#project: ri

[c-h-stevens]

Radiant Imperium Masterpost

A proper one this time.

The web novel I'm writing and where you can find it.

Patreon (updates Tuesdays) | Tapas (updates Tuesdays and Fridays) | ScribbleHub (updates Tuesdays and Fridays) | AO3 (updates Fridays).

He’s a nobody. He’s a tyrant’s great-grandson. He was dragged into a fight for the fate of the world. His only ally is one of his enemies. And he’s going to kill them all. For centuries, the Megarchon ruled the world with a mysterious power known as the Imperium. Now, no successor can wield it. A young man called Azul Mamani is rushed to the capital by one of the Megarchon’s elite guards. This is his only chance to find revenge. Alone and powerless, he must accept the help of a dangerous man: Vanth Umbra, King of the Dying Sun, born to protect the living from the Underworld. Vanth serves the Megarchon and can’t be trusted. At least Azul knows better than to fall in love. Meanwhile, a necromancer is after his life, dissenters conspire, civil war looms, and the world as everyone knows it is about to end.

Some things you might want to know before reading: This story is intended for an adult audience. Trauma and abuse are central parts of the story, especially (past) child abuse. Poor coping mechanisms are featured prominently. Under-negotiated BDSM is common. Suicidal ideations come up too. There’s also violence, gore, and horror elements, particularly in later arcs.

But I can promise there’s a happy ending. Eventually.

[c-h-stevens]

I might as well talk about a WIP I like to call

Radiant Imperium

Genres: Gothic fantasy romance (M/M)

Elevator pitch: A great-grandson of the local world-spanning tyrant plots to commit tyrannicide at the same time as someone plots to murder him. Good (?) thing the government-appointed Underworld watchdog is on his side (?).

Proper blurb: Azul Mamani is an unremarkable mixed-race young farmer—and also a great-grandson of the Megarchon, who holds the entire world under her oppressive rule. Secretly, he plots her downfall. Before his plans go too far, however, he’s hastily summoned to the capital. For the first time, there's no successor who can wield the Imperium, the mysterious source of the Megarchon's terrifying power. Civil war looms in the horizon.

Azul has no power and no allies—only a dangerous man known as Vanth Umbra, King of the Dying Sun, born to protect the living from the creatures of the Underworld. Sex is the one bargaining chip Azul has, so it's a good thing Vanth wants him—except he can’t be trusted, especially not when he appoints himself as Azul's protector. However, as Azul is caught between a murderous necromancer, an elite guard sworn to the Megarchon, and a dissenter faction with its own plans, binding himself to Vanth might be his only chance to survive.

Some things you might want to know before reading: This story is intended for an adult audience. Trauma and abuse are central parts of the story, especially (past) child abuse. There's also violence, gore, and horror elements, particularly on later arcs.

Here's where you can read it.

Also here.

it’s been AGES since i’ve done one of these so: writeblr! what are we working on?

reblog this with your elevator pitch (and aesthetics/moodboards if you feel like it), link your WIP intros or relevant excerpts you’d like boosted, and i’ll do my damnedest to reblog everybody who responds in the next few days.

(P.S. bonus points if you tell me your favourite thing about it)

[distorted-destiny]

[tom-is-online]

normal Worldwide Wander Minori fanart, what do you mean you're getting de ja vu?

[adhdtsukasa]

tsukasa tenma has ADHD!! except it's an actual analysis because 1. look at my url 2. i'm mentally unwell (and i started to love tsukasa mostly because i immediately recognized my ADHD traits in him). which is a thing i should probably leave for ADHD awareness month, HOWEVER!! it was my birthday yesterday and i wanted to spoil myself (i just kinda overlooked how much time writing it from scratch would take me, so i'm a bit late with it). and i reaaally don't wanna wait until november when i finally wrote it down because i'm so HYPED because i was preparing for it like what? two years? somewhere around it. and that's a LONG time.

please keep in mind that i'm no psychologist, psychiatrist nor a neurologist and while i do use some sources (cannot really confirm if they are true, though... because i forgot to write credits down... so i'm really sorry for that), most of this analysis was just based off on my personal experiences with the disorder (and i don't really have the full professional knowledge of what i struggle with i'm just a Boy). i mean, i am analyzing a character from a hatsune miku game. i think i'm already putting way too many effort than i should.

also the examples of tsukasa's behavior here are not all of the things, because i wrote down only the things i remember off from the top of my head. sorry, guys. my hyperactive ass is not sitting thru all the stories again just to get my crumbs, unfortunately.

anyways, with this a little bit unprofessional and messy introduction, let's get it started!

1. THE MAIN PART OF THIS WHOLE THING, AKA HOW THE ADHD SYMPTOMS CORRESPOND TO TSUKASA'S BEHAVIOR

i wanted to write it down in my own words, but i think the screen above has summed it up perfectly; there are some established symptoms of ADHD, but to be an ADHDer you don't have to experience them all. and this is going to explain why i'm gonna show a lot of these symptoms later, yet gonna connect only some of them with tsukasa. it's only these i have evidence for, and yet i think they're good enough to point at tsukasa and already say woah! an ADHDer!!

in short, there are three types of ADHD: hyperactive, inattentive (ADD) and combined. the combined one is the most common iirc, so that's also what i'm going to focus on today. especially since for a rep of the other types, i could say that shizuku's a rather great representation of ADD — but that's not the point of my ted talk today, so i'm not going to go into the detail about it. i'm sure some momojan or shizuku oshi would do better than me in this field, so i'm leaving it to the experts.

these are the symptoms that i managed to gather — the first two screens being about the symptoms viewed in children, the last one being about the symptoms viewed in adults. "in which one of them tsukasa belongs to?" that's a good question, because i actually don't know. calling a high schooler a child doesn't sit quite right with me, yet a freshly turned 17/18-years-old is not exactly an adult, either (although most of the symptoms i'm analyzing come from these that are viewed in adults). and while i do think tsukasa has more of the symptoms viewed in adults, we're gonna analyse them all! because i'm putting my all into this.

FORGETFULNESS

i believe there's not much left to say, as this is the most obvious one and everyone already knows that. even though it's not touched that much anymore for some reason, tsukasa's forgetfulness is his very apparent trait. it varies in severity a lot of times: from him basically forgetting both his childhood and true feelings in the main story to him, for example, forgetting his own phone and lunch (in the same day!!) in hinamatsuri. even saki in the same event, while they were arguing, called him a "big, dumb forgetter" and assumed that he forgot what happened the day he brought her the hinamatsuri dolls to hospital. while forgetting basically half of your life is not exactly normal and can be a sign of something bigger, like dissociative amnesia, his forgetting of just the ordinary things and it happening a lot definitely still fits this trait.

EXCESSIVE TALKING/PHYSICAL MOVEMENT

while this is something that you'd rather connect to emu (and for a good reason), it's not like tsukasa is completely devoid of it either; he talks a lot. he moves a lot. it's not on emu's level of hyperactivity, but it's also not "a lot" that's taken as a social norm, based on how the people around him react. he's putting the 1 in oddball 1 2, after all.

in holy night or some side stories connected to it (it might be meiko's side story? but i'm not exactly sure) it was also said that tsukasa moves in his sleep a lot to this point that his parents have to leave his christmas presents under his door instead of next to his bed.

oh, and he also talks to himself a lot. even in class, which was confirmed in chapter 6 of dazzling (or maybe even earlier, it's just the one moment that i remember). (but i'll get to this moment later on)

he says his long monologues, he strikes his poses at every occasion — and while i don't think that's the first thing you think of when you have "excessive talking/movement" in mind, for me it sure does count as it.

LITTLE OR NO SENSE OF DANGER

this point can seem rather weird, because "isn't tsukasa always riddiculed at rui's weird inventions"? well, yeah, he is, that is not a thing to deny. but he also agrees to try out most of them, if not all, if it's for the sake of the show. he's aware of what can happen, but he also doesn't back away if it means that he'll be one step closer to achieving his dream of stardom.

does it count as "little sense of danger"? well, i'm actually not sure, for me it doesn't, but maybe for someone it does. i'd say that's a rather weak point, but i wanted to include the explanation for the counterpoint of it — that's why i even mentioned it in the first place. i don't have a lot to say about this tbh.

update: oh, actually no, wait, i just remembered. remember how tsukasa in phoenix decided to not eat anything for three days just to be able to resonate with rio, while also having to do straining exercise on top of that? you certainly cannot say that's a safe thing to do, but he still went along with that in order to get the role. it makes me come to a conclusion that tsukasa actually has a sense of danger, but sometimes chooses to willingly ignore it if only it makes him get closer to fulfilling his dream. i think it's coming close enough to the little/no sense of danger to be actually considered an ADHD trait.

DIFFICULTY KEEPING QUIET

while i'm not sure if what i'm going to talk about is a difficulty keeping quiet in a traditional sense of way, it definitely counts as it, somehow: tsukasa is loud. like, really loud. and that's another obvious fact both for us and for characters in-universe, especially when thinking of tsukasa shiho's first thought is that he's kinda noisy, which can be seen in the "a friend's brother" 1koma. (and probably a lot of other cases. free shiho.)

tsukasa doesn't seem to realize that he's way louder than he should be and that him being loud is his first impression in most of the cases, though, or at least i don't remember any moment where it happens (and it's a possibility. then that's on me, i guess.). and yeah, i know what's the reason for it, obviously — he's supposed to be a comic relief character. because wansho's stories are mostly supposed to make you smile, as this is what wansho's aspiration is. however, as much as being intended to make the viewer laugh it wouldn't be, it still is a part of tsukasa's character, and a rather important one on top of that. his constant loudness is something that's definitely not considered normal by the society and could very well fit into this symptom.

and since i promised to elaborate on the mentioned before scene from dazzling chapter 6: when tsukasa talks to himself in class, it always ends up to be loud. and it already happened a few times.

(tl by tsukasa's #3 fan on youtube because i don't have proseka on my phone wah)

if it's not a difficulty keeping quiet, then i don't know what is. bro can scream up to 120dB as measured by robonene for god's sake.

IRRITABILITY/QUICK TEMPER

again, this is something that was more apparent with early game tsukasa, maybe he just got medicated. idk man. but even if it happened three, almost four years ago, it still happened, i don't make the rules. back in the early game, tsukasa was really easily losing his temper and getting annoyed, mad even — i mean, that was the whole point of the main story argument: tsukasa's first response to nene accidentally messing up their show, which was not even her fault, was to shout at her. and while this was obviously very important thing to him and being upset at this is a rather understandable reaction, taking this as far as screaming at a poor girl for not being to face the audience because of her anxiety is not something a person who can control their anger would do.

it could be also easily seen by his reaction to emu and rui's antics back in the early game, which were often stained with irritation.

another example is his hinamatsuri argument with saki, where, despite loving her so much, he still got slightly mad at her for not liking the new dolls he bought her. he started to regret his harsh words and actions soon enough, obviously, but it doesn't change the fact that it was rather easy for him to get him across.

INABILITY TO DEAL WITH STRESS

if i'm not mistaken, tsukasa has once said something along the lines of "is it anxiety? there's no way a star like me would feel anxiety" — but i cannot recall for the love of my life in which story it appeared, so i don't want to take it as a face value when i don't have a solid proof for it.

other than this vague mention of "something that's in the story but i don't remember where", i'll admit, i don't really have anything backing me up for this tbf. i mean, i guess maybe tsukasa doing his best to appear strong as a child to not worry his parents could work? because the stress of saki being in the hospital definitely was also present here, although i just see this more as a coping mechanism for his situation than a reaction to stress, so that's not a solid evidence either.

so, yeah. take this one with a grain of salt, actually.

from the symptoms that weren't listed here, i remember reading something about people with ADHD enjoying to show off more, which is certainly what tsukasa does often — and while it actually applies to me too, it wasn't on an english site so i didn't screenshot it and i cannot really find it anywhere in english... so even though i treat it just like my whole argument for the inability to deal with stress, i thought it's just worth mentioning.

however, there is obviously one more thing...

HYPERFIXATION/SPECIAL INTEREST

obviously, i'm talking about acting here: for tsukasa, acting aligns with all these criterias. it is his deep passion; it is something highly engaging for him; it is sometimes all-consuming for him; he tunes out the world around him when he thinks about how can he possibly improve his acting (see: the dazzling moment i showed earlier. yeah, i like to use it as a backing point a lot, as you can see.); and it is something that is his life-long interest.

is it his special interest or his hyperfixation, though? well, it's hard to tell...? because while according to screen two, spinterest revolves around a topic and hyperfixation revolves around an activity, so it would qualify what tsukasa feels towards acting as a hyperfixation, it's still kinda hard for me to call it so because of its length. yes, screen three clearly says that hyperfixation can last years, but they mostly revolve around shorter periods of time, after all (my longest hyperfixation was just a year long, for example). i think it's up to you to determine whether you'd call tsukasa's love for acting a hyperfixation or a special interest, but it's something from these two most certainly.

i'm also a big fan of the headcanon that tsukasa's other spinterest is kaito ww it's in no way a canon evidence (unfortunately!), but kaito's 1* side story, where tsukasa and emu are watching kaito's show and tsukasa is explaining to her why kaito's wearing a scarf somewhat implies that tsukasa knew a thing or two about kaito before the main story. and i'm all for it. colopale let tsukasa be a kaito fanboy pleaseee.

2. I REALLY LIKE ANALYZING SONGS, IF YOU CAN'T TELL

those who have already read a few of my things probably know what i love to do the most — analyzing songs!! so i wouldn't be myself if i just left tsukasa's commisions without analyzing them under the angle of neurodivergence, especially since the sole reason i became obsessed with the thought of ADHD tsukasa was that one sekahaji line (there's too much noise, so much noise and it keeps getting worse you will always be famous).

of course, remember that only the world hasn't even started yet should be taken as a canon value! producers are often given space to do whatever they want in the lyrics of the songs they are commissioned for, so they're not canonical in any way. i think it's still fun to look at their lyrics and ramble about them for a bit, though. i've already got too carried away anyways.

won't be posting photos of the lyrics since i'd hit the images limit, but you can check them yourself — all the translations i'm taking, as always, from the vocaloid lyrics wiki. (since filament fever has two tls on there, i want to clarify that i've only looked at and considered in my analysis the official english one, because it's, well, official.)

THE WORLD HASN'T EVEN STARTED YET

besides the mentioned earlier there's too much noise, so much noise and it keeps getting worse, which i think of as a representation of overstimulation (since i used to see people asking "oh but why tsukasa has something about there being too much noise in a song made out of his feelings when he's such a loud person himself". because he likes the noise he makes, not the overwhelming, overstimulating noise from the outside!!), sekahaji also has a rather good amount of quotes that could be read as something connected to neurodivergence (based on the fact that it's not supposed to be a song about this topic): the main theme of these are procrastination, which can be seen in let's cross the end of all of this, partying forever and the world hasn't even started yet line itself. the thought of the world not even starting implies that there's still a lot of time left to do something, while "partying forever" can refer to deciding to give up on doing the things you should do and going to drown in something that indulges only you and yourself for the rest of eternity. while procrastination is not counted as an official ADHD symptom, it's a trait that people with the disorder very often have (for reasons obvious).

other lines, which i couldn't entirely fit into a box of a certain symptom, are there's too much conflict, so much conflict and it keeps growing (a parallel line to the noise one, so it means something! right) and let's break the plans for a harmonious future. in my personal interpretation, they both can be viewed as your typical neurodivergent struggle in a neurotypical society — "too much conflict" refering to an internal struggle of not being completely normal, while the "harmonious future" that's going to get broken are just the social norms that are going to be broken because of an off-putting, neurodivergent behavior. something that some neurotypical people dooon't really like.

TONDEMO-WONDERZ

since i've just talked about breaking the social norms, "why?!" and "do it like this!!" aren't like you, huh? line from tondemo-wonderz is going to go first, because it revolves around the same topic. it's the same case: it's about (subconscious, not intentional) fighting what's accepted by the society by just being yourself — because you're neurodivergent, you're different.

from the other lines in tondemo-wonderz, i have only one and it's take an eraser to your memories?!, which is pretty much self explanatory. as always, a mention of forgetting something in tsukasa's commision. who would've thought.

88 SHOOTING STARS

another self explanatory line that i have written down as first: it's okay if you only remember a little part of it sometimes. another mention of tsukasa forgor™, and while it corresponds with what happened in dazzling, it's still a line mentioning forgetfulness — so it's worth mentioning.

aren't we just inevitably going around in circles? and it's okay if you take a rest for a little bit sometimes can be interpreted as another mention of procrastination and while it's not that apparent as it was with sekahaji, because going in circles can refer to something else and taking a rest sometimes is not a bad thing at all, i still wanted to mention them here. for the record.

you ought to slip and fall in panic in the final moment is connected to a symptom that i showed, yet didn't elaborate on it (because i didn't have anything to work with) — making careless mistakes. the same case, yet with another symptom goes with is this not enough yet again? is this not how it's supposed to be? couldn't we go even further than this?, which can be seen as a reflection of unability to listen to instructions. a bit of reaching with this one (like this whole part damn), but as i said earlier: for the record, i'm leaving it here. to show that i had some intense thoughts.

tbf, when i think about it now, maybe the mentioned earlier "why?!" and "do it like this!!" aren't like you [...] could very well fit this symptom too.

MR SHOWTIME

mr showtime you will always be famous, because this is a song that gave me a looot of things to work with. i was so flabbergasted when i read these lyrics for the first time. tsukasa tenma why are you like this. /aff

there are a lot of lines hinting being easily distracted, and these are basically the very first ones, too: you know what? i just can't make up my mind, it's so messed up that i can't put my thoughts together and a merry-go-round (my thought process) goes round and round are all about it. like you cannot deny it this time, if it's not about being unable to stay focused then i really don't know what is [insert the tsukasa don't look away stamp here because i love it and it's my biggest motivation to actually focus whenever i do something]. the more i mess around and waste time, the more i become hungry / and i can't handle it can be seen as about procrastination again, and even not "can be seen", it's literally being frustrated at yourself for wasting time, that's the sole outcome of a procrastination!! being bothered by feeling anxious, meanwhile, is resonating with the inability to deal with stress once again.

also jumping the gun. driving in a zigzag manner can actually connected with the little to no sense of danger. because, as far as i'm aware, driving in a zigzag manner is certainly not a safe activity. don't do it at home.

from the symptoms that i haven't yet mentioned to this point, am i taking a long way? am i making a fruitless effort? can be reflecting difficulty organizing tasks — since the poor planning of your activities can make you take a long way and can make you do a fruitless effort. then, where's the fun in taking shortcuts all the time? can be read along the lines of something coming close to extreme impatience and while a person that's extremely impatient would actually enjoy taking the shortcuts to get closer to their goal or destination, said impatience can be also connected with the desire for something interesting to happen. a task can make you impatient not because it's long, but because it's simply boring — avoiding shortcuts can make it less boring, even if it extends its duration. with this explanation, it makes the unexpectedness (unexpected program) is the best part of the show (my life) perfectly fit into this category, even though i wouldn't call this line a sign of impatience on its own.

i have some issues with i'm pathetic. i can't satisfy myself, because... at first i thought of connecting it with either mood swings or inability to deal with stress, however i'm not sure if that's really it. i'm pretty sure it connects to neurodivergence in some way, but i just can't put my finger on it, so... i'm just leaving it here for the record, once again.

oh, and there's also i got lost in the world (stage) and / the end credits rolled (the curtain fell), which also is pretty much summing up the experience of being neurodivergent in the neurotypical society. in the middle of trying to stay true to yourself and having to mask just to be accepted, it's easy to get lost — and once you do so, there's no going back. the curtain falls.

to end this part of the analysis, i'd show the lyrics from filament fever and sekai wo terasu tetrad here. i won't do this, however, and the reason for it is fairly simple — they don't give me much material to work with and i'm not really surprised, because mr showtime has succesfully sucked all of the neurodivergent coded lyrics into itself. there just won't be another song like mr showtime, i fear.

i can just say that in filament fever there is running away from the flow of time — which got me thinking of either procrastination and unability to stick to time-consuming tasks, with the former being more plausible as a potential interpretation... but that would be it.

3. NAKAYAMA IS A METAPHOR FOR NEURODIVERGENT MASKING AND IT'S THE STUPIDEST THING I'VE EVER SAID BUT YOU HAVE TO HEAR ME OUT ON THIS

listen, i know how it sounds.

i'm not actually a fan of trying to fit every thing a character does into a box of a metaphor, symbol or allegory, i really am not. i think some things should just stay as simple as they are, but this thought has been bothering me ever since i've first seen spoilers of what's happening in a story where you're the star for the very first time. i'm in no way saying it has any canonical meaning, but i just thought it would be fun to include. because maaaybe someone sees my vision.

for those who haven't seen tsukasa4 yet or want to have a recap of what has happened in it: the whole event story revolves around tsukasa trying to grasp his role (as always). wxs got recommended to shunmei-za by shousuke and went there to practice their acting skills, immediately getting thrown onto the preparation for their next performance. tsukasa, however, is not a lead this time — he got the role of a supporting character and has got basically three lines to say on stage total. since tsukasa's used to playing lead roles, he obviously has issues with grasping the role — it's hard to use method acting in regards of a character that says three sentences total and nothing more. with help of bakuno reki, one of the actors in shunmei-za, and the rest of wxs, he manages to create a portrayal of nakayama that would make him "come to life" and "be a protagonist of his own story", something that would make it easier for him to get into role, however...

he gets a little bit too carried away with his acting during the actual performance.

and this is not something that would ruin the whole play, obviously, he's just a supporting character, the less invested audience would probably forgot about his impact on the story after five minutes of his last appearance — but he still made a slip-up. he still resonated with his role, but didn't achieve the utmost perfection. he still did well acting, after all, he managed to receive praise from the director in the end... but it's still a very apparent mistake that was made.

(tl, once again, by the awesome tsukasa's #3 fan)

and that's where the nakayama masking metaphor theory (it's not even a theory but it sounds cooler this way) comes in.

nakayama is supposed to be just a man. from what we know about him, he's in his late twenties and works as an editor — and even though tsukasa makes up a whole backstory for him later on, he's still supposed to be ordinary. nothing special. he's coming nowhere near the other roles that tsukasa has played, he's not on the same level as miles, torpe and rio. and while you could possibly consider torpe and rio as rather ordinary, they still had something interesting to happen to them, the main reason why they were lead roles for their respective plays. in the tsukasa4 play, nakayama has nothing like that. he's literally just a guy, he's normal. and "normal" is a keyword here.

tsukasa did everything he could to fit into nakayama's role. he followed the script, he took the advice from a more talented and professional actor that is bakuno, he didn't do any mistakes during his preparations — and yet he still managed to mess up in the end. why?, besides of the fact that he just let himself become one with nakayama during the performance and it resulted in a supporting character outshining the lead?

if we take as a fact that tsukasa is, in fact, neurodivergent, it would make sense that he's having troubles with playing a normal person — because he's not exactly normal either. and this would very well work out as a metaphor of masking; even when you try your best, even when you mask yourself perfectly, you can still make slip-ups. you can still accidentally drop the act in middle of something that absolutely required it, or, similiar to what tsukasa did, can accidentally overdo it and end up perceived as even more weird than you'd be without masking. something something i got lost in the world and the end credits rolled. rings a bell?

and i'm not saying that tsukasa has a problem with masking, because he doesn't. he tries his best to pass as a normal member of society, but he also makes no effort in actively masking his weirdness (or else he wouldn't be a part of oddball one two). however, if you want to neurodivergent code your character, it would make sense to include a possibility of it in some way, right? especially since wxs stories' already had the theme of dealing with being perceived as weird (eg. rui's whole backstory, obviously). even if it's not affecting tsukasa directly, i think it would be cool to include something that indicates this issue's existence in his story and, in a way, his struggles.

however, as i said earlier, this is a very stupid thought and that's why i left it for the very end. i don't actually think that how tsukasa played nakayama was supposed to be a metaphor for masking, it's just a pure coincidence that it could be interpreted like that when you think about it too much.

aaand with this, we've finally come to an end!! (finally. i'm so exhausted.) i don't have anything more to say about this topic. maybe i'll retweet it with some more evidence in the future if we ever get more ADHDkasa content. for now, it would be all!

is tsukasa actually intentionally written as an ADHDer? Who Knows! there's a possibility that he is, but even if he's not, he's still one in my heart. regardless of the status of his possible neurodivergence, analyzing his behavior in this light was still very fun! and maybe i even converted someone into the ADHDkasa hell.

feel free to add something if you want to, and feel free to correct me if i got some things wrong! i still hope that even though of how messy this whole thing is written, i did tsukasa justice and didn't accidentally say too much nonsense lmao

...i hate ending analyses.

[c-h-stevens]

The thing that got me to focus on a specific project for the last year and a half, and to gather enough interest to stay focused on it for the next (at least) two years it'll take me to finish it, is working on the most urgent thing.

Not necessarily the one you want to write the most (because you can't pick that) but the one you can't go without. If you knew you only had enough time to finish one idea before dying*, which story is the one you'd absolutely pick?

*To be fair, I find these questions paralyzing. Focusing on the sense of urgency behind it without the doom-n-gloom can help finding the right answer though.

Or to be even more specific, what is the story you absolutely have to tell right now? Don't rationalize it, just go with what feels more pressing to you than anything else and cling to it like it's the last life buoy in a sinking ship. That's how I stopped getting sidetracked, at least!

In my experience, what matters is getting momentum. How much momentum you need is probably personal, but once I got invested in finishing a particular story, I stopped giving wistful looks in the rearview mirror at the other ideas, and could get something done.

Other than that, this might not apply to people with a work process wildly different from mine, but prioritizing the idea you know more about can be helpful. I find it easier to write something when I know where it's headed.

It can also help to pick whatever's easier to sell, but only to make up your mind between several things you're equally passionate about. I wouldn't really recommend writing a Greek mythology retelling or whatever just because it's trendy, unless you want to be remembered (or rather not remembered) as another bandwagon-jumping flash in the pan. However if you're trying to decide between an idea you are passionate about that's a Greek mythology retelling or whatever, and one that doesn't have much of a hook, feel free to go with the first one.

(Of course, identifying an easier sell is harder than it looks like. Sometimes it's the really oddball ideas that resonate with people. That's why this advice comes in last.)

Ok, genuine question for other writers;

I am in a place where I have so many ideas I want to work on and I love them all and I can't choose so as a result I have written nothing.

I know I'm not alone in this, so I won't insult the hellscape we live in by asking if any of you have been here, but I will be wildly optimistic and ask if and how any of you got out of this position?

[rhode-island-empire]

Little Rhody made Project SEKAI stamps (don't ask me what I was thinking I bet at least half of them are OOC for them)

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Ichika: Wicked pissah!

Saki: OMG THANK YOU!!!

Honami: Oh, please...

Shiho: Wait why me?

Minori: can't spell Minori without RI

Haruka: Never lose hope!

Airi: Jeet?

Shizuku: Awful Awfuls are life

Kohane: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

An: P.S. I hate you

Akito: Fuhgeddaboudit.

Toya: Innit great here?

Tsukasa: I'll show them all!!

Emu: Fuck you!

Nene: ...How?

Rui: Who asked you?

Kanade: What cheer?

Mafuyu: Fuck off.

Ena: Fucking Massholes...

Mizuki: Wanna cabinet?

[rirituuu]

finally got around to posting this, i was part of MEIKAcollab!!! i drew for inabakumori's "flower waiting for the wind" and kairiki bear's "NEROISM" to celebrate 💥💥 highly recommend for all meika fans 💖💜

[teafiend]

[ree-duh]

I like really don’t want to be gunning for toshiro because the point of that argument is to show both parties problems so then they are able to bond and become closer but people focusing so much on the apparent malicious ableism (??) of toshiro because for some reason everyone has decided he’s neurotypical and couldn’t possibly have his own issues with communication without addressing the fact that Laios while not intentionally did micro aggressions against toshiro ?? Laios and his struggles with awareness of subtle social queues are completely valid but we shouldn’t pretend like he didn’t also exhibit behaviours that need to be addressed

[getsuuna]

I think I may yume Ri Kusuriuri

however, unlike the fandom wiki says, I don't interpret him as being "apparently a pervert" (and I also hc him to be demi),,,

plus I'm acespec and quite repulsed, is it fine if in my own AU I hc Kusuriuri to have reasons tied to vague freaky curiosity about sexuality and not just "oh lol he's inherently just a horny pervert"??? [not to mention you can be freaky and asexual/acespec which would also be fine!!] I personally interpreted it that way and I kind of prefer it to be that way for me to actually yume him😭

overall Mononoke is feminist imo so to me it doesn't make sense to see him as a nasty man idk

I just wanna know if it's fine to yume him in that way or if I have to uncomfortably move to another character 😞

edit:

I know I shouldn't even be asking,, it's my AU and my selfship I can pretty much do what I want, but this topic is so delicate to me so for some reason I would like to know what others think 💔

[c-h-stevens]

For your consideration as this fine Pride month winds down, a long-ass gay-ass web serial by a trans writer who could really use some extra cash (see below).

Start reading it right now (did I mention it's free? It's totally free)

You may enjoy Radiant Imperium if you like:

Hurt/comfort

Kinky MLM couples trying not to be cockblocked by the plot

Plotty stories with fantasy politics and court intrigue

Stories about trauma and abuse and eventual recovery

Abuse survivors dealing with their shit in complicated, messy ways

Food porn

Under-powered MCs getting by with their wits

LIs cheerfully waltzing up and down the line between protective and possessive

Forced proximity feat. weird psychic connections

Strange creatures from Beyond

New chapters (around 5k on average) every week. Unless I'm evicted (again, see below)

If you do check my story out and like it, though, please consider supporting me on Patreon. I'm disabled and don't earn enough to eat and pay rent at the same time; in fact, I'm about to be evicted.

Being able to make an income from my writing would be an incredible help to me. If things go well enough, I'll stop stressing over whether I'll be able to survive past this month, and not only that! I will be able to grow my business, and have more to give back to my supporters--Early Access chapters three weeks early, brand-new bonus chapters, audiobooks, and so on.

By the way, Patreon now bills you again 30 days later, not at the beginning of the next month. That means I can keep reminding you to sign up all month round. Neat, isn't it?

Blurb and content notes 👇

Azul Mamani is just a young mixed-race farmer who also happens to be a great-grandson of the Megarchon, the tyrant ruling the entire world. And secretly plotting her downfall. Before his plans go too far, however, he’s hastily summoned to the capital. For the first time, there's no successor who can wield the Imperium, the mysterious source of the Megarchon's terrifying power. Civil war looms in the horizon. Azul has no power and no allies—only a dangerous man known as Vanth Umbra, King of the Dying Sun, born to protect the living from the creatures of the Underworld. Sex is the one bargaining chip Azul has, so it's a good thing Vanth wants him—except he can’t be trusted, especially not when he appoints himself as Azul's protector. However, as Azul is caught between a murderous necromancer, an elite guard sworn to the Megarchon, and a dissenter faction with its own plans, binding himself to Vanth might be his only chance to survive.

Some things you might want to know before reading: This story is intended for an adult audience. Trauma and abuse are central parts of the story, especially (past) child abuse. Poor coping mechanisms are featured prominently. Under-negotiated BDSM is common. Suicidal ideations come up too. There's also violence, gore, and horror elements, particularly in later arcs.

But I can promise there's a happy ending. Eventually.

[littleprincerianne]

most of my feed since i came back has been padded regression discourse and yes everything i've read so far is correct (it isn't gross and if anything the people who view it solely as a beep beep inappropriate thing beep beep instrument/prop are the ones who can be perceived as gross for that being one of (if not the sole thing) they associate nappies with when it's mostly used for uses that aren't beep beep inappropriate thing beep beep... nor is it even the FIRST thing it was ever used for...)

but quite frankly my biggest question ever has always been how is "diaps" pronounced? like... dips i get it it's dips it's said how it's spelled... but diaps? is it like dah yuhp, deeh uhp, deeh yahp, dah yahp... yes, this is the only thing i'm contributing to this discourse cuz idk much about utilising nappies in regression yet so i feel like i can't speak on the matter in as deep and in-depth of a way which is what this discourse warrants

[kurohebi-pseudohuman]

hibaru fans when "profit" is mentioned

[alien-burst]

Is it possible to feel nostalgic towards something that happened 2 months ago? Well, maybe yes, maybe no, but Team Present won in my heart and thats all that matters

[adhdtsukasa]

as a firm transmasc tsukasa truther. i like to believe that his first transmasc awakening was seiichi amami and his second transmasc awakening was kaito but he was completely oblivious that it was, in fact, trans awakening until last year of middle school

tsukasa age 7, staring at seiichi amami's performance: wow he's so cool i wish i was just like him :) (because i want to be a star and make saki smile, obviously)

tsukasa age 9, after kaito v3 has released: wow he's so cool i wish i was just like him :) (because he's my favorite vocaloid and a big inspiration for me, obviously)

tsukasa age 14 after he got hit by the realization that "i wish i was just like him" is actually on a bit more personal level: