#(but i did NOT get much further than plotting them and writing a few scenes that rlly spoke to me)

[palenutbasement]

(all scenes are depicted as platonic)

So every Inktober I try to do something more challenging, and this year I thought I would make a short comic/fanfic. I think I got the idea for this one a year ago but I was already wrapped up with another Inktober. Eventually I solidified the idea by making my own prompt list some time ago.

This comic is split into three parts with 10 days focusing on each of them, 30 in total, everything is compiled here. I wanted to post them after October in case I wanted to change anything.

This first part takes place in the summit.

The comic is basically all improvised, that means no planning for the composition, plot, or sketching any drawings. The most planning I did was write a few scripts ahead of time within the month to save me some time but most of them would be changed last minute anyways.

As for the plot, I won't go too deep into it because I don't want to talk too much, so you'll just find commentary on the making of the comic and stuff.

This first part is a little gimmick-y compared to the next two, with new elements appearing almost every day. It’s because I relied a lot on the prompts (dog, milk, etc.) to keep things happening, eventually I move further away from them.

What is surprising to me is how much the art changes as the days go by especially within the span of one month. I did refine a few things to keep it more consistent but this is nearly indistinguishable from the original drawings.

I should also mention that my favourite aspect of this project was adding references to the game and subtle details (if you can find it all, awesome!!) This may have been done quickly but I like to have those things and put at least a bit of effort into the dialogue.

Part 2

Eventually I figured that drawing the same setting for 30 days straight would drive me insane, hence why this comic is split like it is. I’m glad I did because it makes the story a little more interesting, seeing the characters have different attitudes in different places and whatnot.

This one takes place in the cave directly after pt 1. Admittedly I do better drawing outdoor settings, it's what I'm used to, but the cave wasn't so bad to figure out.

I remember these two days I was streaming drawing the comic to my friends, so I kinda zoned out while we were talking lol

One of the prompts was about napping, so I made Dwarf sleep. I believe I was tired that day too and it was therapeutic to draw and include that. Also they look cute, I think.

18 & 19 have some of my favourite drawings in the comic. The campfire lighting is what we'd get if I had a bit more energy each day, and I like the perspective in the first panel of 19.

I find this last section interesting, because of all the 30 days, it’s the only one in Dwarf’s POV. I felt like it was fitting to do something like that at the time.

Part 3

Since we were approaching Halloween, I wanted to have a special part for it. It’s related to the other two parts but it takes place some time after. I’m really sorry it’s out of season, if it were up to me I would have had this post out earlier (thank my midterms for the delay)

Out of all the other parts this one is my favourite. Maybe because it’s more recent I’m inclined to think that way but it has some of my fave moments that I've written here.

Other than that I don't have much commentary for this part. More thoughts at the end!

I was caught up everyday atp, but I didn’t have much spare time to prepare for the ending (I wrote it the morning of that day). I think this is a decent conclusion though.

I intend on coming back to this story, maybe next year to make a continuation but we'll see what happens. There are definitely things that I want to come back to someday.

Thank you for making it this far btw. It's been an eventful month for me beyond this (Untitled) comic, but there wasn't a single aspect of this that I didn't enjoy doing. It's a silly project and I care about it.

Also, I'm not going to neglect the 31st of October! That day will get an illustration, where I will pick my favourite panel and redraw it. I want to take my time with this one so it's not out yet, but hopefully I can finish by Christmas.

[sxpphicwitch]

In general, I'm ok with the finale. I thought the Billy All Along Hex thing was a bit tacky but it is Marvel so I'll let them off. However, I'm disappointed with the Agatha x Rio plot line for a number of reasons.

The first episodes had this smoldering, hurt, wanting thing between the two of them, like they'd hated one another for so long but we were about to see some kind of resolution. We see the first fight, then the road truce, "she is my scar", then "well her mother can't have her", then "I like the bad boys". It felt like a total and complete tone change to "I never want to see your face again".

Then, when we get to the flashback episode, it's hard to connect to why Agatha's so hurt that Rio is doing her job, because we have zero context of what they mean to one another in the 1700s except for "my love". Yeah Agatha's gonna be sad her kid's gonna die, but she's specifically hurt that Rio is going to reap him. But we the viewer only have a modern context for their relationship (and actually a lot of that context comes from vague statements made in interviews). It's sad that her kid is destined to die, but Rio gives her time with him (which is markedly more than a lot of mothers got in the 1700s, that's for certain). And, although a lot of people are hypothesising that Rio is also Nicky's parent, they did not confirm that (and easily could've, and would've also fleshed out why Nicky couldn't live, being born of Death etc etc). I'd have even been happier with the explicit framing of Rio as an absent parent, and their contemporary relationship framed in the context of the loss of a shared child.

But the main reason I'm left feeling something's missing is because we're never shown why Rio cares so much about the feelings of this mortal witch. I'm left wondering why they bothered to include a romantic relationship at all.

And, what's so difficult for me is that it could've been fixed with a few lines and a short scene showing how they met, something like that. It feels like there were key scenes edited out.

I've seen a lot of takes that are something along the lines of "the show wasn't about them, it was about grief etc etc" and that's great but actually, for a lot of people, the show was about them. I watch Marvel stuff casually, I wouldn't say I'm a Marvel fan per se, I was specifically drawn in by the marketing decisions made surrounding that particular aspect of the show. So to have essentially no further fleshing out of that relationship, a kiss which is the kiss of death and then the vague promise that Agatha will turn up in some show about teenagers with powers, doesn't really cut it for me.

So yeah, those are my thoughts.

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank (in advance) the incredibly talented fanfiction writers who are probably already toiling away writing fix-it fics. You're all angels.

[shinynewboots]

Staring at the Sun / Adam x Lute Chapter 1

Summary: After the battle, Lute attempts to flee with Adam. They find themselves unable to return to Heaven and must adjust to life in Hell.

AN: Hello all! I have been obsessed with Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss for the past two weeks and got this plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone! So excited to be writing for this fandom! This chapter is relatively short but I wanted to go ahead and set the scene for the rest of the story. Hope y'all enjoy!

Warnings: Violence, gore, 18+ eventually, Adam-typical misogyny eventually

Chapter 2

“NO!” Lute screamed, running towards Adam. Golden blood dripped from her dismembered limb, leaving puddles of golden tears as it fell. She could no longer feel the searing pain in her arm. No, that pain now belonged in her chest at the sight of her beloved leader being stabbed in the back.

Adam lay face forward, golden blood gushing from his multiple stab wounds as the Damned could only stand and watch in awe as the small demon pulled her knife from Adam’s back.

Lute fell to her knees beside Adam and used all the force in her body to roll him over, the remains of her left arm hanging against her side. 

“Sir! Stay with me sir!” Lute screamed, almost demanding. Adam gave her a soft smile. It had been a long time since she had seen his face, but it was just as handsome as she had remembered. Blood dripped from his nose. His golden eyes were soft but empty, losing light. His hair was messy and full of dirt and debris. His beautiful heavenly robes were stained with blood.

“Adam!” She screamed. Had she ever called him that before? Tears welled in her eyes and she took in the sight of her beloved leader. His eyes closed, and his breathing grew shallow. 

“It’s over,” The Princess of Hell said in a dark tone behind her. Blood pulsed in Lute’s ears and saliva pooled in her mouth. 

“Take your little friends and go home,” Lucifer exclaimed, fire blowing from his mouth in a rage. His voice was low and threatening. All around them, the other exorcists had stopped fighting and Lute could feel all the eyes of Hell upon her. 

“Please,” Lucifer added, a snarky smile on his face. Lute breathed deeply and grabbed Adam’s halo.

“Retreat! All exorcists fall back.” She screamed. Exorcists filled the skies and fled the scene as though it were a crime. The group of Hellions watched on, triumphant looks upon their faces. 

Lute knew she could not leave him. He was better than all of these demons and sinners. He was Adam. He was the First Man. He was…everything.

Lute took in a deep breath and used all of her remaining strength to pull Adam onto her shoulders. It took a few tries as she could not balance him due to her loss of forearm. Finally, she felt secure enough with him on her shoulders. He was much bigger than her and would weigh her down as she flew but she had no choice. She couldn’t leave him. 

She unfurled her wings, beginning her ascent back to Heaven. Exorcists filled the skies, almost all back through the portal that Adam had originally opened. The fucking cowards had not even bothered to try and help her bring back the body of their leader. Fucking bitches. 

Lute could feel Adam’s blood soak into her back. She could no longer hear his breathing. He couldn’t be dead!

He was Adam!

“Don’t you dare fucking die on me Adam,” She whispered as though it were a prayer. Despite being an angel, she had not prayed in decades. What was there to pray for in heaven?

She flew much slower than she ever had, weighed down by Adam and her own exhaustion. Her arm was dripping blood back down to Hell like holy raindrops from above. All of the exorcists were back through the portal.

She was so close!

Just a little further!

But wait.

Why did the portal look like it was getting smaller the closer she got? 

Her eyes widened in realization as the portal closed leaving her flying toward the Pentagram sun, the sky around her empty.

How was this possible?!

She couldn’t open another portal.

She couldn’t—

Falling. 

She felt herself begin falling. 

Her eyes grew heavy. 

She was so tired. So dizzy. She just wanted to rest. 

NO!

Adam. 

Adam needed her. 

Adam was—

Falling too

Everything went dark. 

How long had it been since Lute had been in the dark?

“Dad!!” Lute heard someone scream. Hell Princess maybe?

Adam. 

She had to save Adam.

Adam—

[filthgarbage86]

Part 3, Option 2 - The List: Submissive!Eddie Munson

(this is part of a series that I've been writing but the general idea is that you're trying to figure out which nickname makes Eddie go crazy for and in that attempt, you prove how naive you still are as well) you can find the link to that here

Part 1

Part 2

CW: puppy!eddie munson x afab!reader, smut like absolutely filthy smut, there was plot but that was before, f receiving, face sitting, submissive!eddie, dom!reader, switch!reader, brief moment of degration

Eddie Munson took good care of you. He was always trying to make sure you were pleased not only physically but also in an emotional intimacy way as well. He had such a big heart, you find it really hard to imagine how anyone could be scared of him or think that he's some spawn of Satan. In reality, he was an angel, an absolute darling person.

Most, if not all of the videos that Steve had suggested to you and the ones you found all had very dominant themed names for the guy in the scenes. Which was fine, you loved more than anything when Eddie dominated you. And you knew that most of the names on the list you got just weren't going to encourage Eddie to listen to his own pleasure or even allow you to be able to take on that role or responsibility. You were still going to try them but you were just wanting to figure out what made Eddie blush and feel the same way when he did stuff to you.

At first, you try the basic ones but they weren't really good in that sort of way. And again, there's not much to go off of. So it's not until you two are alone and just sitting in his room that you have the discovery.

You're sitting on his bed and he's sat on the floor, resting his head between your thighs like they're a neck pillow for him while he plays on his guitar. He's strumming out a tune, trying to figure out a chord progression and is so focused that a little bit of his tongue is sticking out. You're just sitting above him, playing with his hair and stroking his face every now and then.

"You're so good, baby"

Eddie shivers a little bit and says a quick little thank you. Interesting.. you had already tried baby but that wasn't it the other day.. You try again, a few moments later.

You start stroking his face and tightened his neck in between your thighs just a little bit more so your presence was notable. You angle his face to look up at you-

"Have I mentioned lately how much I love you? How good you are to me?"

He looks wide-eyed and glazed over. Oh this is interesting indeed.

"N...no, I mean, yeah! but not.. those words exactly.."

"Aw Eddie, you're so cute, you're like a little puppy"

He flushes, deep. Oh. That did something. You remember seeing that in one (1) video and you didn't understand it until right now. It makes sense, especially when he's sitting below you, look up at you with those puppy-dog eyes, big, wide, and brown as can be in the soft lighting.

"You like being called a good boy? Aw puppy, you want to be good for me?"

He whimpers. He lets out the smallest exhale of a whimpered moan and just nods his head slightly, completely forgetting about his music task at hand. You stand up straight, motion your finger for him to come up and come closer and he's on his knees, hands out on both thighs to stabilize him a bit, waiting for further instruction. "Look at you, so obedient."

You now take the liberty of lightly guiding his chin towards you with motioning finger and start peppering kisses along his jawline. This new surge of found power is electric and you're only getting started. You still don't really know what you're doing but you're going along and hoping to figure it out along the way.

"Who knew the satan worshipper of Hawkins, the scary Eddie Munson, was just deep down such a good boy that wants to be taken care of and to be good in return. Isn't that right?"

He whimpers out a soft like uh huh to you and you have a grinch like smile. "Use your words, puppy"

"Fuck, yes. I want that yes miss."

"Oh so good for me puppy, you keep calling me that and we will be in good shape today. Now, what does my puppy want? I'm going to take such good care of you, baby"

He starts getting antsy, he's wanting to touch you and be right up against you, but he's still figuring all that up right now. "I.. I want to make you feel good, miss"

"Baby, that's what you do every other time. What do YOU want?"

He looks up at you from his knee-position on the floor and he looks like he's going to melt away "I want you to use me"

Now it's your turn to blush and muttering for words "Okay. Undress me. Slowly."

He starts going for your belt immediately and you have to grab onto his hair a bit tightly, not enough to hurt him but enough to send a shiver down his neck.

"No, what did I say? I said slowly. You have to wait."

He huffs out but he does as he's told. He slowly unbuckles your belt and pulls it out of your jean loops, disregarding it. He goes to hike your pants down, but again, you pull on his hair. He hisses and moans in succession of each other. "Wait... stay.."

He's really into this. He is blushing just as red as before and you aren't even undressed yet. He zips down your zipper and undoes your button before he is gently wiggling you out of the form fitting jeans. These ones really highlighted your hips. So he started to slowly, absent mindedly, kiss your hips and start sucking into the flesh. He looked up at you while still going so immensely slow.

He looked at you like he was in prayer, and you were an angel- no, he was looking at you like you were a god that he worshipped. He starts kneading and pawing at your thighs and takes a big, obscene whiff of you and groans. He looks up at you once more and just above a whisper asks "please?" You give him a short nod to indicate that he could start.

He immediately dives in and you're already having a hard time standing, your knees buckling at him angling himself so you can quite literally ride his face. The noises are pornographic and sloppy from him sucking and slurping you up and you still somehow feel absolutely filthy.

Without trying, your hips start to spasm from pleasure, making your clit rub up against his nose and both of you are moaning for different types of pleasures. You grab onto his hair and you don't hold back at all, swaying your hips up down.

"Fuck puppy... shit- feels so good. You're so so good to me, baby" He mutters something and you pull him off of you for a moment, "don't mumble, what did you say?"

He takes a few deep breathes, looking already fucked over, "I don't want to be baby right now, I want to be good, I want to be your.. your.." You smirked, feeling a bit of deja vu from this "You're safe. You want to be my..." "Call me puppy again, please."

"Good puppy, that's my sweet boy, wanting to listen so well and make me feel so, so wonderful. Tongue out, handsome"

His blush goes down beneath his shirt collar and he continues licking stripes up you, paying mind to go all around your puffy sides and circling your clit just how you like it. He angles himself again to where he's now got a finger entering you with ease, followed by another, slowly going in and out of you. You are practically humping his fingers and face, and you look down to see that he himself is humping the air.

"You dirty, filthy dog. You really did just want to get me off huh? You so pussy-whipped you'd do anything to be praised huh?"

He's nodding feverishly, adding even more friction to the equation. You weren't going to last long, not when he was being so irresistible. "Fuck fuck fuck.. shit, fuck, shit- Eddie I'm cumming, I'm cumming! Oh FUCK!"

You're essence is dripping from you, it pours out of you without indication or warning. You are washed over with such pleasure that you continue to sit and ride Eddie's face until you literally can't take anymore and have to sit back down on the bed.

Once you catch your breath, you pull him up to the bed to find not only his face is soaked in your essence, but there's a prominent tent and wet patch in front of Eddie's jeans.

"Thank you Bunny"

"Thank YOU. Now... does my good little puppy want to finish the job?"

Let's just say the way he's fucking into you, the way he's whimpering and moaning while just hammering into you? There's a reason he earned his nickname, just like you earned yours

Oh to have a relationship where you're fuckin like a couple of love-sick puppies or bunnies.

-----------------------------------------------------

A/N: I KNOW NOT MANY PEOPLE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS BUT I WANTED TO GIVE IT A TRY, I KNOW IT'S A LITTLE RUSHED BUT I WAS WORRIED ABOUT LENGTH AND EVERYTHING. If you want more puppy!Eddie or submissive!eddie, leave a comment or request in my ask box!

[sugarskies]

The Deca S1E3: Scandalous Scendeles || Recorded Changes

Minor word changes.

Grammar corrections.

Corrected Scendeles verbage.

Adjusted a Scendeles’s dialogue to reference Only Dead Fish.

Modified dialogue between Ushas and Millennia.

Replaced flashback with dialogue.

Let Theta say “fuck.”

Swapped passive voice to active.

Corrected typos.

Removed Epsilon from the second to last scene.

Final Word Count: -67

Barnable's Behind-the-Scenes Babbles

vansell's line about the scendeles's robe being on backwards is one of the few i've written that actually cracks me up.

i can tell from how i wrote the first scene with mortimus that i was initially hesitant to lean into his sluttiness. in the chapter i made some adjustments to be more confident in it. i am now wondering what else i might have hesitated with so far, though. i was always (and still am) very terrified to share some of my headcanons. whenever i've posted a chapter with a more significant concept i've always anxiously awaited the hate comments. 5.5 years and i haven't gotten any. thanks for accepting my goofy ideas.

to elaborate on the dialogue i modified between ushas and millennia: since writing this chapter i read doctor who and the krikkitmen and i could not stop laughing at "the potato solution for world peace." given that a potato is central to a plot in this chapter, i couldn't resist tying it in.

at one point i wrote basically "4/10 of the deca were there so the table was less than half empty" and nobody has pointed that out to me in over five years. it correctly says "MORE than half empty" now.

i was trying to figure out why jelpax&vansell have 2 plots back-to-back then i remembered that their plot in the new magnus was completely improvised as i needed a 3rd plot and they happened to be unoccupied characters as opposed to this chapter where they were always intended to be together. coincidences are a funny thing.

(i also tried to figure out why epsilon is there twice in a row and genuinely i have no idea. my best guess is that i was making some sort of jokes with my friend, his creator, at the time and it amused me to add him in. it annoys me now. i think it's overdone. get him out of here he's not a member of the deca!!! oh well. too late to remove him now.)

“Who cares?” Theta groaned. “All I see is a bad grade and a failed class.” “That’s all you ever see.” this is my favorite. petition for more of this rallon.

“Why did you stop being friends?” “Because he stopped taking showers.” this is my other favorite. no further comment.

dumb typo of the week: "ment" instead of "meant." congratulations to this typo for surviving almost 5.5 years on ao3 without correction!

especially towards the end, some of this dialogue is so clunky it's making me cringe. ouch. can't believe i got away with this.

what other rules did ushas write down? more importantly... how many of them have been broken? questions to ponder.

overall, i did not take away very much from this chapter. no open plot threads or unanswered questions that i can see.

bonus note: THERE WAS A FUCKING TYPO IN THE SUMMARY

[roomwithanopenfire]

I absolutely adored the last chapter of proof of life. Can you share your thoughts about this chapter?? (was the process hard, your favorite lines or just facts in general)

Please 🤝😔 (when you’ll have the time ofc)

Thanks for the ask!!! I'll take any opportunity possible to talk about my writing!!

Answer under the cut for spoilers for Proof of Life if you haven't read it yet! (And this will be long 😅)

So Proof of Life is interesting because I wrote it scene by scene rather than chapter by chapter so some of the chapter breaks were a struggle to figure out.

And Book 3 was tricky because when i started writing it, I wasn't really sure where it was going. My outline was like BLAH BLAH they kiss... which wasn't very helpful. I floundered for a bit, then I wrote the dialogue for an upcoming Important scene, and thought "what would need to happen for them to have this conversation?" and then I figured out the rest of the plot (in spare outline format)

There are 4 scenes that ended up in Chapter 10: Simon talking to Penny; Baz talking to Katie; Baz breaking his leg; and Simon bringing Baz food.

This is how these scenes started on my updated outline (redacted bits are scenes that I moved and would now be spoilers):

oh, and the food scene was originally further down

A few interesting things:

I feel bad for making Penny and Simon mad at each other but like trust me. It's gonna be good.

I love using Penny to show Simon and the reader the way vampires are viewed. Even in canon, Penny says that you can get a medal for killing vampires. This is nothing new.

This is like the first chapter in ages with no Natasha in it. Please, take this brief reprieve. Next chapter will be something.

PLEASE notice how Katie calls Natasha "Mum" when Baz only ever refers to her as "Mother"

also KATIE!! she's really not in the rest of the book very much, but i hope we like this scene of her. Their relationship is... uncomfortable, but they still love each other. I almost wish i did more with them, but this fic is already 80k long asfdlkj.

I'm sorry for constantly describing where Baz and Simon are looking and if they are making eye contact. It's important to me. Something about Baz avoiding Simon's eyes. Also the intimacy of eye contact, and like describing subtle body language in general is my favorite thing, and I hope I'm getting better and better at it.

Baz continuing to call Simon by his first name in his head but still "Snow" out loud. I love it.

Also in canon, it's very possible that Baz's fangs drop every time he eats. But it's also possible it depends on the type/amount of food. I like to think that it only happens with meat, but 🤷‍♀️

Anyways, I'll cut myself off there, but this was fun!! I'm so so excited to share the next handful of chapters.

[fanbun]

Time for me to talk about Hazbin Hotel now that season 1 has ended!

I’d like to start off by saying I enjoyed watching the show. It is a visual delight that introduces some much-needed variety to the western adult animation space. Charlie and Vaggie as main characters hooked me even way back when I watched the pilot on YouTube. And although many of the songs caught me off guard in the episodes themselves, I kept going back to listen to them for days afterward.

But in all honesty, when it comes to writing, season 1 is a structural mess that wants to do as much as it can in 8 episodes rather than narrow its focus to what is most important for a first season. Yes, of course this is subjective to an extent, but the lightning-fast pacing the show quickly adopts is a common complaint even among the most hardcore fans. It is glaringly obvious that major plot points and character development are rushed because Vivienne did not want to compromise her vision to fit neatly into the number of episodes given to her.

Sure, I agree that 8 episodes a season shouldn’t be the norm but I don’t think the quality of a show is doomed to suffer because of that. Choices were made by the writers to include characters and scenes that could have easily been saved for a later date or even cut entirely. Season 1 didn’t even have to end with a climactic battle between heaven and hell, as first seasons are usually meant to introduce characters and provoke further intrigue that can be expanded upon later. But as it turns out the almighty cool factor demanded a war to end season 1 and that’s what we got.

This is something I’ve noticed often while watching Hazbin. The spectacle of engaging designs, captivating animation sequences and catchy songs quite literally steal the show. This “cool factor” will almost make you forget that many of the main characters have hardly spoken to each other outside of a few brief jokes here and there.

Hazbin wants to be cool and it wants to have an expansive cast of characters to make the world-building feel fleshed out. But this doesn’t exactly work when we’ve hardly gotten to know a character before moving on to the next one who seems far less relevant to the main selling point of the hotel that the first season is SUPPOSED to be establishing.

And here’s where a HUGE issue with the pacing comes in and that’s how fast we see sinners at the hotel get better. It doesn’t feel like 6 months have passed in the show since there is barely an indication of the passage of time, and we also don’t get to see much struggle to change from those staying at the hotel. Both Sir Pentious and Angel Dust are given their own character development episodes, but in my opinion a single episode for each is not enough to feel like the development was realistic and earned. Directly afterward we see them immediately improved and acting as if they have become close family with those staying at the hotel.

It was jarring to watch since I felt like I was missing the context for when all of the characters bonded to the extent of being that close. The only characters I saw bonding in a way that felt real were Angel Dust and Husk, and even though episode 4 was terrific for showing Angel’s struggles and how the hotel serves as his support network, it made me desperately crave more genuine moments like it.

I especially wanted more genuine moments between Charlie and Vaggie since they experienced an upset in their relationship towards the tail end of the season. And unfortunately the last two episodes didn’t satisfy me since the two talked more with other characters I wasn’t interested in than with each other. It’s a shame that Alastor often steals their spotlight, and from what I’ve heard season 2 is going to be more about Alastor and the Vees too. This worries me, as it seems Vivienne is showing favoritism for the supporting cast over the main characters.

Still, I will definitely be checking out season 2 when it’s released to see if there have been any improvements. And even if there aren’t, it’ll be a fun show to turn my brain off to. I see the show’s existence as a net positive for the animation industry despite the issues I have with it.

[theozilla]

I stayed up late last night finishing the Pluto anime (I watched the English dub; I am planning on rewatching it in Japanese and the German dub eventually) and now I am putting down my thoughts after having slept on them. 

Urasawa’s Pluto is one of my favorite manga (and comics) of all time, so I was very invested at the prospect of it getting an anime adaption (regardless of the fact that I expected I would end up, and still do, preferring the manga as the best way to experience the story). Anyways, overall, the Pluto anime is a great anime and a good adaption. The animation was very good, though I agree with the common criticisms that parts of it could have had better compositing. I do have a few criticisms of it as an adaptation though, critiques that go beyond the standard practice of shortening, slightly modifying, and cutting of (less plot-essential) dialogue and scenes that come when an anime adapts a manga (especially text and plot dense ones). I essentially have three major/not-insignificant criticisms of how the story got adapted (though I am quite aware that the cause of these shortcomings may be more due to the anime production just not having the time and/or resources to do so, than being deliberate creative choices). 

         My first criticism is the fact that in the manga Gesicht and Brau-1589 did end up exchanging memory chips (this happens at the end of volume 2 in the manga, which is roughly analogous to what episodes 2 and/or 3 of the anime adapted). Cutting that plot point from the anime is a significant story loss IMO as it was an essential step in Gesicht’s character arc, specifically him slowly realizing that parts of his memory were erased. It also diminishes the effectiveness of Brau-1589’s character as not only does it further explain and justify why Brau considered himself and Gesicht to be two of a kind (i.e., Brau was able to notice and discern Gesicht’s erased memories) it also removes narrative parallel/“rhyming” of how Atom had previously read Gesicht’s memory chip and is implied to have picked-up on the same erased memories as well. Also not getting to hear Brau-1589 do the haunting line of "500 Zeus a body" voiced-acted is a crying shame. 

         Secondly, the choice to cut out the various scenes Dr. Roosevelt, the immobile super-computer A.I., and the President of the not!USA, from the first half of the story was a mistake. In the manga, by volume 2, the audience is supposed to be explicitly clued-in to the fact that Dr. Roosevelt and the President are directly involved the serial murder conspiracy (with the how and why still being unknown). Not having this context established before the second half of the story in the anime I would imagine makes the later scenes of Dr. Roosevelt and the President that do get adapted much more confusing and random for an anime-only watcher. It also diminishes the greater connective and overarching themes of the narrative, particularly the ones critical of the USA and Neo-imperialism (which I cynically wonder if that was one of the reasons said scenes were cut). Excising the earlier Dr. Roosevelt scenes and references to it, as well as the parallels with Brau-1589 (and the theme of robots feeling hatred and other extreme emotions), brings down the quality of the character and thematic writing in general as well. 

         And finally, a few adaptation choices done in the final eighth episode, I feel brought down the quality of the climax. Beginning with the least significant one, but still important IMO, was the cutting of Doctor Tenma and Professor Hoffman’s scene at Gesicht’s grave. Besides it further elucidating the themes of the narrative, it’s also just a loss in terms of giving a bookend to Hoffman’s role in the narrative and his relationship with Gesicht. Next, is the anime’s decision to make Bora completely non-verbal when Atom and Pluto confront him during the climax. In the manga, the intelligence of Goji/“Abullah” was still present, which not only made the climax more emotionally engaging, but it also specifically made Pluto/Sahad coming to terms with the ghost of his father much more effective as well. Lastly, and my biggest issue with how episode 8 adapted volume 8, was the choice to have Atom remembering Gesicht’s final words and the flashback that reveals how Gesicht found the robot child he and his wife adopted, occur in the middle of the scene where Professor Ochanomizu witnesses Atom picking up a snail and showing how he still has his humanity intact after being revived in the way that he was. In the manga said scenes occurred right before Atom is about to deliver a killing blow to Pluto (and are subsequently intercut with the remainder of the climax). The way the anime rearranges the contents of volume 8 in episode 8 really messes up the flow, particularly the emotional flow, of the story’s climax and makes it less engaging and effective as a concluding experience. 

Anyways, despite those three major areas I took issue with, I still really enjoyed the Pluto anime and consider it to be a great work overall. Though I still recommend the manga as the best and proper way to experience the story. 

[w1ld-wr1t3r]

Trick or treat? 🩷🫶🏼🫂

I shake up my treat bag of writing goodies, reach inside, and pull out your random prize . . . behind-the-scenes of a fic or series! Congrats, trick-or-treater!

Hmm . . . let's go to my Star Wars AU for this one! All about how it was created, my reasoning for certain lore and narrative choices, and how some of my ideas are panning out:

When I say that the idea for this AU grabbed me out of nowhere and started running, I am not exaggerating. I was literally watching the sequel trilogy one weekend, and it happened to be a race weekend too, so F1 was on my mind already. I think I thought something like, "Man, imagine the skill needed to pilot an X-wing properly. And to do it without dying in battle, too!" And then all of a sudden, I was also thinking about how much skill it takes to drive an F1 car without crashing it (because I think we can all agree that most of us wouldn't last five seconds behind the wheel of a racecar. If their necks have to be THAT muscular just to withstand the g-forces, then clearly I don't stand a chance). One thing led to another and now here I am.

I knew from the beginning that I was making this AU in the Rebels vs. Empire era. The prequels are fine, but I wasn't about to make everyone Jedi or something when I knew Order 66 was on the horizon. Plus, the original trilogy era is just generally more exciting to me. And I ruled out the sequel trilogy era immediately. After that train wreck of a trilogy, I would rather stay away from it. (To be fair, I do enjoy watching the sequels. They're entertaining at the very least, and do have genuinely good moments in them. But if you focus on the story too much, you start to notice the plot holes, confusing story directions, and aggravating character choices. Why is The Force Awakens just Episode IV all over again? Why couldn't Holdo tell Poe her plan in The Last Jedi, exactly? Who the heck was Snoke?? How did Luke and Leia know that Rey was a Palpatine but she didn't?? HOW DID PALPATINE COME BACK IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?)

(*deep breath* Phew, sorry about that! Got a little carried away. Anyway:)

The decision to make Lando Force-sensitive was an easy one. My favorite Star Wars show is Star Wars Rebels, and one of the main characters, Ezra Bridger, is a kid who doesn't realize he can use the Force until he happens to run into a rebel group that includes a former Jedi, which eventually leads to him getting hunted down by an Inquisitor, one of the Empire's official Jedi hunters. Lando's story is similar in a way: he joins the Rebellion, eventually realizes "wait a minute, do I have the Force?" and then has to deal with an Inquisitor on his tail when he accidentally reveals too much of his abilities. He's not super strong in the Force, because I didn't want to make him too over-powered, but he can sense things before they happen, move a bit faster than others, sense the emotions and intentions of people around him, and, his most special power, he can use the Force to heal others. Now this last power, I will admit, is actually inspired by the sequel trilogy. By certain scenes from The Rise of Skywalker, in fact. If you're familiar with the movie, then I think you can venture a guess at what might happen to Lando and/or someone he cares about at some point in the story. (no, I'm not elaborating further. You'll find out more when I get around to publishing it! ;) )

Writing this AU has been happening in short bursts. I have about half of the main story loosely outlined and a few of the major scenes written out, but I still have to figure out how to start the story. I also have ideas for side stories and sequels as well, but I haven't started writing most of those yet. I mostly just submit to the whim of my muse when I sit down to write, so if I sit down planning to work on one fic but my mind says I should work on something else, I listen to what my impulses are telling me. I find that I tend to write better (and write more) that way. In fact, I'm actually just coming out of a dry spell for this AU. I opened up the document again the other day and now I'm feeling motivated to write in it again. Hence why I picked it for this ask, it was on my mind already!

To the surprise of absolutely no one, this is mainly a Norrix AU. However, other ships and dynamics will appear too, sometimes just in the background, other times in their own installments in the series. I already know for sure that I want to include Brocedes (though the jury is still out on whether it'll be platonic or romantic in the end). I'm sure we're all familiar with how their drama went down in real life. And in Star Wars, what could be more dramatic than two friends torn apart because one joined the Rebellion and the other joined the Empire? Oh yeah, it's that kind of drama for Lewis and Nico! Will we see an Imperial defect to the Rebellion and fight alongside his childhood best friend again, or will we see them permanently torn apart by intergalactic war? Who knows!

Other relationships that may appear are Loscar and maybe Bearnelli. I have fic ideas involving both but we'll see if I actually get around to writing them.

One more thing about this AU is that I decided pretty early on that if I was gonna write about war, then I wasn't going to shy away from the bad parts. I'm not gonna just torture all of the characters for no reason, but if the plot demands it, let's just say that someone might end up in the med bay for a long while. I'm preemptively apologizing for what I have in mind for Oscar in the main story. And uh, maybe Ollie too, if I do end up writing that side story. They'll both be fine, don't worry!

Maybe.

[impetuous-impulse]

NaNoWriMo Midway Progress

So I've accidentally entered a drought era due to the Sisyphean task of keeping up with NaNoWriMo. I wanted to thank everyone here for the support they've shown me (but I got bowled over by November)! This is my first time participating in the challenge and the thought of people who want to read my work motivated me considerably. Since we're over halfway through, I thought it would be good to write down some insights.

At this point, I've been writing, but I can't even say my attempts have been wholly successful; I am still not caught up with the daily word count (which I have been failing from Day 1). The story is... progressing, at the very least; I think we're a quarter of the way in. If the story pans out fully, it will probably be 80-100k-ish.

I've learned quite a bit about my writing over the past few days. I really don't fit the style that NaNo requires of writers, which is "quantity-over-quality-becomes-quality, so just knuckle down and write and edit later". My approach is more like "find the precise words for each sentence and fine tune it even more when editing", which takes excrutiatingly long. Having tried out NaNo-style writing, I already know I need extensive edits for the first few scenes (mostly because Ney made so big of a mess). Style constraints also aren't helping—I need to practice writing in past tense a lot more.

Speaking of writing on your feet, I have learned that I absolutely cannot pantse things. If there is no plan, it takes infinitely longer for me to finish a scene, which affects the pace at which I achieve the word count. Historical stories that mess with timelines absolutely need more than... the week of planning that I did, lmao. One way I kind of got around this was literally word-vomiting chapter outlines in advance to rack up my word count in the first week. I also tried to rewrite scenes and include them into the word count, but found out that slowed my momentum.

If I write over 2k a day starting from now, I should still get to the 50k word count by the end of the month. I worry that I won't be spending enough time immersing myself in different scenes because the story timeline will be moving much more quickly the further I get into it. Maybe I can solve this by following the main thread of the plot (the Ney and Soult Show) and leaving bits that involve other characters I haven't researched later.

Feel free to drop me a line or ask questions about the project if you want to. Until next time!

[hueynomure]

top 5 fics you've written!!

Ooo, that's a tricky one! I'm only gonna consider finished Ao3 autonomous fics - there's so many WIPs in my folders, so many enticing ideas that haven't turned into real fics (yet)... I've also written quite a bit for the Magic: Expanded Multiverse project (Magic the Gathering fics, but keeping the worldbuilding roots and giving a wide berth to canon) and permutations of my own OCs there, but calling most of them - and especially my fave to write - fully autonomous fics would be a bit disingenuous, I feel. I'm still pretty proud of those, though.

So, without further ado and in no particular order, these are the 5 fics that come to mind right now when I think of being the best for me, in combined terms of quality and importance for myself and my growth as a writer:

Dragon's Blood: a classic fairy tale about princes, dragons and maidens fair... with a twist. I've had a lot of fun, experimenting with the narrative tone! The connection with the original media is practically nonexistent - a wink to a certain character of the aforementioned MtG fan project.

The Antlion's Den: A Naruto recursive fanfic. I have an undying appreciation for what @jumpingjacktrash did for me just by existing and posting his stories, so when I had the inspiration to make recursive fics of his work I jumped at the chance to... return the favor, in a sense? The Antlion's Den is the meatier of the two fic, featuring his OC being cute, my OC being a bastard and a bigass fight at the end... when he said it was the best recursive fic he had ever received it easily made my week - I still smile at the thought.

Farewell gifts: This is a shared spot with Breaking Point and Woven In, really - they are my first steps in the Miraculous "fanficdom", but while Breaking Point features one of my best tropes ever and it's my very first ML (and Loveybug!) fic, Farewell Gifts features the Mariwalker post-reveal scene I wrote in THREE DIFFERENT FICS (wtf) and most importantly it was the first time I tried to engage a sweet, adorable teenage romance on its terms - I'm way more used to write gritty fights, bitchy dialogue and angst.

Undercover: the first smut I publicly shared! It was so exciting, to explore this whole new genre, weaving fluff and smut with no further goal than indulging my writing itch! And the response was incredible, it gave me so much confidence to continue and eventually write Augmentation and its continuation, which I'm pretty sure I'll finish writing at some point. Speaking of long-awaited conclusions...

Are Hexagon Square Dances a Thing?: if you had asked me a few weeks ago, this wouldn't have made the cut. I was so excited to join in @asukiess's Valentine Week celebration of Loveybug, figuring out a way to use all the LoveyWeek prompts to build some sort of plot (with @mostmagical's amazing help) and daily posting was so much fun! ...until it came to a jarring stop. The very last chapter got stuck in my brain sideways, and it took me EIGHT MONTHS to get through it. It soured the whole memory of that delightful week for me, so I'm glad I was able to finish it. To keep with the First Times theme, this was the first fandom event I joined in my life! And except for that snag at the end, I had a grand time.

Thank you for the ask! It was cool, to look back at my work this way 💜

[tridentqueen]

“You always fall asleep halfway into the episode.” 

No one requested this, but I wanted to write it! 

This the last drabble for the anniversary celebration! Thank you all so much. These were so fun to write, and I’m so happy you all enjoyed them ❤��

90s au again 😭

Aly plopped onto the sofa, the force of her landing making Sunfyre turn and look at her from his spot on the cushion next to her.

“Sorry,” Aly said with a smile as she reached out and gave him a few pets in the hopes of making up for disturbing him. It seemingly worked, as the Golden Retriever returned his head to resting straight ahead, though he did let out a deep sigh.

Aegon came out of the bathroom soon after Aly turned the television on, his hair damp from their shower. Both wore their comfortable clothes, t-shirts and tracksuit bottoms, which they were eager to change into after getting back from the cinema.

“What’s on?” he asked while he settled into the couch, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and bringing her closer to him. 

“I don’t know,” Aly told him. “I just turned it on.” She grabbed the remote and clicked through the channels. Nothing caught her attention, and Aegon’s silence indicated he did not seem particularly interested in any of the programs they passed, either.

“Maybe Helaena recorded the show last night,” she said once they exhausted all of their options.

The show, The X-Files, had only begun airing a few weeks prior. Helaena had been looking forward to it, but neither of her brothers seemed much interested. Until it actually aired. Both Aegon and Aemond had been home when the first episode began and, by virtue of being in the kitchen, heard enough to become intrigued. So intrigued that Aegon regaled Aly with the plot, scene by scene, the next night as they ate dinner at her flat.

“You always fall asleep halfway into the episode,” he told her with a laugh.

“That is not true,” Aly defended, albeit half-heartedly. She did fall asleep more often than not, but only because she and Aegon started the tapes so late in the evening. “If we start the episode now, I won’t fall asleep.”

Aegon looked at her a bit skeptically, but stood from the couch to rifle through the tapes they kept in the media stand. Once he found the appropriate tape, he put it into the VCR while Aly changed the television to the appropriate channel. That done, Aegon returned to the sofa and his previous position, and Aly shifted to snuggle further into his side.

“Don’t fall asleep,” he playfully warned.

Aly smiled and moved to temporarily sit up. “I won’t.”

She sealed her promise with a kiss.

[aroace-hunter-of-artemis]

Okay thoughts on the preview of TSATS .

Spoiler alert obviously

I think that a lot of nico seemed to be mischarecterised in the preview. I am all for nico healing and changing and stuff and I am not saying he should stay the same as he was when we last saw him in ToA but it was only been a few weeks from that point so its a bit out of character. It seemed like Mark was trying to write Nico with percy or Leo's character.

The scene with solangelo+Kayla+Austin was super cute but I do think it could be written better. As in made more riordanversey.

Nico being a fan of grey sisters is probably one of the most accurate thing in this book about nico

I have made a separate post abut the mygrumpyballofdarkness

Apart from nico the other characters too were a bit out of character

Camp empty doesn't make sense. I think they should make it into very few campers or give a different explanation like the CHB campers being able to go to new rome and study there during winter as long as they serve in the legion during their stay or something like that

We saw Will's outfit in the dream coming.

The Jason scenes.... idk felt a little bit weird. I adore their friendship and do not ship them romantically. I think that the dynamic wouldn't work. I think they are better of with Jason being nico's older sibling (mom) type friend. I don't think that anything described in the book is inherently romantic btw. Friends can totally do that . But I do feel like they are trying to build something there and I hope I am wrong

Nico not having Hade's dream control is against canon cause not only does he have that power it also is important to the story line in more than one occasion. I say it would make sense if he was unable to control this one dream or his recent dreams

That being said

Mark definitely knows how to write horror. I could even say that they seem to write horror better than Rick.

That dream was the best riordanverse dream of all time imo.(plot wise)

I mean nico's mouth stitched close. Yea we are getting good plot in this.

The first scene . This is going to be amazing. By that I mean heart breaking and terrifying

No matter whether the characterisation is nice or not the plot is going to be good

What if the voice is Jason not Bob.

Nico's mom and Bianca 😭

Also Will's face turning into a monster in the dream could be a foreshadow. We all think that the turn back part is Orpheus Euridice . But what if they are misleading us. Or what if there is further more that just that. Now as good as dark!will is i don't think will is a secret villan. There is however a chance that a monster could disguise itself as will in some point of the book or maybe some haunting. Or maybe the monster wasn't attacking nico. Maybe will has more super powers up his sleeve still unknown to us and him. Tartarus brings out the worst. Maybe will can turn into something. Maybe he does that at one point to fight some monster but it terrifies nico the way Percy's poison control terrified annabeth . I know ast this point I am talking out of my ass but I am expecting this book to have multiple twists and turns that we would not have seen coming

All in all. This preview was good in terms of plot but did not do the best job in terms of characters. I say that we don't have to worry much tho cause this is just the first draft that Mark wrote and Rick would have most likely made changes to the characters to fit canon. I do think there will still be some inconsistencies but all riordanverse books have some inconsistencies.

[kingdomoftyto]

It's taken 15 years, but it was worth the wait...

All right, I've put it off long enough (and had a very busy/distracting couple of weeks) so it's finally time for my review of TAAAM Act 2

For those who missed it, the second half of Turnabout: an Ace Attorney Musical dropped at the end of last month [here's a link to Act 1 for good measure], and to say I've been listening to it a lot since then would be a gross understatement. My partner and I have literally been greeting each other after work each day with, "Today's biggest earworm was [insert TAAAM song], how about you?" Even if I listen to any other music on my morning commute, by lunchtime I'll inevitably still catch myself mouthing the words to "Lotta Things" or "Tomorrow at Last" or whatever else.

What I'm getting at is that this is not just a cool piece of collaborative fanart. This is a legitimately fantastic musical. Period.

The music is wildly catchy, but remains cohesive with every other song. There are repeated leitmotifs and about a dozen reprises and incredibly satisfying references to music from the games (I was waiting for "Cornered" the entire time and was NOT disappointed when it finally showed up late in Act 2). It feels well-structured, like a real Broadway production. All of the songs from Act 1 that I would have considered the weakest--they now stand fully redeemed by their absolutely phenomenal reprises and callbacks in the second half. Every song in this musical, every line, is there for a reason.

And this careful planning serves to accentuate the stated primary goal of the entire musical: maintaining the character-driven narrative of the games and emphasizing the pathos of the story. On both counts, this team absolutely delivered.

Because not only is this a really cool musical, it's also a fantastic piece of collaborative Ace Attorney fanart. (See what I did there?) I know I already said it in my Act 1 post, but these folks understand these characters and what makes the story so memorable even 20 years later. The emotional beats, the character growth, the relationships between them all, are impeccable. Every character gets their time to shine, and in particular I want to praise their handling of Maya and Gumshoe, who feel like fully realized people and each go through their own personal arcs throughout the course of the story that are just as satisfying and heartwarming as Phoenix's own.

And that's a good segue into the subject of what creative liberties the team DID take with the story, because there honestly aren't that many, but what they did change is so good. I replayed Turnabout Goodbyes a few nights ago and was surprised at how much dialogue in the musical is taken line-for-line, sometimes even verbatim, from the source material. But, aside from the changes you might expect from condensing an entire mystery game's worth of story into a few hours of runtime--such as simplifying the cases to require fewer clues to solve--they really only altered the plot in ways that gave more chances to develop the characters, and to create rewarding arcs for each and every one.

They added a whole damn scene of just Gumshoe and Maya having a heart-to-heart. It is easily one of my favorite scenes in the entire play. These writers drank their respecting-Dick-Gumshoe juice that morning, and that single scene gives a better emotional payoff to his loyalty to Miles than I think we ever got in canon, while remaining utterly in-character for everyone involved. Meanwhile, the scene doubles as one of many stepping stones* for Maya's own character arc (which is also much more focused and consistent than in canon, imo!), in which she struggles with her feelings of helplessness and inadequacy as she tries to live up to Mia's legacy.

(It goes without saying that this scene also serves the practical purpose of getting characters in place to further simplify the details of the case, as mentioned before, because the writing is unparalleled and I will keep emphasizing that as many times as it needs to be said.)

In truth, there are only two things I would qualify as "major" changes to the story (in that they're different from canon, not that they actually change the plot itself), and I'm hesitant to spoil them here because both of them are SO good and both of them hit me like a truck when they happened. One has to do with emotional depth getting added to a certain character's arc, and the other has to do with relationships between characters. (Maybe I'll add them as a self-reblog to this post because I still need to scream about them lol.)

In any case, I'm not kidding when I say that the musical's version of events, big changes and small, is so compelling to me that it has now superseded the canon version in my mind.** It manages to tell the exact same story while not only giving some of the "side" characters much more credit, but also tying the cases themselves together into a single narrative. The specter of Redd White and his chokehold on the justice system is present in the back half of the original game, but the musical tweaks things to really make you feel how all of these pieces fit together to direct the characters' actions and growth. It's just... ugh, so brilliant. [chef kiss]

I would be remiss if I didn't also take a moment to directly praise the performance of the actors. As obsessed as I am with the music itself, my single favorite moments in both Acts are actually short lines of spoken dialogue.*** The delivery just struck a chord in me and I still lose it a little every time I hear those parts. (And other parts, but. Shush.) Everyone did a great job, but the three leads (Ren, MJ, and Gavaroc, who played Phoenix, Maya, and Miles respectively) absolutely knocked it out of the park in both their sung and spoken performances. Is it weird to say I'm obsessed with how convincing the screams are in "600,000 Volts"? It is, a little? Okay, well. [cough] Regardless. The whole cast really knew what they were doing throughout this entire production; the emotion is extremely powerful when the moment calls for it**** and they elevate the dialogue--again, a lot of which is taken DIRECTLY from canon!--from something good to something amazing. The delivery of these lines has literally changed how I look at the first game, now. They're that good.

Quick shout-out to some of the other voices that have invaded my brain and instantly become my headcanon voices for the characters. Just off the top of my head: Larry, Payne, Sahwit, Redd, Grossberg, Lotta, Lana... seriously. This cast is absolutely star-studded. Even the ensemble freakin' killed it, absolutely transforming every song they were in. The soprano that hit that high note at the end of "Justice for All (Reprise)"????? MAGNIFICENT. GOOSEBUMPS EVERY TIME.

Good grief, this is already so long and I still have so much more I could say. This is why it's taken me so long to write all this out, by the way. This musical is transcendently good, both from a musical perspective and a fandom one, and I simply have not stopped rotating it around in my head since I first heard it.

It's NOT without flaws. Of course it's not. The sound quality on a handful of spoken lines is noticeably lower. The word choices in a few verses feel just slightly clumsy, or forced to fit the meter. The visuals for the Youtube release are a little goofy at times because of the limitations of the game assets used. The plot of the second act, even simplified, would probably be a little too dense to easily follow for someone unfamiliar with the source material.

But if there's anything to be learned from Ace Attorney, it's that perfection shouldn't be the most important goal. Sometimes a few rough edges are necessary to allow room for truth. And the truth is, in this case, a story. A story about a lawyer named Phoenix Wright, who loses a mentor, gains a best friend, and saves a man who'd lost himself.

It's a story worth hearing, and what better way than in song?

--

*- For the record, my favorite song in Act 1 was "I'll Be There", so among all the MANY times the end of Act 2 punched me directly in the heart, the moment that hits me the hardest is probably still the part of the finale that reprises it. That last stanza (I hope you know I'm glad we met...) makes me want to cry every single time. Maya Fey Protection Squad, indeed.....

**- Except for ONE thing at the very end, but that's a story for the self-reblog where I scream about the spoilery stuff LOL

***- My fav line in Act 1 is Miles' real-time epiphany that Redd White is a murderer. ("The only people in that office at that time were the victim and the- ...killer.") You can HEAR his eyes widen as he falters, and the choice to have that as his turning point in place of Turnabout Samurai is so brilliant in so many ways I can't even handle it. I love Miles Edgeworth so much. Anyway, THEN, my fav line in Act 2 is Phoenix's heartrendingly soft, "I've got you, Edgeworth. I've got you." It's so tender and yet so sure. It's Phoenix catching Miles as he falls, looking him directly in the eye, and telling him it's over, I won't let you suffer for one more day.

****- Another of my many favorite lines is Phoenix's "Did you DO it!?" underneath Miles' singing in "Alone". The desperation. The ANGUISH. During my replay of Turnabout Goodbyes I literally had to stop and take a second when the button prompt labeled "Did you do it?" popped up on my screen. That hurted.

[melodygatesauthor]

Hi again bb, hope it's okay to send more than one ask in for your celebration. It's not on the list (so feel free to ignore this if you want) but I was just wondering how the writing for your original novel is going? What does your writing process look like? Is it the same as when you write fic or is it different? Just curious, thought maybe since it was writing related it might be something you could talk about lol. If not, that's okay, no worries 🥰 love youuuu 💖

Yes it's more than okay of course!

It's like you know me, and know how much I love having a stage to talk about my writing on hahahaha. I'll answer below the cut...

So the first part of the question, "how's it going", it's going okay. I've started it. I have the first few pages done but I started writing it before I had decided to make it an original fiction so I need to go back, change some names and whatnot.

I also keep coming up with new ideas for it all the time which is both great, and frustrating because in order to set up some major plot points, I need to start building the suspense from book one and it means rearranging thoughts and rewriting scenes and making sure there's continuity throughout.

----

My personal writing process is similar for both novel-length fanfictions, and my original fiction novel I'm working on. I always have 2 docs in google docs for the novel. One doc is the novel itself, and the other doc is where I take notes. I'll also break this up into sections.

Character Names/Locations - I'll also include a tidbit about who the character is, relation to the main character/reader, if it's a place I'll put what that place is/its importance to the story, e.t.c. - I'll also put like birth dates or ages for characters in this place too.

Timeline - This is for fics that are spanning over a significant amount of time, or fics that I want to ensure last a while. Sometimes I have a tendency to want to rush getting the reader or m/c together too quickly, this helps me pace it. Plus if I go back to reference WHEN something happened, this is a good place to do it. - Further, it's where I keep track of WHERE a character is during a given time period. That way when a character says, "don't you remember what you told me three weeks ago when we were on Jakku?" I can confirm easily that they were indeed on Jakku three weeks ago without having to scour through the fic for hours trying to confirm this. I would consider it a "living timeline", meaning, I work on it as I write the story, not the other way around.

Outline - My outlines are often loose ideas of what I intend to do in a fic. As I've been working on the novel, I'm spending A LOT more time working on this part. I try not to get myself bogged down with this piece of the process, because if I do, I won't actually write the book. That being said, having a basic idea of where your book is going and how many chapters/words it might have is very important (in my opinion). So for Lock & Key, I have 3.5k words in notes I've taken. I'm sorting through them, deciding what's happening when, and creating an outline based on that.

I hope that all makes sense, there's a lot there, but if I don't do all of that then my novels would be all over the place with no rhyme or reason as to what's going on or when. I did it with A Bit Dodgy, Yes Master, One Hell of a Pilot, By Your Side, Just You, and The Recruit and the Hunter, and I'll do it with this one too lol.

Melody's 2k Celebration Masterlist

[not-rude-ginger]

Was thinking about Smooth as Ink today, would you mind sharing any trivia about it? (About a character, a scene, the writing, anything is okay.) I know you're working on it, I just miss it a bit. (Still, take your time, I can be patient.)

This is very sweet, I've been working on it a little this week, trying to fix an issue in the plot so I can get the boys further down their path in a satisfying way, and it's really nice to know people still want to see the rest even though it's been ages.

Let's see, Trivia, Trivia ...

I won't give the details away, but I had to spend some time trying to find a way to translate the Lan parents' story into a Modern AU that would follow the canon in spirit, even if not in detail. It ended up being kinda interesting to develop, as I didn't want it to be a straight victim!Madam Lan -- she did kill someone in canon and we don't know why -- I thought having something messier and confusing and would also tie into LQR's determined dislike of JC was much more satisfying. LQR has seen this film before, and he didn't like the ending.

JFM continues to be the hardest character for me to write, EVER. Odin Borrson, who I think was the originator of the tag 'X's A+ Parenting', was easier to write than Jiang Feckin Fengmian! He's the reason it's been such a slow process, I cannot figure out how to present him because he's so, so passive. I know he loves JC, I know he wants whats best, but Oh My God he's infuriating! I keep having to remove him from scenes because he just turns the scenes to sticky treacle.

LWJ runs away from home -- but he doesn't know how to book a hotel so he runs to the Nie because Dage will know how running away works!

Something I'd like to go back and fix before I post new stuff is small details like JYL and WWX's lives outside of JC -- JYL's wedding, her career as a YT chef, maybe some stuff about her chronic fatigue, JL being on the way before the wedding, etc. I feel I didn't give them enough thought for how important they are to JC, which is kinda normal for the story I'm writing, but I feel it would just add to the overall story to add a few things in.

NSFW trivia under the cut

I'm planning for JC to realise he has no idea what the standards are for gay virginity loss (is it sharing an orgasm, penetration, hands, mouth, what?) so he can worry to NHS that he might have taken LWJ's without making it special like he wanted. He assumed they were building to penetration as "The Deed" but thinking about it, that makes little sense (what if neither of them want to be penetrated?), and now he's not sure whether they've already crossed the line or not. NHS finds this very cute.