#like I figured out one of my big plot questions in book 2 to 3 and just

[savrenim]

.

[indie-ttrpg-of-the-week]

Wanderhome

"You should play an obligate sexual cannibal in Wanderhome I think it'd be funny" - Jay Dragon, developer of Wanderhome

Touchstones:  Ghibli films

Genre: Cozy game, Adventure

What is this game?:  Wanderhome is a game about playing small critters travelling, to where? who knows, its the journey that counts, not the destination

How's the gameplay?: Wanderhome functions on the Belong outside Belonging framework, which functions in a push/pull of Tokens, Tokens allow you to take negative plot beats in return for later having positive plot beats! there's also playbooks that specify what you can spend tokens on and how you gain them. Wanderhome is a very simple game, this is because it lacks a GM! storytelling is done entirely collaboratively, it works shockingly well, especially with such a simple setting and premise!

What's the setting (If any) like?: Wanderhome's setting places the players in a pastoral landscape ravaged by a prior war. The world is healing, the people are hurt, and things are getting weird. The setting has some extra lore, like the Little Gods, in effect "God" is a very strange concept in the world of Wanderhome, being a collection of tiny deities that make up the world, rather than one or 10 centralizing figures. The setting of wanderhome is a large draw of the game, and I'll leave the rest for you to find out. Oh also, the players are all small furry critters, and the usual roles of cattle and other things are replaced by very large bugs, this is the big aesthetic draw of the game.

What's the tone?: Wanderhome's is a world where things got very dire a while back, but things are getting better, people are healing, gradually, and the horrors of the past are being reconciled with. It's a setting largely about healing and improving  

Session length: Wanderhome lends itself to shorter, 1-2 hour long games

Number of Players: 2-6 are all fully possible, however, in my opinion, 3-5 is preferable 

Malleability: Wanderhome's mechanics are faaaairly generic and can be modded into many other things, even if the setting is a large draw and part of the game. This is a game I'd honestly recommend mostly sticking to the default setting, though, just because it's so interesting

Resources: Wanderhome has a ton of extra fan playbooks, some extra official playbooks, though its lacking on group sheets (That I could find) and other useful things, its a very simple game, though, its not like you require a lot

Wanderhome asks the question, "What if Ghibli-inspired games took more than surface level aesthetic inspirations?" and runs with it to create one of the tightest and most interesting experiences currently in the space, it's a wonderful game made all the better by one of the most beautiful books i've ever seen

[writingquestionsanswered]

PSA // Questions Requiring My Ideas

Just a quick reminder that I'm not going to answer questions that require me to come up with ideas for your story. I know it can be so frustrating when you're in the thick of your story's plot and things aren't making sense... it would be amazing to have someone who can say, "do this, this, and this," but unless you want to pay a writing coach or a developmental editor, you're going to have to roll up your sleeves like the rest of us and do the hard work of figuring it out. And I knowwwwww how much that stinks sometimes. Believe me, I've been there a million times.

Here are some things that have helped me get through it:

1 - Take A Step Back - Sometimes, even a day or two away from your WIP will help you see it with fresh eyes and get ideas flowing again. For me, if I'm away from my WIP for a few days, it starts nagging at me when I'm doing monotonous things like cleaning or driving. That's when I have sudden epiphanies that fill in plot holes or solve my biggest story problems.

2 - Talk It Through with a Friend - Whether it's a writing friend, your bestie, a family member, the toddler you babysit once a week, your dog or cat, or your favorite plushie, sometimes just talking out loud about your story while someone else listens (or "listens") can help you work through story problems and come up with ideas that you're otherwise struggling with. And... to be honest, I have been known to do some really weird sh*t when I'm in this mode, like pretend I'm talking about my process with this WIP to a group of fans at a book signing, or pretending I'm being interviewed on a podcast or radio show... I don't know what it is about talking this stuff out, but it can make a big difference.

3 - Plot Your Story Out Using a Different Structure Template - I'm a big fan of using story structure templates as interpretive guides for plotting. While I don't recommend boxing yourself in, and feeling like you're stuck following a particular template exactly, I do think story structure templates can be a really helpful way to get an overview of your story's working parts. And sometimes, taking your story and plotting it out against a different structure template just for fun (not necessarily to rework it) can help jog things loose that are stuck. And since it's absolutely okay to combine templates or use little bits of ones that work wherever and however they work for your story, you may find that you just borrow whatever worked from that template and graft it onto your existing structure. Again, whatever works best for the story. My post Creating a Detailed Story Outline has some templates to check out.

More than anything else, just keep at it and try not to get frustrated. Plotting is an absolute bear, but it's hard, and it's supposed to be hard. Anyone who says they sit down and have a perfect, flawless plot fall out of their heads fully formed is not being completely honest. Good plots take a lot of work, and sometimes it's like those shape sorters we played with as babies... you can spend weeks or even months trying to put a square peg in a round hole and not understand why it's not fitting. Then, one day it just CLICKS, and you suddenly see the shapes for what they are, and know how to make everything fit together.

Keep at it! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[aluria-sevhex]

so now i'm in Act 3 i guess

notes:

-methinks Siffrin is panicking

-plot twist: you can't escape the time loop until you deal with your... ???

-no you little bitch don't pretend everything's fine that's not good for your mental health

-YOU *KNEW* THIS WOULD HAPPEN??? FUCK YOU LOOP

-i'm not giving up you little shit

-ok Loop what IS your deal. you *asked* to be here???

-ok i need to help Mira with her mysterious papers

-:O A HINT AT ODILE'S FIELD OF STUDY

-the music is more unnerving than it was in Act 2. also it sounds glitchy now

-oh it's normal now. was i just suffering from an actual audio glitch and just. didn't question it? like "oh yeah ofc it's glitching things are fucked now"

-...that enemy didn't spawn down here in Act 2.

-eh ima get off for the night

-late in the evening on July 4th and i am back yippee this is probably a bad idea considering how long my play sessions get

-YEAH THE TITLE MUSIC MY BELOVED

-ok i can't help Bonnie on this loop- HOLD UP. DID SIF'S ART CHANGE IN THE MENUS? YEAH HE'S NOT SMUG ANYMORE ToT also i think their profile used to say "It's you!" with an exclamation point but now it says "It's you." with a period :(

-rip my darling blorbo Paper α V

-side note: idk if i've mentionwd this before but i like how the levels, stats, and skills all show the fact that you're near the end of the journey (ex. Odile having Rock, Paper, and Scissors III at the start)

-I FOUND THE BOOK BONNIE WAS LOOKING AT.

hmmm... death rituals...

-hehe i found the stostorage roomoom

-NONE OF THESE BARRELS WILL LEMME TAKE THE NUTS >:(

-another book in the headache-inducing language i can't read.

-weird shit going on: Siffrin, Loop, the King, the disappearing island, the headache-inducing shit

-hehehe yeah Isa i'm sure you'd *love* to pet your taciturn hopeful-future-partner

-it's not just the menu art i think Siffrin's battle art is also less happy. :(

-HOLD UP. also! Siffrin's profile used to call them the Traveler but now he's called the Wanderer. :(

-hehe. Sif hit the counter and said nya again. cat Sif

-this enemy ALSO did not spawn on this floor before. fucking giant hand thing

-ok thinking: can't help Isa until i've helped everybody else in one loop, can't help Bonnie on this loop and i need to prove i know them via their favorite foods, need to help Mira and Odile...

-thank you Loop for being available- OH I CAN BRING UP THE SADNESSES BEING DIFFERENT :O

-ok need to help Mira with the papers. some are in her dorm. Odile wants to read a familytale. i'll have to find one in the library or secret library. need to find out Bonnie's favorite foods by trying different ones. maybe i should loop forward a bunch to different areas, find out their favorite foods, and THEN do the big loop where i help everybody!

-i need to talk to the King eventually

-looping forward to Floor 1's end

-fun fact i'm keeping track of all my causes of death in another note. i'll share it when i finish the game

-man i also need to figure out how to help Mira's fan and remember where the last book issue is...

-the looping screen art is nice :]

-yeah yeah i need to beat this asshole to get to the snacks

-hold up. the coin fell on heads this time. strange...

-last time i picked plantain chips. this time i'm picking cookies. would probably be good to check what Bonnie eats each time

-ok they like rice. time to loop forward!

-while i'm on Floor 2 i might as well find a familytale for Odile...

-LOOP 24? THE MATH DOES NOT CHECK OUT.

-WAIT THE GAME ACKNOWLEDGES IT. HUH. YEAH I SHOULD BE ON 23. SIFFRIN IS SUS 𐐘

-fuck. i accidentally moved forwards when i meant to go to the library. it's fine i'l help her when i help everybody

-oh great i have to fight these assholes again.

-fuck. i think i fucked up and didn't make sure Mira had Pretty Moving Cure. i might get a game over.

-this is by far my dumbest death

-LOOP 27??? I WENT FROM 24-27

-gonna try to be less liberal with loop usage because the skipping is kinda scaring me

-aw... Siffrin's friends try not to touch him as they squeeze through that's nice... wait. he seems to not be remembering why. did he forget that they don't like being touched... maybe. maybe i should call Loop.

-well that was unhelpful

-time to adjust the memories i have equipped. welcome back my lovely scrimbly blorbos Lovely Moving Cure and Paper α V

-hm. ok so the boulanger in Dormont has a familytale...

-oh my god we're discussing colors. what happened to them.

-THEY STILL EXIST. BUT WE FORGOT HOW TO SEE THEM. ???

-*SIFFRIN*. HOW IS THIS FAMILIAR. JFC YOU ARE SUS

-plot twist! Siffrin is from our world and forgor that he got isekai'd! :P (i love making random bullshit predictions it's very entertaining)

-oh yeah so RE: Siffrin's altered art: Sif's time-frozen portrait used to look panicked but now it looks calm

-hehe openphrase123 worked

-love Sif's habit of picking up random shiny shit. magpie or crow behavior.

-oh? Siffrin didn't always hate croissants?

...bruh.

-also damn shout-out to Mira's crisis over not knowing some of the people

-the combination of Siffrin's silly attack names and serious battle portraits feels so *wrong*

-:o Sif learned a new skill

-ok i'm gonna log off for the night

hey if you wanna read all of my posts as i play through ISAT, they are all tagged as #Aluria plays ISAT for the first time (please don't spoil)

bruh when i was making this post i accidentslly pasted the notes again there instead of pasting the tag name. that truly was. delightful. to go through and delete it all

also shout-out to those of you who i keep seeing popping up in my notifs liking these posts ;) and also anybody who takes the time to read all this stuff :D i know that *i* like seeing other people's reactions when they experience stuff i like for the first time so i'm very happy to provide that for others! also it's nice to see some of the responses ^-^ :D

[comicaurora]

My younger sisters and I are brand-new fans of you and your work, and I've been asked to pass on some questions! From my youngest sister (who originally asked for your autograph before I told her this was online): Are you planning on adding any more maps to the website? From my other sister: Do you have tips for figuring out plot and pacing for a webcomic? From me: What's been your favorite thing about writing Erin and Falst's dynamic? After re-reading Aurora, they're probably my favorite duo.

Aww! Welcome to the party!

1: Maybe! I don't have other maps currently done, and making more is kind of a low priority right now, but it could be fun when I have the time!

2: That's a big question and it's not super easy to answer, but the short tip I can give is reread some of your previous pages/storyboards before adding new pages to a scene, because that way you'll get a feel for what pacing works and what might need a little more time. Sometimes when I'm dealing with artblock I'll just reread the pages and go "what do I expect to see next?" and then just. draw that. and thus far it's really helped with my pacing. Also I suggest having at least one Thing happen on each page - one bit of information revealed, one change in the paradigm or trajectory of the situation - just one thing. In general I think it's more important for a webcomic to hold up on a reread than it does to hold up during the daily update process, since archive pacing is the one the vast majority of your readers will be dealing with, but it's good to give the readers at least one thing to chew on with every update.

3: I love how they're both extremely abrasive in completely opposing ways! Falst is rude and flippant while Erin wields etiquette and social rules like a weapon. However, Erin also actively respects Falst's intellectual curiosity and ability to teach himself lacrimal spellcarving, and is the only person who has encouraged Falst to continue that line of research - Erin completely dismisses his physical combat skills as largely irrelevant because Erin thinks combat only happens if he's failed to problem-solve sufficiently, and he instead focuses on Falst's intellectual curiosity, a level of respect for a peer that I don't think Falst has realized he enjoys. Falst, in turn, thinks of Erin as a bit too book-smart rather than street-smart, but appreciates what that book-smartness is capable of. There's a level of mutual hostility and mutual respect that I deeply enjoy writing, because these two are the quickest to start arguing with each other without either one actually blowing up or doing any irreparable damage.

[starlight-bread-blog]

On Adjustments and Shipping Wars

I know I'm a huge Zutarian, but I would like to correct myself on a statement I've made in the past, it doesn't quite reflect my stance on Kataang.

I've said that the moments where Katara shows interest in Aang could easily be contextualized as just hints. Given that the fact that Kataang was already had that 'Will They Won't They' tension going on. I still stand by this, but especially after rewatching the show, I do think it would be just a tad bit ignorant of me to leave it at that.

There have been moments where Katara show explicit interest in Aang, that couldn't be brushed off as a hint.

(Propably not just here, but I'm struggling to find proper screencaps).

Although, these moments are very few. I think there were 2-4(?) episodes where I couldn't deny an interest on my latest rewatch.

But to me, it was always implied that slight adjustments will have to be made to change something such as an endgame romance.

Apparently it's not implied, it seems to be just me. So I'll elaborate now.

Full disclosure, I didn't watch the show as it aired. I don't naturally think of the production in this alternate Zutara universe. (How the writers would approach to it in real time, when will the decision be made, etc). And I don't really feel obligated to.

The show ended 15 years ago. I just think of the writing. Let's say I want Zukka to be ebdgame for it being the best writing choice. A few things should be obvious. 1) Both Zuko and Sokka would develop canon attraction to each other. 2) Mai and Zuko will not end up together, meaning there will be small changes in Boiling Rock and the finale.

This is an alternate universe. One in which the writing process went differently. A change in an endgame romance, or any change in general, demands an alternate universe.

In this specific alternative, I'm assuming the changes will start at book 3/2. In the case of Zutara, the changes will start at book 2/3.

But I can already hear the problem with this logic. If that was all there is to it, it most ceriantly would a very flawed logic. If we could just change the narrative to justify a writing choice, is it really justified?

To figure that out, there are follow-up questions:

How big are the changes before the point of no return?

Not big. What I'm offering is to tone down 2-4 moments. It does not affect how their relationship is treated, or how they behave.

Do the changes interfere with plots that aren't the one being changed?

No. Whether Katara showed feelings for Aang is completely irrelevant to any other narrative threads.

Will the changes be the only justification for the writing choice in question?

In the eyes of a Kataanger, yes. In the eyes of a Zutarian, no. This is another way to phrase the question at the center of this debate. Which ship is more justified in being canon? I couldn't possibly unpack all the nuances now.

From an already pro-Zutara standing point, suggesting slight changes in a select number of moments is valid.

[performativezippers]

I've been writing fic for a bit more than ten years now; most of which (eight? nine?) as a pantser. At most I'd make a timeline, for a complicated timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly fic, but other than that, I just daydreamed the story and then wrote it down 😅

Then in the last couple of years, I tried to learn more about the craft of writing. I never had any training in school or uni, never any class or anything; I did work with a writing coach for a while two years back, and read a lot of advice. I've started to plan stories out more, to be more intentional about what I write -

But I have now run into a problem that I heard pantsers describe, which is that when they plan out the story till the end, they feel like it's done, and the impetus to write it just drops away.

I think I'm still right in the middle of finding my writing approach, which - on the one hand, exciting! I'm learning more about myself, that's always good! But on the other hand, I'm sad about the projects I was working on that I have somehow run out of steam on. I do have other projects that I still am excited to write, but I'm a bit worried I might lose interest in them too as I try to find the right balance between planning and pantsing.

IIRC you are a pantser, right? Any advice on how to not get ahead of myself when I approach a new story? How to keep pace between the dreaming-up of the story, and the writing-it-down?

OMG this is the question!! I am absolutely a proud member of pantser nation, yes, and I'll tell you what works for me, but I do honestly think this is something that (sadly) each person has to figure out for themselves via trial and error.

Terminology for those who don't know:

Pantser: someone who writes by the "seat of their pants," aka no outline, no real clue what happens next. The joy is in the journey!

Plotter: someone who plots everything out before hand, like by outlining or using scene cards or something. The joy is in knowing the journey before you start!

Most people are somewhere in the middle, or vary project by project. There are lots of names for it, like plantser or "headlight method" or whatever, but basically you can think of it as the Kinsey scale, with 1 being solely pantser, 2 as leaning pantser, 3 as equally both, 4 as leaning plotter, and 5 as solely plotter.

I'm a 1.5 I'd say, the 0.5 being from having to learn story beats in order to sell original fiction to traditional publishers, which means things like "the breakup should happen around 80% of the way through" and "inciting incident at 0 or 10%." If that doesn't make sense to anyone reading, don't worry, it doesn't need to! (But if you have questions about story beats, feel free to ask!)

As a true pantser, I typically know the following things before I start. I'll give an example from a long fic I've written and for a book that none of you have read because it hasn't gotten bought yet (SADFACE).

I know the characters and some basic facts about them and their relationship pre-story:

Back to the basket: Alex is a closeted college basketball coach who washed out of the WNBA (life based on Adia Barnes). Maggie is an assistant coach who used to fuck Alex in secret during college and is hella gay.

Original romcom: Libby is great at making friends. Sasha is a serial monogamist. They are both "straight."

Setting and meeting:

Back to the basket: Maggie joins Alex's coaching staff. The fic will last the entire college season (~6 months)

Original romcom: Libby and Sasha meet on a dating reality show. The book will encompass the first 6 weeks of the show.

Primary conflict:

Back to the basket: Alex wants to focus on work because she's A Big Failure. Maggie wants to date. They have undeniable chemistry and horniness.

Original romcom: Classic "straight" friends to gay lovers problems, made worse by the reality show setting.

Ending:

Back to the basket: We get really far in the tournament and Alex and Maggie get their happily ever after

Original romcom: Libby declares her love at the Ceremony, Sasha declares it back after some mental buffering, and they get their happily ever after.

Once I know those things, I'm pretty much good to go. For some books I know the midpoint (I knew the midpoint of my forthcoming novel before I started writing it) but for most projects, including fics, I don't know it until I've written my way there. In these examples, there was a clear time boundary (6 months, 6 weeks), which I find very helpful. When co-writing with the incredible @roadien60, we've put time boundaries on our fics together to help us keep the story tight, compelling, and contained (I mean LOL, Missives is literally almost 80k, but just imagine how bad it would have been if we hadn't been counting down to the eclipse!)

While pantsing, I really try to let the scenes shape themselves, to let the characters simmer when they need to and move forward when they don't. I don't let the characters do whatever they want, because those wants might not make for a compelling narrative or be what I want to write, but I try to let things flow naturally from one event/emotional beat to the next.

This method requires revision, sure, but revising is easier than forcing yourself to draft something that simply won't come, and that's what matters.

I try to be very very careful about NOT thinking ahead. I don't even let myself daydream the things I'm planning to write. I'll think about the next chapter between writing sessions, but never further than that, because if I've so much as thought about it, some of the joy is spoiled. I'll think of great dialogue in my head, and then forget it, and no matter what I write down on the page later, I'll always think it's worse than the first thing I dreamed up in the shower, and that's a kind of regret I don't have space for in my brain.

And the consequences are real! The only fic I took 5+ years to finish, Splice World, is the only one I plotted out all the way. I had to wait until I had forgotten what I plotted to be able to finish it, and even then it was a bit lackluster.

So I guess after all of this word vomit, my questions back to you are:

What was going wrong when you pantsed? What specific problem are you trying to solve for? Sometimes people try to start plotting because they think being a pantser is less "good" or sophisticated or something, to which I say, fuck them!

When plotting, at what level of advance detail do you get bored? If you know the ending, the next chapter, five chapters in the future, etc? Maybe you can find a happy middle there, where you can think a few chapters ahead but not the whole thingy.

How much do you daydream/think about the story without writing it? If it's a lot, trying doing it very little or none and all, and see if that helps!

LET ME KNOW!!

[annabethandpercylove]

“So it’s starting again?” she says. “Like before?”

I’d like to see Sunrise of the Reaping focus on the “before” Mrs. Everdeen and Haymitch are alluding to when they talk after Gale’s whipping.

Haymitch was a significant player in the Games’ history. He used the arena to win (the second act of survival by a District 12 victor that would have sparked rebellion; he was the first victor (at least that’s what I interpreted from the text in Mockingjay) that was propositioned by Snow; and he was likely the reason for the “before” I mentioned. I’m sure propaganda and manipulating the history of the past increased after his Games, which would go along with what Collins has said about the theme of SOTR.

I never post here and I am not an experienced theorist on this platform, but I figured I would try my hand and share some possibilities that have come to my mind about how this story might play out.

THEORIES

Multiple POVs: I’ve seen a lot of people suggesting that SOTR won’t be from Haymitch’s POV and I agree… to a certain extent. I am not the biggest fan of books with multiple POVs (I feel like the stories are often stretched out too far and can be a disservice to the story) and I know we haven’t seen Collins do this with a THG book, but I think it would be a useful tool to show the effect of propaganda. So here are the people I think we should hear from and why: 1. Caesar Flickerman — propaganda from the source 2. Mrs. Everdeen — propaganda witnessed by an audience member 3. Haymitch Abernathy — victor that caused a new influx of propaganda and government control

The Plot Now that I’ve introduced the POV idea, I’ll do a play-by-play for how I might make the story go: We start from Caesar’s POV. It’s Reaping Day, the first big moment for the Games. Through Caesar, we would see all (or at least ones that are most relevant to the themes of the book) the districts’ ceremonies. There would be a range in the style of the ceremonies and the audience reactions especially between Career and non-Career districts. (I don’t want to make things too cluttered so I don’t think I would do an audience perspective for the Reaping, too. If there was, I’d want Mrs. Everdeen to see her reaction to Maysilee Donner being chosen, but that’s a personal hope to see her and it may not be a service to the theme really.) Still with Caesar, we cut to the beginning of the Games. I don’t think it’s necessary to see the trains, training, or interviews, necessarily. I think things would’ve transitioned from what we saw in TBSOAS to something more akin to how things work with these things in THG. So Caesar is prepping for another Games. Maybe we hear some conversations he has with Gamemakers and sponsors in addition to his own personal dialogue. Is he still becoming the charismatic host that we know in THG? Does he have any moments where he questions what he’s doing? But he gets to work. The announcements are made, the bombs go off, and the Games begin. Disclaimer: I’ve been debating this POV since the announcement for SOTR came out. Like I said before about multiple POVs, this might stretch things too far (unless we’re lucky to get a book that’s 1,000+ pages!!), but I thought I’d put it out there. Mrs. Everdeen lives in horror watching her best friend fight for her life in a death arena. While she’s watching we could see Capitol commercials promoting sponsors, bets, and special promotions for different companies that are themed on the Games (like seeing commercials that are themed for the Super Bowl or Christmas). We would witness what an audience member would be seeing (not just the glimpses we get of Snow watching out for his tribute for his own selfish reasons). Now this might be a distraction from the plot, but I’d love to see some Mrs. Everdeen/Mr. Everdeen/Mr. Mellark moments. From what we’ve heard and seen, they’re all against the Games. But I think it would be interesting to see Mr. Everdeen’s little acts of musical rebellion, Mrs. Everdeen’s fear of his being caught and her fear for Maysilee, and maybe show a contrast between Mr. Everdeen’s behavior and Mr. Mellark’s. I think there’s a multigenerational theme that could be explored here with Katniss/Peeta/Gale and the parents. We could see how Mr. Everdeen was Seam like Gale but compassionate like Peeta; Mrs. Everdeen didn’t see a way to change things like Katniss; Mr. Mellark was content to settle with Town life and endure the Capitol’s threats but maybe lacked Peeta’s passion for the preservation of personal morality. Different responses to the earlier mentioned commercials, etc? (I’m Team Everlark/Peeta all the way, BTW!) This would happen after Mrs. Everdeen’s POV (or maybe another audience members POV from a Career district) or right after Caesar’s. Cut to Haymitch’s POV. It’s his final fight in the Games. We see him bleeding out, throwing the axe, and becoming the victor. He goes home and has to face Snow’s propositions, the deaths due to his refusals, and the resulting depression and the beginning of the jaded drunk man we meet in THG. Witness what “like before” entailed, an erasure of Haymitch’s “act of rebellion”, radical people on the Victory Tour if we go that far, etc.

I know that was a bit long-winded and not necessarily the clearest plot, but those are some thoughts I’ve had. I’m no author, just a passionate fan of The Hunger Games series and the lessons it seeks to teach its readers. Suzanne Collins will create an amazing story that will be profound and special and I can’t wait to witness it.

[chaikachi]

since you're caught up on the Locked Tomb, I thought I'd send some asks your way because I'm kind of curious:

1) I've gathered Cam and Pal are your favorite characters, but do you any particular favourite moments/quotes of them? Or just why you love them as characters in general?

2) any plot twists you didn't see coming but liked?

3) any dark horse characters that grew on you over the series or that you'd want to see more of?

EEEE I SURE DID!! Okay, warning for anyone that is not caught up with it or plans to read it, that there are going to be spoilers below. You have been warned!!

Yes, they are my favourites.😔 Friends specifically told me to read the books because they are "very much my flavour" and they were right. Which is very rude of them, tbqh :/// As for the why, it's a lot of things, I think. From a character design perspective, I've always been a sucker for scholarly types like Pal, and you can never go wrong with short hair and double swords like Cam. I like that they have a decent amount of contrast and are quite different from each other in some ways while also being soooo alike in others. From a thematic perspective, all the bits and parallels around devotion, identity, and responsibility. How just by knowing someone, we add 'indelibly to their weight'. How this is explored both as a positive and negative thing. How just by knowing someone else - dare I say, to tame or be tamed by another 👀- can change us irreversibly. How burdening those we care about is something we have to come to terms with, and that being burdened can in and of itself be an act of care. How these themes are exacerbated and mixed with plurality and merging. The ever important question of 'where do you end and i begin'? For moments and quotes, a lot of my favourite things about them are just how they interact with one another (or with other characters). The sort of relationship where words often aren't necessary. How so much of their connection is conveyed in actions. "Tell Cam... never mind, she knows what to do." and the "what to do" is her collecting the fragments of his skull off the floor?? that she glues back together with her own hands?? then travelled millions or billions of light years to meet with the one person that can pull his soul back into it??? Her carrying him, despite the risk and harm it poses to herself, because he doesn't have a vessel anymore??? Pal asking Nona to "give this to Cam" and it's a kiss to the back of her hand???? Sick!! Twisted!! I demand financial compensation for damages!!!! Cam had every right to go sit in the bathtub about that!!! What the hell man!!! But I would be remiss not to mention the conversations they have across the voice recorder when they can't speak face to face, the co-fronting/synergy thing that happens when the protect Nona at the beach, and of course: "Life is too short and love is too long."

I'll admit I was spoiled a bit to some things going in so that skews this answer a bit. There were certainly some things I predicted incorrectly but then was like "OF COURSE THAT'S HOW IT HAPPENED, HOW COULD I HAVE ASSUMED DIFFERENTLY". I was not expecting that many people to die in the first book tbh. What happened to the Fourth and Fifth houses hit particularly hard. Was not expecting Gideon to find a decapitated head in Harrow's closet. I think the most surprises I had were in the second book though. Kept asking myself what the heck was going on. The narrator reveal was such an unexpected and pleasant surprise. Like, I kind of figured that was the case but I wasn't expecting that to be how we found out. Camilla showing up somehow out of nowhere?? The full extent of Harrow and Gideon's origins had me at a loss for words. Also the epilogue leading into Nona had me soooooo confused.

Yes. I absolutely adored Augustine. Big fan of his whole vibe; i miss him. Also really liked Magnus, Abigail, and Ortus in the second book. Especially them stepping up and being the Responsible Adults™ Harrow never really had, but always deserved. Also Polyamory Win with both whatever Pyrrha and Dulcie had respectively going on with Cam and Pal aha. Very big fan of Dulcinea in general. From her appearance in htn to popping up in The Unwanted Guest. I don't know how we could see more of her, but I would not be complaining if we did. Muir is really good at characterization tho, i don't know that there have really been any characters I've actively disliked. 🤔

Thank you for asking! I'd love to know some of your fave characters/plot twists too if you feel like sharing!! no pressure tho uwu

[coinflict]

15 people 15 questions!!!!

Tagged by @suzufield thank you yay ^^

This is a long one so it's under the cut and also idgaf I love hearing myself talk I love the sound of my own voice!!!!

Not really, my given name is that of a saint like most names from here tbh, but my mom picked it because it's short and she wanted people from everywhere around the world to be able to say it which is kind of cute. I don't have chosen name I have like 3 nicknames people alternate between, one of them is Ani or AniGC which I use on the internet and I don't plan on picking one I think not having a name is cool!

1. Are you named after anyone?

2. When was the last time you cried?

Nope, too young, and also having my own kids or parenting/fostering is not something I am fit to ever do I don't think I would be a good parent. I'm a lesbian so biological kids are kind of out the window (not really but don't want them regardless, better safe than sorry on this matter I think). I would love to work with kids though at least once in my lifetime.

Genuinely yesterday I love crying I cry all the damn time it helps me fall asleep. What the libs don't want you to know is that depression is actually awesome because you can cry all the fucking time and you don't need sleeping medication! Yay for mental illness!

3. Do you have kids?

4. What sports have you played/do you play?

I did karate for 8 or 9 years from ages of like 6-14, loved it, then I fell down the stairs and fucked up my spine and had to quit. Then I did swimming for a bit but nothing too serious and I quit that because I got bored now I do fuck all.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Yes a lot but I try to not get too irony poisoned lol, I mostly just say outlandish shit but I do use sarcasm.

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

I couldn't tell you if you put a gun to my head. I don't fucking know 😭

7. Eye colour?

Brown! ^^

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

This is a strange one I'm not really big on either of these things. When it comes to horror I'm not really a fan of movies I feel like a thing inherently becomes a little less scary when you show it to me or when it's moving you know? Idk I like some of them but I really do enjoy horror books those are awesome. And for the other thing I don't know is it a happy ending for me or the characters? Like I enjoy all plot threads being tied together well but if that doesn't make my fav happy GOOD. Let that bitch suffer. To actually answer the question I think scary movies lmao.

9. Any talents?

Why yes I'm very awesome. Idk I'm a fast learner genuinely that's the biggest thing I've got going on I think almost everything I know I learned on my own accord, it was never given to me, and idk I'm kind of proud of that idgaf if it sounds corny. I can also dislocate my thumb that's kind of cool.

10. Where were you born?

In the hospital (Serbia but I don't like saying where I'm from too much I want to remain a Mysterious Figure On The Computer and now you have to ignore the fact that I frequently post about this)

11. What are your hobbies?

Running the risk of sounding like a loser nerd I love studying I love learning things if I could stay in school for the rest of my life I genuinely would. I love learning how shit works and I'm gonna be honest organic chemistry has been among my favourite things to study ever it's so perfectly logical and awesome one of the best sciences ever for sure. Besides that I like doing fuck all and taking the piss on the internet.

12. Do you have any pets?

Nope! Small apartment and not enough money or time to take care of them. One day I will get a cat though trust.

13. How tall are you?

184cm that's like 6'0" I think?

14. Favourite subject in school?

Idk probably physics. High school level chem was incredibly fucking boring I didn't even have to fart to get good grades. Math and programming were my original beloveds but I fell out of love with them very soon after starting high school due to bad experiences with teachers. So yeah probably physics idk the only subjects I think about at this point are the ones I'll have next year in college I can't fucking wait for atomistics.

15. Dream job?

I feel like a fucking idiot being at my age and telling people I want to be a scientist but like!!!!!! I do I genuinely do!!!! I want to be a researcher and do cool things I want to be entranced by the work I do maybe this sounds so incredibly optimistic because it's likely that if I become a researcher I'll be eating packet noodles for the rest of my life but!! That's my dream!!!

I cannot be assed to tag 15 people I'm sorry also I think everyone and their mom has done this at this point so I'll tag. 3 take it or leave it! Sorry if any of you have done this already 😭. Also if you haven't but don't want to that's fine lmao no pressure

@k-ru-h @viegoinahoodie @schrodingers-catgirl

[thecomfywriter]

🖋️"what inspired you to write your WIPs?" for every WIP you have :)

oh boy okay let's buckle in and try to answer this:

ToV:

originally, volume 1 and volume 2 of tov was one singular book because i was delusional and forgot formatting made my 657 page book over 1000 pages

lol

anyways, the ogog draft of tov was born (i'm assuming) because of my obsession of my dragons? i genuinely don't know i was 6 years old. the rewrite was because i was bored at a pre-wedding ceremony (i'm indian so there are like... 20 different rituals and this one was slow to start because things were getting delayed) and decided to go wandering in the mountains/hills, which reminded me of the volcano in soilaila, which reminded me this book existed. so i decided to spend the wedding writing the first 3 chapters of tov on my mom's iphone's notes app. i proceeded to get obsessed, and the rest is history.

LotF:

i've mentioned this in a previous post but a poem i read during my dark academia dasam granth studies (i define dark academia by the person i become when i study the dasam granth lol) is what inspired the personality for lotf's main character, evan. i'll share a fun (and embarrassing) fact tho...

evan's name is based off the one and only crush i had in middle school. i HATEDDDD the fact that i had a crush on this person (i just don't like crushes in general, and it was my first time having a proper crush, so needly to say i was distrESSED) so in order to sort my feelings out, i took the guy's name and gave it to my character. surprisingly, it worked, and now i lowkey can't call the original guy by his real name, because in my head, his name doesn't belong to him anymore LMAOO

but yeah. poem + crush + what if scenario for a post-tov world resulted in the lotf series

AoNaS:

my imaginary friends and roleplay games! i used to play these games with my sister where i would "transform" into the superhero character, Neha, and my sister would "transform" into her twin sister, "Serina". And we'd go on these superhero adventures in this abstract world in order to defeat the big bad villain. Imagine "the floor is lava" x "punching the sofa and wrestling the air" x "figure skating on hardwood floors in socks" x "spinning around in dizzying circles" x "rolling down hills" x "climbing walls, roofs, and trees", but on steroids and with a consistent, continuous plot.

TIS:

the doll games i played with my barbies, monster high dolls, and bratz! it was so detailed and for WHAT.

honestly, it wasn't that serious until my sister got mad at me one day and beheaded my favourite doll. that is the ONLY reason why the TIS series became so dark-sided and transformed into a high fantasy political murder mystery whose plot kickstarts with the assassination of the doll she killed.

yeah. you heard that right.

rather than 5 year old me deciding, oh this doll is gone? let me just move on and play games without her, I decide to make her death A PLOT POINT.

deadass, what was wrong with me?

alrighty. i condensed the explanations a bit. forgive me, friend. if you have follow up questions though, don't hesitate to ask! asks, dms, and discord chat is always open!

here's a link to the writerblr discord, where writers can chat, share their wips, collaborate with other writers to create unique projects, and promote their work!

cheerios!

[writingquestionsanswered]

Logical Story Setting Doesn't Work

Anonymous asked: I was having trouble picking ideas. I made two different versions for my story, just to see what would be the better book. I really liked both, so I made a pro-con list. I still really like both, but one version makes more sense than the other and I think it's the one I should go with. Just one con that's a dealbreaker for me: logically it would be set around the 1500s. Maybe even earlier. And I'm not really a fan of that. I can't explain much, but this story is dependent on another story I'm writing. I don't want to give up the connection between the books, and I don't want to go with the worse version with the weak plot. But I'm not interested in the 1500s and it seems like heck of a lot of research. I doubt readers won't notice the timeline being a little funny if I just choose any setting I want.

(Ask has been edited for length...)

This is definitely a tough one, and unfortunately, you don't seem to have a lot of options. You either bow to fate and let the story be set in the 1500s, or you find a way to beef up the plot that isn't set in the 1500s. Let's talk through some options for both.

1 - Try to Get Interested in the 1500s - It isn't much fun to research and write about a time period you're not interested in, so it's worth seeing if there's a way to get interested. Watching movies or TV shows set in a similar time and place to your setting can help you get interested in a time period. Some shows and movies set in the 1500s: The Tudors, The Spanish Princess, Anne of the Thousand Days, The Other Boleyn Girl, Reign, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Shakespeare in Love, Wolf Hall, Kingdom, A Discovery of Witches, Magnificent Century, Jodha & Akbar, Amaya... If your story is set somewhere not represented above, you can Google that location and "1500s" or "16th century."

2 - Find a Way to Move it Forward - Such a big part of writing is taking the time to brainstorm (and do a little brute forcing sometimes) to get things in our story to work right. It isn't fast, and it isn't particularly fun, and you could spend days trying to make something work, but sometimes that's just how writing is. Sometimes, you just treat the problem like a Rubik's Cube and you work it until it's solved. Odds are good if you really set your mind to it, you can find a way to make a later time period make sense.

3 - Fake It 'Til You Make It - Another option in that same vein is to just start writing the story in whatever time period you like better. Don't worry about it making sense, just start writing. If you're lucky, something will just click while you're writing and pave the way for you to make the preferred time period make sense. Worst case scenario, you'll have a better understanding of the story's needs and that may help you adjust the time period to something that works better.

4 - Strengthen the Weak Plot - Although you describe the non-1500s version as "the worse version with a weak plot," you also said you still really like it, and there must have been some pros for this version, so I think this idea is probably salvageable. Once again, it's gonna take some brute force to figure out what needs to happen to make it work, but this may be the better path. You can also try the "fake it 'til you make it" option with this one and see where it goes. It's often easier to improve a story once you know for sure what it's going to be.

5 - Look for a Third Option - As much as it may not seem ideal, it's just possible that there's a third option out there that bridges the gap between option one and option two. It's always worth taking the time to brain storm--go the Rubik's Cube route again--and puzzle it out until something hopefully clicks.

Hopefully one of these options will work for you!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

Learn more about WQA

See my ask policies

Visit my Master List of Top Posts

Go to ko-fi.com/wqa to buy me coffee or see my commissions

[transthadymacdermot]

Please tell me more about your OCs, Fredrick, Sarah and Annie?

Sure!!! They are main characters in the vague sequel story to my wip red & riotous light that I'm writing + they are tenant farmers on a vaguely located estate owned by a fictious marquess somewhere in co. antrim, ireland, in the mid 1790s. Their family situation is best explained I think by this diagram but to shorten it, Frederick and Annie are the nephew + niece of Sarah's toxic boyfriend Jem, who she basically adopted after she moved in with them. She also has 2 more younger kids but she sent them off to help F&A's father on his search for work in scotland, so they don't factor in to the actual story much. I will go through them in depth one at a time.

Frederick

Frederick is 11 and he's like. one of those annoying street urchin artful dodger type characters but in an almost wholly rural setting. He's def. got what would be today recognised as undiagnosed ADHD and he's working through a lot of complicated feelings surrounding his relationship with his mother (which swings between loving and being like a cage fight like a pendulum) as well as his place in the world and what he's meant to be doing about the incredible violence he's witnessing around him daily. In some ways this manifests as him having grown up far too quickly -- he's already an active member of 1 of the most feared gangs in his area and him stabbing a man without batting an eye is what starts the plot -- in other ways it's him acting at all times like he knows exactly what's up and like he's 100% in control even when he's obviously just a helpless kid.

Some facts about Frederick:

When he grows up he wants to join the army, ideally as an officer + ideally in the cavalry

He is a narrative foil to another character, Seamy, who I went into detail on here

He slowly develops the ability to see snatches of the future in his dreams, although he doesn't typically tell anyone about these dreams so for now it's more of a mounting dread situation than something with any massive effect on his life.

Sarah

Probably the main facet of Sarah's character, imo, is that she really does not give a shit. About anything. She has been utterly miserable due to the fact that she and Jem both despise each other (but she won't leave cos she wants the children to grow up with some kind of father figure + is too exhausted to find anything or anyone else. not answering questions on whether or not this was inspired by anything I have witnessed in real life at this time) for so long that she crossed the threshold of not caring about people's opinions/consequences/moral implications wrt any of her actions years ago. This typically does not end well for people who anger her, especially when taken with the fact that she spent so long blaming herself for things other people did to her that she swung to the opposite extreme + the fact that she is living most of her life now in survival mode, and therefore no longer regards a single one of her actions as her own fault. It does not take much to push Sarah over the edge. If she decides you are jeopardising her survival AND aren't useful for anything otherwise that's you done with this mortal coil and good luck trying to talk her out of it.

Some facts about Sarah:

She is fluent in english, irish, and latin + she can read + write in all 3, and though her family members only know english she often says simple commands and asks simple questions in latin to her children. Her favourite book (a copy of which is owned by a local schoolmaster) is ovid's metamorphosis

She is also a narrative foil to another character called Lady Durham, who I've not made a big post on yet

For many years she sang all the psalms at the local chapel (before she got into a fight with the priest and stopped going)

Annie

Ah, Annie. She is a 12 year old eldest daughter and she has all of the complications that implies. Tbh, she's probably the most capable in her family, or she would be if she didn't spend most of her time wandering around climbing trees and pretending to be a wolf or whatever. She and her mother tend to both blame each other for every single thing that is wrong with the world + fight constantly about everything, but ironically they're very similar -- Annie, too, is very independent and a loner by choice, though she doesn't necessarily dislike company if it's someone who can keep up with her, and she has more than a little of Sarah's ruthless streak in her. Her head is often in the clouds but she isn't incapable of being more practical, nor is she not razor-sharp, she just chooses to get a little whimsical with it. If the rest of the world wants to know what she's talking about they should simply come up into the clouds with her.

Some facts about Annie:

She has a tortoiseshell kitten called Chicken which Sarah gets her early in the story to patch things up after a fight

There is some kind of bizarre cosmic horror monster following her around and doing whatever she tells it to. This manifests as the ability to kill people basically with her mind, though the trade-off is that Annie spreads plague and misfortune wherever she goes as a result of its malign influence leaking out. More lore posts on this coming soon 👍

She enjoys going to see plays &c a lot. Her current favourite is shakespeare's titus andronicus, which she saw when a troupe of players came to perform it for the Marquess (he was so scandalised he nearly perished on the spot) and the local innkeeper Lazarus managed to entice them into doing a cheap showing of it at his inn

[toomanyfandomsthings]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

OOOO thank you so much for asking, I've never been asked that before! ✨️😃✨️ It's not a top 10 in any particular order (except for number 1, that one is number 1 😂), but mostly the characters who have impacted me a lot or have a special place in my heart right now. Also I'm terribly ineloquent, so please bear with my while I try to make sense -

1.) Aki Hayakawa (Chainsaw Man)

Oooooh my God, where do I start? XD This one was easy because Aki is like my favorite of favorite characters in anything 😁 Such a sweet, caring, protective figure who doesn't see himself as any of those things. He's such a heartbreakingly realistic portrayal of how someone can be self-destructive and I love seeing his dynamics with the cast start to change the way he views and values himself. I love how his instinct to be a big brother shows itself in small ways that don't get directly pointed out - to avoid manga spoilers, I'll point to the scene with Denji in the hospital where Aki makes him the apple bunnies - and just the little ways that he shows he cares for people. I think stuff with him later on in the story is some of the most well written and heartbreaking stuff I've ever read, and I genuinely think he's a wonderfully different take on the revenge plot line. I also have like...way too many figures of him...and plushies...and acrylic stands...and key chains.....and a snow globe I got from Hot Topic- I just love him a lot! 😂💕

2.) Ken Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul)

I have a little less to say on this one because I haven't read Tokyo Ghoul in a long time so I'm a bit fuzzy on plot details. 😅 But I read Tokyo Ghoul in college at a time where I really needed it and saw a lot of myself in Kaneki. He's such a sweetheart and such a deeply lonely character, and the ways he changes over the course of the story, for better and for worse, are absolutely brilliant and tragic 🥲💕 And I love how, throughout all of these shifts in personality and role in the story, he still feels so distinctly Kaneki. Like, in spite of how cruel and difficult things get, the sweet, book-loving college student is still recognizably there. Kaneki Ken did nothing wrong 😂 Also I wrote a far more eloquent 35 page paper on Kaneki as my final thesis paper for college, soooo that speaks to my affection for him 😂

3.) Felix Hugo Fraldarius (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

There's gonna be a lot of Fire Emblem characters here, I'm so sorry XD But I love Felix so so much! He's a tough personality and admittedly can be incredibly harsh when it's not called for, but he's given so much reasoning as to why he has this attitude and it makes him such an engaging character to watch. He cares so much for everyone around him and just for the life of him cannot communicate that, nor does he want to admit it to himself for fear of losing them like he did his brother. He works so hard to be stronger than his brother so he can protect everyone, to the point where, definitely post-timeskip, he's long since reached that goal but still refuses to believe it. He's a caring soul who's taken on a lot at a young age and has suffered a lot more than he cares to acknowledge. He's also insanely smart (which he is never given credit for in-game which is a crime) and an absolute monster of a unit and is good at basically anything you try to teach him, so he's also just objectively cool 😂

4.) Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Same as Felix, I love Dimitri so so so much 🥲 I think his character arc is so beautifully written (if you couldn't tell, I favor the Blue Lions quite a bit XD) and he's just such an absolute sweetie who's been through entirely too much. I love how protective he is of his loved ones and how the weight of all that he's been through wears on him in big and small ways (I think of little things like his lack of a sense of taste, which you only find out in his support with Flayn, which then recontextualizes little moments like Felix commenting on Dimitri acting like he dislikes the food at meal times and ahhh the character writing in 3H is so good). Also, I am partial to sweet characters becoming absolutely unhinged (see #2 😂) so I knew I'd like Dimitri almost immediately XD Didn't know he'd break my heart as much as he did though 😂

5.) Kaoru Sakurayashiki/Cherry Blossom (SK8 the Infinity)

Cherry is so great, what a truly insufferable person (affectionate) 😂 He's such a brat and I love his dynamic with Joe so much. They argue in the kind of way you only could with someone you've known your whole life, and they clearly love each other and always look out for one another. Also, the interviews with Utsumi which say that he's also anxious and a generally lonely person break my heart, and also inform why he's *always* at Joe's restaurant. He also clearly cares for the little skateboarder family they've made and i love that he takes on a sort of mentor/parental role for the kids. Also what an absolutely chaotic idea for a character - a formerly emo/punk, professional calligrapher who also designs robots and helped establish an illegal skating competition to which he attends in a ninja costume with his AI skateboard - I love him 😂💕 He's also got an amazing character design, like, I want to be him 😂

6.) Zelkov (Fire Emblem Engage)

ZELKOVV I love him so much, he is the character currently occupying my brain the most. 💕 Much of what I've said before, such a sweetheart. I love the way the portray his mental health struggles through his need to constantly have a pursuit or task or hobby to keep his mind occupied, and how it eventually resolves with him opening an orphanage (which is such a perfect resolution for his character 🥲) He's such a caretaker at heart, and I think it's so interesting how that is juxtaposed with his past as an assassin. Plus I think coming into a revenge plotline 10 years after the revenge has been had is just such an interesting take on it. I dunno I just love him so much I could go on for ages but I'll stop here...kinda

7.) Kagetsu (Fire Emblem Engage)

And I say kinda because Zelkov and Kagetsu are inseparable in my mind 😂 I love Kagestu, what an absolute cinnamon roll! 💕 Such a sweet, silly little friend! He's so eager to make friends, almost to a fault. I'd hazard a guess that after leaving his family, not knowing if he could ever go back or if they'd even want him to come back, the eagerness to make friends is sort of a coping thing - trying to reaffirm that he's not alone and that there are people who like him. I love his dynamic with Zelkov and Ivy - he draws the two of them out of their shells and gives them the direct and clear love and affection they need, and in turn they reassure him that he is cared for and give him a place where he is truly content and happy 🥲 He's just a genuine ray of sunshine with more depth than you'd think at first glance.

8.) Yuki Soma (Fruits Basket)

Yet another character that I feel directly called out by 😂 I love him so much, I love that he's such a kind person but doesn't view himself as such because he way overthinks about the nature of what "being kind" is. I love his arc about learning how to better yourself little by little and taking small steps to change; I really find it so inspiring 💕 His backstory episode ruined me for the rest of the day, I literally couldn't sleep that night after I watched it.

9.) Lukas (Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia)

This is my weird pick, but I still think about Lukas and the game came out when I was just starting college XD So kind and so caring, but still very pragmatic and reliable. I think his self reflection on how he feels he may be emotionally broken is so fascinating and relatable, and I love how his support with Python and his ending resolve it in a very satisfying way (I teared up when I saw his ending when I beat the game, though I also may have been going through something at the time XD) His big brother energy to Alm and the kids is also very endearing (especially him and Alm in the Drama CD oh my God) I'm not explaining it well, but I need to give this sweet depressed fellow a hug! 💕

10.) Megumi Fushiguro (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Ahhhh my son, my sweet boy who can't catch a break 🥲 So kind, so caring, so unable to see his own self worth 🥲 Like Aki, I like how the show points out his character flaw maybe once or twice, but it's showed off in dozens of more subtle ways if you pay close attention. I love how kind he is, how much he cares even though he struggles to display it, how he's got a self-admitted flawed sense of what justice is and how, like Kaneki and Dimitri, he's also sliiiightly unhinged XD

Hugs, hugs for all of these characters 😂❤️ Also sorry, I kind of went off, iiiiii got excited 😂 I also left out a bunch of characters because I didn't want it all to be Fire Emblem characters 😂 Thank you so much for asking!!

[aragarna]

23 and 17 😊

23. Best writing advice for other writers?

Read. Read all you can. Books, classics, modern literature, epics, dramas, short stories, all genres, best-sellers, great authors, anything you like, and of course fanfictions (but not only fanfictions). Figure out what's good, what's bad. Try and see what works for you, and what doesn't work.

Something's boring? Ask yourself why, and try not to do it. Something's tearing you apart (in a good way), figure out why, and try to do the same. Pick up on themes, style, rhythm, narration, plot building. The big and the small.

Or don't overthink it. Just read and enjoy, your brain will instinctively replicate. it's basically machine-learning, just like an AI. But just I. Feed it the biggest dataset, it'll figure out the output.

17. What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

I rewatch the show and read fanfictions. Nothing makes me want more to write my own fic than reading others', because I can't help but see all the good ideas and start running with them in my head. Rewatching the show just to spend time with the characters, getting their voices back, just spending time with them.

I also don't feel bad about not writing. Not in the mood? Not inspired? Too tired? Well, writing is a hobby, not my job, I'll do it when I feel like it. No guilt, no pressure.

Thank you for your questions!! <3

(Hope I picked the meme you expected, cause I reblogged 2 back to back, that got confusing! Let me know if you wanted the other one!)

[fullregalia]

and i took that personally.

I actually was going to use this headline for 2022, but (Taylor’s Version) seemed a better fit at the time, and looking back on ’23, well, I really did take this year personally. 

One charge I am not beating is that I quote The Tempest every time I write about the ups and downs of aging: “Nothing ... doth fade, / But doth suffer a sea-change / Into something rich and strange.” However I’ve yet to find something that captures how bizarre life is better than the phrase “rich and strange.” This year was certainly no different. If you couldn’t tell from the abstruse posts about feeling insecure online, I definitely Went Through It (or at least lower case went through it, lest I be too overly dramatic here) with a strange friendship with a semi-notable person this year. It burned bright and fast and like all other normies who come into the orbit of people with a modicum of notoriety, even if you can hang, it hurts to get dropped for a shiny new thing. The best thing for me to do was to step away from Twitter in August and never look back. Sometimes I miss knowing what stupid thing is going on online (#GagCity) however, if I ever get around to finishing my novel, it’s great fodder for plot. (“How do you serve cunt in a roman à clef way?”)

Besides that personal drama, which wasn’t too bad (frankly, I just got caught up in a one-sided friend crush that took up a majority of Qs 2 and 3), the year was filled with so many interesting things: The movies are back, baby! Country music’s revival won me over. I went to Germany, Switzerland, England, Ireland, and I met a special needs Alpaca named Waffles in Litchfield, CT. Succession ended (RIP Kendall I could fix u), and The Bear’s Copenhagen episode made me cry. I read 30 books, and not all of them were garbage (though some of them truly were). I discovered a brown butter buttermilk cake recipe that I can't quit. It felt like live events were properly in the mix again too; I was able to convince more people to go to Cyclones games with me, but I’m still hitting up Lincoln Center solo (don't men know this is a big date flex??). And how could I not brag about seeing my favorite artist, Ed Ruscha, in the flesh at the opening night of his retrospective at MoMA. But I’ll get into all of that and more below. 

Since this annual recap is not a tradition I’m willing to step away from and never look back (yet), here are my highlights of 2023: 

Books

Thanks to my SAD in the winter, I plowed through the bigger novels in Q1 (e.g., Confederacy of Dunces, I Have Some Questions For You, Birnam Wood). Though the best books I read this year were slimmer like Big Swiss, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, and Trespasses. I believe someone tried to trendcast this, but I think short books have been a thing since ... checks notes ... people started reading? I am still trying to figure out if I cared about The Guest, but I suppose a sense of low-lying dread and hating the narrator meant it worked. I tried to add more urban history into the hold list (NYC, LA, and Palo Alto), but couldn’t get through the latter two before year-end so that’s going on next year’s reading challenge. Seeing as I do LA every January anyway, I’ll save the California books for the West Coast.

I’m a little disappointed that there weren’t many novels I couldn’t put down this year. But I really did focus on contemporary fiction and I think next year I should spend more time on both nonfiction and “canonical” works that I still haven’t gotten around to yet. That is, it may be time to start reading like my dad.

Music

If Spotify is to be believed (it is), I was in.my.feelings. this year (I was). My erstwhile friend crush was a huge Country head, and I am grateful that brief friendship brought more Country--both classic and contemporary--into my life. (I have joked that women will inhale an entire discography/filmography/oeuvre in a weekend for a crush, but honestly show me the lie.) I’ve always been into Americana and bluegrass, but it was good to dig deeper into true country. At the pottery studio I would start with Johnny Cash and just let the algo take it from there for the next 3 - 4 hours. Beyond the musicians I was already listening to a lot (John Prine, Willie Nelson) I listened to more Townes Van Zandt, Nikki Lane, Jess Williamson, and Tyler Childers. 

But of course my top artists were the same as every year: Coltrane, Paul Simon, Prokofiev, Steely Dan. Dean Wareham came up huge for me because I think I played “The Last Word” maybe 400 times this year. You get to the 2:53 mark with the sun shining on Memorial Day Weekend? That’s heaven on earth.

Music was my sanity this year more than it usually is. I had my sad playlist (Jeff Buckley, The Smiths, SZA) for the myriad breakup walks; my Drake playlist for running; my jazz playlist for cooking; and my work party afterparty playlist was even dowloaded by the bar for future use because I spent HOURS figuring out the best arrangement of Beyoncé into Fleetwoord into Dua and they got it. 

I also spent a lot of time behind the wheel with the windows down listening to prog rock, too. Told you I was going through it.

Movies

As the year progressed, my already incoherent listening habits became very movie-forward. That is, I started putting on more movie soundtracks to work to (Nebraska hive we stay riding!! Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross run me over with a truck!!!) and I basically only ended up listening to podcasts about movies (Big Pic, Blank Check, Rewatchables). But the synergy between music and movies was strong this year, as evidenced by the thrilling re-issue of Stop Making Sense and the Eras/Renaissance films. (As always, I implore you to listen to Wesley Morris about everything, forever.)  

After leaving Twitter, Letterboxed became my primary Social Network (lol). Thankfully it’s helping me keep track of what I watched this year. I did a lot of back-list catching up: I watched all the Miyazaki Studio Ghibli films in time to catch The Boy and the Heron the week after I got to The Wind Rises. In no particular order, my favorites: American Fiction, Oppenheimer, No Hard Feelings, Fallen Leaves, Past Lives, Maestro (but that’s because of Lydia Tàr), and because I quite sensibly spent most of this year catching up on Tom Cruise’s entire filmography, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, pt. I. This man will do anything to save cinema! I love it!!!!

The Lawyer Movie Draft match up of Blank Check and Big Pic was one of my favorite podcast episodes of the year. I definitely re-watched The Firm and The Pelican Brief after it. Luv u too, Michael Clayton.

Odds & Ends

My two goals this year were to leave NYC once a month and see a concert/show once a month. I was close to 100% on both, which was nice. If you go to Dublin, be sure to check out Bar 1661. I had an amazing lunch at this Italian place in Bern, Switzerland. If you are in London, I demand you go to Fortitude Bakehouse. As always, the BEC on a croissant at Arethusa is a religious experience. And Zapp’s chips + oysters + wine + this view in Maine = I can die happy. 

I saw three live podcast tapings--my second time seeing both Odd Lots and Who? Weekly and my first time seeing How Long Gone (I’m not proud of it, but I love those two bros and John Early was a great guest). Relatedly, Kate Berlant's one woman show lived up to the hype and Just For Us made me laugh enough I told my folks to see it. I finally saw ABT do Romeo & Juliet at the Met, and there were too many classical concerts to count (highlights being: the Made in Berlin string quartet at Lydia Tàr's Berlin Philharmonic, the Emerson String Quartet performing Shostakovich No. 12, and Chamber Music Society presenting the full Brandenburg Concertos).

On the TV front, for what I lost in Succession this year, I look forward to getting back in Industry next year. My "Smooth Brain Award" for best background streaming goes to And Just Like That and Suits for being too dumb to function. A friend has promised to watch The Curse with me, but that has yet to materialize. At some point I'm going to have to get Apple TV back so I can finally watch the new season of Slow Horses, the first two seasons of which I binged in about a week in February.

Since I’m not actively tweeting, I’m going to put my in/out list here. I was actually on the money with some of my predictions from last year (all light yellow everything and bankruptcy is chic again) however none of you fools got on the “friends holding hands in an 1800s novel way” and I didn’t see enough old bay fries at the bar to make me happy. Let’s see if I can improve my trend casting odds for 2024:

IN: robin’s egg blue, Acting Like You've Been There, cassis and soda, Harvey Wallbangers, Meg Ryan's curly hair in When Harry Met Sally, pretending you know how to sail, whistleblowing, marbled paper, voice notes.

OUT: hard seltzer, oversize blazers, Substack, the pop punk revival, calling things “transcendent,” renter’s insurance, engagement announcements on social media (just get married), Reykjavik, Threads.

I’m probably wrong on all fronts! This take on my predictions is likely also my mantra for 2024. Happy New Year, and to the two to three people who read this whole thing, may it bring you peace and prosperity. Praying the world becomes a little easier to be alive in next year, though I’m not sure that’s how things work these days. If I don’t abandon this effort entirely next year, I’ll be sure to recount what rich and strange experiences came about...