#I'm sure this fanfic has to exist somewhere already

[aofelis]

my new Lestat Dorian Gray headcanon

Lestat came across Oscar Wilde a couple of times towards the end of the 19th century, forced some therapy sessions on him, thus inspiring The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian Gray is what Oscar Wilde pieced together from his impression of Lestat and his wild rantings about Armand. I don't remember the exact timeline in tvc but I know it was towards latter half of the 19th century that the whole Theatre de vampire/Claudia burning thing happened, and then he had to recover for a little while before going to ground back in New Orleans towards the beginning of the 20th century? Wikipedia tells me that Dorian Grey was published around 1891, so what I reckon happened: Lestat comes across Oscar Wilde in Paris or London just after Claudia dying in Paris, looking a little worse for wear. Oscar is grossed out but a little fascinated, because Lestat can't help being charismatic, but they don't really chat that much, aside from some mopeyness from Lestat. A few years later, just before he goes back to New Orleans (maybe he's come over from Paris, waiting to catch a ship across the Atlantic), he catches Oscar, who's surprised by how much Lestat's recovered, showing a little glimpse of his former glory. Lestat, finding an audience, unburdens about Armand, but still keeps specific details about vampire stuff back (it's before Louis talked to Daniel in Interview with the Vampire, so he's at least *trying* to be discrete, as much as Lestat can be). He mentions Marius a bit too, y'know, he paints the pretty young boy, some classical references, etc. Maybe it's muddled in his ranting about Nicholas, but he can't bring himself to talk for extended bits about Louis. He doesn't tell him about how Armand looks, just that he's just as pretty as he is at his best (taking time to impress to Oscar that he really really is magnificent usually), but a little younger looking, even though he is older than himself. Oscar needs to sit down to process this experience has to just piece together the wild ranting from this crazy french guy, and voila, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

[olderthannetfic]

I found AO3 pretty intuitive. Took me like 5 minutes to realize how all the little buttons work. They're pretty straightforward. Apart from the AND filters - took me a while to realize what type of filters AO3 used. Beyond that, I'm not sure why people have a hard time? Wattpad and FFnet are way more of a pain in the ass.

--

It's all about familiarity.

I mean, look, AO3 works how my brain works. When we first set it up, it was what we were all used to, more or less, but an upgrade. It was hard to even see how it could ever be unintuitive because this was just How Things Were. From the style of trope tags to the fact that there's an index of fandoms by media type, it was all familiar.

But that thinking is a trap.

It's easy to say "Oh, well, that person's just an idiot", and sometimes, the problem really is laziness or sleep deprivation, but a lot of the time, it's different cultural context.

By the time we were designing AO3, I'd had many rounds of formal instruction in how to use library catalogues of various sorts, familiarity with Delicious, years in LJ slash fandom whose assumptions form the metadata structures of AO3, etc.

There's nothing strange about going "Why are ship types a top level system of organization?" or "How do I search for genre X in any anime fandom but not in non-anime fandoms?"

It's strange to me, but it's not strange in the context of people who read fanfic overall.

It's not just about learning the search features that do exist: it's about unconscious assumptions about what metadata must exist.

If you don't know to look for something and you aren't coming from a culture where poking buttons is encouraged, you're going to take a lot longer to find things than if you already have a good idea of what's probably there somewhere.

To pick two very obvious examples:

If I were designing a gen-focused archive, I'd make genre a top-level organization system, like on FFN.

If I were designing a more x-reader-focused or One True Character-focused archive, I'd make the ship searches work like Character X/Anyone instead of having to click on each ship of your blorbo or each ship with Reader.

If someone has years of experience searching for some bullshit 'trickyfish' style nonsense ship name because they're on sites with garbage searches, they'll go to AO3, plug some words into the search bar at the top, and then feel like they can't find any relevant results because everything that turns up is just that word in author's notes on an irrelevant fic. They might even go to advanced search...

...and then totally miss that the sidebar filters are the best part of AO3, and they don't appear when you do a search search as opposed to starting from a tag.

Isn't Advanced Search the most... well... advanced search? On every other website, it is, but not on AO3.

--

Each new site/technology/culture/etc. a person has to learn takes time and attention. If you're exhausted and burnt out, that's hard. Even if you're not, it takes at least some effort. It doesn't Just Happen, not for every person and every new thing.

We should tell people to read the damn FAQ, yes.

But I can't say I always do that myself on every site unless I'm both having a problem and invested enough to care about solving it.

--

On an average day, most of us don't need to care why some people have a hard time figuring out AO3.

But if anyone is planning to design a site or needs to teach a bunch of kids how to use the library or something, it's worth keeping in mind just how many unconscious assumptions are hiding behind the idea of something—literally anything—being "intuitive".

[tachiha3]

There are a lot of male zutara shippers and they hate katara but see her as a reward for zuko because they self insert onto him and they think mai is a bad girlfriend and think katara would be more caring towards him, they think zuko is a more ideal masculine wish fulfilment character than aang. one of the most notorious male zks is a grown ass man on twitter who wrote fanfic of katara being zuko's s*x slave 😐

the majority of ppl pushing for zutara behind the scenes were men. dante himself has made weird comments about katara and even mae herself (who was only SEVENTEEN and he was in his 30s when he started working with her)

zk shippers who spin this narrative that its some feminist female gaze ship can keep coping, this shitty ship still appeals to men lmao

I haven't really come across those (and by those, I mean the men. Seen a lot of female zk stans say that shit already). But I'm not doubting they exist somewhere. And yeah I knew about the guy who wrote the notorious slave au. I didn't talk about him in the post since from all I've heard, he isn't actually pushing the fact that it's better than canon? If he just wanna write his sex slave wish fulfillment fanfic, let him be.

I'll be honest, I used to defend Dante before because I just thought he was a funny guy who makes some weird sex jokes about zutara. I think the most he called was Katara hot? I don't really care for that either. But yeah yesterday when that interview and the bit about "being into Mae" surfaced I... I'm not sure what to think anymore, honestly that's just plain creepy.

And can we just please stop equating "appeals" to men = bad? Seems really reductive, honestly. Women aren't divine angels that have the correct opinion on everything that's just me lol and there's no such thing as "the female gaze". Plus kataang being appealing to both men and women (even gay men and women) is honestly so beautiful to me. It really shows that it's genuinely a good, equal and healthy relationship.

[blackhairedjjun]

i'm deleting this blog.

yeah, exactly what it says on the tin there. i want to be straightforward about this.

first of all: thank you so much for the love and appreciation of my fics, and for the support and encouragement on my writing. it really means the world to me, and believe me when i say that my decision to delete has nothing to do with being unappreciated, feeling ungrateful, or any negative sentiment whatsoever. this blog provided me with a lot of wonderful memories from wonderful moas, and gave me a lot of creativity and joy when i needed the most. i'll always be grateful for my time here.

now, for some Q&As:

why delete? (why'd you stop writing?) i don't think i will write any txt fic ever again, to be honest. i go through very intense fanfic phases where i write obsessively for a single fandom, but once the fanfic phase passes i never write for that fandom again. i know myself well enough that i don't come back to old fandoms after i write for them -- that has never happened with any of my other fandoms, and i don't think it's gonna start happening with txt. this is NOT because i'm sick of txt or anything; it's just the way my brain works. i get very intensely obsessed with something and then it just... wears off. i can still appreciate txt and their music but they no longer have an obsessive effect on my brain.

why delete? (why not keep the blog up as an archive?) as some of you might know, this is a sideblog. it's linked to my main blog, which is linked to some of my other social media. on my main and on my other social media, i interact with people who dislike rpf.

there is a non-zero chance that my friends who dislike rpf will discover this blog, and i don't want to expose them to that. but it's very easy to accidentally post to the wrong blog or make a reference to this blog without thinking. i've accidentally posted to my main from here a few times! and as long as this blog is up, the chance of those people stumbling onto it and connecting it to me will always be there. i don't want to take that chance.

additionally: i've spent enough time on the internet to realize that the bigger my internet footprint, the easier it is for someone to connect the dots and recognize me. i might reference something here that i've also said on my other social media, and someone might spot those connections. i really, really don't want that to happen. i know this sounds paranoid, but with so much information about a person available out there, it just takes someone with some basic detective skills and enough time on their hands to figure shit out about people. i don't even like publicly posting photos of the outdoors when geoguessr players exist! and many people with those skills unfortunately do not have good intentions.

tl;dr - i'm protecting my privacy by reducing my internet presence as much as possible to reduce the chances of people recognizing me.

what's gonna happen to your fics? will you post them somewhere else? yes, i will be posting them on ao3! for now i've made the blackhairedyj account to store everything i've written here.

flowers of every color, 6:49am, and the quickest way to a man's heart is through is stomach have already been posted there. these were originally posted anonymously under my main ao3 account, but unfortunately i do have rpf-disliking people subscribed to me there. it's better for me to keep my txt fics in a separate account! i will be slowly but surely uploading my fics there before i delete.

i will also orphan all my works once i've finished moving them. (for those not familiar with ao3: orphaning means removing yourself as an author from the work. the fic will still exist but there won't be any user account attached to it, which also means it can't be edited.) after all, it makes no sense to reduce my internet footprint while also connecting this blog to an ao3 account! orphaning means that you readers can still enjoy my fics, but they can't be traced back to my accounts anymore.

when will you delete the blog? honestly, i... don't know. i plan on deleting once i've moved all of my fics to ao3, and i don't know how long that will happen. i've gotten very busy at my job, and i also want to spend my free time doing things other than backing up fics to ao3. so this blog might be up for a few more months.

once i've moved all my fics, i'll post a heads-up here in advance before i delete.

[ghoultyrant]

Anime Sakura vs Manga Sakura

I first got into Naruto the way a lot of English-language fans very clearly did: by virtue of the anime starting to run in my region. More specifically, I got into it partway through the first Toonami airing of the Wave Country Arc -which, for those who don't know (or don't remember), lead to the anime looping back to the beginning as soon as that arc concluded while localization worked on getting the following episodes localized.

I was sufficiently hooked that this wasn't really enough for me, particularly once the anime got back to the episodes I'd already seen, so I checked out fanfic, became aware the series' original form was a manga, and started reading that. This confluence of events resulted in me becoming aware of something I suspect a lot of fans never notice:

That the anime actually changes a lot of early scenes.

Some of this is actually quite appreciated. For example, in the manga Naruto's classmates don't exist in the first chapter: Sakura and Sasuke don't exist until it's time for team assignments in the second chapter, and the rest of Naruto's classmates don't exist until they show up in the Chunin Exams -this is why Naruto breaks the fourth wall and gives an intro for each of them when they show up there, even in the anime where we actually saw them all in the very first episode. The anime adding them in to the beginning is nice!

By a similar token, the manga actually skips the fight between Tenten and Temari, so jarringly I actually had to double-check and make sure I wasn't missing a chapter somehow; the anime giving us the actual fight in detail is also appreciated!

Other changes are sort of random-feeling if you're not familiar with the tendency for anime adaptations to overtake the manga they're rendering in animated form, but understandable if you are familiar with this point: for example, there's an entire episode dedicated to Naruto having a Wacky Adventure in trying to get to the Chunin Exams' final stage on time, involving silliness like running from an entire stampede, which... has no relevancy to the larger plot because it's an anime-only filler episode to stall for time, not based on anything from the manga.

And then there's how Sakura gets changed.

This is kind of weird to describe, because the anime doesn't cut anything or completely rewrite any scenes: it only ever adds bits. The problem is, the bits that are added are... problematic. Consistently, up until about her Chunin Exam fight scenes. But since it is only addition, I'm going to start from just describing Manga Sakura, then explain the changes.

In the manga, Sakura starts essentially exactly as she does in the anime; she doesn't like Naruto, she's pursuing Sasuke... the only 'difference' is that of course Ino doesn't exist until the Chunin Exams and so the whole Ino/Sakura rivalry thing doesn't come up.

However, in short order Sakura starts changing her mind about Naruto; she attempts to confess to Sasuke, it doesn't work out, and she finds the rejection a fairly unpleasant experience and then connects this pretty immediately to her own rather harsh rejections of Naruto's requests for dates and resolves to not be such a jerk to him in future.

And she does in fact stick to that for... at least everything I read. (I've yet to get fully through the Shinobi World War Arc, so I suppose it's possible she goes back on her word somewhere past there)

This is how Manga Sakura goes overall; she starts as a bit of a shallow, thoughtlessly cruel person who isn't really taking this whole 'life and death battles as a ninja' thing adequately seriously, but tends to be quick to engage in introspection, resolve to change such behaviors, and then stick out this resolution; the Sakura we see in the Chunin Exams is something of a culmination of how Sakura has been progressing this whole time.

Anime Sakura still has these moments, but... they get undercut. The date thing is the bit I still vividly remember: Anime Sakura makes her resolution to not be so cruel to Naruto-

-and Naruto immediately shows up, asks for a date, and Sakura punches him out and goes 'never mind' about her resolution.

There's a lot of moments like this with Anime Sakura: 15-45 seconds of content added to otherwise-faithful-to-the-manga scenes where said added content is 'comedy' moments that horribly undercut Sakura's character development. Taken seriously, they make her into an incredibly unpleasant person who intentionally rejects opportunities to become less unpleasant; it's little wonder that so many of the fanfics I saw in the early days really did not like Sakura.

Once the Chunin Exam starts these added bits of unpleasantness stop occurring, but after so long seeing Anime Sakura do things like make resolutions and immediately break them, I imagine lots of viewers found Sakura's Big Resolutions and Major Character Development difficult to take as intended; if I'd not read the manga, I know I would've been expecting these moments to not really stick.

The whole thing is particularly frustrating for how easy it is to overlook; if I'd not been experiencing the manga and anime near-simultaneously, I never would have realized these quick bits of character assassination were anime-only additions. And if you go look at a wiki or the like, you're not going to trivially learn this info, unlike how basically everyone knows that the Anime Filler Arcs are, in fact, the Anime Filler Arcs.

So I've long suspected lots of people are unaware that Sakura comes across very differently in the early anime vs the early manga.

[blakbonnet]

Artist of the Week!

So last weekend, I announced that I'd like to feature an artist every weekend for both new fandom joinees who might not have seen some of this art and older fans who like the nostalgia. This week's artist is Ash @aha-my-villainous-thoughts 💖 who also, wonderful that they are, agreed to answer a few questions for me!

Which App Do You Use To Draw When I’m at my big set up I use Clip Studio Paint, I love it so much. It’s very straight forward to dip straight in, has all of the bells and whistles you need from an elite drawing program, and the community elements where you can see assets and brushes is a lot of fun - although I still to this day have no idea how to earn coins to buy assets?! I use a XPPen Artist 15.6 Pro Graphics Tablet to draw into the program, although my best tip with graphics tablets is to get a screen protector, mine got covered in marks before I noticed. Recently I also got an iPad 10.9 to use as a digital sketchbook I can carry around, and while I am enjoying Procreate, I think CSP is a better art program overall.

Fave Brushes? On iPad I stick to the technical pen, studio pen and the soft airbrush, along with the textures and the light pen. I don’t think Procreate has great ‘painting’ brushes, whereas on CSP I would marry the Gouache brushes, I love how they blend and texture as you work.

Your favourite piece you’ve drawn? I’m a super self indulgent artist, I try to draw the kind of stuff I like to look at, so it’s a lot of colour, a lot of fabric and details. My fave piece for detail is the one I did for the OFMD RBB last year - Crescente Devotione, there’s a blushing sentient stool in it! For colour I’m in love with this sleepy time Ed in a lil negligee and a Holly Golightly eyemask, he's my lock screen because I'm trash.

Who harder to draw: Ed or Stede? Oh for sure Stede. I love Rhys Darby, but the man has like no lips. I stand by this meltdown.

One essential tip for beginner artists? Comparison is the thief of joy, don’t measure yourself against others - particularly when you’re finding your groove. Be self indulgent af. Also get a screen protector for whatever digital screen you draw on, and BACK. THINGS. UP. Whether in an online account, or on an external harddrive - or both?! BACK THAT SHIT UP.

Why OFMD? I’ve been in a few fandoms in the past, always as a pretty passive enjoyer, little fanart here or there, little fanfic sprinkled around, but there’s just something about the way this fandom feels? It feels like a group of friends who’ve got their own lives and their goals, but they still exist in each other's orbit, it’s like this feeling of returning home to somewhere you’re always welcome. There’s so many good moments in the show for both comedy and some gut wrenching pathos. Sign up for the hot guy in leather and get got by this beautiful delicate little love story. It’s something about queer joy of thriving, not just surviving. Something about finding love and romance no matter your age or what’s past before. Something about found family, and unlikely friendships, and community and silliness. I was already a goner when Taika put on the wig, but then when he teared up in a blanket fort while trying not to die? Excuse me sir, I did not need feelings that powerful. It was literally waking me up at night thinking about his last shot weeping in the nook - like are you kidding me?! I’m supposed to finish watching and be normal after that??

[snugglesquiggle]

hi again! I have another question😭 do you have any tips on writing pre-existing characters? (while still adding more to the table of course.) How do you keep it in character? like how you write J or Uzi for example.

unfortunately, this is an area where my expertise is more intuitive than theoretical.

before i'd ever written a word of Hostile Takeover, i had watched murder drones a few times and read many fanfics (in addition to being moderately versed in character writing already), so i already had a decent knack for holding a character's idea-shape in my head and rotating it into new configurations.

but let me try my best.

there are two different things you need to grapple with when writing an established character. it's simple enough: you need to understand them both internally and externally. but let me explain

external understanding is easiest to recognize and for me, easiest to pull off. it's the character voice, style, and vibe. for J, it's the buzzwords and condescension, for Uzi it's the sardonic teenage lilt and the insecure grandiosity.

for this, i recommend getting the episode transcripts and reading them. copy/paste all of the lines for the character you're studying into a personal notes document, and pay attention to how their lines are constructed. what words do they use most often? how do they structure their sentences?

there are some broad spectra you can clock dialogue on right away. what sort of vocabulary do they use? is it simple or complex, formal or slang, gamer or sailor? do they speak concisely, or at rambling length? confidently or insecurely, politely or rudely, passionately or callously, convincingly or deceptively, literally or flowerily?

these are generic buckets, but even if you treat them as dichotomies, ten yes/no binaries is already enough to write a thousand subtly different characters. and i already know you can think of specific vibes i didn't list out here, because there's so many to choose from

sometimes, when i'm writing J, i feel my command of her voice slipping, and i just write her as an archetypal Articulate Dominant Lady. but to a first approximation, that is J. she's confident and she comports herself with sophistication. not every panel of a comic will or can have a character fully rendered, and not every frame of animation has them completely on-model

another thing to note here is that just how a character sounds depends on who they're talking to; J won't address Tessa the same way she addresses N, nor V the same way she addresses Uzi. so the possibilities i listed off aren't even true spectra, because a character falls differently on them in different scenes, in different moods

it's something you should consider practicing, the way musicians practice scales or artists do gesture drawing. can you write someone who sounds angry? how do you write an expert vs someone ignorant? how do you write someone talking to someone they deeply respect?

if you can get a handle on the general principles of portraying characters, it's a skill that'll generalize pretty broadly.

but don't just practice this. you'll struggle with certain emotions, certain mindsets — everyone does. what you want to do is be on the look out when you're reading and watching stuff — try to catch a writer pulling off what you struggle with, and think about how they did it

if there's a fic that captures the characters about as well as canon, don't be afraid to make a note of it, quote it somewhere where you can study it (but be sure to keep it labeled and sourced; don't plagiarize. it's for reference, not tracing). you have my permission to dissect my fics if you think it'll help you

but enough about general character writing advice. how do you practice writing specific characters? here's an exercise. take some lines of dialogue from somewhere, the more the better, and think. how could you rewrite it so that it sounds as if the character you're studying said it? what words would you have to swap around, what sounds all wrong and needs a rephrase — would they even say it all, and if not why?

all the better if you do this with multiple characters at once: then you can see side by side how their voices differ and how to distinguish them. (as well as what they have in common — sometimes it's surprising)

but speaking of distinguishing them, a great exercise is to try writing a scene that's just dialogue. not even with he said, she said tags, just the quotes. how can you make it clear who's speaking from their cadence alone? (hard mode: do this with more than two characters)

i've been pretty laser focused on dialogue so far (i suppose it might be why my dialogue is what everyone compliments), but it's far from the only thing that constitutes an external understanding of a character

body language and small scale action are key components of a character. J glares and puts her hands on her hips, Uzi balls her fists at her side, N salutes. in a sense, "body language" generalizes to the style of how they approach actions. V famously takes every excuse to crawl on the ceiling; is it really Uzi if she isn't going for style points in combat?

this depends on the medium, somewhat; the techniques for portraying character in prose are different from those of a visual medium.

people (myself included) always say the mark of good dialogue is that you can tell who's speaking without needed it attributed. rarer, in my experience, for someone to assert that you should be able to tell who's acting without a name or face. but shouldn't you?

and more importantly, what does it take to make actions characteristic? understand this, and you understand how to present characters

still, an external understanding of character is only enough to carry you through a scene or two at best. you can't effectively tell a good story if this is all you have. what we've developed so far is less a character than an aesthetic tendency.

what an external understanding gets you is a way to ornament and present words and acts so that they evoke a certain character. what it doesnt get you is the worldview and motivation that generates those words and acts

to truly write a character, you need to know what they value — no, you need to know what they're afraid of.

every character is a story. now, every story has a beginning, middle, and end. (or as i spelled it out in my last answer to an ask of yours, presentation, transition, and conclusion). so, my assertion there is a little bit misframed, because characters aren't really like this.

rather, every character is an incomplete story. beginning, middle, and to be continued. they have a backstory, their current entanglement in the plot, and the future directions they could go.

in my previous answer to you, i suggested stories should start in a state of falsehood. an example was that story of Uzi killing N, where she's thrilled at first, only to later realize she's feels kind of guilty. and i think this lens is the perfect one for understanding character arcs, and characters in general

the inciting incident to a character's life story is a problem that demands some resolution or cope to deal with, and a character is defined by how they deal with that problem. even (especially) after they're no longer dealing with the problem, those coping mechanisms remain

let me be more concrete. take Uzi for example. why is she Like That? her mom was killed by murder drones, and her dad neglects her. so she acts out in class for attention, so she comes up with a brazen scheme to win her dad's respect, so she's brash and insecure. because she's isolated, she'll never get anyone's recognition unless she fights for it

or consider Khan. he watched everything his people built be torn down, and the only way for things he cares about to survive are if he builds something protects them. why wouldn't he be obsessed with doors?

Doll's another clear case. she watched her parents be killed, so she must grasp for purpose and power by plotting revenge. but i think the important part of the trauma here isn't the injustice of it, or even the loss, but specifically the loss of control. V violently reshaped her life, nearly had the cheerleader at her mercy — and thus, the revenge plot reasserts her control.

this distinction matters, because i think when she's killing the prom court, she isn't thinking it's an unfortunate means to an end, she's relishing that for that moment, she's the one in control, and killing V represents finally returning to the way things were and are supposed to be. not morally, but a order with Doll securely, comfortably, at the top.

you can trace an interesting throughline, and imagine that before V happened, Doll enjoyed a position at the top of the pecking order, unchallengeable with Uzi and the other losers beneath her.

throughlines are why i find this reading so compelling: because how else do we explain what happens after prom, where Doll quietly ditches the priority of taking revenge on V in favor of the solver plotline?

one analysis is to parse it as, structurally, distinct. the story of Doll the Avenger has reached its conclusion; and since every character contains multitudes, you can tell a different story with the same body. Doll the Afflicted, thus, would be one with its own separate beginning, middle, and tragic end.

but isn't it more compelling to notice that one concern echoes in both stories? they're both about control. before Doll fully understood her plight, she viewed V as the thing that had torn her life out of her own control — but after taking a bullet to head, after searching for a purpose in the wastes of Copper-9, after meeting "Tessa", she comes to understand (almost) the truth: the Solver is what's threatening to take total control, and thus is her true enemy and goal. her demanding a patch to exorcise the possession is then simply a maturation of the same thing she was attempting when she subjected V to rebar-cruxifiction.

the key to this model of understanding characters is knowing that every character has a theory, a logic that defines how they view the world.

a character believes. i have a problem, that problem is this, and i have to do something, if I do that, then everything will be fine.

remember what i said about falsehoods? you can tell a lot of great stories by having the character be wrong somewhere in that core logic. maybe they're wrong about what their problem really is, wrong that their approach to solving it is the best or only solution, wrong that their approach would even work.

there's more to be said about how this theory of character informs how you should write character arcs, but i realize this is getting a bit abstract and removed from the problem of how to characterize them.

but take that model of doll, for instance. if we're right that her overriding theory of life is that being in control is the most important thing, how does that inform how she talks to other characters? one obvious consequence is she probably wouldn't care about them except insofar as she could use them.

no matter how good your formulation of a character in these terms is, you can't reduce everything to it. Doll is a cheerleader, she likes fighting with kitchen knives, she's russian. you can tie a lot of character details back to their fundamental traumas and beliefs, but there's a line to walk between insightful and boiling everything down to low effort archetype-matching

still, knowing what logic a character believes in deepest of all is huge. another way to put this is — you know how they say every character thinks they're the protagonist of their own story? a corollary of that is believing you have a life story means believing you're in a certain kind of story. it's driving a certain conclusion by certain tropes.

if you want to know what a character would do in a certain situation, look at it through their story-lens, and ask what the obvious next chapter would be. if Doll thinks she's in a story of regaining control, she tried to do whatever would give her a sense of security and superiority.

this, i think, finally brings us to the real thing i want to offer. studying a character's speech tics and mannerism can help you on the line by line level, and figuring out a character's inner philosophy can illuminate their arc and core motivation. but despite being important, i don't think either is the most important thing, structurally.

what lies between the two extremes? what marries the gap of abstraction? how do you decide the broad strokes of what a character does in a scene, in a chapter, in an arc?

the best way to think about characters, i think, is in terms of verbs

you can't understand uzi purely through the lens of seeking recognition, but you can broadly group the things she does and the ways she acts into behavior patterns.

uzi rebels against authority. uzi hacks together and into technology. uzi blushes and stammers when boys are nice to her. she broods angstily and quips sarcastically and she theorizes conspiratorially. she gets scared and needs someone on her side. she gets manic and ready to kick everyone's ass.

that's not everything, but that's a pretty expansive palette to work with, isn't it?

every one of these tendencies is contextual. to rebel, uzi needs to be confronted with authority. she can't be scared if there's nothing to be scared of. key to writing a character, then, is to look at what's going through their mind, and figure out which of their preset scripts they'll try to fall back on.

this is a place where limitations breed creativity — so it can be better if your list of verbs isn't all-encompassing, at least if you know how to get creative in how you interpret them. for instance, imagine if Uzi encountered a person that she thinks is best talked to like a hacker trying to crack a system (imagine her talking to J like this :3)

but i've been yapping for a while, and if i don't wrap this up soon my evening walk is about to become a night walk.

in summary, to understand a character:

study their dialogue and actions and try to imitate it. practice different moods, different scenarios, and keep an eye out when you're enjoying other stories for stuff you can mine and repurpose for portraying characters

once you've taken a good look at their external components, try to group them into a broad but specific verbs. think about what situations prompt what behaviors, and see if you can't collapse different behaviors into expressions of the same impulse

once you have a effective summary of a character, think deeply about what trauma or dramatic incident prompted this behavior. what must they believe about the world for their behavior to not only make sense, but seem like the only sensible way forward?

if you manage to pull all that off... well, i can't tell you if you really understand how to write that character — but you'll be doing as well as i am, at any rate

P.S.: you'll note i didn't really talk about J in this essay. consider it an exercise for the reader. if what i said made sense, if the concepts are understood, you should be able to break her down, too.

in a way, doing this for her is both easier and harder than all the others. be careful out there — my friend tried to understand J and wound up with over twenty thousand words of character study. this J shit is serious. but it was also some of the best fiction i've read, so maybe it's worth it :3

[zombtropolis-central]

Ramble about the lore of the funny plant and zombie game below. Its basically gonna be me going

for like a few paragraphs

I know PvZ's timeline and lore is already weird (its literally a predestination paradox, and they explain nothing ever) but I always think about how the world just handled zombies before there were sentient plants, and the plants themselves and how they became a thing. Now I know there's that 'The Guide to Protecting Your Brains' that has some info, but much like a lot of non-game content for this series, I can't find an actual full scan of it outside of a few low quality pics of some pages on the wiki as well as the transcipts of plant and zombie descriptions from the wiki. So if the book clears up anything, I wouldn't know. (why is it so hard to find supplemental material for this series) I'm mainly going off info from the few scattered iceberg and lore vids on youtube, mainly choopo's video.

First, the zombies. Now we know they've existed for so long because of PvZ2's predestination paradox and Zomboss putting them there. But how did humans deal with them? I assume pre-plant era humans used normal weaponry; and because I doubt Zomboss stayed in the past eras after you beat him in PvZ2's adventure mode, that any zombies left behind in the past kind of just became a non-threat with nobody to command them.

But then we get to the Zombie War of '76. Yeah, Imitater's PvZ almanac entry mentions that there was a zombie war, and its so weirdly specific that I doubt its a joke or not meant to be taken as lore. There's a lot to unpack here.

We know that at least some plants fought in this war, as Imitater was apparently a part of it, and Bloom and Doom Seed Co. was establisted in 1968; but none of the plants we know in PvZ were in that war; because that generation of plants were made by Dave. Now Dave is assumed to be at least thirty six, and NMT has him state that he was a kid in the eighties, so he had to have been born in 1973 (according to my shitty math). So I have to assume Bloom and Doom Seed Co. had plants of their own in the war against the zombies during the '76 Zombie War.

Maybe there were some humans in it too, maybe it was mostly humans and the plants were like some hair-brained back-up plan, given we don't have many plants in the series who could have been in the war aside from Imitater and maybe Colnel Corn. (given his lore in GW2, but I have no evidence for this) I have no idea if this is true, but somebody in the comment section of choopo's PvZ lore vid said that the zombies are immune to bullets, but if that is actual lore then I can imagine why the plants would be there.

Here's another thing about this Zombie War that also fucks with me: Who was in charge of this zombie faction? Because I'm like... 98% sure it was not Zomboss. Now we know that Zomboss and Dave are somewhere in th same age range, because of the science fair incident, and Zomboss does age like a human does from that same science fair (and Bully for You); so he probably came into existence at the same time Dave was born. Now I know the counter could be "Well time travel is canon" but only in PvZ2, and there is not a single world in PvZ2 or PvZ2 China that is even close to being in a 70s war setting, so I can't consider that as a remotely canon-compliant explanation.

And the zombies have been shown to not be able to organize themselves for shit without somebody to command them, there had to be some kind of commander there. I'm sure it probably was Zomboss and Popcap just never bothered expanding on any of this Zombie War, but this random bit of lore compels me so much.

Like where was this war fought? What were the stakes? What was the zombie army like? Did people die? If it wasn't Zomboss leading the zombies in this war, who did? Or was it like a World War Z type 'war' where the zombies just swelled in numbers and overwhelmed whatever location they were in? And most importantly; has anybody made fanfic based on this concept and if so, where can I read it?

[ghostkingart]

Doodle idea or general ask/prompt! I saw Our Flag Means Death as a fandom you’re into. How do you think Astarion or one of your OCs would look or function in that universe? Would they prefer Black Beard or Stede as a captain? What would their job on a pirate ship be? How would they dress?

What a beautiful prompt! I absolutely adore pirates and, fun fact, I've got an ongoing Black Sails fanfic on my ao3 🤭 kinda on hiatus due to BG3 brainrot but it's out there!

I'm gonna put up a trigger warning here for: discussion of abuse, prostitution and sadomasochism, and I'll put my reply under the cut (it turned out very long yet again).

P.S. OFMD friends I'm sorry this is showing up in your tags. To briefly explain we're talking about a crossover between OFMD and Baldur's Gate 3. Feel free to skip 🫶

I do think Astarion would prefer the old school Blackbeard as his captain, maybe Valeriy would also, but Veles would definitely prefer Stede. However, at the same time, with learning vulnerability being a big theme for all these characters, I think either captain would be fine for all three of them.

Tangent but I think Veles being in Stede's crew would help him so much with his feelings of inadequacy and his desperate need to be useful at any cost. Stede would show him that it's okay to just exist and be yourself.

I imagine Astarion and Valeriy would have followed Blackbeard until he meets Stede (where Veles would be) and then, just like in the show, Stede and Veles's side would teach Blackbeard, Astarion and Valeriy's side to be gentler, kinder and more vulnerable.

I can see Astarion, Valeriy and Veles being in a polycule in this AU but get this: Valeriy and Izzy. I'm obsessed with it now omg.

Fun fact: some of Valeriy's original backstory versions include him being a pirate. This never fit into the overall story/lore however, so I scrapped it.

I'll yap about this more later but let me tell you what I think each of them would do. First things first, I'm honestly not sure what Astarion would do, I don't think he'd be ranked too high, but I also don't think he'd be ranked too low. Somewhere in the middle imo.

Valeriy would be like Izzy's own right hand man and/or ranked just below Izzy. They have a similar ruthlessness to them.

Veles would be a master of navigation on Stede's ship I think.

I think I'll draw them in this AU actually, but I'll come back with that later.

I think Izzy and Valeriy in particular would work so well together because, just like Veles is distinctly a masochist due to his backstory, Valeriy is a sadist, except that Valeriy has a much healthier approach to his sadism than Veles has to his masochism. I've talked about this sm already but Veles's masochism transcends sex and he most certainly sees himself as an object. Valeriy is nothing like that, he's very careful, gentle and communicative if there's any sadomaso play going on, and he keeps it all in the bedroom.

I don't think I need to explain why Valeriy's sadism would work well with Izzy, OFMD fans have talked about it enough for me haha. But I wanna reiterate that I imagine it all being consensual and mindful, honestly very much unlike Astarion and Veles where at times it gets super messy due to them both being messed up in their own right.

How about how I imagine they became pirates? I mean it's a pretty simple answer. Historically it's pretty accurate, to my knowledge, that people on the margins of society escaped to become pirates. It checks out because Astarion, Veles and Valeriy are all a flavor of queer (bi, gay and pan in my hc). But also, all three of them have some type of abusers to run away from as well as an overall bad life situation (think Valeriy who's already escaped his father, but has only landed himself in prostitution instead. he'd like to leave that behind).

Random bit of a headcanon here, I think Veles would be a person of color in a non-magical AU, and I think that because of the racism towards drow analogy in DND. I'd probably completely redesign Veles for a non-magical AU, but all in its time.

I think Veles would be super cool with the rest of Stede's crew. He'd be very shy at first I think, but he'd find acceptance within the ranks.

I'm also thinking about, once the two crews join, Valeriy would really enjoy listening to Stede or Lucius read to him. Another fun fact: Valeriy reaaaally likes books, he simply can't read them on his own. Meanwhile I don't think he'd have many opportunities to be read to in Blackbeard's crew (this isn't an Ed is illiterate thing btw, this is an Ed has a reputation thing).

I think that's all I have for now! If you have any more ideas for this AU pleaseeee send me another ask!! This was so fun :D

[itsblasttothepast]

It's so nice that the rumours keep getting wilder and wilder. I do not understand why people say the WCC could be saved - the car is awful, it has no brakes, it changes downforce at will and doesn't turn properly and even Max is complaining about it but apparetlny the fans want to see Daniel as some sort of superhero who would just swoop in and master the control of RB20 (when we know he struggled with the VB car so yeah). It doesn't matter if he was swapped eariler, he would have to get used to the car and that wouldn't be easy and the WCC would be fucked anyway. I think RBR just wants the WDC for Max now and prays for a good car next year so he won't leave. Franco could still technically take the VB seat (which please no, I want him in F1 but not with RBR). Hear me out on this because it's crazy but - Liam got some bad press lately and he does not have a huge fanbase so he is kind of the opposite of Franco, who is loved by fans already and is seen as RB Sebastian Vettel reincarnation (I'm joking but you know what I mean) Oh yes, the people saying that Sergio is in the sport only because he's taking part in Brad Pitt's live fanfic production is ridiculous but funny at the same time - I'm really starting to believe some fans had lost their minds and believe F1 isn't a sport but some TV drama. Aside from the fact that I hate the movie with my entire heart and wouldn't like to see Checo in it I can't even imagine how people made connection between the Hollywood bs and reality. The whole thing with Franco is a bit sad, he isn't even fully in F1 and the hate is already starting, the media could have given him at least a year or so :( (not judging the situation or the people calling the weirdness of it out, everyone has the right to express their feelings but it is possible to do so without insults) The Checo-Liam beef that does not exist in reality (I wish people understood that just becasue they had like two or three run ins on track doesn't mean they hate each other) is in my opinion just structured by the media because a) they have nothing better to write about apparently or b) they are trying to make Sergio look like some bitter old man crumbling at the first sight of a new threat - which Liam was but not so more, not with all we know about the contract. On that topic let me talk about the photo:

They look so uncomfortable here lol. Max is staring at the sun all contemplative, Yuki doesn't know why they made them sit there and Liam and Checo were forced to sit next to each other and it shows - compare that to the photo Sergio had only with Max, it's a completly different vibe and the same wall xD

The Markorner silence can mean only two things to me, either they had given up and Sergio won their little mind game with the barriers around his contract or they are planning something nasty. About the Checo's dad situation - it was so random that I honestly don't know what to say. What he said was awful and he should never do it but I also think it was more anti-Ralph (who was shitting on Sergio FOR YEARS and used stereotypes in his commentary for years not only towards Sergio but Lewis too, he was not very nice about Mick's time in F1 and he was awful to Seb in his last season too - the man should never be allowed on air but yeah, famous surname sometimes is enough) than anything. I'm not justifying anything because the words were just horrible but I really would like to know where this came from. I'm also confused becasue I thought he supported LGB movement? (I was pretty sure I saw his photos duing pride parade somewhere and it's the first time I heard something this terrible coming from him) but I am not Mexican and all I know about him and his politics is a fog in a dark room, a glimpses of his celebrations at Sergio's podium in Mexico and that's about it. But, I have to say this, I don't understand why people are calling Sergio out as if he was the one who said that stuff. He does not control his father and said multiple times he doesn't want to have anything to do with Antonio's career so idk what this is about. I also know from a post I read around here that Sergio apparently asked his father multiple times to not use his image for political reasons and was ignored so yeah, this is werid too (I guess if it's true then Chestappen has one more thing in common - overbearing dads). And I am going to be petty about this but why is Sergio being blamed for what his dad said but Max never was for all the shit Jos did? Something seems fishy here - they are not their parents and they can't control two grown men from being how they are but this does strike a nerve in me. I have my own set of rumours and they go like this:

RBR accuses Sergio of leaking data to McLaren just to see if this will work in getting him out;

Max will win the WDC in LA despite FIA giving him all the possible penalties;

McLaren does their own interpretation of crash gate and Oscar is sacrificed to wreck Max's car all the remaining races;

Franco starts courting Sergio and Checo is oblivious, thinking they are just friends but Max gets angry and dominates all the races out of pure rage;

We have at least three married duos after LV - all part of George's plan to piss off the FIA;

Sergio, since he is obviously the villian in all this, gets crowned the king of F1 and all the rumours about him manipulating the sport with money became true;

Charlos will cry on live in Abu Dhabi and it will be one of the saddest moments in this season;

At least one drivers gets drunk in LV and proclaims their love for their teammate and it gets caught on camera;

You know? I wanted to wait to continue our little lottery rumor, just to see how LV would spice things up... man, Marko didn't disappoint, uh?

WCC is lost unless there's some serious voodoo involved and McLaren and Ferrari stay P10 and P9 the rest of the season. Unlikely, but hey, it could happen, but at the same time RBR nees to get their shit together, and that's what is even less likely.

However, the wind tunnel theory makes sense if they want the RB21 to actually work and be competitive, because they are so lost in how to get a car working properly, they need all the help they can get. With Lewis going to Ferrari, McLaren apparently getting a clue and Newey with AM, the next season will be wild and need all the help.

Honestly, that picture gives me the 'they forced me to sit next to the guy I don't like' they took in highschool XD, I think Checo is guarded when Liam is around, I know he doesn't hate him or anything, but he doesn't act as freely as he does with Yuki.

Also Yuki saying he will destroy Lawson like he did with his other teammates... on fire!

Well, the Markorner thing took a weird turn, did you see the way Horner was touching Checo all weekend? Almost like he likes him or something, gave me chills (not in the good way); and Horner speaking with Slim... something weird is cooking here, and now my rumor game is thrown off!

Marko is still reliable at being an asshole though, with the 'poor mechanics won't get their bonuses because Sergio failed and we won't get the WCC' and 'the owners will evaluate Sergio's continuity for 2025'.

The Checo's dad thing has two sides on the Mexican fandom: the ones who understand where Checo's dad is coming from, and those who claim he is still using him as a political platform. Honestly, I find it weird, because it's not like Checo's dad is a big political name, and I say it because I'm not from Guadalajara, but it's true that Checo has asked to avoid talking about him or posting personal pictures, but Don Antonio does it anyway because he's not media trained, reporters keep asking him about Checo and also he's a mexican dad, I'm not saying that's okay, but there's a cultural component in this. Anyway, I think he was bound to do something stupid soon, because all year people has been talking shit about his son, and if us as fans feel hurt, I can't imagine how his family must feel, and especially his parents. If I do and say stupid things defending friends... well, that's another story. On a side note, I don't think Don Antonio is homophobic, just hotheaded and crude, trying to hurt Ralph somehow, which is why Ralph also, to his credit, was very understanding of the situation.

Messing with someone's kids brings the worst side of the parents.

However Checo already clarified he doesn't agree with anything his dad says, and that he can't control what he says; I must say this was also something unexpected in our game, right?

Hey!! You got the Max's winning the WDC right!! You are slaying this game my friend!

I didn't expect Charlos public divorce though, or Checo being pregnant, because why would he wear that hoodie that's double his size?

My rumor for the game:

Checo buys RBR and decides to just drive around with Max and be happy.

Charlos either make a public scene (more than LV) that ends in tears, or make up and marry.

Zhou is the new Colapinto and now every team wants him. Also he's the one with Checo's seat for 2025.

Pierresteban takes another podium and screw over McLaren's chance at WCC.

The new team that apparently will join in 2026 is owned by Checo too.

[diudiudiu]

I know it’s been a long while bog and I hope you are doing well!! Health wise and such. I just wanted you to know how deeply I enjoy your work. I wanted to ask a question! What do you think a wenclair Harry Potter AU would look like? I’ve seen a few around AO3 but I’ve always wondered what yours would look like? If you have any thoughts 🤣🥰

ty for your wishes 🫶

tbh i don't know a great lot about harry potter, at least not canonically lol i watched a few of the films when they came out but i never really got into the books. the only reason i know a bit about the world is because i used to read hp fanfics and searched up stuff on the wiki to know what they mean lmao

off the top of my head with what i remember, there's a few ideas that come to mind. i've never read any wenclair hp aus so i dunno how similar they are to what's out there, but here's my brain dump anyway.

there's a few general things around the world and characters:

wednesday is prob ravenclaw or slytherin and enid is prob gryffindor or hugglepuff 🤷‍♀️ (pls dont come at me if this doesn't sound right to you, i never fully understood the housing characteristics ☠️)

larissa is ofc the headmaster

marilyn is the herbology professor

it'd be fun if pugsley is also at hogwarts, so we can see wednesday's protective side over him as well as him bonding with enid

thing is wednesday's pet/familiar - either as his normal hand form or like re-characterised as an owl or cat idk

with enid, she could either be the least magical one in her fam so there's the complex where she doesn't feel good enough and wednesday eventually makes her feel better yada yada OR in reverse, maybe she's from a muggle family so then she's distanced from her fam OR she's a squib so then the au would have to exist somewhere in the magical world outside of hogwarts lol

with wednesday, she can either hate hogwarts (similar to the show where she didn't want to go and because of her issues with morticia) or she can be indifferent and just be chilling

then there's also a few specific plot ideas:

Hogwarts AU

i'm trying to think of student/student aus but nothing jumps out to me besides enid as a quidditch star and wednesday as the head girl and they clash or something

maybe tyler is head boy and ajax is also a quidditch star for his house for some het drama idk

Teacher AU

what might be interesting with older wenclair is a teacher au where wednesday teaches DADA and enid teaches muggle studies or is the flying instructor idk

then their students ship them or something and try to play matchmaker

or if it's a one shot, maybe they're in a secret relationship and no one guesses they're together until the end

Azkaban AU

maybe another interesting idea is if wednesday is a prisoner in azkaban and enid is an auror

i always hesitate with wenclair being in law enforcement in general (because acab) but if its an au, then we can pretend discrimination does not exist 😌

then maybe enid is looking into a case and she needs to question wednesday for stuff, but realises that wednesday was framed so she tries to find the truth or whatever to help free her

or enid could accidentally let wednesday out (maybe wednesday manages to take her wand or whatever) so enid has to chase her and it'll be like a crime drama/killing eve situation, but with a big fat happy lesbian ending instead 🙄

or a goofier plot could be enid accidentally lets wednesday out and she tries to take her back, but it's not so serious and wednesday just easily escapes her time and time again in funny ways. like, enid can be trying to think strategically about where wednesday must be hiding after her escape, but then she simply bumps into wednesday just casually looking at books in a bookshop in hogsmeade, with no attempt to actually hide from enid because she's chill

Arranged Marriage/Slave AU

oh boy, for a more toxic plot (i'm sure this must already exist) maybe something like how it's after the war and they're on opposite sides and the death eaters won

wednesday's a death eater, enid's in the order of the phoenix, and then enid gets gifted to wednesday as a slave/wife or whatever 🌚

either it's someone's cruel idea to gift to wednesday, or there's some kind of arranged marriage system in place to match purebloods together so more purebloods can be created because of all the racism etc idk

Enemies to Lovers AU

for a more fun, reversed plot, maybe something like wednesday is the equivalent of voldemort and enid is the equivalent of hp so then they're enemies to lovers

but like, without the age gap lol (or with the age gap if that floats your boat) and also like...without the beginning bit of trying to kill the chosen one as a baby because that'd be a bit of a weird start lol

but this sounds like a real fun one because enid, yoko and divina could be the golden trio

anyway oops, it somehow turned into a brainstorming session/dump and now you prob see why i end up with so many wips 😆 but to come back from the derailing and to answer your original q about what my au would look like - i would prob pick the enemies to lovers one to write cos it sounds quite interesting

and i'm gonna stop here now because i just remembered the my immortal fanfic with dumbledore flying in on his broom with avril lavigne written on his robe and i have to go read it again 🤣

thanks for the ask though, this was a fun one to think about!

[phlurrii]

Theory for Noes atrocity in Dialgas eyes, I'm assuming it's specifically time based because I can't see Dialgas caring too much about anything else and while showing up early probably ticked him off a bit I'm thinking for the actual crime it might be related to that betrayal from humans

My thinking is Noe in an absolute fury after making sure Meau was somewhere safe just grabbed the leader of the village/ring leader of what happened and is like "You want to see what you could've had?!" and proceeds to drag them through into the future (assuming Noe can time jump if not pft this falls apart regardless) and drops them at the feet of the ruined village overgrown by vines structures reduced to rubble as Noe glares down at them hatefully " Your lineage does not grow strong, your town is forgotten your people forgotten your existence GONE, the only creatures that will recall you are us and we will hold you in distain. Your betrayal has brought you nothing." cause oh you wanted to control Meau for yourself? To make yourself great? Did you think it would bring your civilisation further growth? You are incorrect you have doomed everything you loved to die here, the only thing that will see this place is the wind. And Noe just, leaves them there. To be trapped in a future they can't survive in to die in a future with nothing and no one because Noe is just angry and hateful to them rn making them see it was for nothing worse than nothing it ruined everything and having them stay there and Dialga was absolutely furious because it's ONE thing to take someone from the past to the future and give them an existential world view destruction and crisis it is ANOTHER to leave them there to die this breaks all kinds of rules and could cause so so SO many issues if that human breaks containment and is found by modern people it could get messy quickly. So Dialga is furious over Noe very much violating rules of time in a fit of rage. (while loudly ignoring Ingo in Hisui)

I'll admit this one did get away from me a bit XD more fanfic than theory but hey hope you enjoy

Oooo~ Actually, credit where credits due, you got a lot right actually! As we get closer to the arc, I’ll be a bit looser lipped since the main reveal is pretty early one, the rest is just well deserved answers in a visual format X3

For starters, Missingno. does make sure Meau has a place to rest before going back to the village, of which, we’ve actually already seen this village. It holds a lot of significance to both Meau and Noe due to what happened there and what it did for their relationship as a whole.

As for what Missingno. did when he arrived back at the village, he didn’t bother attempting to communicate with them. As Meau tried and failed to do so, he simply did what he thought was best and moved on. What he did there did not anger Dialga, nor was the atrocity that did anger Dialga.

Mind you, you’re correct in what happens to that village because of what they did to Meau. Their lineage does not grow strong, they do not prosper, and they are forgotten by all except Meau and Noe, who do not remember them fondly.

But there was not time shenanigans with the village, though I LOVED this lil theory!!! Very, very enjoyable X3

[astaralys]

it is I, simplesnowflake!

I rebranded to astaralys now that I'm shifting into original projects but I'm very much still the same snow sisters supporter. I've just levelled up with an interest in game dev and picked up pixel art as well, so you'll be seeing less frozen content and more me content

you can find me on these places: twitter (listen I am not calling it X): https://twitter.com/astaralys bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/astaralys.bsky.social ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/astaralys I'm part of a studio! have you read our webcomic oneshot, Midnight Hour?: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/midnight-hour/list?title_no=872088

But what's happening with TNU, you ask? I admit I have much less time for fic now but still very much enjoy TNU and hope to see it to completion. It's something that sporadically crosses my mind, and when I reread what I've written, I fall in love with the story all over again. So I pick at it during my commute and lunch breaks. We'll get there slowly!

in the meantime, please enjoy this wip chapter 23 scene join me in my struggle to remember what happened in ch 22, it's been 84 years

As always, thank you so much for following my journey and reading my stories. I really want to finish writing TNU for us, and hope you wouldn't mind sticking around for my foray into original stories beyond that. I've been writing fanfic for over a decade (oof my back ached typing that) and knowing every word I've written has been read and enjoyed by at least one person has made me the writer I am today. Thank you for finding my words!

------

There was nothing quite like the slipperiness of blood. A slickness that smeared and clung to everything and anything, as if it already knew there was no way to return to the veins from which it had gushed. Its new purpose was to stain and horrify. If it could, with its sheer, crimson volume, petrify those that had evicted it from its rightful body, then its existence had purpose. A river, it would become. 

“Your Highness! Are you hurt?” Ronny. A familiar face. An anchor.

“I… y-yes. I mean, no. The… the blood’s not mine.” Kristoff made to get up and slipped. Instead of hitting the marble floor, though, his knee crunched into unmoving flesh. It was a small blessing he hadn’t speared himself on one of the dozen crossbow bolts protruding from the man’s torso like a pincushion. 

Herman dragged him upwards and back, none too gently. “We’ll guard the prince! Make sure these bastards are really dead.”

“Wait—” Bile overtook words. Kristoff dropped to all fours and retched. 

Scattered words swirled around him as his guards waded through the bodies. “—that big talk about their military. These idiots fought like lumps of wood!”

“Any news from the general? Did we manage to intercept their fleet?”

“Still can’t see a thing out there; the fjord’s completely covered in mist after the wall fell. How did they break Princess Elsa’s magic—”

“Forget that! The queen and princess are missing—we need a search party—”

“With what men? We’re already stretched thin as ice—”

Ice. If he’d kept his head down and continued hacking at the frozen tundra and going home to his family of trolls, he wouldn’t be here, crouched in a lake of dark red. Staring at a canopy of death spattered across the hallway like the reaper itself had danced with a conductor’s wand. How easily could he have been one of those bodies splayed out across the same floor Anna always slid down in her socks, laughing and crashing into his arms? Where was Anna? What if she was lying in a ditch somewhere, just like—

“Oi! Got a live one here!”

“You telling me this runt was the commander of this freak show? What, did you use your own soldiers as meat shields? You cowardly little—”

Kristoff looked up to see his men crowded around a huddled figure. If these southerners hadn’t brought swords and bloodlust to Arendelle… if they hadn’t spilled mortality in these sunny halls… 

Don’t be pathetic, Bjorgman. 

“Let me talk to him,” Kristoff rasped. 

“Sir, this scum tried to kill you—”

“Trust me, I’ve noticed.” 

The soldiers quietened. A few stepped away from their quarry, blinking like they had snapped out of a trance. Kristoff knew them all by name, but when they had come to his rescue in a flurry of unforgiving steel, he momentarily couldn’t recognise them. But he recognised himself in their sudden cruelty. They weren’t baying for blood— they were afraid for themselves, their families, their homes. They needed a leader, and Mattias was out the fjord. 

Come on, Lord Regent, he could hear Anna teasing. You’re in charge when I’m gone, remember?

But you’re not gone, Kristoff thought. You’re safe with Elsa somewhere, and you’ll come back to me. 

He rose to his feet. He’d kept his balance on cliffsides and frozen lakes; he could stomach standing on solid ground, nauseatingly slippery as it was. He stopped before the only survivor of the Isles’ ambush party.

“Let’s hear what the crown prince of the Southern Isles has to say. That’s you, right? Jesper Westergaard?”

Spindly shoulders jerked. Bitter memories of another sneering, auburn-haired prince made Kristoff’s fists and jaw tighten. 

“Your father sent you into our tunnels to secure the castle, didn’t he? Bet he didn’t expect us to be waiting for you. He’s probably sitting on the fjord in his big ship, waiting for you to open the gates for him.”

The prince’s sword tinkered on the floor. Herman pushed Kristoff behind him, but Jesper made no move to attack. He only kept his head bowed and rocked slightly on his heels, clenching and unclenching his hand on his sword. Staring down at him, Kristoff realised their adversary was more boy than man.

What would Anna do?

Giving Herman the standby signal, Kristoff knelt down in front of Jesper. “Calm down. Work with us, and no one else needs to get hurt.”

Jesper’s glazed stare remained unerringly fixed on his shoes. Kristoff saw pale lips moving, though. He cautiously leaned in.

“Hurry up hurry up hurry up…”

Kristoff waved a hand in front of the prince’s face. “Hey. Can you hear me?”

“… up hurry up hurry—” The frenetic whispering halted abruptly as Jesper’s head snapped up. Dilated pupils locked on Kristoff’s, swimming in fear and adrenaline and… triumph?

A shiver slithered up Kristoff’s spine. 

Freshly spilled blood could melt snow. Yet it only struck him now, as his soldiers let out shocked cries and whipped out their swords for the second time, that the blood he had been kneeling in was icy enough to chill him to the bone.

Jesper finally met Kristoff’s eyes. He wiped his nose on his sleeve, a wicked smile spreading on his face. “Be a good sport and remember to scream, yeah?”

[hischierlovebot]

A, Z and a wildcard of your choice for the fandom asks, pls and thank youuuuu! If you've already answered them or they do not spark joy for any reason, feel free to swap them out for any and all things that do appeal!

A - Ships you currently like a lot

Just answered that one, but currently they're Roope/Wyatt, NicoJack and Quinnbrady! I can get behind almost anything though

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go!

I just posted a fic I've worked incessantly over a month and was a little bit terrified of posting, but I was still very excited to post and I just love how fandom allows us to connect with one another. Art itself does that in its every form, but there's something special about finding inspiration in a pre-existing media and having that allow you to connect with others through your creation. I'm not sure if I'm making sense, I just think it's something really cool that makes me really emotional too. Before I jumped in the fanfic pool, I hadn't written in a couple years, and now it's been a handful of them that I've been writing at least 100k per year consistently, and it's all because there's a joy in it, a community that you can't find somewhere else and I think it's beautiful (and that we should nurture it!! Not take it for granted)

J- Name a fandom you didn't think about until you saw it all over Tumblr.

The obvious answer would be hockey but I came here with my eyes wide open because I kept seeing tumblrs on the fics. However I never expected to see such a fandom for f1. Very cool very nice, the first Fernando Alonso fanvideo had my soul leaving my body, that was like seeing my neighbour on tumblr (not really my neighbour but that man has been on TV since I can remember so I had never thought about him in a fandom kind of way)

[shady-groves]

20 fanfic questions

tagged by @el-dritchknight, thank you! :>

Tagging: Everyone who I would tag is already tagged, so whoever wants to do this!

how many works do you have on ao3? 18

what's your total ao3 word count? 147,654

what fandoms do you write for? As of now, only My Time of Sandrock, but I've written a fic for both the game Lifeline (mega props to you if you've heard of it at all...) and Cells at Work BLACK

top five fics by kudos: [All are for MTAS and GN!builder/Qi]

A Builder, a Researcher, and a Rooftop - fluff with some angst

Statistical Anomaly - fluff

Empty Skies, Hazy Skyboxes - heavy angst (mind the tags)

1000 Things to Do with Sulfuric Acid - crack

How to Send Letters to a Star - heavy angst (mind the tags) - extension to Empty Skies, Hazy Skyboxes

5. do you respond to comments? most of the time, yes! if i don't, it's not personal, sometimes i just don't know what to say 😅 but know that i do see it, and i really appreciate it :>

6. what is the fic your wrote with the angstiest ending? hmmm while it's a toss up between this and ES,HS, I think it's How to Send Letters to a Star. It's distinctly a lot more melancholy than the ending of ES,HS...and it's doesn't feel like Qi's emotions are as resolved.

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? fadsfasdrlkj none of my multipart fics either have a happy ending or have an ending at all yet wheeeEEEZE

but if it's currently done fics, Statistical Anomaly would probably be it? tho it's smack dab in the middle of Builder, Researcher, Rooftop so idk

8. do you get hate on fics? not as of now...

9. do you write smut? occasionally. and any i've written so far is in a particular niche (ace4ace, one of whom is partially averse). not generally comfortable writing a lot of the dirty details...don't think i'll ever be able to stray too far from porn with feelings so i can just focus on the emotions more😂

10. craziest crossover? same as el...do oc crossovers count?? but aside from that, i have an uzumaki + mtas fusion fic that i'd like to write...someday...

11. have you ever had a fic stolen? nope!

12. have you ever had a fic translated? Nope! Open to it tho :>

13. have you ever co-written a fic before? Also nope...but absolutely down to 👀

14. all-time favorite ship? any Qi/builder, or if i'm allowed to indulge, Qi/Wisteria, my builder >:3

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? [looks at entire writing folder]

...but more seriously:

A fourth part of my Wis/Grace miniseries: In Vino Veritas...while the idea is cute, it's taken me more than a year to get part 3 done 💀

A funny little multichapter genfic featuring Unsuur and a couple other ppl in town reacting to his rock stacking fascination and things

16. what are your writing strengths? dialogue and characterization. it helps if the character has voiced dialogue somewhere that i can reference so i can really get a good picture of not only what they say, but how they say it.

17. what are your writing weaknesses? long fics and writing things without the help of hyperfixation 💀 i am actively working on it tho!!

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language? i mean yeah, why not? :> just be sure you actually know what they're saying and give a translation somewhere, and it should be fine

19. favorite fic you've written? if it's fics that actually exist outside of my head, it'll have to be How to Send Letters to a Star. It was formed out of a mess of ideas that I originally had for an extension to ES,HS, but it tied them together a lot stronger with the repeating presence of the letters...and I think I got the intended mood down solid. I was inspired a lot by the 4th Eva movie...I LOVE the somber, melancholic, introspective tone of the first half so much and I think I emulated it pretty well 🥺

but if we're including WIPs, then I think anyone on the OTAS server could probably guess that it's probably Earth and Sky...when I actually write it 😂It will be long and it will be hard!! But I think that this is legitimately a whole level up for me writing wise (assuming, again. that it actually will get written and exist. in the real world 💀) :>

20. what's something you want to write someday? I really want to get through Earth and Sky and also to write out that Uzumaki fusion fic I mentioned above :> Just in general write more for Qi and Wis, really. I love exploring the interesting little opposites-but-also-deeply-the-same-at-their-core dynamic they have......and the symbolism that they come bundled with lets me cool and pretentious too 😂

[bijouxcarys]

hey! I was interested in writing an story but I'm sooo nervous on doing it. Can you give me some tips? Such as pacing, sequencing, descriptions, plot, grammar, punctuations, etc

i'll been reading your roman fanfic and you're a great writer

Hey! So sorry this took a minute to answer, but I've been away and I wanted to make sure I gave you a meaningful response!

First of all, thank you so much for the kind words about my Roman fic; I'm really enjoying writing that, so it means the world when people are enjoying it too :)

Okay, in regards to your question:

The first thing, and the most important thing, is to remember that when you're writing... write for you, and no one else. 10 years of writing fanfiction, and only learned that last year. Write what you want to read. If that makes sense. Don't worry too much about the response from others, because somebody somewhere out there is going to love it! If you're having a good time writing, you've already succeeded.

Secondly, it's very helpful to have some kind of idea how many chapters your story is going to be, if it's even going to have multiple chapters etc... That way, when you're thinking about your story arcs and key events, it'll help with your pacing. You don't want to have too quick of a pace if you're planning to have, say, 25-30 chapters. Development is essential, and that can be achieved through sub-plots, interactions between minor (small, not children lol) characters, etc...

However, if you're wanting to write a one shot for instance, pacing is all dependent on how long you're wanting the one shot to be. I tend to write 7-10k word one shots, and my pacing is relatively slow for a one shot. If you are wanting to write a shorter one shot, my advice is to focus on the action, not so much the characters. It's easier when it's a fanfiction, because you don't need to focus too much on telling an audience who that person is, seeing as they're reading it because they already, assumedly, know them. With the OC, sometimes it can be easier to start by writing a x reader fic, but if that's not your thing, it can be helpful to establish a brief backstory in the intro of your one shot, just so that the audience gets an idea of who this OC is. Obviously, if you're writing a longer one shot or a fic that has multiple chapters, it's usually best to "drip-feed" backstory throughout.

A lot of grammar, punctuation, descriptions tend to improve with practice. Looking at my fics now, you wouldn't think it was the same author of my fics 7 years ago.

PLOT... my god, what a topic. First of all, remember every author that you enjoy runs into issues regarding the plot of their stories. Don't be afraid to change the direction your story is going in, it's your story and plot is flexible. As long as you have an idea of where your story is going to end, or how it's going to end, the bits in between are easier to set up. I know exactly how I want Ties That Bind to end, so figuring out the journey is a little easier. That being said, it's very useful to keep a notebook, or a word document, of all your thought process. Things that you want to happen throughout. Sometimes even drafting out a specific scene you've thought of, and then going back to it when or if you decide to use it down the line.

You didn't specifically ask about this, but I thought I'd mention it anyway: WRITER'S BLOCK.

It happens a lot. To every writer that's ever existed. And it's frustrating. You will get annoyed at yourself when it happens. But, throughout the past 10 years, I've learned that for me, the best way to overcome it, is to step back from it, close the folders on your laptop/whatever you use, and revisit it the next day after a sleep and with fresh eyes. Something else that helps me is creating playlists for the fics! It really does get you thinking about your story and the characters (you can even make playlists dedicated to characters), and at times it's even inspired me to add something else to the story. It also gives you something to listen to that's relevant whilst you're actually writing your story, if that's something you like to do.

Just remember, there's no formula to being a writer. And there's no shame in writing fanfiction, if that's what you're wanting to do. Write for you. This is your time, your moment, your hobby, your thing. Like most things, comfort comes with time and practice.

I hope that was helpful! Please feel free to ask any more questions, if there's something I missed or didn't clarify!

<3