#this isn’t a vague post of critique of any one writer | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

camilliar · 4 years

Text

recs for someone new to omgcp

[February 2021.]

Reading, or not reading, OMGCP fics has come up in a couple of conversations I’ve had recently with artists newish to the fandom (ie. @jovishark; @decafffff), who are making OMGCP art (!!!) but haven’t started exploring fic -- but maybe want to? Which of course reminded me that I’ve never bothered to make an actual, concrete recs list for this fandom. So, I mean. Here is one.

The approach is, what do I think about when I think about OMGCP fanfic? What comes to mind, what stands out to me? I have excluded some very popular fics. Some of these I just don’t think are very good, and others I do think are good, and/or I enjoy them, but I don’t see why you’d need me, specifically, to recommend them. I am thinking of a story like maybe i’m waking up, which I discuss below because I link to a podfic of it. It has a lot of merits, to be sure, but it’s the second-most-read fic in this fandom by hits, and it’s got thousands of comments, and it’s by an author whose work is relatively widely praised and circulated. I am not sure what telling you more about this fic will add to the conversation; if you want to find and read it, you inevitably will. I’m happy to, say, answer asks about these kinds of fics, or talk more generally about them via DM or whatever. Feel free.

Also, I don’t think there’s a point to pretending to be objective about fanfic; this list has a perspective and that perspective is mine. In this fandom I largely read stories that navigate the tension around Jack, Bitty, and Parse, in various permutations. This is not to say that I’ve never read fic about the frogs, or that I have no interest at all in other pairings, but I am by no means an expert on Dex/Nursey and can really only speak to the one fic about them that sticks out to me because it goes beyond being merely Dex/Nursey and does something else. This is just to say that I am sure there are great and interesting fics about other things and ideas--but I’m not the person to hear about those from.

Likewise, I’m not super interested in stories that really reproduce that which is already in OMGCP. I like Zimbits--albeit maybe not in the ways or for the reasons most fans would--but I do not really need to see endless iterations of the same story about them falling in love and being cute together. I don’t think these stories are bad or they shouldn’t exist or that they have no merit by default. Still, I don’t need fanfic to give me more OMGCP. I need fanfic to complicate, to comment on, and to transform OMGCP. Many people don’t work like this! Totally okay! But I can’t rec you fics that do that.

What I have noticed, however, is that over time there appears to have been a shift in how people do write fic for this fandom. (Other than, you know, increases and decreases in activity pending the status of the comic, pairings going in and out of vogue, and so on.) Early on, say during Y1 and Y2, the comic was about the group of friends having a cool time at college together; about whether the burgeoning attraction between Jack and Bitty would manifest and, if so, how; and, especially, Jack’s past coming into fuller view for Bitty and how it would have to be dealt with in order for a relationship between them to work. YMMV on how great the comic executed there, but as Y3 went on these themes increasingly disappeared from the story. I think this means a lot of fic written over 2015-2016 or 2017 has one kind of tone, and was written mostly around these questions; after that, it feels like a new crop of writers and a new crop of ideas started circulating, that is, either embracing Jack and Bitty’s canon relationship and accepting its relative straightforwardness in text--or deconstructing it, imagining what readers aren’t seeing, or how problems not dealt with in the comic would manifest later. People who have read my fic know which of these I’m mainly interested in exploring.

All of which is to say, looking at what I’m reccing here, when the fics were posted or when I first read them probably has a lot to do with why they stick out to me so much. Because there’s no real culture of fanfic criticism--and I mean that in the positivist sense of broad evaluation not explicitly for fault and merit but rather, for context--I think it’s really hard to keep this in mind. But I’m obnoxious and I can’t just be easy about things.

Fic recs

In alphabetical order, somewhat unsorted; if a stand-alone fic has a summary I’ve included it, but in other cases I’ve recced a couple of conceptually related fics or series, which I’ve tried to just describe or explain as opposed to copying the summary off AO3.

There are so many more fanfics I think are great and worth reading! In an ideal world I’d come back and add more later, or create a secondary list that’s more along the lines of “if you like this, read these,” or whatever. But, being realistic, this is a starter kit. I’m open to talking about fanfic.

- - - - - - - - - - -

7-0-2 by Idday; Friends in Low Places and Sorry for the Blood in Your Mouth; I Wish it was Mine by blue_rocket_frost | I’m not sure it would be correct to say that I don’t like Parse/Tater, or that I’m not interested in Parse/Tater. I’m not interested in Patater a priori; I think it could be interesting, with teeth. These fics stick out to me when I think about this pairing, because they feel different. Accusations of a preference for just linking any two white men who happen to be hanging around have validity, but because of what hockey is and how it works and who’s hanging around it, it’s not exactly a leap to imagine what kind of gritty spark the friction between two closeted NHL players would create. A little violence in your sex? A little sex in your violence.

A Sight Worth Seeing by sadtomato | A four-fic Jack/Bitty/Shitty/Lardo explicit BDSM series. Either you want that or you don’t. It’s nothing hardcore, and not properly a four-way, really; more properly a kind of voyeuristic round-robin. There’s a more open and egalitarian view of sex here than I really get from the characters in the back end of the comic. It’s an expansive, propulsive view of sex and relationships that’s really nice to see. I love Lardo's detached coolness, and Bitty as a smooth operator; if you’re looking for some kind of Dom/sub dynamics world, this really isn’t it, but it’s a lively exploration into the sexual dynamics in a group of friends that’s super close to the good-times vibe you get from Haus scenes in the first couple years of extras.

call me son (one more time) by Summerfrost, Verbyna, and blithelybonny | This is a series, incomplete, and you will love it or be massively put off by it. I mean that as a compliment. I love it. The premise is, Bob Zimmermann and Kent Parson have been having sex since Kent was, like, 19. Everyone in this story has been chewed up: by themselves, by each other, by hockey. Plainly, this is a pretty bleak view of what OMGCP, as a story, is supposedly offering. If you want fic that is dark and glamorous, treading the toxic melange of substance abuse, sex-as-sublimation, and so much money you can’t possibly throw all of it away without trying, this series has that sick-inducing shimmer to it. But, again, its strength is its examination of Kent Parson, textually and meta-textually, as someone to be projected onto. Bob, Alicia, Jack, and Bitty all impute certain feelings of their own onto him, displacing their own issues to a character who’s centralized in every fic but defies neat or total comprehension. Some critiques I’ve read of this series feel it’s too dark, and I’ve also seen it argued on FFA that an overwhelming amount of praise heaped onto these stories has made it tough for other writers to make headway in writing Bob/Kent fic. But I’m also not sure you could engage with Bob/Kent fic without going down this road at some point? I’m sure there are ways to scale it back, but ultimately it’s a story about how hockey’s violent, homophobic, old-guard gatekeeping has continued to set the terms for a younger and ostensibly less toxic culture. I fully embrace PWP fics that tread on the power dynamic without fully excavating it, but buried within any PWP is the fact that a 53-year-old man is ensnaring a 19-year-old, no matter how much the latter is, realistically, into it, and legally empowered to consent. Not to mention the dynamics of it being a 53-year-old man who is the father of the 19-year-old’s ex-boyfriend, and a 53-year-old man who is an eminence grise in the field the 19-year-old is trying to make a career in The sexual element--the vaguely incestuous nature of it--is making textual the subtext of how hockey works, actually: objectification of teenage bodies as older men’s capital.

Coach Z by thistidalwave | Just before the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, tp prospect Jack Zimmermann overdoses on his anxiety medication and is admitted to rehab. His future turns from a clear-cut road to the top into an uncertain path filled with therapy appointments, ignored text messages, a group of boys who aren't there to teach him a lesson about himself, and, of course, hockey. | I keep reccing this fic because it has 360 comments on AO3 but nobody, as far as I can tell, has ever read it; it never appears on rec lists. This isn’t the kind of fanfic I usually go in for, but I can’t help being charmed by it. This is a character study in the truest sense, a kind of Mighty Ducks-but-better view on what Jack’s time coaching peewee hockey might have been like. I have no interest in kids and my own aesthetic is maybe a little darker than this, but I admire this story because it injects vibrancy into a period of Jack’s life that OMGCP has left largely unexplored, and so has the fandom. We know nothing about what made Jack want to go to college, nothing about how he spent his days in between juniors and Samwell. It posits a very sympathetic and patient Jack/Parse dynamic, showcasing the exact kind of ragged teenage push-and-pull that would have led to the circumstances we see in Parse I-III. The outside perspective Jack needs is largely present in an OFC who’s not a love interest. Super unique, somehow both engrossing and low-key.

#dirtbags by angularmomentum | A series that is a Kent Parson/Claude Giroux fuckfest with feelings. I’ve long suspected that Parse is popular in part because he is the character who most easily elides OMGCP with the actual NHL, or rather, NHL fandom; I think he made it appealing to write OMGCP fics where the NHL is a factor. Case in point, this series, which is basically “what if Kent Parson was a real hockey player and therefore part of NHL RPS”? I have only read some NHL RPS, so I’m not the person to assess accuracy, but what I do know is superstar IRL hockey players take turns here as the caricature fanfic versions of themselves, and since Kent Parson is already that, it’s great how seamlessly he integrates into their social fabric. Rambunctious energy peppered with regret and loss, but ultimately this series is farcical, and it doesn’t take its sentimental ending too seriously--which, good.

fated to pretend by nighimpossible | 5 Jack/Kent fics that Ransom and Holster dramatically reenact for the Haus + the truth. | As a fic format, 5+1 doesn’t usually work for me, but this one isn’t just front-loaded with five too-knowing vignettes; it then wraps up by using its +1 better than you might expect. Sometimes I talk about economy of fic, and this one exemplifies it. A zero-waste fic.

go ahead and move along by originally | "Leave, Parse," Jack says. Again. Or: Kent finds himself stuck in a time loop. | Kent Parson is trapped in a Groundhog Day scenario on the day of Epikegster. I’m sure you can imagine, just from that, what happens. And yet I think this fic is super entertaining, reserving some key surprises. What this story is doing is something a lot, and perhaps even the majority, of great Jack/Parse fic wants to do: digging into the question of just why this can’t work in comic canon. Most often this is approached from the past, by writing teenage Jack/Parse deep-dives that examine their lives mid-juniors, or by writing AUs where enough circumstances are shifted that it does work, or via future fics that posit enough growth has happened, and enough things have changed. But this fic makes Parse live the same bad day again and again, testing multiple theories about just how dependent on circumstance and incident real life actually is. Another day, another tone, 10 minutes sooner, not at all--you just can’t know why it didn’t work until you exhaust every possible variable. I worry that this rec has sucked the life out of the story, though--it’s so fun!

I Saw a Life and Strange Lovers by @bluegrasshole | Most AUs in this fandom seem to retell the story in a new setting or with some big detail change, following OMGCP’s rhythm beat-for-beat. I think of this as, “It’s the plot of Check, Please, but” -- they’re doing high school football? They’re acrobats? They’re a/b/o? They’re in a DIY punk band? And so on. These two stories are not that! They’re both 1950s AUs, each deeply felt, and yet hugely different from each other. I Saw a Life is about displacement and fragmentation, two sides of a similar but incongruent social critique; Strange Lovers is a finely wrought social drama about coal mining in Nova Scotia in the 1950s, centered around historical events. I suppose a theme on this rec list is something like, “I don’t even like this, but” -- yes, okay, I don’t even like Dex/Nursey, but--! This fic is so overwhelmingly complete, the AU laid out so carefully that the story breathes with all the background details informing the writing that aren’t actually, in the story; you just know they’re below the surface. (With the exception of one investigation of Jack’s character in a short, separate fic.) I Saw a Life, meanwhile, really tests the limits of the notion that Jack and Bitty are soulmates--not by calling it into question but by asking, rather innovatively, how the setting and place of the comic itself activates that.

Les Hivers de mon enfance by staranise | What do you do when hockey is the language of prayer for your soul, and also the toxic thing that almost killed you? 2009: Jack Zimmermann takes a mental health year. God knows he needs it. | Here’s a fic by someone who’s no longer around so much, but she felt ubiquitous in 2016-2019 OMGCP fandom. Before any of that, though, she wrote this one lovely fic about Jack’s pre-Samwell recovery. The author is Canadian and really irritated by hockey culture, and I think this fic benefits greatly because she is clear-eyed about Jack’s being caught in an exploitative system; it’s hockey he’s in recovery for, in a way. There’s an epistolary element that works for me, too. I read this early on in my time in OMGCP fandom and it really stuck with me.

Lysistrata? I Hardly Know Her! (by which I mean everything) by @tomatowrites | It feels somehow like cheating to recommend OMGCP fanfics by my OMGCP BFF with whom I make an OMGCP podcast where we talk about OMGCP. You know the fics I really want to rec, like truly the ones that speak to some kind of shared depravity, are the ones where Jack is miserably mpreg for the second time and accidentally lets his kid see Kent Parson’s Long John Silver’s shrimp scampi promo spot, which obviously would get twisted into a self-hating three-way. How many times do I have to rec this fic? As many as I need to, is my feeling. If you don’t know, Long John Silver’s is an American fast-food chain that sells, like, fried pollock sandwiches; it is nautical-themed; I have never eaten there; I don’t know where there is one; I don’t eat fried fish. (Shrimp, on the other hand?) All of which is to say that it takes a real genius to investigate a premise that far out. And while a lot of people almost certainly will start reading this humanity’s depths-themed sex scene and back the fuck out, readers with refined taste will note that Kent, the point-of-view character, is right there with you, despairing that he can’t help himself. And so long as you’re in that story collection, honestly, you’ll love petite gems like Jack is transmasc, Jack and Shitty play hockey in 18th-century England, and oh, right, he’s from Georgia. Tomato holds the distinction of being probably the gamest author I know in this fandom, just really like fearless in her pursuit of any range of concept she’s pushed to. (I can push her to?) See, for example, a sublime bandom AU; Bitty is cancelled for buying a maybe-unethically exported Roman fragment of a youth’s torso; or, god, the masterwork that is this future fic series where Jack keeps relapsing and Bitty exiles him to their guesthouse. Do I think you need to read a fic where Bitty is snide about the teen prostitute whose baby they’re adopting? Yes, I mean, he would be snide, don’t tell me he wouldn’t. I could go on, but my main thing here is, if I have to pick just one, I’m going to pick this Lysistrata fic. The premise, literally, is that Bitty reads the Lysistrata and it gives him ideas. Like most of Tomato’s OMGCP fic, it’s a stripping away of the comic’s polite fiction that Jack and Bitty could possibly attain the ideal it reaches in the comic without some kind of messy, efflusive breakdown. Life is like that, you see! Tricky. Like a lot of people, although it’s tough to say precisely how many, I have always intuited that maybe Bitty is kind of a natural top? But obviously when you meet him, as a literal virgin, it’s hard to see how he’d go from zero to self-actualization so neatly. This fic floats a theory, and it has a fun little side plot for Whiskey, something I never thought about or needed before Tomato built it out herein. In conclusion, BONUS: Dex’s gay lobster novel.

only fools rush in and the light of all lights by decinq | This person wrote of the nature of the wound, one of the early, formative Jack/Bitty fics that was oft-recced when I was getting into the fandom in 2016. It forms part of a larger series that deals deeply with how Jack has been shaped by his struggles (? I hate this word) with homophobia and his own mental health. It’s a picture of the character as you might have imagined him much earlier in the comic’s run. The formatting is atrocious and he author’s flair is what Tomato would call “AO3 house style.” It’s a voice that works great for her writing. I think it’s at its best in these shorter fics; the former is about Parse and Shitty stumbling into a relationship almost accidentally; the latter, an eerie PBJ vampire fic. I had begun writing a fic where Parse is a vampire early on in this fandom, only to read this and immediately quit, because you only need one, and this one’s all I need. The Parse/Shitty rare pair fic shares its exuberance with hockey RPS when it’s good: here’s how fun it can be when you’re young, rich, and jocular. And I don’t even like accidental marriage AUs, they’re usually boring, so that says a lot. By all means, read the wound fic; read the entire series. But these are highly unusual.

OVERDOSE and Oomph and a little spin-o-rama by jedusaur | None of these are long, or plotty, and they’re all a little experimental. OVERDOSE is an AU set in a world where you know how you’ll die, but no details; Oomph, a little fic where Jack hears hockey pucks talking to him. This is the kind of stuff I used to think I’d find in fandom forever, coming out of Lotrips lurking in the 2000s: short, zany bursts of energy that surprise and delight. a little spin-o-rama peers at Kent’s character through the grim reality of being the hypertalented superstar stuck on a dead-last team. All three are sparse and stylish in a way that’s really smart, practically economical.

Sowing Season by @agrossunderstatement | Parse and Zimms, Zimms and Parse. Kent Parson's life, from the Q, through his early years with the Aces, to Jack's senior year. Canon divergent. A story of love, loss, moving on, regressing, hockey, and found families of all kinds. | Effectively a novel, digging into Kent’s personal history, mostly concerning his life in juniors but expanding into his present, overlapping with the plot of OMGCP. I think there is room enough for endless speculations on what went down pre-canon; this one offers a fuller life for Kent than nearly any others, digging into him as a whole person rather than as a satellite to Jack or the plot of the comic. Which isn’t to say that the Kent/Jack stuff isn’t dealt with here; it explicitly is. But the fact of Kent Parson’s life, if we can begin to imagine it beyond mere text, would exist before, after, and alongside Jack; he gets to juniors without Jack, presumably, and he is the captain of a hockey team without Jack, and Pinkerton lays the foundation of Parse’s character within a junior hockey that Jack also inhabits, more so that Parse existing for Jack, so to speak. And I’m not implying this latter tactic is wrong; I have certainly employed it, and others have employed it to great impact and effect. But, still, the title of this series tells you what you ought to know: Kent and his story are the potentiality of OMGCP, up to a point; seeds being planted. Young hockey players, similarly. The question implied there is, what will be reaped? And the answer to the latter, in a sense, that reaping is a sort of violence. Which makes this series sound pretty heavy, but it’s not -- more like, realistic.

(tell everyone) you were a good wife by @queerofcups | The biggest problem with pretending that he doesn’t know that Kent Parson is fucking his husband is that Jack can’t tell Kent how grateful he is. | The ne plus ultra of PBJ triangulation; I’ve been squealing to the writer about how good it is since August, begging for behind-the-scenes insights, and I’d only do that if I really meant it. The precarious social fabric stretched across these three chapters is fraying before the reader’s eyes. The details are delicious, and I don’t want to spoil them, but they sing in chorus with the plot. My favorite OMGCP fics, honestly, remove the romance narrative guardrails that keep things in the comic itself humming along. I think Dann’s take is to ask who in this comic has power and what they would end up doing with it. (Or not doing, from another angle.) At one point, early on in its telling, OMGCP looked like it was going to be a story dealing with the compounded traumas of hockey’s discontents. Then, of course, it wasn’t. This is a fic that steps back and asks what the fallout of that oversight would be. But that’s just the moldering core of this fanfic; it’s actually embroidered, like I said, with glittering detail. The color of the suit Bitty wears to his wedding is burned into my brain. The gray manicure of a woman Jack knows. The ingredients in a cake. This is one of those fics I still haven’t reviewed because the thought of stacking everything I could say about it into mere AO3 comments is inadequate.

when you’re ready by megancrtr | The Aces’ director of communications gets the call at 3:13 a.m. Jack Zimmermann has withdrawn from the draft. | “What happened at the draft” is so mythological it gets asked in the comic proper, and I’ve never counted how many fics attempt to answer this question--from Kent’s point of view, even--but it’s gotta be, oh, hundreds. This story replays the situation from the perspective of an Aces staffer who just wants to do her job, and gets at the jarring discordance between the plot of OMGCP in its quest for social justice and the business of actual hockey. Important context is that this story was written around the time the comic was playing out the end of Y3 and start of Y4, and Bitty pointedly asked Jack the question, “why can’t we?” This story reframes the question as literal, rather than rhetorical. A sterling example of fanfic being a gloss on its source.

BONUS, podfics

hockeyed up | There are many things on Jack's mind. Namely: hockey, hockey, Bitty, hockey, anxiety, hockey, hockey, anxiety, Bitty, hockey, hockey, anxiety, and hockey. | A fic read aloud by its French-Canadian author. Also a relatively early OMGCP fanfic; composed while the first semester of Y2 was posting, the story suggests a version of OMGCP that was in some ways more and in other ways less complex than what it would turn into not long after. The real power of this podfic, however, is that it’s read by the writer, so you can hear the intended emphasis in every line. Also, because she’s French-Canadian, Sophie’s intonation is what I picture when I read or write dialogue for Jack.

maybe i’m waking up | It’s almost funny. All he ever wanted was to play hockey, to play in the NHL, to win the Cup. This—Samwell, the team, the Haus—was supposed to be just a detour, but now it feels more like a destination he failed to realize he’s already reached.(Or: Jack signs with the Falconers, graduates, and leaves. It's the hardest thing he's ever done. What comes after is even harder.) | Don’t get too excited; this isn’t finished. A podfic of probably the best-known, most-recced fic in OMGCP fandom. Striking for its use of metatext woven into the story, this is one of several early longform Jack/Bitty fics that posits that maybe Jack has a lot more development to undergo before he can really, truly, be okay--or be okay enough to be with Bitty? To be honest, this story strikes me now as too long, but the parts in it that work are effective beyond that which fanfic demands. Meanwhile, this audio version only covers six chapters, but it’s so slick, so well-realized, so true to the story. Podfic as art.

my own dear friends | Ever since the day he met Jack Zimmermann, Shitty has seen it as his solemn duty to aggressively love him. (He just didn't know how aggressive the love Jack needed would be.) | There’s previous little Jack/Shitty in this fandom and a lot less quality BDSM,

the city’s ours until the fall | Kent has been, historically, good at this—forgetting about things until suddenly he doesn’t, and then it’s like the scar has never been there in the first place, just the wound. (Or: Kent Parson lets himself be happy, after all this time.) | I’ve never read this fic and I never will. I cannot imagine how, no matter how good it is, it could compare to the version that lives in my head, with Kent’s voice so totally realized. Vocal fry and pathos, a languid energy that I still think about when I think about Parse.

the model home | It’s going to be better, and that’s great, but sometimes Jack thinks, why can’t it be good right now? | j/k j/k, this is a self-reminder to finally one day review this.

101 notes · View notes

raidenenthusiast · 3 years

Note

re ur tags to be fair on edelgard, ferdinand himself doesnt get main plot time to outline his views and he spends so much of his time in his supports with HER asking for a duel, while having no idea that SHE has no idea of his critiques. i feel like its more just flawed writing/wasted potential (rip ;-;) rather than. her evaluating his critiques and then basically just thinking hes not worth taking seriously.

yeah, i agree! in a way, anyways. i was trying to direct that criticism on the writers, mostly, bc especially when u do look at the other routes, u SEE how much they jipped him in comparison to the other challengers. admittedly, i don't personally like lorenz, so i did not do his supports when i played vw (as well as the fact that i've only played through vw once bc it messed me up real bad n i hated it <3 not ur fault claude i just wasn't prepared for dimitri's death being that graphically described) n that is why i'm going off a comparison to felix/dimitri moreso than lorenz n claude.

i just always found it interesting n also very. sad. how easily n readily dimitri accepted felix's criticisms n challenges, vs how edelgard n ferdinand aren't even really allowed to talk about theirs, n honestly though? okay this is. this is opening up a can of worms, actually, so bear with me.

ferdinand not being taken seriously really at ALL during cf was one of my biggest gripes with the route, actually. this extends to ss, too, but less so. especially considering that his idealogical challenge of edelgard's own views is really, really solid. a lot of people assume that the felix/dimitri clash is idealogically based moreso than anyone else, but. it isn't. dimitri dislikes faerghus' sacrificial knight culture (see: his entire support chain with ingrid) just as much as felix does. the tragedy behind those two is that they actually AGREE on a LOT of things, they just each cannot get past their own personal n emotional burdens (until their a support) to actually communicate properly about it. n again, anyone please feel free to add onto this post about claude n lorenz for a more. well rounded look on all this. but with ferdinand in regards to edelgard, he very directly opposes her ideals n her way of doing things.

where felix has a hard time having a proper conversation with dimitri about their similar views bc of past trauma n emotional walls, personal things, ferdinand puts his relationship as a challenger to edelgard above EVERYTHING; n believes that regardless of their status as friends, rivals, enemies, or anything else, he must fulfill that role regardless.

but, anyway. ferdinand is right, is what i'm trying to say, n he deserves to be taken seriously bc the things that he says are incredibly important. what really struck me about his a support with edelgard was that it was such an integral conversation/included such integral information, n yet it was relegated to a support that players could potentially miss/skip? edelgard having not even THOUGHT of commoner education n the ramifications of a meritocracy until ferdinand mentions it (which is doubly concerning when u remember a supports are locked until post timeskip, meaning she's been leading this charge without ANY detailed thought to support in the aftermath beyond vague mentions of it through "inspirational speeches" n shit) is like. something that definitely should have been addressed within the main story.

anyway, after uhh. going off on that, i think my original point was that yeah, ferdinand isn't taken seriously in the narrative. which he suffers for, unfortunately. especially considering he has a very strong case for his challenging of edelgard's ideals, n that was reduced to just. general competitiveness.

with that SAID, however. i also think i can go off of this point to elaborate on how that relates to edelgard n how specifically in her supports with ferdinand n linhardt, it really shines through how unprepared she seems? she started a war that would uproot fodlan, n she had no (concrete) plans for the political aftermath, even though she planned to assume absolute power?? did she just like, tell hubert to deal with that, or something? i do think that a lot of that could've been the writers reluctant to get too into politics, but.......still.

basically, ferdinand had the potential to really knock her off her feet in the sense of hitting her with hard truths about the things that she was neglecting to think about at all, n he didn't. n it's really unfortunate. bc it REALLY could've been so much more interesting. n it's a disservice to him to shoehorn him into this silly rival role even post timeskip, after he's matured past the young adult who put so much stock in that image.

re: my specific tags, too, i was trying to say something specific about edelgard n how i think she would've responded to ferdinand if they had been allowed to actually discuss, but my brain is off in genshin land rn n it's been a month or two since i was on the three houses train, so if anyone else sees this post n has these same thoughts/can word them better, please do.

n on a final note, i suppose i can understand how ferdinand was treated if u take cf as a villain route: from that pov, challenges don't mean anything, right? so why even include them. especially considering the uhh. other various things about cf that play into that. but regardless, i still think it's a disservice to ferdinand to discard him completely, even if u are trying to go full blown "propaganda route" lmao. especially bc it's in his nature to challenge edelgard no matter what. ESPECIALLY when he believes she's wrong.

#fe3h #fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #edelgard von hresvelg #ferdinand von aegir #crimson flower

21 notes · View notes

the-blue-fairie · 4 years

Text

An Extremely Personal Look at my Disconnect with Frozen 2

I’m trans and I’ve been closeted for so long that being in the closet has begun to feel like a futile routine, an inescapability born of my own weakness.

That’s... not how a post about a Disney film usually starts, is it?

But, like the title of my post says, this reflection is personal. I’m allowing myself to be vulnerable.

Because of my life experience, I’ve connected deeply with the character of Elsa over the years. I suppose that’s not a surprise. Elsa’s powers can serve as a broad metaphor for aspects of someone’s identity that others can stigmatize - whether that be read as gender, sexuality, anxiety, or depression. Part of the reason Elsa became so incredibly popular in the first film is because her struggle with her powers could reflect so many various people’s struggles with their own identities.

Frozen 2 actually leans into that broad metaphor of Elsa’s powers reflecting personal identity - a part of oneself that is unique but beautiful in its uniqueness. The lyrics of Show Yourself reinforce this, telling Elsa that “you are the one you’ve been waiting for all of your life.” So I should love Frozen 2. I want to love Frozen 2. There are things I absolutely do love about Frozen 2.

But I have a complicated disconnect with the way the film approaches the origin of Elsa’s powers.

The film makes Elsa’s powers a gift from the spirits - and also suggests that they are a gift for Iduna because she saved Agnarr’s life. By introducing the idea that Elsa’s powers originate not because of anything to do with Elsa herself but because of an event that happened before Elsa was even born, the film kind of undermines the metaphor of Elsa’s powers reflecting a key aspect of her identity.

Identity doesn’t work like that. I’m not trans because of other people’s actions. My trans-ness is a part of me. It comes from me. It wasn’t decided that I was trans so that my mother could have a “reward” for her own righteousness. If some divinity did bestow my trans-ness upon me, I would be disturbed to find out if they didn't do it for my sake - if they did it because my mother did something and I was only an aspect of the equation insomuch as I related to her...

To me, that thought isn’t empowering. And it still wouldn’t be empowering even if my mother were as loving as Iduna - because it would tell me that I’m only a vessel...

There’s a difference between saying, “Elsa is a gift because Iduna’s good deed was rewarded with her,” and saying, “Elsa is a gift simply because she is who she is, Elsa is a gift by simply existing.” One is conditional and one is unconditional. One uses Elsa to prop up Iduna’s actions and the other loves Elsa for herself.

(Also, I’d argue that a better gift for Iduna’s goodness would be to let her see her family again. Why cut the Northuldra off from the world when the fault was solely Arendelle’s? I’ve seen some people speculate that Arendelle could have wiped the Northuldra out after Runeard’s death and the mist protects them, but what does that reading make us think of Agnarr if we assume he could be complicit in genocide? Why “protect” the Northuldra in a way that will negatively psychologically impact a generation of them? Why let them suffer? No, that rationale doesn’t make sense to me. The whole mist scenario smacks of the “both-sides-ism” of white writers - but that’s a discussion for another time, a discussion I’m not really qualified to comment on in depth. I need to return to Elsa.)

The interesting thing is, after introducing the concept that the spirits gifted Elsa’s powers to celebrate Iduna’s nobility, the film doesn’t really bring up that angle again. Instead, it tries to frame “we made you a gift for someone else’s sake in a scenario where your individual identity is irrelevant because you did not even yet have a consciousness” and “you are a gift by being you” as being the same thing. But those two things are not the same.

Before F2, Elsa continually frames herself based on what she can do for the sake of others - even at the expense of herself. Clearly, with Frozen 2, the filmmakers wanted to have Elsa come into fuller self-acceptance and love herself for being herself - but that isn’t quite what they wrote. By making Elsa a reward for her mother and defining her powers based only on how Elsa relates to her, the film itself frames Elsa based on what she can be for the sake of others - while disregarding Elsa’s own selfhood and identity. Elsa’s self-identity is so immaterial to the decision to give her powers that it happens before she is even born.

I know the film may not have intended this, but it ends up validating Elsa’s negative thought processes in the act of nominally ‘refuting’ them. All because of those few lines trying to explain why Elsa has powers.

Show Yourself tries to fix this by basically brushing aside the “you were a gift from the spirits for Iduna’s actions” revelation and focusing on Iduna and Elsa’s familial connection and love. This is why Show Yourself is so much more amazing than the earlier revelation and an admittedly breathtaking scene. The focus becomes “you are the one you’ve been waiting for all of your life” - you are a gift to the world simply by being you - and that is so much better than the earlier revelation, but the damage of the earlier revelation has already been done.

Now, the film has two slightly different interpretations of the word “gift” that it tries to use interchangeably - in spite of the fact those two interpretations subtly contradict. The film never comes back to the “gift for Iduna’s good deed” element. It doesn’t establish that what happens in Ahtohallan is an expansion of that or an emendation to that. It doesn’t address the dubious implications of it. It just brushes it aside, never to explore it again.

Indeed, as I’ve said in other posts, if you take out those few lines from earlier, you lose the internal narrative contradiction and the film actually becomes stronger.

So why are they there at all?

I think they’re there because they give a seemingly simple, external explanation for why Elsa has powers. Show Yourself is more focused on what being at peace with yourself means to Elsa emotionally (that’s why it’s better, in my opinion), but the “the spirits gave her powers because of her mother” lines are there because the writers felt they needed to give a direct explanation of Elsa’s magic.

Here’s a hot take, though: Elsa’s powers work better without an explanation. The fact she was just “born with them” in the first film was part of what led to her broad appeal. It allowed countless people to latch onto her because - people who society deems “other?” We’re just people. We’re ordinary. We’re human. We just are. The first film understood this - and for all of Elsa’s magical abilities, she was allowed to just be. And the lack of any lore surrounding Elsa’s powers meant that scores of different people could identify with Elsa. Her powers were vague enough that they could stand in for any unique aspect of an individual’s identity. The point wasn’t where they came from; the point was what they meant.

But after the first film came out, I kept seeing the refrain: “Why do they never explain Elsa’s powers? That’s a plot hole.” it isn’t a plot hole. It isn’t a plot hole any more than not explaining how the Wicked Queen in Snow White got a magic mirror is a plot hole. Something being unexplained isn’t a plot hole. That’s not what “plot hole” means. But I can understand why the writers, after hearing things like that for years, felt like they had to address that explanation.

And in doing so, they tried admirably to connect that plot point to an internal journey for Elsa - and created some absolutely beautiful elements within the film - like Show Yourself. Although, in this post, I’m documenting flaws I see in Frozen 2 and my own disconnect with it, I want to stress that I respect the artists and creatives who brought the film into being and I value their work.

In the process of their efforts, however, they inadvertently opened up internal contradictions within their own narrative; opened up unfortunate implications when it came to their commentary on colonization; and opened up unfortunate implications when it came to their discussions of individuality and identity.

As I have said, there is much I admire about Frozen 2. And I know that my words here come from a very personal place. If Elsa’s arc in Frozen 2 works for you, you’re valid. This isn’t a takedown of Frozen 2. None of my more critical posts about Frozen 2 are. I don’t want to take anything away from you. You’re valid.

It’s just that my perspective is valid too. I know, there are scores of critiques of Frozen 2 and some of them are absolutely terrible or just plain racist, but I hope that as you read this, you’ll understand that my perspective comes from the heart and that I’ve done my best to support it with examples from the text of the film. I hope that you’ll read this. I’m writing it to be heard - because I feel like my perspective gets drowned out a lot, regardless of the posts I make. Flashier positive posts draw one part of the fandom’s attention and flashier and more toxic negative posts draw another part’s attention.

I’m just trying to express my thoughts in a cohesive way, trying to be heard and trying not to feel guilty. (Because I do feel guilty writing posts like these. I get scared that people resent them or that I’m spoiling other people’s fun - even though more toxic people make much more incoherent arguments and they don’t feel guilt, while I try to support all my claims.) I feel like I’m relentlessly apologetic to others, always begging, I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry, always... feeling guilty for even having a perspective like this. As though I feel there’s something wrong with me for simply having a perspective. As though I’m scared it somehow invalidates all the good things I’ve said about the film elsewhere or will make people hate me.

(Not to connect everything back to my being closeted, but I feel like that entrenches a guilt in me that manifests even as I talk about innocuous things like fandom opinions).

But I just... want to speak. I hope that’s not bad, is it? And I hope this post finds a receptive audience. I know it’s personal. I know it’s heavily informed by my own personal experience and perspective, but I hope it’s nuanced. And I hope people will read it and, even if they approach the film differently than me, understand.

Thank you.

#bigfrozensix #frozen #frozen 2 #elsa

64 notes · View notes

bookcoversalt · 4 years

Note

A+ youtube video! I feel like this is a dumb question, but what other sources, exercises, etc would you suggest for a writer wanting to get better at, like, everything you do in that video? I feel like I'm just not intelligent when it comes to writing and reading. I slap down whatever seems fun and I'm sure it makes for a bland story full of stupid plot holes and everything you talked about, so how does one get better at dissecting this stuff and...writing/reading intelligently?

Thank you so much!! There’s a tendency to consider analytical people just “smart”, as if the observations they make come naturally to them. But that super isn’t true: being thoughtful and critical about media, like drawing or writing or playing a sport or learning an instrument, is a skill that you pick up by absorbing reference, learning the language of the art form, and then practicing replicating it through your own perspective.

ABSORBING REFERENCE

My two biggest critical inspirations are Lindsay Ellis, a video essayist who covers film and culture, and Film Crit Hulk, a screenwriter and movie critic, and I’ve been consuming their work since I was 15. (I’m 25 now! that’s a wholeass decade.) I've picked up many, may other sources along the way: other video essayists, pop culture commentators, TV critics, spirited roasts of 50 shades of gray, actual “writing craft” books and blog articles, long goodreads reviews of books I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the flaws on, funny booktube reviews, even “anti” posts. I read “how the last season of game of thrones went the fuck off the rails” articles til my eyes bled, not because I cared about game of thrones, but because there was so much good, insightful reporting being done on How And Why A Story Fell Apart.

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE

Not all of this is good or useful. There’s a lot of bad faith or shallow criticism out there. The cinemasins clickbaity style of nitpicking “plot holes” or penalizing a work for the mere presence of tropes without regard for broader artistic intent and cultural context is particularly insidious and should die. The people who think twilight is stupid because it has sparkly vampires are missing the point. A LOT of people critique YA in particular from a place of bitterness or bias or misplaced expectations (and so did I, to some degree, for a long time. I’ve worked really hard to grow out of that, I hope). But the point is to seek out content in this vein-- not what I consumed necessarily (I would not wish that many GOT thinkpieces on anyone), but stuff that interests you. The more of this you mindfully consume and the more perspectives you collect and compare, the more context you’ll have for what’s being discussed and the more you'll naturally start to form your own opinions on it. You will learn, slowly, by osmosis, to pull what strikes a chord with you from the noise.

REPLICATING IT THROUGH YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVE

The cool and fun part is that to some extent, your brain will start doing this on its own. You’ll read a book and you'll just notice more. You’ll call plot twists faster, or be more cognizant of the pacing, or connect dots you might not have otherwise connected. You’ll see the logistic scaffolding in your own work more clearly and you’ll be more aware of choices you’re making subconsciously. You’ll recognize thematic hypocrisy or worldbuilding inconsistencies and have the language to name them.

And you’ll also have the tools to explore your less clear-cut, more emotional reactions to art. And this is the most important but “hardest” part of this: sitting with vague feelings and unformed thoughts trying to suss out what’s at the heart of them and why, using your hard-won critical “training” and your contextual knowledge.

I like to frame them as questions:

Why did the end of [book] feel disjointed? Why didn’t I connect with the main character in [book]? What really resonated with me about the plot of [book]? Why does [character] appeal to me more than [other character]? Why does [book]’s use of [theme] make me uncomfortable?

Sometimes it comes down to just preference or subjective taste, and that’s fine and good to know. But more often than not, you’re reacting to something concrete that can be identified:

The ending of HOUSE OF SALT AND SORROWS feels disjointed because it comes out of nowhere and has nothing to do with our heroine’s efforts in the larger story. I didn’t connect with the main character in HEARTLESS because within the context of the worldbuilding, her choices didn’t make sense. What really resonated with me about the plot of UPROOTED is its thematic coherency. The Darkling appeals to me more than Mal because the villain romance power fantasy aspect of the series is better fleshed out and ultimately more rewarding to read than the love story of two flawed teenagers. ACOWAR’s use of trauma and recovery makes me uncomfortable because it ceases to be a sincere element of anyone’s arc or characterization and becomes yet another tool to make Rhys look like the best and coolest and wokest fae boyfriend.

Pulled from an old Captain Awkward article, this is something I have in a sticky note on my desktop as sort of a criticism guide:

One of the things we try to do is to push past “I liked it”/”I didn’t like it” as reactions to work. What is it? What is it trying to be? Is it good at being that thing? Was that a good thing to try to be in the first place? Did the artist have a specific agenda? How did it play with audiences at the time? Does it play the same way now? What stereotypes does it reinforce/undermine?

Even if it’s only for your own personal growth rather than intended for an audience, I recommend putting burgeoning critical thoughts or questions you’re trying to “work through” down in writing somewhere: goodreads reviews! tweets! blog posts! spamming your group chat! Even just a private word document. The synthesis of thoughts into written content forces you to identify and choose a specific articulation of your idea(s). If it’s in a pubic or semipublic forum, you’ll also be able to see which of your ideas resonate with other people, and that can (isn’t always, but CAN) be useful information as far as having an external barometer for when you’re onto something.

And then..... you do that a bunch of times in different ways for many years, with a lot of different books and movies and games and whatever else. Like any other skill, you will get better the more you do it. (Again: I have been doing this for ten years now, and it still took me three months to write that video script. Forming nuanced, informed opinions and then articulating them coherently is hard.)

As kind of a footnote tip, seek out peers who have the same goals and feelings, and try to connect with them! Lots of my current internet friends found me back when I was posting on my personal blog about problems i had with THE SELECTION or RED QUEEN and we bonded over having similar opinions and being in similar places in our writing/ reading/ careers. These people now beta read my scripts and posts and help me brainstorm or refine ideas. I strongly believe that creatives (and critics) do their best work and grow the most within a network of support and feedback.

But also, in regards to creative writing in particular, i want to be clear that having fun is the most important thing. I absolutely think creators need analytical skills to improve their craft, but without the enjoyment of doing the thing at the core of it, there is no craft at all. If you have to choose between the "smart” thing and the fun thing, choose the fun thing. Tbh, if you’re worried your work is bland, analysis probably isn’t the solution-- figuring out how to have more fun is the solution. And letting yourself lean into the stuff that’s wild and awesome and so incredibly you that it sets you on fire to write is a skill of its own :)

19 notes · View notes

duhragonball · 4 years

Text

‘21

Amidst all the popular hype for seeing the end of 2020, it didn’t hit me until about lunchtime what the real highlight is that I’ve been waiting for: For the first time since 1999, the year finally ends in “numberty-number” again. It low-key irritated me that we had to call it “two thousand three” and I was relieved when “twenty-thirteen” caught on, but it still wasn’t right because it was too short, and now we’re back in the sweet spot, and I should be safely dead by 2100, so that’s one less thing I gotta deal with.

Really, even “numberty hundred” rings true to me. “Nineteen hundred” sounds like a year. “Twenty-one-oh-six” sounds like a futur-y year, which is even cooler. So did “Two thousand five”, until I was actually living in it, and it sounds even worse now that it was a long time ago and adults will talk about their childhood happening in that year. Daniel Witwicky would be old enough to get married and grow a fancier beard than me. That’s nuts. My point is that, honestly, it’s the year 3000-3019 that I have to worry about, so if I ever decide to go vampire, those will be the years I hide in the ocean or force society to reset the calendar, whichever’s easier.

I spent New Year’s Eve finishing Superliminal, which I bought on Steam after I watched Vegeta play it on YouTube. It has a similar look and feel to the Stanley Parable, so if you liked one you’d probably enjoy the other, although Superliminal has a different theme. I kept hoping I’d find some secret passage that I wasn’t supposed to take, and a narrator would scold me for finding the “Chickenbutt Ending”, but it doesn’t work that way. Superliminal’s all about puzzles and awesome visuals, but it does have the same soothing design aesthetics as TSP. Honestly, I enjoyed just wandering around in Stanley’s office, and Superliminal does the same thing with a hotel and several other settings. It’s nice.

This got me thinking about how I kind of did everything there was to do in The Stanley Parable, and I sort of wished they would add new stuff to the game, but I’m not sure there would be much point to that. I could play the older version, but it presents the same message, just with different assets. The Boss’s Office would look different, but it’d be the same game. And this got me thinking about various “secret chapters” in pop culture. Secrets behind the cut.

I first heard about this idea in the 2000′s, when fans invented this notion that there was a secret chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I read a website that tried to explain the concept, and of course it lauded J.K. Rowling with all this gushing praise for working an Easter egg into the book, a literary work of “well, magic.”

That pretty well sums up my distaste for Harry Potter, by the way. These days, JKR has thoroughly crapped all over her reputation and legacy, but in the 2000′s it felt like half the planet was in a mad rush to canonize her as a writing goddess, to the point where fans were congratulating her for writing secret chapters that didn’t actually exist. The idea was based on lore from the books about Neville Longbottom’s parents. They were patients in a mental hospital, and he’d go to visit them, and they would give him bubble gum wrappers, intended to demonstrate how far remove they’ve become from reality. The secret chapter lies in those wrappers, which all read “Droobles Best Blowing Gum” or some such. What if Neville’s parents were only pretending to be mentally ill, so as to throw off their enemies? Naturally, they would want to stay in contact with their son, so the bubble gum wrappers would have to contain coded messages. Said code involves unscrambling the letters on the wrappers to make new words, like “goblin” or “sword” or “Muggle” or “Dumbledore”. The problem is that you can also use it to make other words like “booger” or “drool” or “booobbiess.” Play with it enough, and you can make the code say anything you want it to say, which means it’s no code at all.

But the idea was that the not-yet-published sixth HP book would reveal all of this gum wrapper nonsense, and Neville would decode the messages and discover all of his parents’ super-cool adventures. I’m not sure why we needed a secret chapter if Book 6 was going to explain all of this anyway in several not-secret chapters, but that was the whole point. Fans didn’t have Book 6 yet, and they were so desperate to read it that they started trying to extrapolate what would happen next based on “clues” from the previous five. That’s like trying to figure out what Majin Buu looks like by watching the Androids Saga. I guess some wiseguy would have guessed that he’d resemble #19, but that’d just be blind luck.

And when you get down to it, this whole secret chapter business is really just a conspiracy. This is literally how Qanon works. Some anonymous jackass posted vague “hints” on an imageboard, and people went goofy trying to interpret them and figure out what would happen in the future. They call it “research” because they spend a ton of time on this, but there’s no basis to any of it. It took me a few minutes to figure out that you can spell “Muggle” with the words in “Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum”, but that’s not research and it doesn’t prove anything. But all these guys keep looking for “Hilary Clinton goes to jail next week” and lo and behold that’s all they ever find.

In the same vein, the gum wrapper thing was really a complaint disguised as a conspiracy, disguised as a “magical secret chapter”. At least a few fans wanted to see more Neville in their Harry Potter books, they wanted Neville’s parents, or someone like them, to have cool spy adventures or whatever else. The point is, they clearly weren’t getting what they wanted out of the printed works, but they didn’t want to turn against their Dear Beloved Author, so they started casting about for an alternative reality, one where J.K. Rowling wrote a cooler story and hid it in the pages of the one that actually went to press. So instead of just saying “Hey, Order of the Phoenix was kind of a letdown, I hope there’s more ninjas in the next book,” they said “Rowling is a genius because I wanted ninjas and she’s definitely going to give them to me, I have the gum wrappers to prove it.”

The same thing happened all over again when the BBC Sherlock show took a turn for the nonsensical. I don’t know from BBC Sherlock, but I watched the fascinating video critique by Hbomberguy, and it sounds like the show did tons of plot twists until it stopped making sense altogether in the fourth season. If you skip to 1:09:00 in the video, you’ll hear about fan theories that suggested that season four was supposed to be crappy, as part of a secret meta-narrative plan that would be paid off in a secret, unannounced episode that would not only explain everything, but retroactively justify the crappy episodes that came before. But it’s been a few years and it never came to pass, so I think we can call this myth busted.

Most recently, I think we’ve all seen a lot of talk about the final season of Supernatural, where I guess Destiel sort of became canon but only one guy does the love confession and the other doesn’t respond. But I guess he does say “I love you too” in the Spanish dub, which means the English language version was edited for whatever reason. It’s not exactly a secret episode, but the implication is that there’s more to this than what made it to the screen. So the questions turn to what the screenplay said, what the writers and actors wanted to do, etc. etc. My general impression is that SPN fans are a bit more used to crushing disappointment, so they’re not quite as delusional about this show being unquestionable genius, like Sherlock and Harry Potter. Maybe this is an Anglophile thing? Like, if you suck at something with a British accent, people will accept it more unconditionally?

I had seen something on Twitter about how there should have been a secret Seinfeld episode in the 90′s. Someone suggested it at the time, they tape a whole episode, then wait until 2020 to air it, because by then it would be worth a fortune. But they didn’t do it, because it costs a lot of money to make a TV episode, and if you don’t air the show right away, you aren’t making that money back any time soon. Yeah, you might recoup a fortune someday, but Seinfeld was making a ton of money then. It exposes the fannish nature of the idea. A fan would love to discover a cool secret chapter, but a content creator isn’t necessarily keen on making a cool thing and then hiding it where few people would find it.

I thought about doing this myself recently. Maybe Supernatural gave me the bug, but I thought “I’m writing this big-ass story, so what if I wrote me a secret chapter for it? Wouldn’t that be cool?” But no, it wouldn’t be cool, because it’d be the same work as writing a regular chapter, and the same stress I feel when I hold off on publishing it. Except I’d just never publish it, I’d put it in some secret hole on the internet and hope that some superfan who might not even exist can decode whatever clues I leave.

I mean, it’d be awesome if it got discovered and everyone loved it. “Hey, I found this hidden chapter! Mike’s done it again!” And I could bask in the glory. But what if no one finds it? Then I just wasted my time, right? I want people to read my work. My monkey brain needs the sweet, sweet validation of those kudos and comments, folks. Once I realized that, I understood why no one else would want to do a secret chapter either. Easter eggs are one thing, but the bigger bonus features they put on DVDs were pretty easy to find, and with good reason.

I think that’s what made the Stanley Parable so appealing to play, because it teases you with the idea that you can “break” the game and find some extra content that you weren’t supposed to see, but as you go exploring all those hidden areas, it gradually becomes clear that this is just part of the game; you were meant to find all these things, and that’s why they were put here. It’s hidden, but he secret aspect of it is just pretend.

I suppose that what I like about games like TSP and Superliminal is the illusion of secrets more than the secrets themselves. I like roaming through the hallways, having no idea what I might find ahead. I kind of wish I could open all the doors, and not just the ones the game designers put stuff behind, but the reality is that there’s nothing on the other side. I used a cheat code once to explore the unused doors in TSP and it’s just a bright white field on the other side. Interesting to look at, but not much of a reveal. Honestly, the doors themselves are more appealing than anything that could lay behind them.

And that’s probably what makes secrets so fun. They could be almost anything, but once you open the present, the number of possibilities drops to one. If they had ever made that Secret BBC Sherlock Episode, I doubt it would have lived up to expectations, but fans could amuse themselves by imagining what could have been in it. In the end, though, things usually don’t justify the hype. For every Undertaker debut at Survivor Series 1990, there’s a Gobbledygooker debut at Survivor Series 1990. It’s impossible to manufacture a secret with a guaranteed payoff.

8 notes · View notes

thoughtsofanexcitedspacechild · 4 years

Text

Writing Tips (Pt. 3): Writing Believable and shippable relationships in literature.

Hello friends! First of all, let me say a HUGE thank you for the support on the Kataang post! I worked really hard on it and it means so much to me all the little notes you give it and reblog it! I know it’s not at a huge number of notes, but I like knowing that people took time to read through the endless rant and reblog it! I’m planning on doing another full analysis on Zutara and why specifically it doesn’t work. I’ll make it respectful though as I know that a lot of Kataang fans are REALLY defensive and anti-zutara. I promise I’m not one of those people, and believe that no matter who you ship, your opinions on fictional characters are your opinions and you are FULLY entitled to ship and like whatever you want (as long as it’s not incest or a huge age gap. PLEASE don’t ship that stuff lol. U nasty mfs know who u are.) Speaking of ships, let’s talk about writing them. Writing ships for movies, books, shows, etc. can be surprisingly hard. Writing characters themselves can be hard enough as it is, but writing a pair of characters that fit together like a puzzle piece can feel impossible. Nevertheless, I’m here to make that process a little bit easier. When I’m trying to set up a relationship that’s going to happen, here are some things that I keep in mind to make sure that I and the audience of my writing ship the characters I have end up together.

DISCLAIMER before I get a’rantin: I am by NO means telling you how or what to write and am by NO means a professional writer of any sorts. I’m doing this mostly because I write a lot and speak from my own personal experiences with writing and because these are just the things that I found work best when writing my own stories. I also read and analyze a lot of others work on my own personal time, and these are just the details that I pick up on that I find makes a piece of writing effective. With that in mind, remember that writing is and art form, and the beauty of that is that there’s no one right way to do it. Ever. You can read the same thing as another person and interpret it in a completely different and unique way.

1. Complementary Characters usually work out best.

This is more than the classic “opposite’s attract” theory, and characters don’t necessarily have to be opposite to be complementary. Some things to think about when thinking of and writing complementary characters:

-Complementary doesn’t necessarily mean complete opposite in every single way. Often times I find it much more helpful to have characters share a common interest in hobbies, upbringing, childhood trauma (that one’s a bit overdone these days), etc. so that they’re not butting heads all the time. Just like yin and yang, theres a bit of darkness in the light and vice versa. To keep the balance harmonious, you can’t have characters be polar opposites and have no common ground. That leads to what many people consider a toxic ship, and will either lead to an unrealistic balance that inevitably leads your characters to be fighting all the time.

-Keeping common interests in mind, often times the paces where character’s contrast is in their personalities. (Shy and bold, heart and head, bubbly and brooding, quiet and gregarious, etc.) Different personalities often are able to balance each other out and hold each other accountable for their weaknesses.

-Going off of that, one character’s strength is another’s weakness, and all traits are both. A character’s empathy can lead them to be loved by many, but may cause them to starve themselves and drain their cup so there’s none left to take care of themselves. A character’s logic may lend them top of class or calm in stressful situations, but can lead them to be insensitive to others and even their own emotions. Your characters should balance each other out and work well together, and part of this is helping each other grow from their weakness.

-This one isn't as important, but what I also find super compelling, especially in film and tv shows is when the authors/writers deliberately choose to give the characters complementary color palettes. (I dove more into this on my Kataang analysis so go read that if you’re super interested.) If the character’s look ascetically pleasing together, it makes shipping them a whole lot easier. Focus on orange and blue, yellow and purple, red and green, and any variation of those colors together.

2. Buildup

Often times one of the biggest critiques of ships that just don’t work out is that there’s not enough buildup or foundation to have a romantic relationship. It seems obvious, but if you’re going to have them end up together, there’s going to need to be some buildup or else the entire relationship will feel wrong and contrived no matter how pleasant you make it.

Some tips for increasing and establishing buildup:

-Have your otp spend time together as friends first. I personally find that the healthiest and most successful ships are friends before they’re lovers. This is why Kataang specifically works so well, but Korrasami, Romionie, and Liesel and Rudy from the Book Thief are all good examples. If you observe these ships, all of these characters spend time together as friends first. Korra and Asami were able to bond and become friends over a toxic guy (cough cough MAKO) and eventually developed feelings for one another. Ron and Hermione weren’t romantically interested in other people and were friends until they started seeing other people and found out they liked each other. Liesel and Rudy were best friends before anything else and Liesel didn’t realize her feelings until it was too late.

-Time together. When your otp spends time together, make sure that whatever time is being spent together is time that they both enjoy. No, the activity itself doesn’t have to be enjoyable to both characters, but the time spent together should be. If the characters really aren’t enjoying the time spent together, then it’s never gonna work out. I’ll use the ship that I’m writing as an example. Currently, I’m in the process of writing a third atlas series and we’ll use my characters Liang and Hana. (Yea I used my own name for one of my characters. I think it suits her bc she’s basically my clone, just, she’s the avatar. I’m going to change both of their names once I do more research and can find culturally and historically accurate names.) Liang REALLY loves pro-bending matches. Hana, not so much. She still goes with him to see matches and attends his matches when she can. On the flip side, Hana really loves going to her favorite tea shop. Liang vastly prefers a strong cup of coffee, but he goes with her anyways. Why would they choose to do something that they don’t necessarily like? Because that’s more quality time spent with each other and doing something for the other person.

3. Romantic Gestures

Going off of my last point, we have the art of romantic gestures. These can range to things anywhere from a hug, to an elaborate firework display, to a locket with both of their pictures in it. Make sure that the romantic gestures are there! It’s gotta be clear that both characters are thinking about one another and consciously choose to do something for the other person. Here are some fun ways to do it:

-Remembering a gift the other character wanted. This one’s cliche but it works, because often times the best way to show affection is through physical gifts and objects. Think coffee from a favorite shop, handwritten notes, that piece of clothing the other has been eyeing, etc.

-~symbolism~ *add chime here* By that I mean have an object to symbolize their relationship with, like Korrasami’s iconic hair pin or Liesel’s book that Rudy retrieved for her. This way, the readers not only have a visual representation of their favorite ships, but the object can physically link characters together and make a vague relationship full cannon. (I know for sure that someday when I get a tattoo, I want the hairpin tattooed on my wrist, ankle or side of my body.)

-PDAs. Works best in film and visual stuff, but still applies for everything. I’m talking cuddles, kisses, falling asleep in each other’s arms, the whole shebang. I mean how much clearer can you make it than a pda?

-Love languages. Each person loves in their own unique way. Have characters figure out and learn each other’s love language. It really shows and adds a whole other layer to the cake. This one can make a ship that feels a little bland have more depth and realism, because in the real world, healthy relationships are formed and aided by learning and applying each other’s love language.

4. Dialogue. This one can be hard to master, but once you do, it’s a breeze. First off, I recommend getting all your ideas out, and editing. DON’T EDIT AS YOU GO! This is often tedious and super annoying, so get everything out first, and go from there once you have a decent amount to work with. Dialogue is tricky, because dialogue in and of itself is meant to communicate and express feelings. Here are some tips and steps to at least get a start:

a. Know EXACTLY how your characters feel about one another, and make that evident through communication. It seems obvious (again) but this really helps and I find that putting myself in the character’s shoes for a second and really thinking about it helps to decide exactly what they would say in a given situation, especially if the scene you’re writing involves confrontation about feelings for one another.

b. Dialogue is more than just talking. Body language, tone, facial expressions, etc. are all part of dialogue too and are SUPER important! In the real world, humans communicate through more than just words, and sometimes a playful grin, grimace, crossed arms, or pout is much more effective than a character outright saying something.

c. Once you’ve written the dialogue out, be concise and smart about your dialogue and pare it down as much as you can. Often times, adding too much dialogue can make a scene boring and flat. Use your words sparingly! The purpose of writing is to covey a story or message and often times this can be done effectively with less words rather than more. The main point in dialogue itself is to provide necessary context and information. Otherwise, don’t use it.

d. Make sure the conversation is two sided. This (say it with me now) SEEMS OBVIOUS, but make sure that both people are talking/communicating. it’s a conversation, not a speech. (Unless it is a speech or declaration of some sort.)

Before I go: A QUICK (Long) PSA ON TOXIC SHIPS:

The concept of a toxic ship is very common in a lot of literature. Often times writers choose to include elements that may be toxic to heighten romantic tension in a story. While I do recognize that this sometimes may be a stylistic choice, there are MUCH better and effective ways to create tension that having something be toxic. Toxic relationships in my opinion share one purpose, and that is to establish a relationship’s toxicity and ineffectiveness. I don’t recommend writing these into a story unless it’s an obstacle for your characters to overcome, and having a character forgive the toxic actions of another character and still end up with them isn’t the right move because it completely disregards and diminishes the effects of what happened previously.

One of the best examples I can think of is Reylo from the new sw trilogy. I did touch on this briefly in a couple of my earlier posts (The Effect Of Modern Day SW characters and My Tips for Writing (In General) which I highly suggest you go read bc they both took me a bit of time and state the purpose more in depth) but I think I’ll quick reiterate and say that it wasn’t a good choice on the writer’s part to have some of the dialogue be so intense and vicious and then have them end up together. I still like the idea of Ben Solo and Rey together and ship them together out of cannon, but in cannon, it’s the perfect example of an ineffective ship. There was little to no build up, the dialogue was often spiteful and sharp, and it escalated a bit too quickly. I would’ve liked to see more of Ben Solo (NOT Kylo) and him feeling sorry for and repenting for the bad that he’s done before he and Rey end up together. Yes, we’re all suckers for the enemies to lovers trope, but PLEASE make sure to filter out the toxins before boarding your ships and watching them sail.

That’s it for now! I hope this helps a little when writing shippable characters! I’m always free to rant to and to critique. I’m going to start posting as much as I can, because these guides help me too! Check out my other ones if you’d like to know tips for writing in general and I made another one on how to write characters.

#writing #writing tips #writing tingz

12 notes · View notes

miraculouscontent · 5 years

Note

Is it cool if we ask for them anyways? Your thoughts on Desperada I mean? I mean, lots of people are split on that one and you’re one of the Lukanette Queens, so I’m sure we wanna hear what you have to say, even if it’s not that salty.

L-LU–

LUKANETTE QUEEN???

*incomprehensible noises*

I-I mean, yeah, I guess I can still give me thoughts then–

[A Matter of Timeline]

(if you don’t want to hear about timeline analysis, skip to the next point; it won’t have a huge impact on my actual thoughts anyway)

Firstly, I want to make something clear: “Desperada” does take place before “Silencer.” Like, it just does. This has nothing to do with how I feel or what I want either; it makes sense from a narrative standpoint (I acknowledge that the show has a habit of not making sense but still–).

I know what Thomas said about production codes being the episode order, but the reality is that the production code order is the easiest thing to point to because of the hero line-up.

“Desperada” and “Startrain” come before “Party Crasher,” for example. Following the production codes is the safest way to watch the series without accidentally stumbling upon a new hero who didn’t get their debut yet.

Anyway, “Desperada” acts as follow-up to both “Captain Hardrock” (showing Anarka outside of the music festival) and “Frozer” (showing Marinette’s friends discussing Adrienette-related matters). Not only that, but it fits perfectly between “Frozer” and “Silencer.”

Let’s look at the facts; specifically, Marinette and how she interacts with Luka.

“Captain Hardrock” had Marinette be initially startled by Luka. She was a bit shy around him, thought he was a generally cool guy, but was comfortable once she calmed down. There was something there, which Alya took note of but chose not to take beyond that, and Marinette was in complete denial that there was anything special there.

“Frozer” was when Marinette began to be wholly comfortable around Luka. He was the one to comfort her, he was the one who caught her when she fell (twice), and he practically had her in the palm of his hand with his flirting compliments. They were unable to get anywhere relationship-wise because of Adrien being there with Kagami, but Marinette did wonder about how Luka felt about her (which “Desperada” ALSO calls back to, going from “Frozer” with “Do you think [Luka’s] just like Adrien; just a friend?” to, “Luka? You know he’s just a friend,” because Luka let her go to Adrien in “Frozer”).

Plus, despite the interactions she’s had with Luka, Marinette isn’t entirely flustered around him. She likes him, they have chemistry, but she isn’t blushing to any substantial degree.

“Desperada” advances the idea of Adrien being around while Luka and Marinette are spending time together. While “Frozer” focused more on Marinette’s struggle/ability to be selfless, “Desperada” follows up on Luka’s selflessness from the end of “Frozer” and Marinette’s inability to think about anything else but Adrien.

Now, the thing–the important thing–about “Desperada” existing is that “Frozer” didn’t do a good enough job at getting Marinette to notice Luka when Adrien was around. He helped distract her and she was close to it, but she wasn’t quite there. In addition, more often than not, the reason Marinette put her focus back on Luka was because she fell or something drew her attention away from Adrien.

“Desperada” puts her on the right track, because everything that the episode does is pushing her to see that Luka is there. She doesn’t give an immediate “no” when Kagami suggests that Luka is her boyfriend, implying that something is stopping her from denying it, but she’s not there yet and Adrien is taking up all her attention.

And, by the end of the episode, she understands.

She stops seeing just Adrien and is able to see both of them. Then, what happens immediately afterward when “Silencer” kicks in?

Well, well, well, look who’s seeing Luka romantically now?

There are other reasons as well, like the fact that “Desperada” has the girl squad mentioning Marinette’s crush on Luka but don’t talk about Luka’s feelings at all, and the fact that Alya states that Luka and Adrien “haven’t chosen anyone either” when Luka basically confessed to Marinette in “Silencer” (and if Alya “I noticed a thing so give me ALL the details” Cesaire isn’t aware of it, then she’s not doing her job right). Marinette also has no reaction to indicate that “Silencer” has happened (I’m not even talking about a “she remembers it fondly” way; just an “it happened” way).

Like, I don’t think highly of the writers but even I don’t think they’re that inept to touch on the plot of Lukanette VS Adrienette without mentioning that Luka is in love with Marinette and has basically stated as such.

Also, that makes Luka’s transformation in “Silencer” highkey adorable because he’s clearly taking inspiration from his time as Viperion, meaning that he remembers the experience fondly but just not enough to override the akuma-given personality to despise Ladybug.

Anyway, point being: “Silencer” comes after “Desperada” for reasons unrelated to making the episode easier to swallow.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled critique.

[A Friend in Need]

Now, I don’t want to blame all of Marinette’s problems on her friends…

…but, well, here I go. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I feel like I tread this topic no matter what the episode I critique is, but Marinette’s friends do not know how to handle her nor respect her. For goodness’ sake, I just talked about this in my post about “Reflekdoll” but apparently we’re gonna do it again.

Let’s start with the fact that, just like in “Gigantitan,” we have characters making mocking comments about Marinette, this time with her inability to speak with Adrien. I’ve said before how I feel about Marinette’s friends mocking her clear and obvious anxiety and how it’s extremely damaging because joking about it normalizes the behavior and causes them to not do anything when it happens because “it’s just Marinette being Marinette” and doing anything to fix the problem would be “too hard” because apparently Marinette going out of her way to care about people while not getting the same in return is fine with them.

And can we not with characters shipping Marinette with other people behind her back without confirming whether or not Marinette is actually in love with them? That’s weird. I mean, I don’t even know how her friends presume that Marinette likes Luka; it’s one thing to say that they’d be better than Adrienette, but while Luka and Marinette are being extremely cute together, Marinette isn’t a mess nor is she stammering away, meaning that she’s not showing her usual “love signs” to imply that she has feelings for someone. Alya was only (vaguely) teasing her in “Captain Hardrock” but now she’s talking about it for real, like, what? I might ship Lukanette but that makes no sense to me.

By the way, I take offense to the fact that this is after “Frozer,” where Marinette wanted to give up on Adrien but her friends weren’t having it. Yet, now, when Alya decides that Marinette can give up on Adrien and go to Luka instead, it’s perfectly alright? ‘Scuse me?

Also, when Kagami suggests that Luka is Marinette’s boyfriend, Marinette is looking around in a panic, from Luka, to her friends, to Adrien, etcetera, which is clearly a cry for help, yet her friends do nothing about the issue. I don’t blame Luka because him confirming that they’re not dating would imply that he’s not interested, and he at least gives Marinette a reassuring smile, but her other friends just stare at her blankly.

Even if they’re trying to see how she reacts or what she reacts with (since they were just talking about the possibility of Lukanette), this literally is not the time when Marinette is roasting in the sunlight that is Adrien freaking Agreste. Satiate that curiosity for at least a second before Marinette starts hyperventilating, guys, and why would Marinette still be dying over Adrien if she was dating Luka?

Alya, Mylene, and Alix are clearly freaking out at Adrien being there and one can see that they’re thinking, “oh no, it was going so well between Luka and Marinette but now Adrien’s here,” but they don’t do anything to keep Marinette’s emotions at bay. No comforting touches on the shoulder, no signs/hints for what to do next, nothing.

Also, I just gotta call out Alya specifically here because oh my god. “Reflekdoll” had Alya doing too much and now here comes “Desperada” with Alya not doing enough.

First off, Alya only teased Marinette about Luka back in “Captain Hardrock,” so it’s no wonder why Marinette’s not going to take Alya seriously here when Alya implies that Kagami might be onto something. Not only that, but what Kagami was onto was Luka being Marinette’s boyfriend; something that, if Marinette had considered it, it was only briefly. They’re friends, and that’s just a fact, so I’m not surprised in the slightest that Marinette waved Alya off.

Like, Alya, maybe don’t try to push Marinette in another direction without properly talking to her about it, because it’s only going to further her disillusion/confusion on the matter???

If episodes like “The Puppeteer 2″ and “Reflekdoll” were to take place after this, just put me out of my misery now because POOR MARINETTE.

And, as is typical, Alya just smiles and rolls her eyes, but doesn’t take things further. She hints, she teases, but she doesn’t address the issue. How is Marinette supposed to take Alya seriously anyway when Alya is known for shipping Adrienette so hard that she completely ignores how Marinette feels?

SPEAKING OF WHICH…

The guitar scene.

Let me state right off the bat that Marinette has tunnel vision around Adrien, and I’m going to fully acknowledge that (see next topic of discussion).

But, Marinette noticing and choosing Adrien to point out was Alya’s fault. Alya had always carved herself out to be in the pursuit of getting Marinette close to Adrien and she was the one who witnessed Adrien asking Marinette to sign his Jagged Stone CD (because he’s a fan as well) all the way back in “Guitar Villain.”

Not only that, but instead of understanding that it’s never a good idea to be vague or leave room for error when it comes to Marinette and Adrien, Alya chose to jab a thumb in the direction of Adrien instead of saying anything. It doesn’t matter if she meant to direct Marinette to Luka, because Adrien was in front of Luka.

Thus, when the scene hit, my reaction was literally, “Alya, honestly, what did you think was going to happen?”

When Marinette is panicking over Adrien, she needs guidance to do things correctly. She needs direction; someone/something to tell her what do next. On top of that, Jagged just flung all this pressure on her about needing a guitarist (by the way, unrelated, but I don’t see why Jagged couldn’t take over for guitar while Adrien does piano).

Yet, when Alya clearly gave Marinette the wrong instructions, what does she do? Again, make faces and proceed to not do anything to fix the problem.

All it would’ve taken is for Alya to go up to Marinette after Adrien admitted, “I’m more of a pianist actually,” pat her shoulder, and say, “Girl, I meant Luka!”

Marinette would’ve glanced over, looked at Luka, and gone, “Oh! Duh, of course!”, because I’m 100% sure that Marinette doesn’t mean it when she calls Adrien “the best musician” since she’s basically never heard Adrien actually play (and I mean alone, so excluding cases like “Captain Hardrock”). It’s just the tunnel vision talking, which we as an audience know because Marinette was complimenting Luka earlier for his skills.

Anyway, if Alya and friends are just there to react to Marinette screwing up without actually caring about how it’ll look for her, they should not be in the scene.

Though, the fact that they are and Alya has to take the initiative almost implies that Marinette honestly might’ve gone with Luka had Alya not intervened.

…So, literally, Alya’s presence in the story only serves to hurt Marinette.

As usual.

And by the time the scene is over, Marinette is doubly stuck on Adrien. The ultimate problem in the episode is the dialog, which is so stilted for the sake of the joke hitting that it doesn’t come off as a surprise and makes the scene feel a lot less “real.”

And for the inevitable question of, “but, Clarity, why aren’t you talking about how cringe-y the scene was?”, honestly–like–yeah, it was surreal to watch, but this isn’t “The Puppeteer 2″ where Marinette was embarrassed in the moment. She didn’t even have to endure any teasing/lectures/looks/etcetera, because she was oblivious. Once the scene ended, Marinette feels bad and that’s the end of it, whereas “The Puppeteer 2″ lingers forever on it and won’t let it go.

…Also, while we’re on the topic of the guitar scene–

[”Yes, That’s the Point”]

This episode doesn’t kill Lukanette. This episode kills the love square.

The takeaway from the guitar scene is not, “I can’t believe Marinette would ignore Luka for Adrien!”

The takeaway is, “I can’t believe Marinette would ignore even Luka for Adrien!”

This is showing how bad Marinette’s crush is for her. When asked about a guitarist, she picked Adrien because that’s how severe her tunnel vision is; even Luka is not safe from it. She doesn’t care about Luka any less nor is Luka less special to her, but all she sees is Adrien when he’s around and Luka saw that. That’s why he gave up his guitar with a smile and only took it back when Desperada was attacking and he needed to distract her.

He wasn’t hurt by what Marinette did because he understands, and is willing to go along with whatever Marinette says (”If you like, Marinette.”). Marinette even told him at the very start of the episode that he was amazing at playing guitar; Luka can easily piece things together and realize that Marinette isn’t thinking properly when suggesting Adrien (which is proven the instant Marinette leaves the scene, because she immediately vents to Tikki that she didn’t know why she did that, and Tikki is even understanding of this). There aren’t any lingering shots of Luka looking sad or Luka being upset that Marinette didn’t pick him because he’s witnessed her tunnel vision before (i.e: “Frozer”) and recognizes that this is just how she acts around Adrien. I mean, he becomes the snake hero in this episode, and Fu said himself that the snake had to be wise, so Luka knows what’s up. After all, he easily gave her (someone who’s not a professional musician and doesn’t know how to handle an instrument) his guitar so they could “play together” earlier in the episode, so he knew why she’d see no harm in him giving it up to Adrien.

Thus, Luka just smiles at Marinette. There’s no other reaction because he doesn’t have any other reaction. He doesn’t laugh at her and he doesn’t make faces. He might’ve been confused at first, but once Marinette goes up to him and talks about him giving his guitar to Adrien, he smiles and goes along with it because he gets her.

(by the way, I don’t care what the context is; this shot is adorable)

(by the way x2, oh, yeah, I’m so sure Luka wants to play with Jagged Stone when Luka’s usually in a band with three other members who he’d want to get recognition too and also after his mother just went off at the guy for essentially dumping her)

Now, what did get a reaction out of him is when Marinette was sad over Adrien and Kagami bonding, and that was because it was affecting Marinette personally and negatively.

Luka’s selflessness–another trait Fu understood was needed for the snake–shines through in this episode and makes him a perfect candidate when placed on top of the fact that he’s wiser than basically everyone around him.

The problem is that Marinette wouldn’t imagine Luka for the snake immediately because she doesn’t know about Luka’s selflessness. She’s (presumably) not aware of his crush by the time “Desperada” takes place and thus she doesn’t know what he’s doing (or not doing, in some cases) in order to keep her happy and let her figure things out on her own. She doesn’t know Adrien to be completely selfless either, but between the two of them, Adrien won out because he was Adrien “pErFeCt” Agreste. If Adrien wasn’t there, then yes, she’d pick Luka because he’s wise, but her tunnel vision was too strong for her to make a rational decision which is the entire point of the episode.

Well, that, and showing what the difference is between Marinette/Ladybug acting around Adrien/Aspik versus her acting around Luka/Viperion.

Ladybug treats Adrien as something “cute.” She fawns over him, is clearly charmed by him, but ultimately coo’d over basic things like him having a superhero name (her tone in which made it sound as if she was talking to a darn puppy).

The differences are clear. She laughs at Aspik’s joke because she’s too into him to focus wholly and completely on Desperada, whereas she scolded Chat for making the same joke because she sees it as him not taking things seriously.

With Aspik, she insists that they don’t need Chat (only asking about waiting for him once when Aspik throws her off) because she puts too much faith in Adrien’s supposed “perfection” and isn’t thinking properly about what they need during the fight. With Viperion, she acknowledges that Chat is helpful and that he should indeed be there for battle (even going so far as to say, “our team would be lost without him!”).

Adrien distracts her, both as Aspik and as Adrien in her head, to the point where she blurts out the identity of who she wants to give the snake to in front of Chat. Meanwhile, Viperion isn’t distracting enough that she can’t focus, and that’s always what Luka has been good at; he’s pleasant, calm, but not overwhelming to the point where Marinette can’t keep her head on straight. In fact, when Adrien and Kagami first arrived and laughed together, it was Luka who tried to reassure Marinette, and Marinette’s expression changed only when she was looking at him right after his reassurance.

Then, when Adrien waved at her, she did look at Luka again for a sign of comfort, and the true panic kicked in when he was busy waving at Adrien and thus couldn’t focus on her.

She looked at him first to seek out help before fumbling with his guitar, and I think that says something.

With all that in mind, this episode kills Adrienette (by showing Marinette’s tunnel vision) and Ladrien (with Ladybug interacting with Aspik and how Adrien responds to Ladybug) in one fell swoop, with a bonus shot being fired at LadyNoir because look at Ladybug’s face when Adrien (as Aspik) tells her he’s Chat Noir.

We don’t get to see the fallout, but her world had just been annihilated. I have never seen such an efficient murder of so many sides of the love square in my entire life and it’s gorgeous.

Heck, even in thinking of “Silencer” itself, Ladybug only dreamily mentions to herself in “Desperada” that Aspik can read her mind, when it was actually just because he’d Second Chance’d so many times that he knew what she was going to say.

Yet, then it turns out in “Silencer” that there’s someone who can actually read her mind.

Luka.

And–uh–now, having said that, I imagine everyone expects me to pendulum swing in the opposite direction and start going off on Adrien for his behavior

But… well–

[Adrien Actually Wasn’t Bad in This Episode and You Can Pry That Opinion From My Cold Dead Hands]

Okay, I’m just gonna scream for a second because I LIKED ADRIEN IN THIS EPISODE, I’M SORRY.

Like, man, I know he was brought in to freak Marinette out, but that’s not his fault and he’s actually rebelling here!

Seriously, "Reflekdoll” was a decent shot at Adrien rebelling, but that was Alya finding a loophole of sorts. “Desperada” is Adrien, straight-up, ditching fencing practice alongside Kagami to go hang out with his friends and LAUGHING about it.

Amazing. Fantastic. Beautiful. I NEED MORE.

And he and Kagami are freaking cute. They hold hands, they laugh, and Adrien looks super comfortable with Kagami casually clinging to his arm. Even if Marinette was somehow over Adrien, I couldn’t blame her for being jealous over that relationship because those two were too darn cute.

Concerning Marinette too, Adrien was gentle with correcting her when she offered him up as the guitarist, whispering that he’s “more of a pianist.” He clearly doesn’t want her offering to go to waste but is being honest.

Also, Adrien is such a wonderful idiot here in general. Like, it’s the little things.

He opens+closes the opposite locker to Luka to make Luka think that he hid away because of the sound, then escapes out the door which is just as loud if not more so than the locker.

He (as Chat) leads Ladybug to Adrien’s locker, and then uses that as an excuse to be like, “WELP, BETTER SPLIT UP,” instead of just splitting up from the start. I have no idea if he wanted to make sure that Ladybug wouldn’t give up and hand the miraculous over to Luka instead but I think it’s highly amusing.

Also, Adrien acting oblivious to a kwami’s existence like, “bUt–whAt aM I sUpPoSeD to dO???” with his hands up near his chest to feign innocence had me dying.

As for his role as Aspik… honestly, I think it all comes back to what Fu said about the snake: it needs someone wise enough who won’t use the miraculous selfishly. Second Chance is a powerful miraculous that requires self-restraint because the user has infinite chances to do whatever they want.

It would be natural for Ladybug to think that Adrien is selfless, because she sees him care about terrible people like Chloe or Lila and would view that positively, believing him to be pure of heart.

But he’s not, and… I mean, that’s not technically a bad thing character-wise. Even so, Adrien isn’t good for the snake for multiple reasons, one of which being that the snake is a passive miraculous and Adrien is too aggressive and reckless.

The temptation is there because Adrien wants to make a good impression on Ladybug and can reset time with no consequences. It’s not like when he’s Chat Noir and mindlessly flirts or wastes time; he (as Aspik) has all the time in the world to spend with Ladybug.

I won’t deny that it’s the wrong time to flirt. Adrien is clearly off in his own little world and not thinking clearly (much like Marinette), so he spends a little time flirting.

But the important thing is here that he stops.

The first time, he didn’t flirt at all.

The second time, he saw how easy it was to go back and began flirting.

Then, as he was running off after Ladybug was shot, Plagg yelled at him. Plagg knew this was a dumb idea from the beginning and didn’t hesitate to go off on Aspik.

“*sarcastically* Awesome team, alright.”

“I just need a bit more time.”

“To do what?! Charm Ladybug, or defeat the villain?!”

When he goes back for his third time, he’s more careful and looks for a safe place to hide first, at which point it’s Ladybug who flirts with him (Aspik pulled her close protectively, but that’s it, and to me, it shows that he’s more on edge) before Desperada shows up and shoots Ladybug.

Ladybug then gets shot multiple times in sequence before Aspik tries to reveal that he’s Chat Noir (either just because or he’s hoping that’ll change something), but that’s all. After that, it’s just a constant montage of Ladybug being shot. Aspik flirts a couple times on-screen at best, and during most of the moments where Ladybug got shot, he seemed prepared but it’s just not enough, because the snake doesn’t work for him and it can’t be helped.

But he tried, and that’s all I ask for. I didn’t need him to be good at the snake, but I need him to try. Chat Noir is easygoing and doesn’t worry about making mistakes because he’s just having fun, which is probably why it hurt Aspik all the more that he kept losing Ladybug when he was actually being serious. He knew that he was doing his best and he wanted to be the one to save her but he couldn’t because he’s not a planner and he’s sorry for it and even assures Ladybug that she did nothing wrong. He’s even seen rubbing his eye when he turns around to face Luka, like he’d been crying.

I get mad at Chat when he’s not trying or when he’s not being serious, but there’s a clear moment where Aspik understands what he’s doing wrong and he does try. I can’t bring myself to be mad at him when he only briefly gave in to the temptation of having infinite chances to do whatever he wants.

It’s also not a “feel bad for Chat because he got rejected again by Ladybug” moment and THANK GOD FOR THAT.

Then, that brings everything right back to how Marinette/Ladybug need direction when Adrien is around, as Adrien tells Ladybug that Luka should be given the miraculous. He reminds her of his traits, which Ladybug hadn’t been able to remember as clearly because all she was thinking about was Adrien. By doing that, Adrien essentially gave her the go-ahead to see Luka romantically.

And the second Adrien leaves, Luka steps in, and the mental lights kick on.

Yes.

[Luka Cou-fine]

This boy.

This freaking boy.

So, just to be clear, it’s not that I don’t understand the opinion that Luka got the shaft in this episode (though honestly, Kim’s definitely number one on that front and I don’t think anyone will disagree with that), but real quick, let me just give a run-down of what happens with him outside of the guitar scene:

- Luka got to spend a lot of precious time with Marinette before Adrien showed up, which he clearly enjoyed. She complimented him fondly and they got to laugh and play guitar together.

- Luka’s mom was revealed to know Jagged freaking Stone, who may or may not actually be Luka’s dad because she seems to have had a very close relationship with him. Jagged Stone is also quick to point Luka out given his guitar and his “awesome T-shirt,” clearly preferring him over Adrien.

- Literally the entire episode, even if Luka didn’t know it, was pushing Marinette to focus on him, without any insistence on his part, and he got the miraculous he deserved in the end. Oh, and the kwami of said miraculous, might I add, also seems to be the leader of the kwami inside the Miracle Box, given “Sandboy” and how much Sass has direction in that episode.

- Luka was able to use his musical talents twice (thrice if him loaning his guitar to Ladybug counts) to help in the defeat of an akuma that went after his friends and family, then got personally thanked by Ladybug for it.

- Luka has the–I repeat, the–LONGEST transformation sequence out of any hero (YES, I COUNTED; EPISODIC SCENES ARE TEMPORARY BUT TRANSFORMATIONS ARE FOREVER).

SO YEAH, I THINK THE GUY IS DOING PRETTY DARN WELL FOR HIMSELF. I’M SURE HE’LL BE FINE.

Luka isn’t in the spotlight as much in the episode because Luka isn’t active. He takes action when it’s necessary but is perfectly happy being on the sidelines when the situation requires it.

Did he get copious amounts of screentime? No, but I ask: why is that?

The answer is because he’s literally too good at his job. Viperion dealt with the akuma by watching, waiting, analyzing, and slowly eliminating room for error. Ladybug and Chat Noir got shot the first time, then it was only Ladybug, then it was only Chat (as Viperion steadily lessens the severity of the causalities happening). Then, he experimented with his lyre and was able to come out on top immediately afterward.

It’s not that “Adrien’s screentime overshadowed Luka;” it’s that Luka didn’t need that screentime because he was better than Adrien; he was so good that he came out on top by just being himself.

He owned that miraculous, and I can’t imagine how nice it must’ve been for Ladybug to have someone who’s a planner like she is. She’s used to teammates who follow orders, but this was a time where someone was there to take the mental weight off her shoulders and it shows in how she looks at him by the end of the episode.

She doesn’t think that he was a convenient choice, or that he only succeeded because Chat was there (since Chat wasn’t there around Aspik and she could presume that Aspik failed because of it). Luka was simply perfect for the snake and Ladybug acknowledged that.

“You were the right choice, Luka.”

[I’m Out of Things to Analyze So I’m Just Gonna Ramble About Other Bits and Pieces I Adore From This Episode Because I Appreciate All of Them]

- THIS LUKANETTE??? RIGHT HERE???

LASTED ME THE WHOLE DARN EPISODE BECAUSE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA like, yeah, as if a simple misunderstanding based on tunnel vision is going to break apart this relationship, oh my god plz–

- Even Kagami saw that Lukanette was strong; I don’t make the rules I just enforce them–

- I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO SEE JAGGED AND ANARKA INTERACT FOR A WHOLE SEASON AND NOW I FINALLY HAVE IT AND IT’S FREAKING AMAZING. THEY PLAYED TOGETHER WHEN THEY WERE YOUNGER AND THEY CLEARLY HAD A THING (HE CALLED HER HIS MUSE!!!) AND THE HEADCANONS JUST FORM THEMSELVES!!!

- RETURN OF UNCLE JAGGED APPRECIATING MARINETTE, YES PLEASE.

- Anarka uses music metaphors too and now I know where Luka gets them from!!

- Freakin’–Luka’s face when Jagged is clearly very friendly with Marinette and acts as if they’re best buds.

Like, lemme just–

Perfect.

I adore it when Luka is clearly reacting internally, you guys don’t even understand–

- Desperada is fabulous and the sounds her instruments make are hilarious; A good combination.

- KAGAMI PROTECTED ADRIEN AND ROSE PROTECTED JULEKA. MY SHIPPER HEART IS SOARING.

- I like the little stickers on Desperada’s case. They’re cute and… no, that’s not relevant to my enjoyment of the episode at all, but I liked seeing them.

- KAGAMI RUSHES IN WITHOUT A THOUGHT. SHE AND ADRIEN REALLY ARE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER KFNGJFDGD.

- ACTUALLY SUPPORTIVE TIKKI WHO UNDERSTANDS MARINETTE. YES.

- Luka was so quick to want to help Ladybug i cry.

- Ladybug tries to call Chat Noir and Adrien looks awkwardly off into the distance like he just wants to die.

- Desperada was so salty about Luka’s mere existence. Like, you jealous, akuma?

- Plagg when Adrien was about to transform into Chat Noir: lol how about a nap first- Plagg when Adrien was about to transform into Aspik: YOU MORON, EVERYTHING IS WRONG ABOUT THIS AND YOU SHOULD BE CHAT NOIR RIGHT NOW. I HATE EVERYTHING.

- XAVIER’S PIGEON ARMY GOT CAPTURED AND I CACKLED.

- “Can I love–UH–trust you???” THE FREAKING RECORD SCRATCH IN THE BACKGROUND, I CAN’T–

- THEY ACTUALLY EXPLAIN HOW THEY’RE GOING TO GET THE MIRACULOUSES OUT AFTER LADYBUG AND CHAT GET SHOT BY DESPERADA. THANK YOU. (Sorry, I’m still salty about “Reflekdoll” never establishing that despite Reflekta having two episodes to work with so I’ll take what I can get.)

- I ALREADY KNEW THAT LUKA WAS EXTRA AFTER SEEING “SILENCER” BUT OH MY GOSH I COULD NOT HAVE ASKED FOR A BETTER VIPERION TRANSFORMATION. MOVE OVER, KIM, SOMEONE’S COMPETING FOR YOUR SPOT AND I THINK HE FREAKING WON.

- ALSO, SINCE WE SAW ADRIEN AND LUKA TRANSFORM WITH THE SAME MIRACULOUS, WE CAN CONFIRM THAT LUKA IS EVEN MORE EXTRA THAN ADRIEN. THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY, MIRACULOUS GODS.

- “No need. Ladybug brings enough luck for all of us.” SMOOTH. AS. SILK.

- I was living for seeing Viperion process every situation without even flinching. He saw one/both of the heroes get shot and he just immediately went back, already forming a plan.

- This face:

I’m not speculating on anything; I’m just saying it fills me with warmth.

- Jagged would absolutely fire someone over something as petty as breakfast and I would expect nothing less from him.

- Alya has no business saying it but she rightfully points out that Adrien and Luka can choose who they love as well, so that’s something, I suppose.

So, is this episode perfect? No, absolutely not.

The dialog is too stilted/unreal during the scenes that are played up for excess comedy, Sass either gets fed off-screen post-Aspik or doesn’t get fed at all, they play Adrien’s Chat Noir transformation twice when they could’ve replaced one of those with Marinette’s Ladybug transformation, and Marinette’s friends are terrible at helping her (as per usual).

Yes, I would’ve liked it if this episode had a bunch of Lukanette and Lukabug and Vipernette and Viperbug and Luka+Viperion got like 300000% more screen time.

But, I’m not here to judge the episode on what it isn’t, and a majority (I must stress the word majority; I obviously don’t like seeing certain lines/scenes) of what is here is stuff I either understand the reasoning for or stuff I really like.

Call it a guilty pleasure if you must, but those are my thoughts and I’m standing by them.

#((Defending an episode feels weird.))#category: critique #category: positivity #episode: Desperada #category: long post #word count: over 5000 #other: ask and answer #((This was originally just going to be a five-minute video where I rewatched ''Desperada'' and screamed))#((but heckin' long posts is my domain.))

266 notes · View notes

nona-gay-simus-main · 4 years

Text

10 More Mistakes Beginner Writers Make:

Disclaimer: All of these mistakes are things I have had to learn to avoid and have found in most manuscripts I critique. You can find the same advice from industry professionals, all I have done is distilled it for a Tumblr post.

10 Mistakes Beginner Writers Make Part One

1. Hand-holding

New writers have a tendency to say something, then repeat the same thing several times in slightly different ways. Maybe they’ll say it in the narrative then in the dialog, and not in the fun way that characterises characters.

Don’t do this. When you hold your audience’s hands, it makes us feel like you don’t trust us. Even if you are writing YA. Or middle grade, for that matter - though you probably should be a little bit more obvious there.

Nobody wants to read a book that treats them like an idiot. And no matter how obvious you make something, there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t get it, but those are outliers. Trust your audience.

2. Character Voice

Character voice is pretty important for any book. People have different personalities and backgrounds. A character who went to an Ivy League school and is working on Wall Street won’t sound the same as a janitor who barely finished high school. This isn’t a judgement call, it’s just reality.

Just like a charter who likes dry, sarcastic humor, won’t sound the same as someone who is completely humor-less. Or a character who grew up in one part of the world, a character who grew up in another part and so on.

All of this needs to be reflected in your character’s dialog and if you are writing first person or third person deep - likely, the narrative too.

And if all your characters sound the same - and probably sound the way you do - they just start to blend in.

3. Filler

We all love fluffy cuteness with our characters. Or a sex scene. Or that really funny scene where the band of ragtag heroes shares embarrassing childhood stories.

But unless those stories lead to a realization or come back around in act three, you need to cut them. Kill your darlings.

4. Flashbacks

Most of the time the flashbacks only slow down the pacing and add absolutely nothing to the story that couldn’t be added in a couple of lines of dialog. Often times writers would even have the necessary dialog and still add a flashback and it’s the most frustrating thing.

Now, I’m not inherently against flashbacks, I think they can be used well - it’s just that most of the time they aren’t.

5. Plot Structure

Please structure your books. Please? Structure does not exist to limit your creativity, it exists to give the reader a satisfying experience and help you write the best story without going too much over or under. And unless you are writing literary fiction or non-fiction, you do need it.

There’s plenty of structures to choose from - The 3 Act Structure, The Hero’s Journey, Save The Cat. You can even structure the book around a character arc, instead of a traditional plot structure - especially if it’s a romance or a contemporary. Just pick something and use it.

6. Believability

Look, just because something happened in real life, doesn’t make it believable in fiction. Reality is Unrealistic.

The goal is being believable, not realistic.

And while I’m at it - something that happened in real life may not inherently make someone a bad person, doesn’t mean it’s a good look for your character.

7. Step By Step Writing

Please don’t go over every minute detail of your character’s routine. Most of the time it’s perfectly fine to say “character A took a shower” instead of describing all the things they do in the shower.

Or perhaps you just don’t know how to transition from one plot-relevant scene to the next. Well, I’m terrible at transitions. But you know what the solution is? Learn to write better transitions.

8. Obvious Dialog

If your dialog sounds a bit flat and/or cheesy, you may have made it too obvious and sincere. In real life, people rarely say exactly what they mean, so why would your characters talk like that?

I’m not saying make your characters compulsive liars, I’m saying add another layer to their dialog and save the real sincerity for vulnerable moments.

If your characters always say what they mean, it makes them look really one dimensional and over-the-top and if they are having a vulnerable moment every other chapter it takes away from the power and importance of those moments.

9. Vague Descriptions

You need to always be looking for ways to make the description more vivid and punchy. Really hit us in the gut with the right verb or adjective. Saying something like “he walked” might be perfectly serviceable, but saying “he trudged” or “he jogged”, might also help characterize your character and really create a vivid picture in the reader’s mind.

10. Weak Character Arc

I had to start writing my book from scratch, because I realized the structure and characters arcs were not... good.

Nobody wants to read about a character who starts perfect and ends perfect. They can start and end at the same place, that’s fine, but it has to be earned. They have to want something, and depending on the type of character arc either let go of what they want and get what they need instead, or get what they want and realize it doesn’t make them happy. Then they have to either let go of it or continue down the read to self destruction.

Obviously not every minor character needs a character arc, but definitely at least every character who has a POV should. Which, remember, should be no more than four characters if you’re a debut.

#writing #writing tips #writing advice #writeblr #writeblogging #nanowrimo #camp nano #camp nano 2020 #camp nano july #nanowrimo 2020 #top 10 #top 10 list #top 10 mistakes #top 10 writing mistakes #mine

11 notes · View notes

phandomficfests · 5 years

Text

Beta Reader FAQ: Beta Version

Be prepared for the time and the commitment.

Before you even jump in, this is the thing you should consider first. In most cases, being a beta reader should not be a one-and-done encounter with the writer. Sometimes you may find a writer that just wants you to look over something quickly before they post, but a proper beta read is going to involve sticking with the writer for the duration of the story and being a listening ear from start to finish. While being a beta reader is a voluntary position and writers are always grateful for the time being offered, it’s still polite to not leave the writer hanging halfway through their fic. Be prepared to make the story a priority, to communicate efficiently, and to let them know as soon as you no longer have time.

Know your strengths, and advertise them.

If you want to be a beta reader, make sure that authors know you’re available to beta read! You’ll probably get a lot of traction just by word of mouth if you’re good, but everyone starts somewhere. Make a post saying that you want to beta read and, in detail, what particular strengths you have. If you see writers lamenting that they’d like someone to beta read for them or don’t know how to find a beta reader, reach out to them without waiting for them to come to you.

What to communicate to the writer beforehand:

What you will and won’t read. This includes genres, tropes, ratings, trigger warnings, etc.

What you don’t like to read. This would be anything that predisposes you to not liking the fic that you’re supposed to be working to help the writer improve. A writer that just wants a quick grammar/spelling beta may be fine with that, but anyone looking for a more in-depth beta read will probably want to find someone in their demographic.

Your style. If you have been told before or even just feel that you’re particularly harsh or that your critiques are very thorough, warn the writer. A lot of writers do want that, but it can still be jarring to get back a document packed with comments if you weren’t expecting it.

Tips for offering critique.

Leave macro feedback. Macro feedback is feedback on the entire story. This covers things like character motivation (“I’m not sure why this character made this choice.”) or plot points (“It seems unclear why they can’t be together.”) or consistency. Macro feedback often leads to a longer conversation in which you as a beta reader can help the writer work through whatever issues they are having with the story.

Leave micro feedback. Micro feedback is feedback on minor issues or line by line critique. A character using slang not appropriate for the era (the only tea spilled in 1920s lexicon would involve actually mopping up), referencing a grade system that isn’t used in the country the character lives in (a character from Florida isn’t attending sixth form, and a character from Manchester won’t be in high school), dialogue suggestions, etc.

Keep the author’s directives in mind. If you’ve communicated appropriately beforehand, then you’ll already have an idea of what kind of beta reader the writer is looking for. Tailor your macro and micro feedback to these specific areas.

Be positive. Remember that you aren’t there just to pick apart the story. Telling a writer what does work can often be just as important as telling them what doesn’t, and building confidence (where warranted) helps make a better writer. Be honest, but not brutal. If the writer seems particularly nervous, starting with the positives can help reassure them that you didn’t hate their story. Remember that writers can’t read your mind, so they won’t know that you’ve enjoyed what they’ve written unless you tell them. A good general rule to start out with if you’re unsure is to go with a three positives to one story critique ratio, but this can also be cleared up with - say it with me - communication. Just ask the writer if they prefer a heavier positive critique, or not. If they give you a vague answer, err on the side of a lighter critique until you get to know them better.

Don’t be too positive. It’s not doing the writer any good if after reading their twelve thousand word big bang fic, all you have to say is “It was fine.” Find the comfortable place where you can be both uplifting and encouraging, but also genuinely helpful. While it is important to balance the critique out with comments on things you did like, you’re not doing the writer any favors by refraining from giving them any critique at all just to spare their feelings.

If you just don’t like the fic, pass on it. Even if you theoretically are into the genre or trope being written, it may be that some writing styles don’t gel with your taste. If you feel unable to give the fic a fair beta read because something about it is unappealing to you, diplomatically inform the writer that you won’t be able to complete the job and let them move on to finding someone that can offer them genuine praise as well as a critical eye.

Questions/comments for your writer.

Does this exposition or background info contribute to the overall plot?

I’m unsure why this character is doing what they’re doing.

Are these actions realistic for the situation/character?

Is there a logical or reasonable emotional motivation for what your character is doing?

Can you actually imagine this dialogue coming out of this character’s mouth?

I don’t understand what you’re describing here.

How much time has passed between these scenes?

Does your fic have a message/theme, and what is it?

Remember that it’s their story, not yours.

Your job is to help the writer think critically about what they’re writing, but at the end of the day they are not obligated to take every suggestion that you make. The writer has their own style and their own goals with what they want the story to be, so as long as you’re helping them accomplish that - you’re doing your job.

If you’d like to read the writer companion version of this post, click here.

#writer reference post

209 notes · View notes

rocket-bear · 5 years

Note

⭐star⭐ FOR THAT ONE ASK THING!

aaaah ty for asking!!! I’m just gonna take this opportunity to, ramble about a couple of different things so this is going to be real long I’m sorry,

First, two scenes from All-In:

When she tells him that Saikyoudai is her number one choice for university because it has the degree plans that best suit her hopes of double-majoring in child development and education, he ditches his other options and goes all-in on his own application. She’ll get in, he knows, and she does. The football team isn’t sterling– though the big fucking baldy is there, and that’s a mark in its favor– but he’s had experience with building a team from the ground up. He can make it work.

I’ve seen folks critique the idea that Mamori just follows Hiruma to Saikyoudai at the end of the series, and while there are DEF criticisms to be made about HiruMamo– tangent: I personally don’t know why I love it so much, because “male character treats everyone around him including his love interest with blatant disrespect bc the way he actually shows respect does not at all reflect anything that another human being would ever recognize” is like, usually VERY much not my jam, but meanwhile it somehow works for HiruMamo to the point that they’re one of my everlasting OTPs– to me, there’s no actual evidence that Hiruma picked Saikyoudai first (unless it’s in a guidebook or something?), so I wanted to push back on that assumption a little! Everyone that’s attending Saikyoudai is canonically very smart or very talented, so it makes just as much sense to me that they either landed on Saikyoudai together because it’s a great school, or that Mamori was actually the one to choose it and Hiruma followed her there. The only canon character on the Wizards before Hiruma joined was Banba, so while Banba is great, it’s not like the football team would have been a particular selling point for him. Hiruma’s a literal genius who could go to any school he wanted, so– yeah. Saikyoudai was Mamori’s pick, not his!

Next is the kiss scene! I’m not going to quote it because this post is already going to be long enough, but GOSH I have had that specific set-up for The Moment HiruMamo Happens in my brain literally since I was 13 but I just never actually took the time to write it into anything, and then abruptly last night it was just like, IT’S TIME. (The fact that it’s been in my mind for that long always makes me vaguely worried that it was something from another fic or a prompt that someone wrote over a decade ago and I’ve accidentally stolen it by thinking I came up with it myself so ANXIOUS BLANKET APOLOGIES, IN CASE THIS EVER HAPPENS, SOMETIMES YOU COME BACK TO A FANDOM OVER A DECADE LATER AND MEMORIES ARE HARD,)

But!!! In any case, whenever I think about HiruMamo finally happening, in my head it’s always Mamori that actually… not necessarily makes the first move, but actually approaches the conversation?? because Hiruma’s allergic to being actually, genuinely vulnerable, and jokey vaguely antagonistic flirting is one thing, but acknowledging that the Vibes are Real is a whole other thing and Mamori’s the one in that equation that’s emotionally mature enough to accept it. So in All-In, Mamori opens the door by just, legit inviting herself into Hiruma’s room, Hiruma does some flirting that could easily be brushed off if he was misreading things, and Mamori explicitly challenges him to DO IT YOU COWARD. One of my favorite dynamics for them!

FINALLY, from Kick Drum Heart– again, rather than quoting a scene I want to talk about a specific plot device, because if I let myself dig into scenes then we’re gonna be here all day. When I was first plotting KDH, the whole idea was really just Sena and Shin developing their relationship in college via Shin tutoring Sena, and I hadn’t planned for either Shin’s poetry plotline or the consistent presence of Panther in story with his mirroring romance plotline with Homer. I fleshed out Panther’s storyline because I just REALLY, REALLY wanted to include the detail of he and Sena casually hooking up in the US since it’s one of my favorite headcanons rofl, and so I wanted to expand his role to be more central to the narrative out of respect for his character and so that scene would feel more cohesive! And then for Shin’s poetry, I really wanted to find something that would allow me to explore the way ShinSena is mutually supportive, rather than limiting it to just Shin supporting/inspiring Sena. Modern fandom is MUCH better about this so shout-out to all the other wonderful writers still writing for ShinSena, but back in the day there was tendency to reduce Shin down to nothing more than Sena’s Hot Sexy Supportive Perfect Boyfriend, without really delving into the ways that Sena is also a hugely important positive influence on Shin’s life instead of it being a one-way street. (Like!!! Shin literally, canonically does not even enjoy football, the thing he devotes every single second of his time and energy to, until he loses to Sena!! Literally in canon this is true!!!!!! I HAVE A META POST IN THE WORKS ABOUT THIS,)

So, I wanted to think of something that Shin could be struggling with during the story that Sena could support him with the same way Shin was supporting him for biology. This was tricky, because Shin’s canonically a great student and Sena isn’t, so I had to think of something academic that A) Shin would struggle with in the first place, and B) Sena would actually be better at. I faffed around with ideas for a while but finally landed on literature/poetry while I was rewatching Chihayafuru for oh like the fifth time, due to the scene where Chihaya’s summer homework is to write some original poems and some of them are extremely silly (“I FEAST UPON A WHIRLWIND OF ICE CREAM…”) and some of them are accidental beautiful love poems about her love interest. I thought that would be perfect for Shin, who tends to approach things in overly clinical/literal terms and struggles to openly express his more positive feelings, and while Sena’s not a poetry buff, I figured he would at least be able to help Shin rework things to sound more expressive and less clinical! This in turn then set up the entire climax of the story with Shin sharing the theme of his poetry collection with Sena, so I’m soooo glad that I landed on that idea because it really made the whole story come together. (SO LIKE, EVERYONE SHOULD PAY RESPECTS AND GO WATCH CHIHAYAFURU, IT’S AN AMAZING SHOW)

Shin’s poems went through a lot of drafts of mostly small tweaks to change wording or slightly adjust a metaphor, but as a bonus, one that I didn’t end up using at all was [Bradycardia, / until you appear ahead. / My pulse comes alive.] I thought the idea of Shin trying to use the word “bradycardia” in a love poem was hysterical, but then the rest of it was like, actually deeply romantic, and too similar in theme to [Muscles atrophy. / You appear along with spring, / Promising new growth.], so I scrapped it.

my god that’s so much more than you asked for sorry about the wall of text BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY???????

#meta #kick drum heart #all-in #shin #hiruma #mamori #sena #sestet

6 notes · View notes

krugerevengeinej · 5 years

Text

Listen

@ the soc fandom

I’m not naïve enough to believe that I can stop people from writing certain things, and I know they’re never going to be satisfied by any argument I give. Even if the only argument they have can’t be supported or is just “people can do what they want.” I could write a twenty-page essay and still, it wouldn’t be enough to change what people do. But too those telling me to shut up, go ahead and keep arguing. I love to respond to the same critique ten times in a row. But know what I’m saying isn’t really for you, and it isn’t for writers of certain head canons.

It’s for me, it’s for other people who are upset by things they see in the fandom. Contrary to popular belief, those Headcannons, those fantasies can hurt people. You don’t change canon, you can’t take anything away from, but sometimes it feels like your trying to even though you aren’t. It’s disheartening to see these posts over and over. Someone can block blogs and filter tags, but they’ll still see these things on their dash one way or another, and they still know they’re there.

When someone ignores or tries to change an key part of a character, even if it’s just a headcanon there’s a good chance that part was very important to someone else. It makes them feel ignored. It’s never just one post, and when they see similar things over and over, see said things being praised by others, it’s frustrating, and they want to scream out and say something. No, they’re not oppressed, but neither is the writer when someone decides to speak their mind. But when they do it’s for the other people who feel like them, so they can know they aren’t the only person feeling frustrated by something that should be stupid.

Except feelings aren’t stupid, and they can’t be controlled. It’s very hard to just ignore something that you are deeply upset by, especially if it’s relating to something near and dear to your heart. You know people can say what they want, ooc headcanons are included, but so are criticisms and arguments. It might actually be worse to stop talking about things that bother us, to stop having these arguments because people are never going to stop getting mad. If they don’t get to express that anger, it gets bottled up, and they turn bitter and resentful. Just like me! I spent so long trying to play nice, yet here I am.

For that reason, I’d just like to say go ahead and argue with me, attack me. Because fuck nice culture we’re angry bitches let’s just duke it out. Then we can get back to having fun instead of being petty and vague posting about an issue for four months before finally snapping. You can’t just not get mad, you can try and reason with yourself but sometimes you just can’t help how you feel. Don’t pull a Kaz, acknowledge your feelings, your desires, your frustrations.

I know I sound like an asshole when I talk about certain things, but I really don’t care. I am an asshole, and I’m just trying to help you understand why. Too often you see people say, “let people have their headcanons, maybe it’s important to them for some reason, and it doesn’t hurt you.” But you see, I can criticize their headcanons and maybe it does hurt them a bit, but they can still have them. If that headcanon was important to them then good, they understand how I feel. I encourage them to complain about it. I’m ready to throw down. (Honestly, it’s really fucking satisfying to have people’s arguments against mine be either “don’t tell people what to do” or something easily disproval ninety percent of the time.)

In conclusion, write whatever you want, bitch about whatever you want, but be prepared for people to people to bitch about your writing, bitching, or both. We’re all angry primal fucks. Go ahead and share your anger about this if you want to. I can guarantee you, you’ll feel much better than if you bottle it up.

#oof just realized the tags didn't work #six of crows #soc #ck #crooked kingdom #kanej #discourse #certified by the dork

24 notes · View notes

codariidoescrimes · 5 years

Text

Arden Talks Media Studies: Death of the Author

Intro/Disclaimer

Ok so I do try to keep this blog largely for swtor in specific and star wars in general content, but I’m going to make an exception here because I like to talk. @lilquill brought up some posts about death of the author in a discord server we share and her, another friend who I don’t want to name without their explicit permission, and myself ended up having a conversation about the misconceptions people seem to have around this topic. So because I’m a media studies student I figured I’d make this post about death of the author from my perspective of studying this stuff.

Feel free to reblog this post if there’s anything you want to add or challenge me on! This isn’t meant to be a callout or a vague about any specific person, more a general idea that seems to be spread around. And I could be totally wrong. I’ll link my sources at the end.

So what is Death of the Author?

The original Death of the Author essay was written by an academic named Roland Barthes and later translated into English. It’s not super long so y’all should definitely give it a read if you’re curious about this stuff, but it IS quite dense so I’m going to summarize it here, paragraph by paragraph.

Barthes opens by quoting from the book Sarrasine and asking the question “who is saying this?”. He goes on to say that there is no clear answer whether it is being said by the protagonist, the Author, or the social context the Author is writing in. To Barthes, literature is a place where multiple voices (the Author and the various influences on their life) combine into a whole new voice that can’t be fully attributed to any one of the original factors.

In the next paragraph Barthes talks about how the idea of the Author is a modern, Western, one. The concept of the Author, therefore, is one that hyper focuses on an individual, and (usually) his personality and thoughts due to the the importance of individualism in our society. “The author still rules in manuals of literary history, in biographies of writers, in magazine interviews, and even in the awareness of literary men, anxious to unite, by their private journals, their person and their work”. The fiction produced by an individual, under “author-culture” (because we don’t already have enough [x]culture going around) is therefore seen as a both direct insight into the mind of the Author AND a direct expression of his ‘voice’.

The next paragraph talks about a few previous criticism of Author-culture. A bunch of different writers have argued that language, systems, symbols, and codes are the lens a work should be viewed by rather than tools of the Author. Surrealism directly opposed the idea of an authors intentions via automatic writing. And the school of linguistics talks about how the Author isn’t any sort of dramatic figure, but simply a person who writes.

Barthes goes on from this to speak about how the death or absence of the Author™ changes the modern text. First of all, rather than the Author being a ‘before’ state and the text being an ‘after’ state where the Author can be viewed as the ‘parent’ of the text, instead the writer exists simultaneously with the text. “In grammar the person or thing we speak about is called the subject. What we say about the subject is called the predicate”, and to Barthes the text is no longer the predicate of the Author. It therefore directly counters the idea of the tortured genius Author whose hand is slower than his mind.

To Barthes, the text is not just the words being written with one meaning coming directly from the Author, but a “tissue of citations, resulting from the thousand sources of culture”. The writer is therefore an imitator not a creator, with their role being to combine and contrast already existing ideas and concepts into a new form. The words used by an Author largely already exist, and only have meaning in relation to other words that also already exist.

The Author™ and the Critic™ therefore have a symbiotic relationship. The Author provides the text with one set meaning, and the Critic therefore uncovers the meaning by explaining the Author. The death of the Author also becomes the death of the Critic. “The space of the writing is to be traversed, not penetrated: writing ceaselessly posits meaning but always in order to evaporate it: it proceeds to a systematic exemption of meaning”. Barthes believes that death of the author liberates writing from needing to have a final meaning.

Writing is therefore the domain of the reader or the spectator. Barthes provides the example of a Greek tragedy, where the text of full of words with double meanings. Within the text each character only understands one of the meanings, creating the tragic misunderstanding. However the reader understands not only the double meanings of each word, but also the limited understanding of the characters. Texts are a dialogue between cultures and writings, which the reader combines through the act of reading. “The reader is a man without history, without biography, without psychology; he is only that someone who holds gathered into a single field all the paths of which the text is constituted”.

Barthes concludes by explaining that classical criticism is centered around the Author, not the reader and that therefore “The birth of the reader must be ransomed by the death of the Author”.

Context of the original text.

Welcome to the bit of this already longass post where I death of the author the ‘death of the author’ text itself. As in, to fully understand this text we need to look at the context it was written in.

Roland Barthes was a French linguist who lived in the 21st century. If you’re like me and have done any media studies classes at all, you’ve probably already heard of him as being “that sign guy”. As in, he wrote a LOT on semiotics. Semiotics is the study of signs, and to discuss it in detail would be a WHOLE other post, but it is quite important so here goes:

The main concepts within semiotics are the sign, and signification. A sign is a word, image, sound, act, object, etc which has no intrinsic meaning, but has been given meaning. It is made up of the signifier, a written or spoken word, and the signified, a concept. The relationship between the signifier and the signified is signification. For example, a cat is a sign as it consists of the word “cat” (signifier) and the physical animal (signified).

Barthes also talked about mythologies, and not as in the Greek sense. Basically, denotation is the literal meaning of a sign, while connotation is a deeper or cultural meaning. Rose denotes rose; rose connotes romantic love. Myth in this sense is when those two words are combined and the connotation BECOMES a denotation.

He was also heavily involved in structuralism. There’s a lot of types of structuralism because a lot of different disciplines use it in various ways, but in Barthes context it involved looking at the cultural and social structures that determine human behaviour, and using this in the context of literature.

And this isn’t as off topic as it might seem, because Barthes Death of the Author text can therefore be looked at through these lenses. As in, Barthes is the guy who literally wrote a whole essay collection called “Mythologies” to analyse the societal connotations of new signifieds to ordinary objects as signifiers. And by ordinary stuff I literally mean wrestling, wine, and plastic among others. So to Barthes, the Author is a sign, and the text written by the Author is another sign.

Conclusion

The most important thing to remember about Death of the Author is that it’s a particular concept, that discusses a particular idea (the Author™) in a particular context (structuralism, and a critique of individualism and the Culture of the Time). So therefore, even when used correctly, there’s still no requirement to AGREE with this particular theory. Thanks for reading!

Sources

Roland Barthes - Death of the Author

Predicate and Subject

No source for the semiotics stuff because it was all written class notes :(

Structuralism