#the original plot

[where-does-the-heart-lie]

In an astonishing amount of one piece content, there is a certain mannerism of Sabo that I find very humorous.

In almost everything he is written in, he:

Shows up,

Does what he needs to do,

says hi to luffy,

And then fucks off immediately.

Man does not linger. Mans is a master of the Irish goodbye.

Like I understand he’s just there for a couple seconds of fan service, but it happens so often that at this point it’s just turned into a very funny character trait.

Like okay bye, I guess.

[fastepp]

Every time I see an author promoting their debut Greek mythology retelling on twitter I mourn the loss of like. To put in ineloquently. Just using these stories as inspiration for your own. Your story does not need to force itself to fit the shape of Orpheus and Eurydice it’s fine you can just allude to their story!! You can use their themes!! Nobody is going to arrest you for being allegorical instead of literal!! I might eat them alive at this point. It’s the only way.

[mafuyuakgae]

even if I came to love humanity in the end, there’s no proof I was ever here, right?

[ciearcab]

happy late birthday to this guy

[egophiliac]

So.... what are your thoughts on Ace's UM, if you haven't been asked this already?

sneaky magic for the sneakiest boy

no but really, I think it fits him really well! I had thought his UM would probably involve something kinda sleight-of-handy or pickpockety! and I looooved that it made such a nice loop-around back to episode 1. ❤️ I was. kind of half-expecting him to just run out and punch Riddle in the nose again. but instead this time 'twas he who offed the queen's head! it was great! and he did it while stone-cold terrified out of his mind! because Ace is the only remotely normal or well-adjusted person at NRC and therefore the only one who is like "we're going to literally die, this is super effed up". but he did it anyway!!!! I AM SO PROUD

[bamsara]

I think that one thing people fail to understand is that unsolicited literary criticism coming from an online stranger who is reading with no knowledge of what the authors intended goal is, is not going to be received the same as say: the authors beta reader or friends who know what the authors intended goal and has the sufficient knowledge and input to help the author reach that desired outcome.

"But I'm only trying to be helpful" How do I know you have the knowledge and literary skill for you to be able to actaully do that when we don't know each other and you are essentially a stranger to me? Are you applying this criticism based out of personal biased experience and desire to see the story or characterization be driven in another direction or tweaked, or do you know the author's intentions for the character? If the story is incomplete, are you basing your criticism of a character on the incomplete narration with only partial information available of them or are you building up a report until the story's completion? Did the author provide you with the information needed to make a fully informed criticism?

Have you discussed with the author what their plans are or are you assuming them based off the narration, especially if the narration is proven or implied to be unreliable or missing key points of the plot? Are you unbiased enough to help them reach their desired outcome for the characters and story regardless of your personal feelings towards the characters/antagonists and setting? Can you handle being told your specific input isn't wanted because you're a reader and/or have no written anything relating to their genre or topic? Do you understand and respect that the author's personal experiences might influence their writing and make it different than how you would have done it personally? Do you understand if an author only wants input from a specific demographic relating to their story?

If it's for fanfiction or other hobby media, are you holding a free hobby to a professional standard? Are you trying to give criticism because you feel like the author has produced 'subpar job performance' of their fic? Are you viewing their work as a personal intimate outlet or something that must conform with mass media? Are you applying rules and guidelines when the fic is shared for simple sharing sake? Is your criticism worded appropriately and focused on the parts where the author has requested input on rather than a general dismissal and or disapproval?

Have you put yourself in a place where you assumed you have the input needed for the story to evolve better, or have you asked what the author needs and what they're having trouble with? Can you handle having your criticism rejected if the author decides their story doesn't need the change and not take it as a personal offense against your character? Are you crossing that boundary because you think you are doing the author a favor? Are you trying to be helpful, or do you just want to be?

I think sometimes when people hear authors go 'please don't give me unsolicited writing advice or criticism' they automatically chalk it up to 'this author doesn't want ANY constructive feedback on their stuff at all' and not "i already have trusted individuals who will help me with my writing goals and- hey i don't know you like that, please stop acting so overly familiar with me'

[collgeruledzebra]

the thing about trying to recommend fiction podcasts to someone who isn't familiar with them is that not only are so so many genres represented but also the level of production can fall anywhere from "basically an audiobook" to "major motion picture minus the pictures"

[bluemoonscape]

Obi-Wan’s whole thing with the Skywalkers kills me. Like hi these are my children their names are Luke and Leia. I have canonically been called their other father. Oh no well technically they’re my former Padawan and best friend’s children with his wife. Yeah I do obsessively search for aspects of him within his kids as he does for aspects of me. Oh yeah no I very much do still love him after all these years. His wife trusts me more than anyone and he’s been accused of loving me more than his wife so we’re all pretty tight. I have been certain since I met him that we would die together. Also I was there when his kids were born and was the first to hold them. And helped raise and protect them. And taught their father one last lesson in immortality so we could be together in the force forever. Anyway what was the question

[chamerionwrites]

Honestly this gets at my chiefest complaint/frustration/discomfort with fandom as a whole. Which is: in their rush to defend the artistic merit of fanworks I think a ton of people have really valorized transformation and remixing and reinterpretation in and of themselves, when imo those are all quite neutral actions. When done well, they can expand and build upon and subvert meaning in really powerful and thought-provoking (and fun!) ways. When done poorly, they are just as likely to flatten and oversimplify and decontextualize and completely erase meaning. The simple act of changing something does not imbue the choice to do so with creative validity. It is entirely possible for a cover song to be bad (or just boring!). To exactly the same degree that it is possible to transform a pretty shallow and straightforward work into something deeper and more nuanced and subversive, is possible to transform a work into a vastly shallower and less interesting shadow of itself. As with nearly everything in art, it's all about the execution!

But the second you voice this position (which should honestly be a pretty uncontroversial one imo), you get people shrieking at you about being gatekeep-y and pretentious and betraying the sacred fandom etiquette of Don't-Like-Don't-Read.

And like...listen. I was not raised in a barn. I am 150% capable of quietly back-buttoning out of a fanfic I think is bad or boring - which is exactly what I do when I encounter them - and I am obviously not advocating for stupid ships wars or any kind of harassment or leaving hatemail in people's AO3 inboxes. (Which some people will also accuse you of the second you say anything less than lavishly positive about fandom, in true piss-on-the-poor fashion.) Literally all I am saying is that you can't have your cake and eat it too - that if fandom and fanworks (in the broadest sense) have artistic merit then fandom and fanworks (in the broadest sense) are fair game for artistic critique. Which means, in practice, that I can go on my own blog and make a post exactly like this one - critiquing broad trends, or stating that some interpretations are bad actually, or pointing out that subverting or talking back to or reading against the grain of canon is very different from simply ignoring it, or saying "fandom's culture of collage/remix/fuck-canon-I-do-what-I-want can lend itself to to really creative and interesting art but also to a lot of really bland homogenized cut-n-paste art, not to mention some pretty troubling decontextualization." And that if you feel this rains on your personal parade, you are then free to DLDR by back-buttoning out of my blog and/or blocking me so you never have to see my hot takes again, rather than clamoring in my notes about how I should let people enjoy things.

[ruporas]

trigunned the hades or hadesed the trigun (id in alt)

[choshashio]

12 Writing Exercises to help develop your character and their voice.

Editors note - There's a lot of boring writers drivel. So, to spare you from the headache if you're not interested, your characters individual voices and personalities are important for engaging stories and interesting plots. You can skip down to the end for the exercises.

Think about the people you know, the people you love. What's one thing they have in common, besides the obvious? They're all uniquely different. Everyone in the world is different in some way, even in media. Books and movies all have unique sounding characters that are different from each other. In Harry Potter, for example, All of the characters have their own voice, even the Weasley twins are different in their own ways.

Complex and unique characters that sound different, interact and speak differently, make for engaging books and dynamics.

I don't know anybody who would want to read a 50,000 word novel about two boring characters, who're exactly alike, and talk in the same monotonous tone. You can have a character who is "boring." who speaks monotonously and still have an interesting novel that people would read.

Having different characters who come together to create funny, interesting, or weird dynamics makes for a readable piece. Take your monotonous character, by themselves, they're kind of boring. They're not engaging to follow. But, introducing different characters to come and interact with your "boring" character, creates funny and memorable dynamics.

Think the anime Saiki K, or Veronica Sawyer from Heathers. If you took only those two characters, and stripped away all of the background characters, they wouldn't make for very interesting stories. Saiki would be happy, living his days in peace and quiet. Veronica would just be a normal edgy high school girl. But if you bring the side characters back, you bring the story and their conflicts back. Saiki goes back to being annoyed by his weird and goofy friends, wishing for peace and quiet. Veronica goes back to being tormented by JD and the group dynamic in the Heathers clique.

These stories utilize background characters to create conflict in their main characters' lives, and makes fun and interesting stories and dynamics with them.

Without further ado, here are 12 exercises to help you develop your characters, and get you thinking.

Ask your character what they want, and have them monologue about it.

Think about who, in your life, does your character remind you of.

Ask yourself, What does my character want, and what does my character need? How do they conflict with each other, and how does this affect my story?

A good exercise to help you write characters interacting, and practice dialogue is to do the ABCD exercise. 

The ABCD exercise is writing a full page, or 500 words, of dialogue between two characters, character a and character b, talking about what they think character c thinks of character d. Then, write another page depicting how character c actually interacts with character d.

Write journal entries from the pov of your character.

Think about your character's habits, nervous tics, or tells, and write out a page where they do those things.

Think about something your character holds dear to them, and give the item a backstory.

Think about how your character interacts with other characters, and write a page for each interaction. 

Think about a belief or opinion your character has, and write a page of dialogue, where your character is explaining their belief, and why they believe in it, to another character.

Write a page about your character reminiscing, or talking, about a cherished memory from their past, or childhood.

Write a page of dialogue about character a telling character c about character b, whom c has never met before, what kind of things do they say? What do they think of b? Then write another page from character c’s point of view, what are they thinking? How do their thoughts of b change? What do they think of character a? How do they imagine character a and b’s relationship?

Write a page about a character being forced into a situation with their greatest fear. Then, if you want to go a step further, write a page of the same thing, but introduce another character that the first holds dear to them, or wants to protect.

[drenched-in-sunlight]

elden ring OCs.

Raimes and Mirai. they hail from one of the main houses that made up Erdtree’s upper echelons.

[the-booty-crusader]

SVSSS prompt:

Xin Mo’s “voices” are the comments people leave on PIDW. Binghe has a slew of teenagers and young adults (97% of which are angry virgins) screaming their power fantasies in his head and egging him on.

Of course there’s that one voice that always rants on for ages about how contrived everything is and how things could be done much better. And also is strangely attracted to Binghe or something?

Anyways. Skip to Binghe having become Bingge. He has his harem of hundreds of wives, an Empire greater than any before, treasures untold and riches beyond belief. The voices of Xin Mo cheer. Except one.

The ranter, who is strangely quiet for longer than usual before finally saying, “this is it? This is his happy ending? A bunch of unworthy wives, an Empire that just causes him shitloads of paperwork and being sent on quests to maintain the status quo? Is he happy like this? This sucks. Not fulfilling at all.”

At first, Binghe scoffs at this. He has everything he wanted. Nobody can hold a candle to him.

But as time goes on he thinks about it more. Is he fulfilled? Is he happy? Has he ever been? (Yes, he thinks, when he was with his mother). Had anyone ever asked him about his happiness? Did… did that lost soul within Xin Mo care more about his happiness than the whole rest of the world?

Thinking back, had that person not always talked about how much better things could be? Binghe had always thought the voice was talking about Binghe, how he could be better and he wasn’t loving up to standards. But thinking back, wasn’t the voice’s ranting almost always aimed at the world around him? That people were not worthy of him, objects not good enough and places not interesting to be in Binghe’s presence?

Did this one soul not think the absolute world of him?

Binghe didn’t need Xin Mo’s power. Not any more.

What he did need was the souls within it— specifically one.

Bingge’s comin for your ass SY

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

i vote that next year instead of reading Dracula we do a Jeeves & Wooster Book Club. those two never got the rabid tumblr shipping fandom they deserved (disqualified for the sheer technicality of being published a century too soon). we must correct this injustice

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I'm not going back to Gusu with you.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[potato-lord-but-not]

HOLY GHOSTS OCS 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

these guys (except Abraham) show up in the first part of the story, playing a large role in exploring Oscar’s relationship with his church and community. I think about them too much oufhh…..

Yapping about them (mainly the old priest guys) under cut because I’m ANNOYING

We’ll get Cynthia and Jamie out of the way first- they play a larger role within the current plot. Cynthia and Jamie are childhood best friends and are leading the new wave of younger folks working within the church. Jamie is new his responsibilities as a priest but is determined to serve the lord and his community. Cynthia is also very hospitable, constantly seen at the soup kitchen. Both of them look up to Oscar as an older brother of sorts, even when he’s at his lowest they never lost faith in him. Oscar has a hard time separating himself from his duty as a man of God, and sometimes fails to realize the impact he has on those around him, good and bad. Yeah idk they’re both very silly, Cynthia is the certified yapper and gossiper while Jamie prefers to sit back and listen. I love them sm….

NOW FOR THE OLD MENNNN OUFFGHH

Abraham and Seymour are very very old friends, having worked together for decades. Abe always joked about how they were inseparable by the will of God, as no matter what they always seemed to end up back together. Seymour is more reserved, calculated, he prefers to stick to the book. Abe was more spontaneous, he liked to go with the heart and gut. Abe took Oscar in when no one else was willing to, even Seymour was skeptical but trusted Abe’s judgment. He helped Oscar find a path that he could channel all that anger and need to help others, he supported him throughout everything and never gave up even when it seemed like everyone else was against them.

Abe was also an exorcist. Seymour thought he was being reckless with his decision to dabble in that practice, but Abe was determined to help those suffering through the horrors beyond this world. He had plans to have Oscar take his place when he passed, and was slowly preparing him on how to deal with such things. However, he was struck with a sudden illness a few years before the events of malevolent, and passed away. This shook up the whole church, but mainly Oscar, starting his downward spiral back into alcoholism and worsening his lingering depression. Seymour didn’t take it well either, but had to put on a brave face since he’s the pastor of st Jean Baptiste. Seymour has grown more protective of Oscar, knowing those two had a father-son relationship of sorts, and wants to be there for him as much as he can. Even if he’s less outwardly empathetic.

Were Seymour and Abe lovers ?? hard to say. They would never say they had any sort of romance going on, obviously, but if they hadn’t chosen this path I think they would’ve moved out of the city and grown old together in the same home.

Are Cynthia and Jamie lovers ??? most definitely. Their families were not keen on interracial relationships, especially Jamie’s, and that was a big factor in him deciding to become a priest. He decided if he couldn’t be with her, he didn’t need to be with anyone. Cynthia felt the same, refusing to date and instead focusing on helping her community with her favorite person.

OKAY INCOHERENT YAP SESSION OVER SORRYYYY