writingescapades

[writingescapades]

Hey, I saw you made a post about what what we look for in a good characterisation of Rafayel in fics.

Honestly, for me, it’s mostly how he speaks that makes it believable, so the same nuances to how he phrases things/fillers, and turns of phrase. (That goes for all of his in-game incarnations.) Otherwise, just like all of us as people: we have darker and lighter shades of who we are. When put in new situations, we may not always ‘act ourselves’. As long as the motive/driving force for our actions is clear, i think we’re free to write however we like! That’s what’s wonderful about AUs.

Keep writing! And, if the characters feel right in your heart, that is always what’s best! ☀️

Hi anon,

Can I say I really appreciate that you pay attention to word choice! I do the same when I read and write!

Thanks for the encouragement! I was in a bit of slump with my writing.

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What tells me if Rafayel has been accurately depicted is when he is written as more than just a silly, dramatic artist, but cold, deadly and vindictive. He's wanted for murder in game and is even disappointed by how low his bounty is. Rafayel is a sassy guy but only to those he's close to. To everyone else he's indifferent or plotting their deaths if they've fucked with anything Lumerian related.

Hello Sorry for the late reply!

Yes, I agree! I love reading the cold, deadly, vindictive stories. I so badly wish we could see Rafayel when MC is not around. How he behaves with others and what lengths he goes to.

This man is found under the name revenge and I am shocked the writers haven't shown that side of him to us yet. Stop hinting! Show Us!

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“The essence that you bring to me continues to slowly restore my power…Living in this form has certainly been an adjustment”

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I actually don't believe Balor is as smooth of a charmer as you'd think at first blush

Like he's def not inexperienced when it comes to romance or seducing, but I actually think he doesn't rely on that too too much

Mostly cause when alls said and done it's a little more trouble than it's worth-- though I do think he learned THAT lesson the hard way

It's better to keep it professional when making deals, keeping feelings out of business is always a good idea

And I don't think he made too many close friends on the road, and probably few to no lovers, and definitely not anything super steady or long term

What I'm saying is, he's not completely helpless and hopeless when I comes to romance, but when he catches real feelings he's definitely out of his depth

Especially with something long term

This whole thing makes him unbelievably nervous and it's hard to be a smooth talker when your palms are sweating and your heart is pounding out of your chest

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YOU!! YES, YOU!! GO WRITE THAT FANFIC YOU THINK NOBODY BUT YOU WILL READ!!

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do you ever feel like you love a character more than their own writers do

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Josephine & Hemlock

♩*。♫.°♪*。♬

[writingescapades]

Retelling and Lies of P

We often like to retell old stories with new framing, with the intention of the old story being used to enhance the themes of the retelling. Those that only manage to retell the original story without changing your perspective on it are largely not that memorable. These just use the old story as cute but ultimately nonfunctional window dressing. Conversely, the best retellings are recognizable as a version of the original story, but make a substantial enough change to make you see the world a little differently than you did when you read the original.

Lies of P is the latter. This is certainly a story whose broad strokes could have been told without an allusion to Pinocchio at all. After all, it's a story about parent-child relationships, greed and abusive tech, and the meaning of human connection. None of those require an allusion to a children's story. So then we ask, what does the framing add that we wouldn't have otherwise?

By alluding to Pinocchio, the story immediately makes us think about the morality of lies, central to the OG fable. After all, the original is largely used to convince children not to lie. At least, if you asked most people, that's what they'd say the original story is about. But is it really? Were we actually being taught not to lie when we heard this story as kids?

Importantly, Lies of P ages the character up. Because he is now an adult, it then asks, "All right, that was a nice and simple rule for children. 'Don't lie, lies are bad.' But what do we think of that as Adult Pinocchio? Are lies still anathema?" And slowly, we learn that they're not. Sometimes lies are prosocial. Sometimes lies are compassion. And we learn that the original story was never really about lying, either.

The lies in Lies of P are often expressions of love: telling a mother that her android child is cute rather than pointing out it's a puppet, telling a man that his missing wife left him a message of love, or telling Antonia that she's still beautiful. This lets us test the assumption "lies always lead to ruin". Not just that, but we have an example of someone who want everyone to tell the truth (Simon), but at great cost. This lets us test the assumption "the truth always leads to benefit". Further, Geppetto serves as an example of someone who uses lies for manipulation rather than empathy. This stands in stark contrast to P, whose lies are love.

All together, these three story lines unlink the idea of lies and evil presented by the original fable, because we get a perfect example of truth and selfishness (Simon), lies and selfishness (Geppetto), and lies and empathy (P). To be human in this game is not to lie, but to express compassionate human connection.

Yet this message wouldn't be quite as clear without the allusion to the original, because it's reactionary. It asks you to think about the original theme, and then question its bounds and how far that oversimplified heuristic can really take you. It then proceeds to give you a bunch of boundary conditions to test it against by giving us Simon and Geppetto. And when we do so, we find the heuristic "lies are bad" wanting.

So ultimately, we only teach children the simpler heuristic because many lies are selfish. It's just a shorthand way of teaching kids to be less mean without trying to get a 5 year old to consider edge cases. Lies of P ends up being a natural extension of the original theme by virtue of finally presenting us with those edge cases. It shows us that lying isn't the problem in the game's story, and it wasn't really the problem in the original, either. It was always the type of lie being told. What both Lies of P and the original Pinocchio were teaching us was always about the value of selflessness and love, and the havoc their lack can wreak.

By making this allusion, we didn't just get a new fabulous story to enjoy; we also got a new perspective on the original. And that's the beauty of retelling.

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Thought about Pinocchio today. Felt happiness. Was pretty nice

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I need to see Ps attraction to seeing through lies in extensive detail that was an incredible take, and I need it

P's existence is to lie. From the moment he woke up, he was told: you are a special puppet. You must lie.

As a puppet, P's true feelings are hidden deep within him as it is. His lies serve as a function to further conceal his already-buried emotions, but also to soothe others, and sometimes just to trick people, simply for the fun of it.

Everyone fell for P's lies. He knew this, and felt a sort of pride over his skill-- he could use his lies to make people feel better and they'd never suspect a thing. He could tell anybody anything he wanted and they'd believe it. If he really wanted to, he could use his lies to shirk his responsibilities or keep secrets. P didn't want to use his lies maliciously, but he knew he could nonetheless. He was just that good.

You scoffed at the idea that the puppet was a "good liar." It was obvious when he was spinning some lie, which he often did. His left eyelid would twitch, and he'd inevitably reach to adjust some strand of hair or a fold in his clothes after he made something up. It was so obvious that it nearly hurt. You saw through the puppet boy completely. Everything about him, you studied and understood.

"Save the bullshit for someone who's going to believe it," you'd tell him, annoyed with his pointless white lies- like that time he claimed he'd never met Alidoro before he arrived at the hotel.

Then there was that time he claimed he'd taken care of that guard puppet prowling the grounds around the hotel, but you still heard it clunking outside your window at night. "Liar." You jabbed your index finger at him, prompting a stiff, pointed frown and an annoyed squint from the typically stoic puppet. "That thing's still alive. You didn't kill it, Geppetto's Puppet!"

P didn't like the way you saw through him. But... no, he did. Your words made his p-organ clench up and his face hot. That, in turn, made the ergo in his heart whisper and tremble. You made him feel embarrassed. Everyone else took the puppet at face value, but you pierced through his unaffected exterior. He didn't like that he liked that.

Eventually, P found himself yearning for it, that burning bubble of human feelings he felt shifting deep in his p-organ. The feelings that only you could tease out with your honest words. Maybe he even started lying more to get you to correct him. He'd find himself drawn to you, too, looking for you to dig deeper into him. Your words, your gaze, everything about you made the ergo in his veins burn up, and he wanted more of it...

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I headcanon that P literally cannot sing. As in, his voice box wasn't designed for it. Attempting to sing causes voice malfunctions and glitching and cracking and it's just... Not good. He can't do it.

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POV : you have been scrolling for the past hour and all you see is SMUT

Please...life is lot more than fucking🙏🏻

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why do i keep seeing “young!ditzy!reader” or “trophywife!reader” or stupid shit like that where authors make the ‘reader’ the most fragile person in the world??

at the end of the day, this recession theory shit is real. and it is seen clearly as day on this app.

why are the inspo pics for the oneshot just blonde and skinny white girls?? why are we making the reader sweet and innocent and fragile??

and look, there’s nothing wrong about being a blonde and skinny white girl, but after seeing the same pictures as inspo for a series or a oneshot, it gets annoying and repetitive how there’s no diversity.

also, i’m not saying every post in the “x reader” tag is like this, but they just keep popping up on my feed and i had to speak my mind about it.

please, if anyone reads this, tell me if you found the same problem or i’m just going crazy.

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Quiet boy P and a minimally verbal reader writing notes & letters to each other to communicate...

Unfortunately, P's handwriting is terrible chicken scratch because he came to life like a week ago. Sorry.

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emoji challenge 😨😌🤔😉

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me to the three people who interact with my posts