#get to a healthier place

[ceph-the-ghost-writer]

Wednesday Friday Writing Log

I told myself to do this on Wednesday before promptly forgetting 2.5 seconds later. Same story with Thursday. Looks like third time's the charm, though.

Phagophobia Word Count: 42,926

Asks marinating in my inbox: 13

Pending tags in games: Like, 3? For sure a Friday Kiss Game, a 9 Lines 9 People, and...one of the Last Line/Heads Up ones, I think.

Musings under the cut

Phagophobia has a finale at last. Well, the rough draft of Phagophobia does--you know what I mean. The important part is I made something with a partially coherent beginning, middle, and end. For someone who easily falls into the trap of going back and rewriting halfway through, this feels like a win.

There will still be a wrap-up chapter, of course. I'm a little disappointed in myself that my girl Oleander is just barely showing up in that...but it's something I can rectify in the new draft. After all, a lot is bound to change.

From here, I'm moving into outlining for the rewrite. I got some decent tips that seem to work with my brain rather than force me to whip it like a cruel ringmaster cajoling a tiger to jump through flaming hoops. (Before my brain turns on and mauls me, of course.) My biggest source of writing frustration is getting struck with sudden ideas. As a pantser, I make it up as I go along. At some point, however, without fail, I get hit with an idea or three that requires a retcon of what I've already come up with. This throws me off track since if I'm building off what I made up previously...how do I keep going when some or all of that information no longer applies?

Hence, summary outlining. Or whatever the official name is--I'm sure there must be one. I'm going to just ramble about what I think happens in the rewrite. Essentially, "and then this happens, and Character A felt like this, oo then this other thing happens" etc. This registers as pantsing to my brain, with the added benefit that I'm not investing a bunch of time and energy into actually writing chapters. I can let my mind run loose from beginning, middle, and end, then start asking questions and building up details. If any major shifts occur, I can alter the outline instead of something I've already half written.

At least, that's the hypothesis. We'll find out how it fares when tested.

Aside from the wrap-up chapter and outline, I'd like to do some little what-if scenes. I have no idea whether any of them will make it into the story, but they're fun so I want to write them as a lil treat. One of these is based on that prompt going around about a human willingly submitting to vampire hypnosis. I considered casting Isaac opposite of Kinslayer, then even Ben, but settled on Renato. I'd intended to delay any serious uhhhh displays of physical affection between them until much, much later in the series. However, I think a messier, volatile relationship between them is worth exploring. Also, it can just be fun when, despite a default setting of anger and guilt, two characters want each other so badly it's embarrassing, frankly.

[stil-lindigo]

the machine.

a comic about being a 'creator' online.

creative notes:

[ecoterrorist-katara]

I kind of love how Zutara has two distinct ship dynamics

dynamic 1: “I will save you from the pirates,” enemies-to-lovers, Zuko is dangerous but sexy, bad boy x good girl, morally grey antihero, Dramione vibes etc

dynamic 2: Zuko is an awkward turtleduck, idiots-to-lovers, pining for your best friend, having each other’s backs, thinking she’s the coolest thing since sliced bread, Percabeth vibes etc

We can argue about which is the correct interpretation until the cows come home, but I love that the possibilities exist in the first place. From s1 to post-series headcanons there are such distinct stages in their relationship, and you can basically pick whichever point that appeals to you and run with it. There’s something for everyone. Yet another reason why they’re the best ship y’all

[y-rhywbeth2]

Something-something, resist Durge, unascended Astarion and mooncloak Shadowheart at the end of the game: no solid memories of who they were before their abuser; kidnapping; torture; a lifetime of being a monster in service of your abuser; no past and a future of power and comfort in lies burned to ashes, leaving them to pick up the scraps of themselves and move forward, discovering who they are now (and now they get to decide that, which may be terrifying).

What do you mean I can't romance them both in-game and bask in the character parallels and I have to headcanon it instead, Larian?

[arianeemorythethird]

Thinking about Rex & Anakin & the (intimacy of) what they call each other some more...

I really latched onto that one scene in the movie where Rex uses Anakin's first name as a warning - it's a combination of Rex's trust that Anakin will get it (and he does!), that they're two people who already work really well together, they understand each other, they're in sync -

But it's also that Rex has this deliberate boundary up and Anakin respects that. Whether he actually consciously recognises there's a power imbalance between them and he needs to let Rex set the terms of how they interact or not, he acts that way, which is what ultimately counts? Anakin is someone who often struggles with maintaining boundaries in other relationships, but with this one, Anakin steps back and lets Rex set the pace.

Rex is someone he's close to and trusts, but he doesn't seem bothered that Rex keeps him at arms length in this one specific way - and more than that, he has a lot of self-awareness about it. When Rex calls him 'Anakin' in that scene he doesn't think, 'oh things are going badly and Rex must be reaching out to me more personally in a moment of need, we're getting closer, yay' - he immediately grasps that this isn't personal, this is a warning.

Both characters are making really deliberate choices in this scene, and those choices reflect how well they know each other but also how much each of them knows they know each other...

It's a kind of intimacy in and of itself.

[harpoonsnotspoons]

Was only going to draw one thing today but Coraline AU Strilondes called to me

[gideonisms]

Want to go somewhere and see different things than my apartment walls but if there is a sound or anyone looks at me I will die right there. And if I go outside today I step into a sauna. Also nearly everything besides restaurants closes at 8 despite the fact that the roads are hell 24 hours a day. You can see how this leaves me with limited options

[grahamcarmen]

carmen's team red seeing carmen being upset that she doesn't get to be with gray

[coralpaperthoughts]

jetkokka (atla) post-war au (Jet lives and all three of them are dating because Ba Sing Se literally exists)

Sokka is appointed Ambassador of the South Water Tribe because his father's gone back to be Chief and Sokka just wanted an excuse to stay at the Fire Nation and in the Fire Palace so he could be closer to Zuko (who is obviously the Fire Lord)

Toph also jumps onto this and demands Zuko make up a role for her too so she can stay at the Fire Palace too, so she's appointed Ambassador of the Earth Kingdom

Now Jet (who obviously lives because I'm fucking delusional) questions Zuko and asks him what's his official cool title coz he doesn't just wanna be "The Fire Lord's Companion" so Zuko says he's his personal guard, but Jet challenges this and says that he doesn't need a personal guard when he's got Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors

Sokka (who's lounging on Zuko's bed) hears this and gets the image of Jet in Kyoshi Warrior uniform and immediately tells the other two, which results in a night of Sokka wrestling Jet into the uniform after sitting on top of him already to apply the makeup. Zuko just sits by and watches, joyfully enjoying the show.

[zuko-always-lies]

On all those "Azula needs to be humbled before any redemption is even considered" takes

Stop it. Get some help😊

[ghostcrows]

i dont even really think trauma is something you can 'process' in the way people talk about it

i think once you go thru some shit you have gone thru it. like things are different now that stuff has changed. lol. like people say 'healing is nonlinear' but i dont think they actually believe it i think they just say that shit to say it. and all of these concepts become frustratingly abstract after a while. it all blends together into buzzword mush

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

I am the happiest person on earth right now because I just went out with a friend to grab a late lunch and it was just supposed to be a quick casual catch up thing that turned into a 4 hour conversation in the car about things that happened to us almost a decade ago 🥲

[plumbley-bee]

Me??? Attatching myself to a dnd character so much that I got a tattoo in honor of her after a week into me quitting smoking??? Because she inspires me to live and to heal and to be anything I choose to be????

Pshhhh, nah. Couldn't be me.

[pix-writes]

The thing is Justified... I know a lot of peeps like it but its not really my jam, but holy hell does Walton steal every scene he's in! Timothy Olyphant is great too, but even if I didn't know how amazing Walton is already as an actor, he really does capture your attention from the off. So that's why I've started watching it anyways 😅

Its also so funny to me Boyd Crowder's supposed to be this big bad antagonist from the off, but so far (as I've watched) what he's done is appear very receptive to Raylan's presence and requests and bascially winds him up a lot! Every time Boyd's showed up in recent eps i've watched he's been like "Raylan, let me bring up your trauma for a second. Do you want to talk about your daddy issues?"

Whilst Raylan shuts him down quickly and Boyd is just like "hmm, do you think your repressing of your emotions is boiling up into a rage and that's why ur so trigger happy, babe? Maybe u should do something about that..." - it's great haha ^^

[transmasccofee]

being drawn to makokuu like a moth to a flame

[chittychittyyangyang]

If I wasn't in the last two weeks of my graduate program I would have a lot to say about suicide, how RW.BY has done surprising well showing different aspects of suicide (abysmal trigger warnings aside), and the fan's strong (valid) feelings about suicide and what it means for them unable to see it from different perspectives in fiction.