#i followed my own creed

[fauscailt]

.tag dump

[jeanjauthor]

Why do you leave a comment on every post, but then half of them are like... “writers be inspired” ??

Because I’m an author, I have followers who are fellow writers (and friends who are artists)...and a lot of people have complained to me over the years about where to find inspiration.

Story ideas can come from anything & everything...but only if we open our minds to the possibilities of being inspired by these things.

When asked the question of “Where do you get your story ideas?” it may be personally amusing to me to jokingly reply, “I extract them from the terminus of my alimentary canal, of course!”  (Aka the super-fancy way of saying “I pull ‘em outta my butt!”) ...Except it’s not genuinely helpful for those who are trying to figure out where to get their own ideas, their own inspirations.

It doesn’t have to be a grand, vast idea for an entire 100,000-word plot (which is a fairly common/standard size for romance, scifi, and/or fantasy novel lengths). It could be just something that encapsulates the feeling of a scene, a conversation, a brief action, or a visual aid for describing a location or a setting.

If you’re writing a long-form story (which I specialize in), then you’re going to want to have little things that you can sprinkle throughout your story, things that bring richness and depth to the tale you’re telling.  Sometimes you’re going to need to send your characters on a side quest (sometimes to fix a plot hole, yeek!), and sometimes you’re going to need your characters to relate some humorous incident.

Having inspirational material on hand, or at least something you’ve looked at in the past, means you can come up with things to fill in the world-building, the scene-setting, the character-describing, the culture-explaining, all these gazillions of little details that most people don’t realize are vital parts of making a story--your story, her story, that story, this story--all the more enjoyable, because it makes a story more immersive.

In my First Salik War series. I included not one but several scenes of the Terrans (and even some V’Dan) eating space food.  MREs/field rations that were designed for being eaten in zero gravity or microgravity circumstances.

Did you know that MREs designed for space are overseasoned?  It’s because in microgravity/zero gravity conditions, the mucus in our sinuses (which helps with trying to flush viruses & bacteria out of our body)...doesn’t have gravity helping it to move anymore.  That means it sits there, building up.  And that means our smell-sensing receptors get covered up with natural, normal sinus gunk.  That means, in order for food to have any real appeal, it needs to be heavily overseasoned so at least SOME sense of scent & flavor gets through to us!

Except in the series, there are several times where they’re having to eat food packaged for zero gravity while in a normal gravity environment.  So I had to make sure that those moments were emphasized as being overly-seasoned.  This gave me the chance to do a little scene-enriching, by having my characters have minor little complaints/irritations to deal with. It made those stories more realistic, and all the richer and more immersive for it.

For me, the inspiration for all of that came from my childhood, where we’d go to the Seattle Science Center, and as a treat, my parents would sometimes buy my sister and me Astronaut Ice Cream!  Aka, dehydrated ice cream sandwich bars.  (I preferred the Astronaut Hashbrowns, but both were a cool treat for young nerdgeek me.)

Of course, this was back in the 1980s (yeah, I’m gettin’ old, oh well), and food rations for astronauts have improved vastly since tubes of protein and carbohydrates and flavors blended into a thick paste.  But it’s still my source of inspiration, to look into what MREs are, how they’re preserved, how they’re different for tropical versus temperate versus arctic conditions, and how vastly different those are from what microgravity food has to be like--no crackers or chips unless they’re small enough to fit whole in the mouth without straining, nothing that could cause crumbs that could float around and maybe even cause a short-circuit somehow...

Another source of inspiration might be using images from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey for when you’re writing a Sword & Sandal story, set in ancient Greece, ancient Rome, etc, etc... We’ve grown up with the assumption that Roman and Greek statues were these pale pristine white things, because dozens of centuries have stripped away the paint...but in reality, they were brightly hued, as were many parts of the buildings of those eras.

AC:O did a great job of showing what the cities would have actually looked like.  Just as the Assassin’s Creed series had also done a great job of recreating medieval/renaissance Italian cities, and Paris during the French Revolution, on and on and on...plus a lot of the music from the AC series is great for mood-setting in many ways.  Music is, after all, another potential source of inspiration! 

And it’s not just writing.  Painting, sculpting, pottery-making, composing music, composing poetry, creating dance choreography...!  There are so many potential sources for inspiration that it’s breathtaking. Unfortunately--if we’re honest with ourselves--by the time most of us have become adults, we’ve had our spontaneous childhood connections with creativity squeezed out of us by expectations of “proper” cultural and social behavior.

We can get it back, though.

That’s the most encouraging thing I can say to anyone.

You can get your creativity back.

Sometimes it might take a while--for whatever reason--but you can get it back.

It will, however, take exercising.  Just like how a couch potato cannot become a marathon studmuffin overnight, you have to first walk a mile, then two miles, then a handful...and then jog for a quarter mile, then jog for a quarter and walk for a half, then...

Like everything, finding inspiration takes practice.  It takes awareness.  And if you’re going to be a creative content-creator...it takes more than pulling one or two ideas outta yer ass.  There is nothing wrong in opening up your mind to all manner of sources for inspiration.  Most importantly, however, is to seek out a wide range of inspiration sources...because you’ll never know when something comes in handy.

Some days it’ll be Assassin’s Creed that inspires you in your Greco-Roman style sword & sandal fantasy.  Some days it’ll be Conan the Barbarian (the original Schwartzenegger version or the Momoa version).  Some days you’ll be so sick of The Bat that you just completely skip any DC comics references at all, not watch any tv shows or movies.  And some days you’ll be all over that Bat, drawing up fanfic story ideas for massive crossovers for various incarnations Batman...after being inspired by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

And yes, I said fanfic.  Anyone can write that.  Good, bad, mediocre, whatever. You can write it, you can find a place online to post it, and you can discover more inspiration for that sort of thing...or just leave it be, move on to something else, and hopefully someone else will find your story and be inspired by it.

Creating stuff doesn’t spring forth from an absolute blank vacuum, after all.

Sometimes we gotta help each other out, and this is my way of doing that.

[blandacheadcanons]

100 FOLLOWERS EVENT!!!!

So first off, thank you to each and every one of you that followed this blog. I wish I had more headcanons to give you, and asks are always open if you want to submit one or just to ask me a question.

I love you all. Please, never doubt that.

Now onto festivities!

fanfiction was the most requested, so i’ll start with my own fics and also link to some that i particularly like. heads up, it’s all fanfiction.net because I refuse to move to ao3. sorry if you hate ff.net

A Free Woman’s Cross

After the events of Assassin’s Creed: Uprising, Galina has to go to Charlotte’s Mother’s house to deliver the news. Rated K+ completed one shot

The Coffee Shop AU

A non-romantic au wherein the surviving characters from the Assassin’s Creed Movie must work together in a Starbucks. Work in Progress. Feel free to submit a request for a chapter. Rated T

Two’s Company

Jacob relaxes with his beloved while cuddling on the train. Written for a friend. Fluffy and rated K+

We Don’t Go Through This Alone by Vampire-Badger

“ Your ancestors are always with you, and their memories are always in your blood. Desmond Miles is eight years old when he starts seeing his ancestors, everywhere. Callum Lynch is seventeen. Neither of them has any idea how, or why, or what that might mean. But it's going to change absolutely everything. “ Rated T

Next in Line by  SiZodiac

“In the Florentine café, a kid in white hoodie comes up to Bruce with an invitation in the form of a ring. A kid that reminds him a bit of everything he dislikes, but nothing is as black and white as first seemed, and sometimes there really is no escaping one's past. Set immediately after TDKR and late in AC: Brotherhood. slight timeline AU. /EDIT/ “ Nolan-verse/Assassin’s Creed crossover. Work In Progress, never to be updated. Rated K+

Maria’s Storm by This.Is.My.Aesthetic

“ When it rains in Masyaf, it pours. The problem? Maris is terrified by storms. How will Altair handle his love being in such a state? Fluff, perhaps? :3 ″ Romantic Altair/Maria fluff piece. One shot Rated K

Those Who Linger by Niger Aquila

“ In a world where nothing is true and no man is free, the ancient conflict between the Assassins and the Templars rages on. “ 1984/Assassin’s Creed crossover. one shot rated K+

Let Slip the Hounds by armouredescort

“ When Altaïr faces Talal he expects guards, not giant hell dogs. After defeating the slaver, Altaïr stumbles back to the bureau: injured, exhausted, dehydrated. As he heals, however, something inside him changes, and with that, Malik finds himself dealing with far more than he ever wanted. Werewolf AU. “ My personal favorite, WIP never to be updated (I actually checked with this one) Rated M, probably should be T

Couldn’t They Have Just Stayed in Their Own Universe? by Varmint

“ Superheroes are already used to dealing with visitors from other times and dimensions. But having so many of these hidden blade toting, scar bearing, and rather moody men suddenly appearing out of nowhere gives them a new type of experience all together. Just what is a Templar and why do they hate them so much? Shay is the first to appear and things just snowball from there. “ Young Justice Cartoon/Assassin’s Creed crossover. WIP, currently being rewritten. Rated T

And that’s about it for my favorite fics. I’m sorry if you’re disappointed or if this isn’t the format you were expecting. Thank you all again! I love you!

[braverook]

#BRAVEROOK  is  an  INDEPENDENT,  PRIVATE,  and  LOW  ACTIVITY  original  character  based  from  ubisoft’s  ASSASSIN’S  CREED:  SYNDICATE.  written  by  ewan  /  lucas  (  they/them  ),  24,  from  the  UK.  primarily  game  based  with  various  verses  constantly  being  created.  danny’s  characterisation  is  constantly  changing  as  are  my  rules  and  activity.  please  keep  it  in  mind  that  i  will  not  be  here  all  the  time  so  there  might  be  periods  of  inactivity  or  silence  -  this  is  to  keep  up  with  my  work  and  to  take  care  of  my  mental  health.  i  am  selective  with  who  i  follow  due  to  the  general  toxicity  i’ve  witnessed  in  the  ac  fandom  over  the  past  few  years.  stay  safe,  and  if  you  have  any  questions  don’t  be  afraid  to  ask  them.  discord  is  available  for  mutuals.

NAVIGATION. 

guidelines  /  biography  /  verses.

danny’s  positions  throughout  the  game.

my  own  jacob  frye.

docs  listing  all  my  other  blogs  /  where  else  to  find  me.

interest  tracker  tba.

[marcellaereeves]

Ehhh so I was tagged by @hazelnatcoffee and @lasersheith to do a WIP tag game... *scratches head* I have like 15 sheith WIP alone, so I’ll put this under a read more D n D;; Also these are working titles, or what I’ve saved them as in my files so... [OS] = Oneshot [MC] = Multi-chapter [AU] = Alternate Universe [F] = Fragments verse [OSTK] = Officer Shiro/Teacher Keith verse [WBF] = Won’t be finished [PWP] = you know what this means ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  [D] = Darkfic (anything that is either outright dark/horror, or that deals with difficult issues) I’ll tag @tibbitoo and @ilovelocust Bc yay tagging games can never die maybe.

Sheith focused: “「０１」” Keith’s time between being kicked out of the Garrison and rescuing Shiro. [F] [OS]

“5+1″ Five times Shiro was Lance’s hero and one time he wasn’t. [F] [OS]

“AlluraKuron” Where Keith tries to take down an evil witch in the woods who brainwashed Shiro into thinking he was her husband. [AU] [WBF] [D]

“Animal Crossing” An animal crossing based fic where Keith plays AC and tries to get Shiro the wolf to give him his friend photo. [AU] [OS]

“Beauty and the Sheith” Beauty and the Beast fic. Keith is the Beast and Shiro is... Gaston?? [AU] [MC] [D]

“Binding Spirits” Altean witch Shiro and how he made Keith his Galra familiar. [AU] [OS] [D]

“Hand Job” Shiro goes to Pidge to have his hand updated when Vampire Keith comes in for affection/a snack. [AU] [WBF]

“Keith’s Fire” A study of “LOL HOTHEAD KEITH” Keith’s passionate nature from Shiro’s POV, prompt requested back before I got the flu. [F] [OS]

“On your knees soldier” Chapter 2 as a christmas gift for my wife (ah oops) [MC] [AU] [PWP]

“Project Kuron” Kuron accepting himself, Shiro accepting him too. Love the pupper shiro. [OS] [WBF] (probably) [D]

“Radio Chatter” During the Kerberos mission, Keith finds the old shack with its radio equipment and uses it to listen in to mission transmissions. [F] [OS]

“Selfies” Keith causes “trouble” for Shiro at work one night with the kind of selfies he sends. [AU] [OSTK] [PWP]

“Something wicked” Keith is sent to a facility dealing with adolescents in need of mental care for arson. He meets Shiro, a seemingly fine individual. [AU] [MC] [D] 

“Space Mafia” Keith is a space detective tasked with bringing down the Galra intergalactic crime syndicate. That is, until he’s kidnapped by three attractive clone triplets [AU] [MC] [D] 

“The Arusian’s Castle” Chapter 6, and possibly re-writing certain scenes. It’s about two lost HS students finding friendship in each other, and slowly falling in love. [AU] [MC] (it’s a sweet nothing story tbh. Fluff+e-sports+Trauma recovery)

“The Dealership” Pre-Kerb, Pre-pining. On the way to watch a movie, Keith sees a Heliocross dealership. Shiro takes one for a test-drive and (illegally) lets Keith ride it (Because he knows Keith is talented enough not to trash it) [F] [OS] 

“The Vassal” Keith decides his king is too stressed to focus, and decides to take matters into his own hands. [AU] [OS] [PWP]

Non-Sheith/VLD

“Saving Yuriy” [Beyblade] Set between S1/S2. After Daitenji takes custody of the Biovolt orphans, Kinomiya Ryu offers to take him in until a permanent home can be found for him. Forced to live with the boy who tried to kill him only weeks earlier for the whole summer, Takao learns there’s a scared child living under the icy exterior of the soldier. And Yuriy learns that Japan has a “No under 18′s drinking” policy which even growling threats at Ryu won’t change. [OS] [Yu/Taka] (This has been in my WIP’s since 2010, but I’d given up on writing during that time. UNTIL NOW)

“A Link to the Past” (shit title) [LoZ, Assassins Creed] Follows the plot of Desmond’s games p much. Modern!Link is abducted by an organisation which forces him to relive the lives of his ancestors to find the eight scattered fragments of the triforce. [AU] [MC]