#The little dialogue is from an alternate scene from when they were stuck in the tower

[supdudes95]

Hello Sup! Nonny here!

There is a list of extra scenes...? 👀 Hmmm... well...!

I DO have an inquiry then- if an inspiration strikes you of course. I believe I mentioned somewhere in the passing that it would be funny if Vox crashed into the wedding, but since then the idea had GROWN and put down the roots in my brain and refuses to leave lmao

You know hitting all the corresponding clichés but failing at them spectacularly or warping them comically- kinda like 'Shrek' did with fairytales themes

I also have an actual question. Will you attach the Extras List somewhere? I am genuinely curious what's in there haha

...though on the other hand a total surprise would be also fun... tsk

Well, anyway- have a wonderful day, Sup!

Hi, Nonny!

There is, indeed, an extras list of scenes and other little ideas that aren't long enough to be chapters in themselves XD I mean, these things could be anything from 500 words to 8K words, depending on the idea and how into detail I go.

I think I have the Vox idea written down- I did not, but now it's on the list! Anyway, yes, I actually thought about that idea, too, having him escape Limbo earlier, but then I felt it wouldn't work with Fowl Nightmares, so I discarded the idea XD That being said, there's also another wedding alternative scene I have in mind, so I'll see if I go for double-trouble and combine them, or I might write them separately. The chaos would be a lot of fun, though XD

When I say there's a list, it's actually a combination of actual ideas, pure dialogue and just completely random sentences, since if I get an idea, I immediately scribble it down so I remember it. It's a chaotic list, for sure, and literally all the ideas-lists I have are written like that XD So, I probably won't share the actual list, unless I add them at the end if people are curious how the boys end up in the situations they do in this universe, and want to see how I planned this entire series. It's literal scene descriptions, dialogue prompts, things I see on the internet that could potentially be warped into dialogue for them, somehow, you know.. There's a lot XD Like, the idea document for Beneath the Red Moon is 12K words long and written on my phone (keep in mind there're no long descriptions, it's literally just dialogue like; "you can shapeshift." "Oh. Right. Good point"), and it is separate from the actual planning document for that story, which is 105 pages of handwritten notes XD All of the stories are built up like this XD

Sorry for the long answer, but thank you for the questions and the request <3 Hope your day's awesome, too!

[charmac]

I wrote about Charlie and Dennis' paralleled childhood sexual abuse, and how their opposing trauma responses keep them from seeing themselves while they stay stuck in their own cycles of abuse.

// The content under the read more is an in-depth script analysis highlighting and discussing childhood sexual abuse and trauma response. Please read with caution or scroll past this post if these topics are known to affect and/or trigger you. //

Because Sunny walks an extremely fine line between sensitive, if not traumatic, character work and dark comedy, I've found that, in reading the scripts, the trauma being written is always much more blatant. You have to work a little harder to pick up on the underlying intent when watching the episodes (though the more and more we learn about the characters, the more the intent becomes clear), but the scripted versions of these scenes are solid evidence that the clear intent of these storylines is to reveal that these characters have extremely repressed childhood trauma, in-turn explaining to the audience why they have such fucked-up ideas of (and relationships with) love and sex. To put it more blatantly: the purpose of giving and revealing the childhood trauma these characters have is purposeful (if not needed), explaining why they are the predators that they are, and allows us to at least understand where their often psychopathic actions and rationales come from.

The fact that Charlie and Dennis were both sexually abused as children is all but obvious to the audience (and every other member of the Gang), but the extent to which these plots are intended to act as character work as opposed cheap-shot rape jokes is often lost on the casual viewer. In my opinion, the disconnect is not for lack of clear intention in the writing, but by the nature of the show being what it is.

It’s very clearly still there, easy enough to catch if you’re standing more than ankle-deep in the waters, but because Sunny is a dark comedy, it’s unfortunately easy to uncomfortably laugh past a rape joke if you don’t care to look deeper than the surface. Taking a look at the scripts helps paint a clearer picture, making it easier to point out, walk through and explore the CSA lore developed for both Charlie and Dennis, how they parallel and oppose each other, and how this trauma relates to their own predatory behaviours. 

An obvious starting point is Charlie Got Molested, which is, on the surface, an episode in which we learn that Charlie wasn't molested. What is changed from the script to the episode is this first line from Charlie, right at the very end of the episode, on his family’s response to his alleged molestation:

(Charlie's aired line is instead "Now everybody thinks that I've been molested. So, in a way, my life is ruined.")

Whether written with a specific intent at the time or not, this episode sets the stage (literally, lol) for a later building 'reveal' that (1) Charlie was molested as a child, and (2) his Uncle Jack is very much a pedophile, not just a perv (which is hinted at in the actual episode, both in dialogue and visuals), because the next time the show features a plot with Charlie and molestation (Sweet Dee's Dating notwithstanding, though important to mention, as it’s further evidence of the idea that there was clearly a thread being woven early on), it’s via the form of a play.

Charlie wrote The Nightman Cometh as a play about love, which was turned into a 'legible' play by Artemis, in which the Gang all "misinterpreted" his original intent and believed it to be about a child being raped. Charlie gets mad, because he doesn't see it, doesn't believe it, and instead believes everyone is destroying his artistic vision by refusing to let this idea go.

The script for The Nightman Cometh (which, I’d like to point out, RCG chose to make publicly available to everyone) has an alternate ending to the rehearsal of the bed scene between The Boy and The Nightman:

(The aired version shows Charlie more-comedically angry at Mac and Dennis by raising his level of frustration, physically with his hands. The mention of the Nightman taking The Boy face-to-face is never addressed in the aired episode, yet it does take place that way in the actual play scene following the rehearsal featuring doggy-style humping.)

What's heavily implied in the episode (and basically explicitly stated in the script), is that the Gang are not misinterpreting Charlie's art; the play is quite literally built around the idea that a child is attempting to communicate his rape, and Dennis is telling him that’s what it is. Charlie can't accept that, because this is a play about his life, he believes he’s created a play about love, and he is the boy and he was not raped so it can't be rape.

(And, following this, the audience can put the two and two together: Charlie’s clearly repressed CSA and the fact that his Uncle is a pedophile. In every.single.physical.interaction Charlie and Uncle Jack have, in every appearance he makes following Season 4, the fact that Uncle Jack is the Nightman is clear.)

Rolling back a little, it’s interesting that Dennis is the one to be audibly confused by (and frustrated with) the fact that Charlie can't understand his play is a rape play, because it's so very obvious to Dennis. Yet, 7 years later, he's in Charlie's exact shoes.

Because in Dee Makes a Smut Film, Dennis' plot almost directly parallels Charlie’s from The Nightman Cometh:

Dennis wrote his Erotic Memoirs as a tale of his sexual conquests, the first of his encounters turned into a 'film' by Dee, in which Dee "misinterpreted" what happened between Dennis and the Librarian as him being raped as a teen. Dennis gets mad, because he doesn't see how it could possibly be rape, doesn't believe a guy can be raped, and instead believes Dee and Grieco are destroying his artistic vision by refusing to let the idea go.

(In the aired episode, Dennis does not avoid using the word rape, and instead insists you cannot rape a guy, and that he was willing.)

Just like Charlie, Dennis refuses to accept that the people who are acting out his writing at face-value are telling him straight up that it looks like, and most-likey is, rape. Dennis can't accept that, because this is a film about his life, it's about his first sexual conquest, and he is the boy and he was not raped so it can't be rape.

This goes one-step further when Dee airs the 'film' for the rest of the Gang:

(The aired version of the video does not show anything from filming, and only shows a slideshow of photos from when Dennis was a teen, overlay text claiming he was raped, and a photo of Klinsky repeating 'hoser' over and over.)

Dennis goes on a spiel and reiterates that he was not raped. The rest of the Gang are not convinced.

And at this point, Charlie and Dennis probably should relate to each other, or at the very least intentionally give each other a pass/miss whenever the topic of childhood sexual abuse emerges, but instead they continue to have no issue believing and pointing out that the other was raped while continuing to deny their own trauma. 

In PTSDee, this paralleled-refusal is made clear. Very clear. In the script, it's even clearer:

(In the aired scene, Dennis' line is clearly cut after he mentions Charlie's mom, and it picks up with Charlie's line at "the father thing")

They see it so clearly in each other, but don't see themselves mirrored—and there's no doubt that's intentional. Because while they were both sexually abused as children, their current relationships with love and sex (as portrayed from basically episode one) are opposing, and the circumstances of their individual rape and immediate repression are extremely illustrative as to why they behave the way they do:

Charlie's trauma response is typical of pre-pubescent, forced rape. Not mature enough to even recognise what happened to him (as Uncle Jack's abuse was likely his first exposure to sexual acts), he regresses and represses, subsequently developing a repulsion toward sex into his adult life (in Season 5, Mac and Charlie Write a Movie, there's a deleted scene that makes it evident that he's disgusted by and avoidant of sex decades later), and, clearly by the depictions in The Nightman Cometh play and the lyrics of Nightman in Sweet Dee’s Dating, believing that the harassment he faced was love. 

For the run of the show, Charlie’s interest in love and sex is almost exclusively highlighted by his relentless pursuit of the Waitress. In so far as the idea that every member of the Gang is a sexual predator, Charlie is depicted as a sexual harasser, unable to recognize that disinterest, avoidance, the word "no," and stalking that leads to legal action to restrain him from the person he's pursuing is inappropriate and predatory.

While his CSA results in a repulsion toward sex (in most instances), Charlie clearly associates the concept of love with the early harassment he faced, brought on him in his own home by a "loved one," he truly believes that his own relentless pursuit will end up buying him love. Charlie is stuck in an abstinent cycle (at least, until Dennis’ Double Life) of his own abuse.

Dennis' trauma response is typical of coercive rape and grooming. He was old enough to believe that sex is something that should be seen as cool, and therefore obsesses and brags about his experience(s), resulting in his hypersexuality. In Season 5, The D.E.N.N.I.S. System, it's firmly established that Dennis' pursuit of women is something outside of genuine attraction; in fact, it's almost devoid of it. Clearly by the plot of PTSDee, he sees a woman’s sexuality as a weapon he needs to fight against. 

For the run of the show, Dennis' interest in sex is deeply entwined with the fact that he gets off on having power over his "sexual conquests". In so far as the idea that every member of the Gang is a sexual predator, Dennis is depicted as a date rapist, having an aversion to recognising (if not an inability to understand) consent, he pursues sex exclusively for his own physical pleasure, with little care for the other party, getting off on the knowledge that he’s orchestrated the situation he’s in.

While his CSA results in an obsession with sex, Dennis clearly does not associate the concept of love with the act, truly believing that sex is used to overpower someone, most enjoyable when obtained via coercion, exactly as his virginity was taken from him. Dennis is stuck in a loveless cycle of his own abuse.

Charlie and Dennis meet after their own traumas; their clearly disordered relationships with love and sex is how they've always known the other to be. When there are hints of the other's abuse, they're able to easy recognise what it is, for they sense the paralleled familiarity of their own CSA—yet their polar opposite trauma responses result in an inability to reflect:

To Dennis, Charlie was clearly raped, and Charlie fears sex and Dennis loves sex, so he can't have been raped; To Charlie, Dennis was clearly raped, and Dennis doesn't pursue love and Charlie loves the Waitress, so he can't have been raped.

Their reflections being mirrored causes them to harp on the other's trauma and keeps them from being able to truly recognise their own abuse. Call the other out and deny what’s shot back, stuff it down and continue spiralling in their own cycle of abuse.

[theredqueenandthebloodwyrm]

Oh hohoho, episode two of season 2 was certainly something!

Love the soundtrack so much, it always elevates the scene.

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW for HOTD S2 EP2 (House of the Dragon, Season Two, Episode 2)

The music choice for the opening scene? Perfect! 10/10! Made me feel emotions! The servants (and possibly other nobles?) being led out by the guards, the chaotic nature of it all, the impending violence! Ser Criston Cole seemingly trying to do something? Just trying to look busy?

Aegon’s raging was wonderful acting! (Personally I was a fan of the model of Old Valyria so bit sad to see it get wrecked but wowww the actor nailed that rage). Aemond being ominous per usual.

See I thought in the episode prior when Helaena called Jaehaerys “the boy” it was either a weird quirk in the script or a deliberate attempt character-wise for her to try and cope by not saying his name directly? But it feels weird having Otto and Alicent both say “The Child” when referring to Jaehaerys? Not even “My granddaughter” from Alicent? Or “Prince Jaehaerys” from Otto.

I do like the acting for Alicent, her breakdown and sobbing, that guilt and how she blames herself for what happened.

“You’re already seen as weak, Aegon.” That line from Otto is pure gold. Hate Otto Hightower but he is damn good at his political maneuvering, using Prince Jaehaerys death to garner sympathy and paint Rhaenyra as this cruel monster akin to Maegor. Sidenote: at least Otto mentions Jaehaerys was his grandson (technically great-grandson).

The dresses! The embroidery! Costume department is doing greattt! Love the horses being decked out in green and gold.

I do like how you can see Helaena’s face and eyes flit back and forth as she thinks and realizes what Alicent is saying when she comes into her room and says they’re riding behind Jaehaerys in the funeral. And how Helaena very much doesn’t want to do it and says so, yet even her own mother ignores her wishes. (Just like how Aegon ignores Helaena’s on the episode prior, interrupting Jaehaerys from his lessons). I also love that Helaena gets more lines, and how she cuts off Alicent attempting to talk about how she walked in on her and Criston together. It’s very much “fucking hell, mother, I don’t care about your sex life, my son is death and you want to parade me and my dead son through the streets.”

Holy shit they actually showed Jaehaerys’s body/head during the funeral procession. I finally understand the still of Helaena during the funeral that kept being used before s2 came out, the black wisps on her face are from the black veil she’s wearing. I’d panic and freak out too if I was Helaena, my wagon gets stuck and suddenly a bunch of people swarm you and are reaching out trying to grab you, it’s already so much traumatic stuff happening coupled with the constant loud calling of your name, it’s overwhelming.

Rhaenyra’s sparkling red dress is so pretty. I love it. Daemon being a smug little shit, love that for him. Jacaerys being a responsible Prince and heir to the Iron Throne. Rhaenyra chewing Daemon out was such a well written piece of dialogue. But like What do you mean you’ve never trusted him wholly Rhaenyra?? Either she’s bluffing or the writer’s were on something because she was all for Daemon and trusting him. They got married because she wanted him (and his support but mostly because she wanted him). I suppose this is how they’re starting to drive the wedge between Rhaenyra and Daemon so when he goes to Harrenhal and spends time looking for Aemond (according to what I’ve heard/the wiki). I did think it was odd for Daemon to not just outright say he wanted Jaehaerys dead / accepted Jaehaerys as an alternative option for Aemond’s head instead he denied it. I feel like he’d probably be more likely to embrace that he did, and expect approval from Rhaenyra THEN she would be all “you’re pathetic, I never asked nor wanted Jaehaerys dead”.

Baela! Baela! Can’t wait to see her on Moondancer! Jace & Baela scenes!

Caraxes is back! Caraxes is back! My Blood Wrym is backkkk! Looking great as ever!

Awww little Aegon and little Viserys! Rhaenyra’s baby boys are so cute. And yeah I noticed the juxtaposition between them cleaning up Jaehaerys bloody bed then switching to Rhaenyra’s own blonde-haired toddlers. Criston Cole is such a petty projecting bitch man, getting on the case of another knight of the Kingsguard whose cloak had gotten physically muddy while Ser Criston has dirtied his white cloak in another way (failing to protect the royal family, sleeping with Alicent, etc). “Will you so easily sully our ancient honor?” Nah but you sure will Criston. THIS MAN! THE AUDACITY TO ASK what’s his name of the Kingsguard where he was when Prince Jaehaerys was murdered. Hah you fucking tell him whichever twin you are, where were you Lord Commander?

YEAH WHY THE FUCK HASNT THE QUEEN (QUEEN HELAENA) BEEN GIVEN A SWORN PROTECTOR? YOU ARE INFACT MAD, SER CRISTON COLE! seven hells, this man is so fucking annoying, he’s literally pissing me off with his whining bullshit, blaming everyone else except himself. Ah, his name is Ser Arryk.

Baela with her crossbow! Jacaerys going to check on her because she missed supper! Jacaerys reminiscing about Laenor spending time with him, and Baela asking of Ser Harwin Strong! Ohhhh I love Jacaerys and Baela. “I miss Luke.” That line from Jacaerys. Ohhhh someone help me, I can’t deal with this tragedy.

The Brothel scene with Aemond made me uncomfortable yet I can’t articulate why? It’s this weirdly vulnerable scene, he’s curled up in this fetal position, looking almost scrawny and small? Yet even then while he claims to be sorry for Luke’s death, he still downplays his own actions never taking full responsibility (at that point just embrace the evil shit you’re doing).

Ohhh so we’re meeting Ser Hugh this time, nice. Love Addam and Alyn so far! Great brotherly relationship. I feel like Addam and Alyn’s personalities ought to be switched? Not sure, we’ll see, I love them both so far anyways.

Love Corlys and Rhaenys’ relationship lol. Otto’s rage at Aegon’s rash decisions and stupidity is absolutely lovely and hilarious. Great acting from everyone. Aegon’s dismissive nature, not caring how many innocent men he hangs if there was a chance he got the guilty man alongside it and Criston Cole being the new lapdog of the King. Otto trying desperately to play politics while Aegon fucks shit up.

Oo we got to see more of Elinda, one of Rhaenyra’s ladies-in-waiting/handmaiden. The fight between Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk was tense, wonderful, good use of the environment. Ser Lorent Marbrand, Oo he’s from the Westerlands (House Marbrand is in the Westerlands).

Ohhhh they mentioned Daeron! Can’t wait to see Tessarion. Oh greattt (sarcasm) Alicent and Criston are having sex again, can’t wait to see Criston further project his own insecurities and emotions onto other people.

[pluckyredhead]

Editing The Lost Titans

I get asks about writing advice/craft/tips occasionally, and I always feel a little inadequate when I answer them. While I try to be very disciplined and methodical about my original writing, when it comes to fic, it's something I do for fun and for free, so my method is mainly slapping my hands on the keyboard like a seal until self-indulgence comes out. It's rare that I outline fic or make significant edits, so it's hard for me to point to specific examples.

However! While I was writing The Lost TItans, I did a bunch of major edits - throwing away entire scenes, revising large chunks, adding an entire chapter after the first draft was done. More importantly, all of those edits had really clear reasons they needed to be made, rather than me going "Eh...it's just not right," which means I can actually explain my thought process without just waving a hand vaguely in the direction of the vibes. So I thought I'd write about what edits I made and why, in case it's interesting or useful to anyone. (And if not, who doesn't like navel gazing?)

The original opening scene was entirely different. It served the same purpose - it was still a dream showing the Titans Red world - but instead of all the Titans fighting the HIVE, it was Jason having lunch on the Star City University campus with Toni and Grant. Then, just as in the finished fic, Jason wakes up at Roy's house and talks about the dream over breakfast.

Now don't get me wrong, I loved writing that original opening scene. I love Toni and Grant, I was already invested in this alternate timeline, so getting to play with these characters interacting was super fun for me.

But it wouldn't have been fun for anyone else. Most of my readers wouldn't know who Toni and Grant were, and literally no one would be invested in their relationships with Jason, because I was inventing those out of whole cloth. Also, because the other four members of the team weren't there, it was just tons of exposition of who these characters were, what their team history was, etc. etc. Rose's joke about Roy being like a cool camp counselor was originally from this scene, but because Rose isn't in the scene, it's a joke being exposited rather than told. There was nothing to engage a reader who wasn't me, and also a lot of what was being shown in the scene - that these characters attended the same college - wasn't necessary information (as you can tell by the fact that in the final fic, that isn't even true).

So I cut the scene entirely and replaced it with the opening fight scene. (And obviously made the necessary edits to the subsequent conversation with Roy.) It's much more high energy, and more importantly: it gets the whole team on the page, it shows that they are a team rather than just telling you, and hopefully the banter gets you invested in their dynamic. They're pals being goofy together! I sure hope these are real relationships and not Hank Hall's weird manipulative RPF!

2. The third scene, dinner at Ollie's, originally opened with Roy, Lian, and Jason arriving at Ollie's and all the different Arrowfamily members getting little bits of dialogue or whatever before it was supposed to cut to the flashback of Jason butting heads with Bruce in Gotham. I was actually in the middle of this scene and stalled out for a while before I realized I needed to a) scrap the opening scene like I mentioned above and b) scrap this one, too. Often when I find I'm just stuck and not going anywhere, it's for reasons like this - the scene I'm writing isn't the right one.

In this case, it was similar to the Grant and Toni scene above - I was having a great time writing the Arrowfam, but the scene wasn't actually contributing anything to the fic. The point of this entire sequence was to show Jason's fraught relationship with his own family, and hint that Connor was experiencing the same dreams as Jason. Random banter with Mia or whoever was just getting in the way of the crucial information. I cleared all of the Arrowfamily stuff out of the beginning of this sequence, jumped straight to Gotham, and then used the birthday cake scene to contrast Jason's relationship with the Bats to his relationship with the Arrows, as well as drop that Connor hint.

I want to be really clear here, because I feel like people get defensive about the idea of cutting scenes that "aren't doing anything" or "don't move the plot forward." I didn't cut these scenes because they were quiet or character-driven. Jason and Roy having breakfast is quiet and character-driven. The whole fic is character-driven. I cut the scenes that I cut because they literally served zero purpose except having various characters go "Hello, I exist and I have a relationship to Jason." I replaced them with scenes that did that, and also moved the plot forward, and also made you care about those relationships, and also were fun to read. Please don't feel bad for those scenes because they got cut; they are a collection of words and don't have feelings.

3. The scene where Rose rescues Jason and Connor from Sudden Death got I would say a medium level of revision, in that the beats are all the same but they weren't originally fighting Sudden Death. Initially I just had them dealing with two members from opposite sides of a gang war, and the scene was pretty terrible but it got me where I needed to be, so I left it and finished the first draft of the whole fic.

When I went back in revisions, I realized that in using the gang war hook, I was once again spending time on something - in this case, the intricacies of crime in Star City - that had nothing to do with the fic. This is an easy trap to fall into: I needed to introduce Rose in a fun, badass way, while Jason and Connor were already hanging out, so having her save them while they were on patrol was perfect. It didn't matter who they were fighting, so I put in some generic goons.

But then I had to justify why said goons required three superheroes (four, if you count Roy) to defeat them, and also set up why they were there in the first place, and it just became a long derailment from the story I was trying to tell, with nothing inherently entertaining about it to justify it.

Swapping the goons for Sudden Death meant I could significantly streamline the "why" of the scene: he's a supervillain doing supervillain shit, case closed (although there's still a nod to him working with Brick, a Star City crime lord, to explain why he's in town). His dumb surfer shtick is more entertaining to read than generic goon dialogue. And he's a Hawk and Dove villain, which meant the scene served three purposes now: giving Rose a grand entrance, humor, and foreshadowing. Boom.

4. The scene where Jason and Roy kiss got a pretty thorough second pass. This one is the least helpful one to talk about, I think, because it really was just honing the vibes. I wanted to increase the tension between them, that slow pull drawing them closer, so I put in more about their respective positioning in the room, the way the room looks and feels, little physical details of Roy. If I make the setting more palpable, I make the tension more palpable - or at least, that's the theory I'm working with here.

5. The climax got a MAJOR overhaul. Initially, Hank returned Roy and took him away again, Jason had the team attack him, and there was a whole thing with the team fruitlessly fighting against all these hypertime variants of Hank. Only then did Koryak suggest they stay in the Titans Red universe.

I'd written it that way because...well, it was a superhero fic, it felt like it needed some kind of physical confrontation at the end. But this version of Hank is so powerful that there wasn't actually anything the Titans could do, which made the fight not particularly engaging. It also didn't really make sense for him to be attacked by Koryak, Grant, and Eddie, who were kind of on his side, or Jason, who was torn.

Instead, I nixed the physical fight, and made the actual conflict between the team members, which is the conflict that really matters. I also made that fight much more painful. The argument was already there in the first draft, but the truly cruel lines - Koryak's comment about Rose's mom, what Grant says to Toni - came in the second pass. Because the stakes here aren't really whether they can beat Hank; it's their friendship, and the balance between what they give up by going home, and what they give up by staying in the dream. I needed that decision to hurt, and failing to punch Hank Hall in the face wouldn't accomplish that.

6. I essentially added an entire chapter in revisions. Originally the fic went: Eddie sacrifices himself -> quick paragraph sending everyone home -> Jason and Roy get together -> team reassembles to rescue Eddie. It felt rushed and completely unsatisfying. I had been focused on resolving the plot points directly involving Jason, because he's the POV character, but I'd spent so long on all of the various team relationships that I had to at least give each character a proper send-off.

So I added the scene at the JSA brownstone. I let Grant and Toni make up, gave Grant his happy ending, and hinted at Toni's. I gave Koryak and Rose exit lines, and hinted that Jason thinks of Connor as family and part of what "home" means. I added the Tim scene because I needed to balance the beginning of the fic, and because if Jason was making the choice to return to a world with a fraught family dynamic, I needed to show that dynamic on page. I was worried that it would feel like I was drawing out the end too long after the Big Bad was defeated, but I think all of those scenes feel necessary and (hopefully) healing.

Anyway, hopefully this was interesting and maybe helpful! I find craft super interesting but it can be hard to talk about in concrete ways, so I wanted to get all this down on (digital) paper as clear examples I could point to when people ask.

[rottenbrainstuff]

BG3 playthrough - ending act 2

Ugh. I’m at the end of Act 2 now…. This game has kept me so wonderfully occupied for months, I’m kind of sad to be nearing the end, but also excited to see what else will happen. Of all the things I have already spoiled for myself, I’m mostly totally unfamiliar with the dark urge content for act 3, so I’m excited to see what new horrors I get to wring my tav through!

I thought I’d quickly wrap up after defeating Ketheric and move on, but dang there’s a lot of things to clean up here… everyone suddenly needs to talk to me all at once, even fricking Withers showed up. There’s books to grab now that no one is watching, corpses to loot. Aylin and Isobel are fucking hilarious, I love them, they’re adorable.

I’m really sad there’s so many ways to shit-talk Zevlor with Cerys. (oddly there’s also dialogue options to talk about him as if he’s dead when he definitely is not. The dialogue in act 2 definitely needs some polish, I’ve found a lot of little errors like this) Man I dunno. I mean he definitely failed. His own personal responsibility in regards to that failure is debatable. The tieflings are certainly in their right to be angry. But like. He fully accepts his culpability without excuse. He seems like he’s completely thrown himself away because of one moment of weakness against a foe whose entire MO is to manipulate people into obedience. In the end he wasn’t even suitable to be a true soul anyways, he says he was rejected, possibly because he was fighting, he can’t remember. I totally get the anger but I also feel bummed I don’t have more dialogue options to try to argue harder on his behalf, even if Cerys will never forgive him. Sigh. Does Alfira have anything to say? In a normal playthrough is she with the group at the tower? I’m just too protective of my sad old man hellrider I guess.

Before I left the shadow curse map, I stopped back at Last Light just to see if there was anything left. …there was. There were a handful of tieflings still there, and still giving me the “I saw a light in the sky!” dialogue. I hope nothing is permanently bugged for them and they’ll travel over to act 3 properly? Lakrissa was still there, Cal and Lia were still there, and Danis was there by himself in the yard (amusingly, after I brought him back from the Moonrise prison, sometimes he was walking around with Bex, and other times they somehow got separated and would just stay stuck in their separate spots, waiting for the other one to join them).

I’ve heard some people say that the scene with Raphael and Mol playing lanceboard has been removed, and replaced with a bit of an odd dialogue instead. I reloaded one of my own saves of me walking up to Last Light for the first time, and it was still the lanceboard scene for me, but maybe I just wasn’t loading back far enough? Some people speculate that the scene has been changed to get rid of an uncomfortable comment Raphael makes about Mol being “a blushing apple waiting to be plucked.” Other people are saying this is actually a glitch, and I am hoping that is the case. I accidentally got a strange dialogue path once when I was talking to Jaheira, and it seems this dialogue is from an alternate plot if you didn’t end up saving the grove. I’m hoping this alternate Raphael scene has to do with that.

Raphael’s line is definitely extremely uncomfortable but like. In my opinion… that’s… the point. Y’all really, really, desperately really need to learn that it’s ok to feel uncomfortable, there are going to be lots of things in life that make you feel uncomfortable, and you are actually going to have to find a way to process that feeling rather than demand that everything that makes you feel uncomfortable be removed. It’s an uncomfortable line. I don’t think Raphael has specific sexual intent in mind when he makes the statement, but I think it is very unfortunately worded, and it’s like that on purpose, and it’s supposed to make you go oh wow that is not cool. Raphael is a devil, he is literally evil, and I’m sorry if this comes as a surprise, but it makes sense that he would say things that are Not Good.

Anyways, I do really think it’s a glitch rather than a change, because if you wanted to get rid of that line, it would be much much easier to just edit that single line out of the conversation and salvage the rest of the scene, rather than completely rewriting a totally new conversation, a new conversation which now also doesn’t start the discussion about Mol’s contract with Raphael. That’s what I’m putting my money on, anyways, and I hope it’s true, because the lanceboard scene is nice and that would be a stupid reason to just cut the entire thing out.

In all the gifs I’ve seen of Gortash, I never understood his appeal, he always just gave me the overwhelming impression that he smells like a pile of damp towels that sat in a corner instead of being properly dried. Now that I’ve seen him, I am doubling down on that. I’m glad for the girlies who are crazy for him, and I definitely like him as an amusing antagonist, but I still imagine him as a stinky mildewed goblin man.

I am STILL crying about the little note from baby Isobel that Ketheric kept with him. I think my tav is going to start carrying that around as well. Fuck, man.

My tav has really been through the shit with all the creepy dark urge flavour in the colony, and all he wants is a fucking rest to process some of this, but he can’t because now we’ve got the Big Giant Emperor reveal coming up.

[according2thelore]

1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 for "He Lives For Me, Says He Lives For Me"

Sorry for sending yet another ask lol, I'm just so curious about the creation of this fic. It's so good and is such an interesting concept/version of events that I want to know what went on in your yalls brains while making this!

hihihi!

EEK! i'm SO excited you asked about this one! this one is one of the fics i'm proudest of (+ some of my favourite charlotte art!), but it didn't get as much traction as my other fics. so i am so excited to yap about it now!!!

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

one of my favourite samdean AUs is normallife!AU because yeah!! they are really weird like that! "weird about each other" means weird about each other in EVERY TIMELINE BABEY! it's also fun to see their dysfunction in an average environment, and how people react to two brothers who are Just Like That.

5: What part was hardest to write?

the hardest part to write was definitely the resolution post-meltdown. for sam and dean normally, they take incest pretty hard, lol. so to get these two brothers that have not lived at the fringes of "normative" society and resolve their emotions in a satisfying way was difficult. the blow-up (post-blowjob, haha) was pretty easy to write, but i had a hard time making the resolution of the story feel emotionally satisfying. because they had to dust themselves off and walk home after something completely life-shattering.

they deal with most things with a kind of bitter humour in the show, so i chose a dash of that with more emotional transparency, because they haven't been raised as rough/life-or-death as show sam and dean.

6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

i think the AU is the most different part about it! and while they're both teenagers, it's also my only underage fic (as of this moment) so i knew that would automatically disqualify it for a lot of folks, which i can understand. it operates pretty differently from my other samdean fics, because they aren't supposed to behave 1:1 like they would in the show, as their entire environment is different.

7: Where did the title come from?

the title came from "semi-charmed life" by third eye blind, which was released earlier in the year that the party takes place (February vs October '97). so conceivably, and given the subject matter of the song (a drug bender), it would be played at a high school party that year! i did a STUPID amount of song research for this fic, and i will revisit all of that in #13!

i chose it specifically because it talks about being obsessed with someone when you're young--in a predominantly physical, but also emotional, way. this lyric was VERY much codependent and obsessed, which i thought was pretty spot-on for sam and dean. i thought it was fitting!

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

no, actually! this didn't change much from the conception to the finished product. for the october challenge, i actually plotted this one first because i was so excited about it. (i even wrote the blowjob scene first in my notes app bc a few lines of dialogue stuck in my head and i wanted to write them down before i could forget.) it was intended to be a little more light-hearted than it ended up being, but there's not really a way to write two brothers in a completely normal social situation deciding to commit incest and deal with it normally afterwards, lmao.

11: What do you like best about this fic?

i was most happy with their dynamic in this fic. it was challenging to write an AU!sam&dean and keep their obsession with each other in a way that felt natural, but i thought their background was fun! i think dean would develop sam-centric if he had even an ounce of the hero worship/responsibility that he gets in the show. i liked their family dynamic/history and their own dynamic/history in this fic! i enjoyed writing that the most, as well as the lead-up to the kiss. it's frantic and it's devoted and it's messy! overall: the emotion of this fic. i think i did a good job!

i also think it has a pretty decent blowjob scene? i LOVE either boy in lingerie, so i hope i did them justice!

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

okay! this fic is very song-heavy, and i did a bit of research on songs that came out in the past 1-3 years before '97, because those songs would be the most popular at a high school party. so here are a few that i listened to or are mentioned in the fic:

around the world by daft punk

semi-charmed life by third eye blind

a significant portion of nimrod by green day, specifically worry rock (bc sam is a little alternative, and this song is VERY MUCH canon!samdean) (i even looked up the day of the week the album came out to make sure dean could take him on a school day)

tha crossroads by bone thugs-n-harmony (bc haha)

the monster mash by bobby "boris" pickett and the crypt-kickers & calling all the monsters by china anne mcclain (bc halloween, the latter of course being a more recent song and not in the fic)

wannabe by the spice girls

mmmbop by hanson

pony by genuwine (which was BIG summer '97)

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

besides the billboard top-100 of '96-'97, i learned i need to work on interim action! i found myself really speeding through the party because i wanted dean in his eyeliner and skirt to walk in, and it felt very lop-sided and rushed while i was trying to establish characters/events at this party. i need to get better at pacing! i also learned i was way more into the way noise is muffled under a skirt/how emotionally intimate&vulnerable it is if you're under there than i thought. huh! i also really want to see sam with smeared lipstick. new things all over!

(send me one of my fics and i'll answer some questions!)

thank you for sending this one!!!!!! it's one of my faves for absolute sure. please send as many asks as you'd like! i always smile when i see you in our inbox! :)

-lizzy

[monsterwithasweater]

Monster Replays The Truthful Route: Part 3

Will Ryo live? Will Ryo die? Only the affinity decides.

Warning: Here be spoilers! Read at your own risk!

OMGZORZ KAITO AND MIU SPOTTED

It could just be me, but the localization of Miu's dialogue feels wonky here.

Miu: And sure, maybe we got lost somehow, but don't you think that's kind of exciting?

Kaito: Exciting? What is wrong with you?

CYCLONEMOOOON!!! 😍😍😍

Ah, yes, my favorite magic trick; the Mysterious Disappearing Miu!

I remember being on Facebook after about 5,000 years, and I saw a really sexist comment against Saki in regards to the seperate rooms scene. Oh, don't you just love the smell of sexism in the morning? It smells like turds!

Also lol at Agumon and Labramon thinking that that deviant means something that changes from one thing to another XD

Lopmon: No! Don't do that! Can't you read the room?

Agumon: The room!? How? You can read rooms!?

Ryo's just like me fr.

Aoi: ...I'm having a hard time staying calm. I know I need to relax more, but...

Aoi again: It's like how I always blank out on tough questions.

Wow, Aoi's also just like me fr.

I really like seeing Saki and Shuuji interacting with each other. Kinda wish we got to see more of their dynamic.

Minoru: The truth is I've got a rotten personality. I get along just to get by. It's nothing to be proud of.

What is it with these characters and being just like me fr?

Lopmon: I went to get some nuts...

No, Monster. Don't laugh. That's not the kind of nuts Lopmon is talking about. Be mature here...

*wHEEEZE*

Saki: It's funny, though. Talking with you feels like talking to myself, Floramon. It's weird.

I like how, even this early on in the game, you still get hints that the kids and their partners are connected in some way (well, besides the totally obvious evolution stuff, but you get what I'm trying to say, right?).

Saki: Whatever happens is gonna happen. What matters is how we act when it happens, right?

I now have yet another Gomamon! :D

Agumon: Oh, right! A RAY-dee-yo TA-WAH!

Agumon again: I wanna be super big, just like that bridge!

AGUMON WHY ARE YOU SO PRECIOUS????

If I'm gonna be 100% honest here, if I were stuck in an alternate dimension with weird creatures that could kill me at any moment, I'd probably be just as uncooperative as Ryo (not to mention the fact that I absolutely hate working in groups in general).

Kaito: Stop lying, I know you're a monster in disguise!

The Digimon! More than meets the eye! The Digimon! Monsters in disguise!

Omgzorz Dracmon?

Random thing I noticed: In Part 3, there's a big deal about Miu losing her purse and the 'Unfamiliar Woman' having it, while in Part 4, the purse isn't mentioned at all, and Miu is already shown having it.

Floramon: Hahaha, that's a funny face you're making, Saki! It's all scrunched up!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love how Minami Takahashi voiced Saki?

Something I noticed: If you choose to believe Kaito, he will smile a little before getting pissed at everybody.

Dracmon joined the party! :D

Haru: Hey, what do you think that cloud looks like?

Miyuki: A... cloud.

Haru: Then how about that one?

Miyuki: A... cloud.

Haru: This rock sure looks weird.

Miyuki: Yeah... weird.

Haru: What's it look like to you?

Miyuki: A... rock.

Minoru: Well, just look at Ryo. He seems to have warmed right up to her.

Ryo, clearly not the right person to be used as an example: Mommy... Hehehe...

(Taking a picture because I'm too lazy to type down the whole thing. Probably gonna do that more often.)

I find it interesting that Kaito says that Miu used to be 'just like that.' I think it gives more insight into Miu's character (or, at the very least, how Kaito thinks of her), and it also serves as fuel for my Miu-Miyuki friendship headcanons >:3

Another thing I find interesting: While on the cable car, Shuuji says that everybody should try to stay alert, while Lopmon just flat out says that they hate heights.

I really wish that we got to see Dracmon's evolution scene to Sangloupmon, but then that would mean that we wouldn't get such masterpieces like this.

Kaito: Can I trust you, BoltBoutamon?

BoltBoutamon: Of course, Kaito... This power... I wield it for your sake!

Putting the entire Harmony route aside, this conversation is oddly wholesome. I'm just glad that, this time around, BoltBoutamon is 100% Dracmon (and probably won't kill Kaito and the Professor, either!).

It's also similar with Aoi and Plutomon!

Aoi: Plutomon... I can... trust you, can't I?

Plutomon: Of course, Aoi... I am your ally.

Anyways, I actually really like the battle conversations the Survive gang has with each other and their Kemonogami.

Love it when the traumatized teenager has a mental breakdown.

Shuuji: Ow! You didn't have to hit me!

And if he lives, he'll do it again!

Ryo（πーπ）

I'm probably the only person that actually likes Cyclonemon.

Vegiemon: My strength matches what's in your heart!

Also Vegiemon: *main attack has them through their shit*

Man, if I didn't relate to Ryo before, I certainly do now...

Thanks to the power of friendship, cool monsters, and tackling, Ryo lives! Hooray!

Unfortunately, the threat of death still looms over Takuma and his friends. Will they survive? Will they ever make it out of this strange world? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!

(Except they aren't really all that digital. And if you're reading this, you either already know what happens next, or you're getting a hell of a spoiler.)

(Consider yourselves lucky that I didn't make a Kemono Monsters joke like last time.)

[mollish-art]

hehe hello again, i have tiny question. so im currently working on a little story abt elves and dragons and the more i work on plots it just goes all over and i just wanna know how you can pace a story with mixed species and a rather large amount of world building, and also how to have proper transitions to different character povs as i have 3 main povs that i wanna try 2 being elves and 1 being a dragons. :)

That's a really cool story concept you have there! I've actually been developing my own fantasy universe for the past 7-ish years called "Draka Imperium", which is all centered around dragons and such.

Funnily enough, I've been struggling with the exact same problems that you have laid out here (complex worldbuilding, story pacing, multiple character POVs, etc), and I've been wrestling for the past few years with rewrites in order to make things work the way that I want.

One of my friends who is a published author (Fennah - you may recognize his youtube animations or his book, Amygdala), gave me some really good advice recently about writing in general, and it's given me some direction to help with my own rewrites. One of the things that stuck with me the most was about letting your characters speak for themselves. Don't try to put your own words or ideologies into the mouths of your characters - let them live and breathe in the world that you've created!

As for my own personal advice, at least when it comes to POV alternating, I'll let you know what I did with Unperson, as I am alternating between 2 POVs for that story. I planned out (roughly) what story beats I wanted to hit for each chapter and made notes for each POV in a different color - this just helped with organizing. But what helped the most with writing was to keep the environmental/story beats in mind from my outline, but to simply allow the characters to react to them. I never had dialogue pre-composed before I started writing; all of my chapters so far have mostly been written like a stream of consciousness. I merely led the characters to interact with certain things in their environments, and then wrote their dialogue and mannerisms as if I were an actor and improvising their lines/movements without making them stick to the 'script', if that makes any sense. In other words, in the process of writing a scene, if it felt more natural for the character to react in a different way than I had originally planned it in my head, I would simply allow the character to act in that way rather than trying to shoehorn them into a box that I had created for them.

Idk if that makes any sense, but I hope it helps somewhat!

[anonymous-nobody-ghoul]

1. Whatever font is there when I open Word or Google Docs. I don't care when I'm initially writing. I just want to get it down. When I'm posting I'll usually change it to something different if I feel like it.

2. I could write by hand. I actually used to exclusively write by hand when I started in middle school and until I found an app to write on my phone. Even then I had a specific notebook filled with ideas and little blurbs. I just recenty typed them all onto my computer. Also only I only write with pencils. I make to many mistakes not to.

3. I pretty much only write during class or when I'm putting things off. I also have to put on music that doesn't have words or I'll get distracted or can't write.

4. For feral in a good way, its "broken." And in a bad way, its "moist."

5. If I have an idea in my head and I write it down, I'll never be able to imagine the story in my head again. The first time I was like "That's a great idea! Let me write it down!" And I have never been able to imagine that story again in my head. This has proven true for every story I have in my head that I have written down. Unfortunately that is the same for the stories I am currently writing...

6. My family will find it. I do NOT want to explain any of it to them. Except my sister. She's cool.

7. Love people being able to see and like what I write. I hope I'll live up to their expectations.

8. Without dialogue for sure. I've actually done that before for an english class and it was so fun! I'm very used to have a TON of dialogue in my stories. My teacher challenged me to write a story without dialouge as extra credit. If I can find it I'll post it.

9. I believe in ghost. If just for the fact that its cool as hell.

10. I don't believe that a piece of writing has ever "haunted" me. I either look fondly on something, hate it, or just forget it. While it isn't really a piece of writing I do have something of mine that "haunts" me. A thought I had for years in my head whenever we were driving away from bad weather. I said it once outloud when I was in a friends car. "Its like we're running away from the clouds." My friend and her mother were "haunted" by those words. We are no longer friends for some not so happy reasons. I'm "haunted" by the fact that anytime she might be driving away from bad weathe that she might once again think about what once was. Just like I do.

11. I actually had to look up what "kill your darlings" meant. I don't know if I do that really. I do have some alternatives for certain scenes I write. I actually have a whole different prolouge to "Safe Space" because I was writing it and didn't like how it was exactly. I scraped the original prolouge and rewrote it entirely. However, I still have the original prolouge cause I still liked it. It just wasn't what I wanted for "Safe Space."

12. My first wish would to never be stuck trying to think of a certain word and getting stuck again. I have literally stopped writing stories, mid sentence, because I couldn't think of a certain word I wanted to use. I do the same for school assignments as well. My second wish would probably be getting rid of my writing superstition. I want to be able to visualize more to "My Crazy Love" and "Safe Space." I've only got what I visualized before I started writing them. My third wish would be the ability to WRITE IN THE SAME PERSON WITH OUT RANDOMLY CHANGING THE PERSON I'M WRITING IN.

13. I struggle writing emotional stuff. I basically put myself into the shoes of my characters and if I can't imagine myself with those feelings (i.e. vulnerability, sadness, love) I can't write it. On the other hand, I've never had a problem writing violent or gorey scenes.

14. I do not lend my books put anymore. Even when I was a kid I didn't lend books out to anyone. I lent a book ONCE to a friend (same as 10) after she beged and promised she would take care of it. She returned it with the spine broken! I didn't lend books to anyone again. Except when my mother made me lend my younger brother my books. The first time I was forced to, it was the first Artemis Fowl book my teacher got for me. He somehow ripped the pages from the front cover and spine. He also damaged the front cover by somehow ripping holes into it! My mom "fixed it" with BLACK ELETRICAL TAPE. When I had a breakdown over it, she said she'd buy me a new one and I didn't let her cause I'm emotionally attached to my posessions. The second time was with my 1984 book that he took camping with his GF. It rained in the night and the entire book was water damaged. I do have books I'll never get back. My sister and I gave all our manga to a friend after my mother made us get rid of it cause she thought I was a lesbian. When I turned 18 I asked for them back and the friend said that her mom had "accidentally donated them" and that she would give me all her money to make up for it. I said no and just wrote off thousands of dollars spent on those manga.

15. I personally try to keep my books as pristine as possible. It's just how I personally like to keep my books. I don't mind what people do to their own books. HOWEVER. If you do that to a library book or a loaned book we can never be friends. Dog-earing is on thin ice with library books, but don't EVER do that to any books I won't lend you.

16. I've used empty gum wrappers, recipets, other books, feathers, random ripped paper, business cards, and full sheets of paper as bookmarks. You pick.

17. For "My Crazy Love," it was originally an X Reader, not and X OC. Also Elizabeth and Daniel had different names. Elizabeth's was obviously (y/n) and Daniel was James. The characters were based of my and my friend in middle school. We used to talk about Creepypasta all the time and made our own characters that were siblings not by blood. The backstories for our characters are actually are based on our lives. However, the friend decided calling me a whore randomly was okay and so I kicked him in the nuts and said we were no longer friends. I also originally posed "My Crazy Love" on Deviantart and Quotev when they were the most popular fanfiction sites. You can find the original chapters 4-9 + a "Halloween special" right now on quotev. Jack is also based on a kid I knew from school. Why? I don't remember. I think I was just trying to think of a person who would know both Elizabeth and Daniel and he just fit the bill. I could have also been pissed off at him for some reason.

18. The whole story of "My Crazy Love" came from 1) my role playing with the real life Daniel and 2) a Creepypasta fanfiction I read about the reader in a mental asylum and escaping to Slender Mansion after seeing Slenderman watching her in the asylum. It was on Deviantart and I cannot find it anymore. I was just like, "that would be fun to write about" and so I did. It was as cringe as you think a 6/7th graders writing about Creepypasta with their Mary Sue-ish OC turned x Reader you can think. (If you have a specific passage you want to know about let me know and I'll try to respond with how it came to be.)

19. I started writing when I could start writing in kindergarten. I loved making up short stories and telling people them. As I moved from elementary to middle school I started writing short scary stories. Then one winter, I wrote a fanfiction about Black Butler x Alice in the Country of Hearts crossover on like 20 front and back sheets of printer paper. I didn't know what fanfiction was at the time and just wanted to write about a chatacter that reincarnated everytime they died as different Alice in the Country of Hearts characters to help the Phantomhive line. It wasn't even romantic, just a kid having fun.

20. I'm choosing to publish my perfect WIP. I most likely won't ever have someone I love romantically. I just get infatuated with someone for like a week then I'm not anymore. I have my animals and my family and I'm perfectly fine with that. Hell, I'll just get my friends to all buy houses in the same neighborhood and have a little family like that.

21. I never want to quit writing and would never dream to never have started. It brings me great joy to write, even if nobody else liked it or even if I never post it. I just love getting stucked into the world and zoning out into the story. Its relaxing and therapeutic for me.

22. I have different folders for different stories. Then I have separate docs for each chapter, the chapter revamps, and any chapters that had different scene versions. So I'll have Chapter 1 as a doc, then a sepreate doc for Chapter 1 Revamp, and another doc for Chapter 1 Alternative. I also have a doc with all the chapters in one with a table of contents and cover page. I call it the book doc.

23. Normally I'm writing in one of my classrooms during a lecture. I always make sure to sit near the door and if possible the last row. I also like to sit with at least one empty chair between me and another classmate. I always write on my laptop with a external mouse plugged in because my touchpad buttons don't work without nearly breaking my finger to get them to register. I work in crome if I'm writing in Google Docs. I will always have at least one tab open on crome for music that I listen to with my maroon skullcandy bluetooth headphones. If I'm writing on Word I'll open the previous chapter, the current chapter, and the book doc open at the same time. I do the same for Google Doc just also with my drive folder open as well. I usually sit crisscross, on my knees, or sitting one one leg with the other resting on the seat and my head resing on that leg in my seat. I don't know how to "properly" type, but I can type quickly with multiple fingers. Then I have one of two writing styles. Get so sucked into the world that I don't notice the passage of time, OR writing feels like its taken forever and it's not even been 5 minutes. If need be I'll go and reread the previous chapter(s) to get my ideas flowing.

24. I start of with the beginning pretty much fully fleshed out and some middle parts fleshed out. I only start writing after a while of my imaging the story in my head. I just have to figure out everything alone the way. I never have a really good idea if any about how the story is going to end.

25. In "My Crazy Love," Dennis and Tina are dating and only started dating as a result of Elizabeth and Daniel's first trip "downstairs" and the resulting cafeteria bloodbath. If Elizabeth and Daniel hadn't gone the Tina and Dennis wouldn't have meet. Tina was on infirmary duty when Dennis was attacked and was assigned to watch after him. They became close and started dating, but keep it on the down low as its not allowed.

26. The characters are me, just as I am them. They are apart of myself, and I use them to get through my emotions. It's why its so easy to write violent scenes for me cause I get easily angered. It's easy to get out of their heads cause I'll just distract myself or get interrupted at the end of class.

27. The most stressful character to write for was Daniel before I changed his name from James to Daniel. It was just a constant reminder of a friend who betrayed me when I kept having to write his name.

28. To be honest I love writing for all my chatacters. Well, except the ones your meant to hate cause I hate them. It's fun being able to shape and mold them to my will.

29. I get most of my inspiration from other writers, from songs I listen to, and from my own emotions. If I'm in a funk I'll put on some music thag fits the mood I need to express, or I'll reread some stories that I like, or just wait until I'm in the same emotional space as the characters to write.

30. I have written about my dreams, but I've never taken inspiration from them. All the dreams that I have and remember are bad dreams about being abandoned in some post-apocalyptic nightmare after saving my family or having to find my sister but being unable to. I'm actually a lucid dreamer, but I can't change what happens. I just know I'm dreaming. I have written in my dream, but just about what's going on in the dream or like a dream contract thag I have to write to further the dream along.

31. I am sincerely greatful for all the love I have received from what I have posted so far of "My Crazy Love" and "Safe Space." It brings me great joy that the silly little stories in my head also bring joy to others. I hope everyone will continue to enjoy the stories I post just as much as I enjoy writing them.

32. "And I will skin you alive, burn you into a roast, and hack you into pieces to feed to the most savage animals I can find and laugh at your demise!" from Sar61_Sanz6's "The Rule of a Queen" on Ao3. I found this fic because I was listening to "Queen of Mean" from Decendents 3 and wanted to read a songfic based on it. I got what I wanted an more! I just love a goody two shoes breaking character and becoming badass. Plus its a crossover with Batman and has a poly relationship. Love rereading it whenever I get into a bad mood. Or want to feel powerful.

33. I knit, crochet, sew, and bake. Some of you may have seen the pictures of my Solar Lunacy Y/N cosplay and Aya Drevis cosplays that I sewed. I also sew plushies and I sew them by hand. They don't really crossover into my stories. I have made an Eyeless Jack plush before that I still have.

34. It's a comma? I'm shit at grammar so I just let whatever doc I'm using to autocorrect what I'm writing.

35. When I'm writing for school I just do not write transition sentences. I really do not care for them and I get good grades so. As for my stories... I just write how I feel like and don't really care about any rules. If it sounds and looks good I'll keep it.

36. So much about random shit. I know about a lot of animes that I haven't watched or read. I know a lot about Greek mythology. I obviously know a lot of murdery and torture stuff. I know a lot about certain mental health issues. I know a lot about gay shit. Just so much, yet not enough.

37. Probably that I'm very screwed up and very knowledgeable about random crap. I've got a lot of personal writing that's not very happy stuff. And I have written so many different research papers about random crap that I still remember.

38. Chapter 4 of "My Crazy Love" has a section that was written when I was very upset. So it is a bit different from the other chapters. I get very depressed sometimes and when I get tired I'll write comfort stuff. I was feeling a certain type of way and so I wrote it and decided to keep it. This is typically how all my emotional scenes happen.

39. I just what to finish the story. That's what keeps me going.

40. Here's one of my own creation.

I've got enough negativity in my mind to last me a life time;

So don't tell me you want to die.

I got enough problems of my own; I don't need yours as well to hang on over my head.

That kind of talk make people you love leave you;

Makes them doubt themselves and there love.

Make them think they aren't worth it;

That they don't deserve it.

So stop with all the negativity;

We don't need it.

Come and join the family;

Just forget it.

Why does one persons actions make you want to die?

Just forget about and it come into the light.

Weird Questions for Writers (because writers are weird)

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

6. What is your darkest fear about writing?

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

8. If you had to write an entire story without either action or dialogue, which would you choose and how would it go?

9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

16. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark?

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

20. If a witch offered you the choice between eternal happiness with your one true love and the ability to finally finish, perfect, and publish your dearest, darlingest, most precious WIP in exactly the way you've always imagined it — which would you choose? You can’t have both sorry, life’s a bitch

21. Could you ever quit writing? Do you ever wish you could? Why or why not?

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

28. Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why?

29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?

30. Talk to me about the role dreams play in your writing life. Have you ever used material from your dreams in your writing? Have you ever written in a dream? Did you remember it when you woke up?

31. Write a short love letter to your readers.

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

33. Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?

34. Thoughts on the Oxford comma, Go:

35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice...what do you Know?

37. If you were to be remembered only by the words you’ve put on the page, what would future historians think of you?

38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?

39. What keeps you writing when you feel like giving up?

40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.

[thebreakfastgenie]

3, 5, and 9 for campfire and/or fortune cookie wisdom?

Campfire

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

He knows that disease can happen to anyone; he knows that Cadillacs crash just as often as Chevrolets; and he knows that houses in the suburbs still catch on fire.

The Cadillac vs Chevrolet as a class signifier thing is 99% from Movin' Out and 1% from other classic rock songs that mention one of both of those cars with a class connotation. I just liked how the alliteration worked out here though.

5: What part was hardest to write?

Honestly the hardest thing about this fic was that it came to me in complete sentences while I was in the woods and I was afraid I'd forget it before I could get home and write it down. The parts I remember struggling with were what to name Becca and what book Josh was reading. I was really hoping for an iconic bestseller from the time period that would be unusual for a kid to read and I looked up some lists but I couldn't find anything that was super recognizable now so I just settled for something. Oh and there was the punctuation in this line:

What he learns is: they don’t talk about it.

I'm still not happy with how it looks but I like how it sounds.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Not that got written, but I did have an original vision that changed slightly in that process. The summer camp part was originally going to be a little shorter and Josh was going to to stay a social outcast for the whole summer. But Isaac, Barry, and Becca kind of willed themselves into existence and said Josh should have friends. I was also originally going to make the counselor, Irving, ruffle Josh's hair when he sees him at breakfast but I was afraid that would be too creepy so I stuck to the nod. I'm not sure I hit the right balance because the readers don't seem to hate Irving as much as I expected!

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

He didn’t know was whether what he was feeling about it was resentment or gratitude.

This was hard because I think the strength of this fic is the dialogue, I wasn't paying so much attention to narration back then. So thanks for asking because it was good to make myself pick! This is kind of a basic line but I like what it conveys.

5: What part was hardest to write?

You know, I don't remember. This fic was a long time ago and in a different wave of writing when I think I was maybe slightly less of a miserable perfectionist. I think I had a hard time ending it.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

No, but there was an alternate title, Scenes from a Chinese Restaurant. I almost posted it with that title. I wrote this one long enough ago that I think I could write better prose now and sometimes I consider writing an updated version. I wouldn't replace the one that's there, I'd just add a second one. None of the beats would change and hardly any dialogue, I'd just beef up the prose.

[sanjanajustwatched]

CRITIQUE OF PROCESS

This term I took on three on-set roles: Production Designer (That’s Our Cue), Sound recordist and Boom Operator (Mid-Mortem) and Boom Operator (One More Day).

The film ‘That’s Our Cue’ interested me for production design as it was set in a location, I had no prior experience with. While the film was not very heavy on Production Design, I enjoyed working on it. I made posters to avoid having any of the bar’s original posters in shot and to cover up a large mirror and glass screen that were predominant in most shots of the film. The producer informed me that it might be beneficial if we had noiseless Billiards balls that could be used on set. I decided on using racquetballs as an alternative, but we scrapped the idea and instead developed pre-planned positions for the balls on the pool table to help with continuity and the director had choreographed a sequence with the actors that would prevent unwanted noise over dialogue, so I was also overseeing the continuity of these sequences. I was also in-charge of costume, but I wasn’t very happy with the outcome as we couldn’t source a lot of accessories that fit the director’s idea. In the end we decided to manage with what was available and it turned out well. I was overall happy with my work on this film.

I was the sound-recordist and boom operator on ‘Mid-Mortem’. I was originally supposed to help with sound with the group’s rehearsal but later joined the group for the actual film. Day 1 of the indoor shot was a fairly easy process. However, we were missing an extra LAV mic as the producer had mistakenly booked one set, so we adapted and only put them on the actor that required the most coverage in each scene. This took some time out of the schedule as we had to keep switching the mic between the actors, so this is something I will keep in mind to mention to producers on future films. Day 2 was filmed outdoors in a fairly busy park, so the sound recording was a little more complicated. We had constant background noises so I couldn’t get the cleanest sounds. As I had joined the group pretty late, I was unable to go on a recce and the outdoor location had changed a couple days before the shoot, so I believe this could’ve been avoided if I had some prior knowledge of the location. Since I was both sound recording and boom operating, I was unable to provide good notes to Keri who was filling the sound reports. I was satisfied with my time on set, but I feel that my work definitely has room for improvement.

While I was not an HOD on ‘One More Day’, I was the boom operator. I had joined the group late, So I had no prior knowledge of the location we would be filming in. Luckily Day 1 was slated for insert shots so I was able to get an idea of how dialogue would sound. Day 2 went very smoothly in terms of sound, and the dialogue recorded was clean despite some momentary disturbances.

My work on all of these films have been an opportunity for me to improve my skills in these roles and I hope to pursue them in future projects and only get better at them.

CRITIQUE OF FINAL WORK

My Critique of Final Work will be focusing on ‘Mid-Mortem’ and ‘One More Day’. I was part of the sound department for each of these films and think they are the right films to examine my performance and how it delivers in the film.

‘Mid-Mortem’ follows the story of Cath who upon seeing her own dead body lying on a pavement, is confronted by a being from the ‘Simulation’ who appears to delete Cath from existence. They are both confronted by the fragility and value of life when they end up stuck together due to a glitch in the simulation. The film perfectly executes this story in its dialogue, performances, and visual effects. As explained in the Critique of Process, as sound recordist, and boom operator, I had run into a few issues on set. The interior location despite being a fairly quiet room, had very creaky floors and squeaking chairs, which I was unable to remove in sound recording. These issues have been fixed to a suitable level in the Sound edit by Yat Lee and Michael Hood. In my opinion those sounds aren’t as distracting, and they act as part of the atmosphere. The dialogue levels are also up to a level that it covers up those errors. The exterior scenes are visually appealing, and the actors’ performances play a vital in role bringing the scene to life. As the sound recordist, the location was particularly troublesome for me due to the constant background noises. However, the dialogue has been cleaned up enough to a level that the background noises although very slightly present do not distract or take the viewer away from the film. The film ends with a flute sequence which while being nicely synced and spaced, feels a little out of place in the film as there is no motivation for score earlier in the film. In conclusion, I am happy with how the film has turned out despite the circumstances with sound. Viewing the final output does make me feel positive that despite disturbances on set there is potential to fix dialogue, however, leaving these issues to be fixed in post-production is not a practice I wish to follow often.

In ‘One More Day’, Cam and John struggle to survive in a hopeless and desolate bunker. Cam tries to install hope into John who has seemingly given up after the death of his sister Sarah and being unable to fix the radio. My role in this film was that of the boom operator with sound recordist - Gabrielle Hafner. I was also part of the postproduction group for this film as the Dialogue editor with Sound designer as Gaby. The dialogue is clean and the way it has been edited to match      the space suits the film’s tone. The sound design is crafted nicely, wherein each element such as the tinny pipe noises and the radio static set up beats throughout the film and fill in the silences. I am glad to see how my work on-set delivers in the film.

[defectivehero]

Heyy!! Just wanted to ask: Do you have any tips for writing fight scenes? I kinda struggle with it

(if you see the same ask somewhere else it's because i asked a few people lol)

helloooo! i'm far from an expert, but here are some tips that first came to my mind: 

[and, of course, don't feel pressured to do any or all of these things! write whatever you want]

focus on the little details—look at the setting. where are the two characters fighting? is it urban or rural? are they on a busy street, with lots of passerby or a deserted alleyway? what is in their immediate vicinity that can enhance the scene? perhaps there's a discarded bottle lying on the ground that one of the characters can grab in a spontaneous movement and throw at their opponent. the environment is incredibly important, because it can have a huge impact on the fight itself! after all, people will fight differently depending on the setting. if a villain is fighting a hero in a tight space, their movements are going to be different than if they were in a wide open space with freedom to move however they desire.

character. descriptions. CHARACTER. DESCRIPTIONS. I cannot stress this enough. without at least some descriptions, it'll sound monotonous. 'he hits them, then they dodge' blah blah blah. that's boring! spice it up a bit! what does the person's opponent look like? is their stance low to the ground? do they look more guarded than usual? perhaps there's a strange expression on their face or a gleam in their eyes. hell, maybe there's dirt, grime, or blood on their clothes. those simple things will further cement your characters and also keep the audience's interest as you move through the scene. plus, they're awesome for foreshadowing.

don't be afraid to break things up. a fight scene shouldn't be 100% fast-paced, otherwise the readers will be left feeling confused and things will progress too fast! when you really think about it, the majority of fight scenes are not filled with constant hits, punches, and kicks without a moment for a breather. personally, I'm very weak to the moment where the two characters will break apart and circle around each other, breathing hard. that kind of stuff will make things even more hard hitting. don't be afraid to include dialogue, either! dialogue really enhances a fight scene, in my opinion. [and yes, sometimes dialogue isn't practical. but even a simple hissed remark or muttered insult can go a long way!]

lastly, don't force it. that is going to sound stupid, but... if you're dreading the idea of writing a long ass fight scene... think about some alternatives to that! i kind of get stuck in this mindset sometimes of: 'oh, this needs at least three paragraphs of solid action & back and forth fighting.' I've definitely gotten into situations where a piece will be sitting in my drafts for MONTHS just because I can't get through one particular portion of it. at that point, I can't help but think: 'Why bother?' I really do think that, if I don't enjoy writing something, it will show. so keep that in mind as you write! writing what you want to write > writing what the story necessitates.

sorry if this doesn't make sense.. but these are just some things that work for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Is it just me or is anyone else creeped out by Rollo being so nice to MC?? He goes out of his way to say nice things to us which is weird almost like he’s trying to get on our good side for some reason. He also suspiciously knows a lot about MC already. I’m thinking Rollo wants to use MC for something maybe related to Malleus. What are your thoughts on this?

I don’t know if I’d call it outright “creepy”, but I do feel mildly unsettled by it?? There’s also a few scenes where Rollo is implied to just be… staring at the NRC group (his portrait shows up on screen, but the dialogue box only reads as “. . . . .”), which I personally find a lot more disturbing. I just don’t like being watched 😭 I feel like it could all be foreshadowing something!! (… though it’s also possible that I’m totally overthinking this 💦)

For context, Rollo greets the NRC students when they arrive on Noble Bell College’s campus. He speaks politely, but the NRC boys remark that he looks angry. (Note: Rollo’s character portrait is not actually glaring most of the tome; the NRC boys are likely referring to him as having a resting bitch face 😂)

While showing the guests around campus, Rollo reveals that he knows who everyone is, as he read the materials provided to him by Crowley. Rollo lists off their full names, as well as relevant positions and titles—but when he noticed Yuu and Grim, he notably becomes a little chattier and even… friendly? (Like, he even smiles a little bit.) “It must trouble you (someone who cannot use magic) to be surrounded by magic users everyday,” Rollo says. He lifts his arms and invites Yuu to relax, then adds (with the scene shifting to include Malleus), “… and that goes for the rest of you as well.”

***CONTENT WARNING: I will be briefly discussing a theory which involves racism and war below the cut, so please read at your own discretion.***

If these lines have any meaning in the grand scheme of things 🤔 I think (well, considering Rollo’s Disney inspiration) that this could play into any potential prejudices that he holds? A lot of fans are already speculating that Rollo holds anti-fae sentiments, and, from a certain angle, one could argue that his off-handed remark to Yuu supports that theory.

Think about the wording and the history of Noble Bell College. What the students at NBC value above all else is maintaining fairness and righteousness, just as its founder, the “Just/Righteous Judge”, did. Then, consider that Rollo seems to express sympathy for a non-magical human stuck at a school of mages in training. And then add the fact that fairies are implied to be more magically inclined than the other races; only a mere 10% of humans can use magic (and at the most basic level), whereas fairies have magic so plentiful that they utilize it for everyday activities like flying to their destinations.

With all of that in mind, it’s possible that Rollo’s line of thinking is this: “if this world were truly just, then magic users and non-magic users would be equal”. However, because fairies are a race that are more magically inclined than, say, humans, this causes an imbalance. Perhaps Rollo thinks that this disparity is not “just” as the Just Judge would want the world to be, and goes about administering his own judgment to “right the wrong”. Maybe Rollo himself isn’t a strong magic user (we’ve only seen other characters so far assume he must be powerful due to his position as student council president) and must rely on tricks or magical items to get ahead, which amplifies his hatred for those born lucky or gifted. (Alternatively, maybe Rollo is a powerful mage, but just cannot compete with Malleus’s natural abilities, which causes jealousy to brew??) And maybe he despises Malleus in particular because he’s the very public embodiment of all that Rollo sees as “unfair” in the world?? (Malleus has political influence, money, magical powers beyond belief, etc.) Maybe this all ties back to the aftermath of the human-fairy war that is sometimes mentioned???

It’s very… twisted logic, but sometimes it’s the worst of people who think they’re the best of people. They so deeply believe they are in the right and try to go out and act on those beliefs 😔 If this does end up happening, I think that would actually make Rollo one of the most disturbing antagonists we’ve seen so far in TWST—because that arrogant way of thinking perpetuates a lot of hatred in the real world too.

… Buuut of course, that’s just a theory 😅 A gaaaaame theory

I think the other popular theory floating around right now is that Rollo actually admires Malleus and wants to be his friend...? But his behavior comes off the wrong way because of Rollo’s face naturally looking like he’s always scowling or unhappy. That’s a more light-hearted take, I guess!

[ichayalovesyou]

SNW Episodes Ranked

Subjectively by me on a curve because holy shit what a great first season. With a little vignette with my thoughts for each!

1. Children of The Comet 11/10

Everything I love about Star Trek while also giving us a solid ‘up yours’ to the critical flaws in the Prime Directive. A benevolent singing comet that can see the future? That’s some peak optimistic sci-fi stuff! It also had baby Cadet Uhura getting her time to shine as a linguist and a beautiful singer. I remember saying when the show was announced the thing I wanted most was to see the origins of Spock and Uhura’s friendship/jam sessions and this episode DELIVERED. Good shit!! No notes!

2. The Elysian Kingdom 10/10

Don’t get me wrong I am absolutely in love with Discovery and darker Treks but one thing I did miss was TOS campiness and oh BOY this episode fit the bill. I will never emotionally recover from this ridiculous, beautifully costumed, heart wrenching episode! Anson Mount getting to play a snivelling coward! Christina Chong playing a pretty pretty princess! Hot wizards! Badass women with swords and bows! A beautiful message about letting go and letting your kids become who they want to be! I love it!

3. Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach 9.5/10

Sexy times and societal allegories! Nothing like a Star Trek episode that’s a hot one-night-stand one minute and then a school shootings (among other applicable faux “for the children” arguments) allegory the next. I love Star Trek episodes that give you an existential crisis and also being weirdly horny, it’s what this franchise is all about! My only gripe is that, if it weren’t for the fact there are tons of real situations that make you go “why do you have a machine that eats babies on purpose?! Is the vacation spot really that worth it? Really???” Majalis has an implausibility to it if you don’t remind yourself of things that piss you off lol.

4. A Quality of Mercy 9/10

Hoo boy I love my Captain Pike content and this episode FED meeeeeeeee! I think at least part of why I love this episode so much is that it makes me feel very smug and vindicated because I correctly predicted a lot of it lmao. I knew they wouldn’t break off into an alternate timeline and it felt like a ‘screw you, be a little patient’ to some of the more… belligerent, TOS purists. I am absolutely rabid over the pure-grade father/son Pike & Spock content from this episode. It probably would’ve been my favorite if I didn’t feel like they gave us Kirk too soon and that Ortegas filling in for Stiles dialogue felt very weird and out of place for her. Other than that it was great!!!

5. The Ghosts of Illyria 8.75/10

I love funky plague episodes! The whole light thing was really really clever and fun to watch. There were lots of little moments that I liked about this episode like Pike going full hen peck dad mode when the ghosts accidentally hurt Spock. Hemmer going full mad scientist after getting infected and promptly getting stunned and carried to sickbay by Una. You could hear queer women everywhere drop trou at that scene. SNW loves poking holes in the questionable moral declarations of older treks, and this one did so with the Illyrians and genetic manipulation! Loved it! Would’ve been a bit better if they let the dread of Una getting caught stew longer imo.

6. Memento Mori 8.5/10

The Gorn are back! In this episode they were a pretty cool unseen enemy (I only wish they’d stayed that way *sigh*), gotta love that submarine drama! The cinematography in this episode really stuck out to me, I think this and Elysian Kingdom have the best visual directing in the show to date. I am also an absolutely massive angst monger so I loved all the La’an, Spock, Una, and Pike angst we got out of this cinematic bad boy! I also loved Hemmer and Uhura in this episode, I cherish every bit of his screentime considering the fate that later befalls him.

7. The Serene Squall 8.3/10

Pirates! Pronouns! Messy relationship drama that begins to explain why Chapel is Like That (tm) in TOS! Pike wearing an apron over his tactical armor! A direct criticism of people who believe their internal version of Spock is the only one true Spock! FRICKIN SYBOK ACTUALLY MATTERS FINALLY :D! There’s a lot to love about this episode but it kinda felt like it tried to have too many tones at once and fell short on all of them in the struggle. It also raises a question about Vulcan divorce, I figure either the Skype divorce they did was crap the fiancés made up on the fly, or there’s something special about the nature of T’Pring’s adultery that leads to Kalifee. I guess we’ll see!

8. Spock Amok 8.2/10

Nothing will ever be as delightfully funny as Elysian Kingdom imo but this episode certainly had a lot of fun moments. I’m here for Spock relationship drama and him getting to punch a racist bitch as a treat. Enterprise Bingo is an absolute gold mine of fanfic opportunity and I’m super here for the cute Una and La’an friendship that feels like it runs parallel to Pike and Spock’s in some ways. It was also really nice to get Chapel confirmed as bi (and gives me hope for OTHER queer confirmations about certain legacy characters we know). The biggest reason this episode is as low as it is is simply just that other episodes had more going for them that I personally enjoy.

9. Strange New Worlds 8/10

This is probably my third favorite pilot right below DS9 and VOY’s pilots. That being said it does have trademark pilot issues, a lot of characters to set up and very little time to do it. On top of having to explain What Pike’s Deal Is to new audiences who haven’t seen Discovery. Which they did an okay job with, but it does lose some of its punch and nuance if you haven’t seen at least the clip pertaining to that vision from Through The Valley of Shadiws. It criticizes the Prime Directive’s frustrating lack of nuance the way Children of The Comet does which is a win in my book. Good episode but definitely suffers from too-many-things-to-do disease.

10. All Those Who Wander 7/10

Ah yes, the one I have the most complicated opinions about. It’s a good story, even if it borrows heavily from Alien and not in the narratively potent way LUWSCR does from Those Who Walk Away From Omelas. Horror in Star Trek is kinda hit or miss since Trek’s usual motif is to learn about the unknown rather than fear it. I don’t particularly love the Gorn babies being discount xenomorphs. But hey, if we can befriend the Borg after them being nightmarish and pretty exclusively enemies for so long there’s hope for Gorn too, even if we don’t see it in SNW. I did absolutely adore La’an’s character growth and the show not glazing over M’Benga “losing” his daughter, that was really enjoyable to see. Hemmer had a good send off even if I wish he could stay longer, but then again, we never did see a body…

[weekend-whip]

Hi, I just would love to say I LOVE your work! It's really well-written and one of my most favorite things to read! I'm a bit curious about how you stayed committed in one project for so long... I've had various multi-chaptered works I posted (and some lying around in the drafts for a long while), but every time i encounter a problem i immediately feel uninspired to post and i immediately tank it. And since I'm doing another multi-chapter fic, I'm scared that I'd abandon it easily. I was wondering how you'd manage to keep on comiting to your own project?

Thank you for the kind words!! 

I have to confess, I’m also extremely guilty of abandoning a project partway through. It’s already happened three times in the recent past for other fandoms (and two of those three times were quite literally smack in the very MIDDLE of the projects as well). One day I’ll go back to them. One day. 

But with this work? It just means too much to me to just up and quit on it (insert ninja never quit quote here). And I’ve gotten stuck plenty of times as well (Chapter 17, Chapter 23, Chapter 28, and Chapter 35 already jump out in particular ghhhhh) but when that happens, I’ve done a variety of things to try and keep the momentum flowing:

Comb back through Notes: Double check to make sure things are still on track in the way you want them to. There’s been countless times I’ve gotten on a writing roll and accidentally write myself into a hole, only to realize it’s because I skipped over something I should have included earlier, or I took too much time on a scene and I have to reign it in to make room for something else. Other times what I had in my original notes doesn’t fit with my vision anymore, and I have to do some reworking there. Or there’s not enough information/context supplied and I have to add in something. Either way, writing out even the barest thing of a plot thread (even if you hate outlines) can help you determine what you should be doing with your story next. 

Read/write other fics/stories. Sometimes my issue is that I’ve stepped away from writing for too long (as I get stupid busy) and it’s not so much that I “forget” how to write, but it can be a little difficult getting back into my “writing voice” and then everything starts to come up bland. By rereading other fics, you can find new inspiration, start to get a mental “language” of how to want to phrase things or describe scenes, a reminder of how to progress with dialogue. etc...basically, for me, it helps me picture my story after days of not really thinking about it, or helps me get a handle of how I want my story to flow. 

Of course, you can always reread your own work, which can remind you of where you wanted to take your plot/characters in the first place and give you a jump start like that... but for me that just makes me annoyed that I can’t read the rest of the fic as *I* have to write it asdfghjk. Alternatively, if you find yourself stuck on one story, start writing/working on another! I know, sounds counterintuitive with the “too many wips” thing, but it doesn’t have to be a full-fledged novel! A oneshot, drabble, a writing request, a practice scene...something small that you’re not necessarily obligated to finish just to get the juices flowing again without the added pressure. That one I can say from experience definitely helps from experience!

Do literally anything else. Sometimes you’re just a bit burnt out and need a break from writing! Give that part of your brain some time to rest, and then when you come back to write, it’ll be with some fresh perspective! Being all-consuming in a project may seem like it’ll help it get done faster, but you can’t drive a car with no gas, y’know? Don’t let yourself get too hung up on writing; it’s supposed to be fun! And when it starts getting not fun, step away before you can too frustrated with it (or yourself). Get a snack, grab some water, draw, do a puzzle, go outside, see some friends, whatever! It’s just as important not to neglect other things you love as well. .... *stares longingly at my gaming backlog*

From my own experience, I do tend to get a reignited itch to write when I’m off doing something else. In my case, let’s say I’m playing a video game, but now that my mind has had time to relax from writing, new ideas and a drive to write actually have the energy to come back full force, so to speak.

Straight up start the chapter/scene/part you’re stuck on from scratch (but don’t throw out what you already have either). Again, sounds counterintuitive, BUT by tackling the problem from another angle (i.e. a different point of view, a different turn in a conversation, simply rearranging the order of events, etc) can do INSANE wonders for finding a way through a block. All those chapters I listed above? All had to be re-written to include everything I wanted that would also flow in a logical way. I look at my older drafts for chapters and wince at my original ideas—but hey, I wouldn’t have the current ideas I have now without them, so can’t let myself feel too bad! 

And by not throwing out what you already have, you’ve got stuff to work with and reference, which is better than trying to go in blind all over again! You can straight up rewrite scenes you weren’t vibing with, rearrange the order of scenes to experiment with the flow, ask yourself why you even needed a scene in the first place...being able to reflect like that is super indispensable, and in the worst case scenario, you’ve still got at least part of a chapter written, so it’s not like you have zero progress at all! 

Take the first/easiest way out, or just eliminate what caused the problem in the first place. It may seem a little dumb, and it’s obviously going to depend on just how big the “problem” actually is or the nature of it, but for the moment, if it’ll help you move forward in the slightest, go for it! Because you can always go back and fix it up later if you want! And if not, you’ve still got a good enough way to get readers (and yourself), from point a to point b. No need to always be perfect; we’re all doing this for fun in the end! And often times a casual reader isn’t going to catch the fact that you may have metaphorically simply put a bandaid over an issue; they’re just here for the fun ride! 

But the biggest secret to keep on carrying on? Love what you do!  Sounds cheesy, but if you’re not fully passionate to begin with, it’s going to be really, really hard to maintain the drive no matter what you do. Always remind yourself of why you started the project in the first place, remember the story you want to achieve in the end, and be a little forgiving to yourself when things aren’t turning out the way you want them to. You just have such high expectations for your work because it means so much to you that you start putting standards on yourself, and that’s not always good for you or your story.

Learn to see problems not as problems but opportunities; a wake-up call for yourself, a check to make sure the story is going in the way you originally wanted it to, or to see if maybe it’s time for a complete direction! It doesn’t mean the project’s not worth finishing; it just means it’s worth so much to you that you’re afraid to see it fail. But what’s more important: achieving a perfect story that made you want to pull your hair out the whole time, or telling an imperfect story you can always go back and fix if you want, but people were able to enjoy regardless because it got done? 

And hey, sometimes you do just have to write a bad chapter/scene/story just to push onward (Chapter 11 of Book 1 is this for me ghhhhh it’s so far from my vision and I never could fine tune it in just the right way I wanted BUT OH WELL). Not saying you should just ~abandon all quality~ when things aren’t going your way, but.......it’s not the end of the world if you do, either. That just means you’ve presented an opportunity for yourself to look back on how you’ve grown! And that’s not a bad thing, right? 

Anyway, that’s just some advice from my own experience/circumstances; hopefully it helped in some small way, at least! ^^

[nancywheeeler]

for your fic qs: i'd love if you'd talk abt the max & eddie reality hopping fic; you pick 4 questions you want to answer about it!

standing up the dead, my beloved.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

yes indeed! my original idea, that has some scenes buried somewhere in the bowels of my google drive still, was for max to find herself stuck in a single alternate reality and she teams up the alternate versions of the party + eddie to help her find el in hopes her powers can send max back to her reality. that then evolved into max stuck in a reality where she never moved to hawkins and eddie was guiding her through it, it's a wonderful life style. but my brain wasn't vibing with that outside of exploring the max & eddie dynamic. then while at the beach on a family vacation, i got the inspiration for the scene where max and eddie are sitting on the beach of lake michigan and talking about reality-hopping and finding home. my next google search was "astral plane" because i wanted to vaguely connect it to D&D lore as our beloved kids do in the show and i finally cemented the plot of the fic! there are some little hold-overs from the old ideas though! i have eddie reference being max's guardian angel when she and el come to bring him back from the astral plane for the final time. and in the original single alternate reality version, max discovers she's dating dustin, not lucas which i used in one of sutd's many realities!

2: What scene did you first put down?

the above about the beach scene being said, that scene wasn't actually the first thing i wrote in the google doc! this was: “This is it.” The sweet smell of her mom’s marinara simmering on the stovetop wafted from the kitchen and her dad’s Beach Boys record, scratchy with age and love, sung softly from behind the door of her parents’ bedroom, joined in harmony by the rustling of her dad digging through his dresser drawers. Max curled her toes into the shag carpet, planting herself there hoping to grow roots, and said, “This is home.” “Max,” Eddie pleaded, his tone tender and bruising. Her mom had the same ache in her voice when she told a smaller Max that her dad wouldn’t be back for awhile. “What else do you want?” Max asked. They had everything here, everything time, and illness, and monsters who bit off more than ankles snatched away. This was the reality without storm clouds and riptides. This was the reality where what she built stayed. “It’s not about want,” he said, a crack on the final syllable. “I can’t handle love that’s supposed to be for someone else. Jesus Christ, I can barely handle it when it is meant for me.” that last line of dialogue was the first thing written (and went pretty much unchanged through editing) which leads me to...

11: What do you like best about this fic?

what i discovered while writing this fic is how great alternate realities are for exploring the concept of love and specifically how it’s just that: specific. even when max and eddie hop into realities very close to their own and that are populated by people who are fundamentally the same as the people they care about in their own reality, the love they’re given in those alternate realities isn’t the same and doesn’t feel right. love is built on shared history and, without that history, the bits of love max and eddie get from lucas and steve (and, to an extent, everyone else) ring hollow. and it hurts! in the final scene of chapter 2, eddie stops an alternate steve from saying “i love you” because he knows it would crush him to hear something that doesn’t belong to him and he doesn’t want to have a memory of steve saying it to him for his brain to masochistically play back and think “but you’ll never have this for real.” max similarly feels like she’s robbed another version of herself by hearing lucas say “i love you” basically, what i liked best about writing “standing up the dead” was getting to dig into why experiencing the multiverse would actually be an elaborate torture of the acutest kind

10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?

as i mentioned in my first answer, the max & eddie’s dynamic was the driving force behind me writing and sticking with this fic. they’re neighbors! they both have bad fathers! (that throwaway line this season from max about her mom sending her dad the letter she wrote him, if she could find him??? ouch!) they’re the primary victims of the season four narrative! after the fights they put up, they deserve to live (but only after i torture them with other versions of their lives that are equally terrible if not somehow worse)! and most of all, i just think they could have really bonded and liked each other. max deserves a good older brother figure and, while i do love steve filling that role, i think eddie would understand aspects of her home life in ways many of the others couldn’t. oh, we could’ve had it all......

put one of a fic title in my ask + questions about it