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djmarinizelablog · 4 years ago

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hi! read your last ask and you said that you took up creative writing classes so you might have a wider knowledge about this but i was wondering when u mentioned different writing styles (like minimalistic, hightened imagery, linear vilennete and all of that) could you maybe explain the difference and what they really mean and maybe examples in our own levihan nation and writers? this might be asking for too much but i was pretty lost and i'd like to know more about all that. however you are def free to ignore this too!

Did you just ask me to write a comprehensive poetics essay, Anon? (I love writing about writing lmao)

Super long post ahead, and I’ll be citing certain fanfics that I’ve read so far and those that I think somehow exemplifies all the different writing styles I mentioned in the previous post.

First off, the ones I listed beforehand (minimalistic prose, heightened imagery, poetic language, linear narrative, non-linear vignettes) aren’t the only types of writing styles. There are more if you consider the variations of tone (humor/comedy, sentimental, macabre, noir etc), narration/perspective (first person, second person, third person omniscient/limited), and language (dialogue-heavy or action/scene-driven). And the nice thing is that you can actually use of one or two of them in your work---or all of them, if you’re feeling bold.

As Hange always loves to do: “Let’s experiment!”

--------

I’ll start with minimalistic prose. It is what it is: short, clear, and concise. Think less is more. You have an economy with words where you disregard most adverbs and focus more on the context to make way for meaning, thus allowing the readers to create their own interpretations of your writing. I think the method here is to write your intended draft first, and then cut the unnecessary words to flesh out the scene even more.

Notice how @stereobone wrote this paragraph of Black Dog (an Eruri fic):

Isabel's voice wakes him, brother, brother, has him sitting upright in bed and grabbing for the knife under his mattress. He braces himself for the attack before he realizes there isn't one. There is nothing in the darkness but him and his heavy, panicked breathing. Levi's heart feels like it's trying to beat its way out of his chest. He drops the knife on the mattress and shuts his eyes and tries not to think about Farlan's bloody resigned face before he was eaten. He tries not to think about how he left them. How it's his fault.

It’s very simplistic in language; the paragraph lets you focus on Levi’s innermost thoughts while he deals with an external action (ie, having nightmares). The author hasn’t unraveled the rest of the plot yet, but you already know where the tension is coming from.

Next is heightened imagery. If you’re familiar with the different figures of speech (metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, etc), then this is where they all come into play. I think the challenge here is being able to balance it well with the text itself and make sure that the imagery actually clarifies the context of the paragraph instead of convoluting the intended meaning.

Here’s an excerpt from A Dangerous Game by just_quintessentially_me:

Hanji watched Levi, standing there, head bent and bloodied handkerchief pressed against his arm, and was reminded, irrationally, of a night years ago. When her parents had taken her to the circus. [. . . .] Holding her parent’s hands, she’d gaped, head craned back as she watched the spectacle, a cacophonous mixture of sound and color. At the center of it all, she’d spied a boy. Among the twisting colors and tricks, he alone, was still. [. . . .] The boy was high above, balancing on a platform atop a long pole. In front of him, stretched an audaciously thin rope. Below, no net waited to catch him.

[. . . .]

When Levi looked up, his expression was set - like the boy before the tightrope. And she knew, with sinking certainty, he was going to take the step. Into thin air.

Gray eyes met her gaze and held it.

“Yeah. I’ll go.”

At the door, Kenny smiled.

See how the powerful imagery of the boy on the tightrope was able to fuel the tension in that moment among Levi, Hange, and Kenny?

I think poetic language is akin to heightened imagery, except that the former is more focused on the actual language. It’s very lyrical, wherein you can actually hear the lulling song of the sentences in a rhythm. One of my favorite works that does this is Deep sea baby by @smallblip. Here she makes use of various setting and scenery to create this entire atmosphere of Levi and Hange’s relationship:

Hanji knows whatever life they've led, this is her favourite.

The one in which her and Levi see the sea for the first time together.

The one in which she’s the Commander, and him, her Captain. And between them, a river of words left unsaid threatening to break the banks.

One day they must cross the ocean, but today they visit the shores again, without the kids this time. And Levi learns why when he watches her peel at her clothes. Her harness comes off first, then her blouse, then everything else, like a little dance for an audience of one. Levi tries not to stare, but he’s already seen her by candlelight in the dead of the night. And yet she never fails to take his breath away.

She makes her way to where the white foams dredge the past up the shores of the present.

"Come on Levi! The water is warm!" she says, and he hears it like a call to come home- where the heavens collide with the sea.

He takes off his clothes and folds them in a neat pile beside Hanji's mess. He swims out to join her.

It’s hauntingly poetic, the way the author is able to connect the metaphor in “a river of words” to the actual body of water right in front of Levi and Hange. Good poetic language is able to tighten up the texts together while keeping the sentence structure flowing with apt figures of speech.

When it comes to narratives, it only comes down to linear or non-linear. See how @lostcauses-noregrets does her opening statement in Trains (also an Eruri fic):

Levi hates trains. To be fair, Levi hates all forms of public transport, but he reserves a particular loathing for trains. They’re dirty, noisy, smelly and worse, filled with people. People who, heaven forbid, might attempt to speak to Levi, engage him in conversation. Levi’s worst nightmare is being stuck on a train with some friendly fuck who wants to pass the time making small talk. Admittedly it’s not a problem he has to deal with too often, his general fuck off demeanour deters all but the most aggressively friendly and hopelessly inebriated. But that doesn’t stop Levi from hating trains.

It’s a short fic and it’s very dependent on the linearity of events happening. But with that banger of a first sentence, the beginning already gives you enough of an idea of Levi’s pet peeve in the story, which in this case, is trains.

Here’s another hot and steamy fic called keep him waiting by keobuns that shows a linear narrative:

He’s sitting with them in the back of the lab, nursing a cup of tea — it’s still pretty full, and even cold now, for he was far too distracted listening to Hanji talk to properly drink — when he sees it. Hanji’s too preoccupied with overexplaining the same Titan experiment they’ve gone over a hundred times to notice his stare. They just continue on and on and on, gesturing with their hands, pointing with their fingers, flexing their wrists…

Ah. Levi has to bring his teacup to his lips to hide the way his lips tremble. Hanji has incredibly nice hands.

The entire story just revolves around Levi simping for Hange’s hands and how it all goes down from there. But you as a reader are kept wanting more with every paragraph and every sentence that the author constructs (and trust me, it’s not just the sexual tension between Levi and Hange that keeps us going).

Now, as much as I love the straightforwardness of linear prose, non-linear writing brings a different round of ideas onto the table. It can create recollections from flashbacks, heighten the perspective or interior turmoil of a character due to trauma or grief, or even just re-invent what-if scenes that the characters have imagined themselves.

Gnossiene by @thatalmondgirl is one of my all-time favorite Rivetra fics. In this excerpt, you will see how she switches between the past and the present, and how it affects Petra’s POV as a conflicted character:

Contrary to popular belief (fuck Auruo) Petra actually didn’t cry easily.

Alright, she could admit that at some times, she was...emotional. It was far from a weakness, but even she could admit that they sometimes got in the way and walled off all rational thought. Anger, frustration, sadness, hell, even happiness. The only one she could easily compartmentalise away was fear, which probably stemmed from her military career. Even so. It was never easy to separate all the others from her actions, think from a clean slate like the Commander could do, like the captain. [. . . ] Petra groaned, splayed out across her bed. She drew her arm across her eyes, willing the tears to go away. She’d already blown through her tissue box.

“Petra, a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” Mama sat on the end of her bed, with Petra on the floor between her legs. Even though Petra argued firmly that she was old enough to brush her own hair, Mama had insisted. Unfortunately, Petra wasn’t old enough - and probably never would be - to disagree with her mother.

“I know, Mama.” Petra grumbled.

“I don’t think you do. Else you wouldn’t be crying, would you?”

[. . . .]

“But a man shouldn’t complete you when you complete yourself. Maybe he’s an extension to your house. So you’ll be sad if the extension is compromised or burns down. But you still have the main house. And if it’s strong, the main house can still be standing even after the worst storm.”

Aside from Mama’s crazy metaphors that sometimes didn’t make sense, her message hit home. Even if it hit home years later.

See how it switched in between the before and after?

An off-shoot of non-linear writing are vignettes (a layering of scenes separated by section breaks) wherein this writing style allows writers to curate scenes in terms of fragments, creating some kind of mosaic for the readers once they finally see the big picture. Nakimochiku’s I’m leaving, are you coming with me? stacks up scenes of interactions between Levi and Hange, enough to depict the kind of relationship that they have as young lovers in a school setting. You can string these fragments together, rearrange them in a different order, but in the end, you will still get the author's clear goal of highlighting how Levi and Hange’s relationship develops over time.

Those are the styles that I mentioned in my previous posts, but as I’ve told you, there’s more to writing than those, so I’ll give a short run-through of other methods in writing.

Whether it’s dialogue-heavy works such as from my window to yours, or action-driven scenes like Carnivores (a Levi x Reader fic by CaptainDegenerate) that propel the story forward, we as readers should be able to follow through the actual storyline that the authors intend to take us.

A third-person limited (we listen to Hange’s thoughts in Clockwork by @tundrainafrica) vis-à-vis an all-knowing/omniscient narration (the moon is dark by @sayonarasanity alternates the perspective of Levi and Hange) should be able to make us understand why the author chose this particular kind of point-of-view in order to tell the story.

And lastly, having a solid and consistent tone throughout the work (the macabre of Even Humanity’s Strongest could make mistakes by Rimeko versus the sweet sentimentality of Flowers for You by @fanmoose12) should be able to set the atmosphere that the authors want us to imbibe as we read through their works.

So there’s your crash course on writing and reading. Enjoy? :)

#levihan #writing #fanfic #fanfictions #fanfiction #ao3 #djmarinizela #mine

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purplesurveys · 4 years ago

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1127

1. What is one thing you will never do again? Watch The Hours. Film itself is great, but is way too triggering.

2. Would you rather be twice as smart or twice as happy? I’d take happiness easily. It’s not bad for the most part to make mistakes and I’d rather be too clumsy than be altogether miserable.

3. What happened the last time you cried? It was the day of what would’ve been our anniversary and at that moment I was alone in my car at a parking lot (waiting for the office to open) on a gloomy day. I just had to cry and let my feelings out for like 5 minutes to accept everything but I was immediately fine afterwards, haha. Grief can be funny.

4. What happened the time in your life when you were the most nervous to do something? My first job interview. It was my first adult thing ever. They never got back to me - very professional of them - but I was still grateful for the experience nonetheless.

5. What would your parents be surprised to learn about you? That I was in a whole ass relationship for technically 6 1/2 years. They probably have an inkling by now, but only about me being in a relationship. I’m sure they would be very surprised if they ever found out how long it had actually gone for.

6. What’s your worst habit? I pick at my toenails when I’m nervous or stressed. I tend to do this when I’m doing a work task that I particularly dread, and sometimes I’ll end up being fixated on the habit for like 10 minutes straight and not get anything done.

7. What superpower would you have for one day? Time travel, just to take quick trips to multiple decades and see how life was like during those times.

8. What fictional character do you have the biggest crush on? Matty from 13 Going on 30 would be one of them. Albert Finney’s character in Two for the Road is also charming as fuck.

9. Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world? If money wasn’t an issue, probably somewhere cozy in like Switzerland or Canada.

10. What is your most bizarre pet peeve? Not necessarily a pet peeve but I get extremely uncomfortable when someone hands me a gift then they insult the gift while in front of me, saying it’s not a great gift or that I probably don’t need it, etc. Filipinos also have this habit of saying something along the lines of, “You earn way more than me so you’d probably think this gift sucks” like how do you want me to react :(((((( I love receiving gifts and the idea of being thought about already means a lot to me, so it just makes me wince a little bit when I hear statements like the above.

11. Who knows you the best? Gabie, probably. I’ve changed a lot since then, though.

12. What after school activities did you do in high school? Clubs were mandatory extracurricular activities in my high school; in my time, I joined the table tennis and yearbook clubs.

13. What “most likely to” superlative would you be most honored to receive? Idk, we didn’t have those in school. I probably would have been honored to get a journalism-themed one though; something like Most Likely To Write for NYT or Most Likely to Win a Pulitzer or something like that. Obviously that’s changed now and I’ve long let go of journalism as a passion.

14. What’s the last book you really loved? I haven’t read in a long, long while.

15. What was the greatest television show of all time? I don’t watch a lot of TV so I’m not the most credible decision-making body for this lol, but out of all the shows I’ve watched the best one would easily be Breaking Bad.

16. What’s been your favorite age so far? 16. Life was insanely easygoing back then and everything fell into place for me at the time.

17. If you could go back in time, what is one piece of advice you would give your younger self? Know when it’s enough. Be kind to yourself.

18. What one thing would you be most disappointed if you never got to experience it? Have kids.

19. Apologize or ask permission? I don’t understand the relationship between the two.

20. Unlimited love or money? I would love to never have to worry about finances ever again.

21. If you knew you would die in one week, what would you do? Take a week-long leave for work, spend all my money, bond with my dogs, throw a party for my closest friends, and honestly, make my peace with her.

22. What’s your most listened to song? Spotify doesn’t show that feature, but I bet it’s from Paramore or Hayley anyway. It would be impossible to know my most-listened to song of all time, like if we took into account my Spotify, iTunes, etc.

23. Beach vacation or European vacation? I need a beach vacation badly, but a European vacation would be a new and different experience. I’d take the latter.

24. If you could have been a child prodigy what would you have wanted to be skilled at? Playing the piano.

25. What’s the first thing you would do if you won the lottery? Depends on how much I won lmao. I’d probably retire this early if the money was big enough since I’m pretty stingy anyway. But generally, I would like to pay off whatever bills my parents are currently paying for, get back the car that we had to sell because of the pandemic, and maybe go for a solo vacation or five heheh.

26. What celebrity would you trade lives with? Kylie Jenner, for a day. Just so I can briefly have a taste of how being that rich is like.

27. If you were a performing artist, what would you title your first album? Nope.

28. What story do your friends still give you crap about? Staying with Gab despite the red flags that glared for four whole years is one of them. Angela will also never let go of that one time I tried some kind of fruit juice in high school and I described it as ‘packs a punch.’ It’s understood as a super Westernized idiom where I live and literally no one uses it in a casual sentence, so it was a hit with her and now we use ‘packs a punch’ whenever we want to describe something awesome or surprising.

29. If earth could only have one condiment for the rest of time, what would you pick to keep around? Mayonnaise and I will die on this mayonnaise-coated hill.

30. What is the ideal number of people to have over on a Friday night? Ideally? At this point? Like 20. I would love for that to be the case on the first Friday we can consider the Philippines COVID-free.

31. What was the worst age you’ve been so far? Sorry for yet another incoming Paramore reference but they literally have a lyric that goes, “22 is like, the worst idea that I have ever had.” Before turning 22 I used to think it was a weird line, like how could 22 possibly be unenjoyable? Now I’m 22 in a pandemic going through a rough breakup and I can’t even see my friends nor work in my first workplace ever.

32. What is your weirdest dealbreaker? If they wanted only cats as pets. I can deal with a dog and a cat, I guess; but cats were never fond of me so I feel like I’d struggle with this situation lol.

33. What fictional character reminds you most of yourself? Mr. Peanutbutterrrrrrr. Has a lot of love to give, doesn’t always use it on the right people. Also lives on pleasing others.

34. Do you believe in karma? Just to a tiny extent, in how I would want people’s awful actions to come bite them in the ass one day. It’s not a philosophy that controls my life and the things I do whatsoever.

35. What was your favorite TV show as a kid? My absolute favorite was Hi-5, with the original cast. As I got older my interests shifted to Spongebob and The Fairly OddParents.

36. What is the weirdest thing you find attractive in a person? I don’t think it’s weird, but I don’t hear thighs too often when people list down their favorite physical traits. It’s certainly one of mine.

37. What Jeopardy! category would you clear, no problem? A Friends-themed one, obviously. This reminds me of the Jeopardy night I had with some friends a few nights ago! That was so much fun, and Andi makes really great and fun questions hahaha.

38. What is something you’re superstitious about? I don’t think I am about anything.

39. What is the scariest experience you have ever had? Maybe that night my grandpa went into a drunk rampage. I was 9, right in his line of sight, frozen and scared shitless, and I didn’t know who he was going to strike next.

40. Who is a non-politician you wish would run for office? I never really think about this. If someone’s a non-politician then there must be a reason they aren’t, lol.

41. What cheesey song do you have memorized? Little Things by One Direction is very cheesy and it’s one of my least favorite songs of theirs, but I still have it memorized out of habit.

42. What one dead person would you most like to have dinner with, if it were possible? My great-grandpa died all the way back in the 70s, even before some of my aunts and uncles could meet him. It would be cool to spend time with him.

43. Do you think it’s important to stay up to date with the news? Yeah, absolutely. I have the stomach for it lol, so I always monitor what’s happening locally and globally. Skipping the news from time to time is fine because I get how anxiety-inducing and depressing some events can be, but there’s a huge difference between ignoring the news for your mental health and being indifferent altogether. I’d immediately judge anyone who’s the latter, and would assume you are incredibly privileged.

44. What is the best present you could ever receive? My money refunded -____________- I had food delivered to my director, Bea’s house as a surprise earlier today, but apparently I ran into a scammer driver and the fucker drove away with the meal I had bought for Bea. I reported the driver and the situation, and thankfully the customer service rep of the food delivery app quickly responded and said they’d return the full amount I paid for; but I still haven’t received it.

45. Would you give up one of your fingers if it meant you’d have free wifi wherever you go, for the rest of your life? No. Mobile data exists for a reason.

46. What’s the first thing you’d do if you were the opposite sex for one day? Check out my voice.

47. If someone told you you could give one person a present and your budget was unlimited–what present would you get and for whom? I’d love to surprise Angela with an overseas trip that would last for like a month. Traveling is one thing we have yet to do as best friends.

48. What is the nicest thing someone could say about you? Nothing particular, but it makes me happy when people call me strong and when they validate the shit I’ve gone through over the years.

49. Giant house in a subdivision or tiny house somewhere with a view? I would take the giant house. When it comes to my own place, I would want to have a lot of space to roam around.

50. What is the weirdest quirk your family has? Nothing is coming to mind.

#surveys #survey

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halorocks1214 · 5 years ago

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the law of action

AO3 Link

Word Count: 10100

Summary: The Law of Action must be applied in order for us to manifest things on earth. Therefore, we must engage in actions that support our thoughts, dreams, emotions, and words

Previous Parts (in order): Alan | You are here! | Virgil | Scott | Gordon

these just keep getting longer fellas i dont understand how thats possible but it is. ALSO: REMEMBER IN ATTRACTION WHEN I MENTIONED THAT THESE WERE BEING WRITTEN OUT OF ORDER. HA, UH, KIND OF AN UNDERSTATEMENT I GUESS. but its here! johns pov chapter! im pretty satisfied with it, albeit a few kinks i wasnt really able to work out, so i hope you enjoy it too!

thanks again to @gumnut-logic for the prompts! "Where?" and lightning were this fic's choices. sad to see the last ones go away, but this was still a blast so thank you once more! also, just because the prompts are gone doesnt mean this series will be too ;3

Anger was a rare emotion for John Tracy.

It had to be. When dealing with the cold hard truth of data telling them something wasn't possible or dealing with annoying people who thought they knew better than him or dealing with people panicking in his ear because nobody expected the aftershock of an earthquake to be that bad, he didn’t have a choice. There were a lot of deals in life that had to be made and someone needed to play peacemaker, even if it wasn’t deserved.

It was true that he got the least angry out of his siblings, even compared to Virgil. Virgil might not get necessarily violent like Scott did, or threw caution to the wind like Gordon, or, hell, pulled off whatever John does when someone somehow manages puts him in a bad mood, but Virgil did get angry quite a lot. He just didn’t have as many blatant ways of showing it. John, on the other hand, didn’t have a lot of ticks. Pet peeves, definitely, John was no stranger to annoyance (especially with siblings like his), but not outright anger.

That didn’t mean he never got angry. He was Tracy born and bred, so that meant one the few ticks he did have surrounded the topic of family.

Specifically, his family being threatened.

John wished he was the youngest sometimes. That meant he could say things like let Scott punch the idiot already, he’d be doing the world a favor, and not get lambasted for the immature response. It also meant he could throw tantrums to hell and back and not feel like a total loser.

Like right now for example.

“EOS, I swear, if you don’t open the elevator door for me--”

“No, I won’t.”

Unbelievable.

Groaning and rubbing his face, his hands found their way up to his forehead and through his hair, holding his bangs out of his eyes for a moment. His eyes had many emotions in them, the most blatant being this shit cannot be happening right now, “EOS, do you know you’re amazing? I don’t think I’ve said that enough.”

EOS whirled for a moment, “John, I’ve seen that grin on Gordon. I cannot believe you would stoop that low.”

The grin she pointed out fell flat off his face, “Yeah, okay, you’re right about that--”

“Like I always am.”

“--So thank you,” John was going to strangle whoever defined sass so thoroughly in the dictionary. It left a bad example, “For the reminder, but seriously, I need to get up to ‘Five. It’s… important.”

It’s been a week since Alan was taken.

They’ve exhausted all options.

The only thing that could possibly get him back to them had to be International Rescue’s resources.

But EOS over here wasn’t getting the memo. Her words had that hint of childish innocence behind it. In that way that said there was no innocence whatsoever and she knew exactly what she was doing, the little shit, “John, do you really need to, or do you want to?”

There’s the inflection that John taught her. An inhale through the nose and… Uuuugghh, “EOS, I know the difference between needs and wants, this is definitely a need.”

Another lens blink, another moment of disbelief, “It seems like you have a lot of needs, John Tracy.”

John grimaced and ground his jaw together, mumbling his grievances with the current situation, “Yeah, well, if there’s any trait I truly share with my siblings, it’s that we’re all high maintenance.” His next words were more clear and designed to get the point across, “EOS, I’m not kidding, unlock the door.”

EOS stood her ground, “John, you going up there is one of the most detrimental things to you’re health at the current moment. I won’t let you.”

John threw his hands into the air, “EOS, there’s are whole lotta things that are currently detrimental to my health currently happening, one more thing won’t hurt.”

EOS lens shuttered again and John felt like it was nails on a chalkboard, “You have a point, but I’ve seen you with Scott when he’s in a similar mood. Don’t you tell him he needs to take a moment and think when he gets like this?”

John groaned as quietly as possible. Not too loud, but loud enough that EOS hopefully got the point, “Yes, I do, but I’m not Scott. We are two very different people, you have pointed this out numerous times. We have different ways of handling things, this, and ‘Five is exactly how I can fix this problem.”

That was not how he should’ve worded that. Her lights flickered in sympathy, sympathy, and he knew she finally figured out what John was trying to get at, “John, there may still be a lot I have to learn, but at least I understand--”

“No, EOS!” John snapped before he could help himself. Before she could finish explaining her point of view that was most likely right, but his desperate brain didn’t want to hear it. His brain that was running on zero energy telling him this was taking too long, fix that, “You can’t understand!”

Just like that, John was reminded of why he hated getting angry.

As soon as the words left his mouth, so did the air in his lungs. Through sheer will and determination, the only thing that didn’t leave his body was the little amounts of food he ate over the past seven days, though it really wanted to. He became very pale, and EOS could detect the not-so-trace amounts of fear that fell over his eyes.

Dammit, you idiot. Months upon that past year of work were now going to go down the drain because you blew your lid just this once! First, the call with Alan, now telling the one thing that could kill you in your sleep she’ll never essentially be good enough was--

“I know, John.”

His food came back with a vengeance, but he was bullheaded as hell, and he already caused enough damage. The last thing anyone needed was to clean up vomit. It would’ve been nicer if she got angry at him. He could handle being thrown out into space. He couldn’t handle EOS admitting he was right, least of all over blatantly cruel words.

He channeled the energy his stomach wanted to use into weak words, “E-EOS, I…” What the hell was he supposed to say? Sorry surely wasn’t going to fucking cut it.

Well, whatever he wanted to cut didn’t come up, as EOS continued as if John wasn’t the worst thing on the planet, “I’ve been doing some reading. I understand that I’ll never really understand certain human-based things like you do. You, humans, have gotten close, me being one of the better examples, as long as that’s not considered bragging, but even I’m not at that level yet. But I do at least know you and your habits. I put up with them on a daily basis.”

Because if there’s anything else John needed to fail this week, it was the one promise he made to her. His promise to keep her safe, to make sure she wasn’t treated like a mindless robot by some crazy scientists ready and willing to cut her circuitry wide open like a middle-school science project. While he would never even get close to being a quote-on-quote crazy scientist, never in a million light-years, he surely didn’t follow that middle part of his promise, “EOS, listen, I--”

“Please, John,” and now she was pleading, thinking he was going to ask to use the elevator again. Thinking he wasn’t going to give up, even after all of that. John might’ve laughed if it wasn’t his fucking fault, “I’ll help look for more options if it means you’ll stay here for a little while longer. You should stay with your family. I know how they affect you in those positive ways that you currently need.”

John was abruptly aware of his heavy, almost wheeze-like breathing. If he wasn’t careful, it could delve into one whopper panic attack, which would be so great right now, “Y-Yeah, okay. They probably won’t understand the effects of gravity over an elongated period of time like I do, so I can stay and help with that, at least. Thank you.”

As John turned around, he heard EOS whisper to herself. He could blearily tell it was actually fondness that filled her vocal waves for once, but it still stung regardless, “Idiot.”

Yeah, he really was, wasn’t he.

As he helped look over his Dad’s med-scan with Virgil, when Virgil went looking for something on the other side of the room, his father whispered, “I know this is a bad question right about now, but, is there anything we can do for you? Maybe even I? You look dead on your feet.”

John could only reply to the first half of his father’s statement with a meek, “I don’t know anymore.”

---

16-year-old John Tracy was seated atop his roof, making sure he got the perfect view of the Big-Dipper.

He was hoping to spot a more exciting constellation when he first used his new telescope, but dangit! He was just so excited to get cracking right away! He just got back from his birthday party, Alan and Gordon snoozing in their rooms while Scott and Virgil secretly finished off the cake. That was okay. John was too busy focusing on his new expensive toy to worry about having any more sweets.

His dad could pull some strings when it counted.

Newest model. The only other people who have this baby are scientists at NASA. Happy birthday, John. Sorry I didn’t get you a car like Scott.

Fuck cool cars. John would be on cloud 9 for days with this thing. Scott would call him a nerd for it. Jokes on Scott, he couldn’t zoom about 10 thousand miles into space now, could he?

Right as he nailed it, the world shook. Large arms snaked around his waist and he involuntarily found himself giggling at the contact. As soon as those limbs let go, he blushed at his reaction and cleared his throat. Suddenly, the arms were an entire body sitting down right next to him, speaking with their ever-comforting burly voice, “Hiya, son, I see you just couldn’t wait, huh?”

Rolling his eyes, John turned back into his serious, analytical self once more, “Yup, this thing’s crazy. I’m glad I got out here as quickly as I did.”

Jeff simply grinned. John was always reserved, but Jeff was a good translator for all of his sons, and he could tell that John meant this is one of the best things in my life holy crap, “That’s great to hear. The look on your face when I brought this out of the closet was certainly good enough to last me a few lifetimes.”

John snorted, “I bet it was. I heard Gordon joking about it with Alan. I don’t think I need to see any pictures anymore. I have a pretty good mental image of what I looked like.”

Jeff smiled and sighed, “No kidding. “Like a goldfish with a broken jaw.” Not the most eloquent, that Gordon is.”

Laughter rang out throughout the roof, followed by a few moments of silence. Not awkward, but not really welcomed on John’s part either, “Do you…” Stop it, John, you’re asking for too much, “Nevermind, it’s dumb.”

Jeff tilted an eyebrow, “Oh, is it? I guess you would know if something were smart or dumb, so I trust your judgment.”

Dangit, Dad, why are you so manipulative, and why are you so good at it, “I don’t know. I’ve established I wanted to be an astronaut, right?”

Jeff nodded, “Mmhmm.”

John, for some reason, felt like he needed to tread carefully, “You are also an astronaut. If there was any way for you to be able to… could you… could you come up with me the first time?”

Jeff blinked in shock, and before his son could register that as disapproval, “Huh, well, that’s certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. Sure, I don’t see why not.”

Now it was John’s turn to blink, his mouth gaped, “Wait, what? Are you serious? Aren’t there rules for this kind of stuff?”

Jeff shrugged, his shoulders clearly saying rules shmules, “I’m also one of the biggest entrepreneurs on the planet itself, and one of the most renowned ex-astronauts there are. You would not believe the lengths people are willing to go to kiss my ass. Would you feel better if I pinky promised?”

John’s nose scrunched, “You can never truly promise anything, you know.”

His father chuckled, used to his son’s antics. John was reserved, remember, “Well, you boys always credited me with doing the impossible.”

John continued challenging him, “When we were all less than 10, yeah, sure. I think Alan still thinks you can breathe in space. You. Specifically. No one else. I think he said you only wore the helmet to “protect your secret so the evil movie scientists don’t take you away.””

Chuckles turned into laughter and a clap on John’s shoulder, “Well, glad to see I still got the magic touch at least.” That same arm that playfully smacked him was now wrapped around his shoulders, “Just you wait, Johnny boy, if I can’t get on that ship with you, then you bet your ass I’ll at least be the loudest one cheering in the crowd.”

Then, suddenly, John was right, like he always was.

A promise that never should have been made: broken. A wish never fulfilled.

Dad was swallowed up by the very thing John loved.

No more space stories, no more fun moon facts, there was a void in John’s life as big as the galaxy itself, and he wasn’t sure how to walk around it, or God forbid even into it.

He tried to be the healthy sibling about it. He tried so hard. Getting through high school quicker than most so he could just worry about his family. Scott and Grandma were doing their best, and in so many ways, it was enough, but even they couldn’t bear all of the stress themselves.

But then his high school graduation came and Grandma gave him one of the biggest hugs of his and her life and he realized that he would never get one from his father again. His mom leaving this world was already bad enough, but at least his dad was there and knew how to fill in the gap after years and years of his marriage with her. You didn’t marry a woman like Lucille Tracy and not fundamentally understand how the gears in her brain turned lest you were truly insane. Maybe Dad was. Certainly would explain a lot of things from John’s perspective. Certainly would explain why she married him in the first place. Crazy attracts crazy.

Regardless, the one thing closest to his mom’s warmth and care was gone, and if he spent the night of his graduation party quietly sobbing his eyes out while the others slept, well, then he was glad they kept snoring.

Try as he might, he became just as unhealthy and unbalanced as the rest of his family, but he was more subtle about it. His self-destructive ways weren’t bad if other people had them, but when it came to him, oh, he knew it was the worst thing he could do in terms of recovery. That’s probably why the rest of the family didn’t notice (Good). John was smart, he would know better. Yes, he did, which is exactly why he dived headfirst right into it all.

Focusing on college, getting up into the star-filled void closer to his dead relatives as quickly as possible, focusing on the here-and-now to make sure this shit didn’t happen again. Making sure no family went through what theirs did.

And maybe that’s why, why he couldn’t handle the touch of others wanting to comfort him. Because it reminded him too much of what they used to have, of what they used to be. Too many hugs and kisses from others might wash away what his mom’s and dad’s felt like, and out of all the things they could potentially lose from this, those were the worst possible ones.

John was a Tracy, which meant he was stubborn.

He wasn’t going to lose the last few things he remembered about his parents if he could help it.

---

It had been just under a month, and John finally got what he wanted.

And it wasn’t working like he thought it would, if at all.

He’s been on ‘Five for three days, and for just a fleeting moment, it washed away any uncertainty. He felt back in control, if only minorly, and he held the world at his fingertips once more. Too bad the world he wanted to fix was so far away it felt like it was on the other side of the frickin solar system itself.

He promised his family four days at most. Please, just one chance. We won’t know unless we try. He wasn’t sure what cracked them first, them coming upon dead end after dead end, them finally seeing reason behind John’s argument, or if they just got annoyed with the space monitor after endless nagging and relented like tired parents.

The tiny part of John’s mind that still allowed him to joke kinda hoped it was the third option. “Easy child”, pfft. John’ll show them.

Right, right, a clear head, the most focused of IR, he can’t get unfocused or go too far off track. He’s saved many lives throughout his life, all of them thanks to his level head, but right now, he was arguably saving the most important life of all, so that meant he had even more incentive to stay focused.

In fact, he was so focused, he jumped at the sudden, feminine voice filling the room, “John, I found another article I think you would like to see about most common places criminals… John?”

Crap, he was halfway into the fetal position. Slowly uncurling, John nodded, “Oh, thank you, EOS. I’ll start reading it shortly.”

The noise of her lens adjusting sounded throughout ‘Five again, “Of course. Let me know if you would like me to start searching for a different topic, though. There has to be a limit to how many “You wouldn’t believe this” articles one can take, and I think I’m finding it really quickly.”

For the next few seconds, John was suddenly filled with a rush of determination he had been trying to get after their little confrontation in front of a locked elevator door to ‘Five.

She had been helping him out so much the past couple of weeks. Running unnecessary tests for him, searching parts of the web only she could search without getting tracked by some secret mafia, letting him know it was okay if he couldn’t get everything right the first time when two months ago she snapped at him for getting a simple algebra equation wrong due to lack of sleep. She had been especially patient with him recently, even after their little spat in the hangar, and John wasn’t sure how to process it. A tiny part wanted to resort to anger again because he clearly didn’t deserve her, but the more prevalent parts preferred something like depression or even apathy.

She had been making sure his world didn’t spin off its axis, and John couldn’t even tell her sorry until now.

“EOS, I’m sorry.”

She stopped moving, turned around and let her lights blink yellow for only a moment, “For what, John?”

The man in question waved his hands around in front of his face, lost, confusing her more. With a sigh, he explained, “For a lot of things, but mainly from a few weeks back when we had that argument. I said something that wasn’t okay, and I didn’t have the balls to own up to it until now. So, I’m sorry. I crossed a line I shouldn’t have even been near.”

For a little bit, it was quiet. John waited as the A.I. contemplated his words. Then, she spoke her judgment, “Well, I know you are. You haven’t exactly been working off your butt over nothing, right? Plus, reliable sources say one of the ways guilt manifests is anger. I’ve seen that with the rest of your family. It would make sense yours would too.”

John blinked. Part of him was expecting her to not fully understand why he was apologizing, but the other wanted her to just so he could get over this, just so he could let go of even just the teeniest amount of guilt he had, “EOS, anger isn’t a valid excuse. What I said was wrong. I don’t believe those words and you shouldn’t either. The whole point of this partnership is to show you that there’s more to life than just calculations and probabilities. It’s kind of hard to see that when the one person who promised to be different went and screwed it up anyway.”

John hoped EOS was at least questioning things now instead of letting his words go in one ear and out the other. Her next words said she was doing exactly the latter, “Okay. I don’t disagree with you, John, but I don’t know why you’re so hooked on this. I understand. We don’t have to worry about this unnecessarily anymore.”

Yes, you do understand. That’s the fucking point.

They weren’t getting anywhere, yet John didn’t even have the energy to groan in annoyance. He could even get his eyebrow to twitch.

All he could do was simply lean his head back against the wall and let his hair stick up against it like static electricity was flowing through it. The real reason it was sticking up was probably due to a mixture of Zero-Gs and grease from all of the showering he hasn’t been doing, however. His eyes had deep rings around them, and for a second, EOS thought about how relative age could be as a number while John softly spoke, “The Hood was an angry man, too, you know. He felt slighted by our family and wanted us to feel the same. It still doesn’t make what he did right.”

EOS thought about his words before coming to a logical conclusion, “Well, that’s certainly a leap in logic. There’s a big gap between simply yelling because you’re annoyed and literal kidnapping. One gives people a sour mood, the other gives them a significant amount of jail--”

“Yes, EOS, I’m aware of that,” John brought his hand to his face, but underneath it was a grin, telling the world that he was feeling fond exasperation more than anything. EOS was more obtuse than him sometimes. It was one of the few things of himself he wished she didn’t copy so easily. He sighed and brought his hand back down, “I’m just... putting things into perspective. I want you to see why my words were wrong. It would make me feel better if you did.”

EOS hung still, letting John’s admission roll over her wiring like a wave of electricity, “You have a lot of needs and wants. What takes precedent?”

More inflection. This time, John welcomed it. It gave him something to stand on. John wanted a lot of things. Alan to be home safe and sound, Dad to have not disappeared for nearly a decade, for his brothers to stop slowly killing themselves, for himself to stop, but the needs of the many, even the needs of one, outweigh the wants of a singular man like him, but, “Well, needs obviously, they’re necessary, however… it’s okay to be selfish every once in a blue moon. It doesn’t make you inherently bad.”

It was advice he parroted many-a-times to his family, some of them more often than others, seldom to himself if at all.

Scott, it’s okay if you have to tell them you can’t make this business conference.

Virgil, you can count inventory in the morning. You didn’t get any sleep last night either.

Gordon, if you can’t smile for a day or two, that doesn’t make you a bad person.

Kayo, you don’t have to patrol every night. We have security cams for a reason.

Alan, I know we tease you, but you missing a chore or two isn’t the end of the world.

Grandma, you already do enough for us, you barely cooking for us is the least of our worries.

That last one might be more for the rest of his family than not, but hey, two birds and one stone. Keeping his back against the wall, John stood up straighter against it, face suddenly serious, “In fact, wanting to be selfish is one of the best ways to tell that you’re human. You can’t escape it. It only becomes bad when you end up only being that.”

EOS sat in silence, her lens flickering in that way it always does when she was signifying she was about to pass judgment like a Goddess, which she seemed to be doing a lot more recently, “Well then… If I’m allowed one moment of self-reprieve, I suppose I should say that those words did… hurt.”

John grimaced despite very much understanding that he deserved it. The return of the inflection didn’t exactly help. Pushing himself away from the wall, he felt the metaphorical weight fall off his shoulders, “Yes, they did, and while they weren’t okay, it is okay to say that they weren’t. I still am very sorry.”

EOS adjusted her camera, probably to stall for time, “I know you are, John. I still forgive you, but am I correct in assuming I’m allowed some time to… recover isn’t the word I’m looking for, but--”

“Yes, EOS,” John helped her explain her own point, “Recover is a good word. You’re allowed that if you want it.”

John wasn’t sure how, but it seemed like EOS visibly relaxed, “Thank you, then, for letting me do that. This.”

For some reason, John did too, “Of course.”

It was a soft kind of awkward silence, where both parties had something on their mind but they weren’t entirely sure if they wanted to say it out loud. This is why EOS appreciated John more than the others, he simply let silence be silence. It allowed her time to think, unlike how Scott and Virgil kept asking questions, or how that awful duo made noises and messes only to have a chance at making people laugh. As if that was the most important thing they needed to do.

The nights the youngest called John were endless with his constant babbling that tended to grate her circuit boards. The only reason she let it happen was that John seemed to loosen up at the interaction. He became less weary, less worried-filled. He seemed to greatly enjoy the audial presence of Alan Tracy, let alone the way he lit up when the youngest actually showed up in person. It was just unfortunate that it seemed like the kid could never keep his mouth shut.

Then again… from what John said, the whole reason there wasn’t any more Alan was because he did keep it shut. At the worst moment possible. Now there wouldn’t be any more babbling period. Alan was gone, and the whole family was suffering from the new silence. EOS reasoned it was from the general idea of forced silence instead of just freely being able to leave the room or being able to tell him to quiet down, but maybe it was more than that. She could make another list of options to consider.

Plus, it was weird to think about a future where all of those video game walkthroughs she was forced to save would never be used again. John insisted that they weren’t just wastes of megabytes, so...

Hmm.

“Could you…” EOS trailed off, and before John could comprehend the unusual behavior of the A.I., she started speaking again, “Could you tell me more about Alan? I’m starting to think I judged him rather harshly.”

John took a moment to register her words and promptly snorted, “Well, most of your assumptions about him aren’t entirely unfounded, but that’s one of the joys of being an older sibling, I guess. Surprises around every corner,” there was regret in her voice and John knew he had to treat this as gently as he would a newborn child otherwise he would never hear it again.

EOS flickered, “I thought you didn’t like surprises.”

Uh, “Well, not usually, but there are a few from time to time that I could look back on and call them… quaint, in a sense.” Suddenly, a memory resurfaced, and John found himself grinning like he was doped up on nitrous oxide, “Yeah, they can have good surprises occasionally…”

It was a week before his next rotation. Scott would be back home in about three days, which allowed the second born to actually have a few moments with his only older brother. He was looking forward to it just as much as Scott was. Right now, though, he had to make sure he got the right angle.

Right as he did, he heard the soft pitter-patter of footsteps come up the ladder, and when he turned around, he was met with a bundle of freckles, “Oh, hey Alan.”

Hi, Johnny, the kid squirmed out, Is it okay if I sit next to you?

At first, a list of things wanted to fill John’s head. You look dead on your feet, you should be asleep, you have a lot going on this week so why are you wasting sleep? but instead of any of those filling the void that was his brain, John simply nodded, “Yeah, sure, come pop a squat, Sprout.”

John looked away right before he could watch Alan’s nose wrinkle in displeasure. Despite the usage of the nickname (that Alan secretly liked, don’t think you could pull that wool over our eyes, little bro), the kid still toddled over and flopped himself down right next to his older brother. Sighing, the kid leaned his head on John’s arm and absentmindedly stared out into space, both figuratively and literally. Satisfied his brother was comfy, John went back to his current objective.

As John examined the night sky, he also carefully looked over Alan out of the corner of his eye. Every bruise that John could see was finally dulling out into that familiar greyish-yellow as bruises do, and the sight was enough to calm any negative emotion being created from the reminder. John refocused on his telescope to help as well.

The kid had been through one hell of a week, bullies being their typical selves. Every Tracy outside of Scott and Gordon had their fair share of their own experiences with nasty people, and it wasn’t even the first time they’ve left their special kind of blue-and-black marks, but seeing it on Alan was… worse, somehow. Virgil had unsavory anonymous notes at ‘best’, and John knew first hand that their hits bruised more than just physical skin. So to see Alan get the same treatment and not say anything...

John was starting to understand why his older brother greyed so easily.

Speaking of which, Scott was pretty peeved at the idea of not being there for Alan. Because of this, John made sure to be the sole one to call him and inform him of the awful news while the older brother was out at his designated Air Force base. John wanted to see with his own two eyes that Scott wouldn’t do anything rash and made himself liable to be put on some kind of list.

You would think he wouldn’t be that stupid, but the Tracys are known for breaking expectations over their sweet, sweet kneecaps.

(“Scott, you’re not going to steal an Air Force jet just to come and beat up some dumb kids.”

“Watch me.”

“They’re only a year older than Alan.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

John pinched the bridge of his nose, “Listen, we already scarred them enough as it is, let alone their expulsions. Grandma’s threats to the adults were liable for a government-mandated therapist, Virgil just being there had them running for the hills, the computer I was sporting sent chills down their spines and throughout the hallways, and that’s not even to mention Gordon’s threats to the kids themselves. Seriously, where would a 15-year-old even get the tools to do that?”

Scott visibly relaxed at John’s point, but he still sat a little taut, not fully accepting the idea of people being cruel enough to hurt a literal ray of sunshine, “Fine, fine, I still want to talk to the kid over a call at some point. He was the one who dealt with those idiots.”

John’s shoulders deflated, “Yeah, you got me there. He’ll be back with Virgil and Gordon soon enough, you can see him then.”

Scott smiled in a way that washed away the greys in his hair, if only for a moment, “Awesome, I--”

John wasn’t completely done, “But I’m going to be with Alan while you talk to him. I don’t trust you to not be in search-and-destroy mode, and the last thing Alan needs is an angry you with no buffer. Besides, I’m pretty sure we have the same questions. I can play the angsty-Scott translator tonight. Usual fee, 10 bucks each word.”

The groan that managed to fill the whole house despite the tiny speakers was one John would never forget.)

Too lost in thought, John didn’t catch Alan’s movements at first. Leaning away from his telescope, John focused on Alan, “Sorry, Allie, did you say something?”

The child simply shrugged and smushed his chubby cheeks against John’s side, shaking his head, followed by his hands, I just wanted to see what you were doing.

Ah, that made sense. Alan had been continuously signing for the past year because of the obvious, so John rolled with the punches. It was always funny when they talked about these years in the future. Alan talked, Alan said, Alan brought up: it was always metaphorical, and nobody could believe them when they said Alan was fluent in ASL, let alone because he could actually go half a day without talking.

It was ironic because even with no words, Alan still managed to be the loudest thing on the planet. His hands always screamed with excitement whenever he felt like ‘talking’, and no brother ever felt like shutting him up. Especially when it was so easy for Alan to simply not shake his hands to hide the fact that he was in trouble--

Right, don’t go there. John shook his head to bring himself out of his thoughts and replied to the non-verbal admission, “Just looking at the stars. Recording their coordinates and whatnot.”

A small gasp had John jerking immediately away from his scope to see Alan suddenly very worried, maybe even fearful, But won’t you lose your eyes?!

Aha, what? “Allie, you’re going to have to give me more than that.”

John almost didn’t catch what Alan was trying to explain with the way he frantically shook his hands even faster than before, Mrs. Gatsen explained to us that the sun was a star too, but we’re not allowed to look at it for too long because it’ll steal our eyes! I don’t want you to lose your eyes, Johnny!

Ohoho, the part of John’s brain that was all about the smartsy stuff was gearing up to have a full-blown seminar of sorts, but the way the kid seemed so sincere in his worry, in his fear, John felt partially bad for giggling instead, “Oh, Allie, no. Here,” John was activating his inner Virgil and Scott with the way he grabbed the youngster and placed him in his lap, “Yes, the sun is a star, but there are many kinds of stars. Most of which don’t hurt your eyes. Take a look.”

Alan gave one last sentimental look at John, who nodded again just to reassure the blonde before the boy gulped and put his eye against the tool like Johnny did. This time, the gasp that came from him was more magical, more child-like, as it always should be. John watched on as the kid became stuck to his telescope like glue.

Suddenly, Alan leaned back into John, somewhat knocking the wind out of him. Honestly, now that he was thinking about it, John realized he was pushing it by letting Alan sit next to him in terms of his personal comfort zone. He loved Allie just as much as the rest of the family, but letting them in, letting them get close, was veering dangerously close to that specific ‘hug’ territory like he and his parents had.

Before John could explain that in a child-friendly way, and hopefully in a way where the too-smart-for-his-own-good kid couldn’t pick up on the hidden message, Alan looked him directly in the eyes and confidently signed his wants, Can we do this more often? Can we?

Just like that, John’s mind blanked. Alan wanted to do something with him. Not swim with Gordon, not music with Virgil, not do, well, anything with Scott, Allie found something that he would like to do with John.

Huh, interesting, “Yeah, sure. If we can’t do it in the next week, then the first thing we’ll do when I come down is stargaze, because that’s what it’s called: stargazing.”

Alan started gripping his arm tighter and leaned more into his chest, nodding vigorously at the news and looking back to the sky with newfound wonder. Letting Alan be, abruptly forgetting his grievances with things like touch, John went back to his telescope. After another minute or so, John reached a point where he needed both sides of his body, except it looked like one of them was going to be kept immobile unless the spaceman said something to Alan.

John tried doing just that, just without looking away from his device, “Hey, Allie, I don’t mind the sitting-in-my-lap and stuff, but I do need my arm back to--”

Snoring.

Oh.

Jerking his head to physically look at his sibling, John found Alan passed out and squeezing his arm like a freckled koala bear. The ginger flinched a little bit at the drool dripping onto his sleeve, but the way Allie melted into him made him-- actually, he was very suddenly aware that this whole night he hadn’t really been thinking at all, and that thought made him continue to stare mindlessly at the dozing brother.

He always thought about, well, everything. What he was going to say, what he planned to do tomorrow, about what the future held now that they were down their second and last parent. If he didn’t think about it beforehand, he rarely did it. He had to make sure he went through all of his options before haphazardly jumping into the pits of hell.

Yet the way his younger brother looked at him like he was the world himself tonight made John throw all of his training to be as cautious as possible out the window in a need to comfort and care for the small thing in front of him.

It was shocking to his mind, yet he didn’t resent just being able to do without worrying too much. Was this how smother complexes started? Did he ever drool on Scott’s arm? Still staring at Alan, John’s mind continued to be robotic as he simply let his younger brother be and went back to his telescope. Alan had been needing to get a little more sleep lately anyway.

Yeah, it was fine. He could figure out how to follow up on his words later. It wouldn’t be that hard to figure out a way to squeeze Alan into some of his already-planned stargazing nights while making sure the kid still got sleep. Also, John’s used telescopes wearing a cast and sling before, he might prefer two arms, but he has been okay with only one.

If Grandma yelled at John for spending too much time on the roof again, well, she would have to get over it. Alan got an extra hour of sleep and that was all that mattered.

EOS watched as John finished the story. Once he was done, he continued to be quiet while grinning at nothing. All he was doing was simply staring at the floor… It was slightly creepy, and EOS cleared her nonexistent throat, “Huh, I didn’t realize he got a lot of his interests from you. Maybe… maybe you could show me why he did. He can too. More perspectives always get more data.”

John blinked and was immediately taken out of his trance. He brought his hand to his mouth and cleared his throat, “Yeah, he-- wait, what?”

EOS sighed. This is another reason why she snapped him out of it; his inability to listen to someone right in front of him. She simplified her words, “If Alan comes back, can you two take me stargazing? I don’t think I’ve ever seen what the stars look like down there, or, at least, I never looked at them long enough to understand what you all find to be so fascinating about them.”

John blinked a few more times with his mouth slightly gaped. He looked around nervously before bringing his turquoise eyes to look EOS directly in the middle of her camera, “Yeah, sure, EOS. When Alan gets back, that’s the first thing we’ll do.”

EOS didn’t mention anything about the correction of if to when, “Thank you, John, I would like that very much.”

John nodded and floated back to his tech, “Of course. Now then, we’ve got work to do. I’ve been meaning to stargaze recently anyway.”

He still had one more day up here.

And a baby brother who needed saving.

How hard could it be?

---

Very.

Growling in frustration, he thumped his fist against the wall next to him rather harshly.

Not enough to leave any kind of mark or dent, but enough for him to focus on the tiny amount of pain it gave him. He vaguely heard EOS’s lens flare at the sudden noise, but he was a little too focused on why he felt the need to hit his girl.

It was the end of the last day, and he didn’t make it any further like he thought he would.

Some bleak part of his mind was hoped, prayed that his girl would have the tools to find their baby brother. He was willing to bend her entire satellite to be able to reach the far ends of the galaxy if he had to, but even he had to concede that she wasn’t enough. The Hood wasn’t dumb, unfortunately, and he wasn’t going to go easy on them. That is if he was even going “to go” on them to start with.

While it wasn’t the first time he failed spectacularly, this failure certainly hurt the worst.

Half of him wanted to curl up into a ball and forget everything for a moment (or maybe forever), but the other half won out in terms of what his body contorted into. Instead of curling up like a prickly hedgehog, he leaned backward to be floating with his back to the ground and his face to the ceiling with his face in his hands. Meanwhile, EOS silently gazed from her camera in the corner. Watching John struggle this way was… new, and it twisted her wires in a way she wasn’t sure she could describe.

EOS watched him mumble something. Huh, peculiar as ever. Adjusting her camera, she tried small talk, “What was that, John?”

Still mumbles, but more intelligible, “... I need to drop the ‘s’.”

A flicker of yellow, nothing but pure confusion for once in her robotic life, “The ‘s’ of what?”

Suddenly, the astronaut was standing (well, floating) upright with a look of disdain, but EOS could see that it wasn’t meant for her, “Of ‘she’. It’s not ‘Five’s fault, God, it never is, but maybe… maybe it’s mine.”

All of her programs should allow her to say something. Anything, sugarcoated or not, would be beneficial to this seemingly one-sided conversation, but this was the moment she learned that humans could be faster than computers since John steamrolled right to the point without hesitation, “He wasn’t good enough sounds better. Nothing I’m doing is getting any results. I gave my family false hope that I would find something and now I have to go to them and essentially break them. They were already barely holding it together as it was, but when the “smart one” in their family says there’s nothing he can do…”

She found herself going against the logical part of her program-- because despite the idiot John Tracy could be, when he made an argument that had any kind of evidence you never could go against it-- the first time in, well, ever, in an attempt to comfort her partner, “John… I think you’re grasping at straws here.”

He looked up from the floor, and EOS had to shrink her lens at the sight of unshed tears in his eyes, “Who was the one that called him?! Me! He was standing there only a few rooms over, probably terrified out of his mind, and I didn’t know. I let him slip between our fingers because I was so caught up in the moment and I hate myself for it.”

EOS found herself speechless for once, and the few droplets of tears that floated in front of John’s face didn’t help. She had been trying her best recently, especially recently, to understand the fluctuations of human emotion, and she was pretty sure she had decent tabs on at least John nowadays, but this was something unexpected, a thing her programming never really liked to deal with. It involved lots of new calculations and new sims, why, it made things seconds longer when they didn’t have the time to deal with it!

Her electronic voice box made a noise with the intent to say something, as she thought she finally had the time to deal with it, but just her luck, more unexpected things made her reapproach the issue at hand, “John, look out! The Chaos Crew!”

Blinking out of his self-deprecation train, John was uncharacteristically panicking, “What, where?” After doing a full 180, John eventually saw one of his comm radios with the familiar pink symbol floating above it.

John’s pupils shrunk and his eyebrows tilted downward in that unfamiliar emotion: anger.

Fuck this.

The mood change was as fast as the speed of lightning. John practically flung himself to the communication device on something akin to a warpath. No longer regretful or depressed, John was filled to the brim with fury at the sight of one of the men that was a constant thorn in the Tracy family’s side, “What the hell are you doing here? How the hell did you--”

“Wait wait wait!” Fuse pleaded, making John momentarily pause enough to listen, “I’m not good at this like my sister is, so this connection is going to drop soon. I need you to reopen the line yourself so I can explain what I’m here for! Trust me, I swear I’m not--”

Zip.

Blinking at the lack of noise, John slowly turned his head to look at his A.I. to get her opinion on the matter. It wasn’t a positive one, that’s for sure. Her dots were bright red, and for the first time in a while, he found himself flinching at the sight and sound of her, “It wouldn’t take much of me to get rid of the nuisance, you know.”

Taking a few deep breaths, John shook his head, “No, EOS, give me a sec. Don’t send him careening into space.”

Yet.

With shaky hands, John did as Fuse begged and found the comm line the guy haphazardly threw together. Right as Fuse jumped at the sight of one of the Tracys actually hearing him out, John’s voice spoke coldly, “You have five minutes. Go.”

Fuse gulped, “W-Well, I suppose the first thing to do would be to apologize. I’ve caused a lot of messes for you and your family-- heh, ‘messes’ probably doesn’t even come close to explaining what I did-- and I realize that now, so I want to--”

Ah, that tactic. The one where they try so desperately to seem like they were repentant. John wasn’t familiar with it, but Scott sure was. Shady business owners trying to shy away from their consequences made the eldest very aware of how slimy those in power could be. Scott complained about it a lot, so John made sure to always remember it just in case he ever ran into it himself.

Preplanning wins again in the Tracy household. You should listen to John’s advice more, Gordon, “Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.” John muttered mostly to himself and moved in a way that signified something was going to happen.

Fuse sputtered and stopped immediately. Crap, he was going about this wrong. These were all things he was suddenly genuine about, he really was, but the Tracys didn’t want useless apologies at the moment, and he understood that. Hopefully, he didn’t understand it too late. Right before John could do anything to him or give any kind of command to his satellite, Fuse blurted the information he should’ve said the first place, “I know where he is!”

John felt like the Earth flew right off its axis.

Everything froze, including EOS. His hand was out in front of him for some reason, probably subconsciously reaching for some kind of button, as he absentmindedly listened to the whirl of ‘Five and his brain fully processed what Fuse was promising, “... What?”

John was keenly aware that sounding so weak, so hopeful, was something that Fuse could spinelessly abuse if the man wanted to, but John had a good lie detector. The words that fumbled out of half The Chaos Crew’s mouth were sounding good, great, and John could tell that he wasn’t bullshitting anything, “I know where he’s keeping your bro. I mean… shit, what The Hood did wasn’t right, maybe it never was, but I know this specifically is--” a break in his speech in an attempt to words things better. Fuse failed, “Bad. I just…”

John’s head involuntarily tilted at the way Fuse trailed off. For once in his life, John was at a loss. This was highly uncharacteristic from what John had seen of The Chaos Crew, and the astronaut was so flabbergasted he couldn’t even begin to come up with any possible ulterior motive behind Fuse’s actions at the moment.

Suddenly, Fuse looked back up with big eyes, almost reminding John of Alan a little bit. Not in the obvious ways, because Fuse was on the verge of seven feet tall and built like a truck whereas Alan was the teeniest thing on the planet, but… John could see similar traits of innocence in them. The eyes of someone desperately clinging onto the last few shreds of hope they had, but still ready to do what's right because of it. Because even if the light at the end of the tunnel was small it was still worth fighting for.

Fuse, seeing that John wasn’t going to say anything, bit the bullet, “I don’t know, call it selfish, call it smart, but if The Hood is willing to do something like this to someone so young, I… I don’t want to be apart of it. I can’t give any information about my sister, I’m no snitch, but I want out, even if it means spending the rest of my days in a GDF cell.”

John was suddenly aware of a burning question, “Wait, how old are you, Fuse?”

A tired sigh, aging Fuse to something that was probably three times what he was going to say, “I turn 20 in two weeks.”

John sharply inhaled, “Jesus, I… I didn’t realize you were that young.”

A lot of things made sense quickly and abruptly like they always do for the ginger.

If The Hood was willing to do this to someone so young, that didn’t stop him from doing this to someone like Fuse. The logical conclusion the now ‘ex-villain’ made probably danced the wildest jig in his head, and before anyone could clap their hands, he got as far away as possible. John wouldn’t be surprised if The Hood made idle threats for not following orders or for “being stupid”, so Fuse had every right to feel threatened.

Jeez, he was probably terrified at the implication. A dark, buried part of John selfishly thought good, it sucks you had to learn the hard way, but now you see why we all hate him, but the first thing that came to his mind was something unexpected yet expected all the same.

John was reminded of Alan again.

Except Alan had four older brothers to run to when the monsters got too big or too frightening.

…

Scott was going to kill him, “Park her over on the left and come in. We’ve got a lot to talk about. Bring inside whatever you think will help.”

EOS’s shrill John! ringed throughout the room, yet it was overruled swiftly. Fuse’s mouth was wide open, “For real?”

John couldn’t tell if he was losing the knots in his stomach or forming completely new ones, “Yes. Don’t do anything funny, though. I have eyes everywhere.”

Fuse gulped again, yet he was very business-like with his next words, “Of course.”

The line cut a millisecond before John wanted it to. John knew exactly why, “Listen, EOS--”

EOS was suddenly in his face, and it spoke miles at how far she’s come that she wasn’t blaring any alarms in anger, “No, you listen, John Tracy. I cannot believe the level of ignorance you are displaying!”

Gordon always joked about her being his daughter, but right now, John’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the feeling of being scolded by an overbearing mother, “I get this may seem like I’ve lost it--” jokes on EOS, who says he hasn’t at this point? “Listen, there’s nothing else left to go off of, and I know this makes me look like a crazy man desperate for information that might not even be there, but--”

“No buts!” EOS shrieked, “You told me that if you followed a sentence with a “but” that what you were about to say shouldn’t even be considered an option! What is making you throw all of my training out the window?!”

John’s mouth became very dry. This conversation was taking a very different turn, “Wait, EOS, why is this all about you suddenly--”

John was starting to regret giving her more mobility at the sight of her jamming her camera directly in his face even more, “It’s not just about me! This affects you too! You said you always based your decisions on the here-and-now, so I should too, so why am I the only one doing so?! You’ve seen what he’s capable of!”

John’s mind tended to be made of gears, and all of them began spinning at the same time. Dammit, he didn’t pick up on this because he didn’t even consider it a factor: EOS being scared. Hell, it wasn't even considered because the last time he remembered her being this scared was when she thought he was a threat during the first time they met (was it really that long ago?). She was scared that Fuse was going to hurt John like he hurt the rest of the astronaut’s family. Like he hurt Gordon.

The only difference is that nobody could get to John like they did Gordon, so that left the ginger at an impasse if the small chance that Fuse was here to hurt him came true.

John found it very hard to breathe all of a sudden. Closing his eyes and struggling to get enough air in, he realized a fundamental problem. EOS was based on data and things that have been recorded, and so far, the only things recorded about Fuse was that he was hellbent on hurting the Tracy family, a family that John was apart of.

She didn’t know any other way to feel about the guy, she didn’t have any other example.

John would love to be that way too, honestly, to just focus on the data. Numbers never tended to be wrong, and the idea of being a simple number-crunching bot would make life a shit-ton easier, but he can’t. He’s human. One that’s very much willing to go against the numbers and probabilities if it meant helping his family.

A rarity for John, to follow his gut and nothing else, but at the end of the day, he was a Tracy, and following his gut was as familiar to him as it was to name all of the immediate constellations in the summer’s nighttime sky, “EOS, I know it’ll be hard to believe me, hell, I’m having trouble believing myself, but Fuse isn’t here to hurt me. The here-and-now is different for reasons I don’t have enough time to properly explain, okay? If there’s anything to believe, believe in the trust you have in me to make the right decision like I always do.”

EOS made no noise, not even a flicker of her lens. He expected her usual sass, something along the lines of, Who says I trust you, moron? but what he got punched away what little air he managed to collect, “... Do you promise?”

That was the million-dollar question. Of course, he couldn’t. He didn’t like making promises after the age of 12. Too many probabilities, too many what-ifs, made promises somewhat of a theoretical impossibility. But just like that night on the roof with Alan, John was able to not think, “I promise, EOS. You wanted to go stargazing with me and Alan, right? Fuse might be able to let us do that again.”

‘Family’ was a Wild Card. Nothing was possible, yet everything was at the same time when it came down to it. ‘Family’ was what made Scott go from day to day without keeling over. ‘Family’ was what got Virgil to sleep at night when he just couldn’t by himself. ‘Family’ was how Gordon managed to keep smiling and joking despite everything in the world trying to make him stop. Hell, ‘Family’ was how their father kicked the word impossible right in the groin and live.

‘Family’ might have been why Alan was stuck in such a shitty situation, but it was also the reason the kid was willing and able to go that far in the first place. He learned that selflessness from his ‘Family’, after all.

John was intent to use that fact to the fullest.

EOS’s lights blinked in contemplation before she quietly spoke once more, “Do I have permission to shock him if he makes even the slightest suspicious movement?”

John rolled his eyes yet grinned all the same, “Sure, only just a little voltage, though. Right in the ass. Would be a nice pick-me-up after all of this.”

Well, despite the year they’ve had, John wasn’t aware EOS could snort. Another sign things might be going right for once.

The door swwwshed open and Fuse floated into where the two hyper-intelligent beings were hanging about and got straight to the point, “Thank you. I hope… I hope I don’t let you down.”

John found himself light as air, and it wasn’t just the zero-gravity this time, “Sounds good. Let’s get cracking.”

While the first thing he did back on Earth was scare his father and his immediate younger brother shitless, the way they and the rest of the family lit up at the plan he and Fuse came up with (after making sure nobody killed the dude, which was surprisingly more difficult than expected, and boy was it expected) made it all worth it.

Well, maybe the sight of Fuse occasionally jumping and yelping at a strange pinch in his bottom with no known cause was worth it too. John wouldn’t tell his brothers that, though, he was the responsible one, remember?

You always made me look at things differently, EOS. Thank you.

#fabfivefeb #fabfivefeb2020 #thunderbirds #thunderbirds are go #john tracy #alan tracy #eos #fuse thunderbirds #jeff tracy #my post #my fic #series: rules of alchemy

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daffydom · 5 years ago

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Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? spotify, but i have an account with apple music.

is your room messy or clean? clean atm.

what color are your eyes? green with blue around it.

do you like your name? why? i like it only because people compliment it and that it’s unique.

what is your relationship status? you wish.

describe your personality in 3 words or less. goofy. experienced. kind.

what color hair do you have? brunette.

what kind of car do you drive? color? i love my subaru & it’s white.

where do you shop? tj maxx mainly.

how would you describe your style? linen, & statement jackets.

favorite social media account. snapchat.

what size bed do you have? double.

any siblings? i’m the yougest. with 2 brothers & 1 sister.

if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why? i liked taiwan but i’d love to travel to europe.

favorite snapchat filter? rainbow hair.

favorite makeup brand(s) bare minerals. & jeffery star.

how many times a week do you shower? tbh 4.

favorite tv show? trash tv being married at first sight. but i haven’t found another tv show i enjoy seriously.

shoe size? 10

how tall are you? 5 11?

sandals or sneakers? sneakers.

do you go to the gym? i would if my apartment complex would open.

describe your dream date. if it’s a dream then something fancy & expensive, but with real love behind it.

how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment? a cc & less than $20 cash.

what color socks are you wearing? barefoot.

how many pillows do you sleep with? one.

do you have a job? what do you do? clean rentals & homes atm.

how many friends do you have? a few.

whats the worst thing you have ever done? this question is out of my context.

whats your favorite candle scent? vanilla notes. midnight rain.

3 favorite boy names. brendon. theo. james..

3 favorite girl names. kirey, ava, & idk.

favorite actor? jack nickolson. jim carrey. robert de niro.

favorite actress? susan sarandon. diane keaton.

who is your celebrity crush? theo james.

favorite movie? allegiant from the divergent series. new moon from twilight series or closer.

do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? no & i prefer health books.

money or brains? brains. But i believe even that doesn’t get you far.

do you have a nickname? what is it? niqueeyyy.

how many times have you been to the hospital? a couple.

top 10 favorite songs. turn by the wombats. glorious by muse. sweet thing by van morrison. i’ll never love again by lady gaga. to love you more by celine dion. last you heard of me by joyce maynor. rodent by the menzingers. cherry bomb by the runaways. somebody else by the 1975.. haha by mates of state.

do you take any medications daily? just supplements.

what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) normal. i remember to scrub the face well.

what is your biggest fear? afain, out of context.

how many kids do you want? 0. couldn’t feel right letting them grow up in the antics of the world.

whats your go to hair style? up in a bun.

what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) 1 bedroom apartment.

who is your role model? dad. various reasons.

what was the last compliment you received? my name was beautful.

what was the last text you sent? left a gift for mom at her house saying where i left it.

how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real? oh please.

what is your dream car? anything extravagant & fast.

opinion on smoking? nah.

do you go to college? briefly online, but it wasn’t what i wanted to do.

what is your dream job? director of sorts.

would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? rural.

do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? sometimes.

do you have freckles? used to.

do you smile for pictures? depends.

how many pictures do you have on your phone? 1,560

have you ever peed in the woods? & more.

do you still watch cartoons? bob’s bourgers.

do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds? wendy’s.

Favorite dipping sauce? chick fil a orignal sauce.

what do you wear to bed? t-shirt & undies.

have you ever won a spelling bee? could’ve.

what are your hobbies? photography.

can you draw? want to try again.

do you play an instrument? wish i played acoustic & piano.

what was the last concert you saw? cover band for led zepplin.

tea or coffee? black coffee.

Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? either or.

do you want to get married? mhmm.

what was your first crush’s first and last initial? A.B.

are you going to change your last name when you get married? standard.

what color looks best on you? orange/coral/black.

do you miss anyone right now? yes.

do you sleep with your door open or closed? closed.

do you believe in ghosts? you know they’re all demons, right?

what is your biggest pet peeve? “professionally taken” bad photos or badly directed movies.

last person you called? mom.

favorite ice cream flavor? chocolate with fudge.

regular oreos or golden oreos? both.

chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? both.

what shirt are you wearing? calvin klein pj’s.

what is your phone background? blue flowers with red setting sun.

are you outgoing or shy? outgoing.

do you like it when people play with your hair? yes.

do you like your neighbors? yes.

do you wash your face? at night? in the morning? night.

have you ever been high? :)

have you ever been drunk? :)

last thing you ate? white rice with thai curry soup and chicken.

favorite lyrics right now. i’ll get back to you on that one.

summer or winter? summer.

day or night? night.

dark, milk, or white chocolate? milk.

favorite month? does it really matter.

what is your zodiac sign. not into astrology.

who was the last person you cried in front of? joe.

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maceejill-blog · 5 years ago

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feynavaley · 6 years ago

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K, T, and U :)

Thank you so much for the questions! 😊(list here)

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

Well… I’m not really good at angst because, while I like to make my characters suffer, I also like to end on a hopeful/positive note. So, the angst is never too bad. 😅

That said, I guess the worst idea I toyed with was a story set in a war scenario, where the opposing forces (the humans on that side, actually) are trying to capture America to cripple the nation’s military power. (Not knowing that personifications aren’t actually vital at all to a nation’s military.) After an ambush that leaves America unconscious and Canada injured, Canada, believing to be less important than America, swaps their uniforms and leads their captors on a chase away from America. Due to his injuries, Canada is eventually captured. Afterwards, Canada is tortured for information as he’s believed to be America, while America cannot divert all his energies to finding and rescuing Canada because he still has his duty and people to think of. This leaves him feeling torn and guilty. In the meantime, Canada’s captors discover his true identity and stop the interrogation but not the torture, using him instead for some experiments on personifications’ physiology (their healing and immortality). America eventually finds out where Canada is being held. Seeing the condition Canada is in, he gives himself up in exchange for Canada – but their enemies don’t keep their words and keep both of them. Canada gets tortured in front of him to convince America to spill information he doesn’t even have (even in canon, America isn’t privy to all the decisions of his government) and he couldn’t give anyway, because his people are more important than a personification who cannot even be killed and will eventually recover, no matter how much he’s tortured. Canada can still feel pain, however, so it’s horrible for America. On the other hand, Canada feels like he’s too weak and worthless because he didn’t manage to escape on his own, which lead to America being put in danger (and basically nullified Canada’s initial sacrifice) and suffering by witnessing Canada being tortured. America and Canada would manage to break free, of course, (courtesy of America, mostly) but the rest of the story would deal with the struggles both of them face recovering from such a traumatic experience, with a lot of difficulties and setbacks. I don’t actually think I will write it, though – I’m afraid I would end up not being able to deal with such heavy themes in a satisfactory way, and I don’t want to make light of them.

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

Ohh boy that’s a heavy one. There’s a lot of stuff that really gets on my nerves on the long run, haha.

Before I write my answer, however, I want to specify that these are just my personal preferences. I’m writing them down because that’s what I have been asked – but I would never dream of dictating what other people can or cannot do. If I don’t like something, I just avoid reading it and keep quiet, I would never complain to the author about it. These are just very personal opinions of mine.

I have already talked about it [x] [x] so I won’t dwell too much on this, but I really don’t like how many people turn Canada into an edgy asshole. Why can’t nice characters just be nice?

I also hate when people behave like it’s canon that Canada is a stoner, when it’s not. In canon, he consumed marijuana exactly once, and his reaction and strong embarrassment afterwards hint that he strongly regretted it. I really don’t think he ever repeated the experience. (Not to mention how being a stoner would clash with his sensible, hard-working, and selfless personality.)

I don’t understand why people take the few times America displayed some insecurities as undeniable proof that the other 99% of the time he was positive and confident was all fake, and he actually has major depression issues and no self-esteem at all. I mean… people can be more complex than that. Why should all be fake? A person with a healthy self-esteem can still have some insecurities – and some moments of insecurity don’t mean that a generally positive attitude is completely fake (actually, even people with major self-esteem issues can retain a positive attitude – see Canada – so I think this last part is even more of a stretch). Of course, it is a possible interpretation, but it irks me when people claim it’s the only right one. Actually, I think that being so overconfident yet well-meaning and, in particular, always able to keep a positive outlook, is what makes America such an endearing character.

This is a very small pet-peeve – but in canon, there’s no FACE family. Not in colonial times, especially. So, I’m always a bit baffled when people write France and England living with America and Canada like a small, happy family in colonial times and consider it canon instead of the AU/canon-divergence it actually is.

Always about America and Canada, I don’t dig the ‘America and Canada are the children of Native America’ interpretation. First of all, why would there be a single personification of Native America? I might be wrong, but I’m pretty sure there should be different personifications for the different peoples of Native Americans… Moreover, whether you consider it rightful or not (I’m not discussing this, but the canon portrayal) I think it’s pretty clear Himaruya wrote America and Canada as initially representing the cultural and political establishment of the coloners in North America… that, as far as I know, didn’t really have strong ties with the indigenous populations. That’s why America and Canada look Caucasian – and why it makes sense for them to be, too. Now, they represent all the different peoples in their countries and there is a lot of diversity, but they were born representing a much smaller (and less diverse) group so those were the features and ethnicity they mirrored.

Romano being part of the mafia. a) This statement goes against canon; b) Maybe I’m oversensitive, but considering the personification of South Italy as siding with the mafia for shit and giggles feels really disrespectful to all the people of South Italy who are struggling to fight against mafia – who died fighting it.

People making everything about shipping and acting as if the slightest indication of two characters caring about each other is an undeniable proof of a romantic attraction. Don’t get me wrong, this is something you can build a romance from – but people caring for each other doesn’t necessarily mean it’s romantic. Most times, it’s not even a hint, actually.

Aand I should probably stop talking or I’ll get too salty over stuff I have no business being salty about in the first place, haha. 😅

U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

That’s a nice one! Allow me to ramble a bit, because there are some truly amazing writers who have inspired me a lot and deserve all the credit they can get. 😊

@mandelene – Her writing is just fantastic. It isn’t only about the plot and characterization (which I should mention is phenomenal, too – she always paints complex and realistic characters), but also the structural aspects of the writing are incredible. The pacing is always perfect, and she strikes an excellent balance between keeping her style simple and making the story immersive – she uses just the right amount of details to let you get into the story and convey (very well) the characters’ emotions, but not become long-winded. And the phrasing and choice of words is meticulous. Just a pleasure to read.

Emperor Kumquat – She wrote some of my favourite long fics ever. Her characterization is intriguing and well-thought and researched, and it’s also very coherent through the story. The character arcs are built naturally, you can really feel them grow. Also, her plots are something incredible. They are original and interesting, but there’s also a meticulous foreshadowing and attention to details that really pays off. As the plot unravels, you start putting everything together and seemingly random events and words get a new meaning. They are incredible reads.

Azumizai – She wrote some of the first fics I read for Hetalia (years after they were published, though), and centred on Canada in a way I really love. It’s a lot of fluff and hurt/comfort but there’s also an interesting plot and take on the characters. I think her fics were the ones that actually drove me to try writing for Hetalia.

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msbethanygrace · 6 years ago

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HOLY SHIT IS THAT [ VANESSA HUDGENS ]?! Oh, wait it’s just [ BETHANY COHEN-CHANG ]. Damn, [ SHE/HER ] looks good for [ 23 ], good thing that they’re [ BISEXUAL ], I might have a chance. I hear that they call them the [ THE KIND SOUL ] of the [ NORTH SIDE ]. I guess that’s because they’re [ RELIABLE ] and [ KNOWLEDGEABLE ]. But I don’t think a lot of people know that they’re also [ INSECURE ] and [ TRUSTING ]. Can’t wait to see what kind of trouble [ DANIELLE/23/CST/NONE ] will bring.

01. BASICS

Full Name: Bethany Grace Cohen-Chang

Nickname: Beth, Betty

Sex/Gender: Female/She/Her

Birthday: 12/14

Age: 23

Astrological Sign: Sagittarius

Occupation: Cafe Owner/Cashier at All Booked Up

Spoken Languages: English and spotty French and Spanish

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts

Relationship status: Dating Jackson Hayward (it is not known to public)

02. PHYSICAL TRAITS

Hair Color/Style: Black/Short with some blonde and natural high lights

Eye Color: Dark Brown

Face Claim: Vanessa Hudgens

Height: 5′1

Weight: 110

Tattoos: Butterfly on the back of her neck, as a tribute to her grandmother

Piercings: Two on each ear

Unique Attributes: N/A

Defining Gestures/Movements: Fiddles with her jewelry

Posture: Nice and Straight

03. PERSONALITY TRAITS

Pet Peeves: Impolite or closed minded people

Hobbies/Interests: Baking, Reading, Singing, Photography, Fashion

Special Skills/Abilities: Baking, Singing, Photography

Likes: Music, Movies, History, Kindness

Dislikes: Hardly anything, maybe just rude people?

Insecurities: Disappointing people

Quirks/Eccentricities: Fiddles with her clothing

Strengths: Her intelligence

Weaknesses: Her belief that all people have a good side

Speaking Style: She is very clear and to the point, but she can speak too fast sometimes

Temperament: Very patient

04. FAMILY & HOME

Immediate Family: Her birthparents, Her adoptive parents and sister

How do they feel about their family? Bethany feels very thankful for them

How does their family feel about them? They are very proud of her and her determination, but without knowing they make her feel like she need to take on this business for them.

Pets: A dog named Eliza

Where do they live? An apartment above the bookstore with Marley Rose

Description of their home: A three bedroom apartment, two bedrooms and her office. Along with a living room and kitchen.

Description of their bedroom: Very traditional but with a few statement painting hanging around her room. A king size bed, and a dresser on either side.

05. THIS OR THAT

Introvert or Extrovert?

Optimist or Pessimist?

Leader or Follower?

Confident or Self-Conscious?

Cautious or Careless?

Religious or Secular?

Passionate or Apathetic?

Book Smarts or Street Smarts?

Compliments or Insults?

Pajamas or Lingerie?

06. FAVORITES

Favorite Color: Blue, Pink, Green, Earthy Colors

Favorite Clothing Style/Outfit: Sweaters of any kind, dresses, blouses, flats

Favorite Bands/Songs/Type of Music: She does not have a favorite, she likes to listen to a variety

Favorite Movies: Anything historic, classic, and suspense horror movies

Favorite Books: The Little Girl Who Live Down The Lane and various poetry and mystery writers

Favorite Foods/Drinks: Tea, Salad, and various sweets she tries to bake

Favorite Sports/Sports Teams: Not itnerested

Favorite Time of Day: Afternoon

Favorite Weather/Season: Fall/Winter

Favorite Animal:All of them

07. MISCELLANEOUS

Fears/Superstitions:Disappointing people

Political Views: Liberal

Addictions: Can reading too much be counted as one?

Best School Subject: English

Worst School Subject: Science

School Clubs/Sports: N/A

How does he get money? From her parents due to her job but she is now getting more income from the bakery.

How is he with technology? Very Tech Savvy

08. PAST & FUTURE

Fondest Memory: Spending days in the bookstore with her parents and siblings.

Deepest, Darkest Secret: Started looking for her birth parents

Dream Vacation: Anywhere where she can learn new things

Best thing that has ever happened to this character:Her parents surprising her and telling her about their plans to build the cafe

Worst thing that has ever happened to this character: When she lost her grandmother

What do they want to be when they grow up? A baker and librarian

Perfect Date: Anything as long as the two of them can enjoy and learn about each other.

BIOGRAPHY BULLET POINTS

Was adopted when she was newborn, any memories of her birth parents is a letter from them and a few photos. Her parents were very open with her about how she was adopted and she is very thankful for that.

Has always loved reading, before she could read she carried books around like other kids would hold blankets or stuffed animals.

Learned about her other passion from her grandmother. It started when she wanted to help her bake for family dinners and events. As time went on she helped her learn everything she knew today. She is eternally grateful for everything she taught her.

Since she was a kid she had been helping around her families bookshop. Once she was a teenager she began working there and once she graduated high school she had been considering adding a cafe next to the bookshop.

About two years ago her family finally purchased the open store next door and they make it into a bakery and in the last year it made the transition into a cafe. She still hosts and caters for events around town when she can.

Has been dating Jackson Hayward off and on since they were in high school. Although it hasn’t been their choice that they can’t be dating as consistently as they would like. Their family that has been very close since they could remember made them experience many bumps in the road. And ones that lead them to not being able to see each other.

Although that hadn’t stopped them from seeing each other, they had been dating on the down low ever since all of the drama had gone down. They have found ways to work around their parents figuring out. And they hope to continue to do so until they can figure everything out.

More details tbd…

#gdhqintro #intro

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helltore-a · 6 years ago

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welcome to the first episode of THE BLOGCHELOR starring me !

this has been in production for MONTHS and i am here to deliver for mutuals and non - mutuals alike , this is FREE TO JOIN FOR ALL . i will be doing this fortnightly or monthly ( depending on my schedule ) with at least 5 BLOGS reviewed for however way they will take my perspective to improve and grow for the better. feel free to take it or leave it.

THE RATING WORKS ON THE RANGE OF 5 / 5: with 1 as has so much room for potential and improvement , 3 as passable and your blog works as functionally and practically as it should , and 5 as with flying colors that your blog works but with good extras. READ FULL CRITERIA DESCRIPTION HERE.

01. @msscre . fandomless oc by pax.

ACCESSIBILITY / NAVIGABILITY. ★★★★★ With this kind of theme having maximum number of 4 links , I like how the first thing your blog immediately showed me is the links because the boxes and font color just pops out. You did what you can with limited url slots and the navigation page for everything makes it easier for everyone to browse through since they’re all redirected pages. ➤ GENERAL ADVICE FOR EVERYONE : In my opinion , it’s better to have a good balance and choice of usage between redirected pages and custom pages. Too much use of custom pages for the aesthetic can be annoying for a potential partner browsing your blog because most people just want to read your content and not to be kept redirected to different pages , especially if they’re incoherent with no uniform choice of design. Worst combo to send your potential partners away since they can also feel lazy not to read your content. Yes , people do that and it’s not their fault since the human brain has limited attention span. Too much redirected pages works if you want simple , straightforward navigation but it wouldn’t hurt to add a little flair sometimes. This flair can be from the custom page and redirected page mix usage or from how your content is formatted too.

VISUAL IMPACT / AESTHETICS. ★★★★ Absolutely love the consistency in your theme color palette ! Neutrals and red as highlights is a good duo. Everyone is entitled to their own tastes of their representation and interpretation of their muses , though might I suggest that the color of your highlights be a little lighter ? The theme and fonts are neutrals and dark , so it will help the eyes adjust and find the emphasised content you’re aiming to be read if your highlights are light or medium light so not to deviate with the theme’s aesthetic. However , I don’t feel your font for the header though ... seems a bit off for me but it’s just a difference between preferences , no biggie. ➤ GENERAL ADVICE FOR EVERYONE : It’s always good to have a good choice of what font goes with what. In my case I use a lot of font sizes and properties to complement the theme with the format or the actual font used. Usually I do cursive and straight combination , not one over other overpowering each other. Google Fonts with html codes and stuff is your best friend.

SUBSTANCE / INFORMATIVE. ★★★★ Good info on the biography and verses since they have whatever pumps the blog alive. I don’t know if it’s in your intentions but a PERSONALITY section is good too in supporting your psychological evaluation stats page since mostly , numbers don’t really make sense to humans. They’re more of the qualitative type , makes it easier for them to understand if you link those numbers to words of brief description of your muse’s behavior and attitude. This is especially crucial for OCs to have as one of my preferences so I’ll know if our muses can clash for fun or just clash without sense ... you can gauge what an interaction can be just by reading the other’s personality section and see how it helps with the plotting and relationship dynamic.

READABILITY / LEGIBILITY. ★★★★ The colour of the highlights is what I’ve said earlier but overall , the font colors are good since I can read them.

BRANDING / WOW FACTOR. ★★★★★ The mysteriousness with the PERSONALITY section gone can be a pro and con sometimes and since I read your about page , there’s suspense in how you came up with her name because it’s really thought - evoking. I associate your muse with a greek figure and it gives me something to think about especially as it can help me pinpoint a plot for us , if ever. I also appreciate the stats page like they’re very unique with some stats I’ve never seen before so it makes up for the substance as well. There’s visual - spatial intelligence , etc. which makes your muse unique due to that analysis. Little details matter.

02. @jollynephilim . supernatural’s jack kline by dipper.

ACCESSIBILITY / NAVIGABILITY. ★★★★ Might enhance a bit with positioning since some of the links are scattered on top of the side header WHO IS IN CONTROL which makes it hard for me to ignore in a visual - wise focus. You can also experiment by using other symbols or images since the links are eye - catching due to animation.

VISUAL IMPACT / AESTHETICS. ★★★ I’ve been very familiar with this kind of theme since I am guilty of being tempted to use the same , although this one has become mainstream so I am very used to seeing the same formula over and over again. Something new might be good or an innovation of the original theme though it doesn’t mean you should sell your soul to photoshop or html masters. The background edit is well - appreciated since it blends with the dark color palette you chose. You can make your theme a little bit refined with the bars by changing their gray rose ( ?? ) background to something continuous since the way I view it on my browser , I can see where the background picture of the bars started and ended. ➤ GENERAL ADVICE FOR EVERYONE : Being continuous and blending are two elements useful in visually enhancing one’s blog. It shows unity and consistency. Be careful in integrating too much of the links or headers in the background because it can get to the point that it’s annoying to find or read through bleeding colours of the theme and other factors.

SUBSTANCE / INFORMATIVE. ★★★ Love the profile , brief and concise. Can do something more with adding a few rare info that will make your Jack stand out from others ... Nevertheless , I like how informed I am with the BACKGROUND since for someone who hadn’t caught up with Supernatural , it works.

READABILITY / LEGIBILITY. ★★★★★ Readable. However the highlight color concerns me since it doesn’t complement the background color palette because the blue sticks out , but other than that , it works.

BRANDING / WOW FACTOR. ★★★ Add a bit more on the info and finding a selling point on a BRAND that will classify your Jack as their own. Like putting out something new that will make your muse distinguishable from other duplicates. Additionally , I’ve seen your threads or opens and they are very intriguing since they give rise to questionable exploration of sensitive topics , which is good since it’s a different approach to Jack’s character.

03. @kidhnter . supernatural’s claire novak by heather.

ACCESSIBILITY / NAVIGABILITY. ★★★★ Everything is accessible except the ask box. Hopefully you can fix the codes for that.

VISUAL IMPACT / AESTHETICS. ★★★★ I’ve been guilty in trying the same formula in themes , but you get a star instead of three for bonus in using a complementary color palette. However it gives me the signal that it’s playing too safe so you might like to consider using dark or light shades of one font color if one color is your drift. The black starry header sticks out for me , and you can edit it to even or level out the gradient since it seems cut off in the middle in my view. Being continuous and consist are qualities in keeping an aesthetic alive.

SUBSTANCE / INFORMATIVE. ★★★ Fun facts or trivias are really appreciated since I use the same formula depending on which muse I have , so I really like that cute bit. But I can’t give an overall review since your page is still incomplete which is totally understandable. ➤ GENERAL ADVICE FOR EVERYONE : One of my biggest pet peeves that turn me off is when people have blogs but don’t have much in their pages. I understand that they haven’t found the time to complete them because real life comes first , but at least give me a little information especially if I don’t know your muse and I’m not too interested to look them up in my search bar , sorry. I’d rather read someone’s writing that’s not copy pasted from wikia than actually reading on wikia because it gives me an insight on how this person writes. Do they focus on content and details ? Do they write in purple prose or straightforward ? Things like that are analysed whenever I read someone’s about pages. Usually before I release a blog out in the wild , I complete my pages as soon as possible with deliberate planning because I don’t want to advertise an EMPTY blog.

READABILITY / LEGIBILITY. ★★★★★ Very readable since everything is organised and categorised through the theme’s menu and aesthetic appeal plus function.

BRANDING / WOW FACTOR. ★★★★★ Gold and black makes a statement , take advantage of that color scheme and remember the starry background of your bars. I love the BIKER BARBIE bit because it has its charismatic appeal and different format on how usually people do that. BIKER BARBIE brand is iconic for claire and I can see where you’re coming from , but from an analytic perspective , it’s also a clash of character for claire but harmoniously it works out. Good job , makes it easy for me and very distinguishable to remember your brand that makes me think that Ah , this is the BIKER BARBIE claire.

04. @crackedfaith . supernatural’s castiel by vix.

ACCESSIBILITY / NAVIGABILITY. ★★★★★ Very thought out due to the number of links and the flow of the story of your blog through the order of the links. ➤ GENERAL ADVICE FOR EVERYONE : Content is not the only thing you should plan writing for. The moment you have the blog is the same moment you’ve already started writing your interpretation which is seen in the way you presented your blog through graphic edits , links , pages , etc. Content is not the only thing that tells your character’s story , your blog does too and that’s why it’s important to pay attention to details.

VISUAL IMPACT / AESTHETICS. ★★★★ This theme sure as hell takes your time coding so I really appreciate and love how you made it your own. I feel , because I used the same theme in different occasion and it’s a pain to code but totally worth it. I love the colours very much ... They give an outer - worldly vibe but at the same time , very much Castiel. ➤ GENERAL ADVICE FOR EVERYONE : Visual impact and aesthetics may affect your branding and people’s impression of you and your muse , but it does not define you. Always remember that. It does give identity though so like I said , pay attention to even the tiniest details because you never know who reads your blog. Visual impact and aesthetics also affect readability levels , take note of that one since overly coded and overly aesthetic blogs can repel writers who can’t read shit due to lots of glitters on the blog and all other many stuff going on that they can’t understand.

SUBSTANCE / INFORMATIVE. ★★★ Since you haven’t completed your about and verses pages , I cannot say it works but I appreciate that the guidelines are already set. Very , very critical piece to put in the blog because it is what dictates if you will write or will you not write with others.

READABILITY / LEGIBILITY. ★★★ Don’t know if you can change the font but as much as if you can , do it. The main chubby font works on the container but it doesn’t work on the sidebar. I had to squint my eyes to make out the words because of the heavily color gray. Try using lighter shades for font color and other styles as well. Google Fonts is your best friend.

BRANDING / WOW FACTOR. ★★★★★ Very iconic. GRACE/LESS tagline is such a catch for me , it’s really great. The background also has an impact on me because it reminds me of the cosmos , of the time of The Fall scene , and I love how you incorporated the sense of falling in your graphics.

05. @sanguinebite . van helsing’s verona by demi.

ACCESSIBILITY / NAVIGABILITY. ★★★★★ On the side and easily seen. Clean cut , just pops out next to sidebar.

VISUAL IMPACT / AESTHETICS. ★★★★ Can do a bit more with the font used on the sidebar and its format. I love Times New Roman and its use in this theme. Maybe try experimenting with shades of black and gray and consider giving other colors a chance for highlights so people can see what you’re emphasising through bold , italic properties. Other than that , overall theme is a choice that works. The cursor is cute and the edit on the sidebar photo looks cool , so extra points for those two.

SUBSTANCE / INFORMATIVE. ★★ Kind of empty , but the rules are established so that’s appreciated. It helps that I know your muse but what if other people don’t know ? I suggest doing a temporary info scribbles on the pages or just a simple TBA / WIP.

READABILITY / LEGIBILITY. ★★★★ Readable , I don’t have to squint so much so that’s a good thing. It depends on the device used about the font size , but try making the font size a bit bigger for the body since it’s too small for me.

BRANDING / WOW FACTOR. ★★★ Older than Rome itself holds great potential to immortality vibes of branding material , it’s a good tagline I like. Maybe you can link your muse to a roman figure and create a brand from there. Qualities also help you think about a good brand as well as your muse’s history. Who or what reminds you of your muse ? What can you take from there and make it your own ?

#THE BLOGCHELOR / * event.#there we go oof

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xranker · 6 years ago

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38 Experts Share the Worst Content Marketing Advice

General Success Tips / Content Marketing World / Productivity / Speaker Advice 38 Experts Share the Worst Content Marketing Advice It’s graduation season, the time of year when advice abounds But let’s be honest, not all advice given to new grads, new employees, or even seasoned professionals is worth following We asked the experts presenting at Content Marketing World 2019 to share the worst content marketing advice they ever received or heard They had a lot to say The thoughts they share form a don’t-do-this guide covering everything from strategy and SEO to quantity and quality Just do it Something is better than nothing This belief is detrimental to businesses As soon as you hear yourself say, “this will do,” or “let’s just get this sent out,” you’re in trouble Posting something average, be it an email, social post, or blog is just going to put people off from wanting to read your content in a depreciating cycle. – Andrew Pickering and Peter Gartland , founders, Andrew and Pete Don’t write it down We don’t need to create a content marketing strategy Our president (vice president of business development) has it in his/her head He/she tells us who to target and what to write – Achinta Mitra , president, Tiecas Inc Make it up as you go Get started and figure it out as you go I can’t think of another strategic business discipline where people are so comfortable with a dabble approach. It’s the fastest way to spending money with no return – and a great way to discourage your marketing staff, too. – Sarah Mitchell , founder, Typeset Give them a taste first “Let’s just test it”“We’re looking for the appetite”“We just need to prove it works so let’s just get some stuff up there” I dread sentences like those Unless a brand has a clear reason why it’s creating content, it won’t stick, no matter how much glue you use – Ahava Leibtag , president, Aha Media Group Create it now Create content before gaining enough insights into what buyers want – George Stenitzer , founder and chief content officer, Crystal Clear Communications Write and distribute first My pet peeve is when people are told to start with their tactics and channels How can you know HOW and WHERE before you know WHO and WHAT? – Michael Weiss , vice president, Creative Circle Go for clicks Getting the click is enough Content should drive a specific change in thinking in behavior after the click That’s the real goal – Tamsen Webster , founder and chief message strategist, Find The Red Thread Sell, sell, sell Nothing raises my hackles like overtly sales-focused advertising positioned as content marketing I know sales are often the end goal, but content marketing should employ a light touch and soft sell — if there’s any attempt to sell at all – Amanda Changuris , manager, social media marketing, AAA – The Auto Club Group Fill up the funnel When you reduce content marketing solely to working people through the sales funnel, you lose a big opportunity to build a true relationship Marketers who think that content is all about revenue haven’t walked a day in their customers’ shoes It’s about helping first, and then the sale will come – Carla Johnson , speaker, author, storyteller Pick the demand-gen lane only Content marketing is just a demand generation thing It is, of course, fantastic for that But to limit content to that single swim lane is to miss a huge opportunity: content for brand creation, positioning, and audience building By all means, pour awesome content into the revenue machine But save some budget for big things: Celebrate your beliefs Demonstrate your values Walk your talk – Doug Kessler , co-founder, Velocity Partners Don’t think selling Content marketing isn’t about selling Oh, yes it is It’s about selling helpful ideas that lead people naturally to seek to solve their problems with what your product enables to gain value (business outcomes) that wasn’t attainable before – Ardath Albee , CEO and B2B marketing strategist, Marketing Interactions Inc Treat content like ads Content marketing can be measured the same as advertising It can be measured, but not in the same way as advertising Just like you don’t measure sprints and marathons the same way, you have to consider that content marketing is the long game and has longer lasting effect – A Lee Judge , co-founder and chief marketing officer, Content Monsta Show perfection I once heard someone say every piece of content put out by a brand should look perfect, like an ad. Know what people love to ignore? – Adam Ritchie , principal, Adam Ritchie Brand Direction Think marketing first To think of content marketing as marketing rather than content It’s always content first if you want to make something that is going to resonate In a race to stand out from the pack, marketers are often told to adopt a specific storytelling tactic before they’ve worked out the story This will lead to weak executions Determine the story first and then develop the best way to tell that story – Annie Granatstein , head of WP BrandStudio, The Washington Post Follow the crowd Blanket statements made about what strategy, topics, format, length, etc, that all marketers should follow Just because some people – or even a lot of them – are seeing success with account-based marketing or video or (insert hot trend) does not mean it’s right for your business challenge, audience, etc – Carmen Hill , principal strategist and writer, CHILL Content Do what the other monkey does To pursue a strategy or tactic because another brand had success with it You know what they say about mutual funds? “Past performance is no guarantee of future results” Be different And figure out what works from those different things – Dennis Shiao , consultant, Dennis Shiao Consulting Stay in the successful comfort zone “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it” can be good advice, but, if you follow it for too long, it can mean you’re creating ho-hum, boring, additive content Sometimes you do need to move out of your comfort zone and break your content mold in order to refresh your audience’s brand connection – Erika Heald , marketing consultant, Erika Heald Consulting Do what the data says Having a blind “data-is-everything” mentality Is it even the right data? Ask better questions to make sure what you’re looking at is meaningful And let’s find the big human stories IN the data They are there and it’s our job to tell them in creative ways No great marketing video gets shared over and over by customers with a header, “Hey man, check out these emotionally compelling pieces of data!” You’re in the storytelling business – data is just part of how we get there – Kathy Klotz-Guest , founder, Keeping it Human Take the easier route Focus on the “low-hanging fruit” first Anyone can tackle the easy stuff If you want to position you or your company as a thought leader, you’ve got to put content out there that helps your customers solve problems that no one else can help them solve That’s not easy That’s not low-hanging fruit – Courtney Cox Wakefield , group manager, digital marketing, Children’s Health Snack it Focus on snackable content For a long time, this advice led to a lethal form of reductionism that slowed many content marketers from mastering long form, which has implications for mastering the integration relationship between shorter and longer form content and for understanding how to make short-form, high-impact content – Carlos Abler , leader of content marketing strategy, 3M Pick one format Focus all of your energy on one form of content (mainly video) Spending some energy on different forms of content helps keep your content fresh and on multiple platforms where different audiences can find you – Jason Schemmel , Twitch streamer and digital marketer, GSDChat Make moving content More video Basically, it’s the suggestion to do a tactic because it’s a trend without actually planning strategy around content The tactic-first advice is short-sighted Planning a content strategy as it aligns to business objectives, the customer journey, and buyer personas will produce content that is much more apt to increase engagement and subsequently increase revenue And yes, video may be part of the content strategy – Pamela Muldoon , campaign and content strategist, The Pedowitz Group Optimize for SEO To spend a ton of time writing blogs that are SEO optimized If you write good content that is relevant to your brand and current events, you will naturally start to rank higher in Google search – Griffin Thall , CEO and co-founder, PuraVida Bracelets Stuff it You should target x number of keywords per page – Wil Reynolds , founder, Seer Interactive Base keywords on available data sources Advice I frequently hear around topic/keyword research The troubling advice involves relying on data sources that use paid advertising data, inaccurate organic search volume metrics, and heavily outdated/sampled static databases to drive content and editorial decisions. Starting with flawed metrics leads to inappropriate expectations and content that isn’t differentiated. – Jeff Coyle , co-founder and chief product officer, MarketMuse Don’t worry about keywords SEO keywords don’t matter (This advice) stems from the technology advances Google made with RankBrain, its machine learning algorithm Google looks at ideas and concepts on a page, not necessarily keywords The reality is that keywords still matter If you don’t have a relevant phrase showcased on a website (one that’s not too competitive), you can’t rank – Mike Murray , president, Online Marketing Coach Do everything There’s a pervasive mentality that you have to be on every channel and offer every type of tool Not every company will benefit from a podcast or a Snapchat presence Not every industry will value e-books or SMS Content marketing must fit the needs and behaviors of your specific audience and potential customers – Zontee Hou , co-lead of consulting, Convince and Convert Go wide Publish as much content in as many different channels as possible Now that’s a recipe for disaster – Joe Pulizzi , founder, Content Marketing Institute Build it and they will come Similar to the movie Field of Dreams, I’ve had someone tell a friend if you create good content then customers will come That’s just not true these days You have to be hyper-focused on distributing to the right people at the right time – John Hall , co-founder, Calendarcom Get more eyes “It’s all about the eyeballs” More is not better And just because someone clicked on your blog post doesn’t mean they are interested or qualified. Focus on content for the right prospects, at the right stage of their buying journey (even if that journey has just begun) – Matt Heinz , president, Heinz Marketing Inc Lower your content output Create less content Don’t create less, just be more deliberate. – Christoph Trappe , chief content officer, Stamats Business Media Act like a reporter Content marketers frequently hear the advice that they should think like journalists We should not take this guidance at face value Here’s the heart of the issue for me: Journalism is objective Marketing is not The ultimate goal of marketing is to create change Having an agenda is part of our purview – Katie Martell , communications consultant, Boston Content Hire great writers Just hire someone who can write well Content creators are not interchangeable and “great writing” does not automatically equal great content Instead, match your writers and their skill sets to the channels in which you are publishing – Anna Hrach , strategist, Convince and Convert Realize perception wins Perception is reality At a previous employer, I was having a discussion about developing authentic content for our audience –suburban moms with 23 kids and SUVs I said in order to create authentic content for moms with small kids, it should be written by moms with small kids – not who was currently writing it (college students without kids, old men, etc) The response I got from a C-suite executive was, “Perception is reality. If the reader perceives it as being authentic, then it is authentic” – Scott Spjut , assistant vice president, social and digital content, Fifth Third Bank Make it legendary Create epic content Epic may drive viral, but helpful drives sales And it’s so much easier to be helpful than epic – Tom Martin , president, Converse Digital Get a third party Podcasting for brands should be handled by third parties where they hire professional organizations to put together their content This is the worst advice I have seen Podcasting is a personal medium – and you have a chance to really connect with your clients It’s best to have someone in your company be the voice of your company – Rob Walch , vice president, podcaster relations, Libsyn Hire an intern You can outsource your content marketing to a college kid – Ruth Carter , evil genius, Carter Law Firm Publish regularly Consistency is everything Consistency is super important, but it is only effective when the content is high quality, otherwise, you’re just consistently boring your audience – Michaela Alexis , LinkedIn speaker, trainer, and co-author of Think Video What’s the worst advice you’ve heard? You’ve heard many of the mantras detailed above Which ones irritate you the most? Are any of them actually good advice? Have a different piece of worst advice to share? Share in the comments Catch the great advice these and other experts have to share in their presentations at Content Marketing World Sept 2-6 in Cleveland, Ohio Register and use code CMIBLOG100 to save $100 Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute Author: Ann Gynn Ann Gynn edits the CMI blog She also serves as the Tech Tools editor for Chief Content Officer magazine Ann regularly combines words and strategy for B2B, B2C, and nonprofits, continuing to live up to her high school nickname, Editor Ann Former college adjunct faculty, Ann also helps train professionals in content so they can do it themselves Follow Ann on Twitter @anngynn or connect on LinkedIn Other posts by Ann Gynn Join Over 200,000 of your Peers! Get daily articles and news delivered to your email inbox and get CMI’s exclusive e-book Get Inspired: 40 Examples That Are Driving Content Marketing Forward FREE! Read the full article

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faithandfairies · 8 years ago

Video

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svWoaRWStMU)

Oh.

I’m watching Lana’s panel and I get it.

Huh.

Lana is getting bored with answering the same questions every single time. Hell, I’m getting bored hearing the same questions. Not that I’m sure that I would have any better ones. Although I did tweet some different questions at Yvette Nicole Brown last year for SDCC of which one sort of got asked in a form, which I was very happy about.

But yeah, I think it’s really good to watch old panels to see which questions have already been asked. Because a lot of the panels are available online after the fact. So when you’re there at a panel in person, you represent all fans and it’s great if you ask a question that hasn’t been asked before so all fans benefit from learning something new about the characters and actors.

Then again, they’re paying to go, following these actors around the world, and I’m not, so maybe I don’t have a say. They get to ask whatever questions they want as long as they’re not being disrespectful.

BUT and this is a big BUT

Lana also knew the “Sleep with, Marry, Kill” question was coming. It seems like Rebecca warned her, which I think is a good thing. And I think she tried to deflect by saying she’d already played that game.

And funnily enough I understand her frustration. Because her frustration isn’t really that fans are asking the same questions, I think, even though that does bore her I believe. But I think her frustration is because it seems that people are asking certain questions and sometimes turning it into multiple choice so as to limit her options in order to get certain answers.

Like with the above question. “Emma, Zelana and Rumple” as answer options, really? I mean, really?

Zelena is her sister on the show. And Golden Queen is unsettling on the show, I believe that “romance” was explicitly written that way, even though Lana and Robert Carlyle’s dynamic is great.

Her only viable option is to say “sleep with Emma”. Which, I get it, I’d like to hear that too, but not through manipulation. Which is what this looks like.

One of the reasons I love Lana, even though it’s not the main reason, is that she chooses to support Swan Queen because she wants to. Or at least actively chooses to. FREE WILL. Despite all the flack and death threats and shit I hear she gets, she still does it.

And I know the moment she doesn’t or says something that seems to go against that *Humongous sigh Swan Queen fans feel shunned by the one person associated with the show who seems to accept them, us. The them, because I don’t feel shunned, the us because I am a Swan Queen fan.

I’ve thought about this. Because I know it’s a big deal in the fandom.

I don’t feel shunned because, well, because I really don’t give a rat’s ass whether the show and the actors support the Swan Queen ship or not. Well, I mean I do, because it’s nice to be acknowledged, but at the same time I don’t. Because if they don’t, oh, well. Unless they butcher the characters in show. Which so far, for me the writing makes sense although the promotion sucks. But anywhoo, I think I’d only feel shunned if I was personally at a CON and Lana or someone else I looked up to associated with the show dissed me personally because of what I like. Part of what I like when it comes to this show being Swan Queen.

I also don’t feel shunned because as I said, I feel like people are purposefully manipulating Lana into giving the answers they want so they then can say later “Lana said this and she supports that.”. I might be interpreting it wrong, but that’s what I’m getting. And I’m heavily against that. Heavily. It’s one of my pet peeves. And even if Lana’s character is manipulative on the show, that doesn’t mean you get to use manipulation on her. It’s her job to act Regina/The Evil Queen that way, you know.

And thirdly, even if Lana actually hates Swan Queen and Swan Queen fans and all her fans and is just doing this because she feels it’s part of her job or something-I’m not saying that’s what she’s been doing, mind you, just giving you a unlikely worst case scenario,-in the end it doesn’t take away from the inspiration she has been for so many people, it doesn’t diminish the hope she’s spread throughout the years. For some just seeing her play Regina, fighting, persevering, being strong, not giving up, has been a reason to go on themselves, I’m sure.

So how she actually feels? It doesn’t really matter. You know why else? Because she still has the sense to treat all of her fans with the love and respect they deserve. And that’s what matters. So how about we return the favor?

(In class the other day-I’m a medical student, btw- we were talking about treating patients whose life choices we don’t agree with. Murderers, rapists and sadly LGBTQ+ fell into this category because there are people who don’t agree with the existence of LGBTQ+ people basically, even though it’s not a choice. I would also like to add that sometimes even when certain things are a choice the choices are often still limited and people tend to make certain choices out of necessity, because of their circumstances. But anyway, my teacher said something that I wholeheartedly agree with but is sometimes easier said than done. She said, when it comes to treating people who need help, your feelings don’t matter. This person is trusting you, putting themselves in your hands, It doesn’t matter whether you don’t agree with their life(style) choices. It will be your job to treat those that need it, counsel those that need it. And your prejudices don’t matter. And the people, they’ll feel it if you’re prejudiced against them. So it doesn’t matter how you feel, but that you’re able to put your own feelings aside to do your fucking job. She didn’t say it exactly like that, I’m paraphrasing, but that was the gist. She also said that if you can’t do your job, send the person to someone who can.)

Lana has been trusted with this character that is Regina when it comes to bringing her to life. Through the relationship her character has built with Emma, Swan Queen was born and she has also been trusted with Swan Queen. Especially evident during CONS. And she has delivered. She didn’t really have to since the show has never acknowledged this ship outside of writing, acting and directing choices, but she did anyway. I don’t know why she did it, but it matters. It made a difference. And so the last thing she deserves is to be manipulated into saying things she doesn’t want to. If she chooses to it’s fine, but manipulating her into giving answers she clearly doesn’t want to and then fans publicly showing their disdain when she doesn’t give the answer they want to hear. Going so far as to turn against her? That’s kind of low. Maybe I’m wrong, I don’t know. But this is what I’m thinking.

Someone even said “Sleep with Emma” and then she said something like yeah, I know that’s what they want me to say. Is it bad that I’m secretly delighted she didn’t give in? She just said that she was giving the same answer as Bex, which is anticlimactic. Ha! Like I said, I would have loved to have heard it too, but not like that. And when you’re being manipulated, especially publicly, it’s very easy to give in just to please the crowd, but I’m glad she didn’t.

And maybe I’m blowing things out of proportion and the person who asked this question didn’t mean anything by it. But there are people who are capable of using Lana’s words against her. And even when they don’t, once something is out of her mouth she can’t take it back and everyone will interpret it however they want, including me, and she can’t really control that. And I’m not against her being mindful of that. Because she’s the one who has to deal with the fallout.

And she can’t really win, because if she gives an answer that is “in the favor of Swan Queen fans” she runs the risk of alienating none-Swan Queen fans. If she gives an answer that doesn’t come off as completely Swan-Queen friendly she runs the risk of alienating Swan Queen fans. Phew. It’s like a minefield.

(I know people were mostly angry about the Hook answer, but I’m not even there yet and this happened so.)

Anywhoo, so I stand by my “Lana Parrilla is a gift” statement.

She’s a phenomenal actor, she seems like a hard worker, a genuinely kind person, an inspiration to a lot of people including me and she has the sense to acknowledge all of her fans publicly and treat them all with love and respect. In spite of the backlash and even without the consistent public support of others associated with the show. So again, how about we treat her with the same love and respect, hmm?

Also, letting Lana and Sean read messages written to them out loud made something that should have been sweet weird.

They should have let them read those messages for themselves and then had them thank the people who wrote them out loud. And if the rest of the fans asked to hear the message too and the actors wanted to share, then it would have been okay.

#ouat #lana parrilla #Storytelling CON

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idontwanttowhy · 4 years ago

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Review: True Beauty (2020)

Synopsis (copied from earlier post)

Im Ju Gyeong is a high schooler who likes horror comics, heavy metal music, and spending time in the local comic book store. She is bullied by a group of students at her school because they find her “ugly”, which leads Ju Gyeong to her wits end. When she moves to a new school, she decides to change her life around by using makeup to cover her bare face. Her new “goddess” level looks bring her a lot of attention, though not without a lot of stress. Her complicated relationships with two of the best-looking guys in school (and mortal enemies), Lee Su Ho and Han Seo Jun, doesn’t exactly help. Can Im Ju Gyeong keep her secret, and what will happen if she is found out?

MZ Overall: 7.5/10, it was a fun watch!

There were some truly funny moments in this show, and despite dealing with many dark themes, for the most part True Beauty kept it light. It pretty much departs from the source material after the first half, which was good... until it wasn't. I didn't really care that much about the main couple in the end, and felt that many of the last plot points were just "eh." Ultimately if you're looking for something with a great plot combined with the best parts of this show, I'd say watch Extraordinary You (2019); it definitely helps that they make several references to EY throughout!

MZ Review: (spoilers ahead)

The strong suits of this show were definitely the humor and relationships of all the characters. Ju Gyeong's siblings often stole the show with their scenes, and her friendships and classmates rounded out the romantic elements of this show nicely. I have mixed feelings about how they handled all of Ju Gyeong's friends finding out about her bare face (though there wasn't much to find out imo) but I'm happy that Su Ah stayed her friend, and that they were able to fight the bullies that tormented Ju Gyeong and Hye Min together. Even the way they wrote Su Jin's character was understandable, and I'm glad that they didn't just write her off as a villain to the very end. Do I wish they would have explored her thought process a little further? Absolutely. But something is better than nothing, and I saw room for them to be friends again even with everything that happened. The most delightful development was the friendship between Su Ho and Seo Joon, which was so refreshing considering that usually being love rivals is the thing that ends friendships, not the thing that brings them together. Enemies to friends is such an underrated trope! Probably the only relationship on this show I didn't like was Ju Gyeong's parents', and it doesn't get better at all. Overall they make Ju Gyeong's mom pretty unlikable, which is fairly in line with the webtoon, but I guess I was wishing that they would explore her character a bit more. The dad was a welcome edition to the Im family household and their dynamic, while hard to watch at times, still added a lot to the show.

Now, this might be a controversial statement, but I hate time jumps. Hate. H A T E. Plenty of dramas I've loved (looking at you Start Up) have done this to me and it doesn't necessarily take away from my overall experience, yet I can never get fully into the relationships again afterwards. There is something so wrong to me about there being what is effectively a pause on people's whole lives for however long the jump is that just doesn't sit right. True Beauty does not escape my ire in this area, and in fact this was one of the worse experiences with a time jump that I've had. First of all, I was really thinking that they had departed from that part of the storyline when Ju Gyeong and Su Ho started dating in the first place, so to have this happen was surprising. Then, Su Ho turned around and broke up with her? For... what exactly? She said she wanted to stay together, and he broke up with her knowing that he was going to pursue her again when he got back to Korea. What would have happened if she had moved on? To that point, my third (and always my biggest) pet peeve with this was that Seo Joon didn't confess while Su Ho was gone. UGH. Absolutely the worst part of any time jump is this. Like, dude, if you are so in love with her, are you really going to wait two years to start anything? UGH.

Anyway, I'd say overall it was fun to watch and I'm glad I spent the past months watching this show with my friends. The good parts outweigh the bad, and I think it is a welcome edition to any watch list.

AC Overall: 6.5/10, I watched it

So. True Beauty started off promising, with some intriguing elements to keep me, someone who normally doesn’t watch high school and/or strictly rom-com kdramas, interested. But, I gotta say, they found their groove and stuck to it. It’s everything I imagine high school kdramas have-teenagers being teenagers, with love triangles, bullying, and friendship drama. These last 11 episodes or so became typical, and definitely veered away from the webtoon (which I’ve now caught up on, shocker!) and stayed in the less chaotic world of teen romance with decreasing focus on the whole makeup thing. I gotta say, nothing really crazy happens, so if you’re up for teenagers being teenagers and like having second-lead syndrome, True Beauty is for you.

AC Review: (spoilers)

For me, however, I was definitely less invested once I realized they weren’t going to follow the webtoon’s path of having Su Ho go away before he and Ju Gyeong could start dating, and having Seo Joon as an actual love interest. Instead, Su Ho and Ju Gyeong got cute high school bf/gf scenes, and my boy Seo Joon didn’t shoot his shot. I was disappointed, probably because I prefer that Seo Joon and Ju Gyeong got a chance in the webtoon, and Su Ho wasn’t so destructive. But no, drama Su Ho said “it’s all about me” and did what he wanted (like a stereotypical teenager, I suppose) despite Ju Gyeong’s feelings. And for two years, Ju Gyeong couldn’t let go of Su Ho, probably because they had gone too far by the time he left (and after), and thus Seo Joon didn’t get an in. So the time jump in the drama’s case wasn’t an opportunity for Ju Gyeong to move on and then (maybe-we don’t actually know yet) finally choose Su Ho after exploring other options. Instead, it was--pointless? a fake time jump? because nothing really changed but their jobs and Su Ho’s hair. Su Ho himself made it clear when he came back AFTER 2 YEARS and acted like nothing happened.

Outside of the triangle, though, I did appreciate that Ju Gyeong and Su Jin were able to make up. And it seemed like a genuine I-turned-my-life-around-and-am-really-truly-sorry-for-being-a-bitch kind of apology; they even threw her “volunteering in Haiti” in there, which was...interesting. A topic for another post. AND we got our favs! ~Grapefuit~ and Hee Gyeong got a funny proposal and wedding fitting for their relationship. Ju Gyeong’s brother was still simping for Seo Joon’s sister, which–I guess.

I did wish the premise of Ju Gyeong "being ugly” and “hiding behind makeup” was explored more...it fell of once she was found out, went through it, and then was able to show her classmates that she could still bag Su Ho with her natural face (not that it was strong to begin with but-). So, if you want more consistent commentary on beauty standards and physical appearance, check out the webtoon, maybe try out the kdrama My ID is Gangnam Beauty or try another webtoon, Lookism, for a male perspective on appearance, and some action (I’m sure there are others...these are all I’ve watched/read pretty much).

Overall, it wasn’t a bad watch, especially with others and some drinking games. Read the webtoon if you shipped Seo Joon and Ju Gyeong and want a proper time jump (with more ~developments~), and watch the show for a more developed Su Jin, more side characters, and a typical high school kdrama.

#kdrama #kdramareview #kdrama recommendations #k-drama #k-dramareview #the extraordinary you references were the best part #seo joon x su ho and su jin x ju gyeong were my ships

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maritzaerwin · 5 years ago

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140+ Common Job Interview Questions [Ultimate List] (2020)

You’ve scouted for jobs that you like (or at least can make you some money), you’ve applied for them, and lucky for you, you passed the first round of screening. It’s now time for you to face the final (and scariest) challenge: the job interview.

Being judged by people who hold the keys to your future job can induce a tremendous amount of anxiety. While it’s almost impossible to know for sure which questions they’ll ask, understanding the reason behind each question can help you ace your job interview.

Most of the job interview questions have no right or wrong answer, however, there’s a specific way that interviewers and hiring managers are almost always looking for you to answer their questions.

And that’s what this guide is about: to help you understand the reason behind the interviewer’s questions and how to answer them “correctly”.

In this guide, we have compiled over 140+ most-common job interview questions, organized by category:

Classic Job Interview Questions

Career Trajectory Interview Questions

Work Habits and Preferences Interview Questions

Behavioral or Personality Interview Questions

Teamwork and “People Skills”

Interview Questions About You

Interview Questions About The Job

Brainteaser Interview Questions

Classic Job Interview Questions

These are the classic questions that help the recruiter know more about you, what you’re good at, and if you’re a good fit for the job.

These questions might not be asked with these exact words, but if you have answers to them, you’ll be fully prepared to answer variations of them.

Tell Me About Yourself.

How would you describe yourself?

What makes you unique?

How Did You Hear About This Position?

What do you know about this company/organization?

What Other Companies Are You Interviewing With?

Why Do You Want to Work at This Company/organization?

Why Do You Want This Job/What interests you about this role/Why did you decide to apply for this position?

Why Should We Hire You?

What differentiates you from our other candidates?

What Are Your Greatest Strengths?

What Do You Consider to Be Your Greatest Weaknesses?

Career Trajectory Interview Questions

These questions are about your work history, your career goals, your achievements, and failures.

They help the interviewer to make an educated guess on your level of competence.

Why Was There a Gap in Your Employment?

Explain why you’ve had so many jobs?

Why are you leaving your current job?

How did you fit in with the company culture?

Why Were You Fired?

Can You Explain Why You Changed Career Paths?

What Do You Like the Most About Your Job? What did you like most about your last position?

What Do You Like Least About Your Job? What did you like least about your last position?

Describe your career goals.

What challenges are you looking for in your next job?

What do you look for in a new position?

What Do You Think We Could Do Better or Differently?

Are you considering other positions in other companies?

Can you discuss your salary history?

What’s Your Current Salary?

How much do you expect to be earning in five years?

Why should we hire you?

What are your goals for the future?

Where do you see yourself in five years?

What major challenges have you handled?

What Is Your Greatest Professional Achievement? What is your greatest accomplishment? What is the professional achievement you’re most proud of?

Interview Questions About Work Habits and Preferences

These questions help the interviewer to know your work preferences, habits, and ethics, including how much of a team player you are.

Describe your work style.

Do you ever take your work home with you?

How many hours per week do you normally work?

How would you describe the pace at which you work?

What Type of Work Environment Do You Prefer? What kind of work environment do you thrive in? What is your ideal working environment?

Behavioral or Personality Interview Questions

These questions enable the interviewer to understand your personality and help them decide if you’ll fit their culture.

What motivates you?

What are you passionate about?

How do you measure success?

How do you handle/deal with pressure or stressful situations?

Can you tell Me About a difficult situation, Challenge or Conflict You’ve Faced at Work, and How You Dealt With It?

Tell Me About a Time You Demonstrated Leadership Skills/Qualities.

What’s a Time You Disagreed With a Decision That Was Made at Work?

Tell Me About a Time You Made a Mistake/Tell me about the last mistake you made.

Tell Me About a Time You Failed.

Describe a time when your boss was wrong. How did you handle the situation?

How would you feel about reporting to a person younger than you?

Describe a time you went above and beyond at work.

Describe a time you got angry at work.

Describe a time when you had to give a person difficult feedback.

Describe a time when you disagreed with your boss.

What do you really think about your previous boss?

How Do You Like to Be Managed?

Would you ever lie for a company?

What has been the most rewarding experience of your career thus far?

What has been the least rewarding experience of your career thus far?

How would you deal with an angry or irate customer?

What does customer service mean to you?

What do you find are the most difficult decisions to make?

Have you ever had difficulty working with a manager?

What do you expect from a supervisor?

Describe your best boss

Describe your worst boss.

Have you gotten angry at work? What happened?

Describe a time you chose to not help a teammate.

Describe a time you went out of your way to help somebody.

Describe a time when your work was criticized?

Do you think you could have done better in your last job?

What is your teaching philosophy?

How would you fire someone?

Interview Questions About Teamwork and “People Skills”

Are you a team player?

Do you prefer working alone or in a team environment?

Give some examples of teamwork.

If the people who know you were asked why you should be hired, what would they say?

How would a good friend describe you?

Interview Questions About You

What makes you uncomfortable?

What commonly accepted view do you disagree with and why?

What are some positive things your last boss would say about you?

What is one negative thing your last boss might say about you?

Are you a morning person?

Are you a risk-taker?

Do you have any serious medical conditions?

Do you think there is a difference between hard work and smart work?

How quickly do you adapt to new technology?

What character traits would your friends use to describe you?

How Would Your Boss and Coworkers Describe You?

Are you more of a leader or a follower?

Do you have a personal mission statement?

What do you like most about yourself?

What is your least favorite thing about yourself?

How do you keep yourself organized?

What is your favorite movie of all time and why?

What are the three skills or traits you wish you had?

What’s Your Dream Job?

Describe your perfect company.

How do you want to improve yourself in the upcoming year?

Who are your heroes?

What is your favorite memory from childhood?

What is your favorite website?

When were you most satisfied in a previous job?

What’s the last book you read?

What is the best job you ever had?

What is your greatest fear?

What was your greatest failure, and what did you learn from it?

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from a mistake you’ve made?

If you won a $10 million lottery, would you still work?

What was the last project you led and what was the outcome?

What three things are most important to you in your job?

What Do You Like to Do Outside of Work?

What will you miss about your previous job?

How Do You Prioritize Your Work?

What is your management style?

Who has impacted you most in your career?

What is your biggest regret and why?

Do you have any children?/Are you planning on having any children?

What are your pet peeves?

Why did you choose your major?

What is your ideal company size?

What is a book that everyone needs to read and why?

Do you find it difficult to adapt to new situations?

Do you have a mentor?

What do you do in your spare time?

Describe your top three technical skills?

Interview Questions About The Job

What relevant experience do you have?

Why haven’t you gotten your Bachelor’s Degree/Master’s Degree/Ph.D.?

What can you do for this company/What can you contribute to this company?

What do you want to accomplish in the first 30, 60 or 90 days of this job?

How long do you expect to work for this company?

What is your salary range expectation?

Are You Willing to Relocate?

When Can You Start?

Are you overqualified for this job?

What Should I Know That’s Not on Your Resume?

Is There Anything Else You’d Like Us to Know?

What will you do if you don’t get a job offer?

Do you have any questions for us?

Brainteaser Interview Questions

If you suddenly gained the ability to time travel, what’s the first thing you’d do?

If you could get rid of any US state, which would you choose and why?

Which is more important, creativity or efficiency?

Is it better to be good and on time or perfect and late with your work?

How many times per day do a clock’s hands overlap?

How many stacked pennies would equal the height of the Empire State Building?

How Many Tennis Balls Can You Fit Into a Limousine?

If You Were an Animal, Which One Would You Want to Be?

Sell Me This Pen.

Conclusion

While answering the job interview questions, you have to make sure that all your answers relate to your ability to perform the job, even when answering questions that are somewhat personal.

You also have to understand that your job interview is more than answering the questions thrown at you. Here are some things you should keep in mind:

Pay attention to your appearance and ensure you “dress for success” as this will make a good impression on your interviewers.

Understand that you’re under no obligation to answer any personal questions that regard race, age, family background, social status, etc. Remember, the questions should relate to the job position and the job position alone.

Make sure you prepare some questions that you can ask when given the opportunity. This will show that you’re actually interested in the job.

Express gratitude to your interviewers for considering you for the position and taking their time to interview you. You should do this verbally immediately after the interview and follow up with a thank-you note within 24 hours.

Now is the time to take what you’ve learned and ace that job interview.

Good luck!

Additional Reading

Practical Answers to 7 Common Interview Questions

Interview Question – “Tell Us Something Unique About You”

How to Prepare for the Strangest and Most Ridiculous Job Interview Questions?

8 Questions You Should Ask in Every Job Interview

Job Interview Questions You Should and Should Not Ask

10 Best (And Worst) Answers to the Most Common Interview Questions

How To Properly Answer The Most Dreaded Job Interview Question Ever?

Strengths and Weaknesses You Can State in Your Job Interview

Top 20 Digital Marketing Interview Questions & Answers

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