#Their non-Star names can also be written separated.

[kc4artz]

The Founding Leaders of the Clans. GorgeTail of GorgeClan, MarshStalker of MarshClan, Moor-Runner of MoorClan, and ValleyHeart of ValleyClan

And silly boy Lynx, the not abusive boyfriend of GorgeStar

Also, old lady design for GorgeStar, still as sweet as ever.

[seangardnerxiv]

Shadow and Maria's Complex Relationship

FOR DISCLOSURE: this thread is going to be discussing the complexities of Shadow and Maria’s relationship based on many different factors. Though I will be including the romantic interpretation (NOT a sexual one – I do not support nor condone sexualizing these two, nor most of the characters in Sonic, as they are almost all minors) as a potential, I will not be arguing to assign a definite label to their relationship – I will, in fact, be doing exactly the opposite (I am also not interested in engaging in shipping discourse over Sonic the Hedgehog characters). I would simply like to disclose that that will be discussed in case the topic upsets you and you would prefer to stop reading now. I accept this post may not be received well by some.

SPOILERS FOR SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS

So I've had to break out my Tumblr for this - my usual haunt is Twitter/Bluesky, but those don't really allow for longform posts. This is also a major departure from my usual FFXIV posting, so apologies to anyone who follows me for that.

Sonic x Shadow Generations recently dropped, alongside the short animations “Dark Beginnings” as well as the (non-canonical) manga “The Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow the Hedgehog.” With it, discourse surrounding Shadow and Maria’s relationship has kicked up again, largely in two parties – that Shadow and Maria held a sibling relationship, or that Shadow and Maria held romantic feelings for one another (some people have also argued that Shadow is her uncle, or Maria is his mother, but I won’t be discussing those views). There are arguments for both drawn from a variety of sources – I will do my best to present both (if there are others I've missed, please feel free to comment and I will add them).

For siblings:

This Twitter post of artwork for Dark Beginnings has the following alt text: “Shadow and Maria reach out for one another in an infinite abyss (as long-lost siblings would) with the Moon and the Space Colony ARK in the background."

The manual for Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) describes Maria as “like a sister to Shadow.” I have also seen another screenshot of a different manual that states that Shadow as "like a brother to Maria," but I've been unable to find which manual it is. (EDIT: It’s a Prima Games manual, not written by Sega)

Gerald refers to Shadow as “son” during the climax of SxSG.

For romantic:

Maria saying “I love you” in the Japanese version of SxSG uses the kanji “ai shiteru,” whilst her “I love you” in the Japanese version of the manga uses “daisuki.” Whilst it can be used for familial relations, it is apparently very uncommon for both of these to be used outside of romantic intent.

Shiro Maekawa – the original creator of Shadow and Maria – based them (or at least parts of them) off of a romance manga known as “Please Save My Earth” (with Maria sharing the Japanese voice actress for the female lead from the anime), and has frequently supported them together, often retweeting romantic art and posts of Shadow and Maria.

In a recent interview from Sega, Maria touching Shadow’s face in Dark Beginnings was equated to Beauty and the Beast.

For Tanabata – a Japanese festival celebrating the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi, and the separation of them as lovers – Sonic Channel posted artwork of Shadow and Maria reading the story beneath the stars. Sonic Channel has also published fanart for Valentine’s Day relating to Shadow and Maria (although they publish a lot of fanart).

Before I go any further, when the topic of Shadow and Maria in a romantic lens comes up, many of the same criticisms arise that I do not believe are fairly levied – namely accusations regarding their age, species, and familial ties. I would like to address – and debunk – these three before we go any further. Keep in mind while you read these – this is not meant to convince you that their relationship was one thing over another, but only to provide validity to a subjective point of view I feel is unfairly stigmatized.

“It’s incest because Shadow is Maria’s brother/uncle(?).”

While there were notions of family stated by both Maria and Gerald, Shadow was grown in a tube with alien DNA and has zero blood relation to the Robotnik family. Whilst there are abstract labels of “like a sister” or “sibling coding” that are only ever applied in a meta sense, neither of them define their relationship in such a way within the lens of the universe. And it is not as if the topic never arises - in Shadow Generations, Maria herself likens young Abraham Tower as akin to her little brother, but she makes no such distinction with Shadow.

“Sibling coding” is ultimately a nothing statement, and unless a proper adoption is made, it does not magically turn romantic feelings towards the two involved into incest. Frames of reference are often informed by what young people are familiar with, and they sometimes lack the proper tools to acknowledge that their feelings towards each other are more complex than they first believe - to say that this is something that potentially occurred with Shadow and Maria is not outlandish, and not a concept unique to Sonic as a series.

Similar examples to this include Clive and Jill from Final Fantasy XVI (Jill is accepted into the Rosfield household and raised alongside Clive and his brother, only to later enter a romantic relationship with him as an adult), Nero and Kyrie from Devil May Cry (Nero is fostered by Kyrie's family and considers Kyrie a sister initially, only for her to become his love interest as adults) and Sidon and Yona from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Sidon grows up perceiving Yona as a sister, only to realize his feelings for her are more complex later on). None of these are incestuous relationships, nor is Shadow and Maria’s were it to be romantic.

“It’s bestiality because Shadow is an animal.”

Bestiality is applicable to regular animals that do not hold human sentience of thought, as they are unable to consent to a relationship, like a dog or cat. Shadow is not this, nor are any of the anthropomorphic characters within the Sonic games - were you to change the anthropomorphic animals in Sonic into humans, basically nothing about the series' content would change. All of them are completely sound-minded beings that are essentially just people who look different. Shadow is not Maria’s pet, he is her fully sentient friend that holds the same degree of thought as she does – given that Shadow’s entire arc is about finding his purpose in life, degrading him to simply a lab animal rather than acknowledging he is a person defeats that entire arc (something the manga also touches upon).

A lot of people also cite Sonic and Elise from Sonic ‘06 (namely the scene where Elise kisses the deceased Sonic) as a reason why Shadow and Maria should not be done - while I think it’s valid if you didn’t like watching a human girl kissing Sonic the Hedgehog, I maintain that a good chunk of that disdain stemmed from two major reasons:

Elise was very poorly characterized in her game. She existed to constantly get kidnapped and be saved by Sonic, and so both the relationship and the kiss came off more like pandering than something earned.

Sonic '06 had a bizarrely realistic artstyle for the human characters, whilst all of the animal characters retained their cartoonish appearances. This clash of artstyles looked its worst when Elise kissed Sonic at the game's climax.

Maria, however, does not fall into these pitfalls. She does not exist to be purely a love interest for Shadow - she’s certainly not someone for him to save, as the entire inciting event of Shadow's character is his inability to save her when she saves him.

For a frame of reference, Shadow is more akin to an alien from Star Wars – a setting where humans also exist. It is not bestiality for a Human to hold a relationship with a Twi’lek, as both races are fully anthropomorphic and sentient. On a similar note, Beauty and the Beast is not considered bestiality either, even though the Beast bears obvious animalistic traits. Some people have also entertained the notion of Rouge and Topaz from Sonic X, even though the latter is human. This is all the same principle, and none of it is bestiality.

“It’s creepy because Maria is young.”

Shadow – while said to be ageless – is not an adult, and to imply that he is one is a fundamental misunderstanding of Shadow’s character – whilst there are many instances where he demonstrates maturity on some levels, he has shown much immaturity since his inception in Sonic Adventure 2 (his desire to destroy the world out of revenge for Maria), and his most recent storyline in Generations involves his naïve desire to change Maria and Gerald’s fates (or rather, an initial indifference to what it will bring). Not only that, but his time on the ARK was mired in confusion over the point of his existence – Maria was the one that helped him field through his confusion, and was arguably the more mature one between the two of them. We can safely say that Shadow is not an adult character, nor is he ever presented as one in the lens of the game.

As the closest thing Sonic likely has to an equal in both body and mind (Sonic holds his own immaturities similar to Shadow), he can likely be placed mentally close to his age of fifteen. This is reinforced by the leaked transcript of Sonic ‘06 that refers to Shadow as 15 (the red squared text in this image).

Maria has no canon age established in game material, but Sonic X lists her as 12. 15 and 12 is the same age gap as Sonic and Amy respectively.

In addition to that, many people have claimed that Shadow is over 50 years old, but this is only true of his chronological existence, not the time he has been conscious and aging. He spent 50 years stuck in cryosleep, and awoke exactly how he was when he was placed in there.

A similar example would be Aang and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender - Aang was frozen at the age of 12, and awoke 100 years later. Nobody, however, tried to claim that he was 112 years too old to kiss the 14 year old Katara, as Aang was physically and mentally still a 12 year old upon awakening - most people who watched the show were also actively rooting for these two characters to kiss, which they did at the show's finale. It's the same principle regarding Shadow - he is 50 chronologically, not 50 in mind or body.

If we’d like to really get into it, I would point out that nearly every character in the lens of Sonic is in and around Maria’s age range (according to the Sonic Channel). As stated previously, Sonic is 15. Amy is 12, Knuckles is 16, Rouge is 18, Blaze and Silver are 14, etc. Nobody bats an eye at notions of romance between any of these people (not that I’m saying they should inherently).

Romantic intent between minors is not inherently viewed as a bad thing - see the examples of Aang and Katara or Clive and Jill above, or for an in house example, consider the canonical (to Sonic X at least) relationship between the 8 year old Tails and Cosmo - yet for some reason when it comes to Shadow and Maria, a relationship is stigmatized.

To reiterate in the wake of the last point, my discussions of romantic intent ARE NOT SEXUAL IN NATURE. As I acknowledge these are minors, any notions of that are completely off the table, and I do not agree with anyone who would imply their relationship was a sexual one. I want to make that unmistakably clear.

My major takeaway from observing both the Sonic fanbase and those on Sonic Team seems to be that in western circles, Shadow and Maria as siblings is the popular perception, whilst in eastern circles, they are more commonly perceived romantically. But ultimately, Shadow and Maria’s relationship seems to have many contradictory signals that makes it hard to pinpoint a concrete definition, especially in the most recent releases – and I believe that this is fully intentional.

Shiro Maekawa has stated in DMs has stated this regarding their relationship when asked if he saw them as siblings or love interests (translated from Japanese):

“I think they have a special bond that is unique to them that doesn’t fall into either of those categories. Just my personal opinion.”

From the way that the two are written post-Sonic Adventure 2, this appears to be a sentiment that is fully carried forward – their relationship is more nuanced than a canonical label would make it. Maria was the only person who made Shadow feel loved, and Maria unquestionably loved him back. What kind of love that was is up to the viewer, especially given that Maria died when they were both young, before they even had a chance to expand upon their relationship, if that was ever on the table – not that they needed to, given that their bond seems to have transcended both labels. Maria was the only one who acknowledged Shadow as more than an experiment or a weapon, and Shadow was her rock in an environment where she was isolated away from her family and home. Maria was Shadow's person, and still remains that in death.

To disclose for me personally (in case it was not obvious), I have always interpreted their relationship as romantic - or at least having romantic implications - ever since playing Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Shadow the Hedgehog when I was a kid. I have both a fiancé and a sibling, and the way they treat each other is far more evocative of how I treat the former than the latter (especially in Dark Beginnings – I do not imagine my sibling through a shoujo filter while I wistfully think about cuddling them in a field of flowers). I do not take the awkwardly placed alt text verbiage from the Sonic Twitter account, used to fake-argue with the Wendy’s Twitter account, as gospel for anything, and I think that treating it as a damning disproval is silly. Had she lived, I believed the complex feelings they held would have been identified as romantic down the line. The relationship always just read as too intimately charged for me to perceive as siblings (it still does especially in the wake of seeing how she touches and speaks to him), even before I had a serious relationship. I think that arguing the nitty gritty over Twitter alt text and translations is silly, as all it took for me to takeaway that the relationship was still romantic was to play the game, watch the animations, and read the manga for Shadow Generations - but that's just me.

That said, I will concur that if you are weirded out by romantic notions between the two of them, that is completely understandable, and I would never argue that you should not feel what you feel for yourself. The sibling viewpoint is also wholly valid an interpretation, with or without word from a meta source. Though she had her grandfather and later Abe, she was largely alone on the ARK away from a family that she clearly loved and missed, and it’s not unusual to presume that Shadow filled in the role of a brother for her. I will also acknowledge that many things I have not mentioned - such as Shadow blushing at Maria calling him cool, or her saying "I love you" in general - are not inherently indicative of romantic intent, and can be read as fully platonic interpretations, and I find those that try to state that the romantic interpretation is the objective one just as irritating as those that state the sibling interpretation is the objective.

My intent is only to dispute the idea that romantic interpretations, and the people who hold them, deserve to be scrutinized. The pairing is completely innocent, and the treatment people have received for believing them to be romantic is obscene. Sweeping blanket statements have been made to insult all who do (some going as far as to wish death and harm upon them), all just based on subjective viewpoints held by people who see them platonically. The fact that there is so much discourse surrounding this topic, and that there is evidence enough on both ends to make an argument, means that Sega has intentionally left the relationship up to interpretation - including the romantic take.

Everyone unclutch your pearls.

But with all that said, I will reiterate that this post was not meant to convince anyone of one thing or another, but rather that both interpretations of their relationship are valid, as it is essentially a secret third thing that transcends both labels and is special only to them. Strictly defining their relationship as “siblings” or “love interests” (even as someone who perceives them romantically, I would never want that to be definitively confirmed for this reason) is deconstructing what is perhaps the most nuanced part of a series that does not always tend to be terribly nuanced, and a definition matters far less than acknowledging what Maria means to Shadow in the present – he is who he is because of her, and because of that, he is now living a life for himself. Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) ended in a way that had Shadow let Maria go, and Shadow Generations ends with him carrying her forward with him after accepting her loss. She was, and will always be, the person who loved Shadow - however you define that love is up to you.

Nothing has ever been hard confirmed by Sega, no matter how much either side wants to pretend it has been.

In summary, both points of view regarding Shadow and Maria’s relationship are simultaneously true and not true – it is a matter of interpretation according to the viewer what their feelings towards each other were, yet their relationship in the lens of what it is now after the tragedy of their existence (even before Maria died) is purposefully indefinable, and it should remain that way. Nobody should ever try to say that Shadow and Maria are definitively something - that goes for both points of view. I doubt it will, but I hope this goes towards removing the stigmas towards one of the more nuanced parts of this series, as nuance in Sonic the Hedgehog - frankly - does not come along very often, and it would be nice if that were encouraged rather than smothered.

Thank you for reading.

[m4tthewmurd0ck]

WIP’S!

Rules: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

thank you @illyrianbitch for the tag! everyone stop what you’re doing right now and go read rae’s entire masterlist!

TAG ── anyone who wants to play! and tag me so i can look at your wip’s!

everything is character x fem!reader unless otherwise specified. titles below the cut because i didn’t realize how many wip’s i had hahdjxnsixnsf oops. also i currently have 68 drafts, but these are just the ones i have a somewhat decent amount written or i have the plot mapped out. i have a bad habit of getting ideas and then writers block strikes 😭

Until I Found You ── Azriel/Cassian/Rhysand (these will be 3 separate ones, my take on the same general plot and how it would turn out different for each)

loml (loss of my life) ── Azriel

Silence ── Azriel

Steal the Stars ── Azriel

So Long, London ── Azriel

one (1) brain cell ── Cassian

Enchanted ── Rhysand

Castles Crumbling ── Rhysand

Already Lost ── Coriolanus Snow

logical ── Coriolanus Snow

The Way You Look At Me ── Coriolanus Snow

untitled ── Sejanus Plinth (this is x OC buuuut technically x reader because the OC is played by Actress!Reader

There Was You ── Finnick Odair

In My Soul ── Aemond Targaryen

Coffee in the Morning ── Matt Murdock

tired of running ── Frank Castle

Felt Like Home ── Steve Rogers

Not Enough Anymore ── Steve Rogers

In Every Lifetime ── Loki

One More Time ── Bucky Barnes

Never Mine to Lose ── Uhtred Ragnarsson

Ashamed ── Joel Miller

Please Don't Take Her From Me ── Joel Miller

[ataraxiaspainting]

Trick or Treat!

-> the air is deathly still. you can swear your walls shake and untouched doorknobs twist. it's that time of year again... yep. another event to celebrate all hallows eve!

-> how the event works...

the trick or treat event will have a total of nineteen stories originating from my own ideas, but people can also send in their requests until october 8th! please do not request anything beyond this date or those requests will be saved until the next time asks are open! nsfw requests are open, but only for people who have 18+ in their bio!

this is an x reader event, and not a character x character event. no exceptions will be made. requests must also follow my rules.

all potential characters for asks will be listed below, and all characters will be written with yandere or darkfic in mind unless stated otherwise.

you can choose up to three characters, separate or otherwise! if you do not have a concept for your character, i will just do my own concept with them!

-> potential characters...

jujutsu kaisen - gojo satoru, geto suguru, mahito, sukuna ryomen, nanami kento, mei mei, megumi fushiguro, yuji itadori, toji fushigoro

hunter x hunter - chrollo lucilfer, nobunaga hazama, feitan portor, machi komacine, hisoka morrow, phinks magcub, shalnark, franklin bordeau, shizuku murasaki, pakunoda, bonolenov, uvogin, kurapika, illumi zoldyck, pariston hill

genshin impact - scaramouche/wanderer, zhongli, albedo, xiao, eula, raiden shogun, kazuha, childe, cyno, alhaitham, kaveh, diluc, kaeya, kamisato ayato, arlecchino, columbina, capitano, dottore, pantalone, beidou

honkai: star rail - kafka, blade, dan heng/imbibitor lunae, aventurine, dr. ratio, jing yuan, sunday, black swan, topaz, jade, ruan mei, serval, boothill, argenti

twisted wonderland - malleus draconia, lilia vanrouge, leona kingscholar, jade leech, floyd leech, azul ashengrotto, riddle rosehearts, jamil viper, vil schoenheit, rook hunt, rollo flamm, idia shround, kalim al-asim, silver, sebek zigvolt, neige leblanche, che'nya, ace trappola, deuce space, cater diamond, trey clover, ruggie bucchi, jack howl, epel felmier

other fandoms in my fandom list (on pinned post) can be included as well!

-> examples of requests include...

yan blade + body motification eula + cute date night yan chrollo + amnesiac reader

-> planned stories...

inside god crawls the devil - yan (demon) chrollo x f (guardian angel) reader

love letters - yan (college au) chrollo x f reader (non-con)

black and blue - yan blade x gn reader

again - yan (general) blade x gn reader

magia - yan albedo x gn reader

artistic contributions - yan feitan x f reader x yan phinks (non-con)

holiness consumes rising flames - yan (fake archon) scaramouche x gn reader

a sinning savior - yan geto x f reader x yan gojo

solace in you - yan nobunaga x f reader

the drowning dove and the fish in a birdcage - yan dr. ratio x gn reader x yan aventurine

the tragedy of rage - yan shigaraki x f reader

so close, yet so far - yan dabi x f reader

grounds of worship - yan sunday x gn reader

the weight of the world - yan alhaitham x gn reader

pulling into the tide - yan nanami x f reader

a rose by any other name would be just as sweet - yan (vampire) diluc x f reader

watching from the outside - yan overhaul x f reader

one last time - yan (archon) childe x gn (knight) reader

stuck replaying the memory - yan aventurine x gn (avgin) reader

[lia-land]

Winter by Marissa Meyer

5/5

What a beautiful story. I have nothing bad to say about this book. This might actually be the first time.

This is the sixth book I’ve read this year that was over 800 pages, but this is the first one that didn’t feel like it. It was perfectly paced and the plot didn’t feel overly complicated at any point. With books this long, the characters or plot or both can sometimes feel tedious, but this was so good.

I thought I might find this series too childish, but I didn’t at all. It’s a great story that didn’t rely on shock value through random and underdeveloped plot twists, as many YA books tend to do these days. I really like how she introduced characters throughout this series. For example, we met Thorne in book 2, and then he ends up being the main love interest in book 3, similar to how we met Jacin in book 3 and he’s a main character in book 4. They were subtle introductions where we could form opinions on the characters prior to knowing that they were love interests. I would give this book 5 stars just for this alone.

I immediately noticed from Chapter 1 that we are getting more detailed descriptions of surroundings. I’ve found Meyer to be an author who mostly relies on dialogue, which I personally prefer, as some authors tend to overdo it with the descriptions (Sarah J Maas' interior design book aka Tower of Dawn). Meyer strikes a great balance of both in this book. I often find with YA series that quality of writing tends to decrease as the series goes on and publishers rush things, but this was the complete opposite. I enjoyed Winter as much as Cinder and Cress, and much more than Scarlet.

In YA, authors tend to simplify wars. Often, huge wars happen and they end in a matter of days. That is not entirely realistic (not that fantasy has to be realistic, but this specifically tends to be skipped over lazily). Of course, wars can and have ended in a matter of days in real life, but that’s very uncommon. Here, Meyer maintained that battle element, while also not turning into a full on war, so that she could end the actual battle in one night. This is also beneficial for us as readers because action scenes in YA are not always popular, especially when they’re only introduced in the final book of the series. The main fight in this book was contained to one night and it was on a smaller scale, so it remained more realistic while also not adding a bunch of action scenes. My expectations were low in this regard, so I was expecting for there to be a huge war between Luna and Earth contained into this one book, bur Meyer made the right decision in not doing that.

The ending was perfectly done. I would like to read more books about the characters lives following the events of Winter, but I don’t absolutely need it. (Update: I've since seen that Meyer has written non-canon short stories in this world. This is the best way to do it for this ending. Veronica Roth should take notes). The ending didn’t leave any obvious unanswered questions, in my opinion. It was a very well written story from start to finish. Even though I didn’t enjoy Scarlet, I can appreciate that it was a good story that tied into the rest of the series well and Scarlet as a character became very likeable in this final book.

The length of this book is interesting because it’s more than twice as long as the previous books in this series. I wonder if this was for contractual reasons or if she just wanted to keep the theme of naming each book after a different character, and didn’t want to ruin that by separating this story and making it a 5 book series or introducing a fifth fairytale.

My favorite aspect of this book and this series as a whole is how Meyer integrated all the stories, while still maintaining their importance as independent characters. Perhaps this applies slightly less to Wolf (and Scarlet until the second half of Winter). With this many main characters, it would have been easy for some of them to get lost in the background, but it was very well executed here.

Overall, this entire plot was so unique. This is a take on fairytale retellings that will be very hard to beat. I can’t understand why this series is not more popular than it is. It would also be such an amazing TV show, although expensive. I hope this story gets the recognition it deserves one day. I’m really going to miss these wonderful characters, even Wolf

[starmonsterrr]

Introducing: Undertale self-insert #102480124 • (Update 2.2 - Star Form redesign!)

HELLO PEOPLE

I may have disappeared for a maybe long while

And that is because of 2 reasons:

Ink appreciation server

running @ink-selfship-shenanigans (surprise surprise it's me)

Except there is a 3rd one and that is,,,,,,, I MAY have been working on a little Undertale AU,,,,, and then made an OC out of it,,,,

The AU will get it's own post and i'll reveal as much info as needed at the moment to explain who even is this new character that will be one of my faces on this blog (because i'm gonna have 2 OCs representing me. yeah- second one's design is still W.I.P (nevermind this is future me i finished the design but i might make a separate post for it))

And HERE IT COMES

(NOTE: RELY ON DOPPELGANGER FORM REF'S SOUL REF INSTEAD OF THE STAR FORM'S. ALSO THE STAR FORM DESIGN REWORK IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS)

A FURRY. What's cringier (affectionate /gen) than an Undertale self-insert in mid 2023? A FURRY Undertale self-insert that can shapeshift (WOW OP WHAT A MARY SUE) and exists for SELFSHIPPING

YEAH

THAT'S IT

TH- THAT'S THE CREATURE

And speaking of selfshipping if you scroll in my blog for a bit you might notice that i very much like Ink

and also reminder that I run a blog that has the purpose of feeding Ink simps

So uh I think you get what i'm trying to say

It might take me a little while (or until i get asks about it) for me to open up about the selfship shenanigans, but meanwhile, here are some bits of explanations and stuff!

which AU is this menace from?

OuterRenaissance. It's still being fleshed out (asks would help a lot), and I plan to later on make an outcode expanded version, and even have some basic stuff for that version. But in simple words it's Outertale but in addition of the space themes, i added themes of the Renaissance historical period, as it brought great advances to science; including astronomy!

what the flop is a star-born monster????

I have a post explaining exactly this!

(also, Io can shapeshift out of this appearance because shapeshifting powers)

Backstory???

Its AU died (destroyed by Error), and it almost did too, but i possessed it and fused my soul over time with its own using my creator powers and it is now technically a walking corpse puppeteered by me so I can interact with the UTMV, while also forcing it to change its form into the Doppelganger form; giving it the ability to, well, shapeshift. Also ink snas selfship shenanigans i haven't properly written yet (yooo two walking corpses that love eachother!!!!!1!!!1). that's the fewest words i can put it in

IS THAT A 'THE STARRY NIGHT' REFERENCE???

Yes. Yes it is. and fun fact: the ship between Io and Ink is named exactly that. The Starry Night. how clever of me, i should get a prize

Does it have a personality?

Yup. I just don't know how to describe personalities, but here's an attempt at that.

Io is a passionate artist, but struggles with some degree of perfectionism driven by the pride of its art skills which are, by far, its best ability. It also tends to be (sometimes dangerously) kind-hearted at others. It might act one of two ways in social spaces: kind of awkward, not talking much, OR ABSOLUTE MENACE as in SUPER SILLY. No in-between.

Also, it is a quick learner, and could be considered quite intelligent. Thing is ... It carried over speech from the Renaissance time period and is still adapting to modern words. A bit of an overthinker too, which can lead to communication issues, and tends to plan elaborate strategies to perform the simplest of things...sometimes not even following them.

Pronouns/gender identity?

Io, like me, goes by it/its pronouns and identifies as non-binary! (Subject to change as I occasionally explore my gender identity)

And here's some trivia to finish this off!

Io, due to being puppeteered by me; a Creator, also has the powers of one, but either doesn't use the powers at all or uses them in subtle ways to try and steer things to its/my favour. It may sometimes disguise it as "art magic" shown in these doodles i made a bit ago:

also. autism. i'm autistic and because i take control of this critter i'm dragging it into the spectrum.

And I think that's everything that comes to mind right now! Thank you for listening to this bunch of rambling that i did not beta read prior to posting.

[btwxsixesandsevens]

Fic Writer 20 Questions

Tagging myself in for my Friday writing warmup.

1.) How many works do you have on ao3?

I have 36 on Ao3.

2.) What’s your ao3 word count?  

this floored me: 310,306. That’ll do.

3.) What fandoms do you write for? 

Most of my fics are in the MCU: Sarah Wilson/Bucky Barnes is the biggest. I write Aneka/Ayo for Black Panther.

I also write Star Wars lesbian rare pairs: original characters, Bo-Katan, Ahsoka Tano, The Armorer, some girlies from Book of Boba Fett.

4.) What are your top five fics by kudos?

all of my top 5 are Sarah Wilson/Bucky Barnes, because that’s what I wrote first, and for the longest.

1 - Jazz Standards – My “how they get together” fic. I love it. Sarah has a chance to buy a second boat to expand Wilson Seafood. Bucky helps. Delicious slow burn.

2 - Don’t Get Around Much Anymore – My first fic in the fandom: After Sam Wilson’s welcome home celebratory party, Sarah and Bucky get to know each other, share a few beers, and establish their own relationship separate from Sam.

3 - Jazz Standards, vol 2 – A new collection in 10 chapters, exploring Sarah and Bucky’s relationship after months together – the challenges, the adventures, and of course, the pasts that neither of them can quite leave behind. This is my favorite of them all.

4 - Jazz Standards, vol 3 – My last installment, in which all is finally revealed as Sarah goes to Wakanda.

5 - Under a Blanket of Blue – a Smutty little piece about sex and communication. Hotter than hot.

5.) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to respond to every comment, even just with a thank you. You took the time to say something, i take the time to respond.

6.) What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

whew…I don’t end with angst. I’m a certified member of the happy ending club. Most angst over all? Probably my original characters Star Wars long fic – Adventures of Relics. I hate the title now, but whatever. It is pure suffering from about Ch 4 to 16. Then resolution in the last two chapters. This is my favorite non-MCU fic, even tho it doesn’t get a lot of love because they are lesbians and original characters.

Second up on the Angst meter would be Interrupted, my Ahsoka/Bo-Katan fic. Bc those 2 are made of Angst.

7.) What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Happiest? Well, not counting all the sex… Renaissance Songbooks. It is a Sarah Wilson/Bucky Barnes Renaissance AU, in which they adopt 6 or 7 orphans. Lots of happiness to go around.

8.) Do you get hate on fics?

never once.

9.) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes. Quite a bit. what kind? Most of my fics have sex scenes, some are definitely smut. Occasional light domination, but nothing I’d put a name to. Want to know more? check the tags.

10.) Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I can barely write AUs, let along crossovers.

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope. Would be super open if anyone ever wanted to though!

13.) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

@tllgrrl and I co-wrote: Bucky, Cass and the King of Mardi Gras. It is a little adventure for Cass Wilson Jr.

14.) What’s your all time favorite ship?

All time? ALL TIME? Han Solo/Leia Organa. perfect. scoundrel and princess. iconic.

15.) What’s a WIP you’d like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Technically I never finished Jazz Standards Vol3, but where it is is good. Out West, my Western AU for Sarah/Bucky…lots of plans there, but it never became anything.

16.) What are your writing strengths?

I can write a sex scene that would set wet straw on fire.

Asexuals like my sex scenes. I consider that the highest compliment.

17.) What are your writing weaknesses?

I repeat myself and over use some words/phrases/visuals. I have a list of stock items that I go thru and search/remove in every fic.

I don’t write men as well as I might like, but considering how many writers can’t write women for shit, that’s a weakness I can accept.

18.) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I’ve written dialog in Zabrak, does that count? My Bucky speaks ?? languages. I keep glossaries for Wakandan/various African languages open when I’m writing.

I love playing with words.

19.) First fandom you wrote for?

Not counting my LiveJournal days, that’d be my original characters Star Wars long fic – Adventures of Relics.

20.) Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Favorite…personal favorite my original characters Star Wars long fic – Adventures of Relics. I love the characters, the adventure they have, the sex they have. I poured my all into it. I’ve written other one-shots for them, but never published them. they are the ones I write for myself.

For my popular fics, I think Jazz Standards, Vol 2 is my best work. Great balance of sex, action, character, and redemption. If you don’t read it all, read that one. The last chapter is as close to perfect as I have ever come.

I invite all my writing mutuals to join in. Be honest about your best work. Be proud of yourself for a bit.

[nebulouscoffee]

Hey! I'm really sorry that life has been so rough lately, I'm keeping you in my thoughts 🙏 here are some things I'd love to hear your thoughts about, & feel free to make it as long & detailed as you want! 1/your favourite piece of Bajoran worldbuilding (from the show or from a fic you've read or from your own headcanons - you decide!); 2/your favourite type of alien clothing on any star trek (or single favourite alien outfit) & why you like it; 3/what your concept for Ben & Kasidy's child is: who they are, who they grow up to be, etc.; & finally, 4/your opinions about the clock Ben builds in "Dramatis personae". Here you go! Take care <3

... this is so incredibly sweet, thank you😭😭 I really truly appreciate it, as well as all of these Very interesting questions❤️❤️

Ahhh it's hard to pick, I love so much about Bajoran worldbuilding! First of all the non-linearity of their religion is SO COOL & mind-blowing to think about, & I really love the way it- by its very nature- allows you to re-contextualise so much of the show's lore. Like- is Joseph Sisko written into ancient Bajoran prophecies thanks to his non-linear affair with a Prophet?? Do those prophecies inform or influence traditional archetypes of love in Bajoran culture?? Did Kira grow up learning about an archetype of corporeal love based entirely on Joseph Sisko, the father of an alien man who would decades later become her boss??? I don't know!! But I can write fic about it!!! (And then not post it!!!🙈😂) I do headcanon that dominant Bajoran cultures all have strong archetypical figures, it just makes sense to me given their caste system & that "three brothers" story Kira tells Ben & just how much emphasis they as people place on roles and duty and their place in the world (and on their world). I also love the recurring theme that they greatly value (and like, listen to) their planet. They talk about Bajor like it's a living organism, one big ecosystem they are all a part of, and whenever there are floods, famines, earthquakes, etc, they pay attention, as if its a bug in the immune system- such an interesting contrast to Cardassia, where they plundered their own resources & then came for others. There's this whole collective spiritual (rather than strictly political or social) connectivity that I find very fascinating- something about Kira thinking of herself as simply an empty "vessel" to the powers that safeguard her planet & connect her to her fellow Bajorans. It makes me wonder about their large diaspora, & the sort of pain Bajorans like Ro may carry around over that forced separation. Oh, and that they have Fire Caves. Like those Fire Caves were really just hanging around the whole time huh. Also that Proper hasperat is apparently supposed to be made with a brine so strong your eyes water. So that's five things!

2. Garak's Watermelon Suit.

3.

Lol jk. Garak does have some fire 'fits tho (that red and black tunic with the embroidery? A Look🙌) Anyway,

2. I also think Lenara's purple formal dress was really pretty! And most of Quark's outfits are killer tbh. The detail!

Kira's dress from 'Fascination' was fun- and I like both Winn Adami costumes a lot, the vedek robes with the opera house hat & also the golden kai robes. Again, there's a lot of cool details (esp with that elliptical Bajoran symbol & patterned fabric which the 90s quality completely nukes.) Oh, and speaking of hats- all of Guinan's hats are iconic, and Jadzia's Klingon wedding dress was pretty cool too. Basically I am terrible at choosing things; I just now remembered Spock's Goth Chic robe from TMP and that reminded me SNW has been doing some really cool things with T'Pring's wardrobe-

3. The siskasidy baby!!! I have named this baby so many different things in post-canon fics lol, everything from Jennifer to Sarah to Jadzia ("Jazzy", or "Jazz" for short- I think this is my favourite, given how Avery Brooks seems to be irl about jazz.) I don't think I have any real headcanons about who they grow up to be (I'd love to hear any ideas you may have!) but I did come to terms with Ben missing out on their first year(s?) by imagining he sort of spiritually shares consciousness with several Bajorans over that time period (very much consensually, like this is an experience that allows these Bajorans to walk with the Prophets for a time & also enriches Ben's- and the Prophets'- understanding of Bajoran life) and these Bajorans befriend Kasidy & look out for her and the baby <3

4. Lmaooo I have SO many feelings about this clock. Like WHY did he build a CLOCK. *frantic strings across conspiracy board* I know, I know, the writers were probably just going for something random at the time, it was, at heart, a goofysilly s1 episode that easily could've been on TNG or VOY- but it really does become sort of mind-blowing when you consider it in the grander scheme of Ben's arc. Plus- they kept it in his office throughout the series!! They put it in JAKE'S HOME in the alternate 'Visitor' timeline!! I do think that episode implies their weird behaviours also came from somewhere within them (that's how I like to explain Kira Your-taste-in-men-frightens-me Nerys flirting with Weird Aliens Odo & Dax anyway😂), so I like to think Ben just has this deep ponderance of time & temporality just like. Sitting within him somewhere. The clock was actually from an ancient Gamma Quadrant civilisation whose memories possessed them all, but I still feel like that last shot where Ben sets off the timepiece he (for some reason) built from scratch and lets it tick was Symbolic somehow. Like- this man is part-Prophet!! He was conceived non-linearly his birth was arranged he was always meant to discover the Celestial Temple aka the path to- you guessed it- the Gamma Quadrant!! Something something Events Set In Motion

[aspiring-artist-em]

get to know better tag

thank you @achilleslikespeas!! you're so so amazing omg- anyhoo

three ships: wolfstar, ineffable husbands (someone pls talk to me about good omens I literally can NOT rn), drarry

first ship: drarry, it’s a tried and true ship for me, ive been shipping it since I was like, a child  (literally flashback to me at like, 7 years old telling my mom that harry and Draco should get over each other and buy a castle and live together forever as a happy couple (parents were not happy that their daughter was saying this (they were homophobic( (im now gay and still shipping it so suck it, ig)))

last song: I would love to lie and say its something cool like “killer queen” or “lady stardust” bc I listen to those a lot, but once again, I would be lying and my actual last song that I listened to was “no hands (ft. Roscoe dash and wale)”, yk, the frat party song, I like to play it while writing angst

last movie: Harry Potter? idk what one, I like to put the tv on while I do stuff like budget money and write fanfic and draw, so honestly idk, it was probably the chamber of secrets, that and poa are my all time favs 

currently reading: ur mom LMAO (im so sorry) no, what im reading is smut, and also like, a good omens fic about Crowley’s fall (witness the fall) bc im trying to forget about season 2′s ending. im also reading away childish things (again) bc like, that's one of my fav drarry fics of all time. if we’re talking about marauders fics, it was probably her body is a temple down in the frozen food aisle  by achilleslikespeas, both for my emotional masochistic enjoyment and bc I wanted to draw a scene in the story (go read it now pls, its really good, Claude is really good a writing and im freaking out bc I wanna draw a scene from every single one of their fics I- like go-to horror dead dove fics for me I reccomend Claude and for smut I go to moonie), if we’re talking books books, Ive been reading yellowface and I am a cat which so far, are really really good, but also like, im really bad at reading so like, I haven't actually touched them in a week LMAO

currently watching: good omens, its playing on my tv in the background both because I love it and also because Neil said if u stream it enough amazon will see how valuable it is (with the strike and everything) and like, actually be willing to negotiate, essentially, help out the strike, go watch gay celestial beings 

last thing i wrote: 'Til Death Do Us Part, and Even Then, I'll Do My Best to Stay With You, its a dead dove fic centering around grief and denial, uh, 2 chapters in lol

currently writing: I have like, a million wips and no motivation to write rn so lets dive into them lol

1) chapter 3 of do death do us part, very sad, like, maybe 3 sentences in?

2) the next part of my lesbian wolf star series, its the one right before the trail one, so like, part 10 is gonna be another chapter centering more around Sirius’s memories and part 11 is gonna be the trial, I have like, 2 separate things ive written for it and I need to decide where I want it to go tbh

3) smut, gay wolf star, frat hazing blow or blow smut. sirius is on his knees and almost throws up but he doesn't and its lowkey like actually non con but its also frat hazing, like, idk how to explain the vibes but sirius is referred to as a dog and a filthy animal and degraded and he's sucking remus’s dick on coke and im like 2k words in and like, running out of ways to describe a cock lol (its also hard to bc like, I don't have a dick and my textbooks are no help sometimes) but he is also called the “pike puppy” and like, I think im smart for that and also its really filthy ngl, not a happy ending?

4) a short fluff fic to make up for the angst I put my readers through, im like 200 words in

5) au kinda thing, inspired by don't worry darling and like a TikTok that I saw (and now people are commenting on me commenting if I can write the idea and asking for the fic name and like, Im 500 words in? pls I need time), the idea is that Dumbledore has everyone under imperio or a potion to get them on his side to fight for him, lily’s pov, I really like it so far, uhh im like 500 words in I think?

so yeah, when I get inspiration im gonna write everything all at once lol, probably when my body isn't trying to kill me lmao or im at work

tagging: @spookymoonie @pinklume @wxlfstxrisbest @spindrifters @siriuslystargazing @siriusly-sapphic @green-lights-33

[anoddrock]

Hey, an attempted tag list below the cut!!! There will likely be many edits now and in the future

Asks are open

Addition: I know it’s pretty unlikely, but please DO NOT repost my art. If there’s a platform that you wish I was on, tell me and I’ll take it into consideration. If the post says you can use art, you should still credit to me.

Links:

[Would You Still Love Me If I Were A Wyrm]

[Why I Need To Go Back To Hell]*

*WINTGBTH is going to be restarted, I think I’ll feel better about it and it will be more enjoyable if I do this. This masterpost will lead to the original posts, but will also lead to the new ones as I begin working on them.

Tags: (I do not neccesarily keep up with these very well)

Non oc tags:

tmntd- teenage mutant ninja turtles, but instead they take place in the world of ATLA and are turtle ducks

WINTGBTH - My ROTTMNT AU [first page here] [Masterpost]

Fanart - fanart

ebog - unimportant reblogs

rebog - important reblogs

Asks - asks

Polls - polls I’ve done or that are in progress

Emoticons - I like to do homebrewed emoticons they’re fun

Sewing adjacent - tags to do with sewing where I’m not actually sewing

Medium tags: I feel these are fairly self explanatory

Animation - anything that’s on here relating to animation, most of it being my own attempts at the art

Roughs - rough animation, not clean

Animatic - not animated drawings to sound

Video - videos

J me - Where I say things

Writing - me writing

Sketches - sketches and doodles, incomplete stuff.

Comic - comic

Digital - digital art

Character list - character lists

Miniatures - miniatures I’ve made

Crochet - crochet projects

Sewing - sewing projects

Complete art - non-digital works I consider complete

Original Story posts will be tagged by world, storyline, character groups, and individual character.

This is not yet complete, but I’m working on it.

Realms -

This is the nearest and dearest of my worlds, in which there are several storylines and a consistently inconsistent magic system.

Log entry- worldbuilding written from the perspective of an interplanetary explorer gathering info on the main planet that Realms takes place in

Kings Scavengers and Tenth Star- tags featuring one of many storylines taking place in my Realms world, which primarily focuses on the King family and the friends they make on a quest to save their planet from falling back into an apocalypse. Tenth star is a separate storyline that meets Kings Scavengers about a third of the way through the story

10th+Scavengers Character List:

Star Song - a story that also takes place in The Realms, very shortly after the first known apocalypse on the planet of Intul. It follows a Shadowborn who was recently separated from the hive mind that wanted to destroy all intelligent life on Intul and Ibis, who has spent her life surviving despite of and hiding from the hive mind.

Outposts - a story following the earliest characters I created from the Realms, a group of humans, who aren’t native to Intul and arrived on the planet through a portal centuries ago, as they bypass the forest that stopped them from meeting those who have lived on the planet for much longer than the humans have been there.

There are also tags for characters by their names but I don’t really feel like listing all of their names at the moment

And that’s it for the time being!! Enjoy!

[intoxicatingintimacyy]

Hi all! The name is Tulsa and the game is roleplaying… that was cringey I know, but just ignore it okay? Okay. Anyways, I’m on the hunt for some new partners that are interested in angsty, romantic and, of course, dramatic plots. In said plots I’d prefer to play the F in M/F pairings, it’s just what I’m most comfortable with : ). Aside from that though, I am 24 which means all of my partners NEED to be 18+, there is no wiggle room on this. Please don't lie and say you're of age if you're not, it's dangerous.

We can discuss rules, limits and triggers privately if we decide to move forward, however there is one rule I’ll let you know of now since it puts some people off. I don’t double. I will gladly play multiple side characters, however I will not do one pairing in exchange for another (you playing my love interest and us doing a separate plot where I play yours). I find it hard to focus and they never end up fair in my experience. I hope that makes sense lol.

Below you’ll find a list of pairings I’m interested in, the role I’d like you to play will have ~ ~ around it. Some of my fandom plots do involve me as original characters, with that being said, each has a written out backstory that I can send if there’s any interest, so don’t hesitate to ask!

~Kol Mikaelson~ & Averie Forbes (OC) - Vampire Diaries

~Derek Hale~ & Paige Krasikeva (Canon Divergent) - Teen Wolf

~Loki Laufeyson~ & Eira Jarledottir (OC) - MCU

~Peter Parker~ & Gwen Stacy - MCU verse

~Vampire~ & Human - Non-Fandom

~Michael Morbius~ & Rowan Keller (OC) - Morbius/Marvel

~Milo/Lucien Crown~ & Rowan Keller (OC) - Morbius/Marvel

~Billy Hargrove~ & Kat Wheeler (OC) - Stranger Things

~Finnick Odair~ & Annie Cresta - Hunger Games

~Inuyasha~ & Kagome Higurashi - Inuyasha

~Sesshomaru~ & Rin(AU) - Inuyasha

~Tomoe~ & Nanami - Kamisama Kiss

~Peter Pan~ & Human Embodiment of North Star (OC) - either OUAT or simply Neverland-verse

~Werewolf~ & Red Riding Hood - Dark!Fairy tale

~Stiles Stilinski~ & Lydia Martin - Teen Wolf

~Isaac Lahey~ & Briar McCall (OC) - Teen Wolf

~Stiles Stilinski~ & Briar McCall (OC) - Teen Wolf

I also have an idea for original Hunger Games characters that dwell in the capitol, but they're the same age as the tributes, so they're watching the games and dealing with all of the feelings that come with that.

If any of this interests you, please feel free to add me on Discord toxicdeliquency#7795

[petermorwood]

Over the course of 18+ novels, mostly my own but some co-written with @dduane - including "The Romulan Way", * written on what should have been our honeymoon - I've usually employed ~10K-word chapters totalling a 10-chapter, ~100K-word book.

Each of those chapters gets sub-divided, the break usually indicated in manuscript with three asterisks between two empty lines, to indicate change of location, change of POV etc.

(This between-section symbol actually has a name. It's called a dinkus, and in published books may still be three asterisks, or something more decorative such as a fleuron or dingbat.)

I could have made each break its own separate chapter, but that would have resulted in the Patterson style under discussion. I've never read any of his stuff, but have read other books with similar short chapters, resulting in scores of them. They've always seemed excessively fussy, but that's just me.

(I don't like it when a short story has titled chapter-breaks either. It looks pretentious in something that's only as long as a novel chapter, though again that's just me.)

On the flip side, it took me a while to get used to Terry Pratchett's non-chapter books. Like a lot of people I was accustomed to the "read to the end of the chapter then stop / sleep / whatever" approach, but it quite soon became "Just keep a bookmark handy".

*****

* "The Romulan Way" is is a classic demonstration of why outlining beats pantsing, especially when writing franchise material and even when the writer owns the franchise.

DD's carefully constructed outline...

...was what had been accepted and approved by license-holder Paramount in the first place, so had an Official Green Light (more about that in a minute);

...was plot-precise enough that when the situation required, it could be written at speed (in 16 days, chapter about);

...was used to refute a stupid (and IMO malicious) accusation that "RomWay" wasn't Real Star Trek, just an unsellable SF story with Trek characters plugged in. Paramount's on-record approval of the outline confirmed it was real enough for them to pay for, and that was that.

Finally, why was it written so fast?

Long version here, but the short version is because DD was story-editing an animation series at the same time ("Dinosaucers"), the show's finance and scheduling got mucked up, when clearances finally came through the studio still wanted all episodes by The Due Date despite now having only a third of the production time, and "RomWay" also had a hard publication date.

So I got thrown in at the deep end, transitioning from a typewriter with a UK layout to a PC with a US layout (the differences are Small But Significant) in a matter of hours and then starting work.

Doing that work without the outline would have been impossible for either of us.

*****

Until I wrote my first screenplay (an episode of "Batman: The Animated Series") I hadn't realised that even in my very first novel, chapter and section breaks had been almost exactly equivalent to <FADE IN>, <FADE OUT>, <CUT TO> and other screenplay instructions. I'd even used <MATCH CUT> in both visual and dialogue forms... :->

There are lots of screenplay websites on-line: looking at Famous Movie Scripts will show how visual drama is set up on the page before it reaches the screen. It works just as well when writing prose, which has no budget limit for the location shooting and SFX.

*****

IMO a "chapter" that's excessively short isn't a chapter at all, and calling it so doesn't make it so, any more than calling a dairy cow a racehorse doesn't mean it can win the Grand National.

YMMV, of course. There are millions of readers who don't mind short chapters.

And after all, a famous fictional cow once jumped over the moon...

;->

Hi, Diane, I have a technical writing question for you: How do you decide how long a chapter is?

I've noticed a trend among mass market books of authors adopting the James Patterson style of chapters lasting a page & a half to three pages, but sometimes not even half a page. It's infuriating, especially when action on a single scene is split amongst them. I grew up learning that a chapter is an association of scenes, & that breaks were left for major scene and/or expository changes. If a book had 30 chapters, it'd be 400 pages long. Now I have 215-pages novels with 45 chapters!

You've always delivered a really good, fairly even, page & word per chapter count. So what's your thoughts on how it should be defined, & perhaps any on this metastasizing trend?

I haven't been entirely clear about what to do about this since I first started seeing this divergence of chapter lengths happening. (And bear in mind, this is a wide spectrum to be dealing with. There are books of Terry Pratchett's that have no clearly defined chapter breaks at all.)

My own take on it in the short term has varied depending on what book I was writing, and what rhythm the interactions among the characters were expressing. Sometimes written character business can happen very quickly, over a few pages: sometimes it has to happen more slowly, as it does among real people—a series of interactions, a pause, then further ripening developments and interactions.

Patterson is well known (I think) for having a house style... because I'm sure it'll have been a good while since he wrote anything but the high points of any given book himself. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the house style reinforces his own preferences, which would seem to be for very short interactions... that "short attention span" we've seen being discussed for so long, and getting shorter and shorter all the time.

I think it's safe to say I refuse to go that road. I want to allow readers time to sit in the characters' business (as it were) and think about what might happen next. I'm not afraid to allow the readership time to speculate about what might be about to occur before the next sequence of events sets in.

Is Patterson afraid to allow this? (sigh) I may have been a psych nurse, but I decline to attempt to read another writer's mind: that's a sure path to a headache. Is it possible that writers are as susceptible as their readers to that short-attention-span problem... and unwilling to attempt to slow it down for fear of being seen as somehow "behind the times?"

Damned if I know. Again, I decline to judge. But I sure as hell know how I'll behave on my own ground.

...Let me suggest a possibility to you, looking forward. Patterson's rhythms have all become the same because his (for certain values of "his") books have all become the same. ...And who's to blame for that? Readers are well known, in the industry, for wanting to read the same thing again and again, just a little bit different. That's not the readers' fault any more. They've been trained to it. And the market reflects their training.

You, meanwhile, get to set your own rhythms, and (ideally) allow the reader to settle into them, if they find other aspects of your voice congenial. Just because the Patterson modality seems to be all over the place at the moment, doesn't mean that it will continue to be. The market, gods help us, is all about the New. Someday (gasp) Patterson will be Old. And then what? Will slow slowly start to become cool? Tough to tell.

For myself, I write in a lot of different modes (gods help me, right now over on Bluesky we're discussing the possibility of a paranormal travel agency German [or maybe Swiss] Christmas market cozy murder mystery); and every single one of them requires a different rhythm according to the subject matter, the thought processes of the characters, the rhythm of the story itself and of the characters making their way through it, the way the action expresses itself throughout this story, etc etc. I can't imagine what doing it the same way all the time, regardless of the story's and the characters' imperatives, would feel like. Deadening, at the very least. And isn't writing about being, and becoming, more alive, not less??

If I've got a message, it's this: Let Patterson go his own way (for whatever values of "his"). None of us are going to be him, any time soon.*

I think you should write in the rhythm, and with the chapter breaks, that best suit the story you're telling. If some of your readers don't like those... fine. Others will. Whether they like to hear it or not—and some of them won't—like books, readers too are ephemera: they come and go. Your job is to be faithful to the story as you conceive it, and the rhythms and chapter breaks you feel it needs. The story has no one else to depend on.

So: get busy being God in your own creative universe, and ignore what other gods are doing in theirs.

HTH!

ETA: Historically I've had a tendency to use the "shopping list" method described over here for my outlining, and that's routinely determined chapter lengths to some extent. (i.e., if there were ten items on the list, and [thereafter] ten chapters in a 100K-word book, then that means 10K chapters.)

...Except when I feel a chapter needs to be subdivided, or combined with another one and then the whole thing chopped into three. Or when more entries get added to the master list. I look to see how a chapter "feels" when weighed in the hand of the mind: too long? too heavy? too short? too rushed?—and then adjust its length accordingly.

So briefly: my own basic rules are guidelines, to be broken when necessary. Yours should be, too. Only experience will teach you when this is necessary. But that's just another part of the Craft. "We learn by doing..." :)

*Though do we want to be?

[ieatwormsandtheytasteverygood]

Fuck yuo *introduces self(s) again* (and then updates it again. the silly ppl in my head decided to shift around a lil)

Apparently we go by Áesgirr here. so I'll be doing that too. We use he/him, hey/hem/here/heren/hem self, and 'e/'em/'er/'ers/'emself. We're a transgender genderqueer man, bisexual, and aromantic. Bodily 18, Irish & South African. We're physically disabled, have autism, ADHD, psychosis and a few special extras to make life interesting (read: painful). We plan on converting to Judaism when/if possible, but can't for at least a while yet.

We're pretty inactive just because we forget that tumblr exists. Repeatedly.

Our autism decided to make a special left swing right back to Jirt & the Silmarillion, but we've still quite some fondness for mediæval history, and naturally for philology & other linguistics.

Fluent in (Modern) English, Middle English, and Afrikaans (albeit getting out of practise). Vaguely conversational at German, Swedish and Zulu. Quite terrible at Irish, Welsh, Setswana and Middle Scots. And we can understand quite a bit of Modern Scots, (written) French, Dutch, Old English, Ecclesiastical Latin, and various related languages.

We're eternally trapped in the hellscape that is the Silmarillion fandom, but also Doctor Who & its associates, Star Trek, Our Flag Means Death, Shakespeare (we love the political plays), Good Omens, and probably some others. It's a thing.

We have so many pets and we love them to bits. <333

We also like art and writing, but unfortunately our art blog is completely separate to this (irl people know about our art blog), so no art here alas. We might post some of our calligraphy however! We love love love music, and we sing tenor, and play the violin and cello. Please send obscure folk music to us!!

The main lads (gender neutral) that're currently active are:

Ruthuifin/Rúthuifim - he/him, e/em. Aro neu, cassgender. Ñoldo (elf). Far too old and far too good at making terrible jokes. You don't want to know what e has to say about Eldarin marital law. It's terrifying. And he's probably actually tax-fraud-romantic for all he goes on about it /j

Orchalon - no pronouns (auxiliary he/him). Anattractional, cassgender/agender (masculine or neutral terms preferred). Cursed to be Ruthuifin's brother, and Malto's cousin. Vaguely elvish, vaguely draconic.

Malto/Cólðir/Cóleblein/Maltalain - he/him. Probably aspec? Also an elf. He's the reason why we spent R4000 on all 12 volumes of HoME. Don't ask about the vat of wine incident.

Roquén(/Rochir/Rochen/Rocen) - hen/han/tîn/tîn/anhen (auxiliary it/its). non-binary. quoisexual, aromantic (cupioromantic), toric/NBLM, oriented aroace. yet another elf. burdened by tîn relation to ruthuifin and malto (much more tolerant of orchalon, for Obvious Reasons). music enjoyer, persecutor, and the Only Sane One Left.

Minyafaramo - he/him. male, aroace. elf (are we even surprised at this point). related to the other elves (what a shocker). is plotting alongside malto, tatyo and nelyo (not that nelyo) to find a way for us to do horseback archery. he still hasnt forgiven nelyo for straining a muscle doing HEMA a few weeks ago. loves animals and music as well as hitting people and objects with swords and/or bows.

Tatyafaramo - he/him. male, anattractional. you can guess the species. yes, he chose to go by this name. loves archery, but also animals, music, and literature. i suspect he enjoys hitting people with swords, too.

Nelyafaramo - he/him. male, aroace. he likes HEMA (archery & mediæval swordplay. dont ask him to do fencing. he will hit you over the head with the hilt of his foil.), and wroth. he's the one who gets to have anger over our daddy issues instead of Melancholic Thoughts.

Caliwe - they/them. we tried to name them Caliweg, but apparently "i am not shiny-ful". orangegender, yellowgender, bluegender, purplegender, gemder. aromantic (etc.), but ma-æsthetic. aids and abets malto and ruthuifin. for all they're an elf, they act remarkably like a golden retriever /aff. big sociology & anthropology nerd.

Loup - it/its. unhuman. no opinion on gender or sexuality. friends(?) with nelyafaramo et al.

cat - it/its. name must be pronounced as /ˈʔːːːːːːː/ (NB: really focus on the not breathing!!). my gender is whatever pisses u off the most, and my sexuality is painful to look at. unfortunate "babysitter" of malto. i have also aided and abetted malto. i do not apologise.

Pádraig - he/him. The One True Pope. Pan-oriented aroace, cassgender (or something like that). Formerly human, now a horror beyond your comprehension. His hobbies are insomnia and hating the British.

Obligatory DNI list: pædos, animal abusers, people who post using entirely inaccessible fonts (think faux cyrillic kind of thing). If you're going to be a dick about our identity please just move on. We can & will block liberally, especially when it comes to sexybots. If you're not in fact a sexybot and we end up blocking you, send us an anonymous ask with your username & we shall unblock.

Have a great Tuesday, and may you never experience the horrors of Malto spouting cursed Silmarillion facts.

[wandaslesbian]

| MASTERLIST / INFO :

Hello, it’s nice to meet you all — my name is Abigail, or Abby ( she / her ), and I will ( hopefully ) be posting my writing on this site / app!! 🙈🌷

| PALESTINE AND SUPPORT :

Before you continue please understand that I fully, with my whole heart, stand with Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Yemen, ECT and the fight for their freedom and liberation.

If you do not, leave.

Please, whenever you have the time, visit this site to ( for free ) raise money for Palestine and other charities with a daily click! 🍉

Also, it would mean the world to me if you could spread my LinkTree, listing Palestinian families that have reached out to me for help. Thank you for your support, I love you and Free Palestine!

| RULES :

I am a MINOR, I am under sixteen years old, please DO NOT interact if that is something that makes you uncomfortable, that is the last thing I would want you to feel.

Other DNIs are quite simple ( some are oddly specific ) : Zionists, Nazis, Conservatives, Republicans, Confederates, Wendy / MCU stans ( MCU stans are welcome however, if I sense anything problematic I will block you, sorry, my loves ), if you support someone problematic ( I’ll link a separate post ( here ) for celebrities I do not support ), ableists, transphobes, sexists, misogynists, anti-fancasts, pro-ship, bullies and anyone that is mean.

All of my work will be sapphic, with a fem reader, unless a request specifically says otherwise. A lot of the time my work is written from a perspective that doesn’t require using the readers pronouns and the ones that don’t will be linked here.

I have a list of triggers for my ocd ( here ), please try and avoid those topics ( at least the exact words used ). If you don’t I will still try and write the request, however I don’t know how long it will take me and I might not be able to do it / finish it.

I have major depressive episodes, so if I have motivation and it randomly deflates it will take me a while to post my work ( I’m genuinely so sorry for any inconvenience ).

I use fancasts for all of my posts, especially my marvel / dystopian pieces, if you do not agree with fancasting / prefer the whitewashed versions of characters, please DNI.

More rules for requesting are here!

| FANDOMS I WRITE FOR :

The Hunger Games

Marvel Comics / DC Comics ( mainly marvel… mainly wanda )

Fallout 4 ( maybe )

Stranger Things ( no Eleven, Will or Murray )

Star Wars

The Maze Runner

Divergent

I’ll be adding more fandoms as I think of them!

| THINGS I WONT WRITE :

Smut. I am a minor, please do not send me smut requests. If you do I will report and block you.

If the trope / plot is problematic I won’t write for it, some examples are : non-con / dub-con, age caps, cultural appropriation, sexuality erasure, glorification of mental health disabilities, ECT.

The MCU, Harry Potter, Disney, ECT.

| OTHERLINKS :

Fics I’ve reposted : here!

My thoughts ( shorter ) :

My thoughts ( longer ) :

| END :

Thank you so much for reading ( sorry for any spelling mistakes I’ve made )! If you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask, I’ll try and answer them as best as I can. I love you, goodbye!! 🙈🌷

[thepete77]

The early Hebrews during and after the abrahamic era became in bondage to the Egyptians and thus had antagonizing views toward polytheistic and early pagan pre civilization cultures such as the Babylonians, Egyptians, Canaanites, Assyrians, Mesopotamians, Greeks, and Romans.

During the beginning of Christianity they gained favor among the non-aristocracy and were mainly sects separate and even against Roman practices and views like sacrifices and views of the rulership being deity. They refused to participate as members to the army as well as government, and the leaders continued to investigate the Christian people to find out more , even penalizing them and imprisoning them for their beliefs. It was not until Justinian I that their was sway within the aristocracy to believe Christianity, and it was not until Constantine that Christianity became the officialized religion of Rome.

The Hebrews were developing and writing their faith during the beginning, more traditionally starting with Ezekiel and the minor prophets in practicality during their second captivity in Babylon. The Hebrews during their experiences were well aware of the surrounding culture that they were against, either justly or not.

A passage written in Isaiah is a common passage in regards to Lucifer, as written to the king of Babylon at that time. In Greco-Roman writings and practices, the seven planets were major themes of spiritual practices and were even given names of major deities such as Mars and Saturn. One planet amongst these names was Venus, which was considered the Morning Star. Lucifer is a deity anthropomorphised from the planet Venus, and was said to have been born from the goddess Aurora who was identified as well as Eos, and related to the goddess of love Aphrodite, and hence related to the Greek word Eros. This was all a positive regard for the name Lucifer, and not connotated as evil in any way whatsoever. It was only the Hebrews who wrote of Lucifer to the king of Babylon that declared Lucifer fallen from Heaven in denial of the polytheistic pagan beliefs, the main cry of the Hebrews that the Lord is one, and created their name Satan, meaning adversary or opposer or accuser.

Along side the Hebrews and their early captivity in Egypt and later captivity in Babylon, was not only the spiritual practices of Egypt and Babylon but also the Gnostic traditions.

Gnostics were some of the first in spiritual practice and philosophy in codification as to specific beliefs of a creator and deity beings in the style and manner to Christian thinking. They had an advanced belief system and construct of creator deities and leading hierarchies such as Saboath and Sophia, and their classic creator views of the demiurge.

Hebrews and Israelites at that time took these teachings and others and mutilated them to the terms that they are now in even the original Hebrew Greek and Latin texts, which have been further mutilated and written essentially wrong in the more modern biblical translations that all modern Christianity further applies wrongly.

Hence the objective of who the Al Jilwah declares as “those without” is as well to remove spiritual knowledge from earth.

One might argue the case against this statement by promoting the original context of the King James Bible translation, promoting the introduction of the 1611 version as a spiritual comforting purpose with true and honorable intentions to witness the word of god to others in peace and goodwill. Yet let us not forget ever at all the darksome turmoil going on in England during that time of the Witchcraft Inquisitions and all of those that were put to death as the commandments of the Old Testament declare to do.

Even in the classic and traditional Christian myth in the book of genesis about the temptation of Eve to eat of the tree of knowledge by the serpent, one can see in general studies and references such as history.com that the serpent symbolizes renewal, rebirth, and even immortality.

The Hebrews invented their definition of Satan as the opposer, adversary, and accuser, but in their practices they practice everything they accuse Satan of practicing and define their most high god as absolved from wrong doing with permission to act however he wants. For example one of the Ten Commandments is thou shalt not kill, yet god has the power to kill all the first born of Egypt, and commands that homosexuals, drunken children, witches, and false prophets should be stoned to death.

The title god seems vacant of authority in use by Christian minded folk, though they try their arguments to allude and to and promote the word as if it had authority somehow, and in some events, Christians of all type turn out foolish in their motivations and actions thinking that by petitioning their god or using the name of Jesus they can perform miracles of some sort.

Sanskrit has been defined heavily as the second most oldest language in history. The three letters S, A, and T when composed together to make the word SAT is defined as truth or essence and is the root word of common words like Satya and Satva. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satya?wprov=sfti1#) When you compose the three letters T, A, and N into the word TAN, the definition in Sanskrit is to trust or confide or to be harmless.(https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/tan#:~:text=a.,%2C%20Ta%E1%B8%8D%E1%B8%8Dava%2C%20Ta%E1%B9%87a%2C%20Viralla.) Thus when you combine the two into the full name SATAN you get the definition true essence trust. To write the definition in more plain English the name Satan from Sanskrit is defined as Trusting in or confiding in the true essence.

In the book the Ater Votum, Satan is defined as the aether that binds the all together. The All is varied in esoteric practices for the specific meanings. Some times people specifically define deities as their all, or other times they simply refer to the All as the All. A major source used in definition is the Kybalion (https://sacred-texts.com/eso/kyb/kyb03.htm) which defines the basic views of the hermetic principles.

The Ater Votum is found at https://www.edocr.com/v/y8gdx4n3/globaldocuments/ater-votuma-book-of-daemonolatry-prayerpdf and can be viewed and downloaded here. In esoteric metaphysics and natural philosophy the doctrine of Spirit ranges at different levels, but typically when viewed in classic interpretation Spirit is Aether, sometimes it is referred to as the Quintessence.

The monotheism of Christianity is a core element of what separates Hebrews/Israelites/Jews/Christians from the pagan world of heathenry and polytheism. Within their Monotheistic views they promote and advocate the doctrine of the Trinity as an authorized Christian view. That there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit functioning as one God, and condemning idolatry in terms of polytheism and witchcraft in the worship of more than one God, and being under the sway of the deceiver, Satan who is supposedly a liar and a murderer from the beginning.

Yet when people nitpick at the scriptures and point out specific singular statements, and as well defining the different names of God and their cultural sources, many different views are taken and argued that one god is not the case and that the original writings were written and translated wrongly.

Getting into this argument is essentially pointless and a waste of time. When you dig into historical factors and groups like the gnostics and the textual processes of those, as well as groups like the essenes, and the practices of the title Magus of those within the book of acts, and compare cultures and teachings of Greece, Rome, and Egypt without as much bias as possible, then it is very obvious that there is more beneath the Christian scriptures than what the Christians promote and advocate, and their character is revealed more in discussion of witchcraft that they have definite hostilities about.

Whether one preaches about some type of deity called God or not, or whether someone decides to practice Devil Worship or not, the case is for myself that there is a God beyond the average typical definitions and views, and that Satan is this god.

[skellymom]

@redd956 @the-bad-batch-baroness Haven't published my fanfic yet. I'm a newbie. And, concerned I won't get engagement. PLEASE, someone reach out to me! I am close to dropping my OC introduction w/Chapter 1 within the next month (August). Just want to do it right and get SOME engagement. So tips for using this platform is really appreciated. Having said that: 1. Madienne Dax aka "Mad" or Mad Momma Dax. I liked the idea of an OC who was angry at the system (Republic/Empire) and maybe a bit crazy to do the things she does. Name reflects the characters traits.

Middle age (approx), older single mom.

Hunter from The Bad Batch. Mad and Hunter are both working out their trust issues, evading the Empire, and trying to raise kids in this messed up galaxy.

Food in general. My OC lives hand to mouth and food insecurity happens quite frequently. She goes without so her teen can eat at times.

Smuggler as a front. Really transports orphans, refugees, escaped prisoners of war, other rebels, animals, medicine, weapons, supplies, etc.

No time for hobbies. Busy with rebel stuff, and trying to keep her Force sensitive teen out of trouble. However, when she meets Hunter...he becomes a bit of a hobby. She loves music and plays it on her ship (The Dread Beldame "The 'Dame"), that has an amazing sound system. Likes to dance, rarely gets a chance to do it.

Defend those they love. Try to reunite families. Try to survive in a galaxy taken over by the Empire.

Take care of people. Make hard decisions about people's lives. Has to let go if things don't go well. She cannot take care of everyone. This shit haunts her.

Mad and her teen belong to the Nomaadi Star People (think American Nomads with some slight Romani influence). Her people evade the Empire and keep moving constantly. But when they do gather by word of mouth, there are HUGE family gatherings and parties. Rarely happens, so they are very much cherished.

Mad's lover and Love's father (her teens name is Love) left her when he found out she was pregnant with Love. He stays away until later on in the timeline. Very hurtful part of her life. He is nameless for several chapters, because BIG reveal to his identity. (Hint: it's NOT Hunter-he shows up when Love is a teen).

Yes.

Mad is actually me. I have always wanted to be in space. It also is helping me work out existential dread about the world right now, daddy issues, my age, and an outlet of a whole host of other things. I am making a writers journey on paper though her. Plus I got a Hunter kink, and this helps me explore that.

Sci-fi/Space Fantasy.

It is fluid: Genderfluid/She/Her/Them/They/Xi/Xem. Mad spent a considerable amount of time asexual due to issues with first partner. Then when she was lonely and intimatly seeking physical contact, bi/pan. Although the preference is men, she won't turn down an amazing trustworthy person of any gender/species. It's the heart that really matters.

In the Nomaadi tradition, family is HUGE. This culture has bio siblings and adopted non blood sibs. Either status is not more important than the other. Family is family. The number can be limitless (same with mothers, fathers, aunties, uncles, couzins). Since everyone keeps moving, you might see them all rarely unless they travel exclusively with you.

Maami and Paapi Daal (Matriarch and Patriarch of The Nomaadi Star People) are bio and adopted parents to literally hundreds (thousands?) of nomadic peoples constantly traveling the galaxy. Mad's relationship with them is very close, even if they are all separated and far away.

I like that Mad is loving, fierce, independent, capable, strong (even physically-she's a big woman), has a sense of humor, and is a pretty good dancer (in the rare chance she gets to do it). Very vivid personality.

I still need to draw my OC. Just started writing about Mad several months ago. I haven't written since grade school, but LOVED it. I don't know what the hell took me so long. Guess I needed a suitable platform. Found it here. I am writing approx 1-3 times weekly.

Well, just starting writing chapters 1-3 on my computer and 3-5 in a journal. So the start of the story (with OC introduction) is just unfolding. But I might eventually "retire" her towards the end. Maybe. We'll see.

Losing her teen and family. Family is EVERYTHING to the Nomaadi. They are usually poor and don't really own much, so there isn't too much to fear losing. If a Nomaadi is financially struggling, they have a network to contact family for assistance (although that is becoming extremely difficult with the rising Empire). The Nomaadi Creed is to help each other out. You can actually be held accountable if you refuse to help family. So, if they lose family, it's terrifying. You are basically losing a loving safety net...and in some cases your family history.

Several: The Republic treated Mad and The Nomaadi horribly, like second class citizens for the one thousand years it was in power. The Empire takes it further and sets out to exterminate them. So, it's an overall system of enemies. Mad's lover also shows up to finally "claim" his teen conveniently after learning of their powerful Force abilities. He's sort of a villian, but may become an anti-hero towards the end.

Approx 4-5 months.

53 years old. Yep, I'm an old nerd. Perfectly happy with that.

Ask Game for someone’s OC(s)

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

🌼 - How old are they? (Or approximate age range)

🌺- Do they have any love interest(s)?

🍕 - What is their favorite food?

💼 - What do they do for a living?

🎹 - Do they have any hobbies?

🎯 -What do they do best?

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do?

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories?

✂️ - What is one of your OC’s worst memories?

🧊 - Is their current design the first one?

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

🌂 - What genre do they belong in?

💚 - What is your OC’s gender identity and sexuality?

🙌 - How many sibling does your OC have?

🍎 - What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like?

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC?

✏️ - How often do you draw/write about the OC?

💎 - Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC?

💀 - Does your OC have any phobias?

🍩 -Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival?

🎓 - How long have you had the OC?

🍥 - What age were you when you created the OC?