#i'm sorry i like storytelling as a craft and these are projects i don't just like because they're fun to read

[thecryptidzenith]

11 for the fic game ask!

11. Bonus: recommend your favorite fic

Okay, you're getting two answers for this one because my real answer isn't a D20 fic, and seeing as that's my fandom at the moment, I'd be remiss to not rec something from it.

For the past... Jesus, four years, my favorite fic has been The Prestige by black_feather_fiction (also @black-feather-fiction) No contest. I don't do MCU fic or fandom anymore, but this is the one exception. It's just. It's so good. It's demonstrates the best use of the medium of fanfiction I've ever seen (yes, I'm of the opinion that fanfiction is its own distinct medium, but I'm not going to get into it now.)

Now the conceit of The Prestige is similar to a lot of MCU long fics: what if the plot was... good? Between the California-in-the-1840's/50's amount of untapped gold in the movies and whatever any given writer wanted to pull from the comics, there are so many elements to play with when rewriting a truly epic version of the story presented in the Infinity Saga, or even just a small segment of it. There are a lot of these, and I've read a lot of these. It's exactly my kind of thing, I love a good Plot.

The thing that's special about The Prestige is the way it incorporates the conventions of storytelling in its worldbuilding. To put it simply, an all-powerful God does exist in this universe, and he's three old women who terrorize innkeepers. The Norns/the Fates/other Mother-Maiden-Crone mythological archetypes, are real, and they control the threads of fate, so to speak. The entire universe exists as their plaything, and given the chaos and entropy of the universe, they pull stories from it. The laws of storytelling are just as influential, immutable, and important as the laws of physics in this universe. And just like the laws of physics, they can be manipulated towards a particular use.

This is how the fic opens: with Loki attempting to tell the universe a story so perfect and beautiful that the Norns cannot help but let the tale play out in real life. He doesn't quite succeed. However, the rules of storytelling are never forgotten, by the characters and by the author. Having the conventions of storytelling being a part of story's universe is a brilliant move that I have not gotten over after three years. Obviously, real life doesn't play out like a story, so when telling a story there's always some suspension of disbelief involved, because real life isn't that neat. Having an in-world explanation for the existence of story structure is something I'd never seen before and it's brilliant. And it's perfect for a story about two liars, image-crafters, storytellers, whatever you want to call them.

The story structure being built into the world is incredible, but so is the way the characters attempt to manipulate it in their favor. Even beyond the opening tableau, characters work to push the narrative in directions that will serve them. And the narrative pushes back. Every time I think about how the Fall of the Giant plot beat plays out, I fall more and more in love with it. It's the perfect blend of expectation subversion, expectation fulfillment, and effective character beats. It's fucking incredible.

Besides the rules of storytelling, The Prestige also makes reference to a lot of stories in the cultural zeitgeist in a way that's as delightful as it is earnest. The primary benefit of fic as a storytelling medium is that the audience already has a shared set of knowledge. We know who the characters are. We know how canon goes, and authors already have prepackaged tools to tell their stories with. Less needs to be established in fanfic compared to other kinds of fiction because the audience has a shared knowledge base. The Prestige takes this intertextuality further by pulling from more than just the MCU canon, but from works as varied as Mystery Science Theater 3000, Gremlins, and Alice in Wonderland. These cultural touchstones are in meaningful conversation with the contents of The Prestige and efficiently add depth in a really interesting and engaging way. Hel, even the title is taken from a Nolan movie. This fic is so deeply tied to the culture it's a part of, and I adore it.

Beyond the elements of the story that are inseparably tied to its in-universe use of narrative, the plot is very well put together. I find the bit with Ozymandias (yes, like the Percy Shelly poem) particularly clever, but it's all very good. Despite it's length, I find The Prestige compulsively readable, its writing is excellent. The characterization is excellent, the worldbuilding is engaging, the character dynamics are delightful to read about and devastating for the characters involved. I think this fic may genuinely have everything: Plot, romance, action, adventure, whump, angst, parent/child relationships, (explored from both sides) familial trauma, sexual trauma, self-destruction, sibling relationships, eating disorders--I'm really just listing tags here, but there's So Much, and I love every bit of it. I have loved every bit of it for years, and I don't care how long updates take, I Will Read It. It's the only MCU fic I've been able to read in years, and honestly? I'm not that mad about it, it's fucking incredible.

Now with all that being said, my favorite D20 fic is a lot harder to pick. I've not been in the fandom that long, I haven't read a ton of fic, and my tastes skew towards the Epic, Plot-focused, and Looooooong. Which is a bit difficult to come by (as is time to read.) There are, however, a lot of excellent fics, out there, though I think I have the most to say about The Properties of Adaine by Tangerine_Blast (also @20dimensionsoftangerine) (and by extension its predecessor, but we don't need to get into it.)

The conceit is that because of Oracle reasons, Adaine gets kidnapped by Kalvaxus as a kid and grows older thinking of him as a great paternal figure even though he sucks because her only points of comparison are Arianwen & Angywn. The interesting part is only really discussed and addressed in The Properties of Adaine, which is that she's technically an object! Legally, magically, an object--a dragon's thrall to be more specific. It's a fascinating exploration of the ramifications of DnD worldbuilding, as well as an exploration of identity, security, trauma, etc. It's a bit of a thorny subject to tackle, but so far as I can tell, it's handled with grace and sensitivity. It's doing a lot of very interesting things with the Themes, plus Aelwyn is absolutely insane (she's adopted/kidnapped by Aguefort.) which I get a kick out of. Overall, a striking story (and also one that's still being updated, which is probably why it sticks with me.)

[disregardcanon]

this probably seems like a weird question from your end,but why do fanfic writers care so much about comments? aos already tracks hits and likes, sorry ""kudos"", so why are comments such a big deal to the point that people will stop writing?

okay, so i'm going to take this question very seriously and i promise it's not to make you feel bad. this is a comprehensive explanation of reasons that comments are important for me, both as a writer and as a reader

engagement vs numbers game

seeing trends

buy-in

community building

engagement vs numbers game

let's look quickly at two different fics of mine. this is the kudos count for a fic called Of First Kisses and Burnt Lips

it's old. it's been up on ao3 for almost 11 years now. 258 people liked it enough to leave a kudos, 12 people liked it enough for a bookmark, and it's been clicked on 3,859 times.

i have no clue what almost any of these people on ao3 THINK about it. beyond "huh. sure. i'll kudos that". compare this to its crosspost on ffn, where i got 5 reviews

3/5 mention it being cute. 3/5 give appreciation to me for taking the time to write it. 2/5 praise the writing itself from the attention to detail with grammar to the craft. 1/5 is an "um..." which is hard to decipher but appreciate and 1/5 is a silly reaction, but it's a reaction! look, someone felt a felling reading my thing! that made me giggle!

looking at the stats here from a purely numbers perspective, my fic DID better on ao3. it got a lot more kudos than it ever got faves or reviews on ffn. but those ffn comments are still what i think about when i remember this fic.

sure, a shear number like hits or kudos can be comforting and motivating. i'm definitely not telling you to NOT leave kudos! but the fics that i've come back to, recently, are the ones where i don't have a lot of kudos but i do have a few people who are invested in the stories and leaving comments to tell me

2. seeing trends

lets look at a few of the comments on my fic The Maid of Honor Made Them Do It

so just in these two comments, we see both commenters hone in on the same detail: my choice to include a special christian music playlist that this characters' friends made for her. a few other people in this thread mentioned that same detail, so i know this bit really worked well! it's great feedback that lets me know that a good chunk of readers agree with my characterization here.

these readers zoom in on specific details that they really liked! things that made them laugh, the absurdity of the concept, enjoying reading it, and that they could see it staged, which is a HUGE compliment for a work in a fandom for theater.

i've always had trouble with imaging where characters are in a space, how they're occupying it and moving, and how to use that for characterization purposes. however, i got more than one comment on this fic about how people could see it staged! that means that i'm improving in an area that i've always struggled with. that's huge. it makes me want to keep working on this thing! it makes me feel like what i'm doing here matters, because lots of people are picking up on similar things! they're invested enough to give me a comment! and it makes me want to keep writing for the hatchetfield fandom because some people are invested in my work here. that is BIG! seeing trends in the way that readers experience your story helps a lot with writer buy-in for a project and also for writers self-analysis.

as a commenter: this helps me JUST as much. when i really dig into what i enjoyed about a fic to tell the writer about it, that helps me analyze and articulate the strengths and things i might want to take away from the storytelling, and that makes my writing better too!

3. buy-in

this is a comment on a series that has less than 100 kudos across three fics, but has thoughtful, appreciative comments on each work. it's called Melting Pot

the commenter deleted their ao3 account. they may be one of the people who commented on the next fic, which i posted recently. they might NOT have been! honestly, it doesn't matter that much to me. this person gave me a gentle and nudge about a fic that matters to me and mattered to them at the time, and they were part of the push i needed to get back to it.

from a commenter perspective, i know that hearing a kind word can help someone keep up their motivation to write, even when i can't write in depth comments the way that i like to!

just recently i only had the time to comment "nice update" on a favorite fic of mine called Teeth That Turn. but they know that i come and i read and they know and talk to me by (user)name. because they know i care about this thing they care about! and it's way more fun to do something like this when i know i can chat with the author about theories and thoughts and ideas. and this isn't a "wow aren't i so cool other writers like me! tehehe" bragging thing, it's just evidence for the case of why comments matter?

if i didn't want this to be a two way buy-in, i'd ONLY read published fiction, you know? we're all playing in the sandbox on the playground and i like what they made. they like that i like what they made :) we're scheduling a play date to fight with sticks after school my mom said it's okay!

4. community building

now i know that i just mentioned above here why i like being a commenter and how it helps authors, as well as why i like HAVING commenters as an author. i'm still arguing those things as a lead up to this section, where i have two other points to make about community building here too.

1. you can comment on OTHER comments! if you go through and read to see what other people are saying, you can agree with them. you can add some commentary! sometimes you can make a joke! and i've only ever had fun responses from something like that. authors tend to love that their fics are getting such a response that people are talking to each other about it! like look!!!!!! my thing got you to talk to someone else about it holy shit?!??!

2. commenting on fics in your fandom builds you a good reputation and makes other authors you comment on more likely to read YOUR fic. i'm not going to post any screenshots on this one because it would be embarrassing for everyone involved, but there have been authors that i really admired who gave my stuff a try after i commented on theirs. and they've told me that's why they tried it! like obviously it's not just networking or whatever, but it's really nice to have someone give your stuff a try because you've been enthusiastic and thoughtful about theirs.

and you make friends this way! fandom friends! who want to talk about your blorbos! you get to go on little play dates in cyberspace with cool people who like what you like. you don't ever HAVE to be a writer, of course. if you don't want to throw your hat into the ring or make art or edits or gif sets or anything, that's cool. no one ever has to participate in fandom outside of their comfort zone! but if you want to, you know that you'll feel more welcomed if you have some people in your corner for it, and making friends in a space, screaming about how much you love the characters you love, and remembering that fic authors especially are just fans too will help you feel like you "deserve" to exist in the space. maybe you don't write, but you go here too. you've got a space in the fandom and your comments don't have to be, like, perfect literary essays for authors to appreciate them and get a motivation boost from them still existing and us being able to go back to them and go!!! look!!! i don't suck!!! this person liked what i did so i'm okay! :)

[springbudeyes]

Please enjoy the first installment of a new series I'd like to call Gamemode 0!

If you're waiting for Mianite Season Four (ha), this will hopefully tide you over. Gamemode 0 is a highly produced mini-series that tells a story through text, dramatic audio narration, a musical score, and images. It stars a villain who was an edgy Grim Reaper in 2015 and it poses the question—how much has Kikoku Botan really changed since 2015?

That question will be answered over the course of – I'm guessing – seven-ish chapters? The first chapter, which you're about to read and hear, is based on a Minecraft RP session held in a single night. Those present for the session include World Historian's original writer (me) and a group of talented role-players. More info under the cut!

Here's the cast:

Moth @robotmothpie as Ginkgo Belshem

CloudF11 @silent-moons-camp as Cloud Endernatus

Metal @mx-metal as Omu Vulcan

Honor @cult-of-athar as Fateshaper (the Big Bad)

Matthew (me) as World Historian

(All characters are voiced by me.)

Background:

The project was Mianite Etherealis. We played on a private 1.12 server for two years, ending in early 2023. The chapter you're about to read (titled Session One) covers the RP session that brought World Historian into the narrative.

I would almost go so far as to say that you're about to experience a canon World Historian mini-series with implications for all World Historian content in existence.

Is it actually canon? I don't know. It's as authentic as you'll ever get for WH, that's for sure. I've spent the last nine years developing the cosmology being used here. I planted the seeds for it when I created World Historian in 2015.

But no, Gamemode 0 isn't Dec-and-Tom-approved canon. And my astounding co-writers aren't offical Mianite writers. And Etherealis isn't a piece of lost Mianite media, though you can think of it that way if you'd like.

Vision:

Gamemode 0 will follow the plot of Mianite Etherealis for one more session, then embark on its own original plot centered on World Historian.

That being said, my aim with Gamemode 0 is to dig up a piece of the past and link it to the future. This series is one of many projects that could result from that effort. If it sees enough support, it could grow beyond text, images, and audio. We have endless headroom here.

If you're looking for Botan's history in Ruxomar, you'll find it. If you're hoping for a glimpse into Akemi and Mina's lives, you'll get it. If you seek all manner of strange World Historian lore, consider it yours. If you just wanna sink your teeth into a juicy hunk of Mianite meat, go get a napkin, you menace.

We have plenty of chapters to take us from the past, to the future, and back again. I could just list the plain facts about World Historian in a lore post, but I could never be satisfied with that. I'm a storyteller.

Disclaimer:

The players own their characters. Most of the dialogue and actions in Session One come straight from the corresponding RP session. I'm just putting it all to a narrative and making readability tweaks for first-timers.

Shout-outs:

Happy birthday yesterday, Honor! We love you!! I guess this is one of your presents. Thanks for letting World Historian take over as the big scary dude for a session. And sorry for writing out our best boy, Oleander. We should co-write something someday.

Cloud, thanks for going back to our defunct Minecraft world to set everything up and take the awesome shadered screenshots for Session One. Also thanks for making c!Cloud such a great POV character. He carries Gamemode 0.

Thank you, Moth, for the un-shadered screenies, for being my PR person, and for supporting me generally all the time. PDA PDA aaaaa!

And thanks, Metal, for being the cool one. B)

Calls to action:

Mianitees, shower love upon my friends. I know Moth and Cloud would jump at the opportunity to answer asks about their passionately crafted OCs. And so would Honor and Metal, I suspect. With the right motivation, who knows what they could create?

The link will send you to my Substack blog, where you'll be able to read, listen, like, and subscribe to my newsletter. The paid subscription has no advantage over the free one; most of you will pick free, but if anyone would like to support me financially, that would be super appreciated. (If we get some traction with subs, I'll set up sub goals and a budget for upgrades to my production.) I plan to release Gamemode 0 chapters as frequently as I can, but I will post something to my Substack every month—Mianite related or not.

Also please like and reblog this Tumblr post if you dig it and want to see more.

Now go and enjoy your food.

[psychedelic-ink]

Are you longing for a unique fanfiction journey where you're the protagonist? Look no further! I'm here to offer a personalized storytelling adventure like no other.

With my services, I'll create a custom story just for you, making sure you're the star of the show. Whether you're into shipping fiction, character x OC tales, selfshipping, or even general fiction without romantic elements, I've got it all covered.

I'm well-versed in various genres and embrace all sorts of storytelling, including both spicy and darker themes. I absolutely love delving into alternate universes (AUs) to bring your story to life.

Just give me the scoop on your desired plot, and the more details you share, the better! I'll expertly craft your story, centered around your chosen characters or even yourself.

Don't worry, I'm familiar with a range of fandoms. However, to make sure I'm aligned with your interests, please feel free to reach out with any fandom-related questions.

I had a commission post before but decided to make a new one since it's been a while since I ever mentioned I take commissions on this site. I'm going to be moving soon which is why I'm revising my commission post. Reblogs are appreciated and thank you so much in advance! 💜

**Details under the cut!

To request a commission, you can DM me from tumblr or if you have my discord, you can reach me from there as well. You can also commission from fiverr if you wish to do so! Please provide a brief overview of what you want, its requirements, and any specific details you'd like to include.

and if you wish to see examples of commissioned work here it is!

2k-3k words : 35 USD

4k-5k words : 45 USD

6k-7k words : 55 USD

with each 1000 words 5 USD will be added!

+ I’m accepting payment through paypal or you may order from my fiverr! 

I usually require a percentage of the total cost upfront before I start working on your commission. Once the project is complete and you're satisfied with the final result, the remaining payment can be made. Payment methods will be discussed upon commission confirmation.

Absolutely! In the end, this is your story, and the more details the better! Your input is valuable in creating a piece that matches your vision. Feel free to share any themes, ideas, or guidelines you have in mind, and I'll work with you to bring them to life.

Turnaround time depends on the complexity and length of the project. I aim to provide a realistic timeframe when discussing your commission. If you have a specific deadline, please let me know, and I'll do my best to accommodate it.

Yes, definitely. Once the fic is complete, I'll share it with you for review. You can suggest any revisions or changes you'd like, and I'll make sure the final piece aligns with your expectations.

I'm sorry, but I do not allow sharing of commissioned work on external platforms, including websites or social media. This policy helps maintain the exclusivity of the work for the client who commissioned it. If you have any questions or concerns about this, feel free to reach out to me.

Absolutely, you can choose to keep the commissioned work private if you prefer. Alternatively, if you grant permission, I can share the work without disclosing your name. In either case, rest assured that any shared content will be clearly identified as a commissioned piece, upholding transparency

Feel free to reach out through DMs. I'm here to answer any further questions you may have and guide you through the commission process.

[a-student-out-of-time]

Hello Mod! Just wanted to let you know that you've made one of my favourite story/ask blogs on Tumblr! It's really inspired me to start my own, but I really enjoy how good your writing is and I'm worried mine won't be as good becuase of my inexperience. So I wanted to ask, how do you go about running a blog like this and planning out the story with so many characters? I feel like it would be a very bad idea to just start a blog on a whim without planning ahead? sorry idk how to articulate this

//No, it's okay! These questions I can handle just fine ^^

//I always say, if you wanna start a project, you should go for it. What you should never expect out of it is that it'll be flawless right off the bat. My work wasn't great when I was starting out, but I found my footing as we went on and things gradually got to the point where they are today.

//If you want some advice on how to improve your work early on, it helps to have your story's overall goal in mind from the start, how you want to get there, what characters you want to focus on and what sort of tone you're going for.

//Also, always have someone you can bounce ideas of off and discuss the plot with. Having someone to discuss ideas is always beneficial and can help you decide what works and what doesn't.

//Most importantly, always be flexible. You might have a story in mind that ends up shifting from your initial plans, but that's okay. Always be willing to reorganize if a new direction or new idea comes up, but saving ideas for later can also really help ^^

//And if you do make mistakes, don't be afraid to use them as a springboard for new storytelling opportunities. A lot of writers would rather forget, retcon or ignore them, but I see using them as story opportunities as someone really developing their craft as a writer.

//Those are tips I've had in mind for my blog for years now, and I hope that they help you improve yours ^^

[whiskeyswifty]

she sang these surprise songs to distract us from how bad the Karma MV is.... Jk, she looks hot and all and the devil scene is a serve but i am getting sooo tired of the cgi onslaught and the "random scenes of me looking cool" kind of concepts. I gettt the theme whatever but girl none of it is fun or interesting! Ari caused a stir with a similar mv concept a few years ago already!!! You waxed on and on about being a film nerd a while ago WHERE is that? And I knooow music videos are a different wheelhouse but you can do so many cool things with them and in the past Taylor has had amazing storytelling concepts and cool visuals and from like Lover onward it was like: "Teehehe look how many Easter Eggs I can drop in these 50 unrelated scenes filmed in front of a green screen". The fucking art heist music video she filmed in Liverpool better be good.... I am tired... (Sorry for being mean and rambling in your inbox it's just. Blergh!)

i totally agree and i'm not really a current mv aficionado (ask me about any mv from the 90s thru the mid 2010s tho i gotchu) but i can speak to how the cgi garbage onslaught is saturating film as well and it's soul sucking. look i get it that cgi is cheaper than it's ever been before and practical effects but so many "directors" use it as a crutch. it's just plain ugly for the most part and you can compare the practical effects in the LavHaze video and see how lovely and gorgeous and tactile something can be when done practically. it's just more tangible and quite frankly show's a level of skill and understanding of the medium and craft of filmmaking where cgi just shows the opposite. it's not going away, unfortunately, but there are still many directors out there who insist on practical or use cgi in really tasteful ways.

i also think many swifties don't want to reckon with this but she is a budding filmmaker (if she continues on this path) like she is JUST STARTING. which means she has no skills in this department. her mv's prior were amazing because they're made by longtime professional directors. and i don't care how good you are at storytelling in other mediums, filmmaking is a very specific and restrictive way of doing it. and if you're bad at it, it's VERY obvious, and it's like learning a new language. yeah you can write a stunning novel in english, but it'll take you at least 10 years to learn spanish competently enough to even attempt to write a novel in spanish that is as deft and skilled as your english one, and it will probably still not measure up. because a language is more than the words; it's also the phrases and the references and, well, you get the metaphor. creative skills take decades to hone. unless you're a savant, or someone with a singular, culture shifting vision (which she is not, not in film at least, sorry) it takes soooooo many films to really sharpen your tools and understand the craft. i'm willing to give her some slack in that department, as every MV she makes is just basically her film school projects, and film school projects are clunky and middling at best cuz you're learning. sometimes i like them, and sometimes i feel like they're just not quite there, but she's fortunate that she is afforded this many mini projects to experiment and find her footing before embarking on a feature. unfortunately they are also promotional material, so they must be bogged down with easter eggs and the like. i'm sympathetic to that, even tho i am, like you, also frustrated. I really hope the liverpool one is good. it looks like it had a lot of moving parts which is promising!! hopefully less green screen cop out garbage. fingers crossed!

[hideyseek]

2, 19, and 27 for the writing wrapped! ^^

thanks for the ask!! <3 sorry this is: so long aha

2. Did you have any writing goals? Did you meet them or not? ah, actually this year i did not have a year-long writing goal, but i did camp nano in april with the goal of a 20k draft of narrative!fic and i did nano in november with the goal of an 8k draft of the first arc of narrative!fic, and ... length-wise i reached both. but, content-wise i definitely did not actually produce a coherent 20k draft in april (i ended up with a 20k collection of: random fucking scenes that did not connect, which was also useful). in november i got a little closer to one coherent arc but discovered right about the end of the month that actually the first arc was not 8k (i would have had to go back and revise like 3k to keep all of the 8k within the "first arc" of story) and so cheated a little bit and skipped ahead to get to 8k of newly drafted material in the month.

19. Summarize your writing project in 5 key words. moving forward into your future (narrative!fic)

27. Which books, movies, etc, helped instruct your storytelling this year? HAHAHA THANK YOU FOR THIS QUESTION! actually this year there were several! some craft/theory books, some pieces of media that really made me go: oh, wow, okay, i want to do THAT. sorry this answer is so long lol i just... started and then kept thinking of things. the actual list under a cut:

george saunders' a swim in a pond in the rain which has fully changed the way i think about writing. this guy breaks "keeping your reader's attention" into several component parts and ... just makes writing all about keeping your reader engaged which happens to align closely with what my own goal is with any piece of writing (based on a quote from the west wing episode "the u.s. poet laureate"). HIGHLY recommend

anne lamot's bird by bird which is such a good book on how to wrangle your brain as a writer. there's not much "how to do the thing of writing" past the stage of "how to get writing on the page" so for me the primary value of this was brain!wrangling tips rather than "how to get words on the doc" but it does a great job of both. also highly recommended. she is simply so so funny and nice about it

bungo stray dogs, surprisingly enough. i think this was a big year for me of understanding / finally starting to think about structure. i am a writer who ... does not read a lot (and i think, truly, this is to my own detriment!). i don't currently consume a lot of media in a language i understand (english/mandarin) and so i've shifted my craft thinking focus to story structure rather than to capturing like, a cadence of written language (which i remember was way important to me in like 2020/2021 when i was first coming back to serious writing in college). and i'm sure a lot of other anime has also helped with this, but after bsd i was really thinking about the component parts of a larger story, and how a multi-series plot-heavy show will have to do careful work in having an arc per-episode or per several episodes, but also have cohesive series arcs as well as cohesive and consistent overall arcs. which i just hadn't ever really thought about before.

summer wars which is a movie i watched completely on a whim. i don't know that it consciously changed anything of what i DO as a writer in terms of process or anything like that. but this movie has stayed with me for months, just because it is so so SO tightly written, everything in there has it's place. and it is SUCH a good example of "BIG STORY that starts out as a really REALLY small and specific story that actually never stops being a small and specific story". that's what i want to do, so so bad!

tada-kun doesn't fall in love which frankly speaking i have not finished because i become too emotionally overwhelmed at how much i love it every time i watch an episode and then have to take a break for several weeks lol. but this was the show that made me go: OH. there is a clear difference in specifically the humor and pacing and the way that information is conveyed to the audience in in an anime-original series vs a manga-adaptation series, which got me into a larger realization about how one of my goals as a writer is to fully take advantage of the medium i'm working in, and to make the story i create one that would have to be changed (not necessarily for the worse, but different in some way) if it were to go to another medium.

thanks for the ask!! this was very fun <3

--

hehe finally getting to my writing wrapped asks for 2022!

[fordarkisthesuede]

I got tagged by @fractualized - and I had to think about this for a while. Sorry for the delay, frac'! I pretty much felt like this all week (lol):

GIF by lostwithoutmyboswell

Ok, so we're gonna start from #5, because I decided to rate these like a loon:

#5:

Birth. Starting off on the disk horse topic of HP fanfic. Listen, regardless of how I feel about the series now (which is messy, to say the least), there's one thing I still can't help but love about it...and it's not only tiny, but half of the reasoning behind it is of my own making. It's Peeves the Poltergeist. I LOVE Peeves. He's my favorite character type - short, temperamental, powerful, 90% humor and fun, inhuman, and neither a Good nor Bad guy. I rarely used to read HP fic back in the day, but I noticed that for such a big fandom, he never had much to his name. (And what I did find was...disappointing for me.) I reread the series in 2015 for the first time in a while and did some Deep Thinking about him. What his limits are. How he's presented. Where he even came from. The bare scraps of canon and Word of God (distasteful) material pushed my buzzing brain to write about him, and eventually churned out this little origin story. I wrote several one-shots surrounding him, but this is my favorite of the bunch. In my eyes, it's simple, short, and effective in storytelling. So I like it. (^_^)

#4:

The Whole Nine Yards. Yes, my current WIP is on the favorite list. It started off as a sex-romp list, because I had too many positions and kinks I wanted John and Bruce to try. It first grew into showing Bruce/John as a couple at home, because my main fics in the Perseverance Project series don't get to show them being all lovey-dovey as much as I'd like. Then I added a few dashes of angst for character building. Then it evolved into including what AtBoM skipped over (for various reasons) - visits at Arkham showing their [growing] love and trust rebuild post-S2, and showing different sides to them.

So what we have now is: "Two guys in love met in an asylum 2.5 years ago, and less than one year after they first met, one keeps coming to visit the other. The visits' subjects are then related to current day, where they finally live together like a real couple, with all it's ups and downs, and sexy results". It's a mouthful, I know. ;D But I think it works!

It's great to explore all these things and essentially back-track a bit versus rewrite any part of AtBoM. Plus, I get to mumble about something that always interests me in this 'verse: Bruce's relationship with his parents. To go from loving them and putting them and their deaths on a pedestal to look to for inspiration to keep going on being Batman, to learning they were the biggest criminals in the city and a key reason while he's even having to be Batman... That's gotta affect how he looks at things. Like, I mentioned Bruce's dislike of his house in AtBoM and TToJ, but here it's full-force. It was a mausoleum for their memory and now it's just a means to an end. He doesn't consider it home, or even rightfully his. But John living there with him makes it a home. Their home. :')

Also, I feel like I'm playing a decorating game and a dress up game with it! Kind of like The Sims, I guess. xD John's room and summer wardrobe are fun to craft as I go. (Don't worry, you'll get to see John's classic outfit at the end. For...reasons.) Plus, soon* you'll see Bruce's bedroom revamped!

#3:

A Ghost Too Far. Disk Horse, part two. Peeves is the one thing I still wistfully sigh over and go "ah, what could have been"...all while knowing that I took the bones of my blorbo and crafted him a full body myself. It's been 7 years since I started writing this particular story, and it clocks in over 230K words. As things are now, I have no idea if I'll ever actually finish it, for a myriad of reasons. So to make a long story short (HA!):

Out of the hundreds of thousands of HP fanfics, and the handful that had Peeves as a character, I found Peeves had no proper big epic romance story of his own and decided to make him one, combining it with one big exploratory setting of How He Is, all set in 2003/2004. His destined romantic partner is an American witch (queue eyeroll), acting as a one-year-only DatDA teacher (queue harder eyeroll), who I can describe in modern** terms as a gender-non-conforming adult punk who is absolutely fascinated with ghosts. She makes it a point to study the castle ghosts, especially Peeves, as poltergeists are super rare and physical ones are apparently unheard of outside of him. She makes a deal with Peeves that he can break just about anything she owns and annoy her all he wants, in exchange for information on how he works. Which I worked out via the aforementioned HP reread and lots of Deep Thinking as literally by feeding off of (aka absorbing) magic from humans, like his "relatives" the Dementor and Boggart. Unlike them, he primarily eats high energy feelings of "anger" "sadness" and "excitement", because he was created in a castle with children who can have powerful feelings of all three very easily. Is this theory of mine presented in canon? Who fucking cares anymore, the author's dead in all senses but literal.

It might not be finished, and it might never be, but writing out this monstrosity of a theory while getting a guy like Peeves to fall in and explore love for the first time holds a special place in my heart. Because not only does Peeves reside permanently in my brain (I'm pretty sure he's the Writing Gremlin who suggests those "this is what goes painfully wrong" scenarios), but so does Dandrane, who I hand-crafted to be Peevesy's romantic partner. I love her. I owe her. Her favorite color is hot pink; because of her, I have gotten over my old feud with the color pink. I wrote her to be 30 while I was then 24; after a while, nearing/turning 30 no longer bothered me. I wrote her to be cool, confident, and a little horrible. Because we all have that bitchy little voice in our head sometimes... The desire to break something without consequences... The need to have our anger recognized rather than ignored or attempted to be placated... Dandrane is a wonderful vessel for these feelings, even after all this time.

She's my cool girl. My tall bean. My silly little flamingo. I want to put her in an enriched enclosure and watch her with a set of binoculars.

#2:

At the Brink of Midnight. My most popular fic is second-place in my heart, at this current hour. (Ha!) For reasons I'm sure you long-time readers already guessed, that I have mentioned time and again in it's author notes: this fic was FUN to make!!!

The Halloween setting! The fresh takes on Scarecrow and Poison Ivy! John recreating Joker! Bruce rescuing John! Bruce finally hugging John! THE CONFESSION SCENE! A rave scene in a graveyard!!! Batman and Joker teaming up to kick ass!!!!!

It's! So! Great!!! It's not too long, but still a big novel-length! Easy to read and get lost in! It presents an original character who carries the possibility of redemption! It hits all those story beats I craved to see for a Season 3! Hell, even now I'd be hard pressed not to expect to see Dr. Crane in any potential sequel we'd get IRL!

Are there things I'd change? Sure. But nothing major. I'm still happy with it, even 4 years later. Maybe part of my love for it is also a desire to be able to pump out 110K words within a few months again...

#1:

The Tolls of Justice!

Is it my most popular fic? Nah, it's #2. But it's my #1. The king of my heart. It took 2-and-a-half years to finish, in no small part because 2020 was a bitch. And despite the frustration at writer's block, despite the silly errors that I still need to go back and fix, and despite the time it took...God, I LOVE it.

Whenever I reread part of it, I get sucked in and read more than I meant to. I know the majority of the little notes I made, but whenever I read one of the tarot hints I can't help but go ehe he he. I read John's breakdown in Arkham, and his transformation into what is his final form of vigilante!Joker, and I still tear up. I see the theme of a writer playing God, of having a defined inescapable ending but proving that choices still matter, and just sit with it in utter delight.

I have many favorite moments: Tiffany and John's day out, the entirety of the Wayne Gala, John and Iman's investigation at the theater, Batman's descent into the Court of Owls' secret lair with Robin... But I have a favorite bit. It's the kind of thing I giggle over while kicking my legs in my seat.

So in Chapter 12, Batman and Joker are having a few moments together before the Big Battle in the high tier of seats above the main floor/"stage area", able to watch the Court of Owls' mock-trial below. In theaters, the highest tier is sometimes known as "the gods" seats.

As my version of the CoO has their whole thing built on "our God wrote down our destiny exactly and the Evil God keeps causing chaos to interfere", and considering the DC multiverses and that Batman and Joker are constantly in them, and as Bats and Jokes are generally simplified as "Order and Chaos"... They're figuratively 'gods' in "the gods" seats watching the show below. ౧(*മ് ധമ്)੭ु⁾⁾

As for WIPs, I only have 2 at the moment. I use OneNote to write all my ideas for it (when I'm actually writing them down):

As you can see, I have sections for The Whole Nine Yards (abbreviated "W9Y" in notes only) and the untitled "BtTTS S5" below. (The "After Hours" is just IRL work notes, when I had to use my personal PC for work in 2020, and "Noir "is literally a list of film noir movies I'm keen to watch. I've been really into them lately!)

Right now S5's notepad only has 2 sections - the Thinkbox and "J Tech". The Thinkbox pages are pretty much the brainstorm dumping ground...but TWNY's is actually laid out rather nicely, like this. I'd post a screenshot, but then this post would...uh, turn nsfw... (; ' o' )

Right now, the only WIP word docs are here, in my "BtTTS - The Perseverance Project" folder:

As for tagging...hm. Um... Since it was frac' who tagged me... I choose @distort-opia, if they're so inclined! (And anyone else who wants to!) Edit: I am a fool who does not reread properly. 😭 Sorry hun, you already did it! So field's wide open!!!

*at the time of this posting, TWNY Chapter 7 is still in progress. It's 2/3rds of the way done! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

**at the time of writing the story in question, the term "gender non-conforming" was not known about as widely as it is now; basically, I knew what it was without knowing what it was called.

[beck-a-leck]

Do you have any writing tips? How do you come up with all these drabble settings? How do you get rid of writers block? (Sorry if this is too many questions)

The long and short answer to for writing tips and drabble setting is: I use the resources at my disposal.

If tumblr works properly, there should be plenty of posts I've reblogged over the years under the tags "writing" and "writing tips" you should be able to find so more than I could ever summarize in one reply. a couple tips that come to mind, though:

1. Learn grammatical rules. Learn story structure. Learn the technical, nitty-gritty, so that you have a good understanding of the rules. And then. Break the Rules. You have to know the rules to break them effectively, and to know when is a good time to stick to the rules and when is a good time to break them.

1a. When you see those big long posts of people in all caps saying DON'T USE THE WORD SAID/ADVERBS/PASSIVE VOICE/ETC. pay attention (learn the rules) but also selectively ignore them. ''Said" is not the worst dialog tag. Adverbs are not the root of all evil. Passive voice is necessary sometimes. Again. Learn the rules, break them more efficiently.

2. If you want to write better, you need to read better. Read More. You want to learn storytelling, read more stories. Read lots of different authors and genres. Listen to fictional podcasts, watch TV and movies. See what you can learn from all the different ways people tell stories. Try and take note of what they do that you like in particular. Figure out the tropes and see how they can be handled well and how they can be done poorly. Don't let your fun reading become homework, but let it be something you're aware, so when you see something the piques your interest you can take note of it.

3. Have Fun! Seriously! Having fun while writing is actually the most important thing. I think. Particularly when it comes to fic, which is my hobby. It's fun for me to write, to come up with stories, to share them with folks. Find some kind of joy in the writing process, and it's much harder to get caught in the slippery slope of comparing yourself to others, and getting disappointed about feedback or lack thereof.

Write the stories you want to write. Tell them how you want to tell them. and Have fun with it! Everything else is just bonus.

As for writing prompts. I got all of mine from posts around tumblr. There's several pinned at the top of my blog that range from Dialog prompts, AUs, Smooch Prompts, and more. You're free to go to those posts and reblog them, and there's lots more floating around tumblr free for the reblogging. If you just want to write something, but can't make up your mind on which prompt to pick, I like using a random number generator to pick for me.

Prompts like those are great for writing exercises, and kicking off points for fics, and having lots of fun with readers and blog followers.

And to get rid of writers block. The age old plague upon creatives. There's no single, surefire way to do it. What works for one person might not for another. But here's what I do:

Work on multiple projects. I can't focus on a single story to begin with (yay adhd) so I always have multiple Works In Progress across 2 or 3 fandoms at a time. If I want to write, but I'm stuck on one story, I'll skip over to another one and see if I can find inspiration there.

If writing isn't happening at all. Do something else, preferably something also creative to keep your brain in the creative zone. But honestly, doing anything else than staring at a blank document can do a lot for you. Exercise, gardening, some chores, a hand craft, art. A lot of times I find the bit I'm stuck on will work itself out in the back of my mind while I'm focusing on another problem.

Putting your stories in time-out can do wonders for getting past writer's block.

If you absolutely have to write only the thing you're stuck on. Try changing the weather in your story, that can help move a scene along.

Try picking the right music to work to, something to set the mood/scene, something you find relaxing, movie and video games soundtracks are great for staying focused and motivated on a task without getting distracted by lyrics.

And usually, when you're stuck in the middle of the scene, your problem is probably several paragraphs upstream. Backtrack, reread, see if there's something to change or fix that unblocks things.

Also. There are lots of other blogs out there, specifically meant for writers and advice. Look around and you'll find them. Use them, use the resources at your disposal. Use google, see if any authors you like have done things like ted talks or other kinds of video lectures about writing. There is so much to learn from all the writers out there.

Happy writing!

[megarywrites]

4, 7, 19, and 22~ ^^

thank you~~~

4) what are some of examples of storytelling that inspires you outside of books?

hmmm this could go a few ways lol for me at least

A lot of my stories could be considered fairy tale retellings? but I don't really like calling them that because I'm not really going about it the same way that retellings are usually done, if that makes sense...like, the way I'm doing it is taking major elements and reworking them so they're more like easter eggs rather than plot points

i hope that makes sense lol

outside of that, I'd say movies and tv shows for sure inspire me the most. mostly with pacing and cinematography? My writing style tends toward cinematic (or so i've been told) and so I like to watch the camera work to get an idea of what snags my focus as well as the camera's focus. And I feel like pacing is self-explanatory when it comes to film/tv

7) tell us about one of your characters who’s an absolute joy to write

this is probably because I'm working on the chapter that introduced her (finally) but Naia Abaroa aka Grea's (and possibly Dracrie's) best girl ever. She is Thala's love interest and she's just an absolute sweetheart with underlying sadness (that will get addressed as the story progresses)...she's the sunshine to Thala's storm, the Hufflepuff to Thala's Slytherin and I'm really looking forward to not only getting to know her better but also developing their relationship into one that everyone can't help but love along side me ^^

(but for real, 99% of the time I love writing my characters, no matter if they're the antagonists or not...Seafoam's antagonists, on the other hand, are the 1%)

19) what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

research; my beloved, my beloathed

it can be so much fun sometimes lol I definitely do as much research as possible, which can be difficult for fantasy (and also difficult to keep track of all the tabs)...a bit of a curse, though, sometimes because the number of times I get distracted??? jfc... lmao

as for something neat, it's really hard to narrow it down, especially having been writing for a decade now, so that's a lot of research to keep track of. One of my favorite things to research, however, is like...methods of death? whether it's murder or how it feels to die a certain way, idk it's fun (sorry for getting morbid lol)

22) talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you. or talk about several. seriously, writing is cool. you’re making up whole stories out of your brain, revel in that shit.

not to talk about my stupidly long fic on main, but

I was definitely pleasantly surprised by how that fic all shaped up? Like, yes I worked on it for four years, yes it kept me away from writing original fiction like I was longing to do, but overall, I think it really helped me improve my craft? Like it was an entire series worth of words (695k words), and like I said before, I'm a planner, not a pantser, so I had to get it all outlined and do all my research as I went and it was nice to know that I am capable of finishing a major project like that. Not only that, but it was nice to engage with my readers and get to know them through the comments and also connect with a choice few in dms (one of them is now one of my closest friends)

and I know that fic is different from original fiction in many ways, including how you'll be able to interact with your readers, but it was nice to know that something I wrote and put my heart into was able to connect with other people, and that's what I'm taking with my now that I'm returning to writing original fiction: the desire to connect with my future readers through my work.

send me writing asks?

[wiggybe]

If yku don't mind me asking, what degree did you for to he an animator/illustrator? I'm going to start looking for colleges soon, but dont know what kind of degree to go for. I don't have any experience with Photoshop or any kind of digital arts, abd would really like to learn, but dont know where to start.

I think this is a really old ask that I missed and I’m so sorry I didn’t get to it, but I suppose it may still be helpful to anyone. 

My degree interview experience (+ is digital art required?)

I did a degree in animation. I don’t think you need a super amount of experience in digital art to go for illustration or animation, traditional animators exist still :) And a friend of mine got accepted into a games design degree for concept art and had never touched digital art in his life, he learnt it all in the course. I’d say it’s definitely helpful to have done some, it saves the sudden jump into it like he had to learn a lot very quickly, but I don’t think it’s required to join a course. It wasn’t for mine, at least. Mostly they want to see strong drawing skills and passion. For animation, it doesn’t need to be amazing drawing either if you’re more into crafting (for stop motion) or 3D art, what they may like to see is characterisation and storytelling. If you’ve ever drawn comics or story panels, expressions or characters, all that is good, and of course add in any animation you’ve done at all, even flip notes. I remember in my A Level course at high school, they made us make so much stuff on A1 boards, documenting research and artists and our projects (which was a selection of fine art, ceramics and sculpture), my teacher told me how important it was to take everything I did in the course to my interviews. In the end I remember my interviewer flicking through it quickly and being like ‘you got anything else?...’ and I showed him my crappy comics, character sketches and animation tests that I did all in my own time and he was way more enthusiastic about them because I was more passionate about it and there was a story to them.

What degree?

For a degree, just go with what you feel is right, if you’re interested in storytelling and characters and you like drawing a lot, maybe animation is for you. If you’re not an artist but you still like storytelling and film, maybe film-making or media. If you really like making beautiful art or cartoons for stories but aren’t interested in the film side or the movement, maybe go with illustration. If you’re more into games than movies and still want to make beautiful art, maybe it’s game design for a concept artist. It’s hard to work it out, I just knew I liked cartoons, liked animating movement, and liked coming up with characters and stories, but specifically I enjoy making them come to life with movement and preferred the storytelling format of storyboarding than I did of comic pages, so I know straight up what I wanted to do. But I also know people who started to do one thing, realised it wasn’t for them, and went onto something else, which is also totally okay to do! Go visit open days, research the courses, think about what you want to get out of it in the future, and just go with your heart, go with what feels fun and the most interesting to you and what you’d get the most out of.

Starting with digital art

There is no superior program in my opinion, amazing art can come out of any program, so I feel like it’s just whatever you find the most comfortable. I started on Photoshop them moved onto Paint Tools Sai (and still use PS sometimes for editing) and that just works for me. There are lots of great tutorials online that can teach you how to use an art program, and lots of programs have free 30 day trials on them, so you’ve got resources to experiment. If it’s good for you, you can buy a subscription or download free software, which there are good ones that don’t ask you to pay, it’s just about looking for them. I would say the best way to start is to try a free program or trial, purchase a cheap drawing tablet and just doodle around, see what comes out, see what works, what doesn’t, if you enjoy it, get frustrated with the program as you learn it, and when you’re a little more confident with it, try out a tutorial. These days I’m learning from Aaron Blaise, who does animation and concept art, he’s very welcoming to new and experienced artists and a lot of his stuff is free on youtube. But there’s also a whole community of youtube art tutors so find some that work for you :)

I hope your university search has gone well, and I wish you only the best for your future!!