#intro styles

[free-range-writing-prompts]

Welcome.

[note: please scroll to bottom of post if you want a more detailed explanation (with tangential ramblings) on singular gender-neutral pronouns you may see in this blog, namely:

e = singular of 'they', used instead of 'he', 'she'

em = singular of 'them', used instead of 'him', 'her'

er = singular of 'their', used instead of 'his', 'her']

Now... an intro. What is this blog? This is where I turn loose writing ideas I have that are surplus to my requirements. I have built up a stockpile of countless writing ideas of various kinds, and in going through my old files I sometimes identify ones that I am certain I will never use because they don't fit into my current (or planned) projects, and I am now reluctant to build new writing projects around my surplus ideas, having what may easily be considered as far too many unfinished projects already. So I put them here, like baby animals in a cardboard box marked: "free to a good home".

If you see an idea here that you want to adopt for your very own, please do. (though someone else seeing it may also use it, that's not up to me... but if you want to use one seriously for a real writing project of your own, I don't mind if you post a reply saying so, so that others might be aware that you claimed it, if they see your comment)

Also note: sometimes here, I use singular third-person neutral (non-gender-specific, gender-neutral) pronouns that are derived from the English language plural third-person neutral pronouns. This is generally when I am either writing about a situation where someone speaking doesn't know what gender pronoun to use (ex: speaking of someone whose identity is unknown) or, more often, when my notes are describing situations where the characters are undefined and gender doesn't matter to the situation being described and it's left up to later development of the idea, to assign gender specifics to characters. (which actually is most of the time, I think)

I have been using such neutral singular pronouns in my own writing notes for myself, literally for decades. [I decided at a young age that it was a deplorable deficiency in the English language not to have them, and decided to make my own out of the plural versions, though for a REALLY long time I didn't use it in writing that would be seen by others, because I didn't want to confuse people with it back when it was an almost-unheard-of concept generally, but I don't really like using the plural pronouns to denote singular (except maybe in slang speech out loud), so to appease my teachers, I had a long-standing habit of "writing around" it by using turns of phrase such as "one's own preference" when writing things others would read. (a sometimes awkward convention that has been in the English language long enough to be truly venerable in age, but which never really could fully make up for the lack of neutral singular third-person pronouns)

[side note: I was actually horrified as a school-kid, when a (female) English teacher who one might otherwise think was pro-feminism (based on her book recommendations and interpretations) actually told me that it was acceptable in English to use the male-defined pronouns in situations where one meant to indicate a person of unknown (or undefined, unspecified, unspecific) gender, where plural pronouns would clearly not be allowed by rules of English grammar. (at the time, using 'they' them' and 'their' was not so common in slang use as singular pronouns, and considered unacceptable by English teachers regardless) ...even though using male pronouns (for anyone generally) may have been acceptable back in the 1800s and earlier, I had thought that after the 1960s at least (when the teacher in question was probably a college student) ...even if women still had inequality in the workplace by the time I was a school-kid (and still do, in some ways, though in many jobs not QUITE as much as it was then) ...I thought that society should have gotten past that kind of inequality in the written word. THAT'S when I started having 'one' be commonplace in my writing for English classes, because I never wanted to hear any English teacher ever again tell me to (by default) use male pronouns for something that SHOULD potentially refer to anyone of any gender. (and it's also about that time that I made up singular versions of the plural pronouns for my own private use)]

I have since read that others have at some point also made the same or similar singular pronouns (as what I like to use) in the same way or by a similar process of derivation; I know many people have made many different versions of neutral singular third-person pronouns over the past couple decades... however, I remain partial to the ones I use, in part just because they've been in my own personal writing vocabulary for so long, and in part because I haven't (so far) come across any that make better sense to me]

Occasionally I may come across some old notes where I used the English plural third-person pronouns in a slang manner to denote a singular person (it would save me time over using 'one'), and really it's just laziness (I do suffer from chronic tiredness, forgive me) to not re-word it now when I type it up to share here. Note that regardless of what anyone else in the world chooses to use for one's own personal pronouns related to whatever definition any particular person may wish to use to designate gender... when I use these here, it is specifically to denote neutral pronouns, where gender is not indicated, just the same as with the English plural third-person pronouns being used for any persons of any gender.

Here are the ones I use, which you may see at any time in my notes in this blog:

e = singular of 'they', used instead of 'he', 'she'

em = singular of 'them', used instead of 'him', 'her'

er = singular of 'their', used instead of 'his', 'her'

My thought process in deciding on these:

I started with 'they', 'them', and 'their'... and removed the 'th' from each, leaving 'ey', 'em', and 'eir'. However, 'eir' would sound like 'ear' in north american English, and visually would look like it should sound different when compared to parts of other languages from Europe. So, I removed the 'i' to leave 'er', which rhymes with 'her' and is not already (to my knowledge) a word in the English language. For 'ey', I didn't like that it sounds like 'a' (a word in the English language, obviously) and looks like one possible (though maybe out of use now?) spelling of Canadian slang 'eh' as well as sounding the same... so I dropped the 'y' to leave an 'e' by itself, which rhymes with 'he' and 'she' anyway.

Usage examples:

"I don't know what e was thinking, I already said that jalopy-rocket wouldn't start, but e insisted on trying until the thing exploded!"

"The boss said to 'take care of em', and I thought it meant 'take em to the hospital'... how was I supposed to know it meant 'bury em someplace the cops will never find em'!"

"That kitten sure knows er place. Been here three hours, and has already claimed the top shelf for er throne, and has the chihuahua cowering under the bed in fear of er claws!"

[egophiliac]

A-anime?

you know, sometimes I forget that Twst is actually an isekai that starts with the protagonist getting run over by an inexplicable horse-drawn carriage. and every time I'm reminded is a delight because that's AMAZING.

also. look. okay. there's a lot of very fun stuff in the trailer but I am obsessed with that Crowley surprised pikachu face. me when I spend all my keys and gems literally hours before they announce overblot SSRs and drop the anime trailer:

[midsummerclan]

Moon One: Good Morning!

[vintage-tigre]

[catcherwrites]

For the record, you can pry my “Sarai used to be in the Crownguard before she married Harrow” headcanon from my cold, dead hands

Amaya trained the Standing Battalion and Sarai trained the Crownguard, and their ability to work together is why Katolis had the strongest fighting force in the Pentarchy

You can also pry “Sarai and Soren were insanely close before her death” from my cold, dead hands. Maybe not even then, because I’m gripping this idea tightly, even in death

Sarai helped Soren and his family manage his illness because of her experience with Damian. And Soren was just so excited that the Head Crownguard was hanging out with him! Even when he was at his worst, he’d always perk up if he could see Sarai train the soldiers from his bedroom window, or regale him with stories of legendary battles at his bedside

After Soren got better and Sarai left the Crownguard to become Princess of Katolis, she offered to show him the basics of swordplay and strategy to help Soren with all of his pent-up energy. Even though he wouldn’t be interested in poetry until years later, Soren was introduced to the concept through Sarai, who’d recite some of Damian’s old work for him during their time together. Sarai had essentially become one of Soren’s constants after his family fell apart with Lissa leaving, Viren growing cold, and Claudia throwing herself into magic

At least until she died, heroically saving his dad

[socksandbuttons]

Writes a whole thing to bring Daydream back and now he's chillin' with Nexus because I say so. Me and Thorn are very normal about this.

[als-basement]

woe wasteland au be upon ye

the dandy's world brainrot was so bad I put my oc in an au💔

CW: long post

all you need to know (mostly) about Panna

-certified girlfailure

-nervous wreck

-almost died on day 2

-sleep deprived artist

-crybaby

-kinda op but not really

-avoided making a mary sue by nerfing her to the ground

-oh the blot on her face? we'll talk about it eventually

demonstration of how her item works

about the being abysmal in close combat thing, I ain't kidding

the only toon she can beat in a fist fight is toodles

her physical strength is only as much as cosmo but at least he's got decent durability

like girl is cooked if she ever runs out of magic

that's what I meant when I say I nerfed her to the ground

she NEEDS to be group or else she'd just die (das exactly what happened)

really close with flutter and astro so ideally she can't be in a group with them cuz I'm mean like that:]

blake you've got competition

astro and panna's relationship is strictly platonic, almost sibling-like

maybe something something romantic implications with flutter but idk

oh and panna's a paintbrush if you haven't guessed by now

au by @fizzyboy

[alexturntable]

“Time is a state of mind, Carlos” 💅

[fujifroot]

scully + mulder, disco style 🪩👽🛸

[threecowsusingthisforreblogging]

If Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom when he’s in ghost mode, does that mean William Wisp is the opposite? Does he become like. William Worschestershire in wisp form?

[aropride]

the second secret reason i hate attachment styles is bc i had to take intro to psych 5 times (long story) and in all of them we talked abt attachment styles and they explained that there was the Normal Style, the Frightened Style, the Coldhearted Asshole Style, and the Abused Child Style. And then (in most of them) we would do a Group Activity where u share ur attachment style And i was always the first & only person to have to go "well i have the Abused Child attachment style :)" Very uncomfortable situation for literally everyone involved

[infinityvalkariel]

✧・°・。・°・。・ shooting star. - 2024.12.30

[akkpipitphattana]

The Taming of the Shrew (Act II, Scene I) by William Shakespeare | The Heart Killers, Episode 12

[star-trekster]

Welcome to my twisted mind [Sein-Trek (Star-feld?)]

[sysig]

[judgeanon]

So About That BATGIRL #1...

I put this review up in another site, but since folks here on Tumblr seem to be realizing I have a lot of Thoughts about Lady Shiva, I figured I'd transplant it here. So here's how I feel about it. The short of it is that I think it's a strong start with a few small quibbles because I'm not sure how much of Shiva's writing is her being intentionally OOC and how much is Brombal trying to humanize her.

The long is here:

Now, one of Shiva's main issues as a character ever since they finally split her from the League of Assassins (God bless you Bryan Hill) is that, instead, writers have stapled her to Cass. Literally every major Shiva appearance since 2017 has involved Cass in some way. That is a problem not so much for Cass, who gets to have her own stories and series with and without the Batfam (although mostly with), but for Shiva, who doesn't get nearly as much exposure as her daughter. If there's a Shiva comic coming out, odds are it's gonna have something to do with Cass. Well, except for the other Shiva comic coming out this month that's gonna suck shit.

But at the same time, I don't think that means nobody should ever do another Shiva/Cass story, because I still feel like that's rich soil that nobody has had the time, space or desire to really commit to mining. Hill in Outsiders was writing a whole ensemble cast and couldn't linger too long on them. Writers like Grayson and Cloonan/Conrad both teased Shiva trying to reconcile with Cass but never took it anyhwere. A Shiva/Cass story can still be compelling and interesting as long as the writer is willing and able to Actually Write It.

So when literally the first panel of this new issue is Shiva addressing Cass and their relationship directly, I'm already perked up. Right from the get go, you can tell that Tate Brombal is absolutely here to tell a story about these two women and pretty much nothing else, and also that Tak Miyazawa and Mike Spicer are a killer art team. I adore how hard Tak's figures look without (usually) being stiff, thanks to some solid body language and expressions. And Spicer's colors have a cool kind of dark-but-vivid look. The last leg of the issue, with everything illuminated by fire, is especially cool.

Going back to the opening, it's curous how despite this being an issue #1, there's very little in the way of character introductions or set up. There's no slow burn here, no lengthy creeping intro like previous Shiva/Cass stories. And while I can't help but feel that it must be a little awkward for readers unfamiliar with them or their current situation, I think it also accurately reflects one of my favorite parts of the comic, which is Cass' being just absolutely fucking DONE with her mom.

After years of hyper dramatic standoffs and tearful moments of cheap heartbreak, it's fun to see a Cass who has no time for her mother, who's not interested in what she's got going on, and who's confident enough in herself to even be a little shit about it. It's fun and refreshing and fits Cass very nicely.

That not-quite-breakneck but still fast pace keeps up when the Unburied show up after just a few pages of setup and you know, in a couple of interviews, Brombal mentioned being influenced by Daredevil. And this is the page that made me go "Ah, yeah, that tracks." 'cause brother, those are some MILLER-ass ninjas.

Why Shiva fears these guys or thinks Cass can't handle them is not yet explained, but her desperation to keep Cass around does lead to a small but very meaning-heavy moment: the first punch in this series is not thrown into the face of the new enemies, but it's Cass decking her mom in the face and Shiva loving it.

It's an excellent touch and a perfect mission statement about the series. I love it as much as I love the ensuing fight, full of cool moves in big and small panels, but the most fun thing to me is how it's choreographed as Cass fighting her mom almost as much as she's fighting the Unburied. And on top of being a great fight, it ends with a small nod to QUESTION #1 or the 'Tec '88 Annual, in case I was somehow not sold enough already.

And while I still love Cass being so willing to call Shiva out on her lies, it does bring up one of the small gripes I have with this issue: I don't like it when Shiva lies constantly. I think she's best when she's strong and confident enough to not need to lie, when she just lays everything out on the table the way this comic is almost doing. It's good for Cass, as it keeps showing her as someone who has grown to understand her mother, who sees Shiva for who she is and what she does. And it does set up a slightly heartwarming scene at the end.

Of course, that's personal preferrence, and I'm not gonna say this is a bad comic because it doesn't follow my own idea of what works best for Shiva, especially since it's clear that Brombal is writing her with a lot of intention here. But that leads to the other big-ish issue I have with this issue: it's a bit hard to tell, from this story alone, how much of these moments are Brombal building his own personal version of Shiva and how much of it is Shiva, in-universe, acting out of character for the sake of some hidden scheme. After all, Cass points out that twice in the issue Shiva backs down, first from a moral fight and then from an actual fight.

So it's possible that even the constant lying is Shiva playing a role in favor of a grander scheme which will be revealed in later issues. Which, fair enough, I'm willing to see where it goes. But that second moment of yielding does lead to what's maybe my biggest problem with BATGIRL #1, and it's the Unburied themselves.

There's nothing in that initial fight with the Unburied that suggests Shiva and Cass would've had trouble dealing with them. Hell, there's very little to suggest even one of them would've had trouble with them. Now, I'm not suggesting that this issue should've started with the titular character and her mom getting their asses handed to them. But it feels like there's just not enough to these new enemies yet to justify the escape. Ninjas show up, Cass and Shiva beat them without getting hit once, more Ninjas show up and Shiva self-defenestrates herself.

Again, entirely possible that Shiva has something up her sleeve here, and issue #2 did promise to show us the main villain behind them, but as it stands it leaves me with this weird mix of not quite intrigue, not quite disappointment. It's just odd. They could've had, I dunno, a bomb set in the building or some other reason for Shiva to exit the venue like that.

Speaking of odd things, however, I did NOT expect to be reading a comic that brings up Shiva's cult from Puckett/Scott's BATGIRL #25. It's an "Order of Shiva" now though, with chapters and temples and stuff. Which is a bit of a change, since back in #25 they came off more like a gang of fanboys than an order of servants or anything like that. And after being summarily disposed by Shiva in that same issue, they were never really explored again.

So this is Brombal not just bringing back a bit of old lore, but also shifting it slightly, turning it into a more organized group... and then summarily disposing of them one panel later.

Also, I don't know what it is but I *LOVE* this panel. Shiva's face, her "wut" pose, the O.O, it's just... beautiful.

Anyway, once they're in the temple for the last bit of the issue, I start to see a bit more of what Brombal's doing. Like Gail Simone and Bryan Hill, Brombal seems to want to soften Shiva up a little, to make it clear that deep inside, she does have at least a bit of a heart, or enough of it to feel sadness at the wasteful death of people she may feel like she owes something to. Compare it to BIRDS OF PREY #62 for example:

This one is not quite as dramatic or vulnerable, but it's clear that Brombal wants to write Shiva with a slightly more human heart. Which, again, I'm not opposed to but I don't think it's the best thing you can do with her. I prefer Shiva being more detached in regards to death, like the most she'll do is see it as a waste but she's not gonna get emotional about it, she's going to be way more matter-of-fact. Death happens and such. But I think that kind of aloofness often gets interpreted as monstrous disdain for life by writers trying to make Shiva into a villain, and if I had to choose between what Brombal's doing and what, well, what Tom King's probably gonna be doing in a few weeks, I'll take this anytime.

Anyway, I also didn't expect to see the apprentice from BATGIRL #26, having apparently gotten a promotion somewhere in the last 20 years. Good for him! Less good for him is the shitload of arrows he eats two pages later but oh well.

The last couple of pages lead to a nice moment of sheer badassery for both Shiva and Cass and one last showcase of Miyazawa and Spicer's glorious team effort. Those two work really well together and I'm excited to see more of them in future issues. And while we're at it, I gotta give props to Miyazawa for being one of maybe two artists to draw a visibly older Lady Shiva.

His version isn't just aged but hardened by that age, looking stern and determined without having to rely on gritted teeth or angry looks. And on top of all that, he still finds more than enough moments to give her the kind of cocky smiles that bring out the more playful side of Shiva that some stories tend to either gloss over or turn into outright sadism.

Man... I just love to see that momma smile.

Other than that, there's a couple of minor quibbles I have with the issue. There's a funny moment where Cass pulls a Batman on her own mother (who charmingly acknowledges Bruce's influence) but it's undercut by Cass poofing back into existence on the next page. And there's also the weird, almost surreal emptiness of the city around them. Even after a building explodes, there's literally nobody on the streets other than Shiva and Cass.

On one hand, it speaks to the intentions of this run. This is VERY much a two-woman show so far, with no room for much else. But it's still glaring enough to be distracting.

However, it's that intentionality that ultimately wins me over. Even with all my personal little issues with Shiva's characterization, it's obvious from the start that this is a writer who is genuinely trying to write her as a character, who is ready to engage with her and with her relation with Cass on a deeper level than just hero and villain, or good daughter and evil mom.

Brombal, Miyazawa & Spicer have put some meat on the grill, and although I don't think the biggest pieces are there yet... I'm ready to let them cook.