#/ this means very much to me coming from such an excellent writer :’))

[gaskills]

love your mary-beth! she's the perfect amount of sweet and romantic but she's also a thief and an outlaw and i think it's easy for some people to forget that more mischievous side to her. mary-beth speaks to me in my ear when i read your replies and i can imagine her playing out the scenes, too! michelin gordon ramsey 5/5 on yelp i would 100% pay a monthly subscription here

please excuse me while i go cry! <33

[jesncin]

I really hope this doesn’t come across as rude, but why did you decide to make Lex Luthor, whose motivation is basically racism and xenophobia from my understanding, a person of color? This isn’t like, a criticism, more just, I really like your JL remix stuff and you usually have cool reasons for the stuff you change, so I was surprised by this one

I understand the curiosity! But I have to point out that "you usually have cool reasons for the stuff you change, so I was surprised by this one" made me laugh, haha. Long answer coming because I have a lot of feelings- but the point in the very end is worth it, trust me.

So for one, Lex is Afro-Greek in my version. This comes from the popular headcanon that STAS/DCAU Lex is Black (and his design is based on a Greek man). His character design, skin tone, and Clancy Brown's enigmatic performance became unintentional perceived representation for Black fans (and even DC writers). And now in the Harley Quinn show, that's become canonized! For why they like it, that's not my place to say as a non-Black person- so I listen!

I don't agree that Lex's motivation is "basically racism and xenophobia"- his themes are much broader than that. It's the desire to be the Man of Tomorrow, his jealousy of Superman, the way his intellect alone is a match against Superman's strength. Sometimes that jealousy is expressed through bigotry, but it's all a means to an end for Lex. My approach is: if Lex being Black is something we want to integrate more into his character, what opportunities does that open up narratively? Because there's rich potential for him and the characters connected to him.

When discussing MAWS I talk a lot about how when you're writing a bigoted marginalized character, there needs to be specifity with where that internalized bigotry is coming from. So a change like that for Lex Luthor could, for example; discuss how privileges like wealth can assimilate otherwise marginalized people into the kind of power that harms others in their community.

The ripple affect this has on a character like Superboy/Conner is that we get to see how -even though they're both Luthors- Conner is profiled, othered and further marginalized as a Kryptonian and a Black homeless teen because he doesn't get to benefit from any of Lex's privileges. This is just part of the many reasons why I think Conner would be infinitely more interesting if he didn't look like Kal El despite being a clone. You get to see a new intersection of how the Kryptonian identity intersects with Blackness on Earth. The potential ripple effect for a character like Lena is also really fun! What if she's struggling with her own model minority pressure when she's making up for her brother's crimes? It's all very compelling!

And MOST importantly, in a 3 trillion IQ Lex Luthor-style move-making Lex Luthor Black means that some version of Matt Fraction & Steve Lieber's Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen arc exists in my au. Which famously hinges on the twist that LEX LUTHOR AND JIMMY OLSEN ARE DISTANTLY RELATED. THEREFORE!!! We have now found a convoluted way to have Wacky Renaissance Artist Jimmy Olsen connected to The Manifestation Of Black Excellence Evil Edition Lex Luthor in this au.

[judgeanon]

So About That BATGIRL #1...

I put this review up in another site, but since folks here on Tumblr seem to be realizing I have a lot of Thoughts about Lady Shiva, I figured I'd transplant it here. So here's how I feel about it. The short of it is that I think it's a strong start with a few small quibbles because I'm not sure how much of Shiva's writing is her being intentionally OOC and how much is Brombal trying to humanize her.

The long is here:

Now, one of Shiva's main issues as a character ever since they finally split her from the League of Assassins (God bless you Bryan Hill) is that, instead, writers have stapled her to Cass. Literally every major Shiva appearance since 2017 has involved Cass in some way. That is a problem not so much for Cass, who gets to have her own stories and series with and without the Batfam (although mostly with), but for Shiva, who doesn't get nearly as much exposure as her daughter. If there's a Shiva comic coming out, odds are it's gonna have something to do with Cass. Well, except for the other Shiva comic coming out this month that's gonna suck shit.

But at the same time, I don't think that means nobody should ever do another Shiva/Cass story, because I still feel like that's rich soil that nobody has had the time, space or desire to really commit to mining. Hill in Outsiders was writing a whole ensemble cast and couldn't linger too long on them. Writers like Grayson and Cloonan/Conrad both teased Shiva trying to reconcile with Cass but never took it anyhwere. A Shiva/Cass story can still be compelling and interesting as long as the writer is willing and able to Actually Write It.

So when literally the first panel of this new issue is Shiva addressing Cass and their relationship directly, I'm already perked up. Right from the get go, you can tell that Tate Brombal is absolutely here to tell a story about these two women and pretty much nothing else, and also that Tak Miyazawa and Mike Spicer are a killer art team. I adore how hard Tak's figures look without (usually) being stiff, thanks to some solid body language and expressions. And Spicer's colors have a cool kind of dark-but-vivid look. The last leg of the issue, with everything illuminated by fire, is especially cool.

Going back to the opening, it's curous how despite this being an issue #1, there's very little in the way of character introductions or set up. There's no slow burn here, no lengthy creeping intro like previous Shiva/Cass stories. And while I can't help but feel that it must be a little awkward for readers unfamiliar with them or their current situation, I think it also accurately reflects one of my favorite parts of the comic, which is Cass' being just absolutely fucking DONE with her mom.

After years of hyper dramatic standoffs and tearful moments of cheap heartbreak, it's fun to see a Cass who has no time for her mother, who's not interested in what she's got going on, and who's confident enough in herself to even be a little shit about it. It's fun and refreshing and fits Cass very nicely.

That not-quite-breakneck but still fast pace keeps up when the Unburied show up after just a few pages of setup and you know, in a couple of interviews, Brombal mentioned being influenced by Daredevil. And this is the page that made me go "Ah, yeah, that tracks." 'cause brother, those are some MILLER-ass ninjas.

Why Shiva fears these guys or thinks Cass can't handle them is not yet explained, but her desperation to keep Cass around does lead to a small but very meaning-heavy moment: the first punch in this series is not thrown into the face of the new enemies, but it's Cass decking her mom in the face and Shiva loving it.

It's an excellent touch and a perfect mission statement about the series. I love it as much as I love the ensuing fight, full of cool moves in big and small panels, but the most fun thing to me is how it's choreographed as Cass fighting her mom almost as much as she's fighting the Unburied. And on top of being a great fight, it ends with a small nod to QUESTION #1 or the 'Tec '88 Annual, in case I was somehow not sold enough already.

And while I still love Cass being so willing to call Shiva out on her lies, it does bring up one of the small gripes I have with this issue: I don't like it when Shiva lies constantly. I think she's best when she's strong and confident enough to not need to lie, when she just lays everything out on the table the way this comic is almost doing. It's good for Cass, as it keeps showing her as someone who has grown to understand her mother, who sees Shiva for who she is and what she does. And it does set up a slightly heartwarming scene at the end.

Of course, that's personal preferrence, and I'm not gonna say this is a bad comic because it doesn't follow my own idea of what works best for Shiva, especially since it's clear that Brombal is writing her with a lot of intention here. But that leads to the other big-ish issue I have with this issue: it's a bit hard to tell, from this story alone, how much of these moments are Brombal building his own personal version of Shiva and how much of it is Shiva, in-universe, acting out of character for the sake of some hidden scheme. After all, Cass points out that twice in the issue Shiva backs down, first from a moral fight and then from an actual fight.

So it's possible that even the constant lying is Shiva playing a role in favor of a grander scheme which will be revealed in later issues. Which, fair enough, I'm willing to see where it goes. But that second moment of yielding does lead to what's maybe my biggest problem with BATGIRL #1, and it's the Unburied themselves.

There's nothing in that initial fight with the Unburied that suggests Shiva and Cass would've had trouble dealing with them. Hell, there's very little to suggest even one of them would've had trouble with them. Now, I'm not suggesting that this issue should've started with the titular character and her mom getting their asses handed to them. But it feels like there's just not enough to these new enemies yet to justify the escape. Ninjas show up, Cass and Shiva beat them without getting hit once, more Ninjas show up and Shiva self-defenestrates herself.

Again, entirely possible that Shiva has something up her sleeve here, and issue #2 did promise to show us the main villain behind them, but as it stands it leaves me with this weird mix of not quite intrigue, not quite disappointment. It's just odd. They could've had, I dunno, a bomb set in the building or some other reason for Shiva to exit the venue like that.

Speaking of odd things, however, I did NOT expect to be reading a comic that brings up Shiva's cult from Puckett/Scott's BATGIRL #25. It's an "Order of Shiva" now though, with chapters and temples and stuff. Which is a bit of a change, since back in #25 they came off more like a gang of fanboys than an order of servants or anything like that. And after being summarily disposed by Shiva in that same issue, they were never really explored again.

So this is Brombal not just bringing back a bit of old lore, but also shifting it slightly, turning it into a more organized group... and then summarily disposing of them one panel later.

Also, I don't know what it is but I *LOVE* this panel. Shiva's face, her "wut" pose, the O.O, it's just... beautiful.

Anyway, once they're in the temple for the last bit of the issue, I start to see a bit more of what Brombal's doing. Like Gail Simone and Bryan Hill, Brombal seems to want to soften Shiva up a little, to make it clear that deep inside, she does have at least a bit of a heart, or enough of it to feel sadness at the wasteful death of people she may feel like she owes something to. Compare it to BIRDS OF PREY #62 for example:

This one is not quite as dramatic or vulnerable, but it's clear that Brombal wants to write Shiva with a slightly more human heart. Which, again, I'm not opposed to but I don't think it's the best thing you can do with her. I prefer Shiva being more detached in regards to death, like the most she'll do is see it as a waste but she's not gonna get emotional about it, she's going to be way more matter-of-fact. Death happens and such. But I think that kind of aloofness often gets interpreted as monstrous disdain for life by writers trying to make Shiva into a villain, and if I had to choose between what Brombal's doing and what, well, what Tom King's probably gonna be doing in a few weeks, I'll take this anytime.

Anyway, I also didn't expect to see the apprentice from BATGIRL #26, having apparently gotten a promotion somewhere in the last 20 years. Good for him! Less good for him is the shitload of arrows he eats two pages later but oh well.

The last couple of pages lead to a nice moment of sheer badassery for both Shiva and Cass and one last showcase of Miyazawa and Spicer's glorious team effort. Those two work really well together and I'm excited to see more of them in future issues. And while we're at it, I gotta give props to Miyazawa for being one of maybe two artists to draw a visibly older Lady Shiva.

His version isn't just aged but hardened by that age, looking stern and determined without having to rely on gritted teeth or angry looks. And on top of all that, he still finds more than enough moments to give her the kind of cocky smiles that bring out the more playful side of Shiva that some stories tend to either gloss over or turn into outright sadism.

Man... I just love to see that momma smile.

Other than that, there's a couple of minor quibbles I have with the issue. There's a funny moment where Cass pulls a Batman on her own mother (who charmingly acknowledges Bruce's influence) but it's undercut by Cass poofing back into existence on the next page. And there's also the weird, almost surreal emptiness of the city around them. Even after a building explodes, there's literally nobody on the streets other than Shiva and Cass.

On one hand, it speaks to the intentions of this run. This is VERY much a two-woman show so far, with no room for much else. But it's still glaring enough to be distracting.

However, it's that intentionality that ultimately wins me over. Even with all my personal little issues with Shiva's characterization, it's obvious from the start that this is a writer who is genuinely trying to write her as a character, who is ready to engage with her and with her relation with Cass on a deeper level than just hero and villain, or good daughter and evil mom.

Brombal, Miyazawa & Spicer have put some meat on the grill, and although I don't think the biggest pieces are there yet... I'm ready to let them cook.

[topazadine]

Okay, okay, here's perhaps my spiciest and most controversial take yet.

Now, before I even say anything, please note that I am talking specifically about fantasy. Not retellings of myths, not historical fiction set in different countries, nothing like that. This is for second-world fantasy, where you're creating a whole different world.

Ready?

Stop making everything so damn complicated!

This is not to say that you can't have a rich and exciting world filled with lore, religion, different societies, traditions, unique geographies. Not that. Of course we want that: it's the whole reason we read fantasy. I'm talking about something else.

This is my simple takedown, and you can read the rest to better understand what I mean:

Stop jamming your story with five billion weird words.

Don't use super complicated nouns.

Keep the characters to a minimum so we can know and like them.

Don't yammer on about all the backstory.

Stop making readers do homework just to understand things.

Focus on the feeling a story gives instead of the intricate worldbuilding.

And lastly, a pre-emptive note to those who are putting their hackles up and telling me why they are an exception.

Why is it important to keep things simple?

A lot of people shy away from fantasy because they assume that every fantasy story is going to be so complicated that their head will hurt. Not in terms of plot - many people like complicated plots - but in terms of terminology and history. Things that ultimately don't really matter to the plot.

We as writers often assume that everyone cares about our story as much as we do and is equally captivated by every detail. This is simply not true.

To your reader, your story is not their life's work: it is entertainment that they want to be able to enjoy at their leisure. It's a distraction from their difficult lives and all their real-world frustrations. If they get really into it and, say, write fanfic or whatever, that's amazing! But they're not likely to do that if they feel like they'll be jumped on for doing something wrong or that they have to include every single little detail.

For example, I wrote over 1 million words of Touken Ranbu fanfic. Touken Ranbu, at its heart, has a very simple premise: you've got a bunch of legendary swords that were turned into hot men and fight evil time-traveling monsters. You can understand it with just that. There are layers to it, though, that you can slowly untangle. That makes for good writing because it works on multiple levels depending on how much you care about it.

I would have given up on the story if I felt like I needed a dictionary just to understand the plot. Most people would. Language needs to be accessible and premises need to be clear, or no one is going to want to go deeper.

Subtle little details that people can pick up are way more enjoyable than tossing every single factoid at people so that they feel overwhelmed and can't think. It's wonderful to have rich layers of symbolism, mythology, etc. That's excellent. But you can only get people to care about those things if they can actually comprehend your damn story.

A lot of the things that turn people off from fantasy are all about a writer's ego, and it oozes through the work. People can tell that you're wanting them to pat you on the back for putting so much shit in your story. It's annoying and a total turn-off when you make readers work so hard to comprehend what you're saying.

So what exactly am I talking about? This.

Using made-up terms for everything that could easily be explained with a normal English word

When I am writing fantasy, I imagine myself as a translator. After all, my made-up societies have their own made-up language (Seinish) that is referenced a few times.

However, I'm not using Seinish words all the time. I'm writing in English. I didn't write out a Seinish dictionary or even come up with most of the terms because, honestly? Most readers don't care. They want to understand what's going on in as simple of terms as possible, with only a few specific terms that remind us that we're somewhere different.

I may use some specialized terminology, but it's always couched in context clues that make us aware of what it is without actually having to just say "sdlkjfslkdjf, also known as a marketplace."

For example, in The Eirenic Verses, the High Poet Society has religious centers called meronyms. (Which actually isn't a made-up word.) We know they're religious centers because we see all the religious leaders living there. Someone sees the term "meronym" and goes "oh yeah, that's the religious place" and moves on.

It's one of the only confusing, specialized terms in the book other than place names, which people expect whenever they're reading fantasy. Because of that, it stands out and is easy to remember. It's not one of 1029310283012830132 different terms someone has to remember in order to follow along.

Even Tolkien, famed for literally writing an entire extra book full of lore for his stories, doesn't really use that much specialized terminology except for place names. My favorite author, China Mieville, only uses specialized terminology for things that have absolutely no basis in our reality and that can't be explained otherwise. And he's an extremely eloquent guy who uses the weirdest words possible whenever he can. If he can write a book that's mostly comprehensible without a cheat sheet, you can too.

If there is an English term for what you are trying to explain, just use that, for the love of god. The point of writing a story is not to show how smart and special you are: it is to tell a story. You need to remove as many barriers to access as possible.

Things that get a pass and can be made up most, if not all, of the time:

Place names (as in specific places, not categories of things)

Peoples' names

Languages

Species that don't exist in our world

Modes of transportation that don't exist in our world

Magic that can't be explained in any other way

Technology that can't be defined by our language

Look, if you have an animal that is basically a dragon, just call it a dragon. If you've got a wheeled carriage, call it a carriage. Call earth magic something based in earth terms, like "terravitae" or something, idk. There should be some connection to our world in your terminology because you are writing this in English for an English-speaking audience.

It doesn't make you a lazy writer, it makes you one that wants people to understand what you're talking about. Again, imagining yourself as a translator is a good way to keep yourself from going ham on the nouns.

Proper nouns that are way too complicated

Let's look at some well-known proper nouns from fantasy.

Middle Earth

Narnia

Earthsea

Discworld

Westeros

Ankh-Morpork

Bas-Lag

Wonderland

They're all ... simple. They're not a million syllables with weird intonations and accents and all that. If you showed this to a medieval peasant, they'd probably be able to pronounce them and would likely understand that they were place names.

Unless there's a good reason to have a weird name, don't use one. Come up with something simpler.

All of these I mentioned are three syllables or less, making them easier to remember. In fact, I'd argue that nearly every proper noun in your book should be no more than three syllables. Maybe one or two four-syllable ones.

Any very weird name should be balanced out by several easier ones so that it stands out.

40 million characters

Younger writers often want their world to feel very lived in, so they introduce dozens of characters with their own names, descriptions, backstories, etc etc etc. The problem is that this is a huge mental load on your reader, especially if a lot of the characters have very similar names. It makes reading your stuff into a chore rather than an enjoyable experience.

Now, some literary greats do have a lot of characters. But they get away with it because they're great.

I'm not great, so I don't do that.

I'd also suggest that you don't do that, regardless of how good you think you are.

To see if you have too many chracters, write out a dramatis personnae and rank it in terms of importance. Does your top tier have like 15 characters? Cut some. Figure out where they are in the story and if they don't exist for more than a few pages, delete them. Absorb them into someone else.

If a character is only in one scene, don't bother naming them. They don't matter enough. This reduces the cognitive load for your reader because they can see that character for what they are: a background person who exists only briefly.

Any time you name a character, they need to have deep plot relevance. The more unusual your character's name, the more important they should be. And they should have some sort of relationship to another character, preferably the main character. Otherwise, why are they there? Why do we care? Go away!

Way too much backstory

I am an adult and my brain is filled with 50 million other things. I have to remember stuff for my job, I have a to-do list, I have family I care about who needs me.

Your story is not the end-all be-all of my existence. Hell, my story is not the end-all be-all of my existence either. I want to be able to pick up your book, understand what's going on, and then delve a bit deeper or even make up my own headcanons.

I do not need the entirety of your story's world thrown at me right off the bat. It is overwhelming and tiring. Imagine if you visited a different country and someone immediately came up to you and started spewing the whole history of the country right after you stepped off the plane. That's what you're doing to your readers!

Think also about how you approach your everyday world. Do you reel off a million facts about your personal history the instant you meet someone? No, of course not. It'd be weird and creepy.

Are you constantly recalling facts about your city while walking down the street? Do you even know any major facts about your city? You probably know a few little trivia points and that's it. Because it's not relevant to you, and it's not relevant to your readers, either. I can't recall off the top of my head when Cleveland was settled, but I can tell you that we have the world's first Dunkleosteus fossil in our museum, because that is interesting to me. That's the kind of thing that makes a place feel lived-in, not four hundred thousand pages of exposition about the place's history.

Give your readers time to settle in, and reveal things slowly as they make sense. Maybe we hear a little bit about the country's government as they pass a parliament house, or because they have to visit the city center for a different reason. If it's not pertinent to the current scene, then don't put it there.

I've got tons of lore for my world. Some of it may be referenced one singular time, and some of it may be never referenced at all. That's okay, because it's just for me to get a better sense of the place I created. If a reader doesn't need it, then I don't bother putting it in, because it might detract from their enjoyment.

Overall: stop making your readers do homework!

We do not want our readers to feel like they are working when they are reading our stuff. Excellent writers can infuse deep themes and symbology into their stories without making it feel like work. These are the writers who are remembered forever, because not only have they made a good story that you can enjoy at a surface level, but they have also twined in deeper themes that you can dive into after you've digested the story.

I did my undergrad in British literature, so I read a lot of Shakespeare and contemporaneous authors. Shakespeare is considered complicated by modern standards because of the Elizabethan language, but if you translated it into modern terms, his stories are simple. People betray each other and stab each other, or fuck each other, or get transported to weird magical worlds.

You could watch a Shakespeare play and think absolutely nothing of the themes, but still enjoy the story. You could know absolutely nothing about Greek history and still get the gist.

This is because Shakespeare specifically wrote his plays to appeal to a mass audience. He was a god-tier author when it came to balancing symbology and plot. To be like Shakespeare, be simple. Remember that your reader does. not. really. care. all that much. They don't.

It's very unlikely that your writing is going to become someone's life's work and they're going to spend their whole existence studying. Cool if true, but unlikely.

Your job is to make a story that people like and want to read. Only when you've gotten people liking and reading do you get permission to go ham with the backstory and the characterization and the weird names, because they trust you to create a story that they will like. Otherwise, your primary objective is making people feel things so they want to feel more things and read more stories.

People care more about how a story makes them feel than the specifics

Yes, of course there are outliers to this who really want every single detail of the world, but those are few and far between. You should not tailor your story to these exceptions. Think about the average everyday person.

I have many books that I love, but I can't tell you everything about them now. I can, however, tell you how I felt when I was reading them: the plot twists that made me gasp, the thing that made me cry. I can give you a general, sweeping impression of whether I liked or disliked the story and what made me feel something. This is what people recommend books based on: how they felt.

Your story should focus on the plot and the emotion. People watch movies, listen to music, read books, or look at art to feel something, not to memorize factoids for later usage. Even if they do want to memorize factoids, they won't do that if they haven't built an emotional connection to the story.

While in life, we want facts over feelings, it's opposite in creative writing. We want feelings over facts. The emotional resonance, the mood, the characters, the plot: that is what is important, not showing off how smart you are and how much you have thought about your story.

"But Topazadine, I am special and different! I'm not going to follow your advice."

Sure. Go ahead. I can't stop you. If you want to have a million characters and an entire dictionary to explain everything, that is your choice.

No one can tell you how to write; my advice is just advice.

If you don't like what I have said here, then feel free to ignore it. You don't need to justify it to me or anyone else.

However, you must recognize that this may not resonate with readers. It will turn people off.

I'm not a completionist, and neither are many others; they'll roll their eyes and click out when they are faced with ten pages of character names upfront.

Of course you should always write for yourself first, but if you are planning to write fiction for any level of commercial appeal and you intend to make any amount of money on your work, then audience does matter. If you want kudos or comments on your AU, audience matters. You won't get engagement if you are alienating people.

Your writing decisions are always your own and no one can demand you do something different. You just need to decide whether your personal satisfaction in writing your story in a certain way outweighs your desire for validation, and, perhaps, money. I can't tell you the answer for that; it's up to you.

If you enjoyed this, maybe you'll consider reading my fantasy book, 9 Years Yearning, which does not have 121238103 characters and 3230123 strange words. It does, however, have double-tsundere-mutual-pining-gay-boy-awakening. And horses. It's also just $3.

[txttletale]

Your discussions on AI art have been really interesting and changed my mind on it quite a bit, so thank you for that! I don’t think I’m interested in using it, but I feel much less threatened by it in the same way. That being said, I was wondering, how you felt about AI generated creative writing: not, like AI writing in the context of garbage listicles or academic essays, but like, people who generate short stories and then submit them to contests. Do you think it’s the same sort of situation as AI art? Do you think there’s a difference in ChatGPT vs mid journey? Legitimate curiosity here! I don’t quite have an opinion on this in the same way, and I’ve seen v little from folks about creative writing in particular vs generated academic essays/articles

i think that ai generated writing is also indisputably writing but it is mostly really really fucking awful writing for the same reason that most ai art is not good art -- that the large training sets and low 'temperature' of commercially available/mass market models mean that anything produced will be the most generic version of itself. i also think that narrative writing is very very poorly suited to LLM generation because it generally requires very basic internal logic which LLMs are famously bad at (i imagine you'd have similar problems trying to create something visual like a comic that requires consistent character or location design rather than the singular images that AI art is mostly used for). i think it's going to be a very long time before we see anything good long-form from an LLM, especially because it's just not a priority for the people making them.

ultimately though i think you could absolutely do some really cool stuff with AI generated text if you had a tighter training set and let it get a bit wild with it. i've really enjoyed a lot of AI writing for being funny, especially when it was being done with tools like botnik that involve more human curation but still have the ability to completely blindside you with choices -- i unironically think the botnik collegehumour sketch is funnier than anything human-written on the channel. & i think that means it could reliably be used, with similar levels of curation, to make some stuff that feels alien, or unsettling, or etheral, or horrifying, because those are somewhat adjacent to the surreal humour i think it excels at. i could absolutely see it being used in workflows -- one of my friends told me recently, essentially, "if i'm stuck with writer's block, i ask chatgpt what should happen next, it gives me a horrible idea, and i immediately think 'that's shit, and i can do much better' and start writing again" -- which is both very funny but i think presents a great use case as a 'rubber duck'.

but yea i think that if there's anything good to be found in AI-written fiction or poetry it's not going to come from chatGPT specifically, it's going to come from some locally hosted GPT model trained on a curated set of influences -- and will have to either be kind of incoherent or heavily curated into coherence.

that said the submission of AI-written stories to short story mags & such fucking blows -- not because it's "not writing" but because it's just bad writing that's very very easy to produce (as in, 'just tell chatGPT 'write a short story'-easy) -- which ofc isn't bad in and of itself but means that the already existing phenomenon of people cynically submitting awful garbage to literary mags that doesn't even meet the submission guidelines has been magnified immensely and editors are finding it hard to keep up. i think part of believing that generative writing and art are legitimate mediums is also believing they are and should be treated as though they are separate mediums -- i don't think that there's no skill in these disciplines (like, if someone managed to make writing with chatGPT that wasnt unreadably bad, i would be very fucking impressed!) but they're deeply different skills to the traditional artforms and so imo should be in general judged, presented, published etc. separately.

[sineala]

I subscribe to the newsletter of an author I like who wrote a book about 9/11 and the War on Terror and the security state in the US and how it led to the election of Trump, and it's all very serious but apparently the author is writing an Iron Man comics series. I don't read the comics, and a lot of what I know about them comes from your fic, so I'm honestly not sure how much fanon vs canon knowledge I have. 😂 But the series sounds like it might be interesting I think? The author talked about it in his newsletter today. (This link should work. Probably.)

https://www.forever-wars.com/iron-man-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-succession/

I am actually really excited about this run! I try not to get excited about new Iron Man runs because chances are high that my hopes and dreams will be crushed, and I know that just because someone writes, say, stunningly excellent non-fiction, it is not a guarantee that they will be great at writing fiction at all or superhero comics specifically (cf. Ta-Nehisi Coates on Cap), but judging by everything Spencer Ackerman's been saying in interviews, his run sounds like it's going to explore a lot of interesting themes.

The post you linked links to an AIPT podcast that he was on a few days ago to talk about his new Iron Man run. For those of you who don't listen to podcasts (this is also me), the Iron Man subreddit has what seems like a fairly comprehensive summary of the interview, and I am really looking forward to the run. Issue #1 apparently hits stores on October 23.

But I will tell you why I am actually now really excited about this run. It's not relevant to anything about the comic itself. I am nonetheless very excited.

Last month, after he was announced as the new Iron Man writer, in order to hype up his run, he posted an offer on his blog: if you add the run to your pull list, and you email him proof that you're pulling his run and include a snail-mail address, he will mail you some cool Iron Man stickers.

I eventually got around to doing this last week. I was assuming he didn't actually pay attention to any of these emails so I dashed off a couple sentences about how I was looking forward to his take on Tony because he'd posted a photo of the Iron Man comics he was reading for research and several of them were among my favorites. And then I went off to get bagels.

By the time I had come back with bagels, twenty minutes later, he'd written me a very nice reply substantively engaging with the content of my extremely off-the-cuff message -- geez, if I'd known he was going to be actually reading them I would have put a lot more thought into it, you know? It was very kind and I was not expecting it.

He spelled my first name wrong in the reply, despite it being in the email header and also the name I had signed the email with.

This happens to me a lot. I have a first name that is very common in a lot of languages, but none of those languages are English. I'd say there's a 50-50 chance that a native English speaker will spell or pronounce my name wrong. This is unfortunate, because I live in the US and mostly interact with native English speakers. (My wife @lysimache immediately knew how to pronounce my name. I mean, it wasn't why I married her or anything, but I feel like it was a big plus on a personal level.)

If I have to give my name for something, I will reflexively spell it. The second-to-last time I voted, they'd switched voter lookup to you giving them your name rather than you giving your street address, which was a surprise that filled me with dread. My wife was in line ahead of me and she was completely finished voting by the time the poll workers had finished correctly spelling my name. (The last time I voted, I just handed them my ID, which is not required in my state, but I really wanted this to go faster.) I went to the doctor last week, and when they called my name in the waiting room, they said it wrong. I corrected them. They said it differently wrong a couple minutes later. I corrected them again. They said it wrong again. At that point I gave up.

(If I could think of a name I liked better that I was absolutely sure that most people could spell and pronounce, I would change my name. I still have not found one.)

So, you know, I'm used to it. It happens. Frequently. I was not at all surprised that he spelled it wrong.

He then emailed me again to apologize for spelling my name wrong. Like, immediately. One minute later. He said he was sorry and he knew a lot of people with a similar name.

Dude. Nobody does that. Nobody actually apologizes. Especially not in an email to a rando like me. He did not need to do that. At all. I was not expecting him to do that. He did that. I was honestly touched. No one bothers to do that. But he did.

I got my stickers in the mail yesterday.

I have redacted the portion of the note that has my name in it, but he absolutely spelled my name correctly.

Mr. Ackerman, sir, I hope your comic sells a million copies.

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

Galadriel x Sauron: One Royal Couple to Rule Them All

Many fellow fans don’t understand why Galadriel would ever join Sauron, of her own free will, in his plan of world domination.

To me, this due to two things:

Whitewashing of Galadriel’s character and refusing to see how much she craves absolute power. There are so many bad takes about her character, it’s hard to address them all in here. I’ll just say she’s not the “Virgin Mary” of Tolkien lore; she’s not a “fairytale princess”, nor a “damsel in distress”;

Misunderstanding of Sauron’s plans. Even if you aren’t familiar with Tolkien lore nor have read the books, “Rings of Power” already explained what Sauron’s goals are, and what he wishes to accomplish.

Sauron’s Masterplan

Let’s start with Sauron’s masterplan. What does he want?

But today, a new age begins. Under me. Your new master. Sauron. And with a new age, I bring a new vision. A path to unconditional conquest. For I seek a new kind of power. Not of the flesh, but over flesh. A power of the unseen world. One we shall use to enslave the peoples of Middle-earth to our very will. Many Orcs will die. But out of the chaos, we will forge a new and perfect order. No longer will we be hunted as the demons who broke Middle-earth, but rather worshipped as the saviors who finally healed it. By bringing its peoples together, to rule them all as one!

From a perspective of Tolkien lore, this speech was a bit over the top, even for Sauron himself. But I understand why the show writers went with this, it’s meant to illustrate that Sauron is evil, and a tyrannical dictator.

Sauron doesn’t see himself as a villain; he thinks he’s the hero, here. Because he’s a demigod and one of the Ainur; he helped shape the world the seeks to dominate. He looks at the ruins of Middle-earth and how the Valar aren’t doing anything to help. He’s the only deity who’s willing to do anything about it. And so, he steps in and makes it his personal mission to rebuild Middle-earth (“heal it”).

He would never call himself “Sauron”, either, because that’s the name the Elves created to mock his own (“Mairon”). And it means “the abhorrent” instead of “the admirable”. He would call himself Tar-Mairon, “King excellent”. But, again, the show had to go with this otherwise casual viewers wouldn’t know who this character is.

This is Adar spelling Sauron’s plan to Galadriel in 2x08. When I first watched this scene I must confess I was confused and thought this could be one of Sauron’s deceptions, actually.

This is Sauron’s masterplan and the reason why he created the “rings of power” (the “power of the Unseen world”) in the first place. But this brings another interesting question; perhaps Adar himself was on board with Sauron’s masterplan of healing Middle-earth until he saw his methods.

Adar, in 1x06, told Galadriel a bit about Sauron's plan, as well, when he reveals to have killed him:

After Morgoth's defeat, the one you call Sauron… Devoted himself to healing Middle-earth, bringing its ruined lands together in perfect order. He sought to craft a power not of the flesh… But over flesh. A power of the Unseen World. He bid as many as he could to follow him far north. But try as he might… Something was missing. A shadow of dark knowledge that kept itself hidden, even from him. No matter how much blood he spilt in its pursuit. For my part… I sacrificed enough of my children for his aspirations. I split him open. I killed Sauron.

Repentant Mairon, himself, already told this to Galadriel in 1x08:

When Morgoth was defeated, it was as if a great, clenched fist had released its grasp from my neck. And in the stillness of that first sunrise, at last, I felt the light of The One again. And I knew if ever I was to be forgiven... That I had to heal everything that I had helped ruin.

Mairon wish to “heal” Middle-earth comes from his own desire to escape Morgoth’s bounds. That’s the reason behind the “heal yourself” quote from 2x08. Mairon wants to kill “Sauron”, as well, and erase every trace of his former master from the world.

But he can’t, nor can he escape his bounds to Morgoth, because, like Tolkien wrote, they are too strong (“Rings of Power” suggested there might have been some blood oath/binding involved) and he falls back into evil. And this is why he gets so triggered when Celebrimbor calls him "shadow of Morgoth", and he snaps, and kills him in a rage fit:

But Sauron regrets this in the next minute, and he cries. Because this is not him, this chaotic destruction is not who he is. He’s a control freak, a mastermind, always planning and scheming, he’s patient, and organized to the point of obsession. These are Morgoth’s bounds and corruption of him reaching the surface. And when he looks up all he sees is Morgoth.

Sauron’s masterplan is the unite everyone on Middle-earth; all kingdoms and all races (Elves, Dwarves and Men) to live together in peace and harmony. No more wars, no more suffering, no more pain; only a world of beauty, order and perfection. The qualities he was created to have by Eru himself, and his contributions during the Ainulindalë, when he helped shaped the world alongside the Valar and the other Maiar. This is why he tells Celebrimbor this, in 2x07: I see the end, Celebrimbor. So clearly. I have seen it from the moment I awoke.

The problem here isn’t his masterplan per say: this is not an evil plan by any means. But he was corrupted by Morgoth, and his ways are also corrupted. This is how he self-deceives himself. Mairon’s love for order becomes a obsession with domination; and Sauron knows he has to become a tyrant and to enslave everyone to his will, in order to create his perfect world.

To him, the end justifies the means, and he’s willing to use chaos and destruction (Morgoth) to achieve his masterplan. And this is perfectly embodied in this quote from him, in 2x01: “out of the chaos, we will forge a new and perfect order”.

Where does Galadriel fits in all of this?

He thinks she’s the missing piece. Sauron believes her “light” will keep him in check, and somehow control his bounds to Morgoth. But as I’ve discussed before in this post, her “light” isn’t really hers, it’s the light of the Two Trees of Valinor, and it shines on every Elf that was born during the Years of the Trees, in Valinor.

It’s Galadriel’s beauty that blinds Sauron. And why is that? Because she’s the physical form, the materialization, of everything he was designed to love by Eru himself. I already talked about this in this post. This tells us their attraction is not only spiritual (the “they are higher beings” nonsense), but also physical (sexual).

The reason why Mairon was attracted to her in the first place was because Galadriel, unconsciously, reminded him of Morgoth. Galadriel and Morgoth share the same chaotic energy; the same arrogance, greed and lust for power. This is yet another one of the ways Mairon self-deceives himself; he thinks Galadriel would allow him to escape Morgoth’s bounds, but it's the other way around. On a unconscious level, he’s always seeking his former master. And that's why he wants to serve her, and to bind himself to her.

And we, the audience already saw him pitching this desire to Galadriel herself, in 1x08:

Sauron: This is it. You bind me to the light. And I bind you to power. Together, we can save this Middle-earth. Galadriel: Save? Or rule? Sauron: I see no difference.

And this blood binding is exactly what he does in 2x08, using Morgoth’s crown; the dark magic artifact that’s already infused with his own blood because Adar used it to destroy his previous physical form.

This is a silent conversation happening between them, through their new bound. And Sauron probably showed her many things, namely: the connection they shared in Season 1 was true and real because he “felt it, too” (and not a deception on his part like Galadriel believed); his proposal was honest (he would, indeed, make her the Queen of Middle-earth), and his entire masterplan.

But Sauron is not only an expert on deceiving others, but himself, too (like Celebrimbor told him, in 2x07). Meaning, in his mind, Galadriel as the “Queen of queens” would be a good thing. Except it wouldn’t. She would be far worse than him, with the power he would provide her with.

Which leads me to the next point:

Galadriel Lust for Ultimate Power

To understand this, we need to go back to the source: Tolkien. What does he says about Galadriel?

[Galadriel] had no peace within. Pride still moved [her] when, at the end of the Elder Days, the final overthrow of Morgoth, she refused the pardon of the Valar for all who had fought against him, and remained on Middle-earth. Unfinished Tales [of Númenor and Middle-earth]

A penitent: in her youth [Galadriel] a leader in the rebellion against the Valar (the angelic guardians). At the end of the First Age she proudly refused forgiveness or permission to return [to Valinor]. She was pardoned because of her resistance to the final and overwhelming temptation to take the [One] Ring for herself. Tolkien, Letter 320

Galadriel, in Tolkien lore, is a “penitent”, a “repentant sinner”, because she turned her back on literal heaven (Valinor) due to her pride and her greed for power (wanting a kingdom of her own), and for this she was banished by the Valar: Tolkien work is infused with Christian doctrine whenever people chose to ignore or not, it’s still there. And this is true in “Rings of Power”, too, only her desire for power is connected with her desire for Sauron, in the show.  

Now, to understand her connection with Sauron, and want she truly wants, we need to look at “The Mirror of Galadriel” chapter in “Fellowship of the Ring”, the first book of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Overall, the scene with the Mirror is somewhat similar to the Peter Jackson adaptation, only Sam is also there in the book version, and he wants to see Elf magic.

This takes place thousands of years after the “Rings of Power” timeline, and Sauron has been defeated, at least, 5,000 years ago. 

The last night before the Fellowship departs Lothlórien, Galadriel offers Frodo and Sam the opportunity to look into her Mirror, and they accept.

With water from the stream Galadriel filled the basin to the brim, and breathed on it, and when the water was still again she spoke. “Here is the Mirror of Galadriel,” she said. “I have brought you here so you may look in it, if you will.” The air was very still, and the dell was dark, and the Elf-lady beside him was tall and pale. “What shall we look for, and what shall we see?” asked Frodo, filled with awe. “Many things I can command the Mirror to reveal,” she answered. “But the Mirror will also show things unbidden, and those are often stranger and more profitable than things which we wish to behold. What you will see, if you leave the Mirror free to work, I cannot tell. For it shows things that were, and things that are, and things that yet may be. But which it is that he sees, even the wisest cannot always tell. Do you wish to look?” [...] "Remember that the Mirror shows many things, and not all have yet come to pass. Some never come to be, unless those that behold the visions turn aside from their path to prevent them. The Mirror is dangerous as a guide of deeds.”

Sam sees the “Scouring of the Shire” (which was cut from the Peter Jackson adaptation). Frodo sees several visions, and the last one is the Eye of Sauron itself.

“Do not touch the water!” said the Lady Galadriel softly. The vision faded, and Frodo found that he was looking at the cool stars twinkling in the silver basin. He stepped back shaking all over and looked at the Lady. “I know what it was that you last saw,” she said; “for that is also in my mind. Do not be afraid! But do not think that only by singing amid the trees, nor even by the slender arrows of elven-bows, is this land of Lothlorien maintained and defended against its Enemy. I say to you, Frodo, that even as I speak to you, I perceive the Dark Lord and know his mind, or all of his mind that concerns the Elves. And he gropes ever to see me and my thought. But still the door is closed!”

Galadriel then reveals to Frodo that she’s the ring-bearer of Nenya, one of the Three Elven rings of power. And is with the help of its power, she protects the realm of Lórien. However, Nenya is not the only magic at work here, and I think the ring works as an amplifier of Galadriel’s power (like the Mirror itself), and not as the actual “source”. And the protective spell around Lothlórien is something similar to Girdle of Melian, not only because of Nenya's presence, otherwise Galadriel wouldn’t be able to leave her kingdom, ever.

Praising Galadriel as “wise and fearless and fair,” Frodo offers to give the One Ring to her: “I will give you the One Ring, if you ask for it. It is too great a matter for me.”

This is the when Galadriel’s trial begins; she had the intention of test Frodo, and now she’s the one being tested.

Galadriel laughed with a sudden clear laugh. “Wise the Lady Galadriel may be,” she said, “yet here she has met her match in courtesy. Gently are you revenged for my testing of your heart at our first meeting. You begin to see with a keen eye. I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer. For many long years I had pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands, and behold! It was brought within my grasp. The evil that was devised long ago works on in many ways, whether Sauron himself stands or falls. Would that not have been a noble deed to set to the credit of his Ring, if I had taken it by force or fear from my guest?

“And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair! She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illumined her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful.

Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! She was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad. “I pass the test,” she says, “I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.”

They stood for a long while in silence. At length the Lady spoke again. “Let us return!” she said. “In the morning you must depart, for now we have chosen, and the tides of fate are flowing.”

Let's go back to Galadriel’s “dark form”; both adaptations are similar and true to Tolkien’s words:

Sauron: Fair as the sea and the Sun. Stronger than the foundations of the earth [...] Not dark. Not with you at my side.

In place of a Dark Lord you shall have a Queen. Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the dawn. Treacherous as the sea. Stronger than the foundations of the earth.

The detail that makes all the difference: Sauron proposal was to make her “a” queen, she’s the one who added him to the deal. They both agreed in placing crowns in each other’s heads.

And she wanted to take Sauron's offer, she craved what he offered her; as she confessed to Celebrimbor, in 2x07:

What prevented her from accepting in 1x08 wasn’t the “tyrant” bit, but believing him to be deceiving her, and his proposal being a mere illusion, and not honest. Because he's "the great deceiver" after all.

This is Galadriel’s true heart's desire. She craves this; ultimate power, and to be worshipped by everyone. That’s the reason why Sauron offered her this, in the first place, and why the One ring will give her the same temptation thousands of years later. Sauron has many glorious titles (“Lord of the Earth”; “Ruler of Middle-earth"; “God-king”, “King of Men”, “King of Kings”), and Galadriel wants them all for herself (“In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen”).

Sauron's offer will haunt her for thousands of years, because that’s what she truly wants, she's *that* power hungry, folks. For that D, too. And, in 2x08, what we saw was the beginning of Sauron’s grouping of Galadriel's mind, for centuries into the future, too:

[clonedchaos]

My Chaos Theory Season 2 Nonsensical Rambles! 🦖🦕

Okay, okay. This season was sooo good y’all! For those of you that have watched the season all the way through already, feel free to read. They’re just my comments, notes, and theories that I wrote down after watching each episode. It’s a whole lot of nonsense, really. THIS INCLUDES SPOILERS SO DO NOT READ BELOW THE CUT IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE ANY!!!

Happy JWCT Season 2 release day, too! 🎉 Happy Viewing! And thank you so much to our wonderful writers, animators, voice actors, and everyone in between who came together to make this absolutely phenomenal series come to life! I appreciate you all so very much for all your dedication towards a project that means the absolute world to me! ❤️💐 This season really tugged at the heart strings, and even got some tears out of me at the end. I want everyone to watch this beloved series spoiler free, so last warning— HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD! I hope you all enjoy it just as much as me.

And again, thank you so so so much to the people who brought this amazing series to fruition. I’ve been struggling a lot lately, and this show— and its franchise— has really made the hard days in my life more bearable to overcome. It has helped me in many ways, and I just wanted you to know how much its meant to me (if they somehow see this). So… Thank you. 💐🌸🌺

🦕🦖 Camp Fam For Life! 🦖🦕

Episode 1:

KENJI WHAT THE HECK?! Why are you being so self sacrificing?! (I know why, but still) Painful to watch. The little spark of Yaz’s and Kenji’s old friendship is so cute, and I really hope she can help him work through this trauma more.

Okay, the beginning with Sammy and Yaz was so simple yet adorable. And the way Yaz wraps her arms around Sammy and pulls her close— STOP MY HEART! 😭🩷💜

Majungasaurus’s are cannibals in this franchise? I need to brush up on research for their species, but I’m just used to having a lot of them in one enclosure when playing Jurassic World Evolution. I’m glad they’re finally getting some spotlight, I’ve always had a soft spot for them. (Okay, I have a soft spot for every carnivore in this entire franchise but you know what I mean).

The lightning and animation was absolutely incredible, especially in the storm sequences. They did great at making the atmosphere fill you with a sense of dread as the characters were getting stalked at every turn. That one frame of Darius hiding behind a crate and holding up his phone towards the Majunga is a personal favorite of mine.

The fluffy moment of Darius, Ben, and Sammy trying to be the first to match a roar with its proper dinosaur was soooo cute. My favorite parts of this series have always been times when they can just relax and have fun— I’m a fluff enjoyer, what can I say? One thing this show really excels at is fostering a lovely friendship between the campers. Their interactions are always lovely.

Darius being the first one to reach out to Kenji and haul him from the boat… I’m glad they’re slowly reconnecting again.

Okay, LETS TALK about the Ben noticing Brooklynn thing. I feel like the DLN fumbled the bag in terms of keeping her a secret. Like… why did they have her in the video? If they’re using her for their own gain like I’m assuming, why would you want to give anyone the inkling that she could be alive? I guess they just didn’t think no one would notice? I mean, she’s the only one not wearing the mask in the photo.

Not Kenji making jokes about his deceased father… It’s in character for him, yes. But still… as his friends said: “Too soon.”

Episode 2:

I read the title “Marooned 5” as “Maroon 5”…

Already I love the new character. It’s really cute how Zayna’s friendship with the Gallimimus sort of mirrors Darius and his ties towards the same species. The Stegos also looked like they were protecting her when they sensed danger.

Sammy being the mama bear of the group now is so 🥺🥺. She’s still the cheerful, positive gal she always was, but I love how she’s matured as she’s grown up.

Kenji trolling Darius got a laugh out of me. Brothers will be brothers.

Suchomimus appreciation! I absolutely adore its patterning, it reminds me a lot of the African savanna’s. It’s ironic, given that Sucho’s were first discovered in Africa. I wonder if that’s merely coincidence, or maybe, just maybe, they’re being transported to continents that they would have lived on millions of years ago? Could it be the DLN’s doing? Or am I just looking into it too much? (Future Me here: Yes, you are)

KENJI WHY DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH?!?!?! Bro literally squared up with a Suchomimus. Admire the bravery Kenj, but you’re making my anxiety worse, my guy. 😭😭

I really enjoyed the hints of cohabitation that was present in this episode. Humans gave the stegosaurus’s food, while the stegos offered them protection from predators. THIS is stuff I wanted to see in Jurassic World Dominion. I wanted to see HOW humans coexisted with these dinosaurs.

THE CONCEPT ART *chef’s kiss*

Episode 3:

Ah. We come to the episode a large part of the fandom has been waiting on… A Brooklynn backstory. Boy, was it a doozy. For starters, I didn’t know Brooklynn was a biker. Really hyping up that bad girl persona.

The campers keeping in touch on a zoom call makes this so much more upsetting. They still seemed very close up until Brooklynn died. Then, they just lost touch for a while.

I’ve started realizing I relate a lot to Brooklynn, especially in this episode. She’s overworked and “all over the place”. As someone who can sometimes put too much on her own shoulders, I 100% understand the level of stress she’s putting on herself. Not to mention she can be so caught up in one thing that she misses the actual moment in reality. It’s something I myself am working on; adhd doesn’t exactly help. But I definitely get where’s she’s coming from.

THE DARIUS CONFESSION STRESSED ME OUT HOLY CRAP— Like, the way Brooklynn inches away, Darius quickly tries to change the subject. Gods, it made me anxious just watching. I literally put my head in my hands and started mumbling to myself during the scene. (I’m slowly going insane 😭)

Seeing Brooklynn in pain and anguish once she realized how she lost her arm was heartbreaking. This was the time she needed her friends most. But for their safety in Brooklynn’s eyes, they couldn’t be there.

THE POOR COMPY WITH A CONE AROUND HIS NECK! 😭😭😭 No nibbling, he’s banished to cone jail!!!

So… the camp fam and Brooklynn’s dads came together for her funeral… I could have only imagined how rough that would’ve been. I’m honestly glad they didn’t show it, because I would’ve been balling uncontrollably for the next hour. And the fact that she was going to reveal her false death to her friends and family RIGHT before the DFW came in and screwed it up?!?! Ahhhh!!!!

THAT GUY?! WASN’T HE THE ONE WHO COULDN’T SHOOT A GUN IN SEASON 1?! AND SAMMY’S FARM WAS A SETUP, DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT?!?!?!?! (Someone please clarify, idk if he was talking about farms in general or if it meant Sammy, I forgot)

Episode 4:

Heck yeah! Malta! Crossing my fingers they show it in a later episode.

The small moment of Sammy watching Zayna and her mom… I NEED to know what went on between her and her parents.

Love the parallel between the opening of JW Dominion and Brooklynn’s escape at the farm. It’s a nice little throwback.

Dubai? Why Dubai? I absolutely love the mystery aspect, it’s like the more they reveal, the more questions are brought to the surface. The writers and everyone really went above and beyond this season.

Episode 5:

Sammy acting as the protective older sister of Zayna is so in character for her. “14 and 3/4. She’s still countin’ quarters, Kenj!”

Okay, I probably should’ve said this in an earlier episode, but Ronnie having the user Clever Girl just makes me so inexplicably happy.

SOYONA SANTOS?!?! AAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

WE’VE WON GUYS, WE’VE WON!!!! GUYS IM LOSING MY MIND AS IM TYPING THIS!!! IVE ALWAYS WANTED HER TO HAVE A BIGGER PART TO PLAY AND HOLY MOLY SHE DOES! OF COURSE SHES THE BROKER! HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS?!?!?! AND IT’S HER ACTUAL ACTRESS VOICING HER TOO!!!

*ahem* Anyways… I’ll try and keep my cool.

Soyona is artsy? She’s very demure, very mindful. In all actuality, I’ve always been very interested by her character. She’s very poised an elegant, yet calm and calculating at the same time. Her and Brooklynn having a sort of “chess match of wits” which was very entertaining to watch.

Well, Camp Fam, looks like we know where Red has been all this time. I wonder if Red is Soyona’s favorite of the pack, much like Blue is to Owen.

Poor Yaz having to share a boat with Kenji and Ben while they’re arguing like an old married couple. She’s such a mood, no wonder I kin her.

Episode 6:

Poor Ben. Why is everyone having panic attacks? 😭😭😭

I think it’s interesting how Yaz, whom is the most introverted of the 6, ends up being the peacekeeper in this season. She knows when her friends are hiding something, and she’s going back and forth trying to help everyone out all at once. Her and Brooklynn are pretty similar in that regard, I’ve noticed.

Sammy’s a vegetarian? I guess it makes sense given her love of animals.

OKAY THE HIPPO VS SUCHO SCENE?!?!?! THEY LEFT YAZ?!?! Nononono I’m panicking!!! SAMMY’S FACE WHEN SHE REALIZED!!! I’m so worried, she definitely must’ve gotten a concussion from that hit.

I really wanna know if Red would have attacked Soyona during her deal with Brooklynn. Every cut in film is directed with a purpose. If they’re showing you something, it’s meant with intent. Maybe it’s a coincidence they kept cutting toward Red and having her in the limelight between them, but was the Raptor debating having Brooklynn in charge of her? Maybe Atrociraptors aren’t THAT smart, but I’m curious to know. After all, it’s implied Soyona raised them with a personal connection. If Red is similar to Blue, would she had done it had Brooklynn asked?

Episode 7:

Sammy’s 100% in distress mode. She doesn’t care if what she’s doing is level headed, she just wants to protect her girlfriend. And honestly… I could blame her. If I were in her position, I would’ve reacted the same.

I know I’m supposed to be scared of the Suchomimus and all that, but… it looked so adorable when it was curled up!!! Darn it, carnivores can be cute too!!!

I love how Darius tries his best to talk to Zayna… with Sammy sitting right behind them. Like Darius she’s hearing EVERY WORD you say my man 😭. And Zayna’s RESPONSE and EXPRESSION! “Sammy’s girlfriend is by herself surrounded by killer dinosaurs. Why would I take anything she says personally?” 😐 She is very mature for her age, honestly.

Flying Pterosaurs… ITS ALWAYS THE FLYING PTEROSAURS THAT RUIN EVERYTHING!!!

More animals coexisting was fun. Well, coexisting as in Sucho’s eat hippos for a late night snack and Lions eat Dimorphodons for dinner. I’m sure it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, of course, but I really like how this series is giving us more of dinosaurs living among other animals and humans. As stated earlier, it barely got touched on in Dominion. THIS is the type of content I’ve been waiting for!

NAH THAT SUCHO SWIMMING SCENE WAS CREEPY—-

I love how Kenji immediately embraces Yaz. She just wants to hug her girlfriend and Sammy’s standing there straight faced like “…” And Yaz saying “I really wanna hug my girl right now.” 😭😭😭😭😭 YASAMMY DESERVES THE WORLD!!!

Episode 8:

YAZ HUGGING KENJI IM ABOUT TO CRY SO MUCH Y’ALL!

Darn it, I was hoping for an Indoraptor hidden in the lab. 😞 Wouldn’t have made sense, but hey, worth a shot. But what DOES make sense is how there got to be so many dinosaurs roaming around the world once Dominion rolled around. Of course they would try and clone new ones to maximize profits. There was only so many that got released post Fallen Kingdom.

The blind Baryonyx… all I can think about is giving it a hug. Poor little one is stuck down there, more than likely because Santos figured she couldn’t sell it. I wanna adopt them. :(

NO IM NOT READY FOR THE ARGUMENT I DONT WANNA SEE IT!!!!!!

Episode 9:

Ironic how creation… kills the creator. It’s honestly sad how he manipulated the baryonyx’s genes to remove its eyesight entirely. It’s nice to see a use of echolocation, however. The movies never get it quite right imo or just don’t bring it up ever.

Okay, Soyona’s “Trust is hard to come by” line makes me think… what if The Handler could have stolen some of the raptors from her? Sure, she hired a hit out for the campers and more than likely enlisted the Handler’s help. However, both of them have a deep connection with the raptors. Maybe Red was the only one who stayed by Soyona’s side? It’s a great stretch, but it just got me thinking.

Brooklynn needs evidence to send Santos to jail, right? But… she’s out doing stuff in Dominion. So either someone bails her out of jail, OR, Brooklynn fails… which one is it?

Episode 10:

WE MADE IT! Did I spend roughly 5-6 hours binge watching this for the entire day? Maybe. Do I feel like garbage for not getting out of bed? Umm… Kinda. (I’ll try to exercise, I promise…)

I WAS SO SCARED KENJI WAS ABOUT TO PUNCH BEN! DUDE WHAT?!?!?!

I love how the villains in this franchise aren’t just treating their Dino’s like the Indominus and Indoraptor were treated. Both the scientist and Soyona ended up forming bonds with their animals. AND WHAT WAS THE THING WITH RED?! HELLO? SHE CAN LITERALLY MIMIC NOISES?!?! THIS WAS LITERALLY MY FACE DURING THAT PART NO JOKE:

ITS SO CUTE BUT HORRIFYING?!?!?! ITS LITERALLY A PARALLEL OF THE INDOMINUS GETTING THE RAPTORS TO TURN AGAINST OWEN!!! RED IS BECOMING ONE OF MY FAVORITE DINOSAURS Y’ALL, I’M FREAKING OUT!!!!

I literally do not care how unbelievable of a scenario that would be. It was freaking cool!

That one frame of the Baryonyx in the dark hallway is so creepy… My sleep paralysis demon fr.

So… let’s talk about the end… Not only do I really really need a season 3, but I just… I don’t know… The moment Kenji grabbed Brooklynn’s hand before she headed into the jet is what prompted me to cry. Yes, I did cry, don’t judge me plz. 😭 “I’m not the Brooklynn you once knew”… NO! YOU ARE!!!! I was waiting, waiting for Brooklynn to ditch Soyona and embrace her friends, leaving the show off on a note where they have to stop her and Biosyn. But… Brooklynn left them. This entire season, I was waiting for them to be with one another again… All I can think about is- where do they go from here? Brooklynn has shown she’s willing to do whatever it takes to expose this mess, even if it meant abandoning her friends… So what’s going to happen when her friends follow her? How long can she keep this up?

[perotovar]

hey sweeties!! kel and i put a list together of all the submissions we got for our event and split them into two masterlists of fics for you all to read and enjoy! this is my part of the list, so if you don't see yours give @beskarandblasters 's list >here< a look and see if that's where your fic/submission ended up!

we can't thank you enough for submitting and helping us give a voice to the smaller writers of the fandom ♥ oh, and for any multi chapter fics/series, we only read the first chapters to make it fair!

please make sure to read each fic's warnings carefully and happy reading! ♥

@iamskyereads - Compulsion (Ezra x ofc!Beatrice)

i can't even begin to describe how much i love this fic already. it's so smart and the worldbuilding?? incredible!! it feels like a sequel to the film, or like it could easily take place in the same universe. just brilliant. and ezra's voice is so clear here, i could hear him saying every word. and the oc, beatrice, is fascinating already, i can't wait to see where it goes!

@all-the-way-down-here - This Is Why We Fight (Dieter x nb!oc!Bell)

i love the start of this. both dieter and bell have excellent characterization and the conversations being had by every character feel so real and are so important. bell's group of friends all sound like friends i would have, and i would love to hang out with them. i love the direction this is going!

@linzels-blog - Delta Palms Tropical Resort (Frankie x f!reader)

ahh what a delightful little fic! it feels very much like an early 2000s rom com and i mean that in the best way! very cute and i love the vibes. everyone's characterization is great and i can't wait to sink my teeth into the rest of it!

@elvenmother - Context and Perspective (Marcus M x f!reader)

completely obsessed with this concept. i love a good enemies to lovers and this is such an awesome way to do it! i always see marcus m fics featuring someone without superpowers, but to have a character that's just as powerful as him? sign me up!

@kedsandtubesocks - In the Dead of the Night (Din x f!reader)

one of my absolute favorite din fics. the worldbuilding and din's creature form is incredible. i love a horror au that's flipped on its head. i also love the "creature is also the hunter" trope and this does that incredibly well. the atmosphere is off the charts.

@ghostofaboy - Rock Bottom (Frankie x original male characters)

god, i don't even know where to begin with this story. it's so raw and visceral and i can't say enough how much i enjoy it. i love reading something new and especially if it's coming from a male perspective. this is, unfortunately, something i could see frankie getting up to. frankie is such a deeply tragic character and this fic does that justice in a dark, but really intriguing way.

@ishabull - The Way We Were Drawn (Marcus P x f!reader)

ohh this is such a sweet fic. i love the imagery painted and the dynamic between marcus and reader is so sweet!

@secretelephanttattoo - Headshots (Marcus P x f!reader)

this fic is beyond sweet and so dreamy. the ideal scenario for anyone, in my humble opinion. who wouldn't want to take pictures of handsome fbi agents and then fall in love with said agent?

@lesbianhotch - you walk by and i fall to pieces (Frankie x f!reader)

THIS WAS THE CUTEST DAMN THING. i love me a nervous frankie (hello, have you read my fic lmao) and this was by far one of the cutest. i'm obsessed with reader's confidence and i just know those two are gonna be menaces once they're together. throw in some patsy cline and i am a goner. this is going on the reread list for sure.

@insomniamamma - Remain Nameless (Ezra & Cee w/ gn!reader)

ok, this one actually made me cry. i'm not sure if it's my own sleep-deprived ass that caused it but this is probably one of the most beautiful but sad fics i've read in a long time. i mean all of this in the best way because i don't normally get emotional from fics. prospect as a movie makes me emotional, though, so it doesn't surprise me that this did as well. it's such an incredible missing scene that i can, unfortunately, see absolutely happening. have some tissues nearby.

@sweetercalypso - Unlikely Friends (Joel x gn!reader)

this fic is one of my absolute favorite fics for joel. a big reason for that is i have a cat named tilly. and imagining joel reluctantly and grumpily cuddling with my tilly makes me emotional, ok??

@softstarlite - The Casualty of Love (Javi P x f!reader)

very cute! i love the awkward tension around not seeing someone for so long and there being a huge glow up maturity-wise from one of them! seeing someone in a new light is always a strange thing and i love the start to these two and their journey!

@julesonrecord - Shots (Jack x f!reader/oc)

probably one of the best post-movie fics i've ever read for jack. the way jack's trauma and therapy is handled is so fucking brilliant and tonic is one of the best fucking characters, god. eva is written so well and i just. i can't recommend this fic enough. if you like jack, hell even if you don't, give this fic a shot. i promise you'll come out of it liking it.

@coulsons-fullmetal-cellist - The Audition (Dieter x f!reader)

goddd this was so cute! dieter's insecurities don't come up very often and i absolutely love what a match he and reader make. she's so sweet with him and takes such good care of him. and he loves her so much and i love them ok

@max--phillips - A Little Lipstick Never Hurts (Max P x f!reader)

this is one of the best explorations into kink that i've ever read. it's so respectful and hot as fuck. completely obsessed with this take on max as a character and i can't get enough of the dynamic between him, reader, (and eventually dieter). it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but i highly encourage you to give it a try. max gets some well deserved lessons taught, and who doesn't love that?

@coastielaceispunk - The Gift of Lingerie (Max L x f!reader)

god, this was so fucking hot. i'm so here for a mentally healed maxwell in a healthy marriage with a fulfilling sex life lol the little bit of teasing on both their parts was beyond sexy and i loved how equal everything felt. ugh, will be rereading this one for sure.

@lotrefcp - Hidden Away (Javi P x f!reader)

i'm obsessed with a no nonsense reader with just as much attitude/sass as javi does lol i just kept reading going GET HIS ASS. an excellent start to a universe i'm excited to sink my teeth into!

@beefrobeefcal - On the Waterfront (Frankie x f!reader)

oh, this is dark. i love the vibes immediately. i've had a weird fascination with the mafia for most of my life and this has that air about it. a dark, chubby mob boss!frankie is right up my alley for sure. i love that he's still frankie tho. sensible, practical, but with an edge. mind the warnings.

@flightlessangelwings - La Estrella de Mi Vida (Javi G x f!reader)

ahhh so romantic and so tragic!! i swear, it's impossible to make javi unappealing but this fic is just so sweet and manages to make me love him even more (somehow). but i love the added drama and tension from outside forces!! i need to read the rest of it asap!

@littlemisspascal - Rockford & Roan (Tim x f!reader)

my god, i love this?? i'm not usually one for superpowers/soulmate au's but i'm in love with the practicality of this? it feels otherworldly without being too much and it's very grounded. i love the reader and the way tim is written is so believable. i love that we as a fandom have created such a visceral image of this character from only a minute's worth of footage!

@something-tofightfor & @the-blind-assassin-12 - Aphelion (Oberyn x Ellaria & f!reader)

goddd the imagery painted in this one. so heartbreaking. absolutely breathtaking. i'm a slut for vampires and i'm a slut for oberyn/ellaria. this is absolutely something i will be reading the rest of lol

@bluestar22x - The Rockford Files (Tim x f!reader)

ok this is insanely good. one of my favorite books of all time is "red dragon" by thomas harris and i felt like i was reading that again while i read this. the details of the case and the cadence of everything was top notch. obsessed with the psychic element thrown in there and i'm beyond excited to see where tim and psy end up next!

bonus:

@sweetenerobert - Fiction vs Reality (Tommy Miller x m!reader)

ohhhh my god. you give me a bisexual tattoo artist tommy miller with stretched ears and i'm supposed to be normal about it??? UNLIKELY. i am extremely tempted to edit this into reality ngl but my god. this was so fucking hot lmao

[the-modern-typewriter]

Just wanted to say thank you so, so much for writing Fate's Favourite. I actually found and loved your blog before I ever found that fanfic, and it was a delight to know it was written by you, and it's so clear how you've improved. But Fate's Favourite will always have a part of my heart, because it's the first story I've read that just has a platonic friendship that feels as equal as a romantic one without being romantic? And as a lonely aroace that means everything. EVERYTHING. (1/2)

(2/2) I had a conversation today that reminded me that I'm never going to have the queerplatonic relationship I want that I've always wanted since I was a child, and how it makes me want to write one so much more, but then I've never managed to write the story I've wanted to write my entire life because I'd always be afraid of being accused of queerbaiting or people just going, 'but it's actually just a gay romance this isn't what friendship looks like' and just. Thank you for Fate's Favourite.

--

Wow. FF is a blast from the past!

You are very welcome.

Apologies for the long, self-indulgent reply.

That story was one of the first things I ever properly wrote and my first (maybe second?) truly long-form story ever. I thus have a soft spot for it, even though in terms of craft and technique I can't so much as look at it without seeing all my numerous beginner flaws and cringing and can't bring myself to actually point people to it. Much improvement since then, as you say!

(An excellent reminder that writing is a learned skill.)

Anyway. The other interesting thing about that story is that I wrote it before I'd ever heard of asexuality or realised that was what I was. I was a very confused teenager being bombarded with this pressure to have crushes and date people and all that general societal messaging we have about romance being the most important thing ever. Especially in YA.

So I'd go home after school and write that story.

Obviously it's more unhealthy than what I'd want for myself in my real life, but the sheer intensity of feeling and importance of the platonic main relationship was something I had also never seen before but craved. And still crave, honestly. So I feel ya.

As for queerbaiting...

A lot of readers at the time told me they viewed the story as 'pre-romance'. AKA, it's a romantic relationship and they haven't realised it yet for whatever reason. They mostly didn't mean that badly, I don't think.

(Although I sometimes think though that if the term 'queerbaiting' was as broadly known and misused then as it is now that I would have been mercilessly lambasted out of ever writing again! And I wouldn't have known how to articulate the fact that wasn't, actually, what I was doing. I think we need to be kind to new writers. I think 'content creator' is gutting something vital in the ecosystem. But that's another rabbit hole.)

So I've been there. It happens. But other people's bad takes didn't change the story and what it meant to me as a lonely ace teenager or what it meant to you.

I have had readers before make a similar comment to you about how it was the first time they got to see something so important to their heart portrayed.

That matters so much more than whatever people say about your writing who don't need it.

Which is why we have to keep writing the stories.

Even if it's clumsy and raw. Even if it's the first thing you've ever tried. Even if it's (especially if) it's a messed up fantasy straight from the most primal part of your brain.

If we don't write it, it won't exist.

And that's so much worse.

The nay-sayers can come to the party, but it wasn't thrown in their honour.

[morikasan]

that thing is such a horrible person, they just keep assaulting me because they misunderstood my sentence. (and when they realised, they blocked me. such low move. throwing tomatoes.) they only replied to the reblogs which portray them as this vulnerable victim figure and smart-ass, creative 2020 come-back. and when there are reblogs which potentially ruin that image (a valid argument or evidence about them being hostile towards others) they block the person but not without sending them a (questionable) message.

even the original post is not giving because nobody receives those types of message when they just do their stuff. also, they kept bringing up about this post is old and just let it go. like isn’t that your pinned post? you’re not even letting it go so who are you talking to right now? they want to be noticed and painted off as this « morally right » person so baaad.

bro, i’m gonna be so honest with you. that thing is just obsessed with the image it wants to present itself with, a victim and online jesus. it wants, CRAVES validation. it blames others for its own actions and when there is no one to blame, the thing creates problem so it can go back to its nature. i feel so bad for you brooo, you have to deal with that type.

well i mean, the things you write does not define who you are as a person, you’re not « porn addict » lol don’t let that bother. just keep doing your thing if you feel like it honestly. i’m not all up into your business, for me, if i don’t like it, i just scroll through; wish everyone knows that by doing such a simple act they can avoid this whole ruckus and one-sided beef?

like why are you bullying a person just because they are not up to your moral standard? that’s such bs. it’s not even that deep and personal and that thing just go on whole attack mode because of what???

this is too long bro i’m gonna end it here. have a nice one. i hope you never have to deal with those kind of people anymore

Thank you so much for writing; your words made me very happy. It always makes me glad to have someone who understands me ♥

And as for that person, yes. There are always people who support him in his comments because he deletes everyone who says that what he is doing is wrong, all the comments that don't satisfy him, and he insults and blocks them.

This girl's tactic is like this: She provokes dark content writers by insulting their articles, themselves, and their families. Then, the person they insulted gets angry and responds to them, and she takes those responses as screenshots and publishes them on her account like she did to me.

She insulted me so disgusted that he blocked me, so I opened a different account and vented my anger at him (but I didn't say anything as vile as what he said). And “OMG, they insulted me, they called me bisexual, I am the victim here, give me attention, look how bad the dark content writers are,”

And she makes the person they insulted and provoked look bad.

And then she gains attention

She shows herself as a victim just to get attention.

To understand that this girl is a bad person, it is enough to look at the comments she writes. It's normal to dislike an author, but harassing her is a whole different level.

In short, she's nothing but a harassing, attention-seeking freak who makes herself look like an angel. I feel nothing but pity for her fans who support her.

And by the way, it's still hilarious that he calls me a porn addict just because I write smut, LOL.

This is a screencast from my deleted account. As a message, he said I hope you die, you will be harassed (he must like it because you write such things). Etc. Then he blocked me.

Then that account was closed, etc… and so on.

I started everything from scratch by opening this new account and even in this account he found me lol, he blocked me with insults as usual.

This person is such a characterless person.

Thank you so much for taking the time to send me this message, dear. I'm glad you're here; I hope you have an excellent day ♥

I love y'all ♥

[cocogum]

C'mon, sugar. Talk about Sadida and why you love him. You know you want to ;)

SJALDLEODODOWOFLFLFKODPE9D8SWIEOODOWOEOEOEIQODOFKSOSOSKKXOSOSLSODOD

GURL

When I say this man is fine, I mean he's FINE FINE LIKE-

Have you SEEN this tree man???

Of all the gods I could've fallen for in an unhealthy way, I really didn't think Sadida would be it.

And omg, I'm so glad I even saw this green guy ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I can actually remember when was the first time I got to know about him.

I was probably 11-12 at the time, and I was scrolling on the Krosmoz wiki. I wanted to know more about the twelve gods because Wakfu didn't tell you much about them, and that was in a time when I didn't know about the Krosmoz timeline and how there were so many other works lined up before Wakfu.

I came to learn about all the gods and how they looked, thanks to the wiki, and that's where I SAW HIM.

At first, I just thought he looked cool and mysterious with his mask, but when I learned about the Krosmoz timeline, my ass watched the Dofus movie, Kerubim's Treasures' show, AND THEN ENDED UP ON THE OGREST MANGA SET (i did all this in another year and i precisely remember that the ogrest manga still has four and thr fifth is getting NEAR!!)

As soon as my hands got the Ogrest volumes, my perspective on Sadida COMPLETELY changed. I didn't expect to find so much lore about one god in the Ogrest manga, but I was so glad it ended up being Sadida!!

Not only did Mig, the writer and illustrator, did such an excellent job working with such a mature style, but Sadida had been the center of some chapters WITH THAT VERY SAME STYLE.

(Yeah, I'm going to be talking a lot about the Ogrest manga specifically cuz Sadida has been seen so much in there)

And now you're telling me the fifth volume, a volume I've been waiting for AGES NOW, has Sadida as its cover!?!?!?

THE DELIBERATE CHOICE OF MAKING SADIDA THE MAIN FOCUS OF THE COVER CANNOT BE A COINCIDENCE ‼️‼️‼️

This only implies that we're going to see more of him in this volume, and I'm already ready for it like I've legit been spamming the Ankama shop's refresh button just to see that damn Ogrest volume 5 in the Dofus section already 😭😭😭😭

PLEASE I'M SO GONNA GET FED WHEN IT COMES OUT ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

I follow Mig on tumblr and insta (cuz duh, why wouldn't I), so when I first saw that damn cover, I swear my ass freaking squealed when I saw his official post.

We even got some small sneak peeks here and there of the volume on insta, but my eye especially caught that one Sadida shot, which I think may have been from Lacrima's pov.

Just look at him 💖💖

Look at my cute little baby and his cute little cat feet I just wanna jxkskdldlldlfdl

Despite knowing and seeing all these sneak peeks and finally seeing what the fifth volume cover looks like, I didn't get to find an official release date....

Until @ol-files mentioned in a reblog how it's probably gonna come out in mid-October lol LET'S GOOOOOO ‼️‼️‼️‼️💖💖💖💖💖

My guy has game, look at him with himselves his women 💕💕

Name one other god who can pull up ten chicks like that all at the same time and keep them in his realm. THAT'S RIGHT, NONE.

Not even Iop can do that lol

The Ogrest manga made me learn so much about him that we even saw how he made the sadida dolls.

DJKSKDOSLSKDLDLDLDLDLDLDPDP

HE WAS LITERALLY A SEED PLEASE I-

He's so independent, my guy didn't even need anyone's help for this.

Like we're talking about the fact that he made his very first doll without any instructions. It's like he subconsciously knew what to do already. No beginner's guide, no anything. Damn.

HE'S SO CUTE WHY IS HE SO CUTE!?!?!?! 💖❤️💖❤️💖❤️💖❤️💖😍💖😍💖❤️💖❤️😍💖😍💖💖😍😍💖😍❤️💖😍💖

LOOK AT HIM ❤️❤️❤️ I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HE COULD BRAID HIS HAIR LIKE THAT 💖😭😭💖😭💖😭 he's such a babygirl omg.

I bet one or two of his dolls did his hair that one time lol

Imagine getting yourself a man who's fine with having cute little braids and doing anything with you no matter how "girly" or "weird" it may look AND STILL HAVE THAT RIZZ.

Iop is such a loser for that lol

I'm really sorry for bringing up Iop twice to criticize him, but I truly want to emphasize the significant distinctions between Sadida and Iop. If we closely examine their behaviors and personalities, it becomes increasingly obvious that these two are complete opposites among all the gods in the Krosmoz. They represent the two extreme ends of manhood, illustrating their polar opposition.

Literally, I'm not even exaggerating.

Sadida: plays with dolls, is sensitive to losing someone dear, isn't afraid to show his delicate side to women, doesn't mind having cute hair, cares for who he loves, plays an instrument, keeps his creations with him and only lets them out when they had to, enjoys plants and taking care of them.

Iop: big macho solid man, hides himself to cry, committed grape, is too prideful, doesn't think much, gets disgusted with anything that doesn't relate to his sexuality (no joke he literally said "ew" when he learned he indirectly procreated with Sadida in the Dofus manga), abandons his wives, put a curse on one of his kids (Goultard), disowned one of them (Goultard) and probably many more.

Like do you see this shit???

These two are so different from each other that it's weird but also ironic, given that they had a kid together lol

Sadida's rizz is superior to any other god, I don't care what you say. Just look at him rizzing up Dathura with his flute bro he's so good that he even ended up making Lacrima, another hottie, jealous of Dathura.

But I know what some might be thinking: he crafted them personally for a particular purpose, which is why his dolls necessitated his attentive handling, WHEN THAT IS COMPLETELY FALSE.

When only six sadida dolls were able to charm the dragons to make the primordial dofus, Sadida did not get angry at the other four who failed. He simply told them they made a great effort.

Translation:

Once they were all reunited, Sadida congratulated the six who had succeeded and the others for their efforts.

And guess what? Even after the four sadida dolls' attempts, Sadida never stopped taking care of them!

He even comforts Lacrima, the only sadida doll of the bunch who truly felt troubled by failing the mission.

Translation:

Sadida comforts her, telling her how unimportant the result was in his eyes...

And in the arms of her beloved, she understood...

Her destiny was elsewhere, linked to the quality that had been entrusted to her.

GET YOURSELF A MAN LIKE SADIDA ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

He's so caring to his little dolls that it's too sweet. He's clearly that one boyfriend who will immediately take care of you when you're on your period or having cravings 😭❤️❤️❤️

I even made some gifs of him cuz I felt cute that one time 💕💕💕

Some were from Waven:

I could only find and make three of him there since Waven is still in construction and the only twelvian god things I could find at the shop were the emotes and each god had three expressions you could use: happy, angry, defeated.

And others were from Krosmaga:

The first is when you win the battle and unlock him, while the second is when you lose, so you don't get him and have to restart the fight 😭😭

However, the surprising part about Sadida was that his design was still being worked on when the Dofus movie was finished.

Can you believe that Ankama almost screwed up when they were still making his design, by the way?

No joke, if you don't know this, they were almost going to make him look like a cabbage or carnivorous plant....

LIKE BROTHER EWWW NO WHY DID THEY THINK HE'D LOOK GOOD LIKE THAT!?!?!?

These two Sadida character designs used to be design sheets from the Dofus movie 2 that the Ankama team still had in their folders. The title for the second Dofus movie was called "The Return of Julith," and we were going to meet all the gods in there, which is why you'd be able to see some very early character designs of them.

(We've still got no news for the second movie, but Tot did say there might be a chance that they'll make the second one, according to this post, which talks about the upcoming releases of Krosmoz media. So if we do get that second movie, WE MIGHT JUST SEE SADIDA !! Unlike how we only saw a destroyed statue of him in season 4 lol)

I'm genuinely grateful (and RELIEVED) that Ankama threw out his old designs because he clearly didn't look good in those. Not to mention that they didn't look clever like his now canonical design ✨️✨️

So yeah, my leafy husband is clearly very hardworking and sentimental 💕💕💕

I NEED HIS FINISHER MOVE (the gif on the right) SO BADLY YOU HAVE NO IDEA.

I also already bought his emotes from Waven lol

Look at him looking all giddy and happy while twirling some plants around!

This man has no excuse to be this cute 😫😫

art by maba-product on facebook

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Okay, but imagine Marge writes to Bucky, and Buck knows about it. He and Marge have talked about it. How Buck feels for Bucky. How Marge likes him very much and is willing to write him and see how it feels.

It feels great. Perfect. Bucky's a great letter writer. Remembers every detail Marge writes. Tells great stories. Admits when he's worried. All the good shit.

But.

But Bucky only mentions the whole thing to Buck very early on. "Hey, Marge wrote me?" And Buck goes, "She said she might."

So. Okay. Buck knows. It's sweet of Marge. No big deal.

But. Marge is also an excellent letter writer. A little more wiseass than in person as far as Bucky's seen. With a realistic view of the world but a romantic heart.

Bucky gets weird when letters come. He tucks his away before anyone can see them. He stops writing back.

Cue Buck finding out and saying, "Why'd you stop writing Marge? She loves your letters."

"It got weird, Buck."

"How?"

"Writing to my best friend's girl. It got weird."

And Buck gives Bucky a long look, then slowly backs him against a wall so he can't get away. "Did you fall for her Bucky? You in love with Marge?"

But he's not saying it mean. Not upset. He's smiling a little. Staring at John in that way he has sometimes, where John swears he can see through him.

"Yeah, Buck, I did. I did. I didn't mean to but, well, you love her, too. You know how easy it is."

"Yeah, I do. And you know what else, John?"

"...what?"

"She loves me enough that when I told her how I felt about you, she decided to see how she felt, too. And it turns out she sees all the things about you that make me crazy and loves those as much as I do."

"What are you saying?"

"She's our girl, and you're our guy. That make sense?"

Bucky nods, feeling absolutely off-balance but also like he's flying. "Makes complete sense. But if you're my guy, where's my kiss?"

Bucky stops hiding his letters after that. He starts leaning over Buck's shoulder and pointing out passages. "How have you never told me this story?"

"Marge tells it better."

Back home on her nightstand, Marge has a photo of Buck. The classic one from his basic training graduation. She also has a photo of Bucky and Buck. A snapshot she took one day. They're laughing about something, arms around each other.

The truth is, even before Buck told Marge a thing, she'd loved Bucky through his eyes. Getting to have them both feels a bit selfish, but she's giving them up to the war effort, so it only seems fair she gets to have them both when it's over.

To the victor go the spoils.

[zarvasace]

Fic Rec List

AO3 is holding a Feedback Fest for International Fanworks Day! So, in no particular order, here are 10 fics from my bookmarks that I recommend. :) Most of these fics are by stellar authors, but the list is for individual fics. I recommend checking out the authors as well.

EDIT: fandom code. LU = Linked Universe. FS = Four Swords

Dawn of the Fourth by @lazuliquetzal - (LU, complete) A fic that's on plenty of rec lists, I'm sure! The mastery of plot, character, and language itself is top-tier. This has a mystery-ish plot filled with twists and turns that hold up very very well on rereads! The tension remains taut the whole time, but it isn't too stressful. There are some particular images from this one that have stuck with me since I read it.

Threats and Theatrics by htruona - (LU, complete) This one makes me laugh. A lot. Vio is too dramatic for his own good, and I adore the idea that they might just keep fake blood on them for stuff like this.

A Guide to Living (Again) by @cerame (LU, complete) - Also one that I'm sure is not unfamiliar to a lot of people! It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Shadow, and it was so so much fun to see these other opposite-Links coming around, too. This is just overall a very good time.

Awake, Sweet Prince by @vagueandominousvibes - (FS, complete) There's a lot by Kahl I adore, she's an excellent writer with a wonderful handle on world and words, and this one in particular is one of my favorites. I love slightly spooky fae and this is definitely high on my list.

Count to Nine by @tess-aka-fishy (LU, complete) - One of my top fluff and humor fics. Everyone is in-character in the best way possible, being chaotic but not necessarily on purpose. It's awesome.

It's Dangerous to Go Alone by @hey-adora (FS, complete) - Among the many standout works by Sam, this one is an excellent one to recommend thanks to the showcase of her particular brand of humor, the fun, adventure-y plot, canon-extension worldbuilding, and of course the focus on Vio and Shadow being awful as always.

Keep Your Face to the Sun by Ageofavalon (LU, complete) - This one is a wonderful little fic with, surprise surprise, a focus on Shadow. This one just feels cozy, and I've reread it a lot. I particularly enjoy the way that they adopt him into the LU Chain :)

Take a Number, Any Number by @cluelessmoose (LU, complete) - An outstanding Four whump fic that recently got a very satisfying second chapter. It uses a lot of my favorite whump tropes. The imagery and particular use of words makes this a delight to read.

Soft Glows by @youmixxx (FS, incomplete) - Breaking my hesitant rule of "only complete fics allowed" to rec this fantastic Green/Blue modern college AU story. The attention to detail in this fic is unbelievable—and I mean detail in-text in descriptions and narrative, as well as behind-the-scenes details like consistent schedules. It's beautiful. Don't let the word count intimidate you because it flies by in a haze of glory.

Draw a Circle Around Your Grief by @lattewritesthings (LU, complete) - Dramatic, horrific, bitter, hurt-no-comfort—BUT in a way that doesn't leave you hanging on a thread. It's tragic but the resolution is satisfying anyway. The images are striking and the emotions are potent.

[elderberries-and-honey]

Dearest Marmee, 

I must thank you once again for recommending the tickets to the theatre. We have been home about a month now and my wife has not stopped gushing about it to anyone who will listen. I knew she had the soul of a poet but I could have never guessed how much that evening would mean to her.

We were the last to arrive, nearly missing the admissions, as we had stopped off to have our portrait taken there in London. But after all, how could we miss the opportunity to be photographed in our finest clothes, and so in my opinion anyway, we were only fashionably late!

I will admit only to you, some of the play went above my head, but my Winifred, oh how she laughed throughout the entirety of the performance. She understands things like this you see, and I suppose your Jo is likely the same; I think it is something engrained in all the great writers of the world to be able to understand why the curtains are yellow and not blue. 

And boy, does my wife admire Mr. Wilde. She truly believes he will go down in history as one of the greats. She is very fond of all his work, and she suspects we should expect more excellence out of him before his career is finished.

Despite feeling a little out of my depth, I enjoyed myself all the same, especially after Winifred explained that the play mocks the wealthy in subtle ways. Mr. Tree, the gentlemen who played Lord Illingworth, is a galant man taking a slap from Mrs. Arbuthnot that way; how the sound of the sting echoed throughout the entire hall! I was downright shocked, and my wife in stitches, finding it absolutely hilarious. 

At once the show finished, and as Mr. Tree and Mrs. Beere took their bows, everyone cheered for their outstanding talent, and I do believe my wife applauded harder than anyone else in that audience. The show was a treasure, and I trust it will be remembered for generations to come. However, what I will remember most, is my Winifred.

And while everyone marveled at the actors, I couldn’t keep from marveling at my wife instead. Her beauty, her cleverness, her whimsical laughter and dazzling smile, and most of all, her natural aptitude to understand the work...aside from the day we wed, I can't think of a time she has ever appeared more beautiful to me, or more herself.

It was though she belonged there, amongst others who appreciate literature, and my, I can't help thinking what it would be like to sit in that theatre and see her work performed on the stage instead.

I had hoped that our viewing of ‘A Woman of No Importance’ would give her the confidence she needs to be published. It would truly be a shame for the world not to know her work; I encourage gently, but she is stubborn, you see and hardly allows me to read it. She does not recognize her own talent.

Since we've been home though, I have found her early in the morning, asleep at her typewriter more times than I can count. So at the very least, I am pleased to see her passion burning inside once again. Now...if I could only find a way to ignite it.

Yours Sincerely, Lawrence

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[topazadine]

Identifying bad writing advice

I have seen what seems to be a backlash against the genre of writing advice in recent days. By that, I mean I saw like two posts about it within a few days of one another. That, to me, is an epidemic! We need a global symposium discussing the peoples' distrust of writing advice.

Not really, but one does need to practice caution when reading anything that tries to tell you to do something. That includes me, and even this post that you're reading.

There are tons of excellent guides out there helping to refine your unique voice rather than change it. BUT you should treat everything you read with some caution and ask if it resonates with you.

With that said, let's take a look at some warning signs that you might be getting bad advice.

Inexperienced source

You need to understand writing on a deep level if you're going to act as an authority on it. Someone who has just started writing can share their experience, but they shouldn't position themselves as an expert by any means.

Also, writing takes years to learn. Literally years. Casually writing for two years or so is not going to teach you everything you need to know so that you can share that with others.

I would also say that while you do not need formal training to be a writer, you should have some formal training to teach writing or give advice. As I'll discuss more later on, being able to do something well is very different than being able to explain how to do it.

If someone doesn't provide their credentials and their suggestions seem a little off, then they may not have the experience necessary to help you. I've shared my own credentials in several other posts so I won't belabor them, but I have written over two million words of creative writing, hold a BA and an MA, and have 15+ years of practice. I also tutored writing students for about five years.

Unengaging writing

This is pretty self-explanatory. If the advice-giver's writing is boring, or uninteresting, or hard to follow, they probably need to spend more time developing their own craft before they try to teach anyone else.

I include poor formatting in this as well. If someone is doing wacky things with their formatting that make it hard to read their guide, like using extra teeny tiny small font or enormous fonts, they are doing this more to show off how smart they are than helping you.

The "extra small super cute fonts" thing is also kind of ableist because low vision people are going to have to rachet their magnification up to 10000 to see anything. This suggests that the writer is not thinking about their audience.

Universalizing everything

The problem with advice about such a diverse craft is that it is almost impossible to target every potential need. Similarly, every advice-giver is coming from their own perspective and may not be able to see beyond their own experiences, biases, and so on.

If someone says "all good writers do this" or "always avoid this," they are likely not going to help you much.

With any advice, you should take what resonates and leave the rest. Sometimes, what resonates is uncomfortable, but you know deep down in your heart that it's true. That's common, especially if you have some bad habits holding you back but you're unwilling to fix them.

I try to always include a caveat that I am only coming from my own perspective and what I say may not apply to you. If someone writes an advice guide and tries to say that their way is the only good way to do something, or that anyone who doesn't follow their advice is a "bad writer," then they aren't thinking beyond their own nose.

Excessive prescriptivism

There are very few real rules in writing. In fact, I have distilled them down to only two that apply to everyone.

Writing needs to communicate something to someone.

Writing needs to be written so that others can easily understand (and enjoy) that message.

These two adages cover damn near everything about the craft, including the importance of grammar, spelling, syntax, and so on. For creative writing, they also consider the importance of coherent plots, understandable characters, good dialogue, avoiding infodumping, and so on.

Going further, these two rules explain that your writing should have themes and symbols meant to provide a deeper meaning without throwing it right in the reader's face, because readers don't like being lectured.

Note that these rules do not tell you how to create your characters, or how to format your writing, or anything like that. Because those things are all very context-specific, and what I suggest may not alway apply.

It's why older writers grit their teeth at younger writers bashing them over the head with "show don't tell" because there is nuance here. And you get to that nuance by writing a lot. Which is why beginner writers haven't found that nuance yet. And which is why beginner writers should not be giving advice.

Fails to explain the reasoning

Doing something and teaching something, as I said above, are very different things. Someone can be an amazing writer, but when they try to explain themselves, they fall flat. Similarly, you can be an avid reader but an atrocious beta reader because you have no idea how to identify problems and suggest solutions.

Having spent years learning craft and helping others improve, I can identify why something works or doesn't, and I can explain this in a way that makes sense. For example, my spicy mundanity post doesn't just say "mechanical descriptions are boring."

The post explains why those descriptions are unengaging, then shows examples of how to fix it, and then explains why those passages are better.

Similarly, my post on how not to write a character doesn't just say "avoid this." It explains why certain tropes are annoying and gives advice on how to fix those things.

I often link my advice back to key concepts, including cognitive load and audience, in order to demonstrate that at its heart, writing is deceptively simple: it's about communicating something to someone in an entertaining way. But there are millions of ways to do this successfully, and everyone needs to find their own path to success.

If someone just says "do this" without explaining why this is a better option, they're not telling you anything. They are just giving their opinion about what makes good writing without helping you improve.

Discouraging or elitist

Anyone who makes you feel like shit and like you can't possibly ever be a good writer ... is an asshole. Anyone who berates you for mistakes you make while learning is trying to gatekeep one of the world's oldest art forms - storytelling - for no reason other than to feel better about themselves.

You do not need an English degree or Creative Writing degree or any degree to be a good writer. You don't need formal training; (good) free advice you find on the internet, when applied systematically, can do wonders for you.

All you really need to be a good writer is time, practice, and patience. Just like anyone can pick up an instrument and become proficient if they do it over and over again, so can anyone become a great writer if they persevere.

Many people unfortunately fall into this trap of thinking that writers are some special breed of human who were innately gifted by the gods themselves. Sure, you can have an inclination toward writing, just like you can have an inclination toward anything else. But you can also brute force that talent through hard work.

Writers are not like athletes, where genetics and physical fitness and early life development all play a role in whether you can get to the Olympics. Some people just suck at sports and it's unlikely they will ever improve. I am one of those people. Rest assured I understand.

Thankfully, though, writing is much more forgiving and welcoming than that. (Though not all writers are very forgiving and welcoming.)

It may take you longer than someone "naturally gifted," and you may struggle more, but anyone can become a good writer with practice.

Those who tell you otherwise, or who tear down your work and mock you, or who insist that you need XYZ degree or skill or experience or whatever, are wrong.

Please don't listen to them. Please don't let them ruin your joy.

If you'd like to read more of my work, consider buying my book!

9 Years Yearning is a gay coming-of-age romance set in a fantasy world. It follows Uileac Korviridi, a young soldier training at the War Academy. His primary motivations are honoring the memory of his late parents, protecting his little sister Cerie, and becoming a top-notch soldier.

However, there's a problem: Orrinir Relickim, a rough and tough fellow pupil who just can't seem to leave Uileac alone.

The book features poetry, descriptions of a beautiful country inspired by Mongolia, and a whole lot of tsundere vibes.

You can also check it out on Goodreads for a list of expanded distribution.

Be sure to preorder Pride Before a Fall, arriving January 1, 2025!

If you do purchase my book, don't forget to leave a review!

Reviews are vital for visibility on Amazon and help to support indie authors like me. Whenever you love a book, be sure to let the author know! It's much appreciated.

I've also created a masterlist of writing resources that you can peruse at your leisure, all for free.

Enjoy!