#and i cannot write a coherent plot for the life of me

[somer-writes]

I’m begging you, please go take one of those typing speed tests and get back to us. To get down 2k in 15 minutes you’d have to be able to type around 133 wpm. And then you do that while also having a coherent story? I can get down about 2k in an hour if the words are really flowing, and my typing speed is already 90-100 wpm when I’m pushing myself, but I have to stop and think about where my story is going, interactions, etc. Fo you even like stop and think, or does the Muse seize you and you just go?

theyre so stressful D: i got 61 on a 1 min test i found online. I only clocked that 2k during a NaNo sprint where a prize was at stake so i consider it an outlier XD

my mother was a very strict typist. i still dont type "properly" bc small hands/ambidextrous means i keep my hands positioned differently on the keyboard. have you heard of that alternate keyboard format thats supposed to increase wpm?? instead of qwerty its like durty or something??

i do not think just write XD my brain makes moving pictures and then i put those pictures on paper (or try to). i dont go back and edit until im cleaning up after i already have the ideas down. that includes moving stuff around or thinking things out to the next step.

best advice i heard which i live by is think of the next step, not the next gap and i write that way too. i just word vomit and sometimes it turns out okay.

personally i do think my quality suffers as compared to other lovely writers such as yourself but comparison is the thief of joy so i try not to do that.

[luigifan1998]

Hey idk where u manifested from but i love ur blog and i love u. Ur writing for wife hc’s left me devastated, 1,000% agree with all of it. That man is a fucking mess who wants to crawl under ur skin and it’s so sexy.

Thought I’d love for you to entertain: College Lu pining over u, the prettiest girl in one of his lecture hall classes. Him being so pathetically down bad for you he’s stalking ur social media desperately to find out more about u as a person, trying to see what direction ur off to after class, looking for u all around campus. Not knowing ur going insane doing the exact same thing in regards to him, because i am also willing to die on the hill that this man NEEDS to feel intoxicated off a mysterious gorgeous deviant mentally ill girl he’s plotting to speak to any day now.

this is so sweeeeet smooches you

you get the vision. growing up in such a prestigious family, an italian one at that, has instilled a fatal flaw within him. hes a morbid longer. source: trust me

morbidly longing for something he cannot find, did not find in high school, failed to access in college, could not obtain in maryland, hawaii, japan. hes soooo "its not a metaphor, this ache". much of his life has been about perfection and following rigid societal practices. he wants something disgusting and consuming and nauseatingly complex. my sweet im your man by mitski boy

in regards to the second part, his infatuation for you is anything but cathartic. hes losing sleep, losing focus. he cannot string a coherent thought together, much less engage in banter with his social circle. he pulls back and into the recesses of his mind that allow the perverse nature of his adoration to overtake him. his friends are relieved, assuming hes finally succumbed to the exhaustion from making himself available to everyone. theyre happy he can find rest. they dont know that the nauseating and near animalistic drive to check your internet presence is something hes sodden with shame over. he feels like a fraud for writing about the importance of divorcing ones self from the modern cellular device. despite it, the practice of poised fingers as to not alert you of his invisible attendance is something his resilience in the protest of social media has become soft to. knowing its wrong, pathetic, inappropriate, he feels like he has to punish himself in some way. in the ever-rare moments he finds himself alone, he touches himself and he doesn't allow for completion. invites the pressure build within, increased sensitivity and a gnawing desperation for release. he doesnt let himself be reduced to the inability to control himself from spilling into his cupped hand and down his cotton briefs until hes seen you in real life. a gift to himself. walking to class, talking to a mutual friend, swaying back and forth as you wait in line in the dining hall. this reverence is not sustainable without more give, and he is wearing like loved linens

hiding the way you feel for him is, in many ways, easier. you escape into buildings for majors you have never heard of when you spot him walking in your direction. you cherish the blessing of being able to use your hair as a curtain in which to protect yourself from the prospect of being perceived when in close proximity to him through your mutual friends congregating sporadically throughout the campus. you blame various ailments for reasons as to why you cannot go to gatherings you had previously agreed to attending. its heavy, this curse of needing. you want to drop to your knees and crawl to him, taking his fingers into your mouth and letting the love-conditional curse break, but you dont. cant. wont let it. it feels too good to have this private affliction be something you own. darkness on a leash, locked into a tower only you have access to. when nobody knows how you feel, not even him, he can be yours

[writing-with-sophia]

Writing a novel: Step by step

Most writers aspire to publish at least one book in their lifetime, but writing a novel is not easy. From new writers to experienced writers who have published hundreds of books, everyone must follow a step-by-step process to create their work. These steps are based on the wisdom of famous writers, so while they may not be entirely definitive, they will certainly be helpful to you.

Step 1: Generate ideas

Start by generating ideas for your novel. This can involve brainstorming, keeping a journal of potential story concepts, or drawing inspiration from real-life experiences, books, movies, or current events.

Once you get an idea, hone it.

Step 2: Create characters

A novel cannot be successful without unique and charming characters. Create compelling and well-rounded characters for your novel. Develop their backgrounds, motivations, personalities, and relationships. Consider their strengths, flaws, and how they will evolve throughout the story.

Remember, the more realistic the characters, the better the novel will be.

Step 3: Build setting

Establish the setting or world in which your novel takes place. Whether it's a real location or a fictional world, provide enough descriptive details to immerse readers and make the setting feel vivid and believable.

Step 4: Define plot and make an outline

What is your story about? How will it unfold? How does it begin, develop, and conclude? What and how many scenes will be included? Make an depth and very depth outline, even going so far as to outline every chapter.

Step 5: Write

Begin writing your first draft. Don't worry about perfection; the goal is to get the story down on paper. Embrace the creative process and let the ideas flow. Please remember, don't go back and make changes. Just write!

Step 6: Revise and edit

Once the first draft is complete, take a break (for 3 days) before revising and editing. (This will keep you from overediting or not editing enough.) Then, read through your manuscript with a critical eye, focusing on plot holes, inconsistencies, pacing, character development, and overall storytelling. Revise and rewrite sections as needed.

Step 7: Get beta readers

(You must) seek feedback from trusted individuals, such as beta readers, writing critique groups or your friends. Their input can provide valuable perspectives on areas that may need improvement. Consider their suggestions while maintaining your unique voice and vision for the story.

Step 8: Polish and refine

Polish and refine your novel based on the feedback received. Pay attention to sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and overall prose. Ensure clarity and coherence in your writing.

Step 9: Publish

You can research different publishing options, such as traditional publishing or self-publishing. Remember to evaluate the pros and cons of each approach and decide which is the best fit for your goals and circumstances.

That's all. I hope you success in publishing your novel!!

If you want to read more posts about writing, please click here and give me a follow!

[kindlespark]

this is gonna be SO long and rambly sorry anyway i saw a post abt how babel does queer characters and it got me thinking abt why the tropes it uses would usually turn me off other stories but didn’t here

MAJOR BABEL SPOILERS //

i feel like i’d be more mad abt how robinramy ended up in babel if it marketed itself as queer lit at all or if its fans were going “WOW AMAZING QUEER REP” abt it. but no one told me any of that, so finding out they were gay was just a fun little bonus surprise to me. i get why ppl are eh abt robinramy not getting together/technically still being subtext (which i dont think is really true btw like the book literally says “robin was falling in love” but idk i guess if you were stupid you might’ve assumed that it was falling in love with oxford given how romantic some of the other language is (WHICH IS ALSO THE POINT bc i think robin’s friendship with ramy blurring into romance is why he romanticised like all his friendships/experiences in oxford BUT IM GETTING OFF-TOPIC)). i just think robin’s repression abt being gay was intrinsically tied to his attitudes on imperialism (wrt refusing to acknowledge anything that complicated his life until it was too late) and i don’t consider it a cop out or queerbait. like i genuinely don’t think robinramy could ever have gotten together without drastic alterations being made in terms of plot and character. plus i think it’s clear that kuang didn’t want to write a story with any kind of focus on romance at all, because it’s not that kind of book. there’s no successful het romance either, so it grates a lot less. the only reason romance is included at all is to show the ways in which white entitlement manifests. so the tragic way robinramy played out just made sense to me.

and i speak as someone who accidentally spoiled myself on You Know What in the middle of reading and i was like ugghh boooo dreading it the whole time expecting to roll my eyes when it happened but then when it did i was like. wow im actually not that mad LMFAO 😭😭😭 actually thematically the book sets it up so well that i believed that this was unfortunately the only way it could’ve gone. babel is about the loss and tragedy and grief that colonised people experience. it’s about the lengths people will go to to uphold empire and the lengths ppl will go to to tear it down like idk 😭 i guess it is bury your gays but it didnt bother me this time because i thought it fit thematically ❤️ i enjoy tragedy as a genre a lot and i would’ve made it gay anyway you know. thanks rf kuang for doing it for me so i didnt have to.

WHICH IS ALL TO SAY that i guess if you’re going into babel for the queer rep without appreciating that the story is fundamentally a tragedy it would feel like it’s just reusing tired tropes….. but i think the choices kuang made were rly deliberate and not in a way that feels like trauma porn or shock value. the book is fundamentally about the struggles of poc so the layer of queerness that was introduced felt like a subtle extension of the experiences of characters of colour in the book, and i enjoyed and related to it as a queer chinese person who kind of realised they had to prioritise their fight for the liberation of poc over queerness mainly because the idea of western queer liberation cannot be dissociated from imperialism and many aspects of homophobia as we know it was an export of christian european empire into our colonised countries in the first place and FUCK THIS IS A WHOLE OTHER TANGENT ABOUT HOW I THINK RAMY AS A CHARACTER IS EMBLEMATIC OF THE TENSION AND STRUGGLE THAT QUEER POC DIASPORA HAVE BETWEEN OUR IDENTITIES GODDAMNIT OK FORGET IT POST CANCELLED i just rly think babel’s handling of queer characters is fine and makes sense and i like it personally and maybe i will make a coherent analysis about it one day but that day is not today byeeeeeee

[gunkreads]

I haven't had a chance to read Absolution yet, but I did just finish Acceptance, the third book of the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer, the other day.

Here's my review: Whew! Wow! Yowza! Holy fucking shit! Gosh golly!

Southern Reach is something special, that's for sure. I understand why it's been often placed in a genre called "The New Weird", though I can't claim to have had any experience with the Old Weird. It's fuckin' weird. I don't mean that in the sense that the events, settings, or characters in the story are weird (though they are); no, the technique is Weird.

I wrote a bit of my thoughts on Annihilation when I finished that book, and one thing I said there rang true for the next two books just as strongly: Vandermeer is fucking with you, the reader. Much of the story's plot hinges on subjective experiences of reality based on varying assemblages of information; a person with facts #1-#55 sees an entirely different world than someone with facts #2-#56. This is the general nature of Area X, the focal setting of the story, and informs every character relationship on the page.

There's too much to say about this story and too little of it can be explained without heavy spoilers, so I'm going to keep this short and just discuss the part of Southern Reach that made me rethink what a story is.

I've never seen another author write a book that seems so completely bulletproof in its execution. Where many authors will allow events to follow a path, complete it, and turn around to go back the way they came, Vandermeer always loops them back to the core on a brand-new path. Every new avenue he explores is linked to the ever-growing whole of the story, which ends up defined more by the connections between things than the things themselves.

This is evidenced most clearly by the fact that, a few dozen pages from the end of Acceptance, Vandermeer explains--explicitly and in full--exactly what has been happening the entire time. He does this in the space of a single paragraph, and it offers no closure, progress, or revelations to any characters. In fact, none of them even care. Their own stories and lives are too dense to have any single element at their core, so the realization of what Area X truly is means literally nothing to them. Vandermeer is fucking with you.

One other thing Vandermeer does that flies head and shoulders above other things I've read is set characters on differing levels of narrative "realness". Some of you might remember my deranged posts about Gawyn from Wheel of Time several years ago; Vandermeer does the thing I was joking about there, but he pulls it off while playing it straight.

Control, the perspective character of Authority, is a great example of this. If you picked a random page from Authority or Acceptance that mentions his name, you might find that he's being presented as a protagonist, a hero, an antihero, a villain, a reader self-insert, an author self-insert, a simplified archetype, a literary device, or even being reduced to just a word. His nickname, Control, sounds silly. Because Vandermeer is fucking with you.

Because of all this, I can confidently say that if it's possible to read Southern Reach too closely, I'm not capable of it. With the conflicting perspectives and web of misunderstandings, the coherence of every element into an interwoven whole, and the constantly-shifting levels of "realness" each of the story's elements exhibit, I think the story approaches or reaches a critical mass of informational density. Vandermeer amplifies the significance of all his facts by using the links between the facts as a megaphone; he demands that you interrogate the relationship between every pair of ideas and rewards your effort every single time.

I'm going to be realizing shit about these books for the rest of my fucking life, mark my words. If you like Thinkin' Books, I cannot recommend these enough. If you like Craft Books--ones that explore the potential of the medium of the written word--I cannot recommend these enough. Let Jeff Vandermeer fuck with you.

[unhingedkiara96]

@theskystealerthebookthief Sorry for the late reply, I currently have limited internet and THANK YOU FOR ASKING.

I need more interactions between Hugo and Vivian, or even just them mentioning each other as an afterthought. Like "Oh! Vivian/Hugo loves this. I should get one for her/him." Imagine during Quality Time, Vivian saying she has to buy chocolates for Hugo, or Hugo asking the Proxy to sign something that belongs to Vivian because she’s been feeling a bit down lately.

I want them to have interactions together in front of the Proxy, like Lighter and Harumasa, for example. I need them to be shopping at Lumina Square. I love that they consider each other siblings and say so, but now I want to see it. I want to see more of Hugo being a big brother who teases his little sister in front of her potential crush.

I’m at the point where I’m slightly mad I can’t get Vivian right now and have to wait for her rerun, so I guess I have to check if anyone has posted some of her dialogues in Quality Time and such, to see whether or not she talks about Hugo and how he treats her.

Also, I need to know how they met. Sure, I can always write my own headcanon of it (yes, I have one), but I would like to have even just a teensy bit more details. I like what we do see of them together, so of course I want more of it.

I cannot be normal about the trust between Hugo and Lycaon, mostly on Hugo’s side. Dude GAMBLED HIS LIFE, predicting that a "traitor" who left him years ago would still remember one of their passcodes. He trusted that wolf was too loyal to have forgotten AND HE WAS RIGHT.

And I won’t even mention the Flower Shop event’s plot, except… GOODNESS ME, you can’t be more tsundere about it, Hugo, can you!?

… Now that I think about it, their relationship feels so realistic, it’s stunning. I would appreciate a little interaction of them together somewhere, probably in front of the Ballet Twins, doing some banter, or maybe talking about Vivian and everyone else at Victoria Housekeeping (maybe Lycaon saying "We would be happy to have you both in our team. But I know you’ll both refuse." And Hugo replying "You are right! But… thank you for the proposition. I’ll tell Vivian about it. She’ll appreciate the gesture, too."), but I could do without it, as we saw a lot of them together, and all of it was great. I’m satisfied on that front.

For now, I do have to say, Hugo’s interactions with Proxy in 1.6 felt like an actual budding relationship. Whether we consider it friendship or potential for a romance, it’s coherent on all fronts! In my humble opinion, at least. There wasn’t much interaction in 1.7, as the story didn’t allow nor called for that, but I feel quite a bit of respect and trust from Hugo towards Proxy despite it, simply based off 1.6.

Obviously, I can’t wait to interact and spend Quality Time with him in a week. Oh! Perhaps we’ll finally find the movie he’s been looking for since we first met him! That would be sweet… Maybe then, he’ll tell the Proxy about his whole past off-screen: his mother, his father, his siblings, then Mockingbird, his vengeance and failure. And here the screen goes back to him and Proxy, and he talks about how he met Vivian (I want to know, dammit), how much she looks like Serena and yet has a very distinct personality, and how proud he is of her after the whole… "incident" with the Exaltists. And then he thanks Proxy for helping her at that time. Maybe he reminisces about when he asked Proxy to take care of Vivian for him, eventhough he knew he would probably come back later. Perhaps he’ll say again he’s sorry he had to threaten us with a knife, and he’ll never do it again, not if he can help it.

"Promise?" Proxy asks. "Promise", he answers. In any case, he'd rather threaten some TOPS at knife point, hehe~

………… yeah I’m fine. This is fine. I’m extremely normal about all of this. Very normal about this hypoglycemic pretty man who loves chocolate.

I WANT TO GO EAT BRIGADEIRO (brazilian chocolate cake) WITH HIM

[thephoenixandthecrocodile]

Thank you for tagging me! I did this yesterday.

I would like to know about breaking into Mandos, do Uruks dream of Valinor, and how Balrogs solve problems.

Ooo the big three, haha

Breaking Into Mandos - so this is a AU of my own fanfic Light in Dark Places 😅 Basically, Adar, Narvi, and Galadriel don't reach Celebrimbor in time and he dies BUT Adar and Narvi decide they're going to break into Mandos' halls, rescue Celebrimbor, and bring hm back to Middle-Earth even if it means fighting all the Valar by themselves. First they have to "borrow" one of Cirdan's ships (although I feel like if they just asked he'd probably willingly give them one because a. he probably knew Adar back in the day and b. he's sort of interested in seeing how this turns out) and then while looking for Celebrimbor they meet all of Celebrimbor's relatives and other first age heroes which will be both incredibly sad and incredibly hilarious. AND I finally get to write about Celebrimbor's amazing mom! She's team Adar and Narvi while Curufin can get behind Narvi but ADAR? He's got lots of thoughts about having Adar as a son-in-law XD And Feanor can be like: "my former servant became a badass commander, stabbed Sauron twice, AND broke into Valinor, spitting all of the Valar in the face at once, just to rescue my grandson?! I think I can overlook the fact that he's now an Uruk" XD

Do Uruks Dream of Electric Sheep: the plot bunnies for this one just quadrupled so I'll try and wrestle them into a coherent description. 😅

The basic idea is that Annatar/Sauron is sort of like Tyrell from Blade Runner. Celebrimbor works for him but there’s tension over the goals of their company (the battle with morgoth left middle earth very polluted and dying and Celebrimbor wants to fix it while Annatar has his own control all of middle earth plans), the Uruks are basically the Replicants (who were created by morgoth and Sauron and are left overs from Morgoth’s reign. They’re being hunted by “blade runners”, and their four year life span was put in place by Morgoth and Sauron to control them but the moriondor were given longer lifespans with unknown end dates) and Galadriel is a Blade Runner.

This story takes place immediately after Morgoth’s fall. Adar's oldest batch of Uruks have one more year before they die and he CANNOT accept that, so he plans to kidnap either Annatar or Celebrimbor and force them to grant his children more life (and he may also be looking for a way to wake up Oroduin and transform the southlands into Mordor). Meanwhile Galadriel is tasked first with figuring out what Adar wants and killing him and then finding Celebrimbor but she's not the only one hunting for the pair.

Annatar still needs Celebrimbor to create rings so he can rule Middle-Earth (and he's a little freaked out to hear that Adar is still out there - Adar didn't stab Sauron in this AU, but he is powerful enough to challenge Sauron's claim to be Morgoth's successor if he wanted to), Arondir is after Adar to get revenge for his fallen fellow garrison members Adar killed while heading into Eriador, Elrond is both angry and hopeful that Adar used Maglor's name to break into Eriador (maybe it's true?), Mirdania is convinced Annatar actually has Celebrimbor hidden somewhere and thinks Galadriel is mistaken that Adar took him, and Narvi just wants to know his beloved Elf is all right. And Gil-Galad is grateful the fall of Morgoth didn't destroy his personal collection of wine.

How to Solve a Problem like a Balrog - this is a sequel to my fanfic A Light in Dark Places but takes place a few months after that story (I have another potential fic idea that would take place between ALiDP and this one). Celebrimbor, Adar, Elrond, and Galadriel hear back from Durin that he will allow Elrond into Khazad-dum but no one else. Celebrimbor is upset by the news and decides to ignore Durin's ruling, Adar reluctantly following his foolish lover into Khazad-dum where they are arrested for ignoring Durin's orders and because certain members of Khazad-dum think Celebrimbor should be held responsible for what happened to Durin the Elder. Others are angry at him for offering them rings and then trying to take them back. Even Durin and Disa are torn about what to do with the rings and Disa asks if "good" rings could be made to replace the seven corrupted rings, which obviously puts Celebrimbor in a tight spot.

Now poor Elrond and Galadriel have to work with Durin to get Celebrimbor and Adar released from jail and NOT put on trial for what happened to Durin the Elder, destroy the Dwarven rings without jeopardizing Durin's claim to the throne, and deal with a potentially very angry Balrog (who actually just wants to know what's going on since he can feel Sauron and then Adar nearby. Has Morgoth returned?)

[esseastri]

Nicole's Favorite Books That She Read in 2024!

I think I missed doing this post the last few years, but let's get back on the train, shall we?

In no particular order, we have:

The Book of Ile-Rein, by Martha Wells: I've been gobbling up all the Martha Wells backlist that Tor has been reprinting, and I adored this set. Element of Fire was a classic and Death of the Necromancer was a romp. Both were fun for very different reasons, but as always I love Martha's characters too much.

Lady Eve's Last Con, by Rebecca Fairmow: Oh, what an absolute DELIGHT of a novel! Full of 1820s etiquette and elegance, 1920s glitz and glam, 2020s swag and shenanigans, and 2120s gravity and grit, this book is fast and fun. The characters are unforgettable, the plot is unputdownable, and the romance is to die for. The most fun you've had at a zero-g engagement gala, for sure.

The River Has Roots, by Amal El-Mohtar: Comes out in March 2025!: I cannot put into coherent words how very much I love Amal El-Mohtar's writing. It's just so beautiful. Lyrical and clever, intricate but open, so full of heart. This book was written with so much love, and it shows. I could wrap myself in this story like it's a scarf and just wander its sentences forever.

The City in Glass, by Nghi Vo: God, this book is so beautiful, but it made me full-body sob for an entire chapter, so I guess, be aware. This book is about grief. Loss and hurt and anger and grief. It is absolutely gorgeous.

Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler: It's really hard to rate this book because it was amazing and also horrifying. So many terrible things happen, but the book is beautiful, too. Despite the fact that everything that can go wrong in Lauren's life does, in fact, go wrong, she is so hopeful. She's got something to believe in, and she is so tenacious. I hated this book and I also loved it. And I am so deeply angry at every literature class I took that didn't teach Octavia Butler.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, by P Djeli Clark: I don't think P. Djèlí Clark is capable of writing a thing I don't like. His prose is just magical, his ideas are brilliant, his characters are wonderful, and his books just fill me with joy. This was hilarious and brutal and fun and sad and I loved it. I loved it so much.

Mammoths at the Gates, by Nghi Vo: If you haven't read the Singing Hills, don't start with this one, go back and read the first three. But then read this one. This one is about grief and it is beautiful.

Swordcrossed, by Freya Marske: The Midnight Bargain's less magical and much spicier cousin, this book is an absolute delight. I'm a sucker for a snarky con man with a heart of gold, so I was sold on Luca from page one, but Matti crept up on me and I found myself loving his seriousness and his sneaky sense of humor, too. Personally, I want the Maya and Sofia POV of this book, because I love those two women more than I can explain, but I'm content with the disaster boys getting the spotlight, too. A great, low-stakes romp though business espionage, sword lessons, guild intrigue, "sword lessons", and the wildest wedding this town has ever seen, Swordcrossed is just fun. So much fun.

A Novel Love Story, by Ashley Poston: This one is about how books by your favorite authors have the ability to change the course of your life, and I just wish Ashley could know that she's that author for me. I love this book.

Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones: I'm still not sure how I somehow managed to miss this book entirely, but god, it is SO SWEET and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. It wraps up very quickly at the end, but honestly, that feels very Howl--slapdash and manic and wild. I love how Sophie is the embodiment of "This Might As Well Happen." I just really love them all. What a good book.

Godkiller, by Hannah Kaner: I loved Kissen from page one, and Elo is such a soft boy he was irresistible, and I love the worldbuilding of this strange, godful land sO MUCH. The circle of people creating gods who create people and destroy them so the people must destroy them is such a fascinating design for faith and belief, and I loved the exploration of it.

The Mars House, by Natasha Pulley: Have you ever gotten mad at an author for being too good at writing words? For taking deep, dark, heavy topics like prejudice and fear, anger and murder, right versus good versus kind--and making them beautiful and delicate? For taking harsh edges and writing them in such a way that they seem like soft candlelight? For taking real science and feeding enough fiction into it that you hope this is how the world turns out because maybe, if it were real, then things might be okay a long time from now? Anyway, I've finished this book and I am pissed off that I finished it because what the hell do I read now?

City of Bones, by Martha Wells: While I don't jive with the title of this book (and I'm not sure the book jives with it either), I loved everything else about it. Wells is an absolute master of characters, especially non-human characters that end up being the most human and the best of them. Khat is no exception, and falls in with Murderbot, Moon, and Kai on my favorites list. I love a person who is too deeply good for their own safety. And Wells writes these doofuses perfectly. It's a slow start and a soft story (surprisingly soft, considering how dark it can be), but if you can give it a little patience and attention, this book--like its main character--will open up to you and reward you greatly for your time.

[wingedfoolnearthesun]

i’m excited to be participating in something like this for the first time ^^

DAY ONE: Who was the first deity you began worshipping? Do you still worship them now?

the first deity i began worshipping was Lord Apollo. i felt a strong towards him and couldn’t get the idea of reaching out to him out of my mind. i think my long history with being attached to music, art, and writing made me feel a pull towards him.

i felt myself overcome the horrible writing stump i was in for the longest time possible, and i managed to finally create new characters and a plot that exists in an actually well-constructed world. i felt so much creativity and an urge to keep making and making. i can’t help but attribute that burst to Lord Apollo. i’m still fairly new to hellenic polytheism, just a couple of weeks or so, and i most definitely still worship Him alongside Lord Hermes and hopefully Lord Hypnos (when i finally get a chance to breathe after these exams).

as i am still new to worshipping and being able to interact with the gods, i have much experience to accumulate to be able to share with you all. i remember Lord Apollo being the first i managed to reach out to using a pendulum. i had such a lovely conversation with him, sharing my old worries and concerns and receiving such loving and caring responses in return. i cannot wait to enhance my ability in using a pendulum to have more conversations with him.

i truly felt as if my life has been significantly improving and my happiness has become much more palpable since i started embracing hellenic polytheism. some of what i’ve written might not be that coherent as i am currently spilling all my thoughts out in the middle of my class LMAO

divider by @adornedwithlight

[aviancataclysm]

did i ever talk about my cubesonas. oh my god if i didnt the comic wouldnt make any sense aughhh

left is avian. right is z

avian is my old icon who remains my youtube pfp, z is the current icon set that i use <- because i felt that avian's reminded me too much of my 13 yo self who couldn't beat 6 stars and that was somehow hindering me from beating harder levels

canonically avian was forced to retire after sustaining some form of brain damage from the attacks of HeLL repeatedly injuring him in the same spot (this is in reference to how i decided to change icons while trying to beat it). this caused him to have dogshit motor skills (trips and falls a lot) and also slurs his words + thoughts arent very coherent sometimes

EDIT 10/23: he has healed enough and returned ! although only in duals. thanks to separate dual icons mod <3 (I SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS A LONG TIME AGO BUT HEY. FREE PLOT IDASLGFAJJ

but wait, there's more. z has time manipulation powers. keep reading to find out

"The hourglass symbol.

All assumes it is just a fancier way of writing the letter Z. I thought so too, until I was tasked by the dead God of Time, from an era long past in creation, to do his biddings.

That symbol was how he found me. Or perhaps, how I found him? I was given authority over the River, and from his influence I gained wings and horns that occasionally appear. Essentially turning me into a being similar in visage to him. But apparently the same type of transformation is seen in all of his messengers.

He... Chronolock Theos, has been asleep for a long time in a realm where fiction becomes even less tangible. The graveyard of all who were written.

Somehow the torch ended up in my hands. All because of my birth name.

Or was it premeditated?

I am still unsure of that.

In literature, the horror and madness of which that comes from eldritch beings inscribed into works as King of the Yellow come from knowledge.

Knowledge that someone in this dimension of existence should not ever acquire nor ever comprehend.

Those who have came face-to-face with the Great Old Ones have briefly seen reality from their perspective, as part of their power over the psyche.

Imagine an ant suddenly gaining knowledge and understanding of human society. It sees all, then it sees nothing again. It returns to its ordinary ant life remembering things its now-normal ant brain even struggles to comprehend at all.

Would it still be sane?

I now know about the rules of time and the River.

However I cannot see it unlike he could.

I remember only a vague concept of his appearance. (There was something draconic to it.)

I am blind to the element which I control.

... And I am working on accepting that."

- Z, in his own writing

[jesuis-melodrama]

Thoughts on Miraculous World: London – At The Edge of Time

Miraculous Specials generally have no bearing on the plot. Think about Miraculous New York and Miraculous Shanghai, they could've been never produced and the narrative would've been exactly the same for it. Even the well-written Miraculous Paris have no influence on the main narrative except, perhaps, giving the Adrien and Marinette some perspective which they might never show. I don't think either of them are going to discuss that time their alternate selves came into their world again.

But Miraculous London surprised me. I had a lot of people asking me what I thought of it, because the writing turns out to be quality, and I agree.

I think the writers wanted to start Season 6 off with a bang, they didn't want to deal with all the nitty-gritty and the 'closing up of loose ends' at what is meant to be a fresh beginning. So they created Miraculous London in order complete the first arc of Miraculous, the Gabriel Agreste Arc, even though the story was not set in London. London appeared briefly, as a guest location. The special would've been more suitable named as Miraculous World: Bunnyx's Burrow – Spying on the Timeline.

Firstly, it's pretty lame that Lila cannot change the rules of Akumatisation. Who made up this concrete rule that Akumas have to forget everything they did? I always assumed it was because the people were being taken advantage of without their consent so their memory is purged once the infection is lifted, but even for people who were Akumatised willingly?? Even for the Butterfly Miraculous Holder themselves?? I think this just comes down to plot convenience.

Marinette, who usually goes into hysterics when faced with failure or impossible situations (think the end of Season 4), is disturbingly calm as she goes to free Kagami and Adrien.

This change of attitude, change of reaction, symbolises a growth in her character, a development that is forced upon her. And Marinette demonstrates her ability to lead and compartmentalise by stoically accepting the brutal responsibility.

I will commend the writers for portraying Adrien's grief very well.

Also, I'm pretty sure this pose is meant to reference Evangelion, it's far too close. And we all know Monsieur Astruc is an anime nerd.

The breaking of the background and the colour scale going to black-and-white (left) to represent his numbness and landslide loneliness is quite revolutionary for Miraculous' animation, which, famously, has stuck to the same, increasingly uninventive models and sets.

Lying to Adrien, at this point, however, is also plot convenience.

Bug Noire rationalises it pretty well in the special, explaining to Nathalie coherently why no one should tell Adrien the truth. But it's not a logical thing to do. Do they plan to keep lying to Adrien forever? Never reveal the true identity of Papillon, till the day he dies? Nathalie plans on taking this information to the grave? Marinette intends to marry and have children with a man that she keeps the truth of his own father from?

Marinette thinking that this is the best thing to do – placing everything on her shoulders in a desperate attempt to shelter Adrien – makes sense. She's young, she's self-loathing, she tends to make rash decisions where she takes the brunt of the damage. Nathalie not telling the truth to the authorities so she can continue to act as Adrien's legal guardian, I personally would've advised for to make that decision. But Nathalie agreeing with Bug Noire's hare-brained scheme is implausible. She's a grown woman who should've learned, at this point, that keeping the truth from someone, especially a truth as crucial as this, is not going to work out.

Again, do they plan on lying to Adrien for the rest of his life? How is Marinette supposed to carry on when their children start asking her and Adrien about the late Grandfather Gabriel? The fandom enjoys bringing up Chat Blanc as an excuse for not telling Adrien anything, but I don't think we're all remembering that episode correctly. Adrien wasn't driven to madness by the weight of secrets, he was forced during that episode to act by Gabriel under duress. Given time, space, and understanding, he can absorb this new, hitting truth without world-ending dramatics.

Perhaps Nathalie is lying and reassuring Bug Noire's frayed mental state by pretending she's going to adhere to her plan but is secretly planning on telling Adrien after a few months when things die down. I sure hope so. Because everyone – Nathalie, Marinette, Félix, Kagami – in his life all banding together to lie to Adrien is overkill and plain ridiculous. I fully support Adrien becoming a supervillain when he finds out, because what the hell.

In brighter news, I love the design of 60 years old Alix. The glasses, the fur-lined waistcoat, the black bowtie – gorgeous. They're leaning more into the Alice in Wonderland theme the older Alix gets. I'm pretty sure Fluff is inspired by the White Rabbit. A bunny with time-travelling powers whose Miraculous is a waistwatch? Someone on the writing team reads Victorian literature.

Also, after repetitive seasons of unnecessary fillers, I love how Lila gets started on a plan straight away. Like I said, I'm surprised by how relevant Miraculous London is, it jumps right into the plot. Lila, of course, isn't like Gabriel. She's not going to waste time making grand plans, casting illusions. She knows what she wants and she's heading straight for it.

Chronobug getting a neat little gold finish after wearing Bunnyx's fluorescent vest was fun. I love how yellow she is, and all her spots are illuminated with a diamond glitter effect. It reminds me of the 22-spot ladybug and of the old power-up edits artists created for Marinette post-Season 2.

I do have to wonder – was that fluorescent vest a special material? I doubt it, because at the end of the special, when Marinette de-transforms and casts her healing magic, you like see the vest floating away like a discarded plastic bag. Interesting thing that fanfic writers might want to incorporate into their stories, apparently the colour of the parka your characters wear may determine the colour of their battle-suit.

I really, really liked this shot.

It's the small details that really let you know how much effort the writers put into their story. One of my biggest irks about the negligence of small details in Miraculous comes from this magazine cover in Season 4's Optigami:

Where the subtitles and headings are nonsense Latin. The writers couldn't be bothered to change it to the most generic statement: Adrien Agreste Shocks In Teal was the bare minimum they could've done. They could've described what he was wearing, and they chose to do nothing. This always bothered me, because for all that Miraculous started as a single man's passion project, I'm not seeing a whole lot of passion in it. I can't see soul. The fact that the writers are willing to skip out on small details like this tells me of the lack of focus they're putting into the visual media.

But that scene, where Chronobug slides under her desk – you know those video games where the set are completely untouchable? You're an avatar who always get prevented by a forcefield when you try to go near a desk? That's what the animation of Miraculous always seemed like to me, the characters can't interact with their surroundings, and that only cements the uncanny effect. Chronobug being able to go under her desk is such a small but relieving detail. It make her world feels more real.

Goofy-ahh pose.

Real talk: I love how well-thought out Ghost's power is, especially compared to her more combat-able alternate, Timestalker (? for this name, I had to find it out from the Miraculous Wiki. Really? Timestalker? That was the best they could come up with? To be fair, I was criticising Miraculous for not being literal just a paragraph ago...). Ghost's only ability is to phase through solid objects, and it's perfect for her mission to retrieve all the Miraculous. She can't fight, because she doesn't need to fight. It's her purpose and her defence against any pesky heroes that comes her way, and it highlights Lila's caution and her dedication to her task.

Unlike Gabriel, who's often so lost in his own emotions (think of the many times he insisted on going after Ladybug even though Chat Noir's Miraculous is right there, or in the episode Evolution when he could've saved Emilie but chose to pursue Ladybug in revenge instead), Lila is filled with rage, but she's capable of separating her feelings from her goal. It makes her much more calculating and dangerous than Gabriel.

That being said: what on Earth is Lila's goal? What did she Wish for? Did she already knew about the Miraculous, and that's why she went after? How did she come to uncover Gabriel's undercover identity as Monarque? Season 5 never explained it, Lila just finds out off-screen. Although the special does wrap up loose ends, it doesn't answer everything. I always thought that Lila was just an opportunistic girl who lies to get what she wants, but turns out she has three identities? The theory that she's a time traveller from the future who came back to defeat Ladybug before she reaches her prime still stands, but I can't decide whether or not I want the writers to head in that direction.

Watching the trailer, I thought Félix was Ghost, or that the special would be related to him in some way, seeing that he lives in London, but Félix wasn't even mentioned.

I hope we get to see a lot more of Félix in Season 6, I hope that his relationship with Adrien gets more development. I'm fascinated with sibling (or cousin) relationships, because it's been an integral part of my personal life, and it's a relationship I always zero in on in any media I consume.

This line from Ladybug is incorrect:

"There's nothing I can do [against Ghost]".

She can take all the Miraculous before Ghost gets to them, but the point stands that for the sake of the plot, she has to prevent Ghost from ever discovering her identity.

I can't believe they mentioned Troublemaker, as if Miraculous has a linear storyline. For so long, Miraculous' episodic format has haunted it, all development is wiped away at the start of the next episode and the characters never grow. Miraculous likes to pretend it's linear, but that aspiration is busted when you realise that means twelve days canonically passed between the Christmas Special of Season 1 and the celebration of King's Day in Dearest Family in Season 4. I hope this mention of the past means that there will be less focus on filler and more on telling a relevant story in Season 6.

I don't understand why Ladybug can't take the Butterfly Miraculous when she saw it dangling at the edge of the catwalk over the pool in Gabriel's underground tomb. What set future events is she disturbing? Lila making a Wish is a set future event, but it's okay to disturb that but not okay to prevent her from ever getting her mitts on the Butterfly Miraculous? The story picks and chooses what's allowed and what's not, I can't figure out the rules around it.

Also, Gabriel made his wish to save Nathalie? Wow. I did not expect that. So, Gabriel did wise up a little at the end. Emilie is not going to return for Season 6, she has completely passed away, and it is Amélie we saw at the end of Re-Creation. Season 6 really is going to be a clean slate, none of the major antagonistic figures of the old will have a role in it. I hope this means the writers have paved a well-thought way for Lila, and she truly is going to shine as a villain.

That being sad; how can Lila use the Butterfly Miraculous limitlessly? The special shows her acting two different Akumas on herself without exertion. While she is still proven to be a child? Her ability to utilise its power is also adroit, how is she managing that? How is she literally using the Butterfly Miraculous better in six hours than Gabriel has managed for a full year? This supports the theory that Lila is a future Butterfly Miraculous Holder who came back in time because how else is her familiarity and confidence supposed to be explained?

Tell Adrien the truth. I cannot emphasise this enough. Miscommuncation is a dull, dull plot point. I don't want to see characters fumbling around each other like blindfolded men. I want to see them try their best and still fail. It's more terrifying that way, it's more impactful.

This horror segment is done pretty well:

When Chronobug widens her eyes and the music reaches that low, horror movie-esque strings. The terror that hits her as she realises that the lights are supposed to be off by default. This is a clever way of demonstrating her deductive skills because it's a deduction the audience can make alongside her. We watched at the beginning of the special how Ladybug stepped into the stairway filled with light and we assumed that was the norm with it. It's only until the lights turned off after Ladybug's exit that you realised: hey, that's not right. It means someone entered just before we did!

Real clever. This is a bit of actual intelligence. Miraculous is usually filled with convolution schemes that had no realism, so it makes Marinette's intelligence seem a little far-fetched. How can anyone (adult viewers, especially) buy Ladybug's cleverness when her plans of trapping Akumas with a spoon and a towel is plain ridiculous? But this is real, this is possible. A Sherlock Holmes moment, which Bunnyx even explicitly referenced.

More evidence supporting that Lila is a Future Butterfly Miraculous Holder, her identity as Timestalker more than a fair physical for Ladybug.

Akumas usually fail to get the upper hand on Ladybug when they go melee one-on-one with her, but Timestalker managed to successfully repel Ladybug. The choreograph was really well done.

This shot, where Chronobug and Bunnyx are highlighted as two bright but tiny splotches on a pure white landscape, it really screams This isn't over. You are still puny, you have no idea what you're in for. Meaningful visual storytelling. It's them against the big, wide world.

Lila has such a cute set-out here. I like that she purchased all watches that she used as her Akumatised object, and they seem like pretty expensive watches too, if they came with their own gift boxes. Her brown leather shoulder bag is adorable, and I like that she has a stand for her notebook. This is a sophisticated girl who knows the importance of presentation.

I'm going to lose it. Remember what I said about the writers not caring about the small details? What is the writing at the top of the page supposed to be? Viking runes? They couldn't be bothered to spend ten minutes recounting the story in word form?

I love how angry Lila's voice gets, how it trembles as she says "Why did I write that? Did something go wrong with my PLAN?" We're starting to see elements of her real personality, her quick fury, her violent temper. She's a perfectionist, and despite her low exam scores, meticulous in planning and quite intelligent, enough to be a match for Ladybug, until she had to settle for a stalemate rather than a complete victory.

Neither of them won anything. Ladybug still doesn't have the Butterfly Miraculous and Lila doesn't have her identity.

Whenever we see Lila post-Confrontation, she's always dressed up in some disguise or the other, to fool people. This is the first time we've seen her where she has no need to camoflauge herself. So, is this what Lila actually looks like? She has pale blonde hair and lavender eyes? Her outfit is also super cute, serving private school in a V-neck woollen blouse, white shirt, and pleated skirt. It looks quite similar to the leaked Season 6 concept art of Lila where she looks like she's going to sell me Girl Scout cookies.

So, I think the resemblance in the outfit means that this leaked concept art is genuine, as the eye and hair colour and outfit match (they're even saving money by keeping Lila's tights and re-colouring her boots).

I wonder how Lila's voice actor feels. Did she always knew she was going to have a big role? Lila had one appearance in Season 1, vanished for the entirety of Season 2, and while enjoyed better representation in Season 4+5, it's nowhere close to Gabriel's once-in-a-episode cameo. If the same format plays out for Lila Butterfly, that means Lila will be appearing once in an episode. I look forward to that, I think Lisa Kay Jennings has a beautiful voice for Lila; soulful and sly.

Finally: why does Miraculous Holders have a ridiculous amount of power over the Kwami? It doesn't make sense. Canonically, Kwami are the physical form of abstract concepts. The Miraculous is nothing more than a vessel for their power to be channelled through, so that the Miraculous Holder can wield their abilities. It's not some sort of collar, and it certainly doesn't explain why Gabriel can mute Nooroo and how Lila can just freeze him in a single snap. Why does the narrative keep insisting that these forces older than Earth are childish and incapable and naïve? I feel like the Kwami shouldn't even care about humanity, not because they're evil, but because they don't understand and they don't want to understand. Human civilisation will, after all, pass in the blink of an eye for them. Instead, they're so concerned with little things like secret identities. Yes, I know the answer is because it's a cartoon. It's still not a well-written plausbility.

The London Special does a great job adding facets to Marinette. She cares, but she's short-sighted. She tries her best, but she's still not enough. She's so empathetic, she's selfish. She considers everyone, to the point that it goes back to what is most convenient for herself. I don't like Marinette – I think that anyone who follows me for a length and read my stories can tell – but I still respect her character and give her credit where it's due. And she is wonderfully five-dimensional.

The story goes over-the-top at proving her brilliance sometimes, however. Why does Marinette have the ability to re-make the Miraculous? It took Gabriel Agreste an unholy amount of research, money, privacy, and technology to melt the Miraculous down into his rings. You're telling me that Marinette can undo all that with spare equipment she found around her bedroom? What?

Just in general, the London Special was really good. All my mutuals were right, there are issue, but the writing is quality. This gives me hope for Season 6 (and expectations too, unfortunately), and I hope that the story will continue to move forward.

Also, regarding the animation, I found out from its Miraculous Wiki page that it was done by SAMG which, sadly, we may not be seeing them anymore, as Season 6 is supposed to be animated entirely by Dwarf Animation, a French company, who also produced the Miraculous film. I'm glad that Zag Toon is finally keeping it local. Out-sourcing their animation work to multiple different international companies not only means that the quality is inconsistent and that the episode order is whack, but it also spells some pretty ugly intentions for their corporation too. Mainly that they don't care about art, but keeping things cheap. Miraculous already looks pretty cheap. If I didn't know any better, I would say it seems to be a small indie series; with its uninspiring models, lack of extra characters (featuring a completely empty Paris), but Miraculous is one of the most popular animated shows, shows in general in the world. They're making bank on merchandising and streaming. So, why does none of that profit shows in their animation? What Dwarf did for the Miraculous movie was spectacular, and I can only hope they'll bring that level of quality to its main series.

[st4rshiptr00per]

this has actually been such a confidence booster for me cuz like i cannot write a plot outline from beginning to end to save my life but i can at least make a story thematically coherent, maintain internal logic, write characters, and not be a weird misogynist at the same time.

[emmathefanficgal]

Not-Yet-Written-Fics Game

AKA 4 liners outlines in my Scrivener files that no-one asked for but maybe I'll write ✨someday✨

Thanks for the tag @erathene 😘 As you did I added the probability of writing it... Maybe

1 - When Eomer got a hair cut. Way back when I was younger I imagined this that Eomer got capture by orcs and that they had cut his gorgeous hair. Not so long ago I exchanged with @konartiste about it and put a few lines in a file. Eomer got captured, hair cut, eored filled with mutuals as horse lord (thought it would be funny), Eomer feeling ashamed in front of his Queen, until he feels her nails rakes through his short hair, and feels her kissing his neck... That's it. That's the plot. Probability of being written: 1/10 - Already lots of things on my plate. Maybe a scene somewhere... Or a one shot. For now, it will stay in my files.

2 - Valisthea University. FUNNY AU for Final Fantasy XVI. Where every dominants is a Uni Professor. each of them in a depatment fitting with their personality/powers. No plot. Just shenanigan on a campus with professors acting like adolescent, love and gossip, all fun no drama. Maybe an OC, maybe not. Just a fleeting ideas among the sea of ideas I have. Probability of being written : 1/10 - Simply because I have already so much WIP for FF16, this one is just... too much. Although it could be one shot compiled in a non coherent story... Maybe I just bumped the probability by one... So 2/10

3 - Dark Phoenix. DARK FF16 AU Where Joshua turns evil after learning the Undying actually killed his brother. Once again. No plot. just an exchange of ideas with @cantanatova. Probability of being written : 0/10 - Even when I am making his life even more miserable, I want Joshua to have a happy ending. This cannot end good... So I don't feel I'll be able to write it.

4 - The Warden of Shadow. DARK FF16 AU where there are only two dominants Light and Darkness AKA Dion Lesage and Barnabas Tharmr. All the other are allies from one side or the other. In this one Barnabas capture someone of Dion's family to have a child and make the child the next Warden of Darkness but imbue with the power of light. Goal being to have someone able to overpower Dion and conquer the whole world. The child is growing up without love and is teached war, fights, and so on. Sleipnir watches over the child who is a daughter. This is a twisted relationship as Sleipnir, is actually an spirit/egi from a third, forgotten power : Shadow. At one point Barnabas will want to break the twisted bond between Sleipnir and the girl in order to break the girl and make her the perfect vessel. All hell break loose, And the girl claim the Shadow power. The last scene is of the girl and Sleipnir looking over a battle field where Darkness and Light are fighting and reading to wreak chaos on both side. Probability of being writen : 7/10 - Barnabas and Sleipnir are bad guys in the game and I have no trouble giving them hell. And I found the twist of having another set of "bad guys" or non aligned guys to just break everything without a care in the world.

I have many others but I'll just list this 4. It actually helped me while writing about them so thanks again @erathene!

Let's send a no-pressure tag to @konartiste @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras and @quillofspirit and everybody else who would like to share with us! @ass-deep-in-demons and @frodothefair: I am tagging you but you already posted yours ;)

[if-maggots-knew-god]

IMKG- META POST

What is ‘if maggots knew god’ ?

What does it want to achieve?

Why is it taking so long?

(What is) if maggots knew god (IMKG) is a hobby-writing/illustration project of mine, i your ‘humble’ author and artist Hunter, decided to write and illustrate a graphic novel style horror/psychological comic. Because of I want to (:

The story premise can be found on the accounts pinned post so I’d refer to that in terms of explaining the idea.

The story serves as my personal little pet project not just to tell a story but also to learn about the process and in a sense “playtest” different ideas, a lot of the story ideas in IMKG are inspired by my own literal dreams (and nightmares tbh). I’m hoping to make all of this somewhat coherent into one story but to be completely honest I’m really just messing around with all this because it’s fun (:

(What does it want?) The story, focuses heavily on the concept of immortality, many characters within the story face a unique kind of immortality tied to the characters arc. In tangent with this one of the central themes of the story is also death, and the ‘ending’ of a story. What makes a good ending? What makes a bad one? How long should a story go on? Which are all questions a storyteller faces when writing.

“The story MUST end” to put it concisely, an objective fact. This also applies to living beings hence the theme of immortality, when is it appropriate for someone to die? What happens if they refuse?

The story is structured around the stages of grief, with an “act” of the story dedicated to each stage, the prologue (which is already finished and available!! Find on pinned in the chapter index if you haven’t read it already!) acting as the event that sparks this grief, although this might not be fully clear with the information currently available (will be elaborated on as the story continues though, as any prologue does)

Long story short, IMKG is a story that questions why things must end, how and the resulting grief from things ending. All wrapped up in a (hopefully) nicely illustrated horror setting.

(Why is it taking so long) I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to single handedly write and illustrate a 5 act story with several chapters for each act while ALSO figuring out the process in a practical sense.

It’s hard though!! And like, I’m also a full time student plus life and all that. Don’t get me wrong it’s tons of fun but there’s a reason they have multiple people for this professionally! Woof!

The process includes, a beta script, a final script, storyboarding the labels, rendering (sketch, lineart, colour, shading and lettering!!!) in the future, it’s possible that I might include friends in the process, currently my roommate helps me beta-read the script and has also helped a bit with the design process of things!

This blog has been around for about a year now! (Woo!! Yippie!!!) which I’ve spent figuring out major plot points, character designs for the main characters and TONS of world building,

a lot of which I’ve been sharing for the people who have been around since the beginning (and who I cannot thank enough for being around, seriously guys it might not be much but the handful of y’all are a key component in the making of this, the encouragement on posts keeps me working and motivated!! And not to name favorites but especially thanks to Elias-the-Corvid and sop-soap)

Conclusion

This has all been a decently sized rant, mostly for posterity’s sake, looking back at where we’ve been and where it’s all going from here as I’m finally getting into actually making the whole thing! And also a little bit to hopefully entice new people to be interested (:

There’s a lot more to this that I can’t wait to share

[greenleaf4stuff]

I saw you're up for asks!

I've just finished The Silmarillion and wondered what your favoruite part is?

How do you develop your story ideas?

What are you most looking forward to in RoP season 3?

Hi @ultrarebelheart and thank you so much for your questions! :D <3 Sorry that this took me a bit, I was busier than anticipated! Due to the (somewhat) lengthy answers, I will put two of them behind a cut to protect people's dashboards. ^_^'

What are you most looking forward to in RoP season 3?

Considering I am an Adar fan, I am both very interested in and apprehensive about whether or not they will give any more focus to the uruk under Sauron's leadership. And whether the "orcs" will end up being a faceless mass/simple "cannon fodder", or if the writers will let them retain some agency and personality at least.

I found s1 and s2's efforts to humanize the uruk incredibly compelling, and I see Adar especially as a welcome new addition to Tolkien's universe, so I hope that won't get completely left behind in s3.

(Additionally, I am still hoping we might get more insights into Adar and his life in whatever fashion. I don't care if it's a fool's hope, I would love to see him return, his character is so very interesting.)

I also cannot help but be curious about which humans Sauron will choose for the Nine, and whether or not we will get to see Númenor defeat him in battle/see him start his shenanigans in Númenor in S3 already. Another thing I'd love to see are Elrond and the beginnings of Rivendell.

How do you develop your story ideas?

Oh that is such a good question - there's two different ways that work for me. For the first one, I usually start with some kind of base idea. A prompt, a trope, a type of interaction, a scene, something that pops into my head or I find compelling. Inspiration can come from all manner of sources; the media I write for itself, prompt lists, tropes, stuff from other pieces of media.

I then write the idea down - a bit like a blurb, just a very basic outline so I won't accidentally forget it, and maybe I will also make some additional bullet points for specific scenes, interactions and the likes. (Sometimes that is already enough to get me writing.)

Strangely enough, I usually manage to include a somewhat-coherent plot into most of my bigger ideas even at that point.

If the idea stays with me and gets to marinade in my head (so to speak), I will usually go back and add more and more onto it, and eventually expand the blurb into a proper step-by-step outline about what I would like to see in the story, whether it is a one-shot or a multi-chapter work.

The other way is that I get completely blindsided with an idea and just start writing, without a plan or any preparation, as has happened with my last few fanfics. For the long one ("Of Convenience"), I eventually had enough time to come up with a basic idea for future scenes (after chapter 4 or 5 I believe) and where I wanted things to lead to, but the start was just completely improvised. This works best for single scenes, drabbles and one-shots I find.

I hope that answers the question? :D

I've just finished The Silmarillion and wondered what your favourite part is?

That is awesome, congrats, I hope you enjoyed the book? Full disclosure, most of the Silm-related information that I make use of is from wikis, articles, meta pieces, videos/video essays or excerpts. I have the book at home and supposedly read in full when I was a child, but - I cannot remember any of it, for some reason. I usually read up the parts that (hopefully) help me understand TROP better or that I might need for stories, or watch videos about interesting topics.

That being said, due to TROP, I am getting more and more interested in Celebrimbor's story and am also trying to learn more about the geography of Arda, specifically the places where Morgoth and/or Sauron resided (and Adar would have).

(Sorry if that is a really disappointing answer! ^_^')

[mmixcelbleegg]

Was thinking abt who would be my blorbos from the medias Im currently the most interested in (jrwi n the outsiders) and it frustrates me that I cannot pick a Guy™ to think abt!!!

The characters I love love LOVE attempting to portray is Darry from the outsiders and Jay from jrwi bc they both interact w other characters in a way that's so so fascinating to me. I don't think that's the best way I can explain how I feel abt them, but what I do mean is that I love writing them whenever I get the chance to - even when I'm not the best at making them in character

However... Emizel and Dallas also hold a particular residence in my brain that I can't place. They're probably the least fun for me to write bc for the life of me, I can't understand what those blonde freaks are doing!!!! but that is somewhat a part of the appeal because I really want to!! I think it might be summarized that I like READING about these characters, even when I don't go out of my way to see a lot of stuff for Dal? I always enjoy reading shiz abt Emi's relationship w his brother like that is a MUST for me... They're similar characters to me in the suicidal tough ass delinquents sense and. It's silly bc to me, Emizel's arc in the suckening felt oddly concluded, and with that, I would say Dal is more interesting narratively but idk!!!

I like Twobit the way I like Queen and or Grefgore in the sense I squeal every time they're mentioned and the small snippets where their character is fleshed out makes me wanna cry a little bit. They are kind of so so important and I love how Two is focused on some episodes in the tv show. But even then, I don't really think about them too much!!

SodaPOP's odd for me because I could place him both in that last one and in the "I love writing him". And I tthinnnk I could say something similar abt Runt maybe? Or Kian Stone!!!!! I actually havent written anything for blood in the bayou so I can't say that but Sodapop n Kian would get along in my heart...

Johnny and Shilo, though. Have made a severe impact on my life. And they have their own vacation resort reserved for them in my cranium. I project on them (and Sodapop) a lot and OH OH OHHHHHH I LOVEE LOVE THEM. Love writing both of them!! "Pet of the gang" ordeal!! But Shilo is very separate from Johnny in the he's on a higher tax bracket way. i think they have very similar roles in their respective plots as people who Finally Fought to be in the place they are if that makes sense??? I'm not coherent rn but I reaaalllly want to make more comparisons like this though