#pip writes things

[tookishcombeferre]

les amis take it to a vote: enjolras will not be a tyrant's caged songbird, combeferre decides they are beyond teaching, courfeyrac wants to watch hannah gadsby reruns, joly needs to update his public health tiktoks, lesgles will make cameos in the background, feuilly wasn't going to perform that night anyway, jehan can't imagine they'll understand the lyrics, grantaire's favorite protest is doing nothing. for the first time, gavroche decides his theater will be down. marius will not become disabled for those who refuse to see his fellows as human. cosette cannot sing for a man who cannot see humanity in those like her father. fantine refuses to even look at him. he reminds her of all that tholomyès was. eponine cannot bear her soul to the soulless. and, even the thenardiers board up their inn. valjean wars with the choice. yet, in the end, he cannot see anyone as beyond redemption. javert also decides to stand singing, and not for the reason anyone thinks, singing shall be an act of private rebellion in the only way he knows how. The Characters of Les Mis on Singing for Tyrants - p. s. shuller

Context: So, about two weeks ago, a dozen cast members of the touring performance of Les Miserables backed out of performing for Trump at the Kennedy Center. I found that fascinating as both an actor and someone who has written a handful of papers on the novel.

So, I decided to consider how, not the actors, but the characters would feel about performing, and this is what I came up with.

[myosotis--sylvatica]

Every single time I reread A Study in Scarlet I am startled when halfway through it becomes deeply inaccurate america fanfiction. Like Holmes reveals the murderer and immediately the next chapter is waxing poetic about the harsh, barren landscape of the western (??) US.

One cannot truly forget the Murder Mormons, but I always put it out of my mind for long enough that the switch jumpscares me.

[tookishcombeferre]

I wrote an entire forward at the beginning of my poetry book specifically stating that AI didn’t write my book because I’m autistic and fully expected people to believe that AI wrote my poetry because I’m autistic.

[tookishcombeferre]

StF: Season 4: Rewrite - Actual Plot

Okay, so, in my previous post, I talked about the kind of inspirations for the rewrite. And, the very basic sketch of where the new plot would start.

So, basically, after a 2 part extension of "Through the Looking Back Glass" establishing Cedric's heart as freezing in a sort of hybrid version of Anna's curse in Frozen, but with perhaps some nods to the original myth from "The Snow Queen."

I think the plot of the season is about the "resolution:"

This would have been a tall ask because for most of the "modern" princesses I think the VA's reprised their roles, but how cool would it have been to get Anna and Elsa popping out of the Amulet to help Calista and Sofia with the episode following the discovery? Badass. That would have been badass is what that would have been.

I'd love to see an episode with Nettle because of how similar that would be to "The Snow Queen" fairy tale because the witch in that story had talking flowers. You might as well even just keep the exact same filler episode. That whole excursion of Gerda's was a dead end anyway. (I like that episode actually. It's one of the few in Season 4 I like.)

However, I'd like to see the "guides" from "The Snow Queen" written into the resolution of the plot.

So, I think you have a couple of different things woven together:

Episodes of Sofia learning bits and pieces of Cedric's life at Hexley from him as they're trying to solve the curse - so you find out bits and pieces of his history with bullying, his history with Grimtirx, maybe some stories about him and young Greylock, etc.

In these episodes, we might get some Baileywick and/ or Winifred highlights.

Filler side quests that turn up dead ends. (Again, I like the idea of keeping Miss Nettle's episode exactly as it is. I like the idea of even keeping in Tilly's Wedding episode.)

Actual quests that lead to clues to fix things.

So, like I mentioned, there are the "guides" from "The Snow Queen" fairy tale - crow, prince & princess, thief, and a handful of others. And, I think there's a few ways you could put those in the story in imaginative ways.

Another princess Sofia helps through the Storykeeping or through her Amulet ends up gives a tip on how to fix something.

A thief she helps in the village gives her something that helps.

Ect.

Yet, as things are moving in a direction, and as everyone is distracted, this gives Morgana, or someone else in the Order of the Wand, a chance to break Grimtrix out.

And, of course, Grimtrix knew this was a possibility. He set this up. Either he was going to get his way because Cedric was actually set on villany OR Cedric would blame himself and fall apart and Grimtrix could escape.

Now. Personally. I love the idea of Wormwood acting as the "crow-guide" in the fairytale even though he's a raven. But, I could also see him leaving to join Grimtrix and Morgana during the breakout if you wanted to play him as evil.

Episode following the escape, I think, has to be *about* Grimtrix. We need a Grimtrix origin story episode.

Now, you could play this *a bunch* of different ways - I am personally in favor of it being a StoryKeeper episode because I love the idea of us getting a book approximately mid-season setting up where things are going in the finale.

I also love the idea of this being the episode where Sofia "builds her team."

Instead of just Amber sneaking off with her, we know James has gone on a StoryKeeping mission with Sofia before. So, he just kind of tags along by accident again. But, I think, Sofia and Calista are just spending more time together in general, so Calista sees the blue glow. Amber is sneaking through the walls like she did in the Mystic Isles episode.

All of them end up together to receive the story of Grimtrix being garbage, and they end up doing some kind of crazy magical/non-magical duel at Hexley Hall. (Come on! SO COOL!)

Obviously, they are children. Grimtrix and his goons are Master sorcerers. They retreat and run, and the episode ends with them ... I don't know ... actually getting help from the competent adults in their lives?

The episodes following that are the kids and parents coming together to beat Grimtrix.

Maybe Greylock turncoats and we see him fighting with Magnus for good instead of bad at this point as a reformed character?

I'd insert another episode near the end here focusing on Cordelia and Cedric with help from Calista and Sofia. Kind of like a Looking Back Glass remix?

I'd love it centered on something like this. Maybe focusing on how they were driven apart?

I always imagine that's how it worked. They were sort of wedged apart by circumstance. One of them was made to believe that appearance and perfection was everything. The other was forced to believe they were nothing more than an eternal screw up. (No, I don't really have this one "staged" because there would be more lyric changes to this one. This is more based on *vibes.*)

If we've redeemed Greylock, I'd add an episode with him in it as well. Maybe we get some James and Zandar as foils? Or Sofia and Jade? Either could be fun.

Anyway, I'm assuming in the absence of actually figuring out how to fix things that we've stabilized our friend but not actually *fixed* anything. We do live in a universe with like a significant amount of magic unlike in Frozen. So, I am assuming a great many things are possible.

So, as we're like 5-7 episodes out of the finale, I think Grimtrix shows up and basically forces things forward.

Whether that's by threatening Sofia or someone else and making Cedric do more than he's physically capable of in his current state, or something else, I don't know, but Grimtrix absconds to the Mystic Isles somehow, Cedric is weakened further, and everyone has to figure out how to get to the Isles using the clues given by the "guides."

Bonus points for Roland trying to do something and not being fast enough.

In the last few episodes of the season, you get Cordelia, Roland, Miranda, Tilly, (maybe Baileywick and Greylock because they're awesome and I love them both,) Winifred, Goodwyn, Cedric, Sofia, Amber, James, and Calista going to the Mystic Isles to chase down Grimtrix, break the curse for good, and fix all the crap that has been allowed to go on forever.

In those episodes, maybe we get to run into some of The Protectors and the other characters in the Mystic Isles (Skye, the Giants, etc.) who help them out to fight Grimtrix and the other Members of the Order of the Wand that are still loyal.

I think being in a land of pure magic does really help to kind of again stabilize, but not solve the freezing problem.

So, the other characters that are not Cordelia and Cedric (maybe a handful of others) go on hunting Grimtrix throughout the Isles and solving the problems he leaves leading into the finale alongside The Protectors. Maybe, Sofia and various friends gain some cool magic items along the way for their trouble.

Then, in the finale, we find that (kinda like Prisma did in her episode?) Grimtrix wants to suck the magic out of all the Isles to use for himself to become the most powerful sorcerer who ever lived so he can basically take over everything and become like the supreme Darth Vader Overlord of the Universe.

He probably gets some power (enough to lock up The Protectors)

But, then, we get our Avengers crew going and they try to take him out. Kinda works for a while.

Some nice shots of the different characters *working together* because, yes, Sofia is amazing and she's our MC but she needs HELP.

However, I think the thing that finishes Grimtrix off is kind of like an homage to the end of Frozen. It looks like everyone is beat but when Grimtrix has his wand up, Cedric is mostly frozen solid, and then he pops up to take the final shot. He freezes and it rebounds off of him. Grimtrix takes his own curse, and boom.

Zoom out.

Fireworks.

Cinema.

Zoom back in.

Everyone is fine.

Order starts to scatter, but some Mystic Isles creatures grab them.

Yet, then we get a zoom back on the frozen Cedric.

One of my favorite moments in "The Snow Queen" is when it describes Kay's "sister" crying onto his chest so that it penetrates his heart and removes the ice before she sings to him.

Can we get that? I want *that.*

Let's keep the moment for a second. Have Cordelia run, and can we get that moment? Like, seriously, it would be so pretty.

He healed her darnit! Let her start healing him. Please!

However, as that's happening, I'd love to see both Calista and Sofia kind of like honing in together.

As Cedric thaws, all three of them are surrounding him.

Group hug.

Protectors arrest The Order.

Everyone goes home.

THEN WE GET THE GRADUATION so we don't have to have everything feel so darn rushed.

Fade out on the party where everyone is happy and the plot of Season 4 actually makes SENSE!

The end.

Before I end this post, I wanted to thank @shychick-52 for the tags in the incredible theory posts. It was this post combined with listening to WAY too much Frozen: The Musical that inspired me to actually type this out.

So, yeah. Hope you enjoyed this.

Do I actually think this would work?

No clue.

Plot wise, does this make WAY more sense to me than most of S4?

Yes. Yes it does.

Part 1| Part 2|

[evermorepeyton]

i didnt even know what to screenshot from this chapter (it’s different from the others so im sorry, but i felt it was important to the story)

anyway, chapter 14 of my dnp F1 au fic is up 🏎️🏎️🏎️🤍🤍🤍✨

[tookishcombeferre]

I (almost always) check my fics to make sure they read well both on the computer and on mobile. If a character goes on an rant that looks really, really obscenely terrible on mobile (Alphys), it was on purpose.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS

WHO IS USING THIS

AN APP??? THEY HAVE A FUNCTIONING WEBSITE

THE LAST FUNCTIONING WEBSITE

[pastafossa]

Internet: so there's a MARVEL TAROT DECK COMING SOON Me: YESSSS, so can I see a lil of the inside before pre-ordering? Internet: ...it's a MARVEL TAROT DECK Me: you mean... I can't even see inside? What type of art is it? Internet: it's a MARVEL TAROT DECK Me: that answers nothing Internet: all you need to know is it's a MARVEL TAROT DECK Me: do you have ANYTHING to say besides 'it's a marvel tarot deck'? Internet: ...it's a- Me: just sit down, jfc

[outsiderempire]

yo, idek where im taking this chapter yet but i am loving the progression thus far.

[tookishcombeferre]

I can't tell you how many iterations of the "how the story is told" I've done of my novels before I write them.

I started with the concept of a series of books when I was SEVENTEEN. I re-conceptualized the ENTIRE SERIES when I turned TWENTY. I am now TWENTY-NINE.

I have three of four books OUTLINED. I have SOME of the scenes in those three books drafted.

I have RE-OUTLINED ONE. BOOK. ONE. BOOK! about FOUR times in the last NINE years. It has changed format, narrator, and style THREE times before I even started DRAFTING and OUTLINING it!

The series went from a trilogy to a quartet this past year due to an unforeseen plot hole. The order in which the books appear has been changed MULTIPLE times for *reasons.*

Each book in the series has its own unique narrative style and technique. I've done *endless* hours of research on things ranging from American government and politics to the French sewer system (Thanks Victor Hugo for being a bro) to the punk movement of the late 70s (think like David Bowie and RHPS), and, my current bing, queer trans movements from the 70s to now. (The last two are kinda linked up a little.)

[I promise this is somehow relevant to a dystopian novel.]

But, like, there's a reason this has taken nine *real* years of work. The amount of research to make this whole thing reasonably realistic has been INTENSE! Besides that, dystopias need a *direction.* It took me at least three or four years to figure out which direction I wanted it to go. Because, as much as you sometimes want to write the book to end all books, you can't write everything. There's a lot of representation in the books of a lot of different groups, but I needed to figure out who my audience was going to be and what I was really trying to say before I could write the story effectively.

That, that right there, is something AI cannot do! That's what we mean when we say "the WORK is everything." Writing is WORK. It's reflecting on your life and figuring out how to translate that into either non-fiction or crafting fiction that explains something about what you've learned by living your life.

Like, I suppose, someday, someone could program the ins and outs of crafting styles into a computer. But, the heart of choice would never be in it. To a computer, everything is a numbers game.

To me, it's a heart thing.

This plot point needs to happen because the audience needs to know that this object is safe. This conversation needs to happen because it's meaningful to both characters. This character needs to attend this event because it would bring them catharsis. This event needs to be written in this way as a prologue because it makes more sense and sets up something for the readers later to help with cross referencing AND because it's going to feel more poignant.

"The WORK is everything!"

The allure of AI entices those people who fetishize ideas but dismiss the work. They're the people who tell writers, "I'll give you the idea, then you write it, and we'll split the profits." For them, the vision is everything, and the work is just an annoying obstacle. But the WORK is everything. The work is how a thing happens, where it's made, where skill is put to work. AI in creativity is for the people who have no skill, no work, no effort, no ethic. They just want to push a button.

– Chuck Wendig

[lumiidragon]

Pip, the horrible alien boy.

Pip is new to Skool and due to their shared interest in ghosts, cryptids, and aliens, he and Dib end up becoming good friends. The two end up joining forces to stop Zim, but in a terrible event after breaking into Zim's secret base, an accident gone wrong leaves a hideous side-effect for Pip: being turned into an irken.

Stuck between trying to keep his secret with the help of Dib or having to rely on his new enemy Zim for possible help to be turned back, Pip is struggling to ensure his future. He also likes writing stuff in his journal. Sweet, sweet journal.

[pipperoo]

and the wip i claimed i had no time for has grown to 5.5k words and it’s still not done yet

[tookishcombeferre]

This is the first time you have ever been called "son."

From the moment of your birth, it has been a world of pink blankets, long skirts, and braided hair that you have never had any choice in.

When you fled, you took so little with you except the hope of becoming a scholar. The megar education you scraped together with hours you had in the last light of the setting sun to study and memorize spells.

You had so hoped to join a bard or wizard's college someday to study something of use. You wanted to learn things. You wanted to add things to the world. You wanted to expand the knowledge that existed, and you wanted to create. You wanted to make wards so powerful that no one could be harmed as you had been harmed again.

Yet, no one ever protected you.

You were always something invisible and and unseen.

So, when you were cast away? It was almost a blessing.

You stopped at the outskirts of town and shore off your hair.

The next town over, you traded in your skirt for a pair of worn breeches.

Then, you walked mile after mile after mile until you could walk no further.

You would become a hermit. You would study. You would learn. Even if you taught yourself on a mountain top like the First Wizards to ever learn magic. You would learn.

You stumbled upon this place.

You did not know her.

But, the Goddess had a kind face in her cracked statue.

Her eyes were warm, like the grandmother who once said she knew everything. The one who let you climb trees and mended your stockings before anyone saw the tatters.

So, last night, you took her in your heart as your mother, like the grandmother you once knew.

And, here she is, and she calls you "her son."

You lay your chin her outstretched hand, and she holds your face and looks in your eyes.

Her face is home. She smells like fresh washed linens and lilacs. She is the light of the dawn just after the darkest hour of night.

She drops your chin, and she allows you to come up to her shoulder, and you are weeping because these are new words spoken over you in a voice that is so soft and unlike anything you have heard before.

It is the voice of a mother who is holding her infant for the first time. A little dry with the rasp of dehydration, but so loving and warm.

There is a sudden realization, as she draws you in, that home is her arms.

You would do anything for her. You would move the sun, moon, and stars for her. You would give anything for this Goddess if she asked.

"My son, what would make you happy? For no one has come to worship here for a long time, and you have made me very happy by being so sincere in your prayer?" She says, stroking your hair gently.

"To create new knowledge in the world. I want to study, to know, and to protect. I want to do something with my life." You reply.

She laughs lightly as she draws you to look at her.

"So, it shall be." She replies.

And, she kisses your forehead and hands you an empty journal.

"For your spells, so that I may know them. Someone must watch over you. It is a harsh world out there for you and yours. If you meet them, send them to me. For, I want to love all the hidden ones." She replies.

Being a paladin and a scholar was never part of your plans, but it suits you. She is your mother. You do not want to disappoint her.

She is the first one to ever call you her "son."

Cast out by your family, disowned by your mom, you are alone in the world. You stumble into the abandoned temple of a Goddess and in your heart, adopt her as your mother. You wake up the next morning to her leaning over you. "Welcome home, my son."

[someonedefinitely]

that one half finished post-agad fic rotting in my google docs in which pip and Ravi finally met again

[little-pup-pip]

Hi there! I just wanted to ask, do you take character themed moodboard requests?:0

Yes I do!! They're all throughout my three general request links and I have an entirely different link for character caregivers!

[pipsqueakparker]

i'm planning to write/post some short fics/drabbles throughout october (using the hellatober promtps)

just wanted to share a bit from one of the 3 i've written so far

i plan to write more than just huskerdust, but so far they are the most active ones in my head

[tookishcombeferre]

I do really like this dialogue a lot. I could see a version of Wormwood that thought Cedric was playing along with what Roland wanted. I can't remember who mentioned it but dialogue is a strong point of yours.

I have my own headcanons about Wormwood and Cedric's conversations post-Day of the Sorcerers that are based more in my own lore and headcanons that I've developed. These are completely of my own creation, but I do like them.

That said, this conversation is, probably, far more canonically based than mine. I just like to have fun with the possibilities of Wormwood having more complex motivations and ulterior motives because I like him and his character. XD

However, I do agree Cedric backing out of their plan on the Day of the Sorcerers caused them to argue though. This was the start of the rift.

For folks who've read the ending of "Someone To Fall Back On" and "There's Such a Fine Line Between a Good Man and a Bad" you know what they argued about in my variation of the telling. But, they definitely argued.

I imagine after the magic show at the end of 'Day of the Sorcerers', when Cedric and Wormwood went back to the tower, Wormwood ranted to Cedric about what an idiot he was to throw everything away when they were so close.

And then Wormwood could have been like (desperate now) "We can still salvage this, lie low for awhile, let Roland think you've changed, and then when he lets his guard down-"

Cedric: NO, Wormy. It's over! I refuse to go back to the man I was! I refuse to betray Sofia and her family again! How could I even consider it after that dear girl granted me her forgiveness when I didn't deserve it?

Wormwood: So, that display of groveling before the king- you were serious?? It wasn't an act? Just like that, you're actually giving up on everything we always planned and worked so hard for??

Cedric: Would you rather have us thrown in the dungeon and banished from the kingdom? Because if you recall-

Wormwood: That was only because you stupidly didn't freeze Little Miss Goody-Goody when you should have! Not only that, but you let her take your wand and destroy the Medusa Stone, freeing her family! And then, just when I thought you were going to rectify your foolish moment of weakness when you cleverly arranged for us to escape the dungeon- just as I started to have some hope for you again- you blew our last chance by freezing GRIMTRIX instead of Sofia... and after he froze the rest of the royal family for you, offering you Enchancia on a silver platter once again!

Cedric: ENOUGH, Wormwood! I have made up my mind for good! I've finally decided what I need, what's truly important in my life!

And I imagine things were strained between them ever since, all the way up until Wormwood's betrayal in 'In Cedric We Trust'.

@mushroomsie224 @majoresca @cedricthegreatlybeloved @cedric-my-beloved @bettathanyou @fantadym @sweetmariihs2 @tookishcombeferre