#So the 'editting process' was literally me changing everything about it and trying to make it readable

[lotuzies]

HOW I MANIFEST PHYSICAL CHANGES ✴︎ the simplified way

my credentials? in the ugly old story, i was someone naturally chubby and with no curves at all, literally rectangle shaped, yet the law allowed me to have a perfectly curved small waist. not only that, i had the deadest hair ends ever due to consistently dying it, but i'm so attached to my hair length the thought of cutting it sends shivers down my spine. cut to — my current perfect healthy silky smooth hair.

anyways, so. manifesting physical changes. contrary to a big part of the community, i find this one of the easiest things to manifest.

there's two ways you can go on about this: manifest a change or revise.

the first way, all you need to do is visualize. you can do this any way you want, looking at pictures, editing your photos, imagining, pick anything. literally all you need is imagination.

the important thing here is: you're not visualizing to get that. you're visualizing because you already have that. this is key!

there's no difference between your imagination and the physical, actually, the physical is simply your imagination being reflected, being materialized. everything that exists was once mere imagination. the moment you imagine something, boom, it's real.

so whenever you visualize it, know you have it. be confident. when looking for results, you're indirectly reinforcing the idea that it's something you want, not something you have, and you'll be stuck in an endless chase.

and obviously, persist in your visualization. affirmations are good too. whenever you catch thoughts that serve the old story, correct them. do whatever you want in order to persist in the desire until it stops feeling like a desire and starts feeling naturally yours.

in the second way, revision, you'll be changing your past too.

the only proof the past exists is your memory. luckily for all of us, reality is malleable, and our mind is insanely powerful.

essentially, the process is the same as the first one, except you'll look at your desired changes as something you have always had. as something you were born with.

besides visualizing, you can also try to feel it. close your eyes and try and feel as if your body is exactly how you desire, familiarize yourself with this feeling.

repeating myself here, but once again, persist. let go of the old story, of the old past, rewrite your story and persist until there's not a doubt in the world that it is your.

now, if we're talking about methods, i'm going to be honest, i don't really use any.

i think they're totally fine and i see why they're such a big help for some people, but they are NOT necessary. at all. also, this a personal mindset of mine, but it if they're not necessary, why would i do something i don't need to? for me, that just reinforces the idea that i don't have that, why would i go through hoops and loops to get something i already have? would you do a method to have the ability to read? to have a phone in your hands right now? no, because you know you have all those things, duh.

the only thing i do that can be considered a method is making vision boards on pinterest. i do these with the intention of familiarizing myself. i look & visualize so i can really get a grasp of the details, of how it looks, of how it feels, etc. make it feel completely normal to me, like second nature.

i hope this post could help you all and make you understand that manifesting physical changes isn't hard or time consuming. it's easy. and it's all within you. ♡

[endlesslyhyperfixating]

Sydcarmy vs Clairecarmy shot type, script, and relationship differences.

I was watching some clips I had for an edit I was working on and then I realized some interesting things about the shot sizes and types used In Carmen's interactions with Claire and Sydney, and the differences between u which can be argued to further push the Sydcarmy agenda. So... Let me cook.

Claire and Carmy

Their INFAMOUS close up shots are often talked about among the fandom. These scenes are often viewed as imposing, absorbing, intrusive and sharp. This shot type is often in their scenes together after medium double shots or over the shoulder shots.

Their initial meeting is quick-cut to these close ups, mirroring how their relationship and connection is brought about. A simple accidental meeting (alternating single medium shots) straight- almost immediately - to these really intense close-ups that, even to people who don't like to analyze these things, felt really affected by.

The cinematography regarding their connection is quick to be close, some would even say too close, and I believe this is meant to reflect their exact relationship.

Let's discuss their "intimate" or "cute" scene at the party in season 2 episode 5. (I cut off the rest of their dialogue because I wanted to discuss/analyze the shot and cinematography choices mostly

- slow push in during initial dialogue about Carmens fake party persona, Logan. (Whom @yannaryartside has discussed EXTENSIVELY and always eats about so I won't go too deep about that just yet but check 'em out.)

- cut-to close up after Carmen attempts to make a genuine observation about Claire's character.

What's the effect?

The initial choice to start this scene off with a slow push into their dialogue gives a personal, real feel. Like you're really there at the party. This makes sense with their topic of discussion at the time, Carmen going along with this fake persona he's adopted at this party.

Then, Carmy changes the subject, trying to make a 'genuine' observation about who Claire is, who he thinks he is.

Carm: "With Kelly, you're really good at that."

Claire: "good at what?"

Carm: "uh... Listening"

But let's think about that observation real quick, it was pretty much fed to him, just like everything else he has ever known about Claire. He sees the image of her his family laid out of her, and now he's seeing this image of a caretaker and listener that she has put out for him. Or, rather, literally made a whole outing with him about, basically saying "lets go to a party so you can watch me comfort my sad friend."

I digress, paired with this dialogue, the slow push in is intentional, to set that kind of real connection and build up a good relationship would have. But then...

Cut to a close up of Claire at his observation. She goes on further to tell him about how in college she was the one that everyone went to and that she would take care of when intoxicated. Not only does this jump straight into the image that's been created and upheld by others of Claire for Carmy, but it also skips a good chunk of the way they could have gotten there from continuing its slow push in. The cut to Claire’s close-up feels like it’s reinforcing the manufactured, performative aspect of her persona. She’s always already presenting an image of herself and the one that Carmy’s been fed by others, and now he's seeing her perform it for him. There’s no real room for them to discover who each other truly are beneath the surface. They get pushed(heh) into that “perfect” intimacy too quickly, (hence the ungodly amount of close ups) and everything gets rushed and artificial. The choice to make their interaction so loose and slow and intentional, to tight and suffocating, cutting to close-ups where Claire is the one “listening” or “comforting,” reinforces how his perception of her has been shaped by external factors rather than his own emotional processing. (Also, kinda wanna talk about how in the clip above you hear the inflection of Carmy's line when he says "listening" goes up, sort of sounding like a question. Does he really know if she's good at listening or is that just what he's been told? Is that just what he's been shown? It sounds like he's questioning whether she is really a good listener or not)

The nature of Clairecarmy cinematography is supposed to be rushed, invading and almost immature, just like them.

As opposed to

Sydney and Carmy

For Sydcarmy, we'll talk about The Table Scene (cue the "oh brother"'s) - sorry I had to speed it up it's a VERY LONG SLOW PUSH

The table scene features a (very) long push-in on Carms and Sydney's interaction under the table with no cuts or major changes in their positions. This scene is often seen as one of the most intimate within this show. It's a real intimacy, as opposed to the contrived "intimacy" we see in clips of Claire and Carmy, where even their dialogue doesn't serve their connection and deepening it as much as the shot types they get do.

Let's discuss the differences between the table scene and the party scene.

That table scene is a chef’s kiss example for tension* in cinematography.

*fun, emotional, and genuine tension, maybe even sexual and romantic, but not malicious

The slow push-in during the Sydney and Carmy's conversation is such a stark contrast to the Claire-Carmy moments. Where Claire and Carmy’s shots are invasive and rushed, Sydney and Carmy’s are carefully measured, building that slow tension that just eats at you. Which is deliberate, of course, as everything with this show is. (Also remember how I brought up the questioning infliction in Carmy's 'observation' he made about Claire? Here, he makes a standing observation about Sydney without any unknowingness. "You like taking care of people." It's resounding. It's real. It's not contrived intimacy, it's natural.)

It's a direct contrast to any scenes of "intimacy" between Carmen and Claire. Just thinking about any scene of them together, there are quick cuts, quick close-ups and shot types that read intimacy parked with dialogue that... Doesn't.

Sydney and Carmy's scenes usually feature these slow push in's, but especially so for the table scene. Just like mentioned with the previous scene, this is supposed to be a reflection of their connection and relationship.

There's a lot of distance in the beginning, a slow, slow push in is like their slow connection building. Not only is this deliberate to bring us as the viewers closer to them, but to bring these characters closer together as well. These cinematography choices are made along with dialogue that is actually intimate rather than cheaply contrived to trick the viewer into believing it is real intimacy (like with almost every Claire and Carmy scene)

Then, there's a still moment in the middle of the push inwards, around when the wide shot becomes a medium. This may be supposed to signify that for them to grow closer, there will be some resistance to face there. Stagnation. This period could possibly be equivalent to season three? That was Carmen's stagnant and regressive state where he began to relive and react his traumas, making Sydney step back. In this moment as the shot stills Carmen's eyes are on Sydney. Just as he always keeps an eye on her. Reminds me of something from season three...

Then the still is broken and we get more of a push in, into an almost close-up, until they both exit from under the table.

This could mean a lot of things in the context of the cinematography reflecting their relationship. But the one that makes the most sense, (and that we pretty much already know) is that

They're both resistant to getting close. But they still want to be there for each other.

Cinematography and shot speaking, the moment ending mid-push felt abrupt. It felt like it could have gotten closer, but it didn't. The intimacy of the moment caught up with both of them, making their clean transition to a more stable position and a still shot type. (Above is a double cowboy shot - waist up, more comfortable[?])

But, script wise, it was a fully realized and well executed moment, that had a beginning middle and end. Their talk was real and cherished, transitioning to another moment where they share that they are not alone. This idea of leaving each other alone is, and becomes a very important motif throughout the series.

The flow of the cinematography differing from the flow of the script is not a mistake or a fluke. I believe that this is all completely intentional.

To us, we hear and we see the intimacy and the connection between these two. We heard their professions, and reassurances and their devotions to one another. What we're shown through the cinematography is a slowly building connection, that takes pauses at times, that has moments of stillness, but continues to push grow and learn alongside each other. We know, just as they know, that there is something there between them, and the transition from under the table to over it is reflective of their resistance. We don't really have those sort of close-up moments between Carm and Syd.

This is sort of saying, if we want to get them to let themselves get close to each other, they need to let it happen.

SO. To sum it up...

Clairecarmy scenes are feigning intimacy and faking the "build" to their connection - really just cutting straight to it

Sydcarmy scenes are real and hold a genuine intimacy between the two, but the only thing keeping it from being a fully realized relationship or connection is themselves. They need to let the build-up happen (because it does) and they need to let each other in(close-up to each other)

[byoldervine]

Why No Writing Advice Seems To Work

There’s millions of tips out there for writers, but so much of it just doesn’t apply, and it often feels like nothing ever works because you have to wade through a million failures before you find a success. But why is that, exactly?

1. Implicit phasing. Seeking advice while in the drafting phase of your writing can be difficult when many popular tips are more important during the editing phase. It can build on perfectionism struggles that a lot of writers have, but a lot of people genuinely don’t realise that this advice will suit them better for editing rather than drafting. If it’s about improving what you’ve already got, or just improvements in general, don’t touch it until you’re editing; you can’t improve on something that doesn’t exist, so you’ll just be going over the same draft a gazillion times without making progress. What you need to look for are tips for brainstorming, getting out of a funk, etc

2. Concept to blueprint. For me, literal thinking has kept me from understanding a lot of writing advice and, even when I’ve got the gist of it, I struggle to figure out how to take it from a general phrase (e.g. “Show don’t tell”, “Make it a habit”) to something actionable that tells me what I need to do. If you’re misunderstanding what the advice is saying, or you don’t know what actions it’s implying that you take, of course it’s not going to be helpful. Sitting down and dedicating a minute or two to considering it can really help, and if you’re still unsure then always feel free to ask other writers; there’s bound to be others who were in the same boat that can share their own interpretations and the actions they took that helped them

3. Hobbyist approach. If you’re only writing for fun, and especially if you don’t consider yourself a ‘real writer’, it’s easy to think that some of the advice doesn’t apply to you. For me, I always thought that the whole “Write every day, make writing a habit” thing was just for people who were super serious about it or on a schedule, not for people who were just writing for fun and didn’t mind it taking forever. But after trying out NaNoWriMo, I realised I actually quite enjoy having a set routine that allows me to see consistent improvement, and even after NaNoWriMo I experimented to see how often I could write without it feeling more like a chore than a fun activity. It’s definitely worth it to at least try out tips that you think may not apply to a hobbyist just working for fun; sometimes you might learn something else about your writing style, even if the tip doesn’t work for you

4. Unique takes. Ultimately, we’re all different people with different experiences, habits, interests, styles, physical abilities and neurotypes; not everything will work for everyone. And that’s a good thing! Yes, it’s frustrating when we try a popular tip and it just doesn’t work for us like it does others, but that’s one more thing we know about ourselves and how we work, and maybe it’ll lead us to a new discovery that makes it easier going forward. If everyone was the same, all our writing would be the same, and that would be boring. You’ll stand out as a writer by working differently to achieve unique results. And if you find something that works for you, make sure you share it in case others benefit, too!

5. Customise. Finding your own tips and sharing them can lead others to you, and it all starts with experimentation; try new things, mix and match existing tips you’ve tried and figure out what can be adjusted to make your writing process better. I can’t keep to NaNoWriMo’s 1667 words per day demands, it’s too much work in too little time, but I can do 1000 words every week and be much more consistent than I used to be. Or maybe watching your word count all the time demotivates you? Try changing your measurement from X words to writing for Y amount of time - or you could even try both and say you’ll write for a max of Y minutes unless you can reach X amount of words beforehand. Even if it’s not something that was originally intended by the tip, can you find a way to customise it to work better for you?

[unformula1]

sun and earth (LS2 x reader)

sun and earth (LS2 x reader)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ synopsis: you love him. he can’t love you back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ pairing: logan sargeant x reader w/c: 1077 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a/n: kinda poorly written but i hope it still makes you cry!! i'll edit it soon. sorry for lack of fics, i've been sick (very). masterlist(read more) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You love Logan. You definitely do.

“You’re such a dickhead.” Logan says as he punches your shoulder gently, but hard enough to cause you to stumble.

“I’ve got a very strong point there!” You regain your balance and punch him back.

“I do not… look like a cat.” He says, his smile growing as he does so.

“You’re literally doing it right now.” 

“I am not.”

“You definitely are. Look at yourself.” You shift to the side so Logan can see himself through the glass panel.

“Okay… well I don’t see it.” Logan crosses his arms, making his chest bulge in a way you would never get over.

“Well…” You stutter slightly, keeping your eye on his chest.

“Well?” He questions, causing you to snap out of your staring.

“I’ll put them side by side, then maybe you’ll see!” You quickly regain your composure.

He scoffs and ruffles your hair which sends a weird chill down your spine, you shiver slightly.

“You know, I think you’re like… the sun in my life.” Logan stuffed his hands into his pockets as he says.

“What a weird analogy.” You comment, scoffing as you do so.

“Shut up. I’m trying to compliment you.” He says, rolling his eyes and punching you on the shoulder.

“Fine. If I’m the sun,” You drag the last word, “Then you are the Earth!”

He raises an eyebrow and gives you a blank stare that screams ‘I don’t know what you just said’.

“You’re pretty, and gorgeous, or something like that.” You say, trying to sound as nonchalant as you can.

“Aw…” He drags the aw and scrunches up his face.

It’s adorable, you’ve never seen anything like it and you don’t think you will. Logan makes your heart flutter in ways you never knew could ever happen. Before him it was always you in charge, but somehow, someway, Logan changed everything.

All of a sudden you were killing to get him to look in your direction and nothing meant more than him smiling at you. You knew you liked him but did he like you back? You didn’t know and you weren’t willing to take any chances.

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

“Hello?” Logan’s voice comes from across the phone when he finally picks up your call.

“Hi.” You say back, loud music blasting in the background.

“What’s up?” He asks you, concern rising in his voice.

“I need… uhm… a ride back home.” You reply.

“Send me your location, I’ll be there in 10.” He says.

“Thanks Logs.” You say as you hang up and send over your live location. 

You clutch your phone tightly as you wait outside the door. The party had gotten hectic and chaotic within minutes and you don’t think you have the energy to deal with all of that.

Leaning against the wall, you wait patiently for Logan to come over. 

It takes him about 20 minutes to get here, which felt like forever, but when he pulls up, you waste no time before getting in the car and slamming the door shut. You take a huge sigh of relief as you lean back into the chair.

“Jeez, was it that bad?” He says, driving off.

“Horrible I say.” You sigh loudly as you buckle your seatbelt, “Thanks… for coming to get me.”

“No problem. Sorry I was a little late.”

“Don’t worry, you were- like the 50th person I called.” You admit, leaning back further into the comfort of the chair.

“Really?” He says with a tint of confusion.

“Yea, no one else was free.”

“Damn… glad I could help you out.”

“You’re an amazing friend. Sometimes you feel like my boyfriend.”

What.

What did you just say?

The words that escaped your mouth finally process and your eyes widen as you pray hard Logan doesn’t react too much about the words. 

“What?” He says with a chuckle.

“Nothing.”

“Boyfriend?” He teases, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

It’s hot, unbearably so, but you push the blush that wants to surface back down. You take a deep breath and try to quickly diffuse the situation.

“Yea, because you’re- like really close and really protective and all that,” You start rambling, “Not because of- like, romantic or anything, you know?” 

“Mhm…” He says, clearly suspicious.

The next few minutes are awkward, the tension could be sliced with a knife.

“Do you… want me to be anything more than a friend?” Logan breaks the silence.

You shuffle your feet and fiddle with your seatbelt. You know your answer, and you’re pretty sure he does too.

You clear your throat.

“Right…” Logan responds, turning the corner, getting onto the street your apartment was on.

“You know…I have to make quite a lot of sacrifices to be where I am and to maintain that.” He starts.

“Yes, of course, and I don’t want to get in the way of that.” You desperately hope this doesn’t go south.

“And you know how it’s sometimes really hard to make those sacrifices.” He continues.

It’s starting to become draggy.

“Well, I hope you understand, that you and I being friends… is going to have to be one of those. Those hard sacrifices.” Logan says, his tone growing solemn.

“Right… you can’t exactly… be something with me because of… things.” You reply, shuffling your feet more.

“I love you.” Logan says as he pulls up to your apartment.

“But sometimes, I can’t love the people I want to.”

You nod, the tears fighting their way out, streaming down your cheek. You look down, hiding the tears from Logan as he stops to let you exit the car.

“I’m sorry…” Logan says. He doesn’t strike any eye contact and his face is gloomy. He hates that he has to do this and you know that.

“It’s…” You say between the sobs, “Yea no, It’s fine.” 

You don’t make any eye contact as you exit the car. The tears become real and you try your best to wipe them away as you walk into your apartment. Once you’re in the safety of your house you break down. Falling to your knees, you drop everything else and just cry.

It hurts you knowing you could never have Logan.

The Sun and the Earth. The Earth needs the sun for its life, but if it gets too close, it burns; so whether they like it or not, they’ll remain the same distance apart for their entire lives, never being too close to each other.

[the-owl-tree]

im a little too tired rn, is it okay if i ask you to elaborate on the “tbc shouldve come out after oots because of how asc was handled” post… im curious 👀

Also a little sleepy so I might become back and edit this later but I was kind of nibbling on it in my brain and I think thematically, changing the order just lends itself better to OotS -> TBC -> AVoS -> ASC. Some of this is veering into rewrite/au territory but that's the fun part lol

Omen of the Stars

Sets up the religious themes of TBC with its Heaven/Hell cat war.

Sets up that StarClan can be wrong and this has negative consequences for the living cats. Examples: Yellowfang interfering in Cinderheart's life, StarClan telling the Clans to divide themselves before the war.

Sets up that there are cats in the Dark Forest who do not deserve to be there.

The Great Battle itself, quite literally them fighting demons of the pasts and "codebreakers" who aligned themselves with said demons, creates a really good set up for TBC.

The Clans are reeling and, had OotS pulled it off better, the great battle could've been devastating...and why a more strict leader trying to "pull his Clan together" would've been more acceptable.

The Broken Code

The themes and plot of TBC just work sooo much better with the aforementioned set up.

Themes of StarClan being wrong, making mistake, recontextualizing the Dark Forest as somewhere not as pure evil but also a result of these mistakes.

Ashfur swooping in post-war to get a hold on leadership, taking advantage of Clan pride, and using the code as a guise to unite ThunderClan under an iron fist.

Like the setting feels so perfect for TBC to me?? Post spiritual war between heaven and hell where even StarClan faced losses, a malevolent spirit with a grudge comes down to take advantage of this huge split whilst the worst leaf-bare the Clans have seen approaches.

But that's also obvious connections to make, what it also lends itself to is the new theme of authority and leadership that becomes relevant in AVOS.

This is also where the seeds of code changing are being planted.

A Vision of Shadow

Like I don't like AVOS Rowanstar, I find the text tells me one thing but his actions tell me another but for the purposes of this, I'll indulge the intention of the writers: Rowanstar is supposed to be too permissive.

And like, this doesn't work right after OOTS in which multiple ShadowClan cats sided with the Dark Forest.

But it does work post TBC after the Clans just fought and faced losses against Ashfur.

We see a leader reckon with the consequences of their own unchecked power (and perhaps sees some past echoes in the process?)

We see the use of the code to justify brutality fuel a growing disrespect from those in the Clans.

There is unease and unhappiness with the status quo (and in a good series, this should not be a bad thing)

SkyClan also brings into question the benevolence of StarClan. Would they turn a blind eye to ShadowClan? To RiverClan?

Things need to change, AVoS is the straw that breaks the camel's back: things need to change.

A Starless Clan

Berryheart's role hinges a lot more on AVOS while comparatively everyone else's can be either or, so just making AVOS more relevant adds to that.

ASC, as muddled and sloppy as it got, is about change and it is about progress, even if the authors got really scared and sympathetic towards bigots who want to halt that progress.

Continuing the theme of authority: what happens when a Clan has no leader?

Continuing the theme of faith: what happens when cats turn their back on StarClan?

and don't get me wrong, ASC stumbled downhill into a bush of thorns, but these themes do have more room to stand when we reorder and stack these themes to build on one another.

I'm stretching a little but I think thematically, switching everything around like building blocks just makes ASC like...idk have more to stand on?

I think I'd have to go on more of a rewrite tangent to make this work better but I feel like using TBC to set up AVOS rather than vice versa works better.

Star Specific Point (Spoilers)

I think also the ending ultimately being about choosing to come back and faith in the living also just caps off these building themes better. Frostpaw choosing to come back because she can do more alive than dead just lends itself to ideas of autonomy and breaking from the idea that StarClan is all-knowing and all seeing.

[mildlyannoyedscoundrel-blog]

I'm bored and am avoiding my homework so here's a little writing process breakdown inspired by @hollow-lime-green's from a bit ago. (Warning: it is NOWHERE NEAR as organized. Almost impressively so.)

Step 1. Idea

I have a handful of idea brain dump docs that I have separated by fandom/ship. Whenever I have an idea for a fic, I hop into one of those and make a bulleted list with a very rough outline of general plot points and vibes with occasional random lines or bits of dialogue thrown in there for good measure. It'll typically be somewhere between a paragraph and a page

(here's an example of The Vibe my idea docs have. They are deeply unserious)

Step 2. Outline

If I think an idea is worthy enough to make it out of Idea Dump hell, then I will move it to Brain Dump purgatory. Here, I make a slightly more defined outline (though still very messy and informal) that's usually between 2-6 pages. I'll define the structure a little bit, map out specific scenes, and add more fleshed out random paragraphs and bits of dialogue as I see fit.

(Example outline. Yes, all of them are like this, including the serious ones. Especially, the serious ones. Also I don't know why those random lines are highlighted I wrote this when I was 18.)

Step 3. Brain Dump

Once that's all done, I'll add a handy dandy little page break (though I have upgraded to making it a new tab now that Hana has put me onto that) and I'll start the Brain Dump.

The Brain Dump is just a random collection of anything I want + anything that gets deleted from the rough draft. The Brain Dump has no rules, no organization, and its god died in a water skiing accident 12.25 years ago. Everything that gets added to the brain dump is separated from previous things by a number of paragraph breaks that I measure with my heart. It can have anything from single lines to full fics (my fic Since When? is literally just something I lifted almost verbatim from my Glycerin Brain Dump and then posted as a separate work). It's also where I do a lot of my cooking and experimenting (the right column of the below example was my first draft of the curse talk from In the Garden). It's not a set rule, but in general I add new stuff to the top of the brain dump so it's in reverse chronological order of when it was written (for some reason the below example does not follow this).

(Normally I don't keep the brain dump in columns or have it so tiny this is just so I could show y'all as much of it as I could. If you look really closely at the right column you can see the line "Night was Suguru's least favorite time of day" written three times because I kept rewriting that scene.)

Step 4. Rough Draft

Every once in a while a miracle will happen and a fic will be lifted into the realm of the rough draft. Here, I start at the beginning of the fic and write super duper insanely slowly. Usually it's like 300 words in a day if we're lucky. Part of that is because I tend to edit/rewrite as I go, which probably isn't best practice but I hate going back and editing a work that I don't think is very good so I just try to make it good the first time around. The nice part of this is that even though I write super slow once the rough draft is done and my beta has looked at it it usually only takes about half an hour to an hour before it's ready to go.

One big aspect of me editing as I go is that I do not delete anything longer than a sentence. If something isn't working, then I just go to the beginning of that section, add a couple paragraph breaks, and do it again. Rinse and repeat this approximately two million times. Because of this I'll occasionally have situations where I'll have a bunch of versions of the same scene or line all listed out at the bottom of the page. That way, I can not only have a log of what changes I made in what order, but I can look through all of them and decide which one I think is the best version. (Most of the time I just have a jumbled mess of a bunch of completely disconnected half finished lines at the bottom of my page, but we don't have to talk about that.) Every once in a while I'll cut everything out from the bottom of my rough draft and I'll paste it to the top of the Brain Dump

(Example of what the bottom of my rough draft doc looks like ft the WIP of the sequel to In The Garden)

Step 5. Final Draft

Once my beta has gone through it, I make any big changes that have to be made, do one last look through, then it's ready to go. I'll copy paste it into ao3 and read it aloud to myself as I go through and do all the formatting stuff. This helps me catch any typos or awkward wordings I didn't catch beforehand. Then I write out a beginning and end notes, figure out a chapter title at the very last second, and it's off to neverland.

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  @gayjinkies! gayjinkies has 7 fics posted on AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and all of them are in the Steddie tag!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @Gayjinkies:

I’m a lover, boy

lover, you can’t be wrong

heartbeat (increasing heartbeat)

any solitary pleasure

Are You Sending Out Your Love Signs?

"Their writing is absolutely masterpiece. I LOVE their characterisation of Steddie!" -- Anonymous

Below the cut, @gayjinkies answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I started reading Steddie during a really weird and stressful time in my life. I’d be reading literally the entire night through for months on end. Reading about these dumbass boys was one of the only ways to escape for a while. When my day-to-day chilled out a bit, I figured I may as well give writing a go, since I’d read, I swear to god, hundreds of fics by that point. I immediately fell in love with thinking up the most idiotic, goofy situations to plop Steve and Eddie into. I’m also a sucker for enemies-to-lovers dialogue and the possibilities are endless with these two. There’s so much potential chemistry and tension and canonically unexplored backstories which makes it so much fun to write!

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I don’t think I have an all-time favourite! One of my favourites is friends-to-enemies-to-lovers because ohhh the layers…the betrayal…the yearning… I also love reading hidden identity fics, I eat them up so damn quick. And then the usual suspects: forced proximity, miscommunication, requited-unrequited, fake dating, only one bed. Honestly I could list so many that I love with my entire heart.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

I’m not sure if Crack counts as a trope?? If so, then that for sure. The more absurd the better, in my book. I love taking the most ridiculous situation I can think of and trying to write it believably enough that readers could think, “huh, yeah, I can see this happening. This makes sense for these two.” Apart from that, I love writing miscommunication. It’s so much FUN, and as I’m typing it I’ll be shaking my head, clicking my tongue, muttering, “if only you guys just talked…” and then not allowing them to properly talk for another 10k words.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

This is such an impossible question, there’s no way I could pick just one out of so many absolute bangers 🤚 blipblot’s A Lick and a Promise is phenomenal and I’ll shout it from the rooftops (I’ll shout about literally all of their fics from the rooftops, they’re just so spectacular) I’m reading Big Talk by occasional_loverboy which is SO FUCKING GOOD. let’s exchange the experience by jamiethegardener is an absolute favourite. Vulture by GriefAbyss is currently and very actively consuming my thoughts. throw me one by Adure is one of the first Steddie fics I fell in love with right at the start and it’s one of my all-time favourites.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Ohhhhh so many. I would love to write a secret identity fic and a fake dating fic, and I’ve got ideas bouncing around my head for both of those. They’ll get written eventually!! I also haven’t really written slow burn yet because I love instant gratification with ensuing angst and drama, but I would love to try my hand at it!

What is your writing process like?

Controversial, maybe! I can’t write any scene without having written the scene before, everything is written sequentially. I don’t plan or draft at all, so scenes just develop as I’m writing, which makes it impossible to jump ahead in the plot and write because the story changes every time I sit down to write more. It also means that if I get stuck on one particular scene, the entire fic grinds to a screeching halt until I figure a single line of dialogue out 🫠 So it’s slow going a lot of the time! I also don’t really edit apart from checking my spelling and grammar, so not much is left on the cutting room floor! Also, I only write while blasting pink noise through my headphones. I sometimes have music playing in the same room but the pink noise stays on the entire time. 

Do you have any writing quirks?

I’m not sure!!! Probably using way too many em dashes, which I say hesitantly for fear of people reading my shit and noticing my overuse 😬 I also recycle specific phrases all the time, which are usually ones that I use in my day-to-day as well. They just seem to snake their way into each and every fic.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

I’ve discovered that I really do need to have finished writing before starting to post, otherwise there’s a chance it won’t be updated for months as my focus jumps to other projects.

Which fic are you most proud of?

I’m really proud of set my wings on fire. It was my quickest turnaround time from idea conception to finished product, and it’s also the only fic I’ve written that’s just one scene. I also experimented more with structure and writing style with that one. It’s the most love I’ve ever put into a fic and the most fun I’ve had writing so it’s very special to me.

How did you get the idea for any solitary pleasure?

Ahhh, my stink kink fic. Not to put my friend on blast, but they were chatting with me about a guy they’d hooked up with who had a cologne collection totalling over $10,000. When I asked my friend if the guy smelled good, they replied that they didn’t really know, they prefer natural musk and sweat over fancy colognes. I heard that, immediately thought, “sounds like a certain someone…” and knew I had to thrust a scent kink upon Eddie.

When writing heartbeat (increasing heartbeat), what was something you didn’t expect?

I didn’t expect how difficult it would be to orchestrate a phone sex scene! I think dirty talk is one of my weaker areas in writing, so not being able to fall back on action descriptions when it came to Steve and Eddie’s interactions was hard. I’m a big fan of non-verbal communication and not having that as an option was definitely challenging.

What inspired I’m a lover, boy?

I don’t think there was any particular inspiration! The plot for I’m a lover, boy literally popped into my head fully formed one day, and I spent a bit of time just kicking it around before writing it all down.

What was your favorite part to write from lover, you can’t be wrong?

I love writing Steve & Robin scenes, and lover, you can’t be wrong is riddled with them. I’d never written anything from Steve’s POV before and exploring their friendship has been so lovely. Their conversations flow and I love that for both them and me.

How do/did you feel writing Are You Sending Out Your Love Signs??

Are You Sending Out Your Love Signs was the first Steddie fic I wrote, after having not written creatively for years. It was written after a solid few months of sleep-deprivation and stress and I don’t really remember much about how I felt while writing it! I think for a while I was very sure I was never going to post it, so I didn’t care about whether it was actually quality writing or not, which was freeing!! It was a good stepping stone to getting back into writing because it was a zero-pressure experience.

What was the most difficult part of writing Are You Sending Out Your Love Signs??

Probably literally just starting it!! I hadn’t written creatively since high school, and I hadn’t really been good at it then, so I was 100% convinced I wouldn’t be able to do it. Most of my experience is in writing research studies, so it was hard to push past that and embrace flowery, fun fiction writing.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

In my most recent fic, call my bluff when I roll the dice, there’s a scene where Eddie accidentally humiliates Steve regarding the size of his dick, and I had SO much fun writing it. The entire fic was built around that scene that I’d had in my head for ages. I love writing emotionally-driven dialogue and also Very Silly dialogue, so that was such a fun one to write.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I have a bunch of WIPs and even more ideas that haven’t been put on paper yet! I’ve got a long-form fic half written that I’m very excited about which I refuse to start posting until I’ve finished it, but it’s in the works! I’ve also got a third of a gloryhole fic written which I’m also keen to finish and post. Apart from them, I’ve got a bunch of crack ideas that I’m very sure will be posted in the near future!

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

I wanted to thank steddieunderdogfics for everything that you do 💖 big love to you guys!!!

Thank you to our author, @gayjinkies, and our nominator! See more of gayjinkies' works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[charlesjosephwrites]

Siblings Questions Tags

Thanks for the tag @oh-no-another-idea!

I could not have asked for a better excuse to introduce a couple of the characters from my latest WIP The Snap That Changed Everything.

Without any further ado, let me introduce you to Cam and Darren Snap.

1. Who looks the most like Dad? Neither of them really look that much like their dad, but Cam inherited his goofy smile.

2. Who looks the most like mom? They both look like her to an extent, but Darren takes it to the next level. He's basically a gender-swapped carbon copy of their mom.

3. Who eats the most? Cam definitely eats more overall considering her love of sweets, but Darren actually pays attention to what he's eating to make sure he's not missing any important nutrients or anything.

4. Who has been in the weirdest situations? Cam, definitely. She is very dedicated to her role as a small town journalist. She'll do just about anything if it means she can get a good scoop.

5. Who sleeps the most? Neither of them are particularly good at getting a full night's sleep, but for different reasons. Cam is constantly running herself into the ground trying to cover literally everything going on in town for the paper. Darren is stressing himself out way too much between trying to solve the paper's financial troubles and trying to rein in Cam's at times harebrained schemes for trying to help fix everything.

7. Most stable romantic life? I mean, Darren is aroace and uninterested in pursuing any kind of romantic relationship, which is arguably about as stable as it gets. Then again, it really doesn't take much to have a more stable love life than Cam considering she's historically been a bit of a mess in that department.

8. Worst habit of each one? Cam has a habit of pushing her own feelings aside for the sake of everyone around her. Her happy-go-lucky attitude is, in part, a mask she uses to hide her real emotional struggles. Darren wants to be 100% in control of every situation he's in, which leads to him feeling the need to constantly micro-manage everything. This leads to a lot of little arguments with Cam and her much more laid back go with the flow type attitude, and also makes him stress himself out even more.

9. Who's the most dramatic? Cam, by a long shot. I mean, we're talking about the one who comes to Darren after one (1) encounter with her love interest and is like "omg this mystery woman swooped into town and is the answer to all my problems; I think I'm in love," and Darren has to call her out on the fact that she's known her for less than an hour.

10. Who had a weird phase? People probably assume Cam was the one who's gone through really weird phases, but it's actually Darren. He went through a phase while he was in high school where he kept a journal written entirely in Klingon so Cam couldn't go snooping through it for his secrets (Cam tried to learn Klingon so she could snoop anyways, but she didn't have the patience for proper language learning).

11. Best cook of the family? That would be Cam! She especially loves to bake; her specialty is brownies.

12. Best memory together? Their best memory together would have to be when their grandpa decided they were old enough to start helping run their family's newspaper. Cam's always been super bubbly and extroverted, so she absolutely loved the process of interviewing people, and Darren loved the sense of accomplishment he got from editing articles and helping design layouts.

13. Worst memory together? It would have to be when they lost their parents to a car accident. Cam was five and Darren was nine, so losing their parents was going to be traumatic regardless, but it happened so suddenly it took them an extra long time to process what happened. A runner up "worst memory" happened just a few months before the story starts when they lost their grandpa. This hit them especially hard considering he was both the person who raised them and the only family they had left apart from each other.

14. Dream trip together? Darren's a bit of a homebody, so he probably wouldn't be a fan of any extended out of town trip. I could see Cam pulling him away for a day trip to the city, though. He'd act all annoyed about it but secretly have a lot of fun.

15. Would they rather not being able to shower for a month or have the same clothes for a month? I don't think either of them particularly care about the clothes they're wearing, so they'd probably be fine wearing the same outfits for a month.

16. Who's the older one? Darren is four years older than Cam, and he's still very overprotective of his baby sister.

17. How would they describe each other in three words? Cam would lovingly refer to Darren as an "annoyingly over-protective nerd." Darren would counter that she's a "dorky, happy-go-lucky idiot."

18. Role model? They both idolized their grandpa for different reasons: Cam for inspiring her passion for journalism and Darren for teaching him the importance of family.

19. Who usually has the worst ideas? Cam. There's no question about it. She has an overactive imagination and is Extremely Impulsive, which can be a very dangerous combination.

20. A GIANT insect is on the wall, who's taking care of it? Cam would be the type to freak out and jump on the nearest piece of furniture to get away from the bug while also insisting that Darren take the bug outside instead of killing it.

I will (softly) tag @space-writes, @kitty-is-writing, @enchanted-lightning-aes, and anyone else who sees this and might have a set of siblings in their WIP they want to talk about.

(Blank versions of the questions under the cut for easy copy & pasting)

1. Who looks the most like Dad?

2. Who looks the most like mom?

3. Who eats the most?

4. Who has been in the weirdest situations?

5. Who sleeps the most?

7. Most stable romantic life?

8. Worst habit of each one?

9. Who's the most dramatic?

10. Who had a weird phase?

11. Best cook of the family?

12. Best memory together?

13. Worst memory together?

14. Dream trip together?

15. Would they rather not being able to shower for a month or have the same clothes for a month?

16. Who's the older one?

17. How would they describe each other in three words?

18. Role model?

19. Who usually has the worst ideas?

20. A GIANT insect is on the wall, who's taking care of it?

[dearweirdme]

I asked this from Peach and I really want to know your opinions on this one Rain🙏💜

I have one “thing” that I want to say and it’s super crazy😂I call it a “thing” because I really don’t know how to name it especially when I know that I’m biased towards both JK & Tae and their relationship regardless of what it is and you want to lable it👍

What if everything that we’ve seen so far (literally since 2017/2018 when I first kinda felt the first change of vibe and behavior in their interactions) is just a scenario to help Jungkook and Taehyung out with their coming out process? (Like it has multiple phases which are all written in their contracts.)

SK is homophobic and coming out will change many things (change = ruin) and I do know well that it’s all WISHFUL THINKING but I personally believe (a part of me) that many things are play to help them come out and they’ve been taking all these measures to reduce the impact of its consequences and we will see more of these measures in the years to come…even Jennie and the girl in the footage from JK’s apartment and Dispatch😁 (Money, Money, Money💸) (To this day, I still cannot believe that TaeNnie’s associated contents were edited or that one footage was not JK in his apartment with Bam and that girl and the weird stance that Dispatch has taken over the years).

Call me crazy (I know I am one😂) but this is how a part of my mind thinks and I’m crazy enough to share it with ya’ll😂

Like HYBE has been taking all measures possible to make sure that everything is confusing about TaeKook (ITS talk / Promoting JiKook / Hiding TaeKook / TaeNnie, to name some) until the right time comes😂

Bro this is just crazy and downright madness and I’m laughing about how crazy this thing is but I’m thinking about it😂

I mean like, JiKook enlisting together is the obvious sign that they’re not a couple because it’s just me or ya’ll think it’s so dangerous to engage in homosexual activities in the Korean army!? Ok, let’s say it’s BTS and they have signed NDAs to protect their privacy…but a whole unit just because they couldn’t stay away from each other for two years? It’s not a rational move in my opinion! (JiKook enlisting together was the end of JiKook for me).

I still have TaeNnie and that girl in JK’s apartment. There are many things that have stopped me from believing that something is really going on between TaeKook: JiKook being the first one, then comes TaeNnie and the girl in the apartment😁

Let’s see what narrative HYBE wants to promote by adding Taehyung to AYS🤭

Hi anon! So I asked @peachjagiya if I could post first, because I always feel some kind of way about answering the same asks.

Basically, I understand what you are saying.. I love the hopefullness, but I don't think this is what's happening.

I think what we have been seeing is that Tae and Jk are being more and more portrayed as close friends. I think they themselves have worked on that the hardest, because it matters to them. I don't think Hybe actually cares about them and their private lives enough to bother to try and help them. When the time comes for them to come out (and I think it will, but probably not for a few years... 5, possibly 10), Hybe will work out a plan to make them come out and benefit of that as much as they can, but before that.. I'm pessimistic. Taennie happened for a reason, and it was (for Tae's part) to keep people thinking he loves women. They are making a comeback next year, which is not the right time for a potential scandal. What Hybe will do to seed the news of a coming out, is let Dispatch publish increasingly more pics of Tae and Jk out. At dinner, visiting each other's places, on holiday, and at a certain point perhaps holding hands. That will take place over a couple of months.. so relatively fast, and it will end with an official announcement (if they are still with Hybe at the time). I tend to think that it's possible for them to come out individually first.. but I'm not sure what that will do for speculations, and if that's something they would want before coming out as a couple.

For me personally, Tae and Jk and everything around them isn't confusing at all. They fell in love, that was a problem and Bh tried to hide them. I'm never going to believe anonymous sources on the internet with clear signs of editing over Tae and Jk themselves, but I understand why it throws people off.

I don't really think Hybe is portraying much of a narrative with AYS to be honest. I think all of them are portrayed as good friends, which is truly all I need. I'm sure Jm will be put in the middle a lot, and I'm expecting to see more Vmin cuteness than Tkk cuteness for sure. But when I think about what we came from.. this is already so much. Pleassssseeeeeee, let it be Tae and Jm sharing the bed in jeju though 😂.

[shadowofthesun123]

How I use AI in my artworks and what I think about AI in general

I think it’s time to have this conversation because questions keep coming up more and more often.

I know that many people here don’t like AI or completely ignore it. In this post, I’d like to share my personal view on the topic and also answer the question of whether I use AI in my artworks.

Let me start with the simpler question. The answer is “yes,” I do use AI tools in some of my artworks. However, none of them can be considered fully AI-generated.

Sometimes, I use AI to create backgrounds or silhouettes, but I completely change the faces, like here: https://pin.it/2RUhZKz4S.

Other times, almost everything is AI-generated, for example: https://pin.it/N8apDmpfz.

Sometimes I use face swap technology, faceapp for hairs, etc.

I also have arts created fully without AI, but the faces there are based on real photos of Hunter and Jenna and edited with filters.

For example:

https://pin.it/1DZvBcKVw, https://pin.it/5wAdQvIFe, https://pin.it/19G1mffb6.

In general, I use anywhere from 3 to 5 or more tools for my artworks, including AI.

Some cases wouldn’t be possible for me to create without AI because I simply don’t have the technical skills yet. Others, on the contrary, are impossible to get from AI, no matter how hard you try, so I go back to good old collage techniques and hand-drawing.

Now, about my attitude towards AI overall.

You may like it or not, but it’s now part of our lives, and ignoring it is no longer an option. No AI boycott will stop its development. Almost any app nowadays has inbuilt AI tools.

I’m currently on maternity leave, but even in my professional field, AI is already widely used, and when I return to work, I’ll either need to know how to use it or fall behind the industry. That’s why I’m studying AI, and I do enjoy the possibilities it offers.

That said, I don’t deny there are issues - copyright concerns, as well as serious problems with fraud and fakes it can enable. As a mother, I’m terrified by the thought that someone could use my voice or image against my children. Now we have to be much more careful with what information about ourselves we put online - photos, videos, audio.

AI also creates a lot of low-quality content. But there was also low-quality content before AI.

As for writing, I don’t use AI there. It’s terrible at creative writing, plus that’s a space I want to keep entirely my own.

However, I do use ChatGPT to help write and translate tons of bureaucratic emails in a foreign language (which is, unfortunately, necessary when living abroad), and this saves me time to do what I actually enjoy, including writing.

One of my favorite YouTube videos from last year is about scientific breakthroughs of 2024. It’s in Russian, so I won’t link it here, but it mentions how AI, thanks to its ability to process massive amounts of data and detect patterns, has already helped scientists with several discoveries. For example, it helped identify a substance that might be effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It also contributed to a breakthrough in forensics related to fingerprint analysis, among other things.

Of course, AI makes mistakes, it’s often inaccurate, and everything it produces needs double-checking. But it can also be useful. That’s why I disagree with people who view AI as pure evil.

I use it for art, video projects, web design, and official correspondence, languages learning. Even though I try to keep up with AI trends, it evolves so fast that it’s impossible to follow everything - it updates literally every day.

It can be used for bad things (fraud), but also for good (scientific research). I’d say how I use it is somewhere in the neutral zone. I hope it doesn’t harm anyone - and maybe even makes someone happy.

So, I will continue creating art, including with the help of AI, and in my next post, I’ll tell you about my experiments with AI videos.

I’m open to discussing this topic - but please, be polite.

[theharmonious13]

269 - Haircut

WADA SPRITE WITH SHORT HAIR SILHOUETTE HELLO???

He's about to look like the Ultimate Illustrator sketch Von did me thinks, either way super excited to see Wada get the pampered treatment like Tsuno did in Chapter 3

New Wada sprite hiding in the bottom left hand corner gdi perfect editing lol

"My neck is perfectly fine" Hama this is hilarious but if this is foreshadowing to you being a victim Imma cry

Watari looking after Ken 🥺

She sounds so depressed though 😭

Wada and Hiroaki being confused in a conversation about Wada being albino 😭😂

Yanagi learning to ignoring Hiroaki's provocative comments is a mood lmao

I like how Yanagi said 'Ooh' in delight

Wada looks older?

Omg Hama having hair like Watari would be awesome in an alternate AU

I love the way Yanagi laughs at learning Hiroaki is younger lol

Love the bro dudes just hanging out together while Wada gets a hair cut, it's like a spa day tbh

Wada's cynical 'Aww' at Hiroaki being the youngest lmao

I love them discussing their birthdays in universe

Although we don't have the years in their bios, feels right to me that Wada is the oldest out of these guys - he's gone for acting the youngest to maturing a bit more

HELLO????

WADA LOOKS LIKE AN IDOL, I FORGOT HIROAKI GAVE HIM CLOTHES

Wada's shirt? Hoodie? Says goodnight on it, I think it's a good fit because he's the sleepy type

What's that techno shirt colour thing under the hoodie? This feels like a DRASTIC change for Wada, too confident and flashy for his otherwise soft personality 😭♥️

We ARE making Nagawa catch on haha

"You're just so much younger than us, it's hard to relate" I LOVE Yanagi's older brother type sass energy, Hiroaki is never going to live this down 😂

I'm not writing each quote down but know I am absolutely thriving with the Hama + Yanagi babying Hiroaki dynamic

ANOTHER WADA HIROAKI HUG? YES

270 - Breakfast Drop

Watari is so vulnerable with Ken, I love how freshly awkward it is

Although I NEED to confirm where Ken actually is, I'm very worried because a million things could be happening to him right now like stated in my previous post

It feels as though he's already dead and she's doing the coping thing 😔

271 - Climbing the Tower

Poor Takeshi... he saved it all for after the trial

I love how confident/proud Hiroaki is of his fashion/hair styling work

"Get in the shower or put on some clothes" Hiroaki is not beating the shipping allegations at this rate 😭

272 - Lightbulb Moment

Mai skipping school makes sense

Omg Hiroaki is going to thrive with the sewing materials room, FASHION STUDIO LET'S GO

I love the dynamic of a serious discussion between Mai and Ojima the 'caretakers' while Tamba and Hiroaki are being excited/silly in the background

Did Mai get kidnapped before? What the-

Yanagi Museum Date, and Ojima Museum Date, Azumino has everything I swear 😭😂

I pray a fan transcribes all background chatter in this series someday, I do my best to focus on it but without being able to look at a physical entity/subtitles my audio processing is garbage

Ojima not being able to drive makes me feel better about myself tbh, I know it's stupid

Is Hiroaki autism coded? It feels like special interest passion rambling and stimming but more in a fanon rather than canon way

Mai saying Ojima noticing the small details about Hiroaki is sweet 🥺

"Shigeki is literally wearing a costume" 😭😂

Omg I REALLY want to see what Hiroaki will design for Tamba, we haven't seen him make more feminine clothing yet

And the background chatter continues LOL

273 - Social Service

Wada still looking really short still haha

Oh? Yanagi helping investigate the closet because he's scared 🥺

Wada's trying to be more confident each day for Tsuno's sake omg 🥺

He feels depression mode... 😩

Yanagi will never understand the closeness of Wada and Tsuno's connection, poor boy 😭

274 - Student Teacher

Not Headmaster Watari ✨ complaining about more classrooms 😂

The school is short staffed 😭😂

WATARI DON'T WRITE THEM IN YOUR OWN BLOOD HELLO?

Hama wants to be a teacher? That's actually REALLY COOL

Religion I expected him to want to teach but not anthropology, I am fascinated now

Indulge Watari Hama

Watari's voice acting is PEAK in this episode

~~~

"Do I get paid?"

"No"

"Fuck"

Omg 😂😂😂

~~~

Private fridge is the payment lmao

I have to know what Hama would say on the PA lol

275 - Athlete Generation

Yanagi can actually practice better now les go

Tamba is about to let all of her energy in one go lol

But what use does Yanagi have for JUMPING INTO THE SPLITS ON SKATES?

Tamba contorts her body to win the flexibility competition

276 - Finders Keepers

Mai, Hama and Watari... better not be a 'staff' vs student turf war like what happened with Okazaki and Watari on the second floor regarding the staff room

I can't even word I love EVERYTHING about this scene

I didn't even think about the irony that Hama has been to juvie yet is very uptight when it comes to morals

Hama peak voice acting at 'Woah, careful! That's my demon arm!"

Adding this to my Watari x Mai shipper collection (never been a multishipper until this series came along lmao)

277 - Grow

I love Wada and Hiroaki hanging out

And then Ojima laughing at him endearingly

"It's not my fault, you're funny" Ojima 😂♥️

278 - View from Above

Omg Wada's diamond

He looks like he belongs in an anime cafe collab, he belongs in a different series now 😭

Shutter on the balcony is cruel, great creative decision though

Only five people? I thought it was after five cases even though Von confirmed it was five chapters long

So many people have to die to get to the win state 😭

279 - Sophistication of the Demonic Host

Lesbians explicitly confirmed? Yessssssss

God this group of four is now one of my FAVOURITES (Same with Tamba, Watari, Yanagi and Mai)

Hama being roped into these shenanigans is giving me life

~~~

Ken polite and shy

Hiroaki tsundere 😂

Ojima strong and silent type with glasses

Cute little outfit Wada

Mai as hostess for life (I'm simping like Watari and Tamba fr)

~~~

SQUEAL FOR POLITE HAMA

SHE'S SO EXCITED LOL

280 - Archive

There are two types of students: Those who don't attend voluntarily and those who don't attend involuntarily, so far none of the cast went to school as per normal 😭

Watari's 'were you dumb Yanagi?' lmao

Somebody's going to steal a student profile, I just know it

281 - Courtyard Discussion

Cast feels so small 😩

Wada taking care of the lily, yes! 🥺

I like how there's no arguing when they discuss what they found now, a refreshing change and a new sense of cohesion

Hayashi now has a bigger target on her back thanks to the student profiles... yay 🥲

Noooo Mai rejected Yanagi 😩

282 - Wellness Check

The silence is haunting in these one sided Watari and 'Ken' conversations

283 - Low

Watari's so worried and scared... me too bestie, me too 😔

284 - Wellness Check Revisited

Hasegawa is finally here LET'S GO

I love the way Hama talks to Ken in this scene, I don't know how to explain it

I love how caring Hama is, same with Watari

He doesn't speak, just quietly opens the door... oh the pain 😭

[ticklepinions]

Ranting

Do y'all feel like everything is just so infuriating.

I don't even know how to phrase what I'm upset about. I hate how it feels like one side has to do the heavy lifting, while the other side just watches.

Avoidant people are automatically demonized and told to be better. Introverts are told to go out more and do better. Night owls are looked down upon and often pegged as lazy. Me literally trying to be friends with people but because I'm unemployed there's this vibe I get from people. Maybe I'm just projecting my insecurities but it genuinely feels so real.

Why is every aspect of my being tied to productivity? Oh "avoidant people don't take responsibility for their actions", hey not entirely true. Anxious attachment styles can also be toxic when not handled correctly. But you pair both of them up, at least from what I've seen/experienced, it is up to the avoidant person to manage everyone's feelings. Like wtf is that. I got in an argument with a friend, and I said I needed time to process and it basically led to them saying "why can't we just talk now, it's making me anxious". And because I fawn sometimes, I just compromised. And that's so fucking shitty. But I ask the people around me and the vibe is usually yeah it's best to handle things there and then. But because my brain literally isn't wired that way, I genuinely need to talk it out a lot with people who aren't involved to get a better sense of what I'm feeling. I often don't know why I got upset, or if I am upset at all. But nooooo avoidant people are the worst ever. Hey maybe we can also benefit from not dealing with a problem right away. Maybe taking some time can also be an appropriate decision.

Or when we speak about introverts. It's always this thing people want to fix. Talk more. Put yourself out there. Network. I'm exhausted. But the disdain is seldomly towards extroverted people.

Early risers can do so much with their day so people love them. But oh you wake up AND stay up late? What are you doing with your time?? Work I hope.

And I'm not saying we put the "other" side on blast. It's just frustrating to have aspects of yourself that don't necessarily need to change, constantly be poked and prodded at. And not once have people stopped to wonder maybe we can just do things differently.

I feel insane sometimes with hearing people say "that's just life". Hey so what if I shoot myself with a water gun. Why does it have to be like that? Are we not gonna do something about it? I'm just expected to grin and bear it like everyone else is doing? While it's literally making me question my sanity and if I want to continue *living* period. Hello??

Anyways therapy cannot come any sooner I am gonna crash out lmfao

Edit: how could I forget mental illness. People actually don't gaf. If your depression/anxiety/whatever isn't something digestible, you can forget about support. And people love weaponizing therapy. Therapy can only do so much. I'm literally paying for someone to validate me. If I can't find it naturally within my own community that's just more isolation. We've become so individualized and with terms like trauma dumping and capacity and what not being used, and rather incorrectly, it perpetuates this thought of you shouldn't complain about anything to your own circle.

[kings-highway]

i've got quite a lot of fics written but they don't seem complete or cohesive enough to leave my docs,,, i don't know how to outline fics so everytime i get back to them im all over the place and end up doing things from the beginning do u have any advice :��,)

so... mhm... this is an interesting question. First of all I GREATLY appreciate you asking but unfortunately this installment of King's "advice column" is going to be half rant, half pep talk, and like maybe a sneaky 3% advice because the truth is... I don't know.

first off: I don't outline anything. Never have. The few times I do outlines it's for the sake of "trying to outline" and never because i wanted to. If you ever see me say the phrase "my outline" what Im actually referring to is the dance-break hallucination of the characters I've set to whatever Top 40 song Im listening to at the moment. I... cannot help you with outlining. Not really.

But I have some things that may help you overall. It sounds like the problem you have is with editing, not writing. Which... if you're new to editing or haven't edited a lot, can be entirely tedious and confusing and you might be saying "ach, but whats the difference!" - the difference is everything. I, personally, love editing. editing is where a story comes alive and can be perfected. If you have a finished full draft of a story, and you truly dont know where to go next... the next step is to be done with it. Literally. I've been working on a personal novel for about 2 years now, and half that time is spent waiting. Put away your draft, write something else. In 2 months, 3 months, come back to it and read it again, change anything you're no longer satisfied with. You'd be SHOCKED how much just taking a break from a story can improve your understanding of it. You may think of things to change in this waiting period - hold off. Hold it in. Let it stew. consider it caramalizing onions. there's simply no way to rush it. NOW - you expressed the sentiment of "i always end up doing things from the beginning-" I say... no you dont. That IS editing. My story has fully changed from front to back multiple times. That new draft you wrote from scratch? congrats, thats your second draft. Not your first. then you do it again. And again. Until the edits become smaller and smaller and smaller. And then when you hate it enough, you say "i cant possibly touch this anymore" and thats when you let someone read it.

And the truth is, they should have been reading it before. Feedback is infinitely important, in the editing process. You cannot expect to only ever show the best product. I have friends who have read drafts of my novel that wouldnt even be able to recognize what it is now. but I could never have gotten it to this point without their feedback. You have to be okay with letting someone - even just one person - see your bad first draft. THEY will be able to tell you where your cohesion is or isnt and how to improve it.

BUT that brings me to a second point, and the idea that this is probably fanfiction. Now, your initial ask was a little vague, so consider the first response there me being under the assumption you were interested in completely finishing a novel or short story with incredibly serious intent. Now Im going to assume you might be looking to publish chapter by chapter or take it "less seriously" because its just for having fun.

And to that i Say:

if youre publishing chapter-by-chapter (and writing chapter by chapter) your cohesion is gonna be shit!!! thats a first draft youre putting out into the world, babe, its gonna be ass! but embrace the chaos!!! I have learned and developed SO MUCH as a writer by publishing chapters one at a time, namely how to "punch through" that lack of cohesion. Consider your first draft a challenge. no matter how many errors you make, you are NOT allowed to go back and change it. that thing you committed to chapter 2? well its chapter 18 now and you either need to address it, or ignore it and hope your readers dont comment. You are beholden to your own writing and theres nothing you can do. Make it work. Its probably not as bad as you think.

Which brings me back to my initial point - dont trust me on cohesion!! Or, maybe, don't trust *yourself* on your judgement of your story. I'm assuming if you're asking you like at least 1 of my stories, so here's that aforementioned peptalk bit from the beginning:

if we're talking about incohesive stories and bad choices and things that REALLY should have been edited, I'm the (hehe puns) King of them. (I sometimes just vaguely think about Paranormality and want to tear my hair out - and yet this is one people seem to love the most!) here's two facts from my stories that are currently still available to read on ao3:

1. In "The Island" Jasvir and the rescue team make a 24 hour journey in about 6 hours (Because I forgot where New Zealand was and didnt fact check before)

2. In "Soulmake Adventures" Tendou describes how Ushijima stays at his apartment when he's "in the city" despite that city being Tokyo and the home base for the Adlers and Ushijima really should, like, have a home. (It did not occur to me to even check)

And Honey, if you think I had a plan for even one goddamn second of Paranormality you're mistaken. Holy shit it's just nonsense after nonsense after nonsense. I REALLY should have like, at least at one point, like... thought ahead. I just kept shoving stuff in and backpedaling and doubling down on things. But it was FUN to write. And people had a lot of fun reading it. I could edit it into something cohesive, but I dont think it needs that. I think if youre writing fanfiction, maybe its okay to just let it be a little bit loose and fucked up for the sake of the joy of it.

here's.... uh.... 3% advice:

1. have an ending. the stories where I know what my last scene (or my last line) will be always get drafted easier and with less stress. I dont mean have an ending idea. I mean literally mentally map out the last paragraph. Really helps me keep on track

2. talk to people. Walk them through your premise and your themes and what you want it to be. saying it out loud almost always will start clicking puzzle pieces together.

3. learn editing. unfortunately im not talking about grammer and spelling, i mean proper content editing. You have to build this skill seperately from your writing.

4. accept that your first draft is for vibes and fun. Push forward and do your best to "force it" however you need to, but;

4.5. understand that deleting work is part of the creation process too. If you do scrap an entire draft and start over, youre not "starting over" - youre starting draft 2. Thats editing!

[overdicebro]

continuing my rant about wanting a mermaid princess

Okay I've thought about making it it's own chapter but then that would mean there will be another Voice so instead I made it another subroute of “The Prisoner”

The thought process and perception of the Princess should be somewhat alluring, seductive, mysterious yada yada yada

That the Protagonist just find her nonchalance and ambiguous answers somewhat attractive. It'll end up with the princess beheading herself and the hero just traumatized to the point where the "can we put it back?" was actually considered. The Skeptic could've also just questioned the entire being of the Princess and perceived that putting it right back didn't seem impossible. So walking right up to the head and trying to salvage(?)😭 it back. She'll be stunned and she'll beat the shit out of you still without her head andddd you die and transition to next chapter.

I don't even know where you'll get siren from that scenario but STILL hear me out. *Perceived her as mysteriously seductive and soothing from the start and downright horrifying the moment after (?)??()?((

Chapter III : The Siren

Voices: Hero, Skeptic, Smitten, maybe even Paranoid

The cabin's interior has changed into a more intimidating, submerged in water similar to the Grey. The blade the mirror everything is still there blablabla. Going down the stairs nearly opaque and almost filed with water it's difficult to even step in it. The Princess has a siren-y voice. Thats it.

She's resting on a stone and the basement is kinda filled with water just enough to hide her tail. She'll have more flowy hair, tattered dress, fins and stuff, and some chains shit. The Princess will have disdain towards you for trying to put her head back instead of helping her get out of the cabin but she's still chill. Basically Specter underwater edition, she's still has her chains but its useless now since the metals been in contact with water it might be easier to break it idk. The scene might play as to how can she even end the world when she literally can't walk rn. Shes more helpless since there isn't enough water to swim her way out of there; crawling her way out won't work in her favor because the tails heavy as fuck. So it's up to you if you're willing to carry her up outside the cabin or just slay her. Idk what happens if you slay her. But choosing to carry her all the way up will just let her be eaten by the hands and turn into a vessel. She'll be an “Enchanting heart” I think

“She who has never found support even in her darkest time still finds herself in a better judgement than those who put her in this the first place”/ Do not mourn her for she now has all the help she needed/ kinda shit

You can choose to leave her behind I think and I think that's where she'll begin to plead and be more desperate. Andd maybe her theme can have her singing?

This shits rough man but it's all I can think off, been here some days on my drafts but welp

[writtenbyaris]

my creative writing process as a planner 🌟

the idea:

story ideas come to me at the most random and inconvenient of times. right before i fall asleep, when i'm in the shower, during my classes, etcetera. my main rule is to always write them down, whether it's in my notes app or a slip of paper or a journal... i'll forget it if i don't.

i try keeping it simple at this stage and not thinking too deeply about it, otherwise it becomes quite overwhelming. sometimes ¡'ll make a pinterest board depending on what the idea is. if it's more of an aesthetic, then i can make a moodboard out of it to help inspire me more. however, if the idea is a plot of some sort, that can be a bit more difficult.

character and world building:

this is my favorite part. once i have an idea set in stone and i'm ready to work on it, i begin building the characters and the world around it. i figure out the mechanics of the idea and how it can relate to characters and the world they're in.

at this point, i'm definitely making pinterest boards, playlists, and picrews to feel more immersed in the skeleton of the story.

i still keep it as simple as possible, and try to enjoy it. when i try juggling too many things at once, i end up wanting to abandon the project. slow and steady is the key for me :)

creating the story:

now we get down to what being a writer actually is.. transforming the idea into a story. i have to at least come up with one major plotline to start. i usually write in my journal during this stage, but sometimes i'll use notion to organize everything and keep track of it all.

oftentimes, the main plot will come to me when i'm working on character and world building. sometimes it's even the idea that first popped into my head. the story is usually influenced by dreams i've had, my own every day experiences, and other media i consume.

arcs, subplots, themes, etc:

this stage is for the smaller details that are vital for the story to flow and actually work. it's like a puzzle that's finally coming together.

for me, a story isn't a good one without arcs and themes, so those are of utmost importance. subplots are necessary to make the world more immersive, give readers insight on the characters, and keep the story naturally flowing. everything has to be woven back in to the main plot or idea, though.

i will say, this is the stage that tends to give me the biggest headache :P

zero draft:

jumping into a first draft as a heavy planner is too scary for me. so i came up with the idea of a zero draft. basically- zero expectations.

this is the backbone of my story. in this stage, i'm basically just taking myself through the steps of the story. i organize the plot and subplots into chapters, and with each chapter i go through all the beats of each scene. literally every. single. thing. that happens.

i don't usually include dialogue in this phase, but i do mention when a character will be in a conversation. all the focus should be on putting a needle and thread through the story and tying it all together.

first draft:

the first draft is somewhat easier for me because i do a zero draft. so, i know everything that will happen in a chapter and just have to utilize my writing abilities to make it rhythmic.

this is the first stage where i write dialogue, so it tends to be corny. a lot of my writing can be cliche and basic as well. that's what editing is for though!

i usually stress the most when writing my first draft, because it's the first time the story is actually being written in the format of a novel. by the end, it's not always very good either. but i do not look back at all, which means absolutely no editing until the first draft is finished.

and so on…

once the first draft is finished, then comes draft two. it's enjoyable to be able to read your own work all over again, though it's sometimes embarrassing as writing does improve with practice.

i focus on one chapter at a time-reading slowly, editing, filling in plot holes, fixing anything that changed later in the story. i try to catch as many details as i can.

usually, after as many rounds of editing one likes, the draft would be sent to an editor and beta readers. then i'd look into publishing companies (can you tell i haven't gotten to that point yet? lol)

are you a planner or a pantser?

[sadistic-kiss]

What’s your process like when u write? :0

Music helps me a lot lol. Sometimes I will kind of close my eyes and listen to the music as I imagine what is happening and then I'll turn the music off or turn it down so I could type it out.

But if you want me to start from the beginning then its like this…

I have very vivid dreams. I was able to lucid dream ever since i was a kid and I got really really good at it. So sometimes I can control myself but I cant control those around me or sometime I do things and I'm like why did I do that lmao.

Needless to say its like watching a movie and I'm in it or watching it close up.

When I wake up if I really enjoyed it ill write down kind of like a summary of what happened. So I have plot points and all that jazz.

This is how HOA was created so when you guys talk about the embarrassing part of the dance it makes me laugh because I don't know why that occurred and why I did it but I just did and it was awful 😂. Like I was laughing while running because of how absolutely absurd the dance was. I also was missing my mom a lot and that's why I wanted to go home too. So a lot of things I try to make more open for everyone to feel conneceted to reader.

Anyways! That's kind of my process for everything but things can change as I go but the plot point sstill stay the same. So its like my brain gives me a blue print and if its a solid blue print ill type it out. That's why its easy for me to add in foreshadowing be cause I know what's going to happen.

So if anyone says I copied them then they are lying because I literally dreamt up all my stories 😂. Maybe my dreams were influenced by all the smut I've read but for the most part it is very much originnal✨

Oh! And I use a reading app to read back to me and do cleaning up or add things in.

If I need to influence ill watch some sexy edits of the sexy men I'm writing for to further the rot 👁️👅👁️.

was this answer satisfactory hahah I hope so sorry it may be too early for me to be up right now lol XD