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anarchy2021 · 3 years

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PSA Day! (Rp etiquette)

{ID: A person standing next to a flipchart. They're thin, and have medium-length brown hair, pale skin, and dark brown ears. The ears are angled horizontally. They're wearing thin-rimmed glasses, and their expression reads as confident. Their hair is partially tied up in a bun. They also have a long tail the same brown as their ears, with brown fur the same color as their hair on the end. They're wearing black trousers, a black waistcoat with a white shirt underneath. Additionally, a black overcoat with gold edges is draped over their shoulders. The inner lining of the overcoat is red, and partially visible behind the person. They have their right hand on their hip, and with their left hand, they're holding a stick up to the flipchart, which reads "RP 101 :)". The 101 is underlined. END ID.}

Greetings! You may not recognize me (unless you were watching the debate perhaps, then, sup) as I admit I’ve been a bit…. Behind the scenes as it were (as secretary of VOID there is a lot of looking at the void, usual routine for me mhm mhm). Regardless, I’m Days (or Nights, either or) and for today’s PSA I’m here (along with some words from our recently freed from totally-not-prison president, Graphite, at a later date) to talk to you about roleplay! More specifically, rp etiquette and terms and how that relates to the DSMP and how it should be talked about.

Now now, you might be wondering “oh but what is your experience?” Glad you asked! I’m a long term text rper with over 5 years of experience- and my main avenues of rp are rps similar in structure to that of the DSMP- long term improv driven sandboxes that also have important events planned ahead of time in some regard but are often player driven most of the time. Now, let’s get into it!

Head writers/admins

Let’s start off with a pretty hot topic regarding the server, which is the existence of a ‘head writer’ (usually in reference to Mr. Soot). Now, mainy take this as meaning quite literally a writer- like in a show, but, with what information we have I think it’s safe to say he’s not really that and more along the lines of an rp admin/head. The admin’s main purpose is to keep things structured and organized, as well as putting together the events they’re in charge of. This is pretty much how everyone treats the man anyways, BUT, while an admin is in charge of a lot they do NOT have the final say over everything, particularly in regards to the characters and their players.

Players in an rp for the most part have full control over their characters (within reason and the confines of the rp setting) and an admin enforcing their will onto a character (such as enforcing certain backstory choices that don’t seem particularly wanted. For example, the fridge with c!Phil) is often frowned upon unless there is a good reason for it and discussed with the rper.

It is also notable that just because there is an admin, that doesn’t mean they’re the sole writer/organizer/etc. It is not at all uncommon for specific subplots and or other important events to be headed by players involved in it in this type of rp. This can be seen in practice with how the Eggpire plotline was headed by BBH and the prison plotline was mainly written by Dream and Tommy.

Summary:

- head writer/admins do not and should not control everything

- organise and structure events

- players might admin their own smaller plots within a rp

Narrative consequences

Now, another hot topic- especially in regards to character discourse (my abhorred personally). Narrative consequences. These are generally referred to when someone thinks a character is not getting the consequences for their actions in the story that they should, or (more rarely in my experience) when they feel a character is being punished too hard for their actions. While this is an understandable feeling to have, at the end of the day narrative consequences just aren’t much of a thing in roleplay, at least not to the same extent as a book or tv show.

This is for one simple reason, consequences rely on the character’s actions and how they respond to others around them, if a character does not feel like it’s fit to react or if it angers their character- it is 100% within their right to respond accordingly.

However, there is also an argument that can be made if a character responds to something in a way that doesn’t align with a character’s usual actions. For a personal example, one time in a rp I was playing a character who was intervening when another character was being hurt, however, my character was met with scorn from being somewhat aggressive regarding it- I felt that this was unfair as none of these character showed the same scrutiny to characters who did worse things, and none of these characters had been established as hypocrites.

This grudge lasted the entire rp until my character died. This is a point where believing that the consequences to a character are unjust is more or less fair, but, a character simply not getting immediately smited or a character getting scorn is not automatically a point against the character, especially since an rper cannot reasonably make their fellow rpers react a certain way.

Summary:

- narrative consequences are not the same in RP as in other mediums

- can't force characters to react, or force players to react in a way they don't feel is fit

- but can critique RP if things feel unfairly ooc/inconsistent

Retcons

Next up, retcons. What is a retcon? It’s short for retroactive continuity, in essence it’s when in a piece of media something is changed retroactively- such as a character’s personality, how an event occurred, etc. for an outsider audience perspective retcons are often looked upon unfavorably, as it’s changing something already established which can cause friction among those attached to certain ideas, but in reality retcons are both a neutral concept and fairly normal to occur in rps.

Rps are (generally) not professional writing, they’re things made up on the fly with perhaps a base to work off of (and depending on the rp, not even that. However in the rps I’ve done we generally had character sheets and the like for backstories and all) and thus sometimes mistakes happen. One of the main causes for minor retcons is when details are confused or left out that would have realistically affected the situation or how characters would have responded to it, unless in severe cases these usually happen on the spot and don’t cause much of a fuss.

Major retcons often fall along the lines of players and how they choose to present their character. This is especially common when a player is using a character for the first time or even if they’re just new to an rp in general, sometimes as we rp we simply decide to take things in a new direction and sometimes that direction may cause things already established to be retconned, even if not outright stated.

A good example of this is the enderwalk with c!Ranboo, the enderwalk as it was first introduced is very different than it is portrayed now, likely as a result of Ranboo taking a new direction with his character since then. More widespread retcons may happen if people are unhappy with a certain plot thread, in this case an example would be the canon status of SBI, Wilbur used to push it but Techno (and later Phil) didn’t want it to be canon, so anything about it previously said has been soundly retconned.

In my own case character retcons very often happen to me when I first use an oc, as the character takes a different shape than what I put on the paper in practice, even sometimes within the same rp (one of my first ocs was practically unrecognizable as the same character in the beginning of an rp as compared to even just a few weeks later).

So, retcons are fine and normal to occur, but, like I said- they’re neutral. A retcon can very well be done poorly and cause problems. This is mainly in issue with retcons made that affect highly established and built upon aspects without discussion with all those who’d be effected, this can cause confusion, plot holes and cause characters to be in a weird limbo if they don’t know how to have their character act without whatever was retconned. Major retcons need to be discussed in order to prevent these problems, and in some cases should be avoided entirely- instead it being better to work for a compromise and rework events rather than removing them.

Summary:

- retcons are normal and neutral

- small retcons happened frequently in RP to help keep things going in an improv heavy medium. Usually unnoticeable

- large retcons tend to have with new players, or if the story is taking a new direction.

- large retcons require a lot of communication, and sometimes whould be avoided, instead working to compromise and rework the direction of the RP

Metagaming and godmodding

Metagaming and godmodding are two very important terms to know for rp etiquette and if you’ve done any rping you’ve probably seen these words thrown around in rules lists and such already. These are both ultimately negative things that should be avoided at all costs. What are they? Metagaming is when you use information that you know OOC and use it IC even though your character should not have that information. Godmodding is when a character is taken over by another person for one reason or another against the player’s will- such as having a character react to something without letting the actual rper do it.

The former is a big issue when it comes to discussion of the DSMP and how people interact with it, mainly in the chat and donos. When you are trying to get a character to react to information that they shouldn’t have you are trying to get them to metagame, which is heavily frowned upon in an RP. This is also important to note in discussion, a character not responding to certain important events is not a mark against them if the character has no way of even knowing what was going on, or would not reasonably respond to it with the information they have.

Summary:

- both frowned upon

- god modding is taking over someone elses character

- metagaming is using out of character information to do in character acting

- Meta gaming is relevant to DSMP particular in how it relates to donos and chats. Don't encourage meta-gaming

All of these factors are important to consider when discussing the DSMP and it’s narrative, it’s not going to function the same as other forms of media nor should it- as once you go in that direction you’re competing with the big boys over at tv and at that point things would fall apart. Improv and it’s unique variables is what makes the DSMP, and anything else like it, special and interesting to follow!

#dsmp #dreamsmp #rp etiquette #mcytblr elections #anarchy2021 #mcytblr election 2021 #PSA day #art by Days #long post #editted by zaph :]#first post from yours truly #(thats days not zaph... i post a lot i will not shut up <3)

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highqueenofelfhame · 3 years

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I'm writing fanfiction for the first time, and I was wondering if you had any advice for me.

I'm currently focusing on the plot aspect, as I have no clue how to write romance (having never been in a relationship before). So advice on either would be appreciated.

(my fic is based on the b&n eos short story, if you wanted to read it)

so lately i also plan out plot (in multi chapters i do a handful of chapters first, at least vaguely by what the main event of each chapter will be, in one shots i like to generally know what is going to happen as a guide— some don’t have a ton of plot though and only have like a prompt as the plot which is also just fine) and then i go in for all the rest.

you definitely don’t have to have romance “experience” to write romance. it’s all about the character dynamic, and in fanfic it’s a little easier because we already know these characters and how they interact and speak with each other. i don’t pull on hardly any of my real life romance experience when i write romance. fiction romance is cool because it can be tailored to what you want to see in a fic, or how you would want to be spoken to, etc. you can pull from other romance books or movies you’ve seen for inspiration and feeling which is generally what i tend to do anyway. fiction romance is usually better than irl romance in my personal experience and opinion lmao.

i find that once i have a feel for what’s going to happen, it’s easier to fill in everything else. dialogue can be hard to write sometimes but sometimes it just takes like getting into the grove of it. dialogue isn’t my strong suit so i tend to just draw from what i know about the characters and how i know they interact and how i think they would act in the situation at hand.

also, finding a friend you’re comfortable with to help you bounce ideas and rework things helps a lot. for me, it’s @punkassbookjockey26, and she helps me so much and it makes the entire thing a lot easier.

i’m not sure if any of this is helpful, so i’m going to tag some other friends that might have useful advice! @punkassbookjockey26 @charincharge @noodlecatposts @city-of-fae @westofmoon @morganofthewildfire @whimsicallyreading

#writing advice

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ramzawrites · 3 years

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hello!! It's me again!

I'd like to know if you have any writing tips for beginner writers?

I'm currently writing a story about my ocs

And I'd like to know your tips on how to describe scenery and touch and also how to write a conversation etc.

Oh that's cool! Good luck with that! I'm sure you'll do amazing! 💙

I'm not sure how good I am at giving tips but I will try my best and if you have any more questions feel free to message me again!

For Scenery: It's important depending on which pov you write but if you write from someones specific pov I personally like to keep in mind what would jump to their eye specifically Like for example you have a character that is an old warrior who lives secluded, they might keep their eyes more open to movement and any kind of danger rather than the forrest itself, while a character that might be more nature attuned might concentrate on the fauna. This always has helped me to establish a characters feelings in the moment, from this point on I had an easier time to establish the rest

But in general remember to use all five senses! Is it cold? Is there a certain smell? Maybe even how does it feel to stand on the ground? Is it hard? Soft? Does the air taste like anything?

Touch: I'll be honest I am not 100% sure what you mean with touch, you mean like human interaction? Or literal? Either way I would open up google and if you want to describe something to not be afraid to look for synonyms, you can say something is cold to the touch but you can also describe it as freezing, frigid, biting etc see what fits best in this specific moment, it also helps to keep your text a bit more dynamic if you use an array of different adjectives to describe something Also don't be scared to use metaphors! I often don't because I am too scared that I sound like a dweeb but honestly metaphors are a great way to convey a feeling, even if they are a bit what you might consider stupid, in the end if they work they work (something I am working on myself atm)

Conversation: For conversation it is important you don't explain the whole plot via talking! Actions speak louder than words after all haha No, but seriously, don't explain everything via dialogue, it turns into exposition texts and it's just boring to read. If you feel like you are writing too much dialogue, see if you can convey some of the feeling/ideas via actions, like, if you want someone to show trust instead of saying it display it with them not being scared to take off their armor around them and only them for example, show them catching the other when they just stumbled, just exchanging a few looks but both having the same idea etc

But otherwise for conversation, don't write too grammatically correct, we don't talk like that, so, it's okay to write it a bit more freely. It's also a good way to convey character, maybe they stutter here and there or repeat parts of their sentences because their mind is often faster than they can talk etc etc There is a ton you can do and try to experiment

Something that I for example am working on as well is when someone talks describe the mood around it, when someone drops an idea was it like a fire started for the others, hope started to spread, or, did it fall on deaf ears, was it steely, cold. Try to pepper in the feeling and mood of the participants of the conversation as well as using the environment around them. Breaking up a conversation by using the environment when appropiate is a good way to break up conversations and let it flow more, give the reader a moment to let the information sink in in case it's needed

My general tips: In general what I can also tell you is, make a draft and reread it a ton also give it like a day and read it. You might notice parts of your story that don't flow so well and can change it. Sometimes it also helps to read it and rewrite it from memory because mostly the most important parts stick with you and you can get a better idea on what, well, sticks and can work with it and either edit your orginal text or rework your new draft

I know I already said it but look up synonyms for words! If you feel like you said a lot of the same phrase/word look up synonyms! I do it a ton and always have a tab open for it!

If you have more questions or want me to elaborate on something just say the word! I often just write with instinct at first and later edit it a bit so this might seem a bit disjointed!

#Ramza chats #grimmvelvet #Ramzas writing tips #fun fact this is my 666th post

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captaingondolin · 3 years

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those are too many wips.

here’s a list with brief summaries, and then you can tell me what to finish first because i am suffering from big time choice paralysis. anon is on. ask away.

ace Obi-Wan vague idea: what it says on the tin. it was going to involve teen Obi-Wan, friendship with Quinlan and Luminara. in which Obi-Wan is interested in sex... in theory. academically. he’s his suave, charming self, and will experiment for the hell of it. (i was slightly uncomfortable with the premise of, basically, a fic about an asexual character all about... well, sex. but i wanted to work some shit out and what better way than overprojecting over fictional characters?)

Anakin in lingerie: just polishing up an old tumblr post. modern AU.

Anakin in makeup obianidala: again from an old post with subskywalker. but i wanted to give it a structure

Ani5dala FIX IT: OH MAN I WAS SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS. i have tons of notes and no energy to proceed. in which Fox has a plan to keep Fives alive, Fives has a plan to keep the Republic alive - but Anakin is being a butt and Fives needs Pamé’s help. (probably Anakin and Fives were together before? + anidala open relationship, i was thinking, but idk yet)

AWOL Cody: oh boy, i started plotting this for my pod-together 2018 project with litra. in which Obi-Wan is declared KIA, but there is NO BODY and also suspicious footage/Ahsoka saw something and Cody is NOT having it so he goes on a solo mission to save him. codywan.

Darkness is but a passing thing: same as above, it was supposed to be written in 2018, good grief. post rots, sort of time-travellish, i’m not saying more bc most of the plot was litra’s and idk if she wants to share.

Detonate: translation into english of my italian obikin smut, which i promised ages ago.

enemies to colleagues to lovers codywan: this, but with a proper outline this is now being Properly Plotted. there are mindmaps. and a Scrivener file.

Jedi OC: from a prompt from last year’s rarepair exchange: Male Jedi Who Accidentally Keeps Causing Property Damage/Male Owner of Said Property (words written: 0, but the idea was funny)

Laurea traduzione: eng translation of my italian modern au obikin

Leia using the Force: a messy messy file with more than one idea in, actually. i wasn’t sure wether to go with child or teen Leia (post Princess of Alderaan plot) but then i got distracted with making Leia and Kaeden meet. Ahsoka/Kaeden.

million: from a fic exchange request in which someone said they’d read “a million words” of Bly and Aayla being disgustingly in love. just that. with a side of codywan (the irony of Bly being all like “ugh, THOSE TWO” fuelled the first few hundred words).

obianidala with nb Anakin: wait, isn’t this kinda related to the Anakin in makeup one? my plotbunnies are a mess. maybe from this or this post.

ObiBail Empire Era AND OR others: frankly. a disaster mess probably inspired by the beginning of Til the casket drops and Wild Space.

ObiBail obianidala Breha super poly dinner: this post, but in fic form

ObiBailRex: this one is funny. i found the first few sentences handwritten in a notebook and i have no memory of where i wanted to go from there, but damn, i liked those. Obi-Wan forces Cody to take some leave, and Cody forces Rex to play babysitter to his General and his Senator friend. shenanigans ensue.

storms: ahahah, another fic pending since..... uuuh...... the clone wars exchange from, again, 2018? (how much shit did i sign up for that summer? i was in the midst of moving!! why am i like this). sorry perspicacia, if you’re even still around. preparing for that fic was how i got in to obi/rex tho? and it still doesn’t have a plot.

unhinged Obi-Wan vs Grievous: this, but with a plot. if i can find the plot. why is plotting so hard? no plotting, only cool scenes. (sith/fallen!obi getting the 212th to follow him and go rogue?? maybe?) see “enemies to colleagues to lovers” above

when the numbers get to zero: a Rex/Padmé i love a lot but that, as usual with ALL my damn fic, has no structure. inspired by the blue shadow virus eps. (i posted a snippet ages ago - oh wait, here’s another one)

now onto the folders!

keep verse

untitled about other Clones finding out, and the consequences. “It’s Bly who finds out first through the GAR grapevine. Cody was supposed to be dead - and suddenly he wasn’t.”

Pilots (ot era)

Oblivious Pilots - The entire Rogue Squadron is made of oblivious disasters. They share one braincell, and Nawara is the only one who’s actually using it.

Dark Imperial AU - Luke is raised by Vader. but when he meets Wedge and Tycho...

Skystrike Academy AU - Luke is raised by Owen, Beru... and Obi-Wan. And he signs up to train as TIE pilot as part of a Resistance plan

WedgeTycho - the tiniest spark of an idea. Alderanian philosophy, Tycho being pretentious, sad, grieving, and in need of a hug.

SitS - A Light from the Shadows

SitS stands for “the Sith in the Senate”, the working title for this epic I’ve been plotting since 2018 that might never see the light because I went “I want a well-adjusted, non traumatised Obi-Wan!”, build a whole new canon around that ......and then got bored of it, obviously, since I love to see Obes suffer. but there were tons of things I liked and maybe I should rework it somehow? (it was supposed to be obikin. then obianidala. then i think i got distracted and got Cody to flirt with Obi-Wan. who knows at this point. what if I throw in Jango)

soft now verse

parts 2.1 and 2.2 are there and almost ready and filled with clones feels (yes, this was a fix it obianidala fluff, but CLONES)

Space Dads Extraordinaire

Hope in Unexpected Places pt 2 and maybe 3 or maybe that’s a separate story? I have feelings about smol Boba interacting with Obi-Wan and learning to trust him, but don’t know how to handle them. There should also be the bit where they find Jango’s pet strill, which I promised to Lulu like a year ago.

the life and opinions

this is a cursed title, i started a fic with a similar title in another fandom almost 15 years ago and never finished it. it was supposed to be a biography of Rex and his rise through the ranks and into an AU where the vode have their own governing body. a shitton of Rex and Cody brotherly feels but maybe also ship? why can’t i pick a dynamic

Thrawn

browser history - Thranto moments told through Eli’s holonet searches

your silence is my favourite word - Emperor Eli angsty smut

new rules - Emperor Eli AU, but make it reasonably happy

see me like this - Emperor Eli AU, angst cranked up to the max

bb Thrawn - Thranto AU in which Thrawn is a weird child, the Chiss have some more contact with humans and Eli & Thrawn meet as kids

forgotten words - Thrawn growing up in the Empire, raised by Palpatine.

#gondolin writes #too much and not enough at once #wip tag #my tag #long post #hoping the cut works

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miloscat · 4 years

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[Review] Final Fantasy Dimensions II (iOS)

So, I played all the Chrono series games... oh, there’s another one? Sort of?

It’s unfortunate that Square has let the series languish. Masato Kato, a key dev in the first two games, has continued the series recently in Another Eden, but after Cross there were plans for a third instalment, Chrono Break, which fell through. Takashi Tokita, one of the co-directors of Trigger, led this game, repurposing some elements of the Break premise for the opening. Otherwise the game takes a lot of cues from Trigger with its time travel to different eras to avert a disaster. Also Magus is pretty much just here in this game, under a different name! So that’s fun.

Dimensions II was launched as a free-to-play game full of timed events, premium currencies, and gacha mechanics. Luckily for everyone it was soon completely reworked, relaunched, and localised as a standalone experience that you can just buy and play through. Narratively and mechanically it has nothing to do with Dimensions 1 by the way, that seems to just be a way of branding certain mobile spinoff games. While 1 had direct control and seemed fiddly to navigate (having been originally designed for feature phones), 2 is more tuned for a touchscreen, like Brave Exvius or Record Keeper were: very menu-driven, fast-paced, and accessible with bite-sized content chunks. Yummy.

My first impressions were that I’d seen it all before. The story retreads Trigger, the characters were all tired tropes. But as I kept playing it sucked me in, the characters got a chance to become deeper as the game gave them time and interactions, especially with the optional light-hearted side events. There were twists and revelations. The plot did start to drag towards the end of the main campaign, and the epilogue arc was stacked with hours of talky cutscenes and very few fights (apparently nothing having been learned from the ponderous backloaded plot dumps of Chrono Cross and Xenogears). By the end I had a positive feeling about the whole thing, it’s just paced inconsistently.

Much like Another Eden, it helps that the main character Morrow is not silent but gets to have a personality. And that you can freely swap your battle party out at any time, and cutscenes just have everyone (or the relevant members) present. This time around the game revolves around the main mechanic of signets, which work a bit like magicite in FF6. They’re character-specific and teach new spells when equipped to one of their four slots, as well as potentially granting passive bonuses and governing which summons you have access to. The baby dragon character Mootie is also a fun addition, a bonus semi-party member like the capsule monsters in Lufia 2, who can be equipped with any signet.

Since I came in expecting a Chrono game, I found the heavy use of Final Fantasy elements, themes, and references distracting. You’ve got crystals, Chaos, all the enemies come from FF, spell names, Moogles, elves and dwarfs, etc. But that’s just the identity of the game. Now I consider it a mashup and came to appreciate all the callbacks to the first four FFs, including lots of name reuse. The idea of Mysidia as a Zeal-type kingdom but actually utopic, yet doomed, was pretty cool.

And speaking of that, it works well as a Chrono Tigger-esque time travel story, but with all the FF trappings and cosmology. The consequences of time travel are dealt with, attention given to how each era is changed geographically and politically by actions in the previous ones, as well as some characters’ personal reactions to the changing world. Magus—uh, that is, Sorgue—is a particular highlight: he’s immortal and pops up in each era, and you see him mellowing through his interactions with the party and the world’s situation, going through an outright villain redemption arc. It’s nice stuff!

So Dimensions II could use some tightening up around the gills, but I liked a lot of stuff they were doing here. Building up your characters is satisfying and straightforward. The game’s well suited to mobile play in its controls and structure. I’m glad it’s a complete game without the pressure to constantly spend more. I do keep wondering what it would have been like if they’d gone through with making it a full Chrono game... oh well. As a crossover, it’s a fun novelty.

#final fantasy #Chrono Trigger #final fantasy dimensions ii #matrix software #review

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fatebreaking-a · 4 years

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Tagged by : I am a thief. ( Stolen from @starthieve ) Tagging : steal it from me.

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

( I will not, I will pick all my muses, how dare- I’ll leave everything except this blog + my other Sona blog out, for length’s sake.) long post, so it’s under the cut.

My muse is: canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES-ish / NO. ( people who like her like her, and people who don’t... really don’t. )

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK.

Are they underrated? YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO / MAYBE ?

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO / MAYBE ?

How’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL.

How strictly do you follow canon? — lol. I take inspiration from canon, let’s put it that way.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals. — Your local patron saint of lost causes, a heroic entity who has overcome betrayal and judgement to become an existence that can save the world. Also she’s tall and strong and hot and nice, what more could you want? Huh? You want more than being hugged by a 6′4″ lady??? Sona can also be in various countries, and can participate very easily in fluff, angst, and all sorts of other types of threads.

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?). — Lots of angst and drama, a bit of a loner with a distant vibe. Having no etwahl and not playing music kills the interest and ‘usual interactions’ for a lot of people, and being mute & not jumping to telepathy can make threads dry and slow. Being a ‘sexy boob lady’ ( u g h ) also has painted her in a certain light - I’ll never forget that someone said that ‘ofc everyone ships with Sona, she’s the village bicycle.’ I’ve made her exceptionally strong ( almost overpowered ), and that doesn’t jive with people sometimes - shoving in all these themes that I personally like and crafting an interesting story of a divine / demonic seer witch who doesn’t know what to do with herself, is finally ‘too strong’, and finds power distasteful... The themes can be a little depressing and cold, even when she acts nice. And seeing “Even though she feels nothing, she still acts nice” in character can feel... tiring. A mute is not an easy person to write with, and I don’t shy away from trying to give the impression that ‘waiting for Sona to communicate can be tiring’ - because I want my readers and mutuals to feel the kinds of things she goes through everyday. While I try to make the blog accessible, Sona has a speech disability, and that can be tiring.

Also that she doesn’t act like a fancy noble... I don’t know. I feel like the way that I write her is very, very different to the fandom’s impression of her, and that leaves people disillusioned. “This isn’t what I expected or signed up for.” She’s just not that person... And because she doesn’t speak, a lot of prompts are off limits. I’ve also recently reset because I wanted to emphasize that she is patient, grim, and secretive while still being kind. I’ve toned down her tendency for mischief a lot, she used to be an absolute gremlin.

A lot of these things also apply to my other Sona blog ( @virtuous-dignity ), where she is extremely structured and self-confident and a bit of a recluse, so while she’s much much nicer, she’s also a complete hardass. It’s rough stuff, especially since I make sure to point out, “hey this Sona practices music over 8 hours every day.” “Hey this Sona finds it morally wrong to play music for small audiences.” There are certain traits that just cut ideas in the bud.

What inspired you to rp your muse? — I played Sona a lot in bot lane. Multiple years of sexist remarks, shitty writing, and bad characterization made me frustrated. A lot of things were left unexplained and the etwahl felt like too much of a focus that I could not answer, “who is Sona besides a musician with a fancy instrument”. She has to be someone, right? But we never get to that in the story ( nor in the apparent upcoming lore rework either... ). She has to be someone, her being a famous musician is not everything. So I forcibly tossed aside the music part, especially to also prevent accidentally being pulled into ‘your music is so pretty’ plots. Plus: I wanted to write a character with an internal conflict who was going through some things but wanted to be nice anyway - I believe in that idea a lot. And I wanted to write a character that, tbh, could ship and flirt and just... be flirty and easy going more ( hah! didn’t work out so great now! ). My first canon characters were a ‘left by the void Malz’ dealing with his sins and Ori, who I talk about below, and neither were really great for getting that flirty vibe out. I also really wanted to emphasize that... Well, to be blunt, that if I wrote Sona as sexually promiscuous, that wasn’t a bad thing. That ‘being sexy’ and ‘sex positive’ did not equal ‘objectified tiddy witch’ and ‘perfect candidate for oppai mouse pad’ and other things I’ve heard directed at me in my league experience. Many, many things. Ugh. It kind of did end up turning into a thing where Sona herself draws an interesting line between ‘haha I can tell everyone’s looking at me with those eyes and it’s the fucking worst’ and ‘ok but I trust you and am in bed with you, so I want you to grab me’ - but that’s getting more into ns/fw topics so I’ll leave it there.

What keeps your inspiration going? — All my characters tend to be expressions of myself, as well as answering important thematic questions, like “What does it mean to be rejected by your home and no longer have a place”, and some other stuff. I usually go back to that. Plus, exploring concepts around abandonment and loneliness is something I do a lot with her - feelings of neglect and disillusionment, and ideas surrounding “do I need to like someone or be liked by someone to treat them with dignity”. ( virtuous-dignity, on the other hand, was created because I wanted to write something as soft and uwu as possible, and then it turned into something about ‘balancing dignity for oneself with duty to others’ and handling those kinds of conflicts. )

I also really do enjoy, on some level, turning people around on these characters. “You made me care about character x” is such high praise.

My muse is: canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO.

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. ( idk, how many of you think robots are hot- )

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. ( I think people downplay Ori’s intelligence a lot, but Riot also casually implied she did open heart surgery on herself so??? )

Are they underrated? YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO / MAYBE ?

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO / MAYBE ?

How’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL.

How strictly do you follow canon? — hahahahahahaha. hah. hah. Sorry. Everything I write is divergent by default.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals. — A genius inventor and cute spherical robot duo who speak to other robots and shoot lightning, run around acting cute, and try to save their city one step at a time - all while dealing with deep existential dread and fighting off a fate that decrees Ori’s death. Between ‘pancake bot’ and Ori being an accidental flirt, there’s plenty of variety and development here as my oldest canon muse. Not to mention that the blog ‘grows’ and ‘changes’, and in the last year, Ori has taken to dying her hair pink ( because Vi is cool is why, just don’t let her near a rifle or she’ll try to imitate Cait ). I also regularly think about / draw different hairstyles and clothing styles. Ori is very much ‘alive’, the most so out of the three muses on this blog. A human that has the memories of being a robot, trying to live on and live a good life. Also, there are bird, angel, and time themes. So many clocks. Mega clocks!

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?). — Deep angst and existential dread, because she knows her fate is to die and she’s cheated time. Themes of dysphoria and other troubling topics abound. Being stuck in time loops, thinking she’s an aberration, needing crutches because her legs stop working, etc.

Also, removing the fact that she is a robotic automaton is a bunch of the appeal of Ori. Or well, it’s what makes her character ‘interesting and unique’ to many. Without that, she is ‘yet another Zaunite’, as the thing that made her most interesting was her death and rebirth. ( Nevermind that her entire story is that she’s a selfless person but- I’m supposed to act like she’s bad, right? )

What inspired you to rp your muse? — Hey remember when institute of war was a thing? And then when it wasn’t? And Ori’s lore was “died to a turret shot trying to be a champion”... and then it was up in the air for two years?

That’s why. If no one else will love her, I will. She deserves better. And then the lore became close to my lore so I rewrote everything a second time trying to stick to the themes I had.

Ori’s thematic question is, “What do you do when you don’t recognize yourself anymore? How do you get back to ‘okay’ and what do you do from there?” It’s a pretty dim question that has a lot to do with body image, but also to do with abandonment and neglect, and just dropping out of people’s lives. I think that’s something that people can really relate to. I originally wrote her on a multi with a ‘post void Malz’, who was dealing with the trauma of being puppeted around for years and all the things he had done, trying to get back to ‘okay’ without getting killed. More below:

What keeps your inspiration going? — Themes as noted above, Ori is super cute, and a lot of my art & general ideas. I’ve kind of turned these three characters in borderline OCs and keep developing them as they grow... Sometimes I think the stories and concepts I’ve written have outgrown the fandom. And thinking about her, and how she would live, and what her story is... mmm.

Also, the themes I write... I think they matter. Maybe it’s not obvious to anyone but myself, but writing a character who feels dysphoria and hates their body for ‘betraying them’... is relatable. It’s not nice. It’s not simple. But it’s relatable and it matters. Ori’s theme on this blog has a lot to do with “fighting a fate that says you’re going to lose and defying expectations” as well as “coming back from something wicked and rotten in your psyche/body”. And I do write some other skin verses for her but they’re all adapted to meet that theme. ( For example, in SG, she rises to guardian after finding out she’s fated to become a dark star and fights that fight alone, because ‘hell no she’s not going to go dark’. This was 5+ years ago back when there were theories SG and DS were same universe. )

Mostly it’s writing about these themes of expectation and reality. Overprotective parent, absentee parent, dealing with trauma... All my writing is like that. It can make my characters seem overly tragic, yes, but these ideas are not so far gone that they’re completely irrelevant and beyond belief. I’m sure many people have experienced emotional exhaustion and problems with body image. Even though I do write ‘polite but ready to fight’ characters only... Well, I believe in exploring and expressing these kinds of problems. Inner conflict and all. But also fluff! Fluff is really nice! Talk to her about pancake robot.

I also really do enjoy, on some level, turning people around on these characters. “You made me care about character x” is such high praise.

My muse is: canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. ( post rework??? oh my god )

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. ( hard to consider ‘martial’ characters strong when Xer/ath and Syn/dra exist )

Are they underrated? YES / NO. ( she’s a little overrated, isn’t she? )

Were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO / MAYBE ?

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG.

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO / MAYBE ?

How’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL.

How strictly do you follow canon? — I still draw from old lore with her big four blades of doom and ‘reviving’ with the help of Raka ( though I leave it vague / easy to gloss over ). I also had a lot of ideas about music and rhythm and tradition before the update ( drums were a big thing for her, so strong percussive beats and motions reign over the more silk and ribbon dances that flow more, drawing on things like Zelos existing, Lito’s lessons & harsh behavior, and her own internalized habits of trying to calm herself ), so I draw on those a ton. For me, the progression is ‘classic’ -> ‘infiltrator / nightblade ‘ -> ‘aviator’ all as one timeline. Also wrote her as being ‘missing in action’, which makes the awaken cinematic weird. I also really try to emphasize that she’s an emotionally stunted wardog with scars and not ultra pretty, so.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals. — A world traveler and a wardog, you can find her anywhere, any time, ready to kick some butt and enjoy the local food. Her simmering fury is a counterpoint to her relatively muted demeanor and adventurous spirit. However you may find her, there’s a definite charm to being flown up above the clouds to watch a sunset and talk. She will fly you where you need to be.

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?). — I’m a little stuck on old lore and writing Lia as a character that has “left behind” her past and is pretending to be dead does make certain interactions tough. She’s also a deeply stunted character, emotionally, and I write her ten years of experience as having chilled her to a cold, ever burning ember rather than a passionate flame. Also, ‘aviator’ is kind of weird to handle for a lot of people.

What inspired you to rp your muse? — This one is really simple. When this blog started, the only splash where Irelia was smiling was the aviator splash. That’s it. That as the whole reason. “I want her to be happy and have found her happiness.”

What keeps your inspiration going? — I will admit that Lia is the character that I give the least attention to out of these three, and part of it is because I don’t really do flirting or shipping with her as much. She’s not one to reach out to others, and there are a lot of popular Lia blogs to the point that when I, as a multi, write with someone... She probably isn’t the first pick.

But I just... want her to be happy. That’s it. As I mentioned with the Ori section, what I’ve worked out for her has kind of outgrown the fandom itself, she’s become a different entity. Her themes largely involve recovery and finding oneself anew, and writing a character that is passionate about others while still being cool-headed is some of the variety I need. Because Lia is ace/homosexual, she sits out on a lot of the flirty content, but the chances I get to write her being romantic and caring... my god. Just a few posts back and forth with @unholyshe ‘s Akali and a So/na I used to write with....... Unforgettable. ( On that note go follow @unholyshe what a good writer, gosh dang. ) It’s these small interactions I find intensely compelling, and having a ‘quiet intensity’ and really thinking about her body language...

Also it’s nice to write a character with little secret agenda, who is just straightforward. “Will I enjoy kissing you? Only one way to find out. ‘It was okay.’ “ A ‘the only way forward is through, just do it’ attitude is refreshing.

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Learning to write all three characters helps me write the others: The little things I think about that are specific to each person really help me out for the others. The depth of using body language from Sona bleeds into how Lia uses body language, and how Ori doesn’t ( even common ticks ), etc etc. Ori’s blunt, observational style of speaking ( telling you that you look good like it’s an observational fact ) helps me understand how to be straightforward with Lia.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice? YES …? / NO. ( sometimes I do get very anxious abt it, esp. since I’m so divergent and do things like ‘so/na is one part succubus lol’ )

Do you frequently write headcanons? YES / NO. ( do excerpts count? less headcanons and more musings, since I’m on like 5+ years with 2/3 of these. )

Do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO. ( time is not a thing but I used to write a ton, my drabble energy goes to novels now )

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO. ( this is why you see mobile posts from me constantly, and so many excerpts / musings ).

Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO. ( It’s what I want but it can also be disillusioning / disappointing to people so. Dunno. Anxiety. =/ )

Are you confident in your writing? YES / NO. ( It takes me a bit to warm up to a character again, but yes. I know my writing is not bad but I can be a little insecure about it. )

Are you a sensitive person? YES / NO. ( Very. I cry a lot and I get upset pretty easily. Sometimes I end up being really cold instead but idk. )

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal? — To a point. Sometimes criticism is irrelevant or meaningless, or is just personal taste. “Sona shouldn’t be that strong” isn’t helpful ( but thinking about ways to pare down the complexity is good! ) Sometimes I get criticism that is the equivalent of tasting a chocolate cake and going, “It should have been vanilla, I like vanilla better.” That’s cool, but that has nothing to do with the taste of the chocolate cake I made. ( Ori as a human isn’t interesting, talk more about Sona & the etwahl even though it’s broken, Lia flying doesn’t make sense, etc - these are foundational flavors, so what can I do? ).

Also sometimes people make comments that make me feel they’re just being petty / catty and not sincere. I’ve seen quite a few hypocritical comments and it’s hard to take them seriously. So, yes, but ‘to a point’... Mostly I take suggestions, which I then talk about for the muse. Exploring those ideas. Unsolicited criticism is... hmm. In my experience, about half of it isn’t constructive. And from the wrong person, it can sound judgemental.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character? — Of course? I love asks. Always. Great. Awesome. If I have a chance to draw to answer these asks, even better.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why? — Not really. I’m divergent, they probably disagree because they have a different vision for the character. I’ll be honest here and say I’ve had enough people tell me that “my portrayals are not what they expected” that this can be... disheartening. I usually have a good reason for 80% of my hcs. If we’re talking in IMs though or just conversing, I’m totally fine with it. This comes back to unsolicited criticism - to be a little blunt, some people just straight up don’t know what they’re talking about. And given that I put a bunch of effort in trying to make sure most of my headcanons can be glossed over, so it doesn’t cause conflict and my ‘ultra grim take’ doesn’t cause the end times... I dunno. I’d rather that someone tell me “the kind of interactions they want”, so I can lean into that direction. If you just want fluff, I can leave most of my darker hcs for So/na at the door... But you need to tell me that, so I can work with you.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it? — just leave? huh? I mean, I already know people disagree. If you’re not rude, then we’ll just move on and be chill. Otherwise... well, we won’t be chill and you can still go, but I’ll consider you a dick. I don’t expect everyone to agree with “Ori is a human”, but why bring that up to me?

This is why a lot of the time, when people talk about characters and my muses, my brain defaults to “Well that has nothing to do with me.” Why should I invest any time being upset that people are disappointed with my portrayal or I’m not what they expected. It’s exhausting. People have some really strong opinions about Lia and Sona sometimes, but... ‘that has nothing to do with me.’ There’s no point in trying to convince someone to try your flavor of ice cream when they’ve already decided what flavor and toppings they want. It just leads to tremendous insecurity. I should not have to argue that ‘my portrayal is worth paying attention to’.

Ugh. I might be too sensitive about this. There was a point where people really got in the habit of saying, “this is how character x is” ( not their muse ), and it felt like someone trying to enter my kitchen. It did not feel like a suggestion or an idea. It was an assertive, “this is how Irelia is” by, say... a Ry/ze or Ken/nen blog or something. That felt extremely isolating and alienating to me, because it felt like I could not participate in that conversation at all. Or stuff after. I had to sideline myself, because... that has nothing to do with me or my interpretations. Ofc griping at them is wrong because I know they mean, ‘this is how I see it’, but ye. I’m short tempered and easily upset. Working on it.

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it? — um? bye? hello?

god I used to go “ ok that’s cool you don’t like my portrayal, here are some other great So/na blogs that I love” but I realized that I was directing someone who felt the need to tell me my portrayal or character is bad to those people... and no. no no no. I still feel a little guilty about it, because thinking I directed a toxic person to my duplicates... yuck.

If you don’t like the characters, or you don’t like my divergent takes, that’s fine. I get it’s not for everyone. Just unfollow me. You’re not paying me. You’re not under any obligation. To an extent, i don’t mind being critical of the character, but there’s a difference between being critical and being hateful to someone’s muse? And it depends a lot on how close I am with a person. For example, I think Sy/las is a complete scumbag and I hate him, but I don’t go yelling that to every Sy/las blog I see. C’mon.

Another bit of salt but it’s... kind of a sad topic, really. There are some characters people love to hate, whereas other ones get the ‘protection squad’. And in general it’s really disheartening to see someone shittalk Lux every two weeks, but go ‘these other champs are off limits’. If you have that attitude, it makes me think you’ll shittalk my characters the moment they get popular ( COUGHIRELIACOUGH ) and that’s kind of sad. And mean. So general advice on this is: Probably just don’t tell someone you hate their muse, you know? Idk. Everyone has their own tolerance level too so. meh.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors? — Somewhat. Not much to say here, sometimes I am very tired, sometimes I comma splice like a madman, sometimes I overuse hyphen dashes to avoid deciding whether to use a comma, period, or semicolon - like this. I don’t need an editor. English is my first language. But if there’s something egregious or you have tips, let me know? I’m someone who looks up grammar rules regularly, and breaks teh rules just as regularly. Knowing when and how to break grammar rules is useful. Though I do tend to... overuse something once I’ve learned it. Hyphen dash, I’m looking at you.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun? — Yes and no. I’m chill, I can be a little overly passionate, and I’m pretty quick to apologize... But I have certain moral standards and if you break those, you’re done. Also I can be a vengeful bastard. I try to give as much benefit of the doubt as I can and many chances, but I’ve noticed that I really... have a sour attitude towards a lot more people than I expect. Sometimes people who are very well liked, just because they said or did something that ticked me off. Luckily, I have the special skill of not being a jerk even if I don’t like you, and overall trying to be nice to most people, so it usually won’t matter.

Ah and I can be a little selective in who I talk to / play favorites a bit. I’m a busy person with an adult life and a stressful job, I only have so much patience. I skip from “tolerating it” to “leaving”, and that can seem like I ghosted, but that’s not always the case. Just better to leave than to pick fights. I have some pretty strict standards and harsh opinions. Short temper. Vengeful. Alas.

Somehow people think I am very nice and baby, so take that for what you will. Pft. I just want people to be happy and feel comfortable and okay. Wrong is wrong, blah blah blah ok I stop now.

That’s about it, congrats for filling out!

( If you managed to read all this, with 3 full muses... Let me know, I want to hug you??? )

#long post tw #ooc #//...I think this took me over an hour to write oops.

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whimsicottonnee · 4 years

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The Thesis of Pokemon Games : Why The Galar Region and SWSH Games Offers a Complete Reworking of the Series’ Central Thesis

Pokémon as a plot-driven series can, first and foremost, be characterized by its insistence on the dual concepts of nostalgia and locality : particularly when combined as ‘local nostalgia.’

I’m not really going to go into my whole argument of how this is pulled off by the game developers and which aspects best contribute and remind us of ‘local nostalgia’ because most of us already know. All it takes is one listen of the ost for Twinleaf Town or Aspertia Town for players to become intensely nostalgic for older games. The running theme of the player’s mother, in my opinion, is one of the major keys to achieving this, as well.

So, the theses of pokémon games (or at least a good number of them!!) deal with the player’s local sphere and the expansion of it. It’s a game about going off to college or just simply moving away from home. It doesn’t have to be the player’s lifelong home, necessarily. Shadows of Almia, the Hoenn games, and the Alola games are the best examples I can think of where expanding your local sphere does not necessarily mean that the player’s never been outside of the in-game residence before. But despite being from another region, Chicole Village is undoubtedly the player’s home in Shadows of Almia. Partner Farm is the bedrock to which the player returns, repeatedly, to meet old friends and family before embarking off again to an adventure even further away. In the Alola games, the player has recently moved from Kanto, yet it’s clear through gameplay and character interactions that the player considers Hau’oli Outskirts to be their home. The player’s mother, equally key to constructing a hometown as the score partnered with it, is another symbol of nostalgia. The game’s storytelling, in most if not every game, is designed so that the player only knows their mother as a kind, warm, supportive, and ever welcoming presence : home is where the heart lies or “east or west, home is best.” So, in embarking from these cozy, nostalgic areas with the warm wishes of your mother, the innocent aspiration of moving out is well-portrayed in the series.

Here is where ‘backyard theory,’ as I like to call it, begins. The player (save for the Galar player, who routinely has the secret of meeting characters and locations spoiled by Hop) has very little, if any, knowledge of the region that surrounds their cozy hometown. The player must gain their first pokémon and travel down unfamiliar routes catching more and more unfamiliar pokémon. There is guidance to the story, of course. Roadblocks are constructed to prevent entering “too-difficult” levels, and a combination of the professor, rivals, and enemies provide incremental story, but there’s room to explore. Some games leave enough room that players get lost their first run-through (@ the Sinnoh and Johto games). Each town is new, and the player is welcome to aimlessly explore these areas : speak with the locals, peek into apartment buildings and chat with the occupants, accept items from kind npcs who reinvigorate the optimistic worldview of the series, etc. In time, the player expects theme songs to play at certain areas, expects the sounds that the pokémon make, and expects dialogue. Previously unfamiliar buildings become “oh that’s Guzma’s dad’s house” or “that’s where the boy who plays Unwavering Emotions lives.” And while this is a mechanic of most games (after all, exploration is a fundamental aspect to rpg), the pokémon games take it further.

Certain symbols become emblematic. The Pokecenter, in particular, becomes a bedrock of nostalgia. It certainly helps that the theme is only altered, never rewritten, between every iteration of the series. Soon, the player’s backyard and local sphere is no longer confined to their hometown but encompasses the entire region. Every player has a ‘first time’ entering Undella Town, but the music becomes hauntingly nostalgic once players have become familiar with it. There’s a reason why, despite only being a route theme, DPPT’s Route 209 got a remix in the latest Smash rather than, say, Sycamore’s Theme.

So, once the climax occurs (be it capturing Giratina or saving N from the actions of his abusive father or helping Lusamine’s loved ones save her from her own derangement), it’s not the Champion-to-Be but instead the local girl from Twinleaf Town with the Eterna Roserade and the Snowbelle Snover and is friends with the swimmer kids down by the resort. The varying plots of the various pokémon games aside, the climax of the series is when the local sphere become the entire region. And it’s at this point that you’ve earned being the Champion, regardless of your team’s coverage and levels.

Alola, in a sense, did one of the best jobs in capitalizing on this universal thesis in making the Champion theme, the player’s theme, an extraordinary remix of the entire game’s theme, but that’s another meal altogether.

Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield turn all of this on its head. There are so many npcs that the player cannot speak to, and, in most of the larger cities, there are more npcs that the player cannot interact with than there are npcs the player can interact with. Motostoke struck me significantly in the beginning of the game because I ran around the city wondering why there were so many public areas, like shops and boutiques and plot-related venues, that I could explore but only three or four private residences that I could enter. Most npcs are found in passing along the street. As they pass the player, a small speech bubble pops over their head as if they’re mumbling to themself or merely speaking to the player in passing. Fundamentally, the player cannot interact with the locals. Most places that the player does explore is also heavily driven by the plot with either Leon or Hop telling the player to go to them in order to advance the… ‘story.’

The ‘story’ is going gym to gym with repeated encouragement or roadblock without being allowed to consider the weight of heavier concerns : i.e. the chairman killing the entire region through a weirdly futuristic pokémon that supposedly is thousands of years old. Everyone the player can speak with in the towns already knows the player, since the ‘Gym Challenge’ is broadcasted on regional telly for private enjoyment (another mesh of public and private spheres that simply feels jarring for such a private-based series). Many npcs will tell the player “I’m routing for you, you know!” or “You’re my favorite Gym Challenger!” without giving any information about themself. The player no longer expands their local spheres ; they simply allow locals to get to know the regional superstar.

The climax of the game is the player saving Leon after he has already significantly weakened the legendary pokémon on the player’s behalf so that the player may succeed in finishing Eternatus off and capturing it like any other Dynamax pokémon. Thus, the three who ultimately save the region from being sucked of its life by the Darkest Day are the three superstars who have had their entire careers broadcasted regionally on television.

The player’s mom never calls or shows up throughout the game once the player leaves their hometown, and she’s never given a personality. She’s cute, alright. milf rights. But one of the wonders to many other pokémon games is the knowledge that your mother had something similar once. I’ve been referencing the Sinnoh, Unova, and Alola games a lot, but I truly think these games understood ‘local nostalgia’ the best of the main series games. In the Sinnoh games, the player’s mother shows up in Hearthome and speaks of old days in the Contest Hall. In Unova, the player’s mom seems well-acquainted with cleaning up the mess left after pokémon battles. In Kalos, once of the more shallow games in the series for local nostalgia, the player’s mom was a famous Rhyhorn racer with a story of her own. In Alola, the player’s mom’s Meowth and her friendship with Kukui paint her character vibrantly ; it also certainly helps that one of the end cutscenes to the game is the reiteration of the first cutscene with her on the deck relishing the Alolan sea breeze. In Galar, however, there is none of that characterization. Her own pokémon, a Kanto Munchlax, says nothing of her character ; why not give her something that lets the player understand that she is a Galarian village mom? Give her a Skwovel or a cute Chewtle to characterize her. She never encourages the player to come home for a nap if the player ever gets tired. And, so, despite the hometown theme being really lovely and charming (and the Budews in the front yard being a heartwrench), the idea of nostalgia is almost nonexistent in the game.

My personal take on the nostalgia of Postwick is not within the game itself. It’s more the idea of Postwick, for me. The hype of the game and the humor behind the starter release and the lovely lofi remixes that came out for the trailer themes before the Debates began is what is nostalgic for me. Driving through the desert around the town I live in with the windows down in the one-hundred-degree heat listening to SWSH lofi remixes is what makes me nostalgic for Postwick : not the narrative of the game.

And, while that’s a personal experience, all of the other above reasons are why Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield simply feel hollow. There was a sacrifice of local nostalgia for the sake of how ‘cool’ superstars can be.

#long post #pokemon #pokémon #pokemon swield #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon sword #swsh #galar #meta #not proofread ww

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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January 11th-January 17th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from January 11th, 2020 to January 17th, 2020. The chat focused on the following question:

What’s an unplanned idea you had through your story part way through that forced you to change things? How did everything go?

eli [a winged tale]

After my beta feedback there were some characters that needed further fleshing out with stakes and relationships. Therefore I had to change some backstories to make certain interactions impactful. Thankfully im at the start so nothing i had to go back and fix. I did think of some alternative openings should the comic goes to print but that can be future me’s worries

snuffysam

simultaneously very little and a huge amount, lol. in terms of big story beats, they've pretty much all stayed the same since i first started planning the comic. the twists have been set up and paid off and the like. but there's a bunch of things i've improv'd at the last minute. one notable example that was pretty well-received - in book 2 chapter 4, taci has a fear of puns (basically only shown in facial expressions and a single comment from mizuki towards the end of the fight). this was added because... otherwise the fight at the end of that chapter is just a bunch of walking around in near-identical dark tunnels. the way the fight ends is fun, but the fight itself isn't really anything. with taci having a reason to be afraid of coruby, the fight has more stakes & entertainment value, and it makes coruby feel much more interesting as a character. another huge example is the love triangle in book 1 - in that in the script, it was non-existent. mizuki being into girls was originally only gonna be introduced in book 2 (guess where), and the relationship between cahe and pejiba was going to advance with no real competition (besides bullets). it was gonna be mentioned in like book 3 that she had a thing for pejiba, but nothing in book 1 itself. (similarly to the pun thing, you may notice that mizuki being into pejiba isn't referenced at all in the dialogue besides pejiba saying "i know what mizuki thinks of me" which is kinda vague. i... don't like changing scripts last-minute lol.)

Mei

Not gonna lie, everything I do is entirely unplanned. I focus a lot on improvised comedy and what feels right 'at the moment', and considering I write scripts way in advance, sometimes it leads to jokes falling flat when I read them again a few months later. Which is all fine, honestly, it's part of the process. The main unplanned idea for My Husband is a Cultist was turning it from a 12 page one-shot into a fully fledged webcomic, now with 3 chapters and more to come. It was very 'on a whim', and from that very first chapter I came up with more silly ideas. And the more I talked to friends, the more ideas I had for chapters. So the biggest change personally was going from a pure slice-of-life comedy and spending time actually building the world around it so that there was structure to the chaos. I'm still working on it all. I now have an underlying plot that I'm hoping to explore, and I have the arcs planned out way in advance. So it's wild that I went from 'random ideas spewed on a document' to 'I now have a plot and several arcs to cover'. That being said, I still come up with a lot of things on the fly, so I'm changing things constantly as I go and hoping that there aren't too many inconsistencies!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

One of the most important story elements of Phantomarine (http://www.phantomarine.com/) came up early in the second chapter, when I was asking myself some more questions about the world - and came upon a crucial opportunity. Luckily I didn’t have to change too much to make it work, and while it didn’t really change the plot, it upped the emotional stakes 100-fold. Which is just what I wanted. In this world, I have a big naval force, of which my heroine is (was?) the future leader - but with relative peace and cooperation between the different island nations, who the heck does the navy fight? Pirates? Eh, maybe. But vanilla pirates have been done to death, and while they can be awesome, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to tie them into the world’s supernatural element - while strongly avoiding the Pirates of the Caribbean cursed-buccaneer aesthetic. I decided to tie them to a particular blight that affects some of the characters - so as to up their stakes and better convey why they’re societal outcasts. And finally, I wanted to give them a freaking awesome name, something both nautical and supernatural. Thus, for those reading - the Fata Morgana. What didn’t even exist at the beginning of the second chapter is now an absolutely crucial story element, and I’m so happy they came into the picture. They’ve changed everything for the better. This is one reason why I resigned myself to revealing the world in bits and pieces - I’m revealing it to myself as I go along, too. It helps to be slow sometimes

eli [a winged tale]

The Fata Morgana introduction in the story was A W E S O M E! I’m so glad you have them in the story and looking forward to that amped up stakes!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I think the biggest example would be the last-minute inclusion of Jonathan as a main character in my comic Dark Wings: Eryl (https://www.flowerlarkstudios.com/dark-wings-2/). I had originally planned for him to be a temporary character that we said goodbye to at the end of Chapter 5. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised the main travelling party needed another character to balance things out. I was really struggling with planning future scenes because the pool of characters felt too small. I also realised that I had developed Jonathan’s character quite a lot for him to be dropped so early. So halfway through drawing chapter 5, I rewrote the second half and he’s now a major part of the cast.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

A second example is Anor in my other comic, Children of Shadow: Ashes (https://www.flowerlarkstudios.com/cos/). He was originally written as a far less sympathetic character. In fact, he was going to be a borderline antagonist who only became sympathetic close to the end. But my characters often do things I don’t expect, and as I was planning the story, he and one of the other main characters, Rava, started falling for each other. I honestly loved this, and so I reworked the entire story to make Anor part of the main cast and much more sympathetic. He’s still a tsundere, and at the point where the story is now, still in constant friction with Rava, but I feel he’s now a much stronger character and is contributing a great deal more to the story than when he was a vaguely ominous frenemy in the original draft.

varethane

ooooo I am intrigued by this factoid about Anor

re: unplanned story elements, in Chirault..... [spoilers obviously] Ridriel and Trillia being sisters was something that hit me out of the blue about halfway through the story, and I immediately reworked a lot of things to make it happen http://chirault.sevensmith.net/(edited)

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

In ghost Junk... We actually avoided a major character death and had revised it literally a chapter before it happened!! We had everything written out right the the very end, but were seeing the readers reactions and reflected on the importance/and if it was absolutely necessary! So with that said, we saved the character, and kept the necessary impact and growth that it was to bring, and honestly- I'm so happy we did it

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

@varethane Yeah, Anor’s character has evolved a LOT since the first draft.

Phu

With Blackblood, we actually created the 2nd and 3rd chapters and then thought we wanted a chapter ahead of those as sort of a prologue to give some world building and lore elements haha. Worked out well i think! https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/blackblood/list?title_no=300252(edited)

Erin Ptah (BICP 🎄 Leif & Thorn)

This is kind of the opposite, since I did the "include a new thing in the story" part first, and that's what forced me to come up with a previously-unplanned idea to explain it... In Leif & Thorn, I had a character drop a reference to "that country doesn't allow interspecies marriages" before there's any canon reference to nonhuman species that human characters might want to marry. ...and even I didn't know what that species was going to be. Had some vague idea about revealing that mermaids existed, but in my head I never managed to integrate them with the rest of the plot or the worldbuilding real well. A few months later, I finally remember that I like drawing Tiny People (not like hobbit-size, think Borrowers-size), and realize this is the perfect setting to have a Tiny People Species! Now I get to come up with plot-based excuses to draw them wherever/however I want. Plus it opens up a whole new mine of jokes: https://leifandthorn.com/comic/somethings-cooking-26-29/

Can't for the life of me remember where I got this quote from, but there's an author who, when readers would ask for details about future developments in her books, would only give answers with the disclaimer "I reserve the right to have a better idea." Words to live by.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Damn, I love that quote.

DanitheCarutor

Admittedly there isn't a whole lot I've changed, maybe a couple small things here and there, but major stuff has been the same since I started. During the very beginning of the planning phase Daniel wasn't even going to be in the story and Julian was going to be homeless, but I wasn't quite satisfied with it. The story would have been too short, contrived and the resolution didn't feel satisfying. After some brainstorming and reflection on my feelings on certain experiences I've had, I added Daniel and 'The Guide to a Healthy Relationship' as it is kinda fell into place. It's weird thinking about how important Daniel is in spite of how new a character he is. Usually it takes me a little time to build one up before throwing them into a story, they gotta age like a fine wine first, but he popped out all ready to use like one week hooch.

Not sure if it counts, but I've also made changes to future parts of my comic. Like recently, even though I know what the ending is, I put a more final image in my head on what the final frame will look like. Also I changed an event that will happen at some point revolving around Apollo and his friends. Originally something skeevy was going to happen with Brandon and Apollo involving video uploads, and a homemade contract that was signed with Apollo was drunk. I thought it was too... I dunno, stupid? impractical? So I changed it to Julian was going to (unwillingly) attend a party at Brandon's (Apollo's friend) apartment, then some big, jealousy induced fight happens where Julian gets kicked out and Apollo feels bad. I didn't like that either, felt too reaching, so I'm going with another event that is a little out there but does happen in real life and something I have done some good research on.

Gonna be as vague as possible because it's spoilers.

keii4ii

Surprising myself is pretty much every step of my writing process. For good or bad.

I do plan things in advance, but find that sometimes things aren't what they seemed from 15 chapters ago.

I think what it is is this particular comic is such a visual story. I could plan out my previous comic with far greater accuracy. That comic was more dialog-driven; you could convert it into an audio drama with minimal changes, and it would still make sense. Whereas my current comic, you can't turn it into an audio drama without very VERY extensive changes (not even sure if possible... Many silent scenes). So I need to actually draw the pages to feel it out. And I can't draw out of order. Brain just won't that way.(edited)

carcarchu

totally agree with you @keii4ii sometimes u have to actually draw it out to get a feel for it. when i write out all the dialogue for my chapters i feel like it always ends up coming out so stiff, thats why i prefer to let it flow naturally and if something happens that i didnt account for just roll with it and adjust the story accordingly

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I'm kind of weird about always needing to know exactly how many pages a chapter is going to have, so I script right down to the panel. It can create flow problems on occasion, so I wish sometimes I could plan my pages more visually, but my brain just doesn't work that way. >< It's a good thing my stories mostly rely on dialogue because they're pretty much novels in comic form.(edited)

Cronaj

When planning a scene at the end of Chapter 3 of Whispers of the Past (https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/list?title_no=191366), I was having a hard time writing the dialogue. I had the images of my lead characters, Agatha and Izrekiel, talking by the docks in the moonlight, and I knew generally what they talked about, but I couldn't script it. And then, one day while walking to work, my characters straight up had the conversation in my head! And as the dialogue unraveled, the characters (mostly Izrekiel) did something completely unplanned (which I won't reveal because spoilers). This unplanned change has completely upped the drama and sexual tension for the entirety of the future story. The second event of this is in Chapter 2, where Izrekiel is helping out on Kelan's farm. Initially, there was going to be some dialogue that mostly served as world-building, but when actually writing the scene, it occurred to me that they would likely not talk too much, too absorbed by the work of harvest. And then, I suddenly visualized/heard Kelan and the other farmhands SINGING. I don't know why it popped in my head that way, but they began singing a working song. Now, I am not a musician, but I used to sing in choir and do musicals and such, and like half my family members are musicians, so I have a bit of a musical background. Anyway, all this to say that the characters started singing, and in response, Izrekiel (who has amnesia) has a flashback to some repressed memory of men marching and singing the same song, with altered lyrics. This can get extra spoilery, so I won't delve too deep into what his memory means, but.... The lyrics go as such: Oh earth, oh rain, Oh sun in the sky, You grant me with your fruit In this land. And they are directly mirrored in the flashback with: Oh strength, oh grace, I'll raise my sword, With victory in mind In this land.(edited)

Deo101

For me, I totally changed the ending! I was going to make it a tragedy, and then at some point I realized I didnt NEED to... that a story can be happy and good. So, I rewrote a ton of stuff, and actually ended up adding in some new characters! I'd say It's gone very well ^^ I'm much happier with everything now (for one, I can think about the ending without crying!!) I've changed a lot of other little things as i've gone along too. too many things to count, really.

Tuyetnhi

Initially I was writing the story timeline to 5 days but it spanned to something about a year. Which means I had a chance to develop it further than trying to rush plot points. Used to be like 3 chapters originally but now its like ....I guess 20 chapters? I don't remember the full count but lmao I'm ready to endure.(edited)

varethane

most of the biggest changes to Chirault were decided on during the first 3 years of me making it..... I completely threw out the first plan I had made, lol. There was no specific trigger for this, except maybe for 'I don't like this, actually'

keii4ii

Oh! I remembered something specific. My tiger character used to have a 'generic lean-ripped' build. Kinda like the rabbit from Juuni Taisen. Then I posted a random beach day picture, and someone (who wasn't used to seeing characters with visible leg muscles... A lot of comics they read have characters who suffer from Skipped All The Leg Days syndrome) pointed out how insanely muscular his legs were. I ran with it. Today his legs are 2x bigger than they were in that beach day pic, and it's all muscle. Also while this character stays very lean throughout the story, I as the author guarantee you that if he were to put on fat, his thighs will be the first to expand, and the most. 8)

Tuyetnhi

omg

Cronaj

@keii4ii I'm so glad for this change. Lu's legs are majestic

Capitania do Azar

Interesting replies here

In o Sarilho https://www.sarilho.net/en/, I have avoided one major character death in the first part of the story because I grow super fond of them and also because it wasn't really going to build up to anything... Which felt really unfair. So now I had to come up with narrative lines for them and I'm quite enjoying that. Furthermore, I was halfway through chapter 3 when I figured out Eurico's looks but especially his role in the story. It involved drawing a lot of trucks (and there will be more trucks in the future) but I'm really excited for him as a character

Desnik

As I was writing my comic I was trying really hard to keep the POV limited to one character, but that character doesn't have enough perspective to set up the plot very well at the beginning. This meant hopping POVs to some other characters and now I'm gently trying to squash a lot of these subplots before they go completely out of control...

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #comic tea party #ctp #creator interview #comic creator interview #creator babble

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themagiciansreccenter · 5 years

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Author Spotlight: AlexxAplin

Every week we interview a writer from The Magicians fandom. If you would like to be interviewed or you want to nominate a writer, get in touch via our ask box.

First things first, tell us a little about yourself.

I am a gay, 25 year old who loves most things entertainment related, from gaming, to TV and Film. I'm an Entertainment Journalist by trade, and I write (and roleplay) in my spare time as well, mostly because my creative energy can't be contained by just articles alone.

How long have you been writing for?

That is quite a hard question. Technically I've been writing various things since I was 13, but I didn't really get into Roleplaying or Fandom writing until I was about 16, so...almost 10 years?

What inspired you to start writing for The Magicians?

That is a tough question, but I think I can answer it fairly concisely by saying that Prior to 4x13, I had written mostly with a few people that weren't REALLY fans, but were humoring me lol. After the finale, I was very upset and aimless, until I met a group of like-minded people on Discord, who not only encouraged me and supported my ideas, but also decided to write with me too (a few of them anyhow :) )

Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write? What it is about them that makes them your favourite?

I absolutely LOVE writing Q. I identify him pretty well, and I enjoy playing him a little more...sensual than he is allowed to be in the show or in the books. I think my second favorite (not counting a character i've created and haven't ACTUALLY shared yet) would have to be Eliot, because he is just so much fun in general.

Do you have a preference for a particular season/point in time to write about?

It really depends on my mood honestly. I love doing Fix-its, Canon-Divergent AUs, and anything involving reworking things, or adding new ideas to make things even crazier. My favorite season is Season 3 though, so I need to write more in that timeline context.

Are you working on anything right now? Care to give us an idea about it?

Oh boy, do you have all week? Lol. Uh, right now i'm in the process of editing a fic I wrote with a friend of mine, and I have another collaborative fic (that I worked on with the same Author) that i've got to find time to post.

I also have a fic for the MHHE (Magicians Hallmark Holiday Extravaganza) I'm working on with a friend, and a DOZEN and one other projects that are in progress.

How long is your “to do list”?

Too long to name to be honest, and it keeps growing! I swear my brain is housing these ideas in some flubbery substance.

What is your favourite fic that you’ve written for The Magicians? Why?

I only have two fics up right now, but my favorite fic is one I hope to actually put up on Ao3 either today or tomorrow, called Eau De Spicy Nerd. It is a cheeky little play on a few things, and I can't wait for people to see it.

Many writers have a fic that they are passionate about that doesn’t get the reception from the fandom that they hoped for. Do you have a fic you would like more people to read and appreciate?

I'll be honest, most of my favorite fics are from other people. However, I think of my fics, my "Is that Alright?" Fic (which is currently two standalone chapters but will be expanded soon for a full cohesive story) is an emotional feelings train that I hope more people see and resonate with. Fair warning I have been told it will make you cry.

What is your writing process like? Do you have any traditions or superstitions that you like to stick to when you’re writing?

My writing process is very instinctual. I'm terrible at writing by myself in most cases, because I thrive on interaction, bouncing ideas back and forth, and then just letting things go where they go. As stupid as it may sound, sometimes I feel like the characters are more in control of what lands on the page than I am. I just...feel it. Sometimes I lay awake with scenes playing in my head, that i have to write down or I just can't sleep at all.

I usually write a fic (with a friend usually, minus Is That Alright? and its first two chapters) and then afterward I compile it all in a doc (usually pasted from Discord) and work my way through, adding things that come to mind. I pass it off to any other authors collaborating, then once it is polished it goes on to a Beta.

Do you write while the seasons are airing or do you prefer to wait for hiatus? How does the ongoing development of the canon influence and inspire your writing process?

I am quite literally ALWAYS writing. It keeps me sane, especially when work is hectic. Unless work is taking too much of my focus, i'm always working on things. Canon ACTUALLY has helped me finish things before, or has given me ideas to start new things. Sometimes even the smallest plot thread will spark a full idea for me, for example I had the idea for a full AU verse I haven't started yet, just from a conversation about Fillorian marriage and Polyamory.

What has been the most challenging fic for you to write?

Well, I can't REALLY talk too heavily about it because it is my MHHE fic, but the hardest part for me has been sticking to the prompt and not deviating. Sometimes I have ideas for things that stray too far, and i'm having to learn to NOT do that, since it is for a challenge and not my own enjoyment.

Are there any themes or tropes that you like particularly like to explore in your writing?

I love writing smutty things. I think our society should be more sex positive, and so I often try to make my fics the "NC17" version if possible. Some plots aren't conducive for that, which is fine, but anything with smut, or fluff, is A++ in my book. I also love soulmate AU's, Soul bonding, and lots and lots of cheesy things.

Are there any writers that inspire your work? Fanfiction or otherwise?

Oh goodness, I'm not sure I should call out individual folks here, but I am totally inspired by SO MANY Fanfic writers. I also love Neil Gaiman and Lev Grossman as artists and people. To be honest though I am most inspired by fanfic writers these days, because the world is a scary place and fanfic gives me a break. I've learned so many great techniques from fanfic writers too.

What are you currently reading? Fanfiction or otherwise?

I gobble up as much Magicians fic as I can, usually the fluffy or smutty stuff unless i'm in the mood for tears lol. I also keep up with a few different authors, but these days I don't have as much time to read novels as i'd like.

What is the most valuable piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?

The best advice I've ever been given is actually two pieces of advice. 1. Never force yourself to finish something your heart isn't in. If you do, you won't be satisfied with the end result. 2. Do not set out to tell the story you planned. Set out to tell a GOOD story you and your readers will love. If you love it, other people will too.

Are there any words or phrases you worry about over using in your work?

Oh there are plenty, most are descriptors for facial expressions. I sometimes find it hard to balance too much detail with not enough detail.

What was the first fanfic that you wrote? Do you still have access to it?

I actually don't remember what my first Fanfic was. I don't think I've posted most of my beginning work. I think the first one was a Queer as Folk fanfic that got lost on an old, dead hard-drive lol.

Rapidfire Round!

Self-edit or Beta?

Both, a good author knows their flaws and also seeks critique.

Comments or Kudos/Reblogs or Likes?

Give it all to me, or whatever makes you feel most comfortable. I'm not fussy, I just want people to enjoy what I write.

Smut, Fluff or Angst?

Smut or Fluff. Angst is reserved for if i'm in the right headspace, i've had...bad experiences.

Quick & Dirty or Slow Burn?

Depends on my mood, some days I don't have the attention span for a slow burn fic, especially if it is incomplete.

Favourite Season?

Season Three

Favourite Episode?

The Musical Episode with Under Pressure. So much of that was AMAZINGLY done.

Favourite Book?

Haven’t read them.

Three favourite words?

Love, Fuck (it fits so many purposes) and Symphony

Want to be interviewed for our author spotlight? Get in touch here.

#the magicians rec center #author spotlight #author spotlight: alexxaplin

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precursor-ao3 · 6 years

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Jazz music from a noir film plays in the background. I approach you in a dimly lit alleyway, wearing a black trenchcoat and fedora, eyes hidden behind dark-tinted sunglasses. I check my surroundings before lighting a cigar, taking a long drag before slipping you a fat stack of Benjamins. Wisps of smoke drift out of my mouth like phantoms or some fancy shit like that. Smoking's bad kids don't do it. I peek at you from under my glasses and ask you, "How do you write? Got any tips and tricks?"

I accept your bribe and silently judge you for poor taste in tobacco products. Vape life is best life, and I whisper, “Mad clouds bruh,” before asking you if you’ve ever been slapped in the face with 500 dollars. Assuming the answer is “No,” I proceed to give you your first experience. *slap*You’re welcome.So! Tips and tricks with writing.

1. Download Evernote on your phone and whatever you write on at home. It’s a cloud-based app that makes taking notes during random smacks of inspiration on the go super easy. If a line or an idea hits me at work harder than $500 in cash to the face, I can type it up and it automatically gets synced with “home base,” allowing for easy copy + paste transfer to a word doc.

2. Use Dropbox in the same manner, but save your rough drafts/outlines/bigdickdocs in folders. Also cloud-based, and it makes writing/editing in multiple locations easy. And…you know, hard drives fail. Dropbox, in the last 3 years that I’ve trusted it with thousands of hours worth of work, has not. Unlike my father. He’s failed me more than Dropbox. #DeadBeatDadJokes3. Join the Fanfiction Reddit. Lots of community posts for betas requests, beta offers, more “tips and tricks,” and there’s even a Discord to get involved in. I can safely say I wouldn’t have been able to develop half of how much I have without those folks; specifically one person in mind - @tafferling. Read her stuff. It’s great.4. Personally, I like to use Text-To-Speech to edit. Balabolka is my favorite application for this, as having your work read back to you can help catch a lot of errors and make things flow better. 5. As for the writing itself, I have a very long and complicated process.-Take obsessive notes and write down one-liners as they pop into mind.-Research every note taken within the fandom until eyes bleed.-Take more notes.-Keep notes posted on left side of monitor while writing, and inject written one-liners, scenes, ideas, etc. into chapter as you go.- “Transcribe,” dialogue/cutscenes in the game (or whatever you’re writing about) during periods of writer’s block; you’re still making progress, but through busy work. Re-watching certain things may actually help break through said writer’s block.-Keep track of chronological order of events as per fandom wiki; or have a solid plan/explanation in place if you decide to break them.-Take. More. Notes.-Form a general outline that you feel generally good with, and accept the fact that it’s going to change at least 50 more times before the fic is complete. I usually do this by making chapter titles with bullet points under them. Sometimes I insert important events from the fandom or ideas/scenes/etc. just to keep track of it all.-Plot main events and let things blossom in between as they will; but also refer to original outline to reinforce that the timeline is being honored.-Edit until eyes AND ears bleed.-I’m probably missing a few steps, but my brain has been so viscerally damaged by trying to put the steps of my work into…words. #NoSenseMadeBut hopes it made sense?I also think it’s very important to not beat yourself up about your early works. My first fic, while I take pride in the complexity of the plot and “not being a typical crossover,” is definitely flawed beyond what you’re used to seeing in Deviant Behavior. Even the early chapters of Of Steel and Stardust, my main work, need some reworking. Writing is all about trial and error. You cannot learn from mistakes without making them, and taking constructive criticism gracefully. Other than that, I can’t stress how important it is to interact with your readers. I have met all three betas of mine (@mjrgenmatt, @elegantn7, and @celestiellie) through two fics I have written, and they’ve become great friends in the process.I hope this way-too-long answer to your question helps. TL;DR: Take lots of notes, edit until you have a bloody mess in front of you and possibly a migraine, and don’t be a dick and ignore people who are trying to help/show enthusiasm for your work. Precummies out.

#detroit become human #fanfic #writing #answered #ask me anything #precummies #taeyangisbae #IProofreadButAmTired

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daemon-knight · 6 years

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Allen’s Rambling: RP and Writing Advice

Yeah... I don’t have a cheeky title for this one folks... sorry.

Anyway, this is a topic I’ve been wanting to make for awhile, but I didn’t know where to start. I wanted to talk about about how I make characters and my thought process as I make them. I’ve had Claudia for about 3 years now and I’ve been RPing in general for over ten, so I think I should take that experience and try to explain how exactly I do it, along with giving some general writing advice. That’s the main reason I was asking about what you guys you liked about Claudia and my general writing; so I could figure out exactly what to talk about and how to present. Most of the messages I got were... frankly few, but the information I got was more or less what I expected when I thought about Claudia’s appeal as a character. Namely that she feels three-dimensional and has some shades of grey to her morality. Those were the main points, but I want to start at the very beginning, so...

Make Your Character Simple

I’ve said this several times and I will say it again: make your characters simple. Keep your about and rules pages short, and try not to write that +5000 word essay on your character’s world building on your RP blog. There’s a reason for this. On your partner’s end, that’s less homework they have to do to interact with you. The more homework and reading your partner has to go through to interact with your character, the harder you’re making it for them. This is the main reason I turned down all the Blacklight Lore when making my OCs and try not to talk much about Claudia’s world/country. It’s not too relevant to Claudia’s character, so I don’t bother. And on your end, the shorter/simpler your character profile is, the less you have to read when you look back at it for reference. If I can use an art example:

This is Claudia’s character sheet, it’s the main thing I use when I want to draw Claudia. I want to make a new one since I plan on updating her look and I honestly think this one is lacking in certain ways, but for now this is the current vision I have for Claudia. It’s pretty simple, giving a full body view of her, showing some key visual things like her expressive ahoge and various sizes/forms of her spear, and her armor. The only thing I’d really need is a back-view of her and some angles on her head, but this is it.

My about page has the same function as this character sheet, it’s a simple, overall look at how the character looks in terms of writing, a nice overview that shows her immediate personality traits, abilities, and background. It’s not everything, but not everything is needed to get her character. If you finish reading that about page and understand that Claudia is a tomboyish knight that likes fighting and wants to create a country that her family rules over then I think the profile has served its purpose. More details about Claudia can be learned as your character interacts with her. The only thing I think I should add to her profile is probably update her bio to explain that her small village is now a small duchy and slowly becoming a petty kingdom... meaning Claudia’s occupation will probably have to change from “Knight” to “Princess” soon...

Huh. Princess Claudia... That’s a... terrifying thought now that I’m actually reading it.

Anyway, I made Claudia’s profile with the goal of most people being able to get a good idea of her character after two minutes of reading her profile. Honestly, I want to rework it to ease the reading process a bit better, but sentence structure and flow is another Rambling in itself.

But let me get more specific here...

Bio and Personality

Like I said before, I recommend keeping the bio and personality sections of your profile short and sweet. For bios, I’d say two-three paragraphs should be the most you have. One paragraph that covers their origins and one to two that covers their current situation. Or you can skip their origin and just get right to their current situation if it’s that important to their current situation to be detailed. I think most Wiki pages do this well, usually have a simple paragraph or two that gives a basic idea of the character before breaking into a much larger biography and personality section, but those things are hyper-detailed for the sake of recording.

For personality, I usually go with a list of adjectives describing the character, around 4 to 5 of their top personality traits. This makes them a little more flexible to write since I’m not tied down by a long spiel of detailed mannerisms, but a short paragraph works too.

The main reason I try to keep these parts short and simple is because the more detail you add, the more detail you have to adhere to. In terms of story writing, if you give me a big spiel about a characters powers right down to the smallest detail, I’m going to expect those details to come into play later, and in terms of RPing I’m going to assume you want me to play with those details or else you wouldn’t mention it.

A good example of this is @fragmentedsilhouette‘s Amaeris. Her body gives off a cold veil that chills the immediate area around her. I try and play with that detail in a few ways, Claudia shivering around Amaeris, her mentioning how cold the room is whenever Ameris enters, and even in comedic ways like Claudia purposely trying stay close to Amaeris during hot days because she’s basically a walking AC at that point. It’s a detail that I try to keep in mind when Claudia interacts with her, and I try to do this for all the partners I write with, especially if it gives me an idea for a good plot.

Speaking of plotting...

Conflict and RPing

This is something I don’t think enough people keep in mind when making a character. Your character needs to able to create and move a plot in some way. Having a static character that’s trying to mind their own business really only works when they’re constantly bombarded by abnormal people and situations trying to create conflict in their life ala Haruhi or [ Insert Isekai Show Here ]. Otherwise, we just have a boring character with some powers and skills wandering around the world doing nothing. This is why Claudia tends to act antagonistic towards a lot of other characters. It’s not because she a complete dick (though she is kind of a dick), but because she needs to be able to create conflict for a plot to happen. That’s why 70% of her interactions are her saying some various of the phrase “FIGHT ME!” Not just because Claudia’s a fight-happy tomboy and Allen has a love of shounen and fight scenes (though that is a big reason), but because it creates an instant plot. Claudia trying to storm a village or pick a fight with some random mercenary is just an easy way to start a conflict that’s still in character for Claudia. I also have her plotting cheat sheet with several parts of her background that can play into a plot. It’s all to make it easier for my partner and I to come up with ideas.

That’s the main thing, making sure your partner has an easy time getting a feel for your character and coming up with some basic plots/interactions. This also goes back to why you want to keep things simple, so its easier to think up a plot. Just to give a quick list of plots and interactions Claudia has had:

A knight and mercenary who live very opposite lives become rivals and then lovers.

A knight and ninja of noble rank become vitriolic friends after the knight constantly pesters and bullies the ninja.

A witch fascinated by a knight’s demonic weapon constantly bugs and teases her, much to the knight’s chagrin.

Two knights of different ideologies often come to blows, one knight believing in servitude toward their liege, the other believe in servitude to one’s own goals and ambitions.

A knight constantly bothers a demon hunter to fight her, the demon hunter who is more mature and is holding back her demonic urges almost always refuses.

A knight wielding a demonic weapon and inquisitor wielding a holy weapon see the other as a scourge that must be eliminated.

A young, temperamental knight is constantly irritated by a long-lived elf warrior that continually beats her in fights.

That’s how I usually look at things when I see someone else profile. I try and think of an quick idea for their relationship and a plot, then I take it from there and see where it leads. It’s why I tend to lean toward a rival/enemy relationship since it creates the most conflict and plot.

But moving on...

Adding Depth

Since I’ve been stressing simplicity for so long, I bet you’re wondering how I create character depth with a simple character.

And that’s simple, I just add to the simplicity.

Like I said, Claudia is a knight that likes fighting and is currently trying to create a kingdom. That can lead to a bunch of things. I could deconstruct her love of fighting into a twisted obsession that borders addiction. I could write about the specifics of her losing her humanity thanks to her demon spear. I could have her actually deal with the bureaucracy of running a kingdom (read her several times bitching about paperwork for example), I could play with her noble background and have her mistreat the lower class on the grounds that she just thinks little of them. The list goes on, but I think you get the point. I’ll tackle a few other points people mentioned too while I’m on the topic of depth.

Morality

So, morality is just a frame of mind. No single person is wholly good, nor are they pure evil, and everyone believes themselves the hero of their own story. Once you realize this you can really fluxuate a character’s morality so long as they think they’re in the right.

When I made Claudia I had done a bit of research on knights in real life, and while Claudia fails on quite a few levels in terms of being a legit knight, I did keep in tack that most knights were mostly just nobles and soldiers that usually owned some land. Claudia and her family are ambitious nobles that want to form their own kingdom by conquering smaller lands. That’s a plausible thing, especially given how often people back then saw military leadership superior to most other forms of ruling since it was an immediate show of power. And while I haven’t decided exactly how Claudia’s family will rule their lands, I think the fact that they think their ambition is just due to the fact that they see it as a sort of moving up the social ladder helps give Claudia some grey in terms of her goals.

Anyway, that’s how I view Claudia’s morality. She’s ambitious, and that ambition might make her an enemy to some, but she’s also kind to those that aren’t a target for her country... unless she feels like being a brat like with Kagero.

Powers

I’ll... try not to bitch about power levels here, but no promises.

When I make a character’s powers I try to make sure that those powers either compliment or contrast with the character’s personality and/or character arc. Claudia’s demonic ability are meant to compliment the character arc of her wanting more power. This is both in terms of physical power and in the plot line of her family’s ambition of wanting more land and influence. It also compliments her personality of being a fight-happy tomboy by physically pushing her further toward becoming a battle-hungry demon, along with showing her resourcefulness in a fight by giving her weapon the ability to change forms.

To change the subject real quick, a group of old characters I had, the Falcon Knights, also fell into this idea. Raven, the lazy and sarcastic leader of the group, had powers that would do more damage to him than his enemies if he wasn’t careful, so he tended to rarely use them despite their destructive ability. This followed the same vein that he rarely acts like a proper leader despite his position, only doing so at critical moments. Tora’s ability to see the souls of people complimented her ability and habit of stating the blunt truth and being able to see people for what they were, at least by her perception. The list goes on, but that’s usually the goal.

Now in terms of the powers themselves and their destructive ability, that’s secondary compared to the plot. Ultimately, my characters are as strong as they need to be for whatever arc or plot I have planned for them. This is why Claudia can hold her own against her hyper-powerful space alien girlfriend, but struggles against the 4′6″ inquisitor. Claudia and Syn are lovers and rivals that need to be on par with each other for the sake that their rivalry has weight, where as Nero is Claudia’s foil that can constantly best her because her dirty, mid-ranged way of fight hard-counters Claudia’s straightforward, ruthless way.

But moving on...

World Building

This is the last thing I wanted to cover, and I’ll be blunt about it.

I’d be very careful about going into world building in terms of RPing.

Like I said, a 5-page essay on this will just turn away your partners, especially on Tumblr. This site is not a forum RP, not everyone is going to adhere to your character’s world, nor should they given how fast partners come and go on this site. They’d be wasting their time trying to understand your character’s world if you just up and dropped the muse a month later because you couldn’t keep up with it. But if you really need the show that your character is from a different world and that actually plays into the character, then focus on what’s relevant to your character and what that means for anyone interacting with this. This does not mean a five-page essay on your character’s magic system and history, but just how they cast magic or how their world’s history effected them specifically.

To be a bit more general, I tend to view world-building on Tumblr as malleable, as in I control my character’s world-building depending on who I follow. If I don’t want guns to be a part of Claudia’s world, then I just don’t follow characters that use guns. If I don’t want certain races to be a part of Claudia’s world, then I don’t follow them. I know that might sound a bit cruel, but that’s just so some points of immersion aren’t broken.

Now the world Claudia comes from that I made, Blacklight, is similar to the world of Elsword in terms of technology. You’ve got knights that wield swords, mages that use magic, archers that use bows and crossbows, but you also have people that use guns, gunblades, mobile canons that fire artillery shells, futuristic technology, and have actually, near-human android walking around, along with Gods, Goddesses, agents of those divine beings, and demons. Basically, anything can happen and no one questions it. There are some rules to this, most of which pertaining to power levels, but again I don’t want to go on a long rant about that.

When I comes to this blog, my main focus in terms of world building and who I follow mostly extends to the level of power I’m willing to deal with. This is creeping into story-writing advice, but in a nutshell I’m already following enough people that are already at the ceiling of power in Claudia’s world, so anyone above that threshold isn’t getting a follow back from me, as I don’t want Claudia to be conscious of too many players in the higher tiers of power. The amount she knows of now is fine and isn’t breaking immersion, anymore would.

And... I think think I got everything I wanted to say out of the way, so... Yeah, that’ll be it from me. I’ll be heading out for a bit folks, drafting and editing this has made me rather tired, so I’ll see you all later.

#.ramblings

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julystorms · 7 years

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DO SINK. (snk) haha

For the Top Five Things I’d Change About It Meme!

Boy is it hard to narrow this down to just five. I obviously love this series but I feel like it made a lot of mistakes along the way; those little things really start to add up over a long period of time and they end up making later reveals harder to suffer.

1.) Marlowe lives. Having thought really long and hard about this, I feel that this is probably one of the biggest mistakes Isayama made in the series so far. Being perfectly unbiased, Marlowe was a stellar character: solid, with a firm view of right and wrong, but whose mind remained open to the experiences and points of view of others. Marlowe’s death is the #1 thing that ticks me off in this series. It’s partially due to bias (I was so sure he was going to mean something as a foil to Eren after all those comparisons), but mostly I can’t help but think of all of the fascinating ways Marlowe could have been used in the story.

Bouncing off of this (but I don’t think it quite needs its own number), the Serumbowl primarily becomes Marlowe vs. Eren: two characters who have existed in the story for a long time and have been compared to one another several times, but who haven’t really interacted. I’m not saying Flocke dies in this change, but he doesn’t take center stage: Marlowe does. Because coming from Marlowe an argument for Erwin to be chosen over Armin makes a hell of a lot of sense.

Flocke worked okay in the role in terms of a traumatized kid who feels there must be a reason he survived, and latches onto the idea that he has to titanize Erwin--that God let him live for that reason--but someone else would be better in that role IMO. Marlowe has already established a connection to the audience. Let’s use him to make a more compelling argument for Erwin’s life!

Erwin didn’t deserve the stupid Serumbowl but if there’s going to be drama at least let it make some sense! Marlowe’s not an unfeeling person so I feel the decision is one he’d feel is weighty, but it would be extremely cool to see a truly impartial person standing there making a good, fast argument for Erwin to receive the serum, even if, in the end, he didn’t get it. (In fact, Marlowe’s serious approach to the conversation might spark more of a speedy discussion and we could avoid the whole stabby mcstab dramafest that we got, which is ideal.)

2.) I don’t want this to turn into a list of characters who should have lived but I think these guys should have made it: Gelgar, Nanaba, Mike, Lynne, Goggles-kun, Petra, Auruo. On the other hand I don’t want them all to live if Isayama is just going to write them all as jokes or useless background props either, so there’s that to consider, but if I was revamping the series I’d let them live and give them important plot things to do.

3.) Which leads me to the political subplot. If we were gonna dive into that I’d have started it earlier & made it clearer that this wasn’t just a SWING SLASH WHAM SMACK SPLAT SCHING CLATTER ACROSS A ROOFTOP kind of a series--at least not for the adults. But while I’m at it, I’d like to add that I’d like to have seen Erwin sending some of the veterans who lived in my version of the story off to investigate these things and/or get arrested and jailed when shit hits the fan in the canon, which gives a more personal bent to Erwin’s imprisonment, torture, and impending hanging. Imagine him thinking about Mike or Auruo or whatever in jail, fate uncertain. It’d be a hell of a lot better than a bunch of nameless, faceless nobodies.

I think it could be argued that some of the courtroom drama early on made it clear there’s a political game afoot, but I still think it could have been more seamlessly included in the narrative.

4.) The Underground City isn’t underground. It isn’t even a city. It’s a black market. End of story.

5.) Insert a lot of subtle worldbuilding. Gimme some political chapters where the characters are at a party and we see them eavesdropping or trying to blend in and make nice to get information. Give me more of EMA as children struggling before they got into the military. Give me culture and an understanding of the districts and how farmers are chosen for their jobs vs. everyone else. More of this would just make the entire story much, much better, despite the faults it has.

Runners up I guess:

6.) I wanted to say something like “more of Ymir” because even though I don’t feel her death was at all a surprise, I still wish we had a clearer view of Historia and Ymir’s relationship to each other and of Ymir as a person. However, when Porco described her as a woman with a name too grand for her I felt something. It just worked really well for me? I still wouldn’t mind more of Ymir but I think for a side character she did pretty well for herself. I just hope Isayama doesn’t neglect Historia now...

7.) A Reason To Care. Look, I love Connie and Sasha but they haven’t meant anything to the story in a million years; letting them live this long has been meaningless and I feel like that kind of plot armor for the 104th “good guys” has gotten to the point of feeling grating for people whose favorite characters have died. Like even Erwin, who could definitely impact the story even now, dies, but these useless husks live? I think they’re fun characters but come on: let them do something. I need a reason to want them around at this point. So what I’m trying to say is: I’d rework the story so that characters didn’t fall off the map and cease to matter as soon as an arc was over that featured them. This includes Historia too, tbh. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

#snk #snk critical #negative stuff #meme responses #snk hour with july #sara says levi needs to be bald so that's like on my list too #imagine animated levi with like #sunshadow speckles on his head #as he flies through the trees #it'd be great right #cute anons #replies to friends

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