#and you didn’t need much (if any) backstory info when reading it

[red-ro5es]

Did I tell you guys I got nightwing #105

[dca-fanart-gallery]

DCA Palooza CommentFest!

[ID: A three panel comic arranged from left to right. The first panel shows yn sitting up in bed as they wake up yawning, the curtains of his window open in the background so you can see Sun peeking in through their window. In the second panel yn is shown first looking at their mailbox in confusion, seeing that it's budging in the front, and then beneath they begin opening the door. Their eyes widen and the bird perched on the mailbox starts to flap its wings as something shoots out towards yn. In the final panel, yn is completely buried beneath a pile of letters with one arm extended up from the pile holding a single piece of mail. End ID]

The DCA Palooza is hosting a Commentfest, an event to encourage fic writers and help all of you find new fics to read, but most importantly to spread positivity and nice, thoughtful comments.

Members of the community will submit a fic they want feedback or comments on and all the works we collect will be sorted into categories to help people choose what they want to read (or find one at random!) and when the event begins all the masterlists will be posted! Then, read! Enjoy fics your fellow community members have written, give and receive meaningful comments on works, and have a good time!

Fic Submission Info:

Please fill out the fic submission form and provide as much information about your fic as you can to help us categorize it correctly! Only one fic submission is allowed per person for each submission form!

Any fics are welcome, but if it contains any triggering material (heavy angst, gore, death etc) please tell us in your submission so we can mark it appropriately! There is a form for SFW fics only and a form for NSFW fics only, please make sure to submit the appropriate fic to each!

You do not need to be a member of the Palooza discord server to take part in this event, we’re posting it here for everyone!

Other Event rules:

Only give concrit to authors that have explicitly asked for it

Respect creator boundaries 

Be kind in your comments, no harassment or bullying will be tolerated

No ship-based hate or harassment will be allowed and will result in mod discipline

Any images within fics must contain a photo ID, as well as any comments left on fics which contain images or gifs

If you have any other questions about the rules, submissions, or event in general you're welcome to reach out to @galaxygnc , the coordinator of this event, directly.

Submit a SFW Fic here:

Our submission form for NSFW fics will be below the readmore as well as some tips for leaving thoughtful comments.

We didn’t want to leave out such a huge part of fandom and fics so we have a separate form to submit spicy or smut fics to receive comments and appreciation on!

When submitting please keep in mind that while we’re doing our best to moderate and dissuade minors from engaging with fics that contain adult content we may not be able to prevent this entirely.

Submit NSFW fics here:

A Guide to Thoughtful Comments:

You don’t have to follow any kind of guide to leave nice, thoughtful comments but here’s some tips and a cheatsheet to help you write meaningful comments to make the author’s day!

The structure of a thoughtful comment can be broken down into FIVE main bodies:

Telling the author you liked the fic. Saying something like… 

“I wish I could leave another kudos!”

“This was lovely!”

“I wish I could read this story again for the first time”

“This was so well done”

Complimenting an aspect of the story such as the…

Characterization of a character

Character development

Pacing of the story

Description of a place/scene

Writing quality

Quoting a segment from the story and talking about it. Try saying something like… 

“This line made me (laugh/smile/cry/cringe/squeal/scream/snort/want to vomit)”

“Their line here was especially powerful given the extra backstory you gave them”

“I could totally see [x character] a saying that”

“The comedic timing of this line was perfect”

Talking about how the story made you feel! For example… 

“This fic melted my heart”

“The angst here killed me”

“This fluffy fic made my day better”

Ending line! Try something like…

“Thanks for writing this!”

“Such a great read, I loved it!”

“Now I want to read more” 

“Going to go read more of your work now, bye!” (only use this if you plan to)

“Bookmarking to read again!” (only use this if you plan to) 

If you want some further reading with more detail going into the structure of a thoughtful way to comment on fics, please check out the full guide here!

[polithicc]

treat or treat, my lovely

hiiii shel. here it is, the silliest thing i've ever written. the locklyle reddit au no one asked for

Posted by u/ForBlueSkulls 5 hours ago

AITA for pretending not to know my (22F) ex-housemate (23M) when we were introduced to each other at my new job?

Yeah, what the title says. I (22F) recently started a new job. On my first day, while my manager was introducing me to the team, I was surprised when he introduced me to my former housemate (23M). I panicked because we hadn't seen each other in two years, I extended my hand and chose to act as though we were strangers. He seemed surprised but followed my lead by shaking my hand.

I won't get into the details about why I left, but I’ll just say it wasn’t because of him. I acknowledge that I was an asshole for cutting contact with him and other mutual friends, including our third housemate.

I feel bad for pretending not to know him, but I also don’t want the entire office to know my personal business. I’m debating talking to him and apologizing, but I still wouldn’t want to tell anyone that we have a past.

Not sure if I’m the asshole here or if it was a normal reaction because I was surprised. I feel bad for pretending not to know him, but I also don’t want the entire office to know my personal business. I don’t know how I will deal with everything if people at work find out, I don’t want them to think I’m awful or a liar (although I might be both in this case).

Edit 1: I already said I’m not getting into the reason I moved out. Also, I moved back to the city after I graduated and secured a job. For the ones suggesting I picked this job on purpose, I knew we were in the same industry, but I didn’t know he worked here. I’m not some crazy stalker.

Edit 2: Alright. I don’t see how this is relevant, but yes, we were sort of seeing each other.

Edit 3: OK, I get it. I am the asshole here.

Knightlong-Term · 5hr. ago NTA If you think it's cool, shoot him a private apology. Otherwise, keep it pro. No need to spill more beans on your backstory, and I bet he'll feel the same way. That's old news, who even cares? It's nobody's business.

Anguised_Teeth420 · 5hr. ago Soft YTA but I'm laughing so hard 🤣🤣🤣 AWKWARD

Blank_Infussion_95 · 4hr. ago I mean, why change the habit of ignoring him now, right? If he had been a total ass to you, it'd make sense to move on and go no contact. But why not give communication a shot? You didn't have to give him all the info, but refusing to talk to him at all, especially after being so close, seems pretty immature. Is this how things work these days for folks your age? It's a bit puzzling to me. I do agree with you on one thing, though. Your past relationship and personal life are your own business, and you're under no obligation to disclose them to anyone. As for not wanting to reveal your shared history, it's a tough position to maintain when you both work in the same place, and he might not be so discreet about it. He might just tell people about the two of you and then your new coworkers are gonna think you suck. NTA

[deleted]· 3hr. ago absolutely yta you pretty much ghosted him and then the next time you run into him act like he's a total stranger.

Edit: just read your reply to alarmedmarky. if he has any good friends at that company, you can bet he's told them about the weird encounter with the new girl who acted like she didn't know him, even though you guys were literally living together not just roommates. i repeat yta

AlarmedMarky · 3hr. ago question, when you say you two have a past what do you mean exactly? And how long did you live together?

         ForBlueSkulls · 3hr. ago we lived together for 2 years and I moved into his room for a year of those two and stayed until i moved out.

                   AlarmedMarky · 3hr. ago wait so you two were together?

                            ForBlueSkulls · 2hr. ago we never really defined the relationship (like he never asked me to be his gf), which is why i refer to him as just my housemate

AlarmedMarky · 2hr. ago LMAAAAOOO OP, I thought you were the asshole before for not acknowledging him, but you’re telling me you were literally sleeping with the guy for a year and then pretended not to know him?? You’re the asshole and I hope he never forgives you.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Sense you lovedd the books and knew them before the movie and series. Are you upset about the changes they made with Louis and Lestat? Louiss not being a white man with a plantation? That Lestat needed him and that plantation for him and his father, for their needs? And how old he is? Cuz he didn’t have his father with him like the books?

I love the books, yes, but I only read them after the movie.

Why would I be upset??

The show went and dared to bring even more substance into this tale, this ... vision they created is a whole new level.

It is beautiful, and conscious, and fearless. It is taking the brilliant things of the books and mixes them with the (previous) subtext, while being aware of the pitfalls.

Honestly, how did we get so lucky??? And why this focus on white?? I came to this show for Jacob first, and then got sucked in, pun very much intended.

(Btw, @blackgirlasis has a very nicely succinct post on this. Just as a note.)

And why would I be mad about the father?

Honestly, Lestat filing his nails in the book when the maquis is dying is sooooooo relatable, knowing the books. His oh so poor father should consider himself lucky his son didn't smother him with the pillow -.-

The show included this oh so nice father and Lestat's brothers already in episode 1, in a scene with more backstory, and more background info on Lestat than I had dared hoping for.

I don't care how old Lestat is here - they already made it fact that Lestat returned to Paris at least twice in the decades after signing over the theater, and they made it fact that he was alone for decades. None of that disturbs any of the important bits, it just adds more, more backstory, more story.

This show is the inverse of what I hoped Queen of the Damned would be, in a way (excluding Aaliyah and the soundtrack here).

Why tf would I be upset.

[dervampireprince]

dervampireprince’s Fanwork Guide

I can’t believe it’s gotten to a point where I need to make one of these? It’s insane that for the past year you guys have been getting invested in my original characters and been making fanart of them. I had an ask today asking whether it was okay to make headcannons about my characters, so I thought I should make me boundaries clear, and explain certain things about my characters so you know what they are like and what they would be comfortable with. (I have to also be grateful to the creator of Welcome Home for making one of these ‘fanwork guides’ otherwise I wouldn’t have known this was a thing I could make).

I’m going to break this down into general things I’m okay with and things I’m not okay with, as well as facts and information about individual characters and what they would be comfortable with, as most of my original characters are trans I want people to be respectful and not draw them in ways that would cause them dysphoria nor draw them with body parts they aren’t comfortable with. And remember that while my persona/vtuber model has his own backstory, I’m still a real person and do not treat my persona or myself like you would treat a fictional character.

I reserve the right to be uncomfortable with any fanworks, and to disagree with any headcannons that you have for my persona or my original characters. Don’t get personally offended if I don’t accept your headcannon for my characters as canon. And while I have listed that fanfic is okay, it’s still something I’m more sensitive about as it’s much easier than fanart to portray my characters in our-of-character ways if you’re going to write about them rather than draw them. So, please be respectful.

There may be things listed here that don’t line up with some of the info about these characters in their audios, that’s because things can change and with my older characters I didn’t have an actual guide for them or details about them when I first started voicing them. Whatever is listed here is what is the up-to-date versions of the, not whatever you heard in an old audio.

I have an faq tag but if you have more questions after reading this and my faq tag, feel free to send me an ask.

Overall just think before you send fan-works my way. If this was a fan-work of a movie or film would you send this fan-work to the creators or actors? If the answer is no, then probably don’t send it to me.

This post will be continuously edited as I think of more rules. Last edited: September 2023

General Guides

When making any fan-content of me or my characters you must credit me as the creator of those characters/vtuber in that content. You can use the hashtag #dervampireprince and also tag me @dervampireprince (if the website/app allows that) in the post.

You must be 18+ to make and post fanart of me or my ocs online. (You should already be 18+ of you’re following me or interacting with my content. Youtube is the only exception on this as I don’t post 18+ content there, and my sfw art account isn’t 18+).

Okay

SFW and N-SFW art and fics of my original characters.

SFW art of my persona/vtuber model.

SFW art of my persona/vtuber being platonic with my original characters and existing fandom characters that you know I like.

Drawing my persona and original characters in other outfits that what I’ve drawn them in. (Within what they are comfortable with (see character guidelines)).

Shipping and making romantic/sexual content of my original characters with each other, whether the relationship is canon or not, including those who are already in relationships.

Shipping and making romantic/sexual content of my original characters with other fandom characters or you own original characters, self-inserts, or yourself.

Making sfw romantic drawings of my persona/vtuber and my partner @julia-cmoon ‘s persona/vtuber model.

AUs of my characters that change the setting/location, such as mediaeval, Victorian, future sci-fi, superhero etc.

Making your own original characters based in the same worlds as my original characters.

Moodboards, stimboards, and similar image edits of my original characters (as long as they do not use any images and artwork I’ve made).

Art, fics, etc based on my fandom characters audios but if you're directly illustrating my audio or quoting my audios please credit me. I am unsure how I feel about if someone wanted to pair their own drawings/animation with my audios so if you want to do that please ask me first.

Fics are okay BUT I am sensitive to seeing my characters in ways I don’t imagine them so even though I’m a small content creator and not a big author. You wouldn’t send an ask to your favourite author or film director telling them about a fanfic you wrote or headcannon you have, so please don’t tell me about them, it’s sort of weird, and I think you’ll ultimately get upset when I don’t agree with your portrayal of my characters.

Cosplaying my original characters.

Not Okay

N-SFW art of my persona/vtuber model.

SFW art of my persona/vtuber being platonic with yourself, your own original characters, self-inserts, personas, etc.

Drawing/writing/etc myself or my ocs interacting with minors.

Making fics or any other type of content about of my persona/vtuber model that isn’t SFW art.

Shipping and making romantic/sexual content of my persona/vtuber with anyone, fictional character or real-life. I have a partner and my persona/vtuber model is in a relationship with her persona/vtuber model.

Shipping and making romantic/sexual content of my original characters with characters who are minors, or characters who they are related to (eg. Satin and Silk as they are siblings).

Writing fanfic, even if it’s SFW, about my persona/vtuber, including anything shipping me with my partner.

Making headcannons about my persona/vtuber.

Depicting my persona or my original characters engaging in or being involved in bigotry of any kind.

Making content about my persona/vtuber or my original characters that includes: underage sex, incest, rape and non-consensual sex or sexuality activity, beastiality, kinks that are hard limits for them / that they aren’t canonically into, changing their sexual dynamics (eg Ambrose is a dom and uncomfortable subbing) changing their gender or sexuality, graphic gore, sexualising age regression, changing their physical features (human or monster AUs are okay, but keep their physical features the same, this includes not changing their nose shape, body type, whether they have facial hair or not, hair length, make them more masc or fem than they already are, putting trans male characters on t who aren’t or giving them top surgery if they haven’t had it), wearing their ‘clothing dislikes’.

Having headcannons about my ocs is fine, but please don’t send me asks about them, informing me directly of them, or asking if they’re canon because the likely chance is no I won’t agree with them, I won’t think they’re canon, and I don’t want that to upset because you’re still free to have whatever headcannons you want in your daydreams or whatever. I have headcannons about characters that aren’t mine all the time, but I don’t message the character creator and tell them about them.

Gender-bending, genders-swapping or changing the gender of my persona/vtuber or any of my original characters. I don’t have anything against gender-bending in general, but myself and most of my original characters are trans and it would be extremely uncomfortable and dysphoric to see me/them depicted as other genders. This includes genderbending one of my trans man characters into a woman, or into a cis man. Do not change any of my trans character's gender identities or assigned-at-birth-gender.

AUs/headcannons that change the personality, gender, sexuality, morals, religion of my persona or my original characters.

Selling anything that contains depictions of my persona/vtuber model or any of my original characters.

Re-posting, re-uploading, or editing any of my work (even if you do it with credit). This includes my audios, artwork, photos and any other content I’ve made. Including making video edits that include my artwork, voice, or other content I’ve made.

Re-posting, re-uploading, or editing any fanworks of my characters made by others without their permission (even if you’ve credited them).

Cosplaying me/my vtuber model.

Portraying yourself as my characters in any way eg using my original characters for your vtuber model, using my characters for your own asmr audios.

Character Guides

I’m not going to list kinks and hard-limits, I’m just listing the kinks for each character and assume that anything not included is a hard limit.

Ambrose (Flirty Vampire)

Nickname: Rose (But!! Is only comfortable with Arden calling him Rose.. No one else can call him Rose)

Pronouns: he/him

Gender: trans man

Sexuality: omnisexual, demiromantic, greyromantic, polyamorous

Personality traits: flirty, cheerful, uses pet names for others all the time, between Ambrose and Arden it’s Ambrose who you should be scared of, don’t hurt someone he cares about

Physical features: blonde hair, pink eyes, nose is upturned at the end, pointed ears, fangs, A-cup chest (and doesn’t wear binders), vulva (refers to click as his cock)

Likes: singing, fashion, musicals, playing piano

Dislikes:

Clothing likes: historical fashion, 1800s menswear, nail polish, earrings, lingerie

Clothing dislikes: skirts, dresses

Sexual dynamic: dom vers (bottom leaning)

Kinks: obedient subs, biting and blood drinking, hypnotising his subs, pet play (for his subs), pegging, being called daddy

Arden (Protective Werewolf)

Pronouns: he/him

Gender: trans man

Sexuality: bisexual, demisexual, polyamorous

Personality traits: grumpy, protective, standoffish and hard to get to open up, shy when talking about romantic feelings

Physical features: 5′10″, brown hair with some greying at the temples, brown eyes, hooked nose, side burns and a little peach-fuzz facial hair on his chin, ears and tail can come out when in human form but normally just has his ears out, wolf form is a humanoid wolf, scar around left side of neck (the scar that turned him into a werewolf), a little facial hair in center of chin and sideburns, shaved line through right eyebrow, fangs, bigger build, top surgery, bottom surgery, cock has a knot

Likes:

Dislikes:

Clothing likes:

Clothing dislikes: skirts, dresses

Sexual dynamic: Switch vers (top leaning)

Kinks: pet play (as a dom and sub), collars and leashes, praise kink (as a sub), edging (as a sub), breeding kink, being restrained (only by ambrose), abo (the idea of knotting and heats, being called alpha), being hypnotised (only by ambrose)

Cassius (Dom Prince)

Pronouns: he/him

Gender: trans man

Sexuality: achillean/omnisexual with a stronger attraction towards men, masc and androgynous people

Personality traits: teasing, flirty

Physical features: red wavy hair, deep green-brown eyes, Greek-statuesque nose, top surgery, vulva (refers to click as his cock)

Likes:

Dislikes:

Clothing likes: corsets, showing off skin, jewellery

Clothing dislikes: skirts, dresses

Sexual dynamic: dom vers

Kinks: obedient subs, servitude, using toys (and objects) on his subs, cock warming (receiving end), boot humping (receiving end), light objectifying/dehumanising his subs, being called royal titles

Dmitri (Dom Vampire Butler)

Pronouns: he/him

Gender: cis/trans man

Sexuality: bisexual

Personality traits: likes to tease, flirty, strict

Physical features: dark purple hair, yellow eyes, beauty spot under his left eye, pointed ears, fangs, hooked nose, flat chest and penis

Likes: playing piano and violin

Dislikes:

Clothing likes: suits, vests and waistcoats, capes and shawls

Clothing dislikes: skirts, dresses

Sexual dynamic: dom top

Kinks: brat taming but prefers obedient subs, servitude, role-playing master/servant with himself as the master, edging and overstimulating his sub

Ellis (Soft Vampire Priest)

Pronouns: he/him

Gender: cisman

Sexuality: gay

Personality traits: caring, fatherly

Physical features: curly brown hair, short beard, pointed ears, dark red eyes

Likes:

Dislikes:

Clothing likes: long sleeves, long pants and long skirts, robes, suits

Clothing dislikes:

Sexual dynamic: soft daddy dom top, sometimes up for switching but not usually

Kinks:

Eros (Flirty Cupid)

Pronouns: he/they

Gender: trans man

Sexuality: pansexual, polyamorous

Personality traits: cheerful, flirty, comforting

Physical features: light pink-peach hair, light pink eyes, top surgery with visible scars on chest and nipples, Greek-statuesque nose

Likes:

Dislikes:

Clothing likes: makeup, chitons, gold jewellery and cuffs

Clothing dislikes: covering up most of his skin

Sexual dynamic: switch vers

Kinks:

Father Hawthorn (Guilty Priest)

Pronouns: he/him

Gender: cis or trans man

Sexuality: demisexual, demisromantic, bi/pan/multisexual

Personality traits:

Physical features: short black hair that is greying at the temples, green eyes, small side burns

Likes:

Dislikes:

Clothing likes:

Clothing dislikes:

Sexual dynamic: vers sub leaning switch

Kinks:

Other: he exists in the same universe as all my other audio original characters and worships the pantheon of gods that exist in this world. he is not, as people have assumed, a Christian. none of my ocs are of real world religions.

Orpheus (Lonely Siren)

Pronouns: he/they

Gender: cis/trans man

Sexuality:

Personality traits: introverted, distrustful, easily flustered by kindness

Physical features: webbed fins where a human’s ears would be, entirely black eyes, a tail where a human’s legs would be with a twin-tail fin at the bottom and smaller fins on the sides, scales dotted around his skin, long straight black hair

Likes:

Dislikes:

Clothing likes: doesn’t like clothes, but he likes jewellery and shiny things

Clothing dislikes:

Sexual dynamic: dom leaning switch

Kinks: hypnosis (hypnotising his sub, not being hypnotised), breath play (on his sub as in seeing them struggle to breathe via choking or being under water)

Satin (Flirty Femboy Incubus)

Pronouns: he/they

Gender: trans masc / genderfaun / demiboy / non-binary

Sexuality: achillean/gay (attracted to men and masc non-binary people)

Personality traits: flirty, playful

Physical features: black hair, purple eyes, hooked nose, pointed ears, long horns that curl back and to the side, top surgery, vulva, tdick growth

Likes:

Dislikes:

Clothing likes: elements of modern goth and emo fashion, lots of black, chokers, stockings and lingerie, skirts, graphic tshirts, corsets, earrings, makeup

Clothing dislikes: dresses

Sexual dynamic: switch vers (sub bottom leaning)

Kinks: oral fixation, breathplay

Silk (Demanding Incubus)

Pronouns: he/him

Gender: cis/trans man

Sexuality: bisexual

Physical features: black hair, purple eyes, hooked nose, pointed ears, long horns that curl straight up, flat chest, penis, (the heart symbol on his main outfit is velvet attached to his shirt not a tattoo), uses a cane to walk (it is not an accessory, it is a mobility aid that he needs)

Likes:

Dislikes:

Clothing likes: elegant clothes, long robes and skirts, mesh and transparent fabrics

Clothing dislikes:

Sexual dynamic: dom top

Kinks: master/servant, body worship, royalty kink, bondage (on his sub)

Sorrow (Touch-Starved Symbiote)

Pronouns: they/them (I mistakenly said ‘he’ in their first audio, I’ve always intended Sorrow to use they/them pronouns, I mispoke while improvising. Please don’t use he/him pronouns for them).

Gender: ???

Sexuality: doesn’t like labels but is attracted to all genders

Personality traits: flirting, curious, somber

Physical features: when contained without a host he is dark blue with light blue veins, when attached to a host is over 7′0″ tall, white eyes that stretch back over his scalp, sharp teeth, light blue tongue, dark blue body with light blue veins and highlights, parts that seem to drip down and up off him like tears that don’t all obey gravity

Likes:

Dislikes:

Clothing likes: ???

Clothing dislikes: ???

Sexual dynamic: Dom top

Kinks: breeding kink, pinning you down, somnophilia

[chidoroki]

182 Days of TPN - Day 105

Chapter 105: “Illusion”

All that time playing around in the tunnels are paying off as Chris leads the way out for everyone with no trouble at all for now. I’m so proud and happy he’s getting some focus this chapter, even though the added attention soon takes a turn for the worse..

It’s nice to see both Yuugo & Ray just talk to one another in a civilized manner. They tossed threats and anger at each other at the start until the battle at GP happened, then got on better terms afterwards but we didn’t get to see much of their evolved relationship since Ray was usually away from the shelter with Emma & the rest of the search group. It’s a shame because they really are so similar with their backstories and do end up getting along rather well. Also would’ve loved to just see Yuugo act like a father to Ray more. He needs a decent parent in his life.

Oohh these boys are about to regret offering a helping hand. And I’m not gonna blame Ray for taking Emma’s attention off Chris either because I’m sure he had some crucial info/idea pertaining to the situation to share but aahh, the next couple pages are all so highly unfortunate.

You know, for a series where death is a common threat, we really haven’t seen it too much when it involved our main cast, at least to the point where it really makes a serious impact. Aside from the endless amount of children we didn’t even know that well from the farms, there was Conny who we barely spent any time with, Krone was essentially another villain, and then there were a couple loses during Emma’s first GP hunt whom we also didn’t know for that long, but these next few chapters are really gonna make it hurt for us and them.

You bastard. You absolute fucking bitch. You literal piece of trash that I wish to burn in a fire for all eternity. I am so damn glad season two cut you out completely because I’ll never forgive you for all the pain you caused my tiny son and his family. AAAHH.

Still unbelievable that Chris manages to ultimately survive this too. Granted he’s in a coma way up until year or so after everyone arrives in the human world, but still, this is a shot to the head (I just read one of the upcoming chs where it’s mentioned the bullet just grazed him but then cmon, how would that knock him into a coma then? ah whatever). Thankful he lives but also so incredibly upset this adorable child has to suffer like this! Being a favorite of mine is a curse.

Though Ray is worried about Chris, he still chooses to be on guard in case the bastard up above tries to attack once more and I thank him for it. Best boy protecting everyone as usual.

A rare occasion where Emma’s truthful and heartfelt talk-no-jutsu backfires.

Shut up shut up shut up. I wish to hold this bastard’s neck very firmly for a long period of time so he stops sprouting nonsense from that dumb mouth of his.

Favorite panel/moment:

It’s hard to choose when a chapter fills me with such anger.. but yeah, cute Chris.

[misfitsandmusings]

⭐️ Half-hearted “theory”/wishful thinking and musing on Law, Doflamingo, Rosinante, and the “man marked by flames”. ⭐️

POTENTIAL SPOILER WARNING for the end of Wano (but not really bc my Wano knowledge as a whole is lacking. But I mention one scene at the end of it and give a vibe nod to Egghead/current events without any details. Read more-ing it from here because it’s a longish post in general and somewhat crack in nature.

I’ve been screaming with @clownquixote and have screamed at @climatact about this before but since I’m feeling unapologetically myself in my ridiculousness today I’m going to share a far-fetched “it would never happen but I self indulgently WANT it to happen so let me find this little stretch of a thread to tug on” hope/theory. (On the AMAZINGLY UNLIKELY chance that this happens I’m putting it out there right now and if it defies all the odds and comes true I demand of the universe the equivalent of Law’s bounty in… idk, something dumb like chocolate mints or bread bc as much as I love Law this chick cannot relate to the bread hate.)

But anyway- after all Law has been through in his life and series as a whole, even though YES I know his death was important to his story and character growth, I think he deserves and I would not be mad to see a plot twist in which Rosinante lived. I feel like Sabo’s reappearance came out of left field when it happened and has been widely accepted so I don’t think it’s THAT much of a stretch and if it can happen once it can happen again. The stretch of a thread I’m picking at in my self-indulgent desire to see this happen? The tiny and (I think) thus far unexplained references to the man marked by flames? When Kid says something about that mystery figure being his objective there’s a single panel -that I of course do not have saved. Will find and rb later- where it shifts to Law and he has this vaguely interested/curious look on his face. And yes, Law is curious by nature and that could and probably doesn’t mean anything.

And you would think with a cool tagline like that it would be some really important, powerful, badass character in the making but. What if it’s actually just a clumsy clown of a character prone to setting himself on fire?

I’m thinking a lot on this today because I was revisiting Law & Rosinante backstory episodes in preparation for writing kid!Law for the first time (yay!) but I jumped to episode 700 and decided to watch the entire thing instead of jumping to the actual flashbacks of Law’s childhood. The first few minutes are Law vs. Doflamingo with the latter ranting about the hidden secret use of the Ope Ope no Mi and him stating that if he’d had access to its abilities then, he would have been able to get his hands on whatever he knows is hidden at Mariejois. I have long suspected we (the fandom and poor Law) aren’t done with Creepy Mingo yet, and I won’t really get into current arc stuff because I’ve mentally checked out on it in light of some of the recent events so I’m not well-informed enough to pick it apart just yet. But I do think that bit of info, Doflamingo, and Law are going to come into play again in regards to that conversation some 300+ episodes ago. Since I didn’t claim this would be a fully fleshed out theory I don’t have much more to offer plausibility/possibility-wise yet but I am JUST SAYING Law has been through so much, Doflamingo will end up back in the fray, and I could 100% see a Rosinante that survived and has been laying low on the sidelines for his own various reasons showing up to interfere with his brother and save Law or at least finally give him some much needed light/good news/happiness in his life.

So the tl;dr highlights that I noncommittally hope but don’t really expect will happen (I’m cashing in if I’m right though okay): Doflamingo essential to whatever’s going down, Law still has some stuff to go through and will get roped into this presumably against his will, Rosinante survived and is the “man marked by flames” and will show up to help and/or protect Law. I make no apologies for wishful thinking or for not coming with receipts/all the lore knowledge I need to further explore it yet. I just wanted to get it on the record and scream about how much I want good things for Law.

Okay thanks for reading my silly rambly nonsense that I hope will come true if you did. 🙃 you can pick it apart if you want but keep in mind I make no secret my overall lore knowledge is not the best, or you can scream about it with me if you like it too.

UPDATE: I FOUND IT. (Ch. 1056. I feel like I brought receipts now even though this really established nothing. But like, why that face, Law? It seems INTERESTING. Where’d your thoughts go? Foreshadowing? Does he know something? Do flames just make him think of someone setting their clumsy self on fire all the time? Sus enough for me.)

[darhak]

Yo! Any advice for DMing?

There’s not a single way to DM, but this is how I do it:

(Also sorry for my English, I speak French and doing my best)

THE« PLOT »

-Don’t make a story... create problems instead. The players create stories by solving those problems, you shouldn’t make a storyline in your head. Vague ideas sure, but it’s not a novel and those ideas probably won’t happen

-Nothing is set in stone. If you planned something the player don’t know, you can always change it for something better later.

-You know major plotwists « this character is in fact this PC father!!! » « the questgiver is in a fact a werewolf trying to put the blame of their crimes on the party » And try to foreshadow them subtly during multiple sessions. Create secrets to discover, it makes the interactions more fun

-Improvise adapt overcome. Don’t plan too much in advance. You don’t have to build a whole world. Start with a city, a village... have a rough idea of how everything is linked in the world, then expand the horizon between sessions when the characters explore new places.

-Give them multiple simultaneous problems to deal with. Big and small, some with deadlines, some with huge stakes, that just need kindness or ambiguous morals ....They’ll have to choose and consequences will ensue. They won’t feel railroaded to a single thing to do. Railroad is okay. BUT give them something they can do in multiple ways. They have to know they have to do something (quest, heist, find an object...) but the real question is « HOW » and the players will find out.

-Put some elements you’re not sure what you’ll do with it yet. It’s an open door for cool plotwists. For example the players find a mysterious red key. You don’t know what I’ll be yet, but at one point it’ll be super relevant and the players will think you’re a genius

-MAKE IT PERSONAL. Link the problem and twists with the players backstories. Make sure they want to solve the problems not because « it’s for the greater good » but because it’s personal.

SESSION BUILD (DM SCREEN)

In a single session I make sure there’s always:

-Backstory related elements for at least two characters

-They discover/learn something new

-Roleplay potential (dramatic or fun)

AT LEAST two of those:

-Combat, Puzzle, Infiltration, Escape, Heavy roleplay

Then I do:

List of my main problems and some important lore info

List of unique places I can drop (special tavern, a strange upside down river, a broken caravan...)

List of random NPC, city, shop names

List of loot I can drop

2 random and casual events happening linked to the world around them (A beer contest, the paladins are helping to repair the temple, the lizarfolks are making a ceremony to their decreased leader that the party killed, the army is recruiting more soldiers...ect)

Printed possible stats blocks and main encounters

COMBAT

Negociation didn’t work, Roll initiative

Oh boi, this one is tricky but so simple at the same time. I’m not a master at balancing encounters, so I wont help you with that, but I have few tips to make them interesting

(Click to read more this post is getting long)

- They can meet their goal by different means than killing (fleeing, capturing someone, show their superiority, winning a contest, stealing the artifact, rescuing someone, gaining enough informations...ect) Combat isn’t always about killing. Players need an actual goal.

-Try to bring variety to the fight. The party is climbing a wizard tower, they have to fight their way trough while he’s blasting them from above. Then the combat changes when they reach the top and face him. Another example. They fight a priest on the sea, and few round later they see a huge tentacle hit the ship as the priest summoned a young kraken....They fight criminals on the street. Suddenly the guards arrives, and start attacking the bandits and the party, not knowing which one are the real criminals. Can the party convince them?

- Terrain twist... You have 2 rounds left before the cave is full of lava flooding the place, suddenly a trees falls in the middle of the battlefield, there’s mist everywhere so it’s hard to see... Make terrain with covers, terrain with dangers... TERRAINS.

WOW FACTOR

(Those applies better in a real life setting instead than online)

Music! Music is perfect for ambiance

Lights: leds, dimmed light with fake candles... go wild

Giving them parchement/papers and physical items when they find “clues”

Costumes!

COMMUNICATION

Communicate to your players, 

What do they want? 

Are there subjects they are not comfortable with? 

How long a session should be?

What kind of campaing do YOU want (yeah you’re part of it too haha)

Yeah that’s pretty much it. Remember: everyone is different and the important part is to have fun!

[meyhew]

seed i need you to know i have stored in my head any info i came across about your novel and whatever you want to share abt it (even just a lil detail you wrote lately) pleeeease share it i am so curious —lyde

LYDE 🥹 well firstly here are my beloveds (zahra & connor in the foreground, musa with his angel wings in the back)

the details are still very much coming to me at odd times but i can tell u that it follows zahra & connor (and musa) thru their late teens and 20s. i dont wanna spoil the plot but it's basically wrong person, wrong time then right person, tragedy strikes then right person, right time.

u can have a little bit of connor's backstory as a treat he's a rich white boy who means a lot to me <3

Athena was the first person Connor confided in when he applied to Boston University. He knew he couldn’t go directly to his parents. His mother might have understood, but there would have been no reasoning with his father. It was a fight he didn’t want to have then and there was no reason to have it; it would only be real if the university accepted Connor. 

Of course, there was no real possibility of them rejecting him. His academic record was stellar, his extracurriculars were exemplary, and his family pedigree spoke for itself. Even the essay he’d written had gotten a stamp of approval from several adults at school.

“Dad won’t be happy,” Athena had told him, though she needn’t have. Connor already knew that. 

“He never is,” he’d said. 

There was little he could do that would make Wallace Carter happy. 

But he had been living by their rules his entire life. He had gone to the schools they picked for him and practiced the sports they wanted him to and learned the instruments they thought he should play. Every aspect of his life up until now had been carefully curated by them, with little to no effort or real involvement. They thrusted all the responsibility onto Cadence.

Connor would be eighteen soon. He would move out of this house and live on his own, regardless of where he went. He wanted that decision to be his. 

So he sat his parents down in the living room and presented them with his acceptance letters—from Duke, Stanford, and five Ivy’s. All the places he had applied to, bar his safety option.  

His father read each letter thoroughly, while his mother skimmed them all. She smiled warmly as she glanced at the letterheads and then got up to hug Connor. It was an awkward maneuver because Athena sat on the arm of the chair Connor was in, but he didn’t mind.  

“I’m so proud of you,” Marion said. 

He wanted to believe her, so he did. 

Then she went back and sat on the couch. They made a nice picture of success, the four of them: husband and wife side by side, their dutiful children across the room barely an arm’s length away from one another. It was a picture of success, if success were defined as a nuclear family in wealthy New England suburbs going through the youngest’s latest accomplishments. 

“Well done, son,” said Wallace. He regarded Connor with the same satisfaction one might hold for a dog that’s finally mastered a new trick. “You’ve nearly outdone your sister.” 

Nearly. Because Connor would always fall short of besting Athena. 

Athena had applied to and been accepted to all eight Ivy Leagues. She hadn’t entertained the notion that she might not get in. She hadn’t had a safety net. Then she went on to study neuroscience at Brown. 

Connor wasn’t upset about it. It wasn’t his goal to outdo his sister. He knew she was the smarter sibling and he didn’t see why he should bend over backwards trying to prove himself when he was already secure in his intelligence. 

That didn’t stop the backhanded compliments from cutting just deep enough.

“Have you given any thought to where you might go?” Wallace asked. “Dartmouth isn’t too far and they always loved your grandfather. There’s a legacy there.” 

Yes, the legacy. Connor grew up hearing about the legions of Carter men and women who attended Dartmouth College. He’d seen countless grayscale and sepia photographs of family members past in gowns and graduation caps. 

He didn’t want his own face to be added to the pile. 

“Actually,” he started. 

Stopped. 

The weight of his father’s stare was too expectant and the words clogged his throat. 

Then his sister’s foot pressed against his shin. He realized he’d been bouncing his leg alarmingly fast. 

“They won’t be able to stop you,” Athena had said to him a week ago. “They’ll give you a hard time and bitch about it for a while, but ultimately it’s up to you. They won’t make you not go to college.” 

Athena wasn’t the kind of person who said bitch about it very often. Connor had found it strangely, immensely comforting to hear. 

He squared his shoulders. “I was actually thinking about the Boston area.” 

“Well, sure, that’s just as good. Harvard has a stellar reputation, though, of course—” 

“Not Harvard, Dad. Boston as in Boston University.” 

Wallace Carter wasn’t taken aback by much, so it was a great feat that he was rendered utterly speechless. He looked back and forth between his children, like he expected them to start laughing and say Oh, we got you good! Then he looked at his wife, who simply blinked back at him. 

Finally his dark eyes settled firmly on his son. 

“Carters lead by example,” he said. “We invest in our education, and do so by entrusting the most prestigious institutions with it. Why on earth would you possibly want to attend a mediocre school when you can enjoy all the privileges and benefits that come with a place like Dartmouth?” 

This was a precarious line he stood on. Teeter too much one way or the other and he would fall over. 

“I’ve been to places like Dartmouth,” he said carefully. “All my life, the schools I’ve been to have been miniature Dartmouths and Harvards. I want to explore something new. I want to know how other people are living their lives.” 

Some muscle ticked in Wallace’s jaw. “You are not other people. You are a Carter and you will behave as such. We have invested too much in you.” 

“Invested? You mean you’ve given us the basic necessities all parents are to provide their children with?” 

“Son, you know we have done damn well more than that.” 

Athena’s voice cut in quietly, firmly. “Dad, don’t do that. Don’t make this about you.” 

“And who else should it be about? We pay for your education but we can’t express an opinion? We can’t guide you when we see you making erroneous decisions?” 

“He got in. He’s still good enough for your prestigious institutions. Why can’t he choose the one that makes him happy.” 

“It’s not about getting in. It’s about making a commitment to what is right,” Wallace explained as though he were speaking to a child and not his grown daughter. 

To Connor he said, “The son we raised would not disappoint us like this.” 

Connor slipped. Toppled over the tightrope.

“Because I’m not the son you raised. You didn’t raise me. Candace did.” 

There it was. The thing they never talked about. The thing none of them ever wanted to talk about. The thing that was so normal for them it had always been a nonissue, except for the times kids at schools asked why they never saw Connor’s parents.

[miraakulous-cloud-district]

Receiving so much love in my oc post and getting some much needed words of encouragement from @bougainvillea-and-saltwater, it all gave me the confidence to post some more about my oc. I can't draw for the life of me, but I do have screenshots. So I present to you: Ravonna, my main oc. I say main, because I've been doing a lot of writing about and with her and I'm working on an enemies to lovers fic with her and Miraak, so she is the most well-rounded and detailed of my ocs. She doesn’t always wear warpaint btw, it depends how much time she has to get ready.

More info and backstory under ‘keep reading’! Likes, reblogs, comments, rambles about your ocs are very much appreciated!

Here she isss, Rumarin said he wanted some music and he needn't say more!

She grew up in Blacklight, in a tavern, with three father figures. One day, a wounded woman came in the tavern, barging in, holding a very small child. The woman was badly injured and looked like she'd been running from something for a long time. All she got to do was give the kid to the innkeeper and beg him to take care of her. After that, she dropped dead. The innkeeper, Endryn, a dunmer, kept that promise and raised Ravonna as if she were his own daughter, with the help of his mercenary brother (whenever he was at home) Teldryn and the tavern's ex-pirate bard, Hjaldir. Hjaldir is an extraordinary bard and taught her many songs, how to play several instruments and how to tell tales that captivate the people. The two were close and always joking around that Hjaldir might just be her biological father. After all, he was a dark haired nord, just like her.

She wanted to become a bard and go to all of Tamriel's provinces and sing and have a journal full of funny and exciting stories to tell. However, if she were to travel the world, she had to learn to defend herself. So she learnt magic. At first with Teldryn, then at the guild of mages. It's almost like she had an affinity for magic, quickly becoming a better mage than Teldryn.

Unfortunately, her life was turned upside down when she came home one day to find her adoptive dad, Endryn, assassinated. It looked to be the work of the Dark Brotherhood. This sparked a strong hatred for assassins and especially, for people who send assassins after someone. It’s cowardly to send someone else to deal with your problems. So she went on a quest to avenge him. First, she had to master the school of destruction, because her new-found quest was much more dangerous than travelling the world as a bard. She now had to deal with assassins. So, she ventured to Vvardenfell to search for the ex-Telvanni wizard that she heard rumors about. It turned out to be a very nice dunmer lady who didn’t agree with the Telvanni principles and lifestyle at all. After some time, she was ready to go out into the world, having mastered the school of destruction and doing decently in enchanting (because there is no way she'll wear full armor. That's heavy and hinders her movement. Enchanted robes all the way).

First she searched all of Morrowind for anyone who would have wanted Endryn dead, and she knew exactly who to look for. He was a very kind mer, too kind, maybe. He lended money to people in need and gave one guy a pretty big sum that he never got to get back. He fled Blacklight right after the assassination. She ended up finding him at the border with Black Marsh. After she dealt with him, however, she wasn't satisfied. She wanted to stop, or at least try to stop the Dark Brotherhood from killing innocents. She didn't want anyone to go through what she did, so she set off to find and destroy the guild. Black Marsh turned out to be extremely weird and poisonous with loads of unaccessible areas. No Dark Brotherhood could be settled here unless they were all Argonians, which was not the case. So she went to Cyrodiil.

There, she researched everything she could about the Dark Brotherhood. She spent most of her time in libraries, looking for any information she could. She didn't find anything useful in books, but she did hear rumours of a Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in Skyrim. Meanwhile, one night at an inn, she met a young man who offered to pay her to take him along on her adventures. Lucien Flavius was his name. He was bubbly and cheery and he also loved to sing. Not the best when it came to defending himself, but the company was nice. They quickly became friends. Feeling like they've known each other their entire lives. They were having fun, raiding goblin caves and robbing Ayelid ruins. All that fun was spoiled, however when they got caught in the middle of a Stormcloak-Imperial fight right at the Cryrodiil- Skyrim border.

But it's all good, they escaped execution with the involuntary help of Alduin. They escaped the big bad dragon and headed to Whiterun to warn the Jarl of the return of dragons. They didn't, however get there, because they encountered a giant and a group of warriors fighting it. Ravonna struck the giant with a huge lightning strike and it turns out that the Companions don't like or trust outsider mages very much. One thing led to the other and she challenged the meaner, more talkative twin, Vilkas, to a duel that ended with both of them arrested in jail. Farkas quickly bailed his brother out of jail (it helped that they were members of the well-respected Companions of Jorrvaskr), but no matter how much Lucien bargained with the guards, they wouldn't release Ravonna. So Lucien went on his own to warn the Jarl, while Ravonna got to know her cellmate, Inigo, a little better.

When the dragon attacked, the whole city of Whiterun felt it. Ravonna finally convinced Inigo to work together and escape and fight the dragon. She wasn't going to let another city be ruined by a dragon, even if she died in the process, she could at least have peace of mind that she tried. Helgen affected her very much and she felt extremely guilty that she wasn't able to fight that dragon then and there.

They managed to lure the dragon to the watchtower and did everything they could to fight it. When guards started dying and Lucien got injured pretty bad, Ravonna conjured a huge wall that surrounded her and the dragon, trapping the foul creature with her. She fought like she never had before, using every bit of energy and knowledge that she had. When she struck the final blow the wall crumbled and everyone nearby was able to witness the Dragonborn absorbing that dragon's soul.

With a new purpose in the world, and the threat of Apocalypse, she realized that she had a much bigger prophecy to fulfill than she ever would have thought.

Personality-wise, she is a jolly spirit, despite everything, doesn't like to think about stuff too much and plan ahead. A very 'live in the moment' person, she loves to sing and joke around. Her favourite past time activity is probably sharing tankards of mead, stories and songs with fellow travellers and with her fellowship. She holds grudges, unfortunately. The type to never forgive and never forget.

As for her companions, she's got herself quite the fellowship by the time the fic starts, which is when she first encounters the cultists sent by Miraak. She's got Lucien and Inigo, of course, but Rumarin joins them after they meet while grave-robbing. He is very funny and fits right in. And if you read this short fic I did, you know how Marcurio joins them as well.

If you read this and bared with me through Ravonna's backstory just know that I love and appreciate you very much🥺❤️

[mongooseblues]

damn your ocs backstories are so interesting. if you don't mind me asking, how long have you been working on this story? and do you have any other background info on your other characters+why they are the way they are & how they came to be? im like... invested now lol

also, will we ever see josephine with cold 👀👀👀 (and perhaps cal as a caretaker? uhh, asking for a friend)

AwwwwWWW hello sweet anonymous friend and thank you so much!! 🥺💕

I started developing these characters in, I believe, March of 2021, so a year and some change. Originally Cal and Scotty were created to exist in two connected fics (that I’ve done a lot of work on but am by no means finished with), and I didn’t intend to follow them elsewhere. I’d never done that with any characters until these ones, all my previous characters had been strictly story-bound.

Ultimately I couldn’t bear to leave them, and as I imagined their lives and filled out their worlds, other characters and other ideas for fics and moments and random bits of backstory started writing themselves and here we are a year plus later and I know what Cal’s grandmother’s pregnancy was like and the names of the six standard poodles Ayush’s family has ever owned and Saanvi’s unrequited love story with her Canadian foreign exchange host sister.

I do have a considerable amount of backstory for a lot of my mains. It is… a lot of content, sometimes in the form of mini stories and scenes and sometimes just bulletpointed facts. I absolutely love this ask but if I posted everything I had in the way of backstory you’d be scrolling through maybe 60k words worth of content. 😅

Since you seem interested in Josephine, I'll put her bio, a little backstory, and her artbreeder under the read more. Also yes we will see sick Josephine! I'll give you a fic preview too :)

Josephine Montefiore (2 yrs older than Cal) she/her, ENFJ-A Cal’s study buddy and best friend while they were both at Georgetown getting their doctorates — Josephine’s is in moral philosophy as well. Cal considers her to be a more talented moral philosopher than him. Cal & Josephine are very similar, and part of the reason behind that is how big an influence Josephine was on him. Her kindness, patience, and unfailing optimism helped shape him as a professor and a person. She has a notable ability to remain neutral and impartial even when something strikes an emotion in her, and to empathize even with those who may not be empathetic themselves. Her father was a lawyer and her mother was a judge so she likes to say that was part of it.

Josephine is 5'9" with a body type that is slightly plump, she carries it well—one gets the sense she used to play a sport (which she did; she played lacrosse and volleyball competitively in high school). She has bronze, tanned skin, extremely thick, wavy brown hair that falls almost to her elbows, and very striking green eyes. She has a round face and big cheeks and subtle dimples and is an extremely smiley person with an infectiously genuine smile and an energy so bubbly it is visible on her face.

After achieving her Ph.D, Josephine teaches at Brown University and her book, A Case for Altruistic AI: Programming the Human Condition, is a recipient of the Barwise Prize, the Weizenbaum Award, and the Nicholas Rescher Prize for Systematic Philosophy. She teaches two courses in applied ethics that are available on massive open online course platforms like coursera, because like Cal she believes there should not be frivolous educational requirements to access academic content and spends much more energy making certain her course material is accessible to as many people as possible than on some of the narrower focuses of academia.

Josephine has been in a long-distance open relationship with a Greek man named Sandros since Cal has known her. Sandros is an elementary school teacher and incredibly talented poet who feels no need to share his work widely, and while he technically is not a philosopher, Josephine considers him one in his own right and she often compares him to Epicurus.

The way Josephine shows her love, to anyone she loves, is rather amazing — she is caring and devoted and physically affectionate. She remembers the names of your cousins, she asks silly hypotheticals to get to know you better, she keeps track of your well-being, she is your biggest fan and your most trusted confidant and your most dedicated protector, especially if it’s yourself you need protecting from. It’s the kind of love that inspires jealousy, that creates romantic confusion. Josephine has always had trouble with the effect she has on people, she thinks it is her responsibility to manage. There is a very integral sense, to Josephine, of responsibility.

Josephine is fluent in Greek and Italian. Italian from her heritage, and Greek from her semester abroad in undergrad and relationship with Sandros. She has spent a good amount of time in Italy. Her grandparents on her father's side immigrated directly from Sicily. Josephine's nonna and nonno are Enzo & Concetta Montefiore.

When Josephine was fourteen, her family (consisting of her parents and her older sister Isabelle) moved from Arizona to New Jersey, which they did because Enzo went to jail for tax fraud. Concetta had never lived alone and most of their income was tied up in court so she needed help. For Enzo it prompted a fall from grace that was difficult to weather for someone who's 72 years old.

The move was really difficult for Josephine. It wasn't so much that she had trouble fitting in, because Josephine has never really had much interpersonal awkwardness, she's easy to make friends with. But she's the kind of person who makes very intimate, very close bonds with her friends, and leaving behind so many friends was really really hard.

Josephine and her sister both hated their grandfather for causing this massive upending of their lives at first, but due to how humbled he was by the experience and how apologetic and self aware he was about the situation he'd created, and even more so: the gratitude he expressed constantly, Josephine ultimately couldn't stay mad at him. In fact she wrote extensively to him while he was in jail and he is responsible for a good amount of her wisdom.

When Josephine was fifteen she found out her grandmother was having an affair and, after a not inconsiderable amount of moral debate, told her grandfather. He surprised her by revealing that they were in an open relationship. Josephine spent months thinking her grandmother was a terrible person and apologized to her in tears. Concetta asked her why she hadn't simply asked about it and Josephine didn't know what to say. The way she looked at love changed a lot thereafter.

[ I intend on returning to Josephine as soon as I’m finished posting the Ayush stuff and there’s a bit more of that. But I do have a WIP of sick Josephine & caretaker Cal. Since it might be a while, here's what sparked the ficlet; a thing I did when I came up with each of their handwriting. A note passed back and forth in a quiet library. ]

[beardedhandstoadshark]

*turns into pile of dust because of black magic*

Btw your oc looks cool!! what’s their name and backstory? got a reference sheet we could learn more about?

Thank you! But about that…yeaaa the drawing probably made him look a lot cooler than they usually look like, I‘m afraid- sorry about that ^^;

Anyways, I‘ve actually talked a bit about my current oc‘s on here (affectionately and uncreatively called main gang due to them being my current main gang of oc’s) and he‘s the purple one in those posts; you can find a few under the „original character do not steal [tm]“ tag on both blogs. He‘s the first one I made and was originally just one of a few fun (vaguely fantasy) chibi drawing ideas I had…which might also be the reason he‘s the most frequently depicted one (and totally not my fave to draw nope)

And I do have a reference sheet! (though not everything‘s on there and details tend to change a lot over time, even if his design is the only one of the 5 that’s stayed the same so far-)

(This post accidentally got a bit long, the rest the rest under this cut is mostly just lots of side-info)

The main inspo: The weird amount of merchant characters who‘re very knowledgeable about magic stuff and maybe slightly (read: very) sus (Happy Mask Salesman, Magolor, the shop guy from Link‘s Awakening who obliterates you with a laser if you steal, Volo I guess?) But unlike Mags and Volo, Mage isn’t gonna betray the party and turn into the endboss of course. Probably. …nah. (<- a lie? who knows =) )

in a lot of videogames, no matter where they are or what‘s currently happening in the plot, if the game‘s got merchants to buy from, they will be available- even in the deepest dungeons or during the apocalypse. So I thought- wait a minute, if they’re here in the dungeon, and they’re here before the mc‘s who‘re supposedly the chosen ones and the first to set foot here in 500 years- then they must secretly be super strong actually and are just hiding it in plain sight!

A „what if“ thought- what if you had a cliche rpg party but their respective cliche classes are actually the secondary classes. And the primary ones are jobs, or just being an NPC? (That’s where the other four come in)

—————

This also influenced his personality a bit, but not completely: cunning, a bit laid back, cares a lot about making some bank, needs to know things, practiced smile but only when it’s needed, otherwise it’s side smirks- lots of too much smiling in any case. Usually on the friendly side- (also, but not always in that cliche „oh HELLO dear customer! :D“ voice you’d usually get. Again, he’s a bit more laid back and [whatever the vibe fitting a side smirk is called] than that )- unless you wrong him, that is- or he thinks bickering with you is fun. Usually puts his own safety over that of others, the first one to result to backstabbing in order to get what he wants- but both the people he betrayed in that moment and whoever he betrayed them for. (And even if the second option is less profitable; if it grants even the tiniest chance of getting him welcomed by rest of the gang again, well then they couldn’t possibly not pick that, right?). In any case, Mage has clear morals- he’s just very good at setting them aside for the sake of efficiency.

Regarding his backstory, here’s not much too it, really- he‘s just a merchant selling their wares (or info) to adventurers on the road or in his shop when he isn’t traveling; you might find a curious item or two if you go pay them a visit! But whatever you do- do not try to steal anything. You will regret it. He’s lost someonething once, he will not let it happen again. Do you understand? Yes? Good. :) So, do you need anything else, dear customer? What’s this about dark magic? Yes, that’s what he just used, but that doesn’t make him a mage yet-this is just for protecting their wares from thieves. Mages are rarely traveling, he last saw one years ago- and by now, if some thieves, nature or the Roots didn’t get him, the monsters sure did.

Besides, the missing dark mage had a different eye color than him, didn’t they?

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(if this reads weirdly it’s because I’m trying to hide all the parts that are only half-thought out and prone to change a lot. Might add a second version that’s exclusively character information, especially since it’s in the context of a setting that hasn’t been built yet. I kinda just hijacked this ask to finally put all my ideas for this pal into one place lol)

[shadow-cat-with-red-roses]

Info basic info on my Oc’s

Name: Luna reaper

Age:12

Gender:Female

Sexuality: Bisexual

Eye color: Light brown (Other eye got gouged out)

Hair type: Short light brown hair

Scars: Luna has many scars from the military. The reason why you don’t see the scars well the smaller scars is because she uses her makeup to conceal them all That’s why if you touch her in these places she will either flinch as these places are very sensitive. The only scar that she can’t conceal is the one of her left eye.

Personality: her personality is very complicated mainly because she has a switch from different ones to adapt and survive the setting she’s in though her personality is mainly all the mixed together.

When she’s at the Phantomhive manor: Caring,Shy, a bit clumsy, soft-spoken, polite

When she’s at the Casino: very confident, A bit flirty, Cocky, very much a risk taker

When she’s at the Noah’s ark circus: she’s a very mature soft-spoken and polite self when first meeting her but when you get to know her she is like a bottle of energy that brings people together.

When she’s at the All Saints orphanage: she is very cautious and distance those she still polite but not out of wanting to be nice but out of not wanting to get yelled at.

When she is by herself: when she’s by her self in her room she feels numb and she hast to do something to get away at that numbness like investing in her hobbies or her vices.

Birthday: Unknown

Weapon: She sometimes uses a small pocket knife, while there are times were the girl will use guns Luna only dose so when needed.

Likes:Drawing, Singing, the color black, boyish clothing, anything Chocolate,and gambling.

Dislikes: purple and pink dresses, getting yelled at, not being able to do the things that she loves, flashing cameras, being separated from her foster brother for a long amounts of time, being in the middle of a large ball room with everybody staring at her.

Living:Lives in England with in the phantomhive manor, but throughout her life

Parents: Her parents are Crimson Reaper who was part grim reaper and Sal Jason who was the queens military officer or most commonly known the Queen’s cat.

Backstory: Out of all of my Oc’s Luna has the most complicated backstory so I’ll put it in my more detailed information on my Oc’s ^^

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Name: Amelia Rosewood

Age:12

Gender:female

Appearance: she has bright blond hair, clear blue eyes, and a light pink skin tone.

Likes: eating food, spending time with Luna and her sister, her time in the orphanage.

Dislikes: dark topics and lewd subjects, being alone, any of her friends being sad.

Favorite colors: Pink,light purple, Green, Gold

Backstory: Amelia used to live with her older sister when she was younger, with her sister almost acting as her mother figure. When one night they were out in the town shopping in one of the many shops Amelia got separated from her sister, and after some time wandering the streets she got taken in by the all saints orphanage

How they meet Luna: she met Luna when she was at the all Saints orphanage showing her around, she was very intrigued with the girl as there weren’t that many girls in the orphanage that acted like how Luna acted. She really wanted to be friends with her but didn’t know how to approach her without being rude so she asked Lillian her best friend to introduce them to one another.

Personality: confident, a bit loud, kind to others, caring for her sister, very outgoing, and also a hot head at times

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Name: Lillian Raven

Age:12

Gender:female

Sexuality: maybe Bisexual, is still questioning/ unsure

Appearance: when she was human she has a long Orange hair, Spring green eyes, and peach skin. When she became a reaper everything about her was the same except her hair color changed to black and her eyes became greener.

Likes: She likes to read her books, study for upcoming tests, subjects such as history or math, and her friends

Dislikes: Luna, her mother, the classmates that bully her

Favorite colors: her favorite colors are pink and purple which was the uniform she was wearing in the All Saints orphanage. Now she knows Luna hates those colors because of past trauma and tries to wear them around her at all times.

Backstory: Their mother Charlotte a reaper had a one night stand with a human that was on the To die List. Of course Charlotte got pregnant and Crimson helped with the pregnancy after Raven‘s father died because what Charlotte Raven did was illegal because they didn’t get the council consent to marry after Raven was born Charlotte wanted to kill Raven to get rid of evidencebut Crimson being part human protested but soon Made a compromise to abandon her at the orphanage.

Why they hate Luna: for being the daughter of Crimson reaper, getting bullied less then her, and strangling her when Raven provoked her to. Because of these reasons she hates her with a burning passion she often fantasize when Luna tortured in the most brutal ways.

How they meet Luna: When they were human they met Luna in the All Saints orphanage with her best friend Amelia Rosewood. They got along When she was human but when Luna was getting blamed for being a demon and killing the children in the all states orphanage, Lillian was the one who spread the rumor as Marry the Caretaker of the orphanage manipulated her to do so. She even manipulated her to take her own life to frame that Luna killed her. Now when she was a reaper she referred herself as her last name now in the orphanage everyone just called each other by their first name as since there is soon to be adopted their last name didn’t matter, they met when Luna was looking around the dorm and showed her around pretending not to know her.

Ranking: now in the underworld Grim Reaper’s have different jobs you could either be in the records department, go full-time and reap the souls, be a member of the council, or be a medical reaper and Raven chose to be a medical reaper.

Personality: confident, steals the spotlight, gets jealous easily, takes out her frustrations on Luna as she is bullied.

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Name: Catherine Rosewood

Age: 20

Gender:female

Sexuality: Straight

Appearance: she has dirty blond hair, clear blue eyes, and a light pink skin tone.

Likes:Balls and soirées, dancing, and talking with her sister.

Dislikes: The color black, men talking with her sister or her, her strict parents, her sister spending less time with her.

Favorite colors: Blue,light blue, Silver, Gold

Backstory: Catherine is from a noble family, her parents wanted a boy so when they got a girl as there first child they were more then a bit disappointed. But they still loved her nonetheless teaching her things such as complex literature, and skills for her to be the next heir to her family’s company. This has caused Catherine to become a perfectionist and mature at an early age, so when her little sister was born. She was a more then a bit jealous when her parents over-doted on her letting her to be able to have a childhood of play without work. One day when she was taking her sister to town a they got trapped and lost in the crowd.

How they meet Luna: she met Luna when she was intending a ball that she was hosting and she invited Ciel as she took an interest at him, wanting to maybe talk business with him. Ciel brought Luna with him as he doesn’t want to leave her alone as she’s still recovering from her injuries. She met Luna as she saw her on the side not enjoying the party she had thrown just talking to her sister.

Ranking: Catherine rosewood is a countess of the rose family who specializes in making and shipping rose tea across the country.

Personality: confident, rude to some kind to others, caring for her sister, prideful, and devious.

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Name: Cynthia Diana Valeria

Age: 14

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Straight

Appearance: Has Black hair,lavender eyes, and has a pinkish hue on her skin

Likes: Cute dresses in darker colors, butterflys, sugar cookies

Dislikes: chocolate chip cookies, Cats, members of the lower class,

Favorite colors: black,blues, pinks, and purple

Personality: Bratty and Immature but she is very confident and (if you get to know her) is very kind hearted and sweet.

Backstory: Her family is in the higher class and they have been working for the Tracy and the Phantomhive family for years. Her father just wants power so she try’s to make her get with Ciel but he couldn’t because of him already having a fiancé but sents Cynthia knows Alois and because she wants to be with him because she loves him. She was very sheltered when she was younger to the point were she thinks that she is the only one with any kind of suffering. And because of that she thinks that she is the only one who had problems.

Why they hate Luna: She dislikes the lower class and Ciel’s servants because she considers them to be not good and lazy because Ciel is more lenient to them compared to Alois who is more strict and gives out punishments if they do something wrong like braking a plate or look at the ones that they serve. Because of how sheltered she is she’s very entitled and thinks the world revolves around her and she thinks that she is the only one with pain so when she sees Luna she’s rather rude to her because even though she doesn’t wear colorful clothing like Luna, Luna is for a bit more boyish then Cynthia.

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Name: Lawrence Radcliffe

Age:18

Gender: Trans (Female to Male)

Sexuality: Gay

Appearance: he is a tall and slender young man with black purple ish hair and light orange eyes.

Likes:Working, cooking, talking with customers, and teasing his younger brother.

Dislikes: his brother drinking and being rude to gusts, spiders in his work place, and messy areas and stuff not going to plan.

Favorite colors: red,black, and gold

Personality: polite and soft-spoken but will be rude if you cross him.

Backstory: When he was a young boy he was out on the streets as he was separated from his brother after his parents divorce Samuel went to his father Who was a nobleman and Lawrence went with his mother who was in the working class, his mother later passed away from sickness and that’s what made him go in the streets as his father wouldn’t take him.

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Name:Sam Esposito

Age:13

Gender:Male

Sexuality: Questioning

Appearance: A short tough boy with messy blonde hair and orange like eyes.

Likes: drinking, talking with Luna, when Luna is happy, and watching people gamble(especially enjoys it when Luna wins and the other people lose).

Dislikes Not being able to drink his booze, Ciel or anyone talking with luna,when Luna loses or gets hurt, when people address him as Samuel instead of Sam, and nobles.

Favorite colors: light Green

Personality: Can be rude and snappy sometimes and will yell out of anger but has a nicer side if he trusts you. He his very prideful of himself as he is a family member of another Italian Mafia. He is also very perverted to English ladies and just women in general.

Backstory: before Samuel and his brother was were separated he and his father did not have a good relationship as he got his father‘s anger issues and his father would often yell at him. That was one of the main reasons why the wife divorced her husband and went back to her home taking Lawrence with her (This was before Lawrence transition) , the reason why his father took Samuel is because he looks more like him with the same hair color and Eye color is the drinking got more severe he often beat him when he was being “reckless” or rude.

[bunny-rambles]

Can you pinpoint the specific reason you feel worse despite posting something? Or is it just this feeling that something is wrong and such? I guess a few other questions to ask yourself is if you actually want to write still or if you’ve just been clinging to the last thing that gives you any amount of serotonin because you need something to keep yourself going and it’s one of the few hobbies you have left.

I ask cause I went through something similar back in highschool and I’ve stopped writing all together ever since. It could be that forcing yourself to cling to something when deep down you actually don’t want to do it is the reason you feel worse because it’s ignoring what you really want to do. Writing was an alternate source of stimulation I had to listening to my teachers and a hyper focus of mine from adhd. Once that wore off I began to stop writing but I clung to it because it was all I had for so long. Eventually though I had to let go and just allowed myself to exist without having a purpose or goal to fulfill. In the current reality we live in everyone is expected to live for the sake of work and even a fun hobby can become work at some point.

I’m trying to get back into writing though I haven’t made any progress but that’s for me. There’s probably a different reason you feel worse and the paragraphs I wrote will end up pointless but I guess it’d be good to keep it in mind for future reference? Idk though I’m not a therapist yet.

I do have a bit more to say but I’m not gonna add them until I know more about how you feel (only if you’re willing to) and everything because I could be thinking in a completely different direction than what you actually meant.

If it helps though I loved your writing as always. Your writing has always flowed really well especially in terms of dialogue and your characterization is on point. Your descriptions are a great balance in being, well, descriptive, but never going overboard, which something many writers struggle with I think. Your explanation of Scara’s backstory for one is kept short and to the point while allowing empathy to show because it’s something that would make anyone feel bad without going too deep into specifics. Believe me when I say keeping that balance is something I really struggle with even now. There’s a lot going on that I want to talk about immediately but making someone read through so many paragraphs would just be torture and there is a plot to get through so there’s no time. Honestly, I’m rather jealous of how smooth and easy it is to read your work, I wish I didn’t feel the need to info dump everything.

I don’t have any new cat photos unfortunately since I’m typing this on my iPad otherwise I’d definitely send some to hopefully make things a bit better.

Been a while since I wrote such a long ask but I guess it was a long time coming. Something I’ve been meaning to suggest is if you would consider answering requests and such with an alternative method? It might be easier on you and help with answering things quicker than before. You can still write full five of course but there’s nothing wrong with finding something that makes it easier on yourself. It could be what you need too!

Now I’m actually done, geez! Hope this helps a bit and you feel better soon, sorry for making this so long!

-🐈‍⬛ anon

deep breath

alright, let’s dive in, shall we?

it’s since been deleted but what I posted wasn’t entirely about my writing. these past few weeks my mental health has been declining rapidly and this week seemed to be the culmination of it all. I thought perhaps doing something I loved would take my mind off things.

Posting something almost always makes me happy. I love writing and I get happy seeing all the reactions to my work, but yesterday I just felt so much worse. That piece was something I worked on for a week. Usually, I write the piece in a few hours when I’m feeling inspired. I hate rereading my work, because then I’ll constantly be looking for anything bad and then deciding I hate it. When that happens, the piece becomes unfixable in my eyes. And that piece continued to feel unfixed even after I posted it. In my head, it could always be better.

So now, I don’t really like that piece. Maybe I’ll reread it one day and think something like ‘damn I wrote that?’ In a positive way, but for now I can’t find it in me to do so.

You bring up some valid points, but you’re half right. Writing when I’m uninspired sucks and that’s when it becomes really unenjoyable. I am slightly regretting having my creative work be used for something academic because this isn’t a switch i can just turn on and off at will.

But I love writing. I love weaving together a world with flowery worded passages, feeling emotions through carefully structured sentences. It’s cathartic. In person, I struggle to ever get my point across when I speak. Here, I can choose what I get to say, and make it beautiful. Comforting others along the way is a massive bonus, and something I cherish deeply whenever someone tells me that. That passion is probably never going away. It’s just a shame inspiration doesn’t hit nearly as much as it used to.

Now onto your really kind words that made me cry last night. I’ve never really had such an in-depth reason from anyone as to why they like my writing. Especially a piece I’m not exactly fond of. I’m surprised by most of what you said. I think I struggle the most with making pieces flow. I always think sometimes my sentences can come off as really stiff if that makes sense? Like if I write a character doing something and that’s the whole sentence, that feels far too stiff but I have no idea how to change it without being too, um what’s the word- pretentious? over the top, but not quite? Basically I never want to be too much (exactly like what you said).

You can completely disregard this, but here’s a little tip in creating anything, maybe not just writing silly little stories for pretty little men - less is more sometimes. Show, not tell. If a character is upset, yes describe what they look like/what they’re doing, but try to maybe focus on how to put their emotions in words that might influence what they do next. Or backstory, how the character acts tells people a lot more than just straight up saying ‘this character has been through this’. And ugh, this is a personal pet peeve of mine, don’t make your character a consistent victim or make them too overpowered. Balance is everything for a good character, even for someone as faceless as a reader. I struggle a little with this in terms of my oc’s (in my head, I’ve never ever written anything for them bc they’re not balanced and I hate myself for it;;;;).

I went a little off track there. But basically, don’t just say what someone’s doing or blandly describe someone’s backstory or how the scenery looks. Use interesting words that weave together nicely that don’t have to be concrete in meaning. Your readers will figure out soon enough what you meant and then that passage will be clearer. Make sense? Maybe not. It’s difficult to utilise, because how else would you understand a character if you didn’t know the ins and outs of them, like their backstory? Patience and unrolling a story with nice timing. Take things slow, your readers are going to be with you until the end of the journey. You don’t need chunks of text right at the beginning or middle to explain someone’s motivations. Just subtle hints here and there are more than enough. Who knows, maybe what idea your reader gets might be far more interesting than what you yourself might come up with.

You don’t have to listen to any of that advice btw, I just really like subtly and nuance, it’s just my personal style.

Anyways-

Alternative method? I’m afraid you’ve lost me. When you can, could you perhaps explain what you meant? I’m trying to think of something like that but my minds going blank, sorry;;;

It’s okay, I still have your wonderful kitties to look at from last time, I love them dearly 💞

Thank you for this ask, it was nice to read last night when I wasn’t feeling my best. Sorry if any answers came off blunt, I’m incredibly tired and I’ll probably head back to sleep after this. But yeah, your words were very nice to read, those compliments especially - I never really see my writing in the way you do, so seeing a different perspective is really surprising,,, and sweet 💞

[ettawritesnstudies]

Do you have any thoughts/advice about writing siblings? Especially for characters with more than one sibling,,, like how their relationship with each other might be different than if they had only one sibling.

oh you bet I do anon, I've practically got this down to a science haha. There are a few key aspects of the family dynamic you'll want to keep in mind that will influence how the different relationships form!

Parental Roles:

(I'm using the term "parent" loosely, since it may vary depending on the story, but "legal guardian" sounded weird. Yknow what I mean)

Good parents will encourage mutually respectful relationships between their kids, avoid playing favorites, and work to settle bickering quickly and fairly. Siblings might get on each other's nerves, but they'll also be friends and whacky in-jokes abound.

Poor parents will either create an incredibly tight bond between siblings (to compensate for the lack of a reliable/safe adult support structure) or will drive siblings apart (probably by playing favorites, creating a rivalry)

Another thing to consider is if both a mother and father figure are present. Kids being raised by a single parent or a grandparent will have a different dynamic than if both were around. Divorce or parental death can be a major traumatic early life event, and will affect how each child relates to their parent and to each other. I can't really speak to this because I didn't grow up in a separated family, but research by reading first-hand experiences. If the kids are orphans, or both parents are neglectful, a sibling might step up into the parenting role, creating a complex, interdependent relationship.

Birth Order:

People will argue about this for aaaaagggess, but broadly speaking, the following personality traits are accurate:

Oldest/Oldest available (when the actual eldest isn't around)/Oldest Daughter (when the older brothers are useless around the house):

Strengths: organized, responsible, leader, probably half-decent at babysitting, cooking, and cleaning, may be a peacemaker between younger siblings.

Weaknesses: bossy/opinionated, default center of attention OR invisible depending on the situation, may bully younger siblings

With great privilege comes great responsibility

Middle (depending on place in the middle and age gaps, may lean more towards oldest/youngest behaviors in the family dynamic):

Strengths: flexible, independent, more laid-back attitude, probably makes friends outside of the family easily

Weaknesses: flighty, deliberately annoying, might feel inadequate or looked over in older sibling's "shadow"

Youngest:

Strengths: "Go-get-em" attitude. They want to run with the older kids, and parents are too exhausted to stop them, so they learn a lot young. If the eldest was allowed to stay at home alone overnight at 16, the youngest is probably doing that at 14. Confident. The other default center of attention.

Weaknesses: Tag-along, loud/obnoxious.

When someone only has one sibling, it's only the oldest/youngest dynamic and since both are so independent (and the parent's attention isn't split so many ways), I've noticed they're usually not as close? Especially if there's a age gap, they function more like only children that live in the same house, idk?

When you have a large family, pretty much everything in your life rotates around the family's schedule, when are your parents available to take you to X event, do you have to be present at Y event, who's babysitting tonight? Each person has a defined role within the family and the relationships are reflective of that.

Shared Life Experiences:

How much time did they spend together growing up, and was that a positive or negative experience? Did their family experience a traumatic event? (probably in the protagonist backstory). How did they react and support each other through that? If there's common ground, they might not talk about it because nothing needs to be said. They lived through it together.

Personality Dynamics/Clashes:

Depending on how you built your characters from the above questions, this can be a highly story-specific question to answer, but I'm just going to throw some generic dynamic ideas together inspired by my own siblings and stories:

Oldest and 2nd Oldest sisters are mistaken as twins because they're on the same mental wavelength 80% of the time. Lots of affectionate exasperation and mutual complaining/info dumping.

Middle was the youngest for 5 years until a younger sibling was born. Finds themselves caught between youngest "immaturity" and new expectations to be a good example of an older sibling.

two middle kids (2 years apart) bicker as small children but grow into being chill friends as teenagers once they both mature a little.

younger middle (10M) has different favored older siblings to go to for different problems when they can't get mom or dad's attention (asking oldest for help with school, older middle for help with friends, etc.)

the impartial sibiling mediating arguments between overly concerned but justifiably frustrated parents and overly defensive but justifiably irritated sibling.

parents mediating arguments between overly concerned but justifiably frustrated older sibling and overly defensive but justifiably irritated younger sibling.

younger middle and youngest siblings being absolute agents of chaos together, and that insanity factor growing exponentially for each added person involved.

The house is just TOO NOISY with all of this chatter, you're banished outside until dinner time. Go play.

The dynamic of: "oh my gosh they're such a dumbass, but I love them too much to let them get away with this bad decision.

protective of each other against outsiders, even if they bicker a lot: "The only one allowed to punch my sibling is me."

complaining with each other about their parents

so many dumb in jokes

I think I've rambled enough but I hope this helps!

[ltleflrt]

Hey Carrie! You talked a little the other day about writers' tendency to start a fic too early in the story, and how you see a lot of first scenes that could have been scrapped to improve the story. My question is if you have some tips to recognize while writing that first scene that you are starting too early in the story?

Hello friend!

That's a really good question, and I'll see if I can give an answer that makes sense. I am not a professional, and I'm not educated or trained in this stuff, it's just something that I recognize from years and years and years of voracious reading. And as with all writing advice, I encourage you to take what I'm going to say with a grain of salt and remember that no writing rule is a hard rule, only a guideline.

Also, my advice is going to be pertaining fanfiction, and specifically to AUs. Obviously a published book has an editor with a razor blade going through a manuscript for you, and the problems that bother me in fanfiction crop up in AUs more than Canonverse.

Oh, and every instance of "you" is general, not specific 😜

So I think the main problem that I see is that people are starting with an Info Dump. An Info Dump is not always a bad thing, sometimes it's completely necessary, but it is NOT where you want to start your story. If it absolutely has to be done, it's better to be somewhere in the middle or near the end. When it's something that your characters need to know.

That's an important bit: Do your characters need to know this?

And related to that: Does your audience need to know this for the story to make sense?

And very important follow up: If the answers to the above questions are yes, does the character/audience need to know this RIGHT NOW?

There's a lot of information about your story that YOU need to know. Heck, my notes files are full of sooooooo much stuff that I know about the characters and plot that never reaches the final product.

So when you're reading your first chapter (I say reading, not writing, because sometimes info dumping for your own benefit is good, and then you fix it before you share the story lol), ask yourself those two questions.

So for example:

In an AU where Dean is a tattoo artist, and it's his POV. The story starts with Dean driving to work, and when he gets there he's going to find out that the empty shop next door has been purchased and is going to be a yoga studio. He meets Castiel out front, up on a ladder trying to hang a hand painted sign, and some teens go running buy and knock into the ladder and Dean has to catch Castiel from falling. (Anyone who wants to adopt this idea is welcome to it btw, I would love to read this lol)

The mistake I often see in a first chapter like this is that as Dean is walking to work, there's a whole Info Dump about why he's a tattoo artist instead of a hunter. He'll be ambling along, thinking about his nice little business, and there's info about how his mom died in a fire, and his dad was a jerk, and Dean didn't go to college because he saved his money for Sammy's college fund, and Dean's only passion was art, and Bobby Singer introduced him to a tattoo shop owner who took Dean under his wing, etc.

Question 1, does your character need to know this?: Why is Dean reflecting on his past? Does Castiel need to know this information in order to build a romance with Dean?

Question 2, does your audience need to know this?: Why does this information matter? If Dean's only reflecting on this because you want to make sure your audience knows where the timeline changed and this became an AU, then you're starting too early in your story. Dean doesn't need to know this, and honestly in a lot of cases the reader doesn't need to know this. This is information that should have been left in your notes file.

Question 3, does the character/audience need to know this NOW?: If this information is pertinent to the plot, like maybe there's some trauma there that Castiel might need to know about to develop their relationship, then you don't want to put it HERE, you want to put it in a conversation with Castiel LATER.

If I was writing this AU, I would just start with Dean sipping his coffee, he's kinda tired because reasons, he looks up to see an unusual commotion, and has to drop his coffee and sprint forward to catch Cas. If he's reflecting on anything in this scene, it's going to be whatever made him tired, or how good/bad the coffee is this morning. Since Cas is a new business owner, they can talk about the origins of Dean's business on their first date, because it'll be a relevant response to Castiel talking about the origins of his yoga studio.

And just in general, if Dean's origin story includes a lot of canon elements, like mom dying in a fire, dad being a deadbeat, Sammy being the adorable overachieving Stanford student.... try to hide that info for as long as you can so that the audience is actually curious about it by the time the info might pop up. It's the wild divergences that are more interesting earlier on.

Okay, and then I want to talk about my giant pet peeve for a starting chapter. It's a specific kind of info dump, that often includes the stuff from above, but then goes a step further.

My nemesis, The Daily Grind.

I haven't asked the authors, so I could be wrong about this, but I feel like most of the time when this type of chapter is included in a story it is because the author wants to show the reader that the character's life is boring and meaningless before the plot's inciting incident. I can absolutely see why that might be considered an important detail about the character, but keep in mind if it's boring and meaningless to the character, it's boring and meaningless to your audience.

You know how I said earlier that writing tips should never be hard and fast rules? Well this is in regards to that Show Don't Tell rule, and it's an example of TOO MUCH showing lol

It is possible to do a daily grind in an interesting way, but only if you include a Shake Up right away. And you have to look at the 3 questions a little bit differently.

So for example:

Castiel POV, and he works in an office. His daily routine is to always get up at the same time every day, he goes for his run, he grooms himself, he has his breakfast, he goes to work and talks to Kelly about how Jack's doing in kindergarten for a few minutes before going into his office. Adler comes in to be a prick, Castiel hates him for it, and then he does his reports, has lunch hiding in a corner of the lunch room so that his co-workers will leave him alone, he does more reporting, leaves an hour after his shift technically ends, goes home to a lonely apartment that maybe includes a pet who is the only being that shows him affection, has an unsatisfying dinner of leftover takeout while watching a mindless reality tv show, then he goes to bed.

Ugh.

BORING.

Which, yeah I get it, the point is that his life is boring. But now the story is too, and I've clicked the back button before I can see how exciting it's capable of getting.

Question 1, does your character need to know this?: No. He knows. Poor thing definitely already knows.

Question 2, does your audience need to know this?: Yes, but...

Question 3, does the character/audience need to know this NOW?: Yes, but new question for ya:

Optional Question 4, why does this need to be separate from your plot's inciting incident? The answer to this 4th question is usually that it doesn't.

Chapter 2 of this type of beginning usually shows the shake up of Castiel's day. My advice is to start with the shakeup, and sprinkle in the details of what you would have put into chapter 1 to show the contrast. It's far more interesting to learn how boring Castiel's day is by starting with the shake up.

So, same scenario:

Castiel's alarm doesn't go off for some reason, OH NO HIS ROUTINE IS SHAKEN UP! You're explaining his routine while also stressing him the fuck out because he has to rush, or skip something that he normally needs to do. Action! Interesting! He gets to work late, and has to miss his conversation with Kelly about Jack because she's telling him that Adler's already in his office being a prick because Castiel isn't there waiting for him like he always is. Oh shit, he's pissing off his asshole boss! Conflict! He's so flustered by the shakeups that he misses something on his report, and he gets a call from that new marketing guy Dean Winchester who asks if they can have a meeting about it when Castiel normally takes his lunch. BAM! MEET CUTE OPPORTUNITY! While Castiel is getting all flustered by how pretty Dean is while they talk about TPS reports, he can reflect on how this is both better and worse than hiding from his co-workers in the corner of the lunch room. The rest of the day after that meeting he's thinking about how weird this day is, he still goes home an hour late, he talks to his pet about his weird day when he gets home, and maybe he still eats leftover takeout, but he's not paying attention to the reality tv show because holy shit he wants to count Dean's freckles.

In this example, you're Telling the audience about Castiel's normal routine instead of Showing them. But since it's during a plot heavy chapter, it works!

Lemme see if I can TL:DR this...

As you're reading, ask yourself who needs to know this information, why do they need to know this information, and why is it important for this information to be included early instead of later?

If the answer to any of those questions boils down to "this is backstory" instead of "this kicks off the plot", then you've started too early.

I hope this helps? I'm always nervous about giving writing advice because so much of the time I have no idea what I'm doing, and I'm just feeling around in the dark. And I definitely do not ever want to hurt an author's feelings, because this hobby is so fucking hard, and we're all fragile. Even authors who welcome con-crit with open arms will have a weak point that they're unaware of that might get poked wrong and cause a crack, ya know?

I hope anyone who gets this far who might see their own works reflected in my examples understands that I have a lot of respect for their ability to put their work out into the world, and I want them to keep doing it. We're here to have fun, okay? Okay. I love y'all 💜