#making a powerpoint with sections for your characters + plot + setting

[yandere-daydreams]

Ayo! I wanted to ask about what software or app do use to write fanfic? Or what editing do you use?

oh i just open up a microsoft word doc and start yapping. as for editing, i think the sheer quantity of typos i make prove that it's just me bare-knuckling it out here like a goddamn medieval peasant writing religious texts from memory by candle light. also grammerly but only when i'm posting things to ao3.

[dutifullylazysalad]

Literacy Libraryguided Reading 101

Literacy Libraryguided Reading 101 5th

Reading Literacy Worksheets

Literacy Libraryguided Reading 101 Lesson

What every teacher should know

Feb 6, 2018 - Explore Lauren McGlone's board 'Literacy - Library', followed by 361 people on Pinterest. See more ideas about classroom library, reading classroom, classroom organization.

Reading 101: A Guide to Teaching Reading and Writing

Literacy Centers 101: Pocket Chart Center Day 3 of my summer vacation and what am I doing??? Well, I did have a wonderful time today at Centre Island with my husband, kiddies and dear friends of ours.

Emergent Literacy Reading 63 IV. Emergent Literacy Writing 79 V. Mathematics 87 VI. Science 101 VII. Social Studies 107 VIII. Fine Arts 113 IX. Physical Development 117 X. Technology 122 Appendices 124.

The Certification Exam for Educators of Reading Instruction (CEERI) Teachers who complete the Reading 101 modules will learn about critical skills for proficient reading and best practices that support students’ acquisition of these skills.

In this book we have an English 101 class explaining what “literacy” means to them and the way this word has gained meaning as they have grown older and gone through many experiences. The personal stories that are shared within these pages reflect where reading and writing started for each student and the way that their literacy journey.

Reading 101 is a collaboration with the Center for Effective Reading Instruction and The International Dyslexia Association.

Learn the definitions of phonological awareness and phonemic awareness — and how these pre-reading listening skills relate to phonics.

Phonological awareness and phonemic awareness: what's the difference?

Phonological awareness refers to a global awareness of the sound structures of speech and the ability to manipulate those structures. Phonological awareness is an umbrella term that encompasses both basic levels of awareness of speech sounds, such as rhyming, alliteration, the number of words in a sentence, and the syllables within words, as well as more advanced levels of awareness such as onset-rime awareness and full phonemic awareness.

Phonemic awareness is the most advanced level of phonological awareness. It refers to a child’s awareness of the individual phonemes — the smallest units of sound — in spoken words, and the ability to manipulate those sounds.

Phonological awareness (PA) involves a continuum of skills that develop over time and that are crucial for reading and spelling success, because they are central to learning to decode and spell printed words. Phonological awareness is especially important at the earliest stages of reading development — in pre-school, kindergarten, and first grade for typical readers.

Explicit teaching of phonological awareness in these early years can eliminate future reading problems for many students. However, struggling decoders of any age can work on phonological awareness, especially if they evidence problems in blending or segmenting phonemes.

How about phonological awareness and phonics?

Phonological awareness refers to a global awareness of sounds in spoken words, as well as the ability to manipulate those sounds.

Phonics refers to knowledge of letter sounds and the ability to apply that knowledge in decoding unfamiliar printed words.

So, phonological awareness refers to oral language and phonics refers to print. Both of these skills are very important and tend to interact in reading development, but they are distinct skills; children can have weaknesses in one of them but not the other.

For example, a child who knows letter sounds but cannot blend the sounds to form the whole word has a phonological awareness (specifically, a phonemic awareness) problem. Conversely, a child who can orally blend sounds with ease but mixes up vowel letter sounds, reading pit for pet and set for sit, has a phonics problem.

Dr. Louisa Moats explains to a kindergarten teacher why it is critical to differentiate between the letters and sounds within a word when teaching children to read and write.

Reading 101 is a collaboration with the Center for Effective Reading Instruction and The International Dyslexia Association.

What are the key critical reading skills, and how do we use them to comprehend? And why does background knowledge matter?

This section presents my latest thinking on comprehension with The Comprehension Process Staircase as a visual aid.

(Illustration by Sandy Gingras, whose Website is here.)

Literacy Libraryguided Reading 101 5th

Here's an important essay on why background knowledge matters: 'There's No Such Thing as a Reading Test' in The American Prospect by E.D. Hirsch and Robert Pondiscio (June 13, 2010)

Here are two video training modules that explain key topics on this page:

Comprehension Process MODULE:

This 23-min SELF-PACED video explains The Comprehension Process Staircase and how to use the Quadrant Analysis Approach to images (reinforcing the comprehension process with visual analysis).

For more resources to support your work around comprehension, please check out the following:

TLC Website “Comprehension 101” page--lots of tools to download! And you can show students the Comprehension Process Staircase!

TLC Blog post on Quadrant Analysis--a detailed explanation of how to teach the Quadrant Analysis approach (which is also explained in the video)

Here's the FREE link to the Comprehension Process Module PowerPoint.

***

This 20-min SELF-PACED video explains the four key critical reading skills (paraphrasing, inference, vocabulary in context, and summarizing/inferring main idea) and how to teach them. NOTE: Watch The Comprehension Process MODULE before this one.

For more resources to support your work around key critical reading skills, please check out the following:

TLC Website “Comprehension 101” page--lots of tools to download!

TLC Website 'Analyzing Literature' page--ditto!

Here's the FREE link to the 4 Key Critical Reading Skills Module PowerPoint.

***

Here are the 4 key critical reading skills:

SKILLWHAT IT LOOKS LIKE AND WHAT IT ENTAILSTESTING CODE WORDS PARAPHRASING

(AKA Literal Comprehension)

“The man fell down.”-> “He collapsed.”

Paraphrasing means “translating literally” or “putting something in your own words.” This requires you to:

Unpack vocabulary (attack roots; use prior knowledge and context clues).

Unpack syntax and grammar (unpack clauses and phrases; pay attention to punctuation).

Draw inferences from idioms.

NEW: For a useful strategy, seeHow to Paraphrase-3rd grade Practice, How to Paraphrase-MS Practice, How to Paraphrase-HS Practice. For tips on how to create critical reading questions, see How to Create Critical Reading Questions: A Recipe.

See also Rewordify.com, a powerful, free, online software that intelligently simplifies difficult English, for faster comprehension (IN OTHER WORDS, it paraphrases for you).

Facts

In other words

According to the story/passage

What does this mean?

Plot-related

Paraphrase

INFERENCE

(AKA Extended Reasoning)

“The man fell down.”-> “He must have been sick.”

Inference entails drawing a conclusion, making a prediction/guess, or figuring something out. To do this, you need facts/information, and you need to ask questions about the given information. See the comprehension process described below for more explanation.

NEW:Paraphrasing and Inference Organizer AND Quotations to Paraphrasing and Inference in the Download Zone will help students practice these skills. Also check out Character Traits: Quote and Explain and Question-Inference-Evidence & Explanation ORGANIZER, Question-Inference-Evidence & Explanation ORGANIZER MODEL, and Question-Inference-Evidence & Explanation ORGANIZER MODEL LESSON PLAN

Here's a fun way to invite students to apply their inference skills: Read 'The Conversation Piece' by Ned Guymon (which originally appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1950) and figure out what is going on in this dialogue.

Infer

Suggest

Conclude

Because/why

Most likely

Probably

VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT“They’re not interested in being diverted from their direction with alternative routes.” The word “diverted” in this context means

A) amused B) less experienced C) taking the same route D) sent in a different direction

Vocabulary in context requires you to infer meaning of words using the context and your prior knowledge.

What does ____ mean in this context?

Based on the passage, what does ____ mean?

NOTE: At least one distractor will use an alternative meaning of the word in question. In this example, “A” is the distractor. FINDING MAIN IDEA/ARGUMENT

(AKA Summarizing)

The main idea of this passage is

The yearly festival in Pamplona, Spain, always includes the Running of the Bulls.

Running alongside the bulls as they are moved from the corral to the bullring in Pamplona, Spain, has become an exciting and dangerous sport.

The bravest runners carry newspapers with which they touch the bulls as they run through the streets.

The Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, has been going on for about three hundred years.

Finding the main idea/argument, AKA summarizing, requires you to infer the key message(s) from the text. Your ability to do this is based on how well you are able to paraphrase, infer, and determine vocabulary meaning from context. Also, you have to understand the difference between ARGUMENT and EVIDENCE. See the comprehension process described below for details.

After reading the article/passage/story…

The central idea

The theme

This passage is mostly about

The author would probably agree

The best summary

How do we use these skills to comprehend? See below. Start at the bottom.

INFERENCE(S) -> EXPLANATION

­

Draw new inferences and generate more explanations. These join your prior knowledge/skills.

??? + PRIOR KNOWLEDGE/ SKILLS

­

Ask more questions… MORE “TEXT”

+

Paraphrase, etc. This “text” may confirm or challenge your prior knowledge/previous inferences.

FOR EXAMPLE: If the next sentence says, 'He had had a fever all day,' your prior inference is confirmed. If, however, the next sentence is 'He should've bought the shoes with velcro straps,' you would correct your incorrect prior assumption/inference.

INFERENCE(S)

-> EXPLANATION

­

Draw inferences in response to your questions, and support them with explanations. These infererences and explanations join your prior knowledge/skills. FOR EXAMPLE: Given no additional information about the man who collapsed (no mention of shoelaces or attackers) and knowing that healthy people are generally able to stand up without falling down, you might infer that he fell down BECAUSE HE WAS SICK. NOTE: You will continue to think this until new information challenges your thinking.

??? + PRIOR KNOWLEDGE/ SKILLS

­

Ask questions based on paraphrasing/translation and your prior knowledge/skills.

FOR EXAMPLE: Given the case of the falling man, you might ask, 'WHY did he collapse?' You might recall prior instances of seeing people tripping over shoelaces, fainting, or being knocked down.

­

YOU APPLY IT/

THEM TO

“TEXT.”

^ ^

PARAPHRASE: Put the “text” in your own words. NOTE: “Text” could be almost anything: words, pictures, or a situation (e.g., reading the defense on a basketball court).

Unpack vocabulary.

Unpack grammar/syntax.

INFER from idioms.

FOR EXAMPLE: Given the text 'The man fell down,' you could paraphrase this as 'He collapsed.' For a useful strategy, see How to Paraphrase-3rd grade Practice,How to Paraphrase-MS Practice, How to Paraphrase-HS Practice in the Download Zone.

YOU HAVE

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE/ SKILLS.

^ ^

Start here.

You approach the 'text' with your prior knowledge, which includes:

Previous experiences

Context

Texts read/academic content knowledge

Knowledge of conventions (genre, grammar, syntax)

NOTE: If your 'prior knowledge' is incorrect, it will affect your ability to process the 'text.'

FOR EXAMPLE: If you believe that 5 times 5 is 30, then when faced with a math word problem requiring the multiplication of 5 x 5, you will not solve the problem correctly.

Reading Literacy Worksheets

For more information on strategies for teaching the 4 key critical reading skills, see Reading Comprehension Strategies Overviewin the Download Zone. For a 'Sample LESSON PLAN to LABEL CRITICAL READING QUESTIONS,' see MS English Lessons & Units. Want to review the FOUR CRITICAL READING SKILLS (paraphrasing, inference, vocabulary in context, and summarizing/inferring main idea) and teach your students how to identify test questions that deal with these skills? Check out this Sample LESSON PLAN TO LABEL CRITICAL READING QUESTIONS and HANDOUTS for the lesson. Also, see READING Home Page for other helpful subsections.

Sometimes, to demonstrate comprehension, we want students to explain quotations. Check out the Explanatory Quote Response Organizer and Explanatory Quote Response Organizer MODEL.

For additional excellent resources on reading instruction (esp. nonfiction text support), even if your state doesn't use PARCC assessments, check out the PARCC Prep page.

Literacy Libraryguided Reading 101 Lesson

IN THE DOWNLOAD ZONE for Comprehension 101:

[architeuthism]

Dear DCEU Exchange Creator

First off, I apologize for this being so absurdly late. This is certainly not the foot I wanted to get off on with you, and I know I may have put you in a spot. If you've already started working, you should feel free to just go with whatever you're doing, but if you're still looking for ideas, here are a bunch. As far as excuses go, I'm just going to say it's been a tough week and then get on with the stuff you came here to read.

My interest in everything I requested is basically equal, and in shippy content I enjoy everything from fluff to "they touched hands once in the middle of a case and there was such a frisson but then the plot resumed" to kinky porn. I'm pretty familiar with the wider DC universe, so feel free to pilfer characters and plots from it -- fanwork that interprets familiar ideas in a new continuity is one of my favorite things about comic book film universes. I also love the DCEU as a self-contained entity, though, so if you want to just play with what's currently on the board, I'm here for that too. Also, there's no DCEU character I wouldn't be happy to see a cameo from.

This is kind of a firehose of ideas, which you should feel free to winnow down, disassemble and recombine however you please. There’s a section specifically for artists down below, but otherwise I’ve mixed my art and fic likes together pretty freely here, and you should feel free to pull whichever threads interest you, even if e.g. you’re a writer but something is presented in a way that seems art-oriented.

General Likes

First times/get togethers.

For shippy things, I don’t need everyone 100% confirmed TOGETHER FOREVER, but an optimistic ending is nice.

Science fiction and fantasy shenanigans; settings far-removed from present-day Earth, but also SFF things intruding on present-day Earth.

Big, dumb SFF objects, like massive temple ruins, doomsday machines, big mysterious spacecraft.

The intrinsic ridiculousness of superheroes and the lives they lead. I enjoy the tone of the DCEU, but comic book cheese is also very welcome.

SPACE.

Identity porn, and its close relative, undercover work.

Fighting crime! Teamwork! Heroics! Investigation!

Crime-fighting followed by kissing (or what have you).

Kissing (or what have you) with a certain ambiance of crime-fighting about it because it takes place in the Batcave or other Crime-Fighting Location, such as on a rooftop (known staging grounds for crimefighting).

Canon divergence, what-ifs and remixes.

Monsters.

Superhero costumes and equipment. How they’re designed and made (or found), the significance of all the bits and bobs, how hard it is to get new parts, what it’s like to wear or use them.

So many variations on “superhero and civilian existences butting up against and overlapping each other” that it gets to be its own subcategory. Feel free to make up more, I’m probably into them too.

Characters doing superhero things in civilian attire and ordinary person things in superhero attire; superheroes interacting with one party in civvies and the other in costume.

Superheroes applying their superpowers, or knowledge they have because of their superheroic experience, to their normal jobs, or vice versa.

The day-to-day practical and sensory experience of being superpowered – what it’s like to live in a world that isn’t built for your strength, etc.

Going to absolutely ridiculous lengths to protect a secret identity.

The production design for the DCEU: Kryptonian and Themysciran architecture and fashion, the Batcave and the Bat-vehicles, the Wonder Woman closing titles, Victor’s jagged look during JL and the smoother one he adopts at the end of the film, all of the major characters’ civilian and formal costuming, Bruce’s surreal dreams (especially the Knightmare), capes doing dramatic things.

Characters exploring each other’s production design. So-and-so visits Themyscira or gets to experience a Kryptonian liquid metal PowerPoint or stumbles into one of Bruce’s dreams somehow.

Artist’s Corner

I mentioned above that I really dig both the production design of the DCEU and the silly conventions of comic books, and I very much meant that. Other stuff I love:

Portraits.

Schematics, exploded diagrams.

Maps.

Buildings and cityscapes.

Infographics.

Characters touching each other ever so slightly.

Back and shoulder musculature.

Gold foil.

Bruce having a purple cape lining. I know it’s not in the DCEU. Don’t kinkshame me.

Art style pastiche, including comicky stuff but also mainstream art styles, ancient and religious styles. Some ideas, but don’t let me limit you:

More Kirby-driven interpretations of the Fourth World stuff from JL, especially Victor himself.

Diana in art styles contemporary to eras she’s been knocking around the Earth during.

Clark a la Catholic iconography or stained glass. I know there’s a ton of this but I haven’t had my fill yet.

If you’d like visual inspiration, here are some links to tags on my blog.

DC fanart

DC scans

Fanart generally

Non-fanart illustrations

General Likes (Porn Edition)

To expand on something from the intro, I’m more than happy to receive a gift with nothing sexual in it at all, or vanilla sexual stuff. But if you’re interested, here are some other options.

BDSM-wise, I’m into all manner of bondage and most forms of consensual sexual violence and pain, especially when things are pretty informal and the dynamic just arises in the moment. Choking and breathplay in all their forms are great, biting and impact play are great. For Bruce/Clark, Bruce is my preferred recipient for this and most stuff where the idea of “recipient” is relevant; for other ships, I haven’t got a preference.

Superpowers during sex. Gadgets during sex.

Anatomical surprises. Characters whose anatomy is SO surprising that it’s actually challenging to have sex with them. (Ideally, the parties figure something out, even if it’s “just” something like mutual masturbation.)

One party clothed, one party nude. Also, I definitely meant what I said about civvies/costume.

Torn clothing/costumes, partial disrobing.

Even Kryptonian dimensional travel tech is tentacle-based. What do their sex toys look like? (If all you have is tentacles, every problem looks like a….)

Inappropriate sex laughter. Actually, appropriate sex laughter too. Sex that isn’t conventionally good but where the participants are having tons of fun anyway.

I don’t have any strong feelings about specific sex acts/positions! Write whatever seems appropriate.

Relationship: Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent

My pattern with fandom is that I start to ship something, and that makes me more interested in the canon, which gets me interested in more ships and characters, and then I wind up making ten requests in an exchange. This is the ship what brung me here and I haven’t run out of feelings about it yet.

Bruce’s paranoia and existential angst about aliens that could totally (cough) “destroy” him human civilization were what made me ship it, and I am still all about this. “Fearfully turned on” is the most important human emotion, and I’m intrigued by the whole range of Clark’s potential reactions to this, from “you need to calm down” to “… I’m into this too”.

Oh my god, Bruce is SO awkward with Clark in Justice League, and Clark is surprisingly relaxed and jokey. I’d love to see how that plays out in the longer term. Does Clark immediately recognize this as a crush or does it take ages to sort out?

You can fork the timeline just about anywhere and I���ll be excited. They meet during MoS. Their first meeting in BvS goes differently. Clark doesn’t die. Clark comes back a different way.

The Knightmare. There’s, umm, a lot to unpack there. Bruce’s dreams and/or nightmares generally, and especially that line between terror and eroticism that’s perhaps thinnest there. After everything, how does Clark feature in them, react to Bruce waking up next to him after another one, etc?

Relationship: Barry Allen/Victor Stone

Okay, I will admit that I decided I was interested in this ship based on stuff from the New 52 and the press tour. The actors have a lot of chemistry, okay! And then Justice League came along to inform me that I am VERY SMART and I make GOOD DECISIONS.

Has Barry always been OBVIOUSLY HOT FOR CYBORGS or is this a new thing for him?

Victor can’t exactly go out on a conventional date, so what does taking him out for a nice evening look like?

They have an interesting combination of power/skill sets that are very different from the ones that usually get matched up in DCEU fic – I would love to see them work a case or fight a villain together.

I already mentioned anatomical surprises and characters who are difficult to have sex with, but seriously. Seriously.

Relationship: Apollo/Midnighter Relationship: Diana Prince/Kate Kane Character: J'onn J'onzz

All of these tags involve at least one character who isn’t in the DCEU at all yet. I’ve got one big prompt for all of them:

What are they doing in the DCEU?

I love origin stories, timelines, concept art, character turnarounds – anything that re-constructs a character from the ground up in a new universe. Show me how the forces in the DCEU combined to turn a character into a superhero, or how they responded to the events of the films, or what their costume looks like in this continuity, and I’ll be a happy camper. 

I think Zack Snyder recently tweeted something about Calvin Swanwick (from MoS and BvS) being J'onn, which has been a popular headcanon in some circles for a while. Swanwick is fun and I adore Harry Lennix, so I'm completely open to this, but I'm interested in other possibilities too -- and I don't consider tweets canon, so he goes in the "not in the DCEU yet" bin with these other characters.

Character: Clark Kent

There’s this big chunk of Clark’s background, the wandering period that ends in Man of Steel, that we don’t know a ton about. I am dying to hear more.

In the course of looking for leads about his origins, does he run into any false ones?

Speaking of running into things, what about encounters with other DC characters? This would be a completely excellent time to loop back to Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent, but I’d love to see him crossing paths with, say, other members of the League. Do they recognize something unusual about him?

OH MY GOD IS THIS HOW LEX SR. GOES BALD

There’s a whole chain of rescues and other Weird Events that Lois followed for her article about him, and we’ve only seen a couple of them!

DOES HE FIGHT ANY CRIME? :D?

How many shitty, soul-crushing jobs does he work?

If you aren't interested in that part of his history, I'd be delighted to hear about Metropolis-era Clark: 

His relationships with his coworkers at the Planet (Perry and Jenny are particular favorites).

Experiencing the city from on high as Superman.

Getting back into the swing of things after Justice League. Petting the corn. Reconnecting with Martha. The struggle of completely rebuilding your wardrobe when you have that much junk in the trunk.

Flying around in business casual. I don't know, man, it's just hot for some reason. Give me that unruly flapping tie action.

Non-backstory crimefighting, of course; I'm really interested in Clark Kent the crusading journalist as well as in superheroics of every scope.

Character: Victor Stone

All right, look. I know I keep pushing the “characters who are difficult to have sex with” button. I don’t mean to give the impression that’s the thing I want the most, it’s just relevant generally (you could definitely do something in that vein with e.g. Clark) and also relevant to Victor specifically, who, from what we’ve seen, does not have most of his original torso. So. Figuring out how to masturbate again must’ve been a real challenge, right? What does he think about, and is it different from what he used to think about?

In general I am very keen to read/see things about Victor’s body and powers, and his relationship with them. Weird new parts he didn’t know he had, how different/similar things feel when you’re mostly metal, what it’s like to have the ENTIRE INTERNET at your fingertips (and all attendant hacking shenanigans), the process of repairing after a major injury to his robot parts (perhaps sustained during crimefighting? :D?), how other superhumans read to his new senses, etc.

I LOVE JOE MORTON. I am keenly interested in everything having to do with Victor’s relationship with his father. It seems like they ended JL on a pretty good note, but there were some VERY rough times there and I’d be happy for some fanwork about those, too. (Terminator references welcome.)

What was Victor getting up to on the internet while he was mostly housebound? Or, hell, was he actually housebound? What happens in the gap between becoming a cyborg and becoming a superhero?

Character: Dinah Lance Character: Renee Montoya

These two get to share a section because they're TEAMMATES. :'D  I would have requested Helena too if I hadn't been running out of slots. Solo fanwork about any of them and fanwork about any two or all three of them together would be equally delightful. How their skills and backgrounds dovetail and bounce off each other is really interesting to me. Also, I don't have strong shippy feelings about these characters yet, but if you wanted to advance an argument about Dinah/Renee or either of them/Helena, I would be willing to listen.

We see the team come together as people, but we don't (I think, having seen the film once in the Before Times) see them become Officially A Team, name themselves, etc. And we definitely don't see them select or design their costumes! I'm keenly interested in all of that.

Renee isn't the Question yet! I'd love art of her as the Question, or a story about how that happens in the DCEU (or that hints toward how it might).

I find the "I shaved my balls for this?" T-shirt incredibly funny and am here for all sorts of puerile humor about it. I'm not proud.

Dinah only uses her power a couple of times in the film, but she seems to know her way around it. I'd love to hear about how she got it and/or how it developed (if you go with the metahuman version of its origin). Where it comes from keeps changing in the comics, so consider yourself to have a free hand. I also really dig visual depictions of sonic powers -- I thought it looked great in the film, and a lot of the ways comics have depicted it have been super cool as well.

DNWs

Major character death (excepting in-continuity deaths), breakups – basically, don’t kill the thing I requested.

Incest, incest-adjacent things, mentor/student.

Reproduction (such as mpreg).

Bodily fluid/byproduct kinks: watersports, scat, lactation, bloodletting in quantity and for bloodletting’s sake. Fluids you expect to encounter during sex are fine, as is incidental blood from a heroic flesh wound. Alien and machine fluids are also fine in moderation.

Body modification, guro. Major injury and gore are fine in the context of, say, a fight, just not in porn, please.

Stories that are heavily focused on characters experiencing or discussing real-world oppressions, major illnesses, or addiction.

Fandom AU templates (A/B/O, soulmates, coffee shop, etc).

Depowering, no-capes AUs.

Noncon, dubcon.

Chinspike.

[buttercookieart]

Disclaimer: I’m just a fan. Not a critic or a reporter, this is not my job.

I liked it, that doesn’t come as a surprise. It’s a fresh start after Endgame. I don’t have any pros and cons, really. All I want to talk about it’s spoiler and I can’t articulate without ruining the movie for the ones who haven’t seen it yet. It got released in Italy today, so I guess there are a lot more people who haven’t seen it yet who deserve to enjoy it as much as the others did. I don’t really recommend it for those who are sensible at lights, there’s a lot of flashing. For the arachnophobic peanuts out there: there’s a scene in a battle after Prague with a very close close-up of a spider, beware.

On the movie, without spoilers: it’s still fresh and young as the first movie, we see what happened after Tony’s snap and the consequences of it all. Teens are still teens, but this time on vacation. Overseas. It’s a holiday trip teen movie with a heavy “we’ve been hijacked by Nick Fury” twist. If you’re a teen, you’ll relate. If you’re past your teen years, you’ll definitely relate too! I mean, I took one (1) school trip in all my life and those things happened to me and my school mates too. Unfortunately not the Nick Fury’s related ones. There are two post credit scenes. Both will blow your mind. Especially if you’ve read some comics or did some research in the past years ;)

                                              Spoilers under the cut

Now, moving on the spoiler-y section (I took some notes, so it will be in order):

That powerpoint presentation with the fallen ones and I will always love you. Guys, I was choking back tears and laughter.

Idk about the other Country’s songs, but the Italian ones… Well, they were Italians but I’ve never listened to them before. I’d guess and say the second one was from Venice’s traditions, but I’m not really sure. Any Venetian who can confirm or deny??

Boh. Michelle learns it while in Venice. She says two things about its use: it could mean I don’t know and/or piss off. Wrong. Boh, means I don’t know. The piss off part was invented.

A thought about Peter trying to glue everything back in Venice: he did more than Government and Unesco to preserve the art and architecture lol 

Beck mentioning Earth 616 got me flipping. Also, it confirmed he was on the bad side from the very beginning, I found it clever. Not that I walked in the theatre with doubts about it

Continuing on Beck, his back story is very good. I can totally understand his motifs. I’m actually impressed with Sony and Marvel. Good job guys. I had some fears about it, ngl

Can we talk about the prison scene for a hot second? Hooligans or mere Netherlands nt supporters taking care of him? Giving him their shirt? Making Tom Holland wear a Holland jersey? I call this Pun service.

We’re going to replace #GiveTonyStarkabreak with #GivePeterParkerABreak, aren’t we?

I love Led Zeppelin. I wanted to smack him, but I was emotional.

Peter realising/knowing he can’t be the next Iron-Man because he is his own person/hero cleared my skin and watered my crops. I’ve been living on the edge thinking about Sony-Marvel screwing his character even more.

I have a love-hate relationship with Tony/Peter parallels, tbh

Happy has completely taken on his role as babysitter. One might even dare to say he’s a Steve Harrington 2.0. His relationship with May is cute, I like it better than May/JJJ ;)

We finALLY GOT SPIDER-MENACE AND J JONAH JAMESON!!!

JK Simmons playing J Jonah Jameson. My personal Marvel fan cast has happened. Not just mine, because I’ve seen other people dream about it too. I can’t believe it’s real. Someone pinch me. (Edit: I re-read this point and it looks like JK Simmons has never played JJJ before lol. What I mean is: I’m happy he reprised the role in the MCU, since I couldn’t think of anyone else to portray the character)

Everyone now knows who Spider-man really is. Like, at the end of the movie, with that voiceover, I thought we were going to get the infamous Civil War reveal (they had teased us at May’s party) so I knew it was coming… but like this? Almost utter shock.

Maria and Nick were Kree all along. Which explains why they felt a bit off, I even wrote I didn’t like how stupid and naive Fury acted in my notes. Happy there was an explanation at the end of the movie and not after it.

The actual Nick Fury is working on a Kree ship, in space… I guess the rumours about phase four being set mainly in space is confirmed.

Edit: I came down from cloud nine and wanted to talk about a few more things

Peter: home boi got good character development, but it came to a “cost”. We don’t really see his nerdy side, except for Nick/Thalos mentioning his love for pop culture, him getting excited about the multiverse and making his new suit. I wish we could see more of it, maybe in the next movie? But I doubt it. 

Michelle: if I had my doubts during Homecoming, now I have none. It’s still pretty weird that everyone calls her MJ, because she’s not. Mary Jane has always been that character portraited has the most beautiful and popular among the others. The angelic one. With a strong feminine look. Michelle is none of it. And I adore it. She likes things that are considered weird, wears dark clothes and Peter falls for her not for how she looks, but how she is. I’m very happy with how they have written her. Finally, a character played by a woman who it’s not portrayed as the “femme fatale”  nor the “strong woman tm”. She just a normal kid, with her own sense of humour and her own interests. 

Ned: There’s not enough. He has a few interactions with Peter and that’s it. I know that the movie has already a lot to show, but I really missed them together, plotting and getting in trouble

Zombies: one of Mysterio’s illusions was Tony’s grave from which an Iron Man zombie crawled out from. It was a great easter egg. And... maybe will see more of it in one of the Marvel’s What/Ifs?

Tony hate: second movie, second villain who turned bad because Tony Stark was a billionaire asshole. It makes sense, don’t get me wrong, they’re written very well but... I wonder for how long they can keep going now that he’s dead. I liked how they played this card, though. Lately, Tony’s has been portrayed as this good Samaritan guy only. Forgetting that he has his issues too, which they weren’t just mental health related. It was a good reminder.

[libraryresources]

Wikispaces: Youth Services Librarianship - Booktalking

[Wikispaces is closing down over the course of 2018. It’s not clear if the information collected there will be archived in any way, so I’m copying pages here for safekeeping! Hopefully I can make the copies interlinked the way the originals are, but it will take time. c: Be advised: Some links may lead to deleted or inactive webpages.]

Booktalking

(Last revision: Nov 26, 2013)

According to The Institute of Museum and Library Services "A booktalk is a commercial designed to get someone to read a book. It is a way of 'selling' your merchandise, a performance to get the audience excited about your book." Booktalks are incredibly valuable for both patrons and librarians. They motivate readers to engage in material they may not have originally been interested in. Booktalks may be given by librarians, teachers, and fellow readers to get a reader motivated to read material.

Booktalks:

increase circulation

increase communication between patrons and library staff

promotes the collection

increase audiences awareness of library

expose children to new vocabulary

builds relationships among stakeholders

provide outreach for community groups

Evidence-based Booktalking

In his 1992 dissertation, David Terrence Nollen researched the effects of booktalks on the attitudes and behaviors of 53 fourth grade students over and eighteen-week period. In his research Nollen found that there was no significant impact of booktalks on the perceptions students hold about reading, however he does report a large jump in book circulation following the talks. Circulation after the booktalk study was a total of 79 titles checked out, compared to the 20 titles in the same time period before. There was no gender difference in either attitude or behavior, with neither holding a changed attitude but both increasing the number of books checked out post-booktalk. This increase was temporary. There appears to be a rather lengthy gap between this dissertation and other studies about booktalking that involves quantitative methods alongside qualitative.

Studies that have been published in the past decade show clear correlations between increased reading activity in classrooms and libraries and booktalks. A more recent thesis, submitted by Natalie E. Clower in 2010, focuses on the effects of booktalks given to second graders on the circulation of award winning titles. Titles were chosen using two criteria; the first was that it be an award winning book and the second being that it had low circulation. Clower found that sixty-eight percent of the students who heard booktalks immediately sought copies of one or more of the titles featured. Circulation records were collected during the three weeks after the booktalks, and found a statistically significant increase in circulation for all of the titles from the talk.

In 2011 Dr. Cheryl Wozniak, a teacher and reading specialist, conducted a brief six-week qualitative program in hopes of rehabilitating some dated techniques she was witnessing in reading intervention classrooms. Wozniak created syllabi for two classrooms to implement during their language arts block, with a special focus on booktalks and interactive learning. While she did not collect quantitative data, Dr. Wozniak observed a noticeable increase in student participation during lessons that began with booktalks, as well as better attitude overall about reading.

The vast majority of literature about booktalking use anecdotal evidence much like the 2006 article by J. Marin Younker from the Seattle Public Library. Younker claimed that he has seen circulation statistics up 600 percent for adolescents after booktalks were presented in local classrooms. Wealth of material similar to this article about the effectiveness of booktalks exists among both librarians and teachers.

Planning Your Book talk

It is important to plan your booktalk. Booktalks can be rooted within many topics, including theme, developmentally appropriate material, genre, author and calendar year. It is vital that as the "book talker" you are enthusiastic. In addition to planning your talk around an idea, it is good to consider the following when planning.

Know your audience. Understanding your audience's reading interests, personal interests, and attention spans, and curricular goals is imperative when planning your presentation.

Like the books you are booktalking. Your audience can tell authenticity- enjoy what you are selling!

Think accessibility. Select books for your talk that are available in multiple copies in possible or provide children additional avenues to access the presented book. If you do not have many copies of a particular title, provide books by the same author or books similar in theme, literary style, etc. You may want to create a display in the library so that the audience finds the booktalking selection when they visit.

Always prepare more than you will need. Have a script available- but do not memorize it. Booktalks are best when candid and interactive.

Don't try to "elevate" their tastes. Include some titles that you know are super popular (e.g. Captain Underpants for young kids; Steven King for young adults). This will give you credibility, thus making the group more likely to pay attention.

Start strong and end strong. You may find it best to begin with a known author.

Accept that a booktalk program is a performance and learn how best to influence the audience.

Variety is key. Since you may be covering over 15 books in one shot, vary the types of books you present as well as the lengths and styles of the booktalks. If you present a "dark" title, follow it up with a light or funny one. Be sure to include nonfiction as well as fiction. Some people like to use themes, but if you do that, make sure it is very broad (e.g. "survival" and then use wilderness, growing up, dysfunctional families, etc. or "food", and have that be the entrée into a number of stories)

Remember to repeat the title. Your audience will forget the name of the book unless you repeat it and hand out a booklist or bookmark.

Remember why you're there. Don't just sell books, sell reading and sell the library too. Talk about new resources, upcoming programs, etc.

Have a system ready so listeners can check out books on the spot.

Keep records of the books used and make notes about what worked and what did not.

Booktalking with Technology

Using technological tools can be an engaging way for patrons to access your book talks. Technology based book talks are easy to make and easy to access. You can create the booktalk or request your patrons submit booktalks as well. Digital booktalks reach many different kinds of learners and are relevant to children who interact with technology every day. Once you have created a booktalk using Web 2.0 tools, anyone can access your post via the Web.

Listed are free softwares and online tools to use when creating book talks.

iMovie- easy to use software available on Macs

Windows Movie Maker- easy to use software on PCs

PowerPoint- Office slideshow

Prezi - cloudbased presentation software

Animoto - online video maker using photos, video clips, and audio

GoAnimate - animated videos

Digital Booktalks vs. Digital Book Trailers

Digital Booktalks use multimedia to review and "sell" a book. They are accessible online and allow patrons access any time. Digital booktalks are also an excellent way to reach patrons with many different learning styles and reluctant readers.

Digital booktalks tend to be a discussion or analysis of what worked or was engaging in the text. They may incorporate supplemental visual and audio to enhance the talk, or could simply be taped presentation of an actual booktalk. Booktalks will often discuss the "highs" and "lows" of the book, examine literary elements (plot review, character analysis, setting, etc.) providing a review, read alikes, and " if you like this..." statements. These ideas examined in digital booktalks are similar to what would be presented in a traditional booktalk. According to Dr. Robert Kenny, Florida Gulf Coast University and digitalbooktalk.com, "Digital Booktalk expands {the} literary booktalk model by providing children with interactive visuals of the books that they used to only read. Many children are reluctant to read and would rather watch a movie made from books. It is our belief that you can use that reality as an educational advantage."

Booktalk "One and Only Ivan"

Digital Book Trailers are similar to Booktalks in that they are used to entice readers. Book Trailers will "show" the audience exciting points of a text, similar to a movie trailer. Book trailers will often preview the most exciting sections of the book. More and more often, book trailers are created by publishing houses in hopes of engaging readers. Kenny states, "While these trailers may serve well their commercial purpose, they often do not always accomplish the educational goal of creating avid readers...Drs. Kenny and Gunter hypothesize that, if a student experiences a 2-minute book trailer done in the style of a motion picture, they will be better able to find a book that matches their interests, and will expand their reading to an ever-widening range. Furthermore, they believe that the book trailer production process is a fun and effective literacy pedagogy for today’s technologically advanced youth."

Book Trailer "One and Only Ivan"

Booktalking for the 'eens

While booktalks can prove effective for inspiring reading in people of all ages, this section will focus on booktalking to young persons at the middle school through high school levels ("'tweens" and "teens," respectively). With increased social and school schedules alongside pressure to look "cool" so as to impress their peers, young adults in particular stand to benefit from an engaging approach to reading promotion.

Talking the Talk

"As a booktalker, your mission is nothing less than to set teen brains on fire for books" (Mahood, 2006, 171).

Booktalking, when done well, is an performance art that offers tantalizing glimpses into selected stories, giving the audience just enough information that they want to know what happens-- and will read the books to find out. It reaches out to bookworms and reluctant readers alike, demonstrating all that reading can offer: "excitement, wonder, heartbreak, hilarity, and insight" (Mahood, 2006, 172).

So how do you create and execute an effective booktalk? This multi-step process can seem intimidating, but it can also be a lot of fun. Creating a booktalk calls for creative thinking, a passion for connecting young people with books, and active engagement with YA literature (a professional way of saying you get to read a lot of YA novels). Here are some tips to get you started.

Meet Your Material

Pick a Genre, Any Genre - Books can be of any genre, whether mystery or romance, science fiction or non-fiction, horror or humor. Selected books should feature themes relatable to young adults that you can describe with excitement and conviction.

Know Thyself - It's best to booktalk titles you have read and enjoyed. Teens have an amazing ability to spot phoniness, so don't fake it-- either the reading or the enjoyment. If you didn't enjoy a particular book but know that it has merits worth sharing, be honest and explain why you didn't like it yet you think your audience might.

Know Thy Audience - Maybe your bookish, brooding cousin Sasha loved Crime and Punishment, but unless you're speaking to a room of aspiring Russian Literature scholars or future theologians, you might want to stick to titles with broader appeal. Think Alice in Zombieland or 12 Things To Do Before You Crash and Burn. 

Represent - make sure the titles you're talking represent people within your audience. "Guy" books and "girl" books should both be featured, as should stories with multicultural characters and varied groups of protagonists to whom teens might recognize and relate: musicians and meatheads, news-makers and newspaper editors, geeks and gleeks. [Transcriber note: Books that blur these boundaries and appeal to multiple “types” are always a plus! In general, you’re likely to reach more readers when you don’t describe a book as “for” a certain person or gender.]

What's New, What's Hot - Stay tuned in to the latest YA titles. Trade publications (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, School Library Journal, etc.) as well as broader media, such as the New York Times Bestseller List offer looks at what's popular. When in doubt, plug "latest teen books" into your search engine of choice.

Cheers and Jeers - Journals and websites devoted to librarianship and/or children's and young adult literature contain reviews that can help guide your selection. Keep in mind, though, that such reviews are generally written by adults for adults. Try exploring Amazon.com and/or websites dedicated to YA literature, as teens may have posted their own opinions on books you are considering. 

Put the Pieces Together

Leave a Note - Scribble down thoughts as you read through your selected titles. What scenes, characters, or ideas grab you? Be sure to flag or write down specific pages that will shape your talk.

Tone Up - Know that the how of your talk is just as important as the what: "It is so important not to allow your talk to sound like a list of books to read; instead it should sound like a conversation or announcements of what is going on in the news world of teenagers, like gossip, music videos, or movie trailers" (Bromann, 2001, 54).

Work on your Hook Shot - As you read and for days, weeks, or even a year after, pay attention to your thought process on the material. Sometimes an idea for a hook -- a grab-their-attention move -- comes easily, and other times it takes a while to make the connections necessary for a compelling way into a book. Be patient with yourself and the material if you can. If you absolutely must come up with something right away, consider discussing the book with a friend or colleague or reading reviews (particularly by teens) to discover what caught the attention of other readers.

Practice Makes Perfect - Write down your talk, either in detail or in outline or bullet form, then practice. And practice some more. Stop shy of sounding rehearsed, but feel confident that you know the major points of what you're going to say and the way in which you'll say it. You're essentially telling a story about a story; what are some qualities of stories you enjoy hearing?

Mix Your Methods

In Booktalking That Works, YA librarian and seasoned booktalker Jennifer Bromann advises varying your approaches when discussing different books in a booktalk session. By mixing the methods she has identified as particularly successful (below, from Bromann, 2001, 63-69), "your talks will be more interesting and you will reach more members of the audience" (Bromann, 2001, 63).

Setting a Scene - In this approach, you describe a particular moment (or series of moments) from a selected book. The chosen scene should grab the audience's attention and get them thinking. You want to use these plot elements to intrigue teens, so don't offer closure.

Asking a Question - This method is useful for getting teens thinking and participating. Opinion and casually asked rhetorical questions are good-- the point is for teens to feel involved without being put on the spot or quizzed.

Drawing Connections - Here, Bromann suggests, you might hook teens by correlating current issues or trends or common elements of teenage existence (whether news or pop culture or curfew) with the plot of a book.

Focusing on a Character - Pick a remarkable individual (or a character so unremarkable he's remarkable) from the book at hand, using action statements to convey that person's uniqueness. Bromann also recommends comparing such a character to someone the audience may recognize or relate to.

Setting the Mood - Use your vocal and physical presence to convey the feel of a story. Adjust tone, pacing, and volume to both engage your audience and underscore the strengths of a book.

Hinting at the Plot - While your booktalk should not simply summarize a story's plot, with this approach you

Read Aloud - Bromann advises that this method should be used sparingly, and only when the author's message and talents cannot come across successfully any other way.

Above All... - Booktalks can employ a range of styles, from performance-driven to highly conversational-- a highly effective booktalk might use both ends of the spectrum during the discussion of multiple books. 'Tweens may be more open to theatricality, but don't over do it, lest they "think they are being treated like little kids" (Mahood, 2006, 122). With teens it is important to not appear too earnest or instructive; follow their lead and even seem dismissive of reading if necessary, for, as Bromann repeatedly notes, "teens are often likely to do what they are told not to do" (Bromann, 2001, 55). [Transcriber note: If you’re flat-out dismissive of reading, many teens will assume they don’t have to bother. Go for “encouraging/supportive, but hands-off.”]

Give Them a Place to Go

Once you've talked and tantalized, you have to let your audience know where they can find the books you discussed. This is an ideal time to talk about the library and what it can offer teens in the way of books and other media as well as programming. Librarian Kristine Mahood intersperses information about the library, including how to obtain a library card and an overview of teen programming, with her discussions of different books (Anderson, 124). This approach provides young audiences with factual information while they are still on the emotional journey of the booktalk-- that is, while they are still with you in the moment and curious how these books end.

Booktalking Resources

General Booktalk websites

Peggy Sharpe- An educator's website about books

Nancy Keane Booktalks

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database

Vermont Department of Libraries How to Booktalk

Teen focused

Teenreads

Goodreads

YALSA's Top Ten

Abby the Librarian

Booktalking Colorado

Booktalking Wisdom from Vermont

Booktalks-- Quick and Simple

Technology sites

BookWink

Digital Booktalk

Storytube

Read up

Recommend Resources from ALA

Serving Young Teens and 'Tweens

Booktalking that Works

A Passion for Print

Booktalking with Teens

Teen Talkback with Interactive Booktalks!

Listen In

Be a Better Booktalker Podcast

Just One More Book!!

Guardian children's books podcast

References

Bromann, Jennifer. Booktalking that works. Chicago: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2001.

Clower, N. E. (2010). Using booktalks to increase the circulation of award-winning literature. (Order No. 1485871, University of Central Missouri). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 53. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/750959296?accountid=14553. (750959296).

Crowther, Eleanor. "BookTalks/Read Alouds, Special Programs, and Service Projects To Encourage Middle School Student Participation in the Library." (1993).

Gunter, Glenda A. "Digital Booktalk: Creating A Community Of Avid Readers, One Video At A Time." Computers In The Schools 29.1-2 (2012): 135-156.

Mahood, Kristine. I want to read that book!: Booktalking to tweens and younger teens. In Sheila B. Anderson (Ed.),

Serving Young Teens and 'Tweens (pp. 111-145). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006.

Mahood, Kristine. A passion for print. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006.

Nollen, Terrence David. The effect of booktalks on the development of reading attitudes and the promotion of individual reading choices. Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Nebraska - Lincoln, United States – Nebraska, 1992. Retrieved from Dissertations & Theses: Full Text database. (Publication No. AAT 9225488).

Wozniak, Cheryl L. "Reading and Talking about Books: A Critical Foundation for Intervention." Voices from the Middle 19.2 (2011): 17-21.

Valenza, Joyce. (2007, August. Booktalking 2.0 (2.0). School Library Journal. Web.

[Transcriber: Camilla Y-B]

[trashartandmovies]

Berlinale Film Festival 2021, Industry Event, Day 3

I was hoping to start Day Three off with another shot of highly-caffeinated filmmaking, so I honed in on another genre picture in the Berlinale Special section: Soi Cheang’s LIMBO. Like many other movies before it, LIMBO pairs a veteran cop (Gordon Lam, in good form) with an all-star rookie (Mason Lee) and puts them on the hunt of a serial killer. What makes LIMBO stand out from the rest is that it is shot in beautifully oily, textured black and white.

You can see from the one frame above that the movie is putting in some serious effort on the art design. Every time the cops leave the station, chances are they’re headed someplace that will put them knee deep in garbage. And thanks to the photography and attention to detail, you can practically smell the rotting refuse.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t quite live up to the imagery. The script, written by Au Kin-Yee (whose previous work includes some co-writing credits on a few Johnnie To films), tries to put a socially conscious spin on the serial killer by making the victims marginalized, societal outcasts. But is this anything new? Aren’t the marginalized always the most vulnerable people? Isn’t an immigrant, junkie or prostitute always on a killer’s most wanted list? What makes it even less compelling is that there’s hardly an interesting motive to the madness. Unlike other grimy, big-city serial killer movies that feint toward social relevance (SEVEN), there’s no clever mastermind behind the killings. In fact, there’s any number of other cases that could have brought a pair of cops into these squalid environments and face-to-face with the city’s forgotten people. And maybe the plight of these people wouldn’t have felt so shoehorned into the story.

More interesting is the movie’s recurring theme of lost limbs. Yes, the title “Limbo” is a bit of wordplay, as many people in the movie are losing one appendage or another — sometimes by accident, sometimes through the use of a rusty, blunt tool. It’s a nice gory little motif that the movie makes hay out of, but again, it doesn’t go anywhere. As it turns out, this amputation fetish is the only interesting character detail that the movie bothers to give the killer. Otherwise, all we have is a standard, anonymous, non-speaking brute out of an 80s slasher movie. Perhaps most frustrating of all is that the film makes a step toward giving the killer a bit of sympathy early on, only to follow it up with some unnecessarily degrading action that stomps out that angle completely. What’s more interesting: watching police chasing after a faceless, voiceless, unsympathetic killer, or watching police being outwitted by a smart murderer who’s revealed to have some sort of messed up moral compass in place?

I wouldn’t go so far as to say LIMBO is a bad movie, just a frustrating one. There are some good intentions in here, and the movie looks fantastic, but if they’d put a bit more effort into creating a killer worthy of all the fuss, we’d be looking at a great addition to the genre. Oh, and the extremely hackneyed ending, which tries to pass itself off as tragic, doesn’t win it any points, either.

The second film of the day brings us back to the Competition section, and it was an extremely pleasant surprise. In fact, it was one of the best surprises of this year’s Berlinale (so far). With his second feature-length film, WHAT DO WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SKY?, Georgian writer/director/editor Alexandre Koberidze establishes himself as an auteur with a strong and poetic vision for cinema.

Early on, I couldn’t help but flash on AMÉLIE. The two films have a few things in common: a narrator who gives the proceedings a fairy tale aspect, inanimate objects imbued with special powers, a will-they/won’t-they love story that starts on a chance encounter, a story that is as much focused on a neighborhood community as it is the two central characters… and yet WHAT DO WE SEE is a much different film. For starters, it’s far less manic. This is a very leisurely-paced film. One that lingers on people in cafés and sidewalk kiosks. One that likes to make digressions, like getting into the heads of some local dogs as they make plans on where to meet up during the football match. It also goes to some more supernatural places that other “whimsical” movies only hint at.

Some people will surely find the pace, the two-and-a-half hour running time, and the many diversions to be a problem. But I loved every minute of it. Both the pace and the running time achieve a certain purpose in immersing you in the local rhythms of Kutaisi, Georgia. At one point, we’re treated to an extended slo-mo sequence of kids playing football set to an anthemic pop song. It’s perhaps the most magical moment of the festival (so far).

There are many smaller moments like this throughout the film. They don’t move any plot along, necessarily, but each one feels like an important part of this universe we’re exploring — and that’s more to the point of the film. Alexandre Koberidze achieves something that few movies are capable of, which is making you see the world around you in a different way. More than telling a romantic story about two strangers, this is a film that makes the everyday feel magical, without any special effects or flashy camerawork. With patience, and a masterful yet deceptively simple use of sound and imagery, it turns the commonplace into profound delight. In this way, it’s shares a certain sensibility with Day One’s INTRODUCTION.

I’m not an expert on Hungarian cinema, but it’s safe to say that it can sometimes be described as unrelenting in its bleakness. Certainly, Day Two’s NATURAL LIGHT fits this description, as does FOREST - I SEE YOU EVERYWHERE. In some cases (again, see NATURAL LIGHT, or the films of Bela Tarr), this bleakness can be well-balanced by the poetics of imagery and pacing. In other cases, like this film, the darkness can simply wear you down.

A sequel of sorts to his 2003 film FOREST, this is a collection of short stories dealing with death and despair in Budapest. It’s well-acted and shot in an interesting way. The camera is always on the move, eager to cut to a close-up of someone’s hand, a gesture, a nuance. But it’s all very intense and agitated. There’s very little in the imagery and pacing to balance out the never ending bleakness, and it left me exhausted (and not in a good way).

What bothered me most about the movie, is that I kept wondering why the film didn’t take advantage of its short story structure. Why is each story hitting the same note? Why isn’t it using this opportunity to explore its themes with different tones — to build and release tension — to change things up even just a little bit? (Tomorrow, we’ll get into this again when WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY does exactly this with its short story structure.)

Actress Lilla Kizlinger won the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Actress, and it’s a deserved win. In the first story of the film, she gives what is essentially a harrowingly personal PowerPoint presentation to her father. It leads to an icy argument and a central point to the film: that life has a way of handing you situations where there are no easy answers or good outcomes, just different ways of coping. Without doubt, it’s a strong opening, but I can’t say the film builds or improves upon it during the 100 minutes that follow.

Day Three was put to rest with one of the strongest films in the Competition section, PETITE MAMAN, Céline Sciamma’s follow-up to PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE. Like MEMORY BOX, this is another film about a mother and her daughter, and the unusual manner in which they come closer together. Only this time, instead of a teenager looking at her mom’s old journals and photographs, we have an eight-year-old daughter getting a chance to talk and play with her mom when she was her age. That premise may sound touching and appealing, but the film is even more thoughtful and impactful than you’d expect.

PETITE MAMAN is also like SOCIAL HYGIENE in that it stems from an idea that emerged before lockdown, but is perfectly suited to the restrictions of a pandemic. It takes place in a remote location, there are approximately five actors in the film, two of them are children and the others mostly appear in scenes opposite those kids. But it hasn’t been limited by the restrictions. Sciamma has lovingly handcrafted the movie’s surroundings — the countryside cottages, a woodland hut, the scenery and costumes used when kids put on a show — and every detail feels perfectly right.

I won’t spoil much more about the movie. There is a time travel element to it, but it’s mostly a movie about a child coping with the loss of a family member, and getting a chance to visit the past, spend some more time with the loved one, as well as with her mom, who’s grown a bit elusive in the present day. In doing so, the child gets a better understanding of life and death, how and why people change over time, and the importance of the memories we carry with us. All this, despite being a movie that you could (and maybe should) watch with your own kids at some point. It is perhaps one of the most sophisticated family movies ever made.

None of this would work without Joséphine Sanz, who plays the time traveling kid Nelly, and Gabrielle Sanz who plays her mom as a child. This duo of sister actors are fascinating in their scenes together. They not only seem to have a genuine understanding of the meaning of the work their doing, they’re utterly believable in everything they do, which includes acting out improvised scenes from made-up detective stories. You could look at these play-acting scenes as just two kids having fun, but there are multiple layers going on there as these are the moments when Nelly is really getting closer to understanding who her mom is as an individual. It’s really some beautiful stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a classic family movie that future generations will grow up with and return to time and again. It’s a movie that has some things to teach us.

Ok for now. Tomorrow: a tragedy in Iran, a trifecta in Japan, and a psychedelic trip through Hawaii.

[sylleboi]

𝕮𝖔𝖒𝖎𝖈 𝖇𝖔𝖔𝖐 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖋𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖆𝖑 - 𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖌𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖗𝖊𝖊 | 15/06/20

September is shaping up for the students taking the second year (extended diploma), and so far, it seems that we will be around 20 students by Sep. Due to the pandemic, we will most likely be coming into school in groups of 10  as we easy into it; at the same time, our grades are coming up soon, so we are asked to stay tuned for any news regarding this.

We had our third zoom meeting; this time focusing on how we are going to go forward with this project, practically speaking.

Topic: Animation & Illustration Progression - Review of Viewfinder drawings

Time: Jun 15, 2020 11:00 AM London

Hi guys,

Mondays class will review Viewfinder drawings and also we will show and tell progress, asking the question well how do we turn this into a comic.

The aim is 5 pages of at least 3 panels by the time we return in September....I am just checking on progress towards this.

See you Monday,

DD

How can we connect what we have done so far with the goal of this brief (making a comic)?

Gutters are important to comics, as they are what differenciate the panels from eachother, allowing us to convey a sense of time and space – essentially becoming a time traveler. Because of the gutter, we get a sense of closure at the end of each panel, which then connects to the context of the next panel.

Something similar to this that we did last year was our post it note sequences; they were made up of seperate frames, but came together to create one image; a story/narrative/meaning/visual. At the same time; the post it note comic brief that we did this year is again, very similar to what we are trying to create with this project, only much more refined.

We are still required to being open to experiment with the medium/mediums we have chosen or planned to use for our comic strips. An example of this could be the artist we study, Sam Elston and his use of ink:

Here he has done some light sketching and then gone over it with a brushline; keeping in simplistic and clean.

Where as here he has done some lino printing; creating some really interesting textures, also causing irregularity between the pattern of the coffins, engaging the viewers eyes to look at them not only as a whole, but individually.

Here he is using coloured ink to make each character pop out between the linework as well as to further convey that they are devils.

This is all the same medium; but used differently- exactly what we are aiming to be doing. - We are not required to use fine-liners and/or ink, but any kind of medium that we would like. All we have to keep in mind is tone and texture; much like last weeks example of Jon McNaught’s work.

- Art can be whatever you want follow basic instructions from Powerpoint link processes back to artists we look at. 

- Read pages of book on panelling comics to aid the creation.

- Think about texture and tonality

McCloud animation book, on transitions; how we move from one frame to another. This is a crucial element in comic although it seems obvious. There are 6 different ways this can be done, determining how we read and understand a comic.

section 1.

Moment to moment. It is similar to animation and sequences; little changes making it look as if it is moving, creating fluidity; needing very little closure this making it is easy to understand and read.

section 2.

Action to action - similar to the idea of animation - show the frames as the first and last frame of a sequence ? the before and the after. still in the moment.

section 3.

Subject to subject is a little more complex compared to the previous two. getting reader more engaged. you don’t have to look much to understand the previous two, but for this you must work a little harder as a reader. Involving the readers is crucial, and it can be done with this with a dramatic scene, creating a plot/story.

section 4.

Scene to scene. Moving to country to country/time traveling can be a powerful tool for convey time. An example of this could be a a frame of someone in a field with a tree, then jumping to a shot inside your kitchen.

section 5.

Aspect to aspect can jump through time and space easily. We are not worried with time for this as we can jump through it– setting up a place and mood. An example of this could be the example from last week of Jon McNaught’s comic.

section 6.

Non-sequential is when you almost do a jump cut; showing a harsh juxtaposition between subjects (frames).

We are expected to be looking at a range of different mark making, again, to experiment with our chosen medium/mediums; all to create a sense of depth.

I would like to focus on doing most of my comics digitally; since i feel that this, as a medium, is quite misunderstood as being “fake” and not as valued as “traditional” art such as pencil, paint, sculpting etc. - 

With this in mind, we must make sure that we aren’t just doing “whatever” “just because”, but for a reason; this being mine.

This project is just for us to have a go at it; to do some research if unsure, but make sure to look at some comic books to reflect upon.

By the end of the meeting, we shared our work with the class; giving feedback to each other on how we now put them into a sequence for our comic strips? We left with the mention of making sure that we keep in mind that this projects is just to test our skills of sequential art, observational art and rendering, giving us an opportunity to experiment.

[canaryatlaw]

Well today was overall fine, accomplished enough I suppose and nothing went too terrible. Woke up around 1:30 (bless) which was glorious, ate some cocoa krispies (note: whenever I say I ate breakfast on one of these posts it means I ate cocoa krispies. I always eat cocoa krispies) then got ready and took my little cart thing out and hopped on a bus to make a target trip. There's no route directly there, so I either have to walk a bit east then hop on a bus a bit south, or hop on a bus a bit south and then walk a bit east, lol, and I did the second today. I needed to make the target trip because this week I was actually out of sodastream gas canisters, which are actually what powers my life so I had to get the refills of those, along with a few other random items like, mouthwash. Of course I raided their dollar section (that is really their $3 section at this point, but oh well) and couldn't help but buy like 3 candles and more string lights for my room cuz they're cheap and cute and I don't care, lol. Did some basic food shopping, what I'll need for dinner tonight and the next week or so, and heavy cream if I ever get around to making caramels like I want to at some point. Wandered around the store a bit after that, spent a solid 10 minutes contemplating their underwear selection and trying to decide if I wanted to try something other than the exact brand size and style I've been wearing for like, ten years because everything else rides up and makes me uncomfortable, and ended up deciding to just go with it (for the record, I have tried other stuff over the years, and been unhappy with them). I looked through their pajama selection and really wanted this cute summery set of a gryffindor tank and shorts but it was 98% polyester so there goes that idea. They had a few other things but nothing all that great. I did dare venture over to the clothing section for a few minutes, and got a cute tank top and a pair of sporty leggings that I'm hoping will stay on better while I'm working out (I've noticed lately, mainly when I'm like, in the middle of working out, that whatever sweatpants I'm wearing have a tendency to fall down) then finally headed to check out. Walked a bit back and then had to wait for way too long for the bus but I didn't want another half hour of walk, so I waited. Got home around 5, put my stuff away and started working on the project for about two hours. I was working on perfecting the mission and vision statement as well as working on the portion about future plans for the org. That was hard because like, I want to turn in this plan for this nationwide org with community centers everywhere but like, this is a plan we're making to start a nonprofit lol, not an idea for an already established one, so I had to do some rewriting of my original concept and then think of things to add to the future developments beyond more community centers in different cities. Then I worked on a smaller portion about my experience and how it makes me equipped for the job, which put me just at 11 pages, so not bad. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm gonna handle the actual presentation, cuz like there's very specific parameters set out in the paper for what there needs to be in it, but the presentation is just based on the paper, it doesn't say what exactly, and he's said several times he doesn't want us just reading from a paper, but also saying he doesn't care about PowerPoints or stuff like that- just that we're familiar enough with the material to talk about it confidently and not need to read straight from our notes. So I may make a presentation cheat sheet of major points at some point tomorrow that could be helpful. Basically the presentation is supposed to be us pitching the idea of the nonprofit to potential finders, for them to decide if they would want to fund us or not. I think I have a good amount of info about programs and such set up, I need to do the more technical elements of setting up a board of directors and everything, and actually figure out a budget (which I probably won't include in the presentation but will need for the paper, and God am I not looking forward to doing that) and other tying up factors. But I think I'm in a good spot and I should be able to pull everything together tomorrow for my presentation Monday. At 7 I stopped because I wanted to make dinner. I've been having this issue lately where I'll make my big meal on the weekend but then not want to eat it during the week for whatever reason and end up throwing most of it out which I really had doing, so I thought I'd try to do something I know is good and that I'll want to eat, so I did this cheesy chicken broccoli and rice thing that's fairly easy to make and also tastes way better than you would expect it to lol so hopefully that will do the trick for during the week. After I finished cooking I sat down on my couch to watch some tv, and found out training day had started about 5 minutes prior (it was like, 8:05 at this point). I never keep track of when my shows actually air, so sometimes I'll turn on my tv and find out one of them is actually on). So I caught up on that pretty quickly and watched it. Somewhat of a meh episode for me, not that I didn't like the plot because I did, I think I just missed Katrina Law's character because she was in like, one scene. But that was fine. I didn't have anything else recorded so I went back over to 24:Legacy which I ended up watching for the rest of the night and finishing, and I have to say, by the last 3 episodes I was all in on this in true 24 fashion, finally feeling it like I did with the original show and oh, how I've missed that feeling. It took a while to get there obviously, but it was worth it because those episodes were fantastic. Spoilers ahead, obviously, but I was sad they did end up killing Rebecca, though that much should've been obvious once Sims or whatever his name was did his little speech about after this she would be like a war criminal. But I was sad because I gained so much respect for her character over those episodes, like what a fucking BADASS she is to take on a hostage negotiation like that and just totally call their bluff when he life was on the line, like holy crap she was just killing it. I loved it when her and Eric just went rogue, that finally felt very 24, with its rogue agents receiving unofficial support from CTU. Even Keith (I learned his name and have stopped calling him zoom guy!!!) was pretty awesome in the end of definitely did his part, something not always true for past CTU directors. Of course there was massive incompetence in letting terrorist #1 escape, but that was clearly just because they needed it for the plot, not that it would actually happen like that. I have to talk about the ending with the girl and Eric and Tony though. TONY. My bby. First of all, hearing him utter the words "I have to help CTU" made my little fangirl heart so happy because even after all of this he was going to help them and it just ahhhh <3. With the showdown at the house I was just like, yelling the whole time STOP FIGHTING YOURE FRIENDS YOU JUST DONT KNOW IT so I was pleased when that basically happened lol and of course Tony was like uh yeah of course go take the kid and save Rebecca. This girl though, and Eric protecting her, broke my fucking heart. Like yes, I know, this is all fictional. But that poor little girl. She was so little, so entirely innocent, and treated so horribly by the government that it was abominable. Seeing Eric being so gentle and kind to her was perfect, and that scene where they're waiting for the helicopter and she's telling him about the names of the flowers and the trees had me in like, tears just out of the sheer preciousness of the scene, like, holy crap, it was such a poignant and well done moment that stood out so well from all the violence and terrorism going on around it. I very much enjoyed that, and of course seeing that the girl was in fact safe. They obviously set themselves up for a second season, but I still of course protest to having a 12 episode season of a show called 24 when the entire damn concept is it happens over 24 hours, lol. Also, I freaked out when they time jumped the last 15 minutes because HEY, THAT IS SO AGAINST THE RULES. YOU MADE THE RULES, AND THERE ARENT THAT MANY OF THEM, BUT YOU JUST BROKE A MAJOR RULE AND THATS NOT COOL, MAN. Lol. I'm not sure what to think about John and what he's gonna do now, but it would be interesting to see him as president next season (though tbh I'll just be sad Rebecca isn't there with him because she's just such a badass character I can't help but miss her). But yeah, clearly I had feelings about all of that haha as you can see from all I just ranted. But yeah, I finished that and started getting ready for bed and now it's late and I should go to sleep, so I'm gonna do that now. Church in the morning, then we'll see. Goodnight friends. I hope you sleep well.

[booksandcaffine01-blog]

I want to share my process with you. Everyone’s process is different and unique to each writer, but it can help seeing what others do so you can create your own process. I’m somewhat new to the game though, or I should say, I’m more serious about it now. I took years away from writing and reading and just recently became more serious about it. I have stories to tell and I’m excited to do it.

Now, I’ve always been a pantser not a plotter and although this process worked for me somewhat, I always found that I’d suddenly run dry and hit a block. I wouldn’t know what to write next and left many books unfinished. (Sorry to all my Wattpad readers that are still waiting for updates!) In school, I hated the plotting and planning process they made us use and often times would try to avoid it, but I had some stories that were still great successes even back then. One of them even got me state-wide recognition in only 8th grade!

So, I came up with a new idea and started writing it. I filled almost a whole notebook and I was feeling confident about it until one day it just didn’t feel right. I realized I had no direction for the story and half of it didn’t make sense but I still loved the idea. So, I took a step back. I started looking for ideas to better help me write my story. I started with Pinterest and made a board just for tips which you can check out here.

I started watching YouTube videos and quickly came up with a plan so I could make my story the way I see it in my mind. This is my process and I will go more into depth into each one:

Ideas

 Research

 Outline/PowerPoint

 Book skeleton

write

Revision process

1. Ideas

I started by writing down every little idea I had for my book. I searched Pinterest for pictures that might be relatable to my story. These pictures could be characters, quotes, settings, scenes, anything really and I saved them to a private board with the title I was going to use for my story.

2. Research

I started doing research. Now, you may think the first one is the same thing but for me it wasn’t. I went more in-depth, looking up information on the places I wanted to use for the setting. My book also uses vampires, witches, and werewolves, so I did research on them. There is a flu virus in my story so I researched the Black Plague and I took extensive notes.

3. Outline/PowerPoint

Next, I did an outline. I tried to follow the 3 Act structure for this book and realized that I’m still a big pantser and it was hard for me to do, so I just made a list of scenes I wanted in my story.

The scenes aren’t in-depth. Just simple things like they left town or they kiss. Just enough so I know what I want to happen. Then I opened up PowerPoint and made a new slide show.

PowerPoint has always been a favorite program of mind and I love to play around with it. All those pictures I had saved to that board, I used in my PowerPoint. Each character gets their own slide with their name and a picture of who I have in mind for them. I also list different information about them.

I also make slides for the different quotes, scenes, places, everything! That way it’s easy for me to find.

  4. Book skeleton

I’ve heard this called a lot of different things but I call it a skeleton. Some people use Excel  for this but I’m not good with Excel so I’ve been using graphing paper instead but regular notebook paper would work just fine as well.

This is used so I can keep track of each chapter/ scene and what happens in it. I list the chapter, word count, a summary, location, day relative to the first day of the book, and the time of day. I also list who is in the chapter, notes for revision and other information like foreshadowing.

Most of that is pretty self-explanatory but I want to elaborate on the notes and other information. The other information is key pieces that are crucial to the plot of the book. My notes are different things I want to add to a chapter. For example, one of my characters needs some work and when I revise, I can provide that extra attention to that character. I don’t write anything on my skeleton until I begin writing and only fill it in after I complete a chapter.

5. Write

Now before I get into writing, I want to tell you about an amazing app I found on my phone. It’s called Writeometer and it has helped a lot when I come to this step in the process. You set it up with the name of your story, your goal, total writing goal, daily writing goal, a deadline, and if you want reminders. You can earn guavas for each writing session and spend them on treats for yourself like checking Facebook or reading a book. It keeps track of so much and I love it. My screen goes black and shows a timer when I want to write. I have found that it limits my urge to check that new Twitter notification when I want to focus on my work and encourages me to write out as much as I can before the timer gets to zero.

Then I write. I just let the words fly from my fingertips onto a blank page or document. I don’t worry about spelling or grammar or anything like that. That step comes later. I just let the words flow.

6. Revision

Now I have just reached this step but this kind of gives you an idea of what is to come after writing. I’m not entirely sure how I am going to approach this step in my process yet. I plan on making a separate post about that in the future so I suppose this section is to be continued.

I hope you have found this article helpful and that you may adopt some of these routines to help influence and better your own writing habit. Let me know what works for you. What makes the writing process easier for you? Any tips or tricks that you might want to share with others? Leave me a comment!

My Writing Process: my process for writing a book. I want to share my process with you. Everyone's process is different and unique to each writer, but it can help seeing what others do so you can create your own process.

[architeuthism]

Dear DCEU Exchange Creator (Round Three)

Hey! I'm Squid.

I’m equally interested in fic and art, and equally interested in everything from gen through fluffy ship interaction to kinky porn. I'm pretty familiar with the wider DC universe, so feel free to pilfer characters and plots from it -- I get really excited about fanwork that interprets familiar things in a fresh new continuity. But I'm also very interested in the DCEU as a self-contained entity, so if you want to just play with the elements we already have, I'm here for that too. Do what works for you and have fun. If you have a question, I’ve got anon asks on.

This is kind of a firehose of ideas, which you should feel free to winnow down, disassemble and recombine however you please. I have both general likes and some character- and pairing-specific prompts; if something in the likes section grabs you, it's fine to ignore the prompts. Don't feel like you need to do everything in one piece, either. If an idea needs some breathing room, that's fine by me.

There's a section specifically for artists down below, but otherwise I've mixed my art and fic likes together pretty freely here, and you should feel free to pull whichever threads interest you, even if e.g. you're a writer but something is presented in a way that seems art-oriented.

General Likes

First times/get togethers.

For shippy things, I don't need everyone 100% confirmed TOGETHER FOREVER, even in fic -- but I like to know that they're interested, that there's something real there and that it has a future.

Optimistic endings in general.

Science fiction and fantasy shenanigans; settings far-removed from present-day Earth, but also SFF things intruding on present-day Earth.

Big, dumb SFF objects, like massive temple ruins, doomsday machines, big mysterious spacecraft.

The intrinsic ridiculousness of superheroes and the lives they lead. I enjoy the tone of the DCEU, but comic book cheese is also very welcome.

SPACE.

Identity porn, and its close relative, undercover work.

Fighting crime! Teamwork! Heroics! Investigation!

Crime-fighting followed by kissing (or what have you).

Kissing (or what have you) with a certain ambiance of crime-fighting about it because it takes place in the Batcave or other Crime-Fighting Location, such as on a rooftop (known staging grounds for crimefighting).

Canon divergence, what-ifs and remixes.

Monsters.

Superhero costumes and equipment. How they're designed and made (or found), the significance of all the bits and bobs, how hard it is to get new parts, what it's like to wear or use them.

So many variations on "superhero and civilian existences butting up against and overlapping each other" that it gets to be its own subcategory. Feel free to make up more, I'm probably into them too.

Characters doing superhero things in civilian attire and ordinary person things in superhero attire; superheroes interacting with one party in civvies and the other in costume.

Superheroes applying their superpowers, or knowledge they have because of their superheroic experience, to their normal jobs.

The day-to-day practical and sensory experience of being superpowered -- what it's like to move through a world that isn't built for your strength, etc.

Doing absolutely ridiculous things to protect a secret identity.

The production design for the DCEU: Kryptonian and Themysciran architecture and fashion, the Batcave and the Bat-vehicles, the Wonder Woman closing titles, Victor's jagged look during JL and the smoother one he adopts at the end of the film, all of the major characters’ civilian and formal costuming, Bruce’s surreal dreams (especially the Knightmare), capes doing dramatic things.

Characters exploring each other's production design. So-and-so visits Themyscira or gets to experience a Kryptonian liquid metal PowerPoint or stumbles into one of Bruce's dreams somehow.

Artist's Corner

I mentioned above that I really dig both the production design of the DCEU and the silly conventions of comic books, and I very much meant that. Other stuff I love:

Portraits.

Schematics, exploded diagrams.

Maps.

Buildings and cityscapes.

Infographics.

Characters touching each other ever so slightly.

Back and shoulder musculature.

Gold foil.

Bruce having a purple cape lining. I know it's not in the DCEU. Don't kinkshame me.

I was going to have an entry here about color schemes, but it's, like, all of them. B&W, monochrome, B&W with an accent color, limited palettes, high contrast, GO NUTS.

Art style pastiche, including comicky stuff but also mainstream art styles, ancient and religious styles. Some ideas, but don't let me limit you:

More Kirby-driven interpretations of the Fourth World stuff from JL, especially Victor himself.

Diana in art styles contemporary to eras she's been knocking around the Earth during.

Clark a la Catholic iconography or stained glass. I know there's a ton of this but I haven't had my fill yet.

If you'd like visual inspiration, here are some links to tags on my blog.

DC fanart

DC scans

Fanart generally

Non-fanart illustrations

General Likes (Porn Edition)

To expand on something from the intro, I’m more than happy to receive a gift with nothing sexual in it at all, or vanilla sexual stuff. But if you’re interested, here are some other options.

BDSM-wise, I’m into all manner of bondage and most forms of consensual sexual violence and pain, especially when things are pretty informal and the dynamic just arises in the moment. Choking and breathplay in all their forms are great, biting and impact play are great. For Bruce/Clark, Bruce is my preferred recipient for this and most stuff where the idea of "recipient" is relevant; for other ships, I haven't got a preference.

Superpowers during sex. Gadgets during sex.

Anatomical surprises. Characters whose anatomy is SO surprising that it's actually challenging to have sex with them. (Ideally, the parties figure something out, even if it's "just" something like mutual masturbation.)

One party clothed, one party nude. Also, I definitely meant what I said about civvies/costume.

Torn clothing/costumes, partial disrobing.

Even Kryptonian dimensional travel tech is tentacle-based. What do their sex toys look like? (If all you have is tentacles, every problem looks like a….)

Inappropriate sex laughter. Actually, appropriate sex laughter too. Sex that isn't conventionally good but where the participants are having tons of fun anyway.

I don't have any strong feelings about specific sex acts/positions! Write whatever seems appropriate.

Relationship: Apollo/Midnighter Relationship: Cassandra Cain/Harper Row Relationship: Diana Prince/Kate Kane

All of these ships involve at least one character who isn't in the DCEU at all yet. I've got one big prompt for all three of them:

What are they doing in the DCEU?

I love origin stories, timelines, concept art, character turnarounds -- anything that re-constructs a character from the ground up in a new universe. Show me how the forces in the DCEU combined to turn a character into a superhero, or how they responded to the earth-shattering events of the films, or what their costume looks like in this continuity, and I'll be a happy camper. That can be a lot of work for two characters in something something that's also shippy, so if you need to dial down the shippiness or focus on one character's origin over the other, that's all right!

Relationship: Barry Allen/Victor Stone

Okay, I will admit that I decided I was interested in this ship based on stuff from the New 52 and the press tour. The actors have a lot of chemistry, okay! And then Justice League came along to inform me that I am VERY SMART and I make GOOD DECISIONS.

Has Barry always been OBVIOUSLY HOT FOR CYBORGS or is this a new thing for him?

Victor can't exactly go out on a conventional date, so what does taking him out for a nice evening look like?

They have an interesting combination of power/skill sets that are very different from the ones that usually get matched up in DCEU fic -- I would love to see them work a case or fight a villain together.

I already mentioned anatomical surprises and characters who are difficult to have sex with, but seriously. Seriously.

Relationship: Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent

My pattern with fandom is that I start to ship something, and that makes me more interested in the canon, which gets me interested in more ships and characters, and then I wind up making ten requests in an exchange. This is the ship what brung me here and I haven't run out of feelings about it yet.

Bruce's paranoia and existential angst about aliens that could totally (cough) "destroy" him human civilization were what made me ship it, and I am still all about this. "Fearfully turned on" is the most important human emotion, and I'm intrigued by the whole range of Clark's potential reactions to this, from "you need to calm down" to "... I'm into this too".

Oh my god, Bruce is SO awkward with Clark in Justice League, and Clark is surprisingly relaxed and jokey. I'd love to see how that plays out in the longer term. Does Clark immediately recognize this as a crush or does it take ages to sort out?

You can fork the timeline just about anywhere and I'll be excited. They meet during MoS. Their first meeting in BvS goes differently. Clark doesn't die. Clark comes back a different way.

The Knightmare. There's, umm, a lot to unpack there. Bruce's dreams and/or nightmares generally, and especially that line between terror and eroticism that's perhaps thinnest there. After everything, how does Clark feature in them, react to Bruce waking up next to him after another one, etc?

Relationship: Bruce Wayne & Kryptonian Scout Ship

I feel like Bruce, as a gadgeteer, must have a pretty intense relationship with objects and machinery, and what more fraught object than the Kryptonian ship? Don't hesitate to include other members of the League here -- especially Clark (whether dead or alive), but anyone else is welcome to come along.

Stealing it from Heroes Park and putting it somewhere safe seems like a pretty good idea. This could happen at any point after its crash in Man of Steel.

Or, what if Bruce got to it before Clark did in MoS?

That thing is a trove of reverse-engineerable technology that nobody else on Earth has. This could mean a real leg up for the Bat. That might be straightforwardly useful or it might be TIME FOR FEELINGS.

With Jor-El gone, the ship seems to have reverted to an out-of-the-box personality that is surprisingly suggestible. This isn't where this prompt was originally intended to go, but I bet Bruce is such a bad influence.

Is there a copy of Jor-El still in there somewhere? Is he glitchy? How does Bruce react to Clark's holographic dad ghost?

How 'bout them silver bas relief PowerPoint presentations? Is that what all Kryptonian movies look like?

Relationship: Diana Prince & Victor Stone

This was such a surprise and a pleasure in Justice League. The comics didn't really prime me to think about these two connecting, but I love what we got, and I'm excited for more.

They've both been so isolated for so long -- Diana primarily from other metahumans/heroes (she seems to have been leading a pretty okay civilian life), and Victor apparently from most forms of at least in-person contact, but they warm up to each other pretty quickly -- I'm eager to see how that plays out, both as a friendship unto itself and as a friendship between people who respectively have really tiny social circles.

Diana's been around for probably thousands of years and is very educated; Victor potentially knows almost everything. Nerrrrrrds.

I keep coming back to prompts of basically this form, but the two of them just doing some superhero stuff together and growing closer as friends would make me really happy.

Character: Alfred Pennyworth

So what's Alfred's deal?

He's got who knows how many comics backstories. In this universe, was he SAS? An actor? What was that like and/or how does it inform his buttling and/or how does it inform him being Bruce's superhero assistant now?

Does he wear a three-piece suit to do EVERYTHING? We see him fixing the Batmobile and chopping wood in one. So, like ... everything?

An artbook or something indicates that he's Wayne Enterprises' head of security. What's that look like, day to day?

I'm absolutely fascinated by fanwork about him relating to the rest of the League, their civilian families, etc.

Character: Clark Kent

There's this big chunk of Clark's background, the wandering period that ends in Man of Steel, that we don't know a ton about. I am dying to hear more.

In the course of looking for leads about his origins, does he run into any false ones?

Speaking of running into things, what about encounters with other DC characters? This would be a completely excellent time to loop back to Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent, but I'd love to see him crossing paths with, say, other members of the League. Do they recognize something unusual about him?

OH MY GOD IS THIS HOW LEX SR. GOES BALD

There's a whole chain of rescues and other Weird Events that Lois followed for her article about him, and we've only seen a couple of them!

DOES HE FIGHT ANY CRIME? :D?

How many shitty, soul-crushing jobs does he work?

Character: Victor Stone

All right, look. I know I keep pushing the "characters who are difficult to have sex with" button. I don't mean to give the impression that's the thing I want the most, it's just relevant generally (you could definitely do something in that vein with e.g. Clark) and also relevant to Victor specifically, who, from what we've seen, does not have most of his original torso. So. Figuring out how to masturbate again must've been a real challenge, right? What does he think about, and is Barry involved?

In general I am very keen to read/see things about Victor's body and powers, and his relationship with them. Weird new parts he didn't know he had, how different/similar things feel when you're mostly metal, what it's like to have the ENTIRE INTERNET at your fingertips (and all attendant hacking shenanigans), the process of repairing after a major injury to his robot parts (perhaps sustained during crimefighting? :D?), how other superhumans read to his new senses, etc.

I LOVE JOE MORTON. I am keenly interested in everything having to do with Victor's relationship with his father. It seems like they ended JL on a pretty good note, but there were some VERY rough times there and I'd be happy for some fanwork about those, too.

What was Victor getting up to on the internet while he was mostly housebound?

DNWs

Major character death (excepting in-continuity deaths), breakups, hopeless endings -- basically, don't kill the thing I requested.

Stories where all the major characters pair up -- I prefer only one ship per story.

Incest, incest-adjacent things, mentor/student.

Reproduction (such as mpreg).

Bodily fluid/byproduct kinks: watersports, scat, lactation, bloodletting in quantity and for bloodletting’s sake. Fluids you expect to encounter during sex are fine, as is incidental blood from a heroic flesh wound. Alien and machine fluids are also fine in moderation.

Body modification, guro. Major injury and gore are fine in the context of, say, a fight, just not in porn, please.

Stories that are heavily focused on characters experiencing or discussing real-world oppressions, major illnesses, or addiction.

Fandom AU templates (A/B/O, soulmates, coffee shop, etc).

Depowering, no-capes AUs.

Noncon, dubcon.

Chinspike.

[architeuthism]

Dear FFFX Creator

Hi, I'm Squid. Thank you in advance for making a thing for me! I hope you have a good time making the thing. If you're both an artist and a writer and are taking the multiple gifts option, a fic and a comic would be as welcome as two fics or two comics.

If you're here because you're thinking of giving me a treat, thank you as well! Treats of any size are welcome, including very small ones.

I've tried to offer pretty equal numbers of prompts in every section, but not always succeeded. This is because I had an easier time articulating myself about some things than others, not because I'm less interested in the ones with fewer prompts!

Table of Contents

Click to navigate!

Likes

General Likes

Comics/Art Likes

Porn Likes

Dishonored

Billie Lurk

Jessamine Kaldwin/Billie Lurk

Emily Kaldwin/Billie Lurk

Delilah Copperspoon/Billie Lurk

Worldbuilding

Dishonored DNWs

The Martian

Mark Watney/Vincent Kapoor

DC Extended Universe

Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne

Barry Allen/Victor Stone

Helena Bertinelli & Dinah Lance & Renee Montoya

Mercy Graves

DCEU DNWs

Original Works

General OW Likes

Category: Ghosts (with DNWs)

Category: Interspecies (with DNWs)

Category: Religion

Category: Rivals

Category: Other

DNW Roundup

General DNWs

Dishonored DNWs

DCEU DNWs

OW - Ghosts DNWs

OW - Interspecies DNWs

General Likes

The likes in this section are either aimed at fanwork or are OW/fanwork agnostic. If your fanwork requires a lot of worldbuilding and you're looking for inspiration, check out the original works section. I wrote these in one shot and then broke them up into rough categories in the hopes of making them more readable, so the categories are not very strict.

General story likes:

I'm always game for a story that mimics the structure and tone of an installment of canon. One case, one mission, one adventure, etc. Adventure/crime stories are aces even if that's not how the canon is structured.

Canon divergence and other remixes of canon, like role swap AUs.

I'm open to setting AUs! I prefer ones that don't lower the stakes (e.g. superheroes become fantasy adventurers, but the size of the threats they face remains the same -- they do not actually have to save the world or whatever in your story, but I like to know that they have or might), roughly retain character dynamics, and don't make everyone human (fantasy monster becomes alien, etc).

Theft! Heists! Pickpocketing! Stealing data, or intelligence! Social engineering!

Space! Budget-devouring setpieces! Taking in awesome vistas and then blowing them up!

Swashbuckling! Whatever other sort of derring-do is suited to the setting! Fights in really stupid, dangerous places for no reason other than because it looks cool!

Downtime! Resupplying the base of operations! Keeping busy while everyone's waiting for the next move! Finally having to have a real conversation with someone you've only spoken to in snatches during a fight!

The wall of strings and index cards, unrolling the blueprint just before you explain how the heist is going to go down -- generally, characters explaining things with visual aids and props. I don't think I've seen a PowerPoint presentation in a fanwork, but I just got excited thinking about it. I'm sorry I'm like this.

Character and relationship likes:

Where I asked for a ship, some kind of mutual acknowledgement of attraction/potential is enough for me, as long as the story doesn't definitively shut down the possibility of them getting together. Romance as A-plot is also delightful, though, as are kissing/other physical affection as applicable/sex embedded in a story that's mostly about something else. I'm more interested in feelings than no-strings sex.

The day-to-day experience of being something other than a regular human -- what that robot arm feels like, what it's like to do magic, the things an alien's senses perceive. If this goes into body horror territory, so be it!

The small and large ways in which being a normal human around someone who has robot parts/does magic/is an alien/etc can be strange, or unsettling, or comforting, or convenient (like using your buddy's spikes as a bottle opener).

Initially fearful or hostile interactions that become respect/affection/sex -- so, both "enemies to friends/lovers" and "terrified to friends/lovers".

Uneasy teamwork, because the people doing it aren't comfortable with each other yet, are straight-up enemies, have secret agendas, etc. Uneasy teamwork turning into easy teamwork, especially if this happens before the characters are ready to acknowledge they're allies/partners.

"Brainstorming together" is one of my favorite interpersonal interactions (and very shippy) whether it's to solve a problem or to create something. And if the characters have a lot of feelings about having created/solved something together, all the better. In general, characters connecting through shared work/goals/productivity.

Characters liking each other despite themselves -- either because they feel like they shouldn't, or because they're enemies (or what have you) and actually shouldn't. Characters finding each other hilarious despite themselves.

Characters being impressed and delighted with each other without reservation, especially if they used to have reservations.

Stuck together during downtime/transit/because one character is a captive and the other is a guard, nothing to do but play cards and get to know each other.

Identity porn, and identity reveals that recontextualize a character's past actions for the reader or another character.

Characters who have been dehumanized or lived for a long time in self-denial or self-isolation getting to loosen up and be people.

Little gestures of caring that add up over time.

Figuring out someone's obtuse and difficult love language.

Battle couples.

Weird dates to awful places.

I obviously am not fussed about gaps in age or social/personal power between adults (or adults and otherworldly beings for whom age isn't really a thing) but I appreciate it when characters in these ships think of each other more as equals (friends/colleagues/rivals/etc) than as e.g. mentor/student or lord/vassal. I requested some ships involving gods -- worship and reverence are SUPER OKAY but I think the mortal party having some reckoning of the god in question as a person with foibles, even if they are a powerful and alien person, adds a lot of spice.

Format/pacing likes:

In-universe documents and media. Your fanwork could consist entirely of them, or have them interspersed through more conventional narrative.

Interactive fiction. I don't know what an interactive comic would look like, but I would be excited to find out.

Epistolary stories/relationships. People longing for each other across great distances, realizing they're in love (or feeling like they can admit it) because they're separated for the first time, or getting to know each other before they actually meet.

Slow burn. Burn it as slow as you want. No such thing as a burn too slow.

On the other hand, characters rushing (or being shoved) into a relationship too fast and then having to figure each other out once they're together, or doing the normal relationship milestones in the wrong order, like sex before kissing, or kissing before conversation.

Pining, especially when it's caused by external factors rather than misunderstandings or poor communication. We can't be together because of The War, I'm drawn to you but you're terrifying, etc.

This is probably weird, but I'm really interested in process talk! If you're inclined to write long creator's notes or share concept sketches, you'll have an interested audience in me.

Comics/Art Likes

You can get super meta here, if that's your jam. I think comics are extremely interesting as a medium and I love it when they play around with medium conventions and all the weird things you have to suspend disbelief about just to read one.

I also enjoy less-meta forms of experimentation, like fancy gutters, unusual panel layouts, really strict gridding, changing the art style to change tone/indicate altered states of being or consciousness, unusual lettering, all the ways that you can fool around with time and simultaneity, etc.

In general, I'm a big fan of art that mashes up multiple styles or levels of realism -- art nouveau is known for this, of course, with usually highly rendered figures on a more graphic background, but every version of this excites me. Drawing a character in a different style than the other characters on the page to indicate that there's something Weird about them: [chef's kiss] Superpowers that look like a design element rather than a "real" thing: [thumbs up]

I mentioned in-universe documents above -- I'm very open to comics that are not strictly "comics" but are actually a character's book of sketches or science notes. Something like a scrapbook filled with photos and newspaper articles would be fascinating.

Limited palette. B&W, or B&W with spot color.

Visual symbolism/character iconography.

Beautiful monsters.

Glowing stuff. Eyes. Blood. Plants. Weapons. Architecture. Like, anything.

Caves.

Surreal landscapes.

Architecture.

Fancy duds!

Diagrams, maps.

Pastiches of famous art.

Art by the characters.

Porn Likes

Fanwork with vanilla sex or no sex is fine by me! But here are some ideas, arranged in very approximate order of weirdness.

Silly, friendly, fun, experimental sex.

Absolutely crazed, furniture-destroying, neighbors-calling-the-cops sex.

Objectively terrible sex and the people who enjoy it anyway.

Suave characters fucking up during sex because they're TOO EMOTIONAL.

First time having sex with a [fill in gender or species here]. First time doing [fill in sex act]. Especially good if the [fill in] was a matter of great desire and trepidation.

Clothes on, clothes partially on, one party clothed one party naked, very different kinds of clothes (like armor vs. casual wear), etc.

Clothes or other circumstances that are difficult or uncomfortable to have sex in but IT JUST CAN'T WAIT.

Sex before feelings, or when the situation is too complicated/the participants are too messed up to admit feelings. Extra good if there's an emotional catharsis later (with or without more sex).

Spontaneous, un- or under-negotiated kink. Mid-sex kink epiphanies.

Powers or gadgets during sex.

Bondage, including manual bondage (very different levels of physical strength a bonus, in either direction), and opportunistic bondage where someone gets entangled in e.g. their clothes.

Too many damn orgasms. Just exhausting numbers of orgasms.

Erotic denial, edging. Orgasm not required as long as it's super frustrating.

Pretty much the full gamut of not-too-injurious consensual sexual violence and pain, from sexy wrasslin' to formal beatings.

Breath play.

Sounding (only for cis male characters, please).

Humans having sex with supernatural/otherwise nonhuman beings they are both terrified of and turned on by.

There's no such thing as "too xeno". Almost anything that can consent can AND SHOULD get some. Dwell as much as you want on what having sex with a human is like for a being with a very nonhuman body and/or sensorium, and what having sex with a being with a very nonhuman body is like for a human.

Characters whose anatomies are so weird, even dangerous, that it takes teamwork, planning and maybe acclimation to have mutually satisfying sex with them. Characters whose paradigm for "satisfying sex" is very different from the human one.

Dishonored

I love Dishonored's tone and level design. Cities that are beautiful, but also just absolutely awful. The view from the rooftops. The Void -- I dig its look in both games. Architecture in general, especially run-down. Things overgrown with plants. Malevolent creatures from the ocean. Ironic comeuppance. Bloody, terrifying magic. Stealth. Everything related to or involved in breaking into a place to steal something, plant something, or kill someone, from the planning to the execution. I think, being a game, Dishonored particularly lends itself to some of my meta and formatting likes -- interactive fiction, of course, but also narrative interspersed with or constructed from in-universe documents. I've never read a first-person comic, but that would be super interesting. 

And, yep, I adore Billie Lurk. I fell in love with her when she ragged on the statue of Delilah in the Knife of Dunwall, and then she got her own GAME? No canon has ever been this generous to me. I also find Jessamine, Emily and Delilah extremely compelling, so don't think I'm just here for Billie; I would not be disappointed by a fanwork that focused a lot on their interiority or character arc.

Billie Lurk (Dishonored)

I'm interested in all parts of Billie's timeline and pretty much all of her interpersonal relationships. I didn't add her to the tagset, but feel free to refer to Deirdre as much as you want, put her onscreen, or resurrect her in the present (whenever that is), if any of that's your jam. Billie & Daud also interest me a lot together, especially when she's in the process of betraying him in the Knife of Dunwall, and that incredibly fraught tenderness they have between them in Death of the Outsider. (Daud is the exception to my character death/ghosts moving on DNWs, if you want to explore that part of the story. Or don't, or it's an AU and he lives somehow!) So do Billie & Sokolov, and I think you could do a lot with the subject of how strongly she seems to seek a father figure. Feel free to combine these prompts with the ones for the ships below.

The one kill in an otherwise nonlethal mission. (This doesn't have to be any of the actual missions from the game, but it can be.) Who is it, and why?

Any sort of exploration or dramatization of Billie as she was coming up, per that one codex entry -- the rough life she led as a kid, becoming persona non grata even in that world, then becoming a Whaler and moving up the ranks. Learning the powers she got from Daud. Deciding to betray him.

We know she has horrific dreams about losing her arm and eye if Corvo or Emily corrects the timeline so that that doesn't happen. Tell me more. Or! Consider all the canon divergence AUs I've suggested, and what horrible dreams Billie might have in them. You don't have to dig into what kind of time-fuckery magic is causing the dreams, but you're more than welcome to.

The DOTO lethal ending slides make me really sad, but Billie killing the Outsider and then working her way around to a more hopeful mental place in some other way would be amazing.

After DOTO, the Outsider is no longer the Outsider in one way or another, but Billie still has her magical arm, eye, and knife. One of these things is from the Outsider but the other two more or less aren't, and they all seem to still work. Are there other people knocking around who still have Outsider magic? Are there NEW people with ... NON-Outsider magic? Also, it kind of seems like she may have absorbed the remaining power of a long-dead god of the Void? Holy shit?! How does THAT play out in the long term? There's no upper limit to how eldritch you can get with this.

Group: Jessamine Kaldwin/Billie Lurk (Dishonored)

We know Jessamine's into swordspersons of low birth. This is a no-brainer!

The AU where it's Billie who becomes the Lady Protector (Lord Protector? Sweet Polly Oliver Billie would be amazing, actually) and conducts a semi-secret romance with the Empress. How does she climb so high? Is she still in with Daud somehow -- maybe she's a plant, and has to grapple with her loyalties?

Something something Corvo handwave whatever and then Billie stops the assassination of the Empress! Is she feted? Does this loop right back around to the previous prompt? Or does she have to spirit Jessamine (and wee Emily, if present) off somewhere for her safety? And again, maybe this is a ploy and she ends up with divided loyalties.

Billie somehow comes by the Heart, and she and the ghost of Jessamine develop feelings. Feel free to explore the world of weird ghost sex as much or as little as you feel is appropriate. Resurrection would also be very interesting. My "character death" DNW obviously doesn't apply here, but please don't have Jessamine move on/dissolve within the story.

Group: Emily Kaldwin/Billie Lurk (Dishonored)

I was unexpectedly deeply touched by the vibe on the Dreadful Wale, the way Emily makes herself useful around the ship and sinks into the place. I'd love a story about some downtime, when they're just traveling and cooking bad meals and planning (Sokolov and Hypatia are welcome to come along, platonically).

Billie goes out on a mission with Emily during the events of D2. (She might be back in fighting form after A Crack in the Slab, or she might not!) This could be a canonical one, or it could just be Emily covering Billie while she buys, I don't know, contraband ship parts. Insert every assassination, casefic, heist, stakeout, etc buddy trope you like right here, I'm into all of them, from fighting back-to-back to eating bad takeout on a roof together while they wait for a contact.

For Emily as well as Billie, I'm very interested in the one kill in an otherwise nonlethal mission. If they're on this mission together, are they at odds about it?

Corvo can't be Lord Protector forever, but hey! There's another able swordsperson around.... Does Emily chafe at this, after her experiences in D2? Or! Maybe she was a statue during the events of D2, and this is how they meet.

Billie's lying to Emily about her identity for most of the game, of course. Those feelings are going to need a thorough reckoning-with, especially if Emily felt something for Meagan Foster before she came clean. On the other hand, the Heart isn't that coy about who this Meagan is -- Emily could put it together.

Group: Delilah Copperspoon/Billie Lurk (Dishonored)

Hoo boy. This ship is a slightly tentative exception to my character death/breakup/downer ending DNWs. If you want to go to a redemptive place with Delilah, I'm very interested in that, but if you want to go to the "Delilah is incorrigible and this is a terrible idea" route, I'm willing to follow you there too.

Of course, there's their collusion during the Knife of Dunwall. Who makes the first move? Delilah as seductress makes a lot of sense, but you could do a lot with Billie making the first move, especially since the other whalers seem to be all male.

Meagan Foster at one point claims to have actually been part of Delilah's cult, which I think would make for a FASCINATING AU, especially if Billie still ends up torn between Delilah and Daud (or some other party) somehow.

It just occurred to me as I was writing this, I don't think Delilah ever actually knows Billie's involved in the events of D2, does she? And to think, they could have been rekindling their romance. Or finally having a shot at that romance they never closed the deal on during the Brigmore Witches, etc. Their relationship would be so incredibly different during this timeframe. If Billie's arm and eye get "fixed", can Delilah see that?

By the same token, Delilah is potentially trapped in the Void or something Void-adjacent at the end of D2, and post-DOTO Billie has ... god knows what sort of connection to the Void at that point. Hell, is she the new god of the Void? How does that go down with Delilah?

Billie having some kind of past with Delilah in Billie/Jessamine or Billie/Emily fics is just fine with me!

Other: worldbuilding (Dishonored)

Absolutely feel free to put as much worldbuilding as you want into a fic about Billie or one of my ships, but I'm also interested in worldbuilding farther afield. Use any canon characters or OCs you need to tell the story you want to tell (I'd prefer you avoid unrequested noncanonical canon character/canon character ships, but feel free to throw in OC ships as needed. If one of them is pretty central, I'd appreciate it if it's f/f or m/m).

THERE'S A GIANT DEAD GOD EYE IN SHINDAEREY PEAK, WHAT THE ABSOLUTE HELL. Is this just a weirdly magical statue or the actual corpse of a god? Is there an entire body or is it just the eye? There's a hole in the world there -- is it there because it's where the god died (HOW) or did the god die there because of the hole? (Did it have to be lured?) How was THAT god made? Was it the original? Did it relate to humans at all the way the Outsider did? Was he created because of its death? I could ask questions about this all damn day.

A day in the life of an Envisioned. Envisioned office politics. Envisioned water cooler gossip. Making fun of the cultists on wavelengths the cultists can't hear. Raising a void effigy just for giggles.

We've seen two cults where a single person with the Outsider's mark has granted power to a bunch of cronies, and they've both had really different aesthetics. I would guess a couple of these happen per generation, and they're all wildly different (apart from maybe all having teleportation, though we've seen how different teleportation is experientially for everyone the Outsider marks), and they aren't inherently allied with each other.  Go as nuts with this as you want.

I asked some questions about this up above, but what does magic in this universe end up looking like, once the Outsider is no longer fulfilling his role?

Especially in D2, we see people using science and engineering to beef up/manipulate magic; I dig it super hard and would like to see more experiments. Use canonical or OC inventors, your choice. Fanwork in the form of experiment notes, sketches, etc would be awesome.

The same goes for more traditional magic too, though. The protagonists and whalers just kind of Do The Thing, but we hear a lot of witches talking about how it's not just a matter of having it or not -- it takes focus, study, ingredients, and ritual. How does Granny Rags even figure out her bizarre recipes?

Have other people gotten close to killing the Outsider in the past? How far did they get? Why? How were they planning to do it?

Let's go to Pandyssia! There's some Word of God about it having been home to an advanced civilization of albinos that fell at some point (this is on the wiki, I think), which you can use or ignore as you like.

I don't have a lot of specific thoughts about parts of the Empire of the Isles we haven't seen, but I'm keen to hear other people's specific thoughts!

I've mentioned my love of in-universe documents, but seriously. I love all the plays, journal entries, scraps of scripture and science texts, etc and would be very excited about a work in that format. Many bits and pieces about the same event (like someone's file folder of plays and newspaper articles about a canon event) would be cool, as would a single person's memoir about That Year People Kept Getting Murdered All Over Dunwall (etc).

Dishonored DNWs:

Billie/Jessamine and Billie/Emily in the same fanwork.

Closeups of bloodfly nests or blood amber. Detailed descriptions of parasitization by insects.

The Martian (2015)

I love this film's can-do space optimism. I love science montages, the hostile beauty of Mars, space in general, humans pulling together on a massive scale to save a single life, and humans feeling tenderly for tiny plant seedlings. I've only skimmed parts of the novel, but feel free to pull details from it or borrow its format. I've mentioned elsewhere that I love in-universe documents, and this is a great canon for them -- not just logs and digital communications, but stuff like interviews, news articles, etc.

Group: Mark Watney/Vincent Kapoor (Martian 2015)

What really grabbed me about these two was the way, even though they apparently don't know each other at all (I guess Kapoor became mission director after Watney went up?) and have no means of communicating, Kapoor immediately begins empathizing with Watney and figuring out what's going on in his head. And then Kapoor is the first "voice" Watney hears after the accident and oh no, my emotions.

This is incredibly romantic, but I think it also lends itself well to spy-vs.-spy silliness. Watney is up to something and Kapoor is at most a half-step behind him (occasionally a half-step ahead!). Maybe this is while Mark is still up there, or maybe it's after his return and it plays out as an office comedy between interviews and lectures?

The two of them working together is fertile ground in general. Once Mark is back on Earth, their jobs will push them together a lot but also erect various barriers between them. Maybe they find themselves texting each other a lot from different cities, struggling to make that leap?

Or their relationship kindles while Mark is still on Mars. Vincent is his primary point of contact, so they could be talking a LOT, and Mark is going through some real ups and downs (including, but not limited to, the certainty of his own death). I'd love to see VIncent going through some shit during this time too, and the two of them helping shore each other up.

I'm not going to get into the whole casting situation, but Kapoor has a line about religion in the film that makes me very curious about whether he practices either of his parents' religions and how that manifests in his personal life.

Mark discovers something Weird on Mars, catapulting our heroes into a different science fiction subgenre altogether.

This is one of the canons where I'm very open to setting AUs as long as they retain some "space adventure" and/or "stranded somewhere hostile" element. (Also, preferably Mark remains a botanist of some stripe.) Mark Watney, space pirate only, like, for real! Mark Watney, ocean castaway with a cobbled-together radio! You might want to explore my original works likes if this or the preceding prompt are calling to you.

I'm also definitely here for the two of them doing goofy space pirate sex roleplay. Or, wait, oh my god -- writing goofy space pirate sex fiction back and forth to each other.

DC Extended Universe

I love new continuities that not very many stories have been told in yet -- so full of possibility, but also perfect for retelling old favorites in. Feel free to pilfer whatever you enjoy from other DC continuities. Appearances by other DCEU characters very welcome, especially canonical parents/parent figures. In part because there just isn't very much canon, I'm super interested in canon divergence AUs for this setting -- characters meet at a very different time in their lives, one character takes the right door instead of the left one, a certain planet never exploded, etc. This is a mostly secret-identity-free continuity, but I will happily accept whatever you have to do to the canon to make identity porn work. I crave origin stories for everyone and everything. Adventures in space or under the sea are very good. Krypton and Themyscira are beautiful.

Group: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne (DCEU)

Finally actually getting to know each other after Clark's resurrection, perhaps by doing a spot of crime-fighting together or working on the logistics of whatever League HQ Bruce is building.

They straight-up bang on top of the Batmobile in their meet-cute scene in BvS. Look, I'm a simple creature.

I find Bruce's fixation on Clark's dangerousness/obvious terror of Clark throughout BvS VERY EROTIC. I guess this isn't really a prompt, but I had to share my feelings.

Alternate resurrection stories! No plan too dangerous! No emotion too overwrought!

Dealing with a high-stakes situation while one or both of them is in their civilian identity and has to pretend to be a normal person. "If Batman and Superman don't respond to my demands within the hour, I will KILL Bruce Wayne and ... whoever this reporter is!"

Hello, Knightmareverse. My Knightmareverse interests range from "Bruce just has a ton of erotic nightmares about Clark post-apocalyptically murdering him" to "It's real, Clark spares Bruce for some reason, they touch hands and have a feeling" to "It's real, they realize they're in the Bad Timeline and work to undo it". (Sexy dream murder does not violate my major-injury-as-romance DNW, as long as Clark's not actually doing it himself as foreplay.)

Quality time doing something-or-other on the Kryptonian scout ship. Could be a mission, could be "movie night" except it's watching old Kryptonian liquid-metal PowerPoint presentations.

Group: Barry Allen/Victor Stone (DCEU)

Victor is an absolute body horror nightmare and I think that's very sexy of him. I'm interested in stories about him just existing and reflecting on his body and trying to date, but I'm also very interested in cyborg puzzle porn and him struggling to figure out sex in the absence of his original genitals. Satisfying sex that's far outside his previous paradigm for satisfying sex would be excellent. Barry honestly strikes me as a man who would be absolutely gung-ho to interact with a robot dick in any capacity, but him having some trepidation about Victor's body could be great as well, especially if it's partly about concern for Victor.

Bringing Barry home to meet Victor's dad?

They're both young men, I think we can assume they have a fair amount of cultural overlap. I'd be into seeing them getting into a routine of just hanging out, doing whatever it is The Youths do these days (play Call of Duty? Is that an old man game?). They both seem like they could really use a friend. To ... make out with.

Working a case together! Maybe their teamup just happens organically or maybe they have to save the rest of the League.

Group: Helena Bertinelli & Dinah Lance & Renee Montoya (DCEU)

They're super new, as a team! How do they gel? Where did they get their costumes? What's their next mission together like? What are their personality conflicts?

Intercut flashbacks for all three of them in their rookie/training years would be super interesting.

Fanwork that focuses on one of them over the other two is just fine! I'm also receptive to a /-relationship involving any two of them (but not all three, please). Some character-specific prompts below, which you can combine if you'd like.

Helena FINALLY getting people to call her Huntress by establishing her brand in Gotham's masked underworld.

Creative uses for Dinah's power! Or extremely destructive ones.

Renee becoming the Question (and preferably, staying on the team).

Group: Mercy Graves (DCEU)

I love workplace comedy and I especially love EVIL workplace comedy. Evil board meetings! Evil team-building exercises! Evil budgets!

How did Mercy come to work for LexCorp in the first place? She seems pretty on board with all the Superman-killing shenanigans. Is that just because she's down for whatever Lex is doing because fuck it, she landed a great job even in this economy, or does she have some kind of personal beef with Superman?

So, she got blown up pretty bad, but this is a superhero universe, so there are a million ways to fix that. She's a cyborg in some continuities, which is my favorite fix. Was she already a cyborg, or does she get dragged out of the wreckage and cyborg-ified? Is this by Lex, or some other benefactor?

Mercy putting up with Brucie Wayne's stupid aging socialite can't-find-the-bathroom bullshit at a million events.

DCEU DNWs:

Bruce having a passel of Robins. One Robin or other protege at a time, if any!

Onscreen Jason Todd or Joker.

Original Works - General

I didn't personally add any of these to the tagset, and in many cases I'm requesting them specifically because the wording of the tag raises questions and I'm interested in hearing someone else's answers. So if you're like "What does this tag even mean?" -- I don't know either, and you should feel free to explore that.

Where unspecified, my favorite ship configurations are m/m and f/f. Nonbinary characters are welcome.

I love worldbuilding and will devour as much of it as you want to throw at me. I enjoy the full spectrum of science fiction and fantasy settings, including edge cases, genre mashups, the -punk genres, and really strange New Weird type stuff. There are a fair number of superhero prompts in here: the sort of assumed-default superhero setting that's approximately the present day but with some science fiction and magic thrown in works just great for me, but I enjoy historical and future superheroes as well. For superhero/urban fantasy/etc settings, "alternate present day" worldbuilding where the SFF elements have significantly changed the recent past and present are also neat!

A lot of these prompts mention "aliens", but I'm cool with loose interpretations of the term. What I care about is the alien being alien, not necessarily being AN alien -- any nonhuman from far away with unusual customs and anatomy will do just fine. I'm also open to the human/nonhuman version of any ship that doesn't specify species.

Likes:

Deserts, jungles, caves, fantastic landscapes, impossible structures. Ruins of all stripes. "Planets" that are not planet-shaped at all.

Eldritch locations.

Big Dumb Objects.

Cities built on top of older cities. Cities with strange topologies, and secrets. Cities that are literally alive.

Exotic travel. Giant turtle barge, solar sail, interdimensional train, pneumatic tube but it's your whole body.

Non-European fantasy. Non-monarchy systems of government, but also monarchies in places where you don't usually expect to see them (like cyberspace).

Astral planes, dream realms, multiverses. Contact with otherworldly beings.

Gods and creatures with extremely nonhuman, even nonbiological, anatomy -- geometric shapes, water, machinery, infinite eyes and wings, crystals, flocks of birds, an entire forest, TV static, the concept of loneliness ... go wild. I love celestial themes and the weird angels from the Book of Ezekiel.

In terms of more bodylike bodies, I particularly enjoy fancy colorful humanoids, multiple eyes and/or arms, reptile folk (especially snakes!), bird folk, plant folk, mashup monsters like sphinxes and feathered serpents, people made out of nonbiological materials like metal or smoke or glass, and tentacles.

Robots and other artificial/recently created persons (of adult intellect). "What measure is a person?" drama is quite welcome.

Nonhuman "anthropologists" who study humans.

Magical colleges, especially when they're parodies of real-world academia.

The food, fashion, entertainment, religion, etc of SFF worlds.

Original Works - Ghosts

Group: Famous M!Artist Who Is Murdered At Dinner Party/M!Medium Investigating the Crime (OW)

Group: Male Supervillain/Ghost of Male Superhero He Killed (OW)

Group: Male librarian/Male library ghost (OW)

Group: Kindhearted Man/Male Ghost Haunting His New Home (OW)

I'm intrigued by the idea of the living person in these ships as a lifeline (... as it were) for a ghost who struggles to communicate with other people and/or can't leave the location that they haunt. One of them has an investigation baked in, but I think ghosts are pretty good casefic fodder in any context -- the ghost may have been murdered, of course, but even if that's not the crime in question, maybe it's great at spying by passing through walls/going unseen. Exploit those ghost powers, whatever they are! I'd also love a story where the arc is just about the leads puzzling out how to communicate and coexist with (and touch?) each other. Resurrection is cool with me, though I'd prefer that the ghost retain some otherworldly/magical quality. Ghosts who have gotten very eldritch and monstrous during their afterlives are great.

Also, clearly I have no objection to weak puns. Fuck me up.

Ghosts DNWS:

Requested ghost character moves on into/past the afterlife or is destroyed. Requested living character permanently dies and does not become a ghost, or does but moves on into/past the afterlife or is destroyed. (This supercedes the death DNW in my general DNWs.)

Possession sex.

"Resurrection" by means of a ghost permanently possessing a previously conscious, living person.

Original Works - Interspecies

Group: Male Reptilian Alien/Male Human Who Is Surprisingly Into That (OW)

Group: Shameless Monsterfucker Human/Large But Shy Monster Just Discovering Their Human Kink (OW)

Group: Male shapeshifter hiding as a cat/Shy male recluse who adopts a cat (OW)

Group: Undercover Alien Posing as Human Man/His Male Human Partner Working for The Agency

Group: Eldritch Otherworldly Monster/Human Teenager Who Failed Demon Summoning Ritual (OW)

Group: Lonely Single Human/Monster who Falls in Love With Them (OW)

Group: Lonely Male Human With Criminal Past/Male Alien Bartender (OW)

Why are the interspecies OW ships in this exchange all so cute? Who did this. Anyway, I enjoy the themes here of lonely or isolated people drawing or being drawn to friendly monsters. I love a straight-up adventure (or "gonna go down to the local monster-infested dungeon and get me a BOYFRIEND", as the case may be), but I think there's lots of room here for a quiet domestic story, or a workplace romance, or a story about two people who keep running into each other as they go about their days and become attracted (except one of them's froooom spaaaaaace). Maybe human and monster cultures are integrated (though in that case, what are the shapeshifter's personal reasons for hiding as a cat?) or one character is an Intriguing Foreigner to the other, or is disguised as a member of the other character's species until the identity reveal.

My teenager/adult DNW does not apply to the otherworldly monster/demon-summoning teenager ship (the Twilight Loophole™) but I do prefer that the monster be some sort of tentacle knife cloud or suchlike rather than looking like an adult human. (Or maybe it looks like Teen Nyarlathotep and the teenager has to pass it off as a school chum....)

Interspecies DNWs:

Werewolves, vampires or zombies as central characters or pivotal worldbuilding elements.

Ape- or monkeylike creatures (humanoids excepted, of course) as romantic leads.

Original Works - Religion

Group: Ancient god likes helping mortals/awkward man must win prize to afford medicine for dad (OW)

Group: Male Adventurer/Forgotten But Extremely Powerful Primordial God (OW)

Group: Male Mage-Warrior Explorer/Forgotten God of a Long Lost Shrine (OW)

Group: Revolutionary Heretic/Disillusioned Inquisitor (OW)

I'm very interested in faith, and how mortals relate to gods that are literally right there interacting with them -- especially if they are not how the mortal expected them to be, or if they are a god the mortal has lost faith in or been taught doesn't exist/shouldn't be worshiped. I'm also really interested in how gods react to worship -- is it a lot of pressure, or are they literally nourished by it? How were the two forgotten gods in these ships forgotten in the first place, and are they pleased to be disturbed?

I think the heretic/inquisitor ship lends itself to captor/captive, but the heretic could just be really gosh darn elusive/good at escaping. Is this a strictly ideological conflict (and if so, which one of them, if either, gives?) or is one or both of them actually supernaturally empowered by their faith? You could set this in Earth history, but I'd also love the SFF version!

Original Works - Rivals

Group: Experienced King/Foreign Spy Who Seduced Him For His Own Gain Then Caught Feelings (OW)

Group: Male Rebellion Leader/Male Officer of the Alien Race They Just Defeated (OW)

Group: Monster Hunter/Rival Monster Hunter they used to work with who has been Compromised (OW)

Group: Well Known Phantom Thief/Con Artist New To Business Who Steals The Thing First (OW)

Group: Wealthy young socialite who has been kidnapped a lot this week/Her favourite kidnapper (OW)

Group: Injured Male Superhero/Male Supervillain Who Saves His Life (OW)

Group: Jaded Hero/Nemesis who Worries About Them (OW)

Group: Male Civilian Secretly a Superhero/Male Supervillain (OW)

Group: Ex-teenage superhero/Supervillain they defeated (OW)

Group: Retired Male Superhero/Male Supervillain Who Keeps Seeking Him Out Because He Misses Him (OW)

Right, so, I'm very into the rivals thing. I love characters being inexorably drawn to other characters they know they should hate, "only I get to kill you", characters being forced to work together by circumstance, and the comfortable rhythm of opposition that eventually becomes a sort of affection over time. I LOVE ideological conflicts and strained loyalties, and any and all crises you want to attach to that -- character realizes their side is wrong and their personality crumbles and they run to the rival, rival provides the information that causes the epiphany because of that respect they have for each other, becoming the mask, etc. Villains who flip to the side of light but don't really change their methods are the best. Characters on opposite sides of a conflict who agree that the whole thing is bullshit and get out so they can have a life together. Characters on opposite sides of a conflict who will never budge, but consider each other colleagues (and love to gossip). Captives really messing with their captives' heads, and also captives deciding they don't want to be freed.

Original Works - Other

Group: M!Fantasy World Pirate/M!18th-cent British Naval Captain Who Sailed Through Portal (OW)

Group: Male immortal/man out of cryogenic stasis who didn't expect to see anyone he knew (OW)

Group: Fugitive Prince/Exiled Alchemist (OW)

Group: Chosen One/Former Hacker Trying To Live A Normal Life (OW)

Group: Male Politician/Time Travelling Male Agent Sent To Save His Life (OW)

This was supposed to be the miscellaneous/catch-all part of my signup, but I think there's a theme here of people who are far outside their usual contexts. Most of these are great opportunities for fish-out-of-water stories, or another thing I enjoy a lot, which is characters who are VERY GOOD at faking their way through unfamiliar situations, or just acclimate really quickly with no dissembling. "We had a romantic near-miss once but now you're here and we have a second chance" would also definitely work for more than one of these.

DNW Roundup

The fandom-specific DNWs below can also be found above, in their respective sections. Finicky, lawyerly wording generally indicates a DNW that really is that narrow. My askbox is open for clarifications and edge cases.

Also, I would like to be absolutely clear that no judgment is implied by any of these.

General DNWs:

Permanent death or depowering/loss of faculties for requested characters.

Established relationship, except for PWP. Stories that end with the requested pairing broken up. Infidelity (canonical partners can be handwaved or broken up with). Jealousy and possessiveness as major parts of a relationship dynamic.

Noncon. Dubcon without mutual attraction, and dubcon inflicted deliberately by one member of the ship on the other. (Dubcon created by a situation or third party is fine.)

Major injury or disfigurement of one member of a ship by another in the context of romance/sex. (Injuries in the context of e.g. regular old violence between enemies are fine, even if those enemies get together later.)

Enslavement of one member of a ship by the other.

Pregnancy/impregnation, any kink related to reproduction (reproduction as a worldbuilding element or as implied by characters' familial relationships is fine).

Trope AUs like omegaverse, soulmarks, etc.

Incest or incest play.

Characters under 16 having sex onscreen. Adult/teen or adult/child romance or attraction. Narrative or visual focus on attractiveness of underage characters. Age play. Adult characters who look underage.

Bodily fluid/byproduct kinks. (Non-kinky fluids are fine; during sex, incidental blood from a heroic flesh wound or normal quantities of expected sex fluids are fine; alien and machine fluids or ectoplasm are also fine in moderation.)

Focus on addiction, major real-world illness, or real-world oppression, including for kink reasons.

Dishonored DNWs:

Billie/Jessamine and Billie/Emily in the same fanwork.

Closeups of bloodfly nests or blood amber. Detailed descriptions of parasitization by insects.

DCEU DNWs:

Bruce having a passel of Robins. One Robin or other protege at a time, if any!

Onscreen Jason Todd or Joker.

Ghosts DNWs:

Requested ghost character moves on into/past the afterlife or is destroyed. Requested living character permanently dies and does not become a ghost, or does but moves on into/past the afterlife or is destroyed. (This supercedes the death DNW in my general DNWs.)

Possession sex.

"Resurrection" by means of a ghost possessing a previously conscious, living person.

Interspecies DNWs:

Werewolves, vampires or zombies as central characters or pivotal worldbuilding elements.

Apelike creatures (humanoids excepted, of course) as romantic leads.