#cool worldbuilding/character development implications

[bluehairperson]

I thought only now about the possibility of Lucio having commissioned some coins with his face on them. Imagine being traumatized by this tyrant and all the things he did, never wanting to see him again after his death but constantly being haunted by his memory not only because of the various monuments around the city, but also because his face is literally engraved on the local currency.

Asra grimacing every time he gets paid by a client at the shop or has to use the same coin to buy bread. The man who took everything from him and made him grow up in absolute poverty is now part of what allows him to afford food and shelter every day.

Julian spending everything he has at the tavern every night because the mere thought of having those coins in his pockets makes him feel heavy with dread. He doesn't even look when he tosses them on the table.

It doesn't matter how far away they both try to escape during their travels, some of those coins always manage to catch up to them no matter where they go. It's like he never left.

[novlr]

do you have any advice for writing a story set in the future? like a story ab immortal characters that has a 100 year time jump where you can see the differences from say present day NYC to NYC in 2123 but its not outlandish or unrealistic

How to Write a Story Set in the Future

The future is a blank canvas, a place where anything is possible. This can be both a blessing and a curse for writers. On the one hand, it gives you endless possibilities to explore. On the other hand, it can be difficult to know where to start. Here are our quick tips:

Start with a strong idea

Decide what kind of future you want to write about and what role you want technology to play. Do you want to write about a dystopian future where technology has taken over? A utopian future where humans have solved all their problems using technology? Or has technology completely failed, and the future in your book looks more like our past?

Once you have a strong idea, you can start to flesh out your world and characters. Knowing how you want your future to look is the first step in knowing how to get there.

Do your research

The more you know about the present, the more believable your future story will be. Read books and articles about current trends, and think about how those trends might develop. You can also use your imagination to come up with new technologies and ideas, but they should be grounded in realistic development and fit within your story world.

There are some amazing non-fiction books to help you get the science right in your fiction, but you can also draw inspiration from the way that fiction authors tackle the subject. You can find a list of recommended non-fiction books to get you started in this post.

Be specific in your worldbuilding

When you’re describing your future world, don’t be afraid to get specific. What does the technology look like? How does it work? What are the social and political implications of this technology?

You don’t necessarily have to include all the minute detail in the content of your story, but knowing it for yourself, so it informs the way you write and what you can assume your characters know, will help you build out a stronger world.

The more specific you are in the world you build, the more immersive your story will be. But, focusing too much on the minute detail of your story will affect the pacing, so make sure you share only what is relevant.

Consider the time period

How far in the future is your story set? This will affect the technology, culture, and social norms of your world.

A world 50 years in the future will look very different from a world 2000 years in the future. Compare our current reality with the late 20th century vs the beginning of the 1st century, and you’ll see how big a part this can play in the way your story develops.

The rate of technological development in your setting is also important to consider. Will technology develop at the same pace as it currently does? Or will it stagnate or decline? If so, think of the reasons why this might be and how it fits into your plot.

Be creative

Don’t be afraid to come up with new ideas and concepts. The future is unknown, so let your imagination run wild.

But, with that said, there needs to be some logic to your ideas. If your future contains bio-engineered lettuce that gives people superpowers, there needs to be a reason for that. A cool thing for the sake of a cool thing will often break a reader’s immersion.

You want readers to be able to follow your ideas and believe in them. So making sure they fit and work within the context of your story is just as important as being imaginative.

[cemeterything]

wait hi you made the magic post so yes what is your opinion on eragon if you’ve read it?

i think that it's a very decent fantasy novel with a lot of potential considering that the first book was written when the author was 16 years old. it does fall victim to a lot of fantasy cliches and does at times feel derivative of existing popular scifi and fantasy stories like star wars, the lord of the rings, etc. which is a shame because it has a lot of really good and interesting worldbuilding, characters and plotlines and that can be overlooked as a result. eragon is unfortunately overshadowed by pretty much every other character, too, which can make it difficult to read at times because literally everyone is more interesting than our protagonist and i want to read more about them and less about him. also the amount of doctor who references felt... unnecessary at times. and there are some plot threads and implications of further lore behind certain characters, things and events that get brought up but never really given any sort of satisfying conclusion or explanation (angela the herbalist's entire character in particular falls victim to being too mysterious and unexplained to the point that it felt like paolini just let her do things because it was cool and never intended to explain them. which isn't the end of the world, but past a certain point it stops being funny and gets really frustrating). there were also some pacing issues at times, especially in the later books it felt like sometimes there was a lot of filler being used to pad out chapters so they didn't get to the final battle too quickly, and then the final confrontation ended up feeling a bit rushed and video-gamey.

all that being said, i absolutely love so many things about eragon. as i said, there are SO many interesting supporting characters i really enjoyed - nasuada was one of my absolute favorites; a black woman in a position of leadership with a well developed character and story and relationships and goals was really really nice to see, especially in a fantasy novel, and her pov chapters were probably some of the best in the book in my opinion. murtagh, arya, elva and roran were all really compelling characters too. and i found the magic system absolutely fantastic, it's probably one of my favorites of all time. i could write an entire essay on how interesting the concept of drawing on life energy to produce magic is and the ethical implications of it, not to mention the whole concept of the ancient language. i really loved how the books explored the consequences of misusing magic so thoroughly and answered a lot of questions in that regard (especially with elva; the idea of a child being forced to grow up too fast because they received a misworded blessing that, instead of shielding them from pain, caused them to experience everyone's agony simultaneously was SO fucked up and horrifying and absolutely delightful to read about as a result). the descriptions of different settings were also really cool; i always enjoyed reading the sections that introduced you to a new setting, especially those of the dwarven kingdom. and although it was far from being the next tolkien, it was nice to see consistent attempts at creating a fantasy language.

and then, of course, there's the dragons. i don't really have any complaints there. they're magnificent beasts and i really enjoyed that they had individual characters and weren't just dumb animals but an intelligent fantasy species with their own culture and history. my only issue is that the books never really seems able to decide how much agency they should have and how dependent on their riders they should be, but. eh. i can live with it i guess.

tl;dr it's a fun fantasy series with a LOT of good ideas that get a bit lost in the sauce sometimes but overall worth reading if you enjoy your fantasy with a heavy serving of cheese and surprisingly excellent worldbuilding.

[a-student-out-of-time]

Hi! Do any of you have tips for writing good stories? Thanks!

//That's...a pretty broad question, but here's some advice I've taken to heart, presented in no particular order. Hope it helps!

Characters should primarily be your focus, especially their development. They shouldn't feel like devices to move the plot forward, but naturally push the plot where you want it to go through their choices.

Remove superfluous elements. I find stories work best when all of their elements contribute in some capacity; if there are aspects of a story that don't go anywhere or have no bearing on the plot at large, consider cutting them.

Subtlety is overrated when it comes to messages people need to hear. Tolkien was right when he said allegory is for cowards. If you wanna write about something that may ruffle some feathers, don't use a fictional stand-in to talk about it, just talk about it.

A story doesn't need to be grimdark, mature or even realistic for it to be good. It just needs to tell a compelling story with interesting characters.

Characters don't necessarily have to be good people, but they have to be interesting. Don't rely on overused archetypes in writing, and while it's cool to want to have an expy of a character you like, see if you can instead draw some inspiration from the real world instead.

Don't be afraid to have characters make mistakes or bad decisions, but make sure those decisions are ones they would make as characters. The audience should never feel like decisions are made just because the writer wants them to.

Different people are going to like and dislike different things about your story. Don't write for them, write the kind of story you want to see.

Do your research. Do your research. Do your research.

If there's something in your work that you or your readers come to dislike for whatever reason, don't simply retcon it away. See if you can find ways to make existing and potential problems in your writing a new source of story, drama or character development.

It's impossible to avoid cliches completely. The best you can do is breathe new life into them and see if you can approach them from new angles.

Think through the implications of your worldbuilding before you write into the story, to see if any new idea will completely change the impact or internal logic of the story. If the technology for Faster-Than-Light travel exists, does it have any other impact besides getting people around the galaxy? If there's magic to transmute rocks into gold, why hasn't the gold industry collapsed if anyone can do it?

Fridging is a bad, bad trope.

Characters should be able to stand on their own, and shouldn't be solely defined by their relationships with others. Shipping can be fun, but don't let it completely overtake who your characters are as people.

Redemption arcs are great...when you actually give them an arc and don't just have everyone forgive them 5 episodes after nuking an orphanage.

Morality in a story will depend largely on the sort of theme you're going for, but also on the kind of world you've constructed. A post-apocalyptic wasteland where people are struggling to survive is probably going to have less emphasis on "killing is immoral" than a magical setting where there's an actual God of Justice who takes that rule seriously.

Nobody in a story should be above any sort of consequences for their actions. It can be delayed, it can be mitigated, but never ignored.

Throwing dark, upsetting and potentially triggering material into a story simply for the sake of drama, to be shocking or to convince readers the story is "mature" does exactly the opposite; it's incredibly juvenile and terrible.

Less is more. We don't need to see every detail of a character's daily routine to get a sense of what things are like for them, and we don't need a full description of everything that happens. Sometimes just a single sentence or even a word can be far more effective.

The term "Mary Sue" has, over time, become a pejorative people use when to describe characters they don't like, especially those who are too powerful or have few flaws in their eyes. The real term refers to characters who are functionally the center of their universe; nothing happens that doesn't involve them and they're treated as the most important person of all time. If you don't do that, your character is not a Mary Sue. Still worth considering how you write them, however.

If you're going to write about characters of a particular group and you're not a member of that group (Black, Jewish, American Indian, LGBTQ, Neurodivergent, etc.), do not be afraid to ask questions and get some insight. Also, writing about these characters not equate to needing to focus on bigotry and oppression; if you do, those issues also should not overtake them as characters. They need an identity outside of that.

//Hope all that helps!

[uhf-comm-pass]

What are your opinions on biomagical worldbuilding?

I have been waiting for over a year for someone to ask me this!

My opinion on biomagical worldbuilding is that it's cool as shit and I want it to show up in more fiction.

Let me explain in more detail than necessary, under the cut.

Biological worldbuilding is where you design some sort of novel biology for a world you've created. I don't personally consider something quite as simple as creating a new creature to count as very much biological worldbuilding on its own; it really means something like:

Explaining how one or more imagined biological creatures in your world evolved or were created. (Such as a world where dragons exist.)

Explaining how a creature that exists in our own world evolved differently in your world than they did in our world. (Such as a world where humans actually evolved from proto-dolphins.)

Synthesizing existing anatomies and physiologies in new combinations or forms. (Like figuring out what it would be like if a species similar to humans grew horns.)

Designing new anatomical and physiological concepts wholesale. (Like coming up with new and disturbing reproductive strategies for your fictional creatures, or designing new internal organs.)

Or adjusting or inventing new approaches to molecular biology and biochemistry. (Like substituting in an alternative for DNA, inventing new genes or proteins, or introducing your own viruses or bacteria.)

I find biological worldbuilding most interesting when someone takes into account the logical implications of the ways that biology works differently in their world, and thinking through their impacts on the other aspects of their world, along with their characters, their characters' experiences, and their story.

Now, magical worldbuilding is where we do something similar, but for our magic systems. This doesn't necessarily mean that you need a "hard" magic system, or that it needs to follow precise and logical rules; rather, it's that a magic system has some sort of coherent logic. This means that there are particular ways that the magic functions, and they interact with the other parts of the world and setting.

Some examples:

Magic systems where healing magic has consequences/side effects, because there's a specific mechanism of action (a "way that it works," even if not known to the reader), and it might not do exactly what you want if it's not aligned perfectly with the mechanism. (Addictive healing potions, injuries that heal in an unnatural/inhuman way, healing that leaves you with permanent evidence that something happened, et cetera.)

Magic systems where there are specific reasons that the specific set of spells (or other forms of magical capabilities) exist. Spells that were developed by researchers, or granted by some sort of magical being, or that are fundamental to the universe in some way. In other words, while you might not know why the magic works a specific way, there is a story about it.

Magic systems that interact with the political and economic systems of the worlds that they are in. Maybe magic is a form of wealth that's limited in quantity; maybe magical training is restricted, and it's a matter of political conflict who gets to learn what; maybe magic is a critical aspect of warfare and espionage, and the side of a conflict with better magical capabilities has an advantage; maybe magic is used by day-to-day infrastructure, like magical trains or weather manipulation to overcome droughts.

Magic systems that interact in complex ways with characters' lives and identities. Characters who are formed from magic; characters who were changed permanently by magic; characters whose stories are about overcoming limitations believed to exist in magic; characters who gain or lose their magic involuntarily, and it affects how they can or cannot live their everyday lives.

There are plenty more things you could add to that list, of course.

Biomagical worldbuilding, then, is the combination of these two ideas. It's the exploration of how biology influences magic, and magic influences biology.

Consider:

What if magic users can only use magic because of specific biological capabilities, like substances in their blood, or special internal organs?

What if a species is inherently magical? What happens if they get separated from that magic? What happens if they get exposed to too much of it? Do they have the ability to "opt out of" or "turn off" their magical abilities, or do the abilities always apply, even if they don't want them to?

How does the ability to use magic evolve in a species? What happens on an evolutionary scale if magic, or access to magic, changes over time? Does magic evolve many times, or are all magical creatures descendant from the same common ancestor? Did magical creatures evolve from non-magical creatures, or did non-magical creatures evolve from magical creatures?

If magic, or the ability to use it, can evolve, then can it also be added to creatures by genetic engineering, or through medical technologies? Even if it's genetic, could it be added to an existing adult by introducing genes with CRISPR and viral vectors?

If a species is magical, is the molecular biology of their cells affected by their magic? Do they have genetic logic affected by the presence or absence or type of magic? Do they have enzymes that rely on magic to function correctly? Are there organelles that support magical capabilities? What kind of waste products does magic give off?

If magic is intertwined with biology, what does that mean for non-magical creatures who are capable of using magic? Does that change them on a cellular level, or is it something they can always set aside, as if they'd never touched it? Does it matter how long they use magic, or how much of it they use?

How does magic affect the lifecycle of species that are composed of it or exposed to it? Does a lack of magic stunt growth? Is magic required for or antagonistic to reproductive processes? Is magic capability inherited? If so, is that genetic, or epigenetic, or through some other mechanism? What happens to creatures who are affected by or reliant on magic if the nature of the magic changes?

These are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night.

[onepiece-oc-archives]

I’ve been sucked into one piece so bad and now really want to make an OC. So I had an idea for a character whose inspired by old maritime/pirate folklore of witches and sea witches.

I’m struggling though with how to go about that. So should it be like a devil fruit thing? Or a friend suggested I just come up with a separate race/tribe like the Kuja? I’m so lost with what direction to take with this 😭

For some info I want to put my OC with the straw hats and want to avoid them just being this insanely over powered person. I did find when researching that some background character from a later arc is categorized as a ‘sorcerer’ but don’t really know what that implies.

Help!!

Hi, welcome to the chaotic world that is One Piece and welcome to my blog!

I really love the idea of making an OC based off of pirate folklore! Sounds like there would be a lot of cool things to do there! The way I see it, you have four options:

Option 1: A devil fruit. I think a Mythical Zoan would be your best bet. Probably a Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Sea witch. You could put that in One Piece and nobody would bat an eye. Just remember that your OC wouldn't be able to swim. Do you want that for a sea witch?

Option 2: A new tribe/race. This is an option that gives you a lot of freedom because you can pretty much do whatever. You could create a race that has devil fruit style powers as part of their DNA. Oda has done that too. It comes with a few issues though. First of all, your OC's powers wouldn't be unique, because there's a whole tribe of sea witches. This could be good or bad. Second of all, there's a possibility that the World Government or other organizations hunt that tribe down. Once again, this could be good or bad for your story. Maybe this also makes your OC unique again because they're the only one of their kind left? Or at least one of few. This would, of course, have a strong effect on your OC's story and a lot of things that happen to them, so make sure to really consider if you want this.

Option 3: Science. I won't go too much into detail because of spoiler reasons, but incredible things are possible through One Piece science. This would most likely link your OC to a group of people or a specific person who develops said funky science and that's a connection with a lot of lore implications, so you should evaluate if you want that. Implications don't always need to turn into something big, but they can. If this is the option you decide to go for, let me know and I'll tell you more about that science and the people involved, but it will probably contain at least some spoilers, so be warned.

Option 4: It is what it is. I'm not kidding, this is a totally valid option that has been pulled by Oda multiple times. Your sorcerer example would fall under this option, though I believe he hasn't actually been seen practicing sorcery in any canon material. A canon example of this however is a certain woman who, for some reason, can accurately tell the future using a crystal ball. No one knows why. Never explained. And still completely canon. So, if none of the other options speak to you, going "it is what it is" is still a completely valid option.

Maybe as a sort of guideline of how I dealt with a similar issue:

My oldest One Piece OC used to be firmly in the Option 2 category. She's based off of mythology, mostly of Greek Myth, the goddess Selene in particular. Just going "oh yeah, she comes from a race of people who are just like that" worked really well for me for, I dunno, six years? But then a new manga chapter came along with a new lore drop and I thought I'd have to drop my OC's concept for good because it coincided/collided too much with the new lore drop. But then another lore drop happened and I was able to save her through sprinkling in some of Option 3.

The lore drop destroying my concept was purely bad luck. So you'll probably be doing really well with Option 2 if you commit to it. It might take a bit of worldbuilding, but you could also not explain anything. Both works. And if that fails, science can save your butt.

Also, I'm currently working on a new One Piece OC who falls into Option 4, simply because a mermaid being unable to swim would be a little stupid, so I can't give her a devil fruit, and her being involved with funky science just wouldn't suit her character that well. Also, I already kinda pulled that with said oldest OC, so I don't really wanna do it again.

Creating OCs is very situational, but sometimes "fuck around and find out" works surprisingly well or is the only thing that works. Mix and match things together. Run with a certain idea until canon throws a wrench in the works. Adjust things and make stuff up as you go. Sometimes, it's just about taking that first step, the rest will come all on its own.

I hope this helped at least a little. If you have any more questions, feel free to let me know!

[thevalleyisjolly]

I mean, I think I’ve vague-blogged about this in the tags before, but I’ll put it in a proper post - I’m really not a fan of all the random encounters they keep rolling for.  I get that it’s a D&D mechanic to make the game a little more realistic and to introduce fun encounters for the players, but I also think that 1) you gotta have them in moderation, and 2) when you’re not playing a home game but livestreaming a campaign in which you repeatedly emphasize the story element, it drags the story down when there’s a random challenge every in-game day.

[writingwithcolor]

Jurassic period alien interacting with key cultures and historical figures in Middle East & Asia throughout history

@ketchupmaster400​ said:

Hello, so my question is for a character I’ve been working on for quite a while but wasn’t sure about a few things. So basically at the beginning of the universe there was this for less being made up of dark matter and dark energy. Long story short it ends up on earth during the Jurassic Period. It has the ability to adapt and assimilate into other life animals except it’s hair is always black and it’s skin is always white and it’s eyes are always red. It lives like this going from animal to animal until it finally becomes human and gains true sentience and self awareness. As a human it lives within the Middle East and Asia wondering around trying to figure out its purpose and meaning. So what I initially wanted to do with it was have small interactions with the dark matter human and other native humans that kinda helped push humanity into the direction it is now. For example, Mehndhi came about when the dark matter human was drawing on their skin because it felt insecure about having such white skin compared to other people. And ancient Indians saw it and thought it was cool so they adopted it and developed it into Mehndi. Minor and small interactions though early history leading to grander events. Like they would be protecting Jerusalem and it’s people agains the Crusaders later on. I also had the idea of the the dark matter human later on interacting with the prophets Jesus Christ and Muhammad. With Jesus they couldn’t understand why he would sacrifice himself even though the people weren’t deserving. And then Jesus taught them that you have to put other before yourself and protecting people is life’s greatest reward. And then with the prophet Muhammad, I had the idea that their interaction was a simple conversation that mirrors the one he had with the angel Jibril, that lead to the principles of Islam. Now with these ideas I understand the great importance of how not to convey Islam and I’ve been doing reasearch, but I am white and I can understand how that may look trying to write about a different religion than my own. So I guess ultimate my question is, is this ok to do? Is it ok to have an alien creature interact with religious people and historical events as important as they were? Like I said I would try to be as accurate and as respectable as possible but I know that Islam can be a touchy subject and the last thing I would want is to disrespect anyone. The main reason I wanted the dark matter being in the Middle East was because I wanted to do something different because so much has been done with European and American stuff I wanted to explore the eastern side of the world because it’s very beau and very rich with so many cultures that I want to try and represent. I’m sorry for the long post but I wanted you guys to fully understand what my idea was. Thank you for your time and hope you stay safe.

Disclaimer:

The consensus from the moderators was that the proposed character and story is disrespectful from multiple cultural perspectives. However, we can’t ignore the reality that this is a commonly deployed trope in many popular science fiction/ thriller narratives. Stories that seek to take religious descriptions of events at face value from an areligious perspective particularly favor this approach. Thus, we have two responses:

Where we explain why we don’t believe this should be attempted.

Where we accept the possibility of our advice being ignored.

1) No - Why You Shouldn’t Do This:

Hi! I’ll give you the short answer first, and then the extended one.

Short answer: no, this is not okay.

Extended answer. I’ll divide it into three parts.

1) Prophet Muhammad as a character:

Almost every aspect of Islam, particularly Allah (and the Qur’an), the Prophet(s) and the companions at the time of Muhammad ﷺ, are strictly kept within the boundaries of real life/reality. I’ll assume this comes from a good place, and I can understand that from one side, but seriously, just avoid it. It is extremely disrespectful and something that is not even up to debate for Muslims to do, let alone for non-Muslims. Using Prophet Muhammad as a character will only bring you problems. There is no issue with mentioning the Prophet during his lifetime when talking about his attributes, personality, sayings or teachings, but in no way, we introduce fictional aspects in a domain that Muslims worked, and still work, hard to keep free from any doubtful event or incident. Let’s call it a closed period: we don’t add anything that was not actually there.

Reiterating then, don’t do this. There is a good reason why Muslims don’t have any pictures of Prophet Muhammad. We know nothing besides what history conveyed from him. 

After this being said, there is another factor you missed – Jesus is also an important figure in Islam and his story from the Islamic perspective differs (a lot) from that of the Christian perspective. And given what you said in your ask, you would be taking the Christian narrative of Jesus. If it was okay to use Prophet Muhammad as a character (reminder: it’s not) and you have had your dark matter human interacting with the biblical Jesus, it will result in a complete mess; you would be conflating two religions.

2) Crusaders and Jerusalem:

You said this dark matter human will be defending Jerusalem against the Crusaders. At first, there is really no problem with this. However, ask yourself: is this interaction a result of your character meeting with both Jesus and Prophet Muhammed? If yes, please refer to the previous point. If not, or even if you just want to maintain this part of the story, your dark matter human can interact with the important historical figures of the time. For example, if you want a Muslim in your story, you can use Salah-Ad-Din Al-Ayoubi (Saladin in the latinized version) that took back Jerusalem during the Third Crusade. Particularly, this crusade has plenty of potential characters. 

Also, featuring Muslim characters post Prophet Muhammad and his companions’ time, is completely fine, just do a thorough research.

 3) Middle Eastern/South Asian settings and Orientalism:

The last point I want to remark is with the setting you chose for your story. Many times, when we explore the SWANA or South Asian regions it’s done through an orientalist lens. Nobody is really safe from falling into orientalism, not even the people from those regions. My suggestion is educating yourself in what orientalism is and how it’s still prevalent in today’s narrative. Research orientalism in entertainment, history... and every other area you can think of. Edward Said coined this term for the first time in history, so he is a good start. There are multiple articles online that touch this subject too. For further information, I defer to middle eastern mods. 

- Asmaa

Racism and Pseudo-Archaeology:

A gigantic, unequivocal and absolute no to all of it, lmao. 

I will stick to the bit about the proposed origin of mehendi in your WIP, it’s the arc I feel I’m qualified to speak on, Asmaa has pretty much touched upon the religious and orientalism complications. 

Let me throw out one more word: pseudoarchaeology. That is, taking the cultural/spiritual/historical legacies of ancient civilizations, primarily when it involves people of colour, and crediting said legacies to be the handiwork of not just your average Outsider/White Saviour but aliens. I’ll need you to think carefully about this: why is it that in so much of media and literature pertaining to the so-called “conspiracy theories” dealing with any kind of extraterrestrial life, it’s always Non-Western civilizations like the Aztec, the ancient Egyptians, the Harappans etc who are targeted? Why is it that the achievements of the non West are so unbelievable that it’s more feasible to construct an idea of non-human, magical beings from another planet who just conveniently swooped in to build our monuments and teach us how to dress and what to believe in? If the answer makes you uncomfortable, it’s because it should: denying the Non-West agency of their own feats is not an innocent exercise in sci-fi worldbuilding, it comes loaded with implications of racial superiority and condescension towards the intellect and prowess of Non-European cultures. 

Now, turning to specifics:

Contrary to what Sarah J. Maas might believe- mehendi designs are neither mundane, purely aesthetic tattoos nor can they be co-opted by random Western fantasy characters. While henna has existed as an art form in various cultures, I’m limiting my answer to the Indian context, (specifying since you mention ancient India). Mehendi is considered one of the tenets of the Solah Shringar- sixteen ceremonial adornments for Hindu brides, one for each phase of the moon, as sanctioned by the Vedic texts. The shade of the mehendi is a signifier for the strength of the matrimonial bond: the darker the former, the stronger the latter. Each of the adornments carries significant cosmological/religious symbolism for Hindus. To put it bluntly, when you claim this to be an invention of the aliens, you are basically taking a very sacred cultural and artistic motif of our religion and going “Well actually….extraterrestrials taught them all this.”

In terms of Ayurveda (Traditional holistic South Asian medicine)  , mehendi was used for its medicinal properties. It works as a cooling agent on the skin and helps to alleviate stress, particularly for the bride-to-be. Not really nice to think that aliens lent us the secrets of Ayurvedic science (pseudoarchaeology all over again). 

I’m just not feeling this arc at all. The closest possible alternative I could see to this is the ancient Indian characters incorporating some specific stylistic motifs in their mehendi in acknowledgement to this entity, in the same vein of characters incorporating motifs of tribute into their armour or house insignia, but even so, I’m not sure how well that would play out. If you do go ahead with this idea, I cannot affirm that it will not receive backlash.

-Mimi

These articles might help:

 Pseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient Aliens

A History of Indian Henna (this studies mehendi origins mostly with reference to Mughal history)

Solah Shringar

2) Not Yes, But If Ignoring the Above:

I will be the dissenting voice of “Not No, But Here Are The Big Caveats.” Given that there is no way to make the story you want to tell palatable to certain interpretations of Islam and Christianity, here is my advice if the above arguments did not sufficiently deter you.

1. Admiration ≠ Research: It is not enough to just admire cultures for their richness and beauty. You need to actually do the research and learn about them to determine if the story you want to tell is a good fit for the values and principles these cultures prioritize. You need to understand the significance of historical figures and events to understand the issues with attributing the genesis of certain cultural accomplishments to an otherworldly influence. 1.

2. Give Less Offense When Possible and Think Empathetically: You should try to imagine the mindsets of those you will offend and think about to what degree you can soften or ameliorate certain aspects of your plot, the creature’s characteristics, and the creature’s interactions with historical figures to make your narrative more compatible. There is no point pretending that much of areligious science fiction is incompatible with monotheist, particularly non-henotheistic, religious interpretations as well as the cultural items and rituals derived from those religious interpretations. One can’t take “There is no god, just a lonely alien” and make that compatible with “There is god, and only in this particular circumstance.” Thus:

As stated above by Asmaa and Mimi, there is no escaping the reality the story you propose is offensive to some. Expect their outcry to be directed towards you. Can you tolerate that?

Think about how you would feel if someone made a story where key components of your interpretation of reality are singled out as false. How does this make you feel? Are you comfortable doing that to others?

3. Is Pseudoarchaeology Appropriate Here?: Mimi makes a good point about the racial biases of pseudoarchaeology. Pseudoarchaeology is a particular weakness of Western-centric atheist sci-fi. Your proposed story is the equivalent of a vaguely non-descript Maya/Aztec/Egyptian pyramid or Hindu/ Buddhist-esque statue being the source for a Resident Evil bio weapon/ Predator nest/ Assassin’s Creed Isu relic.

Is this how you wish to draw attention to these cultures you admire? While there is no denying their ubiquity in pop-culture, such plots trivialize broad swathes of non-white history and diminish the accomplishments of associated ethnic groups. The series listed above all lean heavily into these tropes either because the authors couldn’t bother to figure out something more creative or because they are intentionally telling a story the audience isn’t supposed to take seriously.*

More importantly, I detect a lot of sincerity in your ask, so I imagine such trivialization runs counter to your expressed desire to depict Eastern cultures in a positive and accurate manner.

4. Freedom to Write ≠ Freedom from Consequence: Once again, as a reminder, it’s not our job to reassure you as to whether or not what you are proposing is ok. Asmaa and Mimi have put a lot of effort into explaining who you will offend and why.  We are here to provide context, but the person who bears the ultimate responsibility for how you choose to shape this narrative, particularly if you share this story with a wide audience, is you. Speaking as one writer to another, I personally do not have a strong opinion one way or the other, but I think it is important to be face reality head-on.

- Marika.

* This is likely why the AC series always includes that disclaimer stating the games are a product of a multicultural, inter-religious team and why they undermine Western cultures and Western religious interpretations as often (if not moreso) than those for their non-Western counterparts.

Note: Most WWC asks see ~ 5 hours of work from moderators before they go live. Even then, this ask took an unusually long amount of time in terms of research, emotional labor and discussion. If you found this ask (and others) useful, please consider tipping the moderators (link here), Asmaa (coming eventually) and Mimi (here). I also like money - Marika.

[shihalyfie]

I’m a diehard 02 fan who does not want a reboot and never wanted a reboot, and here’s why

This is one of my few editorial-esque pieces, but this is something some friends and I have been discussing for a while, and given what’s going on right now, I feel like this needs to be said at some point.

Sometimes I feel like there’s a really massive gap between what 02 fans want (especially diehard ones) and what people think 02 fans want. I'm not saying that media should only be catering to hardcore fans, and if more casual fans of 02 or people who simply just happen to have a stake in the full franchise have their own opinions on what they wanted to see out of 02-related media, that’s perfectly fine, and they have a right to have those expectations. What I’m mainly writing this about is sentiments that talk about how Toei is apparently doing 02 a disservice or sweeping it under the bus by not rebooting it (which basically comes with an implication that giving it respect would mandate it being rebooted just because Adventure was), or talking about how doing a reboot would please 02 fans just by giving their favorite characters more rep. (Although, I suppose the simultaneous reveal of an actual 02-related movie kind of killed any grounds for claiming that the lack of a 02 reboot meant sidelining 02. You can’t really claim that they’re sidelining 02 when they’re making a whole movie, after all...)

Of course, I don’t claim to speak for every single 02 fan out there (so if you’re a 02 fan who doesn’t agree with anything I’m about to say, I apologize and hope I don’t sound presumptuous), and I highly doubt I represent the mainstream, but I felt I should input my perspective as a 02 fan who’s friends with a handful of other 02 fans, who have discussed this extensively and all have the same feelings on the topic, and why it’s kind of frustrating to keep hearing this kind of thing from people who assume that all fans of something should want to see more things that resemble them by default without any more nuance to it.

It won’t actually improve much that’s worth it

I’m going to be blunt about it: I think more people who supposedly want this 02 reboot are people who hate or dislike 02 than people who actually are fans of the series, because they’re doing this under the sentiment that “this was a bad series, so a redo would improve it.” You can especially tell because a lot of people acting like a reboot is in 02′s best interest are the same people being scathingly critical of the current Adventure: reboot right now, so you can see that this kind of mentality comes from people who clearly understand that a reboot won’t necessarily be something everyone likes all that much, and thus believe 02 is so unsalvageably bad that you couldn’t possibly make it worse. So you can probably understand why I’m not exactly patient with this kind of take.

If we are to be charitable, though -- if this sentiment comes out of a genuine feeling that 02 had missed potential that could be addressed by the reboot -- I want to ask everyone if they really believe that this theoretical reboot would be a net improvement, especially one that’s worth all the time and effort involved, and even more especially given the writing style that the current Adventure: reboot is employing. You don’t have to claim it’s a perfect series or anything to understand the sentiment that it held up enough by itself to not necessitate a whole anime series being made to do another take on it.

Something I would like to remind people who love to claim that 02 is such a despised series is that it made around 89% of Adventure’s revenue at the time it aired, and despite those who despise 02 being very vocal on the Internet, the actual mainstream tends to be very positive about it, especially in terms of anything to do with Ken (whom most reasonable people will agree had a character arc that deserves acclaim). So in other words, if you want to do a reboot, most likely you would want to do it without offending the base that likes the series already, right? (Especially since, you know, recent events have proven that upsetting the real-life 02 fanbase is actually a pretty inadvisable idea...)

Here’s the thing: Once you filter out most of the “scapegoat” reasons people tend to criticize 02, the one that’s generally the most agreed upon is how disorganized the plot gets in the second half. So this so-called ideal situation reboot would supposedly iron out all of the messy plot writing and make use of the “wasted potential” the series had -- but 02 was way more than just a narrative storyline with characters walking around in it, and when it comes to the reasons people were so drawn to it, they’re tied to the series themes about regrets and making up for the past, and about the unreasonable pressures that society places on children. That, and also the most important one, the central theme of human relationships, and the charismatic and well-developed (yes, really) characters. The so-called “messier” second half of 02 was full of payoff for a lot of what was set up in the first half in regards to its themes, and a lot of its subplots or character flairs are packed in really small nuances that are easy to miss on the first watch.

What this means is that 02 is a series that works off of a lot of delicate balances. Adventure could be “rebooted” because everything was very clear-cut and straightforward, which meant that you could change almost everything about the plot and still relatively adhere to the primary points of “kids gain self-awareness through a journey in another world”. (Like, I really hate to break it to those who put Adventure on a pedestal, but this is mainly possible because Adventure doesn’t really have much of a plot besides “defeat enemy” followed by “defeat bigger enemy”...) In the case of 02, everything regarding the story is, for better or for worse, much more deeply tied to the plot, the narrative behind the Kaiser and the traces of psychological horror laced into everything, and the second-half evolution mechanic, Jogress, has a lot to do with the developments related to the human relationships narrative. Moreover, a lot of the reasons that people call it “bad” for are deeply tied to the exact same reasons a lot of people like it -- that its takes on certain topics were heavily nuanced and unconventional, meaning it could cover ground that most media wouldn’t go anywhere near -- and so the series loses too much of its identity if those aspects are removed, even if it ostensibly seems like “streamlining” it.

So if you mess with one thing, a lot of it falls apart -- and in fact, considering the writing style that the Adventure: reboot is using right now, it’s hard to imagine that applying it to 02 would make it any better. Actually, it seems like it wouldn’t address any of the grievances anyone has with it to any substantial degree, and it’d be more likely to axe all of the stuff that were integral to 02′s identity, like the social commentary, or the heavy focus on human relationships, or the unusual sort of character nuance it employed, and...basically, we go back to the same question: is this actually worth it?

02 itself was about not having this kind of sentiment

The main reason most 02 fans get upset about the 02 characters not being included in Adventure canon-related things that should rightfully include them is that, quite simply, they’re part of the canon! In fact, most 02 fans like Adventure too, so they like the way 02 built on Adventure’s worldbuilding, and moreover they’re attached to the web of relationships between the Adventure and 02 groups -- 02′s additions to Adventure’s worldbuilding and the nature of what it established around the neighborhoods of Odaiba and Tamachi were not only added on but also deeply entangled with what was established before, so you can’t just act like none of it exists!

So this also means that once we’re talking about a completely different universe, absolutely none of this applies and there’s no expectations to adhere to any of this. The 02 quartet doesn’t exist in this universe? Cool.

Funny thing about 02: one of the biggest themes the story revolved around was “not getting caught up in the past, and moving forward with what you have instead,” so it’s probably pretty understandable that a lot of people who like 02 would be the type who wouldn’t be fond of rehashing stuff too much (and even more so it involves 02 itself), especially since being okay with 02 as a sequel likely means being okay with change in general. To make something really new out of it, you might as well...actually make something new out of it, or cover some truly new territory, instead of bothering with this whole reboot business, you know?

One thing you might notice about a lot of 02 fans is that they’re not actually all that fond of the idea of canon putting the group through more massive suffering or emotional ordeals after 02 compared to most. I mean, I think it’s pretty normal to enjoy your favorite characters going through emotional trouble, but the aversion to it often tends to be much stronger than usual, regardless of what country’s fanbase we’re talking, and even the official staff for Kizuna seems to have somewhat recognized that the 02 group is most in its element when in the context of fun and silliness. All things considered, this probably isn’t particularly surprising when you take into account the fact that “just being able to hang out with each other as casual friends at all” was considered such a blessing, and such a difficult goal to reach, that there’s a natural aversion to seeing them go through more emotional suffering again. The new trailer for the upcoming movie seems to have Daisuke in a relatively good mood (and even then, “please don’t make it too emotionally vicious for them” is a pretty common plea).

So if you want to talk about rehashing all of their old problems, seeing it all over again is just not very fun. It’s like holding Ken’s sins over his head again, even if it’s in a different universe; it just doesn’t feel right when the series itself endorsed the best possible outcome for these kids to be “to live happily and at peace with themselves, no matter what happened beforehand”. They worked so hard to get out of it, so to decide we have to do this entire rodeo again for the sake of doing it again, instead of trying something new is...well, it’s not that appealing of an idea, I have to say.

The real-life impact would be intolerable

It’s no secret that the 02 hatedom is a bit uncomfortably vocal about it, but what tends to be really frustrating about it is how many of them love to dunk on the series based on misremembering it. It’s fair that, if you don’t like a series, you probably wouldn’t want to watch it again, but as someone who’s spent a lot of years unpacking all the little details in the series and noticing that it’s much deeper than it initially seems on the surface, it’s honestly annoying to see “criticism” of the series that’s actually just dunking on it based on details that are genuinely factually incorrect (it’d be one thing if it were a question of subjectivity, but no, so many of the insults 02 often gets are based on things that legitimately did not happen in the series).

In the end, I admit that 02′s penchant for ridiculous subtlety probably worked against it a bit too much, and I’ve already covered its impact on how the series gets misread a lot. Thing is, this kind of subtlety was a thing in Adventure too, and it all leads to the unfortunate effect that a lot of people tend to forget what actually happened in Adventure if they haven’t seen it for more than a few years. With the current reboot right now, you’ll see people saying that certain characters are the same as they were in the original series, even though in most respects they’re actually the opposite -- because a lot of said people only remember them by the surface characteristics that seem to be similar.

So when you look at 02, and consider the fact that even official media -- including the official American English dub and V-Tamer -- has been a bit too prone to not handling Daisuke’s character tastefully and reducing him to traits that make him easy to dislike, you might realize that handling these characters improperly runs an extremely high risk of actually turning them into the flat, unlikeable characters that people tend to accuse them of being -- imagine Daisuke where his entire character is about fixating over Hikari and being impulsive, or Miyako being nothing but self-centered and selfish, or Iori being genuinely stoic and missing the nuances of constantly holding his emotions back. And making it worse is that this would basically solidify these negative perceptions of the characters even further -- because people, especially those inclined to hate the series, would take it as further evidence that the characters have always been like this, reflect it back on the original, and everything would really just become a miserable experience. (Those who are particularly inclined to be malicious against 02 would probably even claim a reboot to be “better than the original” no matter whatever it is, because of the belief that 02 is so incredibly terrible that literally anything would be better than it.)

It’s not my business to dictate other people’s opinions, but it’s already been a frustrating twenty years of dealing with this kind of thing, so of course I’m not going to be enthusiastic about the idea of putting up with more of it...

[itsclydebitches]

Clyde! How dare you! The previous maidens were ripe with character! Like Amber, who “?” and Vernal who “??” and Fria who “?????????????????”

LOL I plead guilty for such heinous claims!

Getting serious for a sec, looking back it's actually Fria I take the most issue with. Personally, I'm fine with Amber getting taken out prior to the series starting, thus eliminating most chances to develop her character. Much like Summer's death (or rather, what we assumed we'd get with Summer's death), she existed to serve a particular function other than, "Get to know the character." She was a Maiden back when Maidens were a totally new concept, got attacked by the baddies, and now her imminent death is an ethical problem the heroes have to solve. Cool. Outside of the throwaway line that she lost because she was inexperienced — somewhat contradicted by every other Maiden being magically badass the second they acquire the powers — I'm fine with it. Actually, the split second when the arrow hits and we see she's still semi-conscious, waking up with a gasp and horrified expression? Great shot.

Vernal is... a little more complicated. I do like the twist that one Maiden was hiding her powers, even if said twist was made too obvious by having Raven wear her helmet. At this point in the series though, I had started to wonder why we had so many characters who were serving these throwaway, plot purposes when, in fact, they're supposed to have had these otherwise unexplored connections with the rest of the cast. This isn't unique to Vernal, but she was one of a growing number of examples. Admittedly, the lack of insight into her makes Raven appear horrifyingly callous — this is the woman who murdered a young girl for power, turned on her brother, cared little for using Vernal even when it led to her death — but the story didn't... lean into that? We got these facts, these implications, and then we ended on this moment of Raven crying with Yang. Rather than crafting complex characters, RWBY tends to shoehorn in scenes that just make me confused over what kind of character they're trying to craft.

And then, finally, we come to Fria. Fria who, despite existing in an arc about free will and Ironwood's supposed manipulation, is never given the chance to convey whether she was choosing to help, or had been steered towards this choice unwillingly, perhaps using her implied memory problems as the means. Which, again, in no way helps Ironwood's arc when Weiss just tries to state that he controlled her career — contrary to the relationship we've seen — and any crimes in regards to Fria are pure speculation. Fria, whose mere existence draws attention to the flimsy worldbuilding and the fact that we understand so little about these situations, both internal and world-wide, despite the fact that so much rests on clarifying motivations, long-term plans, and consequences. How can we understand sacrifice if we don't know a character's knowledge and intentions? And Fria, who was presented as a bed-bound old lady, but who suddenly busted out a massive cyclone of ice. Much like Maria's sudden fighting prowess, it made me go first "What?" and then "So why haven't you been helping all along?" There are lots of potential answers there — not reliable with those memory issues, only capable of defending herself when absolutely necessary and otherwise weak, etc. — but the point is we don't know. RWBY wants to make the Maidens a focal part of the story, but then gives us a plot that boils down to: "Here's a Maiden! Now she's dead. This character you know and love is set to become a Maiden. But she won't. The villain gets the power. Despite that, she's not really a threat. Here's another Maiden. That was a lie. Now she's dead. Here's the real Maiden. She's left for three seasons. Here's another Maiden with no backstory or explanation of her situation. She's also dead. The android is a Maiden! But let's make her human. Now she's dead. Now the winter powers are in the hands of the woman literally named Winter even though her getting them was supposed to happen a season ago/was presented as a red herring."

Between the power scaling issues, the quick Maiden turn around, and adding in the fact that so few of them have an emotional impact on the story, I'm not surprised at the number of fans who just don't seem to care about this aspect of the show.

[cyberpunkboytoy]

As much as I adore Neo, I’m really upset by how they ended up handling Kanon’s character. (Spoilers ahead)

Kanon was immediately such a cool character. Every scene with her was intriguing and entertaining, spending much of the game orbiting the main cast and only interacting in small amounts. I had been so excited on week 3 when it seemed like, finally, we’d get to learn about her in a more meaningful way rather than understanding through implication & small patterns in her short appearances.

Instead they killed her for Fret’s character development.

They could have let her survive longer through week 3, let her break through Fret’s shell with more conversations that would have benefitted both their characters. They could have let her talk about her feelings, how long she and the other teams had been trapped in the game and how she felt watching all these people disappear around her, which would have also helped inform the player about more worldbuilding.

They could have utilized her in so many ways, but she didn’t even get to die in action. She’s the only team leader we didn’t get to fight, who didn’t get to be in the Noiseipedia. A boring, disempowering ending.

Her last words are dedicated to Fret’s character arc. It just feels so cheap, to see such a promising character reduced to that. “I wanted to spend more time with her” indeed.

[galacticlamps]

Tagged by @the--highlanders​ ! Thanks!

How many works do you have on AO3?

13

What’s your total AO3 word count?

76,200

(oh what a nice even number - I should try to mess that up as soon as possible, shouldn’t I?)

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Aw man is this intentionally worded to be really hard to answer? I get that it says ‘written’ and not ‘posted’ but then what constitutes a ‘fandom?’ I definitely wrote fics for stuff I was interested in long before I even knew the word ‘fic’ - I did it throughout my childhood, and then in high school, and while I didn’t do it as much in college, it still happened from time to time. So a lot of the books/movies/tv shows/plays/musicals I wrote things for aren’t really fandoms, and frankly, I had to check my old folder just now to even remember some of them existed. I’ll just list the ones that I know for sure had fandoms, since that’s more fun (and embarrassing), right?

Obviously Doctor Who, classic and modern, Torchwood, Sherlock Holmes (ironically more of these seem to be about the books, but yes, I will admit, some for that tv show too), Les Mis, a couple different Marvel comics & movies, Good Omens, hell, I even found a Night Vale fic in there just now.

And I know there are other older things not even in that folder, some of which never made it to a computer at all, so if I had to ballpark a number I’d probably say around 25ish but really, who knows?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Across the Gap

On the Spot

Expectations

Shards of Memories & Fragments of Glass

Itemized

(this was fun, I’d never noticed Ao3 even had a stats page until now lol)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to! Sometimes I take a long time to do so but for the most part, I usually get around to it. The rare exception would be if I first saw the comment when I was super busy/distracted and then felt like way too much time passed before I noticed it again, that it might be awkward if I said something at that point.

I do genuinely enjoy hearing what people think, but I’m also weirdly terrified of making anyone feel like they have to reply to my comments. I know that’s probably a little strange, but it’s actually a large part of why I made this Ao3 account in the first place - my original one, from high school, is followed by some long-time friends of mine who aren’t interested in this fandom, some of whom are involved in art & writing professionally. The thought of anyone like that reading something I wrote out of friendliness or even just curiosity and potentially having to pretend they liked it for the same reasons stressed me tf out, so I like having this virtually anonymous one because I can relax knowing that anyone who reads or interacts with something I wrote has probably done so only because they wanted to, rather than feeling obligated, and there’s no pressure on them to be nice to me about it if anything I write or post annoys them - so I really hope nobody who does just know me as an anonymous blog has ever worried about offending me by not replying to something, trust me, I’m perfectly happy with it!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t think I’ve really written any angsty endings? I guess the answer would have to be Reckless just because it involves the characters arguing about sad/weighty things and there isn’t really any solution to those issues - but even then I think I ended it with a kind of acceptance that stops it from really qualifying as angst? I also set it in the the same universe as other fics, so maybe that doesn’t even count as an ending? Am I that bad at ending things on angst? Lol

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Obviously none of the fics I’ve posted are crossovers but I’m trying to think now if any of my WIP’s are - I’ve definitely poached setting/premise ideas from other media, but in terms of actual crossovers . . . I’ve got a few cross-era or cross-Doctor, a few involving Torchwood, but that’s already the same universe, so the only thing that’d qualify as a true crossover would be some vague pieces of a fic where Jamie, Zoe, and Two end up on the Enterprise, since I think the 60s series of Star Trek and Dr Who feel kind of compatible, don’t they? In fact, aren’t there like officially licensed crossover comics or something? Or did I make that up? Idk, and the ideas are very loose, so it’s not much of a WIP either

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope, never

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I’ve never written smut, but I’m wondering if it’s possible that could change soon. There’s a longish multi-chapter fic I’ve been working on for a frankly embarrassing amount of time, and the plot does call for a sex scene at one point towards the end, but I can’t seem to make up my mind on how - uh, I guess the word is explicit? - it should get. I know I could easily do a fade to black/implication thing, but it’s kind of a source of contention and anxiety for the characters, so to skip over writing the actual scene and just revisit them afterwards rings of “and they slept together and now everything’s fine!” which feels kinda cheap to me - in this context, anyway - and not the right payoff for a long fic that’s otherwise more of an interpersonal drama/slightly a period piece, if I had to place it in a genre. I feel like my aversion to actually writing the scene might just be prudishness I should get over, or maybe just self-doubt, because I know I’d rather have a well-written, funny, character-development-supporting sex scene than nothing at all, but since I’ve never had any interest in writing a scene like that before, I don’t know if I can do it well, and I also don’t want to ruin a fic I’m otherwise proud of by doing it badly... ugh I have to figure this out

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I seriously doubt it

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

What’s your all time favorite ship?

I mean, it’s gotta be Two & Jamie. I’ve shipped things before with varying levels of investment, but I’ve never been able to use the term ‘otp’ in a literal sense until I came across them, and now it’s already basically gone out of fashion, go figure!

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I’m not sure if I have one? My WIP doc is huge, but I don’t actually intend to get around to finishing everything in it, so I’d like to think that anything I’ve currently singled out to complete can actually get done.

That said, I do have a few AU’s that I don’t really plan to finish, but it might be cool if I could. Two of them are for all the main + some supporting characters of the Second Doctor’s era - one’s a modern day school teachers AU, and the other is a typical fantasy/fairy tale AU. Another is just Two/Jamie, based on Doctor Faustus (specifically the Marlowe play version) but right now there are two different versions of the ending coexisting in my head. I’ve written parts of scenes & some gen. backstory for all of those ideas, but I don’t know if I’ll ever try to finish them, or what form a finished product would even take - a series of one-shots set in the same universe? one long multi-chapter fic with some kind of overarching plot? And the amount of context/worldbuilding a big AU like these would require might not make them very appealing fics for people to read, so maybe it is better if I just keep them to myself, since in my head I already know what’s going on in those worlds lol.

What are your writing strengths?

I honestly don’t know. I haven’t had a creative writing class since middle school, and since then I’ve only ever shown creative writing to others in a fandom context, so it’s been a while since I’ve discussed it or gotten critical feedback. I suppose when I work in other arts or even academic writing contexts, people usually say I’m kind of insightful or at least detail oriented, which might just be another way of saying I overthink things, but I like to imagine I’m decent at finding little points of interest to expand upon.

What are your writing weaknesses?

If you’ve read this far I feel like you must know what I’m about to say: I do not know how to be concise.

Usually when I’m writing a fic, I put down the dialogue first on its own, leaving out the action of the scene and whatever plot/context led there, even if I’ve already figured all of that out. But then when I go to add those things in, they’re always longer than I wanted them to be. I don’t mind writing something long, but I don’t want my fics to be a slog to get through either, and there can be a point at which the stuff I’ve added for context overwhelms the stuff that I wanted the fic to be about in the first place, so it becomes a structural/proportion issue too. I haven’t completely given up on any fics because of this yet, but there’s one I’ve been struggling with for a couple months now - probably because I’m even second-guessing myself on which scenes need to be written out and which can just be referenced like a recap. Hopefully I figure that one out soon.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

((this is karma isn’t it? i posted a fic last week with two words of gaelic in it and was worried about that and now this is karma))

In general, I don’t want to do it. I feel like you’ve gotta have a really good grasp of a language to write dialogue & speech patterns for someone who’s a native speaker, and since I’m far from fluent in any language the characters I write for are, I wouldn’t feel confident writing any significant amount of dialogue in, say, Gaelic.

As a sidenote, though, I kinda love it when other people do it, particularly for Jamie. Irish (Gaeilge) and Scottish (Gàidhlig) are both languages I’ve wanted to learn for a long time, because my family’s fresh out of living speakers of either & I think that’s a shame, but I started with Irish and at the moment I’m still very much learning it. As different as they are, it still helps me understand parts of lyrics or texts that I come across in Gàidhlig fairly frequently, so when it comes up in a fic I get to feel like I’m being responsible and practicing, and it’s great when I can actually understand what’s being said.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I’m gonna go with Harry Potter even though that’s probably not a perfectly accurate answer - it’s almost certainly the first thing that has a fandom that I ever wrote for, but it was in a notebook when I was a kid and never something that I even typed on a computer, much less posted online or shared with other members of a fandom. But even then, I’m sure it wasn’t the first pre-existing fictional universe I ever set an original story in, because I did that a lot when I was a kid, it’s just hard to remember those clearly or on any kind of timeline.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

I’m very partial to Across the Gap, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that ranked first on the kudos thing above - but I’ve also got a soft spot for So Merrily We’ll Sing. It’s so self-indulgent it feels silly saying ‘it was so easy to write!’ but I guess having a fic that’s already just 100% headcaonons and fluff tied together by a song you really love does prevent it from being much of a labor (I also managed to refrain from making that one unnecessarily long, so that’s another win there)

tagging @terryfphanatics and anyone else who wants to do it - sorry I’m bad at remembering whose tumblr goes with whose Ao3 account, but I really would be interested to read this if anyone else feels like answering them!

[belle-keys]

Incoherent thoughts about A Court of Silver Flames (2021) by SJM

Do not expect this to be a critical, unbiased review at all. Eet just ease what eet ease. Spoilers ahead laddies. 

*unwanted preface* 

Okay, so like, you know those things that are neither objectively perfect nor unproblematic yet you love them and are attached to them anyway? Yeah, this is me with SJM’s writing. See, I been with Sarah and Throne of Glass since March of 2015 and with ACOTAR since the summer of 2015 when I was 13 and honestly, ACOTAR in particular occupied a decent portion of my formative teen years. Eventually, when I was about 16 I sort of ended up getting distracted from YA books and went into my thot and kpop era. A main reason for this is that I found ACOFAS particularly disenchanting. This ain’t about that book (sigh) but let’s just say as much as I was still attached to and in love with the ACOTAR world, I was still able to get very annoyed by the decreased quality of the writing and also the evident projecting Sarah was doing onto Feyre with regards to her own life and experiences (ahem). No, the lack of developed POC in the book had nothing to do with it ironically. 

So basically, since the spring of 2018 I haven’t read any SJM yet I never fell out of love with the books either. I’ve sworn off TOG after whatever the hell EOS was, but ACOTAR was always more special and close to my heart by tenfold, honestly. See, the best day of my 2016 was the day I found out ACOTAR was getting the extra 3 novels and 2 novellas. ACOFAS was a dumpster fire but I was actually surprised to really, really enjoy A Court of Silver Flames while it obviously has a couple (multiple) sus facets to it. The susness aside, I thoroughly felt at home reading Nesta’s book despite how irrational that might sound. No, I’m not here to say the book was objectively good but I’m here to say I still enjoyed it despite my love-hate relationship with SJM and her writing. :( :( :( 

That being said imma still roast tf out of a couple aspects of it. :)

*the susness*

Aight wbk that SJM like, projects a lot onto feyrhys right. I’m not even gonna deny it. Like as horrible as it sounds, when feyrhys were, like, struggling as a couple and shit in ACOMAF, that’s when I loved them the most but then the shitstorm that was ACOWAR hit and they couldn’t go without boning every two seconds or calling each other mates and shit and basically every character in the book started kissing their asses (except Nesta) to the point where they were infallibly good and powerful and everyone’s heads were lodged up their asses... I got PISSED OFF then, right.

Now, in ACOSF (is that correct?), they were side characters and, gratefully, that romance between them was toned down. But here are some things concerning feyrhys and the Court of Dreams that irked tf out of me, and the implications that they had for Nesta (who is perhaps one of the baddest bitches ever) had me feeling homicidal towards the IC:

Every single time Nesta said shit about Rhys and then Cassian got mad I wanted to SCREAM like yooo let her roast tf out of him like yeah I get Rhys lowkey did a lot for her both directly and indirectly but cmoooooon not everyone needs to be riding his dick like the man HATED Nesta from the get-go. I loved the idea that someone in the book lowkey abhors Rhys just for the TEA it gave me. Like yeah, okay Cassian, I get that he’s your bro but he can SUCK NESTA’S DICK also like my girl is a DEATH GOD.

Here me out: the Inner Circle completely dehumanized Nesta, they completely disregarded her personal autonomy and caged her in which is ironically the very behavior that was villainized when Tamlin did it to Feyre. First of all they restricted her movement, they made decisions FOR her, they withheld from her knowledge about her own powers, they decided what’s best for her and acted like she was a rabid dog the entire time. Only Cassian and Azriel seem more blameless in this regard, but the level of scorn and abohorence and moralizing Feyre, Elain, Rhys, Amren and Mor did towards Nes made my blood boil. At the end of the day, the Inner Circle did the VERY THING they hated being done to Feyre. Whatever happened to the freedom they professed? The autonomy they decided all members of their court deserved? That was all bullshit, or was this switch-up SJM’s way of creating justifiable conflict between Nesta and the Inner Circle... either way, there was no closure about this and the way they dictated Nesta’s behavior whilst completely mistreating her imo.

More on Nesta’s treatment - okay listen the way the narrative had every character acting like Nesta was fricking scum and for WHAT??? Okay, she didn’t hunt when Feyre and they were poor, she was bitchy, she hates the Fae... okay, why is Nesta still being punished for her mistakes like this by the Court? Does their forgiveness only apply to those in their clique? They’re acting like her drinking and sleeping around and her general bitchy behavior is sooooo toxic when they ALL coped with their respective trauma in questionable ways in their centuries of living. And the narrative never condemned them for this behavior either... like cmon they had an “intervention” about Nesta like if she needed to reach a certain moral standing to be lovable or something. Seems to me that only Cassian was willing to love her, bruises and all... “There’s nothing broken to be fixed. You are helping yourself. Healing the parts of you that hurt too much - and perhaps hurt others too”. But as beautiful as that it, it seems the IC see Nesta’s healing as her “redemption arc” when I never saw her as a villain or monster to begin with. They acted like she had to become deserving of their acceptance. Bullshit.

No cus more on this... Cassian is the only person who defended Nesta, the only person that wanted to help her heal and grow when everyone else wanted to fix her. He was the only person who was kind to her from the original trilogy (i.e. not counting Emerie and Gwyn). He stood up for her and I’ll gush about them in the next section, but the dynamic between Nesta and the IC was the least enjoyable aspect of the book for me. It was clear SJM wanted to spur Nesta towards the path to healing yet only figured out how to do so whilst only keeping feyrhys as the nucleus of this arc, and so she had them force Nesta into her “special journey” (because she loves them so much, cus they’re sooooo perfect right *rolls eye*), yet, the narrative didn’t quite condemn them for their toxicity towards Nesta at ALL, even towards the end. The good thing is that Nesta did not become an ass-kisser throughout the story and laud them for “helping her” every waking second. Only Cassian didn’t shun her for her inner negativity but embraced her. And Az was pretty cool too, can’t hate him.

Ahem, the ending: okay, I’m not even capping, but I hated that Nesta lost her power for feyrhys. I get that she genuinely did it out of love and shit and I’m not even gonna lie, the thought of feyrhys dying had me on the verge of tears cus as much as I hate them, I also love those bitches. Yet, the culmination of Nesta’s power was, what?, to save feyrhys. This way, the narrative put Feyre at the center of Nesta’s narrative towards the end. And Nesta lost that Death God power that she basically EARNED in that Cauldron. This is the biggest flaw of the story. She fought against her own power to give it up... for Feyre. Like??? What??? Why was that baby arc even necessary????? Why was Nesta giving up her power necessary to fulfil her healing arc which was the POINT of the book??? Like what?????? It left a sour taste in my mouth. No- an abhorrent acidic bitter taste in my mouth. 

Elain. I CANNOT STAND THIS GIRL. She completely abandoned Nesta and for WHAT??? For Feyre??? This only served to reiterate from the narrative’s POV that Nesta was scum and again, idk WHY. And also, why tf does this girl mistreat Lucien like this??? LUCIEN AKA MY FAVORITE CHARACTER???

I just don’t get how the narrative reiterated that Tamlin is the worst of the worst when you got Rhys hiding shit from Feyre, hiding knowledge of Nesta’s power from Nesta, all of that. Like, was the entire point of ACOMAF not for Feyre to embrace her power and become her best self? Rhys never for one second tolerated withholding Feyre’s power from her. So why tf does this apply to Nesta? Cus she’s unhealthy? Okay... so what??? Why villainize her like this and imply she’s undeserving of her power and a waste of life??? I’M LAUGHING SO HARD RN LIKE WHERE DID THIS EVEN COME FROM??? What did my girl do that was sooooo bad that yall needed to treat her like this. Tell me why feyre and amren and varian and rhys all acted like Tamlin in this book. Cardi voice WHAT WAS THE REASON. I AM SO MAD ABOUT THIS CUS THEY ACTED LIKE THE FRICKING MORALISING SYCHOPHANTS THEY CLAIM TO HATE.

Like bitch??? They’re like those youth pastors that reiterate how broken and messed up people with mental illness are? Acted like Nesta screwing guys was the worst thing ever when they should have embraced her? Like I get she would push them away but really??? “Waste of life”??? 

So we gon gloss over how Amren was insisting Nesta shut up about the baby business to Feyre (aka hiding shit from her)? How she was implying that Rhys should conquer all of Prythian? Hear me out, even as someone from a Caribbean country that was colonized by the whites, it actually doesn’t bother me when the theme of conquest comes up, like, this is a fantasy novel and colonization does not exist within the same context for me. That being said, like, it felt as if the narrative telling me lil Rhysie is just sooooo perfect that he needs to be High King. Like, I respect the fact that Rhys has no wish to do so. Homeboy never seemed to care for conquest beyond ensuring his Court’s prowess and safety so WHAT WAS THE REASON AMREN??? Like? What kinda crack was Amren on this entire book???

The worldbuilding... listen, the politics and history felt all over the place, felt incoherent and flat honestly. Didn’t bother me as much as it did in ACOWAR but it was just *meh*, not good. Not horrible, but not great. I preferred the world when it was directly the result of Beauty and the Beat and East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

The Fae have lost their *magic*: no cus what I loved about the first book was that the Fae were one with the Courts and felt very fleshed out in terms of their powers and shit, but now only Eric and Lucien and Tamlin and sometimes Rhys have that same magic for me. Like... the sensuality of the Fae in terms of their actual Celtic roots, that which felt whimsical and immersive in the first book, feels lost to me. I can’t explain it but I feel less nuance and orthodoxy in their portrayal. However, I DID love this one line featuring none other than the loml : “Amid the pink and white blossoms, the cold-faced Autumn Court heir looked truly faerie - as if he’d stepped out of the tree, and his one and only master was the earth itself”. LIKE I SALIVATED THAT IS MY MAN.

*good stuffs*

Okay let’s talk about the smut like I didn’t like the word choice as usual like quit with the euphemisms and say cock and goooooo. That being said like, okay, I like how she set up the physical dynamic between Nesta and Cassian cus the sex wasn’t some big romantic climactic build-up like how it was in acomaf like they were being NASTY from the get-go and I respect that drip. Like she did not cap on how porny the smut was and thank God it wasn’t some cliche romantic honeymoon type shit, like it was almost on the ao3 level of smutty goodness. All it was was missing was coarse language and hard kinks but in general, I liked the Nessian smut in this book more than the feyrhys smut in particularly ACOWAR and ACOFAS, like Nessian just do not cap.

Listen... you see that whole part when Nesta was like imagining how awesome it would be to dance Lucifer’s Bachata with Az and Cassian? Yeah, my girl just let her thoughts run wild. Like Nesta makes Feyre look naïve. Like you know how Tumblr porn in 2016 used to be with the aesthetic type shit? That’s Feyre, but Nesta is like on Pornhub level and it’s so fitting I was YELLIN lowkey. I feel like less importance was placed on how meaningful the sex and shit should be in the book and I respect that.

YOU SEE WHEN NESTA TOLD FEYRE ABOUT THE BABY!!! I WAS CHEERING HER ON. No cause they were being so nasty to Nesta especially Amren and then Feyre entered with all of her moralising shit like honey you KNOW damn well what you’re doing to Nesta is what you hate being done to you. Like damn right tell her, cus I could not STAND the double standard.

The whole training the women thing was a nice touch. It was kinda corny but also sweet. That being said, I laughed so hard when I realized how this entire book was Nesta’s quarter-life hippie rebirth where she learns to meditate and work out and read romance books and face her inner demons like this is some real New York college shit. All that was missing was a Starbucks.

Cassian. Man I love this man so much. No like he displayed peak dilf behavior. I think his attractiveness isn’t based on his bravery or his hotness but his humility man. Like he’s not a thot, he’s respectful, yet tough, yet contemplative. He’s contented with his life station yet wants to always be a better person yet is such a strong rock who really loves Nesta not despite her flaws but because they are part of her. I love the way he stood up to Rhys a lot, he didn’t shame her when she was awful to him, and he is protective (annoyingly so sometimes) but he really wanted her to empower herself. Their relationship isn’t perfect (I’m not in the mood to dissect the problematic aspects rn) but they were so sweet together and I didn’t expect to like them as much as I did back when they were lowkey a thing in ACOMAF.

The mates thing didn’t bother me cus I saw this shit coming since 2016. Yes, it’s cliche and annoying but the mates status also, like, has no meaning to me so it is what it is. Didn’t think they NEEDED to be mates but I was happy that them being mates wasn’t the core of the novel and it was secondary to Nesta’s individual healing journey.

Prepare for me to get sappy but another reason why I loved this novel was because it was a story of healing. :( :( :( The road to healing and growth in the emotional sense is always beautiful to me despite how flawed it often is when SJM writes it. I just felt really immersed in the emotional woes and eventual growth of Nesta despite my issues with the book and this is perhaps one of the main reasons that I found it beautiful, because healing as a theme is always beautiful and raw.

More of Nessian but like their relationship feels so real and raw too. No, cus like, it wasn’t tinged in as much fictitious idealism as feyrhys’ relationship was. They weren’t all stupidly in love and seeing each other in the universe and shit, like they just made each other happy and weren’t portrayed as the perfect soulmates who were each other’s yin and yang and whatever thank the LORD. Them having each other’s back was enough and ughhhh Cassian was just so sweet and such a good trainer and so aloof yet passionate like I been waiting to see more of him since ACOMAF so yayyy.

Okay... that scene where Rhys kneels to Nesta and she embraces him. yes. YES YES YES YES YES that shit was the shit that made my year like I want this man to be in her debt for the end of time like this hoe saved yall like big strong high lord better bow to the “witch” like I could hear angelic choirs at that scene like Rhys doesn’t just yield to people so easily so like, it was just kinda epic okay. Little bitchass Rhys with his perfect little river house and emo boi clothes stfu hoe.

No cus I love how Nesta told Cassian she didn’t wanna hear about Feyre’s special journey or Rhys’s special journey or Mor’s like I got fed up of people acting like they epitomized “good” and the “good path” to self-discovery when they can choke on a baguette as far as I am concerned.

*shit no one except me probs cares about*

Eris. So here is the thing. Since 2015 in ACOTAR when Eris was Under the Mountain being all red-headed and cunning and sexy and evil I have been obsessed with him... well, the idea of him I had in my head and how delectably abhorrent he seems (I like villains and side-characters okay). Maybe it was just his name (Eris is a hot name shut up) or the idea of a rich, cunning fox-faced prince in the same universe appealed to me. Either way, I actually never expected by favorite cameo-character to become... important. I’ll die on the hill of loving him. Here is the thing... I don’t want him to be good, in the same way I did not want Rhys to be a good guy in ACOTAR either. I don’t need him to be a secret angel, I don’t need him to be sweet and good like Rhys always was apparently. Honestly, I want him corrupt but likeable and pertinent to the story. That being said, I really want him as the main character for one of the upcoming novels sooo bad like please PLEASE let me see the autumn court and it’s two-facedness please like if not Eris then Lucien as the main character please.

Lucien... aka my fave character since the first book man. Mannn, SJM does homeboy so dirty like I have always loved Russian fables and hence, I am so ready for Lucien x Vassa x Jurian in the Vasilisa retelling with the firebird trope and Koshei. NO CUS in 2018 I was finna write a 100k word fic about this but then I forgot about it no cap, I still have the story plan in my Onenote actually but let us not reminisce. See, my ao3-loving ass wants an angsty poly relationship and also a hot Koshei I have been waiting YEARS for this you hoes, ever since Elain got the premonition of Vassa as a firebird in ACOWAR like God please please please give it to me and make it feyrhys-less as well yasss.

I lowkey wanna suspect Eris is gay and Mor, also gay, knows and that’s why she lowkey kinda tolerates him now. Yet, I cannot be sure and yeah I just wanna say that I kinda want that arc lmfaooo (my ao3-self is showing shut up).

No cus I was TEASED by only seeing a glimpse of Vassa and Jurian but THEY SHALL HAVE THEIR TIME I KNOW IT.

Tamlin living as a beast is so interesting to me. He’s a side-character now but ughhhh he was so mystical and interesting as our good ole Beauty and the Beast beastie like it’s sooooo mysterious and alluring how he’s becoming his own villainous legend like I still care about Tamlin’s blond ass self despite everything. 

Give us the snowball fight scene you coward.

I just gotta say Nessian could outsmut Feyrhys any day and that makes me proud.

FRICKING AZRIEL like first of all Mor doesn’t NEED to come out until she’s ready but she gotta let the man down nicely some other way so he can move on. I do not like Elain. Never did. I still do not. I do not, frankly, want a whole novel where she and Azriel fall in love and she rejects Lucien like... okay, I DO want her to reject Lucien so he can be with Vassa at the very least but also I am not interested in Elain’s POV rn. BUT I WANT AZ’S POV AND LIKE WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO I WANT MY EMO BOI TO BE HAPPY. This is so frustrating cus Az is a walking DILF right and so, what am I supposed to do now.

I kinda miss the Spring Court just a little. It’s pretty shut up. It got that Zuhair Murad fashion too. 

Umm like, what the hell is up with that business with Helion being Lucien’s dad? We need more on this which is why I want a Lucien POV book goddammit.

Yoooooooo yall remember that bitch from ACOWAR who hybern was finna kill and she had a name and everything and then there was some foreshadowing and shit? What’s up with her? Like I can’t even remember her name lowkey but yeah what’s up with that. Was it something like Briar or Briannon or somthing???

Is Mor getting a book? Like deadass I need the Lucien and Vassa book, I need the Eris book, I need the Mor book and I need the Azriel book. Damn. Been waiting 6 years for some of this shit.

Okay that is all for now. Yes, this book has problematic elements at every level but I still loved it yet also hated some things about it. I won’t read House of Blood and Earth nor will I finish the TOG series but I guess I’ll stick with this series which remains near and dear to my soul despite what people gotta say about it. It made me happy and that’s what matters. Nesta is a huge ass inspiration to me as a character and I still wanna see her make the Inner Circle’s life a living hell uwu. I admittedly got HELLA emotional reading this story because it’s nonetheless super meaningful to me even at age 19 and it’s really powerful for me as a comfort book, and I look forward (a little) to what this woman put out next... sort of.

Signing off! Don’t @ me (okay you CAN @ me but idc).

[talesfromgringolandia]

Underwing Challenge Day 6 - What does your portfolio look like? Talk about as many other WIPs as you’d like here.

So how far back do I want to go? I’ve had a lot of WIPs. Not as much as some people I’ve seen in this challenge. A lot of them I’m not actually working on anymore, but I’d like to get back to one day.

Besides Bo and Shen, these are the WIP’s that are still, well, in progress.

Elissa:

The next most recent WIP I worked on is called Elissa, because the main character is named Elissa.(I am very creative). Elissa began as a project with a friend of mine, based on a dream she had. The title character is an android who has been raised believing she’s human. The story begins when she discovers she is an android. She has been raised by two people: her adoptive mother is Claudia, a devout Catholic who has been following the rules of the lab by not teaching Elissa any of her faith. She regrets that now, and begins trying to introduce Elissa to the faith. The other is Jacob, a staunch atheist who doesn’t believe Elissa is honestly human. He hasn’t really been raising Elissa, not like Claudia has, but he’s been very involved as a scientist. Elissa has to deal with the existential implications of her nature, and that's before she learns about the apocalypse which occurred a hundred years ago.

The Technarchs Rule:

This one still doesn’t have a name, because there’s no one story so far, just a universe I find super interesting. It actually began as the history of the anarchic period of the world of Boot Camp Renus, but as things developed, I found myself more interested in a post-apocalyptic world instead. I also found myself forgetting my fictional planets more and more, and focusing much more on Mars.

The solar system has been colonized for a while. Martian Iron, the product of smelting the red soil, is one of the most powerful metals of the solar system, and is vital for modern spaceship hulls. It's also incredibly common, being the literal dirt on Mars.

Eventually, there is tension over who gets to use the dirt, as Earth-based companies continue to mine it without permission from Mars. This blows over into an actual war for independence between Mars and Earth, with all other colonies picking sides.

During the war, each side races to create the perfect AI, which could predict the location of a ship and its strategy in seconds. Mars wins this race by performing unethical experiments on children, creating the first Computer-Child. This boy soon rises through the ranks of the army, and once he has the authority, orders the nuking of the Earth's surface. This was a line that previously, neither side had dared to cross. After rendering Earth uninhabitable, the computer-child assumes control of Mars as Technarch, cybernetically enhancing himself until he is functionally immortal. The rest of the solar system falls into chaos and anarchy. This is the setting.

The Technarch creates a cult following around himself, and out of his followers, selects several (probably 12) to be his Olympians, cyborgs who had been enhanced to the point of being nearly unstoppable.

Other characters include assassin bots Kenta and Deko, and a bounty hunter named Van Dorn.

A Christmas Story / A Letter from Pelznickel:

Does it count as a WIP if it's finished? This is the only project I’ve ever finished, and it got second place in a writing competition. It's my idea of the origin story of Santa Claus. I can’t decide between the two titles. Pelznickel is actually a character in folklore believed to be a proto-Santa Claus, which is why I used that name. I tried to only use names in actual Santa lore, and it worked really well, I think.

Under the cut, I’ll include the WIP’s that hold a deep place in my heart, but I haven’t worked on in years, for various reasons.

Yellowstone:

One of my first projects ever. It's about a post-apocalypse but with superheroes. When a radioactive meteor lands in Yellowstone National Park and starts infecting people with a fatal disease, the government builds a radioactive-proof wall around the park and the surrounding areas, leaving the people trapped inside to fend for themselves. A small percentage of people are immune to the disease, and the children of these survivors are discovered to have strange powers. A generation later, people have left the cities and settled around farms and villages for food. Damon and his sister Emma are no different, living on the ranch of Jarod Levin, an immune survivor of the radiation. When a newcomer named Jonas Reed arrives trying to make the first map of the area, everything changes for them. By everything changes, I mean a raiding party appears, burns the ranch down, and kills everybody but Damon, Emma, their friend Ian, Jonas, and another girl named Melissa. I then realized I had no plot after that, and have not written for it since. But this was my first foray into worldbuilding with seven chapters of introduction to the world, as well as dynamics between the characters before the place burns down. They are definitely some of my favorite characters I have ever created, probably more than even the characters in Bo and Shen.

Boot Camp Renus:

My first foray into Science Fiction. After centuries of anarchy, the three colonized solar systems have finally been united under the Interstellar Democracy, or ISD. Deko Fost, a Martian teenager, is struggling with guilt after the death of his sister 2 years ago. In an attempt to redeem himself, he decides to join the Star Force, and is sent to the planet Renus, a small, dense world dedicated to the military boot camp. There, he meets Earthling Norenaya Amankai, daughter of missing war hero Roka Amankai; and Hagane Kenta, an Atlantean man who has no restrictions on what he will do to succeed. Minor characters are two twins who are intentionally carbon copies of the Weasley twins, just different hair color. The themes focus on Deko’s Catholic faith, and on his recovery. Norenaya, or Naya, is not mentally prepared for boot camp, and has to find strength to make it through. Kenta learns to respect Deko for succeeding even despite being sabotaged.

I wrote to the point they got to the bootcamp, and then had no idea what happened next.

My favorite part of this was the worldbuilding. I made three really cool planets. Atlantis has an atmosphere of water, and the Atlanteans live miles beneath the surface in specially constructed buildings. Atlanteans have stupid pale skin, and was also originally settled by the Japanese. Vrill is a massive planet with a strong gravitational pull, and is populated by massive dinosaur creatures that are big enough to build a city on, which people do. The only time people built a city on the ground didn’t end well. Vrillan settlers, over generations, have become short and strong. Kol is a planet that spews gas and dust constantly, and is full of valuables for mining. As such, it has a reputation as a planet of oppressors who exploit the population to maximize their riches. The people have been around the natural pollution for generations, to the point that their skin pigment is now a dusty gray.

The astute among you will realize I use the same names in Boot Camp Renus as in the Technarch Rule. This doesn’t mean anything, I was just lazy when coming up with names for my Martian androids.

[ettawritesnstudies]

1, 2, and 7 for the fan-tastic ask game?

oooh these are fun questions..... I'm going to do a short answer for all of my main WIPS! Thanks for the ask!

What kind of readers would be fans of your WIP?

Runaways: People who like The Spiderwick Chronicles, House of Hollow, Narnia, classic fairytales, and wholesome children's stories that are actually really dark if you think too hard about the implications

Storge/The Laoche Chronicles: People who like political intrigue and complex plots with a lot of moving parts, epic worldbuilding, dramatic character arcs and sacrifices, and the promise of a happy ending.

What do you plan to do with this WIP when you finish it? If you HAVE finished, how long did it take?

I have finished the first drafts of both Runaways and Storge, and I'm outlining the Laoche Chronicles! I plan to self-publish all my books, in that order. I came up with the idea for Laoche in 2014, realized I needed a prequel and started Storge circa 2015-2016, and finished the draft in summer 2020. I fully expect it to be another 6 years before these books start to get published just because they're so long and epic and complex and I write so slow.

Runaways on the other hand: it started as a scrap of an idea in a phone note, was outlined, drafted, and finished in under 6 months, and I want to finish editing it by October so I can give it to beta readers with the intention of putting it up on my website as a serial novel. It'll stay there until I go through the actual self-publishing process to turn it into a book sometime in 2023 after I graduate, I think, at which point I'll take it off the website.

You’ve published or shared your WIP and it develops rabid fandom. What’s the fandom known for?

Runaways: I think it would be really cool to see people coming up with their own faerie/changeling/powered OCs and playing in the world I've created. It's a very open concept to explore and I'd get a kick out of seeing people's different ideas! Also, fanart! I love fae character designs and I hope the fandom would oscillate wildly between cute domestic scenes of the girls and literal nightmare fuel

Storge/Laoche: I can see a few options/sections becoming a thing

it would be the Discourse™ These books include a LOT of analysis of philosophy, politics, religion, society, duty/responsibility, and are strongly influenced by my personal (read: Catholic) beliefs and I don't honestly don't think tumblr is ready for those takes which is why I don't talk about current events here and prefer to let my writing speak for itself because otherwise I'd be torn to shreds on the daily but anyhoooowwwww

Ensemble cast + redeemed villain + potential for endless tropes (friends-> lovers, enemies -> lovers, travel aus, etc) = shipping wars for no good reason

people memeing on the out-of-context lines (ie. the cosmere's "I am a Stick!" shtick)/incorrect quotes blogs

I also think it would be really cool to see OCs for this world because it's also a very open concept and I'd love seeing people's ideas but I have a feeling that would take a backseat to the three above topics.

Fan-tastic ask game!

[jeezlouiseoncheese]

Some thoughts on My Hero Academia

(please keep in mind that is based off my knowledge of the anime, I haven’t read the manga nor have I watched the movies)

-villain deku is lame because most of the time he barely has a motive other than getting revenge for people who wronged him (e.g. his bullies) which is a terrible motive ESPECIALLY for a villain that people hype up as super scary and powerful

-villain deku also just makes no sense character wise. I mean yeah, I get that the whole personality change is kinda the main point of it, but logistically it just wouldn’t happen without something really big happening to Deku to change his perspective. Being a hero has been his dream his whole life, why would he just randomly give it up because he’s getting bullied for it? Even when he was considering giving it up because his hero had told him to, he wasn’t angry or vengeful, he was depressed. He just wouldn’t react to it like that.

-villain Bakugo is better than villain deku, but it has its flaws too. Bakugo absolutely has the motivation to become a villain, because of how poorly hero society has treated him for having a ‘villainous’ Quirk. He’s been traumatised under the care of his teachers and has had nothing done to make sure he’s okay mentally or psychologically. Plus, he is naturally a very angry and vengeful person, so it would make sense that he’d want revenge for the way he’s been treated. However, he’s also very stubborn and very passionate about his dream of being the number one hero, so it’s still a bit hard to believe he’d just completely turn away from that, especially when he’s been called a villain by people around him-- which probably just reinforces his desire to become a hero, so that he can prove them wrong. 

-Villain Bakugo is nonsensical because of his passion about becoming a hero, BUT AUs in which he is an activist against Quirkism (is that a term? Idk if it is but I don’t know how else to describe it, what I mean by that is a bias against and for certain Quirks) make much more sense because then he can get revenge for his mistreatment by solving it at its root. However this is a bit tricky because if he’s fighting against Quirkism he should also be fighting against the marginalisation of Quirkless people, and I’m still unsure if he’s changed his views on Quirklessness since his character development or not bc it’s not really discussed much in the show 

-also deaf Jirou AUs are wayy better than deaf Bakugo AUs because they have a lot more potential as Jirou loves music so much. I mean seriously this AU needs more attention

-while we’re on the topic of AUs, an Amputee Deku AU would be so interesting. Like imagine he actually breaks his arm to the point he can’t use them anymore, and how everyone would react to that. Think of how people would judge him, how it would make him feel, how it would affect disabled people to see a hero who is an amputee. There’s just so much hidden potential.

-the lack of attention being brought to how judgemental and biased society is against certain types of Quirks and the extreme commercialisation of heroism is upsetting to me personally because honestly the worldbuilding of My Hero Academia is so cool and interesting and it really makes me think but it barely ever gets explored. The socio-political implications of it are so interesting yet they are repeatedly ignored and it’s frustrating. 

-Why do the police not apprehend small-scale villains? Like literally what do they do if not that? THE POLICE IN MHA ARE FUNCTIONALLY USELESS AND ITS LITERALLY SO ANNOYING. I may be dumb and not know any other use for police but like, what is the actual difference between a police officer and a Pro Hero besides the colourful outfit and hero name? there’s literally no difference. Pro Heroes are just police officers turned into celebrities for the sake of profit. It’s literally capitalism at its finest.

-also on the subject of pro heroes, Stain is an idiot for blaming the heroes instead of the companies. When it comes to societal issues it is almost always the big corporations and companies at fault, because they have the most power and influence. He was completely right about the word ‘hero’ losing its meaning but his conclusion that the pro heroes are at fault for that is bullshit. 

-to add on to the whole thing about words losing their meaning due to hero society, ‘villain’ has lost its meaning too. Like in the first episode of the anime, the first example they give of a ‘villain’ is a guy stealing someone’s purse (I think? I haven’t watched the first episode in a while, but I remember it wasn’t a major crime) which is like, super confusing. I literally remember Kamui Woods calling the guy something like ‘epitome of evil’ or some shit like that, as if this guy had committed mass murder or something. That guy was a criminal, but he didn’t seem to have a history with it as far as we know, and he wasn’t planning on destroying the whole world or something, so he really doesn’t seem like a villain. Yet people identify him as one simply because he committed a crime. Does that mean illegally downloading movies makes you a villain? Are you a villain if you do drugs? What does villain even mean? The line between criminal and villain is practically non-existent to the point where I’m not even sure they’re two different things in the show. 

-also the fact that a good chunk of people with Quirks emit them from one or more parts of their body, usually their limbs (e.g. Bakugo, Shoji, Jirou, Shigaraki) makes such unused potential for villains. Like you could literally make a person functionally Quirkless by cutting off a part of their body, why hasn’t anyone thought of this yet

I’ve just realised how many times I’ve used the word ‘potential’ in this rant. Eh, who cares, it’s not like I’m gonna change it. Anyway, I think that’s all. If anything I said above is disproven by something said in the movies or in the manga, I’d like to know, but without any big spoilers of course. If you disagree, or want to add something on, go right ahead, I’m open to discussion :)