#I want the writers to keep introducing new locations

[localguy2]

Jeez this looks fuckin gorgeous, I wish we got this location in the show because wow its pretty

[burntoutdaydreamer]

Things That May Be Causing Your Writer's Block- and How to Beat Them

I don't like the term 'Writer's Block' - not because it isn't real, but because the term is so vague that it's useless. Hundreds of issues all get lumped together under this one umbrella, making writer's block seem like this all-powerful boogeyman that's impossible to beat. Worse yet, it leaves people giving and receiving advice that is completely ineffective because people often don't realize they're talking about entirely different issues.

In my experience, the key to beating writer's block is figuring out what the block even is, so I put together a list of Actual Reasons why you may be struggling to write:

(note that any case of writer's block is usually a mix of two or more)

Perfectionism (most common)

What it looks like:

You write one sentence and spend the next hour googling "synonyms for ___"

Write. Erase. Write. Rewrite. Erase.

Should I even start writing this scene when I haven't figured out this one specific detail yet?

I hate everything I write

Cringing while writing

My first draft must be perfect, or else I'm a terrible writer

Things that can help:

Give yourself permission to suck

Keep in mind that nothing you write is going to be perfect, especially your first draft

Think of writing your first/early drafts not as writing, but sketching out a loose foundation to build upon later

People write multiple drafts for a reason: write now, edit later

Stop googling synonyms and save that for editing

Write with a pen to reduce temptation to erase

Embrace leaving blank spaces in your writing when you can't think of the right word, name, or detail

It's okay if your writing sucks. We all suck at some point. Embrace the growth mindset, and focus on getting words on a page

Lack of inspiration (easiest to fix)

What it looks like:

Head empty, no ideas

What do I even write about???

I don't have a plot, I just have an image

Want to write but no story to write

Things that can help:

Google writing prompts

If writing prompts aren't your thing, instead try thinking about what kind of tropes/genres/story elements you would like to try out

Instead of thinking about the story you would like to write, think about the story you would like to read, and write that

It's okay if you don't have a fully fleshed out story idea. Even if it's just an image or a line of dialogue, it's okay to write that. A story may or may not come out of it, but at least you got the creative juices flowing

Stop writing. Step away from your desk and let yourself naturally get inspired. Go for a walk, read a book, travel, play video games, research history, etc. Don't force ideas, but do open up your mind to them

If you're like me, world-building may come more naturally than plotting. Design the world first and let the story come later

Boredom/Understimulation (lost the flow)

What it looks like:

I know I should be writing but uugggghhhh I just can'tttttt

Writing words feels like pulling teeth

I started writing, but then I got bored/distracted

I enjoy the idea of writing, but the actual process makes me want to throw my laptop out the window

Things that can help:

Introduce stimulation: snacks, beverages, gum, music such as lo-fi, blankets, decorate your writing space, get a clickity-clackity keyboard, etc.

Add variety: write in a new location, try a new idea/different story for a day or so, switch up how you write (pen and paper vs. computer) or try voice recording or speech-to-text

Gamify writing: create an arbitrary challenge, such as trying to see how many words you can write in a set time and try to beat your high score

Find a writing buddy or join a writer's group

Give yourself a reward for every writing milestone, even if it's just writing a paragraph

Ask yourself whether this project you're working on is something you really want to be doing, and be honest with your answer

Intimidation/Procrastination (often related to perfectionism, but not always)

What it looks like:

I was feeling really motivated to write, but then I opened my laptop

I don't even know where to start

I love writing, but I can never seem to get started

I'll write tomorrow. I mean next week. Next month? Next month, I swear (doesn't write next month)

Can't find the time or energy

Unreasonable expectations (I should be able to write 10,000 words a day, right????)

Feeling discouraged and wondering why I'm even trying

Things that can help:

Follow the 2 min rule (or the 1 paragraph rule, which works better for me): whenever you sit down to write, tell yourself that you are only going to write for 2 minutes. If you feel like continuing once the 2 mins are up, go for it! Otherwise, stop. Force yourself to start but DO NOT force yourself to continue unless you feel like it. The more often you do this, the easier it will be to get started

Make getting started as easy as possible (i.e. minimize barriers: if getting up to get a notebook is stopping you from getting started, then write in the notes app of your phone)

Commit to a routine that will work for you. Baby steps are important here. Go with something that feels reasonable: every day, every other day, once a week, twice a week, and use cues to help you remember to start. If you chose a set time to write, just make sure that it's a time that feels natural to you- i.e. don't force yourself to writing at 9am every morning if you're not a morning person

Find a friend or a writing buddy you can trust and talk it out or share a piece of work you're proud of. Sometimes we just get a bit bogged down by criticism- either internal or external- and need a few words of encouragement

The Problem's Not You, It's Your Story (or Outline (or Process))

What it looks like:

I have no problems writing other scenes, it's just this scene

I started writing, but now I have no idea where I'm going

I don't think I'm doing this right

What's an outline?

Drowning in documents

This. Doesn't. Make. Sense. How do I get from this plot point to this one?!?!?! (this ColeyDoesThings quote lives in my head rent free cause BOY have I been there)

Things That Can Help:

Go back to the drawing board. Really try to get at the root of why a scene or story isn't working

A part of growing as a writer is learning when to kill your darlings. Sometimes you're trying to force an idea or scene that just doesn't work and you need to let it go

If you don't have an outline, write one

If you have an outline and it isn't working, rewrite it, or look up different ways to structure it

You may be trying to write as a pantser when you're really a plotter or vice versa. Experiment with different writing processes and see what feels most natural

Study story structures, starting with the three act structure. Even if you don't use them, you should know them

Check out Ellen Brock on YouTube. She's a professional novel editor who has a lot of advice on writing strategies for different types of writers

Also check out Savage Books on YouTube (another professional story editor) for advice on story structure and dialogue. Seriously, I cannot recommend this guy enough

Executive Dysfunction, Usually From ADHD/Autism

What it looks like:

Everything in boredom/understimulation

Everything in intimidation/procrastination

You have been diagnosed with and/or have symptoms of ADHD/Autism

Things that can help:

If you haven't already, seek a diagnosis or professional treatment

Hire an ADHD coach or other specialist that can help you work with your brain (I use Shimmer; feel free to DM me for a referral)

Seek out neurodiverse communities for advice and support

Try body doubling! There's lot's of free online body doubling websites out there for you to try. If social anxiety is a barrier, start out with writing streams such as katecavanaughwrites on Twitch

Be aware of any sensory barriers that may be getting in the way of you writing (such as an uncomfortable desk chair, harsh lighting, bad sounds)

And Lastly, Burnout, Depression, or Other Mental Illness

What it looks like:

You have symptoms of burnout or depression

Struggling with all things, not just writing

It's more than a lack of inspiration- the spark is just dead

Things that can help:

Forget writing for now. Focus on healing first.

Seek professional help

If you feel like it, use writing as a way to explore your feelings. It can take the form of journaling, poetry, an abstract reflection of your thoughts, narrative essays, or exploring what you're feeling through your fictional characters. The last two helped me rediscover my love of writing after I thought years of depression had killed it for good. Just don't force yourself to do so, and stop if it takes you to a darker place instead of feeling cathartic

[silverybees]

Interview with writer of Sherlock & Co podcast

The hosts of the I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere podcast have just published a fantastic long-form audio interview with Joel Emery, writer and co-creator of Sherlock & Co.

A few interesting notes in no particular order:

Their Watson, Paul Waggott, lives New Zealand, so he's recorded remotely

Atmos was recorded on real Baker St, on the tube and local buses

They plan to keep Holmes and Watson under one roof :-)

They haven't cast Mycroft or Lestrade yet, are holding out introducing them to a story where they're really highlighted. Since the podcast is doing really well, they're hoping maybe to get someone cool to do those roles

Updating the stories involves giving the women more agency, gender-swapping some

No grand story arc is planned (the idea of it stresses Joel out) and Moriarty isn't going to have threads out to all over the other stories

They'll be doing the novels but figuring out how to do them concisely because 12 episodes would be too much to keep track of

Audio storytelling is handy because you can, say, set The Greek Interpreter in Greece without having to take a crew (or anybody) to an actual location

Taking some stories where there are upper-class, rich folks and setting them amongst more ordinary people (so Thor Bridge isn't going to be set in the grand gardens of a country estate, rather in East London )

Interestingly they acknowledge the three audiences:

the Sherlockian audience who'll want Sherlock Holmes Content

the "Johnlock community" audience who is generally younger and want "diversity to be explored in all its forms" and wants something flamboyant and different and want "that relationship between the two men to be intimate in some respects, but really powerful and centre-stage"

and the general podcast-listening public, listening to the podcast on their commute, just as the original fans of Conan Doyle read the stories in the Strand, on theirs

[howtofightwrite]

Now you got me thinking...I've been thinking about writing a fic where the (in-universe) desensitization of violence for the main characters is a running theme. My main issue, however, is managing the violence within said narrative because, as you've said before, violence has diminishing returns. While I don't want it to be a gorefest from start to finish, I do want part of the horror to be having to engage in it, no matter what steps are taken to avoid it. If I'm not careful, I could end up with a weaker story for all the violence in it. What could I do to maintain this theme without it losing its impact due to these diminishing returns?

So, there's two different things going on here, and ironically, it's the same term, and mostly the same process.

When I'm talking about your audience becoming desensitized to violence, it's more that they become acclimated to the degree of violence you're comfortable with exposing them to. Again, “diminishing returns,” because as you expose them to more violence, they become more acclimated to that violence, and the shock value will subside. Similarly, the ability to build tension on the threat of violence occurring falls off when you're willing to engage in violence, but that doesn't mean you can't build tension, just that you need to be a little more careful about establishing those stakes.

Also, when most people write violence, they tend to establish implicit boundaries. It may be that only certain characters engage in violence. It may that certain areas are exempted from violence. At very mechanical abstraction, with some writers, you can tell when they've introduced a location that is exempt from violence. Even if you're getting into diminishing returns, violating these kinds of boundaries can keep the violence fresher than you'd expect. The formula of slasher films put a lot of effort into maintaining shock value by creating misleading boundaries that you'll pick up on and then violating them in new and novel ways.

Outside of some genuinely stomach churning violence, you're not likely to permanently move the needle for your readers. You're not actually desensitizing them to violence; just your willingness to depict violence.

I feel like I need to make a clarification: Too much violence doesn't mean the story will be bad. Normally, I offer advice with the assumption that you'll want to manage and maintain as much shock value as you can from your violence. However, that's not the only valid approach. That said, too much violence can cause your readers to disconnect from the work, so that is a legitimate consideration. Also, this doesn't mean the story loses impact. Unless the violence is the story, which is a somewhat weird edge case, violence won't necessarily reduce the impact of the story as a whole.

The example of slasher films, earlier, really does illustrate what I mean when I'm saying that lots of violence (even gratuitous violence) isn't going to necessarily mean that a story will be bad. (Though, this could spiral into a much deeper argument about the artistic merits of that genre.) To some extent, your choice of genre already starts to prepare the audience for a more violent experience. You're preemptively trading shock value for a higher baseline.

The second thing is your character being desensitized to violence. While there is something to be said for getting your audience into your character's head space to the point that they accept it as their own, doing that with desensitization to violence is extraordinarily difficult. (And, really, it's a tricky route to go in general. In most cases, the audience will simply assign whatever dissatisfaction they have onto you or the work, rather than realizing you were being clever.)

So, how do you show someone is desensitized to violence, without trying to simultaneously traumatize your audience? You show the consequences of that desensitization. This can show up in a character's sense of humor, their overall outlook. They may be more clinical about violence, more casual about its consequences (at least, superficially.) They might have an incredibly dark sense of humor, which might not come up most of the time.

In a larger context, a character who has been desensitized to violence may come across as basically normal, outside of a narrow band where certain concepts don't bother them. This is especially true with a specific brand of military humor, where violence has been rendered mundane for the individual, and the people they interact with on a regular basis.

Now, audience desensitization to violence can create a very weird situation. Where an absence of violence is more unsettling. Not because they're worried about what could happen, but because they're waiting for it all hell to break loose. It's one thing to simply call it, “tension,” but it is a very distinct kind of anxiety you can invoke, if you're careful. In the opening of a story, when the genre is clearly established, I've seen this compared to the ratchets on a roller coaster's first ascent. Everyone knows what they're here for, everyone's here for the ride, click, click... and then the lights go out, and the screaming starts.

I'm trying to make it sound easy, but violence is one of the more challenging things to write. That doesn't mean it's impossible, and you don't need to sit down and carefully sketch out every detail before you get going. The biggest thing to be careful of are that you don't want to overuse it, but you have a lot of flexibility to tell the story you want with the amount of violence you need to communicate that story.

Though, it might take a few tries until you get a tone you're happy with.

-Starke

This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.

[worldweaveralicya]

Fics vs. Original Work

Hello there, keep reading if you want to know the main differences between writing fan fiction and writing completely original works!

First of all, fic writers are writers. There's not a single reason to look down on anyone who uses their words to create something new in this world.

That said, let's get to the main part of this post!

World-building

Of course, that can highly differ if you're writing a fan fic without utilizing the locations from the source material (cough cough AUs cough cough), but usually, you don't have to start at zero when writing a fic. The reader already knows a lot about your story's world and is therefore easily immersed in it.

In completely original works, you'll have to consider world-building way more. Even if your story doesn't take place in a fictional world, you'll have to introduce your readers to the locations/cultures in your story. They won't know what exactly to expect going into the story.

Characters

One of the main reasons for writing or reading fan fiction is to see more of our beloved characters. Therefore, here you don't have to start at zero either. Readers already bonded with the characters. That makes it more important to be consistent with writing the characters because readers already have expectations of them.

With original works, you'll have to introduce the reader to completely new characters - And make them interesting. But you'll have more freedom and won't have to worry about straying too far from the source material.

Plot

While writing fan fiction, part of the fun is exploring "what if" scenarios. But you'll always have the source material to fall back on if you're stuck. You'll know where the story starts and how it'll develop, you'll have an outline of sorts on which you can build.

If you're writing something completely original, you don't have that outline from the get-go. Heck, you'll probably discover new things about your story while you're writing it! Which is a pretty cool thing, but it can get disorienting quickly.

Sooo, should you write fan fiction or original stories?

Eh, depends. I personally think writing fan fiction before writing completely original work might be good for some aspiring writers, because:

You don't have to focus on every single aspect of a story to make your writing functional, so you can improve your writing skills without getting overwhelmed.

There's less pressure to immediately succeed and publish a whole novel, and you can get feedback from fan fic communities online.

You and the reader are already familiar with aspects of your story, which can make writing feel more natural.

However, that's just how it works for me personally, and you might feel differently about writing fan fiction/original works. You can be a veteran writer and still mainly/only write fan fiction. You can be a beginner and write original works to practice. No matter the case, you should do what feels right to you and what you're passionate about.

Until next time, keep weaving words!

[wolfjackle-creates]

I'll Carry Your Heart with Me (Until I Find You Again): Part 2

This time we switch to Danny's POV. 2.4k words long.

There's been a bit of a time skip and their friendship has only grown with time.

First

---------

“Mr. Fenton!” and a smack on his desk caused Danny to jump. He hadn’t even realized he’d been staring out the window.

“Sorry, Mr. Lancer. Did you ask something?”

“Your grades may have improved over these last few months, but that does not give you leave to daydream in my class. I expect you to pay attention. Now, why don’t you explain what the repetition of ‘Brutus in an honorable man’ in Marc Antony’s soliloquy at Caesar’s funeral means.”

Jason had done such a good job reading that speech that Danny actually thought he could repeat it from memory. “Oh, it’s done sarcastically. To indicate he’s anything but.”

“Hmm. Very good. I hope you can keep up this new studious attitude of yours.”

Danny’s leg bounced as the rest of the class seemed to pass so slowly. As soon as he got home, he wanted to visit Jason again. His friend’s tutelage had helped not only his grades but also his fights. Who knew formal training could have such an affect? Well, he needed to pay him back.

It took all of Danny’s focus to not let his eyes drift out the window again, but he barely heard a word Mr. Lancer said as class dragged on.

And finally the bell rang, signaling the end of the day.

Danny shoved his binder in his backpack and rushed out the door without even waiting for Sam and Tucker.

He was moving as fast as possible without actually running in the halls to switch things out in his locker. It was there Sam and Tucker caught up to him.

“What’s got you in such a rush today?” asked Sam.

Danny flushed. “I’m meeting Jason today. Taking him to Ghost Writer’s lair. He’ll love the library and Ghost Writer said it’d be okay so long as I don’t so much as touch a single piece of paper or even breathe too hard on anything.”

“Dude, how’d you get him to agree to that? Ghost Writer hates you!”

Not wanting to admit how long he’d spent groveling, Danny shrugged. “I apologized to him and emphasized how much Jason loved books and writing.”

“Woah, the Danny Fenton apologized to someone? Is the world ending?”

“Shut up, Sam. I’m not that bad.”

“You kinda are, dude,” commented Tucker.

“Pot, meet kettle.” Sam flicked the back of both their heads.

“Now that pick-on-Danny time is over, I need to go!”

Tucker grinned and said, “We want all the details on your date soon as you get back!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Danny waved them off as he half-jogged out of the building. He pulled out his phone to text Jazz.

Danny: Did you get mom and dad out of the house? Jazz: Yep. Jazz: They’re coming to the school for a parent-teacher conference Danny: Thanks! Danny: You’re a life saver! Jazz: Have fun on your date Danny: How many times do I have to tell you! Danny: Not. A. Date.

Running was too slow. Danny ducked out of sight of the road and let the coolness of his transformation wash over him before flying home. So much faster.

And sure enough, when he reached home, the GAV was nowhere to be seen. With a sigh of relief, he phased through the walls right to the lab and through the portal. Even in the ever changing realms, Danny knew the path to Jason’s lair by heart; it’s location shone like a beacon in his awareness.

Something must have been on his side, because he was approaching the island within a few minutes of passing through the portal. From his core, he sent out a greeting. A moment later, he got a return pulse from Jason followed by the ghost himself.

“Jay!” Danny trilled a greeting.

“Hey there, human-boy. Ready to have your ass kicked?” Jason grinned and tossed an ectoblast his way.

Danny laughed and blocked it with ice. “I’ve got a different idea, actually. What would you say to me introducing you to another ghost? I got permission to take you to his lair and you’ll absolutely love it. He may be a bigger book nerd than you.”

Jason hesitated and looked over his shoulder at his lair.

But Danny had anticipated that. Jay was still a young ghost and obviously hesitant to leave his lair. He gave a loud whistle. “Don’t worry so much, a friend of mine will be able to look after your lair for you.”

Before Jason could even ask what he meant, excited barking just barely preceded Cujo jumping onto Danny’s chest and licking his face.

Laughing, Danny asked in baby-talk. “Who’s a good boy, who’s a good boy!” Cujo barked at him.

He’d never introduced Jay to Cujo before and Jay was watching them with a raised eyebrow. “I didn’t know you had a dog.”

“Not my dog, he chose me. But he can protect your lair. Right, Cujo? You’ll protect Jason’s lair? And come get us if something happens you can’t fight off?” Cujo barked and rolled over to show off his belly and Danny rubbed it roughly.

Jay laughed. “No offense, but how good a guard dog is he? He seems too friendly.”

Danny looked up and let his grin turn a bit sharper before moving a bit away from Cujo. “Oh, he’s the best. Cujo, big!” he ordered.

Cujo’s happy yaps turned to menacing growls as he grew to his large form, drool dripping from sharpened teeth.

Jason’s mouth fell open and he stared. “Wow. How common is it for ghosts to be able to change shape like that?”

“No idea. Queen Dora can transform into a dragon. And Bernard can take any shape he wants. Spectra goes from a black shadow to a human-looking middle aged woman. Each is a bit different.”

“Every time I think I get used to this place… Are you sure my lair will be safe with him?”

Cujo transformed back into a puppy and ran to Jason barking, circling him once before licking his face, too.

“Here, I’ll prove it. Cujo! What do you do if someone comes close?”

Cujo’s barking got deep again as he grew in size.

“Good boy! And what do you do if someone attacks who you can’t fight off?”

Cujo shrunk down and ran to Jason and nipped at his clothing, trying to drag him towards the island.

Jason grinned. “You are a good boy, aren’t you? Keep it safe for me? We won’t be gone too long.” Though after saying that, he did look up at Danny as if to confirm.

“You’ll wish we were staying longer when you see the place. Jazz knows where I am and can distract my parents for tonight. But I do have to get back and sleep and show my face at some point.”

“Got it.” Jason turned his back to Danny to look over his lair. “Then I think I’m good to go. Should I bring anything?”

“Nah, you’re fine just as you are. Now, come on! We don’t want to waste any time!”

Jason turned back to face him and as he did, his outfit transformed once more into his Robin uniform. His flaming hair matched the uniform perfectly. “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

Danny smirked. “Let’s see how well you can keep up.” Without waiting an instant more, he flew off. Not at his top speed, but still quite fast. He laughed as Jason cursed him and did his best to keep up.

The Zone must have been in a good mood today because it didn’t take them long to get to Ghost Writer’s lair. Danny paused before crossing the border and flared his aura to announce his and Jason’s approach. Jason copied the gesture a moment later.

Around them, the very air seemed to grow heavy. It felt like someone was looking right through them and examining their very souls. Next to him, Danny could sense Jason tense as he crouched into a defensive stance.

“Calm down, Jay. He’s just checking us out before letting us into his lair.” By the time he’d finished speaking, the heaviness lifted and a sense of Welcome washed over them. The door to the library swung open.

Without waiting for Jay to ask what was going on, Danny grabbed his hand and pulled him into the building where Ghost Writer was waiting just past the doorway.

“So you must be the young Jason that Danny”—his lip curled just a bit as he said Danny’s name and Danny tried not to flinch—“told me so much about. Welcome. I am Ghost Writer.”

Danny looked over to Jason to see what he thought. Jason was staring past Ghost Writer with his mouth wide open. His clothing had transformed back into his civvies and his hair was a burning white inferno on top of his head. Something must have penetrated his brain because he gave himself a little shake. His eyes met Danny’s briefly and Danny had to stifle a laugh at how wide and shocked they look.

But then he fixed his attention on Ghost Writer. “This is your lair? It is amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it. How’d you get so many books?”

Danny’s once-enemy smiled at the boy. The expression looked out of place on his face. “Every book ever written ends up in my domain.”

Somehow, Jason’s mouth managed to fall open even further. “Every book? How is that possible?”

“Yes, every book. I’ll give you a tour and explain. But first, the rules for all who enter my domain. You will treat every book with care—”

“Of course!” interrupted Jason who had gone back to staring at the high ceilings and walls covered in bookshelves.

“—the instant you damage a book is the last time you will be allowed to visit,” continued Ghost Writer as if he’d never been interrupted. “You may not remove any books from my domain. Danny is not allowed to touch a book. Nor to look at any too closely nor to breathe too hard near them.”

That finally caught Jason’s attention. “What? Why not?”

“He damaged a book.”

Danny looked down and rubbed the back of his neck, unable to meet Jason’s eyes. He wasn’t proud of his actions that day.

“What? Danny!” scolded Jason.

“Indeed. The only reason he is allowed back here is because he apologized profusely and begged for the chance to take you here. He indicated you have given him a new appreciation for literature which I wish to encourage to keep the rest of my collection safe. Now, follow me and I will show you how to find what you’re looking for.”

Danny tried to pay attention as Ghost Writer showed them around. He really did. But the tour took so long and they traveled through room after room after room. And these were only the books written in English!

Jason didn’t get bored, though. He continued to stare at the walls in wonder, every so often catching Danny’s eyes. Danny liked watching him. Far more interesting than learning which time period or geographical location the current shelves contained.

Finally, after what felt like ages to Danny, the returned to the first room.

“The two of you may stay for three hours. Depending on your behavior, future visits may be longer, shorter, or prohibited.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. I’ll definitely make the most of it. Your domain is beyond amazing.” Without wasting any more time on pleasantries, Jason grabbed Danny’s hand and pulled him out of the first room through a doorway.

Once they were out of sight, Jason stopped and stared at Danny. He opened and closed his mouth before swallowing as if unsure what to say. They were still holding hands.

Danny laughed self-consciously. “So, do you like it?”

Jason continued to stare at him. “I…” he started. He shook his head, but his eyes were still wide in wonder. Jason bit his lip and then lunged forward. The hand that wasn’t holding his cradled the back of his head as Jason pressed their mouths together hard.

His lips were hot, far hotter than a human’s, but before Danny could react even enough to close his eyes, Jason was pulling away. Danny tightened his grip on his hand to keep him from retreating entirely.

In fact, he took a step closer until scant inches separated them. Moving much more slowly than Jason had, he leaned forward and brushed their lips together softly. Jason twitched, but didn’t pull away, so Danny did it again. Only this time, he didn’t pull away.

Jason’s hand once more found their way to the back of his head. Danny closed his eyes as his lips parted slightly. Jay’s tongue probed, and Danny met it with his own. Deep in his chest, his core pulsed out a message affection, happiness.

Jason replied in kind. Thank you, amazing, disbelief, affection. Kissing a ghost was nothing like kissing a human. The waves of emotion made the connection so much deeper in one way. And even physically, Jason’s mouth was so much warmer than a human’s due to his fire core.

And they didn’t need to stop to breathe. That was fantastic.

However, there time here was limited, so with a pulse of disappointment, Danny pulled away. “We are definitely going to be doing that some more,” Danny said, though he sent out a non-verbal question of you want?, “But you’ve less than three hours here. Make the most of it.”

Jason’s responding pulse of yes, more made Danny grin. Verbally, he added, “Danny… This is… I… Thank you.”

“Of course.” Danny laughed as if it had been easy to set up. “Now go have fun, book nerd.”

Jason tweaked his nose, leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the lips, and rushed to the nearest bookshelf to see what he could find.

Danny crossed his legs and floated in a sitting position as he watched Jason take down two books and open them both as he examined what was written. “Danny! He has earlier drafts of Bleak House! This is so crazy. I wonder how much Dickens changed from his initial draft to the final printing?”

“Well, looks like now you can find out.”

“I can find out. Holy shit.” Jason sent out another wave of Thank you, affection.

The sentiment warmed Danny up just as much as their physical touch.

----------

Next

Tag list:

@echoednonny, @britcision

[felassan]

BioWare blog post: BioWare Community Update - All By Design

02/23/23

Welcome to the first Community Update of 2023!

As promised in our last BCU, this time around we’re discussing what our game designers are up to. The responsibilities of a game designer can differ from studio to studio, so we’ll first jump into how our team is handling the design work for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf™. Let’s get to it!

When we use the term “designer,” we aren’t referring to someone who visually creates outfits or environments, as you might expect from a fashion or landscape designer in the real world. In game development, those would be our artists. Our designers help craft, balance, and conceptualize the player’s journey—working with artists, programmers, writers, and more to build out the game in a highly collaborative process.

In this blog, we’ll look at a key RPG system and how three distinct types of game designers are involved in making them.

- Systems Designers work on a variety of features across the game, like skill trees and difficulty levels. Their goal is to create a vision for features that will directly impact the player’s experience. - User Experience (UX) Designers, collaboratively with systems designers, take the vision and explore how players will interact with it by creating mock-ups and early user flows. - Technical UX Designers then build it in-engine, working with the systems and UX designers in a constant back-and-forth, keeping the player’s experience and usability in mind at all times.

There are many other kinds of designers, too! Gameplay designers focus on creating and balancing the moment-to-moment gameplay, technical level designers create the building blocks for level designers to map out the player’s journey through locations, technical UI designers tailor how information is clearly surfaced to the player, cinematic designers craft scenes for the best storytelling experience, and narrative designers make sure the story’s flow of information to the player is a cohesive experience.

Now that we’ve gone over the basics of being a game designer, we’re going to talk about how they’re working together on Dreadwolf. Past Dragon Age™ games have all handled RPG systems, such as the player’s progression, differently, so naturally, we’re being just as experimental on Dreadwolf, taking the learnings of the past while also trying something new.

Skill Trees are a fundamental part of a deep RPG experience and give our players the ability to customize how their character functions in combat. A key belief on the team is that when a player invests a skill point, it should have a clear, tangible effect on the game, such as an ability or impactful perk. What those are and how they’re implemented in-game is handled by multiple designers, starting with a Systems Designer!

Luke Barrett: "Whenever we're envisioning something new, we're always presented with a Problem Statement we're trying to solve. Sometimes, especially for larger systems, they are very high-level, such as “The Player needs meaningful choices as they progress through the game,” or “The Player needs to feel more powerful as they progress through the game.” Together, these combine into a variety of different ideas as there are many ways to solve those problems, so it helps as a general rule to start introducing constraints and Player Statements to narrow things down. A Player Statement might be something like, "As a Player, I want my choices to matter.”" "Through the use of working sessions and brainstorming meetings, we narrow down what type of solution we want to pursue and then move on to doing competitive analysis. In this case, we made a vision board with pictures of skill trees, talents, etc. with a list of pros and cons. We also counted how many unique nodes existed and how far the player could realistically invest."

Intro of original design doc for Skills

Luke, cont.: "We take all of this information and write up a vision doc (sometimes called a 1-pager, design doc, or brief) that’s intentionally very brief and digestible and pulls together all of these problems, constraints, and user statements. It encapsulates our goals for how the design will solve them. Here is an example of two of our original statements and some bullet points under them:"

Luke, cont.: "We really wanted to have something that allowed the player to character-build in a way that allowed them to reach their “player fantasy.” And because we're supporting so many choices, we've designed something that can be customized widely, as opposed to a more linear progression system."

Initial design goals following the Player Statements

Luke, cont.: "Once we have enough constraints and player statements together, then we (finally!) start building the design. This is where we start doing prototypes and work with UX to flesh out ideas to see how a design may feel, both as its own entity and how it works with the rest of the game. Fun fact: I built a very early prototype in Excel for one of the ways we thought about solving the Problem Statements using a lot of buttons and scripting. (Important note: Designers aren't programmers! :) )"

Very early prototype for skill tree functionality exploration—names are placeholders

And that’s just the beginning! Once a game designer like Luke has established the vision of the feature to address the Problem Statement, it then moves over to one of our UX Designers to start exploring how our players might interact with it.

Bruno Porrio: "As a UX designer, my job is to approach design in Dreadwolf from a player-experience perspective. Our team partners up with other devs across the project and through ideation, prototyping, iteration, research, and feedback we help shape the vision for how players will interact with the game—from in-world signs and how the player affects the world to user interfaces and interaction design." "Let’s use the skill tree as an example. We take what starts as an early vision from the systems design team and poke holes, ask questions, and start developing what the feature will look and feel like (in this case, through user-interface design). We usually start with sketches, interactive wireframes, mock-ups, or in-game prototypes and validate them through testing and multiple rounds of feedback. At the end of the day, it’s a process where the system informs the experience design, and the experience design helps shape the system."

Initial class specialization skill tree wireframe—node total & layout subject to change

Bruno, cont.: "After multiple rounds of iteration and validation, we landed on the finalized design of the skill tree (which we can’t wait to show you). It was very important to us that the fantasy of playing a certain class and the customization options would come across clearly and at a glance without overwhelming the player. It was key to our team to take something that is usually complex and make it accessible and simple to read." "Overall, I love the skill tree. Not only because it’s an intuitive, fun part of our game, but because it’s also a great example of how the Experience Design team can help craft the vision in partnership with the systems design team."

From there, another designer jumps in to take the vision and mock-ups and turn them into something tangible in the Frostbite engine. We call those devs our Technical UX Designers. Game Designers, UX Designers, and Technical UX Designers constantly work together, providing back-and-forth feedback on each other’s work all the way until a feature is completed.

Kelsey Wicentowich: "Once the design is in a good place and the system has been stood up, it's passed over to a Technical Designer (like me!) for implementation. Technical UX Designers are actually a relatively new position at BioWare. The first ones were originally brought on a few years ago to help bridge the gap between the UX designers, programmers, and artists as UI (user interface) technologies changed and advanced."

In-engine mock-up—not representative art

Kelsey, cont.: "We use mock-ups provided by the UX Designer as a starting point and build out the UI in-game, including the general layout and navigation of the screen. Every UI is a collaborative effort between the XD (Experience Design) team and other pillars of the game team. We go back and forth with programmers and other game designers to figure out how to gather the data we need to display to the player. Larger features, like the character screen, really come alive once you start pulling in even more departments like character design and lighting to bring it all together." "But the work doesn't stop once the feature is functional in-game. It's at this point that we can truly start to evaluate how it feels and how it reads to a player. Does the navigation work well? Is the information overwhelming or confusing? Designs change and iteration continues until we find the right balance between the designer's vision and the player experience."

From features like the Detailed Stats page that cater to RPG enthusiasts to hand-crafted locations you’ll come to explore and more, design is a topic we could talk about endlessly. It’s a subject we’ll likely touch on again in the future, too, when we talk about other parts of game development, so keep an eye out!

Every week, we see so much amazing community artwork from all of you. It’s always a delight to share some of the incredible pieces here! Seeing you bring these characters to life in unique styles is such a wonderful treat for everyone on the team. [click here to see the art and art section]

This year, we also wanted to provide you all with a direct way of asking us questions. Now, we can’t answer every question, but we’ll try to answer what we can in our upcoming BCUs. There will undoubtedly be some that we’ll have to save for later, though.

Questions like “when will a big reveal trailer drop?” or “when does the game come out?” are things we’ll save for official announcements. However, if you have questions about a BCU’s topic (including past BCUs), games we’ve made, or other relevant questions that come to mind, please feel free to ask! You can even just ask a fun question you want devs to answer.

We’ll be keeping an eye out on Twitter (#AskBioWare), community subreddits, and community Discord servers for questions you all want to have answered. We’re looking forward to answering some!

Thanks for giving this a read! We hope you learnt something new and better understand how we’re crafting Dreadwolf. Everything we do is in hopes that we can make something great for you, and getting to talk about that is something we’re eager to do. We have a lot more we want to talk about, too.

As always, please let us know what you think of these blogs! We love hearing your thoughts—it really helps us when we’re deciding on the things we want to share.

Until next time!

—The BioWare Team [source]

[xtruss]

Sicily Sold Homes For One Euro. This Is What Happened Next.

For more than a decade, Sicily has been trying to revive its villages by selling Vacant Houses. Writer Lisa Abend heads to the largest Island in the Mediterranean to see how life has changed.

— By Lisa Abend | April 30, 2024

Mussomeli is roughly 60 miles from Palermo. Photo by Julia Nimke

Like any small town that isn’t yours, Sambuca di Sicilia, located about an hour’s drive south of the Sicilian capital, Palermo, feels a little intimidating at first. Stroll its perimeter on a late afternoon in winter, when the sun sets the buildings alight, and eyes follow you. Order the town’s signature minni di virgini—breast-shaped cakes filled with cream, chocolate chips, and squash jam—and a hush silences the chatter in the local bakery. It’s not unfriendly, this exaggerated alertness, but it does make you, the visitor, feel a bit self-conscious.

By the time I walk into a small restaurant that first evening seeking dinner, my self-consciousness has reached an uncomfortable peak. The restaurant’s only other guests, a middle-aged couple, fall quiet as I make my way to a table. After the waiter and I stumble through my order, impeded by his poor English and my worse Italian, I pull out a book to hide my awkwardness while I wait for the food. But when the first course arrives—a heap of ocher-tinted pasta topped with crimson shrimp and shards of pistachios—I am so clearly delighted by the dish that the waiter then decides we are friends. He introduces himself by name, Giovanni, and when two women with their children enter the restaurant, he seats them next to me and introduces them as well. “La famiglia,” he says—his own, and that of the chef, who, stepping out from the kitchen to kiss his wife, also comes over to greet me.

Two hours later, I walk out into the night air, aloft on a wave of bonhomie and sturdy Sicilian wine. Oh yes, I think to myself. I could live here.

I’m not the only person to arrive at that revelation. In fact, I had come to Sicily to investigate a program that has attracted thousands with the same notion. A program that allows people, although they may not have the financial wherewithal to go full-bore Tuscan-villa-with-frescoed-ceilings-and-private-vineyard, to nevertheless live a different version of the dream. A program that promises them a house for a single euro.

About the size of New Hampshire, Sicily has 4.8 million residents. Photos by Julia Nimke

Since the 19th century, large numbers of villagers in the poorer parts of Italy have migrated to more prosperous regions and countries. The migration continues; in some places, populations have shrunk so dramatically that there are no longer enough patients to keep the local doctor in business, or enough children to fill the school. Young people who moved away to study or work didn’t want to return, and when their parents died, the family homes stood empty, sometimes for decades. Around 2010, the village of Salemi in western Sicily was one of the first towns to come up with an idea: What if you could fill them again by offering the properties for sale at a ridiculously low price?

I wasn’t in the market for a house, one euro or otherwise. But I wanted to know if the program worked. Though the rumors I’d heard about driving in Sicily gave me pause—highways that suddenly turn into rutted cow paths; drivers whose chosen passing method involves achieving the closest possible proximity to the fender of the car in front of them—I decided to set out in a rental car through villages in various stages of implementing the initiative. Were once-sepulchral towns reinvigorated by newcomers eager to put down roots? Were the new residents integrating into small-town life, or was an influx of new blood bringing unintended side effects? And did a town that drew enough newcomers lose the qualities that had attracted said newcomers in the first place?

From left: The population of Sambuca di Sicilia has declined because of a low birth rate, but the town gained media attention after The Sopranos actress Lorraine Bracco bought a home there; The Valley of the Temples has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. Photos by Julia Nimke

The morning after my dinner in Sambuca di Sicilia, I leave my home base to see my first one-euro house. Before that, I stop in the Valley of the Temples. Located in a national park, the valley preserves the remains of a Greek colony founded in the 6th century B.C.E. on land inhabited by the indigenous Sicani. A couple of millennia later, the original temples to Hercules and Hera survive, but so does evidence of Carthaginian rampage and Roman reconstruction. Those peoples would in time be followed by Vandals from northern Europe and Muslims from Africa, to say nothing of the French and Spanish. Standing there, looking at the gold-colored columns of once-grand temples set against the sparkling sea and flowering almond trees, time seemed to bend. Outsiders, I realize, have been making their homes here for a long time.

They’ve also been leaving. When I arrive in Cammarata, a steep jumble of a village whose mountains are dusted with snow, I can feel an absence. In the winter sunshine, it’s beautiful, but it’s also empty. In the 15 minutes I spend standing in front of a very sleepy-looking town hall, where I’ve arranged to meet architect Martina Giracello, not one person passes by.

The members of StreetTo want to rejuvenate Cammarata. Photo by Julia Nimke

Finally, Giracello arrives, her corkscrew curls bobbing, and explains the silence. “People here wanted to live in larger, more modern apartments,” she says. Many moved to neighboring San Giovanni Gemini, about half a mile away, where the gentler topography allows for larger buildings and better conveniences. Now, Giracello tells me, “the one real estate agency in the area doesn’t even handle houses in the historic center.”

Like other young people from the region, Giracello and her boyfriend, Gianluca, moved away for university and to start their professional careers. But as they approached the end of their 20s, they returned to Cammarata, yearning for a quieter life. They also wanted, however, some kind of cultural scene, and neighbors their own age. “We studied other towns with one-euro programs, saw that for a lot of buyers, once they are there, the house is just a vacation home, and they don’t have a relation to the people there,” she tells me. “We wanted to do something different. We wanted to create a community.”

“As We Slowly Make Our Way Up Cammarata’s Steep Streets, The Silence Gives Way To The Sound Of Hammers And Saws. ‘Hear That?’ Giracello Asks. ‘It’s Working.’”

They banded together with other professionals to form a volunteer association called StreetTo, which convinces the owners of abandoned properties to sell, then helps foreigners find their houses and navigate the inspections, paperwork, and renovations that follow. And, in the hopes of forging community, they also organize exhibitions, concerts, and gatherings for townspeople old and new. Driven by their desire to revive the Cammarata they love, StreetTo’s members offer these services free of charge. (“At the moment, it is a project geared toward foreigners, but what we want is to also bring Cammarata’s citizens back, just as Gianluca and I have come back,” Giracello says.)

It’s not pure altruism, though. Their town gets something in the way of revitalization. As we slowly make our way up Cammarata’s steep streets, the silence gives way to the sound of hammers and saws. “Hear that?” Giracello asks. “It’s working.”

Panting from the climb, we reach the first property, where Giracello introduces me to the reality of what one euro buys you: not much. The home, more vertically challenged shed than house, has what real estate ads might call “significant structural issues” and what I might call “a massive hole in the roof.”

For an extravagance like a ceiling, Giracello says, you’ll need to spend a bit more. We press on to another house. Pushing open the heavy wooden door, she mentions its price—just over $10,000. The tall, narrow home is built, like many older Sicilian dwellings, with a single room per floor, its stairwell is carpeted in debris, and the battered sink and laminate countertops make it look like the kitchen was outfitted sometime around World War II. But the floor is adorned with beautiful geometric tiles, and a view of the valley spills through the windows. “We try to find houses in not really good condition,” Giracello says. “Because the purpose of the project is to help the town get better.”

StreetTo has helped negotiate the sale of 18 houses so far, but contract negotiations and renovations are still in progress, and none of the buyers have been able to move into their homes yet. But Giracello is confident it won’t be long before her village swells with new life. She pulls out her phone to show me a video.

“When a German nurse and her husband bought a place, a local couple were so happy to see new people that they held a dinner for them, and invited us,” she says. “Even though the Germans didn’t speak Italian and the Italians didn’t speak German, now they are all friends.” She pauses. “We are all friends.”

Today a church and monastery, Santa Caterina d’Alessandria was home to nuns from 1311 to 2014. Photo by Julia Nimke

My next stop is Mussomeli, located nearly in the center of the island. Unlike many Sicilian towns, which drape themselves seductively across a ridge, Mussomeli is all about the vertical. On the morning I approach, the craggy volcanic outcroppings that rise from the valley below have trapped pools of mist, making the town appear to be floating on clouds. It feels like entering Middle Earth.

The illusion doesn’t last: With a population of nearly 11,000 people, Mussomeli is large enough to support a Carrefour supermarket and even a mini traffic jam. But as I push on to the town’s core, the fantasy returns. Mussomeli’s heart holds ancient churches, tiny squares where kids play ball, and views from its tangled streets of that mystical valley and a hilltop with the ruins of a 14th-century castle.

Streets so tangled, in fact, that I get lost, and ask for directions in a dark, tiny bakery selling nothing but focaccia. I pay for an oily square, and ask the elderly man behind the counter what he thinks about the foreigners moving to town. “There aren’t so many here now,” he says. “But in summer they buy a lot of focaccia.”

Seems a fair trade. Mussomeli doesn’t cater to tourism, but between its services and charm, more than 200 inexpensive homes have been bought by foreigners in the past few years. Australian Danny McCubbin owns one of them. Ready for a quieter life after 17 years of working in London for the chef Jamie Oliver, McCubbin was recruited by producers late in 2019 for a television show that planned to follow people on their one-euro adventures in Mussomeli. The pandemic intervened and the show was never finished, but McCubbin had found his purpose. By the end of 2020, he had decided to move permanently to Mussomeli and turn his home into a community kitchen to help people with inadequate access to food.

From left: The Good Kitchen rescues surplus food from supermarkets to provide for people in need; Australian Danny McCubbin moved to Mussomeli in 2020. Photos by Julia Nimke

After I make several wrong turns, I find McCubbin, clearing dishes from a long, communal table. He’d just served lunch to local residents and Ukrainian children welcomed by the town after fleeing the war. These days, the Good Kitchen also supplies weekly meals for the elderly and has taught some of Mussomeli’s youth to cook. A clutch of older men use the space as an afternoon hangout, and there’s also a free Sunday afternoon lunch. (The only requirement for those with means is that they bring something to share.) Not long ago, Mussomeli’s mayor told McCubbin that he had planted a seed, and that more in Mussomeli were now thinking about social projects. “My whole way of living is so simple and joyful now,” McCubbin says. “I don’t know where else I could have done this.”

Rubia Andrade Daniels has also adjusted her expectations. One of the earliest buyers in Mussomeli, she fell in love with a vibe that reminds her of the Brazil where she was born and spent her childhood, but that also seems open to the kind of diversity she’s found in California, where she has lived for the past 30 years. “For the first few days, I couldn’t figure out why people here were being so nice to me,” she says with a laugh. “Then I realized they’re like that to everyone.”

Andrade Daniels, who works for a renewable energy company, loved the town so much she purchased three one-euro houses on her first visit in 2019. Four years later, her enthusiasm remains undimmed, but her timetable has shifted: The kitchen in the house where she plans on living part time once she retires wasn’t finished until August 2023, and progress on the other two—an art gallery and a wellness center—has been pushed to an undetermined future, in part due to the pandemic and the delays in its wake. “You can’t have American expectations,” she says. “Here, things take the time they take.”

I Think About That Pace each day when I return to my base in Sambuca di Sicilia. There, too, there’s been such demand for the listed houses that one euro is no longer the final sale cost but rather the opening bid in an auction that could see prices rise into the thousands. Even then, the campaign was so popular that the municipality launched a second round in 2021, with an increase in the starting price—to two euros.

Margherita Licata, who has been summering in Sambuca since childhood and eventually settled here full time about 20 years ago, says that “99 percent” of Sambucans welcome the newcomers. The other 1 percent? “They worry they have been invaded by Americans,” says Licata, who works for a real estate agency in town. “If Sambuca one day has a thousand outsiders living here, of course it will change our lives. But it will maybe mean the young [people] can find a job and not go somewhere else. If we want that change, we must accept other changes too.”

Of course, it’s possible that Sambuca could become transfigured by take-out coffee joints and big-box stores and other supposed comforts that the town’s new residents like. Already, some Americans have complained about the local teenagers who cruise the streets on their motorbikes at night. And imported class divisions are also emerging: Among the more free-spirited DIYers who have purchased homes, rumors circulate that some of the wealthier buyers want to build an exclusive, members-only swimming pool.

From left: Margherita Licata has lived in Sambuca for roughly 20 years; Pasticceria Enrico Pendola is one of few bakeries in the small town. Photos by Julia Nimke

But for now, there’s little evidence of a non-Sicilian presence in Sambuca, and it remains difficult to find anyone who speaks English. What I did find was an archaeology museum where, after I inquired if it was open, a woman rushed out, turned on the lights, and marched me at breakneck speed through the antiquities on display while barking descriptions of them at me in Italian. I also found a market that popped up alongside the traffic circle where the fishmonger told me how to cook the sardines I bought from the back of his van, as well as a café whose arancini made me finally understand why anyone would want to eat fried balls of rice, and where the elderly man who glared at me as I drank my breakfast cappuccino turned out not to be annoyed with the foreigner invading his morning sanctuary, but just waiting for the opportunity to ask me if I knew his cousins in New Jersey.

I’d arrived in Sicily wondering if the one-euro initiative would ruin the towns that adopted it, replacing their traditional culture with more consumerist ones and destroying their lifestyle and easy sociability. And when that turned out not to be the case, I also wondered if it wasn’t simply a matter of time: Perhaps the pandemic had slowed an already slower way of doing business, and the reckoning would still surely come.

But as I sat again in that same restaurant from the first night, it seemed to me that Sicily would be just fine. Maybe the slower pace was not a flaw that would eventually be overcome, but instead a feature that would ensure Sicily remains alluringly and unequivocally itself. After all, I thought, as I remembered the

Valley of the Temples, different peoples have been arriving on these shores for millennia. They may leave an imprint; they may shape the culture. But it’s clear that a distinctively Sicilian spirit still dominates.

From left: Mussomeli is one of the most popular towns in Sicily for one-euro home programs; Sambuca di Sicilia was a prominent trading hub centuries ago. Photos by Julia Nimke

And so, just before my departure from the island, I went to visit Margherita Licata again, but this time for reasons slightly more personal. Because I had seen enough one-euro homes to know that my powers of imagination were no match for their state of decrepitude, we skipped right to a “premium” home. As soon as she pushed open the doors to the arched courtyard, I was entranced. The rooms were rundown and furnished with old-fashioned chandeliers and faded wallpaper. But they were also large and bright, with intact walls and floors covered with gorgeous patterned tiles. Downstairs, there was an attached space that would make a perfect rental apartment. Upstairs, two rooftop terraces offered views of the town center in one direction, and a lake in the other.

“Fifty thousand euros,” Licata told me with a wink. “But that’s just what the owner’s asking.”

The money in my bank account had not magically grown during my time in Sicily. But my imagination must have. Because in that moment, it all seemed possible.

— Lisa Abend is a Journalist based in Madrid and the Author of The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià's elBulli. She is also a Contributing Writer at AFAR and Correspondent for Time magazine.

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Hey, hi! Just wanted to say... You have been one of my all-time fave writers since I was first introduced to fanfic! I was actually scrolling through a fic list I keep the other day and stumbled across this gem:

Bang ^ — lurkinglurkerwholurks *

(THIS IS IMPORTANT.

Listen. Look at me. Look me in the imaginary eyes and listen. The fic listed directly after this one is an alternate POV and then conclusion.

You should just be able to click the "Next Work" button convenienly located at the bottom of ^^this^^ fic HOWEVER should you do that and the title IS NOT ****THIS**** you close that no matter what and search ****THIS**** up! COMPRENDE?!)

With a Whimper ^ — lurkinglurkerwholurks * (****THIS****)

From when I was introducing a friend to fanfic via some of ur incredible works (they were new to ao3 so I had to be sure they had clear instructions and didn't miss anything, particularly with a fic I love so much) 😂😂😂 So when I saw you were looking for asks, idk I thought maybe it might make u smile

And then of course I had to go reread those ones and they are still a punch directly to my feels 😭 so THANK YOU and Serious Kudos to u and ur fabulous work!! Hope you feel better soon!

Coward. 😂

[fernsnailz]

Hey! Recently stumbled upon your stuff after one of my friends shared it with me and it's super cool!

I've never been terribly into Archie but seeing someone try to make sense of the lore is always fun. I'm wondering though, if the IDW characters and plotlines were introduced in Archie first and Archie just kept going, how would you incorporate them into Archie's world?

Would Tangle become a leading member of the Freedom Fighters? Would Whisper join the Secret Freedom Fighters? How would the Metal Virus play out in Archie's world? That kinda stuff! Would love to see your perspective of how it could be done

oh man um. i wrote a lot for this one LMAO SORRY

i think one big takeaway i have is that incorporating the idw plotlines and characters into post-reboot archie sonic probably wouldn’t be super difficult, especially considering some of the idw plotlines were ideas the archie writers had before the series was cancelled. the metal virus saga is the most notable of these ideas, and would probably play out in a similar way to how it did in idw if it were put in post-reboot archie (just with more characters available). there could be minor differences to the idw plots like how the freedom fighters interact with the idw cast, how silver and gold’s future shenanigans affect everything, breezie the hedgehog hosting the chao race arc, some small stuff like that.

i think the main post-reboot/idw character dynamic i would me most excited to see is between eclipse and surge (and by extension kit). they have commonality in being cruel reflections of other characters, but i doubt they would bond over it. eclipse is hellbent on destroying shadow to get revenge for his lost alien race - his destructive purpose is for reasons and people beyond him, not just for himself. surge and kit’s destruction is personal and internal, driven by grudges they were never in control of. surge wants sonic dead because she’s convinced he ruined HER life, not anyone else’s. i think eclipse would find them selfish, and surge would think eclipse is a moron. they could be at odds, which would be CRAZY ironic given their mirrors (sonic and shadow) are also usually at odds. ugh the irony of it all

however, the big challenge here is figuring out how the idw story and cast could fit into pre-reboot archie. if i tried to fit all of idw into pre-reboot i might go crazy, so i’ll just go over some concepts that interest me the most. pre-reboot ideas are below the cut because i have a lot to say <3

1. whisper is an ex-secret freedom fighter

this one feels obvious (especially since you suggested it lol), it would make sense for whisper to be a secret freedom fighter since that’s literally what she does in idw. however, i think whisper would actually stay AWAY from the freedom fighters because she lost everyone on her old team. this is an important part of her character in idw, and it would still be important here.

i think this could fit into archie if there were multiple secret freedom fighters (similar to how there are multiple freedom fighter groups, like the downunda freedom fighters). it could be interesting if whisper was a part of an older secret FF group in another location, but left the freedom fighters after everyone on it was killed. and it would be REALLY interesting if whisper’s group was ALSO formed by harvey who, and she fears the same fate might fall onto the new secret freedom fighters. idk that might be a bit of a stretch, but it could be interesting

i would want to keep the tangle and whisper dynamic, so i think both of them would reject the secret freedom fighters if they were invited and do work on their own or with jewel. it would be hilarious to see tangle talk to larry lynx tho

2. the metal virus is not robotnik's creation

the metal virus saga would be very strange to fit into pre-reboot archie because… it kinda already happened? the very long war between the mobians and robotnik was initiated by the roboticizer. archie robotnik has created touch-based roboticization before, and even brought back the roboticizer for operation clean sweep (which roboticized sally right before the reboot). so why go back to it again?

i think there are reasons to be found for robotnik returning to the roboticizer plot (especially since the metal virus is very unique in how it works). however, i think the metal virus saga could have an interesting archie take if someone other than robotnik created the virus. like what if it was created by the dark legion? maybe they wanted to come up with a way to create more robotic enhancements, but then somehow it got out of hand and broke containment. it would still be robotnik's problem since the dark legion works under him, but he would see it as an issue much faster than he would in the idw version.

or maybe it was created by doctor finitevus in a plot to take out the dark legion in the most ironic way possible? i dunno finitevus's motives are mostly just "i like being evil" so maaaybe it could work?

regardless of who created it, i think it would follow a similar format to idw where the severity of the situation would cause the entire cast to unite - ESPECIALLY if the virus reached across the multiverse. let's get zonic in here babey i miss him

3. SCOURGE AND SURGE BABEY!

this would be wild given that surge is kinda the spiritual successor to scourge. i think surge and kit should still be from mobius prime and created by dr starline (i could MAYBE argue that dr finitevus could make them, but i honestly don't know why he would). once surge and kit are on their own, it could be interesting to see them join the destructix - and then it would be great to watch them completely tear it apart.

surge and scourge Would Not Get Along. they're both green and hate sonic, but why the hell does sonic get TWO green reflections? which one is the BETTER reflection? which one is gonna be the one to finally end that little blue freak's miserable life? you can get a reflection from a mirror, but if you place two mirrors in front of each other you'll only get existential dread and a desire to beat the shit out of the other mirror.

4. idw shadow accidentally destroys the mobius 30 years later timeline (OOPS!!)

ok this one’s personal becuase the 25/30 year later future (aka light mobius) is something i Do Not Like, even after ian flynn took it over. it is a bad ending for the cast. even so, i really want the prime versions of these characters to see this fucked up future - especially shadow. and it would REALLY suck for shadow to see the light mobius future after all of his fuck-ups in the idw plot (failing to beat neo metal sonic, falling victim to the metal virus, you get the idea). time travel is an easy thing to work around writing wise, maybe my boy zonic could help them get there.

but yeah, main reason i want this is to send prime shadow through a moral crisis. a future with statues of a false deity maria and a tyrannical version of him hellbent on destroying everything would terrify prime shadow - but it wouldn't surprise him. he knows very well what previous versions of him were capable of. and given that idw shadow has some plot beats and character moments that are Not Very Good, i think it would be interesting for that version of him to get a wake up call from the horror of this awful future.

i would definitely want shadow to see light mobius, but i think it would be good to have prime sonic and possibly amy join him (sonic because he would also be horrified by light mobius, and amy because she's NOT EVEN IN THE 25/30 YEARS LATER TIMELINE??? where did she go???? did she fucking DIE??? sorry i hate light mobius lol)

this is something i've thought about even before getting this ask because i love making shadow sad. i'd love to make a comic about it some day but it's definitely too large of an idea for me to do within reason lol

-----------------------

there are some smaller places where i think the extensive lore of archie would benefit the idw characters, like if dr starline was from downunda and worked as one of eggman's dozen. but otherwise that's about all i have! i am so sorry i did not expect to write this much but i kept getting ideas.

thank you for your ask it was really fun to try and tie some of these wack ass plots together lmao

[naranjapetrificada]

20, 56, and 71? (I'm very curious about that last with your current project)

Thank you! I can always rely on you to indulge me when I want to play an ask game 🥰

It got a little long so I'm gonna put in a break to not ruin people's feeds.

Before the break though, if you want to play "get to know your fic writer" just pick your question(s) from this list!

20. Have you noticed any patterns in your fics? Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

There are a lot of possible answers to this one, but a few off the top of my head:

I can never resist a little alliteration.

It's something I always have to rein in a bit, but if I want to emphasize something I will regularly repeat myself. Not word for word, but restating it. I think this might be related to the way I speak IRL and the ADHD need to over-clarify. But it's a thing I've seen other writers do also!

I love an image, and literally require them to write the way the human brain requires oxygen. Every shorter piece I've posted was directly inspired by/is heavily dominated by a single image, to the point that I sometimes feel like it's the poetry part of my brain that writes anything under 2000 words.

56. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

The nouns. People, places, and things, as in introducing a character, evoking a place and describing a thing. Until fairly recently, those were my writing raisons d'être tbh. An image would lead me to one or more of them, and I'd get lost in them, but my motivation would always peter out around the time I needed stuff to like, happen. Plot was always, always an afterthought (which is a big reason for the poetry part of my brain I mentioned in the previous answer).

71. When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

Hoo boy. What a question. I've never committed to a longfic the way I have with FtF so I'm still figuring it out. When I was still figuring out which tropey longfic I wanted to work on in this fandom I actually started with a different one (a "Stede gets captured by Blackbeard before he has the chance to get gut-stabbed by the Spanish" thing), which is why you'll confusingly see FtF posts tagged with #baby's second longfic. But one thing working on that first one helped me with was figuring out I need to stay on top of it all.

The short version is "a doc for everything and everything in a doc."

I have like, a "beat sheet" for the big story beats and a big messy "brain dump" sort of document, so that I can note new things down without getting distracted by where they're supposed to go. The latter is also where the earliest writing takes place, and how I learn what shape something could take.

When things start to coalesce a bit, there's a new file for every chapter that I can see on the horizon (like for FtF I've gone as far as Chapter 6). Doing it any other way would be literally unworkable for me. Besides just like, limiting the scale of whatever I'm looking at at a given moment, it's also handy to be able to cut and paste things around when I need to change where something falls in the timeline. And because this fic is The Way That It Is, I also have separate documents for things like flashbacks and the academic blurbs, although I will copy the latter to their requisite chapter doc when I figure out where I want them.

While writing this reply, it's occurred to me that it might be a good idea to have a document just for things that have been set in stone, like dates and ages and locations etc. Just to keep my facts straight. That's kind of a big reason I've been posting chapters as soon as they're written instead of waiting till I had a backlog - I needed to get some things set in stone so I wouldn't be tempted/able to keep changing everything. The more concrete details I nail down the faster (read: not fast) this thing gets written.

This has been so much fun and super educational to think about all this stuff so thank you so, so much for asking ❤️❤️❤️

[detrasystem]

hey! this is chance & here’s this week’s prompt. what websites or resources do you use while you write or develop a character/story? what do you think of them and would you recommend them?

hi chance!! tysm for the ask, this is such a kind and fun thing for you to be doing 💕

i have a LOT of resources to talk about with regard to this prompt. i'm actually planning in-depth posts for almost all of these, but for now i'll list out the things i absolutely cannot live without when developing a story.

websites

Random Generators. i have literally been to hundreds of random generator sites over the years, and they have become an absolutely invaluable resource for generating ideas, whether it's for a character name or a complete adventure. one of my all-time favorites, Chaotic Shiny, introduced me to the concept of NaNoWriMo and thus the writing community at large! i'd also recommend Seventh Sanctum and, as i'm sure everyone's already familiar, FantasyNameGenerators.com. each website is completely independent, some are still being updated to this day, and they each have a different Vibe to them so all three can be used depending on what kind of ideas you want to spark at the moment. HIGHLY recommend this unrestrained summer fun.

Springhole.net. this is kind of an expansion on the above, because there are some fantastic random generators on this site, but there's so much more here, too. in-depth advice for character development, worldbuilding, writing in general...it's great. and criminally underrated!

Susan Dennard's newsletter. Susan Dennard is the author of the Witchland series, among other things, and she's been keeping a long-running advice newsletter for writers for a LONG time. she's traditionally published and often has some great insight into the publishing world as well as just generally really good tips for writers of any stage. i'm not personally a fan of her books, but i am a fan of her advice. <3

YouTube. ok. hear me out. this could be for a few different things. i find it kind of fun to see how other writers tackle the writing process, so i'll watch writing vlogs every now and then--Kate Cavanaugh Writes is by far THEE best channel out there for this. her videos are excellently edited, her joy of writing is contagious, and she does a lot of fun and inspiring writing challenges! i often get bored watching people just stare at a camera and talk for 30 minutes straight, but her videos are Absolutely not like that so they're really easy to watch.

but even if you're not into vlogs, did you know that there's a whole subset of (mostly Japanese) YouTubers who make royalty free music and just like...post it? and it's GOOD? like genuinely?? go check out PeriTune right now and thank me later. i'm one of those writers that NEEDS music to write and develop characters so PeriTune (and the others that will eventually get recommended to you the more you watch their videos GHNGDFHG) makes the perfect background music for scenes, locations, characters, etc. and did i mention it's insanely good for being 100% free?

this isn't a resource for development, per se, but i can't recommend 4thewords enough. it's an online word processor that turns writing into an RPG: battle monsters by writing words during a certain time limit, and then complete quests with the loot you earn from your battles! there's a free 30 day trial for new users, and if you're participating in NaNoWriMo, the devs usually put coupons for free writing time during those months, so if you're not constantly in need of drafting several words at once, you really don't have to spend a cent. though 4thewords IS independently owned and developed by a wonderful team of writers who are very inclusive, so i do recommend supporting them if you can. :-) one month starts at $4, and if you use my referral code IRZVE23798 you and i both get free "crystals" that count toward subscription time <3

books/publications

there are two writing craft books i need EVERYONE to read, regardless of medium. Damn Fine Story by Chuck Wendig, and 27 Essential Principles of Story by Daniel Joshua Rubin. this is not the writing advice you've heard before. this is not elitist, prescribed advice. these are two books that will change the way you THINK about story, no matter how experienced you are. i am ALWAYS consulting these books. they live on my desk permanently.

Writer's Digest. i will admit to being subscribed to this magazine (and Poets & Writers), and for good reason! each bi-monthly issue is full of insider information about the publishing industry, creative writing prompts, and great food for thought about the craft. even if you can't/don't want to subscribe to the magazine, their website is full of great articles to get the inspiration flowing.

Publishers Weekly. i just check their website out periodically, to get a pulse on what's getting published these days, and by whom. if you want to be traditionally published, it's ALWAYS a good idea to understand the trends of the industry; plus, reading reviews on PW is a great way to find books to read that you might not have found otherwise.

and finally, of course, if you want to write, you have to read. like. i cannot stress this enough. find books that speak to you. reading others' work is essential to finding out what kind of techniques, tropes, characterizations, etc you LIKE as well as DON'T like. some people don't like reading in their genre for fear of accidentally plagiarizing, but i'm in the camp that NEEDS to read in my genre to get the right words into my brain so i can spit them all back later. no matter how or why you read, though, you gotta do it. even if it's just one novel that you read over and over again to keep getting inspired. GO TO YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY. thank you.

[aeoki]

Zodiac 2 - Rooster

Location: Yumenosaki Grower Barn Characters: Tomoya, Hokuto & Wataru Season: Winter Writer: Yoshino Yuuki

TL Note:

Daifuku are rice cakes with a sweet filling inside.

Wataru originally says this line in English.

Wataru: Hello, it’s yours truly – Wataru Hibiki…☆

Fufufu, aren’t you all cheerful today? There, there ♪ 

Hokuto: President, don’t let the parrots out. It’ll be trouble if they escape… Hey, are you listening to me?

Wataru: No need to worry! I’m listening to you while I feed the parrots~ I can hear everything you say.

Hokuto: I see. It’s perched on your shoulder and appears to be quite well-behaved. Looks like I don’t need to worry.

If you’ll tend to the parrots, then Tomoya and I will check on the chickens.

I’ve seen Isara handle them before, so it might be best for the two of us to tend to them.

Wataru: Hokuto-kun, I was simply feeding them while I greeted them, but I don’t mind tending to the chickens, either.

It’ll be interesting to teach them a few tricks as well. Hokuto-kun, please tend to “Daifuku-chan” ♪ 

Hokuto: Who the heck is that…?

No wait, why do you know that?

Wataru: Oh, I don’t remember when it was, but you were sitting abent-mindedly in the clubroom one time.

And I came over thinking I could give you some advice as your upperclassman.

Then, you started muttering “daifuku… daifuku[⁎]…”.

So I decided to run off to the convenience store to buy some and when I stuffed it in your mouth, you choked quite badly on it!

It gave me thrills when you shouted, “Are you trying to kill me!” Hatred is also love! How wonderful it is to see you’ve awakened to a new kind of love…☆

In any case, you were the one who introduced it to me. All I did was outstretch my hand that was full of love to you! Have you understood now?

Hokuto: Yeah, I’m starting to remember…

I was the one who requested it, but I meant the name of the white rabbit that’s kept here instead of the food.

Wataru: You’ll get more attached to something if you give it a name, after all. But the clubs take turns taking care of the animals here.

If you carelessly give it a name, then it’d be troubling if it stops responding to it.

Hokuto: I know. You know I haven’t called it that during the times we’re feeding it.

But I’ve been busy preparing for “SS” and have left the task to Tomoya… Sorry about that.

Tomoya: It’s okay, I like animals so I enjoyed the time! In fact, I wouldn’t mind feeding them every day!

Wataru: The animals like you a lot, don’t they, Tomoya-kun? As do I ☆

Tomoya: What the heck!? Anyway, it’s going to get dark if we keep chatting like this… so shall we decide who’s going to take care of what?

Wataru: Then, I shall feed the chickens, cock-a-doodle-doo~...☆

Tomoya: How about you, Hokuto-senpai? The club president already fed the parrots, so all that’s left is to clean up after them. It’s pretty easy~♪ 

Hokuto: I’d like to say I want to feed the rabbits… but they’re wiggling their noses because they want you to take care of them. I’ll clean up the parrots.

Tomoya: Alright!

Be good, okay~? Ahaha, you don’t have to crowd around my legs like that. I’ll pet you all in good time ♪ 

Oh, what’s the matter? Your ears are all perked up and you’re alert…?

This rabbit’s stuck in the corner and it looks like it’s scared.

…Hm? The chicken coop sounds oddly noisy. Did he anger them or something?

He won’t be able to feed or clean their coop if that’s the case. I’ll go take a look.

Wataru: Come, spread your wings and fly high! Let us sing a song! La~ lala~...♪ 

Tomoya: …What’re you doing?

Wataru: Oh, Tomoya-kun! What am I doing? You can tell, can’t you?

If you can’t, then close your eyes! Have you closed them? I can see they’re not fully closed~

Alright, you’ve got them closed this time! Now, open your eyes slowly! It’s time to wake up~♪ 

Tomoya: Woah, the chickens are right in front of me!? What’re you gonna do if I accidentally kick them!? They’ll get hurt!

Hm? Why do you have a hula-hoop…?

Wataru: Hehehe, you’ve finally noticed.

I was trying so hard to get your attention and yet you only had eyes for the chickens. I might as well be biting a handkerchief in my mouth out of frustration.

Tomoya: Uh, there wasn’t a hula-hoop around before, right? Where’d it come from?

Wataru: I made it appear with a few tricks ☆ Anyway, what you should be focused on isn’t the hula-hoop – Focus on the chickens~☆

They’ll now pass through the hula-hoop!

There, they succeeded. A round of applause, please~☆

Next, I shall hold the hula-hoop to my hip!

Another success~ You’d think things would end there, wouldn’t you?

Overcome your limits! I shall hold the hula-hoop higher than myself next!

Show us a miracle…!

Tomoya: T–They flew…!? No, chickens aren’t supposed to fly! What the? How did they fly…?

Wataru: A nice reaction. I’m overjoyed to have succeeded in surprising you, Tomoya-kun!

It appears the chicken’s ancestors weren’t very good at flying, but it wasn’t true that they couldn’t fly at all.

Most chickens nowadays come from selective breeding and cannot fly… Or I suppose I should say they’ve been made that way because flying would be unnecessary for them.

These little ones aren’t too chubby and succeeded in flying all the way here. Well, it would certainly be difficult for them to fly about in the sky, though.

In any case, I’m finished with the feeding and cleaning, so I shall help you with your tasks, Tomoya-kun.

Tomoya: Huh? You didn’t just spend all that time teaching those chickens tricks…? You did the cleaning too!?

Wataru: That’s right[⁎]…☆

I finished feeding them the moment I brought out the hula-hoop! Time is money, after all! Let us deepen our friendship with our remaining time! Love blossoms by having conversations and making connections with others. Let us make miracles blossom as well…☆

[sebeth]

Legion of Super-Heroes: Rank the Versions

The Legion of Super-Heroes was my entry point into comic books. My uncle handed me a digest-sized reprint of their early Silver Age appearances, and it has been my strongest comics love since that point. Others come and go but the Legion (and its million characters) will always be my true love in comics.

I saw a thread on reddit the other day asking readers to rank the various versions of the Legion of Super-Heroes, so lets go:

The Original (1958 – 1989): This is an obvious number one. The original LOSH laid the foundations for every version, reboot, and homage to come. All the mainstays – heroes, supporting characters, enemies, locations – debuted in this run. The most classic moments and famous storylines occurred with this version. Easy number one.

The Reboot (1994 – 2004): Another strong version that successfully modernized multiple characters. Lyle Norg’s reboot had to quadruple his fan base. The White Triangle storyline was fantastic. This version had a few questionable choices but overall was very strong.

Five Years Later (1989 -1994) The most controversial version but I love it. Not a perfect run but the characters were awesome. I have never loved Jo Nah as much as I have in this run. Cosmic Boy, Night Girl, Kent Shakespeare, Infectious Lass, and Spider-Girl were other standouts. Roxxas was hilarious but terrifying in his insanity. The Subs were badass, fearless warriors in the resistance. Jacques had something to do besides utter random French words! Tyroc became something other than a walking cliches! Glorith was something other than a devolved blob of goo! Sun Boy’s downfall was painful and horrifying! Love this run!

Threeboot (2004-2009): Mark Waid returned to the Legion for another reboot and threw everything sideways. It was great! Lyle was vastly different than the reboot but still received more character development than his original version. Loved the Cosmic Boy and Brainy rivalry. The addition of Supergirl was unnecessary and the ending was weak but still – many enjoyable moments.

Legion of Super-Heroes (cartoon): Nothing ground-breaking but it was fun.

The Retroboot(2007 -2011). I wanted to love this more than I did. The storylines and characters were bland. It started off strong with the Lightning Saga, the Superman/Legion vs Earth Man’s Justice League, and the Legion of Three Worlds storyline. Even the first year of the title wasn’t bad – Earth Man joins the Legion, Titan is destroyed, etc but it turned into forgettable blandness. Way too many new characters were introduced that weren’t memorabIe. I did love the spotlight on Night Girl and her relationship with Cosmic Boy. Tyroc again was something other than a stereotype. Legion Lost didn’t amount to anything – too bad as it was an interesting concept.

The Imperial Guard (Marvel): A Legion by any other name is…the Imperial Guard. I remember reading their first appearance in a Classic X-men reprint and I immediately tagged the group as a Legion homage. Always fun when they make an appearance. I love that Marvel keeps the group strong even though the team is an homage to a competitor. The Guard won the trial of Jean Grey/the Phoenix. Gladiator defeated the Fantastic Four. Gladiator and the Guard were standouts of Marvel’s 2000 cosmic runs. Love it.

Bendisboot (2019): Speaking of blandness, there is this hot mess. I didn’t even finish the run and that is the only time I can say that about a Legion run. Team books are not Bendis’ forte – his Avengers run should have proven that so I am unsure why DC thought he would be a good choice for a writer of the biggest team in the comic book industry.

There are other versions that I didn’t list simply because they only appeared for an issue/episode so there’s not much to rank. I did enjoy most of the “one-shot” Legions.

[tsukifamily]

Featured Panelist Guest at Animazement 2023′

We have some very exciting news to share with you all. We will be Featured Panelists Guests at Animazement 2023 in Raleigh, NC during Memorial day weekend. 

We will have a booth location in the conswap area of the Artist Alley that we will have Family of Moonlight merchandise available for sale along photos with our mascot Moonlight! Please stop by!

The following events we plan to host at Animazement 23′

Base Moonlight: A Family of Moonlight Panel (2 hour)

Moonlight Covers Naoko Takuechi’s Works (1 hour)

Flight Horny by Moonlight 18+ (2 hour)

Gender Expression (1 hour)

Sailor Moon Tabletop Event Friday (3 hour)

Sailor Moon Tabletop Event Saturday (3 hour)

Sailor Moon Public Photoshoot Friday (1 hour)

Sailor Moon Public Photoshoot Saturday (1 hour)

Werewolf (3 hour)

Anime Jokes (1 hour)

Sailor Moon Fan Creator to Follow (1 hour)

Animazement Badge Ribbon Game 2.0 (1 hour)

Our Moonlight Family that will be on hand during Animazement 23' will be:

Margaret “Meg” Tyler (Lilly-chan)

My name is Margaret “Meg” Tyler, online people know me as Lilly-chan. I’m 40 ½  years old, a Sailor Moon fan since 1997. I’ve been running panels for over 18 years. I live in Ohio, but that doesn’t stop me from traveling to conventions. Besides being involved with Sailor Moon & Family of Moonlight I am a Freelance Artist in Traditional & Digital Artist and a Photographer.

Angel Melzak 

Angela Melzak, aka Angel. I am a Christian, artist and enjoy older anime and manga. Grateful that I get to share my love of creating with others over the many years. You can find me on Instagram, FB and DeviantArt under kuroitenshi in some form.

Michelle Tibbedeaux 

My name is Michelle and I’ve been attending cons since 2011 and have been a cosplayer since 2012. I was introduced to the family of Moonlight in 2013 and Immediately wanted to join up with fellow fans of Sailor Moon, I grew up watching the show and as I got older I got more obsessed and learned more of the series. I help plan events, like our upcoming anniversary event on International sailor moon day, and panels, like this!

Joanna Mathews

Joanna Mathews, aka Neko Athena, has been a Sailor Moon and anime fan for more that 20 years. A high school friend of Meg’s, she has been involved in Family of Moonlight for many years as well. Her other interests include dinosaurs, horror, and tabletop and board gaming. She is running the BESM 4th Ed. Shadow of the Moon Module for Family of Moonlight’s gaming night.

Sebastian Creager

Sebastian Creager I’ve been cosplaying for over a decade and a half! Been apart of the convention scene for over a decade! My current anime obsessions are Sailor Moon, Durarara, and Yuuri On Ice! In my free time I’m a graphic designer, baker and writer! You can find me on Instagram @sebaskitty to keep up with me! I’m super excited to meet everyone!!

Franky Price

Franky Price Makeup artist and tabletop devotee. Been a con attendee for almost 10 years and a nerd since birth. Lover of alternative subcultures, horror, and cozy video games.

Beth Gerstorff

Crafter and cosplayer by nature. Lover of dolls and anime. Been going to conventions and cosplaying since 2009.

Jae Griffieth

Jae Griffieth has been cosplaying and going to cons for about a decade. 

We look in forward to see you all in May at Animazement 23'!!!!

[icefrozendeadlyqueen]

Enforcers: Prologue

Enforcers | Prologue

Warning: None so far

Summary: Enforcers are the government dogs to be prepared when they get called at anytime. They should have read the small print.

a/n: Sorry for the late updated; I was dealing with updating block. I think I will do one update from each Enforcers then reader, so next updated will be reader insert. Hope you enjoy!. This is a reader inset story with co-writers. Gif isn’t mine.

word count: 1089

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lluthra’s POV

 People trust me with their secrets; they really shouldn’t. On the rooftop of the government headquarters. Wide open space with no ac cube, no strings and nothing that could possibly be used to escape. It’s not like she cares what they are doing. Last she saw their last member Redamancy has been in charge of looking after (y/n).

 Ava, X and Taletha had gone to do the first patrol of the morning despite being almost midnight. Stars filled the skies as far as the eyes could register. A beautiful sight not many manage to see; at least not the ones that don’t have our line of work.

 For the time being we are located in a place where there is desolation and desert for as long as the eye can see. There are cactuses here and there with the occasional straight animal. They have train hyenas in this place. If guessed, Area 51, check. Before the last Enforcer got there, we said our names. Introduce ourselves of some short? Lluthra found it stupid way to get close to a person you don’t know will survive the training.

 The key to winning people’s trust is not giving a single shit. At some point, one of your teammates will open their past like a biblical book in the Sahara Desert. They will be the water droplets the desert gets for an eternity to come.

 Once we reach area 51, they allowed us to change from the ceremonial gowns to prefer outfits we brought with us. They told us not to get attach as we would be taking on personas sooner than later. What a bunch of self-centered jackasses.

 Lluthra holds her headset setting it down on the stone in front of her stopping people from jumping off. She slides her finger through the wrap around; she lifted the small object running her fingers through her luscious and long, silver blonde hair keeping it tight in a ponytail.

 “YO! Lluthra”, shouted x from below Lluthra. She leans forward over the stone. On the grounds spread out white/black jeeps, a couple of tanks, etc. There stood X her brunette locks push back with a scrunchies. X wore a strip croptop dark as the color of the skies in the city with black skinny jeans with black converse with a blue star at the front. She holds her cellphone on the front pocket of her skinny jeans. How in the world is x pockets holding her phone is beyond her, Lluthra thinks to herself not wanting to say it out loud. X wore black trucker jacket to complete her outfit with the iconic full gold bracelet that we were to wear if we accepted being Enforcers. She had multiple smaller silver rings alongside her fingers.

 Afterall, we are the government new weapon. Brand new. We don’t know who exactly or what exactly are we chasing after; however, what the hell how do you drop 6 girls in area 51 away from everything to what? Existing. Great. Lluthra sure as hell doesn’t want to live all her life doing nothing in this check point waiting for life to take its course.

 Violet eyes locks with Taletha’s brown eyes, piercing like a medieval sword, for a moment more Lluthra broke eye contact not wanting her soul to be wrap around Taletha rings of death. Lluthra saw it a couple of hours ago when (y/n) stared into Taletha eyes brown eyes pretty common; however, it’s like a compelling secret that you will prefer listening too.

 Taletha stood on x’s right side her fingers inside a leather jacket. Taletha wore a combo of short shorts and a simple strapless white set with a custom leather jacket. It has daisies surrounding a skeleton head with soulless eyes. Taletha wore white fur combat boots to go with the aesthetic of her outfit. She had her phone on her hands staring at x with a smile on her lips to complete her outfit with the iconic full gold bracelet that we were to wear if we accepted being Enforcers.

 “What?”, Lluthra scoff cutting her violet eyes from staring at the girls below her.

 “You wanna come?” laughed Ava, gaining violet eyes to stare down towards the speaker. Ava stood on x’s left side not really looking at anything in particular just side glancing at the soldiers around.

 Ava has shoulder length, brown hair, and eyes. She wore blue jeans with a purple polo shirt with a lilac puffer jacket. She wore black sneakers with butterfly socks. Ava pushes her hands out of her pockets; her hands shaking nonstop.

 “Put your hands inside your jacket, now. Come on”. X reprimanded Ava, who did as she was told entering her hands inside her pockets without a word said.

 “You are all X’s dogs. No thanks”. Lluthra blurts, shaking her head. She swiftly turns around giving the girls her back. Taletha stares at Lluthra anger within her eyes. X places a hand up stopping Taletha from attacking further, “Go get a car with Ava. I’ll be there in a second”. X exclaims, push imaginary hair off her face. X takes a deep breath as Taletha takes Ava from her elbow walking away from X. A chuckle escapes X; she glances back to Lluthra after Taletha and Ava aren’t in hearing distance.

 “You know, it is looking like you’ll be the villain; however, you forgot something very important there can only be one villain. Is this yours?”, x swings her hands and a set of keys go off like cascabels in a carnival.

 Lluthra turns back around, her violet eyes open wide. Her eyebrow furrow down in an angry realization.

 “How the hell!”, Lluthra screams reaching out even though she knows won’t be able to catch the keys. Her momentary memento of something so treasures so important.

 “Between you and I. You will come with us, or I will make sure to delete this from the face of the earth”. X blurts taking a couple of steps back. She turns walking away playing with the keys, “Remember, better luck next time”. Laughs escape her villain Lluthra can hear her at the back of her mind. X laughs getting engraved in her subconscious. Lluthra takes her things in hand rushing for the stairs.

 Lluthra thought she had studied who everyone can amount to and x wasn’t much of a threat.

 I only ever met one person I’d truly call a pain in the ass, and this girl x is sure as hell it.