what are you doing?’ and he starts going on this whole ‘Well I’m not letting you drive my car’ thing. I mean, I had driven his car before. Of course, it was in a Walmart parking lot just to prove that I could drive it, but still. It counts. So I bring that up and assure him that, ‘yes, Tom, I know where I’m going and how to get there.’

“He finally stops fighting me and crawls into the passenger seat. I turn on the car and before we even left the parking lot he’s dead asleep. I hoped the fifteen minute drive would at least get him enough of a power nap to get himself in the house once we arrived, but I was so wrong. I had to make my way over to his door and basically drag him out of the seat and into the house. Thankfully Harrison was still awake, and visibly much better from that morning. 

“Harrison asked me what was going on as he came up on the other side of Tom to get him to his room and I briefly explained the situation. We get Tom into his room and I pull his things from his pockets and plug in his phone while Harrison tugs off his tennis shoes. Harrison went into the hallway and left me with Tom, who was babbling like an idiot.

“He kept saying things like ‘Y/n, where are we?’ and ‘No I don’t need sleep’ and all, and so I just sort of awkwardly whispered ‘Tom, I think you should get some rest… I’ll see you in the morning… Uh.. Bye?’ 

“I started to walk away and he just grabs me out of no where and pulls me into a hug. It caught me off guard because he was laying down and I was standing, so I just sort of fell over him. He mumbled into my ear ‘Thank you so much, y/n’ and I quietly reply with a ‘Oh no problem. Happy to help’ type thing and he just keeps thanking me and suddenly he starts kissing my face. My cheeks, forehead. It was strange. 

“I immediately stood up and quickly blurted out ‘UhgoodnightTomseeyoutomorrow’ and rushed out the door. Of course Harrison saw the whole thing and was laughing his butt off while I rushed out.”

The interviewer is laughing as well at this point and shaking her head.

“And the thing is, I come back the next morning, six o’clock as always, and Tom’s already on his third cup of coffee for the day. When I brought it up Harrison winked at me and Tom explains that ‘man I was just so tired yesterday I need it’ and then he goes ‘hey thanks for driving me last night, I don’t remember much of what happened after getting in the car. How did I even get to bed?’

“So I look up at Harrison and stumble through a shortened version of me driving his car home, without any problems you know, in the hopes that he’ll let me drive it more, and how Harrison and I carried him to bed. I totally omitted the parts after that and he never mentioned it again. Though he did let me drive the car a lot more after that…”

“Wait, he doesn’t even know about this?” the woman exclaims.

You shake your head with a grin.

“Nope. I guess I’ll have to send this interview to him when it releases! He’s gonna be so pissed. I can’t wait!”

You wave to the camera while chuckling.

“Love you, Tommy… Hope you still love me after this! You’re the best!”

“Well folks, it looks like we just got the inside scoop on y/n y/l/n and Tom Holland’s pre-dating relationship!” the interviewer began.

“And I’d say that if we learned anything today, it’s that Spider-man himself can’t live a day without coffee.”

---

A/N: Well that was a trainwreck and way too long. I promise Pt. 2 of A Flight to Remember will be much better than this and will hopefully be out by tomorrow. Hope you like reading this as much as I enjoyed putting this together in my head 😂

[albatris]

hello,

in ATDAO, there are a lot of things the reader needs to know about Ports, and the apocalypse, and the multiverse, and what kinds of things happen when you screw around with them. That information is scattered throughout the story as not to be overwhelming.

here is a post that is essentially me screaming for literally an hour about all of that plus more in an incredibly overwhelming manner that still manages to make no sense at all

it’s wordy and unedited and mostly just so I can get things straight in my own head, but if you’re interested in What’s What In ATDAO, you’re welcome to come along for the ride I guess. just give that ominous readmore a click and good luck my dude

in reality this should be like three separate posts but go hard or go home am i right

so my brain recently decided to give me a lot of New Ideas for ATDAO in the space of like three minutes so forgive me if this is jumbled

I had a lot of really exciting ideas about the unreality and how Lucas Lucas managed to get swallowed by it in the first place, but for context I wanted to talk a bit about some ATDAO/multiverse-in-general worldbuilding ‘cause I haven’t talked about it in detail before, it’s a LOT of junk in one hit I’m so sorry

So first of all, the multiverse, that’s essentially a bunch of universes that exist in the same space but on different “layers” of reality, like you would have layers in a photoshop document. I have stories set across these various universes, each one is its own contained universe but functions as a part of the bigger multiverse. There are naturally occurring “cracks” between layers of reality that allow some flow of energy between universes in its own little multidimensional ecosystem thing… they’re necessary cracks, they keep things flowing as things should flow, life, death, rebirth, recycle, whatever

The ATDAO universe refers to them as Ports (short for portal, but like, it’s also sneakily referencing the idea of USB ports, as in “plugging something in and introducing something from somewhere else”), so I will also be referring to them Ports. so Ports can take pretty much any form, it’s entirely random, they just crop the fuck up wherever they want. It can be a person, a place, an object, (an idea?), whatever. All it means is that person/place/object, that’s now home to a kind of split where the boundary between one universe and the next is a little weaker, where one universe overlaps/bleeds into another, where energy can easily flow through. I would explain in more detail but it’s not relevant right now. All u need to know is that Ports are chill, Ports are normal, and nine times out of ten they’re entirely harmless

HOWEVER

the ATDAO universe is old and tired and falling apart because sometimes things grow old and tired and start falling apart. So suddenly there are a lot more “cracks” in its reality, and those cracks make more cracks, as cracks do under pressure, and the ATDAO universe is under a fair bit of pressure. And where there are a lot of Ports, there’s a lot of energy flowing through from other universes. Some of that energy is from universes where reality operates differently (eg, the Kaleide universe’s magic system).The ATDAO universe receives this energy and is like “excuse me what the fuck am I meant to do with this nonsense code” because it’s not equipped to translate that to its own reality

but that energy’s gotta go somewhere so it kinda just does whatever the heck it wants, which is how your Weird Phenomena starts

(like of course, the ATDAO universe always had Ports even before it started dying, so sometimes bits of weird energy it couldn’t translate would come through, but people don’t think much of it, you know? Like, there’s weird inexplicable phenomena that goes on in our reality that we can’t explain. You’re just like “welp that’s horrifying” and you move on. It’s not till weird shit starts happening everywhere all the time, not till there are entire towns where time flows backwards and your porch seat is singing to you in a foreign language, that you start thinking “oh hey maybe the endtimes are upon us”

so that’s what’s going down in the ATDAO universe, the endtimes are upon them

(the idea is that eventually there would be so many Ports and so much overlap with other universes that the ATDAO universe would simply cease to exist, and would just become amalgamated into other universes, but humans are stubborn jerks and have no time for apocalypses thank u very much)

and then there’s Phoenix, which is a whole other kettle of fish that belongs in another post…. like no one wants to frigging go work for Phoenix, dear god, that’s pretty much sentencing yourself to Sims game levels of horror. If you work at Phoenix and spend so much time around Ports, chances are you’re gonna die and it’s not gonna be, like… a normal death… all the exits might disappear from a room and your phone won’t turn on to call for help, you open your phone up and the battery’s a fish and ur like “well shit”. Or you might be like “hey guys I found the Port” and then realise none of your coworkers can see or hear you, you’re not actually there anymore. You might walk into a house for 2 minutes and come back out three years later. it’s messed up. 

So Phoenix will take literally whoever they can get, which is usually people who don’t want to be there but don’t have a choice, for whatever reason, I could go on, but I don’t want to talk about Phoenix, I want to talk about Ports and universes and Lucas

SO

everything’s already weird, but can get much much weirder when you start messing round with Ports and the ways universes overlap. For instance, Tris and Kai bring that ceiling fan you always hear me talking about into the unreality, and like… I mean…?? The ceiling fan is a Port, so it’s an object that’s an overlap between ATDAO’s universe and another one, and they go and haul that overlap of two universes into an entire other universe like it’s nbd because they’re idiots

that causes a lot of stuff to happen that I’m not gonna explain here because it’s not that relevant, like as it turns out it’s the only reason they’re able to make it out of that whole escapade alive, blah blah blah, I really just said that to give you a sense of the sorts of fuckery you can pull with universes and such

BECAUSE THAT 

brings us to Lucas Lucas, and how he gets swallowed by the unreality in the first place, which is what I’m really excited to have figured out because it opens up a lot of opportunities to explore the mechanics of Ports in-story and!! I’m really keen!! because I put a lot of thought into it all and it’s fun

the whole thing is just ridiculous and statistically improbable so I love it of course. I love ridiculous statistically improbable happenings to get characters into stupid stupid situations, and then when they have to get out of those situations, statistic improbability is just like “oh….. sorry…… suddenly I’m busy….. have a hair appointment to get to….. good luck in there….”

So imagine, if you will, that in your car somewhere is a Port, maybe an empty soda can, it doesn’t matter. And imagine, by sheer ridiculous chance, that there’s another car that’s got a Port, maybe a headlight or something. And now imagine, by sheer goddamn ridiculous statistic improbability, that in some freak accident your car and this other car just friggin plough into each other and it’s terrible, it’s real bad

if those are two normal cars, that’s done and done, but this is Awful Statistic Improbability here, so what happens in this scenario is… well, basically that’s three overlapping universes that’ve just smashed into each other. The ATDAO universe, the universe that’s overlapping with your Port, and the universe that’s overlapping with the other guy’s Port. collide. full force. bam

and maybe this impact explodes out a little, maybe these overlapping universes colliding with more overlapping universes is this explosion of weird fuckin energy with nowhere to go, and they all overlap and where they overlap there’s a space that is forced into existence very brutally and very suddenly, where all three of these universes tangle into each other, and out of nowhere where there was a Nothing there is now a Something, albeit very briefly

and if you, a tiny innocent human person, happened to be caught in the middle of that instant where three universes slammed into each other and created a Something

ur probably dead, but what’s one more statistical improbability right

instead, you’re just gone. Police and ambos rock up to the scene and there’s just no one there. Cars are a mangled wreck but there’s literally no bodies. Everyone’s like “no one could have survived that, but no one can die so hard they just stop existing, right?? That’s not a thing, right??” Bits of the car are missing. Important bits, bits it needs to drive. How can u crash a car that can’t drive. But they’re just not there

and meanwhile Lucas has been caught in this Space In Between (and presumably whoever else was involved is also there?), and he’s messed up about it. Thinks he’s dead. Thinks he’s in hell. There’s a bunch of car junk that got trapped in there with him, the place is super twisted and weird and glitchy and he’s freaked out, it’s essentially three separate realities in a blender going nnrrrrrrrrrrr at full speed

and that space is not stable at all, it’s literally just an explosion of energy that shoved a bunch of universes into each other and created this momentary overlap hellscape thing. When that energy dies down and those universes begin to unravel from each other, the Something starts to collapse into a Nothing again

like if you had a sheet of red cellophane and a sheet of yellow and you slid them over the top of each other they’re orange, but then when you unslide them the orange isn’t there anymore, like that, except with universes, and with someone stuck in limbo in the middle of it all who’s got no way of getting back to into their own universe before the universe they’re in disintegrates

so then it’s not just Lucas freaking out in a hellportal, it’s Lucas freaking out in a half-formed almost-dimension that’s collapsing all over the place, just folding in on itself and returning to nothing because it’s not supposed to exist

and there u have it

literally the only reason I wanted to share this was because I thought about the conversations that would happen around the car crash scene and laughed because like

“sir he’s gone”

“he’s dead?”

“no sir he’s just gone”

“what do you mean?”

“he’s just not there. he took the steering wheel and engine with him“

“carol what the fuck”