#anyways this is wordy (as i tend to be) but i think it conveys what i'm thinking well enough

[chroniclyst]

i do not have a blog of my own so i will just be musing on our main. hopefully no one minds. howdy, i'm joe. i'll also preface this with this:

but i think there's something to be said about the sentiment "you need to put yourself first". it's a mentality that many people do need to learn, particularly the sort of people who are overly self sacrificing and consider their own wellbeing below that of other people's. but i think it's a sentiment whose counterpart should be said more often, which is that other people's wellbeing is important too. i think there needs to be a balance there, because everyone's wellbeing is equally important. and there are some people who hear "you need to prioritize your own wellbeing" and take it to mean that you should never take into consideration the wellbeing of other people. it is not and should not be all or nothing, and the people who haven't learned that yet are going to be lonely if they wholly refuse to be considerate of their loved ones wellbeings, because they will continue to lose people.

[musewrangler]

#1, 3 and 18 for the writing asks, please?

Oh kanerallels. Look at you go with these. Fair warning, a thesis level discourse could happen here. I will do my best to be brief, clear and plausible. ;D Thank you so much for asking!

One. Well. Here's the tough part---I think that the themes I WANT to write about I am. ;D The thing is, they are definitely explored by others and that fairly frequently. Within the Star Wars universe, the past few years, we have seen quite a wealth of material on found family, adoption, protecting children, etc. This lines up well with things that I have loved anyway and themes I'm' drawn to. Your question choices all mesh quite well so I shall segway this answer into answering 3 as well.

Three. The theme of brotherhood has ALWAYS appealed to me in any work I've read even before I really understood what that kinship was. From Narnia in my early years and admiring Edmund's courage after he'd blown it, to Tolkein in my middle school years, where I loved Faramir intensely for his loyalty and sacrifice, to Henry V with that marvelous St. Crispin's Day Speech, to Band of Brothers both the book and series.

So unsurprisingly, I tend to write the loves of Storge and Philia the most with a sprinkling of Agape. I am of the personality type myself who values loyalty very highly. I love my people and we may have our differences sometimes, but come for them and I will be FERAL. xD Storge likely wins in my work because brotherly love becomes familial to my people as you've no doubt seen.

Eighteen:

I have revealed a lot of my favorite authors already. Tolkein is the MASTER of language. I know we credit Shakespeare with a great deal of that as well and we should. But Tolkein created numerous languages and it blows my mind. They are all so well suited to his characters and their different societies and cultures. Elvish is stunning. The Black Speech is awful and horrifying. I love it all. C.S. Lewis used language more simply than his friend. But his imagery was no less effective. He was able to be less wordy and yet convey a scene with similar intensity. The beaver's home for example, or the cold awful scene of the witch's home and the tragic statues.

Dorothy Sayers is one of my absolute favorites with Lord Peter Wimsey and her deft use of descriptives, quotes from numerous great authors on Peter's lips and her understanding of human nature. I loved Oxford before I ever went there due to her descriptions. And when I finally arrived it was like seeing an old friend, even though I'd never met them in person. {No I didn't have the privilege of attending. I lived in the UK for 6 years and adored visiting Oxford}

Jane Austen is another whose use of language was marvelous. British understatement and spot on characterizations are her playthings. :D

I am already being long, so I'll just share one favorite quote:

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers---for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne're so vile, this day shall gentle his condition."

Speaking

[writing-in-the-tiny-house]

Villains and Dialogue!

Today’s episode is all about the baddies and what they say!

Become a patron at patreon.com/writinginthetinyhouse to get early access, an additional monthly episode, and even spend time collaborating with me!

Today’s book is The Cabinet of Curiosities, by Preston and Child. Please follow this affiliate link to purchase it for yourself: 

https://amzn.to/2TO9lB9

The following is the transcript for this episode. If you are viewing this through a podcast app, only the first part is available to you. But the full transcript can be read on the show’s website.

Transcript:

Devin Davis: Does your modern fantasy novel take place in 2021, but your modern villain sounds like he came from 1921. Then, my friend, we need to talk about villains and dialogue today on Writing in the Tiny House.  Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to the show. Welcome to Writing in the Tiny House. I am your host Devin Davis, and today we are going to be talking about villains and how they should be talking. Again, I am a father of boys living in a tiny house in Northern Utah. And I am here to show you that the novel idea that you have bubbling around in the back of your head, it is 100% possible to write that no matter how busy you think you are.

[00:01:17] I know that a lot of my listeners are family people. I know that a lot of my listeners have full-time jobs. They have a lot of hobbies when they get home, they have kids, they have all the things. And so there are a million reasons not to write a book, but I am here to show you with this podcast that is entirely possible to write at least that one book. 

[00:01:40]With today's episode, I actually don't have a lot of announcements. I have been doing a lot of prep for the upcoming weeks with this podcast. Like I said in the previous episode, I've been interviewing my head off and it hasn't changed. And I'm excited about that. Interviews are awesome.

[00:01:58] Interviews are very well supported on this podcast and they bring such wonderful value to everyone, to  the listeners, to myself. It's fun to build those relationships. Additionally, it helps the podcast grow and it helps the guests grow, whatever it is that they're growing, whether or not they just finished writing a book, whether or not they are an editor, whether or not all the things, it's a way that we help each other achieve our goals.

[00:02:29] And I'm all about that. I think that's really good.  There is an African proverb that says, "If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together." And I just like that. It just the idea of linking elbows and everybody going across the finish line together and achieving our goals by helping each other out.

[00:02:53] I think it's a wonderful idea. Today, however, we do not have a guest. We have me and I am here to bring you the second episode of this series on villains. Like I said in the previous episode, villains are actually near and dear to my heart. I love a good villain. I love a convincing villain. There is so much value that a good villain brings to a story.

[00:03:20] And I am all about that. It's important to have a good, main character. It's important to have a good hero, but I would dare say it is equally important if you are writing the type of story that has a prominent villain to have that villain be amazing. So with today's episode, we're going to be talking about dialogue and I'm going to bring up four pitfalls to avoid if you want to write a convincing villain.

[00:03:54] This is not a comprehensive list. This is just what I think is important. For me, dialogue is a big part of any type of a story. I love dialogue. I love seeing the exchange between two or more people especially when they have different ideas and they help each other come to conclusions and help each other out that way.

[00:04:15] I love seeing an author conveying these different personalities, meshing together through dialogue. It's one of my favorite parts of any story. And my own work tends to be pretty dialogue heavy, just because I love that. I love establishing relationships through words like that, so the first item  on writing a convincing villain.

[00:04:39] So let's take a step back and let's think about your work in progress, or think about a really good book that you read recently, or even a good movie. What type of story was being shared? Was there a villain at all? And if there was a villain, was he or she prominent throughout the entire story and what type of cool things did they do?

[00:05:04] What type of cool things did they say?  If I bring up those subjects and they make you giggle, usually means those things weren't done effectively. And I'm sorry, but a bad villain is something to laugh at. Seeing bad dialogue and seeing a horrible cliche villain is actually one of my favorite things to laugh at. I'm kind of weird like that. I love a bad villain, almost as much as I love a good villain, just because they are a perfect example of what not to do.  

[00:05:33] The first pitfall that I have on my list is witty banter. If you are writing scenes where the villain comes into contact with the main character a lot it depends on the atmosphere that you are building in your story. If your story is witty, if it's funny, if it's making fun of a cliche, then witty banter is fine. However, an exchange between a villain and a main character, you need to really pay attention to what their relationship actually is. If they knew each other beforehand, it's possible that they would say more to each other during these encounters while the main character is trying to foil the villain. For instance, if the villain is the dad or if the villain is the neighbor or a teacher or something like that, it's entirely possible with that pre-established relationship that they would talk to each other or that they would have more to say, or the tone of the conversation would be more desperate, more pleading rather than more demanding, or there would be more of an attempt to find common ground. That means that if this prior relationship exists already, it needs to be established in a really good way before these other encounters, when this character has stepped into the role of the villain. Otherwise,  the witty banter, the back and forth smart crack of the whip things, if that is the tone of your story, then go for it. Otherwise I say, don't do it. For me, it makes a lot more sense to have a villain say nothing if the villain and the main character encounter each other, but don't know each other. It makes a lot more sense to me if under the pressure of whatever this big master plan is going on, that there would be a lack of words and there would be a lot more emotion without the words. And that's something that I personally would avoid. Again, pay attention to the overall tone of your story though. 

[00:07:56] The second pitfall is wordy or unnatural insults. That kind of goes hand in hand with witty banter, but it seems like the old school cartoon villain always had something stupid to say to the main character, to our hero. Sometimes it rhymed. Sometimes it made fun of their outfit. Sometimes it made fun of their special ability.

[00:08:24]I don't know. I remember a lot of recent superhero movies though, where the insults were pretty on the nose and pretty bad. And I personally don't like that. To have that type of really bad crappy insult really puts me out of the story. And I personally wouldn't do it. I like things to be more believable than that.

[00:08:50] And that is usually the tone of my book anyway. I tried to make it as realistic as I can, even if it is a fantasy story filled with magic. I like the relationships to be authentic. And so insulting someone? Well, first of all, if your superhero is wearing underwear over their tights, and then they're in a cape, I think that can be done away with, and I think that you already realize what type of a problem that would be. But make sure that the insults are believable and make sure they're not wordy. Wordiness isn't okay, guys. When we try to create emotion around a person or around a situation or around an event that's happening, sometimes we think the best way to build that emotion is to say a lot of words and to say like five words when we could say only one instead. I was recently critiquing for one of my critique partners.

[00:09:46] And she was so excited about this chapter that she sent to me. And it was kind of a wild chapter. It was a dream sequence, a nightmare sequence where like every other page was a different scene in this dream sequence. And the main character was super confused. And then a few paragraphs later, she would be in a different place and she felt really unsafe and didn't understand what was happening.

[00:10:15] And then at the end there was the really big villain. And the big villain was saying stuff that a real person wouldn't say unless they had a prior relationship. And I was sure to note that in my critiques for this critique partner. I said, make sure that your villain is a person before they are a villain.

[00:10:38]We are not writing Power Ranger episodes, and we're not writing 1950s superhero comics anymore. Unless you are. If you are, that's fine, then you can disregard this entire episode. But make sure that they are a person before they are a villain. And the same can be said with your hero. Make sure your hero is a person before they are a hero.

[00:11:01] And so with some of the dialogue in this critique that I did for this critique partner, I went through and just made little notes out in the margin saying if you can follow what your villain is saying with that evil maniacal laugh, I mean, I, I don't really want to do it into the microphone, but if you can follow what they said with that evil maniacal laugh, then you need to change what they said, because that evil, maniacal laugh has no place in your book. Or at least it shouldn't, it doesn't have a place in my book. So avoiding wordy and complicated and unnatural insults and other just language as well, also weak language.

[00:11:50] So this is the third pitfall that I have on my list. Weak language. A lot of us think that all language needs to be flowery and that all villains need to speak properly. Especially if it is a villain who is doing the master plan type of thing. If he's a big, strong brute, sometimes we naturally tend to give him different dialogue and to say things differently. But if he's the secret elaborate plan maker, if he's the guy who is taking over the world because he is smart and he has this intricate plan to do so, we tend to sometimes think that that guy would speak with proper English. And with kind of older English, I have been reading a book recently that is fantasy. It takes place in kind of that typical medieval Europe fantasy world, where a lot of fantasy novels take place. And the dialogue between the hero and the king and the King's evil advisor, those stock characters, is not natural because they're making it old. And the thing is they don't need to make it old.

[00:13:18] They can have it be more natural than that. I'm not saying that they need to modernize their dialogue much, but the thing is, the world is made up already. And this place, even though it resembles medieval Europe, it is not medieval Europe. And so the dialogue can be whatever you want it to be.

[00:13:40] And so it doesn't need to necessarily have the references to pop culture and it doesn't need to have the slang and whatever else, but when they start referring to things in a really old fashioned way, when we start talking about well, when we start whipping out the insults that my grandmother would use, I don't think that is as convincing as just better natural language conversation, to be perfectly honest. And this is another thing. One of the things that we come up against as a writer is we find that our writing tends to be really revealing of ourselves.

[00:14:20] I read a meme the other day, that writing is supposed to be embarrassing in the way that it makes us feel naked. And that suggests that as a writer, we get to be brave. And for many of us, sometimes that gets to involve our relationship with language, and sometimes our relationship with swear words.

[00:14:45] If you don't want to use foul language in your book, you certainly don't have to. It is 100% possible to write a convincing villain and a good hero and a wonderful world without having foul language if you don't want it there. If you want to appeal to a younger audience and have it be cleaner than that, that is 100% up to you.

[00:15:04] However, I'm going to paint a picture on purpose to demonstrate a point. If you have a villain, and she grew up on the wrong side of town, and she has a drug problem and she beats her kids. And at the end of the book, it finishes with her killing her husband. And yet the F-word tends to make her clutch her pearls, I don't buy it. I'm not saying that you need to incorporate the F-word into your book, but that was a big obstacle for me to face. And I have a villain kind of similar to the situation I just described. And I don't know, growing up on the wrong side of town and a drug problem and whatever, whatever else, just painting that picture of a rough bad guy. And then thinking of the language that they would use, I got to kind of get over my apprehension of using strong language, just because I don't use strong language like that. I don't use strong language towards my kids, but it made sense that he would. And so it was one of those things where I could either have clean language or I could have the proper effect. And I couldn't choose both. I didn't want to choose both. And so I got to kind of swallow my apprehension with the foul language and I got to include it in my manuscript. I'm not saying that I'm going to keep everything that's there just because I'm on my first draft, but you may encounter a similar problem.

[00:16:49] If you are a more proper person who uses more proper language, or if you would never dabble in some of the things that you want to include in your book. Like if you have always been straight laced and you've never done drugs, or if you never had premarital sex or whatever, if those things are not a part of your life, you may not want to include them in your book.

[00:17:16] But like I said, Sometimes you get to either choose between the content you leave out or the effect that you want to have, or that you want to convey to your reader. And it's just something to consider. I'm not saying that every scene needs to have the F word or that every scene needs to have sex or that every scene needs to be some grownup harsh thing.

[00:17:41] I would never say that; it's your story. You get to write it the way that you want. However, if we sit back and we consider these things to be more like tools that convey a specific emotion and reaction to our reader, then suddenly they're not so scary. And language is one of those tools. I understand that strong language offends many of my readers, or at least it's not something that many of my readers would use all the time or whatever, especially towards their kids or towards their loved ones. And so I very consciously get to pick and choose the type of language that the bad guys or bad women, whatever, in my manuscript get to use, because I know that that type of language conveys and inspires a very specific reaction to many readers.

[00:18:34] So kind of a long rant there. The final thing on my list is the closing monologue. And this is a cliche that has been made fun of a lot in many superhero movies, specifically the Incredibles from Pixar. The first movie, we know that at the end Syndrome has the family kind of arrested and detained and he starts monologuing and it buys the family some time to do something. And then Syndrome catches himself in the monologue. The thing is, the pull towards the final monologue is actually very appealing if you have not structured your story to not need the closing monologue. The reason why we want a closing monologue is because we want to show the reader just how clever we have written this villain.

[00:19:31] We want to reveal his backstory perhaps, or we want to reveal every step of this elaborate plan that just got foiled or is on the cusp of being revealed to us on the cusp of being accomplished. We as the writer, we want to convey to the reader just how genius this guy actually was. And a closing monologue seems like the good way to do it.

[00:19:58] However, my friends, there are ways to avoid the closing monologue. You can have clues along the way. You can have an investigator or another person reveal this or that. You can have the bad guy's right hand man abandon that side of the conflict and join the other side and then share secrets.

[00:20:18] There are a million different ways to do it, but the closing monologue is something that we have read enough of and it has been made fun of enough that you don't get to include the closing monologue in your fantasy novel with your villain unless you want to. If you do choose to include it, prepare to have snobs like myself call you out on it.

[00:20:44]And that brings us to today's book review, just very quickly wrapping this up. The book that I want to bring some attention to is The Cabinet of Curiosities by Preston and Child. This book is a mystery whodunnit thriller. And so the nature of books like these is the actual villain of the story is in the shadows and not revealed until the very end.

[00:21:16] So why would I mention this book in this episode specifically? The reason why is because there are so many subplots in this book that tend to bring conflict and to clash up against one another. And as those subplots figure themselves out and get resolved and move the story forward, there are so many conversations between people who are antagonizing each other.

[00:21:51] So there's the investigator. And then there is the institution getting in the way of the investigation, or the people trying to shut down the museum, or the person working at the museum trying to keep their job. There are a lot of different examples like this. And so, in a way it's like there's a handful of mini villains running around throughout this book.

[00:22:13] This has very good examples of dialogue between people who are causing trouble for each other. People who have separate agendas and want to achieve those agendas and are trying to stop each other and are trying to get ahead and get away and whatever else. And so it, it has wonderful, believable, fun dialogue throughout the book that's not just insults and awkward accusations.  There are a lot of wonderful things in this book, but this has a very good example of dialogue between people who hate each other and are getting in the way of each other. And it's good. This book is wonderful.

[00:22:59] This is a part of a collection of books. Preston and Child are two authors who wrote many books with this common FBI investigator as this common thread throughout the books. There are a lot of them and this one is possibly the most successful of them all. It's hard to say. But the collection is called the Pendergast novels.

[00:23:29] Pendergast is the gentleman who is the common investigator throughout all of these books. And like I said, they, they are all whodunnit mystery thrillers. So that is what I recommend. I definitely give this book five out of five stars. It is wonderful. And check it out today.

[00:23:48] That is it for today. Thank you so much for joining me with this episode of Writing in the Tiny House where we discussed villains and dialogue. The next episode is going to be on villains and action. We're going to talk about the entire secret elaborate plan and how that gets to look, or at least the things to avoid when developing your own secret elaborate plan for your villain.

[00:24:11] So thank you for joining me again. If you want to support this podcast, feel free to sign up with our Patreon. Go to patreon.com/writinginthetinyhouse and sign up for one of the tiers today that comes with its own perks. Again, thank you for the patrons that I already have. And for the generous donations  that you are sending to this podcast every month. Be sure to follow me on social media. My Instagram handle is @authordevindavis. My Twitter handle is @authordevind, and we will see you next time. Thank you so much, guys. Have fun writing.

Check out this episode!

[akinnie75]

Hey! So.. first of all, I really love all your works, eveything about every single of them, each one is feels so real (in its own way) and at the same time you can notice that there is a complex background behind every story, but to put it simple they’re amazing *chef kiss* so.... i was thinking, would you mind giving some writing advice o tips, of course, only if you want to, have a nice day!

Hiiiiiiiiii!!! Long and wordy response ahead...

First of all, thank you for reading many of my writings and it’s nice to know that you’re interested in learning some tips! I hope it helps you and many others ^^

- Whenever I have an idea, I almost always outline it. When I don’t, I tend to have writer’s block, and it makes the whole writing experience a lot less enjoyable. Outline feels like a hassle, but it really helps flesh out the story!!

- Always go back and proofread your work! Editing is the most boring part of writing, but fight through it and surely, it’ll be worth it! I promise you, I’ve caught some embarrassing mistakes after posting my stuff, and I can’t imagine how many people saw it and probably laughed at it lol. Also, if you can, have someone else read it. It’s always good to have a fresh pair of eyes to catch mistakes that you didn’t notice.

- So I know a lot of people have been taught to use complex words because it makes your work sound more professional. BUT! In my screenwriting classes, I’ve been taught the opposite. Be as simplistic as possible. Writing isn’t only about putting down your ideas, but also how you convey it to the audience to help build your story visually. If you’re using hard words that the general audience doesn’t know, it will most likely draw them out of the storytelling. Don’t force yourself to use difficult words because it’ll make your story structure stumble and, while it’s great to venture out there and use different words, use it with confidence.

- In terms of fanfiction (and this is just my opinion), I don’t like using a lot of adjectives for my characters unless it has a purpose. Using too many adjectives can make the story be too wordy (like this post hahahahahaha). Also, you can be articulate with what BTS picture to use when posting a story because that can help describe how the member looks in the story without using words. No need to describe them when all you have to do is show a picture (Show Don’t Tell)! Besides, it’s not like you need a description of Jungkook when we already know how he looks like, right? ;)

- Focus more on verbs to describe the traits of a character than adjectives. (i.e. “Jin reaches his hand out to comfort you, but his hesitation clouds his action, ultimately pulling his hand back” gives the reader the impression that he cares for (Y/N), but he isn’t confident enough to express it.)

- Something that I do respect from many fanfiction writers that’s still a challenge for me is description of the setting. Many of them beautifully convey the background, and the way they describe it makes it easy to picture the environment. If you’re not good with description, start with the big picture, then narrow down to what you want the readers to see. No need to describe every single detail of the room that has nothing to do with the story, like that ‘mahogany, rotting bench’ that will never return in the plot.

Here’s an excerpt from Stephen King’s take on handling description, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft:

      “Look- here's a table covered with red cloth. On it is a cage the size of a small fish aquarium. In the cage is a white rabbit with a pink nose and pink-rimmed eyes. [...] On its back, clearly marked in blue ink, is the numeral 8. [...] The most interesting thing here isn't even the carrot-munching rabbit in the cage, but the number on its back. Not a six, not a four, not nineteen-point-five. It's an eight.”

ANYWAY!!! Sorry for long post, and there’s still a lot of tips that I would like give...but it’s going to be endless lol. To sum it up, go to this [link]. This Tumblr blog gives a lot of helpful tips in writing, and I use it often. I hope this helps!

[kalliejupiter]

Some LEWKS from fashion illustration, or rather a fall capsule collection that I would wear myself if I were an intergalactic space provocateur (thus the inclusion of pants and a sensible heel). My partner and I debated the practicality of a drop-crotch pant I. The cockpit of a spacecraft—I and my instructor agree that the drop-crotch is totally fine, and fabulous. Besides, I’m not taking design advice from a guy who still dresses like he’s in junior high (JK, I ❤️ my partner). I tend to write long posts, and I like talking about and documenting ideation. So, I headlined each segment for easier navigation. Just some details on concepts, design process, and such. I will post more sketches, line drawings, fabric swatches, and maybe color comps later. The Assignment: Create a ten piece collection. Decide the season, demographic, include at least five different types of garments (trousers, dresses, at least one coat, etc. I also had to draw out the flats and include swatches and stuff. In the end I had to edit down from at least 20 initial sketches. Designing wearable sci-fi LEWKS comes easy to me, but self-editing does not. Take note toxic masculinity in geek culture, a girl can still be sexy in pants and a sensible heel and drawing something from the female gaze doesn’t mean a dude can’t appreciate it... I used my sensibilities as a starting point—although, in the end the collection skews a little younger than my demographic (I can get away with it as a woman of color because a WOC could be anywhere between the ages of 25 and 45 without a stranger being able to tell the difference. I’m still a little punk rock at my age, but if I had more time, I would create a companion collection that’s a little more stately and tailored for a more professional lady in my demographic (while maintaining the visual cohesion with the collection I eventually made). The instructor initially thought I was joking, because I actually submitted a market plan that said my target demographic was an intergalactic space nomad, political double-agent, listed the median income in space credits, and made several references to lasers and cyborgs. Spoiler alert, I got an ‘A’ on the final. I prefer fall to any other season, so too is my collection for fall. Fall, as a whole, has a wide range of potential garments, mostly because fall weather is so drastically varied (in spite of this, it is usually the BEST weather of any given place, IMHO). I also like fall color palettes best (as a suburban teen I spent my adolescence wearing all black, listening to Morresey, and writing really terrible poetry, like every other suburbanite teenager). Dark colors are slimming and hide a myriad of sins, accidents, and the bloodstains of your slain enemies. I wanted to include both a short and long coat/jacket, day wear, one formal piece, a jumpsuit of some kind, a mini and maxi silhouette, a work outfit, something to work as loungewear, something to work as activewear, and something that would look cool on a robot. I also wanted to strike a balance between bodycon silhouettes and easy to wear volume—which is probably why the collection ballooned into something as large as this one did—there were so many variations of single pieces that it was hard to choose which of them to include. The piece variations themselves were compelling on their own and also in comparison to its counterpart that it became more interesting to present looks as side-by-side options. Each look was multilayered, highly detailed, and designed to be physically adaptable/changeable anyway, so assigning a single croquis to a look seemed like a wasted opportunity. References and Ideation: I got the ideas for the collection from real life. One of the weird things I picked up from the military was from Basic, and it’s the idea that you are issued all of these pieces with utilitarian properties at first that encapsulates everything you’d ever need, apparel-wise (from underwear to formal wear, and for all weather and situations) and all of it can fit in a single seabag. It was fun trying to imagine what shenanigans one could experience as an intergalactic scene-girl, and what kind of clothes she might want. The concept of a sea bag (or “space bag,” in this case) jives with the idea of a capsule collection (stylish staple pieces that can be worn over many seasons with smaller, less expensive pieces that can be altered or replaced by trendier items as the seasons progress). All the pieces can be mix-and-matched and are adaptable in many ways—there is something gender neutral about a lot of it (I wish I designed the bodysuits with more variation in the briefs: make some with compression shorts, leggings, and such—I didn’t really consider these separate LEWKS, per se, but layering pieces, because some part of my underpants are always showing under my garments, and if you are going to have exposed bra straps, make it look like you did it on purpose). Also, the tailored structure and details of military clothing are really are really cool design elements to explore. I also used Middle Eastern references to balance out the designs—mostly because I thought it would be thematically appropriate/ironic to combine the two style sensibilities (non-Western cultures have so many more interesting silhouettes in any case—it might be appropriation, but in the neutral sense of the term). The concept of armor and utility informs every piece. Those concepts also the reason I referenced (or resurrected) less common clothing items and styles. For example, the quilted leather snood, a pleated leather bolero, spats over the boots, and a molded, hooded, cuirass (leather is a good material, it adapts to the wearer like a second skin and because of that, the material plays into the theme of personalizing a basic uniform to make it one’s own—90% of the swatches for the collection are organic or natural fibers because I would think the artificial environments and materials of space might make one long for something more “natural,” especially with something as intimate as the clothing that separates a persons skin from everything else. It’s also luxe and sometime more durable). Aesthetically, details like cording, high waisted pants, draped tops, high necklines, and asymmetrical hemlines reoccur as a design through line in the collection. Utilitarian features, like zippers and velcro closures, do double duty as both functional and aesthetic elements. A practical zipper on a detachable long sleeve becomes the decorative beam on the short sleeved version. Velcro tans on an exaggerated drop-crotch pant transform the garment from a maxi silhouette into short and leggings combo. I admit, this comes from my unironic love of those weird convertible bridesmaids dresses that people always end up lazily tying around their neck. Look Details (the Coverall): That’s why there is a “fashion coverall” in this collection—I know from experience that those are the comfiest work pajamas, ever, and even though this collection is supposed to exist a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I did want to reference some contemporary trends and needed a non-catsuit jumpsuit, and tailored coveralls seem very classic in a way that could be stylish beyond the current moment. I wanted to use design to solve actual practical problems. For example, instead of the traditional buttoned cuffs and collar, I chose to use a ribbed knit on both the neck and 3/4 sleeves. It is more comfortable and easy to wear, works just as well in a hot engineering space or in the colder climate controlled server spaces and Officer decks of a ship, and prevents the clothing from getting caught on equipment and becoming a liability on trouble calls or planet-side laser melee. The knees have built-in padding, and Velcro patch details, so our girl can switch allegiances fairly easily. The only thing is the lack of pockets. A cargo short is an amazing idea. In the abstract. I have never seen one in public that did not look like an Eldrich Abomination. If someone needs to Cary so much stuff in their pockets that their pants look like they are hiding the legs of Yogsheggoth, perhaps it’s time to consider carrying a bag. I’m looking at you, Dudes. Also, the belts and harnesses of the collection were designed with detachable pockets and specialized equipment in mind. I kind of wish I designed the piece with a jodhpur or cigarette leg silhouette instead of a boot cut. Both the jodhpurs and cigarette leg would have been more interesting, especially if I had also designed a short, romper version of the piece. Final Thoughts (for now...): I don’t expect anyone to have read all the way through this, and if you have, thanks! Feel free to contact me with any questions, requests, random musings, like, share and follow. I’ll try to be less wordy in the future. A Word of Thanks to the Fashion Illustration Class: I really enjoyed that class. Everyone of my classmates had different skills, experience, and came from a lot of different disciplines (for example, I make comics and work in advertising, some were animators, some fashion students, and one was an editorial photographer who didn’t draw well in the conventional sense of it, but drew croquis that had the character of a Mondiglioni and could convey not only the sense of the garments, but the personality of the girl who wore them). We talked about everything, asked a lot of good questions, and hyped each other up for fashion in general. I will say that out of the many years of studying various art disciplines in various classrooms and open critiques, this was the first time I experienced colleagues as open and giving as these classmates were. I’m used to a lot of pushback and blank stares during critiques (especially when I give them—I obviously talk a lot, and connect ideas to a lot of obscure references—“consider the jodhpurs,” “you seem really into minimal geometric patterning—write down ‘Ainu’ and look up their textiles and mouth tattoos,” “there is something very vaporwave about this non-binary collection, I see a lot of pastels and navy,” “I know exactly who the girl is that wears this collection—she converted an Arizona ranch into a minimal art gallery in the middle of nowhere, collects antiques from the late 1950’s and Kieth Harring prints, and makes excellent margheritas...”—and then they would use my suggestions by the next critique! WHAT!!?!), but people really listened and we all tried to understand each others point of view and encourage one another. I loved that class.

[qorillas]

even more gorillaz headcanons

they tried to get noodle to eat brussels sprouts when she was little and they went on a health kick. she didn’t understand what they were called and thought they were called russel sprouts. to this day brussels sprouts are referred to as russel sprouts by everyone in the band and this is just an accepted phrase now. whenever they pass the produce aisle someone inevitably yells “hey russel!” and holds up a brussels sprout when he looks over (at least, 2d and noodle do. murdoc tends to just chuck a brussels sprout at russ’s head from all the way across the aisle and then pretend it wasn’t him.) 

they all love the beatles so much. they tend to play beatles songs to warm up before practice; can’t buy me love was a favorite of noodle’s when she was little because 2d would dance with her and swing her around during the instrumental part while they sang. i want to hold your hand is also a popular one because during the bridge — “and when i touch you i feel happy inside” — 2d and noodle go all fake-sentimental and dramatically sigh and swoon all over the room. usually they sing to russ and get him to clasp their hands during this part or stroke murdoc’s face dramatically (he always pushes them away but he’s laughing.) one of the first songs murdoc learned was blackbird and he tends to play it to himself in his room when he’s alone, singing quietly. he taught it to noodle when she was really young and caught him singing it and even now, sometimes they’ll sit in the studio with their guitars singing blackbird together — it’s their thing. 

more under the cut!

2d is autistic and has adhd. he experiences sensory overload a lot and finds it hard to keep the thread of a conversation; the bright lights and constant barrage of questions during an interview are really overwhelming for him, which is why he so frequently spaces out, trails off or loses track of a topic in the middle of a sentence. this is also part of the reason why he tends to struggle with sarcasm and sayings (half the time he doesn’t get them, the other half of the time he gets them but just wants to mess with the interviewer because he’s a bit of a prankster.) murdoc talks so much in interviews because he knows they’re tough for 2d to sit through and he’s covering for him (and also, of course, because he loves the sound of his own voice.) because of his 8-ball fractures obscuring his irises, 2d doesn’t generally make eye contact with people either; they don’t realize it because they can’t see where his eyes are pointing anyway, which 2d appreciates. 2d also stims a lot! he likes to hum under his breath because it feels nice on his throat and vocal cords. he finds the bloopy noises that keyboards make really comforting, and part of the reason he has so many keyboards is because each keyboard has its own unique sound and he likes to collect the sounds that feel the best to him. he has a whole slew of stim toys in his desk and all over the house; a lot of his flick knives and flickcombs are actually things he uses to stim with because he likes the noises they make. he always forgets to bring them with him when he goes out, though, so he has a habit of rubbing the loose ends of his friendship bracelets between his fingers to stim instead, which is nice because since there’s always one around his wrist, he’s never without something to stim with. he plays with his fingers and winds them around microphone stands during concerts to stim as well. his special interests are zombie movies, machinery and keyboards, and he tends to infodump about the latter during rehearsals. he also has mild dyspraxia because of his autism, which is why he’s a bit clumsy and tends to struggle with balance. he flaps so much, especially when he gets excited! he has the best wiggles. [thanks to @happy2d for looking through this hc and offering some great suggestions!!!] 

the reason noodle has so much traditional japanese paraphernalia decorating her room goes beyond the fact that she’s immensely proud of her cultural background. since she was essentially raised in the uk, and wasn’t able to remember her childhood in japan for a long while, she’s always felt a bit estranged from her japanese identity. even after being able to remember her early life, the fact that she was brought up in an isolated military program, and then raised in the public eye as a british celebrity means that sometimes she feels like she’s not “really” japanese. at times she feels really cut off from her japanese roots, like she doesn’t deserve to claim an identity as a japanese person, or like she doesn’t really belong in england or in japan, or anywhere at all. she surrounds herself with things from japan and decorates her room with them because it helps her compensate for these feelings and reminds her to assert her identity. if it gets really bad, she remembers something murdoc told her once when he caught her crying during an identity crisis she had at 14: “you’re not half-british and half-japanese; you’re british, full stop, and japanese, full stop. the two things don’t cancel each other out. this is coming from a guy who identifies as mexican and whose only real experiences with it are a stint in prison and a long-gone mum. anyway, it doesn’t matter what you are since you’ll always be part of gorillaz, which is more than most people in the world can say. and if they do say anything, tell ‘em to fuck off, and then kick their teeth in.” 

when del was alive, he and russel had plans to get married after college and adopt a baby girl. after del died, russ was absolutely gutted; the constant ache of del’s absence and the survivor’s guilt contributed heavily to his depression and anxiety, and he was in a really low place for a long time. noodle’s arrival probably saved his life. from day one, he and del regarded her as the adoptive daughter they always planned to have, but which just came to them in an really unexpected way. del, of course, was the cool dad and russ was the rule dad, considering that del was pretty much incorporeal and couldn’t actually enforce any rules they set beyond threatening to leave a note for russel detailing exactly how bad noodle had been. noodle loved conveying messages between the two of them, actually, and would force russel to go to bed early so that she could tell del that he said hi, or wake him up from naps to tell him that del said hi back. noodle still goes with russ to visit del’s grave between phases and whenever they’re in the united states. 

murdoc is actually the best at cooking out of all of them. he was left alone so often as a kid, he had to learn how to feed himself somehow. he rarely cooks anything nowadays, though; he’s too lazy to do it when he could easily use an app to deliver something right to him or just order pizza, and he doesn’t care enough about what he’s eating to expend the effort of getting all the ingredients out and cleaning up afterwards for a specific meal. he only cooks at the most random times; for example, they’ll be in the middle of a songwriting session and murdoc will have a flash of inspiration and become manic, scribbling lyrics on the nearest flat surface, grabbing his bass and suddenly dashing off to the kitchen, and return three hours later with five quiches, one of which has a lyric sheet baked into it. “it’s a bit wordy,” 2d says, “but good.” he makes better tamales than your abuelita, but only when he’s worried about someone, and he has a bad habit of passive-aggressively shoving a full plate in front of whoever he’s upset with and watching them eat with a reproving glare until he’s convinced that they’re okay. a birthday means that the special person will find a scone on a plate, sitting in their room with no explanation. 2d’s is always vaguely swan-shaped. murdoc’s laughed at them so many times for asking if it was him. “is that a fucking joke?” he says. “you don’t think i have better things to do? it’s most likely poisoned, and even worse, it was probably sitting stale in a display case all day.” actually, when they woke up, the scone was still warm.

2d’s voice is different this phase because he recently had surgery to remove some vocal nodules. he’s fine and cleared to perform in the band’s upcoming tours, but his voice is still going to be a bit raspy for a while. russel says he sounds kind of like kevin bishop. 2d says he doesn’t know who that is but as long as he doesn’t sound like damon albarn he’s fine with it.