#but it IS the intended syntax there

[theminecraftbee]

Just out of curiosity, do you know any alternative ways of showing types of relationships that could be used on ao3? I find the & and / method to be very constraining, especially with ambiguous or multi-dimensional relationships. & for platonic and / for romantic does not allow for a proper representation of nonstandard relationships, for example an enemy/loathing or polyamorous relationship. (Homestuck quadrants are their own thing and are not what I am asking for/about.)

answer that answers your question:

yes and no. if you just want another category of markers to exist, i know you said no homestuck quadrants, but those are probably most commonly used, although they're all synned to the / tag. i've seen some exchanges that want to differentiate use /& together, i've seen ? be used, and i've seen some invent their own tag (largely exchanges use these for matching purposes and it's rare but i HAVE seen it). however, there's no unifying convention, and ao3 will eventually syn all of these to either the / or & tag (usually the / unless the wranglers have a very good reason to think it's the & tbh). so know that even if you use your own symbol, it will show up in the relationship tag it ends up synned to.

one of the most common solutions to this is to use the symbol closest to what you want--personally i tend to just use the & unless there's fic content i think gen fans would really hate, since & is the tag that covers the much wider spectrum of relationships in my head, although some people will differ--and use freeform tags to disambiguate. for example, last days has the & tag for joe and cleo, along with a "queerplatonic relationships" tag! i believe "ambiguous relationships" is also a canonical tag, and you don't have to use canonicals if you can't find the one you like! the world is your oyster.

(here i'll also note: the & doesn't require them be like... friends. it just requires the fic be about their relationship in some way, and for this relationship to not be romantic or sexual. enemies is absolutely covered here, as is like, weird coworkers, or even tags like "hero & the public".)

(similarly, the / tag doesn't require they like each other, it just requires it to be a "ship"; enemies who have a ton of sexual tension goes under this, as do things like abusive romantic or sexual relationships; just make sure you're using your warnings and additional tags appropriately!)

the other most common solution is to tag both the / and & tag and use a tag like the "ambiguous relationships" or "this can be read as either" or "queerplatonic relationships" or whatever other disambiguating tag you think it needs. this is less common in the mcyt fandom because of the mcyt fandom's history of being SUPER WEIRD about shipping, but it's often the most common solution in fandoms that aren't this one.

"i want ao3 to have a ship tag that is neither & nor /, and is not considered synonymous with either" unfortunately this doesn't exist and isn't going to. like i'd love to say there's a way to make it exist but it Won't because of how ao3 was designed to work on a backend level and also ao3 does NOT change quickly, for better or for worse. you're going to have to pick between "make up a symbol and it will probably be synned to /", "use the tag you think you like best", or "use both". i wish there was another option too, if it helps, but the additional tags are really useful here!

"use no relationship tag" is also always an option; the relationship tag is not a required tag!

answer that answers your two examples, neither of which really fit the question as i understand it, hence me separating them out:

a fic about the relationship between two enemies is either the & tag if you just want the one that is actually meant to be used or the / tag if you mean for it to be like, the kind of enemies that have sexual tension. use additional tags to additionally disambiguate (example: just put in the tags the canonical tag "enemies" and you're good to go). the & tag is for ANY kind of platonic relationship, it does not require the two characters like each other, only that the fic is about their relationship! you can use the homestuck <3< if you REALLY wanna make it clear but that's synned to /, so like, up to you. if you're super worried someone will misunderstand the & tag you can also just not tag a relationship, relationships aren't mandatory tags.

i have no idea why you're asking about polyamory because that has a solution that's entirely unrelated to the problem you propose: you just tag the ship. ship tags with more than two names in them are legal tags, as long as it doesn't go over ao3's tag character limit you're good. if you do hit the limit, just use more than one tag! this is totally fine and follows ao3 conventions, don't worry. if it's the kind of polyamorous relationship with metamours, where not everyone is dating everyone, this is where more than one overlapping relationship tag REALLY helps. plus: you can mix / and & tags! not all of them will be canonical yet, but that's true of ANY ship tag you're originating! i have seen the form of "character/character & character" in many fandoms before, it's totally valid and will disambiguate! (also, the ensemble tags may help you here if you're doing like, a polyhermits thing; "hermitcraft ensemble/hermitcraft ensemble" is a legal tag and i think what polyhermits is probably synned to.)

so yeah, hopefully this helps some! good luck out there!

[starflungwaddledee]

may i have a link to that starspeak dictionary you once mentioned? (its fine if you dont share)

ah! thank you for the interest but it is not a complete dictionary or anything like that. that was just a screenshot of the title of my work in progress document as i work on the language, sorry!

the starspeak conlang i've talked about here (and 100% of the words/grammar i've released so far) is very specifically my personal creation that i've worked hard on for a long while! i'd be totally okay with people using it in fics or comics or whatever so long as they credited it back to me.

not just because it's my work, but also i think that it's important to allow anyone who comes across it to know like... why and how i was creating it. especially because it has roots in some real life languages and it was originally created only as a personal project

but i also wouldn't like it to be.. idk.. stolen?? i hadn't really considered the possibility that anyone would be interested enough to want to use it, though i'd be humbled to create something that could serve the greater community! but uh.... please don't use my creative work without at least crediting me and letting me know?

i have a tag on my blog you could specifically link to that would allow anyone to find out more about it easily! https://www.tumblr.com/starflungwaddledee/tagged/starspeak

[capeladev]

[crowsent]

homestuck still holds the title of ‘writer fucked a thesaurus’ award but my god this gets the silver medal

first time seein oblatio outside of a latin book

[sugar-grigri]

Miri does the chair as much as Denji

The chapter confirms the suffering of the hybrids who turn out to be the "weapons" (thank you Fujimoto for confirming at least one of my theories).

But let's go into a bit more detail in this chapter, which only talks about alienation and never about freedom.

What better title than 'A Chair's Feelings', which is a perfect antithesis.

I have the feeling that something specific has happened, let me explain.

Firstly, Fumiko Mifune plays her role as Denji's guard perfectly. She's not protecting him as a person but as the property of the public hunters.

How does she do this? Firstly because she sticks to Denji, but more importantly she seriously disrupts the discussion between Denji and Sugo.

Every time Miri puts an advantage on the table, she questions it. A high position in the church? Chainsaw Man deserves to be guru.

Steak every day? We're getting tired of it, other dishes would be preferable.

The public hunters represent the opressor who uses Denji as a tool. In other words, the entity that Miri is trying to remove Denji from.

But what's particularly interesting is that Miri doesn't demonstrate free will and spits out someone else's arguments.

What's even more fascinating is that Miri thinks he's going to convince Denji with his own arguments, which turns out to be in vain.

Miri seems like someone who operates on principle and has taken on board concepts such as dignity and freedom, which he now intends to protect. Denji doesn't think like that; he needs concrete arguments to engage him.

For example, Miri presents Denji as his liberator. This has no effect on him, as he was unaware of it because it was Pochita who was fighting. Once again, we're projecting onto the figure of Chainsaw Man the image we'd like him to represent here: the first weapon to free himself from the oppressor that was Makima.

But Miri is far from imagining that not only was Denji not conscious, but that he consciously 'saved' Makima by allowing her to become a new version of herself who would be cherished and loved. Because Makima was never the oppressor, she was merely the object of the Japanese government, which surely also used a few weapons.

That's why I think Miri's way of presenting himself is a step backwards. I don't know if it's intentional, but the way his name appears in the dialogue bubbles and the suspension points…… The syntax is important. Miri knows that his name is just a number given to him by his former oppressor.

In fact, that's why he calls Fumiko "sushi-woman" or refers to the students as rubbish; he doesn't think of them as they never thought of him.

Sugo has no intention of forming a relationship with the humans, whom he seems to reject, which clearly shows that weapons are used by humans, not demons.

But Denji grimaces when he sees that he is so easily popular and integrated, and that he would prefer to be rejected.

Miri rejects humans, wanting only to make friends with weapons, while Denji continues to define himself only by humans. One holds a grudge and wants revenge, while the other still prefers integration. Which already demonstrates a fundamental difference.

Swordman's arguments move from the abstract to the concrete. He starts by talking about abstract concepts such as gratitude (Denji saved him), freedom and having a community, and then starts to integrate the concrete.

He already includes food by using the precise line that Denji had used, namely steaks.

Miri isn't interested in the debate about food, deploring Denji's interest in it, and reiterates in a cruder and more brutal form what he was saying before, "being used by bastards", instead of talking about instrumentalisation and freedom. And again, he has to push Denji to confirm this.

It's obvious that Miri, who presents himself as the messenger of the church, either sent by someone or is carrying out someone's order, is contradicting himself and is not yet free. As Fumiko points out.

When Miri confronts Denji, who is still in the chair position, Denji has a more interesting response than it seems: being a chair suits him because he can feel buttocks against his back.

Being a chair means contact, and physical contact with girls. Even if it's a rather perverse line (and far from the most poetic), it shows that Denji is once again interested in being a chair if it allows him to make contact with his own kind. That he has no abstract concept built in like self-esteem or claiming his dignity.

Even becoming a friend is too abstract for Denji, who doesn't react. He will only react when new physical contact is mentioned, reacting unusually comically.

Miri mentions this last argument as a last resort, leaving as if he was already sure it would be pointless. It's as if someone had told him to mention low, childish things like steak and sex because they were the only things that would convince Denji.

There's a clear dichotomy in Miri's speech between the arguments that convinced him (surely used by the church to hire him) and the other kinds of arguments that would convince Denji, whispered to him by someone in the church who knows Denji.

Who knows Denji? No hybrids, they don't have any memories, so surely not Reze.

I like to imagine that it's Kishibe, since the steak and sex with several girls are explicit things that Denji mentioned in front of him when he proclaimed his dream.

He was also the only one to observe the fight between Pochita and Makima. So he's the only one who can tell us about the hybrids' past. If we support his link with the hybrids through Quanxi...

It all ties together!

If we go back to the title... A Chair Feelings. It takes on a whole new meaning.

Note the use of the indefinite article "a" and not "the" when only Denji is doing the chair? Wouldn't a chair be a broader metaphor and category? The chair would be the form of alienation accepted by the weapons. Still not freedom.

In short, Fujimoto questions one thing: is the man who claims to be free so far removed from the man who makes the chair ?

[poetrysmackdown]

what makes a poem a poem? does it have to be written in a certain way? is this question a poem if i want it to be?

Fun question! This is just my personal sense as an avid reader and less-avid writer of poetry, but for me it’s useful to distinguish (roughly) between poetry as a genre and poetry as an attitude or philosophy through which language and the world can be understood. And of course these two go hand in hand. I see poetry the genre as essentially a type of literature where we as readers are signaled, somehow, to pay closer attention to language, to rhythm, to sound, to syntax, to images, and to meaning. That attentive posture is the “attitude” of broader poetic thinking, and while it’s most commonly applied to appreciate work that’s been written for that purpose, there’s nothing stopping us from applying that attentiveness elsewhere. Everywhere, even! That’s how you eventually end up writing poetry for yourself, after all. There’s a quote from Mary Ruefle floating around on here that a lot of folks have probably already seen, but it immediately comes to mind with this ask:

“And when you think about it, poets always want us to be moved by something, until in the end, you begin to suspect that a poet is someone who is moved by everything, who just stands in front of the world and weeps and laughs and laughs and weeps.”

Similarly, after adopting the attentive posture of poetics, there’s plenty of things that can feel or sound like a poem, even when they perhaps were not written with that purpose in mind. I’ve seen a couple of these “found poems” on here that are quite fun—this one, for example. The meaning and enjoyment you may derive from the language of a found poem isn’t any less real than that derived from a poem written for explicitly poetic purposes, so I don’t see why it shouldn’t be called poetry.

That said, I do think that if you’re going to go out and start looking for poetry everywhere, it’s still important to have a foundation in the actual language work of it all. Now, this doesn’t mean it has to be “written in a certain way” at all! But it does mean that in order to cultivate the attentiveness that’s vital to poetry, one needs to understand what makes language tick, down at its most basic levels. It will make you better at reading poetry, better at writing it, and better at spotting it out in the wild.

Mary Oliver’s A Poetry Handbook is an extraordinary resource to new writers and readers, and a great read for more experienced folks as well. Mary Oliver’s most popular poems are all to my knowledge in free verse, and yet you might be surprised to find her deep appreciation for metrical verse (patterns of stressed/unstressed syllables), as well as for the most minute devices of sound. In discussing the so-called poetry of the past, she writes,

“Acquaintance with the main body of English poetry is absolutely essential—it is the whole cake, while what has been written in the last hundred years or so, without meter, is no more than an icing. And, indeed, I do not really mean an acquaintanceship—I mean an engrossed and able affinity with metrical verse. To be without this felt sensitivity to a poem as a structure of lines and rhythmic energy and repetitive sound is to be forever less equipped, less deft than the poet who dreams of making a new thing can afford to be.”

In another section, after devoting lots of attention to the sounds at work in Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, she writes,

“Everything transcends from the confines of its initial meaning; it is not only the transcendence in meaning but the sound of the transcendence that enables it to work. With the wrong sounds, it could not have happened.”

I hope all this helps to get across my opinion that what makes a poem a poem is not just about the author's intention, and not just about meaning (intended or attributed), but also about sound and rhythm and language and history, all coalescing into something that rises above the din of a language we would otherwise grow tired of while out in our day-to-day lives.

I'll always have more to say but I'm cutting myself off here! Thanks for the ask

[maaarine]

How accurate is the new Napoleon film? Sorting fact from fiction (Andrew Roberts, The Sunday Times, Nov 19 2023)

"Sir Ridley Scott’s long-awaited movie Napoleon will have a great effect on how the French emperor is viewed in the popular imagination.

So it was with some trepidation that I watched it.

Would it reproduce the old Anglo-American historical stereotype of a jumped-up Corsican tyrant, or might it recognise that in fact Napoleon created the Enlightenment’s institutions, many of which last to this day?

For here was an opportunity to change the tired conventional view of Napoleon put forward by so many postwar Anglophone historians that Napoleon was essentially merely a prototype for Adolf Hitler.

Sadly and somewhat predictably for an 85-year-old whose mindset was formed by the Second World War, Scott has gone for the intellectually discredited stereotype of a dictator who goes mad with hubris. (…)

Scott has remarked before that “f***ing historians” don’t know what happened in Napoleonic times because “they weren’t there”.

But in fact there is a plethora of believable first-hand accounts from people who were indeed there, used by historians to discover what happened.

What these first-hand accounts tell us is that Napoleon was a witty, highly intellectual and attractive personality, whose reforms changed first France and then Europe for the better.

Whenever his armies entered European cities they liberated the Jews from their ghettos, giving them civil and religious liberties.

He was therefore precisely the opposite of the malignant, humourless, Jew-hating Führer. (…)

So firm is the assumption that Napoleon’s psyche had “run wild” that he is given the line to Joséphine: “I must begin my march to Moscow.”

Yet the whole point of the 1812 campaign was that Napoleon had no intention of going more than 50 miles inside Russia, in what was intended to be a three-week campaign.

As he crossed the river Niemen, there was no “march to Moscow”.

There are plenty of people in history who have a Napoleon complex, but Napoleon himself was not one of them, despite what Scott and Kirby might say.

This show also assumes Napoleon lost in Russia solely because the weather got cold in winter, as if the highly intelligent and well-read emperor did not know it would.

No mention is made of the typhus that killed 100,000 men, which Napoleon could not have foreseen.

At one point in the movie, Joséphine forces Napoleon to say: “I am just a brute that is nothing without you.”

Quite apart from the appalling syntax, the line, like so many in this visually stunning but historically tone-deaf film, fails to ring true.

Yet it is not from thousand-page biographies that the mass of people take their history today, but from movies like this.

Henceforth, therefore, Napoleon Bonaparte — the great world force of the Enlightenment who ended the French Revolution and dragged country after country out of ancien-regime torpor and into the vibrant 19th century — will merely be a brute who was nothing without his Joséphine."

[magics-neptunes-things]

Hi guys!

You will find here the list of my fictions in order to be able to access them more easily. I have not written a lot yet, but I intend to write regularly if you guys are interested :-)

You may find syntax or conjugation errors in my writings, my main language is not English… But I do the best :-)

Reviews and likes are always appreciated!

Player x Reader Masterlist Player x Player Masterlist

Work In Progress

Alessia Russo : Feeling (6)

Alexia Putellas : Ready, Aim, Shoot (end)

Caitlin Foord : Hiding love

Katie McCabe : Nightmare

Kyra Cooney-Cross : Bad period

Leila Ouahabi : Friends to lover

Ona Batlle : The One That Got Away (3)

Luna : From date to love Luna : Chapter 7 Luna : Elope to Las Vegas

McFoord : Cheeky flirty Katie McFoord : 5 time they almost kiss and the time they did McFoord : 5 time they fall in love

[lesbianchemicalplant]

Google confirms they will disable uBlock Origin in Chrome in 2024

Google confirms they will disable MV2 extensions including uBlock Origin in mid 2024 https://developer.chrome.com/blog/resuming-the-transition-to-mv3/ https://9to5google.com/2023/11/16/chrome-extensions-disabled/

(November 16th 2023)

from the comments (emphasis mine)—

[comment:] Not so fast there partner. Hill has prepared for the scenario with a new extension. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin-lite/ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh

[reply:] Yes, but ublock origin lite lacks a lot of features that actually makes ublock the best:

“ uBO Lite: • Filter lists update only when the extension updates (no fetching up to date lists from servers) • Many filters are dropped at conversion time due to MV3's limited filter syntax • No crafting your own filters (thus no element picker) • No strict-blocked pages • No per-site switches • No dynamic filtering • No importing external lists ”

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1067als/eli5_ublock_lite_vs_ublock_origin/ Not being able to update the filters without having to update the extension itself is a really big deal! I mean when ublock 1.53 came out, it took google almost a freaking week to finally allow the new version. Why is that a big deal? Imagine that you have a site that you use a lot, that site then implements a way to detect adblock but you are stuck with ublock origin lite, in other words, you can't craft your own filter to by pass that site anti-adblocking (if you have the know how), you can't also come to ubo reddit to ask someone else to craft them for you and with that instantly solve the issue and you also don't have access to element picker which could also solve problem! Now, the only thing you can do? Report the problem to ubo team, then wait until they add the new filter which will bypass the antiblock to the new version of ubo lite which you don't know when its getting released and after that you will have to wait until google authorizes the new update to be released which like I've said, takes several days! Another example is youtube itself, if we were stuck with ubo lite right now, we would be losing the war against youtube anti-adblock badly! Because the only reason ubo is kinda able to keep up with youtube anti-adblocking is because after youtube updates their blocking script (which is every 12 hours), ubo team then updates their filters and then we as users just need to run the update manually inside the extension and boom we are back on business! Which won't be possible with ubo lite at all.

Firefox also plans to eventually deprecate MV2 (no timeline yet), BUT Firefox's implementation of MV3 will allow extensions like ublock origin and privacy badger to continue actually working:

Mozilla's implementation of Mv3 will differ in two critical ways from Google's. First, it will provide developers with access to the APIs Google considers too troublesome to retain.

"While other browser vendors introduced declarativeNetRequest (DNR) in favor of blocking Web Request in Mv3, Firefox Mv3 continues to support blocking Web Request and will support a compatible version of DNR in the future," said Shane Caraveo, engineering manager for WebExtensions at Mozilla, in a blog post. "We believe blocking Web Request is more flexible than DNR, thus allowing for more creative use cases in content blockers and other privacy and security extensions." (However, Caraveo says Firefox also intends to support DNR for its performance and compatibility characteristics. The blocking version of Web Request can slow things down if coded clumsily, so Mozilla wants developers to have the option to use the less intrusive and less dynamic DNR API.) Second, Mozilla is supporting Event Pages in Firefox's Mv3 implementation. Mv3 dispenses with persistent background pages – scripts that run in the background, potentially slowing things down and consuming resources. As an alternative, the spec provides Service Workers – scripts that run and then shut down. But the Service Workers API – which Mozilla intends to support eventually – does not have access to the Document Object Model (DOM) or other WebAPIs. So Event Pages – non-persistent background pages – provide more options for developers.

(obligatory: switching from chrome to firefox is easy. it can import your autofills, history, passwords, etc. without any headache. it is not hard to switch)

[221bshrlocked]

warm hearts

Pairings: Commander Wolffe x Jedi Fem!Reader

Words: 2816 (It’s a short one. I am just as shocked as you are.)

Warnings: Lots of teasing.

Summary: Wolffe catches you in a moment of vulnerability. Then you allow him to catch you in another one again. 

A/N: It’s yearning hours, and I wanted something soft but hot. Here you go.  You can add yourself to the taglist here if you like.

The sound of the rain hitting the surface of your tent makes you sigh worryingly, and you look through the small opening to see if any of your men are outside. When you don’t see anyone nearby the campsite, you kick the covers off of you and grab the lightsaber from below your pillow. Clipping it to your belt, you exit the tent and wince when the water seeps through your clothes in a matter of minutes. You walk around the various tents pitched up in between the trees quietly, smiling to yourself when you recall the way Sinker and Boost reacted when they saw you pitching them up. It was sad though, how shocked they were that you thought of their comfort before going on the mission with them. As pleasant as it was to see them thank you as they each went into their shelters, you hated that they were surprised by the small action. 

They deserved so much, and to have them offer you gratitude for something so basic made your blood boil. The longer you thought about it, the more irritated you became, and you shut your eyes to focus on that anger in hopes of decreasing it out of fear of having it affect your behavior around them. 

“General, what are you doing out here?” The rough voice of none other than the Commander of the Wolfpack makes you flinch harshly, and you nearly topple over from the rock you’re resting on when you quickly turn around and stare at him. His eyes widen for a fraction of a second before the neutral expression he’s always aimed at you takes over once more. 

“You nearly gave me a heart attack, Commander!” You grasp at your chest, and step back onto the large boulder, turning away from Wolffe when you realize the intensity behind his gaze will not decrease any time soon. 

“You didn’t sense me.” You think he means to ask rather than comment on your momentary relapse, but you remember who it is you’re speaking with and remind yourself that the Commander of the 104th was seldom unaware of his syntax. 

“I- I didn’t…I was- am, distracted.” You look into his eyes and blink embarrassingly at him when you see him scrutinizing your every word. 

“And you think it wise to stand out here alone when you’re…compromised.” You know he doesn’t intend to offend you, but his words slice through you like a blazing fire, reminding you once again that he was much more experienced than you were when it came to this context and that he was well-aware of that little detail. 

“I couldn’t sleep.” The more he questions you, the shorter your responses become and Wolffe steps towards you until you’re nearly breathing the same air as him. 

“All the more reason to get back inside, mesh’la.” The shiver running down your spine has nothing to do with the freezing conditions you find yourself in, and everything to do with the hoarse baritone of his voice. You’re not familiar with that term, and the question is forming on your lips, but before you can ask him what that word means, a lightning strike shoots through the skies and makes you flinch, hard. 

The blinding light shines across Wolffe’s features for a brief second, and you swear you see a glint of sheer possessiveness flash through them, but his handsome face hides behind the darkness of the night again. You’re visibly shaking now, and you try to tell him why you found yourself out here when he suddenly pulls away and steps back. You miss the heat his Force signature offered you as soon as he’s no longer within reach, and as you part your lips to kindly ask him to come back to you, he breaks the silence and places his helmet back on his head. 

“Get inside, General.” He’s strict, more so now than he is with the boys on the battlefield. 

It excites you to no end. 

“Is that an o-order, Commander?” You don’t mean for the question to sound so flirtatious, and Wolffe must see through your own thoughts, because he tilts his head to the side and shamelessly moves his head up and down your body, enough for you to know that he’s checking you out. 

“Not unless you want it to be.” 

The silence that follows is deafening, and you don’t dare look away from him as he walks from you and returns to his tent. You’re left questioning the interaction for perhaps too long, only snapping out of your haze as thunder rumbles across the sky and reminds you why you left the comfort of your shelter. You gaze across the campsite again, shutting your eyes to focus on every Force signature thrumming around you. When you’re satisfied with the calm slumber emitting from each of the tents, you take a deep breath and make your way towards the Commander’s tent at the front of the group. 

There’s a voice in the back of your mind reminding you of your place, begging you to think of Wolffe’s as well, but you can’t find it in yourself to care for either of your positions anymore. You’ve been dancing around each other for so long now, the snide and teasing comments falling back and forth between the two of you fueling your nightly dreams ever since you met him, until you could no longer go to sleep without the thought of him making you his. 

You weren’t sure if he was aware of how he came off during all of your interactions, but the last few minutes were all the proof you needed. He wanted you as well, and from the way his Force signature danced as he called you that strange word, he longed for you as desperately as you did him. 

Willing your heart to calm down, you fix your drenched clothes quickly before sliding through the opening in his tent, ceasing to breathe when you look down and see the blaster aimed at your skull. You hold your palms up and stare into Wolffe’s eyes, only breathing again when recognition flashes through his darkened gaze and forces him to lower down his weapon. 

“Never do that again.” He’s stern, and if you didn’t know any better, you’d think he really was about to shoot you.

“I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.” It’s a sad excuse of an apology, and it’s clear that you barely mean it because your eyes are immediately lowering down Wolffe’s form, studying him as if your familiarity went beyond that of a General and a Commander. 

“What are you doing here?” Wolffe practically growls the question, the aggressive hint of possessiveness returning once more and reminding you that you were intruding on him and his space. You try your best to look above his neckline, but you regret it as soon as you notice the way his Force signature begins to sing out to you, as if his mind was pleading for him to reach out and touch you. There’s so much you want to say, but you know that you have no right to use this moment of vulnerability against him. He was rarely afforded any privacy, and now that he had it, you were disrespecting it, the same way others do. 

Opting to stick with the truth, you allow your shoulders to sag as you shut your eyes and confess the rather embarrassing sentiment behind your intrusion. 

“I’m scared.” 

You think he’ll laugh at you, perhaps even remind you that you’re a Jedi General before kicking you out of his tent. But none of that comes, and when he takes too long to respond, you look up and meet his eyes, praying that he can somehow see the longing you have for him. 

“You’re cold.” Only when he says those words do you realize just how freezing you are, and you look down to see your body shivering violently as your hands fist around each other to try and warm up. You don’t know what to do, especially now that Wolffe didn’t bother to comment about the random bit of knowledge you just offered him, and before you can apologize and leave, Wolffe sits up and closes the last bit of space between the two of you. 

He says nothing as he cups your chin and raises your head so he can get a better look at you. This close, you can almost taste his skin on your lips, and as you try to search your mind for any coherent thought, Wolffe quiets you down with a whispered hush, resting his forehead against your own until your body recognizes his touch. When he feels you visibly relax against him, he reaches down and pushes off the robes around your body. You let him remove them with ease, not bothering to ask him what he’s doing as he reaches for your belt and unclips it from around your waist. He sets the belt with your weapon aside gently before moving onto the rest of your clothes. With each article of clothing he removes from your cold body, you feel a flicker of heat course through your muscles, and it’s not until he has you in nothing but your undergarments that you realize why you’re not freezing to death. 

Force. 

He didn’t just want you. 

He craved you. 

Perhaps more so than you yearned for him. 

“What do you want, mesh’la?” His question is confusing to your dazed mind, mostly because you were too busy committing the touch of his hands to memory. He trails his fingers across your arms and shoulders, rubbing his thumb against your pulse and smirking dangerously at you when he finds your heart threatening to beat out of your chest. You lean into his hand immediately, finding it extremely difficult to think of any proper response when you can finally know what his touch felt like. 

You’ve dreamt of it for so long, and now that you could feel it, feel him, you couldn’t get enough. You wanted him. You wanted him so kriffing much. 

“You.” 

His smile only deepens at your response, and you swear you feel a dramatic spike in his Force signature then, but you don’t have any time to dwell on it because he slowly moves your hands to his chest so you can feel him beneath your palm as well. 

“What do you want from me?” Wolffe’s gaze is unwavering as ever, and you wish he didn’t have such a hold on you so you can tell him a fraction of the effect he had on you. 

“I- I want you to keep me warm. I want you to keep me in your arms…I want you to- to…” With each word you reveal to him, Wolffe’s chest rumbles with excitement, the sound nearing one you’re sure you would hear from a loth-wolf if you ever grew close to one. He knows that you’re biding time, and you hate that the tighter his grip grows around your skin, the harder it becomes for you to speak your mind. You trip over your words as his thumb makes a pass awfully near the corner of your lips, and before you can think twice of what you’re doing, you’re leaning into his palm and kissing the length of his finger, silently begging him to continue touching you.

“Tell me, my jetti’ika.” Wolffe whispers against your cheek when you remain quiet for too long, and you swear you can hear his thoughts storming around you when he grazes his nails across your damp skin and journeys his touch down your body until he reaches your lower back. Without warning, he squeezes your hips and slips one finger beneath the edge of your panties, reminding you of your nudity. 

“I- ahhh…maker.” You throw your head back and moan for him just as he leans down and nips at your jugular, chuckling to himself when you accidentally dig your nails into his chest as you try to hold onto him. 

“I never imagined you to be so sensitive.” The comment shouldn’t make you this crazed, nor should it force you to clench your thighs tightly so you can relieve the growing, uncomfortable pressure itching for release. But you fall into the sensation with ease, barely managing to whimper his name just as he teases you with his teeth again. 

“Wolffe.”

“You say my name so sweetly, cyar’ika.” He breathes against your neck, no longer caring for how forward he’s being as he roams his hands up and down your body to feel all of you at once. 

“Please.” You beg once more, praying to the Force that he can feel how much you want him to touch you and put you out of your misery by surrendering to his own needs. 

“Please what?” 

You should have known that he wouldn’t make this easy on you, but as he cups your cheek and shakes you in his arms to bring some bit of coherence back into your mind, you are reminded of the way this man seems to bring out the most lust-filled desires out of you with something as simple as a look. 

“Please keep me safe.” It’s the last thing on your mind now, but you’re not surprised that this is the only response your brain manages to muster up. It knew that you can feel safe with him, no matter what he was doing to you. It was fitting to request this of him. 

“Are you compromised, General?” Even though his question is harmless, you get the sense that he didn’t intend it this way. No, he knew well how dangerous such an inquiry could be, especially now that he had you naked and wanton. 

“M-more than you know.” You extend your neck up, chasing his lips so you can finally know what he tastes like. But he leans back away from you, the hand on your cheek descending down until it nestled perfectly across your skin. 

“And who’s fault is that?” He eyes you closely, studying every minute shift in your features to make sure that you’re comfortable with the way he’s familiarizing himself with your body. 

“I think you know.” You slide one hand down his muscular form, groaning deeply when you feel his muscles tense and unflex beneath the extremely tight blacks shielding him from your eyes. 

“I wonder what I can do about that,” you’re not really sure if he’s thinking out loud or purposely talking you into a frenzy, but you find it pleasant regardless, and you lean into his space even further as the hold around your neck grows tighter. 

“W-Wolffe.”

“Lay down, cyar’ika.” The Clone Commander lets go of you, moving around your shuddering form to shut the tent tightly before returning to your side again. 

“Is that an order, Commander?”

“Not unless you want it to be.” Unlike before, when he teasingly threw the remark and was completely sure of himself, you sense a hint of reluctance wash over him now, and you bite into your cheek as you slowly lay down and part your thighs to make room for him. Although you can barely see him, you gasp lightly when he swiftly removes the gloved shirt adorning his chest and discards it to the side. Your toes curl in anticipation, and when he crawls towards you, you suddenly feel like a prey waiting to be devoured by the hungry, loth-wolf who’s been straining to keep to himself for months. Wolffe settles in between your thighs, resting both of his hands on either side of your head to keep his weight off of you as he lowers himself down and slowly rolls his hips against your clothed cunt. 

“If I didn’t know better, sir…I’d say you are waiting for another order.” He chuckles when he hears you whimper beneath him. 

“Please Wolffe.”

“Don’t worry sweetheart, I’ll keep you safe from the storm.” He nudges your cheek with his nose, inhaling deeply and humming in approval when your scent fills his senses and reminds you of just how similar he is to the being he was named after. You try to kiss him again but a hand shoots to your neck and keeps you still underneath him, body barely managing to move now that you were perfectly sandwiched between his rigged form and the hard ground. 

“But I- I thought you…” You’re tripping over your words again, hands itching to reach for him and hold him as close to you as possible, but you’re not sure that would be the right move, especially now that a silent agreement passed between you and Wolffe, one that tipped the scales of control in his favor. 

“Make no mistake, my jett’ika…you may be safe from the storm, but I never said you’re safe from me.” 

Tagging who showed interest in other Wolffe fics: @mrs-ghuleh @mandoleksiak @verdandis-blog @reaperofmen  @sjva03 @thefact0rygirl @2amandstillawake21 @ktrivia @zombiesnips-blog  @lackofhonor @ner-runi @whore4rex @spaceh0m0 @why-not-movies @yoonloml @where-is-my-mind-tho @okdeedee @clone-simp-99 @cautionhotmess @frogunderarock @hidden-behind-the-fourth-wall @knightprincess @raccoonsaregay @prozacspice @r2d2staser @marierg @2amandstillawake21​

[starsfic]

might i req a prompt if you’re still doing them?

it’d be an au of sorts where spider queen decides that the risk of wukong escaping her draining webs was significantly higher if he was conscious. so she bites him and injects him full of a powerful sedative venom. wukong, being in quite a bit of pain but couldn’t help drifting away from consciousness. he’s not asleep, but he’s not awake, his eyes stare at nothing and he’s eerily quiet. after dbk starts struggling after seeing this, he’s met with the same fate.

with wukong not being awake, nobody escapes containment and spider queen manages to capture red son and mk who get front row seats witness their teacher/dads completely subdued for the first time.

"OW!"

Sun Wukong felt his eyes go wide. Next to him, he heard DBK snort in panic as Spider Queen pulled away from his throat. Her teeth were bloody, but she was grinning. "What- What the fuck?!" Had she managed to tear a piece of his flesh out?! "Are you trying to eat me?! Stone doesn't taste very good, you know!"

"No, no, don't worry. I don't intend that fate for you, pretty boy." Her hand slid gently over his face before knotting in his hair and yanking his head back. "But I'm not an idiot." He wanted to spit that she could've fooled him, but his tongue was heavy in his mouth. "You'll do anything to escape and save your precious little prince," The title was spat out. "So I just gave you a bit of a sedative." Her hand released and Wukong felt himself slump over.

Move. Come on, move! Qi Xiaotian needs you!

But he couldn't.

He couldn't move.

Faintly, he heard DBK snarl "Wukong?! WUKONG, ANSWER!" He might've said something, but a cry of pain interrupted his words.

The last he heard was Spider Queen laughing.

-_-

"LET ME GO!"

"WHERE'S MONKEY KING?!"

"AHHHHHHHH!"

The yells and screams echoed off the walls of the mech. Spider Queen could barely bit back a chuckle at a loud yelp that definitely came from Huntsman. "So, the boy's here, and so is the Trigram Furnace," she said to the little lady. "What else do you need?"

The little lady hummed. "First, we need to make sure the boy does not escape." She turned her eyes to the little display that had been constructed over the hours since the prisoners had been taken. "This will do a wonderful job."

"And the prince? And the girl?"

The little lady hummed. "They may be useful in the course of destiny. But, of course, the Monkey King's successor matters most."

The doors opened, revealing the trio of powerful kids.

Goliath held the struggling girl over his head. His hands and face were littered with savage-looking bites. Syntax was barely hanging on to the Demon Bull Prince, looking as if he had walked through fire. Huntsman looked the most put together, with only a black eye. The Monkey King's successor looked wild though, as if he was about to follow the girl's lead and start biting.

His eyes met hers and then slid up. The screams and thrashes went silent.

"There you are, kids!" Spider Queen spread her arms, accenting the dead-looking Monkey King and Demon Bull King. "You nearly missed the party!"

[abidethetempest]

This post may come off as somewhat vent-ish. I promise I'm not angry or upset with anyone, simply frustrated in general.

A few times now, I've seen ppl miscontrue my Eliksni conlang project as being something made by multiple people. Oftentimes it is said in a very kind and well-intentioned way as they simply don't realize that this project is my own personal one. I don't want my corrections to ever come off as rude, angry, or intended to do anything except gently dispel the notion. However, I'm a very protective person over my projects, and the misconception that the work I did was not, in fact, all done by me, makes me very defensive. I'm aware my reaction is not entirely rational and am doing my best not to let my emotions dictate my behaviour on this front.

The point is this: with the exception of words pulled from/inspired by canonical sources, the work on the Eliksni conlang as of this post is all my own. The dictionary is populated almost entirely by words I created. The grammar is all my own. The phonology, syntax, and everything else I've so far made and shared is my own. I understand newcomers to this project might not realize this at a glance, so I may include some kind of note about this on future posts or link to my masterpost which also mentions the fact that this is a solo project. Mostly I just felt the need to get this off my chest and clear the air. Thank you for reading.

[dejabluebabygirl]

I See You - Prologue

Miles Quaritch x Fem! Na'vi OC

Summary: Vira Te Wou Auhew’ite, an albino Na'vi and future Tsahìk of the Tayrangi Clan, The Ikran Riders of the Eastern Sea, keeps needing to save the demon Miles Quaritch at Ewyas command. When she's given a sign to try to teach him The People's way, both she and Miles struggle with their growing feelings for each other.

Authors note: So, this is the first thing I've written in a long time and the first time I have ever posted online so please be kind, I'm not the best with syntax or formatting my writing sadly. BUT I went and saw Avvatar the Way of Water and I'm obsessed with Na'vi/Recom Quaritch. I had a dream about a pink Na'vi (then started researching it and found this old post as the guide for her hair and eye colors: https://forum.learnnavi.org/general-avatar-discussion/navi-with-albinism/ ). After that, I MANICALLY hammered out 5 chapters to this fic. It's messy and imperfect but I hope it will be enjoyed. Slow burn/Enemies to lovers I think is the vibe this is going for as I try to reel in and edit this. Quaritch still had his loyalty to the RDA and humans so I think it would take time, and patience for a real romance to bloom. There WILL be smut but it'll take some time before we get there.

Also, this will HEAVILY parallel Jakes journey in the first movies but not be a retelling. If that's not your cup of tea, sorry.

Rating: T

Warnings: None really, canon typical violence

Words: 1803

--

The first time Colonel Miles Quaritch saw her was when he claimed his banshee. He’d managed to get on the back of the beast and connect his queue but they’d gone over the side of the cliff where the bastards lived and were falling, fast. Was this second chance at life over before it had even really started? 

Then in an instant, she was there. 

A large yellow and pink blur was flying beside him. It was Na’vi female on her own golden Banshee. Miles was falling so quickly he barely had the time to take in that she was the strangest Na’vi he had ever seen. She was pink.

Expertly beside him, she dove on her own beast just as quickly as he and his mount fell, her peculiar blonde hair streaming behind her as she shouted in near-perfect English. 

“Think fly not fall, use the bond!”

“Fly?” When the words escaped the colonel's mouth the creature shot up, back up through the clouds of the floating hallelujah mountains to the Banshee Rookery, back to his team and Spider. 

His success spurred the rest of his team to go on and claim their own Banshee partners but the colonel's thoughts drifted back to the strange-colored Na’vi. Why had she helped in? Had he imagined her? Hallucinated in the face of impending doom? He didn't mention the interaction to anyone.

Once the squad was whole, they rode on their mounts. Spider rode in front of the colonel as they moved in formation through the mountains, the kid seemed to be enjoying it. Quaritch kept his eyes open for the pink Na’vi but no sign of her. He figured, whoever she’d been, whyever she’d saved him, he’d never see her again. 

Until he did.

Miles saw the pink Navi almost immediately once his team had rounded up the sea na’vi village for questioning. She tried to stay toward the back of the group but she stuck out like a sore thumb. She was pink after all, how she’d survived amongst the Blues was a wonder, he’d seen firsthand in the jungle how useful the blue colorings were to helping him and his team blend in. 

He filed away in the back of his brain that she dressed a little nicer than the common natives, her grab was mostly green and beads dangled from her biceps. The most telling sign that she was important was a big ol’ beaded collar around her neck. Savage royalty perhaps? 

Either way, it didn’t help him understand why she’d gone out of her way to help him before but he intended to find out. 

But once he gave the order to burn the hutches, the opportunity to question her was missed. The pink Na’vi took the opportunity of the confusion and anguish of the tribals to bolt to the yellow banshee and fly back toward the mainland. 

The Recom Na’vi watched her soar right over him, her big orange eyes filled with tears unabashedly made eye contact with him. She didn’t screech or scream like the other locals on the beach did, throwing themselves to the ground with grief. No, she looked at him with those big doe eyes like he was supposed to be better than this. It pissed him off that  she had the gall to be disappointed in him for being the soldier he was. 

Miles didn’t enjoy that little twist in his gut, one because a damn native made him feel it and two because he felt it at all. His human counterpart would never be so weak. The pang of guilt was amplified when he looked to Spider, who was grieving just as much as the Blues at the loss of their home. 

“Should we go after that one Colonel?” Zdinarsk asked, gesturing with her gun and popping her pink bubble gum nonchalantly as the flames raged.

Briefly, the colonel considered having her shot out of the sky or pursuing her on his own banshee.

But he did owe the little na’vi a debt and he was feeling charitable today, already not killing the villages Tsahìk for Spider's sake. He really did care what the kid thought, even though he told himself time and time again he wasn’t actually his son, they weren't even the same species anymore. 

“Naw, the fact she’s flying means she’s no use to us. We must have interrupted her vacation.” 

When he got back on the boat he asked the science puke who loved the Tulkun why a Na’vi would be pink, he went into a long-winded explanation that ended with him saying it was like being an albino. It was rare but it happened.

Quaritch had a feeling he’d see her again, he wasn’t a man who liked to believe in coninsicdenece.

–-

When he saw her again, his life debt to her was doubled. 

After being rescued from near drowning by Spider after his fight with Sully, Miles flew on the back of his Banshee for as long as he could back to the mainland. He was trying to make it to the RDA to get patched up but the banshee could feel he was hurt and ultimately it slowed them down. 

They’d made it into the heart of an unknown part of the jungle, Quaritch was weak and took up against a tree, holding his abdomen, his banshee close to keep an eye on him. It was strange to him still that the beast was so loyal to him but it served him well so far. 

As he lay there against the tree, his breathing was labored. He was hurt but he wasn't sure how severe.  

Clutching his abdomen he could help but think of how he was breaking his own original “Pandora Rules” by being out after dark. But tonight he noticed how the forest was filled with bioluminescent life and for once he thought maybe Pandra was the slightest bit beautiful and not brutal. 

The colonel was struggling to keep his yellow eyes open and his breath steady but he saw the slightest of moments among the trees, the dancing of dozens of little bioluminescent dots. 

“I see you” he managed to grunt out, knowing it had to be a Na’vi, here to end him once and for all. 

But the figure approached with caution, not contempt in the low light he was able to make out this was no typical Na’vi. It was the little pink one again. 

“No, you don't see,” She said in English and she knelt down next to him.

Her small 4 digited hands reached for his abdomen, where most of his pain was. 

The colonel's much larger blue hands snatched her pink ones up before she could touch him. She looked annoyed, puffing out her cheeks but Quartich wasn’t about to just start trusting the natives, not after all he’d don’t to them. 

“Help. Let me help.” She urged, attempting to move her hands towards his waist while his hands were still holding them. They didn’t move an inch in his vice-like grip. 

He didn't move a muscle as his yellow eyes stared into her orange ones, looking for some indication of her intention. The color reminded him of the good, warm fire on the first cold day of winter. They were warm and inviting. He continued raking his eyes down her to form to assess how much of a threat she could be. The female was light pink, a blush color with even slightly darker pink striations down her body in place of the normal blue ones the Na’vi had. She squirmed a little but he was too strong for her to really put up any kind of decent fight. 

She had long white-blonde hair with one thick braid down the center of her head that he assumed held her queue, it was surrounded by several smaller ones around it which eventually flowed from braid to curl.  She still wore all the pomp and frills of being an important native, tons of beads on her clothing, and she wore one of the collar necklaces that indicated some kind of status.

Quaritch also took note of a little garter on her thigh that held he could see held a knife made of bone and a small satchel she was carrying. 

She did not seem to appreciate how long he was taking to study her, letting out an exasperated sound and rolling her big orange doe eyes. 

“Fine. Die.” She shrugged and turned her head away like a waspish brat. 

His wounds must have been getting to him because he briefly imagined that if he wasn’t still holding her in place that she would have stood up to stomp her foot. 

“Settle down, sweetheart. Just looking at who I’m dealing with, nothing personal.” Quaritch retorted as he released her.

Miles made quick work to remove his combat vest on his own but winced as he tried to pull his shirt over his head. The little white Na’vi leaned in to help him and he didn’t protest. Once the pair of them managed to wrangle it off of him, the natives' face was too close for his comfort. 

She seemed to notice this too and moved her face back after a beat to start assessing his abdomen and torso, she ran her little hands over his one of ribs and it earned her a full fang-faced hiss from him.  It was surely broken after his scrape with Sully. 

She got up without saying anything and retrieved from big leaves and began applying some foul-smelling paste from her bag to his abdomen that reminded him of cough drops.

Her pink legs were tucked under her delicately as she worked, now wrapping him up with the big leaves as makeshift bandages. 

“Why are you helping me anyways, Princess?” The sharp edge of distrust in his voice. 

“Not Princess,” was all she said, ignoring his question as she finished his bandages and now retrieved a needle and thread. 

Quaritch was not a man who would be ignored. 

Even in his current state, he was bigger, faster, and stronger than her. He grabbed the long white blonde braid that held her queue when she looked down to thread the needle.

She screeched and tears sprang to the corners of her eyes. The little pink Na’vi didn't even try to fight him, she was obviously not a warrior. 

“I asked you nicely, so now I’ll ask you again,” his hold tightened “why did you save me? Why are you helping me now?” 

She frantically said something in Navi but he quickly cut her off.

“No, no, in English.” 

He lacked the patience right now to decipher the alien language. 

“Ewya wishes for you to live,” she spat. 

Quaritch released her and let out a bitter laugh that stung his broken rib.

--

Next Chater

Masterlist

[bestworstcase]

One thing that I've not been keen on in hindsight, is just how much what you call "pop writing advice" is not that helpful to me. Or how they get used by people in critique.

Because most of them tends to be exceptionally vague borderline nothing bits. Like a series having "good dialogue" or "bad dialogue", and unless it's the most incredibly obvious lowest common denominator kind of thing that anyone who listens could tell is bad dialogue, it's never properly elaborated on.

For example, they describe good dialogue as "witty, subtle, etc" or something else. Like okay, can you tell me what that even constitutes as? Any examples you want to provide? Is witty supposed to be two characters bantering with each other with MCU styled dialogue, or is it something else entirely? Is your definition of good dialogue supposed to just be empty snark that you jingle in front of people like keys while being devoid of any actual value? What is bad dialogue then; something you consider boring or you just not caring for that particular style of writing? Give me context dammit!

Like, maybe my mind just latches onto the weird things, but I'm always left with more questions than answers because of these kinds of advice and critiques, because there's never anything concrete to work with. Just a vague nothingburger that I'm expected to dissect without any clear context as to WHAT I'm supposed to get out of it.

mmmmhm. in general pop writing advice tends to approach stories as a product you intend to sell as widely as possible as opposed to, like, art, and when it's about dialogue or plot structure it often presumes a target audience of indifferently distractible readers/viewers who need to be spoonfed witticisms and action to get them to stick with a story. which is frankly insulting to readers and viewers as well as to writers.

anyway. i don't know if you were trying to fish for this but here's some actual advice, or at least how i think about some things:

dialogue -> what characters do not say is often just as important as what they do. if the character in question is lying or an unreliable narrator or otherwise untrustworthy, what they don't say is more important than what they do. it's almost always worth thinking about what a character might hold back in a conversation, and the things they might circumlocute around, and why. even scrupulously honest people can be forgetful, and nobody can say everything that's on their mind all the time.

dialogue -> is characterization. how a character speaks is one of the single most effective ways to make characters feel distinct from one another; if everyone sounds the same it's much harder for the reader to keep track of who is who. rhythm is everything. you can slow a character's speech down by using fewer contractions and using 'longer' syntax (not necessarily longer words, but longer sounds; 'moment' is a longer word than 'minute' because of the vowel sounds) and longer sentences; or speed it up with the reverse. no contractions at all can make a character sound stilted, overly formal, or very careful depending upon rhythm. try reading dialogue out loud to figure out the natural cadence of the words.

characterization -> i swear by this

plot -> is what happens when the circumstances of the world interact with character choices. 'deus ex machina' (and 'diablus ex machina') are not bad per se; the trick is to prepare the audience ahead of time by subtly establishing the possibility of such an intervention. the term deus ex machina derives from a convention of ancient greek theater, wherein divine intervention was a regular an unremarkable feature. to the audience of these plays, the sudden appearance of a god at the end of the story would not have felt abrupt or random because the gods were intricately intertwined with and present in day-to-day life.

thus, when translating this device into a story for modern audiences, it's important to develop a similar sense of immediacy and presence. deus/diablus ex machina is unexpected (so you don't foreshadow it) but should be explicable (so the audience already knows this kind of thing can happen) and ideally thematically cogent. i find that it's helpful to think of the world itself as a sort of 'character' participating in the plot in the same way the actual characters do.

theme -> think about theme the way visual artists think about color palette and cohesion. theme is what binds the story together into a unified whole. what purpose does a character's arc serve to the greater narrative? how does it rhyme with other parts of the story—or if it doesn't, is there a reason for breaking the pattern? do all the pieces fit together in a coherent way? you don't need to have an Idea or a Statement or a Concept necessarily, though it is helpful to be able to say in very broad terms what a story is "about" thematically, e.g. bitter snow is about liberation. because that gives you something concrete that you can use as a reference when thinking about what a character's arc is about and whether it fits or not.

[gothhabiba]

hi! sorry to bother and if you've answered this before. of course, you dont have to answer this. you mentioned in one post that you were still learning Darija and also your posts on scolarship are very interesting. ive been trying for a while to learn my dad's language since i didn't grew up speaking it, but have always been interested in persian literature and the evolution of the language so this has been a difficulty for me. i was wondering if you have any tips on improving the way a language is learned, since you're amazing at explaining things and making even complicated subjects clear.

Thank you and have a nice weekend!

Thanks for the compliment!

I don't think that I have anything like my own original foolproof method for learning languages; this is the first language I've self-taught for which there aren't a lot of materials, and everyone learns differently. Here's what I've been doing & what I can broadly recommend when learning a language for which there isn't an enormous amount of teaching material:

Be specific about what it is that you want to do in the language. Chop this up into small sections. So, instead of "I want to learn [language]" (an enormous, vague, impossible task—even native speakers do not know 100% of their languages), think "I want to be able to understand recipes," or "go to the market or a restaurant," or "make small talk and general conversation," or "text friends and family," or "read literature," or "read theory" (and for those last two goals you might have a waypoint goal of "read storybooks" or "read materials intended for language-learners or children").

I began by learning the Arabic script (resources for this abound, and the abjads used for Persian and Darija only add a few characters), and I always write Darija in this script (even though most people write it in the Latin script) to get practice.

I also learned the standard phonology at this point. But the phonology for Persian and Darija are different and involve fewer consonants than Arabic, since some of them have merged, so you won't need to worry about the Standard or Classic pronunciaton of some of the letters. The Wikipedia page for Persian phonology should be a good resource; the IPA symbols for various sounds are noted, and they have explanations of how the sounds are produced and playback that you can listen to. Note that there are obviously regional variations in phonology, but this is a good start. This is a script with a pretty standard orthography, so at this point you can theoretically pronounce any word you read (with diacritics).

cut for length:

I took inspiration from how I had been taught French and divided information up into "units" (first greetings and introductions; then numbers and colours; then telling time; then time including days of the week and months of the year, words for "today" and "yesterday" &c.; the weather; family; then personal pronouns "I" "you" "me" &c. and the verb "to have" to begin forming simple sentences such as "I have three sisters" or whatever—you'd also want to learn "to be" at this point, but Darija doesn't often use it—then I decided that my first priority after very basic conversation was cooking, so I learned terms for food items and cooking verbs).

If you can find online resources or textbooks that will teach you things in units of this type, all the better (I got started on speakmoroccan.com). If you can't, try following an online course or textbook for learning another common language (such as French, German, Spanish, English) but substitute out the vocabulary terms by using a dictionary (for Darija I used tajinequiparle).

You may be able to find some materials (at least greetings, introductions, numbers and the like) on YouTube—I recommend using these even if you can find these same terms elsewhere, to get practice listening to the language.

I feel that I learn best from textbooks and by understanding the syntax and grammar of sentences in depth. However, the materials I've consulted for Darija (and there aren't too many materials in existence) tend to give lists of words but no grammar, or example sentences that are translated in full with no explanation. Even materials that do go into the grammar (such as the Lonely Planet phrasebook) are targeted at tourists and do so with an ethos of "good enough" that may fudge the details to make them more similar to French (which is the language the book is in). So I write down and compile example sentences that I come across (there's an English/Darija dataset already in existence to help with this kind of thing) and compare them to each other to determine which word means what, which affix might be the marker for past tense or infinitive or the object pronoun or whatever, and write down my guesses to test as I go. This may be more difficult without an education in linguistics, but probably not impossible.

I separate my studying into two phases, which I go back and forth between: creating study materials, and learning from those materials. Creating study materials means finding words and writing them down in my little book, figuring out grammar and writing out the rules, writing down example sentences, and making flashcards to learn vocabulary terms (with one or more example sentences on each one).

Studying from those materials involves running through the flashcards and coming up with new example sentences for each term (so I see the side of the flashcard with the English "banana" and come up with a sentence in Darija that's something like "they have eight yellow bananas"). You could also have flashcards separated by category (pronouns / numbers / verbs / nouns / adjectives) and pick a flashcard at random from a few categories (the selection "I" / "sixteen" / "want" / "new" / "oranges" prompts you to construct and speak the sentence "I want sixteen new oranges" in your target language); this is basically analogue duolingo.

As you go about your day, name objects and colours you see and talk to yourself about actions you undertake; try to 'translate' as many thoughts as you can into your target language.

You can also construct dialogues or short compositions at the end of each "unit" you finish. Write a dialogue between two friends greeting each other after not having seen each other for a while. Write a composition about your family members; explain how they're related to you, what they look like, &c. Look up any vocabulary that you notice you're missing.

Once you have a decent vocabulary base, you'll be able to start reading. If you can find writing that's intended for children or language learners, that's great! There may also be fora or message boards online devoted to conversation in your target language. If you can find a dictionary from the target language to a language you understand, this becomes a lot easier—unfortunately I haven't found one for Darija (the lack of a standardised orthography would probably make one difficult to make). Persian has a history of being written that Darija doesn't, so you may have more luck on this score than I did.

I have an "index" in the back of my little book with abbreviations for each of the sources that I get vocabulary from, and I use these abbreviations to take note of where I got sentences, phrases, and vocabulary terms from (whether dictionaries, textbooks, youtube, online courses, online fora, reddit, academic / linguistic articles, &c.). This is so that I can return to these sources and verify what I've written down, just in case; and also because different vocabulary terms are used in different regions, so it's a good idea to have a way to look up who uses which terms.

If I come across anything by serendipity (whether in an academic article about some sociological aspect of Darija, or in the dictionary I've been using, since there's no complete words list that I can find so serendipity is the only way to discover some of the words that are in it), I write it down then and there regardless of how useful I think it will be to me immediately. This is because I have no way of knowing whether I'll ever come across it again! I don't need to memorise it right away, but maybe I'll want to learn it later.

I don't think this will help you, but for some minority languages or dialects there may be a colonial language other than English in which materials for that language are easier to access (for example, I tend to search for Darija resources in French, not English).

[fuh-saw-t]

-How to Write Character Dialogue-

Part 2: Characterisation Boogaloo

One again beginning with the mandatory 'This is just my process with my writing style. I don't work on what is correct - I work on what I find is best in my opinion. You can take this advice, adapt it to your own style, stories and characters, etc'.

This post concerns the specifics of dialogue. The more open-ended advice can be found here, under the Macro-View.

The 'Micro-View'

Once again, I made that term up.

Every story, character, scene and method of presenting events, thoughts, feelings and expressions will inevitably be unique. Here, I'll explore different approaches, methods and considerations that you can take to heart whilst writing the dialogue of your characters.

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Amount

In the writing of dialogue, your first consideration should be 'does this character need to say anything here?'

Oftentimes, I see dialogue which, if removed, has no change on ambience, the scene, character development, characterisation or any relevant interactions. Does your character need to input their opinion here? Not thinking of the usual 'who asked?' sort of way, but does it change, show or do anything? Do they need to exclaim "Woah!" or can that instead be described, or omitted entirely?

Too much useless character dialogue can sort of 'clog up' your page, if you get what I mean. What I'm referring to, however, in no means include things that you believe adds something to your character, a character relation, or the ambience and feel of the scene. I made a note of this in the previous post, but I felt this deserved an elaboration/secondary mention.

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Emotions and Intensity

Dialogue in intense and emotional moments, especially in a dramatic scene, I think can do wonders. It serves to engage your reader and direct the scene, instead of just having people kick each other or cry. As dialogue should be separated through paragraphs at each person talking, it makes the scene move quickly - the reader reads it quickly, too. Kind of meta, isn't it?

Make use of syntax. Short sentences, pauses, ellipsis (the dots and omission kind), false starts, etc. All of these can show emotion and make your dialogue feel natural, without having to state it outright. E.g.

"I don't think this is working," he said. "It's not that I'm… ungrateful, that's just— that's not what I mean. We need to try something else, something new."

Not the best example I could give, but this post isn't exactly a Times Best Seller (as if that means anything).

Someone who is nervous ‐ for any reason, if they're in front of their crush, are experiencing fear, etc - may use a lot of these pauses and false starts. But it's good to remember not to overdo them. Read your text out loud. Seriously, it helps. Overusing pauses and false starts can really dampen their effect.

Also, people never stutter as much as you think they do, unless they have a speech impediment (which is perfectly valid, if that's a part of your character). Stuttering is fine, but don't overdo it nor use it in situations where it doesn't call for it, unless it's a recognised trait in your character. Even then, going "N-N-N-N-No" never looks good. Like, it genuinely doesn't look good on the page nor screen. Yes I do judge that.

Italics can also be used as emphasis to convey intensity. So can dashes. Use exclamation points wisely, punctuation marks can be easily overused.

As another note, please use description and character actions alongside emotive or intense dialogue. Dialogue is never separate to your descriptions nor your story. Think carefully about how you can use expressions, actions and descriptions of tones to further the feeling you're intending to show in your dialogue, or to change the meaning of what a character is saying in context.

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Informal Speech and Accents

Popular character distinctions can involve the written display of slang, informal speech and accents. Personally, I adore these traits, as they can add character and insinuate things that do not have to be explicitly said; the use of informalities can really distinguish your character and make them memorable and unique.

But, as with everything, things can go horribly wrong (in my opinion).

Rule one of dialogue: don't get caught up trying to make your dialogue grammatically correct. It's not going to sound natural. Slang and general, everyday informalities may not be in many dictionaries nor will it be accepted by autocorrect or grammarly, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be in your writing. Different characters' uses of colloquialisms (such as, 'Heyo!' 'How's it hangin?' 'Darn it.') can add a certain quirk to them, whether this means they use general popular slang or no slang at all. Don't ever think of removing colloquialisms from a characters' dialogue for the sake of having correct grammar. This also goes for traits of AAVE. Use it when you see fit, whether or not conventional grammar agrees with it. All variations of English are valid. Moreover, I adore it when fantasy or other-world stories make their own unique slang, informalities or alternative vocabulary. It can say so much about the world they live in, and what some groups' ideologies are.

However, make sure you don't overdo the use of slang or divergent grammar and syntax. It's good to make your characters talk differently and have styles of speech that are distinct from one another, but what's even more important is that your reader can understand what you're writing. If you're using so much that someone has to have Urban Dictionary open while they read your story, that's not a good sign. This also goes for accents; it's sometimes beneficial to diversify speech, but if the spelling differences and grammatical changes get so prominent a reader can't read it or has to re-read to understand, you have a bit of a problem to correct. If they can't understand the dialogue, they don't understand your story. I've had to put multiple written works (published books, even) down because the use of slang and how they write in accents was so proficient I couldn't figure out what characters were saying.

Overall, I'd say not to write out accents (changing spelling with how words would be said). It can really make the dialogue unreadable, and can often turn out sounding like an offensive caricature.

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Education

A common character dialogue difference which I also love is the distinctions between those who are educated and those who are not. Of course, this is very diverse among characters and can go beyond that black-and-white summary. A character's status may be at play, their ego, or even how they are educated - a character who is educated by people who value different things or hate another group may speak differently to one who is educated in another way.

Common distinctions made to show educational or cultural differences between characters include contractions and vocabulary.

Contractions (such as 'don't' or 'I'll') are something I often see absent in characters of high status or education. This, though often functional, can be overdone. I'll touch more on my other approach to this later, but the complete absence of contractions can make someone sound like a robot. Urgent situations may make even the most high-status, educated character use ellipsis (in the omission way, as referenced in the last post), contractions and other forms of shortening.

Moreover, in relation to vocabulary, the character may not use long words at every interval. They may be more articulate and expressive in their word choices, but that doesn't equate to using lesser-known or complicated words. If you want to diversify your character's vocabulary, though, always take into account pragmatics and general use, and if it sounds natural in the context. Again repeating to read your dialogue out loud and get a proofreader. It can save your writing, seriously.

On a mirroring note, if you're dealing with highly uneducated characters, be careful with how you present them. Just because someone is uneducated, or doesn't have an expansive vocabulary or a solid grasp of grammar, doesn't mean they're any less intelligent or expressive. The character may articulate their feelings in a different way, but that is not a lesser way. Let the character be creative with their words and how they lay them out. Remember that a lack of education in a character does not, in any way, equal stupidity.

Related: Educated characters who overuse big words in weird contexts sound dumber than any uneducated character ever will. Facts, ykno.

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Character Limitations

There are a lot of ways you can accidentally limit the range of your character's expression through the writing of their dialogue. Here's things to look out for. And yes, these are all things I've seen before.

To do with typography (fonts, font sizes, bold and italics), I heavily advise against giving a character a distinctive typographic style of speaking. For example, doing this:

"I AM HERE!"

"HELLO!"

"What's the matter?"

This, in a way, limits your character extensively. A character who is consistently written to speak in all-caps or bolded lettering will always sound like they're yelling, and will not have room to express themselves in a more sympathetic, emotive or calm way. This is unless you forfeit the style, which is a problem in itself. It creates inconsistency: a writer's biggest downfall, in some cases. In fact, this use at all is inconsistent, as not all characters will have their dialogue written with the same method of typography. Also, it just kind of looks ugly on the page and can cause accessibility problems with those who have dyslexia or sight issues.

In addition to this, there is what I mentioned before to do with the use of contractions. A character who always sounds articulate and in use of an extensive vocabulary doesn't always have to be this way. Of course, they shouldn't break character, but if they're in a heavily-emotive situation where they don't have time to properly think out what they're saying, they're not going to speak as if they're reciting the Bible. There's nothing wrong with posh, well-spoken characters. It's just a matter of knowing how to diversify their own speech and having the confidence to explore other sides to their character through their dialogue.

This also goes for other characterisation decisions. You have a quiet character who speaks little, in small utterances? I love those character types! But don't limit their expression and characterisation by seeing that as the only thing they can do. An excited, wonderous character who asks a lot of questions and uses exclamatives often can have their quiet moments. An angry, usually violent character can become soft-spoken.

In fact, I'd say these changes in dialogue can really uplevel stories and characters. When a character changes their usual dialogue quirks (when the plot/scene calls for it), it can mark an incredibly pivotal and key point in their development and personality.

E.g, a rich, high-status character having a meltdown, swearing and mixing up their words; a quiet character talking for a long time to console their best friend on something they relate to; the excited character finally losing their spark and becoming serious when upset; an angry, violent character becoming docile when interacting or confessing to their crush. Choices in dialogue styles for different characters, depending on scenes and situations, can change the game entirely.

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Overall, my advice in creating realistic, engaging and in-character dialogue that shows your character's distinct personality and characteristics is to read the dialogue out loud, don't bother too much about grammar and more about readability and get a proofreader or friend that'll be honest in their opinions to look over your story.

Even more, I'd highly recommend experimenting. This goes for everything in writing, honestly. Practise writing dialogue by writing conversations between your different characters, even if said conversations won't appear in your story. Practice writing scenes. Experiment with your style and how different characters talk. Lay out your characters personalities and think about how you can implement details into their speech that subtly show who they are and what they think. Consider punctuation - it matters more than you'd expect it to.

Grow your style at your own pace. Listen to constructive feedback, and openly search for people to show their opinions and give advice on your work. Make sure you understand your characters, their values and their quirks.

And, most importantly, have fun!