#I have way too many unfinished drafts and scripts

[kikizoshi]

Feeling discouraged, so here's a short, unfinished Godos piece that will never be realised. Nikolai's attempting (read: failing) to write his first draft of a play (an adaptation of Dead Souls, Part 2). Fyodor was going to cheer him up and inspire him, somehow, but I don't have any clue how, so this is all I could get out of that idea. (I do at least like how it turned out, though, unfinished as it is.)

---

The words on the page taunted Nikolai like so many Sufi dervishes. They blurred, swirled into characters half-formed, who jumped and jeered just out of Nikolai’s sight. ‘Find us,’ they seemed to say. ‘Come and see our beautiful lives! And then depict us, reveal us to everyone, that we may truly exist.’ They beckoned him to find them, invited him to view their marvelous exploits, to laugh along with their absurd adventures—and then just as he reached to meet them, they slipped away, laughing. Unendingly they tortured him with scenes just beyond grasp, a perfect story hidden in the periphery of a dense fog.

Nikolai groaned, leaned back, and pressed his palms against his eyes. It was a perfect picture of agony, well-practiced and endlessly rehearsed. ‘Yet all the acting in the world won’t save a lacking script,’ he thought. ‘Ah, why can’t you just write yourselves? Hop along, I’ll even guide the quill, so long as you do something, anything, oh please…’ His entreaties, of course, prompted naught but more formless tittering. Nikolai sighed, and contemplated how effective bashing his scull against the door-jam would be at shaking something loose.

“Is something the matter?” an irritatingly calm Fyodor asked from behind him. Nikolai swung around in his chair, resting his arms on the back, and stared pointedly at his relaxed friend who lounged so serenely on the green recliner, a book nestled under his folded palms. The question itself was preemptive, a set-up, a frivolous first line of a three-line script which always arrived at the same conclusion. Nikolai recognised the offer for friendly—and perhaps even needed—advice, but took it no less bitterly. He smiled mirthlessly. Nevertheless, he played his part.

“Whatever gave you that impression? Was it the willful suicide of the last of my creative expression? Or perhaps you hear them laughing too?”

“Your characters won’t work with you?” (Here, the second phrase, to be replied with…)

“Oh, far beyond that. They won’t speak to me at all! I’m being shunned.”

“I see.” Fyodor concluded and stood, pulling the curtain on their impromptu play. Nikolai watched him go, mildly curious which remedy Fyodor would prescribe this time. “I need to visit the theatre,” he said finally. “Would you like to join me?”

Nikolai laughed flatly. “For what? The stage doesn’t—and I say this from great experience—do anything for one’s imagination. If anything, it’s worse, because you see everything that has been and none of what could be! Can you imagine that? I know, I know, you’re ‘not that way artistically inclined,’ but imagine for a moment that the sentences of your computer codes were jumping and jaunting about in front of your very eyes, and so to fix it, you decided to stare at someone else's pages. Well? Would that help you very much?”

“Most likely it wouldn’t.” Fyodor smiled. “But we won’t be going to the stage. I need to stop by the costuming department. Misha talked one of the women there into parting with an unused costume design for Verenka, but couldn’t pick it up himself.”

“And you just so happen to be free?”

“No,” Fyodor said, a bit dejected. “But I couldn’t stand to stare at my colleagues’ ‘pages’. As you say, it won’t do any good.” He sighed wearily. “Some fresh air and new scenery, tea, something else to think about… I need them greatly. And some company would be nice, too.”

Nikolai stood without ceremony (a shame, yes, but recall his lack of inspiration and forgive him), stretched, and said flatly, “Well then, what are we waiting for?”

---

As it turned out, Nikolai was quite quick to regret those words. A lovely stroll down the uncharacteristically sun-touched streets of St. Petersburg wound down into a bustling cafe.

---

Surprisingly, all went well at the theatre. The lady was quite nice, expressing her condolences and well-wishes for the ‘poor young woman’, and waved them on their way. Pattern safely secured, the two stopped by the next-door cafe, ‘The Stray Dog’, (home to aspiring and established artists alike), for a spot of tea. And thence all collapsed.

[truly-hopeless]

WIP Meme

Was tagged by @eleonoraw. I don't know if I should be thrilled to be included or feel embarrassed that I now have to reveal the full extent of my rabbit chasing instead of focusing on what I have now.

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

I don't exactly have a "folder," but I have a lot of ideas for stories that just keep coming to me, far too many for me to ever fully write, since I'm easily inspired by a lot of things. For my own sanity (and to avoid making the post too long) I will only share what I already started writing/outlining instead of the ideas that only either exist in my head or were talked about with friends/acquaintances (it's already going to be way too long regardless, especially since I just remembered I have stuff saved to Dropbox as well). Most of it is Death Note related (the brainrot is four years old now), but I have also had a few ideas for Barbie as well and I also have my own original stuff that I'm also working on (they didn't say it had to just be fanfics, right?).

Death Note/Cabin in the Woods AU (rewrite, + scrapped bits for original version)

Lost To The Night (continuation, three chapters being worked on at once, dark Vampire!L fic [under The Hellbound Heartbreaker])

The Interloper (continuation [and scrapped versions of prologue], Death Note AU, OC-centric)

Death Note: Legacy Episode Two (barely started, 2017 Netflix Death Note reimagining)

The Cat Who Stares Down Gods (side-story of Death Note: Legacy)

Mizuki's Worst Birthday (another Legacy side-story)

Bittersweet Valentine (yet another Legacy side-story, Lawmane-centric)

Untitled Valentine Legacy Side Story (Xain/Branwen)

Untitled Summer Legacy Side Story (Xain/Branwen)

Coffee Shop/Xain "Meets" Bogart (Unfinished scripted scene for Legacy)

Halfway Down (Bojack Horseman-inspired Death Note one-shot)

Love Notes (Eros/Psyche Lawlight Death Note AU)

The Thought of Fresh Meat (It Is Making Me Ill) (Venom inspired Death Note AU entry for the Beasts and Beauties story compilation, Xain/Branwen)

Exit Light, Enter Night (Part Two of Incubus!Light AU entry for Beasts and Beauties, Lawlight)

I Won't Cry For You (Candyman inspired Lawlight AU for Beasts and Beauties)

I Move The Stars For No One (continuation, barely started, Lawlight Rumpelstiltskin AU [am seriously considering starting from scratch])

By A Thread (Lawmane soulmate AU)

The Undying Detective (another Vampire!L fic; the vampire brainrot is also strong)

A Change in Priorities (Light/Misa parenting fic)

May I? (barely started, Ella Enchanted inspired AU, Death Note 2017 cast, possible pre-Lawlight)

Catch Me I'm Falling (draft for Next To Normal/Death Note AU)

WPaRG: Afterlife Affairs (fanfic of a fanfic [With Pearl and Ruby Glowing series], Disney/Non-Disney, heavily influenced by seeyoulater's Hells Belles TikTok series)

Untitled Changeling!Erika AU (Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper)

Barbie in Danganronpa (Barbie/My Scene AU)

The Survival Guide for the Vegetarian Vampire (My Scene horror/comedy/romance AU)

Together (original, Horror Dating Simulator concept)

The Price of Knowledge (original, paranormal romance)

Pet (original, horror/fantasy/adventure)

Untitled Barbie X L crack fic (if you know, you know)

I'm too introverted to tag 29 people (I don't even know that many), but I am tagging @ponury-grajek and @pebblesgum since as far as I know neither have been tagged yet (if you have, please disregard) and anyone else who sees this is free to do this as well if they'd like. Good luck on your works everyone. ^_^

[acephysicskarkat]

The key lesson I’ve learned from SP0P is an old piece of writing advice, and it’s ironic because the phrasing is something C*tra tried to do like five times:

Murder your darlings.

“Murder your darlings” is an old piece of writing advice that boils down to “just because you like something you’ve created doesn’t mean it’s good for the narrative”. Your priority as a writer is telling the story well. You may be very proud of the thing you did, but if it doesn’t serve that purpose, save it for another day or rewrite it until it fits cohesively.

Let’s look at C*tra’s redemption as a case study.

It’s obvious that Stevenson was super invested in it being a love-redeems moment, hence the reason that it had to be saved until permission for that was given while S5 was being written (my guess would be about halfway through given how many of S5′s scripts could have used another couple of writing passes). And look, I’m not opposed to the concept of love redeeming, that’s a perfectly workable trope.

But.

A quarter of the way into S5 is too fucking late for C*tra’s redemption arc to work narratively, especially with at least two episodes where she barely appears. It would be pushing it even if being redeemed was the only thing C*tra was doing in that season, which it’s not.

(The overall half-assed and inept way they used what time they did have is a separate problem, which I think I’ve discussed to death by now.)

The murder your darlings part is when you look at this and go: y’know, does it have to be love-redeems? Couldn’t we make it something else in order to let C*tra’s redemption arc kick off in time to make it actually work? Maybe if her realisation that it’s lonely at the top after the sack of Salineas led to character development in late S4, instead of having her undergo another personal breakdown that eats up a lot of screentime without actually giving engaging development?

And if the show had done that, it could have fixed so much.

The rushed and unfinished character development is easy to fix because now you have like three times longer to actually show her undergoing character growth. You don’t have to just say she’s undergone character growth and have her act like the same asshole she’s always been, now you have time to have her confront the consequences of those actions and learn from them.

C*tra’s redemption is also more narratively cohesive. Now she’s actively making decisions about what she values and which ambitions she is willing to give up - similar to Zuko rejecting his old life and seeking out Aang because his sense of honour demands it. Having her basically switch sides as a last-ditch effort to salvage something, a la S5, is kind of wonky and ends up feeling a bit cheap. It’s not the worst part but it definitely needed another couple of draft passes.

(”Antagonist reluctantly joins protagonists because they’re out of rope” can work as a starting point for a redemption, see also Peridot, but then you need to show them reluctantly getting used to their new teammates and undergoing gradual character growth and S5 kind of had all that happen offscreen, while we were all distracted by Double Trouble.)

It would even improve the romance. It wouldn’t fix it - that would require substantive structural alterations to the show in its entirety, starting with rewriting the third season from the ground up - but having C*tra making a decision not to get a specific Adora-related end goal but because it’s the decision she knows she should make reduces the pervasive toxicity, because now it’s not yet another display of her obsession, but a meaningful statement about who she is and is not going to be. It would give her some much-needed depth.

And all it would take would be giving up a plot point that didn’t actually make sense in context because so much of the show consists of C*tra using her connection with Adora as motivation to make Adora miserable.

Murder your darlings. It doesn’t matter how good an idea is in isolation; if making it work requires fucking up your narrative, save it for another project. If it’s really that good, you’ll find somewhere for it eventually.

[pararennial-archived]

For those who have trouble reading: This script adds a control button to your posts which allows removal of all reblog items up to the latest one. This is intended for long threads where only the immediate context for your addition is needed.

Only NPF posts can be trimmed, meaning the root post must have been made with a modern editor. All posts made from the mobile Tumblr apps since ~2018 are NPF, as are all posts made with the beta post editor on web.

This is to clarify how Trim Reblogs works. A lot of us are still using the old post editor, I miss using it too, but I need to adapt so that I don't have to rely on Editable Reblogs from the previous xKit. Editable Reblogs is the reason why our drafts are screwed up, I don't know how many people still have this problem, but I've been dealing with this issue on and off for several years since tumblr overhauled and updated everything to make it hard for us rpers. Basically, Editable Reblogs on the previous xkit was the reason why we end up publishing our unfinished drafts instead of saving them, and this really killed my desire to write because the option of saving replies that were WIP's was taken away from me.

Look, I don't wanna be that person who is literally telling or forcing people to use the new post editor, but this is the only way this widget can work. And plus, the previous xkit is incredibly buggy, and I'm convinced the admins have abandoned it because there has not been any improvements or updates since the last update.

[bouncyirwin]

20-25 if you don’t mind for the writers ask :)

20. Do you write in your native language?

Not anymore, I used to write fic in it from 8-12 I think before I moved on to learning and writing in English.

21. Do you ever want to write a novel/original work?

Yes! I have original ideas that I’d like to turn into novels/scripts in the future but I’m more interested in fanfics atm.

22. Favourite part about writing fanfiction?

I would say the emotional connection to the characters that makes exploring them so much fun. And the pre-existing story acts like a sandbox. It’s fun to shape it the way you want.

23. Least favourite part about writing fanfiction?

Hmm ... I’m not sure honestly. Sometimes the self-doubt though I don’t think that’s strictly a ‘fanfic’ issue—more a writing issue than anything. There’s also the fact that sometimes you get an idea and a few chapters into writing it you realise someone else is writing something with the same elements and you feel a bit bummed out. And, I guess, it’s annoying that a large group of people view fanfiction as something ‘lesser’ than normal writing. It’s really not

24. How many unfinished works are in your drafts?

A lot. I’m notorious for having an entire closet of WIPs and for not finishing many things I start (I’m yet to finish a multi-chap. Hasn’t happened ever). I used to be hard on myself about that but honestly some ideas are just meant to be poked and prodded for fun and don’t necessarily need to become a long complex story. I enjoy writing them and then I move onto other things and when I reread them I still enjoy them even when they’re unfinished.

25. An neglected work you wished you would finish?

I have 2 I’ll be working on finishing soon. Starting with The Story of Another Us because we’re near the end. And Wish I Knew You because life distracted me from it and I still love the premise. Finishing them is not easy, I’ve neglected them far too long that part of me feels I need to rewrite them from scratch but we’ll see how it goes.

Thanks for those lovely asks and your interest 🙈❤️

Writer’s Ask

[artmakerproductions]

“Billy & Sarah in: Revenge of the Gremlins”:

1) - 3) 

An fan project idea I had that would carry the dark humour/black comedy aspect of “Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil” (which I had recently seen at the time) and the formula of "The Return of the Living Dead" w/ the '84 film being based off true events and then the real deal show up. To throw a curve ball at the characters/audience, the rules set in that film are of no help and were changed 'round for that film. Here, the Gremlins/Mogwai are truly nasty and are flesh eaters. Going for the darker tone of the early drafts by Chris Columbus. It starred an alternate version of my own two characters, Billy and Sarah, who both were based on the classic straight man (being Sarah) and goofball (being Billy) shtick seen in old films such as Bud Abbott & Lou Costello meet Frankenstein which is where the inspiration for the characters in question came from. *clears throat* Anyways, this version of them had Sarah as a rebel punk teenager and Billy was a fun loving child prodigy who was already in high school. An odd pair to say the least for an equally odd film, had I made it. I even got as far w/ this in the form of an early (and unfinished) script draft of this idea. Roughly 40 pages in it. Might share it later.

The first concepts of these new Gremlins are based off the concept art seen here: cdn.flipsnack.com/iframehtml5/…, (Pg. 150-151)

4) 

A revision of the rules of the mogwai (written as mogui in the unfinished script I made) and gremlins: 1) - Don't feed them any meats, that makes them get aggressive and turn fully carnivorous. 2) - They reproduce if they eat enough/too much at once and too quick. They start having a coughing fit almost as if chocking on something and upchuck several hairballs that all grow into more mogui. As gremlins, they'll simply barf up pellets (like an owl) but in an even grosser way. 3) - The coming of dawn is what kills them as the morning sun is usually viewed as the coming of a new and fresh start and causes wicked spirits to flee/retreat. If they take cover and hide out long enough the sun becomes harmless. An additional rule that I didn't add to explain the transformation: 4) - Don't give them food late at night on a full moon no matter what. Cause after being given food around this time, the characters thinking that it's okay because it isn't midnight yet, find it heir mogui dead the next morning. Suspecting it might've been from food poisoning. The mogui is buried in the backyard. That's when it changes. It wasn't dead at all, merely cocooned within its own skin. Shedding it like how many invertebrates do (crabs, scorpions, spiders, etc.) and transforming into a new scaly little monster, a gremlin. As for the multiplication w/ water, in the original myth of the mogwai, they sexually reproduce before/during the rainy seasons as it means rich and prosperous times ahead. Here it just makes them incredibly violent, horny and sex-crazed; like how certain animals do when the rutting season occurs at a certain point of the year or when they reach a certain age, despite not having the reproductive ‘bits and pieces’ down there like most other animals. All drawn in 2017... maybe. Not sure.

5) 

A mogwai written as mogui in that unfinished script of mine). The description I gave for the critter here was loosely based on the early prototypes of the mogwai design for the film: cdn.onebauer.media/one/empire-…, i.pinimg.com/originals/aa/ff/9…. From what was finished, the main four characters: Billy and Sarah respectively along w/ two others, Bud and Lou, acquire a metal box w/ a small ball of fur in it. One thing leads to another and it lands in a cup of water and it grows rapidly. Soaking up all the glass’s contents and *pop* a brand new mogui is born. Felt like drawing these after re-reading that old script of mine.

6) 

This new version of the gremlin here is a killer, being far more malicious and evil than what is seen in the ‘84 film (though some of that classic looney tunes energy does shine through now and again). Like in the earlier drafts of the script by Chris Columbus, they eat people.

7) 

Sketch of an even meaner and evil lookin’ gremlin.

[abitterlifethroughcinema]

THE St. Jordi BCN Film Festival ’21 FILM REVIEWS, VOL. II: What’s Fine…and not!

by Lucas Avram Cavazos

YOUR #VOSE take on upcoming international cinema premiering in Catalonia & Spain soon!

Hotel Coppelia by Jose Maria Cabral ###-1/2

As I screened Hotel Coppelia at this year’s festival, I was rather taken aback by how little I knew about the history behind the Dominican Republic and the US involvement/engagement/disruption of the island country. It is 1965 as the film commences and the ladies of the bordello and hotel, Coppelia, attend to their clientele with razor sharp precision and beguiling ways that aim to keep a roaring crowd coming back to fill the coffers, run by the icy and fierce bish, Judith (Lumi Lizardo). While the film mostly follows young server/performer Gloria, played with mild perfection by actress Nashla Bogaert, it’s the intermingling of the ladies at the brothel that aids in building an emotional response to the characters rather quickly. And when the US army invades the coastal town and ensconce themselves within the confines of the hotel to “fight the communists,” we see yet another heinous example of why so many despise the guise with which the US army lies with it appearance of helping by taking with force. This, incidentally, is exactly how every modern power on Earth has taken their stance to get to whatever they perceive they are. Hotel Coppelia, and a new student I’m teaching, has made my new history study a waltz around this incredible island, rumoured to be where Columbus actually landed as his furthest Northern reach. Lovely and necessary film…

Where to watch: TBA

Penguin Bloom by Glendyn Ivin ###-1/2

Not knowing what to expect with an Aussie film with the word ‘penguin’ in it, I was mostly moved to screen it because who doesn’t dig Naomi Watts? But what a lovely if heartbreaking tale of truth turned celluloid treasure with this unexpected, wee gem of a film. Oscar-nominated actress Watts plays Sam Bloom, a mum vacationing with her family in Thailand when a terrible accident leaves her paralysed from the waist down. Feeling like a burden to her husband (Andrew Lincoln) and her kids, when one of them rescues a little magpie chick and the parents decide the kiddos can keep it, what ends up happening is a bond between the depressed, defeated mother and the little bird with a broken limb. You can probably imagine what happens but the easy nature of this true tale leaves you feeling grateful, happy with perhaps a few tears of joy rolling down your lovely cheeks.

Where to watch: will be in local cinemas 10/9/21

Wild Mountain Thyme by John Patrick Shanley ##

I really can’t begin to explain how much I couldn’t believe I was watching Emily Blunt cop to an attempt at an Irish accent in this blasé, Nicholas Sparks-style romance. Starring Blunt and Christian Grey-typecast character actor Jamie Dornan, this film tells the story of the selling-off of an Irish family’s farm to a wealthy US-American nephew (read: the asshole and he is Jon Hamm...yum yum) instead of the family’s son (Dornan). What I also found most odd was watching Christopher Walken try and feign being an Irish patriarch. Could we not cull together Colm Meaney or Brendan Gleeson or ANY wonderful Irish actor above 65 to play this role? At one point around the middle juncture of the film, I actually found myself counting cliches of too many modern romance dramedies, and I eventually became perplexed as to how this was greenlit in the first place for production and why Blunt and Dornan would have signed up for this trite shite…absolutely no idea.

Where to watch: in local cinemas 23/07/21

Blithe Spirit by Edward Hall ##

Part of the comedy lineup at this year’s BCN Film Festival, Blithe Spirit is based upon the like-titled 1941 comical play by Noel Coward. Screening the film on a smaller room at Cines Verdi BCN, I really did find it strange that top actors’ actors like Judi Dench and Isla Fisher would sign up for what turned out to be a sad sap of a film. Telling the story of Charles (Dan Stevens) who’s a wealthy writer embroiled in a bad case of writer’s block who takes his wife (Fisher) to see a medium (Dench), whose performance goes madly awry and so Charles decides to commission the older medium to perform a session in his home, but this seems to summon Charles ex-wife (played beyond annoyingly so by Leslie Mann). Jokes that fail, overacting and weak scripting made this particular comedy a dud on arrival.

Where to watch: in local cinemas on 22/10/21

Last Call by Steven Bernstein ##

This film marks a moment when an accomplished cinematographer finally brings a long-desired project to fruition and onto screens. Director Bernstein has been working behind the scenes for over 35 years on innumerable movies, but he actually released an unfinished draft of this film entitled Dominion and also starring Rhys Ifans and John Malkovich back in 2016. With Last Call, a full-length feature film starring the aforementioned actors come together to tell the story of the final hours of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’ final day. It’s a grim day where he downs eighteen shots, chats up a myriad of people, who may or may not be there, and that is until the seizure that eventually brought about his death. What Bernstein serves up however is a choppy story with certain scenes that throw continuity to the wind, but you can tell the director is a true fan of the poet and desired to create a testament to the man for whose name ‘Bob Dylan’ was transformed from Robert Zimmerman. Alas, no wannabe deep conversations or great actors can save this MEH! piece…sorry!

Where to watch: TBA

[theartoflovingthomashunt]

HWU101: A Transfer

Masterlists: [Hollywood U] || [Red Carpet Diaries]  || [Baby Hunt]  || [Love & Scotch HWU/OH]  ||  [#HollywoodHacks HWU/LH]

Characters: Alex, Thomas Hunt, Addison Sinclair, Holly Chang, Mike Tanner, Ben Park (#LoveHacks)

Series Background: This takes place in my current Hollywood U AU a couple of years before Love & Scotch. It also is set before the #LoveHacks Choices series. 

Hunt and Alex are dating openly. He had his tenure stripped and they are both on probation, but they are in the clear. With the success of Permanent Wound and the press from outing Richard Sheridan and The Silver Circle, Alex is in high demand. She wants to produce her first movie and Hunt has agreed to direct (coming out of retirement). Now if only they can agree on it!

(This starts off with the canon storyline of them moving forward with Centaurus Lost, but it falls apart at the start of this and moves on with an original story.)

Chapter Synopsis: Hunt agreed to come out of retirement to direct Alex’s first solo-produced film, Centaurus Lost, but the production is going anything but smoothly. Will things change with the arrival of new student, Ben Park?

☆  ☆   ☆   ☆   ☆

 “Cut!” Hunt shouted. His fingers dug through his hair as he turned away trying to gather his thoughts. “Get out! All of you! OUT!”

 “Professor?” Addison questioned, looking up from one of the actors, whose costume she was adjusting. “We still have two more scenes to shoot today.”

“Leave! That includes you, Miss Sinclair. I know how you feel about following directions, but just this once do as you’re told,” Hunt grumbled. “Everyone out! This isn’t working. I need to think.”

“Let’s wrap for today,” Alex stepped forward attempting to calm the cast and crew of Centaurus Lost. “Get some rest and be back tomorrow ready to pick up where we left off.” 

“It’s okay,” Alex continued, noting the looks of uncertainty on the faces of those around her. “Go! Enjoy the beautiful afternoon.”

Alex helped the crew clean up and put the equipment away for the day, her gaze shifting to Hunt. He continued pacing off to the side, deep in thought.

 “Hey.” Alex ran her fingers up Hunt’s back, once everyone else had left. “Tell me what’s going on.”

 Hunt shifted away, Alex’s hand falling beside her.

 “This film isn’t working.” Hunt’s scratched his jaw thoughtfully. “Miss Chang and Mr. Tanner did not stop bickering about the script all day. Every time we went to shoot a scene, one or both of them, decided there should be changes. They both have some ideas of merit, but right now, they’re hurting this film far more than helping it.”

 “Thomas,” Alex breathed. She attempted to move closer, but he avoided her once more.

“I walked away from directing once because studios fed me uninspired projects. I refuse to compromise my artistry or ethics,” Hunt ranted, his gaze stern and unrelenting. “As I said, the project has to be right for me and this one isn’t working.”

“Let’s just talk about this,” Alex suggested.

“I know how much you wanted this to work… You’re the producer, find some way to fix this!” Hunt paused for a moment before continuing. “Or... I’m leaving this production.”

Alex felt her eyes misting at his tone. “Fine!”

“Alex,” his voice was softer now at the hurt in her eyes. He moved closer.

She shook him away. “Compartmentalize. I know.”

He nodded. “Go fix this. Convince me why I should take a chance on this film when so many facets of it are falling apart already.”

Alex turned and walked away. She didn’t dare look back. The past few days had been a strain between them. Even if they had agreed not to bring work home, it was hard to turn her feelings on and off. It was one thing when she was just balancing Professor Hunt, with boyfriend Hunt, now she also had business partner and director Hunt to keep separate.

 She knew before she could fix the film, she had to save the screenplay. 

Alex texted Holly and Mike. “Campus Brew. 30 minutes. This is not an option. Be there or you’re out.”

“Nice try, sweetheart. You can’t make my movie without me,” Mike replied.

“Whose movie?” Holly answered. “I believe I’m the lead writer. My name is first on the script.”

“Relax, Pixie Dream Girl. No use getting mad and looking all hot when I’m not there to see,” Mike argued.

“ENOUGH! Act like professionals. Show up for this meeting. Or breach your contracts and be out. I’m serious.”

No wonder this film was sinking. These two were never going to play nice, which is why she had chosen a public venue for their meeting, at least that would force them to keep it together to some extent. (She hoped.)

Alex stormed into the coffee shop, barely looking up from her phone as she followed the heated text exchange from her screenwriters. At this point, nothing short of an epiphany would save the film and she knew it. Hunt was right. 

“Ahh!” A deep voice startled her as she bumped into someone, scattering their books and papers all over. 

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t even looking.” Alex quickly apologized. “This is all my fault.”

“It’s okay, Jesse Quick,” He chuckled more to himself than anything else. He adjusted his glasses.

“I’m not sure who Jesse is?” She looked at him curiously. “I’m Alex!”

“She’s just..." He paused, noting how Alex’s red shirt hugged her petite figure and the way her brown hair appeared windblown from seemingly rushing off, perhaps to save Central City. His mind had already begun sketching her before he could stop it. Everywhere he looked he saw inspiration. He quickly shook the thoughts from his head as he noted the change in her expression. "You just kind of remind me of a character from one of my favorite shows.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She smiled softly. 

“You should! She’s great.” He bent down to pick up his fallen papers. 

“These are amazing,” Alex marveled as she helped collect his scattered sketches. “You’re very talented… I don’t think I ever got your name.” 

“I’m Ben, Ben Park,” he repositioned his books and sketches in his arm so he could shake her hand. 

“Nice to meet you, Ben. I don’t think I’ve seen you around campus before,” she noted. She would definitely remember a face like that. 

“It’s actually my first day,” Ben admitted. “I just transferred from Grantmore University.” 

“In that case, can I buy you something to drink? It’s the least I can do for running into you,” Alex suggested. 

“You don’t have to do that,” he replied. 

“I want to,” Alex insisted. “I can offer you some tips about classes and any professors you may have–if you’re interested and have a few minutes.”

“I don’t want to intrude, you look like you have a lot going on,” he smiled shyly. 

“I’ve got a few minutes before my meeting. You’d actually be doing me a favor, keep me busy until then?” 

“Okay,” he agreed. 

“Great! So tell me more about yourself, Ben. What are you studying? Please tell me you’re here as a graphic artist, because if not you need to change majors ASAPs,” Alex laughed, she didn’t mean to come off so insistent, but she meant what she said. She ordered coffee for the two of them. 

“I am.” Ben blushed at the compliment. “I’m also looking into the writing program.”

“Oh, do you want to be a screenwriter?” Alex questioned. “I’m actually meeting with two screenwriters in a bit if you want to meet them.” 

Alex hesitated after she made the suggestion. Perhaps Holly and Mike were not the best exemplars of the program… at least, not at the moment. 

“I’m more interested in writing a graphic novel.” His fingers grazed a sketchbook, that he held tightly. “I’ve written drafts of a few ideas, but…”

“Do you mind if I take a look?” Alex asked cautiously. She knew how temperamental some writers could be about their unfinished work. 

“They’re probably not good,” he shook his head, considering her request. 

“You got to start somewhere, right?” Alex offered.

Ben reluctantly handed her his sketchbook containing his draft of an outer space superhero adventure. 

Alex leaned back in the armchair in the coffee shop and began flipping through his draft. Page after page, her expression changed as the story hit highs and lows. She followed the characters through joyful, devastating, and humorous moments. “This is really good, Ben.”

“You don’t have to say that,” he took his sketchbook back. 

“I mean it. It’s really good! You should definitely look into the writing program. Clearly you have a talent for it too!” She encouraged him. 

Alex and Ben continued drinking their coffees while Alex waited for Holly and Mike to arrive. Her mind had lightened with seeing the joy in his eyes as they talked about his creations, it was a lovely sight. One she had almost forgotten about while on the set of Centaurus Lost. No, it wasn’t just joy, it was passion. Passion for his creations, that’s what was missing on set. She just needed to figure out how to inspire Holly and Mike to that level of creative passion. If the screenplay had heart, the rest of everything would fall into place.

☆  ☆   ☆   ☆   ☆

Perma tags: @lilyofchoices ; @simplymissjulia ; @mfackenthal ; @the-soot-sprite ; @virtuallytakenby ; @zeniamiii ; @kaavyaethanramsey; @choicesobsessed; @xjustin-ethansgirliex

Thomas Tags: @alleksa16  ;    @flyawayboo    ;  @alj4890  ;  @twin-skltns   ;    @ab1901 ;   @riseandshinelittleblossom  ; @hopelessromantic1352  ;   @thearianam  ; @trappedinfandoms; @zodiacsign1 ; @curiouslittlefreak ; @sharrybh20​ ; @awkwardambition ; @jodibo ;

[concerningwolves]

I'm really sorry for this question but I kinda need an opinion from a writer. Basically I've wrote this story and it's basically finished. I edited it, re-read it, polished it. Generally speaking it's finished: the story is consistent, the pacing is okay, the characters work. Everything should be fine, but I find lots of gripes with how it's written, with the style itself (except for a few scenes which I think are okay). So I want to ask: in a situation like this, would you rewrite the story?

Hey Nonny, there’s no need to be sorry! I am a writing blog, and I never mind giving advice :) 

WHEN A FINISHED STORY FEELS UNFINISHED

Rewriting it again is one option - and if that feels right, definitely go for it! But a very real problem with writing is that everything exists inside your own head, and it’s difficult to work out how it feels to approach it as a reader. When I find myself in this situation, I like to follow one or all of these three steps: 

rewrite or recreate your story in a different format

Take a break and work on something else 

Seek out beta-readers 

To expand on these points: 

1) REWRITE/RECREATE IN A DIFFERENT FORMAT 

Taking your story out of its original context helps you to get a new perspective on it, which is exactly what’s needed if you want to work out what doesn’t feel right. This can be anything from drawing a story-board to rewriting in a different medium. If I originally wrote the story by hand, I type it up; if I wrote it on a laptop, I rewrite it by hand. But that’s just how I like to do it. You could also try breaking down the scenes you’re unhappy with into a script or as a dialogue-only story. Since your gripes are more about style, this method might not appeal to you so much - but it gives you space to think about the story without worrying about your writing style, which is extremely liberating. Sometimes you just need to separate your storytelling from your writing style and that’s okay.

There’s also this idea that if you rewrite something, rewrite it entirely or not at all. This method has its uses, (I find it great for moving on to second drafts of longer pieces), but sometimes it’s only one section or one scene that you want to meddle with. Drafting several variations of the same scene is a totally valid way of rewriting - which is also why I like to use different formats when rewriting. Back when WDWW was just a collection of short stories, I re-drafted one of them as a flow-chart, because that was a versatile medium and let me work out what I wanted to change and what I wanted to keep without cutting into the story I had already written. 

This is also supposed to be a fun exercise: you don’t have to recreate your story perfectly, you just need to get it down so you can see how it all comes together. You might make a sketchy story-board with stick figures and realise that the order of events is wrong, or you might write out the dialogue and realise it doesn’t fit with the action. Try different approaches and find out what works for you. 

2) TAKE A BREAK AND DO SOMETHING ELSE 

The key to a successful rewrite is a clear head. Period. You can’t force yourself to keep working on a story when you’re completely saturated with it and expect good results. This is particularly true of the finer craft details like your writing style and word choices. Working on some other creative endeavour for a bit lets you come back to your story later on with a clear head. It also stops you getting burnt out, which kills a story faster than anything else. 

How long your break is is entirely up to you. Stephen King, in his book On Writing, says he leaves his novels for at least a month and does the first draft of something else. Granted, he was talking about how he wrote so many novels, (not just how to write them well), but it’s solid advice. I usually leave short stories for at least two weeks. If you come back to your story after a break and you still feel like you can’t get a good persective, then you may either want to 

a) repeat step one

b) try step three, or

c) extend your break. 

It’s also worth mentioning that printing out your story (if it isn’t already written by hand) and attacking all the bits you’re not sure about with a chunky black marker is very satisfying. Don’t think you like the word “that” in that sentence? Black it out! Feel like the simile you chose is too cliche or sounds wrong? Black it out! I use this method for rewriting my opening paragraph(s), but it’s fine for all sorts of writing.

3) GET BETA-READERS 

Asking people to read your brain-baby is a scary, but hugely worthwhile, experience. As I’ve already said, stories get stuck inside your head; you need to work out how to tell them to other people. An outside perspective is crucial.

“How” and “Why” are probably the most important questions you can ask: beta-readers will think critically about your story, and then you need to think critically about their answers. Ask them questions about HOW certain story aspects made them feel and WHY they felt that way. If their answers catch you by surprise, that could show you what isn’t working in your story. I’ve always found with beta-readers that when a beta’s comment makes me go “Wait, you thought WHAT??”, it’s like my eyes get blown wide open and I can see exactly why I was dissatisfied with a certain passage or scene. Sometimes it didn’t convey what I thought it conveyed, and sometimes it was extra information that added too much clutter to the narrative. 

Remember that a beta-reader’s comments will come from personal opinion. This isn’t a bad thing - you want their opinion. It just means that their comments aren’t going to magically fix your story. You need to weigh their opinion against yours, and decide what you want to do about it. Betas also shouldn’t get too critical of your writing style, but they can point out anything that makes little sense, or that reads confusingly.  

Once you’ve mulled over what your betas think, either use step one or plunge straight into a re-write, keeping their feedback in mind. Their fresh perspective’s might be just what you need to work out how to finish your story. 

Happy writing! 

[Ko-Fi | FAQ | Patreon]

[naruhearts]

OKAY SO I've just spent the best part of an hour scrolling through your blog and reading a bunch of your destiel meta and I HAD to message you... I was one of the many people who STRONGLY believed destiel had a chance of being canon after season 8 (more like season gr8 am i right), but throughout the years I slowly lost all hope. However, S14 has made me 110% invested in the show again and YOUR META IS GIVING ME HOPE FOR DESTIEL, which is TERRIFYING. Your writing is wonderful and I'm STRESSED.

Got back from Washington late last night!

Oh my gosh @alovelikecas, your message really made my day and I’m SO glad you enjoy my meta xox (even when most of my meta looks like, to me, sloppy-ass writing, haha! I’ll probably make an end-season meta post after 14x20 — if I have the time — that touches upon SPN’s current and repeating themes since Season New Beginnings S12/Dabb Era, not to mention I have, like, some more unfinished meta in my drafts >.>)

Yeah I mean, I didn’t join Destiel land until Summer 2016, and before that, I was late to the Season 11 party, so I basically had no narrative context for anything, and I’ll copy-paste what I said here: 

Looking back, one significant thing I recall? S11 gave me a sense of Destiel’s true narrative validity (as not a ‘fanon’ ship but organically developed in the canon) when I perceived it as a season that was ‘missing something’. Keep in mind I had no idea about Destiel yet while watching S11 at the time.

I was literally asking myself — repeatedly — why Dean/Amara seemed to contain odd narrative holes, considering A. Dean explicitly said that the non-consensual attraction he felt for Amara was NOT love and “it scares him”, B. Amara told Dean that ‘something stops you - keeps you from having it all’, C. Djinn!Amara stated that she can: ‘feel the love [Dean] feels, except it’s cloaked in shame,’ and D. Mildred’s iconic ‘You’re pining for someone’ —> which did not logically correlate with A and C, meaning: since Dean doesn’t freely love Amara and thus isn’t possibly pining for her — with female love interests as currently non-existent (I remember crossing off the dead/gone girls on a piece of paper lol) — who the hell was he pining for, then?

Originally posted by elizabethrobertajones

Obviously, without writing long-ass paragraphs of meta about it again in this post, S11 made sense as soon as I watched it within the Destiel context (especially after I read up on some grandiose pieces of Destiel meta (@charlie-minion was the very first person who inspired me to write meta; I followed her once I joined the fandom Oh my god, here we go, holy crap this subtext – I’m invested in this godforsaken ship because they’re in love with each other and I’m not getting off any time soon. The rest is history.

I’m aware that I do come off as positive (and I’m still Destiel-positive; whatever happens in 14x20 this week may or may not change that), but I hope you don’t mind if I use your lovely ask as an additional opportunity to clarify my meta standpoint: no one’s saying Destiel WILL become text. 

The general Destiel meta community (all subfactions: Destiel-positive, -negative, -neutral, and in-between) is not the Most Holy Canon Word, and we aren’t SPN writers, and again, we can’t actually speak to the veracity of Destiel as guaranteed-gonna-go-textual, but we — a diverse pool of critical thinkers from all walks of life: particularly those who have some degree of experience in literary academia/English literature studies (fun fact: I was actually pursuing a Minor’s in English until I changed my mind - my first love’s Health Science/Biology, which I stuck with, but here I am doing lit-crit analysis on the side *wink*) — can speak to the veracity of Destiel as a real, palpable, and ever-substantial long-running romance narrative aka the love story between Dean and Cas IS THERE. I see it. We all see it. We didn’t pluck it out of the random ether one day. It naturally evolved across the show’s overarching narrative like some vast spiderweb, linked together by numerous character arc amalgamations of Dean Winchester and Castiel as separate individuals who were then brought together — who brought themselves together, by the sheer force of free will and choice — and are now inherent parts of the other’s story (and respective character progression).

I say this too many times to count: the entire point of writing meta? Personally, it enables me to appreciate the literary gorgeousness of Dean and Cas’ relationship as, first and foremost, a tentative alliance offset by the very moment Cas raised Dean from perdition (it’s a poetic beginning). Their alliance then inevitably proliferated into a rocky — at times, necessarily turbulent — friendship, then a deep profound bond…one that crossed platonic boundaries since S7/8 and is, ultimately, indelibly rooted in romance. Together, Dean and Cas build up each other’s strengths, complement each other’s flaws, and narratively motivate the other to self-introspect — to become the best version of themselves that they were always meant to be: self-actualized entities who let go of their painful, horrifying, psychologically/emotionally destitute pasts.

These above reasons and more are why I think Destiel belongs right up there on the shelf of Ye Olde Classics, similar to epics by John Milton, Shakespearian tragic dramas, Homeric characteristic cruxes, and the great Odyssey journey: a legendary journey, fraught with circumstance, that finally ended with Odysseus (now an enlightened man) returning to Penelope, the love of his life.

Channeling the scope of Homer’s Odyssey, Destiel is an incredible storytelling feat of obstacles, both internal and external, romance tropes, mirroring, foreshadowing, and visual cadence/emotion, enhancing SPN’s already character-driven main plot in that Dean and Cas try to make it back to one another; like Penelope, their love holds true despite everything. If Destiel were an M/F couple, we all know their love story would be absolutely undeniable to the GA.

I do understand the bitterness S14’s fostered in some viewers, though. I do understand that Dean and Cas seem distant (and yeah, it’s a noticeable difference compared to S12/S13), but I believe the Destiel subtext is still heavy and holds steady.

Right now, at this point, there remains multiple personal issues for the characters to solve, you know? Dean and Cas aren’t talking properly; their love languages stay mistranslated, although we’re persistently shown that they still understand each other on a certain level that no one else can, and the visual narrative keeps framing them as on-the-nose solid counterparts: a domestic-spousal romantic unit independent of Sam.

Originally posted by incatastrophicmind

They want to be there for the other. They need to quash the final remnants of their respective internal loathing (Dean’s self-worthiness, Cas’ self-expendability) before they’re able to give the other 100% of their time, efforts, attention, and love (as flawed and complicated but compellingly beautiful as it can possibly be). During the times Dean and Cas do try to talk shit out, extraneous issues continue to get between them.

As other friends/meta pals discussed with me, S14 is like S10 in that it’s confusing the cast/audiences. And exactly: S8, besides S11/S12/early S13, also belongs in the close-to-canon serious Destiel narrative transition! I can discuss the showrunning/writer problem of SBL (Singer + Bucklemming; @occamshipper hits the nail on the head) that tugs subtext – especially subtext linked to Destiel – back and forth, sometimes in the weirdest nonsensical ways, but I won’t go too far into it here. I agree, however, with the recent idea that Jensen does seem a bit confused as to where he should bring Dean emotionally this season (don’t get me wrong, I do NOT believe Dean is OOC; OOC is a completely different concept vs expected character behaviour). And if Dean’s consistently romance-coded past interactions with Cas are any indication, Jensen would also — in the same vein as all of us — want Dean and Cas to start getting their shit together. Long-running fictional characters like Dean and Cas, conceived over 10 years, are so well-written to the point where you, the author, can predict what they’ll do even if you just plop both of them inside a room and give them no direction, and I personally feel that nowadays Jensen is prevented from achieving Dean’s further internal growth/unsure how to act in the moment because of some dumb SBL scripts saying one thing while his character’s heart says another. Wank aside—

Season 15 should hopefully convey a much more logical subtextual perspective e.g. unbelievably amazingly cohesive Season Destiel 11 that aired after choppy S10. Not all hope is lost!! I also want to clarify that I personally LOVED Season 14 in general. It’s been mostly Emotion-centric constant, with Yockey, Berens, Perez, and Dabb usually making my top-rank SPN writer list.

Currently the narrative’s still allowing pretty significant (imho) wiggle room for the lovers to fracture apart and get back together, where their miscommunication comes to a dramatic head. We just saw Dean and Cas argue over Jack’s well-being in 14x18 and 19. Dean — besides putting Cas at the top of his You’re-Dead-to-Me-Because-You-Lied-but-I-Still-Love-You-Goddammit hitlist (for clear spousal-coded reasons) and taking Cas’ actions to heart (he’s the person he trusted the most who lied to him) — no doubt blamed himself for what happened, and Sam was, like I said, the mouthpiece of truth. TFW were all culpable. They all failed Jack in some way, shape, or form.

I’m not expecting anything for 14x20, but I’m nervous either way! Thanks for sticking with my long answer

[the-elemental-sides]

all of my god dang WIPs

In an attempt to put my life in some semblance of order, as well as have a convenient place to check back on the thing I should be writing at the moment, I am putting here a list of every single in-progress Sanders Sides story in my Google docs. There’s like, 15 of them, listed roughly in order from “has not been touched in 1000 years” to “worked on fairly recently.”

Oh yeah! And if any of these stories are listed as “dead” but you like the concept, feel free to take it! Let me know if you want to see what I had written.

Sanders Script

Last Modified: February 18, 2018

Status: Dead

Summary: A fake episode script where the Sides explain the Sanders Sides fandom to the recently-accepted Anxiety, who’s been staying away from the whole ordeal. My first Sanders Sides writing! I started writing it just after catching up with the series because I thought, no way could I write any kind of non-script-style fanfic out of these characters.

The Joan Thing pt II

Last Modified: March 30, 2018

Status: Dead

Summary: The first attempt of many to write a sequel to The Joan Thing. It failed. However, its concept might be something I revisit later. 

Architects

Last Modified: April 30, 2018

Status: Dead

Summary: Gods/creators-of-the-world AU sort of thing where the Sides are all creating aspects of Earth (sea, space, underground, sky) with Thomas as their supervisor. Got fired because I thought the concept was too complicated/theological, and it started feeling kind of like the Sims. 

Guardian Angels

Last Modified: April 29, 2018

Status: Most Likely Dead

Summary: In a world where many people have guardian angels, Patton finally gets his in the form of Virgil. The Sides didn’t feel entirely in-character to me, so I changed the names and started an original fiction version. Then I still wanted to write the Sides version and got confused. 

Angst

Last Modified: July 20, 2018

Status: Dead

Summary: Yep, the doc’s just called “Angst” because I wanted to practice something sad. Roman goes out on a mind palace adventure, breaks his leg fighting a monster, and can’t get home. Virgil finds him. I wrote ‘666′ soon after this and was satisfied with that.

First Person Fusions

Last Modified: July 22, 2018

Status: doesn’t look good, chief

Summary: I did publish a chapter of this on Analogical, and I have a bit of the Logince chapter done. Not sure if I’m still interested in it or not, especially since I don’t have ideas for the combined headspaces of the rest of the ships.

From The Other Side

Last Modified: July 31, 2018

Status: Hiatus

Summary: I have the prologue published. I love this idea, but I don’t know if I can finish it any time soon. It’s kind of a longer fic! We’ll see what happens to it.

Talyn, The Take Two

Last Modified: September 9, 2018

Status: Needs a miracle

Summary: This doc is a conglomerate of most of the other “Joan Thing sequel” attempts. Sorry, fans of the story, it’s just weirdly hard to write??? It’s difficult to push the concept any further without playing into even more of the unintentional D.I.D. similarities of the first. I need a really solid idea to continue this one.

A Morality Story

Last Modified: September 10, 2018

Status: PURGATORY

Summary: All right, this story is a weird case because it’s in my Tumblr drafts. It’s RIGHT there. I even got a beta for it! But I’m very self-conscious about sharing it. It’s an experimental little exchange between Morality and an OC of mine whose whole deal is morality too. Eh, maybe I’ll hit post one of these days.

Ask Prompt Doc

Last Modified: September 18, 2018

Status: In Progress

Summary: Vy and hayleycreagine/nextstep17, this one’s for you! Your asks have been in my inbox for m o n t h s and I’m still working on your suggestions. Sorry for the wait, but they SHALL be finished. Someday.

The Elemental Sides

Last Modified: Nov 2, 2018

Status: WILL be completed

Summary: My longest story, and the one the blog’s named after. It’s about Thomas discovering four spirits with elemental powers trapped in an amulet. Currently, I do have enough for another chapter written, but it’s all definitely in first-draft mode.

G/T Sides

Last Modified: Early November

Status: Hiatus

Summary: This one isn’t in a doc, but amazable01 requested a continuation of an unnamed story about Logan having a brownie, Patton, take up residence in his house. It’s currently an unfinished Tumblr draft. I don’t wanna disappoint amazable, so I’ll do what I can!

Project Doll

Last Modified: February 1, 2019

Status: In Progress

Summary: I can’t talk too much about this one because it’s my Reverse Big Bang fic. The plot is *continuous screams of horror for an hour*. See ya when I post it in April!

sides ideas

Last Modified: February 2, 2019

Status: In Progress

Summary: This one is actually pretty close to being done. I fell in love with a Sanders Sides fic and wrote my own chapter for it: an interpretation of some events that were covered in a letter. Can’t wait to finish it and talk more about how much I love this fic!

W***** L*********

Last Modified: February 5, 2019

Status: not even started yet but I made the doc

Summary: This one’s the fic I’m gonna write for the regular Big Bang (I might be getting ahead of myself, but the mods recommend we use all the time we have). I have to censor the title so I don’t spoil anything, but maybe you can guess??

Analogically

Last Modified: this morning lol (feb 6)

Status: In Progress

Summary: Based on a recommendation by theresneverenoughfandoms, this is an Analogical oneshot. Hopefully I can keep up with writing it...unlike many many stories on this list!

[a-writing-bear]

[PruCan] Chapter 8: Soft-Spoken Calling, They Want Their Shyness Back

Ao3 Link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11159997/chapters/39297289

This Has been cross-posted onto FF & Ao3 under Aliases: BearBooper

You can read this Fic on Tumblr under ‘Keep Reading’

Previous Chapter    Next Chapter

Fandom: Hetalia Axis Powers

Main Pairing: Gilbert Beilschmidt & Matthew Williams (Prussia & Canada)

AU:  College AU - Art Student Matthew and Media/Film Student Gilbert

Age Rating/Mature:  Teen And Up Audiences (12+ due to mentions of mature themes as well as swearing)

Trigger Warnings: Recreational Drugs & minor connotations of anxiety (Future addiction to mention themes such as addiction, rape etc.) WITHIN THIS CHAPTER - Mentions of Depression, Anxiety, Therapy, Counseling, and anti-depressants. (please note I am NOT anti-meds.) Family Issues are implied.

Setting up his usual war zone of paint, He lamented over his still unfinished piece of a personal canvas. Matthew detailed a picture in his mind so vividly he felt as if he could see the finished canvas on the wall already but his hands seemed to fail him in actually creating it. Upon a haphazard tarp stood his easel and he took the once pearly off-white canvas he had nicked from the art department- his lecturer adored him so he doubts it would be missed- the canvas was already messy with unfinished splodges that seemed off and unlike his previous works. It had been like this for months. No matter how many strokes, whenever he worked on this personal painting it never came out right. Somehow paint would be spilt and he’d be left either in tears or in a bitter silence as he cleared up his disaster zone. In fact, he should probably do this in the department if he wanted to avoid fines for ruining his rented dorm again with such heavy duty acrylic- but he found solitude in doing his art somewhere privately his own. As the coloured bristles feather-kissed the scene once more Matthew focused on the strokes, as if each one was more important than the other, solving an intricate puzzle. It shaped up pleasantly as each new stroke made the blurry figures come to life; he had been painting a captured memory, nostalgic enough that if he decided to gift it to any of the subjects he had been trying to depict, they themselves would hopefully remember it well. He could still remember the damp grass and the beautiful budding petals of the bunches of bright tulips, himself sat in the open cargo of Tim’s family pickup truck with his back to the driver’s compartment, Alfred on the edge where the tailgate opened, dangling his legs off almost falling onto the gravelly road. Tim, was on his left, even seated he was taller than him. It was a childhood memory he can always remember. The dutch kid had been insistent of showing the twins his family’s Tulip crop when they had come to visit for the summer- and his mother had taken a photo in the excitement of all three of the boys. Matthew knew he could just ring his mother for the actual picture but his hand would rather create the piece itself. If only he could finish it.

He smiled to himself, that summer was one of the best- he hadn’t a problem in his head too much that season, besides his usual anxious thoughts, it was a peaceful summer. Tim would be embarrassed by this, but he knew in some way or another Laura would get her brother to frame it and displayed in their home. Matthew always loved how secretly stuck to his family Tim was, even going as far to rent a house for his siblings and himself rather than bunk along in the dorms or find other senior flatmates. Family loyalty. Even looking at the painted version of Alfred made him feel guilty. Did Alfred really think Matthew wanted to break their trust? Well obviously not if he was willing to come to his session today- there was a knock on the door,

“It’s Gilbert” came muffled through the door and Matthew cursed a little, was it 5 already? God, he should be counting the hours down till he had to see Dr Paisley, not absentmindedly getting lost.

“Hold on!” abandoning his artwork, he flung himself to the door but not before running his hand through his hair a little.

“Hey.”

“Hey to you too” Gilbert himself looked tired, exhausted even. How did Gilbert somehow pull off the tired look so well? Must be the jeans or the- focus Matthew. They both shuffled back in, Gilbert already rambling on about the animation and class schedules. Turns out they both have completely non-compliant timings, no wonder they have never met before: If it wasn’t a class that made them miss each other, it was Gilbert’s work schedule. A schedule which made Matthew’s eyebrows arch in amazement- Gilbert worked hard.

“I mean, I used to be the bender sort you know. The type of college hooligan to...go out a lot”, when asked Gilbert, explained absentmindedly as if he was talking to himself a little bit. “But, Right now we need the money so I can’t afford to go out recklessly like I used to...i don't think I want to either, it’s not my- not my thing anymore.”

They went off topic, Gilbert shoved some more director notes he had made during his work break as Matthew ploughed through some old storyboards, already sketching in a plain spare artbook. The albino looked like he was gonna collapse, and although Matthew offered him the desk seat he had been rejected with nothing more than a pat on the shoulder and a ‘just continue sketching I’m cool’.

“You can take a nap on my bed if you want, I took a nap at Alfred's room earlier today so it’s not messy, promise.” Gilbert light up at the offer and carried his thin legs to the bed, the dorm rooms were tiny and yet he had only just noticed Matthew’s little corner hosting a new work in progress. It couldn’t have been coursework, the Canadian finished that yesterday after the music incident. It was very detailed and although unfinished seemed as if a photograph had been printed out in the paint. With half of the canvas still quite plain he wondered of what Matthew had been thinking when painting. It was new in some splodges, the paint was still wet and fresh with paint pooling on the tarp and pots still scattered around the legs of the strong easel, but the dry almost discoloured details in the other corners suggested otherwise.

“Whose that? In the painting?”  his long fingers pointing at the tiny scarf figure, Matthew barely turned to even check what Gilbert was looking at.

“That’s younger Alf-”

“No, I know that’s your brother- the expression is on point, I mean the guy next to what I presume is fetus Mattie.”  after a faux indignant huff of ‘hey!’ at that comment, Matthew had swivelled in his chair to examine who he meant.

“O-oh That’s Tim, a childhood friend. He’s a senior here actually. You probably know him.” distractedly the Canadian went back to humming as he raked through Gilbert’s script notes and his own little sketches. Gilbert’s eyebrows arched and furrowed after hearing Tim’s name. Was he the same Tim who Matthew was texting earlier? Would it matter if it were him?

“...the name doesn’t ring a bell…” Gilbert let his thoughts drift away as he snuggled more into the soft bedding. The smell flowery detergent enveloped him, and Gilbert grinned; It felt heavenly to lie down here- almost more welcoming than his own bed. About an hour had passed as he had napped, when he woke up, distracted by the sound of soft strumming from the nearby table speakers. The room host had been playing what Gilbert recognised as some Mom Jeans song. Of course, he listens to mom jeans. He’s perfect, Gilbert thought.

“Hey Matthew...” his eyes wandered to stare as Matthew’s form was hunched over in creative focus, messy hair slightly dishevelled from obvious rest earlier.  Gilbert was going to attempt a little bit of chivalry, besides, Matthew had been so kind as to allow him to crash here; That deserved free dinner, right? Date or not...he could convince the other boy it was a platonic outing if he failed horrendously...which he doesn't.

“Gil- awake now? I can feel you overthinking from here dude.” Gilbert’s eyes fluttered now realising Matthew had responded to his distant Hey and was coming nearer to move onto the bed too,

“I just- Do you...I mean there's this really good diner in town- We could grab some food later cus I feel like I ow-” Matthew had turned in what could be perceived as shock but it melted away quickly as he was blushing in the brightest form of red; it was endearing and god Gilbert wished he could cup those cheeks and-

“That would be..!” The tone was so bright and loud and Gilbert’s heart jumped in premature celebration until he caught onto the last few bits of the reply “....actually fuck. I’m busy tonight Gil.” Apologising profusely aside, Gilbert could see a tinge of guilt wash over Matthew’s expression, secrets glinting under the faraway glaze. “In fact, I actually have somewhere to be soon and I should probably go.”

The silver-haired boy sat up, bunching his shirt in his hands; it sounded as if the Canadian was dying to avoid Gilbert right now Yet it would seem very improbable for such a kind-faced creature like Matthew to rudely do such a thing. Quick hands moved around the room as the blonde rushed round, hands searching for his hoodie that had been laid recklessly on the floor and a hasty pat down of pockets picking up the cheesy maple leaf keychain that latched onto his car keys. Matthew was about to run for the door before he realised his guest was still left on the bed very much puzzled,

“I just drafted some concept art, it’s not much right now- just scribbles. I’ll do the linework soon but if you want to stay in here for a bit t-that...that’s fine. I’ll uh not be back for a while. I really h-I have to go like right now.” The stumbling over words was nothing less than adorable but the complimenting panicky hands that fidgeted in a show of motion blurred movements really took the cake as he watched the man practically zoom out- a voice far from the doorway telling Gilbert to not forget to turn off the lights when he’s done. Alone with his thoughts, the air seemed thin and full of saddened merriment the longer he glared at his friend’s dorm room walls.

Matthew’s feet felt heavy and seemed to plummet with every step- his speedy getaway had slowed down significantly as he stood in front of Alfred’s dorm. He was not running away. He was just keeping track of time. His quick leave must of been really rude but his realisation over the time was more important- Dr Paisley didn’t appreciate late entrances. I’ll send him a text.

M @ 6:20 [Hey, Sorry didn’t mean to be rude. Just forgot I had to do something with Al. Ttyl?]

G @ 6:24 [Np. Tell the nerd I said hey! Ttyl, Imma sleep here forever man, your bed is amazing…]

The thought of Gilbert staying in his bed for even a second warmed his cheeks. Focus. His eyes ignored his phone as he went back to staring at his brother’s door down. Unsure hands knocked lightly as he heard quiet laughter drain out from underneath the wooden entrance.

“Come on in!” there was a quick shuffle as Matthew stammered in, not surprised to see Alfred closer what looked like a video call with Kiku. That’s adorable. He watched his brother fluster in closing the tab before snapping forward and clicking triumphantly towards his brother,

“Lemme just grab my stuff alright?” wallet and phone secured, the two wandered out humming, Car keys passed to Alfred as they slid into the slight wreck and worn out red car; Matthew almost insisted on driving as the other complained over the old ride but Alfred had already pushed it off and stuck his tongue out tryna reverse out the tiny university carpark. “So….what's on the agenda?” Careful eyes on the road as the day darkened, they made their way off campus. The red hoodie boy shrugged, leaning dismissively on the window as he watched buildings blur in the distance.

“It’s really just a catch-up and you get to sit in and then you’ve got to sign off for me.” The car had jerked to a stop as they reached a small private property, the building had been a renovated residence, and it’s awkward charm of brick build fit well in the surrounding suburban area. The clinic had been a reference from their family doctor, a private and less clinical-looking approach; Hospitals always made Matthew uneasy- a past of heavy hitting hockey accidents tend to make you regret hospital visits honestly. The two slinked out, Alfred smiling a little less wide, more genuine in his approach as he sauntered ahead- trying to appease Matthew anxiousness to ask him to go in. The little door jingled with an out of place kindness, and the secretary simply smiled as she saw Alfred gestured towards his brother.

“Hey Matthew, bit early but I’m sure she’ll let you slip in, I’ll let her know.”

“Thanks, John.” The two shuffled into the waiting room, the blue coloured walls screaming a soothing need to be somewhere else. A large white door that leads to the office glared at him, accusatory in it’s meaning. Although they were the only people present, Alfred’s demeanour just seemed so out of place, as if he was never meant to be in a generic chair surrounded by mental health posters- the beach blonde was basically a poster boy of happiness. Matthew scorned. No point getting upset over your brother, he’s tryna-

The big white door had swung open, a cheery disposition of Ms Paisley greeting the, ushering for the two to enter her office. The all-too-familiar couch never felt so small until he had to clamber onto it with Alfred cramping alongside him. The brown haired doctor had settled in her own seat, collected and calm as she watched the two settle patiently. This entire situation felt overcrowded. After she had introduced herself to Alfred, she had opened her arms out to Matthew, ready to fire off on questions no doubt.

“So! Matthew, Nice to see you as always, thank you for inviting your brother, I don’t want to make this difficult so let's lay down some rules.” explaining, her movement seemed so insistent on encouraging him to look at Al’s expression, but he couldn’t bring himself to even look away from her brown heels and the suddenly immensely interesting wooden floor.

“We can just do some simple questions today, Is that alright Matt? Alfred can sit in for a short while, and then I’d like to talk to him privately for a bit. That should take…” the clock taunted him as they both looked at it calculatingly. “30 Minutes, I’ll speak to Al for 15 and then we can have a little private time for the last 15. Is that alright?” It wouldn’t matter Al was already here he-

“Yeah that sounds good.” his voice caught up faster, desperate to get it over with. Don’t get the Canadian wrong: he enjoyed his sessions with Ms paisley, it was just hard...really exhausting being with his brother and his mind was about to explode with uncertainty over almost everything.

“How...how are you feeling Matt. Better than last week?”

Matthew felt like he was going to choke.

[lwbluedice]

Masterpost for my Stories and Ocs!!!

A spoilerfree list of most of my Ocs and stories (reuploaded here on my main blog)

Includes:

- Name of the story and state it’s in

- short summary/facts

- Character names

If you want more information abt any of them(like a description or a pic) or abt the stories, just message me/ ask me!  Also feel free to ask me to draw them ( for example in the color scheme thing or sth)!

Note: The stories are all written in german so if you don’t speak that language i can’t send you the original documents but i can try summing them up for you!

I bet this is not everything and i will add stuff but yeah!!!!

Hotaru (first draft is finished)

- Abt two men that are linked through a surgery called “synchronisation”, which basically connects their minds and bodies, so they are forced to work as a team. Ea is an ex-soldier and Cain was a hacker, but due to the fact that they can’t stand each other, they also didn’t share their pasts with each other. To pay someone to unlink them, they become bounty hunters and kidnap the girl Ai and her robot Subaru, which is one of the old military robots, called Hotarus (high technologised, operating, transforming, artificial intelligence, ranger units). They are connected to a human ranger and can transform into what the ranger wants them to transform into.

The Hotaru headquarters exploded 10 years ago and since then the Hotarus are super rare on the black market.

The two men plan on selling both the girl and her robot and let’s just say it all doesn’t work out that well.

Ai Hoshino

Ea

Cain Bishop

Subaru

Dr. Chandra Natarajan

10 A

10 B

and other synced pairs

George Watton

Asha Watton

Elaine Bishop

Christopher Bishop

Haruto Hoshino

Shiori Hoshino

The Pleiades. A Hotaru Unit.

Atlas/ Emmett Hunter

Maia/ Ilya Neverwinter

Elektra/ Hailey Gray

Taygete/ Daiyu Ghou

Alcyone/ Charlotte Gryffith)

Caelano/ Sora Aurora River

Merope/ Imogen Harrington

Sterope/ Elizabeth Bresley

Additional Characters for the (maybe Sequel) in which the grown up Ai will try to find out who attacked the Hotaru Headquarters

- Skya

The day the world turned white ( first draft is finished, working on it)

To stop global warming some scientists basically caused a new ice age. On the long run this might be very effective but the former countries, now sectors, are hit by strong ice storms, called snow white. To stay safe huge bunkers, the Safe Cities, were built and the local fauna and flora were stored in Arks, to preserve them.

Usually an alarm sounds before all citizens are brought into the SCs, but this time Reese and her best friend Yuki dont manage to get to the vehicles on time and are left behind. They seek shelter in a private bunker outside of town that Yuki found out about recently. Suddenly a group of boys their age knocks on the door, because they were also left behind and followed the girls.

Al, the brothers Eli and Isaac, Gil and Henry become the new bunker-mates and the group has to survive one year in the bunker, until the storm is over.

( I have a blog for this story, just search for The day the world turned white! There are pics and some posts for example abt which patronus/spirit animal the charas have!)

Reese/ Therese Wells

Al/ Alexander Glover

Yuki Sarah Brooke

Eli Green

Isaac Green

Gil de Santos

Henry Summers

The Sun will always rise (The sequel, probably forever unfinished)

About a group of rebels, the Sun Children, that are sworn enemies to the government and its ways to cope with Snow White.

Takes place abt one/two years after Tdtwtw.

Lucy and Aidan are kicked out of an underground organisation that stays in the cities underground system during the storm phases and the two wander around in the snow until Michael and Rin pick them up and bring them to the Sun Children. From looking into the snow directly to maneuver, Lucy has turned snowblind.

Yeah the plot is… not 100% existent.

Characters:

Lucy

Aidan

Michael

Kate

Gil

Bo

Finya

Rin

The XII Games ( First book is finished, i started the second one, unfinished)

A story abt spaceships that let slaves fight in games, if they win a certain number they are “free”. Cassidy makes it and is sold to a women, Trisha, that takes her home onto her home planet, where Cassidy lives a nice life and learns abt her heritage. One year later she meets Tobias again and she and Trisha are brought to a planet that is basically the universes capital. Cassidy has to take a more important role in the uproar of a war, than she ever imagined.( The cast members are mostly human looking but are other, non human, races)

Cass (Cassidy ) E’ Alandril

Tobias

On the slave ship:

Neala

Sam ( Samuel)

On Anterra:

Trisha  Willowrish

Max ( Maxwell)  E’ Alyndral

Lukas

Tori

Khorr

Keri

Wil

Quinna

On the Space sparrow:

Zach ( Zacharyas) Gryaan

Benj ( Benjamin) Bottledom

Rashka Hyrelian

Oreadh Urunna'ur

Butcher

Kagrim

Kyluur

Irian Ashcott

On Capital Estellar:

Galea ( Galeandrih Fiyur’ Ihal)

Iyal

Wren Fawell

Luasia  

Luminor the Shining

Fallen Angels ( A trilogy, one and a half books were finished, reconcepted)

We don’t talk abt this but it was one of my first stories i truly wrote.

Abt fallen angels saving the world or sth. It’s super clichee and just ugh.

The newer version would cancel some charas and make it abt rebalancing Darkness and Light in the worlds. With a more diverse cast and also different magical races. And a way less creepy Adam.

Eve/Evelyn White

Adam

Peregrine/Perry

Ray/Raven

Sera

Colin

Robin

Raphael

Ky/ Kyron

Gabe/Gabriel Frost

Bree/ Gabriella Frost

Indigo ( haven’t written it yet and i don’t know if i ever will, but have drawn stuff. I lowkey wanna see this as a comic)

A story abt a clan of shapeshifters, called Indigos. They are basically human that can shift into dolphins and their clan lives on an island near Australia. Its a modern story and the gang consisting of our local gay dolphin girl Keerie, her cousins Akash and Arjuun (younger brother, older sis), and Ky ( adopted as a child, japanese heritage, a different breed of dolphin idk) lives their “normal lives” with lots of shenenigans and drama.

Some day Keerie falls in love with Navy, the daughter of the owner of the local Aquapark (that the clan suspect also does illegal stuff like snatching wild animals).

Keerie

Arjuun

Akash

Ky

Navy

“Neo Alcatraz” ( reworks of a very old story)

To put it simply, there is a pack of scientists that bionically enhance children and send them off to different countries to basically be local superheroes. Our gang was kinda left behind bc the countries rather took the newer, better versions and here they are now, a bunch of supernatural teens facing the (not so) everyday struggles of life.

Atalanta

Chi

Callie

Lee

Victor/Konrad

Gemsona (just art)

Larimar

- has water powers and her backstory bases on my private/old Squads life story and a lot of me thinking of drawing music videos for her but never doing it

Anthea (art and headcanons)

- my Dnd Oc

The Bender Girls ( art and headcanons)

- basically some Avatar the last Airbender Ocs i made once

Daiyu

Hotaru

Yura

Sündenfall / Sinfall (short story)

A short story i wrote for a competition which is basically every crime series but magic.

Harvey is immortal, he dies and is revived, and solves crimes through it. Paige is basically his assistant and the case they are on is abt a person that kills magical beings and “arranges” the victims fitting to the seven sins.

Ilya Winter

Harvey

Paige

Delphi

Sphinx

The concept charas, that had a different storyline ( they were basically a team of magical beings that would solve cases… rather unconventional.) I considered reworking them into the new Fallen Angels concept:

Ilya

Harvey

Timothy

Worth mentioning:

Project Alpha (script, some art):

The script for a shortfilm i once made with my friends. A school class has a plane crash and only a few students survive, they all embody a different character archetype (the sunshine, the soziopath, the smart one etc.) They try to survive and are put through weird psychological mind experiments like the trolley problem.

To be honest, the concept had and still has a lot of potential and we just hadn’t the opportunities to rly set it the way we anticipated. The shooting day was super fun, though! Still laughing about the outtakes

Astral Chronicles (some art and a few chapters, unfinished)

A story Idea i still like but probably wont write like this because of copyright problems. Its basically a giant Crossover.

Its abt people who have an Astral( mostly a literature figure) they embody when they are dreaming. Their body stays in bed and is vulnerable but the Astral can basivally run around and has special powers. If the Astral dies, the person wakes up but i think when the body dies the person dies too? idk.

The Protagonist embodies Alice and there are also the White Rabbit, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell usw.

There was also some kind of conflict? I dont remember.

If i would ever rewrite it the Astrals would be embodiments of the Zodiac signs.

(does this even fit?)

The Fanfiction thing i wrote abt Peter Pan/ Jack Frost

- like i have tons of short drabbles and the start of a fanfiction and honestly i liked the ideas i had a lot

The ones we better not talk abt:

Part Hunter

Basically there was a being named eternity/aeterna that was shattered into oarts (like in TRC)

and chosen ones have to reclaim them.

The ones that basically die are turned into guardians, like Time and Space ( they had animal companions they were fused with i guess)

Melody is the current part hunter and has a tragic love story, her animal is a tiny horse thing??????

Idk

basically a long story in which i used my dreams as base for the episodes

The nameless story

Actually super interesting but too many charas and a too tiny will to draw action scenes or write them.

Like its based around a super popular game in huge spheres/buildings and the teams wear some anti gravity outfits and shoes and can walk on the walls and shit and can basically attack using elements/illusion/ conjure monsters idk.

And the main team had an opponent team that basically specialized in the 25272 other elements and some day they just fused teams idk.

There also was some prophecy shit abt the anchors, ppl that can control all elements the same???? Idk

Element guardians

- basically four teens that control the elements and do shit together

- at some point i gave all of them dragons

- still thinking abt this sometimes

- The originals:

Luna: the shameless self insert , earth, pony girl, bland blonde i think

Katy: Air, best friend, bubbly

Dan: The jock. Fire

Nick: The emo. Water

At some point Katy became Skye and Dan and Nick got other names but yeah-

Talent Academy

The story thats basically a ripoff of Alice academy. Like a school with hierachie between the students and ranks and shit and different houses and the students have powers IDK

If you read through all of this, bless you for showing interest in my stories ;) And hey, if you want me to rant about any of them, just send me an ask or a message!!!

[riting]

Samara Kaplan on congrats and condolences by Barnett Cohen

Samara Kaplan writes about the development of congrats and condolences, a piece by Barnett Cohen that she curated to be performed at the Neutra VDL Studio and Residences. Performances are April 27 and 28, at 6:15 PM. More information and tickets can be found here. 

INTRODUCTION

I am writing from somewhere in the middle of the process. The initial ideas have materialized into a script, the actors have become a cast, the costume design is nearing complete. We are now in the thick of the collaborative and unpredictable work of performance.

I have compiled this piece from conversations with Barnett and text and images from his collaborators to shed light on what this piece is about and why it’s being made.

As Curator, I have woven in my own perspective of the work as I’ve observed and contributed to its development.

Richard Neutra’s iconic VDL Studio and Residence sits on a lush and winding street across from a meadow overlooking the Silver Lake Reservoir. I drove past it for years without noticing it - a testament to its harmony within the surrounding landscape and the persisting style it has bred into the neighborhood.

Neutra VDL Studio and Residence, Silver Lake

I first went to the house a couple years ago to work on a homeLA performance. What I learned while being inside rehearsing for many hours over many days are the particular ways in which the home opens and closes to its inhabitants. With its iconic glass walls and moveable interior dividers, there is a sense of porosity between each space, inside and out. For better or worse, you can see into the bathroom from the balcony, you can hear a conversation in the courtyard from upstairs, you might happen to look up when standing at the bottom of the stairwell and catch your reflection in a discreet, built-in mirror. You find a retractable curtain, instead of a wall, dividing the living room from the dining room. You are both the onlooker and the displayed, even from within.

Images of living room to dining room (above) and kitchen to dining room (below), by Samara Kaplan

The endless possibilities for surprising and multiple perspectives make this site appealing for performance. In my experience, the house can even be a catalyst for audience members who may not have an entry into experimental performance because it so effectively encourages a sense of curiosity.

congrats and condolences is a site-specific work, meaning Barnett created the piece specifically for the Neutra House. In discussing his previous work developed in response to architecture, Barnett explains:

Earlier this year, I organized a series of performances at the House of the Book in Simi Valley in/around my friend Dan Levenson's installation of paintings. There was something magical about presenting work within a very particular architectural space; the House of the Book is this weird Brutalist building that has been featured in many music videos and sci-fi films. I wanted to attempt again and so I began working on a piece for the VDL House.

So, why VDL? Barnett began his process by exploring the relationship between himself and the house. From the very inception of this piece, Barnett situated his own artistic inquiries in relation to Neutra’s architecture:

Coherence is a strange demand. We tell ourselves stories about ourselves to ensure we remain who we tell ourselves to be. For example, like Richard Neutra, I am Jewish and an immigrant, and the platitudinous narratives embedded within and about these identities affect my thinking and behavior. Perhaps, as a Jew, I am neurotic and anxious. Perhaps, as an immigrant, I work hard at achieving the mythic American dream. Stories about the Self keep us whole, keep us coherent, prevent us from fracturing. Yet they are entirely fantastical. They are fictions. The intersection between our collective performance of the Self and our interiority is where these tropes often collide and rupture. The topography of the mind is without narrative or structure as raw thought forms are fundamentally chaotic in their arrival, pacing, and departure. How we present or perform publicly, however, often falsely communicates, even if temporarily, a unity of Self. Neutra’s use of theatrical curtains and floor-to-ceiling windows simultaneously nod to separation and presentation, that we at once live hidden from and directly in front of others. 

The site is not just a stage for his performance but a framework for excavating ideas of public and private space, both physically and philosophically. For Barnett, the challenge is to draw out the private, interior, unmasked self that only he experiences. Practicing non-judgement, he attempts to see his thoughts through the daily practice of stream-of-consciousness writing.

Excerpts from Barnett’s daily writing practice

Interview Question #1: TECHNIQUE

SAMARA: We’ve discussed stream-of-consciousness writing as your process for generating material. Despite being unedited, your writing sounds remarkably articulate and poignant. You showed me notebooks full of texts that read nothing like a diary or what one might associate with stream-of-consciousness.

For someone like myself, whose first drafts of writing often sound jumbled or overly simplistic, your ability to translate thought and feeling so immediately to the paper is a unique talent in and of itself.

Can you give a glimpse into what you feel is the relationship between spontaneity and technique (and perhaps even the cultivation of personal style) as it is exists for you as an artist across mediums?

BARNETT: Technique, as I understand it, is about repetition; it's about achieving an unconscious competence for something, an informed intuition. The relationship to being informed is a difficult one I suppose. Knowing too much or letting that knowledge infiltrate the work is dangerous. I decidedly and defiantly turn off history when I am writing, in the studio, or making performances. By virtue of being curious and trusting my body, I have confidence that my work will lead me to who or what I need to know. I am careful about when I ingest new ideas or information because the mixing of work and pleasure can create blocks. I therefore attempt to be spontaneous in my writing (and even in my paintings), to not plan too much and to get out of the way of the work. At some point, whether I am making a performance or amassing stickers to create a piece–I am currently making a series of paintings or pieces composed entirely of found stickers–I cease to be in control of the work. Instead it begins to carry me along and I have to submit to it.

My performances originate out of a daily-practice of free writing wherein I compose stream of consciousness verse in non-sequential volumes. What this looks like is me sitting down at my desk and writing whatever comes to mind: lists, ideas, unfinished phrases, images. And not only am I trying to get out of the way, I am trying to reserve judgement. My aim is to see my thoughts, not as connected to a false identity (i.e. me) but as objects, as forms, as content, that the machine in my head generates 24/7/365. And I want to experience the felt sense that accompanies these thought forms. Their auras, as it were. I read a book called Mating in Captivity by the famed sex therapist Esther Perel, wherein she attempts to reconcile the domestic and the erotic (anybody in a relationship over a year surely has experienced that disconnect) and she laughs off the idea of sex being spontaneous, that couples who live together should just spontaneously fuck. She suggests that sex needs to be planned, needs to be on a calendar somewhere. In other words, we have to create the conditions for spontaneity, which I suppose devalues spontaneity as a valid concept. I attempt to do that in my work. I have built my life around achieving spontaneity in my work, creating the conditions for le petit mort or a loss of self. Perhaps there is some technique in that.

Interview Question #2: CASTING

SAMARA: 'Creating conditions for spontaneity'... certainly relates to your process with actors as well. You plan to collaborate with them in the studio and on site to flesh out the performance, but you even played with spontaneity or improvisation in your casting sessions by giving actors one read-through as they had rehearsed it themselves and an additional one with completely different directions, forcing them to take a leap and not knowing where they'd land.

In your casting call, you (wonderfully!) required that the actors be "weirdos." Of course, I can imagine this correlating to someone's exterior look - but can you elaborate further on what kind of personality/skillset is needed to participate in a performance like this? One that originates from your own stream of consciousness but also one that asks actors to contribute collaboratively? ... Basically, why did you choose the actors you chose?

BARNETT: Referring back to your question about technique, I was not interested in finding good actors with good technique who could execute an action on a particular line. I was looking for an open energy and a willingness to play. Auditions are the worst (I know because I worked as an actor for a number of years.) It's difficult to not be nervous and that nervous energy can misrepresent itself as the energy, what the actor brings to the script. That's why I gave everyone a second chance to play, the space to try something different, to venture a bit into the unknown. In congrats and condolences, there are no roles or characters. It's just people performing words. And whatever energy they have, you know, life energy, what life has given them is what they bring. And it's also what they ate the night before. So much of our world is contrived. Not in an adolescent moaning sort of way. Not like, "you guys, everything is literally contrived." But in every way...I spend most days performing for people, performing a role. And the only time I stop performing is when I am lying on the floor on my apartment every morning by myself. What I am trying to do with my performance work, or at least with this performance, is to remove hindrances to remove it all away away. So when the performance happens, it will not be narrative or other such contrivances. It will be real in the epic sense. In the way that Brecht saw theater. I know I am setting up a false dichotomy between narrative and non-narrative but narrative is a gigantic block to self-understanding and the more we do away with it, the better. Basically, I cast people who have the ability to be honest with themselves.

Once the actors are cast, Barnett refers back to his stream-of-consciousness texts to craft a script specifically with the actors and house in mind. For the first read-through, Barnett hands out a 35 page script complete with stage directions and assigned lines.

An excerpt from the original script by Barnett Cohen

When reciting their fragmented, non-linear lines, the actors seem to exist together but are not necessarily communicating with each other. Maybe they share the same space but not the same time, sometimes seeing each other and other times looking past. Like the imagined inhabitants of a domestic space over time, the actors portray fragmented realities converging, overlapping, and butting up against each other.

At our next rehearsal at the Neutra House I start to see how important it was that Barnett cast actors who would bring a certain “weirdness” to the table – abstract lines are given lightness, drama or humor based on the range of expressions the actors can draw from. When I sat in on the casting process, Barnett encouraged each performer to switch characters and accents wherever they saw fit and what resulted was so vulnerable and funny. Celina, one of the actors, told me how Barnett first and foremost wanted everyone to be human. No dead eyes staring blankly, no Postmodern robots.

Rehearsal at the Neutra VDL Studio and Residence, taken by Samara Kaplan

Interview Question #3: DESIGN

SAMARA: Do you have any thoughts on how the costumes play into the discussion about bringing honesty and personal life experience into the work?

In the initial fittings, I saw draped fabrics (somewhat gender neutral although leaning toward the feminine) and neutral tones. I saw a timeless and cultural-less human who could be from the 1600s or the 3000s. Does this neutral outfitting better allow for the actors to express personality without visual distraction?

BARNETT: When I approached Eric (House of 950), I told him he could do pretty much do whatever he wanted with moderate input from me about the particularities of each outfit. You know, if there was something I could not handle or an outfit that simply did not work. My thinking about the outfits for the performers is that I wanted to prevent from them being misread. I did not want the audience distracted by more symbols than necessary. And I am only slightly-interested in the theatrics of performance. The outfits achieve multiple aims simultaneously. Firstly, they ritualize the performance. They remind the audience that the performance is a performance. They enhance the aura of its originality or rather its temporal quality. The people in front of you have put on these outfits to remind you that this a performance. If the actors performed in their everyday wear, I think that would diminish the aura. Maybe not for every performance but for this one for sure. Secondly, by aiming for gender-neutral clothing, my hope is to circumvent a gendered reading of the work or the actors. I am not interested in the actors, who are already performing gender publicly in their own lives, having to double down and perform a gendered role in a performance and in clothing that is not their own. That seems particularly onerous.

Lea in a fitting with Eric, taken by Barnett Cohen

I have been writing/rewriting the script and I absolutely love writing after casting and after having a sense of the outfits and with the space in mind. In other words, I am creating a unique piece for the performers as people as individuals and not necessarily as actors. Maybe my process is backward, traditionally speaking, but my aim is to create this piece that is strange yet approachable while remaining slightly confrontational but fundamentally honest. Not a play. Not a piece of theater. Not a performance. But something between all those three concepts. I do not have a word for it but I know what it is. Eric and his designs, his sense of color and form, both enhance and cement what I am trying to do.

ERIC (HOUSE OF 950):

In making the clothing I was focusing on the two main ideas, the physical space, of the house: the look, the detailing, the architecture, and Neutra’s theory of therapeutic space. I felt there was a connection through time between my ethos as a designer. I focus largely on how clothing affects the wearer, and the reaction between the two. Clothing can make you feel comfortable, chic, doughty. Neutra’s exploration of therapeutic spaces resonated with me and it was a natural jumping off point. I created layers of transparency to speak to the endless glass, comforting details in unexpected places, and natural color detailing in small doses to create a natural movement of the eye. In collaboration with Barnett, we created the clothing to be unknowable, something that is not instantly understandable, almost to conceal the personality of the wearer to differentiate them from the familiar of the mind.

Andres in a fitting with Eric, taken by Barnett Cohen

Barnett, Eric and each of the performers work with a tension between the real and the heightened, the familiar and the unknown to accomplish that special aura of performance while pushing the audience into a state of awareness. We are guided through the home with an opportunity to discover the details of the setting and their subtle influence on the actors, designers, writer. Intermediated by the artists’ study of and absorption in the unique spaces, we ultimately have a deeper experience of Neutra’s architectural masterpiece.

Barnett enhances Neutra’s physiological sensitivity to design through his staging and consideration of the audience. The actors are placed in surprising areas of the home such that the audience is asked to search in odd directions and absorb strange sounds. Daphne gives a monologue on a balcony overhead, Nikki and Celina moan from an inaccessible room, everyone has mysterious entrances and exits obscured by curtains or trees or reflections on the glass. These constant directional and textual shifts encourage the audience to remain alert.

Andres and Lea in rehearsal, taken by Samara Kaplan

Celina and Daphne in rehearsal, taken by Samara Kaplan

Early on in the process, Barnett sent me an email with subject line “congrats and condolences.” I didn’t yet know this was the title of the piece so I had assumed he was directing the congrats and condolences at me. The opposition of feeling at once excited and worried made me question my own situation and I opened the email immediately. I laughed once I realized it wasn’t just about me, it applied to everyone.

When I asked Barnett about the title, he responded:

congrats and condolences stems from a Jungian understanding of wakefulness or consciousness. When a person begins to see, truly see, then the world appears at once awful (because it is) and amazing (because it is as well).

congrats and condolences is a new performance work by Barnett Cohen in collaboration with Celina Bernstein, Nikki Bohm, Dan Bruinooge, Daphne Gabriel, Lea Madda, Andres Paul Ramacho, and Cary Thompson. Looks by Eric Holbreich of House of 950. Program Design by Tanya Rubbak (Summer Office).

Samara Kaplan is an LA based performance curator with a PhD in Art History, Theory & Criticism from UC San Diego. While pursuing her studies, she was Curatorial Assistant at LAXART (2010-11), Curatorial Fellow at The Kitchen (2013), NYU Tisch Research Fellow (2013) and Curator of Performance at The Mistake Room (2015-16). She currently works at Phillips in Los Angeles, where she is expanding her breadth in contemporary art. Most recently, Samara co-curated multiple site-specific performances for homeLA, include One House Twice at Neutra VDL, and completed her dissertation on the choreographer's embodied approach to spreading utopian ideals. Both her curatorial work and academic research focus in on artists who - through the intimacy of site-specific performance or the connectivity of ritual - attempt to make the world a better place.

Barnett Cohen originally received formal theatrical training, with an emphasis on breath and vocal work, at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He then embarked upon a career as a visual artist with an interest in multiple disciplines, employing a wide-range of media—sculpture, painting, video, installation, and performance–-that collectively serve as meditations on the space between thought and the self and between the self and the body. His work has been exhibited at such venues as Pieter (Los Angeles), House of the Book (Los Angeles), 356 Mission (Los Angeles), Human Resources (Los Angeles), Vox Populi (Philadelphia), City Limits (Oakland), The International Center for Photography (New York), and La Galerie SEE Studio (Paris.) In 2019, he will present new work at Mast on Fig in Los Ángeles and JDJ in Garrison, New York. He received a BA in English literature from Vassar College, an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, and has been in-residence at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the MacDowell Colony.

[scoobert-doobert-fanclub-blog]

Interview with Jon Colton Barry, Creator of Be Cool Scooby Doo

My Questions:

What inspired you to get into the business of cartoons? What does Scooby Doo mean to you? Do you have a message to the people who criticize your creation for sharing other styles of other shows? Do the characters have any little quirks that you've added in that you picked up from real life people? What's the behind the scenes look like for you? An average day in the life of being a writer/working on the show? Any tips for future writers and the like out there? Do you have a favorite line you've written in the show? Or a best moment? What inspires you to wake up in the morning? Any moments when you were bummed when something didn't make the cut? Or do you have all of the power?

Jon Colton Barry:

What inspired you to get into the business of cartoons?

I was actually writing sketch-like comedy for the stage, honing my voice and style in front of live audiences (which I'd recommend to every writer), when Dan Povenmire saw one of my shows. I'd known Dan for years and he liked the comedy in my show and offered me a job on a new animated show he just sold to Disney called "Phineas & Ferb." I had no particular inspiration to get into animation, but it was a good job and, from the beginning, Dan made it clear he wanted me to write like me, to just write naturally in my own comedic voice, plus I have a background in commercial art and songwriting - so the show was just a perfect fit, creatively.

What does Scooby Doo mean to you?

Before I began writing on BCSD, Scooby Doo was mostly just a feeling of nostalgia to me. Saturday morning cartoons as a kid, eating Apple Jacks in my pajamas. The character or show didn't mean more to me than, say, the Superfriends or any of the other crudely animated series we'd all stare at as the sugar kicked in. Now, after having created a new Scooby Doo series from scratch, I have more respect for the durability of the core ideas built into the show. There has been almost 50 years of different Scooby Doo series, most of them radically different from one another and, I've discovered, that, basically, whatever iteration of Scooby Doo was on when you were growing up will always be the "real" Scooby Doo to you and/or the "best" Scooby Doo. People have very clear ideas on what Scooby Doo is, which is so odd because the only consistent element in Scooby Doo is change.

Do you have a message to the people who criticize your creation for sharing other styles of other shows?

I just find it so strange. We literally got death threats because we pushed the art in a more cartoony direction. We, apparently, also "ruined" a LOT of childhoods. I think it was a mistake to allow the new (unfinished) designs to leak out a year before the series began airing because people built up this violent, irrational hatred for the show and made assumptions about the show's substance based on some rough drawings. I mostly feel bad for Seth MacFarlane for being accused of creating the new designs endlessly. The characters are just more cartoony, that's all - and it was essential that we pushed them that way because we wanted to have a broad comedic and tonal palette to play with, from broad slapstick to real, touching human moments and a lot of our humor would not have worked with the more realistic looking designs. I never heard anyone say, "Wow, the Simpsons are such attractive looking characters!" - but they had that ability to do surreal, broad comedy and also break your heart. That's what we wanted, as well. My experience has been that the vast majority of people who actually sit down and watch the show and give a few episodes a chance all in love with it and discover that it's actually one of the most conservative Scooby Doo series in terms of the original, classic 1969 series, but we simply fleshed out the rest of the Scooby Gang and gave them dimensional personalities for the first time, turning them into a real comedic ensemble. From what I understand, scientifically, once you give the show a chance and get what we're doing, your childhood becomes instantly "un-ruined," which is a pleasant side-effect.

Do the characters have any little quirks that you've added in that you picked up from real life people?

Well, as I mentioned, Zac and I decided to turn the entire Scooby Gang into an equal comedic ensemble, which, we were surprised to discover, no one had ever done before. There are so many Scooby shows where they just leave out Fred or Velma or Daphne because "people don't care about them," instead of saying, "Well, why don't we MAKE people care about them by actually giving them personalities and points-of-view as characters." They'd, historically, just been "The leader/jock," "The pretty one," "The smart one" - these one-dimensional stereotypes. We started with Fred and our main inspiration for him was young Gene Wilder, particularly in "Young Frankenstein." We sort of plugged Gene Wilder into Fred as an engine and gave him control issues - and he began to come to life. Daphne was the most radical change and we thought of her as a Rapunzel-type character, who had lived a sheltered, oppressive childhood under the thumb of her strict, eccentric mother, who came from old money and had great wealth. Daphne is now free and out in the world finally able to do all the things she was never allowed to do as a kid and the world is a candy store to her. She's also highly creative and eccentric, not caring at all what people think about her. It was important to us that nothing about her character, nothing about how you'd describe her personality or her behavior had ANYTHING to do with her gender. Oddly, people started calling her "stupid," which is just strange and clearly demonstrates they haven't actually watched the show, because Daphne is actually really smart and funny - she's just REALLY eccentric and bold, but she's also the soul of the gang, the most empathic and insightful where it comes to the others' needs and problems (although she does get a kick out of annoying Fred when she thinks he's being too uptight). Grey DeLisle, who does Daphne's voice is actually a LOT like our Daphne in real life - smart, quick-witted, eccentric and creative and she really met Daphne halfway and "got" her perfectly. From what I can tell, Grey is basically one oppressive childhood away from wearing a fake beard for no reason. It's actually much the same with Kate Micucci and Velma. We wanted to give Velma more social anxieties. She grew up around books and her superior intellect isolated her as a child, so she lacks some basic social skills, like not always knowing that the truth isn't always the best way to go in certain circumstances. Kate brought a really beautiful, nuanced neurosis to Velma and a vulnerability that humanized her in ways you can't see on the script page. There was so much more we wanted to do with Velma, but, sadly, we didn't get the opportunity. Warner Brothers was actually very open to the changes we wanted to make to Fred, Daphne and Velma, even though they were pretty radical, but they were, understandably, more conservative when it came to Shaggy and Scooby, who were seen as the most beloved and, therefore, least changeable. That said, we made our case that if Shaggy and Scooby were the comic relief before and we're now elevating the entire gang to a comedic ensemble, we HAVE to, somehow, raise Shaggy and Scooby proportionately or we'll lose them all together, bogged down in stale 1969-era puns and pizza jokes. We noticed that even in 1969, Shaggy and Scooby would defy the laws of physics and do some surreal things, so we decided to push that aspect and give Shaggy and Scooby the more absurd, physical and surreal comedy, breaking the fourth wall and sharpening their wit. Shaggy was always a jokester, but we injected him with a healthy dose of Groucho Marx, which played nicely and freshly because Groucho, as a character, is fearless and Shaggy is terrified of everything, so plugging that sensibility into a coward created a lot of fun, original scenes and moments for Shaggy. Scooby was basically Harpo on all fours. We held him to only four words per line of dialogue because we found it unsettling and strange when he talked too much in other series, like Mystery INC. Four words was a nice restriction because they had to count and we found that the more erudite we made them, the funnier he became. In the end, I think we got the math of the characters pretty right on and my favorite scenes are always the ones with the gang all together bouncing lines off each other like a pinball machine. Everyone's point of view is clear and unique from one another and the cast always brought that perfect sense of old, best friends who tease each other and joke around and get on each others' nerves in a really truthful and relatable way. I really feel like we created the most human, real and funny Scooby Gang yet seen.

What's the behind the scenes look like for you? An average day in the life of being a writer/working on the show?

An average day would be me holed up in my office, pacing around in a small circle holding a wooden pointer stick because I tend to write on my feet, twirling a stick (which became a habit back on "Phineas" when we'd pitch the episodes up on a wall with pointers). I'd often have freelance writers in and we'd break a story together and they'd go off and write a draft and I'd spend the rest of the day (and most nights) writing or rewriting scripts with unholy deadlines with a gun to my head, which is called "writing for television." It's great fun, actually.

Any tips for future writers and the like out there?

Tips for future writers... hmmm. Well, try dating Dan Povenmire's wife's sister. It worked wonders for my career.  If, for some absurd reason, THAT fails, then I'd say develop your own style and your own voice as a writer. It's been such a pleasure for me to have been hired on shows with the expectation that I would be "writing like me," which was the case on both "Phineas" and "BCSD"  and all the things I've worked on since. As I mentioned, writing for the stage - even small, equity theater - is GREAT for developing your writing and honing your unique voice. There's no money in it, but you learn what works and what doesn't and you learn to trust yourself - to know that if YOU like it, then there's an audience out there who will ALSO like it. Other than that, you know, WRITE.

Do you have a favorite line you've written in the show? Or a best moment?

I think my favorite lines are in season 2, so lemme think about what's aired already.... I loved Grey's read of Daphne doing the Fred puppet in the van, "I have a weird accent now. Bo bo bo." That just crystallized the character for me. I'm also fond of the vending machine sequence because it was something I made up off the top of my head with a lot of very serious-looking WB executives staring at me who had no idea who I was and were wondering what kind of fresh new food-related comedy I would be bringing to Shaggy and Scooby. I got up in the large conference room and just acted out that scene from "Mystery 101" pretty much exactly as you see it in the show. Thankfully, they all laughed and I was allowed to stay in the building another day. Oh, one more - I always loved Daphne's off-handed response to Bradford in "Party Like It's 1889," when he tells her she looks stunning, That Daphne doesn't give a crap about that kind of stuff and dismisses the compliment with a good-natured, "Yeah, that's me: set for stun. Pew! Pew!"

What inspires you to wake up in the morning?

I have a four-year old (at the time of this writing) son, Jones, who is all the inspiration I need to get up in the morning. Also all the noise and jumping I need.

Any moments when you were bummed when something didn't make the cut? Or do you have all of the power?

Yeah, there were/are plenty of times I was bummed by something not making it into the show or getting changed along the way. WB keeps a pretty strict hand in their large, beloved franchise properties like Scooby Doo and Batman, so I'm actually really pleased and grateful they let me get away with as much as they did with the series. That said, I had no real power other than the trust and faith of Zac, the show runner. He hired me to be in charge of the writing and he just let me get on with it. I was never actually a producer on the show, although I did equally create this version of the series with Zac and the whole tone of the show was technically "in my voice" (which made it VERY difficult for freelance writers to come in cold and write an episode), but, alas, I was still ONLy the writer and we all know the old joke about the dumb blonde who tried to break into Hollywood by sleeping with the writer - unless, of course, the writer or the blonde is related to Dan Povenmire's wife, in which case you're golden. For the most part, though, I'm extremely proud and pleased of the work we did on BCSD and I hope people will give it a chance and watch a few episodes to get a real sense of what we've done with these characters and this beloved property. I know they'll fall in love with it and, in fact, it will retroactively IMPROVE their childhoods.

[theda-rison]

Writing Journal (6/29/2020)

(I was keeping this as I was buying time, so it goes across a few days)

June 24th

So I had to miss these past two Link Roundups (though I did have some really great stuff to share) on account of laptop issues. But everything’s under control now which like… I like for reasons aside from being able to show you guys the random stuff I find XD

It’s also the reason why I haven’t been updating the Writitng Journal portion of this blog even though I’ve done SO MUCH.

To wit:

I got serious about making the comic I started in 2013 (it was in script form and then in novel form and then in script form again) the focus for this July’s Camp Nano.

I had wanted to do all of June as a “Gettin’ Back In It” month of writing short stories, but got sidetracked by…

I ended up rewriting the mythos of Wee Jas for the DND game I’m in. Her old stuff just seemed very flat and predictable and obviously written by a guy. The most egregious part of that is probably the whole, “She was in love with the god of chaos and they had a volatile, but very sexy relationship-- it was True Love!” which made me cringe right out of my entire being as I read it. Like, how dare you do this to my girl, no one deserves this. I don’t deserve this, you don’t deserve this, this character does not deserve this.

So I did a bunch of reading and made a ton of notes and then rewrote those notes to make a coherent plotline.

Then I wrote idk how many words of a first draft which was very Stream of Consciousness as I was basically reading my notes about her old lore and translating it into a real story.

It was at this moment, reading this crappy first draft that I was like, “Holy shit, 4 months of not writing fiction has made me UNABLE to write, oh god, Camp is next month, what the fuck am I going to do? Do I have to relearn everything again? That took years!” But…

Some kind soul apparently started reading a fanfic I wrote a couple years ago, and left a comment on almost every chapter, so I had to go back and read all the chapters just to understand what they were referencing in their comments (because I sure as hell don’t remember what I wrote years ago off the top of my head). Reading stuff I’d written made me like, “Oh, wait, that’s how I used to write!” and “Wow, this is pretty good, I’m pretty funny!” and also, “Oh, hey, a typo” *fixes it and goes back to reading* And that was a really good thing, it jogged the part of my brain that stored all the info about writing and so...

Then, though I was trying to work on a short story for a competition, I ended up redoing the first draft of Wee Jas’ myth into its second draft, and making it read the way I wanted it to; like a text that’s been translated (similar to how the Eddas look, where they’re formatted like poetry but because they’re in English, none of it rhymes?). And that version ended up being almost 7k words. I’m really happy with how it came out though there are a couple things I want to fix as far as word usage and making it sound more dramatic like an epic poem normally does.

I also decided I wanted to do a bunch of hymns surrounding things that happened in her life, and one for each follower. I’ve only written one so far, because....

I started working on the “show bible” for my comic (this way I have something to give my artist as far as art references) I think I was looking at old notes for it and was like “Hey… this… is actually not as bad as I remembered it being,” not that I thought the ideas were bad (I love the ideas, that’s why I’ve held onto it for so long) but that the organization was bad because I didn’t know how to write or even how to organize my ideas back in 2013 - I was an undergrad who thought she was going into History and ended up switching - but looking at it all now, it ended up not being that bad. I ended up with 38 pages in it, but there’s still a lot to do to totally flesh it out. I don’t know if I’ll finish it before Camp starts, but as long as it’s tiny things that are left out, I don’t think it’s too bad if it is unfinished. I could also find some Super Motivation and end up finishing it during Camp as well. Either is okay.

June 26th

I’ve also been working on a binder to try and keep track of things from a publishing perspective, I already have one for working on stories/books/comics/whatever, but I wanted some place I could keep track of like, if I’m querying something or if I send something in to a zine or anthology or whatever. I also have a friend who posts things to Medium and I’ve been thinking of doing the same and being in the partner program. Maybe I’ll do like one short story a month or something like that, idk yet.

June 28th

So I’m still waiting on that laptop, but it should be here in the next couple days. Then I can get it set up and get everything all ready for Camp. And be all ready to just…

Write ENTIRELY too many words >D I’m very excited.

June 29th

It’s here! I’ve set it all up! And just in time for Camp, too! I’m so excited :D