#AND IT MAKES SENSE ANYWAY AND ACTUALLY ADDS SO MUCH EMOTION TO THE STORY AND HES REALLY HOT. WHO SAID THAT

[gothsuguru]

getting an iced pumpkin chai in the morning and then my personal goal is to spend the whole day writing and i hope i can come back to this post tomorrow and rb w how much progress i’ve made!!!

[sunbedo]

Hey guys. Just finally finished watching a playthrough of both The Great Ace Attorney games. (you see me sobbing and crying at the bottom of a ditch)

[tackykachowch]

Hey guys remember that terrible letter in s2? Well, how about I tell you that it's actually worse than it seems?

Alright. For the purpose of my point being more clear I'll recite it here. *barely held in gag*

"Silco. I've looked everywhere, but it's clear that you don't want to be found. Oh, God, I'm shit at this (THEN WHY ARE YOU EVEN WRITING IT YOU STUPID IDIOT. Sorry). I'm sorry. When she died, I lost my head. I told myself that what I did to you was for the greater good, that you deserved it. But the dirt was on both our hands. Anyway, you know where to find me. Blisters and Bedrock"

So, it is obvious that Vander regrets what he did to Silco and that he doesn't view him as a "villian of the story" anymore, so to speak. His murder attempt was purely emotional rather than motivated by ideological opposition or something else. Great.

Buuuut let's rewind to the very start of the series. Right to episode one. There. Take a look at these screenshots.

So Vander says to Benzo that there's someone on their side (the Undercity) who is worse than enforcers. Not even someONE, but someTHING. This implies quite a big level of resentment if you ask me. While he's saying that, he looks at his right hand and touches his uhh...I don't. Know how this thing's called I'm sorry. Let's call it a leather cover. There's clearly a reason why he wears it now, and this seems to be connected to the "thing" they're talking about. Alright. I guess we'll find out more about this later.

Fast forward to episode three. Heeeeey, what is THAT??

So Silco cut his hand?? Well, that all makes sense now then. Something brought Silco and Vander to a conflict, which resulted in Vander trying to kill Silco, and Silco cutting Vander's hand when he was escaping from him. For now (💀) we don't know what exactly caused such a rift between them, but it apparently was something pretty serious considering that Vander even stopped referring to Silco as a person. While he does later says to Silco that what he did to him was wrong, but nothing indicates that Vander changed his opinion on WHY he did it.

Now, there could be an argument that Silco did something that made Vander hate Silco AFTER the river scene, and this is why Vander thinks so badly of him. But earlier in the same episode we see THIS reaction from Vander when Silco appears.

So here's the question: why would Vander react like that to seeing Silco if he knew of something horrible he did post their fallout? What's more likely, he hasn't heard anything about Silco AT ALL, whether he's dead or alive or what he does. So Vander's opinion of Silco ("something worse than enforcers") formed prior to their falling out and it didn't change over time.

Now that we have all that information let's go back to our dear, favorite letter.

Uhhhh so. Vander is an incredibly awful person???? Either that, or he has an extremely severe case of amnesia. Because why would he go from wanting to reconcile with Silco and not blaming him for what happened straight into thinking that he's worse than enforcers and not even a person?? Or in his mind these things can coexist somehow?? And to add to all of that, apparently he never told Benzo the truth about their falling out, and made him think that Silco is an "animal". What, was Vander so butthurt by Silco never contacting him that he went full 5-year-old-mode "Humph!! I hate you now!!" and proceeded to lie to everyone about Silco?? So much for a reasonable and peaceful leader of the Lanes, huh.

But we all know that's not the case at all. The case is, of course, that writers forgot to rewatch season 1 and made up a reason for Vander and Silco to fight which is not at all aligns with what we knew about them and their relationship before. This is, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, one of the biggest cases of negligence in storytelling that I've ever seen.

[highfantasy-soul]

So my friend saw a meme about Osha's saber turning red so quickly despite Anakin's remaining blue all through killing the younglings, choking Padme, and fighting Obi-Wan and as I talked through it with him, the more I realized why the prequels never showed Anakin with a red saber.

To keep with canon, Luke gets Anakin's old saber and the kyber is BLUE not red. The writers probably didn't want to open another canon of worms by then having to retroactively explain 'so Vader's red saber isn't his original red saber and Obi-Wan somehow purified the kyber and made it blue again for Luke' rather than just....not doing that and having the saber remain blue

A red lightsaber on Mustafar? Visiually would have been a terrible choice for that battle, so blue it remained

Vader bleeding his crystal deserves its own story - just like Osha bleeding hers had it's own story. I really liked the comic where Vader bleeds his crystal [not giving more detail as spoilers in case everyone hasn't read the comics - and if you haven't, I really recommend Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, it's only a 4 volume run and I thought it was great]

Anakin had a LOT going on through that entire movie - it wasn't a situation where he'd been repressing his emotions for so long and then was able to point to a singular cause of so much of his pain - his trauma was spread out so it makes sense that one singular act wouldn't be focused enough to bleed his crystal right then and there - Osha, on the other hand, had the singular cause of so many of her emotions right there in that courtyard, and the one who fostered her unjust hate toward her sister is standing right there revealing the truth.

Maybe there is a whole thing where the kyber has to be exposed, not fully in a lightsaber, in order to properly bleed it - in Jedi: Survivor [spoilers] Dagan pulled his crystal out with the force and bled it right in front of us (just as quickly as Osha, I might add), in the comics, Vader holds the crystal and bleeds it, and in The Acolyte, the saber is busted to the point where the crystal was literally touching Osha's hand - as Anakin is a little busy at the moment, he didn't really take the time to take apart his saber to bleed the crystal in the moment.

So idk, people complaining that 'so sabers are like mood rings now and just change that quickly? Guess Anakin wasn't actually all that upset at the end of episode 3!!' just seem so silly to me.

The entirety of The Acolyte's story was Osha dealing with her emotions she had been repressing for 16 years - and the reveal that what she thought was true (which led to the emotions she was told she needed to repress) had always been a lie. The bleeding of her crystal wasn't a quick, easy thing, it took literally the whole season to build up to that point.

And the aftermath when she's collapsed on the ground shaking - holy hell, I love when intense emotions are shown in 'unconventional' ways. Not all of us feel intense emotions and show it through huge, loud, and expansive displays. Some of us collapse in on ourselves and experience it in 'quieter' ways that are still just as intense as screaming.

Anyways, The Acolyte is really good.

[dyaz-stories]

Hey there! Just wanna know, what the heck happened in the JJK manga? Is it already over? Did the characters FINALLY mourn Gojo?! I gave up trying to read the manga after 236, so I just decided to randomly hear from others. But anyways, what happened??

Hey there! BOY AM I HAPPY TO DISCUSS THAT.

(I'm sorry I have so many thoughts and you've given me an excuse to ramble so this is going to be long)

There are two chapters left in the manga, it will end on September 30th. The chapter that just came out, chapter 269, was, however, really bad imo and a terrible use of time considering how little time Gege has left. I get that he had to wrap up quick, but in my personal opinion, it's inexplicable that he'd dedicate a whole chapter to what we just saw.

(More under the cut with spoilers for chapter 269)

Okay, so, the characters spend half the chapter arguing about how they could have done a better job fighting Sukuna, even though at this point, the losses are minimal. Most of the characters who were possibly dead are fine and dandy actually (Yuta, Higuruma, Todo, Kusakabe). Choso is still dead, but he gets a little line about how that's sad (and his death scene was really good and effective, so I'm not that mad about it, even if he's a character I really loved).

It kinda feels like Gege is justifying the way the fight went, which is a bit weird. In story, I think this could make sense if it was fueled by grief and loss and more of a "this person could have been saved! and this person didn't have to die!", but it feels kind of matter of fact tbh, with Maki being pretty much the only one displaying emotions. Even she seems to be arguing about efficiency, not really about saving human lives? Other characters' responses aren't much better. Yuuji in particular looks like he's super numb to everything, which again, yes, that's a trauma response, but it doesn't make for interesting storytelling and it's not going to be explored further, so... what's the point.

Also think that Yuta desecrating Gojo's corpse isn't explored enough. He did something horrifying that turned to not be that useful — going with the manga's message that the end doesn't justify the means — and he seems fine. I guess Maki yelling at him could be explained by the fact that she was strongly against this action, but it's never made explicit, which is a shame. (think it's more implied it's because he endangered himself and she has feelings for him)

The other half of the chapter is spent on a plot point that I don't think had been developed before that, about the new shadow style. This feels like the last arc Gege wanted to have and Sukuna's fight went on for too long so he had to scrap it. The point is essentially that the head of the new shadow style school is trying to become the head of Jujutsu Society as a whole now that the clans have collapsed. There was a binding vow that made it so the head of the school could steal years from people who had learned the style and add it to their lifespan. Anyway, Mei Mei steps in and makes it so the style can become more widely used.

(If you're bored reading that, yeah, so was I)

It's not useless exactly — it definitely goes towards the manga's message of ending the cycle and starting off with a clean slate, so that's a win — but it feels super rushed. It didn't have to be rushed, could have been a decent arc, it just isn't, and again, I don't think that's a great use of pages this late in the story.

Last but not least, Gojo. Gojo gets two mentions in this chapter.

The second one is in passing, when Hakari defends Yuta's usefulness.

And the first one, oooh boy the first one,

is about how this was all Gojo's fault from the get-go anyway 😃

And again, some nuance here. Kusakabe specifically says that the kids have nothing to apologize for — which I agree with. His point is that it was Gojo's responsibility to kill Yuuji. Essentially, the idea is that he was the adult, and in not doing that, he's responsible for the kids having to live with all the consequences of his actions.

Which aaaaah I'm losing it here! Yuuji was a victim of Kenjaku's machinations from the get-go, so would it have been right to kill him? Isn't this just a trolley problem — kill Yuuji and save innocent people's lives? But then, Yuuji, Sukuna and Kenjaku's actions led to the end of jujutsu society as we know it, more or less directly, which could lead to a better future, so was he actually right, in a purely consequentialist approach?

I don't think any of that is particularly interesting to discuss at this point tbh. I feel like that had already been dealt with. I'm just deeply confused as to why we're dealing with this when there were three chapters left before this one instead of focusing on closing the curtain on beloved characters, Gojo in particular.

Anyway! Bad chapter imo. Boring. Bad use of the characters and their relationships with one another. Really questionable use of time. Gojo was not mourned and in fact it's almost like he's never existed or never mattered to anyone. No Shoko here, not a hint of sadness from Yuta either, which I had hoped for.

I'm still looking forward to the last two chapters, and I hope they'll leave more room for the characters to, you know, have feelings.

[sufferu]

first of all let me say this,

I fucking love your writing style,

it feels so genuine, and where reactionist whdaa is a great react fanfic

yours are a great immersion fanfic,

the characters feel so real so thank you for that,

bht getting back to your reponse,

I read up on your juemeila tag and it makes sense

but still feels icky

the reason your facing backlash is because at the core of rezero no matter how toxic it is, it’s a love story between Subaru and her,

the whole story is about what he does for her,

plus in reality the characters arnt naive , everyone knows how much he loves emelia so for her to get closer to Julius especially considering the timing is poor,

I love your writing and especially the feeling around rem and her toxic relationship with Subaru you fucking nailed that,

but as a new reader I would advice being hesitant on fully committing to Julius and emelia

I would hate for a promising fanfic author stories comments to be flooded with hate over a small detail on a otherwise amazing fanfic,

my personal opinion would be to keep the original idea of them bonding over the loss of the Subaru they love, but eventually having her reconcile with Subaru on a more equal platform,

because no matter how good of a writer you are , rezero fanfic readers are here for fluff especially with Subaru and that revolved around him actually getting the girl ,

Anyways ,

I’m excited to see what you write , keep up the good work bro, I see how fast you respond to comments and it’s clear your committed ,

First of all — I’m glad you’re enjoying Dogshow! I’ve had the idea in my head for a while now, so it makes me happy to see that other people are also having fun with that one, lol. And I’m glad you liked my thoughts on Rem!

But about the Julimilia thing…

Look. I’m not going to say that I absolutely cannot be convinced to change my mind/go in a different direction. Anything is possible. But the absolute last reason for me to do something like that would be because I’m scared of what other people might think of what I’m writing. Nobody is paying me to write this, lol, and while I do greatly enjoy reader engagement, I ultimately write fanfiction because I want to write it and because there are certain stories that I want to read that are not currently out there. I’m not going to stop what I’m doing solely because it turns out to not be the story that other people want to read: the impact that such a decision would have on my own enjoyment aside, I would consider that a betrayal of my own integrity as a writer.

And on a personal note — I really don’t care about Emisuba, lol, at least not to the extent that it’s this golden calf or something. I don’t have a real problem with it or anything — it’s cute — but if I think that destroying that ship will make for a better story, then I really don’t have a problem destroying it. The point of fanfiction is to do something different from canon, whether that relates to shipping, plot divergence, total aus, character studies from slightly different angles, canon-compliant additional scenes, etc. And if I think that exploring the question of “What if Subaru really doesn’t get the girl?” legitimately adds some sort of thematic value to the story that I’m writing, then I’m going to go ahead and explore it.

If I get backlash for it then I get backlash for it. Y’all are welcome to send me all the backlash for it you like, lol, I won’t stop you. Like I do joke about how I’m absolutely cooked as soon as I actually get to this plotpoint but like — an emotional reaction is an emotional reaction, and if I can invoke a strong one then I consider that a success as a writer. A win is a win.

[muqingapologist]

it’s kind of funny how i put off reading scum villain for so long after reading and consuming adaptations for mdzs and then reading tgcf. im not really a fan of the fan-service sex scenes in danmei because it just takes me out of the story emotionally, and i had a friend warn me that this was pretty much the case with svsss. but like….not so much? at least not the main story.

to back up, my first introduction to any danmei media was watching the untamed. i fucking LOVED the untamed. it consumed my every waking thought for like a solid month lol. it’s actually hard to describe in hindsight just how captivated i was by wei wuxian and lan wangji. and because i loved it so much, i chose to wait for the english translations to be officially released instead of finding unofficial versions online. in the meantime, i “read” tgcf (skimmed) for the first time (bad idea. i finally reread it though last month for real and damn. not quite relevant though). anyway, when i finally got to book 4 of mdzs, well i knew there was the infamous bathtub scene coming, but i underestimated how much this scene would just…cheapen the entire story for me. and this is my own fault, i know, for taking the untamed so much to heart and not being prepared to engage with such different characterizations of the two characters i adored so much. like nothing could’ve prepared me for the fact that lan zhan was actually a nymphomaniac who was determined to have rough sex with wwx every day…it just made the story feel less meaningful to me. it took away the gravity it developed for me.

so knowing how the sex scenes in mdzs affected me, of course i was skeptical of svsss based on what i’d heard. and well maybe it’s because svsss was so tonally different from mdzs and tgcf, and maybe because i knew something very graphic was coming, but shen qingqiu and luo binghe boning to save the world at the end of the main story actually made…perfect sense?? like it wasn’t even really supposed to be romantic at all and yet it felt 110% more earned and necessary than the scenes in mdzs. which was just really surprising to me.

anyway i don’t make this to start mdzs vs. svsss discourse but more so just to discuss my thoughts on the two as someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy gratuitous sex scenes and reads mostly for romance and plot (personal preference!). i still love mdzs and it’ll always have a special place in my heart, but watching the untamed and getting attached to that version of the story first definitely gave me unrealistic expectations for the source material.

im just rambling about this because im curious if anyone had a similar experience with how they read the mxtx novels? also in discussing the novels, im not giving tooooo much weight to the extras.

i’ll add another probably unpopular opinion that the lack of explicit content in tgcf (ik, due to censorship) actually worked in its favor in terms of emotional impact for me.

so yeah i just wanna know what people out there think of sex scenes in mxtx and their gratuitousness and how that affects the novel for you!!!

[emptypencilcase]

you ever just sit and think about sharkboy and lavagirl? yeah, me too.

anyway, here’s a (not very detailed) analysis of those two characters and their significance to max in the movie.

So it’s made very obvious to us as the audience that certain characters in Max’s fantasy world are entirely (and might I add, very subtly) based off of people in his own life:

Except for Sharkboy and Lavagirl, right? WRONG. In that universe they are fictional characters made by Max who (in my opinion) were created by him to cope with his shitty life. The reason I think this is because Sharkboy and Lavagirl are personifications of Max’s own insecurities and imperfections.

Sharkboy, personality-wise, is very much like Max; he’s emotional, short-tempered, emo. He also has experiences that mirror Max’s own life, for example: him losing his father. Sharkboy losing his dad is a direct parallel to how Max feels about his own parents, who are too busy fighting with each other to pay their (obviously struggling) son any attention, and even unload their problems onto him. a nine year old?! anyways, Max’s parents’ negligence of him and his problems is his equivalent to them “drifting away”. (much like Sharkboy’s dad did on that lifeboat!!)

Moving on to Lavagirl!! Lavagirl feels like she’s not a good person; all she can do is harm people, and destroy things. She burns. This is kind of like how Max feels about everything in his life; his parents’ marriage, any potential relationship he could form in school, his dream journal- all ruined because he wasn’t good enough. It’s his fault. And that’s what Lavagirl is supposed to represent, that feeling of not being good enough. 

So it would make sense for Max-a nine year old child-to process the world through this lense of superheroes and supervillains. He feels better about his own problems knowing that there are these “heroes” out there with the same problems. But he takes it too far.

Max is a creative kid, we know this. It was obvious since the beginning!! He started building a robot on his own for gods’ sakes?! He uses his creativity as a way to cope, like we’ve seen with him creating Sharkboy and Lavagirl. But the adults in his life are telling him to stop: stop dreaming, and stop being creative. They say this because they can probably see where this is going.

So this mentally ill child is told to stop using the one and only coping mechanism that seems to be working for him, and he tries. He really does try. However, because no one ever bothered to find/teach him a healthier way to help him cope, he goes the complete opposite direction. All of a sudden Sharkboy and Lavagirl are actually real!! and they need Max, and he’s thinking “finally I’m needed, I’m wanted.” when in reality he’s just FUCKING CRAZY AND DELUSIONAL. But that’s what happens. The End.

Oh and I failed to mention, Max probably also has autism and it helps him to view the world using fictional stories/characters. And his unfinished robot is a metaphor for the pressure that is put on him to stop being creative.

ok bye!

[avelera]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. spread the self-love ❤

Ooh, thank you for this! As for tagging onward, I'm terrible at picking people and I hate to impose, so if you see this and want to fill it out just say I sent you ^^;;;

Giving Sanctuary: The Sandman, Dream/Hob, Canon Divergence AU. Basically, "What if Dream and Hob got together in 1689 when Hob was at his lowest and they bonded over the fact both of them have lost their sons?" Probably one of my most emotionally mature works, I poured a lot of my own meditations on life and grief into it, and it has some of the best dialogue I think I've written to date. I'm also quite proud that it's complete, lol, a running theme in this list.

The Only Way Out is Down: Pacific Rim, Newt/Hermann, post-Uprising but in an attempt to make sense of Uprising and add some depth and poetry to the years Newt and Hermann spent apart. Newt is trapped in a coma after the Precursors are destroyed and Hermann Drifts with him to try to wake him up. In the meantime, they pass through a mindscape inspired by Dante's Inferno, in which each of the 9 years they spent apart take on an aspect inspired by the Circles of Hell that they have to disrupt in order to move on to the next one. Basically a Newt Recovery fic that flips the script and explores how gut-wrenching and traumatizing those years would have been for both of them, but with a lot of humor and healing, this is not meant to be an angsty slog and some of my best comedy is in it too I think. Quite proud of how I interwove Dante's "Inferno" into the structure of the story, quite proud of the fact it's finished and novel-length, and I think I grew at writing character voices and sustaining them throughout a massively long fic with this one. I still jump to read any comments I get for this one because I'm so proud of it, you would not believe how much work went into it.

Prayers to Broken Stone: The Hobbit, Thorin/Bilbo, BotFA fixit in a way but we take the long way 'round. Dragon Sickness literally turns Thorin into a dragon and he and Bilbo need to survive being locked up alone inside Erebor long enough to find a cure for him, or else. The story is much more psychological than it may sound, it's much more about exploring Thorin's trauma through the lens of him turning into the creature he fears and loathes most in the world. Very proud of this fic since it's the first long fic I ever finished, it's the one that made me actually attend some highly competitive writing workshops since I finally felt like I had become a competent enough writer to be able to actually complete a novel. Also quite proud of the characterization, voices, and mythology created for this one.

Shanghaied: Pacific Rim, Newt/Hermann, post-Uprising again. Post-recovery fic, Newt returns to Shanghai where he was held captive by the Precursors for ten years and slowly spirals mentally when forced to confront the physical location of his torment once more, all while trying to put on a brave face for Hermann that only grows more manic as the night goes on. Still perhaps one of my most emotionally... sincere? works? It's the most based on personal experience during a bad time in my life but translated into a flavor of angst I don't see as much of in fic, it's probably one of my more literary pieces in that respect? Anyway, I'm very proud of the maturity of emotion in this one so I always race to see any comments that get left on it.

5. Come live with me and be my love: The Sandman, Dream/Hob, alternate 1789 hookup. Dream loses a bet to Desire and must live for one year as a normal human, in this specific case, one year as the husband or wife of a human of his choosing, without almost any of his powers, in order to better understand how humans live. Dream chooses Hob as his spouse, naturally, since Hob is the least unbearable of humans and not mortal and therefore not in danger from him. Hob is only too glad to oblige but unfortunately, this means Dream has to pretend to be a woman in order for them to blend in, so shenanigans ensue. While this is still a WIP I do intend to return to it and I am massively proud of it. I think it's one of the works I've done the most worldbuilding for from scratch, in the sense that I had to quickly familiarize myself to a reasonable degree with early 1800s England, a period I'm not actually all that fond of in history (I'm not really an Austen or Bridgerton fan, to say the least). I think it has some of my most ambitious writing in terms of scope and scale and some of the more clever writing in terms of building tension and crafting original characters who lend realism to the setting without overwhelming the central, more important characters of Dream/Hob and their story.

[rainybraindays]

For all the highs this season they really fucking killed the hype in the end.

Like I'm sorry but Penelope continuing to write stalls all her fucking growth, and its just so the writers don't have to find actual ways out of drama they create, they always have a fall back for when things get too hard.

All this solidified for me was that the queen-their other fallback- was an unnecessary addition to the show, keeping a fraction of the fandom happy is more important than giving us fulfilling character endings, and that we have writers that are afraid to stand on their own. It also shows that Debling was a fucking hindrance and unnecessary because they should have been dealing with this mess way earlier and made a much better ending.

I liked the majority of this season but episode 8 is a fuck up, between her keeping her column, and them not even getting to live before shes popping out kids. Shes 20, hes 23, they could-and should- be doing so much more than cooing over a fucking baby before the 1 year mark of their wedding.

I still love these characters, but this show forgets what its meant to focus on. It gets ditracted with making dram, to the point where the couple that has one of the biggest hurdels is given more for no reason, and doesn't even really get over their main issue. It focuses too much on stories that add really nothing, and forgets to be kind to one of its leads.

This season, for all its potential, got cut at the fucking knees, because they refuse to let Penelope have substantial growth, or to let Colins emotions actually play out instead just deciding hes chill when it makes absolutely no sense. Colins feelings weren't just jealousy, they were anger, and hurt, and those are entirely forgotten by the end and...for what? To make pen stans happy? Thats fucking stupid.

Anyway, canons dead to me and I will be vtaking these two with me because I love them dearly

[pygmi-says-hi]

Hi! I wanted to ask some pointers on humour writing, as well as *ahem* angst/injury writing. I'm writing a story where the very beginning will have some descriptions of a serious injury. After that, it will turn to humour. I KNOW you already did one about blood loss so if there's nothing more to add, you can ignore the injury part of this lol. (Still would love angst pointers)

Anyways, thanks so much! You're amazing for giving these tips!

OH! additionally, advice for emotional writing? I'm currently writing a story where a couple end up breaking up, later becoming friends. I am struggling writing the emotional phone calls and things.

Again, thanks so much!

hello!

SO this is long so there'll be a divider in the middle. I'll do the humor/injury part and then the second bit.

humor

so you think ur a comedian, eh? Humor is really hard to write and I'm gonna be honest, it's something you just gotta roll with. Not everybody has the same sense of humor. Not everybody is gonna pick up on the humor you are trying to write. It's just a fact. That being said, when you consider the intelligibility of your writing, you don't wanna think about that too much.

Like most of my posts, for example. I'm pretty sardonic and affectionately aggressive, which is kind of a theme on tumblr, so most people understand it. If you read the comment section however, you can also pick out the people who just have no fucking clue what's going on.

that's gonna happen! it's fine.

When you are thinking about the kind of humor you want to put in your story, think about the role you want it to play. Are you writing an honest to God, Jim Carrey slapstick or is the comedy a vessel for something more poignant? either is a good choice, but each has its own pointers.

when you are writing in the humor, the biggest guiding point I can say is 'does it make sense?' the audience might not share the sense of humor, but as long as they can clue into the subtext and still follow the story, that's what matters. Otherwise nobody will be able to follow it.

The humor also needs to make sense for the kind of story. Unless you are intentionally playing with social stereotypes, frat boy jokes don't make sense in a dramatic romance. Just like sarcastic 'tumblr' humor won't make sense in a victorian era, even if your main character is quirky.

At the end of the day, it's your story. Whatever makes sense, still pulls off the funny bits, and tells the story is a-okay.

major injury

yes i already did a post but it's okay! I've actually muted the notifications on that one because oh my god.

I digress.

angsty injuries are great because it's a good time for some poetry. I like describing open wounds like moldy fruit because they both smell bad, squish if you step on them, and the bloody pulpy stuff kinda looks like raspberry jam. Or pomegranates! describing it like a pomegranate is actually symbolic because of the association with death.

wow that was graphic.

well anyway, describing injuries that are angsty is best with prose and a lot of really sentimental moments. I also did a post on my other acct @pygmi-cygni that I unfortunately haven't transferred over yet about sentence structure? or maybe it was linked into my grammar post? I don't remember but one of my most recent asks also brought it up; playing with sentence structure to convey emotion.

hope that helps?? i confused myself so maybe not.

emotional writing

lovely stuff.

dig deep into the character mindsets. Do a lot of yes/no up/down. Like character one has one opinion/emotional feeling and the other one directly parallels it. it adds tension and makes the readers pine after the relationship.

the characters are confused too. like, this person they used to share a house and sleep together and eat together and now. don't?

It feels like a gaping wound. They'll feel maybe lost, a bit disoriented. Probably a lotttt of awkward calls. maybe slip in an accidental pet name? Just, really highlight the sad nostalgia. As if you think of something and understand fundamentally that it's gone forever. that kind of acheyness in your chest.

dual POV works great here too to get both sides of the story.

FLASHBACKS. to the relationship, and then to the exact same situation but they're not talking/not like they were. like 'oh I'm making pancakes, we used to make pancakes on saturdays and then cut to the other character eating pancakes alone also.

or something.

oof i want to cry now.

thanks I hope I helped??? it's 6 am I might revisit this lmao

[bthump]

this has probably been asked here before but how likely do you think it is that the author actually truly intended for Griffith and guts relationship to be romantic? How likely do you think it is we’ll get a blatant confirmation (eg a confession of love beyond being friends or even a tragic kiss) and if it does happen do you think it’s likely we’ll get an explicit confirmation on both of their ends so we know the feeling is reciprocated (because I know guts feelings can be underestimated sometimes compared to griffiths). Likelihood as a percentage or on a scale from one to ten lol. I think it’s already pretty obvious enough for me to be satisfied whatever happens but it would be nice if there was an undeniable proof of mutual romantic love. because I think no matter what happens if it’s anything less than spelling it out word for word people would still make attempts to deny their feelings which is kind of sad to me. But I could be wrong of course and romance wasn’t intended by the author. Either way I want them to reveal their feelings for each other whether platonic or romantic.

I'm cynical, so I feel like the odds of something textually romantic happening are like, 2/10 at best. Might've gone up to 3/10 if Miura was stlil alive since it's getting more and more common to confirm gay subtext and that might've influenced him, but since it's being written now by someone determined to adhere to the plans Miura told him, whatever happens is frozen in amber circa Miura and Mori's last conversation, with no room to evolve.

That's all pretty much a moot point anyway because again, I think the odds were always gonna be pretty miniscule anyway.

That said, I think the odds that Miura intended the gay subtext are like 9.5/10 lol. I think the romantic undertones are almost certainly deliberate.

I guess I just don't think it necessarily follows that the point of the subtext was ever to eventually become text. I think it was probably there for a lot of potential other reasons: to add a sense of depth and complexity to their relationship; to add more chemistry; potentially to appeal to women; to suggest that their relationship had the potential for romance that will never be realized therefore making their relationship even more all-encompassing and adding to the tragedy; serving the theme of childhood trauma fucking up your relationships; etc.

Of course I'd be overjoyed if it was acknowledged eventually, and I think the story would ultimately be better for it, like I'm not gonna say it's ~deeper~ if it stays subtext lol. But I think that considering the main target audience for Berserk is horny straight dudes, and while it's getting more common it's still very rare to have textual gay romances between two leads, and almost unheard of in legacy media properties, I just don't think the odds are in griffguts' favour.

Oh, though I do want to add that I'd say the odds of getting an acknowledgement of intense feelings between them post-eclipse is very high. I don't think it'd likely be a romantic confession, but yeah I think it seems very likely that Griffith and Guts are going to acknowledge the intense emotional hold they still have over each other. And if that happens I'll be happy even if it's not textually romantic. I'm sure it'll at least be homoerotic enough for me lol.

Thanks for the ask!

[pjberribear]

Hello fellow folks! I don't know when there will be an actual new update for the "It Takes Two" AU I've made.

Yeah sure, there was that 3D model I made but that wasn't even an official thing. So, sense I've been kind of slow with updates, I'll tell you all some of the lore with the storyline. I'm still writing the story, some things might change later on.

I bet some of you guys were wondering why is Julie "Rose" in the AU. Of course, Julie haves a strong bond with both of them and It make sense why she's trying to help them love each other once again. Also, I seen some fans make little comics about how Eddie and Frank liked each other in the first place, Julie was the one who got them together in some cases. I wanted to add that into the story, that's why she's sad about them divorcing. Now that they are ending their relationship, Julie feels helpless by the fact that she didn't try to prevent this from happening. Plus, Julie feels like she was the cause of it. When Frank and Eddie argue, sometimes she over hears them and it sounds like they are indeed "blaming her." Julie wanted to run away and go back to her childhood home, she tried to leave cause the neighborhood brought back so many memories of her and them. Guilt ate her up inside so she left Frank and Eddie behind, hoping that they can solve it by themselves since she wasn't much of a help at all.

That's why I wanted to go with the "Alternate Ending" route, to show how Julie actually feels deep down inside. To show Frank and Eddie's hatred for each other, by making their anger into something that symbolizes an existing thing other than it just being an emotion.

Here's some reference images to go off of for my description I gave to you.

The creator that is made out of both of their anger.

(I'm gonna redraw it soon.)

The whole level that surrounds Julies feelings and point of view.

Song lyrics I thought matched her situation.

I been having a bit of trouble with the ending for the story. I still want to do the "Alternate Ending" but then again, I want to do the original ending because it's too sweet to give it up. I'll just have to see about that. I was thinking about cutting out the original ending because some of the story elements doesn't really fit "Welcome Home" in general, I'm still sticking to the logic of "Welcome Home" while sticking with the story for "It Takes Two." The whole level with May finding back her passion with singing didn't quite work with Frank as a character. Sure he does sing, but I don't think it can be a passion of his. He also sings with the others too, so there's nothing really unique with that ability cause everyone does that in the neighborhood. I know that Julie, Frank and Eddie does gardening and that's something that is common in the area. But I think it can be their own thing that makes a difference for the rest of the cast, since they love doing it and they seem to be the only ones who does it.

Here's a video that covers the other ending for the storyline, if you're interested!

This is where these images came from.

Anyways, this is a lot of typing so I'm done for now. Let me know your thoughts and opinions for the lore and story. There's much to cover for changes. I'll update this now and again, so if you want to ask a question for the storyline then my ask box is all open! I never get anything in there so it's open no matter what. If you want to know more about the other AU (DDLC) then you ask about that too.

I hope you have a great day! <3

[lovelyelbowleech]

All's Fair is incredible! I am on my third re-read and it is just as much of an emotional gutpunch as it was the first time. The emotional impact sneaks up on me every time, even when I know what's coming. It blows my mind how carefully woven everything is. Even just small characterizing details that help make the characters and situations feel so real. You also have a way of writing that flows so smoothly with the emotions each character is feeling, like I don't know how to describe it but it's so well-paced and descriptive and I can picture and feel everything when reading it both from the characters POV and also in a more objective sense at the same time, which is extremely difficult to pull off in my opinion. It is insane to me how easy you make it seem with your writing.

Another thing, too, is that this doesn't even really feel like an alternate universe. It's like you shifted one thing in the beginning with a little flick and we're seeing the ripple effects of that play out naturally, as though you're just sitting back and reporting your findings instead of crafting an entirely new story from thin air. Everyone is so in character that I can hear their voices in every line. Even your OCs feel 'In character' even though you literally created them for the story lmao?? Like I actually forget they're not canon characters sometimes.

ANYWAY- I got sidetracked. my intention for this ask was to actually ask how you pictured some of your characters in more detail. I want to draw art of my favorite scenes and am trying to compile little snippets of character appearances, particularly of Guo, Yuxuan, and Haoyu. I have sincerely contemplated starting a google doc to catalogue all the little details of every character, even the minor ones, like a Pokémon deck I can flip open and consult whenever I want to refresh my memory.

Thank you so much for such a lovely comment, it was wonderful to wake up to! I am glad you are enjoying the fic so much (enough for a reread or two even!) There is some really high praise there, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy 😂❤️

It is always very exciting when folk say they want to draw art of the fic (even if its just for themselves!) So I will try to add a more detailed description to the character description page I have somewhere. There is not too much in the way of description of the OC's in the actual fic - and there is certainly no wrong way to depict them in art! What is in the fic is not hugely detailed 😂 but a very brief collection of the descriptions would be:

Guo: Short and stocky, facial hair, and a wide craggy face. Big broad hands. Hair currently short (post East Lake) gruff and grumpy to look at.

Haoyu: on the shorter side of average, about 18, round face, green eyes and dark brown hair, currently cut short (post East Lake). Very earnest and open looking face (which has been used to get him out of trouble more than once)

Yuxuan: a year or two older than Haoyu, long dark brown/black hair and honey coloured eyes. Good looking, and has a certain amount of rakish charm.

I am not sure if that is helpful or not! I will try to update the character sheet with additional OC's this week if I can. And thank you again for the wonderful ask!

[drdemonprince]

Heyyyy. I just had an unsettling thought. So I’ve been learning about the oxygen of amplification and thinking about whether I’ve been giving “free food” to bigots by paying too much attention to the wrong things.

You’ve written about being “a vault” being a benefit especially when it comes to health care, and lying to employers, and, basically, intentionally using masking to get ahead.

Over the past five or so years, I have tended to go in a different direction - being more vocal about my disabilities and the disabilities of others, in the hope that I’m being an advocate for awareness and acceptance. I’ve had a lot of people tell me I’m “brave” for behaving that way and it always confuses me, because it’s easier for me to be honest than it is for me to lie or hide the truth.

But I am reminded of being on a conference call with the California board of law examiners (the people who make the bar exam for California) at the start of the pandemic. I spoke on the call about how law school makes people (if I remember correctly) as much as three times more likely to be depressed between the time they enter and the time they leave. There’s additional context here that I could add but I’m not sure if it’s necessary.

Anyway, while I was speaking, one of the people on the board (at least, my colleagues and I were pretty sure it was) very loudly yelled at me to “FUCK OFF.”

I wonder if disabilities are something, unlike other categories of oppressed people, where the more evidence you provide that we are human and deserving of accommodations, the more bigots get pissed off and want to deny us those accommodations. Because they think our disability inherently makes us undeserving.

I think, because I’m in a position of privilege economically (and my family culture isn’t particularly tumultuous), I get into this moral headspace where I think, okay, maybe others have to lie to get ahead. But if, because of my unique set of circumstances, I don’t have to lie to get head, isn’t it my duty not to?

I actually think I wrote a paper about that in law school. Maybe I’ll try to dig that up and we what I had to say.

But now I’m wondering if I’m just making things worse by being so vocally honest. Giving ammo to judgmental people who will hold what I say against people who are not as fortunate as I am.

You’ve also spoken about how you’ve become less of an advocate and I wonder if this sort of thing factors in to that decision.

Yeah for me, it's about developing a greater sense of tactics.

Most people are not persuaded by data or objective information. Most people do not have coherent or consistent political ideologies, either (see Phillip Converse's groundbreaking work on nonattitudes -- most people, when asked about a political topic, will just make up an opinion on the spot based on what they've heard most recently, and that opinion will not remain consistent). There's a robust research literature attesting to this. I abandoned the field of political psychology because the research on fostering attitude change and open-mindedness is so dismal.

Instead, what most people find the most compelling is a combination of emotional appeals, social pressure, and their own material, economic self-interest.

What this means is that a great many people will not be moved by additional information on a topic, until it becomes economically costly or socially perilous for them not to rethink it, and even then, they might just dig in their heels if they've already incurred losses in order to justify the pain they've been in. It also means that if someone has an ignorant perspective and no desire to change it, well, you talking more isn't going to change their perspective, but they will try to shut you up so that it doesn't change anybody else's.

The liberal perspective on change is a highly individualistic one. Disabled people are supposed to share our stories, victims of sexual assault are supposed to name our abusers, fat people are supposed to just feel more positively about themselves, Black and brown people are supposed to spell out to us white people exactly what we should do to guarantee their liberation, but only in a very gentle tone, and everybody, everywhere, is on the hook for fixing the injustice of their own social position.

This is a perspective on change that employers, governments, and institutions benefit from us believing in, because it keeps us busy showing off our vulnerabilities and behaving as individuals, rather than pooling our power and demanding something better for all of us collectively.

And this individualistic approach is of course is never how change actually happens. The federal government didn't suddenly start unrestricting access to AIDS meds because some individual gays came forward and told very persuasive stories about their battles with the disease. ACT UP activists crowded federal offices and covered politicians' homes in giant condoms and marched AIDS victims' corpses down the street.

Sickle cell anemia did not become a subject of medical research because Black patients individually shared their stories of the disease. The Black Panthers created their own health clinics to test for the disease and educate the public about it, and they also gave out free childcare and food, and the federal government found this so threatening they began taking sickle cell seriously themselves so that more people wouldn't go running to a communist, anti-racist group.

The ADA didn't pass because disabled people made ourselves vulnerable, it passed because we made ourselves strong, clawing our way together up the statehouse steps and blocking traffic with wheelchairs during rush hour.

We've been propagandized by capitalist individualism and representation politics to believe the most empowering thing a marginalized person can do is stand solidly as a single person. But it's not true. In fact, some of the steps we take to broadcast our marginal status and tell our stories makes us more vulnerable in the end.

Many companies now encourage their disabled employees to come out and be proud of their status, for instance. I've given workshops at companies like that. At every single one, I've later heard from Autistic and ADHDer employees that the second they actually identified themselves publicly, it became a target on their back. They were scrutinized, denied accommodations, pushed out of the office, threatened with their boss calling 911 on them, forced to quit.

The real way to make a change happen is through organized, collective power, not through personal vulnerability, individual pride or sharing every last drop of energy that we have educating people who have a vested interest in not understanding our concerns. Winning the hearts and minds of the ones in control is not the answer. We must organize to take control.

I've done all kinds of activism all my life since I was fourteen years old, from phone banking to voter registration drives to jail support to writing my congress people and more, and much of it was a waste of my time. It was designed to waste my time, to convince me that by being a good little boy and playing within the system I would be freed, when really I needed to be joining forces with other people to dismantle it. That's the way forward, that's truly what I believe now.

[invinciblerodent]

Y'know, puttering around with my recordings, I think I really am going to give Davrin's romance with Ver a pretty serious twisting around. Rewrite some things a bit, change things around, keep most of the "slow burn" of it intact- but also add in the "friends with benefits" elements that I feel match what he says in the check-in scene after the point of no return better.

I think I have a post from like, months before release, when all we knew about the character was "charming Warden (who may or may not have been the Storm Coast team's commander in '41)", about how I sort of expected his to be the romance that starts off more casual (with the expiration date all Wardens have, it's not surprising that someone who's been one for at least ten years would be hesitant to enter any genuine emotional entanglements, platonic or romantic), and then for him to find himself falling for Rook unexpectedly (and kind of against his will) anyway.

And from some of that late dialogue, I still think that that may have been the exact intention, initially, but maybe they didn't want to create too big a disparity between the different romance paths, or like they didn't want for it to come off like they weren't taking him as seriously as the rest, so the path sort of ended up getting a bit... I don't wanna say "subdued", but I can't think of a better word lol. Brought to match the pacing of the others and the overall story more, that's more like what I mean.

.... Anyway, I kinda think I wanna have them sleep together for the first time either after his personal quest (no more distractions, clearly established romantic interest in- and some commitment to one another, but with still an opportunity to angst about everything else) or preferably, that night after drinking with Lucanis.

I'm leaning towards the latter thought, specifically because it'd be clearly a very, very bad idea.

It'd be far too fast, far too early, I got that scene like right after the Cauldron, so deep in the thick of his personal quest- plus, the mutual interest was barely expressed like one day prior to it, and there was alcohol involved. Which all kind of makes it perfect, because it's an awful time to toss that complication in there.

But, it gives me an opportunity to have the both of them keep thinking that it being just a casual, physical thing is what the other wants (despite the "well, I could see us heading somewhere, someday" of it), and to have their feelings developing sort of in the background of it-- and then!!!!! that forest kiss can also take a role more like another complicating factor, with the "heart of a halla" line being a bit more ambiguous.

Like, casually kissing your booty call/situationship/FWB you've been secretly falling for, it's a bit more touchy-feely than the previously established [they were not established] guidelines [there are no guidelines] suggest is appropriate [none of this is appropriate], but it feels right, and that alone makes it feel weird and confusing, ykwim?

But, then the whole "Most of my life, I've gone it alone. With you... I never want to go back." thing makes more sense being where it is, after his personal quest, to me at least. Because that sounds like a confession, and with being free from worries and the griffons safe (with Eldrin, in that game), there's a great time to have a long-ish, actually serious conversation about what this is and where it's going.

.... That would also mean that some of the bed scene dialogue doesn't make as much sense ("Is this all just for show"? "Just like I imagined"? Girl you know exactly if it's for show and what his hands feel like, you've been getting dicked down semi-regularly for weeks), but I can work with some tweaks to that lol. The final parts of it, about planning the future and getting soppy still make perfect sense, it's just those lines in the leadup that need some minor tweaking.

Idk, I really liked the in-game experience I had, and I love me a good slow burn, but I can't deny that it's more my style when "slow burn" doesn't also mean ".... so sex is a thing that happens only at the very end, when all feelings are resolved". I like it adding more uncertainty and confusion into the mix, and giving a sort of "oh, this is different now" feel to that first time once the feelings are also resolved.

(The date though, I wanna keep where and how it is exactly, because he mentions he got the tip for the picnic from Evka and Antoine, and I find it really cute to imagine him just sort of looking at them after speaking with Valya like.... "... they probably have the right idea of it, don't they. While we're here, let... let me just go ask. How to, uh. Do this whole. Romance thing, I guess. Make it sound, idk, casual. And chill. We're... chill." Never mind that Evka and Antoine are literally one of the most romantic couples any of them know, but yknow, nbd.)

(And then it goes all the way sideways? Love it. Love the "hey so this tea I thought would be a fun, cute thing for us to try made her trip absolute balls for a while, so maybe this outing is not a great opportunity to like, talk. Seriously. About how I may or may not be falling a little bit in love with her. And by 'little bit', I mean 'up to the very tips of my ears'. Nbd, just gonna... postpone, spilling my guts out for her perusal, I guess." of it all. A+, no notes.)