#Please if you have any ideas for a rewrite of arc 3 share it with the class

[some-pers0n]

I think roughly 25% of all WoF fans have at least attempted to try and imagine some sort of rewrite of arc 3 because they're convinced that whatever they can come up with would be better than what we got

[royonninjago]

A Funny Idea I had for Hands of Time

I believe that many people in the Ninjago fandom share the opinion that season 8, The Hands of Time, is one of the worst seasons of Ninjago. Weird writing choices, bad animation (even by Ninjago standards), and the confusing time travel mechanics plague the season making re-watches difficult.

I don't plan on making my own rewrite of Ninjago or anything, but I had an idea that's been rattling around in my head for a while that I will now share with y'all.

We all know that Jay is the comic relief and resident nerd of the Ninja, but most of these jokes are more current grievances addressed in an over the top and exaggerated way, which can sometimes get old.

We also know that apart from the Day of the Departed special, we are right off the heels of Skybound, the season that (arguably and within the context of the show) changed Jay the most, but since technically none of it ever happened the only one aware of it is Nya.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this is the arc that involves time travel shenanigans that many sci-fi and fantasy feel compelled to write, making it almost obligatory for the genre.

Keeping all this in consideration, I think a really fun way to demonstrate how much he has grown since Skybound while still staying true to his character would to have him take lead of the Ninja in very specific counter-time shenanigan strategies that he developed based off of all the time travel stories he's read and watched.

The idea originally came from a realization while rewatching the season while still somewhat fresh off the heels of watching the anime "JoJo's Bizzare Adventure".

I highly recommend this anime and that you go into it as blind as possible, but if you don't care about spoilers then here you go.

The abilities of the Hands of Time and the abilities of JoJo's main villains from parts 3 to 6 line up shockingly well. There requires some tweaking to the abilities to make them fit, but it still works really well.

The Pause Blade and Dio Brando's Stand "The World" have the same ability to stop time.

The Rewind Blade and Yoshikage Kira's Stand "Killer Queen: Bites the Dust" have the ability to rewind time, although Bites the Dust can't use it on Kira.

The Forward Blade and Diavolo's Stand "King Crimson" can both skip ahead in time to avoid undesirable outcomes.

The Slow-Mo Blade and Enrico Pucci's Stand "Made in Heaven" both have the ability to control the speed at which time moves, however Made in Heaven uses it to speed up time for everyone else instead of slowing everyone down, but its used for the same effect.

I like to imagine that while the Ninja are heading out to meet Master Wu at the burned monastery, Jay is just thinking to himself "Wait, this can't be King Crimson, can it?" and when they finally get there and Jay realizes that it is King Crimson he uses the same strategy they use in JoJo. Because the skip is instantaneous and imperceptible to everyone, the only way to possibly defend against it is to physically measure the time. The easiest way to do this without relying on watches or clocks that can be easily broken is to cut yourself and count the drops of blood that fall on your hand. If the number suddenly increases, that means a skip has happened and that the enemy is probably in your blind spot. Obviously this is a kids show and they can't show blood, but the point of the strategy is to count falling droplets of a liquid.

Not only would this demonstrate Jay's newfound leadership skills to the rest of the Ninja while showing off more of his nerdy side, but it could also be easily used as comedy since now he has a good reason to be watching TV shows and reading comic books when he could be doing something more productive.

"No, Lloyd, I am doing something productive! I'm watching Back to the Future because we need to understand the potential ramifications of time travel!"

If you have any similar thoughts or opinions about something like this, please feel free to share because I love reading them!

(P.S. Can you tell that Jay is my favorite Ninja?)

[thatonebirdwrites]

THIS. ALL OF THIS.

I have started calling the fandom communities a fellowship of joy. Don't shit all over the fellowship of joy, especially when creators have not in any way asked for advice/criticism. If you don't like something, it's okay to walk away and not say anything. This is also pertinent for writers. Unsolicited "advice" or "criticism" to fanfic writers shouldn't be done either. It's frustrating, discouraging, and frankly useless. Yes, comments are great IF they fit the following:

Sharing what you enjoyed about the scene.

Speculating on what might come next. (This is always fun to read).

If you share what you didn't like, do not provide unsolicited criticism, just state you didn't like it and move on to sharing what you did like.

Sharing what emotions you had about the prose and story itself.

Asking questions of the author but without the expectation of a reply. (You are not entitled to a reply, but if you want to ask questions, sure. Us creators can decide if we have time/energy to reply or not.)

Discussing aspects of the story and/or character arcs and what they mean to you.

This isn't a definitive list, but it just to give folks an idea.

I adore getting comments, but what I don't like is people telling me: 1. "You wrote a Mary Sue!" Mary Sue is a sexist connotation that derives from the idea that it's "impossible" for a woman to be capable of doing many different things well. People hurl this insult when they fail to understand the nuances of a woman character, especially if her faults and/or weaknesses are subtle and/or more nuanced.

If a man character is given the same attributes and written exactly the same, this insult is never hurled at the man character. So a man character can get away with anything, but a woman character cannot. This criticism isn't constructive and is actually a sexist diatribe that really needs to just shut up and go away.

2. "I don't like how you wrote this scene. I think you should do this instead or I won't read it anymore!" Okay. I am not going to change how I wrote the scene or plot point based on you not liking it. If you don't like it, you can stop reading. No need to announce your departure!

3. "This is too much! This character being gay/bisexual/trans/disabled/etc... is unnecessary for the narrative!"

That is one of the most bigoted things I've ever heard. Bye.

4. "I demand you include these themes!"

If you would like to request a fic, please go to my tumblr ask (only if the asks are open). Don't request it on one of my already written fics. I'm not going to rewrite it just because you are demanding it. There's a place for asks. Already written fics are not that place.

5. "This character never uses pet names or nicknames!" Or "This character would never do that! How dare you!"

Okay? I guess, thanks for the comment.

6. "There's no narrative need for this character to be disabled/lose-a-limb/have-PTSD/whatever-disability-that-actually-does-fit-narrative-if-reader-had-bothered-to-read-it-fully. They should do physio and be done with it!"

Yes. Someone came to one of my fics, where one of my characters had fourth-degree burns (as in the burn went all the way to the bone and destroyed nerve endings making the foot numb and susceptible to rot and gangrene), and suggested that I do not write the amputation but instead have the character do physio.

I really need abled-bodied people to understand that physical therapy DOES NOT CURE ALL DISEASES AND INJURIES. OMG. WTF.

The ableism of this is just astounding.

Physical therapy is a tool to assist the patient with rebuilding strength, endurance, and stamina. It cannot heal anything. That's not how it works, so please stop suggesting that characters with injuries, various diseases, and other disabilities undergo physio to magically be cured of their disability. This is not how that works, and it's a really ableist take.

I could go on and on and on.

Point is, constructive criticism is only helpful when the creator asks for it.

When we ask for it, that's because we have prepared for the criticism and wish to have help in improving something.

If we do ask for it? Here are some tips:

Be specific. Vagueness doesn't help anyone. No one can determine what exactly is meant by: "I think this scene is badly written." That's not constructive, and tells the author nothing. Don't waste your or their time. Instead be specific: "I notice that this scene uses a lot of adverbs that distract from the flow. Here are some examples of where I saw these repetitive words. I also noticed the dialogue of characters get mushed together, where it's hard to tell who is talking. Maybe give each character's dialogue a separate paragraph to aid in readability." <- That is constructive.

Be encouraging. Do not tell the author they are terrible, bad, or can't write/draw/create. Instead be supportive. "I think this is a great start, and here is what I really liked about the piece." By starting with that you build rapport, then you can enter into the specifics of your feedback.

Never, ever, ever say that a character's identity is "too much" or "unnecessary for the narration." This is a pretty way to dress up bigotry. A character's identity is crucial to their characterization and who they are. It also provides representation for that group, and we always need more diverse representation.

Never critique the work based on what it didn't do. Only critique what it DID do. As in, explore what the piece actually includes and what is actually written/drawn/etc. If the author/creator didn't do something or didn't include something, don't mention it as it's not helpful and isn't really constructive. Focus only on what's actually there.

If the piece is blatantly bigoted but they asked for feedback, consider whether you feel safe to share that feedback. Sometimes people don't realize that they've used a bigoted trope, and if one approaches this carefully and kindly, it can turn into a good learning opportunity. But if the author doubles down on the bigotry, then make a decision on if its safe to even continue providing feedback. Sometimes people don't want to unlearn their unconscious (or conscious) biases. We can't fix that -- it's up to them. One way to approach it: "Hi, I noticed that this and that is a harmful trope for [be specific about what the trope is and its impact]. A way to repair that could be [be specific on ways to avoid using the trope and what can be done instead]." This isn't easy to do, and if you feel like you don't have the energy to engage in a conversation over this, then don't do it. Be safe, okay?

When we do NOT ask for it (majority of the time honestly), that's when we are writing what we'd like to read, and we're fine with it as is.

Fanfiction isn't being written as the next big bestseller. It's written to fulfill a need that the writer has. Often, we ere excited and wish to share that joy with the community, in case others will also enjoy what we wrote (or created). It's a fellowship of joy.

Don't go in and muck up the fellowship of joy, okay?

Thanks for reading, and remember to be kind!

Hey, if you don't have something nice to say about other people's creations (gifsets, art, fic etc)

then

don't say anything at all.

[teamfreewill2pointo]

Transcript of End of the Road Special

Transcript of End of the Road Special. 

Please let me know if I made any errors in transcription. Twitter version Family Don’t End with Blood Transcription Winchester Mythology Transcription

Dabb: Ultimately, we came up with something that we're all very proud of Singer: You never know what the audience is going to like so we really tried to say "what would make us happy? Would we be satisfied with where we've taken them?"

The Carry On song was a guideline.

Singer: The myth of what these brothers were throughout 15 years... We didn't shy away from fatalism, but we wanted to be able to have it be kinda uplifting as well.

Dabb: If you're going to do something that feels like a complete arc, you have to kinda go back to the beginning of it (clips of them hunting vamps from s1 & 15.20) When it comes to Sam & Dean- it's all about getting back to, in some ways, these two guys on the road in this car.

Dabb: They've been doing this job for 15 years now. They've fought everyone from demons to vampires to God himself, but at the end of the day, they're still working guys, out there on the road & taking cases. We've tried to never lose sight of that.

Dabb: There are times when we've been wrapped up in our own mythology a little bit. We've always tried to get back to the basics, which are: these two guys, saving people, hunting things. 

Eugenie: I think we sort of knew generally what the ending would involve.

Eugenie: We might not have known the mechanics, but we sort of knew there would be a victorious, glorious sacrificial ending bc I think sacrifice is a big theme in the series.

For every great thing you do, a cost must be paid.

Singer: Andrew & I talked about it. We were in agreement pretty quickly... talked to the rest of the writing staff & let them know what we wanted to do and we were open to suggestions. And then we pretty much pitched it to Jared and Jensen.

Jensen talks about flying to LA. Jensen: So before we ever even started 15, we knew how the last portion of the story was going to go. We didn't know how we were going to get there, but we kinda knew the final- the finish line- we knew what... what that was going to look like.

Jared: I don't think there's ever been a season of SPN in 15 years where the way the writers thought the show would play out for that season- ended up being the way it played out And so we were aware of that. They told us here's what we're thinking, here's what happens to Castiel

Jared: In the finale, Dean dies & Sam lives on. And then we think they're going to meet up in heaven. 

I remember Jensen... just because I know him so well- he seemed to bristle a little bit.

Jensen: It was hard to hear then & it was hard to read now. Not because I didn't like it, not because I wished it had gone differently... I'm not adverse to it. I think it's a great ending. I'm proud to film it.

Singer: And we just aimed for that, you know, throughout the season. We knew where we were going.

Jensen: Reading it & knowing that... there's just a weight that is so much larger reading these scripts than I've ever experienced before. 

There's an emotional weight that these scripts are going to carry & these episodes are going to have that I don't think we've ever seen before.

Brad: [J2] were so young when all of this started. They brought to it such conviction & such commitment to the effort. 

That's one of the things that kept the show going for so many years... a show that was designed for very young guys, footloose & fancy free, & on the road…

Brad: To see these guys grow up b4 your eyes into- men, not boys any longer- was amazing. 

BABY Jared: Though the story does involve Sam & Dean chasing supernatural things, it really is a story about two brothers that love each other & ultimately will do anything for each other.

Jensen: There's really one person that gets it on the level that I get it, and that's Jared. Jared: I've never spent as much time with another human being as I have with Jensen Ackles. He will be my friend and brother forever. And I know that.

BABY Jensen: There's a lot of dynamics between the two brothers, there's a lot of history between them, there's a lot of banter between them... it's good stuff S15 Jensen: We had a partner in crime & we leaned on each other for, you know, for times when it was tough.

Jensen: But we also won together. We got to share the experience of success & the experience of getting picked up for another season. Watching these two characters go through what they're going through, when we're working 14 hours & it's 2-3 o’clock on a Sat morning and we're just now finishing filming out in the rain and mud and we gotta race to the airport to get on a plane because we've got a photoshoot in LA & we've gotta do on camera interviews and we gotta promote the show that we love so much that we were just in the mud & the rain filming hours before we're exhausted and it's like there's only one person that gets that right now. That gets how I feel and that's this guy standing next to me. That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool to have somebody like that.

Brad: We knew it was going to be impossible to tie up every aspect of all of the cans of worms that we opened up. 

We did want to bring a proper ending to the guys, the guy's relationship.

Brad: Then of course we had this huge corner we painted ourselves into with the most powerful thing in the universe being the big bad of the season. We try and find a proper send off for Jack & for Cas. What to do w/ the boys & is that a together farewell or an individual?

It was just... lots of moving parts. 

Dabb: I give a lot of credit to Bobo who really was the one who started banging the drum early & often to ending the mythology in 19 and end the characters in 20.

Brad: You're battling God & battling God & you have this epic situation going on through the first 3/4 of the show & then what? You send off Dean in act 4? That just felt wrong. Eugenie: We had this obligation, it was really mandatory, that we tie up the mythic narrative and leave the final episode for the emotional resolution. I [was] more on the side of not wanting to best God. To have God change to be more like his creations. So there were philosophical arguments, but we always knew God's resolution was going to be a big ticket item.

Jensen: We'd started day 1 of the 2nd to last episode, 19. We were 1 day down on that episode & we were just about to start our 2nd day & we got the call that morning that we were not going to be coming in that day.

Jensen: So we figured ok, we'll figure out protocol, figure out what we need to do, & we'll just regroup, come back on Monday. As that day progressed, it was like- this looks like more of an apocalypse that is ascending upon us than just a bad cold.

They pulled the plug & they said everybody go home. 

Singer: Fortunately, we got assurance from both the studio & the network that one way or another we were gonna finish the series. That was comforting to us, but we didn't know when we were going to go back.

Eugenie: We didn't know what we were going back to... if this was the last time we would ever see the set. There was no plan. It was just get out of dodge. Dabb: When it first happened, we thought it would be a couple of weeks, maybe a month.

I had conversations w/WB where they expected everyone to be back shooting in June & then things got worse & pushed & pushed.

Eugenie: Slowly as we settled into that 4 or 5 month period, discussions were going on w/the studio, & the networks, & the actors. We knew there would be restrictions on what we were allowed to shoot, but finally, the mechanics were figured out. 

Singer: So they were ready to go pretty quickly, shooting in Van, where covid wasn't quite as virulent as it was [in LA].

Dabb: We were one of the first shows, one of the first WB shows to start back up. So in a way, we were kinda a guinea pig. But, in being that, I think everyone took it really seriously. We had 0 positive tests. Crew members weren't going out on the weekends.

They were like look, if I get sick, it hurts the whole show. That speaks to the family culture up there, where we've had so much of our crew for so long. Where J2 & Singer provide such great leadership.

Singer: When I was in prep for 20, I was basically in the office but couldn't go to the set. It was very odd for me not to be able to go to the set while I was in prep. 

Everybody just hung in there & did what they were supposed to do.

Brad: Then we were faced with the dilemma of having to rewrite a lot of the stuff bc of the pandemic bc of the limitations that we knew were going to come on the production.

Jensen: We were gearing up for, not only the end of that season, but the end of the series. There was a lot of big, big things written-packed- into those last two scripts.

Jared: At first, it was supposed to be a lot of our old cast from prior seasons in a Roadhouse with Kansas.

Everybody had already agreed. Kansas was going to be in Van. We were going to have dad there & mom there. Just probably 20 or 30 different actors & actresses who had been a part of the SPN's canon over the last 15 & a half years.

Jensen: It was scheduled to be the last day that we were going to film, so it was almost like rolling right into a nice wrap party on camera. 

Brad: The idea of flying a boatload of ppl up there to quarantine for 2 weeks so they could shoot for a day was making less & less sense.

Eugenie: How do we make this work? And while you're doing that, you also don't want to sacrifice the heart and soul of the project. 

So we came up with a reduced, much more intimate ending. It has been replaced by something equally magical & rewarding.

Singer: I felt an enormous responsibility in directing the finale of a show that's been on for 15 years. Andrew, when he saw the cut, he said some really nice things to me as to, you know, the way I handled the material.

Jensen: The scenes that were filmed on our last day on the sound stages were filled with the most emotion of the final episode. 

Singer: One of the really hard things was we're on another stage that wasn't the MoL stage & they started wrecking the MoL sets

They'd been working on this set and been apart of this- this family for just as long if not longer than the set's been around. I was like "it's really sad seeing this get taken down" and the other guy said, "I'm trying to hold back tears while I'm swinging this hammer."

Jared: As we start saying goodbye to characters, to locations, like it just seems like every day you would wake up and there would be some reason to cry. 

Misha: This is a show ultimately about love, & empathy, & caring, & I think that Castiel embodies that.

Misha: Half the crew was crying. It was really such a sweet, supporting environment to be in for the demise of a character that, of course, for me is really important. 

But it was so lovely to see that, you know, the folks that I'm- I'm working with were also there for Cas at that moment. 

Alex: To get to work with these caliber people & see your friends every day is really special & is not something that often happens in this business for this long. It's been definitely a topsy turvy last couple weeks here with us and the crew. 

Jared: Friday of the final full week was the big scene in the barn with the vampires where Dean suffers his fate. They did the first two days with the entire stunt team & the young boy actors. 

And then they cut it for Thursday night and they're like, okay, Friday, tomorrow, we’re starting the dialogue. Dean, you're on the post. Sam, you just cut off the last vampire's head.

That was the scene- that was where Supernatural was really encapsulated. 

Jensen: And then the next week we kind of had this- on the road encore get together filmmaking scenario that felt more like we made it & it was more pats on the back as opposed to tearful goodbyes. 

Dabb: In a weird way you can look at the 15 seasons is like Sam & Dean's emotional evolution. You know instead of therapy, they kill vampires, but other than that it's kind of the same & brings them both to a very good place. And a place where they can, as the song says, you know, lay their weary head to rest. 

This felt like the most honest & emotionally fulfilling episode for these characters to us. Jared: I got thinking about how Supernatural started & how the majority of times how I thought it should end. It started with Sam & Dean Winchester. I think it's proper that it ended with Sam & Dean Winchester together again. 

Jensen: When the cameras stop rolling & Bob yelled, “Cut!” and Bob yelled, “That’s a series wrap on Supernatural.” There was- a there was a loud cheer that echoed through that canyon we were filming in. I will- I will happily say that there were hugs that happened and that needed to happen. Those are people that I spent not just years with, but so much time with- it's like brothers in arms and so to put it to bed the way that we did felt really good and then felt good to hug some people, I'll tell you that much. Singer: I thanked everyone, but I wanted to really thank people who had been with us from the beginning and as I looked around, there were so many people who had been there from the beginning.

We really were a family. I always say about this show is one of the reasons that it was a success and is that it was not only about the Winchester family, but it was about the Supernatural family. 

Jared: So now that's all said and done, I guess I can look back at it and just be proud that I helped this show carry on and I'm really proud of the blood, sweat, and tears that I put in, and I feel like- I feel like that sacrifice was also maybe one of the things I learned from Sam, you know? Sam had to sacrifice a lot. So, I'm honored and flattered and grateful that I got to be a part of that journey.

Dabb: You're never going to have another show like this. You're never gonna have another experience like this. For a lot of different reasons, from how long it ran, from the family that the show became, from the amazing fans that we have. [Footage of us] From the emotional investment people can put in over 15 years of their lives. 

Some started watching this when they were in high school, when they were 15, they're 30 now, they might have kids. That's their- that's like half their life. They've been with this show. You're not gonna have that again. Shows just aren’t gonna run this long, especially genre shows, but I don't know that I'm ever gonna do anything else in my career that I'm gonna be more proud of than having been involved in this show. 

Jared: The things that stick out are just how important it is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. And keep on working and wake up every day and treat it like it could be your last and- and if you make it out the other side, you'll be happy and proud of what you did. 

Jensen: The crew had packed up, they had cleared the bridge, and they were all starting to, you know, load their trucks and get moving. And Jared and I just kind of hung back, and we just took a moment. I looked at him and I said, “I’m proud of us, man. I'm proud of what we've done.”

We know that that's the collective we, that is everyone that is involved, that is- you know from the top down. You know, for our portion, for what we contributed to this monster of the show, he and I reflected on that, and still able to see and smell the roses.

[shealynn88]

Writing Process

TL;DR: please share your writing/revising process with me!  Post it and tag me!  Pretty please!

I’m trying to improve/find my writing process, and I’m curious how people write and revise/rewrite their plotty works.  I’ll tell you my processes and what’s worked and what hasn’t, and if you decide to accept the challenge and write up your process, please tag me!  I want to read all about it!  I’ve written 3 long things in the last year, none of them finished, and I’ve attacked them all a little differently.  Let me break it down:

First: Nano 2021, 50k complete (ish)

This was my...5th NaNo, my 3rd ‘win’, and a bit of a mess, but a fun one while I was doing it.

This was meant to be a ‘novel’ style fanfic, with a full plot, hybrid FBI procedural/romance.  I wrote it out of order, and some scenes I wrote several times in different ways as I got new brilliant ideas.  I also decided that I didn’t want to get bogged down in the details too much, since I was in a hurry, so a lot of the nitty gritty clues never actually...went into the story.  

The result is that I have a story that is almost a choose your own adventure.  I don’t know which version of which scene to use, and any choice is likely to cascade changes through the entire rest of the story.  It feels incredibly overwhelming and I don’t know that I’ll ever complete it.

Second: July 2022, 24k, 50k complete (estimate)

A new attempt at a plotty fanfic, not designed as a trad pub novel, more as a meandering character exploration with a side of case fic.  It’s not as complex as the previous one, and I’ve opted to still write scenes as I’m moved to write them, but if they’re out of order, I write them in a separate document and I rewrite them into the main document when I get to them, which allows me to choose one version, and to write it based on the previous emotional arc of the character rather than cutting and pasting something that misses the mark.

This seems to be more successful, but some of my favorite scenes have changed significantly.  The story has gotten much softer than I’d originally intended, and while it’s true to itself, I’m sorry to have to let go of those edgier scenes I’d planned at first.  I have one section that I know I’ll need to restructure in the main document because events happened in an order that doesn’t entirely make sense.  I have a rough outline (about a sentence per scene) of the rest of the story, and it looks like it’ll be about 15 more scenes or so.  The process is definitely better, though I think a complete rewrite (retype into a new document) will be really useful in fixing pacing, characterization and arc.

Third: August 2022, 13k,15k complete (estimate)

This is not so plotty, it’s a simple character arc with supporting plot.  I include it here because it’s closer to done.  The first draft is complete at 13k, the second draft is in progress at 5k, and it’s SO HARD.  

I started out writing it in a flurry, and it was rough and really wordy.  I wrapped the first draft up (missing a few scenes, and needing a denouement) in a week or two, and it was messy.  There were places it really dragged and felt awkward.  I opted to print it out and delete the draft from my documents, and rewrite from the printed draft so I wasn’t tempted to cut and paste anything.

I hate it.  The process feels like pulling teeth. But when I reread what I’d written in the second draft yesterday, I was really happy with it.  It really tightened up the story, allowed me to find the characters a little bit better, and is leading to better prose.  I THINK this is a good way to proceed except the part where I’ve struggled through the majority of the 5k words I’ve got down so far. I’ve heard people say that editing goes faster, that once the words are down, it’s easier.  I’m not finding that to be the case.  Now that they’re down, I don’t want to lose them.  I know when places are awkward but I don’t necessarily know how to make them better (I’m just getting to the part that really didn’t hit the notes I wanted to hit, so we’ll see how that goes!).  I’m really struggling with it.  But after the struggle, the words are better.  The character is better.  The arc is better.

The question is, will I be able to do this for something that’s more like 50 or 90k?  Or will I give up because it really is such a slog?

What’s your process, my friends?  What works for you?

[luminecho]

Terrako/Harbinger Siv

A @hyrule-kingdom-updates theory

(HEAVY HKU & HWAOC SPOILERS!)

Siv is going to die in HKU.

Well, maybe not. Or maybe he will. Quill hasn’t exactly been clear with us. But there’s a bit of evidence stacked towards him dying (and in a very specific way, too— but we’ll get to that). Specifically this quote from the “Hearts and Minds and Livers” arc.

[Siv:] I... got this gut feeling...

[Launo:] Oh that’s compelling...

[Siv:] LISTEN. Now’s not the time to sass me, Birch! I feel like, well. I have a very strong suspicion that within the week I am going to die.

[Launo:] EXCUSE ME?!

[Siv:] And... it’s very hard to explain, but I’m quite certain that certain series of events are going to transpire that could maybe possibly harm myself, in the coming week.

This is a very specific piece of foreshadowing that I don’t see Quill putting in without reason. It feels less like a “gut feeling” and more like an omen. As of the current arc, it is still “this week.” Zelda’s birthday is still soon, and the Calamity is presumably going to strike VERY soon. If we trust Siv’s gut and assume that he truly IS going to die, then that begs the question: how will he die?

I’d like to take a moment to point out the very clear parallels between Siv and Terrako in the story so far. Because, if you think about it, Siv and Terrako have a lot more in common than meets the eye. In HKU, Siv has been repeatedly referred to as the calamity’s “vessel.” In Age of Calmity, Harbinger Ganon was the Calamity using Terrako as a vessel, possessing it and controlling its every move, using it to carry out his own deeds. In this timeline, Ganon has not latched onto Terrako, but Siv. The Calamity is using him as a vessel just like Terrako in AoC.

But it really makes you wonder if Siv’s similarities to Terrako don’t run deeper. If it’s even more intentional than it lets on. If perhaps, because of this, Siv will eventually share the same fate as Terrako.

Terrako (the good one)’s fate in Age of Calamity was to be possessed by Ganon, subsequently defeated by Link, before sacrificing himself for Zelda while on his last limbs. It’s, unfortunately, very easy to imagine Siv in this exact same scenario. We know Siv has quite a few people that he cares deeply about— no matter how much he denies it or spits insults at them, no matter how much they betray his trust, deep down, he still loves them. These people in particular being Larc & his family, Zavis, and Zelda.

In a hypothetical future, Siv might have snapped out of Ganon’s control long enough to realize that the people he loves are in serious danger... and he has the power to save them. He might decide to sacrifice himself to keep the people he cares about safe. The possibilities surrounding this scenario are endless, but the situation itself isn’t too hard to believe. The action wouldn’t at all be expected from him right now, not in his current state, but him making this choice as his final act could be a very plausible destination for his character development— for once choosing to put his loved ones above himself.

It’s not too hard to imagine. Especially when you consider the following evidence:

1. One of Quill’s OOC posts a long time ago in response to an ask was this:

Larc is sacrificing the greater good for his kids

Rhoam is sacrificing his kids for the greater good

Ligero is sacrificing his kids for himself

Siv is.......

...Hm.

I wonder what pattern, if any, will go from there.

Quill was obviously hinting at something, and even as far into the story as we are now, we still don’t know what Quill was talking about. But wouldn’t it be very fitting for the sentence to come after this to be “Siv is sacrificing himself for [the greater good or his kids]?”

2. Larc’s whole thing in “Sibling Fights, Hollow Knights, and Destiny Rewrites” was that he ended up intentionally hurting himself in order to prevent himself from hurting others. I could see this being used as either foreshadowing or a direct parallel to what Siv might do in the future. Again, it’s a very possible line of character development for Siv.

3. Two images tagged “???,” when brightened, showed to have a LOT of text in it, all of which have either appeared in actual HKU dialogue since the images were posted, or presumably will show up soon. This line in particular stood out to me, though:

Please! He didn’t do anything. My family didn’t do anything. It was all me.

Now, of course, we don’t know who’s speaking this. But, if we choose to assume that it’s Siv speaking, that would line up very well with the idea of him choosing to put his loved ones before himself, perhaps standing in someone’s path and preventing them from hurting his family...

Again, it’s entirely possible that this could be anyone else speaking. There’s a lot of other people it could be. But if it is Siv, then that would make a lot of sense with everything else I’ve mentioned.

4. This one is much more recent— a quote from Link’s Declaration during “Like the Eggs and Men Before Her”:

And if I’m wrong, well. Have my life then. But even then, I think we would rather die living as ourselves, and not vessels of someone else’s will.

There’s the word “vessel” popping up again... this line really feels like foreshadowing. Considering Siv is one of the few other characters associated with being a vessel... maybe he would rather die as himself than as a vessel of Ganon’s will, in the end.

So, there you have it. There’s a lot of evidence pointing towards the theory that Siv is going to sacrifice himself in the end in order to save the people he loves. He might get possessed entirely by Ganon, causing the others to have to fight him in order to free him just like Terrako in AOC— or maybe something else will happen. The possibilities are endless when you think about all the parallels, but, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?), the possibility of Siv sacrificing himself seems pretty likely.

There might be more evidence that I’ve missed— feel free to mention it if you know of something! A lot of credit goes to everybody on the HKU Discord for bouncing around ideas for this theory! I’m not the only one with this theory, I just wrote everything I had in my own personal notes into an essay for fun.

[todaydreambelieversfic]

Author Spotlight: Justgleekout Day 2

Author Spotlight: @justgleekout​

Share one of your strengths.

Probably writing conversation? chatting back and forth. I like to think I've got my boys figured out quite well and know the things they would/wouldn't say.

Share one of your weaknesses.

I struggle a lot with giving my fics some body. Giving the story time to develop. It's not that I don't want to write longer fics, but I just find it really hard! I usually have great ideas for really small scenes that I could see working in bigger fics. But the longer the fic, the more daunting it is to me. That is why I mostly stick to one-shots and drabbles. I wanna write the bigger stuff as well though!! so much!

Which fic has been the hardest to write?

you should probably know that I am still very much a baby in the fic writing community as I have only three short fics on Ao3 and two other drabbles on my tumblr. But the hardest one was "Not My Type". I wrote it for spaceorphan for the fic exchange. I had never thought about writing a fake dating story as this is not a trope I usually read. so I had some trouble figuring out how to make that work. I did have a lot of fun writing it though!

Which fic has been the easiest to write?

"You're insane, you know that?" It's just a very soft short one-shot but I had it all written out in my head for a long time before I actually wrote it down. soft one-shots are my favourite things to write (and sometimes also read). so they come quite naturally to me. (it is also very short so that helps ;)

Is writing your passion or just a fun hobby?

More just a fun hobby. I really love it but it is still very difficult for me. drawing is more my passion I'd say. it comes more naturally to me.

Is there an episode or character or arc above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?

Kurt Hummel!! I honestly can't see myself writing fic that doesn't include at least someone talking about him. There are also a lot of episodes that have inspired me and still wanna write stories for. especially in season 3 and 5, like bash, tested, prom a saurus, asian F and many more!

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

Get a beta! And I stand by that. Don't feel above or scared about having someone reviewing your story. They will see things you haven't even thought of!

What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever come across?

I guess "Write what you know"? There is nothing wrong with writing what you know, but please don't let it restrict you! It's actually so educational to write about things you are unfamiliar with! if a certain theme is interesting to you, do your research! ask others for advice! broaden your horizons!

If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose?

I've only published a few short ones but I would choose not my type, as i is the longest and includes vogue!Kurt (aka my favourite Kurt) ;)

What’s your process? Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order? Do you use any tools, like worksheets or outlines? What are the perfect writing conditions for you?

I write best when I know I actually have the time to write and don't have other things on my mind. (which is why I haven't written as much as I would've liked.) I usually write pretty chronologically. Though I do add, switch around and rewrite scenes a lot! My stories all start off in my notes app on my phone, this way it doesn't seem so daunting. But if I see enough progress and if I'm actually confident about the story I copy it to a google docs where I have more tools and things are a bit clearer.

***

Check out Justgleekout’s Fics

Not My Type -  Kurt was always assumed to have a type. Tall, blond and stupid. But Kurt wasn’t that superficial. No sir. So what if the only guys he ever dated were tall blond idiots? That doesn’t mean he has a type. To prove it, he picks someone who couldn’t be further away from the regular guys he dated. But who would fit that picture?

The way you dress -  Blaine is completely stunned about how Kurt always manages to look so perfect.

[theshinsun]

birthdqy boy himuro?

oh hell yeah! be warned though I have some things to say about this guy...

Why I like them

I genuinely love Himuro’s play style, how it’s so damn pretty and polished people just can’t help but be mesmerized by it. Most of the Yosen game bores me to tears but I do admit I like watching this guy play. I also like his brotherly relationship with Kagami, he just... sees this lonely friendless kid wandering the streets of LA and decides to adopt him, that’s peak found family energy and I’m here for it. (What he decides to do about it later is not great, but I do appreciate their bond and history).  

Why I don’t

Alright here we go... I’m gonna be honest, I don’t like how Himuro’s character was handled in the show at all. I don’t actually take much issue with him being an overdramatic pissbaby and fucking things up with Kagami, or punching him and later Murasakibara in his fits of immaturity, it’s just... what Fujimaki decided to do with him afterward... he’s got the same problem as Akashi, tbh, where he has all this twisted, interesting shit going on while he’s being set up as an adversary, but as soon as he’s defeated it’s all swept under the rug and he becomes Boring Background Normie #7. 

Seriously, having Himuro be a toothless nice guy for all of season 3 was the worst thing that could’ve happened to his character, and it’s the main reason I don’t vibe with him (unless I’m rewriting him as a petty gay salt mine I mean).    

Favorite episode (scene if movie)

The one where he reunites with Kagami at the street court and they speak bad English and flashback to their time in America. I always come back to this episode there’s so much to love about it, and imo Himuro is at his best when he’s testing Kagami and playing nice with him while underneath there’s still a well of tension between them. They actually feel like brothers who fight and fall out but are still happy just to see each other again, and that all comes through in the first interaction we see of them. 

Favorite season/movie

I’m gonna say season 2 by default. Tho I like in 75.5 when he interacts with Takao and cooks with Kagami, the rest of season 3 Himuro is so... bland. He’s got actual depth and intrigue in s2 and has the whole season to be hyped up, imo it would’ve been an improvement if he didn’t feature in s3 at all (tho watching him get his ass kicked by Haizaki is... something).  

Favorite line

I get a kick out of “You’re making me crazy with rage”, and I also like every time he speaks English. 

Favorite outfit

That coat with the fluffy hood is Peak Fashion. Tho I’m also partial to when he plays streetball with Kagami for the last time in his black shirt and light gray shorts, and shoes that look like skater DCs, that is a look (and I’ve cosplayed it).

OTP 

MuraHimu is really good. I like how they seem to know each other so well, Himuro especially has Murasakibara’s number and knows just what to say to him. They’ve also got power couple energy I mean have you seen --

Brotp

KagaHimu. They work well together as brothers, they’re close, they have history and know each other very well, they’ve got their ups and downs but I genuinely believe they care about each other a lot. (It’s more interesting to me if their relationship centers around casual bullying and mutual exasperation but --) 

Head Canon

I’ve been toying with the idea of gnc Himuro for awhile now... in my adventures with FTM Kagami I’ve considered trans Himuro possibly being an influence on him, and masc-leaning nb Himuro is all set up to feature in my college AU.  

Unpopular opinion

(see: everything under “Why I don’t”). 

I guess to summarize, my opinion that Himuro is more interesting when he’s being petty and toxic is one that I don’t think the majority of his fans would share. I promise I do actually like this guy, I just acknowledge his faults and prefer him written in a way that doesn’t scrub them away.

A wish

I hope he and Kagami get to play streetball again, and I wish we could’ve gotten to see it before the end of the show, it would’ve been a nice circular end to their relationship arc. But I guess “let me see you become the #1 playa, bro” is fine too. 

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

Please don’t let this guy get into any sort of romantic relationship before going to therapy, that’s all I’ve got to say about that. 

5 words to best describe them

��And then there’s this bitch...” asdfggjk sorry I had to

My nickname for them

Honestly, “this bitch” says it all, I think. I also like referring to him by Tatsuya a lot more than his surname, which makes him an outlier among most KNB characters, at least for me.

[fantasyinvader]

Kamen Rider Saber: Finale and Series Review

Okay, before I start disemboweling this series I want to give the finale two points of props.

It was nice to see the main trio fight the big bad together rather than it just being the lead Rider.

The ending really feels nostalgic for me. It's like one of those old games or anime that tried to do something like Evangelion, mostly Star Ocean 3 comes to mind.

I was going to add another point: how the ending didn't have to rely on a cosmic retcon to turn things into a happy ending like Build or Zi-o did, leaving those who died dead and having some level of maturity. I was going to give the show that point, even if it felt like it was leading into Touma essentially becoming God, but then the show did it and...I'm going to be honest here, I was saying fuck you at the screen. Multiple times, kinda like when Doctor Who's 50th anniversary where it turns out Gallifrey wasn't destroyed, the Doctor sealed it away and just couldn't remember it. Like, that is the level of bullshit I was calling out, and with Doctor Who I only said it as an “oh fuck you” rather than just “fuck you fuck you fuck you” until I noticed I was doing this and stopped myself.

Got it? Good. Now let's put Kamen Rider Saber on the examination table, rip it open, and see what went wrong with it.

Oh my god, where to begin with this series?

You ever see a show or movie that tries to do too much for it's runtime? Maybe a book that has some ultimately good ideas, but it never fleshed them out properly? That's my biggest feeling with Saber. Individual parts of the story, some arcs and characters are good on paper. Not to mention, Touma has two incredibly sexy upgrades (the Ryuki-inspired Draconic Knight and the berserker Primitive Dragon). But there is just so much in here that, given the proper focus could have carried the show if properly developed. It's a case of quantity over quality.

But the main problem comes to it's central McGufffin, the Omniscient Tome. This book is supposed to have all knowledge and later on all stories contained within it. It's what powers Wonderworld and the Wonder Ridebooks that are the main collectable trinket of the season. But when you stop and think about it, Saber is a world where there is no free will and the antagonists are all rebelling against this in their own way. Kento's dad (former Kamen Rider Calibur) went rogue in the backstory because he was given a vision of the future through his sword, and it led to the former Saber taking up the role of Calibur and going rogue in order to learn the truth. When the other riders are turned against Touma, the argument is over how he's destined to become more powerful, making Touma seem like he's seeking power and could be a future threat. When Kento returns from the dead, he's haunted by visions of the world ending in multiple variations, leading to him trying to seal the Sacred Blades in order to stop it. But then Master Logos is revealed to be buttfucking insane, wanting to rebel against his position in the world. Then it turns out the monster faction's leader, was a former poet who lost hope when he learned that all his creations were already in the Omniscient Tome, so he decided he would end the world his way rather than the predetermined ending. And even then, the world still ended the way it was always fated to end, even with Touma disappearing to nu-Wonderworld if only for a year.

The world wasn't saved, it was destroyed and then rebuilt because Mei wrote an online post that encouraged people to share their stories, which they did in oblivion even though these guys shouldn't have seen the post at all and instead just heard her voice.

Like, maybe the nu-World has free will. I'd buy that. But when applied to the 47 episodes I've spent the last year watching (alongside the Zenkaiger crossover episode), it felt pointless because it ended the way it was foretold in the Omniscient Tome. It didn't matter that Storious was defeated, fate was not averted. It's like, the complaints people have about the MCU post-Loki. It doesn't matter that Tony decided to sacrifice himself, because he didn't have free will. He was always going to sacrifice himself. Thanos was always going to snap away half the universe, and it would always be undone because choices didn't matter before Loki's ending.

And that's not even going into how they final arc reveals that Touma can somehow create stories not present in the Omniscient Tome. That he can somehow, because the personification of Wonderworld choose him as a child, that for some reason he's the only writer in history that can do this. His catchphrase is about how he'll be the one who'll decide how the story ends, but with the idea that everything was set into stone? It's laughable.

Like, my problem with Zero One's ending was the last scene. Aruto had learned a lot about the Humagears and was an advocate for them finding their own dreams as they became self-aware AI. So him trying to treat a new humagear as just an amnesiac Is  and try to help her “remember”? That felt like a betrayal of the character and what he stood for. But the post-series movie revealed that Is left a copy of herself in the Zero Two driver, and merged with the non-self aware nu-Is who the movie kept reminding us wasn't the Is we knew. Aruto even had a sobbing scene about what he was doing, lowkey acknowledging what he was doing but without overtly calling him out. It fixed Zero One for me after that last scene left me with a bad taste in my mouth that overshadowed an otherwise excellent show.

You can't fix Saber with a single movie, that's what I'm getting at here.

So, with that out of the way let's go into my thoughts on each character.

Touma: Is one of the blandest main riders in the franchise. His sense of style is probably one of the worst I've ever seen though. Like I know they like to try and give the main riders their own look rather than having them dress like normal people, like Aruto wearing a hoodie under his suit jacket alongside with his very bright shoes, but this wasn't a W or even something like Ghost (where honestly I really liked Takeru's robe-like shirts). What they eventually settled on with Touma was a stupid hat, really baggy pants, and shirts that look like they came out of a stern librarian's closest. You know, the type with her hair in a bun and their horned-framed glasses on a chain.

Rintaro:Is one of those cases where he's meant to be the secondary Rider of the series, but is overshadowed because the writer likes to use someone else more. The idea of him having to turn against the organization that raised him (like a child soldier) could have worked really well if the series had a more free will-direction. But alas.

Kento: Kento's the one character I found I could really like. His arc was more interesting during the first quarter, his return as Calibur, but then he returned to being Espada and, as much as I love that suit, he just became Touma's main cheerleader. Really, I felt like towards the end it was a waste of him, especially since he doesn't get any power ups like Rintaro did to solidify him as one of the main three. He definitely feels like a victim of rewrites or just the writer not knowing what he was doing.

Mei: The female lead. Honestly, I just found her annoying most of the time. A womanchild to match Touma's more manchild moments, with a potential romance with Rintaro thrown in to only be confirmed in a future movie. Really, she should have taken over as Espada after Kento disappeared early on (especially since she's one of the three in the Ending dance while Kento isn't).

Daishinji: I'd say best boy, but he became a background character pretty quick.

Ogami: An older Kamen Rider who is also a father to a young child? Cool, and could even have worked in contrast to Rintaro's raising as essentially a child soldier. But alas, it was not to be.

Ren: OMG. A somewhat psycho younger Rider, idolizing Kento, and his social Darwinist beliefs on strength leading to conflict as Touma gets more powerful, leading to him abandoning the team to train with an enemy monster? HOW DO YOU MAKE THAT NOT WORK! I swear, Ren should have been the secondary Rider of the series, with his changes in beliefs being used more effectively.

Yuri: One of the most competantly written characters in the entire show. One of the original swordsman who became his sword, returning after 2000 years and not only feeling the culture clash of then and now but even how the idea of what makes a hero has changed? Good boy. Also loved him using a shadow body early on during fights.

Sophia: Why are you even here?

Reika: Oh boy, the swordswoman who leads the rest to distrust Touma under the orders of Master Logos, and doesn't sway from this until he's proven to be batshit insane? And even then, reluctant to join the others? Could have been better, especially if her relationship with her brother didn't come across as incesty. Though, could we please return her to Magine in Zenkaiger? Reika hugging her was really cute, in a socially awkward type of way.

Ryoga: Reika's brother. With his powers being something out of Jojo, time manipulation powers which are a bit hard to explain. He starts them and to his opponents things seem like the fight is continuing as normal, but he really exists outside of that and then can attack from a blindspot? Could have been really good with if the series had gone Team Free Will is all I'm saying.

Master Logos: What I mentioned above, but his Rider suit is one I'm in lust with. Just laughs like a madman and you're wondering why Reika and Ryoga don't rebel against him earlier.

The Megid: Two are a waste who I never bothered to learn their names. Fall out of focus for a bit and only return to be beaten, with the sad fact that they were once human. Storious is the exception, but even then I felt he was a little too late to save the series.

Tassel: Bon Lecture! I still hate you you weirdo, even if your death scene made me feel a little sad. The fact that you treated the early parts of the show as a story you were reading? Have you seen my other complaints?

As for the message of what the show tried to say? I don't really mind it. It's encouraging people to love stories, even if they are copies (considering the controversy of Time Paradox Ghostwriter and Cheat Slayer within recent memory, I'm trying not to make jokes about Saber encouraging plagiarism). And I don't think that's a bad thing in itself. Hell, how many stories take stuff from older stories and just tweak elements to make them their own? I love the Elric saga, but that was based on old legends and meant to subvert the likes of Conan the Barbarian, and some other stories I've liked have borrowed elements from it as well. The idea that stories can be used to pass on our hopes, thoughts and dreams to others is pretty nice as well, rather than writing being a form of masturbation on the author's part.

But in the shadow of the Omniscient Tome and it's implications, I really feel the story should have taken another route.

A lot of Riders start of weak, having to introduce the plot as well as the main release of whatever trinket they want kids to gorge themselves on this year. But they usually start getting better towards the end of the first quarter, while maybe stalling a bit towards the end of the second/third. Saber was a series that I felt never really found it's legs. Too many bareboned plot threads on the go, dropping some for a while only to pick them up again after they've been forgotten about. This is not a good series, to be honest I think Zi-O and even Ghost were better, and really feel it would have been better handled in the hands of someone who could actually write. 

Not to mention, this gave me flashbacks of Power Rangers Megaforce over how much this series relied on fight scenes. Throw in greenscreen everywhere, lack of civilians...oh god, it is Kamen Rider Megaforce. And it felt like Saber was trying to have a story, unlike Megaforce, but it has the same “it’s a kid’s show, we don’t have to try that hard” energy.

[iatheia]

EDA reviews Part 6 - books 47-55

Previous part 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

47) The Slow Empire - Uh, couldn't really follow this one at all. There are books when the first person narration works, but not here - too many jumps in setting, too little connective tissue, most of it told from the POV of a person who is barely connected to the protagonists? And that's even before they started repeating chunks of text wholesale between various parts - and I couldn't figure out if it was intended, or if it is the ebook was acting out on me. More than half way through the book, I still couldn't entirely tell what the story is supposed to be about, or if the plot has even started yet. Even having finished it, I find myself somewhat aghast. There are a few glimpses of something interesting, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what. 4/10

48) Dark Progeny - Also not really feeling it. It's not a bad story, but I do rather prefer a Doctor Who story to actually feature the Doctor and the companions front and center, whether they are POV characters or not. Here, though, they are barely in it - it's even more egregious than the previous one in actually giving the supposed protagonists stuff to do, and even on rare occasions we do switch back to them, it is all pretty generic. Anji developing telepathic abilities and the Doctor trying to calm her down all the while Fitz is freaking out in the background? Yes, please, more of that. Following around 20 interchangeable OCs that have nothing to do with the trio? No thank you. 6/10.

49) The City of the Dead - If you are invoking magic in a sci-fi universe, you need to be able to handwave it. It doesn't need to be awfully complex, "something something aliens, something something energy" is usually enough, but without it, you can't just throw magic about willy nilly. There are rules.

There are moments when it is a beautiful story, evoking a lot of dream-like wonder, and if it managed to remain a hazy dream, it probably would have been better for it. At the same time there is something very uncomfortably cynical about it, to the degree it left a bad taste in my mouth. There is a narrow line between not shying away from the ugliness of the world and deliberately making something ugly just for the sake of it, and often it felt like it was leaning towards the latter. Dunno, I started out wanting to like it, and feeling rather conflicted about it, but by the end became utterly indifferent. 7/10

50) Grimm Reality - Pure crack. Mind Robber wishes it could be as hilarious and off the wall as this story is. It throws every cliche fairy tale narrative device in the book at the characters and expects them to take it with the straight face, all the while realizing that the rules of the world are completely bonkers. And it manages to sustain this energy throughout, which is a no small feat. It's actually pretty exhausting by the end of it. Fairy tales stories do not belong to a lengthy literary genre, and even taking time deconstructing them, at 95K words becomes it becomes just too much - figuratively, and, on occasion, literally. Still, pretty great, I wish more books had its energy 9/10.

51) The Adventuress of Henrietta Street - *sigh*. My expectations were pretty low to begin with, and I still am somehow disappointed. Credit where credit's due - it is probably most coherent of the books from Miles. And at least it's better than Interference. That's really not saying much, though.

Honestly, if you've read any story about prostitutes, murder, satanic sex rituals bordering on blatant pornography, eastern culture and "mysticism of female sex" used for fetish fuel, written by a dude who clearly gets off on all of this - you've read all of them. There is really nothing revolutionary or compelling about it. On the list of "plots I never want to see in Doctor Who", they are definitely up there. And the Doctor is dying again, because it wouldn't be Miles's book without it. And he's, uh... living in a brothel, trying to marry someone, in order to, uh..... ritualistically tie himself to Earth, for, reasons? Did I read that right? After over 100 years of living on Earth and wanting to do nothing else than seeing the back of it, right. And writing books not quite about sex but definitely about sex. Because that's the thing the Doctor apparently does now. Self insert what self insert. And Fitz and Anji are just... there. On an occasion. All of it exposed on in a dull faux academic style without a shred of characterization, all the while absolutely nothing of note is happening, despite being a singularly longest EDA.

Just, if you hate the characters so much. If you don't understand what makes them tick to this degree. If you don't even care to learn. If you consider any established emotions they should have about the plot you are putting them through beneath you. Why are you writing in a shared universe to begin with? 2/10

(I did have an unintentional moment of hilarity with it, though. There is a character that is referred to as Lord ______, as if his name is censored. TTS would always pronounce it as Lord Underbarunderbarunderbar. Always gave me a chuckle).

52) Mad Dogs and Englishmen - A hilarious story, a very easy read, flowing from scene to scene. There are several occasions of fridge horror treated with levity that I would have rather have avoided. Plus, it is as incestuous as a book about books can get, and yet.... It is just absurd enough to work.

Plus, the whole, “His books are full of black magic, mind control...and perversion - moral and ethical and sexual. He is polluting the atmosphere of our group”, “What’s next? Rewrite War and Peace so it’s about guinea pigs?” - Oh, the shade. It is a good book in its own right, but just for this alone, 10/10

53) Hope - It's a pretty average book. Not outstanding, not horrible. Would have made a decent episode, all things considered, in a bread and butter sort of way. It does have some great ideas - the refuge of humanity, the conflict between Anji and the Doctor finally coming to light - not quite the type of conflict I was hoping for, though. If only it had a bit more nuisance, without neatly delineated black and white, if the antagonist didn't end up being a mustache twirling villain, if the Doctor didn't end up strong-arming everyone in a much more macho manner than he normally goes for (with a rather clunky dialogue). It had potential, even if it didn't end up being realized in full. 8/10

54) Anachrophobia - Very meh. The set up was fairly contrived, it never made me care about any of the characters, including whatever the hell the Doctor and co were doing, not to mention any of the secondary characters. Not terribly engaging, after a point I was mostly flipping through it. There is some big conflict brought up at 95% mark, and it is resolved in just couple of pages via a deus ex machina and a paradox. Overall, I might have said that I would have liked it better if I was in a mood for existential horror, but I took a break in the middle to listen to the Lease of Life - and it actually touches upon several similar themes, but with and outstanding character drama and much more graceful execution, which made this book look even more poor in comparison. 5/10

55) Trading Futures - I will give the author all the points for keeping an eye on the future. Perhaps, in 2002, predicting tablets being used as menus in fancy restaurants wasn’t that big of a reach, but I absolutely had a spit take when TTS has read to me something about “eye-phones”. There are some modestly clever moments throughout the book. Too bad that the rest of it is a complete rubbish. Not terribly original, either - a lot of ideas are copied directly from other books and other franchises. Reasonably entertaining, all things considered, but in a much more slapstick sort of way than was probably intended. 7/10

Overall impressions so far - This batch is, for the most part, fine. Some stories are worst than others, some better. With one exception, nothing horrendous, but nothing to write home about, either. They are, for the most part, serviceable. Individually, they have decent enough plots. But. There is very little character work. They can generally be read in any order, or dropped entirely, and you wouldn’t miss anything. The Doctor is mostly coasting from the excellent streak in the last batch, always in a spot light. I am starting to tire of the whole amnesia arc, though - it was good, but it ran its course, and at this point, with everything functionally back to norm, with barely a stray mention of it here and there, we are starting to be overdue for some semblance of resolution of all that. Henrietta Street is entirely a step in the wrong direction - not only it does nothing worthwhile for the characters, it’s just getting unnecessarily further into the weedworks, adding yet another plot thread that is forced on other writers to carry (they mention it occasionally, but it’s not like there is much to build upon) - rather viciously reminding of the previous mess of an ark “don’t you dare to think that it is over”. And I am so over it. Just, move on.

The companions fare rather worse. They are decent enough, they participate in action, in each book, they are mostly staying in character, with a handful of neat moments here and there (in a blink and you’ll miss it sort of way, though), they aren’t written off as an unnecessary burden to carry, which is an improvement. There is nothing meaty given to them though - they ask the necessary questions, do the things required of them, and generally stay out of the way when they are not needed. I guess Anji has at least some character driven moments, even though most of them are reduced to “I miss my dead boyfriend”. Which is... fine, we’ve all lost people, we all mourn them in our own way, but it has been 14 books since her introduction, and she is leaving in another 10. To have her character reduced to just that bit from her first book, with barely anything else to offer.... Plus, all the while, she rarely felt like she integrated into the team - because she is constantly eying her exit and returning to normality (even though she always decides to stay just a little while longer due to circumstances), it’s like from the very beginning she had one foot out of the door.

But while Anji is a bit of a one trick pony, at least she has that much. Poor Fitz gets absolutely nothing to do. The last meaningful book that addressed his character in any way was all the way back around book #42-43, and even that was just catching up on plot after his prolonged absence. He’s been essentially frozen since early 30s books. He is generally a fun character to have around, and does good supporting work, but can he please get something more impactful any time soon? Heck, by this point I’ll even take the recurrence of “finding a new love interest number 20 who will inevitably die by the end of the book” - it has been overdone, and it is certainly not a very exciting plot, not to mention reductive, but at least it’d be something. Though, I guess only one companion is allowed to carry that staple at the time, and right now Anji is it, two dead lovers is just an overkill.

And it is an absolute shame - especially when considering that on the other side, Big Finish was in the middle of streak of some of the best stories. Over the same time that these novels were published, we had audios such as Project Twilight, Eye of the Scorpion, Colditz, One Doctor, Chimes of Midnight, Seasons of Fear, which were full of character.

[cap-ironman]

Captain America/Iron Man Remix 2020 Masterpost and Creator Reveal

Here it is: the final masterlist and the creator reveals for Captain America/Iron Man Remix 2020! Below you'll find all 56 remixes created, with 13 written for Remix Exchange, 25 for Remix Relay, and 18 created for Remix Madness. If you haven't checked out the works during the reveal period, please take a look at all of the wonderful remixes and leave some love for all the creators!

TREE CHAIN

1. what it takes to talk (a courthouse steps remix) by navaan (616, T, 3494 words)

Canon divergence sort of fix it for CW/Death of Captain America with hints of all the bad that went on around the two of them at the time.

2. For Now (A Remix Before the War) by sophinisba (MCU, G, 3299 words)

Tony isn't sure it's a good idea for the idea for the Avengers to return to Sokovia, but he's off the team now. It's not his decision to make.

3. upsetti spaghetti by starksnack (MCU, E, 3000 words)

“Is that a Foccacia loaf in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?” Basically Steve tries to cook an Italian birthday dinner for Tony.

4. for the love of (spaghetti remix) by Lets_call_me_Lily (3490, T, 1281 words)

Natasha Stark: Iron Woman, genius, inventor, philanthropist, billionaire, married. And, though not commonly known, an accomplished cook.

5. Dinner Plans (Food is Love Remix) by Neverever (Avengers Assemble, T, 1335 words)

Steve has had a long hard day. It doesn't get better.

6. He Lit a Fire (and Now He's in My Every Thought) by EachPeachPearPlum (MCU, T, 1578 words)

It probably says a lot about his friendship with Natasha that the first words out of her mouth are, “What did you do this time?” "Nothing!” Clint argues. Tasha arches an eyebrow at him, sceptical in the extreme, which Clint is so not having. “Swear to god, I was playing that Lego game they made about us, no way I could have caused a fire.” “Uhuh,” Tasha ‘agrees’, then goes for their usual means of resolving arguments that take place in the tower. “JARVIS?” “On this occasion, Agent Barton is quite correct, Agent Romanov,” their resident ceiling-deity answers. “The fire began in Sir and Captain Rogers’ kitchen.”

7. A sweet Moment (Remix) by Caw_caw_MotherF (MCU, G, art)

8. Stolen Moments by navaan (Noir, G, 860 words)

Tony seems a little off when the group is on the way back to camp. Like his mind is somewhere else — or on someone else.

FRUIT CHAIN

1. Ocean Cold by MiniRaven (616, G, 2384 words)

Tony Stark; billionaire, hero, merman, goes on a swim after a long day at sea. He finds something in the ice and, upon closer inspection, discovers not all is as it appears.

2. Fractured Moonlight on the Sea by EachPeachPearPlum (MCU, G, 1623 words)

As the mysterious object grows nearer, it becomes clearer but no more explicable. There’s flashes of red and gold, both washed out by the blueness of the light, moving with the light but not always in the same position in relation to it, and- It’s a man. The thing travelling in Steve’s direction from below the water is a man. Those are hands, cutting through the water, and a face, a bare torso, the light not attached to the man’s clothing (as Steve first assumed) but actually in his chest. It’s sort of a man, anyway, if Steve doesn’t look any lower than waist height. Below that, the flashes of red and gold are slowly resolving themselves into scales. Scales. The thing heading towards him is a mermaid. Man. Person?

3. The Rescue of Captain America (The Bedtime Story Remix) by navaan (616, G, 2972 words)

There's a lot of material you can adapt into bedtime stories when your lives are larger than life.. ...or Tony tells the story of Captain America's rescue with more mermen.

4. rewrite the past by avengersincamphalfbloodstardis (Marvel, G, 1021 words)

Steve can still feel the ice sometimes; his daughter chases it away.

5. Drawings from School (Hearts and Ice Remix) by Neverever (616, T, 1222 words)

Tony and Steve's daughter Sarah comes home with her drawings, which hits Steve a little hard.

6. Simple by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes) (MCU, T, 3504 words)

From the moment Tony offers him the ring, Steve promises himself he'll never wish for more than this. Steve wants kids, but doesn't want to pressure his husband into something he doesn't want.

7.  Not a hard-knock life (the adoption remix) by Lets_call_me_Lily(MCU, Art)

8. Drawn to be Something More by MiniRaven (MCU, G, 1272 words)

Morgan Stark shows off a picture to Steve Rogers, daddy's special friend. Tooth rotting adorableness ensues.

ART/FIC CHAIN

1. mine by starksnack (MCU, M, art)

2. Worth by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes) (MCU, E, 4838 words)

Steve returns from the benefit to a Tony just as naked as he'd left him hours ago, still sprawled out on their bed in that effortlessly beautiful way he has. The only difference is that now it's the pale blue light of the arc reactor that illuminates his form, not the afternoon light that had kissed his skin earlier that day. Feelsy smut. That's it. That's the fic.

3. Let Me Help You with That (the knock 'em dead remix) by Lets_call_me_Lily (616, T, art)

4. Feeling blue (Remix) by masterlokisev159 (616, Not Rated, 6072 words)

When the Superhero Registration Act came into play, no one knew what the consequences would be, least of all Tony. And from what he's heard, he didn't deal with it well. Or at all. Following the events of the Civil War, the Skrulls and Tony's recovery after Osborn, Steve and Tony no longer speak to each other, having fallen out after Tony woke up from his self-induced coma. Now, at this party, all Tony can think about is Steve.

Silently he wonders if Steve even notices him anymore.

5. safe in your arms [REMIX] by wingheads (616, T, Art)

6. Reunion Gone Bad (Don't Drink That Remix) by Neverever (Avengers Assemble, T, 1894 words)

Tony is surprised to see Steve at the fundraiser, and he sure is surprised with how the rest of the evening goes too.

7. Unexpected (Remix) by jayjayverse (Marvel, G, art)

8. Thank Goodness for Shields & Husbands by avengersincamphalfbloodstardis (616, G, 1178 words)

After a rude politician hurts Steph's feelings, her husband comforts her when she needs him.

9. rub a dub dub by starksnack (MCU, M, art)

REMIX EXCHANGE

★ A Moment of Peace (Steve is a Mystery Remix) by Neverever (AA, T, 1713 words)

Steve is in denial about having a migraine and the frenetic energy of the Tower isn't helping.

Remix of The Mysterious Case of the Migraine Helper by Sadisticsparkle

★ A Place for the Desperate (A Timely Remix) by navaan (1872, M, 1701 words)

Steve thinks Tony has escaped from his cell and won't be back, so he gives in to a little fantasy...

Remix of A Farm for the Horny and the Desperate by HogwartsToAlexandria

★ accidents never happen when a room is empty (remix) by (616, E, 4999 words)

Remix of navaan’s Love Me (Not) - Steve and Tony fall into a friends with benefits relationship and Tony is completely okay with that. Right? This is my take, with Steve's POV.

Remix of Love Me (Not) by navaan

★ Breaking Through (The Caving In Remix) by DepressingGreenie (616, T, 2108 words)

All he needed to do was move all the rocks out of their way and they will be fine. They can get out of here and go home. Everything will be okay. Right?

Remix of Caving In by Cathalinaheart

★ Equivalent Exchange (The Bottled Genius Remix) by Cathalinaheart (616, T, 2267 words)

A new master changes everything for Tony.

Remix of Genius in a Bottle by Neverever

★ Even After All Those Years? (The We Keep Meeting Like This Remix) by Sadisticsparkle (Noir, Not Rated, 2500 words)

Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, from their first goodbye to their last nice to see you again.

Remix of Even After All Those Years? by DepressingGreenie

★ Fantasies by SweetFanfics (616, M, 1355 words)

When Steve asks Tony if he’s got any sexual fantasies he wants to explore with Steve, he’s mostly curious but he’s also got some expectations lined up behind the question. Tony’s the more experienced guy between them. As such, Steve expects Tony to share something kinky like, whips, chains, heat play, stuff like that. Intense things, you know? But what he doesn’t expect, is Tony to blush and look away mumbling, “Your suit.”

Remix of What Suits Your Fancy by wynnesome

★ Kinky suits (Remix) by masterlokisev159 (MCU, Not Rated, 7300 words)

Steve is so confused. He's never felt this way before. There's just something about the way Tony looks in the gloves... Something's wrong. Tony shouldn't look that good, not even in Steve's gear. There's only one solution. He has to find out more. A.k.a. Steve has a kink and Tony is on the receiving end of it. Sexy times ensue.

Remix of When We by firebrands

★ Mundane Bliss, Remix by HogwartsToAlexandria (MCU, G, 1043 words)

"What is perfect happiness? Steve Rogers could tell you."

Remix of mundane bliss by only_more_love

★ sorry about the blood in your mouth; i wish it was mine by only_more_love (MCU, E, 3500 words)

Afghanistan, never more than a handful of memories away, rears up, ugly and dissonant. His heart begins to race in anticipation of drowning. Muscle memory: it’s there, so easily accessed. Tony is kidnapped. It costs him and Steve. Dearly. Set in the nebulous period after Captain America: Civil War and before Avengers: Infinity War

Remix of Kidnapped by masterlokisev159

★ Soul Searching (The Hop, Skip, Jump Remix) by navaan (616, m, 5445 words)

Tony lives a peaceful live in Irondale and then Steve Rogers drifts into town. It's the beginning of a romance — and not all is what it seems.

Remix of a hop, skip, and a jump by SweetFanfics

★ Splintered by jellybeanforest (MCU, M, 9029 words)

Following the events of Endgame, Tony’s soul is in torment. Fractured across time and space as a result of the snap, he is doomed to relive his failures, his shortcomings and traumas, in a terrifying limbo, flitting unpredictably between different planes of existence. Natasha does her best to hold the pieces together as he crumbles, but only one thing can mend his tattered self and make Tony whole again: an undamaged template – the other half of his soul. Meanwhile, in the land of the living, Steve struggles with Tony’s death, plagued by missed opportunities, lingering what-if’s, and guilt. The Avengers send him on a final mission where he has one last chance to make it right.

Remix of This Terribly Tempered Soul by Padraigen

★ We'll Make Our Own Tradition (The Cap and Gown Remix) by wynnesome (616, E, 11,000 words)

It’s Steve’s and Tony’s anniversary. They have a date for dinner, but the workday comes first. Steve’s includes a very important business lunch. But the person who makes a beeline for him as he waits at the bar is not who he thought he'd be meeting...

Remix of A Traditional Type of Guy by jellybeanforest

REMIX MADNESS

★ And All of Our Yesterdays Will Be Forgotten (a None of Our Tomorrows Can be Saved remix) by athletiger (616, M, 1335 words)

He’ll never know if Tony heard him confess his love. He’ll never know if Tony loved him back because he destroyed that. He destroyed everything.

Remix of None of Our Tomorrows Can be Saved by Ironlawyer

★ baby, please come home by only_more_love (MCU, T, 1484 words)

Months after Siberia, Tony reaches out to Steve in an unexpected way.

Remix of Sunshine by XtaticPearl

★ Bar is Open (The Last Barman Poet Remix) by DepressingGreenie (MCU, G, 641 words)

Steve finds himself attending the same wedding as his one night stand from the night before. He takes a chance, hopping to get to know Tony better.

Remix of The Last Barman Poet by nativemossy

★ Drawn to You by jellybeanforest (MCU, M, 15,989 words)

In a world where what one writes on one’s own skin appears on their soulmate’s body in exactly the same place until it’s washed off or fades, no one has ever responded to Steve’s questions written in pen. Who are you? Where are you? And once, out of sheer desperation: Wer bist du? He has tried writing up and down both arms then across his stomach in pictograms when he reckons that perhaps his soulmate is a double amputee and illiterate, but nothing. No response. He is uncertain why he is so surprised. Everything else about Steve is broken, so why not his soul? But when he points the Valkyrie downwards to crash into the deep, knowing he is about to die, he spares a few precious seconds to scribble one last message to his possibly-nonexistent, potentially-blind soulmate. Twenty-five years later, Tony Stark is born with a single phrase on his left forearm written in messy old-fashioned script. And as he grows up, the words never change: “I love you” It is both a blessing and a curse.

Remix of the words written on our skin by Cathalinaheart

★ For You I Will (A Thousand Times Remix) by ishipallthings (MCU, T, 3573 words)

During Hope and Scott’s wedding reception, Tony asks Steve for a dance. Steve turns him down, but not for the reason Tony thinks.

Remix of A Thousand Times, Once by sheron

★ Hold Hard, Then, Heart (the poetic declaration remix) by Lets_call_me_Lily (Noir, T, 2044 words)

Steve has learned to keep his feelings in check over the course of his friendship with Tony, and he thinks he's doing fine. Until he and Tony open up a curios shop together, and suddenly things become a little too much. This is much harder than that time they'd had to share a sleeping bag while adventuring out in the desert.

Remix of gripping the ledge of unreason by firebrands

★ Holding You Like Every Moment Shared (The Every Whisper That I Keep Remix) by DepressingGreenie (MCU, G, 700 words)

There couldn’t be a better time, he thinks, to give Steve the gift he brought him a few weeks ago

Remix of every whisper that i keep by Padraigen

★ i choose: me, you, us by only_more_love (MCU, T, 2753 words)

In which Tony and Steve marry, but Tony hasn't let Steve see the arc reactor—and the scars around it. Yet.

Remix of Ugly by Lacrimula_Falsa

★ Intrusive Thoughtsby jellybeanforest (MCU, M, 2471 words)

When Steve is hit with a spell that gives him temporary telepathy, Tony figures he can hide his mortifying crush on the good Captain by thinking dirty thoughts featuring each of the Avengers in turn. After all, if he’s objectifying everyone, Steve will never figure out Tony is in love with him. That’s the theory anyway.

Remix of Before you jump, Tell me what you find (When you read my mind) by Fluffypanda

★ James, Divided by jellybeanforest (MCU, G, 1390 words)

Steve and Tony are dating. Their best friends, Bucky and Rhodey, agree it’s a terrible idea, absolutely disastrous, and can only end in heartbreak. That’s about the only thing they agree on.

Remix of I'll be watching by DepressingGreenie

★ journey to the past (the things my heart used to know remix) by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes) (MCU, T, 2316 words)

"You seek to forget the past," she whispers. "You will learn how important the past can be." In which Tony loses his memories and only a remnant of his past can restore them.

Remix of things my heart used to know, things it yearns to remember by Fluffypanda

★ Public (In)Decencyby jellybeanforest (MCU, T, 1391 words)

Steve is a big, big boy, and Tony is dickmatized.

Remix of Pool Day by Neverever

★ Seven Minutes by jellybeanforest (MCU, T, 1795 words)

When Bonnie refuses her turn in the closet with a shrimpy Steve Rogers during a game of Seven Minutes in Heaven, popular lothario-in-training/class whore Tony Stark gladly takes her turn.

Remix of Seven Minutes in Heaven by Politzania

★ Shining through the leaves of the old oak tree (the blank spaces remix) by Fluffypanda (616, Not Rated, 717 words)

Tony falls asleep during movie night

Remix of Blank Spaces by only_more_love

★ Stretch Out Your Hand and Strike All He Has by jellybeanforest (MCU, M, 6902 words)

In the aftermath of Civil War, the Avengers who sided with Tony Stark leave him one by one, until it’s just him and Rhodey ('and Honeybear is paralyzed, so it’s not like he can run,' Tony thinks, a touch hysterically). Peter is fourteen; he doesn’t count. So, when Tony calls Steve Rogers to warn him about an impending attack and realizes that Steve still holds a torch for him, can anyone really blame Tony for exacting a little payback?

Remix of The Ruins of Babel by WhenasInSilks

★ Survivor by jellybeanforest (MCU, G, 3606 words)

In 1918, Steve’s father, Joseph Rogers, dies of the Spanish flu while serving in WWI. In 1936, Steve’s mother, Sarah Rogers, dies of tuberculosis while confined to a sanatorium after contracting the disease from her job as a nurse in a TB ward. In 2014, Steve’s boyfriend, Tony Stark, contracts the flu and quarantines himself in their room, refusing to be seen until he’s presentable and not a contagious, feverish snot-monster. Steve is worried but understanding as he tries to allay his own fears about Tony’s condition. It’s the future, after all. Modern medicine has made many advances in disease management. But then on a video call with Cap, stuffed up and miserable, Tony rather dramatically declares he’s on death’s doorstep. Needless to say, Steve Rogers, the unflappable Captain America, loses his shit.

Remix of (rest assured, baby) you're adored by sheron

★ Take a Breather by jellybeanforest (616, T, 363 words)

Steve needs a break from Tony. Tony joins him.

Remix of Tokens of Appreciation by Ironlawyer

★ Trust me (“Pickle” remix) by masterlokisev159 (Ults, M, 6167 words)

Tony happens to like Steve. He likes him a lot. And sure, Steve doesn't feel the same right now, but maybe with a bit of luck and some successful sessions in the bedrooms, Tony can turn this thing around. Maybe Steve can give him a chance. Remix of "Pickle" where instead of Steve wanting bondage, he doesn't. But he wants Tony to understand and bondage is involved.

Remix of Pickle by jellybeanforest

Don't forget to leave kudos and comments on the works you've enjoyed! You can either browse through the individual links above, or go through the Remix collections on AO3: ★ 2020 Captain America/Iron Man Remix Exchange ★ 2020 Captain America/Iron Man Relay Remix ★ 2020 Captain America/Iron Man Remix Madness And with that, we've wrapped up Captain America/Iron Man Remix 2020! Thank you to all of our participants, and we hope everyone had fun! Participants, feel free to share and crosspost your work! If you're posting your work onto Tumblr, please use the #capimremix tag among the first five tags of your post so we can spot it and reblog it to the community Tumblr.

[bionicdragonguardian1]

Voltron Rewritten Defender (1/8)

Also known as My Almost Raging Bitch List for this Goddamn Disastrous Disappointment of a Show

I binged all 8 seasons in under a week, so believe me when I say almost nothing was forgotten between seasons/episodes and I do tend to note that.

If it’s not obvious by the title, I’m planning an entire show AU. I am extremely open to people’s opinions on what I’m currently thinking and when I finally post this I’ll be open to criticism there too. If you would like to avoid seeing anything in regards to this feel free to blacklist #voltron_rewritten_defender because that’s what I’ll be using for this whole thing.

Enjoy, I guess.

Fair warning I am a multishipper, but for this show I leaned towards Klance, so if that bothers you that’s okay, I’m not going to be bashing any other ships (mainly just Dreamworks’ forced Allurance). If you think I missed something for any other ship lemme know! If you wanna have a ship discussion that’s cool too. The only other thing I can think of is that Allura’s attitude in S8 really stuck with me to the point that she bothered me throughout the entire rewatch (I was admittedly one of the people who thought she could be very Mary Sue ish when I first watched this) so that’ll show up now and again.

If you want to look at the Google Doc for the whole show, click the link, if not you can expand this post to see Season 1. I’ll be doing these in chunks, but as some of you know I do a FicRecList on one of my other accounts here @sorcerusdragonbionics​ so I’m gonna be alternating between that and these for the next couple days.

If you do the Google Route it’ll have you ask me for permission, this is normal and if you request it I’ll give you commenting abilities.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t30IRJonrBFh0qvs8recf3ayGoQ0rx02y0Tg1e4NTaI/edit?usp=sharing

Key

Things I kinda wanna bitch about

Things I did genuinely enjoy and like 

Rewatch Thoughts (basically what I remember from further forward and how I feel like it reflects back on earlier seasons)

Ship Talk (behold my multishipping insanity)

Things I think I’ll do in the Rewrite

Writing Notes (mainly for me or as explanation for what I’m planning)

VA and Closed Captioning Things

Other Fic Thoughts

This ended up being music commentary in S8

Season One

Problems with the Season overall:

To be honest if I hated this season I wouldn’t’ve kept watching because by the time I started S3 had just dropped

Episode 1

Here’s the deal, WHY ARE YOU SO LONG BUT SO EMPTY?!?

Yeah, nope, that’s mostly it

Fix the problem of telling instead of showing about the other Lions and remove Allura’s explanation of the Lions if possible (thank you Kross for explaining why it felt so empty- this vid is actually where I started getting the idea to actually go through with a full series AU)

DON'T RUSH THE LION INTROS

Also let the 5 introduce themselves to Allura and Coran

Also Character Drive to Complete Mission Should Be A Thing

Flesh out Paladin Personalities so that the Aris Arrival is End of Part One (making it closer to the length of E1)

Flesh out Lion intros so part 2+3 are more like full Eps without Sendak

Episode 2

75 degrees… that’s definitely in Fahrenheit, which why?

How does no one have a watch with a date on them?

“A man can be driven to do anything if a beautiful woman is just really really mean to him”

More inbetween scenes bc I can

I will accept the transformation sequence here, I’m just not going to write it

Episode 3

Please watch the use of Earth Time Slices please, because it’s confusing

I love the portrayal of PTSD in this show and I would die before I change it

Bye bye transformation sequence

Pidge’s talk with Shiro can please change

Episode 4

“I say Vol, you say Tron” will come up again if it kills me

Lance, how do you know what hotdog water and feet taste like?

I love how Coran is completely nonchalant about the fact that he’s drinking a hair tonic

Shiro, don’t bring down the mood

Goddammit Sendak, you could stay for this arc, but god I want you GONE!

Keith, having an emotion? Really?

The Pidge plot DID NOT NEED TO HAPPEN LIKE THAT!

Fight me I will change it

Or minimally change the fact that their selfish motivations are revealed to BAD and should be changed

Oh yeah, let’s not give the ONE GUY with notable homesickness a character arc around that

That moment when you realize Allura is like ‘wtf is a peanut’

Allura, don’t push it, some people don’t want to talk about it

You will have something to talk about, BIOLOGY

Decryption happens here, and next attempt to find family occurs… when?

Poor Coran, if there is anyone who was more forgotten than Lance it was him

Keith isn’t wrong, but he also doesn’t know how to say it without getting mad, which mood

Just pointing out Lance is not only smart, but selfless, tell me how he’s not the main character

My inner Shance/Klance shipper is sobbing

“Bomb fuel” mentioned here, occurs… actually it’s ok

Timelines need to be a thing!

Can I make the fight scenes more intense? Yes, I write them for my YJ Scripts. Will I? Almost definitely.

Keith with that much fire your mask should be closed because smoke inhalation is bad

Can we explain Vrepit Sa before s6?

It feels like Coran forgets that 10k years have passed under an evil empire and part of me likes it, but it hurts me

Episode 5

The Katie flashback is hurts me

I want to add Gender Identity

Can we talk about how Shiro is a nickname for Takashi Shirogane?

That’s not how an EMP works

The Coran sitting on Hunk’s shoulders with a machine gun is everything

I know the back x-ray was a joke, but I still don’t like it

Rax is an idiot, just saying

Bonding Moment!!!

Episode 6

“Intergalactic time measuring competition.”

“We had a bonding moment!”

Where is Sendak’s arm?

Fight me, Pidge’s ‘gender speech’

It will be a gender speech if it kills me

Lance, why are you acting the way you are?

“I figured” and “We were supposed to think you were a boy” ARE NOT PROPER REACTIONS!

Rolo, sometimes I want to punch you in the teeth

Lance’s boner is going to get someone killed

Lance had 4sec of logic and then Nyma brings up Keith, which ofc does him in

Let’s expand on the Komar, yeah?

Quiznack means fuck and NO ONE can tell me otherwise

Keith’s ability to fly is impressive and it’s awesome

Friendly reminder that Lance acknowledged the bonding moment

Episode 7

I LOVE the laser gun sound effects!!!

I just realized that Allura has no clue what an Acronym is

We… literally just talked about this and YOU didn’t know that Shiro, I understand the point, but seriously?

LIONS are TELEPATHIC Shiro DID NOT need to say that aloud!

I do actually like the fact that Kieth gets excited before realizing what he did

FIRE and ICE PEOPLE come on! What the hell?! You barely had to try

“Yes sir?” Keith to Shiro, what?

I love them and their cute little arguments

Left vs Right, thank you Zamber

We be lovin’ Hunay bc it’s pure as hell

Thank you Shiro for validating Hunk’s concerns

You could check  a little faster, Allura

I LIVE for this scene

Was it actually Rolo?

Do they have teleporters?

Keith being weird is my favorite thing

I love good big bros who argue tradition to save their baby sis

Zarkon is a bit of a moron

THEIR LIVES ARE IN DANGER ALLURA!

They all came through different doors… how?

What if the answer was no?

I’m ok with Lance embarrassing himself when he’s cocky, some people seem to forget that

Bye transformation sequence, I explained you ONCE and that’s it

Prorock… why are you familiar?

Episode 8

I admittedly forgot that they didn’t know these things would be different

Flying fight scenes I can do, teleporting not so much

Poor Shiro he thought he had an idea and he was wrong

I love Coran’s reaction

Also NO SHIT Allura

UHHHH Pidge said that not and of the other three so how did He know?

Allura may piss me off, but I do love this speech

“Your Altean Energy”??? Coran, you’re an Altean, I’m confused.

The “Sacred Altean” thing I get, but you must be more specific cuz it makes Coran sound like he thinks he’s not a proper Altean.

Oof, angsty

Also, I  know we can’t kill Allura yet, but... 

I love that Hunk forgot they hadn’t formed Voltron

Bye bye transformation sequence

Ummm, they NEED to explain the Bayard Equip bc that’s… two very different things that occurred between Hunk and Keith’s Bayard Weapons

Why is this a scene? It’s not a dog. So, yeah, I’m with Keith here

Episode 9

THIS IS NOT HEALTHY ALLURA!

I just realized that this doesn’t come back until S..7? 8? Whatever, WAY too long

I can’t unhear “Training Dick”

Did they have homework on Altea?

Be still my Punk shipper heart

WHY is he SO pretty?!

Y’know, the glowing red eye is usually a bad sign

I could SO mean and hurt Keith here

That moment when you’re like 90% sure Shiro heard that somewhere

Not what haunted means Coran, but accurate

Why could Lance see Alfor for a second?

I too would like the answer to “where was the Red Lion?”

PTSD IS AMAZINGLY WRITTEN!

It’s a shame this is NEVER treated properly again

Thank you for NOT making the swimming thing a thing

You didn’t need to TRY Voltron, what the hell?!

Here’s the deal,  Altea not being Obliterated-obliterated is actually a really interesting idea

Lance still wins, for the record

If she was infected in any way this wouldn’t drive me crazier than a bot on Halloween

But she’s not so this is BULL

Shallura confuses me SO much…

Ok, admittedly the scene with Allura and Alfor is beautifully heartbreaking

Episode 10

The fact that Zarkon was a close friend to Alfor should be addressed

Also Shiro calling himself “an inexperienced Pilot” hurts

Allura’s a MORON!

YES! MASSIVE ISSUE WITH YOU COMING

Nice puppetry Hunk

What happened to THIS Allura?! She’s reckless but not INSANE (or so boring I might cry)!

Is this the same Druid from Season 8? Pretty sure it’s 8… I forget which, but the one Keith fought

“Don’t walk through that door!” / Keith does/ “I think I told him” // “You are a paragon of leadership, Lance”

Hehheh I love Hunk teasing Lance about Allura

I do actually the fact that I can’t tell what size the purple container is until Keith grabs it

Heheh the Allura interacting with the Galra soldier

The computer sounds like Lance

Also Shiro had that “holy shit” moment

I HATE WRITING TELELPORTING FIGHTS

I’m 99% sure that the ONLY reason I didn’t fall into the Galra Keith rabbit hole was the fact that I binge watched

This scene confuses me… so much now that I know Shallura was apparently never going to be a thing

So confused

Episode 11

That hair flip though...

Coran, I get it, but calm down

Okay, but Keith has a point. Seriously, he’s not wrong. 

For the record, Haggar scares me

So much makes so much more sense now that we know Zarkon is the Original Black Paladin

That… makes no sense… “enough essence to open a wormhole”

Why are you transforming? More pieces to shoot at is usually a smart idea…

Hey hey, THACE!

Why can’t you have two active at once? I’m honestly serious.

I mean too OP, got it, but you can maneuver around that for temporary stuff

Shiro, use your words, yeah?

“Thinking” uh huh you mean “telepathy” right?

I genuinely forgot that Shiro got booted from Black

Damn! Yes Shiro! Kick some ass!

Ok, here’s the deal, Keith’s not listening to Coran, but he doesn’t have all the info (LIKE THE FUCKING BAYARD), Zarkon’s the OG Paladin, and he’s in distress

I HATE TELEPORTERS!

“Could have been” … uh Kuron exists ?? 

Also, Shiro with yellow eyes is fucking terrifying

We ain’t ficking stupid VLD

Zarkon’s a fucking idiot

Written properly his power-hungry attitude works even with him destroying his own ship

But it wasn’t so it’s null

You aren’t even subtle about Galra Keith

How can Allura see through Illusions?

Nobody knows!

Shiro, you have no jetpack, how are you so fast?

“Who cares, wormhole!” mood

I… uh… I want to do SO many things with this idea

Preferably not what they actually do...

[vrenaewrites]

Ten Mistakes ALL Authors Make.

Sometimes in life, you have ambitions. And sometimes, if you’re really into self hate and consistent nagging doubt, that ambition is to write books. But it’s not easy.

Understatement of the century.

It’s super fucking hard to write a book, guys. It’s hard to write, it’s hard to be a writer, it’s hard to get a book published, it’s hard to sell a lot of books. It’s just all super duper hard. I don’t recommend it, but unfortunately, I can’t help but do it.

If you’re like me, you can’t either. But you can make it easier - ish - on yourself. Here are ten things all writers tend to do that you should stop doing.

10. You’re jumping at the first offer of representation / publication / cover design, etc.

Self-explanatory. INSTEAD: do your research. Be knowledgeable about this industry and what it takes. Know what kind of agents and houses publish and work with your genre and category. Understand the red flags of these different facets of publication. Be choosy with your baby.

9. You’re being way too choosy with your baby.

I said what I said. You’re not Stephen King. People are not shitting their pants in 12 hour lines at Barnes and Noble on your release date. Do not expect a six figure book deal. Do not expect a huge advance. Do not expect to be handed a best-seller on a silver platter. It just doesn’t happen as often as you wanna believe. Period. INSTEAD: It’s okay to know what you want from a publisher, an agent, etc. You should. You should feel empowered to speak up and get what you need from the people you’re working with to bring your book to the masses. Just be realistic, manage your expectations, and understand the typical numbers for someone of your notoriety. In my case, I didn’t have any. So I knew I probably wouldn’t get an advance as a debut unknown nobody. I managed my expectations, so I wasn’t disappointed.

8. You’re not reading your book out loud.

If you are writing a book, it probably has dialogue. If your book has dialogue, it means two people are talking. If two people are talking, it needs to sound like...two people talking. But maybe you feel awkward about your dialogue. Maybe it seems stilted or off somehow. INSTEAD: Read that shit out loud. Have a full-on conversation with yourself. Read the narration in between dialogue in a dramatic voice-over voice. Act out certain quirks or movements to see if someone’s hand could actually move the way you wrote it moving. Even quietly to yourself, saying your writing out loud - especially the dialogue - can work wonders for making your book that much stronger.

7. You aren’t planning your full series out ahead of time.

I’m telling on myself here. I am in the process of finishing up the Thistlewolf trilogy, which is a YA paranormal romance horror series I published book one in October yeah we know ANYWAY. I knew what was supposed to happen in book 3, mostly. But I did not finish plotting out the arc of the final book in my series until November of 2018. A month after book 1 in the trilogy was already published and book 2 was on draft 3 or 4. Which means I have concrete rules of this world and relationships, etc etc, in PRINT. For the world to see. I can’t decide to change things in CB to fit better with what I want to happen in SW. I almost have to write SW around CB in order to avoid plot holes. INSTEAD: Plot your series out ahead of time. Know the major beats of every book and how their arc travels across from the first book to the last. Understand what you want the end result to be and build your previous books around that, not vice-versa.

6. You think you’re entitled to consistent inspiration, and you don’t see the point of working when uninspired.

If writers only wrote when they were inspired, there’d be approximately seven books in the history of the world. Inspiration is awesome. It’s exciting and freeing and fulfilling when you feel inspired to write. But it’s not as common as you’d think. INSTEAD: understand the importance of commitment and dedication over inspiration. Make time for it, and stick to it even when you don’t feel motivated. Push through the blocks and the slumps and understand writing for what it is: hard work.

5. You think your first draft is a book.

My sweet baby angel. It’s not. It’s just not. Don’t show it to people. Don’t query it. INSTEAD: Edit it. Revise it. Rewrite it. Edit it some more. Revise it again. Do more rewrites. Trust me.

4. You are sharing too much about your project on social media at too early of a stage.

Oh hi, all of my March and April videos. I wasn’t done with my garbage draft of BFAS when I started telling y’all all about it, and guess what? Total change of concept, theme, character names, relationships...literally just like the overall setting and message has stayed the same and that’s it. So now, sometimes when I go back to make edits, I feel bad because I’ve already said this thing is this way. Don’t do this. INSTEAD: Have a critique partner or an alpha reader that you can bounce early, terrible ideas off of with abandon instead of blasting your followers with every random idea about your project.

3. You’re treating your readers like they’re dumb.

A writer’s worst enemy is their tendency to over explain things. We spend months, even years of our lives learning and researching to make this book as realistic as possible, and we’ll be damned if we’re not going to include every single detail of how a 1957 Porche Speedster’s engine operates. But here’s the thing: the reader doesn’t give a single fuck about this. And they’ll tune right out when you try to shove unnecessary or plodding information in their faces. INSTEAD: leave them little breadcrumbs to follow. Drop hints and interesting little tidbits, but always leave them wanting more. Leave them asking questions and speculating on what certain things did or didn’t mean. It’s so much more satisfying as a reader to wonder about a story even after it’s over. And you want your story to linger in people’s heads long after they’ve read it. A great way to ensure that is by letting them fill in the blanks.

2. You’re not working on your platform because you haven’t published anything yet.

Oh, my sweet summer child. Social media is the most necessary evil a writer has to master, besides like, the great Oxford comma debate. Use them, shouldn’t be a debate. Anyways. This is the best way a writer can shoot themselves in the foot. INSTEAD: You should establish a presence on your preferred social media platform - or many - prior to ever getting a book deal, querying, editing, all of it. You should basically be trying to put yourself out there and network from the second you decide you wanna try to write a book. It takes time to build a following, and by the time your book is in the world, you want a built-in audience for it. Social media is the best and most widely available tool to do that.

1. You are sabatoging yourself with doubt and imposter syndrome.

If you missed my blog back in June about imposter syndrome, then you probably missed that I struggle with this a LOT. But the bottom line is, everyone gets in their own way from time to time. You are halting your progress and your growth because you feel unworthy or insecure about your ability. I hate to tell you, if you don’t believe in yourself and your work, you can’t really expect anyone else to. INSTEAD: fake it til you make it. Know you’re far from alone. And trust your process.

Please let me know if there’s anything I missed or if you disagree with the mistakes I mentioned here.

[demamanabeille]

Primeval Playlist

Title: Primeval Playlists  Timeframe: Varies.  I’m pretty sure they were all written for Season One and Two though, since Sarah is mentioned a lot instead of Jess. (I love Jess.)  Pairing: Becker/Abby Rating: K+ Author’s Note: This is a rewrite of an old story from high school, maybe college.  I finally, after years of trying, got access to my old work.  I didn’t think I would do anything with them, just wanted to have them.  However, I think I am going to rewrite and improve the ones I liked.  I’m pretty sure this was probably one of those iTunes shuffle challenges where you only have the length of the song to write a little drabble. 

1. St. Patrick's Day- John Mayer

Becker smiles, seeing the name pop up on his ringing phone.  “Hello, Abby.” “Hey, Beck.  It’s snowing.” He can hear the smile in the woman’s voice and makes his way over the window of his little flat.  He peeps through his blinds to see big white snowflakes fall onto the patio below outside.  “Oh, it is.”

“You promised me a walk the next time it snowed.” Ah, there it is, he thinks.  He hates the cold.  He knows his girlfriend loves the snow.  They’ve had many a conversation on it.  It’s one of their many disagreements that she insists balances them out and makes them perfect for one another. 

“It’s freezing out,” he protests, shivering a little involuntarily at the thought of being out in it. 

“I’m sure we can think of someway to warm up after.  You promised, and it’s Christmas Eve Eve.  I want a romantic walk around in the snow with you.  Besides, you don’t really want to be alone tonight do you?” 

Becker lets out a long sigh, grabs his coat and gloves from the rack, and pulls his beanie over his head. “I’ll come get you. We can walk down to the park near you.  I’ll be there in ten.”  “Promise me something, Beck?”  He’s making sure he has his wallet and keys, grabbing the little box from the drawer near the door, letting out a soft ‘mh-hm’ in approval. He was planning on waiting until tomorrow, but it just seemed right to bring it with him tonight.   “We’ll make it to St. Patrick’s Day, yeah?” 

Becker pulls the phone away from his ear and stares at it for a moment, shaking his head with a roll his eyes. “What are you getting, Abs?” 

He can hear her hesitation on the other side the line as she gathers her own things.  “It’s silly.  Don’t laugh.  Of course we will make it to New Year’s, and you’re not cruel enough to break things off right before Valentine’s Day.  St. Patrick’s day is next.” 

Gods, he loves this woman.  “I promise you all St. Patrick’s Days.  How’s that?” 

“I love you.” “I love you too.  I’ll be there soon,” he tells her, hanging up the phone, locking the door being him, and patting the pocket of his jacket to assure the ring box was safely nestled there. 

2. Can't Get Me Down- Lo Ball

Abigail Maitland had yet to meet a man that could get her down. She was the epitome of tough and had long sense mastered the art of putting up walls.  Not to say she didn’t care for the men she dated.  She did.  It just never really got to her when things ends, or rather when she ended things. She always met an expired relationship with the same independent, never gonna get me down attitude.  It should have been the same with Becker.  She knew that. She should have been upset for a day or two then been back to business as usual, watching movies and playing video games with Connor like it was nothing by the end of the week.  That’s what was supposed to happen. For some reason though, when it came to Becker, that’s not how it did go. She cried for weeks.  She shut everyone out.  She wouldn’t even allow Connor in, outside of work, to cheer her up.  No amount of drinks or ice cream or kicks to her punching bag could help her realize what was so different about the captain to get her down like that .

3. Cool Thing- Rascal Flatts

Abby joined the ARC for a number of different, valid reasons.  She was thrilled for the once in a lifetime opportunity to research the creatures that come through the anomalies. She looked forward to helping same creatures in any way that she could.  Hell, she joined so she could finally do something adventurous with her life.  She never thought that she’d find her biggest adventure there.  Or rather, she did, just not in the same way. She never thought that she would find love within her very own team, and she most certainly did not expect to the captain to be the one she fell for. She’d never been the type to go crazy for a guy in uniform.  More often than not, she found them too up tight with not enough sense of humor.  Becker though, he was everything she wasn’t expecting to find. 

4. Everlasting Friend- Blue October

Never, in his over thirty years in life, had Becker ever gotten the crazy increase of heartbreak and sporadic butterflies in his stomach, that some many people, movies, and books alluded to. He had never been in love, and he quite honestly didn’t believe he ever would.  He’d grown up being taught that love was a sign of weakness.  It made you act like a fool, his father would tell him.  In his job, that wasn’t an option.  Any distractions could put a mission at risk.  All that changed when he met Abby.  He couldn’t tell you exactly why she was different. He wasn’t sure of it was her strength, her wit, or her natural beauty, that really did him in.  When he was with her, his confidence spiked.  He gave her a new type of strength that no amount of training could achieve. She taught him how to see the world through her optimistic view.  She taught him friendship.  She taught him everlasting love. 

5. I'm Not Gonna Teach Him How to Dance with You- Kate Nash (originally by Black Kids)

“No,” he said flatly over his beer, glaring at the woman on the other side of the table from him. The blonde’s face face fell.  “Please, Becks,” she begged.  “Just teach him to dance.  You’re a beautiful dancer, and he’s…not. I just want to be able to dance with him at Sarah’s wedding without him making a fool of us in front of everyone.” 

“I’m not teaching Connor how to dance with you,” Becker told her, his tone final. He shook his head a few times, muttering what she thought sounded like “not doing it” for added measure. 

Abby took a sip of her beer, and let out a long sigh.  “Why not?” 

Becker stared at her for a moment, realizing if he was waiting for the perfect time to admit his feelings, that was it.  “Why would I want to teach another man to dance with the woman I’m in love with?” 

She froze so suddenly she nearly spilled the drinks in front of her, unable to curb the smile that spread across her face.  She reached across the table to cover his hand that was resting there with his own.  “We just need one dance together as the Maid of Honor and the Best Man. After that, I promise all the other dances will be yours.” 

“Fine,” he huffs, squeezing her hand, and switching their positions so he can lace his fingers though hers. 

“Thank you,” she smiles, using their entangled hands to pull him forward so she can lean over the table to capture his lips in a kiss.  “It took you long enough.” 

6. I Run to You- Lady Antebellum

There were many things in life that Abigail Maitland ran from.  She ran from hate.  she ran from prejudice and pessimist, she ran from various monsters that had long since gone extinct.  However, she always ran to the same thing… Becker. When the world got a little bit too much for her to handle she knew she was safe going to him. A year ago, Connor would have been the one she’d run to.  The one that would hold her while she hid her tears and mourned the death of another creature, or another passerby that they weren’t in time to save.  Connor wasn’t the most important person in her life now, though.  Becker was.  Becker was the reason why she got up even on the mornings it was too much, and marched herself in the ARC building, even when she wanted to tell Lester and his formalities to shove it.  Becker was the reason she tried the girl thing again, even though he assured her he loved her no matter what she wore, even if those heels did do something to him. He was the reason her heart pounded each and every time he came within her sight.  Becker was the reason no other man would ever seem like enough.  Becker was the one that Abby had fallen in love with, the one that she would always run to, no matter the problem. 

7. Masquerade- Phantom of the Opera

The soft white feathers tickled her face as Abby straitened the slightly too loose mask.  She scanned the crowd for the simple black mask that she knew Becker had donned right before they arrived, refusing to wear it on the ride over. She saw Connor in his shiny gold mask, whispering over in partially hidden corner with Sarah. Abby was a little jealous of the sequined make up that the woman had perfectly applied in a swirling pattern around her eyes and over her.  Part of her wishes she had thought of that.  She had just spotted a tall red feathered mask spinning across that dance floor that could only belong to Jenny, when she felt someone snake their arms around her waist from behind.  She let out a startled gasp before leaning into the familiar touch. “Abby,” Becker whispered in her ear, placing a soft kiss on her neck.  “I have an idea.” 

“Oh, what’s that?” she asked, turning to face him, and taking in how glorious he looked in his perfectly tailored tuxedo she’d helped him pick out just for the occasion. 

“We should get married.” 

Abby stopped fiddling with his bow tie, and flattened her hands against his chest. “What?” she barely managed to whisper out. 

Becker pulled a cherry wood box out of his pocket, opened it to expose the simple, yet gorgeous ring resting inside, and took one of her hands in his.  “Will you marry me?” 

She nodded her head several times, grinning like mad, “Yes! Of course!” 

He slid the ring on her finger, before scooping her up in his arms and spinning them both around. Neither could contain the laughter that bubbled out of them until he captured her lips in a deep kiss. 

8. Stay- Sugarland

Becker closed the door of their shared flat quietly behind, in hopes of not waking Abby.  He flicked on the front light, surprised to see her wide awake on the couch, clearing waiting for him. 

“Where’ve you been Beck?” she asked him, his tone flat and harsh.  

“Extra training with some of the new guys,” he told her with an inquisitive smile. “I told you I’d be late.  You didn’t have to wait up.” He made his way across the living room to place a kiss on her cheek. 

She leaned away, tears filling her eyes.  “Didn’t know Sarah was joining the military branch of the team.”

Becker stepped back and let out a long sigh, rubbing the back of his head.  “Abby, I-”

Abby shook her head. “Save it, Becker. Do you really think she loves you? Like I do?  You think she truly cares for you and isn’t just looking for a quick shag to make up for Danny?”

“I’m so sorry, Abby,” he whispered.  He reached for her, pulling her into a hug.  She didn’t fight him, but didn’t immediately pull away either. 

“You choose right now, are you going to be spending the rest of your nights in her bed or mine?” she shakily whimpered into his chest. 

“What?” She pulled away from him, walking across the other side of the room and crossed her arms over her chest finally turning back to him with deep breath after a moment. “Right.  Wrong answer. See, you keep choosing her.  You chose her the first moment you let your pants down. Then you chose her again every time you lied to me about training to do it again.  I’ve given you my best, yet she gets the best of you, and I’m not going to live this way.  It’s too painful.  So get out,” she told him harshly though her sobs.  

“Abs, no-” He reached for her yet again, but she shoved his arm away.  She chokes out another sob, throwing his keys at him.  He just barely managed to catch them before they hit him in the face.  “I said get out!” 

The captain let out another huff, knowing there wasn’t anything he could do to change her mind or make up for his actions at his point.  “I really am sorry.  I’ll come get my things tomorrow,” he whispered, defeated before gathering his wallet and phone back up and leaving.  

Abby waited until the door shut, before sinking down to the ground, grabbing a pillow, burying her face in at her body wracked with sobs.

9. Birds- Kate Nash

Abby set down her files with a lighthearted huff. “Alright, Becker, that is the fifth time that you’ve looked up at me like that since we’ve been here.  Tell me what you’re thinking?” 

The two sat at one of the metal tables in her lab, finishing up the paper work that Lester had assigned earlier that day.  The others were off in various offices with their own ‘torture buddies’ as they taken to call one another during those late night reports and debriefings. 

He took a moment to respond, just taking her in for an extra couple seconds tapping his pen on his stack of papers, as he considered what to say. “You know all these creatures.  They scare the shit out everyone because they can tear you to shreds in a heartbeat, but they are interesting and  beautiful and magnificent.  That’s  what am thinking, only about you.” 

“What are you talking about?” she laughed, confused. 

“You, Abby,” he told her, reaching across the folders and papers to take her hand. “You scare the shit out of me, because you mean so much to me, and I’m afraid every time we are out there that I’m going to lose you.”  There was softness to his tone that she had never heard before.

“Oh,” she blushed, ducking her head momentarily to hide her smile.  “Yeah, I - I feel the same way, Becker.” She squeezed the hand he still had ahold of, before going back to her paperwork.  She knew that if they didn’t get it done now, they never would, and Lester would never let them free. 

10. Boys with Girlfriends- Meiko

Abby rushed out of the storage closet, shaking the image of Becker and Sarah liplocked in between the towers of shelves.  She had to stop being friends with boys that had girlfriends already.  It never ended well for her.  She always ended up falling for them to some degree.  It was like a weird magnetic pull that attracted her to already committed men.  If she was being completely honest with herself, she was a little worried about that was said of her character.  It wasn’t like she actively pursued taken guys.  She just wanted to be friends.  She wasn’t supposed to fall for him. 

I’m not even sure if this fandom is still alive.  If you’re reading though, thank you.  Let me know what you think. There were a couple I wasn’t thrilled with, but because it was a rewrite, I didn’t want to get rid of them. 

Hugs,  Honey. 

[co-mixed]

TROS: How should Ben’s redemption work?

Minor spoiler warning, but by this point, we’d be surprised if you haven’t heard the news.

Fans of Kylo Ren/Ben Solo did get something they wanted in The Rise of Skywalker. A redemption arc, that not all of us found truly satisfying. Not everyone was sold on that, and it ended in death.

That was both lazy and emotionally empty. Kylo’s scene with Han, him dealing with his memory, is a good start, but him sacrificing his life and losing it is not a great ending.

Ben Solo is a character for this, young generation. He lives in the world his predecessors “left” for him, he blames them for the state it is in. He struggles with himself, and reality surrounding him. In a way, he embodies all three types of storytelling conflicts in one (they define 6 or 7 now, but we’re taking the three main ones). This is why nearly every single person these days can relate to Ben.

Kylo Ren is a comfortable mask, that covers his emotions, but doesn’t truly destroy them.

People look at him in the light of killing Han Solo, but that’s what falls flat in the context of war. It’s war. Rey killed people (stormtroopers, who were like her buddy Finn), buddy Finn kills his former friends, the ones he grew up with. Body count for any of them is quite long. But Ben kills his father, the person he is emotionally attached to, as well as the audience. For us this is a worse crime than killing people you don’t know. I am not defending patricide here, but I will say, that there are cases in which even law sides with the accused. This might not be one of them though, even considering that in the middle of war he was killing an enemy perpetrator.

We don’t even know if his parents forgive him in the end, because none of the ghost cared enough to show up, and drop him a line.

So Ben is very imperfect, like many of us are. He takes one wrong turn after another, sometimes to save his own life, sometimes to prove to himself and the others just how far he’s gone. But does he deserve a second chance?

Who gets a second chance?

My first analogy is Bucky Barnes. Brainwashed by Hydra, forced to carry out various evil deeds, murder people etc. What Marvel does is they redeem him, and leave him to reflect on his mistakes and correct what he can.

Marvel, the guys probably comfortably hanging down the hall, made this choice.

While we can’t say that Ben wasn’t programmed to kill people, we can argue that from a very young age, he was exposed to all kinds of influence. Be it Snoke, Palpatine, or even Dark Side Luke. So he wasn’t entirely in his right mind, especially considering what Dark Side does to people. Imagine if Luke finished his night chat and killed his nephew? And then let’s not forget Rey, who’s killed a bunch of people in the shuttle discovering her lightning, and stabbed Kylo. We just forgive her, because stormtroopers are evil (except are they?).

But that’s just throwing blame around.

Who doesn’t get a second chance?

Let’s see two more examples of redemption arcs, and why exactly this one had to be different.

Natasha Romanoff. Even though Marvel movies seem more lighthearted, they also don’t dismiss death. Natasha jumps on Vormir, because she believes that this is where all her actions were leading her. She knows that to save the world, to save people, someone needs to die. And she chooses to do so, because Hawkeye in her eyes deserves to live more. He has people, he has family, and he has a future despite his recent murder rampage (again, evil people are still people). She does it knowing exactly what she’s doing, and she is not forgotten.

Tony Stark. Again, Tony does the snap, because he has sins to repay for (Ultron, for starters), and he has a family to save and a future to give to his daughter. I know that many people are still hurt that Marvel made this call, and it is a very emotional moment, but death in the MCU, as well as in Marvel Comics, is just a word. No one is gone. Besides, it’s just Earth-199999, and everybody knows that the true canon is the mainstream Earth-616.

So as much as these deaths hurt the fans, they can always dive into more stories, find out what the characters are really like. Learn how many things the movies got different, for example.

You have options, and they don’t include the need to write or read fanfiction, and trick you brain into believing them more than canon. There are movies, and they can be good, but the characters themselves are safe, and if they die, you know it’s Marvel, so there is always hope (usually measured in sales).

Back to Star Wars. Movies are our undeniable canon. So much so that story group has to rewrite everything to fit them. Whatever happens to a character there, stays as concrete history. I don’t know how many people were devastated, and couldn’t move past it for at least a week, but the stories you hear honestly make you question sanity of those responsible. There was a way to not kill off one of the most beloved (and most marketable) characters in the Sequel Trilogy.

Three ways this could go

The main question is What does Ben do after him and Rey defeat Palpatine?

Path 1.

Ben is not a coward, so we immediately dismiss the idea of him running somewhere far far away. He has to face the others, and he has to accept his own evil deeds. The only way for him to disappear is for Rey to convince him to do so. He has no ties to the rebellion, he doesn’t have to show up there. But she wouldn’t want to find out how far the angry mob could go. Besides, no reason to ruin the celebration by bringing that guy everyone hates.

I don’t really believe this would be the best course of action, but it’s possible.

Path 2.

He is still technically the Supreme Leader, so it’s up to him to reform the galaxy. This was not all the fleet the First Order has, they have forces on every conquered planet. There are governments to consider, alliances, etc. This also allows him to free the slaves, and truly finish what Anakin had started.

Then, if he gives up the power to let’s say, senate, there will likely be a trial. And would he defend himself? No. That’s not in his character. Would anyone else do this? Only the Force Ghosts and Rey can truly explain what was all that mess and how he got there. He’s either gonna need one hell of a space lawyer, or a great public speaker, who could convince everyone that the best possible choice is exile (let’s make it a nice one on Naboo). This is where you pull the writer card, and come up with a bunch of excuses as to why death penalty and prison is not an option.

Path 3.

Same as path 2, but he doesn’t give up the power, he represents the First Order, but he creates an Alliance with other planets. He makes a great compelling speech, he surrounds himself with people who are trustworthy, and together they come up with a solution of how to protect the galaxy from wars. It would’ve been a better option, if we didn’t have a time jump, because that would just mean that he’s done it as soon as he got the power, but well, we can’t get everything.

There is a moral side to this path, but how many people in the galaxy really know who Ben Solo (Skywalker) is? If he is prepared to deal with the past, and make up for it, this would be perfect for his actions to truly matter.

You may agree or disagree, and we hope you have better, more logical ideas. If you do, please share them! If you disagree, and have questions, ask away!

[livvywrites]

11/11/11

tagged by @aslanwrites, thanks so much~~~ this is one of my favorite tag games tbh xD

1. If your WIP got made into a movie, which actors/actresses would you cast for your main characters?

I’ve never been real good at fancasting, tbh. Probably because I really don’t watch a lot of movies. BUT, I do have some faceclaims that I’ve found through pinterest and other sites? 

Alinora Mynerva -- Tuba Buyukustun

Lyr Inerra -- Luke Pasqualino

Talitha Jade -- short haired Halsey

Haven’t found any other fc’s yet, but there’s a short list!! 

2. What is a story you’d like to write, but don’t know how to yet tackle?

There are a couple of different ones, actually.

The first is one I’ve talked about before on Tumblr. It’s called Heart Eater. (It’s a temporary title.) It’s a lot darker than my usual stories, though, so I have no idea where to even start. Not to mention I don’t know what kind of genre or setting to use... 

The second is temporarily titled Guardians/Overmorrow. It’s more of a sci-fi/fantasy story, with both high technology and a little magic. Or a lot of magic. It was one of the first novel ideas that I came up with and stuck with, though I didn’t finish it. I would love to tackle it one day, but for the moment, I don’t have much for it! Nor much faith in my ability to tackle any of the science that would be involved xD

3. How do you deal with writer’s block?

Crying, begging, pleading, making sacrifices to the writing gods... 

I kid, I kid. 

I don’t really handle writer’s block all that well, tbh. But there are a couple of different things that (occasionally) work for me.

The first is just leaving the story alone. Focusing on something else, if it’s a specific story block, or just taking a break from writing all together. I’ll do things like read and play games instead. 

The second is to stop writing the story, but still do things related to it. Create playlists--none of which I really like well enough to share, tbh, but I’m working on it! Make moodboards/aesthetics, do character questionnaires, revisit the plot with new templates... You know. Whatever I can do that’s still relevant to what I’m writing but isn’t actually writing. Or is, in the case of modern AU’s/pre-series drabbles. (Usually I’m too blocked up even for those, though.) 

4. Coffee, hot chocolate, or tea?

All of the above!

I wish I could tell you I had a specific preference, but I really don’t. It switches up on me a lot. I CAN tell you that I’m picky about all of the above, though.

Tea I like to be sweet and a little spicy. I’m a big fan of Chai lattes, but I also have this lovely Warm Fireside tea that I ADORE. Sadly, they’ve discontinued it, though, so I’ll be hunting around again soon. *sigh* I also really enjoy sweet tea! But I like it *really* sweet. 

Coffee I like with creamer. A lot of creamer. Like, two thirds coffee, one third creamer. Lattes are amazing, tbh. I mostly prefer vanilla flavoring, but sometimes I’ll go for caramel...

Hot chocolate is probably what I’m least picky about, tbh. I’ll drink it by itself, but I like it best with a bit of peppermint. (I keep peppermint creamer on hand, but I also usually have mints in my purse I can drop in.)

5. Do you believe in the death of the author?

Yes.

I think that an author’s interpretation and intention are still relevant to a work, but I also believe in a fan’s ability to disregard those things and do it their own way. And I don’t think that the author should interfere with that. Conversely, I don’t believe that fandom has the right to control how an author continues their work.

In short, while fandom and author overlap in the middle, there should also be some separation--much like a venn diagram ;)

6. What is a trope that needs more love?

You know, my first impulse was to say “found family” but like. That one is everywhere lately. (I am NOT complaining. I just don’t think it’s in the spirit of the question to answer that way xD)

So I don’t really know specific “tropes” necessarily, and I’m not falling into the void that is TV tropes to answer, so I’m just going to list some things that I, personally, would like to see more of?

male/female friendships that don’t end in romance, pls. AND, if either has a significant other, that SO doesn’t get jealous every time they’re in the vicinity of each other.

healthy M/F ships!!! no unnecessary miscommunication or jealousy please!! unless that miscomm is used for non relationship-threatening humor.

characters that don’t end in relationships??? it feels like in a lot of mainstream fiction lately all the characters end up with someone. i love a good romance as much as anyone, but as an ace and possibly aro person (questioning, majorly) it’s also a little disappointing???

the power of FRIENDSHIP. this probably goes hand-in-hand with the found family, but like. friendship/platonic love being the most important thing to a person??? yes pls.

I’ll stop there ‘cause I think that’s enough, but those are a few things!! :D

7. What is your biggest inspiration?

This question is actually really hard for me, because I don’t KNOW. 

Part of me wants to just boil it down to life, to living every day and finding something new about the world/about myself. And that IS a good answer, and true as well, but it doesn’t feel quite... right.

I could tell you that I feel inspired every time I pick up a new book, or poem, or fanfic to read. I could tell you that I feel inspired every time I see a commercial for a movie or a TV show. I could tell you that history articles/magazines inspire me. I could tell you that hearing about different identities and cultures inspires me. I could tell you that I find inspiration everywhere, in everything, and that none of it would qualify as my “biggest” inspiration, because I get little bits from everywhere.

But that still doesn’t feel right either.

I feel like maybe I’m missing the point of the question. 

8. Let’s go on a little adventure: One day, you end up in the same world as your characters–or if they’re in ours, you end up with your characters in some way, shape or form. What do you do?

I’m going to assume that either they don’t know who I am or think of me as some scribe meant to tell their story, instead of the person who created it. (Which is how I think of myself sometimes, tbh.) Because otherwise I feel like they would probably be maybe a little mad at me.

So, first things first, I probably give Alinora and Aishlynn a hug. Well. Okay. I don’t hug them because neither of them would be super comfortable with that. (Alinora doesn’t mind, and even appreciates, hugs from people she knows, but not so much people she doesn’t. Aishlynn just isn’t big on hugs in general.)

And then I probably fangirl a little. 

Just a little.

I mean. These are my BABIES, and yes they’re flawed and have their weak spots but. They’re also so STRONG and HEROIC and GOOD and I just LOVE THEM. 

9. If you had a magical power, what would that power be?

Probably something like empathy. tbh, but I would WANT like... the ability to not have to sleep. Though I guess that would probably get boring after a while. 

10. What is a genre that you feel is underrated? What about overrated?

So, I feel like every genre has the potential to be done really well, and I think I could probably enjoy something from pretty much any of them. HOWEVER. Lately I’ve been a little... uninterested in a lot of mainstream YA fiction. Not all of it, necessarily, but a lot of it. It’s not that I think YA as a whole is overrated, because I don’t. But at the same time, I do?? I dunno. I wanna read more about older people??? Not full-on “adult” fiction, but y’know. New Adult. And while I don’t think NA is “underrated” specifically, I do wish they had an actual section for it in bookstores. 

11. Have you accomplished anything that you’re proud of?

Yes. I finished my very first novel around 17. (I might have actually been 16 and a half.) I still have yet to complete the second draft/full rewrite, but I’m still really proud of actually FINISHING it.

I’m also really proud of how far I’ve made it into THE MARTYR QUEEN. I’ve started and re-started that story so many times, and actually being THIS close to the end, with a draft I don’t hate... It’s amazing. I mean, it definitely needs changes, but I’m really proud of how it’s shaping up. 

Now if I could just finish a short story.... X’D

MY QUESTIONS

Have you ever been so disappointed/unimpressed by a character’s concept/arc/etc. that you decided to take that concept and write it how you wished it had been told? Whether you’ve started the story or not is irrelevant, just if you’ve got an idea built up!

What do you feel are your biggest strengths in writing? What makes you look back over your writing and feel proud?

Are there any characters, themes, setting types, etc that you see popping up over and over again in your writing? Why do you think that is?

If you could give your past self any writing-related advice, what would you tell them?

When it comes to character creation, what are things you HAVE to know before you start writing, if anything?

Similarly, what are some things you HAVE to know about your plot before you start writing, if anything?

How often do find that your characters/plot surprise you? 

What do you find the most difficult/what is your weakest point when it comes to world-building?

What experiences do you feel have most shaped your writing? (It’s okay if you don’t want to share specifics, or don’t want to share at all! Or just don’t know. You can say something else that majorly shaped your writing :D)

Do you find it easier to work alone, or to have at least one other writer/person encouraging you?

Assuming you aren’t already, if you were ever to write a story based off of a mythology/fairytale/other, which one would you choose, and how would you do it?

(i won’t be tagging 11 people, i’m sorry! but if you see this and WANT to do it, PLEASE do so and tag me. if i’ve already tagged you in something like this recently, feel free to pick which one you do <3) 

tagging: @aslanwrites (yes, i’m tagging you back, but only do it if you want to! or save it for later, when you wanna have something to do. i don’t mind xD) @waterfallwritings, @diabhals, @matterovermindpodcast, @firesidefantasy, @klywrites