#a lot of this is dialogue some of it is imagery. both are important to comics so yeah

[bizarroidea]

Superman Rebirth being reactionary garbage: a compilation

[tvlandofficiall]

what do you think anout the theory that spamton saw the real world and not the light world?

i think, whether or not spamton saw our world as well, it's pretty explicit, narratively tight, thematic, AND important that the blinding light spamton saw was indeed the light world!

i do think there are cases wherein darkners are juggling both at once, and i think you could easily apply that to spamton too. when writing, for example, i use the theory that spamton and jevil were initially meant to be player guides like ralsei, who appears aware of both higher realities in the game itself as well as in my interpretation of him.

(for posterity's sake, queen mentions pressing buttons a couple of times too, but that's because of a running gag with the controls of the car and robots she and kris pilot, not because she's overtly meta aware.)

but i think it's important to remember just how the light world slots into spamton's deal, both thematically and mechanically. on the mechanical end, we have the way he saw it at all; the shadow crystals. we get to see how they look from the dark world for ourselves, and this isn't just for show. we're getting to see what spamton saw, too.

to us, it may look ordinary. but to the darkners, that world is a blinding light. the light world is a terrifying place with an incredible power (which i'll touch on in just a moment as well), a place where the darkners are literally objects. seeing their worldstate literalized like that is mindbending – not only are they darkners made to serve a higher reality, they exist as nothing but objects to ordinary people in that reality. and objects aren't granted any autonomy, no matter how autonomous they might imagine themselves to be. they're not just computer (darkner type), they're Literally a computer being used by a person the same way spamton might drive a car or swatch might organize the plates in their cafe. seeing that is not only eldritch, but it's also got an element of realizing just how binding fate is baked in there too. it's seeing the strings of fate in their most distilled state. seeing the click of a mouse that guides swatch to bring the neo body into reality. seeing the searches typed directly onto queen's keys. seeing the bright, clear line that delineates all of it.

i've touched on how spamton parses this (because he's a grindset guy at heart, someone who doesn't necessarily question the system) in some other posts, which you can check out here and here and here.

but this brings us into the thematic element. deltarune uses religious imagery quite often, especially in reference to higher realities, and we can see that and the aforementioned strings of fate coming into play with neo. neo is something i talk about a lot in my swatchton meta because i feel it is crucial to understanding who spamton is as a character.

and the neo body is a vector of god – literally.

(see also; the dialogue of seam discussing the shadow crystal from earlier.)

and this is why spamton describes it the way he does, why he wants it so badly. it's powerful – made by a lightner. (he wants a perfect body he wants a perfect soul, you know the song.) the lightners have the power to determine the fate of the darkners, and so too does neo have an incredible power itself. could it grant spamton the power to determine his own fate?

well, not quite. it's still a part of this world, after all – there's no escaping the strings. no one can choose who they are in this world, and trying to game the system still leaves you smack dab in the middle of it.

there's a common thought that, because of the wall in spamton's shop, spamton must've seen the light of the sun. i think, if he did see both worlds, it's possible! but it seems more likely that either he didn't see the sun at all and was burned by the light that is the light world; the weird layout of the light world wasn't considered while making this choice (because there are so many rooms with impossible windows in the light world, particularly the school); and/or, more likely and most thematically,

he saw a beautiful blue sky more like this one. after all, the library might not have windows, but it does have windows.

[wetcatspellcaster]

Do you have any writing tips for newbie fic writers? Your descriptions are gorgeous. Thank you for pieces BTW, it's my favorite 'piece' of writing ❤️

hi anon, thank you for the kind words!💞💞 I'm flattered that I'm someone that you'd think to ask this question, so I'll do my best to answer! I've put my response beneath a keep reading cut to prevent it being a long post :)

I wasn't sure how to interpret this question, so I'll focus on 'technical' (?) tips mostly. Hope any of them help, in some small way!

my main tip to new fic writers is: write, first and foremost, for yourself, and to feed yourself. I've seen this perspective get put through the disk-horse ringer of late, so take it or leave it, or take it with as much of a pinch of salt as you need. But truly, from the bottom of my heart and from my position of sudden newfound popularity, this is the most important lesson I was ever given and so I have to say it. Popularity is not guaranteed. Even a popular fic will have haters and people who think it objectively sucks, and the readers who like you will never be fully pleased with what you've delivered. This could all be very depressing and cause an author to lose motivation.... if you make it the criteria for success in the first place. If you make the criteria for success your own happiness (or perhaps the happiness of you and a few close pals), providing yourself with what you, specifically, want to see, you will probably want to keep writing regardless of all other factors. Produce fics that you want to reread when you need comfort, when you are sick, and when you want to see your blorbos exactly the way you want them. This will make any fic worthwhile to you, regardless of stats, and prevent you from writing things that will suffer if your heart isn't in it! (this doesn't preclude gift fics/prompts! sometimes your heart can be 100% in providing food for others. find your key motivators, and feed that - a healthy amount - if you're trying to get into writing as a hobby!)

Now, onto my writing tips! I don't consider myself an expert and these are more lessons that have helped me, specifically, to improve my writing. But maybe something in here will be of use!

Bc you say you like descriptions... I tend to go into detail only when it's an essential thing that needs to be described. Leave wider details for readers to fill in with their own beautiful mind-palaces, and this gives you permission to go ham on what matters. What is it that matters? maybe it's a piece of the environment (say, a soul jar) or maybe it's just how hot one part of your ship is, in their hot clothes or out of them. If you focus on the important stuff but leave the rest to background, this not only creates a good balance of action to description, but it also shows the reader what they should prioritise in the scene.

I also google '[WORD] synonyms' a lot, for descriptions specifically. Which seems like it might be condescending advice, but it both helps you find different words if you're worried you're repeating yourself, and sometimes confirms that yes. You are using the best word actually, as you were.

Get a good balance of complex/simplistic words, as well as a good balance of complex/simplistic sentences. Sometimes you need a flowery description, sometimes you just need to state explicitly what is happening or the way things are. Tone will shift depending on your balance of these two things, so test the waters and see what works for you!

If you feel like you've written too much dialogue, the answer is probably no, you haven't written too much dialogue - for fic specifically. Most people are reading fic bc they want their faves to interact more. You are giving them more interaction and they will probably love it.

If you find phrases you like in the books/fic you read, it isn't plagiarism to use them so long as you recontextualise them. I'm certain I've used other people's words multiple times, particularly for my descriptions/imagery, and this is totally ok so long as the context is original. If you're worried, or its a whole sentence/interaction you like, examine the sentence/interaction and work out why you like it so much. Is it the sentence structure? Is the character dynamic? Is it the way the kiss plays out? Take the things you find sexiest in other people's writing and find ways to incorporate it into your own work!

I proofread by reading aloud. Yes, I sound mental and unhinged. My cats are worried about me. But this not only helps you catch mistakes, it helps to test the flow of a sentence! If you're ever worried a sentence is too long/a line of dialogue doesn't sound in character, read it aloud! This will help you work out if it's flowing or not, and if it isn't then you'll get some clues as to why!

Don't be afraid to take risks, if you want to take risks! This can apply to anything: being brave enough to put in a joke you're not sure people will find funny, describing something in a way you're worried people will find weird, tackling something from a perspective or POV that you find challenging. This may be a more intermediate tip, but you can start with small risks, and experimenting helps you find your writing voice! Taking risks makes your writing unique :) and I can't explain how much better my writing has gotten since I gave myself specific challenges. You will not get it perfectly write 100% of the time (there are some parts of Pieces that are weak compared to other parts) but it will always help you improve.

[frownyalfred]

I am hoping you can help me better understand something about my Zach Snyder feelings, because I know you have enjoyed his work.

I have conflicting feelings and I THINK it comes down to a different imagery language and some unnamed thing in his storytelling. It's mostly the unnamed thing I'm trying to ID.

When I describe broadly the plots, character motivation (obviously as I understand them), and events, I find myself very interested in his movies and what they have to say. Then I rewatch and I don't feel the same way. It feels dark (desaturation or whatever that filter is called), overly dramatic in a way that feels cartoonist or silly instead of meaningful, or boring and slow. There are some engaging moments some that are action some that are pretty or funny. However, few that move/engage me.

I know people often love or hate Snyder but I mostly feel his movies exist, have a few interesting elements but overall if they weren't about characters I was interested in, I just wouldn't watch. I don't hate or love it. I don't think it's the greatest or the worst.

Example of a storytelling concept that I get and liked in theory but not execution. The Martha, why did you say that name moment. Snyder is connecting Bruce to Clark's "humanity" in a way that hits Bruce in a place where he is always vulnerable and is primal/basic. When people mock this scene I have the urge to defend because I understand (in my way) what he was going for, but I can't because at no point in watching or rewatching that scene do I feel that. Even though he rehashed the Wayne's death in the beginning, then connects back to it during their fight about what his parent's taught Bruce. It still FEELS out of place and "falsely" dramatic.

That's all I can think to give as an example and not make this longer (sorry this is long). But if my descriptions click something for you as a writer and fan of Snyder, please let me know. I just don't know what it is about his storytelling and it's annoying to not understand why there is this disconnect.

Thank you for your patience, if you even get thru this, LOL.

I'm not a film major and I am definitely no expert, but I've been thinking about this ask. I agree with a lot of what you brought up, though it is hard to describe what that exact disconnect is with Snyder's films, and you'll get a million different opinions depending on who you ask.

To me, Snyder's DC films always feel like movies that were excellent plots on paper wrapped around a series of interesting and awe-inducing visuals and scores. There are scenes he does well -- one of my favorites being the initial scene in BVS where Bruce runs into the Battle of Metropolis -- almost because they feel like a separate, isolated moment in his script. There are scenes that drag, exposition dump, and feel dark and strange.

There seems to be a disconnect between him, the writer, and him, the director. He's good at both, don't get me wrong -- but there's something missing in between.

People on reddit will tell you the problem with BVS, at the end of the day, is all the plot holes or the cheesy dialogue. I mostly disagree. Especially after seeing Oppenheimer recently, I think Snyder struggles with building and maintaining the pace of his plot and the emotions he's trying to cultivate in his viewers. Continuity is key -- scenes building up on each other, revealing new layers of meaning and importance, leaving viewers guessing only on the least-obvious plot points.

He has all the pieces -- decent dialogue, powerhouse actors, amazing CGI, a script most people wouldn't laugh at on paper -- but they don't quite form a whole.

I did a quick review of some the things I like about BVS, thinking through this ask, and I think it's pretty revealing that most of those things are pieces, not overall themes.

The Battle of Metropolis flashback

Ben Affleck visually as Bruce Wayne

Lex's scenes with the Senator

The score

Kryptonite/Training scene

Lex's entry into Zod's ship

Diana

Bruce at the fundraiser

Warehouse fight scene

Alfred's dialogue

Lakehouse shots

Knightmare scene

As for the Martha scene, my inclination is that it's rarely out of place or strange when written correctly. In fics, I've seen it done very well. But Snyder doesn't use it for what it is -- a climax of Bruce Wayne's anger and misguided actions -- because he never truly brought the viewer all the way along with Bruce.

TL;DR: I don't know either. But I agree and commiserate with you on this. I still enjoy watching BVS and other Snyder films, but seeing other films -- especially Nolan's, which I'm not saying are theoretically better -- makes the difference very jarring.

[greenerteacups]

Hi there! Just wanted to ask something fun: what’s your favourite moment from each of the books you’ve written so far?

lovely lovely question. so much fun. let me see:

book one: i mean, the train station scene was the image that kicked off the whole series, so i have to pick that one. it resonated with me on so many levels — it introduces the running element of muggle music, which becomes a sort of leitmotif for draco and hermione's relationship, as well as draco's own character growth; it's a fun character moment, in that hermione gets to steal the show from draco's gift of an owl, leaving him speechless, when he'd surely have liked it a bit more the other way 'round, and that's going to be a precedent, too; i also just like the moment itself, as a piece of atmosphere and symbolism. it's his first year of being a gryffindor, and he's survived it, and it's sunny outside, and there's music playing.

there's also a fun nubbin of symbolism in that the song playing is supposed to be "white wedding," which is the epigraph from book 1 (and, in a sense, the whole fic), a song about redemption and starting over and yet also taking your past with you, as well as... well, a song about a wedding. so. take that as you will.

book two: narrowly, it's the moment at Theo's Yule Hunt party where narcissa has just collapsed, and the slytherins have all seen it. there's a beat where draco thinks they're going to turn on him, and use this vulnerability they've discovered to knife him in the back — only they don't. theo sizes him up and makes a call, and they help him get her out. daphne even breaks a school rule to do it. and pansy grouches and gripes about it — she gets in one jab about "hall-pass Slytherins," which still makes me giggle, to be honest — but she helps, too. it's a humanizing moment for them, and (hopefully) one of the first times we begin to see the slytherin kids as possible allies — utter brats, still, but nonetheless people with deeply cherished friendships, loyalties, and the capacity to show empathy and kindness for people they don't yet owe anything. it's maybe the most important moment of book 2, both in terms of theme and plotting.

book three: in terms of writing? i loved doing "The Last Marauder." god, what a fun chapter to write. sirius black's interactions with the golden quartet are some of the most entertaining exchanges in the series for me, bar none, because he's the furthest thing from a parental/supervisory figure that the kids have met (at least, that doesn't want to kill them). he's just unapologetically out of pocket in a way that's glorious for dialogue. (honorable mention here goes to daphne's moment at the League party, because when i finished the scene i sort of felt like daphne herself had burst into my room, held me at wandpoint, and demanded a larger role in the story. it was the moment she transformed in my mind from a tertiary character into a secondary one, and it was as glorious as you'd expect.)

as a moment per se, however, i think it has to be draco's patronus.

book four: "Padfoot Returns," by several orders of magnitude. no question. it's the scene that the whole series has really been building to, and writing it felt every ounce as cathartic as that sentence implies. i also got to do a lot of really fun imagery with smoke and rain and fog, and vamp a little about the ancient undying earth and the ghosts of Hogwarts castle, it was all just an uninterrupted pleasure, start to finish. took me about three weeks to get right, but it was three incredible weeks, let me tell you.

book five: so far, it's a scene in Myrtle's bathroom (which may or may not be cut for pacing reasons). after that, it's a duel in the Room of Requirement, because writing draco in fight scenes gets more and more fun every year.

[chthonic-cassandra]

Tagged by @awildwickedslip

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

111

2. What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

312,131

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I write a little across a lot of fandoms. The only fandoms for which I have written substantial amounts are Dracula, Greek mythology, and Shakespeare's plays. I have active projects right now in Dracula, Xena, and Penny Dreadful.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Shattered Mirrors (Jonathan in Dracula's castle), Make It Through the Wintertime (Hadestown Persephone character study), To Burn the Castle Down (Jonathan angst), Compromise (Dracula darkest timeline AU), Minor Initiations (different Dracula darkest timeline AU)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I have been trying to get in the habit of it. I think it's nice to express my appreciation and try to be a bit more social about all of it.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

This is a hard question; so, so many of the things I write are angsty. Specifically as far as endings, I am realizing that an extremely high proportion of my stories end with a character aware that they are about to die or that something else terrible is about to happen to them, and in some way accepting it. This is of course tragedy but I'm not sure it is quite angst.

Outside of this pattern, I think that To Burn the Castle Down is almost over the top angsty (it's not one I like to reread), as is For Every Grief That's Offered (yet another Dracula darkest timeline AU). Both are from ~15 years ago, and I would write them differently now.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Ha. Do I write happy endings? Sometimes I do bittersweet hopefulness, of which I think Fidelity (poly Mina post-canon) and Still in the Realm of the Sun (Code Name Verity Julie/Maddie fix it) lean most heavily on the sweet side. The Caucus-Race (Alice in Wonderland, the Dodo enters politics) is legitimately happy.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not to my face for a long time, at least not in a serious way.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do not.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Not much. Many years ago I did a couple - a Dracula-Greek mythology and a Dracula-Vampire Chronicles, and also a little Nosferatu-Pied Piper of Hamelin which is the only one of those still up.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes - someone translated Foreigners (Aida, Amneris character study) into Mandarin. There might have been another but I don't remember it.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No, though I once told @forthegothicheroine I would and then bailed on her, for which I continue to feel some guilt

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

To write, certainly Mina/Dracula/Jonathan. But that's not from an actually shipping it perspective. What I tend to write and what I ship when reading or watching something aren't all that related.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Mood, imagery, psychological interiority, small-scale structure/pace

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Smut, happy endings, writing anything long form

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it in a language that I didn't myself know, and the only non-English language I know well enough to do that in is ancient Greek, which I guess I could use somewhere but it hasn't felt necessary. Several installments of Compromise have important scenes of switching between languages so I've thought about it, but keeping all the text in English let me do a particular language-related reveal in this last installment which pleased me.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Either Lord of the Rings or Phantom of the Opera

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Right now it has to be Compromise as a whole, but this is hard. There are a lot of other things I've written that haven't gotten as much attention as that one but which are very dear to me, but as a series Compromise means so much to me at the moment.

Too tired right now to tag anyone, but please consider yourself tagged if you'd like to do it!

[azrielgreen]

Hellooo I have a writing question if that’s okay. 💜

Basically, whenever I write anything I always project onto the characters, and this makes them all seem kind of the same. All anxious, worried, insecure, etc. I know some of that is okay and what makes a work unique, but I feel a lack of control over my stories because of this. Like the characters run away from me and the narrative gets weighed down by my own thoughts and feelings instead of the characters’.

I’ve read all your stories and see that you have a strong idea of who characters are and how far you can take them. Like, you even know the varying degrees a story can fuck a reader up, and how fucked up a certain character is. Steve’s variances from YD to BOD and now Rooms most notably.

I know your main thing is to make sure you have a sun and moon fic so you can channel out dark emotions and not muddle up your happier stories/scenes with this “negativity”.

But I was wondering if you’d be able to give any other advice on maintaining a stronger grip on both the narrative and the characters, and adding your own unique perspective/personality to the story without overdoing it. Even the way you’re able to control your chapter word count so they’re all around the same length. I find my stories start off with lower word counts and as I get into it, my word count explodes. Is there any way to avoid this? You’ve said before to work in batches of 20-30k. But I find when I start a story I don’t have that in me yet. Like I’m kind of directionless.

Ahhh this is a lot of fucking questions lmao. I’m sorry!! I’d really appreciate if you could even answer one of them. 💜💜 Thank you!!

Hello lovely, I'm sorry this took forever to answer, I've had so many of these and wanted to give yours a really full answer💜💕✨️

These are such valid questions!

So, to begin with, looking at characters and how we express ourselves through them. What i do is usually to choose one character I mainly identify with (Steve, usually) and allow myself to express my needs through this character. Through the other, I express my giving side. What I would loved to have given myself when I was younger etc... Through the villain, i write my fears and my experiences.

So essentially you're splitting pieces of yourself into the characters like light through a prism. It helps to write backstory for each one sometimes too. I tend to go in blind but there's always a unique sense of how they're formed from past experiences.

Self expression through characters can be difficult but it does help to compartmentalise and let certain pieces of yourself only go to one character. If you're drawn to writing anxious characters who struggle with insecurity (a theme I'm consistently drawn to) then remember to have the other characters respond how you would WANT people to respond to you. Two sides of the coin. The problem and the solution. The seed and the earth.

I do also recommend writing a moon and sun fic alongside one another, because the overspill of intensity and darkness I tend to generate once I'm into a story can creep into places where it doesn't belong so the divide is important for me.

As for unique experiences/personality coming through the characters, I do limit myself here with a degree of filtering. So I would never directly put my own experience from life into the story without some degree of narrative parsing, I.e metaphors, imagery, symbolism etc... and mostly it comes through in tiny elements and themes so it's not glaring to me when i read it back. Where i let myself flow unrestrained is the intensity, that's all me, I'm a very intense person and I don't ever hold back. I also find that reading scenes aloud helps to crystallise dialogue and i also run scenes in my head a lot before writing them.

As per word count, this can be tricky and i really do recommend not posting anything until you've written 25k of it BECAUSE:

▫️in my experience it takes 25k to get the feel of what you actually HAVE here

▫️it gives you space to go back and make small plot changes as you need

▫️it'll train you into writing that length right from the start and massively reward your effort from the get go once you've hit that mark.

▫️it'll show you where a story might lose steam along the way (some stories aren't meant to be more than a pretty idea in your head and that's completely fine)

▫️25k-30k will let you spend enough time with the characters to develop traits, language patterns, symmetry of symbolism, and it gives you time to get to know them.

Many times around the 18-20k mark I'll realise something like "actually no, go back and change that so he's always been very jokey in the face of insecurity" little things about the characters that often evolve deeper into the story than 5-10k and by waiting until you've written 30k, you're giving yourself time to explore and make those changes before it's posted.

This is of course only my opinion and everyone's methods are varied, beautiful and valid.

If you're struggling with direction at the start, which is common, remember that your creative instincts are sharp and getting sharper every day. Lean where you're passionate, try to make it as fun as you can. You have so many stories inside you.

Other things that help:

▫️Dialogue heavy scenes

▫️Time skips/vignette style

▫️Line breaks

▫️Switching POV

I hope any of this is helpful💜💜💜

[agentnico]

Oppenheimer (2023) Review

Woah Nolan, when I asked you to redeem yourself after Tenet I did not mean literally annihilate all my senses!!

Plot: The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.

Many have set forth upon the epic cinematic quest of experiencing ‘Barbenheimer’. My screening was filled with audience members wearing bright pink and slurping slushies from special reusable Barbie cups. Ironically it was those individuals that ended up leaving the movie half way when they realised that this isn’t the free spirited light-hearted entertainment promised by the internet phenomenon, and that Oppenheimer is a serious and an intelligent piece of filmmaking that retells an important part of history with a constant harrowing feeling of dread throughout, and that this may be a bit too much to handle for a casual viewer. And in regards to Barbenheimer, I salute those that achieve this one-day feat, however that’s over 5 hours of staring at a big cinema screen. That’s a whole lotta movie. With my migraines I cannot hack it. I am truly weak, although additionally my dear fiancée had zero interest in seeing Oppenheimer however very much is excited for Barbie, so the latter I will check out at a later date with her. Instead I went to see this new Nolan epic myself, and I must say it’s a good one!

It’s very different to Christopher Nolan’s more recent cinematic entries that are more science-fiction based, and instead treads straight through the biopic/drama genre, yet shows that his style is very much fit for the subject matter. Using Nolan’s typical non-linear way of storytelling, this film weaves narratives and different time periods seamlessly as it explores the profound depths of a man who’s actions altered the world’s trajectory forever, for better or worse. This is such an interesting and pivotal part of history, and Nolan takes his time telling you this story, though he never panders to the audience. There are many scenes where characters are simply talking and lots of quick dialogue is being thrown around revolving around political and physics-based topics, and very much demands the audience’s full attention so as to not miss a single detail. I was enthralled by this movie from start to finish.

This is a movie for cinephiles. From filming on 65mm larger format film, featuring for the first time ever sections in IMAX black and white analog photography and  utilised extensive practical effects and minimal computer-generated imagery. It is strange for me to be complimenting a movie for lack of visual effects, as back in the day CGI was all the rave, and impressive use of computer animated imagery would be applauded, however in the current climate’s over saturated Hollywood blockbusters seeing a big budget movie that relies sorely on practical and camera lighting effects is truly immense - especially when the movie’s scope is as big as Oppenheimer. From when Oppenheimer is having mental images of fire and space to the actual atomic bomb being set off, this film needs to be seen on the big screen. The sound design and score perfectly add to the never-ending haunting feel of the film.

Cillian Murphy has always be a tour de force, however this may be his role of a lifetime. He truly becomes J. Robert Oppenheimer, and he expresses so much with his eyes - the fear, the prowess, the loss, the determination, the despair - so many emotions. Truly one hell of a performance. Robert Downey Jr. is a shoe-horn for a Best Supporting Actor nod at the Academy Awards, and proves here that after a decade of being stuck doing superhero shenanigans he can still give a proper captivating performance. He isn’t in the film much, but his performance sticks out long after the credits roll. From the delivery to the mannerisms, you can sense the malicious nature of his character. Matt Damon is solid, Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh both bring tears, Alden Ehrenreich brings some light humour, Gary Oldman pops in for a scene... Honestly there are so many famous faces in this film that I originally did not know were in this, so it’s best to not spoil all the appearances. But the entire cast is giving it their A-game, with as aforementioned Murphy and Downey being the MVPs. 

Oppenheimer is a fascinating and phenomenal historical epic that provides insight into an important moment when the world changed, and Nolan uses his Nolanisms to great effect to deliver a truly captivating and haunting movie-going experience. Seems like Tenet was but a slight hiccup in the director's incredible cinematic journey. 

Overall score: 8/10

[biscaanii]

I wanted to start off by saying, I love your work. I finished Achilles Come Down months ago and can’t stop re-reading.

I know this is probably a silly question to ask but how did you learn how to write so well? You’re writing so beautiful and I would love any tips. ( If you would like to share of course)

Thank you

Hi! Aw, thank you. Im glad you like it :)

Short answer: write and read a lot. Like a loooot.

Long answer: I grew up reading as a kid to the point my mom would unscrew the lightbulb in my closet because she'd catch me reading late at night in it. It was my main hobby, so I learned a lot of literary basics really young just by the principle of seeing them in action a lot. I discovered fanon spaces around 6th grade, which was when I started to write actual stories, so what you're looking at is pretty much the process of 11 years of experience.

The best advice I can give you is just write. Put down any idea you want to see regardless of if it's long or short. I learned because I did, you know? The main reason I was able to finish Achilles when I was 18 was because the year prior during lockdown, I'd tried writing a 100k long fic for the first time that to this day is still a fucking mess. It was a forever failure, yeah, but it also taught me all the skills I needed to actually finish my next long fic- Achilles. (And Redemption).

In my opinion, getting really good at writing is really just getting good at understanding your specific quirks. Off the top of my head example, but I write in present tense pretty much exclusively, because it's the same as my natural flow of thought. Trying to write in past participle or past present is difficult for me to do in large or quick quantities because it misaligns to how I'm thinking in the moment. Figure out what kind of language you like to use- prose? Quick and to the point? Some weird in between? Do you like to over-use dialogue tags? Under-use them? What do you like to write about? Who do you like to write about? Are you exploring a character's emotional arc, a physical arc, something else? These types of question are what will guide your story because they're the foundation of why and how your story is happening, and through what means it will happen. Are you writing a romance or a thriller? What will give the reader a better picture, the internal thoughts of a character or the external imagery of their enviornment/actions? What's most important to the story's resolution? To the character's resolution? What will make this story satisfying? How can you tie all your plotlines together to reach a consistent and sensible conclusion?

And most importantly, what do you specifically want to get out of your writing? If you're only writing so others can validate your work, it'll be more difficult to continue writing if you've got low engagement. Also, cringe is dead. It's stupid to feel self-concious about anything you're writing, because that feeling will hold you back. Write whatever ideas you want because you want to see them, not necessarily because others will read it and judge you. It's not like you ever have to show it to anyone.

I write what I want, when I want, and how I want it. It's 100% self-indulgent and because of that, I'm writing mainly to read it back to myself, which makes it fun because I'm getting exactly what I want to see out of the story both as it forms and then once it's put to paper. I'm also a total anomaly though because my only hobby is writing, so my weekends are pretty much spent sat on google docs from like, morning until midnight. The fact that I've churned out three long fics so quickly is an outlier and should not be counted because im a gremlin with nothing else to do.

[spammreviews]

A BRIEF DEVILMAN CRYBABY RANT

What on Earth is Devilman Crybaby?

I watched Devilman Crybaby, the 2018 anime, because I heard that it was like a mix between Neon Genesis Evangelion and Berserk.

That’s true, in terms of imagery, symbolism, structure. Even the soundtrack of Devilman is similar to NGE

 Devilman Crybaby is also similar to Dune in that both series ask the question “What makes us human?” Answer that question very quickly, and then proceed to spend the rest of the series adding additional footnotes to this thesis.

With Dune, the answer is extraordinarily complicated. According to Devilman Crybaby, it our ability to cry.

Devilman’s themes are not really subtle or  complex. In fact, unlike the other three stories I mentioned, it’s kind of stupid, and that’s what makes it wonderful.

Beginning the first episode, the opening theme song and first scene made me think I was in a for a surreal, poetic experience. It’s a fantastic first scene, introducing us to the characters of Akira and Ryo and setting up the theme of kindness all the while having a wonderful atmosphere.

Then, we suddenly cut to a high-school track practice, and the next few scenes are a blur of horniness, weird jokes, and some of the most inhuman dialogue I’ve ever seen.

A lot of the scenes are also so nonsensically paced, either being way to slow or way to quick, ending either abruptly or a bit after they should have ended. There’s also so many scenes where the actions of character’s straight up make no sense, like that entire scene at the peir.

However, the end of the episode…it sure was something. It sees some pretty awesome body horror and an absolutely brutal fight.

A complaint I do have is the animation. It’s…not good. The character designs themselves are often enjoyable, but the drawing style is just kind of ugly. Ryo’s a good example of this. His design as this thin, regal looking, blonde, pale person who always dresses in white does a great job at telling you what he is as a character, even if it’s basically just the design of Griffith from Berserk. However, he’s drawn with these weirdly shaped eyebrows, and his haircut just looks bizarre. This seems really nitpicky, but it’s important.

A lot of the monsters also seem like they could be a lot cooler if the animation was a bit more detailed.

Not only that, but you can tell that this show was very low budget with all these instances of re-used animation and many obvious cost-cutting measures. There are multiple scenes where we barely see the characters talk and instead just see looping shots of the environment around them.

Oh, also this first episode is super horny. It’s close to being porn sometimes, and I’m not joking or exaggerating. I’m fine with art being horny, but there’s a certain point where it just becomes indulgent. It doesn’t help that, 90% of the time, it’s women being sexualized. 

I’m not even going to get into the way the character of Miki is treated.

The episodes after the first one…fine, I guess.

The problem is that this story jumps the gun on its weirdness and darkness, ending the first episode with something very weird and dark. As such, the next few episodes, which are remarkably less insane, just saw me waiting for things to go crazy again. 

Another problem is that the series is ridiculously quickly paced. I really liked the main characters of Ryo and Akira, and I liked their dynamic, but they barely had any time together. It doesn’t help that a lot of time is being spent with subplots.

This quick pace continues to hound the series until the very end.

People in this series keep talking about rising crime rates and how the world is going to heck, but this is never elaborated upon.

Characters like the beatboxing gang, Miki’s family, Miko, Psycho Jenny, Akira’s parents, the gay guy, Silene and her friend, and many others, go underdeveloped.

Stuff like government conspiracies, the tattoo gang, the demons having a secret plan, christianity, sexuality, and the meta aspect of the in-universe Tv show, are all underdeveloped.

Only a few plot elements feel completely finished, like running. The use of the relay race at the end is pretty creative, with Ryo not taking the baton, serving as a metaphor for his apathy.

Relay running is used similarly in many other placed. It symbolizes how the gay guy and Miko are being individualists, and Akira being the anchor shows how others depend on him. It ads a bite to Miki’s death. Blah blah blah. 

The PE coach was also a brilliant use of set up and pay off carried out over the episodes.

The idea of hands grabbing others is an image used repeatedly throughout.

Miki is also a really nice character, and while I was annoyed at how little agency she had for most of the show, I appreciate how she did help save Akira in that one scene. Unfortunately, that was it, and I feel like we barely knew her as a character.

The tv series has a racism metaphor that I would rank 4/10. It shows how racism against devilmen is bad, but it also claims that demons are ontologically evil and it’s okay to kill them all. There are suggestions that they do have hearts, but this is never elaborated upon.

We see a running pattern here, the show not having enough time. As a result, its themes are half-baked and overly simplistic. It talks about how we should get along, and how humanity are the real monsters, and how individualism is bad, and empathy is nice, and how imperialism is bad, and all that jazz, but it never tied these ideas together.

Compare this to Eva, where it feels like End of Evangelion managed to touch on every idea the show had set up. That’s probably because Eva was twice as long. 

It also doesn’t help that this show is almost laughably unsubtle. Miki’s “social media” post that saves people is so on-the-nose.

There’s also scenes that are just weird, like that one scene with Bonito flakes. Also, what was the deal with the kid looking up porn. Also, Donald Trump canonically exists in it. Also, who were the people shooting at the rainforest people? 

I’m sure there’s an explanation, but that’s not important. It’s fine if a show is ambiguous, but this doesn’t feel purposeful so much as it feels sloppy. 

It feels like the show doesn’t know what it wants to be about, with their being two or three episodes were are titular crybaby barely appears. That’s not great. 

I don’t hate all of these subplots, it’s just that none of them go anywhere. For instance, we watch this romance bloom between Miko and Frizzy Haired Guy for two episodes, and I will admit, I like Frizzy Haired Guy. I was rooting for him. Then, he gets killed off and is barely mentioned again. All that buildup was for nothing.

I suppose the story is trying to purposefully be unsatisfying, something both Eva and Berserk do, but when you do that, you need to have a reason. They could have made the scene where Frizzy Haired Guy die really tragic, but they instead make it all flashy and confusing so they can have us wonder if he’s maybe still alive for a bit.

Also, we had this whole episode introducing us to gay dude, and then he randomly goes evil and gets killed off in the last episode. So long, character development!

Comparing this show to Eva again, the ending is almost amazing. The imagery sounds awesome on paper, but the animation and character designs are so minimal. It also feels like Akira stopped growing as a character after the first six episodes. He feels almost removed from the destruction, as it’s all happening because of someone else.

I could also nitpick that entire last episode to hell for the thousand different moments that are written weirdly, like that one scene where Ryo doesn’t notice that Akira’s bottom half has been removed. Also, that ending shot was way to one the nose in looking like End of Evangelion. I know the Devilman manga came before Eva, but I don’t care. Why is the sea even red?

Despite all my complaining, I still like this show. The characters are fun, even if they really aren’t that complex (especially all the characters that aren’t Ryo and Akira). The world-building is imaginative and awe-inspiring, many of the action scenes are pretty cool, and there are moments when the minimal animation does work. 

Also, sometimes it’s nice to have a story that’s willing to be as bleak as this one, and as weird as this one.

To be honest, I feel like it could be weirder. I generally understood what was going on most of the time. In fact, the most confusing scenes were from the ordinary slice-of-life segments, like when that family had that giant The Last Supper painting.

I also think an idea which is carried out to its fullest is the idea of apathy. It’s the source of most of the conflict between Ryo and Akira. The ending sees Ryo destroying everything, including the one person he cares about, in his pursuits. It’s a tragic irony, I guess.

I feel like it would hit more if we had more time with these characters. What was Ryo’s reaction to learning that he was Satan and that everything he knew was a lie? What was the nature of his relationship with Psycho Jenny? What were Ryo’s actual motivations beyond “destroying humanity”.

If Ryo’s goals were more fleshed out, than the irony of him accomplishing his goals at the cost of the one thing that truly mattered to him would hit much harder.

This is definitely a story which you’re supposed to feel, not understand, but I don’t think I felt everything the show wanted me to feel. 

Another victim of the quick pacing is a lack of atmosphere. Now, the show does have a few sequences with some fantastic, otherworldly atmosphere, like the beginning. However, there are many times when it would be nice if the story could slow down a bit and let us enjoy the imagery.

The lack of atmosphere in the final episode is also a result of how needlessly complex the show can be sometimes. A lot of lore is thrown into our face in that episode, as well as a lot of character backstory and insight. A lot also happens in that 25 minutes. It would be nice if we got time to digest what was happening. 

I feel like I need to stop, because it seems like I dislike this show, but, there were times when I was on its wavelength. 

There is some beautiful and horrific imagery in here. I love Satan’s design, and I feel like it actually works with the minimalist artsyle. 

A lot of the scenes showing nuclear war in the last episode were pretty breathtaking, as the show is pretty great at showing scale and grandiosity. The use of filters really helps to sell the effect. The flashbacks to Ryo and Akira’s childhood also had an awesome juxtaposition, with these brightly colored childhood memories that use these long shots clashing with the dark and frantically edited present.

There are also many scenes of brutality earlier in the series that are legitimately pretty shocking, mainly the massacre at the track meet.

This is a series that has a lot going for it, but it ultimately stumbles at the finish line, ending up seeming more like an ant by the feet of the stories that the manga inspired.

However, they say the book is always better, so I’ll be sure to check it out.

[candidateofloyalty]

fic writers' self rec

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let's spread the self-love 💞

I'm blatantly stealing this from @waveridden because I wanted the excuse to talk about some fic that I like. In no particular order:

Rise With The Fall (Persona 5) was my first stab at writing from Akechi's perspective and I had a lot of fun with that. This little guy has so many issues (affectionate). Also, and I know I talk about this constantly, I love any take on the Persona protagonists where they're aware of the limitations placed on them as a result of their role in the narrative. (What can I say, my first Persona game was 3.) The fact that Persona Q has regular dialogue from whichever protagonist you're not playing as haunts me. All of this is to say that Akira may be able to break Maruki's grip on his reality but he can't break mine.

Dazzling Blue Sky on the Window (Persona 3) is maybe a little bit cheating, since I wrote it as a birthday present for myself, but I love Metis, I love Minako, and I want to see what happens when you make the girl who refuses to let anyone see her emotions timeshare her soul with the girl who is literally incapable of suppressing hers. (I think the answer is that they kiss but that's not in the fic itself.)

devil he dragged me down (We Know the Devil) was an experiment in matching style and tone and I'm so pleased with how it came out. The world of the game is simultaneously emotionally specific and light on details, so working in the empty spaces there was a lot of fun.

Related, We Know Exolution (Friends at the Table) is the most ambitious project I've finished in at least five years and I think the final product is totally worth it. It's kind of the opposite of dhdmd in that now I was trying to match the tone and imagery of Twilight Mirage while still keeping the gameplay and theme of WKTD, and also now it's a twine game instead of a visual novel because my art skills are nonexistent. A fun fact is that the cover on itch is a photo I took from the train to my summer internship that was where I first got into fatt. I think it does a decent enough job of conveying the concept of instability masked by a pretty facade that's important to both the inspirations for WKE while also being a fun easter egg for me personally.

every stumble and each misfire (Ace Attorney) is a love letter to Sebastian Debeste and I have reread it multiple times in the last week. (I may be replaying AAI2.) I love when characters have to realize how bad things are in stages, and there is so much for Sebastian to unpack at the end of that game. I am definitely coming back to this topic but for now we have this and it's good.

I'm going to tag @randomidiocyncrazies and anyone else who sees this and is interested! I would love to see you brag about your fics.

[yukidragon]

More SDJ Headcanons

Isn’t it great that Sunshine in Hell has finally hit the Explicit rating? I know I’ve been looking forward to it. Thank you for being such a horny touch starved clown, Jack. You gave the fic the adults only rating it was always meant to have.

Now, as I turn my attention to working on chapter 7, I’ve been musing more about the lore, both canon for the game and the canon I’m building for my fic. I figured it might be time to make another post of my headcanons. You can read the first post I made here.

Just to make it clear, the canon for the game and my story’s canon are slightly different. Let’s face it, I’m not Jambee or working for them, so I have no knowledge of the actual lore to go with, just my speculation and what I find fun. Also, it’s important to keep in mind that the lore of the game changed from the first demo to the second, and it might change again for the final game.

One thing Jambee clarified on their twitter is all the stuff posted on their twitter is basically for the fans’ entertainment, and only what’s in the actual final game or the official twitter is definite canon. As such, speculation of things found on their twitter may or may not be accurate to what’s actually going on.

Still, that doesn’t mean I can’t use those fun little possibilities for Sunshine in Hell. :3

Though I will say that not all my headcanons are set in stone either. I think a couple have slightly changed since the last time I discussed them, but that’s the nature of a developing story. Like SDJ, what comes out in the final product is canon for the story of Sunshine in Hell with everything else being a little more nebulous. That said, I figured why not share my speculations and plotting with the fandom anyway?

As always, remember Something’s Wrong With Sunny Day Jack is an erotic horror game that is for people over 18 years old ONLY. There is sex, violence, and disturbing topics in both the game and in these headcanons at times. Thus all the juicy bits will be going under a cut. You’ve been warned.

Also, there are potential spoilers for Sunshine in Hell in my headcanon theories. I’m not going out of my way to cram them in, but they’ll no doubt crop up sometimes as I discuss these theories.

Obligatory tags for @channydraws and @earthgirlaesthetic. If you want to get tagged when I make the next headcanon post, just let me know!

Setting and Themes

Jambee said in a twitter post that SDJ is going to have a strong emphasis on the entertainment industry and its darker side. This made me reexamine some details I attributed to Jack’s past in the imagery, particularly the pills and scalpels.

It’s no secret that the industry has pushed its workers to dangerous extremes, particularly addiction. Given that Jack talks about being “clean” in his traumatized moments, it might not just be about his change in identity as Joseph Cullman to Joseph Haberdae, but also a reference to him no longer having bad habits as Jack. No more drugs, no more smoking, and possibly no more drinking.

There’s also the fact that other dialogue from Jack hints that he had struggled with addiction in the past. Now, this might be related to just his nicotine habit, as that is a nasty addiction in and of itself, but the way he emphasizes how something that feels good for you can’t be bad is the kind of logic addicts use to justify getting their fix. Their drug of choice makes them feel good, so how could it be bad?

The scalpels, I suspect, might be related to plastic surgery. It’s no secret that there’s a lot of body shaming in the industry for its stars. This I’m much more iffy about since Jack doesn’t appear to have changed much in appearance from before he was an actor to when he died. It is possible that someone else underwent the knife and the results were less than... stellar.

A possibility is, say, Rory Rainberry’s actor deciding to improve his appearance through surgery. If we go back to the theory that he’s the person who murdered Jack, then it could be resentment towards Jack not needing such treatment to look pretty. With a botched plastic surgery, Rory would no doubt be replaced and filled with resentment. If Rory’s axe to grind was for both Jack AND the studio, it’s more reason for the studio to scrub all knowledge of the whole thing.

Personally, I’m still not convinced that Rory’s actor was the murderer, but I do find it suspect that he’s the only actor not shown talking about Jack years later with the other two... Something happened to him, something that had him be conspicuously left out of a retrospective interview about the ‘84 incident.

All that said, I do still think Jack’s past as Joseph Cullman plays a huge part in things going so horribly wrong for him as Joseph Haberdae.

The sad thing is that history repeats. Ian is an aspiring actor. Shaun is an aspiring director. All three love interests have heavy ties to the entertainment industry. Given the hints we’ve gotten so far, I think they’re going to be struggling under the same kind of weight Jack did. A teaser image showed Shaun looking worn out. Another showed Ian saying he has to hide the fact that he’s dating from his agent. Both don’t really say good things about the industry.

I suspect these will be expanded on in the main game. I believe that no matter what route sunshine takes, the story is going to unfold to reveal some dark sides to the industry that affect the guys very negatively. Then, of course, there’s the yandere ghost(?) who won’t let the other guys be love interests for his sunshine so easily...

Jack is a Ghost(?)

In the official game store page, Jack is called a “ghost(?)” I find that very interesting. When we look at how another ghost character is handled by Jambee, Elias Gallagher, he presents differently than Jack does most of the time. Elias is more the typical image of a ghost - faintly glowing blue, translucent at times, legs disappearing into a wispy smoke, showing signs of how he died... We do see Jack sort of like that at times when his trauma slips through, and when his wounds appear on him, but I suspect he’s not quite a ghost anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe Jack is still the man who used to be called Joseph Cullman and Joseph Haberdae. I don’t think we’ve got a tulpa situation on our hands where Jack is a separate entity made from the memory of Joseph. I think that whatever means that allowed him to manifest as a solid entity to his sunshine made him change from a ghost to something a little different.

As I said in my previous headcanon post, Jack has manifested into reality because he and Alice made an agreement. Jack has a piece of Alice’s living human soul inside him, while Alice has a piece of a ghost’s dead soul inside of her. This connection between them is going to have affects on both of them.

This is how Jack is warm and has a heartbeat, as well as body fluids. This is a conditional situation due to Alice still being alive and her choosing to, in essence, share her life with him.

In a way, the agreement - this union of souls- is kind of like a marriage between them. Maybe Jack isn’t that much different from Elias after all.

This does suggest that there’s the potential for Jack to continue to change, to become stronger and have more of an impact on the living world. Alice is already giving him this much power, and I imagine it’s possible that he could gain it from others as well given he has the potential to influence other people when his yandere impulses come out to play...

As the bond between Jack and Alice grows stronger, there will be more changes that take place. In the “yes” route, these changes are positive. In the “no” route though...

Good thing Sunshine in Hell is going the “yes” route, huh? What can I say, I’m a sucker for happy endings, and in the end, I want Jack and Alice to be happy together. This is one thing that I refuse to change about the story no matter how my headcanons expand. Jack/sunshine is my OTP!

Alice and Love

On that note, let’s get to the main conflict of the story - the love life of the game’s protagonist. It’s pretty clear that most of the issues sunshine has stems from how the relationship with Ian fell apart. It’s why they are so resistant to accept Jack’s love and support, especially when it comes to Ian. In fact, they act as though they aren’t deserving of such kindness and love.

This, of course, holds true for my version of sunshine, Alice.

To put it bluntly, Alice is very scarred and twisted up inside by her relationship with Ian.

The issues don’t entirely stem from Ian, but he did the greatest damage to Alice.

As mentioned in the previous post, Alice and Ian were both very unpopular with their peers. We’ve seen Ian insulted for his looks, and Alice was as well. This resulted in self-confidence issues for the both of them. It was a topic that they bonded over and supported each other for. It played a part in strengthening their friendship that eventually led to their romantic relationship.

This also gives the two of them issues when it comes to being viewed as attractive to the opposite sex. As the two got older, there was this strong sense of disbelief that people could find them attractive. Ian’s glow up was noticeable, and it’s a part of what got him attention in his dreams of becoming an actor. It was impossible for him not to be flattered by all the people complimenting his looks and flirting with him. He had no experience with dealing with flirting, so at times it did lead to him awkwardly returning the compliments and flirting back without really intending it to actually mean anything. At the same time though he started to really come to realize that he was seen as handsome now, by more people than just Alice. He was attractive, desirable... Alice was no longer unique in wanting him. If he wanted to, he could date so many other people...

That said, Ian never intended to cheat. Isn’t that what a lot of cheaters say? It was a moment of weakness, it just happened... He was living a plane’s flight away from the only home he had ever known, all of his friends and his childhood friend turned partner. He was lonely, but he made so many new friends at his new school. He was making connections, building his dream. He missed his partner though, that support and love Alice gave him. But these new people flirting with him... that felt good too, and there were so many attractive people around him... All it took was one night of poor judgement, and he did something he never thought himself capable of.

Alice also experienced being flirted with while she was in a relationship with Ian, but unlike him, she didn’t react positively towards it. Sure, it was flattering when she noticed it, or at least it should have been, but it was much more alarming. (Much like when Nick flirts with her at the shop.) Growing up being insulted for her looks made her see herself as ugly, unappealing. What she and Ian had was special, genuine, real... or at least, she believed it was. She always felt Ian “saw past” her unappealing outer appearance to see the beauty inside her, not seeing her body as anything desirable to anyone without “love goggles” affecting the view. So anyone flirting with her outside of her relationship felt fake, like a trick. Were they just setting her up just to mock her if she agreed?

In Alice’s teenage years that did happen, unfortunately. She was confessed to and it was turned around to be a joke because she was “fat, ugly, and weird” and “who would wanna date a whale like you?” and implications that anyone who DID find her attractive must have had a sick fetish. It makes her dubious about random people flirting with her and their intentions even when she was single. When she was in a relationship, any advances were even more unwanted, but she could easily rebuff them by saying she had a boyfriend.

Then of course there’s the issues the SA Alice went through that affected her feeling attractive...

Alice knew who Ian cheated on her with. It was a female friend he made at his school, someone her friends told her to watch out for, who Ian said she had nothing to worry about. She heard that woman’s voice over the phone during the call when Ian confessed everything. That “friend” was skinnier with bigger breasts, just like all the girls in those ecchi manga Ian liked to read for “research” on how to have better sex.

Learning how to have sex via porn, whether it’s hentai/ecchi/pornographic videos/etc. is not a good way to have healthy sex by the way. Their sex life was, unfortunately, flawed.

As shown in the afterlife moment, Ian tends to get swept up in the pleasure of the act. Alice almost passed out during the blowjob because he took over and wouldn’t let her try to pull back. She let him because she loved him and wanted him to feel good. He didn’t even return the favor to her after he finished. But it was fine. He was happy. They were happy. They were cuddly and in love. Alice was too wiped out from nearly passing out from lack of air too so it didn’t matter...

Ian is very meek and apologetic in personality, but in bed he’s far more rough. Instinct and poor sex techniques come more into play than anything else, softened with words of love and apologies if things get a little painful. In a lot of hentai/ecchi, there’s this mindset of “just bear with it, it’ll feel good soon” when it comes to penetrative sex. The afterlife moment gave hints of that, and even in the “yes” route there are signs of it, as Jack comments that he doesn’t want to hurt Alice even as she’s being impatient to have him inside her.

Ian being unintentionally rough with Alice but being contrite and apologetic was something of a theme in their relationship. It was never intentional, but mistakes always seemed to happen.

So much of their relationship was Ian being sad and pitiful, needing to be comforted and reassured. He apologizes so often it’s just his thing. He is apologetically himself, as Alice thinks of him. His life was so sad and he was her only friend, and only she could be there for him. If she wasn’t there, he’d have nobody...

So Alice tried to forgive Ian. She really did. She said she did. She thought she meant it too. She just could never forget... and now she saw all the things in her relationship that were wrong... things she ignored for the sake of love.

In the end, trying to make it work despite the cheating incident didn’t last long. The cheating incident was the beginning of the end. These bad habits cycled back around again and the trust was gone. It made Alice realize that what Ian wanted wasn’t her. He was scared of losing what they had and felt nostalgia towards her, not love. He was in love with their past together, the support, stability, love, familiarity, and security she brought to his life. However, as a romantic partner she was just “convenient” for him while he had no options, and now that he has them...

Well, Alice forgave him once already. She always forgave him. If he slipped again, surely she would just forgive him again.

Shaun helped Alice realize this was likely going to happen. He helped her see the unhealthy cycle she and Ian trapped themselves in.

These revelations proved to Alice that no one would be attracted to her, not when there were so many better, far more desirable people out there. At best, she would be “just a hole to fill” until they found someone better.

So Alice, overall, doesn’t see when someone flirts with her unless it’s blatant, like being asked if she has a boyfriend. She doesn’t believe attraction towards her is genuine. Not from Ian, and not from anyone else.

This, naturally, is the biggest obstacle Jack faces when it comes to finally receiving his sunshine’s love, but he’s willing to put in the work. He’ll do whatever it takes to prove to Alice that his feelings are real and that she can trust him. Fortunately for him, their agreement allows her to actually feel his feelings, even if she doesn’t fully realize that she’s feeling it. It goes a long way in helping her heal and eventually accept that she can be loved and desired just for being herself and not some “ideal” that she thinks she can never compare to.

Shaun did have a chance of getting through the walls Alice built around her heart with his sincere feelings, but without such a supernatural empathy sharing ability, it would take him a lot longer. We’re talking years of slowly helping her trust that he genuinely wanted her seriously and not as a temporary thing or because it was convenient. Alice doesn’t assume he’d use her or cheat on her, but she just can’t see herself as someone worthy of loving or desirable for anything more than as a temporary fling.

Unfortunately for Shaun, his timing was all wrong, and Jack already came in to occupy the hole in Alice’s heart by the time he had the time to make to try and lower the walls around her heart.

Ian has no chance of getting back together with Alice. It’s not because she no longer loves him. She still loves him. She hates that she still loves him. She wishes she didn’t. She knows they’re not good for each other even if he refuses. She no longer believes he loves her, no matter what sweet words he says. No matter how guilty he makes her. No matter how many friends he convinces to talk to her about him because he’s so sorry and maybe he deserves another chance and those who knew the two of them for years are expecting them to get over this eventually... It’s why he won’t stop trying, not until things go back to the way they were...

Background Cast

This headcanon post has gotten pretty long, so I’ll just finish off with something not so doom and gloom. I’ve come up with some designs for other employees at Yogurt-topia. Let’s face it, three people aren’t going to be enough to keep the place running, no matter how much one in particular is run ragged with overtime trying to keep the place afloat. Five might not be enough either, but here are the four members of staff who work with Alice and their basic design details I’ve thought up so far.

Boss

Married man in his late 40′s/early 50′s.

Balding, kinda chubby, the typical business owner type appearance.

Certainly not the worst boss to work for, but he does pile way too many hours on his few employees.

He will delegate as many duties to the staff as possible so that he won’t have to put in too many hours himself.

Thinks Alice is the most reliable member of his full-time staff so he’ll push as much of said responsibility on her as she’ll take.

Carol

I already went into her details in the last headcanon post, so I won’t rehash those details here, but bring up a couple other thoughts that came to me since then.

Isn’t in a relationship or looking. She’s out and about to enjoy her youth by dating around.

Looks out for her junior co-workers, but will absolutely escape her own responsibilities and leave it for them.

Liz

The nickname “Liz” is short for “Lizard”.

Yes that is their legal name.

Skinny and tall, they’re in their early 20′s and work part time between college classes.

They have long dark brown hair dyed green at the ends, tied in a ponytail while at work, and bangs that cover their eyes.

Don’t ask what their eye color is. They will never let you know.

They have a number of tattoos and piercings.

They sometimes still wear the clown nose part of the uniform even though it’s now optional.

The clown nose is pierced in multiple places.

Despite being kind of a jerk, they can be a reliable worker.

They’re not exactly chummy with their fellow co-workers. Get the work done, get the paycheck, then get out to go party with their actual friends, that’s their motto.

Susan

The youngest of the staff being her late teens, she is also a part timer.

She likes to wear cute buttons pinned to her hijab and uniform.

Big bright brown eyes and glasses.

Despite being youngest, she is still taller than Alice by a couple inches.

Actually enjoys the job, loves yogurt, and finds the clown theme to be fun.

The most pleasant member of the staff to be sure. She gets along with all her co-workers very well. She’s very optimistic and cheerful.

Susan is Alice’s favorite co-worker to work with, though she does worry that the teen isn’t ready to face how cruel the world can be...

I hope you all enjoyed this second round of rambling about my Sunny Day Jack/Sunshine in Hell headcanons. I have more I could ramble about, but that will wait until next time.

[snowandfires]

Ive been rereading all of the panels where TomuraAFO speaks to Bakugou before...that.

"I'm not interested in your progress...only in how close you are to Midoriya Izuku"

"You'll never be more than a minnow in One For All's wake"

Why would he say all of that-only for the author of the story to answer his question in the affirmative?

In past interviews, Horikoshi goes out of his way to point out Katsuki's growth. He clearly cares about showing it in the narrative, so why would he answer the question 'does Katsuki's growth matter' with a 'no actually it does not'.

This is also either linking or poking holes in vestige shenanigans with Katsuki living in OFA. The translation has TomuraAFO call him "Midoriya Izuku's hanger on". Is that foreshadowing that he will literally be hanging on to some form of existence by hanging off of Midoriya's quirk? That feels dangerously close to admitting that TomuraAFO is right.

This brings me back to the kidnapping arc. Where Tomura (just him this time) says some stuff to Katsuki too. And does a whole lot too. He kidnaps him thinking Katsuki has some chance of joining the villains. That they might understand each other. At the time, he is wrong about this. In an interview Horikoshi mentioned being strengthened in his resolve not to make Katsuki actually join the villains, because some fans predicted he might.

So why this time...would the plot be driven forward to confirm:

-TomuraAFO is right, nobody matters but Midoriya and everything else is a waste of time to the point where Katsuki is rage fodder alone

-if Katsuki is alive, he is now a literal hanger on to Midoriya, as TomuraAFO mentioned before in a non literal sense

And...what happened to that other interview where Horikoshi states that My Hero Academia is the story of All Might and Izuku.

I don't know where. I don't know how. But that alone. Plus a lot of meta posts by @/pikahlua (and others too) have definitely convinced me. (Go read their meta now please it's really onto something.) All Might shows up somewhere here.

Circling back to All Mights' famous death prophecy. We still need an answer about this. And events RE: the UA traitor confirm to me that "oh Horikoshi just forgot actually" isn't gonna cut it.

I.e. If the prophecy is avoided: how the fuck. If it's not avoided...well. I don't want that to happen. But that is also an answer to that plot point.

It's important in my head that All Might was around for the previous two Katsuki saves. Sludge Villain. He shows up. Kamino. He shows up. Rule of threes?

There's blatant All Might imagery and dialogue thrown about in 362. Why would that be if All Might isn't actually relevant here AT ALL?

Looking back at those other two rescues. Katsuki is pretty mad afterward that he had to he saved by his hero. Rather than a 'he articulated his last regret how childlike and sorrowful' spin on his conversation with the vestige All Might. Wouldn't it be more of a development of his character for him to...accept the assist from All Might this time? No regrets? Because he did technically accept the help the last two times (he had to), and had a whole lot of issues over it.

Lastly, I have been going back to that one video of All Might that Izuku watches as a kid. Which shows that when the hero gets there every thing is okay. Shouto says is later on. That he thinks a hero is someone who reassures people.

-Izuku showing up and devolving into 1) rage 2) depression is not reassuring? that's actually fucking terrifying if you're just a regular person

I think Izuku still needs a moment where his coming reassures a lot of people that everything is going to be fine. And I don't know how he's going to do that if he failed to protect Katsuki because plot logic made him be somewhere else for a couple chapters.

He needs that. While at the same time Katsuki's answer to TomuraAFO's "don't you see you don't matter nothing matters" question needs to also be 'no'. Things matter.

So how...how do both things...both boxes get checked. Katsuki dying here gets 0/2. Vestige Katsuki endgame sort of also gets maybe 1/2 if Izuku still saves Tenko and gets a win, beats AFO.

2/2 requires something else.

"What if Horikoshi doesn't actually care about any of this" -> I mean. He could suddenly switch from deeply caring about these characters to not giving a single fuck. In the sense that anyone CAN technically do a 180 on what they've said they value. It's possible. But I think of this as 'freak chance'. The chance that I will be hit by space debris when I walk outside and die. Its possible but it is not going to bother me, essentially, till it happens.

I've seen no evidence that he enjoys grimdark realities of war vs. telling a story that's about ideals and the triumph of good. Most characters introduced in the story very much represent and carry forward their own ideals and the conflict between them represents conflict between the ideals themselves.

Killing off Katsuki permanently is not a character death alone. It's killing a dream of heroism. Within a story about heroism down to its core. What.

Anyway caveat being I could be misreading literally everything and this way of things does somehow tell us something about heroism...and that's always been my fear with this.

That somehow Katsuki's actual death is a real tie back to the 'be not defeated by the rain' poem. That being a hero despite a tremendous loss is...heroism? This positions TomuraAFO as correct once again though, because he says to Katsuki: "you are only important as Midoriya Izuku's favorite".

If the story confirms this and uses him only as a "loss" to Izuku. That makes me uneasy. Because a lot of the other things TomuraAFO says and does are pretty jarring. How long does he get to feel validated in the things he's saying? Viewing people as pawns, essentially.

And because the idea itself makes me uneasy I again think 'no. No way' because this particular story doesn't give me the impression of one that would leave me feeling like that. This is not a 'great ending'.

[pdamndiabolical]

commiseration, not advice: i think the struggle regarding fanfic and plot is that, even more than in regular fiction writing, you start out with a fully-formed idea and interpretation that's really interesting and exciting and important to you and that doesn't really REQUIRE you to write a plot to express it - or any fiction at all! fiction is just what makes it tangible.

so it's essentially a matter of delayed gratification to go, ok, how can i write AROUND this idea? what if i absolutely COULDN'T give it to you straight, through narration or dialogue, at least not until it's hanging so heavy in the air that the thread's just begging to be cut? how does it materially manifest in the world if i can't just come out and say it? only then does writing plot, imagery, setting become necessary and exciting to me.

of course the fact of the matter is that usually this writing-around-the-point is what CANON is doing, intentionally or not, which only heightens the urge to get it all out there. this is the perspective that imo perfectly justifies analysis-based fic writing, after all it's always gonna be a paratext situation. but i do think think you've been "materialising" your internal character stuff, and i honestly think developing that sensibility is enough to lead to plotting abilities.

the alternate direction is to think of events and settings FIRST and then see what themes and ideas you can find in them, and i think that's more common for original fiction, but for me that only happens if i'm applying a framework i already know, like oh, time travel au, wrestling au, i know what's in there, i only have to see how it interacts with the characters. but then it usually ends up with too big a scope for me to ever realistically write it at all lol

True I guess in some ways a plot for fanfic is vestigial, depending on what you want for you and your audience. And with the last thing you said there, I’m always compelled by emotion or theme first and then aesthetics and location and plot second. So far at least. It could change if I wrote more than a couple times a year, lol

For me I was enjoying writing but wanted to tell a story where the story was more than internal and small scale interpersonal. All of my early one-shots are like “two people talk in a room”, “two people argue on a rooftop”, “two people argue in an alleyway” etc. I’m proud of all of those and I think they’re satisfying enough for both me and my audience but I wanted to do more. So it becomes “two people are separated into a parallel dimension and have to find each other, and they have to try to resolve the conflict between their mirror selves, and they have to figure out how to get home, and to do this they have to figure out the why and who of how they got sent there” which is about 1000x more challenging and not inherently more fun to write. In fact it’s less satisfying cause I can’t just write 3k words then post it lol. I kind of miss it being just dense psychoanalytical stuff BUT it’s like a sandwich where the bread is plot and all the toppings are emotion and theme and character analysis, and it’s so long it becomes like a scooby doo sandwich, even if I never write a fic like this again it’s pretty satisfying for me at least. Story, feelings, story, theme, story, etc, feels more watered down in some ways vs turbo dense psychoanalytical prose but I’m getting better at it and it’s fun to weave in and out and ideally build to something REALLY big.

I’ve been listening to the audiobook for Wired for Story and while a lot of it is borderline cringey and I’d even call some of it anti-intellectual (there is this whole segment where she just shits on any experimental art and talks about how nobody could ever like reading Ulysses(????)) it’s making me think a lot more about plot and character supporting each other as a more cohesive whole. As a neurotic who is very self-critical about making every word and moment in a story count that stuff is fun to think about for me

Thanks for such a thoughtful ask and for indulging me asking about big brain writing stuff!!

[markcampbells]

Since I think I missed it when you shared it, but for the fic ask that Em reblogged:

🎈describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change?

So I've been writing since I was very young, about ten, and I'm in my early thirties now, so the short answer is: one would sure hope so 😂

I tend not to look back at my old, old stuff out of a sense of self-preservation, because of how long I've been creating, but if I had to guess, my older work probably didn't have as much interiority. I feel like I probably characterized a lot through dialogue and character interactions whereas now I try to strike a balance between those things as well as a character's inner life, as I've gotten older and come to understand my own thought processes and emotions.

Both my original work and my fics now are, I would say, in a set style, I'm sure to the great chagrin of some fic readers, LOL. I'm honestly quite bad at stuff like scene-setting/descriptions and world-building, so I focus more on character work and emotional storytelling. I've tried occasionally to write more descriptive stuff with better imagery, and I think the one or two times I did it was received pretty okay, but that tends to be the stuff I look back on and cringe, so I don't do it very often. A lot of my work focuses on tight two-person dynamics--lovers, friends, exes, family units--but I've also worked with partners before to create things that are more ensemble-focused, which can be really fun to play around with. I really enjoy writing dialogue, so there can be a lot of that.

Something I would say is characteristic of my style in the last few years is trying my hardest to write the kind of representation I wish to see more of, even if it's just in fanfiction. Right now the thing that feels most important to me is creating more bi+ and ace representation, particularly for male characters. In one of my m/m romance groups recently someone asked for romances where at least one main character was a bi+ male, and it was honestly depressing how few answers to that question a pretty large, well-informed group of romance readers were able to come up with. Reading through that thread and providing a few answers myself made me sort of mentally recommit to the work I do and hope to put into the world, because there are people out there who want this kind of representation and don't have it.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

hypothetically: if you were directing an english dub of hypmic, what kind of accents would you pick for the osaka and nagoya characters to distinguish them from the tokyo locals and establish a similar feel?

I know next to nothing about dubbing, so take this with a saltshaker.

I don't think you'd necessarily need to have accents for the Nagoya crew. I think Kuukou's the one with the strongest accent, but it mostly appears in the way he pronounces certain things or ends his sentences with emotive particles (similar to ending sentences with "right?" or "you feel me?" in English). Still, it doesn't stand out much to me personally, at least when I read the manga, and I don't think it serves a larger purpose in story outside of making Kuukou's speech more easily recognizable. I think it's already pretty easy to make Kuukou sound distinct, so I wouldn't bother about it in this scenario. (If absolutely required to give them an accent, I guess I'd assign them something like a Midwestern, Kansas-ish accent. Nagoya is a big city, but it's mostly known for being... well, boring, I guess. It also has a lot of historical points of interest that are mostly related to religion like shrines or temples, so I'm thinking Bible Belt...? Man, idk. Maybe more of a Detroit accent for the auto industry? Again, I don't think their accent is really doing that much in terms of story, so it's hard to choose an important Nagoyan quality and find a similar American equivalent.)

With that being said, I do think there is some merit in giving Sasara (and, to a much lesser extent, Roshou) a distinct accent, but it'd be tricky to pull off. Sasara has made himself into a walking Osakan stereotype, so his accent and the dialect he speaks both serve to illustrate this idea of, "Hey, I'm Osakan! That means you should laugh at me!" But what good is playing up a stereotype if only a portion of the audience doesn't know what the stereotype points to?

In terms of stereotypes, Osaka is synonymous with the manzai (two-person comedy style Sasara and Roshou used to practice) industry. Osakans are also said to be more focused on making money (hence why money imagery keeps appearing in DH songs), typically in a hurry (hence why Sasara talks faster than most of the crew), and generally more blunt than other people (hence why Sasara acts blunt around people like Samatoki - note that when not playing up his image, Sasara is plenty evasive! He rarely talks to Roshou directly about his feelings and often hides his suspicions of Rei in internal dialogues). So Sasara's Osakan accent and dialect are less indicative of the fact that Sasara lives in Osaka and more that he's trying to staple a billboard to himself screaming, "Look at me! I'm here for your entertainment! Laugh at me!"

So how do you put that into English? It's tricky, because there is no "English Osaka". I've never written an accent for Sasara - partially because I didn't want to flub something and make myself into a laughing stock, and I am eternally relieved I made that choice - but in the past, I've tried to make his dialogue and internal monologue be wittier/jokier than other cast members. For instance, another character might say, "You're not drinking tonight? That's rich, coming from you," whereas Sasara would express this as, "You're not drinking? I thought your motto was that it's always five o'clock somewhere in the world."

But dubbing spacing constraints are much harsher than purely textual spacing constraints, so would that work in a dub? Maybe not. If pressed for one particular accent, the closest equivalent I can think of to a "showbiz" voice would be a Hollywood accent, but a Southern California accent might come off as too surfer-y. So I'd probably suggest a New York accent. I think there's a similar stereotype that New York City inhabitants are always in a hurry, interested in making money, and at least sort of related to the entertainment industry via Broadway, etc. Translators often use an American South accent or a generic "redneck" accent for Osakan dialects because they're easy to write and look very distinct, but I'm personally not a fan... because both of those are, to my mind, not at all what the original is conveying.

Would Roshou need a matching accent? I don't necessarily think so, even though he does have an Osakan accent and use the Osakan dialect in Japanese (particularly in casual situations). I would argue that it's less essential to the character, but a Brooklyn accent Roshou sounds fucking hilarious and I, for one, would love to hear that.

This is all assuming an American English dub, though. I don't know enough about British English, Australian English, etc. to comment on how a fictional dub would sound in another region.