#l3ominor writing

[l3ominor]

@sleepy-artist27 @whiteperle3 @call-me-frosting-or-not-idc

yeeee have a WIP snippet

poor Captain is not having a fun time being lost in the depths

'Surely the others would be looking for him at this point. He’d been gone from them for too long. He didn’t know how long, just that it was too long. They’d be looking for him… Twilight could track him- or they’d find the false trail of lights- then they’d find him. They’d find him. He just had to stay put. Stay on alert, ready for anything. He wouldn’t be safe until he was reunited with the others, and back up on the surface. 

Unless… the others had been led away and lost too… they’d split up at the mine… Sprite-

He slowly drew his sword, glancing around as a fragmented prayer floated through his mind. Goddesses Farore, Nayru, Din… keep my brothers safe- let them find each other and me- please- he let out a shuddering breath, trying to force himself to stay steady. They… would be fine. He had to believe that… he would believe that until he saw otherwise. They’d be fine.

He glanced around again, trying to find a wall he could put his back to. That would at least slim the chances of him being snuck up on. There was nothing. Just a plain of darkness that seemed to flicker and swim with distant patches of gloom, and the trail of brightblooms behind him.

He turned in a slow circle, looking for any hints of yellow or white, any sign of movement. The patches of gloom seemed to jump at him in the corners of his vision, ripples of faint red appearing to creep across the ground at him, then retreat as soon as he saw them clearly. Each time it happened, his heart almost stuttered, and he’d hold his breath, staring wide-eyed until he was sure nothing was there. His hands were shaking uncontrollably, and he could feel the darkness, prickling on his skin, tugging at strands of his hair, breathing down his neck- he whirled around, coming face to face with nothing.

He let out a short breath, almost a panicked laugh. There was nothing. Nothing. He stepped back slightly, almost crushing his brightbloom. He was fine, there was nothing there. Light of the Triforce, the fact that there was nothing was almost worse than if there was something. He could fight something. He couldn’t do anything against nothing.'

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Love train 🚂💖💖💖! Send this to all the blogs you love! Don’t forget to spread the love! 😊

The sky at night had always been a grounding force for him. Sky smiled up at his namesake, loving the twinkling of the stars, wishing he was closer to them to see them winking in delight, to feel the cooler crisp air of the sky islands he loved so dearly, but the canopy of the forest framing his favorite natural art would have to do.

"They're pretty, aren't they?" Wind whispered as he laid down in the grass next to him. "I love the stars. They helped guide me on my journey."

Sky hummed. "They helped me stay sane on mine."

He wondered if the constellations stayed the same as they went to different lands. He supposed he could find out. Searching, he saw the Great Loftwing, and pointed it out to Wind. "Do you know the constellations?"

"Yeah!" Wind said cheerily. "That one's the Great Heron."

Sky blinked. What was a heron? He supposed the names might change over the years, which made him a little sad. Nevertheless, the stars stayed the same, ever present, ever smiling down at them, forever the comfort he sought when nothing else was the same.

Besides, maybe they could make this a game. "I bet the others don't know the constellations. We should make up names and teach them incorrectly."

Wind gasped in delight. "Oh heck yeah! I'm naming the first one! Something like Tingle's A--"

"Decent names, Sailor," Sky reminded him with a snort.

Wind giggled. "Okay, okay. You haven't been around pirates, clearly."

"I have, actually."

Wind sat up, eyes wide. "What!"

Sky supposed it was silly to explain they were robot pirates, but there was no stopping the kid's curiosity now. The pair smiled and laughed, sharing tales and nicknames for constellations as the sky twinkled up above.

[batrogers]

"Feral" Tropes

For Clarity: I have written pretty much every single trope on this list at some point or another myself.

(Yes, including extremely ill-advised arson, non-verbal and illiterate Link, needs help with his hair, and spends weeks in blood-stained clothes.)

These can be funny tropes, dark tropes, ironic tropes, heartfelt tropes, and cathartic tropes.

[Art of my Minish Cap Link, by @l3ominor]

Why do people find “Feral” link so polarizing, then?

I’m gonna go over what makes a fantasy, character agency (or deliberate lack thereof), and – because I’m AO3 trash forever, and because I think it’s the most useful thing here – tagging.

It's also like 2000 words, whoops.

I’m using “feral” here to say that Link is positioned as either failing to adhere to expected social norms, or positioned as outside them. Social norms are part of civilization: a structure of rules and expectations that are positioned as the “height” of human social achievements. Meeting them makes you a good, normal person who is respectable and respected; failing them can make you anywhere from imperfect to exile to enemy.

“Civilized” is a moving target that’s defined by others. Anyone, at any time, can be constructed as a failure just because someone wants to do that. Similarly, other features – like slavery and war crimes – can be considered “civilized” because that’s just what the dominant power does. Being “civilized” isn’t inherently good; it’s also not inherently evil. Civilized social rules also include stuff like charity, hospitality, and similar social welfare stuff.

Basically both “Civilized” and “Feral” can mean whatever you want them to mean, but there are some common ways it goes wrong.

Again. I have written 90% of these in various ways. These are not inherently wrong; the frustration often arises from presentation and lack of clarity, which I’ll address below:

The first is infantilizing the character, creating them as helpless.

Wild can’t bathe himself and doesn't see the point in being clean; he doesn’t do anything with his hair. He’s so dumb he eats rocks; he'll eat too much or anything at all, and he has no objection to being treated like a child. He doesn’t know language or how to read or write. If transmale, he doesn't understand his period and thinks he's dying. He was literally raised by a wolf. He can't do anything right. It's presented as fair and just to pin him down to clean him, because he cannot do it himself.

The fact the wolf is supposedly Twilight, who should be striving to get him to other hylians is irrelevant. Real youth react to their period thinking they’re dying, but this is associated with literal children, particularly ones raised completely ignorant of their own bodies and of sex.

The second is othering them, treating them as antisocial.

Other people react badly to him; he has no manners, he smells; he never tells anyone what he's doing. He's afraid of other Hylians; he's indifferent to them, and wants nothing to do with them. He doesn't understand how to function in a group. He'll wander into a trap carelessly, and drag others with him in pursuit of something pointless.

In the case of Hyrule, he lives in a cave and this is strange, bizarre, and horrible, rather than a thing that is in the actual historical record and is a dry, temperature controlled and easily protected place to sleep.

The third is to make them dangerous, a savage thing.

He solves his problems by lighting things on fire, uncaring of the damage done. He bites and growls when upset. He'll kill a monster with his bare hands; he'll show up in town covered in blood and filth.

He's an abomination; he's literally not human at all.

IIII

Probably you read that list and had checkmarks going off in your head. I like that one; I don’t like that one. People never do that right; I’d handle this way better if only—

Good. It’s a fun list of things that can be good, if done to your taste.

A lot of these touch into disability tropes; some edge into racialization ones. A lot are dehumanizing. People have a lot of feelings about both, good and bad, and feeling your way through it by writing is normal, expected, and okay. You do not deserve to be punished for writing something “bad” while trying to understand what you like. Many of these fall under care-taking tropes: someone needs help, and they feel awkward asking so they just want someone to step in and “Fix it” without the humiliation of having to ask.

That’s fine. But if you want to change it up: let Link ask. Let him reach out. Let him initiate the help. There’s a very different feeling when someone pins Wild down to clean him, versus when Wild works up the courage to ask “Can you help me?”

Because yeah, brain damage is complicated. He could have just about any struggles you imagine, but what can be frustrating for others seeing this, over and over, is that he’s treated like a permanent child or an animal. He always will need taken care of; he always needs someone to step in. It is right and just to force him to submit to care against his will...

He never has anyone ask if they can help him, either.

How much sweeter can the care be when he’s willing? When he initiates? When he has agency in his own treatment? Because too many people who need help are not given that choice. Some readers are turned off because the force is all too real, and all too painful to see reflected in what they came to for escapism. One person’s care-taking fantasy, is another’s real life trauma.

Escaping society and it’s pressures is also a fantasy, one of independence and freedom all its own but again, a major feature here is choice. Does Wild have choice? Does Hyrule? Is this presented as of course they don’t belong, or as a reasoned decision, or as a result of being driven out by real violence from others?

All different stories. All different fantasies.

And being the agent of violence is a fantasy, too. “Burn it all down” is a valid emotion (I write variations on it myself, although not this one.) Think of “Kill Bill” and “Fury Road.”

But with an ostracized, feral Wild there is the reflection of real violence against the marginalized communities whenever they express frustration or rage at their treatment. The wrong person being dangerous can get them killed. Of course this is polarizing.

Ironically, this category includes the one trait that Wild displays in the Linked Universe comic that didn’t make the feral list: emotional dysregulation. He loses his temper; he lashes out. He gets upset and jumps the gun... but it’s not cute, it’s not pretty, it’s presented very well in canon (Warriors is frustrated with him, but not seriously angry.) But it doesn’t suit the feral take, because it’s too mild for the violent fantasies, and too adult and human for the innocent ones.

IIII

My first advice about writing this is to be more clear about your tags. Spoilers are always a thing people worry about, but some things can be improved with clarity, and conflict over “bad writing” is one of them. “Feral” Link can mean literally any combination of the above, but those are all wildly different things. Narrowing down what happens in your fic into more specific tropes will both help people who want to read what you write to find it, and help people who will be upset avoid it.

It just common courtesy. I tagged a recent fic “Drunk arguments”+ “Politics” because that argument could go a lot of ways. Someone who’ll read political nonsense may not read sex and may not read crack. It doesn’t say anything but the subject matter, and it doesn’t need to: the question of whether this will turn into politics or sex is a way to direct people in or away according to their taste.

Is this required? No. People make mistakes or have bad days or just don’t want to, and don’t deserve punishment for it. But it’s a tool at hand to filter your readership to better match you, one you shouldn’t disregard.

If you want to adjust how you write, frequently the aggravating factor is in the presence (or deliberate absence) of agency, and in evoking sympathy over pity. There’s also a way to balance traits in just like, the general sense of making the story more complex: nobody is one thing.

For an example from my own projects, I write my version of Minish Cap Link combined with the first Four Sword game. The second time he used the Four Sword changed him into something not-quite-human. But even prior to that, he was non-verbal and skittish; he bit and hissed, he has visible injuries on top of the later changes. I have two fics that present two different ways to frame much the same event: he gets upset and lashes out, and legitimately terrifies the people around him.

In one story, he is restrained. The people doing so are treated as villains for it; you see his fear and panic, and Zelda’s rage over his treatment. In the other, he is calmed by another of the Links, and even in an outside perspective it is made clear that Minish is reassured, relieved and desperate for comfort once his fear has passed – and he trusts the person who talked him down (who did not hurt him) to give it now. He doesn’t have to “behave” to be treated as human, but I also don’t have to make him act “normal” to do so: the framing of how he’s treated by others does it. He’s also clean, well-kept, polite, sweet when he’s calm, and playful.

Similarly, because I have multiple characters who are all non-verbal to varying degrees, I can get away with a lot of variety. I can make one a total bitch, and I don’t have to worry that he’s going to be “bad” representation because if people don’t want a bitchy non-verbal character to relate to, there’s two others to choose from. Balancing a “feral” trait with a mix of signals creatures a nuanced character that isn’t just a ball of Whump.

(Although again: nothing wrong with a ball of Whump if you’re in the mood for it. I have my balls of Whump fics, too.)

Some of the other weird things can be done as just misunderstandings: Is Link eating rocks because it’s polite to join the gorons? Did he realize he was weird and could eat rocks as a child and now does it to joke around? Does Hyrule get to be exasperated at the others pitying his cave? Letting the weird be weird but legitimate can be fun, or even funny: Hyrule lets the others sleep cold in tents while he’s warm inside.

Readers get tired of one-note characters no matter what they’re like. I’ve heard the same complaints about “Dad” Time as I’ve heard about “Feral” Wild, and about Twilight. The fix isn’t to throw out what you like; it’s to build it up into something more. It will never be to everyone’s taste, but you can have a dirty little gremlin who, no matter how inhuman they may seem, is still treated like a person.

Dehumanization is far too prevalent in the world right now, and a lot of us desperately need somewhere to escape it.

Now I’m gonna go write me some fluffy Wild asking for hair brushing. After spending all week chewing on this, it sounds like a fun challenge.

[overcome-series]

Overcome Fanart Masterpost

-> I've been extremely lucky to have a wonderful support group of friends and artists who've surprised me with art of my fics, so here's a couple things I've picked up if there's somebody out there who wants to do so:

-> Please include a hyperlink to the fic! Otherwise you might get a lot of people wanting to read the fic but not knowing where it is, or wanting to write it themself.

-> Please make your own post instead of sending it as an ask to me! All the attention will go directly to you, as you deserve.

-> Please @ me so I can admire it! I've seen people post wonderful fanart that the author will never see because the artist is "too shy", and that's genuinely a devastating concept to me.

-> Hanging by a Thread art by @/hyah-lian <-

-> Hanging by a Thread art by @/aur0ralights <-

-> Safe to Heal art by @/batrogers <-

-> Missed You art by me <-

-> Missed You art by @/arr-u <-

-> Missed You comic by @/wawapiggy <-

-> Missed You art by @/batrogers <-

-> Missed You art by @/aur0ralights <-

-> Trustworthy comic by @/l3ominor <-

[l3ominor]

candyfloss?

Candyfloss is a thing me and one of my writer friends co-author! It's essentially a crossover between both our books, where her character(Teresa) and my character (Noctis) end up meeting and falling in love! Most of it is fluff and feels and cuteness as they help each other out and are generally just adorable together. It's written like a roleplay, and takes place in one of my personal worlds.

Here's a bit of one of the scenes we wrote! Word count is 835

Noctis: I set my backpack down on the floor with a muffled thump, running a hand through my hair before flopping down on Teresa’s bed. “Whoomph… sparks, it’s been a day, hasn’t it?” I say to the air, running my hands down my face. I am gonna be sore tomorrow… but that’s what I get for spending most of the day trying to wrestle a machine into functioning. I sit up slightly, grinning a little at Teresa. “How’ve you been?” I can finally ask that, now that we’ve got Milo and Laelynn distracted and leaving us alone. Not gonna lie, I love hanging out with them, but I don’t have as much energy for that today. I mostly just wanna hang out with my favorite person.

Teresa: I grin back. His smile is infectious. I grab my book, coming to sit down on the bed beside him. “Oh, you know. Surviving. How are you doing?”

Noctis: I laugh a little, nodding. I definitely get that. “I’m doing pretty good. Spent most of today working on projects and all. I’m making some good progress on my hover stuff. I can actually get off the ground with it now. But I still have a lot of work to do on the stabilization so… I may have crashed a few times,” I rub my shoulder a little. It is a bit bruised from being landed on so many times, but it’ll be gone by tomorrow, so it’s nothing to worry about.

Teresa: “With you on it? I thought there was supposed to be standards for that type of thing, you know, testing.” I nudge his arm gently, settling back against the end of the bed. “I could heal you, probably. If it’s bugging you. I haven’t used much magic today since training hasn’t started yet…” I trail off, giving him time to respond.

Noctis: “oh yeah, there’s standards and all, and I was following them, so I didn’t get banged up too bad. Just the standard testing scrapes and bumps. But yea, how else would I test it to see if it worked? And you don’t have to worry about healing it or anything. I mean, unless you want to, I won’t stop you… but yeah it’s not too bad.” I smile a little, shrugging slightly. It really isn’t too bad but also… I kinda like it when she heals me. It feels nice and also kinda… shows that she cares.

Teresa: I reach out, taking his hand in mine. “I wouldn’t know. Unmanned tests? Drone flights? Remote control? I’m not good at the techy stuff.” I breathe out for a moment, focusing on his hand as I try to focus the everflame.

Noctis: I nod a little in thought, holding her hand. “Yeah… yeah I could do those. But then I wouldn’t really get a good feel for how it worked. Machines and computers can tell you a lot, but experience is the best teacher. At least in my opinion.”

Teresa: It’s really hard to concentrate when he’s holding my hand, or at least, find the right emotions. Warm ones are easy, when there’s casual embarrassment burning away at the tips of my ears, or surprise, or just that burbling hope and happiness melting in my chest. The cool ones are a problem, though. “If you say so.” I lean over kissing the side of his cheek before pulling away, hardly taking my attention off his hand. It’s easier to focus on when it’s a problem I’m still trying to solve. “Maybe not if it’s getting you thrown into a wall, but I believe you if you say it’s all according to plan. And I trust you to be safe.” … Most of the time. The everflame sparks in my fingers, just a drop. He was right that it wasn’t too bad, but still… it’s nice to heal him, and it’s got to be nice not to have bruises everywhere. I let it spread, dismissing it when there isn’t anything left to heal. “There,” I say, looking up. And- he’s staring at me. I look away automatically, a blush rising to my cheeks. “What?”

Noctis: I can’t stop myself from grinning a little. “Just… you’re amazing.” I say, a little breathlessly. I gently kiss the back of her hand, then smile up at her again. “Thank you,” Sparks, fire can’t even begin to describe the feeling in my chest. Gosh, I love her so much. How did I manage to get this lucky? To be with her. Her. she could have chosen anyone in the world, and she chose to say yes to me.

Teresa: My blush deepens. I can’t look at him. I pull away nudging him slightly. If I end up closer at the same time, well. There’s nothing I can do about that. There’s nothing I can say to that. “You’re a dork. Thank you.”

Noctis: I laugh, giving her hand a squeeze before reaching up to poke her in the side. “Love you,”

[l3ominor]

From my current WIP. I'm enjoying messing with my magic system, and Phoenix is a great snarky billion year old child.

[batrogers]

Teasing friend @l3ominor with this post and they let me interrogate them about pre-game stuff so here y'all can enjoy "Which @recalled11 Boys Pay Their Taxes?"

Sky & Sun = They're flying back and forth between Skyloft and the new settlement, helping people move and so on. Gaepora is still in charge, so they have the fun times of getting to ask him for taxed goods and stuff to ensure everyone's got what they need so they're closer to the "tax collecting" than "tax paying" side of things.

Colors = His father is a knight, for all he's of half a mind to spend more time making things than doing Knight things himself, so at this point he doesn't have much to do with taxes. His father likely owns property he collects tax from.

Time & Malon = Time vanished and avoided getting any fancy gifts (or expectations) from his Zelda, so upon his return to Hyrule he became a farm boy and married the farmer's daughter. Talon is still around, so he gets to avoid the question quite happily. One day, Malon will probably be the one managing it with his help, but both hope it's not anytime soon.

Wind = He wasn't paying taxes at home (he was a minor) and he hasn't paid any since, because Tetra has never met a harbour tax she didn't want to find a way around.

Twilight = He up and vanished after everything went down and hasn't settled anywhere else. At home in Ordon Village, Rusl and Uli maintain his house and his residence there, and likely cover the head tax that makes for in hopes he'll come back one day.

Captain = He was a conscript that's since been elevated to part of the royal mechanics, via gifts of lands and some minor titles making him a full knight. He's not sure he's pleased by this -- he wasn't exactly hoping for it -- but there is no way to refuse a royal gift, after all.

Legend & Ravio = As a son to the royal family who's been caught up in one thing after another since he was ten years old, he knows nothing about how handling the kingdom's taxes go (as much as his sister might wish for the help) and has no intention of learning. Whenever Ravio visits, he insists he's a royal cousin, so that never affects him, either, and his Zelda is mostly just happy any time he's there and she knows he's okay.

Fairy = He's not hylian, so whatever taxes faeries deal with is what he's doing, which is probably not comprehensible to anyone else. He has no objection to helping people, but he's not actually liable.

Wild & Flower = Neither of them has enough of their shit together people expect much of them, and Wild tends to give gifts randomly and effusively enough that most people can write off whatever might be officially owed as already paid (possibly several years into the future, because he considers dragon parts as helpful to drop off as rice.)