#I wanted to fix a lot of this in fatal flaws

[onebizarrekai]

Hello, you used to do these things for ds characters a long time ago, like:

B A S I C S

full name:

gender:

sexuality:

pronouns:

And other-

Could you do this for Error or Cross(or both) please? I need it for my friend and his project-

sorry it's been like 100 years since I got this but anyway I feel like those characters have become so inconsistent it's tricky to narrow them down. if you ask modern me their names are ellie [last name missing] and victoria crow respectively, both are she/her, and none of the characters have articulated sexualities anymore besides Not Straight for imaginative ease. or if you're asked me from 4 years ago they're just error and cross and they probably are still trapped in the undertale dark ages of men who wish they were fashion disaster enough to fit in jojo's bizarre adventure.

do you mean like you want the WHOLE thing? like the whole whole thing? I just searched back and found the text base. dreamswap has plot holes and changed so much around its later era in it that it's difficult to articulate the details, but I can TRY.

ds ellie (to differentiate from the fatal flaws universe) was raised in an ambiguous institution (in other words, an orphanage) and has no mentioned relationship to her parents nor where she lives, barring the implication that she lives in an underground city. ds vick was born… somewhere in the spectrum of the multiverse, in a chunk of real estate owned by the ds version of big bad xgaster and it wasn't established who her familial relations were in this version. half the characters in ds are also conveniently unemployed and this includes the entire meme squad. ellie and vick's phobias have yet to be articulated because it was never that important to the plot. in other, less jokey words, I would say phobias are much more severe and neurological than bad memories or unpleasant situations. I don't really wanna say that ellie has a phobia of human connection or that vick is has a phobia of defeat or something. they have bad things that remind them of bad things and may even be debilitating, but I haven't had a chance to articulate them in writing or even figure out entirely how to do that or how they might relate to any given story. I never decided whether they had any irrational fears either. same thing for the next inquiry; what their guilty pleasures might be. all I can come up with is that vick likes fighting, and it's not always the wholesome kind.

morality alignment. uhhhh. it's complicated. people are complicated. the whole next list of character traits that split everyone into one half of the chart or the other feel like they're not accounting for any hypothetical specifics. like, I could say ellie is agreeable, but she's capable of doing things that make her disagreeable to many others. vick could be disagreeable to the people she picks fights with but she's capable of being agreeable to others. either one of them could be more optimistic depending on the circumstances. vick's carefree attitude could be read as optimism or nihilism. some of them are more cut and dry (for example, I'm sure both of them are anxious messes, which is common for their age), but I feel like saying it doesn't really say as much as just reading the material that exists of the characters… and said material is already only semi-reliable at best.

basically, I have this image in my head of the complex potential of each ds character, but none of them have really grown into it. you get what I mean? there's a lot of character details that aren't very clear simply because the characters were created, but not wholly written. not wholly developed. I'm not saying I have contempt for them or something, or wish I had done more. they just have something they COULD be one day. more complete versions of themselves. versions of them that I started out imagining back in 2018, but the directions I was going in with what I was making resulted in those versions of them not being fully realized. a character can only go so far with bouts of lore and minimal continuity.

I dunno if any of that even matters. it's probably more useful for me to just give yes or no answers, but I just kinda felt like talking about ds and its characters and how they've aged. maybe they'll end up in some medium one day that focuses more on who they could be rather than just their backstories and they'll be more fleshed out then.

[gregmarriage]

currently trying to find a balance between being close friends with people and putting my all into relationships, and keeping them at arms length and it being semi casual, so i don’t hurt myself

[evilminji]

*evil grin of The Ponderings™*

You know who DEFINITELY would have Unfinished Business?

Heroes. Professional "If I could just MOVE, just fight a BIT LONGER, save ONE MORE PERSON" Heroes. It's the ultimate and unending Unfinished Business. To protect people. Not just their friends, their co-workers, but the innocent people around them.

That kid, stuck crying in the rubble.

That business man, screaming in pain, caught in the cross fire.

The People NEED them. They SWORE. Their very SOULS burn with the NEED to help. But... the flesh gave out. Injuries. Age. Quirk overuse. They knew... they KNEW, this was not a safe line of work... but... but! Please! Just one more person! Why can't they just make their breaking, dying, bodies MOVE!

Of course they refuse to move on.

They are needed HERE.

Yet? Their hands pass through. Their voices do not reach. A hell of their own, unknown, making. They can't let go, but they can't HELP either. There isn't enough Ectoplasm here. The walls of their reality overly patched up, since that unfortunate leak a few centuries back.

After all, the Zone had dumped near lethal quantities of unfiltered Ecto into the atmosphere. They're STILL dealing with the mutations and fall out, aren't they? At least, they are according to the Zone. (Wtf is a "Quirk"?) And, yeah, someone should PROBABLY do an assessment on the ecological recovery of the Reality. But like?

Do you have any idea how few people have an Obsession for stuff like that? Wait your turn! The list is long and you're not fuckin special, okay? The agents are BUSY.

Now, you might wonder? Wait. If they aren't moving on. Are DEFINITELY Ghosts. Starving as they are. Refusing to die as they may be. Wouldn't... Wouldn't that leave the whole ass area around their Reality an ecological dead zone? If it got over patched and no Ghosts LEFT, thus noticed, and started to try and work on it from the outside? Assuming the COULD?

Yeah. Yeah it would be!

It's called the "New Wastes"!

There used to be some cool Lairs around there. But there was a turf dispute. Someone DID something. Punched a HOLE. And everyone re-died. It was fixed but never quite re-healed. Portals... don't show up there? For some reason? Meh. Wanna brawl?

No. Danny's curious. He wants ANSWERS.

It's his fatal flaw.

Well... that and his inability to keep his mouth shut. But he likes to think he's funny. So... off he goes! And MAN! Does it feel funky out there! Weird textures. Mmmm, Don't Like THAT ™. It's probably a King thing? The Zone here... FEELS wrong.

Not... the way it's SUPPOSED to be shaped, if that makes sense?

And? It feels... if you sorta squint? Like... a LOT of people AREN'T where they should be. But aren't gonna leave until they're READY. Ooof. Great. Someone messed up again. Why does he KEEP FINDING bits and pockets that need straightening out? Unruffling? It's like he has to keep smooth out this giant peice of fabric with all these stains on it. Clean the messes on it.

He feels more like a maid then a King.

Maybe he is?

Pretty sure he's more of a nanny, since the Zone is more of a whiny yet excitable toddler then anything else. Alright, let him in. And fix... whatever THAT is.

So he steps into the Reality and? Huh. Japan. Neat. He always meant to go, never got around to it. Why is that man an otter?

.......oooohohooo, this place was HELLA fucked up by Ectoplasm, wasn't it? This is multi generational exposure. It's in the air. The water, ground, buildings. But stale to the point of stagnation. That can't be healthy. At least a few people he sees have developed ecto-resistance, thank the Ancients.

Danny discovers there are? "Superheroes"? Or just... heroes, apparently. They sell shampoo lines and athletic gear. Villians are petty criminals and psychopaths. All lumped together. He gets fuckin CHASED by the COPS and half the cities spandex patrol, called a "villian" (you know, like the purse snatchers and the DUDE WHO TRIED TO OPEN FIRE ON A CROWD) for flying around trying to assess the situation. Not speaking Japanese fast enough.

Soooorry! He TRIED to answer your confusing barked demands! This isn't his native language! He's translating through Ghost Speech! He knows it sounds unsettling to the living! It's the best he's GOT, man! (Asshole)

He escapes, obviously, because he's not 14 anymore. And honestly? He could top 200mph or so AT 14. He's only gotten faster. Intangible flight means no wind drag, motherfuckers~! OR need to dodge buildings! HA. Try to follow him through THE GROUND!

A few Blob sucked (to remove the ectoplasm) bits of treasure later? And he leaves a pawn shop with local currency. Thank YOU shady pawn shop! Ask him no questions, he'll tell you not lies. Enjoy Pariah's gold.

He does tourist things. Buy foods he's never tried, wanders around. Sees what's needed. Noticed a lot of people struggle with some aspect of the ecto-mutations brought on by the extreme Limnality. Need accessibility aids.

.....well, he IS a Fenton. His parents would disown him on the SPOT if he left with out at least TRYING to help. So he tracks down one the local ghosts. He'll need a guide or two.

He? VASTLY underestimates how desperate a sea of Obsession Starved Hero and Vigilante Ghosts will act, the INSTANT, they realize not only someone can see them... but it's? Their "Boss"? They aren't sure HOW they know that. But they DO. It's THE Boss. Here to help them! Asking for HELP ™ from THEM!

Yes

YES THEY CAN DO THAT

He gets swarmed. Hundreds of ghosts fighting over each other. Shouting. Turning on each other like rabid animals. All worn down and ragged by their Obssesion starvation. He's forced to shout over them.

And? Holy shit, these are only the ones from THIS CITY, too.

Thank Zone, again, he's no longer 14. That he has friends who are Rulers ™ that taught him HOW to Rule. To delegate. Pretend he TOTALLY knows what he's doing. That every action is on purpose.

It takes less then two hours, with all the experienced Unground Heros help, to make himself a Real Boy and buy a building. Put himself into the correct databases. He officially has licenses for things he's never studied. Is a tax paying citizen. Even belongs to several local clubs.

Over the next few days? He sets up his new... oi! Quickdraw! What're they called again? Right. "Lifestyle Support Company" which? Is a dumb name. But, Fenton Works is Fenton Works. Somehow he always kinda knew he'd be inherenting. It's in a cruddy part of town and the prices are cheap as he can safely get um.

He already had two customers, even though half the building isn't even fully set up. Which? I mean... he gets it. Poor guy. Knives for hands. Sharp ones too. The other guy's Obsession made him emotionally react to colors and like three different ones were ruining his life. So, hand Prosthetics controllable by knives and color filtering wrap around glasses.

Took him a lunch break or two.

Changed THEIR lives.

Suddenly his shop is packed. Schedule screaming for relief. And the ghosts? Getting more tangible by the day. See, his work shop? Ecto proofed. Let's him relax. But it ALSO let's him radiate fresh, clean, Ecto out into the air. And as King? With a direct line to The Zone? He puts out a lot.

There start to become Sightings.

People who SWEAR they saw long dead Heros out of the corner of their eyes. Dead vigilantes. That was who through that bottle. Who tripped that thug at just the right moment. Who unlocked the door. The SWEAR. They aren't crazy!

And... at first? Brushed off. Stress does a lot of crazy thing to a person, ma'am. But? How do you brush off, making eye contact with your dead best friend? Your old mentor on the other roof? That vigilante, who you WATCHED bleed out? Can you brush them off... when a vigilante from the dawn of quirks, punches some two bit villian on live television? Calls the Heros on the scene gloryhounds? Goverment dogs?

Runs from the cops and vanishes into thin air?

When this shit KEEPS HAPPENING?

Is spreading?

Are... are you supposed to arrest them for illegal vigilantism? How? They're THE proto-Heros! You don't want your name tied to that! The HPSC is furious. The goverment is uneasy. There are like... 6 dudes and a lady, openly stalking some kid in UA. Trying to mentor him. He looks moments away from a nervous breakdown.

Us too, kid. Us too.

All? While Danny? Is just sitting in his lil shop. Tinkering. Not HIS problem. Gotta let the ghosts here get it out of their system. Get their Obsession's full. Then it's all aboard the Zone Train. He's just here to make sure no one does anything "Too Crazy".

What's HIS definition of "too crazy"?

Wouldn't YOU like to know, weather boy~☆

@hdgnj @lolottes @nerdpoe @babbling-babull @mutable-manifestation @spidori @the-witchhunter @legitimatesatanspawn

[star-girl69]

Love Song

Clarisse La Rue x Fem!Demigod!Reader

—-

a/n: just needed to do some general hc’s to get all my thoughts in order i hope you all enjoy!!

Love song - Lana Del Rey

warnings: the formatting is weird idk why i can’t fix it but y’all will live, swearing, a little itty bitty bit of violence, every facet of clarisse finding its way here and i love them all, tell me if i missed anything!!

—-

i’m sure we all agree on this

but clarisse is very protective of you

even if you’re a very capable fighter, even if you’re even better than her, clarisse is still so protective of you

i mentioned this in one of my fics (maybe so it goes…????) but like the reason behind this is the fact that clarisse is just SCARED

she is terrified of losing you bc you are the only one she feels like she can be herself with

like clarisse is insane!!!!! in a good way!!!!! but also she’s a 17 year old girl…. she wants TO BE LOVED

she tries to talk to you about how she feels about her dad and about everything else in her life, but even though she doesn’t want to be, she’s locked up like a vault

she knows her emotions are always super intense and she has big reactions

major anger issues but they’ve gotten better with age

the problem is she spent her entire life being told that she needed to calm down, that she couldn’t feel like that all the time, and she just tried to shut down

obviously that did not work

but it still makes it virtually impossible to talk about her feelings

when it comes to you tho she’s an open book

she’s a daughter of ares she’s headstrong she’s proud and her fatal flaw is PRIDE

i mentioned this before but she wants everyone to know that you’re hers and she’s yours

your relationship is partly very public

she’s not afraid to touch you or kiss you

she’s not afraid to show you off and (needs to) show everyone that yes your beautiful self belongs to HER

so naturally she gets very jealous

even when you’re like clarisse you are INSANE

there’s been a few times when you first started dating and you were still getting comfortable and weren’t that public yet so like someone would flirt with you

it went like this

boy: hey what’s up you’re kinda fine

y/n: oh! oh yeah no….. no…..

clarisse: WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY IM GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU—

then she started attacking him

lost dessert privileges for a month, she proudly declared that it was worth it (besides you would sneak her bites of yours like)

now that everyone knows you’re hers her jealousy is rooted a lot more in delusion and insecurity

you’ll be like in a group talking someone and she’ll pull you closer and be like “i think that guys staring at you a little too much.”

“clarisse no the fuck he’s not what”

b/c of the fact that she isn’t a son for her father she gets insanely jealous if specifically a MAN gets even an inch too close however innocently

she doesn’t want to think it but she thinks you’ll eventually realize her father is right and she’s not as useful or good bc she’s a girl

most of the time when she gets jealous bc of her insecurities she just becomes extra clingy

but also any emotion she feels she gets extra clingy to you so sometimes it’s hard to tell LMAO

she isn’t really a big hand holder but that’s only because she’s actually holding you CLOSER to her by your waist

also one more note about your relationship publically

everyone gets whiplash bc like she’s a BULLY fo everyone else and then you walk over and she’s all heart eyes

i hate everyone but you trope save me

save me i hate everyone but you trope

THIS HAPPENED IN IN A GOOD WAY

clarisse: pushes percy over

you: nuh uh clarissseeeeeeee

clarisse: omg hi beautiful gf

you: touches her shoulder, looks at her disapprovingly

clarisse: fine i’ll go, *scares percy*, bye bye beautiful ily

like she’s just being a bitch and then all of a sudden you come around and she’s like hiiiiiii babyyyyy how is my gorgeous gorgeous girl today??

so outwardly clarisse is just very proud and touchy

privately she lets herself be a little more chill

this is where she really touchy you thought before was worse nah

idk if y’all have noticed but in my fics clar’s always holding on y/n’s hips and that’s just me self projecting bc i have the most horrid hip dips but my point still stands

SHE LOVES YOUR HIPS

would totally call them “love handles” IM SORRYY

but she just likes having a place to hold where she can just like kinda actually physically grab you with her hands

like yeah she can wrap her arms around your waist but she likes to GRAB you

cuddling w her is fun bc like this girl cannot get ENOUGH of you there’s only like three ways you cuddle

you on top of her whether just like completely on top of her (one of her favs) or just with your head on her chest

this is what happens whenever you feel scared

like there was a monster attack just near the barrier and you’ve all been feeling uneasy all day

TRUST you are sleeping in her bed tonight

wraps her arms around you so tight it’s like she’s crushing you

also she’s running your back or caressing your head whichever you prefer

she keeps her spear right next to her bed and makes sure you can see it so you know however subconsciously NOTHING can hurt you bc she’s right there (nothings gonna hurt you baby vibes)

or she’s on top of you this one usually happens when she’s feeling a little extra insecure and jealous and it’s like no one can see you if she’s on top of her so then you’re hers

she isn’t the smartest one in the bunch but she has good intentions!!!!

also she lays on top of you if you get hurt

like after so it goes for example when y/n got that little cut on her hand

you’re like “clar pls you’re crushing me”

“um ok you scared the shit out of me today tho you need to LET ME do this fuck”

third option

you’re both laying on your side and facing each other legs tangled together and she’s probably whispering to you

she’s a big whisperer i feel it in my heart

like tracing her hands on your face and saying your so beautiful or telling you how you make her feel

oh lord take me now

also she loves you the way hozier loves

“someone asked me in the end i’d tell them ‘put me back in it’ // darlin’ i would do it again // if i could hold for a minute”

“when my time comes around lay me gently in the cold dark earth no grave could hold my body down i’d crawl back to her”

like she BREATHES for you

if she died and then you were like “i miss you” trust she would find a way to come back to life

totally daydreams about going on such a fantastical quest that the gods offer both of you immortality so you can be together forever and ever and ever and ever and ever

like if the world ends y’all would still be there having a little picnic date

devotion is the only word that comes close

anyways

ok nicknames she calls you:

baby, angel, gorgeous, pretty thing/girl, beautiful, lovely, dummy (lovingly)

(recently saw a few posts abt clarisse saying mama/mamas i may be swayed)

dates she takes you on:

forces you to train w her even if you don’t like it but she lets you win OBVIIIII, under the stars in the woods, take your dinners to go and sneak back to either hers or your cabin to eat together, secret makeout sessions in the bathroom her cabin your cabin anywhere she can get her hands on you

this is so random but i get horrible migraines and i am ADDICTED to these like headache relief frequency sounds on youtube i swear they work and i was like omg you can’t have electronics at chb I WOULD NOT SURVIVE

so if you are a real one like me and get horrible migraines but this goes for being sick in general she’s like a little puppy pretending to be a wolf barely holding it together

she’ll be like at the foot of your bed begging you not to go into the light while shouting at someone at the same time to refill your water

you like have a cold

she would rub your temples if you had a headache and she would literally be like a doll for you to move around like oh you wanna lay on her chest? by all means

you wanna lay upside down with your feet in her face? as long as you get better you can do whatever you want!

you don’t wanna touch her at all? that’s where she draws the line

you’ll be like “ugh i’m hot get away from me”

“okay ☹️☹️”

“why are you touching my feet with your feet”

she places you above everyone else

like yeah other people are ok…….

but you 😍😍😍😍😍😍

this is slightly cringe but she would fr burn the whole world down and not let a flame touch you

LIKE HAVE YALL SEEN THE ANONS IVE BEEN POSTING AND THE CAPTURE THE FLAG THINGS 😱😱😱😱 (y’all always check my blog im always posting the funniest shit bc i’m funny)

“you’re one opposite teams blah blah blah you get hurt clarisse drops EVERYTHING to help you even if just a paper cut” (i have no chill fic coming soon)

THEN THEN the other one that was like “ok but what if you ACTUALLY get hurt like broken leg”

clarisse just goes crazy when you’re hurt

in so it goes: “what if that cut gets infected?”

you’re her WORLD she literally can’t stand the thought or something happening to you or else she starts literally shaking in anger and sadness

but when clarisse gets hurt it’s a whole other story

LIKE FUCK YOU JUST WANNA CARE ABOUT HER AND SHES ALL LIKE “it’s chill.”

NO ITS NOT YOURE GONNA BLEED OUT 😭😭

clarisse never let’s anyone but you see her true emotions

like yeah when you’re in public and you’re being cutesy she starts smiling and everyone is SO confused

but still

she never lets anyone see her as WEAK

so she always downplays her injuries in terms of how much they hurt, but flaunts them off proudly at the same time?? yeah that makes sense

after a capture the flag game you march her to the bathroom with a first aid kit “ok baby take off your shirt”

she always makes some flirty comment like SHUSH NOT RN

then she has all these bruises and every once in a while a cut from someone’s sword

you’re like 😔😔💔

you’re the only one she will let clean her up

unless she like breaks a bone or needs stitches (which has never happened) no way in hell she’s going to the healers

if you’re a child of apollo or smth she’s like “i literally have my own person healer right here…..”

anyways i think that’s all but i will probably be updating this when i think of more stuff bc as we know i have no chill

thank you all sm for reading and reblogging and liking and commenting and sending all of your WONDERFUL asks they make me so happy i’m always giggling when i get one

anyways bye bye 😘

—

taglist:

@lvrue @t-wylia @laughingcheese037 @kroumi @urdeadpoet @colezb @rey26 @harmzilla @elliewilliamsbae @amberfreemansburntface @kyuupidwrites @neverwaakeme-up @shark1008 @liballer @heyimadison @nvirskies @pnsteblnme

[kuj0goth]

Hi I don’t know if I’m onto something here or just crazy but I just noticed that Ford’s eyes seem to be slightly triangle shaped a lot of the time in your blind eye ford au art, specifically when Ford is doing something Fidds doesn’t like? So I guess I’ll also take the opportunity to ask what Bill is doing in the au since you mentioned he would play a role. (Love this au so much btw you are so cool for making it. I need my Fucked Up Fidds content fix and you are providing)

Hello! I would first like to congratulate you on being an ideal Gravity Falls fan. This is a fandom that thrives on people looking for details and connecting dots.

Unfortunately, any resemblance to triangles in Ford’s eyes was purely coincidental, but I love where your mind is going with this! Im incredibly touched that you took the time to analyze my artwork :] I will reward you with some information about Bill’s role in the au! Do keep in mind that nothing is set in stone and any of this could later change.

Bill Cipher took a personal offense in Fiddleford’s actions. She erased Ford’s memory partially so the progress on the portal would be halted, and also to render Bill’s deal with Ford is null, and lock him out of Ford’s head.

Now that portal plans are in ruin and Bill is unable to possess Ford, it would make sense for him to move on and find some other victim to build the portal for him. Or he could find somebody else, try out the cult thing again, et cetera. The fatal flaw in Bill’s plan is that he didn’t expect to get so attached to Ford, and now he is determined to finish what they started together. Additionally, he feels that his toy was taken from him, and wants to get back at Fiddleford for messing everything up. He no longer has access to the physical world and thus has to influence people through dreams.

He does have to tread lightly, however, as Ford’s delicate mental state makes everything 10x more complicated. Throw Stanley into the mix and you have the the au; a confusing psychological jumble of characters competing and strategizing to have things their way.

Comically confusing relationship chart to help, or perhaps only confuse you more!

[fixyourwritinghabits]

So I want to write a novel, and I outline my story and write out everything that happens in the outline and I get to the end and it's... Between 20,000 and 40,000 words, usually. Like I can tell a complete story but I have a hard time getting it to the length of a publishable novel, and it keeps happening with different stories I write. Do you have any advice for making a story longer without making it feel like I'm just adding stuff to make it longer?

While I think you have a workable length for a first draft, I can see where your problems lay. Let's tackle what your intended goal is first.

Industry standard (set by traditional publishing) for novels is the following:

Adult novels - 80,000 to 100,000 word count. Many will fall between that range. Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels tend to run higher, but you'll notice Romance, Mystery, and Crime tend to run tighter, closer to 80k. Literary novels (Contemporary and Historical Fiction) can swing up and down that word length. Door-stopper books of 200k can be found, of course, but that's the opposite of what we're dealing with.

YA Novels - Contemporary tends to stick to a tight 80k, but publishing tends to seek longer fantasy novels, sticking to the adult standard of 10k.

Middle Grade (8-11ish year old readers) - 30,000 to 60,000. Most publishers want something in the middle, as MG readers are constantly stretching their reading capabilities.

These are generalizations that are subject to change, of course, but they're good guides to follow when editing. Let's say you want to aim for an adult novel, which means you want to at least double your 40k length. While looking over your work, consider the following:

Does your main character have enough problems?

If your story can be resolved within the 40k mark, you may need to add more complications to their journey. Does their external problem (the outside issues they're dealing with, like losing a job or battling a sentient typhoon) adequately line up with resolving their internal problem (dealing with unresolved guilt, confronting a fatal flaw about themselves, apologizing to that sentient typhoon for leaving them at the altar, etc).

Save The Cat also talks about the Shard of Glass or Unresolved Wound, a deeply internal problem the protagonist has to confront about themselves in order to solve the main problem of the novel. Deepening your character's issues can buff up the need for more words to resolve them. (Not every story has the character 'fix' this issue - many novels are about characters failing to do just that, that unresolved flaw finally dooming them in the end.)

Subplots, Sidequests, and McGuffins

Subplots are their to enrich your novel with elements that contribute to the overall journey. Besides the main problem your protagonist is facing, what else is going on in their life? Do they need to confess a crush to a friend? Is their struggle to control their magical powers tied to a traumatic childhood? Does learning the truth about their family history force them to reflect on their own behavior? A subplot should weave back into strengthening the main story while adding more elements to make it more interesting. It's not as hard as it sounds - the more you think about your character's internal problem, the more you realize they'll need to confess their feelings, confront their mother, or more to resolve that final issue.

By sidequests, I'm leaning into the fantasy element of storytelling, but you'll find this pops up in a lot of stories. A chance encounter in a mystery can provide an essential clue, or stopping to aid someone could lead to a character-revealing moment. Remember, this isn't filler - you're expanding the overall plot by leaning into your world-building to establish essential knowledge about your world, introducing minor characters that can act as aids or obstacles to a problem, or starting an action scene that changes the trajectory of the novel.

A MacGiffin is an object, device, or event necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but typically unimportant or irrelevant in itself. Usually, the MacGuffin is revealed early on, and becomes less important once the storyline is set in motion. You'll see a lot of despairing comments about them, because they often can be used poorly. But MacGiffins are often essential parts of storytelling, a quest that leads your characters astray from what they should actually be doing (and in turn learning about themselves and the problem they need to face instead).

Your character spends half the novel trying to find the missing crown, only to discover it's been fake the whole time. That whole first half of the novel was a waste of time... or was it? By having your characters fixate on the wrong solution, you're exploring what Save the Cat calls "Doing Things The Wrong Way" where the real answer is in digging deep down, confronting that internal problem, and setting down the right path at last. This is where the mid-novel twist of the king being the villain all along, the dragon they're meant to slay for killing the villagers turns out to be a card-carrying vegan. The easy answer isn't the solution, and it's taking the hard path that gets things done.

For Example...

In Jedediah Berry's genre-bending mystery novel The Manual of Detection, the main character is pulled into finding the missing detective he used to write the case files for. As with any good mystery, there's a lot of good side quests - going to a bar only to run into villains that need confronting later, a one-sided rivalry with another detective ends up solving a problem later, etc. A subplot starting the novel where the protagonist goes out of his way to encounter someone at a coffee shop turns out to be an essential character connection later, and the MacGiffin - the Manual of Detection itself - turns out to be more important because of what it lacks.

In Jeff Smith's graphic novel series Bone, in the beginning, the main characters remain blissfully unaware of the true danger hunting them or the secrets of those around them. But the villains too are unknowingly pursuing a MacGuffin, leading to a series of events that will bring about a massive clash - and a confrontation of truths that will lead to the final solution.

And Finally, Maybe It's Not a Novel

I do want to say this might all not be what you need, because your true calling could be to write novellas - a length that varies between 20k to 40k. A shorter story is just as good as a lengthier one. There's a steady market for novellas of multiple genres, so it could be a good thing to look into if this feels like where your writing should be.

[felicitywilds]

been seein a few popular posts about what could Happen in season 3 that i think are kind of missing the mark a bit when it comes to crowley and aziraphale’s characters and both of their approaches to their relationship? so heres my take

aziraphale is a fighter: all throughout the book and season 1, he’s done his best to fight for what he thinks is right. the fatal flaw in this position is that he only ever does it within the confines of his faith and position as an angel: protesting punishing job until God’s Orders are cited; excusing his eating habits to gabriel by saying it helps him ‘blend in’ on earth; even after an entire day of listing things he wouldn’t be able to enjoy on earth anymore, crowley was only able to convince aziraphale to help him raise the antichrist by framing it as ‘thwarting wiles’ (ie. doing his job). aziraphale has always had a lot of conflict with how his and heaven’s ideals align-- this is why aziraphale went to heaven, so he could make the rules he’s so hesitant to break work for him instead of against him.

crowley on the other hand, is a flier: at the slightest sign of trouble he can’t fix, he flees. no, he does not want to dismantle the systems of heaven and hell, he wants to run away forever and never think about them again! he’s canonically tried to do this at least four times! but the fatal flaw in this position is that it means he sees everything he’s built and collected in 6000 years as disposable, which is not unlike how heaven and hell also think about the earth. he’s built a fragile, peaceful existence for himself, but is willing to run away and dump it all the second its peace and fragility is threatened by something he can’t control.

understanding both of these attitudes makes the middle ground where they realize their mistakes and come together again painfully obvious (imo): its earth! literally the ground in the middle between heaven and hell. crowley and aziraphale both already know that the other is worth protecting-- aziraphale wants to go to heaven so being together won’t be against the rules, and crowley wants to run away so heaven and hell can’t destroy them for being together-- so the revelation that needs to be reached in season 3 is that their lives and their history and their home is worth protecting too. beelzebub and gabriel had ‘heaven/hell is wherever you are’, but that kind of attitude (even ‘to the world’/they are each others world) doesn’t work for crowley and aziraphale because they spent 6000 years building something that makes simply being together synonymous with being on earth.

after all, the Really Big One is going to be all of us vs. all of them-- heaven and hell against all of humanity. when crowley and aziraphale have this exchange in the book and season 1, i fully believe that both them assume that when they say “us”, it means heaven and hell-- even after everything that happened, they’re still aligning themselves against the earth and the history they have there. which is why, after all their wonderful and inevitable character development in season 3, they’re going to realize that “us” actually means humanity.

[birdiesaves]

THE MARTIAN ( novel by andy weir ) change as necessary !

mankind reaching out to send people to another planet for the very first time and expand the horizons of humanity blah, blah, blah. 

i’m pretty much fucked. 

they got the parades and fame and love of the world, i got a firm handshake and a hot cup of coffee when i got home.

i would only be “in command” of the mission if i were the only remaining person.

what do you know? i’m in command.

it wasn’t your fault. you did what you had to do. 

in your position i would have done the same thing. 

it was a ridiculous sequence of events that led to me almost dying.

everyone thinks i’m dead. 

ok, i’ve had a good night’s sleep, and things don’t seem as hopeless as they did yesterday.

i won’t be able to whip something up with tinfoil and gum.

fear my botany powers!

but hey, time is the one thing i’ve got.

i wonder if they'll ever find out what really happened.

i’ll spare you the math. the answer is _________

bleh. i’m going to bed

my life depends on you

i played a lot of dungeons and dragons.

i have an idiotically dangerous plan 

i suppose i’ll think of something. or die.

the answer is: i don’t know.

all i accomplished today was thinking up a plan that’ll kill me

also, i have duct tape. 

after a search of everyone’s personal items i found my answer.

that was sarcasm, by the way.

this all sounds like a great idea with no chance of catastrophic failure.

do you have any idea the magnitude of shitstorm this is gonna be?

how come aquaman can control whales? they’re mammals! 

i expected it to be cold, but jesus christ!

now, on to my next task: sitting around with nothing to do for 12 hours.

i ask for a picture and i get the fonz?

the whole world’s been rooting for you. 

really looking forward to not dying. 

please watch your language.

sorry we left you behind, but we don't like you.

you're sort of a smart-ass.

your request for “anything, oh god anything but disco” is denied.

no. you’ll fuck it up and die.

i took it apart, found the problem, and fixed it.

i don’t see anything... i can hear it, but... it’s down here somewhere, but i don’t know where.

the subtle and refined “hurl my body at the wall” technique had some flaws. 

named after the greek goddess who traveled the heavens with the speed of wind. she's also the goddess of rainbows.

i'm not giving up. just planning for every outcome. it's what i do.

your poster outsold the rest of ours combined.

why are you such a nerd?

you should try to be more cool. wear dark glasses and a leather jacket. carry a switchblade.

you started my training by buying me a beer.

so now i have to do boring-ass experiments with test tubes and zzzzzzzzzz....

frankly, i suspect you're a super villain.

just once i'd like something to go to plan, ya know?

no? ok... what was that!? oh, nothing? ok...

for now i just want to go home.

there's always hope

are we just watching a tragedy play out?

you’ll survive this. i don't know how, but you will. 

i've defiled enough historical sites for now.

tomorrow night, i'll sink to an all new low!

tomorrow night, i'll be at rock bottom!

be a smart-ass to a guy seven levels above you. see how that works out.

i remember when you were shy

the attitude comes with the job

and by “enjoying” i mean “hating so much i want to kill people.”

there aren't many people who can say they've vandalized a three billion dollar spacecraft. but i'm one of them.

what's our role in all this? if something goes wrong, what can we do?

how do you come up with this shit?

i admit it's fatally dangerous, but consider this: i'd get to fly around like iron man.

i need you to come back in and make a bomb.

i knew that guy was a mad scientist!

i think we should just go with my iron man idea.

well if you won't let us then- wait... wait a minute... i'm looking at my shoulder patch and it turns out i'm the commander. 

give me a minute. you're the first person i've seen in ______.

i think about the sheer number of people who pulled together just to save my sorry ass, and i can barely comprehend it.

i represent progress, science, and the interplanetary future we’ve dreamed of for centuries. 

they did it because every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out. it might not seem that way sometimes, but it’s true.

yes, there are assholes who just don’t care, but they’re massively outnumbered by the people who do. 

[backjustforberena]

i will join you in your corlys thoughts!

the scene in the last ep reminded me of the scene when laena died, though there was no arguing, it was them both trying to make the other see things from their pov, and when it got hard, corlys pulled away, yet again.

which has always been his way.

corlys loves rhaenys, there’s no doubt about that - it’s clear in the way he looks at her, in the way he speaks to her - but it seems he is a bit self-absorbed in the sense that he can’t be there for her when he’s shaken. how can you be someone’s rock when the ground you’re one is shaken? and obviously he can’t be vulnerable with her. he must carry his house on his back. and if he can’t, he might as well be dead, according to the deleted scripts from 1x10.

i think that scene is the most vulnerable that we have seen corlys be, and it’s by no choice of his own - he’s physically weak, injured, and still he tries to make her laugh. still he tries to comfort her by telling her all the things he thinks she’s been wanting to hear. and when rhaenys sheds a tear, his face, you see him look concerned, can basically hear the “oh shit, oh no, how do i fix this!?”

I think one of the very things that attracted rhaenys to corlys (according to the actress at least) - his masculinity, his macho-ness, his the very thing that is pretty detrimental to their relationship.

(sorry for rambling in your ask box!)

YOU CAN RAMBLE IN MY INBOX AT ANY TIME. Because I think you're right.

I don't think Corlys pulls away because things are hard. Bear with me. I think he's absolutely fine when things get hard because if that weren't the case then they wouldn't be such a unit. It would be a fatal flaw in their relationship if whenever things got hard, he just shut down or ran away. If there are external forces threatening them, then he's in it. If there are people who are messing with them or she needs him to be there by her side, then he will, provided he isn't compromised himself. And we do have examples and instances and a general vibe of them being able to have very difficult conversations with each other and being able to argue fairly and come to a settlement.

However, as I alluded to, these are able to happen when he isn't compromised himself. When they can both come at it as pillars of strength, as robust in their own opinion, when it's fire meeting fire, if you like. The biggest example of that is, as you say, 1x07, and alongside 2x03, they both end with Corlys letting go of Rhaenys's hand when she wants him to stay. It's easy to say that both are also conversations concerning succession, but I think it's more to do with mortality, legacy and, something else important to me, Corlys's emotional vulnerabilities. In both cases, he's wounded emotionally. In 1x07, Rhaenys artfully and bluntly deconstructs his heroic notions and his illusions about the boys and his motivations. In 2x03, the circumstances are far less dramatic but he's facing mounting pressure to step up but also to move on: pick a new heir, come to the council meetings, the Queen needs you etc etc. For all he professes not to be an invalid, I think there's a lot to be said by the fact that he feels he needs to point that out. But he's not processed everything, he's still grieving, he can't shut it away, he doesn't want to consider these things.

But both those episode conversation end in Corlys being shaken. Of him not having the answer, not wanting the answer, not wanting to hurt his wife. "History does not remember blood, it remembers names" and "Then we must hope to…see our way forward, in time. [...] Then… it is well that I am a good sailor" are, I'm sorry to say, absolutely flipping insubstantial things to say. They don't MEAN anything except 'I don't want to talk about it, here is a sticking plaster" because he doesn't know what to do! Does he truly believe blood doesn't matter? Or does he hope and pray that it's true because that's the path they are on? Does he truly think his skills will let him survive this war? Or that they'll have the rational discussion about it all later? Or is he just trying to make her smile and not worry for a second because that's all he can offer her?

He's doing what he can. And he's self-aware. The last thing he wants to do his hurt his wife. It's like he has a physical reaction to her pain. He hates it. And it hurts him when he can't ease it, especially if that's linked up to his own failings or simply he's just not feeling able to. Steve said in press for S1 that Corlys doesn't forget about Rhaenys being passed over and that it looked like he cares more than she does. That can be applied to all of this. He cares that she's hurt. He FEELS her hurt.

To me, two things make him unstuck: one is when his wife is hurting, and the other is when he doesn't know what to do. And when those two combine, so that his wife is hurting and he doesn't know what to do (usually specifically to address that hurt), then it's lethal.

At the moment, he does do so much. He is happy to see her, he spends time with her, he's holding her, loving her, listening to her, they're having sex, they're comforting one another, they're connecting. But what she is asking, however indirectly, from him... He can't do. Because those conversations are going to hurt him and he can't take that pain on. He can't risk failing. He can't risk hurting her. He wants to have those talks. He knows he'll have to. But just a bit longer... if Rhaenys holds on a little longer then he'll be that man again.

I also think that seeing Rhaenys being vulnerable scares him and shocks him. As it is two ways: she's his rock. He's not just hers. So if she's feeling the loss of him... He's also feeling the loss of her. The vulnerability is mirrored.

Which is tragic because YOU GUYS ARE LITERALLY HAVING A LUNCH DATE WITH MUCH PDA.

Anyways, this probably went in circles or I've just regurgitated a lot of ideas from this morning.

[happyk44]

Do you have anymore of this written? Annabeth's way of helping Percy actually making it worse until he runs away and finally gets a taste of peace elsewhere? I love it so much.

https://www.tumblr.com/happyk44/749307578218053632?source=share

Pretty sure I've written something (or a couple somethings) similar to that piece before. It's a concept I really like. One of my first "Percy runs away to the Nome" pieces points out that Annabeth has been kind of preparing for the inherent trauma in being a demigod under the thumb of not so helpful gods her whole life compared to Percy who was thrown into it at random and retains a lot of bitterness over it versus passive acceptance the way Jason and Annabeth have kind of grown up to. Yeah, she has her beef with Hera but like. More or less, it's kind of "that's just how the gods are" with her and Percy is very much "well they should be fucking better".

I think that with her having known she was a demigod since she was a little kid, the difficulties she went through in getting to camp with Thalia, Grover and Luke, Thalia's sacrifice and seemingly having been holding onto the possibility of war at least since she was 12 and Percy came flailing into her life and into the prophecy - she's just able to compartmentalize her pains better than Percy who we know suffers more aptly with emotional regulation and anger issues. Whether she processes them in a healthy manner through this or represses, represses, represses is up to you, but I can see it being her default, and subsequently she gets very stressed out about Percy not being able to do the same thing.

Also people just process trauma differently and Annabeth gets very headstrong and stubborn about being right and that her way of doing things is superior (which is. like. one of the reasons I lowkey wanted to add her to the cluster B roster because imo her fatal flaw would fit NPD so well, but unfortunately I don't think enough of the diagnostic criteria suits her so RIP). So her way of handling trauma not working for Percy doesn't make sense to her, or the fact that Percy is still clearly having problems even if he pretends otherwise just makes her feel like he's not trying hard enough to get over it, so she starts pushing in ways that don't help because she's Annabeth and she knows how Percy works and she can map his way through this and if he would just try, then it would work (except they don't and they won't).

I've also mentioned before that Annabeth strikes me as someone who gets so beholden to her ideas and plans that any deviation from that plan (even if not well-thought out) is Not Allowed, and no matter how obvious the solution (change course, make other decisions, break-up and stay friends), she is extremely reluctant to do so. In Tartarus, she clung to the idea of her and Percy making it out alive and safe and moving to New Rome and being happy and going to college and growing old together and now, faced with the reality that the goal is likely unattainable (I really don't see Percy moving to California for college of all things, like let's be real) or facing some hitches (Percy's depression and self-isolation negates the whole happy and healthy thing), she gets further into her head about him not being able to get with the program.

So she tells him how to fix himself. He can't do it because her methods don't work for him like they work for her. She gets mad because there's no improvement from him and she doesn't know what else to try because she's exahusted all the options that Make Sense and Will Help Him and her way of doing things is right so he must be doing something wrong or not trying at all. He starts to withdraw from her because Percy doesn't really instigate fights and he's angry and unhealthy and doesn't want to hurt his girlfriend, and she gets mad because that's not how this is supposed to work, and they argue and the cycle just continues over and over and over again unti he's gone.

Personally I can write Percy disappearing in a bunch of ways. He fakes it until he realizes he can't make it and no one notices. He fakes it and people notice but they can't get him to open up about it. He suffers obviously but no one knows how to help him and he refuses to communicate. It will always culimaniate in him turning to isolation, turning to self-harm, turning to suicide, turning to whispering Carter's name like a desperate lifeline because if he kills himself Grover might die and his mom might be sad (he doesn't know, Estelle is there and she's good and she's normal and it's fine, his mom doesn't really need him, does she?) and Annabeth would probably be mad at him.

And if he calls out for Carter and he doesn't come or he doesn't care, well, then at least he can say he tried getting help, right? He didn't give up right away. He tried.

(Carter will always come and always offer the Nome as sanctuary and Percy will always accept it, even if he freaks the fuck out when they get there)

[ihateedwardnygma]

please elaborate (ignore how i voted i thought about it for 2 miliseconds only)

info dump time yay!!

i’d like to preface this by saying what i believe abt ed is likely a personal thing and up to interpretation… for starters he’s a fictional character + also. as with the majority of characters i enjoy, a lot of the things i love / find interesting about him tend to be things i headcanon. i don’t think my perception is necessarily the correct one and i also think the original poll has a lot of right answers… like you said lust and even if you put no thought into that vote i actually think it makes sense… at least in my opinion it ties into his pride, which is what i voted.

anyway! i believe that ultimately his biggest sin- and his fatal flaw overall- was his pride. his downfall is caused nearly exclusively by his own sense of pride and inability to let go of his ego. whether directly or indirectly, pride was at the centre of the majority of poor decisions he made: most of the time he acted out of a need to keep up his ego and save face, desperate to earn the respect of others around him.

i think ed had a very fragile self image- throughout the show, we see him sort of project things onto other people- denying them their own personhood or autonomy and acting as if this can both save him and perhaps save them too, if he gets it in his head that they need saving. he might view himself as smarter and superior to others on the surface, but this disguises a HEAVYYY case of low self esteem… the guy literally can’t function without his ego being stroked. he doesn’t particularly know who he is, and tends to define himself by arbitrary traits such as power and intelligence. when his inflated and distorted view of himself is challenged, he becomes angry and prone to lashing out. this can and does lead to him inadvertently torpedoing the rare few good things that actually do happen to him, which is, even if he is kind of an asshole, really sad to watch.

with this being said, i believe the fandom do tend to characterise him in black and white- either this pride and innate selfishness is a flaw set in stone that cannot be fixed, and this therefore makes him 100% evil and irredeemable- alternatively, people will go the opposite route and suggest he’s some kind of innocent little guy absolved of all responsibility for his actions because of his evident issues. and i believe it should be looked at with more nuance than that- yes, he’s not a good person, and yes, he’s done some downright evil things. but at the same time, ignoring that he was a deeply unwell and mentally ill individual with zero support system or help- i mean he got thrown in fucking ARKHAM when he was caught- does a disservice to the character. i doubt he could ever have been normal- i view him as CEN-coded (childhood emotional neglect) and also having multiple mental illnesses- majority of these are my own so it’s not like. Stereotyping lol- that may make it harder for him to navigate life. but i do think characterising him as purely evil or purely good are both takes that lack comprehension skills.

i went off on a tangent there and i’m really sorry!! but i wanted to clarify what i mean when i talk about ed + pride- in no way am i villainising the character nor am i saying everything’s okay bc he’s got like. 12 gazillions disorders or whatever- i just think he’s a very fun and interesting character to analyse… ^_^

[compacflt]

i’ve got a question about your writing process: in order to write a 30 year narrative, you create it out of hundreds of individual moments & actions, and each one has to function by itself and also part of a whole—have truth to itself and emotional resonance in a timeline. imo the key to doing this successfully is to care about each moment and make each one memorable, which seems very difficult: you have to get at the meat of the human behavior, believably, in a way that matters and explains and progresses the story, every time. and to write 200k words of it you do it hundreds of times! could you talk a bit about idea generation for each moment and how you brainstorm and write them?

omg an excuse to make more diagrams ! Thank you so much for this lovely ask!

okay: in case you don’t want to scroll through like four/five months of my inane icemav Poasting, I’ve done a couple other posts that go into my process — here about specifically chapter 1 and here about the fatal flaw of my fics from a construction standpoint

but from an idea generation standpoint… it’s pretty boring and cynical. I literally just make checklists. “things that HAVE to happen.” here’s my notes app check list of stuff that HAD to happen for the story to make sense in my rewrite of what is now chapters 8 & 9. this is from last december lol

and here’s a checklist/diagram of the major story beats and the changes in relationship dynamics throughout the story. any one of these dynamics changing reflects on the others in a way that‘s worth talking about. the hard part is finding a framing device or scene to talk about them.

the A plot of the fic is ice’s relationship with the navy, primarily. his arc is defined by his rank. so that’s the number 1 dynamic I wanted to focus on in such-and-such scenes, and why I stuck as stringently as possible to the “one rank per chapter” formula until ice got to the top & had to reckon with what being at the top actually means. His change in ranks is inspiration enough for most scenes because it shifts the dynamics in a way that is worth remarking upon in and of itself.

as an example im thinking of this scene (mostly because it’s short but also) because i think it’s kind of representative of how my idea generation process works

It fills a lot of gaps that i needed filled at that specific juncture in the story. the idea started with a stupid little section of dialogue in my head (mav would be surprised that ice’s official Navy docusign signature isn’t his actual signature) that happened to be symbolically relevant too (of course ice would have two different signatures for his two different personas). Then it morphed into a discussion of Ice’s canonically unhappy-looking compacflt portrait, which is canonically unhappy-looking. Then add onto that ice admitting he’s only happy at home (home obviously meaning with maverick, given that he’s literally in his house right now and still doesn’t feel like he’s home) and maverick telling him, “well that’s a problem that has literally the easiest fix in the world. youre making this way more complicated than it needs to be. just come home to me.”

so it’s literally just checking off boxes of things I wanted to talk about. as I said, a very cynical creation process. ✅ ice and mav doing the long-distance-relationship phone call thing (framing device for the whole scene). ✅ mav knowing ice’s real vs fake signature ❤️. ✅ ice’s canon unhappy compacflt portrait that makes an appearance in TGM. ✅ ice not feeling at home in Hawaii. ✅ ice not being fulfilled by the job & only being fulfilled by mav. ✅ ice coming up with excuses to see mav at any possible chance he gets. ✅ ice still obviously thinking of mav and Bradley as his family & maverick as his home. Etc etc. You see what i mean? how many stupid little ideas, symbols, and dynamic shifts can i cram into a page or so? that’s pretty much my thinking.

[zahri-melitor]

The Joker War:

Yeah so: this was a good event. The stakes were high, it pulled in and tied off a lot of storytelling since Rebirth, and it reset the status quo for Gotham. Plus, I had a lot of fun reading it.

Sometimes you read an event and come out of it going 'well what was the point'. This is not one of those events; I can see how it sets up a whole chunk of the subsequent 4 years of stories.

It also had an absolutely banger set of writers working on it, supplemented with solid artists. It was very much James Tynion's event, but he clearly was talking to Peter Tomasi, Ram V, Dan Jurgens and Cecil Castellucci to pull the storytelling together. (Scott Lobdell also contributed a single issue but it was very much a tie-in of the 'Jason receives a call' type). Castellucci was the weakest link in that set and even she landed what needed to happen with Barbara during the event.

So. Joker reveals that he knows who all the Bats are, and that he's known that for a long time, as he proceeds to try and break Bruce by plunging the city into chaos, stealing all of the Wayne fortune, revealing Wayne Enterprises to be as 'corrupt' as any other multinational, and using all of the Bat equipment that the company has been manufacturing to cause terror.

Bruce, who has been isolating himself in the wake of City of Bane and Alfred's death, initially starts out trying to fight all of this on his own, and then spends even more time hallucinating Alfred, as Tynion gives him a chance to process what happened. He eventually gets to the classic 'call in the family' round up. But mostly, he's fighting Joker by himself. Harley, who is extremely irritated by Punchline's whole existence (and sewed up her own slit throat with a guitar string at one point), spends a fair amount of time helping Bruce, and eventually sets up a situation in the final Bruce v Joker showdown where she ties bombs to herself and to Joker, tells Bruce he's only got time to defuse one, and sprints away. Joker is VERY put out by Bruce's decisions in this situation, because they contradict what he's been monologuing about.

That's the main Bruce plot. (Oh he also gets to deal with Two-Face bringing Lincoln March back and then my least favourite fake Wayne getting blown up in a way that may or may not be fatal. The wikis cannot agree)

Dick's entire Ric plot arc comes to a head with a series of brainwashings. Joker gets his hands on the crystal that had previously brainwashed him into having no memories and then to thinking he was raised by William Cobb as a Talon, and deciding to join in the fun, rewrites Dick's memories as 'Dickyboy', who was raised by Joker after the circus. Yes. We do Joker Junior (but for Dick!) Most of the bad stuff done during this period is like...calling for help to trick Jason, Tim and Babs to turn up, and then curbstomping Jason. Tim gets to defuse a bomb about to blow up a hospital and is very proud of himself, while Dick's fatal flaw of 'extremely suggestible to redheads' pops up and a combination of Babs and Bea are able to talk him around and restore his memories to actually being Dick Grayson (Bea's purple dreads get her into the category, I think). Thank goodness, Nightwing is back.

Selina is busy playing everyone, and ends up transferring the Wayne fortune she originally set in motion to be stolen from Bruce to end up in Lucius Fox's Caymans bank account, setting up the whole upcoming Jace Fox stories. Also she moves back to Alleytown in the aftermath of everything to get back to her Brubaker roots.

Barbara gets attacked by Joker who wants to replicate A Killing Joke now that he can reveal he knows he shot Batgirl at that time, and hijacks her spinal implant. So Babs digs it out AGAIN, then once she's got away needs Luke Fox to help her fix it and reimplant the connections. The entire point of all of these fun and games is essentially to put Babs in a position where she knows she needs to stop relying on going out as Batgirl: she finally gets to come back online as Oracle, in green wearing glasses, where she seizes control of the city and does some proper Oracle work. There's a fair amount of talk about how she needs to start transitioning back to Oracle at least part time.

Also James Jr has developed a split personality and ends up throwing himself off a building to his death, while Babs as Batgirl tries to grab him, leading to even more extension of the "Jim Gordon hates Batgirl" plot that's been running since n52 and the last time James Jr threw himself to his death (off a bridge). Sigh. I'm bored of that one. There's a broken body at the bottom and we bury him this time, so we're pretty safe from another James Jr plot until someone decides to drop his corpse in a Lazarus Pit or get Superboy Prime to punch time or inject him with electrum or whatever.

Oh and Steph and Cass switch costumes to be both be Batgirl in a short in the anthology issue, which has the most unfortunate art in existence and may possibly be the source of the confusion over their ages at the start of the Batgirls run (It would be fine if it was a DC Super Hero Girls imprint story; it's ridiculous for main universe).

It's fun! Quite a lot goes on! Pretty much everyone shows up at some point, including Kate Kane coming back to Gotham for the first time since the whole 'shooting Clayface' situation; the only big absences are Damian (stuck in limboland and only appearing on one cover; this is presumably due to all the back and forth going on as people try to work out what they're doing with him now that 5G is off the table); JPV, who I think is technically still in space?; and Harper gets namechecked as still working with Leslie, but doesn't show up.

I would definitely recommend it if you have read a decent amount of the Batman/Detective Comics/Nightwing/Batgirl/Catwoman comics between 2016 and 2020. I also would suggest it's a solid choice if you're simply interested in the set up for all the character direction changes spinning out after the cancel/relaunch of titles after Future State at the start of 2021.

This is definitely one of those events where, while there is a lot of Joker, he's actually being used for reasons that make sense, and there's a lot of other villains running around causing problems as well.

[istanchan]

Pit Babe Finale Thoughts

I can’t believe PitBabe is over. I’ve been watching week by week since November and it has been such a wild ride. I don’t remember enjoying a show and the fandom space of the show so much since probably Kinnporshe.

And I did not have any expectations for this show. At most I was interested because Pavel was in it. But even then I hadn’t watched anything he’d been in in a while. Also I had heard after the first episode came out that it was an omega verse style show where Pavel’s character plays the “bottom”. That definitely intrigued me.

However I still had a lot of doubts. I just assumed Babe would be the typical toxic alpha character. And I keep saying this but I’m so glad I was proven wrong. This show has kept me on the edge every single episode and the final episode broke me and put me back together again.

Before I delve into what I loved I will say I really wish there had been just one more episode. Some parts of the final felt a bit rushed. I would have especially liked to see more of the aftermath of Tony’s fall, more specifically how they handled it with the public. Also I wanted to see some PeteKenta:(( Also I would have liked to see more CharlieBabe communication scenes, because they didn’t really talk that much in the last episode.

But I’m not mad at how the finale was structured and how it played out. Actually I’m quite the opposite with PitBabes finale. It wasn’t perfect but I loved it so much.

First off Kenta stabbing Tony was so powerful but also heartbreaking at the same time.

Of course he had to be the one to finish off Tony. It’s the way also that Tony can’t believe it. He looks completely shocked. It’s the way that Kenta’s voice is soft he’s completely detached. He’s done enough.

And Way’s death.

Not just his death but the whole scene where Babe is holding him as he is dying.

The pain and desperation in Babe’s face made me want to cry. (Kudos to Pavel again) Even though Way had betrayed Babe’s trust and attempted to force himself onto Babe, in Babe’s mind at the moment he doesn’t think of all that. After all they have been friends so so many years. It’s hard to forget all of that

I loved this scene. Their dialogue especially broke me. Even till the end, when Way confesses his love, Babe tells him that we’re best friends. I love you but not the love you want.

And I really think Way redeemed himself, and this is all coming from someone who used to despise him. He gives his life up for Babe. He did something horrible okay yes but in the last few episodes he keeps his distance. He truly loves Babe, and because of the way he was raised he most likely didn’t even realize what he was doing was wrong, but after he realized how much he had hurt Babe he changed and it was clear to see.

See that’s the thing I love about the characters in Pit Babe I realized is that they have faults, no one character is perfect. Because of the trauma they suffered being a part of Tony’s orphanage they don’t know how to live a normal life. They all have their fatal flaws.

It’s why Babe is so desperate for love. And why Charlie is so self sacrificing. It’s the reason why Kenta couldn’t break free and the reason why Pete felt like he could fix those around him.

One last scene that I loved that I want to talk about is Babe and his Dad’s reunion.

I’m so glad they included this. Babe deserved the closure and he also deserved to be angry and upset. He went through so much and to know that your dad is still alive and he hadn’t even contacted you years after?? This scene in my head is a comparison for Babe and Charlie’s reunion but I feel like because of this scene I understand why Babe forgave Charlie so much easier. First of all Babe suspected Charlie was alive so it wasn’t a complete shock to him. And also Charlie’s “death” was only for a week or two maybe more. Charlie death was a sacrifice for Babe. Charlie literally spends every second of his life fighting for Babe.

But on the other hand, Babe’s dad sacrificed Babe. There’s a clear difference between the two. Yes he was doing it to protect him but he could have tried to get him back?? He could have tried to contact Babe?? He was a coward. And he acknowledges that and Babe eventually does forgive him because after all it’s his dad. But I just thought the dichotomy of the two was interesting.

Now moving on to my favorite thing, Babe and Charlie. I haven’t fervently loved a main couple in so long but these two just do it for me. They are the perfect match. Their confession did it for me.

Because of course Charlie had only loved Babe and Babe hasn’t loved anyone like Charlie before. They make me want to scream. Also in the final episode I really appreciated how supportive Charlie was. He was there and he understands Babe he doesn’t push. He just wants Babe to be happy. God I love them so much.

My brain is rotting and I feel like I have so much more to say but this post is already too long so that’s all my thoughts for now. I will miss this silly vroom vroom show so much :(((

[acexspqade]

BSD SEASON 5 EP 11 SPOILERS!!!! Below the border

my rambling thoughts/grievances on a particular theory floating around about Fyodor and Nikolai and what happened in the last episode of S5

I see a lot of people theorizing that the yellow light that we see as Fyodor is “dying” is not the flames of the helicopter but actually Nikolai’s ability saving him from the wreckage. And while from a logistical perspective I have no issues with this theory; from a character perspective I find myself frustrated with it. 

It’s entirely possible that this was all a plan created by Fyodor and Nikolai in case of a situation like that, I personally feel like it completely undermines Fyodor’s character, specifically taking away his “fatal” flaw and leaving him as this invincible force and it also alters his dynamic with other characters in the series specifically Dazai and Nikolai.

My favorite Dazai and Fyodor conversation is their chess conversation they have while in the prison, because it finally establishes the fundamental difference between them. Dazai uses the unpredictability of humanity to his advantage, allowing himself to trust in his allies and their abilities rather than trying to predict and control their every action, while Fyodor looks at the unpredictability of humanity and attempts to control it, refusing to trust anyone else’s judgment but his own.

Simply put– Dazai trusts people and Fyodor does not. From that conversation, we as the audience are given the “ideal conflict” between these characters. Who will come out on top because of their way of operating? 

Fyodor or Dazai?

And Dazai coming out on top in this particular ideal clash makes perfect sense, given its an ideal that he himself evolved to possess. From how he interacts with people in Fifteen to his current self, we see Dazai actually learn to trust people and their decision making rather than trying to bait them into making the decision. 

[I can go more in depth about this change in Dazai’s character later if it’s wanted; this post is supposed to be about Fyodor and this does not need to be a dissertation].   

Fyodor had allies and he had a very particular ally in Nikolai. Yet instead of embracing Nikolai and such a companionship, he reasoned that he couldn’t control him and thus never allowed himself to trust Nikolai. There’s two instances where Nikolai’s allyship could have saved him both at the beginning of the prison break where we see a very visual representation of Dazai choosing to trust people in picking Sigma as his aid, while Fyodor chooses himself and his plan not once but twice with Nikolai giving him a second chance to change his mind and possibly even choose Nikolai as his aid.

We are all well aware that Nikolai wanted to kill Fyodor which was the entire purpose of the game Nikolai set up– but at the very least in choosing to trust Nikolai his chances of beating Dazai would have leaned in his favor. And at the helicopter, had Fyodor asked Nikolai to man it for him because of his injury, that vampire that he thought he had total control over would’ve never been able to impale him.  Nikolai’s want to kill Fyodor is a very valid reason for Fyodor not to trust Nikolai but his chances once again significantly improve if he simply chose to trust his closest companion. But he doesn’t and that is something I find so intriguing about Fyodor as a character. 

Another issue I have with the theory is what it does to Nikolai’s character. We see him grieve Fyodor and have a vulnerable moment parallel to the moment we get in his fight with Atsushi where he cracks and reveals his true nature before fixing himself and saying what should be in line with the persona he displays. Nikolai fights with himself about if he truly wanted to kill Fyodor, flipping between yes and no a few times when Dazai asks “You wanted to kill him, didn’t you?”. It’s such a heartbreaking moment for Nikolai’s character as he experiences the reality of the “freedom” he wanted. He has killed the one person who he felt understood him. He has killed his “best friend”. In what should be a moment where he is finally able to experience true free will unaffected by human emotions and feelings, Nikolai is the most emotional we have ever seen him. 

In one moment we see the literal destruction of two very flawed ideals crashing and burning to the ground because they chose to run from humanity instead of embrace it. So if it was all an act on the part of Nikolai, it just would reset any potential character growth he could have from this moment. 

Also people have pointed out the moment where Dazai is calling at Fyodor’s fatal flaw, saying that it’ll come back to bite him like Fyodor’s comments about the bond of sokoku came back to bite him. While I do think Dazai’s words will come back to bite him, it won't be his comments about Fyodor’s fatal flaw, more than likely it’ll be his assurance that Fyodor is “no doubt” dead as I highly doubt that is the case. The “vampire cosplay” bit by Chuuya and Dazai displays such a deep level of trust between the two of them that I just can not see being replicated by Fyodor and Nikolai because Chuuya and Dazai’s bond is very particular to their characters. Fyodor and Nikolai doing something similar would just feel like a cheap gotcha moment than an actual display of true bond that we get no build up to. We are shown moments in which Nikolai cares for Fyodor but it’s never reciprocated and even Nikolai’s feelings are clouded by his want to escape from them. 

So while I feel for the Fyodor and Nikolai fans in these trying times, I really hope Asagiri doesn’t take the route that Nikolai actually helped Fyodor get out of the plane and save his life. 

This is just my own personal opinion however so if you feel differently and would like to explain why I’m happy to have that conversation.

a/n: this is actually my first real post on tumblr so expect more of my ramblings about bsd and other animes i know way to much about.

[toasted-valentine]

Adamandi Relationship Analysis

I’m feral over these characters so gonna analyze them.

There are two main couples within Adamandi, Vincent X Quincy and Beatrix X Portia. Analyzing these characters and how they treat their partners/relationships, I believe, can be very informative as to why the characters end up where they do at the end of the show.

First couple, Vincent and Quincy. It is clear they love each other, they’re constantly talking about it, and are the type of couple that’s so sweet it’ll give you diabetes. But, their relationship has been affected by the Ardess culture and effects how they treat each other.

Vincent is envious of Quincy, making note that “Quincy’s smart enough for two people.” and he is very sensitive about Quincy’s off handed remarks about his academic prowess. Vincent tries to claim that they did it all for Quincy, that they wanted to help Quincy, but Vincent is a lying or at the very least in denial.

It is shown repeatedly that he wants recognition for his “work” and feels inferior to the other Ardess students, examples being how they get offended by Ambrose’s death being attributed to suicide and how giddy they get when the article exposing their murders comes out.

Even when Vincent is confronted by the harm they have been doing to Quincy with their actions, they choose to go out in a grand gesture that’ll still leave them as #1 instead of doing something like reporting Quincy or anything to get them help. Vincent is being selfish, in spite of how much he claims he’s doing it for Quincy.

Quincy’s flaw is, on some level, they look down upon Vincent. It’s not intentional, they do love Vincent a lot, but they don’t think Vincent is like them. It starts off in little ways, like how Quincy shuts Vincent’s attempts at help down or says that Vincent is not going to try. They make the fatal error of thinking Vincent has no ambition and playing into the slacker label everyone has put on him.

Later on Quincy thinks Vincent is the sinful part of them, everything that is wrong with them, and that by becoming one with them Vincent will be absolved or fixed. Quincy thinks Vincent can only be better by being like them, not by holding Vincent accountable and helping him. At no point in the show does Quincy hold Vincent accountable for any of his actions, which is hurting Vincent. Quincy is so in their own mind that they never realize that they need to put their foot down in order to help their partner.

It culminates in Quincy stabbing Vincent, Quincy’s desire of the two becoming one in suffering being achieved, along with wanting to win the Phaethon for themself. Vincent and Quincy’s biggest flaws are their own inferiority/superiority complexes and their selfishness, and it affects their relationship.

Beatrix and Portia are in stark contrast to this, being the couple who gets to be together in the end and be happy.

Beatrix is not a good person when the show starts, manipulating Vincent into killing other students for her, setting a serial killer loose on the school. The differences start with how she sees Portia in comparison to how Vincent sees Quincy. Beatrix admires Portia, encourages her ambition, wants to be more like her, and apologizes when her own jealousy begins to hurt their budding relationship. Beatrix is willing to change for the better to be with Portia, deeply respecting her and deciding they want to be more like her, wanting to be good in the same way Portia is.

On the flip side Portia takes up Beatrix’s better qualities, becoming stronger, more ambitious, no longer letting herself be pushed around by others. Portia starts and ends the show a good person, her change coming in her willingness to put aside her love for Beatrix in order to help them. This is a foil to Quincy, Quincy never tries to stop Vincent, while Portia holds Beatrix accountable for her choices. The bigger thing being, Portia gives Beatrix the space to make the choice to be better on her own, never forcing Beatrix to be more like her in the same way Quincy’s obsessive nature over Vincent made them want to make Vincent more like them. Beatrix is allowed to sit in her own wrong doings and make the choice to be better.

Portia and Beatrix are able to put their own flaws asides to love each other in ways Quincy and Vincent aren’t willing to. They are both incredibly loving relationships, it’s clear that each pairing absolutely adore each other, but loving someone also means changing for the better and being willing to help your partner change too.

(I also like the little visual parallel between Beatrix and Vincent, Vincent becomes more and more like the system that hurt him by wearing Ambrose’s Ardess branded clothing, while in the final confrontation and few scenes Beatrix sheds hers. Nice visual story telling there.)