#smth like a story. but our story

[noxtivagus]

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[rui-drawsbox]

comm-comic for @fidorance! accepted the request to see if i should make it another option for comms but i am nOt doing stuff like this again sorry i dont enjoy it enough to do it for other people besides me ajdkjfjsa

[purpleshadow-star]

Pic context: Talking about the exy stadium at USC considering the fact that USC is a real school

I love how Nora just invents things in order to avoid complications with real-life things.

Like, using USC's football stadium as the exy stadium too would take a lot of work to figure out how that would be possible. Solution: invent a new stadium!

Having the characters play a real sport that already exists would mean looking into all the rules and regulations and history, etc, and there could be multiple elements of the sport that work against the plot of the story or complicate it in some way. Solution: invent a new sport!

I mean, it gives her full creative control over what happens in the story, and we as readers get to learn about a cool new thing without feeling the need to fact-check every element. Tbh, it makes so much sense to me.

Like, go off! Make stuff up! It's your world. We're just reading and enjoying and becoming obsessed with it!!!

[cursed-coat-of-homosexuality]

The fact that A League of Their Own isn't even trending rn is honestly the worst. We lost so much but it seems like no one cares. Queer media just took a huge punch to the gut in the middle of a crowded street and y'all are just passing by.

What the hell guys, we have to DO something. Go rb posts, post your own stuff, rewatch the damn thing, anything except silence. It isn't that hard, and it will do you and the community way more good than just quiet disappointment.

Things can't stay like this, we can't let it, not again.

[even-disco-baby]

YOU — “No. There is still a chance.”

DOLORES DEI — “You think so?” Her voice is weary.

EMPATHY — Everything about her is weary. She is the Innocence of weariness, of heroically borne suffering.

CONCEPTUALIZATION — That is the picture you have painted for yourself, at any rate.

YOU — “You looked back. That’s the memory, the moment, that I can’t stop returning to. You looked back. I had a chance, for just that moment…”

DOLORES DEI — She meets your eye, gaze still forever cast back over her shoulder. Time stops. The stars are stilled, the ocean silent. There is *nothing* beyond this memory. Nothing at all. All of infinity is contained in this single moment when anything and everything was possible.

“Oh, Harry…” She sighs, soft as eiderdown. “We never had any chance.”

And just like that, the wave of time collapses under its own weight, obliterating everything. This moment was six years ago. She is gone from here. Gone, gone…

PAIN THRESHOLD — You cannot leave. There was nothing outside of this moment, and now there is nothing at all. It’s all gone. There is no point. I’m sorry. I can’t do this any longer.

VOLITION — Please, don’t say that…

“Okay. Well, fuck me, then.”

“How would *you* know?! You gave up! You didn’t even try!”

“We *must* have had a chance, at some point… Doesn’t everyone get a chance, if nothing more?”

“How could you say that…?”

DOLORES DEI — “Because it’s true,” she says, matter-of-fact. “There is no moment in time that you can turn back to, no branching paths, no infinity. There is only what happened. I looked back… and then away.” She closes her eyes, turning her back to you.

“The moment ended. *We* ended. That is all.”

SHIVERS — A wave crashes against an unseen shore, ocean spray tickling the back of your neck. You shiver, but no one shivers with you. You are alone in this intersection. Why are you here?

“Why can’t *I* end?! Why can’t this all just stop? Please, make it stop…”

“Ended? I’ve barely even started! I got a chance to start completely over as somebody new! I don’t need you anymore! You’re just dead weight to me now.”

“No. That wasn’t the real ending. We’re a part of something so much bigger than this intersection, telling a story that encapsulates all of history! There’s *more* to this, it *means* something.”

“Then… What am I supposed to do now…?”

DOLORES DEI — “No, Harry.” She turns back to you again now, and she looks… sad.

“We were not metaphors. We were people. Our narrative was not intelligently designed. It simply followed the patterns of history, because those are the only patterns we *know.* We tried to create something new, but we failed. There is no narrative reward for our failure, no satisfactory ending. There is only the immutable past and the unknowable future.”

RHETORIC — There is no assurance of what is good or deserved or what may bring relief. There is no assurance of punishment, either. There is no assurance of anything. Not even of a future. I don’t know what to say to make this bearable.

VOLITION — Even so… As long as you live, *something* is promised. Can you live with that?

I can’t, I just can’t do this anymore…

I can. It’s enough.

I don’t know. I just don’t know.

I can at least try for a little longer…

VOLITION — That’s all I ask. That’s enough.

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

the thing with doctor who i think is that it gets better the more you know. maybe this is true of all writing but i only know doctor who so we'll focus on that. but i think it gets better the more you know this is why my fic is not very good. i dont know many things. i think if you have a background in like, just any field you can use you can make your doctor who stories more interesting. like linguistics maths physics and music are things that come to mind for me that i would like to know to make my doctor who stories more interesting but i think it can work with, like, almost anything. biology stuff also works well adds a lot. sociology stuff history. if you know how to sew really well or youve worked in meat factories. just, if you have deep knowledge about something this will enrich your doctor who stories (again, might be true for literally every writing)

but also things you can know that are just lived and not books. like i said with that post about different countries' doctor whos, every country would bring its own history and values and perspective to the stories. but also like for example the class stuff or the queer stuff you see with rtds stories like anything a writer Knows will make their stories more interesting

and thats why doctor who could literally be so good If They Diversified Their Fucking Staff. in every sense of the word. you need disabled people, trans people, racialised people, people with different religions but you need people who know other things than writing too! which i get is difficult because theyre mostly working in their fields and not writing but like there are writers who are not or have not only ever just been writers. or just get writers with some weird fucking hobbies!

even in the most basic way even if you keep your entire show white christian able-bodied man, if you have more of those you will have better stories. it will still suck! but like, less than if you only have 1 guy writing right? thats not a novel concept artists know this writers know this thats why they work together. and i get that making tv is very complex and theres a lot of interests and a lot of choices being made that arent even to do with the stories but i find it so frustrating to think about how good doctor who could be if they let other people in to put their knowledge and their perspective in the stories

[caluupin]

neuvi is meeting his peepaw rn

[definitelynotshouting]

okay hello hi here to shout again because I have ROTATING the hunger lore for DAYS

ECOSYSTEMSSSSS!!! LETS GOOOO!!! did I do well in biology? No!!! I did not :D but ecosystems I know bby!!! MOONS AND STARS ABOVE I love the way it's all connected to like this huge ecosystem and the Watchers being almost gone, the Seekers being completely gone, and rhe Listeners relatively new!! Like?? That's so extremely clever and fascinating to me, and I love the way things are out of balance now bc!!! Yea!!! That's how ecosystems be!!

And also!!! It opens all these new thoughts!!! Like, I can't remember exactly if you said WHY the Watchers decided to take Grian, but if you didn't then like!!!! It opens up these possibilities of the Watchers trying to build back their population, which opens even MORE doors like "are they trying this with other players or was Grian the first/last?" And "would building their population out of Players actually help if Player-Watchers are different?" LIKE IM MEANT TO BE DOING SCHOOLWORK BUT I AM ROTATING

(and also. Love the way Grian became a Watcher. Can't remember if you specified the why (will go back and look) or if you're keeping it secret for now, but!! I love considering the ways populations adapt and survive to great loss and near extinction. It's very different from my own lore (living weapon Grian. Watchers took him to be a soldier bc Watchers and Listeners can't harm each other) so it's so fun to just think about and!!! Yeah!!! That's all I got!!!

Once again :D love your au <3 love your world building and your writing!! Was going to just send the one ask, but I cannot stop rotating your au!!! :D

-Wren

AAAAAA thank you so much!!!! :D im really pleased that everyone likes the ecosystem stuff-- ive been kinda noodling on it for a while because ecosystems are just so neat to me and it made a lot of sense to develop one when i decided Watchers were parasitic in this verse!!!!

I think ive only mentioned this offhand once or twice, but youve absolutely nailed the entire reason the Watchers took Grian-- they're trying to rebuild their population. Grian was essentially the beginning of an experiment to see if this was a suitable way to do that!!!

Actually lemme dive into that real fast, because i dont think i actually have before, at least not publicly. Something to note about Watcher life cycles is that they take comparatively a LONG time. Specifically, Watcher larvae take around a year to incubate within their hosts, and then once they "hatch" (altho "emerge" might be a better word for it) the juveniles take far longer to grow up and teach. And because these things are basically made out of wet tissue paper, theyve got a pretty high mortality rate.

So to get around that, and to try and get around the fact that juveniles often die because they dont know how to feed properly yet and often overextend themselves, why not try and copy the memory code of something fully grown and sentient and just... transfer it to a larva, so its easier to teach?? I feel like it kinda highlights the desperation the Watchers are feeling, that they'd go for this kind of wild experimentation, but it did technically work!!!

They just uh. Didnt account for the insane trauma that would cause, because to them Players are typically just viewed as food sources. Very orange and blue morality, in terms of their value systems compared to Players'.

Grian demonstrated to them that while its possible to rebuild this way on a technical level, its not actually feasible socially speaking. Grian ran from them because of the trauma they inflicted, and that sorta defeats the purpose of Watcherificating a Player so they can add to the community's population 💀💀💀💀 so yeah i'd say Grian is probably both the first and last experiment of his kind, if only because its just not reasonable to continue if your new Watchers are going to escape containment and flee to the ends of the universe every single time you make one /lh

I really love your concept with Watcher!Grian being a weapon, thats INSANELY neat holy shit!!!! Im feeling Things™ about that, i would absolutely love to hear more if you decide you want to tell me!!! It sounds like youve got some really cool symbolism in your lore, and i live for that shit >:]

Skdnwjfnmej anyway theres my own insane ramble to match your deeply flattering compliments, seriously thank you im so astonished people love this stuff so much, it makes me very very happy to know other people are spinning my concepts around in their heads :D feel free to send as many asks as you want!! I always love chatting with people :]

[soup-scope]

tiktok users driving me insane pt.2 ig

so i’ve seen this one take that’s been clogging up my feed on tiktok lately so imma expose my thoughts about it here because i care about my safety

“erik has a problem with lazy writing because his problematic characters are still alive”

characters like alexis, kody, and quinn^^

what i think these people doing fully understand about Erik’s job, is that it’s a JOB. he has to keep this series going as long as possible or else he will not be getting *MONEY* from it. does it suck that he’s going to have to drag plotlines a bit? yes. but is it also lazy writing? no.

if he solved the quinn problem next fucking week, that could’ve been months of income lost from videos like talking about quinn or planning what to do with him in general.

there’s a reason why we haven’t gotten a wedding video from David yet. As much as Erik is a content creator and writing, he’s also a person who needs an INCOME.

and the “problematic characters” (idk why that’s in quotes the characters are horrible people lmao) that he keeps alive, are for GOOD REASON. what kind of story doesn’t have “villains”/characters with very questionable morals. do they want him to immediately kill those characters and then have no conflict for the rest of the series? i understand a good portion of the redacted fandom REALLY don’t like the audios with confrontations/angst in them, but i believe in order to keep his story engaging to others, you HAVE to have conflict of a sort, otherwise there’s only so many videos that can be made.

i understand why people are uncomfortable with the fact that *those* characters are still alive/faced not as severe consequences. and all i have to say is “be patient”. they will get what’s coming to them in due time. it sucks that we have to wait for that to happen, but erik also has like 30+ storylines going on at the same time. he will make his way to those *specific* ones when he will

i think i’m just annoyed at people who constantly expect content creators to curate to *THEIR* needs, when someone is just posting his lil stories and we get a front row seat to him posting them. he’s not making the stories *JUST* for us yall.

ok long ass rant over 👍👍 tik tok redactedverse makes me stressed 😭

[chemicalarospec]

it makes me sad how many aspec posts (and videos and other individual-generated content) are just being upset about this depiction or that one. we NEED more (semi-mainstream) aspec rep so bad, so that nobody has to feel hurt when 1 kind of aspec that they are not is represented and the only 1 they see :(

[aphverse-confessions]

i find people who include fantasy racism, sexism and homophobia in their rewrites for ‘added drama’ and ‘issues’ are extremely unoriginal and lacking creativity. if your go to conflict is always fascism just because you have no creativity to try and come up with anything else besides what you know and is obviously ingrained in your brain, you should sit down and think why your go to awnser is always fascism.

.

[oatbugs]

anyway this upcoming trip w my gf. will decide a lot i think

[arolesbianism]

Sits in shambles I didn't read maybe Jorge's id correctly in the mysterious hermit logs the first god knows how many times I read them and only just now realized that it's the same id as the scientist that speaks in the agricultural notes log why must I be so bad at reading

[statementlou]

What do you think about the Zayn story? Do you believe it? I like Zayn but don’t follow him very closely it’s just that that’s not the first thing I’ve heard about him being not really nice

I mean it's 1000% consistent with every receipt we've seen over the many years both publicly and things I've been told less publicly so yeah seems like the Zayn I know

[yellowocaballero]

Every time I read one of your works it takes my breath away. They're all so emotionally complex and weirdly surreal and each and every idea is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. And somehow they’re all the perfect length for however long I have to read at the moment. Just asking: how do you do what you do? How do you create something on this scale? How do you write well enough to have someone stare into space in awe the moment they’re finished? Have you got any tips?

This is such a sweet ask thank you so much! This is so nice!! jkalsdf

Obviously, if there was something to say that was the secret to writing good stories, then art would be solved and we could all go home. And I'm not even going to pretend to tell you it, because I'm not selling an online class for $19.99 a month. I wish I knew that secret. I sincerely don't.

I guess if I could possibly say anything about how to write stories that affect people...I dunno, I write about what's on my mind. Sometimes there's ideas that I've been thinking a lot about, or I've had a small personal journey on a topic. A lot of my work is just an unceasing dialogue with myself, and often I see my characters saying things that I'm trying to help myself believe. I just usually have something to say and something I want to express.

I think it helps that I try hard to be honest. Not even particularly about how I feel or what's going on in my brain, but I try hard to portray life honestly. Not realistically, but honestly. There is always that element of fictionalized exaggeration, but oftentimes it's only through fictionalizing something that you can actually express what it means. I always want to talk about the ways people fuck up and how they hurt themselves, and the weird connections we can form and the sideways love that follows. I think people are always looking for fiction that resonates, that they can see themselves in, and that can't really be achieved by isolating out the easier parts or by saying something comforting. Fiction resonates if you begin from honesty.

Sometimes there's things that are hard to talk about straightforwardly, so you have to package them through a lot of filters and metaphor and fictionalization. But people tend to understand what it is that you're afraid to say outright. It's stuff that any person has difficulty saying. Maybe it's just nice to have it said, even if it has to be said through such a convoluted and messy way. At least I can make it funny?