#and also because i think i'm just bad at writing romance comics. i don't know

[xulips]

aktyweek, day 2; gaming

in which akito finds out about bad make up game ads

[graffitibible]

genuinely confused wdym by gerard way white saviorism

you asked me this about 3 weeks ago, and i'm sorry it took me so long to get to it. i had to think very hard about how i was going to answer this one, because i want to be transparent in just how frustrating i find this issue without drawing a lot of fire from really pissed off my chem fans who hate the idea of my daring to speak up against their perfect white fav (which has happened often, and continues to happen often. fortunately i'm pretty immune to this by now but i do find it very annoying)

i want to be very transparent in that i think that pretty much everyone can benefit from the idea that their favs are flawed. i'm very aware of the flaws and missteps that people i admire, both personally and professionally, have committed in their lives, and it is down to my own sense of morality over whether that's a dealbreaker for me. i don't like the idea of calling out bad behavior for the sake of clout or whatever. but i do care about not people being spoken over when they point out a legitimate criticism, and that is the bottom line here.

below the cut, i'm going to be discussing some very heavy topics: racism of all flavors is the most prevalent one, but i'm also going to touch (briefly) on topics such as antisemitism, incest, and abuse.

and i am also, in general, going to be saying a lot of very unkind things.

when it comes to criticisms of the scene, of narrative writing, of mistakes that people make...my chemical romance, and gerard way in particular, are consistently rendered immune. when we discuss misogyny in the scene in the early and mid aughts, my chem's name never comes up (despite the fact that bullets, their first album, most certainly has lyrics that certainly evoke the same violent misogyny present in a lot of works from that era). when we discuss racism within the scene, my chem is never really discussed at length except perhaps to point out that ray toro is a latino man who is either ignored or sexualized (or both) by a deeply racist fanbase. there is a tendency, within these spaces, to give my chem the benefit of the doubt where the same grace is not extended to others.

this is what i mean by "white saviorism." because gerard way's whiteness in particular protects them from a lot of this. and i say this because of all the things that has made it deeply uncomfortable to interact with broad swathes of my chem's fanbase, the racism has unquestionably been the number one deterrent. there is a very unique brand of racism present within my chem spaces - and i know i am not the only person of color who feels this way, because i've spoken to many who can say the same - that is particularly violent, particularly virulent, and particularly ingrained. experiences with this, along with my own growing distaste for gerard way as a writer, has soured my experience with the music so tremendously that i can no longer really interact with it at length.

i am not, however, above citing my sources. so. let’s talk about racism in gerard way’s writing, shall we?

i have always been up front about the fact that i do not find gerard way to be a particularly inspired, interesting, or good writer. i find most of their work to be aggressively mediocre and highly derivative. but my own personal opinion of their work has very little bearing on the extremely racist rhetoric that upholds a distressing amount of it. here is where i'm going to link a pretty informative twitter thread that outlines a lot of these instances in detail, but it is by no means exhaustive.

it's in the umbrella academy comics, wherein the main characters are all white despite being children taken from "all over the world." it's in the orientalist racist caricatures of the vampire viet cong group that the heroes square up against. it's in the casual instances of slurs that have cropped up several times in their works without any understanding of the impact those words have (an anti-indigenous slur in the umbrella academy comics, an anti-romani slur in the killjoys national anthem comics - which, i should state, came out in 2020). it's in the appalling writing decision to, in national anthem, make the sole black character the character with "animal powers" who rips out adversary's throats on all fours. it's in the frequent and persistent sexualization of women of color, particularly asian women. it's in the colorism involved in the interplay between mike milligram (a white man), code blue (a latina woman), and jaime ramirez (their mixed child), wherein jaime's skin tone shifts at the drop of a hat depending on which of his parental figures is in the frame (code blue is dead by the time the story picks up properly, but her sister, code red, effectively raises him...and he ends up staying with his father).

and it is unquestionably, overwhelmingly present in danger days. this is a danger days blog so this is the area in which i have the most research, so i want to be very clear when i say this:

racism is an insidious, incontrovertible, and inextricable foundation of the very conceptual underpinnings behind danger days and all its associated works.

the orientalism is baked into the very aesthetic of the album. better living industries is a japanese mega-company that takes everything over, the big bad of the franchise. the asian "aesthetic" is all over the canon in the music videos and comics: non-asian characters are seen wearing it, it's in all the marketing and even present on the album itself, wherein a woman is clearly heard speaking japanese on the "party poison" track. there was also the baffling inclusion of the "clown monk" character that was cut from the music videos back in 2010, wherein a white man is wandering around wearing buddhist robes (they inexplicably liked this concept so much that they brought it back for the national anthem comics which, again, i will reiterate: came out in 2020).

this is not surprising. danger days is deeply derivative in concept (up to and including the name itself), and because most of its influences come from cyberpunk dystopia fiction from the 80s, most obviously the 1980s film blade runner. works of fiction in that vein frequently draw from the idea of "yellow peril," and are rooted in the extremely racist and xenophobic rhetoric that western civilization will be invaded and dismantled by the evil, scary asians. the end result is a concept of a "dystopia" that is mired in the very stereotypical fears of the time: fears of an east asian surveillance state invading the west, fears of the all-powerful homogenized "other," and so on.

this did not stop gerard way from exotifying and fetishizing the fUCK out of all their asian characters though!!! the director of better living industries gets to be the primary major asian character in the killjoys california comics, and she spends a good chunk of it in dominatrix gear, with a whip to boot - both villain and sex object. the comic’s sex workers, referred to as “pornodroids,” are all asian-coded and, although we get one of the comic’s two same-sex pairings (3/4 of the characters involved in said pairings are dead by the comics’ end), the characters of red and blue spend the entirety of their screen time in the highly sexualized apparel of their occupations. there’s also the character of korse’s boyfriend, who does not get a name and spends all of his screen time lounging around shirtless in korse’s apartment. nice of gway to reduce the only  asian dude to eye candy fridged for korse’s manpain. i guess.

also, i should not fail to mention - the killjoys california and danger days sections of canon are INCREDIBLY white for pieces of fiction that take place in california, which is one of the most racially diverse areas in the states. in terms of latino characters, we get jet star (by virtue of being played by ray toro in the music video, though i should point out that there is no guarantee that this is actually reflective of jet star’s true appearance, since none of the killjoy appearances are necessarily 1:1 with those of the band in the comics), and we get...POSSIBLY vaya and vamos, who are ambiguously brown and have names in spanish which implies they might be latine (but given that this is california and most of the population speaks spanish, is not necessarily a given). we also get volume, the sole black character, who gets a handful of lines before being unceremoniously killed off within moments of meeting him. the girl’s mother is definitely drawn as a woman of color, but she gets one line, no name, and the girl herself is drawn as very straightforwardly white and considered to have a “fair complexion” in the comics.

this trend unfortunately continues into national anthem, wherein there’s certainly a more diverse cast, but unfortunately, very little of that cast actually gets concrete development. mike milligram is our central protagonist, our sole white character (gerard way basically only ever commits to writing white protagonists)...and he’s also the only one of them who gets an arc of any kind. code blue (a latina woman, and his girlfriend) is fridged for his manpain. code red, blue’s sister, does not get nearly as much focus on her grief despite losing someone she knew for much longer than mike ever did. jaime, mike and blue’s child, resents red for raising him and chooses to stay with his birth father once the events of the comics are over. i’ve touched on how animax, our sole black character, is given “animal powers” and is pictured several times brutally ripping apart his enemies, but i should also point out that his big character motivation is - no joke - rosa parks. as in, rosa parks being erased from history, and he wants to stop it (these comics were weird, and also incredibly bad). everyone else has a deeply personal motivation save for animax, whose motivation is basically that he wants people to not forget that the civil rights movement like, happened.

there’s also the instance of kara jeong, or kara 100%. this is the one that really makes me grind my teeth, because she’s frequently praised as a cornerstone for trans representation. and i agree that having more trans women of color in comics is great! but this does not erase the fact that, like literally every other asian character gerard way has ever written, she is very much sexualized. her job as a model means that “it was essential that she was good looking” and it is not as egregious an example as, say, the director in the california comics...but it’s an unsettling addition to a constant pattern. there are a lot of shots of kara’s bare neck and shoulders and long legs, and all that on top of the fact that, like anyone who isn’t mike milligram, she gets very little characterization at all...well, it’s not a great look.

these are the issues in gerard’s writing that are the most frequently dismissed and ignored. this post is horribly long to begin with, so i don’t want to carry on (ha...ha....), but i want it on record that i very much could. this does not even begin to touch upon the bizarre inclusion of a constant incest undertone in almost everything gerard way writes (the umbrella academy is the most obvious here, but even in the killjoys canons...red and blue are lesbian lovers in california while being sisters in national anthem, and that’s kind of a little uncomfortable, all things considered), nor does it address gerard’s insistence on including very homogenous abusive backstories for no reason besides, i guess, character angst (and these abusive backstories all involve a physically abusive male figure, because i guess this is the only kind of abusive relationship gerard way can visualize).

[EDIT: just remembered, because i forgot to mention it (knew i was forgetting something) - there's also quite a bit of antisemitism present in the umbrella academy comics that is further exacerbated in the show. i'm not the best equipped person to talk about that (i've only watched the show up to s2, at which point i kinda got sick of that garbage enough to just tap out of it), and i also have only looked over the tua comics a few times as opposed to the show, which is not run or primarily written by gerard way. that being said, he's definitely a creative consultant on it, so...i think maybe they should've reconsidered making reginald hargreeves a baby-stealing lizard man and having the bad guys all speak to each other in yiddish, possibly.]

let me be the first to say...none of this surprises me. these are all pitfalls i’ve seen white writers (and writers of color with internalized issues) commit as well. and i also, as well, want to make it clear that i imagine very little of these appalling writing decisions were committed with active malice. i sincerely doubt that anyone involved in these writing processes steepled their fingers and cackled wickedly over what crimes they would commit to their many brown fans.

i want to be very, very clear here. i lay all of this out not to “shame” gerard way or write a “callout post” or anything to that effect. i want to be utterly transparent in that i think gerard way’s racism is as mediocre and unremarkable as their writing is: derivative, lazy, shallow, and incredibly commonplace.

and that is where the idea of “gerard way white saviorism” comes from. because these are all, individually, acts of horribly insensitive, damaging, and deeply racist rhetoric that would unquestionably be addressed if it were anyone else doing them. but because it’s gerard way, and the internet loves gerard way, and everyone has decided that gerard way is their white liberal fav who can do no wrong...like the case with everything else surrounding my chemical romance, they get a pass. they are exempt.

this is far from everything. it’s just what i can remember at the moment. i am not the first person of color to point this shit out. i imagine i will be ignored, much like every other fan of color who has made these points in the past. people don’t like to imagine that gerard way can be capable of these sorts of oversights. they don’t like to think about it. they want to persist in painting their very ordinary, centrist, white liberal fav as someone whose every word is deeply progressive and insightful and flawless. because, consistently, they get the benefit of the doubt where others, especially folks of color, do not.

so no one talks about it. no one talks about how gerard way’s writing is consistently racist in a very clear and distinct way that no one wants to address, making it more insidious. no one wants to talk about the mind-bogglingly racist conceptual underpinnings holding up the entire danger days album. no one wants to talk about how gerard, and all of my chemical romance accepted, or at the very least tolerated, bob bryer’s overt antiblack racism for years, for nearly a decade, and never said a word.

no one wants to talk about it. because that would mean they’d have to come to terms with their white savior not being so perfect.

so they don’t.

and shit like this is why i find the overwhelming majority of my chemical romance fan spaces to be deeply unwelcoming to someone like myself: a brown person who tries to call out racism when i see it. and i know i’m not the only one.

[thefangirlfever]

I needed to make a post about this because...well, the title says everything.

First of all I would like to say that I'm feeling a bit anxious sharing my thoughts about this. I don't know if I'm the most qualified to talk about this but it has been bugging me.

I know a lot of people have already discussed the way Miguel, a POC and a latino man out of all people, has been oversexualized to a point that it feels fetishy and a bit concerning sometimes. I think we can all acknowledge this and that already gives us a lot to think about.

But what I think is really interesting is that not only is Miguel an intentional thirst-trap, he is a thirst-trap created mainly by a team of male producers/ writers. From what I read, the people in charge of his character design were men (I want to say that I am by no mean attacking anyone who worked on this movie. They did an amazing job and I am just sharing my thoughts, not saying they are bad people for this choise or anything. Thank you).

And I find this very telling. Because when I first saw this headline, I thought "Oh finally, women have been given the chance to freely thirst over a male character the same way men do." And I think it was a big mistake from me to think this way. (First of all, there are also men and non-binary simping over him). Because, let's be real for one second there, do we really want to thirst over characters the way men do? I have been an anime fan for years and let me tell you, the way a lot of men/ fanboys view female characters is simply gross (I know, I know, not all men). It's also something I noticed in comics and video games. Like, have you seen the outrage when a video game studio wants to propose female characters who do not look like what some p*rn addicts imagines women are?

My point is that Miguel has been created not with the female gaze in mind, but with the male gaze (and it hurts to say this). That's what I got from reading the part of the interview. The emphasis on his butt, the overly masculine, muscular body... Miguel was created not by following what women like in men but by what men imagine that women like in men.

This is also something we can see a lot in various medias over the last years, especially in the romance genre. The way some "desirable" men are depicted do not fit what women seek in a partner but what men imagine women want (ofc every woman has different criteria when it comes to this). I think it's very blatant when you compare medias written by and for women like Shonda Rhimes's shows, Bridgerton, Outlander... and medias written by men. So, in the end, I think that Miguel has been created with that in mind "Let's make a big, tall, dark and broody, muscular matcho man. That's what the female public wants." (ofc it's never as simple as that but you get the idea).

So... does this mean that it's bad to simp/ thirst over this character? Surprisingly I'm going to say no and I even think that it's important that the women in this fandom keep making content around Miguel! Because when we write fanfictions, draw fanarts of him... we are now picturing him with a real female gaze and that's what brings even more complexity and depth to this character.

I have seen so many interpretations of this character since I joined this fandom and a lot of them were really cool/ beautiful, showing just how much people love this character. When you think about it, it's crazy that a character who only got 15 minutes of screen time can have such a strong effect on a fandom, meaning that he is more than just a thirst trap. I genuinely think that the content created by the fans gives this character his humanity back (because, yes, being sexualized to no end deshumanizes a person. Go argue with a wall, thank you very much). I've seen so many tender, soft but also funny depictions of him making him more than just some ass shots on the big screen. And even on the NSFW corner of the fandom, some people out there are really making him more than just this "feral beast" that we have been sold by giving him back his tenderness, his sensuality...

So, yeah, take this headline with care and think what you want of it. Those were just my thoughts. Feel free to disagree, tell me if I got something wrong or just leave your thoughts under this post because I'm genuinely curious of seeing other fan's opinions. I apologize for the mess of this take.

And now I'm going back to sleep.

[bloggingboutburgers]

First of, I'm a big fan of your work. I love your comics and art and was happy to hear about the engagement 😁

As for my question, I love writing stories and creating OCs/characters. In your recent comic you called out that the only ace/aro rep always seems to be "the creator said so on Twitter" (a problem with a lot of rep. in media).

So I was curious, if I wanted to create an aroace character (and write a story with them), how could I naturally show them being aroace? Do you perhaps have any idea?

Thank you so much for the kind words!^^

Arguably my complaints are ironic because I myself haven't done proper aroace rep in my own fiction thus far – though I guess I'm compensating for that with my current comics, haha 🙈 But also, I've said it before and I'll say it again cus I'm annoying like that – Bojack Horseman did it, in my opinion, so that gives the rest of the media less excuses I guess.

So, again these are my personal views, and they're possibly demanding, but this would be my checklist for ideal aroace rep:

The aro/ace character needs to... BE a character. Actually have arcs, that matter within the story. Whether they're about being asexual or not doesn't really matter as long as THEY matter as a character.

...Ngl I feel they need to matter BEFORE they're revealed as aro/ace too, and obviously after. If they don't, they'll just feel like a placeholder who's just there to tick a box to me.

The fact that they're aro/ace needs to be addressed and not pushed under the rug or left up to interpretation. Leaving things up to interpretation will have so many people interpret them as allo for sure (just like in real life). And conversely, saying they're aro/ace may spark some curious questions and possibly awkward conversations (just like in real life). (...Again tbh Bojack Horseman was great at doing it naturally. The confusion from the ace character themself, the ace character's friend assuming they're gay because yeah that always happens, the MC having a friendly yet clueless "haha you're lucky that'd save me so many problems if I didn't have sexual attraction"... I could go on.)

By that I also mean... Actually NAMING the orientation at some point. If it's not named people who consume the media and don't know such an orientation exists will be none the wiser. (I'm guilty of that myself tbh. In one of my webcomics I had an alloaro character but never had the orientation mentioned within the story, I left it at showing he has sex and him having a conversation with his family explaining he doesn't have a favorite person because he just can't, but I feel like that's not enough, and I've been feeling a bit bad about it.) A good way of bringing that up fairly naturally would be to have the character figure out their orientation within the story, as a way to have the audience learn alongside them; but it could also be played for drama, which I don't think I've ever seen and would like to dabble with myself at some point – like, imagine you have a friend you hold dear who's key to your personal development and suddenly you find out they see you as sex / romance prospects and not as a friend like YOU do? That'd be crushing but that could definitely make for a good conflict. I should try writing that. I'm rambling anyway. Bleh.

Another thing that, to me, is key to the aro/ace experience is that the character may have some moments of questioning their place in the world. Our world is obsessed with sex and romance and fiction exacerbates that to the point where some characters barely even exist if they don't have romance. This could range from "Do I NEED to even identify myself as something" (again, Bojack Horseman did that great) to "Friendship is the most important relationship to me but not to my friends, what if they all abandon me once they find the one person they consider 'more important'". I dunno. I feel like there could be some interesting storylines there. I definitely would love to dabble into that myself a bit more, though I lack the time and talent – those concepts and the lack of things that are done with it live in my head rent-free.

...Actually I feel it could be good to show aro/ace characters as full of heart (if it fits their personality), having their own feelings and emotions outside of the usual romance spectrum, to show that they're just as human and compelling as the other characters. (...AGAIN Bojack Horseman did that great imo, I feel bad that I'm only ever quoting that show but that's still the best example I can ever think of.) Like – betrayal, loneliness, grief, kinship, literally ANY other form of love than romantic love... We feel all of those too, and those deserve to be addressed in stories just as much (if not more) than the pining or simping that's kinda everywhere.

Oh yeah and speaking of being human... Yeah, human. We need more human aro/ace characters. Making it so that only the aliens/gods/demons/robots/whatever are ever allowed to be aro/ace only serves to dehumanize these orientations.

...IIIII think that's it. I might be forgetting some things I'd wanna add on later but I think that covers everything that would make for ideal rep in my own opinion

[whywoulditho]

I'm glad, that DC writers are changing constantly and therefore the characters are protected from the Bat-family. The Bats are the cancer of DC comics. There wouln't be any independant characters anymore if they could gez their grubby hands on the other DC families

That's another way to look at it.. I agree that they're trying a bit too hard to connect every character to the bats' storyline. so you might have a point there. maybe it would create more bad than good if they let batfam authors interfere with the other storylines... but i still wouldn't call the bats the cancer of DC. I think if you took the bats out of DC, it would lose like half of its charm and quality.

with all that being said though, i still think the biggest problem of DC romances (or comic book romance in general) lies in each run having separate authors. think about why harley x ivy worked. it's because both of those characters already existed before they got together. both of them were loved villains and later anti-heroes, they both have their own story, their own past and their own redemption arcs. they're both INTERESTING. and when DC made the risky choice of making them a couple, it worked.

i'm not saying it would work with any other characters, or that they should make all their major characters date each other. but if you want to explore romance in your comics you have to give the readers an actual relationship, involving two realistically written and interesting people. not a major character and their accessory love interest. that's my issue with tim x bernard, or jon x jay. no one will get attached to, or even invested in, these relationships because we don't know anything about the love interests. they're just some random people. even if you try to give them personalities they will still not have a story outside of their relationship with the major character. bernard and jay were only created so tim and jon would have someone to kiss. it's hard to care about them, and therefore their relationship. they're just boring romance side plots.

you can introduce a character with the sole purpose of making them a couple with one of your major characters and still make it work, like batman and catwoman. you can create chemistry with a new character just as well as you can with already existing ones. but i think we need more of the first option. less last minute love interests and more people falling in love. i think what makes DC special is that they show us so many different versions of their major characters, we get to see them grow and change (take notes, marvel) so it wouldn't be off-brand to see already existing major characters, like superboy and robin, ending up together. not when it's DC. to be honest i think it would be like super iconic of them to do that. and i also think that DC fans would much rather have their favorite characters end up with the kind of person they went through hell and back with instead of like, a random citizen. tim and kon have so many parallels. they're both people who didn't have to be heroes at all, but still chose to do it. they both struggle with carrying a mantle too big and the fact that they were not chosen for it makes them even more insecure. they also have a past together, they're close friends, they would take a bullet for each other. so much potential. dont even get me started on damian and jon. those two are like, literal mirrors of their fathers. they have huge legacies on their shoulders and they're like quite literally the only people that could understand one another. again, so. much. potential. i'm not saying they have to be together, but if DC was gonna write romance for these characters I wish it could have been with each other.

[hello-nichya-here]

Let’s be real. The only reason toxic Zutarians and delusional Zukkas became so rampant is for the same reason.

Zutararians and Zukkas are two generations of the same issue.

Maiko is written so incoherently and Mai gets no development of her own. Zuko and her are a terrible match and treat each other poorly (I know the fandom can’t agree which one is at fault but I don’t think it matters).

Fans searching for a more satisfying conclusion of the fandom fav Zuko stumble into the waiting clutches of Zutarians or Zukkas who bombard them with their terrible takes, OOC writing, and admittedly beautiful fan art. Before you know it, they lose touch with actual canon.

This is all Bryke’s fault for writing Maiko terribly.

And yet people blame Zucest… nonsense!

Anon, I don't mean to be rude, but you're just wrong all around. Not only do I not think Maiko is terrible (might not be my OTP, but I am fond of it), but even if it WAS and fans had to rely on fanon for good romance, that does NOT explain or justify the way Zutarians and Zukkas not only act like their personal preference is objectively better than everyone else's but also actively lie to themselves and others about their ships totally being secretly canon but screwed over at the last second.

They do that for one reason alone: Entitlement. They're entitled, spoiled cry babies who screetch at anyone with a different preference because they take it as a personal attack.

Bryke writting Maiko any differently would not have made these people less insufferable. Hell, their ships hapenning in the exact way they wanted them to would also not do the trick, if anything it'd make them worse.

It doesn't matter what you think about Bryke as writers and people, or how you feel about the canon ships: The bad behavior of Zutara and Zukka fans is the responsibility of Zutara and Zukka fans, nobody else.

I don't like Legend Of Korra or the comics. Never sent a death threat to the people who made them. Never harassed fans of it or had them doxxed. I love Zucest to unhealthy degrees, but you won't see me claiming "There was totally a deleted scene of them kissing in the finale instead of fighting, but evil Bryke ruined it all, and if you don't believe my obvious bullshit I'll scream at you until I'm blue in the face!"

I LOATHE the ending of How I Met Your Mother with all my being, and resent the showrunners for being such dicks to fans and complaining we didn't praise their terrible writting. I would NEVER accuse them of abusing their authority over the actors and being predators just because I disagree with awful messages the finale sent - something zutarians do Kataang and Maiko fans ALL THE TIME.

It's really, really, really, really easy to not do that kind of stuff.

Be critical of Bryke and their writting, have whatever opinion you wanna have on Maiko, but let's not pretend writers/showrunners are to blame for FANS attacking people.

It'd be like going "Oh, this actress and her fans got death threats because audiences didn't like her character, clearly this is the writers fault for mishandling said character" NOPE, the blame of that kind of awful behavior ALWAYS lies solely with the people who choose to act like that.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Hey CJ, you mentioned that you disagree with a lot of your old TWDG opinions, any that stand out you wanna share? Also i agree with what you said about wanting to play the series for the first time again with no prior knowledge - i would love to meet louis character for the first time again.

Yeah, some opinions have changed with time and moving on from being a hardcore, active fan in the fandom. I'm pretty sure I've talked about some of them more recently, like how I used to not like Jane but now I've become something of a "Jane apologist," if you will.

I was also super vocal about hating the Clementine comics when the 12-page comic dropped, and I'm pretty sure I was shitty about Tillie Walden... which I look back on now and feel embarrassed. In fact, I specifically remember calling attention to the fact that Skybound turned off comments on the first book trailer and on their instagram, twitter, etc. and being like, "look at these COWARDS! they know we hate the comic and that Tillie's a bad artist, they're trying to shut us up!" ........but then I heard they turned them off because Tillie was getting threats, and it caused me to dig around and see the vile shit fans were saying.... It gave me pause to think things through and I feel very differently about it all now.

I've also changed my mind on Minerva. Like Jane, there was a loooong period of time where I didn't like her, but now? I think she's great. A real tragedy.

In fact, real talk, I think my perspective on most of the female characters in TWDG has shifted dramatically. I've done a lot of thinking on this just in general; I'm much harder on female characters than male characters. I can pretend like noooooo I was always soooo fair... but no, not always. I'm sure it's from some deep-rooted, internalized misogyny I have that I'm working on, but I also think the games sometimes neglect those characters, too. Which makes it easier to brush them off as just "poorly-written" and "bad characters" if I don't like them when that's not always the case.

Or let's be real, we all know how this goes; the games give us a flawed male character and fans are like "he's my blorbo, here's a 50k essay about why he deserved better and a list of my headcanons and the twenty AUs I've written for them-" but then a female character's just as flawed and fans are like "lol she's poorly written, here's an essay on why-"

Don't look at me like that. I know I'm guilty of this. I know y'all remember Mitch. Back in the day, Mitch was my boy and I used to write about him all the time but like... god forbid I put that much effort into writing about Violet or Minerva, right?

Or even look at Kate, for example. Past CJ would've talked about how much she doesn't like Kate and she hates the forced romance with Javi, she's just there as a way to make David and Javi fight, etc. But you ask me about Kate now and I'm like, "Girl, ANF did you so dirty, you didn't deserve this."

Or how about Bonnie in S2? We all love to hate on Bonnie, but like... she's such an interesting character?? She's a recovering drug addict so desperate for a place, and you can see Carver's manipulation at play in the way she talks about him to Clementine. It takes seeing him physically beat Kenny within an inch of his life before she's like "Yeah no, fuck this, we're leaving tonight." And we give her shit about Luke's death and being mean to Clementine but frankly? Yeah, she's mean to Clementine and that's fine.

What, it's okay for Kenny to lash out and call her a stupid kid when Sarita dies because he's your poor meow meow and it makes his character soooo morally gray and complex? But Bonnie lashes out about Luke's death and suddenly she's just a massive piece of shit? No complexities or anything? There's no grey morality? No underlying motive or emotions behind the choice to abandon the group with Mike and Arvo?? She's just a bitch??

And do I even need to talk about Sarah? Hmm? We all know how Sarah was received and how fans still talk about her. Again, Sarah has a complete meltdown over losing her father and people get hurt, and fans wish death upon her... but Kenny has a meltdown and brutally beats up Arvo or threatens to smack Clementine or a number of things.... "that's fine, he's just really upset, he lost his family, y'know? everyone keeps trying to GASLIGHT me that he's bad but if you really think about it, Arvo totally deserved to be abused and it's actually Clementine's fault Kenny hit her because she tried to stop him-"

I just... the lengths we go to justify and defend this violent, toxic character but then act like Jane is the worst, I can't-

It's so funny to me whenever I see someone in the fandom complain about wanting more morally grey, flawed female characters because like... y'all couldn't even handle Jane. Or Lilly. Or Sarah. Or Bonnie. Rebecca. Eleanor. Christa. Minerva and Violet, in a lot of cases. So like... what do you actually want?

Note that I'm guilty of this, too, and I've asked myself that question... haven't fully worked out the answer yet.

That's the major thing that comes to mind about opinions I had that I've changed my mind about. I think a big factor in that is letting twdg go and getting invested in other fandoms, doing a lot more reading, getting back into writing, etc. Obviously I've really gotten into the Dragon Age fandom and that's what triggered this "journey of self-reflection~" when it comes to how I perceive female characters. Like, you want flawed, morally-grey ladies? That's your series... assuming you can actually handle it.

But I also recently finished a playthrough of Fallout New Vegas and remembered my love for Veronica Santangelo, like... I don't care that the game doesn't technically have romance, that's my girlfriend, I love her. Then the other night I finished my first playthrough of Life is Strange True Colors [I know, where the fuck have I been, right?] and I spent 40% of the time looking at flowers, 10% being sad about Gabe, and the other 50% trying to figure out who I liked more, Steph or Ryan.

I've also been reading a lot of wlw novels which is just..... THAT'S a whole mess I won't get into because this is already long enough and you didn't ask. Just know that's also another factor in this reflection.

And to answer the other part of your ask: I miss Louis. I would love to play TFS again for the first time again, that was a fun time.

[art-the-f-up]

Hello, pls know that everytime you post about plstin heroes au, I start flooding my room with tears </3. Also, I want to draw Ahsan and Laaiqa too (maybe comic) but everytime I try to draft the plot in my head I felt terrible because the situation is real, not some made up horror stories or something. Sometimes it feels like I'm making light of the situation or romanticize(?) them and feel bad about it. But I still want to draw as I sign of support for 🍉. (I'm a sucker for angsty romance but yeah I don't want to make light of their situation, I know they are strong and resilient ppl but still, I wish I can do more to help them)

trust me! I've been there! I still am tbh, but the entire reason of the Palestinian AU is Palestinian representation and also awareness. I have followers who were getting annoyed by me constantly posting about Palestine and I had to get creative with it so now every time there is a global or cyber strike and people are urged to mass post about Palestine I post this AU since it's the only way i can contribute to the mass movement.

I may be a sicko for this, but I've seen the 'other side' manipulate what people want to see and twist it to match their narrative, sometimes you just gotta beat em at their own game.

Romance is NOT the main plot of the Palestinian heroes AU, there's SO MANY THINGS i need to draw in it for the representation (I'm thankful enough to have Palestinians reach out and tell me what more I can add) but I've been tackling a lot of projects and still trying to draw this AU more.

My most recent post was inspired by the quote "In Palestine, to live means to chose what to lose" and I planned on adding that video at the end but then the global strike announcement came out and I posted that instead.

If you want to write about it, my advice would be to write something hopeful, something motivational, something that represents the cultures and traditions, or even something that just shows the true caring and loving nature of Palestinians because the z!onist media has worked overtime trying to paint them all as less than human. And there are many Palestinian movies about Love amidst War, and I do think romanticizing the current situation will be absolutely wrong, you need to make sure that if your story has romance elements then A) that is not the main plot and B) it is based on general Palestinian culture, because let me assure you, after 75-76 years resistance and war for freedom has been deeply ingrained into the Palestinian culture.

So yeah! Read more about it! And please please don't let your doubts hold you back. We live in the time of internet, reach out to a Palestinian if you have any doubts, they are super sweet people, but at the moment it is absolutely important to churn out Palestinian content to beat the people who are getting paid to suppress their voices.

[aebi12]

"Resentment" - Chapter 5 [AemondxRhaena]

Summary

He is the cause of her sufferings. He took her dragon, her betrothed, and her father. Now, he will also take away her future by having to marry him.

With so much history and bad blood between Rhaena and Aemond, their forced union has everything to fail, except that the proximity will make them discover that perhaps they have more in common than it seems.

AU - the Greens win the war.

Masterlist with previous chapters

Tags: enemies to lovers, romance, angst, drama, eventual smut, hurt/comfort

Please remember that english is not my first language, so I'm sorry for the mistakes...

***

“I am not going”

“But it is an invitation from the prince.”

"Exactly!" Rhaena says emphatically, crumpling the parchment and balling her hands into fists as she begins to walk again, “I can decline it if I wish so”

“Don't you think he'll feel slighted if you do that?” Marianne asks, rushing to stand next to her.

“I don't care if he does,” she says with a shrug.

Rhaena internally reproaches herself for having replied so lackadaisically and making evident her annoyance at the situation to her lady, but she simply sighs as she continues walking. To call an invitation to the words that the kinslayer has written is to be too lenient. The prince has practically demanded her presence, summoning her as if she were one of his servants.

Who does he think he is?

“Is it because of what Lady Blackwood and Lady Redwyne just told us?”

"What?"

“You know…” Marianne seems embarrassed, her cheeks turning red and her gaze unable to meet that of her lady, “About that woman… Alys Rivers”

“I am afraid I do not understand,” Rhaena frowns.

“I mean…” she sighs, “It must have been hard for you knowing that your future husband had a previous affair with a woman.”

Rhaena can't help but let out a giggle that turns into a laugh.

“Oh Marianne, no, no,” she replies, shaking her head and still laughing, “I don't care at all that my cousin had a mistress.”

Her lady's honey eyes widen comically, her expression of disbelief causing Rhaena much tenderness, “How come? I would be devastated if I found out about a scandal of such magnitude."

“You heard the old ladies,” she responds, “It is in a man's nature to have mistresses. Some are simply more… discreet about such matters.”

Her own father, Rhaena thinks, had had different affairs. During her stay in Pentos, even when she was a child, she had not been unaware of the flirtations between the rogue prince and his servants. And then, after his marriage to Rhaenyra, she knew that her father had not remained completely faithful to her stepmother.

“Well, yes, I know,” her lady admits, “But one can always wish that that wasn't the case, don't you think? Wouldn't you like, I don't know, for Prince Aemond to be devoted only to you?”

Rhaena gives a careless giggle, “No, not really. I don't care if the prince has his distractions. Our marriage is merely a political alliance, as you well know, so I have no expectations of any kind in that regard.”

Marianne seems to examine her expression for a few seconds, as if deciding whether or not Rhaena is being completely sincere. “Well, I hope I can find a husband who is totally faithful to me.”

Rhaena can't help but smile and take her lady's hand, caressing it gently, and nodding, “And so you will, I am sure. And I think I know who would be the perfect candidate for such a feat,” without waiting for the other girl to ask, she continues, “My cousin Daeron.”

“Oh no, don't start with this again, please,” Marianne asks, looking around her, as if she were scared that someone had heard Rhaena.

"Why not? I think you two would be a perfect union.”

“You just want to change the subject,” the brunette reproaches.

“Yes, and you will indulge me in that regard,” Rhaena replies. Marianne simply sighs and links her arm to her lady's, “I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll write a letter. If my betrothed can contact me and arrange a meeting through a message, I will do the same with Daeron and ask him to accompany us to the beach.”

"If you insist…"

“I do,” Rhaena nods and then her face widens with a smile, “Come on, let's go to my rooms and order wine and cake.”

***

Her sheets are soaked in sweat.

The next morning, Rhaena wakes up agitated and feverish, her nightgown clinging to her body and the images of the dream - nightmare - she just had still fluttering in her head.

The Gods Eye.

Her father and Caraxes. Falling down. How long has it been since she had that dream?

Years, probably. It had pursued her for several months after learning of Daemon's death, and the girl had managed to drive them away thanks to the relief of a minimal dose of milk of the poppy every night. Why did that dream have to return just now?

Of course, this time, she thinks as she throws back the sheets and sits heavily on the bed rubbing her eyes, the dream had changed. This time, the presence of her cousin and that of a mysterious woman with bewitching eyes had further darkened the atmosphere created in her mind.

Damn those gossip old ladies, mutters under her breath, standing up and calling for her maids. It is because of everything she had been told the previous afternoon that her mind was now punishing her by recreating situations that she had not witnessed and that had not bothered her in a long time.

“Prepare a bath for me, Cyndi, please.”

The maid prepares fills the tub, and Rhaena immediately immerses, closing her eyes and allowing the hot water to relax her muscles and free her mind.

“It was just a dream,” she says to herself quietly, “Just a dream.”

And repeating that, she dresses and spends the morning with Marianne, having breakfast in the gardens and practicing her embroidery. She even visits a couple of court ladies and has lunch with them, chasing away her worries and anxiety that builds as the hours pass.

But it is when her path crosses that of Aemond that her good mood finally fades. Although Rhaena tries to appear indifferent, and although he shows no sign of acknowledging her presence, she can notice his fixed gaze on her from the other end of the room. The girl bites the inside of her lip, suddenly nervous and hurries to leave the place, but the feeling of continuing to be watched persists.

Damn him, she thinks as she walks through the corridors without really paying attention to Lady Rosby's animated chatter, she had to find him precisely today, of all days.

Rhaena sighs and excuses herself to her companion, and makes her way back to her room.

It had been easy, the previous evening, to assure Marianne that she would not be attending the dinner. Only now, after thinking about it properly, she knows better than to simply ignore her betrothed. After all, she is supposed to play the role of a willing bride and, brushing aside the invitation from her future husband, doesn't agree with the role.

Still, she has no desire to spend an evening in the company of Aemond Targaryen. She knows that her cousin is spiteful and a part of her fears what he might do to her if they are alone, especially after the way she had treated him that time in the gardens. Letting out a moan, Rhaena covers her face with her hands.

No. Better not to go. Better to take refuge in the safety of her room.

Although he could come for you, thinks that unfriendly little voice in her head. As impulsive as the prince is, Rhaena doesn't doubt that he might as well send a couple guards to force her to attend the dinner.

He is the king's brother and his hand. He has all the power.

The thought frustrates and bothers her, but she knows there is nothing she can do about such an imbalance of power between the two. At least not yet. Maybe, just maybe... as Lady Jeyne had told her at the Eyrie, she might at some point have enough influence to counteract the prince's. But not now. And it's better, Rhaena knows, to just play along. At least this time.

“There you are,” Marianne's voice brings her out of her thoughts, “I thought we agreed to go to the library together.”

“Yes, well, it will have to be another day,” she responds with a sigh, “I decided to attend the dinner.”

Marianne looks surprised, but she just nods, “I think it is the most sensitive thing to do.” Rhaena doesn't answer, she just shrugs, “Do you want me to help you select your dress and accessories? Maybe we could even do something different with your hair, we still have some time.”

“It won't be necessary. I will just use what I am wearing now”

"But…" The lady frowns, “It is a pretty dress, yes, but this is a dinner with your future husband. Surely the occasion merits something more… elaborate”

“I have no intention of getting dressed specifically for this dinner.”

“But Rhaena!” Marianne looks frustrated, “Let me help you, please…”

“I am not going to make an effort to look good for…” Rhaena stops her words, breathes and gives her a forced smile, “I mean it is a rather informal occasion, what I am wearing now is more than adequate.”

Marianne sighs, “I wish that, for once, you would speak your mind to me”

"I do"

“No, no, you do not. Every time you are going to say something related to the prince, I can tell that you are not being completely sincere. Don't you trust me?” Her lady looks at her with a hurt expression on her face.

“It's not that,” she is quick to respond, although she knows it's just that, “I was only…” Rhaena bites the inside of her lip, a small wound starting to form from having abused the gesture in a while.

Did she trust Marianne? She knew that Alicent had appointed her, but she had proven to be sincere and discreet in these weeks of living together. Besides, Rhaena thinks, there's a certain innocence in her disposition that doesn’t seem fake.

“I don't want to make efforts for him,” she ends up saying, deciding to give her lady in waiting a vote of confidence, “I don't want to think about looking good for him or making him find me attractive.”

“Because you don't love him,” Marianne agrees.

“I could never love him,” she says, her voice harsher than she wishes, “I can barely tolerate his presence.”

“But you are going to marry him…” her lady looks at her with confused eyes.

“What other option do I have? It's not like they asked my opinion on it. And if they had done it, never, ever, Marianne, would I have accepted him to be my husband."

“But maybe… maybe if you give him a chance, the prince won't turn out to be as bad as he seems.”

Rhaena can’t help but laugh bitterly, “There is too much history between us. Even though I only saw him a couple of times before arriving at the Red Keep, Aemond Targaryen ruined my life in many ways.” Rhaena breathes and tries to control herself, but the words come out of her mouth, “He is a kinslayer, he murdered my betrothed, Prince Lucerys. He and his brother killed my grandmother and then he ended my father's life. And there is also the whole thing with Vhagar. My life would have been so much better if he hadn't interfered and taken everything I hold dear from me."

There is a moment of silence in which they simply look at each other, Marianne's expression becoming even more saddened. The lady takes a couple of tentative steps towards Rhaena, sitting next to her and holding her hand.

“I am so sorry, Rhaena. Gods, I am such a fool! I spoke without thinking and didn't even consider the fact that you and the prince were on opposite sides during the war,” she says quietly.

She shakes her head, “It is fine. It's been a long time since that happened."

“That doesn't make it any less painful.”

“No, it doesn't,” Rhaena replies, squeezing her hand and offering her a reassuring little smile, “But I learned to live with that”

There is another moment of silence before Marianne speaks again.

“The prince Lucerys… did you love him?”

No. The answer immediately comes to her mind. She had never loved Lucerys, at least not in the romantic way that her lady was referring to.

“I cared about him,” she replies, “I grew up with him and Luke was… he had a sweet heart. He would have been a good husband. Kind and considerate”

Her life would have been much calmer with Lucerys. She would have continued living near her family, in Driftmark. In her mother's ancestral home, surrounded by her memories, her presence... a lump form in her throat at the thought of this and she breathes deeply, determined not to cry.

"Do you hate him?" asks Marianne, “Prince Aemond, I mean, do you hate him?”

Did she? Rhaena bites her lip and thinks about the contempt she usually feels whenever she is around her cousin. Was that hate?

“I resent him,” she finally responds.

Marianne nods and seems to hesitate before asking, “Do you want me to go to this dinner with you?”

Rhaena looks at her surprised, “What?”

“I don't think it's a good idea for you to be alone with the prince. After everything you've told me, I think he might... might be unpleasant to you."

Rhaena's stomach clenches as she hears her verbalize the fears she herself had recently harbored.

“Would you really go with me?”

“Yes, of course” she nods vehemently, “He'll have to behave if I'm there, next to you, right?”

There is a note of hope in her voice and it is to it that Rhaena clings as she nods and leaves her room with her lady, walking down the long corridors and stairs until they reach the Tower of the Hand.

“He could have chosen a more suitable place,” Marianne murmurs almost breathless after finally reaching the prince's chambers.

Rhaena just smiles at her friend, her own chest rising and falling rapidly. Her lady smiles back and squeezes her hand before walking the last few steps to the double doors where two knights guard the entrance.

“Prince Aemond is waiting for Lady Rhaena,” Marianne says to one of them, who nods to them both and opens the door, announcing their presence.

The two young women enter the large room and Rhaena observes her surroundings feeling curious. There is not much furniture or excessive decorations on the walls, just some Targaryen symbols and a huge fireplace with a lively fire that bathes the room in a warm light. The windows are covered and she can't take in the view, although she assumes it's much better than the one in her room. Rhaena walks towards the table that is already set and the smell of the food almost makes her smile.

Until the figure of her cousin, walking with determined steps from somewhere at the other end of the room, appears.

Aemond Targaryen stops before them and places his hands behind his back, a look of genuine surprise in his good eye. Marianne, next to her, bows and Rhaena simply nods.

“Cousin,” the prince greets in his usual tone of voice between bored and annoyed, “And…”

“Marianne Westerling,” Rhaena says, introducing them, “My lady-in-waiting.”

A haughty little smile appears on the prince's face, “Lady Westerling, of course. Well, you can leave now. I want to have dinner alone with my betrothed."

“My prince, I…”

“You heard me, leave.”

“Marianne is not leaving,” Rhaena replies, frowning, “It would not be appropriate for us to dine alone, we are not married yet, so she will be my companion tonight.”

“That's right, my prince, I will act as chaperone. Surely Queen Alicent…”

“My mother is aware of my invitation,” Aemond cuts her off again, “And fear not, Lady Westerling, your ladyship's virtue is in no danger.”

His last comment is delivered with such disdain that Rhaena can't help but feel offended, her cheeks reddening violently from the rage she feels at hearing the mockery in Aemond's voice.

“I don't like to repeat myself, leave us alone,” the prince fixes his good eye on her lady-in-waiting, whom Rhaena feels tense next to her.

"My lady?" Marianne turns to her, looking at Rhaena with clear nervousness, her hands trembling.

Rhaena looks at her friend, and then at her cousin, who frowns and raises his eyebrows, as if daring her to oppose his order. The girl clenches her hands into fists, pressing her nails against her palms, and looks back at Marianne, offering her a little smile that doesn't reach her eyes, “It is fine, Marianne, you can go.”

The young woman nods and bows to both of them before leaving the room.

“There was no need to be so rude to my lady.”

“There was no need to bring her here in the first place,” he retorts, and adds, “And I seem to remember telling you to refer to me as my prince, my…”

“Lord or Prince Aemond, yes, right,” Rhaena interrupts, “Well, I am here. Is there anything you wish to discuss with me, my lord?” she asks, mentioning the last part almost under her breath.

Aemond watches her for a few long seconds, as if he were internally debating whether or not to respond to what he considers clear insolence on her part. In the end, he simply turns his back on her and walks over to the table.

"Sit. We'll eat and then I'll let you know why you are here."

He doesn't wait for Rhaena to take her place, but rather he motions to a servant, who appears out of nowhere to help him move the chair and settle into it. Rhaena stops herself from rolling her eyes and takes her place at the table, across from him.

“Pour us wine and then leave,” he orders the servant, who hurries to comply, filling both of their glasses with a drink that emanates a delicious sweet smell.

Once they are alone, it is obvious that the prince has no intention at the moment other than focusing on his dinner, as he fills his plate with a portion of the pheasant and vegetables that have been placed on the table. As Aemond begins to eat, Rhaena sighs and decides to do the same. The truth is that she is really hungry, having not properly enjoyed her lunch feeling to nervous about the prospects of that night.

And now you are here, she thinks as she cuts a piece of the soft meat, Dining with the kinslayer.

Despite the apparent calm, there is tension in the atmosphere, the room enveloped in an uncomfortable silence that is only broken by the eventual sound of cutlery and the fire in the fireplace.

It had been good, Rhaena thinks as she watches her cousin drink his glass of wine out of the corner of her eye, to have released to Marianne what she had kept in her chest for a long time. For years she had simply endured every blow that life had thrown in her direction, having no one to complain to, unable to lament her fate except alone. Not even at the Eyrie had she been able to speak so openly to Lady Jeyne. She didn't like being the object of anyone's pity, she preferred to try to put aside the losses of her past and focus on the positive of the present, of the good things that surely waited for her later. Clearly, that was not an option in the Red Keep. While she had been able to hope for a happy future in the Vale, here she could only resign herself to the life that had been chosen for her. And although she convincingly disguised her unease, it was clear that it had been building up inside her. And it had been better to let Marianne listen to her rather than, for example, losing her temper again in front of her husband-to-be.

Rhaena shakes her head and focuses back on her food, enjoying the savory seasoning of the meat, drinking the wine that she finds as exquisite as it smells. When she has finished her plate, she delicately wipes the corners of her mouth and looks once again at her cousin, who is still eating.

After a couple of minutes, however, she begins to feel anxious again. Why does it take so long for him to finish his dinner? Is he doing it to anger her? She didn't doubt that would be the case. And, furthermore, what does he want to talk to her about? Rhaena had been dreading spending hours at his side so much, that she had not thought about what his reason would be for summoning her to his private chambers. He certainly wasn't looking to befriend her or get to know her better, not when he had spent weeks simply ignoring her and not even making a kind gesture toward her. No, Rhaena doubted that was the reason. Also, based on his statements from a while ago, he was not seeking to be intimate with her either.

Thinking about that possibility, Rhaena can't help but blush again, her eyes instinctively landing on her cousin, who – as per usual - looks tremendously stoic and imperturbable, an expression of cold serenity on his face that irritates her.

How could a man like him have lost his mind to a witch of the forest? The impertinent question suddenly appears in her mind, surprising her, but at the same time awakening her curiosity as she remembers everything she had heard the previous afternoon. How is it that this Aemond Targaryen, who looks as cold as the northern snow, had practically abandoned his family to live a love affair with a low-born woman? He, who didn't seem to have any consideration for anyone, who seemed to think that everyone was inferior to him... Could it be that his love for her had been so strong that he had been able to overcome every prejudice? Had Alys Rivers seen a more… warmer side of him? That idea seems improbable to her.

And what had that Alys person been like? How had she invited the man who had slaughter her family into her bed? And more importantly, what had she seen in him? Rhaena frowns and takes a sip from her glass of wine as her eyes look at her cousin, trying to unravel the mystery of what that woman might have found attractive about Aemond Targaryen.

If she was objective, she assumed that the prince was not unpleasant to look at, his Valyrian features giving him that alluring aspect that most of the kingdom considered special. And then there was the poise and confidence with which he carried himself and that aura of mystery and seriousness that he exuded. That probably attracted the ladies too. Not that it worked on her, of course. To her, the presence of her cousin only seemed violent and exasperating.

He may be an attractive man, she thinks, but it only takes a moment in his presence for that to not be enough.

“Stop looking at me”

Aemond's voice jolts her out of her thoughts, her violet eyes meeting the sapphire blue of her cousin's.

“I wasn't looking at you,” she lies, breaking eye contact and bringing the wine glass to her lips.

“Yes, yes you were.”

“No, I was not”

 “Mmm”

Rhaena shifts uncomfortably in her chair, “Are you done with your dinner yet? I would prefer not to extend our evening any longer than necessary.”

Aemond does not respond, but rather he stands up surprisingly and for a moment, the girl is sure that he will approach her with less than gentle intentions. Her cousin, however, turns his back on her, and heads towards the other room where he had appeared. Rhaena breathes a sigh of relief and stands as well, smoothing the folds of her dress and nervously toying with the strands of her hair.

Barely a minute later the sound of boots on the tiles alerts her of the return of her cousin, who walks directly towards her, extending a couple of books in her direction.

"Here. Take these to your room and read them”

Rhaena blinks several times, genuinely surprised by what she just heard. Books? Is her cousin giving her books? When he makes an annoyed noise with his mouth, she realizes that he still has his arm extended toward her.

“To what purpose?” she asks, finally picking up both volumes and reading the titles, “These are books about the Faith.”

“You will attend and participate in the celebrations for the Mother Festival,” Aemond agrees and adds, “With me.”

Rhaena can't help but giggle, “Thank you, but I have no interest in taking part in religious celebrations, much less by your side.”

“I didn't ask you if you wanted to participate or not, I'm just letting you know you will,” he replies dryly as he takes a step closer, glaring at her. “Do you think I want to spend more than the necessary time with you?”

“Then why insist that I accompany you?”

“Because it is our duty,” he responds simply as if that settles the matter, “We will do what is expected of us and I will not tolerate any more insolence from you, Rhaena.”

A chill that manages to gives her goosebumps runs through her body when she hears him say her name for the first time and in that threatening tone of his voice.

“Do you enjoy being so infuriating all the time?” The question escapes her lips almost in a whisper, her eyes again meeting the prince's.

“Almost as much as you enjoy strutting around Court, I imagine,” he replies with a cold, sideways smile.

"I don't…"

“I don't care,” he cuts her off, “Read the books and don't embarrass me during the Festival or I assure you that you will regret it dearly”

______________________________________________________

Please let me know what you think! And if you would like to maybe be tag in the next chapters :)

@ammo23 @qyburnsghost @niocel @ithoughtulikedme @avidreader73

Read in AO3

[nanistar]

How did you go about making your story Saltburn's Clan? I really love how fleshed out and interconnected things are, it's really good! I want to make my own story, too, but I'm struggling to know what steps to take to get there and where to start. So, how did you go about it?

this one is really hard. i get a decent amount of people asking me how to start/how to write a comic, but never how to start/write a story.

truthfully, i don't really know. i have always been a more oc oriented person rather than fandom oriented. when i was in middle school i tried writing fanfiction but was never as attached to the canon character as i was with ocs. now oc x canon, however, i could roll with. all this to say, i have always had oc stories floating around in my head, so starting a story itself is easy for me. following through is not, i have to really hit a vein early on.

so when it comes to story, what do you like? i like 70s and 80s grungy sci-fi and gory/campy horror (alien, event horizon, the thing, evil dead) niche and hostile biomes with highly adapted creatures (like deep sea or deep desert) and i love specbio, even if i'm far from an actual scientist. i also love bastardizing Christianity because the themes and motifs are. (chef kiss) Delicious. (a lot of these inspirations don't come into play for SBC but since i was 15 or so i've been working on another story, starting the comic, cancelling it, rewriting it, completely wiping everything but the core characters. most of these themes are more appropriate for them)

and what sort of character tropes do you like/don't like? i personally am uninterested in writing stories of younger people discovering the world around them and discovering who they are. i love to read them, but i've already lived through that situation and don't want to have to work through it again. another thing i'm personally bad at writing is will they/wont they romance stuff. that's why i like established adult characters with established relationships. Saltburn and hollowspur are both 5 years old and have been dating for about 4 of those years. we know that they love each other, as they visit and play around, and sleep over often, but we also know that they are independent and self-sufficient without each othersince we know that they live apart and have no interest in moving in together. (this is all shown, not told, in chapter 1) i did not start saltburn's story and setting with the intention of making it into a comic, or even to share it with tumblr or anyone other than my friends, outside of drawings that i did for myself and posted. she was just a little kitty cat who lived in my head for a while. i talk a bit more about it here, but basically when it came to actually coming up with the setting, i knew i wanted it in the desert so i researched biomes and found ones that would be good for clans.

warrior cats in particular lends itself to a really good jumping off point for stories, as it already has an established hierarchy and society so you dont have to think TOO hard about it. but also you can modify it to your own discretion. i'm personally sick of starclan's interference so i didn't want them to have anything to do with the story, plus there are a lot of better "starclan is evil/fucked up/has bad intentions" stories out there than i could do (@the-exiled-comic, the dog star, ect) . i also didnt want any clan v clan drama because weve had enough in canon. from there i established that cross clan relationships are fine and joining a clan that fits you better is okay too. then i filled out the clans, i started with sunclan and did marshclan last. through drawing that huge list of characters i was able to set them up with families and histories along the way because i could look at similar coat patterns and stuff and assign them as family. briskwater and hollowspur were always siblings, but hawkwasp being from briskwater's litter came a bit later. i knew i wanted flickerstar to have exes and a lot of kids so i came up with a bunch of names first and figured the rest out later. having these established histories that go back helps make the world feel lived in.

saltburn's unusual design came before the creation of moonclan, though i knew i wanted a 4th clan at this point. i decided there would be a clan that lived in the mines and came out at night, and then eventually worked them back so that they were instead banished away deep into the mines. there is a lot of moonclan lore that i have not revealed yet (we will learn all about them this upcoming chapter) and most of it has stemmed from the question: If life is so bad for them down there, why hasn't anyone left yet? because a major plot point form moonclan is that nobody knows they exist. SO there has to be something, physical or otherwise, keeping them down there. when you build a world you gotta ask yourself WHY a lot, and figure that out too. why are the surface clans so friendly with each other? because they don't need to compete for resources and are able to spare some. why hasn't anyone left moonclan? well...

anyway a lot of these things will come naturally the more you think about it. and tbqh, i did not go into the comic with all this lore and stuff planned. it has come to me as i work. moonclan's [Redacted] has been rewritten like a dozen times as i come up with cooler ideas. when i plan a scene, i usually wrote a short kinda vague script for it, and then work through it as i do the pages. an 8 page scene takes a month to do, so I have a lot of time to mull over the dialogue, so i don't worry about writing it all down ahead of time.

but beyond all that. i personally can't go "i want to write a story" and then do it. i have to work it over in my head and as doodles for a long time before i get anywhere that i'm happy with it. it comes naturally to me i just sorta zone in and focus on stuff.

[sing-you-fools]

you mentioned your character sheet having the fields "what kind of story do they think they're in" and "what role do they think they're playing in it"

i think this is awesome!

what else is on your character sheet?

oh my gosh. i was in the middle of answering this when i went to check something and clicked a link without realizing it was a tumblr link. it's gone. and. well. i'm sure you were not expecting as MUCH answer as i was putting there, anyway, so maybe it's for the best.

my character and worldbuilding sheets have an unhinged level of detail, because i use them not as a "fill this whole thing out before you get started" tool but as an "organize the information you include and thoughts you have so you can reference them later" tool, because (1) audhd and (2) i'm hoping the book i'm working on is the first in a huge expansive world that i'll still be playing in when i'm 70.

the character sheet is broken down into Basics, Role in the Story, Appearance, Communication, Backstory, Family,* Relationships, Personality and Psychology, Just for Fun, and Other (which is just a spot for if i need it, it doesn’t have any questions or prompts). and each of those has a ton of questions (except Other, as established in the previous parenthetical aside).

it's hard to say what i have in there that's the most important, or my favorite, or whatever, because it all depends very much on the character's answer. for example, most of my characters don't think they're in a story at all, they would say "this is my real life what are you talking about i'm not playing a role i'm trying to get to tomorrow," which means the questions you mentioned aren't all that fun for them, but they become very fun for a couple i'm writing, because Nat thinks he's living his best gay musical romcom life and Zari is convinced down to his bones that he's a lead in a deeply tragic romance - in reality, they're more like Merry and Pippin, and if they'd stop for a brief reality check maybe they'd reconsider picking up the Palantir.

these questions fall under "Role in the Story," which also contains fun gems like: personal goal, interpersonal goal, and team goals, because i get annoyed at character sheets that act like people just have one goal. and the full list of D&D skills and sets, even though i've never played D&D, because they seem useful. it also has "how much do they know about what's happening?" and "are they having a good time?" as some more example questions.

i have a lot in the sheet that would probably seem repetitive, but having similar questions in different categories means i think about them differently. i have "health" under Basics, for example, and that means if someone's using a cane it'll probably get mentioned there. but i also have "medical devices and mobility aids" under Appearance, because it tells me one thing that House has a bad leg because of muscle death and uses a cane, and another thing that the cane has flames up it and a skull handle and he uses it wrong. (if i'm misremembering House's cane please don't come for me it's been over a decade since i saw an episode of that show he's just still the most recognizable character i could think of with a mobility aid which is kind of sad)

possibly my favorite part of my character builder is this:

a cartoon by Tom Gauld (@myjetpack). it's right in the middle of my "personality and psychology" section. it's important for me to define what my characters do and don't know about because otherwise i end up with them knowing everything, and that's so boring. this comic just perfectly broke it down for my brain, so i plopped it in.

and a lot of my favorite questions focus on the contradictions and tensions and perception gaps inherent in being a person. what do they hate about the people they love, or love about the people they hate? what do they bring to their relationships, and what do they think they bring? what do strangers/authority figures/children/etc think of them, and what do they think people think of them? what's their biggest flaw and what do they think is their biggest flaw?

i could honestly go on forever about these; in fact i think this is still shorter than my answer that got deleted. so i'm going to cut myself off, but i'm happy to share more about them, and someday i may even post them for anyone else who might want them. i want to use them a bit first, though, to see what can be fine-tuned. in addition to character sheets, i've got sheets for Setting, Species, Religion, Nation, Magic System, Subculture (any group smaller than religion/nation/species that might have its own culture), and Scene (less worldbuilding, more to keep the details and goal of a scene straight in my own head, but still). these are all significantly less detailed than the Character one, but significantly more detailed than any one site i could find included when i was searching. and all my sheets, questions and prompts are gathered and compiled from all over the internet; i would not be able to provide sources because i did not bother to record them.

[ladyelainehilfur]

Yay!! I'm happy to see an Odd Girl Out reader who analyzes the story and really understands the characters (I read your blog post about your fave webtoons). How are you feeling about the hate Seungha is receiving? Many comments under each episode are about Chanyang being the best one for Nari and how Seungha is awful and how they'll drop the story if Chanyang x Nari aren't endgame. The way Morangg is writing Seungha's story saddens me not just because it is a sad story but because the author is incredible in fleshing him out, giving him so much development since the very beginning of season two, but the readers are too caught up on how he broke Nari's heart, refusing to see that Seungha is depressed and suffering just as much. So many shippers are focused on the romance and not the depth of the characters.

first: super sorry for answering this so late. I'm really glad to hear you enjoy reading me ranting about the comics I read :P

I believe the hate Seungha's receiving is from people who strongly relate to Nari and take her heartbreak as theirs. Seungha was in the wrong for refusing to communicate with Nari about his problems, but if Chanyang did the same thing, he might be disliked as well. People just don't like to think a guy they're in a good relationship with will turn on them for any reason, even if the reason is good.

Personally, I do prefer Seungha and Nari be endgame. As far as depth of character, Nari is much more suited to Seungha than Chanyang. We're experiencing Chanyang's backstory right now in the Korean updates, and while he's just as fleshed out as Seungha, his reasons for liking Nari still ring hollow in comparison to Seungha's. They both find her attractive, but like I've stated before, Nari is literally everything to Chanyang. His motivation, his happiness, his reason for living. It's not healthy and I don't want Nari to feel responsible for his growth as a person. He plants himself in various places in her life and some readers don't see that as problematic because his intention is romantic. Chanyang skipping school and running around the city to find her bookbag did display an admirable commitment, but also...that's crazy. Reckless displays of affection can be good, but he did it without thinking. Nari has that kind of influence over him, and that's just not it. I still like him as a character, because he does have a certain simple charm and humor about him, but he's simply not cut out to be a good long-term partner for her.

On the other hand, Seungha's brief time dating Nari without being her boyfriend showed how well they work together as a pair. I've heard people say they had to separate because Nari needed to come into her own as a student leader, and I don't disagree. She hadn't necessarily become reliant on him, but it did truly hurt her when she could no longer depend on him.

I think a lot of readers misinterpreted his decision to team up with Yurim. Admittedly, the optics of running for president against Nari while teamed up with her enemy were horrible. At that point, Seungha's main goal was to become the school president so his dad would "want" him and consider him as good as a biological son. He disregarded Nari's history with Yurim to achieve his goal because he felt had no other choice. He didn't know his parents would love him either way. His arc of coming out with the fact Yunha had been abusing him, and spending time away from his family to find and recenter himself was long. He didn't think Nari would stick around, and he didn't want to drag her through it anyway, so he wrongfully pushed her away instead of confiding in her.

Neither Chanyang nor Seungha are good at talking about their problems and feelings. Chanyang will make drastic decisions to solve his problems without telling the people he should so they're not in the dark, and Seungha does more or less the same. It's too bad that communication is Nari's main pull, because she does NOT like having to play detective. Chanyang could be dating Nari right now if he just told her about his messy family history, and I'm pretty sure she and Seungha would be half way to married if he'd just spilled about the abuse. Yunha would no longer be with us, but it would be a small price to pay.

However, it doesn't erase the good that happened when she and Seungha were on the same page. He met her where she was, he listened to her problems, and he supported her in the PR department when no one else did. He didn't blindly agree with everything she said, and in fact, he often challenged her. When she ignored him due to social pressure, he didn't let his feelings cloud his judgement or let that pressure get between their friendship. Like, when that man wants to fight for something or someone, he fights. He's not currently in the position to impose his feelings upon Nari, and he's not trying to, but they've made up in what has to be one of the cutest, goofiest ways I've seen a pair of characters perfectly suited for each other make up. (Spoiler: they both cried with each other).

I'm not sure what the author's intentions are with either Chanyang or Seungha at this point, but I've got a feeling this upcoming school festival arc is going to play a big role in determining who ends up with who. Nari slowly learning about Chanyang is leading up to something, as well as Seungha openly giving her full control of the organizational committee despite being school president. To me, the willingness to support Nari as a leader, while being a leader himself displays every reason why Seungha should be endgame. Neither of them consider each other above or below each other--they're equal partners.

I'm all for Nari putting herself first and deciding not to date anyone, but I hope she gives turtle-candy-loving, competitive-af, meticulous-date-planning, sometimes-cringe-fail Seungha a chance. I also hope she gathers enough information to give Chanyang a definitive, final answer concerning their relationship.

[sage-nebula]

if you could change ONE thing about sonic canon, what would it be and why?

Just one? Just one??? Hhhhhhh . . .

My first instinct is to say "fix how badly Tails was treated between Adventure 2 and Frontiers", because god, Ian Flynn was not lying when he said Tails was done dirty for the past twenty years. Yeah, he got to show up in a lot of games—but that doesn't mean a whole lot when his appearances in those games aren't good! But Frontiers makes it clear that Sega is at least aware of the problem and they seem open to letting Ian fix it. So while it has been so fucking suffering to be a Tails fan for the past two decades, I'm going to take comfort in the fact that he's treated really well in the IDW comics and hope that the games moving forward actually move forward, instead of backward. You never know with Sega, but I will cross my fingers on this one. If they let Ian write future games, then I have faith it'll be done well.

So since that isn't my answer, I'm going to say . . . take romance off the table for Sonic, period, forever, in every capacity, both in terms of "he has feelings for [character]" and "[character] has feelings for him."

First, Sonic being aroace is really important to me, as you already know. So taking romance off the table for him fixes that because he stands as aroace rep if he's not in any romances.

Second, I don't think these games gain anything by having romance subplots in them. These games are about adventure, friendship, and environmentalism. We don't need romance in there, too. It adds nothing, and if anything it just causes needless ship wank in the fandom.

Third, I think that the romance thing has only ever hurt Amy's character. Before anyone gets it twisted, there's nothing wrong with a female character having a romance story. It's straw feminism to say that female characters shouldn't get to have romances. But in this specific case I think that Amy having a crush on Sonic has only ever been detrimental to her character, for the following reasons:

— Amy was created because Sonic Team wanted Sonic to have a love interest. However, they also knew that it would be antithetical to his character to be in a committed relationship. Therefore, they created Amy to have a crush on him that wouldn't be reciprocated, which to be honest just feels mean-spirited. Like, first of all, it's not great to create a character of any gender solely to be a love interest. But also, to create a character to be a love interest but then they can never actually be that because the object of their affection doesn't return those feelings? Dude. It just feels mean! I know it's not that deep on their end, but still. It just makes you feel bad for her.

— The way Amy's crush was written in the late 90s / aughts was just . . . yikes. It sucks, because Amy had a lot of otherwise great moments in games like Adventure, Adventure 2, and Heroes. Make no mistake: had Amy not talked to Shadow on the ARK, he would not have helped and the world would have been doomed. Amy Rose saved the world. But that's overshadowed in the minds of many (especially casual players) by the way she harasses Sonic and tries to pressure him / force him to return her feelings. I know you and I disagree on this, but in my opinion it doesn't matter if he has celebrity status or that he's a little older—that kind of behavior is still wrong, because celebrities and older kids are still people, too. If Amy was my 12yo little sister, I'd tell her (kindly!) that she needed to knock it off. Glomping Sonic when he doesn't want to be glomped, basically telling him in Heroes that he's got no choice but to marry her if she beats him in a fight . . . again, she has PLENTY of other great moments in those games, but that gets overshadowed by how awfully her crush on Sonic was portrayed in them. It sucks.

(It especially sucks because I have a feeling it was written that way because "teehee girls can't actually be threatening :)" as happened in a LOT of anime that came around that time. Which, no, I don't think anything she did caused Sonic any lasting harm and she never would actually hurt him on purpose, slapstick humor aside—but still, "girls are so silly they can't be threatening :)" is still sexism just under a different brand and I hate it.)

— While the writing re: Amy's crush has gotten a LOT better over time (it's handled really well in IDW for example, where it's clear she still has a huge crush on him but also has ZERO desire to tie him down and is happy just to be his friend), in the games it's clear that Sega still thinks of her as just "Girl With Crush On Sonic" and as such they don't really know what to do with her. Granted, she's not the only character they don't know what to do with (again, Tails has suffered so much), but because Amy's entire conception was "Girl Who Has Crush On Sonic" it's pretty evident that Sonic Team doesn't really have any ideas of what else to do with her. But if that element was removed, they'd have to figure it out—which I mean, they should be able to do anyway, but it's clear they can't. Thank goodness the writers over at IDW can, sheesh. (And I do think that Ian did the best with what he was given in Frontiers, but compare how focused Tails' and Knuckles' goals are, versus Amy's. It makes sense that Amy wants to just go around helping people find love, but at the same time it's such a broad and unfocused goal that it's like . . . yeah, Sonic Team was like "girl = love lol" and called it a day.)

I could probably go on but this is an essay in and of itself, lol. Again, for anyone who skimmed, there's nothing wrong with a female character having a romance subplot and I do think that Amy's crush has been handled a LOT better since the aughts. IDW Issue 2, where she had her, "that's just what I love about you, I can't change you, I don't WANT to change you!" moment with Sonic was wonderful, and they've had many other great moments in the comics, too. But overall I think that Amy has been done a great disservice largely in part because Sega just sees her as Sonic's Love Interest™ (whose feelings he now reciprocates but won't act on), and I just think she would be better off if I could build a time machine and go back in time so that by the time Adventure rolls around she was able to stand on her own two feet as just another friend, rather than someone who is tied to a romance subplot that's never going to go anywhere anyway.

[twofrogshugging]

more thoughts on the Newsweek article: https://www.newsweek.com/black-panther-wakanda-forever-deleted-scenes-namor-shuri-chadwick-boseman-1762632

The final cut of the movie made Namor look like a total SIMP, even though it was intended to be a two-way street of Shuri leaning into the relationship with flirtation. In the end, we just got Namor who looks completely down bad for Shuri, which is comic-verse on brand, but also hilarious bc now Tenoch Huerta is the one having to answer about his character's actions.

It now makes sense why Tenoch gave the answer he did because he was working with one script initially and then the edits came in and his romantic portrayal was now framed in a very, very different light.

Still - I love the validation all of us are feeling knowing that everything was I N T E N T I O N A L. And instead of us projecting shit out of nowhere, the editors were doing the best they can to tone it down, yet it still slipped out.

I know the community is feeling a lil robbed now, but I'm gonna give the Marvel team one chance to make it right by RELEASING THE DELETED SCENES!! or at least giving us the OG 4-hour script, pleaseeee

But also - as I discussed in an earlier reblog, I don't think regular viewers would have taken kindly to a movie that simultaneously covers, grief, romance, and revenge. The regular audience of Marvel movies are just not ready for all those things happening simultaneously, and I'm happy the writing team focused on doing only two of the three really, really well. All these interviews just confirm that romance was, and definitely can still be, in the cards and I'm so excited for it.

[fairyroses]

Um Hi, So I'm super late to the party when it comes to shipping Brainy and Kara but I really enjoyed your writing and was hoping you could recommend some stuff if you don't mind, please? Even the actual comics if you know which have them romantically involved? Again, really loved your works and hope to see more. Thank you. :)

Hi!! Welcome to the ship! And aw, thanks, I'm glad you liked my writing! I'm sorry there isn't more of it - I'm really bad at finishing things. 😩

But hmm, okay, Karadox recs. I have a few things in mind. This is going to get kinda long, so I'm just gonna put the rest under a cut, I think...

Okay! If you're looking for fics, @cyclone-rachel has written a lot of great stuff for Kara and Brainy (mostly the CW versions). I'm sure Rachel can recommend some more fic writers, too.

If you're looking for comics, I'd suggest Supergirl Annual #2 (2010) as a nice (mostly) one-off comic that focuses on the beginning of their relationship. Also Supergirl (2005) #52, which is technically part of a larger "Last Stand of New Krypton" arc, but I suppose it can be read on its own, and it has a lot of great Karadox stuff.

There are also some comics that you might not expect to have good Karadox content in them that actually do, such as the Legion of Super-Heroes/Bugs Bunny Special (2017) and the "Sugar & Spike" story from Legends of Tomorrow (2016) #6. You can also read the "House of Kent" arc in Action Comics (2016) #1022-#1028 if you want, because Kara and Brainy are both featured in most of those issues. They don't interact as much as I personally would've liked, but they have some nice moments, and there was definitely some romantic setup happening towards the end.

Supergirl & the Legion of Super-Heroes (2006) is another option, but be warned that Kara and Brainy are NOT romantically involved in that version of the Legion (Brainy was paired up with Dream Girl's ghost instead... it was a whole thing) so their dynamic isn't as good as it normally is. But they do at least interact a lot.

Honestly, the majority of Kara and Brainy's comic romance took place before Crisis on Infinite Earths (meaning pre-1985), and I haven't actually read most of those older comics yet, just bits and pieces here and there. Someone like @supergirltastic would be a much better person to ask for those specific comic recommendations.

Oh! You should also DEFINITELY watch the new Legion of Super-Heroes animated movie if you haven't yet! It's basically Karadox: The Movie™ lol, it was a lot of fun and had fantastic writing for both of them. Unfortunately it's not on HBO Max yet though, so to watch it you'll either have to buy/rent it or, uh, y'know... 🏴‍☠️

And make sure you watch the "Far From Home" episode of Justice League Unlimited (season 3, episode 10) too! It's basically a 20-minute speed-run of Kara and Brainy's relationship and it's veryyy cute. (It's also one of the only stories I can think of that gives them a happy ending.)

Anyway, that's all I've got for now! I hope this was helpful!! I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff, but in my defense it's almost 2 AM right now lol.

If anyone else has other Karadox things to rec, feel free to add on to this!

[alltimefail-sims]

Do you have any tips for getting into/making sims stories? (Idk what to call them lol, but like your strangersville story), and tips for taking posed screenshots because I’m struggling-

Hello, friend! 🤗

I am so genuinely flattered that you would ask me for advice. I'll admit, I've only been officially on simblr for a little over a year and I'm just getting a groove in posting, so I'm still learning about the storytelling format and posing aspect, too. Here are some really great posts that helped me:

@seaslugsims: Storytelling Resources Part 1

and Storytelling Resources Part 2

Storytelling Tips and Tricks thread started by @citylighten (Check the reblogs on this one - so many amazing, experienced creators have weighed in on their personal tips and tricks)

I hate posing sims, but I've found that it just takes practice and patience. @ts4-poses is a great resource blog for finding poses because it is organized into categories, making finding a specific pose less overwhelming. Put all the sims you need for a story post in the same household so you have full control of them all. Ravasheen's ISO Camera for in-game photos is what dreams are made of because the photos always come out perfect and no one has to be behind the camera to take the picture. When taking photos using the tab key, take them from multiple angles so you have a lot of options when editing your posts.

I also would say don't be afraid to just keep asking for advice! If you see a post you like, don't be afraid to ask someone how they did it! I've learned so much just by going to creators like "Hey, this post you made was so great... what editing do you use? Do you use a reshade/gshade shader? Do you resize photos?" You can learn a lot from others, and over time with practice (and a lot of trial and error) you will gain your footing and develop a style of your own!

Now, onto where I have personal experience: getting into stories and making stories! For me personally, a good story is all about characters and world building. Because simblr stories give you an opportunity to show varying perspectives and focus on more than one character's viewpoint (kind of like a comic or TV show), you can best take advantage of that by writing in-depth characters you love (or love to hate, lol). Knowing the setting and how the characters fit into that setting is really the backbone of any good story, and if you care about the details and you care about those characters, your audience will feel that! Also knowing what you like to write helps, too! I like sci-fi, fantasy, and coming of age; I like mysteries and love stories are my lifeblood (I'm a hopeless romantic); and I am a sucker for a good found family trope... so that's what I write! You'll never catch me writing horror stories full of loss, or adult romance stories, nor am I gonna pop out a teen drama (yk like Degrassi-esque or Disney Channel) or something cutting-edge/dark/with a strong visual aesthetic (like Euphoria) because I know that's not my thing (and editing is not my strength - I would HATE spending hours editing posts where some others might love that part of the process. I don't write or create something because I think it will be popular or on-trend or garner viewership (even though wanting validation is not a bad thing imo) I just create to create. I create using my strengths first, and I would recommend you write to your strengths and don't feel like you have to rush the process.

My biggest piece of advice is that if you have a story to tell, tell it! Trust me, someone (or a lot of someones) will love it. You may only get a few views at first, or it may take off right from the jump, but regardless your story is worth telling. Start by just opening a google doc and jotting down ideas as they come to you until one sticks. Don't be afraid to shelf what doesn't work or what you're not feeling any more. My Strangerville story was not my first venture on simblr, but it is the only one I have loved enough to keep up with.

Lastly, please let me know when you do put your story out there. You've already got one fan!!! 📣💕