#I have no idea how marinates work

[lilybug-02]

Deltarune… but Sesame Street

Berdly would totally be a sock puppet

Part 2 of this

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

A procession of confessions.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[junkissed]

some quick updates !

first, i just turned in my last final so i'm officially on winter break woo!!!!! :D i have been DYING to start writing again and now that my responsibilities are out of the way i finally can :)) i can't make any promises how often i'll post because life is still busy in other ways, but i have more down time rn and i'm so excited to get back into writing <3

secondly!! if you've been following me for a while you'll know that i'm in a collab with my dear friend mars @onlymingyus called the king's gambit, and after a long break we've finally started working on it again!! it's by far my longest fic and i am so so excited to finish this collab that's been almost 2 years in the making. we are planning on making a new masterlist and taglist soon so please keep an eye out for that, and feel free to send asks if there's more you want to know! there is no release date yet as we're not finished writing but we appreciate your patience so much and i promise we are going to get it out soon!!

my wips (including tkg) are updated here :)

[disarminglybright]

Funny thing about letterkenny is like- you don't really know anything about the characters. It really does feel like you're just catching glimpses of their lives during their off hours

[tvckerwash]

a yet to be fleshed out scene from my ct lives au is more or less just ct going "I cannot believe I have to go on a mission with these 2 strangers whom I don't trust in the slightest because my former teammates mercilessly slaughtered all of my boyfriend's teammates so now his boss doesn't think he's qualified for field work anymore"

[twin-chains]

Timeline things

I figured out how to fit the BS games into the timeline!

In order to incorporate all the heroes for this AU, the TC timeline will be split up so that “every time someone time travels and makes significant changes in that time, a new timeline split is created” (so going back in time to complete the Temple of Time in Twilight Princess wouldn’t cause a new timeline for instance). Basically this rule means that a timeline is created where the person DID travel through time and a timeline where the person LEFT and life continues on without that person, as if they just vanished into thin air. It is much more confusing than Nintendo's timeline but bare with me

This creates 4 main timeline splits

when Impa travels back and forth to aid Zelda in Skyward Sword

when Zelda sends Link back to his childhood in Ocarina of Time (we already know this one)

when Veran possesses Nayru to travel between the ages in Oracle of Ages

when Zelda travels back in time in the memories in Tears of the Kingdom

(technically Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition doesn't combine or split the timelines but rather makes the timelines super unstable since Cia brought people to her time rather than traveled herself, more on that later)

Skyward Sword

When Impa travels back and forth in time to help guide Zelda (Destiny) as Hylia's reincarnation, she inadvertently brings Ghirahim with her and starts the events of Skyward Sword as we know it. This is known as the Master Sword timeline because Link (Chosen) ends up upgrading the white goddess sword into the master sword.

However, this means Impa leaves a timeline where she didn't time travel in the first place known as the Goddess Sword timeline. In that timeline, Destiny is not kidnapped by Ghirahim but does end up being drawn to the power of the triforce on the surface. Chosen and Groose try to help her but Chosen doesn't find the goddess sword and Groose (the first ancestor of the Gerudo) ends up sacrificing himself to help defend them. Destiny somehow ends up barely sealing Demise but without Impa's guidance, she accidentally fuses the pieces of the triforce into one singular artifact known as the light force. The hylians of Skyloft still descend to found the settlement of Hyrule but some creatures (who later become the Minish) stay in the sky and discover the untouched goddess sword.

Demise's monster army is still scouring the surface as Hyrule is being founded. So in the Age of the Minish that follows, the small race descend from the sky and bring the light force and the goddess sword (referred to as the Picori Blade) to the hylians to help defeat the monsters. The light force only responds to the new princess (Power) due to her goddess bloodline. The hero of men (Mighty) wields the Picori blade and seals the monsters of Demise into the Bound Chest, thus creating the legends in the intro sequence of the Minish Cap. The Picori Blade goes on to become the Four Sword in the events of Minish Cap. Based on this, the Goddess Sword timeline contains the Four Swords trilogy (Minish Cap, Four Swords, FSA) while the rest of the games exist in the Master Sword timeline.

Ocarina of Time

We already know how the adult timeline and child timeline split. The downfall timeline is also basically the same in concept. When Young Link tries to wield the Master Sword, there's a timeline where he doesn't travel forward in time or get aged up into Adult Link. Thus, Young Link is not strong enough to defeat Ganondorf and dies during their fight.

The Adult timeline contains The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and Hyrule Warriors.

The Child timeline contains Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, Link's Crossbow Training, the Age of the Sheikah (first Calamity), and Breath of the Wild.

The Downfall timeline contains ALTTP, Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages, and Link's Awakening.

Oracle of Ages

In OOA, the Twinrova send Veran to possess Nayru and use her time powers to go back in time to light the flame of sorrow while Legend uses the Harp of Ages to collect the Essences to stop them. But by doing so, there is a timeline that Veran-Nayru leaves and Legend is able to defeat the Twinrova prematurely, without the flame of sorrow lit to resurrect Ganon. In that battle, as a last ditch effort, the Twinrova curse Legend with horrible sorrow before they are defeated. This causes him to carry this innate sorrow in his heart that is subtle at first and slowly grows over time but Legend is none-the-wiser and sails home.

When Legend is sailing home, he goes on the adventure in Link's Awakening. But because of his growing sorrow, he can't bear the thought of saying goodbye to Koholint or waking the Wind Fish, so he chooses to stay there and live in that dream world forever. This is known as the Dream timeline.

In the Dream timeline, it's unknown if Legend is alive or if he died at sea or is in a weird state of Schrödinger’s limbo. In Legend's absence, the monsters of his time return six years later and two young children Star and Sun are forced to take up the mantle. They do not have the hero's spirit (Legend holds it) but are endowed with the light of the goddess, going on to become the heroes of light in BS Ancient Stone Tablets. These two heroes also go on a very fast-paced adventure many years later in BS The Legend of Zelda.

The other timeline where Legend successfully completes OOA and Link's Awakening in canon is called the Reality Timeline. In the Reality timeline, Legend returns home successfully and can defeat the monsters that return with ease. Many years later, Legend's successor Clover does ALBW and then travels to Hytopia to become one of the Triforce Heroes with two other Links nicknamed Ember and Aqua. In the Reality timeline, Hyrule enters an era of peace for many years until the Era of Decline, when Fay becomes the hero of TLOZ and the Adventures of Link.

Tears of the Kingdom

When Zelda goes back in time in the beginning of TOTK, she creates a timeline where she becomes the light dragon and lives for over 10,000 years (which is the canon of BOTW and TOTK) known as the Light Dragon timeline. The young pre-Calamity Zelda would notice the dragon during her childhood and feel strangely drawn to the creature, she ends up pulling herself away from her Sheikah research sometimes to spend time trying to catch a glimpse or study ancient legends about dragons and Zonai. The events of BOTW and TOTK occur normally in this LD timeline.

In the timeline where she doesn't become the LD, Zelda solely focuses on Sheikah research and experiments with ancient relics, even re-activating a strange mini-Guardian she names Terrako. This is known as the Terrako timeline because when the Calamity hits, Terrako goes back in time to prevent the death of the Champions in HW: Age of Calamity (technically creating 3 timelines because Terrako time travels too but we're going to pretend it works out for now until another game comes out)

Hyrule Warriors

Normally, Hyrule Warriors is the game that connects all the OOT timelines because of Cia opening up the time-space portals between the eras, allowing for Breath of the Wild to come after. However in this timeline, BOTW occurs in the child timeline with Twilight Princess, which is why the past heroes mentioned in the Subdued Ceremony memory are “skyward bound, adrift in time, or steeped in the glowing embers of twilight”

Meanwhile, I put HW after Spirit Tracks when New Hyrule is founded and a new royal army is formed. Purely based on vibes in all honestly.

Instead of 'merging the timelines,' HW creates cracks and instability between the timelines, accounting for weird inconsistencies between eras like Majora's mask in Link's house in ALBW or a small subsect of the Zora evolving into Rito without the flood in the Child Timeline. Maybe that’s also how the TC heroes manage to meet up across time hehe

Although, there’s a particularly strong connection between the downfall timeline and the goddess sword timeline. Namely, the palace of the four sword can be found in ALTTP while Ganon and the dark world find themselves in FSA (since with Groose’s death, the Gerudo, and Ganon by extension, cease to exist). I like to think their worlds are unstable already due to their status as ‘failed’ timelines in a sense and messing with the hero’s spirit (fracturing it into 4 with FS and the weird limbo Legend gets into in the BS games). So to compensate for their unstable states, they start to bond together and share pieces from their world like electrons to form some semblance of stability and strength.

This was just supposed to be about accounting for the BS games but all this timeline talk kinda got away from me and became an essay, it’s fun to think about though!

[waywardsalt]

gonna be a hater in tags real quick

[angerygoomba]

listening to ants from up there like a normal healthy person that has relationships that they know will thrive and will not be lost and is certain of their future and enjoys whats happening today and what was happening yesterday and last week and last month. and im cool about it

[thebeautifulfantastic]

<3

[uraniumglassgirl]

I love aokiji from one piece. Hes my little swimbly bimbly

[gobbogoo]

Big subject-switch, but the discussion of the "horror of being a parasite" is one of the main things that makes vampires so interesting. The modern vampire originated as a critique of aristocracy, and just like with aristocracy, they are shown as parasites that consider themselves superior to mankind while also being completely reliant on them.

There is a deep inferiority complex within a lot of vampire psychology. They have all these cool powers, but it costs them their freedom and their humanity. They can't feel the sun, can't easily engage with the society they used to belong to, can't eat the food they used to enjoy. To be a parasite is to be simultaneously antagonistic with and dependent on other creatures. It makes them wretched in a way they cannot help.

Dendrogaster (a crustacean that parasitizes starfish)

[archaeren]

How I learned to write smarter, not harder

(aka, how to write when you're hella ADHD lol)

A reader commented on my current long fic asking how I write so well. I replied with an essay of my honestly pretty non-standard writing advice (that they probably didn't actually want lol) Now I'm gonna share it with you guys and hopefully there's a few of you out there who will benefit from my past mistakes and find some useful advice in here. XD Since I started doing this stuff, which are all pretty easy changes to absorb into your process if you want to try them, I now almost never get writer's block.

The text of the original reply is indented, and I've added some additional commentary to expand upon and clarify some of the concepts.

As for writing well, I usually attribute it to the fact that I spent roughly four years in my late teens/early 20s writing text roleplay with a friend for hours every single day. Aside from the constant practice that provided, having a live audience immediately reacting to everything I wrote made me think a lot about how to make as many sentences as possible have maximum impact so that I could get that kind of fun reaction. (Which is another reason why comments like yours are so valuable to fanfic writers! <3) The other factors that have improved my writing are thus: 1. Writing nonlinearly. I used to write a whole story in order, from the first sentence onward. If there was a part I was excited to write, I slogged through everything to get there, thinking that it would be my reward once I finished everything that led up to that. It never worked. XD It was miserable. By the time I got to the part I wanted to write, I had beaten the scene to death in my head imagining all the ways I could write it, and it a) no longer interested me and b) could not live up to my expectations because I couldn't remember all my ideas I'd had for writing it. The scene came out mediocre and so did everything leading up to it. Since then, I learned through working on VN writing (I co-own a game studio and we have some visual novels that I write for) that I don't have to write linearly. If I'm inspired to write a scene, I just write it immediately. It usually comes out pretty good even in a first draft! But then I also have it for if I get more ideas for that scene later, and I can just edit them in. The scenes come out MUCH stronger because of this. And you know what else I discovered? Those scenes I slogged through before weren't scenes I had no inspiration for, I just didn't have any inspiration for them in that moment! I can't tell you how many times there was a scene I had no interest in writing, and then a week later I'd get struck by the perfect inspiration for it! Those are scenes I would have done a very mediocre job on, and now they can be some of the most powerful scenes because I gave them time to marinate. Inspiration isn't always linear, so writing doesn't have to be either!

Some people are the type that joyfully write linearly. I have a friend like this--she picks up the characters and just continues playing out the next scene. Her story progresses through the entire day-by-day lives of the characters; it never timeskips more than a few hours. She started writing and posting just eight months ago, she's about an eighth of the way through her planned fic timeline, and the content she has so far posted to AO3 for it is already 450,000 words long. But most of us are normal humans. We're not, for the most part, wired to create linearly. We consume linearly, we experience linearly, so we assume we must also create linearly. But actually, a lot of us really suffer from trying to force ourselves to create this way, and we might not even realize it. If you're the kind of person who thinks you need to carrot-on-a-stick yourself into writing by saving the fun part for when you finally write everything that happens before it: Stop. You're probably not a linear writer. You're making yourself suffer for no reason and your writing is probably suffering for it. At least give nonlinear writing a try before you assume you can't write if you're not baiting or forcing yourself into it!! Remember: Writing is fun. You do this because it's fun, because it's your hobby. If you're miserable 80% of the time you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong!

2. Rereading my own work. I used to hate reading my own work. I wouldn't even edit it usually. I would write it and slap it online and try not to look at it again. XD Writing nonlinearly forced me to start rereading because I needed to make sure scenes connected together naturally and it also made it easier to get into the headspace of the story to keep writing and fill in the blanks and get new inspiration. Doing this built the editing process into my writing process--I would read a scene to get back in the headspace, dislike what I had written, and just clean it up on the fly. I still never ever sit down to 'edit' my work. I just reread it to prep for writing and it ends up editing itself. Many many scenes in this fic I have read probably a dozen times or more! (And now, I can actually reread my own work for enjoyment!) Another thing I found from doing this that it became easy to see patterns and themes in my work and strengthen them. Foreshadowing became easy. Setting up for jokes or plot points became easy. I didn't have to plan out my story in advance or write an outline, because the scenes themselves because a sort of living outline on their own. (Yes, despite all the foreshadowing and recurring thematic elements and secret hidden meanings sprinkled throughout this story, it actually never had an outline or a plan for any of that. It's all a natural byproduct of writing nonlinearly and rereading.)

Unpopular writing opinion time: You don't need to make a detailed outline.

Some people thrive on having an outline and planning out every detail before they sit down to write. But I know for a lot of us, we don't know how to write an outline or how to use it once we've written it. The idea of making one is daunting, and the advice that it's the only way to write or beat writer's block is demoralizing. So let me explain how I approach "outlining" which isn't really outlining at all.

I write in a Notion table, where every scene is a separate table entry and the scene is written in the page inside that entry. I do this because it makes writing nonlinearly VASTLY more intuitive and straightforward than writing in a single document. (If you're familiar with Notion, this probably makes perfect sense to you. If you're not, imagine something a little like a more contained Google Sheets, but every row has a title cell that opens into a unique Google Doc when you click on it. And it's not as slow and clunky as the Google suite lol) (Edit from the future: I answered an ask with more explanation on how I use Notion for non-linear writing here.) When I sit down to begin a new fic idea, I make a quick entry in the table for every scene I already know I'll want or need, with the entries titled with a couple words or a sentence that describes what will be in that scene so I'll remember it later. Basically, it's the most absolute bare-bones skeleton of what I vaguely know will probably happen in the story.

Then I start writing, wherever I want in the list. As I write, ideas for new scenes and new connections and themes will emerge over time, and I'll just slot them in between the original entries wherever they naturally fit, rearranging as necessary, so that I won't forget about them later when I'm ready to write them. As an example, my current long fic started with a list of roughly 35 scenes that I knew I wanted or needed, for a fic that will probably be around 100k words (which I didn't know at the time haha). As of this writing, it has expanded to 129 scenes. And since I write them directly in the page entries for the table, the fic is actually its own outline, without any additional effort on my part. As I said in the comment reply--a living outline!

This also made it easier to let go of the notion that I had to write something exactly right the first time. (People always say you should do this, but how many of us do? It's harder than it sounds! I didn't want to commit to editing later! I didn't want to reread my work! XD) I know I'm going to edit it naturally anyway, so I can feel okay giving myself permission to just write it approximately right and I can fix it later. And what I found from that was that sometimes what I believed was kind of meh when I wrote it was actually totally fine when I read it later! Sometimes the internal critic is actually wrong. 3. Marinating in the headspace of the story. For the first two months I worked on [fic], I did not consume any media other than [fandom the fic is in]. I didn't watch, read, or play anything else. Not even mobile games. (And there wasn't really much fan content for [fandom] to consume either. Still isn't, really. XD) This basically forced me to treat writing my story as my only source of entertainment, and kept me from getting distracted or inspired to write other ideas and abandon this one.

As an aside, I don't think this is a necessary step for writing, but if you really want to be productive in a short burst, I do highly recommend going on a media consumption hiatus. Not forever, obviously! Consuming media is a valuable tool for new inspiration, and reading other's work (both good and bad, as long as you think critically to identify the differences!) is an invaluable resource for improving your writing.

When I write, I usually lay down, close my eyes, and play the scene I'm interested in writing in my head. I even take a ten-minute nap now and then during this process. (I find being in a state of partial drowsiness, but not outright sleepiness, makes writing easier and better. Sleep helps the brain process and make connections!) Then I roll over to the laptop next to me and type up whatever I felt like worked for the scene. This may mean I write half a sentence at a time between intervals of closed-eye-time XD

People always say if you're stuck, you need to outline.

What they actually mean by that (whether they realize it or not) is that if you're stuck, you need to brainstorm. You need to marinate. You don't need to plan what you're doing, you just need to give yourself time to think about it!

What's another framing for brainstorming for your fic? Fantasizing about it! Planning is work, but fantasizing isn't.

You're already fantasizing about it, right? That's why you're writing it. Just direct that effort toward the scenes you're trying to write next! Close your eyes, lay back, and fantasize what the characters do and how they react.

And then quickly note down your inspirations so you don't forget, haha.

And if a scene is so boring to you that even fantasizing about it sucks--it's probably a bad scene.

If it's boring to write, it's going to be boring to read. Ask yourself why you wanted that scene. Is it even necessary? Can you cut it? Can you replace it with a different scene that serves the same purpose but approaches the problem from a different angle? If you can't remove the troublesome scene, what can you change about it that would make it interesting or exciting for you to write?

And I can't write sitting up to save my damn life. It's like my brain just stops working if I have to sit in a chair and stare at a computer screen. I need to be able to lie down, even if I don't use it! Talking walks and swinging in a hammock are also fantastic places to get scene ideas worked out, because the rhythmic motion also helps our brain process. It's just a little harder to work on a laptop in those scenarios. XD

In conclusion: Writing nonlinearly is an amazing tool for kicking writer's block to the curb. There's almost always some scene you'll want to write. If there isn't, you need to re-read or marinate.

Or you need to use the bathroom, eat something, or sleep. XD Seriously, if you're that stuck, assess your current physical condition. You might just be unable to focus because you're uncomfortable and you haven't realized it yet.

Anyway! I hope that was helpful, or at least interesting! XD Sorry again for the text wall. (I think this is the longest comment reply I've ever written!)

And same to you guys on tumblr--I hope this was helpful or at least interesting. XD Reblogs appreciated if so! (Maybe it'll help someone else!)

[leniisreallycool]

"His brown is short and but wavey and pretty and he has eyes." I'm such a good writer

[fifty-ten]

i just went out with a bunch of people i just met to a local arcade????? And despite this being a landmark in socialization for me the main thing i keep thinking about is how they had VS excitebike. I genuinely never thought I'd see a VS nintendo arcade cabinet in my life

[juniemunie]

ok im not sure if i can put this into right words which is why i took so long to respond but i see it a little like this:

a friend told me that GOTNF to them was like a promise to the audience that they wouldnt go with "a bunch of cheap, annoying, marketable tropes and cliches" and yea they're right.... and then THW happened

they wanted to try the whole "what if we gave toothless his independence? what if the dragons had to leave? how would hiccup handle being separated with toothless? how would berk feel and handle themselves living without the dragons?" the whole shebang but twisted everything about it it to end up like... *gestures to all of THW* that.

THE SHIT (GOLD) YOU FIND IN THE OCEAN (YOUTUBE COMMENT’S SECTION)

[nonasuch]

it's that time:

Miss Universe National Costume 2024

is Here!

that's right! Everyone's favorite justification for the continued existence of beauty pageants has returned. with Looks!

Some of this year's top Themes include:

foliage!

gold!

weapons!

giant birds!

letting seventh-graders make your costume, apparently!

I did watch the video, but the most complete version I could find is missing a bit at the beginning. So I can't tell you what the inspiration was for anything before Bolivia; on the bright side that's fewer shitty rhyming couplets I had to suffer through.

Let's begin with:

Miss Angola! Tone down the color palette a little, and this honestly could have worked for that year the Met Gala was Catholicism- themed.

Miss Argentina, looking just thrilled about the sparkly toucan on her head. I feel like this is supposed to read as some combination of jungle/river/waterfall but this is from the part that I couldn't find on video.

Miss Aruba, I don't know if your giant spangly bird headdress was supposed to look like a potoo, but I am choosing to believe that it's on purpose and I love that for you.

(okay I checked, it's an endangered Aruban burrowing owl. even better!)

This is like the fourth year in a row Miss Australia has just worn a regular-ass gown. Do better!

You know who's doing better? Miss Bahamas, is who. Look at that giant fish. I wish I had video of this, I bet it moves.

Ah yes, when I think of Belarus I definitely think 'verdant tropical foliage.' also is it just me or is does the bodice fit very weird.

Holy shit, Miss Bolivia. This is where the video kicks in, so I can tell you that she somehow managed to dance in it. I'm a little afraid that this costume is going to eat Miss Aruba.

Miss Bonaire is from a Caribbean island that I don't think has ever competed in Miss Universe before? They have a national marine park that this costume is based on, which is is nice!

Miss Botswana's costume is made of leather and cowrie shells, and she is clearly having a great time being able to move freely without 75 pounds of headdress or platform heels. She did a very cute dance that kind of felt like a flex on her more heavily encumbered competitors.

Miss Brazil is wearing a tribute to Brazil's mineral wealth, which is something that basically every country with a mine in it has done at some point. I like the pannier-esque things, I guess.

Love a Tribute To A Weirdly Specific Thing, and Miss British Virgin Islands' mail-themed costume is a wonderful example of such.

Miss Bulgaria showed up dressed as a supervillain, her outfit is vaguely themed around 'the strength of women' and she just spat out a MOUTHFUL of BLOOD? on stage??? No idea how to react to that, frankly.

I'm going to pause to get the next batch of images together, and also to recover from the 'spat out a mouthful of blood' thing, because I was NOT prepared for that.