#I’m projecting so hard on this character

[gowerhardcastle]

I've really been enjoying those little bits of writing knowledge you've been sharing—about stats, interactive fiction, character design, all of it. It's always an interesting read. I guess that's the professor and writer in you, making even the most mundane things feel immersive.

Which brings me to my ask: What are your thoughts on the inevitable "the ending felt rushed" comment or review?

I'm in the middle of editing Lemon and tying up loose ends. I'm getting close to the finish line, and that "I just want to be done" feeling is starting to creep in. But at the same time, I know that no matter how many scenes or endings I add, something might still feel unfinished to someone. (For context, Lemon is a standalone.)

So the question is: how do you fight that feeling?

---

Oh, man, do I know that feeling.  I have a really unhelpful answer, but it’s the answer that makes sense to me, which I figured out the hard way.

When I was writing Tally Ho I couldn’t wait to finish it and share it with everyone.  Nobody had seen one word of it aside from my editor, and I couldn’t wait to see what people thought--but more than that, I’d been working on it for so long, and I was bursting to have the final product in front of me, out of my head.

Finally, it happened, and it was done, and it was great to get the feedback and the reviews--but I also felt weird.  And that’s when I realized how much I liked the actual process of writing, and not having my big project was making me feel a little empty.  It wasn’t until I came up with and started my next project months and months later that I felt good again.

How do I put this?  It’s like--if I were to say, “I can’t wait until the summer because I’m so excited to go to that convention, and I wish time would speed up until then.”  Obviously time will not speed up.  But you don’t want to wish that your time--your life--would speed up.  It’ll get there.  Meanwhile, here you are in this moment.  Really I’m just talking about mindfulness, I guess.

Writing is the same way for me.  If I start thinking, “I can’t wait until this is done” that’s wishing away the thing I actually like, which is writing.

As for someone thinking your game isn’t long enough or whatever, here, let me say this to you:  “Your game was really good, but it was too short and felt  rushed at the end.”  Someone is going to say that to you, possibly multiple someones, and there, now you heard it from me, and you’ll recognize it when you hear it in reviews.  You will hear this no matter what.  I try to hear it as, “I really wish there were much more of your game.”  The comment to fear is “It was too long.”

[th0rnback]

Do you have any headcanons that tend to translate into your writing?

Oooooo, that is a good'un. I’ve been in this fandom so long sometimes I forget what is headcanon and what’s canon 🫠

Buuuuut, I’m sure some of these might be shared with lots of folks, yet off the top of my head:

⭕Edward wears gloves not so much to hide his automail, but to soften it. Metal joints pinch. He learned this the hard way when shaking someone’s hand. It genuinely upset/embarrassed/made him self conscious for a while after that event. ⭕Alphonse always like the barn cats since he was small, yet moreso after Trisha’s death. He liked to entice them into the house of an evening for the warmth and comfort. The house didn’t feel quiet so empty when filled with a patter of paws or rumbling purrs.

⭕Ed’s an ugly crier and he is SUPER self aware of this fact, while he is trying to ‘keep a stiff upper lip’ he also has the worse poker face known to mankind (which I guess can be canon? Because the sweet bean was a mess at Trisha’s funeral, howling at the sky with snot) ⭕Al, even when human and back when kids, is the better liar. He’s got a good poker face (even without the helm) and the street cred of polite sweetness.

⭕Roy hides it well and because irony is key: Roy gets anxious around horses. As a kid a mounted MP’s horse nipped him and Chris presumed this is why he is still Not A Fan of the hooved beasts…. In reality, watching a group of Ishvalan’s get trampled when the cavalry arrived on scene made him realize how terrifyingly powerful such animals are (cue his anxiety over FoM!Ed being so tiny around an animal with hooves bigger than the kids skull)   ⭕ Riza doesn't like being ignored. She can deal with it, but it does make her hackles rise. There is something about being so blankly disregarded she finds as rude yet know, deep known, its because she spent too much of her youth with a father who barely spared her a glance, absorbed in his work... until he suddenly was like ''yo lovely daughter, need to borrow that skin on your back for a second'' ⭕Riza is very good at leg sweeping, hip checking, or just thwacking the back of Roy's knees because when he came to live as her father's apprentice at their crumbling rural manor house, she took great joy tripping him up in the corridors to the point it became a game.

⭕Havoc was nominated for first aider training for their unit. He drew the short straw. Hated every second of the weekend long training he got shoved into. The team make frequent jokes they were hoping to improve his experience, as his dating life is piss-poor and doing CPR would be is only form of ‘kissing’.

⭕ Riza’s a tea-a-holic (which could be canon? Girl be drinking tea in a lot of manga panels). She likes tea due to the variety of scents and finds the method of brewing/preparing it as a form of decompression/keeps her mind blank and hands busy because there are only many times she can dismantling and cleaning her service weapons to a pristine condition before someone presumes she has OCD.

⭕Roy isn’t very good with the scent of fatty meat being cooked. He can deal with it, but sometimes, on The Bad Days™the scent can send him reeling. (This was mostly inspired given how my paternal grandfather was a tank-man during ww2 and my uncle had the horrors of playing with flame throwers in other dumb-mens-wars and neither of them could cope with the smell of smoked bacon of fat-heavy meat).

⭕Fuery is blind AF without his glasses…. Probably me projecting like hell as poor sighted dweeb with thick glasses and also how I HATE that characters in fiction get their glasses off and can FUNCTION DURING CHAOS??? LIKE, NO. EVERYTHING IS BLURRY AND SCARY. MATE, I ONCE LOST MY GLASSES IN THE AMAZING MAZE OF MAIZE AND I FELT LIKE I WAS IN THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE. Also, during a paintball match, I had to forgo my glasses because the eye protective googles didn’t like me wearing them, so I was just blindly taking people out and running into trees, but that’s another story. Rant over.

⭕Maes & Gracia had experienced pregnancy loss before they finally had Elicia: its why the two of them cherish her so much

Annnnnd... I'll stop. Otherwise we are gonna end up with a sickeningly large amount and I fear I'll bore you. 💖

[ski0k]

people ask me if I prefer dickbabs or dickory and honestly, the answer is neither because every single time I start liking either relationships, something happens to fuck that all up.

I understand that with the way comics work, especially with the longevity of it all, you need to spice things up every once in a while and it gets hard to come up with new interesting content after literal decades. but there’s so many—too many—instances where writers start bastardizing characters and relationships just for the sake of making it interesting.

and all for what?

for example, when I watched btas, I was really into dickbabs but then they had to get all weird and do that plot where bruce impregnates barbara. then I watched teen titans and really liked robin and starfire together which made me start reading comics to see more dickory content, only to come across that one panel where dick says he’s never loved her??

like I’m not saying dick isn’t allowed to have issues with relationships, but there is a right and wrong way to depict such a thing, and sometimes these writers project their own beliefs and fantasies (fetishes) on certain characters and run with it. like the way devin grayson was allowed to basically insert herself into the narrative during her nightwing run; and I say allowed because there was someone that approved everything she wrote.

I totally understand that I can just ignore canon because of how fucky comics can get at times, which I already do anyway, but I know I'm not the only one that deeply cares about these characters and think they deserve better.

like the best, most notorious, example of bastardization, by far, has got to be the plot twist where captain america was part of hydra all along.

to this day, I'm still trying to wrap my head around how the hell that comic was even allowed to get published in the first place. not to mention the way marvel initially insisted that it was not an elseworld story and there was no mind control involved, before backtracking completely because so many people disapproved. rightfully so too! cap being hydra is so so so far from who steve rogers is and what he all that he stands for.

don’t even get me started on the comics that depict batman as an absolute jackass to his kids, especially jason.

you would think, that because characters get tossed around from writer to writer, comic juggernauts like dc and marvel would have some sort of guide they give out to assigned writers on how to write their characters? surely this is the case, right?

because I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they didn’t.

[thebakerstreetproject]

Wow ! That’s a lot of questions there ! I was originally planning to put this in a powerpoint presentation, but since I want to answer all of them, let me just respond here !

What was most challenging during this process?

Trying to write the dialogue in a 19th century fashion without it looking too literary.

Did you have any deadlines?

Since we’re not working with a production, we don’t exactly have official deadlines. But we try to respect our own deadlines, even if we all have our lives and studies.

Did you have experience with screenplay writing? If not, how was it? If yes, was it any different from previous writings?

I wrote several screenplays for school projects, but nothing historical before. Once again, 19th century dialogue…

Which character's mannerism, speech and body language was easiest to write?

Arthur Vasson. I knew very precisely where I wanted to go with him.

Are you open to perhaps going back and revisiting the screenplay writing (during production) or are you dead set that it is perfect as is?

The general structure won't change, but a script is never perfect!

Did you have any goals when beginning the script?

To finish it.

What was the process of the script writing?

First off, I wrote a first version, in english, many months ago.

We are two screenwriters, so we had a couple of meetings to determine the general atmosphere, and some form of « guideline » of our story.

Then, each of us wrote our own version of it, compared it with each other, decided what we’d like to keep or not.

I wrote the final version.

What app did you use to write the script on?

No specific app, just a blank page. But Scenarist is an excellent software if you’re looking for one yourself.

-

Was there, besides the obvious, any other changes you had to make pertaining to the overall story?

Stamford disappeared ! And yes, other new stuff, but I’ll keep that secret.

Do you find it easier to write the conversations, cases and settings in french?

Well, it’s hard to say. As I’m French, it’s more natural for me, however, I’m far more knowledgeable in victorian british speech and way of life, than « le parler de la belle époque »… So fifty-fifty.

Will there be subtitles? 🙏🏻

Of course ! I’ll add them myself.

Was there a specific reason you chose the names Charles Olmet and Dr Arthur Vasson? I love those names so much.

Thank you ! Well, uhm, I chose similar names, but ones who were definitely french. « Charles Olmet » (To pronounce « Charles Olm-ay »), sounds like « Sherlock Holmes », and Vasson like Watson. However, if at first John was supposed to be « Jean », I didn’t really like the sound of Charles and Jean, and Arthur appeared to me. Charles and Arthur sound great !

Where in France are the pair located?

Marseille !

Are there any real life things put into the story? E.g price of living, major events.

Yes, a bunch !

What is it called? What is it about?

We haven’t found a title yet, unfortunately ! And well, it’s about two men who meet in 1881 and solve crimes together, obviously.

What made you start this project?

My immense love for Sherlock Holmes and an incredible team.

Are you following an episodic or serial format? Or episodic format for the cases and serial for the romance? 💞 Hehe

Serial ! Although the pilot will be a bit of an episodic one, since we’ll use it to promote the project.

Is Charles a user of drugs like in the novels? If so, how did you find yourself approaching this? Lightly touched upon just like the novels or heavily frowned upon on like in so many adaptations?

Occasional user in his words, addict according to Vasson.

Does Charles play french/European classics on the violin? Do you personally have a favourite that he plays?

I don’t know, I’ll ask him.

What would you say differentiates your Sherlock adaptations from the others?

They’re from Marseille !

What's the ship name for Vasson and Olmet!? Vassmet? Metson?

You decide.

How many episodes will there be? And how long will they run for?

Depends on the production. The pilot will be around 10 minutes-long.

Do they live in an apartment? Yes.

Did you have to do any prior research for the story? Criminal laws, veteran pension, financial costs of housing, etc

A bunch ! On criminal laws, Marseille in 1881, and homosexuality in france « à la belle époque ».

Did you or do you plan to do any prior research for production? Filming techniques, sound and music, editing, etc

Does film school count ?

Were there any cases you were NOT interested in adapting?

We are not directly adapting any cases per say ! More like a mix and match of all of them, or just following the atmosphere of SACD’s stories, and inventing our own.

Did you mix elements of some cases together?

Yes.

What is Charles and Dr Vasson's morning routine?

Once again, I’ll ask them.

French desserts are very popular, does Charles have a sweet tooth? How about Dr Vasson? What's their favourite dessert?

Charles is a fan of « tarte au citron meringuée. ». Arthur doesn’t really have a sweet tooth, but likes « cannelés ».

Is there any specific 'look' or 'vibe' that you have in mind for the casting?

Eccentric, weird for Charles and down-to earth for Arthur.

Is there anything coming up in production that you're dreading? Or excited for?

I’m excited for everything ! And dreading the budget thoughts.

When do you think you will release the pilot?

September 2025 if we’re lucky !

How expensive is Charles and Dr Vasson's rent?

They haven’t moved in together yet.

Will Scotland Yard's DI Lestrade make an appearance?

Yes !

Dr 'three continents' Watson is quite the ladies man... is Charles a jealous man? 👀

He ‘ll say no. The answer is yes.

Every country's criminal and celebrity media and reporting is done differently. In France, how would Charles and Dr Vasson work be seen? How would it have differed from the British newspapers? Are they on France newspapers? How does the police and public view them?

The police hates them, the public loves their stories, published in french newspapers !

Are we going to see how they meet or jump straight into the cases?

Dr. Vasson just returned from the war. Apparently, Charles Olmet is looking for a flatmate.

In the novel, Watson has a gambling issue and so Sherlock locks his cheque book in his drawer. Does Dr Vasson have a gambling issue? If so, does Charles take/have ownership of his finances like how he does in the novels? (You know just normal roommate things, having control of all their money 🥰)

No ! Vasson values his financial independance, and doesn’t have a gambling issue.

Any costume ideas yet? Did you have anything in mind yet? E.g Sherlock's deerstalker, Watson's cane.

Two fabulous costume designer who I am proud to call my dearest of friends are currently working on it.

Will there be angst? 💔

Obviously.

In many cultures, the use of a first name is only reserved for those of a close and intimate relationship like a best friend or lover and when it involves someone of an educated/higher position (Doctor/Professor) it's common to never deviate from their title. I'm not educated on France/French social conventions - would Charles and Dr Vasson be referring to each other by their first names? Last names? Titles? Nicknames? Do they just call each other roommates? COWORKERS!? 😂

In France, it wasn’t particularly intimate to call someone by his first name. And once again, they don’t refer to each other yet, as they haven’t met.

Does Dr Vasson carry his gun?

Yes.

Is Charles good at fencing?

Excellent.

Has Charles been in any previous relationships? How about Dr Vasson? Has he already met Mary or is she not in the story?

Charles is hardly interested in romance. Vasson has had some affairs with women. « Marie » will appear.

Does Charles know that the Earth revolves around the Sun?

He doesn’t care.

Has any other adaptation inspired you?

BBC Sherlock, Watson’s sketchbook by @contact-guy, Frogwares’ Sherlock Holmes game, and many writings by fans all over the world.

Did you find it difficult to contain your excitement when writing out Charles and Dr Vasson getting together!?

It’s yet to come.

Lastly, DO YOU KNOW HOW EXCITED I AM FOR YOUR GUYS VISION TO COME TO FRUITION!?!!

Not as much as we are !

Bien le bonjour,

As I was terribly influenced by the work of other artists adapting Sherlock Holmes stories, I plan to make a little “presentation powerpoint” of the project in the next few days. In it, I'd like to include a “FAQ/Q&A” section, but for this, I need questions…

Please ask any questions you may have about this mysterious project, which is starting to seriously take shape ! Be it on the reblog, in comments, or directly via the “ask” tab (renamed “Correspondances”).

Thanks to all those who are keeping an eye on this project, even in its current pre-production stage !

[spadaaces]

Thinking about Akiren and his hometown…. I like to think/headcanon that he doesn’t hate it there. There is a strange sort of comfort being there at times, but it’s not really.. Home anymore. Same with his parents - my hc is that they’re pretty average (he goes through So Much shit all the time I think he deserves a Little bit of normalcy in his life lol). They’re nice and they care for him, but after living in Tokyo for a year and everything that happened that year, there’s this weird gap now.

Akiren went through so much in the span of that year and he changed a lot during that year. We obviously don’t know too much about pre-game Akiren, but it seems like he’s always had this strong conviction, but acted more reserved than he actually is, similar to how he keeps his head down when he’s put on probation. And then he does not only awaken to his persona and is able to rip of that mask both figuratively and literally, but he finds a place where he can truly start being himself. He finds people who also discover themselves and grow alongside him, and makes him stronger - and he finds people he truly belongs with. And despite all the shit they had to go through, it’s also some of the most fun he’s ever had and these people are so special to him and they understand him and he them and -

And then he has to go back home. And he knows they’re gonna miss each other, but also that he’ll see them again. And it is a little nice to be back, it’s peaceful for a change and at least he has Morgana with him. But it’s a bit too peaceful. There’s not the buzz of the city anymore, he’s not used to it being so quiet - he’s not used to having so few people around him anymore. The town is the same, his parents are the same, but he isn’t. And it feels weird cause nothing is necessarily wrong or bad there, he’s just so. Out of place. He’s a completely different person but no one in this town knows that. And so it’s really easy to slip back to how he’s always acted when he’s there. Because this isn’t where his real self is supposed to be.

Then summer rolls around, and he travels back to Tokyo and all his friends are there to welcome him and Morgana back and it finally feels like he can breathe again. Like he’s finally back where he belongs and he’s able to be his full honest self.

He’s home.

[kyurochurro]

WOAH!! 4 of them 🤔✨🌷🎸🎶🇬🇧

been watching A Hard Day’s Night a lot during these finals weeks!! have some Beatles :D

extra B&W version!!

[ewwww-what]

I’m going to say something extremely neutral. The fantasy high webtoon is made for people who watch the show casually or haven’t seen it, and also for people who don’t care about anyone other than Riz. And that is fine.

[kacievvbbbb]

I know this isn’t a particularly common characterization of them (at least not what I’ve seen) but I personally think of the two;

Shanks rarely gets restless, he’s the one more content to just bask in a moment, it may not be in silence but he’s comfortable just doing nothing with his crew. As long as there’s alcohol, a hammock and the people he loves, Shanks is straight.

Contrary to that Mihawk is always itching to do something, entertain himself in some way. If he’s not dueling/training, he’s gardening if it’s not that then he’s cooking or he’s reading and if nothing else will do then he naps. but he’s always trying to occupy his time with something.

I think a lot of people don’t notice it because it’s not the jittery hyperactivity that people associate with it. But Mihawk is restless, endlessly so. He’s in a never ending fight with his boredom but it’s all internal.(except when he decides to make it someone else’s problem ala Don Krieg)

Mihawk’s the type of dude to implode instead of explode so it makes sense that things like restlessness don’t really show themselves in an outwardly physical way. Instead it’s more of an internal pressure and incessant need to stave off boredom. But because of his preference for being alone and the fact that the activities he chooses aren’t ones usually associated with restlessness. It goes unnoticed.

Except by Shanks who’s always going out of his way to make the life of a pretty little birdie a litte more interesting.

[ecao]

Reading some of this Arcane discourse…some of y’all did NOT pass english class and it shows.

[the-bat-bros]

Anxious! Tim Drake

Have some angst head cannons

Anxious! Tim Drake who assumes that if anyone is upset near him, it’s his fault

Anxious! Tim Drake who hides in his room when his family is arguing, and stares at the wall, trying to make out what is being said a few doors down

Anxious! Tim Drake who dissociates whenever he is in trouble

Anxious! Tim Drake who gets aggravated the first time Dick tries to help him through a panic attack

“I said I’m fine”

“Tim I can see that you aren’t fine, and that’s okay. Please talk to me, tell me what’s going on. Let me help-”

“I said I’m fine!”

Anxious! Tim Drake who feels bad about shoving people away who are just trying to help him. But he doesn’t need help. They’re only pitying him anyway. They don’t actually care.

Anxious! Tim Drake who bounces his knee, taps his fingertips together, or twirls a pen to help get some of his anxieties out

Anxious! Tim Drake who absolutely breaks down on the floor in the bathroom when a mission went wrong. It was his fault. He didn’t do enough. He should have done more. He needs to prove himself. He needs to do better.

Anxious! Tim Drake who is up all night because his mind won’t shut up, going over every tiny little detail of the day and what he could have done differently. He’s such a failure. He doesn’t deserve to be part of this family. He needs to be better. They’re probably still upset about that thing from three years ago. Oh god why did he sound so silly talking to Bernard last week? Why didn’t he offer to help Damian with his homework is he a bad brother? Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god.

Anxious! Tim Drake who finally accepts help from Jason. Jay links Tim up with his therapist. Therapy sucks but Jason was right, it’s helping

Anxious! Tim Drake who learns to journal. Writing down what he think he did wrong and then writing why it was okay underneath that. He feels so silly when he does this, but it helps

Anxious! Tim Drake who gets a little better every day. It will take time. Healing isn’t linear. But he isn’t a failure. He is doing the best that he can. And that’s enough.

[youling-the-ghost]

Titch has alexithymia (difficulty identifying and expressing emotions). This is canon now.

[xbuster]

The fact Shirou is muted by default is horrifying because of course most players aren’t going to mess around in the settings of a visual novel since people will generally assume there’s nothing that needs to be changed in what seems to be such a simple game. I don’t even want to think about how many people will just assume Shirou isn’t voiced because they never saw the voice sliders…

Of course, Fate wasn’t voiced originally but the voice acting for Shirou really does so much for keeping the player from trying too hard to project (heh) on him. And such an important part of understanding Shirou is not treating him as a player insert. The conscious decision to mute Shirou by default and lead the player into seeing him as a player insert is really unforgivable to me.

[citricacidprince]

Any character can be autistic if I project hard enough 💥

[riddleofriddles]

He just wants to chill out but no… dinner time (-.-;)

Love making fake screencaps like this. It’s fun! Mostly did this because I wanted to finalize a new version of my kakyoin. Sorry if the headshot is a bit rough, it’s my first time ever doing one XD

Also!! New watermark!! Yippeeee

[redjukebox]

The amount of times Charlie makes a bit of calling someone papa makes me wanna psychoanalyze him so bad

But I won’t

[buddiesmutslut]

I have to be honest, I hate the “Eddie has so much sex with women, we don’t see him having any problems with it so he CAN’T be gay.”

Like, it took me YEARS to realize that the way I was feeling about sex wasn’t normal, that you weren’t supposed to feel empty & cold & a little gross after sex, when the high of an orgasm wears off. Even when I didn’t really want to have sex, I still did it, bc that’s what was expected of me & I thought it was normal. I had a whole “slut phase” on my late teens-early 20’s, & thought that the way I was feeling was normal. I didn’t stumble onto the word “demisexual” until I was like, 25 years old & had already decided that I was just broken, somehow.

Granted, I am a woman, so the experiences might not be exactly the same, and I obviously don’t know what direction they’ll go with Eddie’s sexuality, but I think for a lot of people that discover their queerness later in life, you don’t even realize that what you’re feeling is wrong or that there may be another way to feel until something happens & you can’t really ignore it anymore.

Idk, sexuality is really confusing & I feel like it’s going to be that much harder for Eddie, considering the way he grew up & his predilection to repression. He could be literally anything.