#I AM THE NUMBER ONE FAN. OH IM TWEAKING

[mollotovm]

" you ain’t gotta lie to me; I’m everything that I strive to be. " like him is SO JASONCORE ITS CRAZY

[doubledyke]

hey, i’ve read some of your writing and i really like it. do you have any tips?

aw dude that's really sweet. i'm really self conscious about everything i write so i appreciate hearing that. i'm still learning myself, so my advice is probably gonna be kind of obvious yet nebulous (much like my writing). oh and im not great at following my own advice, but we can ignore that.

first and foremost i'd say try to have fun. get weird with it. don't stress too much about it. it's supposed to be an enjoyable pastime, so write what YOU like, how you like. the "rules" of grammar and composition are helpful, but you're allowed to be a lot more lax with creative writing. i know i am 👀

in my humble opinion, you can never have too many details, even- or especially- oddly specific ones. personal experiences are a great way to inject some minutiae, and i enjoy the insight they provide into the author's perspective, background, thought process, etc.. there are infinite other tools at your disposal too. like the number of times i've found myself browsing ancient, niche forums just to confirm one insignificant bit of information is ridiculous.

don't be afraid to take your story as seriously or unseriously as you want. sometimes i'll be snapped out of focus with the thought of "am i really writing this rn" 😂 but i just try to remind myself that i'm (usually) having fun, i'm not hurting anyone and someone might even enjoy the final product.

for eene, try to listen to the voice acting as much as you watch the animation. and don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone when writing a character. i'm neither comfortable, nor very good at writing for ed, but i nutted up and gave it a shot recently and yeah it's nuclear level cringe but i suppose it can't get any worse, right? RIGHT???.... i love learning new words, so when i'm writing for edd (and in general) you know i keep that thesaurus tab open. with eddy, there's always room for more irreverence. i'm also one of those people that cannot help but drop almost every g when i write eddy. and it's just as important to get their idiolects down, which can be tricky. BUT that's mostly if your goal is to stay close to the source material, which is definitely not necessary. i'm just not a very creative person 😂

if you're in a rut, skip to another section, or hell even another chapter. the fic i'm working on rn was hatched from a simple premise several months ago, so i started at the end and have been building on that. an unconventional starting point can be really helpful when you're struggling to start at all. because i'm me, it's turned into a nightmare beast that i can't seem to contain, but i still have a general idea of where we're going and we'll get there eventually lmfao. to that point, outlines, bullet points, notes, etc. are all very useful.

take breaks, let her sit for a while. i'll write a whole bunch, leave, come back to review and be like girl what the hell is this. fresh eyes make a big difference! however, don't be like me and get too caught up in the weeds. i make compulsive little tweaks of my shit up to the point and even after i hit post. more often than not, it's more stress than it's worth. i just can't help it 🥴

and then of course, read other people's stuff. i'm not much of a fiction reader but i make exceptions for the sake of my hyper-fixation. it truly does help to see different perspectives and styles of writing. everyone has a unique voice that really comes through in creative writing, which i love. i've gleaned a lot from reading other people's work as well. i frequently come across new and creative ideas for changing up sentence structure, dialogue tags and narration by reading stuff from fellow fans.

aaaaaand yeah idk what else really. like i said, i'm not the best at writing but i think as long as you're getting your ideas across in the way that you want to, you're golden. anyone who makes shitty remarks about someone else's writing can sit and spin honestly.

[the-plague-dog]

So I just watched the Miraculous Movie with my beloved @thatspazz and well... I have thoughts.

I am the local "Gabriel deserves better and by that I mean punishment and maybe learn to be a decent person" preacher and before I go on my rant about the movie and the season 5 finale, here is a drawing of Papillon I made after watching the movie as we ranted about the film. If you don't want spoilers, just keep moving after the drawing :)

Spoilers and Rants below this cut

OK. Before I become the number one hater, I wanna talk about what I liked about both the movie and season 5s finale (Gabriel/Papillon specific). Gabriel's song was awful and I loved it, I am listening to it again ASAP because who let this man be goofy, I love it, I was slapping my friends leg in pure joy, it was so good.

I love the portrayal of Akumatisation in the Movie, even though i resent the butterfly miraculous being called evil, and I genuinely wish we get to see more. Akumatisation is one of my favourite parts of miraculous and I'm kinda mad we didn't get to see more but what we saw in the movie was great.

Gabriel's design in the movie took a little adjusting but I grew to really like it. His papillon design is mostly good, I'm not a massive fan of the mask but it just needed a little tweaking.

In the season 5 finale, monarch was menacing, like actually. I held my breath when he was stalking the mansion whilst marinette was detransformed. And the pure noise of panic I let out when he dragged her out by her leg!? AGH OH MY GOD

The whole fight between Monarch and BugNoire!? Mwah I also want to slam monarch with a piano.

Also, the part where Gabriel has been beaten and he's having a heart to heart with Marinette? All I'm saying is we could've done more with that. IM JUST SAYING!

OK. Negatives.

WHAT THE FUCK!? HUH!? WHO WROTE BOTH PAPILLON ENDINGS!? I MUST SHOOT THEM DEAD!

The season 5 finale let Gabriel get off scot free and it pisses me off. Poor Spazz has sat through so many angry rants about how I would've done his ending. When I told Gabriel I need him to kill himself I DIDNT MEAN LIKE THIS! HE WON! WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE SHOW!? HE LEARNT NOTHING AND GOT OFF SCOT FREE! IM SO MAD ABOUT IT! LIKE WHAT!? YOU SPEND 8 FUCKING YEARS BUILDING UP THIS EVIL TWAT OF A VILLAIN AND LET HIM GET OFF SCOT FREE!? I've only been a fan of the show for a year thanks to Spazz so I have speedran Gabriel's arc and even I'm upset. I've never had a show fuck up a villain so bad I switched sides to his defence.

And now the movie

THE FUCK YOU MEAN THE POWER OF LOVE!? HUH!? WHAT!? WE KNOW THAT GABRIEL IS READY TO FIGHTING GAME JUGGLE HIS SON AS CHAT NOIR SO WHATS STOPPING HIM NOW!? ALSO, NITPICK BUT ITS CLEAR THAT GABRIEL IS TRYING TO BRING BACK HIS WIFE FOR HIMSELF AND NOT FOR ADRIEN BUT IS USING IT AS JUSTIFICATION FOR HIMSELF SO WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT WHOLE "waaaah I'm sorry I was a terrorist and abused you boo womp :("

So, that's both the movie and the show fucking up Gabriel... I really hope the special does Good Gabriel some justice or I will become the next Papillon and become a terrorist.

But yeah, movie sucked dick and this show fucking sucks

Can't wait for season 6 :) (i do actually like this show but it's a love hate relationship)

[onetine]

end of year asks

Im just going to answer these instead of waiting to be asked because I’ve got time to kill before lunch gets here and D&D starts

but cut because this is a long one!

what did you learn about yourself this year?

that virtual hangouts are delightful and a great way to hang out with people that you would have only seen a few times a year. My closest friends I’ve made in person, so we always hung out in person, which didn’t work so well when they moved to other states. But now we’re doing calls and hanging out in discord rooms and it’s been SO lovely

best moment of the year?

getting a new manager so I dont need to deal with my last one’s pettiness anymore

worst moment of the year?

The Unpleasantness

what was the biggest change you experienced this year?

Working remote. I’m still not as productive as I was in office, but at this point I think that’s more to do with constant stress due to .... you know 2020, and not the change in where I’m working

best song of the year?

According to Spotify the song I listened to the most was Brutus by the Buttress, mind you it apparently came out in 2016 soooooooo

best album of the year?

According to Spotify, the album I listened to the most was Dreamland by Glass Animals

what’s one thing that happened this year that you want to change?

The Unpleasantness

best book/book series of the year?

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune was the one book that made me cry, and one of my few 5 star reads of the year, so I’m saying that one.

best television series?

Oh gosh, I watched so much many more shows then usual due to This Year, but I’m going to say 2gether. Did I start watching it solely because one of the main characters is named Tine and that’s the nickname went by throughout all of middle/high school (and what a number of people still call me)? Yes 100%. It was such a sweet fun show, and it was the first in a long line of Thai BL shows I ended up watching this year. The genre is problematic as heck, 90% of the shows I’ve seen are honestly pretty awful representations of queer relationships, there are entirely too many fans of the genre fetishizing young asian men, and often you’re being encouraged to with the writing/fanservice scenes which is extra unsettling as a queer 30 something lady. However a good deal of the shows I’ve watched remind me of fluffy fanfic, and I am ALL about fluffy low stakes romance media this year.

how was your love life this year?

my what

what made you cry the most this year?

general compounded stress due to... you know this year

biggest regret of the year?

Pretty early on in the year I made a choice to be extremely gentle with myself because of everything happening. So while I probably should have more regrets for not going as aggressively after promotions or whatever, I’m choosing to really just focus on getting through this.

best movie of the year?

The Old Guard

favourite place you traveled this year?

*sob*

did you make any new friends?

Not exactly, but I did get closer to a number of friends that were more casual acquaintances

did you learn anything about your sexuality this year?

Nah, still queer, still mostly identifying as aro ace

what are some hobbies that you developed?

brewing kombucha! I started this pretty early in the year because I got a kit last Christmas, and have been having a lot of fun figuring out how flavours work together and how to subtly tweak the brew. I don’t have the space at the moment to expand my experimentation, but it’s been making me want to get into other fermentation projects as well

what surprised you the most this year?

how spectacularly badly my country reacted to The Unpleasantness. I was not under any delusions that the US cared about people who aren’t pointlessly rich, but I didn’t expect it to be QUITE this bad

do you look different from the beginning of the year?

My hair has gotten a lot longer and I’ve started using colored conditioners to give it a tint. My haircuts have always been a once a year major chop, so missing that this year has resulted in it being quite a lot longer then I like.

how did this year treat you in general?

In the grand scheme of things, not bad. Everyone in my household (that was still employed) also work in an office, so no one lost their job when things changed. There’s also the thing where I’m from a middle class white family so thanks to living in America, that automatically stacks a lot of things in my favor

what message would you give yourself at the beginning of the year?

You’re going to want to order some comfy pants, toilet paper, and snacks in advance.

has your fashion style changed this year?

My general look has gotten way more casual since I’m not wearing my office clothing anymore. Which is honestly kinda sad because my office wardrobe is Ms Frizzle lite, and my casual wardrobe is all my old nerdy tees. But I’ll get back to it eventually, or if we’re permanently switching to work from home, I’ll eventually cave and start buying cuter comfy clothes

one of the best meals you’ve had this year?

Any time I’ve caved and ordered a meal instead of making it has made me terribly emotional, so really any takeout meal. Listen, the one thing I really spent my money on was going out to lunch and trying new things. Going from that to making sandwiches at home or eating some combination of an egg and a carb for most meals was more of an emotional blow then I expected.

who has made the biggest impact in your life this year?

The fuckin’ US government, and not in a good way.

what’s one thing that you hope will continue next year?

I do hope that people normalize wearing masks in public when you’re sick, and limiting the number of people in a location instead of jam packing it full. Also I hope that virtual hangouts continue so I can see my friends who live far away more often.