#and yes i've seen the translations of the death game and it's all so good

[afrenchwriter]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @andromeda4004, thank you dear 🥰 Always an interesting game to play, share, and reflect!

How many works do you have on ao3?

17

What's your total ao3 word count?

313,513

What fandoms do you write for?

I launched my AO3 account with a Red Dead Redemption fanfic, and then I discovered Good Omens, and then... well, you know how it goes with this fandom ❤️ That being said, I also had fun exploring the seas during the golden age of piracy (Our Flag Means Death) and the lands of a Norse God (Loki).

Top five fics by kudos:

For His Eyes Only (GO - James Bond AU, M rated, 69K)

Getting Closer (GO - fluffy post-S1 fic, G rated, 3K)

To the End of the Ocean (OFMD - post-S1 fic, M rated, 71K)

Whatever Comes After (RDR - canon divergence AU, M rated, 84K)

Ties & Other Obsessions (Loki - 5+1 fic, T rated, 4K)

Do you respond to comments?

Always! I treasure each and every one of them ❤️ But I have to confess that these past few months have been a bit hard (not much energy, unfortunately), and I'm still trying to catch up on all the lovely comments I've received.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Mmh, good question... I'm afraid I don't know how to do that 🙃 Even the last fic I wrote for the GO historical minisode event (Shadow & Light) was supposed to end on an angsty note, and at the last minute, I decided to add a happy epilogue! But if we're talking bittersweet ending, then it would be Sharp Endings & New Beginnings, a post-S2 Loki fic... If you've seen the show, then you know 🌳

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

Hard to say, considering my previous answer 😇 but all the long fics listed above have a very happy ending!

Do you get hate on fics?

I did, once, on my OFMD fic... It was a shock, but also an interesting experience: it pushed me to question my narrative choices (and, in the end, confirm them).

Do you write smut?

I do... And I have a second AO3 account dedicated to it 😎 (I wonder how many people will reach this part of the tag game and find this out, eheh)

Craziest crossover:

None for now... (For His Eyes Only cannot be considered a crossover since Crowley is basically James Bond 😎).

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! @pavel-pedro has started to translate To the End of the Ocean in Russian... and whether it will be one day finished or not (I know how time-consuming such a work can be!), I'll forever be grateful for the gesture ❤️

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I'm currently co-writing a fic, actually, with my lovely friend @sabotage-on-mercury: a GO/Fleabag AU! We're taking our time for all sorts of reasons, but we want to make sure we deliver quality content, considering the source materials!

All time favorite ship?

The Ineffable Partners, of course. How can you beat a relationship between two beings who have known each other for millennia and have gone through all sorts of ups and downs, down here and out there?

Or, as Neil would say: why? Love ❤️

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

*insert awkward look monkey puppet meme* I don't know, man... I have too many WIPs piling up lately, and not enough energy to work seriously on any of them... I do hope I'll finish all of my GO WIPs someday. But the one WIP I doubt I'll ever come back to (although it makes me sad because the outline I have for this story is WILD) is the sequel of my long RDR fic, called What We Owe to Each Other.

What are your writing strengths?

I've been told several times that I'm good at capturing a character's voice, and that makes me really happy. I'm a huge cinephile and good dialogues, "natural" dialogues, are so important - I'm glad to be able to consider this as one of my strengths! I would like to say developing a plot, too - I love writing long fics and exploring characters' arcs - but I think I'm still too close to the source material for now to consider it a real strength... Room to grow!

What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm a slow writer; I need to develop my ability to use imagery and metaphors; and I need better organization when it comes to writing drafts and editing the whole thing!

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Well... I'm French and I write my stories in English + I work as a translator, so... Yes to dialogues in other languages, always (then translated, of course)!

First fandom you wrote in?

I'm not exactly sure, but it must have been between those three: Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and Artemis Fowl (ah, teenage years!).

Favorite fic you've written?

That's a hard one... Whatever Comes After will forever have a special place in my heart since it's the fic that 1/ brought me back to writing 2/ helped me prove to myself that I was able to complete a long story. Senses & Sensitivity was my first fic for the GO fandom, and 1/ it made me feel confident to write more for the Ineffable Partners 2/ I made some great connections thanks to it (hello @hasturswig! ❤️). I don't think I've ever had more fun than when I was writing For His Eyes Only (and the enthusiastic comments along the way really helped! ❤️). But, to finish, I'd like to mention When All Is Said and Done, a GO fanfic in the South Downs that just poured out of me after the S2 finale... It really made me experience the magic of writing again.

If you've reached the end, thank you for reading! Feel free to ask me anything... And to consider yourself tagged if you want to play this game, too! ❤️

[visualtaehyun]

Rules: List 10 of your comfort shows, then tag 10 people

Thanks for tagging me y'all @sorry-bonebag @twig-tea @rocketturtle4 ✨

My criteria for a comfort show are gonna be 1) any piece of media 2) that I've watched more than once and 3) that I will keep reaching for. That's it. I can't even explain what the common denominator is tbh?? It's just- the kinda movie or show that I need on DVD to easily put on again and quell the brain worms (yes, I physically own all but #4-#6).

1. My School President: What can I say, this show took me entirely by surprise! I started watching a few days before episode 4 aired - aka the pinky touch ✨ the conversation in the stairwell ✨ and the origin of Gem4th's fanclub name being Khun Nuu ✨ - and fell right in love with it. I love musical storytelling, I love coming of age stories, I love a good romance, and I love found family/friend group dynamics so this really hit the spot for me. I guess these apply to a bunch of my choices for this tag though haha

2. Cutie Pie: I've talked about this show in another tag game (as "A show people find bad but you will defend") and all of that still holds true so I won't repeat it here. I'll just add that this show introduced me to Nunew who's my favorite artist these days. :)

3. Love In The Air (Love Storm): Yup! The show that most people on here seem to recall as that extra horny one lol It's one of the first Thai QLs I watched along with as it aired, maybe even the first one. I started watching when episode 2 came out, I think? And I just loved the D/s-dynamic, lovable brat Rain, and these rookie actors so much that I not only went looking for the bts, cast reactions, and interviews but I even started following Twitter translators for the show and cast. This show (and ZeeNunew lol) was basically my introduction to how the Y industry works, what Thai fanclubs are like, and got me well and truly interested in learning Thai. I think I've seen it enough times to speak along by now cause I also used my familiarity with it to study Thai. And now that BossNoeul are finally getting a new show, I'm really looking forward to seeing them in new roles!

4. Not Me: It's simply brilliant. And it's so grounded! You know how lots of tops in Thai QLs are rich, a CEO, drive a supercar, and live in a gorgeous modern home with huge windows (and death stairs lmao)? I love that Not Me starts in a place of privilege but has White leave that behind pretty early on. Bangkok really is a city where you can constantly see the divide between rich and poor. So I appreciate this show even more after having been to Bangkok. Not Me's characters look unfiltered and real and that's how the entire show feels as well. I just love what P'Nuchy has given us here! Oh and +1 for White narrating his entire story, I just kinda love that in general (also enjoyed Kawi narrating Be My Favorite). The next two kinda fall into one category: shows I loved as a kid, remembered - found - rewatched as a teen, and still fondly remember.

5. Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne: This is a magical girl anime that I first would have seen on TV in 2001. In hindsight, this show's religious themes may have influenced me in my love for fictional faith and devotion. Just a thought, haha, totally don't have more than one dnd character who is majorly connected to divinity, faith, and devotion, even though I personally am agnostic...

6. The Weekenders: I routinely cite this as my favorite cartoon (and I watched- just- So Many as a kid omg). Since I watched this on German TV, I only know the German dub which was honestly really fun. If any Germans read this and have seen that show: Wirsing! The rest is movies all the way down!

7. Timeline: A 2003 movie with a bunch of well-known actors that arguably qualifies as a B movie because it flopped so hard at the box office. It's my trash though. I chose it at the video store, brought it home, loved it, and then proceeded to rent it like once a year lol! It's basically a bunch of archeologists and history nerds travelling back in time to the Hundred Years War to save their professor. It has my preferred time travel dynamic of Everything is fixed and whatever traces in time you leave were already there to begin with.

8. Inception: There's several Christopher Nolan movies I love but this one is just so grand and fun and maybe I also had a bit of a crush on Elliott Page back then 👉👈 I'm a born nerd so naturally teen-me used "Non je ne regrette rien" as my alarm for years lmao This category is basically just Disney & co. musicals lol

9. Mulan (1998): If you asked me to choose my favorite from the entire classic Disney musical line-up, it would always be this one. It's the queerest, of course I'd always choose it!

10. Anastasia: You know, I looked at my shelf full of cartoon musicals- no wait, High School Musical and Pitch Perfect are next to them, hm, wELL- at my movie musicals shelf and it came down to choosing between this one and The Swan Princess (1994). And this one just kinda won out because "Once Upon A December" is impeccable! And now I've got it stuck in my head 👍

Since it took me a few days to get back to it, this has clearly made the rounds already. Who to tag?? Uh-- @pharawee @airenyah @telomeke and whoever sees this and wants to do it of course!

[lumosatnight]

20 questions for fic writers!

Thanks for the tag @acnelli (x), @schmem14 (x), and @indigo-scarf (x)!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I just reached exactly 100 works! Low-key so happy that my Pansmione soulmates fic was #100.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

301,754!! I am actually shocked by how high this is.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling (97)

First Kill (TV 2022) (1)

방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS (1)

Wednesday (TV 2022) (1)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

What is this, fucking Jeopardy? [Drarry, E, 20.4k]

White, the colour of flowers [Drarry, M, 3.2k]

A Heart So Colourful ♡ [Viktor/Ron, E, 1.5k]

Impervius, Not [Drarry, T, 5.0k]

7 Days of Halloween: I Don't Feel Like Myself Anymore [Wolfstar, E, 29.7k]

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

Oh heck yeah! I love getting and responding to comments. I've met some wonderful people in the comments section of fics.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Your Cigarette Smell [Sirius/Narcissa, E, 9.7k] with canon-compliant character death, so I think you know where this is going.

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

Any of my fluffy fics? Maybe Lavmione in Lavender for Morning or Nottpott in Silver Surprise.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not yet (*crosses fingers*). I've had some mildly annoying comments (like saying how they disliked background Dramione in a Drarry fic I wrote), but nothing to make me wanna bash my head against the wall.

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

Umm... yes. I am currently in the middle of posting the smuttiest, most depraved series I have ever written for this year's Kinktober.... so check it out ig?

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

Not so much crossovers but heavily inspired by other stories. I wrote Dronarry in a Sandman AU and also Hermione/Daphne in a Twilight AU 😂

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of...

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! My Nottpott fic was translated into Russian. How cool is that??

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have done art collabs but never co-written a fic. Definitely something I'd love to try. Maybe it'll happen next year!

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Idk there's too many to choose!! I probably read Drarry the most, but I think that's mostly because there's just SO MANY amazing Drarry authors. I can honestly be convinced to like any ship if I like the writing style and the story. I'm a huge rare pair and femslash shipper!!! The communities are just so wonderful 💖

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Never say never! But I'm really lacking motivation to finish my Squid Games AU Drarry fic. I love the concept, but the plot is just not flowing.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Emotion. I like my fics to pack a punch. I think I'm getting pretty good at it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Longfic. It's hard for me to sustain motivation for one idea. I have too many running through my brain at once, and I always get distracted by the shiny new headcanon.

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

I've seen it. I've done it. I'm ambivalent, mostly. I think it can be a great way to show cultural differences between characters. But I also think 90% of the time it unnecessarily confuses the reader because if you don't know the language, you're just going to skip over the dialogue. And if you do know the language, then you'll notice if it doesn't sound natural. Yeah... not a fan when it's just google translated and copy-pasted.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter!

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Anything on my Author's Favorites list! From recently though, maybe my Perciver strip chess fic 😉

Tagging (no pressure): @crazybutgood, @anaxandria-writes, @sugareey-makes-stuff, @givereadersahug, @orange-peony

[ultraviolet-ink]

20 Questions for Fic Writers!

I was tagged by @aawrightworth, thank you so much for this!! <3

How many works do you have on Ao3? 117, but I have four more on the roster due to @aaholidayrare!

What's your total A03 word count? 427,315 (OH WOW???)

What fandoms do you write for? Ace Attorney/Great Ace Attorney!

What are your top five fics by kudos? 1) Once Upon a Christmas (2019)- NRMT first kiss prompt 2) 12:26 AM (2019)- Forbidden Hospital Scene 3) The Talk (2020)- Greg notices that Baby Miles has a crush 4) Oh Shirt! (2019)- Phoenix can't find his shirt at Miles' place 5) Litigation in the Streets... (2021)- Miles and Phoenix become the subjects of tabloid gossip NGL, I'm not surprised that my top rated fics are NRMT, they're oldies but goodies! I've definitely grown as a writer (not to mention grown UP since these were all written when I was 18-20), but it really is lovely to see that they're still getting love! <3

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? OMGOMGOMGOMG!! Yes!! I love doing it because it lets the commenter know that I've seen their comment, and that I really do appreciate them! No matter how old a fic is, I will comment back as soon as I get that email, haha! In all seriousness, it's my way of giving back a kudos, a sort of "kudos to the reader" if that makes sense. They really do make me smile and I like to print out some of the comments that made me cry happy tears and save them in a scrapbook so that I can read them when writer's block hits me. Also, commenting brought my some of my greatest friends <3

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Ohhh DEFINITELY I Dreamed A Dream (2022)!! Not only is the title from the Les Mis song of the same name (where Fantine's life is just absolutely ruined), but I did the one thing I never thought I would be able to do... I KILLED one half of the otp!! It's a RyuuSusa fic, and of course, Major Character Death, proceed with caution!

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Oooohhh this is a really hard one since I'm such a sucker for happy endings! I think the one that makes me the happiest now is from The Caterpillar Man (2022). It's a fic I wrote to sort of conceptualize Yujin and Susato's relationship when the former came home from the original study trip, and it takes place over a year and among other tragedies and growth. It's from the perspective of Susato, and I think it's one that still makes me tear up (and I got fanart based on it once!!)

Do you get hate on fics? I've never been John Phoenix'd which is very rude, am I not GOOD enough for you DaKoolGuy?? but in all seriousness, I don't really get hate on specific fics, but because I'm so vocal about a certain pairing (being Ryuu X Susato.... if I'm not supposed to ship, why game make so cute?)

Do you write smut? Not on Ultraviolet_Ink, but I do on Infrared_Quill! Fun fact, Infrared got put on a blacklist when I only had one work, and Ultraviolet wasn't on it, I found it quite funny XD

Do you write crossovers? The Journal of Dr. Yujin Mikotoba (2022-????) is just one giant crossover with ACD canon, and I'm planning on having Raffles and Arsène Lupin making an important appearance in the future! It's very self indulgent XD

Have you ever had a fic stolen? God I hope not

Have you ever had a fic translated? Not to my knowledge, but I do have a blanket statement saying that I am a-okay with a translation of any of my works!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? It's always been in the "omg we should totally do this" phase, but given how I am with my own works, I feel like I would be a nightmare to work with XD

What's your all-time favourite ship? Honestly... It's between HomuMiko and RyuuSusa, especially since that's just what I've been writing recently XD

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? That's a good question that I don't have a single answer for XD I have a notepad full of a WIP list, but I think one that intrigued me when I first started off was this sort of continuation of the JFA 2-4 bad ending, just kind of coming from the ashes and then De Killer eventually kills Phoenix for betraying Matt Engarde (just because of the principle). It's really interesting to think about, but I honestly don't know how I could workshop it, and I remember stopping because It made me too sad haha! If you come across this and like the idea, please feel free to adopt this bunny, no credit needed! I'm not the first person who came up with a continuation of Miracle Never Happen, and I'm sure I won't be the last!

What are your writing strengths? I think I'm getting a lot better at dialogue, especially since I have a very good friend who helps me workshop them through a sort of RP! I would say that I'm also good at making a sort of vibe/ambiance, I know how to dress a scene B-) (Yes I was a theatre kid)

What are your writing weaknesses? Dialogue is also something I struggle a lot with, but I would say I get into my own head too much, and I over think and try to over explain to cover up "holes" (Cracked.Com owes me reparations for this)

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I'm a linguistics nerd, I love writing dialogue in other languages! I even wrote a fic entirely in Latin because I wanted to practice (Miles et Phoenix Romae Sunt (2021)). That being said, you have to use more than Google Translate, I've studied and majored in Spanish, so I'm confident enough in my own skill to write, but I don't really know German despite English being Germanic! So, while I do use Google Translate to get a base understanding, I try to run it by a native speaker, or at the very least, someone who has studied the language, to see if it makes sense haha. Or don't, I'm not your mom, and we're all just doing this for shits and giggles XD

First fandom you wrote for? ...... Oncest Those journals filled with Oncest have been burned since 2014 in the traditional "middle schoolers host a bonfire at the end of the year" that my friends hosted, and they will never see the light of day XD But then again..... how ba-a-a-ad COULD it have been? Tbh, I do regret getting rid of them, not because they were actually lost Great American Novels, but they were something I created and I could look back on and see how I've grown and what I've just stuck with over the years XD

Favourite fic you've ever written? It's honestly a tossup between The Journal of Yujin Mikotoba and The Caterpillar Man! I just love playing around with the empty playground canon left me haha

[icescrabblerjerky]

twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by @senseandaccountability THANK YOU!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 200 exactly! I did not know this until I just went and checked.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 1,222,468 - I too have been at it for a long time, about fifteen years (and there is more of it on other sites lol)

3. What fandoms do you write for? Rusty Quill Gaming, Baldur's Gate 3, SWTOR (and other star wars related fandoms), Dragon Age, The Magnus Archives, Final Fantasy XIV, uh... and lots of little one offs for books and tiny podcast fandoms.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Mbmbam Archives (mbmbam/magnus crossover) with 949 (this still makes me laugh so much)

Seven Days (RQGaming, Zolf/Oscar) at 458

Sex, Death and Plants or: Four Seasons Total Landscaping (RQGaming AU, Zolf/Oscar/Grizzop) at 425

Willing to Wait for It (RQGaming, genfic) at 394

and

A Little Help (RQGaming, again Zoscar) at 384

Rusty Quill Gaming folks are super super supportive and awesome and I'm forever grateful they went on my dumb journeys with these characters with me.

5. Do you respond to comments? Always! I hope! I know sometimes I miss them when I'm away from my computer but they are definitely always read.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Mmmm, angsty-est?? I'm not one really for angsty endings, although I like angst in all the other bits. Probably the fic I wrote where Zolf is mourning Oscar. I honestly can't remember what it was called.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Sex Death and Plants ends in a massive polycule and the take down of a fascist asshole billionaire so I think it deffo qualifies as the happiest of my endings :D.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm LOL. Never directly. I have reports of people who dislike what I write but they never tell me to my face for some reason, it always gets around to me, usually about two years later, on the underground.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I do. I love writing smut. I don't write very graphic smut as a general rule but most of my fics will have one or two scenes in it and I've done a couple of kinktobers. Love it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I've got a couple. One Dragon Age/Lucifer crossover that I wrote specifically for a friend. One aborted Firefly/Dragon Age Crossover that lives on FF.net I think if that site hasn't destroyed itself.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I've had enquiries about translating some into Russian but I've never actually seen if they followed through.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! Quite a few actually. Some of them haven't been published :D.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? I should say Zoscar. So I will. I love them your honour.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Gods I got a comment on my old Rebels fic "Talking to Strangers" and I read it again and went "this shit's good I should finish it" but that would involve me actually watching the rest of Rebels and I don't really watch TV any more and it just ends up being too hard.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue and character voices, I think - at least for fic. I have a lot of fun trying to make what characters say feel like it could be lifted directly from the source material but isn't.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Description. Fucken' hate it. I'll do it but I'll moan about it for every single sentence.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Very risky IMO and not something I'll do any more although I used to when I first started out. These days I'll write it in English but indicate which language it should be in in other ways.

19. First fandom you wrote for? If we wanna get technical I wrote my first fanfic when I was about ten years old. It was Sherlock Holmes fanfiction (the stories, not the series, since the series didn't come out for another twenty five years lol). Self insert time travel fic. I may still have it somewhere lol.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written? I love all my fanfictions equally (I really don't care for Mbmbam Archives). No that was a joke, I really do love all of them, my favourite tends to be the one I'm writing at the present moment. That said honourable mention should go to The Nature of Crystal (G'raha/WOL smut) because that one just arrived fully formed in my head one morning and tickled me.

I'll tag @feralkwe, @wishflower4, @zombolouge @makesometime and anyone else who would like to do it!

[puffkins2000]



Get to know you - Sims Style

Thank you @bioniczombie for the tag! :D What’s your favorite Sims death? Absolutely, without a doubt: Death By Flies. I don't even know why, it was just so fun to watch in TS2. I don't kill Sims as much anymore, just because I have my favourites that I don't want to die--but every now and then, I still do. Honestly, if I don't like the Sim, I just delete them instead.

Alpha CC or Maxis Match? Mostly Maxis Match, but I do have alpha content because I liked it enough. I like semi-realism; not too cartoony, but not TOO realistic. Do you cheat your sims weight? Usually no, unless it's for a character's purpose. I actually didn't know the weight could change in TS3, until I realized my one Sim was gaining weight and while on her third pregnancy. I was doing a generational challenge at the time, so absolutely no cheating was allowed. Let's just say.... her weight could never be altered, lol. Do you move objects? Like... using moo? If so, yes. If not... I mean, like redecorating? Because also yes. Do you move objects? Oh--too many to name. XD I was thinking about doing a mod post, after seeing one yesterday.... and unfortunately losing it. x__x; There were some I would have liked to have had.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack? Well... I'm not sure how to answer this one, as the Sims 1 pack I got had two EPs that came with it, then I got the other 3 as a bundle as well. Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing? As aLIVE, as that made sense to me in my head. The other way just sounds so wrong. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

Oh---this is GOING to be tough. So from TS2 (( because I don't think he translated as amazingly to TS3, but still okay enough )) is always going to be Timothy Blake. My other favourite Sims are always going to be my pirate couple: they were my favourites in TS2 and I've made them TWICE in TS3--and this current version of them in my absolute favourite pairing. I don't really have any currently in TS4. I should try to make my pirate pair in TS4. Have you made a simself? Uh, yes--for my friend for her HG Challenge. She made one of herself and her kitty, so I made one of myself. And she KILLED me. XD I'm so offended, but her Simself at least paid her respects to me, and I do apparently haunt the house, so... it's all good, lol.

Which is your favorite EA hair color? I'm not entirely sure. I've downloaded some hair colours as well, so I can' be 100% sure if I'm liking an EA one or another, but: red. If you haven't noticed, I put red hair on almost every Sim. XD

Favorite EA hair? I think it's either one from Supernatural or a Store hair, but I've used it on my female Sims a lot, because it's cute and elegant at the same time. Also the pointy one from Into The Future--the one with the braids. Favorite life stage? Young Adult Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? Well, I'm certainly NOT a builder, despite what you've seen. I'm more of a re-constructer. XD I like the gameplay, but, if I'm being honest, I love the CAS part more. I like fashion and designing things.

Are you a CC creator? ...yes? I don't have much, but I'm proud of what I have done. I wish I could do more, such as modding or at least getting my WIPs to work properly.

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad? I have very few friends in the Simblr/Sims community.

Do you have any sims merch? No, but it would be cool to see some stuff at Hot Topic or BoxLunch. Do you have a Youtube for sims? I wanted to, and I sort of have a few Sims vids up, but I really hate the sound of my voice, and I'm an introvert and even when doing private vids (( not for public-viewing, I should mention )) for my best friend when we exchange Christmas and birthday gifts, I'm usually the one NOT talking, lol. My friend chats away about everything, and I'm just "**unwraps gift carefully while being completely silent*". It took about fifty takes for me to do one Tik Tok dealing with my personal unexplained stories. How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing? When it was TS2, I downloaded everything I saw that I liked. I tried not to do that in the beginning of playing TS3; only downloading some makeup, then it became shoes... then clothing.... and it just spiral after that. Now I really go for EA-only converted things (( build and buy-wise )) or something that is REALLY cute or truer to EA-lore (( or edited EA items )). CAS is another story. I have found clothing in my CAS that doesn't look good on Sims/is broken and I eventually take those out when I get the chance. I also realized I don't like non-Simlish words on my shirts, but I can't really do too much with those unfortunately. Who’s your favorite CC creator? This is going to be hard, because there are just too many: @mspoodle1 was probably the first one I ever followed on Tumblr because I liked her CC so much. I also really love @twinsimming, @pixelfrogslegs, @aroundthesims, @bioniczombie, @aisquaredchoco, @nectar-cellar, @simtanico, @aprilrainsimblr, @phoebejaysims, @ilvansims3conversion, @auroraeternal, @kotajose, @ninaaposts, @nightospheresims, and waaaaay too many more. How long have you had Simblr? I don't know... maybe 2013 or 2014? I made it to show off my Sims screenies to a coworker of mine who also played TS3.

How do you edit your pictures? Photoshop What expansion/gamepack is your favorite? I can't really choose with Sims 1--so I'll skip that. For Sims 2: Apartment Life or Bon Voyage. For Sims 3: Supernatural AND World Adventures. For Sims 4: I have very few expansions that I haven't tried everything out JUST yet (( just installed Jungle Adventures and I'm super excited to try it out!! I'm also seeing a pattern here, lol )), but the demo I did of Snowy Escape? LOVED. I don't know who to tag, but I'm just going to pick of a couple of Simmers I didn't mention at all: @ameriko-steelie, @bellakenobi, @camoflaage, @mainlyjustthesims, @deniisu-sims, and @polaesims

[spartanguard]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by my bestiest @optomisticgirl <3

how many works do you have on ao3?

55

what's your total ao3 word count?

647,844

what fandoms do you write for?

Just Once Upon a Time (although, technically, I have written one that incorporated enough of The Picture of Dorian Gray that it's listed in my fandoms)

what are your top five fics by kudos?

Something In The Water, Sick of Love, A Tall Tail, A Rose in the Deeps of my Heart, and To Trust Someone Else [kind of bummed that my fave got bumped out of my top 5!]

do you respond to comments? why or why not?

Not on AO3, because I'm weird and like to keep that comment count representative of actual comments. But I try to on tumblr to make sure people know I've seen and appreciate their response!

what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I guess it depends on definition of angsty...I've definitely had some dramatic scenes close to the end (especially Sons of Love and Death and Even Death Won't Part Us Now), but I can't NOT have a happy ending. I guess the end of (Love Will See Us Through These) Dark Days is pretty bittersweet...but it's inspired by The Hunger Games so that was inevitable ;)

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Just about everything, haha. I love having lots of drama along the way, but if it doesn't have a happy end, what's the point?

do you get hate on fics?

Only once; someone got mad because I included KnightRook in We Cannot Choose Our Fate rather than a CS baby. They apparently forgot the 'back' button on their browser was a thing.

do you write smut? if so, what kind?

Hell yeah. The more magic, the better. (also: the wetter, the better. put them together and you get mermaid smut. yes.) But mainly, I just like to do really feelz-y stuff.

do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written?

Not really, but not because I don't like them or anything--I've just never really been inspired to (although there's an idea in the back of my mind involving a Community/OUAT crossover).

have you ever had a fic stolen?

thankfully, no. That crosses all kinds of lines.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I'm aware of.

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not in the traditional sense, but I've definitely borrowed from some of thesschesthair's stream of consciousness before (particularly for Savage Garden.)

what's your all-time favourite ship?

Captain Swan, easily.

what's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

As far as things I started publishing...Untitled Monster Loving Fic is probably the only one. I have an idea for how I want it to go, but I kept getting stuck rewriting Killian's backstory so it's just been chilling.

what are your writing strengths?

Hmmm...Dialogue, maybe? That's at least what comes to me easiest. I've been told my worldbuilding is good but it could be better.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Probably descriptions. I can see things vividly in my head but that doesn't always make its way to the page (or, on the other side of that, I sometimes worry I'm too thorough in that regard and the details bog down the flow).

thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for fic?

Only if it's a language you're at least conversational in. Otherwise, be prepared to be called out by a native speaker.

first fandom you wrote for?

I want to say I started a Sabrina, the Teenage Witch story when I was a kid, but never finished it. OUAT is the first one I've ever published anything for.

favourite fic you've ever written?

Either Savage Garden or Sons of Love and Death. But I've put a lot of me into all my stories so it's hard to pick!

tagging: everyone that B tagged, @cocohook38, @kmomof4, and whoever wants to do this!

[walkingstackofbooks]

SNW 2x06 Lost in Translation thought-stream

Is Kirk in this episode? Exciiite!! :D

Uhura!!!!

"My eyes are technically open, Captain." I love this new confidence, it suits her!

The TOS earpiece :O Yisss

He's fleet captain?! That's quite big, no?

THE SPINNING THINGS!!!! Nacelles? Idk the orange glowy things you always see on the TOS intro are in action and I love it?

Ohhhh, the recording of Hemmer :'(

"I'm sorry. I just said that because he's dead." Pelia I ADORE you

"Which is why they could really use your version of managerial fervour." Hah! That is Very Una.

JEEEZ THAT APPARITION'S TERRIFYING ... WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO HEMMER, SNW?

"Starfleet officers aren't supposed to randomly hallucinate." "You didn't do anything wrong, and there was nothing random about it." M'Benga is so gentle!, I love his bedside manner <3

I feel like Uhura has been in sickbay a lot this season?

"I empathize. But I also know a stubborn patient when I see one. You aren't going back on duty till I'm satisfied you've slept." She look so shocked XD You really shouldn't be that surprised that the doctor is gonna doctor, Uhura!

OH IT'S THE FARRAGUT! THAT'S KIRK'S SHIP!

Am excited to see more of Pelia too!!!!!

Actually, this is the first time we've ever seen Sam and Jim alive together (apart from that AOS deleted scene). Time to make Operation Annihilate more heartbreaking!

"Literally everything in xenoanthropology is new and exciting."

Jim's eye on Spock's chess game makes me so happy, I cannot express how much

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I am not in the market for friends right now." Oh, Nyota

I am so here for Uhura and Kirk on the case together

Pike's little breath and "Lieutenant Kirk". He's so well-adjusted tho

I'm so excited for La'an to run into Kirk again too

Can you find someone else to evaluate if it's real? Oh you did! Yes, Nyota!

No, you're supposed to wait for backup!

The way Jim catches her :o :3 <3 And her panicked "wait!". Oh, my heart. Okay, I love this Jim too, this is our Kirk

Well that's not disturbing at all, Ramon's space disintegration

Pike is so dadly and I love him for it. "The way I see it, that's good news. You're not crazy. Something is affecting you, the same way it affected him. And we're gonna figure out what."

"It won't come to that, I promise you." How can you promise that, Chirs? Take her advice! Let her be safe

Oh La'an ❤️❤️❤️ Just stumbling in on Kirk like that. You poor thing.

"And you have crumbs on your uniform! You're like a space hippie!" Wow, Una XD

"I don't need a cookie." "Okay, now you sound crazy." Kirk's trying to offer food as comfort... I wonder how Tarsus fits into this Jim

"The truth is I've never been able to face death." Oh, Uhura.

I've just realised she was watching that video of Hemmer, even though she must know how to do the thing by now.

"What's the play?" God, Pike's trust in her. That must be such a hard decision, on only that information he's been given.

"You gave me a C!" XD

Ohhh. But it's not really about that. Good. Una's too good o be petty.

I really love being able to see this beginning of Kirk and Uhura's friendship <3

Jim, clearly he'd like you to return with a compliment of your own. 'Xenoanthropology saved the day after all' or something? It's not hard.

Sam! What the heck? I was on your side for a second but I really don't think your brother has anything he needs to apologise for. Are you this much of an ass to anyone else?! (I really can't remember what he did in s1).

SPOCK

A HANDSHAKE!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHH

HER KNOWING SMILE

AHHHH

Oh and as the camera pans away we can see that Jim is constantly looking across to Spock I cannot I cannot I cannot

Oh I ADORED that episode. And not just the ending! Jim fit in seamlessly throughout, it was really nice seeing that in the real timeline, he is our Kirk.

And Uhura is, of course, everything. I love her so much.

[akashadarkblade]

20 Questions Fic Writer Tag

Tagged by @krankittoeleven thank you for the tag!

How many works do you have on AO3? 14

What is your AO3 word count? 38,116

What fandoms do you write for? Currently, I have fics on AO3 for The Last of Us, The Evil Within, Murdered: Soul Suspect, and Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. I also have WIPs I've written for Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Dishonored, and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, along with a few others.

What are your top five fics by kudos? Bloodied Axes and Blooming Flowers (161), Page Turner (121), Papa Wolf (97), Dozing (85), Healing Hearts (Also 85)

Do you respond to comments? I try my best to.

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Two Days or No Happy Endings are probably my most angsty fics. They both end with Major Character Death.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? tbh, not really sure lol

Do you get hate on fics? Nope, never have.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes. Mostly M/M and M/F or Polyam stuff.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I do! As for the craziest one, that would be a WIP I've been working on since 2019 called Dark Hearts. It's a Kingdom Hearts fic that crosses over with a lot of my favorite videogames. It's a BEAST as well, as it's currently sitting at almost 155k words, and I am nowhere near the ending of it. The craziest part about it though is the fact that - admittedly - I've never actually played a Kingdom Hearts game, or even watched a walk/playthrough of it xD I've seen parts of it, I know the general idea behind the series, and I think I understand a good bit of the lore, but not the whole series. Which is why I will NEVER post it. Because it's mostly just me being silly. Why did I start writing it? Don't ask me lol the idea got into my brain and wouldn't leave me alone, so I gave in and started writing it.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.

Have you ever had a fic translated? I don't think so?

Have you ever cowritten a fic before? No, but I might consider it.

What’s your all-time favorite ship? That is a TOUGH one, I have so many ships lol

What’s a WIP you’d like to finish but doubt you ever will? The Kingdom Hearts fic I mentioned above, Dark Hearts. I love it to death and I want desperately to finish it, but I think I burned out on it. As well, even if I did finish it, I most likely would never post it. Mainly because again, I've never played a Kingdom Hearts game. So even though it's fun for me to write, idk if KH fans would enjoy it.

What are your writing strengths? Being able to write a lot in one sitting. Once I get going, I get GOING and can write for HOURS. On record, my wordiest writing session was 16k words.

What are your writing weaknesses? Definitely the inability to finish anything. Mostly due to the fact that I try to write a lot of long fic, but end up having my hyperfixation shift before I can finish it. Usually because I've begun to fixate on a new fandom.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I personally don't think there is anything wrong with it, especially if it's something the character does in canon.

First fandom you wrote for? I'll be honest, I don't remember. I think it might have been either Devil May Cry or Hellsing.

Favorite fic you’ve ever written? Probably Dark Hearts. It's my baby and I love it so much. Just wish I could finish it lol

As for tags, if you wanna answer these questions to, feel free too and please tag me!

[novelmonger]

🦈🌻🍬🚦

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

Lol, the last time I answered a question like this, I was accused of being racist for saying that Sam Wilson is funny and emotionally stable XD

But as I think about it now, I suppose the real answer is that the toughest characters for me to write are snarky geniuses. The main ones I've had occasion to write would be Sherlock Holmes and Tony Stark. For one thing, they're much more intelligent than I am, so that's hard to write, and also their areas of expertise are very far removed from my own. Then, at least in Tony's case, I always feel the need to reference pop culture in some way - but not the nerdy stuff I would actually know about. Tony's always dropping references to movies I haven't seen or bands I don't listen to or something, so it takes a lot of effort to figure out what to make him say, and both he and Sherlock have this mocking way of talking a lot of the time that doesn't come naturally to me. I don't feel like I've ever really gotten either of their voices quite right.

🌻 How often do you read your own fics?

Less than I used to, I think. These days, I usually only read my own stuff when someone comments, "I love how you did XYZ!" And then I'm like, "Wait, I did XYZ?" and of course I have to go read it to see what they're talking about :P By the way, I'm not counting reading back over earlier portions of whatever WIP I'm in the middle of. That's just part of the writing process.

🍬 Do you write for multiple fandoms? If yes, what is your favorite fic of yours for each fandom?

From my FFNet profile:

So yes, I would say so XD

I only have one fic apiece for Wolf's Rain, Castle in the Sky, Death Note, Prince of Persia, Oddworld, Lovely Complex, Tsubasa Chronicle, Professor Layton, Supernatural, Star Wars, WordGirl, Daredevil, Avengers, and Dororo, so that goes without saying. Here are the others:

Final Fantasy X - Someday the Dream Will End My novelization of the game. Please note the date this was published and realize I was sixteen the last time I touched this thing ^^' It is very far beneath my current standards, but it's what got me into writing fanfiction in the first place, and it taught me so much about how stories work, how to write novel-length works, and also a lot of my preferences when it comes to writing and posting fanfic, specifically.

Harry Potter - Change I don't actually like any of my HP fics very much, if I'm being honest. I wrote most of them ages and ages ago, so the writing isn't very good, and I don't think I handled the few good ideas I had with the delicacy they required. So I picked this one because I wrote it much later than all the rest, so it's at least fairly competent. It's just a little exploration of a headcanon about how the broken Hogwarts House system could be tweaked to not be quite so divisive and counter-productive.

Full Metal Alchemist - The Ultimate Sacrifice Oh my gosh, I've written so many FMA fics over the years, it's almost impossible to pick x.x Some of them are really old and not very well written, some have really good ideas but my skill at the time is holding them back, some are quite good but...are they my favorite? In the end, I decided to go with this oneshot because it was burning a hole in my brain for years before I finally got it written down, and I think it still holds up okay seven years later. Basically, it's an AU that explores what it would be like if Ed uses his love for Al as the toll to get Al's body back. Super angsty, lots of tears, it's great! :D

ICO - Piaculum My novelization of the game, written after the official one was published in Japan but a good three years before it was ever translated to English, so that's how I justified writing it ^^' I didn't really know what I was doing. Parts of it are still kind of good, and I like how I dealt with certain themes and drew in connections to Shadow of the Colossus. But yeah, if you want a book that contains the story of my favorite game of all time, just go read Castle in the Mist by Miyuki Miyabe instead.

Legend of Zelda - One Hundred Beats A 100 Themes fic centered around the friendship of Link and Navi. I wrote this whole thing during one of the busiest and most exhausting periods of my life, and I'll always be impressed by past-me for doing that. I also really like some of the stories I came up with for it, especially all the AUs. Most importantly of all, brainstorming one chapter led me to the headcanon that healed the pain of what they did (or didn't do) with Navi in the canon, and for that I will always love this fic.

Sherlock - Memento Mori One of my kidlock oneshots, an AU where John and Sherlock met as kids. This one deals with the death of Sherlock's dog Redbeard (needless to say, it's quite different from the canon). Personally, I think this is the best one of my kidlock fics.

Captain America - Make Me Whole Obviously! This is the fic that took over my life and changed me irrevocably. For the first time ever, after so many years of writing just to get the ideas out and because no one else was doing it, this time I had a story where, even if ten other people came out of the woodwork with the exact same concept who were much better writers than me, I wanted to be the one to write it. I really got the sense that God wanted me to write this story, and I've seen the fruit of that over and over again. And, of course, without this fic I wouldn't be writing the mammoth WIP I'm working on now.

🚦What sort of endings do you prefer to write: ambiguous, bad, happily ever after, etc.?

You know, I've always said that bittersweet endings are my favorite. Endings like LotR, where the good guys win and evil is defeated, but not without great cost. But as I think through some of the endings I've been most satisfied about in my own writing, I think I need to fine-tune that. I think my favorite kind of ending is a particular brand of bittersweet, where it's not exactly "the Shire has been saved, but not for me." It's more like "we've been hurt, and we're not okay yet, but I think we will be." To me, that's the most realistic kind of ending you can get, because that's the way our lives are. (Not that I don't appreciate a good, completely happy ending where everybody lives happily ever after!)

Fanfic Writer Asks

[s0ul-j0k3r]

hey man I seen that you're writing for rdr2 now so I thought id make a request :)

could you write a polish reader that has crooked teeth please? they usually get along with everyone, and has huge alcohol tolerance please?

if this is too much just polish,

they're best friends with sean and whenever Sean is rescued and the party happens, Sean kisses the reader and confesses even though they have a s/o ? readers flattered but pushes him away

the thing is their s/o sees it

Sorry it took me so long to write this! Trying to catch up onto TWD! There won't be any Polish language in this only because I don't know Polish ✌️🧍 and I'm not gonna use Google Translate only because it takes to long to explain.

Also thanks Anon because it feels so nice writing again!

Holy shit, I'm experiencing the worst of the worst. I'm not dead which is a cheer, but I'm sick meaning sitting on my ass in bed for 24 hours with lack of motivation to write, but I'm sucking it up just to write it for you anon. So please consider it a gift, and I'm sorry if it may be terrible. (Also I'm sorry but it will just be Polish 🧍)

𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙂𝙉 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙎𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙈𝙖𝙘𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙧𝙚

𝙒𝘼𝙍𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂(𝙎): Language, drinking (and omg I just felt terrible because I'm watching TWD, (Season 4 episode 2 or 3)), non-confident reader, injuries, death, violence, weapons, usage of They/Them for reader, probably terrible writing, there isn't any actual wordings from the game.

Story will happen under the cut!

It felt empty and quiet without the loud, cheerful Sean MacGuire, always lighting up the mood.

You've felt saddened lately to the disappearance of him. Most to the reason he was your bestfriend for that matter. You guys always shared stories to eachother, ride through Valentine to the saloon for a drink, confusing eachother with you speaking Polish and him speaking in a more thick accent giving yourselves a laugh, etc.

To the point where Micah decides to be an ass and always call you guys all sorts of names: "Lovebirds!", "What a cute couple!", I mean all sorts. (Except my mind doesn't know anymore.)

You knew him best out of all of the group in the first place.

"MacGuire," that name has caught your attention, jolting your head up to see Dutch speaking to the gang, "has been gone for far to long now and we know that, but we will search for him.", you walked on over quickly, Charles coughed gathering Dutch's attention, explaining where he might know where his is.

(I completely forgot what that place was called.)

"Alright, then we'll head tomorrow. I want you four up early tomorrow. Who knows what they'll do to him." Pointing towards Javier, Charles, Arthur, and you. The minute he announced you, your stomach sunk, but beyond this point you would give anything up to get Sean back.

You gotta' admit that it was the longest night of your life.

"Y/N! C'mon! Get up, we gotta' get movin'!" Arthur calls out to you, you rushing up gathering your stuff.

Charles and Javier chatting away by their horses, seeing you rushing over. "Lets go." You sigh out. Leading your horse to your destination.

A good 20-35 minutes passed by before seeing a town, FULL of officers.

(I don't exactly remember (Yes I've done this part I just don't remember) how this goes.)

Fleeing your horses you guys hind behind a bush, Javier and Arthur taking out binoculars to see whats going on and to see where Sean is.

"There," Arthur points towards someone red headed enough to be Sean, "lets go."

(No, this will not add up to the fancy prancy dude, basically not adding up to the story.)

Sneaking over along an edge to keep eyes on Sean, "Me and Arthur will go around, you and Javier go down below and get those guys." Charles announced.

You nodded in reply and headed down with Javier to where some officers/guards were.

(HOLY SHIT, IT'S BEEN A FEW MONTHS! SO SORRY ANON!.)

Hand hovering your gun, just waiting for the right moment. Taking a glance, at Javier, (in which somehow) he acted out for you to take the first shot. (You somehow understood.)

Taking the weapon and aiming at the unknown guard in front of you, taking a deep breath before pulling the trigger. Obviously startling the other man beside him, but before he could take another breath Javier got to him first.

You cocked your head towards your destination at Javier, telling him, “Let’s go.”

You guys couldn't hear anything besides your feet dragging along the ground. Until it was stopped by hearing the sound of voices ahead.

Quickly shifting behind a rock, you peek over. You couldn't see anyone.

Complete silence fell,

"Where are they?" The unknown voices announced. What seemed to be Arthur peeking over, you had a quick sigh of relief.

(bro I'm fucking stuck, idk how to continue 😰)

[cosettepontmercys]

I totally know what you mean by wanting to appreciate the movie separate from the book. I think this works for series like HP and Hunger Games, which is pretty much the only fantasy I read, but there are a few that got it right in my opinion. Examples of this for me would be Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Fault in our Stars, Stargirl was okay, and Flipped. Idk if you are familiar with the book or movie Flipped, but I think it's maybe a more accurate comparison to If He Had Been With Me. I agree with your picks too! Oh I love your choices! Mine were more random..for some reason, I was picturing Jess and Rory from Gilmore Girls in Beach Read. Obviously not the right ages lol..and Timothee and Florence Pugh for People we meet on vacation, which doesn't really fit at all lol. I struggled a little bit with Book Lovers but I think your picks fit the characters! Oh yes I think I remember that was somebody else's suggestion for Happy Place too and I will probably use it now cuz I loved them in Set It Up. hopefully the movies are just as good as the book and I think they would all translate to a movie easily.

Yes I so agree about her movie and I'm hoping she writes a musical one day! I also wonder if she will write songs for the movie or if it's more separate..since she already kinda wrote using characters as some inspiration in Folklore and Evermore. She's also kinda done that since the beginning of her career anyway..like imagining a situation then writing about it. I'm so curious about the genre too!

The main triggers are death, suicide, and mental health which is clear when you read the summary of the book. These are important topics to me, which is why I said it's personal, but I didn't know if that's something you're interested in reading about, cuz I realize it's not for everyone.

i've actually never seen the hunger games movies, aside from the first one. i've been meaning to watch the perks of being a wallflower too — i only got around to reading the book last year (?) i think, via audiobook. there's a lot of books that were really popular in the like, 2010s that i never got to reading, or only just read a few years ago (and also a lot movies i just never watched that were super popular). i've never seen the entirety of gilmore girls, but from my dash and from tiktok and from my friends i feel like i've seen most of it — i think i got through most of the first season, but then never finished it! maybe one day i'll sit down and watch all of it. i think i have the most faith in people we meet on vacation being a good adaptation, over book lovers and beach read, but it's also the one that i don't have as strong of a personal connection with, which i'm sure helps! i'm so curious about taylor's movie, and the soundtrack! i'm also wondering if there'll be other artists/bands on there, and who will "curate" (?) the soundtrack — i really liked what jack antonoff did with love, simon! i was talking to jamie wespers about that the other day 🤍 i appreciate the trigger warnings!! i'll wait to read them until i'm in the right headspace for it, but i'm really glad that you found books that you connected to and mean a lot to you! x

[seoafin]

jjk 143, this is longer than i expected sksieiejn// i fixated on the fact that akutami said in an interview before that he had plans for yuuji's dad and thus focused on his dad when i should have been looking at his mum, but i was right on my suspicion anyway lmao

considering that inumaki is a shaman and he's currently incapacitated, that means he's probably going to be/has been moved from the college bc otherwise he would be considered a participant in the game ,,, soooooo is yuuta going with him or is he going to participate in the game

yuuta basically said this chapter that he doesn't give a shit abt yuuji but he's important to the people important to yuuta and isn't that what i've been saying since the beginning 😭 yuuta doesn't give a shit abt all this, he just cares about the people he loves ,,, yuuta's world is so narrow and small, and he is too big for it. and bc he's too big for it, no matter what he does, he always ends up being sucked into the greater flow of things ,,, yuuta wanting to live a happy peaceful life with his friends vs yuuta who is one of the strongest shamans alive having to take responsibility for the actions of others

anyway, i love how megumi emphasises that they are shamans. their job isn't to serve justice, their job is to do what they can

the thing abt shamans is that their primary enemies (curses, curse users, humanity as a whole) are entities with no preventive measures. they can't stop humans from feeling bad and inadvertently feeding curses and releasing them into the world. so it's never been an option for them to save everyone. it's never been an option for them to take preventive action, bc there's just no way for them to do so.

all they can do is wait for signs of things to go wrong, erase the threat, do what they can to save the lives they can save, and do it all again

ALSO not to be a nerd but 死滅回游 is such an interesting and apt name for the game/arc tbh

死滅 = die

回游 = migration of fish

死滅回遊魚 = kind of fish who die after they migrate

apt bc shamans will be forced to participate in the game if they don't have to be removed of their technique, but participation could mean imminent death.

also apt bc 死滅回遊魚 is a term for fish that need to migrate from their homes to survive, but are likely to die if they don't manage to return to their homes in time.

these fish usually migrate bc of the conditions of their home waters (strong currents, typhoons), so they go to milder waters where they aren't in danger. but these milder waters aren't warm enough for them throughout the year, so when the temperature drops, the fish can't survive and end up dying.

junpei was also represented by what's probably an angelfish, which is a 死滅回遊魚...

junpei was forced by external circumstances and was manipulated into working with mahito, bc he thought that it was better with him, but didn't manage to break away from mahito in time before what happened to him happened ,, is this parallelism ? lol

but like ,, there are so many ways the 死滅回游 could go 🧍

in the first place, there aren't very many active shamans in the present day ,, thinking of some people luring non-shamans for a chance to change the rules

u need 100 points to force the game maker to add a rule. i'm just saying that a particularly nasty person (a zenin?) could choose to bring 100 non-jujutsushi into their barrier and then slaughter them to add the rule that zenin are exempted from the game

also? how would the rules apply to gojou, who is a shaman, but trapped inside the prison box. if he's left within a barrier for the next 19 days, will that count as him having participated? will that lead him to losing his technique?

and if it does, will he lose one? or both?

and yuuta! yuuta could just keep killing and reviving yuuji within the barrier and he'd only need to do it 20 times or less for him to have the power to add a rule?

does this rule mean that yuuji could be worth more than 5 points? or if the game master sees that yuuta is trying to use a loophole, can the game master determine that swimmer itadori yuuji is only worth 5 points each death or 5 points his first death? additionally, does this mean that yuuta would be assigned a greater value? desperate enough people will probably come after him

yuuta doesn't even need to kill just yuuji. if this loophole works, he can just find 20 shamans within his barrier to kill and then revive until he gets enough points.

if this happens, megumi is likely to be the brains to their operation and figure out a rule that would be beneficial to them ,, and since megumi actually respects yuuta, perhaps yuuta would be partial enough to listen to him too ??

a rule they could add, supposing the game maker allows rules that can overwrite present rules, "upon the first addition of a new rule, the 死滅回游 will end." or ? "upon reaching 10 rules, the 死滅回游 will end."

but isn't yuuji not officially considered a shaman ?? how does that work, then, are people who have CTs considered shaman by the game master? so maki would not be included? or must they be officially recognised, in that case yuuji would not be included?

either way, yuuji doesn't have his own CT, so would it be too much to say that he'd be a "non-shaman" under the rules of the game, and would only be worth one point?

but 非泳者 ,, i'm still confused lol so will random "muggles" who wander in be counted or,, ?

though,, over all i feel the big questions are 1) does this invoke all shamans or just those whammied by brain, 2) does sth happen to u if u don't have contact with a barrier, 3) does CT removal result in death, 4) how much control does brain rly have

if inumaki wasn't taken out, i'd bet he'd be one of the jujutsushi who'd try to participate in the 死滅回游 to protect the non-shaman ,, his technique has always been a burden on him more than anything, i think he'd consider it a fair exchange if he was to lose it to save a life 😭

AND TSUMIKI’S LAST PANEL /&@/@/ i completely forgot abt it but i just notice that the poison that akutami drew during HI arc when gojou is trying to enhance his limitless,, it’s tetrodotoxin— which is what ppl say would have been the poison juliet took to fake her death,, inchresting

upon a reread megumi's hero speech is an assumption of what yuuji was thinking while he was by himself in shibuya. tbh megumi feels really annoyed throughout the ch, maybe even impatient lol he just wants to grab yuuji and GO already like "i get it but WE'VE GOT STUFF TO DO"

from a speaking standpoint there's some interesting decisions there. why cut off yuuji right as he's going to talk to yuuta abt why it's not about who's to blame? to keep the tension pt of yuuji and megumi keeping things from one another? why does megumi use language that reflects HIS ethos instead of YUUJI's - to emphasize that yuuji's proper death stuff actually never worked or was feasible, or a reframing of the situation?

to keep the tension pt of yuuji and megumi keeping things from one another? why does megumi use language that reflects HIS ethos instead of YUUJI's - to emphasize that Yuuji's proper death stuff actually never worked or was feasible, or a reframing of the situation?

yuuji...the whole point is that there’s no morality figure,, u have to figure it out for urself....but hopefully yuuta offering a similar but different viewpoint might help him work things out idk, but the game will force him to kill more ppl? then again we dont know the plan

lowkey.... akutami’s being a secretive abt megumi’s reaction on gojou being sealed, tsumiki’s awakening, order for yuuta to execute yuuji, even the announcement that he's gonna be the clan head... its happening out of reader’s sight 🤨

idk if i wanna assume megumi knows the extent of what to expect but at the same time ,, i think, if he put his mind to it and it is necessary, megumis actually a good actor. like. when tsumikis friend asked abt her and despite worrying megumi played it off?

besides i dont think gojou will leave megumi helpless. hes likely the type, esp after his encounter with toji, to have contingency plans and imo megumi is definitely not someone gojo is gonna be so careless as to leave defenseless. gojou may hide stuff from megumi but even that is his way of protecting megumi (albeit a horrible one imo),, so i think megumis at least equipped for if sth disastrous happens to gojou. see. its why i think he's with yuuta ,, not only for yuuji but prolly bc yuuta is someone who can help megumi

i mean,,, naoya didnt even appear to have met megumi? if megumi isnt aware. if yuuta isnt aware. theres no reason for them not to meet. even naoya knows megumi was supposed to be with yuuta. and yet ,, naoya basically became yuuta’s messenger?

kinda realized this is precisely megumi’s difference with nobara and yuuji. he's been with gojou for almost a decade. the things he saw and learned all those years.. ofc there are things megumi is privy to that the other two will not immediately understand nor know how to react - 🐱

i feel like you brought up an important comparison between yuuta and megumi. and now that I think about it although the both of them are seemingly different in personality, their motives are pretty much the same. the only reason why megumi became a shaman was for tsumiki’s sake. yuuta cares about his friends.

also i’ve been seeing what would happen to gojo inside the prison realm, but when I was reading the rules. i thought they only applied to people who were given CT’s?? like I don’t think the brain would be able to take away CT’s from actual jujutsu sorcerers? Unless there’s power in the barrier itself to do that, rather than the brain’s control of the people who he unlocked CT’s in.

also with yuji not having a CT....I think he’ll unlock one. but who knows.

YOU HAVE SO MANY GOOD THOUGHTS!!! i was also thinking that yuuta could “kill” and heal people, but at the same time....that’s traumatizing!! but I can also yuji volunteering for it bc that’s just what he would do sdjfndskj

hopefully, gojo has more contingency plans in action but at the same time I can see gojo just doing that one thing and figuring out he could handle the rest lollll i guess whether or not he did have more plans in place will tell us whether or not he’s truly passed the obstacle of doing everything himself.

i think it was really kind of yuuta to tell yuji he was in a similar position. im so excited to see yuuta in action during the game.

I NEED MORE CONTEXT AKUTAMI!!! WE’VE BEEN THROWN HEADFIRST INTO A NEW ARC WITHOUT INFO ON ANYTHING 😭

[coffeedrgn87]

5 Movies, 4 Songs, 3 Essentials, 2 Books, 1 Quote

Ah, my lovely lovely @wolfpants -- I'm so so so very excited about this tag, let's see what I can contribute...

5 Movies -- and I'm doing this in no particular order

Call Me By Your Name (trailer)

I mean, not only is Timothée Chalamet an absolute dream in this (and I don't even mean that looks-wise) but also I wept absolutely ugly tears for ages after the ending. I'm not entirely sure if that admission is the greatest way of plugging a movie, mainly because I wasn't prepared for feelings of that magnitude, but by gosh the intensity was so so so perfect.

Shelter (trailer)

That scene when Shaun comes down the stairs to open the door and finds Zach there gets me every single time and I swear I've watched this movie at least 10 times. It doesn't get old, it never will. Also, the soundtrack is pretty cool. Couple of really amazing tracks by Shane Mack. A personal favourite is 'Remember to Forget'. Always wanted to write something to that song, but never had an idea that stuck. If someone feels inspired and wants to surprise me, I'm always game ;-)

Our Flag Means Death (no trailer but 6 mins of Lucius being a MOOD)

Shush, it's a movie. All you need to do is string all 10 episodes together and you have an extended edition movie and I will not accept anyone even trying to disagree with me on that. Also, do I *really* need to give any reason at all as to why OFMD is so damned fabulous??? I mean, come on! If you haven't seen it yet, what rock have you been hiding under?

Brokeback Mountain

Go ask @phoebe-delia if you absolutely need an explanation of why this is on the list. 😸 😸 😸 This lovely sweet angelic devil will gladly spell it out for you.

Lan Yu 藍宇

This is an LGBTQ romance set in Beijing, China in 1988/89. Liu Ye is an absolutely brilliant actor and he's made me weep more than once (I recommend A Beautiful Life). As far as love stories and plots go, it is far from perfect but given the time it was filmed and the topics explored, it's a firecracker. It was also one of the first Chinese-language LGBTQ movies I watched and actually understood after I started learning the language and that made me appreciate it even more.

4 Songs -- again in no particular order

Hurricane - 30 Seconds to Mars

I cannot live without this song. It's a perfect walking song, I've exercised to it, I've had it play on repeat while in a writing frenzy and it's accompanied me during the one or other Shibari scene. There is such greatness to this song but writer or not, I do not have the words to explain what it does to me and why. Sharing the acoustic version for your listening pleasure.

G.E.M. - 你把我灌醉 (Intoxicated)

One of the few Chinese songs I can sing where I hit the notes mostly right. At least in the beginning. Apart from that, the lyrics, the voice!!! <3 <3 <3

JJ Lin 林俊杰 -女儿情 (A Daughter's Love)

I have a very soft spot for JJ Lin's voice in this song. Especially in the live version, which I have to listen to every couple of weeks and the mood usually strikes me right out of the blue. If you're interested in a rough translation of the lyrics, here is one that's not half bad.

Frank Sinatra - My Way

I remember, when I was a very little spruce I was always obsessed with my Papa's vinyl records. When he played them for me, when he took the record out of its sleeve and moved the needle and the music started, oh gosh, I was gone. My Papa never admitted to having a bit of a soft spot for good old Frankie but I distinctly remember Papa picking me up and twirling me around to the tunes of Mack the Knife. And later I discovered 'My Way' and it's always been a bit of a soundtrack to my life.

3 Essentials

Coffee (I mean, I have you met me?) writing (again, have you met me???) memories of my dad not necessarily in this order

2 Books -- why am I only allowed two???

Captive Prince Trilogy

Shush, it's one book. End of. And if you need any reasons as to why that's on this list, check out all the fanfic I wrote about those Kings.

The Great Wall by John Man

One of the first non-fiction books I read that truly impressed me in the sense that I realised informative works need not be dry and boring at all. John Man has such a refreshing way about him when writing about historic events that reading it not only feels like a journey back in time, but I distinctly remember having a good few laughs.

1 Quote

The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do it better, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile. (Robert Cormier) This always struck me as particularly inspirational because it reminds me that I don't have to strive for perfection when I write my first draft. Getting there is a journey of edits, reaching out and asking for help, learning from others, researching, of saying to myself (repeatedly) that right now, this is as good as I am and that continuing to write will only result in improvement.

[purplehoodiesimon]

i don’t have a number for you, so this is an open invitation for you to pick the number you most want to answer and answer that :)

You say that as if I read through ask game lists before reblogging them lol. Okay uhhhhhhhhhh

11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

I got to 11 and immediately knew I had to answer this. Okay so the coolest thing I've learned doing research for fic unrelated to YR is the Cŵn Annwn. They're this sorta spirit dog in Welsh mythology (I was doing research for a spn fic I never published) and they're usually little white dogs with red ears seen as a foretelling of death. They're from Annwn, the otherworld, and a part of the Wild Hunt. They also may be somewhat related to Gabriel's Hounds, which is an English myth. I have to physically restrain myself from adding this to like everything I write, I love these funky little dudes so much. I also made up the world's worst, most obscure joke after learning the pronunciation that requires like so much random knowledge to understand but I find it hilarious. Here it is: What would Blackbeard's ship be called if he was from Welsh mythology? The Cŵn Annwn's Revenge

Okay and now that no one's laughing and I look ridiculous, here's the coolest (sorta) piece I've picked up doing YR fic.

So during the writing of Dear Titanic, I was on a mission to have things about the ship super historically accurate and I spent like 40 minutes tracking ship records and stuff trying to figure out if any of the musicians on board personally knew the Captain. The consensus was I don't fucking know, I can't find anything. I also learned that there's like no records of the actual songs they played which was very annoying, and then I had a hard time tracking down popular music in the 1900s-1910s cause everything was from either the 1870s or 1930s and that was SO annoying. So that was fun! I learned a LOT about the Titanic writing it.

As for the second question, do I worry about doing research? My fellow humans of the tumblr, you are looking at a man that read the Prose Edda (Norse mythology), yes the actual Prose Edda not fun little compilations like Neil Gaiman's Norse Myths (though I did read that too, he did good with it), for fun in high school. You are looking at a man that spent the better portion of sophomore year reading the library's physics books during 5th/6th/7th period every day trying to figure out time travel (unsuccessful, entropy is a bitch, but I have ideas about breaking light barriers with neutrinos and deuterium). You are looking at a man who found Old Latin texts on alchemy and tried to translate them for a fic (unsuccessful, Latin is a bitch), and when getting into actual fic communities way back at 13 years old, would make their Harry Potter stories canon compliant by going through the books with post-its marking off scenes where the characters I was writing about weren't around so I wasn't breaking canon. In other words, no I don't worry about doing research at all. I worry about going overboard with it. And thankfully, I have chilled out a bit on making things canon compliant. AUs are so much fun.

Talk to me about my funky little words

[scripttorture]

Hello! I've browsed this blog a bit and came across the idea that torturers often develop mental illness because of their repeated exposure to the violence/trauma of seeing another person in pain, which I'd never considered before. A) Do you believe torturers can therefore be a type of victim as well, depending on the circumstances, and therefore deserving of compassion/therapy? B) Can you point me to more information about this/what kinds of mental illnesses develop in torturers? (1/2)

C) Do you think it's possible for a mass murderer/torturer character to have a realistic, satisfying redemption arc? Do you know any media that's pulled it off believably? Thank you so much for taking the time to read/answer this if you do! And for this excellent resource!

-

The most accessible sources that cover this are O’Mara’s Why Torture Doesn’t Work (good grounding, start with him), Rejali’s Torture and Democracy and the appendices to Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth where he describes treating two torturers.

 The most current research is about 600 pages of print on demand untranslated French. If you’re fluent in French (I am not and lock down etc has got in the way of me getting this translated) Sironi Comment devient-on tortionnaire?

 Broadly speaking the symptoms appear to be the same as those survivors and witnesses develop.

 And I will go into this in more depth later but keep in mind there is not anywhere near enough research on torturers for us to be entirely sure about most of this. I’m working with the best information we have right now.

 The other two questions are subjective and sort of complicated. By definition a lot of this is going to be my opinion because well that’s what you’re asking for.

 I think we need to be really careful about describing torturers as ‘victims’.

 Yes they’re put in this situation by social structures beyond their control. It is not their fault that they weren’t given training or support in their job. It’s also not their fault that we have this global message that violence is effective or that so many workplaces are unnecessarily pressured/stressful. Most of the time they are drawn in to abusing others because of the social groups and structures within the organisation they join.

 Oversight (with a drive to eradicate torture), funding, training and clear consistent messages about the right way to handle difficult situations would probably prevent most cases of torture.

 This does not change the fact that on an individual level each of them chose to hurt other people.

 Some of them will have made that choice understanding there was a threat to their own safety if they did not. Some of them will have made that choice just because it was what everyone else was doing. Some of them genuinely believe what they did was the ‘right’ decision at the time.

 They still made that choice. And given that we have records of people in similar positions refusing, even when it put them at risk of attack or death, I don’t have a lot of sympathy with the choice torturers made.

 The fact I’m a pacifist factors into this. Consider my biases.

 Torturers typically show a very low understanding of the impact their actions have had on other people.

 They might regret their actions but this is typically framed in a very self-centred way. They usually don’t express more then cursory regard for the victims. They regret it because they’re suffering now, because they have nightmares, because they can’t keep a job. And oh it’s all so unfair.

 I don’t know why this is the case. But it’s a feature Sironi described in interviews about her work. And I’ve seen it over and over again in interviews with torturers.

 Yes torturers suffer. The symptoms they develop are terrible and have a lasting impact on their lives. They typically can’t hold down jobs and struggle to re-integrate into society in any meaningful fashion.

 And yes I believe they should be treated. I believe that anyone with a disease or condition which requires treatment should have access to care and treatment. Whoever they are. Whatever they did.

 I believe that as fellow human beings torturers are entitled to a degree of compassion. When I say that torture and mistreatment are wrong I mean it. My position doesn’t change just because the theoretical victim is a former torturer.

 I do not think that treatment and compassion should be dependant on a person being suitably victimised. For me the only thing it depends on is their need and their humanity. In the literal physical sense of them being a human.

 But we tend to think of ‘victim’ as a simple category that doesn’t overlap with mass murderers.

 And I don’t believe the position of torturers is that simple.

 Especially when so few of them are charged. Torture trials are rare. Convictions are rare. And sentences are short.

 And their victims deserve justice too.

 I feel conflicted about calling torturers ‘victims’ because of this complex reality. And because in fiction we have a tendency to focus on the torturers prioritising their voices over the survivors. I feel like presenting torturers as simple victims of society could risk adding to that.

 For me the focus has always got to be the survivors.

 And I think all of this feeds into how we handle redemption arcs.

 I don’t think that writing redemption arcs for villains, even torturers or mass murderers is ‘wrong’. In fact I think that it can be a really good idea. Showing how toxic the environments these people are in is a good thing. Puncturing the way it’s romanticised is a good thing. And showing a way out of it, even if it’s imagined, is not a bad thing.

 But if we’re going to do that in our stories then I think we need to think about what redemption means and in whose eyes the character is redeemed.

 There’s also a small problem: we don’t really know what recovery for torturers looks like.

 There isn’t enough research on them. Partly because of lack of interest but partly because the low conviction rates means sample sizes are small. We’re talking about a limited number of individuals who are jailed and we can’t really ‘prove’ that individuals who weren’t convicted were torturers. We don’t really know what the long term outcomes are, what treatments might be effective or- Much of anything.

 Studies on torturers are typically based on very small numbers of individuals. (For a long time Fanon’s work was the only example of a mental health professional talking about torturers specifically. He saw two of them.) They are not statistically sound. And a lot of resources were simply journalists or mental health professionals compiling notes on the handful of individuals they talked to.

 Everything I say about torturers is based on things like interviews, a handful of studies that have flaws and anecdotal evidence. Unfortunately as of right now it’s the best we’ve got.

 Personally I don’t think there’s enough research on torture generally. Or enough attempts to collate relevant research from other fields. But that’s a rant for another day.

 Let’s get back to that central question: what does redemption mean?

 I think that it’s pretty easy to write a character changing for the better. You can build up the character’s level of insight into what they’re doing/did over the course of the story. You can show them choosing to stop. You can show them shifting to oppose their former allies.

 But bundled up in the idea of a redemption arc is this: is it enough? And who is it enough for?

 I don’t think survivors should be obliged to forgive former torturers. I also don’t think they’re likely to interact positively.

 I’ve talked about this now and again when asked about the difference between legally defined torture and abuse. Because of the organised and widespread nature of legally defined torture there are usually communities of survivors. And communities that are collectively moving through a recovery process because even those people who weren’t directly attacked are likely to be witnesses, carers and relatives or friends of survivors.

 These things echo down generations.

 Cyprus gained independence from the British in 1960, my father is too young to have any real memory of the violence during the colonial period. But he referenced it in arguments with my English mother during my childhood. There are people throughout China today who won’t buy anything Japanese because of Japanese war crimes there during World War 2. There are people who won’t eat fish from the Black Sea, because the bodies of their ancestors were thrown into that sea during a genocide over a hundred years ago.

 I know that as a both a Greek Cypriot and an English person there are people all over the world who will not want anything to do with me based on what my people have done to theirs. And the fact I wasn’t alive at the time does not really factor into it.

 What I’m trying to illustrate here is that this is much bigger, broader and more complex then individual acts of forgiveness.

 Survivors are a highly varied group of individuals. And each torturer can have thousands or tens of thousands of victims. Expecting each impacted individual, and any witnesses and all their family members and friends, to forgive these people is��� let’s say ‘unlikely’.

 So does redemption require forgiveness from the wounded party? Is there any possible action that can atone for the sheer scale of these atrocities?

 If we play a simple number game causing this level of harm can be achieved in months or years, but saving the equivalent number of lives takes decades of skilled, dedicated work. If we look at concepts like wergild or jail as ‘paying your debt to society’ then how do we measure something like torture where the numbers are so big?

 I haven’t seen a piece of fiction seriously tackle these questions. But then again I also haven’t actively looked for that fiction.

 I feel like a lot of fictional redemption arcs judge a character to be sufficiently redeemed based on audience sympathy and the main cast forgiving the character. They don’t typically go on to broaden the scope of the narrative and question whether any one else impacted by the former villain’s actions also sees the character as redeemed.

 One of my stories has a former torturer as a major character and I think they are a sympathetic character in many ways. I think that my readers would empathise with them through a lot of the story (which takes place decades after they stopped torturing).

 They’re a mentor figure to some of the younger cast members. They’ve acted as a protector to them and taught the younger generation a lot about the minority culture they themselves are from. And they do genuinely care about these people that they helped to raise, consistently sacrificing to protect these ‘kids’. (The ‘kids’ are 30s-20s at the time of the story.)

 But they’re also incredibly self centred. They don’t really interact with or have a lot of sympathy for the people they hurt. And while this particular family loves and forgives them society at large views them as a monster. Albeit one that is now leashed.

 Is this a redemption story? Is this character redeemed? I genuinely don’t know. In fact that’s part of my interest in writing the story: trying to work out if there is a point, as this character grows, develops and helps others, when I believe they’ve done ‘enough’.

 I think that redemption means different things for different people. A satisfying redemption story is different for different people. And if we can disagree so strongly about it with much simpler, smaller scale crimes then where does that leave us with torture?

 There isn’t a simple answer or a one-size-fits-all writing solution. There can’t be.

 My approach is to try and use the story to see if I can find an answer. Even if it’s only a limited one. For me the story itself is a forum for exploring human complexity and difficult ethical questions.

 I don’t think we have a good solution for how to deal with these people in reality yet. But I do hold out hope that a good solution is possible. Fiction is an arena where we can safely explore possible solutions.

 I guess in the end I’m not sure if there’s any story or arc that will work for everyone. I don’t think there are any hard rules for writing anything and I don’t think there’s ever a way to please everyone.

 Redemption and forgiveness are complicated topics. I think we do a much better job when we engage with that complexity then when we assume a character just has to do a, b and c in order to achieve it.

 When you consider someone to be truly redeemed is an ethical question that I can’t answer for you. I don’t think I should. The chances are you’ll know when you think your character has done enough.

 Just be open to the fact that it won’t be enough for everyone. Consider reflecting that with the characters, because that can make for truly powerful moments.

 In Midnight’s Children Shiva never forgives Saleem, even though Saleem isn’t responsible for Shiva ‘losing’ his life and family because they were both infants at the time. And damn there are a lot of flaws in the movie adaptation but that scene between them in the jail, when Saleem throws that in Shiva’s face hits hard. It shows us so much about both characters.

 And I think that’s a better way to approach it then trying to figure out if a character is redeemed yet: figuring out how they’ve progressed, how others respond to that progression and why.

 I hope that helps :)

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