#intense and dramatic

[xiewho]

kipperlilly?

[theramblingvoid]

Low level/continuous pain tips for writing

Want to avoid the action movie effect and make your character's injuries have realistic lasting impacts? Have a sick character you're using as hurt/comfort fodder? Everyone has tips for how to write Dramatic Intense Agony, but the smaller human details of lasting or low-level discomfort are rarely written in. Here are a few pain mannerisms I like to use as reference:

General

Continuously gritted teeth (may cause headaches or additional jaw pain over time)

Irritability, increased sensitivity to lights, sounds, etc

Repetitive movements (fidgeting, unable to sit still, slight rocking or other habitual movement to self-soothe)

Soft groaning or whimpering, when pain increases or when others aren't around

Heavier breathing, panting, may be deeper or shallower than normal

Moving less quickly, resistant to unnecessary movement

Itching in the case of healing wounds

Subconsciously hunching around the pain (eg. slumped shoulders or bad posture for gut pain)

Using a hand to steady themself when walking past walls, counters, etc (also applies to illness)

Narration-wise: may not notice the pain was there until it's gone because they got so used to it, or may not realize how bad it was until it gets better

May stop mentioning it outright to other people unless they specifically ask or the pain increases

Limb pain

Subtly leaning on surfaces whenever possible to take weight off foot/leg pain

Rubbing sore spots while thinking or resting

Wincing and switching to using other limb frequently (new/forgettable pain) or developed habit of using non dominant limb for tasks (constant/long term pain)

Propping leg up when sitting to reduce inflammation

Holding arm closer to body/moving it less

Moving differently to avoid bending joints (eg. bending at the waist instead of the knees to pick something up)

Nausea/fever/non-pain discomfort

Many of the same things as above (groaning, leaning, differences in movement)

May avoid sudden movements or turning head for nausea

Urge to press up against cold surfaces for fever

Glazed eyes, fixed stare, may take longer to process words or get their attention

Shivering, shaking, loss of fine motor control

If you have any more details that you personally use to bring characters to life in these situations, I'd love to hear them! I'm always looking for ways to make my guys suffer more write people with more realism :)

[bakudekublogblog]

shigaraki being like “I’m killing you bc you’re izuku midoriya’s baby girl and it’ll send him into the rage” is SO LOVE INTEREST it’s so YOURE HIS PRECIOUS SOMEONE if something happens to YOU he’s gonna LOSE IT if you wanna go for izuku’s HEART you TAKE HIS KACCHAN

[thranduel]

astarion, the man who was dying and offered eternal life, but had no idea that it meant becoming a slave to a sadistic master.

astarion, the man who had his freedom and bodily autonomy ripped away from him.

astarion, the man who was forced to befriend, seduce and sleep with people to lure them back to his master, resulting in severe sexual trauma and the struggle to form any sort of intimate relationship.

astarion, the man who was horribly punished whenever he refused his master’s orders (one punishment being sealed away in a dusty tomb, starving, for an entire year. he scratched his hands raw trying to carve his way out).

astarion, the man who was forced to eat rats.

astarion, the man who hasn’t even been able to see his own face since he turned.

astarion, the man who had his body mutilated as cazador carved scars onto his back, which he later found out was to bind him to a ritual.

astarion, the man who is so severely traumatised that he admitted he doesn’t know how to say “no” or ask for help (and he feels guilty when he does).

astarion, the man who waited two centuries to be helped and freed from torture, but no one came.

astarion, the man who was always treated like a monster when all he wanted was to be treated like a person.

astarion, the man who came up to you in the middle of the night just to thank you for defending him and allowing him to make his own decisions.

astarion, the man who said that no one ever looked out for him or showed him kindness, and that you’re the only one. “other people don’t have a heart like you. you’re you. no one is like that.”

astarion, the man who broke the cycle of power and terror that started centuries ago thanks to the love, care and compassion that you showed him when no one else did.

astarion, the man who confessed that he loves you and feels safe with you; something he has never felt with anyone before.

[mugentakeda]

i think that the only reason why zuko was surprisingly good at speedrunning things like friendship and socializing with the gaang in book 3 is because he was running on stress and adrenaline but when he actually relaxes around the gaang he reverts back to his usual weirdo self that only kind of knows how to express himself. And zuko doesnt know how to be casual either so the gaang has to deal with zuko telling them shit like "i hope anyone that opposes you dies and goes to hell" dead seriously in response to affection

[katiebell]

you know, I actually think the moment byleth steps in front of that blow meant for edelgard, an action that changes EVERYTHING about their fate, really is monumental, especially after warriors came out and added context

you have this mercenary who’s known for being stone cold, emotionless, and who can annihilate entire mercenary camps in minutes blank faced, as we saw with shez - by all means, they should never, WOULD never take a blow like that so carelessly for someone they don’t even know, much less with such an angry, determined expression - and yet.

the game draws some clear parallels between byleth and edelgard, and in all routes they have a connection that seems unbreakable - all of this starts at that very moment, when the merciless demon gets swept by a wave of emotion so strong that they throw rationality out of the window.

idk, one of my favourite fe3h analyses mentions the ‘literal divine intervention triggered by edelgard’ and that’s exactly what that moment is. not even because of sothis, but because that’s exactly when byleth takes their first step towards humanity and their freedom - i honestly think that byleth only fully regaining their humanity in crimson flower is the only outcome that makes sense, since that’s exactly what we see in one of the first scenes in fe3h. excellent foreshadowing, I’d say

[good-wine-and-cheese]

Dramatic piano tantrum redraw but make it Pink

[cbmagus49]

AAAAA JUST BARELY SQUEEZING IN AT THE LAST SECOND HERE BUT

HERE’S MY FORDUARY STUFF Y’ALL ALL IN ONE GO LET’S GO WOOO

WEEK 1: FAMILY

WEEK 2: ANOMALIES

WEEK 3: INSOMNIA

WEEK 4: SWITCHING IDENTITIES

Whooo, that was a lot! I only got properly started on these like a week ago; I’ve been back at school for the first time in like 3 years which is really eating up my executive function, and with all the crap that happened in Jan/Feb on top of that I wasn’t even sure I was gonna do Forduary at all ^^’ Not half bad for a very very very last minute mad rush to get something out before the late entry cutoff deadline :D

(I am so tired T^T)

I had a lot of trouble figuring out what to do for the prompts this time around, and eventually ended up making two sketches for each prompt! ...buuuut I absolutely did not have time to do all of them with how late I left it so I just picked my favourite for each week to polish up. I’m probably not gonna finish the others, but I liked how the rough blocking was turning out and I thought the progression of all of them together looked pretty cool, so since I didn’t wanna just not post them I’ve put all the thumbnail sketches under the cut so you can see ‘em ^^

[artkaninchenbau]

An AWS comic

[somestorythoughts]

Why yes those are the defining features of small prey animals.

[stackslip]

actually i do have something to say about this chapter and it's quite critical of it but also i'm tired tonight and i've been talking about it long and hard on discord already and putting it all together in a coherent post feels like too much of a task tonight. all i'm gonna say is that part 2 was very obviously going in a certain direction from the start, and i loved that direction, and to an extent it is still going in that direction but now very obviously missing a huge chunk of what stirred it in that direction. and i'm hesitant to simply say it's fujimoto that's dropped the ball on this (though it might the idealization, who's to say) because from the actual shape of the writing + slump in paneling/art + recent bitter interview by fujimoto + japanese audience is apparently vocally not a fan of asa + my own cursed knowledge of shounen jump and shueisha editors and how they react to a fall in sales = i think the lack of focus on asa has really hurt the themes of part 2 when she was an integral part of it + i think this wasn't entirely fujimoto's doing and it's very likely because she is apparently strongly disliked in japan and there's good reason to believe that fujimoto was told to not focus on her nearly as much bc sales slump and people complain as soon as she shows up. which sucks. becaue what made part 2 work as well as it did was the synergy and parallel between the two protagonists' paths, and the absence of asa's path in the past few months (both in universe and by real time in the comic) feels like a genuine writing and thematic and emotional hole in the comic that to me shows that she WAS supposed to be there. fujimoto had fully intended to write her in there bc there's a hole in the shape of her where she is very obviously supposed to fit. it isn't simply a question of "author forgets his female character" it's a question of "this crucial part of the manga is missing and the author is painfully aware of it and bitter about it too"

[littleragondin]

so cocky! ~

eeeeh?! he was quite the little devil wasn't he? ~

*incoherent heartbroken sobbing*

In which Haruta is all of us.

bonus under the read more

The two that didn't make the cut but where Izumi-san and Akito were too cute not to share with the class 😔

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

i recently went to the actual WH website, saw the cannon Barnaby after months of tumblr brainwashing *cough cough more realistic barn cough* and was taken aback, like i had to look at him for a few seconds. I choose to blame you and that Weevmo feller' for this

you. you haven't. you haven't looked at the actual website? you haven't looked at The Actual Project? i. im.

respectfully,

What.

[thephantom]

To seek revenge may lead to Hell; everyone does it, though seldom as well... As Sweeney... As Sweeney Todd... The Demon Barber of Fleet Street! Josh Groban in the title role, 2023. @theriddletrades' master.

[taz-writes]

here's a hot take for today

the narrative function of sex is the same as the narrative function of fight scenes is the same as the narrative function of songs in a musical

no i will not explain

[anghraine]

Sparing a moment from BG3 to think about how nerve-wracking it must have been for Faramir to turn back and ride towards five Ringwraiths. I mean, yes, it was an incredibly cool thing to do, but also an incredibly frightening thing to do.

And it's not just an extrapolation—Pippin can tell he's been through the terror wringer and mastered it, just as one of a crowd seeing Faramir go by.

I think it's pretty important to his character that it's not that his specialness lies in not feeling the things anyone else would feel, tbh. I've argued before that he pretty clearly is tempted by the Ring in TTT for a moment, and his decision not to take it is bolstered by his previous promise (even though he didn't know he was talking about the One Ring when he made it). He's not uniquely immune and he takes care to keep it away from himself to avoid further temptation.

And he is scared of the Ringwraiths. Very scared, in fact. He just couldn't do what he felt he had to do without clawing his way through the terror and coming around the other side. And I do think that's a lot more impressive.