#and learn that mistakes are a part of the process

[blueblossomrose]

I adore you! Your Twisted Parents series is amazing and never fails to cheer me up.

While I have you I would like your opinion on someone, Baul our favourite grumpy great-grandpa.

Do you think he mellowed out a bit after Sebek and Reader had kids? I like to think he would be similar to my great-grandpa, grumpy to everyone except me.

This is part of the Twisted Parents Series.

Content: Post-canon, fluffy, fem!afab!MC, family n children, MC is married to Sebek, mentions of war and other things (it's about Baul Zigvolt), maybe spoilers for book 7 (MAYBE).

Note(s): This request took as long as the others and trust me when I say it wasn't my intention for it to take so long 😔 thanks for the lovely words and the ask! 🥰😭❤️ <33

Comments and reblogs are very welcome ♡

At the beginning of Sebek and MC's relationship, he wasn't happy about it at all.

He was sure he had raised his grandson so that he would not repeat the mistake his daughter made, and in Sebek's childhood he had gone easy on him, but now he was an adult and still hadn't learned anything? Of course, this is all from Baul's point of view.

But this is nothing that Sebek hadn't anticipated before. Before the first family dinner where you would meet Baul (in the flesh and not in a dream), Sebek said everything he had to say and made it clear that no matter what his grandfather said, Sebek would never give up on being with you. Because he loves you.

So, you were already completely shielded. It didn't make the situation any less uncomfortable. At least Sebek's parents, siblings and Sebek himself did everything possible and impossible to intercept certain unfortunate speeches from Baul.

The years were tough, and I dare say that Baul only began to soften towards MC after the wedding. It finally dawned on him that Sebek was completely in love. And happy.

Give the old man some time. As soon as he realizes that Sebek is truly happy, he stops being rude, he realizes that there is no point in that.

About him mellowed to his great-grandchildren... that totally happens. No arguments.

The announcement of MC's pregnancy was enough to make the old fae awake and secretly (he thinks it's secretly but in reality you can see the joy on his face) happy.

He would love his great-grandchildren no matter what form they took, and that's how it happens.

Ivan was born with more fae DNA than Amelie, and does that influence the way Baul loves his grandchildren? NOT AT ALL. He absolutely loves them both.

Baul is a bit like Sebek in this regard. He really believes that no one notices how much he has softened. He thinks he is very discreet in how he shows his love for the new members of the Zigvolt family, but to anyone who looks at him, it is obvious.

As stated here, Baul has EXTENSIVE discussions with his son-in-law when it comes to holding the children. Even though Sebek's father insists that he has as much right as Baul because he IS THE grandfather, Baul will still complain.

Baul accompanies Sebek to most training sessions to make sure he is teaching Ivan well.

Just as Sebek lowered his voice around Amelie, it's jarring to hear Baul's whispery when he speaks to her.

In fact, to get to this point, Baul was forced to evolve a lot up a way before. With Sebek's years of courtship and marriage, it was a process of opening minds that he had refused to do with his daughter, for example. As if it was all very recent after the war, and he was absurdly furious with the idea that only frustration dominated his mind. He refused to try to think differently.

But as we saw in book 7, he had already softened a bit with the birth of Sebek. Then came Ivan and Amelie, and the man was completely laid up.

Sebek doesn't know who is worse at spoiling these children: Mr. Zigvolt or Baul.

Lilia finds it all very amusing when she hears it from [Name] or Mrs. Zigvolt's mouth. He totally teases Baul afterwards.

During Ivan's birth, he was busy at a council meeting for Briar Valley's ex-soldiers. But it only took a single message (probably sent by old-fashioned magical means) from Mrs. Zigvolt about the boy's birth for Baul to simply disappear from the meeting room. 7 minutes later he burst into the small clinic, asking where his grandson was.

Amelie's birth had been smoother so none of this was necessary, but he would do it again without a second thought.

Family activities with old Baul include: camping, mountain hiking, fencing lessons, and of course... barbecuing. Oh, and horseback riding, too.

At the end of all this, even if he doesn't open his mouth to verbalize it, he doesn't even need to, because all the family members know that deep down, Baul is very happy to have formed a big and loving family. Even with humans in the middle.

© blueblossomrose 2025 , I do not allow copying/plagiarism of any of my fanfics.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

i really liked your post about judges of character!! its the first post i saw of yours and its super cool!! followed!

i was wondering if you were willing to expand on more characters and why they aren’t good judges of characters. i totally agree with leona being ss tier, i just wanna see you articulate more characters if possible!!

in order of desire and namely, i wanna read about ruggie, trey, ortho, floyd, malleus, cater, yuu

thank u sm!!!! your writing and analysis is a total treat to read. take care of yourself!!

[Referencing this post!]

Thank you for enjoying my stuff and welcome to the fold (flock?) ^^

You listed a lot of characters so I’ll do a rapid-fire round and try to avoid dragging this response out for super long 🙂‍↕️ In your order:

Ruggie — He pays attention to people only in so far as to see when it the best time to swoop in and ask them for stuff (unfinished foods, donatable items, etc.) or to offer his services (for a fee). I don’t think he cares to look beyond that and seek a person’s hidden character. What comes first and foremost is his own survival, which is very focused on… himself, rather than how he reads other people and their character. It simply does not matter so long as Ruggie has his needs met.

Trey — Briefly covered in the tags of my previous post. He tries his best to keep out of conflicts, but this also means he must observe a lot and knows how to keep a distance. Trey notices some things that others don’t (like how Cater doesn’t like sweets in book 1 or how Vil is tired in his Labwear vignettes), but I wouldn’t call these instances evidence of Trey being a good judge of character. The Cater thing is something Trey picked up on from always seeing Cater go for savory foods or suggesting things to cover up sweet tastes. Noticing Vil being tired feels like a skill Trey may have learned from acting like a caretaker, especially with his younger siblings and dorm members. When Trey does try to discern people’s characters, it seems to fall flat because he takes them at face value and assumes goodness on their part. For example, he mistakes Jade as someone meek and being taken advantage of in Jade’s Ceremonial Robes vignettes.

Ortho — I think Ortho would theoretically be a good judge of character, but it is complicated by him relying on drawing conclusions from algorithms and data sets he is fed. It’s true that Ortho acts more human than a typical android, but he learned how to act this way by watching movies, which are mostly inaccurate depictions of real life. I feel this would “poison” his data and lead to him processing cues incorrectly. He can accurately tell the time and read your vitals because those are objective facts and numbers—but gauging human character is much less concrete. Maybe Ortho can fine-tune his skills by observing more humans irl (especially considering his advanced learning capabilities), but right now I think he’d still be working on it.

Floyd — I think judging people’s character comes more naturally to Floyd than to Jade (as there is a recurring theme of Floyd being a genius while Jade has to put in effort to be competent). Like many things though, his proficiency shifts with his mood. I don’t see Floyd as being super observant in spite of this, as he also didn’t seem to sense something was “up” with Jamil despite arguably spending a lot more time with him in the same club.

Malleus — Malleus notoriously had difficulties understanding others, albeit this is definitely influenced by his sheltered upbringing. He missed Rollo’s weird vibes (too blinded by the thought of genuinely being invited to an event) and even describes himself as “[being] no good at divining humans’ minds”. This could be considered a cultural misalignment rather than him being a poor judge of character, but considering how he frequently uses on his own (very limited) POV as reference (which is what led to Endless Halloween Night and misunderstands with his fellow dorm leaders at meetings), this still puts Malleus in a situation where he cannot read others well because HE also doesn’t project his own emotions or true character very openly; he always has to maintain a certain air about him as a future king.

Cater — He’s great at reading the room and using social standing to get what he wants. For example, Cater knows his underclassmen will defer to seniority so he tricks Adeuce into helping him do his chores. He is also shown intervening multiple different times when the situation gets heated to get everyone to cool their heads. This means Cater is socially savvy and intuitive rather than a good judge of character. Because Cater spends so much time online and intentionally holding people at a distance, I don’t think he bothers to look deeper into them than what’s presented on the surface. For example, he’s always clout chasing (seeking pics with important and notable peers) but doesn’t make an effort to really see or judge people on a deeper level.

Yuu — Ehhhhh 🤷‍♀️ Yuu is a blank slate character for players for project themselves or sonas/OCs onto. How good or bad they are at judging others is defined by the individual. Instances like Yuu being friendly with Malleus aren’t so much of them seeing the goodness in him as it is Yuu being oblivious about who he is. We don’t really get any comments from Yuu that have insight into their peers’ characters either, only surface-level remarks and observations along the lines of, “oh, they’re being kind of rude again” or “wooow, he’s being nice for once?”. Twst leaves Yuu vague so you can fill in the gaps using your own imagination.

[so-i-did-this-thing]

So, i feel kind of like a screwup nowadays for god so many reasons that it’s ridiculous…and I wanted to know, how did you deal with feeling like that, if you ever did ofc. I know logically that my life is not over but I’m just so ashamed that it’s hard to remember that

You have to learn how to afford yourself grace, and that means not holding yourself to impossible standards. A lot of us are hypocrites over failings we'd forgive in a friend, but somehow never for ourselves.

But what really makes it easier, imo, is practicing being more vulnerable with other people. And that starts with reducing the sting of embarrassment.

Seek ways to confront your fear of embarrassment - for a lot of us, embarrassment is tied to being Perceived. So, start off by being comfortable with being Seen in safe situations -- eat in a restaurant by yourself, style yourself in a way that might draw a little attention, gush about a special interest, post a fan work with comments open.

You'll hopefully become more comfortable sharing parts of yourself to where you can then talk about some of your mistakes and fears. With a therapist, with friends, even Anon on tumblr dot com, wherever is comfortable.

Defang failure by turning it into a story, even if it needs to be a cautionary tale. Poke fun at your mistakes where you can (I have things I can laugh about wrt my hoarding and mental decline from being trans & closeted) and give past, naive/irresponsible you a bit of a ribbing where you can, but also a hug for surviving.

You don't have to share specifics if you don't want to. When I'm feeling shy, I use fanfic to both gently scold and *and* reward myself by proxy when it comes to processing my own trauma and celebrating my survival. And it helps, as silly as it can feel sometimes.

And while you're doing all this self-reflection, I find that simply being more earnest about *everything* helps so much. Tell people that you love/admire them. Be fast with compliments, especially out in the open. Practicing being unabashedly supportive and enthusiastic of others means you'll hopefully be able to turn that towards yourself.

There's a lot of roads you can take. Being willingly vulnerable in any way means your screwups start to lose power over you. You start to reevaluate your past and forgive yourself more -- so many of our mistakes are simply what we thought was the best (perhaps only) decision at the time.

Laughter and a hug do a world of good and sometimes both have to come from you, yourself. And like any other skill, this is something you can actually practice. ❤️

[luciddaydreamingworlds]

Since Clem can't really come out at school and has to be pretty stealth, they start thinking way too damn hard about what can and can't get them ousted as a transfem. Can't do cheer because, even though there are male cheerleaders here and there, there's not enough to justify risking her identity and safety on it, even though it's something they enjoy. So, what's close to cheer that isn't cheer? Gymnastics seems close enough. And there's enough boys there that she can join and not feel like all eyes are on them. Sure, it's difficult, but what's the worst that could happen?

[*smash cut to a compilation of Clem totally wiffing it at gymnastics*]

[eekamakes]

Yay! I've finished my first repeat! This is the 'Weave long and prosper' scarf kit from the Woolery. It is kinda complicated, but I'm having fun!

It looks mostly like the pattern which I count as a win. There is some wonky stuff happening where I've tied on which I am ignoring. I was too excited after sleighing the reed and just wanted to get started

I also believe that I made a threading error as evidenced by the bunch of threads here in the middle. And I was also a few ends short at the end. I'm guessing that I somehow threaded the same section three times. This draft was very complex and there was no obvious repeat so I probably just read it wrong.

The final issue here is that I skipped a dent in the reed which is causing a spacing issue. I'm hoping that this will be less noticable when I block

But all of this is fine! I'm learning! I'm having fun! Mistakes are part of the process! And it's still gonna be a scarf at the end!

[abyssaldyke]

I feel like there are so many microadjustments we can make to our behaviors to make the most affected in our communities feel a bit safer and listened to and yet over and over I see folks get shit on for making literally the tiniest requests.

If a trans woman asks you to stop calling her dude or bro or whatever, you stop. If a Black person asks you to stop using AAVE, you stop. If a disabled person asks you to walk slower, you slow down and let them set the pace. You don't fucking argue with them, or provide some limp excuse like "i use it in a gender neutral way" "it's tiktok speak" "I can't help walking fast, I'm gay". Just change your behavior and don't make a big thing about it. It's like the lowest bar possible and still people trip over it.

[hyperfixation-hideout]

I've been trying to learn how to draw over the last few months (primarily so I can draw Them), but I realized I haven't been posting my attempts to Tumblr, just Twitter, and that is a travesty :PSo here ya go! My most recent finished drawing! (Please be nice lol)

I just think Ruby "Not a fancy dancey girl" Rose should give Oscar "Second Chances" Pine a chance to change her mind 🌲🌹

[toxictoxicities]

more angst? I think yes

[party-pixie]

hey, thanks for the kind words. i'll admit that i kinda forgot for a while that daily demon spotlight was meant to be a blog for fun above all, and i got too obsessed with my perfectionism to where even the slightest criticism would make me panic and overcorrect everything

i really do appreciate what you said as it kinda just grounded me again and made me realize that i'm not some giant public figure, i'm just some teenage trans girl who likes to write, so thank you so much even if you didn't intend it to be that deep lmao 🙏

well im glad i could help 🥰 i've gotten the perfectionism bug with my own writing so i know how much it really sucks. i think it's also scary on the internet where people are increasingly becoming mean to people they don't know over even small things, so it prob feels like you're risking getting huge backlash over something that isn't all that difficult to fix. like, the demon spotlight is just a hobby blog covering figures that appear in a game series that in itself has questionable information and unclear sources, it's not an official compendium blog run by atlus yknow??? i get not wanting to spread misinformation or see it get spread ab mythological figures but for a hobby blog where it's not difficult to add to posts, i don't think it needs to be all that deep. don't be afraid to add an addendum to old posts if you ever come across new information or a correction, i think that kind of thing could be beneficial even if the original post had a lot of incorrect stuff in it

plus, with so many different retellings and translations of mythological stories i think people will consider different ones to be their "canon" to them. i mean like, i read ab two or three different takes just on ganesha's birth in a little section ab parvati in a book discussing a ton of different goddesses. and with language barriers and such, you're bound to run into inaccuracies tbh

i think it's a good preface for everyone involved to come into this understanding that it's easy to unknowingly run into wrong information ab figures, smt is full of inaccuracies in itself, the demon spotlight is just a hobby and isn't gonna get thesis-level work put into it, and the goal isn't to spread misinformation

as long as you keep doing your best in research and handling things as respectfully as you can, i don't think mistakes should be a huge deal. like, yea okay you fucked up a post cus you had bad sources, it's not the end of the world and i don't think you should feel like it's the end of the world or someone else should make you feel that way. just don't argue with people if they give you a correction. i mean, if someone's a total asshole about it that's not really something you can help, the best you can do is apologize and correct the original post. but there's no need to wallow in sorrow cus you got something wrong, it's really not the end of the world🥰👍

[violntfemme]

My band directors are about to CATCH THESE HANDS.

[electric-friend]

i hate people that come from tiktok to ao3, i’m sorry. fics that get promoted on tik tok are always a bit odd too. i hate the outlook that ao3 should ban content that offends you and i hate the outlook that ‘ohhh i must be shadowbanned because my fic is hardly getting any kudos, does anyone know how to get in with the algorithm?’ are you sure it’s tagged correctly? is your summary good? is your formatting good? is the fic readable? maybe it’s just bad dude. or maybe the fandom is a bit dead. or ‘there should be an algorithm/how does the algorithm work?’ ugh. or the ‘technically this tag doesn’t apply but i’m just adding it for reach :)’ thing !!! NO!!! don’t do that! i fear that tik tok is an app for Children and that people advertising ao3 on tik tok has meant that wattpad aged kids are going on ao3 because they’re being introduced to it before they’re able to find it and figure out how it works on its own. i fear that discovering ao3 on your own and working out how it works on your own (with a little research, sure) might just be a necessary rite of passage.

like are you ready for ao3 if you jump into it before you understand it and break all the rules? idk man

[justthinkingaboutlouis]

Hi! Happy Faith In The Future anniversary! Sorry for being late but I got caught up celebrating, but enough about me, it’s all about Faith In The Future. What does the album mean to you?

Hi :) Don't be sorry. We don't need a special day to talk about Faith in the future. Because it's THE ALBUM. We can talk about FITF anytime. Well i could go on about how amazing the album is sonically and lyrically but I don't have energy as I'm in pain & feeling drowsy.

To me I'd say Faith in the future is part of my daily life. I'm listening to it while working/walking/ simply just like that because I'm so in love with it. If I don't get time to listen to the whole album or at least my most favourite ones the whole day I'll listen while going to sleep. It's so hopeful and gives me comfort. A few of the songs are just instant mood shifters, filling me with energy to get started on the routine corporate job. Sometimes I watch live show videos where the crowd is loud and going crazy and having the time of their life. The whole atmosphere is just filled with happiness and I get jealous cause I haven't gotten the opportunity to see louis live yet! Hopefully one day everything will work out and he comes to India soon.

[sir-david-von-templo]

YES! Exactly this!

Worst of all, this is the main culprit of why so many audiences in so many fandoms get so many characters, fuck, so many WHOLE NARRATIVES and metaphors so, so fucking WRONG.

Filler episodes allow us to know our cast. To establish how they interact with each other, as well as their virtues and flaws. More importantly, they allow the serious moments to have more gravitas. Because now you are empathizing with the characters that are going through it. You want them to survive them, because now you know how they live they day-to-day.

I'm sure we all know all those stupid memes talking about "Character Development" that really are talking about disgraces that occurs to ome character, from losing a battle to having another character dying. Well, that poor understanding of what Character Development is can be directly attributed to how many times filler episodes are ignored, and, in some point, considered non-canon by the fandom. After all, without filler episodes being a breath between tense moments, how you just make the seriousness of a situation feel bigger? adding more brutally grandiose moments, of course!

genuinely one of the worst things that’s happened to television in the last few years (exacerbated by streaming services) is death of Filler. going from 20 episodes to 8 because “we didn’t really need that episode where the main characters went to the beach right? it had no long lasting effect” but we DID!!! we needed to see how they act without the Big Bad Plot and to establish the dynamics between the characters and lay in the sun (do they forget sunscreen? how do they react to a thieving seagull? do they get buried in the sand or do they do the burying?). the plot isn’t everything. the action doesn’t hit as hard without the quiet moments. give us character development and our little scenes back

[archaeren]

How I learned to write smarter, not harder

(aka, how to write when you're hella ADHD lol)

A reader commented on my current long fic asking how I write so well. I replied with an essay of my honestly pretty non-standard writing advice (that they probably didn't actually want lol) Now I'm gonna share it with you guys and hopefully there's a few of you out there who will benefit from my past mistakes and find some useful advice in here. XD Since I started doing this stuff, which are all pretty easy changes to absorb into your process if you want to try them, I now almost never get writer's block.

The text of the original reply is indented, and I've added some additional commentary to expand upon and clarify some of the concepts.

As for writing well, I usually attribute it to the fact that I spent roughly four years in my late teens/early 20s writing text roleplay with a friend for hours every single day. Aside from the constant practice that provided, having a live audience immediately reacting to everything I wrote made me think a lot about how to make as many sentences as possible have maximum impact so that I could get that kind of fun reaction. (Which is another reason why comments like yours are so valuable to fanfic writers! <3) The other factors that have improved my writing are thus: 1. Writing nonlinearly. I used to write a whole story in order, from the first sentence onward. If there was a part I was excited to write, I slogged through everything to get there, thinking that it would be my reward once I finished everything that led up to that. It never worked. XD It was miserable. By the time I got to the part I wanted to write, I had beaten the scene to death in my head imagining all the ways I could write it, and it a) no longer interested me and b) could not live up to my expectations because I couldn't remember all my ideas I'd had for writing it. The scene came out mediocre and so did everything leading up to it. Since then, I learned through working on VN writing (I co-own a game studio and we have some visual novels that I write for) that I don't have to write linearly. If I'm inspired to write a scene, I just write it immediately. It usually comes out pretty good even in a first draft! But then I also have it for if I get more ideas for that scene later, and I can just edit them in. The scenes come out MUCH stronger because of this. And you know what else I discovered? Those scenes I slogged through before weren't scenes I had no inspiration for, I just didn't have any inspiration for them in that moment! I can't tell you how many times there was a scene I had no interest in writing, and then a week later I'd get struck by the perfect inspiration for it! Those are scenes I would have done a very mediocre job on, and now they can be some of the most powerful scenes because I gave them time to marinate. Inspiration isn't always linear, so writing doesn't have to be either!

Some people are the type that joyfully write linearly. I have a friend like this--she picks up the characters and just continues playing out the next scene. Her story progresses through the entire day-by-day lives of the characters; it never timeskips more than a few hours. She started writing and posting just eight months ago, she's about an eighth of the way through her planned fic timeline, and the content she has so far posted to AO3 for it is already 450,000 words long. But most of us are normal humans. We're not, for the most part, wired to create linearly. We consume linearly, we experience linearly, so we assume we must also create linearly. But actually, a lot of us really suffer from trying to force ourselves to create this way, and we might not even realize it. If you're the kind of person who thinks you need to carrot-on-a-stick yourself into writing by saving the fun part for when you finally write everything that happens before it: Stop. You're probably not a linear writer. You're making yourself suffer for no reason and your writing is probably suffering for it. At least give nonlinear writing a try before you assume you can't write if you're not baiting or forcing yourself into it!! Remember: Writing is fun. You do this because it's fun, because it's your hobby. If you're miserable 80% of the time you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong!

2. Rereading my own work. I used to hate reading my own work. I wouldn't even edit it usually. I would write it and slap it online and try not to look at it again. XD Writing nonlinearly forced me to start rereading because I needed to make sure scenes connected together naturally and it also made it easier to get into the headspace of the story to keep writing and fill in the blanks and get new inspiration. Doing this built the editing process into my writing process--I would read a scene to get back in the headspace, dislike what I had written, and just clean it up on the fly. I still never ever sit down to 'edit' my work. I just reread it to prep for writing and it ends up editing itself. Many many scenes in this fic I have read probably a dozen times or more! (And now, I can actually reread my own work for enjoyment!) Another thing I found from doing this that it became easy to see patterns and themes in my work and strengthen them. Foreshadowing became easy. Setting up for jokes or plot points became easy. I didn't have to plan out my story in advance or write an outline, because the scenes themselves because a sort of living outline on their own. (Yes, despite all the foreshadowing and recurring thematic elements and secret hidden meanings sprinkled throughout this story, it actually never had an outline or a plan for any of that. It's all a natural byproduct of writing nonlinearly and rereading.)

Unpopular writing opinion time: You don't need to make a detailed outline.

Some people thrive on having an outline and planning out every detail before they sit down to write. But I know for a lot of us, we don't know how to write an outline or how to use it once we've written it. The idea of making one is daunting, and the advice that it's the only way to write or beat writer's block is demoralizing. So let me explain how I approach "outlining" which isn't really outlining at all.

I write in a Notion table, where every scene is a separate table entry and the scene is written in the page inside that entry. I do this because it makes writing nonlinearly VASTLY more intuitive and straightforward than writing in a single document. (If you're familiar with Notion, this probably makes perfect sense to you. If you're not, imagine something a little like a more contained Google Sheets, but every row has a title cell that opens into a unique Google Doc when you click on it. And it's not as slow and clunky as the Google suite lol) (Edit from the future: I answered an ask with more explanation on how I use Notion for non-linear writing here.) When I sit down to begin a new fic idea, I make a quick entry in the table for every scene I already know I'll want or need, with the entries titled with a couple words or a sentence that describes what will be in that scene so I'll remember it later. Basically, it's the most absolute bare-bones skeleton of what I vaguely know will probably happen in the story.

Then I start writing, wherever I want in the list. As I write, ideas for new scenes and new connections and themes will emerge over time, and I'll just slot them in between the original entries wherever they naturally fit, rearranging as necessary, so that I won't forget about them later when I'm ready to write them. As an example, my current long fic started with a list of roughly 35 scenes that I knew I wanted or needed, for a fic that will probably be around 100k words (which I didn't know at the time haha). As of this writing, it has expanded to 129 scenes. And since I write them directly in the page entries for the table, the fic is actually its own outline, without any additional effort on my part. As I said in the comment reply--a living outline!

This also made it easier to let go of the notion that I had to write something exactly right the first time. (People always say you should do this, but how many of us do? It's harder than it sounds! I didn't want to commit to editing later! I didn't want to reread my work! XD) I know I'm going to edit it naturally anyway, so I can feel okay giving myself permission to just write it approximately right and I can fix it later. And what I found from that was that sometimes what I believed was kind of meh when I wrote it was actually totally fine when I read it later! Sometimes the internal critic is actually wrong. 3. Marinating in the headspace of the story. For the first two months I worked on [fic], I did not consume any media other than [fandom the fic is in]. I didn't watch, read, or play anything else. Not even mobile games. (And there wasn't really much fan content for [fandom] to consume either. Still isn't, really. XD) This basically forced me to treat writing my story as my only source of entertainment, and kept me from getting distracted or inspired to write other ideas and abandon this one.

As an aside, I don't think this is a necessary step for writing, but if you really want to be productive in a short burst, I do highly recommend going on a media consumption hiatus. Not forever, obviously! Consuming media is a valuable tool for new inspiration, and reading other's work (both good and bad, as long as you think critically to identify the differences!) is an invaluable resource for improving your writing.

When I write, I usually lay down, close my eyes, and play the scene I'm interested in writing in my head. I even take a ten-minute nap now and then during this process. (I find being in a state of partial drowsiness, but not outright sleepiness, makes writing easier and better. Sleep helps the brain process and make connections!) Then I roll over to the laptop next to me and type up whatever I felt like worked for the scene. This may mean I write half a sentence at a time between intervals of closed-eye-time XD

People always say if you're stuck, you need to outline.

What they actually mean by that (whether they realize it or not) is that if you're stuck, you need to brainstorm. You need to marinate. You don't need to plan what you're doing, you just need to give yourself time to think about it!

What's another framing for brainstorming for your fic? Fantasizing about it! Planning is work, but fantasizing isn't.

You're already fantasizing about it, right? That's why you're writing it. Just direct that effort toward the scenes you're trying to write next! Close your eyes, lay back, and fantasize what the characters do and how they react.

And then quickly note down your inspirations so you don't forget, haha.

And if a scene is so boring to you that even fantasizing about it sucks--it's probably a bad scene.

If it's boring to write, it's going to be boring to read. Ask yourself why you wanted that scene. Is it even necessary? Can you cut it? Can you replace it with a different scene that serves the same purpose but approaches the problem from a different angle? If you can't remove the troublesome scene, what can you change about it that would make it interesting or exciting for you to write?

And I can't write sitting up to save my damn life. It's like my brain just stops working if I have to sit in a chair and stare at a computer screen. I need to be able to lie down, even if I don't use it! Talking walks and swinging in a hammock are also fantastic places to get scene ideas worked out, because the rhythmic motion also helps our brain process. It's just a little harder to work on a laptop in those scenarios. XD

In conclusion: Writing nonlinearly is an amazing tool for kicking writer's block to the curb. There's almost always some scene you'll want to write. If there isn't, you need to re-read or marinate.

Or you need to use the bathroom, eat something, or sleep. XD Seriously, if you're that stuck, assess your current physical condition. You might just be unable to focus because you're uncomfortable and you haven't realized it yet.

Anyway! I hope that was helpful, or at least interesting! XD Sorry again for the text wall. (I think this is the longest comment reply I've ever written!)

And same to you guys on tumblr--I hope this was helpful or at least interesting. XD Reblogs appreciated if so! (Maybe it'll help someone else!)

[ellipsus-writes]

The words they're afraid of.

(Read on our blog.)

The recently appointed Department of Defense head Pete Hegseth (formerly Fox News pundit, perpetually soused creepy uncle, and current group chat leaker of classified intel) banned images of the Enola Gay from the Pentagon’s website for the offense of “DEI” language. In keeping with the far right’s stated war on anything vaguely resembling diversity, equity and inclusion, even historical photos are up for cancellation. When a literal weapon of mass destruction is censored for being a bit fruity under the Trump administration’s war against inconvenient truths, what exactly is left untouched?

This is clown show stuff, but the stakes are far from funny. While some might be hesitant to compare the current administration to the very worst history has to offer, we can at least all agree that they are dyed-in-the-wool grammar Nazis. Policing language has been the objective of the MAGA culture war long before Project 2025’s debut—the wave of book bans orchestrated by astroturf movements like Moms for Liberty, and Florida’s 2022 Don’t Say Gay bill have already had a profound effect in the arena of free speech and freedom of expression (despite the far right’s long tradition of doublespeak performative free-speech martyrdom to the contrary). Don’t Say Gay ostensibly targeted K-3 education, but LGBT+ content at all levels of education (and beyond) was either quietly censored or entirely preempted in practice. The results were not just a war on so-called ideology, or words alone—but on reality and essential freedoms.

Now, words as innocuous and important as racism, climate change, hate speech, prejudice, mental health, and inequality are targeted as subversive. Entire concepts are being vanished from government institutions, scrubbed not only from descriptions but from metadata, search indexes, and archival frameworks.

If you don’t name a thing, does it exist?

These words are as numerous as they are generic: women, race, Black, immigrants, multicultural, gender, injustice. But what is painfully unserious is also particularly dangerous in its real-world consequences. The process of controlling words is a well-worn authoritarian tendency. Fifty-two universities are now under investigation as part of the President's effort to curb “woke” research and thought crimes. Institutions are being coerced to comply with a nebulous set of ideological demands, or face budgetary annihilation. That means cutting funding for entire departments, slashing financial aid, defunding scientific grants, and pressuring faculty to self-censor.

The possibilities for censorship extend far and wide—interfering, by extension, in everything from reproductive healthcare programs, to libraries and museums. The Trump administration’s proposed budget slashing all federal funding for libraries, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services, will effectively gut an infrastructure that supports over 100,000 libraries and museums across the country—community centers, educational lifelines, internet access points, and archives of marginalized histories (starting with the Smithsonian Institution).

When you erase access, you erase participation. And when you erase participation, you erase people, and the means by which future generations might even learn they existed. A culture that cannot remember is a culture that cannot resist.

The erasure is, yet again, unsurprisingly targeted at minorities and LGBT+ people. The National Parks Service quietly revised the Stonewall Monument’s website to remove references to transgender people—a fundamental part of the original protests. Not an oversight, not a mistake, but a deliberate excision—one point in a wider plan of erasure depicted in stark detail in Project 2025, a blueprint to dismantle civil rights, defund LGBT+-related healthcare, and rewrite history from the ground up.

Dehumanization by deletion—welcome to the reactionary resurgence of doubleplusungood governance. In Trumpland, words are weapons—but not in the way they intend. Their fear of language betrays its power; that’s why they’re trying so hard to police it.

Words hurt them.

Hurt them back.

- the Ellipsus Team

[ryker-writes]

Well, here we are! After my head cannons about giving them a rock, and it might be some way to propose to fae, I’m here to deliver!

Request rules and Masterlists

Accidentally proposing by giving him a rock (Malleus)

Being friends with fae is confusing sometimes. Of course, they’re great! But their culture is new to you, and you’re trying to learn. Of course there’s bound to be misunderstandings and mistakes every so often! It’s part of the learning process.

Well, this is probably the biggest misunderstanding that could’ve possibly happened.

You’d simply wanted to give Malleus a gift to help express how much you care about him. So when you found this nice smooth black rock with specks of gray and green, you thought it was perfect for him. Who doesn’t love rocks anyway? From what you’ve learned about fae, they’re very in tune and connected to nature. So surely Malleus would appreciate the rock!

So when you see him next, you told him had a gift for him. But when you held the rock out to him, he was…stunned to say the least. The ever so calm Malleus Draconia had wide eyes when he saw it, and he’d gone completely stiff and silent. In hindsight, that definitely should’ve told you something was wrong. But at the time, you naively thought he was just stunned you gave him a gift. You were well aware he hasn’t gotten to experience friendships like the average person first most of his life. So it made sense why he’d be surprised when you gave him a gift. He’s not used to receiving gifts.

“Child of man…do you truly mean this?”

You’d smiled at him, and nodded, “Of course. I wanted to give you something to show I care and how much I appreciate you. This rock reminded me of you with the spots of green on the black.”

Just like that, the biggest smile grew on his face. One of his hands moved and gently held onto the bottom of your own hand that held out the rock, and the other carefully picked it up. He held the stone close to his chest, and looked down at you with such softness.

“Words cannot properly express how grateful I am to receive such a gift from you. I am delighted to accept this treasure. Rest assured, I will keep it safe and make the proper preparations for everything.”

It was hard to question what he meant when he said he’d make preparations when he looked so happy and held onto the rock like it’s sacred. He probably meant that he’d set something up to protect the rock, like a place for it to sit on display or something. Yeah, that seems like something he’d do.

You thought it was odd when Sebek was at the door to Ramshackle the next morning. He seemed rather upset, and he woke Grim up with his shouting, but he insisted that it was his duty to stick around. In your freshly woken up state, you didn’t quite process everything he’d said. Something about the audacity of humans, how Malleus is so humble and kind, and that regardless he would fulfill his duty to Malleus at all costs. But all that was pretty normal talk for Sebek.

It was a lot easier to let Sebek just escort you to your first class than to try and argue about being able to get there on your own. It was a lot quieter after he left to go to his own classes. Grim actually fell asleep during class, claiming that he woke up too early from Sebek’s yelling.

Around lunch time, Lilia had stopped by your table (Scaring Ace in the process). He’d greeted you with a big smile, and arms outstretched.

“Congratulations! Young people sure do move fast. But I’m glad to see Malleus so happy. He told us all about it when he came back to Diasomnia yesterday. It seems Briar Valley’s future is looking rather interesting, and more accepting of humans.”

Okay, now you were very confused, and so was everyone else. Unfortunately, when Ace asked what was going on, Lilia just laughed.

“Ah, it is hard to keep up with younger folks sometimes. Anyway, I will be off. Much to do, things to help arrange.”

He disappeared before anyone could get another word in.

It’s safe to say you were now thoroughly confused. All you did was give Malleus a rock, and now you have Sebek acting like he had to escort you places, and Lilia congratulating you? Was the rock some magical item? It wouldn’t be the first time you accidentally came across something magical. Maybe it was Malleus just being protective? He did have a habit of going over the top a bit to protect those he cares about.

Either way, the only way to know what was really going on would be to ask Malleus himself. So after classes were over, you and Grim made your way over to Diasomnia to find Malleus.

You’d never seen Diasomnia so…scattered. Several students were moving around quickly, some even avoiding eye contact or going still as you walked past them. And sitting in the lounge was the dragon prince himself, Malleus, with a big smile on his face as he spoke with Lilia.

As soon as Malleus saw you approaching, his smile grew again, and he looked at you with such joy and affection.

“Ah, Child of man, how lovely it is for you to visit. Everything is going smoothly.”

You blinked up at him in confusion, “What’s going smoothly?”

At that, he seemed surprised for a moment before answering, “The preparations for our marriage of course.”

…

What.

Grim practically squeaked beside you at the revelation and began shouting, “Marriage?! Who said you could marry my hench-human? You didn’t even ask for permission to propose to my minion!”

Malleus laughed softly, “There was no need for me to seek your approval. Child of man proposed to me themself. It was quite the honor.”

The small direbeast looked quickly between you and Malleus in shock, and slight offense that you didn’t tell him. Malleus wasn’t a mage he wanted to provoke, but you were his hench-human! How could you propose to him without even consulting or telling him first?!

In the pause, Malleus continued, “I have taken great lengths to ensure the precious stone is safe. It is a symbol of our engagement, and will be a fine piece at our ceremony. Grandmother has already received word, and will be welcoming you to Briar Valley by my side.”

Oh great seven. The Queen of Briar Valley knows you somehow proposed to the Prince by giving him…a rock?? This must be some part of fae culture you’d yet to learn about. Courtship wasn’t exactly a priority when learning about their culture, so you hadn’t gotten there yet.

Snapping out of your shocked daze, you had to ask, “We’re…engaged??”

Malleus nodded, “Of course. Was that not the purpose of your gift of stone?”

Part of you wanted to clarify that proposing was very much not the intention, but he looked so happy and Lilia was giving you a look beside him. Malleus even told his grandma, made Sebek escort you this morning, and now all of Diasomnia is treating you like some sort of royalty. He was so excited about it. How could you tell him that you weren’t proposing when he was so excited? That might break his heart.

Unsure of what to say, you stayed silent for a moment. Lilia, ever the protector of Malleus’ feelings, laughed lightly, “Ah young love. Proposing and yet being so flustered about it. It’s relieving to see the future rulers of Briar Valley being oh so in love. Humans and fae coming together after so long.”

Malleus smiled again, and stepped by your side, “I am honored to be your chosen partner. Now, we must set up a time for you to meet Grandmother before the wedding.”

Oh yeah, you’re done for.