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newttxt · 2 months ago

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hi quip! i really like your one piece comics and i am curious how you do them! i'm not good at comics and want to be better at drawing them! how do you learn how to make comics?

thank you!

uh oh... im afraid u have caught me at the perfect crossroad of "bored at work" and "unrelated task ive been meaning to do but keep putting off."

this is long. i hope you like reading (and grayscale progress pics). and of course!!! disclaimer before we begin that this is just how I, personally draw comics. there is no "right way."

quip's comic-making process!

Switching my typing to make this more legible...

My process can kinda be broken down into 6 steps:

Brainstorming

Thumbnailing

Sketching

Panels & Text

Lines

Tones/Colors

1. Brainstorming

My brain is a leaky sieve on a good day, so I sloppily jot down ideas in my phone notes the moment I have them. This helps me when it's time to draw too, because if I feel art blocked, I can look through old concepts and see what catches my interest.

Otherwise, I love drawing for other people's writing. :) And if worst comes to worst, doing manga/comic page redraws in my style teaches me new things every time.

Once I have my idea, I'll usually make a bulletpoint list of "plot points" or "story beats" I want. Then I plan the comic with this format that I've adapted from a tutorial I read once. I'm going to use my most recent comic (original comic post) as an example.

I start in the third column, writing notes of what I'd want to see in each panel. I also include the dialogue (in this case, I didn't have to write the dialogue! it's from the fanfic linked in the original comic post!). I usually write the whole name like [Luffy:], but at this point I've drawn so much of these guys, just the first letter works.

I like to handwrite these notes to get an idea for how much text I'm putting in a single panel.

After I describe all the panels, I go back and separate them into pages. I can't tell you how to know how many panels to a page. It's whatever works for you. I just kinda know about how big each panel will be, and so I can feel when I'm probably running out of space. (Also. You can change things later. I don't in this example, but I add/drop pages/panels all the time.)

2. Thumbnailing

Thumbnailing—as the name suggests—should be done tiny. Too tiny to accidentally get sucked into details.

This is about marking down blobs where items/characters go, and figuring out the paneling. I'll draw and redraw these a bunch of times too.

This is also the most time-consuming/brain-working part for me. If I were in a zine that did progress percentage, I'd try to finish thumbnailing around the 50% mark (but I'm also a moderately fast artist, so your mileage may vary).

I think the terrible quality makes them charming, actually. I really like how silly they look. :')))

I will add, when you draw your "page" rectangle, make sure it's the same proportions as your actual canvas for the final image. You want an accurate idea of how much space each panel will take up, especially if you have a lot of text.

3. Sketching

This is my most recent change to my usual workflow, and it's saving me a lot of time. I make my thumbnails a bit bigger (each one about half the size of the final canvas), and I sketch these basic body forms right over them.

It just helps give me placement for my actual lines!

I usually draw these in a paleish color so I can lower the opacity and not get distracted by them while lining. The random darker parts are to either help keep two forms separate (like when two characters have their limbs all over) or to better define sections that were too sloppy/poorly proportioned.

I also think this helps my poses stay looser, because I have more dramatic/wriggly shapes that aren't too bogged down by proportions yet.

Sidenote: I CANNOT show this here, but sometimes this is when I take videos. Of myself. I prop my phone camera up and shoot a video of me acting each panel. :/// It looks really dumb, but it also shows me fun body language ideas like hand gestures, expressions, weight distribution, etc. Just pretend you're an overdramatic cartoon character, and try not to worry about your roommates or mother walking in on you doing odd things. (You can also use the video for anatomy reference later, but I usually just capture the vibe and don't try to copy the actual video frame.)

4. Panels & Text

Oh, boy. So, the panels are usually just straight lines (though it's fun to make creative exceptions, like a round panel to mimic looking through a spyglass), but there are some fancy rules that I don't strictly adhere to.

I believe (I have no technical training in this. Take everything I say with a grain of salt) the vertical gaps (between two side-by-side panels) should all be a consistent width and the horizontal gaps (between two panels on top of each other) should be another. The vertical ones? Should be thinner? Because you want the eye to easily glide between them, whereas the horizontal gaps should be a visual barrier to keep you from jumping ahead. Just something I've vaguely noticed.

There are lots of fun "default layouts" you can look up. Or keep it a consistent grid. I think it's fun to sometimes have characters/objects sticking out of panels and overlapping others. This is just a matter of taste, creativity, and inspiration. (Read Witch Hat Atelier... It has some of my favorite paneling...)

You may also notice I have already done the speech bubbles. This is, to me, a crucial step. This helps me catch early if I don't have enough room for all the words. It also lets me plan the art in each panel with the speech bubbles in mind. There's nothing worse than working really hard on a panel, and then you realize there's no room for the bubbles.

I also try to lay them out in a way that guides the eye! Even without art, can people tell where to go next? Better yet, if I want people to look at panels out of order (aka not left to right, in my case), can I use the speech bubble path to make them? Here's just a vague example of what I mean.

As an added bonus, doing speech bubbles early also allows me to be lazy! :) Ignore the comic; I'm not supposed to post it yet oops,, There's a whole lot of drawing to do on each comic page, and I am not wasting my time on stuff that will be covered up. So yes, if I hide my bubbles, there are a lot of unfinished lines trailing off into nothing. (As a bonus, if there's a part of a character you're struggling with—and it won't look weird to do so—you can move speech bubbles to just hide the problem area yayyy)

Making the actual bubbles could be their own whole tutorial, tbh, but there are some general guidelines I use.

Zoom out when you choose your font size. You want to know how it will look to the average reader, so it isn't super teeny tiny or way too big. You generally want to keep the same text size for all your pages/bubbles.

When I draw bubbles, I try to size them about one vertical letter height (and some change) around the words [left side]. This isn't always the case though, because humorously large or funny shaped text bubbles can convey different feelings [right side].

On Procreate, I set my bubble lines to Reference and just drag-and-drop the white fill on a separate layer below the lines. (Remember to turn Reference back off again when you're done, or your fill bucket won't work right when you're drawing.)

To get the white outlines I use to keep the bubbles from cluttering up the art, I literally just Gaussian blur an all-white copy of the lines + fills... and then I copy and merge it 5 times until it's opaque enough. This is a terrible way to do it, but it works for me. :')

5. Lines

This is the part that I can't tell you how to do. I literally just. Draw right over my wacky sketched body forms. Boom. Comic drawn.

I'll make three suggestions:

Don't focus on making every panel perfect. Give a little extra love to big ones or ones you want people to linger on. Otherwise, know that people are typically speeding through the art. It's way more important to focus on storytelling than art technique. In my opinion, a good story that's told well will always be better than a beautiful one told poorly. (Some comics are beautiful AND well-written... Alas, I am just a hobbyist who needs to get the ideas out of my head at top speed.)

Put your background lines on a different layer. Put your foreground lines on a different layer too, if you have those. Basically, I try to keep the main part of each panel (usually a character or object) on my lines layer so I can erase background/foreground/etc lines to ensure clarity/focus.

You can make background lines lighter colors too. I have too many numbers sorry. (1) Background. The stuff that's farthest away. Lightest lines. Few details; more focused on shapes and the suggestion of a background (I'm not good at backgrounds). (2) Midground. Same distance away as the characters are. Lines can be black. (3) Also midground, and also the same distance away. But they're very detailed, so I lighten them so they aren't so distracting. (4) The characters. Black lines for focus. For people who haven't seen the comic, I swear they are just hugging. This is SFW. D:

6. Tones/Colors

Do not. Do NOT ask me. I don't understand colors. I hate working with them, but I try because I want to improve. I hate doing anything beyond the simplest grayscale shading. Please go elsewhere for your coloring/tone advice. This is how my color picker looks 95% of the time. I have pre-set "percentages" of black that I got by lowering the opacity of a black layer and just color picking it. I don't even know the exact percentages I used. Good luck out there. Be better than me.

7. Sharing

This is a bonus step that I didn't mention earlier, but it's actually the most important of all of them.

You need a friend. Or maybe a groupchat or discord. A family member or coworker if you're really close like that. I don't know.

Find SOMEWHERE you can spam wips and be cheered on. Drawing comics takes a while, especially if you're trying to tell longer stories than I'd dare to attempt. If I don't force someone to praise me for every line I draw, I shrivel up and die.

Also if and when you post online, add alt text. I'll admit I'm the first person to complain and drag my feet on this, and I literally use a screenreader myself when my eyes hurt (strong prescription glasses wearer). Comics should be accessible, because stories are fun and everyone should be able to enjoy them.

***

Learning???

And I guess lastly, how do you learn to make comics? Two steps: 1) read them and 2) make them. This is the tragedy of creating things.

1) Reading them: I grew up reading comic strips, western serialized comics, and webcomics. I've always loved graphic novels too. Then in late middle school, I started reading manga (Death Note and Haikyuu were my first two), and now I'm trying to read more webtoons (sorry im so slow bree)!

I also... mass-consume doujinshi, thanks to proxy mailing services and bilingual friends/Google Translate/knowing some Korean. (I have an entire bookshelf of doujin, actually,,)

The thing is, it's not usually enough to just read comics. You also need to be thinking. :/ I notice paneling, comic devices, clever comedic timing, etc. as I go. It's just a lot of studying/learning while also enjoying the story.

2) Making them: You just have to start. :( Even if you think they're "bad." My first comics were actually just drawings placed randomly all over the page, connected by speech bubbles (yay... I was already practicing how to place bubbles to lead the eye around the page...). I was going to post a pic here, but I'm a coward. Backscroll my account and you can find some older ones though.

I also know my art in general improved dramatically when I did ten comics in ten weeks for my friend's fic. Don't do this. It hurt my hands/wrists. But do practice in moderation.

***

If you actually read all that... I hope it made even a modicum of sense. And maybe it was even helpful? Just know at the end of the day, there is literally no right way to draw a comic.

And if you aren't ready to go for it yet, you can start by just adding a couple speech bubbles to your illustrations or doodles! It's a way to add storytelling and dialogue writing to things you may already be making.

Yay. I love comics. :))))

#art tips #ask #THANK YOU FOR ASKING THIS #PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT STORYTELLING AND ART AND COMICS #i have so much more i can say but i will not because this post is already way too dense #ive been meaning to finish/post this for so long im sorry #making comics is this fun blend of THINKING REALLY HARD AND WITH PURPOSE and doing things innately and you rly dont know why #reference #art reference #i dont remember my tutorial tag #oh. was it #tutorial #I DONT REMEMBER

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hawkland · 6 months ago

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Art masterpost: Soup Mates Story by @baileys101/Baileys Art by @hawkland/sidewinder

Are y'all sick of me this week yet? I know it's been back to back to back posting of pretty much everything I've been working on all summer the last few days. I'm really happy to be able to share these pieces at last for the @destielsoulmatebang, working with @baileys101 once again for the first time since this year's Pinefest.

It's kind of funny that, two days in a row, I'm posting art for stories involving multiple realities/universe versions of Dean & Cas. But I'm just drawn to that kind of story, I guess, where there's a mixture of canonverse and "what if" to draw upon.

I had some different, elaborate plans originally but what ended up taking shape were three separate Cas pieces of scenes/moments in the story that really stood out to me. The first is more or less direct from canon, the tablet scene from "Goodbye Stranger":

Artistically this was a really fun challenge of reserving the white as much as possible and just painting the negative/dark spaces. There's no added digital effects here, not even any metallic/shimmer watercolors that I sometimes use.

Next I really wanted to do a piece from the Purgatory section of the story, when Dean catches Castiel looking out from the cave entrance where they've taken shelter. I always love painting Cas/Misha's profile and this is one of my favorites that I've done to date:

Lastly a piece I was working on the other weekend at my table at SPN Charlotte and jokingly described to folks as "my sad wet Cas". Isn't he just the poorest little meow meow?

Speaking of the Charlotte convention, I just have to include this photo of when Rob Benedict stopped by my table and was contemplating the portrait of Chuck I did for the story banner (and actually the Purgatory and tablet pieces are on display right above him so you can see the original size of the paintings!)

Thank you to Baileys for being such a lovely partner once again! I hope you all enjoy the story...and now I've got to hunker down and get my November art postings finished and ready to go!

#hawkland art #sidewinder art #destiel soulmate bang #castiel #castiel fanart #destiel fic #destiel art #my art

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potahun · 3 months ago

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Canon and "Canon-ish" FuruKaza moments: An ENG Compilation (2)

[PART I: canon and may be canon]

-PART 2: Furukaza from Other Official Sources

Various official audio/illustrations:

The boss and subordinate celebrate new year's at home together with Haro, under a kotatsu, according to this 2018 illustration by the mangaka of Zero's Tea Time, at least.

At the end of Episode 1053, after the preview for Ep 1054, there is a brief audio exchange between Furuya and Kazami that goes: F ("Kazami, what are your summer vacation plans?") K ("Vacations...") F ("Vacations are also part of your job"). The episode itself has nothing to do with summer vacations, so it's a bit unclear why Furuya's asking about Kazami's vacation plans...

There is an original shikishi drawn by Gosho Aoyama in 2018, with Furuya saying "You qualify!" and holding up a hanko (i.e. a stamp with his name/initials, they're often used to sign in Japan). Behind him, Kazami is looking miffed, saying "Please press that stamp on me too!"

There was a series of official audio bonuses, i.e. Furuya "voicemails" made for Zero's Tea Time, one of which acts as a possible sequel to Ch. 11. Furuya tells Kazami: "Good work yesterday. Even if we drank a bit too much, that was fun. Though that incident was unneeded...It's fine for you to come in after noon today, so make sure to catch some proper sleep. I'll call again."

Official DC App:

There was an audio story called "Kazami's Observant Eye", where Furuya asked Kazami to come nap with him in a park. You can read a translation by @floofiestboy here.

Conan Puzzle:

A "pair card" exists where Furuya and Kazami are depicted spending time together in yukata at a summer festival. Furuya is smiling while watching Kazami trying to catch goldfish.

For Halloween 2023, a Kazami card where he wears a prisoner's outfit and chains was released, labelled "Infiltration Disguise". Fan screenshots of Conan Puzzle show Kazami saying that the outfit was prepared by Furuya-san and saying "huh? the collar won't come off...? ...Furuya-san!?". (As I do not know the mechanics behind Conan Puzzle, I cannot comment further. And as I do not want to bother the fan, I will leave this matter as is.)

Released separately, this Furuya and this Kazami are wearing matching Conan Land shirts.

Other promo material:

This is not 100% "in-universe", but there is a promo video for M28, in which Furuya advertises M28 and Kazami is also in it, reporting to him that he has "completed seat reservations for the first day (of screening)", to which Furuya responds: "Thank you, Kazami." Kazami doesn't say if he's reserved seats just for Furuya or for them both (or for more people); it's left to one's imagination.

Goods:

Official character perfumes have been released, including for Furuya (as Zero) and for Kazami. The scent description for Kazami mentions Zero in every section, and also has a line that says, about Kazami's fragrance: "coming from the image of carrying out a top secret mission on Furuya's orders, you can faintly smell the same fragrance of soap as Furuya".

For ZTT, a series of T-shirts were released, including one design that depict Furuya, Kazami and Haro as a set.

Furuya and Kazami, as a pair, go to a summer festival in yukata, according to the limited period goods released in 2022 by Osaka Castle. Aside Furuya and Kazami, the other pairs covered were CoAi, Akai x Jodie and HeiZuha.

A pair of "unbreakable" glasses was released for ZTT depicting Furuya and Kazami. The description proceeded to say that "This pair of glasses is unbreakable, like the bond between Furuya and Kazami".

The Conan Trading Card Games released a set of cards with the theme "Bonds of Faith (Partner)" which contained a lot of pair cards, i.e. with illustrations and card effects connected to each other's characters. Amidst pair cards of canon couples like ShinRan, HeiKazu, KaiAo, TakaSatou and ShuuAke, the FuruKaza pair card was the only non-canon non-het one, where Kazami is seen drinking a can coffee and Furuya is seen watching him with a smile, drinking from an identical can. With Kazami on the scene, Furuya's investigation ability is doubled, and he can also remove a card.

The parallel version of the Furukaza TCG pair cards was revealed by the official TCG account on Valentine's Day 2025, even though there were yet other cards to reveal. Again, in this pack, it was the only non-canon pair advertised side-by-side like the other canon pairs were.

APTX-shaped gummy candy packs come with little seal stickers, including Furuya and Kazami. Their individual seals mirror each other. The design gives the impression that they are complete if put together.

In 2025, Chocolates labelled “VALENTINE ITEM” by the shop’s official account were released with two designs for the square boxes: 1) Conan&Ran; and 2) FuruKaza.

In 2025, a clear file is to be released, with Kogorou and Conan at the front, and the Nagano trio at the back (M28 promo). The inside of the clear file is occupied by ShinRan and FuruKaza, mirroring each other.

In 2025, the Conan Café menu had Furuya and Kazami soba dishes with ingredients that resembled each other: Kazami had cilantro and lime, while Furuya had celery and lemon. This confirmed the trend that their officially assigned colors tend to be yellow for Furuya and green for Kazami. There was also an ice cream sandwich set for all 8 main movie characters, where only frkz shared a flavor that constituted of a mix of two fruits (kiwi and banana)

In 2025, a set of merch was released, with the main movie characters riding horses. Only Kazami's horse was light brown with a brass blond mane.

There is a whole other string of furukaza goods where they come in pairs, including a ZTT mug, pens, notepads, a parka, a lip cream... I will not list all of them.

Hanzawa spin-off:

In the Hannin no Hanzawa-san spin-off, which is a parody of the main manga, there are chapters where Kazami is depicted taking Haro to the dog park, accompanying Furuya to events (holding popcorn and drinks), and also growing celery to gift to Furuya. In one scene, Furuya even comes to pick him up at the dog park in his car, telling him "let's go back."

Gosho Aoyama Q&A:

In his Q&As, Gosho Aoyama was asked what Kazami would do on his free days aside from going to idol festivals, and he answered that Kazami doesn't have many free days to start with. He then added "maybe, buying Amuro's clothes?"

In his Q&As, Gosho Aoyama has been asked why, out of so many police officers, Kazami was picked to be Furuya's subordinate. At first, he answered "just because?" but in a second instance (24 October 2022), he replied "It's a coincidence, or perhaps I should say it's fate lol"

#how many times did you think 'normal boss and subordinate behavior' for this one?#furukaza #dcmk #meitantei conan #furukaza eng compilation #furuya rei #kazami yuuya #detective conan #zero's tea time #ztt #i might continue to update this list as things appear #'unmei'.....

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taradactyls · 6 months ago

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The research that went into the Chapter 40 journey from London to Pemberley, as promised. With photos, maps, and a tangent or two!

I wanted to sprinkle in a few names of real places into Elizabeth’s journey, similarly to Pride and Prejudice, but for that I had to do some research. In the book she and the Gardiners take a scenic route further to the west, whereas this needs to be more direct, so I couldn’t copy those references. Unfortunately, we don’t know the way that they returned from Pemberley after Lydia’s elopement, because most of that would be the same (reversed) as what I needed.

So, I set out to find out what would be plausible.

‘Aw, the author did a little bit of research, that’s nice,’ you might think.

No. I did an excessive amount of research. Of the ‘it has consumed my entire soul and I need to know this information even though it’s barely relevant’ variety. When the toddlers went to bed and I was too tired to write, I did this. For weeks. It was basically the only time I could devote to this story, as the illnesses going around prevented me having time to actually write.

For context, I had ZERO background knowledge on this topic, and my first google search was to find out where Derbyshire is in relation to London.

Luckily, there was a road that seemed the most obvious direct route! But, following it closely to see what was nearby, I saw it avoided most of the villages; which is the exact opposite of what horse drawn carriages (which need to rest and water the horses, or switch them out entirely) would do. Sure enough, the M1 is a 20th Century road. So, then I went down the rabbit hole of seeing if the A5 or anything like that has older roots (it does) but after some more research into 18/19th C roads I realised I should be looking for turnpike roads/Post roads. Whichhhhh don’t exist in that form anymore.

And that’s where the fun began.

Warning, for a VERY long post.

FINDING THE RIGHT TURNPIKE ROADS

I couldn’t find an online list of which modern roads used to be turnpike roads, because it turns out they were managed in sections by turnpike trusts. And so, one half of a road might not be one and then the other half would but perhaps broken up into three different sections managed by different trusts (or the same trust but still separately, because local management was easier, I imagine).

I mostly wanted maps though, so that wasn’t a problem. Then I started searching for maps… and searching… and searching…

Basically, I looked at a lot and met a lot of dead ends but I’ll share some of the stuff that was useful.

I found a source which is all about research into turnpike roads and has an 1830 map.

But the map doesn’t have much detail so I can’t really tell much. Still, if you want to learn about turnpike roads have a look. I tried to compare it to other maps to see if I could figure out where those roads were but it just wasn’t detailed enough for me to be sure.

Then I found this old map of English towns and roads:

Which is comprehensive and amazing except for being blurry as anything when you zoom in, but does help give me a basic idea of what existed (though doesn’t specify turnpike vs … normal? roads). And I was able to track basic paths and use other maps and google maps to help me actually read the names of places. But It’s absolutely going on my wish list (along with that map of 1804 London I’ve linked before) of things I would like to have full sized posters for if I ever have space for a study. If I start writing regency novels as an actual occupation (around when I started this fic I also began planning a P&P sequel trilogy – though something tells me this fic might end up with nearly as many words as the whole trilogy combined) I shall insist I need the maps for work.

Anyway,

I eventually stumbled onto the pot of gold!!! Maps for each county with the roads and towns clearly marked! The dates are not all there, so I can’t say it’s 100% accurate, but it feels better than my other options.

(Not posting individual images of each county because you’ll see them altogether later, but I do recommend checking them out if you find this interesting, there’s places mentioned there that get omitted in bigger maps.)

I cross referenced with this map:

To double check they’re post roads (aka they had stops every 10 miles or so to switch out horses, and I did my best to find villages that had post houses or coaching inns).

Of course, those detailed images of counties are all separate, and for my own sanity I need to see how they link up. Going back to google maps to see what counties I would need I pretty quickly noticed discrepancies between the map borders and google maps. Turns out the counties changed in 1974. So, I had to go find an old map of British counties. That was the easiest part of my research, and I used this one:

Using that, I decided to print out, with a view of physically sticking them together: Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, Staffordshire, and finally Derbyshire. Because when the map you want doesn’t exist, sometimes you just have to collage together your own.

THEN, of course, it was brought forcibly to my awareness when I tried to make the different borders align, that old maps often have inaccuracies.

There were little knobbly protruding bits of counties that were claimed by both neighbours in their individual maps, and random gaps which weren’t claimed by any. Counties were too long or too wide and sometimes too just entirely distorted to make the borders fit together as they should, and then the alignment of the roads would sometimes not match the alignment of the physical characteristics and it would get even messier.

I gave up on that idea less than halfway through cutting and sticky taping them together.

But all was not lost! Husband has a photoshop account through his work! I have a very basic understanding of photoshop thanks to taking graphics in high school, another one-off lesson for a Communications elective at uni, and then experience with similar programs for digital art. My confidence thus knew no bounds and I was certain I could photoshop a suitable map together in 30mins or so!

I was half right: I absolutely made the map, but it took me a few hours one night and I went to bed late.

We must all suffer for our craft, and sometimes my craft is niche research that I refuse to simplify BECAUSE I’VE COME TOO FAR TO GIVE UP NOW AND I WILL NOT ACKNOWLEDGE SUNK COSTS FALLACY TODAY!

Here is my beauty:

(You can see I didn’t care about all the dates and names of the turnpikes, but if you do, definitely click the link above which has the counties individually. It also gives you an idea of just how the same road could be divided into multiple trusts.)

I had to warp and stretch some counties pretty drastically to make them jig-saw together enough to be useable, and when clashes between making the roads or the borders line up I prioritised the roads. Seeing them aligned was the whole point of this, after all, but if you look closely, you can see some weird spots between counties where there’s a void or overlap from not quite matching up properly.

I printed this off and did some highlighting of potential routes from London to Derby, which I figured they would probably pass through on the way to Pemberley (more on that later). I ended up with a few slight variations which are all, to the best of my knowledge, feasible options. There seemed to be mostly an obvious route with options for variation, which I labelled option a, option b, etc. (this will help you understand my notes later). If road quality, or inn quality, etc., would create a decided favourite in late winter of 1812 nothing had popped up in my research and, honestly, did I really want to open that can of worms after all the hassle just to get to this point?

I then took my highlighted routes, and kept the individual maps of the counties, and the really huge complete one of Great Britain, up on my computer so I could zoom in for greater detail, and went to Google maps. I had to do a lot of cross-referencing with the various old maps with google maps so I could figure out which roads I were meant to be following, since not only have their names often changed but the settlements along the way have considerably changed in shape too. I felt a little bit like I was doing forensic work to identify what in the old maps lined up with the modern day, especially in places like Leicester which have grown so much larger in the 200+ years since. It was very satisfying when I was able to find the roads I needed.

There were three things I determined would decide which route I went with:

Was there a village (and better yet, evidence of a coaching inn) every 10-15 miles?

Did this route remain consistent with Pemberley being 150 miles from London?

Does it have interesting places I can mention in the narrative?

I started with the first two, since they were the options which could veto pathways or mark them for further research. I figured that out by going onto google maps and using the measuring tool, and then jotting down my notes in a word document. This is what one optional path from that research looks like:

Route a)

Edgeware 9 miles

Stanmore 10-11 miles

Watford 16 miles

St Albans is 22 miles

Redbourn 27

Flamstead 30

Markyate 31

Dunstable 34-36

Hockcliffe 39 miles

a)d)

Woburn 44

Woburn Sands

Newport Pagnell 53 miles

Stoke Goldington 57

Horton 61 miles

Hackleton 62

Northampton 67 miles

a)d)e)

Chapel Brampton 72 miles

Spratton 75

Creaton 76

Thornby 79

Welford 82 miles

Husbands Bosworth 85 miles

Arnesby 91 miles

Leicester 100 miles

To Derby following a)d)e)

Mountsorrel 106 miles

Quorndon (Quorn now) 108 miles

Loughborough 110 miles

Hathern 113

Kegworth 117 miles

River Trent 120 miles (actual river, and means definitively in Derbyshire)

Shardlow 121 miles

Derby 127

I fairly quickly learn that pretty much every option I had drawn on the map could work with both the distance and requirement to change horses, so I definitely would not declare that the route I ended up choosing is *the* route Mr Darcy would travel up to Pemberley on. My choice came down to what locations I thought were cool and useful.

As a side note: during this plotting of the miles on the map and keeping track of every 10-12 miles, I was initially very surprised by something.

Without fail, no matter how blank the countryside had been, there would be a village or larger town there. It really made me realise for the first time just how much English settlements along throughfares grew because of the needs of horses. It makes total sense, travel times stayed largely the same and reliant on horses or feet for thousands of years until trains, but it never occurred to me. It’s so entirely different to my own city, Brisbane (yes, the one from Bluey).

With Australia being such a recently colonised country the permanent British settlement that became Brisbane wouldn’t even come into being for more than a decade after the events of Pride and Prejudice. It would be decades more until the penal colony became big enough to warrant a proper name and municipality. Even Australia only officially became a country instead of a colony in 1901. As the best way to reach Brisbane from the other colonies (like Sydney) was by boat, consideration for horses travelling really hasn’t dictated much here. Instead of different settlements within (at least) about 10 miles of another we ended up with basically one settlement surrounded by vast amounts of farmland and nothing else the settlers considered civilisation (we all know how native peoples were viewed by colonising nations).

The fact that we didn’t have another settlement 10 miles (or really, at all,) nearby meant that that extensive farmland ended up being included as part of the Brisbane city border – which is why area-wise Brisbane is the third largest city in the world despite our population not even getting to three million. Even without traffic I could easily drive for an hour in one direction from my home and still be within Brisbane.

Looking at all these tiny English villages so reliably spaced just feels like a whole different planet to me. And crossing so many shires! From Brisbane to the top of Queensland (our state) is a 31-hour drive along direct highway. Which, for context for my American and European readers, Google Maps says is the same driving time (not distance) as London to Greece, or New York to Montana. Size wise, Queensland (which is our 2nd largest state) is 215 times the size of North Yorkshire, more than 3 times larger than France, over 100,000km2 larger than Alaska, and more than 2.6 times larger than Texas. I’ve never before really understood that Australia (and parts of the USA) don’t adhere to the old rules of human settlements and travel because our cities are crazy new.

Well, now we all know. Back to the research.

With a focus on information about the actual places near my potential routes, I returned to google maps, zoomed in real, real close, still using the measuring tool so I could keep track of every 10-15 miles, and noted every landmark and village that popped up. I was then doing lots of googling and searching Wikipedia to discover what I could about each location so I could figure out which one I preferred to use. I learnt a lot, particularly that English villages are very proud of how many Indian restaurants they have and often list it on their Wikipedia page, but I only recorded the bits I felt might be relevant to the story. Here’s an exert of my notes with that research when added to the distances:

Day 1 (more exploring allowed)

Edgeware 9 miles

Stanmore 10-11 miles

Watford 16 miles

St Albans is 22 miles

Lizzy seen before. Casually mention St Michael’s church and the ruins

They then follow the old roman road of Watling Street (to Hockcliffe?)

Redbourn 27

(important coaching station – ‘Owing to its proximity to London, Redbourn became an important coaching station in the 17th and 18th centuries, and it was known as the "Street of Inns", with at least 25 pubs and inns at its peak.’)

Talk about stopping for a meal here? Mention Dunstable might serve better, for it has the chalk escarpments?

Flamstead 30

Markyate 31

Markyate's position on Watling Street made it a coaching stop on the stagecoach routes from London to Birmingham and Holyhead, especially after the road was upgraded by Thomas Telford in the early 1800s, when it became known as the Holyhead Road. At one point Markyate had over forty inns and public houses along the main road.

Dunstable 34-36

has chalk escarpments (Chilton Hills/Dunstable Downs)

with barrows!! (though maybe too far south?)

Highest point in Bedfordshire (at the time? Pre changed borders?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunstable_Downs

market town

priory

very ancient façade

where Henry VIII’s annulment from Catherine was delared

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunstable_Priory

They think they might as well explore here a long time because there is nothing more exciting awaiting them in their final two stops for the day

Hockcliffe 39 miles (where they leave Watling Road?)

Woburn 44

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woburn,_Bedfordshire

Near Woburn Abbey (Family seat of the Duke of Bedford) Darcy could show no inclination to see it – though Elizabeth knows she might have if she were travelling with others. As she does not much mind seeing stately homes she does not care. Could tease him about whether he’s worried that a duke’s home will make his own seem unimpressive? Mention his uncle doesn’t like John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford due to clashing in the past in the house of Lords

During the English Civil War, the Cavaliers burned down much of the town and in 1724 a third fire destroyed much of the town, which was rebuilt in the Georgian style that remains today

important staging post on the London–Newport Pagnell–Northampton turnpike. The town had 27 inns and the first 24-hour post office outside London.

Bolded locations are where I theorised made the most sense to change the horses. I did this more casual research for multiple places, and then once I’d decided which was the most enticing for me, I had my turnpike roads from London to Derbyshire. Now I had to make it interesting.

THE LOCATIONS I CHOSE TO SHOW

First, I did the whole confirmed route again in google maps with more in-depth research. This involved a lot of google street view, as well as finding local webpages for villages and the more historical buildings. I have now virtually driven through dozens of little villages and I CANNOT believe how much history and prettiness is just right there as part of everyday life??? Australia doesn’t have history like that in our random small towns or big cities (the ancient sites we do have from 60,000+ years of aboriginal Australians living here weren’t the sort the settlers would respect or even noticed in many cases during colonisation). We have amazing things that I have travelled to see, don’t get me wrong, but of a different sort than still-habited buildings and not so ingrained into our ‘normal.’

Luckily for me the English are very proud of their buildings and natural sites and this bit of research was really easy and straightforward. I’ll just show you the locations I focused on in chapter 40 (and very slight spoilers for the start of 41, too). Everything I talk about is real (though the great house with a drive straight off the village road I mention in passing no longer survives, and other things look different), so if you want to explore the places mentioned in the fic but I don’t show here, google maps and Wikipedia will help you get started. In the order that Elizabeth and Mr Darcy explored them, we have:

The Dunstable Priory

This is exactly the view of the building that I imagine they had during their conversation about the history and impressiveness of a place. It really is VERY grand.

Other views of it:

The interior has changed since the 1800s a little, but the bones of the building are the same.

The Dunstable Downs

Those are the sorts of street view photos that made me want to use it; but honestly, I don’t think I can possibly show you enough to do it justice. See what I mean?

I like hills, and that’s a good one.

The Wikipedia page has cool information about it if you want a starting point for learning more about the barrows or stuff I didn't mention.

Hardingstone Eleanor Cross

The research told me it looked a little different in the early 1800s, which is why this photo doesn’t have the Malta Cross I mention in the chapter.

Highgate House, Creaton

That’s the view from the road, on the left is where carriages would enter and that’s the front courtyard Elizabeth walked in.

And there’s the south side of the house, with the more impressive architecture that Elizabeth mentions.

Unfortunately, it’s raining in the street view photos, so you can’t see any of the countryside that Elizabeth was looking at when Mr Darcy found her, but here’s what the view of the same is from one of those upper story windows she ponders about:

Minor Places Elizabeth Sees (in chapters 40 or 41) that I Liked

The Glimpse Elizabeth got of the Newarke Gateway:

The Cavendish Bridge as I believe it was at the time (it’s been replaced twice since):

The view of the Derwent from the centre of (the then, very new) Duffield Bridge:

St Aulkmunds Church, Duffield:

Black Rocks, which Elizabeth only saw from the road but here’s the view anyway:

At the end of all that exploring as I travelled the route I ended up with google maps looking like this:

Each of those little circles is a mark I made on the map, because I really wanted the distance to check out. And honestly, I was pretty pleased at this point. It took a lot of unexpected effort to get here, but in the end I did it, and the locations and distances worked out SO satisfyingly for me. Not that it’d be noticeably different if it didn’t, but I know.

It was great to see I was following fairly closely the path of the Eleanor crosses, because it confirmed the route I chose had historical basis. To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing glaringly implausible about this being a pathway that Mr Darcy might use and thus the sights that might be seen along the way.

Of course, it’s very possibly not what Jane Austen (or someone actually living in 1812 England who has more baseline knowledge of this than me) would do. I’m confident that I did my best, but not confident that my understanding of this subject is good enough to have made me come to the right conclusions. But I am writing fiction, not history, so this level of research is sufficient for me to go on.

But now that I’ve gotten to Derbyshire, I’ve realised it’s a very big place. Derby is ‘only’ about 127 miles from London, Pemberley is 150, that’s a lot of distance that is unaccounted for.

Where would Pemberley be, based on the book’s clues and the distances possible with the research I just did?

FINDING PEMBERLEY

So, Firstly, I want to make it clear that I don’t think we will ever be able to point to a place on a map, say ‘this is where Pemberley is’ and have it work perfectly with both the book and the real world. Nor with any of the other locations which aren’t preexisting real places. As grounded in reality as Austen’s works are, they are still works of fiction, and I keep that in mind when applying real-world nuance to the locations, distances, and finances mentioned. I also generally don’t want to mess with headcanons too much, nor stray into territory where glaring errors can be made, as well as honouring that Jane Austen liked to keep locations vague.

That’s all why (in chapter 41, so very mild spoilers) I only definitively mention Duffield (5 miles North of Derby) for that last leg of the journey. Even that Black Rocks Promontory I showed you above is vaguely enough mentioned to be elsewhere. I’m happy for Pemberley to live as a place of suspended reality in my mind, but for the sake of this research I wanted to define a specific patch of Derbyshire which I would use as a vague location in my fic. Also, when it comes to research, I Have A Problem and I justified it in this case by wanting to know what was plausible just in case the only places it could be were in the south-west or north-east of Derbyshire and that might alter the pathway. This was done at the same time as a lot of the other research, but that would’ve gotten too messy to explain so I chose to detail it all here instead of interspersing it.

But how exactly to pinpoint likely locations?

Note: I am sure this is going to overlap with research others have done before me, but I have my own goals (for setting it somewhere for a fic) so I stayed away from other reasonings as I might value things differently. I’ve got to do this myself.

Luckily, Elizabeth mentions “before we left Bakewell, we understood that you were not immediately expected in the country,” (Ch. 43) so we can assume the village they discover that in, and depart from the following morning before soon reaching Pemberley and then going on to Lambton, is Bakewell. A real location!!! It’s about 22 miles north of Duffield (which checks out with the distances already measured) and puts us firmly in the peak district.

It's also just to the south-west of Chatsworth, which I calculate to be barely over 150 miles from London. Adding more credence in my mind to the idea that Jane Austen used it as her true idea of Pemberley – even though the real thing also exists in the book. But though it might be her base for Pemberley I’m not about to replace a very well known and book-canon location (though feel free to continue imagining it to be so, I don’t contradict the possibility, I even looked at Chatsworth floorplans for inspiration for describing Pemberley’s interiors) so I’m going to find what else might work.

Now, from what I could tell, Bakewell isn’t included in the modern-day ‘Chatsworth Core Estate’ (see the map on page 46).

It might not have been the case two centuries ago, but I’m going to presume it hasn’t changed, so basically, I can pick anywhere from the north-west, sweeping down west and south, until the south-east, safely without infringing upon Chatsworth. All the other, lesser-known landowners of the era we shall pretend don’t exist. I’m more going for a general area, anyway.

The Gardiners were likely travelling with considerable economy, and not changing horses every hour, so Pemberley can’t be a far distance away from there (if we want to mirror Chatsworth, 4-5 miles is best). We don’t know when they left Bakewell or arrived at Pemberley but it seems likely it was fairly early in the day, given how much time they spent there and then still drove on Lambton afterwards. So, we can look at places that are within a few hours journey from Bakewell for the Gardiners (let’s say 20 miles as an absolute maximum) and cross reference that with what is about 150 miles from London.

A brief note on the ‘150 miles’ number – the way I round numbers makes me think this is anywhere between 145-154 miles, but Jane Austen does seem to work in quarters rather than tenths, (approximately 25 miles from Meryton to London, 50 from Meryton to Rosings, 125 from Meryton to Pemberley, etc) so it might be fairer to say the distance from London is too much to be called 125 miles, but too little to be called 175. Which, assuming normal rounding of numbers, is 137-188 miles from London. For this estimation, I’m going to be sticking closer to my initial, tighter, understanding; but the possibility of the distances being broader than I interpret is worth mentioning.

Given all of those considerations, here is the area that I chose for Pemberley to be set within for the fic:

The Blue highlighted area is a general area that I think Pemberley House could be situated in, and probably Lambton too. The Estate itself can stretch beyond the borders, this is only for the house/park.

Bakewell is just above that section, and I’ve highlighted the other places mentioned in Pride and Prejudice as being part of the Northern Tour. White peak being the only option for ‘the Peak’ as far as I know. Fun fact: in my version of Pride and Prejudice (Penguins Classics 2003), and another online copy I used, Jane Austen has a spelling/consistency error by saying ‘Dovedale’ first and then ‘Dove Dale’ soon after. It’s a little comforting for me whenever I see that even my favourite author makes mistakes she misses despite all her reviews and rereads.

Anyway, there is a bit of a conflict for me with this location (as well as the location of Chatsworth, and any other places around 150 miles from London and still in the Peak District) when we take into account that Elizabeth and the Gardiners saw those highlighted places before going to Bakewell. It seems a very circuitous route, whatever order those sights are seen in. The best I can imagine is that it goes Dovedale (which I think should always be first, given the places we know they visit on their way to Derbyshire), then a more southern, partially unseen on that image, road to Matlock, followed by Chatsworth, the Peak, and turning around there and going back to Bakewell via a different road.

If Elizabeth’s trip to Derbyshire was based on the real travels of Austen or someone she knew, I don’t have knowledge of it. So, if there is a definitive pathway that’s agreed she intended to be followed that could change my deductions.

But as it is, with what I presume in mind, we might even be able to narrow down that blue area more, ruling out the most south-easterly portion because otherwise why wouldn’t they have seen Pemberley on their way to Matlock? If we were really looking for other ways to narrow it down, we might say that Dovedale and Matlock, which Elizabeth and Mr Darcy discuss at Pemberley, were the chosen subjects because they’re quite close to the house, and so that might place it in the south or south-west section of that blue area. I don’t think the latter concern does mean much: Chatsworth is also very close by but not discussed; and if Chatsworth itself is Austen’s location for Pemberley, then neither of those places are closer than the peak so the topics can’t be based on proximity. Perhaps they’re just what was seen most recently (implying an odd pathing of the Peak, Chatsworth, Matlock, Dovedale, and then way back up to Bakewell); or, as I think most likely, just mentioned to give vague specifics of the conversation and the locations chosen randomly out of all those that could be said.

And there we are.

I have a basic location for Pemberley and the journey thither that works for my fic and matches the book and the real-world as much as my knowledge of distances and turnpike roads allows. It’s not relevant enough for it to matter if you veto this idea and instil your own headcanon for Pemberley as you’re reading the fic, I certainly leave it open enough for other interpretations. But I did the research, and I must share it, because it took a lot of pain and effort to get to this point.

Thank you for sticking with me until the end, I hope you found it all interesting!

#I sometimes say 'thank you for coming to my TED talk' but this time it's not half joking #with a wee bit of tweaking this is big enough to be a TED talk #I kid you not this is over five thousand words #OF RESEARCH NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS #I cannot be stopped #at least there are pretty pictures to break up the text lol #jane austen #pride and prejudice #research #history #trying to tread water #fic:t3w

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lenacethemenace · 24 days ago

Text

Brief notes, and how things are going.

So from yesterday’s 20k I made it to 23.5k in like a few hours after I got to finally sit down in front of my computer. I also pumped out like two sketches, but I don’t know how comfortable I feel posting them just yet. Maybe I will with like heavy heavy watermarks because I get so nervous about posting. Regardless, I have altered a couple of designs. So far I’ve drawn most of the main(ish) cast many of them are shit doodles but I’m having fun throwing in all of my headcanons.

Back onto the actual topic though, updates may become less frequent the closer I get to finals week, but right after that I’m going all in. And I want to keep you lovely people aware of what’s going on.

These are questions I’ve gotten from friends. (as soon as I get questions in my inbox I’m answering those)

Questions and Answers!

If Sonic doesn’t reciprocate Amy’s feelings, why would he be a driving force in the narrative?

Without giving the whole story away. In my interpretation, I feel that Sonic is a very friendship oriented person. Affectionate with friends, he cares for them very very deeply, but that’s where it stops. He knows Amy likes him, but he doesn’t want to hurt her feelings and mess up the relationship they have. She’s a great friend and a good person, he’s just unaware of the struggles she experiences having this one sided affection. It’s more so his impact than his actions themselves. He’s well meaning.

You mentioned Knuxouge, are they in an established relationship?

Technically yes, but no one talks about it, it’s more of a known fact. Literally no one has to ask. (They’re practically already married guys /j)

How many people get a POV? Is it just a select few? Or does it depend on what you need.

Mainly we have Amy and Shadow, their POVs are the most important, sometimes I think it’s better not to know the exact internal thoughts of the other party. With Amy being an emotional thinker and Shadow being more of an observant thinker, they both look at the same situation differently.On the other hand, I think it’s important to see the two of them from an outside perspective where you can view them entirely differently.

For example, I wasn’t expecting Tails to have that big of a role in my narrative, but he shows up a lot. I gave him a POV as well, and I think it works! I just finished writing a section from Sonic’s POV as well, and there are things he simply doesn’t notice that others might. It all depends on my needs.

Is this your first fanfiction? Are you a big writer?

While no it’s not my first fanfiction, the only other fanfics I’ve written were like 3 on wattpad and those were super short 2000-3000 word oneshots. This is the first fanfiction I’ve written in years. It’s pretty simple. I have a vivid imagination so I try not to harp on details that could derail the momentum of my fic

Is Shadamy your favorite ship?

Oh ABSOLUTELY! But it’s not the only one I like. I’m a multi shipper and think everyone’s opinions are valid on if they like these two or not. I think they’d be healthy.

What would the age rating be?

For what it’s worth, I don’t plan on writing anything explicit, it’s for sure meant for an older 13+ audience, but that’s mostly for Rouge being suggestive in dialogue. Nothing crazy, I don’t typically write the spicier stuff.

Will they kith >:3

Indeed, they will kith :]

Will you link the playlists?

If someone wants them, sure! They’re slightly lore related, but you won’t realize till you read.

If you have any questions feel free to ask me! My inbox is always open.

#q&a #shadow and amy #shadamy #amy rose #shadow the hedgehog #sonic headcanons #shadow the ultimate lifeform #can you see all of me #fanfiction in progress #sonic fanfiction #sonic fandom #end me now #writing #concepts #i love amy rose #oh my god my shayla #awawawawa

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fluffytimearts · 3 months ago

Note

You constantly depict Riley as a sex-obsessed pervert because she has been the only lesbian with an active sex life in the comic, yet you don't see how that's problematic to draw her as only perving on Jaden despite her having done nothing like that in canon. Shaming lesbians for having sexual thoughts about their girlfriends is lesbophobia.

That's hilarious you say that because I have only drawn Riley two times: once as a redesign and once as her simping. "Constantly," when I haven't, shows you really didn't look through my tags whatsoever.

The second part of this is I'm not actually the one who depicts her as sex-obsessed; the fanbase does that in both the Leasebound comment section and Tumblr's fandom. Ms. Cola and a few others in her ask box talk about sex the majority of the time about Riley and the other women. Jaden had a literal sex scene with Alexis, and you don't see me shaming her or saying she's sex-obsessed, so no, it isn't about "shaming lesbians for having sexual thoughts about their girlfriends." It's calling out "hey, you literally met this person you don't know for like a couple of weeks because of a lease thing your landlady organized, and you have a girlfriend and in the first chapters and in recent chapters (because the in-between chapters pretty much them hanging out got nothing to say), and you're already blushy."

If Rusty knew how to do an actual slow burn and maybe read a few manga, so she knows how to lead up to strangers > acquaintances/roommates > friends/roommates > developing feelings > conflict (which is Riley and Blaire breaking up) > healing > angst probably, who knows > then eventually they become girlfriends.

But it's painfully obvious Rusty, who, it's pretty obvious, Riley is her self-insert at this point, didn't truly do that. Half of the entire webcomic is either Riley a panicky coward with a victim complex instead of a true victim of an abusive relationship (in this case, I'm assuming she attempted an emotional/mental abuse relationship) and actually show how it affects her and how it grows.

Made Blaire the "UwU" but also a weirdly not-thought-out villain despite her own bio saying she's misguided but has a good heart, even if it's not the correct one.

Then you got Jaden for like the entire webcomic who's either being simped over by everyone, and trust me, I mean everyone—having her own stuff going on and barely interacting with Riley as much throughout the webcomic.

If you can't detach the sexuality from the character and analyze the character itself, then it really shows your fanbase lacks the reading comprehension to go into why a written character like her is poorly thought out in more ways than one, and how her fandom pretty much enables what people already thought even more so of her.

But better excuse next time, hun <3

I'll wait for whatever else you have to offer to the table.

Edit: To add on to this. Yes, writing and drawing are hard, especially when you are running a webcomic. But instead of doing it as you go, you have to plan everything ahead and actually have certain things truly backing you. Research abusive relationship dynamics, research the psychology of abusers and victims, and of course, research similar inspirations to apply to your own work. Her art is good, and SOME ASPECTS of her work are good, but I can tell she truly isn't putting in the effort as people think she is. They don't know, as a fellow artist and writer, how we see how she operates, and her fanbase enabling it by defending the poor aspects as "well she chose to do that" is not at all good for her.

Yeah, sometimes people will bring down a work, but you also have to learn how, even when you're a fan of a work, since you are the audience, and peer review should be one of your priorities, you need to know how it should flow well.

Even she said she isn't doing it for fun. Her webcomic is more political than her supposed 'slow-burn lesbian story,' which she derailed from so hard because she wanted to turn angry rants into visual form instead of focusing on her main cast as they are. You can do a lesbian story without having to bring everyone else into it. Otherwise, you are the reason why it falls apart, as it has been torn from its original meaning. People can see your work is more of a power fantasy instead of the 'representation' you said you would provide to a supposedly dying fanbase of women.

#wheeze--#leasebound #fuck leasebound #and im saying this as a fellow artist and a writer #nah it's not her being a lesbian #she just sucks-#but like I said you proven my point of you using only “homophobia” as your excuse but really nothing else.... try switching it up

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chaptersonetoinfinity · 5 months ago

Note

Hi Sas!

For the writers' ask game how about 12, 34 and 68?

Hi Lola, thank you for the ask!

Fanfiction Writing Asks

12. Do you outline your fics? If yes, how detailed are your outlines? How far do you stray from them?

I think I’m one of the most detailed outliners I know! And I have a lot of writer friends, so that says a lot, LOL. I go as far as color-coding by POV per section, so it’s not even “this happens in this chapter”, it’s “this happens in this SECTION.”

But there are things I leave to the spur of the moment too. I write a lot of action sequences, and I try to leave the specifics of the fight for when I’m drafting because I have to get the “flow” of the action to see what outcomes naturally fall into place. Or if I need to know the outcome to outline the next part of the story, I “write” that whole sequence in a messy outline like a “draft 0.5”, and then make a concise version of that fight to put in my outline so I can get on with the rest of my plan.

I also love writing stories from multiple POVs, so sometimes I’ll plan out whose POV I want to incorporate in which section, but I’ll leave wiggle room for sections where I realize someone else’s POV works better, or if I realize I need to split them into two or add more scenes. Though I will say that none of these changes will make me stray from my outline, because I’ve usually worked out where I’m going with a story before I start drafting.

Fun fact: a lawyer friend once saw a screenshot of my notes for the climax of one of my fics, and she said they were as detailed as her court notes! I still brag about it from time to time. Like right now.

34. How much of your personal life/experience do you include in your fics?

A fair amount, although it’s more coincidental. I’m not specifically drawn to writing certain characters just because they’re “like me”, for instance. So if I know about something from my past that’ll help with my WIP, that’s cool. But if I don’t, that won’t put me off from writing the story—in those cases, instead of trying to “relate”, I would go about it intuitively and hypothetically, and defer to my research and/or my imagination.

Also, if I happen to have experiences that are similar to the backstories of certain characters, I will embrace them and try to reflect on them in order to to help me narrate the thought process or motivation that this character might have. But I try not to project myself into the whole story, so my character might respond to their situations differently from how I responded when I went through something similar, because I’m not them.

Bonus: I majored in psychology back in undergrad, which comes in handy. I definitely use a lot of knowledge from my degree to come up with solutions to the emotional aspects of my work or to figure out what a character would do given their circumstances.

68. Are there any fics that influenced you to write the way you do?

I would say no, because I started off writing original fiction when i was 15, and I didn’t get into fanfics until about 5 years after that, so by the time I was writing my first fic, I already sounded like ME (in terms of a “voice” and style).

While fanfics haven’t influenced the way I write, they’ve influenced my ideas and setups. For example, I’ve got an OC who is a ghost, who plays an active role in the plot. I won’t reveal too much right now, but the idea of having a ghost OC comes from the MHA fanfic “Yesterday Upon the Stair” on AO3 (highly recommend!). I also get ideas about magic systems from published fiction or even TV shows, and sometimes I might end up adapting certain fanons I see from other fics into my own fics with permission from the author.

Oh, I also started writing in present tense after reading some fics in my past fandoms where the author wrote in present tense, and I wanted to try it out. It turned out to work really well for my style, so I adapted that into my own writing. But that’s the most influence that any fics have had on me stylistically. Now I’m flexible and I can switch back to past tense if the story works better like that, and I’ve also got fics where I write flashback chapters in past tense, and “current storyline” chapters in present tense.

#ask game #kalolasfantasyworld #sas rambles

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mdhwrites · 8 months ago

Note

Do you have any tips on how to avoid the planet of hats trope?

Overly Sarcastic go!

youtube

I've set it to specifically when Red begins talking about tips on how to worldbuild because she's not wrong: Worldbuilding is how you avoid this most completely. Why am I not saying that?

Well... Because Worldbuilding is 100% my biggest weakness as a writer and I will admit to that. The reasons come down to two reasons, one that has to do with my style and one that has to do with my illness. I'll put in bold text though after this section though "My Method" for my specific advice for potentially how to do it if you're like me. Red points out that her way is her way and I am more than willing to admit my way is my way.

The first is just that I rarely write things down or plan in depth on my stories, especially before I write them. I can expand on a concept rapidly and you bet your ass I have plenty of elements of Rich Witch's world I could tell you NOW but I didn't when I began and I rarely do as new cultures and characters are introduced. Worldbuilding demands much more of that concreteness of plans and setting than I usually work with which is probably why it's best that I stick either to generic fantasy or modern fantasy for much of my storytelling because it means I don't have to worldbuild as much. I DO have a method of worldbuilding but we'll get to it and it's certainly uneven and awkward and more prone to hattiness for many reasons Red brought up here.

The second is that, well... I want to tell my stories, not have design documents. I already struggle to write my stories. I have a 40k work from June that now sits fallow, probably dead, and it's nowhere near done. My brain is fickle and angry and doesn't care how much I've invested into something so I'd rather have SOMETHING to show for my effort and, you know, actually get my ideas out there. I don't count a worldbuilding document to be that because that's the easy part. It's telling a story in that world that's hard. This is why anyone who tells me "I'm a writer too," but only because they're considering a story and have a 20k word doc planning the thing INFURIATES ME at this point because I have heard so many people respond to me saying I'm a writer, with published works, with that. Like Red says: Worldbuilding is fun... Partially because you don't have to make it entertaining to show it and essentially prove it in battle. Not until you tell a story in it.

So what is my method for worldbuilding? Well, it essentially just follows my normal method of story creation but is the one drawn out the most when it has to be done. I start with concept, then I decide on character archtypes that would fit that concept, and then I bend everything around that archtypical decision while keeping the concept true even if it shifts tone.

So that sounds like I just use hats, right? Well, here's the thing: The character bedazzles the hat before they put it on. Instead of having the hat because I want this culture, I have this culture because it happens to be useful for them. As such, it actually influences the character less than the character influences the culture. They still will have their own interests, opinions, way of speaking, stuff like that because they're their own interesting individual before anything else, which fits for me being a character focused and character first writer. The few times I have let the point of a story, or what I'm trying to do with a setting, force a character into one direction have always led to some of my worst writing. I have written a boring ass main harem protagonist because he was just meant to be a statement for the whole series than an actual character and it showed. It is my worst book because of it, period.

And because the point is character first, culture second, but not entirely devoid of culture, when others of the culture come in they're allowed to be their own people even if they one or two signifiers for themselves. Who they are is at least as much determined by their personal backstory and personality than it is by where they're from. This admittedly does not work great for side/bit characters who get to just say hi and bye but like... Even outside of a world of hats, those characters are going to be mostly a gimmick, archtype or their job because they're a bit part that's just helping facilitate things.

It also means that when a character tells a story, it's not, "MY PROUD RACE DID THIS!" it's instead, "Oh yeah, I had a buddy Jack once, complete dumbass, who taught me this because he kept wanting snacks and so figured out how to hotwire vending machines so he could have food wherever he went." The story is personal and attributed to them rather than trying to claim it as indicative of an entire people which keeps it from feeling like this person is just the skin of their people.

The true hats in my stories then actually from families. Is a character poor but well meaning? They'll probably have a hard working parent who does their best. Are they pressured and rich? They have parents who apply that pressure and are probably not around much which leads to them doing everything they can to prove themselves. Crises Girlfriends is the one I'm thinking most of here because the rich girl in it is constantly trying to square having suicidal depression and coming from a family that tells her she is supposed to be the best and that only success proves your worth and that's kind of not making the depression better as you imagine. Even then, the family essentially only exists to help better inform and round out why this character is who she is but she still has her own personal ways of doing things, including things that she hides from those strict parents.

But as a final note, like Red said... Planet of Hats can also be fun and useful. If you're at a planet for a single chapter or episode, just making them over the top and with a ton of personality is a great way to help them be a memorable little lesson or concept, even if they don't feel like a real people. That is essentially one of the biggest things one must remember with any trope. Yes, Planet of Hats can be bad and is rightfully called out. However, there are also places where it is fine, fun or useful. So, you know, figure out what you need specifically and what works for your way of telling stories.

See you next tale.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#writing advice #Worldbuilding #Planet of Hats

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talesfromtrigadora · 1 month ago

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Read Books This Year

I'm keeping this brief and really meant to do this once a month, but it's been an interesting year so far, already.

The Drowning Game - Barbara Nickless I'm not usually one for thrillers, but I'm sticking with my plan from last year to just read the first thing on the shelf (though this was a virtual shelf), and I've continued to be pleasantly surprised. This book was well written, well paced, and did a good job of making me wonder who I could trust and who I couldn't. I appreciated that Nickless stuck (mostly) to the MC's POV, as I've read other thrillers that jump around and it just feels like lazy writing.

Girl Mans Up - M.E. Girard No question this was an important book in its time, but I really struggled to get through it. Maybe I'm getting too old for YA novels, and that was the biggest problem, but I just wasn't drawn in by the teenage in-fighting and had a hard time buying a lot of the reactions the MC had in reaction to what was happening around her.

Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake - Frank W. Abagnale I saw the movie based on this book a long time ago and loved it. The book was even better, and not just because it showed how incredibly well Leonardo DiCaprio managed to encapsulate the character (the voice is very distinctive). I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this book and would highly recommend it. Interestingly enough, I actually was recently reminded of this book because of his talk about the Swedish prison he was in for a time. A podcast I recently started listening to happened to interview someone about how unique Swedish prisons are, so it was fun seeing the connection.

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee This was another book I just randomly picked off my own shelf and apparently it was from one of my husband's college classes. While I did very much enjoy the coming-of-age storyline, and Lee did a great job of creating a MC who had so, so many flaws but was still incredibly sympathetic and likable, there was a handful of storylines in it that just felt rather unnecessary. The addition of having the solitary black character (who was already gay) also for some reason have epilepsy, just seemed questionable.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce I went into this book being a little worried that it was going to be like Mrs. Dalloway (which I despised) but was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't at all like that. Honestly, I couldn't entirely tell you what it was about beyond a coming-of-age story about a boy who has a whole lot of experiences during a time when religion was both dominant and being called into question, but the writing was just so visually appealing and the MC was fun to witness growing up that I don't entirely mind that I'm not sure what I ended up reading about.

The American Paradox: A History of the United States Since 1945 - Steven M. Gillon I read this textbook in college and found it fascinating back then, but I ended up selling it back to the bookstore. It took me a long time to track it down again. It stuck with me because of the number of primary documents it includes with each chapter, and this time around, I was also very interested in the Further Reading section. I will definitely be using those sections to expand my knowledge of the historical events that are still shaping our current affairs, as well as relying on the suggestions for subjects like the economy and foreign policy that I have less experience with as I try to find avenues to get more politically involved in my community.

#journal #book review

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pages-of-us · 5 months ago

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Stargaze

Ellias and Elliot, despite their shared blood and close proximity in age, were worlds apart in nearly every way. At fourteen, Elliot was the model of quiet precision, his academic accolades piling up like polished trophies on the mantel of his reputation. He was the one people looked to when a task required focus, the one their parents could count on for steady, measured responses.

Ellias, two years his junior, was everything Elliot wasn’t: impulsive, daring, and endlessly curious about the world. Where Elliot planned his every move with careful calculation, Ellias leaped without hesitation, often discovering mid-flight that he hadn’t accounted for the landing.

Their differences often led to friction—muttered quips during dinner about messy habits or overly cautious decisions. Still, they shared a bond neither could quite articulate, a connection that simmered beneath the surface of their disagreements. And if there was one thing that brought them together, one activity that bridged their divide, it was the quiet ritual of stargazing on the roof.

**********************************************************************

The Zane family’s home, a modest but charming two-story house surrounded by tall oaks, had a slanted roof with a small, flat section that could be reached by scaling the gnarled old tree out back. This precarious perch had become something of a sacred space for Elliot and Ellias, their secret hideaway from the noise and chaos of daily life—or more specifically, from their whirlwind of a sister, Yazmin.

The roof was nothing special: a simple patch of shingles barely large enough for the two of them to stretch out side by side. But to the brothers, it was their sanctuary. Up there, they were free from expectations, from disagreements, from the bustling energy of their home.

The tradition had started years earlier, when Ellias was about nine and Elliot eleven.

“Do you think we’ll ever run out of stars?” Ellias had asked one evening, his hands tucked behind his head as he stared up at the sky.

Elliot, already well into his astronomy phase at the time, had shaken his head. “Nope. There are billions of them. More than we could ever count in a lifetime.”

“Bet I could count them all,” Ellias had declared with that characteristic spark of determination.

“You couldn’t even finish counting the blades of grass last summer,” Elliot had replied with a smirk.

Despite his initial indifference, Ellias had returned the next evening. And the one after that. Something about the stillness of the roof, the endless expanse of stars above, had drawn him in.

**********************************************************************

The roof was, by mutual agreement, a no-Yaz zone. Not that their sister didn’t try.

“Where are you guys going?” Yazmin had demanded one evening, trailing after them with a flashlight that was far too bright.

“Nowhere,” Ellias had said quickly, trying to block her view of the tree.

“Liar. You’re going to the roof. I wanna come!”

“You’ll hate it,” Elliot had replied, crossing his arms. “There’s nothing to do up there but stare at the sky.”

“Staring at the sky is boring,” Yazmin had countered.

“Exactly,” Ellias had said, as if that settled the matter.

“But I can make it fun! We could play a game, or I could bring snacks—”

“No, Yaz,” Elliot had said firmly. “The roof is for quiet.”

“But—”

“No,” both brothers had said in unison, their voices unusually aligned.

Yazmin had sulked for the rest of the evening, muttering about how boring her brothers were. Still, she had given up on the roof after that, choosing instead to channel her boundless energy into other endeavors.

**********************************************************************

Now, years later, the roof remained their haven. One evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon and the first stars began to emerge, Elliot and Ellias climbed the tree in silence, each balancing a flashlight and a small bottle of soda.

The air was cool and crisp, the kind of early autumn night that made you breathe a little deeper. Elliot stretched out first, setting his flashlight to the side. Ellias followed, plopping down beside him with none of his brother’s grace.

“What’s that one?” Ellias asked after a moment, pointing to a bright dot in the sky.

“Venus,” Elliot replied. “It’s a planet, not a star.”

“Still looks like a star to me.”

Elliot sighed, his tone teetering on the edge of exasperation. “It’s brighter because it’s reflecting sunlight. Stars make their own light.”

“Does it matter?” Ellias asked, grinning.

“It does if you care about facts.”

“Facts are boring. Venus is now the coolest star ever.”

Elliot rolled his eyes but didn’t argue further. Ellias knew how to push his buttons, but up here, their banter always felt lighter, less pointed.

For a long time, neither spoke. They simply lay there, staring at the expanse above. The silence wasn’t awkward—it never was up here.

Elliot was the first to speak. “You know, someday we might not live here anymore.”

Ellias frowned, his eyes still fixed on the sky. “Why wouldn’t we? Daddy and Dadda love this house.”

“Yeah, but we’ll grow up. Move out. Have our own places.”

Ellias was quiet for a long moment, then muttered, “That sounds... weird.”

“It’s just part of life,” Elliot said softly.

Ellias didn’t reply right away. His thoughts churned, but he didn’t voice them. Instead, he reached out and nudged Elliot’s shoulder. “Bet you’ll still be boring wherever you go.”

Elliot chuckled, nudging him back. “And you’ll still be reckless.”

“Not reckless,” Ellias corrected. “Bold.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

For a moment, the brothers simply lay there, the quiet settling between them like an old, trusted companion. It was the kind of silence that didn’t demand anything, that didn’t feel awkward or strained.

Ellias glanced at his older brother, his expression softened by the dim light of the stars. “Even if we live in different places, we can still do this, right?”

“Do what?”

“This,” Ellias said, waving a hand vaguely at the sky. “Skygaze. Find some spot to just... exist.”

Elliot smiled, a rare warmth lighting up his usually composed features. “Yeah. We can do that.”

Unseen by either of them, Yazmin was peeking up at the roof from the yard below, holding a pair of binoculars she’d borrowed from their father. She muttered to herself, “It still looks boring.” Then, with a dramatic sigh, she wandered back inside.

On the roof, the brothers remained, their shared silence unbroken as the stars blinked above, eternal and unchanging.

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spotsandsocks · 7 months ago

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Fuck it Friday!!! 🐉

So I’m going to promo my beloved dragonrider story and @stagefoureddiediaz Kym’s amazing podcast of it in the vague hope that it might intrigue a few people enough to have a listen/read.. dare I say both?

My favourite pic crew got brushed off again to make us bright and breezy Buck/ Dragonrider E’van just after he’s finished fighting a fall and the lost and broken soul of Eddie who will eventually find his way back to the light after the most terrible of losses. This is just before he meets our beloved Buck and Cal and starts his journey to healing.

And to lure you in some more… I hope …here’s Calenth, E’van and Eddie drawn by the lovely and amazingly talented @lonelychicago who gifted me this last year and made me so so happy!

The pod fic is amazing and I’ve only listened to the first draft, the finished version is going to be even better! I’ve had a few sneaky listens to sections before I listen in full on Sunday on a long lonely drive home I have planned.

Gonna be cheeky … I’d be very grateful that even if it’s not your kind of fic you reblog and try and get it out there, Kym worked so hard on the pod fic and I really want it to get seen by as many people as possible! Its niche but im told its a cult classic too 😂

I promise a good time will be had - angst, so much angst but love and happy endings too, smutty fun and cute Chris with fun supporting fire family cast😊

And if you fall for Cal there’s another 2 treats waiting for you …

Anyway it’s FIF so I can self promo my socks off 😉 share something you’re proud of with me and the world too.

@thelikesofus @monsterrae1 @dr-shortsighted-owl @beyourownanchor6 @bi-buckrights @fiona-fififi @rogerzsteven @bekkachaos @evanbi-ckley @thekristen999 @ronordmann @hippolotamus @spaceprincessem @underwaterninja13 @wildlife4life @wikiangela @daffi-990 @inell @thewolvesof1998 @exhuastedpigeon @weewootruck @giddyupbuck @honestlydarkprincess @pirrusstuff @elvensorceress @jesuisici33 @eddiebabygirldiaz @steadfastsaturnsrings @theplaceyoustillrememberdreaming @rainbow-nerdss @tizniz @diazheartsbuckley @actualalligator @watchyourbuck @lover-of-mine @repressedqueen @darkrose6578 @diazsdimples @disasterbuck @shipperqueen6 @theotherbuckley @caroandcats @buddiediaz118 @dangerpronebuddie @becausebuckley @prettysophist @belovedbuddie @bewilderedbuckley

[Podfic] To Fly The Skies

Podfic link: To Fly The Skies

Original Fic Link: To Fly The Skies

Author: @spotsandsocks

Reader: @stagefoureddiediaz (me!)

Cover Artist: @mistchievous

Rating: Explicit

Fandom: 911

Pairing(s): Buck/Eddie

Summary: A 9-1-1/Dragonriders of Pern AU.

Eddie’s grieving and hurt but he finds a new home and then he finds Buck. Slowly things start to get better for him and Christopher.

A story about moving forward from trauma and grief with help from the people you love and who love you back.

Or a story about how life can work out ok even when you don’t expect it to.

All the Buddie drama you’d expect ; oblivious idiots, fluff, angst, pining, getting together, eventual smut but with dragons, drama, tension and more plot than I expected when I started writing.

Length: 6:53:53

Recorded for the @911podficfest 2024!

Today is the day I can reveal all! Mist forced convinced me to sign up and take part in the @911podficfest this year, so I have spent the last few months (when I haven't been painting or writing fic or meta or sewing or doing my actual day job!) working on recording and editing!

Spotty was kind enough to give me permission to record her wonderful fic 'To Fly The Skies' and try to bring Pern Buck, Eddie and her beloved Calenth to life! I can only hope I've done it justice and that you all enjoy listening to it!

So thank you Spoty - for giving us Cal and for trusting me with recording your wonderful words and everyone else - go show the original fic some love if you haven't already 💜🐉💜

#buddie #eddie diaz #evan buckley #buddie fic #911 abc #911 fic #911fic #911 podfic #dragons #dragon #dragon rider au #Pern au #911 au #evan buck buckely #buck x eddie #spotty scribbles #calenth the dragon

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pedanticat-scratching-post · 2 years ago

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Brighteyes, but if they were in the Ever After (Yes more pain OR NOT, you're choice :3c

This was a fun challenge that stumped me for a bit but I'm pretty proud of the solution I thought of. Enjoy!

As they ventured deeper into the village, Ruby and the others came upon a small purple wagon with the name Jinxy written on the wagon wall with it surrounded by various townsfolks. Upon seeing the wagon, Oscar pointed his finger at it. “There it is! The wagon that the raccoon drove off in when they stole long memory from me!”

Green flames poured from Penny’s eyes as she stared at the wagon. “Do not worry Oscar, I will retrieve your weapon from that thieving raccoon!”

Before Penny could take a step forward to do that, Oscar quickly grabbed Penny’s hand. “Wait! We can’t do that. That isn’t how it went in the story.”

“He’s right,” Ruby explained. “In the book, Alyx had to barter with Jinxy for her dagger. Until we have a better understanding of what’s going on, our best plan is to just follow the events of the story.”

Penny nodded in understanding as the flames from her eyes receded. Though before they could converse more, their attention was drawn back to the wagon when a section of the wall fell open, resulting in a cloud of purple dust mixed with colorful sprinkles emerging from it. When the clouds settled, an elderly raccoon no taller than three feet appeared on stage while holding a cane for support.

“Welcome, one and all!” Jinxy shouted towards the audience, all of whom cheered upon seeing the traveling salesman.

Penny let out a large gasp as she began to stare at Jinxy in wonder “They’re adorable!”

Though while Penny gushed over the anthropomorphic raccoon, Oscar stared at them in slight confusion. “That’s strange, the book depicted them as much younger…”

“I am Jinxy! The elderly raccoon exclaimed as he twirls his cane before softly tapping on the shelf behind him three separate times. With each respective tapping resulting in an item being dropped. A pink rabbit statue, a straw broom with what looked to be diamonds encrusted in its handle, and a jade doll. “And these are the finest treasures of the acre!”

Penny tilted her head. “None of those items look like your weapon Oscar. Could they have already sold it?”

Oscar shook his head. “In the book, all Jinxy's treasures were just other items in disguise. They did it so that people would think they're buying something extremely valuable.”

Penny folded her arms. “Well, that seems like a dishonest way to run a business.”

While Oscar chuckled over Penny’s comment, Ruby turned towards him. “Well, Alyx managed to pick out her dagger by listening to her heart. What does your heart say?”

Oscar scratched his chin as he took a second look at Jinxy’s display, who was still in the process of wooing the crowd with showmanship. “I feel like it's the broom. There is something about it that feels familiar.”

“First item! This diamond-studded rabbit!” Jinxy shouted before directing his cane at a yellow toy-like townsperson. “You there, come on up!”

As the townsperson waddled up on the stage, Penny turned to the others. “How will we acquire it?” Penny asked. “None of us have any money to bid.”

“There isn’t any money in the Everafter,” Oscar explained. “Jinxy just names whatever price he wants.”

“What did Jinxy want from Alyx?” Penny asked.

“Her happiest memory-”

“And her saddest,” Ruby said, finishing Oscar’s sentence as her eyes glanced to the side.

“Sold!” Jinxy called out as they held out the rabbit statue. “For…a hug.”

The entire crowd, including Penny herself, simultaneously said “aw” over the display. The gesture also made Little pop out of Ruby’s scarf who gasped over it. “Hugs are very valuable!”

Penny’s whole body bounced in excitement. “I hope we can pay Jinxy in hugs!”

Oscar smiled softly and shook his head. “If that’s the bidding price you can hug them to your heart’s content.”

“Second Item! An enchanted flying broom!” Jinxy announced as they tossed the broom up in the air before it landed back in their paw and directed both the broom and their staff to two figures who raised their hand at the same time. “You!”

“Me!” Both Penny and Oscar shouted simultaneously. Though both were taken aback by this moment.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude,” Penny explained.

“No, it’s fine, I can just-” Oscar began to say but was then interrupted by Jinxy.

“The bidding starts at enough admiration to fill this jar!” Jinxy said as he pulled out an empty jar from seemingly out of nowhere. “Think of whom you admire most, and the jar will be filled with those emotions.”

Oscar and Penny looked towards the jar. At first, nothing seemed to be happening but suddenly, pink smoke began to take shape in the jar and filled it at an alarmingly fast rate. So much so that cracks began to appear in the jar.

“Wait! Wait! Wait!!” Jinxy shouted in fear over what was happening. “That’s enough, you don’t have to give any-”

The Raccoon shouts of fear were silenced, however, once the jar fully cracked, resulting in an explosion of pink smoke that smelled of sweetly scented roses covering the crowd.

…

Amidst the confusion, the trio was able to grab the broom from Jinxy, which reverted to Long Memory momentarily afterward, before quickly distancing themselves from the town. As they all caught their bearing with Penny amazed by the whole experience and Oscar still coughing from the smoke, Ruby stared at the two in confusion.

“What happened?” Ruby asked. “Why did the jar just…explode like that?

“I suppose the sheer amount of admiration Oscar and I expressed was more than the Jar could handle.” Penny theorized. “I know when I looked at it, I simply thought about how much I admire you, Ruby.”

Ruby stared in disbelief. “You…did?”

Penny smiled. “Why of course! You’re the most admirable person I’ve ever met Ruby! And it’s clear whomever Oscar was thinking of must have felt the same level of admiration that I felt for you. Speaking of which who were you thinking of Oscar?”

In response to the question, Oscar’s eyes shyly shifted to the ground. “I, uh, was actually thinking of Ruby as well.”

As Penny gasped and excitedly shook Oscar over this revelation, all Ruby could do was look away. How was it that despite everything, the two could feel admiration for her, especially to such a high degree? Despite her best efforts, Salem now had two of the relics, Atlas was destroyed, and had no idea if any of their friends were even still alive. As those thoughts began to cloud her mind, thunder was heard as the sky darkened and rain began to pour.

#prompt request #rwby brighteyes #RWBY #Ruby Rose #penny polendina #Oscar Pine #RWBY V9 #Mcmystery

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sasukimimochi · 2 years ago

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This is a small snippet of the first chapter of Clash of Immortals i mentioned that made me cry. I can't share the full thing but like uGHGHGH i love it but i hate it ヽ(*。>Д<)o゜!! This song from the COI playlist fits the introduction scene so well it hurts.

you see i hadn't planned this introduction section to be this way- i hadn't had anything planned yet at all, actually just rough ideas and the history of how wwx became a demon- but one detail made me write this scene into a completely different direction than my original idea.

originally i was going to write a very sappy, bittersweet introduction, but this one detail made me realize that would be impossible and that it had to be a very intense start to the story- i could have probably sat down and thought of an alternative but i feel like it would have been a weak solution ಥ_ಥ i hope to write a lot of good fluffy shit later though in order to make up for it asdfadsg--

You can see LARGER ficlets though in the links below [there are two, i have marked them]. one is explicit so i put it on reddit, but the other one is here!

so, now that that is out of the way: More COI ficlet/art/info below the cut! ♥️

What is COI? -

“Clash of Immortals” / COI is an upcoming project I’m super excited about with Demon WWX and Angel LWJ. I use my own version of hell/heaven for this [tho it focuses on hell mostly], allowing for lots of fun details and some creatures unique to my universe, including A-Yuan who is a “Garden of Eden” [not drawn yet].

Here's all the sketches for COI in order! ♥️ I update my original COI post / each new COI post list every time i draw or release something new!

OG POST - Demon WWX & Angel LWJ [you can also find au info here].

COI - MXY YLLZ WWX Demon WIP COI - Chibi kisses COI - Cuddles COI - Slumber COI - hugs COI - Hellscape Concept art [ficlet included in this post] COI - Er-Gege COI - Marks

See the Reddit post here

See Explicit™ COI ficlet here [i can't post this on tumblr, so i posted this on Reddit, sorry!

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thedouglastrap · 5 months ago

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Something about this post is bugging me, but every time I to put my finger on it, I feel like the reason slips away. So I think I'll just try to sort through it here and see where that leads me.

Mechanical changes impacting play style makes sense, but I think I question the cause and effect here. Because the rules mentioned that "encouraged the GM to think of monsters as real living creatures", morale and reaction rolls, are things that seem (to me at least) less about making these monsters seem real and more about adding more angles to introduce randomness to random encounters. If a random aboleth shows up while you're walking from point A to point B, a reaction roll is a quick and dirty way to see how they view the players, but it doesn't account for what an aboleth is. Similarly, a morale roll is giving a method beyond the DM just making an arbitrary ruling sans dice. That's not to say that a good DM can't use the roll to breathe some life into an encounter, of course, but I don't know if I would say those rules being removed/put in the flavor rather than made a general rule was a primary contributor to a greater emphasis on combat, or if that was even an intentional design choice.

(as a side note: looking up what reaction rolls actually were were, I stumbled onto a blog about the whole OSR thing in ttrpgs, and decided to go down the rabbit hole for a bit. It seems like a lot of the conclusions being drawn in this post are close to issues raised over there, but they tend to include AD&D2e as a point where the shift happened, making it less a TSR/WotC difference)

Now, if there IS a greater focus on combat in that shift, I think it's probably due to the game getting crunchier over time during that shift. 2e seemed to start it off with a wide variety of optional rules, and 3.x cemented it. But notably, it did this for non-combat as well, which makes me think that it was less a design choice to make things more combat oriented and more to provide comprehensive rules, with combat being the most fleshed out part in service to the whole heroic adventure aesthetic.

I think one of the biggest issues I'm running into is the following point about how encounters have to be these justified forced combat encounters and the dissonance this can provide. I think part of that is because that conclusion just doesn't match up with the reality I was seeing playing 3.x or seeing other people talking about it. Not to say combat wasn't the focus, but plenty of non-combat encounters happened, enemies ran away, scenarios were derailed by roleplay rather than combat, etc. And sure, that's anecdotal, but I think it's relevant. The game does, after all, provide individual sections for monsters giving a basic rundown of what the creature is. Some are more bare-bones than other, but when Archons are listed as "never attacking first, but being easily provoked", that's a pretty clear indicator that forced combat should not be the default assumption. If players ignore that, sure, but that's no different than ignoring reaction rolls imo.

The real difference, I think, is the afforementioned shift from a focus on an open world where the party has more freedom to explore and do whatever they want while the world happens around them, to a focus on more structured narratives where the players are characters in a story that is unfolding around them. Its a shift away from "well the dice say there's an aggressive dragon swooping in, have fun with that" towards "I planned out the encounter you're gonna run into between startersville and plotlandia". That also kinda follows from the idea of encounter balance. Having a random dragon swoop in on a third level party isn't a balanced encounter unless the DM goes out of their way to make it one, but that takes more time and prep than rolling a few dice and opening to a statblock can account for. And yes, planned encounters like this can, if done poorly, just be a shooting gallery of forced fights with thin justifications. It could also be well crafted encounters where you could talk down the goblins instead of fighting by opening trade negotiations.

The play style that the difference in design encourages isn't so much "fight all the things vs treat your enemies like actual living things" as it is "how structured do you want this game to be", which is ultimately value-neutral. And the moral disconnect about what you're fighting seems like an entirely separate thing from that. Neither style inherently encourages or discourages that, and it feels uncharitable to say that WotC-era d&d is more skewed to be morally uncomplicated than TSR-era.

So there is a pretty clear shift in playstyle between TSR D&D and WotC D&D: for better and for worse, D&D 3e introduced the idea of encounter balance, de-emphasized mechanics that had previously encouraged the GM to think of the monsters as real living creatures (reaction rolls, morale, etc.), and it had the effect of making D&D a much more combat-focused game. D&D has always been a game that's opinionated about combat, it's basically the most expressive and detailed form of play regardless of edition, but combat in the TSR editions was not exactly zoomed in and tactical. The WotC editions purposefully made combat zoomed in, granular, and tactical.

And this has had an effect on playstyle: since combat is now the main form of player expression what players actually want is for their characters to get into combat. Because combat is the most fun part of the game. But the game has also changed from the largely amoral dungeon-crawling game into a game of fantasy heroics (even though a lot of the trappings of the amoral dungeon-crawling still remain, which contributes to the dissonance), so you can't just have the player characters going into combat for the sake of it. That would frame the player characters as kind of Fucked Up, and we can't have that in our supposedly heroic fantasy.

What you end up with is a variety of contrivances like "they're bandits," "they're cultists," or, my all-time favorite, "they attacked first" to make the action seem morally justifiable, even though gameplay is still motivated by a desire to fight. The monsters fight to the death and, importantly, can often not be reasoned and negotiated with, partly because combat is supposed to be the fun, engaging part everyone is here to do, but also because if they actually acted like reasonable people it could cause dissonance with the whole "the player characters are the goodest heroes."

As my friend @tenleaguesbeneath once called it: what is actually going on is that the player characters are hunting people and monsters who have been programmed to fight to the death and never negotiate for sport, while justifying it as self-defence.

It's a simple power fantasy, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Sometimes you want to play a morally uncomplicated game about killing guys with cool magic swords. But I think it's also fun to think about what the specific types of monsters players end up fighting reveals about Society the invisible, unexamined ideology lying under the surface that the designers of even modern D&D have failed to examine. And to me it often reads like a frontier justice fantasy. None of that is to detract from anyone's joy of the game, and for me it's just fun to think about and post about this stuff while Still Enjoying the Game, but if someone expressing that opinion makes you feel uncomfortable, why? That's pretty silly imo.

#i cant help but feel like i might have misread some of the conclusions the OP made #but i cant see any other way to read it atm #amusingly enough though the game i remember playing in that was most“and now you fight to the death unless you the player choose to flee”#was a hackmaster game #which afaik is an offshoot of ad&d #“fight these wererat cultists because theyre eeeeevil”#along the way we fought all sorts of stuff #and had very little opportunity to do stuff that wasn't fighting every encounter we had #still had a good time ofc #just funny that my experience seems to be the exact opposite of what is presented here

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